Guardians of Rithmore | Inflowing Tide (Book 1)

Chapter 5

Nerina stared at the bo staff in her grasp, her palms were clammy as she stared at Zephyr, who held two fans. Today, they were to be training. Nerina knew that Abaddon would expect the guardians to be completely unprepared, but she and the others had trained in their entire lives. Nerina had little experience in fighting, however, as she was trained to become a medic rather than a warrior.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Zephyr's voice startled her out of her train of thought.

Nerina only nodded, a somber look in her eyes as she wiped the sweat off her brow and the clamminess out of her hands."What choice do I have? Our parents fought Abaddon just so we could have a chance to survive and push back. Do we want other little girls to lose their parents like we did?" Nerina spoke, voice wavering slightly, as the others quieted down.

There was a somber note in the air, Rithmorian children were enslaved under Abaddon and his army. A lot of them forcibly turned to Quanadronian dogs and they had a chance to prevent what Abaddon did to them, from happening to the children.

Hestia shifted, quiet for the first time. Her reddened skin which was hot due to the excitement of finally training for the first time in a while, cooled. Hestia remembered how she watched her parents die by Abaddon's Quanadronian dogs. She was peering through the window as she remembered screaming for her parents, as they all did.

"No, no we don't." Lorcan finally spoke, his voice was filled with determination.

"We won't let that happen, not now. Not ever!" Zephyr snarled. They would do this for them, for the children, their families, and the Alliance.

"Abaddon would pay," Nerina thought in her mind. But they couldn't act now, as seeking revenge and hunting down the main fleet would put the double agent, who was secretly sending coordinates and feeding them as much bad news as he, or she, possibly could.

But there was a risk, the agent had to do it slowly, as doing it too often would get him caught.

It would get them all caught.

Nerina, along with her fellow guardians, had yet to unlock the power behind her power stone, and they had to gather one of the six keys to unlock her powers.

Aspyn nodded, his eyes glinting with the same determination that Zephyr had. He had the same rage, not just rage for the death of his parents and his home planet, but also the loss of his ability to speak.

Although Nerina had promised that she would fix his vocal cords, she didn't promise that he wouldn't feel the phantom pains. Even sighing and laughing caused white, hot pain to crawl around his throat.

It felt like needles that would not go away, no matter what salve Nerina put on. He could still feel the pain of the claws and teeth belonging to the hounds of Abaddon tear through his throat.

Nerina caught sight of the already showing signs of Aspyn's phantom pains fading into existence once again, as Aspyn choked slightly, Nerina's hand motioned towards the med bay and Aspyn nodded lightly.

Nerina nodded, as she motioned for Aspyn to follow her to the med bay, as Aspyn sat on one of the beds. It was quiet, too awkward as the only thing that could be heard was the sound of Nerina rifling through the shelves, looking for the container. She cheered slightly in relief, the bottle was a bit plain, but was painted a light blue, with light purple flowers dotting the container.

The salve was a lovely aroma of Nerina's favorite flower, Lustrydian lavender. The flower, even though it was non-existent, was purple and faded to a light blue at the tips of the petals. However, rather than using the pollen of the flower, which was known to be poisonous, they used the leaves and petals of the flowers.

The petals and leaves of the flower were known to have healing capabilities and pain management. However, Nerina only had five flowers left on hand, as the flowers were destroyed alongside Lustryd.

Aspyn sighed with relief as Nerina's hands, coated with the thick liquid, massaged the salve into his neck.

Nerina's expression was filled with concentration. She didn't notice Aspyn staring directly into her eyes, or rather she tried to avoid it.

Aspyn blushed slightly, if he looked closely he could see her blue skin glittering with sheens of silver. He could see her blue eyes were mixed with a stormy gray, as if the light blue sky of Lustryd could be seen, with bits of the gray clouds. Her tail moved back and forth, in an attempt to appease herself of the nervousness she also felt.

He watched as Zephyr peered through the med bay, smirking slightly before disappearing, wanting to head back to her room, to get some much-needed sleep. Sleep was what everyone could use. In this time of stress, not only because of the what if they failed.

What if Nerina couldn't fix Aspyn's injuries?

That was what Nerina stressed out about, along with the anxiety of the scenario that if she did confess her feelings, what would happen if he rejected her? Nerina may never know, as her main priority was not her feelings, but rather, saving Rithmore. Something the elders of the Rithmorian Alliance failed to do.

Nerina felt somewhat unprepared when she was a child, and even now eight years later, she still feels unprepared. She sometimes felt like she did not deserve to be a guardian of Rithmore, staring at her power stone that had not activated yet.

She felt like an imposter in her skin.

Aspyn's hand that suddenly appeared on her shoulder startled her out of her train of thought. Aspyn's expression was asking her something, as a multitude of emotions crossed her face.

"I'm fine Aspyn, no need to worry." Nerina smiled softly, hoping to hold in the burden of what she was feeling.

Aspyn raised a brow, he was not believing her for one second.

"I'm fine." Nerina managed to say without snapping, her voice cracked slightly from the stress, exhaustion, and irritation.

Aspyn nodded, not wanting to push. The silence of the med bay was a solace to the two, the quietness of the room was almost like a soothing balm to their anxieties. The med bay's walls were a soothing color of sage green, the tile floor a warm off-white, and an assortment of plants and flowers belonging to Lustryd scattered around the room.

The soft sage green blankets were soothing against Aspyn's fingers. Aspyn wished he could just nestle within the comfort of the sage green blankets.

Nerina's hand rested on the bed Aspyn sat on, the two's hands inching closer and closer together.

"Nerina! Aspyn! Come here quickly!" Zephyr's panicked voice interrupted them, Aspyn huffing in annoyance, almost there he thought.

"What?" Nerina snapped as she entered the main room, Zephyr, Lorcan, Uriel, and Hestia all wore looks of panic and nervousness.

"Abaddon found us," Hestia spoke, voice wavering slightly as her hands shook, skin heating up with the intense anxiety she was feeling. Everything that was calm, relaxing, and quiet quickly evaporated into something else.

Nerina felt nothing but panic as she swallowed thickly. Her nerves firing up again at the sight of Abaddon's ship. And Nerina and her friends only had one thought in their mind.

They weren't ready, they didn't want to die.