Epander 2.III

Apologies for missing my post on Sunday, but it was the Superbowl and my roommates were hosting others to come over. Long story short, they made a bunch of Jello shots and I was in no condition to put up an entry here. In other life news for me, I'm going to be moving this upcoming Friday (2-14) and so I should not miss an update because of it, but be forewarned that I may.

He sensed that the man could tell, responding in a short manner only, “Very well.” Turning completely about on his heel, he strode briskly from the room, leaving Epander only to do the same, taken slightly off-guard and trailing behind at first, with his slaves scurrying swiftly behind.

They walked through further halls, seeming to take forever. The magnificence of the palace was extraordinary, matched only by its mass. That being said, his heart pounded and his mind raced, his escort making no effort at conversation for the entirety of the excursion, certainly doubling the time that every step took, if not worsening it more so. How the heart does betray one, how bitter anxieties tear at one’s fettered and frayed nerves, only to compound upon themselves both again and again. You have been able to face fearsome men and ferocious beasts alike with lance in hand, yet now here you stride in a citadel of bureaucracy, and this is what you fear? Smiles of gnashed teeth? Courtesies of hollow intent? What manner of craven are you?

The hallways and passages stretched on forevermore, the vestibules and antechambers stretched on forevermore; they seemed to be without relent, without mercy. His apprehensions appeared to additionally unravel, as though the goddess Phronema herself was wrapping her fingers through his mind and stretching it thin into filaments, tatters abandoning him to the floor with every step he took. Alas, where the heart may fail; alack, where the mind may fail; one has nothing left to him but his own resolve to compel him on to deeds which both heart and mind alike counsel him against. This is the true nature of courage. All one has left is the gods to guide him.

As though the gods were waiting for him to manage his mettle, a trial placed before him, they came to where the need end, and with that destination came his resolution. The chamber itself was great, many pillars lining its edge, all marble of a jade complexion, their plinths and capitals alike gilded in silver. At least the walls and floors are merely a white marble. How quaint of them, lowering themselves to this poverty. The majority of the room itself was occupied by a massive irregular mound, which at first obfuscated its proper nature. It was a map.