Elementals 2: The Stones of Power

Chapter 33-The Hall of Hidden Symphonies: Part 1-The Wall

Chapter 33

•Alex's P.O.V•

'We'll be there in a bit.'

"Thanks."

I felt another pulse ring through my body as Damian's face disappeared from the mirror. Putting the mirror away in my pocket, I turned back to the blank wall with a puzzled stare. It looked like any other; made with the same large stone bricks that stunk of age and the usual painting of previous headmasters or the castle that became Arceus. But, despite how normal it looked, my senses told me something different. Whether it was one of the stones or something else entirely, something was hiding behind it.

But what?

"Yo, Al!"

My shoulders tensed, flames sputtering from my palms with a startled yelp, before whipping my head around and breathing a relieved breath.

"You guys should know better than to startle a fire elemental." I crossed my arms. Aaron shrugged.

"You said you needed help?" Damian asked. I nodded, turning back to the wall.

"Your Arcane Eye, you think you can use it for a minute?" I asked. Damian raised his eyebrow.

"What for?"

I felt another pulse rattle through my chest. I placed my hand against the wall, almost vibrating with the same strange sensation. My brows furrowed.

"I can sense something behind this wall." I said. "I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what's hiding behind it but I can't. So-"

"Say no more."

Damian's eyes glowed, completely engulfed in a purple haze. A pair of white pupils appeared, focused on the wall in front of me. His eyes narrowed, his expression morphing into a confused stare.

"...you sure there's something behind that wall?" He asked, glancing at me curiously. I could hear the doubt in his voice, but as another pulse rang out from behind the wall, mine completely washed away.

"Yeah..." I nodded. "I'm pretty sure."

"Interesting..." Damian walked over to the wall, his hand gliding along the stone wall. "...'cause, I can't see...anything."

My eyes widened in disbelief. "What!?"

Damian's eyes lost their glow as he turned to me. "I see no magical essense behind it. As far as I'm aware, it's just a regular wall. Nothing special about it."

"But I can feel something, I know there's something behind this wall." I affirmed.

"Then why can't I see anything behind it?" Damian crosses his arms.

"I dunno?" I shrugged defensively. "I mean, for all we know it could be some magical resistance field messing with your arcane eye, or something."

"If that's the case, why isn't your magic getting affected?" Damian retorted. I shot the mind elemental a half-lidded glance, crossing my arms with an unused pout.

"Really? You're asking me, the king of 'getting caught up in magical hijinks', why I'm unaffected by some magical hijinks? C'mon, dude, you're supposed to be the smart one of our team."

"He got you there, Dee." Aaron snickered. Damian rolled his eyes.

"Okay, fair point. But it still doesn't explain how I see nothing but wall both with and without my arcane eye."

"When have I ever been wrong about sensing something strange going on?" I turned to the air elemental with an almost desperate look. "Aaron, back me up here!"

Aaron glanced to the side, awkwardly hovering off the ground, before turning back to me with an uncertain shrug.

I opened my mouth to say something when yet another pulse of magic rang through my body, as if the Elemental realm itself was rubbing in the fact that there was something behind there. I let out a frustrated sigh.

"Look, I don't know how or why your arcane eye isn't seeing what I'm sensing." I placed my hand against the wall once more, feeling for more of the tingling vibrations against my skin. "...but I know something's behind there- I can feel it."

"Alex-"

"My gut feeling has never been wrong before." I cut Damian off. "My senses have never lied to me, especially when it involves magic that's seemingly invisible to everyone else. Why would they start now?"

Damian and Aaron shared a quick glance, which then turned into what I could only assume was a quick telepathic conversation, before turning back to me, a sigh escaping Damian's lips.

"You're right." He said. "Your senses have been have been pretty reliable since the start of the school year. In hindsight, it's foolish not to trust them now."

"I second that." Aaron nodded, walking over to lean against the wall. "Besides, this school is filled to the brim with secret passage ways. Maybe this is something similar to-"

*Click*

The familiar sound of gears grinding and shifting filled the air as the empty wall the three of us stood against rotated so suddenly and so quickly that I barely kept my footing, stumbling back and catching myself with the wall behind me. I was so caught off guard that I didn't even notice that I was completely surrounded by darkness. Or that my heart was beating fast enough to cause concern for my health.

"Uh...Damian? Aaron?"

"Yeah?" The two groaned in unison, the dim glow from their eyes cutting through the darkness.

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank Papyrix."

"I can't see a thing." Damian muttered, his glowing purple eyes turning to me. "You think you can shed some light, Al?"

"On it."

With a snap of my fingers, a small flame came to life in my palm. The three of us were bathed in a soft orange light. I looked around. It was still too dark to make out anything.

I let the flame grow in my hand, casting it's light further into the darkness. Though, it didn't reveal much more than an old looking sign a foot or two away from where we stood.

•=•=•
Welcome
to The Hall
of
Hidden Symphonies
•=•=•

~~~~~

Author's Notes

IT'S FINALLY CHRISTMAS!

Another chapter done, and just in time for the holiday season. I'm honestly surprised I got this done so quickly. Only took about an hour and a half to finish and I really like how this chapter came out. It's actually pretty fun integrating the rest of Alex's team, besides Zielo, into the plot, while also making them more well rounded and feel like actual characters who matter. I feel Aaron deserves this more as he's a character I imagine I'd enjoy writing quite a bit. Damian got his spotlight near the end of book 1 anyway, so I think it's time to give it to someone else. I already have something planned for Aaron in the near future, so stay tuned for that.

Also, this is the last chapter of 2024. As much as I wanna upload one more before the year's over, I have 3 other books that I promised myself I'd update before the end of the year, and I'm honestly running out of time. Feel free to check those out as I will be uploading the new chapters for them soon. But anyway, that's it from me. Stay safe this holiday season and I'll see you in 2025!

Happy Holidays, everyone! And have a happy new year!

-BlueBoyHalo14