The Journey into the Forgotten Lands

Chapter 2

Castteel

I walk down the halls to where we all are supposed to be meeting. Once I get to the doors the guard gives me a weary smile for some reason…I shake it off because it's probably because of who is in the chambers. When the doors open I see a very beautiful female lounging in my chair as if she owned it. She turns to look at me and I recognize her it´s Zoe Queen of Rakatala. Even though I only saw her hair color and eyes, I would know those eyes anywhere. There is a dark gold, her hair is like a midnight blue that is pulled back into two braids and one strand of hair that is braided normally, and the pupils of her eyes are a vertical slit. Above her left eye is a scar that starts at her hairline and goes towards her earlobe. Her ears are pointed so I'm guessing she has a little bit of fae blood in her. Then the tattoo that is on her face is like vines and it goes down her neck and under her tunic. The black feathered wings she had in the battle are nowhere to be seen.
¨Enjoying the view or are you going to ask why I´m in your seat and not in the torture chambers like I´m supposed to be?¨ She drawls from where she is and I hear that accent on her again. It's like she speaks in a different language most of the time than the regular tongue.
I snap out of my daze and see she´s recovered her weapons, she must be very familiar with the chambers. I take my time to consider a response and then say to her, ¨Only thing I'm concerned about is what happened to Athena and AIden.¨
¨Female is fine,¨ she tells me, grabbing a dagger that was hidden within her clothes and starts to clean her nails with it. Then after she finishes cleaning her nails she adds, ¨The king on the other hand may need someone to look at his head.¨
¨What did you do to him?¨ I asked her going for my sword at my side.
She laughs as she sees what I'm doing then tells me, ¨Don't use old chains and no one will get kicked in the head.¨
¨What do you mean get kicked in the head?¨
She shrugs and me and swings her legs onto the floor. She rises and starts to stalk towards me. I reach for my sword again. Just then the doors to the chamber swing open and a voice asks, ¨How the hell did she get in here?¨
I turned to look who said that and that was where I made my mistake. As soon as my head was turned she lunges for me. I have just enough time to turn around to take a step back, but she still is able to tackle me to the floor. Next thing I know I have a dagger at my throat and Zoe looks towards the people in the door and snarls, ¨Tell me why I'm here or his head will be rolling along the floor.¨
Someone steps forward and from the voice, I know it's Aiden and he says to her, ¨Your Highness I told you why you're here. It´s to discuss ending this war.¨
She presses the dagger to my throat and I feel that it starts to draw blood. She looks down at me and smiles when she sees the terror on my face. Then there's a flash of light and I hear weapons drawn for their sheaths. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a male that looks like Zoe but with white feathered wings and his eyes are a bright gold instead of the dark ones she has.
He looks over to her and in the old tongue says, ¨Zoe, I'm so glad you're alive. I was ready to burn this city down to find you. Now we can leave and find a new strategy or kill them all and be done with this war.¨
She gets off of me, but when I try to get up, but shadow bonds hold me down. She walks over to him and they clasp each other's arms. She pulls him into a hug and says in the old tongue, ¨Damon, good to see you too. They want to discuss ending this war. I want to give them a chance, that's what Lor would want. I try to do what he was trying to teach me before he was killed by them¨
¨What's going on here?¨ someone says and from the voice I know it´s JJ and he counties with, ¨Why are you speaking in a different language and why are holding Cas down, when he's done nothing?¨
¨Done nothing!¨ Zoe screams towards him, ¨He and all of you ruined my life when you killed him!¨
Someone steps forward and I turn my head to see that it is Athena. She looks Zoe directly in the eye and said, ¨We were under orders from our fathers and the person who came up with the plan was Cas´ father.¨
Zoe scoffs and in a very angry tone says, ¨Of course it was.¨
¨What do you mean by that?¨ I ask knowing she could kill me for asking that.
¨Know of your concern,¨ Zoe replies in an icy tone.
¨Apparently we should know because it may just get Cas killed because of something his father came up with,¨ JJ remarks and says to her.
Zoe says nothing as her left hand goes toward one of the swords strapped across her back. I recognize one of the swords as WindSinger and I'm guessing the other is WindBreaker, but I'm not too sure because from my view the hilt is obscured.
¨How did you know the names of my swords?¨ Zoe asks me as she turns to look at me.
¨I said that out loud?” I ask nervously.
¨He didn't speak that out loud or I never heard him say it,¨ The male who has to be Zoe's brother says to us. His voice is very rich and has the same accent as Zoe's.
¨He didn't say anything,¨ JJ says, and Aiden murmurs in agreement.
The shadows that Zoe had on me released me. I get to my feet to find everyone staring at Zoe and me wide-eyed. I turn to see that another male is standing beside Zoe and he looks like a mixture of her and someone else. The midnight blue hair is the same, the height is the same, the wings are the same, and his ears are pointed. That's where the similarities end because the male has iridescent horns sticking out of his hair, he has blue eyes that keep shifting color, and the pupils of his eyes are star-shaped instead of a circular shape or slit. He doesn't have the tattoo that Zoe and her brother have either.
¨Mom you know what this means,¨ the male says to Zoe in an accent that is a mixture of Zoe´s and something else I can´t place. It's an accent I know I've heard before... Wait, did he just call her mom?
¨Yes he did just call me mom,¨ Zoe says and turns to address her son, ¨He can´t be my Anánkē.¨
¨Am I speaking out loud and only you can hear me or are you reading my mind?¨ I yell towards her.
She turns towards me and her wings appear and shadows going around her body. She resembled portraits that I´d seen of the Goddess Zoe. The messenger of Kema and the bringer of punishments to souls that had escaped his realm. The Goddess was one of two to do the punishments. Her twin brother Damon also helped. Zoe was known as the Black Demon because of her wings and powers of controlling the shadows. While her brother was known as the White Demon for the same reason but for his white wings and controlling of light.
¨You´re not speaking out loud dumbass,¨ Zoe says to me, ¨Have you ever heard of a mind reader?¨
I think for a moment then say to her, ¨I thought mind readers were only found in Traman or amongst the Gods.¨
Zoe raises her eyebrow as if to say Go on you know more information that you´re telling us.
I give her a look that says You tell them, that's all I know.
Liar is what her look says.
I just shrug and hope it relays I may be old enough to remember the Gods but I didn't learn everything.
¨Mind readers are common among my kind,¨ Zoe says and I feel like I just won something, she continues with, ¨Minder readers are also common among humans, but the Gods were the ones the gift originated in.¨
¨What do you mean by originated?¨ Aires King of Morata asks her.
She looks at Aires and gives him a dismissing look. Then it seems like she´s shifted through all the information she has and gives us an answer of, ¨The Gods were the ones who gave the gifts to the humans and my kingdom.¨
I look over to Aries and he seems to go red from that answer. As soon as I was going to tell him to drop it he asks,  ¨Why did the Gods only give Rakatala the power to read minds?¨
A dagger embeds itself right in between Aries´s leg just inches away from his balls. I start to walk towards Aries to stop him from making a dumb decision, but I´m too late. Fire shoots towards me because I'm right in front of where Zoe is standing. I have time to go into a roll before it hits me. I look to see what damage the fire does, I'm surprised to see Zoe grabs the fire and it turns into a darker version of itself. Right then a flash of darkness happens that sends me flying into Aries. Once that darkness is gone I turn to see a male standing in the center of the room, while Zoe, her son, and her brother are kneeling before the male. The male looks exactly like Zoe's brother but has black wings instead and the wings look like ones you would find on a bat. Then I hear Aries groan and I make to move off of him but Zoe holds up a hand that makes me stop.