Rose Blumen ~ Exogignesthai

(Rose)

I’m a little scared. General leaves the room, asking me to please wait for a little while.

I refuse.

R – We should really finish this talk before either of us leaves.

G – ... Very well.

He’s returning to his chair, more serious than ever.

And what he last said struck me.

If they don’t do anything, they are doomed. Completely. Meaning...

R – What are you willing to do?

G – I begin to understand how you two sisters feel about the monsters, as a part of nature to respect and love. While we see it as a threat to kill lest we be killed... But you said demons could talk. So if you’re right, the first thing I’m going to do is ask for help from them.

Oh. He surprised me again. But it’s not over.

G – If you think I can do that, I’m going to ask them right now myself.

R – ...

G – Would you please stay here meanwhile?

He wants me to stay, as a sign of good faith and ambassador, and as a hostage if things go wrong.

And if they refuse...

G – Unless things turn badly, we can discuss it after I’m back. Agreed?

I’m in an uneasy situation. I want to run and discard my responsibility.

I don’t. I sweat and swallow some air nervously, but I agree. I shake his hand. His smile now is only being polite.

He leaves with his guard, while one team now keeps an eye on me.

General and his men leave the city after Night, while I’m requested to stay in sight by people now slightly more nervous.

There’s a mood that lurks in the air now. An invisible aura of chaos is spreading over this land like the warm breath of an awakening beast.

Something worrying everyone is floating around.

I hear someone might have died in the hospital from his wounds facing that plant monster.

The men are becoming warry of my role in this.

~

My links to Blume and Nightmare speak to me in whispers. They’ve found each other on the beach.

I tell them silently what happens next...

I can hear Blume and Nightmare differences in opinion on the question.

Would you help the humans survive?

Help them bring forth another generation?

And avoid the end...

Blume doesn’t really care. She might be convinced if I asked her to. Nightmare has far more aggressive instincts.

She wants to know what I want.

I’m feeling sad. Like Ogre, sometimes, Nightmare is asking me to pick a side between humanity and daiûas of their kind. As if you couldn’t feel empathy. What do I want?

I don’t feel strongly either way.

It’s their power and choice, not mine. Not here. What I want is to continue our journey and welcome her child into the world.

Nightmare isn’t fully appreciative of my opinion, but she’s not enraged further. And there was no good answer.

While I sit there, eyes closed, I share bits of perceptions from them both.

I still mostly see what my eyes can see with my eyelids closed, but there is a slight hallucinatory haze, that makes me see pieces of what they do. And similarly, I hear them in whispers.

~

As he promised, General walked alone on the sand to meet them in peace, even raising his hands, approaching unarmed.

It didn’t take a genius to realise Night was at least an ambassador for the demons, if not one of them already.

Behind her glaring figure stood a behemoth of monstrous floral shapes, which was obviously her friend.

Blume replied with a human voice first. She said she’s not good at creating animals, and don’t really care for their demise. She’s always been somewhat indifferent toward human fate.

Nightmare however speaks more harshly.

She said she could craft humans any day out of swamp water and sperm if she wished to, but would not, because she did not want to help humans.

General was left speechless, or just thinking. He did not beg nor threaten them.

He turned back and left, without stating nor asking anything more.

But we all knew what would happen next.

They’re facing doom, and what they need to survive was refused to them.

I thought I was the first to realise what happened and would follow, and therefore had a little time to prepare my escape before the men returned.

As I saw a man pointing suddenly a gun at me, I realised they had somehow communicated very fast too. Ah yes, radios. Why did I forget...

An electrical shock made me fall, paralysed in pain. They tied me up and brought me to a jail cell.

~

As night was falling, I expected General to come and chat, but he didn’t. I guess there wasn’t anything left for him to ask me in this situation.

I could hear some activity outside my cell, where I was now handcuffed.

I still felt hurt and sad, but not dead worried. I was still in touch with my family even then. I was telling Nightmare to wait mostly.

I still would rather avoid a bloodshed, as much as possible.

Blume had begun dislocating a part of herself as a second body, rushed but still capable, while the egg went at sea and headed north floating gently away. Nightmare needed more time to craft something new, but she could still create known animals at insane speed.

Out of a muddy puddle, rose a flock of dark birds that spread over the area. Nightmare was ready to march to war. On one hand I didn’t like that but on the other hand, so were the humans, and they were not to be underestimated.

If fights were to happen, victory was not a given for either side yet.

As for me, I had to escape.

They might have nicknamed me Cinderella or Aurora because of some confusion over an older tale and the roses on my chest, but I won’t stay idle and just wait.

Blume knows. When there’s the choice between being a princess in her castle, or a witch in the woods, I’ve always chosen the later.

Silently, a lock of my hair decays, its colour fading to white.

Parts of my hair rapidly discolour, while my shadow grows over the walls and ceiling of this cell.

The light bulb fades into the darkness.

And my handcuffs melt.

Night has fallen. On my mark, Nightmare releases her power of old through myself.

The ones already asleep begin to sweat.

The ones awake begin to dream...

~

I hurt my shoulder slightly, but I broke the door to my cell open.

The guards are in panic. I hear screams of terror.

With the help of my toxic light, I break open all the doors in my way, and even overpower a massive but strange guy who appeared unaffected by Nightmare. My strength with Licht breaks his arm as I push him out of my way.

I reach the street, in the midst of an illuminated night.

The dark sky is contrasted by all the artificial lights and torches they threw out there.

I pick up one of the short and broad kind of swords they sometime use in the jungle. Its owner is on the ground, in a midst of a severe panic attack.

As I stand up, I see General, also seemingly unaffected.

He glares at me but doesn’t point his rifle in my direction. He may be in a bad day-dream as well.

G – I’ll give you one hour Rose... Maybe a day... After that, we’re coming.

I sigh.

I let Nightmare’s shadow extinguish all the sources of lights around us, and I escape through their absence.

~