Golden Dawn

|Chapter 12 ~ Companions|

"This is Jacob. The 'brawl' of our small team." Christa joked with a large smile. Jacob nodded at me, only sign of recognition. Christa went over to the girl that stood next to him. She had curly blonde hair that hung on her shoulders in pretty waves. Friendly light blue eyes met mine and my tensed thoughts seemed to vaporize as she met my gaze. Her blue eyes were comforting and radically kind.

"Hello Artemisia! I'm Lex, nice to meet you. It looks like you are one of the very last Aliums to end up here with us." She noticed and I nodded slightly in agreement, afraid to say anything too extravagant that might place even more attention on me. 

Then came another gripping realization. One of the last? My thoughts suddenly drifted back to the first Lesphares I met on Nova Terra. Quîncîn had said something similar when we spoke to the other two Lesphares, just before he had imprisoned me. I balled my fists as the memory of the beautiful female with the infuriating blue eyes resurfaced again. Delphînîa's dark sapphire eyes were nothing like Lex's. Lex had a far kinder expression than that of the horrible female.

Christa suddenly nudged me and I yelped in surprise, my frustrations momentarily forgotten. "Hey Artemisia? You with us?" She asked, unsure wether I was listening or dozing off. I smiled sheepishly and felt my cheeks warm.

"I'm sorry... what did you say?" I asked and Christa only shook her head.

"I said , that Lex and Jacob also arrived the latest out of us all, but not as overdue as you. Now that I think about it... it is  kind of strange." She muttered in abruptly more serious tone. 

"Anyways, this here is Huang." Christa continued and motioned towards a guy with combed black hair and smiling dark eyes. His teeth were perfectly straight and shone in the golden light when he grinned. "Nice to meet you." He said and I could hear a slight accent laced into his voice, its origin unknown to me yet again.

After I was introduced to everyone, I looked away from my new accomplices and inspected the food table near us for the first time. The large table was covered with bowls of different foods. My eyes widened. Each plate of food looked so delicious, I felt my mouth water. I couldn't believe the food wasn't packaged in plastic bags but instead, fresh and placed in bowls that steamed with warmth. 

Christa seemed to notice my expression and a slight sadness filled her eyes. "Guess you never tasted real food before huh?" She asked softly and I nodded, my eyes still trained on the delicious edibles in front of me. Suddenly, Christa held out a plate.

"Eat as much as you want, they always give us way more than we need anyway."

Seated between Christa and Huang at a table in the corner of the large dining room, I shakily took a piece of meat and stopped it into my mouth. My eyes closed at the delicious taste of the soft texture. I chewed slowly and tried to enjoy each flavour that spread through my mouth as much as I could. After the savoury was gone I began to push food into my mouth and chewed quicker than I had ever before, trying to keep the wonderful scent on my tongue. Everyone stared at me as I ate. Their eyes were filled with deep sympathy. Then I realized why.

They all knew what it felt like. To live in a dead world that had nothing left to offer except rubbish and dirt. A world that was stripped of everything it had by the very ones who should have been protecting it.

Not a word was spoken while we ate. Around us, voices of the many Aliums filled the room. The noise hurt my ears and made it hard to think. I had to get use to so many people, thanks to my years of isolation on earth and I knew the beginning would always be the hardest to adapt to. 

Suddenly the commotion died down rapidly. I turned my head to see what the others were looking at and gasped when I saw a male Lesphares suddenly standing at the far end of the room as if he appeared from thin air. I gazed at him in sheer disbelief.

The Lesphares wore black metal armour that covered his chest area, arms and legs. Glowing red lines seemed to flow like liquid across the black metal and made the armour shine with an almost reddish glow. He was very muscled, bulging arteries stretching across the Lesphares' arms. I moved my gaze upwards and noticed the stranger's head was obscured by a black helmet. I shuddered as I stared at the amount of weapons strapped to the male's back. The blades of the knives and spears were so sharp I probably could've cut my entire finger off just by accident. Large dark grey wings with white edges sprouted from his back, the white in direct contrast to his black armour. His voice carried through the entire room and everyone was immediately dead quiet. It was as if only the timbre of his voice had the power to silence us in seconds. To create an atmosphere of pure superiority.

"I come bearing a message from Angelus Duncan." The male bellowed. People gasped and started to murmur to each other in alarmed tones as the name traveled through the crowd. The title of the powerful Lesphares seemed to darken the very lights of the room and the Aliums' expressions changed.

Angelus Duncan was the one thing everyone was afraid of. The single entity who had all our lives in the palm of his hand. The armoured male continued his speech in the eery quiet of the room - the hall almost at the brink of absolute frenzy.

"If another Alium so much thinks of escape like your fellow friend Robert Stillian, his fate will most unconditionally be yours."

It was so quiet I could hear my own heart drumming against my ribcage. I noticed Christa's clenched fists underneath the table and tried not to make any sudden movements myself. The Lesphares promised such danger through his tone that I couldn't manage to move any of my limbs. It was as if they were frozen rigid out of sheer fear.

Unfortunately for all of us, the Lesphares wasn't done speaking.

"I can assure you, Aliums, that the only way out of this place, is through us." 

There was a sudden arrogance to the male's tone that made my very skin crawl. "I certainly do not believe any of you possesses quite the right amount of strength to accomplish such a feat." He laughed darkly, the sound sharp enough to cut right through my soul.

And then a limp body collapsed next to the Lesphares, also out of nothing but thin air.

The corpse of a dead Alium.