Harm and Harmony

-Chapter 32-

Day: 5 (Blood Moon)

Days Left: 5475

Lives Saved: 0

"So, you have decided to stay with the chimaera, Miss Warren?" Queen Corinna peered down at the young woman from her throne.

Corinna Warren bowed her head, suppressing her smile. "Yes, Your Majesty. It seems unlikely that her intentions were to kill me or... eat me." Corinna clutched her waist. "Staying with Harmony, I think, is the most logical choice in surviving."

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Though the blood moon had ended, the sky was scarred with streaks of red. Harmony suggested that they stayed inside another day as some monsters would still be bloodthirsty. So, they continued in the safety of the wooden house to play board games, sing, dance, and talk. Corinna helped Harmony clean the place and marvelled whilst also bewildered at how the chimaera managed to make the house so spotless, turning the chore into a game and somehow completing it in record time.

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Even with the queen's blank mask on, Corinna could still feel a pair of eyes behind it, studying her, assessing her.

"It will abandon you," said the queen.

Somehow, just from her voice, Corinna knew that the queen was telling the truth. Yet she still dismissed it.

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When Harmony finally deemed it safe to go outside, the monster and the human returned to their usual routine; scavenging for supplies at the Land of the Lost then waiting for the sky to open at the rock spire. They did not encounter any other monsters aside from one day when the imps were scavenging nearby. They were quickly warded away just from a single glare from the chimaera.

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"Why are you so certain?" Corinna asked, before forgetting her position and politely adding, "Your Majesty."

Queen Corinna rested her elbow on the throne arm-rests. "It always does. You are not the first it has become attached to." She paused, feeling the young woman's emotions that swirled around them, a spike of happiness upon hearing that the chimaera was 'attached' to her, but was clouded by the crawling sense of doubt, then finally dejection.

If the monster had abandoned others, what made her think that she was special enough to make her stay?

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Harmony shared with Corinna every record that she had collected and listened to them continuously on repeat, with a unique dance routine assigned to each one. Eventually, Corinna no longer felt so uncoordinated, becoming light on her feet and could almost catch up to the chimaera.

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It was unsettling, just watching Corinna Warren. Despite feeling such conflicting emotions, the violence of her thoughts, the melancholy spikes and lows, the young woman's face was inscrutable. All the queen could see was an empty and lifeless face, void of any emotion. It reminded her of a doll, her expression fixed forever.

"The chimaera always tries to escape, leaving behind those it supposedly 'cared' for," the queen continued.

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