Chapter 5

Upon entering the courtyard, the Sybils looked to see their fathers who waited anxiously for them. Lilo was talking with Nyla’s father whilst Roland paced back and forth, the eyes of Silas and Caeden on him. Roland had refused to allow any of them out of the palace grounds for their own protection, or so he had stated. As though the Preators were defenceless and incapable of defending themselves. They complied however, as they had faith their children would return safely.

Having regained some strength, Nyla was able to continue into the courtyard on her own, but her companions kept close behind her in case she should fall. She told the Preators what they had witnessed, shock and discomfort written on their faces as they comprehended the horrors of what had happened. Roland turned pale, his eyes downcast in embarrassment as to how such an event occurred whilst he had important guests in his region. The foreign Preators could mistake it for an act of insolence, an insult to their safety and a threat to their reign. That is, if they weren’t senseful beings.

“Faite? You’re sure?” Oriel asked to which his daughter nodded.

“It hasn’t been long since the piece was stolen from the Juno palace and the thief has already begun to experiment,” Caeden said.

Nyla sighed. Caeden was wrong. The sphere piece has been missing for several weeks already. If the thief was only showing off his experiments now, it could mean only one thing: he wanted the Preators to see what he could do. Wanted them to start panicking. To take action.

“We should hope they do not continue to experiment further than making a couple of Faite,” Lilo said. “Are you alright, Nyla?” Once again, she nodded. She and Lilo had an understanding relationship. The only other person who shared her thirst for knowledge. Lilo was a frequent visitor of Lily as he was quite close to her family, and whenever he was visiting, they would share knowledge and legend, initiate debates and solve their history’s mysteries. He was her teacher, her mentor, and an eager contributor to her search for knowledge.

“That is beside the point, our regions are left leaderless.” Caeden said, “We should all leave at first light, fortify our defences and prepare for if the thief should decide to take a more dramatic route if he wishes to find the rest of the pieces.”

“I agree,” Oriel said, “but fortifying and preparing does not solve our problem of the Althea Sphere.”

“Then there is only one solution,” Silas said, a shaken Ezra in his arms, “we destroy the pieces of the sphere before the thief can get their hands on them.”

“I agree,” Caeden said.

“Let us first make sure our people are safe before taking action.” Lilo said, “The last thing we need is the five regions in chaos and dismay.”

“Then we shall converge again once fortifications have been made,” Caeden said.

With everyone in agreement, the five Preators, along with their kin, retired for the night. Nyla’s father dropped her off at the medical chambers as he had other business to attend to. Something about speaking with their Guarde to prepare for them to leave on the morrow.

Healer Agatha had prepared an herbal tea to help Nyla regain some strength. “You sure nearly depleted yourself of all your magic, young Sybil.” Agatha, a short and pudgy old woman with sandy brown hair streaked with gray, shuffled back toward her workstation to pack away the herbs she had used.

Every region had several Healers in their palaces as well as in various of their villages where they opened training centres for any who wished to learn the Art of Healing. There were two forms of healing, with magic and without. Those who were healed with magic generally have magic of their own which Healers would stimulate with their own magic to speed up the healing process, and those without magic would be treated in a more traditional way, with herbs, tonics, and the likes.

In Nyla’s case, healing with magic would prove fruitless as she was already so drastically depleted, therefore, a more traditional approach would be in her best interest. Nyla had several Healers in Lily who would treat her as well. Mostly for wounds she would obtain from training and exhaustion. The Healers would sigh whenever she walked into their chambers, telling her that she should stop overdoing her training, take several days off and rest. She never listened to them. Sitting still for too long was too vexing for Nyla. She believed it was unproductive and her time could be better spent elsewhere.

“Desperate times,” Nyla muttered as she blew the steam from her cup and took a sip of the thick creamy mixture within.

“I heard it was quite the spectacle.”

“I acted without thinking.” Nyla said, “These aren’t even my people and yet I felt the obligation to protect them.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Agatha took Nyla’s empty cup.

“No, of course not.” Nyla placed her hands into the pockets of her pants, “It’s just, I normally think things through before I act. This time, I just knew what was going on and acted. It was pure instinct.”

“Ah, so you’re concerned with the fact that you didn’t think things through?”

“This won't make sense to you, but yes. I should’ve been more careful. Shouldn’t have exposed myself in that way.”

“It doesn’t matter what you did. What matters is what you’re going to do now. No point in trying to change that past, it already happened, but the future, that is yet to pass, that is something you can change.”

Nyla nodded with a smile. “Thank you, Healer Agatha.”

Agatha patted her shoulder before going to assist another Healer who was bandaging one of the Guarde who had gotten injured in the Faite attack.

Nyla stood and walked out the Healer’s chamber, contemplating the Healer’s words. In order to save the future, they had to act now. Waiting for the next attack, which would only bring about more pain and misery, was not an option for her.