I hated dancing. As we exited the large flight of stairs, the sound of violin and piano scraped up against my ears. I was never one to indulge in music, thus never getting a taste for it. I just never found the screaming of so-called instruments to be particularly appealing, especially with my enhanced senses.
The swaying back and forth of posh businessmen with their wives had an almost hypnotic trance to it as they all stepped in tandem to the dreadfully slow beat of the classical song playing on stage to the left of the room. On the other side however, I could spot another staircase leading to what I believed to be our destination, the banquet hall. Slowly we made our way through, the swaying crowd of dancers acting as blockades as they rotated back and forth.
Eventually however, I made my way through, pushing my human hair out of my eyes as I made my way for the door. Suddenly, a syndicate guard I did not see suddenly stepped in front of the stairway, holding the katana he wore cautiously at his side.
"I'm not permitted to let anyone pass this point." He droned, "The banquet hall is not yet ready for entry. I'll queue everyone once you're allowed to proceed past this point."
"Oh, my mistake." I nodded my head presumptively, turning back to the group who was just making their way through the crowd of dancers as well.
Ray leaned over to the guard, "When do you think we'll be allowed in sir?"
"I dunno." He replied, "I can't see it being more than five to ten minutes to get the Lords all seated`."
"Very well."
"Well then..." I asked as we stepped off to an empty corner of the room, "what now?"
Rico broke the silence, holding his hand out to a startled Alice, "Care to dance, m'lady?" he joked.
Alice giggled, breaking into a goofy accent, "Don't mind if I do!"
They immediately broke out into an awkward slow dance that clumsily strayed from the beat of the current song. Ray, Corra, and I silently watched as they stepped on each other's feet over and over again. I would say that I found it quite boring, but I found amusement in their awkwardness.
"Excuse us for a moment." Ray and Corra both stood up, and walked into the crowd, disappearing from view.
And for the first time in awhile since joining this group, I was left alone with my thoughts, besides the copious amounts of blaring classical music of course. It didn't last however, because just when I thought I could get some much needed time to myself, the guards booming voice came from behind me.
"Attention everyone! The banquet hall is now open for your leisure."
"Where'd Ray and Corra go?" It seemed Alice and Rico had stopped dancing, Rico seemed delighted to be holding hands with a girl for once in his pathetic life.
"Not sure."
Suddenly with almost uncanny timing, I noticed two figures moving in the distance out of the corner of my eye. Two people who seemed to be swaying back and forth to the beat of the violin together as one as they drew each other close. Ray and Corra were dancing slowly to the music, holding each other in their arms. They appeared to be talking quietly amongst themselves, but they were too far away for me to hear.
"Wait…" Rico seemingly gawked at the two dancing in tandem. "Is that who I think it is?"
I nodded. "Let's go, we should give them some privacy, they can come catch up to us in the banquet hall."
The smell of freshly baked bread bombarded my senses at every living moment as we entered. The banquet hall consisted of a large wooden main floor, two glass balconies surrounding it that overlooked the stage adjacent to the entrance where the Lords were seated. And there he was in all his piggish glory, our target Lord Earl. His red mutton chops almost seemed to snarl as he stuffed a slab of meat into his flappy freckled cheeks. I sat myself down at a table front and center to the Lord's as Alice and Rico took the balcony surrounding the room for an aerial view. To the left of the long podium where each of the Lords were seated, there was a small iron door guarded by a single royal guard leading to the "backstage" area for the Lords of sorts. Now all we needed to do now was wait for Earl to take his leave, then this nightmare could finally end.
"I assume Rico and Alice have taken their positions?" Ray and Corra had arrived, both sitting down at the table and guiltily glancing around the room.
"Yes," I coughed, reminding myself not to mention what I had just witnessed in the ballroom, "When do we carry out the plan."
"Well," Ray pointed to the lone guard protecting the iron door to the left of the Lord's podium, "First off we're going to need to find a way to get past that guard. And considering It's right out in the open, we need a distraction."
I nodded, continuing off of Ray's thought process, "One that would draw the attention of not only the crowd, but one that would alert the guards and hopefully move Lord Earl to the back area where we need him. But how would we do that?"
"First off," Corra seemed more tense than usual, I suppose the mission was really getting to her. "We need weapons. We can't create a threat big enough to grab the attention of the guards without violence being involved."
"Speaking of." Ray cut himself off by taking a coin out of his pocket and flipping it, letting it roll to the ground.
"What was that?" I asked.
"The signal."
I suddenly felt a bump under my jacket, as I quietly peeked to see my familiar blade tucked away behind my coat. I slowly looked back up to try and not raise suspicion. Luckily the room was starting to get pretty packed and nobody had noticed. I glanced up to the balcony above us, both Rico and Alice were looking down looking smug as ever, Rico smiling and giving a thumbs up motion. So much for being subtle.
"Uhh, question." I asked.
"What?" Corra replied drylie, she seemed like she had no intention of answering yet she still spoke.
"Why can't Alice just… I don't know. Use her magic and teleport us inside the back room?"
Corra sighed, "Any magic user needs to be able to see a place she teleports to. She says she can by memory if she can remember a ton of details about the place, but considering we've never seen the inside of said room I don't see that happening anytime soon."
"You two… talk a lot I see."
"A fair amount. Better than having Rico chat at you twenty four seven."
"You raise a good point."
We sat in silence for a while, the laughter of the crowd of businessmen around us and the pouring of expensive wine filling the emptiness. While Corra seemed nervous, Ray simply sat back in his chair and stared directly at me, I could almost swear he didn't blink a single time, but then again I didn't know what to think. With Ray Mejia anything could be true.
"Is… something wrong?" I asked.
Ray exhaled slowly, still maintaining eye contact, "What's your story Julian? You're the only one here I don't know a single scrap of info about." He asked the question almost as if he were quizzing me.
"I could say the same about yourself. Maybe you're not the one to be pointing fingers."
"Fair point," Ray still kept the same inquizitive coyness in his voice as he continued, "I just figured the least you could do was tell me why you're here."
I sighed, "It's nothing you'd understand."
"Try me."
"If you must know, I'm looking for someone."
The words felt weird, almost alien as I spoke them. I had never thought to disclose this information to anyone other than Cornelius. Was Ray Mejia really the next best person to talk to about that sort of thing? I hoped not.
"Mmm." Ray replied, he seemed to be deep in thought. "Revenge? Love?"
I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off.
"Nomatter the person, nor the reason, a lust for something as strong as you appear to have is never a good thing."
"It's not that… I-"
"I understand now. You desire closure."
"I… I suppose so, yes. Don't we all?"
"Be wary, sometimes we let our desires get the best of us. Whether it's love, grief, or guilt, I've found the best thing to do is to start fresh. Even now I tend to let rage blind me, mostly in the presence of Greyson. Hatred can be a powerful tool towards your own demise."
"And… what would you know about any of this? Why should I trust your judgement?"
I watched as Ray pulled down his scarf, revealing a massive scar that curled down from his neck and continued behind his shirt.
"Because Julian, I did the very same thing and paid the price."
"And you assume I'll do the same?"
"Not just you, but anyone who is blinded by these foolish desires, including myself."
We sat in silence for a moment, Alice and Rico seemed to be holding their own up on the balcony as well. Occasionally they would glance as to make sure everything was going according to plan or just to be annoying, although maybe it was just my strong dislike for the avemium that made me feel that way. We were still in need for a distraction, but we weren't necessarily desperate for one. Nonetheless, every passing moment felt like a waste of time. Like some hourglass was slowly filling with sand each moment we idly sat at that stiff table.
However, those worries in my mind would soon go to waste, as a booming voice echoed throughout the vast room that caught me off guard. A group of syndicate guards were standing at the entrance of the room, a seemingly grander and more authoritative soldier at the helm which I knew to be none other than Serpens, leader of the Dawn Syndicate.
"Corra Okinji!" Serpens boomed, he spoke almost as if he wanted her to kneel before her, but I already knew that wasn't going to happen.
Corra tensed, keeping her back to the syndicate as she remained motionless in her seat.
"Here's the distraction you ordered Ray." She whispered, I could practically hear the desperation in her voice.
"Yeah, well this isn't quite what I imagined." He replied, "I can't leave you here like this."
"Well I don't see any other option," I watched as Corra pulled back her chair, turning to face the large group of Dawn Syndicate that was now advancing towards us, or rather, Corra. "Go, leave me. Finish the job."
As the crowd began to break into chaos, Corra stepped into the center of the banquet hall, drawing her two knives at her side.
"Go!" She called, I could see a single tear begin to trickle down her face as Serpens stepped forwards, "I'll be right here waiting for you when you're finished."
And then as I was swept into the raging crowd, Corra Okinji let out a smile before charging, blade in hand.