our balance

“Winning isn’t easy, so losing isn’t hard.”

This sweet, gentle voice rang inside the red-haired lady’s head. It was almost as loud as the plain silence hitting the cold brick walls. Each menacing word was tattooed into Lady Lesso’s occult mind. Suddenly, a poignant ocean washes against her heart, actively racing into her strained veins, causing her vacant eyes to conjure up water. Why is this foreign reaction currently visiting her? Lesso envisions her moments with the fairy godmother, who's now lost somewhere, anywhere.
-
Dovey sat at the edge of the glimmering pond as Lesso played with her cane out of frustration. Dovey absolutely adores the evening pond. She likes when the sun attacks its blazing light onto the calm waters. Times such as this one make her life freeze.

“What’s the point of telling me something I already know, princess?” Lesso asked steadfastly.

“It doesn’t seem like you know that, Lesso," the fairy godmother answered in a soothing timbre. Irritation possessed the redhead woman. How dare Dovey remain calm in sober circumstances?

“In what way? I'm eager to hear your thoughts about myself," she said, striking her cane onto the ground.

“Because good has been winning for centuries. I’m certain evil will get a win if losing wasn’t so easy, right?” Dovey glanced at her with a smug smile.

“I am not in the mood," Lesso said as she shook her head.

“I was only teasing," she stated amusingly.

“Well, stop. I can do anything, of course, except drive my students to accomplish one little thing: winning. Why? Damn it!”

Dovey elegantly stood up. She stepped towards Lesso, then closely analyzed her. The Evil Dean felt bothered and slightly uncomfortable, with a bit of shyness, as Dovey watched her.

“What?” she snapped.

Dovey continued to look at Lesso, admiring.

“If you won’t answer, then I’ll just leave. You aren’t helping anyway. Useless," Lesso said as she started to walk away.

“Don’t go.” She delicately held onto Lesso’s sculpted arm. Dovey’s angelic eyes presented an refined tableau.

“Come with me, will you?” Dovey asked sweetly.

The Dean of Evil would hate to admit it, but she will go to the ends of the earth if Dovey tells her to. She will do anything and everything just to make Dovey happy, but she cannot admit that. Was this because Clarissa Dovey brilliantly understood how to treat her? Or is there more to this feeling?

The malicious woman hesitated for a moment. Before she knew it, Dovey had already taken her icy hand. It was obvious the blonde woman was heartfelt about their complicated relationship. Deep down, Lesso loved that Dovey understood her, or at the very least tried to understand her, and she also loved the soft touch of Professor Dovey.
-
"Leonora," Rafal sings. “Are you having an enjoyable dream?”

She stares sharply into his meaningless eyes. He doesn’t mind since he can feel her proneness in this dire situation.

“That’s not a no. Was it about your dove?”

“Fuck off," the tall woman barks.

“That’s a yes. She and her friend are doing a hell of an awful job. Stuck in the same place, just like you. I couldn’t never.” Rafal chuckles at his odious joke.

Leonora Lesso closes her eyes to dispel her culprit’s presence. It would be futile for her to lose her temper immediately, even though she would love to kill him right now. She has to control herself for a little longer.

“Would you like to see them, dear? Watch your love burn to death. Would you?” he rhetorically requests.

Rafal presents an illusion ball from his hand. There's the fairy godmother and the beauty teacher caged inside his reckless contest.

“Just look at them, helpless and petite. It reminds me of you when we were young. How time flies," he egotistically gazes at his former lover.

He fluidly turns around, manifesting a thick skeleton and grasping his cloak. Instantly, something awoke in Lesso. She needs to get that key.
-
Bygone, Leonora Lesso and Clarissa Dovey entered a garden gate. Lesso did not strongly cherish nature. To her, there was no deep connection between the earth and herself. She could never cross that line.

“Okay. Why are we here?” Lesso asked.

Dovey gave her a bright, pearly smile and swung her arms up in excitement.

“Why wouldn’t we be here? It’s my beautiful haven. Let me show you!” Dovey preached proudly.

“That didn’t answer my question," the redhead said vigorously.

“Come along,” she said, ignoring Lesso’s sentence.

The Dean of Good wrapped her arm around the tall woman, pushing her towards the center of the garden. There were four separate zones of serene flowers: lilies, tulips, azalea, and roses. They were all evenly and flawlessly nurtured. Lesso unintentionally found herself gawking at the sight alone. A saccharine aroma fed her hungry nostrils. If the Dean of Evil’s lusty pride wasn't possessing her, she would verbally praise her dove rival’s work. She began to notice that all four flowers were pleasantly unique from one another.

“This is what I call “The Trail of Hope," Dovey introduced while confidently admiring her astounding nursery. Lesso genuinely endears the woman’s joyful and assertive attitude. It caressed something inside her; it’s almost as if she could spend eternity drowning in Clarissa Dovey’s beautiful presence.

“I personally have a fascination with the actuality that flowers convey to us humans. Their beauty and nurturement fulfill our souls. I planted sections of my favorites," she charmingly vocalized.

“Is it that red one?” the witch curiously asked.

“I knew you were going to ask me about that specific one. So predictable. Take one to know one, I assume.”

Lesso rolled her eyes. Dovey gracefully squatted down and plunked a little one from the soil. She moved closer toward Lesso.

“It’s a Lycoris radiata, or a red spider lily. You see, lilies are a symbol of many traits. Rebirth, renewal, and hope. It's quite beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Is that a way of you saying you think I’m attractive?” Lesso shamelessly flirted, mainly to get a reaction out of the prissy professor.

“Keep wishing. Anyway, look right here; that’s the bulb. It’s the weak part since it’s poisonous. If you tear it off, well, you’ve destroyed it.”

The blonde woman gathered the attractiveness of the red spider lily. Without her acknowledgement, Lesso was staring attentively at her. Lesso swiftly broke the vacant look and retroverted to her old self.

“I am not so sure I will ever understand you, princess.”

“That’s kind of ironic," Dovey murmured.

“What are you trying to tell me?” Lesso gingerly demanded with her hands postured on her cane.

“Lesso, all these flowers are different yet mean the same thing, just like humans. You know evil and good are like oil and water, but in the end, they want the same thing. You just have to put in work and have hope.”

Lesso thoroughly studied Clarissa Dovey’s enlightening message. She held this moment for later, and later is now.
-
“Oh, here we go. Dove and her little shadow are finally taking action," Rafal’s tone loaded the heavy air.

Dovey rigorously searches around the hell’s chamber. As the scolding heat digs into her dark skin, she becomes overwhelmed. The pulsing thought of escaping silently vanished from her mind. She doesn’t know what to do or what to feel. All she can do is plummet into dejection.

“We aren’t making it out," said the petite woman with her head lowered in defeat.

Emma Anemone never imagined a low-spirited Clarissa Dovey. It was nearly scarce to hear negativity emanate from the Dean of Good’s mouth.

“Don’t say that. We barely even made it anywhere. Don't let him get to your head. Keep moving!” Anemone declares. She was not going to let this bastard carry a triumph, nor was she willing to let her true friend feel hopeless. Lastly, she was not letting Lesso down.

Dovey felt the intense radiation that attracted itself to Anemone’s speech. She . They effectively resumed walking. No hints or clues clearly showed themselves. Of course, why would Rafal make this easy? Abruptly, a strange object catches Anemone’s eye—it’s a flower.

“Clarissa?” she asks in a confused voice.

“Yes? What’s wrong?”

Anemone points, and Dovey is left stunned. How did such a rare flower get here? Dovey picks it up.

“A red spider lily.”

“What is it doing out here?”

The good dean takes time to collect her thoughts and the single clue. A red spider lily is Hell’s flower. Rafal knew her abilities, and she was insulted by such an ignorant approach.
“Oh my god! It's a part of the puzzle. He wants to play. Let’s play," she said as if her voice could cut the air with a knife.

Dovey needs to beat him at his own game, or at least gain pleasure. She aggressively rips the bulb.
-
“No!” Rafal shouts.

A honed, throbbing pain crushes his brain, causing him to clutch his head. Lesso cannot be happier, and her light smirk wasn’t afraid to appear. Rafal strikes the solid ground, the massive noise balancing off the walls. His impact caused the skeleton key to collapse only inches away from Lesso. She desperately reaches for the key—her hope—but she fails to take hold.

The Dean of Evil falls back onto the dirty, delicate stone wall. She floats into exhaustion, reminiscing about the school she put her blood, sweat, and tears into more than anything in her life. Her years of work will not go down the drain. Leonora Lesso thinks about herself; she would be damned if Rafal seeped into her poor soul. She will not let him succeed. And finally, Clarissa Dovey. What is there to say?

With a new determination, Lesso launches herself towards the lonely key. This time, she grips her hope tightly in her pale hand.
-
Dovey and Anemone feel an intent shaking under their feet. Their only support is rapidly sinking below. Dovey sees a sizable entrance feet above them. There is no other way to reach it other than to jump. Anemone and Dovey make eye contact as they telepathically message each other.

“I will go first," she said while taking a couple steps back to prepare herself for the jump. She surely inhales, then exhales. Before they knew it, Dovey was at the unknown entrance.

Then, a piece of stone tore itself off the structure, feet away from the beauty teacher. Anemone realizes she needs to move at high speed. She timidly and incompetently leaps forward, facing her friend. As her feet touch the edge of the entrance, she clumsily slips. Fortunately, the blonde woman promptly grasps Anemone’s wrist. She applies every muscle with a willingness for great strength. In battle, Dovey manages to draw Anemone up. They made it up.

“Are you ready?” Dovey asked with a drop of uncertainty marking her voice.

“Yes," Emma strongly says.

They march down a jet-black hallway. There is no sound except their harsh breathing due to the previous challenge. As they arrive, a dim light shines in front of their feet. Soon, they approached an open entryway to a boundless, astonishing forest. Balsam fir touches the starlit sky almost as if it were skyscrapers belonging to a busy city. A gentle breeze pulls their well-placed hair back into the air, loaded with a musky pine scent. If there was one thing about a godmother and a beauty teacher, they would be beautifully presentable no matter the task given. There was no sign of any living creatures other than them. Or so it seems.
-
Rafal weakly rises to his feet. He stumbles a little. Lesso can’t resist her need for laughter. It’s all too funny. She wishes he would struggle every waking second of his life.
“Oh god, Rafal. Are you okay?” the witch mockingly asks.

Without hesitation, he takes her by her curly, auburn hair, and then
A wide path of blood runs down from her forehead. She couldn't resist falling onto the bitter floor. For a moment, she only felt like a shell—hollow and light.

“Yeah, I stopped that laugh real quick. See what’s going to happen next time, love.”

Lesso is beginning to understand Dovey’s sentences now. Maybe both of them.

“They will not win level 2—Cornelius’s forest," Rafal boldly states.

She will be defeated.