Chapter 242: Journey to the Center of the Academy Pt. 2

Mira Arvaith

Tunneling through the underground of the Academy during a storm was something I never wanted to do again. It felt like I was drowning myself just to get another inch deeper.

But it was necessary if we were going to stop the school from falling out of the sky.

Digging our way through the earth was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. The mud, the grime sticking all over me, didn’t help. But the intense downpour made it truly difficult.

The rain from the storm began pooling in the tunnel we had created, eventually rising high enough that I had to hold my breath. This caused Jace to attach a tether to me.

The water slowed my movements as I clawed through the terrain like a badger, using both my node ability to shape the earth.

But after a grueling crawl, I finally felt like I had reached my destination when I scraped against something hard and metallic.

I had to claw my way through this.

So I commanded the earth around us to wrap around my fist, creating gauntlets like the ones my father used to have, and began relentlessly striking the metal with all my might.

It took many swings just to bend the metal, forcing me to remake the gauntlets countless times.

My knuckles were bloodied, but I had to keep pushing. I needed to make this work; very few people were left on the isle who could fix the reactor, and the current team didn't seem capable.

Then I felt a surge of cosmic energy flow through me, replenishing what I had nearly depleted while digging to this point.

I looked back and saw a blue light shining on Jace’s face. There was a thin cord of cosmic energy coming from his palm.

“You were low, and your signature was a bit erratic,” Jace said through our tether link as he continued to push more cosmic energy to my core.

The gesture took me by surprise, as I studied his determined face one more time before I returned to striking the metal surface.

With my cosmic energy replenished, I felt strong again. Not as strong as I was before the coma, but enough to cause some real damage.

I unleashed another large barrage of strikes against the metal surface with my rock gauntlets. This time, after only a few moments, I finally punched a hole through it. A small sigh of relief escaped me.

I was making progress– but it wasn’t enough. The hole needed to be bigger.

I shoved my gauntlets into the small hole and pulled at the edges, widening the opening until it was large enough for Jace and me to slip through. It took three tries before the opening was finally big enough.

The water we were submerged in flushed out first.

I looked back at Jace. He nodded, and we jumped down into a dimly lit room with grey floors and walls.

After quickly wiping myself clean, I finally got a good look at what was really inside the underground facility.

The grey corridor we stood in was little more than a small hallway leading into a cavern a couple hundred feet deep. Three large reactor vessels, made out of thick-walled steel cylinders, stood at the bottom. One glowed steadily, another flickered on and off, and the last was completely dark.

Standing at the edge of the corridor, I scanned the area and saw ladders and steep stairways with flimsy railings that lined the cavern walls.

When I squinted, I saw people walking along the large metal beam the reactors were connected to.

“Did you ever think there was something like this underneath the school?” I asked, nudging Jace.

“No, that thought never crossed my mind,” he said, snapping his mouth shut.

A loud sound echoed off the walls. Then, all of a sudden, my feet left the ground. Before I could figure out what was happening, I was hurtling toward the school’s reactors.

My heart sputtered as I fell to my death, until something soft and wet caught me.

It was Jace’s cloud, but he wasn't on it.

I looked back over my shoulder. Jace was free-falling right behind me, his face calm as ever.

From what I could tell, he actually looked like he was enjoying the fall.

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Why is everyone in my cluster insane?

My descent slowed, but Jace picked up speed and vanished from sight.

“Jace!”

The cloud disappeared from beneath me, and I fell on the beam.

That's not good.

“Jace, where are you?” I shouted.

But I got no response.

Damn it.

Just when I thought he was actually being helpful.

When I picked myself up off the ground, I got a better look at who was here at the beam.

A few guards and adults in white cloaks scurried around.

I hurried over to the large control panel at the center of the beam, but as I ran, the larger metal platform swayed, nearly making me lose my balance and fall onto the safety railing attached to it.

As I picked myself up from the rail, I was able to take another look at what was below me.

It was just a dark drop-off.

My stomach felt queasy.

Don’t look down, Mira; only look at what is in front of you, and you will make it out of here.

I gathered my bearings and made my way to the control panel.

When I got there, sirens and alerts were going haywire, just like they did at the teleportation terminal on the central isle.

“What are you doing down here, little girl?” One of the guards asked me

I puffed up my chest.

“I was sent down here by my professor to help. I'm the top armament tech in my class,” I said, hoping the guard would buy the half-lie.

He scanned me for a brief moment before he stepped aside and let me enter.

I quickly ran a fresh diagnostic on the reactors, and what I feared most became reality.

The cooling systems were not working, forcing the shut-off protocol to initiate. Hence the loss of power.

Seeing that, I ran over to the reactor, which was flickering on and off, and checked the cooling system.

I bumped into one of the white-coat scientists, and they stumbled to the ground, dropping their checklist and tablet on the beam.

“Sorry,” I said, helping the scientist gather their things.

But they were nearly mute, their expression hurried and scared.

“Sir, is everything ok?” I asked.

The scientist mumbled and brushed past me, never meeting my gaze.

That’s weird.

I looked around and saw the other scientist had similar mannerisms.

The situation must be stressing them out.

When I walked to the cooling systems, I expected them to be half-melted by now. But they weren’t. They had large gashes running through them, destroying the seal.

What could have done this? Why didn’t they patch this up?

I ran my hand through the gashes, wondering if I could sense any trace minerals. There was, so I tried to use my earth-shaping ability to close the gash.

“Hey, you can’t use cosmic energy around the reactors; it speeds up their life cycle, and we can’t afford that right now.” One of the scientists said, walking towards me.

I froze, realizing I'd almost made everything much worse.

The situation was bad, but I could still salvage it if I could close the gashes. Unfortunately, I needed a blowtorch to weld it back together, and there wasn’t one anywhere nearby.

Where is Jace when you need him?

I went and tried to speak with the scientist, who filled me in on the relationship between cosmic energy and the reactor. I had questions.

He swiftly turned away from me and went to check on the fully functioning reactor with some of the other scientists.

I sprinted over and tugged on his cloak.

“Excuse me? Is there a reason the gashes aren't sealed on the cooling systems? This should be a relatively easy fix to get fully operational again, right?”

The group of scientists all gave me a death glare.

“Is there something I'm missing? Wouldn’t it be easy to go get supplies to fix this without cosmic energy?”

The scientists all placed their fingers over their mouths, silently telling me to shut up.

“I don’t understand. Does talking affect the reactor too?” I asked, my blood beginning to boil.

One of them darted their eyes back and forth, going from me to the guards. I followed their gaze and realized that all the guards had short blades hanging from their hips.

What are they trying to tell me?

Then another scientist unbuttoned their cloak, revealing a belt strapped around their stomach with multiple flashing lights, and…

I felt my stomach drop.

Then they all revealed the same thing.

These scientists had bombs strapped to them.

They were hostages.

So I was right; someone did plan an attack on the school. But why?

My fist clenched, and the scientists grew even more frantic, their eyes widening in terror.

A shadow loomed over me.

“Little miss, if you know what’s good for you, I suggest you leave this area and forget what you saw. I don’t often kill children. But if they are disobedient, my morals tend to change.” A man from behind me said.

I turned to see the same guard that stopped earlier now stood in front of me, dagger in hand, waving it in front of me.

I never handled threats well, and I wasn’t planning to change that today.

I tensed my muscles, only letting small amounts of cosmic energy flow through my body.

The guard’s eyes narrowed, and he assumed an underhand grip with his blade.

“Suit yourself, kid,” he said, dashing towards me, with his comrades following right behind him.