Realm of the Sun

Chapter 21

Sylas had tried very hard to stay awake.

Without his morning caffeine, he was already feeling the effects of withdrawal. It wasn't like he could just sneak off; it was rude to be knowingly late, and additionally, his supply was too far away from their new meeting place to easily sneak away.

Since it was actually breakfast time right now, they settled on scoring a plate of jiaozi and bringing it to the dining hall, which was notably bigger and had more echo.

Already seated at the head of the table was, of course, Nicholas Yan. On his right was Gwen, and beside her, Roza. To the left, was the aforementioned Sergeant Ahran Cheng of House Frigg, and Corporal Feiyi Yin of House Vyina. Air and memory projection, Sylas recalled as he sat himself next to Solarie. Yue was seated uncomfortably next to the corporal, and she was fidgeting with her fingers.

"Good, we're all here," Gwen motioned for Sergeant Cheng to start. If Sylas remembered correctly, Ahran led the covert branch of the greater army, and was the youngest to do so at twenty-two years old. Even if she was descended from a high house, it was just as remarkable as Gwen becoming general at twenty.

Ahran stood up. "Thank you, general. To my understanding," she waved a hand at Solarie. "Your friend is one of the hostages, correct?" Solarie nodded. "Then you deserve to be informed. I know that if Corporal Feiyi was taken hostage, I would like every detail available." she smiled warmly. "We've narrowed down the possible holding locations to only five, all located in the Qingni province."

Sylas instantly felt relieved. Jason was one of Sylas' old classmates, and one of the only people in the palace who really understood him. He desperately wanted him to survive this.

A messenger approached the congregation. "General Ng, Sergeant Cheng, Corporal Yin," he bowed with each name, making it look quite silly. "There has been a... second update to the hostage situation."

"Oh? Do tell." Sergeant Cheng raised a brow.
"Sergeant, you really should see for yourself..." The messenger nervously sank, his posture crippling into something similar to a prawn or shrimp.

Gwen shrugged, but obliged, followed by Ahran and Feiyi. Sylas watched from the table as the messenger led them outside the dining hall, and all that was left to do was wait and sit patiently.

Roza cleared her throat. "Well, I have drills to run, so unless there's another update, I'm going outside. Solarie, remember you have training with Irena and Grace in an hour." she strutted out of the dining hall too, off to the snowy training fields outside.

Solarie grumbled a quiet yes ma'am, and begrudgingly headed in the direction of the training facility.

Sylas didn't exactly have much to do today; he had already graduated from the academy and applied for the science institute, whose courses didn't start until the spring semester. His training supervisor, Wei Heng Xiao, was largely occupied by the duties of the military, and around this time, professor Cao would be locked up in his own personal lab, probably trying to create immortality of some sort. Instead of choosing to do something productive, he found the courage to do something he had been putting off for a long time.

In the bottom trunk under his bed, sealed with a simple iron lock, was a letter dated to November 1st, current era. It came in his mail one day, and while he did tell himself that he would respond to it eventually, only the heavens knew when eventually was.

"Damn you, James." Sylas muttered under his breath, reading the contents of the perfectly preserved letter. The wax seal bore the design of a majestic golden-brown griffin, clutching a golden iris in its claws; the crest of the House of Golden Iris, not a house of Liyuan nobility but the royal house name allocated to the Benson's, the monarchs of Arden.