Ruined City
Plotted Folk Horror Starter for @medicus-mortem
Ikkaku frowned sadly as she walked through the ruined city she'd been taking shelter in for the past few days. Flevance might have been left off the newer maps, but the old ones her grandfather had left her had shown her the way. It had once been a beautiful, thriving place from what she'd heard. Full of life and prosperity. Where faeries and mortals and hybrids had actually lived happily.
Now, though, less than two decades after it had been overrun by their jealous neighbors, it was basically a ruin. Nature had been creeping in and taking over once more, with vines and moss growing over the skeletons of burned-down houses. Foxes, raccoons, and birds had been making nests and dens in the various nooks and crannies throughout the city. Yet while there was indeed life, there was no mistaking that it was only due to the horrible deaths of the citizens. Ikkaku swore she could even smell smoke and burning flesh the other night when she'd bunked down in one of the old houses. It was unsettling. Even more so than the eyes she felt on her at times, or the shadowy figure she swore had been over her one night when she'd awoken from a nightmare. It had vanished before she could get a good look, so she wasn't sure if it had been a dream or not, but the danger had certainly felt real enough.
Despite her unease, she was there for a reason. A few, really. Part of it was that, despite the history, Flevance seemed like a safe place to hide out for a few days. Being hunted by the faerie courts meant she wasn't really safe anywhere. However, after the fires and accidents that had broken out in the last town thanks to mischievous sprites and fierce fae hounds tearing through the streets, Ikkaku realized that it might be better to stay somewhere that was already destroyed and full of death. The faeries couldn't ruin a ruin, after all.
The other reason was wanting to understand the faeries better. Many claimed that the Unseelie Court were the "bad" faeries, while the Seelie Court were the "good" kind. Yet it was the Unseelies who had lived in harmony with mortals here, while the Seelie had taken her grandfather away, putting her in this situation in the first place. Ikkaku wanted to understand if beings like the fae even held the same morality as mortals, or if their minds worked in a less linear manner.
After all, understanding her hunters was essential to surviving their tricks and traps.
A cold wind moaned through the abandoned streets, and Ikkaku shivered, the chill that ran down her spine coming from both the weather and the feeling that she was being watched again. The hounds and hunters that had destroyed the last town hadn't followed her into Flevance, but it was becoming harder to tell herself she was all alone. That figure with the golden eyes could be a scout, or perhaps a faerie who sought to claim her for the Courts itself. Or maybe it wasn't a participant in their game and was simply curious about a mortal in the city. Either way, Ikkaku kept walking through the city, clutching her iron knife tightly in one hand and the hood of her cloak in the other.
