Elementals

Chapter 48-Urgent Matters

Saladin sighed. "I wish I could say that wasn't the case, but I'm afraid that may be so."

"But why Alex though?" Aarya asked, arms crossed in thought.

"Simple." Damian adjusted his glasses. "Because Alex is the key to ending his takeover of the elemental realm."

"Oh, right! The prophecy!" Keith said in realization.

"It makes sense." Saladin said. "If Alex is the only thing standing in the way of domination over the realm, then it would make the most sense to eliminate him before the prophecy can cone to fruition."

"That would make it all the more simple to take over." Grandpa scratched his chin.

"So that's why Bliss tried to kill me..." I muttered. "And the volcano collapsing...and the dreams, and visions..."

"But if he needs Alex out of the picture to take over everything, why not do it himself?" Zielo asked.

The office sunk into silence for a second, until Grandpa spoke.

"He's hiding."

"Hiding?" I asked.

"I know the Corrupted King. Well enough to know that showing up here himself would draw too much attention." Grandpa explained.

"And with two former elemental guardians, he wouldn't risk revealing himself." Saladin added. I tilted my head.

"Elemental Guardians?" I asked.

"The teams of the strongest elementals in the realm tasked with keeping it safe." Zielo explained. "Remember when we were learning about the first elementals to be trained as guardians?"

It suddenly clocked. "Oh, right." I looked to Grandpa. "What do you mean, 'two former guardians'?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you? Me and Saladin were elemental guardians back in our day." Grandpa said. My jaw dropped.

"What!?" We all said in unison. Grandpa and Saladin chuckled.

"We'll tell you lot about that at a later date. But right now, we have more important matters to adress." Saladin said.

"Yeah, right." I said.

"So, the Corrupted King is hiding because he doesn't want to risk fighting against two of the guardians that helped seal him away?" Damian said.

"So he's using the hyphus connection to track your location." Cameron added.

"And possibly look for a perfect time to strike." Celest added.

"This is concerning." Grandpa said. "The connection allows the caster's magic to reach far greater distances than what's normally possible. If it allows him to reach this far, then he could corrupt the entire school from the safety of his castle."

"And if you make the slightest contact with it, there's no telling the damage he'll do..." Saladin trailed off. We all thought for a minute.

My mind raced with all the information, trying to find a possible solution to stop him. That's when a wild idea popped up into my head.

"...why not just go to him?"

They all turned to me, shocked expressions all over their faces.

"Alex, are you crazy?" Natalie asked.

"You remember how the Corrupted King could destroy everything and everyone with the slightest touch, right?" Keith said.

"And that, according to the prophecy, if you die, the entire realm will get corrupted." Celest said, rather grimly.