No More Choices (Void and Light Book One)

Chapter Twenty-Six

~Akiriya~

I quickly changed into the black shirt and grey pants that seemed to match the neutral colors of officials in the Palace. The room that they had given me had a large closet full of golds, yellows, reds, and all of the warmest colors on the spectrum. To my surprise though there were no dark colors. Everything was bright and colorful minus the grey and white attire that I was told I was required to wear for meetings with officials like the Council of Five and the Academics.

I walked out of the door to the hall and met with Emory. She looked me up and down and smiled but it was more to herself. She was in a red shirt and a white pants that were similar to mine.

"What's up with the color coding here?" I asked as we bagan walking down the hall.

"It's about how strong your power is."

I looked at her and squinted. "So what does it mean?"

We turned a corner and the guards along the wall bowed their heads to us. I kept nodding my head back to all of them until Emory stopped me by saying, "You don't have to keep doing that you know."

I blushed and nodded. "So, the colors?"

She shook her head and chuckled, "The academics will explain to you as much as they can."

I nodded and looked at the walls and flooring that domed over us. Everything was so shiny and bright. It was like whoever had designed the palace had wanted to keep all of the shadows out. Even at night.

Emory and I made it to an average sized door that was just normal. It was plain white wood with a silver handle. Emory knocked on the door and an average sized black man opened the door. He looked at us with a dull look on his face. He had dark curly hair and had eyes as brown as his skin. Thick rimmed glasses sat on his nose and he pushed them up with the side of his wrist. The action caused the fabric of his sleeve to tickle his nose and he sneezed into his elbow.

"Bless you," I said.

He looked up at me with a confused look marring his face, "What is a bless you?" he pushed the door as protection, "is that a curse of some sort?"

"What? No-"

"Dio, let her in, she's the royal daughter." a woman on the other side of the door spoke and Dio reluctantly opened the door for s to enter. Eight people sat in soft looking black chairs wearing grey robes tied at the waist with silver cloth belts. The room was a library that had plain wooden shelves that continued on to a tall ceiling.

A black haired woman with an oval face and black eyes smiled as we entered. She'd been sitting upside down in her chair like a child but now she stood with the grace of a queen.

"Greetings Royal Daughter," she bowed, "I am Tessera, fourth Academic." I bowed to her because I didn't know what else to do and she raised an eyebrow at me. "Why did you bow?"

I blushed and looked to Emory but she was gone. I looked around but didn't see her in the small room.

"The manananggal has not been permitted to stay for this meeting." A red brown woman with black eyes stated.

"Why?"

"Because we do not trust her."

"But she is my-"

All of the eyes in the room snapped to me. Books were slammed shut and everyone in the room stood together. They were a wall of grey that stood against me and I knew I would have no chance trying to break it down.

"Listen," One of them spoke. "We want to help you bring joy and perfection to our people."

There was nothing interesting about this group of people. They all had dark hair and dark eyes and bleak expressions. In a line I could see that they were all the same height and the same size. It was as if they were equality combined.