The Realm Protectors

Chapter 48 - Faris

My head spins when we emerge from the tunnel. I stumble slightly, still feeling nothing but the insane adrenaline from what just happened. Ciana is hurt, Ciana is dying, Ciana was stabbed. I shake my head to try and clear the thoughts but only succeed in making myself dizzier. Bile rises in my throat and I hunch over, coughing.

"Easy," Lyra soothes, placing her hand on my back. "The channels between the Realm and the Otherworld are becoming unstable. Travel will be more straining."

"You could've... warned me," I get out between coughs. My stomach churns, and I think I may throw up.

"Where are we?" Lyra asks, ignoring my statement. I lift my head, looking at the land around us—exotic shades of green and blue, sandy beaches, and warm sun.

"Must be Hawaii."

More tunnels open around us, people appearing dressed in the uniforms of the Otherworld Elemental Guard. My mom steps out of one, looking around. She spots me leaning over, seeing all the blood. Her eyes go wide and she runs over to me, falling to her knees in the sand.

"Faris!" Mom frantically looks me up and down. "What happened? Are you hurt? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine," I assure her, standing up straight. The spinning in my head dissolves into a light pounding in my temples, allowing me to function regularly. "It's not my blood."

Mom breathes a sigh of relief. "Who's blood is it?"

My heart pounds as memories flash through my head. Ciana is hurt, Ciana is dying, Ciana was stabbed. "It's Ciana's."

"Ciana?" Mom asks. "What happened to her?"

"We found her barely conscious underneath a pile of trees that were blown over from the blast of the collapse of the Vesi gateway," Lyra explains.

"Someone stabbed her with a knife coated in darkness," I close my eyes, trying to blink away the image of her limp body. "Darkness poisoning directly into her heart."

Mom clutches her chest, "That's awful."

"That is why we are here," Lyra says. "There is now only one gateway remaining in the Realm. Tunneling between the worlds is already becoming dangerous. Faris nearly puked."

"Still a possibility," I remind her, my stomach still churning.

"That's why this one was so intense," Mom says, turning around to speak to her companions.

"What was so intense?" I ask.

"The earthquake," Mom replies. "A rock slide collapsed on our side of the gateway, but it was an earthquake that triggered it."

"Hawaii gets earthquakes all the time," I remind her. "What's the big deal?"

"This wasn't an ordinary earthquake. It shook the entire island of Hawaii."

I blink at her. "And?"

"And the rest of the world too." One of the other Elemental Guardsmen says. "One big quake, the same magnitude everywhere."

I turn to Lyra, who has a shocked look on her face. "Is that even possible?"

"We never knew for sure what things could happen if the ties between our worlds began to collapse," Lyra replies. "It is entirely possible. Anything is."

Mom pats my shoulder. "We need to go scout the area – make sure there aren't any residents nearby that got in any dangerous situations."

"Fine, let's make it quick," I say, looking down at the blood staining my armor. "I need to get back and check on Ciana."