Chapter 6 Thorns of the Rose

Rose's P.O.V.

I could not stand most males of my species. They were not very smart, they make dumb choices, and they think that they are so much better than that of the females. I like to think that i'm causing a change with the rank that I had achieved not too long ago.

Why is it every time that I use my tongue to get excess food that the others laugh at me?

I asked myself as I walked past the stairs that led down to the Revelation Room. I was going to my Sleeping Chamber. Being with most of the males had taken a toll on my sanity and my mood. I needed to let my anger, frustration, and tension out before I made a mistake that costed me my position. I walked for some time until I came to a row of doors that spanned about Two-and-a-half feet across in width. I studied the door with the little light that came in through the ceiling. The doors were now made of wood.

These doors were not made of wood before. What happened to make a change of the doors here?

I asked myself as I looked in the almost complete darkness for my name.I spent some time in the darkness looking for my name that was supposed to be on one of the doors. I found my name after some time. It was the door on the very end of the left side. I opened the door and breathed in the scent of my room. I get my name from the various incenses that I make from natural plants. Needless to say, My favorite smell is that of the roses that come from my garden. I shut the door behind me and locked it. I fumbled in the darkness for the lamp that lit my room. I found it on the nightstand that was next to my bed. I formed a tiny fireball in my right rand. The lamp lit up, bringing its light to revive the room from the dreary darkness. I didn't need one of the idiots coming in and wrecking anything in my room. I walked over to my desk and sat in the chair. I Iet out the air that I had been holding. I surveyed my room, looking at the various flowers, model birds that I had made from wood, the pictures that Halcyon painted of me, my various awards I had won for events and battles, and then to my desk. It was then I had noticed there was a note on it. The note had a yellow color to it.

"Oh,no."

I moaned to myself quietly. With shaky hands I picked up the envelope. I looked at the seal on it. It was Red in color; the color that was used to signify important High Council matters. I used my index claw to slit open the note. I took the note out of the envelope and put it on the table in front of me. I didn't want to know what the note said, but I had to know since the information was important. I got up from the chair and paced in my room. Back and forth I paced until I could pace no more, I finally collapsed into my chair breathlessly. I looked at the note that was addressed to me. I started to open the note with a crinkling sound when there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?"

I called. I got a knife from my drawer just in case that I needed to use it.

"It's Halcyon."

The voice responded. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you OK Rose? You seemed really upset there at the table with the others."

His voice trailed off, muffled by the door that separated our conversation. I unlocked the door and stood in the doorway with the knife in my hand. Halcyon looked at the knife and sighed.

"You know, your lack of anger management skills will get you in trouble."

He said softly. I gripped the knife's hilt hard and turned around to throw the knife into the wall when Halcyon caught my arm. I Looked at him furiously.

"If you want to take your anger out, I have just the place for you to do so."

Halcyon said to me as he slowly took the knife out of my hand. I returned to standing in the doorway, looking at Halcyon with wonder now instead of annoyance. He smiled and started to walk away from where I was standing. I quickly locked the door behind me and ran to catch up to Halcyon who was now walking down the stairs that led to the Battle Arena. I caught up to him just as he reached the Revelation Room's base step.

"This way."

He directed me as he walked to the right. I noticed Rojo standing with a Sentry pose on the left as I walked with Halcyon to where Northwind had projected Emperor's memory on the wall. Halcyon muttered something under his breath as he felt along the wall for something. He found a small indentation in the rocks. He pressed his hand into the indentation, and a portion of the rocks rearranged themselves to from a nine squared number pad.

"Please do not look as I type in the password if you could be so kind Rose."

Halcyon asked me. I obeyed his command and looked at the Revelation Room. this was only the second time I had been here. This was a really beautiful place with the candles, the calm water, the surrounding rock structures, and the stalactites that hung from the ceiling.

"Follow me if you would."

Halcyon said. This broke me from my thoughts. I turned back around to see him walking down a long hallway that was lit with Blue Fire torches. I ran once again to catch up with him. The wall of rock slowly declined in height as we continued down the hallway. Shadows were casted with ghostly figures by the torches, adding to the hallway's atmosphere. We walked down the hallway together, not saying a word to each other When we reached the end of the hallway, we saw a double door that was marked Combat Training. Halcyon opened the door with his hand to reveal something that absolutely astounded me. Light flooded from the room into my eyes, temporarily blinding me as I stumbled through the door into the room. When my eyes adjusted to the bright light, I noticed that I was outside. It was then I realized That I had stayed up for an ENTIRE night without sleep.

I looked at the sunrise that sent beautiful streaks of Red, Orange, Pink, and Yellow across the cloudless sky. I took my gaze from the sunrise and l looked at the various training tools that were in the Combat Training area. Suddenly I heard something being thrown. I snapped my head to see a piece of wood barreling towards my head. I lifted my right leg and snapped the board with a heel strike. Following instinct, I immediately shifted into my fighting stance. This was standing sideways with my feet parallel to each other and bouncing on my heels. More objects were hurled my way. This time it was spears and wood. The spear was Yellow of color and was thrown sideways.

The wood would hit me first

I decided. This wood was in a plank shape, so I balled my hand into a fist and hit the plank so hard, it splintered on impact into a million pieces. I turned to my left, grabbed the spear and all of a sudden, two dummies appeared to my right and left. The first one threw a RoundHouse kick that I ducked. I impaled the one that tried to kick me in the head with a spear. I held onto the spear and pole-vaulted over the one that tried to kick me. The other one had a sword. That other dummy sliced the other dummy in half to reach me. The dummy brought the sword down to slice my head in half. I reacted fast enough to parry the blow with the spear. The dummy's sword went into the ground. I thrusted the spear into the dummy and threw the dummy with the spear as far as I could. A cannon shot resounded close to me. I whipped my head to see where the shot came from. The cannonball was racing for my face. I estimated when the cannonball would hit me. I put my hands to my right side so that I could catch the cannonball. Just as it was about to hit me, I grabbed the cannonball just barely and with all my strength, hurled the cannonball with all my might back where it came from. I was breathing heavily now as I watched the cannonball impact the cannon. It hit so hard, the cannon exploded. I felt a cold piece of metal on my neck. I froze in fear.

"Why don't you just give up?"

A sinister voice asked me.

"Who are you to ask me to surrender?"

I asked as I reached my hand over my left shoulder to shoulder throw my assailant. I succeeded and I threw a deep Purple colored yoshi over my head. I smiled when the individual hit the ground hard on his back. I impaled the spear right next to his chest. With all my strength, I kicked the individual over to the edge of the Combat Area, but I missed and the individual and he caught my leg. He yanked me to the ground. I fell hard on my back. The purple individual jumped up from his position on the ground. I could see who exactly I was fighting now.

"Venom?"

I asked incredulously. I jumped up from laying on the ground, using the golden spear I had caught earlier. I held the spear by the point on the end. I pointed the circular end of the spear at Venom, who smiled.

"How dare you interrupt me during a training session!"

I yelled at him. Venom just laughed to himself.

"I'd like to ask if I could join you in training."

He asked me with a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"I don't mind hurting you."

I declared with a smile. The wind started to pick up, keeping me able to fight. Venom drew his sword with his left arm off of his back.

"Is your right arm hurt Venom?"

I asked with full worry. He looked at the arm.

"Oh, yeah. It's nothing really bad. I just had some rock fall on it during my morning training sessions."

He said looking at the arm. All of a sudden I felt like I couldn't move. Venom's left eye color was glowing a light green color. The morning sky that I had seen was growing with clouds quickly. I knew this spell well. Venom looked at me with a sinister smile

"That's not very nice."

I declared as I got ready to defend myself once more. Venom laughed as he materialized spears, fireballs, and rocks above his head, along with some Deathbringers. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Halcyon, who was nodding in agreement to something. I got ready to shift myself so that I could block the objects that were coming my way. The rocks went first.

Two rocks from the left, one from the right, and two that were behind me.

I told myself as I readied myself to block all of them. I turned to the left first. I blocked the two rocks with the golden spear. The second rock threw me off balance and I staggered a little. I whipped to the right to block the rock that was about to hit me. The rock shattered on impact, throwing shards everywhere. I turned to block the rock that was coming to hurt me, but I was too late. The rock hit me hard on the side of my head. It didn't hurt me much. I shook my head as I saw the rock roll over the side of the edge of the battlefield. I had dropped my spear when the rock hit me. I was able to move now. Red and Orange light illuminated the area as Venom threw fireballs at me. I could not see that I had not a lot of room to maneuver, as the only space I could move in now was a narrow rectangular platform. Venom was standing at the end of another platform about twenty feet away. I looked at the spear that was on the end of the right side of the platform. I got up to see fireballs blasting past me. All of them were travelling in a straight line. I calculated each time I should move by the times that Venom threw the fireballs. I took off running across the platform, dodging fireballs as I ran along. I was about to reach the spear when I was hit with one of the fireballs. I was knocked off of the platform. Instinctively, I grabbed the edge of the platform. With my left arm. I dangled there for a moment, then I hoisted myself up and over the side of the platform's edge. I was furious now. I lunged for the spear. I grabbed the spear and skillfully rolled myself so I could jump and get back into a fighting position. I saw a huge fireball barreling towards my face. I positioned myself so I could hit the fireball right back at Venom. I swung the spear like a baseball bat. The fireball hit the spear hard. As the fireball impacted the spear, I felt the numbing pain of the impact. I shook the pain off as I saw the fireball rocket away from me. I smiled and laid the spear over my left shoulder. The fireball was able to illuminate the fear that Venom now had. The smile that Venom had was replaced with fear as his pupils grew intensely small. The fireball impacted Venom with such force, that I heard a sickening crack that went through my head as the fireball engulfed Venom. He fell over the edge of his platform and fell to the ground, landing hard on his feet. I could see him wince and look back up with a hideous smile. It was then I noticed that he was on fire.

I jumped down from my platform to the ground. I looked at the crazed Venom. His scales were glowing purple. I readied my spear. He then was able to materialize DeathBringers They vanished and appeared on all sides of me.

The one on the right flashed purple. The one on the left flashed purple. Then the one in front of me flashed purple. Then I turned to see a flash of purple behind me. I snapped to the right to see the DeathBringer to the right of me. It was the skull of a normal yoshi, but It had fangs in both of its upper and lower jaw. Both of its eyes were normal looking, but when the energy fired from its mouth, the eyes turned deep purple and the left eye disappeared to leave a black socket where the eye should have been. I spun the spear so fast to defend myself, the spear blurred as it spun. The energy impacted the spinning spear. I only had to keep the spear spinning for three seconds before the DeathBringer disintegrated. I whipped around to the left just in time to see the next DeathBringer fire its shot. I spun the spear around again to have it spin around my wrist so that I could protect myself from the shot. Again, the blast only lasted three seconds. I turned so fast I was ready for the shot of the DeathBringer in front of me before it could fire. I spun the spear around my wrist again. This time the blast lasted for two seconds. I was beginning to get tired after this shot, so I dodged the last one with a running roll to the left. Venom's scales were mostly melted and I could see a little bit of bone that was showing from his upper arm. He was breathing hard and his left eye was completely Purple.

"Had enough yet?"

I asked through deep breaths. I had not experienced this level of battle before. I was too tired to continue, but something kept me going.

Was it adrenaline, fear, my Fighting Spirit, or something else that keeps me going?

I thought as I looked at the damage that I had done to Venom. I was shaking with the adrenaline that the battle had given me. Venom gave me a sinister smile.

"You're gonna have to try a little harder than that if you want to win against me."

He declared as his left pupil turned to a vertical slit that was Purple in color. I took a step back in fear. I didn't know what was going to happen now. I had dodged fireballs, used a spear to hit a fireball back at Venom, used that same spear to defend against deadly DeathBringers, and had fought for my life twice now.

What else does Venom have up his sleeve?

I asked myself as Venom started to materialize more DeathBringers. I had not noticed that the wind had started to pick up. I noticed by a quick glance that the sun was starting to rise over the sea.

What ever happened to seeing a nice sunrise without fighting something?

I thought as Venom started to throw spears, along with the occasional DeathBringer. It was then that I was starting to get nervous. I had noticed that Venom's left eye was completely black, except for the vertical Slit pupil that was colored Purple. A ray of light shot from the eye.

"Oh, No."

I moaned to myself. Now I knew that I was in huge trouble.

This can't be happening. I didn't do this. I need to get help! I need to do something!

These thoughts ran through my mind as I parried a stab from one of Venom' s spears. I grabbed his shoulders and threw him over my back. As he sailed over my head, I could see that his other eye was becoming dull. It was as if the life was leaving him as he impacted the ground hard behind me. I whipped around and held the spear's tip to his throat. Venom did not move. All that moved was the very slow rise and fall of his chest.

At least he's still breathing

I told myself as I looked around. The sun was all the way over sea now, flooding the land with the live-giving light of the sun. Cheering resounded from behind me. I whipped around to see all of my friends, family, and a large portion of the Islanders cheering. I felt weak. I hated when others watched me do certain things and the worst one was fighting. I HATED others watching me fight. I walked over to the High Council Members, which were now jumping over the fence to greet me that's what I thought at least as I watched as Lime, Mercury, and NightShade run past me to where Venom was on the ground. I turned around and walked over to where the other High Council Members were. They had made a circle around Venom. Lime turned to me.

"What have you done!?"

He yelled to me. Mercury and NightShade nodded slowly in silent agreement. I was furious.

"You don't even know what happened, so you can just be quiet and maybe learn something!"

I yelled back. Lime drew his Gun Sword off of his back and pointed the gun at me.

"I would advise you to keep your cool. I'm an expert marksman you know."

Lime declared softly. I growled and turned away from the High Council Members. I jumped over the fence that the crowd was pushing against. I pushed my way through the crowd, getting worried glances and incredulous looks as I walked to the door that led back to the Revelation Room. I was so angry, without thinking, I kicked through the doors to open them. Upon impact, one of the doors shattered and I walked through without a care. I ran down the hallway with tears streaming down my cheeks. I kicked through the doors that opened to the Revelation Room. I walked through the splintered doors, Ran over to the stairs that led up to the High Council Chambers, and finally collapsed at my door. I was now doubled over, gasping for breath. When I caught my breath(Which did not take long), I burst through my door and closed the door behind me once more. I locked the door and went to turn my lamp on. Light flooded the familiar room. I looked around to see if anything had changed. Noticing nothing new, I walked slowly over to the desk which still had the opened envelope on it. I unfolded the note to read it.

Rose,

I understand that you have been in deep sorrow lately, however i would like it if you would attend the meeting that we will be having at the CourtHouse. I also would like to know if you would be ok with training with Venom in a friendly duel today, as I have been noticing that you have been unusually irritable the last few days. Thanks for your continued dedication to the safety of the United Islands Rose.

From the Administrator of the United Islands,

Halcyon

I read the note and facepalmed. The important meeting was today. I was never told to go, but I now felt that if I went, bad things would happen.

"I've already done my fair share of destruction today."

I told the ceiling as I let out a huge sigh. Some tears fell to the floor.

Why is it that everywhere I go and everything I do hurts someone?

I asked myself as I grabbed a book from my nightstand. I could tell by the small hole in the ceiling that It was very early in the morning yet. I tried reading the book that I had on my nightstand, but I could not concentrate on anything. Every time I tried focus on something, I kept seeing the horrid image of Venom being battered, along with that creepy eye that shot rays of Purple light. When I saw that image, I could also see the bone that was partially uncovered when I batted the fireball back at him. I shook my head vigorously to clear the image from my mind. Suddenly, I felt weak and black ringed the edges of my eyes. Letting sleep take me, I let myself fall slowly into the endless abyss. I woke to the sounds of scratching at my door. The sun was shining in my eyes. I shielded the sun rays with my hand. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I looked around my room again. I was not sure why I was so paranoid that something would change, but it bothered me. The scratching sounds resounded once more. I got up and rubbed my eyes once more. I walked slowly to the door. I picked up the sword I kept behind the door and put a knife into my boot. I stood sideways to the door and opened the door. As soon as the door opened, a small spiky lizard flew across the floor and jumped onto my bed. It was an Assassin Lizard. It landed on my bed and quickly turned to look at me. I sighed in relief.

"Dart! You scared the life out of me!"

I said to the lizard. The lizard bobbed its head to acknowledge me. It jumped off of the bed and ran up my leg and finally rested on my shoulder. I scratched it under the chin, to which, its right hind leg vibrated a little.

"Where were you for the past two days?"

I asked the creature. It looked at me for a moment with wide eyes. Since Dart had not answered me, I did not press the issue any more. Instead, I asked something else.

"Why were you scratching at the door? I thought I told you not to do that."

I told Dart. the lizard bobbed its head in understanding, but did not tell me anything.

Of course it can't tell me anything, it's a lizard.

I told myself. Dart tapped my shoulder, breaking me from my thought.

"What is it Dart?"

I asked the lizard. It hissed and shifted itself to fire the barbs from its back. It pointed at the door with a pointed nail.

"The door isn't even open Dart. What are you concerned about?"

I asked the lizard. It pointed at the door once more, so I walked over to the door. I opened the door to see Lime standing right outside the door. He was leaning on his Gun Sword, and was chewing slowly on an Amber. When the door opened, he looked up at me. He looked to be down emotionally.

"Hey."

He said softly. I looked crossly at him.

"What do you want!?"

I snapped at him. Dart hissed loudly.

"Shh."

I shushed the lizard softly. Lime stopped leaning on the gun and pointed it at Dart. Dart ran around my back to my left shoulder and arched her back and opened her mouth to reveal two lines of sharp teeth. Lime took aim.

"I would advise not trying to kill dart. She has already told me that Rojo has killed another one of her kind."

I told Lime with a smug smile. I looked at him once more.

"Now what did you want to see me for?"

I asked with annoyance. Lime put the gun back on his back.

"First; I would like it if you would refer to my weapon as Tempest; Second; it's time for the meeting."

Lime replied with the same amount of annoyance as I gave him. I sighed and turned around to lock the door. As I was doing that, Lime asked me a question.

"Do you mind if we talk while we walk down to the CourtHouse?"

Lime asked me slowly. After I locked my door, I turned slowly back around to give Lime a scowl, but he was already practicing taking apart his weapon and putting it back together on the ground. I never understood why most males of my species loved shooting things and having guns, but the mechanics of guns did interest me a little. Lime by far was the most interesting of the High Council. He had succeeded to the rank in about three months. This was the fastest that anyone had done this. He was also by far the most athletic of the group and had the intelligence to back most of his actions. He was also very smart for his age. He was Twelve revolutions old. I also did not know where he got his height from, since most of our species was between 4"6, to the tallest I've seen, 7"4. I shuddered from the thought of John taking over Abyss. I shook the thought away. This was a mistake since Lime could see the fear in my eyes. To my surprise he said nothing. Instead, he put "Tempest" back on his back.

"Will you accompany me or not?"

He pressed. I couldn't refuse since this was an important task for me.

"Sure. i'll go."

I huffed. I started to walk towards Lime. it did not take many strides to catch up to him however, Dart almost fell off my shoulder as I half-jogged to catch up to Lime. She protested with a weird squeaking sound. I resetted Dart's position so that she was not able to fall off my shoulder as I walked with Lime. when we had reached the stairs, he stopped momentarily.

"Why did you hurt Venom so much?"

He asked me without even turning to make eye contact. I gave Lime a hard stare when he turned to look at me. He didn't seem phased at all.

"I was only acting out of fear."

I told him.

"How could I know that he was going to go all out?"

I asked desperately. Lime shook his head softly.

"Does the enemy tell you how hard you're supposed to fight?"

He asked me. He took the first step down.

"All I have to say is that I had no intentions of hurting Venom. I thought that this whole thing was just gonna be another boring training session."

I exploded at him. Lime continued to walk down the stairs. I stood at the top of the stairs as I watched him descend to the bottom of the stairs and make a right turn. I stood at the top step running through the actions that I could take. Dart bumped me in the neck with her nose.

"What is it Dart?"

I asked her softly. I looked at her and she was pointing to the bottom of the stairs, so I started to descend the stairs with growing anxiety with each step that I took. When I had reached the bottom step, I finally noticed what Dart was pointing to. I bent over to pick up the object. I picked up the object with shaky hands and stood back up to continue walking when the door to the Revelation Room opened. I quickly backpedaled to stand with my back against the wall that led to the High Council's chambers. I peeked my head around the side of the wall to see Northwind and Frostbite enter the room. The door closed behind them both and the two started to walk to the center of the room.

"It's about time to start the meeting and Rose is nowhere to be found!"

Frostbite cried in desperation.

"It'll be fine Frostbite."

Northwind said calmly. She turned to look at Frostbite.

"If I know Rose, she'll most likely be up in her chamber reading, studying plants, or causing perfumes."

Northwind said with a laugh. Frostbite didn't react. She paced nervously. It was kind of odd to see Frostbite pacing like that. It reminded me of when I was pacing about in my room not that had happened in my room not too long ago. As I pondered this thought, I tried to figure out how I was going to get out of the Revelation Room without them seeing me. My next thought was what would happen if they saw me. I crept slowly up the stairs, being careful not to make any sounds that might give me away. I knew of a secret passage that could lead me outside without anyone's knowledge. This was through Halcyon's room, and I did not want to intrude. I reached the top of the stairs once more and turned to the left so that I could walk to the chambers. When I had reached the chambers, I looked for Halcyon's nameplate. His was on the rightmost side of the doors. I felt a cold gust of air over my neck. I could feel Dart shifting and turning around on my shoulder. She stopped and hissed again. I shifted my eyes so that I could look over my shoulder. I saw Halcyon at the top of the stairs.

"What are you doing up here Rose?"

He asked suspiciously. He walked briskly over to me. I could tell that he was mildly upset.

"Need I ask again?"

He asked with a little more irritable. I turned slowly to meet his powerful gaze.

"Tell me the truth Rose."

He he told me. I felt cold all over.

As a Council Member I Can't lie, and I don't want to tell the truth.

I told myself. So I told Halcyon what he needed to know and nothing else.

"I was up here to blow off some steam."

I said with a hint of lingering anger. Then a nervous feeling welled up from inside me.

"Is Venom ok?"

I asked from impulse. Halcyon shifted uneasily.

"Do you want me to answer that question truthfully?"

He asked me with a strong stare. I was backed against the door that led to Halcyon's room with no way of escaping. I didn't know what to do.

"If you want to tell me, then please do so."

I said hoping to ease the situation a little. Halcyon sighed. Then he pushed past me into his room.

"You wanted to pass through my room to get out of the High Council Chambers to get the CourtHouse, right?"

He asked flatly. I was astounded, but I didn't show it. Instead, I just followed him into his room. His room was very organized and was overflowing with books about everything. I picked up a book.

"Quantum Mechanics?"

I asked him. Halcyon whipped around from looking at his bookshelf.

"Did I say that you could touch anything?"

He asked me firmly. I dropped the book and raised my hands in defeat.

"No you didn't. Sorry about that."

I replied sadly. He sighed and went back to pulling books of the shelf that was in his room. Halcyon muttered to himself as he pulled book after book after book off of the shelf.

"What are you looking for Halcyon?"

I asked him. He pulled A Red book with a yellow spine. There was a metallic clanking sound and I looked in awe to see the bed fold up into a wall. Where the bed was, there was now a hole that I could see. The hole was about two-and-a-half feet wide. I looked into the hole. It went down about four feet; after that, it turned to extend to the way that I was looking at the hole. I knew that I was facing north, so I knew that this hole would come out close to the Revelation Room's entryway doors.

"After you my lady."

Halcyon said politely with a bow. He looked back up at me with a huge smile. I scoffed and jumped into the hole. I landed hard on my heels. this sent a shockwave of pain up my body, but I didn't care. I could see the end of the tunnel from where I was standing. I started walking towards the exit. As I started to walk, Halcyon landed right behind me. When he landed, I whipped around to see who had landed behind me in fear.

"It's just me Rose."

Halcyon stated flatly. I muttered to myself as he pushed me forward. The tunnel was covered in moss and lichens.

There's so much humidity for a tunnel. What else is here that I have not seen?

I asked myself as I neared the end of the tunnel. Soft snoring sounds came from my shoulder. I looked to see Dart curled into a ball on my shoulder, her spikes causing a Hemispherical line where her back was.

"Let me take the grate off Rose."

Halcyon told me with a sense of urgency. I moved over so that he could take off the grate. The grate was covered in rust and was secured in place by two huge screws that were interestingly not covered in rust. I wanted to ask why the screws were not covered in rust, but my question got lost when the grate fell to the ground, causing a huge tinny racket. I braced myself for anything that may have happened. Since Halcyon did not get ready for a fight, I took a chance and placed myself at ease. I looked at where we had come from. To my amazement, we had emerged from where the doors that led to the Revelation Room had been. The only difference was that we had emerged from the ground and not the doors. I climbed over the grate and stood in the middle of the path that led to the Revelation Room. Halcyon emerged seconds after me. He put the grate back where it was supposed to be and covered it with some dirt.

"We're gonna be late if we don't step on it."

Halcyon said tensely. He pushed me along the road so that we could reach the CourtHouse faster. We walked the same path that Rojo and Emperor had walked one day ago. I turned to the right and stopped at the edge of the staircase that led up to the double doors that led into the CourtHouse. I stopped to take in the beautiful hues of Blue and Green.

"I usually don't get to see things like this often."

I told Halcyon as he streaked past me. Up the stairs, to the double doors he ran. He was about to go through them when he turned back to me with an incredulous look.

"What did you say Rose?"

He asked tensely. I tried to muster some courage, but looking Halcyon in the eye was a task in itself.

"I said that I usually don't see the outside world most often."

I declared.

"I forget that there's food. I forget that there's other people. I forget that there's other things than deciding the fate of others without their knowledge!"

I practically exploded. Halcyon stared me down, causing waves of numbness go up and down my back with fear.

"We can talk about your grievances later Rose."

He said with finality. I walked up the stairs, somewhat sulking with all the weights that I were responsible for upon my shoulders. I wondered what this meeting was going to be about, since we had a lot of things happen in about a day. I walked into the main room of the CourtHouse. I had not ever been here before, so I took in the surroundings. As the sunlight filtered through the window, I looked at the objects in the room as dust particles floated in the air. There were four windows on each side of the room. They were supported with what looked like to be steel beams.

I wonder why these are here? What could have happened to make these additions to the windows?

I asked myself as I started to look at the other objects in the room. In front of me, there was an oak table with a pitcher of lemonade on it. On both sides of the table were two comfortable looking chairs. They were made of a very intricately woven fabric that depicted royalty. I then looked to see a hallway that had three doors on each side. On the right wall, there were pictures of of a regal looking family and on the left, there were the same pictures, but were only of one individual. I walked over to the other side of the room to get a better look at what the individual looked like. I studied the figure. He was tall; about 5'7 in height. He was also built very well, as he had very distinguishable muscles that added to his fierce gaze.

His red irises burned into those who gazed in his direction

This was the caption that was close to the bottom of the picture. It was signed in almost perfect cursive. I nearly fainted when I saw whose signature it was. It was signed by Abyss himself.

I shook my head and looked at the other pictures on the wall.

"Rose!"

A voice snapped through my thoughts. I looked around to see the other High Council Members walking into the last door on the right side of the hallway. Halcyon was the one that spoke to me. He was holding the door open. He studied me closely as I walked to the door. As I ran over to the door, he saw Dart on my shoulder.

"Are you really going to bring that dangerous creature into a place of meeting?"

Halcyon asked me with an even expression. I looked at Dart, who now was uncurling herself to check on her surroundings. She saw Halcyon and arched her back and hissed loudly. This got worried stares from the individuals that were in the CourtHouse meeting room. I scowled at Halcyon and walked through the open door into a very interesting room.