The Last Defender (FINISHED)

Chapter 6: The Defenders

'D-dino?' I didn't even pay attention to the fact that I was stuttering. 'W-what's going on? H-how is this a real p-place? W-who are...' My voice died out. Dino was holding his hands out in a time-out motion, his face calm.
'Calm down, Stephanie,' he said, 'I...' He glanced at the others sitting in the room. 'Make that we... Will fill you in. Just... Calm down.'
'Yes,' said the guy who reminded me of Alex, 'Take a deep breath, take a seat, and... Well, I guess we'll try and help Dino here to tell you about an event where you two were the only one there.' He said that last part while glaring at Dino and grinning. Dino replied by rolling his eyes.
I hesitated for a moment and Mr. Alex-look-alike, seeing my hesitation, rushed to get a chair and put it between him and the girl next to him and gestured for me to sit there. I felt myself blushing. He had put me in the middle of a bunch of strangers, almost literally in the middle of the half circle of people who were obviously friends. In the center of attention. I - very awkwardly - walked over to the chair and sat down, very aware of the ten eyes watching me.
'N-now,' I said, in something of what I am sure was a only barely audible voice, 'can someone e-explain what's g-going on?'
'Ye-,' Dino started, but he didn't get to finish.
'Maybe,' said the guy who hadn't spoken yet, interrupting Dino 'both for the sake of the girl and the plot's development, we should do a round of introduction?'
'What?' I asked, confused.
He shook his head and then added, 'I'm Raleigh.' He paused, looking at Dino. Dino nodded, even though it was only barely noticeable. Raleigh continued. 'To some people, I'm better known as Defender Illuminair.'
I frowned. 'Defender?' I asked.
'Yes.' It was the girl with the longer hair. 'Defender. Here on Ionica, of which you seem to know a strange amount, being human, we have us, the Defenders, who, well, rule different parts of the planet, nations, if you will. For example, me and my sister here, we rule Raadsia. I am Fidellis, by the way, also known as Defender Interfectis White.'
'And I,' said her sister, 'am Latis. Aaaaand Interfectis Black.'
The boy who had reminded me of Alex spoke next. 'I'm Racer, by the way. I'm the youngest of the defenders.'
'He's Defender Racion, as most people know him.' It was Dino who was now speaking. 'You obviously already know I'm Dino, but what you probably didn't realize, is that I'm also Defender Tenebris, the person who saved you a few days ago.'
As soon as he said it, something clicked in my brain. That's what had been wrong! A complete stranger had known my name, which I missed, because I immediately reacted to his "Stephanie, duck," and was to busy trying not to die to realize that this was a stranger.
All I managed to say was, 'oh.'
Then I realized the importance of him giving me a hint as to how long I'd been here, unconsious.
'Wait,' I said, and then asked the obvious question, 'a few days ago? How long have I been here?'
'About 3 days,' answered Raleigh.
'What? 3 days? That means it's Friday, and nobody even knows where I am? Or why I'm gone?'
'Calm down,' said Latis, 'time flows different on Ionica. Like, a whooole lot faster. 1 year on earth is about 50 here. Do the math yourself.'

I concluded that I was gone for about 86 minutes. I may've been wrong, though. I sure hoped so. Because that would've meant that I'd have been gone for over an hour. That would still arouse suspicion.

After some time, I finally spoke again. 'B-but, how do I get home?'
There was a short silence, until Dino said, 'you can't.'
I looked at him, panic in my eyes. 'What?'
'I said you can't,' he repeated. 'Look, I'm sorry, Stephanie, but you know too much. If you go home now, and you tell your friends about this - which I don't doubt you'll do, because they'll ask you where the heck you've been and you wouldn't have the heart to lie to them - not only we, but also they will be in danger.'
'B-but.. what are you going to do to me? Y-you aren't gonna kill me, are y-you?'
Racer turned to look me in the eye. 'No. Not yet at least. We'll keep you alive for a few more months. Surely you don't think we can eat you like this?'
'What?' I said, not completely sure if he was being serious or not. I glanced to my left side, and saw that Latis was doing a bad job surpressing a smile. Fidellis nudged her sister with her elbow and looked at Racer.
'Leave the poor girl alone,' she said, 'Can't you see she's terrified out of her wits?' Then she looked at me. 'You'll get home eventually. It may just be different than you expect. And it'll probably not be any time soon.'
'B-but.. what about my friends? Surely they'll be suspicious, I'll have been gone for at the very least, hours.'
'You may be longer, but so be it,' said Raleigh. 'There's no other way, Stephanie.'

I was confused, angry, and scared. Yet, I still didn't know what had happened three days earlier. So I asked, in a small voice, 'now can someone explain to me what happened the other day?'

And so they explained. When they came to the part where I passed out, I frowned.
'What did I do?'
'You yelled out something. I think it was something like inferno or something very obvious like that,' Raleigh said. 'At least, that's what Dino said.'
It turned out it was something slightly different. But I can't write it on paper. Let's just say I've tried it before and it... didn't work out the way I'd hoped it would.

After the conversation was over, there was a moment of silence. I was taking in everything I had heard in the last forty-five minutes or so, and the other were looking at me, watching me decide what I was going to do. Finally, I sighed and stood up, and without a word, I went up the stairs, straight to Diana's room.

FINALLY FINISHED ANOTHER CHAPTER!!! I am so so so so so so so sorry! I'm such a bad person, I should've had three more chapters up more than three weeks ago! But by the last week of my vacation I realized I didn't have a single chapter ready yet. I feel so bad. But I guess I had a bit off a writers block. Well, now I have this damned chapter over with and can start with a new chapter about... Stuff... This might take a while again because I have no discipline whatsoever and school started again and shit (excuse my language) like that. But I'll stop making excuses. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because I certainly didn't.. IT'S SO HAAAARD T-T

Anyway.

xx Rissa

P.S. Please note that Islingr has been changed to Illuminair (this is going to take some serious getting used to, at least for me). This is due to copyright.