Chapter 3

“We are summoning some of if not the most powerful people in this entire quadrant. I cannot overstate the gravity of that. The last time a meeting like this happened a war followed and Central Gaia was obliterated.”

~ Grand Councilwoman

Bones

The door opens wide and closes slowly, loudly bringing all of the attention to us. I’m not usually uncomfortable in the presence of strength, but even I have to admit that there were a lot of powerful women in this room and it makes me a little nervous. There’s Ligaiya, Aurora, Kareasa Mcintyre, two of my four guardian escorts, and of course the Grand Councilwoman herself. She starts the conversation, direct as always.

“Bones, Kouki. You’re late. The meeting started several minutes ago, and we had to withhold information until you arrived so that you wouldn’t miss it.” Kouki adjusts his tie.

“Well you know...those stairs aren’t getting any easier to get up, ma’am.” He responds slyly with a hat tip gesture that the other women found amusing. She then looks to me for my excuse. Kouki and I are like peas in a pod at escaping her wrath. One of us talks well, one of us listens well. If only either of us were good at doing what we were told.

“Excuse us for being late...mother.” bowing my head.

“Bones, my son. How is it that you’ve been away for so many years and yet the first thing I find myself doing is disciplining you upon your return?” As the Grand Councilwoman, mother is the supreme decision maker for West Gaia. She sits on the highest chair in the chamber. Under her, there are four other seats that oversee each major function within the quadrant.

In seat two is Kareasa, the academy secretary, who handles all of the major events here on the school grounds. She’s also in charge of overseeing enrollments, approving promotions, and assigning students and professors to their respective classes. She’s the youngest member of the Grand Council in West Gaia, and is an exceptionally talented earth naturalist. My mother hand-picked her to be by her side. In seat three is Krista Noches the director of the Veiled, the secret organization in the order that took care of all of the covert operations. The off-the-books stuff, essentially. In seat four is the Architect, Orion. The Architect is the head of the missionaries and the oldest running member of the West Gaia council. No one really knows how old he is, and no one knows his face because he keeps it covered. His mask is white with the symbol of a black phoenix on it, the wings stretch to the ends, leaving only his eyes visible. Then in seat five is the captain of the Guard, a middle-aged man by the name of Rice. Definitely powerful, but arrogant, and apparently is in love with Ligaiya. He also has a scar on the side of his face from the last time he annoyed me. I don’t take orders from arrogant weaklings, even if they are technically my superior. And of course, he’s the first one to speak up as always…

“My lady, I feel as his captain that it’s my place to say he should be stripped of his rank and locked in a cage where he belongs!” He barks.

“Good luck finding a cage that powerful.” Kareasa snickered,

under her breath with her hand over her face to conceal her amusement. The Grand Councilwoman, however, is not laughing.

“Mind your tongue, Rice! It is not your place. Bones is the most powerful naturalist amongst the Guardians. He answers to me alone.” I bow my head quickly to avoid my mother seeing the smirk on my face. I guess she wants to save the rest of his face. “Moving on to why we are gathered. Aurora, please fill us in.”

“Thank you, Lady.” Replies Aurora respectfully. “Recently there have been several fluctuations in the stability of the veil. I’ve been traveling around Gaia taking note and there seems to be evidence of tampering. As if someone is trying to break through.”

“From which side of the veil though?” Asks Kareasa. Aurora shook her head.

“I’m not sure yet. It appears to be the work of a naturalist so I assume they’re trying to force their way into the Spirit Realm. Also…” She takes a breath. “A few days ago while I was traveling, I sensed that the Sacred Ice Spirit was released. At the time, Kiyonna was supposed to be home. I suspected then that my grandmother and sisters were attacked. When I arrived my suspicions were confirmed.” There’s silence in the room, the concern in the air is palpable. “The following day, the Sacred Fire Spirit had been released and then completely vanished. I haven’t been able to detect its presence in the realm since.” Most of us remain calm, silently making eye contact, Rice jumps up shouting out his concern.

“You can’t detect it? What does that mean? Aren’t you able to sense all of the sacred spirits in the realm?” Aurora shakes her head.

“As a Spirit Watcher, I can sense them usually. However, my power has limits too. I can’t sense a spirit that is not in the realm or that has been sealed away. More than likely the host was captured.” Some audibly gasp. Ligaiya goes next to share her thoughts.

“So then...that means this is probably the work of the Shadow Walkers..” Aurora nodded.

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“Where is the Sacred Ice spirit now? Can you still detect it?” Asks Rice.

“My sister is here, in the academy.”

“If she’s your sister, wouldn’t she be safest with you?”

“Until the level of threat is identified, I cannot be certain that I can protect her alone. And she is obviously not safe at home in East Gaia.”

“Then we have to assume they know she’s here and will attack to retrieve her.” Kouki interjected. He and Krista make eye contact as if he expects the Veiled to already be on the case.

“Yes, we should treat it as an absolute certainty. It’s also supported by the activity we’ve been seeing in the quadrant...” She responds, causing Kouki to scoff.

“Glad to see you’re not too busy subjugating and exploiting small countries to do your actual job.”A blunt remark that brings attention to the tension between the two. The Grand Councilwoman raises her hand to call for peace before things get out of hand.

“Enough. There is a particular location on the outskirts of Echelon that our radar has picked up on. From the Architect’s notes, this location contains the bulk of the unknown arcana signatures. It seems they are maintaining their position for some reason. Bones, I am sending you to investigate.” She then signals to Orion, who removes a rolled up piece of parchment from his inner jacket pocket and hands it to me. Opening it, a map of the surrounding area is revealed. Each of the foreign arcana signatures are marked on it. I give it a good look before burning the parchment in my hand.

“I trust that I will be doing this alone, mother?” My eyebrows raise anticipating her response. Anytime I’m on assignment, she always feels the need to partner me up with someone that slows me down.

“You certainly will not. However, because I’m a patient and generous woman, I will allow you to choose another person to take with you.” She smirks, revealing her teeth. I sigh in response. Mother continues, “In the meantime, the child is in your homeroom class, Ligaiya. I will leave her personal protection to you.” Ligaiya nods.

“Yes, Lady. Don’t worry, Aurora. I’ll keep your sister safe.” Ligaiya proclaims. Aurora smiles and nods back.

“Everyone else will remain stationed here to fortify the academy’s defenses. If it is who we think it is, we will need everything in place to stop him. Any questions?” There are no objections. Following her command, everyone began to exit the chamber. Except me, my mother appears in front of me blocking my path. We make eye contact briefly, and I sense her anger. We have a pointed, violent conversation. I exit the chamber, Kouki’s standing across from the door smirking.

“She put you in the ball again?”

“Something like that.” This triggers his laughter. He gives me a pat on the back as we walk away.

“Next time, write her a letter or something. It’ll save you a world of trouble.” As we continue forward, I notice Rice pursuing Ligaiya in the hallway, as she’s walking away.

“Come on, Ligaiya. Why do you keep ignoring me? Just give me a few minutes.” He asks in a way that seems like he’s both begging and commanding her.

“I have classes to teach and I don’t answer to you.” I’m in too foul of a mood thanks to my mother’s unnecessary discipline so I continue to walk. Gleaning a sad look in her eyes, clearly my indifference isn’t going unnoticed by her.

“So, you’re just gonna ignore that?” Kouki asks. Normally he won’t involve himself, but he can tell I’m upset.

“Are you still holding out for that guy? Even after he abandoned everyone for five years?” Rice apparently isn’t satisfied with harassing Ligaiya because he chose to open his mouth and let my name flow out. Ligaiya’s hand clenches.*Sigh* I stop and turn around to face them.

“Rice, go away.” He looks at me with raised eyebrows.

“Why don’t you stop pretending to care and keep on walking?” The moment becomes quiet at this point. We’re the only people in this still hallway.

“I’m not feeling particularly magnanimous today, Rice. Get lost. Last warning.”

“Or what? You’re going to use your freak spirit power on me again? It’s the only reason I don’t destroy you. You should be grateful to your mother for protecting you. You insubordinate-” His last sentence triggers me. Drawing arcana to myself, the hallway rumbles and small twisters of wind form. *Swoosh* A sprint shifts to a dash, picking up the floor. Meeting him face to face, I place my hand on his chest. In a millisecond, the arcana I absorbed charges up, compressing in my palm as I release it. A beam of wind explodes from my hand ripping through the hallway, completely enveloping Rice as it strips the material from the walls, shattering the glass windows on both sides, finally blowing the wall completely off before subsiding. Kouki drops his Static Shield, a move I didn’t even perceive him making and shoots a nonchalant look in my direction.

“Really?”

I step over to Rice’s body. He’s laying in the middle of the floor with his armor completely shattered except a piece of his headgear and a shoulder pad, clothes torn and severely injured.

“You should be grateful to your armor for protecting you. Have a nice day, Captain.” Ligaiya and I make eye contact before I rejoin Kouki. I could feel her rage staring into the depths of my soul. Even so, she’s nearly as intimidating as mother, and so I ignore her.

“Have the Architect repair the building and send me the bill, Ligaiya.” We leave her standing there, shaking in place angrily.

Later that day, I head to the training field to meet with Daimyon. He’s concentrating on his draw technique and doesn’t notice my presence as I enter behind him.

“Good. You’re already here.” He spins around to face me.

“Bones? What did you want to see me about?” He asks curiously. I can tell from the exhausted look on his face and the weak flow of arcana around him that he’s been practicing for some time.

“I have business to attend to outside of the academy, and the Grand Councilwoman has demanded that I take another naturalist with me. So I’m taking you.” He tilts his head in confusion.

“Why me? We both know that I’m not very good at using arcana yet.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t need you to do anything other than be there and to tell her that everything went fine when we report back. In exchange, I will train you.” His eyes widen with excitement. Of course I planned to train him anyway but this was a far more entertaining set up.

“Count me in! When do we leave?” Daimyon exclaims jumping up.

“Go and prepare your things. It will be a full day’s trip. I’ll meet you at your dorm in the morning when it’s time.” He bows and runs off toward his dorm. I’ve never seen a kid so excited to learn. These novices get weirder every year. Leaving the training area I retire to my own room, anticipating what will be in store for us tomorrow.

End ~