A different perspective

Taking chances

When sunlight poured through the window the next morning, Jasmine almost panicked. He would be late for duty! But after jolting out of bed, he started remembering what had happened the previous day. He relaxed himself, and looked at his hands. They were still that odd vivid pink. It was relaxing, in a way, but unfamiliar. He also noted that Cinnamon didn't appear to be in the room- he must have woken up earlier. He stood up, put on his cape and boots, and walked into the hallway. Violet was waiting for him.
"Good morning, Jasmine." She remarked. "Put on the crown for now, I have something to tell you."

He walked back in and picked up the crown. It was odd, wearing it- but it was as if it reassured him it was okay. When he walked back out, Violet beckoned him to follow.
"I never really believed in the old fairy tales" she started, but paused, thinking. "My mother would always tell me the tales of the two gods, and the heroes, especially the magic. But I never really believed her- until now. You see, our tribes have been living here for longer than we can trace, but we'd never seen anything more than an odd miracle or two happening in the ruins. But today... there's no doubt that something is here. We call ourselves 'corruption', but we don't have that ability anymore. We just have the distinct pink hue that most shapes do not. Our people believed that the ability to corrupt was tied to the land once, in turn holding us as a people in place. But that's gone now, so we branched out. The only thing keeping us together is that crown.
"I believe that the crown itself chooses kings and queens that will guide us to better choices, and so far, that's been true. But there are exceptions. And there are things that go unexplained. Like your case." She paused again, looking at a door. "That's... odd. This door wasn't here before. In fact, I could've sworn I walked down this specific hallway when I came to get you. How did we get to this side of the castle anyway? We were going in the complete opposite direction. Oh well, let's see what's inside."

Violet cracked the door open, to find an almost empty room. It had another door on the side, supposedly a closet, and a dusty bed frame. Another thing to note was the faded tapestry on the wall, covered in a thick layer of dust. In fact, the floor itself was coated in the stuff. But even more odd, was a necklace. It was almost completely coated in dust, and it was hanging on the corner of the bed frame. Jasmine walked through the dust, sending up little clouds as he walked, and picked up the necklace. When he rubbed the dust off of it, it appeared to be a locket. He couldn't seem to open it, though.

Violet spoke again. "Well, it seems we have you a bedroom. It could use some cleaning and furniture, but it's perfect. Let's see what's in this closet, though." She tried opening it, but it appeared to be locked. "Oh. Well, I'll need a key then. Maybe it's in this room somewhere? I'll have to tell whoever cleans this place up to look out for it. But, really though. This room did not use to be here..." she pondered a bit, but moved on relatively fast. "Let's continue our conversation, yes? I've gotta tell you how things work around here."

When Jasmine finally got back to his new room, the sun was setting. Violet had introduced him to several people, told him things, and asked him questions all day long. He opened the door to find the bed frame replaced, a mattress and sheets on it, and a table, clothes rack, and rug. The tapestry had been cleaned off, too. It depicted a blue square knight pointing his sword to the sky, and a very pretty dragon spewing flames in the same direction. It appeared to be pink, but the tapestry was quite faded, so it was hard to tell. It was nice, though. He didn't see Cinnamon anywhere that day, but Violet told him that he was out in the courtyard with the captain of the infantry, Cobalt. Jasmine fingered the locket, which had been placed on the table. He looked closer, and noticed the triangle symbols that were everywhere in the ruins engraved on it.

He tried to open it again, and this time it gave, opening with a click. Inside was a key and a note. However, it had gotten too dark to properly read it. He'd have to wait until tomorrow morning. He set the locket down, took off the crown, his cape, and one of the two shirts he was wearing (it was cold). He fluffed up his pillows, and quickly fell asleep, dreams or memories taking flight in his mind. Sometime during the night he could recall a faint noise, thrumming of strings, or low rumbling, but he soon forgot about it.