Rebuilding the World

9 Beauty and Brains

I closed my eyes and remembered my mom, my friends and my quest.

There was a rush of scorching hot wind.

“This is it. Goodbye.”

But a few more seconds passed and the heat subsided.

I slowly opened my eyes.

The sky was slowly returning to its original blue color.

I looked around; the western sky looks like there’s an orange arc scanning it, the school is still alright except for a few cracks and burn marks, the trees and plants in the garden across the grounds looks absolutely fine. Where’s the flare?

An eagle called out from afar.

“AZULA!” I shouted and the large Philippine eagle landed on my shoulder.

“Scan the area. Come back with a leaf if everything seems fine, a stick if not and a rock if you don’t know.” I told the eagle, she quickly flew off.

I remembered my friends and I dashed to the room.

“Guys?”

They were all passed out on the floor.

I checked Pamela’s pulse just to see if she’s fine.

“Pam?” I called to her, shaking her a bit.

I checked on Nero sprawled weirdly on the floor beside Pamela.

“Nero?” I said, checking his eyes and it finding out that he was fine, stood up.

I kicked Mark and Merlin gently on the leg, they didn’t even stir.

 There was a tap on the door and I saw Azula with a stone on her beak.

Knowing that my friends will be fine, I quickly got my armour on and grabbed my weapons before running outside.

“Let’s go!” I said to Azula.

As I got to the gates, something was definitely wrong.

“Where—?”

The zombies are gone, but there are several mounds of dust and sand on the ground.

I approached the nearest mound and examined it.

“Ash?”

“Aaarrrkk!” Azula cried out.

She flapped her great wings, hovering above the ground like she’s disturbed by something. I looked at the direction of where she was looking out.

A man was flying/running towards us from the sky.

“Hermes.” I bowed down to the messenger of the gods.

“Greetings from Olympus.” He said

I stood up straight and saw his expression of deep concern and seriousness. My heart pounded in my chest.

“Look for her.” Hermes said.

“What?”

“Look for her, the daughter of Aphrodite and the one blessed by Athena.” Hermes said.

“Where can I find her?” I asked

Hermes pointed his caduceus at Azula and her eyes glowed green. She flapped her great wings, cried out and flew off.

The Pegasus came running from inside the school towards me and I jumped on to its back.

“Go find her before Artemis does.” Hermes said before running away in the speed of light.