Tainted roots

The doorways were where the similarities ended. This time we weren’t in a dark and dusty hallway that smelled like it hadn’t seen a living being in decades. We weren’t even in a hallway, but a spacious atrium.

The walls, floor, and even the split staircase were all made of ice. I don’t even know why I was so shocked by this. The whole region was made up of snow and ice, it wasn’t like we were in a desert or the lava region. I just assumed they would’ve wanted to get away from the cold and make this place cozy. Maybe have a nice warm fireplace, soft fur rugs, the works.

Despite all of the ice, it wasn’t frigid in here like it should’ve been. The air only felt slightly chilly.

The room was sparse, with no furniture or personal touches of any kind that could allow us insight into whoever built this place. Probably for the best, with our luck the furniture would also be made of ice.

I cautiously took a step forward, fully expecting to slide around looking like Bambi, but I didn’t. Somehow it felt the same as walking on normal ground. I frowned, squatting to observe the icy floor. It felt cold and slick under my fingers, but when I straightened up and took another step, I still didn’t slide. Whatever magic was cast on this place, I was grateful it was here and that I wouldn’t end up falling on my ass like an idiot.

“Incredible,” Gemini said softly, but her voice still echoed.

The room shook, throwing us to the ground. My hip and arms stung from the unforgiving ice. In the center of the room, hanging from the high ceiling was a chandelier made up of icicles. A yellow light lit up the shards, and a blast of yellow energy washed over us. The energy invaded my body, searching for something. Tingles raced over me, leaving behind a slight sting. Whispered voices layered over each other, but it wasn't in the room. It was in my head. “Who are you? How did you find this place? Are you friend or foe?”

Just as quickly as the shaking floor and the light show began, it vanished. The energy left me in a dizzying rush, leaving my body aching, and feeling like I just spent several hours training. I nearly fell over as I climbed to my feet, feeling light-headed. My limbs felt like jelly. “What in the fuck was that?”

“Good question,” Gemini murmured, looking as dazed as I felt.

A scent caught my attention, easy to find since there weren’t any overlapping scents. No one had been here in a while. Well, that was true until Ari came through here because it was her scent that caught my attention. As well as the light trail of blood droplets, leading from where we stood, up the staircase to the left. I didn’t check if the others had noticed and instead followed the blood. Koa called out to me, but ignored him and quickened my pace. The trail led up the stairs, past the landing, and down a hallway.

The entire time I followed Ari’s scent, I didn’t take in my surroundings. The walls could’ve changed from ice to plaster and I wouldn’t have noticed. All I focused on was the splatter of blood. Worry made my chest clench painfully when I caught sight of the bloody handprint on the wall. The continuous trail of blood didn’t support the “just a scratch” theory.

After a few minutes of following the blood with Koa and Gemini quietly following behind me, the blood trail ended in front of a door. Another bloody handprint was smudged on the doorframe, and my stomach twisted.

This time Koa didn’t stop me from opening the door or entering first. Despite being made from ice, the door and walls were opaque. I was more than a little nervous at what I might find, my pulse faster than it should’ve been.

The doorknob was icy and slick under my hand but twisted with ease and swung open soundlessly. Inside was a well-lit room, with sconces lining the wall, lit up with glowing blue orbs of light. Unlike the atrium, there was actual furniture here, and not made of ice.

An oversized plush rug covered the entire floor. To my right was a burning fireplace—I had no fucking clue how that shit worked, but who was I to question magic—with five cozy armchairs seated in front of it. A wooden armoire sat in the back corner in front of a set of curtains. In the back right corner of the room was an outrageously big four-poster bed. This one wasn’t gross like the hotel, and it didn’t give off a musty smell either.

This whole place had a fresh and icy scent. There was also no dust to be seen.

The trail of blood led to the left, where an open doorway sat. Inside was a spacious bathroom, with icy tile for the floor. Relief made my knees weak at the sight of Ari sitting on the edge of a porcelain tub.

She had removed her shirt and coat, both of which sat on the floor, tears and blood marring them. Four long claw marks ran from her left shoulder down to her wrist. Ari’s always been “tanning challenged” as she liked to call it, but right now she looked pale, even for her. She winced as she bent over and dipped her arm under the running faucet. A chorus of colorful swears followed.

Gemini pushed past me into the bathroom, pulling out gauze and several tinctures. She checked over Ari’s arm and then applied several salves. All the while I stood in the doorway frozen, watching Ari flinch, hiss, and swear. Now that all of the blood was out of the way, I saw that the scratches were deep, and that was through a jacket a long-sleeved shirt. This was the second time today I had no clue where she was, or whether or not she was going to live.

I now had a glimpse into what Koa and the others went through the last time with me. If it was anything like this, I had some serious apologizing to do, because I never wanted to feel like that again. It was like my heart was beating in overtime, but still unable to get the blood flowing to my numb hands and legs. My lungs kept pulling in air, but I still felt unable to breathe. My chaotic mind hadn’t helped matters, with it imagining all the worst-case scenarios.

I could now understand how one would do almost anything to never feel that fear ever again. Like leaving your fated mate behind and letting them think you didn’t care about them, just to keep them safe.

Almost like she could feel my worries, Ari’s eyes lifted from where Gemini worked on her arm to me. Her eyes were dimmer than usual, dulled by the pain she had to be feeling. The corner of her lips tried to lift into a reassuring smile but twisted into a grimace when Gemini began wrapping the gauze around her arm.

“Fucking yetis. I had an instructor who would go on and on about how they were on the bottom of the creature totem pole, and how he’d prefer to fight them over any other creature.” She paused her rant and winced. “Fuck! The next time I see that asshole, I’m beating his ass and dragging him down here to face a horde of those furry bastards. See how weak he thinks they are then.”

At hearing her rant, my frozen muscles began loosening. The squeezing fist that had a hold of my chest and stomach eased. If Ari was cursing and ranting up a storm, she was alright.

Now I could kill her myself for scaring me like that.

“What the fuck were you thinking going out in a blizzard all alone?”

Ari sighed, shutting her eyes and tipping her head back. Gemini was almost done wrapping up her arm. “I don’t know. I just had a feeling something was out there. Maybe I was sensing this place.”

She seemed unsure of her answer. Not like the other times she did something crazy. She always owned up to that shit. Her words had a hesitancy that Ari usually didn’t possess. She wasn’t speaking in that quiet and thoughtful way that was at odds with her do whatever popped into her head behavior. This time she shocked herself with her actions. The realization cooled down my anger, easing my need to give her a verbal lashing.

Once Gemini was done wrapping her arm, we all stepped out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom to give her privacy. I drifted over to the bed, running my hand over the soft material. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this bed had been recently cleaned and made, but that was impossible. There weren’t any other scents than ours. Even using magic, it was hard to hide all traces.

Magic hadn’t been used to hide any scents here, even I would’ve sensed that. I did, however, feel magic in the air, faint traces of it drifting through the room. Not all too surprising since there was the weird burst of energy earlier.

“Did you have to deal with that weird ass yellow light?” I called out, still studying the room. Somehow the icy walls and ceiling didn’t clash with the cozy furniture that I had first pictured this place to have. The stones making up the fireplace were pale, almost white. The fabrics of the chairs and bedding were also on the lighter side. There weren’t any mysterious murals like there were in the other place.

Taking a peek inside the light brown armoire, I half expected it to be empty, but it wasbt. Clothes filled the inside, and like everything else here, smelled fresh and had no scent. It was almost like the owner’s scent had long ago faded away.

The clothes ranged in styles, some familiar to me, but a lot of them weren’t. Dresses, rompers, shirts, shorts, pants, you name it. The materials also varied from gauzy, and almost transparent, to a softer thicker material. I trailed my fingers over a deep green gauzy dress with a plunging neckline. The skirts were long and sparkling, with two long slits up the sides. Long gauzy strips of fabric hung along the sides of the bodice, each strip a couple of inches thick.

“Not exactly suitable for this weather,” I muttered to Koa, who joined me at the armoire.

“How the hell do you put this on?” Koa asked, running his fingers over a white romper, or at least that’s what I assumed it was. I thought I could see shorts, but it was hard to tell with the fabric splayed open. The crotch and inner part of the legs were connected, but that was the only part. Long strings hung along the sides, that I assumed were to be tied together.

There were countless other pieces of clothes like this. Even the non-complex clothes weren’t exactly of this time period. They weren’t like the older clothing styles of the human realm, where women only wore dresses, corsets, and clothes that basically covered everything. But the styles weren’t as functional as clothes were nowadays. They seemed to be more geared toward how they looked versus functionality.

“Yes, I dealt with the invading yellow energy,” Ari answered my earlier question. She had managed to sneak up on us without me noticing. Her gaze swept over the clothes briefly as she turned away and headed toward the armchairs, throwing herself onto the one closest to the fire.

“Did the other place have wards like this?” Gemini asked, taking the other chair closest to the fire.

“No, the only ward was the one to get in,” Koa answered.

“This place is vastly different.” I drifted over to the fire, standing behind an armchair, and resting my forearms on the back. “It’s cleaner, with no dust like the other place. No obvious sign of neglect. If it weren’t for the lack of scent, I’d think people still live here.” I stared into the yellows, reds, and oranges of the fire, feeling its warmth soaking through my body. “It has to be the magic in the air. I don’t remember feeling anything like this in the forest.”

Gemini drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair, staring into the fire in deep contemplation. “The real question is; does this unknown magic here wish us harm?”