Page 46 of Forging Bonds: Part One

I always said that I wasn’t a romantic person and that I didn’t like that sort of thing, but I think that I may have been lying to myself. Dimitri and Coen used to do things that I would call romantic, but most people wouldn’t. I mean, Dimitri once killed a supe who threatened me. That was romantic. The guys cutting the hands-off Kylen and Rupert for being the instigators in a threat to me, that’s romantic. Huh, actually, I think my view of what’s romantic is just slightly skewed, I mean, not many people would consider those things romantic. Coen was always just as violently romantic, and I fucking loved it.

It turns out though, that I like the traditionally romantic stuff too. What Doc just did was hot as fuck and has my heart beating harder in my chest, not because I’m turned the fuck on, I am, but that’s not why my heart is beating so fast. My heart is beating like a fucking drum because of all the other feelings that his actions have stirred up.

The guys told me that he didn’t text back ever when he was working because he gets so caught up in his work, and yet as soon as he saw my message he came to see me just so he could kiss me and tell me that he missed me too.

That’s some fairytale shit or something, and I fucking love it.

These men are spoiling me.

I’m not mad about it.

“Alright, I think my brain has switched back on,” I admit, making River and Evander smile at me knowingly. “Do we know where the books on the Choosing might be in this vast library?”

“Well, there isn’t a dedicated section since books on the Choosing are either rare or don’t exist,” River starts to explain.

“Okay, so we’re looking for mentions of the Choosing in other books then?” I ask.

River nods, “Exactly.”

“I think we should start with the year that they had the last Choosing in Trieneliea,” Evander suggests.

“That’s a great idea,” I reply and then add, “is there really no way that we can rewatch any of the Choosings? I mean I know that no two Choosings are the same because they are tailored to the teams that are taking part, but at least we would have a vague idea of what we could be up against if we could see one of the old ones.”

Evander shakes his head, “No, as soon as it has been watched, it disappears. I remember that the first Choosing that we had in the EarthRealm, a couple of supes thought they would be clever and use phones in order to record it. The Choosing’s magic is apparently highly adaptable because the phones exploded as soon as they tried.”

My eyebrows rise, “As in they blew up?”

Van nods, “Yep.”

“That’s awesome,” I grin. “What about other recording equipment? Does that work?”

River shakes his head, “Nope. Anything that anyone uses to try to record the Choosing, including things that they have protected by high-level magic, destroys itself.”

I nod, “Okay, so there is absolutely no chance that we can rewatch any. While it sucks because it would have been really helpful, I get why.”

River nods, “Yeah, me too.” He looks at Van, “I don’t suppose that you remember the year that the Choosing was in Trieneliea?”

Van shrugs, “I don’t know for certain, but I do know that they used to have one every year, and it used to be more than teams fighting for one individual.”

“What?” I ask, confused. “I thought that was the whole point of the Choosing, that two or more teams wanted the same individual on their team, so they triggered the Choosing.”

“Yes and no,” Van replies with a slight frown. “So, that’s the way that it has always been done in the Earth Realm, and only for that reason. In Trieneliea, it did get done that way occasionally, and those happened maybe once or twice a year, but the yearly Choosing was actually done with several teams from the Warrior Academy and the warriors that didn’t have teams. From what I’ve been able to find out, and remember from what we were taught at the academy, everyone that was in the last year put their names in to be a part of the Choosing, but only a small percentage of them actually got called to take part in it.”

“So those who didn’t get chosen to take part in the Choosing, went through all of that training, and then didn’t even get to be a Warrior Team, or even take part?” I ask.

He nods, “Yeah, but it wasn’t like their training was for nothing. The Warrior Teams were like a small part of the defense system that made up the whole of Trieneliea’s defense. Kind of like we have lots of different agencies that are all there to look after the Earth Realm people, but they all do slightly different things, does that make sense?”

I nod, “Yeah, I get that. So, the Warrior Teams were the elite that got called in for the really difficult jobs, and then everyone else who was very well trained was in the main part of the defense system.”

“Yeah. So, they were the equivalent of the police over here in towns and cities, but they were also soldiers and guarded very important people. The supernaturals that were trained at the Warrior Academy came from all over the realms and then tended to go back to their own realms and join the armies, police forces, and all of that sort of thing out there.”

“Wow, that’s really cool and quite complex,” I reply. “It must have been quite an adjustment for everyone when Trieneliea got shut down. Did the war not spill over into the other realms?”

River shakes his head, “From what we know, it was only focused on Trieneliea, and we think that it’s because Trieneliea was the hub for all of the realms. So if that were to be taken over and fall under the control of who we now know is the blue fucker, then the realms wouldn’t really stand much chance in standing strong against.”

I nod, “That makes sense. Take down the biggest, and then it’s easier to control the smaller ones.”

“Exactly, we know that the other realms experienced some side effects, and it still does, but we are all relatively certain that the gates to Trieneliea were closed before the war could spill out anywhere else,” Van replies.

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