The Cinders of Dezu

3rd: The Savior King (3)

He walked in, followed closely behind by Boke and another attendant. He had a clean cut, soft brown mustache and goatee with a quiet smile decorating his lips. He looked to be perhaps in his late forties and yet the days of his youth adorned his face. He approached them with a soft step in his silky black pants highlighted in red.

"Hello and welcome, " he said as he approached each one of them to shake their hands, "My name is Orion and I want to offer you my sincerest apologies for any inconveniences you may have experienced."

He went down the line, starting with Julian. Julian stood and extended his hand. Orion clasped both his hands around it firmly and shook. He did the same with Cairo who also stood.

"Everyone has a different story of how they stumbled on to this place. I trust yours is equally puzzling."

He reached Raina in his line of greetings. She stood and looked up at him. Orion looked at her and paused for a moment. His soft smile stayed but his hand hesitated before shaking hers.

"Hello, young lady. What's your name?"

"Raina," she said.

"Raina," he repeated.

He took her small hand gently in his. He looked into her eyes a moment and then looked back at the boys.

"The important thing is that we get you all home as quickly as we can."

He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled something out. He held it in front of them and they all circled around it. It was another crystal. This one was a deep vibrant purple. It had a wildly oscillating light inside  that almost looked like an electric current.

Orion looked back at the guards but kept his hand out letting the three get a closer look.

"You men can step out. Go ahead and take this chair and bench with you."

The men obeyed, going around the four of them and taking the seats out of the room.

Cairo spoke up,"This looks like-"

"You saw a red one, right? Similar flickering glow to it?"

"Yeah!" Raina said, "Julian got it for me. Yours is really pretty."

Orion smiled.

"Thank you. But it's more than just pretty. It's your ticket home."

The door behind them closed as the men left with the wooden furniture. Orion's eyebrows lifted up.

"Are you ready?"

His tone sounded like they were about to play a game. Before any of them could respond, the purple stone lit up bright. This time, because they were looking directly at it, Cairo and Julian closed their eyes. When they opened them, the processing center was gone. They saw the shimmering purple stone still in the kings hand as he slipped it neatly back in his pocket. Julian spun around and saw that the room they were now in was round with no corners.  It seemed to be lit only by a single torch hung on the wall, bathing the room in a dim and flickering orange light. The walls and ceiling were made up of a soft orange stone. Julian felt like he was out of breath.

"We- Wha- What the what?"