Lionel clenched his teeth, clearly not happy about it, but I was done lying. He went back to being quiet again, and I felt uneasy about not knowing what he was thinking.
We continued down the slope, noticing that they had no barbed wires around the village, but stone fences, with a thick layer of vines covering them.
Once we passed them, we saw others running around. Children playing, creating snowballs and mud balls, water and a surge of air, as they played with each other. They looked genuinely happy.
“Do you have magic beyond the elements?” I asked.
Nicron turned slightly as he continued walking. “No, there is no other magic besides the elements.”
I nodded slowly. Maybe blood magic was a demon thing.
I saw a woman smudging something into a crack in her house, then freezing it with ice. She was hardening the material faster by chilling it, the display made my jaw drop.
“Can we get a tour?” Ashley gasped, trying to decide where to look first.
“After you’ve been approved, perhaps,” Nicron chuckled low.
“Look,” Mey gasped, as she pointed towards a man who used his water powers to nurture his garden. Nate smiled at his sister’s reaction, patting her head.
Finally, we arrived at the stairs leading to a platform surrounding the main building. Two guards were postedoutside the double doors, and another pair stood at the very top of the stairs.
I wondered if it was in case someone broke in from the outside, or if it was meant to keep the villagers away too.
As Nicron took the lead, the guards saluted him and opened the doors without exchanging a single word.
His two fellow mages gave him a glance, nodding, before they took a different path.
“Follow me,” Nicron waved at us.
Inside was a large rug, stretching from the doorway all the way to the end of the hallway. They had paintings on the walls, beautiful stone flooring, the likes of which I had never seen before, in a light grey color and the walls made out of the same material. The ceiling was high, our footsteps echoing down the hallway.
Plants had been spread out along the way, adding color against the pale walls.
“Maybe you should take the lead,” I whispered, giving Malakai a faint nudge.
“Getting cold feet, are we?” he asked, as if finding amusement in my lack of confidence.
“You’re the…squad leader,” I muttered dryly.
“Tell you what, I’ll take care of it… in exchange foronething.”
“What?”
“Say ‘please Malakai, help me’ three times,” he taunted, sending a challenging glance towards me.
“Please, stop being a jerk,” I snapped and he responded with a mocking laugh.
Nicron stopped at the double doors at the far end of the hallway, looking back at us. “Our leader is beyond these doors.”
Malakai placed a hand on my shoulder, his grip firm. “Stay close, kitten.”
I nodded, as I felt my pulse racing. Nicron opened the doors himself and he strolled in ahead of us.
“You’re back awfully early, aren’t you, Nicron?” a voice echoed in the chamber. Stepping inside, I was taken aback by the beauty of the room, almost forgetting why we were here. The rug continued up to the center of the room, where a table was placed with a few figures seated on chairs around it. They had beautiful dark curtains around the full-sized windows, which were open at the moment, letting the chilly air inside.
In the ceiling was a large chandelier, and from the looks of it, it was made out of pure gold.
Perfectly carved statues of different sizes decorated the otherwise bare walls, along with a few plants with vividly colored flowers hanging from them which were placed in vases in corners. Shelves stretching all the way to the ceiling were stuffed with books.
