Moonrise ✔ [Complete]

06 Dragons

A/N: Feel free to listen to this beautiful orchestral piece by Ivan Torrent. :)

Maeyune understood now why Bresnia was the city of glass and steel. She marveled at the way the sun created its own magic as it played through the glass. Inside the grand lobby of the Council Hall, she entered the sunlight's welcoming embrace.

At the opposite end of the lobby from the entrance, a long wall flaunted a dynamic mural of the dragons. Yunra, the Sun Goddess, was its central focus. From a distance, Maeyune could see the detail of the goddess's golden-scaled hide.

In the center and established halfway through the wall was a stone fountain. As they drew nearer, Maeyune saw that the fountain's base consisted of two dragons coiled around each other. She recognized them as Shivra and Yunra. The Moon God could not be missed from his mountain ram horns. The Sun Goddess, the larger dragon of the two, bore the majestic antlers of a stag.

They followed Lady Luciana into a corridor, to a large enclosed platform that she explained would take them up to the top of the glass fortress. Their hosts were expecting them in the Room of Light. The serviceman who waited on them triggered the elevator, and they began their slow ascent.

A few seconds into the ride, Luciana asked, "How are you liking everything, Miss Ereni?"

"It is all spectacular," Maeyune answered. "The energy is...different here."

Luciana appeared pleased. "Thank you. I imagine Bera is not as mystical as the land of the moon. Your presence here must be creating quite the stir."

The elevator came to a halt with a soft bounce. The doors slid apart, and Luciana led them into an elegant hall with a long red rug that concealed a marble-tiled floor. The hall was far different than the lobby. Here, its appearance reminded Maeyune of the Ursan palace with its complex structure and the sophisticated patterns in the hall's marble pillars. Guards in red and black uniforms lined the walls, stationary like statues. In unison, they struck their heels together and raised a fist to their left chest in the Beran salute.

Tall, dark wood doors waited at the end of the hall. Spreading across the heavy wood was a gold and grandiose relief sculpture of Yunra.

The air grew warmer as they reached their destination. Maeyune felt as if someone had lit a fire in front of her. Her mind left the present, and in her chest, her heart beat a slow rhythm. Everything appeared to radiate more light, for she was the only one who could see the gold particles that quivered in the air.

He is in there.

"Maeyune," Master Den said, drawing her out of her daze. "Wait here until I announce you."

"Yes, Master," she heard herself say.

Two guards stepped from their posts and reached for the gold handles. And when they opened the doors, light swallowed her whole.