The Keeper of the End

V.

"Gemini." I whispered.

I'm actually not scared of her. I mean, who would be afraid of some shitty narcissistic brat who only cares about her looks and her god damn birth date.

"Its Princess Gemini to you, peasant." I rolled my eyes.

"Funny because the last guy who said that to me are now hiding behind his father's throne to punish me. Fortunately for me, the odds are in my favor."

I heard Jarius coughed a little to hide his laugh. Surely, he knows i'm talking about his brother.

Her face turned bright red. Oops?

Before I can realize what she's about to do, I instinctively did something then felt something pierced my back as I landed hard on the ground.

I heard so many voices shouting for something. My head started spinning and then I felt something from someone who is touching me.

Too many hands, I thought. Why are they touching me?

Then everything went black.

-

"What the fuck happened." I muttered as I try to remember what happened last night.

The stabbing pain in my back isn't helping me as I try to get up from my bed which is weird because I remembered passing out at the soldiers' kitchen.

"You pissed off Gem. That's what happened."

I almost shrieked when I heard someone answered me. I looked at the guy who's casually reading a book beside me, in my bed.

"Who are you? Why are you here? Get off my bed you shit head."

He closed the book he's reading then put his hand on my forehead to check my condition.

"Good. You're better now. I'm Nikolai. From the south. And to prevent you from causing more trouble, I am the future beta of the southern earth empire. So behave."

Oh no. That doesn't sounds good to me.

"What did I do last night?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Nothing much. Jairus created a wind barrier protecting you before Gemini can kill you. Unfortunately, some of my classmates isn't a fan of you. So yeah, they threw you off."

So i'm pretty much innocent from what happened last night? Good.

"As for Gemini, she will be punished. Both from the school and her family. As well as the others." he continued when I didn't answer him.

"And you? Why are you here?" he stiffened.

"Order from the higher ups. They don't want you in trouble again so i'm your guard now."

Oh no, no no no. The least thing I want is a guard dog following me around.

"You're kidding, right?"

He looked straight into my eyes and muttered;

"You wish."

After accompanying me to the clinic, Nikolai walked me to my class before he left to attend his own.

But not before saying that 'you need to attend my classes or someone from the higher ups will not be happy. And you must stay out of trouble.'

Yeah yeah. Are all the people from the south so uptight? Kaleb is like that too.

Speaking of Kaleb, as far as I know, he's studying here. How come I never saw him even once?

The moment I entered my classroom, I swear to the gods and goddesses I almost passed out.

Why. Is. Everybody. Looking? I. Am. Fucking. Uncomfortable.

I settled down on the seat at the back of the room near the window. This way, even though they want to stare, it will be hard.

The days went smoothly. Although half of the time we were training out on the fields, it was pretty cool.

And even though I can't do shit like make fire or pull water out of plants and such, physical training for me was good.

It's been six months already since I came here and I got acquainted with my other classmates. They're cautious of me at first but I somehow earned their respect when I tried much harder to keep up with them.

It was hard. They have all the advantages in the world and here I am, striving to survive amongst them. They give me the credit for that.

Nikolai, being Nikolai is such a pain in the ass. I told him I don't need him to follow me around and walk me from class to class but he insisted.

He said his life depended on it.

Southern people are all rock headed, I concluded.

"Are you...mates with Nikolai?" I turned to look at Alice.

Alice is a sweetheart. She is tall, unlike me. She has her blonde hair always neatly tied in a bun and she was gorgeous. If I haven't known her better, I would assume she's a water bender.

Her face can par the beauty of the mermaids.

But she's an earth bender.

She was the only one who approached me when I was dying one time when I pushed myself so hard in training.

We became...friends.

"Heavens no! He was more of a...friend to me I guess?" I  really have to ask Nikolai to stop following me around. This will cause me trouble. And I have things to do.

"Oh. I just thought..." she trailed off.

"No, no. Goodness no. He saved me once when I was attacked, I guess. He's just overreacting now."

"Ohh. That explains it. Danger is attached to you after all." she laughed.

" Yeah. But everything is good now. I'm actually asking him to get off my back because I don't want rumours spreading around." I mumbled.

She just patted my hair. I sighed. I told her not to do that incase I accidentally curse her and she just shrugged. As if not caring.

"It's fine. He's just protecting you. Even I would do the same." I looked at her. Stunned.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're the most fragile person that I know. And I think of you as my family now. So I wouldn't let harm be on your way."

I was silent for a moment. I really appreciate what she said. Aside from Kaleb, she was one of my few friends now. Together with Jairus and Nikolai.

"Not fragile like a flower, no, you're fragile like a bomb." she continued smiling widely at me.