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0.7 - Emperor's New Clothes

{Ronan}

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I watched as Calix's eyes widened.

"It was you...?" she whispered, mostly to herself. Her eyes were watering, but her brow was furrowed, like she was about to cry out of frustration.

"Curse?" I asked, still keeping close to Calix. "What curse?"

Kallistrate swiveled her body in her marble seat to face me.

"Lover Boy doesn't know?" she sneered. "'Thought you would've told him already."

"Shut up, Pinky!" Calix yelled. Her hands were balled into fists now, and she was on her knees, with tears running down her face.

At Calix's comment, Kallistrate's hair turns immediately purple, pin-straight, along with her eyes. She raised her lavender eyebrows at Calix.

That was it. Calix snapped.

She screamed and ran forwards, towards Kallistrate's throne, her arms flailing, scratching at the air in front of her.

"Calix, wait--" I tried, but it was too late. She was already an arm's length away from Kallistrate.

Before I could do anything, Kallistrate flicks her hand, emitting a purple force field, throwing Calix backwards with such a force that she's pushed behind me, and hits the wall.

When she landed, I didn't even bother to do anything. I sat there. Calix was a strong girl; I knew she was going to be okay.

Instead, I turned to Kallistrate. "How many times are we going to have near-death experiences in this room?"

She smirked. "Finally. You must be the one with the brains."

I heard Calix moan behind me. I fought the urge to turn around and see if she was okay. The only way I could get anything out of Kallistrate was to seem as powerful as her.

Kallistrate sighed, understanding what I was doing, and confessed. She told me the story of Calix's curse and when she got it, but it was long and drawn out, and actually really vague.

"Okay," I started, "but that still doesn't explain why she has this curse."

By this time, Calix had sat up, sitting with one leg down and one knee up, resting her elbow on it, and resting her head in her hand.

"Well," Kallistrate explained. "Like I said, I am an Electrix. That means chooser in Latin."

Calix snorts. "Of course, some ancient other language. Couldn't just have it be chooser, could you? That would just be plain silly," she said, her sarcasm soaking through her words.

Kallistrate snarled at her. "As I was saying, in my kingdom, Electrix are all assigned someone, no matter the age, to choose a certain punishment that would be most painful for that individual."

"But, why do you choose innocent people to hurt?" Calix asks, still trembling with anger.

"Honey, everyone in this world is evil. We are the cause of all evil in this world. If I went into detail, you would want to kill me even more than you want to right now," Kallistrate said smugly. I could tell that Calix wanted to try to charge at her again, but she knew it would be no use.

We sat in silence. No one wanted to say anything. I could feel the suspense in the room, but Kallistrate seemed very comfortable in the silence.