The Realm Protectors - Chapter 47: Chapter 47

Tranquil waters glimmer in the moonlight, the gentle sound of the waves hitting the beach filling my ears. My head feels like clouds as I rest on the perfectly soft sand of the Saari beach. The moon is bright in the sky above me, surrounded by twinkling stars. They glow with the different constellations: Fiero, the fire pit, in bright orange; Agua, the well, in blue; Spacio, the planet, in purple; Horu, the hourglass, in navy; Sulit, the sun, in gold; Dakaa, the shadow, in deep gray; Aero, the wind, in white; and Natura, the tree of life, in green. I once heard Carter tell Lyra that the stars here form completely different constellations than the ones in the Otherworld. I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to see them like this, highlighted and clear in the sky.
The sky is surprisingly bright. Sea-salt air brushes against my face, clearing some of the clouds in my head. A buzzing starts in my brain, deep and unnatural. There's a message behind it, thudding against my skull in time with my heartbeat: Get up, get up, get up.
Get up?
The air shimmers around me, turning foggy and light. Sparkles dance across my vision, tiny pinpricks of light.
Ah, a dream. Such a nice one, too. I hope I get to stay here for a while.
Wake up.
Why? It's just the beach and the stars.
Wake up.
It's so peaceful here.
Wake up.
A bright light flashes across my vision. I shoot up in bed, the folds of the tent coming into focus around me.
"What the Ever?" I curse under my breath. It's the middle of the night, and yet something brighter than a flash bomb just went off through the entire camp. Shaking my hair out, I toss aside the covers and stand up, stretching out my muscles. The flaps of the tent swish slightly as I step outside, looking around. Nile and Carter emerge from their tents, everyone else not long after.
"What the hell was that?"Avani groans, rubbing her eyes. I look up, millions of tiny pinpricks of yellow light dispersing over our heads. It looks like the remnants of a firework.
Faris whispers something under his breath, staring up at the sky above us. His face goes a scary shade of pale.
"What?" Nile asks. Faris looks at him with the most panicked expression on his face that I've ever seen.
"That's Ciana's ability," Faris repeats.
My blood goes cold.
"Where is she?" I ask. Avani and Nikolina sprint over to Ciana's tent. "Where is she?" They peel back the flaps and run inside.
Avani's expression matches Faris' as she comes back out. "She's not here." Nile grabs my hand.
"We need to find her. Fast. That wasn't any normal release of power," I say.
"That was a cry for help." Carter agrees. Faris takes off sprinting out of the campsite.
"Faris, wait!" Nile yells. "We need a plan!"
"I have a plan!" Faris shouts back. "Find Ciana!"
"That's not a plan! That's a wishlist!" Avani hollers. We all look at each other before taking off after Faris.
"Carter, Lyra, get Tucker and the other guards awake!" I yell behind me.
"Got it!" Carter replies. The sound of their feet fades as they change directions. The rest of us follow Faris as sirens start blaring throughout the camp.
"That's the gateway signal," Nile realizes, his face paling.
"What if she's over there?" Nik asks. "What if that's what she was trying to tell us?"
"We need to get there," I push more power through my limbs, sprinting toward the gateway. "We need to find her!"
Light pulses on the horizon from the direction of the gateway. The sound of pounding boots behind us crescendos as the soldiers inside the camp don their gear and prepare for battle. It's only then that I realize I'm only wearing the under-parts of my armor, and all of the protective stuff is back in my tent.
Please don't let any of us get hurt, I send up a prayer to Uzima, the goddess of life. Please protect my friends.
Battle cries echo to us as the soldiers around the gateway fight with the crowd of darkness elementals. Faris has stopped on the crest of the hill, watching the sight in front of us in horror. Griffin Gray is silhouetted by the light of the gateway, his arms moving rapidly as he tries to collapse the gateway. A deep rumble erupts from the waterfall where the gateway is hidden, and water sprays as it explodes.
"Get down!" Nile yells. He pushes me to the ground, covering his body with mine. We duck our heads as the black space dust sweeps across the Saari hills, the wind blowing us back. Far behind us, the tents of the camp bend and collapse. Trees creak and crack, falling to the ground like dominoes.
Gray finishes with a sweep of his arms, opening up a tunnel to escape. The ground shakes violently beneath us. I grit my teeth, pushing up from underneath Nile and getting to my knees. Ravena's evil cackle reaches my ears, fire erupting behind my eyelids. I cup my palm, a ball of fire forming. The tunnel closes right as I throw it, just missing Ravena. I curse under my breath.
"Stay down!" Lyra shouts from behind us. She and Carter run up the hill, the rest of the soldiers standing and looking around in shock. The wind starts blowing backward as the gateway begins to collapse in on itself. Lyra twists her wrists, making a zipping motion in the air. There's an odd sucking noise from the gateway before the wind dies down completely. A neat seam shimmers in the air where the gateway used to be, water flowing around it in newfound paths.
"Start search and rescue," Nile tells the soldiers behind us. "We need a count of who's still alive."
"Ciana!" Faris yells, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Ciana, where are you?"
"Has anyone seen Arch Leonide?" Carter asks the soldiers around us. I spot Nile's friends deep in the crowd, looking at the gateway in fear.
"Over there!" Faris shouts before taking off running. He's headed towards a pile of fallen trees, light from underneath by some bright glow.
Ciana, I think to myself. I sprint after Faris, Nile close behind me. Avani outpaces us, lifting her arms and starting to toss aside the trees like sticks. Faris helps, using the wind to lift the trees.
"Faster!" Avani shouts, the glow starting to fade. The both of them move furiously, almost terrifying how quickly they move the pile of trunks and boughs. Avani is concerned for her friend, but Faris...
That's the panic of someone who's trying to save their love.
They finally get to the last tree, physically shoving the trunk away. Ciana lies still underneath, eyes closed. Her chest barely moves, and there's a terrifyingly large pool of blood underneath her. A dagger sticks straight out of her chest, black veins spreading from it.
"Oh my Ever," I breathe. Faris falls to his knees, lifting Ciana up and cradling her to his chest.
"Get a medic here, now!" I turn and snap to the nearest soldier. They salute and run off back towards the camp. Tucker is pale, approaching Faris gently.
"Let me see her," Tucker tells Faris. Faris shakes his head, smoothing back some of the bloodied hair sticking to Ciana's neck.
"Faris," Nile says gently, putting his hand on Faris's shoulder. Faris sighs, handing Ciana's limp body to Tucker. Tucker examines her head, as well as the black veins that are still moving throughout her body. He looks at the dagger and blanches.
"That knife is coated in darkness." Tucker breathes. "They stabbed her with the one thing that could kill her." Nikolina chokes back a sob, covering her mouth with a hand. Faris looks at Tucker in fear.
"Is she gonna die?" He asks.
"Faris..." Tucker shakes his head.
"Is she going to die?" Faris asks again.
"I don't know." Tucker sets his mouth in a firm line. Soldiers shout as medics run towards us, a stretcher rolling between them. They chatter between themselves, stopping and pulling out all sorts of medical equipment. Tucker stands, lifting up Ciana and placing her on the stretcher. Her body is limp, rolling around like a dead body.
Please don't let her be dead, I pray to anyone who will listen. Nile grips my hands tightly.
"We're taking her to Saari Memorial Hospital." One of the medics tells us. Another medic slices their hand through the air, opening up a tunnel. "You're welcome to come with us."
"I'm coming," Faris stands, wiping blood on his white armor. Nikolina cringes.
"No," I tell him.
"Why not?" Faris asks, turning to me with a glare.
"You need to get to the Otherworld and make sure their side of the gateway is okay." I remind him. "Lyra will take you there." Lyra nods, opening a tunnel. Faris sets his shoulders, preparing to argue with me.
"We'll take care of her," One of the medics says to him. Faris looks at the medic, then at Ciana lying limp on the stretcher. His shoulders sag as he turns back to me, nodding his head.
"Alright," He sighs. All the fight seems to leave his body as he follows Lyra through the tunnel. It zips shut behind them, leaving the rest of us with the medics in the clearing.
"We need to go," One of the medics reminds us.
"Lead the way," I tell them. They start to wheel the stretcher through the tunnel, a medic with blue stripes on her shoulders checking Ciana's vitals. We follow them through, green hills turning to white walls. The medic with purple stripes on his shoulders shuts the tunnel behind us. The lead medic – white stripes on his shoulders – shouts to some of the nurses waiting.
"We got a female, major darkness poisoning and chest wound." The white-striped medic says to the doctors rushing to Ciana. Nile holds my hand tightly as we follow the crowd all the way to the doors leading into the operating area. The medic with the purple stripes pauses in front of the doors and stops us.
"I am sorry, but you'll have to wait here." He says. "We have a waiting room down the hall if you follow me."
I nod. "Thank you," The medic leads us down the hallway and into a comfortably furnished waiting room, complete with two vending machines and some different games.
"We will return to give you updates." The medic says, bowing once before exiting the room. Carter, Avani, Nikolina, Nile, and I all find seats and get comfortable while we wait. Avani sits eerily still, slouched on the couch and staring blankly at the ceiling. Nikolina is chewing on her nails, bouncing her leg up and down. Carter is flipping through the same magazine with glassed-over eyes, and Nile and I are sitting next to each other with hands interlocked.
"She's gonna be alright... right?" Avani asks.
"She has to be," Nikolina says. "She has to be."
"Ciana's one of the strongest people I know." I tell my friends. "If anyone can recover from a knife in the chest, it's her."
"But the darkness poisoning..." Nikolina whispers. We all fall silent.
"She got over it before," Carter reminds us. "She can do it again."
"How did this even happen?" Nile asks.
"She was out at the gateway at the middle of the night." Carter purses his lips.
"Maybe someone took her?" Nikolina suggests.
"There wasn't any signs of a struggle in her tent." Avani sighs.
"Maybe she couldn't sleep and went for a walk." Nikolina shrugs.
"We'll never know for sure." I snap. "But it won't do any good speculating until we can ask her ourselves."
Everyone goes silent and goes back to their anxious movements. I sigh, leaning my head against Nile's shoulder.