Shcielle (Draeyer Academy 2)

Chapter 40-Search and Shatter (Part 1)

This one is really long.

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Icefall City
Arktis Skyland
Northern Space

Icefall City's Fourth Quadrant buildings stood before Areisha. Snow covered the roofs and ledges, while fresh ice coated some parts of its streets. The Fourth Quadrant was the main ground for Crystal Breaker, and was temporarily closed for the event.

Back at Icefall Academy's arena, an enhanced crystal sat waiting for them to shatter it into hundreds of pieces. For most of the game, it was each team's task to find special hammers―the only instruments that could be used to break the large gem. They needed to find at least two out of the three said hammers, and at the same time race against the other teams.

It was the final event that she, Knox, River, and Rei had trained for almost every day for three weeks.

Areisha took a deep breath and exhaled, taking out the slight nervousness that took over her. As she tucked away a stray strand of her hair that escaped her ponytail, she felt eyes on the back of her head. A strange shiver run up her spine. Turning on her heels, she found Alec's baby blues staring right at her.

She approached, and once she stood two feet away, she crossed her arms over her chest. "What?"

A smile pulled at the corners of Alec's lips as he shook his head. It made her narrow her eyes up at him.

"Alec Arden," she said with a warning in her tone. Alec gave a sigh.

"I'm just glad that you're leading this team," he said. "I didn't train for this as much as Knox, so...just this once, I'm going to allow you to use me however you please."

Each participant of the Sky Games was limited to only three participations. Knox had joined Knowledge Hunter, one duel, and took Alec's place in Sky Racer. Because of that, Alec filled in Knox's spot for Crystal Breaker.

"'Use' is such a strong word, just you know," she said. "But as much as I want to order you around, I need your quick-thinking in this."

Alec's smile brightened, and he bent to stroke Midnight's head. The Draeling purred and rubbed against Alec's hand. "She said she needs me, Midnight," he said to the baby. "That's a first."

She felt her face and ears heat. "I said I need your quick-thinking. Not you entirely."

Alec continued to act like she said nothing and gave his Draeling all his attention. She glared. Another minute passed before she dropped it and started another conversation. "Why did you choose Midnight?"

All players were allowed to use their Sentiral Powers. To make it fair for Alec, and the rest of them, the officials decided on letting him bring one Draeling.

When she asked, Alec looked up at her and spoke. "First things first, I want it to be clear that I love all three of them equally." She nodded. "Entiny is not as strong as her brothers―and she's easily distracted. Leyan is as lazy as a certain white fur ball that belongs to you. Midnight is aggressive―a little too much for my liking―but he's the best choice out of all three of them."

Midnight tried to bite Alec's finger off. Areisha on the other hand, gave him a blank stare. "I can really feel your love for them oozing out of you," she said. If Alec detected the sarcasm in her voice, he paid no heed to it.

She sighed and decided to turn her attention to River and Rei. The two sat together on the edge of the roof, talking quietly for the past five minutes since they arrived here. She gave them an inquisitive glance. There was something about them that she couldn't quite put a finger on.