Regicide

The room the conference took place in was known as the war room. It was an oval-shaped room with seating that resembled the layout in the coliseum. There were three levels of the coliseum seating and a ceiling that was dome-shaped up to the sky. A bead of light wrapped around the wall right under where the curves for the domed ceiling started. Due to the lights, it made it look like the walls and ceilings were two separate sections.

At the bottom of the seating, a flat floor was equally as oval-shaped as the rest of the room. It was connected to the entry door by a single, wide staircase that cut through the seating. A simple table sat at the center of the oval. It was shaped like a pentagon with equal length sides. Each leader had a chair placed at one of the pentagon's points. However, the table's "points" were, in actuality, short, straight edges to avoid someone leaning forward and stabbing themselves on the corner.

A common question for visitors to ask was whether the table was a pentagon or a decahedron, as the flattened "points" were significant enough in length to be considered sides on their own. The question had been asked many times after the war room began to be used for peace talks. It had become taboo to ask about the shape of the table.

A perch was sat behind each leader's seat, allowing any person's particular Needaimus to sit in plain view for the other leaders.

The conference room had grown awkwardly silent for a moment. The leaders had just finished arguing about trade routes, and no solution was in sight. Many sitting in the observing seats silently wished for something interesting to happen as the lull grew over the whole room. They had not noticed that Platon quietly exited only moments prior.

The Netzian, Hal, yawed and slipped out his tablet to look at the time. Draco elbowed him. Hal rolled his eyes and slipped his tablet back into his pocket.

Donn, on the other hand, was hyper-focused on the meeting between leaders. As the eldest in their family, he would be next in line for the throne. He always responsibly paid attention to meetings such as this, even when there was a lull in the conversation.

It was at that moment that Dia burst through the door while using Platon as a battering ram. The giant, for a Hobusian, was thrown off to the side and crashed into empty seats in the viewing area. As she let Platon go, Dia unfolded her wings and glided down over the staircase. Her direction was locked onto the table, and she moved with grace and speed.

Fiona flashed into the broken doorway and then onto Dia's back. She attempted to grab the beauideal's wings, but Dia reached back and grabbed Fiona by the arm. With a simple flick of Dia's arm, Fiona was thrown across the room, into the wall under the lights, without Dia losing any speed.

Some others stood up and prepared to intervene with Dia, but she passed over the table. In a quick movement, Dia pulled out her hidden dagger and plunged it into the chest of King Whitlock.

His face grew pale blue as he stared at the winged Aqueenian in front of him. Donn was the first to act from the crowd. As Dia turned to King Fio, she was tackled off the table and to the ground by Donn. He flipped her onto her stomach and twisted one arm back to hold her down. At the same time, the other leaders were fusing with their Needaimus. Fiona teleported next to her father and shouted to him.

King Whitlock didn't respond. He looked to Dia, who Donn was restraining, then to Fiona. He looked down at the knife that remained lodged into his chest. He then looked around the room until his eyes settled on his wife. She looked directly at him with wide eyes and two hands covering the lower half of her face. That was the last thing King Whitlock saw.

Dia began to move her arm, and Donn tried to hold it in place. However, she was too strong and quickly threw the Aqueenian prince off of her. Donn was smashed into the ground as Dia broke free from his grip. She flapped her wings and took to the air, stopping only at the top of the room. All eyes were on her as everyone in the room armed up.

"Careful, she seems as strong as Platon!" Donn yelled out to the crowd as they all contemplated their attacks on the intruder. They were more worried about interfering with each other, and starting an incident after the event, than attacking Dia. Donn's words also made many worry, especially of the Hobusian group that had attended. Several attendees looked at the unconscious Platon with faces that made no effort to hide their concern.

A Bentulousian ran across the room to the unconscious giant Hobusian. She was the flagbearer for the traveling platoon that had attended the conference. The large flag was still hanging on her back and fluttered behind her as she ran. Dia watched the Bentulousian but did not dare make a move with all other eyes on her.

"I will remove him from the room!" the flagbearer yelled loud enough for others to hear. Dia made an audible tch, but it did not carry far enough for others to hear. The flagbearer lifted the large and heavy Hobusian with ease and slowly walked him out of the room. The others in the room waited in silence. Some were confused by the flagbearer's actions, others came to an incorrect conclusion, and the rest reached the proper determination and locked their gazes on Dia.

With a bit of struggling and grunting, the flagbearer reached the top of the stairs and carried the unconscious Platon out of the room, walking past Gwyn, who just stood in silence. Dia laughed as she exited the room. She made a small applause to the Bentulousian who had set Platon down.

"Well done! Was that a lucky guess, or have you figured out my ability?"

"I was already familiar with the beauideal Dia!" the Bentulousians replied in a gruff voice.

Dia could not hide her surprise and almost missed a flap of her wings. She fell slightly but regained her composure and managed to get close to the ceiling again.

"Everyone, her ability is to be the best at something in the room! She was temporarily stronger than Platon, but now that he is removed, her strength will not exceed that of an average Aqueenian.

"This isn't looking good, X," Dia muttered at the ceiling of the room. "When are we supposed to get out of here?"

In one minute, 27 seconds. I will put a countdown in your field of vision. X echoed in Dia's head. A countdown appeared that was only visible to Dia. It started large and in the center of her vision but quickly shrunk down and slid to the left lower side of where she could see.

Dia sighed in relief.

"So, they only need to be entertained for a little longer. We sure cut it close, though!" Dia cleared her throat and shouted down to the room: "Well, you got me there! I never expected a fan to show up! Unfortunately, I have to go, but would any of you like an autograph before I leave?" In the air, Dia mimicked the action of signing a piece of paper.

She did not amuse the others in the room. Cecilia suddenly burst out from the ceiling at the top of the dome where Dia had retreated. She phased through the ceiling and grabbed onto Dia from above. Dia was shocked as the Hobusian girl latched onto her and started to pull her to the ground.

"Very good, Cecilia!" Avon, the eldest son of King Fio, yelled out from the crowd. He ran his hand through long, luscious hair as he called out to the girl. Cecelia rolled her eyes as she piledrove Dia into the floor.

Donn was up and lifted the wing Aqueenian off the floor. She shook her head as he restrained her arms.

It was at that point that the countdown reached zero. Dia suddenly vanished from Donn's arms. Everyone was still on high alert and looked around the room. It didn't take long for them to realize someone else must have teleported her away.