Etherno by Aaron DeMott

Author:Aaron DeMott [DeMott, Aaron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: space-opera
Publisher: Onicranium Dragon Books
Published: 2019-01-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

School's Out Forever?

Onin sighed and collapsed onto his couch in the common area of he and Tannin’s dorm room. He hurt all over. He yawned and struggled to keep his eyes open.

Onryo took a few deep breaths and sat on the edge of the couch. She closed her eyes. Her wings and tail shrank in size until they disappeared into her back. Her hair faded from red to brown, and Kasai now sat there. She flung herself into Onin’s arms, sobbing.

“It’s okay.” Onin put one arm around her, and patted her on the back. “Um, do you remember anything?”

“Yeah.” Kasai nodded. “It’s kinda like a dream, but I remember it all. Can’t we do anything to help Shanay?”

“Not to my knowledge.” Saija’s voice came from somewhere behind the couch. “We tried our best, then that other Natas showed up. He was a lot stronger.”

“So we take him out first?” Tannin cracked open an eye, and looked up from where the chair across from the couch that he was sprawled across.

“How?” Cerina slouched in the other chair next to Tannin. “They’re just going to double-team us again.”

“We could get some help…” Tannin didn’t sound so sure.

“Who?” Kasai asked. “The Dabrath police have their hands full with the attacks here. Have you forgotten about them?”

Onin stroked her back. “I think Tannin’s point is that the attacks would cease if we took out the source.”

“Yeah.” Tannin slouched into the couch, then he sat back up. “Ooo! What about the military?”

“No good.” Saija waved her hand dismissively. “Their job is foreign gesaran threats. The giftlings have never been large enough in number to pose a national threat—a small, local force of other giftlings can keep most troublemakers in line. Also, you need another chair in here.”

“Yeah, ‘cause that’s working.” Cerina rolled her eyes.

Onin chose to ignore her comment. “ABG is probably the largest gathering of giftlings on the planet. We’ve got people from every nation here, I believe—”

“—We can’t ask them to fight,” Kasai said.

“No, we can’t. Most giftlings aren’t combat oriented, and most people at ABG, ourselves included, are really just kids,” Onin said.

“Hey, I’m twenty!” Tannin jerked upright in his chair.

Onin’s eyelid twitched. “My point was that if you told the army that you wanted to fight a full-out war with the Natas, they’d call you a kid and tell you to go home. None of us, well, except possibly Saija, have the training for this.”

“Why not just give up, then?” Cerina said, her face weary.

Onin opened his mouth to reply, but Kasai beat him to it.

“Really? You saw what they did to Shanay. Do you want to just sit here and hope someone else can stop it? All while the Natas are taking everyone on campus, until they come to make us their vessels.”

Cerina shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. “No. But what can we do?”

No one said anything. What could they do? If they could get the Natas to fight them one at a time, they might be able to win.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.