Cold was
abundant during the latter seasons of the year, with snow raining down on her
and covering the woman in a light layer of white snow. The female glanced ahead
of her, the flowers of the fuchsia trees wiggling amongst the leaves and
branches, soon flying free. A single blossom landed at her feet and the woman
picked it up, running her fingers over the smooth, seemingly ivory yet soft
petals which shone light silver under the sunlight. Snow and petals mixed
together, creating a savory, fragrant and lively smell that filled her with the
strange sensation of serenity.
Serenity,
she thought, that she hadn’t felt in the longest time.
Serenity
that was mind-numbing and emotion-locking.
The
sweetest serenity that could leave her knocked silly –
And Eri
Puellaesi’s emerald eyes widened with realization, dropping the flower and
crushing it under her heel. Immediately did the scenery around her shift,
spiraling back into where she truly was. The damned forest was the opposite of
the euphoric-induced hallucination the dogseong
sigmul nearly trapped her in, and she swore quietly upon realizing what she
was doing there.
She had
walked out of the facilities, shortly saying that she needed to collect
supplies from the forest. Briefly, Eri remembered Andi warning her about the sigmul, but she brushed off her
comrade’s warnings and insisted that she would be alright before running out,
sword in its place and the long, fluttery dark green robe flying past her.
“This
was clearly the wrong day to go out into the forest,” she muttered, drawing her
sword and scanning the area for any sign of threat. None greeted her and she
cast a wry look towards the seemingly menacing trees, which contained
yet-to-bloom sigmul. Another sugary
whiff caught her attention and she grimaced, stumbling back and backing away
from the trees.
“The sigmul are always
dangerous,” Jessica instructed. “They’re poisonous and toxic, and have sent
people nuts. You’d be stupid if you actually wandered into a plantation of
them.”
At that, Cissa rolled her eyes.
“Then how about you tell us what they look like, what smell they emit, the
symptoms if you’re under their spell and what to do if ever that happens?”
Jessica was about to throw a scathing remark, but Collette spoke immediately to
prevent a storm from happening.
“I think the last one is obvious.
Run like hell.”
Laughter ensured from all of
them, breaking the tension.
“Collette’s right. Almost.
Dogseong sigmul are usually fuchsia-colored, but they can range from light
lavender to a soft pink. But their most prominent feature is the smell. At
first sniff, you’d think you smelled the sweetest sweets there was. Sort of like
liquid bubble gum.” Alpha grimaced. “But the smell is hallucination and
hysteria-inducing. That’s why people have been reported to be going mad
lately.”
“What about the feelings? Like,
how do you feel if you smell it?”
“Well, Arturia, I’ve heard that
it makes the victim awfully loopy. It’s like a sneak attack. It makes you feel
all nice and comfortable, but then it starts numbing you from the head down
until you can’t actually move and just fall. When you fall, you stay there,
numb until you die, are saved because of your luck, or are eaten.”
“Let’s hope luck’s on our side,
then.”
“Wrong.” They all looked at Amaya,
who was shaking her head with a slight look of disbelief. “Be on your damn
guard. That’s why you all have weapon containers.” Eri glanced shortly at the
sword container by her hips, “To kill any. Single. Threat. You all understand
that?”
Somber nods came from the other
ladies in the room.
“Neugdae,” she muttered, hearing the
growling howl from far, far away. White fur and menacing teeth. “They usually
aren’t agitated unless someone agitates them-”
Sentence
stopping, she ran up north.
She had
memorized the path by heart, listening to the sound of the growls and the roars
that grew louder and louder as she neared. The woman hid behind a tree and
whistled a tune, waiting for whoever was there to whistle it back.
When
none came, she was both irritated and lit with worry. Drawing her sword from
its sheath, Eri counted to three silently and then charged at the animal,
appearing like a blur. She hacked its neck and landed neatly on the ground,
holding her sword and hearing the beast collapse from behind her. Crimson blood
trickled around and it got on her boots, but Eri didn’t notice, instead looking
at the person who was in front of her.
A brilliant
scarlet. She rushed to him and looked for any sign of wounds, but realized that
the immense red was because of his hair rather than anything else. “Are you
alright?” she asked sharply, prying his hands off his ears and finding a
crumpled sigmul. “Are you stupid? Do
you know what these things can do to you?” she demanded next, ripping the
flower off his hand and crushing it under her heel, burying it into the soil
and staining the crushed petals red. “The sigmul
and neudgae work together – the sigmul drugs you and the neugdae, seeing a new victim, eat
whoever it is.”
And
then, he looked up.
“I’m
afraid the sigmul have much worse
effects on me than before.”
* * * * *
The
first thing she felt was an obscure familiarity. Which was ridiculous, because she
had just met him on that day. So why,
she wondered, am I bringing him back to
my own home?
“What
were you doing out in the forest?”
“Gathering
supplies.”
She
rolled her eyes, yet he didn’t notice. “Why didn’t you know about the sigmul?”
The man
let off a small chuckle, cringing slightly at the pain in his ankle. “I thought
they only bloomed in the spring and fall seasons. That’s when people usually
cower and run away.”
“They
bloom in every season. The strongest in winter.” An empty silence greeted them.
“I must
have mistaken it for another flower, then,” she heard him muttering. Eri
couldn’t help the small smile that reached her lips and opened the door,
leading him inside and closing it after. She slid off the robe and hung it by
the hook, revealing her to be in a black, knee-length dress.
“Eri
Puellaesi, by the way. I thought saviors should introduce themselves to the
saved.”
The man,
who was now sitting on the wooden chair, looked at her and flashed a smile.
“Mathias
Gletscher. The situation has turned, Eri. I’m going to be explaining some
things to you this time.”
And the
smile fell from her lips upon her lips once she realized he was completely,
irrevocably different.
He had
discarded his own silver robe and instead of a traditional men’s attire, was
wearing a glowing black-and-blue suit that went from his neck down to his feet,
possibly.
* * * * *
She
understood clearly now.
There
had been recent talk about extraterrestrial planets and such, but this was
much, much different. Eri poured steaming tea into his own cup, Mathias taking
a sip much after.
“I
feigned weakness back in the forest just to catch your attention. I didn’t
expect the neugdae to appear, though.
I didn’t do anything.”
“They
have an amazing sense of smell and can detect humans,” she suddenly stopped.
Was this man even human at all?
He
looked the part, she had to admit.
“So
you’re immune to the sigmul?” her
tone was slightly accusatory. He merely shrugged his shoulders, glancing out
the window and catching sight of the falling snow.
“Unfortunately,
it seems that you have things worth hallucinating over.”
“Well, I
apologize if I’m losing those closest to me,” she retorted sourly.
At that,
he could only smile.
“I lost
a lover. But I’m not hallucinating.”
Dogseong Sigmul: Toxic Flora
Neugdae: Wolf
