He’d be one of them, someday. He’d wield a blade like them, and magic from whatever god chose him to represent their Sacred pillar. If he was truly blessed, he’d get to ride a war eagle like the very best of them.
And if he didn’t?
Then he wouldn’t be like his father.
He wouldn’t be likeanyof the Laroux kings before him.
You’ll be a failure,his father had said to him once.And failure is not an option for a Laroux Prince.
Arawn swallowed, his palms growing sweaty as they entered through the first door, and he got even closer to his father.
It wasn’t that he wasafraidof him. He simply did not enjoy the feeling he got in his heart -- like it had sprouted wings and threatened to leap from his chest -- when he was near the king.
“Pray while you wait,” his mother told him, as she always did.
So Arawn prayed.
For strength, for courage, for wisdom and bravery.
But mostly...he prayed for Kinlear. He asked that the gods heal him. He asked that they fix the aching in his brother’s legs and lungs, and make him strong enough so that maybe, just maybe...
Their father would allow Kinlear to rulewithhim.
They would be the first set of Sacred Kings, two instead of one.
He opened his eyes when his mother began to invocate, a beautiful whisper to Aristra, her pillared god of Realm. And as she did, theseconddoor began to glow.
It was rounded at its top, and there was no handle. No space for a key.
There was only a single beautiful sigil inscribed into the ancient wood, and it took up nearly all of the door’s face. It glowed like it was made of liquid sunlight, a mark in the shape of outspread war eagle wings. Five symbols arched above it, one to represent each pillar of Sacred magic.
Water, fire, wind, realm, and the Ehver.
His mother placed her hand right over the mountainous symbol and sighed the last of her invocation.
Aclickcame from the other side of the door.
A few seconds later, it creaked inwards...and cold air sighed towards Arawn, wrapping around the fringes of his pressed white cloak. Almost as if it were beckoning him in.
The queen pressed a gentle hand to his shoulder. “We will be in the presence of the gods today, my Prince. Does that suffice for a birthday gift?”
His eyes widened.
But before he had a chance to speak, she’d already nudged him inside...and closed the door shut behind them.
He noticed, at first, that the room was very long and very narrow.
Strange, that there was no throne. Not as he’d expected.
There was, instead, a white stone archway in the furthest edge of the room, standing freely as if by magic. A softly glowing light emanated from beneath it. It looked like the Gates that led outside of Augaurde, keeping all the wards in place.
Behind the arch was an enormous wall of stained-glass windows. There were five of them in total, side by side, that had been crafted in the shape of giantblades.
Five blades, for five gods.
From floor to ceiling, they spanned, each one in a different shade to match a pillar of magic.
Incredible,Arawn thought. And if the gods were still here, larger than life itself, he could have pictured the way their swords would have fit perfectly into those enormous spaces.
