Before Nyx could knock, the priest opened the door and said, “welcome your majesties. What brings you to this part of the castle, if you’ll allow me to know.”
Keeping her cool demeanor she said, “Well if you look at Loki's shoulder, you’ll find more than a clue.”
“Really?” said the priest in a puzzled tone.Once the human priest laid his eyes on me his jaw dropped to the ground. He murmured something in a language that sounded slavic in nature while giving a bow from his knees, making a strange gesture with his hands;
the gesture had his fingers in a finger-gun configuration with his index fingers and thumbs touching, arms over his abdomen.
Intriguing.
“You doing alright there?” Loki said with his head just as tilted as mine in the other direction.
“Ah yes, nevermind me, just a little over excited for the future. Getting back to the present, we should start the naming ceremony as soon as we can, thankfully I already have everything ready to set up.”
Mom’s head takes a slight tilt as an emphatic gesture as she says, “Well then, we should head to the gathering hall closest to us; meet us there and we’ll have the rest of the staff prepare for the ceremony.”
“Excellent choice, your majesties.” The priest said with a slow bow from the waist.
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The trek there was much shorter, having arrived there, Loki ordered the staff to set up for the ceremony. The staff was an interesting mix.
It ranged from humans, elves, dwarves and full on dragons in addition to a dragonoid species separate from what I am.
I couldn’t tell you for certain why I knew the dragonoids were something else but it was like telling apart a grape from a watermelon in a lot of ways.
Or for a different comparison, an elf or dwarf from each other. In the grand scheme of things they are basically the same but, in a lot of cases, details matter.
The gathering hall itself was only slightly smaller width wise than the massive treasure room.
What really caught my eye however was the decor.
It looked like we were inside of a glacier cave, only instead of ice, the walls were made from precious gems and plastered with different assortments of aesthetically pleasing crystals.
A lot of the furniture was made with wood that gave off an interesting aura; even more decadent they were fundamentally covered in an array of coveted metals.
Big indoor waterfall crashing in the background, barging in yet just quite enough not to be overbearing. The sound waves, waving pleasing static relaxing any tension I had before as the sonic tranquilizer works its magic.
Loki already made his way to a very wide stool that’s basically a twin bed cut in half on a very wide stilt and set me on it.
The stool was near the waterfall and two very interesting pointy art pieces.
Loki and Nyx sat in the chairs next to me, becoming just as relaxed as I was.
We all sat there for a couple of minutes before the staff started getting busy setting things up.
After those few minutes, a fuzzy cobalt colored kobold, wafting of various spices, walked up to us slowly and gave a small waist high bow, waiting for the go ahead.
Mom said, “You may speak.”
“Would y’all like some refreshments while you wait for the final stages of preparation to be complet?”
The chief said with a sharp confident smile.
Their fur is completely flush, their tail softly swaying waiting for an answer.
The gestures he used with his hands were very self assured; he also seemed more at ease in our presence, unlike many of the other staff.
Then again, cold reading someone I have little context on is less than reliable.
“And what have you made us this time? I know you only smile like that when you make something of interest." Loki said, hunched over in the big thinker pose; his head pointed towards the still short but taller than a dwarf of a kobold. Those words seem to light a little spark in the crimson eyed chief who’s tail twists and turns like the tail of a kite in flight.
What I think is a normal pitched rhythmic laughter, is just short of projecting as he tries to mute it.
He then says while putting one of his well kept shiny claws to his chest, “To think I’m as readable as that. I was only promoted to head chief last week… Ah sorry about that, I got a little carried away.” He took a breath and continued with the same brightness as before.
“To get to the point, our expeditionary guild finally managed to procure goods from the other side of the globe, and in decent numbers to boot. Although it will take another year at sea, give or take a lot.
And to the finer point, the fruit they brought with them is a stark, sweet acidic fruit called a vango; I’ve had success making a syrup from it as a result, it’s very good in carbonated beverages.”
Strings call out.
Like a droning reverberation from a chord of a violin, it ripples in my subconscious.
It guides me to his mind.
I ask, ‘Could you tell me what it looks like?’
The words appeared to pluck his very soul as I could see him jolt.
Tail snapped in a different direction like a chain on the ground.
Fur rolled like a subtle wave in the ocean.
His neck turned slowly to me with a softly tilted head as he said with a humid breath, “Well it’s color ranges from red, yellow, to green with its fruit being an off yellow that has a tiny bit of orange hue to it.”
When his slitted pupils met mine his body had the same reaction, only this time letting off a silent high pitched chirp.
He’s now in sort of a daze, left arm gently holding the right, as right makes a half hearted effort to cover his body.
Sharp smile blunted into something just as wide yet softer than before.
After standing there for awhile, his tail swaying slowly, Loki asked, “Is everything ok Lateri?”
That seemed to snap him out of the trance he was in as he shakes his head to anchor himself steady.
“Yes… I think so…”
Energy seemed to radiate off of him more readily and his smell morphed in a slightly subtle way too.
His ears twitch softly as he asks in a softer voice, “So will you be willing to try them while you wait?”
Nyx and Loki gave a look to each other and before Loki said, “Why not.”
The frazzled kobold makes his way to one of the staff and asks them to bring the refreshments on his behalf, making his way out of the room afterward.
When he does, mom is the first to speak.
“Loki… what happened?”
“Good question. Kobolds are usually more fond of us dragons, especially us crystalids, but that particularly strong reaction may be an anomaly.”
He then continues in a whispered voice, "Either that or our first born resurrected the art of threads…”
“I’m guessing the latter…
We are wholly unprepared for a child with such talent… If word got out.” Mom adopted the thinker pose too.
“A normal blessing would’ve been a headache… Now we might as well have pulled neck muscles.” Loki said as he touched the base of his neck
“The brighter and bigger the star, the quicker it burns out.”
She looked me in the eyes, indistinguishable muted feelings from somewhere, sparkled like a firecracker.
----------------------------------------
I may have much bigger worries than the type of being who placed me here.
One thing is for certain however, studying human geography, people geography if you want to get technical, will be a very interesting study.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Gazing around the room more carefully it appears the kobolds occasionally catch themselves staring at me, if only for a second before they go back to work.
I go through a somewhat complex series of different viewpoints on the matter.
Though pride wants to claw its way up, having torn down my ego long ago, it feels strange to have a sense of vanity.
Just to note, while the rest of the staff have a passive curiosity in me, they are far too busy right now to study me.
Especially displaced now, was my now automatic reaction to when one of them stares a bit too long for comfort.
It’s novel though, to have a small frosty cloud of disdain come out of my nostrils.
Besides that it’s interesting to observe the different temperaments and positions of the different races.
Kobolds so far, I’ve seen in every position.
Elves appear to be in predominantly managerial positions while dwarves and dragonoids appear to be skilled labor; the humans fill the niche of pure numbers alongside the kobolds.
That being said, currently, the staff are mostly humans hauling things into place into approximate positions, with a few kobolds sprinkled here and there.
The stronger and more precise of the staff, put them in the correct positions with supervision from the staff experienced in managing a project that is essentially repurposing and redesigning a room.
To me it was Impressive seeing how efficiently they were making up for deficiencies and complementing strengths.
It was akin to watching an ant farm but better.
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While I was observing people doing their thing, an elf brought us the drinks mentioned earlier; bizarrely when I focused on her, she seemed affected by it, if only a little bit.
She took on a tinge of red in her cheeks as she poured my drink into a plate-like cup.
Making the mistake of looking me directly in the eyes, she was entranced for a moment before an icey puff woke her.
She explained to my parents that the ceremony should be ready by the time we finish our drinks.
Before she left, she gave me a deeper bow than usual to indirectly apologize.
Looking at the cup, it wasn’t very obvious to me the elegant solution to drink from it without embarrassing myself.
The liquid in it was definitely carbonated with it fizzing a whole bunch.
I looked over at my parents, they treated it like wine before they drank it.
After examining the cup it had a secondary wider lip along with carvings that look like a grip.
I’m not sure of the etiquette, but drinking like a dog or cat is out of the question.
After they had some of the vango soda, they both looked towards me, as if to see what I would do.
That cemented whatever predisposition I had of smushing my face into the cup; It amused them, and me, when a puff of frozen air chugged towards them.
Having a brilliant idea, I decided to test how coordinated I can be with my prehensile tail.
With a practice motion, it seemed I could treat it somewhere between a spine and very big finger.
Meaning, dexterity was a thing I had out of the box.
That done I wrapped my decently long tail around the cup and carefully sipped from in the same manner that I saw them do it.
After I did that they decided to communicate through a series of subtle gestures.
It was definitely a full, separate language, that or they just knew each other very well; they went from borderline snickering to what looked like nostalgia.
Drinking the soda, it definitely tasted like mango.
It also had a slight apple after taste.
The flavors were much deeper and stronger than I'm used to.
Not in a bad way however.
I’ll chalk it up to the majorly heightened senses.
Smell is a big part of flavor so I can understand why the soundstage and clarity for flavor is a lot more open.
Soon enough the ceremony was ready and our empty cups were taken away.
The staff all took a seat in the many chairs they brought.
Lateri, the chief from earlier, stands out from the crowd.
Mostly because it seems like he’s focusing on actively avoiding my presence.
A moment later, the priest from earlier came in with a decorative metal tiki torch. It had a pitch black flame coming from it along with two smaller pure white flames forking off like a trident.
He let go of the staff near the altar and it bobbed in the air like an ice cube on the surface of water.
The audience is facing the altar in the direction of the waterfall and by extension us. Judging by the nature of what’s happening, most of the attention is on me.
With a bow from the priest he says, “May convergence favor the change you shall make upon this world.”
With those words said, two dragons moved me and the stool I was on to the altar; now a couple of feet away from the altar and elevated higher than it, people could get a more detailed look at me.
The priest walked over and grabbed the flaming trident and asked me to blow on it.
As my breath touched it, the entire room lit in black light.
The only thing visible being my purple horns which are now ringing with a soft electric hum; horns shining brighter than what the flame could mute.
Everyone but the priest was surprised at the display.
Some of the spectators were awed while the more experienced are straight up shocked from the current spectacle.
While the black flame made all colors mute and dark, I could still see the priest softly gesture his hand towards the altar.
After a slight extension of his index, a rectangle holographic box above a multi ringed reticle appeared.
The reticle danced in all three directions, foreign letters and numbers filled the box as he said, “I invoke thee, specter.”
Everything shook yet stayed perfectly still.
The black flame inverted into pure white and washed the room in a clinical bright light.
The reticle carried the flame to the altar and a halo of a different, stacked multi ringed reticle hummed to the same sound of my horns.
Then it happened.
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The halo consumed the flame, split in two, whirred to life.
A portal to somewhere now opens, wherever it is, it’s as energy dense as the mariana trench is dense with water.
Only for a moment, it felt like I was going to be crushed.
I wasn’t crushed, thanks to the two beings that appeared the very next instance; when they appeared the gates deleted themselves, taking the excess density with them.
One, all shades of black, the other all shades of white.
The black specter has tear shaped, white slitted pupils with multi black hued irises.
Sclera are a normal white; the white specter, the inverse in colors but not design, has black sclera and pupils; giving the white spector an eerie aura with their white irises.
They were both feathery dragonoids by design, possessing feathery angel wings that shimmer as they remained suspended in the air.
Both of them have two horns, as if to mirror each other, one broken horn slowly floats around their heads in a halo.
Angles of death; gods of sleep, reside above.
The specter of orders intrusive whispers crawl in your head; juxtaposed, chaos rings and resonates the very soul.
Order holds back a chuckle before saying, “You children have been blessed on this day, how lucky.” Those words were without warmth, they were as calm as a stagnant pond. The angel had a small amount of tears roll down their face.
Chaos just smiled, their feathery dragon tail slowly swishing as a pendulum, for a clock unseen.
“Origin has seen fit to name this one, through this name, their point of convergence shall be finite in this realm. Forever molding this world.” The voice of everything else, warmth and hope for prosperity. Hero to the cold void that order promises.
“Before we continue, let us take care of an unwanted annoyance who wishes to leave.” Orders words felt like they had a hollowness to them, disdain doesn't do justice for how clinical they felt.
Before the next instance, an elf dropped coldly after a simple blink.
No one dared move.
Chaos turned their gaze on me, as he did it felt as though the very threads of reality shifted as they said, “Your name is Zenith Atlas. Hear it, let it resonate as a part of you.”
Order whispered, “Know the meaning of this name, for it shall mirror you by any means necessary.”
Then, in unison before they popped out of existence, “May your auspicious name serve you well… Sibling.”