Honor and Glory | ATEEZ

050 TREASURE

Hours had passed, and I was still staring out of the big window in my room, feeling the occasional gusts of wind fuel my anger as the storm above the palace kept swirling.

I barely reacted when the sound of knocking on my door cut through the heavy silence that had been hanging over me for so long; Daios' guards.

I sighed, standing up a little straighter as I pushed away from the windowsill, throwing one last look into the horizon before going to open the door.

But what I saw made me freeze, coming to a halt as my eyes widened at the sight behind me.

I hoped, prayed to the heavens above, that what I was seeing was real and not a figure of my imagination caused by the amount of distress and raw anger that Daios had caused me to feel.

But as I stepped closer, the colourful glow of the rainbow in the distance seemed to grow brighter.

The column of light shot into the sky.

The knocking on the door became more violent, louder, more anxious.

My heart hammered against my ribs as I realized that the storm in the distance seemed to grow weaker, retreating, crawling back toward Agora.

The Source of Iseda.

They did it, I thought to myself.

They really did it.

I took another step forward before I once again came to a stop, feeling my inner fire awaken, my powers coming back to their full potential, their former glory.

I felt the flames inside of me grow in size, in power, in heat, bigger than ever before as my red eyes locked onto the barely-visible hill in the distance where I knew the others would be waiting for me.

I hadn't realized that the knocking had stopped before the door to my room flew open and several men in black charged in.

The sky rumbled above the palace as I whipped around to face them, my eyes burning bright red as I finally gave myself permission to let go.

I screamed, holding out my hands in front of me as my inner fire exploded with power.

A wall of fire flew in the guards' direction, and in less than a second, my previously calm and quiet room had turned into absolute chaos.

A moment later, my flames disappeared in a flash of heat and bright red light, leaving only the panicked and screaming men in black behind as they scampered around the room, trying to put out their fiery uniforms.

I decided to make the most of the situation, sprinting out of the room and into the maze of hallways beyond that snaked their way through the palace.

I had to get out now.

It was now or never, I told myself.

Even though I was once again fleeing, running away from Daios, I didn't see this as a defeat. Not this time.

This time, I had everything I needed to return with my head raised, ready for battle instead of surrendering in fear of my own life as well as the ones I loved.