223 Night School (1/2)

”Wait, you're saying a whole squad of dark elves invaded Midtown High last night?” Arah confirmed.

”The appropriate term is drow, you know. Calling them dark elves is considered offensive,” Ty corrected.

”Shut up, Tyberius,” Arah scolded. ”Seriously though, Dean, what the hell do a bunch of dark elves want with our school?”

”That's where things get complicated,” I answered.

While the three of sat there gazing into the bonfire that one of my visere guards had been kind enough to start for us, I began to tell Arah about what exactly transpired on the previous night when my fire-team and I repelled the attacks of the secret drow death squad known as the Claw.

”Wait, wasn't the Claw among the assassins that tried to attack Aura during the summit with the Starfall clan?” Arah interjected.

”Yup,” I answered right before I frowned. ”Now, will you shut up… I'm trying to tell the story here.”

”Oh, sorry. Continue,” Arah said as she mimed zipping her lips together.

After hearing the sound of battle, we rushed outside of the records room and made our way to where we could hear Varda spitting curses like a typical dwarf would have which was south of our current position.

”Muddamn drow bastards!” Varda roared.

”Muds, the mouth on that one,” Qwipps chuckled, although his face was full of worry for his best friend. ”I'll go first!”

He spread his wings and zoomed across the hall ahead of me and Aura while I yelled after him not to get turned around.

The closer we got to the fighting, the more I could hear the screams. Particularly Ty's as he was most likely the weakest link in whatever was happening.

They may call him the Chosen One in the Fayne, but here on Mudgard where the elemental spirits are incredibly scarce — possibly due to mankind polluting the planet way too much — he might as well have been a dime-store magician who could barely make water sprout from his hands.

I turned left into the next hallway and charged forward, my sword hand grasping for my falchion — and that's when I realized I'd left it in the Fayne.

I skidded to a stop, suddenly feeling naked.

In front of me, Varda, Enna, and Qwipps had engaged the nine shadows whose forms were barely discernable under the pale light of Mudgard's moon peeking through the open windows of the hallway.

There was one body on the ground. It was dressed in the scarlet robes that the Claw liked to dress in.

Ty was cowering behind Enna with his back against the wall. In his hands was a mop he brandished left and right as if to keep away the deadly shadows standing beyond his protector.

”Hold up,” Arah interrupted my story, bringing us back to the present. ”Ty can't use magic in Mudgard?”

She turned a smoldering gaze at him.

”You said you could!” she accused.

Arah punched him in the shoulder.

”You've been boasting for months how you could create ice glaciers at the snap of your fingers,” she reminded him.

As my two friends argued about Ty's tall tales, I gazed past the wall of the demilitarization zone that my unit was currently assigned to protect and looked up at Idunn while feeling a sense of nostalgia come over me.

This was how we were long before we met Aura. Just three kids arguing over the smallest thing while hanging out under a starry sky without a care in the world. And now we literally had the weight of a world on our shoulders, or at least that's how it felt most times. Man, things were so much simpler back then.

Arah's voice turned my attention back on her.

”So, how exactly did you two survive when you were both useless in that fight?” Arak asked.

I frowned. ”We weren't useless. At least I wasn't…”

”Hey!” Ty protested. ”Not cool, man! I helped too!”

Actually, that wasn't such a tall tale because he really did help.

Remember the Claw member who was dead on the ground beneath Enna's feet? Well, his weapon was also lying on the ground a few feet in front of him which was right by Ty's own feet. Why he hadn't bothered to pick this up and use it instead of the broom he was brandishing around was beyond me, but at least that meant I could take it.

”Ty!” I pointed down on the ground. ”Kick that over to me now!”

My yell caught the attention of the two drow that had hung back from the fighting. They dashed toward me, their pointed blades aimed at my defenseless butt.