บท 11: Banquet Begins
MOON
Zina was still in great shock at the revelation that the one she was to tell a dangerous lie against was the man she had always seen in her visions ever since she was fourteen and her powers had visibly shifted.
The same man that had tugged a smile at her lips whenever his stern face appeared in her visions, the same man that had made her hurting heart hurt less whenever she was down and felt listless. The same man she had challenged Jacen Vampage with; the man he told him was even more beautiful than the stars.
That man, whom Zina had wished was not just a fiction, whom Zina had childishly dreamt of getting married to, having children with him, and living happily ever after in a world where she was no longer an abandoned one was the same man she had to destroy to save her pack.
Who was the god of cruel fates? Zina needed a meeting with the god. She needed an explanation for all this.
As she walked, she staggered under the weight of her thoughts and Seraph's hands darted to support her.
The man's voice… Lord Daemon's voice… had been levelled, devoid of any particular emotions, and was firm. That is if Zina didn't consider how it came to be that those levelled words had caressed the skin behind her ears, turning that part of her body beet red. But the man he was with was anything but levelled. In the few words Lord Daemon's companion had spoken, Zina could very well hear the hate that dripped off it.
A hate that burned for her, or was it just for Seers no matter who? Did that even matter?
On getting to what was termed the entrance of the banquet under the esteemed guidance of the Epsilon who had decided to slow down on their behalf after their run in with Lords, Seraph spoke with worry. It would seem the young girl was wary of Lord Daemon and his companion after their strange encounter.
"Miss, you must be careful at the banquet. And try as hard as possible to avoid all of the princes if you must." Her young but strangely matured voice whispered very lowly in Zina's ears so the Epsilon who was standing far away from them would not catch a whiff of what she said.
Zina wished to tell Seraph that she had no choice in that matter, but instead she gave the young girl a nod. "What is your name?" She asked Seraph. If she was walking to her death, at least she would remember this strange girl that had shown her rare kindness.
Seraph blushed, twisting her fingers against each other. "I am just Seraph. I've no surname as I am an omega and tribute offering from the BloodMoon pack to the NorthSteed pack."
Zina nodded at that. The BloodMoon's were one of the four high ranking packs united under the flag of the NorthSteed. "I shall remember you." she simply said.
And with that Zina stepped into the ballroom as she was led by the Epsilon to her designated seat. Seraph gazed at the Great Seers retreating back as her heart hurt her strangely like a wolf parting with her destined.
"I hope to see you again." Seraph muttered, as she turned, and left.
The first that assaulted Zina's senses was the reverberating sound of music playing. Drums being beat, and flutes being expertly manipulated to create a deep resonating sound. Together with the accompanying ensemble, Zina felt the ground beneath her vibrate with trepidation.
The atmosphere was that of danger and anticipation, and it filled Zina with dread while she guided herself as she sat down at her place at the banquet.
She felt a meaningful, heated stare on her causing her to stiffen slightly. She could bet that the heavy meaningful stare was that of Lord Daemon while the heated one was that of his companion.
Zina sighed, wishing the banquet would be over already and that she would be back to her small pack… back to the little, minute life she had come to accept. But it would seem the night was still young and had barely begun.
An old, raspy voice drawled from her side,
"You must be the seer from the GreenLands East," an old woman said, clicking her tongue together in both appraisal and mild disgust, "you aren't what I expected. You look… so young?" She finished like a question…as if she was unsure of what word to use and describe the young woman.
Even without sniffing at the air, Zina knew that the woman who spoke to her had to be very old.
"You must be a seer too?" Zina simply said coolly. She understood from her conversations with Seraph that she wasn't the only foreign seer invited to the Alpha King's banquet.
"We all are." A different voice said from her right side, the voice more detached than that of the old woman. The voice seemed to belong to a middle aged woman, Zina observed.
"When I received the esteemed invitation of the Alpha King," the old woman began in the same raspy tone, her voice laced with longing mixed with contempt, "I thought myself very fortunate and that something big awaits me. But now I have beheld the last of our small trio group, I can't say that for sure."
Zina was filled with an urge to tell the woman that for someone so seemingly old, she spoke a lot. Weren't seers supposed to be silent and mysterious?
"You are still at it again." The middle-aged woman said in the same detached tone.
The old woman scoffed indignantly, "please, let's not act like a golden opportunity to change our lives hasn't been presented to us!"
So it was a golden opportunity? Zina mulled. Perhaps if the woman's family were kidnapped and threatened, she wouldn't say the same.
Or maybe she still would stand by the assertion, gleefully throwing her family into the flames of their fall. Their world was afterall a most cruel and unpredictable one.
"We do not know why we have been invited. Saying it's a golden opportunity is a tad bit too soon, no?" The middle aged woman reasoned.
But the old woman, voice filled with greed, was beyond reason. "No matter! I shall make sure to prove my worth to the Alpha King!"
Eyeing Zina and the middle aged woman, she sneered, "I do not believe how talented you both could possibly be. Especially this blind, young one. Does she even know the tenets of interpreting a vision?" She finished in a tone that suggested that the thought of Zina seeing visions was the most abominable thing she had ever encountered.
Zina simply frowned. She had never had to interpret her visions, they all came very clear to her. Except for the vision of the regal man in a commoner's attire—Lord Daemon—which she never understood, all her visions never required interpretations.
But she didn't spare the woman any attention, resorting to tuning them off as she concentrated more on her surroundings. Before long, the grand doors were drawn open and the music and chatterings about her ceased.
"Stand and behold the presence of the Alpha King of the North!" A voice cried into the chilling silence that threatened to abscond Zina. "Alpha Xavier NorthSteed, first of his name, Alpha of the NorthSteed pack, King of the Arctic North, the dark wolf, keeper of peace, unity of the Vraga, and lover of the goddess!"
And all stood. Not because they were prompted to do so, but because in their presence was the dark wolf that prowled with golden eyes. The alpha that demanded the respect of all Alphas; and same respect from all the dwelled in the banquet room. The notorious Alpha King who crowned himself.
Everyone trembled before him, save Zina the wolfless one.
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