Of Her Corrupted Throne

Chapt. 17 - Monochromes!

          "Freesia loves to read does she not?" Mother Crystal looked at the Primaries, her white lashes sparkled and reflected from the lights of the corridor. "The carriage boarder is this way." Ciel opened a door to the right of them all. Mother looked over and smiled. "Well of course! Come along now, we have a long trip!"

          Ciel and Eros set up the horses and carriages for them all. Two carriages were set up for them to fit, they split themselves up as they pleased. "Mother, your antlers.." Vida pointed out the massive antlers Mother Crystal had upon her head. "Oh yes.." her crystal antlers glowed and began to shrink down to young size. "Come along now Primaries! Julia you too, the children can sit together." Mother climbed into the carriage and the queens followed.

          Queeny was helped up into the carriage first, followed by Evander, Argenti, Eros, and Ciel. Once everyone was in their carriage, the coachmen set off to the Monochrome lands.

          The queens had an awkward silence among themselves, so had the children. The boys were awkwardly sitting there, some more uncomfortable than the other. Queeny just looked outside the window, in a daze.

          Damnit! Why did I have to be next to you of all people?...

          The rest of the trip was silence, there wasn't much to say. Finally, they arrived in the outer land just before the monochromes.

Everyone took their time getting off the carriages and stretching from the long trip. "Seems as though nothing has changed here." Vida looked around at the grayscale land in sorrow. "Well..I think we should let the Monos handle the exploration from here." Mother Crystal placed her hand on Vida's shoulder. "I'd like to go too." It wasn't yet known if the lady of all colors was allowed on the land without. However, she was willing to take that risk. "But mother! Your colors don't coincide with these types of land, you'll get hurt." Crystal insisted and walks towards the colorless grass. As a test, she kneeled down and extended her antler, touching the grass gently.

          The antler began to crack and lose its hue. Mother moved away quickly but not fast enough for the antler to snap aggressively. "Oh my!" The Primaries jumped in fright and ran to mother to see if she was alright. Freesia stayed back with Queeny and stopped her from running over.

"I'm quite alright! It's not a big deal" Mother stood up and brushed her skirt. "Monos, I give you the honor of gathering samples and exploring yourselves." She stepped aside for the children to explore.

          Freesia looked at Queeny bluntly and moved her arm away to allow her to move forward. Queeny looked back in confusion and ran over.

          Ciel fixed his gloves and felt the surface of the ground beneath. "It's dry, dead even. Which kingdom was placed here before this happened?" Mother Crystal gathered her thoughts and dug into her memories. "Let's see..I believe this was the kingdom of pink. Not sure where their king ran off to, but all I know is that this was a place of crime. He must have been afraid of execution I believe.." Eros listened in as he stood beside Argenti.

          Julia looked up at the evening sky. "I think we ought to head back now, before it gets too late. Don't want the night watchers coming after us."