Die Alone

Chapter Five

Adrian Alcado
Niveous

As quickly as they left, they were back, standing in the dusty stone room.

"What the actual fu-"

"No freaking out!" Judyta hissed at Sebastian. "You absolutely cannot say a word."

Adrian looked to Sebastian to try and read his face. He seemed sad and confused but above all, there was the depressing reality that there really was no one he could even tell.

"Why is it so top secret?" Adrian asked.

Judyta began to adjust her bun before turning to Adrian and responding, "A war."

"A war?"

"Yes. A war,' Judyta confirmed. "My grandma never wanted to talk about the politics of Side but supposedly that's why she and many others had to flee."

"Why was my mom hiding that rock?" Sebastian asked in a desperate tone. Adrian felt conflicted. He felt bad and wanted to comfort Sebastian but that would be out of character and weird. Atop that, Adrian was also trying to figure out how his mother played into this.

Judyta shrugged in response to Sebastian. "She was hiding it from someone, hence why we cannot say anything right now. We don't know enough about the situation." Judyta was very clearly eyeing Adrian.

Sebastian paced a few times before opting to sit down on the mattress next to Sion.

"Okay," Amber started. Clearing her throat, she picked her chin up. "Tell us what you do know."

Judyta paused, letting her gaze scan the group. "Well there's two main factors. One, there's a second world and I guess you all believe me now. And the second is that, that world has different mechanics if that makes sense. This again is all what my grandma says. The divisions are divided into kingdoms because of the abilities the humans possess. They all evolved to fit the biome. Each division has a bunch of abilities and most people can only master a few."

Sion then chimed in. "Like wizards?"

Judyta shook her head. "No. There's no wands or spells, it's just you're born with abilities others are not that will aid your lifestyle based on the biome you live in."

Adrian tried to comprehend what Judyta was saying but it was very vague and he himself was still in shock.

"It's, uh, I don't know how to explain it. Humans adapted to their environments to survive because the world over there is wacky. I know this part ties into the war. From what I've theorized, Fērox had done something bad and Niveous tried to protect. My grandma was saved by a Niveous woman. She had brought my grandma and a bunch of children to this world."

Adrian rubbed his forehead. He wanted every piece of information Judyta could give but he also wanted this debacle to be over so he could analyze it all by himself in bed.

"Okay..." Sakiya spoke slowly and everyone went silent as they processed that information. "And what are our next steps?" Sakiya asked.

Judyta seemed to be at a loss for answers.

"We go to the library and find what books we can," Amber responded.

"Is taking a bunch of books about Bellātor out not suspicious?" Sion questioned. Sakiya's face lit up as if it was her time to shine.

"I'll go with you and we'll just sneak the books out in my bag. Meet here at curfew."