Rising Shards

“Alright, when we get there, everyone stay behind me, Mahina, and Caya.” Diast said. “Kitty’s also an adult here, but it’s Kitty, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she somehow pulled a surprise traitor thing, she is a Wildfire Hearts teacher technically so she could end up being in on all this. Even if the odds are low, I don’t want to risk it.”

It was uncomfortably quiet when we reached the center. There was still the unnerving sound of the Sharai retention sprites that remained still speeding around us, each lap charging the daggers more and more. I couldn’t see 09 ahead, but the statue charging the daggers was much larger than I thought, which blocked a lot of the view. The ground rumbled with the energy building at our feet, sending flashes of light across the etchings in the stone, a mix of a language I didn’t know and carvings of more bestial figures that reminded me of what I almost became. The plus side to thinking about when I almost got fully hit with beast tendency was that it gave me an added determination to put an end to this Sharai Dagger business once and for all.

As we got out of our car, I instinctively stretched, happy to be out of that thing, as the Sharai clearly didn’t have comfort in mind when they designed their vehicles. The four main paths reached the platform together, and we were joined by another car shortly after we stopped. I didn’t have to worry long if our friends were inside or if we’d have to get into a fight with more Sharai, as the one that arrived was Caya’s. She stomped out, practically bursting the door off its hinges. She had fire in her eyes.

“Caya, wait.” Diast said, blocking the way.

“I can end this right now.” Caya said.

“Remember what rushing ahead did for us last time?” Diast asked. “We need to approach this cautiously and make sure everyone is safe, and I could really use you not hypnotized for that.”

Caya scowled, then nodded. “Sorry.”

Caya’s passengers were still dazed from the effects of Rain’s hypnosis, with KJ and Amara not capable of much else than getting out of the car and sitting down. Rain was in a similar state. I guess she wasn’t really hypnotized by herself, but by whatever power that giant lady at Chumblerosa possessed.

The next car was Kitty’s, and she too was ready to storm in and wreck everything. Diast let Caya stop her from that. Her passengers were also still out of it, but that was maybe for the best given what Chumbler and her friends put us through. Marmalade played with her hair and nervously laughed as Kitty stormed about.

The last car took longer than the others, which obviously had me panicked, but it was worth the wait when they finally arrived. The doors opened, and I pictured a group of Sharai bursting out, ruining what we’d traveled so far to get to. Instead, a beaming Mahina Koridia burst out, cackling as she stretched.

When we finally saw Kalei, who stepped out a bit sheepishly, showing the wear and tear of her harrowing weekend with her messy hair, tired expression, and beat up clothes. Oka and I sprinted to her, nothing else mattering in that moment. We both clamped onto her with a tight bearhug.

“Hey, c’mon,” Kalei said. “Is now really the time for this?”

“Now is absolutely the time for this.” Oka said.

“Yeah, yeah.” Kalei said, squeezing tightly back.

Next to us, Lillia and Ko were sharing a tight hug as well, also happy to be reunited.

“Alright,” Kalei said, patting us as she politely ended the hug. The other member of their group, Risa, was staring at Oka and I. There wasn’t time to dwell on that though. “We’re all here. I’d say let’s bail and go home, but…” She looked ahead to the totem where the daggers were placed. “We should probably stop that, yeah?”

“Why don’t we just go home now?” Risa asked. “We’re all together.”

“Jeans can’t get those things,” I said. “And Ovie really shouldn’t have them when they’re charged.”

“Agreed,” Kalei said. She gestured between us and the red haired girl. “Also yeah, this is Risa, Risa, these are my friends.” Kalei said.

My first impression of Risa was from Kalei’s memory trial, which didn’t paint the best picture of her. Neither her nor Oka and I knew what to say.

“Kitty, do you have any idea what’s going on with Dusk?” Caya asked. “I believe the woman with her is Wildfire Hearts faculty.”

“Yeahhhh,” Kitty said. “Nyo. Sorry! I guess lil’ Jeannie weanie got switched to another teacher. As you can probs guess, there’s a lotta secrecy going around Wildfire Hearts. Normally I wouldn’t tell you Shard losers any of it, but this is kind of annoying all around so whatever. Little Miss Corinani is probably good for Jeannie, she’s a doormat the likes of which the universe has never seen before. So Jeans will have fun with that!”

Jeans having a teacher to bully around sounded like a really bad idea.

“We’ll deal with that later,” Diast said. “For now, yeah, you guys know the drill.”

“So how are we…gonna get them?” Oka asked.

“Maybe just storm them now?” Kalei suggested. “I bet 09 can’t stop all of us.”

“That clybrid girl is really strong, though.” Mahina said. “I bet I could win the rematch with her, I’m motivated enough.”

“Someone should stay behind to keep an eye on the dazed and confused members of our party as well,” Diast said. She looked between the adults with her. “I have a feeling I can’t convince any of you three to stay back.”

“Three strong women of action should be enough to handle this.” Mahina said, flexing.

“Mom, don’t flex in front of my teachers.” Kalei said.

“Where am I supposed to flex if not in front of strong women?” Mahina asked.

“Mom!”

“Anyways. I can stay back here.” Diast said. “I really want to be there when we get the daggers to make sure they’re handled safely, but Caya might be better for that.”

Caya nodded.

“And I know you got benched earlier and things got significantly worse here, so I’d rather not make that mistake twice today.” Diast said.

Caya nodded a bit more forcefully.

“Since this isn’t a Wildfire Hearts thing I was hired to do, you can trust me not to betray everyone when it’s most convenient to me.” Kitty said, smiling widely with her mouth open. I suddenly saw the familial resemblance between her and Penteldtam when she contorted her face like that.

“Right,” Caya said. “Nobody let Kitty touch the daggers. Got it?”

“Hey come on!” Kitty said. “I just said I wasn’t going to betray everyone!”

We split into two groups, hopefully the last time splitting up on this adventure. Dr. Diast would stay back with the love trio, Chumbler and her friends. Caya, Mahina, and Kitty would lead the others towards the center to confront 09. And Ovie, I assumed she’d find her way down here as well.

I watched as Diast started prepping our escape route, a travel-sized version of the wayback pedestals we sometimes used to enter and exit the void.

“Aw, crap.” Diast said, her wristband buzzing.

“What is it?” I asked.

“We couldn’t make a quick break for it even if we wanted to.” Diast said. “I assume the energy building in those things is blocking us. I hope at least, that’d be a lot easier to deal with than if this whole castle is blocking us.”

“Right,” I said. “Hey, um. Would it be better if I stay here or if I go with?”

I wasn’t sure which to go with. Marmalade and Kalei’s friend Risa were the only ones staying behind so far from the non-recovering from being hypnotized groups. I was determined to stop Jeans from getting the Sharai Daggers, but Diast was looking at me like Stella did before I was about to do something scary.

“It’s your call,” Diast said. “Things will probably get stupid over here eventually too and will need defense, so if you want to avoid getting close to the daggers, I don’t mind you staying.”

“OK…” I said. I didn’t want to get close to them again. But as I watched Kalei go with her mom and Caya, I found myself not wanting to risk being losing Kalei again.

Diast saw me looking and knew my answer before I did. “Just be safe, alright?”

I nodded.