A heart that's full up like a landfill. A job that slowly kills you. Bruises that won't heal. You look so tired, unhappy. Bring down the government. They don't, they don't speak for us. I'll take a quiet life. A handshake of carbon monoxide

-Radiohead

-ˋˏ ༻ʚ𓆣ɞ༺ ˎˊ-

"Ya' kids better pick a God n' pray to it 'cause you're gonna be in here for a bit," a scrappy-skinned man growls from behind bars. Evie tries not to scream at the sight of him.

It's been half a day since being locked up in the castle prison. Or at least, Evie assumes it has been half a day. There are no windows due to being underground. She has no sense of time and it's adding to the ball of anxiety in the pit of her stomach. Only two hours could have gone by, but she didn't know because it felt like a lifetime had gone past.

"Be quiet, will you?" Theo growls back at the man. He's sitting near the bars of his and Evie's cell. His head cranes down the hallway to look into the other man's cell. Ever since getting the handcuff removed from Evie, Theo has placed himself on the floor with his arms curled around his knees.

The purple prisoner then stands up and wildly bangs against his bars while yelling at Theo. The two have gone back and forth for the last bit after Theo refused to tell the man why he landed himself in jail. It seems like the man has finally cracked. If he wasn't in his cell, Theo would have been guaranteed a beating. Especially since Theo just now noticed the man had lobster claws instead of regular hands.

"Theo, leave the man alone," Evie groans from where she sits on the rock-solid bed that was provided. She's been attempting to sleep her troubles away but Theo won't stop ticking off their neighbors.

"YA HEAR THAT YOU SPONGE?," the lobster man raises his voice while his wild eyes bore into Theo's, "YE EVEN MAKIN YE GIRLFRIEND MAD." Arupt and amused laughter then follow his fit. Theo only rolls his eyes before going back to pick up the dirt from underneath his nails.

Right as you think the lobster man is going to stop creating a ruckus, he gets louder. Soon, his cellmate has had enough of it. An even larger and more muscular man approaches from the back of the cell. His skin was completely replaced with striped fur. Two large teeth poke out from his lips. He represents a tiger in the most threatening way.

Without saying anything, the tiger grabs the purple man by the back of his shirt. With a strong push, he sends the yelling guy to the concrete. It was t long until a fight broke out between the two. Everyone from different cells goes to their bars to see what's happening. Even Evie leaves her bed to see.

"You started this," Evie hisses at Theo while keeping her eyes on the sprawling men.

"Why are you being so rude to me?" Theo looks in his direction. He's tired and thirsty, and now his best friend is being a jerk. Fantastic.

Evie opens her mouth to argue, but a guard comes flying into their cell section. A large weapon surrounded by little bolts and lightning is held in his hand. After a minute, the two fighting men are separated. He leaves the lobster in his previous cage while he walks the tiger to another. Theo and Evie's cell to be exact. The two humans who are still dressed up as little sheep, move to another wall the make room for the new guest. The tiger doesn't even glance in their direction as he goes and sits down on some rocky furniture.

"You two," the guard points at Evie and Theo. They whip their heads around in surprise. The armored man continues, "Come with me."

Without any handcuffs this time, the guard leads the humans down the complex hallways of the castle. They even take a magical elevator that is a floating rock. Evie doesn't say anything but wonders if she's being taken to be executed like Dyer had suggested. She looks over at Theo's expression. He only looks mad as his eyebrows pinch together, and his gaze is on the polished floor.

Evie's eyelids blink rapidly to keep her tears from flowing over. Wherever ever she's being taken doesn't excite her. How could this happen? How could any of this happen? If Evie had the strength and size, she would fight the guard leading her through the complex hallways. That way, she could escape. But since she's half the size and without any weapons or armor, she keeps her hands to herself. Trying to be discrete, Evie looks around to see if she could escape another way.

"Don't," the guard twists his stiff neck to look at her. Evie's eyes snap back to his, big and innocent like she wasn't planning anything. The guard doesn't say anything else. It's enough to scare Evie.

Theo watches Evie wring her hands nervously. Endlessly, she fidgets. Theo keeps his composer despite not feeling any calmness. If he behaves, then maybe he'll make it out of the building alive.

The guard leads them down one last hallway to a large room. Once again, armored people surround the walls, watching them closely. This castle must have a large budget for protection around here. Above everyone, is a large chandelier. Larger than the humans have ever seen. They both crane their necks to gaze at it.

"Pay attention," their dedicated guard grunts at them. Evie and Theo snap their heads down to see two tall doors have been opened. The grumpy, and rather impatient man leads them into the next room. Theo assumes if his life were Super Mario Bros, then he would be approaching the final boss battle.

Evie stops in her tracks once she sees what's in the next room. From behind, she is pushed by following guards. The doors behind her then close, keeping her inside. She feels like she has walked into a theater without a stage. Soon she realizes it's much worse than that. She and Theo have been led to a courtroom. Seats surround all sides of the wall, but in the back are several large chairs. Almost like Thrones.

Evie and Theo are led to the middle of the space where there is a small podium. They are asked to take a seat and wait for a few minutes. Theo drags out a small wooden stool from underneath the table and waits for what happens next. Evie takes a seat next to him, her legs shake as she sits down. Theo wonders why there are so many spectator seats, yet no one is here to fill them.

After a long five minutes, a loud horn blows from behind them. The humans whip their heads back to see a plant man with some type of tree trunk instrument in her hands. Footsteps come from the other direction. Evie looks back to the front of the podium to see multiple, well-dressed, people march towards the row of thrones.

Nothing happens as they all take a moment to get seated. At first, Theo assumed they were here to watch, but then realized they were the council members who had just entered. He doesn't recognize five out of the seven, but he spots a nervous-looking Eloria on the edge, and Dyer sitting in the middle.

Evie holds back a cough. The room is so quiet and her throat is so dry. She tries making eye contact with Eloria, the only councilmember she trusts, but she only looks down at her hands. However, Dyer's eyes bore into theirs. For the first time, Evie notices his feet have been replaced with bird claws. This only makes her view him as more of a monster.

Guards surround all sides of the small podium. Dyer then opens his mouth to speak. His strong voice echoes throughout the room. "You have been brought here today because of your actions brought upon our council," he starts. The other council members nod their heads slightly. "Because you have found your way in the world of Ethera, you are considered a great danger. This problem has never occurred before. There is no written consequence to match this action. Because of this, the death of you humans is an option."

Theo's heart drops to his stomach. Sickness swells through his body while listening to what the councilman has to say. His eyes lowered to his hands placed on the table. Theo sways slightly from the overwhelming feeling. His head doesn't lift when Dyer speaks once more.

"However," Dyer drawls out, "After some discussion, we will not be choosing the death penalty."

Evie's eyes widen in hope. For a solid two minutes, she thought she was going to be killed. Her heart flutters and Elori's small smile catches Evie's eyes. The kind plant lady, one best trusted by Cosette, must have defended her and Theo. She had saved them.

A woman sitting to the right of Dyer starts to speak next. "You two are not free to be in Ethera. Especially without doing some service."

"We understand," Theo croaks out. He hadn't said a word since their trial had started. Theo immediately regrets saying anything. He wasn't asked to respond, why did he respond?

The woman nods her head gracefully. "It came to our attention that there was an abandoned crystal in the lake you found because one of our people who was sent to go into the human world has not returned. We assume that something has happened to her and she is now stuck in Earth."

Silence sweeps across the room. The energy is suddenly gloomy. The humans patiently wait for someone to continue. Eloria must sense this because she speaks next. Her soft choice, not as strong as the others, continues to explain their situation.

"So," Eloria gives them a serious look, "In order for you two to be set free from under our watch, we will be sending you both back to the human world to search for our missing person. If you manage to find her, then you will be released back on Earth."

Dyer then cuts Eloria off. He wags a finger towards Evie and Theo in the process. "And do not think that we won't be watching you closely during your mission. On that note, you can either choose the unlikely option: death, or you can pledge to complete our request."

The person who was originally playing the instrument earlier rushes forward to place a piece of paper on the podium. The humans are expected to read it out.

Evie, who just wants to get this over with, goes first.

"I, Evita, promise to,"

Dyer's aggressive voice booms over hers, "Your real name, please!"

Evie starts again, her heart quickens from the pressure. "I, Evelyn Hills, promise to complete my request."

It was as simple as that. Theo then pledges. "I, Theodore Moore, promise to complete my request."

As quickly as that line was said, the paper was removed from the table and the council members rise from their seats. The woman from earlier lifts up her dress to walk down the stairs. She approaches Evie and Theo. The woman looks like Dyer, a type of bird human that is. However, she flashes them a friendly smile when coming up to them.

"My name is Anwen, a pleasure to meet you despite being in a courtroom," she laughs at her joke. Theo reaches out a hand to shake hers, but she only looks at it quizzically. The people in this world must not shake hands. Theo drops his hand, embarrassed, but Anwen quickly starts to talk again.

"Welcome to Sedora! The capital of Ethora. This is the greatest city to be in. Especially if you are staying in this castle-like you two will be doing," she happily chirps.

Evie gives a fake smile, not sure how to respond. "Yeah, thanks. About where we are staying, our prison cell is right next to some threatening neighbors. There was some conflict earlier..." Evie rambles, but Anwen holds up a hand.

"You will not be staying in confinement any longer. You will be provided rooms, though you will be under the close watch of our guards. You will also be expected to join our council for dinner each night. You will be free to roam the castle, there will be plenty to do while you are not being prepared for your mission."

"This is much more than what we could ask of you, thank you so much," Theo smiles for the first time in a while.

-ˋˏ ༻ʚ𓆣ɞ༺ ˎˊ-

2072 words

Posted: 4/15/2024

I will not lie, the radiohead song in the beginning really gets me down, but it's so good.

Hope you have a good rest of your day, or not. Some days it's nice to not be okay