The True Meaning of A Warrior

Chapter Sixteen: New Home (STELLA)

Morning never came.

I didn't say that to be dramatic, or reflect a "THE WORLD IS ENDING EVERYBODY RUN" feeling in others' heads. But if you think about it, it is literally true.

Morning never came.

We'd figured this out when I came over to Zara, asking her about the time. It was lucky that she had an undestroyed watch still strapped around her wrist even after leaving the fire.

Her clock had said 9:23 A.M. We weren't sure if this was correct, but a quadruple-checking from all the people who still had their watches on made sure that this was, indeed, accurate.

But the skies were still dark. Plumes of clouds still billowed above, blocking out the stars and the moon. There was no light.

Not a speck of light.

Light.

While everybody else was still muttering amongst themselves in confusion of the newly-figured-out theory, an idea struck my head. First a fire of the S.M., now the disappearance of light in the sky. It's all because of our magic, now stolen by the Dark.

Edera's magical fire sword.

Stella's moonstone light necklace.

It's all in the Dark's hands now.

"Guys," I called softly, the words drifting out of my mouth. Heads turned towards me; I think that they all just really wanted something to do, somebody to listen to, a theory to consider.

And that theory was this.

"You all know the Dark have our magical powers. Including, of course, Stella's moonstone necklace. In case any of you don't know what I'm talking about, it's that Stella's Chosen One magic is a moonstone necklace that can control light. And that's what the Dark have in possession. That's why the skies don't have light and the fire is spreading everywhere." My voice echoed in the silence, eerie and hollow. I'd hoped somebody would speak up to end the way the words lingered like an unsaid phrase in the air, but no such luck.

Only soft murmurs spread throughout the group, silent and still...

Waiting...

Waiting...

Waiting-

"That's it. Alright, everybody." This break in the silence was from the leader of the Spring Tribe, who I'd had a secret nickname for: The Grumpster, also known as the T.G. I'd share that with Zara and Eve as soon as I'd gotten the chance. Luckily, the T. G. seemed to be in a lot better of a mood by now.

All sounds stopped as the T. G. clapped loudly to get attention. "Alright, alright, quiet down. Here's my plan. We are not going to linger around here moaning and doing nothing. We are not going to sit here doing nothing just because mornings' not here. The night wants to last forever, then let it last forever. But our silent resting will not! We will proceed forwards in our plan, little miss sunnyside or not. So everybody get up and let's get going. We are the people of the tribes, and we always will be!"

Even though Zara and Eve and their families weren't part of the tribes, I had to give the guy credit for not ranting on in his temper tantrum. And that wasn't sarcastic. These were literally the most inspiring things that I had ever heard come out of his mouth.

And, it seemed to have worked. The crowd began to jumble to their feet, backpacks swishing and with another breeze of murmurs sweeping through. The T. G. was quick to jump into the lead of the crowd, succeeding forwards like a general leading an army into war.