The slave trade was an ongoing issue up in the Harena desert. It plagued the Desert Rosenites who lived out in the sands more than it should have. They were strong and could fight it off but every once in awhile where was a storm of bad news that brought down even the hardiest of warriors.

When situations like that happened the queens of Sularia dispatched the specialists that dealt with these threats. They would not only save those who had been captured but they would offer the other races freedom. It was what it meant to be a Rosenite. They had a good overall acceptance rate and the newer Rosenites would be turned over to the Red Court District to be taught how to live in Sularia.

This particular mission was a success and the last slave trader fell to the sword of a soldier. They were now raiding the camp trying to find everything they could bring back with them. The more the better, as they said in the desert. Nothing could be wasted. That was when a peculiar box was found. One of the soldiers opened it up, shrieked, and put the cover back on. “YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS.”

One by one all of the soldiers gathered around and looked inside. “Madness.” “CRAZY.” “We need to take this back to one of the Roses.” Whispers and skepticism overflowed from the soldiers as they carefully got the box all the way back to the capital.

Instead of going to any of the mansions where the king and queens lived they made their way to the castle. The oldest outside of the empress resided in the castle and perhaps she would know better than the others. Antheia was lazily reading a book upon a chaise lounge as the soldiers burst into the library. There was shouting about a box and her eyes drifted to them.

“This is a library… It’s a place of peace and it’s sacred. Lower your voices.” Her body was curvy like most of the females of her family and tanned in color. A white halter dress flowed over her and was deeply cut to her navel. Her hair was pulled back on the sides and decorated with pins of various gemstones. Her feet were bare but that hardly seemed outside the norm for the royal family.

The box was rushed in and it couldn’t have been that large. It reminded her of a large gift box. So why exactly was this particular box so upsetting? She took the box from them and held it in her arms. “My lady Antheia please be careful!” The soldiers were weary.

“I sense no danger from this box. Now hush,” her voice was sharp as she removed the lid. What was inside was a peculiar sight indeed. His eyes met hers. He said a greeting but the staring continued for what must have been five to ten minutes. Neither one seemed like time mattered to them. That was the thing with older beings.

Without words the box floated by her side as she reached in with her slender hands. Gold magic leaked from them as she took hold of the man inside the box. She figured at the very least he was stuck. Stuck or comfortable… or both from the way he held his facial expression. His form as she pulled was boneless and it took her a moment to realize it would probably need a shake.

There was a series of screams from the guard. “Get out,” Antheia’s voice was grounded and calm as the soldiers ran out of the room. Her eyes refocused on the man and she pulled again. His whole body was out but it looked weird. He probably got stuck far too long in the box if his body’s composition was weird.

She had him by the under pits as she snapped him like a blanket that was wrinkled. Giving him two more snaps she finally set him down. “You’re a long way from home aren't you?”

Parnassia had been quite cloistered in its day, as the idea of ownership of races by others was something completely alien to the eidolon. Thus it didn’t take much for Aidoneus to be tricked and kidnapped by people he came to know as ‘slave traders’. He was initially shackled like everyone else, especially so for possessing decently attractive features. His form held proportions that made him rather valuable from their standpoint. The trek through the desert was long, and he lost count of how many sunrises had passed. Eventually he found the shackles to be uncomfortable and searched for a place out of the oppressive heat. The wagon he was in had the cargo portion covered, and he wasted no time in slipping out of his bonds while the slave traders’ backs were turned. The way in which he ‘escaped’ mildly disturbed the other captives but their noise was harshly silenced before they could give him away.

Aidoneus slipped into the stacks of crates and began to search for a suitable place to rest. A box large enough to fit his body would suffice, however the last thing he wanted was a saber-wielding man to find him once he settled in. Thus he narrowed his search to smaller boxes—ranging from two to three feet in length to evade discovery. Prying a sturdy looking crate open, he tossed out the contents into the endless sands to make room and lowered himself in. Once he fit, he pulled the lid shut and settled into a long nap. The pile of smuggled weapons and ivory was left behind in the dust, never to be seen again. At least until another caravan came through, by chance. In the time he was asleep the slavers discovered his absence and sent a full search of the wagons conveniently failing to check boxes too ‘small’ for a man to fit. Could you blame the men? How many people in the world were expert contortionists and could survive in a sealed container without ventilation for an extended period of time?

Their inventory check was cut short by the arrival of the Arriese patrol, and he was woken up by the sounds of clashing weapons and rocking of the wagon. He prepared himself to see what the matter was when he found himself unable to move. It would appear he had gotten a little too comfortable, and had molded to fill the crate’s interior. This was rather inconvenient, as his regeneration was still terribly slow following his lengthy hibernation that lasted for millennia. In other words, he was stuck. Very, very stuck. The shifting of gravity told him someone had picked up his box and his spirits lifted. Wonderful—they were checking the contents! And he could ask them if they could give him a hand…or a few to release him from this embarrassing situation.

The first soldier who opened up the box was met with the dull-red eyes of what looked to be a child uncomfortably crammed in, wearing dark colored robes with black hair. His impeccable memory served him well as he recognized the unmistakable green eyes with a red ring, and spoke up in Arriese. “Thank the stars; I thought I’d never be found in here! Greetings, if you would be so kind as to—“ His words were met with a scream, and the woman slammed the lid shut. After a while it was opened up again with the same reaction, and this repeated itself for a few times. Then the box was picked up, and was carried along until it was set down somewhere different. Hushed voices spoke until one that was close commanded silence. The lid was opened again, this time indoors by an elegant woman with flowing, white hair. “Greetings, thank you for discovering me. Would you be so kind as to lend me assistance? I seem to have gotten stuck.” Their eyes met and they held their gaze for some time, which didn’t feel very long from an eidolon’s point of view.

Instead of delayed alarm, the regal lady brought the box near and reached in with her hands. There was a tingling sensation as magic came from her, and with a quick tug he was pulled from the crate. His compressed body slumped on the floor, still out of shape from being folded for so long. It was still difficult to stand, but he felt fine; much better actually. The others were shooed away as the white-haired woman took him by the ends and shook him until he straightened. With the folds out, she turned to muse that he was rather far from his origin. “Yes, it would seem so.” The shrunken eidolon replied, looking about. “Is this Arri? That would explain the desert I saw for nights on end. I apologize for my current state. It would seem that I still have yet to fully recover the full extent of my shapeshifting. I do not wish to impose, but is there by chance a place of strong magical power close by where I could recuperate?”

Time stood still for a long time but for the elders in the room maybe it only felt like a few seconds. They were evaluating each other as it were. “My people are just startled at the sight of such a man in a box,” Antheia’s words were gentle as she did indeed help him out.

Her blue eyes watched as he slumped to the floor like a pile of sludge. What an odd creature he was. Now that they were alone there was no need for anyone to be alarmed towards Aidoneus. He seemed to be stuck in a shape most convenient for him but also it appeared like he was used to such things happening. The Rosenite mused as he answered her questions and in turn asked his own. “Aye, this is Sularia, the capital of Arri.”

For a few moments, Antheia did not answer her new companion but she did sigh as she bent down and picked him up. “Come with me,” not that she was giving him any chance to fight with her as her voice spoke with much authority.

It did not take her long to get outside the castle and soon she was headed down a path of rather dark stairs to the caverns under the castle. “Oh, Lady Antheia! What brings you her–” The oracle stopped as she looked at the man in the Rosenite noble’s arms. “Can… we help you?”

“I just need to go down to the lake,” Antheia motioned down to the small man and soon the oracle opened the vault.

“Please, do be careful your majesty,” the oracle spoke quietly as she bowed.

Antheia was silent once more as she moved with haste to the lower levels of the cavern. Finally, magic orbs filled the air in hues of blue. “I am afraid that this is as far as I can take you.” She stood at the water’s edge as she put him by the lake. “This is the biggest magic source on the continent. You found yourself in the best place to recuperate.”

She left his side and moved to sit on the steps. “I will be here once you are done,” her voice was still tender and it appeared like she was serious about waiting until he was done.

As she carried him without difficulty, the eidolon gave no resistance. It was a relief to no longer be confined again, and he took this opportunity to observe Sularia, a place he had only heard of but had never seen. Though what he was seeing would be quite limited, as Antheia brought his limp body along to what appeared to be underground caverns. There, they were met by another Rosenite, though her eyes were very different from those he had met. As the two women conversed, he patiently waited while contemplating the oracle's curiously unusual eyes. They were a lovely blue color, yet it shifted as if something behind them was flowing. He pondered over this, wondering if this was some sort of rarity that happened by chance, passed down through the mysterious inner workings of what they called 'heredity'. The air down here was less arid than above, and it was pleasantly cool. This area beneath the castle must be of significant importance to their people, he judged by the unlocking of the vault. 

Antheia's footsteps became quicker as they were approaching the lake she had mentioned, and then she stopped when they had arrived. Aidoneus' eyes adjusted to the darkness, and watched as bright motes of light began to fill the air. The eidolon felt himself being lowered onto the ground by the lakeside and her hands let go of him as she told him: “I am afraid that this is as far as I can take you. This is the biggest magic source on the continent. You found yourself in the best place to recuperate. I will be here once you are done.” Her voice was gentle, and Aidoneus watched as she took a seat on the steps nearby. Indeed, the lake he had been placed beside resonated with magical energy. There was a vibrancy that to him felt soothing. "You have my eternal gratitude, Lady Antheia. Arri as well, for extending such hospitality for a stranger such as I." Without further ado, he pulled his body towards the water, and slid in. Immediately he sank into the lake's depths, and the moment he entered odd spectral things began swarming about him.

"Oh, hello. Please excuse me, I won't be staying here for too long. Don't worry, once I've recovered in full I will be sure to leave so you won't be bothered by me." The eidolon said to them, though it didn't seem as if his reassuring words reached them. In fact, he had no idea what they were and assumed they were reacting to his presence. Aidoneus was courteous and polite to a fault, and as an eidolon–never learned there was a distinction between sentient and non-sentient beings. If negotiation failed, he expected it was due to a misunderstanding or some other barrier in communication like language. Outside of the lake, the calm surface was now fully disturbed as the spirits expressed their displeasure at this foreign entity. This continued for a long, long time until it abruptly stopped as something was slowly emerging from beneath. A head broke the surface of the lake only to be quickly followed by the rest of a body–until a man with bluish-black hair set foot out of the water. As he did so, he was unclothed. However the same garments he had worn before entering the lake began to reform about him, as if they had merely been an extension of himself.

Water was dripping from his hair, but he didn't seem to mind. Seeing that Antheia was still waiting as she had promised, he smiled. "Thank you for waiting for me. I hope you did not need to wait long. It seems that I may have caused somewhat of a disturbance with my presence." Aidoneus was now able to introduce himself in his usual form at last.