Book 4 | Agent 34 and the Last Gem

Chapter 51 | Their Confessions

"Attention," Thad said, clearing his throat. He assembled all of the Zena in the courtyard for a meeting. Everyone was there, including Harper, even though she wasn't technically a member of the Zena. "In a day's time, we will be pursuing Braunick's empire in one final attempt bring it down. Agent 34 and his friends have been training our current militia, so they should be alright in this battle. As for the Ar'guals, I assume you all already know how to battle very well, but just in case," The dwarf glanced at Grime, who looked around quickly and ran to the front of the crowd.

"I made Destiny Armor for all of the Ar'guals for extra backup," he exclaimed. The Ar'guals broke into a cheer, the normal soldiers feeling a little left out. "Because the Ar'guals don't really need both a blade and armor, the Zena's soldiers will be getting the matching blades," This made the soldiers feel somewhat content with this as they cheered in agreement.

"Anyways, onto our plan for tomorrow," The dwarf told them. "We will sail across the water and towards the mainland at sunrise. All women and children will be staying here for safety while we head to battle. If anything goes wrong here, we will have an emergency boat set up in case you all will need to flee the island, but we are hoping that will not happen,"

"Once we get to the mainland, we kill anything in our way. No exceptions. Everyone in Renya is evil at this point and the chance of surviving is under one percent, Make absolutely sure you are wearing your cloaks under your armor so the rain cannot affect you. We don't want anyone turning evil and running around with Destiny Armor or a Destiny Sword,"

"We scouted our Braunick's fortress earlier with Barjual. He managed to take a chunk of the ground at raise it into the air, creating a literal floating island above Renya. His castle sits upon that, the storm going through half of it. Our plan is to get all of the Zena's spellweavers and try to knock the thing down. If that doesn't work, we will get the dragons and try to knock it down that way. Soldiers, there is without a doubt that Braunick will send out backup and try to stop us. That's where you come in. You must defend the spellweavers at all costs while they try to bring it down,"

"While all of this is going on, the dragons will fly the Destigems up to face Braunick for the final battle. Destigems, I want you to protect Agent 34 at all costs during the fight. He has the last gem. There is no telling what weird stuff he has guarding his castle so we must be on high alert the entire time,"

"Destigems, while we are up there—someone needs to attempt to remove some of Braunick's gems. It's highly likely that since he is trying to battle is physically that he most likely can't handle a mental battle at the same time, making it easier for us to remove the gems,"

"If something goes wrong, turn around immediately. Do not hold back. If you have to leave your fallen brothers, you do so without hesitation. If Braunick can kill them, he can kill you. If we, the Destigems, don't succeed in overthrowing Braunick up in the castle and something goes wrong, that's when you flee. We need you all below to hold off his forces, most likely his skeleton army and whatever veroms he has left,"

"Food and water will be provided. They are already loaded onto the boats right now. The only thing we have left to do is to have a good night's sleep and be prepared for tomorrow. Remember: we are the rebellion. We decide Renya's future," The dwarf concluded, punching his fist into the air. The Zena that stood before him all started to cheer, punching their fists into the air as well.

Agent 34, who was in the crowd of humans, elves, and dwarves, was standing next to Arenia. They had hardly talked since they had arrived to the Island of Death and the elf had managed to ask her if she wanted to accompany him to the meeting. As the crowd disappeared, the two walked back to the bunker in the volcano. Even though the new Zena had finished construction, the Destigems still lived inside there.

They made it to their rooms, Agent 34 allowing her to come into his. It had been forever since they ever just talked.

"Arenia, what do you think is going to happen tomorrow?" he asked her.

Her response wasn't a natural one. She glanced around the room, looking at the objects to see if they could conjure up an answer for her. "I think we will lose. Bad,"

Agent 34 wasn't expecting that from her. "Why?"

"We are so underpowered. I don't think Thad understands this. Braunick is practically a God, there's no denying it," she explained.

Agent 34 didn't know what to say. "He's your brother. You should be able to reason with him," Arenia told him.

"What if I can't? What if I can't beat him?"

"You have the last gem. Don't say that," The elf told him.

"You just said we were going to lose," He said to her jokingly.

She placed two fingers on his lips, shutting him up instantly.

"Arenia, what if we lose? What if we both end up dying?" he asked, silliness turning to seriousness.

"If neither of us make it out alive tomorrow, then I want you to know this, 34," she began. Arenia leaned in towards Agent 34 and locked lips with him, kissing him gently. When they broke apart, Agent 34 was trying to comprehend what had happened. "I have loved you ever since the day I met you, 34,"

He didn't know what to say. "Really?"

"Yeah," she admitted. "I just couldn't come to terms with it back then. I thought I needed to be the strong type that people looked up to. I couldn't be giving some guy goo-goo eyes in a time of war,"

Agent 34 grabbed her hand, gripping it tightly. "And I have loved you back ever since the day I met you," they shared one last kiss before the both of them went to sleep, preparing for war in the morning.