Chapter 31
Abe followed his uncles and the two Solrelm princes from their porter room. The halls were white, the floors spotless, and he was completely comfortable here.
“It’s very sterile,” Chase stated.
“I like it,” Quinton shrugged.
Abe just nodded.
“We’ll start in the control room,” Trendan glanced behind them, “our commander isn’t back yet, but he will be in a few days, so we’ll just show you around for now.”
“I can’t wait to see Elyas’ face when he sees the lot of you.” Bastian grinned, “Anything to throw off his perfectly balanced day.”
Trendan glanced at his brother, “And you wonder why he doesn’t like you.”
Bastian grinned. “No, I don’t wonder at all. I’m well aware of why he doesn’t.”
They walked through two wide doors, and Abe stopped and looked around. His Aunt Bethany would love this. He was sure she would compare it to a space show she watched last week. The screens and high-tech glass desktops resembled that without a doubt.
A man turned around and studied them for a moment, his brow furrowed. With precise steps and an erect stance, he came over. Abe thought he looked a bit like Bastian, only with very well-trimmed hair instead of the princes’ chaotic style.
“I didn’t know we were expecting guests for Alterealm.” He inclined his head to Chase, obviously recognizing him as one of their kings.
“This is our brother, Elyas. He’s been running the guard and control room with Sigor away.” Trendan motioned to them, “Elyas, this is King Chase, Prince Quinton, and their nephew, Abraham.”
The other man took his time sizing them all up, Abe felt a little uncomfortable when he spent the longest looking at him. He wanted to look away under the man’s scrutiny. Could he tell Abe had been close to Liri? Surely not, or Bastian would have voiced his opinion on that.
“And what brings you to Solrelm today?”
Bastian grinned, and Abe knew this was the moment he’d been looking forward to. “I don’t know if Father had a chance to mention I, but Alterealm has been reinstated in our and all the other realms again.”
Elyas just stood there for a moment, “to police all the realms.” He glanced at the floor for a moment and then back to his sibling, “it has been longer than I can remember since that occurred.”
“Yeah, and that’s why everything is a big cluster,” Bastian cleared his throat, “without them to monitor, nefarious plots have blindsided us all.”
Elyas clasped his hands behind his back and nodded, “which I thought they’d resolved when they found that ancient mage.”
Chase went over and looked down at other nearest glass-top desk. “It was only the beginning. There are very naughty, evil villain’s coming to the surface everywhere.”
Elyas went over and stood beside the desk like he was afraid Chase would tap on the screened top, “I see.” And motioned around the room, “If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.” He inclined his head, “If you’ll excuse me, we have a volcano incident currently, and many souls require our watchers.” He turned and walked over to the other man standing in front of the screens.
A chill when down Abe’s spin. A volcano incident? The souls needing their watchers meant people were dying somewhere.
“Whole thing gives me the creeps,” Quinton muttered.
“We’re used to it,” Trendan stated without emotion. “At first, when assigned watcher, it is hard to compartmentalize the humanness of a situation and the reality.”
“The reality?” Abe gave him a curious glance.
“We think of the rebirth, not the deaths.” Bastian motioned to the door, “Let’s go check out our holding area. Later, I’d like Prince Arius’ thoughts on how we can upgrade it.” Bastian grinned, “We may not have the clear cells Alterealm has, but ours could use a little dating.”
Abe turned to follow them out and then noticed Elyas watching them carefully. He looked Abe up and down with such vigor that Abe wondered if he had his shirt on inside out or something to warrant such a lengthy stare.
“Michael wants to set up guard teams that will be posted at each realm’s command area starting next month.” Uncle Chase informed Trendan.
Trendan nodded, “hopefully, other things have been resolved by then.”
“That is the hope.” Uncle Chase agreed.
Abe looked down the one hall and then paused. There were a few women coming in this direction. They stopped and stared at him and then backtracked quickly. He cleared his throat and caught up to the other men, “Some sort of announcement might stop your residents from hightailing the other way when they see one of us.”
Bastian turned around and smirked. “I expect the women will be swooning when they see the Alterealm Giants.”
Uncle Quinton snorted. “We’re not giants,” he shrugged one shoulder, “just built to do the job we were meant to.”
Bastian looked up at him. “I felt like a larger-than-average man until I met your family.”
Uncle Quinton shrugged, “We’re just big eaters.”
Abe couldn’t help but chuckle at that. Other than fighting, the only other thing the family did more was eat. He’d take it though, after decades of trying to figure out where to get food, having an abundance freed up more of his time to think about other things. He watched the clean floor as he went; he just wanted to get this done and get back to Liri. Focusing on anything else was getting harder to do. He looked at his uncles, and there was no way he would ask them for any advice on that. He and Liri would figure this out on their own.