The Woodlocke Manor

Chapter 3: Beckoning

3:23 am, Pytho awoke suddenly, feeling a prescence in his room, "w-whos there..." pytho called out in the darkness, "you, child, may i ask, what's your name?" a voice, called out from the dark, it had a raspy, ghostly voice, "m-me?" pytho asked, scared, "yes, you dear child" , the voice said again, the only light source in the room being a gas lamp that was beside pytho, "i-im...pytho..." he said, "pytho, hmm...interesting name for an interesting boy..." the voice said, "and you...who are you..." pytho said, "i am...Aureis!" the voice, now like...a child?, then suddenly, a flick was heard then a small ball of blue flame ignited from the shadows, and it floated closer to pytho, "y-you're...a child..." pytho said, a hint of caution and sadness in his tone, "yep!, i was a child, i think 9, i don't remember, its been a long while since i met another kid in my room, say, you are quite a peculiar sight indeed."

"oh...this?..." pytho lifted his shark tail, "yeah...i get that alot...", he added, "oh!, a child with oceanic traits!, how nice, you are like me!... well when i was alive.", aureis said, "how?" pytho asked, "i had dog traits!, it was fun, only thing is that, i was a target for...other things...", aureis said, "other thing- ohh..." pytho said with realization, "

"poor thing..." he added, "eh, its all in the past now, since i was long dead, so, i'll be your guide through the day to day as a maid, i'll give you advice, in return, you do chores around the manor, deal?" aureis asked, "deal." pytho said.

After that day, both had an agreement, early in the morn at 5'o clock, Pytho got ready and went outside his room in his uniform, now ready.

Mr. harris was out for the day, and Mrs.Amelia was busy with important things, so it was alexis and him in the manor, the other maids took a week off.

Pytho had no tasks for today, and decided to tag along with alexis, while exploring the manor, they made some small talk and gotten to know each other well, alexis decided to go back to his room for a moment and pytho was left to his own vices, he looked around the halls, taking a look at the grand paintings hung from the walls, but one felt...Off... like something was within that painting that's driving pytho mad and he can't seem to grasp on to what it is, he walked away and met up with alexis again who was looking for pytho, he was holding a small box, able to fit some jewelry inside it, pytho was handed the box and inside were a ring, a pin with a ruby on it, a small hair pin with a rose on it made of metal and another accessory for his tail.

"i-is this for me?" pytho said with caution and surprise, "yeah!, its for you, least i could do to make a recent maid comfortable" alexis replied, "i'll take you to the garden, i have a surprise for you." alexis added and held pytho's hand and both went to the garden, the garden was a large expanse of an array of flowers, roses, tulips, marygolds, inteyvats and more.

A flower caught pytho's eye, it was a blue tulip, his favored color of choice, alexis plucked one from the flowerbed and gave it to pytho, and led pytho back in the manor, alexis gave a solemn hug and both went their separate ways.

around 8:40 after dinner where pytho was the only maid to prepare the table and clean the table, he was in his room, laying on his bed, he cant shake off the feeling of that painting, questions ran through his mind, "what was it?", "why is it there?", "why did they keep it?", the questions in his mind ran in circles, he could'nt make sense of any of it, he changed the subject by thinking of why was alexis acting that way today, but decided not to.

Aureis the will-o-wisp ignited his blue flame infront of pytho, "ooooh, i think alexis likes you!" the spirit child giggled, "you again!, you can't just ignite infront of me, could have burned my face off!" pytho said in shock and annoyance, "relax, spirit flame can't burn off flesh and other flammable objects" Aureis said.

"heh, and also, alexis likes you~" the ghost child teased, "why tho?" pytho asked, "i have no clue, but he does, based on how he's acting", aureis said. pytho shrugged, turned off his lamp and went to sleep.