The castle's stairs fell faster than when we went up. I didn't feel obligated any more, I was doing what we had to. Getting it done and continuing it. Delusion was eager to help, she ran down with us after giving us direction to the closest loved. I felt like Āpala running out of the castle. Our speed wouldn't change much, but I felt as if I had hopped on a train and couldn't step off without the momentum carrying me into a wall.
Stella panted behind me as we got to Āpala's old college. It was still the best college in Fayha, and was packed with people partying. The people were surrounded with a handful of pumpkins surveying, but also interacting with the party goers. Delusion wasn't out of breath either and we started to push our way into the crowd.
"Excuse us." Stella said.
A person accidentally bumped into her and I lost sight of her. Loud music and people cheering covered her disappearance. Delusion was still behind me and stayed close. There were so many people at the entrance to the college and in the first room. I'd never find her here.
The music slowed to switch songs. "Heo!" Stella's voice rang to the left where the people who bumped into her headed.
"Stella." She was in the corner with a pumpkin standing next to her.
"Heo…" She stretched out her hand.
"Fine."
I grabbed her hand and also took Delusion's also. Both hands were polar opposites, Stella's warm and soft, Delusions cold almost fridge stiff.
"She's not in this crowd, just follow me."
"Ok." I said, dragging Stella with us.
The Pumpkin's face winked at me as we turned to delve back into the crowd. I stepped on my shoe lace and fell on top of Delusion. Dust flew off Delusion as we hit the floor.
"I'm sorry." I turned and looked at the pumpkin who was now laughing and pointing at me.
"Don't worry about it." She picked herself up and reached out to help me up.
"Heo, tie your shoes next time."
"I do. That pumpkin must have undid it."
The pumpkin's shoulders went up and head turned up and away. He wore a bright orange suit and had candy stuck to his clothes.
"He's innocent, Heo. Look how cute he is." The pumpkin brought its gloved hands up and hid his eyes. "Aww."
"Yeah, sure, let's go." I tied my shoes and watched the pumpkin.
We attempted to go back into the crowd, the pumpkin giggled behind me. Delusion was smaller than everyone here and people either almost hit her or got out of her way. She was shorter than five feet and people didn't even double take her scars on her eyes, mine did get a handful of more looks though.
We eventually got to the end of the crowd and music. I let go of both their hands. There was a long hallway that Delusion walked us down. Eventually she turned and opened a random door. An empty lecture room echoed with the sound of the door.
"She's in here?" Stella asked.
"Sixth loved, Appealing." Delusion said.
An old woman sat at the front, her wrinkled hands flipping through an equally wrinkly book. She looked up at us as we walked in. Her old face became more wrinkled at us.
"How can I help you three… kiddos?"
"We're adventurers, well… uh."
"I'm Stella Estellé, this is my cousin Heo Estellé and our friend Delusion."
"Just call me Erika."
"Our buddy Erika."
"I see." The old woman closed the book. "Why have you come here so late to my class?"
"Did you know Āpala, the crude king?"
"Personally?" Stella added.
The old woman smiled. "No, I didn't."
"What?"
"Heo, in the nightmare they never talked."
"Oh, so did you ever see him? Or remember him?"
"Maybe something about his looks?" Delusion asked.
The old woman's face brightened up and she flipped back open the book. Across the cover said class of forty forty-six. She flipped the pages expertly and landed on a page with a few class pictures. She warmly held it up. It was a picture of a class with the younger Āpala looking focused at the front of the room. His notebook was filled with dividers and extra note paper glued to each page.
"He was pretty cute." Her eyes wrinkled with her face and smile.
We all three looked at each other, then back at her. She flipped through the pages happily.
"We never had a class, but I sure wanted to see him a bit more. Haha." She laughed, and I saw Delusion's body glitch for a second. "How would you have known I knew him before he was king?"
"Have you heard of the banshee of the castle or the crude king nightmare?" Stella asked.
"I have."
We explained a shorter version of the nightmare, mainly explaining the loved. Appealings face had lost some brightness as we talked. By the time we finished her book was shut and in her desk. I didn't even see her move.
"So, what you're saying to me, is the only reason he's cute to me is because of this curse? Well, that's very unkind." She looks around her lecture room then back at us. "I've only lived to one-hundred and two because of this curse?"
"We're sorry to both tell you this and ask if we can help." Stella said.
"I'm in the same boat as you. I should have been dead, yet my body won't even age."
"Delusion…" The old woman laughed. "Erika I mean. Thanks for coming to help me. Now that you mentioned it I really only came back because I loved my last year so much. The year I saw him a bunch. I never had any intentions of becoming a professor let alone teaching anything. That's why I'm down here while there's a party going on. To enjoy the festivities, while staying unharmed, haha." The old woman still smiled again.
"Why don't you go enjoy the party, we are strong adventurers, we'll make sure you're unharmed." I said.
She laughed. "I'm still watching them. I even saw three little girls trip over one another."
Stella's face went red and Delusion turned away. "I'm offering you to try and live the life you had before kenosee affected you."
The old woman looked down at her desk, then she lifted her head up with a strange face on it. "Sure, I'll let you accompany me there."
…
The old woman and Delusions steps were both so light you couldn't hear them in the quiet part of the school. The woman wore a simple grey dress with a black sweater over it. When she walked down the hall to the ever growing noise she laid her hand along the brick. Delusion's body glitched one more time.
When we got to the party, some of the crowd saw the teacher and made room for her. Others called out her name and cheered. The pumpkins when everyone was turned towards the Appealing pulled something out of their suit pockets. They all cocked their hands back and threw toilet paper around the crowd, along with sparkles and glitter.
One of the people in the crowd picked up a toilet roll and tossed it back at the pumpkins. Very quickly a war broke out between the pumpkins and the party goers. Somehow the pumpkins with at least fifty less people were dodging and hitting more. Appealing face grew warmer, color filling her wrinkled face.
Stella ran out and grabbed a lost toilet roll. She ducked behind a pumpkin and chucked it at a party goer. Delusion hopped down towards them too. The scene was getting louder and more active as more and more people betrayed each other and tossed rolls at their friends. Giggles from all the pumpkins resounded in harmony.
I looked over at Appealing, maybe seeing her how Āpala saw her while walking the hall. "Here." I handed her a toilet roll.
"Oh. I can't throw, haha."
"Yeah you can." I put an enchantment on it, one I never practiced. "Try."
"Fine."
The roll hummed, the spell holding. She threw it limply, yet it shot out and hit a pumpkin square on its carved face. Appealing's face grew even brighter. I stepped in front of her, taking a roll to the chest. I caught it and laid the spell back on before handing it to Appealing again.
Half an hour went on, Appealing getting to live some more fun out. Paukena may have intentionally started the fight to help, but I'm not sure. Ultimately though, we don't know if that worked. I'm not hoping they fall over and die, but more of not forced to have the feeling.
We slipped out through the chaos, I left a couple of more rolls for her. We didn't want to bring up Āpala again in an attempt to break the curse. Then we headed to the same hotel me and Stella frequented, or lived at.
Stella and I after getting ready for bed split the beds up and gave Delusion the other bed. Stella was already fast asleep by the time I was ready. I had to send an email, something I never did, then plug my phone in. Looking to my right, Delusion's eyes were shut also.
I reached over and turned off the lamp. Night soon filled the bed room also. I slid under the warm covers then tried to shut my eyes. I shivered, and opened them. The room was still black. I turned over on my side away from Stella. On the other bed, bright green eyes looked straight up, not illuminating the room but haunting it.
I moved over on my other side, throwing the comforter over my head and trying to fall asleep with a new nightmare in my head. Sweat building up unusually much on my body.
…
I woke up barely rested. The next loved we'd go find would be the fifth loved, Eluding. The hotel had breakfast, so we ate and quickly left. Delusion taking longer to eat hers. I guess she has never eaten before. Eluding ended up not world famous or anything like that, but a successful artist. She still lives in Fayha, just an hour train ride from Festival.
In the mountains of Fayha. The train of west Fayah traveled around the continent's center in a circle going through the mountains. There was a break off farther down the continent towards Tober which was on the southern end. The northern regions were more and more rural with most major cities being close to the trains or just a bit off. I've also heard that their ghost towns are popular paranormal investigation sites, though most paranormal can get chalked up to magic. Specifically the town closest to Tober was abandoned when the tower started growing.
Stepping off the train in the small town we had a bit of a hike up part the mountain. At least it wasn't while carrying a carrot cake. Appealing decided her job because she wanted to return to Āpala who wasn't there, the same way Āpala wished Limerence would be at his college when there was no real chance.
Eluding paintings, especially the ones credited as the most emotions put in, are all paintings of love and eyes. Āpala had never talked to her before, just stared, really heavily too. Eluding to never be seen also I could see.
The house was a mansion in price but was really small and sweet looking. We rang a door bell that was on the small stone hoppable fence.
A voice came through from the other end. "Sorry, no visitors."
"Sorry mam. If you'd hear what we say really quickly, we aren't here for any art of yours or to offer you anything or steal or…" Stella started listing off more nefarious actions.
"We're here to discuss the crude king Āpala that you went to school with." I said.
"Hmm." The stone fence opened up.
We walked through and up to the mix of pink wood and dark stone door. I went to knock but it opened on its own.
"Ah."
We walked into the house, Stella and Delusion taking off their shoes. Delusion's just glitched away, the glitch also radiated through her body. She definitely isn't human, does she count as a dragon or more of an egoweapon? Well whatever process creates egoweapons probably happened to create her, right?
"I'm in the room down the hall."
We followed the voice down a hallway made of pink wood. It opened up into a giant glass deck overlooking the edge of the mountain. Giant canvases were thrown around with one currently standing perfectly aligned where the sun rises.
Eluding still had her silver hair and blue eyes, now with another open set below them. Her silver horns still show out of her hair. She looked only a bit older than before, but felt ancient. Online it says she's one-hundred and born the same year as Āpala and a couple more loved.
"Now why come and ask me about an old classmate? You have me curious enough to stop my painting."
The painting was of a giant eye, a void black on the outside with light blue wind blowing through the painting. Similar concepts were scattered in papers around her and hung on her walls. Delusion's body glitched again.
We explained kenosee and the nightmare to her. Her eyes widened as we finished. She pulled out a sheet of paper and continued drawing something out.
"So…" Delusion's body glitched in our confusion.
"That class I had him with, I had heard all the terrible things about him. I avoided him because of it, and as much as I could between classes, but something called to me about him. After hearing stories from classmates about him it was really hard to not see him as some sort of living legend. Though some called him the Hero of Chaos type of legend. Not something to be proud of." She continued to sketch.
"Did you like him?"
She stopped writing, pausing for only a second. "Maybe, he was very noticeable, smart, attractive, quiet, but I guess now really loving. If i'm being honest though beyond anything he's scared me. His eyes when they looked into mine, or when I refused to look his way, tore at my face and clawed at my body. I can't get the vivid feeling out of my mind even if it's over sixty years ago."
"Have you ever painted him?"
Delusion shivered and her body glitched. With the frequency of these my eyes were always slightly on her. Her face went red slightly every time, and she'd let her bangs fall over her eyes.
"No, but I'm too scared to see them again, I want to avoid them. I guess that might be the eluding feeling, huh?"
"I like art in the way of fighting and magic." I said walking closer to her.
She looked up from her sketches and raised her eyebrow. "Why say this out of nowhere."
"Becuase, we should stretch our brains and make a new painting, avoid of any other thing you've done before. Completely opposite, nowhere near it."
She looked down at her sketches, then sighed. She tossed the sketches to the floor and pulled more paper out.
"Also, a new scene. How about the front of your house facing down towards the town?"
Delusion smiled and Stella walked up beside me. "We can help you down there if you'd like?" Stella asked.
"I'm a full dragon, I can still move decently well." Delusion's body twitched then glitched.
We headed towards the door, Eluding walking fine. We got to the porch and got her to sit down on the steps. She started to sketch something, avoid of eyes and any feeling too, maybe.
She stops and turns to me. "You practice your magic too then. I can't be the only one practicing something new."
"Oh, sure."
I hopped over her and to the front yard. My features tightened up as I tried to think of something different from my normal.
"Ahhh… Mmhhh."
"What are you doing?" Eluding pointed her pencil at me.
"I'm thinking of something to do differently."
"You say you like the art of magic yet you don't understand that." She sighed. "Use a reference."
"Oh, great idea."
I pulled out my phone and went to videos I've saved. I scrolled past a lot of magic videos, none taking me too much. Videos of magic weapons, weapons imbued with magic, magic items, spells, legal enchantments. I sighed and re- scrolled from the top of all my videos. Weapons…
"Oh!"
I summoned paukena's sword and swung it. I gave a little more intent behind it, trying to swing it properly rather than with all my strength.
"Nice, Heo." Stella called.
"Hahaha. Watch this."
I swung my sword down once more trying to make it as powerful as possible. I lost any focus I had, one hand even slipping off entirely. Though the attack was a pretty strong feeling. Stella's face went still and didn't reward me with any praise.
I tried again. My hand slipped off, but a decently powerful gust of wind resounded from the slip air. I tried again. I tried again. I tried again. The same result came and Stella's face was unchanging.
I took a deep breath then tried again. My hand slipped. Dangit! Fine, I'll do it with just one hand. I slashed down once again my other hand mimicking the swing while not touching the sword. The attack came out stronger than the others.
"Haha look at that!"
Stella sighed and didn't praise me. Well I don't need to do this then. I tried one last time, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke. It was, the attack came out weakest of all the others, but Elduding was done with her sketch.
Stella and Delusion looked over at her then laughed before I got to them. Eluding had sketched a photo of me swinging my sword with half my fingers off the sword and my other hand not even holding it, but behind where the attack came from, the page was torn. She had drawn a cape falling from my scar. In a spiral from the blade were flames shooting to the end of the cape.
"I guess this was pretty fun. To do something I'd honestly never draw before. It only gave me more ideas. Thinking more than just the inside and outside of the box but both parts hanging in and out."
"What does that even mean?"
"It means I can't wait to throw away my current canvas because of you and do something new."
"Sorry."
"Don't worry about it. You've seen all the scattered canvases and sketches. I've needed something, I guess, devoid of emotions, just for fun. I started using my paintings as therapy instead of as a hobby or even a job."
"Wow." Stella said.
"What I do next is for me to know and for you to dream of. I'm bursting with all these wants. I can't wait." She jumped off the steps and ran back to the chair in the back of her house.
We walked up to the door and shut it before leaving out the stone gate.