“Citizens of our great Empire, the National Tournament has always been an opportunity to witness the brightest talent our nation has to offer. This year, it has been no less than extraordinary.” Princess Elara Lysander, began her speech, her gaze sweeping over the assembled audience.
The main arena, now a battlefield no longer, had been transformed into a colourful spectacle of streamers and banners. The colourful décor and anticipation in the air gave the whole arena a festival-like atmosphere.
A wave of applause rippled through the crowd at her speech and the reminder of the numerous entertaining battles they had gotten to witness over the past couple of weeks since the tournament began.
“Let us not forget that this tournament is about more than victory. It is a celebration of growth and potential. Each participant has shown us the boundless possibilities that arise when they are pushed to the limit. You are the future of our Empire, and from where I stand, this future shines brighter than ever.”
She paused, the weight of her words settling over the crowd like a warm embrace.
“And now,” she said, her tone softening and her smile deepened as she looked affectionately at her nephew just beneath the stage, “as your princess and your servant, it is my honour to bestow the laurels of victory upon the champions of this tournament—First Celestial Academy.”
A deafening roar erupted from the stands as Cassian and his team began their walk to the dais. Cassian’s expression was one of pride and a natural arrogance, almost as though this outcome was to be expected.
Elara walked over to the approaching group, the ceremonial gold medals in her hands. As she placed it gently on Cassian’s head, her gaze met his.
“Congratulations, Champion,” she said warmly.
The crowd erupted into cheers once more, this time with some exuberant whistles from the crowd at the tender family moment they were witnessing.
Kain couldn’t help sneaking a peak at Soren, whose expression was no different from an emotionless statue.
“Next I would like to call this year’s runner-up, who gave us some of the most riveting matches this year—Dark Moon College.”
The members of Dark Moon made their way to the stage where they were all rewarded silver medals.
The final rankings for all colleges for the rest of the year, and what would determine the resources allocated to each school for the remainder of the year, were as follows:
First:
First Celestial Academy
Second:
Dark Moon College
Third:
Supernova College
Fourth:
Frozen Sun College
Fifth
: Starfire College
…
Kain and the others, although tired from the long day, were high on the adrenaline of a better ranking, although Ezra and the others who represented them in Phase Two, still looked disappointed about the outcome. Therefore, nearly all of the team members decided to gather together at a local bar instead of just heading back to their hotel rooms.
Additionally, since Ezra’s Void Lynx was so severely injured, he wasn’t exactly in a celebratory mood.
Watching Oliver and Theo regale everyone with funny and embarrassing stories about one another and the other upper-years, Kain was suddenly interrupted by his phone ringing. Looking down, he saw that the incoming call was from Bridge.
Standing up to leave the noisy ruckus behind and go to a quieter hallway leading to a staff-only area.
Once in a more secluded area, he quickly answered the phone.
“Hey, man! Did you guys all watch the competition? Do you want my autograph? I can give it to you now for cheap, but it’ll definitely cost you more in the future” Kain answered the phone with a teasing voice, expecting to hear the cheers and reciprocal teasing of his siblings.
However, all that awaited him was silence.
“Bridge?”
More silence.
“C’mon, man! Why call if you’re not going to say something? You’re starting to worry me!”
This time Kain was able to hear something, it sounded like a muffled whimper and a few stifled cries.
Kain instantly sobered up from being drunk on the beer he had drank—which happened to be his very own beer brand. Not that anyone knew. However, seeing how deeply the brand had managed to penetrate into the capital, Kain made a mental note to give their operations manager Collin a raise.
“What’s going on…” Kain asked. This time a lot more calm and serious. It was probably the seriousness of his tone, that Bridge was finally able to compose himself enough to respond to Kain. Although the sound of muffled cries could still be heard through the phone, likely his siblings.
“I-it’s Cherry” Bridge began in a quiet voice. “She’s been missing for days now.”
“At first, we weren’t too worried about it. You know she’s so sociable and practically a free spirit. We figured she was just staying over at a friend’s house and forgot to mention it to one of us—it’s happened before.”
Kain nodded in remembrance of his troublesome younger sibling.
“However, it’s been days now! And she’s still not back!”
“And I know I wasn’t supposed to…but we were so worried…so I read her journal. And I’m not 100% sure what happened, but I think something bad happened to her or someone took her.”
“Why would you think that, Bridge?” Kain scrunched his eyebrows together.
‘Who would want to take a random 10-year-old girl? Actually, 11 now since her birthday recently passed. Could someone have figured out that we have a lot more money now since we send some back every month and chose to hold her for ransom?’
“It’s not a kidnapping for ransom either,” Bridge continued, almost like he could read Kain’s mind. “There’s been no contact made requesting money, and also before she disappeared…” Bridge’s voice lowered to a level Kain could barely hear, “And before she disappeared she was investigating something.”
Kain’s eyebrow raised at this revelation. Thankfully, Bridge continued to explain without further prompting.
“Many local children have gone recently in the past few months—including a close friend of Cherry’s. I think she’d been investigating the reason.”
“And one more thing Kain…on the last page of her journal, starred and underlined, is Heather Frost’s name!”