Chapter 8: The Gathering
"What's happening?" Allura says to herself. She continues to cover her eyes because of the sudden explosion of brightness. She tries to look straight back to the magic circle where the ceremony is taking place but everything is too bright. She couldn't adjust to the brightness of her surroundings and she has no choice but to continue covering her eyes.
"This is how we got transported here." A woman's familiar voice radiates from behind her. Allura slowly opens her eyes to see that she's back in the room with the elder and somehow with another party present.
She turns around and sees Briaphela standing there. The light from her staff slowly dying from a spell that she had casted. Allura who's still in shock of what she saw suddenly falls on her knees.
"Princess! Are you all right?" Briaphela immediately goes to her aid. Allura looks at her, then to the elder standing in front of her. She looks at her knees. She hadn't noticed that her legs were trembling from what she had seen earlier. She actually has no idea why something like that would make her feel that way.
"I… am" she replies slowly while nodding her head once.
"It would be better for you to take a rest first Princess. We can continue discussing this later when you feel better." The elder says with concern in his voice. He holds out a hand to help Allura stand. Allura regards it for a moment before taking it.
"I'm fine. All I need to do is sit down" Allura says as they slowly approach an available chair on one side of the room.
"Are you sure about that princess?" Briaphela asks. Allura nods and opens her mouth to say something else.
"I am, if I could just ask for water. Then I'll be good." She looks at the both of them. Briaphela stands and leaves to go to the kitchen. She returns with a pitcher of water and a glass.
"It would be better if you could drink as much as you need." She sets the pitcher of water in the small table and hands Allura a glass of it. She drinks all of it in big gulp and grabs the pitcher for another glass.
"That must have been too much for you Princess. Considering the fact that you had just witnessed the death of the queen." The elder says the last part slowly, looking at Allura with a wary face. Testing to see if such news would make an impact to her.
"But why? Briaphela, earlier you said it was how you got transported here. What did you mean by that?" Allura looks at Briaphela after putting the glass back down.
"It is extremely difficult for us to transport ourselves into your world. Teleportation is not as easy as it may seem." Briaphela starts.
"In order to do so a sacrifice is done, and not just any sacrifice. Just like what you have seen earlier, what we need is the blood, the death, of any of the eight beings existing in our world." Briaphela explains to Allura who couldn't do or say anything.
"Then, why the queen?" Allura asks in almost a whisper. She looks at Briaphela who is biting her lip like what she did in the memory earlier. Briaphela remains silent, unable to say anything. Allura then looks at the elder who is sitting beside the stunned sorceress .
"It was what she had asked us to do." The elder speaks in behalf of Briaphela.
"What does that mean?" Allura answers immediately.
"I had told you earlier that the royal highnesses refused to bring you back to the kingdom. After discussing it once again, we had come to that conclusion." The elder finishes his statement. He looks at Briaphela, with a stare that somehow asks if she's okay. Briaphela nods understanding what the look means and continues explaining.
"It was a difficult decision for all of us, especially the royal highnesses. It was difficult for them to sacrifice themselves in order to save the kingdom-" Briaphela stops. Suddenly realizing her mistake.
"The salvation of the kingdom? What does that mean?" Allura immediately looks up. Briaphela covers her mouth and the elder remains silent at the back.
"I believe it is not yet the time to tell you that, princess." The elder sighs, Briaphela looks disappointed. Allura guesses it's because of what she said.
"why? Why is it not the time yet?" Briaphela abruptly stands her voice starting to get louder.
Why are they still keeping secrets from her? Shouldn't they tell her everything? She still hasn't given her answer about going along with them to their world and yet they have the nerve to continue keeping things from her.
The elder looks at Briaphela once again and she nods understanding what the elder's look meant. She raises her staff and it produces a little light and dust starts to fly away from it. It goes to Allura's eyes and at that she starts to get dizzy. She holds her head to stop herself from losing consciousness but Briaphela's magic is too strong and after a while she starts falling.
- -
Allura opens her eyes. She blinks once at first and then continues blinking a few more times. She looks around, she realizes that she's back in her room. She starts to get up. She sees that she's wearing different clothes, she's wearing a decent night gown. Peach colored with daisies as decoration.
"What happened?" she asks herself. She looks around again, confirming that she really is standing in her room all by herself. She walks towards the door and realize that it seems to be unlocked.
She goes outside only to realize that she's standing in an unfamiliar hallway. The walls are made of stones, and torches are hung on the wall throughout it. She looks from left to right. To her left is a wall which would mean that it's a dead-end. She looks back to the right and sees that the corridor extends far from her room.
She looks back inside her room. Indeed, it is her room where the elder and the others had let her stay over. Not a thing seems misplaced or is new inside it. She looks back outside and it's different from the hallway inside the building from where they're staying.
The corridor is empty. Allura goes back to her room to cover herself with the blanket on her bed and grabs something that is near to a weapon, which is the candelabra in her bedside table. She proceeds to exiting the room with her makeshift weapon.
She slowly walks down the unknown corridor, wondering where she is or who brought her there. Maybe it was Briaphela again, who is trying to show her a memory of their past.
Hopefully, it's Briaphela, Allura says to herself.
She sees a door not far from where she's lurking. She slowly approaches it and hears some voices inside the room. She's stands in front of it and tries to put her ear on the door to try to see if she could hear what the people inside are talking about.
Just when she does that, she suddenly phases inside the room. She lands on the floor without any sound.
"It is a memory after all," she tells herself in confirmation.
She stands up and sees a long crescent-shaped table facing the wall on the opposite side of the room. There are shadows hunched over a specific part of the table and she starts to move to see who these people are and to see what they're doing.
She's standing behind the only person seated on a chair and upon closer inspection, Allura sees that it is the elder. She looks at the rest of the crowd standing around him and recognizes some familiar faces. Briaphela, Shkan, and the general who accompanied them in the forest.
"Elder, are we sure about this?" Briaphela asks. Her voice seems to be shaking, like she's terrified of something.
"There is no other choice Briaphela. No one could defeat that monster." The elder replies without looking up. He's clinging on to his staff even while seated. As if letting go would make him fall on to the ground.
"But the royal highnesses are against the idea elder, and we all know why is that." Shkan says in his usual cool and composed voice.
"That is why we are here: to try to convince them once again to reconsider of their decision." The elder sighs. Allura moves to stand in front of the group, none of them acknowledging her presence.
"What if they would turn the idea down once again?" Briaphela asks, her voice still shaking. Allura looks at her and observes that Briaphela is holding on to her staff with her dear life. She respects the royal highnesses in such a degree that she's afraid of going against their orders and commands.
"We suffer." is all the elder says until the door opens and the king, queen and royal escorts enter the room.
"Your highnesses," the three of them stands up and bends one knee to show their respect to the king and queen, Allura looks at the gesture with awe.
"At ease," the king says and proceeds to sit in the middle of the crescent-shaped table with the queen beside him. The others then proceed to sit in their respective seats and the elder is the one to start the discussion.
"Your royal highnesses, it may have been a surprise for the both of you to be here today," he starts off. The king and queen look at each other and nods their heads to the elder.
"Quite surprised really Solomon," the kind replies. The elder clears his throat to continue speaking.
"I will tell you the truth your majesties. We are here today to discuss the summoning of the princess, princess Amaltheia." He says with a tone of finality. The king and queen's eyes are full of shock and horror, metioning the princess's name made Allura's heart squeeze for a moment.
"Solomon, haven't we told you before? We are not going to allow that to happen," the king says. His tone somehow annoyed.
"Your majesty we beg of you. We are aware that she is your only child, the only heir to the throne. Yet, we also know that she has a more important role in this kingdom, in this small world of ours." The elder replies, not stopping to take a breath. He is determined to bring her back to their world.
"Silence Solomon!" the king yells. The queen shudders at this and all the other people in the room falls into silence.
"That is something we do not discuss of in the open!" the king says in a falling tone.
"Would you please leave us," the elder tells the escorts. He looks at the general as well, he nods and takes his leave. The door closes shut and it is just them inside the room.
"Solomon," the king says and then stops. Not knowing what to say next.
"I understand why you're acting that way your highness, but is it not for the betterment of this world that she'd be ruling in the future?" the elder asks in a convincing tone. The king regards him for a moment, then proceeds to locking his head in both his hands.
"Solomon, she is our child. We cannot just let her face danger and death head on." The king tries to beg the elder.
"and I understand that your highness. She is your daughter. She will be our queen as well and yet she has another role that she must play," the elder stops. Looking at the king in case that he would stop him from speaking the words. The words that have been kept hidden from the time the princess was born.
"She must take on the role of our savior your majesty," the elder says finally. Allura looks at him with shock. It is the first time that she has ever heard of such thing.
"She must take on that role for she inherits the blood of Apollo," the elder says finally.
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