His Fading Humanity

Chapter 4: Renegade

Rose bushes, which were blanketed in large, fragile flowers of yellow and peach colors, were planted along the path, guiding them to their destination. Their leaves and thorns reached just outside the edges of the stone walkway. It seemed that they longed to grow over the path, to block it out and to take over, but they were trimmed back regularly to stop them from doing so.

Because it was not yet the time for the path to be blocked. 

For now, all around them, life thrived brilliantly.

And when the cloaked figure looked up to see the palace, they were awestruck. It was substantial in size and craftsmanship, the architecture was mesmerizing. Columns of white marble supported the building and wrapped all the way around it. It looked to be about three stories high, and the figure wondered if the inside was as beautiful as the outside.

The rest of the exterior was encased in walls of cream-colored stone. It was a color that was rare amongst stone and they wondered how they had managed to find such a hue. 

Dark shadows fell along the entrance of the building, and they almost froze into place upon seeing statues. Dark gray statues of powerful women in their kingdom's history adorned the roof of the palace in grandeur beauty.

They contrasted exquisitely with the overall colors the palace boasted of.

But perhaps the most alluring statue of them all was the biggest one, resurrected right in the middle of the others. It was of a young girl, a girl with long hair who was wrapped in fur. She was looking over the kingdom with a sweet, subtle smile on her face and a sword in one of her hands.

Each statue had the women's names carved below their feet, and when the stranger got closer, they saw the name and the sentence that came with it.

May Adalia watch over this land with the smile she would've worn.

As they walked into the grandeur palace, an overwhelming sense of desire and longing overtook the cloaked figure. Wealth surrounded them, a plethora of expensive vases, rugs, paintings, furniture, and various other decorations were placed aesthetically amongst the interior of the palace.

The room was massive and open, hallways crept away into the farthest end of the room, no doubt leading to more rooms and the next floor of the place.

Everything in the palace was white or creme-colored, too. White granite floors that were lavished in beautiful, soft rugs to help keep out the chill. Rugs that were thick and plush, rugs that were golden or red in color. White crown molding crawled along the top of the creme colored walls, touching the ceilings with their fragile shapes.  

The ceilings were painted over in beautiful colors that depicted images of wolves, humans, and the scenery which the kingdom boasted of. It was as if a timeline of the history of the nation was painted on the ceilings, from frozen, dead forests and a bleak kingdom ruled by an evil king, to the bright, alive, beautiful kingdom it was today, several hundred years later.

It was stunning.

As they ventured deeper into the palace, they finally approached the throne room of the queen. It was a sacred, quiet place that only indulged in the most serious of crimes or issues one wished to speak about.

And this was a serious issue indeed.

The door to enter the throne room was massive in height and width. It was made of thick, shiny wood that emitted a strong pine scent. Notches ran up and down the length of the beautiful, carefully crafted door, and golden handles with a swirling design etched into them were plastered onto the surface.

A dozen more guards were stationed there, also, and when they saw the cloaked figure, they made sure to check the person for any weapons or poison they might bear.