Wizard's House

[wizardseason]

"Hey"

The Wizard greets the evil-allured knights the same way every night, with the same word, while casually sitting on the steps of the porch outside of her little home. The building looks handmade, like it was built by people who cared about the place they were going to live. Surrounding it on all sides are fields as far as the eye can see. Vegetables of all kinds, with fruit trees and bushes placed throughout the landscape. Closer to the home are bigger trees, willows and others, providing shade from the strange three suns above. Wherever this is, it isn't the world that the knights know.

Plunged into the ground a mere few feet away from the steps leading up to the home is a handwritten sign that states the following:

Knight Rules:
- Tell others if you want
- You can't reveal others
- The world ends this year

Comments

[scandeled]

Matilda wails as she suddenly finds herself sliding down some kind of awful magic slide, falling less than delicately onto her butt with a tiny "oomph" due to the good bit of flailing she does on the way down. Once she's finally gotten up though, her cute button nose crinkles in frustration, and she tugs her goggles down over her eyes as if the rose color might help her make more sense of the sight before her.

"I know. You wouldn't cause harm to them on purpose, right?" Matilda tries to smile, but it's hard-- she sees Web over there, and the blobs--- "W-what about them? Are... they safe?"

[wizardseason]

"They're-" She starts to say something, but stops herself after a moment. How can she explain that Web isn't, in fact, fine? There's only one way, and that's honesty.

"The third monster got a lucky hit, no one saw it." She explains, turning her gaze up towards Web.

"They're not dead, but they're barely alive."

[scandeled]

She knows it’s bad when The Wizard hesitates. Matilda’s face pales- she can’t imagine that. That she could survive the third monster, but someone else couldnt? It’s too awful, and the guilt of thinking this was all some act, some game, it pools on her stomach.

“Garrot’s a doctor! Maybe he—“ She looks at The Wizard, pleadingly.

[wizardseason]

"He can't cheat death." She answers, her gaze turning back to look at Matilda.

"Neither can I."

If she's feeling any particular way about this, her expression doesn't give it away at all.

[scandeled]

“But you just said it!” Matilda snaps, her voice raising a few octaves in a terrible sin to ears everywhere. She stamps her foot for good measure too, cheeks flushing. “They aren’t dead! Not yet!”

[wizardseason]

"They're in stasis. On pause. If they're removed, they'll really die." She clarifies, watching Matilda's reaction.

Looks like she's immune to ear sins, at least.

[scandeled]

Matilda shoots The Wizard the most disdainful look she can muster-- which isn't much, her arms crossing as she takes a few steps forward, her head still tilted to stare at poor, poor Web.

"There's still a way. There's always a way." She sounds like she's trying to convince herself- but this is the way things always work, in the stories. It has to be that way in real life, too.

[wizardseason]

"If there is a way." She answers, starting to slowly walk in a circle around the platform in the room. If Matilda's so set on believing there's a way, then...

"You'll have to find it."

[scandeled]

“I’ll find it.” Matilda vows, fingers fluttering back to her goggles, then moving to follow after The Wizard in her weird slow walk.

“All of that stuff today. Did... you take us there?”

[wizardseason]

Keep up that optimism, Matilda. The Wizard isn't going to discourage it. She lets the topic drop, however, because Matilda's asked the next important question.

"I didn't." She answers, simply, turning just slightly to look back at her.

"I was along for the ride, too."

[scandeled]

"But last night-- you said we were going to where it all began! That's what that was, right? Do you know how hard it was for me to stay quiet?"

The Wizard probably know by now how hard it is for Matilda to stay quiet. Especially since, before she gives her a chance to respond, she spits out the word-- "Eminently!"

[wizardseason]

"No." She corrects, looking her over. She disregards the addition of the word because, unfortunately, Matilda didn't have anything to keep quiet about.

"This is where it began. I said I would bring you here." And she didn't bring anyone to the past, after all. Sorry Matilda, them's the breaks.

[scandeled]

Matilda lets out a quiet huff, crossing her arms— but she’s not actually that distressed. Her eyes wander around the room, taking it all in, trying not to look too much at her fallen fellow knight. “This place? Where are we, anyway?”

[wizardseason]

"Inside the mountain" She answers, motioning up at the cone-like ceiling above them. There are numerous stalactites dangling down from above, clearly telling the tale that wherever in the mountain this is that it's been here a while.

"Behind a door."