The Shadows Within Water

Chapter 3

Creed was sitting across from me, silent, reading a book. I looked outside the window of the carriage. The night sky was painted with glimmering white specks, the stars of the Fallen. A cloud passed by the large, full moon, and covered the stars in its path. The moon shined down on the land below, outlining the shadows of the hills and forests. I reached my hand out to the moon, feeling its power bathing into my skin. I closed my eyes and let the flow of the moon's energy flow into veins and replenish my mana.

"Hmm. I always found it interesting how you, water fae, draw energy from the moon," Creed's voice interrupted my replenishment, causing me to retract my hand from the window.

I looked at Creed, and he was resting his hand on his chin with his book nowhere to be seen.

"Well, the moon controls the water, so it only makes sense for water fae to draw power from it," I replied coolly.

"I know. It's just interesting because all other Seelies draw power from the sun," Creed said, returning to his book, which appeared out of thin air.

I huffed and took my hand out to feel the moon on my skin, but there were lights down below that caught my eyes. I leaned my body against the door with my head out of the window.

The land was dappled with bright shades of gold. As the carriage descended, buildings begun to take shape, outlined in a golden lining. Each building was made of a marble, but plated with gold. As we passed over each building, the structures became bigger and bigger until we passed over a palace of glass and gold. We made our way to the center of the golden city. All the buildings, including the palace, circled around a focal point. The focal point differed from the rest of the golden city. It was a giant tree that reached for the sky. Its leaves radiated the night sky with its assortment of colors, like the leaves in my book. The tree winded down to a marble temple surrounding it. The temple seemed to be part of the tree as the marble matched the leaves.

We finally made contact with the ground and Creed got up. He opened the door and said, "Welcome to the City of Gold, Elysian."

"We have been awaiting your arrival," a voice called from outside the carriage.

I took my first step onto the grounds of the city and a stunning, dark skin fae stood in front of me. Her wings were the colors of translucent blue and purple with dark swirls, making them ghostly. She had dark, jeweled hood on, covering her eyes accompanied by a halter top with a purple skirt that had a slit showing off her dark leg tattooed with sliver symbols of a lost langauge.

"Nice to see you, Priestess Nyx. But why are you here?" Creed said in a strained voice. His left eye twitched as the corners of his lips struggled to hold up his smile.

"Well I am here to meet my new mentee," Nyx replied, giving me a soft smile. She turned her head, and gave Creed a sly smirk.

Creed's jaw dropped and his eyes widened for a split second, but he quickly regained his composure. "I was not informed of this, but very well. The Queen would like to meet to with the new Priestess tomorrow morning for breakfast. Since you are her mentor, you will be expected to come as well. I will leave Titania with you. Have a Good Night"

"Goodnight, Creed" Nyx said, but did not bow to the departure of the Prince.

Creed scoffed and got back in his carriage. He took on last look at me and said, "Good luck, Titania." He closed the door and the carriage took off into the night sky.

"Thank the Fallen, he is finally gone. You can stop holding your breath. Also, you don't have to be so stiff with me," Nyx said with a slight chuckle.

I had not realized it, but I was holding my breath the entire time the two fea spoke. I took a big exhale and said, "What was that all about?"

Nyx chuckled and put her hand on my shoulder, leading me to the grand gate surrounding the massive tree. "Well, you are straight to the point. Let's just say him and I do not get along very well."