Disclaimer: NIS AMERICA owns A Witch's Tale. Sadly I do not own it.
I was so excited to write this chapter because I wanted Florin to be in my story as fast as possible. In the game I just got to the kingdom of Oceria and I kind of wanted to strangle the first area. I couldn't find the path down, for the longest time and was about to turn off the game when I happily found it.^-^ The painting room in Florin was very confusing as well but I eventually figured out the pattern. In this chapter Loue is finally reappearing again. It's been awhile since I mentioned him and I totally feel bad about that. Next chapter, away!^o^
Chapter 6
Stepping through the gate Liddell glimpsed the beautiful kingdom of nature, Florin. The trees waved in the wind, falling leaves dancing. Beautiful cherry blossom trees casted an eerie light in the dark of the night. Walking, Liddell watched her surroundings as she crossed a wooden bridge, the many lanterns illuminating her path. She came to an islet that split off in five directions, stopping to figure out where she would go next. Only little remained of her memory in Florin, and she didn't want to get lost while searching for what she came there for. A feeling told her to take the west-north bridge, so she took that path having nothing else to lead her. She ended up on a long path that was surrounded on both sides by Buddha statues. Noticing that one of the statues was blue instead of red (like the rest); she went up to it and touched it; a puff of smoke appearing. From the smoke a fox was revealed, saying quickly that Liddell found him so he would let her by, before disappearing in another puff of smoke.
That must have been the trickster fox, she thought distractedly, recalling what another fox had told her earlier about a trickster. Liddell continued through the space left by the fox and walked on a small trail, only to abruptly freeze and gasp at the site in front of her.
The scenery had shifted from a cluster of paths with many trees and rivers to a small clearing of blue flowers. They swayed in the gentle breeze, as if waving to her. Liddell stepped forward into the garden of blue radiance, and kneeled on the ground, plucking a flower. She held it in her hand gently, admiring the beauty of something so insignificant.
"Bellflower..." she whispered, the name escaping her lips before she had even realized it. The name of the flower brought forth a forgotten memory of two lovers she had met a long time ago...
Liddell and Loue-in bat form, stood in front of a grave. They were in a graveyard, crimson flowers covering the yard and graves. In front of them floated the soul of a dead woman named Ohana. Ohana would not pass on to the next life because she thought her boyfriend, Taro, was still angry at her. In truth he wasn't angry at all, and had requested Liddell and Loue to get a bellflower for the dead woman, giving her proof of his forgiveness. Liddell now presented the flower to the woman. Ohana gazed at the flower with hope and asked, "This flower...?"
"It's from your boyfriend." Liddell answered.
The ghost took the flower from Liddell's hand and cradled the flower to her chest. Happiness entered her eyes, when she said, "A bellflower...He's not angry, then."
Ohana disappeared, a content smile on her face. Liddell sighed and turned to Loue, "So are we done here?"
"Let's go back to his grave."
They quickly headed toward the White Graveyard, where white flowers bloomed all over. When they arrived at the grave of Taro all that remained was a parchment of paper with a row of numbers on it.
"It says 0127...What's this number mean?"Liddell asked a quizzical look on her face.
"Maybe it's a reward?"Loue shrugged (as much as a bat could), "You might need it later."
"So some dumb flower can pass on a message like that?"
"The bellflower represents unwavering love."
"Eugh! Makes me sick!" Liddell sneered in disgust, "That ghost is so full of himself!" She turned and they left the graveyard behind, the two lovers reunited at last.
Liddell giggled at the memory. At the time she had thought the romantic meaning of the flower gross. But now...She thought of it for what it was, a romantic story of two lovers. A picture of Loue flashed in her mind, and she frantically pushed it away with a quick shake of her head. A light blush covered her face.
What am I thinking?
To keep her mind off Loue, Liddell let her mind roam her memories of her time in Florin before. She remembered a large sakura tree and the Mad Hatter telling her that there were dead bodies underneath it. Thinking of the Mad Hatter made her remember the first encounter she had with the March Hare and Dormouse. They had been rude to her from the start, calling her a 'disaster girl' and a 'disappointment.' Liddell clenched her fist, crushing the flower in her hand, at the annoying encounter with those two. Out of all the weird characters she had met, those two were the ones who angered her the most.
Dropping the poor crushed flower on the ground, Liddell stood up wiping the dirt off her legs. Glancing around the field, Liddell noticed a pile of stones near the outline of trees that made up the border of the clearing. She felt as if she was drawn to the pile, as she slowly drifted towards it. In front of the pile she saw that the rocks formed a make shift grave of sorts. The rocks were piled from the largest (bottom), to smallest (top). It looked like a snowman, without the snow. Her hand drifted towards the pile of its own accord, stroking the stone.
She gasped as an explosion of pain burst in her head. Grabbing her head in her hands and bending over, she groaned as the pain ebbed into her very core...
Liddell was standing in a cave, a notebook was in her hands. Loue was beside her, flapping near her shoulder to get a view of the words in the book.
"Is this an old notebook?" she flipped the page, squinting at the faded words, "It's faded and hard to read. Could it be someone's diary?"
She began reading the diary aloud the words slipping from her tongue;
A friend of mine gave me this cute notebook today.
In her land, they use books like this all the time...To trap magic power in order to use it later.
I'm going to use this as my diary from now on. My first friend from outside the kingdom.
We'll be friends forever...
"Black ink has been spilled across the other pages." Liddell observed, as she diligently searched the book for more readable pages, "But...why? I hope I can read the rest of the diary someday."
The wonderment left her filled with curiosity when she left the cave with Loue. The memory of the book having a meaning to her life much later on...
"LIDDELL!"
Snapped out of her reverie, Liddell groggily turned her head toward the source of the caller. Loue was there, running towards her with a frantic hurry. His panic filled eyes screamed a warning to her, and she was about to ask what was wrong, when some whip like object rammed into her side, lifting her across the field of flowers. She skidded to a stop, crying, her body filled with pain, bruises and bleeding cuts appearing on her skin from the skid. Barely conscious, Liddell could just make out the running shape of Loue. She slowly twisted herself on her back, looking at where she had been. What now stood there was a large dragon creature that was a light shade of purple. Its red eyes stared at her with bloodlust, as it slowly made its way towards her, the scales all over its body flashing from the moonlight. She had the unnerving sensation that this creature should not exist as it towered over her, ready to strike with its large tail once more.
Her eyes slipped closed as the strain of being thrown across the field and the throbbing pain in her head took over her being.
What's happening?, she thought as her mind slipped into a sweet oblivion.
Haine-of-Winter: I had an awesome time with this chapter and it might be the largest yet. I made it so she didn't remember much about Florin, since I saw that I was making her remember too much of what happened—when she shouldn't. My bad...XP
He appeared for a second, but I was glad to bring Loue back into the story. I felt bad that I hadn't mentioned him for a while and he's one of the main characters too!^o^