The Last Saint

10: A Coming Storm

Adam woke up safe and sound in Ryan's house. The past week had been intense, but thanks to Garamond, things were smoothed over. The official story is that Pyros kidnapped Adam and Eve in the night, and they fought back, severely wounding her in the process. Still, for several days, it was hectic; they spent most of their time inside the police station answering question after question.

Eve wanted to get right back into sword training, but the others wanted a few days of relaxation, so she obliged, begrudgingly. However, though she maintained an air of disapproval at their desire to laze around, she was happy to spend some time relaxing with Adam.

Adam yawned and got up from the couch, to see Eve in the kitchen working on breakfast. The smell of eggs and toast reached him, filling his nostrils and reminding him of his empty belly. Ryan joined him as he sat at the small table, and Eve loaded up their plates with not only eggs and toast, but sausage as well.

They ate happily, almost like a family of their own, and Adam helped Eve clean up afterwards. Today was the day for them to resume training. And so they went to the park, training with the bamboo swords with Beth and Liz too, while Garamond supervised.

Their days became routine, and Adam and Eve continued to grow closer, staying up late together to talk. In the mornings, Eve would make breakfast for Ryan's parents, and then again for the boys when they finally rolled out of bed. After breakfast, they would train until dinner time, where they would part ways and Eve would make dinner for the boys.

The group started to improve greatly, and as a reward, Garamond decided to treat everyone for dinner at a diner. The teens all sat together, Eve, Adam and Liz on one side of the booth and Beth and Ryan on the other. Garamond sat at a different table, keeping an eye on things.

"I've been thinking," Ryan began. "My sword skills are kind of crap, but I am captain of the archery club. Would a bow and arrow be any use against those constructs?"

Eve facepalmed. "You are a genuine idiot, you know that? If I knew that, I wouldn't have bothered training you in sword play in the first place! Yes, a bow and arrow is very useful against the constructs."

He smirked. "Awesome. Don't worry either, I got 2nd place in the regional archery tournament when I was 13, I'm good."

Beth elbowed him in the sides playfully. "I didn't know you could do anything cool like that!"

"Ryan's uncle is this big time survivalist, he used to take us camping and hunting as boys," Adam said.

"Used to?" Eve asked.

"Yeah," Ryan replied. "Until he blabbed about gutting a few trout one year! His mom was so mad, she yelled at my uncle for an hour on the phone and forbid him from going anymore!"

Everyone laughed for a moment, until they noticed that Adam remained solemn, and they all started to quiet down. Eve gripped his hand. "Are you ok?" she asked.

He snapped to attention and looked around. "Oh, yeah! I'm fine."

Ryan looked him right in the eyes. "I'm sorry man."

Adam shook his head. "Really, I'm ok."

Storm clouds began to form outside. The kids returned to their conversation, though Adam stayed quiet. Eve would occasionally look at him, squeezing his hand gently.

After dinner, Liz and Beth parted ways, saying that they would go and buy real swords for the group. Garamond remarked that it was strangely windy that day. It started to rain, prompting the group to run to Ryan's house.

It rained for the rest of the evening and through the night. The next morning, Adam woke up, and Eve was nowhere to be seen; a rarity these days. He flicked the light switch, realizing the power was out. He wandered up to the spare room, which was now her room. She was looking out the window, a grave expression on her face, and clutching her sword. Adam looked past her. Several trees and power-lines had fallen from the intense winds or lightning strikes. many bolts of lightning hit all around the city from what he could see in the distance, and the rain continued to fall heavily.

Ryan appeared in the doorway, yawning. "What is up with this storm anyways? It came out of nowhere, hit this city like a ton of bricks, and now they're saying that we could experience flooding."

Eve scowled. "The branch of Storms." She looked at Adam. "Seventh is coming."

Ryan called Liz, Beth and Garamond to his house on his cell phone. The girls brought the swords; a long-sword for Adam, a short sword for Liz and a katana for Beth. Ryan grabbed his bow and a full quiver; 20 arrows. He strapped the quiver to his thigh, letting him reach the arrows easier. Garamond counted his bullets, and made sure his revolver was loaded.

The group stepped outside, lead by Eve. the intense winds made walking a challenge, and even though they all wore rain coats, they were quickly soaked. Adam called to Eve as she walked through the streets; "Where are you going?"

"I can sense it!" She replied. "They're calling to me!"

She lead them back to the park, past the hill they used for training, to the playground. Atop the jungle gym Adam saw two figures.

A woman, in a silvery-grey cloak, sitting casually, with long blonde hair blowing in the wind, and a tall blue haired man wearing navy blue knights armor and a claymore strapped to his back, standing with his arms crossed. Both their eyes glowed like Pyros'.

The man grinned. "Greetings Seed, Fourteenth! Allow us to introduce ourselves!"

The woman waved her hand and several vulture-like black birds flew in, with razor sharp beaks and claws, unaffected by the wind.

"This," he said, gesturing to the woman," is my wife, Airos of the Winds, the Fifth! And I-" he jumped down to the ground and unsheathed his sword, holding it up to the sky as a bolt of lightning struck the blade. "Am the Seventh, the King of Storms, Oluja!"

Garamond pulled out his gun. Ryan readied an arrow. The others drew their swords. Adam gulped.