Realm of Wings

Jade, walking next to Kallan as we were following Echo:

Echo hardly had to use his clicking sounds to find his way in this maze of similar hallways, which made me aware that he knows more about this palace than he lets us on to. Also, this only added to the strange behaviour he is showing as of an hour ago. He was mad that I had left again but other than that, he didn’t say a word. He wasn’t explanatory, wise, or rude, just short and angry.

“Whatever is going on behind these walls, do not interfere.” Echo suddenly said as we rounded another corner and came to a stop in front of two red doors.

Kallan and I looked at each other and weren’t actually fazed by what he said, besides, since when do I keep my shut when it is asked?

“I’m serious! Kallan you have to keep her at bay.” Echo now only spoke to Kallan, looking at him with his white, glazed-over eyes.

“What could there be, Echo?” I asked him while ignoring the fact that he didn’t address me on this matter.

“Things that only Kallan can understand, and I need him to keep you from interfering.” Echo explained and looked at Kallan again to get some form of agreement out of him. Kallan simply nodded which gave Echo the silent answer that he did.

But even though they understood each other, I didn’t. I couldn’t comprehend anything that was supposedly so bad, that I couldn’t interfere with, to prevent it from happening. But here we are, Echo telling Kallan to hold me back, for what?

The red doors opened and Echo stepped into the room. This time he was using his clicking, to get around any object that was in there, in his way.

And holy fuck, there were many!

Sounds, smells, views… everything I witnessed with all my senses was just overwhelming. Everywhere were naked Fae, pleasuring themselves, pleasuring each other or eating delicacies and drinking wine, and using plenty of magic to keep all the activities going. And at first glance, you might believe it to be one hell of an event that was going on here where everyone was acting out of free will.

But looks can be deceiving.

As tough as Echo’s mind was to breach, plenty of the minds from these Fae, both male and female, were not. They were just seeping into my brain like I had a broken water tap inside of my head. There was nothing I could do to stop their thoughts from getting in and they went from bad to worse, the further I walked into this room.

“I hope this ends soon!” A young female Fae thought as she got whipped by a large male Fae, out of sheer pleasure.

“I can’t afford to look weak.” Another Fae, a male this time, was thinking as he was in battle with another male Fae.

And so almost every Fae had about these same thoughts, besides the casual psychopaths in between them, as they enjoyed the pain that they were causing to others. But besides every bad thing they were thinking about, they all smiled and looked as if they were enjoying their time being here.

I hated for them to be subdued in this kind of setting, but there were so many of them in here that I couldn’t help them all, at once. There even was a young female, who didn’t look to be right of age, who was coerced into the touching of her body and wings as well! Didn’t Kallan explain to me that the touching of wings is something excruciating intimate? What the hell!

“Don’t.” Kallan said while holding my shoulders as I unknowingly had decided to step in the girl’s direction. As ordered by Echo, Kallan had kept his eyes on me to keep me from interfering, as much as I disliked this situation.

“You didn’t see her?” I asked him in disbelief.

“Yes, but you can’t help her. Not now!” He whisper-yelled and I had to keep my anger subdued for now. I trust Kallan, but this is getting on my nerves.

“I have to keep going, otherwise they’ll punish me.” Another voice came through from one of the Fae present.

“I can’t lose my… I can’t think like that! I have to keep going!” Another female Fae was thinking as she was continuously dancing while I could see her toes being sore and bleeding.

But what would they lose? Why would they be punished should they decide to stop doing these things? And above all, who is ordering these activities to happen in the first place?

“That is what you get when you show weakness!” A sudden cruel and deep voice yelled, which inclined me to rush over there to see what was going on.

Two Fae, male and female were clenching each other while obvious signs of fear made them tremble on their feet. “We can’t no more! Please, let us go!” The girl begged and cried at the same time.

“What is-

“Shh! Don’t interfere!” Kallan shushed me as he put his hand over my mouth and whispered in my ear. He held me tight and I wanted to get myself out of his grip, but even though I was fighting him to be released, it was too late already.

The man that was yelling towards the couple, for showing weakness, had already used his power to do something horrific. As his hand had reached forward, streams of ghostly wires strung themselves between the two battered people and himself, draining the poor humiliated people from the thing that makes them true in their existence. They were being ‘unburdened’ from the magic they carried that made them Fae, their most prized possession taken as if they were criminals. And a loud and high-pitched scream followed after, shivering every hair on my body.

They both dropped their bodies on the floor, not dead but emotionless and void of any happy thoughts. I didn’t have to read their minds to know that there was no longer a will to keep themselves alive, they were showing no more willpower to get up and get back to a normal way of living. They didn’t even cry anymore, as soon as they felt the magic was gone, their tears were too.

It was a horrible sight to witness, death would have been a kinder solution than this form of torture.

“Father, I am bored.” Ren suddenly spoke up as he sat in his grant chair, slumped and uninterested in the current events.

“Yes, me too, son.” The man that just took the couple’s magic and rolled his shoulder blades, said. He put his braided brown hair behind his back and turned towards the other people. “The festivities are over!” He continued to yell towards the rest of the room and most of the Fae in here were sighing in relief, besides the few psychopaths that were humming disagreeing.

The high-esteemed guests, as I assumed, were getting back towards their seats, either dressed or completely naked, caring nothing for whatever other Fae might see while the Fae that were forced into action were happily drooping off, out of the room.

My anger towards this ‘King’ was beyond repair. What kind of man are you when you force your people to have sex or other inhuman activities with your elite guests? What do these elitist people have that the rest of the Fae don’t? And why should you punish and humiliate your own people like this? This is not ruling!

Kallan surprised me with a little jolt of magic that roamed through his fingers while he had surrounded my clenched fists with them. He made me snap out of my thoughts to somewhat force me to look towards him.

“Do you remember the red-headed Fae that made a mistake in the Monk’s Monastery?” He asked me at which I nodded.

“If you weren’t there, she would have been stripped from her title. And if she had made a more severe mistake, where others would have been hurt, she would have been stripped from her magic as well.” Kallan admitted.

I looked him in the eyes, not believing a single word he was saying. Of course, he had told me before, partially, but still, the fact that he was still hung up in these rituals is beyond me.

“That’s the Fae way of life, Jade. If you can’t do what you are commanded to do or if you can’t live up to the pride of the Fae, you lose your magic. That is how it’s always been and how it always will be.” He continued to try and explain to me while whispering to not draw too much attention from the rest of the people in here.

And that’s when I decided.

“No, Kallan.” I stated, making him furrow his brows.

“What you mean, no?” He whispered back.

“I am going to get my orbs of power, I will get my wings, I will make this world one whole again. And you know why? Because of this, of this what happened here. These traditions are going to be eradicated as soon as I’m strong enough to kill every single one of these elite masochists in this room! And don’t you dare step in my way once I am ready.”

“Jade, it’s not like I agree to it, it’s just that...” Kallan tried to weakly excuse everyone’s behaviour.

“No. Today I will be quiet, today I will play along, as Echo instilled, but after this day I will be gone and I will not return before I’m ready to tear this place down, to the ground. You hear me?” I was not lacking any form of willpower while saying this. I even pointed to everyone in the room here to make sure that Kallan understood that I was meaning it. I didn’t care that people saw me argue with him, I didn’t care that I made this so-called King waiting. I have always vowed to protect the weak and eradicate evil, and here I am, finding myself new victims to my wrath!

This will end. Soon.

“Well, when the lover’s quarrel is over, I’d like to introduce you two to King Qai and Queen Azura.” Echo said loud and clear for everyone to hear.

In the meantime, the couple that had been taken from their magic was being dragged out of the room to who knows where, and we stepped forward to get closer to the King and Queen’s chairs. Ren was seating himself in an upright position and was interested in how this conversation was going to end up now. Creep.

“Echo! My dearest Fae deflector!” King Qai happily greeted Echo and he in return smiled and accepted the manly hug he got from the King. “Have you gotten news from the other side? Can we finally take them over? My men have returned and said they have been weakened deeply after the attack.”

“Yes, my King, they have. But unfortunately, that is not because of the strength of your men.” Echo explained to him as if he was completely on their side of the story.

Why is he telling this man details of what happened? Had he been playing both sides all this time? Is that why he was acting so strange?

“Oh? And what was the reason then, for their weakening state of mind?” King Qai asked.

“It’s because I have taken with me, their Prince. So, they lost one of their strongest generals.” Echo said as he pointed towards Kallan.

Kallan’s eyes grew large, as well as mine! What the hell is Echo playing at? What are we going to do now? Are they going to capture him, us?

“And also, as you might have heard from your son already, this girl here, she is supposed to be the rightful heir to the throne.” Echo said and now I was about to eat my shoe.

What the fuck is going on?

I know Echo told me to keep an open mind, to follow my instincts as to whom I should trust or not, but so far, I’m only trusting Kallan and no one else! Echo is of now, also been wiped off the clean, white sheet!

Or…

Is this the thing where I should keep an open mind to? I mean the Oracle mentioned it too, right? Is this another test to see where our loyalties lie? God, my head is starting to hurt…

“Yes, but don’t worry my King, I’m not after your highly adorned seat. You can be King until the rest of your days.” I winged it, hoping for the fact that I made the right decision. “And Kallan, well, even though we have our disagreements he is indeed my lover. He just didn’t want to spend another day at his father’s castle, being tied up with less magic than he could eventually have at his disposal.” I said while holding on to Kallan’s hand, showing off affection while it is not even close to near, right now.

“Right, and I’m supposed to believe that statement and just let you go?” The King chuckled and looked around in the room, searching for acknowledgement from the other elite guests that were laughing at me now as well.

“Well, I don’t know, in my opinion, you have two options. One, you either choose to indeed let us just walk right out of the castle with all the supplies we need for our journey-

“Preposterous! I’m not going to allow you to-

Kallan, still a bit confused to what Echo’s planning is, but now also worried about Jade as she stepped forward towards the King:

I grabbed her shoulder, to keep her standing next to me, but she shook it off and continued her heading.

“Or...” She interrupted the King boldly. “Option two, you decide to try capturing me and risk the chance of being killed along the way too.”

Oh, now we are royally fucked in the ass... Did she really just threaten the King while this room is filled with guards, elitist Fae and other people? How are we going to get out of this alive now?

But to worsen the situation she even got so close to the King that she leaned forward and whispered something in his ear. At first, he was calling out his anger for the audacity she was showing to get so close, getting angered and even stood up from his throne to try and push her aside. But after hearing her say something inaudible to hear for me, he started cursing and eventually his eyes grew larger than the orb of power Jade has in her pocket.

It was frightening to see that her determination in difficult situations never seems to waver, even though she was now standing in front of the King of the rich side of Kyalthemar! The King who just so easily took the magical powers from two other Fae, without flinching one simple thought over it!