Aramith smiled nervously as they arrived at the lux doors. He stopped short and Lia looked at him, noticing the beads of sweat on his forehead.
"You're not going to believe this Lia, but I'm nervous," he smiled at her. It wasn't genuine and Lia easily saw through that.
"What's wrong with you?" she walked up to him and wiped his forehead with a white handkerchief.
"You can't show up to such a major event like that," she nagged.
"Okay, but-"
"Hey, do you want to hold hands?" she asked out of the blue
"What?"
"I'm nervous too, so...whatever let's hold hands," she commanded rather asking.
She tucked the handkerchief away and held his hand, dragging him to the door.
"Hey, do you think this will go well?" she asked him.
Aramith looked at her but froze in place as his heart started to beat faster. This wasn't Lia, he thought as the person before him started to change in appearance. Her cheek was swollen, and bruises started to appear on her face. Aramith came to his senses when she tightened her grip and it all disappeared. "What in the..." He wiped his face and shook his head.
"What's wrong?" Lia asked him, knowing something was wrong.
"It's just...I had this weird dream...more like a night-"
"Then you should go rest up," Lia suggested
"No, I'm going with you. what if..." he trailed off again
"And you're acting like this? It might be better if you don't come at all."
"It's nothing. I'm just nervous since there will be so many people."
...No-one noticed...
In the garden she stood still, breathing heavily with her eyes on the moon, but her mind somewhere else. With every breath, a blue line would pulse from the nape of her neck downwards. She gritted her teeth as fangs poked out and her nails shifted into claws. Blue scales rippled across her skin, and even though it was frightening, it had some beauty.
"AAAAH!!!" She suddenly screamed, and started slashing at the plants in the garden, shredding most of those around her so effortlessly.
She screamed as she unleashed her 'anger' on the plants. This was Mozrael, but this wasn't Mozrael. She was losing control of herself to the inner being she possessed. In that state, she looked inhuman and if anyone were to get close to her, she might kill the person without even knowing it.
She fell to the floor as if someone had struck her hard. On her knees, she started to hit the floor with her fists, breaking the marble floor to pieces and kicking up dust from where she was. She fell to her back, clutching her head and screaming.
She was wailing. 'Stooop!!!, just stop!. Leave me alone!!!!" Her voice was breaking and the pain she felt was unbearable. It was like her whole being was set on fire and she fell on her side, hugging herself as she rolled up into a ball, crying. The blue light pulsed brighter and faster with her heartbeat.
Blood splattered on the floor as she coughed convulsively. The coughs lasted shortly and she was gasping for air, her consciousness was leaving her.
"you are one miserable person, you know," a voice came from behind her. She willed herself to turn and see who it was but only got herself another fit of coughs. Her senses felt numb and she couldn't see clearly, even after the person came to squat before her. She only saw the colour green and instinctively slashed at him, but he caught her arm halfway toward its target.
"I would save my energy if I were you," he said as he dropped her arm and reached a hand towards her neck. She felt fear and energy rushed into her body as she sprang up and kicked the person in the chest. At least that's what she believed.
The person grunted, but that one kick seemed to be all she had left in her and she dropped to the floor once again. She wasn't fully unconscious, but her body wouldn't move no matter how much she willed it. She could only see faintly as the person walked up to her once again and reached a hand toward her neck. She prepared for the worst, but this person just placed two fingers on her neck to check her pulse.
"You just like trouble, don't you?" The person said and turned around to pick something up.
It was a man, but who?
He raised Mozrael's head and slipped something into her mouth.
Intense pain coursed through her body and her senses were slowly coming back to her.
"How many times do I have to tell you to always keep your medicine with you at all times?" He said.
Aiden? That was something the healer always said to her. When her senses fully returned, she saw him clearly, It was Aiden.
When it came to people, she hated Aiden for no particular reason. She just found him uncomfortable to be with and that turned into hate.
"She's good now, you don't have to inform the king about this," Aiden told a guard waiting behind him. The guard just nodded and left quietly.
"Here, take them." He reached out to give her two glass vials. One contained pills, and the other was opaque, so she didn't know what it was for.
"The pills are yours, but give the other one to Aramith. I have to go check something," he left.
Mozrael got up after some time and went to sit on a bench.
In the main hall, people could be seen in almost every space. They were from different places and different races, and the appearance of everyone could be described with one word.
Aristocrats
One inconspicuous character wandered about 'harmlessly' through the crowd of people. Very few noticed him, and those who noticed him didn't look at him twice. He looked around, using his 'eyes' to notice the auras of the people present, noticing the strong ones and the weak ones.
As usual, the attribute that appeared the least was the space attribute. He could count less than ten in the whole room with most of them being below the platinum gate.
It felt like she'd been sitting there for only a few minutes, enjoying the cool breeze. But in reality, almost three hours had passed when she finally decided to go back inside to join the rest.
She stepped in and the size of the crowd immediately made her uncomfortable.
Suffocating.
That was the word that ran in her mind. Worse still was the fact that she couldn't see any familiar faces to make her comfortable.
Henndar was in a meeting with ambassadors from each Kingdom, Kethra was discussing with some of the officials, and Aramith and Lia...she couldn't see any traces of them.
She searched for a less crowded spot and moved there, feeling slightly better. As she studied the crowd, a peculiar little fellow caught her eye. He seemed her age, but she just felt he was odd.
One could see people talking, laughing, and eating, but this one did none of those. He only stood there, eyes darting all around as if in search of something or somebody.
Using a bit of her power, she scanned him, but sensed nothing at all. He had no Youm, not even a tiny bit of it. That was odd, but what intrigued her the most was the fact that he had no aura. His presence just wasn't there.
O(only people with higher ranks can hide their presence from those lower than their cultivation rank so well, the lower your rank, the more difficult it would be to hide your aura, but to completely hide your presence when you have no cultivation registers only one word into a person's mind.
Suspicious.
Just then, the boy turned to her and the chill she felt as they made eye contact could not be described with one word.
Just as she was breaking eye contact, she caught a glimpse of a smile that gave her goosebumps.
Hordin was hurt.
From the time he set foot into the large space, he'd wandered alone, not knowing what to do. Everyone else was way above his age and that made him feel alone and left out. The least he could do was get to know some people at least so he could get some information.
That was basically what everyone else was doing and out of all the people crowded in there, the only people that seemed his age were the prince and princess of The Vermillion Kingdom Who'd entered hours ago, But those two had the strangest aura he had ever seen.
He couldn't figure out what their attributes were, and their aura was so powerful if they were to flare it a bit, he was sure he would suffocate.
At that age, they couldn't be above the bronze gate, and the girl...wasn't she the one they were celebrating today? She was supposed to be now entering the world of cultivation but how could she be so powerful?
As they passed him, he was sure she smiled at him, but the prince...he glared openly.