We last read Chapter 5, in which Coldsnap and Keena's two-year-anniversary outing was abruptly cut short by a torrential storm summoned to the Grand Terminus by Commander Windsor Galeforce---the Storm Sect Leader---and his right-hand woman, Typhoon. After a rough crash-landing, both Coldsnap and Keena jumped into action, dealing with the storm's wrath and rescuing as many people as they could. Eventually, the storm subsided, but the fallout was far from over. This time, we see what happens next, as the Storm Sect ends the first attack in their invasion victorious.....
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Within an hour alone, Keena and the rest of the Water Sect had been completely isolated and stigmatized by the other three factions. Since no one had any idea that Commander Windsor Galeforce, Typhoon, or the Storm Sect even existed, they were quick to place the blame on the only other faction capable of controlling and manipulating water to such a degree.....the Water Sect.
What was supposed to be a civil meeting ended up turning into a brief-but-all-out brawl as the remaining fire, ice, and earth mages all began ganging up on the Water Sect, pushing some to the ground and beating them up, yelling insults at others, and even chucking rocks at others, courtesy of the Earth Sect. Firebird, Sledge, the Boulder Brothers, and Geode dispersed throughout the crowd and tried to get everyone to stop, but to no avail.
However, no one had it as hard as Keena herself; after all, she was supposed to be the new Water Sect leader, and the one responsible for keeping her followers in check. Not a single moment passed by without someone booing her, jeering at her, spouting threats at her, or doing some combination of the three.
"MURDERER!" a random ice mage spat, throwing his drink glass at Keena's face. The cup shattered on impact, and one of the broken shards sliced Keena in the exact same spot where her eye scar was located; though it was very painful---and her tears were clearly visible---she bore the discomfort and didn't retaliate, hoping her aggressors would soon realize she meant no harm.
Ironically, considering the method by how Keena became the Water Sect Leader, the ice mage was correct in calling her a murderer.....though not for the reasons he believed.
"You fought beside us to resist Alpin and Flamestar!" a fire mage added. "What changed, Keena? What changed?!"
Sledge approached Keena as well, but unlike the other Mage Aspects, he wore a look of utter sadness and despair, not anger or wrath. "Keena.....what you do?" he asked quietly, as if he were still in disbelief over Keena's "actions". "You drown and kill own kind? We not good enough for you?"
"Sledge, you have to believe me.....I did not do this," Keena defended firmly, her voice breaking. "I would never turn on my fellow Mage Aspects without a good reason."
Sledge's son, Geode, couldn't even bear to look at Keena, instead hugging his father and crying into his robes while the Boulder Brothers just shook their heads at her in disappointment.
Even one of the other Water Sect mages, who was in the middle of being assaulted, turned his head towards his superior, his attacker briefly stopping so he could get his words in. "I thought you were supposed to guide us," he admonished. "We put our faith in you. We trusted you to lead us after Hydraxus's death. I thought that, with you, things would start becoming different. Now.....I'm starting to regret it."
"I didn't do it!" Keena cried.
"Then who did?! 'Oh, a flood just swept through the Grand Terminus and killed a bunch of our mages! It was obviously the Fire Sect!'" he spat with clear sarcasm. "Yeah, no. Quit it with your excuses and denials."
YOU ARE READING
Coldsnap: Storm's Call
Teen Fiction~PARAGON CINEMATIC UNIVERSE: PHASE 2, BOOK 5~ *This novel serves as the 5th novel of Phase 2 and a sequel to "Coldsnap: Harbinger of Ice" and "The Paragons".* "The Ascendant has abandoned us! Were we not good enough for him?! Is that it?! Must we no...
