Zombie and the Beast

- 11 -

Lara soon learned that Shinseg was only a small town built around a castle and surrounded by a fortified wall. They walked through the empty streets, the only ones to witness the beautiful weather and the display of colourful, fragrant flowers on every windowsill. Everything was quiet apart from the rustling of leaves in the wind and the songs of various birds. Lara wondered what Shinseg would have been like before; its streets buzzing with life and its pastel houses' shutters open to let out the scent of cooking meals mixed with the sound of laugher and conversations. She could imagine people talking on the wooden benches while children played by the water fountains on sunny days, not knowing they would one day turn to stone so that Minho could experience the worst type of loneliness possible. She glanced at him, wondering what could be going through his mind whenever he had to walk through the streets of his once filled with life kingdom. They walked pass a sleeping dog that had turned to stone as well as a couple of cats, frozen while trying to catch something that had long disappeared, making Lara realize that pets hadn't been spared by the curse, contrarily to wild animals.

"Where is everyone?" asked Lara, having noticed the absence of petrified people on the streets.

"Everyone was invited for my birthday, so most of them were watching the fireworks on the terrace when it happened," said Minho. "The others were either in the ballroom or had already gone to bed. Many of those with children had left early."

"I see." She looked down. What a horrifying way to end a birthday celebration, she thought.

They reached the castle, which Lara found to be quite impressive considering the kingdom's diminutive size. Its tall walls were decorated with various sculptures and flowers. They walked around it until they reached a large garden filled with various types of vegetables and fruit trees, which Lara found unusual. The was also no wall around it.

"The first King of Shinseg designed the garden so it would provide food to the Kingdom's subjects rather than simply be used for the King's leisure like in most kingdoms," said Minho with a smile after noticing Lara surprised expression.

"That's impressive," said Lara. "I have to admit I wouldn't have expected something like this in Centrix."

He brought her to another, smaller garden delimited by a row of colourful stones. A fountain in the centre provided water for a small canal that flowed in a grid, dividing the garden into many smaller sections, each identified with a tiny handwritten sign. Lara gasped.

"This is Shinseg's Symbiorist's garden," said Minho. "Everything you can't find in here, we should find in his office."

"This is perfect!" said Lara. "It will make things a lot easier."

"I'm glad to hear it," said Minho. "What do you need? I'll help you."

"One second."

Lara took out Cal's notebook, opening it at the page containing the recipes for the healing potions he'd created for her.

"Can you look for plantain and red clover? I'll look for yarrow and sage."

They were just done with the first list when Lara noticed Minho was stealing glances at her regularly, frowning. She pulled on her t-shirt sleeves trying to hide her arms while silently cursing the heat of the sun. She hoped she wasn't starting to look even more like a walking corpse.

"Is everything ok?" she asked.

"Sorry." Minho cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked uncomfortable. "I was just wondering how you passed away. It's ok if you don't want to talk about it."

"No, it's fine. I think talking about it might help me feel better about what happened," said Lara. "Cal had this neighbour, Mark. He was between jobs and kept following me around, asking me to find the treasure of Shinseg for him. To be honest, I think he actually enjoyed the feeling of power he got from bugging me more than he cared about the treasure. One day, we fought and I hit my head hard. I remember bleeding and hurting a lot, but it's pretty fuzzy. Then, I was at peace for a while, in what felt like a ball of light. Next, I woke up in the cemetery."

"That's horrible. I'm so sorry you had to go through this. Do you know what happened to Mark after? Was he arrested?"

"No, he was still free when I woke up." Ashe scrunched her nose. "I stole his bike, though," she said, making Minho smile. "I overheard something at the cemetery... it looked like he said I used Dragon-Magic. He was always really good at faking innocence and probably made it seem like he hurt me in self-defence. It was the same when Cal and I reported that he was following me around. The guards ended up believing he liked me and was just looking for an excuse to spend time with me."

"Nonsense!" said Minho. "If you like someone, you talk to them and try to get to know them. You don't harass them. That's not love."

Lara smiled. "Thanks," she said. It was nice to have someone else on her side. "That's exactly what I said, but they laughed and said that's not how the world works. One of them even called me naive and asked if I'd never gotten my hair pulled by a boy who liked me."

"Huh. I can't believe people still think this way... I hope they learned from it at least and won't take such reports lightly in the future."

"I doubt it," said Lara.

Time flew by and within a few hours, they were in the Symbiorist's office, cleaning, cutting, and mixing the ingredients before they would let them steep for seven days. Lara also looked through the cupboards, selecting the powders and oils she needed and adding them to the mix.

While she was heating up the second potion, Minho mixed Aloe Vera with powdered gold. Then he used it to paint the symbols they would need on the shelf by the window according to Cal's notes. The first potion would go on a healing circle with a star at its centre. Surrounded by four waves, it would gather the energy of the air and wind. The second would stand in the middle of a triangle made of four smaller triangles, each containing a small sun with seven wavy rays. It would harness the energy of the sun and add its power to the potion placed in its centre.

Once they were done, Minho made lunch for them while Lara self-healed, sitting at a large table in the underground kitchen. She wished she could stay there, enjoying the cool air and delicious smells while listening to Minho's stories of the craziest things he'd tried in the hopes of breaking the curse. She laughed as he recalled eating a kilo of raw garlic while gagging the whole time, making giant symbols out of stones in the garden to bathe in a changeling potion, which he had misunderstood and was only meant to help during transition times such as adolescence, and dressing up as a Dragon to try and outsmart the curse.

After lunch, Lara followed Minho to the castle's library, a bright room with lancet windows and comfortable brown leather chairs. She spent the rest of the day reading with him, looking for anything that could help them. There were shelf after shelf of rare books from all over the world, containing symbols, potions, and salves she'd never even heard of. Together, they selected a few healing symbols and potions that ought to be useful. Lara still couldn't think of a way to undo the curse of Shinseg, but Minho's help strengthened her resolve to do everything in her power to help him and the petrified people of Shinseg and Alstein.

Evening came quickly, bringing in the typical fresh scent of night through the open windows. Lara stood up slowly and stretched, her joints cracking painfully. Her shoulders seemed heavier then before, making it difficult to stand straight. She grunted and tried to calculate how long it had been since her last self-healing session. Too long, apparently. She scrunched her nose.

"Let's stop for today," said Minho. "I'll make us something to eat and then show you to your room."