In the Gardens of Hell (Ahmoria)

WELL, LATE AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING,

The frigid wasteland was not a home for those who were not accustom to the freezing winds and blowing snows. Yet, a young maiden traversed these white lands in hope of finding a place that would shelter her in her time of need. Her green legs pushed through the heavy snows that coated the ground, sending shivers up her spine each time. Paled arms were wrapped tightly around her bodice that was hidden beneath a rather furry coat in hope of warmth. Somehow, those cold winds of Jack Frost nipped at the fur of the coat and pierced through it like it never existed. It was a terrible inconvenience, but she had come too far to turn back around and head to the castle of Basilisk Fang. Besides, Sol had promised her that when she reached his castle, he would give her a comforting tour of the place.

A strange beast bounced happily around her feet despite its near bear sized body and the lack of fur that covered its plant-like skin. Green orbs carelessly watched as the massive watchdog-like being tramped through the snow as if it was the best thing in the world. It let out a bark and howl before dashing off in front of her into the distance, then rampaging back her way. Ahmoria stepped out of the beast's way, but continued to let it do as it wanted, seeing as it was not causing any harm. However, when the beast came back her way for a third time, it would stop in its tracks, as if not wanting her to go any farther. She frowned at the creature's choice of actions and waved her hand as a means to get the beast to move out of her way. When it did not, Mori gritted her teeth and clicked her tongue at it, but was only given a low growl in response.

"Roma, move out of the way! We must continue o-" her sentence was caught off as she peered over the beast's shoulder. "Oh, it looks like we are already here... I suppose Sol must be around here, no?" Her green gaze glanced around at the looming walkway to the castle grounds.

WELL, LATE AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING,

Romaham shook its head and turned around, giving Ahmoria full give of the immense castle that loomed before them. A small imp stood at its gates just beyond where they stood, watching the two plant demons interacting with each other. Mori found her beastly pet inching closer to her and rubbing its nose against the palm of her hand, pulling it up to its head. She lightly scratched the beast's head before guiding him along the path in which the imp beckoned for them to come. Her green optics steadily gazed at the strange creature, having never seen such a thing before in her life. Considering she had been surrounded only by plants and animals, such an imp as this was one she'd not seen before. Carefully, Mori inched closer to the imp and bent down slightly to poke at the flesh and then to squish and pull at its cheeks.

However, Romaham was smarter than her and blockaded her way so that she was not able to get closer to the creature. Instead, Ahmoria obeyed the words of the imp and peeled off the fur coat that she had worn to the castle grounds. She set it onto a small, plush chair just off to the side of where they were in the castle, then followed suit of the imp. The gentle music that filled the air felt rather calming to her, soothing in a way that she wasn't able to explain. Romaham seemed to enjoy the music as well to her eyes, the beast in a much calmer mood than it had been earlier. Resting a hand on its shoulders, Mori was guided along winding corridors and hallways until they reached a large, gated area. In this area, the imp opened iron bar gates and beckoned for her to walk inside, of which she would be greeted by the unsightly image of Sol.

A brighter green blush dusted her cheeks and she quickly covered her eyes with a hand in due modesty toward him. "Oh, I am so sorry; I didn't mean to look," she apologized to him quickly, keeping her hand steadily in front of her eyes. "I wasn't aware that you were not entirely dressed and I do apologize for barging in on your quarters if you weren't ready. The imp simply led me here." Excessive apologizing seemed to be her thing, continuously apologizing for the same thing over and over again. Slowly, Mori spread apart her fore- and middle fingers, peeking at him through the makeshift peephole she had made. Her hand would completely drop away when he gestured toward the gardens, full of vibrancy and green colors. "Yes..." was all she could manage out before she took a step toward the gardens, only to be instantly stopped by Romaham's massive body.

"Romaham, move you lard ass! I wanna see my p-the gardens!" she exclaimed, shoving all of her weight into the beast, yet having it never move.

WELL, LATE AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING,

In response to Sol's words, the plant demon only grunted and shuffled out of his way, causing Ahmoria to lose her balance and topple forward. Romaham grabbed her by the back of her leaves, however, and pulled her safely back to her balanced standing position. She crossed her arms over her chest and let out a huff of exasperated air toward her companion before looking back at Sol. "Oh, well... all right then... I suppose it makes no difference since you are fine with it," she responded to him. A shrug of her shoulders would follow after and her hands would drop at her sides, squishing and playing at her leaves in a timid manner. Her gaze continued to graze around the gardens from where they stood, curious to know the different types of plants there. Yet, the tour hadn't even started and she was aching to be able to explore the place on her own accord rather than have a tour.

It was only when Sol inquired if she would prefer a room in the castle or to live in the gardens, among all the plants. Her eyes widened upon hearing that, growing figuratively as big as an owl's at the idea of being able to live in the gardens. "L-live in the gardens? S-surrounded by the plants? Oh, what a dream!" she exclaimed, bouncing a little on her feet. "Oh, all these plants will become my children! Don't you worry a bit of yourself! I'll make sure every one of them is happy and fed!" She breathed in deeply and let out a sigh of contentedness, looking around at the gardens once more before back at Sol. "May we get the tour started please? I would love to know all the kinds of plants that you have in here, especially the poisonous ones." There was a wide grin on her face when she looked at him, expecting him to continue forth with the tour.

WELL, LATE AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING,

A wide grin spread across her lips again and she turned her gaze from Sol to the plants that surrounded them: the green scenery. Nothing was more beautiful to her than the plants of the natural world and before her were only plants of such a thing. She couldn't wait for him to start the tour and bring her along the paths that would show her new and exotic plants. Despite having lived in the natural world for well over hundreds of years, she had never once left her own forest home. So, seeing all of the different plants and creatures that mingled in the garden would keep her attention quite well. In fact, she loved the idea of being able to see the plant species she hadn't been able to see in her time of growth as a seedling. Noticing Sol offering his arm to her, Ahmoria latched onto it rather quickly and waited for him to bring her long to someplace new.

"If that is the only rent you offer me, then I see no issue in staying here in the gardens to assure that m-your children are happy" she responded to him. Ahmoria had pressed herself rather close to him unconsciously, her bosom squishing against his arm enticingly. Her gaze was ahead of them though, staring at the greenery that gave way to a new world... a new home for her. She nodded slowly when she heard Sol's next words, advice to her that she should keep her attention steady to not miss any plants. That wouldn't be so hard for her to do, especially since she was a green thumb and loved everything to do with plants. Rather, it would be quite hard for her to pay attention to the voice of Sol as he explained said plants to her. More importantly, she was focused solely on enjoying the view of the plant, instead of knowing everything about it.

As they approached the first of the plants, Ahmoria was rather disappointed with the appearance of the plant. However, as Sol began to explain what the plant was and what it did, she became more intrigued by it. She became so much intrigued by it that she dared to take a step away from him and touch the drowsy plant as it ate the human body. The plant seemingly drooped farther down and rested its heavy flowered head in her hand and she petted the leaves and cooed at it. "What a pretty plant you are," she rumbled softly to it, stroking and petting the leaves as if it was a living animal. Eventually, she took a step back and latched herself back onto Sol's arm, smiling audaciously at the plant. "It's a very happy plant; I would even go as far as to say that it's content with living inside of its current confinements."

When Sol had offered her a thorn off a plant she had never seen before, she frowned slightly, but took it anyway. At first, she didn't pop it into her mouth at all, rather she studied the texture, size, shape, and sharpness of the thorn. Afterward, the woman set it precariously on her tongue and chewed down on the thorn, getting a burst of the raspberry taste Sol had mentioned. She nodded in agreement to his words shortly after, but still wasn't quite pleased that he had openly hurt the plant in front of her. "But, what kind of plant is it? What does it do?" she inquired, curious to know more about the plant he had injured. Mostly, this was due to the fact that the lily-like structure and pretty, blue flowers had attracted her attention. He likely wanted to show her more of the gardens, but for now, she wanted to know more about that plant.

WELL, LATE AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING,

Mori stared at the Ojigi plant with wide, toxic-green eyes, calmly listening to Sol's words pertaining to her residence here and the care of the plants. No doubt she wouldn't hesitate to care for such beings, loving every second of being around them, even enjoying all of their strange scents. She smiled softly and released the the plant from her grasp, wandering back over to Sol and grabbing onto his arm, letting him lead her away from the plant. "Under my care, this place will be more beautiful than it is now; not that 'm saying the gardens aren't beautiful now. . . just that they'll be more beautiful. . ." The plant demoness smirked at her words and glanced up at Sol, momentarily memorizing the look of his face before she turned her attention back to the gardens. People tended to underestimate her cultivating skills, but little did they know that her species was a better green thumb than they happened to believe. A soft sigh escaped her lips and she gently rested her head against his arm, gazing out across the plants as he brought to the next one.

Stopped at the Moon Lilies, Mori looked them over, hearing Sol's words, but at the same time, trying to figure it out herself. In all her years that she had been raised on Earthland, this type of plant had never been seen by her eyes before, but, then again, she had never left her home until now. "They're very pretty," she stated, reaching out to cup one of the plants in her hand, looking it over and admiring the petals that made up the plant. She leaned down and breathed in the smell of the flower, only to find that the plant had no distinct smell, just a simple airiness to it. However, they weren't to stay long by the lilies, just stopped for a moment so Sol could show her the intriguing plant and its taste. Her attention was drawn forward again, green eyes flicking over the random plants close by as Sol brought her to a different part of the gardens. Here, Mori wasn't sure what to make of it; not many plants surrounded the area and here, a vast tree stood towering.

Ahmoria's eyes nearly grew as large as an owl's as her gaze was met by a tree that looked similar to a weeping willow, but different all at once. Yet, Sol had said something to her, causing her attention to be brought back to him so that she could pay attention to him more clearly. She smiled briefly at him, not entirely understanding what he was saying to her about being ready to learn about the Fall Tree. Seconds later her question was answered, imbued with a feeling of invigoration, like she could fight until her last breath and then some. Mori let out a breathy gasp blinking and looking around in confusion over the matter, not because of Sol's magic, but the reason behind why. "It's just a tree though, what reason would there be for us to use our magic underneath it?" she questioned, being guided under the tree. Her eyes wandered up to the boughs of the tree, staring at them as Sol busied himself with who knows what underneath it.

Sol threw a rock at the tree's trunk, then pushed her underneath the tree and followed after her, waiting for what would happen next. A downpour of heavy rain beat down upon her, causing Mori to let out a cry of surprise that quickly led into laughter and reaching up into the water. "Oh, wow!" she exclaimed over the waterfall-like sound that was created from the tree, "what's the point of the water though?" Ahmoria let her hands drop back to her sides, looking to Sol through darkened red hair that clung to her face and the curves of her body. The water ran harmlessly off the leaves of her "clothing," dripping off as if her leaves had been designed to keep from being ripped off. It wasn't until she saw the damage being done to Sol that she wondered what in his right mind made him do such a thing. "Sol, are you going to be okay? Your coat, it's being destroyed by the rain!" Mori pointed out to the other demon after having seen it.

WELL, LATE AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING,

Ahmoria blinked and glanced back up at the downpour of rain that was still coating them from the tree's heavy branches. For this tree to be a child still, it was awfully strong compared to the other plants that Sol had once shown to her in here. Her gaze wandered down to the roots of the tree, staring at the emptiness where a corpse would have lain after the rain. As Sol began to speak to her about what the plant was and what it was doing with the rain, she was a little awestruck about it. The tree wasn't just a plant at all, it was another plant demon; Mori turned her whole body away from Sol and twisted her wrist out in front of her. A small rodent came bounding out from under the bushes of nearby plants, sniffing along the ground until it stopped beneath the tree. Another twist of her hand and the rat's head snapped in a strange way, causing it's body to crash lifelessly to the ground.

As a gift for a well done performance, the woman let the other plant demon have a tiny snack, though it wasn't much. After which, the woman turned back to Sol, "for this tree to only be a child, it has a powerful rainfall for its victims. I believe it to grow up into something even bigger and stronger," Ahmoria complimented the tree with a slight smirk. "I'll make sure to teach it to help water the gardens when the elder one isn't capable of doing such a thing anymore. Besides, with this plant not having much to do other than stand here and wait for something that's not going to come on its own, it needs something to do to pass the time." Mori's toxic-green eyes fluttered back up to the tree, but only for a moment before Sol mentioned something about a curse. She tilted her head slightly and her gaze fell back to the other demon, looking him over with mild curiosity about the matter.

"That doesn't sound much like a curse to me," she responded, straightening her head as Sol explained his magic. "It's a curse to be a plant demon, that's what a curse is; can't walk anywhere without fear of being burnt or otherwise. The skin of our bodies is a fragile thing, able to sense even the slightest shift in weather when it's least expected. Your ability to change and amplify someone's senses is nothing more than an asset to the magic you already have." Either way, what she had said would likely mean nothing to the other magus and she grabbed hold of his hand when he extended it out. She didn't know what he planned on doing to her, for all she knew he planned to secretly hurt her with his magic. His words could have all been a lie for all she knew, but the second she touched his hand, a warm, tingling sensation filled her.

The very touch of the water on her skin trickling down her chest, arms, and legs caused a shiver to crawl down her spine. Her knees felt weak at the joints, wanting her to collapse to the ground in pleasurable agony, but she refused to fall. Instead, her feet pushed her lightly forward, causing her to fall in toward Sol so that she had something solid to steady herself. She found herself biting her lip and staring off into the distance as she gathered her bearings again and looked at him. Pushing herself off of the male, Ahmoria thought for a brief moment over the actions he took toward her; he didn't know much about her. "But your magic isn't the only useful thing around," she stated in a matter-of-factual tone of voice, running her tongue over her lips. "As a plant demon, we're more than just demons; we take on aspects of our forest's plants and mine was a forest of poison."

A smirk played across her lips and she moved in closer to Sol, reaching up to caress his face lightly with her finger tips. "I'm a delicious meal if you ever feel like eating," she murmured softly into his ear, dragging her lips gently across his jawline. She kissed him on the lips, the taste of poison easily detectable upon the flesh, then pulled away and took a step back, smiling.

WELL, LATE AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING,

Ahmoria’s gaze wandered back to the small “Weeping Willow” tree, tilting her head and studying the bark along its trunk and branches. After a moment of simply staring at the tree, the woman let her gaze wander back to Sol after he had finished responding to her earlier statement. She gave a tiny nod of acknowledgement in the male’s general direction, a brief smile lacing her lips for who knows how many times now. Sol fell into explaining what curse magic was shortly after she had stated that his “enhancement magic” wasn’t much of a curse to her. It truly wasn’t either; to her, a curse was something that harmed another person for something they or a member of their family had done in the past. However, as Sol described the One Magic and all of its branches to her, everything started to become just that much more clearer to her. Curse Magic wasn’t technically curses at all, it was merely “black magic,” much how the regular magic of magi could be considered “white magic.”


What little there was known about her own species provided the needed assurance that Sol could give her about his castle. Here, it was expected that demons were safe: a haven for them to live in without fear of being tortured by non-demons and the like. The chill of winter was not felt at all while she was here in the gardens of Hell, a feeling of warmth surrounding her entire being. This would be her new home now and when she felt like it, she could return to her birth home whenever she so pleased without worry. A soft giggle left her lips as her ears caught what Sol had brought up, and a slight shrug of her shoulders was her reply to him. Whatever the meaning was behind his enhancement magic, it was something that could be utilized as a means of both good and evil. How he wanted to use it was up to him, but no matter how he used it, it would always somehow be beneficial to the male.


His magic’s effects on her were rather powerful, not expecting to quickly be overwhelmed by the surmount feeling of pleasure induced in her. She wanted to crumble at his feet, but her body had instinctively forced her forward instead of down on her knees before him. The warm feeling of his hands wrapping around her reassured Ahmoria that she wasn’t about to collapse on the ground and die. It was clear his intent was to show her the power of his magic, but something as intense as this had unexpected outcomes more often than not. When he dropped the test of magic from her, only then was Ahmoria able to find herself again and return to her natural stance. However, it was interesting to her Sol’s reactions to her own actions; how he seemed to tense up and hold his breath slightly. To her, it was as if the man was trying to avoid responding to her moves, but that didn’t bother her in the least bit, it fun.


Yet, their little “play time” would quickly end as Sol pulled away from her, savoring the taste of the poison that was on her lips. A smirk played across her lips, but she was a tad disappointed she wasn’t able to continue the fun they were having, then again, they had just met. Perhaps, it was just her seductive nature showing through, but she knew her boundaries when it came to strangers like Sol. Mori coughed slightly and took a step back, giving a nod of acknowledgement toward Sol as he told her to get comfortable in the castle. It wouldn’t be too hard for her, especially since she wouldn’t really live the castle gardens unless it was absolutely necessary to. Besides, she could easily entertain herself enough in the gardens to know she wouldn’t be needing to leave it anytime soon. Watching as Sol disappeared through a sliver of glass, Ahmoria glanced down at the floor, let out a sigh, then wandered away to find something to do.