Centuries: Once and For All

5- Lost Moons

The ship was moving steadily towards their first stop. Jake was still in the dark about where they were going, and why. As they flew on and on, what must've been two or three hours felt like six. He didn't feel tired, though he wished he was so he could rest. The others were playing some kind of game and apparently, it involved a lot of talking. Jake sat off to the side, watching the group spin some kind of game piece and use poker cards to determine what happened.

It had been going on for an hour, and he still couldn't figure out what was happening. Someone sat down on the seat next to him, their feet sitting on the couch, and instead, they were sitting on the bar going across the top of it. Jake glanced up. The man said, "Jake isn't it?"

"Yeah?"

He half extended his hand, "I'm Vex."

Jake warily shook his hand, and Vex slid down next to him. He popped the knuckles on one of his hands, seemingly building up the courage to say something. Jake decided to help him out by starting the conversation, "So, um, what are they doing?"

"That? Oh it's an old Atalian game, see I'm from Atlas, and so are Kyra, Flynn, and Alex. Technically speaking, Drake's cheating, because he's the only one who actually is trying to play, it's funnier if you get all the competitive people in here. It's hilarious to watch Rio, Selen and Drake play, even if it's mostly just yelling. You never really played that much though."

Jake's brow furrowed, "What?"

Vex took a quick drink of the water he held in his hands, "Ah, nothing, it's nothing I meant- me."

Jake brushed it off, all these people seemed a little off anyway, what could be so weird about him mixing up words? He tapped his fingers on the arm of the couch, then a good question popped into his head, "So, how do you guys do the magic cloud thing?"

"The magic cloud?", Vex seemed extremely unimpressed by his comparison, "Do you know who we are?"

"No.", he answered truthfully.

Vex rolled his eyes, "It's called beaming, it's like teleportation but physical. Shouldn't you- right, right, um anyways we can all do it, Kyra is the black beam, Selene is the red, mine is Orange. Maybe Kyra will teach you how to do it."

"Why her?"

Vex furrowed his brows, "What do you mean?"

"Why would she have to teach me, if the rest of you can do it then any of you can teach me."

"I don't know, I just figured that she would do it."

Flynn came into the room, rolling his eyes when he saw that everyone was playing a game. He cleared his throat and everyone eventually turned to him, "We're going to Everest really quickly, don't do anything stupid, just hang around the ship because we're only going to be a few minutes."

And soon enough they touched down in one of the Mountain Ranges on Everest. The snow was lightly falling, nothing that could ground them. It glistened in the light of the mid-day, creating a beautiful array of light. Kyra, Flynn, and Selene set off in one direction, everyone else sitting in wait.

They walked down a long set of steps, coming to the opening of a town. A few people were out and about, children running around the streets. Flynn whispered to Kyra, "Do you think she's here?"

"This is where her home used to be, I don't know why she would move. Unless she's running from the Law."

They had to cross a bridge to get into the town, and from the crossing, they could see Everest's capital, Denit. A large palace rested on top of a hill within the town, beautiful houses spiraling around it. Larger magic schools were seen around the city, towering in the distance. It would've been beautiful to look at if they weren't on a deadline.