Cursed Hearts | ATEEZ

002

The Palace of Atlas was the most beautiful and impressive building I had ever seen, I thought to myself, marveling in the silent beauty of it all.

We were guided through long hallways and corridors cut from pure marble, the material glinting in the light from the sun rays passing through the floor-to-ceiling windows on either side, columns shaped from colourful stone resembling every season lining our path, snaking their way towards the roof like corals, plants, almost as if they were alive.

The sounds of metal clicking and scraping against the smooth floors flooded my ears as the guards led us forward, the sounds of shuffling feet falling into the background as the rest of us tried to keep up.

I glanced over my shoulder to study the other contestants for a moment, taking in their faces; handsome and beautiful. Some looked cunning, others innocent, some strong, some lithe.

There were ten males other than Taeyong, so eleven in total, and five females counting me. I sighed heavily, my breath coming out shaky and labored.

An overweight of men, I thought to myself, mentally cursing out whoever, or whatever, had decided on the names inside those envelopes at The Declaration. The odds weren't exactly in my favor.

Just as the thought passed my mind, my focus drifted to a man so big I almost struggled to breathe as I watched the muscles underneath his shirt flex with every move he made, with every breath. A hunter, I realized. A predator, honed to kill, one of the contestants from Sector 5.

I turned back to face the guards at the front, shaking my head and trying to clear my mind of the worries that I would have to deal with later just as a set of double doors swung open, revealing an immense room beyond their marble frame.

Everyone's mumbles faded into nothing as they fell into silent awe at the throne room that stretched out in front of us.

It was enormous, a mass of polished floors that covered the entirety of the room, almost mirror-like, reflecting the row of columns that lined a straight path through the room, making their gilded surfaces look almost infinitely tall.

The silence was so heavy, so suffocating that I felt my breath catch in my throat as the sixteen of us continued forward, hesitantly, breathlessly, now flanked by the white guards who had been leading us up to this point.

I couldn't help but let my eyes linger on the golden details along the walls, the intricate windowsills reflecting the sunlight, making the room glow warmly in the golden hues of summer. My eyes drifted upward to a long row of curved windows above us, a long dome letting in the Litha sun, lighting up our path.

I ripped my eyes away from the impressive interior when I noticed the others coming to a halt, following their example as the guard bowed deeply.

The room ended in a wall of windows, displaying the impressive view of Martell that stretched out below the palace; the tops of the colourful houses, lakes, parks, and waterfalls crawling down the sides of the mountains surrounding the capital.

But the view was nothing compared to what awaited us at the bottom of the windows where the room opened up into a rounded shape where eight golden thrones had been placed in a crescent. Behind them, atop the dais that was raised over the polished floor, The White Throne stood in all its glory.

Beneath it, The Eight Kings studied us with curious eyes.

〄

"Welcome to Martell, contestants."

One of the kings in the middle took a step forward, his voice powerful enough to cut through the heavy silence in the room, and yet it was also soft and welcoming, the sound as smooth and calming as a winter breeze. His eyes glinted in the sunlight that shone through the windows overhead.