I am really hoping that maybe, just maybe I will be able to convince Lady Hearthstone who is the one funding our missions to get us a private plane or something. Because this is way better than any of the plane rides we have taken so far. Granted we had first class seats wherever we needed to travel. However, there was something about riding in a private jet that was much more peaceful than the sounds or rustles of first class on regular planes. We had an entire plane to ourselves, just our two flight attendants and the captain. One of the flight attendants acted like a personal chef as well, and the other (and it was probably killing Olivia) was a mixologist, a fancy bartender I think.
Before I am sure that Olive would have just gone right there and ordered something extremely strong for herself. However, after telling us a lot about her life and her struggles a few hours ago, She was sipping on some fruity looking drink, without a drop of alcohol. I felt bad for the strong girl, I never imagined that she was gonna be struggling with something that was hurting her more than I think she knew. She didn’t think she had a problem but also knew that she did. However, she did keep true to her word, not only with her drinking but was letting a bit more of her personality out. So fair in the week I had been with these two, Olivia acted like her mother Lady Hearthstone, or rather she seemed to try to do that. However, now she was a bit more talkative, her real voice seemed to be coming out more, a bit more flirty with people of both genders. I was a bit happy to see that. Because she was being herself, I couldn’t imagine being forced to be someone I didn’t want to be. I suppose at times I only wanted to be someone else.
Or maybe I just didn’t want to be here at all sometimes.
I groaned a bit as my switch turned off and began to show the hated red battery icon. “Should have charged this before I left.” I pushed my seat back up as I had been laying down for the first two hours of this trip. We were heading to Egypt to follow Adonis’s research, after we found what we needed there. We were heading to what used to be called a land of milk and honey, the land conquered by a man named Joshua. It was later ruled by King David, then King Soloman, and then King Hezekiah. Then conquered by the Babylonians and then returned to the people that still live here to this day.
Israel.
If there was one upside to this job of ours was being able to travel. The down side was that what information we were looking for, so was the dark order. My hands clenched into fists as I thought about them, about what they had done to us. They nearly killed my new friend Thalia, it was my fault for being back there in the first place. I had hurt Victoria in my anger for her saving my life, something I didn’t know until after the fact. There was a reason why I didn’t like letting people close, because everytime I did it was a magnet that attracted the dark order.
We had a small tussle with them on our boat, and I was one move away from killing one of them. A white-haired boy named Asher. I was hoping we would meet again, I was gonna finish what I started. I was gonna finish the war they started with me.
I moved from my seat as Olive waved me over with a hand. I don’t why, but being with these two made me break my oath of not getting closer to them. Maybe because both of them helped me understand that this wasn’t just a co-worker relationship. No co-worker would have stopped me from cutting my wrist with a rock, no co-worker would have carried me back home after a fight under the stars. No co-worker would have me sleep against his oddly soft and warm chest, when I was forcing myself to stay awake. No co-worker would get me to sleep and have peaceful dreams just from being under their presence.
I didn’t want to let them get closer than they were right now.
I didn’t want to be hurt later if something bad happened to them.
I sat down beside Olive, I pushed Xaiver away as he ruffled my dark-red hair. She had her laptop out on a foldout table. A series of maps open on it as well as the picture of Adonis’s writings that explained what was on this really old pot that we had lost. Helena Blackthorn and her team had come to steal something from us, and in the chaos they had taken it. However, we still had copies and we had more time to look into them. “So from what I have been able to tell,” Olive began. “Adonis had found from this pot that the Egyptians had a story of the event that led to the first true Pharaoh of Egypt.”
“Wasn’t the first pharaoh named Narmer?”
“Technically he was,” Olive gave me a curious look. “How did you know that?”
“I am on this team for my knowledge of history as well. I just don’t specialize in one subject like you two.”
“Well from what Adonis had found in his research. The first true Pharaoh, by his actions but didn’t have the title, was named.” Olive zoomed on this old looking Greek writing that was around this scroll. “Edrice, and according to this he was a jepei user. Adonis also believes that he is rumored to be where their Sun God Ra came from. A man that had a very powerful and fiery spirit animal.” She paused a bit and her eyes seemed to grow wider. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.” She seemed to scan over this page a bit more. “If Adonis is right, The Behemoth might not have been the only one with ties with this tower. Edrice seemed to have gotten the spirit of the phoenix as well…”
My eyes widened a bit at her statement, so far it was just through that The Behemoth or the Lord of the lands, one of the three great and first spirit animals had been responsible for the collapse. However, it seems that a certain flaming bird also left its marks here. If this is all true. The phoenix was the true queen of the skies, a natural enemy to Unique’s own animal spirit the thunderbird, since she was only considered the uncrowned queen. Something that Fortune hated being mentioned. (Maybe just as much as she hated me) “So, i’m confused.” I began. “Are we truly saying that the God of Sun Ra was based on this Edrice guy who had the phoenix spirit and he has ties to the tower of babel. How is that even possible?”
“Well remember,” Xavier said as he took out a small book that I didn’t know he had on him. A small black bible. He flipped a few pages before reading out loud. “And so the Lord scattered them from all over the earth, and they stopped building the tower. That is why it is called Babel, there the lord confused the languages of the whole world. From there he scattered them over the face of the earth. Genesis 11 8 to 9.” He closed his bible before slipping it back into a small clean compartment of his bag. I saw another smaller notebook inside of it so I wondered if he was taking notes from it like Unique did sometimes. “So if we go based on that story, it might have been possible that maybe Edrice had been given the spirit of the phoenix or was one of the two rumored chosen. He used that power to bring people to what is now Egypt and laid the foundation for the first true Pharoah, by title, Narmer to take over.”
“So there is something that might lay at the bottom of the red sea based on what Adonis had found and it might have something that connects to this Edrice guy.” I leaned back in my chair as my own wonder took over me. I didn’t think that we would find so much history about the only truly mythical creatures of our people. The trinity of beasts was just a myth to jepei users because the beast that in that way seemed too powerful to be real. I only had one question on my mind as I closed my eyes for a moment. “Maybe even the Leviathan might be involved with all of this nonsense?”
I opened my eyes as a wonderful smell filled my nose as a good looking plate of food was placed in front of me. A plate of steamed vegetables, and a good looking piece of fish in a separate bowl surrounded by a red sauce. “Regardless of what happened, we have an idea of what we are looking for.” Olive noted as she took another drink from the woman. I didn’t question what the small wink she gave our flight attendant was but I didn’t really care. “Our mission starts with finding out what is at the bottom of the red sea, and maybe that will lead us to this Edrice person and from there. We find the tower of babel wreckage. The other group has already found a massive piece of it. I have a feeling we are on the right path to find the next piece.”
“Yeah,” I said softly as I started to eat this wonderful food. “We are also on the path to find the dark order once more, and I will end one of them. Even if it cost me my life.” I thought to myself and that seemed to make my mood a bit worse.
I always seemed to do that, just ruin my own mood and unlike before I didn’t have someone that could cheer me up nearby. Actually I did. My switch was dead but I had charged my phone. I could only hope that I had a signal, because I really wanted to speak to Unique.
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I had moved to the back of the plane in order to have this conversation in private. At first when I had called her I was met mostly with static, a lot of us asking if we could hear each other. However, she called me back and now I could hear her much better. “Sorry about that.” Just hearing her voice again sent a strength flying through my body. I hadn’t heard her voice in so long that I almost forgot what it sounded like. What am I saying, I could never forget her calm and gentle voice. It was the only one that truly kept me going, my light. “How are you doing?”
“Better than I think you could imagine.” I answered as a new smile appeared on my face, one that only she had ever seen, one I saved for the girl I loved most in this world. A girl that I could never really be with, not while I was still like this, and after Thalia.
I don’t think I ever could be.
We talked for a very long time, judging from some of the sounds I was hearing, she was flying through the air. She had told me everything that had happened so far since they went back to her native continent. Judging from the way she spoke, she greatly admired and sounded a bit tentative about Emily Walker for some reason. Something about her hiding something within her, it wasn’t a really bad thing like some secret darkness. It was just a lust for fighting that both made her worry but also feel safe. The youngest of our group, Sarah, reminded her a lot of her younger siblings, just not as well behaved as anyone else. However, there was a joy that only Sarah could bring to their group, a childish wonder that made this adventure much more fun.
On my end I had told her what had happened to us so far. Our discoveries that we had made under the sea, our dig with Dr. Drakos and Thalia. (I had to leave our little sleepover I had in her tent just to be safe) Our short exchange with members of the dark order and how badly I had beaten one of them and nearly killed him. I also shared a bit of what we were on our way to do right now. To go to Egypt and find out what was in the red sea and see just what connection it had to this tower and to two of the great beasts of myth. She in turn told me what their mission was right now, to go deeper into the amazon towards what might be another part of the already massive tower they had found.
“Daniel, can I ask you a question?” Unique suddenly asked, I could just see her twirling a piece of her hair around her finger as she often did.
“You can ask me anything, you know that.”
“And I also know that while you say that, you often choose not to answer some questions of mine.” I had no response for that line of truth. She was often right about that. “What is your personal opinion on the dark order and their members?”
“You know how I feel about them,” I said softly. “I hate each and every member. I hate them!” I spat out with a voice filled with venom. I saw Xaiver look over his seat towards me but I just waved him off. “None of them are good in my opinion, they destroy whatever is in their way and they steal whatever is important to them. If they had their way and when they had orders, they would kill all of us. We are not the same, we are so much different than them. Why do you ask?”
There was a long moment of silence before she finally spoke again. “No reason, we just have had a small run in, I have never been around a member before so it was a bit worrisome but nothing really bad happened. I was just curious especially since you fought one of them recently. Did you feel anything for nearly killing him?”
“No,” I answered bluntly. “Why do you ask?”
“Okay again, just curious.”
It took me way too long to notice this but her peru accent was much stronger now than it had been in a very long time. I always did love the sound of her accent even though she hated it very much. “You sound different.”
“In what way?”
“Your accent is back and is stronger.” I told her.
Again there was some silence and I wondered if she was gonna try and hide it again. Instead I was met with her full accent. “Do you like it?” Gosh I could just picture her flying right now. Her hands behind her back as she flew gracefully through the sky, her light brown skin that looked like freshly made caramel sauce, that unique shade of light blue that only her aura produced. “My accent I mean?”
“I always liked it, but I know you hate it.”
“Well,” she began. “If you like it, then maybe I will keep using it, just for you though.” I smiled and I had a feeling that she was smiling just the same. “I miss you, my zorro.” I knew that word from the type of Spanish she and her family used. It was simply the word for fox.
“I miss you too, but when this is all over we will be back together.”
I heard her sigh a bit. “Yeah back together, as friends.”
“Is that bad?”
She spoke something in her native tongue. It sounded much harder when she also used her full accent in combination. I only knew two of the words she used. “Want more.” She went out for a bit and I could have sworn I heard her say over the crunchy static. “I love you more than that.”
“I love you more than that too.” I admitted softly, feeling my dark heart skip for a moment. I loved her more than she knew and more than I could give her.
“What did you say?” I nearly jumped out of my skin as she asked me that. Her voice was still a bit staticy so I only hoped that maybe she hadn't heard that it would just make things so much harder for us.
“I said, I am gonna have to hang up soon.” I responded. “You keep on cutting out so it might be for the best.”
“Oh okay,” she couldn’t hide her disappointment if she wanted to. “Stay safe…” she paused for a moment and then the last thing she said to me before she hung very quickly. “Mi, Amor.”
I found myself holding a phone dumbstruck. I knew a bit of Spanish but I am sure a lot of people knew what those words meant. I looked over at Olive and Xaiver who were sending a few smirks my way.
And I was sure that my face was redder than my dark red hair now, and it only grew worse as Olive slipped her phone back into my pocket. “Absolutely not, delete it!”
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We had landed in Egypt early that morning, and once again I had managed to sleep the entire night. With not even a sigh of any bad dreams or worries. I could start getting used to this team if it meant I felt protected enough to actually sleep. Once we had landed in the airport. I am not sure why but this so far was the closest feeling of home I had felt since leaving the island. Even stronger than being out at sea or when we were camping in the forest. It was like Egypt was welcoming jepei users, the air felt stronger, the breeze warm and welcoming. We had gotten our bags ready and then began a nearly four and a half hour long trip from Cairo’s airport to the coastal city of Hurghada. The city that rests beside the legendary red sea. As we drove, Olive kept the windows down for us not only to provide us with some much needed wind. However, we also took this time to absorb the plentiful jepei that was in the air. It was probably the best feeling in the world so far to me, I never imagined how much I missed the island until we came here. We didn’t pass the famous pyramids of Giza on our trip, but maybe when this was over we could go there.
Right as I was starting to drift back to sleep from the sheer boredom of this horribly long drive. We finally arrived in the city of Hurghada. We drove along the road near the coast, taking in those truly breathtaking sites. The water was just as clear as the ones back home, this city truly looked like a tourist trap from how it was built, the buildings reminded me a lot of the city part of my home. I could see women clad in small skirts or just swim suits, topless men walking and talking. Children running towards the beach, or towards other fun looking activities. We eventually drove through the city towards our home for the next few days at least. The Serenity Fun Resort.
And I could see why they named it that.
The entire place was built like a large castle, a blue similar in color to Unique’s own jepei aura. I could already see massive looking roller coasters, large water slides and other fun rides that if I was being honest, I kinda wanted to get on. Whatever sleepiness was gone now that I was looking at this amazing place. Our hotel was absolutely massive in size, like a wall that protected the rest of the park from invading armies. We could see the red sea just out beside us and it was even a very short walk to get to it. Now that we are here this sea looked much bigger than I originally thought it would be. I could only imagine what it might have been like for the tribes of Israel to walk through it thanks to Moses.
If the story was truly true.
We went through the lobby of the hotel enjoying the sites. Everything was so clean and white that it was like walking through the heart of a diamond. We headed to the top floor where we entered our hotel room, and thankfully this one had three beds. If anything this was more like a small apartment. It had two beds with clean white blankets with a blue streak running down the end of it. Near these two beds was a doorway that led to the master bedroom. One that after a very rigged game of rock paper scissors, Olive won the right to have for our week long stay. I grunted as Xaiver slapped me on the back with a smile. “Looks like we are roommates for this trip.” His eyes were more focused on the view of the pool we had from our room than me. We had two large mirrors hanging to the left of my bed right beside the entrance to the master bedroom. The other is right in the center of this room. We had a small kitchen that looked to have whatever coffee supplies we could need. The room was chilly from the air conditioning that was coming from the outside.
Honestly after all of this was over, I saw no reason not to invite the other group to this place for just a day of fun. The thought of Unique in a swimsuit also brought more redness to my cheeks than I originally had planned.
Olive came back from the master bedroom and had a bit of a smile on her face. “So I know that we are here for business. However, after everything that happened back in Sparta. What if just for today, we took a break and got some rest. Maybe explore the park before we have to get our business done.”
“Are you sure that is smart?” I asked. “Do we want to risk our enemies having a head start even if we beat them here we are risking a day.”
“Well you are right.” She admitted. “However we have an advantage over them, cause only one of us can swim underwater, so regardless of what happens, they need to get more things ready than we do.” She walked over and patted me on the shoulder. “Come on Daniel, let’s have a bit of fun today. It is not gonna kill you or us, I promise you that.”
So that was how, against my better judgment, I had started to change into my only pair of shorts I had brought with me. However, I was not gonna let my guard down. I had four colors in my mind that if I saw them. I would strike without question.
Bright Pink,
White,
Dark red,
Deep Brown.
Because four people had those auras, and those four people owed me blood for their sins.
That was a promise.
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