Battle for the Photon Core WATTPAD VERSION [Inter-Universal Protectors: Book 1]

Chapter Six (Amneris)

A bright flash of light appeared on the edge of a grass-and-snow-covered rocky cliff. Amneris and Colt dropped from the light. The former landed better than the latter. Amneris laughed as Colt slipped on a pile of snow and fell. After regaining her breath, she hiked the last leg to the very edge of the cliff and looked out, observing the view.

Aylesbury looked practically identical to the last time she had been there, six hundred years ago. The orange sun was just beginning to rise, casting everything in a bronze light. She knew how this place looked once the sun was fully above the horizon: flowers of every colour in patches throughout the emerald grass and the patches of snow blinding the eyes. That was not the most amazing thing about the planet, she had discovered so long ago.

Amneris pointed at a large frozen lake. It looked like fire in the light. "See that?" she asked Colt who had just come up beside her. "It's permanently frozen over, even in the warmest season." She lowered her arm, resting her weight casually on her staff. "They say it was the ancient Water-Weavers of this world who did it to show their power. Nothing has been able to melt nor break the ice."

Colt placed his hands on his knees, bending over to catch his breath. "I thought Water-Weavers were healers."

"Oh, they are." He turned to her. "I have a friend who's one," she explained. "Brilliant healer." She swept a hand across the landscape. "This is considered neutral territory for Lyriumians and Terpolites. Some peace treaty thing." Maybe I should have paid attention when being told that. Oh well. "Tara would only attack here if she is an idiot." She heard Colt take in a sharp breath and gave him a look of disbelief. "You're kidding?"

"It sounds like something she would do," he confirmed, shaking his head helplessly.

Amneris raised her hand to her head. "Where did I got wrong with that girl?" She began down the hill, sparking as she fumed with annoyance. "'Become a teacher,' they said. 'It'll be great!' they said." She blew a few loose strands of hair from her face. "Bullshit, I say."

Colt caught up to her, keeping pace at her side. "You were Tara's teacher?"

She snorted. "Probably a mistake. I mean, I must've done something wrong to make her turn out the way she did." She jumped in a pile of snow, spraying it everywhere. "The things I do for people."

The pair slowly made their way down the cliff, Amneris stopping at almost every snow pile to jump in or slide through it, somehow not slipping over in the process. She also stopped at some of the flower patches, picking one or two and placing them into a small pouch hanging from her waist. She did not bother explaining why to Colt. I'm sure he's not interested she thought with a shrug. Their first and only stop was at the frozen lake. Amneris summoned lightning to strike it and threw fire at the ice, but nothing happened. Colt tried to cut through it, slamming down on the ice with a dagger. The blade snapped, not even leaving a scratch. All he had said was, "Wow."

After fixing his dagger with her power and laughing at the fact it broke, Amneris hummed the rest of the way down, trying to annoy her companion. She knew she had succeeded when he finally calling her out for it, complaining that she should at least hum something good. That ended with Amneris throwing a snowball at his face. Unfortunately, this made Colt try to get revenge on her for the rest of the walk. Each time, she would bat the snowball away with her staff. It still did not stop him from trying.

Amneris hopped stones to get across a lilac stream that started further up the mountain. She shielded her eyes from the sun, seeing a lake of the same colour further ahead. "We're almost there," she called over her shoulder to Colt, who had stopped in the middle of the river on one of the stones.

She backtracked, stopped at the edge. "It's purple," he said, sounding amazed.

"Yes, it is," she agreed impatiently. Has he never seen these things?