Chương 9: IX · Shading a Disloyal Spider
Mass release: 4/25
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Emerald had never come near Alexandrini when she was a kid, but she had heard from her mom about legends of the strongest magical academy in the world, build in the heart of the most magic-flooded mountain range in the entire world, right in the highest mountain, the one made of gold. The castle itself was build out of obsidian, gold, silver, and moonstone, all the biggest magic conductors there are.
A castle so high on the mountain it was above the clouds, with the biggest channel of tunnels that connect all places of the castle to the very heart of the gold mountain and beyond even. Where so many people got lost to be never found, where the eyes of the supervisors were unable to reach. Many legends said there were bigger treasures inside the mountain than its very foundation of gold, secret rooms made my mages of a lost time that were brave enough to wander inside the tunnels and make a room to hide all of their treasure.
Personal grimoires of all kinds of magic. Of the old and of the new world. Of dead and living kins of witches and wizards.
Her mom used to tell her that one day she would go there, and brave enough, Nyx, the Goddess of the Night, would bless her and guide her to where the lost records and grimoires of long-gone star and death witches are hidden. That it would be her mission, and that she would be powerful enough to teach herself how to wield such magic, to make a wise use of what the Goddess bestowed upon her, of her special blood.
Because to her mom she wasn't weird, a freak, or a changeling. No, her mom always told her she was not a changeling, no matter what anyone would one day say to her. To Lalita Maya-Lorenzen, she was special, the most special and precious kid in the world.
And just standing in front of Alexandrini, after running away for 12 years, made her feel something inside the mountain call for her, for her very soul. But more than anything, being there, like her mom said she would, made her think of her, of a long lost time where she knew how it felt to live, after spending so many years scared of tomorrow, surviving because that was all she could do. Either she survived or she succumbed to death.
A death witch cannot succumb to death, thus, she kept going.
She wasn't joking when she said it was build in a mountain of gold, because I'm literally stepping in freaking gold. Emerald stared at her feet, in dismay, then up ahead to the gothic majestic castle that made her feel like less than an ant in front of it's grandiosity. "Well, this place certainly makes one feel like an insect," she broke the ice, mockingly, as the portal closed behind them. Then she took a long sip of the calming potion tea.
"I can hear your heartbeat from where I am, Em," Dior chuckled. "Calm down, as soon as you step inside, you will be the most dangerous being inside, not the opposite. If one thing, you will make everyone feel like an insect!"
Emerald rolled her eyes. Not bright indeed. "It was a joke about the size of the castle, Dior. Not about power. I am very, very self-aware."
"Well, how would I know?" Dior scoffed. "Your levels of anxiety don't show this self-awareness."
"I am anxious because I am too self-aware," dumbass.
"Mmhm, so you say," she chanted, annoying Emerald again.
["Do you think gold tassssssste good, love?"] Jade asked.
["I don't know, but the color lookssssss yummy!"] Peridot said.
Emerald gasped, "Gold is not eatable!"
["How would you know that, witchling?"] Peridot mocked.
["You are poor, you never ssssssaw gold!"] Jade purred.
Her jeweled eyes almost popped embarrassed, "Excuse me? I am not poor, and I have seen gold before, you dumbass. I mean, yeah, I'm poor but it was my choice as soon as I became a runaway, yeah? And there's no need to see gold to know you cannot fucking eat it!"
Saoirse and Dior choked on their laughter, "They called you poor?"
She glared at the old witch, "Don't start. This high-pitched voice of yours is starting to really give me a horrible headache. And I don't have this type of things, ever. That's how annoying you are."
"Hah, you're so lovely, Em," Dior mocked.
"Emerald," she corrected in vain.
"Anyways, Em," Dior provoked, "let's get in. They are-"
Both stopped when the gigantic double doors opened up and a silver haired slander black tall men appeared, probably around 2.80m or more, "Dior Geadasach," he spoke in a deep voice, "the Guardian awaits for your arrival." Then his feline purple eyes went to Saoirse, stopping on Emerald, and his eyebrows cocked up slightly, "Did you bring a blind witch?"
"I am not blind, sir. Thank you very much for talking about me as if I wasn't present," Emerald scoffed not showing an ounce of anxiety and acting confidently like a bitch, striding towards the giant men with the two women, and the men's eyes blinked in surprise.
"Her eyesight is shit, Arasgain, the eyeglasses help, her iris are also sensible to the light," Dior spoke before she could.
Arasgain? Emerald swallowed. As in Bhatair Arasgain? The 110-year-old giant white wizard executioner who used to be a very high ranking warden in the Maolmhuire prison of maximum security? Directly under the global ministry of magic? I've heard legends of him everywhere. Ever since he lost half of his left leg in a fight against a terrifying prisoner, he's been acting as the… steward of the Alexandrini castle, directly under the very headmaster, also a white wizard according to Dior.
"And what's your name, twin braids?" His eyes stopped on her.
"It's Emerald, but my friends call me Em!"
"Do you have friends?" He purred.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, "Not anymore, but you are free to be my new one, just don't backstab me, yeah? I don't want to get used to that kind of thing," she shamelessly shaded Saoirse, who tensed up next to her, clenching her jaw.
A loud laughter left the chest of the giant men, "Interesting kid you are, Em. Okay. I accept your friendship invitation, now you have to visit me down the mountain in my cottage, and eat some cookies with me. How old are you? 14?" He tilted his head to the side, "No, you have the height of a 12-year-old witch, though you feel a bit older, maybe 15." That made her cheeks turn bright red, "What moon are you from? Are you a green?"
"I am short in your standards," she said through clenched teeth, her face heating up with embarrassment, "I turned 19 near the last pink moon, in April 1st. Yes, I'm a green." Ugh, if he really wanna he my friend, I did not want to lie to him, but there's no way I can come out here as I am. That will be a death fucking sentence.
His eyes widened, "You are 19? Are you a dwarf witch?"
"Are you a giant wizard?" She countered.
He grinned, "Hah, I like you, Em. My friends call me Bhat!"
"Do you have friends?" She gave him as taste of his venom.
But he laughed again, amused, "Oh, I do. Not the ones you're with though, but yes, I do," then he turned serious again. "You should come in already, the Guardian isn't a far of laters."
Neither am I. Emerald nodded to him, "Let's have tea later, Bhat!"
He softener when she passed by him, after she switched places with Dior to he on the right corner, just to be closer to him, because in this little moment he felt way more comfortable to be near than the two green witches that have been tormenting her. "Let's do that. You will make the tea."
"I'm good with tea," she smiled at him, a smile with teeth and with her cheek dimples popping up. "You make the cookies."
"And I'm good with cookies," he winked kindly.
Is he a good one? She asked her familiars through their bond after they passed by him and into the grand halls of Alexandrini. Too aware of her last mistake to take risks into trusting somebody unworthy.
["He'ssssss a real one, hassssss a pure heart!"] Jade assured her.
Quite the feat, uh. To have a pure heart after years working as a ward in the worse place on earth that's consider the hell for our race. She clicked her tongue once, twice, thrice.
"Don't get too close from that idiot," Dior hissed.
"He's not on our side," Saoirse added. "He hates use greens."
"Well, he doesn't hate me," she scoffed.
"He's probably faking to try killing you in private," Dior mocked.
"No, he ain't. My familiars said he's a good one," she grinned.
"The same familiars who told you not to trust me?" Saoirse hissed.
"And look at where trusting you got me, uh?!" Emerald hissed back bitterly and Saoirse halted, annoyed. "The more allies in here for me the better. I don't care if they don't like you, I've said it before, I'm on this for my own survival, for my own motivations, not yours."
Dior clenched her jaw so hard, Emerald swore to have heard her teeth almost breaking, "Just don't get close to him when there's somebody else around. Go to him when he's alone. Avoid his so-called friends."
As if I would obey this maniac bitch. "Why?"
"Because his friends, are the Circle," Saoirse muttered under her breath, frustrated, trying control her temper not to snap at Emerald and make it all worse than it already is between them, even though she's now with the bracelets and anklets. "Which is why, he hates us."
"Oh," Emerald mumbled uncomfortable. "Alright, I'll avoid that." I'm not interested in meeting my dad's protégées anytime soon. Not alone.
Dior release a sigh of relief, "Good enough. Let's go."
"Who was this Guardian he talked about?" She asked Dior.
"The Headmaster, of course. The Guardian of Alexandrini. Risteard Eusebio Bastianini, commonly goes by Lord Rhys," the older witch told her doing her best not to sound impatient or exceedingly rude. "White wizard. Stands in the very balance of magical power and political factions in her. He's 132 years old, but looks to be on his late 40s at best, his hear is still starting to turn silver, which gives him quite the charm."
Emerald couldn't help cringing. Nyx above, she ain't gonna use my potions on the freaking headmaster, right? I mean, he's thrice her age, ew. A lil age gap is attractive, but that's not even a gap anymore, that a black hole between two mountains. "Ew." He's like a preserved walking corpse.
["Hah, I wouldn't be ssssssurprissssssed if the reassssson he likessssss her better issssssss becaussssssse sssssshe warmsssss hissssss bed,"] Peridot mocked and Emerald had to clenched her jaw not to laugh.
Because her too, can't see another reason why Dior would be liked more than her father by anyone. She definitely doesn't pass the confidence of someone who went up the power leather through hard work. More like through getting other powerful men hard and working to fuck them. She scoffed to herself. Sorry, Selene, sorry, Nyx, I wouldn't offend another witch if it was anyone else. Dior doesn't deserve anything but the worse after all she did.
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