The Otherworld Chronicles

Chapter One: Genesis

Capris

The castle of Capris was situated on the Western Moor, built into a hundred-metre-high cliff top that plunged straight down to meet the grey ocean. It was constructed of basalt and had been worn bare by thousands of years of ocean storms. Capris was an imposing sight, dominating the bleak landscape for miles with its tall, dark spires. The castle had no gardens, and no external buildings.

However, despite its threatening appearance, the inside of Capris was lavishly decorated. The floors were all grey marble, the windows dressed with thick red curtains. An exquisitely decorated corridor ran the entire circumference of the interior of the castle. Thousand-year-old tapestries adorned the walls, interspersed with portraits of the various rulers of The Underworld.

The castle contained dozens of bedrooms, two ballrooms, an extensive library, an observatory, and in the very centre, the council meeting chamber. All corridors would eventually lead to this chamber, at the very heart of the ancient castle.

Capris had been the political capital of the Underworld for as long as anyone could remember. While the council chamber that it contained was not the only one, it was the one where the most important decisions were made. It was also the only one that the Angels of the Overworld were permitted to enter.

Twelve seats encircled the chamber, one for each of the five districts of the Underworld, one for each of the five corresponding districts of the Overworld, and then one for each leader.

Annalise and Alecxander stared each other down across the chamber. The angel was uncomfortable, she loathed this place with every fibre of her being, yet she could not refuse the demon's summons. Her Realm's relationship with his teetered on the very verge of collapse and refusing an invitation to conclave may prove to be the killing blow.

Beside the demon King, the dark elf stood, hands clasped behind his back, expression unwaveringly blank. He was an unwelcome presence in the room. Lucien Theroux was not a popular man in the Otherworld. In the Underworld, he was regarded as having too much sway over their King. In the Overworld, he was viewed with contempt, an insolent nuisance at best, a dangerous strategist at worst. However, he was a nuisance doomed to be tolerated; his King would never dismiss him. He had been a constant shadow to the King for hundreds of years, and he was confident in the knowledge that he was irreplaceable.

Having had enough of enduring the stony silence, the elf leant in close to whisper in his King's ear. His voice was low and inaudible to the chamber. The King's reaction was not. He barked out a single, sharp laugh, and waved the elf away with his hand.

"Annalise," he drawled, emerald eyes dark as night "I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to grace me with your presence," he paused, a smirk teasing at the corner of his mouth "pardon the pun."

The angel scowled slightly.

"You were the one who made the summons, Alec." She spoke calmly, her voice level and melodic. The nickname seemed to hang in the air for an unbearable amount of time. Lucien's eyes darkened almost imperceptibly.

"Yes," Alec mused, leaning back in his throne, clearly in his element. This was, after all, his castle.

The stillness of the room was broken when the angel raised a hand to beckon one of her party forward. She leant forward to speak lowly into the other woman's ear and was acknowledged with a curt nod. The woman was small and round, with fiery red hair. She always travelled in the Queen's entourage.

The red headed woman swept forward, coming to a stop in front of the King and his advisor. The demon's expression remained unchanged as she produced a letter from within the folds of her robe. She reached out a hand, delicately offering it to him.

Before the King could reach out to take the letter from her, the hand of his advisor shot out and snatched it from her fingers. He shot Lucien a scowl; he made a mental note to reprimand the elf later.

A thick silence fell over the room in the seconds it took Lucien to read the letter. Alec heard the elf suck in a sharp breath through his teeth, and the air around him seemed to drop in temperature. He snatched the letter from Lucien, returning the elf's heavy gaze with an angry look.

He took a moment.

"Annalise," he drawled once more, almost amused by what he had read "are you sure you want to declare war on me?" He lifted his gaze to meet the angels across the chamber. She returned his look levelly, calmly. Oddly calm, for a woman who had just doomed her realm. She smiled ever so slightly.

"You know how this will end, Alec," the dark elf by his side bristled once more at the endearing name. "It will end the same way it always does."

With that, she rose from her seat, and her form turned to stardust, whisked up on a cool updraft and out through the skylight.

The angels were gone.

~