Chapter 18 - A New Purpose

After reading the letter, I hugged Ivy while crying into her arms at the shock of everything. When I pulled myself together, we headed back to Stonelight in silence. The leaves rustled against the wind. The mist impaired our vision.

The dead silence gave me time to think about what I had learned and what I could do with this information for the future. What is the best way to defeat the Eradicators? How do I expose the Eradicators as not being the Keepers the people envisioned them to be?

As I am Nico Lotus, I am not exactly mister popular in school, so almost nobody would believe me, anyway. 

Before you knew it, Ivy and I heard loud cheers coming from in front of us a few hundred feet away. Bold colors light up the night sky as the fireworks rapidly burst into the air. We made it just in time for the finale, I told myself as we walked toward the center of the plaza. Justus found us before we made it to the statue. 

“Follow me.”, he said to us as he started walking swiftly away from the Plaza.

The cheering from the crowd faded away as our footsteps approached a magnificent horse and luxurious carriage. Despite being in a sour mood, my eyebrow raised slightly. “Who are we going to see?”, I asked Justus as we got into the carriage with a couple of guards next to us. 

“Duke Grey”, Justus said promptly as the carriage knocked us back into our seats and took off for the Duke’s mansion.

The horses must have been expensive because they got us to the entrance of the mansion in a flash. We arrived in front of a large grey gate with the letter “G” inscribed on each side to symbolize the family’s name. The walls surrounding the gate were all black. Attached to these walls were blazing torches of flames all around the property. From afar, the mansion must look like it’s always on fire. 

After Justus talked with the gate guards, the gigantic grey gates swung wide open.

The carriage brought us up a fairly lengthy hill. The property was a lot larger than I had originally thought. There were sprawling hills, various gardens, sculptures, and, of course, many fire pits and artworks made of fire. Ivy and I kept gawking at the Duke’s property. Thank goodness for Ignis, I thought to myself as we pulled up to the main entrance of the mansion. 

As the servants helped us out of the carriage, I noticed a large flagpole in the center of the round-about driveway area we came in through. The flag was orange and red with the symbol of a Phoenix in front of it, with the capital letter “G” inscribed in cursive. 

“That’s their noble family crest.”, Justus said as I took one last look before the doors of the mansion shut behind us.

We waited by the main entrance for a few minutes until a servant guided us to a room that appeared to be the library. Two servants opened up the doors, and we were let inside the Duke’s study. 

Bookshelves lined the walls on all sides. The Duke’s study had multiple desks. The biggest desk was the Duke’s, while a couple of other desks were near him. “You may excuse us now,” Duke Grey said to his assistants. The assistants nodded and left the study, closing the doors with a heavy thud behind them. 

“Thank you for making time for me, Justus and all of you,” Duke Grey said graciously. “From what I can tell, all of you here know what we are discussing and the truth about Tarondar?” Duke Grey questioned, analyzing our facial expressions.

All it took was one nod from Justus for Duke Grey to get the message. 

“As you all know, Tarondar is in great turmoil. The entire world is in danger, specifically Tarondar. What is the reasoning you may ask? It’s because Tarondar is a country in the middle of the continent of Glozaria. This makes Tarondar the most important country because it is where the Eradicators attempted the annihilation ritual but were stopped.

To complete the annihilation ritual they have to gather the six elemental spheres, they need to have a bloodline sacrifice of someone who can wield multiple foundational elements, and they need to do it at the heart of Glozaria which is in Tarondar but way farther out in terms of location than the Keeper Academy.”, the Duke said as he went the windows to pull down the shades. 

“Now you may ask, why didn’t they simply kill Nico now? Well, the sacrifice doesn’t work unless Nico is at the heart of Gloria. Second, it wouldn’t work because the Eradicators, also known as the Keepers in disguise, do not have all six elemental spheres. We have the elemental sphere of fire stored safely on our property.

The elemental sphere of water is in safekeeping with the House of Frost. The elemental sphere of air is safe in the House of Uracain. The organization that supports us, whose name I can’t reveal, possesses the elemental sphere of darkness. 

Which means the elemental sphere of earth is missing somewhere. We already know the Eradicators have the elemental sphere of light. This is enough explanation for now so everyone understands the situation.”, the Duke said while turning to look at me.

“Your job, Nico, as well as Ivy’s job, is to train to become a lot stronger, investigate deeper into the academy, and not act suspicious in front of the Keepers. They will not harm you until they have all the spheres and have you present in the Heart of Glozaria. I promise they won’t try to kill you until those conditions are met.”

Duke Grey said to me, gesturing towards Justus to continue the lecture.

“You heard him, didn’t you Ivy and Nico? The main point of this lecture is to show you a little more of a glimpse into the situation at hand and the underlying organizations and forces at play, which will significantly shape how the future of Terrathis will look like as well as the future of humanity. Duke Grey, Duke Frost, and Duke Uracain are some of the few remaining human adults in Tarondar who the Keepers haven’t brainwashed.

They don’t feed into the illusions the Eradicators present to their human hostages. In our other neighboring countries, some people are free from the Eradicators, while others fall under the same illusion through other Keeper Academies that you will learn about later in the year. 

You understand how serious this situation is now, right? Expect the unexpected. This is nothing but some of the truth. If I reveal all the truth right now, the Eradicators will know something is going on behind the scenes. Keep believing and trusting in me. If you do just like Duke Grey does, we will turn the tables on the Eradicators.”, Justus said while looking out the window grimly. 

“We understand it Vice-Principal Keeper Justus!”, I responded to him loudly. Justus seemed genuinely surprised.

“If anything, Justus, at least you sided with humanity. You were loyal to your best friend, not to your race, which I think is fine. In my eyes you are the definition of what a Keeper is supposed to be.”, I said to him with confidence.

I don’t know what made me say it, but I wouldn’t have gone this far into my revenge story without him. 

“Thank you very much, Nico. I don’t quite know how to respond to that. For now, let’s focus on getting you guys back to the academy to prepare for the surprise placement exam on your first day of combat class. Before you ask questions, it is a battle simulation exam against a dragon. The exam will involve an A-level dragon, and anyone who gets knocked out or killed by the dragon during the simulation will be expelled from the academy.

Of course, the Keeper Academy won’t let you get expelled, but I would rather you not be in pieces still being a student. Warn your friends as well, since even against a few dozen noble students, an A-class dragon is hard to take down.”, Justus said wearily. 

“An A-class dragon?!”, Ivy and I shouted nearly at the same time. For reference, magical monsters and beings exist on Terraphis such as elves, dragons, goblins, etc. These magical beings and monsters, though, are located more on other continents and they keep away from the Eradicators. In the ongoing war between humanity and the Eradicators, specifically, the magical beings, stay out of it.

However, magical monsters such as dragons will attack anyone and everyone. Only a select few people have tamed a dragon. Do you want to guess who? If you guessed Ignis, you were correct. 

Leena was due to arrive home soon, so we had to leave our secret meeting in the study for now. Justus took us back to Keeper Academy with no problems, and before I knew it, I hit my bed like a rock. Yay, I get to fight a powerful dragon tomorrow.