"Fire away." I answered, trying too hard not to sound nervous.
They were only theories, but they are a start. 'One step at a time.'—The familiar words echoed inside my heart rather loudly. It helped stable the rapid pounding in my chest.
"First and foremost, have you heard about The Founding Tale of the Flos people? Of how our origins came to be?" The high priest joined his hands together and rested his elbows on the chair's arm-rest.
I'd read in some of the books that aside from being "humans", the people who intake aether from the flowers were called "flos".
"She could have not known that story, Marcus. The books that contained The Founding Tale have long been thrown out by the empire. No one's interested in some myths aside from you, anyway." The gentleman from the council said. "It's just some old bedtime story."
"I… know of it." I replied.
Both of them raised their brows.
"How did you…?"
"I just read it somewhere." I couldn't help but to avert my gaze. Lying was not something I am good at.
"Oh, I see." The high priest didn't press much further. "Seems like some of the texts survived after all."
Gabriel just shrugged one shoulder while Marcus continued to speak. "Here is what I know." His eyes were even more focused than earlier.
I gulped down the odd feeling on my throat before nodding.
"You are already aware about the war of the gods, and everything that happened right after, right?"
Again, I just nod.
"But what if I tell you that The Founding Tale forgot to mention some parts? That there are some details that were left out."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Actually, Khloris was married to a fellow god."
"I thought they were siblings?" I asked with sheer curiosity.
Gabriel let out a slight snort—but he composed himself immediately right after and cleared his throat.
The high priest's lips tore into a gentle smile. "Well yes, most of them were. But it was said that marrying their siblings were common to these heavenly beings."
Hearing that, the young council member clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Gods and their tastes for incest."
"I told you, they married and had children with their siblings because there is no actual blood between them. Like literally—they do not have blood running through them, they have a heavenly golden substance called ichor. You think they'd be gods if they have normal human blood running through their veins?" The high priest's bronze cheeks were already blotting red as he gestured his hands to the person across the other table.
"Whatever," Gabriel waved his hands. "nerd." The last word was almost like a whisper.
Are they that close to be able to fight like that?
"We've already gone off topic. This is quite complicated so please listen carefully." High Priest Marcus heaved in a deep breath before continuing. "Khloris was married to the God of the West-Wind, Zephyros. On the day of their betrothal, their parents had gifted them two very powerful celestial elements. One was carved out from the core of light itself—it was a substance free of taint. It was an absolute and unyielding ball of brightness. Pure Light, it was called. On the other hand, Quintessence was taken from the heart of the deepest voids of darkness ever known. It was an oppressive element, a ball of shadows that infected anything that was weaker than itself. That very day, as the west-wind howled over the dancing flowers that flourished on the land, the two deities had earned new names for themselves. Khloris was given the name: Sol bearer of Pure Light. While Zephyros was also called: Nightshade bearer of Quintessence."
"And you're telling me this, because…?"
Sure, it was such a great story. But what did it have to do with me?
Gabriel shifts on his seat, turning to the high priest.
"Oh for Khloris' sake, Marcus! You don't possibly think-"
"Think what?" I butted in. A rush of uneasiness was making my heart race abnormally.
They didn't seem to hear me as they continued to talk to each other.
"Is there any other explanation? She can call out perithia from afar. That's very much the same as being able to control aether however she wants to. Our ather is light itself—that's why it's called light aether, Gabriel. Who else can control light but Sol herself?"
"Are you hearing yourself, you bookworm-of-a-high-priest? This is nothing but wishful-thinking from your own fantasies!"
"How else would you explain her allergies then? The Pure Light inside her is eating her up! It longs to be used by its master—so much that it had found a way to hurt her. The allergies are side effects of not using her powers for too long."
Little by little, the tangled mess of words that I heard gradually unwove itself into an understanding. A mixed feeling of dread and panic slowly wrapped my entire body. My senses blurred as I processed the thoughts.
"Young lady, are you okay?"
"You're scaring her, Marcus."
I blinked myself back to reality and jolted up from my seat.
"Young lady, please calm down. Like I said, these are only theories."
"No!" I shouted, acknowledging the fear that had been looming in my guts since earlier. I could feel my lips tremble as I continued to speak. "You're wrong. There are no theories. There is nothing. I am nothing. I am normal. I do not have any flashy abilities whatsoever, nor do I have any weird thing within me. I… I… I am not a freak."
With that, I hurriedly ran out of the room. I could hear voices calling for me but they were cancelled out by the loud beating of my chest.
Without any sense of direction, I just ran and ran. The most important thing was getting away from that place as far as possible. Still, the horror I felt did not disappear.
Those people were out of their minds. Marcus was out of his mind. I am no one. I am just a simple girl who wants to live a normal life. I am not more than what I am now.
'Are you sure about that?' A voice in my head asked.
I wasn't sure if that voice was mine but I pushed it away and kept running.
As I turned to another direction, I saw a very recognizable golden sheen. I stopped on my tracks, realizing that the golden boy was not alone. That back seems familiar.
Then I realized—the man with his back towards me was the white-haired man from the council.
It was all too sudden. The council member raised his hand and slapped golden boy on the face. It was so strong that the sound reverberated across the hall.
I covered my mouth as I let out a gasp. Not knowing what to do, I decided to hide myself behind the wall. But I instantly cursed myself afterwards. What am I doing?
"Will you still not tell me why you had left your duties the other night?" Said the man.
"I... was with my friends." I heard the golden boy say in a calm manner. "Besides, I was already finished with the paperwork."
Another sickening sound made by a slap rang out.
"A crown prince does not make up excuses for leaving the palace, Alistair. To be clear, you should never even leave this place at all. I will let this one off since you rarely make mistakes."
What? He was the crown prince? I even called him Goldilocks!
"Yes, please forgive my insolence, Lord Astlei."
"This is all in preparation for you to become a perfect Emperor, Alistair. You must not misunderstand."
"Yes, my lord."
Moments later and a pair of steps were coming to my direction. I turned around and saw that the crown prince was already in front of me in his white, red and gold princely attire.
Did he found out that I've been listening to him getting scolded? I gulped while thinking of possible excuses.
His deep blue eyes loomed down at me, his perfect features were expressionless. Then his brows shoot up as soon as he'd realized who I was.
"Oh, it's you. I hardly recognize you with all those bandages."
His tone might be neutral but the aura around him still scared me.
"Uh- yes, I was just going... your highness."
"Are you alright?"
What did he just say?
"E-excuse me?" I couldn't help but stammer on my words. Did I really hear him right?
"I was asking if you were alright. You're shaking." I didn't expect that he'd suddenly grab hold of my hand. He held it up and I saw that it was indeed shaking. "See?"
I took my hand back and looked away to lie. "This is nothing." I tried to smile as I faced him again. "I have to go-"
He grabbed both of my shoulders and leaned closer. "Hey, tell me. What's wrong?" His eyes looked directly at mine as his hands dug deeper into my shoulders.
I wasn't expecting him to do that. And for the first time, I was thankful for the bandages. I could definitely feel my face heating up.
"Y-your highness..." I winced as I felt that my shoulders were already aching.
His eyes slowly widened as he pulls himself back to reality. For a moment, shock was registered on his face. The crown prince lets me go in a mere second. "Sorry. I-I'll go first. Be careful on your way back." He bowed and walked out hastily.
The golden boy slash crown prince left and I just stood there—dumbstrucked. What was that? That person was the one who had pointed a sword at me right at our first meeting, wasn't he?
I felt the sharp object in my pocket and instantly wondered why I had been running around and looking for an exit.
Never have I ever wanted to punch myself so badly.