Realm of Wings
Chapter Forty-four - Reality check

A/n: Enjoy!

Jade, finding her bearings again, a day later:

“Trixie, I’m serious. I know you kept your secret to keep Zeph away from Echo’s wrath, but you shouldn’t have forgotten about mine! Don’t you ever tell one lie to me again, or keep another secret, because I will know.” I told her, completely calm but with an undertone, a little girl would cry over. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FindNʘᴠᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

She gulped and realized her mistake, exceedingly telling me how sorry she was. She didn’t even dare to come back on my comment by using the fact that I had kept a secret as well, about the orb of protection. Instead, I think she even accidentally made a pink copy of her body, just for a second, in fright when I yelled at her.

Kallan had to chuckle at that, as I wanted too, but I had to keep my composure straight if she was going to know that I meant what I said.

“And you, Zeph, do you know what my destiny will be? As to how or why I’m supposed to die?” I asked him, even pushing some of my magic outwards, trying to coerce him into telling me.

I hadn’t tried using my mesmerizing skills, as the last time I used my commanding power, it was on the Chief of police at the Shigatse district and I hadn’t even tried it on any Fae yet. Not sure if it would work on Fae anyway, I had just forgotten about it.

But now that I truly wanted to know how I would come to meet my end, I tried anyway. But he just funnily looked at me when I focused my gaze strictly onto his eyes, giving me the confirmation that my assumptions were correct, that it didn’t work on Fae.

Zeph shook his head, truly not knowing the answer to my question. “But I got a feeling that Echo does know.” He conceded and I nodded.

I know I have shown everyone my weakness now, my insecurity towards my decisions when I think I’m alone to make them, but as Kallan told me, he has got my back with that. He will fill up the gap that Neil left when he got killed, and I think he is the right person for that job.

We talked a little more, Zeph telling me that Echo was on his way to us, to the next village to join us in our mission, and after some travelling, soon night came again and we called it a day. Protectively, Kallan had wrapped his arms around me and we fell asleep.

“Wake up!”

The same voice I have been hearing ever since I had set my foot on Kyalthemar, helping me in several situations already, came into my head. I know that hearing this voice, was still a secret that no one knew about yet, but as I’m not sure as to who it is, I don’t want to overload the others with this information. No matter where one would be, in a magical land or not, hearing voices never seems to be a good thing…

Besides, I just told the others to not keep secrets, and here I am keeping another one for myself. How am I going to explain this to them?

However, the urgency with the voice right now, immediately made me sit up straight and when a blade was pointed at my neck, I instantly created my shield and pushed it away. I pushed myself up and due to my rune of protection, I jolted backwards and gave myself some space from the attacker in front of me.

Fuck! Why had I been so vast asleep?!

It had only taken our attackers a few moments before Zeph was unconsciously laying on the ground, a few yards away from me while having bleeding gashes on his abdomen, arms and head. Trixie was held by three men, having a piece of cloth shoved up her mouth to keep her from talking, yet she was doing her utmost best to shout and yell while being muffled. Her squirming and attempts to create another pink illusion of herself granted her another blow to the head which knocked her unconscious as well and then got put next to Zeph on the ground.

These Fae were strong and agile, more than I’ve seen from them before!

Kallan was neither unconscious nor captured but he was still fighting off the other men that were attacking us. He was fighting off at least six men while having his blackened skin on high alert, and as soon as the three other men had let go of guarding Zeph and Trixie, they came soaring towards me.

Even though these men were strong, It didn’t take me long to fight them off, as I had used several orbs to shoot the first, kicked the second from his feet, and my shield to knock out the third. But as soon as I wanted to help Kallan after, a few more men came rushing in from the dark, showing themselves in the light of the simmering fire of our camping spot. One after the other ran in, fighting tooth and nail to get us subdued, unconscious or worse, but I wasn’t one to linger on any of those thoughts! I have to get them away from us, as soon as possible!

“Jade, they are not Fae!” Kallan suddenly yelled, which made me stop in my movements just for a moment, while dodging another sword or mace that came my way.

While continuing my fight, I grabbed one of the bastards by his hair, threw his face against the ground and checked his ears. Kallan had been right, they were not pointy, but they still could have been Fae, from the other side of the rift. But as soon as I had been forced to take some steps towards the fire, I noticed their clothing and they were far from the intricate leather or cotton clothes that Fae wore. More specifically, they were wearing Kevlar vests! They are hirelings from Earth!

What the hell!?

“STOP!” Suddenly a deep voice commanded, letting every single living hireling stand back but still ready to fight, should we decide to get the ball rolling again.

I quickly looked around me, to see where the voice came from and when he stepped into the light, holding a gun to a little girl’s head, my fury rose. I took a few steps forward, not wanting to get her hurt in any way, but eagerly wanting to stop her tears from falling.

“No, no, no, don’t take another step, or this little one will die.” He said while pushing the gun roughly against the temple of her head.

“Let her go!” I shouted while Miria’s weeping sounds wouldn’t stop.

“Now, I can’t do that, can I? I won’t have any leverage left if I let her go.” He laughed, showing a menacing smirk on his face, which reminded me of someone.

Suddenly I knew who I was dealing with, even though I couldn’t clearly see him because of the dark of night.

“Who helped you to get here, Captain Connely?” I said while dropping my magic, crossing my arms and standing defensively in the centre of all of his men as they had surrounded us now.

Kallan came standing behind me, still having his blackened skin on, not buying the fact that they won’t try and attack us again.

“Oh, so you know me?” He said rhetorically, stepping a bit closer while dragging Miria with him. “It wasn’t until your King decided that he needed some help with an issue, that I came to find out your name, Jade. He hadn’t known your name when I was ordered to capture you at the monk’s Monastery of course, as he just wanted to capture the creature that was wrecking his plans on Earth, but as soon as you stepped on his turf, he was delighted to get acquainted with you.” Connely, one of the, apparently corrupt, captains from the American FBI, explained.

Back on Earth, I had made mistakes, showing off my magic when I needed it or when I was angered a lot. But due to Neil’s connections to pretty much every important person in the criminal lines, we had always stayed out of law enforcement’s hands.

But that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t know who always tried to capture me. I knew everything about the heads of the FBI, CIA, Interpol and so on. I knew who to dodge and to avoid, even though I missed out on an occasion or two sometimes.

Besides, it had always been nagging me in the back of my head, to whom was the person to lead the attack on the Monastery. It couldn’t have been the black-haired guy that I had given another hole in his chest, as he was too dumb to lead anything. But there was no other person left that could have given the order there, so, captain Connely showing up here is both a surprise and not.

So, now remains the question, which King is he referring to and what does he want? Well, he obviously wants me, for whatever reason, but why? What has he to gain with me?

I glanced down towards Miria, as fortunately, her crying has stopped. My presence here is calming her and I tried hard not to give in to my anger as the little girl’s thoughts were overflowing with images of what these men have done to her family.

“So, why do you need me?” I asked him, skipping to the part I want to know.

“Well, your arrogance is dripping a bit there. But yes, you are right, I need you. The ‘why’ however is going to be a little secret.”

“You’re not taking her anywhere!” Kallan yelled and took hold of my shoulder.

I smiled from the protectiveness he was showing but I couldn’t let Miria get hurt. I couldn’t let any innocent soul get killed because of me again. I turned around to face Kallan, to look him in the eyes.

“We made a deal, remember? I’m not giving up and you make the decisions.” I cleared up to him. He hesitantly shook his head in agreement, knowing that he wasn’t going to like what I was about to say to him. But I still smiled lightly, for the little victory, how much I dislike the situation though. “Then look at Miria, listen to her thoughts and tell me what I should do.” I told him and he furrowed his brows as he focused on the little girl. When he realized what I had found out about her, he looked back at me again. “I’m not giving up, but you have to make a decision.” I said again and he sighed.

He knew that I didn’t want her to die and he knew that I was going to take my justice, as soon as I’m able to. So he gave me a mouth-numbing kiss and took a step back, most reluctantly I might add, to ‘give’ me to the captain. And as soon as he was standing near to Zeph and Trixie, his determination spiked and told me to keep my end of the bargain for as long as it might take.

He will find me again, I’m not doubting that.

I turned myself towards Connely and he pushed the girl right towards me, at which two of his men drew their guns as well, keeping Miria under gunshot while she claimed me in a hug. She started crying and muttering something about her parents and siblings, but she didn’t need to tell me anything as I had already known all the things she had been through. “Shush, Miria, stay as close to me as you can, but be strong, alright?” I hugged her back and pulled her up against my chest. It was stupid of the man to give up his only form of leverage like he said before, so this action was rather strange.

Connely came closer towards me, stepping into the light of the campfire, showing his grey, short hair, broad shoulders and full Kevlar suit. I looked him in the eyes, straight through the awkward-looking glasses he was wearing and focused my power on his mind. “Lower your gun and order for them to do as well.” I tried to command him with magic, but he chuckled.

It should have been working on him, as he is a human! Why isn’t it working?

He tapped the side of his glasses and smirked at me. “That won’t work, missy. These were granted to me by the King himself. Glasses rimmed with magical energy, to stop you from mesmerizing me or reading my mind! Ha!” He laughed even harder at which he now pointed his gun against my head.

Fuck!

“Now, tell me. How many orbs have you gathered?” He asked me, daring me to tell a lie.

“How much do you think I’m going to acquire?” I asked him in return, trying to feel how much he knew.

“Four.” He deadpanned answered, making me curse from the inside.

Ren knew only about two of them, and the ones that know about me having four, are the people with me, the oracle and Echo. So, how would he know about this number? I trust the ones that are present here, even though they have been making mistakes, and I doubt they have coerced the Oracle into saying anything either, but was it Echo then, that deceived me? Had he been the one to tell the King for example, how many tattoos I have on my arm? No, he wouldn’t, right?

Shit!

“I have two.” I sighed, which wasn’t a lie.

“Including the one you gave to the King?” He snarled at me, looking towards Kallan to see if he knew, trying to throw me off my game.

But what he didn’t realize now, is that he told me about which King was his employer. King Qai had given the information towards this brute of a man, of him receiving my orb of protection. I’m not sure what he would gain with that, but I do know that because the King had told him this, he trusts the skills that Connely has. He fully trusts him to not fail in his mission, so it only made me realize that Connely was on his payroll for quite some time now. Perhaps only on Earth until this moment, but still.

I hadn’t answered his question, so he just continued. “So, you have gathered three so far. Then lead us to the fourth.”

“Wait, what?” I asked confused. “Why would you want me to get stronger?”

“That’s for me to know, and for you to… wait… never find out. Let’s go!” He smirked again, pulling Miria from my hands and throwing her towards one of his men where she was kept under constant gunpoint.

I know that Kallan has his bulletproof skin and I can create shields, so there could have been a chance for us to win this battle should we decide to fight all dozen of them head-on. But risking the lives of Zeph, Trixie and Miria, as they don’t have enough protection to dodge bullets, was leaving me no choice other than to comply with Connely’s demands. As Kallan said, I need to hold up my end of the bargain and never give up.

I just had to find my point of leverage and get through this in one piece, preferably.

A/n: Don't forget to leave me a comment as I'm curious to know where your thoughts are going! ❤

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