NOVEL NEXT Chapter 58: Vengelica Awakens
Vengelica awoke to two faces hovering over her, one with hair black as night and the other with long, purpley strands.
The world felt different now; she had opened her eyes before, but this time was unusual. For one, she wasn't in a cage, which was novel.
The memory of the two days washed over her like a wave, bubbling over the front of her skull: talking to someone in her cage, being pulled out of it, the feeling of motion beneath her as someone held her and ran from the guards. The notion that anything outside of her prison even existed didn't compute; somehow, she hadn't even noticed she wasn't there...
Until now.
There was a warm light emanating from her left. A lovely cushiony substance was beneath her, keeping her aloft. Her limbs felt trapped by a blanket much heavier than what was featured in her usual sleeping arrangement, which was a sheet and pillow on a stone floor. Her limbs felt trapped, but that was alright, because it was many hours until she would be fed anyway, and the feeding was the only time she moved.
"Is she okay?" Violet examined her face closely.
"Yes. I believe she is simply processing her new surroundings."
"That's understandable," the Archer replied with a soft nod.
Vengelica, somehow, understood that there was a 'liberation game' happening around her while also not knowing why the sky was blue or the grass was green. Even to her, that felt peculiar, like knowing somebody's name before ever having met them.
But knowing that a Liberation Game was being played and she couldn't possibly win made her insides simmer. That wasn't fair, and unfairness pointed in her direction apparently got her very steamy. Before she even knew it, her restless body was sitting up, her hands squeezing into fists. The notion that she could move it on her own shocked her, and she stared in disbelief at her own hand as she curled and uncurled it and it listened.
"Hello, Vengelica. I am Nikola Brightdark, this is Violetmist4 and this is Lukeknight64."
Vengelica tilted her head, and it listened too. She observed Nikola Brightdark, Violetmist4 and Lukeknight64. Each one had a different set of colours on them that popped in comparison to the grey of her prison, though Violet's colours made the simmering feeling return. They reminded her of the Violet Queen's guards.
The Violet Queen. While she had no memories of a life outside bars, she did remember her face. It was etched inside her brain, engraved. She wanted to engrave something in that face in return.
Vengelica tried out opening her mouth to speak, and her voice came out on the second try. The first time, she hadn't tried breathing out. "Nikola Brightdark," she repeated, looking at Nikola, and did the same with Violetmist4 and Lukeknight64 as well.
"Now that introductions are out of the way," Violet began, chancing an interruption, "I would really, really like to get some food before they stop serving dinner."
Food.
Vengelica rose again, from the bed to her feet, something primal inside her driving her body to move. The idea of food was just far too succulent to stay laying down for long.
"My hunger bar is indicating that it is low," Nikola confirmed. Vengelica's reaction to the notion of food sealed the deal for her; they were gonna go get that bread. She didn't particularly care for Luke's opinion on the matter, though she knew from when they were in a party together that his bar would be low as well.
"Let's go eat," Luke replied minimally.
The red-haired girl had been in a state of unending hunger since she was conceived, so as they entered the Rectangular Prism's dining hall and the food was just sitting out, her world imploded. The Mage stood there watching the other patrons simply grab and eat the food that was plainly served on the table for them, even getting to pick what they were eating...
"What would you like to consume?" Nikola stood next to her, slightly taller than the red-haired girl. Seeing her standing and out of her rags was a not-bad kind of peculiar.
"I..." Vengelica had never heard so much noise before. The human voices bouncing through the room her made it difficult for her to parse Nikola's words, to pick them out among all the conversations. She did eventually piece her question together, and her cherry eyes narrowed in thought. There were so many options. Were they really allowed to just go grab food? Was a gaggle of prison guards going to come running in any moment to return them to their rooms? "Are people here really allowed to just pick their morsels?"
"Yes. You are permitted to eat as much as you wish and whatever you wish. This is what is called a buffet, and you may acquire any food item for no cost, as the cost was included in our room fee. That is my understanding."
The Mage's mouth drew to a tense line, and she scanned the options available. The sheer amount of variety made her head spin. She hadn't known food could come in so many colours other than the brownish-grey gruel the guards served her. "Is this even food? These 'foods' look more like the jewelry of my captors than any food I've ever seen."
The pepper skins shone in the light and glistened like rubies.
Nikola's blue eyes glistened similarly as she grinned at what she was about to say next. "If your desire is a food that is not too far from what you have been consuming, then I would like to introduce you to my favourite-- bread."
She led the red-haired girl over to the plates and took charge of assembling both plates. She got herself meats and breads, but filled Vengelica's plate with every type of bread she could find, plus some rice and oats. She chanced some particularly pale carrots for nutritional value.
They sat at the table Luke and Violet were already occupying, and Nikola pointed at each of the breads as she explained them. "That one is crusty bread. It is cooked at a high heat with water so the exterior may dimple and it has a resilient but airy crumb. That one is soft bread made with milk, eggs, butter and sugar and its crumb is much more delicate, like a pillow. That one called itself a croissant and I have not yet experienced one, so we will try it for the first time together."
Vengelica picked up the croissant and hovered it above her mouth, and she and Nikola bit into it together. It collapsed under her teeth and had so many layers it was unbelievable. Literally, she could not believe it. "This is... so elaborate. To think that something like this exists simply to be eaten." Carefully, she began to peel it apart, and Nikola followed along. The two of them dissected their breads together, gutting them and spreading their bread guts out all over their plates.
"Now that we're all seated and have our food, what do you think about playing a game?" Violet asked, a twinkle of excitement in her eyes.