"How do you get Chosen?"
I've been thinking about it for the entire time— how could anyone trust anyone, even if they were high ranked and respected, to choose someone as important as a Head?
"Watch," Jungkook tilts his head at the gathering crowd, and then at the stage. Something like a cage, draped in black clothing, seems to be perched delicately upon a pedestal. "You'll see."
A well dressed man struts up to the stage once the lights are dimmed and it is only focused on him. He looks rich and powerful, but doesn't have that authoritative, mystical aura that all the Heads seem to possess.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen. The Night Phoenix shall choose our next heir, our next Head to the Palace of Dark!"
Tremendous applause rocks the entire building. Every single men in the room has a hopeful expression, including the man speaking as well.
They all want to be Chosen.
As the man lifts the dark cover, my breath stops in amazement at what is underneath.
The night Phoenix is perched inside a bar in the cage, its wings wide and spread as it flexes its sharp claws. Its body is lined with an ethereal silver as it fades into a darker color, clearly portraying night and darkness.
As soon as the man lets it out of the cage, it lets out a thunderous screech and bursts into the air. Everyone pins their gaze at the bird, in awe and in hope, as it circles the crowd for a few heart stopping seconds.
Then it lets free another shriek and dives down into the midst, twisting its body so every movement, every motion it makes seems mesmerizing, majestic. Even Jungkook can't keep his eyes off of the magnificent creature as it softly lands beside a man, stretched out against the couches in the back of the room.
Whistling, it pokes the sleeping man awake with its beak. The silver fire lighting its eyes seem to burn in contrast to the dark settings of the room, and I know for a fact that it'd be a nightmare to wake up to see those particular set of fire eyes staring at you intently.
That's what the man does the instant his eyes open.
Jungkook lets out a laugh and mutters underneath his breath in amusement.
"Suga hyung."
"Five more min—" Then as he realizes he's asking a bird to give him more time to sleep, his eyes grow wider than saucers and he sits up faster than I could blink.
"Holy s***! What the f***?"
His curses ring across the entire room, echoing emptily for a while as the man points at the Night Phoenix in amazement.
At that, I can't resist a laugh bubbling out of my throat and neither can Jungkook, because he claps a hand over his lips to prevent himself from doing so.
What kind of person sleeps during this kind of stuff?
"We have the new Chosen Head!" The man announces, face clearly indicating how much he hated the sleeping man for getting Chosen instead of himself.
What a jerk.
"Does anybody Challenge the decision of the Night Phoenix?" He asks, and a single hand shoots out of the sea of disbelieving heads, their expressions all taut. They obviously weren't happy that someone that would be dense enough to sleep through the Choosing had been Chosen, and they wanted someone else.
"I Challenge her decision."
A dark haired man, in his late twenties or possibly early thirties, smooths back his heavily greased pompadour as he declares. I know that I shouldn't judge people by appearance, but the moment I see his unnecessarily expensive suit and his confident, arrogant expression, I immediately decide that I liked the sleeping guy much better than him.
I hated rich, spoiled people who boasted about their wealth and power, and unsurprisingly Jungkook did as well. His gaze turns steely cold as it analyzes the man, and apparently he didn't like what he discovered every new moment because the hatred in his eyes grows even further with the seconds that pass.
"Noble Richard Charles Louis Fewkes IV has found the selected candidate unworthy and has declared the Challenge."
Ew. What kind of name was that?
When the speaker had announced the statement, immediately black suited men rush around the guests, pushing them back to create an open space in the middle of the Main Hall. The space is so large that I think at least two of Jungkook's enormous closet could easily fit into the cleared battleground.
Well, graveyard was more like it. One of them was going to die here, no matter what happened. The Challenge would never end unless one or the other lost their life, and that was what sickened me so much.
Killing, in general, was what sickened me so much.
"Are the participants ready to go?" The speaker asks through the microphone, and Mr. Stupid Long Name comes up. He's squaring his shoulders and standing on his tiptoes so he looks taller and broader, although in my opinion, it just seems to give him a desperate image to grab attention from others.
Pathetic, really.
"Where is the Chosen?"
When I locate the Chosen, my lips turn upwards into a smile and then into laughter. Jungkook seems amused as well as he spots Suga, a deep chuckle resonating from his lips.
He'd somehow managed to fall asleep again, this time using the Night Phoenix as a stuffed animal instead of the majestic bird it was meant to be.