unraveled

rooms

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          Deveil Eggs was a brown jumble of wood. It was on the far south of town which was a bit sketchy than dockside which had been the North end of Esterham. The light here was a bit darker and ivy grew on building instead of flowers but it was beautiful nonetheless. While the buildings near the town square had blindly reflected bright sun pushing everything in super saturation in happiness, the buildings here silently absorbed the rays, quietly burning inside with the same happiness. Shades of beige and umber and wood of the buildings made that entire part of town feel like a collective and connected home. The bakeries would be the kitchens and the dry cleaners would be the laundry room. The taverns would be the living room and the restaurants the dining table. Deveil Eggs would be one of the rooms. The building squatted between a post office and the street. On the bottom floor was a tavern with a bar on one side and a stage on the other. A desk sat just by the door and a spindly woman stood behind it with her arms crossed as she watched all the performers shuffle in with disaste.

           "Step on up to the third floor. The entire level belongs to..." she searched for words in disgust, "your circus group. Figure out the rooms yourselves. Breakfast is at nine, lunch is at one, and you can make your own dinner. The Facio" she said jerking her head to the tavern "starts at six."

          We have other guests as well so be respectful and no fire playing, knife throwing, swinging, or playing instruments too loudly."

          "Not even the kidgerigoo?" asked Acelius innocently.

          The woman spared him a glance as if trying to place what species he was. Acelius took it as an offense. Returning back to her viciously bored stare, the woman pasted on an unbelievably fake and creepy smile, "We hope you enjoy your stay at the Deveil Eggs as much as we enjoy having you. Kindly recommend us to your friends and family when they plan on coming to Esterham. Have a happy stay!"

          She rolled her eyes and disappeared through a door behind the desk that said 'Management' and then below in smaller letters 'Authorized Access Only.' It was funny how people thought mere signs like that had the power to stop someone from entering. Perhaps they knew it wouldn't but tried anyway.

          The stairs creaked under collective feet and thudding bags. The first floor was absolutely quiet, almost haunted. A respectful silence that made Acelius wonder if someone had died somewhere in those rooms. The second floor was wrapped in red wallpaper stamped with gold roses. Eugh. The lighting fixtures glowed reddish pink almost inviting him to cringe again. He obliged. Eugh. The third floor smelt like sea wind and salt water taffy. It was a long corridor and perhaps had the most number of rooms out of all the floors - perfect for fitting all the performers.

          The group halted as if held back by some invisible rope. How many of these people had lived in taverns like these before? How many of them had come to Esterham? Stories, stories behind each face. Lives revolving behind each eye as intricate as the one he had lived. Every journey somehow working its way into the path of the person standing next to them. Different pasts and universes pushed into one tavern. The rope snapped as they all slowly moved, filling in the corridor like a shy tide, trickling into rooms. Unconsciously no one walked to the last room at the end of the hallway as if in secret knowledge that it would belong to the Master. Some doubled up with others like Skender and his daughter and Hera and her twin. The loners paired with other loners. Nia went with the boy and Acelius took the room across theirs, claiming the entire room to himself. His room was to the right of the corridor which faced the insides of Esterham that were perfectly framed in a massive four-paned glass window with a wooden sill big enough to sit on. The bed was made of intertwining metal which he thought was in a sort of attempt to capture the space-time continuum. Or someone trying to impress someone with their complexity and deep soul-searching rubbish but inherently failing. It might have been a designer item in the earlier generations of perhaps, cavemen, but now seemed simply uncomfortable. Acelius wondered why this bed aggravated him so much. The mattress kept on top was at the verge of slipping. Luckily, there was enough floor nearby that allowed him to slip the mattress onto the ground and off the torturous contraption called a bed.

          There was a bathroom attached to the room that included a small shower head, a small sink and a mirror. He winked at himself and closed the door behind him, walking to the sill where he sat with his legs crossed at the ankles and looked out at the city sprawled beneath him like an exquisite rug. He saw the world through his own reflection, his blond hair enrapturing the sleepy sky, the curves of his lips holding roofs of buildings and chimney smoke. Houses and streets intertwined within each other like lovers. He saw the castle gleam in the distance. Its spires reaching towards the skies completely wrapped in ivy and blooming flowers that even distance couldn't evanesce. Around it circled smaller establishments painted in baby blue though it seemed less baby and more regal and magnificent. They slowly moved away from the main spires like ripples from a fallen waterdroplet. Acelius guessed that the concentric structure was not just a feat of architecture but safety - there were probably a few select gates that allowed access to other layers that could close the second an unwelcome outsider was detected, trapping them in, like an ant in a drawn circle. The buildings on the streets leading up to the castle gleamed in warm yellow and gold. So that's where the nobles lived, he thought. And with a quiet smirk, apparently their houses needn't match with their labels. 

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Author's Note: Thank you for reading!! COME BACK FOR THE NEXT PART SOON! VOTE AND COMMENT AND STREAM FOLKLORE <3