Crystalline Cavern: The Brigaders

Chapter 7

Eliza

      I sat in my dorm fiddling with my staff. I kept thinking about what I told Kai. I never really called him Forest, I've always admired his real name. I sat up in bed and took a long, deep breath. I have a few small targets hanging on the wall given to me by my older brother after he graduated from the academy three years ago. He's currently a level 10 and is on the surface defending the humans in the shadows. His name is Anthony and he's the bravest and strongest guy I know. I aspire to be like him someday. I used my shift activator by turning each end of my staff, one side clockwise and the other counter-clockwise, to shift the two pieces into my secondary weapon. I had blasters that could shoot pulses of intense energy, and with the help of my aura connector, I could control the amount of energy that is fired each time. I began firing small flares towards the targets. I love these targets a lot, but not just because Anthony gave them to me, but because they are designed to not make a mark or have flaws embedded in them.

      As I kept shooting small flares someone had knocked on my door. I used my aura and felt Kai and Jane's presence. I understood why Ruby's here because we share the same dorm, but why Kai? And especially now when I feel awkward and embarrassed around him at the moment. She opened the door and pushed Kai in the room. "Hey Eliza, I just remembered that I need to go and talk to a TI about some extra credit I could do to bring up my grade in math and I just so happened to bump into Kai on the way here!" I gave her a stern look. "If you needed to speak with a TI about something, why did you come all the way here?"

      "I uh, needed to grab some first!" She ran to her desk and grabbed a bunch of random pieces of paper. "You guys should catch up while you're both here! I'll be back in an hour or so, so have fun!"

      Before she gave either of us the chance to respond, she closed the door behind her and I slowly felt her aura fade away. Kai looked at me with a shy smile that practically froze me in place. I finally mustered up the courage to speak. "So what's the real story as to why you're here?" He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "I just asked if you were busy and Jane said you would be here chilling out so I thought I could join you." My heart fluttered. The whole time I've been in here, there was only one thought that always seemed to cross my mind. What do you think about me? "So what do you wanna do exactly?"

      "Well, what were you doing before I got here?" I motioned towards the small targets hanging on my wall. "Just messing around with the targets." He laughed and nodded. "I haven't seen those in a while, mind if I give it a go?" I smiled and nodded as I watched him position himself in front of them. He collected some of his aura and made a plasma-like sphere. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. He aimed with his hands and pushed it towards one of the targets. He barely made a bulls-eye. "I guess I still need to work on my aim. After a while, my aura can become very hot."

      "Then I feel sorry for whoever has to go up against you in this month's Rank Rage." We both laughed and sat down on my bed. He looked at me suddenly and everything just went quiet for a while. "So listen, there was a reason I came to see you. I wanted to talk about what happened at Harry's last weekend." There was a sudden ringing in my ears and my face became hot. "O-oh, what did you want to about specifically?"

      "I've been thinking about it a lot, about how you felt, and I wanted to ask you if this is something you've been willing to try out and go against the idea that one day we might come across our Aura Núte." I processed his words and analyze them carefully. It's obvious that he's willing to have a serious conversation about this. "If you want me to be honest with you, the way I feel about you is similar to what Aura Núte would mean to me." I saw hints of green light up in his eyes. "I never knew I made you feel that way." I blinked away tears of stress from my eyes and recollected myself. "I know that whatever I'm feeling now can cause an issue when I find that special person in my life, but that special person right now is you."

      I saw Kai crack a smile and had slightly blushed cheeks. He sighed and looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry for being so clueless. Truth is, I like being around you and I wanna spend more time with you. I just don't know how to go about it."

      "That's ok. You don't have to struggle with the idea so much. I don't know what I was thinking when I told you-" He cut me off. "No! I'm glad you told me! I missed us just talking about stuff you know, and I feel like we've become a lot closer." My heart skipped a beat as he said that. I was at a loss for words. Is he really willing to do this with me? "Well, I have to go do some homework so can we talk some more tomorrow?" I smiled. "You don't even have to ask." He gave me a goofy smile and stood up to then make his way towards the door. "It was nice talking with you, Eliza."

      "You too, Kai." He opened the door and walked out after giving me a silent goodbye, and then closing the door behind him. I collapsed on my bed and let the emotional exhaustion overcome me as I drifted off to sleep.

»»—————————««

      I woke up an hour later and saw that Jane was at her desk writing in her notebook. "Hey Ruby."

      "Hello sleepy, have a nice nap?" I laughed a little and nodded. Everything that happened earlier felt like a dream, but I know it was real by the smile that was plastered on Jane's face. "So, what did you and Kai talk about?"

      "Not much, just small talk." I hate lying to her. "What time is it?"

      "It's almost noon." Shit! I jumped out of bed and fixed myself up before grabbing my phone and dashing towards the door. "Hey! Where are you going?!"

      "I have to meet up with Rose for some brunch in ten minutes!" She looked at me a bit annoyed and rolled her eyes. "Sure, and then when you get back, you can tell me the whole story about what happened between you and Kai." I knew she didn't buy that lie.

      She crossed her arms and turned her body towards me. "Can't you tell me about it? You know you can trust me so why keep it all in the shadows? You know that the others will find out soon, right?"

      "Of course I do." No doubt in my mind about that. "So you're basically saying you don't want me to be the first to know?"

      "It's not that. I just don't think I'm ready to explain things just yet."

      "Do you really think it's a good idea to let the others explain for you? Especially Dark or Rose?"

      "Well, yeah, but I'm sure they won't mention anything about this particular topic, right?"

      "Have you met them? Just tell me!"

      "We can talk about it later! Right now I need to process everything." I didn't want to tell her because I actually did want her to be the last to know. I wanted to tell Rose first since she knows a little more about relationships due to her past experiences with a guy she used to date. I'll just let Jane find out on her own for now. "Well I better go, Rose is gonna kill me for being late."

      "Fine. I'm just gonna stick around here and watch some shows." She better not watch our show without me as revenge for not telling her. "I actually think you should get some training in while the TF is empty."

      "I guess you're right, I'll see you around, ok?"

      "Ok, bye."

      I left our dorm room and started walking out of the dorm building towards the gates and unlocked it with my aura. The school board had the lock made so that only NWA students could get in and out. I began my walk into town towards Harry's. I couldn't wait to tell Rose everything that just happened between me and Kai, and how we could potentially try things out. I'm just a bit worried because he's had feelings for her for a while now. Kai isn't a person to mess with one's emotions, right?