Spell; Melting Steel

Chapter 54: Twisted

Atlantis, Western Ocean. 1640 BC.

Hazel's POV

We walked towards the palace, Hermes leading the way. Ulio strode by my right, calm and not showing any signs of excitement or impression. I, on the other hand, gaped staring at the castle and admired it.

The main structure appeared as a huge oblate semi-spherical dome with a flattened top, reaching about a hundred yards high. Located above its middle bit was a tall tower surpassing cloud level. Around the central structure were more pylons springing from the huge dome, and reached at maximum half the tallest one. Glass-windowed conduits connected all minor towers to the central column and towards each other. The palace's walls were constructed out of lightly accented stone, lighter than the sky in blueness. Through them were heptagonal windows decorated by yellow tinted glass. The castle roofs appeared as the ones on the city houses but were designed bigger to match the pillar's sizes.

Flying lion-legged eagles surrounded the royal residence, making me want to rush inside the palace for once. We moved silently, and for some reason my tongue can't seem to find words to speak.

The fact that so many things were different this adventure made me a little bit uneasy.

I wasn't yet held by Daniel on the shoulders with his strong arms, although, I wouldn't like that at all to happen. He wouldn't be able to accompany me in entering the palace this time. Usually, or twice already, we were both forced and even pushed just to enter the castle doorway. Not that I like that, I just feel like, it's odd not experiencing it in this kingdom. I mean, I did meet an apparent god, so...

But I hope Lord Camberwell's fine. And now I'm starting to wonder if my bracelet finally gave up dragging the random man along to join me in my adventure.

We approached a bow-fronted wall of the ginormous dome. Humongous prismatic pillars stood with distance on both sides, giving us shade from the sunlight. The blockage in front delivered a frown to my face.

"Your incredibly beautiful gigantic Atlantis palace has no door, are you serious?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Wait until you see." Ulio stated using her rippling voice.

Hermes took two more steps forward, leaving the sprite and I behind. Ulio raised her hand and stared at her fingernails apathetically and the young god raised his hands high up the air.

He shouted. "Yewad sinamph onasad!"

Suddenly, a bright orange glow appeared in front of Hermes. I squinted to see and blinked a few times abruptly. It didn't take long for the light to vanish, revealing distorted particles of air, brightly sparkling purple in color.

Ulio sighed with comfort and flipped her bangs another moment. "Finally, I have been waiting for ages Hermes. I just want to eat already." She moved and headed for warped wall of gas. Hermes walked ahead and entered the purple area. Ulio vanished, following after Hermes did.

"Whoa..." I gaped and took hesitant steps forward. "What kind of magic allows sudden vanishing like that? Where did you guys even? Are those laser miasma things that can vaporize you out of existence? Who am I even talking to? Are you even here still? Hello? Hermes? Ulio...?"

Reaching the violet vicinity, I kept my eyes open and observed. The wall before me slowly faded away and was replaced by a breathtaking scene. And what I mean by 'breathtaking scene' was that I saw an eagle-lion hybrid flying closely around and I felt like it was about to snatch me and kill me with wild instinct using crazy talons and take my literal breath away. Hermes, which was two steps away, turned to see me and smiled.