CHAPTER 84 :Rendezvous
Days left to reach the temple :
Zakiyye , Batuhan , Samuel - 2 Days
Aranea , Aag , Noir , Stone - 2 Days
Laila , Dolion - 2 Days.
....
Zahhak , Giselle, Somnium - Will reach Aleena by night
Ivy - location unknown.
Crotalus - location unknown
Thorn - Following Laila and Dolion
Malak and Krystallo - Travelling with Somnium , Noir , Aag, Aranea and Stone
Principal Kuro , Principal Victor , Dr Jackal and Noel - Landed on the island's shore .
Bow , Fenrir , Michelle and Clara - Still in Clara's hideout .
Contd.....
Dr Jackal , Noel and the two principals landed at the island's shore and looked around.
" Where to now ? This island isn't so small for us to be standing here without a guide ..." Noel said as he walked tiredly on the sand and stumbled , only to be caught by the arm by Dr Jackal .
"Woah there boy... you are weak..." Dr Jackal said as he helped him regain his footing.
" Not my fault ...miss Iris isn't a very picky eater.....unfortunately I was.." Noel said as he reminisced his memories of having odd green grass soups during his adventures with Iris.
" I can believe that..." Dr. Jackal said as he let go of Noel's arm and turned , " Victor!" he called out.
Principal Victor nodded as a snake slithered past Noel's foot to Victor's and moved its way up to his clothes and then the arm .
" Clara is waiting for us at her hideout .... it will be far easier to travel from there...now that we have that Yosei boy with us..." Victor looked at Noel with a fake smile , " Our teleportation can be quite convenient.."
" I can only take one person at a time...." Noel replied in a low tone .
" Well then you will be making multiple trips!.. let us head to Clara's hideout..."
" Uhh.." Noel looked at Dr.Jackal who just patted his head back in return.
...
Same time :
" So do you guys intend to travel with us to the temple... I mean..." Noir looked at Malak and Krystallo while they rested by a river.
" Noir...this isn't about the temple or who is going to rule over who anymore ..." Malak said in a soft tone .
" We have a hidden enemy who is trying to finish everyone up....our failure is that we didn't recognize him from the start."
"A hidden....wait what!?" Noir got up suddenly from the rock he was sitting on . Gasping .
He realized it too late and now he was at the center of everyone's attention.
" It's him...they are talking about Eisen.....Noir! you have to get more details!!" Achilles inside was losing his mind and Noir was in a state of panic but before he could ask Achilles of how he could be so sure , Aag spoke up ,
" A hidden enemy ?" she asked bluntly
" Yes ...the one who has been attacking all of us ...especially the BlackWings and Yosei...the ones we are losing our friends to .." Malak said as he looked at Stone , " Are you sure you want to talk about this in front of him?" He asked the BlackWings.
" Uh...no..I think its best not to...if only we had Zaki ...he would have cracked his head ages ago..." Noir looked at Stone but felt a glare coming over from Aag's side. He refused to look her back in the eye and explain himself . His forehead got a bit sweaty though.
"I know it is not fair of us to ask you to take us along with you to the temple..." Krystallo spoke humbly , " But a friend of ours is in grave danger and we need to help her ..... she is being manipulated by the enemy and if he succeeds to have her on his side...we all might as well be doomed ...What we can promise you is that we won't fight you to claim the crystal anymore...it is yours....We only ask for you to bear with our company .."
Krystallo had his head bowed ,his hands resting by his side. Malak followed en suite and also lowered himself , his hands tied behind his back.
Needless to say , they continued the journey with the BlackWings.
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HALF DAY GONE,
" We will reach there by midnight ..." Zahhak said to Somnium who was just lying on the ground trying to regain his energy.
" If only you didn't have to get your wings cut..." Somium mumbled.
Zahhak smiled,
" Even so ... I wouldn't have been able to carry you Somnium.."
" Yes well then you needed to build up some muscles ..you are too scrawny for a griffin."
" Well someone is not in the mood to be good today huh..."
Giselle sat there listening to the exchange between the two .
Her mind was fuzzy , she really didn't understand why she was tied up but something kept trying to grab on to her . A pair of golden eyes ...a sense of power.... a strange sense of a calming darkness... a woman....her han-* GASP*
Giselle felt a sudden ache in her chest. Something fearful had grabbed a hold of her just when she was about to take the woman's hand. It was Somnium's curse , that had just saved her from falling over again...yet she was not aware of that.
" Let us keep going ...the sooner we get there the better.." Somnium stood up and they began to walk again.
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HALF A DAY LATER-
" It is wonderful to see you father ...." Clara said as she hugged her father , " I have been waiting for you ...."
" You did well Clara ..." Victor patted her back.
" Principal Kuro ! " Bow ran up to the principal who patted her head. , " Why are you here sir ?"
" I am here to get all of you back home safely..." Kuro replied with a smile.
Fenrir sat watching in a corner when Noel walked up to him,
" Miss Clara is mentioning someone named Michelle ? Do you know where she is ?"
Fenrir stared at him and then moved his head to look behind him .
Noel turned but before he could make out the person behind him he felt a force that pushed him back almost causing him to fall over only to be supported by Fenrir who pushed him forwards with his tiny but strong hand. Noel's head was buried in someone's shaking shoulders but before he could let out a word,
" Thank goodness...." he felt a sigh of relief close to his ears . Michelle had been in agony and it was finally over.
Her friend , her partner in crimes , had returned alive.
Noel , after finally regaining his composure , felt something stuck in his throat , unable to utter a word.
He had missed the familiarity.
He had missed his team.
He had missed being around people who made him feel safe .
He had missed them.
He dug his face deep in her shoulder , his arms hanging by his side ,limp.
He felt he could finally let go of the burden he had been carrying , he could now share them and with that thought , after a long while and an even longer journey ,
Noel slept ...not because he had won...but because he felt he couldn't be defeated anymore.
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" I can't believe he is actually asleep .." Dr. Jackal said as he looked over Noel's body lying comfortably among the multiple cushions . His face peaceful.
" Iris might have been a bit too harsh on the kid don't you think? " Principal Kuro said as he stood next to Dr. Jackal.
" I won't tell you anything Kuro ...try as you may...I made a promise to him....sorry.." Dr.Jackal spoke in a serious tone .
" I am surprised you added a 'sorry' to that..." Kuro smirked and hit Jackal's back as a sign of trust , " As long as you stand by my side , that is all the information I need . "
Principal Victor clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention to him ,
" Alright everyone ! Here is the situation so far , none of us can now leave the island."
" Well that's a great start." Kuro said happily.
Victor continued , " What we know of our enemy so far is that she is here after the crystal...we do not know why or how many people she has on her side but most certainly she has the students that disappeared from our academies ....Giselle , Stone , Crotalus and many more. Crotalus is certainly here as Clara detected his poison on one of the Yosei students."
" Oh that poisonous kid gave us so much trouble in the last tournament..." Dr. Jackal said as he reminisced the past .
" We need to get to the temple but we do not know where it is . Only the students in the tournament are currently aware of its location . Clara has her snake following the Black Wings , but she is unable to locate the Killer and she can't step inside the gardens of one the Yosei girls so we are unaware of their location . Fortunately we have two of them with us . Each of them can teleport using gleam at least one of us to the temple once the Black Wings reach the temple. That would be me and Kuro . Clara will stay here with the rest of the kids and go back to the academies to raise their defenses as we are unaware of the magnitude of their plans and I doubt they intend to remain limited to this island."
" You just said none of us could go back..." Dr.Jackal looked at Victor quizzically as he sat down next to Noel's sleeping corpse like body.
"For now , yes , but Clara has been working hard these past few days and she is almost through the barrier .. in a day or two she will be able to leave the island. We will stay in contact , oh and once you reach the academy Clara , coordinate with Graham from the Killer Academy and raise your defenses. Don't forget the children in the Yosei academy , Iris will take care of them though but she is still recovering." Principal Victor nodded at Clara who smiled and nodded back.
" Graham , Clara and Iris....they almost killed each other once.." Dr .Jackal said , " And I was the one who had to treat all three of them .... "
Clara laughed , " Sorry Jackal , I know we got a bit too out of hand but I am still impressed how you kept yourself together during our tournament .."
" If I hadn't we'd all been dead ages ago..."
" True.."
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MIDNIGHT-
" Aleena...." Zahhak mumbled as he stared at the state of his sister in disbelief.
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