Chapter 21: The Feast and the Void
My heart was still hammering against my ribs like a piston in overdrive. I had to force myself to sit calmly at the dining table, directly across from Seraphina.
Just hours ago, she was the playful shop owner teasing me about my hair. Now, she was Lady Seraphina, the sister of the most powerful man in the city.
Finn and Elera had gone quiet. They sat stiffly in their chairs, realizing that the "nice lady" was actually high nobility. They looked at their silverware, afraid to make a sound.
Seraphina noticed immediately. She leaned forward, her voice soft and warm.
"Hey," she whispered, winking at Elera. "None of that. In this room, I am not a Lady. I am just the ghost who scared you in the dark. Deal?"
Elera giggled, the tension breaking instantly. "Deal."
Then, the food arrived.
Servants placed silver platters on the table, removing the lids with a flourish. The smell alone was intoxicating.
At the restaurant in the city, the food had been heavy and greasy—thick stews full of mystery meat, hard brown bread that gave your jaw a workout, and ale that tasted like watered-down vinegar. It was fuel, nothing more.
But this? This was art.
There was roast pheasant glazed in honey and herbs, the skin crackling and golden. There were mashed potatoes so creamy they looked like clouds, mixed with butter that must have cost a fortune. The bread was white as snow and soft as a sponge, steaming slightly in the cool air. And the wine wasn't sour; it was a deep, rich velvet that coated the tongue.
I took a bite of the pheasant. It melted in my mouth. So this is how the 1% lives, I thought. I could get used to this.
After the plates were cleared, Seraphina clapped her hands together.
"Lucas," she said, turning to her brother with puppy-dog eyes. "The children are staying with me tonight. We haven't finished our game."
Lucas raised an eyebrow, but he didn't argue.
She turned to me. "Is that alright, Big Brother Asher?"
She smiled, and I swear the room got brighter. She was undeniably cute.
"Of course," I stammered. "If they are happy, I am happy."
"Yay! Come on!" She grabbed Finn and Elera by the hands and whisked them away toward her chambers.
Lucas and I were left alone. We walked down the long corridor toward the guest wing.
"So," Lucas said, his voice echoing in the hall. "You have the engine. You have the fuel. How long until I see this 'Horseless Carriage'?"
"Give me a chassis and a team of smiths," I calculated quickly. "I just need to mount the drive shaft and the steering column. One day. Maybe two."
Lucas stopped. He looked at me, a gleam of pure greed—and respect—in his eyes.
"Two days to change the world," he mused. "Go to sleep, Asher. You have a lot of work to do."
My room was massive. The bed was a four-poster giant with silk sheets and a mattress stuffed with goose down. It was a far cry from the straw mat in the shack.
I collapsed onto it, my body sinking into the softness. The exhaustion of the day—the engine, the fear, the shock—finally caught up to me.
I closed my eyes and drifted off.
Whoosh.
Suddenly, the sensation of the soft bed vanished.
I was falling.
It was pitch black. No wind, no sound, just the terrifying sensation of dropping into an endless abyss. I tried to scream, but no sound came out.
I fell for what felt like hours, or maybe seconds.
Then, just as suddenly—STOP.
I halted in mid-air, hovering just a foot above a polished, obsidian floor. I dropped the last twelve inches, landing on my feet with a soft tap.
I looked up.
The darkness wasn't empty.
Floating in front of me was a massive Entity. It was formless, made of shifting white light that hurt to look at. It radiated a power so ancient and heavy that the air around it seemed to vibrate.
It was the presence from the first night. The one that gave me the Restoration.
My knees buckled. I didn't decide to bow; my body did it on its own. It felt like I was standing in front of a god.