\\ DUSK\\ Fantasy AU \ ATEEZ Fanfic

// Chapter 2 \\

It had been three months since the Taker attack on the Dawn Court. They began calling it The Black Day. The day which was shrouded in a black sky and monsters in black garbs of who took many people's lives. The day that deemed my entire life different. I shivered at the thought of it. The day had left me feeling empty, the only thing filling me being sorrow.

Since then, I'd left the Dawn Court. Seonghwa had kindly offered the doors to his court if I ever wished to visit. I don't think I would. Walking out of that place had a pang in my chest ease. I'd returned to my own court where I'd given Yunho a proper burial, despite not having a body to be buried. Nanny hadn't objected to a proper ceremony for a peasant's death. She hadn't really forced anything upon me since my return. The thought of Yunho had still upset me— what I'd allowed to happen. I always grew spiteful when prominent icy eyes filled my head. The little follicles of bright lines in those irises. Ones that reflected the other bright irises of the dark and hungry creatures which we haven't seen or heard of since The Black Day.

I will admit, I've gotten better since then. However, at the same time, it feels like I've made no progress at all. No, this sorrow said I'd made none.

My friends— Hongjoong, Yeosang, and Heeyoung— had visited me to keep company and to comfort. They were the ones that had eventually gotten me to leave my own court on a small trip to the Eastern Court. That's where we were now. Where Heeyound and I walked down those white marble stairs in darkness. The only light that illuminated the place was looking out to the kingdom of water below. Some towers spiraled up with their glowing light. My vision could clearly make out the mergers hooked up to a few of their roofed domes along with the figures of people inside, milling about their business. I diverted my attention to the colorful lights below in the ocean blue kingdom. It was almost as if peering at a starry night, as if a High Monarch city didn't sit right there below us. No matter how many times I'd seen this sight, I always found it magical.

"The sight of Venelia never gets old, does it?" Heeyoung asked in a light but calming voice.

"It never does," I spoke in a genuine, raw tone. I composed myself as I cleared my throat, turning to my scarlet-eyed friend. I gave her a small smile and left it at that as we continued down the spiraling stairs.

We knew exactly where to stop: a threshold carved of intricate gold curving and holding lapis gems. Two guards in blue and gold armor stood at either side. They didn't spare a glance as Heeyoung and I walked down the hall to the docking bay. We didn't even need to step through the threshold to hear the shouts of all too familiar voices.

"Perhaps you could've been a bit more calm about the situation?" Hongjoong accused in a tone that almost had me stopping in my footsteps, not wishing to see what awaited around the corner.

"Calm? Calm? You were the one that was practically going to break down on the ground— in front of a foreign court. What mindset were you in to allow yourself to show weakness in front of thousands of court members?" Yeosang spoke in a level voice, but his words were sharp— all the same to Hongjoong's.

Hongjoong let out an irritated sound before he lashed, "Sun and the sky, she's our friend and you have the mind to shut her out when we've known her before our rankings?"