Prologue Chapter 1-1 Chapter 1-2 Chapter 2-1 Chapter 2-2 Chapter 3-1 Chapter 3-2 Chapter 4-1 Chapter 4-2 Chapter 5-1 Chapter 5-2 Chapter 6-1 Chapter 6-2 Chapter 7-1 Chapter 7-2
Chapter 8
Common grounds are needed
The world was changing day by day. The wall got completely torn down, Uscad flourished and began to adopt technology while humans found a few alternatives to their power sources. Little by little, Uscad and Adroile merged and was becoming one prosperous nation. Some citizens from Uscad and Adroile tried to live within each other’s territory just to experience each other’s lifestyle.
The exchange of information was perhaps one of the greatest gifts each nation could have given each other. Despite the development, they all still continued to train and make preparations for the upcoming summer solstice. They were still trying to figure out how the witches could retain their abilities during their attack. With just a month left to prepare, every single person became extremely occupied with how they could still improve since none of them knew the full extent of what the purists could do now.
With 3 months gone and passed, it was still amazing progress to see witches building their own technology that could rival even the witches. And the one leading them proudly was Audrey and the people from the riots. In between the exhausting training of their abilities, the witches were taught how to do close-range combat in the case that the purists had some people that could nullify abilities as well.
The human had their fair share of struggles when they tried to understand where a witch’s ability came from. No matter what they did to understand, they were sure that they would never be blessed with such abilities, but harnessing spells and incantations from magical tools was the closest they could come to using magical abilities. And it was enough for them to continue studying witches. Aside from studying, every free time they could get, they tried making as many amplifier helmets as they could. They needed as many as they could and they definitely needed to apply some improvements to its design and efficiency if they plan to start an all-out war with the purists.
The days were passing by so fast. Soon they would all have to engage in battle. From that point on, the community they were now building decided to all share meals by supper. It was the perfect conclusion to their day of training and they really hoped to strengthen their bonds by doing so. Since those nights started, the leaders became more open to sharing their discussions with their citizens. The meetings now included those that wanted to attend. Everyone was given a fair chance to speak and to offer ways in which they could still improve. It was exactly as how Chandler Greames would have imagined it.
“What’s on your mind, Dree?” Cooper came up to Audrey who was gazing over everyone as they enjoyed their meal for that day.
“I’m just thinking, my father would have loved to see this” Audrey smiled up to him and Tinble who soon joined them
“Yeah, Daddy would have loved to see this. Even mum was starting to think the same when we would help prepare meals for the people” Tinble muttered in his usual soft tone as he leaned against Audrey’s frame
“Did she now?” Audrey teased and even prodded Tinble’s side “What about your family, Cooper? You've never once mentioned them to us”
“My family… well…” Cooper soon gazed back to where the wall once stood “They were one of the envoys that were sent to do negotiations years ago. They never returned, but they were determined to make peace with the humans. Both my parents were.”
“Is that why you knew how to get here?” Tinble asked.
“We’re the ones that were part human. My father also wanted to have this kind of world we had now” Cooper said softly as he also leaned against Audrey
“I’m sure all that they would be proud of what we all managed to achieve” From a distance, the three of them heard Beverly speak.
“All our parents would have been proud,” Said Fleta proudly as she seated herself next to Cooper “We’ve all come a long way to build the dream they failed to accomplish”
“Hey guys, I have a crazy idea” Camdyn soon came up and draped his arms over Cooper and Fleta “Want to go spying on the purist territory with me?” He grinned cheekily as he announced his thoughts.
“Are you out of your mind?!” Beverly smacked him lightly on the back of his head “Do you want to get killed?”
“We have the amplifier helmets, and I bet we can hide our presence better with that” Camdyn was insisting despite the looks his friends were receiving “I mean, we still need to see how well the improvements are. What better way to test them than on the field?”
“Have you already forgotten how powerful just one purist is? What more a whole kingdom of those purists!” Alden spoke in a hushed tone, hoping that nobody else would know about Camdyn’s ridiculous plan.
“Fine! I’ll be taking Winthrop with me then” As soon as Winthrop came into view, he was whisked away by Camdyn just as fast “We’ll be having a boy’s night out, just you and me, bud”
Winthrop wasn’t so sure how to react when he was being dragged away from the group. But he knew he wasn’t much of a match against Camdyn so he decided against taking action. Going along with the flow seemed like a better and more peaceful solution than anything.
When the pair neared the barrier, they both put on the amplifier helmet, then they began chanting a stealth incantation to mask their presence. Once that was done, Camdyn took a deep breath before he stomped his foot. In a split second, the ground opened up.
“It’s a tunnel. I think it would at least go until the other side of the barrier” said Camdyn as he inspected the opening he made.
“Maybe I should… check if the barrier runs underground” Winthrop breathed a soft sigh before he flicked his hands to mobilize a few plant stems which entered the tunnel before them.
“Well?” Camdyn looked at the plants intensively as they kept extending “Is there anything?”
“Looks like it’s only surface-level” Winthrop shook his head in response to Camdyn’s question. “ We should get going before we get seen by a purist”
“Way ahead of you” Camdyn grinned cheekily and grabbed Winthrop by the arm, dragging him into the tunnel as well.
Winthrop could only whine in protest as they walked further and further into purist territory “Camdyn! When I said get going, I meant that we should head to the others, not into your tunnel!”
“Shut it, Win, we’ll be fighting soon. We at least need information. What do we know about the purists besides their power and that the shadow king is on their side? Nothing, right?”
It was a rare time that Camdyn was actually making sense. With that kind of logic, Winthrop really couldn’t find anything to argue back so he settled to just follow him until they reached the end of the tunnel.
When they looked out of the tunnel, they noticed that the other side of the barrier was nothing but a vast field. And behind the barrier was an actual wall that looked much stronger than the wall they used to separate their kind from the humans.
“Where do we go from here, Camdyn?” Winthrop asked anxiously as they started making their way further into enemy territory.
“We walk forward. Until we find more information” Camdyn said bluntly as he started walking ahead. He didn’t even turn back to see if Winthrop would follow. He was sure Win would anyways.
“What if they see us?” Winthrop could only trail behind Camdyn. He was basically clung onto his arm with each sound that Winthrop could hear
“Win, you need to quit it- Stay quiet or they’ll really discover us!” Camdyn was basically shouting while trying to keep his hushed tone.
