Original Stories Fan Fiction / Fables/Fairytales Fan Fiction ❯ The Elementalists ❯ Seven - Ministry HQ ( Chapter 7 )

“Damn it all, we'd better find a clearing soon. I'm tired as hell,” Kai complained once again, slowly trudging behind everyone else.

 

“I'm surprised your talent doesn't lie in complaining to the point it kills a person, rather than controlling water,” muttered Florian, obviously annoyed at her complaining, as was the rest of the group.

 

“Shut the hell up, Florian,” Kai replied angrily, glaring at the back of Florian's taller figure. He grinned and patted her on the head, bringing forth a very dangerous growl out of her.

 

“Stop fighting, children,” said Candis playfully. Both Kai and Florian turned to glare at her, though she merely laughed at their expressions.

 

“Well, what do you know, there's a clearing about a hundread and twenty feet from here,” Guren pointed out, interrupting the three's bickering. He rolled his eyes when Kai's face lit up with appreciation.

 

“Alright! We can finally take a break,” said Kai, quite relieved. “We've been walking since dawn and it's nearly noon!”

 

 

When they reached the clearing, they saw that it was mostly grass with a small pond at the middle. The group sat down in a circle, and while Florian took out a tablecloth to put some food on, Candis and Chi opened their packs and took some food out.

 

They ate rather messily; they hadn't had any food until now, so they were gorging as much food as they could before they were forced to start walking again. Inbetween eating and drinking, the guys would casually bring up something that was bothering them, or ask a curious question. Guren was not very talkative; he only seemed to talk when spoken to, or whenhe felt need be.

 

“Ahh, that was such a good meal,” said Kai, lying down on her back and patting her stomach. “I'll be full for a while, now.”

 

“Ha ha, we can see that,” Candis teased. Kai stuck her tongue out at her friend and saw that her expression had changed; she was staring at her hand, almost looking scared.

 

“What's wrong?” Kai asked, looking somewhat worried.

 

“Spi…spi…SPIDER!!!” she screeched, jumping to her feet and waving her hands frantically in an attempt to shake the spider off of her. She jumped up and down and screamed at the top of her lungs, “Get it off, get it off, GET IT OFF!!!!”

 

“Oh, my God,” Feng said, examining the crazy scene unfold with a peculiar expression on her face.

 

Eryk sighed gruffly and tripped Candis when she ran by him. She fell flat on her face; she was laying so still that the group thought she had fainted. It was only when she brought her head up and saw the spider on her hand did they realize she was not.

 

“Eek!!! Get it off!!” she shouted, wriggling on the ground. Eryk held her by the wrist and flicked the spider off into the grass, allowing it to crawl back into the bushes.

 

“Oh my,” commented Guren. “For a girl as cocky and strong as yourself, you have a fear of spiders?” he asked thoughtfully, an amused grin tugging at his lips.

 

Candis sat up and glared at her companions. “Sh-shut up! I… hate spiders…” she admitted shyly, looking somewhat mortified. Feng, Florian, and Eryk shook their heads, remaining silent, while Chi felt empathetic.

 

“Oh my gosh! I know how you feel! I just can't stand spiders. They're so icky and creepy!” she said, shuddering just at the thought of spiders. “I think in the human world, they call it aracnaphobia,” she added, beaming with delight.

 

“Well aren't you smart,” Feng muttered under her breath, looking to the side. Chi pouted, but refrained from furthering the argument.

 

“We should be getting back on track now,” said Guren decisively, as he stood up. “If we leave now, we can reach the ministry headquarters just before nightfall.”

 

The rest of the group got up rather unwillingly and headed back out into the forest after filling some cantenes with water from the pond, Kai kindly filtering it for them.

 

 

By the time they reached the ministry's headquarters, it was just after dusk. The headquarters was fairly large, a golden-brown palace, surrounded by many fierce-looking guards. The entrance was beyond a long, thin, bridge made of ice. The bridge extended all the way downward, into the deep blue moat that surrounded the palace.

 

“Are you serious? We have to cross that bridge made of…ice?” asked Chi, who was apparently afraid of heights as well as thin ice.

 

“Just don't look down,” Guren advised, calmly walking across the icy bridge.

 

“Can't you slip?” Chi asked worriedly. Kai put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

 

“Relax. I control this element, remember?” she said. Chi nodded, somewhat relieved, and carefully stepped onto the bridge.

 

“Hey, it's not so bad after all!” she said, halfway across the bridge.

 

Once they had all made it safely across, they stood in front of the tall, double doors. Guren pressed a button and spoke in a foreign language into the speaker. A man on the other end replied back, in the same language, and the doors opened before them.

 

“Captain Skyler,” said Guren, greeting the man in the navy blue uniform with a nod. He had long, shining blond hair, and piercing green eyes. “This is Kai, Candis, Chi, and Feng.” He pointed to each of the girls as he introduced them. They all bowed curtly with respect, and the Captain did the same in return. “These two are their companions,” continued Guren, gesturing indifferently at the two men. “Florian and Eryk.”

 

“Pleasure to be acquainted with all of you,” replied Captain Skyler, in a deep, smooth voice. “Now, on to business.” He certainly isn't the type who beats around the bush, though Kai, grinning to herself. I suppose that's where this Guren guy gets it.

 

He led the group up a long fleet of stairs that spiraled upward. As they reached the top, they took a right and were soon located in a conference room. It was rather large, with a long wooden table, polished with the finest black paint you could find in the World of Magic. Captain Skyler sat at the end of the table, and on his right sat the men, and his left, the girls.

 

“As you know, we only have a general idea of where Rika's hideout is in the west,” he started, clasping his hands together and resting his chin upon them. “It is at the northernmost point of the coast on the West. From what our spies were able to find out, is that it is protected by a concealment charm. That is why they wouldn't know where they were even if they hadn't been in a carriage when taken inside to be her slaves.”

 

“I see,” Florian said thoughtfully, immediately catching on. “If it's hidden by a concealment charm, they shouldn't need the use of barriers then, correct?”

“I'm afraid not,” the Captain replied solemnly. “When they were taken inside of her castle, they had to pass through a barrier. They weren't exactly able not to feel its immense power. It is actually a very strong barrier, and we will need all the strength we can get to take it down. However,” he paused, searching his mind for the right words. “Doing that would exhaust your own powers, and you would not be able to fight her after that and win, at least not easily. We have been working on a plan to slowly lessen the power of the barrier with our own warriors.”

 

“That makes sense,” Kai commented, leaning her chin into her palm as she stared boredly at the Captain.

 

“So while you guys work on taking the barrier down, what are we supposed to do?” Candis asked. “It doesn't seem like there is much we can do if we have to wait. We don't have time for that.”

 

“Yeah, we can't wait that long,” Chi agreed.

 

“Lady Rika often leaves her castle to go hunting for humans who have accidentally stumbled into our world. She feeds off of their energy, which enables her to bend all of the elements. An Avatar, I believe it is called,” said the Captain, stroking his chin attentively. “Well, you've all had a long day. Guren will show you to your rooms, and tomorrow morning we will brief you on any more information we can muster up as well as give you directions to where our spies were taken.

 

Everyone nodded in silent agreement, as they were too tired from walking to do anything productive. Guren escorted the group to their rooms, all of them located on the third floor of the palace. The rooms were all next to each other, and they were informed that other warriors also shared these quarters. With no trouble at all, they fell fast asleep just after hitting their beds.