Book One: Time Of The Clan

chapter 6

Atticus happily ate the given meal, enjoying the unfamiliar array of fruits and vegetables. There was one vegetable that caught his attention, this was because when he ate it, it burned his mouth and then it let out a sweet nectar, leaving a feeling in his mouth, almost resembling the feeling of a cool burn instead of the painful hot burn. It was not pleasant, but he did not want to reject another one of aamon s food offering. Atticus forced the spicy food down his throat, not aware of the staring eyes of aamon, admiring the commitment from his emerald.
"Love, if you don't like something, you're not required to eat it." Aamon admonished, appreciating the blush that dusted Atticus's face.
"O-okay aamon." Atticus agreed.
They soon finished their meal and when they were done, a servant came and cleaned everything up, making the plates glisten and the table shine. Atticus got confused when he saw the servant attempt to throw away the perfectly good food.
"Stop!" Atticus told the servant. Aamon looked back confused.
"Did he do something wrong emerald?" Aamon asked quizzically.
"He's throwing out the perfectly good food! If you don't want the food for alter, just give it to the common people! Don't waste it!" Atticus looked at aamon pointedly, not wanting to argue, but sticking to his point. "You said your people are constantly fighting to survive? Then give them this. Or feed it to your servants, anything really, just don't waste it!" Atticus scolded aamon, not happy with the king's seemingly lack care for his people. Aamon looked around awkwardly.
"Well... I suppose that it would be best. My servants are well fed, but I understand that it could be given to my people. Before we go into town, I will bring you up to take to our people and offer them food. Agreed?" Aamon asked the boy, supporting his idea.
"Okay." Atticus agreed. "I just don't want people to starve if they don't have too." Atticus said to aamon, meeting his Fierce gaze.
"Of course, emerald." Aamon praised. He then gave the servant a look, telling him to follow the new queen's orders.
Atticus appreciated the attention he got for his new position; despite the way it was given to him. He was, however, still wary of aamon s possessive behavior, as if he was never all there, as if something were wrong, something he could never know without regret.
Atticus followed aamon, the next thing they had to do was attend a meeting, what this meeting would entail? Atticus did not know. Atticus assumed they might be meeting with other leaders since aamon stressed that this meeting was important for him and everything else.
Atticus was nervous, he had only met two of who knew how many leaders, Meredith, and Aamon.
Meredith was not someone he wanted to see again, aamon was still questionable, but was also far better than Meredith had been to him. Atticus glanced up at Aamon, the man had a stern look on his face, it was as if he was preparing for something unpleasant, something he did not want to do.
"Aamon?" Atticus asked the man, concerned about his sudden sour attitude.
Aamon looked surprised that Atticus was speaking, but turned his head to face the boy, nonetheless.
"Yes?" aamon kept his voice terse. Atticus noticed this and raised his hand to rest it upon the taller man's shoulder.
"You seem... tense. Are you okay?" Atticus questioned.
"I am fine." Aamon attempted to shut Atticus down, the boy did not need to concern himself over Ammon's feelings.
"Aamon, I was told I am to be your queen, if I am to be your queen, I must support you. That includes talking to you. If you don't want to talk that's fine, but don't avoid me solely for the purpose of keeping me unaware of your emotions." Atticus scolded the man for his lack of honestly as they made their way to the meeting room, it was less than 15 minutes away from the time of the meeting and Atticus thought that it might be stressing Aamon out.
"Well emerald, it's not just me who knows about you and your magical potential, many of the leaders now know because of Meredith, she told them, now they likely want to get their hands on you so that they can use that power for themselves." Aamon told him. "I don't think I have told you, there are 8 leaders. The 4 leaders of the north, east, south, and west. The remaining leaders are the leaders of unknown territory, territory that has not been thoroughly explored by anyone but them, they are quite reclusive and when they do come out, they often want something in return for it. The other 4 are from areas unknown, if you even try to come close to their territory, you're dead. I worry that the price they want for leaving their domain is you. No one knows much about any of those other 4. They are dangerous, and they are here with us today." Aamon said solemnly.
"What are the 8 leaders names?" Atticus asked aamon.
"Meredith is the northern master. Yumil is the eastern master. Mephisto is the southern master. I am the western master. Meredith is one of the two females who are leaders.
The master of the ice domain is Killian, the master of the ocean domain is Romaline; he often goes by Roma. The master of the stone territories is Nergal, and the master of the jungle domains is Iliya.
Killian is known for his ruthless behavior, romaline is known for his obsessive tendencies, Nergal is known for being dominating and reclusive, and iliya I known to be patient. That is all that is recorded about the leaders, there have only ever been a few recorded meetings between the leaders. There are many rumors that those four leaders are immortal, the recordings all depict the same people, most evidence hints to that at least." Aamon described it to Atticus. "This is the first time I have met with them, before that it was my father who would do the work of meeting them, he is not alive to do such tasks anymore. he lived to 157 years old and during that time he only met them once." Aamon told Atticus.
"that's pretty long to live." Atticus encouraged Aamon.
"Not for demons. Most demons live quite a few millennia love. You are considered a child to most." Aamon told Atticus, confusing the boy.
"If I am a child, then why would I be able to be taken as a bride? Isn't that frowned upon?" Atticus asked as they neared the meeting room doors.
"Oh emerald... you have too much faith in our culture. You are much too innocent. We are monsters Atticus; you should learn to stop expecting us to be good my love." Aamon smiled at Atticus.
They reached the great entrance, and after one final glance to aamon, the door was thrown open and the magical aura of its inhabitants was released.
He felt the different magics crawl across his skin, promising great thing and threatening to tear down others, it was powerful, dangerous, something that could hardly be described as normal.
Atticus shivered, just like he did when he first felt aamon s magic, however, he had gotten used to it now. Aamon and him entered the room, it was full of people, big and small, light and dark. They all held a certain air, and it threatened Atticus. He felt aamon lean down towards him.
"You could be just as powerful emerald; all it takes is time." Aamon promised.
There were two seats at the front of the room that aamon led him too, one was a a grand throne, the other, a smaller, but equally bejeweled, piece of fine crafted work.
Atticus looked around nervously, not used to being around so many people, he worried about how he looked, did they think he was presentable?
He felt a hand on his lower back, aamon was attempting to calm his anxieties with warm magic.
He was sat down on the smaller throne while aamon led himself to the larger one. Atticus admired the mans presence. The magic of all of the leaders mingled with each other, getting familiar with the environment and exploring. Atticus felt the peering eyes of the leaders staring at him, probably confused at who he was.
Finally, the master of the stone territory's spoke up.
"And who is this, aamon, leader of the west?" He asked, wondering why someone with such a weak presence could be chosen by aamon.
"Well, nergal, leader of the stone territory's, this is my wife and queen." Aamon told the grey-haired man proudly.
"Why would you call a man a queen?" Nergal asked, attempting to get a reaction out of aamon.
"What else would I call my partner? We can't possibly have two kings in my kingdom." Aamon gritted out, it seemed as if he were trying to steer away from the conversation, nergal was not having it.
"Well, I think its your way of tying him down. You can't have two kings so if he wanted to leave, he could. But since he is a queen, he is under obligations to stay." Nergal laughed.
"Enough of this nonsense. We are moving on to what we are really here for." Aamon spoke sternly, making it known that the conversation was done. Atticus however was worried. What is the man was right? What is he was tethered here? Was aamon actually just manipulating him to stay here?
Atticus would think on it later, aamon was clearly not wanting to talk about it with the other rulers.
Atticus felt the gaze of someone on him, he looked around and saw a man with short and curly hair staring at him, watching. It made Atticus uncomfortable. Atticus was surprised when they made eye contact, he looked away quickly, attempting to avoid any interaction with the creepy man. he thought this one might be Mephisto.
When he zoned back into the conversation, he heard them discussing something he didn't understand, something about the above? Aamon suddenly began speaking;
"It is not often that the above throws out one of its inhabitants, when they do, they normally warn us. My bride, Atticus, fell from the above with no warning, he does not seem to remember what happened." Aamon announced to the room of people. Atticus felt all attention direct to him, the suspicious eyes of the leaders judging him. Atticus looked over at aamon who raised his eye brows, seemingly expecting something from Atticus.
"I... I uh... I don't remember much...the only thing I can really remember is the emotions I felt as I fell, that and...Conner. I think he was... a past friend of mine? I do know that when I hear his name, I feel very happy, and.... Safe. Yeah, that's a good way to describe it." Atticus stumbled out, looking down at his clenched hands. The man who was staring at him earlier spoke.
"Mephisto, the southern master." He introduced himself. "Tell me Little imp, what was it that you felt?" Mephisto asked, his eyes narrowing as he assessed Atticus's slim build.
"Desperation mostly. Fear. There...well... it hurt. A lot." Atticus confessed.
"What hurt?" Mephisto asked.
"My head and my back, I also shattered my wrist." Atticus looked strait at Mephisto, that was, until aamon intervened.
"Your wrist? Let me see. Why didn't you tell me about this?" Aamon glared at Atticus, worried.
"I..." Atticus looked at Meredith quickly. In return he got a searing glare. Aamon s eyes followed Atticus's to Meredith. He growled.
Aamon looked to Atticus's wrist once more.
"It seemed to be healing fine? We will look into that together. Your fine? It does not hurt?" Aamon asked worriedly as he stroked Atticus's hand.
"No..it doesn't hurt." Atticus looked away, he felt a fluttering feeling in his chest, why was aamon being so affectionate in front of these powerful people?
"Well, you are all aware of the current situation, we don't know if this is a threat from the above, or if they just decided to throw one of their own away, fwy they might do that? I don't actually know. We should stay on guard. We don't know what they want. I am also aware that you all know what Atticus is. That brings me to my next topic." Aamon stared at Meredith, threatening her.
"What did you do to him?"
Word count:2105