Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night(whichever one it is in your part of the world),
Hi! I'm here to leave a quick review!!
First Impression: Well this was an exceptionally sad story here, maybe even than sadder because this time the person just has to suffer forever unable to even die there. Its a special level of suffering.
Anyway let's get right to it,
In the 1800s, there was a peculiar little town called: “Cord Arboretum”, which the young Chloe Thayer ruled over, Queen of it all. She had everything a girl could ever want, from jewels to silks, it was all hers.
But not her servant, Agnes Donahue, only sixteen years old, the same age as Chloe, in fact. Agnes had greasy black hair that just barely showed her pale, dirt-covered face.
She and her family lived in a rotting, dilapidated house before Agnes chose a life of servitude to the Thayers as a little girl. Her parents begged her not to, but Agnes had an unusual way of persuasion.
So off she went to work for the Thayer family or more specifically, Chloe Thayer.
Hmm well this is quite the start here. Just a simple little depiction of someone who had to do something to survive, but it feels like there's just a little more to it connecting it back to that one origin story from earlier.
Despite Chloe ignoring Agnes for most of her life unless she was useful, the servant girl always had a smile on her face. Before the Thayer family, the Donahue family lived in the slums. While working for Chloe, the Donahues lived in a cottage, with enough money for food, water, and clothes. With enough money for her parents and her little twelve-year-old sister, Thea, they were all set.
Besides, Agnes had something special within her.
Ooooh well that definitely answers a couple of things there as far as how Chloe treated her goes, but I have a feeling we're not done with figuring everything out just quite yet.
“Curses! Out of all the things my magic can do, it can’t help me with this?!” Agnes asked herself.
She was in the darkened, cobwebbed-room that served as her own room in the Thayer castle. She could leave only on certain days, and the rest she was locked away.
When Agnes was six years old, she had a dream. A dream with gold, diamonds, and rubies. A dream with many riches, all in the Thayer castle.
That was why she chose to work there. To find the money. To take it all home. To steal everything.
Well that's quite the ambitious reason to work in a place like that. I have a feeling that's not going to end well given what we know of the kind of people that particular family happen to be.
There was only so much jewelry that Agnes could steal from Chloe before she could catch on. A girl’s jewelry wasn’t the same as the entire family fortune, sitting tucked away in the castle.
But whenever she asked her mind to show her, something blocked her off. Something that penetrated her head like an electric-hot headache and left only blank images in its wake.
Is there someone in here who is powerful? Someone who is a witch, like me?
No, that was impossible. People could become witches, yes, but that was rare. An individual was either gifted with the craft or not.
Ooooh well that raises some important questions. I was thinking she somehow ended up doing something to Chloe but it seems they both were witches right from the start. Well that makes things significantly more interesting.
You’re wrong, Agnes. Magic is in everyone. There are those who are lucky enough to know it and those who, sadly, don’t.
It was the voice of her subconscious speaking to her. The voice that always saw the truth, no matter what. It sounded just like her own, except more smooth and less witty.
“But who? Who in this hideously adorned fortress could have magic?”
Odd things have happened, but a royal knowing how to do magic? Impossible! Absolutely preposterous!
Think, Agnes. You know.
But who? Who could…
Hmm well it seems like it won't take too terribly long here for Agnes to figure out exactly who else has the power of magic on their side here, which given how rare it is, isn't exactly surprising.
Chloe always had negative energy. Ever since I first met her, she had a black, billowing cloud surrounding her. She screeches like a banshee when she doesn’t get what she wants.
And wasn’t she just telling me that she could be two men? Van Death the colorful man and Hunter the ringmaster? It sounded baffling to me then, but what if…
What if Chloe could shape shift? What if, subconsciously, Chloe was trying to stop Agnes from finding the fortune? What if Chloe was a witch?
If that were so, then that would mean Agnes would have to find it all herself and risk getting caught.
A risk worth taking. Agnes thought with a smile.
Hmmm well this is certainly interesting there, getting a bit of a different perspective of Chloe. I mean she certainly wasn't the nicest in the other story either but this shows she seems to have always been that way.
Agnes sighed as she broke apart the thistle with her hands. Days of searching the castle and still, no riches. No nothing.
I’ll just keep looking. I can smell the silver. I know that it’s here.
In the meantime, she had to make a healing potion for Thea’s sore, blistering arm.
Suddenly, Agnes’ door burst open, the wood slamming against the wall with an ear-splitting bang.
"AGNES, GIVE ME THE POTION FOR VAMPIRISM! NOW!" Chloe yelled, stamping her foot impatiently.
Ah yes. Chloe. Why wouldn’t it be her? Agnes thought, a grin on her face.
Hmm it looks like Agnes is going to manage to prove this here. Let's see what ends up happening here. Given her absence from the part with Derek in it, you do have to wonder what became of her.
Agnes turned to face the Queen, who had tears on her face, just like a petulant child would. A petulant child who stomped her foot and slammed doors, interrupting people from what was important.
"And why would I help you? Your royal status doesn't change anything. I can just send you outside,or better yet-" She smirked.
"Hex you." Agnes finished.
What was the harm in telling Chloe, anyway? Chloe was a witch too. A very weak witch, but a witch, nonetheless. It wasn’t like her parents would believe Chloe, anyway. No one did.
Well this is turning out to be quite the interaction here given how young these two are meant to be at this particular point in time. Well, well, well that is certainly quite the surprise.
Surprisingly, Chloe didn’t flinch. Not even a tremble in her bottom lip.
"Because if you don't, I'll have royal guards kill your entire family." Chloe said softly and calmly, standing tall and confident.
There was something in Chloe’s eyes. Something that Agnes never saw in the Queen, ever. A clarity and clearness that said Chloe knew what to do and how to get it done. Agnes’ deep subconscious told her that Chloe was on the edge, bloody vengeance at the seams of Chloe’s soul.
Chloe wasn’t pretending.
Hmm well that is certainly quite the threat to put out there. This is escalating to levels I wasn't expecting from two young girls, even if they both happened to be fairly powerful witches.
"Okay fine, I'll help you." Agnes sighed.
Chloe gave a smug grin as Agnes placed the thistle back on the table and walked up to the wooden brown cabinet that held all the potions, including the vampirism one. Agnes had every potion for every occasion. There was no time to heal Thea, only time to help Chloe.
For the first time in her life, she felt truly, utterly powerless.
Welp it seems like poor Agnes is not really going to get a chance to do anything after all despite her efforts since she seem to have underestimated the power that Chloe had.
Why did she even want the vampirism potion in the first place? What was her deal? Agnes thought.
She still hadn’t found the riches, but she would one day. Just like how one day, Agnes would know why Chloe asked for the vampirism potion.
But that would wait. Family was more important.
Agnes twisted open the knob to her family’s house, a real, warm sparkle in her eyes.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come home earlier, I had something else to do…”
Her sentence was lost to time.
Well that looks like something terrible has gone down there for the poor girl. Definitely does not seem like that is going to end well there for her. I'm dreading to see what is actually laying there in front of her.
What lay in front of her was not her family, but bleeding, fleshy piles. Mounds, really. There were shreds of cloth, but they were like rags attempting to cover a scene of gore.
Agnes didn’t speak. Didn’t scream. It wasn’t real. None of it was real. The eyes on the ground that were still connected to veins, the disembodied arms, the scattered teeth, like lost prizes. None of it. It was all a nightmare. All of it was just a trick of her subconscious, to make her stronger.
“I know that you want me to be serious, but it’s not going to work. Hilarity is my calling. If I weren’t a servant, I’d be a jester. So please, kindly remove this dastardly image from my mind, oh lovely subconscious.” Agnes said, pinching her arm and squeezing her eyes shut.
Oooh I love that detail here. The shock of the image being so strong that she just straight up refuses to believe her own eyes. That alone tells you the sheer shock value of something like this and ho badly it is affecting her.
When she opened her eyes, the bodies were still there.
Agnes’ heart pumped rapidly in her veins. Her foot crunched on something thin and papery.
She bent down and picked up what was accidentally stepped on.
Upon closer inspection, it was a letter. But not just any letter.
I know I said that I’d only kill them if you didn’t listen, but you RUINED MY LIFE! You took Derek from me! Derek, my friend, my one true love. You made him HATE me! This is YOUR fault, Agnes. You deserve this.
Ooooh that's an unexpected tie in to that little flashback from the other story but it seems that was in fact true and wow it had far more far reaching consequences than I initially anticipated.
Of course it was Chloe. Why didn’t Agnes think things through? It was everybody’s fault except Chloe’s. Agnes was the one who made Derek leave her, even if she never spoke to the boy herself, even if she never acknowledged his existence.
Chloe still would have killed her family, she always found a way around.
Thea’s bright smile, Mother’s sweet voice, Father’s laughter.
Never again. Never again would Agnes get to hold her sister or hug her parents. Never again would she and Thea tease and talk with each other, never again would her parents ask Agnes many questions about how things were going at the palace.
Well looks like poor Agnes just lost everything there all because of Chloe really just being much too spoilt for her own good. That definitely paints Chloe in an even more negative light.
Agnes cackled shrilly. Her mouth was all teeth and no grin. There was no need to sneak around the palace anymore, searching for riches. Her family was dead! Slashed! Like slaughtered pigs! She was a witch. She had practiced her powers since the age of six and still, she couldn’t find the Thayer’s main source of money! Still, she couldn’t protect her family!
Agnes failed and she would have eternity to remind her. Witches never aged after sixteen. Her subconscious told her so.
Well that seems like quite the fate to have to suffer especially after having to suffer through a tragedy like this as well. Definitely makes for quite the horrifying backstory this.
Exactly like her subconscious said, Agnes lived on for many centuries and lived with many different names.
The 21st century came and she was Ashley Harding, the girl who lived all alone.
Sometimes in her nightmares, Ashley saw the bodies of her family, broken into meaningless pieces of meat, Chloe’s note in her hand, a million thoughts racing in her head, her heart speeding up as more words were read.
Even after many centuries, Ashley still saw them. Even after many centuries, Ashley knew that Chloe wasn’t done.
That Chloe was still out there, somewhere in the world…
Well that's quite the haunting ending there, just making it clear that she's still suffering an despite all these years she still hasn't been able to really escape from the horrors that Chloe does.
Aaaaand that's it for this one.
Overall: Overall we have quite the tragic backstory this. Definitely makes for quite the combination with that earlier origin story. Together you can really see exactly how much of a tyrant Chloe was and how even Agnes now had to suffer greatly because of her desires.
As always remember to take what you think was helpful and forget the rest.
Stay Safe
Kate
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