Sorry for the wait, but here is ANOTHER CHAPTER! Woooohooooo!
Whatever was going on around Jace was beyond him. Actually, it wasn't. There was rushing water that seemed to only be rushing towards his face. It was green and teal and black and endless. He couldn't feel his body and struggled as much as he could to regain movement. The only thing he felt was weight and insufferable amounts of rain. He strained to breath; moving his mouth to open was an effort that seemed even more arduous than moving his limbs. The fact that he eventually forced his mouth open led him to the realization that he was not underwater. Rather, it was raining upon him. The rain wasn't necessarily the colors he perceived rather it was the mysterious splotches of color in the clouds above that skillfully reflected its color into the water that fell in his eyes.
As Jace regained his consciousness, he began to blink and as he blinked he convinced himself that there was a figure standing above him. He wasn't wrong.
"How are you feeling, angel boy." The condescending tone reminded him of the situation he last experienced. A few memories flooded his mind in a hazy mist. Broken and unorganized, his memories taunted him due to their reality being on the verge of recollection.
Unnaturally, his body lifted up and he seemed to be being held up by some unseen force. He looked through his long, blonde eyelashes at the girl he saw in front of him.
"Wow." She said. "I thought the children of angels would be more resilient..."
Jace was too exhausted to make any snide comments.
The rain began to slow down, making the surroundings much quieter. Jace grew more calm and the rains dropping speed mimicked his falling heart rate; he could now think properly enough to remember that he had a stele. He reached to his back pocket and brought it out. It was still an effort to move. He brought the stele to his chest, pulled his collar down enough to reveal little chest hairs, and slipped the stele inside. Unbeknownst to the girl, he was drawing an iratze.
"Your magic will not work here." The girl said. "...angel boy..." She forgot to add that.
"Shut it, sea hag." He used most of his breath to mutter a nasty remark.
As if by the girl's will, he dropped and he heard a quaint cracking sound as his back hit the dampened sand.
"I knew nephilim were stubborn, but not stupid." Jace's eyes were closed but he could sense that her presence was even closer to him. "We'll, there is a first time for everything, right?"
"What...is..this...?" Jace muttered. He was light headed after using all of the breath he had left for those words.
"Don't you remember me? Don't you remember why you're here?"
"I don't..." Jace stopped to breath. "I don't know where I am." This was the first completely comprehensible sentence.
"You don't remember where you are? Hypothetically, you are no where at all." The girl said.
Jace sat up and looked around him. The sky was still the odd color that he originally fell through but the castle he noticed in the distance left him in consternation.
"Hurry up!" She called from a while away. "We need to talk to my mother before she decides not to spare your life!"
"How ignoble of your almighty mother…" Jace said as he rose to follow the girl.
The building; the castle, actually is very intimidating from the interval that Jace and the girl were approaching from. The castle that Jace saw appeared much more lavish outside than it did inside; The exterior had flower beds of brilliant crimson roses and golden bronze chrysanthemums. The flowers were rimmed with cream colored gossamer and the interior proved to be subservient in comparison. The ballroom of the castle contained a fountain that was covered in spider webs and the water was a brown stain; it's odor was offensive at best and disgraceful at worst. For someone of such high importance one would think that their dwelling would provide much more homage paired with a comely appearance. To the left of said fountain was a room full of cadaverous soldiers. Clay was the material they seemed to be made of.
"Does your mom keep undead gauntlets, as well?" Jace said.
"When someone disavows my mother's power by impugning her authority, she tends to become intemperate and merciless…" The girl responded.
"Quite the vocabulary you have there…"
"When you have parents who are in great dissension in everything you do, you can impress them by using words they do not understand."
"I assume it's quite effective…"
She stopped midway in her step. "You could say that."
They walked past the room with the soldiers and up a staircase that seemed as if it could fall over at anytime. Over the left rail of the staircase, bones were scattered haphazardly around. There was a faint orange-red glow that shown from a door beneath the staircase that is only accessible through the first floor. The girl reached the top of the staircase first. Immediately to the left, the was a spacious wooden floor that was adorned with a red oriental style rug that depicted red and gold linings. The rug was massive as it lead endlessly down the corridor, likely leading to a western wing. Candelabras lined the walls in intervals; dusty side-tables underneath them which had old fountain pens with feathers and seemingly rusted gold and glass ink wells. There was water stained paper at each table as well. In between each table, was a door, most of which were locked save one which was slightly ajar. Jace gasped inwardly when a few rodents crept from the room. One moved especially slowly and seemingly died as it stopped moving with the other. Jace noticed a faint haze coming from the room and attempted to plug his nose when the girl interrupted his observations.
"Calm yourself, angel boy. Nothing here will due you harm because of the blood that courses through your veins."
"Really? I couldn't tell due to the rodents and bones and brown water and mysterious smoke."
The girl didn't retaliate. She turned towards the door diverging both corridors and once Jace reached the top, the girl knocked quietly on the door.
"Mother?"
"Who is daring to disturb me with their perfidy?" A woman from a room called. Her booming voice shook Jace's strong demeanor more than he would ever care to admit.
"It's me. I apologize for seeming to relegate your authority…"
"Wow" Jace said. "What a gag order."
"Who speaks?" The woman called.
"A person in need of your assistance." The girl says. "Through that door," she says to Jace. "…is Ceto. I would not upset her if I were you…"
