Pandemonium: Chapter 4

All characters depicted herein belong to Ms. Cassandra Clare. This is purely a work of fiction; all resemblances to other characters not of Ms. Clare's imagination are completely coincidental. I thank you for taking the time to read this; furthermore, I thank any of you who choose to review my work. Enjoy!

A brief note: I apologize for the confusion last chapter. I decided that it would be interesting to go back to the framing device from the prologue sometimes, just to make it more realistic. In the future when I do that, I'll introduce it with a break line and change into italics. Thanks again for reading, and please take the time to review!

The dark forest of Quaf had always been a subject of fear for Alec. It was rumored that deep within the trees lay the creatures of nightmares, none more fearful than the Sycorax. A creature so deadly that no man, save Prospero, has ever defeated it. Unfortunately, the party of guards that accompanied Alec was making a tremendous amount of noise, so naturally he feared waking the Sycorax.

Evidently that fear of his could be seen on his face, for shortly after this realization, the group began to slow and quiet down. As it was doing so, a member of his new Royal Guard approached him. The man-or boy rather-took off his helmet and introduced himself as Jonathan Wayland, though he preferred to go by the name Jace. That last part was lost on Alec, though. He was too busy staring at the guard. The reason for this, was Jace's appearance-the boy was golden. Even in the faint torch light in the dark forest, the boy glistened; his hair and eyes exuded a beautiful gold that radiated a warmth, hitherto unbeknownst to Alec.

Feeling the heat rise up into his cheeks, Alec quickly turned away and galloped far from Jace. Trying his best to ignore his wandering mind and eyes from looking at Jace, he turned his thoughts to the two tasks that would define his future: ruling Idris and giving it more heirs. With thoughts like the ones he just had about Jace, the latter task would be extremely difficult. As such, he banished them from his mind-or so he thought-and proceeded to contemplate the former task and all the difficulties he would find within.

-Two Hours Later-

After nearly falling asleep on his horse, Alec noticed that the forest was getting thinner and the road wider; their retinue was accompanied by a hoard of travelers bringing their goods for sale in Alicante; most importantly of all, the sky began to turn a beautiful fuchsia. It was as these changes were occurring, that the party reached the top of a hill. Immediately there, a light pierced Alec's eyes. The uppermost glass spires of Alicante were refracting the newly ascendant sun.

Alec, however, wasn't looking at the view; he was staring at his guard, the golden boy Jace. In the powerful light of the new dawn, Jace looked nothing short of angelic. His blonde curls gently reflecting the sun's powerful rays; his golden eyes absorbing the light only to make them glow more. Quite inadvertently Alec whispered "you're beautiful."

"What?" Jace quickly asked.

Stammering at the fear of being caught, Alec replied "I-i-it's beautiful!"

"It is, isn't it? This is my favorite time to see Alicante, and my favorite hill too." said Jace.

With a curt nod in Jace's direction, Alec spurred his horse forward to avoid further awkward interactions. Instead he, once again, tried to remove the unseemly thoughts about the boy from his mind, to no avail. It was only in that attempt that he realized what he hadn't thought about all night: his family.

The entire ride, Alec had neglected to consider anything of his family; his father's downcast, averted eyes failing to acknowledge that his son would never return; the tears beginning to well up in his mother's sapphire eyes, knowing that she was about to give up her first child; his sister's look of confusion, wondering what had just happened and what would become of her brother. It was only then that he thought of them, but as with other unseemly thoughts, he quickly removed them from his mind. He was, after all, about to enter Alicante, his home for the remainder of his life. It would behoove him to take a good look around, he thought.

As the party entered the city gates, he saw and heard the bustling confusion. "This" he thought "is the beginning of my new life."

At first the part...scusi...

I looked up to find a man dressed in the livery of The Archon interrupting the Professor.

They had a quick exchange in Italian, where the Professor kept on insisting "no, non posso aiutarvi!" Whatever that meant...

After five minutes he finally sent them away, but only then did I realize that the tavern had gotten rather crowded. I quickly told the Professor that the story was not one to be told in a crowded tavern; he quietly nodded and put his materials away. I proceeded to call the serving wench, when the Professor finally spoke to me. "I think it is time I get to know the storyteller as well." he said to me.

Giving him my best smile, I told him that he would have to wait till we had our food and ale. He once again only nodded, then carefully looked at the mounted demon head on the wall.

"Tonight," he said, "will be interesting indeed."

Thanks for going through that! I know it's a bit dry and pedantic at times, but you'll have to bear with me; I'm getting to the juicy stuff. In the next couple of chapter he even gets to meet Magnus! Also I hope you're sufficiently excited to find out more about our narrator and the mysterious Professor next chapter. Till then, adieu!