Syzygy Aces

Chapter 9

Maximus tried to find me to resume our quest. Jaxmi was shouting my name.

"Why is it that we are the ones who always have to find her?" He complained.

I went back to our resting place as I heard them coming. I hid my tears and pretended to be jolly. I told them that I was just looking around if there were any sign of danger.

"That task is for a scout and so far Xerxi was doing great." Voltai said mockingly at my face.

"Well, how's your speech about sticking together?" Reyn raised an eyebrow at me.

"It won't happen again. I promised." I said sincerely and got my things to walk ahead. I knew they were just worried. I didn't want them to see my sulked eyes.

Shay and Voltai followed me. Xerxi disappeared to scout while Jaxmi and Maximus strolled in tandem. Reyn moved along keeping her pace fast to keep up with me. She sense that I was not doing fine. We arrived shortly at the river. Shay washed her face and explored the water. On the other hand, Reyn sniffed at it and scooped a sample in her glowing hand.

"The water is safe." She informed us.

I took a sip and quenched my thirst. The water was so refreshing and inviting.

Splashed.

Jaxmi dived into the river and swam towards the other side. We were surprised to see him soaking really wet but he dried himself up with his own fire. We looked at each other. We couldn't just dive like Jaxmi and dried ourselves up. The river was deep and getting wet was unavoidable.

"It's not a problem. I can freeze the surface of the river and make a path but I can't guarantee that it will be safe" Reyn touched the water and it begun to freeze.

"Wow, you can really freeze the water!" We both yelled.

"Yes, I can make ice. I'm not good on using a weapon in particular but I can defend myself with it." Reyn said humbly.

"Okay let's go before the ice melts. I can't use my power simultaneously, I'm not powerful enough and it will drained me."

We crossed hurriedly on the frozen path. It broke as we stepped on it and melted into the water. We all crossed successfully except for Voltai. His left foot soaked into the water, since he was quite heavy and slower than us, the last ice cracked when he stepped on it. He took his shoe off and poured out the water that resided in it. He didn't looked so pleased at all.

"You want me to dry it up for you?" Jaxmi hesitantly offered a help to him. He was not sure if Voltai was willing to accept his help.

"Or you want to walk barefooted?" he grinned.

Voltai tossed his shoe to him. His hands radiated around it and the water evaporated leaving the shoe completely dry. Being thankful was not on Voltai's vocabulary of attitudes. We heard voices from the other side of the river. There was another team following behind us. The guy with eyeglasses was the one instructing them. He was so flamboyant wearing noble clothes. Maybe he came from a noble family but nobles rarely joined this kind of tournament. Their lives were extremely important in this realm. From the look of it, he was acting as their leader. Then a girl moved at the bank and tried to focus on the block of stones. As she lifted her arms, the stones filed up making a bridge towards the other side of the river. She held it with an invisible force. They hasten to cross over it.

"That's really cool!" Maximus exclaimed with awe.

"Let's move out." Voltai told us in a harsh tone. "The woman's name is Melaine. She's from our land and an elemental that can commands the earth."