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Birds were chirping outside. Amalia groggily opened her eyes and looked out at the window. The sky outside was brightening but the first rays of sunshine hadn’t appeared yet.
The chirping birds outside didn’t comfort her as nature usually did. For her it only emphasized the empty quietness around her. She was alone and without the warmth of her family’s laughs around her. She heard the light footsteps and muffled voices of the inn workers outside. All the sounds made the musty room around her feel emptier and more solitary.
She swung her legs out of bed and tried to stretch out some of the tiredness from her muscles. The wooden floorboards creaked underneath her feet as she made her way to the small washroom.
She combed out her messy black hair and used a rag to rub some of the dirt and grime off of herself. She wanted to get out of this town and on the road to Bucharest as soon as possible. With each passing day she felt like her heart was constricting tighter and tighter with fear and worry for her family.
She dressed and tugged on her riding boots. Fastening her cloak, she opened the door and walked to the inn’s dining room.
The light smell of bread wafted through the air. One of the workers brought her a plate of breakfast. She hadn’t eaten an actual meal for a week. On the road, she had mainly subsisted off of cured meats and cheeses that she had packed. In between gulps of fresh coffee, she devoured the delicious plate of sliced bread and eggs mixed with onion and bacon in front of her. As the sun rose, the dining room began to fill with more people. The still, quiet morning was slowly shifting into a busy, lively one.
After finishing her food, Amalia gathered her belongings and returned her room tag and key at the check-in desk.
After getting her horse, she set off on the road, ready to reach Bucharest and reunite with her family.
On the road, she looked at the forest around her. Looking at it now it reminded her of a whimsical wonderland of sorts, not a cold, alluring abyss full of terrible nightmares.
Golden rays of sunshine shone through the trees. A new day was dawning that filled her with hope.
Insects hummed and the birds sang around her. A slight breeze blew her through her hair and rustled the leaves. Deep within the forest she heard the slight tinkling of bells.
And underneath the soft tinkling of bells, Amalia heard soft singing. It was a hauntingly beautiful melody that tugged at her heartstrings. It was not until she was at the forest’s edge that she realized that she was straining to get closer to the source of the music.
Why do I hear the sound of bells? There’s nobody for miles around, she thought.
Peering into forest she didn’t see anything. She only saw the thick foliage of the forest and the golden rays of sunshine pierce through the leaves.
She was about to brush it off until she noticed a horse farther up head. She cautiously approached the horse. A satchel and cloak were strewn across the edge of the rode and there was no rider to be seen.
Maybe it’s a raider’s trap, she thought.
The horse neighed and jerked its head in the direction of the forest. Amalia surveyed the forest again. Within the forest she noticed the outline of a man. He was walking deep into the forest, like he was in a trance.
She dismounted from her mare and tied her to a nearby tree. She then took a step into the forest.
The amulet at her chest pulsed. “Shit.” She knew something wasn’t right and she couldn’t just let that man walk blindly into danger.
The leaves crackled underneath her feet. With each step she could feel a sense of wariness build up inside of her. The tinkling bells were becoming stronger now.
The man was still very far ahead, and he was heading into a thick part of the forest where the beams of sunlight began to give way to dark shadows.
Amalia quickened her pace while trying to avoid the thick roots that threatened to trip her.
When she was close, she saw what the man was following. It was a beautiful woman. She radiated a pale silver light. Soft bells were tied to her ankles and her silver hair was adorned with black orchids. The long, white sleeves and hem of her dress swirled around her as she softly leaped forward and deeper into the forest.
She seemed to be singing to the man. Amalia still couldn’t discern any of the words. To her, the melody was beautiful yet still incomprehensible.
While hidden behind a tree, Amalia saw that the woman was leading the man to a small pond surrounded by small black and white orchids.
For a brief moment Amalia concentrated on her surroundings, feeling the energy of the atmosphere, and trying to understand what that woman was. She felt a strong sense of malevolence behind the beauty of that woman. That thing.
The amulet pulsed again, but this time more urgently.
Running forward she grabbed the man’s arm and yanked him around in an effort to shake him out of his trance. It was the young man she had stumbled into last night at the inn. That man. Although man might not be the right term for him.
“You can’t keep going! Something’s not right, you’ve got to turn back,” she told him.
It was of no use, he seemed transfixed by the melody.
“Don’t you hear it? They’re here to help me. They can take all of the pain away,” he said.
The woman approached Amalia. She reached up to touch the Amalia’s face, singing softly like a mother singing a lullaby. Chills ran up Amalia’s spine and she took a step backwards.
She knew this entity wasn’t good. She wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but she knew that it was using its song and beauty for as a trap to lure humans into its domain.
Her tattoos began to glow with light as she began to build up and emit her own energy to protect herself from the woman.
The woman shrieked and howled in pain. Her skin began to fall off in flakes revealing mottled, rotted flesh underneath. Her dress hung in tattered remains on her body, while the orchids in hair rotted. The woman gave a hateful stare at Amalia and sank into the ground, her body melting into the land.
Amalia realized what that woman was. The orchids. The pool of water. Her true form. It all made sense now.
Amalia had never seen one, but she had heard stories of men going missing after following the sound of bells and the beauty of a lady and her orchids.
Amalia grabbed the man’s arms and pulled him away from the pond.
“We have to get out here!” she yelled.
The man seemed dazed but shaken out of his trance. “Who are you?” he asked.
“Come on. We’ve got to go” she said. She took a step forward to lead them out of the forest, but she found herself unable to move. She looked down. “Shit.”
Orchid vines were twisted around both of their ankles in thick tendrils. The orchid vines tugged at them like hands, causing them to fall to the ground. Amalia felt a bolt of pain as her head hit the thick tree roots. The wind around her roared wildly. The trees and flowers around her rapidly decayed. The rotted trees twisted together into a wall of thick branches that blocked the path out of the forest.
The swirling tattoos on her skin began to glow as she concentrated the energy within herself. Thrusting out her hands, a sliver of piecing white light shot out from her hands, slicing through the vines at her feet.
When she looked back, she could see the man being pulled closer and closer to the edge of the pond.
When his feet touched the water, he screamed in agony. With each passing moment he seemed to be losing consciousness. His complexion becoming more and more pale.
Looking over she saw the man’s head disappear underneath the water. Amalia scrambled to her feet and ran to the water. With a deep breath she plunged into the inky black water. She concentrated her energy around her, allowing it to protect and surround her like a cocoon as she dove deeper into the water.
The magical energy coursing through her gave her strength and life as she felt the being’s corrupt magic trying to flow in into her body and drain her of her life.
Up ahead it looked like she was about to break the surface of the water. She was confused. It seemed that the going father down meant she was heading to another side of the world.
She broke the surface of the water and saw that the world around her looked like a small decayed swamp full of black, knotted trees. The sky above her was pure black with the only light coming from tiny glowing orchids that were scattered on the ground and in the trees.
She was in the Ilele’s domain now.
She could still sense the man’s energy, it was fading fast, but it was still there.
She could feel the amulet’s warmth on her chest as it glowed persistently in the dark environment. The tattoos on her arms radiated with bright white light.
Using her enhanced perceptiveness, she found him lying at the base of a nearby tree. His body wrapped in vines and fading into a silvery glow like the orchids that surrounded them .
She sliced the vines at his feet with silver beams of light. But each time she tried more vines appeared trying to wrap him again even tighter.
Placing her hands on him she felt the life coursing through his veins and the tainted energy running through the roots of the vines and she channeled her energy into them, trying to push back the corrupted energy in him and in their environment.
The vines pulled back and Amalia heard a howl of pain. Time to go.
To heal him she grasped the man’s hand, letting some of the light energy within her flow through the energy pathways within him. His complexion returned and his body began to re-materialize. His brown eyes flew open with renewed vitality.
Amalia pulled him up to his feet. They staggered to the shore and before they were about to plunge into the water the Ilele appeared again, a few feet behind them, but unable to touch them.
She was in her beautiful form again. The pitch-black darkness around her made her look like an angelic beacon of light. She looked at the man and began to sing, her melancholy voice echoing through the empty world.
You could stay here with me
Become my pretty, my light
No more fighting or crying
She held up her hand and offered him a glowing orchid, its soft illuminating light matching her own silvery glow.
Amalia squeezed the man’s hand and looked into the man’s eyes. She could see his resolve weakening. “We have to leave. Now.”
He nodded weakly. Tears were flowing down his eyes.
Without looking back, they plunged into the water, their hands intertwined as they swam through the dark water and back to their side of the world.
