Mantle of the Gods

The same tattoo.

“Could we be..?” I pointed between the two of us.

“No.” The vehicle stopped and Tres climbed past us to throw open the back door. “The rest of the questions can wait until we get to my office.” He jumped down, then turned and looked up at us. "Can one of you get her or do I need the Grenium to do it?”

I grabbed her arm, but Trent picked up Rix and put her over his shoulder as he got out of the armored vehicle.

I got down and followed after the strawberry blonde. The two guards from before fell in step behind us as we walked inside.

The armored vehicle had been parked in a rather plain looking concrete garage. The door was shut and it was the only vehicle inside. The hallway that we walked into had a lot of doors on both walls that were spaced out at about the width of the garage, so I assumed there were a lot more places that vehicles could park.

“Where’s everyone else?” I jogged to get closer to Tres.

“They’re getting settled in.” The ruler of the city took us to an elevator. "Don’t worry, you’ll go over to the guest wing once we’re finished.” He held up his hand as he got on the elevator and the two guards took up positions beside the door as we got on. Trent stood in the middle of the box, with Tres and myself on either side.

“About the marking…” I looked around Trent’s left side. "Won’t the other Gods know what I am simply based off of the mark?”

“You haven’t told him anything…” Tres shook his head.

“He’s had a Mantle for five weeks, over half of which he spent in captivity because he told Sipher Gar that he was my son.” Trent growled as he shifted Rix to a less awkward position over his shoulder.

“Trent has a similar marking and so does Mavery.” Tres sighed. "As does every one of my Grenium.”

He must have seen the confusion on my face because he pointed at the guards. “The Grenium are my elite guards. Anyway, it makes it easier to keep secrets that way. So no, just because you have the mark doesn’t mean you’re one of us, but it does mean that you are close to one of us.”

The elevator doors opened and he walked into the room.

Though calling it a room would be like calling a pegasus just a horse. It was as big as the dorm and the courtyard. The entire north wall was nothing but glass and I could tell that it was the north wall because there was a breathtaking view of the sea that ran behind the city. The sun had set, but there were twin lighthouses out in the water that illuminated the area well.

There was a mountain range to the east and to the west, but it wasn’t visible, which helped me feel confident that my assumption that we were facing north was correct.

The decorations in the room looked like something a king would have. There were statues, trophies, bookshelves, and artifacts in glass cases. Everything was so nice that I was afraid to touch anything.

Tres sat down on what looked like a silk couch and gestured at the other three that made a square with no corners. There was a square table that looked like it was made out of monster material in the middle of it that he propped his feet up on.

“You can put her down there.”

Trent hesitated. "We really shouldn’t be staying here. The Gods aren’t supposed to be showing preferential treatment to Cathedral classes.”

“It’s a well known fact that you and I were in the same class with Mavery, Crystal, Fern, and Bion. This is just you visiting an old friend while you’re in town, like you should have done in the first place.”

“You were in class together?” I worked up the courage to sit on the southern couch as Trent laid Rix down on the western one opposite Tres. He then sat down on the northern one.

Tres nodded. "Then we formed a team and tried to push the dungeon.” He shook his head. "I outleveled them in the fifties, so we had to split up. Mavery decided to go into administration and Trent joined Dee’s team…” He looked at Trent and both men paused for a second like it was a bad memory. "Anyway…” Tres came back to the present. "Enough about the past. Who is the student from Juel and how are they getting here?”

“Yasmin Vilou is bringing her granddaughter to the Temple.” My teacher got up. "I should probably have her redirected here.”

I watched the white-haired man walk away and leave me alone with the one thing he told me to never get near.