Galaxy of Hyperion: World of New Life

Chapter Nine: Frigid North

The six teenagers wound up going to sleep for the night without getting another mission the day they rescued Valdez. They all came to the conclusion that they understood each other better now that they had actually been given a chance to sit down and talk. On top of that, Luke and Xia weren't arguing as much anymore, which was a relief to Jayler. He was sick of hearing Xia make jabs at him, and even if it was a small development, it was one he could definitely get used to.

This time, not everybody was coming on the day's mission. Tuila called over all six Clan Leaders along with Diamond, Valdez, and Skye, but Cordell and Liathine were ultimately left out of the meeting regarding their goal. Jayler stared over at them and noticed they were tinkering around with a large device in the corner of the room, not at all minding that they hadn't been summoned for the mission of the day.

Diamond created the projection of the map of Daragon this time, their palm outstretched to the ceiling. "We're heading to another icy village today. However, this one is actually cold since it's located on the poles. Granted, it's still nowhere near as chilled as Earth, but it's definitely a step above the previous location. This time, we're going not to liberate a village, but to search for an odd power spike detected in the area," Diamond explained.

"An odd power spike?" Skye echoed with a tilt of her head. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means a sign of another Draconic Superior. The power spike was picked up on a machine Liathine pulled together last night. Now that we had one of our four lost generals, we knew how to track them, and she got to work. She and Cordell will be staying behind to ensure it remains stable and maybe even attempt to track down the other two lost generals. One of the three we haven't found is in that icy village," Tuila replied. "Since this location is going to be colder, Fire magic is going to be incredibly valuable."

"On the subject of Fire magic, it seems like the spike of magic is based around the Fire element," came a shout from Liathine's spot in the corner. "It wasn't possible to tell what element Skye had since we were only sensing ourselves, and human sensing isn't as accurate as technology. With this thing, on the other hand, we can easily determine what element we're dealing with, and as far as I can tell, we can find out exactly where all of these generals are, whether we lost them or not."

"This would help us track down the generals who went missing in the war too. The ones who are still alive, I mean," Cordell chimed in. "We can easily figure out what our next step should be headed towards thanks to this machine, and we can put out a perfect route to pick up everyone we need to find."

"Well, I guess we should go on to our next location," Skye suggested. "We can leave Liathine and Cordell behind to determine what our next step is going to be, and from there, we can swing by and maybe pick up two people in one day. If we can get more than one, we can start the full attack sooner. We have to make sure we're prepared to start the war, and finding everybody is that first step."

"The town at the farthest north point on Daragon is where we're set to find our Fire general. As for Cordell and Liathine, I believe they should try and find someone else. This location is out of the way of nearly everything else, so finding the next-closest thing won't be easy, but Skye has a point," Tuila said. "We can find multiple people thanks to this machine if we put our minds to it, and I believe we should try and focus on doing such."

"Okay. In that case, get ready, everyone. Grab your weapons, and let's get going," Valdez announced. "You have two minutes before we all leave and go to find that general. There's not a moment to lose."

Jayler grabbed his sword and twirled it over in his hands. He still wasn't used to all this, and the casual conversation from the day before had let him relax. He was already letting his guard down, and it hadn't even been a day since the previous fight. The idea of getting into another scuffle made him sick, but what choice did he really have?