The Realm Protectors - Chapter 53: Chapter 53

Fall break and the last weeks of October pass by in a blur of classes. All of the fourth sect teachers are getting more and more strict as if they realize that we'll be graduating in just over a month and want to make sure we're prepared. Classes are longer, tests and assignments are harder, and everyone is mildly stressed.
"You'd think after four years of dealing with us, they'd give us a break and let us chill out this last month," Enya grumbles, biting a baby carrot at lunch.
"They'll chill out soon," I assure her. "They're all just scared about the Nox and stuff. They want to make sure we'll be able to take care of ourselves in a worst-case scenario."
Enya huffs, sitting back in her chair. She looks at me and squints her eyes, tilting her head. "Do you think if I made an official law about shortening the school year, they'd let us graduate early?"
I roll my eyes, rubbing circles on the back of her hand. "I'm sure they would find it very amusing, En."
Enya huffs, stuffing the rest of the baby carrot in her mouth.
Forensic Science was probably the least stressful class. Mrs. Denali has been giving us a bunch of fake investigations to solve, and they've been relatively simple. Difficult for some of my classmates, but it's been easier for me.
"Compared to all the stuff with the Nox, this is a piece of cake," I tell Mrs. Denali in one of my classes.
"I've heard it's been tough," She says, leaning against the lab table I'm working on. "You've all been handling it well, though."
"I guess so," I reply hesitantly, thinking about the way I raged after Ravena escaped the prison in Civitastella. Mrs. Denali raises an eyebrow at my wince. "We're meeting up later to see if we can piece together a few pieces and figure out Gray's location. He's been on the move, and we're trying to figure out his plan."
Mrs. Denali hums in thought. "You'll figure it out. You're a smart kid, Nile." Someone starts yelling from the other side of the room about their findings, and she hurries over to go investigate.
Physical Hydrokinesis passes quickly, and barely takes any effort. It's both invigorating and slightly scary to think about how powerful I am, even when I'm not putting full effort into it.
Ms. Delgatto hums in thought as I walk by her after my sparring match, clearly noticing my minimal effort. I shrug, knowing I'll still get a full grade since I won and did it in the right manner. Besides, if I was really trying, I'd probably demolish my sparring partner. And we wouldn't want that, would we?
I explain all of this to her later, when she asks to talk to me after class. She hums again in thought, crossing her arms.
"Besides, my thoughts are on my duties right now, Ms. Delgatto," I tell her. "We have a mystery to solve up at Arch Hall."
"I know that your position and duties as Arch of Investigation are important, Nile," She sighs. "And I understand you're very powerful, seeing as you're a Realm Protector. However, I would still appreciate it if you put at least full mental effort into these exercises, if not your full ability effort. You've been juggling all this for almost a year, Mr. Aquino. It shouldn't be hard to keep it up for another month."
I clench my jaw to keep from saying something I'll regret. "Yes, Ms. Delgatto," I reply after a second. She notices my hesitation before nodding towards the door, my cue to leave.
November in Capital has arrived with a mixture of weather. The temperature bounces up and down like it's on a Pogo stick. One day it's warm and one day it's freezing. I can't wait to get back to Vesi's eternal summer over winter break. The wind blows my jacket away from my body and I pull it back quickly, zipping it up and popping up the collar to protect my neck.
Enya saunters up to me, her jacket zipped up to her chin. She pulls the hood over her head with a shiver, pulling the drawstrings tight. It makes her look like a sausage.
She slaps me when I tell her this.
"You know how awful it is for fire elementals to be cold!" Enya huffs, pulling the drawstrings of her hood even tighter. "I hate winter."
I snort. "Enya, this is the end of fall. It's not even winter yet."
Enya groans, laying her head on my shoulder. We walk side-by-side to the teacher's offices, walking through the lobby, and to the elevator. She smashes the down button with her thumb, shivering slightly. The elevator arrives a few minutes later, teachers coming down from their offices to go do whatever teachers do at the end of the day. Ciana, Avani, Faris, and Nikolina arrive soon after, and we all cram into the elevator together. Enya punches in the password and allows the small camera to scan her retina. A happy ding and green light later, the elevator descends to the tunnels.
Faris keeps an eye on Ciana the entire time we walk through the tunnels. She's talking very animatedly to Nikolina and Avani about the contents of one of their classes. I bump him on the shoulder and he turns to me.
"Have you told her yet?" I ask. Faris blanches, holding a finger to his lips. He slows his footsteps, so Enya and I do as well, letting the younger girls go on ahead of us. When Faris is satisfied they won't overhear, he continues walking.
"No," He sighs. "I can't seem to figure out the right way to do it. Or the right time."
Enya rolls her eyes. "Faris, I'm gonna be blunt with you. You spent the entire two months she was asleep moping around and being an absolute toxhead to everyone. Now she's been awake for almost three months, and you still haven't told the girl you're in love with her?"
Faris winces. "I know, it's stupid of me. I'm just afraid she won't feel the same way, or she won't be ready for a relationship, or some other excuse–"
"Did you see the way she was looking at you at her gala?" I ask incredulously. "Whatever you feel for her is the same as what she feels for you."
"Really? You think so?"
"We know so, Faris," Enya sighs. "Ciana didn't take her eyes off of you the entire night." Faris stares at his feet, pondering what we've said.
"Just tell her, Ris," I say, patting him on the shoulder. "You regretted not telling her for so long. You don't want to go through that again."
Faris purses his lips. He nods, a smile breaking out on his face. "Yeah... I am gonna tell her! I'm gonna tell her as soon as we're done with this Gray business."
Enya whoops and I slap him on the shoulder.
"Atta boy, Faris," I laugh. "Now come on, we better go figure out where Gray's hiding so you can hurry up and get your girl."
"Okay, what pieces are we working with here?" Enya asks, leaning back against the couch. I sit on the stool next to my board of evidence, staring at all the pieces we have pinned to the board. Tucker winds a stray piece of string around his finger as he thinks.
"No one saw him for a few weeks after the Vesi attack," Ciana points out, pointing to the large gap on our list of sightings.
"A few weeks ago he was spotted in Aria on foot," Faris says. "He bought some basic living supplies: food, water, spare clothes. Then he disappeared for a week."
"He reappeared over the Arian-Stellune border a few days later, hiding in a nearby village," Enya says. A blurry photo of Gray is tacked up on the board beside me. I nod.
"So we know he's still in Stelluna," I say. "Is he really stupid enough to go back to the gateway?"
"His movements point to yes," Lyra hums, pointing to the points on the map of Stelluna. They've gotten increasingly closer to Civitastella every other day.
"He should be arriving there within a day if this pattern is any inclination," Enya realizes. I spin to the board and count the dots on the map, breaking it down by the days. She's right.
"He's probably got an army ready to attack the gateway," Carter gasps.
"We need to alert everyone, right now!" Ciana says, jumping to her feet. Everyone gets up, talking over each other about what we need to do.
"We need to alert the people of Civitastella!"
"If they have an army, we need one too!"
"The people around the gateway need to be evacuated–"
"Hey!" Tucker yells over everyone. "You all need to take a breath and calm down. The more you sit here and panic about what you need to do, the more time that gives them to plan. Take a breath, and figure stuff out."
Enya takes a deep breath. "Tucker's right. We need to go about this logically, the same as we always have. We need a good, solid plan. The future of everyone in this Realm depends on it."
"We should figure out the tasks that need to be done, then divide them up." Ciana pipes up.
"Good idea," I agree. "We need to alert Senator Esmeray for one and gather up the able-bodied fighters of Civitastella. Anyone else needs to be evacuated."
"We should make sure we have as good a chance as possible," Avani adds. "We don't know how big their army is. We should gather fighters from all the countries. The bigger and better we are, the faster we can shut this down."
"That's a great idea," Enya nods approvingly. "Alright, here's the plan. Lyra, you're gonna be our tunneler. We'll need you to hop from country to country. You up for that?"
"I can do whatever is needed," Lyra nods.
"Good," Enya says. "We'll need you to take all of us to Civitastella first. Once we're there, Ciana and I will go alert Senator Esmeray. With his help, Nile will sort out all the able-bodied fighters while Ciana and I help get the others a safe distance away. Once we're there, Lyra will tunnel Faris to the Otherworld. It'll get uncomfortable, but you'll have to deal with it. We need you to help your mom evacuate any humans around the gateway."
Faris looks like he wants to argue, but nods.
"Avani and Nikolina will need to be tunneled from country to country when you get back, Lyra. Tucker will go with them." Enya continues. "You guys will gather up any forces you can get and bring them to Civitastella.
"Got it," Avani says.
"Okay," Enya replies, taking a breath. "This one's for real guys. Everything up 'til this point has been bad, yeah, but this is the big one. We have to save this gateway, or everything we know will collapse into oblivion." The younger ones all go silent, pondering her words.
"Hey, chins up," I tell them. "We can do this. Worry about evacuating and gathering people for now. We'll worry about the battle later."
I watch as my friends come to terms with their thoughts and steel themselves for battle.
"You kids will do just fine," Tucker says. He looks around at all of us, pride in his eyes. "You've come a long way. Go show the rest of the Realm what great leaders you are."
Pride flares in my chest as the eight of us look around at each other. Some of us are still kids, and some of us are barely adults. Yet, we're about to go fight to protect our home.
"Let's do this," Enya says, teeth flashing with a devilish grin.
We all hurry back to our room, pulling out the tactical armor made for us in Vesi. The blue material feels sturdy against my skin, the reinforced armor sections covering the most vulnerable parts of my body with comfort and security. Snug on top and more loose around my legs, it's the perfect armor for battle.
Enya knocks on my door, leaning in the doorway. My armor suddenly feels a little tighter as I look at hers, deep orange and snug in all the right places. My body flares with heat, and my eyes meet hers in a teasing glance.
"You can try to get it off later," She smirks, knowing exactly what I'm thinking. "Fight now, bed later."
I grin back, following her out into the hallway. The rest of our friends are waiting in their armor, ready to go. Tucker has his own set of tactical armor, with the sigil of the Grandshield on the breastplate. He nods to us, ready to follow wherever we go.
Lyra gets the nod from Enya and chops her hand through the air, opening up the tunnel. Tucker goes through first before the rest of us follow. The stone spires stand up straight in Civitastella, many people going about their day on the many bridges connecting them. Lyra closes the tunnel and opens another one, prepping to take Faris to the Otherworld.
Faris holds up a fist to Ciana, with a smile. She smiles back, bumping his fist with her own.
"See you in a minute," He says. I chuckle and he hears, catching my eye before he goes. I give him a nod, and he nods back, fear simmering softly in his eyes. Lyra grabs his wrist, and the two step through the tunnel together.
"Let's go find Senator Esmeray," Enya says. Ciana nods, tightening her ponytail. The three of us take off into the city, leaving Tucker behind with Avani and Nikolina to wait for Lyra.
Dark stone and bluelight lanterns pass by in a blur as we sprint through the city. People jump out of the way when they see us coming in our brightly-colored armor, some even going so far as to bow. Senator Esmeray lives in one of the spires close to the Versorluna, the door guarded by two men in Stellune military uniforms. Their eyes widen as we approach.
"Your Highnesses," The one on the right says, bowing his head when we stop in front of them. Enya and I are both slightly winded, Ciana panting a little more heavily. "What is wrong?"
"Griffin Gray and the Nox are on their way," Enya replies. "We need to speak to the senator, immediately."
"Of course," The one on the left says, opening the door for us in a hurry. "Go right on ahead. We'll be down here if you need us!" I offer him a wave over my shoulder as we run into the tower, sprinting up the stairs. A door decorated with silver stars and bronze planets waits at the top. Enya reaches it first, pausing to knock.
"Senator Esmeray, it's High Arch Fuego." She winces at the words. "Still getting used to that mouthful of a title," She mumbles.
The door opens to reveal a very nervous-looking Senator Esmeray. His purple robes are slightly wrinkled, and his opalescent coils look frizzy.
"Your Highnesses," He bows quickly. "Whatever is wrong?"
"Griffin Gray and the Nox are on their way to destroy this gateway," I tell him. "We need your help to gather any able-bodied fighters in the city, and to evacuate the rest to another city nearby."
Senator Esmeray's eyes widen in shock.
"This is so sudden..." He murmurs, holding a hand to his forehead. "Will there be enough time to get everyone to safety before they arrive?"
"We don't know when for sure the Nox will arrive," Enya admits. "We only know that he's coming. If we start now, we can have experienced elementals tunnel the younger and elderly ones to safety."
Esmeray nods. "Let us get started then,"