The Awoken: Freedom (Draft)

Chapter 2: Amaral Manor

NOTE: Grammar edits are still needed, but the story is solid at this point! :)

In the morning, Dmitry and Nora set off to meet Dragonite Lucius at Amaral Manor. Nora was not dressed for the occasion, wearing a simple white cotton dress, golden bangles, and necklace. The beast, however, was always dressed elegantly in the typical ensemble for a Master Necromancer. He wore a black shirt that contoured his torso, fitted black slacks, slim dress shoes, and a rich black cape lined with red fabric. 

Arriving at the estate, the two awaited behind the colossal, black, adorned gates. Dmitry reached over to take hold of the rope to ring the bell. He looked down at Nora and whispered, "I can hear the call so loudly now. The Awoken has to be inside." He caught the sparkle in her eyes. Surely victory was within reach.

The bell attracted a woman over to the gates. From this distance, he took in her pointed ears, delicate skin, straight fair hair, and stoic face. Judging from her button nose, wide yet mature hazel eyes, and curvature of her ears, she must be a wood elf.

Said wood elf asked for visitation purposes, voice soothing with the common Elven grace. Dmitry retrieved the letter from his breast pocket, politely handing the parchment over to her with a polite, toothy smile.

She caught sight of his fangs, recognizing the male as a Bloodbeast like her master. At once, the servant opened the gates to allow them inside, before promptly closing the black iron gates behind them. 

At once, Dmitry's eyes swerved through the sizable courtyard. A pristine, calming fountain claimed the middle of the small town before the grand manor. A mighty marble dragon was carved in the center, water dripping from the mouth and back into the pool below. The entire courtyard was lined in the tall hedge, taller than himself, blocking the black gates from view.

As they walked past the fountain, a few stables to their left housed livestock, shocked to catch no smell of the animals from where they stood. Squinting his eyes, he saw several wood elves tending to the animals, one enchanting the food with her delicate magic. "Huh..." He made a soft noise, wondering if these women had the ability to mask nature's smells.

Nora found the courtyard rather eerie. For housing several small cottages, there was hardly anyone in sight. Anytime she caught a living creature, it would be another wood elf. Once seen, she would always grow timid and slump away to the barn, between the cottages, and remained out of sight.

Weird.

The only elf who did not run was a small child. She sat at the steps by a cottage, stroking the hair of her doll. Nora found the child's eyes lost, tired, broken... When the other elves noticed, one of the older females swooped the child and brought her inside.

Before them stood the Grand Amaral Manor. Dmitry never expected to see the monument before his eyes even with eternal life. He was no fool to walk on death's door for mere curiosity, yet given their mission, he intended to soak in as much of the beauty as he could.

Marvelous stone stairs trailed up to the endlessly tall, metal doors of Lucius's home. As he inched up the stairs, step by step, deliberate vines grew from the roof, over the second-floor windows, and deep into the bushes lining the building. A simple, white crème wall with typical garnet Spanish tiles roofing the beautiful home, which now made the metal doors feel misplaced.

When the wood elf fumbled with the door, Dmitry found carvings in the shimmering metal, a story told with pictographs of humans and dragons alike. He caught torches, spears, archers, but also massive dragons, detailed down to each individual scale. The humans remained dull, but each dragon was intricate, small jewels sparkling for eyes.