Galaxy of Hyperion: Mystic Heir

Chapter Thirty-Two: Blood or Blade

The journey back to Earth was unfortunately unwelcome for Jayler, but he knew that they would have to go back home sooner or later. He simply wished that it didn't have to be so soon after he had finally reunited with Jay after being away from her for so long. The other Clan Leaders were more than happy to give him some space since he was dealing with being overwhelmed by all that had taken place, but Jayler could tell that they were curious about how everything had gone over. Jayler was eager to share, but he knew that he was going to have to be careful with how he explained it. There was so much that he wanted to say, but actually getting it all out was going to be a struggle. 

It wasn't until the next day of school that the Clan Leaders were able to gather together to talk about it. Jayler sat down at the lunch table quickly, one foot bouncing in place. He was the first one to arrive aside from Gemini, though in all fairness, she was early to everything. Gemini watched Jayler out of the corner of her eye as she flicked through the pages of her book. He could tell that was trying to see if he would calm down on his own terms, but when he didn't, she simply shrugged it off. 

As the others arrived, Jayler's excitement only grew. By the time that the final member of their team had sat down, Jayler didn't know how much more he was going to be able to take. "Alright, we're all here," he declared with a wide grin. "I want to tell you guys about what happened with Jay. She told me everything about what she's been up to since the end of the war on Daragon, you know. She's apparently been trying to pull together the Skylian Mages. They're a Hanilia faction, though I suppose that you guys already knew that... She's one of them. That's the reason that she didn't wind up as a Clan Leader. She had already been selected by Lyloc to be a Skylian Mage."

"That certainly lines up with what she told you before the war split us up," Gemini murmured to herself. She had put her book away and was focusing on eating her food, though Jayler suspected that she still yearned to return to the world of fiction once again. 

"Yeah, exactly," Jayler agreed. "Well, she said that she was planning on coming to see us again after her mission ended, but it didn't wind up going exactly as she was hoping. She got caught up in the search for the Skylian Mages, so it took a bit longer than anticipated. At the very least, they were able to come and see us when we were last at the castle. That's a good thing in my eyes."

"What else did she tell you?" Ocean asked with a light smile. Jayler's positive energy was reflecting positively on her, it seemed. This was par for the course with Ocean as far as Jayler was aware; she had a habit of internalizing what others said and did around her, though it was often a curse rather than the blessing it was in that moment. 

"She said that there's something threatening the safety of Skylia. It seems to me like the chaos that was left behind in the wake of the Skylox Heroes falling is being taken advantage of. If you ask me, the one behind it just has to be Alba. I can't think of anybody else who it could be. If it isn't them, then it's somebody we aren't aware of, and I think I like the outcome of it being them more," Jayler replied. 

"They sure did a great job of trying to freeze us in the castle," Luke remarked with a shake of his head. "I hate to admit that, but... There was a lot of effort put into that attack. I bet that they had been making extra soldiers for a while to use against us, and they just so happened to pick that as the perfect time to strike. Whether that was an accurate assessment or not is your choice entirely though."

"Well, it didn't work, so I'm going to say that Alba messed up, but they came pretty damn close to actually overpowering us and winning in that fight," Xia muttered. "I mean, if they had managed to freeze over the castle completely before those random attacks stopped them, then that would have made everything a lot harder on our end. After all, not everybody is made to withstand temperatures like that. Fire mages have a higher body temperature, so they would have been fine, and Ice mages are used to stuff like that. The rest of us... Yeah, it wouldn't have been pretty."