The Sun's Shadow

Chapter Thirty-One

Primeval wooden fort doors reinforced by large stones and mud opened leisurely to reveal a bustling village full of satyroids. Ele noted that a sparse few had their horns descended from their ancestors. Yet each one she saw had a glare plastered on their face when they noticed her being escorted down the dirt road by Davient.

"Just keep walking. It does you no good to stare at them."

Ele didn't understand- All her life she had been told that faenixes and satyroids shared borders harmoniously. Why did they look at her with such detest?

They made it to the gates of the palace that had clearly been maintained more often than the outer ones around the village. Their palace was not grandiose, but rather humble. It stretched far to both sides and wrapped around in a circle and had only one floor to be closer to the soil of their earth.

Navigating the halls to remember her escape was easy since there was only one main hallway.

Davient gripped her arm a little tighter so she didn't stray into the closed doors and marched with purpose to his father's throne room. Technically, he was no King. There could be no other monarchy in Sepulchre besides the vampires and to declare one in your land meant certain war. The species took turns every couple hundred years, so the rule seemed fair- But the vampires always tried to overturn that law when in control. Only the separate councils that met with one another yearly could change laws or instill new ones.

Ele never cared much for the governing of it all.

Open doors awaited them at the end of the long, circular corridor and in it lied the grandest hall she'd ever seen. Weren't these creatures supposed to be modest? Now she realized that, no matter if you went left or right upon entering the estate, both halls would lead to this rectangular room. The floors she stepped on were garnet-hued marble with black veins coursing through the dark red base.

Just like- Ele quickly shook him from her thoughts.

While staring at the ground, lost in thought, a dominating voice demanded her eyes on him.

"You must be the faenix that bore those magnificent wings..." Deep, sultry, and nothing like the old man she pictured he would be. This ruler looked not much older than his sons that hung on both sides of his throne.

Ele avoided eye contact with both; especially Claymore.

Without needing an introduction, knowing she'd heard tales of his name, he jumped into a rather confusing anecdote. Well, confusing at first.

"I love faenix lore, don't you? You must. Your people are proud and rightfully so, having been sent from the heavens by the sun gods themselves. Satyroids rose from the dirt and clawed our way out- Towards the sun. You are the reason we thrive. Well," He clasped his hands together with a cocky smile. "You've heard of the first faenix, Apane? Her story is my favorite."

He stopped his ramblings to wait for her head to bounce slightly. A smile, a real smile, spread across his once stern face. What a hard man to read. Even his sons perked an eyebrow in response to their father's genuine display of elation. Then again, this mad man loved faenixes...

As he spoke a tale she's heard a thousand times, she took note of the similarities between him and his sons. Overlord Taurean, who Ele had been told was a dangerously cunning man, was nothing like she imagined. No one ever spoke of his rousingly handsome face and how his chestnut-toned skin suited his sultry-obsidian eyes. Even in their depths, Ele saw a glow when he spoke of her people.

She wondered how far his fascination went.

But his voice drew her back to the story in a way that compelled her to listen, "When the gods sent her down by herself, placing her upon the land to be a pawn in their games, they watched her pining for love in desolation. One day the gods thought themselves clever and sent down another faenix, Orestes, but placed him on the opposite side of the mountain."