Shade of Deception (Two)

Eight - SoD

Eight:

The seeming endless upward expanse as we roared on a large hover-platform, took us into the six massive spires of the very pentacle of the City of Hidden. I could see how the district we had walked through with the markets was amid another slightly elevated platform, and on the other side, connected to a lower district, that was supposedly where Roger had gone.

“I still don’t see the point to this meaningless BS. We have a job to do, so we should be going in the other direction!”

I argued with Sky, who was implacable on the surface, but I could feel the resonance of our internal storms merging, almost as if we were raging in unison. Roger had a not-so-secret crush on me. Honestly, I felt terrible that I had pushed him away so harshly in our last exchanges, but I had to set some boundaries. Men seem to get very confused with those of us who are 100% gay. Most women are bisexual to some degree, and a minority, like me, are one or the other.

Having healthy layers of separation from male friends is only logical in preventing any s****l confusion. However, that is not to say that it cannot inflict harm on those we wish to protect. Roger was my largest supporter, aside from Sky. She had not expressed any opinion in any direction over my decisive spurning of her eldest beloved brother. Sky was the baby of the family, so it was natural in a very cliché sibling manner, that Roger doted on her in a manner befitting her very princess-equal role.

Watching their interactions made me long for blood-relatives of my own. Then I remembered that the only living relative I had, did not bleed very often, and he had basically murdered my mother, just to get off for a single evening of sensual fleshly bliss.

My mood was stormy enough as it was, I shook myself from those deep reveries.

“Daymn, I guess people really do appear like ants to the loaded and powerful!”

Clarke exclaimed, and then his features darkened as the blood rushed to his cheeks in embarrassment. Lord Garren spared him a dirty look, then he turned back to his futile efforts of wooing the still jail-bait aged Sky, who was suppressing her urge to express her change and bite his head off with her dragon maw. There was some twisted part of me that was amused by this, and that should disturb me, but I felt no need to apologize. Sky had her share of cheap laughs at my expense. It was the circle of friendship, I supposed. What does not kill us, makes our friend laugh, and they are still waiting in the wings, incase we do need backup. As was I right this second. I would burn out his throat with my ethereal blade, should lord pervy decide to get handsy with Sky.

The Nix guard, Kerry stepped closer to Sky, her hand on the pummel of an expression enchanted blade I could feel the power singing to me, telling the story of the many expressive arts woven over it. I realized quickly, from feeling the expressions enchanting the knights I met, most normal practitioners relied heavily on the magus and the other powerful weavers of expression for the more fine-tuned spell-work. I could feel that these could channel powers, and express limited ranges of different abilities, but by my assessment, even Clarke was far more potentially dangerous than most the knights. Kerry being the one exception. She was lethal with or without the expression enchanted blade. Sky was always mindful of Kerry’s exact location and her current behavior. That was not lost to me.

Sky was wise beyond her years, and she was still careful of the friends she made. Clarke and I were about the only people outside her blood-kin that she would relax and be a teen around. She was fifteen-going on sixty, and she bore the responsibility of the future of the entire Nix species.

“The spires of Hidden court are amongst the tallest constructions on this planet. They are the homes and seats of power of all the major players in Hidden. Well, aside for the Nix apexes, who have chosen to remain independent of the city.”

Lord Garren sniffed at this with the indignation befitting a man who used a feudal title for real. Sky locked her gaze on his, and she met him unblinkingly.

“I agree with my mother’s decision, and I stand by it now, considering what has happened not just to my brother, but to many youths of my kind. Do not forget why I have come.”

She warned him through a veiled statement. Her razor barbs were not missed or ignored either. Garren seemed to regard this young potential conquest with the same level of respect one should give to an equal, if belatedly, and for the first time. He was indeed worried he might get the horns, or the dragon as the case may be.

“No insult intended, Princess Apex of the Nix, I merely state that your house is the only one not resting atop these spires. All the other branches of Hidden have their roots planted here.”

That statement was meant as a declaration of their safety and power, but I could not help but feel as if this were akin to putting all their eggs in one basket. Senna had spread her people into smaller clans and tribes, around the North American continent. She was wise to divide her people, and to secure their locations in small hamlets. Such sleepy locations were a lot less conspicuous than a gargantuan monstrosity of a city beneath one of the world’s most monstrous human city.

“Is it not wiser to spread yourself, present a smaller target of opportunity to the Architects?”

I asked Garren, and it was Siegfried who spoke for the other Lord.

“They have never discovered our location. Our namesake is not without its literal truthful meaning. We are the hidden ones, the defiant, and the eternal crusade to prevent total obliteration to this world and this dimension.”

Siegfried sounded almost passionate for the first time since I had met him earlier today. That was shocking since he seemed so uncaring about anything else. Perhaps all his focus, all his energy was spent on his own obsession?

My mind conjured the image of Nadia. Beautiful, shimmering with her own powers, her silver veins as her full expressive might bore down on her enemies. I clenched up tightly, as my heart flipped in my chest at the mere thought of her. She was death, a reaper, she was like a damn Neo-Nazi of some sort, yet I could not help the attraction that was so very animal that it was veracious.

“How do you combat the Architects? How has your war impacted this world so far?”

I inquired, and Siegfried yawned and lazily waved me off in a gesture of dismissal.

“You can feel free to bring all of this up once you have entered discussions with the court. I am but one of many, one very humble member.”

He said in his dry tone, and I nearly roiled my eyes at that thought. Siegfried was anything but humble. The only thing I could be certain of was his love of self. Siegfried was the type of man commonly portrayed as gleaming at his reflection in a mirror. While he came off as aloof and uncaring, he definitely cared for himself.

After what was only about a minute, but felt as ages of time, the hover platform stopped with a hiss and we were greeted by another cadre of rusty-colored mail-clad knights.

“This all feels very disproportionate, knights, in a hidden subterranean city with hover engines and holo-display interface computers.”

I mused aloud and Clarke hummed in agreement, and added, “Yeah, like Braveheart meets The Jetsons!”

Sky sniffed, but otherwise remained in character. I still remember Clarke forcing me to watch those ancient ass cartoons when we were growing up! Would it be hard to believe I would rather have watched the Power Puff Girls? It might be cliché girly cartoon pref now, but when I was little, it was mind-blowing. Girl superheroes were mostly a novelty in most of the comic universes, until the revamps after I was born. There is a little girl inside of every woman, and mine still in part wishes to be all three of those fictional sisters combined into one bad-ass persona.

“How about we do not mention that damnable show, ever again!”

I said to Clarke in a slightly irritated tone. His eyes bespoke his shared memories of my annoyance at his show of choice. Clarke was more of a science-minded guy, and I was a lot more basic of a girl. I liked the action, and I liked the pretty ladies. I don’t think anyone created a suitable female persona for me, until the new Supergirl with Alex Danvers.

“Can you and the human please check your frivolity at the door?”

Siegfried asked, but his anger was just beneath the surface, and it was the very first time I had actually felt anything form him. He lost his illusion, his metaphysical mask, if only for a split-second. I felt strange waves of expression from him, but from the look on Sky and Clark’s faces, they had missed it.

His eyes narrowed as they locked on mine. I shrugged and acted as aloof as his had been pretending.

“The shade and the human shall try to act in accordance with the atmosphere we find ourselves accompany.”

I said, giving him a mock curtsy, and Clarke just barely clapped his hand down over his mouth in time not to erupt in laughter. Siegfried looked like he might reach for his sword, only for a moment, then it was gone, and the aloof dispassionate vain knight-Lord was back.

The first view I spotted as we exited with the guards flanking in all directions, was of exotic beauty.

I felt a sudden girlish glee at the beautiful flowers, and the exotic coiling serpent-like pine-trees. There were all manners of rare or extinct species that I had some recollection from random studies. One of my less glamorous gifts, I have insane memory retention. While most would not call that a superpower, it does allow me to know so many things that others might miss. Devil in the details, all that fun jazz.

“Are some of those Nix world plants?”

I asked in marvel. I had studied botany with Sky. Senna had been inclusive to her home world’s plant life. I recognized the black lilies and the drake blood flowers. The deep purples of the blood flowers were said to be the true color of the original dragon blood. Before they began to shift their evolution and mirror the humanoid species of the other known worlds adjacent to theirs.

“Yes, we have all manner of exotic plant life here. Another reason Senna should feel more comfortable here.”

Lord Garren said, and Sky rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Mother would not be swayed by foliage or some small trappings of our past. She is the Apex of the Nix, and she is above reproach.”

Sky said with no shortage of daughterly pride for Senna. Though she had bested her mom in raw brutal strength, Sky adored her mother. She was extremely close to her family, and Senna doted on Sky in her own way—mainly by preparing her for the challenges of future apex.

They might not have the most conventional relationship, but never let it be said they do not love one another.

“Please, less talking and more following.”

Siegfried chimed in irritably, and Sky looked like a dragon about to roar his head off any moment!