She opened the temple doors and they walked into a grand room that looked like a golden, ancient ballroom filled with paintings of Anzel in his bird form. She was stunned by how beautiful everything was until she felt the atmosphere around her. She looked at Xylas and he was shaking, and she couldn’t tell if it was from fear or anger. She looked at Alyson who was as wide-eyed and stunned as she imagined she initially looked. She followed Xylas’ gaze and saw several Ifrit standing across the room. One was slowly walking towards them and assessing her while throwing piercing stares Xylas’ way. She knew she should’ve been focused on the herd of horn heads looking her up and down, but she couldn’t help throwing a questioning glance at Xylas to see if he was okay. He nodded slightly to let her know he was fine.
She turned towards the Ifrit that was now even closer to her than before, which should’ve been obvious given that he’d been walking towards her, but it still made her jump a little. He stopped about six feet away and stared at her for so long that she didn’t know if she should speak first or let him introduce himself. Normally she wouldn’t care but seeing how lives could end up in the balance, she tried to be as respectful as possible. She opted to just stare back at him and keep her face as neutral as possible. He had even deeper tones of red and gold flames surrounding him. They were much larger than Xylas’ and seemed a little menacing even. It contrasted with his face which looked more like a middle-aged father. His horns were large and curled under and his hair fell past his shoulders. He wore a toga. All of the Ifrit in the room had on togas, aside from Xylas. He had long, swirly tattoos climbing up his arms and a pair of wings tattooed on his chest.
The ifrit asked, “Who are you?” in a tone that made it seem like he was talking to trash. She bit back her irritation. “I am Viri Omnel Harper.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Harper?” She kept her face neutral. “Yes.” He studied her for a few minutes longer. “Why have you come to this temple Viri Harper?” She carefully continued to keep the annoyance off her face. “I simply wish to see the Ember Sea Stone.” The Ifrit let out a sinister laugh and said, “Simply wish to see?” Her annoyance was slowly turning into anger. “Do you plan to continue repeating everything I say?” She felt Xylas stiffen beside her. Shit. She was supposed to be peaceful. The Ifrit merely laughed again and looked at Xylas with such hostility that she immediately knew she needed to do something to get him to focus on her again.
“May I ask who you are?” Xylas was as still as death. She knew that she should’ve been afraid, but she was just grateful that his attention wasn’t on Xylas anymore. He turned his stare back on her and it was enough to lessen some of the gratitude she’d just felt. His voice sounded thunderous as he spoke. “No one has ever deigned to speak to me so casually.” That arrogance was enough to start eating away at some of her fear. “Well, I did try to sprinkle some respect on it with the phrase ‘may I,’ if that counts for anything.”
A slow smile spread across his face. “I think I would almost like you if it weren’t for the poor company you keep.” She knew he was referring to Xylas. “I am known as Ephraim, protector of this temple and its inhabitants.” She cocked her head at him slightly and assessed him a little more. She could feel how his power radiated from him. It was vast and almost felt primitive. “Did Anzel give you that title or did the Ifrit?” She realized that she somehow made everyone in the room tenser with every sentence she spoke. This was proof that she was right every time she argued with her mother that she was not fit for public speaking.
Ephraim’s flames seemed to get visibly redder as he glared at her. “Are you questioning my authority?” Xylas took a step forward, ready to protect her, but she put a hand out to stop him. Both he and Ephraim looked at her questioningly and she ignored it. She could fight her own battles. “It was never my intention to question your authority. I am simply curious as to whether you have a relationship with Anzel since I’ve never met someone who personally knew one of the Asai before.” Ephraim’s eyes softened a fraction and he responded, “Whatever language courses you’ve taken have failed you, but yes, I do have a personal relationship with Anzel. Now, are you done trying to distract me from Xylas?” She willed herself to keep her face neutral of the surprise she felt at him seeing right through her. He smirked in response, and it was even more pompous than Xylas’. She should’ve known that an Ifrit as old as time wouldn’t be fooled by her motives. She merely shrugged at him in response. He widened his smirk. “Oh? No response from you this time?
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She was going to die in this place. She knew it the moment she’d responded, “I figured that I’d just go with physical gestures instead of words since my language courses failed me, as you so eloquently stated earlier.” His smirk turned heinous. She tried to bite her tongue. She really did, but if she kept having to speak to this egotistical asshole, she was going to be dead before sundown.
She braced for his rage, but Ephraim instead turned towards Xylas. “So, I see you’ve finally found a human to befriend.” She felt Xylas take a breath before speaking. “You know, as well as I do, that she isn’t human.” Ephraim sniffed. “Well, there is something that smells distinctly different about her, but everything else is so blatantly human.” She didn’t know what about that statement offended her the most, but she didn’t have time to ponder it because she was trying to use context clues to figure out what the hell was the issue between those two. Xylas clenched his fists. “Even you can’t be so blinded by your arrogance that you can’t smell Anzel’s blood in her.” Ephraim’s flames got even larger, but Xylas didn’t flinch. Ephraim yelled, “You dare insult Anzel by pretending that this little girl has any blood relation to him!”
She opened her mouth to speak but Xylas spoke first. “You’re insulting Anzel by denying his child.” It became eerily quiet. She barely even had time to register everything that happened next. One minute, there was silence, the next Ephraim’s hand was around Xylas’ throat, and the next she had shot Ephraim across the room with a blast of golden flames. She didn’t even realize what she’d done until she heard the thud of Ephraim’s body and saw her hand out in front of her. She slowly lowered her hand while trying to wrap her head around what she’d just done. She saw Ephraim sit up, stunned, and the other Ifrit surrounded him – their eyes wide. She looked at Xylas and he looked just as stunned as Ephraim. She then looked at Alyson, who had the biggest, ear-splitting grin on her face and was staring right back at her. She settled back into being calm. Alyson’s smile reminded her that she could face whatever was about to happen.
She turned back towards Ephraim, and he was glaring at her. Another Ifrit offered the hand to help him up and he slapped it out of the way. To his credit, he stood up quicker and easier than she got up most days. He flexed his fingers before speaking. “Very well then, you want to claim Anzel’s blood, prove it.” Before she could speak, Xylas asked, “What do you mean by that?” Ephraim didn’t even bother looking his way before responding, “I was talking to the girl here. Not the help.” Xylas seethed and she sighed. She was growing tired of whatever beef they had. She repeated Xylas’ question since Ephraim wanted to be petty. “What do you mean by that?” He dusted his toga off as he spoke. “If you want to prove yourself, then have a duel with me.” Xylas growled. “You can’t be serious! Viri doesn’t even have control of her powers yet!” Ephraim smiled, “Girl. Are you going to keep allowing your new pet to make excuses for you?”
She grabbed Xylas’ shoulder before he’d do something he’d regret. Or maybe he wouldn’t regret it. Who knows? She’d figure out their dynamic later. For now, she’d do whatever she had to in order to get to that stone and make it out of here safely.
“Well Ephraim, do you plan to throw insults all day or do you care to elaborate more on this duel you’ve requested?” She arched a brow at him for emphasis. His answering smile almost made her regret asking but remembering the sight of him on the floor calmed her nerves. “We’ll meet in the arena and the first of us to concede or die loses. Whichever comes first.” He inclined his head towards her, and his smile grew wider as he spoke. “I won't bother waiting for a yes or no because I can tell you’re the type to rise to a challenge, so I'll see you in thirty minutes as you humans love to say.”
The way that he spit out the word ‘humans’ made her clench her fists, and of course, he noticed and smiled even wider. “I’m sure Xylas can show you where to report to unless he’s forgotten his way around this temple he so despises.” Xylas clenched his teeth. “I’ll show her.” Ephraim left without another word and the rest of the Ifrit followed – some throwing smirks her way and the others looking genuinely concerned for her.