GRAYSON STALKED THROUGH THE HALLWAYS OF THE SOUTH KINGDOM, HIS FEET ECHOING THROUGH THE AIRINESS OF THE PALACE. Everything was quiet, nothing could be heard in the slightest, beside his feet pounding the silky floor, that shone his bodily reflection.
The gold of the palace severed as a reminder to their latest King Richard, that his heart and soul should always be the real gold, that the metal could only be beautiful when lit by the light of a loving sun. But being in these walls, it felt unsettling. Their King never mimicked the beautifulness of the place itself, his heart was stone. Hard and cold. He was cruel and unjust in comparison to what the palace represented.
For whatever reason, Marcel had to overpower him, he had gotten rid of a great evil. The question still remained, why? For thousands of years he has dedicate his life to bringing down all the sixty kingdoms. Why though? For the past couple of years Marcel had kept an eye on the south border, he had planned his attack for years before hand. Everything went exactly like he had planned, Grayson had even been in the room when he was strategising. His obsession to over power every single kingdom was his life mission, nothing would get in between it. It was a strong obsession, one he couldn't control. Marcel was blood thirst and Grayson never quite understood why.
Grayson pasted door after door, walking down its long hallways as it stretch itself further down. The palace itself was magnificent and beautiful, gold lingered everywhere, but its beautifulness was stained by its peoples blood, tragic couldn't even come close. They were scattered across the ballroom floor. Their bodies left there, to rot. It never surprised Grayson in the slightest, this wasn't the first time he had seen such a thing, but even knowing that, it still felt wrong. Unsettling and malicious. These people never did anything to deserve such a thing.
Titan had released him of his chains, the moment they came to an agreement of helping one another- somehow that thought itself felt unsettling, Titan never helped anyone but himself, that much he knew, but then question still remained why was he actually helping Grayson? What was his agenda? Grayson couldn't help but feel like something wasn't quite right. It was obvious he was hiding something but what?
Grayson's mind went back to their conversation, just before he was free of his chains. "And where do I find her?" It was an obvious questions, that one might ask. Secrets have been bringing more darkness than light within his life, something he wasn't okay with.
"Get to your little witch, and she will lead you there." Titan said, all the more puzzling. Did he mean Emily? That confused Grayson even further.
"Emily?"
"Yes. Did you really think you just happened to run into her, all by yourself. It took many efforts on my part to get you two to meet." He explained further. So Titan knew of her, maybe that's how he got Grayson to pass out, shutting his mind. Titan was never someone to use a witch to achieve his goals, they were unpredictable and that unpredictability made them dangerous.
"And what about Marcel, he will come after me once again." Grayson stated the obvious, it wasn't like Marcel wouldn't notice, he will defiantly notice that he is gone.
"I'll handle Marcel, you just worry about doing your part." Titan finished saying.
So many things never made sense in that moment... What did this Atia lady knew of his parents? And what part did Emily have to playing all of this? His mind felt like it was going to explode with the amount of information that was given to him, Grayson didn't really know what to do with them, the information didn't do it's job to properly sink in fully.
Grayson swiftly leaped over the corpses. There is no such thing as a beautiful body when death has claimed the soul. There is no romantic corpse. Death is death. The flesh rots, the bones to follow, the hair matting into the soil. But somehow they were stripped away of those privileges of ever being buried in soil, as they rot in the palace they grew up to admire. Their blood basked its shinny floors, staining it forever. Their lives were sacrificed, given to the starving vampires that now occupied these walls.
Disgust, didn't even come close to what Grayson was feeling.
"Grayson..." A whisper, an uttering of his name had him stop in his tracks, turning ever so slowly around to see its origin, but nothing was there. He was alone, with the dead corpses that remained lifeless. 'I'm loosing my mind.' He thought, the smell of death was really making him hear things.
"Turn left." It spoke again, an instruction he didn't know whether to follow or not. 'What the...' His mind raced, suspicion edging him further.
"Who's there?" Grayson asked, curiosity peaking its way to him faster than expected.
"Turn left." It repeated again. He was far too curious not to follow it, it was as if his body had a mind of its own, it followed its instructions blindly. Compelled to doing whatever it asked, so Grayson did as it asked, he turned left.
"Turn left." The voice instructed again, and he did just that. Walking further down the never ending hallways, how those people ever got about without ever getting lost here was beyond him. The whole place seemed like a confusing maze, with never ending paths and turns.
At the end of the hallway, a door appeared. It was the only one there, looking as if a dream had become solid, as if it had grown upon the hinges and blossomed into a comforting hue. A portal to something new, a good thing to enjoy or a challenge to make better. But the only way to find out what kind of gift this would become was to reach out, open it and step in. That's what he did. Grayson grasped the door nob and turned it to open.
The door creeped open slowly, revealing sunlight, that came in as woven strands, free and untied. An exit. The door was a way out of this place and he opened it further, revealing one of things he set out to go look for. One of his missing pieces he needed to find Atia.
"Hello Grayson." She said, leaning against the tree in the far end, she starred with a fierceness within her eyes, those eyes that were the hue of every tree branches from the early light to the sunset.
"Emily." He said, it seemed he didn't have to search all that far after all.