The Elementalists: Dawn of Shady Schemes

Chapter 22

  As soon as the door closed, I felt like I lost something. Like, half my heart broke off, falling into the dark abyss of my own emotions. I realized how much Fage had meant to me, and I knew that if this was how much heart ache I had over leaving her in a separate room, I wonder how much it would devastate me over the future months. I wonder how much isolation I would feel.

So this was what it was like to become a guardian...technically a mother.

I shook the feeling off and made my way over to the Tech Team Hangout. The building was round and seemed to take on what humans called "modern architecture": the building was round at the top and it looked like a giant that took the roof and bent it a little bit, so it looked like it was flowing. On the inside, it was navy blue and a neon blue, along with silver walls. The decorations were themed with the navy blue and neon blue: the lights were patterned and flashing brilliantly. Different, unique abstract paintings filled the walls. It was very unique, with different, weird but admittedly comfy furniture.

As soon as I walked in the room where I knew everyone was in and planning, everyone stopped talking and stared at me with fascination, as if I was an alien or something. They normally welcomed me with "Hey there!" or "What's up, Scarlet?", not dumbfounded silence.

"Uhh, hi guys." I greeted strangely, giving a little wave.

Everyone awkwardly replied with "Hi"s or "Hey there,"s, and even a few of them just remained there, dead silent. Kate however, ran up to me, and said, "We're SO lucky you've found those secret rooms, especially that other one- the one that you JUST discovered today... check it out!"

She pulled me over to a monitor, with numerous little screens on it, all changing about every 5 seconds. I remembered the cold-hearted corridors, and got goose bumps from thinking about them.

Kate waited a little bit, and then clicked on a little screen, and it expanded to a full screen view. I recognized it as the secret room I almost wasn't able to escape. There, seated in the chair, stood the Shade king, draped in his indigo luxuries, a forked-tongue hissing with a devious smirk, as he talked in his native tongue, and seemed very pleased-if not proud-with himself.

Kate waved over a tall and skinny boy, who had sandy blonde hair that was wavy, with bright blue eyes and a big smile. "Scarlet," she said. "This, is Jack. Jack is our expertise Shade translator- he'll be able to tell you what they're saying. We'll continuously pause it so that way he can catch up."

He played it, and we heard strange words that sounded sick and deadly with the over exaggerated sounds of hissing and strange words that seemed to flow like liquid. I had caught on to most of the words the Shade said, but some words seemed totally alien to me.

After a segment, Kate paused and waited for Jack to contemplate the words. Finally, he said, "He said this: 'We have finally put all rumors to rest- we are going to attack by a dozen groups of a dozen, and of course, with our best warriors.'."

Kate played and paused, and Jack continued, "'We have six group of warriors and six group of sorcerers. Technically, that's only in numbers...'"

Play, pause, then, "'We have a total of 72 warriors and 72 sorcerers- the groups are more diverse as there is 6 of each in a single group.'"

Play, pause... "We have trained the sorcerers to take out the weak warriors and then start picking off the weaker sorcerers. While that provides as a distraction..."

Play, pause... "We'll then be able to march our army and then FOR SURE take down that camp..."

Play pause... Another Shade asked him, "'What are we going to do with the camp?'"

Play, pause... Shade king replied, "'Well, we'll turn it into an academy to make our sorcerer's far more superior than they already are...''

"I think that's a bit of an understatement," I muttered.

Play, pause... "'Then, we'll do the same for the other camps, and make them our slaves.'"

Play, pause... "'After that... it's the human race.'"

Play, pause... "'When will this begin, your Darkest Majesty?'"

Play, pause... "'Next week, at dawn... General, start with battle formations, be prepared for anything...'"

Kate finally pressed play and let the rest of the Shade nonsense roll on. She looked at me, and I said, "Can you believe that I'm responsible for telling the entire camp about this, on top of leading our entire army into battle when the time comes?"

Kate just stared at me. I could see the gears turning in her head, and then she started pointing at small groups. "You," she began. "Start getting information from the general on their battle formations. You guys other there, start getting a good idea of what their strategy is... yes, I mean you, Alex. And you guys are with me... we're going to try to make sure that the plan remains this way."

I took a deep and shaky breath- this was more than enough responsibility I could possibly handle.

After Kate wished me good luck with a grin and a thumbs up, I dismissed myself and ran over to the training area, wanting to get started on that right away.