The Metaphorical Key Book II- Forge the Path

Chapter XIV

I have nothing to say for myself tbh
Mental health got bad again but I should be going to an appointment to discuss anti-depressants with a doctor sometime soon so hopefully that'll help.

As a bright side to all this, this chapter is probably one of my favourite things I've ever written.

Aiden knew that they couldn't fight off the group of soldiers, but statistics and probability be damned, if they went down, they'd go down spitting blood from between their teeth.

He saw Pollux square his stance out of the corner of his eye, the other teen yanking his knife from his belt and glowering at the group in front of them.

Will bit his bottom lip, although Aiden could just make out the slight tremble of the traitorous thing.

He shuffled closer.
"D'ya think you can shift?"
"I-"

They were cut off by King Galen clapping his hands again, and the soldiers moved towards them.

All of the (frankly completely unearned) confidence that Aiden had previously felt vanished, and his legs were moving faster than his brain, and he was hurtling across the room to the other side, ducking under King Galen's arm and sliding across the floor. He was moving faster than he'd ever moved before, and in any other situation he would've marveled at the sudden burst of speed, but he was more focused on putting as much distance between himself and the soldiers.

There was a sudden rattling sound from behind him, and before he knew what was happening, his brain (fast, too fast to keep up with) had recognized the sound as danger and he was diving for cover where there was none and ramming into the wall.

"Shitshitshitshitshit."

Holding his head, Aiden stumbled to his feet with all the grace of a newborn gazelle and blinked blearily at the door.

His mouth fell open, jaw hanging loosely and his eyes bugging out of his head.

A small group - larger than their would-be murderers (but not by much) was knocking the soldier's heads together, toppling them to the ground as if they were dominoes and not the king's personal Murder Squad.

One of the people standing before them ripped off their red and gold mask to reveal a young woman (probably in her late twenties or early thirties, Aiden figured.)

She had dark brown hair draped over her shoulder in a neat braid and dark skin. It was her eyes, though, that took Aiden aback.

They were bright, the colour of pewter, and despite the intensely bright shade, there were only storm clouds gathering in her irises, and Aiden knew that they were long overdue for rain.

King Galen saw it too, and he ran.
The king, the king with a dozen soldiers (more, probably) at his beck and call, ran. He ran from nothing more than red and gold and grey.

Aiden traipsed his way over, and the woman gave him no more than a nod before extending her hand in greeting.
"Hey, kids. Name's Addanaya. Pleasure."

So, Dulcie thought as she sprinted away from the police.
Baimid was a bust.

"Hey! Both of you, stop this instant!"

Dulcie grabbed Kayden by the hand and yanked him along, stumbling over the uprooted stones of the road.

Somebody really should fix that, she thought, grimacing.

That little stumble gave the officer enough time to catch up to them.

The fact that immediately upon entering Baimid, Kayden had spotted a pair of black and gold high boots and impulsively bought them didn't make matters any better - evidently, they were hard to run in.