War for the Skies (completed) (Book 1 of the Heroes of the Realms series)

Chapter 26

The fact that my friends were safe at the camp made my body feel warmer than when it did because of the huge fire. Lukas and Theo were talking to each other near the giant bonfire. Seven blue tents surrounded the fire, but many more of similar areas were scattered across the plains.

Amiko was still in her jacket, talking with Aurora, I was guessing about their history. The strange man and I sat down on a log near them and the man asked, "Glacia offspring?"

"Yeah, so?" Amiko asked back.

"Disgusting."

"I can shove an ice spear up your-" Aurora started to say, but Amiko cut her off.

"Sorry, I just have a bad history with them," the man said. "In fact, you remind me most about the girl who almost killed me. She was also a child of Glacia," he pointed at Aurora.

"What?" Aurora seemed shocked.

"Yeah well, I'm a child of Ariel, even though I'm more warlike than my mother. Anyway, I used to be in Sky Kingdom's Camp, but then some daughter of Glacia froze and almost killed me. In search of Glacia herself I set out without anyone knowing, and they expected I was dead," the man explained.

"Wait..." Aurora looked as if a pack of ice was shoved down her back -though that probably wouldn't have affected her much. "No, no, no."

"What is it?" Amiko asked her.

"You can't be him... you can't be... you're so... old," Aurora managed.

"Wow, thanks for clarifying that for me," the man muttered.

"You don't understand. You were my age at the time, how are you like this now?" she asked.

"What? Wait... you are the girl. You are the girl who almost killed me," the man stood up.

"But how are you, like this?" she asked, gesturing his face.

"Time passes differently in different Realms, cupcake. I can't understand it either, but it does. One minute hear can be a year in another Realm," the man spit on the ground. "My age doesn't matter. I will kill you with my bare hands!"

He reached for Aurora, but two soldiers quickly pulled his hands back.

"Sir, we cannot afford anymore innocents. Especially not children. And especially not by our hands," one of them said, struggling to keep his grip on the man's arm.

He sighed and relaxed. "One move, and consider yourself a casualty. And not an innocent casualty."

He sat back down, along with his soldiers.

"Okay, so you five probably have no clue what's going on, allow me to explain," the man said, gesturing to all of us.

Theo and Lukas turned and faced the man.

"I am general Brad, of The Association of Order, we keep peace around here, and if anything goes out of hand," he pointed to Aurora, "we don't play nice."

"Sounds a little like dictatorship," I muttered.

"Don't make me regret saving you from that explosion, kid," Brad said and continued. "So, this Realm is Techaract, the Realm of technology and engineering."

"Wait," Lukas interrupted. "This is-"

"Your father's home? I could tell by your aura, you were a boy of Spark. Your father is in his palace, far away toward the mountains," Brad gestured west of the city. "He's trying to find a way to stop the gateways, but he hasn't had any luck so far. Meanwhile, we're just battling until he can fix it, or until we all lose to the Cursed."

He stood up and started walking around the fire. "We're expecting another assault tonight, maybe in a few hours, but we aren't prepared. Our men are dying quickly, and the invaders just keep coming. So it's a pretty low chance this Realm will survive, unless Spark can find a way to stop the gateways."

"I can help him. I know basic engineering, and I can see-"

"Kid, your father lives way too far, even if we could get you there, we wouldn't have enough time to come back from the assault," Brad said.

"But if we close the gateways, they can't even come in in the first place," Lukas insisted.

Brad looked doubtful, but then his shoulders slumped. "Fine, I'll get you to the palace. But if you don't succeed, I probably won't have enough time to kill you myself."

The palace was huge. It was made of steel, carved onto the side of a mountain. There was glass everywhere, with satellites dotting the roof. It took us about half an hour to get there (using the fastest subway in any Realm).

Stairs stuck out of the mountainside, leading up the door of the palace. We carefully walked up the steps and to the door. A camera scanned each of us, then opened the door to let us in. Yellow and blue rugs decorated the main hall, which led to an empty throne, made of gold and silver.

The electricity in the room burned my nose, and the presence of the electricity Legend, and his son didn't make it any better.

"Spark!" Brad screamed into the hall.

There wasn't a reply for a second, but then a bolt of electricity exploded on the throne.

"'Sup, Brad?" Spark asked.

I have no idea how to describe Spark. He looked kind of like Thor from the movies, only younger, and with pointy, blond hair. His eyes dashed around with energy. He looked about 29, but I couldn't really tell, since all of the time differences and stuff. He was wearing a cybernetic suit, made of mostly metal, but some revealing a yellow shirt, contained inside the armor.

"Son?" he looked at Lukas.

"Lukas, why so shocked?" I asked him. The pun wasn't even supposed to exist in that sentence, but my brain thought that it would be better to place it there, for no specific reason.

"He's my-" Lukas pointed at the Legend.

"Dad!" Spark screamed and hugged Lukas. "I haven't seen one of my children for years!"

"More like millennia," Lukas muttered.

"No need to be down, son, but speaking of which," he brought his hands to his lips. "Why in the heck are you down here?"