Divinity: Transcendence: Book Two (The Divinity Saga) (5 page)

It suddenly grew quiet. The music stopped, but the voices remained. With curiosity, I peered all the way down to opposite end. There was an open doorway, which gave way to another set of steps, obviously leading up to yet another level.

There were many other doors lining
the narrow passageway, each marked with strange looking symbols. No two symbols were the same, each one differed, and I wondered what it all meant.

There was no movement or sound from behind any of the other doors, but I remained guarded anyway, as I slowly began to make my way down the passage. I looked over each door as I passed them. The symbols were nothing I had ever seen, or remembered ever seeing before as being familiar to me.

Feeling as if I were being watched, I stopped to glance behind me. Did someone else just come out of a room too?

I waited, continuing to watch for any opening doors a bit longer, before finally continuing onward towards the beckoning sounds of life, laughter and food.

There was no restrictive door at the top landing of the second stairway either. Soft shadows cast from the glowing
firelight, flickered invitingly. I was anxious to know where I was now.

I slowed once I hit the third to the top step, where I waited again to observe, look, and listen. I felt eyes on me, but that
was impossible from this point. A person had to be on the stairs to begin with. Something flickered faintly, like a lighted reflection, but it moved way too fast for me to comprehend its form.

I swallowed.

That was creepy. A ghost?

I scanned every corner from floor to ceiling for that flickering reflection, even in the bottom most crevices, but I saw nothing definitive. Though I still had the feeling of not be
ing alone right now, I moved on; keeping my eyes and senses on high alert.

The smell of food was
becoming potent now and my stomach grumbled once again, begging insistently to be fed. The casual sound of conversation and voices were more audible now.

I peered around the wall slowly, gazing out into
an immense, wide, open corridor. It was completely bathed in yellow by a line of lit sconces, that were set in either sides of the walls.

I hesitantly stepped out into the expansive corridor. The floor was evenly paved with white, glittering cobbled stones. It was grand, and decorated with braziers, columns and spires that were spaced evenly along each sides of the walls.
Several more arched openings lined the right side of the corridor, but I couldn’t see into them from here. At the far opposite end, a huge, ornate set of grand, dark wood, double doors remained closed. Behind it, was where the voices and smells were coming from.

I began t
o make my way towards the doors, though continuing to play it covertly. I kept my back to the wall, in case something or someone decided to sneak up on me from behind.

I heard a young gi
rls’ voice. She was talking to someone.

“She’s finally risen. I’m so excited! It never fails whenever Keiko-San is making her famous stew.” She giggled.

Was she talking about me? She either heard or saw me, but how? I hadn’t seen anyone else on the stairs…well, anyone solid except for that flickering reflection of light.

“It’s about time. I was beginning to worry. She should have risen three day
breaks ago with the others.” A guy replied.

“Some take a little longer, like a fine wine for a reason. There’s nothing wrong with that.” She defended.

“Leave it to woman to take her sweet time.” The guy joked.

“Should we meet her in the corridor, or wait until she follows her nose to the dining room?” She then said.

“I’ve already seen her from afar in the mortal realm. Her aura is extremely bright. I don’t know if a regular cloak is gonna mask it.” He then said.

“It may have something to do with what her essence will be. We girls are more favored anyway, we bear the children.” She replied.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t start that again.” The guy replied.

If I
was confused before; now, I was beyond confounded. I assumed that they were talking about me, but what were they talking about in regards to me?

“Well, Sean and the others aren’t back yet, but at least that’ll give me time to finish getting her room and things ready for her. Maybe you guys can show her around a little too.” She then stated.

I stopped halfway down the hall and paused. I waited…listening.

There were many voices all around me now, coming from different directions. The sounds of silverware scraping against plates
, commenced somewhere beyond what lie behind the dark wooden doors.

Anxiously
, I waited for the doors to open, wanting to see the faces that the voices belonged to.

It remained shut.

I was puzzled, but I didn’t move.

Suddenly, I was aware of a figure moving towards me…from behind.

I couldn’t explain how I saw the movement, or how I was even aware of it without having to turn around, but I did. Was that the other set of eyes that I felt watching me? My heart began to thump wildly. My muscles began twitching with mounting energy.

I licked my lips, narrowing my mind’s eye like a predator, waiting for
its prey.

I could see the outline of an arm reaching out for me, like a mirage in the forefront of my inner sight. I spun around, grasping the arm without even so much as a blink or forethought. It was as if my body already knew exactly what to do before I could even process the command.

With ease, I lifted and threw whoever this was over my shoulder, slamming him down hard onto the stone floor.

He grunted in surprise. I swiftly jammed my knee against his sternum, one hand cuffed his throat, and the other still clamped around his arm firmly. He made no moves to stop me, protect himself, or even fight back.

“Hey, whoa…take it easy. Friend, not foe. Not bad for a newbie.” He affirmed. He held his free hand out in surrender.

I glossed over both of his forearms, admiring the intricate, silver tattooing, all along each of them.

He was African American, and young —like near my own age young. He was cute, and…somehow vaguely familiar to me, as if I had seen him somewhere before. A slow smile played across his full lips.

The heavy wooden d
oors suddenly flew open, and five others lined the doorway. They were all wearing some form of the tunic and pant set that I had on, but in different colors.

There were three girls and two guys, and they all appeared to be as young as the one pinned beneath my knee did. They too, also bore the silver tattooing on each of their forearms, but the patterns clearly all differed. I found the tattoos peculiar, but uniquely stunning. I admired the artistic designs with coveting awe.

Were they some alien race of beings?

The guy
with spiked black hair laughed and they all began to parade towards us.

“Wow Durien, looks like you finally got laid…” He began.

The petite girl with long, flowing, platinum blond hair stopped him with a punch to his arm in warning.

He feigned severe injury by rubbing his arm with an innocent smile.

So far, his voice matched the one I had been hearing in conversation not long ago.

“Out, laid out. You didn’t let me finish.” He clarified to her first.  “And by a female newbie at that too. Not good my man, you’re slipping.” He displayed a teasing grin at the guy still pinned beneath me.

“Interesting. I don’t see him making any moves to get up either. Can’t say that I blame him.” The blonde haired guy smirked at me. His eyes automatically zoned in on my chest.

I wasn’t sure what to make of their approach, even if they didn’t appear hostile towards me. I eyed each one of
them; assessing and gauging body languages to match up with possible intents.

“It’s alright. You’re among your own. We’re all on the
same side here.” The platinum blonde haired girl soothed, as soon as they all gathered and stood around us.

Well, so far they all looked— and acted normal enough.

“She’s pretty good; she should breeze through training with ease.” The guy with blonde curly hair commented with a twinkle in his brown eyes.

I believed the platinum blonde girl. She had a sweet

and gentle face, with a voice to match. I let go of the one they called Durien beneath me, and moved aside to let him get up. I then rose to stand.

“Sorry.” I whispered to him, as he def
tly got to his feet.

“No need to apologize. No harm done, I understand.” He dusted himself off and adjusted his clothes. 

“How did you know I was behind you?” He then asked expectantly, as if he were quizzing me more than asking.

I licked my lips and shrugged a shoulder. I was clueless in how to answer that. I had no idea how I knew.

“Save the questions for later. There’s way too much she’s gonna have to learn, and there’s plenty of time for that. I’m Lorelei.” The platinum blond girl introduced herself and smiled at me.

“Gabe.” The curly blonde
haired guy held up a finger.

“Scarlet.” The long, dark haired petite Asian girl introduced, looking me over curiously
, with beautiful almond-shaped, slanted eyes.

Eyes that reminded me of something or someone else that I couldn’t recall.

“I’m Crystal.” The girl with shoulder length, straight, dark red hair spoke up next.

“And I’m Anthony.” The
spiky, black haired one, who teased Durien, introduced himself with a cocky smile.

He was older, as in that he was probably in his mid- twenties,
if I could guess.

“
And I’m Durien, the pleasure is all mine. You’re strong, you’ve definitely got serious potential.” He complimented.

“Score one more for the girls’ side.” Scarlet beamed.

“We’ll see. Good to finally meet you.” Anthony noted with a half-smile.

“To finally meet me?” I asked with furrowed brows.

“Yeah, you should have risen three daybreaks ago. There were eight others that arrived at the same time that you did, and they’ve already been taken to their specific assemblies.” He explained.

“Way too much Anthony
, you’re confusing the poor girl.” Lorelei cut in.

“We started to
just go ahead and bury you.” Gabe said.

They
all chuckled.

“Cut it out and
stop teasing her.” Lorelei scolded him with a shake of her head.

“Ignore him. They’re all clowns. He’s only kidding.” Scarlet added with a smile.

I looked at Durien. Why did he look familiar to

me?

“What’s your name?” Lorelei then asked.

It took me a moment to comprehend and respond to what she was asking me, and another to pick through my thoughts for my own name.

“Star…” I replied slowly, but something whispered in the back of my mind, telling me it wasn’t quite right.

“Ling!
” I then blurted out, unsure where that had come from.

“Ling? Your name is Ling?” Crystal furrowed her brows.

I shook my head in slight confusion. “No. It’s…ling, I mean Star.” I sighed and shook my head in frustration.

“It’s Star—ling. Starling” I finally put together.

My face burned with embarrassment, not being able to piece together my own name. However, the sound of my name gave me a sense of being to match what I felt like physically.

They all nodded and smiled, as if I were a raving idiot.

“Don’t worry, who you are and other tidbits about yourself will start coming back to you gradually. It happened to all of us.” Durien then said.

“Starling is a
pretty name.” Lorelei smiled genuinely.

I appreciated her compliment, turning my attention to Durien. “A few tidbits? I feel like my entire brain and memory has been stripped, and what’s left is all jumbled up.” I replied.

“There are reasons why that has to be. At least that’s what we’ve all been taught and told. It will all start to make sense once you understand why you’re here.” Anthony then said.

I looked at him peculiarly, wanting to ask him the next obvious question, when Crystal suddenly interjected.

“Good luck trying to conceal that aura.” She said, looking me over in amazement.

They all took note in agreement.

“It’s like a nuclear, radioactive glow—times a hundred.” Gabe commented.

“My aura? Why can’t I see it? Or any of yours for that matter?” I asked.

My eyes went from each of them, and then to myself. I wanted to see what they were all seeing.

“You will, you’ve just risen. There’s gonna be a lo
t of things that you’ll be able to do, see, sense, and hear. It just takes training, which is why you’re here.” Lorelei said.