league of night

chapter two

aelene's room had been placed in the east wing of the obsidian castle. far away from the great hall that even when sprinting would take her more than a couple of minutes to reach the entrance of Delser. the hallways of the castle had always been cold, no warmth to spread around as she climbed up the night sky steps towards her room. the walls of the castle had little to none decoration, vines crawling up the sides of the dark castle, giving the soulless cold castle some life. Purple and red banners could be seen at random intermediates in the hallways each of them with the cross-hatching and league of night symbol scorched in the middle, a reminder of what and who they were. The hallways tended to be deserted, guards were not necessary, but at each member's room two weapon hangers stood at the sides, coated in a silver dusting that had been laced with small traces of iron into the pommels of the daggers and swords that hanged at the sides of her door. aelene had never used them, had never had the necessity to touch the screaming demons that decorated the weapons that hung from the sides of the wall. the smell of whatever had been placed upon the weapons apart from silver and iron were enough to keep her away from the demon looking swords and daggers.

almost at her door, she saw the shadowed figure that stood beside her room. bright blonde hair curling around her shoulders a stark comparison to the black gear that Lùn wore. Her butterfly knife, a small garnet glinting from the firelight, was tucked into her weapons belt that of which was adorned with knives and daggers from all sorts. Her blonde hair fell into her pale face as she looked up, pale blue eyes catching the light of the torches that were posted evenly around the hallways of Delser. The girl smiled faintly, as Aelene reached her bedroom, the ghost of smile threatening to come to her lips that only Lùn could bring.

"you look like you were run over by a truck, which i will say is ironic as they stopped working over a hundred years ago" said her best friend, eyes glinting.

"why thank you buzzard, i hadn't realized" aelene responded as she pointed with a finger towards her gear, the small rips of fabric at the collarbone and knees were the least of her worries. Her hair was matted, covered in blood and sweat from other people and her clothes were covered in splatters of blood, sweat, dust, and any other thing that one got crawling through sewers and roads for a week. With a sigh she walked towards her room, the wooden door groaning with effort, she walked in Lùn trailing behind.

"how is it that everytime i come in here," Lùn pondered, looking both mockingly and thoughtfully around the room "there is less and less color in this room?" Lùn finished, her pale hand making vague motions towards her room, the girl was always picking at her for not "moving in" properly.

"oh shut up, look the bed sheets are red, and there are books in the window sill" she countered back pointing towards her four-poster bed that took up a fourth of her room, the black posts contrasting with the grey wallpaper of the room. it was true she hadn't really put much effort into her room for the past 10 years that she had lived with the league. Lùn plopped down on her bed sprawling herself for the too big mattress, "ugh, you are boring Ael, please do me a favor and remind me why we are friends?" she said, a long sigh of exasperation coming from her lips as she kneeled on the bed.

Aelene pretended to ponder on the question before smirking and snapping back with playfulness "because of my charms and my butt kicking ass" she answered picking up a pillow from the sofa that lay in front of her bed, and threw it at Lùn. A squeal of "don't you dare !" was heard from Lùn but it was too late the velvet pillow had hit her in the face throwing her off balance from where she kneeled on her knees.

"Oh you are so, on!" the blond yelled, eyes shining with excitement and fun, as she whipped around to grab another pillow throwing it at Aelene who ducked right before the pillow flew above her head and next to the glowing fireplace. the ghost of a smile that had threatened to come was in full blossom, Aelene forgetting about everything that had gone wrong in the past week, and what she had learned, the message that Deloris had given her, the golden throne and the shadows that coiled around her closed heart. As she and Lùn threw pillows at each other, giving the room that tended to be so cold and dark, warmth and life, but as soon as she thought of the throne and Deloris her smile faded, the pillow that she had been holding, extended back to throw at Lùn, forgotten as it 'thudded' into the ground. she saw as Lùn slowly got up from the now unmade and tangled bed towards her, her boots thudding against the wooden floors as she walked towards Aelene.