April 22, 1994
Every 4 years, there was an inter-school flyball competition between the strongest teams of the world. During March, regional leagues would host small tournaments to determine which team will get to participate. United Kingdom had 4 flyball teams: two for the Glasgow Elemental School, and two for the Imperial Elemental School. This year, The Brazen Bolts were selected to represent their region at the inter-school flyball competition, which was held in France.
Erik and Henry were looking forward to it. They didn't get to participate at the last inter-school competition because their team hadn't been selected. They heard that scouts for the national teams would often attend and that even if they weren't looking into recruiting new players at that moment, they would then keep tabs on those that got their attention, especially if the players they wanted were simply too young to be recruited. Coralis was also excited at the idea of scouts attending the competition: she was hoping that one day, she would be selected to play for the national team.
It was a 6-day event, with 16 teams competing against each other. They wouldn't be playing against all of them. The 16 teams were subdivided into four groups. The first 2 days, they would be competing against all teams within their subdivision. The best two teams of each subdivision would advance to quarter-finals, which were held on the 3rd and 4th day. The semi-finals were held on the 5th day and the final between the 2 best teams was held on the last day.
The Brazen Bolts won all of their games within their subdivision and were going to be competing in the semi-finals the next day, against a Spanish team. In the mood to celebrate, they decided to go celebrate in town with the team. They went for pizza and then to an arcade to play some human video games. At 19:30, their team decided to get back to their off-campus hotel: their next match was scheduled for 8:00 the next morning, so they didn't want to be out too late. Coralis, Erik and Henry weren't tired yet and wanted to walk around town to shop for souvenirs. Coralis was 13 and the boys were 15, so they would be ok on their own, but had to be back in their hotel room by 21:00.
They didn't buy anything, except for an ice cream cone. At 20:30, they decided to head back to their hotel. Coralis started to feel uneasy, she thought that something was following them, so they decided to shortcut through an alley to get back to their hotel in less time. They were almost at the other end of the alley when five capacuns surrounded them.
Coralis quickly went into a position to fight them. Erik and Henry, realizing that they were in the middle of a human town and about to fight some evil humanoid creatures, decided to install some basic wards around them, so that humans wouldn't accidently stumble on them. Erik tried to discreetly walk around the creatures to set up a ward there and was thankful that Coralis was keeping them busy enough that they didn't notice him.
Just as the brothers got done setting up wards, Coralis beheaded the last one.
"How did you manage to behead five capacuns on your own without a blade?" said Erik.
"Girl, I know you can fight, but couldn't you leave at least one for us to kill?" asked Henry, smirking.
"I used one of the spells that Swope taught me, pretty effective, huh? If you wanted to kill one, you just had to get faster on your wards, I thought you were pros at that kind of stuff."
"Well, guys, now we need to figure out what do we do with them. We can't exactly leave these things in the middle of this alley, that would be very bad for our world," said Erik. "We don't want to frighten innocent humans, don't we?"
"You're right on that," said Coralis. "I think that these are the creatures that were following me. Should we warn coach, just in case we're late for curfew?"
The large amount of elemental magic used in the middle of a human district drew the attention of the French elemental authorities. Two of their agents were sent to investigate. When they got there, they saw five decapitated capacuns in the middle of the ground. Henry was about to leave to get their coach. They stopped him from leaving and asked who they were and what happened.
The teenagers introduced themselves and explained why they were in town.
"Your school administrators will have to be notified about this incident," said Agent Sarali. "While I am thankful that you have set up wards to prevent exposure, that doesn't tell me what happened and why you did end up here."
"We were walking back to our hotel and decided to cut through the alley," said Coralis. "These things surrounded us while we were in the middle of the alley. My friends Erik and Henry set up the wards and I killed them."
"Impressive," responded Agent Milleri. "You said your name was Coralis Golmar, do you have any relations with Donny Golmar?"
Coralis' eyes went wide and wondered how did they know her dad.
"Hmm yes, he was my dad… but I never knew him, he died when I was a baby. I spent almost my entire life in orphanages."
The two agents looked at each other. Donny Golmar was known for summoning this kind of evil creatures. They knew that Donny Golmar had been killed at the same time as Lord Meozo, but to find his daughter next to five capacuns that she just slayed couldn't be a coincidence.
"Did you know that your father was known to be able to lead these creatures?" said Agent Milleri.
"NO! All I know about my parents, was that they both worked for Lord Meozo and that got them killed. Which I think they deserved at that point. I swear to you, I have absolutely no interest in following into their footsteps. This is not the first time Lord Meozo sent people after me."
"She is telling you the truth," said Erik. "This is the 2nd time that he tries something to get to her. The last time he sent two demons at school and almost kidnapped one of our friends. She really doesn't want to follow her parents' footsteps."
"Lord Meozo is really back then," said Agent Sarali. "We had another incident involving students during the last End-of-Year holidays. I can't give you the details of it, but I will tell you that it also had Lord Meozo's signature."
"The teenager involved was also the orphaned child of someone who worked for Lord Meozo," said Agent Milleri. "I think we are going to have our hands full this year, if that monster is back. You said this is not the first time he sent people after you, when was the last time?"
"About a year ago," said Coralis.
"And 2 years ago," said Erik, "there was another incident involving my cousin's friend, Julian Dewarp. Coralis saved his life and we think that's how Lord Meozo found out about Coralis."
"Thank you for answering our questions," said Agent Mulleri. "You have been very helpful. Agent Sarali will take you back to your hotel while I clean this mess up. We will see you again before you leave France. Good luck at your flyball tournament. Stay good."
Coralis was still covered with the creatures' blood, she desperately wanted a shower. When Agent Sarali and the teenagers arrived at their hotel room, their coach turned his hologram off.
"WHERE WERE YOU??? It's 22:20. I just spoke to Principal Arthurio, because I had to report that you still weren't back. You knew they were going to contact me for a head count at 21:00. Now he wants to have you three expelled because you have been caught past curfew too many times. And you get back here with the French elemental authorities?"
Coralis, Erik and Henry had their head down. They didn't consider that they could get expelled. They thought that they would maybe get a suspension eventually, but not expelled.
"Sir, I am Agent Matasia Sarali. I work for the French division of the European Bureau of Elemental Energy. I will personally contact your school administrators and I will strongly recommend against expelling them. They would have been back on time for your curfew if they hadn't been cornered by five capacuns."
"Five what? If you fought these creatures, how come you are still alive and uninjured?" asked Larry.
"Because Blue is that good, sir," said Henry, grinning. He was relieved to hear that Agent Sarali was going to speak on their behalf, so that they wouldn't get expelled.
Coralis was finally able to go for a shower after the agent left, while Erik and Henry told Larry more details about what had happened. Their coach was hoping that Agent Sarali would be able to convince the school authorities against expelling them. Those three were his best players.
The next day, they won their match against the Spanish team and were able to rest for the next 2 days. They decided to not venture into town again and stick to the hotel and the flyball field. They didn't want to run into more trouble. They won the semi-finals against a Chinese team and the final against an Argentinian one.
The French agents came to their hotel as they were getting ready to go back to Scotland.
"Hi!" said Agent Milleri. "We just wanted to let you know that we did speak with your school administrators: Ms. Coralis Golmar, M. Erik Fullemon and M. Henry Fullemon will not be expelled from the Glasgow Elemental School. Given the severity of the situation and considering that they didn't actually do anything wrong, it would not be in their best interest to expel them and it would have looked bad on the school. They were defending themselves against Lord Meozo's goons and would have been back for curfew if it wasn't for that."
"If we have more questions, we will contact you," said Agent Sarali.
"Thank you" said the teenagers at the same time.
"Stay out of trouble, kids," said Agent Milleri, "and please Ms. Golmar, keep resisting Lord Meozo and don't fall for his charms and false promises. He will only lead you to your doom."
"Nah, she won't follow that lunatic," said Henry, "we are keeping her too busy playing flyball, she's got no time for him."
Coralis laughed at that. She didn't know what she would do without her school friends. She missed Nadilla, but she was also very happy to have made such good friends, who were there for her. Flyball was her life and she dreamed of being part of the national team, that's all she wanted to do.
As soon as they arrived back to school, they were called to the principal office. Martha was also there with the twins' parents and other school administrators.
"You three are lucky that the French authorities spoke so fondly of you," said Principal Arthurio after they sat down on a couch next to Kief and Barla Fullemons. "I struggle to believe that Lord Meozo would be back. The CMMA and EBEE are very competent and did destroy him, almost 14 years ago."
"No offence sir," said Kief, "but the French agents who investigated the incident are part of the EBEE. If they say that Lord Meozo had sent five goons after Coralis Golmar, who are we to question them?"
"That is a theory. It could also have been some of his loyal supporters trying to reassemble the group under a new leader, possibly a descendant, which would also explain why they seem to be after Ms. Coralis Golmar," said Principal Arthurio. "We all know that her parents were very close to Lord Meozo, hence why she had to be hidden in the human system with her cousin. She and her cousin still have relatives who worked for Lord Meozo, and they are still alive."
Coralis stared at him. She had no idea that she had relatives that were alive. She wondered if Nadilla knew about it. Part of her wanted to go see what was in her parents' storage unit in London, especially if she had living relatives. However, another part of her wanted nothing to do with them, and that part of her was winning, so she wasn't going to ask if someone could take her there.
"If Lord Meozo is after her, we need to make sure that she can defend herself against him, or at least be able to resist him. You know very well that if he really wants Golmar's daughter to work for him, he can make her to," said Martha.
"No, I believe that she will be fine. I doubt that he is going to confront her on school grounds. She has fought against his associates just fine so far. The French authorities recommend that she resumes her classes like normal, and that's exactly what she will do."
"This year, we will be able to have Coralis under our custody for the entire summer," said Barla. "Her group home is currently full and the system has more children to place than space available, so they approved us as… how do they call it… foster family for the months of June, July and August without her having to go back or them having to visit us. We will do our best to keep her safe."
Coralis was sitting between Erik and Henry. They both hugged her at the same time, all three had a wide smile on their face.
"Oh this is great news," said Martha. "Roberto said something about you being unable to apply as foster family the previous years."
"Human legal system is very complicated," said Kief. "If it was up to us, we would be filing for adoption instead, but by the time we have the correct documentation to be able to do that, she would probably be an adult."
After the meeting, the teenagers went back to their dorms. Coralis was very excited at the idea of staying at Eric's and Henry's house for the entire summer. She would miss Nadilla and hoped that she would be ok, but she hated their group home.
She was also happy to hear that their parents had been considering adopting her, but she didn't want to think about it. She never had a family. She was happy when she was at their house and was wondering if this was what her social workers meant when they were talking about the kind of love that family members were supposed to have toward one another. She didn't know what it was like to have siblings. She heard stories, but never wanted to consider any of the kids who were staying in orphanage and group home with her as brothers and sisters. People came and went.
Later that evening, Martha and Swope visited Coralis in her dorm. Maribel and Victoria were there, but their other roommates were out. Coralis told Maribel and Victoria that they could stay: they knew about what was going on.
"Listen," said Swope, "Martha told me what Principal Arthurio said, but we do not agree with him one bit. We will not back down and we will continue our private lessons. If it was up to me, I would ask you to also come on Friday nights, but it would then become more difficult to keep it a secret. I was very proud to hear how you quickly beheaded five capacons."
"Thank you, I used one of the spells you taught me for that. As much as I was sceptical about the necessity for additional lessons at first, I will admit that they have turned out to be very useful and I am thankful for that. I am sure that Lord Meozo will send more people after me. I will keep killing them all if I need to."
"Ahhh, I'm happy to hear that!" said Swope, smiling. He was very proud of his student. "What you just said proves Principal Arthurio wrong: what your regular classes have been teaching you isn't enough. However, I can't tell him that, so it's a deal: we will keep doing what we have been doing for the entire year and make sure no one else knows about it. This stays between us."
"Principal Arthurio thinks that if Lord Meozo is back, he will not confront you at school. I wouldn't so sure about that, but the fact is, it doesn't matter where Lord Meozo meets with you. I strongly believe that it is a matter of time before you come face to face with him: you heard it too, your parents were very close to him, so he has his eyes on you. When he comes to you himself, we want you to be able to stand a chance against him, to resist him," said Martha.
"I will not let you down, I promise you that," said Coralis.