The Amaryllis Curse

Chapter 4

The sound of a conversation slowly roused my sleeping mind, but a cloak of fog seemed to have a hold over me still. I laid on the ground silently trying to grasp my surroundings by sound.

I then realized it was not the forest ground I was on, but something softer and warm. A bed. The smell of cinnamon was strong as well.

Footsteps walked towards me as I gathered my surroundings, the sharp tap of them told me it was heels, a woman.

"She should have been awake by now Pararu. What did you give her?" The woman said. Her voice was familiar but the fog over me clouded my placement. Her tone showed a hint of frustration as if my awakening was taking up her time.

"Thranios leaves scent. She fell asleep so the leaves allowed her to stay that way while I came here. You think I was going to let her see our home, Lilith?" His tone was frustrated yet somehow holding a tint of respect for this woman.

Lilith made a sound of sarcastic amusement. A scoff. "I see. So your training has served you well over the years, but with that said, your tactic has made everything take longer than needed."

Thumping footsteps on the floor as Pararu's voice was now close. "Sedatives take time to wear off. Besides, the plants she was near in the woods died while she slept." He paused.

"The drug seems to be keeping her powers at bay for the moment and we don't even know her name let alone about her powers." His voice was soft, a hint of something in his voice as well that I didn't understand. Thoughtful maybe.

As my mind cleared away the drug, the soft sound of beeping could be heard from a monitor. The beeping accelerated along with my heartbeat as my awareness returned. Two sharp footsteps as Lilith spoke.

"So you have awakened."

As I opened my eyes I let my eyelashes shield them, but my eyes reacted to the light above me by shutting tight and swiftly. Opening my eyes again I could see Pararu to my left and the woman on my right.

Lilith was gorgeous. Her face a flawless olive tone, perfectly french braided blonde hair to knee length with some kind of red bow tied on the end.

Her eyes a deep red that matched her lips, all seeming to be in coordination with her crimson long sleeve shirt and black leather pants.

I sat up on the bed I was on as I looked around. I seemed to be in some kind of medical area, a private one at that from the lack of other beds.

"What am I doing here? What do you want?" I swiftly asked as I looked at Lilith. She seemed to find my questioning amusing by the faint twitch the corner of her mouth gave.

"You are at my home, rather my city per say," she said with a small wave of the hand to the room. "Of course, as you can see this is our medical area. We wanted to make sure that you weren't injured by the dogs."

I moved to the side and stood up, now realizing my clothes had been changed to a black short-sleeved shirt and dark jeans. Lilith must have noticed my surprised expression as she explained. "Your clothes were dirty and not suitable for this environment."

"Environment?" I said. I now also noticed there were no windows in the large room and no sounds of any outside things. Where were we?

Lilith walked to the door on the far side of the room and turned to me again. "You'll see, just follow me, Hikari."

Pararu looked at her with slight shock at my name before glancing at me and walking to the door as well. A frustrated look crossed his face before he could hide it, quickly speaking to me now when he noticed my staring. "Let's go already." his tone once again tinted with annoyance.

Following them both through the door there was a calm silence as we walked down a long stone hallway. I again noticed the lack of windows as well as doors this time. The only door was the one at the end of the hall, which was opened from the other side as we neared it.

I blinked in surprise as someone dashed through the door and went straight for Pararu, and from the high scream, I knew it was a girl.

Pararu moved in what seemed to be a blink by raising his hand, with which a large circular shield of sorts appeared in front of him made of a fiery glow.

The girl stopped and frowned. Her dark skin glowed in the light of the fire, her black hair braided into two pink tails to her shoulders and she wore a simple blue dress and black flats.

"You left without telling us and the raccoon came back. He ate most of the crops from field A and C so you better-" she cut herself off as she noticed Lilith beside him, immediately bowing. "My lady, forgive me I didn't see you."

Lilith nodded. "Don't worry. Now, we have business to attend to. Please go open the library."

The girl stood up straight and gave a nod before dashing back through the door.

"Why did she call you that?" I asked without thought. Pararu looked at me with a slight shake of the head.

"Right, I forget you're from that small town and not here." He sighed. "This is Lady Lilith the queen of this town. She is always to be addressed as 'My Lady' or 'Lady Lilith', and a bow must always accompany the addressing." he finished as if this was something he rehearsed, his tone one now of slight boredom.

Lilith pursed her lips with a small smile. "Yes, Pararu that is the law. Now," she said turning to me. "That girl is Renne. She is one of the girls who work in the fields, but she is my aid most of the time, as is Pararu." She finished as she led us through the door.

The next room was rather large. Both the floor and walls were rock, so I now assumed we were underground. The rock was smoothed to a degree, airy holes throughout it. The left half of the room was two small houses, looking to be hand-built with just wood.

The right half of the room was a flower garden, the area full of roses and a few daisies. The few people that were in the large room were laughing and playing what looked to be a game of frisbee, stopping as we walked in.

One quick bow was given by all of them before they now stared at me, a mixed expression of fear on their faces.

Pararu placed his hand on my right elbow as we continued walking. "Don't mind them, just walk." his voice was soft. Despite his arrogant attitude, he seemed to have another side to him.

I felt my face blush ever so slightly as I looked at him. As we walked into another section, an arch looked over its entrance. The lower section of the arch had what looked like children's drawings, the sight of them was something I almost remembered.

I stopped in my tracks as I looked at them, one was the figures holding hands, another a dog, I assumed. Pararu looked at them as well, a somber look could be seen as he then looked at the floor a moment. Lilith acted as if she didn't notice, already at a door on the right.

A sign above the door indicated it was the library, the door looked heavily locked with a passcode right in the middle. She input the code, the door opening with a resounding click.

Renee was fast-moving inside, placing books on various shelves, not even noticing our entrance. The library was so massive I didn't see an end.

The shelves were so high that nearly every wall had a ten-foot ladder to reach higher. My mouth was open as I looked, Pararu snoring in amusement as he reached and pushed my jaw closed again.