Hidden

Chpter 48

Emma walked through the hallways with purpose, her flats making a soft tapping noise each step she took, the sound echoing off the empty halls. She was finally able to ignore the urge to look down through the glass floors, and was able to focus on front of herself.

She never noticed it before, but potraits of people in diffrent coloured cloaks with dragons standing behind them hung on portraits along the walls. Taking a guess, the pictures were paintings of previous elites, each one over one hundred years old. Each cloak getting newer and brighter.

Finally, she recognized the final white an purple elite, Mira and Justin we're both hiding their faces with the darkness the cloak granted, but their dragons were showing the true emotion they were with Feeling.

Fear.

The purple dragon Mira had was a very small one, small enough to fit in her shoulder, or maybe that was just how our mind played tricks on us. The small purple dragon had a burn mark, hidden by most of the decorative picture items, but if looked at closely, there was a long healing wound on its side.

Saddness for the dragon emerged in Emma's throat, a lump that she had to swallow down to get rid of. Justin's portrait was next, looking very similar to Mira's, Justin had his white cloak on, it's silver lining shining with the cameras flash. His dragon was a beautiful silver with white scales littering random patches of it's body.

Unlike Mira's small four legged dragon, Justin's dragon was a long sea serpent, about six legs fitting easily onto it's body. The dragon had fur along the top of its body and a mane of white fur around its neck. It had a few golden cuffs on its horns and ankles, but it was for decorative features.

Emma gave the two elites a silent prayer, hoping to whoever held the string of fates that their lives would get better. She continued her walk until she heard a bang from below. Her head shot down and saw a man with a black hat on, their electric magic boiling in their hands. The person shot up the lighting bolt, the magic immidialy bouncing back and hitting him.

The faint sound of an alarm from below went off, and people scattered away from the paralyzed man as officers made their way to arrest the man. Emma gave them a nod, continuing down the endless hallways.

The brunette found the stairs she had found earlier and quietly walked down them. Not too many people were wandering the hallways and no one noticed the girl as she stepped down onto the second highest floor.

For some reason, stress seemed to float off her shoulders, letting the girl feel lighter then ever. She smiled as she began to wander the hallwys again, looking for any fimalliar face.

Unlike the hallways above, there were no fancy portraits of the previous elites, and the walls weren't as decorated as them. The Brunette came across a dome like room, it's roof filtering sunlight. There were nine hallways splitting from the room, each one a diffremt colour. Adults swarmed the area and none could get past each other.

Emma stuck to the sides, letting the crowd naturally push her fowards. When in the center of the crowd, the smell and heat from the other people made her gag. She held her breath, now wriggling to the other side of the crowd towards the large hallways.

Standing in front of each hallway was a guard. Their silver armor shining in the sunlight provided above. The logo of the northern academy printed right on the chest plate of the armour. A dragon, just the head, facing forwards, it's giant frills spreading our to intimidate it's opponent.

That's all the northern academy was really, all bark, no bite.

Diffrent coloured gems aligned the dragons eyes and other accents, each guard wearing the same coloured gems as the hallway they were guarding. Townspeople were throwing fists, saying they wanted to see the contestants now, but the sturdy guards didn't move, they took all the blows, and didn't say a word.

Emma scooted to the blue corridor, the guard not noticing her approaching. Other people moved out of the girls way, their colourful eyes staring at Emma's grey ones.

"Oh my God is that....?" A woman said, poking her husband.

"Holy shit, they do exist." Another man said. Soon enough, the whole crowd was preoccupied with Emma, and now even the guards were sharing complexed looks of confusion.

The feeling of being stared at like a rare animal was uncomfortable, to say the least, the whispering too loud to be considered polite, and the stares went on for so long that Emma could have sworn there was holes in her back. Being the center of attention was putting pressure on the girl, it made her just want to shrivel away, to go back to the central academy and graduate and become a seamstress or something.

But then she saw David.

He was looking out from behind the water guard, his blue eyes locked firmly onto Emma's with relief and passion. The brunette wanted to run into his arms and never have to worry about the world, to stop hearing the mindless whispers from the judging world.

The girl stopped in front of the guard, sensing David's comforting presence behind him.

'just one obstacle and I'm homefree."

The guard looked at Emma with judging eyes like most other people, his dark blue eyes nothing like David's light blue comforting ones.

"Can I help you?" The guard asked. His voice was deep, but not cold, but it seemed like he was tired.

"Yes actually, I was wondering if you could let me pass so I can check up on someone." She said, her voice not very convincing.

"And is this person a family member or lover?" He asked, his eye's bored. His voice sounded like he had gone through the same question multiple times, the sound so familiar.

"Yeah, one of the contestants is my boyfriend." She said smootly. She felt the blush go up to her cheeks. Such a blatant lie yet it felt nice on the tounge. David's breath hitched behind the guard, and yet suprisingly the guard didn't hear it.

"And what's his name?"

"David Tyrim."

The guard nodded, moving from his post to let Emma snake past him. The brunette quickly abandoned The spot she stood at and walked into the blue hallway, David's red face As Emma approched. When the two friends approached each other, Emma took his hand, making sure to look over her shoulder to prove she wasn't lying to the guard.

A bunch of the crowd took pictures with their phones, and the water guard retook his position blocking the growing crowd, the shouting back again, but with another topic.

"Who is she?!"

"Why are her eyes grey? What magic does she have?!"

"Why does she get to pass?"

So many questions, yet the people would never, have them anwsered.