Phalakros barely heard the hissing, but he yelped when a human suddenly appeared in front of him. Abruptly, he vanished in a cloud of black smoke, reappearing a few feet away. He was sitting upright against a tree, still in pain, but even more scared. Though, it was unclear what frightened him more, the human woman in front of him, or the knowledge that he’d just teleported.
He stared blankly at the woman, barely registering that she’d spoken to him. How could she be in the forests with him? How she could so suddenly appear like that? Was she even human? Or was she just another hallucination?
Sylvia only watched the strange happenings going on with slight confusion and pity. She slowly walked toward the creature, "Please, calm down. You'll be fine." Sylvia said quietly, rolling her S's as she spoke.
She softly ran her hand over the creature's black hair, "There, are you hurt? Do you want to come to my place?"
Phalakros whimpered as the woman approached. He then shied away from her hand, visibly shaking. Though, he winced at his own movements, his gut still hurting from the mysterious attack earlier.
“Wh… Who are you? H… how are you here?”he stammered.
The shadows behind her started moving, as if they were alive, oozing with darkness. It wasn’t real, but it seemed that way to him. They were coming. Those demonic serpents that haunted him. They were coming for him! And, she was leading them!
“Go away. I beg! Spare me!”he whined, falling to his side and crying.
Sylvie tilted her head. Why won't he calm down? The young lady wondered as she slowly withdrew her hand to her side. "Well, my name is Sylvia and I live here, in the forest," she replied while painstakingly trying to avoid seductively evil, knowing her usual tone would scare him even more.
"But I'm not going to hurt you…" it took a lot of self-control for Sylvia to not finish that sentence with 'yet.'
A cold gust of wind softly brushed against the trees; she shivered and looked at the terrified creature. "Here, please take this, please?" she begged, taking off her hooded cape and trying to drape it over the creature… male? She didn't know what to call him by then. "I need to get you inside before you freeze out here."
That’s why she’d appeared so suddenly. It made sense now. Phalakros must have passed by her home without realizing it. She may have even been the reason why he kept feeling eyes on him. Maybe… Hopefully.
The strange way she finished her sentence concerned him. Though, after the wind picked up, she… Sylvia… seemed like she genuinely wanted to help him. He flinched away when she tried to cover him with the cape, then tried to gently push the offered cape away.
“I do not need it. The cold does not bother me. You keep it,”he said shakily, his lisping, gutteral accent finally becoming obvious now that he was slightly calmer. He was telling the truth. He was naturally resilient to extreme temperatures.
The shadows continued to move, chunks peeling away to form individual creatures. Beady red eyes watched from many directions, all of them promising torment.
“Yet, I… I would appreciate shelter. I… I am lost,”he practically blurted, his eyes darting around with renewed terror.
"Of- of course," she said throwing the cape onto her own back after the male kindly refused her offer. Sylvia was very intrigued by his voice, a voice she had never heard before. "But please answer me, are you in any pain?" The natural villainess asked, genuinely worried.
"Oh," was her only reply. No wonder the poor thing was scared… "Well, we best be going. It's going to get very cold soon."
Instead of walking away, she inhaled deeply, making her eyes glow a vivid green once more and snapped her fingers. They both reappeared in a warm, lavishly decorated living room. A lightly aventurine-tinted but harmless flame was already kindled in the fireplace. Aside from the warmly painted wallpaper, the walls were laced with vines, mysteriously growing on the walls.
Sylvia looked around, "Huh, I did not think that would work," she breathlessly mentioned to herself. She turned to the creature in front of her, now able to see him a bit more clearly in the flame's light. "Please, make yourself comfortable," she motioned towards a couch behind him.
Phalakros hesitated to answer her question, wary that she might take advantage of his pain. Though, after a moment, he decided it was better to say something than not.
“I… I… Y… Yes. Yet, I… have no wounds. ‘Tis… like I was stabbed, yet… nothing truly hit me,”he shakily explained.
He nodded, but didn’t really move. His gut still ached from the strange attack. And, he was paranoid that the shadowy serpents above were crawling toward him, drawn to him by his pain. When they got to him, they would be after his blood.
Though, they vanished when he suddenly was in an unfamiliar room. The fire was green. Her eyes had turned green. He’d seen green before getting stabbed. Had she hurt him? Then, her words distracted him.
Phalakros watched her warily, but still didn’t move. He had no idea where he was, and Sylvia was still very much a stranger. And, a possible threat. Did he dare trust her?
Sylvia grew a chair entirely made of vines and sat down, "Would you like something to drink?" She thought about what he told her, like he was stabbed, but nothing truly… Her eyes widened in realization, she had never meant to hurt him, she only did it blindly. Unlike other things she had done in her life.
"Please, sit down." She noticed how he watched her carefully. Sylvia sighed; it seemed like it would take forever to make him feel less skeptical. She did not blame him for feeling that way, but for living's sake, she was trying her hardest to be genuinely cordial.
"So, what is your name and where are you from?" Many more questions fluttered through her head, however she restrained herself from asking anymore.
She pulled out a small glass bottle from her belt and popped off the cork, being careful to hide the label with her hand, knowing it would terrify the remaining daylights out of her guest or at least add to his suspicions.
(Btw, sorry I took forever to respond. 😅)
(Sorry! I’ve been on and off busy. And, my brain has been on and off working. I’ll get something up, I’m just not sure when)
(Don't worry! Take as much time you need. I've been hella busy as well. ^^)
(Hey, just checking in on you. 😅 Has life been treating you well so far?)
(Wave. Life has its ups and downs. I’ve been doing my best to break out of the Writer’s Block I’ve had. It’s been kind of working, but now I’m trying to get out of just dumbly staring at a blank page, so yeah, lol)
