Chapter 3: Aron

I know you really want to see the Glitchketball Championship happen, but I've decided to keep the suspense up a little longer! However, on the bright side, the previous chapter was very short, so I decided to give you guys a really long one to balance it out. 

Also, near the end of Glitches, you guys voted for Amanda's sister, Holly Myers, to be an important character. Here she is!

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My stomach began to twist into knots as Rory and I stood before the Order of the Flame. 

Why did they summon us? Please tell me this isn't about Teren...

"Aronel and Aurora, no need to be so tense," Lady Myers smiled. "You aren't in trouble. We only have a question to ask you." 

Rory visibly flinched when the rebel leader addressed her by her full name. She had always considered it too girly.

"Do you know anything of the current whereabouts of your brother?" Asked Tamarius. 

"All I know is that he went off to Earth," I told him. "I'm sorry, Lord Kandain, but I'm not exactly sure where he is right now." 

"Mr. Kandain," Tamarius said coldly. "Lord Kandain is my brother," he spat hatefully. "Queen Saralee's pet hulk."

"Never mind that, Tamarius, we all know you're not Armetorius, and I'm not Selaeyah!" Alsiyah said with irritation. "Do you have any idea why Teren went to Earth? Did he take anyone with him?" She asked, turning to us. 

"He said he would find Princess Viviana, and he even told me he did." 

"What?" Lady Myers began to laugh. "Are you telling me that one sixteen year old boy found in one day someone the Flame and the Icehearts have been unsuccessfully trying to find for over nine years!? For all we know, the Council of Icehearts captured him and hijacked his CT port to send you fake messages!" 

"No, I actually found Princess Viviana, but she's not the Savior we thought she was. Oh, and, sorry Lady Myers. I think I'm a bit late." 

"Teren?" I whipped around to see my brother in a plaid t-shirt and jeans, leaning carelessly against the wall. 

"You found her?" Lady Myers turned around. "Where is she?" 

"In that human organization inside the Program- what's it called- WGO," Teren began. "But she doesn't have what it takes. She can't be a Flame. I was going to take her back with me, but I tested her first, and she failed, so I left her," Teren shrugged. "I was pretty disappointed too." 

"Are you insane?" Lady Myers fumed. "You get so close to the lost princess and you just leave her on Earth?" 

"I'm telling you, she's newly Awakened. She's like a baby, her Aura's out of control, and she's as spoiled as they come. If she finds out about her identity, she's more likely to join the Icehearts than the Flame, and if she joins the Icehearts-" 

"We know," Alsiyah sighed. "She'd be a second Saralee. With two Aurally gifted royals, the Icehearts could easily destroy the entire Flame and all those who support us."

"But that's not going to happen," Tamarius assured her. "If she does somehow get back her memories, she'll be just as mad at Saralee as we are. I mean, she banished her when she was six, just for being powerful!" 

"Bringing her back to the Empire would be suicide!" Teren yelled. "If the Icehearts are powerful now, she'd make them invincible! We could never win!" 

"Silence, Terennel!" Lady Myers gritted her teeth. "You have already ruined so much for us, I'm not going to let you sabotage our last hope! You are dismissed from the Order, go!" 

"Fine," he gave her a dirty look before storming out of the room. "But don't come crying back to me when she blows up your base!" 

"Good riddance," Eleanna Myers shook her head. "Aron and Aurora, you may leave." 

"Wait! Lady Myers!" A younger Order member shouted from a back room. "Look what's on Auraview!" 

"Why are you watching Auraview, Catsy? Half of it's just Iceheart propaganda," Lady Myers called back. 

"I don't usually," the Order member- Catseline Warren, I now remembered- replied. "But this is important. It's about Holly." 

"Holly?" Lady Myers' face brightened. She hadn't had any news of her younger daughter since before she ran away to join the Flame. 

"Let me see!" She stood up and walked out to the back room, eagerly followed by the rest of the Order. 

"You can come too," she gestured to Rory and me, and we followed the Order to a small room where Catseline sat on a couch, a glowing, modern Aurascreen hovering in front of her. 

"Look!" She pointed to the screen when the Order arrived, sitting down on various chairs and couches around the room. 

"...next up on Elitia Central is an exclusive look into the life of Holly Myers, sister of our new Warrior Chief, Amanda Myers, and a very talented young Aura Warrior herself. Let's welcome Holly to the studio!" The anchor babbled cheerfully. I could tell from her excessive, glittery makeup in mostly blue shades that she was a wannabe Iceheart. 

Probably couldn't afford the surgery, or got rejected by Queen Saralee and the Iceheart Department's Turning Committee

"Who is that?" Catseline gasped when Holly entered the studio. I too was taken completely by surprise. The girl who sashayed into the room and sat down in the blue armchair like she owned the world was nothing like the sweet, freckle-covered redhead I knew. 

Her hair was now a glossy black, curled into shoulder length ringlets. She wore a tight, light pink dress and pristine, white high heels. She was the picture of Iceheart perfection. 

"No..." Lady Myers gasped. "I should've brought her with me. Should have known they'd Turn her without me or Amanda to stop them!" 

"Ah, Holly, you look lovely. Are you going anywhere after this?" the anchor asked. 

"To one of Mel's parties, he has one every Friday," Holly smiled, giving her a typical, plastic Iceheart smile. 

"Are you talking about Melatrius Kandain? Son of Chief Armetorius Kandain?" The anchor raised an eyebrow. 

"Yes," Holly nodded. 

"So," the anchor grinned slyly. "We've all heard the rumors. Are you and Melatrius-" 

"No," Holly sighed. "Mel is great, but I don't think my father would've approved..." 

"Oh, I am so sorry," to my relief, the anchor lost her annoying fake smile. "That was so insensitive of me, to be asking such trivial questions when this must be such a hard time for you. 

"It's alright," Holly nodded weakly. "I guess it's just my bad luck that such a sad thing happened right after an event as exciting as my Turning Ceremony. I was very close to him. He was the only family member who was always there for me, you know, with Amanda being on Earth and Mom missing."

"I understand," the anchor nodded. "And that brings me to my next question. We all know that there has recently been rebellion stirring on Rhena, and you've been hurt by the rash actions of these disturbed individuals on a very personal level. What is your response to this as a new Iceheart?" 

"Disturbed individuals?" Tamarius roared. "My mind is perfectly sound, thank you! If anyone's disturbed, it's the Icehearts!" Other Flame members nodded in agreement. 

"The rebels brutally murdered my father, a great man who devoted his entire life to serving the Lessaenite Empire. A man who didn't come home from Icicle Hall sometimes until 15:00 at night because he said his work wasn't finished. A man who watched over the throne for the two years between the death of King Khariel and the coronation of Queen Keilee, yet didn't once think of seizing it for himself," a small tear rolled down Holly's cheek. 

"If I ever get my hands on those heartless monsters, I will have no mercy!" She spat. "Not one of them will get away with their lives!" 

"We're glad to have passionate young men and women like you in our Warrior Clan to protect us from any dangerous insurgents," the anchor smiled. "Now, for my final and most important question. As you know, Eleanna Myers was recently found to have joined the White Hot Flame, the most prominent of the Lessaenite rebel groups, and is possibly leading it. If she was watching this right now, what would you say to your mother?" 

At this, Lady Myers leaned forward, her eyes glued to the Aurascreen. 

"She isn't watching this," Holly shook her head. 

"Come on, you can't be so sure about that. They live down there full time, the rebels have got to have Auraview in their base, wherever it is." 

"She can't be watching this because she's dead!" Holly screamed. "Ever since I was little, I've been telling myself that she died the day she left Glaisse." 

"Now, why would you want to believe something like that?" The anchor frowned. 

"So that, if I ever have the opportunity to kill her, she'll just be a rebel. The enemy. I can't think of her as my mother, because I can't kill my mother," Holly said coldly. 

As soon as she heard this, Lady Myers snatched the remote out of Catseline's hands and turned off the Aurascreen. 

"That's not my Holly," she shook her head, pulling her knees up to her chest. I had never seen our powerful Flame leader so weak. "That can't be my little Holly."

"She Turned, doesn't that just change your appearance and make you immortal?" Alsiyah asked. "Why'd she suddenly go all anti-Flame on us?" 

"Before I married Chief Myers, I was a member of the Scientist Clan," Lady Myers sighed. "My family was really close to the Valiors, so I got one of the best jobs a Scientist can have- a high position in the Iceheart Department."

"The Iceheart Department?" Rory gasped. "Aren't they the ones who make the Iceheart Serum and perform the Iceheart Surgery?" 

"Yes," Lady Myers nodded. "But my job was to make sure the workers manufactured the Serum with the correct ratios of each ingredient. During my time there, I had access to all the Council's data on the Turning procedure, the contents of the Serum itself, and the effects of each ingredient. But the reason I'm telling you this is because, from that data, I learned something. Something that caused me to begin hating the Icehearts and their ways." 

"What was it?" Alsiyah inquired excitedly. 

"The Iceheart Surgery does more than change your Aura and your appearance," Lady Myers said gravely. "It changes the way you think. It strips away your individuality. Haven't you ever noticed how all of the Icehearts seem to have more or less the same mannerisms and personality?" 

All of us nodded, the pieces slowly clicking together in our heads. 

"But...King Fenorel was good...right?" Tamarius asked. "Why would he invent something that would do that to you?"

"King Fenorel's original Iceheart Serum didn't contain the brain-altering ingredient. It was purely intended to enhance the features and powers of an average Lessaenite. Saralee, however, added her own sick little twist, to make sure that her Icehearts would never, ever disobey."











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