Chapter 177: Chapter 177 The Storm of Prophecy
Aella looked over the group of ten gnomes that had gathered in front of the communications store. They were all holding a variety of things and bags in order to do their job. This was the first group of gnomes she had seen, except for the crazy ones at the wall and the council members, who weren't staring mindlessly at their communication devices.
"I will teleport everyone to the central location where I want to use the devices," she said. "Would you prefer the roof? It's flat."
"That would be best. We can put the hub there," said one of the gnomes with a nod.
"Shouldn't we go with you?" asked Alfred with a frown.
"I can teleport them wherever they need to go," said Aella with a frown of her own.
"But there's one of you and ten of them. If we go with you, then we can help get them where they go, and we're not left standing here with nothing to do," said Frederik.
"Alright," she said with a sigh. "Everyone needs to be touching me to go along with the teleport."
They all huddled as close to her as possible, grabbing her hands, arms and clothing. Envisioning the roof of her castle, she teleported them all there once she confirmed it was empty. Unfortunately, the vision didn't allow her the ability to see what the weather was like. The moment they arrived, the wind slammed into them, knocking all of the gnomes away. As they tumbled across the roof like little balls of fluff in the fury of the storm.
Aella immediately calmed the wind and redirected it, but several of the gnomes had already been pushed to the edge. Teleporting to the ground, under where they were falling, she was able to catch the two that fell before they hit the ground, and teleported back before the wind could grab them all again. She snatched them all up like dolls and teleported the whole group to the throne room, returning for Alfred and Frederik who were hunched over on the roof, bearing the brunt of the storm after she had left with the gnomes. It wasn't until she had retrieved the two that she realized they were also all drenched.
"Your Majesty!" cried Seifer, standing quickly from the throne he was sitting on. "Are you alright?"
"It's raining quite fiercely outside, isn't it?" she asked, calmly drying herself out and turning to the fireplace to increase its flames.
"What just happened?" asked one of the gnomes, looking around in a daze.
"I think we just landed in a hurricane!" groaned another.
"Seemed more like a typhoon to me!" said a third.
"Whatever it was, I don't want it to happen again," coughed another, rolling onto his side and trying to get up.
All of their clothing was soaked through, after only the few moments they had been exposed to the storm, and Aella felt horrible for not noticing it.
"It's been storming for the whole day," said Seifer, coming to stand beside her. "None of the people have been able to leave their homes and do anything. I've tried to get Josephine to come so I could ask her if she knew what was going on, but the messenger wasn't able to withstand the strength of the storm."
"Were there any reports of a building storm on the horizon?" asked Aella, stepping up to Frederik and Alfred to dry them.
They both gasped at the sudden wave of heat that traveled over them, drying their clothes and hair instantly. Aella chuckled at the looks they gave her and moved over to the gnomes.
"We saw clouds, but no one paid them much attention," said Seifer with a shake to his head. "We've had plenty of storms blow through, but nothing like this."
"I'll see what I can find out, and if it's really just a normal storm or magical in nature," she said, finishing drying the last gnome.
"How long do you think this storm will last?" asked one of the gnomes, removing his bag and checking on some of the equipment.
"Most of the storms blow through pretty quick, but this one started last night and has only gotten stronger," said Seifer.
"I think we can still manage to do some of the work necessary from here," said another gnome, also checking his gear. "There doesn't appear to be any electricity here, so we will need to rely completely on power stones."
"Power stones?" asked Aella, turning to look at him.
"Ah, yes. In locations where getting electricity would be tricky, we use small power stones to provide the necessary fuel. They can be very dangerous if broken, but we're trained not to let that happen. I assure you; we are professionals."
"How big are they?" asked Aella, curious to see if they were the same as the ones she had destroyed.
"The one's I have with me have been growing for a couple years, so they're pretty big," he said, pulling out a pack and opening it carefully.
The other gnomes stopped what they were doing to watch in silence. Aella watched as he pulled the box apart several times, moving away several layers of protection to finally reveal a compartment with several crystals smaller than the tip of her dagger, that were glowing ever so faintly. He didn't take them out of the last compartment, only held them away from his body slightly, so she could see. There were only five of them. He then carefully began packing them back into the overly complicated series of boxes. None of the other gnomes moved again until he was done putting it all back together.
Glancing over at Alfred, she could see the look on his face of surprise. The crystals back in her palace had been larger than these gnomes. What would they have thought if they had known?
"Those don't look like the power stones that come from monsters," said Alfred.
"Monsters that have power stones?" laughed the gnome who was busy placing the package back into his bag. "I've never heard of such a silly idea. These were grown in a lab. It takes a lot to get them this big."
"Right, so I'm going to go check out the storm, and maybe check in with some people while I'm here. Seifer, Alfred, Frederik, can you guys make sure these gnomes can get whatever they need? If they can set up their hub for the communications network on the top floor of the castle, or maybe in one of the towers, then show them the way, please."
"Alright, Your Majesty," said Seifer, bowing to her before she teleported away.
With intense concentration, Aella teleported high into the air, examining the wind that swirled and raged around her. It was nothing for her to redirect the wind so that she wasn't pummeled by it, but she couldn't tell if it had a magical signature or not. Flying higher and higher, she finally broke through the clouds and stared at the swirling mass before her. Even the storm elemental couldn't compare to this. How could it be normal?
Teleporting to the library, where the storm was rattling the panes of glass, Aella looked for Bridgette. Surely she would have an answer to this storm?
"Aella! Thank goodness you're here!" cried Bridgette, grabbing her hand and pulling her over to a table.
Felix was sitting at the table with books and papers scattered all around him. He didn't even bother to look up at her, as he wrote furiously in a book before him.
"I've been researching the effects of large influxes of magic into locations, and I think we have a huge problem!" fretted Bridgette.
"Let me guess, the huge amount of magic, that we released when I blew up the palace, is causing the storm outside," said Aella with a sigh.
"Yes, and I think they will continue to be bad until the magic can settle around the whole realm," said Bridgette, moving around Felix to see what he was writing.
"Does this mean that the other kingdom's will be affected by this as well?" asked Aella with a frown.
"It sure does! Any of them could be hit with a storm like this one at any time! Felix has been writing his prophesies down, instead of just speaking them out loud, ever since I gave him a quill and ink during one of his episodes. He doesn't remember them, and half the time the words change from one language to another, but I'm good enough at languages that hasn't been a big problem," explained Bridgette.
"Is there any way to hurry the settling down? No one can survive a storm like this for long! The plants and animals will all be killed and destroyed if this continues for a prolonged period of time," grimaced Aella.
"I've been reading as fast as I can," insisted Bridgette. "All of the books that liked to switch to other languages that I didn't know have reverted back since we moved here, and I've been flying through them looking for anything that might help. If you really are the favorite of the realm, you may need to ask it."
"I don't know about asking the realm, but I may know someone else I can talk to," Aella sighed.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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