✨🥀💎💀🌹Our souls won’t die alone [Part One] 🌹💀💎🥀✨

Hello!! i am here reviewing yet anither story

First impressions:

It is a little different than most of the stories I've read from you but definitely enjoyable just like any other one. It's quite sad and I will definitely read the other parts too (maybe today maybe later)



What I would improve:

I would say that it does get a tiny bit tiring with how long it is. It's long with a lot of information and character interaction so it does get a bit overwhelming but it's not too bad.



What I liked (specifically):

I like what it's about or maybe rather what i think it is. How tueur tries to collect many people/creatures and wants to save those he sees while moon wants to save the ones she doesn't by killing the queen.

The names! One thing I often mention in reviews are names. Why? Because good and interesting names make the story more interesting! The name in here aren't too hard to remember but they are interesting and match the vibes of this story.

Interactions. I like the interactions between the different people/creatures, ravens curiousity in tueur. How moon doesn't really seem too trustful with raven but wants to take the little fae with them right away. Maybe it's because raven is a human maybe a different reason and maybe it was said in the story..i just can't read well and remember it anymore.

Characters. Each of the characters have their own personality whether it's a cold tougher one or a caring naivety.


Summary of the review:

Overall it's good and enjoyable although quite long and not as easy to read as some of the other works..or Maybe it's just my increasing sleepiness, I don't know anymore. I liked the characters and the story. One thing that I always enjoy is that somehow your works seem to have this feeling in them that makes it feel like it's written about the real world despite being supernatural. That is probably all.
Smetana signing off, bye byee!!

P.S. I'm not too good at grammar since English is not my first language (just a small reminder if I already said it!!) im also new on yws so not too good at reviewing! (Not the best at least)

Hey there, the Rebel here from Team Aliens for a review on Review Day! I had come across this specific work a couple of times before, but I ended up procrastinating and never reviewed it. So, this was the perfect time, and this also looked like an interesting treasure trove hidden in the depths of the Green Room and I couldn't help but read it at like 3:20 am here in my time lol. So, let's get into it!

Overall Impressions: Interestingly, the narration is quite simplistic. However, it is also straightforward and neutral, without any inhibitions or imitations, so it all comes across as jarringly relaxing, breathtaking, and surprising -- depending upon the chapter and the scenes. Your narrative style would develop as you keep writing, but it gets really bland, contradictory, confusing, and biased at times. You have to look out for it. However, it really handles gore and horror well, so that's that.

Also, I see that you have a tendency of breaking off every chapter with a semi-cliffhanger. It is alright, and I actually like that trope, but your way of breaking narration to insert a random sentence at the end of a chapter, then starting the next one with anti-climactic events is really underwhelming. You should work on that -- either remove it all together, or actually make cliffhangers have real weight.

The characterisation of Tueur, Raven, Elisa, and Dani were all good in their own ways -- however I feel a total disdain towards the bias against Moon. You 'told, did not show' then simply ignored what you told and 'showed' her character to be the opposite of what's told. That doesn't make for good storytelling.

Your description of environment, magic and battle are really good, however! I have no complaints on that end, keep it up!

Now, let's get into the specifics, shall we?

Chapter One-Dreams will fall into nightmares

Long ago, in a Kingdom known as Rosesilk, named after the roses that had a silk-like quality to them that grew there in abundance, there was a human Queen called Margaret Iris’lani, who ruled over the Kingdom of elves, vampires, faeries, and humans peacefully and fairly. In fact, everything in Rosesilk was like a glittering dream, so iridescent that one could hardly believe how good things were.

That was, until Margaret had “mysteriously disappeared” and was replaced by her twin sister, Queen Cordelia Iris’lani, who took a rather different approach to ruling Rosesilk.

Where her sister believed in keeping everyone happy to make things run smoothly, Cordelia believed that everyone had to give up any sick family member to royalty because they were “useless” and so, if those orders were not followed, she’d send soldiers out to kill everyone in the house and any outsider who wanted to help, no matter how old they were, as there had to be a “message” sent to those of Rosesilk.

There were those who did as she said for fear of what would happen if she didn’t, those who left Rosesilk for better places, those who went about their lives and hoped that they could cure their sick family member before the soldiers patrolling the area found out about them, and then, there were those like the sixteen year old Tueur Alchembark and his fourteen year old sister, Moon Alchembark, two elven siblings who were planning to take down the Queen.

They had combat training which was helpful but not entirely like those in royalty, they had a plan, but not a plan that could guarantee their safety.

There were many, many possibilities that they wouldn’t survive, but it was like that when they stayed home.

So one night, Tueur and Moon set out on their journey to the Queen’s palace, telling no one, taking with them weapons they could keep in bags and utility belts.

Even if it was just the two of them, they’d still fight for what was right.

Tueur’s black boots crunched against the dried leaves as he followed Moon, whom he had to warn not to go too far by making the roots or the skeletons of animals tug at her ankles until she got the hint.

Tueur was a tall, pale, gaunt boy with spindly claws. He found all things that were dead or undead to be fascinating and he hoped to one day find a way to contact ghosts, to hear their story. He could control the trees because the trees were the most connected to those that were buried and skeletons and corpses of those that had died. He mostly used trees, but when he had to use skeletons, he would animal skeletons and treat them well before he let them rest in the ground. He saw no use to control the skeletons of Rosesilk citizens…yet.

Naturally, he wanted to wear clothes that would reflect his interest in the dead and undead, that would show everybody in Rosesilk that he wanted to speak with those that had passed on and so at the moment, he was wearing a white lace blouse where the sleeves bloomed out like flowers at the ends, a purple corset decorated with black lace flowers just to add some simple flair, black pants that had ripped-up holes from sword fights with Moon, and black boots with many interlocking silver buckles and chains, so that if anyone heard it, they would know that he was coming. Tueur had made sure to take the chains off of his boots when they were leaving the village so that nobody would hear them, then put them back on to scare off anybody else in the woods. If that didn’t work, then his appearance certainly would, for his knee-length blond hair, though brushed, had an untamed quality to it that made it look like a shroud over a dead body, a poor attempt to make him look more alive.

Tueur used to speak, but he took the Heartstring Oath when he was fifteen, which meant that if he spoke, the frequency of his voice would kill anyone who heard it and that his voice would only lose its venom after he found the one person he wanted to marry, the one true love of his life. It was an age-old elven custom. Some believed in it wholeheartedly and took it, like Tueur. Some didn’t and saw it as a waste of time, like Moon. Sometimes elves found their true love and sometimes they stayed silent forever, but either way, Tueur found it to be touching and had no regrets with taking the Heartstring Oath.

Moon, on the other hand, was a short, peach-skinned girl whose waist-length blond hair was kept in a braid, tied back by flowers. She wore a lace blue dress that looked appealing and also didn’t have too many unnecessary layers, so that she could run and fight freely. Likewise, her shoes looked like silver pointe shoes but felt just like boots. They didn’t make a sound and they would be better for sneaking up on enemies. Also, they just looked nice.

Moon had a strong desire to right all wrongs and fight off anything that stood in her way. Tueur was actually in front of her earlier but she had begged to go up front so much that he had let her, watching her closely with wary eyes, making sure that she didn’t stray too far.

Tueur understood how she wanted Queen Cordeila to be stopped fast, but he wished that she wasn’t so eager to rush, because the Queen’s soldiers could be waiting in any corner, because as long as Cordeila was the Queen, they would never be safe, they-

Tueur could smell blood. Human blood.

The human blood didn’t smell like it was contained. No, it had a looser quality to it, like it was spilling out. There was a low, muffled sound accompanied by the blood that Tueur at first could not understand, but as they walked on, Tueur could hear it more clearly and he could detect that it was a scream.

If Tueur could hear it, then so could Moon, so why was she still walking? Didn’t she want to save others? Didn’t she want to help? Didn’t-

Tueur reached deep inside of himself until he could feel his own power pulsing inside of him and then, he used that power to control the tree roots and pulled on Moon’s ankles, asking with his mind, since he couldn’t use his physical voice:

Why aren’t you stoping?! That person needs help!

“We can’t stop now. Once we kill the Queen, we’ll be able to help others. Killing the Queen is our main priority right now.” Moon said as she turned around, an expression on her face that looked like a cross between anxious to get to the Queen and thinking that she knew better than Tueur.

Both thoughts were ridiculous, because what if by the time they got to Queen Cordelia, those they ignored died? Also, Tueur may have been older than Moon by a few years, but that still meant that he had more experience of the world, more knowledge.

So, he ran towards the screaming, because it was getting to be loud, so hurt, that he couldn’t try to ignore it anymore.

………………………………………………………………….

After a few minutes of running, Tueur could see that there was a boy who looked to be around his age sitting on the ground, a piece of cloth wrapped around his mouth as though to stop himself from screaming too loudly, while he tried searching in a brown leather bag for anything to help with his wounds…

The wounds in question being his bleeding, gutted chest, his intestines spilling out of him. The boy breathed weakly, feebly and from the wild look in his eyes and the pale tone of his skin, he was near death. Tueur could sense it.

The boy must have heard Tueur’s chains on his boots, because he looked up at Tueur just when he was getting closer and…

Tueur hitched a breath. He had seen humans before, but that one…that one had such deep green eyes, the shade richer than that of emeralds. The scars on his face swirling and intersecting like charm lines that faeries left on his skin to give him blessings. His shoulder-length curly black hair looked so unbelievably soft that Tueur imagined that it would feel softer than anything he imagined. Even his scarred skin didn’t look too rough to touch!

But the boy’s breaths were becoming much fewer and Tueur felt that the boy’s essence was slipping away from reality, so he sat down on the ground, facing the boy, and reached into his pocket, taking out a rose petal and flicking it at the boy’s face. Each rose of Rosesilk had different magical abilities, one of them being to put people to sleep and if Tueur really wanted to help, he had to make sure that the boy wasn’t terrified of him and attempting to run away, for Tueur knew that he did not look like most elves.

It was just one brush of the rose petal on the boy’s skin, but it was enough to make the boy gently close his eyes, Tueur making sure to catch the boy in his arms before he fell to the ground.

With the boy in his arms and the boy’s bag next to him, Tueur tried to look for something that would heal the boy, but found nothing but bandages that would not cover up the wound well, food rations that were almost done, and extra clothes. Tueur had assumed that the boy had some kind of special medicine to heal himself, but no, he had nothing.

Tueur looked back at the boy, who was still breathing, albeit very, very, very quietly. It was amazing, how the boy was even still alive in the condition that he was in, but Tueur had to act fast if he wanted to save the boy.

Tueur plunged one of his claws deep into his own chest, until he could feel his rib cage and then, he pulled out a bone from there.

With both claws and a bit of magic, he melded and shaped the bone to be strings, then, he collected the boy’s organs and placed them gently back inside, sewing up the wound so as to stop further bleeding. Really, he couldn’t believe that the boy hadn’t died yet, that-

“What are you doing?”

Tueur ignored Moon and with a flick of a claw, made the roots in the ground wrap around the boy’s wrists so hard that the boy woke up, green eyes sparkling with shock.

“Who-who are you? Did…did you just heal me?” The boy asked, looking down at his chest and noticing that blood spilled from it no more.

“Yes Tueur, did you heal him? Because if you did, then that means that you have to be careful, because you know that the only way to heal any fatal wound without bandaids is magic and-“

So you admit that his screaming was a result of a fatal injury. Well, much more than a fatal injury. He was going to DIE, Moon! Do you really think that I should ignore that? Do-

“All of this is unfair, but we have to focus on killing Queen Cordelia. Once we kill her, we’ll think about helping the others. It’s the most effective way to fix things and it won’t result in you or me having to take out parts of ourselves. It’s less of a danger risk.”

Tueur turned to glare at Moon, his younger sister who thought that she knew better, that she could tell him that what he wanted to do was wrong. How could she go about her talk of being a hero when she didn’t even want to stop to help those less fortunate? Judging by the boy’s white tunic, light brown pants, and dark brown boots, all of which were stained, he didn’t have much and without Tueur’s help, he would have bled out to death.

But why the cloth on his mouth? Wouldn’t he want help? Wouldn’t-

“You guys are going to kill Queen Cordeila?” The boy asked, jolting up from Tueur’s lap with renewed energy, his eyes alight with interest.

“Yes, why do you ask?” Moon asked, her tone of voice wary, as though she were ready to attack the boy if he didn’t choose his words carefully.

Goodness, she was being dramatic. All Tueur did was help. The boy was just a human in need of being stitched up, he didn’t do anything wrong!

“Oh, it’s just that I was leaving for the Queen’s palace myself. I’m planning to kill her too. Can I join you both?” The boy asked.

Moon probably wanted to say no, but a human boy trying to kill Queen Cordelia all by himself? The boy was bound for an unlucky fate. Sure, the Alchembarks never had to worry about dying, but wouldn’t it be unfair to leave a boy with such lovely dusky green eyes to die out in the woods, especially when death was such a glaring fear for humans?

So, Tueur nodded at the boy, ignoring Moon’s protests, for she would just have to deal with him being around, because there was no way he was leaving him behind.

Wasn’t the whole point of their journey to help those that needed it?

………………………………………………………………….

Moon seemed annoyed that Tueur let the boy come along with them, but she must have realized that Tueur wouldn’t listen to her, so she stopped bringing it up.

The boy, however, inched a little bit closer to Tueur and whispered:

“Why did you help me?”

Tueur smiled, for that was quite a silly question for the boy to ask! Why wouldn’t Tueur help him?

You were bleeding out, so I took a bone from my rib cage and used that to stitch the wound up. You didn’t think I’d just let you die, did you?

The boy took a few steps back, his green eyes wide with shock. Tueur couldn’t help but feel a little confused, because he hadn’t said anything particularly puzzling, so why would the boy be surprised?

“You don’t talk with your mouth. You took the Heartstring Oath. You’re an elf, but…but you don’t look like any elves I’ve seen…I-“

Why do you care what I look like? Tueur asked, not with any judgement, but interest. The boy was taking the time to really pay attention to him, just like Tueur did with the boy! In a way, it was sort of sweet.

“I-I didn’t mean to be rude, it’s just that I’ve never seen anyone who wasn’t a vampire look both alive and dead. I still can’t quite believe that you took out a piece of yourself to help me.” The boy said, looking at Tueur in awe.

It’s not that much harder to believe than how you survived that wound. You said you were going out to kill Queen Cordelia, didn’t you? Did one of her soldiers get to you?

“Yes, they did. Honestly, I don’t get why I survived and my parents didn’t. Why should I be the one to live and my parents the ones to die? It doesn’t make any sense, it-sorry, I’m telling you all of this stuff about me and you probably don’t care. Elizabeth tells me not to do this, and yet I go on and do it anyway!” The boy said, cringing at his own words.

I care. Why do you think that I wouldn’t? Don’t feel bad for wanting to talk about what’s haunting you, especially at a time of such peril like this. Now, out of curiosity…who is Elizabeth?

“Oh, Elizabeth? She was a friend of my parents. She takes care of me. Why did you want to know who she was?”

Just curious. You must have heard the names of me and my sister before, right?

The boy nodded.

So what’s your name, if you’re going to stay with us?

“It’s Raven. I know, it doesn’t sound like a name for humans, but my parents gave me that name because of my hair. Can you believe that? All because of my onyx black hair!” Raven said with a laugh that went from sweet to sour in a span of a few seconds.

It’s quite alright to not go by people’s expectations. Tueur laughed.

Perhaps Raven was so curious as to why Tueur didn’t look like any particular elf because his own name wasn’t particular to humans? Maybe Raven just wanted to know! Either way, it was quite intriguing, how Raven was interested in how Tueur had a deathly pallor, because most people were either too afraid or too judgmental of him to ask more on why he was the way he was. If they asked, then Tueur would happily tell them about how the dead were beings that were trying to communicate, about how the dead were not to be feared, about-

“Tueur, look!”

Tueur stopped. What Moon had found was a section of the woods that was covered in a pink mist, a pink mist that could only mean one thing: They were in faerie territory.

But that wasn’t the reason that Moon had cried out for Tueur to “look”. Faerie territories were normally filled with music in the air, even when there was no celebration, because it was in their beliefs that music was what pushed life to go on and if there wasn’t any music, then life would be forever stagnant.

It was all silent, save for the soft sobs of a child.

The child in question was a little pale faerie girl, only slightly smaller than a human girl, with long, leaf-green hair, wearing a flower crown of hydrangeas, a pastel pink dress, and no shoes. Her thin, gauze-like sparkling golden wings drooped off her back, like it was weak enough to pull off.

Tueur hoped that Moon wouldn’t insist on leaving the child behind. Even if she did, he’d still take the child with him. There was no way that they could leave her behind, especially since she seemed to be the only survivor left in the faerie territory. Tueur could feel the air of death all around them, he knew that faeries had been slain.

But Moon knelt down to face the little girl and asked if she was okay in the sweetest voice, speaking as gently as possible.

“I-they’re all dead! We were all going to move away, but the soldiers found us, and they killed everyone, but they…they took away my parents and said that they had to go because they were protesting before and that they had to learn their lesson and-“

“Are they with Queen Cordelia?”

“Yes! Yes, they are! I want to go and save them but I don’t know how I’ll be able to do it because there’s so many of them and there’s just me. I don’t…I don’t think that I’m strong enough.” The little girl sniffled, wiping the tears away from her hot pink eyes.

“You don’t need to worry. Come with us and we’ll help free your parents.” Moon said, extending her hand out to the little girl.

Meanwhile, Tueur thought that he’d yell if it wasn’t for the Heartstring Oath he took a year ago. He very much did not want to leave that poor child all alone in a place where her loved ones died, but how could Moon criticize him for helping Raven while she was doing the same for the little girl? What made it different? Didn’t she say earlier that it would be “more effective” to not get distracted by helping others?

“You…you will? Why?” The little girl asked, the expression on her face in between pure hope and pure disbelief.

“Why wouldn’t we help you? We’re working to take down the Queen and if your parents are locked up because of her, then we’re going to make sure that you reunite with them, because that’s the right thing to do. Now, I’m Moon, this is my brother, Tueur-“

The little girl had flinched a little when she saw Tueur, the swirling sadness in her eyes briefly replaced by sheer terror.

“And…and that is…what’s his name, again?” Moon asked, not doing anything to hide her disapproval.

“I’m Raven.” Raven said, shifting a bit uncomfortably.

“Right. He’s Raven. And what’s your name?” Moon asked.

Though the little girl kept glancing over at Tueur as though she were afraid that he would hurt her, her tears had stopped and when she turned to look at Moon, she said:

“I’m Elisa. You said that I can come with you, right?”

“I did say that. You can come with us and we’ll do all the fighting. We’ll just do our best to bring you to your parents.” Moon said.

“You will?” Elisa asked with a bit of a smile.

“Yes, we will. We’ll do our very best.”

Tueur wasn’t sure if Elisa still had any optimism left in her to trust Moon’s words or that Moon would be able to keep her promise, but Elisa must have held onto some sparkling faith in the goodness of others, because she took Moon’s extended hand and got up from the ground, joining them.

Moon and Elisa were talking to each up front while Tueur and Raven were in the back, Tueur not quite believing how his sister was willing to save Elisa and not Raven. He wasn’t sure if Raven was thinking about it as well, but he didn’t want to bring it up, out of fear that Raven would feel uncomfortable on the subject manner about his life.

Raven kept glancing at Tueur as though he wanted to say something, but he didn’t. Tueur could see his green eyes flicking over to his face every few seconds, he could see it, but he didn’t say anything. He wanted to give Raven the chance to speak his mind, to voice what he was thinking.

The glancing up at Tueur went on for a few more seconds until Raven asked:

“Forgive me if this is impolite, but why do you look like that?”

Tueur chuckled a little, amused by the question. So Raven wanted to know why he looked undead? It wasn’t a surprise that he’d have his own questions, but Tueur was glad that he asked instead of being too frightened to.

I’m sixteen now. I’ve been devoting my life to connecting with death on a deeper level ever since I was ten, so when immortal beings like me connect with death, it reflects on us, it makes us look very much like the corpses we want to converse with. As for my sense of style, I just love colors that aren’t too bright on the eyes.

Raven looked amazed by what Tueur said, but he could see that there were more questions that he wanted to ask and goodness, he’d be happy to tell Raven more, because he never got to talk about his passion back at home.

“What do you mean when you say that you want to “connect with the dead”? Can you talk to ghosts? Can you…can you summon ghosts?” Raven asked.

There was another question that Raven was asking, a question that was veiled underneath what he said. He wanted to know if Tueur could bring back Raven’s parents. He could see it in Raven’s eyes and hear it in his voice.

I help brutally killed animals pass on. A lot of them are not taken seriously and are treated as merchandise, so I help them find peace in death. Sometimes, I bring their skeletons back to life and treat them as my own pets before letting them rest again. They’re still the same soul as skeletons. I want to do more, though. I want to find out what’s in the afterlife. I want to help humans pass on. I want to see if I contact ghosts. No one else is going to teach me about death, so I’m going to teach myself.

“It’s funny, how you don’t have to worry about dying and yet you still wish to know more, but any step I take, any decision I make, could lead to my end and I try to brush it off my mind.”

Is it? No one is truly immortal, Raven. Sure, humans have a higher chance of dying, but there are weapons that can kill elves, vampires, and faeries. Queen Cordelia is doing exactly that to citizens of Rosesilk, remember? I just want others to know that death shouldn’t be taboo or feared. It can be just as beautiful as life.

“I agree, but it’s unfair that the people are dying now.”

Yes, it is. It’s not their time and yet they are being taken away.

The air became heavy with the weight of what was happening all around them, with the fear that Queen Cordeila had reinforcement waiting to snatch them up and slice them to bits. Her soldiers couldn’t possibly be in every part of the woods. There had to be a limit, but nobody in the group knew what that was. Nobody knew who would live or who would die and Tueur could sense Raven’s discomfort at what kind of death awaited for them all, the fear emanating from him as old, unsavory memories crept in his mind.

Tueur had tried comforting people before but found that he ended up doing the opposite. Was it because of the way he looked? How he wasn’t exactly “cheerful”? Both?

Tueur didn’t know, but it hurt a little to see people shrink away from him when he was just trying to help, when he was just trying to be kind. Most of the time he didn’t care, but sometimes, it really hit him, how much people thought of him as a monster.

So Tueur didn’t say anything, just to make sure that he wouldn’t make whatever Raven was thinking about any worst. Silence might have been just the thing to keep Raven calm, to keep his mind off encroaching thoughts, to-

“Wait! I have to go help a friend right now.”

Tueur and the others stopped upon hearing Raven’s words, for right across from Raven was a girl who looked to be around Moon’s age sitting on the ground, wincing as she pulled out wooden stakes that were keeping her feet in place, preventing her from running.

The girl had pulled out both wooden stakes successfully, but her feet were bleeding out deep red blood that looked black at the ends, like it was burnt. A sure sign that the girl in front of them was none other than a vampire.

“I don’t need any help, Raven. I’m a vampire, I can take care of myself.” The girl said with annoyance, but a flicker of a smile was in her red eyes with black sclera.

“But you’re still bleeding! What if it takes too long to heal? What if it doesn’t heal at-“

“I’m going to stop you right there. Unless it’s at the heart, then all wounds heal. Look.” The girl said, gesturing to her feet.

Sure enough, the blood had pooled back inside of her feet that wore white socks in black Mary Janes, as though there were no stakes impaled in her feet a minute ago before.

The girl was wearing a silk mauve dress with dashes of burgundy. Her ginger hair was in messy curls around her freckled face and when she looked at the group standing in front of her, she seemed mildly afraid of Tueur, but otherwise, in good health.

“You know, Raven, I should be asking you why you’re out here and where you’re going. You know how dangerous it is the closer you get to Queen Cordeila’s castle, right? Especially since you’re a mortal and-“

“Dani, I know that I’m mortal, but it’s better to go out and do something than doing absolutely nothing. Besides, I’m not alone, I have company. We’re all going after Queen Cordelia…I assume that you’re doing the same?” Raven asked.

Moon looked at Dani with the same kind of distrust as she did when she looked at Raven, Elisa seemed curious, and Tueur wished that Dani wasn’t so strong on her belief that she would be fine on her own, because anything could happen to anybody and it was better for her to come with them if she sought out to end Queen Cordelia.

“Yes, I am, but I don’t need to come with you. I’ll be okay by myself. I can’t die, I-“

“What if you do die, though? What if they kill you? Then what will you do? Sooner or later, they’re going to-“

“Why are you telling her to come with us when you’re not the one in charge? It’s not your decision to make, it’s-“

Moon, the last time I checked, there was no leader in this group. You said you wanted to help people, right? If this girl needs help, then-

“I don’t need help though. I’m fine.” Dani said, getting up from the ground.

She was fine then, but there could be any moment that she could die, just like what Raven said. Who was to say that she would be the same way later on?

Raven sighed, as though he were getting slightly more panicked and frustrated with Dani and said:

“In any case, we’re better off going together than you are alone. Even vampires could use some help. Please, Dani, I don’t want you to go alone.”

Dani looked at the others, then at Raven, then at the others, then back at Raven. She pursed her lips, then said:

“If it makes you happy, then fine. I’ll come with you.”

And since Tueur could already sense an argument coming from Moon, he channeled the energy of the trees and made them tug at her ankles, soft enough to not hurt her, but hard enough to let her know not to leave Dani behind.

Because truthfully, Tueur didn’t mind having more people join them. If they felt safer with them, then so be it.

Dani talked to Raven for a bit, then she walked by herself, and then, she joined Elisa and Moon in their conversation.

I’m sorry about Moon. She seemed fine with having Elisa join us but not you and Dani. I’m not sure why, I thought she’d want to have a larger group to kill Queen Cordelia.

“It’s fine. Elisa is a child, Moon probably was more willing to help a child than the both of us because it’s just easier to trust a child. But I promise you, Dani won’t do anything to hurt you.” Raven said.

Of course she wouldn’t, she was just engaging in conversation with the girls! She didn’t feel like a threat, Tueur couldn’t sense anything dangerous about her! It was only a place of misplaced judgment, just like how most people thought of him.

“Dani is just like me. She lost her parents and her little sister to Queen Cordelia, all because her parents were going to move her and her sister away. Her little sister was sick, but they were going to find a cure…all she wants is to impale the Queen, to bring justice for her family. In fact, the only reason that she took the vampire potion was to live longer than her, to have more of a chance to kill her than as a human. She wants Queen Cordelia dead and I want to make sure that happens for her.”

Tueur looked over at the girls, who seemed to be connecting more with one another. It was nice that Raven wanted to help bring justice to what happened to Dani’s family, it gave hope to his heart that sometimes felt hollow.

It’s good that you want to help your friend out. You still care and I promise, me and Moon will make sure that the Queen dies.

“I’ll always care for those I love. And speaking of the Queen, there’s her castle.” Raven said, looking off at something in the distance.

The girls had stopped walking. There was an area not too far from them where the trees had cut off into a clearing where the lavender castle with white spires stood, surrounded by patrolling soldiers. It was Queen Cordelia’s castle that was only a few feet from them, but one question remained:

How would they get in?

The five of them crouched behind a cluster of rocks so that the soldiers wouldn’t see them. They were a good distance from them anyway, but still, they wanted to hide just in case.

“We could try looking for a secret door that leads to the castle. Maybe there’s a secret door here on the ground and we can crawl into it to get inside without them knowing that we’re here. There’s a lot of doors like that back where I live.” Elisa said, already crawling on the ground in search of a secret door.

“I don’t think any of the Iris’lani sisters would have ever made any secret doors to their castles, but you can check.” Moon said.

Dani’s eyes flickered lively with an idea that Tueur detected to be filled with violence from how intensely alive they looked, like the fire that burned down villages.

“If Elisa can’t find any secret doors, then I’ll just kill all of the soldiers outside while the rest of you get in.” Dani grinned, smiling with her teeth as though she wanted to show off her fangs.

Tueur guessed that Moon had told Dani the names of everyone in the group so that she’d know them all better. The way Tueur saw it, they had to know everyone’s names even if they’d never see each other again, because something as simple as knowing one another’s names would lead them to connecting a bit more and thus, having a better chance against Queen Cordelia.

He also just didn’t want anybody to refer to one another without names, it didn’t sound right and quite annoyed him so.

“Dani, you’re just one vampire. I don’t think that you’d be able to kill all of the soldiers.” Raven said, the expression on his face reading a tad concerned but not quite entirely surprised.

“You keep saying that as though I’m completely helpless. I’m not. I could tear you all apart if I wanted to.” Dani said as though she were offended by Raven’s words.

Actually, we could all tear one another apart if we wanted, except for Raven. But we’re not going to talk about that, are we? We need to find a way to get in. Any ideas? Tueur asked, for while he would love to watch all of the soldiers bleed to death, one individual attempting to kill all of them did not seem enough. Besides, how long ago had Dani made herself a vampire? Could she use her powers as effectively as an older vampire could? They had to find a way to work together.

“Dani didn’t have a bad idea there. I think we all should go out and fight. I mean, it’s going to happen either way. Why prolong the inevitable? If we all do it, we’ll have a better chance of winning with all of the soldiers out of the way.” Moon said.

The soldiers could also have weapons that were specifically designed to kill them all and there were more soldiers than the five of them, but Tueur didn’t bring that up, because they would most likely have to fight them all at some point.

“I didn’t find any secret door.” Elisa said, just then walking up to them, her wings dragging on the ground, a glum expression on her face.

“That’s alright! You can fly over everyone else! We’ll do all the fighting…if that’s what everyone agrees on.” Moon said.

Elisa’s pale face went whiter than it normally was and she asked:

“What if they shoot me with arrows or cannons? What if I can’t fly high enough? I only just started flying seven feet off the ground last week!”

Moon pursed her lips, then said:

“You just have to try to fly higher off the ground, high enough where they can’t see you. We’ll all fight the soldiers. We’ll make sure none of them hit you. Right?”

You could even fly in the line of trees while we fight them if that makes you feel better. Tueur said, for there were trees all around the castle that Elisa could fly in before actually going inside the castle.

Elisa looked at all of them as though she were thinking it over, then she said:

“I’ll do it.”

“And we will do what we can to protect one another. Isn’t that right?” Moon said, brandishing the sword from her belt.

Raven took out his daggers, Dani extended her claws, and Tueur would use his powers.

That’s absolutely right. Tueur said with a smile, making sure not to grin with his teeth.

There still needed work, but Moon already seemed like a better leader.

…………………………………………………………………

When they rose from the rocks, Moon ran towards the soldiers with her sword, Raven with his daggers, and Dani with her claws. There were a lot more soldiers out there who had given them a few wounds, but Tueur had used the roots from the ground to twist and turn their spines. It was a fight that wasn’t quite organized, but at least bodies were falling, blood was being spilled, people were dy-

A crackle of ashot fired in the air. Tueur looked up and saw long ropes circling in the sky and pulling Elisa down. He then tried to go deep, deep into the ground to search for any skeletons, but-

Something burned his wrists, bonded his wrists, was it…it was…a rope covered in Peonilanna, the only plant that could poison elves, either severely weakening them or killing them depending on how much of it was used.

In Tueur’s case, he could feel his wrists going slack, it felt as though his hands were going to fall off, that was how much it burned…and Moon’s wrists were being bonded too, presumably by a rope also covered in Peonilanna from how Moon screamed from the pain. Dani appeared to have her claws tied behind her back with Tulie’sanna covered ropes, from how her eyes cried tears that had spots of black in them, as though they were burnt.

And Raven…his organs were bleeding everywhere out of his body, his breaths were short and small.

As the few remaining soldiers dragged them all off into the castle, Tueur wished that Raven weren’t alive to experience the agony he was feeling.

How could he still live with his organs pouring out?