Yue was tired.
After a bit of help from Nicholas, who was also tired, she had decoded some more of the prophecy- largely, who was going to die out of them. She didn't figure it out entirely, but she did know a few more things.
One: It wasn't her.
Two: It wasn't Roza, Gwen, Solarie, or Nicholas, who wasn't even part of the prophecy but rather here because of connections to the ones chosen.
And three: thankfully, it wasn't Sylas.
Unfortunately, one problem: They were still missing one house from the prophecy.
Obviously, Solarie was supposed to be the hero, Yue was the brink of extinction house, and either Roza or Gwen could serve as the chaos and power house. Apparently, the king's plot to just insert a house into the prophecy had worked, because Sylas was in multiple visions about the prophecy, and now it looked like he was defined as roped in by love. Odd choice, but it worked nonetheless. But they were still missing one; the weak. There were many lower houses; not all of them, Yue remembered, but still, the possibilities were endless. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of lower house children. And weak didn't have to define a lower house; perhaps it was a derivative of another house, but still powerful. Maybe a high house, with limited power reach. It was giving her a headache.
"I've never thought I had to say this, but this is actually hopeless," Nicholas slammed another book shut. There were piles and piles of similar books, all around the area they had claimed on the floor of the library. People were now actively avoiding going near the library. Partly from Yue's screaming from pain, and partly because of Nicholas' temper.
Yue had to agree, but she couldn't give up now. "We have to keep searching. Your kingdom and the lives of many are at stake-"
"And all that, save your family, restore honour, et cetera. I get the point." Nicholas finished. "I know you mean well, Yue, but we might have to throw down the towel soon. 'Can't dig yourself out of a hole if you don't put down the shovel."
That was true, but Yue had lost too much to give up now. She found comfort in their new friend group. Solarie was an odd kind of energetic chaos, Roza and Gwen were the ironically humorous power duo, Sylas was her longtime best friend, and Nicholas was... well, Nicholas. There wasn't much more to say. Even Jin, the next quietest member of their group that sparsely attended, was nice to have around. He was kind, and paid attention to everything. A shame, really, that the king was still deciding whether or not he would honour his deal with Solarie- he did not like people who fell out of place in the system.
"Having fun in the library?"
Sylas leaned on the bookshelf, grinning. Even without being a descendant of House Ng, he had eerily quiet footsteps when he desired so. He moved like a fox- strangely, he wasn't wearing a more common Ardish, western suit, but a dark purple Manchu-style of male dress. He probably had just come back from a religious rite. That, or he was having fun making bombs in the basement of the Reactor and needed some kind of smock to protect his regular clothes. Judging from the bits of charcoal smudged on the sleeve, the latter was highly likely.
"Sylas!" Yue took her friend into a sudden, tight embrace. He was exactly the kind of energy boost she needed- after hours of searching through books, she was beginning to feel the effects of fatigue. She'd have to raid Sylas' caffeine supply closet again soon. She was running low from the last adventure. Caffeine was the true gift from the gods. Powers, long lifespans, and prestige were nothing compared to the power of caffeine. Too bad Sylas wouldn't let anybody touch his supply- Yue wasn't entirely sure whether it was because he was hoarding it for his own addiction and use, or he was trying to protect others from succumbing to its addictive property. A fruitless endeavor. Yue had gotten ahold of it anyway.
Nicholas was still skimming through books, but gave a nod, acknowledging Sylas' presence.
"Do you two need any help?" he offered. "I do have to change first, but I thought I'd stop by."
"Don't you have bombs to build?" Nicholas interjected, snarkily.
Both Yue and Sylas blinked in surprise. "You know about that?" they both said in unison. The Reactor and Sylas' work down there was not common knowledge.
Nicholas didn't look up, but tapped his chin. "Not denying it? Huh. You're a worse liar than I thought. And yes, you make it a little obvious. Like, say-" he pointed to one of the charcoal smudges. "That. You come from outside the palace like that pretty often, and it's not hard to send anyone from House Arachnos to follow you. Of course, I chose my esteemed general, but please be glad it wasn't some random Ng."
Slight revelation, large effect. Yue continued to stare in silence, and Sylas sputtered some kind of garbled excuse before excusing himself and running upstairs.
She turned to him. "That was kind of mean, Nicholas."
"Oh."
Only an oh, quickly followed up. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was important to you. I assumed you did not know."
An apology, from the prince? "Err- yes, thank you. That's alright. Pe- People make mistakes!" Yue stuttered, taken aback. When did the prince apologize to subordinates like her? "We should go back to looking," she quietly added, and as soon as she sat back down onto the carpet, she grabbed a random book from their unread pile and buried herself in it. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Minutes pass, Sylas returns slightly flustered, but dives into reading nonetheless. Surprisingly, Jin stops by a little later too, and they all look into who or what could be the missing link from the prophecy.
It was quiet for the next hour. Solarie and Roza were due to arrive back tomorrow morning. Gwen was hell bent on preparing more young Elites to enter the advanced program, and the rest of the group was stuck trying to figure out the prophecy, which Yue had delightfully and very originally dubbed The Daybreak Prophecy. It just sounded nice. There was no other reason why it was called that.
All good things must come to an end at some point.
The alarm- not the one for monsters, but the one for rebel attacks. Bells ringing out, and House Kim expanding its reach. Everyone in the room stood up immediately, and Sylas grabbed Yue's hand. Simultaneously, so did Nicholas, before quickly letting go and drawing his sword instead. Yue hadn't even noticed the sword before.
"The bunkers. Now." Nicholas ordered, while running towards the hall. Yue and Sylas obliged, and Jin scrambled to his own designated route.
They almost made it to the stairs, but were stopped by a small group of rebels in the next hall. "We have orders to seize High House members," one of them seethed.
"Then you don't want us. House Zheng. The only thing we can do is regenerate ourselves," Sylas lied calmly. What were the chances they would recognize them? Two High House members, one that would completely end with the death of its only scion.
At first, they seemed to believe them. Two of the rebels looked at each other, each asking the other what to do. They must be the leaders, Yue deduced.
Unfortunately, these rebels did not care whether they were Lai's and Chang's or Zheng's. Like feral, rabid animals, they charged, wielding their swords and screaming dissonant battle cries. Sylas reacted quickly- by of course, sprinkling sparks of electricity like some kind of glimmering purple rain.
Purple rain that may or may not send people into violent spasms and may not cause some people getting cooked alive, internally.
There were a lot of cries of pain, yelps, and overall agony. Sylas' eyes were still glowing as he grabbed Yue's arm yet again and charged electricity into the metallic bits of his shoes.
"For rebels, they sure don't do a good job of actually fighting," said Sylas as he prepared to run.
"Are you sure they haven't been cooked?" Yue wondered aloud. Sure, her friend wasn't keen on killing people, but she knew that if her life was in danger, he would not hesitate.
Sylas ran at the speed of electricity. Which, in comparison, is about a third or so of the speed of light. In another comparison, he was essentially moving at the same speed as Roza, who, despite having the disadvantage because lightning was technically slower, was just as fast if not faster than Sylas. Yue wasn't quite sure how Roza was getting a leg up on Sylas, but she suspected it might have something to do with physics or just her own catalyst power.
They could see the stairwell to the bunkers now. They were so close, and were about to enter, but there was a loud commotion to the left.
"Sylas, we have to go and help whoever's over there!" she protested.
Sylas glanced in the other direction. "My first priority is getting you to safety. I'll help them soon. Just-" he looked down into the stairwell. "Find Gwen. If she's not there, find anybody else you know. Nicholas, if he's down there." He dropped her hand, and gestured to the dark, forbidding stairs.
"Okay," she said, shakily. Sylas wasn't going to leave her side if she stayed put, and she knew that whoever was over there needed Sylas' help more than herself. With only a single look back, she went back into the stairs.
Thankfully, the general was there, doing a head count for all the Elite children. "Oh thank goodness you're here, Yue," she breathed a visible sigh of relief. "I was getting worried. Where's Sylas?" she asked, noticing that her usual companion was missing.
"He's helping out stragglers," Yue tried to explain as calmly as possible. "He'll be fine. He can handle himself." She wasn't sure whether the reassurement was for Gwen or herself. Both, if she wanted to be optimistic.
Gwen's expression shifted, but she didn't comment on the matter. Instead, she directed her to the joint Lai-Chang youth bunker.
She sat on her bed, tracing the scratched names of all the people who had snuck down here and had fun. Sylas, Ashlee, Aiko, Nebula, Yue.
Sylas was essentially an older, overprotective brother that fought for things to happen for her. When his cousins cracked insensitive jokes about Yue's family, he reported them to his uncles and aunts. When she realized that she would be forever alone in her own bunker now that everyone was gone, he petitioned to have her in the same bunker, carriage, seating, and more along with House Lai. It was funny, how her found-family functioned. While she didn't see Boris and Astoria Lai, Sylas and Ashlee's parents very often, she enjoyed their company and found solace when they took a frightened little girl under their wing.
Suddenly she felt faint. Then the nausea. Her eyes; she could see a faint golden glow in her reflection in the mirror.
No, not now. Please, not now-
Then her vision plunged into darkness.
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She is outside in the garden again. The girl is confused, but understands that something is happening.
"Remember, child, when I said I would not visit again?" Vischo has come again.
"There is a rhyme and reason to everything," the girl replies, recalling her lessons with tutors from the past.
Vischo acknowledges her reasons. "Fate has changed. Someone, part of the prophecy, will not survive to the final battle. Really, their death is due in a few days time."
Yue softened her expression. "Are you going to tell me who it is?"
"The rules of fate bind me. I can only tell you that the urgency of the situation has increased. Without the final member, more paths of fate open, and previously opened doors close. I wish I could tell you, but-"
"Time is a river that cannot be interrupted." she finished.
"You have been taught well. There is no real vision right now. I simply interrupted your conscience to communicate with you. Apologies for the..."
Yue sighed. "The price to pay for a clairvoyant."
The vision fades again. There is now nothing but darkness.
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Yue woke up with a gasp, coughing for breath.
"Are you alright?" Nicholas was on his knees beside her. She was lying fully in her bed, which means Nicholas must've moved her. Red flushed to her cheeks, but she quickly drained the colour from her face and resorted to closing her eyes.
Sylas was there too. He slipped a paper into her hand before disappearing again. Good- Sylas hadn't died. A small comfort, but nevertheless still a comfort.
Yue felt extremely tired. When was the last time she had felt like this?
A few moments came to mind. The first, when she actually gave the daybreak prophecy, the second, the first time Vischo communicated with her, and the third... when Vischo showed her the tree again. Two out of three of those encounters had Vischo present there at some point. Was talking to a god really what was draining her energy?
"Yue, hello?"
Her eyes fluttered open, and she adjusted to the newly bright lights she was staring upon. She rolled her head over, turning to face the prince. "Hey, Nicholas," she yawned.
Nicholas' face lit up, and he wrapped his hands around Yue's body. "Oh thank goodness. For a moment there I thought you were comatose or something." The gesture was incredibly awkward, since Yue was laying flat on her bed and Nicholas was crouching down.
"Sorry to interrupt... whatever this is, but we have a problem." Gwen had materialized out of nowhere. Those footsteps were going to become a problem in the future. "People are missing."
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"Six hostages, status unknown. Jason Lim, House Abora, strength. Nila Zhang, House Facreed, emotion. Katherine Fu, House Veyer, invulnerability. Tyler Cao, House Kyr, intelligence. Ariadne Sato, House Journee, death. And-"
"Wait, Gwen, how did Ariadne get taken? Isn't she a high house elite?" Nicholas asked, shocked.
"She was trying to protect Nila. Both got taken." Gwen explained, looking back at her list. "And the last hostage... Jin Lang, House Crysallo, ice."
"Didn't we just see him?" Yue cried out, visibly upset that he had been a victim. "Are you sure he's not just missing? Maybe hiding elsewhere?"
Gwen frowned solemnly. "It's been hours, Yue. We've swept the entire palace, the outskirts, and cleared all the bodies. A few minutes ago, we got a list of all the hostages taken. They have demands, and only the king can approve them."
Yue was confused. Had she really been in a vision for so long? She hadn't even gotten a vision, just spoken with Vischo. Was time warping in unnecessary ways again?
Nicholas sat there silently, until he finally spoke up. "Every one of those hostages are young Elites and incredibly valuable. Was this a targeted attack?"
"On Jin? Maybe. He's close to Solarie. But everyone else may have been caught in the crossfire. And really, if they wanted leverage, they should've kidnapped you or me."
"General, apologies, but there is supposed to be a bloody final battle in fourteen days, where a lot of people are going to die. We need as many soldiers as possible. I think a hostage rescue is in order."
"Or, we adhere to their demands. I didn't see the list, since it was handed directly to the king, but it doesn't seem like they're asking for much. It was a small envelope addressed to the king, left on one guard's helmet. Unless it's something preposterous like fifty billion gold, I don't see why we can't just pay them off."
"We have to fund a war against Sötèt soon. The kingdom can't afford it."
Gwen threw her hands up in defeat. "Then all we can do is wait for the council meeting and for Roza and Solarie to come back. I'm going to reconvene with squadrons." in a flash, she turned on her heel and left.
"Nicholas," Yue turned to him. "There's no telling what will happen if we try to stage a hostage rescue. I think Gwen's right. We have to at least see what the rebels want."
His eyes softened. "I know you mean well, Yue, but there's so much more to politics than you know. If we fail, we can almost guarantee that all six hostages will die."
While everything he said was true, and staging a hostage rescue could cause a multitude of problems, and ran a high risk of death, she couldn't help but feel guilty for staying on the sidelines. Six of the faces she was used to seeing around the halls were now gone. Some paid no attention to her, but others, like Jin, were just innocent, humorous people that didn't deserve to be kidnapped and held hostage. In that fleeting moment, Yue pivoted and left, all the way back to her sad stone tower to be alone.