Flame Touch

Chapter 41- Knox

Air Semba was unusually quiet as we traveled back towards the dorms. 

Except for the occasional mutter of the word 'bubble' and a burst of giggles from Melody, Sunny, and Taris, no one was saying much. Semba seemed very focused on driving a tornado that he usually did with no effort.

I didn't have much memory of what had happened the day before after Libra kamekazied her way out of my abdomen. All I knew was what Taris had told me earlier, that the Vent colonies had taken over my house, but Libra was able to force them back and now we had to travel to the dorms to, quote, 'await her next orders'. Who does she think she is, wanting us to take orders from her?

Then again, she was the only one who knew what was happening.

Freaking Lady of Balance.

Semba began to dial down his tornado until we were riding on a gust, hovering above the shoddy shop that hid the dorms from the rest of the world. Under us was a sheet of clouds so no one would look up and say, ""Hey! I wonder what those five kids are doing floating in the sky! Teens these days, Am I right?"

I looked at Semba, "Em, hey I know you can't exactly set a tornado down in the middle of a city here, but eh, how are we supposed to get down?" I asked, already dreading the answer. 

"Don't say we have to jump."

He smiled as the cloud sheet disappeared and we plummeted towards the streets.

                                                      ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Thankfully the weirdly omniscient dorm building had a command for 'falling teenagers' and we were caught and thrown inside before becoming a part of the pavement. I shook my head and heard a groan and a mumble that sounded like, "Thank you for flying Air Semba" and a smack.

"Well, here we are, now what?" Melody asked and automatically looked at Taris who was rubbing his hand while Semba joined them, rubbing his head. He nodded towards the giant conference room where Taris had given his first speech. We quietly filed into the room and I immediately noticed that, where the Libra column was once thin and sparce compared to the Luminists and Aquarius, had grown now that their head figure was free. The room glowed yellow, blue, and red with Libra and Pices at the center. Pices was in the middle of what seemed like a pep talk.

"Though we are deeply saddened by the betrayal of Stella and Lunar, we will continue to fight on with Lady Libra at our side and-" he stopped as he caught Taris's eye, "our heroes return!" he exclaimed as we all turned a bright shade of scarlet.

"We wrestled jellyfish and invisible bugs, I'd hardly call us heroes." Melody muttered as Taris jogged to the center to join the other figure heads.

"Lady Libra," he started with his political tongue, "We've done as you've asked, what can we do to end this war once and for all?"

Libra smiled and began, "Venture to the heart of stars

To find-" she stopped, which was extremely anticlimactic, but then I would stop talking too if I heard Melody yelling in the middle of my speech.

"Oh no. NO. NO MORE POEMS." Melody yelled and marched right up to the center, causing the rest of us to stare at her wide-eyed, "We have gone through mount Everest, been hit with ice, traveled in tornados, covered a desert expanse, and been attacked by bugs. I DO NOT need another mind racking poem to figure out. Whatever you want us to do, Spit. It. Out." she said, emphasizing each syllable by jabbing her finger towards the Libra.

Everyone was completely silent. I was afraid Libra was going to turn Melody into a puddle of light when something broke the silence.

I glanced over to where Taris was doubled over with laughter.

Libra squinted her eyes, "You dare mock me boy?" she demanded.

Taris was still shaking, causing the rest of our group to start giggling as well. Libra, anticipated for months as an entity of power, was being told off by a short girl with bouncy hair. The scene was ridiculous.

When Taris opened his mouth to speak, all the politics were gone from his voice. He slung his arm over Melody's shoulder, "Well, you heard the lady, spit it out." he said, still laughing. I half expected Libra to turn them both into a puddle, maybe make herself a pool, but she only sighed.

"I suppose all that is vague must come into clarity. Right, as you know these five (she motioned towards us) have successfully restored almost all my Libra lights."

Almost all?

"But there is one, the one that has thrown the Vent and Terra colonies off, that remains black. We need to mobilize our forces and, while our forces defend from the outside, you chosen six must venture to the heart of these colonies and restore my light for I am unable to do so myself. Only then will this war cease."

I almost screamed. Here we finally got the mighty Libra and she might as well have been one of her pieces of paper sending us on another mission.

Wait. Did she say six people? There were only five of us who went to restore her.

Melody voiced the same question to Libra, who only smiled and stepped aside, revealing a certain wire framed, sweater wearing, bleach-head who bowed.

"Capricorn at your service".