The Heroes of the Elemental Academies

Chapter 11: War Counsel and New Misssion

Seth

When they entered the war room at HQ Seth realized it had been the map room he'd seen walking through the corridors after he'd awaken... well awaken the first time anyways. Inside Seth looked around to see if he knew anybody in attendance. He spotted Strat, Mike, Rylee, King Samson, and his squad in the room. There were a couple of people that Seth didn't recognize at all. One was a burly lumberjack looking guy with curly black hair and a jagged scar running down the left side of his face from his cheek bone to the corner of his mouth. The guy looked to be in his early twenties. But instead of the usual white armor everyone else was wearing his armor was in the same fashion but, the color was different. It was a mixture of brown and green. With the primary color being brown, but the straps of his armor and the embroidery outlining the armor were all green.

He seemed to have piercing green eyes and emblazoned on his surcoats was a single oak leaf and the words Nature Academy. Everyone else that was there were in the Lightforce knight's armor. It was the armor he had seen when he had first arrived. It was different then the armor he had been given at to where during training. It was heavier and was more made to endure the rigors of combat than the armor they had been given.

Seth said nothing as he took a seat with his squad. He looked to Matt who was looking around the room as if looking for something. He was obviously trying to look calm and in control but Seth could see his hands quivering ever so slightly. "So even Matt was unnerved," Seth thought to himself. The situation must have been worse than everyone was letting on.

When everyone was finally seated Samson stood up and without any preamble said, "Reaper is loose and has gathered an army to fight us." Everyone had suspected that this was the case but to have it confirmed was something else talking erupted in the room.

"That's impossible!" Mike exclaimed winning quieting the room only through force of voice. Strat looked at Matt and raised an eyebrow. He looked much better than he had last Seth had seen him. He had less bags under his eyes and he didn't look so lifeless.

"Nothing is completely impossible you should know that better than anyone."

"But weren't there angles watching the seal this time I thought they said he wouldn't get free again," Rylee said her voice sounding just as strong as any of the other people there. Being taught by her hadn't been as bad as Seth had originally thought. When he had gone into her class for the first time he had been expecting bad blood to surface. But she hadn't even looked at him. And when he had asked a question she had just answered as politely as she would anyone else.

Seth's mom stood up and all eyes turned to her. "That is not exactly true. We hoped he would never get out again but it was never an absolute. The angels that were guarding his prison went missing which allowed him to escape."

"So where could they have gone?" said the burly guy in the brown armor. He looked at those assembled with a permanent scowl.

"That is unknown," Jack said startling everyone. Seth hadn't seen him in the room. He had just been standing in the corner of the room, observing. "If we did know we would have not told you they were missing Lord John." The burly guy who was called John huffed in annoyance.

"So how big is his army?" Rylee asked.

Samson took a deep breath," We think he has an army of more than two hundred thousand." Shocked silence filled the room for several seconds, then all at once chaos erupted.

"What!?!" exclaimed Matt.

"Oh we are so screwed," Mike said with sigh which Seth didn't find helpful. Seth felt shocked into numbness. Two hundred thousand was an unimaginable number one that he could almost not comprehend. It meant that two hundred thousand of the thing that had chased him down the street and killed Joseph were on their way to battle them. Seth felt a cold pit of fear appear in his stomach. He felt helpless and hopeless. In the Academy there were a lot of agents and soldiers but there were not nearly as much as the number of demons marching towards them. And they would be there in the morning.