Title Pending
an excerpt

Dark steps reverberated throughout the musty chamber, and the weak bed beneath Valen Regarde shook slightly. The room he occupied had been empty for a while, and the stench and sights of decay was overwhelming. Silently, Valen pursed his lips…the world was full of metaphors that worked too well.
The palace outside the door was inevitably scrambling, busy, shuffling about with some sense of grand duty. But in the end, only one thing would mark this day for history, and he had needed some time to think. Some time to just get away from it all and grant himself a moment of peace, a silent representation of serenity before the procession. This abandoned set of room in the far north-east of the second floor served only too well for such purposes. He had been here for the past thirty minutes or so, but from the sounds of movement growing nearer, that time was about to end.
A few more seconds passed by as the sound grew louder and louder, closing in on the isolated quarantine. Dust from the roof shook down like a torrential rain as the door opened with a subtle move, almost as if the loud steps had been something else.
“It’s time, your Majesty,” came the simple voice. Its tone was both soothing and imploring, as if the servants had waited a bit longer then they would have liked at his request.
The figure in the doorway was one Valen knew well, and so he looked up and smiled sadly. “They never seem to let royalty alone, it seems.” He mused aloud, standing. “Very well, I’ve been here long enough. If you would be so kind as to the lead the way, Lurel…” Valen motioned with his hand, and the man called Lurel nodded understandingly. He turned swiftly on his feet and marched out of the room and down the hallway as Valen kept pace behind.
The dismal atmosphere of the abandoned room stretched to the also vacated hallway, encompassing the ghostly quarters with a pensive feel, one of the main reasons Valen had sought out the area in the first place. Yet the door that left the corridor also left the ambience behind, and beyond it was a dazzling display of wealth and nobility that it seemed almost impossible to comprehend that the two were part of the same building. A large chandelier encased in glass sent prisms of light dancing across the entire area, bathing the rich velvet carpet and fine-toned furniture in a dazzling splendor. Beneath the chandelier stretched a double half-spiral staircase with both a stairway on Valen’s side as well as the far side, leading to the floor below, ordaining the reuniting of the steps with a sparkling waterfall. The musical notes of festival floated through the many open doorways, bringing both the noise of revelry as well as the sound of imperious solemnity. It was an odd mixture, but one that fit the occasion perfectly.
It was the coronation of the twenty-sixth Emperor of Ianrel: His Majesty Valen Regarde.