Honor and Glory | ATEEZ

046

My eyes widened, and I cursed myself for being so slow.

I was in the palace. The Royal Palace, hence the reason why the room had seemed familiar.

This was my room.

I flew out of bed, heading directly for the main door.

I had a bad feeling before I even put my hand on the handle, but I had to try nonetheless.

I had to.

My hand curled around the golden door handle, pulling at it, but nothing happened.

The door didn't no matter how much strength I used.

I huffed in frustration, running my hands through my hair as I turned toward the other side of the room, quickly making my way over to the other door.

Of course, it was also locked.

I rushed over to the window, looking out over the windowsill and into the city below, my hair billowing in the harsh wind as I stared into the streets beneath the palace.

It was completely different, being in the middle of Agora, watching it crumble, than it had been yesterday when the nine of us had stood on the hill outside of the capital.

Men in black were still everywhere, mercilessly patrolling the streets, tempestas flying overhead, and spying down on any living creature that dared make its way outside.

I squinted my eyes, trying my best to make out The Source of Iseda in the distance, but I knew it was a long shot.

I prayed that the others were okay. They had to be.

"But what about me?" I mumbled to myself, walking back into the room as I looked at my surroundings.

"What am I supposed to do, then?"

There were no other exits as far as I knew, and I had spent my entire childhood here, growing up in this room. But-

I froze as I suddenly caught a glimpse of myself in one of the golden mirrors that were hung on the wall next to the bed.

I looked like a wild animal.

That was the first thought that came to me.

My eyes were red which was a given, of course, but the glowing crimson colour was more violent than ever.

It was a stark contrast to the gown that hung next to the mirror, beckoning me forward yet pushing me back at the same time. I scoffed.

"He can't be serious," I said, stepping a little closer to the dress and reaching out to touch the soft fabric of the skirt; dark blue and grey like a storm.

Like Daios.

Suddenly, memories and flashes of my coronation came crashing down on me, and I stepped even closer to the gown as I felt the anger inside me grow the more I looked at it.

I also had a dress back then, a beautiful gown, red and glowing like my element.

Now this villain was trying to dress me like his own nature, in his own colours.

I was trapped here.

Like something he owned and controlled. Like his element.

And he wanted to show me just that.

Somehow, I knew that I wasn't getting out of this room before I put on the dress, but that didn't stop me from complaining from start to finish, cursing out the man in my head every step of the way.

I definitely struggled more than necessary, I realized afterwards, having been angrily tugging at the fabric in order to get it over my head.

I looked at myself in the mirror, wanting to cry.