10 Eyes of Gold

A scandalous screech of a bird welcomed me the moment I entered.

"Susvaagatam! (Welcome!)" She was a cheeky woman with a rather peculiar method of greeting people.

She was grasping the goose by its neck and smiling from ear to ear while chewing on something. Her brown lustrous hair cascaded her dark corset. She was rather spritely…too jaunty compared to me. She kept on twisting her upper body, jumping from one foot to another.

"Lettice, may I beseech you to put the poor goose down? It is rather inappropriate for us to be harming creatures of life such as that white-winged bird with a magnificent salamander orange-shaded beak," a feminine man scolded. He was in a long-sleeved black dress which pooled down past his feet. His long pitch-black hair framed his ghostly pale face.

"Must you overwhelm the newcomers with your intricate description, Garrison?" An older male sitting at the far end of the stygian stone table watched with amusement.

"Oh, how charming!" Lettice squealed in delight as soon as she saw Fenris. The werewolf was embosomed, not liking every bit of it with the whines he was making.

There were three sets of long tables in this capacious room. The ceiling was decorated with garlands of white flowers. Luminous spoon-shaped objects protruded out of the ceiling in random order. The dark marbled floor seemed to be a huge pool of water in the night that at first glance I thought I would sink if I stepped inside.

"How is everyone?" Lucius came up behind me.

He took the poor goose from Lettice's merciless grasp, setting it free. The frightened bird sprinted away into an arched hallway.

"What a splendid young man you are," Garrison complemented, sauntering towards me with much poise. He started to fix my cloak, admiring my face which would have cost him a few decades in prison if we were back in Florencia.

"Such alluring beauty you possess. Your pale skin glows ethereally yet not dead-looking such as mine. Your blue eyes shimmer like the ocean that would invite men to dive in, not knowing the monsters you hide in your depths. Yet they shall be trapped not because of the deathly tides you bring, but because of the waves of powerful love that will move their worlds and bring them peace in their own ghastly storms."

Was he mocking me? I was not taught by onii on how to respond to such intricacy. Was he sniffing the same herbs as Aramastus was?

"Alright, that's enough Garrison. My brother doesn't need your three-day speech for each organ."

Onii hauled me to the middle table. Fenris instantly broke free from Lettice to follow us.

The tables were filled with happy-looking people having amicable reactions as we made our way through. Aramastus disappeared somewhere, leaving his pegacorn together with Argo. He was fond of departing from every social event.

Lucius brought me to the man at the far end of the table. He appeared to be the type to intimidate others with his stern gaze, unruly orange hair and scarred arms. His thick facial hair was fuzzy and ungoverned. I wouldn't be surprised if there were insects multiplying and mutating. He was donned in rugged-looking dark clothes. A black bandana was tied around his forehead.

"Lucian, this man is Laeroth. He was one of the first ones who joined the Scums along with Ikesha, his wife," Lucius introduced.

I bowed because Lucius' hand was behind my head, pushing it down.

"Domo (Hello), how do you do? Your beard is more unruly than the politics back home."

My brother tightly squeezed my arm. Fenris bit the hem of my shirt. They were acting like I said something I shouldn't have.

"Lucian, that is not nice!" Lucius scolded in a trembling tone. He was awfully failing in controlling his laughter.

Laeroth cackled at my commentary, rising from his seat. He was gigantic. I had to look up to be able to see him properly.

"How about now? Still think you can say the same thing?" he challenged.

"I beg your pardon sir, but your beard while sitting down and your beard while standing up does not make any difference. Am I missing something?"

The people in the room cheered. Laeroth surrendered, hooking his arm around my neck.

"I like you already son! Not even intimidated in the slightest!"

"Forgive him Laeroth, my brother can be dense most of the time but believe me he has his intelligent moments," Lucius chuckled.

Laeroth landed firm pats to my back.

"Not at all, he seems to be a pretty witty lad," he commented then looked at Fenris. "And welcome, werewolf. Please make yourself at home."

Fenris took that with much positivity, nodding with a wide-toothed smile on his face.

"Lucius is back."

A lady with gentle and dignified features joined us. Her long blue hair with streaks of white was tied into a high ponytail. She was armored with metal. Her boots clinked against the marbled floor. My eyes pinned to the blue tattoo under her eye.

III

She was a part of the Higher-Order?

Lucius was quick to pick up my thoughts when I stepped back.

"It's alright, Lucian. Ikesha is no longer a member of the Higher-Order."

They smiled and embraced each other. She turned to me, showing no desire to return me to the castle.

"Greetings and welcome. You must be the infamous baby brother of Lucius here. My name is Ikesha Snowscream."

"That's her old name. Now she's Ikesha Humbleshout," Laeroth intruded.

"Gets me every single time," Lucius cackled.

Ikesha's cheeks were reddened with embarrassment.

"This is why I don't like introducing myself when you're around," she sighed. "Well, that's me…Ikesha Humbleshout. I am the wife of that idiot half-dragon there, how do you do?"

"We took longer than expected because Aramastus had a hard time getting the ippótes off our tracks," Lucius explained. "But I have retrieved the wicket. The guards were rather lacking in training so I was able to knock them down."

He brought out a golden ring from his pocket, slipping it into his middle finger. As soon as he lifted his hand, a resplendent golden sphere slipped out from one of the bags that Argo was carrying, latching into my brother's palm.

The sphere, or as they called it "Wicket" had three rectangular white bars that showed the number XXI. It had a horizontal slot underneath the three rectangles. A small golden button was beneath the slot.

Lucius handed the wicket to Ikesha. She inspected it earnestly before handing it to Laeroth who wasn't impressed.

"Can we really use this, Lucius?"

"Ooh fancy!" Lettice snorted, snatching it from his hold.

"But it needs the Tokens of Blessings to work," Ikesha muttered. Laeroth clucked his tongue.

"Let's take this to the office," Ikesha sighed.

Lucius cupped my cheek.

"This is a lot to take in but I am sure that you are probably tired from our long trip. I shall explain everything later. I'll have Garrison escort you to a room and provide you a meal, alright?"

"Let me listen."

Lucius and Ikesha made eye contact. She pursed her lips in worry. Laeroth was seething for some reason.

"I am sorry chii, but I would not like to have you see an argument that would only clutter your thoughts. Rest your body and mind and enjoy the feeling of…this." He referred to the entirety of the Boonies.

Garrison ambled my way with his hands clasped together in front of his flat stomach.

"Let us go to your sleeping chambers, sweet child."

Onii gave my cheek one last touch. He then headed to the north hall with Ikesha, Laeroth, and Lettice. Garrison brought us to the west hall which led downstairs. The entire interior was different from above. The walls were made of glass filled with water. There were scaly creatures rowing themselves in the water using their fins and tails. Fenris ran around, clearly entertained by the things within the walls.

"As you can see, while the fourth floor showed the brilliance of growth and the beauty of living and flourishing, the third floor shows the humble power of water. Water is such a subtle element but it shows diversity. It has no definite form yet once it is placed in a specific situation, it can be turbulent or stagnant. It can be dangerously deep or be in underwhelming shallowness. It adapts. It evolves. It rises when it is shaken. Once the storm calms, however, it doesn't keep rising, it humbles down and continues with its life of either moving forward or staying stagnant. Water teaches us so many things. I am particularly fascinated by the ocean. The sky is its limit. It keeps rising to an intimidating height when a tremor awakens it and it consumes anyone in its way."

"I beg your pardon but if you are to rise and to trample down on anyone innocent I do not find it marvelous," I deadpanned.

Garrison smiled at me before saying: "Ah, that is where the swimming part comes in. Though water may consume you, it gives you a chance to fight back."

"But what if you do not know how to swim?" I questioned.

Garrison stopped in front of a white door with golden ridges. He slammed it open while bearing a stern face, causing Fenris to jump back.

"Then you are doomed to die," he responded firmly with a grim gaze. He smiled gently again as if nothing happened.

"Here is your room, sweet child. I shall have food delivered to you right this instant," he fussed.

The room that Garrison gave us had a mattress inside a shell. Fireflies kept in glass jars were scattered on the floor to give the room lighting. I had to stop Fenris from getting on the bed because we had to bathe first.

"We are still filthy. Let's clean ourselves."

Fenris let out a whine but nevertheless, showed his obedience. The bathroom was a little small for the two of us. I decided to bathe Fenris first in the tub but the werewolf had other plans. He hauled me inside with him with my clothes still on.

The playful wolf had his wide grin in place. I scrubbed the scent of rot he had with the scented thick liquid provided in a small jar. It had a soothing fruity scent.

Once Fenris was done, he leaped out of the tub. He shook off the water from his fur and ran off. All the fur in the tub made me change the water. Fenris stood watch like a dutiful ippótes while I bathed.

"Thank you for being a look-out," I murmured, petting his head.

I slipped into a light and loose white shirt and pants and further dried Fenris with the towel.

"There you go, the bed is all yours."

He jumped on the mattress, rolled around, savoring the softness underneath him. I could only imagine the length of time he went through sleeping on dirt while I lived in luxury. Fenris deserved a well-rested night.

As I was to sit on the floor, Fenris groaned like he was saying "No". He lightly bit on my shirt.

"I would like you to have the bed for the night. You deserve it much more than I," I explained to him.

Fenris whined. He swayed his head in disapproval. He scooted, giving me half of the bed.

"Then if you don't mind…"

The feeling of exhaustion suddenly washed over me. My eyes became heavy. I gently stroked Fenris' neck, gazing at his amber eyes that stared back at me. The werewolf inched his nose to my own. Slowly, his breathing relaxed and he fell asleep. I continued to run my hand through his fur, my eyes were beginning to blur.

"Good night Fenris. Sleep well…"

The night went by peacefully except for the frequent snores that Fenris was making. In one odd yet short awakening, as my eyes opened and as my mind perceived it as a dream, a man having the same amber eyes as Fenris lied beside me. He was watching and observing me, as he ever so gently stroked my face with his thumb.

"No matter where the road takes me, I will follow you wherever you go…"