THESE HIDDEN WINGS

[4.1] THE KINGS HALL

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"No one knows your father by name. They refer to him as the King."

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WE WALKED DOWN a familiar hallway but stopped sooner than expected when he stood before a picture frame. Why I didn't notice the hallway lined with half my size picture frames when coming here was a mystery to me. Then I noticed this was another hallway, only identical to the one before.

I would probably get lost in this place if I was all alone.

"This is the King's Hall," he introduced as I walked further out examining every picture. I stopped before one, eyes widening, as I noticed a familiar face 'This is-'

"Me," he finished with a curt nod. He moved toward it, standing beside me, glancing at his painted portrait, "In other times, better times."

He surely did look younger here, somehow, yet there seemed to be no difference at all. He hadn't aged one bit yet strangely looked younger. But why was he in the king's hall? Wait... was he the-

"I have a seat at the table," he said with a grin, reading my expression, "continue," he urged.

I paused in front of another face I was very familiar with, thanks to current affairs.

"Ah, Miss Amir," he grinned, "you will meet her soon enough. She will be happy to see you."

I had no clue why, but I moved on freezing before the last photo, my eyes stinging a little with tears as I recognized the face before me.

He stood looking out into the vast space between us, towering like he always did. His dark eyes swirled like midnight mist, gentle yet unyielding. his left eye didn't seem as vibrant as the other, but only a few knew it was because it was made of glass.

His beard curled around his lips, neatly drawn to the precise detail, even the streak of white that went through his hair and his beard in an unusually jagged line.

A beautiful abnormality I always marveled at. His smooth dark lightly wrinkled skin gave out the fact that he had seen more than any yet would live longer than most.

He was dressed in a familiar Ekusi gown, an Ekusi band around his wrist, and his signature cane, one he never left behind no matter where he went and I mean everywhere, one his dear beloved pet ravens perched on whenever he visited the courtyard. I could even spot the jagged birthmark on his hand he had also engraved into his cane.

But then it hit me, what was he doing hanging in the King's Hall?

"Your father, the King-" Gravis paused turning to look at me, "of Kingsland."

My eyes almost bulged out of the sockets. What was my father doing heading a whole organization full of converts? Scratch that, let's backtrack a little bit, where did he get all the resources to build this place?

I mean Barotse was not by any means a poor country although it was located in the heart of Africa. On the contrary, it was considered one of the most developed in southern Africa, but these facilities must have cost trillions!

I mean the infrastructure on Kingsland seemed old English castle type but that just meant it cost a lot more.

"Time has run out princess, you will learn as you go, " Gravis suddenly declared, glancing at his watch, "I want you rested and orientated before implementation."

What did that mean? I wanted to know everything, and I wanted to know it now no matter how impossible and overwhelming it seemed to be at the moment. I still had his feeling that I was floating around somewhere in Limbo and my mind had built up this place so I could feel like it wasn't falling apart. So, I wouldn't feel death.