Crestfall

Chapter 7: Star Blight

∆∆∆

"Hi! I'm Jared!"

I greeted our new classmate as she sat down the seat next to me. Our teacher picked that chair for her after she introduced herself in front.

Apparently, she's a transfer student.

"Hi. I'm π̴̢̡̝̰̣̖̣̊̕ͅ'̵̧͚͚̳͍̟̼̣̦̲͙̖̇̊̓̐͛͜͝¶̷̛̙̘̣̠̮̠̪͈̤̜̣̠͓͗́̈́͒̀̓̎̓̊̈̕͝/̷̢̧̞̣̞͕̙̼̹̜͕͐͛̉͑̑̊͑͑͗̈́̃̈́͌͠×̴̡̹̹̞̘̤͖̝͛̈́̀͆͂͌͋̚€̴̧̥̬̭͈͕̳̜̠̲͉͙̦̬͊̌̌̅͊̿̇.̶͓̠̯̈́"

What a beautiful name.

"Can I be your friend?"

"Of course." π̴̢̡̝̰̣̖̣̊̕ͅ'̵̧͚͚̳͍̟̼̣̦̲͙̖̇̊̓̐͛͜͝¶̷̛̙̘̣̠̮̠̪͈̤̜̣̠͓͗́̈́͒̀̓̎̓̊̈̕͝/̷̢̧̞̣̞͕̙̼̹̜͕͐͛̉͑̑̊͑͑͗̈́̃̈́͌͠×̴̡̹̹̞̘̤͖̝͛̈́̀͆͂͌͋̚€̴̧̥̬̭͈͕̳̜̠̲͉͙̦̬͊̌̌̅͊̿̇.̶͓̠̯̈́ replied.

Wow! I have my first friend! My elementary days will be fun!

∆∆∆

A sudden shake woke me up.

The first thing my tired eyes saw was white. I don't know what that was, but that's white as hell. I closed my eyes again.

"I think this is enough. We should be safe here."

I heard a familiar voice. It was masculine, but it was soft and has a bit of warmth in it. Then, whatever it was that I'm laying on moved abruptly. It's as if the mattress I was on got pulled forcefully.

I suddenly opened my eyes. I realized that the white thing I saw earlier was a roof of a vehicle.

I pulled myself up to a sitting position. I'm now facing the windshield, and the individual sitting on the driver's seat.

The driver turned around to face me. "Jared, you okay, bud?"

"What happened, Ivan?" For some reason, his ever-so-annoying smile was making me feel calm within.

"We're a bit far away from Kampola. Charlotte and I had to drag you and Janinna away from the hangar. If anything, I should be the one asking you that. Where's Shyrhine?"

I knew my face turned grim after he asked that. All of the recent events came back to me like an overflowed dam.

"She's... Where's Allen?"

"Here." I heard the voice from behind so I instinctively looked back. There he was. Sitting down the van floor as he sips an orange juice bottle.

"You okay, man?" I asked him to be sure.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a few scratches but I'll live." Allen smiled.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I immediately felt a presence beside where I was sitting.

Janinna was sleeping beside me, as well as Charlotte.

The van's passenger seats at the back were laid down to become a makeshift bed for the three of us.

I looked at Ivan.

"Don't worry dude. They're just tired."

I nodded.

I looked at my hands. I noticed just then that I was clenching them so tight. If I had done something, Shyrhine could've been here with us. We weren't able to get that stupid fire stone, and now we lost a comrade?

"Hey..." Ivan pulled me out of my grim thoughts. Ivan and I have been friends for so long that we already treat each other like blood brothers. Due to that fact, we knew each other so well that we almost always know how to read each other's emotional state. This is most likely one of those instances.

"...it's not your fault. I know Shyrhine's fine. She's not the type of person to give up just like that. If anything, Friana has to be careful around her. So pull yourself together." Ivan flashed his usual smile again. I thought he can get away with it this time. I need it. I need any assurance and optimism as I can get.

"As of this moment, no one knows we've been in the camp. The security cameras and alarms were taken care of by Shyrhine before you guys went in. You know, her raising her hand and stuff." Ah, I see. So Shyrhine raising her hand was not only to signal Ivan to do the ~Time Stop~ spell but it was also to disable any comms or security tech the camp has.

"That girl..." I knew we had a deal, but it annoys me that she didn't put up a fight in the end just to protect us.

"So we don't have the crest, and we don't have our commander. That puts you to the spotlight, Jared. What's next?"

I honestly don't know.

"He said he doesn't know." A wimpy voice came from my left side. Charlotte just woke up and sat.

"Well... That makes this challenging." Ivan, you and your optimism...

All of us sat down silently for God-knows-how-long. I didn't know what they were thinking at this point but I'm sure they were trying to come up wth a plan. As I was about to c***k a joke to lighten up the mood, a girly pop music suddenly played.

"Oh, sorry." Ivan realized it was his phone ringing. Buddy, we'll talk about that ringtone of yours later.

"Jared likes your ringtone."

"I do not! And stop reading my mind!" I flustered.

Ivan just smiled wryly before answering the phone.

"Hello?... Yeah... Okay... Say what now?... Got it... Sure... Yes, I said I got it... She's fine...Oh, okay. Jared, it's for you." Ivan suddenly handed me the phone.

"Who's this?" I asked Ivan.

"Lucky." I picked up the phone from Ivan's hand and placed it on my left ear.

"Sup?"

"Yo, Stoner Boy."

"Please don't call me that if we're out on public."

"Haha! Gotcha. Anyway..." I felt a sudden change of mood in his voice.

"Janinna's fine." I completed what he was about to say.

And oh boy, was I wrong.

"Uh yeah. That's good to hear, but that's not what I've called about. It's Shyrhine. I saw her a few minutes ago when I tried to peek on a Time Scape. The weird part is, I saw her on our classroom but it's nighttime."

I checked my clock by instinct and confirmed the time. It's 7:58 P.M.

It looked like Friana dragged her on our school. What did she think would happen after that? And I was curious as to what she would benefit by going to our school.

When we first encountered her by the bridge, she immediately recognized Janinna as a Doppelganger Master, as well as Shyrhine being a Wind Sorceress.

A Wind Sorceress, huh? You are very lucky to have her as your guardian, mortal. Because wind is my adversary.

Ah. I realized what she's trying to do.

"Got it. We're on our way to the Academy." I opened the van door and stepped outside, making sure that I close the door back to privately speak with our trusty ally on the other line.

"Lucky, I want you to do something for me." As of this moment, whether he can fulfill my request or not could make or break this whole affair.

∆∆∆

The subtle rumble of the van made my sanity in check. Ivan was driving us towards the school and nobody's speaking a word. Janinna's awake but her usual jolly expression could not be found anywhere her face. She just sat and stared blankly at the dark road ahead of us right after she woke up. I kinda felt she tried to talk to me at one point but pulled back to give each other some space.

The van slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road. After pulling the hand break and turning off the engine, Ivan turned around to face us.

"Okay. We don't want to barge in there without a plan. I assume you have one, Jared."

I stayed silent for a good 10 seconds before saying, "Yes, but don't expect it to be the best plan."

"Better than nothing, I guess." Allen from the rear end of the vehicle's interior spoke.

Janinna and Charlotte didn't say a thing. They just looked at me with determined eyes, expecting me to start my pep talk.

"I asked Lucky to go to the Academy ahead of us. I also asked him to fetch Claire from the Journalist clan to get some useful info from Friana that we can utilize against her. So once we arrive there, they will report everything they gathered, then we'll surround the school.

Once surrounded, you can use your ~Time Stop~ and we'll have at least five minutes to grab Shyrhine."

Ivan's face was bothered.

"...Then, what?" I knew he'll ask that.

"Let's cross the bridge when we get there."

"That sounds reckless coming from you." Ivan replied.

"Jared..." A faint princess-like voice spoke from my left side. I turned my head to her and witnessed Janinna's puppy eyes again. Ah, so refreshing.

"...I'm sorry. If I pulled myself together earlier, this shouldn't have happened."

"Actually, I'm sorry too..." Charlotte from the other end of the seat I was on suddenly spoke as well. "...I'm sorry because I was supposed to be a support fairy, especially for you, but I wasn't there when you needed me the most. " I was about to respond when Allen chipped in.

"Well, that goes the same way for me. We were friends for a long time, yet I didn't find myself that useful earlier. I even got thrown out of the battlefield like a pice of trash. I'm sorry, brother."

This people....

"Okay, first of all, Janinna, I totally understand what happened to you earlier. It was probably the first time you got to a real fight with a sorceress who doesn't pull her punches so don't worry about it. I would feel the same way if I was in your situation." I patted Janinna's head and flashed a smile towards her. She just bowed her head in approval and probably to keep herself from bursting out.

"Also, Charlotte..." I tilted my head to make an eye-to-eye contact with the person sitting beside Janinna. "...you had a specific task and you nailed it. If anything, I would like to thank you for keeping Ivan safe." I also gave her a taste of my flashy smile. I didn't think the smiling worked but I still decided to push it.

"And, Allen, shut up. You've done your best."

"Okay! Let's get our damsel-in-distress!" Ivan smiled and started the van. Before he stepped on the accelerator, a girly pop ringtone blasted our ears again, but this time it's coming from my hand as I was holding on to Ivan's phone the entire time.

I placed the phone on my ear and spoke, "Sup' Lucky?"

"You know what, I am indeed lucky today."

A chill ran down my spine.

"Fri--"

"I now have two of your friends. Mortal, you sure are heartless for sacrificing these people just to keep yourself safe." Then, the line got cut.

My company most likely figured out what was going on as they turned their heads towards me almost in chorus.

"Ivan, step the f**k on it." Without any second thoughts, he complied.