Grif looked around, a light frown strewing his face. “Strange, I told her to wait here. Sir Al, would you mind if were to excuse myself to look for your chaperone?”
I stopped gawking and turned to him. “Not at all.”
He gave me a quick nod and walked off into the mass of people mulling about. Neepa was silently going “ooh” and “ahh”, while Eva stood at attention as if a drill sergeant just chided her. I took a few steps away and let my eyes wander about, admiring all the grandeur of the mythical-esque building.
A woman rounded a corner and marched up to the desk, handing off a few letters and scrolls to the attendant. What caused my eyes to focus on her out of all the bodies in the lobby was the long, wine-red, scaly tail poking out of her dress, and the two large red wings protruding from her back.
No. It can’t be real. Can it?
Mesmerized by this specimen before me, I didn’t realize that I’d already walked towards her with an outstretched hand. The sight so jarring and fascinating that curiosity eclipsed all reasoning.
I touched the ridge of her wing and gently slid my fingers down the length of the patagium, the fleshy webbing warm and velvety. The woman let out a sharp yelp. She spun like a top and slapped me hard enough for spots to flare in my eyes.
Big crimson eyes with vertical irises scowled at me. Her face was scrunched up in rage and her cheeks glowed a scorching cherry.
Beyond the harsh look, she was really pretty. Almond eyes, oval-shaped face with sharp cheekbones, and a pair of plump lips. I also noticed her ears were slightly pointed, not as much as the elves walking around, but more than a human’s. Her short, luxuriant hair was an unusual gradient dark-red that darkened to black near the tips.
“Pervert! How dare you touch me,” she snarled.
I rubbed my cheek, already feeling it swelling. “Sorry. I just didn’t think they were real.”
“Of course they’re real, you fop doodle,” she said with a stomp of her foot.
“Al,” Neepa called, running up beside me, Eva following a step behind her. Both freezing as they saw the woman.
“What did I tell you about doing something stupid,” Eva whispered harshly.
It turned out that we drew quite a crowd as all eyes settled on us.
Grif emerged from the crowd and demanded, “What is going on?”
I put my hand up defensively. “I violated the winged-lady’s personal space and got slapped for it. I’m an idiot. Sorry.”
Grif scowled. Not at me, but the winged-lady. “You did what?”
She recoiled and clasped her hands in front of her. “I––but he––”
“Enough!” He took one great step and closed in on her, then whipped her head to the side with a loud slap.
The crack of her cheek made me flinch. People from the crown watched on, none of them responding to the public display of abuse. Only Neepa and Eva matched my shocked expression.
“You were supposed to guide the Grand Mage’s guest, not strike him,” Grif castigated through his teeth. “Now we’ll have to find a replacement; you’re a disgrace.” The woman’s wings and head dropped low as she held her cheek. “I’ll have you severely punished for your insolence.” He raised his hand and the woman flinched, but I grabbed him by the wrist before he could touch her.
Grif stared at me, the kindly face gone and a wrinkly visage of a bitter old man taking place.
“Don't,” I told him with a turbulent undertone.
“Sir Al, do understand that we have zero tolerance for any offenses in our scared walls. She wronged you and she should be replaced and punished.”
“Technically, I wronged her first for touching her,” I countered.
“And she struck you like a common feral,” Grif said sternly, eyeing the woman. “You are new to this world. Your ignorance can be forgiven.”
“Then I can forgive her for smacking me.” I looked at the woman. She peeked through her red bangs and met my eyes. “I hope she forgives me for being rude.”
Grif opened his mouth to argue, but I gave his wrist a firm squeeze. “I appreciate your help, but I don’t think we should prolong this any further, right? The Grand Mage is waiting, after all. It’d be a shame if a certain someone were to get punished for holding us up.” I smiled at him smugly, hoping the hint would take.
Grif gave me a stiff smile and yanked his hand free once I eased my grip. “Very well. Kokoliniasta will be your chaperone, then. She’ll be your guide from here on.”
Without uttering a farewell, Grif turned and walked around the corner and out of sight.
“What a douche,” I muttered.
Eva smacked the back of my head and growled, “Why do you keep doing stupid things!”
“Ow. Easy! Christ. What are your hands made out of? Lead?” I rubbed my head, worrying if I was going to have a bump. “They’re obviously treating me with care. Whatever order is governing me has given me a little leeway. And Grif was being an asshole.”
“Al, you should be more careful,” Neepa chimed in. “They take things much more seriously in the academies. Strict rules exist here for a reason.”
I shrugged. “Not like I punched him this time.”
The winged-lady cleared her throat, drawing our attention. “I…” She stopped and took a moment. Then, with a small sigh, she said, “Thank you.”
“No, I’m… I’m really sorry about… touching you…”
That sounds so bad out loud.
Her features strained momentarily, then calmed. “Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Kokoliniasta of the family Alsoleiah, a sixth degree mage.” She bowed her head.
“Al.” I offered my hand, but she only looked at it.
“That won’t be necessary. Come.” Kokoliniasta turned and began walking.
I shot Neepa and Eva a look and both of them just shrugged. So off we went behind the…what is she?
“Neepa,” I whispered quietly.
“Hmm?”
“What kind of beastkin is she? A lizard?”
“I’m a dragon-beastkin,” Kokoliniasta answered from up ahead. “Not some lowly lizard.” Her tone level, yet still sounded annoyed somehow.
Dragons have sharp ears, apparently.
Wait?
Dragon! Her?
Eva elbowed me in the ribs and made a sweeping gesture in front of her mouth, telling me to zip it. Neepa, meanwhile, took a nervous step closer. The nasty faces of those we passed in the hall explaining why.
We carried on in silence and traveled down several winding hallways, passing more people, paintings, murals, and a few open rooms that looked like classes. They didn’t look all that different from a traditional lecture hall.
I took the time to observe our guide, our dragon guide. She looked about five foot eight, around her early twenties, maybe even late teens. There was a certain mature air about her that made it difficult to tell.
A white blouse covered her upper frame, which featured blue and gold accents on her collar and the cuffs on her long sleeves, and silver buttons kept the whole thing closed. A small hole tailored on the shirt allowed her wings to poke through. She wore a long pleated dark-blue skirt that stopped just above her ankles.
I tried very hard not to, but I couldn’t take me gaze away from her rear-end. Not because I thought she had a nice ass––which she did, actually––but the way her tail swung counterpoint to her strides was mesmerizing to watch. Like watching a pendulum swing. Also, I couldn’t quite get over the tail either––I saw other beastkins in passing on the ride over, but not this close.
And this was a dragon!
Well, dragon-beastkin. Not the towering, fire-breathing force of nature I was expecting. Unless fantasy got them wrong in our world. Though, Neepa did explain that beastkin where the ancestors of the primordial beings before the One made life as we knew it. Or something along those lines.
Eventually, we came to a large door guarded by two mages dressed in blue robes and wielding ornate staves with large yell
ow gems embedded in the tops. They stood aside and opened the doors as soon as Kokoliniasta stepped forward. Beyond the doors was a circular room that was about fifteen feet in diameter with a circular glass floor in the middle. I didn’t make out much else when my eyes naturally wandered up. The room didn’t have a ceiling; just a couple hundred feet of empty space.
“Whoa,” I said aloud. My voice echoed like standing inside a grain silo.
“Please stand over here.” Kokoliniasta stood in the center of the glass floor. “And please keep your hands to yourself,” she added dryly.
The three of us stepped onto the center of the space. Kokoliniasta nodded at the two guards, and then both of them clanked their staves against the ground, the jewels encased at the tops began emanating golden light. Gravity pressed down on me and the glass floor ascended at a modest speed.
A panic attack coursed through me and I dropped to my hands and knees. Even though I knew we were going up, watching the floor disappear under my feet gave the illusion of falling. Neepa let out a small cry and did the same thing. Even the hardened Eva dropped to a knee and went wide-eyed. Kokoliniasta looked down at us, arching her eyebrows.
“There is no reason to be alarmed,” she said passively.
I slowly got to my feet and tried to find my balance. This glass elevator was messing with my equilibrium. I offered my hands to the girls. Neepa accepted, Eva didn’t. The witch hanged onto me, while Eva stood with shaky legs like a newborn fawn. Temptation made me want to ask how the elevator worked, but the answer was obvious: magic.
Fuckin’ magic.
Long crystals were embedded in the walls at regular intervals, providing light within the shaft. Every few floors there was a door in the same spot as the ground floor. These doors looked made of stone, however, so I wasn’t quite sure how they would open. Since the door was guarded, then that must be private elevator or something.
“So, uh, Ko...line, sorry. Miss Kokolin…”
“Kokoliniasta. Ko-ko-linee-az-ta,” she annunciated.
“Ko-kolin-iasta,” I butchered. “This is taking us to the Grand Mage?”
“Correct.”
“What exactly is going to happen?”
“You’ll be before the Grand Mage and a small audience of the academy’s headmasters.”
“Okay. Then what?”
“You’ll see soon enough.”
The platform slowed as the ceiling of the long shaft finally came into view, a glass dome that showed the clear blue sky. Like when we came in, two guards in blue garb and staves with yellow stones stood in front of the doors. Kokoliniasta showed us out, the guards closing the doors and returning to their post at either side of the door.
Ahead of us was a hallway with an arched ceiling, doors on either side of us at regular intervals. It was eerily quiet compared to the bustling murmur of downstairs. The only sound standing out was the steady clack of Kokoliniasta’s heels on the polished wood floor. Eva, Neepa, and I walked with very light feet, feeling like trespassers. There was this sort oppressive feeling in the air. Neepa was all excited and giddy looking at everything as we moved through the ground floor, but now she had gone quiet and was holding onto my sleeve. Eva kept looking over her shoulder, as if something were following us.
Kokoliniasta took us all the way to the end of the hall where it forked into either direction. At the intersection, however, stood impressive double-winged doors that went to the ceiling. At twenty feet tall and ten feet wide, I had to wonder how the hell anyone could open them. No doorknob or ring pull.
Kokoliniasta turned to me. “Are you ready?”
I took a deep breath through my nostrils and let it out in a rush. “As ready as I’m going to be.”
The dragon-woman nodded and turned towards the door. She racked her knuckles twice, then waited.
After a long delay, the doors opened inward slowly with a loud groan. My hands closed into tights fists and I forced my legs forward.
Chapter 11
Fear and anxiety was replaced with wonder as soon as I stepped into a massive, open atrium of sorts. The entire ceiling was glass that slopped down and formed a wall that led out into a pure blue sky, making it feel as though the entire room were floating through the clouds. On either side were solid wood walls that had some doors and hallways that lead elsewhere. On the right was a short set of stairs that lead to a small library. On the left, past the hall, was a recessed sunroom that featured furniture and more bookshelves.
Straight ahead, five people stood before a large desk set in front of the glass backdrop. Three men and two women, one of which looked like Kokoliniasta, but she had black horns coming out of her long, raven-colored hair, matching her dark wings and tail. She was quite the looker, especially since she wore a red dress that hugged her shoulders and hips tightly, exposing her long neck and deep, pale cleavage. But she had an unsettling presence about her. From her appearance, I gathered she was also a dragon-beastkin.
The other woman was Julika.
The three other men I didn’t recognize. Two looked to be in their late forties. One was dressed in lavish robes of green and black and was completely bald, bearing a pinched expression like he sucked on a lemon.
The other was dressed like a French officer from the 1700s; sharp, blue jacket over a crisp, cream-colored shirt with shiny brass buttons, similar cream-colored trousers, and with a black sash tied around his waist. Smoothed back ash-brown hair adorned his head with a touch of grey at his temples, and his stoic face featured an impressive beard and moustache.
The third man was tall and thin, wore a utilitarian-looking robe of gray and purple, looked to be in his sixties and had long, graying hair with a beard that went to his waist. Out of everyone I’ve encountered, this man with the weathered smile looked the most like what I thought a mage should look like.
Kokoliniasta stepped forth and bowed deeply. “I present Al of the family Engel.” She stepped off to the side and all eyes fell on me.
I gave an awkward wave. “H-hey.”
“Greetings, Al,” Julika said sweetly. Her eyes narrowed at Neepa, but softened when they went back to me. “I hope your living conditions have been… tolerable.”
“They’ve been fantastic. Neepa’s an excellent caretaker and Eva makes me feel well guarded.” At least when she’s not threatening to castrate me.
Julika nodded slowly, then brought her hands together. “Well, then. Al, allow me to introduce you to the Grand Mage.” She held her arm out to the desk and stepped aside, the others doing the same to present their undivided attention. Behind the desk was a chair with the back turned, where the Grand Mage sat.
I waited with bated breath for the chair to swivel around to reveal this well-known figure. From what Neepa told me about Grand Mages, they were the most powerful wielders of magic across all worlds, hand-picked personally from the previous title holder. All the talk of magic lies beyond my grasp despite what I’ve been told, the politics of mages still foreign and shrouded in mystery.
As much as my skepticism fights it, I cannot deny the reality of magic. And sitting in that chair is the most powerful person on this world and on all others.
Whatever expectations she has, I really hope I meet them. For all I know, she could turn me into dust and no one would be able to challenge her decision.
Thoughts ran discordant as my imagination took a dark turn, anxiety suddenly making me wish I was desperately somewhere else while waiting for the Grand Mage to present herself.
But nothing happened.
Everyone shared confused looks while Julika stood with her arm still outstretched. Her eyes darted back and forth between me and the chair, before she hung her head and let out a sigh. She walked around the desk and leaned toward the chair, whispering something.
“Huh? Wha? Oh, yes, yes. Dozed off there,” a raspy voice said.
The chair swiveled around and revealed an elderly black woman who looked even older than the Dumbledore-looking dude. Her skin was wrinkled like t
he leather seats of an eighty-nine civic. Even her eyes bore a worn, grey luster. Was she blind? Chalky white hair hung around her head in disheveled, messy strands, looking like it could desperately use some time under a brush.
Not what I expected from the mightiest mage in the world. Sorry, worlds.
She looked better suited sitting in a nursing home knitting a sweater and watching Antiques Road Show.
The Grand Mage rose from her chair, with surprising ease, and walked around her desk. She certainly didn’t show any trouble moving, her feet moving with clear coordination. If I had to make an educated guess, I’d say she looked to be around eighty-years-old. Still, she looked like a frail little thing. She looked even shorter than Laramie.
Hugging her tiny frame were gold trimmed robes that were such a crisp white that they seemed to radiate celestial light.
A tug on my sleeve brought my attention to Neepa, who was kneeling on the ground, Eva too. Following their example, I knelt down. Together, we bowed to the revered mage.
“Dah, none of that, none of that,” the Grand Mage said. “Stand, stand, all of you.”
We did as we were told and the ancient women leaned in to inspect us.
“So you’re the one, hmm? My, my, you’re quite the handsome fellow, aren’t you?” The Grand Mage had her finger pointed at Eva.
I couldn’t help but snort.
Eva shot me a death glare from the corner of her eye. She then said politely, “No, your Excellency, that would be him.” She gently moved the woman’s hand till it was pointing at me.
“Hi, I’m A––”
The Grand Mage grabbed me by my collar and pulled me down to her level. Then she began inspecting my face thoroughly. And roughly. She kneaded my face like a sculptor would clay.
She squinted her eyes and tilted her head, going “Hmm.” She opened my mouth and grabbed my tongue with her abrasive fingers, going “Oh.”
Heart of the Resonant: Book 1: Pulse (Resonant Series) Page 16
