Lily Flower

Pomegranate: Nails in the coffin

Potential mental manipulation by the former White Lily...

"Does that make sense? It's rather difficult to put into words, but you must understand. The Dark Enchantress would chase me to the ends of Earthbread. Ultimately, my decision would not matter..." The healer had continued to try and convince her but Pomegranate had stopped listening.

Mind bug. The suppressed memory. His single flower.

There were no lilies in the castle garden.

That request he had made of her...perhaps she could fulfill it after all. Only daisies grew in the withered royal gardens where the Dark Enchantress made her home, but what Pure Vanilla believed had grown was simply a facet of his psyche, a projection given physical bearing in the world.

She nearly laughed aloud. Mages, oh so affected by the whims of their mind! Pomegranate understood this intimately, as she was one herself. What is real and what is not becomes blurred, puddles of past and future coalescing into a chaotic mess of a thousand fractals, each more unattainable than the last. It always came down to the same few principles, carved over and over again until they were ingrained into the laws of the world.

Instability and degeneration.

Such was the price of a genius's magecraft. Their unbalance created a cascading effect: the breakdown of their senses and reality, which in turn erodes them ever faster. Yet Pure Vanilla's hallucination was too regular, too predictable, to be deemed a symptom of madness.

Instability and degeneration.

Parasitism?

The mirror dragged them both into a now-familiar garden. Shadows writhed over snow-white daisies, thousands of red strings digging through the air like leeches, the curse poised to rip and devour. Pure Vanilla hastily threw out a hand and the strings halted at his command, unsatisfied but allowing her intrusion. "Pomegranate, what-?!"

She ran to the flowerbeds, ignoring his confused exclamation. Pomegranate grabbed the stem of the singular lily and tore it from the dirt. What followed was not the roots she expected, but long, fleshy, writhing tendrils, thrashing about like a wounded animal seeking shelter. Every so often, eyes and teeth grew upon the roots rather than buds or fruits. This must be the mind bug that kept him from acting rationally and fleeing the castle. This must have been the creature of that distorted memory crawling among the sands.

Pure Vanilla froze.

"Do you know what this is?" She wanted to gauge his response.

"...my lily flower. I thought it was only there to represent my former friendship." he came and inspected it with unease. "What in the world..."

Evidently, he had been ignorant of the creature plaguing him. She raised the flower away from the fertile soil to prevent it from burrowing back into hiding. Pure Vanilla gingerly reached for the parasite. He flinched back when in squirmed but after a period of brief hesitancy, he snatched the flower's crown, ripping the petals from his pretty blossom.

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~70 years ago, prior to the Flour War

A monster huddled within the cave. It took the form of a woman with two black horns protruding from her hair, sharp fangs, and an aged appearance. She was so large that the cave could not properly fit her, her back crouched against the stone ceiling in a way that was undoubtedly painful. Even so, she remained, waiting for the other person to show. Her letter, doused with the overwhelming scent of lilies, would draw him here.

He arrived on cue. The blonde king entered the cave with nary a scan, visibly excited to meet her. He jerked in surprise when he saw her, the golden flower's leaves flapping in shock, but quickly got over the initial reaction. Pure Vanilla beamed up at her, and this was when White Lily shrunk back into a form that could easily converse with him. The healer embraced her when she shifted.