Chapter 3: Messenger

  “The situation?”

  I looked at the raging storm gathering around me in concern. Of course, leave it to Blue to suddenly hand me a package from who knows where and demand that I must get it at all cost. Even through a freaking storm.

  “The signal’s coming closer.”

  Cleo, an orca, swam by me.

  “Let’s go then.”

  I flipped myself onto his back, and he jolted in surprise.

  “Go in now? But the storm-”

  “It’s fine. We’ll get that signal,” I fumed, and he hesitantly relented.

  “Whatever my teacher orders, I will do,” he warily replied and swam through the current.

  I gritted my teeth, hoping that this signal would better be worth my time. I shouldn’t be sitting out in the middle of a storm, being a delivery man that received packages for others. I had to be out there, finding clues on Frederick and his role with the government and killing everything labeled ‘Oceanus’.

  ‘Messenger, let me help you with that.’

  I could still hear her voice, even though it was so many years ago. I could still see her dead body falling against mine as our world fell apart. I could still-

  “Messenger? It’s getting stronger,” Cleo panted, thrashing with all his might to get through the currents.

  “Fine, I’ll-”

  A frenzied, continuous beep sounded from my watch, and I catapulted myself off of Cleo’s back.

  “Messenger! It’s dangerous…”

  I couldn’t hear his voice as the ocean whipped his call away. It didn’t matter anymore. I finally found it: Blue’s damn signal-

  I propelled myself with my entire might, and when I broke through the current, I looked around to see a figure lying on the rocky and sharp terrain. Well, at least I knew why Blue was in such a hurry.

  “Cleo!” I barked, reaching out to the figure.

  “Above you! Don’t move!”

  Cleo’s body was being tossed around like a ragdoll under the ocean’s merciless waves, and I hissed in frustration. The storm was getting too strong for a tiny orca like him. He was too young to be a part of missions, yet he still stubbornly tried to tag along. I grabbed at the rocks, their edges cutting into my skin, and I bent down to clearly look at the body lying in front of me. A silver, iridescent watch glittered from his wrist, and my eyes narrowed.

  That was Blue’s watch. I should remember that well; I used to have one of those. It ran perfectly without the need to change or reset the time, and it had a function to lead each one of us back to Meliora from wherever we were. But, that meant he couldn’t deliver the package to us directly. It meant that he was the package.

  A young boy. But, why did Blue send us a boy? Was he an informant or what?

  Sheesh, why couldn’t you send a little caption of what you were bringing, you cryptic psychopath!

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “It’s a boy,” Cleo gasped, straining to make sure his body didn’t slam against mine.

  A boy. What could a boy possibly do to help us?

  A cloud of blood rushed out of his head, and I slapped my hand around it, hoping to staunch the bleeding a bit.

  “He’s bleeding. Cleo, turn around.”

  I twisted myself to grab at the bag strapped to Cleo’s side, but the current shifted and Cleo’s entire body slammed against my arm, two thousand tons of pure muscle pinning it between the ragged rock that I was leaning on. I choked in a cry as I felt the bones snap and grate against the rock, and the world dimmed dangerously around me.

  “Messenger, I’m sorry! How can I-”

  “It’s fine,” I growled, wrenching my arm off and using my teeth to pull at the straps of my bag. I swallowed in another groan as I hurriedly used my broken arm to pull out a roll of bandages.

  Great, now I was going to bleed to death in the middle of a storm because I was waiting for a package, which was apparently a dying kid.

  “Messenger, are you okay? I’m so sorry-”

  “I said I’m fine. It’s not your fault.”

  I gritted my teeth as I tightly wrapped the boy’s head with the bandage before turning my attention to my mangled arm.

  “Okay,” Cleo muttered, his head hanging low in guilt.

  “Come here. I’m not angry with you. We need to get him to the Infirmary. Eir will fix both of us in no time,” I tried to smile, hoping that he wouldn’t be upset.

  He was a good Guardian - always helping out, kind, ferocious when needed, and absolutely loyal to a fault.

  “Yes, Teacher.”

  He slid across the surface of the rocks and anchored himself down.

  “Take us away, Cleo," I ordered, settling down with the boy on my lap.

  “He looks different from the rest of you, Teacher,” he solemnly spoke, and I smiled.

  “Yeah, he does. Maybe Eir can figure out what makes him different from us.”

  I gripped him, trying not to black out as waves of nausea and pain rolled over.

  “Hold on tight, Teacher. I will get you to the Institute as fast as I can.”

  He strained against the currents, bearing the brunt of it for us.

  “Thank you, Cleo,” I muttered, trying with all my might to not become sick in the ocean.

  The boy looks different, and he has the Institute’s watch-

  A glitter of silver pulsed at his wrist, and my eyes widened. I took the watch off and looked at the underside of his wrist.

  A silver sparrow. That’s Meliora’s crest engraved onto his arm. Just who is he? He’s not normal. No one would randomly have the Institute’s crest burned onto their arm unless they were part of the founding fathers of the Institute. But, the silver sparrow is reserved for Dr. Liam to personally use. Is he-

  I paused. So, was this the missing boy that Dr. Liam was trying to find? Did Blue finally find him? No, I couldn’t jump to conclusions. However, this boy was different. I had to keep my eyes on him.

  “I think that he might be the angel that we were waiting for,” Cleo quietly spoke up, and even through the storm, I heard him.

  Maybe Cleo was right. This boy fell from the haven of land and into the abyss of the ocean, and he might have the thing we needed to lift the sorrow lurking in every soul down here: hope. He probably came down here thinking that life was better here than on land, but it was just as worse, if not more so. We were heading to war.

  “Cleo, over here! Goodness, why did you two head out during the storm?! You of all people should know better that even enemy scouts will give up on a stormy day like…” she rambled on, and I fell off Cleo’s back, unable to hold on any longer. The boy fell with me as we both collided into Eir’s waiting arms, and she sighed.

  “Well, you like making my life harder,” she said, sizing up our wounds.

  “That’s one of my goals in life,” I darkly laughed, and her small, slender body sagged under our weight.

  “Then you should change your life goals.”

  She looked away, trying to mask the sadness behind her glittering dark chocolate-brown eyes. She was only eleven, but she already had the sorrows of an adult. That was my fault. All on me.

  “Hold onto me then. I’ll bring you in,” she whispered to me.

  My vision blurred as my eyes were fixed upon her.

  I was a complete failure.

  In front of my own sister, I felt like an utter failure, now demoted to just a ragged delivery man. I wasn’t the hero who saved the academy anymore. I was a rag tossed to the side, my body merely a broken machine that the mechanic couldn’t salvage.