Incoherent Perspectives
Chapter 14 - Hail Queen Altair

The others returned, sounding out of breath. Or well, Dawn was sounding out of breath. Asteria, Lumina and Aurora were all fine. "They got her," Aurora said, landing gracefully in front of me. She had that "proud mother smile" despite being six years younger than me. "Where's Cassius and Helia?" Asteria asked. "They are at the castle. Altair brought them over after you guys left to chase Stargazer. Helia was terrified strangely and Cassius offered to stay back," I replied

"He seriously cares for her, doesn't he?" I nodded and we began heading toward the castle. I had to agree with Asteria though, Cassius did seem to have something for Helia, either that or he was using her as an excuse to stay away from Dawn but in the cave when we were trying to replace Lumina, they were cuddled close together so who knows. The guards happily let us into the castle and the first thing I noticed was Altair examining the throne with a head tilt. "I get to sit here?" She asked when she heard us enter. I nodded slowly and her eyes lit up. "Look, I'm sorry to interrupt but do you know where Cassius and Helia are?" Lumina asked. I saw Dawn roll her eyes and as she did with Cassius before, Asteria gave Dawn solid smack to the back of the head. She liked doing that for some reason. "There was no reason for that," Dawn said, rubbing the area Asteria smacked. Asteria just shrugged.

"Yeah, I do. They're in the guest chambers up on the third floor," Altair said, still standing next to the throne. She surprisingly knew a bit about the castle already. I could only assume that was because she could've visited here for special events during the reign of Queen Eleni, so she knew the basics. After all, the only dragons that can run for Queen are those who knew the previous queen before becoming a candidate. I began heading toward the staircase while admiring the intricate design of the Sunburst Aether castle. It was still so absurd that dragons built these. These massive structures seem so man-made but weren't.

The castle's main hall was massive, like an old Gothic church, with overbearing arches and sun-shaped chandeliers lining the corridor. The dungeons were down a set of stairs behind the throne and council meetings were held to the right. Heading up the staircase took you to the second floor where the first guard barracks were. Guards were wandering the halls and engaging in everyday friendly conversation. They were laughing, smiling and having the time of their life. I guess they found peace knowing no more electees would be murdered. One guard saw me and began cheering, prompting others to join in. I didn't know what to say or do so I just smiled. I headed up to the third floor and went through halls labelled guest chambers. The halls reminded me of halls in medieval video games, shows and movies. It is made of individual stones and rustic lanterns lining them.

I almost passed a strangely romantic room that looked very different from the other chambers. It was a pastel pink while the others were colours matching sunburst aethers. It looked like a princess' room despite there being no heir or princess because the queens were elected in, or winning by default like this year's election and last year's. It was pale pink and had pink tiles on the floor, while the bed looked like those of fairytales with curtains pulled back. In the room, I could see Helia lying on the bed, sleeping and Cassius seeming intrigued by a large shelf of scrolls. I knocked on the frame, causing Cassius to jump. "Ah! Don't do that, Helia is sleeping," he said in an angry whisper, "Come on in, I wanted to talk to you anyway." I raised an eyebrow at him but entered either way. The sun was setting at this point, creating a magnificent view of it dipping behind the mountains in the distance as I leaned against the wall with my arms crossed.

"I wanted to apologize," he said. "Apologize for what?" I asked.

"The incident back at the cave. When I charged Dawn like that." Now at this point, the incident back in the cave was this morning, like 12 and a half hours ago, that scratch crossed his eye has stopped bleeding but still looked like a fresh wound. At least he was sincere. He could've never apologized and that wouldn't have been great but all I could say was, "I accept your apology, but it's me you should apologize to, it Dawn because it was her you scratched, Aurora and I intervened." Cassius looked down at the ground feeling guilty for what he had done before he nodded slowly. "Good, because she's right there," I said. He looked at me with a "What the heck did you do" expression.

"You mean it?" Dawn asked. Cassius then reluctantly and slowly nodded and for the first time since replaceing her, Dawn smiled happily, her scales emanated a gentle glow. I then gave Dawn a look of slight disapproval until she finally cracked. "I guess, I'm sorry too," she said. "Truce?" Cassius asked. Dawn nodded happily, her scales glowing a little brighter now. All was great until I thought I heard someone calling my name outside. "Does anyone else hear that?" I asked. "Here what? I don't hear anything," Cassius echoed.

"My name being called," I responded.

"Your... name being called." Cassius gave me a skeptical look. He probably thinks I'm going insane, I thought. I heard my name called again from outside but the voice... Sounded familiar.

My name being called sent shivers down my spine. The way the wind carried the voice as it echoed among the council outside, because of the window being opened. It almost sounds like a dragon in distress. “Lou-is,” the voice called again. “Tell me you are hearing this,” I said. Cassius and Dawn exchanged worried glances as I began pacing around the room. All the while, Helia was still sleeping peacefully. I felt like my sanity was slowly depleting every time my name was carried through the wind. My voice was called again. Now at this time, Dawn had already left and was now replaced with Lumina, who visibly shivered on cue when my name was called. “You hear it too?” she nodded slowly, too frightened to speak. It wasn’t my name being called in general, it was the way it sounded, the echo in the voice. The sound of distress.

Cassius was lying on the bed with Helia, he had a wing draped over her as a makeshift blanket. He was looking at us with an expression like we were going insane. It felt like I was. It was like voices in my head telling me to do the worst of the worst. “Louis...” the mysterious dragon called once more. The voice sounded a lot closer than the first time I heard it. Eventually, I gained the courage to look out the window. It was nighttime now and the paths were empty as all the dragons were in their houses. Yes, the dragons in Pyrix’s councils have ligament old-timey homes built by them. The doors were all massive arches and it looked like a miniature Scottland or Ducthland. It was eerily silent, the only thing visible in the paths was a figure as white as stars, eyes, glowing blood-red like a demon in hell. “Oh no,” Lumina said. I looked toward her with an eyebrow raised. “A Corrupted,” she continued cryptically.