Galaxy of Hyperion: Mystic Heir

Chapter Forty-Five: Isolation and Union

Diamond activated the invisibility spell as soon as the teleportation process drew to a close, and Ocean glanced around with agitation in her eyes. Realistically, she knew that there wasn't any possible way for Alba and their monsters to see the fact that she and the rest of her group were there, but she couldn't stop the burning sensation that they were going to figure it out somehow. It was only after a handful of seconds of peace had passed that she allowed herself the chance to sigh in relief, glad that the spell censored sound as well as sight as long as someone remained inside of its boundaries. 

"The other groups are probably all under their own invisibility spells in the area," Xia remarked from her place beside Ocean. The black-haired Clan Leader looked in her direction before nodding. Casting another invisibility spell wasn't a guaranteed way to see an outside invisible party; it had to be cast by the same source in order for a second group of people to be impervious to its effects, and that very clearly was not the case due to the nature of the mission that they were going to be taking on that day. 

"You're probably right," Ocean replied with a gentle nod. She let out another heavy sigh, letting the tension in her chest melt away as she did so. She began to shake her hands out, glad that she had already transformed so that she didn't have to deal with the nerves that came with doing it so close to the site of the battle. She didn't think that she would be able to force herself to transform in a place like that even if she wanted to; it would freak her out too much, and that felt like it was saying something. Ocean was made anxious by a lot of things, but few subjects had pushed her anywhere near the boundary that she had experienced that day. 

"Flare's got to be in one of these other bubbles," Xia commented. She glanced around even though she knew that she wasn't going to be met with the sight of anyone outside of their small team of seven, Flare or otherwise. Ocean found herself joining in despite her knowledge matching Xia's on the matter. It was something for her to do to pass the time until the attack was going to start, and she was more than willing to take a little bit of a distraction until the moment was right. 

"Are we ready to give her the command?" came the gentle voice of Diamond from nearby. That was enough to pull Ocean's attention away from her fruitless search, and she turned around to see Diamond looking back and forth between Liathine and Tuila. Lana and Colt were nearby, silent and waiting for the order that they were going to be receiving next. 

"I believe that we are," Liathine said. When she looked over to Tuila, she was met with a nod, and that was enough for Liathine, it seemed. She raised her communicator to her mouth and pressed down on the button that would allow others to understand her. "Flare, it's time for you to get into action. We'll be waiting for you."

The static of the communicator fell silent a moment later, and Ocean found herself almost surprised at how mundane it all was. In a way, the communicator reminded her a lot of walkie talkies back on Earth, and it was strange to think that she was in a magical universe with what she was seeing. She knew that there had to be some sort of catch given that Liathine had developed these devices herself, and nothing that Liathine made was ever truly boring or average. 

"The communicators are a closed loop that we've made sure is impervious to being broken into," Lana said when she noticed the confusion on Ocean's expression. "Liathine wanted to be positive that nobody would be able to break in and hear what it is that we're saying to one another, so she developed those handy little things. I think that she's done everything that you could think of to make sure that Alba can't find a way to interfere with our network, and that's why we're using the devices rather than just relying on magic."

"Wow. I see that Liathine is just as dedicated as ever then," Xia muttered with a light snort. "I always knew that she was able to pull off stuff like this, but somehow, she always manages to find new ways of impressing. I suppose that's just kind of how she rolls though. You know how Liathine is."