Kingdoms United Academy [DRAFT ONE]

11. Chosen Ones

Author's Note: Infodump chapter.

One Week Later-

     The group of five was finally gathered in the student council club room.

     "Are you sure it's okay for us to use the club room like this?" Harris asked.

     Cinder slid into a random desk and looked around the room.

     The room was just as fancy as your average rich kid classroom. All the mahogany desks were arranged to form one long table. The floor was wooden parquet. The walls were cream-colored.

     Of course, it was not without its quirks. There were two whiteboards. One, at the front of the room, was blank and to be used for meeting content. Another, at the back of the room, was covered in doodles and notes from the members. One, for example, read "Respect my trans homies or this she/they is gonna turn you into a were/was" in pink dry erase marker.

      Laia, the she/they in question, plopped down in their chair at the head of the table and assumed the classic evil overlord position, interlacing her fingers in front of her. "The rest of the council said it was okay if I used it for very important school-related things."

     "That's Laia, chaotic as always. They were vague on purpose," Harris sighed.

     Laia grinned. "Now, Chosen Ones!"

     "Is that really our team's name now?" Criss muttered.

     "Our new task is to find out the root cause of everything that has happened thus far! Another step on our quest to save the world!" Laia continued. She ignored everything Criss had said.

     Linnea opened up her bag and spread out a massive pile of books across the table. "I found as many things on demons and the demon realm as I could."

     Criss closed their eye for a moment. "And I've got a few extra knives up my sleeves."

     "Don't you mean 'tricks up your sleeves' or something?" Cinder asked.

      For once, Criss smiled softly. They said nothing. This scared Cinder.

     "So, I've read up on demons and apparently, Synistar is a Greed Demon from the northern part of Zone 2 of the Under-realm." Linnea shifted nervously in her seat.

     Criss nodded. "That much we knew."

      "As well, we have Pride Demons from Zone 3, with torn wings and tall horns, Lust Demons from Zone 4, which no one talks about (for good reason), Wrath Demons from Zone 5, with very tall horns and long tails, and Envy demons from Zone 6, which don't have mouths and instead have many eyes. Envy Demons also average at 11 feet tall, which scares me. There are more, but I don't think we need to worry about them as they're not going to ever make it outside their realm," Linnea continued.

     Cinder furrowed her eyebrows. "Woah, woah, hold on. You lost me at 'zone'. And 'Under-realm'? What is all this?"

     Linnea smiled patiently. "Right. Basically, we're in one of two realms. Our realm, the Over-realm, is considered the better of the two just because our world isn't nearly as fragmented, deadly, and full of unpredictable magical anomalies as the Under-realm. In addition, the Under-realm's only source of warmth is its Ley lines, and its only source of light is the tethers linking it to ours."

     "That's metal," Cinder commented. "Alright. I can see why Synistar wanted us to understand so bad now, but it still doesn't explain anything about why she was there. Apparently, Mme Talon could sense some magical aura from her saying Synistar was bound to someone with a summoning spell."

     Laia added, "We should, for the sake of time and our brain cells, assume that both of the attacks are related, at least for now."

     "Assassins are barely ever alone. Based on Cinder's story of the Halloween incident, someone was behind that too," Criss thought aloud.

     Cinder sighed. She tried to lean back in her chair before remembering that her right ankle was encased in a big, plastic boot.

     Harris had been tapping on the desk nervously the whole time, but he finally spoke again. "So, we're getting nowhere. We don't have enough clues."

     "We're not losing hope!" Laia announced. "This was simply a chance to regroup."

     Harris nodded uneasily. "Right."

     Cinder thought of the upcoming break and remembered a flyer for a festival she'd seen. It would be a good chance to unwind.

     "Well, we have a break coming up in a few days for the Winter Solstice Feast. We could take a brain break," Cinder mentioned.

     "Yeah!" Linnea piped up. "We could all go together." She looked over at Cinder for a moment and blushed before examining her desk thoroughly. 

     Criss looked hesitant. "Would they try to kill us in a crowd? Would they be so bold?" They muttered under their breath.

     "Probably not," Laia answered. "It sounds the safest. Plus, there would be hundreds of people to scream at for help."

     "Right." Criss nodded tentatively.