CHAPTER 56
Mathew Sterrn wondered how Grace was able to stand there and lie before the seers, but something caught his attention. As he studied her, he noticed her fingers twitching. She tried to steady them with her other hand, but it didn't help.
Grace was starting to feel uncomfortable. The pressure in her fingers was unbearable, and she couldn't ignore it anymore. She looked at Sterrn, almost searching for an answer, her confusion mounting. That was when the second seer spoke, her voice calm but firm:
"No one leaves the Light Room until it is time."
Grace's brow furrowed. They see me, she thought. They know something's happening.
She scanned the room, trying to find someone she could signal for help. But everyone was too distracted, too consumed by what Parkston had said. Queen Judith looked deeply disturbed, her gaze pinned to Parkston. And Lady Juliet? She looked utterly stunned. Before Grace could make sense of it all, her fingers broke free.
Without warning, they pointed toward the garden, and in an instant, the flowers began to grow taller.
Grace or rather, King Quicke didn't know where to begin. The air shifted, the kingdom's attention drawing toward her gradually. Whispers spread through the Light Room.
"It has started again," they murmured.
Her hands moved with a will of their own, dragging her forward. She struggled against them, trying not to lose control, but it was useless. Her powers disrupted the meditating seers, whose previously veiled eyes now burned with flames. They watched her every move intense.
"Stop!" King Charlenugo commanded, his voice edged with fury.
"I can't!" Grace shouted back with a trembling voice. "I don't know what's happening to me!"
"You can. You always could," the seers said in unison.
Suddenly, Grace began to rise. This was the second time she had elevated since her coronation, but this time was different. Her body didn't shake uncontrollably in the air. Her movements were fluid, almost deliberate. Or so it seemed.
Gasps rippled through the room. The people clung to each other in fear and awe.
Then came a deep baritone voice, from within her, it was layered in weight. "Fear not, For I do not come for chaos. I am god of peace."
The voice echoed through the chamber, gentle and commanding. "And sooner or later, you will understand what I am doing for you."
Grace's body remained suspended, her face serene yet distant. The seers moved closer, their faces tilted upward, reverent. They didn't speak, only watched.
The atmosphere twisted. A storm stirred within the Light Room. Trees shook violently, fine glowing lines split across the walls and floor. A raw, ancient force filled the air, humming with life and power.
Grace didn't move on her own, but her fingers sparked with blue-white light, an electrical pulse that crackled through the room. The onlookers gasped again, frozen in awe and terror.
Then came a calm but sharp voice, resonating from the center of it all.
"King Quicke is god of peace."
At once, voices rose in response.
"All hail the King!"
They repeated the words like a chant, louder and louder, until a voice shouted.
"Look!"
All eyes turned upward to Grace.
She began to rotate slowly in mid-air, her arms extended. As she moved, every object in the Light Room responded, flowers lifted from the ground, swirling around her like a colorful storm. The wind circled, strong and graceful, pulling petals, leaves, and loose cloth into a tornado of color and energy.
People struggled to stay grounded, their clothes rustling violently in the wind. Only the seers stood unmoved, their eyes fixed upward.
And then it stopped, just as suddenly as it had begun, the light dimmed, the wind died, and the chaos faded. Grace fell gently to the ground, her body limp.
The seers moved swiftly, forming a circle around her as she lay unconscious. One raised a hand in command. "Take him to rest."
Without delay, the commanders stepped forward and carried Grace carefully. As they moved, whispers returned, this time filled with concern. "Will our King be okay?" someone asked softly.
But the commanders didn't answer, they only moved with urgency and care.
The seers turned back to face Parkston, now alone at the center of the Light Room. Their robes trailed behind them as they stepped forward once again.
"For the very first time," one of them announced, "a judgment shall be prolonged."
Murmurs spread through the crowd.
"The King could not bear to watch you die," another seer added. "And as such, we must wait until a final order is passed directly from him. For King Quicke is no ordinary King."
King Charlenugo stared, his was voice low and stunned. "But you've never waited for an order before. No one controls you."
The seers did not move. "This is no ordinary king," they replied.
Queen Judith spoke up, her voice calm and clear. "So we're just going to wait and let Parkston live?"
"Yes," the seers said as one. "He shall live, until the King says otherwise."
And with that, they turned and glided gracefully out of sight.
"We shall all head right back". King Charlenugo spoke quietly.
The people didn't move immediately, they watched in silence, each of them holding onto the questions that ringed in their hearts.
King Charlenugo didn't know what to say again, to him something strange was happening to King Quicke and he felt powerless for not coming through for his only son.
He called Mathew Sterrn and asked that they meet in private. "This is the very first conversation I'm having with you privately" he paused before proceeding to speak again.
"I am worried about Quicke, I do not know what he is becoming and I fear I might not know, until I seek answers". He cleared his throat.
Sterrn wasn't quite surprised. "What if it's not something to understand but rather be aware of?" He asked.
King Charlenugo moved from his seat, almost agitated. "How am I suppose to be aware that my child is the god of peace, without carefully understanding and knowing why" He furrowed.
Mathew Sterrn didn't initiate further, "Like he said King, sooner or later, we shall all understand what he is doing" He uttered in a smooth tone.