The Devil's Cursed Witch

Ember chose to go outside with Morpheus.

Seconds later, they were up in the sky, his strong arms effortlessly carrying Ember in front of him, one hand supporting her back while the other was under her legs. A strong gust of wind hit her face, and she could not help but close her eyes and hold tightly onto the man carrying her.

'Too fast!'

Whether it was his uncontrolled excitement or for some other reasons, a single flap of Morpheus' wings caused them to shoot upwards, almost reaching the clouds, flying higher than he usually does.

Pleasant laughter erupted from Morpheus, and Ember could feel his chest shake along with it.

"Open your eyes, Ember. The scenery up here is better than on your balcony."

She opened her eyes slowly to take a peek at the said scenery, but not only was the wind too strong, the moment she looked down, she could barely see anything but the rolling hills below. The houses looked like ants, and a feeling of nausea took over her.

Not only could she barely keep her eyes open, her stomach was starting to feel funny due to the height. She turned her head slightly towards his chest, tightening her grip around his neck, her small face buried into the crook of his neck.

"I won't drop you, Ember," she heard him say, after sensing her reaction. Her tensed body in his arms gave away her exact thoughts.

"Umm, I know. I am just scared to look down," she replied with her eyes shut tight.

"We will reach there soon," he informed with a small smile and continued flying. After a while, Ember finally felt Morpheus had lowered his speed, as if the place where they were going to land was nearby.

Ember swallowed her fear and forced herself to open her eyes, only for her to let out a gasp.

'Wow! It's so colorful!'

Below them was a vast land with strips of colors—various hues of pink and red, yellow and orange, as well as blue and purple—going from one end to another, and upon closer look, she realized it was an extremely wide meadow overflowing with flowers in full bloom, surrounded by small hills and greenery.

Not just a flower garden, but a world of flowers!

Ember was in absolute awe.

She did not even realize they landed until Morpheus put her down. The two of them stood in the small pathway between two rows of flowers of different colors.

To her left was a row of yellow flowers, while to her right were flowers with deep violet color. From where she was standing, she could not see the end of those rows.

She wondered how vast this flower field must be. It even seemed to be larger than Draven's palace, no, even larger than Ronan. Everywhere, each and every corner was covered with flowers. Forget about seeing such a place before, she could not have come up with this even in her dreams.

"So many flowers! There must be thousands, tens of thousands of them!" she exclaimed.

Her eyes did not even know where to start looking. It was too much to take in a single glance!

"What is this place, Morph?" she asked as her curious and amused gaze could not stop observing the beauty around.

"The specialty of the city of Reif. It is the flower valley belonging to the Valley Elves," he replied and observed the overly excited female in front of him whose eyes could not stop brightening at the sight.

"There are even more flower varieties here than the ones I saw in Honeyharbor," she exclaimed and started counting them.

This sight was nothing much for Morpheus or those living inside the Kingdom of Agartha as they were used to seeing such heavenly beautiful places, being children of nature, but it was different for Ember.

To someone like her who grew up within a haunted mountain, the sight of the garden in Draven's palace was more than enough to impress her, and the largest collection of reared plants she had ever seen in her life was the fenced garden the witches of Honeyharbor Coven maintain for potion-making.

Yet in terms of scale, those paled in comparison to this wonderful flower valley.

Ember immediately moved to touch the nearest violet flowers and tried to smell them. "These smells so good. What are these?"

"Star Chives. They are edible, from the flower to the other parts of this plant," he told her with an amused smile.

She looked at the unending rows of those flowers and asked, "Who eats them?"

"Whoever wants to. You must have eaten them in your food as well but you simply didn't notice what you were eating."

"There must be hundreds of flower varieties planted here. Are all of them edible?"

"Some are, some aren't, but know that all of them are not mere decorations," he explained. "These are the main products sold and exchanged by the Valley Elves to the other clans and races. Some are also exported to the human kingdoms in exchange for other essential items that are not produced within Agartha. Many of the flowers here are considered rare by humans and can only be grown by the elves, that's why human merchants buy them from us at a high price when they trade outside the border."

"That's interesting," she said and walked around and then found a few workers working around the field. "Will they be fine as we are here…especially since I'm human?"

"You are with me, the Commander of Warriors. Let's see which brave soul dares say a word," he laughed goodnaturedly as he walked alongside her.

The Valley Elf workers tending to the flowers bowed in their direction the moment they saw the couple pass by them. They didn't bother with the guests and continued their work of managing the plants in peaceful harmony.

Some time later, a male elf with brown hair, donning simple linen clothes, could be seen heading their way. The once in charge of the valley had heard that Morpheus and the King's mate had arrived so he hurried to greet them.

"Baruel of the Valley Elf Clan humbly greets Commander Morpheus and Lady Ember Aramis."

"Nice to meet you, Mister Baruel," Ember greeted back with a polite smile.

The elf in front of her had a friendly appearance, his pleasant features gentle to the eyes, wearing sturdy clothes and boots that were tailored for farmwork, and seeing him smile at her, Ember's earlier worries disappeared.

"How's everything going, Baruel?" Morpheus asked.

"Because of the Commander's quick attention, everything has been solved," the elf replied.  "The humans at the borders are behaving and no longer bother us when we take our goods out past their territory. Because it is winter in the kingdoms beyond the mountains, we are having an increase in demand due to the medicinal properties of our flowers."

"Hmm, make sure to report it at once if they create trouble again."

"I will let the elders know, Commander. Since you came to visit us, please come to my house for tea. We freshly harvested flowers of the best quality to make tea for you two."

Morpheus looked at Ember who replied, "Then, we will impose on your hospitality, Mister Baruel, but is it possible for us to have it later? I wish to continue sightseeing first."

"As you wish, Lady Ember," the elf said. "I won't disturb you then." With that, he bowed and left.

Ember continued strolling along the rows upon rows of flowers, touching and smelling, and sometimes asking Morpheus about their names and usage.

Soon, her gaze landed on something that made her eyes lit up in curiosity. On the other side of the valley, there was a smaller field with only a single kind of white flower. They were not planted in rows like the others, but were like wildflowers that grew on their own.

"Those white flowers, what are those? They look holy," she said and was about to walk towards them but Morpheus held her hand to stop her.

"Huh?" She turned to look at him. "Is something wrong?"

"You can't go there," he replied, still holding her hand.

"Why?"

"Those flowers are dangerous. You can go anywhere but there."

"Dangerous? But they look pretty and harmless."

"They are pretty but not all beautiful things are good.  There is a reason why those flowers are grown separately from the other flowers."

Not all beautiful things are good—this was not the first time Morpheus said this line.

"What exactly do they do?"

All of a sudden, she remembered when she first heard Morpheus' warning. It was back when they were in Honeyharbor and he pointed out the flowers called wolfsbane raised by the witches. Back then, Cornelia said they could be turned into poison.

She shuddered. "Are those white flowers poisonous? Can their scents kill a person?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "They are not poisonous. In fact, they are of high medicinal value. The reason you need to stay away from them is that if you are exposed to their scent for several minutes, you won't be yourself. You will lose control over your mind and hallucinate. Even a beastman like me is not spared from their effect, much less a human like you. If I remember correctly, for humans, a single whiff and you will lose your mind for a few minutes, and if you have low tolerance, it could go as long as an hour."

She felt conflicted that such beautiful flowers had such a scary effect. They looked like soft cotton balls on top of thin stalks, and from afar, they looked like a blanket of clouds. How much she wished to touch them at least once. "Umm, what if I don't smell? Is it fine if I touch them?"

Morpheus felt a headache incoming seeing her pout.

"Wait here," he said and walked towards that isolated field of white flowers.

"Morph, wait, no! Stop!"