A/n's pov:
The forest have no path. however, it had a specific direction. The direction that this forest had was selected by Suta.
Suta was pulled by Sukuna toward a specific destination, moving forward in a way that felt almost as if he were leading her; he had a hold on her with a strong hold that felt firm but gentle. He did not grip her hand that was within his grip, which was much larger than her own. His cold skin touched her warm skin and provided a greater sense of familiarly compared to the surrounding emptiness. The further they went into the forest, the different the feeling of the air was. The air was much denser and quieter. The air itself seemed afraid to move.
She didn't ask Sukuna where he was taking her; she had never been given permission in her life to ask questions. Her clothes brushed against the branches of trees that surrounded her and the leaves on the ground gently touched her legs. Her red dress had been given to her by the villagers that she met earlier, and as such she was unfamiliar with the color red. She did not understand the importance of the color red.
She had walked enough to know that the softness of the dirt under her feet had changed. When she looked down to see what had changed, she felt the earth beneath her feet had become stone, smooth, shaped and placed with purpose. Suta looked down again, then back up slowly.
In front of them was a castle.
It was much different than the type of environments they were used to seeing. It looked as if it had appeared out of the ground and had been there forever, created from the earth, perhaps taking its shape from the trees around it, indicating that the trees had allowed the castle to exist due to its overwhelming power over them. The black stone walls extended into the sky, appearing endless, towering above them. The carvings on the gates showed faces that twisted in pain and mouths open in soundless screams. The air surrounding the castle had a vibration that Suta couldn't put into words, but it felt heavy in her chest.
"It's Big," she whispered.
Sukuna was unamused with her reaction and shifted his gaze toward her.
"Come inside," he instructed. The entrance gates opened automatically.
The sound of stone scraping against stone echoed through the air when the gates parted, revealing a large foyer. Sukuna did not let go of her hand until she had actually stepped through the doorway as if she was now "captive" by being there.
It was a quiet castle.
There were no servants in the castle, and there were no guards. There was no chatter, either. Just empty hallways and ceilings that reached for the shadows above. The walls of the hall had many tall pillars with ancient and mystical symbols on them that appeared to glow faintly in the dim light. The entire hall was extremely polished and well-made. It appeared as if this hall belonged only to one being in the universe.Suta's footfalls reverberated against the tiles of the castle floor.
In the empty hall, the footfalls seemed unusually loud. As Suta strolled through the hall, Sukuna walked ahead of Suta with his long hair hanging down his back; he turned to face Suta as he stood in the centre of the hall with his back to Suta, and his four arms folded behind him, while he looked down at Suta with interested curiosity.
"This is where you live now," he said.
Suta's response was "yes," but it was a very definitive "yes." The room, the hallways and the food was hers to take care of. "You are the one who takes care of all of this. The room can't be moved and nothing about the room can be changed unless you do it for the room. You are not just an invited guest. You are a slave to me."
The word "slave" lingered heavily in the room after being spoken.
So Suta was said "yes" again.
Suta began to smile slightly, simply a continuation of the innocent smile that her whole life has radiated from her. Suta gave a faint glimmer of a smile with Sukuna's narrowed eyes as he exclaimed, "Don't smile."
She blinked, but was unsure why this was wrong with her. The grin appeared to remain.
He was angered by the grin.
"If you think about escaping, or being rather clever, I may very will chew you apart at a moment's notice," he leaned toward her slightly. His voice conveyed how determined and threatening he was.
Suta nodded.
"Go." He commanded. "Look around. If you intend to be an slave here, then you should know what you will be doing." Without hesitation, Suta turned around and left.
The castle felt like it went on forever. The castle was really big. It felt like anyone could walk around the castle for hours and still not see everything, in the castle.
Every corridor I walked through led to another big room. These rooms were filled with tables and chairs that had fancy carvings on them. There were also silk banners hanging from the ceiling and the floors were super polished. The gold decorations that were over the place reflected the dim light that was shining in. The walls smelled old and they seemed to have a lot of power. Suta felt really small when she was standing in the middle of all this. The rooms and the corridors and everything just seemed to be Suta. Suta felt like she did not belong in a place, like this because Suta was not used to seeing much gold and silk and fancy things.
It was beautiful.
The temperature was not warm all. It did not feel warm, to me. The thing is, it just did not feel warm.
She walked with her hands touching the stone walls. She was kind of scared to really touch them. At the time she really wanted to feel how smooth the stone walls were. The stone walls were really clean. There was not any dust on the stone walls, not any dirt on the stone walls. Everything looked perfect like someone was supposed to be but the person never showed up to the place, with the stone walls.
Someone like her.
She came to a big doorway and entered. The kitchen was the location. Suta froze. Food was all over the place. Clean bowls are used to store fresh rice. Fruits arranged on polished plates. Carefully arranged vegetables. prepared and wrapped meat. Nothing had an outdated smell. Nothing had a wasted odor. It didn't appear to be leftovers. It appeared to be edible food. Confused, she silently gazed at it. She had always held the belief that orphans only got what no one else desired. Unclean rice. spoiled veggies. chilled water. That was typical.
Here, however, the shelves were stocked, neat, and unaltered. She moved in closer, touching the rice with her hand. It was ideal warm, soft. This was Sukuna's castle. He was also without a family. He was by himself. An abandoned child. He had a lot of food, though. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, not in sorrow but in perplexity. She was unsure of how to react to it. She was afraid to take anything. Silently, she left the kitchen.
Suta continued to investigate.
The castle had long corridors and doors to rooms she didn't understand sleeping chambers bigger than the temple in the village, rooms holding weapons, those holding artwork, silk, and vacant beds.
It certainly didn't look like it was meant for human occupation,"Frank observed
It was a place for him.
And she.
However, she did not know where she belonged within it.
Finally, she found a staircase.
The area below was dark, small, and quiet. It was the only area in the castle that seemed like home like that old shed she used to live in.
She stepped inside.
The floor was stone, but it was sufficient for her to curve her body on it. She sat down and looked around the empty hall.
This was not a place meant for a person like her.
But she would stay here anyway.
She put her arms around her knees and tilted her head down slightly.
She would obey what she was told.
She always did.
But then Suta slowly put herself down, curling up in the space beneath the stairs, her skinny frame condensing perfectly into the darkness.
And stayed there.
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