Book of the Mother - 9

Then it came, the end of the Arkn year and the day of the Great Calling, the most sacred day of the year for Arkn and the circle was alive. His Majesty's staff was preparing the castle for a celebration at midnight, I on the other hand was preparing to fulfill my duty as a Muse and preform The Calling in the Citadel, the place I had been inducted into the choir and deemed High Muse not long ago. I stepped out of the bath and dried before dressing in my formal robes, making sure my hair was carefully tinged in gold and looked perfect before leaving the Sanctuary.

Royal staff filed around me, anyone that could stopping to bow deeply in honor to the ones who evoked the gods. I made my way to the Citadel without incident and found it totally empty, devoid of the others who were supposed to come to preform the ceremony with me.  I should have expected this, with the way they acted, they were likely all off doing gods know what somewhere else. Very well, I would preform the ritual on my own.

I had been preforming for a few hours when a familiar voice called my name and Raziel walked into the Citadel.

“Raziel? You're interrupting the ceremony, whats going on?” I was honestly a little angered, not only was my first ceremony as high muse ruined because the other muses were neglecting their duties, but now I was being interrupted, I really couldn't be mad at Raziel, It was just the terrible day this was becoming.

“Lahabrea, you don't have to do this anymore.” Raziel said softly, walking into the center of the circular room.

“I have a duty, I am the High Muse. If they want to reject their calling in this universe then its not my sin, its theirs.” I said flatly, breathing heavily as I continued the ritual.

“This song and dance has to end Lahabrea. No one is going to hear you, especially with only you here.”

“Well!? Am I to just give up!? Give up my life? IM NOT LIKE YOU RAZIEL! I will never leave this place! This is my fate! Chosen by the gods!” I couldn't stop my shouts or tears as I stopped and would have fallen to my knees if Raziel hadn't caught me.

“Its not.”

“What?”

“I know your fate, and its not this.” He pulled me to my feet, looking me straight in the eyes. “Its not, and I will help you break free, but I need you to do something for me.”

“What....?”

“I need you to come with me to the castle, I'm going to take you to the festival.”

“Raziel, it's forbidden.”

“So was teaching you magic, and giving you weapons, and teaching you to fly. I could be killed for taking you to earth, do you trust me? I need you to again.” He held out his hand to me, like he had so many times already, and I took it.

Raziel held my hand as we walked through the castle halls, soon arriving at a set of double wooden doors, going through we began walking through an area I hadn't seen when I was here, opulent furnishings were everywhere, we passed sitting rooms, libraries, I had guessed by the look of this area that it was Uriel's private rooms. I was pulled into a large, brightly lit room with clothing racks and armor stands with gleaming suits of formal armor on them. A female Arkn with medium sized white wings was ordering a group of servants to take a particularly extravagant set of gold and white armor to the kings dressing room. Raziel cleared his throat as the staff cleared out.

“Ah! So this is your date? I suppose I need not ask questions about the clerical robes, hmm?” She had a strange accent and wore her blonde hair cut in straight lines and a pair of large sunglasses on.

“You never do ask questions, that's why we come to you.” Raziel responded, leading me onto a pedestal.

“His Majesty pays me Far too much to be asking anything but what I can do for you?” She laughed as she stepped up to me. “My, what wings! She is a lovely one, a little on the short side, but good and healthy! Nice wide hips, a shapely waist... Raziel, what have you brought me? Id swear as high as her breeding looks she'd be related to the King himself!”

“Questions, Phobos.” Raziel chuckled.

“I know! But you bring me one of the purest Arkn I've ever seen and you expect me to not be curious?!”

“No, I do. But I need to to not ask questions and work your magic for me, something stunning, something beyond anything that those gaudy nobles will have. I trust your instincts, your not like the others and that's why we come to you.” Raziel said, patting the tailor on the back.

“Of course! Nobody does the art like Phobos! I've studied Arkn, Dekn and Human fashions! I've made the true nobility shimmer for millennium!” She raised her voice dramatically, posing as she did.

“Then I'll leave you to it. Make her shine.” Raziel smiled, stepping out of the room.

“Phobos makes more then art! Phobos will make her the centerpiece of the coming year!” She shouted, but Raziel was already out of the room. “Now, my stunning friend, let me take a good look at you!”

For the next hour I was wrapped in a cyclone of fabric, jewels, needles and shimmering metals. Unable to tell up from down as I heard Phobos talk to herself and fly around me so fast I couldn't see her. I was pulled this way and that as kinetically lifted materials were cut and wrapped around me, only to be sewn and cut while on my body. “IT IS FINISHED!!” Phobos suddenly shouted, and the materials stopped moving, and began to disperse, sorting and putting themselves away. “You, are the greatest vision of elegance and sophistication! You ARE PERFECTION!” With that she pulled me off the pedestal and twords the door. She opened it and pulled me into the hall, where Raziel talked to a beautifully armored Uriel. Dressed in white and gold formal robes with a gleaming circlet.

Uriel stopped and stared, his staff following suit. Raziel cleared his throat and elbowed Uriel, snapping him to attention.

“I have finished her, she will be the most stunning Arkn in the entire city tonight!”
“I'm sure she will...” I tried to tell what the strange look on Raziels face was, but it was indecipherable, something between contentment and agonizing pain...

The party Raziel had mentioned was in fact a huge lively ball, and it seemed by the manner of dress that the entirety of the Aristocracy was present, the younger Arkn to the side; males courting the single ladies of other families while the rest ate, danced or talked in the large galleries. Raziel let my hand go, with a quiet order to not mention my involvement in the Choir and to go and have a drink. I watched him step away and I instantly felt lost, I had never seen this many Arkn in one place. My gold armored wings glittered as I stepped across the floor, flowing robes of the purest white glittered with sparkling white diamonds, cutouts placed perfectly to allow detached gossamer sleeves and a scintillating translucent train that made me look like the angels of human lore.

I hadn't realized until I was at the bar that large groups of people were staring at me. As I stood, sipping a glass of champagne a group of female Arkn approached me, covered in gaudy dresses with far too much gold and jewels. “Darling... you are positively Magnificent..” the largest one said, her makeup was atrocious, and her hair was rolled up into jewel encrusted buns, making her look like she was wearing some gaudy hat.

“Look at those wings, shes definitely from good breeding...” A skinny one says, looking like she would be cleaved in half from her corset.

“Look! Her sigil! Its from Uriel!” Another, even worse then the others pointed at my chest, it was a sigil Raziel had put on me. A gold one on a leather cord. The big one, stepped twords me, taking my hand and tucking it under her arm and dragging me away with her to a round table of Arkn baronesses. “Ladies, I found the girl of our dreams!” She sat me down in a chair and clapped her hands, a swirl of servants circled us and began filling plates with strange and exotic food and drink.

“So,” the large one who identified herself as Citrine started. “Your from the Kings court... how very nice and lucky a girl you must be. King Uriel is the biggest bachelor in the entire city...” She purred, folding her hands under her chin and looking at me in a way similar to a predator regarding its prey.

“You speak too soon, Cirtine. She wears his sigil, but has no marking, no ring, nothing!” The skinny one seemed to screech like a large bird when she spoke.

“So you're Single?” Citrine asked far too enthusiastically and every one of them looked at me, again. Her heavily lined eyes narrowing and a smile forming on her face.

“Yes...” I didn't know any way to answer other then the truth, but I wish I hadn't as the nobles erupted into a clamor.

“Ok, Ladies! Quiet, we can help our lovely maiden find herself a most appropriate man to father her children!” Citrine said loudly over the chaos. I had to swallow my drink painfully to keep myself from covering the other females in champagne. I couldn't tell them it was treason to court a member of the Choir, I couldn't tell them I was in the Choir! So I could do nothing more then sit in the most uncomfortable silence of my life as the majority of the women dashed off, seeking out their sons and began presenting them to me, each of them slimy with smug arrogance, spouting titles and credentials, family trees and stories of how valiant they are it wasnt long before they went from courting me to arguing about who had more merit among them.

“Oh my!” Citrine cried out, the group grew quiet. “Darling, how rude, I've forgotten to ask you your name!”

“Lahabrea..” I told her, wanting nothing more then to disappear from the city entirely.

“No, no, Darling. Not your courtesy name, your true name. We need to know where to send the courting requests!”

I was stunned, I had no idea what she meant, but my thoughts were interrupted by a familiar hand on my shoulder. “I'm sorry, I've been looking for my date for awhile.” Raziel said, smiling politely at the group, making all the women giggle as he hurried me away.

“I'm I had to leave you, I needed to talk to someone.” He pulled me onto the dance floor, holding me close as we melted into the sweep of the crowd.

“Raziel, I'm tired of you hiding things from me! I whispered urgently. “Something is going on and I want to know what it is!” Raziel sighed, that look of pain crossing his face again.

“Ok... you get the truth. Lahabrea- no, I'm not going to call you by that name anymore. Its a insult to everything you are, to everything you came from and a insult to the Arkn race. I will call you by your real name; Ambriel, you are the last of a long line of Arkn Magi, the families of powerful Arkn Mages that once ruled the race along with the other true noble classes as the governing body of the Golden City.” I didn't understand, I just listened the orchestra stopped and Raziel led me apart from the crowd. “I'm sorry... Ambriel. You don't know how long I've wanted to talk to you, to tell you all this.”

“I don't understand Raziel! Where is my family? Do you know them?!”

“Ambriel... A long time ago, I had three fledglings of my own. They were all murdered by the council. My daughter had one child before she was killed... I took it, hiding it with one of the more prestigious Magi families... That child was you.” He looked me in the eye before pulling me close and crying silently. “I'm so sorry, they would have killed you if they had found you, the other Arkn disappeared, likely out of fear of being killed if they had been found, I had to do something.”

“Raziel... please, stop. It wasn't your fault...”

“You're all I have left, I had to get to you before they killed you...”

“I don't understand, you keep saying that. What's going on, Raziel?”

He ran his hand through his hair, trying to calm himself down. “A long time ago, Noble families used to rule the city, Military families, Govermental families... Magi families. Magic used to be fairly common in the city, The complex known as the Choral area used to be a College I built to teach young Magi to use their abilities...”

“What happened?” I asked, knowing I wasn't going to like the answer, but I had to.

“The city prospered under the rule of the families, but the lower classes began to cry out that they were being oppressed, so we created a commoners council, the two councils would meet once a year to address the issues of both parties, for a long while it worked. Gradually commoner families became wealthy and migrated to the nobility circle. Soon, members of these families became members of the High Council. It didn't take long for the assassinations and “Accidents” to occur.” He explained it with a shake in his voice, it wasn't something I was used to hearing, the normally calm and strong Arkn was now shaking in front of me, gripping my hand tightly. But he continued.

“The first ones they went after was the Magi. They feared a civil war and they needed the powerful families out of they way first, they sent the fledglings, young Arkn barely able to understand what was going on to earth, only to be killed by Dekn. Or what they said was Dekn. Entire family lines ended, older ones they sent to their deaths by attacking neutral Dekn Nomad-Lords on earth, then once they had all but the most influential families destroyed, they created the monstrosity that is the Choir. Using the Gods to force Arkn into imprisonment, keeping them from having families and mates so they could kill them off without a fight, originally the Choir had 12 seats. After the reign of Cele'ra'cria, the Moon Goddess. They reduced it to 6 to keep the choir from having too much power.”

“Couldn't they just leave?....” I asked, now crying myself. I was nearly killed. I would likely be dead by now if Uriel hadn't intervene...

“Many defected, a lot of them. They left the city, but the new council that was formed form the destruction of the High Council had a plan for that, they sent powerful hunters after them and quickly rounded them up, publicly beheading them and making any remaining nobility look like tyrant monsters. With the rest of the Arkn behind them, they exterminated the ruling classes.”

Suddenly a bell began ringing and everyone began clapping and heading to the center of the room. Gathering around a large and intricate sigil that was engraved into the floor.  Raziel pulled me to the front, no one stopping us and many inviting me in front of them, soon I could see what was going on. A wingless one, a human was bloodied and tied to a statue made in the likeness of one of the gods, but had massive wings that formed the base for the golden domed roof of the room. I was confused more then anything until a familiar voice spoke.

“United at last! Welcome sisters and brethren, to this years festival to honor our gods and unite all Arkn in glory and victory against our foes.” The figure that stepped out made my stomach turn in knots, he was dressed in black robes and had familiar black wings. But the most frightening thing was the unfamiliar scythe it carried.

“Normally, we have a Dekn to offer the gods but this year we have something that will be a welcome treat to us all! A human!” It didn't take long for me to realize what was going on and as the crowd clapped and cheered Raziel gripped my shoulder, holding me in place.

“Id continue the speech, but even with a drop of Arkn blood, this human cant live long in our city, So... Onto the show!!” The figure raised the scythe over the sobbing and screaming human, laughing as the crowd cheered.

My body seemed to move on its own, I broke away from Raziel, glowing a bright and blinding gold and with a earth shaking shout sent the light away from me in a massive bright pulse that caused screams and flames behind me as partygoers were hit with the searing surge, all of them screaming and fleeing as glass rained down from the now shattered windows. The figures robe lit on fire and he calmly ripped it off and cast it away, revealing a madly grinning Zophiel.

“So glad you could make it!!!” He shouted, the hall filling with his laughter.