The white flowers inside the greenhouse sway gently, though no wind exists within the dome. Tabias steps forward as the grass beneath him makes a crunchy noise, crouching among them. He brushes a petal with his thumb, then plucks one carefully.
Peter:Kid, what're you doing?
Tabias:Ah—sorry. I'm just… bored. These flowers kinda look like—
Peter:Like what?
Tabias holds the blossom closer, as if the memory itself is fragile and desperately wanting to be cling to it
Tabias:A white daffodil.
Peter:…Okay, I'm not a plant guy but What's a white daffodil?
Tabias smiles faintly before his screen glitches and turns neutral
Tabias:They grow everywhere outside of Sodom City. My city. Or… they used to.
Peter's expression softens but with slight hints of curiosity, unease and concern
Peter:Used to?
Tabias's fingers tighten around the stem to the point of almost crushing the stem and his head nodded
Tabias:Yeah..Yeah..
Peter slowly approaches Tabias with the grass being crunched beneath his shoes and put his hands at his pocket
Peter:Can you..Tell me what happened?
Tabias:Oh I...
Peter:Hey, it's okay if you don't wanna te-
Tabias:No! It's...Oh god i..I-!
Peter:What? You can't remember?
Tabias:Ye-Wait i..I think I remember one from my home city
Peter felt a slight feeling of relief from having to deal with losing memories from the past, especially for a teenager
Peter:(sigh) What do you remember?
Tabias:I.. Remember a storybook back then when I was a kid at the daycare
Peter:Okay, what do you remember about that daycare?
Tabias:It's a story that one of the adults read.I think it's about a princess
Peter:.....A princess? Did you listen to the story or just heard it from another adult?
Tabias screen flicker in slight embarrassment, his two dots shrink slightly and his mouth wobbles like a wave.His fingers twitch in awkwardness
Peter:Wait...Are youu embarrassed about reading a story about a... Princess, talking animals and her prince? Awwwww~
Tabias: Hey, come on! What about you as a kid? Bet you read worse stuff than me
Peter: Don't worry kid~ I used to also read some books about a princess like you!
Tabias:You-Wait what?
Peter: Yeaaah.. I think I forgot the name but it was a princess and a knight
Tabias:Oh that's normal.Are there other things?
Peter:It's been really long and I don't remember much of the stuff that happened there but it isn't important here
Tabias:Ooh...
Peter:Anyway, what was the book you read about?
Tabias:Oh! uhm..
Tabias plucked two white daffodils from the grass with ease and began playing them like a toy for his own demonstration
Well..If I remember correctly, the princess was kidnapped by a dragon but the prince managed to save her but he..Really did it for society pressure and..He really didn't love her that much so when the princesses found out about that, she ate an apple from a witch that would grant her true love and...
Peter:And what?
Tabias dropped both of the white daffodil on the ground as they immediately fell, grass wave above them and covered the two flowers
Tabias:Both died..
Peter:.....Huh?
Tabias:W-well they died from a curse imbude into the apple by the witch and the witch wasn't evil..The witch is this crazy delusional woman who thinks she's helping by killing people to free them from their "pain" so yeah..
Peter:Damn kid, your story book is just..Is just messed up, damn
Tabias:Well there are other things I may misremember so there's that..But..
Peter:Mmh? But what?
Tabias:Fire...Smoke..
Peter:Fire? Smoke.. What?
Tabias:I..I remembered the city being quite smokey and we only have spare amounts of plant matter outside of the city..It has many "illegal" areas but mostly we are safe until...
Peter:Until what?
Tabias:I..Don't remember that much for some reason but..A mushroom appeared
Peter:A mushroom? Where? What is this "mushroom" thing?
Tabias:It was like a..A big mushroom that appeared far away from the city and...
Peter's face and body language became a mixture of curiosity and concern as if Tabias past was more than meet the eye
Tabias: That's it..But that event was the reason why we moved to another city..
Peter mind wanders, thinking what could it be but the he had an idea.Something similar, so familiar with a military wepaon that he knows on Earth.Something that also appaernece as a giant mushroom when its dropped however he refused to go to that conclusion as he knows that'll probably truamatized Tabias more
Peter:Oooh...Okay...Okay..So uhm..(Cough) anyway we should really investigate the greenhouse, instead of..You know
Tabias:Oh yeah right! Sorry for the sudden drop of my past
Peter:Oh no no no no it's okay, it's okay
Peter walks beyond Tabias with grass being crunched more under his shoes and flowers stumped underneath as he tries to look for an activation like those investigation movies but..
Peter:(Sigh) welp no secret button
Tabias:...No secret button?
Peter:Yeah, beyond that being all pretty and stuff, there isn't really that mu-
Peter accidentally stepped on something that create a shattered noise.He moved his right leg, reaveling he stepped on an hourglass.Its sand were spread to the grass and some stick to the bottom of his shoes, glass shards were scattered everywhere and small shards stuck on his shows
Peter:What the he-
The greenhouse began to shake violently, almost as if there was an earthquake happening.Peter and Tabias couldn't stand still and dropped to the ground, clinging on the grass for the hope of not falling.Then the shake abruptly stopped strangely
Peter:Hey it sto-
Suddenly an explosion happened underground behind Peter.A small, square-shaped chunk of ground being the size of a child was blown to the air.Peter luckily stood and dodged before the chunk hit him
Tabias:Wha....Huh? Peter wha..What did you do?
Peter:Look I..Well I stepped on an hour glass and it well, I, it just made the events happen, okay?
Peter investigated the square-shaped hole that resulted in the explosion l.When he peaked into the hole, it was deep.So deep in fact it was basically like a black abyss, the dirt around it seem to be, usually, more saturated brown and there was a brown ladder in the left side in the hole
Peter:The hell? What's a ladder doing here?
Vaquero:Hey, what was that explosion! Yer two get hurt?
Peter:No Vaquero, the explosion didn't harm us but we found something interesting!
Vaquero:Well what is it?
Peter:It's a hole that has a ladder to it!
Vaquero:A ladder with a ladder? Huh, that's weird
Peter:Sorry you can't come to us because EOF your size, Bud!
Vaquero:Yer don't worry, I'm used to being alone!
Peter:What? A-anyway.Hey Tabias, are you ready to climb down?
Tabias:Climb.. That? But what if it leads to an eldritch horror, or an dangerous place or maybe-
Peter:Wow wow, okay just take a deep breath even tho I don't know how you breath
Tabias heavily breaths in and breaths out slowly with a sense of calmness and relief washing over him
Peter:You can choose to not come with me or not, it's up to your.You can wait here if you don't wanna come with me
Tabias:I'll....I'll go
Peter:Okay then but ain't my..Wait that's sound..Anyway, let's go
Tabias and Peter walk up to the ladder and Peter was the first one who came down and then Tabias came in second.As they climbed down, the light from the hole began to dim more and the abyss grew darker
Peter:Damn, it's dark in here.I should get my flashlight.We should stop here for a second
As Peter reached into his pocket, Tabias to screen suddenly lit up a beam of white light.The light illuminated the unnatural saturated dirt, the old wood of the ladder and Peter himself
Peter:Wait..You could just do that?
Tabias:While, yes actually as most tv headed people can shoot a beam of light Soo.. Yeah
Peter:Huh... Neat
Before the two continued climbing down more and more.After what felt eternity, The duo found a small gaping light
Peter:(Sigh) Finally! We can get actual rest!
Peter and Tabias began to climb down faster to the bottom and then Peter felt a sudden stop.Ground.Dirt ground.Peter let go of the ladder and guide Tabias to climb down.When they saw the source of the light..It was a cave entrance that led to the outside.The outside resembles a mystical forest with saturated and vibrant color to it.The sunlight shines almost everything and white butterflies flying everywhere.The feel to it make it seem it was straight out of a fairy tale
Tabias:Woah....This place look soo..
Peter:Agh, it's blinding!
Peter put his hands at his eyes to cover the light they hit his eyes.Tabias body is subtly startled and his face was a mix of amusement and confusion
Peter:Anyway, we should move
Peter and Tabias move forward to the entrance.The sun warm light illuminates their body, they feel the heat running throughout their body in every time they are exposed to the light.Leaves crunched underneath their shoes and bird singing at the background and white butterflies randomly flying around
Tabias:Wow, this looks so..What should I say..
Peter: Fairytale-y?
Tabias:Yeah! Like that
Peter:Wait..What's that?
Tabias:Mmh?
Peter points his finger at the bush and what seems to be a sneak peak of a human show.Is or a man? Is it a woman? Or someone else? The possibilities are endless
Tabias:What..Who do you know that is?
Peter:Eeeh, beat me kid
Peter and Tabias slowly snuck behind the bush and finally saw what was the human is.It was a young woman, around her early 20s who had a long green hair that sparkle like emerald, his skin was white as snow and her dress resamble an white fitted bodices with light green cinched waists, white voluminous skirts and a white draping sleeves with decorative green apple symbols, just like a normal victorian dress.She is laying on a solid, white platform made of marble with black eye symbols in her comfortable, deep slumber, clutching her hands
Tabias:Peter..Could that be a..
Peter:It's either a woman from the victorian era ooorrr..A fairytale princess.I don't know
Suddenly a dark blob made of flowing black fog appeared behind the bushed right behind the princess
Tabias:What the-
Peter immediately dragged Tabias out of the bush and out himself and Tabias behind a thick tree to hide from the unkown fog.The thick tree is just near the princess and they can visibly see the princess from their location
Tabias:P-peger but...
Peter:Tabias, I don't know what the hell is that but..Let's just wait if it does something
The black fog insect the princess meticulously almost like a curious cat.It spawned tentacles from it's body, analyzing the princess by touching most of appropriate body parts before suddenly bursting I a spark of light
It flashes Tabias and Peter's eyes so much they have to cover their eyes with their hands and need a second to recover
Tabias:Agh!
Peter:God damn it, ouch!
When the looked back again, the light sparkles slowly transformes into..Cute, cartoon mascots for the princess in an elegant and beautiful way.They then act cheerful, happy and energetic.Eager to wake the princess up
Mascot 1:Sshhhh, she waking up!
The princess body then stuff and then begin to move.She groaned and then lay up, she stretched and yawn
Mascots:Hooray!
The princess was startled a bit but was later curious and gentle about her questionss
???:Oh my! Who are you?
Mascots:We are the...Spirit of the forest!
Tabias:Well that's a lie
???:Oh hello dear spirits.May I asked of where am I? The last thing I remember was eating an apple with my dear Prince, Seltor...
Mascots:Nope, miss!
The princess face seem to be saddened that was filled with confusion and curiosity
Peter:Okay we should get o-
?:You gentleman!
Peter abruptly stopped walking and Tabias face frozen and immediately grabbed Peter by the shirt
???:Do you mind where am I?..
The two dosnet know how to reply and their minds are filled with "how" to question her questions as the sun begun to set