Ephemeral Elysian

Snow White [1.8]

Midas was extremely happy.

Amare had received a very rare vacation granted by Hein, who was extremely excited to have Count Wessley over to help him finish cleaning up the king's mess. Hein was so happy that he didn't even hesitate before kicking the king out of the castle for his day-off, too engrossed in the thoughts of not having to spend anymore nights doing grueling tasks and paperwork. With Count Wessley by their side, they'll have to suffer the hardships together. It wouldn't be just him anymore!

And because Amare was granted a short vacation out of the castle, Midas used that as an excuse to visit the antique store where the original Evil King went to buy the magic mirror. Amare readily agreed, wanting to do whatever Midas said.

Digging through his memories, Amare was surprised when he found out how the Evil Queen obtained the mirror.

When they were children, Amare found this old antique shop. He decided to buy something since it was Felicity's tenth birthday, and since he was six years old, he wanted to know what the store held. He was obviously taken when he saw the many trinkets lying around, but during his time there, the young Amare eventually found the mirror. It was slightly shabby looking, but he decided to buy it since his sister was always looking into her reflection, trying to appease their mother by making herself even more beautiful.

When he got home and cleaned the mirror, Amare went ahead and surprised his older sister with it. Felicity was quite surprised with the sight of his gift, but she happily took it in the end.

That was one of the more decent memories Amare had with his sister.

With that information, the blond knew the man in the mirror had a deeper backstory containing his relationship with Amare's sister. And because of that, the blond decided to speak with the mirror after his small trip to the store.

And so the king stood in front of an old shop with dusty windows, and a creaking door that didn't close all the way. The blond tilted his head, pondering why the young Amare would ever want to step foot inside this place. Certainly the child would've liked to shop in a place that befitted his rank, but he supposed the young Amare was just like any other children—too curious for his own good.

Before stepping inside, Amare looked back and signaled a man to come over, taking out a small pouch of money from the man's hands.

Since Amare was the king, it was natural Hein couldn't just kick him out without any type of protection. There was only three men Hein stationed to be with Amare, and they were exceptionally skilled hunters. All of them wore regular clothing, and Amare even slung over a tatted cloak over his shoulders.

"Wait outside... be good." Amare watched the hunters hesitantly nod before slipping away, leaving him to enter the shop by himself.

There were all sorts of old furniture and broken toys Amare curiously looked over. He placed a hand on a table, gathering dust from his finger tips before passing by a few more objects to get another look around this place. But when he passed by a dirty mirror, he immediately stopped and walked back, thinking he saw something wrong.

There was nothing special about it. It was a regular mirror, but instead of his reflection peering back at him, it was Midas, who gave a sly smirk to his host's incredulous look. His system was here as well, watching over him through the glass.

"Is there anything I can do to help you, sir?" An old woman came by, asking with a small smile. Amare quickly turned around and greeted her with an delicate grin.

"I'm looking for priceless antiques, maybe something... unusual?"

The woman hummed, "Ah, I see. Please follow me, sir."