The Hidden World of Nitea [2 | The Other Realms Series]

Chapter Twenty-Six

Giorgino paced around the practice room, holding the once-cursed ring in his hand. He checked his phone. There were only five minutes before he was scheduled to meet with the trio. He lowered his wrist and continued traipsing from one side of the room to the other.

Knock, knock. Giorgino turned his head. The door swung open to reveal the three.

"Good morning, Elder," Eddie greeted him.

"Good morning!" Giorgino beamed. "Please, come in. I've got some things to tell you."

The three teenagers entered the room and closed the door behind them. While Jon and Stella walked to their usual spots, Eddie removed his bag and leaned it against the wall. They lined up in front of their mentor.

Giorgino rubbed his palms together. "First things first: I've been talking to José and Celestine over the past two weeks, and we've agreed that you two"—he pointed at Jon and Stella—"will have regular lessons with me and Eddie here, in Nitea. Eddie will use Louis to pick you up and we'll meet twice a week. As for what day and what time, we can arrange that later. I've already added your numbers to a group chat so we can communicate quickly.

"That's the first thing. The second and last thing is more personal. You don't have to participate if you don't want to, but I need help destroying this." Giorgino held up the glass ring. "I want this gone, but I don't have the heart to destroy it myself. That's mainly why I called the three of you here: to crush this to bits."

Jon cracked his knuckles. "Should be easy."

"Easy? Oh, this is not easy," Giorgino warned with an amused smile, "this is Nitean glass. It's way tougher than that fragile Earth glass you humans use."

"Glass is glass, and glass breaks," Eddie said. "I'll happily break it for you."

"Good luck."

Giorgino tossed the glass ring into the air before he strode towards one of the walls. A transparent barrier materialized around him.

Jon lifted his leg and stomped on the ring, only to end up whimpering and hopping on one foot. Eddie shook his head. Idiot.

"Let me try," Stella said.

She summoned a lightning bolt and shot it at the ring. It jumped off the floor, ricocheted off the wall, and landed. They neared the ring. Not a shard had broken off from it. When Eddie picked it up to scrutinize it, he noticed not a single scratch marked its pristine surface.

"Did it just withstand lightning?" Eddie said, wide-eyed.

Giorgino laughed. "I told you, Nitean glass is tough!"

"Try melting it," Stella suggested.

Eddie closed his fist around the ring. A soft glow radiated from it as he fed heat into it. Though the back of his palm and fingers were already sweating, he could hardly feel the ring softening.

"It's not melting. I think we have to crush it." Eddie turned to face his mentor. "We can change the environment of the practice room, right?"

"Sure. Anything to destroy it."

With a single thought, Eddie brought them to a grassless field. Near where they stood was a rocky hill, and on top of it, a large boulder. Eddie flung the ring to the base of the hill. He beckoned. The ground rumbled as the boulder rolled down the slope. Crack.

"Did it work?" Stella asked.

The three of them waited for the boulder to roll a safe distance away from them. They stood, speechless—it was the boulder that cracked, not the ring!