The Imperial Food Taster - Chapter 3

Arion walked behind Estelle through the endless starlit hall until they reached two massive cerulean doors. At the center where the two doors met was the golden emblem of the Morning Sun, three hexters in diameter; that would be the length of three men put together. , ! Arion marveled. But he soon snapped back to attention as Estelle continued to walk past the entrance and reached a hidden corridor. Through the corridor was a smaller version of the court entrance.

“This is the side entrance for servants, and close attendants of the Emperor. You will enter through here from now on for Morning Court.” As they entered the court, Arion saw the Morning Sun rise up and take it’s place behind the Divine Throne. The golden rays of the Morning Sun passed through the translucent purple crystal that composed the Throne and became gleaming light that lit up the runic patterns and star gems that were positioned in an arcane manner around the Courtroom. When Arion saw this scene, he came to a standstill and watched with his mouth agape. Estelle nudged him along, “Move along, don’t shame the Emperor with your uncouth behavior!” Arion closed his mouth and trudged forward while gazing at the Throne.

The Empress__ No, to the people she was the Gorchellian Emperor, appeared behind the Throne slipped through it like she was a translucent substance and then sat on it. Arion gazed at the robes that graced her; purple robes with gold lined borders, there was a seven-pointed star with a dragon’s head in the circular center of the star. Steps sounded as he saw nobles and ministers arrive through the main doors. As they sat down in their individit chairs they shone in a particular color for each person which lit the runic pattern and led to the Star gem transfixed over their chairs. Individit stones were able to retain the memory of a person by lighting up in a particular color that was unique only to them. Arion remembered when the old man gave him his birth-card made of individit, it lit up in purple-gold light, like a strange blend of his hair and eyes. Estelle led Arion to a side chamber where they sat on wooden chairs; there was a gap through which they could see the court, but the chamber hid them from prying eyes.

“This is where we will be seated every court session until you are revealed to the court by the Emperor as his advisor. Arion nodded and looked on as the chairs were eventually filled with their rightful occupants. Then the Emperor raised his hand and declared, “Let Morning Court begin”. The Divine Throne released the golden light from the Morning Sun that it had gathered in ripples which struck the chairs that responded in ripples with their own colors. With that the Morning Court began.

“Tell us of recent events, Announcer.” The Emperor demanded of the Imperial Announcer. The Imperial Announcer was a man wearing standard imperial robes with a blue color and trumpet insignias symmetrically lining the center of his robes; his chair had his title engraved on it. He stood and walked to the center of the Court, bowed to the Empress, and began his announcements. “The Railon family has been scheduled for execution on the 2nd of Noven as you ordered” “The Day of First Offerings will be on The Fifth of Octurn….”

Arion’s attention turned towards the nobles and ministers after that announcement and noticed a few excited faces and a few grim faces. But that was not enough for suspicion. So he proceeded to plan on how to test for poison in food he could not touch. Finally he remembered about using dyes on clothes when he was a child to make some extra krions. If he could create a substance that reacted to poisonous substances in food; it should be able to change to different colors to identify poisonous substances when applied to food. By the time he regained awareness, the Morning Court had ended. The nobles and advisors started filing out of the court until only they remained, but The Emperor had not left his throne. Again He waved his hand and the doors to the Court closed

Estelle was flicking his head to get his attention and stopped when she noticed he had stopped dazing out. “You become inattentive quite often don’t you? When will you start to focus on the real world, huh?”

“I was just making plans regarding the poison testing of the food that will be presented to the Emperor”

“Well right now, His Divine Grace wants to talk to you about self-protection”.

Estelle started to lead him by hand in fear of losing him again and stood in front of the throne and bowed to the Emperor, “Your Divine Grace, I have brought Arion before you as you requested”. Then she went and stood to the side.

“I wanted to teach you a method of self-protection because of threats to your life that will occur to your life” ” Hold your left index finger over your chest, then bring it to the lower left side of your torso”, Arion followed her instruction. “Now draw a diagonal line to the symmetrical midline of your chest and follow with a downward line from that point to lower right side of your torso”.

Blue lines started to form where his finger traced in the air. “Another diagonal line now from your lower right side to a point past the first star point but lower than it, the draw a horizontal line from there to a point right across to it; and finally draw a diagonal line to meet the original point on your lower left side”. A blue five-pointed star had formed and was hovering in front of his torso. “Now say with me ‘Gorchellyess, be within me’”. He repeated after her in that impending moment, “Gorchellyess, be within me”. The star began to brighten till its light filled the court, then it shattered into fragments of light that flooded into the middle of his chest. And he jolted as if something inside him awakened.

“This is not some spell you can you use when in danger, or some temporary buff; this is a permanent ignition of your star” “Every Gorchellian has one” “When the first Gorchellian, Araestraous came into being, he was born with a brother, Petros who was powerless and chose a different path. To live as a mortal; but every descendant of his was born with a star, just as every descendant of Araestraous was born with one. You are clearly a descendant of Petros”.

“How are you so certain of that?”

“Because as a Celian I feel no connection to you, which means you are not a Gorchellian”.

Arion nodded, understanding what she meant. Then she waved them off, “Begone now, start your preparations for the Day of First Offerings.”

Arion headed back to his room, and started to write down on his Galderone crystal table the supplies he needed to create a poison-detection dye. He needed to begin experimentation to create a functional dye, before the Day of First Offerings.