Chapter 16: Truce

Nereus and his beta duck when they see the mirrors and all the glass in the training hall are broken and flying about, they are bracing for impact then Nereus realizes that nothing has hit him yet. Both he and Lare look up and see that they are inside a sort of bubble protecting them from the glass. The glass stops flying around; it is still in the air but it isn’t moving, then it starts flying towards Celeste and Nereus and Lare look at each other in horror as they realize what she is trying to do. Lare tries to leave the force field but he can’t and they are running out of time

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I am fully aware at this moment that I am in control of everything happening, Nereus and Lare are being protected by a force field that neither of them can escape from and I am about to be run through by an insane amount of glass. Aetherius or not, I don’t think I am going to survive it and I don’t believe I want to. The glass has almost reached me now, I close my eyes waiting for impact then someone jumps in front of me and pushes me away.the glass drops to the floor and when I open my eyes Nereus is on top of me, he used his body as a shield for me; it would appear someone finally read the “how to be a guardian 101” handbook. “Are you okay?” He asks, I am still confused but I nod he rolls off me, the force field around Lare disappears and he runs towards the both of us asking if we are okay, we both nod in response to him. Still dazed, I look at Nereus wondering how he was able to escape my protection spell, I sit up and he gets on his knees in front of me. “Celeste” He starts but he doesn’t say anything else, His breathing is laboured and he falls to the ground. Lare rushes to him and turns him over “he’s hurt, I think few of the shattered glass got into his body”

 I put my hand over my mouth, this is all my fault. Nereus might be a pure-blood but the glass in his body will make it harder and take a longer time to heal. Lare tells me to watch him while he goes to fetch help. “Nereus I am so sorry” I say unable to control my tears any longer “You were right, I am so childish and immature and look what I done” I am still crying when I feel his hand touch my cheek “hey, hey listen to me” He says “I was wrong and I misjudged you, you have been carrying a lot and you have been doing it on your own for so long. I have been a terrible guardian to you Celeste” he adds “the worst” I say and we both chuckle. He grunts because laughing is very painful for him at the moment “how about we start all over again?” he says and I nod “hi, I am Nereus your guardian, pardon my dishevelled appearance my lady” I let out another sad laugh and I respond “hey, I’m Celeste nice to meet you sir”. Nereus puts his hand on mine and a feeling of relief washes over me as we have now come to a truce. The calming sensation I feel in my chest spreads to my arms and when it reaches my palm it looks like light coming out of me and going into Nereus’ body, shards of glass fly out of his body and his wounds close up and heal. The both of us gasp

“Did you just?”

“Did I just?”

“I think you just”

“Oh my goddess I think I did too”

I just unlocked my healing gift. Nereus and I hug each other and as we do the entire room is repaired, all the broken glass is restored and it’s almost as if the last one hour never occurred. “Good to see we are no longer exploding things” Nereus says when the training hall is finally restored, we are on our feet now and I playfully punch his shoulder. At That moment Lare comes rushing in with three other wolves and the shock on his face is hilarious, Nereus and I start laughing so hard. “How long was I gone for” Lare asks “long enough” Nereus responds holding my hand.

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inside a cave the hooded figure is speaking to a rogue wolf that appears to be convulsing “sit” it instructs the rogue but like a stubborn dog the rogue doesn’t listen. Then the rogue charges towards the figure and it gets stabbed in the chest, the rogue falls to the ground and as it dies it turns into a human woman. “Another failure” a voice in the dark says “she was a human master, I suggest we use a wolf next time” the figure responds “No!” the voice responds. “We will make new wolves” the voice continues “The aetherius will come of age soon and when she does she will be ours. You know what to do with that” the voice adds and the figure nods then it takes the body and throws it to rogues in a cage and they immediately pounce and devour the body