Mythic (NaNoWriMo14)

Chapter 9 - Djinn, Our Brother

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Chapter 9 - Djinn, Our Brother

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A banquet was not what Rena expected to be greeted by the same group that had kidnapped them the previous day. 

She sat uncomfortably in a high-backed wooden chair on a padded cushion, nervously fingering her crystal key. Under close watch, they'd been given the option to bathe before coming, but none of their group had done much with it. Rena herself had only wiped her face because Leora threatened to do it for her if she didn't. 

The hall was a semicircle with a tiered platform positioned where the centre of the circle would have been if it was full. The platform itself seemed to be composed of roughly cut stone, some arranged into staircases, while other parts became a miniature waterfalls, catching the water that fell in from the ceiling above. Various mosses and small shrubs helped to bring the entire thing to life, a shrine to nature herself. Everything about it was a contrast to the exquisite marble that spanned the floor, the delicate arches and carvings into the walls and roof.

Sunlight filtered in from the gaps in the ceiling and the large, open windows that ran along the flat wall to fall on everything from the large, elegant wooden tables and their occupants to the largest, most curious statues Rena had ever laid eyes on. She guessed them to be representing ancient fae mythics, if this were truly an ancient place of worship as the oracle had said, but they were like no fae she'd ever seen. Their expressions watched the future, gazes focused on something so fervently it seemed as if it would consume them. 

Rena had stopped studying them as soon as she'd become sure that one of them was watching her back and returned her attention to closer things. 

Though the other Unbounds at the banquet seemed to leave and return with their own food, Rena's table was told --ordered even-- to remain seated and brought their meals. It reminded her all too much of the priory, the way the Order demanded things be done, and while it only set Rena further on edge, it succeeded in relaxing the shoulders of several of the other Mythics on her table. 

I feel like I'm on display. Rena poked at her food, unable to bring herself to actually eat it. The Unbounds threw curious glances in their direction. They're all watching us. 

Rena lifted her eyes once again trying to make contact with Nazine at the other end of the table, but he continued to stare into the depths of his plate, searching it for answers. 

Come on, Zin, she mentally begged him. Snap out of it! 

She'd been relieved at first, after her group had been seated and Nazine and the archangel had been brought out not long after, but it only took one glance to realise something was wrong. There was a dead look in his eyes, one that had stared back at her in the mirror until recently. 

Possession. To have control wrested from you of that which you value most. Helpless to take it back.

Rena considered imbuing an illusion into some bread and throwing it at him before remembering the wisps, standing side by side behind Nazine and the archangel, and that she couldn't touch her ley if she tried. 

Instead, she tried to use the time to take in her surroundings, if there was anything that could end up helping her. 

She doubted any of the Unbounds would sympathise. They mingled and laughed and talked with eachother, completely at ease. Many wandered around with several parts of their physical Mythic showing, some more complete than others. Horns, wings, tails and scales were not an uncommon sight in the crowds. Unlike the priory, it seemed that here, remaining in your pure human form was the abnormality.