The Realm Protectors

Chapter 32 - Enya

Gateway dust still hovers in the air three days later, catching the light of the morning. Lyra's curled up in the window seat, watching the earth elementals in the distance lifting large bricks of mountain stone and looking for survivors of the senator's family.

Nile's pacing in front of his board of pictures and string, discussing with Avani everything we know about all the gateway attacks. Nikolina storms into the room, slamming the door behind her. She flops onto the other sofa next to Ciana, throwing her arm over her eyes.

"What do we know?" She asks dryly.

"Not very much." Nile huffs in response. "The magic signature is the same from the other gateways, but we still have no other leads beyond that. They have yet to find the signature in the system, which means it's likely someone who's never committed any other offenses. The death toll from all these attacks continues to grow. Before it was only guards, but now we've lost a senator and his family."

"Any luck in the search for the new senator, Nik?" I ask.

Nikolina shakes her head. "Tucker is interviewing the two candidates who actually showed up. Everyone thinks the position is cursed. When Darcio was alive, everyone made comments about replacing him. Everyone thought they'd be a better senator. But now that they actually have the chance, they're afraid."

Silence settles on all of us like a heavy blanket.

"The reaction to the actual collapse is getting worse, too." I point out, chewing on my lip.

"That is because the stability of the realm is lessening." Lyra chimes in. Her focus remains out the window.

"What do you mean?" Ciana asks. She turns to look at us.

"The Realm and the Otherworld exist together like the two sides of a coin. The gateways act like the pillars between them." She waves her hand and stars appear, forming the shape of her story. "The Otherworld is the base of the Realm – it existed first, and it supports our existence. The Elemental Realm is still tied to the Otherworld through gateways. They act as pillars between the two worlds. If a gateway is destroyed, that pillar is stolen from the base." The starry model changes, one of the pillars disappearing. "As more and more gateways disappear, the bonds between our worlds become unstable." More and more starry pillars disappear until the two sides quiver.

"What happens if all the gateways are destroyed?" Ciana asks.

"No one truly knows." Lyra sighs. "Space scholars and time elementals have worked together for years to try and figure it out so we may prevent it, but the answers are unclear. Either the two worlds will be torn from each other, forever separating us from the Others and possibly tearing our worlds apart, or..." She trails off.

"Or what?" Carter asks.

"Or our worlds will collapse into each other, destroying everything we've ever known." Lyra finishes.

My stomach drops, nausea flooding my gut. I collapse onto a chair and reach for Nile. His hands are warm and comforting, but clammy from nerves.

"So what I'm hearing is, either everything we know is torn apart or everything we know goes supernova?" Ciana breathes.

"That is correct." Lyra replies.

"So the gateway explosions are getting more powerful because the pillars are breaking?" Avani asks.

"They are becoming more powerful because the black holes are straining to hang on to the link between our worlds." Lyra explains.

"Black holes?" Avani scrunches her eyebrows.

"Gateways are just stabilized black holes. It is very intense magic, and even the slightest adjustment can set the balance off." Lyra explains. "The gateway collapses will continue to get more powerful until they could have the ability to suck an entire city into it's mouth."