Rose Tea

Chapter Four [Wilbur]

Wilbur heard a 'Skrich Skritch' noise as Techno struck something together. Sparks flew and soon a small fire was lit on a torch Techno must have pulled from his sack. The torch burned low for a moment before erupting into flames. The torch was swung out and away from Techno's face and the dark abyss was beginning to look a little less abysmal. Wilbur could see now where they were. But he still didn't know where exactly they were, just the surroundings became slightly clearer.

"What is this? A dumpster?" Techno waved the torch around as their surroundings became clearer to them. One thing was certain, it might as well be a dumpster, Wilbur thought. He didn't know if it smelled like one though and when he glanced at Techno to gauge his reaction, he saw no signs of discomfort. He figured he was either really good at hiding his emotions or there weren't enough bad smells to affect his big piggy nose.

Beneath their feet was the fading glow of runes on a stone brick floor, this must be what the ones from before connected to. However, they were surrounded by towers of junk, covered in a thick layer of dust. The rest of the floor had a red rug that sent dust into the air every time Techno took a step. Wilbur floated near a tipped-over bookshelf, with books still in it might he add. He could tell by the untouched dust, that these books might not have been read in centuries. That was probably an exaggeration, but they were definitely untouched for a really long time.

"Are we supposed to know where we are?" Techno turned around in circles, the torchlight spinning with him.

"Umm...honestly, no clue, my memory didn't go that far, unfortunately."

"Great." Techno clambered over a broken desk and past a fallen suit of armor, "At least the only thing that could possibly jump out at us, is probably another ghost. It looks so abandoned here."

Wilbur himself was not keen on meeting any more ghosts. And just because he was one himself, didn't mean he wasn't terrified of them. He didn't have a strong liking towards any monsters actually and Techno was no exception. Techno was just a little bit "easier" to get along with...That and he didn't have much of a choice if he wanted to leave the cave. Besides, he was sure Techno didn't trust or like him either, so he didn't feel particularly bad about his opinions of the pig.

As Wilbur and Techno wandered the cluttered halls of wherever this was, Wilbur took the chance to look around. Well, only at what he could see, Techno's torch did little to shed light on most of their surroundings, but given how plush the rug underneath Techno's feet was, Wilbur had to guess they were somewhere of high value. Even if all the junk lying around was mishandled and hardly cared for.

Wilbur paused on a painting that hung on the wall, "Hey wait a moment Techno, look at this," Wilbur pointed and Techno brought his torch over. Wilbur winced as the bright light reflected off the painting's surface, but his eyes widened at the figures depicted in the painting.

"Who are they?" Techno mused.

"I...I can't really remember, but I know them, I think," The painting was damaged. There were three–no four people depicted, but the fourth was the one with the worst damage. Whoever was in charge of looking after this painting had done a poor job. Wilbur could make out with a little more ease the other three. Wilbur's eyes were drawn to the bottom left of the painting where a man with charcoal black hair, slight stubble on his chin, and eyes like fire smiled cheekily. Wilbur felt certain that this man was the one from his memory, the smile looked almost exact to what he saw in that memory. Above him was a man with clear green eyes and a scar over the bridge of his nose which concealed some freckles that dotted his face. Lastly, on the bottom right side of the painting, was a man with a strange set of spectacles on his head and clear eyes, one blue, the other brown. The eyes were barely visible beneath a mop of messy brown hair.

"Well they probably can't help us out since you look like you were alive like ages ago, so let's keep trying to find a way out of here," Techno said as he moved away and the light faded from the painting, Wilbur looked up at the top right of the painting. The portion of the painting that was burned, torn, and ruined by gods knows what. The only sign that there was even another person in that portion was the hand that stretched out from the side of that blackening darkness and rested comfortably on the green-eyed man's shoulder. Wilbur floated closer to that charred hole in the painting, but nothing would suddenly appear from that gap, he knew that.

"Hey Wilbur, come on, I see a staircase leading up this way," Wilbur turned away to see Techno a few feet from him. He reluctantly left behind the painting and flew to catch up to Techno. He followed quietly behind as they climbed the stairs, he was still wracking his brain on those three figures. He was becoming more certain that the man from his memories was the one with fiery eyes, it felt right to equate them as one. Too bad he couldn't remember his name.

At the top of the stairs, after Techno pushed open two large doors, everything became a lot brighter, but not by much. Wilbur could see sunlight barely peeking out behind closed curtains as they found themselves in another hallway. The hallway was wider and more spacious with far less clutter than the one below, but it was still empty and still dusty. It seemed as if no one had been through here to clean it. Or perhaps this place was no longer inhabited. Just like his cave.

But it was clear to Wilbur what kind of place this was, they were definitely in a mansion of some sort. A big one too. They must have come out of the basement and this floor was likely the main floor, or at least a hallway on the main floor.

"Who are you!" Wilbur and Techno turned to see a figure cast in shadow, but Wilbur couldn't mistake the pair of wings on their back. Large and black–no, one of the wings was damaged. Feathers were burned and sparse and the wing could only open less than half of the span as the other. The man before them drew a sword from his waistband and held it on unsteady feet, the man slurred, "What are you doing here," or at least that was what Wilbur figured he said.

"A-Are you ok sir?" Wilbur floated towards him, "You seem a little unsteady on your fee–" Wilbur yipped as he ducked under a crude swing that nearly caused the man to stumble forward. Thoguh, Wilbur realized after that the sword probably wouldn't have hit him, he still didn't want to find out.

"I think he's drunk," Techno pointed out. Wilbur could see that as plain as day, but he chose not to retort back. The man glared at Wilbur with hazy eyes, his long blonde hair was messy and unwashed and hung in thick clumps past his shoulders. For a man to be so inebriated so early in the day was a little shocking to Wilbur, but he wasn't going to judge a man so clearly down in the dumps. Wilbur noticed another peculiar detail, the man's right arm rested in a sling tied over his shoulder. It was on the same side as the damaged wing, but the wing's injuries looked old and already scarred over. As for the arm, Wilbur was uncertain how old those injuries were.

"Just what the hell are you doing in my home?"

"Oh, this is your home!" Wilbur smiled, this would make things easier, "Let me explain," Wilbur flew in front of the drunken man. The man still held the sword uneasily in his left hand. Wilbur pointed behind him to Techno, "My name is Wilbur and this is my good friend Techno!"

Techno, who was a little ways away from Wilbur interjected, "I don't actually know him by the way."

"Hey!" Wilbur panicked, he turned back to the stranger and chuckled nervously, "Don't mind him. He's actually a hero chosen by fate itself to save this world from impending doom!"

"I didn't agree to that either," Techno raised his hand in protest.

"You!" Wilbur cried out, before turning back and facing the drunk stranger. He flew forward straight through the sword held by the man. The man flinched. Wilbur might've forgotten about the sword, but he was a ghost so who cares, "Please help. Actually, I've barely known him for 20 minutes and he's the first person I've met in probably centuries and I can't take it. Hero my ass, he's completely apathetic."

"Hey," Techno responded, "I just had my entire home destroyed and the one good guy I knew died by monsters. I only agreed to travel with you so I can get a new place to live, I didn't agree to be your hero."

"Still," Wilbur turned and faced the pig, "You could at least go along with what I'm saying. This man obviously lives here, maybe he knows something about what I'm supposed to do since the cave was connected to here of all places!" He fumed and crossed his arms in annoyance. The sword, still pointing harmlessly through Wilbur's stomach, was slowly drawn back. He heard the sword quietly sheathed and a sigh erupted behind him.

"I must still be dreaming..." The man groaned and clutched his head.

"Oh you're not dreaming," Techno said.

"Sorry about him," Wilbur regained his composure and turned to the man who stumbled towards a wall and leaned against it, avoiding his injured wing, "We didn't come here because we knew we would end up here. We were trying to escape from some monsters and we used a spell made to teleport us, and we wound up on the floor below."

The man flinched and looked at Wilbur, "You mean you were downstairs?" Wilbur nodded. The man buried his face in his hands and groaned, "Did you touch anything?"

"I tripped over a shelf," Techno said. The man breathed a sigh of relief.

"Right, I think it's time you both leave. I'm very tired and I'm afraid I don't want to deal with this anymore, so while I am being nice, I will escort you two out," the man pushed off the wall and teetered for a bit before walking on his feet and shooing Wilbur back towards Techno.

"But we actually need your help, Since we wound up here, I thought you might know about the people in that painting downstairs. And maybe you would have information on where I'm supposed to go. I was awoken for a very important purpose, but I don't have that much informat–" The man held up a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry, no, no clue. Time to go now," The man continued to shoo them, and Wilbur had no choice but to float backward as he and Techno were guided, more like shooed, down the hall. They exited into a spacious open entryway with a set of curving stairs heading higher up on their left, large double doors heading out on their right, and another hallway just opposite of them. They didn't have time to take in the rest of the details as the winged stranger practically pushed them towards the door.

"But, I–" Wilbur raised a finger just as the man opened the door and Techno and Wilbur clambered out. The door was slammed in their faces before Wilbur could finish his sentence.

"Well," Techno smiled as Wilbur frowned at him, "I would say that went well."

"You just never stop, do you," Wilbur said. To which, Techno smiled more in response.

Wilbur cried out before flying through the door, "Please sir, just help me out this once. I really can't stand that, that pig!" The man, who was already slowly walking away leaped up and yelled loudly before falling hard on his bum. He glared at Wilbur before shouting.

"Out! OUT! Get out!" the man screamed as Wilbur hurriedly flew back out through the closed door and pouted.

"I think we need to have a serious talk about etiquette," Techno said as the two of them descended the steps of the large mansion.

"I don't want to hear that from you, pig."

"Oh, so we're resorting to nicknames now, Ghostbur," Techno shrugged as they walked down the large path through an overgrown garden towards large black iron gates.

Wilbur hoped he would meet the fated hero soon, so he could quickly say goodbye to this awful and uncooperative pig.

~~~~~

Word Count: 2180

Theories? Feedback? A regular lovely comment?

Share your fanart with me on Twitter (CATtheDrawer) or Instagram (catthedrawer)

-CATtheDrawer