Wings

Eos shivered in the isolated room which she dwelled in. She had begun to fulfil her duties once again as the pain had subsidised for now since the seal had still freshly imbued into her skin not too long ago. This was the second time, but it was still traumatising; the sounds of the numerous spirit's scream, the cackling of the devils and the sound of the seal being marked onto her skin. But the worst sound was her own inner screams that she would never let anyone hear. A new maid had resumed over Lisa's job as a personal maid who only responded to her monosyllabically. The maid mostly only took simple commands from Eos but mainly obeyed the Duke with full loyalty as she was trained in the secret service to both protect and hold Eos hostage. The Duke eventually found out that Eos had been leaking out some notices to the other factions so it wouldn't be surprising if one of the other factions would decide to rescue her.

The King had planned for a costume party in hopes to bring down all high tension in the high court but sadly this would be the start of the Monciuax's rise. Penni was called upon to adjust a dress; the chartreuse dress that was the same colour as her own eyes. The overlay of the dress was a pastel green that emulate the leaves of a flowers which was the skirt of the dress. The accentuates of the dress were vines that wrapped around bodice as it gently cascaded down mid dress as small fabric flower decorated along the vines. Head accessories also accompanied the dress with skeletal like leaves head pieces with sparely decorated pearls which would adorn the crown of the head to make it seem like a tiara made from leaves. However, the only change to the overall dress design was that it was backless which Eos was very uncomfortable with. Her hair was braided with some pearls and skeletal leaves intertwined into the hair.

It looked like as if it was a part of her head, making her seem even more akin to magic folk rather than human. That was the frighting part of all of this. All members of the Monciaux Dukedom were going to attend this masked costume party. Well, what was left of it anyway. Eos placed a green mask that emulated leaves on her face before heading down to meet with the Duke. The Duke was dressed as a vampire, "You understand the role that you play tonight?" He offered a hand to Eos who absentmindedly nodded her head as she hesitantly placed her hand into the Duke's. They arrived at the costume party in the same carriage where the Duke aided her down the carriage where she was introduced as a fairy which completely captivated all the attendees.

They began to mingle with the rest of the nobles with Eos besides the Duke who was being acquainted with some old acquaintances. Courtney then went to grab Eos knowing as the Duke would suspect since it wasn't something unusual for her to do since they had been friends since they were in high school together, "Eos, are you okay?" Then she had suddenly realised that Eos had loss weight just from the fact that the circumference of her wrist was much thinner than what was healthy. This caused some alarm bells to ring in Courtney's head, "Du-!" Eos immediately shook Courtney arm as well as her head not to alert the Duke as it could spiral quickly out of control.

So, Courtney heeded her silent request as she pulled Eos to a group who immediately went into caring mode as they went to fetch food, made her sit into a more secluded area with less people. It wasn't that she was malnourished. But it mostly that she only fed with the bare minimum amount of food combined with all the stress and the trauma of her magic being taken away from her to lose so much weight, "Eos, you know we are fully capable of taking you out of the Duke's hand." Lilith stated as she knelt in front of Eos as she held on to her hands, "All you need to do is ask." All of them looked at Eos whose head was casted down to the ground as her shoulder trembled knowing that if she asked, they would be willing to charge into the Monciaux Estate if needed to rescue her.

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she tried to catch her own breath trying to stop herself from breaking down on the very chair that she was sitting on, "No. No, you can't." Shaking her head as she couldn't look into her friend's eyes. But the rest of the group surrounded her as they held onto her as if anchoring her down to the ground.

Everyone was stunned that Eos had rejected their aid but they tried to convince her especially Lilith and Cybele, but Courtney stopped them from pressuring her to accept their help, "Eos, tell us what is happening at the Monciaux Estate that scares you so much?" Everyone was stunned to hear her voice cracking. Only Lilith and Courtney could understand that there were underlying factors that Eos couldn't openly speak out about as it could endanger their lives.

Eos quickly scanned behind the girls to see if there was anyone spying on them, "Not here, we need to be somewhere more private." Luckily there was only still didn't mean that there wouldn't be someone to fetch her. So, the group immediately relocated themselves to a private balcony where they could talk, "The Duke is using taboo magic to steal my magic and he has placed a magical seal of obedience on me." Eos quickly explained as she could divulge too much information especially about her background. This is surprisingly since they understood that magic did exist but only in limited rural locations across the Empire but now, they knew that the Duke was using taboo magic.

Lilith eyes widened before as she was about to confront the Duke herself, "I would pummel that old geezer with my own hands!" Both Cybele and Arachne had to hold her back as they knew there would only worsen the situation for Eos, "Come on! We all know that the Monciaux is just another noble house, clinging to its glorious ancestry that only serves as a fairy tale for children of a glamorous life that never was achievable to begin with!" Lilith instantly spilled out as the Monciaux House is only still relevant because of Eos semblance to a fairy. High Fairies bloodline had already whizzed out of the human realm for centuries since the magic war ended.

Lilith immediately slapped her mouth, regretting her words. All the girl stared at Eos who upturned her head backwards as she released a huge breath, "The Monciuax has long fallen since their age of glory but the part of bloodline remain a strong indicator of our continued ancestry." Eos released another breath but it wasn't as heavy as the previous one as an aggrieved expression was replaced on her face as she saw the Monciaux servant was approaching them, "I'm not even fully human anyway so the poison won't affect me." Standing as she went off to her way escorted by the servant. There was a shocked expressions on the girl's face as they heard what Eos had said.

A chime resonated throughout the ballroom which the masquerade was hosted in which called upon all the nobles onto the floor, "I would like the announce that by the coming spring!" He lifted a glasses champagne which was immediately copied by the rest of the nobles who received glasses, "One of my heirs shall become ruler of this empire!" He sipped at the champagne who was followed by the rest of high society before a painful shock began spread through the bodies of the people who drank the champagne. Leaving only the Duke, Eos and the servant remain standing amongst the fallen nobles.

The Duke chuckled as he continued to drink the champagne which had also been poisoned but since he already possessed Eos' magic it gave him immunity to the poison, "Ah! Isn't this quite the spectacle!" Before placed the empty champagne glass on the table where he cockily tilted his head towards the stage where the King was proudly announcing of the heir to inherit the throne, "Isn't quite ironic that the people that stand as the Royal family aren't remotely deserving of the throne?" The Duke chuckled as he gestured towards the servant who was standing beside Eos who had refused to move.

The servant grabbed Eos by the upper part of her arm, pulling her to the centre of the room. Before the royal family and the nobility where she was made to stand in front for all to see, "Duke Monciaux! How dare you!" The paralysed king tried to stand but he was unable to since the poison rendered him useless, "Your ancestors willing stepped down their birthright of the throne!" This was common knowledge amongst nobles since it was true that the first Monciaux's head filled the condition of being the next ruler of the Empire.

But the Duke laughed manically as he stared down at the paralysed King like a writhing bug on the ground, "Even if they rejected it doesn't mean that I didn't want it." The Duke turned to Eos as his eyes glowed a brilliant emerald green as he began whispering incoherent mumbling of an ancient language which had long being forgotten by the people except the people from the Monciaux ancestry since they still practice magic to this day, "Now witness the bloodline that still run through the Monciaux household." A magic circle inlayed itself on the ground, surrounding Eos who could only stay silent throughout the entirety of the spell.

The Duke outstretched his hand released a stream of magic towards Eos who could on grunt in pain from the sudden introduction of the magic that had been deprived from her body. It was a painful process for Eos who eventually screamed as some sort of bulge began sprouting from her back. It began to tear through her own skin; a magical appendage only possessed by magic folk especially High Fairies. The magical appendages that sprouted from Eos' back were wings that were insectoid which starkly resembled a leaf on a tree. Blood coated the wings as she collapsed to the ground from the trauma the transform that her body had to endure.

The full spectacle of a magic folk bloodline was quite a marvelling experience that it shocked everyone until the Duke gesture towards the servant to carry the unconscious Eos whose body lay limply as if she were dead. From then forth the tides of nobility faction began sliding in favour of the Duke because of the fact that the Duke had a birthright to the throne as the marvelling display of Fairy of Monciuax. The war had already started with the faction building up their defense and bringing more supporters into their own factions. There would need to be a tigger to officially start a civil war. It wasn't long and that trigger would be the King who outwardly declared war onto the Monciaux Dukedom.

The Duke immediately responded with a full on assault of his own; the one he had built for years coming to this very moment. Eos remained in a glass green house where she was placed within an upsized cage that was meant for birds. The cage floor was furnished into a flatten bed on the ground so that she could sleep on with a small table and some writing utensils. Her ankles were chained to the cage so that even if the door was opened it. The chain would also keep her locked in this greenhouse which was lavishly decorated with unique flora with other caged spirits to keep her company. She was fed meals which was accompanied by a thick clear sugar substance probably some sort of nectar.

Eos listlessly lay against the cage bar as she stared out of the glass dome greenhouse. The creak of the door opening immediately made Eos spin her head instantly only to see that there were some hooded figures. But, they weren't another she was familiar with since they spoke in hushed tone as they marvelled at her appearance, "It's such a shame to see such a marvellous folk of magic has been degraded to that of a caged bird," One of the hooded figure began working on the lock of the cage while Eos shuffled to furthest part of the cage as possible even though there wasn't much room, "Your existence shall usher in the Age of Magic once again." One of the figures spoke as the door of the cage opened leaving her exposed to those men. The one who spoke was an old man who was what you would imagine to be a distinguished magician but with very low magic capabilities.

Eos knew did not have good intentions from breaking her out of her cage. The men formed a line surrounding the old man who was in the centre with his outstretched arms almost welcoming her into his arm. However, Eos was hesitant to approach the man to only stepping out of the cage by herself looking at every single person. Cornering her like a trapped mouse. Eos immediate went to flutter her wing before going into a full out fluttering like hummingbird before she took off into the air. It was an incredible learning curve for Eos to learn to use her wing since this was her first time. Though she was flying she would fall occasionally as her wing muscles hadn't developed to support her wing.

All those hooded figures including the old man gasped, "I paid for you mercenaries, so you better not let her escape! I must obtain her wings!" Pointing at the flying Eos who was rushing to the exit with mercenaries as well as the old man chasing after her. He shouted out an incantation, releasing a burst of magic towards Eos which hit her. Her back was in agony as the magic that hit her back causing her to be paralysed in her wings as she fell, landing on her back. The mercenaries immediately when to hold Eos down to the ground, "NO! NO! NO! Are the wings ok?" The old man swatted the mercenaries away as he flipped Eos to her front so that he could examine the condition of the wings.

He only released a breath as he saw that the wings were quite robust and were still in perfect condition, "Should we start cutting the wings now?" one off the mercenaries spoke as he got his pocket knife out of her pocket, "The faster we finished the job then we can get paid quickly too." The rest of the mercenaries began holding down the fragile looking beautiful fairy while the one with the knife ripped off the upper back of the dress to reveal her unblemished skin with wing attached to her skin. He glanced at the old man as the knife was at the base of the wings where it had sprouted from her back.

The old man was nervously watching the mercenaries start the procedure of cutting the wings off Eos, "Wait! Wait! Don't cut the wings!" He pondered on the thoughts of how to extract the wings to get the most out of it, "Carve the wings out of the girl." The old man suggested as. he watched the mercenaries flinched at the thought of having carve out the wings from the girl's back.

One of the more merciful mercenaries ripped a piece of his hood balling up the material before stuffing inside the girl's mouth, "I'm sorry." He apologised as he continued to hold down the girl as the one on top began digging into Eos' back with his wing carefully trying to preserve the wings.