Synthetic Magic

The Council

I walked with my hands cuffed behind my back and two beefy looking guards on either side of me gripping my elbows tightly. They led me down a long corridor decorated with rich blue carpet and elegant chandeliers. A little overkill if you ask me I hurt my wrist opening a jar of pickles last week and if I tried to run I would have no idea where to go anyway it's not like the palace had signs pointing to the exit. I began looking around to distract myself from my impending meeting with the council.

Holographic tapestries hung across the creamy white walls of the corridor. The colour of the thread changed rapidly to give the appearance of movement within the images that proclaimed the royal families historical victories. From Sadona's first king Theodore Luxor who "cleansed" the land of the Nixie a peaceful race of forest nymphs and the original occupants of Sadona to an image of Prince Michael severing the head of an Unik symbolizing our most recent conflict and hopefully our newest victory. 

My eyes lingered on the face of my childhood playmate as I walked past the shifting tapestry. I tried to avoid listening to the gossip of the marketplace but from what I heard the sweet little Michael I once knew had now turned into a miniatures version of his father, brutal and cunning.

Would I see him at the meeting? Would he recognize me? I nearly stumbled at the thought causing the guards to tighten their grip.

I didn't have time to overthink my feeling because I now found myself in front of the heavy Titanium doors that led into the throne room. The doors were skillfully designed with king Theodore etched onto the left side of the door and queen Liza the original queen etched onto the right while the Luxor family crest rested proudly in the center of the door.

With a quick swipe of the guard's passkey and a retinal scan, the doors retracted revealing the eleven people who would soon decide my fate.

As I stepped forward I noticed the guard that had arrested me earlier was standing at the front of the room and the asshat I had pushed to the ground was standing next to him. A heavy silence hung in the air as everyone turned to look at me with looks ranging from wary to downright malice.

There were eleven council members in all seven of them were men and four were women. Each of them wore silver garments tailored to their own style some had long robes others had casual loose fitting pants one of the female council members was even wearing a scandalous belly shirt. 

"Bella Nordin are you aware you have been accused of hate speech, assault and terrorism" A councilman addressed me from his chair scowling down at me.

"Yes," I gulped and tried not to fidget under his gaze.

He stared at me a moment longer before turning towards the boy from yesterday. 

"Louis Folton please step forward" The council member requested from his chair.

"Where were you yesterday between the times 2 pm and 3 pm?" He questioned.

"I was o-" he was cut off by the unexpected sound of the metal doors retracting.

I turned around to see Michael suddenly standing in the doorway. His blue eyes locked onto mine, he was neither smiling nor frowning giving me no indication of whether he remembered me or not. I looked him up and down, he was wearing a simple blue cotton shirt and plain brown pants if it wasn't for the royal insignia stitched onto the top left of the shirt you could mistake him for a commoner. He'd grown a lot taller, he was noticeably muscular but not beefy, his round baby face had become sharp and his dirty blond hair still hung a little too long making me smile just a bit.