COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)

Chapter 28: Fairez Stella (Part 3/3)

Cobs is soooo close to 50k - hot damn!

I'm excited, namely because 4 = death = please go away 4, no one likes you~

Anyways, update!

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         Earth or not, Káel had never walked the streets of a city. He'd heard about them and seen them in movies. They never slept, filled with more shops and restaurants than you could ever try in a lifetime. Wondrous and strange in his imagination.

          Cramped and disgusting in his reality.

          There was still space to walk across the white stones of the main streets, but in the blur of lavish clothes, trinket stuffed shops, strange animals, and deal screaming merchants, Káel felt there was so much of a fight to do anything even breathing the air was harder. 

          It was only until the paths became ornate, and the towering piles of stacked shops shrank to singular boutiques, that some air and calm could be found. But where the screaming merchants running street side carts had vanished, the enticing lure of cooked meat and fresh flowers shifted to the pounding assault of the perfume clinging to the people they passed. Walking rainbows of fur and jewels, prim and proper down to the last toddler. Every chin raised, and the few fingers of the children gawking at Nel and Puff quickly ripped away by parents.

          The deeper they delved into the opulent stretch of houses and shops, the more guards there were to line the streets. Instead of sandy yellow, emerald green uniforms fit them perfectly, blending their bodies with the boxed purple and gold flowers rimming the white stone streets. 

          Deeper still and there were more guards than people, a second wall of iron woven stone encircling the castle he had seen from afar. An iron gate sat open, six guards in white unflinching in their positions, gatekeepers to the palace's courtyard. A second last obstacle to the outstretched golden doors. The final one was a daunting stretch of golden stairs, leaking their shimmering colour into the white sidewalk with swirling strands. 

          "Wow, that's nice." Truvius breathed, ogling the impressive piece until Locke approached the gate. "Wait, are we going in there?"

          Locke didn't seem struck by the beautiful palace, treating all the sights surrounding him like patches of grass. "He should be in there."

          Káel bit his cheek at the words, the iron gates engulfing them in a cracked web of shadows as Locke spoke with the gatekeepers. He was getting a bad feeling about this. 

          A really bad feeling.

          They were allowed to pass into the courtyard, Káel feeling the curious looks of the guests already in the grassy lot, a few of them moving their lips to whisper at the people around them. He tried to focus on every last person in sight, hoping to see his uncle's face somewhere in the groups. But Locke forged onwards, taking on the beastly mountain of golden steps without pause and leaving Truvius to gasp for air as he rested on Káel's shoulder for the second half of the trip. 

          They finally hit the last polished step, Káel's body sapped by the duel stars as he stared at the shiny plateau of coloured stones, set into a tapestraic depiction of a winged wolf. A fenirock. 

          Káel smiled. At least he remembered a few things from all those classes.

          "Your uncle has a very nice house," Phantom chimed, undefeated by the mountain of stairs and as energetic as ever. "Got a house like this back on Earth too?"