kitanyawrites

[kitanyawrites]

At first I couldn’t understand what had just happened. I stood blinking in confusion for a moment as I took in that we had just stepped from the edge of a disturbing forest into a glittering palace. The room was vast. Polished bone-colored tiles covered the floor. The walls appeared to be some sort of pale marble shot through with shimmering swirls of something that shifted colors from gold to blood red and everything in between. Pretty much everything else was of some shining black material that looked like obsidian, beautiful but sharp.

After registering that the room seemed to be a foyer, with doors, hallways, and stairs leading in all directions, I realized my arm was no longer being held in a vice-like grip. When I looked to my captor, she was standing a few feet away, watching me adjust. Once she seemed to determine I was paying attention she motioned for me to follow her and headed towards one of the halls. I was relatively sure that running wasn’t going to get me anywhere other than in more danger, so I followed. Her passing made no sound, but my footsteps scuffed as I walked, the sound seeming to be unable to travel through the thick silence of the halls.

After what felt like only a few minutes we had taken so many twists and turns I was completely lost. We stopped outside of a black door with a gold symbol etched into it. The woman opened it and swept me inside. It was a suite, and although the colors were severe, the fabrics and shapes of everything in the first room screamed sumptuous comfort. Before I could think to ask any questions the woman shut the door behind me and I heard it lock. Another jolt of fear shot down my spine, but there wasn’t much to be done about it. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, but I was too full of nerves to truly relax.

Instead, I decided to explore the suite. I had no idea how long I had to live, but I had always been pretty practical and now seemed like a good time to stick to that. There was one doorway in this room, and I followed it to find a bedroom even more luxurious than the main room had been. A four-poster bed was draped with gauzy black curtains parted to reveal a blood red bed with a ridiculous number of pillows. There weren’t any windows, but there was a dim light everywhere, similar to how it had been outside.

Shuddering at the memory of the strange forest, I moved to the other door in the bedroom. This led to a bathroom that would almost have looked straight out of a period piece if not for the colors. Everything was either the pale marble of the hallway walls or the gleaming obsidian of everything else. The clawfoot tub was more the size of a jacuzzi, though, and the toilet looked ultra-modern yet still fit the room. I moved to the sink and looked in the oversized mirror hanging there, taking in my appearance.

I had fallen asleep in my clothes, only taking off my shoes, so I was still wearing jeans and a t-shirt that said “I’m a blessing in a very convincing disguise.” I felt a pang of worry as I thought of my mom waking up alone in the motel room, not knowing what had happened to me, but I didn’t really know what was happening to me either. I pushed the pain away and continued my assessment.

I looked no worse for wear despite sleeping on the ground. My long wavy blonde hair was somewhat tangled, but it always got that way when I slept. My pale blue eyes weren’t bloodshot, so I must have had *enough* sleep at least. My skin was also pale, but I couldn’t tell if it was any worse than usual. Somewhere out there, I suspected at least one of my birth parents was Nordic., but I’d never had interest in finding out.

Satisfied that I was still in one piece, I made my way back into the main room just in time for the door to unlock and let in a young woman. She squeaked in surprise as we stared at each other for a moment, then smiled ruefully and laughed. “So sorry, I didn’t realize they’d brought you yet. The first vessel usually take at least an hour to wake up.” Her curiosity was clear, but she’d said that word again. Vessel. She seemed friendly enough, so I decide to try for some answers.

“I’m lost here. What’s a vessel?” She blushed and nodded.

“Right, of course they wouldn’t have had time to explain anything to you yet.” She finished stepping into the room and closed the door behind her. She was carrying a pile of what seemed to be clothes, and sat them down on a chair before turning back to me. “You and I are vessels. A vessel is a human brought to Rylae to serve as a source of energy for the fae.” At the sudden horror spreading across my face she waved her hands to try and dispel my concern. “They’re not going to eat you or anything! The fae feed on emotions, and apparently humans are the most reliable and powerful source of those.”

Her words did little to reassure me. “Fae? Like fairies?”

“Don’t let them hear you say that. They hate that word.” She was dead serious. “Apparently they used to come to Earth themselves to collect vessels, and sometimes stayed there, but as humans became more widespread and made better weapons they decided to just use magic instead. That’s how we have all the folklore and stuff.” She was eyeing me as if she expected some sort of freak-out.

To be fair, if I hadn’t already seen what I’d seen so far, maybe I would be in denial, but I clearly wasn’t in Kansas anymore, Toto. “Ok. Right. Fae.” My voice cracked a little on the last word and I closed my eyes for a moment to calm my rapid breathing before asking what was foremost in my mind just then. “Why me?”

The maid looked sympathetic and shook her head. “I have no idea. As far as I can tell, the magic they use selects random people from all over the world. No one’s ever really explained the magic to me, but maybe since you’re the King’s vessel...” She smiled encouragingly, but my heart sank. How could she be so calm about this?

“What does a... vessel... do? How do they...” I couldn’t say it.

“How do they feed on our emotions?” She reached out tentatively and patted my arm when I didn’t recoil. “They don’t really need us to do anything. Just existing is enough for the basics.” She frowned. “Some fae are better or worse to their vessels. I’ve heard them speak about it, and I figure it’s like having a favorite food. Some prefer love, some like excitement, others fear.” She went pale. “At least one likes pain. But no one is allowed to feed from another's vessel, so you’ll be safe.” Her smile was lopsided at first, but she shook off the darkness of her thoughts before I could say anything.

“I’ve heard the King is one of the more benevolent ones. And you’ll have the best of everything. Speaking of which, I brought you some clothes to change into before you meet him.” She gestured to the pile she’d carried in. “Normally I would have had it all laid out and the bath running before you arrived, but like I said, you were early.” She looked at me with what seemed like a bit of admiration before holding out her hand to shake. “My name is Michelle, and I’ve been assigned to be your assistant.”

I blinked a bit. Michelle had given me a lot of information, and my mind was reeling. She led the way through the bedroom to the washroom and turned the taps on the tub. Hot water immediately streamed out, steaming the air. “So all humans who come here are vessels?” Michelle nodded. “And they... feed on us. Ok. But what about when we’re not having our emotions consumed?” I motioned to her. “You’re helping me right now, so I guess you’re some sort of servant? Are we all servants to the... fae we’re assigned to?”

She shook her head. “I happen to be a vessel for the steward, so I get assigned various tasks around the castle. Or I did, before I was assigned to help you.” She smiled brightly to let me know that wasn’t a problem. “The fae have their own tasks, and their vessels generally just end up serving in a similar capacity. Some do things differently. I’ve seen some vessels worked to the bone so their fae don’t have to lift a finger, and others who live really pampered lives because their fae like them content.” She shrugged. “It seems like a pretty even mix to me.”

I thought about that as she gathered soaps from a low cabinet and I stripped from my clothes. I’d never been modest. Didn’t seem to serve much of a point unless you were ashamed of yourself, and I wasn’t that. Something about what she’d said made my stomach clench unpleasantly. “So are we basically tasty pets?”

Michelle turned around with her bounty of toiletries as I stepped into the hot water. My skin immediately reddened, but it wasn’t hot enough to burn. She brought the soap over as I sank down and sighed. The water was perfect. “I won’t lie. Some are. But the fae are much like humans in the sense that they’re all different. They all have different personalities, wants, and rules.” She took out a ladle and began helping me wet my messy hair. “I think most of the fae see us as lesser than they are, but they’re not really wrong, you know? They have magic, they’re super strong, super beautiful, basically immortal as long as no one kills them.” I jerked at that statement. She said it so casually, as if it was a regular thing.

“Does that... happen a lot?”

“Not often, but every now and then I hear about small battles between groups of fae, and things don’t usually die down until at least one is dead.” She grabbed the shampoo and began lathering some against my scalp. “I’ve known a few people who’ve ended up serving a new fae because of it, but not many.” She continued to help me bathe in silence, me contemplating what I was in for, and her seemingly happy to do her job. It was strange to have help, much less take a bath as I hadn’t done more than take quick showers for years, but it was calming. Unfortunately, the calm gave me space to think about my mom again.

It felt like sadness was going to choke out my voice, but I managed to ask, “Is there any way to get home?”

She froze for a moment before finishing the rinse of my hair and opening the drain of the tub. “Not that I know of.” Her voice was quiet, and she helped me stand and got me a towel before continuing. “And I don’t think you’d really want to go back now, anyway. Not...”

Icy fear shot through me. “What? Not what?”

Tears pricked her eyes. “Not after what happens when we are taken.” My mind came up with a few horrible scenarios before she spoke again. “It’s not that something really bad happens. The people are all fine. They just... forget us.”

I was stunned. I held the towel to me, eyes wide as I looked at her. “Forget us?”

She nodded. “Something about the magic makes it as if we were never there.”

[kitanyawrites]

When I opened my eyes, I knew something was wrong.

I’d fallen asleep in a motel, sharing a room with my mother as we traveled cross-country to visit my aunt. But this... was not a motel. This had to be a dream.

I was laying on the ground, a hard, flat expanse of some gray material I couldn’t identify. There seemed to be a sky above me, but it was a swirl of deep indigo and cobalt shot through with veins of a sickly red. No stars, no moon, although there was light. Definitely not normal. The landscape was otherwise only dotted with small mounds relatively evenly placed around me, most of the details obscured by a low-sitting fog. It was when one of the mounds groaned and started to move that I realized they weren’t land. They were other people.

With this evidence that it wasn’t just me here, I pinched myself hard, but no change. This was real. A deep horror started to sink into my bones like a chill. I didn’t want to stand up; it felt like standing up would confirm this wasn’t a dream, and I wasn’t ready for that. Instead I sat up and looked out over the fog.

I wished I hadn’t.

In the distance, I could make out figures draped in shadows. While I couldn’t make out any details from so far away, I got the impression they were distinctly other. With rising panic I dropped my eyes from the unsettling things watching us and looked at the people closest to me. None had stirred. The one that had groaned earlier had only rolled over. I was the only one conscious.

It seemed the watchers had noticed this as well. A shadow was moving towards me, split off from the group. As it got closer, I frowned. The swirling shadows gave way and a relatively normal looking woman striding with purpose was suddenly approaching me. Before I could even consider getting up to back away, she decided she was close enough to speak.

“The strongest vessel is for the King.” A shock of terror ran through me at the word vessel, and her steps faltered right before she got to me. “And a very strong vessel you are.” She sounded breathless, but her grip when she grabbed my arm to pull me up was inhumanly strong. “Come along without a fight, and no one will hurt you.” It sounded like there was a yet in there somewhere, but I was too frightened of her terrible strength crushing my arm to splinters to even consider struggling.

The strange woman, who I admitted in the calmer part of my mind was incredibly attractive, led me through the sleeping forms of the other people here. I almost balked as we neared the line of shadowy forms at the perimeter, but like the woman, they coalesced into human-looking individuals. There was something off about them, but I also noted that each and every one of them was just as gorgeous as the woman leading me. That seemed unfair, but I wasn’t able to dwell on that idea as the line parted for us to step through.

On the other side was a scene from some sort of gothic horror movie. The sky was the same, but the rest was terrible to behold. In the distance was a black castle of some kind, and even from this distance I could see some sort of vines writhing across its surface. Between there and where I was standing were trees that barely deserved the name, black trunks twisted and cracked, oozing some sort of purple sap like blood. Their branches twined against each other, constantly squirming in a nauseating display of wrongness. The ground they grew out of was little better, with sparse patches of some sort of extremely short purple grass growing from the gray pockmarked ground.

I briefly wondered if anything was bright here, but the thought fled my mind as we stopped in front of a door. A door just standing in the open, connected to nothing except vines that attached to trees on either side. The strange woman’s grip tightened on my arm, and it felt like my bones would creak in protest. She spoke something I didn’t understand and the sound of it twisted my insides. Then she opened the door and we walked through.