The castle put them somewhere dark.
Not dim. Not shadowy. Dark in the way that made Naren's eyes keep insisting they'd adjust when they weren't going to. He blinked twice and got nothing both times.
Then.
No warning. No sound. Just the sudden absence of something solid and then the world rotating around him like it had somewhere better to be, and then cold black water closed over his head and took everything with it — sound, orientation, the memory of which way was up.
He clamped his mouth shut. Forced himself still.
His arms wanted to swing. His legs wanted to kick. He let none of it happen and just hung there in the black water while his lungs started their complaint and his mind caught up to what his body already knew.
Which way is down?
There was no distinction of where could be the surface and where would take him deeper down. He had no time to make a gamble. Naren opened his mouth slightly, letting air escape his lungs. The small bubbles of water floated down. He watched them drift — not up, but down, away from his face, deeper into the dark.
So up was behind him.
He turned and kicked and four seconds later broke the surface gasping, hair across his face, lungs reintroducing themselves to oxygen with considerable drama. He shook the hair clear and treaded water and looked around at absolutely nothing because the room was completely dark and gave back nothing.
Absolutely no light source in sight. No reflections.
"Just great."
Suddenly, as if to respond to his thoughts, a warm glow emanated deep within the water. The light was bright, bright enough to pierce the darkness of the pitch black water. Whatever that light was, Naren needed it.
He scrunched his face.
"Why can't anything just come easy?"
Taking in a shaky breath, as much as his recovering lungs could withstand, Naren dove into the dark waters. Reaching his hands deep he grasped at the light. As he got closer, the light grew brighter and brighter. When he finally reached the source, it was blindingly bright.
He squinted his eyes trying to figure out what exactly to grab. Within the rays of light protruding from the center, Naren could make out a figure. A human? Who cares anymore. He grabbed onto the first thing he saw that seemed like it could be held. With a slight tug he swam back up.
A couple seconds later, the water surface broke one more. This time two figures came up. A boy with reddish black hair and a girl with auburn hair, her glow growing dimmer. Another second passed, a little girl with pale skin broke through right next Naren. All three gasping for air.
"Oh...Vera, great to...have you"
The little girl didn't respond. Instead addictively breathing in the air and clutching onto Naren's shirt.
With the glow of the auburn hair girl, the room could now be seen clearly. The massive roof was painted with one giant mural, several chandeliers with damp candles hanging every few feet. The room itself was massive. Though now, only the very top of it was still visible. The rest was completely swallowed up by the dark waters.
The mural itself was beautiful. Depicting the night sky, it could almost be mistaken for the real deal. The bright stars now illuminating the light from Iris. Looking at the patterns they made, Naren couldn't help but think.
'Oh that one looks like a flower.'
To be fair, it looked nothing like a flower. The stars were arranged in a way to resemble vines wrapping around three ball. One small, one medium, one large. If it was indeed a flower, what a dreadful one it would be.
"Where?"
"I think the throne room. Or at least one of them."
Naren turned his attention to the voice behind him. The same clumsy girl he's been seeing a lot lately. her bun now completely fallen and drenched. Her green eyes still unable to look him in the eyes. "Iris Vaughn" written on her drenched tag.
Her sudden clear speech broke apart instantly.
"Uhm, I was just guessing. Uh the murals are very similar to the ones in uh.. Mecadonia's...fortr..."
Her voice grew quieter and smaller until it fully fizzled out. Alongside her voice, her glowing also dimmed dramatically until the light was also gone.
"EEEK!"
A sharp yelp from the clumsy girl interrupted the darkness as her glow returned.
Naren's golden eyes were still fixed directly onto her.
"Woah, you're glowing like crazy."
Iris looked away, nervous.
"It-it's my fable."
"What was that about Macadamia? It was just getting interesting."
Iris' eyebrows rose slightly. Her green eyes finally fixed on Naren, a look of glee glinting in them.
"uh, they're the stars you see brightest from Macedonia's fortress. It was so beautiful that Lord Alexander had them painted in his throne room because he said they were the only thing worth looking at."
"You don't say? So he really likes that flower, huh?"
"Flower?"
The little girl finally spoke, tilting her head to examine the roof, still gasping at the air.
Naren pointed at the stars, drawing out a crude flower.
"Yeah it looks like a flower doesn't it."
She didn't respond.
"Is it not? Look you can see the petals."
"I...don't see it."
"Your just not trying hard enough."
Iris watched the two speak. A little jealous by how freely they were conversing. She'd love to talk to people like that, to have friends.
"That's a flower isn't it?"
Iris was abruptly returned to reality from her daydreams. Those golden sleepy eyes staring at her.
"It's a constellation,"
Iris talked carefully, as if she wasn't allowed to speak.
"It's called — it has a name, I don't remember exactly, but during the dark ages people would look at it to rekindle their hope. it signifies perseverance and survival. I loved looking at is as a kid before..."
As Iris caught onto her own rambling, her voices dwindled once more. This time she was careful not to extinguish her glow. Her face flushed red, her eyes darting away.
"Before what?"
"Before my spite."
Her voice was small.
Naren sighed.
"Still looks like a flower. You two just wouldn't get art."
Iris tilted her head. She let out a little giggle before cutting it short and returning to silence. Oddly enough, the previous dread she would feel around Naren had slowly diminished. Only slightly though.
"Alright, so how do I find the guy with those weird glasses?"
Iris' head tilted more. Did she hear him wrong? There was only one person with "weird" glasses on the ship. Surely she misheard him.
"Any ideas?"
"You uh, you want to fight the Lieutenant?"
"It's the easiest way to get a load of points."
"But uh he's a lieutenant. And uh full fledged shaman."
"Who cares. It's the easiest."
Just her luck. When she began to rethink her opinion on Naren, now it came crumbling down. He was plain crazy. Anyone who wanted to challenge a shaman without even becoming one was.
Just as her mouth opened to return a response, the room shifted. Water level dropped, funneling into imaginary drains. Walls surrounding them moved right before them, turning a full 180. The beautiful stars that painted the ceiling was now right below their feet.
The three were slowly dropped onto the floor — which used to be the ceiling — as the last of the water spiraled out. The walls were now completely visible, albeit upside down.
The throne room defied geometry. Walls curved inward like ribs, polished black stone absorbing all light
The throne hung inverted above, sharp geometric formations spiraling downward into a seat that looked more weapon than furniture. Behind it, the wall was pure void. Not darkness - absence. Staring at it made thoughts slip.
Pale roots grew upward from the star-studded floor like reaching fingers. The room breathed, slow expansion and contraction felt in the chest.
At the throne's base, yellow flowers grew from cracks. Snapdragon seed pods - tiny skulls frozen mid-shriek.
Naren couldn't help but stare at the throne in awe. Something about it just attracted his attention. Demanded it. And something about those flowers. Something about them didn't seem right.
As his attention fixed onto the flowers he almost didn't notice the group of five standing behind him. Thankfully, his ears picked up on them a while ago.
A group in the adjacent room began getting closer as soon as the water disappeared. He'd been listening to Iris talk about constellations and filing the footsteps in the back of his mind the way Alice had taught him — everything goes in, nothing gets discarded, you sort it when you need it.
He needed it now.
He knew which direction they'd come from. He knew there were five. He knew from the weight of the footsteps which ones were carrying heavier weapons and which were light on their feet. He knew the one at the back had stopped breathing normally about ten seconds ago, the shallow careful breathing of someone about to do something.
He knew all of this before the door opened.
What he didn't know was which one would move first.
"Watch—"
The answer came as a rush of air displacement, a body committing its weight, the sword already swinging down before Naren had fully turned.