"The Homers!?" Delice raced out of her hiding spot behind the huge door and barged into the room, her small eyes filled with fear.
In comparison to everyone, she looked quiet small, even her wings were nothing in comparison to the others. Her skin was a shade darker and her long, full hair was jet black, something no other person in the Higher Realm had.
Her Mother's large, white feathery wings arched sharply, her face hardened with a scowl. Her mother so hated eavesdropping! Even right now, Delice could feel her Mother's eyes reprimanding her.
"Please, Mother," she cried desperately, flying to the golden Round Table they were all seated at. "I don't want to be part of the Homers."
"You shouldn't be eavesdropping, Delice. Where are your manners?" Her voice was hard, just like it had been all these years of bringing her up.
She fell to her kneels immediately, her head bowed.
"Please, I don't want to be part of the Homers. I want to be a Guardian, I can be a Guardian, I am..."
"Silence!" Her Mother's voice thundered.
Delice could feel the tension at the table intensify. The Seven High Elders must be tensed too, her Mother was the Queen of the High Realm after all, and her wrath was something no one wished for.
"You are not fit to be an Earth Guardian."
"But I am, Mother," her voice quivered at her declaration.
"How? You have never been to the Earth Realm, never trained, or even participated in the make-believe hunt. So tell me, my sweet, sweet child, how?"
Delice took that as her cue to finally look up.
"I have been training."
Her Mother's hands tightened around one of the golden light emitting scroll that had been set before them on the Round Table. She turned a quick burning glare to the War High Elder, who was sitting on the second seat to her left.
Caught under her stare of rage, the War High Elder's wings, came around him slightly as a quick response to his instinctive need for protection.
"I never authorized any of such, My Queen."
The Queen said nothing to that, instead she turned her glare to her daughter, who was still on her kneels, begging her to reconsider.
A long time ago, she had come to the conclusion that Delice was delicate, fragile, and wasn't capable of being a Guardian.
A Guardian's job was to capture Dark Souls, that instead of going along with the Laws of Nature, Order and Balance, had decided to do otherwise and roam the Earth Realm.
Dark Souls were violent, heartless and tricky beings.
Delice being Delice, the Queen was convinced that she wouldn't be able to survive such a task.
In order to protect her daughter, she had passed a rule that no one was to train Delice to be a Guardian. Believing that if she didn't have the required skills to do it, then she would never demand for a trail, but here her daughter was, asking her for that exact thing she had tried to avoid.
Who was that Being that had dared to defile her rules?! She would make an example of him or her for all to see!
"Who trained you?" Her Mother said, using her Queen voice that commanded absolute obedience.
So great was her power, that the force made Delice bow to the ground. She could feel it tugging at her heart, like as if it was holding it like a sought of hostage, forcing her to speak the truth.
Delice was aware of the rule made against training her. Although her Mother had never told her, she had been forced to find out about it in the most embarrassing way ever. So, she knew not to be stupid and blurt out who it was.
"I ca-cannot say," she said tightly, her breath ragged, as she struggled with her mother's commanding aura with all her might. "B-but I ..."
Her Mother's lips pressed into a thin line.
Her daughter was doing it again.
This whole act of disobedience reminded her all the more why she was unfit to go to the Earth Realm.
"That is enough. You will be part of the Homers and that is final."
"Mother?!" She cried out sharply, tears rushing down her cheeks, her head once again raised against the force that was still trying to bring her down to the ground.
This annoyed her Mother even more. Slowly, her wings arched fully behind her and she got lifted off the ground. A power seeped through her body and bright white light emitted from her.
The Seven High Elders immediately fell to their kneels, chanting spells to appease her but her anger was set on her daughter, so their spells was useless against the situation.
So there she was, mid air and angry, looking down at her daughter, who was still on her kneels, her tears continuously flowing.
When she spoke, her voice thundered through the room, echoey and almost deafening.
"My word is the law, Delice!"
Wind blew into the room, like a turbulence, sending some things violently crashing to the ground, the High Elders immediately shielded themselves with their wings, their pleads to the Queen not ceasing.
Delice didn't move to protect herself though, all she could feel was the way her heart was aching and breaking from her Mother's words, not the wind that was sweeping past them quickly nor the suffocating tension nor the aura so strong that it's force fixated them to their spots.
She just kept her gaze locked with her Mother's angry one, her next words seeping clearly through her ears.
Words that she had heard over and over again, that it now had a permanent residence in her mind.
"You will obey me!"
She couldn't fight the aura anymore. A force jerked her head down. She tried to pull away but she couldn't. Then she heard one of the Elders shout firbher to say the word before things got worse and she had no other choice.
"Yes, My Queen."