Erivale: The Lost Princess

Chapter 10: Part 2

After the rest of my lessons for the day, I returned to my room. My fingers were once again itching to paint, and I was excited to try to match the bright fuchsia-colored leaves from the gardens today.

The sights of Erivale were an artist's dream. The colors were so bright and pure. The land rose and dipped in ways I never thought would be possible. The night sky was always awash with the brilliant aurora. Everything here was a visual feast for my eyes to continually devour.

I only hoped that I would soon be able to travel outside of the palace, and maybe even outside of Ithica, to see what the rest of Erivale looked like.

I would start with Leda's home city of Calathea. During our time together, I would often pepper her with questions about her home and the Syreni. My mind was always awestruck at the idea that the cities were not only on dry land but that they stretched under the depths of the ocean as well.

A Syreni had both a land and an aquatic form, allowing them to seamlessly transition between the two. Their aquatic form was marked by a giant fish-like tail. From the waist down, the legs fused together and were covered in scales before fanning out with fins at the feet.

Calathea was a large city in the tropical waters of Breeze and was not only home to Syreni, but also the Nereides. The water sylphs did not have an aquatic form and thus lived on dry land. Even so, they could breathe underwater, allowing them to travel and communicate with anyone within the underwater cities.

Leda's words always made my mind explode with colors as she described her home. Everything there was colorful. Tropical flowers dotted rich green foliage with red, yellow, and pink colors. All of the buildings and structures are made with various sands, usually light tans and pale pinks. Seashells decorated the homes and streets.

Tonight would only continue the discussion, and I was eager for her to tell me what it was like to live underwater. Entering into my room, I paused on the threshold when Fenrir let out a tremendous growl.

The entire time I had been around Fenrir, I had never heard him growl at me like that. It was a warning growl, and I was immediately afraid. Ulric's own warning those many days ago that Fenrir was not a pet flashed in my mind.

Fenrir stood next to the wall on the far side of the room with his hackles raised and his ears pinned back. The reflective yellow gaze was fastened on the panel. A panel that looked like every other wall panel within this room.

"Fenrir?" I tentatively asked.

His ears perked up straighter, and he swung his gaze to lock on me. He gave the wall panel one last look before hurrying over to me. Using his body, he rammed into the back of my legs, knocking me forward, and I had to take a step to balance myself.

"Jesus, what was that for?"

He went to do it again, and I took a few more steps forward to get away from him. He suddenly ran towards me, and I was afraid he would bowl me right over, but instead, he just brushed past my leg and then stopped at the foot of my bed.

A sinking feeling began to grow in the pit of my stomach. The last time Fenrir was agitated and gesturing towards my bed, I had found the note warning me of danger.

It was like déjà vu now as I slowly stepped towards the bed. Sitting amongst the plush comforter was a crisp piece of paper about the size of an index card. With shaky fingers, I carefully lifted it up and turned it over, revealing my next message.

The handwriting of the note was beautiful calligraphy written in midnight black. I wondered why such a terrible message had to look so alluring. Amongst the finery of the letters were words, "Those close to you are the most dangerous."