Page 126 of An Unexpected Ascension
I continue, each room more irrelevant than the last. Until I come upon someone’s personal quarters. The left side of the double door opens soundlessly as I slip inside the empty room.
From the red curtains heavily hanging near the wide window to the matching velvet chair near the hearth, I’d guess it to be a male’s room. Though the stone walls hold a hollow coldness, the remaining accents – like the feather white bedspread – create a brightness from within.
One thing I find odd about this palace is the lack of warmth despite how comfortable the Gods have made this world. Not asingle picture to behold, nothing personal to reveal who keeps this bed warm at night.
Perhaps, other than the silk tucked in the crook of the desk chair. With quiet footsteps, I approach the wooden desk. Atop it sits nothing but blank paper, an ink pot, and a quill as if the Gods ever used their time for anything but indulging themselves.
Within its drawers, I spy restraints, and a collar made of rich brown leather. I don’t dare touch the thing, but as I begin to shut the drawer, something shifts inside and catches my eye. Slowly, opening it up again, I lift the leather collar. Beneath it a single golden skeleton key sits in wait. Light glints against the shimmering metal, almost winking at me, urging me to take it. Lifting it out, I tuck it in my pocket.
I return the desk back to its untouched state and make my way to the door, only to pause at a pair of footsteps sounding down the hall.
A light giggling overshadows a deep grunt and the two grow closer. I press myself against the wall, praying to the Devil they don’t come barreling in here, but with the Gods luck, a heavy thud shakes the wooden barrier I hide behind.
Fuck.
The handle rattles before the door swings wide open, nearly crushing me.
A brunette with elegant curls cascading down her back is hoisted up, her legs wrapped around the waist of a God. His dark complexion and onyx hair tells me he’s one of Achaz’s sons.
He plucks the golden tiara shimmering with diamonds and tosses the thing to the ground. It clatters noisily, spinning for what seems like ages before finally dropping completely against the floor. She only laughs as though the treasure was merely a toy.
Before they can strip each other bare, I slip out of the room and sprint for the spiraling staircase to descend to another level and then another to get as far away from the pair as possible. This time, I find myself in another grand ball room, just more space to entertain powerful Gods.
I begin to wonder if Ada joins the party outside. Is it possible that she might be entertaining the other son of Achaz? That would not be ideal for me at all.
There’s a door across the grand room and through it is a kitchen. The very thought that the Gods need the sort of thing humors me. Perhaps it’s for aesthetic purposes, but everything they have, from the very grapes that they pop into their mouths to the wine that sloshes within their golden goblets, is all created from the power that simmers in their veins.
And beside the pantry is a staircase, what seems to be the last one seeing as this floor meets the ground. With each step down, the lights dim. The brick walls hold a chill that the rest of Primordialis does not.
A dungeon.
That is what lies down here beneath the kitchen of the Gods’ Palace.
My heart pounds as I quietly traipse down the narrow hallway. The brick walls extend from floor to ceiling, not even the smallest bit of sun glitters through a single crack between the stones. There’s no proof that the outside exists from here. Water slips down between the crevices of brick, darkening the beige color to a dirt brown where it puddles on the cement floor.
The dampness in here over time can drown a person, the little particles of condensation crawling into the lungs, building into a river to suffocate you from the inside out.
There are four wooden doors, two on either side of the hall, and above each black metal handle sits a padlock.
“Ada?” I whisper, afraid to be too loud.
I place my ear to the first door and knock only loud enough to be heard by the being on the other side.
“Are you in there?”
I wait a beat and when no one responds, I try the second door.
Still nothing.
“Ada?” I call through the last door on the left.
The sound of chains dragging along the floor forces me to pause.
“Ada?”
My voice cracks, my heart galloping in anxious excitement.
“Hello?”
