After dinner, Sera dismissed us to our rooms for the night. Because I could, I requested another bath be drawn, taking my second for the day. The servant gave me an appraising look before apparently agreeing that I did, in fact, need a second bath for the day and hurried to refill the water. If I hadn’t started to feel slightly gross, I would have been insulted. As it was, I luxuriated in the tub. At some point, Ani came in to check on my bath, dipping a paw in the tub, splashing around, and generally making a nuisance of himself. Attempts to shoo him were unsuccessful, and I resigned myself to getting coated in scratches if he slipped and fell in.
My fears were unrealized, and Ani did not, in fact, fall in. Once finished with the bath, I dressed in the most comfortable-looking clothes provided in the dresser before throwing myself onto the bed. Unlike a modern mattress, I didn’t pop back up. Instead, it felt like falling into a soft snowbank. Without the cold.
Exhaustion wanted To pull me into sleep, but a sense of responsibility kept me awake. Eventually, I dragged myself off the bed and picked up my notes scroll, jotting down some what I’d learned about my magic, Ani’s mysterious teleportation abilities, and recent events. My notes got a quick glance over before being left to dry in the quickly fading evening light.
Once finished, I crawled back onto the bed, burrowing under the covers with Ani. Comfortable once again, sleep exhaustion claimed me.
The castle loomed overhead, blocking the cloaked group from prying eyes. They stuck to the shadows, out of sight. One of the cloaked figures walked ahead of the other four, leading them through the dark to the servant’s entrance. A backdrop of thunder and pouring rain muffled their presence, allowing the figures to stalk up behind the guards, quickly silencing their protests
before casting their bodies to the side like trash. The figure reached for the door, their cloak slipping to reveal a clawed hand. They pushed it open gently, quietly, the group slipping in without so much as a whisper. Another chimera stepped forward and took a deep, silent breath before shoving their hands forward. The wind moved with them, and the torches and lamps lighting the passage were snuffed out one by one. They tread carefully across the floor, using their enhanced vision to sneak through the servant’s passageways. They repeated the motion with each flicker of light they saw, moving through the dark unnoticed past the servants and the guards.
They paused, looking at two massive and guarded doors up ahead. They snuck up behind the guards without hesitation, silencing them just as quickly and effectively as they had the ones outside. These massive doors didn’t open as silently as the rest, sending a loud groaning noise echoing down the hallway. More guards stared back from the other side of the door, a commotion arising in the room it had protected. Quickly, one of the figures released a force of wind, sending the guards careening backward and snuffing out the lights. The guards shouted at the pain and sudden blindness, moving carefully through the dark.
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The cloaked figures weaved through the blinded guards, slipping past them through a door on the right. Once inside, they slammed the door shut, a few of the group yanking furniture in front of the door, blocking entry. Something slammed into the door, but it held steady.
The panicked shouts of the trapped guards were echoed by a thrashing man. He tumbled out of bed, shouting for his guards and scrambling for something–anything–to use as a weapon. The cloaked figures quickly surrounded him. They stood over him like tall sentinels, watching.
He pleaded with them, “You mindless beasts! You can’t do this to me! I am your king!” receiving a harsh kick in the side for his troubles. He fell to the ground, sputtering and raging. His red hair pooled on the floor, spilling around his head like a bloody halo.
One of the figures crouched down, his clawed fingers digging into the king’s scalp.“Our king? Mindless beasts?” he hissed, digging his claws deeper. One of the other chimeras spat at the ground.
The king looked up into the cowled face of the figure clawing his head, horrified. Quaking, he said, “You-you don’t have to do this! Tell Regulus I’ll make a deal with him!”
Claws dug their way deeper into his skin, blood running in little rivers down his head.
Another chimera stepped into the circle. “You don’t get it, do you? We aren’t doing this under Regulus’ orders. We’re done taking orders. We’re doing this because you deserve this.” Fangs flashed as he grinned. “Both of you.”
A chill crept up my spine. I recognized that voice–it was the unusual chimera who’d been hunting Sera. We’d expected that the destruction of the gem would mean Sera and her father would be safe. We’d never expected he’d choose to continue anyway. Perhaps, I thought, this was their way of taking control back.
The scene around me shifted with the realization, bringing me face to face with the chimera haunting my dreams. This close, his gold-flecked silver eyes shone with unusual brightness in the moonlight, glittering like galaxies beneath his hood as he spoke. “You call yourself a king, but you’re just a fool in a crown. Did you honestly think your little camp could hold us forever?” He huffed out a laugh. “Not even our old master’s spell could hold us forever, and he was our creator.” He leaned down through me, peering at the king. The king was forced to look back, his head stuck in place.
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
“But don’t worry. The Phoenix kingdom will only be the first to fall.”
I felt a tug. The scene before me rippled, blurring into the palace courtyard. There I stood, caught, a dark arm wrapped around my chest, restraining me from behind. Rain splashed into puddles, reflecting the storm clouds above. Thunder boomed, rattling the windows.
I struggled to get free, my body twisting in impossible ways. The arms holding me bulged with strain, but the grip didn’t loosen. The echoes of power wafted over me. Someone reached inside of me–pulling. The echoes of their power reverberated around me, a pressure so intense I felt as though I were breaking into pieces. I struggled harder to get free, catching a glimpse of myself in the window. The wild and terrified face of the chimera looked back, fading flickers of gold scattering from my–his–body. The young man I’d seen in an earlier dream restrained the chimera, flecks of gold flying from the chimera to gather to his hand like fireflies to light. Our shared skin itched and rolled as the light leaked from the chimera, our reflected features slowly turning more human.
The pain grew, and it became more difficult not to lose myself in the chimera. The reflection of the light from the window grew so bright that we tore our eyes away. Sharp needles jabbed themselves into my arm. Abruptly, the light and the pain faded, and I was thrust alone into the darkness.