The Realm Protectors - Chapter 16: Chapter 16

I groan when I wake up again, looking at the little digital clock on the nightstand. 11:54 pm.
"Why is it so impossible to sleep here?" I mumble as I sit up and fluff the pillow again. There were too many to count when I first got into bed, so I threw some over into the little lounge area in the corner. The first time I woke up, I put all my clothes in my closet. The second time I unpacked my school supplies and arranged them on my desk. This is the third time I've woken up since I tried to go to sleep at nine.
I huff and slide out of bed, my sweatpants and t-shirt protecting me from the slight chill. I creep across the room and grab the doorknob. The door lights up again, the engraved suns and bursts of light glowing softly as I peek out into the hallway. I peer down the hallway to see Nik and Avani looking out of their rooms.
"Can't sleep?" I whisper. They shake their heads. "Me neither." We all emerge into the hallway.
"Should we bunker up in someone's room?" Avani asks. Two more doors open behind us to reveal Lyra and Carter. Faris peeks his head out next.
"Okay, good, I'm not the only one." Faris murmurs. Enya and Nile both open their doors and walk out too.
"I figured this would happen," Enya sighs. "Everyone into the living room. We'll sleep out there and watch a movie or something."
We all grab pillows and blankets and spread out on the floor in front of the TV. Nile and Enya snuggle up together on the couch and fall asleep right after Enya presses play. Some movie starts playing, and I close my eyes.
I'm laying in a meadow of wildflowers, surrounded by all my friends. I hear a scream and turn around to find Lex with a hole in her chest, gushing blood. She keels over and I hear another scream. It's Andrew behind me, a blackened knife in his chest.
"What's going on?" I cry out. A chorus of screams erupts behind me and I see my seven new friends being attacked by their elements. Avani's being strangled to death by her own vines, Faris's breath is being torn from his body. Nikolina sinks into a pool of shadow, her veins turned black. Enya screams as her flesh melts off her body, Nile's voice bubbling up from a bottomless pit of water. Lyra flakes apart into stars, and Carter turns old in seconds before my eyes. Lights flash across my vision and I scream as I go blind, hearing nothing but the terrorized screams of my friends. Endless screaming–
I sit up and gasp, heart racing. I kick myself out from where I'm tangled in the blanket, hair plastered to my forehead with sweat. I stumble over to the balcony and open the doors, falling down beside the railing. In, out, in, out I command myself as I lean against the railing, taking in deep breaths of the cold night air.
"Ciana?" Someone asks. My eyes shoot open to see a very shirtless Faris standing at the balcony doors. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," My voice wavers and my throat stings like I'm going to cry. "Just a nightmare." Faris walks over, adjusting his sweatpants as he sits down next to me. His skin is warm against my arm.
"I get them all the time." He admits softly. "Mostly right after I come back here after breaks. I worry about my family back home."
I turn and face him more fully. "You're from Ear– the Otherworld, right?"
He smiles. "Yes. My mom is an elemental. She handles things with the Otherworld side of gateways. I think you might have met her when you came here." I think back to the day I left home.
"Was she the woman with the pale blonde hair?" I ask. It makes sense, since Faris has the same pale skin and white-blond hair. His face falls though.
"No. She has dark hair like yours."
"Oh," I rub my arm, embarrassed. Faris notices and wraps his arm around me, thinking I'm cold. His ears are tinged pink.
"That's alright. I can see why you'd think that. My parents actually look nothing like me, which makes sense considering I'm adopted."
I pull away from him in shock. "You're adopted?"
He nods. "I get that a lot. It's not very common here in the Realm."
"What happened to your birth parents?" I ask before mentally kicking myself.
"I don't really know." Faris's brow furrows. "My parents don't either. They said I was just... assigned to them."
"Oh," I turn back to the stone balcony we're sitting on. It's surprisingly comfortable tucked into him like this. "I bet you miss your parents."
"Just as much as I'm sure you miss yours." He smirks. "The first year is always the worst. It gets better."
"Do you still miss your old friends?" I ask him. He frowns in thought.
"I haven't really thought about them much." Faris admits. "I didn't have very many close friends. I never got to bring anyone over, to keep my mom's abilities a secret, so I never got that close to anyone."
"Oh," I say for the third time. "I had two really good friends. We... got in a fight before I left."
"Oh?" He pulls back a little to look at me. He takes his arm off my shoulders and readjusts so he's facing me. "Tell me about it."
I hesitate just a little bit before sighing. "The city where I'm from had this one really rich family: the Lexingtons. Mr. Lexington owned the theme park his dad had opened years and years ago, so they were quite wealthy and brought in a lot of tourism for the town. His daughter, Alexia, was my best friend."
Faris flinches. "That must have been rough. Was she bratty?"
"No, actually." I laugh. "Lex was the nicest person I'd ever met. I wasn't very popular in school, and since she was, I always got made fun of. A sympathy friend, a suck-up, a pet, they called me. Someone once asked Lex if I was her community service and she flipped her shit. Called her dad and got the kid's parents fired from their jobs at the park." Faris whistles. "We'd been together through everything. We were best friends. They treated their servants well too. One of them, a boy named Andrew, was really good friends with us too. We always hung out together at school and after school, doing our homework at Lexington Manor."
"They sound wonderful." Faris murmurs. "What happened to make you fight?"
"It was the most ridiculous thing," I laugh. "Every year, the Lexingtons host this giant New Year's Eve gala at their manor. Lex bought me the most beautiful dress. It was gonna be one of the last nights we had together before I left in a week. I told Lex that night that I had to leave. Made up some lie about some fancy boarding school in Europe. She flipped her shit at me, yelling and screaming and telling me that I betrayed her."
Faris grabs my hand and holds it. I pause, my cheeks wet, and realize I'm crying.
"She screamed at me and told me to leave. So I did. I walked out of the party and on my way out, Andrew stopped me. I told him the same lie and he wished me good luck. I started bawling. He was being so nice after Lex had been so angry with me. Then he tried to tell me something and the fireworks went off. I ran away. Instead of leaving the next week, I left the next day. I vowed to never think of them again."
"Wow," Faris breathes. "Is that what your nightmare was about?"
"Kind-of," I admit. "It had you guys in it too. I dreamt you all were dying. Lex had a hole in her heart, Andrew a knife in his chest. And you guys were being murdered with your own elements. It was awful!" I choke back a sob and wipe the tears off my face.
Faris lifts my chin, his hand gentle and steady. He wipes away the tear that falls and waits until my breathing calms. "That won't happen, Ciana. I promise." I sniff and nod.
"Thank you, Faris." I smile and laugh. "I haven't opened up to someone like that in... a while."
He shrugs. "Sometimes we just need to let it out." He stands up and offers me his hand. I take it and he pulls me to my feet. His hand lingers on mine for a moment before letting go. He motions back inside. I lay down in my pile of pillows and blankets and he fixes the blanket so it's covering me.
"Get some sleep." He says. I close my eyes and drift off.
DeleteCreated with Sketch.
"I hereby call this first official meeting of the Arch Council to order." Enya bangs the gavel on the sound block from her seat. Last night the cleaning crew finished their thorough cleaning of the High Arch Seats and rearranged them so we could be seated on them today. Mine is made from white rock with gold detailing. Thank goodness there's a plush cushion on the seat and the back, or I'd be miserable.
The previous Arch Council – made up of the eight senators of the eight element countries and other adults chosen by the previous High Arches – is arranged in folding chairs on the floor in front of the dais. Each of them has a little desk in front of them, with a bottle of water, a notebook, and a name tag for us to help get to know them. We each have a metal table beside us with a bottle of water and anything else we could need. Avani has the rest of her breakfast sitting there waiting for her. Enya has her gavel and sound block.
"Your Highnesses, it's a delight to finally meet you all." Senator Aita, the Dunia senator, says.
"Indeed. However, we are a bit concerned about safety here in Arch Hall after what happened to the previous High Arches." The senator from Mork pipes in. I can't see his name tag from here.
"I assure you, Senator Darcio, that Officer Alexxi and Arches Aquino, Voronkova, and Gipson have personally checked each new guard that was hired, and they're all highly qualified for their jobs." Enya raises her head, straightening in her seat. She looks so regal, even in her regular school clothes, that even I'm impressed. I sit up straighter to try and mimic her. "Now, to our first order of business: our quest."
"You have chosen to find your Grandshield, correct?" The senator from Fajro asks.
"That is correct, Senator Fintan." Enya nods. "Former Arch Grantwood selected Tucker Brooks as our Grandshield. And we're going to find him."