Chapter 23

Acacia couldn’t believe they’d defeated Gullen. The supposedly powerful commander. His body was sprawled sideways on the cool floor, fading from sight with every plume of purple smoke released from his body.

                  Lifea, Bloome, Claris and Annice all stood around him, mouths agape, arms and legs at the ready if the Scaler were to attack again. The Shadowness gripped the armrests of her throne. “You . . . dare evade quick death? How . . . amusing.”

                  She didn’t move to stand or anything. She just sat there, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. Her eyes were still nowhere to be seen—her hood was covering them. Acacia was fine with letting the queen bring her home and leave all this mess behind, but someone needed to end her reign of terror. Acacia remembered how the elves relied on wooden barricades to defend themselves.

                  The shadows would surely become more afraid if their queen was vanquished.

                  The Shadowness sighed boredly and got up, her cloak shifting. Instead of walking, she levitated towards them. “Such insolence,” she gathered all the shadows in the wide hall, swarming them into a shadow ball.

                  Lifea stared into Acacia’s eyes, her expression radiating all her fear. The shadow ball swelled, until the Shadowness saw the thick volume Acacia was clutching. “I see you’ve read my plans. So you know that destroying Cloudstorm—the solar system with pathetic humans with no magic or abilities to defend themselves—is my number one priority. Over killing you, of course.

                  “You’re right where I want you to be. Have you ever wondered why Cai Ling managed to escape the maze earlier than you? How Siri made sure every single one of you was here?” As she said the names, her body twisted and transformed into Siri and Cai Ling.

                  Acacia gasped at the girls. She couldn’t believe it. The feared Shadowness had been with her all this while. “Why?” Why the disguises? Why the mystery? She wasn’t given time to ask that. The Shadowness whipped the shadows at them, and everyone ducked, bracing for the black of death and the pain.

                  But it didn’t come.

                  When Acacia looked up, she saw a ball of electricity blocking the shadow ball, pushing the ball back to the Shadowness, who ducked. “What?” Annice seemed as surprised as her. When Acacia looked behind them, she saw a figure in a black cloak with white, purple and green electricity fizzing at her fingers.

                  No doubt she was the girl Acacia saw in the closet a few days back.

                  For whatever reason, the Shadowness gasped when she saw the girl, stumbling backwards. The girl levitated in front Acacia and her friends, settling into a battle position. The Shadowness recovered quickly lunging for the girl’s throat.

                  Fortunately, the girl was ready, and blasted the Shadowness’s chest with a thousand volts of electricity. “Did you think of that?” Acacia asked Annice as the shadow’s queen collapsed. Annice nodded. “A thousand volts of electricity shouldn’t have that big of an impression on that kind of powerful person like the Shadowness.”

                  Then why was the Shadowness suddenly so weak? The girl had done something when Acacia looked back, and she didn’t know what the girl had done, but the Shadowness of sinking into a teleportal in the floor, scrambling to keep her balance. The girl was charging bolt after bolt of electricity at the Shadowness, stopping her from escaping her drop into the teleportal.

                  Bloome, Lifea and Claris sprinted to Annice and Acacia. “Do you know her?” Lifea panted. Acacia shook her head. The girl strengthened the blast aimed at the Shadowness, and the queen fell down the teleportal. Acacia felt so relieved until the Shadowness grabbed the edge of the teleportal, heaving herself up, screaming the last words she’d ever say.

                  “THIS . . . DOESN’T CHANGE ANYTHING! MY ARMY HAS BEEN GIVEN THE SIGNAL TO DESTROY CLOUDSTORM!” Before she lost her grip and tumbled into the darkness below. “My brother and his girlfriend are working on it. Your army will never reach the aliens,” the girl growled.

                  Acacia was shocked to recognise that voice. “Korii?” she asked. The girl spun around.

                  Korii threw back her black hood. “Uh, yeah. It’s a long story, which I don’t have time to explain.” Acacia gaped. Annice and Claris stared blankly at Korii, while Lifea and Bloome tried to make sense of the confusion.

                  Korii’s sheepish smile morphed into a serious expression. “You can’t tell anyone about me, okay?” Then it clicked. “You’re, you’re a Guardian!” Claris squealed.

                  Acacia gasped. “You? But—”Actually, it made perfect sense. In all the books Acacia had read in Sunhilde, only the Guardians could overpower the Shadowness, and if Korii was one of the eight Guardians, defeating the queen of the shadows was the beginning of her magic abilities.

                  A beep echoed from inside of Korii’s cloak. She reached behind her and pulled a holographic screen out. There were eight symbols on the screen, and the fire symbol was flickering. “She needs help?” Korii mumbled to herself. “What’s happening?” Lifea asked as everyone lifted into the air.

                  “Sorry, it’s my telekinesis,” Korii explained. “We need to get to Cloustorm.”

                  “You mean the alien planet the Shadowness is trying to destroy?” Lifea confirmed. Korii nodded. “My brother and his girlfriend are already working on it, and they’re the most powerful among the Guardians, so I don’t know why they need help.”

                  She stuck the bottom of her palms together, twisting them around. A teleportal appeared in front of her. “Whoa,” Claris breathed. “That’s crazy.” Acacia glimpsed a flitting smile fly across Korii’s face. She wondered what she would think of her friend now. She was a Guardian. But in all stories, they said that the Guardians created by Dyia were originally made to be spies.

                  “This had better not be another trap,” Acacia warned Korii. The girl nodded. “You can trust me. I’m not . . . exactly a spy,” she replied. She didn’t give them a chance to ask what that meant before she stepped through the teleportal, her telekinesis pulling them along with her.

“Wow.” That was what Acacia’s awestruck mind could say. They were somewhere in space, judging by the starry skies blinking at them. And hovering above the alien solar system, since the eight-planet solar system under their feet didn’t look like the illusions the Illusionists in Dyia made.

                  “Welcome to Cloudstorm,” Korii said, setting Acacia, Annice, Claris, Lifea and Bloome down. They didn’t float around like magipeople and elves usually did, but they sank onto a squishy, trampoline-like ground. A girl with fiery hair that burnt downwards walked towards Korii.

                  “Finally! Kenrii asked me to—did you bring friends?” the girl raised an eyebrow at Korii. Korii smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. When I pushed the Shadowness back into Mayhem, they were there. Don’t worry. They won’t be trouble. What do you need me to do?”

                  “Do they know how to keep a secret?” the girl interrupted. Korii bit her lip, meeting Acacia’s eyes before saying, “Yeah. They’d better. So what is it, Janessa?” Janessa sighed and pointed to a black comet, that was growing closer and closer to the solar system. When Acacia squinted it, she realised that it was an army. An army of shadows.

                  “Kenrii can handle them, but the shield needs to come up faster. I need you to stand on the opposite end of the solar system and make one to connect with mine,” Janessa pointed into the darkness.

And then Annice lost it. “What’s Mayhem? And who’s Kenrii? And how are you Guardians? And WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO US?” They did seem to have a habit of running into surprises and shadows. Korii shrugged, like the matter was out of her hands.

“I can’t answer your questions,” Janessa said after a second. “But you’re seriously not allowed to tell anyone. We can’t have people bugging us for magic or whatever.” Acacia nodded. It would be pretty cool to be in on the secret. Though she really didn’t understand the need for secrecy.

Korii grinned. “Great. Does that mean we can—” she was cut off by a loud roar and screech, announcing the shadow army’s approach. “They’re coming,” Janessa snarled.

“We need to get the shield up,” Korii leaped—a literal long jump—to the other side of the solar system, so far in space Acacia lost sight of her. Janessa sighed, and held up her hands, chanting in a strange language. “Ada forge dalis, comin dor, callas, rue schee!” Once the last word left her mouth, a searing blue light grew from her hands.

The light spread into a bowl-like shape, becoming bigger and bigger like an enormous shield as it started to cover the solar system. Another shield formed from the other end of Cloudstorm, and Acacia took that as Korii’s half of the shield.

“Whoa,” everyone stared in awe as the two halves knitted themselves together in the middle, and the whole shield glowed like a pond bathed in moonlight. Acacia felt relieved, but her chest tightened again when the army of shadows spilled towards the blue-shield-ball.

They dipped onto the shield, using sharp weapons in attempts to burst it. Janessa’s arms fell back to her side, and she put a hand on her hip, smirking at the shadows. With a ‘whoosh’, Korii leaped back. “Do you think the shield will hold?” she asked, clearly not sharing Janessa’s satisfaction.

“Definitely.” The older girl sounded so certain. “By the way, it’s time for you to get home.” Janessa created two teleportals, one leading to Sunhilde and the other to Acacia’s school. Acacia stared at the teleportal, unable to make her legs move. It felt wrong after this adventure. Was it even counted as an adventure? It had been so short. And that shield could break anytime.

Lifea interrupted her thoughts. “So . . . hope to see you sometime.” Acacia giggled.

“You too,”—she turned to Korii. “I guess I’ll see you back in school.” Then they jumped into their various teleportals, and it felt like an end.