Book One: Time Of The Clan

chapter 7

Early update!!!!

"Really aamon, you would accuse me of hurting the boy? What do you think I am? A monster?" Meredith laughed harshly.
"I would, actually, considering your words for the boy before I took him with me. I have heard of the things that were done to him under your knowledge and command. Letting your people touch him, beat him, bully him? Really? I always expected so much more from you. You knew he was special, and you still tried to hurt him." Aamon s hand reached out to wrap around Atticus's.
"I... I would never do such a thing." Meredith stuttered out, trying to keep up with aamon.
"Then why did you participate in the behaviors exhibited? Why? And you better give me a good answer, I don't let other people hurt my things Meredith, you should know this." Aamon s eyes narrowed, his demon horns slowly growing to their full size, unsheathing as they tangled through his thick green hair, a deadly tail swinging side to side behind him.
"Now now aamon, there's no reason to... get this mad, is there?" Meredith smiled, her wings unfurling from her back.
"I don't think you understand Meredith, the other rulers are not on your side." Aamon glared. Atticus looked around, seeing all the leaders getting prepared for the approaching fight. Mephisto, the southern master, and Yumil, the eastern master, were getting prepared as well, Mephisto had sharp tentacle coming out of his back and a row of sharp horn beginning to show, Yumil had large, powerful wings and sharp claws.
The 4 immortals forms were also revealing, Atticus knew this was serious.
The leader killian's hair was growing out, fading into a shiny blue while his teeth sharpened and a long, jagged tail was revealed, romaline had fins growing on his arms while spiny webbing grew into between his claws and arched above his back, lastly, iliya, she had fluttering wings sprout from her back and antennae sprout on her head, black markings crawled up her face as her eyes flashed gold. The only one who did not shift was nergal, who kept his composure, the man had begun to speak as well, Atticus had clearly been too busy while he took in everyone to hear the man.
"While this is all quite fun, don't you think this is quite immature? Getting all worked up over something petty. Aamon? The boy is already yours, for now, so why do you care so much about attempting to get Meredith to pay him back? And Meredith, if you did not do anything wrong, then why must you be so defensive? It really isn't like either of you." Nergal smirked, knowing he had the attention of the group now. Killian's head swerved to face Nergal's.
"Stay out of this you bastard! That woman shouldn't have even dared to touch someone so precious! You clearly don't understand his importance like we do. I value the way aamon treats him." Killian bared his teeth at nergal.
Atticus glanced around nervously, he felt his teeth sharpening in his mouth as his breathing got heavier, he felt the sold lumps on his head appear once more, the small, round horns reached their full size when he felt a searing pain on his back, wings forced their way through his back and cut through his shirt.
His wrists and back burned were the tattoos seared themselves onto his skin, his eyes anxiously narrowed and swerved around the room. His full form was revealed as his tail glitched into existence, Atticus felt many pairs of predatory eyes on him, his face became pale as his hands shook, with one last look around the room Atticus bolted out of the room and through the window, throwing his wings open and clumsily flying away. 8 shocked pairs of eyes looked in his direction as he flew off. Aamon began panicking.
"How am I going to find him! I can't fly! I must find baalam, he will call a search to find him." Aamon looked around, pissed. Quietly, iliya spoke up.
"Aamon, if you'd let me, I would like to go look for him, it would not do good for him to be caught the way I know your people would attempt to get him, that was not just a burst of fear, that was a full panic attack, so things not right. Let me, please." Iliya asked graciously. Aamon lips tightened into a thin line for a moment but then;
"Very well, please bring him back before the cold of the night hits, it's not good for him. I will have a search deployed and ready in case you two don't return. If anything happens to him iliya? It will be your life to pay the price." Aamon threatened. Iliya just quietly laughed, spreading her wings and pushing herself into the air, letting the wind carry her off into the distance, following the flow of Atticus's magic.
The other remaining leader look around at each other, still riled up from the earlier debate.
Aamon took a seat, gesturing for the other leaders to follow suit. Once they were all seated aamon spoke.
"Do any of you happen to have any idea as to why he might have been so scared of us?" Aamon looked around, waiting for an answer. Romaline looked up, the spiny fins on his body fluttering.
"How long has he been here? He might not be used to demons changing their forms, that and the idea that if he is a dream demon, then he is going to be hyperaware of the magic around him. We unleashed our magic very quickly and suddenly; I imagine that played a part in spooking him." The ocean leader finally spoke up.
"Well, he is going to get used to it. If he can't, he is as good as dead here." Yumil said bitterly. "But... if you end up not wanting him aamon? I will gladly take him of your hands." Yumil offered, grinning predatorily. He liked the boy. He was pretty, another jewel to add to his ever-growing collection.
"If he were to be given to anyone, Yumil, it would not be you." Aamon growled. "I am aware that night travel here is difficult and iliya might not be back until late, I will permit you all to stay here for the time being, we will discuss any further issues in the future, my plans for the next few days are already secured, so I may have to have you all stays here for some time before I have an opening in my schedule. My servants will give you a tour of the castle and lead you to the guest rooms. My servants will be up here momentarily, until then, we wait, meeting adjourned." Aamon ended his speech. There was a quiet chorus of agreement, the other leaders clearly did not want to go through the cold, just as aamon had thought. The only one who was fine with it was killian's who came from the ice domain, he was used to the cold.
The servants came almost immediately, showing the leaders the castle and their rooms, all while aamon paced around, waiting for iliya to come back with Atticus.
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With iliya
I flew around, following the strong scent of magic, Atticus had clearly not yet learned to mask it which had helped her greatly in tracking the boy. She felt the magic flow stop as she neared a grassy clearing in a small forest, she flew down slowly, making sure to not make any noise, not wanting to alert the boy of her presence just yet. She peered down, almost immediately spotting the boy, he seemed to be petting something, something scaly and white. She jumped down, looking around and slowly approaching the boy.
"Atticus?" She asked softly, attempting to not startle the boy. Atticus jumped up and looked at the course of the sound, one of the leaders, iliya, had followed him. He hissed.
"Hey. Don't do that. I'm not your enemy kid." Iliya scolded. Atticus's cheeks flushed. The small ball in his lap shifted and looked up, revealing a soft set of horns, and a rounded snout, it was a dragon. Its wings fluttered, they had a gold and black undertone, much like a hopper bee. A bee native to the below, found everywhere. The dragon had sharp, hooked claws and a wider snout. It was cute.
"What do you have here?" Iliya asked as she inched closer, sitting beside Atticus.
"She's a dragon, she was alone here and trying to catch food from the lake, very unsuccessfully if I do say so myself. I caught some fish and gave it to her, after she ate, she crawled onto my nap and fell asleep." Atticus smiled.
"How sweet." Iliya smiled. "May I pet her?"
"Let her be the judge of that." Atticus chuckled. Iliya brought her hand up to the dragon, attempting to be friendly, the dragon hissed softly but then leaned into the touch, chirping.
"Atticus..." iliya began.
".." Atticus glanced away.
"Are you okay?" Iliya asked. Atticus shivered.
"I will be fine...I... I d- don't know what happened back there. The room felt so heavy, I couldn't breathe. It hurt, you all looked so scary, and then these came out." Atticus shuffled his wings. "This form, it hurt, I felt like I was being torn into two, the tattoos seared my skin, there were no injuries, yet it was still the worst thing I can ever remember feeling. Then...then I just ran." Atticus was trembling slightly, holding back his tears, not wanting to let vulnerability win. Iliya rested her hand on Atticus's.
"Kiddo, it's not your fault. The topic got pretty difficult in there, probably not something your used too. I don't blame you for that fear. I felt that way too, hell, I still feel that way sometimes, its normal. And the issues with your shifting? Talk to aamon, he isn't the best, but he can and will definitely help you control your form. Your special, and you will find that that means a lot of people will put unnecessary pressure onto you. Don't let that overwhelm you, you are still allowed to be a kid, to be vulnerable." Iliya pat Atticus's hand. Atticus finally felt the tears fall.
"I haven't even been here long, and I already feel this way, what am I going to do?" Atticus cried out.
"That's not a problem for today, today we sit with those feelings and acknowledge that they are there, that is the first step to healing." Iliya told him.
"Thanks, iliya. You know...your pretty cool." Atticus said as he wiped away his tears. The little dragon on his lap, awake now, and licking away his tears.
"Ewwww. Gross hopper..." Atticus giggled.
"Hopper?" Iliya asked.
"Aamon told me that it was a type of bee that was common here, she reminds me of a bee, so I named her hopper." Atticus pet her scaled. The dragon hopped of his lap and began playing with a reed. The plant began moving in an almost lifelike manor.
"How is that happening?" Atticus nudged iliya, a little concerned.
"Magic. It's a little something I can do." Iliya laughed. "You feel better kiddo?" She asked Atticus.
"Yeah. Thanks." He smiled.
"Let's go back then?" She offered.
"Umm...but what about hopper?" He replied.
"If she wants to come with you, she will follow." Iliya assured him.
"Okay..." Atticus smiled awkwardly. Iliya spread her wings and lifted herself into the air, Atticus quickly following suit. He was propelled into the air as he flapped after iliya, he heard a little noise behind him and saw that hopper was actually following! He giggled and did a loop in the air. He raced after iliya, challenging her. She laughed and sped up, swerving to and fro with the chipper boy, they took turns flying ahead, taking dives and the air and swooping around each other, it was a beautiful dance that even hopper joined in. They quickly reached the front of the castle once again, Atticus was too caught up in the excitement to realize that all the either leaders were standing at the front, awaiting their return, iliya did though, she laughed and flew high up into the air, turning suddenly into a dangerous dive, Atticus tried to copy her movement but ultimately failed, this resulted I him tumbling onto the ground into a pile with iliya and hopper, laughing, the two stood up, hopper climbing up on to Atticus's shoulders.
"Where did you learn to dive like that?" Atticus asked in awe.
"Lots of practice and scars kid. But also, Goldman, it was a workout keeping up with you! Are you sure that that was one of your first fast flights?" Iliya asked.
"Yeah actually. I haven't ever flown that fast!" Atticus purred in excitement.
"You must just be a natural." Iliya laughed and ruffled Atticus's hair. "Let's go, the other leaders are waiting on us." Iliya smirked.
"O-okay!" Atticus agreed nervously. They walked closer to the other leaders, Atticus looked around as his eyes landed upon iliya, she saw him and squeezed his hand, reassuring him. Atticus took a breath and lifted his head, making eye contact with aamon, he saw the slight anger in the man's eyes. He could see an argument in the future, big or small, he did not know, it worried him to know that aamon was mad and that they would likely have a talk, but Atticus knew he would stand his ground, aamon is not too scary so it should be fine. He saw mephisto and his prying eyes, he also saw nergal and the strange look he got from that man as well, it was as if he were intrigued by something, but did not know what, it made Atticus shiver, wether with anticipation or fear he did not know. Something about the man's piercing gaze made him blush, he hated that look but the man himself was very pretty.
Atticus was now face to face with aamon, he sighed and walked past him. Aamon turned to follow Atticus, the other leaders following close behind, iliya took her rightful place among them, leaving Atticus for himself. Atticus led the group through the castle and up to his and aamon s room.
"Why are we here love?" Aamon asked.
"Because I am retiring for the night" Atticus smiled tightly, letting aamon know that the conversation was done, but he was not having it.
"I am quite sure the rest of us want to know what you freaked out over. I would also like to know where you acquired that...beast" Aamon glowered as hopper growled, taking a defensive position on Atticus's shoulders.
"Well, the rest of you, can wait. I am going to bed aamon, this is final." Atticus opened the door and closed it, locking the other leaders and aamon outside. He quickly opened the door again and walked up to iliya.
"You can have this, if you want to come to my room later, I don't mind hanging out with you." Atticus smiled and dropped a key into her hand the little dragon from earlier purring.
"Well, thank you for the kind offer kiddo, and you, hopper." She smiled.
Atticus walked into the room once more. Aamon jiggled the door handle, attempting to open it, but it would not open.
"Iliya, may I have the key, please.?" Aamon asked.
"Sorry aamon, I want to give it to you, but I can't betray Atticus that way, he trusted me." Iliya said.
"Talk to him before you try to betray his privacy." She raised her eyebrows, stressing the importance, she understood the boy's frustration. Aamon sighed and walked motioned for the others to follow him.
He led them to the dining hall to talk before he and the rest of them retired for bed.
"He can't understand that he needs to talk to us. That he can. I just want him to listen to me." Aamon sighed in frustration.
"Well aamon, it sounds as if your trying to control him, you want him to be complacent, you didn't even give him an option to talk, you told him that he was going to tell you, not that you wanted to help him, to be there for him" iliya shook her head, disapproving of the man's behavior, it was only her first time meeting him and she already did not trust him.
The man acted as if he were the best, as if the other should just submit to him, she didn't like it. Iliya worried for Atticus, she worried that he might do something he shouldn't, she decided to look for him.
"I'm going to go, I know where my room is, call if you need me." Iliya stood up and gathered her stuff, then she turned and headed off she walked up the winding stairs, following the familiar twists and turns. She had quickly reached Atticus's room and when she did, she knocked.
"Atticus?" She called softly. He was unresponsive.
"Atticus?" She called agin but still no answer.
"Atticus!" She cried out banging on the door.
Something was wrong.

Word count:2884