The Keepers of Azera ( Book 1 of the Keepers Trilogy)

Chapter 9

We file into Level One and climb out onto the surface. It looks even worse-there's now little craters in the orange sand that's stained crimson in spots. We stand somewhat close to the glass dome, which has cracks all over it. The sky is a mixture of orange and blue. In the entire expanse of the desert, I only see a few plants-but that's no different than usual. The Training Base is under the largest desert on Azera, which takes up the majority of the continent. And considering there's only three continents- Tarak, Mesa, and Vezar (which translates into East, west, and north)- and the oceans are fairly small, it's pretty big.

I wander over to a plant and pick one of its purple flowers. Lavender. One of the few plants that grow both here and on Earth. I inhale its sweet scent. It reminds me of the last time I saw my grandparents-my mother's parents-on Vezar, where the plant grows abundantly. I pocket it and stare at the capital. I had been there once, and it was beautiful. To see the soaring architecture reduced to rubble is depressing.

James appears behind me and rests a hand on my shoulder. I jump. "It's horrifying, isn't it?" he asks quietly.

I nod and look behind me-some little kids are running around, but everyone else stands around, whispering to each other.

"There's no point in being here," I mutter. "No point at all."

I stare at the cracked glass, the only window to the outside world? How did we never notice until now, when we were basically told? How did we not notice the war above our heads?

James points my gaze to the sky. An airship flies overhead, wailing. Several little ones scream at the noise, but their Guardians calm them down quickly. We watch it pass, then I look at James. "I'm scared," I whisper.

"Of what?"

"What...what if an enemy ship sees us? What if a bomb is dropped here and destroys us? What if the fighting causes the Training Base to collapse? What if..." There are so many worst-case scenarios running through my head I can barely speak.

James looks at the lavender plant. "And what if we don't? What if we're like this plant, and at the end of it all, we still stand? Callie, don't dwell on the negative. Leave that to the adults."

I laugh a little. "What's the fighting like on the other continents?"

"How'd I know? I haven't left Tarak for as long as you have."

"Yeah, but you get the news," I point out.

"Yeah...south of Tarak isn't doing so great. I think, when you had that flashback, during the sermon, that was on the beach down there."

"So it was more recent flashback?"

"Probably. Mesa has the most collateral damage, but that's where most of the population is. Vezar....I don't know what's going on there. And Tierra is untouched, which is good." Tierra is an island in the middle of the ocean between all three continents. Though it's controlled by Vezar-each continent has its own small government, so as long as it didn't interfere with the world government- Tierra acts very independent. And it's home to the military capitol, Axedence.

"But the capitol took a beating," I say, pointing at it. "Who decided the capital should be in the desert, anyhow?"

James shrugs. "To be close to the Training Base, I suppose."

"I thought it was the other way around."

"The capital moved here because this was an ideal place to build an underground building, and they wanted to be close to their 'new army'," James explains.