 
### The Chosen

### And The Guardians

Sociu Liviu Costin

Published by Sociu Liviu Costin at Smashwords

Copyright 2016 Sociu Liviu Costin

### License Statement

Thank you for downloading this ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please

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### A little Message

Please take a moment to read the ' A Message from The Author ' before reading this book.

Enjoy this little creation.

Thanks for your choice.

### Index

A Message from The Author

Special Thanks

Copyright

Prelude

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Chapter 2: Revelations

Chapter 3: Choices & Decisions

Chapter 4: Initiation

Chapter 5: Between Past and Future

Chapter 6: The Dark One and His Helper

Chapter 7: The Phoenix Elder and The Children of Darkness

Chapter 8: Lifia's Slumber

Chapter 9: Drake's Path

Chapter 10: Reunion

Chapter 11: The Search

Chapter 12: Iris's Awakening and The Pure Berserker

Chapter 13: In Search of a Common Home

Chapter 14: A Strange Awakening

About The Author
A Message from The Author

I would like to thank whoever is reading this book. I am honored to know that you found this book interesting and wanted to give it a look.

I wrote this book moved by passion and huge imagination. I didn't do it for money or with the intention to be a 'great' writer (cause I am not anyway). I know my book is not perfect, it's far from it, and I know it's not even 100% correct, English is not my native language, but it was the best language to write a book for everyone.

Even if you: hate,love,like or whatever this book you are reading, please, let me know! My mail is sociuliviu@hotmail.it , Please send me a review, suggestion, critics or whatever you think I got wrong (or right, why not!) and help me make it better! If this part 1 of my book is appreciated then I will be glad to continue writing and put out the second part of it.

To be honest I always wanted for this to become, one day, an anime or game...in my opinion it has all the necessary to be one and I would be happy if that happens one day or another.

When I wrote this book, I did it with music so, if you like to read like that, I kindly suggest to listen to some music while reading. In my opinion it helps to 'feel' what I was feeling when I wrote the book. Which music...I will leave it to you, kind reader, but I might give some suggestions about the kind of music in my next book, that if I get some questions about what music I listened (like calm music or something a little more strong for the fighting scenes). Either way it's your choice how to read this little creation of mine, and know that I am grateful for your time, no matter how much of it you spend in reading my book.

As per my final words...if you are an artist, no matter what kind of artist, never give up! Remember what brought you to do what you do, and do it with passion and not for money or for someone, simply free your talent and keep going no matter the odds, do it for yourself and keep trying until you do it right! That's how I did it, nothing special or big about it, keep following your dreams and passions!

Special Thanks

Before I leave you with the story, I would like to thank Radu Tataru for his help with the cover of the book, he did a generous effort to help me create such a beautiful artwork for my book (he even does portraits, I would appreciate if you give a look at his artworks( http://radutataru.deviantart.com/ ), it would be quite a payback for his help). I would like to thank those who pushed me to keep going with the book, like my friends (especially someone I call Jack affectionately) and last, but not least, Smashwords (Especially Mark Coker for his guide and Aaron F. for his help with what not to do with a cover and suggestions) for their help in guiding me into making a book, as it should be, and allowing an easy upload for the book to spread around the world.
Prelude

### Darkness, a place with nothing else embraces a young man floating in the emptiness. Slowly his body floats toward a light while a voice of a young girl is calling him. "Drake......Drake!" the voice keeps calling that name, the name of the young man that is floating toward the light.

### He gets up in a hurry, sweaty, his hands feeling the soft bed in which he was resting while his eyes struggle to focus little by little into seeing the simple room in which he was in. No details could be observed because of the startled wake which forced his instinct to hastily try to sat up.

### A pair of hands softly pushed him back on the bed with slight strength and a sweet voice warned him "Calm down, you are safe, relax...." then the hands left the shoulders of the young man and, little by little, after a while, he sat on the bed, switching his focus toward the woman who just talked. The young girl was smiling at Drake, her pink hair was the first thing to get Drake's attention, followed by her emerald green eyes. Her body was hard to analyze because of the headache afflicting him and because the young woman was seating on a chair in a fairly dark room which didn't help him to see her any better.

### Drake tried to remember what happened but, the amount of pain caused by that action, got him to scream and hold his head in the attempt to calm it down. The young girl put her hands on Drake's and with a smile said "Calm down, do not force your memory, please free your head and relax...." then she tried to put Drake back down on the bed, which was kind of easy thanks to the lack of opposition and struggle against her doings. Drake tried to calm down as suggested by the young woman "Where am I? Why can't I remember anything from the past days?" Drake asked confused, his panic was obvious to the young woman which now resembled more a girl than a woman once, his eyes, could adapt to the dim light of the room. She smiled once again "Don't worry, I will explain everything, but whatever I tell you must remain between us...I am sorry but...you will understand...for now just listen and try to rest so you can recover faster" Thus Drake nodded and calmed down, listening to the young girl.
Chapter 1: The Beginning

### [3 days ago]

### A young man was walking toward his university as usual, silver hair and ice colored eyes, an athletic body and medium height, this is how the young man presented himself at first sight. The morning was peaceful: the birds were singing and the sun was beginning to wake up and climb the sky. This peaceful atmosphere seemed perfect for Drake, this the young man's name, but he knew that this peace will last very little, and as expected, a huge cloud of dust was coming his way from behind and, in it's head, was a girl running like she was escaping from a demon.

### Once near Drake, the girl stopped right beside him and with a big smile hugged him "GOOD MORNING DRAKE!!" Drake was so used to this routine that he didn't even react to whatever she did. The girl had long straight blond hair and dark green eyes, a little shorter than drake and an athletic, attractive body, her name was Talah.

"Good morning Talah...and please stop embracing me every morning" but the girl just smiled "I must embrace you my love! You're my boyfriend and that's how I like to treat you!" the smile on her face widens while Drake just sighs with resignation "I am not your boyfriend...you know that..." still Talah doesn't seem to give any attention to those words and ignored them. It's well known that Talah put her eyes on Drake for a long time and usually keeps other girls far from his 'lover' although Drake never agreed to be together with her. Still he doesn't want to hurt her by pushing her away and because she's one of the few friends he has.

### And so, like every other morning, they went toward school together, usually Talah holds Drake's arm while humming joyfully and leaves him once near the school gates...and so she did today too. Drake doesn't like to chit chat too much with his classmates on morning, he usually goes straight forward the classroom where he usually finds a teacher or 2 with which he usually spends couple of minutes chatting.

### The day advances little by little, lessons are in progress in each classroom until, the break, relieves everyone and gives them the chance to escape the lectures. Drake likes to enjoy the wind on the rooftop and, Talah, knows that very well since she stays with him eating something that she prepared for herself and for him as well. In fact, its common that Drake doesn't bring anything to eat on Talah's order so she can prepare something to eat for him every day. While the same routine repeats once again, a young male enters the rooftop quite angry, bulky and solid in constitution and short in height with black hair and eyes, heads straight for Talah "Hey Talah, give me back the money I lent you!" the girl seemed a little annoyed by the newcomer and answers with a bored voice "I already told you Kale, I don't have them now....like I promised, I will give them to you Monday, that was the deal" Kale then seemed even more pissed than before thanks to how Talah answered "The deal has changed, pay now or pay with yourself!" then he grabs her hand strongly, with Talah getting a little scared of the situation "Let go of me..." Kale smiled with satisfaction "So? What are you..." he didn't had time to finish his sentence that, Drake, took Kale's hand and forced him to release Talah's one "A deal is a deal Kale, you agreed on Monday...so Monday it is, am I clear enough?" Kale looks angrily at Drake "You're gonna pay for this...." Then he runs out of the rooftop, slamming the door behind him. Drake just resumes to relax on the rooftop as it was nothing but, Talah, seemed worried about him and was speechless because of what happened. Worried that she might have been a troublesome burden for him, she didn't found the courage to talk to him until the end of the day.

### While everyone was leaving school, Drake usually being one of the last ones to leave the building, he found, on his way out, 3 persons that were waiting for him, one of them being Kale. "Oho it seems our hero finally decided to came out of his hideout to fight for his beloved princess...." Drake looked at them and stopped dead in his tracks while Talah went behind him, afraid of the current situation. "Kale...go home and calm yourself, I'm not gonna repeat myself" then Drake's bag touched the ground while he looked straight in Kale's eyes. Kale instantly rushed toward Drake to attack him but, his punch, hit the air since Drake ducked to avoid him and answered back with a powerful knee to the stomach. Standing up after that attack, he started looking at the other 2, leaving Kale suffering on the ground "So?" Drake was prepared to get them on too, but one of them dashed away while the other tried to attack him but, in the rush, he left his defense down, which, allowed Drake to rapidly counter-attack and put him down on the ground with a punch to the kidney. Kale in the meanwhile found the strength to get up from the ground and, while Drake was busy counter-attacking, he rushed toward him and punched him in the face. Even if he succeeded to do so, Drake immediately knocked him down with another punch to the stomach, which, left Kale agonizing on the ground and grasping for air. "I warned you...." Drake then proceeds to take his bag and leave while, a little blood, started coming out of his lip where Kale hit him.

### Talah was speechless...the entire time she was looking shocked at what was happening until all ended and she collected herself, rushing toward Drake and blocked his way, looking at him with tears to her eyes "...." Talah tried to talk without results...she just stood there, muted by the sight of Drake which was just looking at her like nothing happened. Talah then found the strength to embrace him while still crying "I am sorry...you just hurt yourself because of me....I am at fault....I am so sorry! Please...forgive me, I...I will leave you alone, that's the best for both of us. I don't want to cause you more trouble than I already did" Drake couldn't say nothing because Talah already went away running after those words, he simply watched her running away, unsure on what to do or think in that moment.

### A light caught his attention from a side street between the houses and, curios about its source, he walked to see what was emitting that light. Once walked a little between the houses, he stopped at what he saw: A black giant creature made of pure darkness with only a pair of red and bloody eyes, terrifying and evil at the same time. Paralyzed, Drake could not move further until, a voice, snapped him out of it "Iris...PROTECT HIM!" Only when the voice stopped screaming that sentence, Drake saw that there were some girls there too but he didn't had time to observe them well that, one of them, jumped right beside him with a smile. Drake was confuse but noticed a pair of pink ears on the girls head "Don't worry I will prot..." before she could finish that sentence, a dark wave of energy, came by her and hit Drake fully, sending him against a wall and knocking him out cold.
Chapter 2: Revelations

### [Present]

### Drake seemed a little confused after the story and asked with renewed calm "What happened after?" the young girl smiled while answering "You slept for 3 days...still, it's a miracle you survived, it's rare to survive such a hit without having to pay for it...and you just had some scratches and the pain from hitting the wall....". Trying to remember again a headache began to rise "Argh!" Iris took his hands again and smiled a little troubled "Please calm down...do not try to remember now...it's true that you didn't got injured, but the hit you took shocked your body pretty badly".

### After a little hesitation, he calmed down and relaxed looking at the ceiling while putting his head on the soft pillow "Who, or what, was the beast you were fighting?" his curiosity was legitimate but the girl seemed troubled about such question "Look, its not something I can explain freely....you must swear to not tell anyone about this, otherwise we might have to retain you or....even worse" Her eyes were very serious and her look was directed to Drake, which, seemed a little agitated about what he heard but, something in him, made him feel right to go ahead on this path "Very well, I shall not reveal anything...". The young girl took a deep breath before starting to explain the situation "You see, we are guardians of the world, more precisely chosen ones by the primal beasts which gave us the powers we have. Thanks to them we can see the darkness in his forms and fight it. No one else can sense them and, even if their origin is still unknown, the war between we guardians and the creatures of darkness, like the one you saw, began ages ago".

### The girl stopped a little to look at Drake, leaving him enough time to realize all the information she gave him and waiting any questions that might arose, all while observing his reaction at the same time. "So practically, you are some kind of superheroes who fights evil?" even if the question seemed to be sarcastic, it was quite serious and the young girl seemed a little troubled once again "Well not quite. You see, we have powers thanks to the primal beasts and we are driving a war against the darkness, its not like fighting crime or anything like that, it's really the darkness itself, the evil materialized under spoils of creatures...its complicated, but the idea, more or less, it's that we are guardians fighting against a dark enemy who tries to destroy what we guard and protect". Drake nodded a few times before looking back "Well...I think I got the idea, still, you said that the war itself it's very old, why is that or, better yet, how is that?" She smiled a little "I see, you are curios, then let me tell you the story of the guardians, it's long, but I guess it can answer more questions of yours about we guardians..." she smiled again looking at him in the eyes before resuming "Well in origin, when the world was very young, a deep darkness covered almost all its surface. Everything was darkness, and by it, swallowed. Still, sparkles of light kept fighting against the enemy which was about to engulf the entire world, those were the guardian clans, divided by the primal beast that were giving them power. At that time every man, woman and child, had a primal beast with them" Drake seemed a little troubled and, Iris, stopped after observing that "Something wrong?" The young Drake answered with curious eyes "More exactly, those primal beasts, what are they?" another smile flashed the girl's face "Good question, I forgot to tell you I guess. Primal beasts are like animals: dogs, cats, lions, tigers, turtles and so on but different in some ways. The main differences is that they can talk, fuse with a human and give them their immense power, which, is quite something considering they have powers we human can only imagine about. They can talk mentally and can create a certain link between them and their guardian, which, makes their bond stronger and their power mightier. When fighting, the guardian can use his primal beast power and, certain details of the animal itself, becomes visible on the guardian's body. For example: cat ears, tail,claws and fur. All those help the guardian in fight." After the explanation she smiled again "I hope I answered your question, and if so, I will continue the tale about our origins..." Drake simply nodded, paying attention while the girl resumed "Very well...as I was saying, the guardians, or every human in that time, were fighting to survive against the beasts of darkness. Even if there were lots of clans, 4 in particular were in the spotlight for being the most important in helping winning the war. The 4 were as follow: The Shielded Turtle, the Flashing Tiger, the Immortal Phoenix and the Mighty Dragon clan. Those clans had some particular and immense powers which led them to fight effectively against the beasts of darkness, helping them become the most important clan in the first war of darkness. The Shielded Turtle had a particular shield, made by a material still today unknown, but surely indestructible. The shield was in the form of a turtle carapace and, even if they may seem invincible, they cannot block an all-around attack, which, is their first weakness. The Flashing Tiger clan was made of people with incredible speed and agility, they could attack faster than the speed of light and their peculiar power was their fur. The fur of the Flashing Tiger can light itself until reaching a pure white-yellowish light that seemed to bother and even stun the darkness beasts and, most of times, gave them an opening on them. But, even if they were strong, their power wasn't in strength, so in long and difficult fights, with tough enemies, they were easily worn out by brute force and higher stamina than their own. The immortal phoenix clan is made by a single man, also commander of the other clans. His powers were immense, he could defeat, head on, even an army of darkness beasts by himself and use a lot of magic of various effects. He was the strongest on earth and rivalled only by the higher, and most powerful, of the dragon clan but, being a loner, he usually refused to group up too much or avoided other clans. He guided the rebellion against the darkness and was the one that allowed today's humans to live in peace...but I will come to that later. As a loner though, if someone succeeded in defeating or block him, he was pretty powerless by himself, with time he became more and more careful about this aspect, making him a very dangerous being. The most impressing power about him is that he revives even if he dies, but it takes a lot of time, usually years and, once alive, he regain all his experience and knowledge gathered till the moment he died. It is said that he still wanders the world as of today. The Dragon clan was one of the most aggressive and powerful of the four. Their members had the ancient power of dragons which was considered one of the most dangerous powers that a guardian can get. Still, this power must be gained and only pure heart ones could gain such power, that, or a very powerful willed person. Their color usually gave them different powers and personality and, some of them, were even neutral to the war or even became ally with the darkness creatures. They had many powers and few were the ones following the path of the dragons, becoming one with them until the very end. It is said that the clan masters, and guardians of the Creator's reign, were able to become fully dragon, considered an, almost, impossible technique to achieve. They were the gold and silver master of the dragon clan. Most of the dragon clan's weakness was their lack of unity, since every kind of dragon was independent from the others. Another weakness was their arrogance, usually because of their powers. Most of times, those weaknesses, let them open to attacks or brought them to do silly, but dangerous, mistakes" The girl stopped and looked at Drake, waiting for him to make some questions. He looked at the bed sheet like he was hypnotized and was trying to swallow all the information he got from the young girl "I guess I got the idea of the four clans, still, you said that there were some of the dragon clan who allied themselves with the dark ones, they were the only ones? And why did they allied with something that was destroying their purpose as guardians?" Iris sighed "Well, its true that a guardian usually uses its powers to protect and fight the darkness creatures, but...there is no rule, magic or anything that forces them to do so, one can even choose to fight other guardians for the darkness creatures or for pure adrenaline and fun...let's say that each guardian chose his destiny by themselves and, usually, the creature that chose them agree with those choices. The reason why the dragon clan or, better say, the black dragons, agreed to fight for the dark creatures is because that's their nature....the dark hearted ones, the evil guardians, usually choose to fight for the darkness creatures since they promise power and reign over the world once conquered. Those achievements are a goal for such creatures with no heart...and so they choose to fight their brother guardians for lust, power or other reasons. Such a pity indeed, but, that's what happened. Even today there are some rogue guardians, also called destroyers, that are trying to oppose our efforts to protect humans from the darkness creatures and avoid a second dark war.". While nodding, Drake seemed a little troubled while thinking about the news he heard, he preferred to avoid too much thinking, even cause his headache was not helping him in that, he focused on the girl again, waiting for more information, like a child is eager to hear a story from his parents. "Well, since you seem to be all right for now, I shall continue. Those four clans fought hard against the darkness creatures and, for the first time, they were united and covering each other weaknesses, fighting together. The fight was very hard and many lost their life and powers in the dark war but...they managed to push back the darkness and began to drove it away from the land until, the phoenix, sealed them for good with a powerful magic seal that let him without strength for a year.

### After what happened, the phoenix decided, with the primal beasts, to leave the humans alone and cancel the magic from the world so they could be in peace forever and, like that, giving no escape chances to the sealed darkness to ever escape. Ever since, the world grew little by little more complex and prosperous while, magic, was a thought lost in the sands of time, same destiny suffered the existence of the guardians and primal beasts. The beasts left their children on earth, so they could live a peaceful life, spoiling them from powers and magic, leaving them simple animals which evolved as we know them today. But, somehow, it appears that the darkness freed itself, we do not know how, but the darkness is starting to regain presence in the world and trying to take it over like many ages ago. Since then, many suffered from mysterious accidents, humans lost their ability to see the darkness and, little by little, guardians started to activate again, regaining power and sight of the darkness creatures. Many were confused and didn't know what to do but, eventually, with the help of the primal beasts assisting them, they began to fight back and kept the creatures at bay momentarily. Even with the power to protect others, the guardians are just becoming active and it's hard to organize ourselves and do proper resistance so our situation is kinda weak and dispersed. We managed to identify guardians by their power, if they have it, or the fact that are 'chosen ones', which means that they can see our transformation, powers and even the dark creatures. The dark creatures can read minds and use every weapon they can to attack us, most of us had to leave their lives and join the fight, some of us even lost precious ones..." the girl stopped a little, she seemed a little touched by the words she said herself...still she regained her composure quickly "Sorry...like I said, most of us had to leave their own lives to fight the darkness, some of us preferred to remain anonymous and keep their life simple or hidden from the fight and, others, refused the gift and lost their memory of whatever they saw or knew about the guardians, usually by the action of other guardians or some primal beast." once finished she smiled a little "Very well...I guess this is all for now. So, that's where you enter in the game..." Drake seemed confused but knew about what she was talking about "I am a guardian..." the girl just nodded silently "So I must fight with you?..." again the young girl nodded "You aren't forced of course, but remember that your life, as you know it, will change and most of the people you know will forget you, or better say, they will have to...otherwise the darkness creatures might take advantage of that. I know it's hard, but many will be in danger if we don't fight...it's a difficult choice and I know very well that...trust me, ponder it carefully...there is no going back if you accept".

### After some moments of thinking, Drake's expression remains troubled and confused "Listen...you don't have to answer now but...you cannot leave this place if you don't choose what you wish to do...." Then she clapped her hands together "I have an idea, I will show you the other team members and let them answer some questions, and explain their choices to you, maybe that will help."

### The door behind her opened up, a strong light gave life to the room in which the 2 were talking, thanks to that, more details could be seen easily, and after the dizziness of the strong light faded off, the room itself seemed simple with wood walls and little furniture, what caught the Drake's eyes were the 2 new figures entering the room, as well as the now fully visible already present girl, who got up and smiled widely "Let us introduce ourselves" "I am Iris, a pleasure to meet you" The girl smiled again, her figure was slender and agile, she was smaller than drake, emerald eyes flashing lively and pink long hair, a little lower than her shoulders, her eyes add a certain aspect to her cute face, while her body remember that of an athlete with refined curves. The second Girl to join her side was taller than Iris, almost as Drake, with yellow and scary eyes and a mysterious look on her delicate and gentle lined face, with a waterfall of long straight black hair that touched her back. The body was slender and agile, more curved than Iris's but bigger at the same time, even if by little " I am Lifia". The third figure came by the other 2, with two bored and provocative red eyes towards Drake and said with a bored tone "And I am Reit..." the bulky and strong body of her stood out clearly, the muscles more visible and developed, wavy red hair getting past her shoulders, taller than Drake, and a feminine strong body. "We are the 3 guardians that are fighting the darkness, we chose to give away our lives so that we could fight freely and save the others...now we will like to hear your answer...what do you wish to do Drake?" the question remained unanswered while he was still analyzing the 3 girls in front of him, until he came in eye contact with Reit "What are you watching so focused?" her provocative voice seemed to be annoyed by the his presence, Iris rapidly got between the 2 "Now Reit...what did I asked you before?" Reit nodded while snorting and got herself near the wall, resting her back on it while keeping her arms folded and eyes closed.

"Sorry about her...she tends to be a little short tempered..." She smiled toward Drake, Lifia made a step forward "You are truly an interesting specimen of guardian...resisting such blow, even Reit had problems with th..." "Hey! That's not true!" "Yes it is, you know that" "...." "...As I was saying, you are quite impressive, I am curios about how much potential you have, that is, of course, if you choose to fight with us" Iris seemed troubled and sighed "Lifia...I gently asked to avoid analyzing him so fast...." Lifia just got a seat on the chair near the entrance of the room and crossed her legs waiting, and watching intensely Drake, without answering Iris's words. "Ehm....e..excuse her, she likes to analyze the situation and study everything she is interested in..." She sighed again "Well.... I guess you are curios about many things, so please, take your time to collect thoughts and ask away any of us about anything you wish to know, we will try to satisfy any curiosity and questions you have" Then she smiled brightly while waiting for Drake's questions, still he seemed perplexed by the behavior of the other 2 girls but, once the surprise was over, he began thinking about what to ask.
Chapter 3: Choices & Decisions

### Drake was thinking while silence filled the room, minutes passed and the 3 girls just waited for him to say something...that until Reit snapped "Ahh! C'mon already! What's so difficult? You must choose what you want" "REIT!" A strong voice brought the silence once again when, Iris, admonished her "I do not want to repeat myself! I said to leave him time, I was designated to take care of the situation right? We 3 decided that was the best...so respect my requests!" Reit seemed a little surprised about Iris's reaction but still she got back to her place and quietly waited again whispering only a "Sorry".

### Drake sighed after a while watching the scene between the 2 girls "I don't understand why you struggle so much with me, I might be a guardian as I understood, still...am I worth all this? You can always find others..." Reit seemed pretty pissed about his answer but she restrained herself from doing or saying anything to avoid another conflict with Iris but, Lifia, sighed and answered with extreme calm and coldness "Every guardian is important, our job and duty is to protect humanity and guardians alike, so everyone is special...you included. We have difficulty in fighting the darkness creatures. They seems to be increasing in number and strength by the day, without considering that they become stronger based on how much humans are distressed or evil, which is kind of common these days, so a hand could be useful" "So I am only another 'hand' for you?" Iris sighs loudly "Lifia tends to be a little cynical sometimes. The point is that we will protect you and we need you at the same time, either you decide to join us or not, we will still assure your protection. But we do not want to force you into choosing one or another, we wish for your free and complete willingly choice.".

### Drake nodded and sat on the bed the best way he could, trying to be comfortable, and began looking at the girls "All right, I understood most of the things I guess, eventually they will clarify themselves I guess so I will be patient for now, still I am curious...why do you do all this? I mean beside the duty you have" The girls looked at each other and nodded, Iris took word "Well...everyone has a different story, personal and private, we will tell you about them in time if the opportunity arises, know this though: We wanted to protect who we love, guardians are dispersed and low in numbers right now, the area we protect is very vast and tricky, no other guardians are in the area we cover...so we had 2 choices: fight to protect everyone or let them face doom while we lived our lives until it lasted. We chose and now we want to know what you will choose. We understand the difficulty of this choice so we will not force you to take it immediately, take your time...some days maybe" "Iris that's not..." Iris halted Lifia's comment with an open hand toward her "He needs time, its natural, we can spare some days, and besides, the situation is quite calm right now, he will have many things to think of." Drake seemed a little confused about the dialogue between the 2, the matter seemed a little pressing and troublesome, still the decision remains difficult "Drake, I know how difficult must seem this but...once you become guardian, you will vanish from everyone's life and memory, few exceptions usually are made and, sometimes, memories may remain, but you will have to give up your life and fight a war you maybe not want, that is why we want to give you time. Please think about it carefully, in case you refuse we will erase your memory and, chances are, that you will not be able to be a guardian ever again but we will still continue our duty and guard you as well as everybody else.".

### That said Iris went silent for a few moments, taking word after she took a look at Drake "I see you are tired, all those information are hard to swallow and maybe a good sleep will help you refresh your ideas, its night already so we will leave you sleep. If you are hungry feel free to come in the other room and serve yourself, all right?" Drake simply nod but noted a change in the tone of Iris, a lonely or sorrowful voice marked her while saying all this, she almost seemed disappointed about something, still he could not dare to ask what was it. Slowly the girls left the room and Drake was left alone with his thoughts while darkness filled the room since no windows were there to bring any light. Drake decided to lay down, cleaning up his head while reorganizing all he learned.

### Drake was standing there, looking at the ceiling, thinking, but a dark presence filled the room, he rapidly got straight up but ended up being paralyzed and a man, made of darkness with bloody red eyes, grabbed him by the neck and smiled like a devil "YOU... WILL... DIE!" then he threw him toward the wall. Drake woke up all sweaty and panting heavily, the nightmare seemed gone but, it was so realistic and scary, the he could not sleep anymore and decided to go out for a breath of fresh air. Once passed the door, the second room was kind of a kitchen-living room with 3 beds in the right corned beside the door, Drake tried to make as less noise as possible and went out to take some fresh air, feel the refreshing cold night on his skin. He noticed the location he was in: many trees were located almost in every direction, forming some kind of forest, some light could be seen in distance, maybe the city nearby, but the pure air suggested that the place itself was somewhere a little higher than the city, maybe a little mountain or high hill, with little visibility from the other side of the little forest, thing that helped the place to remain stealthy from outside curios eyes. The wooden house was simple, but big enough to hold 2-3 rooms and was made to be low enough to be hard to detect, even from someone who casually walks by. A ladder got Drake's attention, and profiting of his presence, he got up the roof to look at the stars, but as soon as he set foot on the roof, a hand blocked his throat "You should not wander in the night, its quite dangerous" Lifia let Drake go and sat back on the roof, Looking at Drake gaining back air and recovering from the strong grip he was in.

"Why are you here?" Drake took a seat slowly near Lifia, careful not to get her angry again, risking another breath taking moment "Just wanted to take some fresh air, had an uneasy sleep and could not fall asleep again." Lifia nodded quietly and looked at the full moon while talking "You know, you are the first guardian we encounter in months, at some point we were worried that we've might be the only ones in the area...or that they all died." Although what she said was quite grim, her voice was neutral and unconcerned "Whatever you choose, it wont change our mission and duty, that's for sure. Still, a new teammate might gave us a little more advantage over the fight we are having..." Drake quietly listened to what Lifia was saying but seemed a little off focus "What's wrong little man?" her voice seemed a little amused but he didn't minded "Nothing in particular, I was wondering why all this is happening, and why Iris seemed almost depressed before going to sleep..." Lifia sighed and patted his head "Iris is the most caring person here, she is always cheerful and happy, smiles a lot and gives everyone attention and help whenever she can but...she had her own experiences and doesn't like to cancel other's memory, she....suffered from it, so to speak, so...whenever that subject comes around...she gets a little moody. As per the War, well...we do not know why, we just know that, if we do not fight, we are all doomed. And this time the ancient clans are not here anymore to help us" Drake nodded again while listening "I see...that explains some things, anyway, it's strange to be thrown in a war like this so suddenly." "I know. It's not easy but necessary, we cannot afford the luxury of time. The beasts that we fight are getting stronger, the one you saw that evening was a tough one. We had to combine our powers to even damage it, it was not an easy job to make sure you were all right and fight at the same time. Still we managed to save you somehow. I still do not know how you survived such a blow, but you are a tough one.". Drake laughed a little "It's strange but...I am the one that thinks that you 3 are strong and tough, being in this war. It's still kind of difficult to believe all this, could be a prank or a kidnapping affair...but...what I saw that evening it's hardly just an illusion...and you killed that beast...I kinda fear you in a way or another". Lifia laughed a little and flashed a smile toward him which, thanks to the moonlight, made her face sparkle with a special light, revealing a beauty rare to see, after that she kissed his cheek "You are quite an interesting subject Drake, I kinda like your silliness and honesty, but trust me, this is all real and it's not a prank or anything". Drake blushed a little after the little gift he got from Lifia and nodded "S...sure, I understand that and will keep that in mind.". Lifia got up and, with a leap, jumped down from the roof "Goodnight Drake, I suggest you go to sleep now..." and after that she disappeared inside the cabin while the young man stood alone with his thoughts for some time before going back to his room in trying to sleep and regain energy and strength.

### In the morning Iris entered Drake's room and spoke gently to not rush him "Drake....Drake wake up, it's morning..." Since he doesn't seems to react, Iris tried to shake him gently until he woke up "Ngh...what is it?" "It's morning Drake....time to wake up and have breakfast" once said that Iris, little by little, withdraw smiling. Drake tried to wake up but the night passed outside, and the fatigue he accumulated until then, seemed to bug him more than expected and he sleepily got in the other room, where, the other girls, are already waiting at the table with breakfast ready. At his arrival Lifia just looked at him and smiled a little while Reit seemed annoyed by his presence there "Morning everybody" his sleepy voice was quite hard to not observe but, once he sat down the chair, his face went down in the bowl with milk and cereal, waking him up suddenly but with some cereal on the face too. Iris could not refrain herself "Pfff...you...you have some cereal there....ahahaha!!" Once at the edge, she began laughing hard, Lifia just smiled and shook her head amused by the scene while Reit used this situation to mock him "What's wrong princess? Not used to wake up this early?" Then she smirked at him in a provocative manner, but still it was quite useless since Drake was more busy cleaning up and regaining a composure to be bothered by her word and sat back smiling embarrassed "Sorry, I kinda had little and hard sleep tonight..." That said he began eating breakfast together with the girls. The only one eating normally was Iris, Lifia ate half a bowl and was done already and Reit was eating like a dinosaur who was hungry for days and finally found meat, Drake was a little perplexed but didn't said anything to avoid fights or discussions.

### Once breakfast was over, Iris started cleaning the table, Lifia went out toward the town to make some shopping and Reit went to train herself. "So how are you feeling Drake? The head is better?" "Kinda...I still have a light headache but it will pass eventually, but I am surprised about everything....you said that you are guardians but its hard to swallow all this without some evidence, could you show me your powers?" she was a little perplexed "I... I guess, we usually do not waste our powers like this but in this case I could make an exception and show you my first form if my primal beast agrees..." "Wait wait..you can talk to it?" "Of course...we are fused together...we can read each other minds, if we allow so, and we share powers...so it's normal that we communicate..." That said she concentrated, staying focused and serious for a while...until a pink light started to glow from Iris's body, getting stronger and stronger until it exploded when she said "EMBODY!" and changed into energy, creating an pink aura around her, flashing vividly while Iris started to change shape: cat ears started to grow on her head, a tail started to grow as well, followed by longer and sharper teeth and claws, a little pink fur started growing near her ears, hands and on other parts of her body "This is my guardian form... I am a pink were-cat, an independent tribe which powers are equally strong as the flashing tiger clan. The clan didn't participate directly in the ancient war, instead we just provided support to the flashing tiger and the other clans but never served none!" Drake remained astonished to see such powerful transformation and was unable to say anything. After a while Iris returned to her normal form and smiled "Sorry about that...my primal beast usually likes to affirm herself and tell you the role of her clan in the ancient war. That's because, usually, other than the 4 major clans that fought, the others were pretty much left outside the story and she is quite angry about it" Drake just nod, he was still surprised by all he saw. Once he came back to his senses he started questioning Iris "So that was a transformation...you get powers and the aspect of the beast? Do you fuse with it and you become one? Or how does it work exactly?" Iris laughed slightly "Calm down, calm down. I'm going to explain how transformation works for guardians..." She took a big breath before beginning "Practically, the primal beast becomes part of you, he lives inside of you and can see your thoughts and whatever you see and hear, it's like he lives the same life as you, just that he doesn't do nothing while inactive, usually he recovers energy and rests or keeps you company, a lot like a friend who never leaves you alone, not even while sleeping. When you must fight, or decide to transform, he lends you his powers, he kinds of takes control of you and, together with you, helps you fight,react and move much faster and precise. Your resistance and stamina goes up, your endurance gets better and you gain his physical appearance. The problem is that the power of the primal beast can be borrowed only based on the friendship and link you have with it, that means, if you are in bad terms with your primal beast, you will receive little of his power and will not gain advantage from his presence. That is usually unlikely, otherwise he would have not chose you, even if there are exceptions, since sometimes the primal beats must choose a guardian for the sake of humans and to fulfill their duty. Usually there are 3 levels of transformation, each one gradually more powerful than the one before. The first stage is like the one you saw, little appearance of the primal beast's characteristics and some of his powers, the second stage is more radical and powerful, but also the most unstable one, since the animal instinct and powers usually tends to overflow and lose control, or overdo it, with heavy consequences on the body of the guardian. The third stage is said to be the perfect harmony with one's primal beast, the body changes almost completely and gains a lot of power from the primal beast. There is another stage called Animal blessing or Sacred embody which is believed to allow the guardian to become one with the primal beast and gain his fully, and most powerful, form while taking his appearance. This, however, was never neither proved nor done till now...not that I know at least" That said she smiled toward Drake "I see...I think I got it but...isn't it a little strange to have a uhm...'primal beast'...watching you and being always with you?" Iris chuckled and shook her head "No, usually they are like a radar for the dark creatures and act as a protection when we sleep or aren't paying attention. Even if there are creatures that can avoid being detected by them they are good protectors. Also we can remain linked with the guardians that we made contact and friendship with, thanks to the 'brother linking ritual', which allows the primal beasts of 2 or more guardians to establish a link between them so they can sense each other when in danger and pinpoint their location, even if not precisely. Also it's said that we can transfer each other energy, in case one of us is too tired to fight anymore, but we still could not master this skill entirely, we don't know how we can do that but, up until now, Lifia seems the best in using this technique." "I understand, very interesting indeed, and convenient, but why the primal beasts don't fight themselves the darkness creatures?" Iris smiled again "Well...it's not that simple. It's true that the primal beasts have powers, but they are still mortal animals that can get injured or tired as well, also their power cannot reach it's peak without a guardian, so they usually choose to fuse with a guardian to gain a lot more power, endurance and protection. They can come out and fight, but it's usually the last resort, since their death would mean the death, or at least the disabling, of the guardian itself and, in some cases, even deleting his powers and the chance to remain a guardian. There are exception...since some creatures became strong and are more of a loner kind. Even if the primal beasts almost dies, there are ways to save him, or her soul to be precise, and give him another chance to fight and remain in this world, but that usually means extreme sacrifice or hard ritual. This rituals sometimes even destroys the primal beast's body and leaves his soul into the guardian itself, without the chance of getting out ever again, as well as denying the guardian the chance to transform back to his human form and forcing him to remain transformed forever but with a boost in power and skills since their union is very powerful, having 2 souls working together in unison. Still, sometimes that can drive the guardian insane or makes impossible to recognize the guardian from the beast. Even if this hardly happens, there are subjects that suffered this end and are called 'the forgotten ones' which are like some kind of mutants that live isolated and far from the other guardians and humans. There are rumors that they gathered together and formed some sort of city but was never found or heard of." "Uhm...kinda complicated and risky then, I mean losing a primal beast, isn't it better if he stays all the time inside the guardian?" "If his life is in danger...what is the points in remaining there?" "I suppose you are right, yeah..." "Do not complicate yourself about it, those are limits and rare cases, it's hard for them to happen, just do not overthink it, all right?" Drake nodded and smiled back "Ok, ok...I will try".

### After the long talk, Reit came back all satisfied "Another day of training! It's so good to feel the muscles working so hard to achieve some results!" Iris laughed "Always training...you should relax sometimes Reit" "Training is my relax time!" Then she laughed loudly and turn her head toward Drake "Hey pipsqueak, you should do some exercise...in your state you won't last even 1 minute in battle! Hah!" Drake was kinda annoyed by her continuous provocations and started to talk back "No thank you, I do not want to become like you: a former idea of a 'woman' which now has too many muscles that shifted position from brain to arms" Reit grabbed him by the collar "What did you just said asshole!?" Drake smirked back "You heard me manly man" Iris tried to break between the 2 and calm them down but it was too late and could not do nothing when, Reit, threw Drake out of the open door, making him slide on the ground "Tch...." "That teaches you, you little smart-ass" Iris reached Drake and checked on him "Are you all right Drake?" Drake tried to get back on his feet, the power of Reit was indeed high and dangerous, but he was too cocky to let it go "Yeah I'm ok...let me show titzilla how to fight" that said he looked toward the entrance "Hey, dinosaur with the appearance of a woman! Come out and fight like a man you are!" Iris tried to stop him but it was quite useless, Reit came out furious "I'm gonna KILL YOU!" That said she throws a powerful punch at him but misses the target and, like that, got destabilized, giving Drake the chance to make her fall on the ground using a turning low kick.

### The situation was getting out of hand and Iris was worried "Please stop...this is not good, we are not supposed to fight each other!" But the 2 were too much into the conflict to stop and listen to her. Reit got up and was looking at Drake "You gonna pay this...." with light speed, she gave him a powerful punch, making him fly toward a tree,breaking it in half and falling on the ground afterwards "DRAKE!!" Iris hurried toward him to see his condition, the punch got him bleeding from the cheek and the tree was near him broken in half "REIT!! Are you crazy? NEVER USE THE GUARDIAN POWER TO HURT PEOPLE!" Reit was looking toward Iris with a provocative look, she too was worried about Drake, and realized only later that she overdone it, but she could not do anything since her pride was at stake. Drake slowly regain senses and tried to get up "Ahh....what happened?" Iris helped him on his feet "Don't force yourself Drake..." He was kinda injured and had difficulty in using his left leg but, helped by Iris, was going toward the house "Reit....we will talk later" Iris seemed anything but happy but Reit looked Drake in the eyes "That teaches you pimp..." Drake grinned back "It's easy using someone else powers to win..." and after that he entered the house, leaving Reit confused and with the sensation that she lost more than winning in that fight.

### Iris came out again angry "Reit...if you EVER use your powers again to fight someone that isn't a darkness creature you WILL. FIGHT. ME! Am I clear enough?!" Reit just nod, unable to fight back the angry Iris, she knows very well that she is difficult to piss off, but once she is angry, she can be more dangerous than her. After a while Drake came out of his room, limping slightly, Reit was seated near the entrance and looked at him in the eyes but could not say anything, only a whisper was released by her "Sorry..." but it was so low that Drake didn't hear it. Drake just ignored her and went out, the fresh air made him relax, which is what he was looking for. In that moment Lifia returned with 2 bags of stuff, bought in the city, and noticed Drake limping "How did you ended up like that?" Drake sighed "Well...let's just say that we had a little discussion earlier..." While indicating the entrance of the cabin. Lifia made a short laugh "I guess you had a quarrel with Reit, Iris could never do that to you..." Drake just nodded and Lifia smiled "Well that happens when you disturb the sleeping bear, she is very...hmmm...energetic so to speak, so it's best to not give her reasons to give you problems" That said she went inside without waiting for Drake's answer. Once inside Reit commented "I heard your example of the 'sleeping bear', very funny Lifia..." Her voice was serious even if calm "Well, it's kinda true and represents your short temper very well" Then she left to order the things she bought into the proper place while Reit just sighed and let the argument fall.

### The evening approached little by little and Drake remained out most of the time in deep thoughts, looking at the sky, Iris was cooking dinner with Lifia's help while Reit was looking at Drake from the cabin's window near the door, she was a little worried about what she did, but could not bring herself to approach him and preferred to look from a distance "Are you worried?" Lifia's voice surprised Reit who jumped a little "Geez...announce yourself next time. Not really, it's just..." she kept silent for a while "I hope I didn't crushed anything" "You know he is strong, he got a worse hit and survived...so that's not it" Reit was a little perplexed, Lifia was too sharp for her, or her plays "All right, all right...I guess I used too much strength, even if I didn't mean to, it's just that he provoked me..." "And you lost it.." Reit nodded "Don't worry Reit...I guess he understands...or he will at proper time...or maybe you should talk to him" Reit just stood there, without saying a thing, sighing after Lifia returned to help Iris with the cooking. The moon was shiny in that night and Drake was still outside to look at it, he was lost in many thoughts about the situation and conditions, he could not budge from there "Hey boy, is that moon so beautiful that you got hypnotized?" Drake didn't turned his head toward Reit who came out for him "Hm...why did you became a guardian?" Reit was fairly surprised about the question asked so suddenly but answered looking at the stars "I found a family, maybe it's not a classical one, but it's family to me...I didn't had one before, I was alone, and now I am no more, maybe that is the reason I guess. I wanted to protect that family at all costs...becoming a guardian was the best way to do so, also...I had nothing to lose..." Drake just nodded "I see...." After that, silence fell upon the 2, and Reit simply gave Drake a good pat on the shoulder "Dinner's ready, so, if you are not too wasted about the hit you got, come and eat with us" Drake nodded once again silently but kept staying there, still looking at the moon while Reit returned inside.

### Minutes passed and Drake would not come inside so Iris came out to see him "Drake...dinner is getting cold, we are waiting for you to start eating, are you mad about what happened earlier between you and Reit?" Drake shifted his look to Iris, his eyes were serious "Why? I am not part of your team, I am just a newcomer, who you do not know if will join or not the fight...why?" Iris looked straight in his eyes "You are part of our family....even if you are for 1 day or for 1 year, until you decide, you are part of our team and like that we will treat you" he was staying silent, looking at her. A family, that's a word he didn't heard in a while...he never heard about his family, neither he had one till he was little, he got money and other stuff to help him raise himself from someone who he could not track, he knows those are his parents or someone who cares about him, but he could never found them and so he lived alone up until now. Drake nodded "Very well, excuse me for making you wait" Iris smiled widely "Don't worry...come now" And so the 2 entered the cabin and started eating in a strange and silent atmosphere.

### The next morning everybody was up and ready to begin a new day, sadly the breakfast was interrupted by a particular event. "A darkness creature..." Iris looked toward the city with a concerned look while Lifia and Reit got up from their seat and prepared to go out "Let's go Iris, it should appear in about 10 minutes" Lifia went out and started to go toward the city, followed by Reit. Drake was getting up "What's the problem?" Iris smiled "An enemy...we must go and do our duty, please stay here and do not wander..." Drake shook his head "No, I'm coming too" Iris smiled again "I appreciate your concerns but you cannot help us, you are weak and do not have a primal beast to help you, so you cannot fight. I know how you feel, but right now you are a burden, and besides, you didn't decided what to do" Drake smiled again "I am part of the family and team...I have to come" Iris laughed "Thank you Drake, that's wonderful news, but please stay here, you do not have a primal beast and I do not want to lose you this time, you risked once...you may not be so lucky a second time" Drake just remained there looking at her, unable to say anything, but then she smiled one last time "We will be back" then left after her teammates "I will not stay behind" that said, Drake departed after them.
Chapter 4: Initiation

### Drake was running toward the city with all his might and strength, trying to stay behind the girls who were much faster and agile than him thanks to their primal beasts. In the meanwhile, while Drake struggled to keep up and reach the city, the girls arrived at the place where the dark creature should come to bring chaos "Embody!" those were the only word said by the 3, starting to transform into their guardian form. Iris became a pink werecat which had a little fur in various part of the body, including hands and face, with claws ready to attack; Lifia had fox ears and 2 tails behind her back, fur growing in some spots around her body, black fur; Reit had 2 little bear ears around her head and a little tail, huge claws and fur growing more than the other 2, ready to attack in an aggressive position. A chilly atmosphere slowly took the place of the sunny day, a dark presence was getting near and the 3 guardians were ready to fight!

### A huge creature, tall almost 5 meters and very muscular, his powers were visible even by nude eyes which is quite something, 2 eyes red as blood and a smile that resembled a demon, looked toward the guardians and laughed. "Laugh while you can ya damn toy!" Reit started attacking him without a thought, triying to hurt him with her physical attacks and huge claws but, her attacks, seemed to have little to no effect. Iris vanished from place and started attacking the enemy's weak spots at light speed while her fur began to glow of a feint pink light, Lifia, on the other hand, chose to go up a building and concentrate, and after a while, she put her hand toward her enemy and a triangular green energy was formed, sending a powerful energy beam toward the enemy at high speed. Even with all these attacks, the enemy was unscratched and started to fight back, even if he was pretty big, his attacks were fast and strong enough to send Reit flying against a building, crushing a wall with her body. Iris kept attacking but the creature got her movements and hit her with a strong attack that made her fly away as well but, luckily, she was able to regain her fighting stance and landed on her feet, even if she felt the attack. Lifia was safe on the building but the creature looked at her and opened his mouth, a powerful and yellow energy wave departed toward her from the beast, barely hitting her thanks to the surprise she had by the sudden attack and could not avoid it fully.

### The fight was getting hard and difficult, Reit came out of the building she landed in and spit on the ground "Tsk, damn toy, now you make me wanna break you! BERSERKER!" a red energy surrounded her and made her body twice as big and powerful, her eyes of a red colour, her claws began to be surrounded by a thicker red energy and Reit started attacking again, with new energy and power and with high animal rage guiding her. Iris got back to the battlefield fast and was looking at the situation "Damn, Reit went berserk....LIFIA!" she shouted at her while she came back from the building holding her arm "I am ok, what's the plan Iris?" "Reit went berserk...that should keep the monster occupied a little, we must try the dual feline attack" Lifia nodded and both started to concentrate while Reit was giving the huge beast a hell of a time with her powerful attacks and, even if it was trying to avoid or block them, it had a hard time keeping up, that kept him busy enough to not notice the 2 girls behind him concentrating and accumulating energy.

### Reit continued to attack like a crazy animal the dark creature in the attempt to destroy it completely, Iris and Lifia were concentrating their strength in gathering energy and started to hold hands after a while "DUAL FELINE ATTACK" Once the 2 voices said in unison the attack, their body and souls became 2 big energy spheres which began to fly at supersonic speed against the creature and start hitting him a lot of times in mere seconds while Reit continued to attack him endlessly. The beast had a hard time to counter both attacks, until he got suppressed by the huge pressure that got him on the ground and unconscious, meanwhile the 3 stopped attacking and started panting for the huge energy used "It's over". "Ahahaha...too easy my little sweet guardians..." A voice came not far from them and a human figure was in the shadows, looking at them with darkness eyes "It's cute that you think that but...it isn't over!" Reit shouted in anger "Come out and fight us if you dare you little coward!" The shadow of the man was laughing "Ahh so sweet to see such anger from you Reit...I told you...one day, I will subdue you and make you as my little pet" Reit was almost growling at him for his words "Still, you might want to pay attention to that little toy, as you called him, he's not that easy defeated" Not even a second after he finished talking and the beast reopened his eyes and started to get on his feet again "Impossible...how can he endure so much punishment and still get back on his feet?" Again the shadow figure laughed "Well, with a little push, he can do a lot of things trust me, well...I'll let you have fun with him, try not to die Reit...a dead pet it's useless" With a large smile the figure vanished from the area.

### The huge monster again shouted a dark and low growl, making the 3 guardians back off a little "What do we do? Our energy is kind of low...we cannot last much like this" however, not far from them, Drake finally got there to help "There they are!" He started running toward them but when Iris noticed him her eyes went wide open "DRAKE!? Why are you here??" Drake just smiled "To help of course" Lifia was kinda troubled "You idiot...you do not have a primal beast...you will only got yourself killed!" Reit was getting ready to fight "Protect this dumb-ass...I will take care of this little toy" So she began to attack the creature again but, her low energy, didn't allowed her to give it much damage. Iris and Lifia were protecting Drake which was a little perplexed "Let me fight! I can help you..." Iris sighed "You can't like this..." But in that moment Reit went flying against the wall next to them, both Lifia and Iris were surprised but ready to fight "Run Drake...you cannot do anything...save yourself!" Then the 2 went attacking but it was quite useless, their energy was still low, even if they managed to recover a little while protecting Drake, they were easily overpowered and launched away while Drake remained paralyzed at the sight of the 3 girls wounded and on the ground senseless. "Darn it..." The creature was getting near Drake, which was shaking and didn't know what to do...he never thought to encounter the same thing of that evening but he got an idea "Let's try....EMBODY!" Even if he tried to recall whatever power, nothing happened and the beast was already upon him and ready to attack him but, while his attack was on its way, time stopped and Drake, with his eyes closed from fear of the attack, found himself in a dark place, almost familiar at this point since he's been there many times in his dreams, with only a little spotlight on him in the middle.

"YOUNG HUMAN AND GUARDIAN..." A low and powerful voice echoed in the darkness and gave Drake shivers, not allowing him to understand from where it came from "YOU ARE CHOSE TO BE A GUARDIAN OF THE DRAGON TRIBE, BUT ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH? YOU SHOW COURAGE TRYING TO FIGHT AN ENEMY MUCH STRONGER THAN YOU TO HELP YOUR TEAMMATES...BUT ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO SUSTAIN OUR POWER?" Drake was looking in the dark and nod "I am! Give me the power to protect them!" "HMM...WE SHALL SEE ABOUT THAT" after that Drake returned to reality, time started to flow again but he felt a new power in him "I can feel it..." with a serious and cold face, he blocked the creature's attack and with the other hand sent him flying with a single punch but, after that, he collapsed on the floor with his body unable to move, the energy he used exhausted him already and his body was without strength to move. The beast was getting up and, enraged, was going toward the senseless Iris which was lying on the ground, Drake was powerless and could not do nothing, the beast was preparing a new attack to finish her "NOOOO!" The time stopped and Drake was in the spotlight surrounded by darkness once again "YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF OUR POWER" Drake was unable to move but could talk "I do not care if you choose me, I do not care if I am worthy or not....just.....just SAVE THEM!" That said he tried to get on his feet with the little strength he found in himself and looked in the darkness "You are primal beasts right? Then why aren't you doing nothing to help them?! If being a guardian means doing nothing and judging then SCREW YOU! I will protect them...even if that means dying...that's how a family works..." silence followed after his speech and a young shadow came near the spotlight, a dark and black figure of a dragon was in front of him "The human spoke true words, his heart is pure and his courage an example, I, son of the Silver Guardian, shall form a pact with this human and become his primal beast" Another moment of silence followed and the powerful voice started again to speak "SO BE IT! YOU HAVE OUR PERMISSION AND BLESSING YOUNG DRAGON, MAY YOU DEFEAT THE DARKNESS WITH YOUR COMPANION" The Dragon nod solemnly and became sparkles of light that started to enter Drake's body, giving him new energy and strength "YOUR FATHER WANTS TO HELP YOU WITH THIS FIGHT YOUNG ONE, YOUR GUARDIAN IS NOT READY NOR PREAPRED TO DO SO BUT THIS SHALL BE THE FIRST AND LAST TIME. HE CANNOT MISS FROM HIS DUTY MORE THAN THIS...BE THANKFUL" That said Drake returned back to reality but he was not him anymore: His body was surrounded by a sacred silver light, his eyes were blank, his body much bigger and stronger, and he was not touching the ground anymore but hovering above it with 2 powerful wings sustaining him.

### The dark creature was about to attack the senseless Iris but was stopped by Drake in half a second with a single hand "YOU SHALL NOT HURT ANYBODY TODAY CREATURE!" Drake's voice was mixed with a lower one that spoke in unison with him, in the meanwhile Iris came back to her senses, together with the other 2, but they were astonished to see what happened next. Drake started to crush his opponent's hand and breathing a huge ice storm toward him, freezing him up "THIS IS YOUR END!" The punch that came after that crushed the creature in many pieces, with every piece disintegrated on the place, leaving nothing behind.

### Iris was speechless "D...Drake?" She was quite worried about that power which seemed unnaturally strong and...wrong, but Drake just looked at her "ANOTHER YOUNG GUARDIAN I SEE, I AM THE SILVER GUARDIAN...RALLY UP YOUNG GUARDIANS" Iris opened her eyes wide and started to call the other 2, kneeling before him with respect "Your highness, what are you doing here?" 'Drake', so to speak, started to talk with them again in that strange mixed voice "A PINK WERECAT, A DARK DUAL FOX AND A URSINE BERSERKER. YOU WERECAT WERE THE MOST INDEPENDENT TRIBE, STILL, YOU HELPED US IN THE ANCIENT WAR, THE DARK DUAL FOXES WERE A MISTERIOUS CLAN AND NO ONE KNEW MUCH ABOUT YOU, STILL YOU HELPED US IN THE WAR TOO" The guardian stopped a while to look at Lifia but the sight of Reit caught him fast afterward "YOU....URSINE, YOUR KIND BETRAYED US AND ATTACKED US, CLAIMING MANY SOULS THAT DAY...GRRR.." The guardian seemed almost disturbed by Reit "STILL...THANK THE HEAVEN THAT I PROTECTED YOU FROM A FATE FAR WORSE THAN DEATH, MAYBE THAT WAS THE REASON YOU HELPED US AFTER WE DEFEATED YOUR CLAN..." Reit clenched her fist hard unable to say anything "WE DECIDED TO GIVE THIS YOUNG GUARDIAN, DRAKE, THE HONOR TO BE PART OF THE DRAGON CLAN, BE STRONG AND PROTECT HIM FROM HARM. FIGHT THE DARKNESS RISING AGAIN AND AVOID ANOTHER GREAT WAR. THIS YOUNG ONE HAS PURE HEART, TAKE CARE OF HIM. A GREAT DARKNESS IS HIDING IN HIS LIFE AND DAILY ACTIVITIES, BE ADVISED AND CAREFUL, YOUR ENEMIES ARE NOT WEAK NOR STUPID. TAKE CARE GUARDIANS AND BE CAREFUL, MAY THE CREATOR PROTECT YOU" Drake's body collapsed on the floor but was hastily caught by Iris's speed and reflexes "Yes highness...we will take care of him" Then she smiled sweetly toward him and gave him a kiss on the forehead "You saved us...thank you". Reit was still enraged about what the guardian said, Lifia put a hand on her shoulder "No matter what happened in the past Reit...you are our teammate and part of the family...do not give it much thought" Reit nodded and, like that, they all started to head toward 'home' together while Iris carried Drake's senseless body.

### Drake was floating again in the same dark space, the place began to feel almost comfortable and like home to him but, while he was floating, a huge figure appeared out of nowhere and began to talk while a claw began to sustain the young man's body "Now that I am your primal beast we must clarify some things..." Drake seemed confused, especially since he was unconscious but he could still understand him "Who are you?" The young dragon shook his head "I am Ryu, son of the silver guardian, and your primal beast and companion from now on, young guardian" Drake nodded "I see...so I am now a guardian?" The young dragon nodded as well "You saved the ones you cared about and my father made sure that you won't fail this time but, next time, we will have to fight our own battles...we cannot count on him anymore" the dragon got the young man's body near to his nose and analyzed him thoroughly "You are still weak and your potential is still far from being discovered, still, you might have a chance if you will follow the path I say..." Drake watched the dragon and began to float by himself, releasing himself from his claw "I do not take orders like that....no one can make my path! My entire life was decided by me...and like this shall continue!" The dragon was speechless at first and stood in silence for some moments before answering back "Young guardian...you are quite stubborn but I am the son's guardian and you must listen to my guide" "I will follow my path, not yours dragon!" The 2 were staring at each other with fiery eyes but none seemed to want to back down and, after neither a second, a light from above greeted drake's figure "Tsk...we shall resolve this soon guardian...you have my word but, for now, return to the reality of the ones you care...." Drake at that point was drawn toward the light while, the dragon, was swallowed by the darkness and disappeared into his consciousness.

"Finally! He's waking up!" Iris seemed relieved while Drake was opening his eyes and moving in the bed, she stood all the afternoon and night to guard him while he recovered and, at her words, even Reit and Lifia entered the room. "Ou...what happened?" Iris embraced Drake and smiled "You saved us....that's what happened" Neither Reit could comment this time, she just stood there looking while Drake was trying to get a hold of himself and understand where was he "How much did I slept?" Iris left his neck after the initial greeting and smiled again "like 15 hours, or more, I can't remember" Drake nod and looked at the other 2 "Hey..." Reit just answered with a little nod of her head while Lifia looked at him with persistence "I was sure you were an interesting one...." That said she giggled and went out of the room leaving the others quite confused, Reit followed her shortly after and without a word, a little lost in thoughts, Drake was too dizzy to realize that. "Come, Lunch is ready" Iris stood up and went toward the other room but was waiting Drake at the door. Humbly, he got himself up and headed toward the door, to reach the others and eat in the other room. While the group was eating, Iris interrupted the silence "We must do the rite Drake..." "What for?" Iris smiled again "For the link between us, so we know where we are and feel each other in case of danger" Drake nod a little confused and resumed to eat, his sleep and efforts made him quite hungry and ate twice as much as usually.

### After lunch the 4 were gathered outside and started preparation for the rite, a strange circle with strange symbols were written on the floor with 4 big squares containing each a circle for the 4 members of the team. Slowly the 4 gathered on the 4 squares and, even if Drake was unsure on what to do, Iris began the rite and assured him to relax "We call upon the ancient magic...Might our souls connect, might our beasts make a bond, may a link be born out of that bond so we might always know where our brothers are!" A strange light began to engulf the 4 and then a circular light began to descend on the 4, sparkles were flying around and everybody closed their eyes, the holy atmosphere of the rite was proceeding splendidly but all of a sudden everything shattered like a glass, making the same sound, and the light disappeared in an instant while the circles itself got shattered, both the light one and the ground one, with Drake being pushed strongly outside and ended up against the wall of the house "Tch!". The girls were stunned about what happened, none could understand what happened exactly and Iris rescued Drake who was on the ground "What happened?" Reit was confused but Lifia was inspecting the details about the circles and cracks "Hmm...seems like the primal beasts of your newcomer wasn't ready, or does not desire to create such link" Iris looked at Drake "Why Drake?" Drake was confused as much as the girls "How should I know? I just got my primal beast and I still didn't even talked to him after I woke up...I cannot even feel him truth to be told...if that's even possible" After that he shakes his head to recover and got back to his feet easily "I will not bond myself to such low creatures!" The voice that came out of Drake was not his own but that of a creature much stronger and with a much lower voice, more of a growl than speech. Reit immediately react to his words "Hey you little punk! What do you mean low creatures?" She began to walk toward Drake furiously while Iris positioned herself in between "Easy now Reit...it's new for him too and you know that he is the son of the guardian...be patient" "Patient my ass! I'm gonna crush that little head of his and show him which is the low creature!" that said she avoided Iris and rushed a punch toward Drake who was not responding at all, that is until the last second in which he managed to block her strike quite easily "Stupid ursine, do you really think that your power can surpass mine!?" Drake, or Ryu, launched Reit against a tree with raw strength but she managed to recover position easily and started running back at him "YOU ARE DEAD!!" after that she transformed "EMBODY!" nobody could stop them now, Reit was in full berserker mode and started attacking Drake and, even if he was defending himself quite well, his conditions didn't allowed him to be efficient in fighting so he suffered many attacks and took a particularly hard hit in the chest that made him fall hard on the ground "Ngh....you little traitor..." "What...?" The word 'traitor' made Reit came back to her senses while Drake was coming back to his feet "Tsk, like in the past you are attacking a so called 'teammate' who helped and saved you" Reit was beginning to be nervous "I could do it alone!" Drake smirked "Yeah, sure ursine...still this doesn't change the fact that you are a tra..." "ENOUGH!!!" Drake's voice came out loudly like an explosion and sent a strong wind in all directions "RYU! If you ever take my body like this again I will make you pay!! DO YOU HEAR ME?" The dragon just retreated with a calm answer "Tsk, by doing what little human? Stay in your place....have fun with your so called 'friends' who attacked you" that said he vanished and Drake took complete control over his body. Reit at the same time was surprised by Drake's recovery but, even with that, she was shaking and when Drake tried to say something "I...I am sorry..." "SHUT UP!" Reit shouted with all her strength before disappearing in the forest with haste.

### Drake could not do nothing but watch with sorrow in his eyes, Iris got herself near him and put a hand on his cheek "Do not feel bad, you didn't do anything bad...you see, the ursine berserker, Reit's clan, betrayed the alliance fighting in the great war and caused many deaths, many said that they were provoked and lured into a trap that made their berserker mind, and instincts, go wild, forcing them to attack everybody, there are tales about many who saw ursines fighting each other, as well as darkness creatures alike, so it's not sure whether they turned or not against the alliance but, that thing, haunted their clan a lot and made them look like traitors to everybody's eyes. This led their life to be kind of lonely and hard, even sad some times...so every time this subject comes back into discussion...she kinda tends to go into depression a little, even cause of his primal beasts feelings. We guardians share almost everything with them, the more we bond with them, the more we become united in soul and body, ending in feeling each other as a part of ourselves. It's said that primal beasts choose a guardian who is similar to them in as many aspects as possible." Drake nodded "I see...I must go and find her" Iris smiled gently "There is no need for that, she will come back and she'll be all right, leave her be" Drake shook his head "No...I said those things and I must apologize for them as well...I'll be right back" he then began walking in the direction which Reit was running, Iris left him go and smiled sweetly "That's why I think you are precious....pure hearted one".

### The forest was thick and the sun was shining trough the leaves, the light of the day made Drake's job to follow Reit's heavy steps easier and was able to follow her until he reached a river. Reit was giving punches at a rock with all her might "I" and a strong punch landed on the rock " AM NOT " another punch was launched against the rock " A TRAITOR!" Both hands landed against the rock crushing it in half while Reit fell on her knees "Dammit..." Drake watched the scene from behind a tree, not trying to hide, more like surprised by the scene itself. Steps were coming toward Reit, He decided to get near her with calm but, once she noticed him, she looked at him with anger "What do you want piece of trash?" Drake didn't answer and came closer while looking at her, Reit raised herself and prepared a punch "If you come any closer I will send you against the first tree you jerk!" Drake was still advancing closer and so Reit punched with all her might..but missed him, whether on purpose or because she was not focused Drake could not know but he arrived in front of her looking her in the eyes "...Whatever your story might be, whatever your actions will be, whatever everybody believes of you...you are still part of my team and my family now. And no one can change that...neither you" Then he went silent, still looking at her, Reit was stunned by his words, usually they provoke each other but now...he seems to show mercy or...maybe affection? She was not sure about what to believe and, with a thousand thoughts beating her brain, she broke down and started to cry using Drake's shoulder. He just embraced her silently, letting her calm down.

### After a while, once she recovered, she left him and backed a little "Thank you...." that said he punched him in the cheek slightly, more of a caress than a punch "Still...that won't change the fact that you are a newbie in my eyes...do not forget that" Drake smiled slightly "Yeah yeah, and you will be the bossy girl, I get it" Both laughed and then silence fell once again "Let's head back Reit...I guess the others are worried about you...shall we?" Reit nodded and started walking ahead of Drake, still he was not able to walk because he was paralyzed "Tsk, how dare you interfere with what I said? She was a traitor to our kind and the cause of death of many! How can you be friend, or even care, about someone like her!?" Ryu was angry and was talking furiously against Drake, who calm, was looking at him in his subconscious "You must never again question MY actions, I decide for myself...if you want to fight her then do it with your powers...not with my body and words" Ryu stood silent and looked at him, many moments passed while the 2 kept looking at each other "Tsk, so be it, you humans are so soft sometimes....makes me puke rainbows...." That said he disappeared once again. "Drake are you coming or your legs are afraid of me?" Reit was already quite ahead and was waiting for him "Yeah yeah, I'm coming" And so they returned back calmly to the other 2 girls who were waiting them.

### Lifia was waiting outside and looking at the sky while the 2 were just returning "You did took your time..." Reit sighed "Shut up Lifia..." and with that she went inside, Iris was cooking and Drake remained With Lifia a while "She is more fragile than I thought" Lifia smiled "Do not say that in front of her...or you might see how fragile is your heard against a wall" Then she winks and heads inside as well, leaving Drake alone outside. The crimson sky was bringing the evening while Drake seated near a tree and was concentrating, mainly to communicate with Ryu which doesn't seemed to want to cooperate "Answer you big Reptile!" Drake seemed pissed "What do you want snack?" Ryu answered with the same manner as Drake "Took you long enough to answer me" "Yeah, well I do not talk to snacks" The discussion seemed to degenerate quite easily but Iris came by Drake, who was looking calm while concentrating, and smiled while seating near him "Am I disturbing you Drake?" Drake came back to his senses surprised by the voice of Iris "Woah!....ehm...ahem, no it's ok" Iris seemed troubled "I didin't mean to interrupt...should I leave you alone?" Drake shook his head in denial "No, it's ok...say Iris.." Iris smiled back "Yes? what is it?" Drake shifted his eyes to the crimson sky "Why did you fight this war?" Iris became strangely dark and her eyes fell on the ground "Ehm...I...." Drake put a hand on her shoulder "It's all right if you do not want to talk about that..." Iris sighed "Well...it's just that they are painful memories, I usually prefer to avoid this subject but, eventually, I will have to tell you my story so might as well start now..." Drake nod and focused his attention on the girl "I had a family, well not my real one, I was adopted, they loved me as their own child, I never knew my real parents...they said they found me near a trash can, strangely near their house, they didn't saw anybody coming near their house that day, still they took me in and took care of me" Drake smiled "It's good to have someone that loves you..." Iris nodded and resumed "Well...I found out to be a guardian when I reached 16, since I was little I played with a little pink cat, my now primal beast, I did not know why but...I always saw her since I was little and was my best friend. Once 16 she told me about the story of the guardians and dark creatures, it was very hard to believe it all, but then she showed me the transformation...so it was kind of difficult to ignore everything" Drake nodded while listening "Still I did not change my usual life and preferred to live on without caring about a 'war' I never heard of...I was still young and preferred to think about other things...." Her eyes began to wet while sorrow and sadness began to fill her expression and voice "Once....Once I was 18 they came and attacked my family..." Drake was listening unable to move or react surprised by her reaction "They injured my father and kidnapped my mother..." Iris tried to stop the tears from flowing "So I fought with all my strength and was able to save my father's life but my mother is still in their hands...and I do not know if she's still alive. My father went into a coma in a hospital.....and it's still there" Once finished saying that she could not stop her tears anymore and began to cry, unable to continue her story, Drake moved near to hold her and comfort her "...." he was speechless and let Iris get rid of all her sadness while cuddling her "I...I promise that we will save them, you have my word" Iris looked at him, with wet eyes, and smiled a little "Thank you....I appreciate the thought" then she put her face back on Drake's chest "May I....may I stay like this a little please?" Drake simply nod and let her rest like that until she was satisfied.

### Lifia and Reit was looking from the entrance of the house "She told again that story..." Reit nodded "It makes her cry every time...she must have really loved her parents..." Lifia sighed "Yeah and this makes her sometimes weak..." Reit seemed confused "What do you mean?" Lifia just made a vague sign with her hand "Nothing, nothing..." then went back inside to finish putting dinner on the table while Reit remained confused looking at Lifia but preferred to drop the discussion and look back at Drake and Iris, which were getting up and moving toward the house. Dinner was particularly silent that evening and neither one of the members talked much, and once over, they went to bed silently.

### Drake was a little sleepless and could now fall asleep so he began thinking about many things, he remembered his school, he was absent for a while and should go back, still the guardian life required him to leave everything but this was very hard for him to accept, inner conflicts started inside him until he fell asleep and returned to the darkness he was used to be.

### The young dragon was looking at Drake in the darkness "Stop beating yourself up with those thoughts, your previous life could be lost, accept it, you are now a guardian and cannot afford commodities like school or daily routines...you know that right?" Drake opened his eyes and looked in the darkness, even if he could not see the young dragon, he knew where to look anyway "I know, but there are things I cannot afford to abandon..." The dragon sighed "Whatever, you must accept the guardian life, this was explained to you before accepting...am I wrong?" Drake looked down "Yes..." Ryu nodded "Then you know that this is reality and must accept it, my father said that there is a powerful evil there, so there is a chance that you will have to keep going there to find the source and eliminate it, but keep in mind, once the work is done, you will have to leave and erase the memory of the ones that knows you, for their sake at least" Drake nodded sadly "I know...it's just that it's quite sudden, plus...I thought I would never return" A moment of silence fell between the 2 "Well...I will see what I must do once I will be there" Ryu sighed again "I suggest you take a decision before...because once there...you might not be able to take one clearly or to fight focused enough if this keeps bugging you" Drake nodded "I...I will think about it" Ryu nodded "Then good rest young guardian" and so he disappeared once again and Drake fell into a deep slumber, sleeping till morning.
Chapter 5: Between Past and Future

### The morning began quite well when, Reit, tried to wake up Drake up with her delicate style "Hey sleepy head! Wake up already!" but Drake was in a deep sleep and ignored her until she decided to turn the bed and throw him out of it forcefully, waking up Drake pretty much instantly "What the....are you crazy?" Reit laughed "That teaches you to wake up when I ask you and to not oversleep" Drake got up pretty pissed "Why did you throw me out of bed like that?" Reit smiled happily "Training time punk! You and me, after breakfast!" Drake was kinda perplexed "Why? In more than one way, why?" Reit laughed again "Because that's how it works. Now take your butt over there and let's eat so we can begin our morning training!" Drake sighed and decided to not argue anymore, especially since he was not in the mood thanks to the harsh awakening.

### Iris and Lifia were waiting at the table and watching Drake coming out of the room "Sorry Drake...we could not stop her" Iris smiled perplexed while Lifia simply was preparing her bowl, completely indifferent. Drake just sighed and nodded while taking a seat, starting to eat together with the others. The only one really happy seemed Reit which finished first and was waiting for the others, especially for Drake, so she could began her training. Once outside, Lifia seated on the grass near the house, waiting for the show to begin while Iris stood against a wall ready to intervene in case of need, especially knowing that Reit tends to overdo it. Drake sighed "Well then...what's the plan?" Reit stood in front of him and simply grinned at him "EMBODY!" and so she transformed looking at him with deadly eyes "Show me what you got...young noble and divine dragon guardian" The irony in her voice and taunts were clearly aimed at Ryu, more than at Drake anyway. He then looked toward Iris "Do I have to fight her?" Iris just nodded seriously "...." Drake was a little perplexed and did not know what to do, still, pushed by Ryu's wrath, he decided to go with it "EMBODY!" Drake's body began to change, his eyes changed shape, his body began to fortify and increase in size, his muscles reinforced themselves, claws began to grow and his skin started to reflect the light around with the tiny scales that were growing.

### Drake was ready to fight, his dragon form was complete and he got in a fight posture "Let's do this ursine, so we might see how you will shut up once I finished you!" It was more Ryu than Drake's talk and, even if he still was in control, the overflowing rage could not be contained by him and could not stop Ryu from letting him do how he pleased. Reit didn't even answer, she started to rush him with fury, Drake prepared himself with a defensive posture, trying his best to get a solid stand against her strength which he already tasted and saw in action. Reit attacks were fast and strong, powerful blows were flying against Drake's defense and her furious hits were barely blocked by Drake's skills, the 2 were engaged in a fast paced fight which few were able to see. Drake was more or less only defending "Answer to her attacks boy! You cannot defend forever!" Ryu's words were hard but true, he was getting weary by defending himself against such powerful blows. "Enough..." Drake's voice came like a silent thunder when he began to answer back Reit's assault, but Reit was able to see his attacks, blocking or evading them, but she was not able to attack anymore. The fight was getting pretty tight when they began both to attack and block each other blows, Drake seemed pretty much in trouble and began to miss some of Reit's attacks, getting hit pretty badly, until a strong kick sent him sliding back a few meters and, while he was recovering a little, began to feel the pressure of the fatigue. Reit stopped to mock him, seeming quite disappointed "That all you got Dragon? I was expecting more..." Then she began to walk toward him "I cannot understand...why can't I use all my powers?" Drake, and Ryu alike, seemed quite frustrated but Reit was approaching fast and, when near enough to him, her eyes began to grow dark and bloody "Now you will pay for all your words useless specie..." And so prepared a punch enveloped by a red energy, quite dangerous to everyone's eyes. Drake was surprised and didn't knew what to do and, once Reit started to throw her attack, he just closed his eyes. The blow never came and only one word could be heard "EMBODY!" Iris was in front of Drake, blocking her attack with all her might, looking Reit in her eyes "Stop now! It's enough" Reit already lost it and jumped back a little "DO NOT INTERFERE!" she began attacking Iris with all her strength, Lifia was simply watching and did not interfered at all.

### Drake was stunned to see the 2 fighting and could not do nothing for a while, Iris was fighting Reit with ease, knowing her moves and being faster than her, but her blows were hard to block "Stop it Reit! It's over! Calm yourself down!" Reit didn't answer and launched a strong energy attack which sent Iris flying back. Drake's heart began pounding hard, seeing Iris being hit that hard and sent flying by her friend, his fury began to raise and his senses disappeared, no sound or image could be felt anymore by him "YOU WILL PAY!" A huge energy began to manifest around Drake, exploding with raging strength, making Drake disappear and reappear in front of Reit and, in an instant, a punch sent Reit against the trees, breaking tree of 3 of them and leaving her on the ground covered by wood and stunned by the powerful attack suffered. Lifia was genuinely surprised by that discharge of energy and moved fast to put herself in front of Drake, who was still engulfed in the powerful silver energy but, after seeing Lifia, he began to return to himself "It's over Drake..." Lifia said those words with supreme calm, Iris in the meanwhile recovered in mid air and landed safely but was stunned by the scene and could not say anything, proceeding toward Drake.

### After Drake calmed down, which made that huge energy disperse, Iris and Lifia went to check on Reit. Drake was looking at his hands speechless, Reit was able to recover her senses but was dazed, not believing what happened both to her and to Drake. Drake was still looking at his hands, almost afraid of them, until Iris came near him and tried to put a hand on his shoulder but he immediately retreated himself away from her once he felt the hand "I am a monster...this power hurts! It does not protect!" Iris was a little surprised but sighed and tried to calm him down "Drake...it's complicated, what can hurt can also save, power is good or evil based on how you use it" "But I just lost control! A second ago I could not even land a single hit on Reit..." Iris smiled gently and sweetly "She is much more experienced, she knows how to fight and she's a born warrior too, her kind is known for searching fights and train against the best foes" Drake seemed more confused than before "Why did you fight then? She hit you! Is that kind of power supposed to protect someone? By attacking teammates? Attacking your family? And by having rage riot like mine or hers?" Iris seemed a little troubled "It's not the first time Drake...you see" Reit came back from where she landed and cut through the discussion "That rage can be guide if you know how to control yourself. It's not your enemy if you don't fight it and let if flow but guiding it where you wish it. I'm a special case...and let's leave it at that, still that was a good hit, but you must train more..." Her voice was neither provocative nor ironic, she seemed terribly serious, like rarely happens "You cannot fight no one like that, and your powers are still weak..." That said she started to walk toward the forest, ignoring anything else. Iris sighs once again "You see...her kind, the ursine berserker, are known for having this power known as 'berserk' or, simply, fury. This power makes them attack friends and foes alike, usually Reit can guide that rage against the enemy but it's not the first time she cannot control herself. We usually must stop her and force her back to her senses. It's strange but, this time, it wasn't Reit's rage but rather her primal beast one..." Drake looked toward the direction Reit took and just didn't knew what to think, Iris saw his discomfort and so she took his hand and smiled "Do not be afraid of your power, you used it to protect me and I appreciate that, thank you. That proves that you can guide your power for good purposes, it's natural that your rage made you react like that. It's strange how you reacted and how you gathered so much energy but...you are not dangerous...trust me" She smiled again sweetly and made Drake calm down.

### Ryu, in the meanwhile, was trying to understand why he could not use his powers to their fullest, while also listening to Iris communicating with Drake, and one thought worried him "Our kind is known to being able, on the pitch of our rage and when strong sentiments strike, to enter a rage and act like a primitive animal, attacking everything on our sight. This usually happens at adult or ancient dragons in their animal form and rarely happens when with a guardian...which makes me worry a little" Drake nod "I see, then I must pay attention on how I use my powers" Ryu snorted "What power? Didn't you see that we could not even hit the ursine?" Drake seemed more concerned about the rage part "Whatever..." Ryu sighed and dropped the argument, starting to meditate by himself and leaving Drake to his thoughts.

### Reit was walking in the forest concentrated on herself to talk to his primal beast "Why did you do that? I told you already to stop going berserk without reason!" "Tsk, shut up little girl, I choose how to use my powers and, besides, it wasn't without reason!" "Then tell me the reason!" "It's my business, now stop speaking...you are annoying me!" "Why you...!" Reit's attention was distracted all of a sudden by Lifia's sneaking after her "Strange moment to use your powers Reit, what happened?" Reit sighed "I dunno, I just wanted to punch him so hard...I wanted to really hurt him, but I still miss the reason behind it..." Lifia looked at the sky between the leaves of the trees "I see. Might it be the rivalry between your primal beast and Drake's?" Reit stopped all of a sudden and recalled all the things that happened between him and Drake, relating them with the story of the ursines "You...you might be right" Then she began to concentrate "Hey you!" "What else do you want?" "Is it true what Lifia said?" the big bear just shrug and nod "Now that you got your answer, leave me alone!" Lifia just stood on a tree looking at Reit "Well?" Reit just nodded "This seemed to be the reason, I guess. Still, even with all of this, he went past the limit" Reit punched a tree "I already told him to never do this! Still, he insists to do what he wants!" Lifia just smiled "Well...happens often that primal beasts and guardians argue at the beginning but, if you do not know to understand each other, you will never be able to grow and achieve the other stages of transformation" Reit nodded annoyed "I know, I know already..." Lifia was looking at her from a branch "Well then...I'll leave you be" she then jumped away using tree branches and disappeared in the forest, leaving Reit alone.

### In the evening, the 4 gathered at the table to eat, everyone except Reit which was still out. "Shouldn't we search for her?" Drake seemed a little concerned but Iris just smiled "No, She is all right, she just wishes a little lone time to meditate and think, leave her be" Drake nodded unsure "If you say so...anyway, tomorrow I'm gonna go back to school" Iris and Lifia were kinda surprised "You are a guardian, you cannot resume your old life like nothing happened Drake, you knew that when you accepted the way of the guardians..." Drake nod again to Lifia's saying "But still, the supreme guardian said that there is evil there, there are still people I care for and I cannot let them suffer or be targeted by the enemy. I want to destroy the evil there and erase their memory of me...I guess it's the best..." Iris stood silent while Lifia nodded "As you wish, we will accompany you as your friends and transfer students...I will take care of the things there. We will stay in the same class and check the situation and, once over, I will take care of our 'disappearance' so to speak" Drake nod and started eating together with the others while thinking about tomorrow.

### Reit came back late and was informed by Lifia about the new plan and, even if she wasn't much all right with it, she agreed to join in, hoping to fight the evil there. The next morning, Drake, as well as the other girls, prepared the necessary to go to Drake's school. The girls used an uniform gathered by Lifia, she even fixed the matter about their presence in the school. Reit felt uncomfortable with the uniform and decided to dress more casual using jeans instead of the skirt. The 4 went toward the school and were talking casually. For the period in which they will be at school they decided to stay at Drake's place which was big enough for all the 4 of them...with some little adjustments. On the way to the school, a girl, sad and out of energy, was walking toward school looking on the ground, but a voice woke her up and made her look up in front of her, her face brightening up seeing Drake. She started running toward the voice but stopped when she saw other 3 girls near him and watched almost hypnotized the scene of them 4 talking together in a friendly manner. She decided to reach him once again "Drake?" The young man turned his face and smiled troubled "Hey Talah, long time no see..." Talah came in front of him and gave him a slap on the cheek "Where have you been?! You know how much you made me worry!?! You could at least call me or something before disappearing like that!" Drake was troubled and didn't know how to answer but that's when Iris stepped in, a little pissed for the slap she gave him, and answered "Sorry, I don't think we know each other" she forcefully smiled "I am Iris, a transfer student and old friend of Drake, we transferred here for a period and will be staying at his place for this exchange project. The reason he missed is because he went to get us and helped us settle in, giving us a tour of the city and, since it was kind of sudden, he could not warn anybody" then smiled again "By the way, these are Lifia and Reit, also transfer student and friends of Drake" Talah was confused and stunned by the story and looked at Drake with a confused expression "You never told me about this friends of yours, is this all true Drake?" Drake just nodded when all the 4 girls looked at him waiting an answer, so Talah just nod back "I...I see. Why did you never told me about them?" Drake was a little troubled "Well, I know you get mad easily...so I preferred to don't bother you with old friends I had, hehe....so yeah, that's why anyway...it doesn't matter anyway, it's getting late, we must hurry" That said he started to walk toward the school, almost running, trying to run from Talah. Iris Lifia and Reit followed him "Bye Talah" Iris smiled at her while the other 2 just waved a goodbye and went toward the school. Talah was looking blankly at them going away and was starting to feel almost empty about all of this, his beloved Drake was with other 3 girls, friends, which will stay at his place too. It seemed almost a bad dream from which she could not wake up.

### In class, the 3 new girls, were greeted by all the other student: many were stunned by Lifia's figure and careless behavior, she refused any invitation from any guy and preferred to stay on her own rather than having company; most feared Reit who was quite violent and carefree and some teased Iris which resorted to Drake's protection but, one person, was depressed on her desk in the class, that being Talah who still could not believe what was happening. After days of absence, he now returns like this, she went to his place everyday to check if he was all right, called him many times uselessly and searched for him many days without rest and now...he returned like nothing...it was almost like a bad joke for her. Far away, on a building, a dark figure smiled satisfied looking at the school "Oh, I see now, this will be fun, very very fun...." Then disappeared in thin air laughing.

### Once the day of school ended, Talah tried to talk to Drake for more explanations but he was still surrounded by the 3 girls which seemed to not leave him alone, she was frustrated by this but could not do nothing for now and preferred to wait the next day in the hope to find him alone. Drake and the others went to his home "Long time since I've been here..." Drake looked at the walls and rooms like it was ages since he was there, it was understandable after everything that happened "This is a nice place Drake, we might use it as a base instead of the cabin, it might be a little more in sight but could be a excellent place to keep an eye on the city, we could not find a good place and had some difficulty staying in the city since the many battles we had, and it was difficult to hide ourselves or rest properly. But this could be a better solution" Drake nodded "Well yes...I live here alone so it's all right, I do not mind at all..." Iris smiled back while Reit prepared the place for all of them to rest and done proper furniture moving for the place to be suited for all of them. Lifia began cooking dinner while the other 3 just rested a little on the big couch "I forgot how difficult is to go to school..." Iris sighed tired while Reit just laughed it off "I had fun, I slept most of the time, at least until that teacher woke me up. The gym classes were awesome, also all the guys watched me for some reason..." Drake laughed "Of course, they never saw a girl beating them in almost all activities like that! You may have some fans from now on!" Iris laughed while Lifia, who was preparing dinner, called the 3 "It's all ready..." The 3 got up and sit at the table, starting to eat and discussing about the day that passed. In that night, Talah could not sleep well because of the thoughts that were filling her head, the nightmares she had also contributed in waking her up most of the night. A dark presence seemed to enjoy her torment and was laughing silently looking at her suffering.

### The next morning Talah went to school looking almost like a zombie, she wasn't feeling well and had few, if none, hours of sleep but Drake was busy with the other girls to notice her and, with the intent of searching for the evil infesting the school, he did not notice what was happening with her. But Talah noticed that...and this only made her condition worse. Another day passed at school but the guardians found nothing about the evil that Ryu's father talked about, Talah went home unnoticed and collapsed on the bed, she was unable to sleep but unable to stay up or do anything else. Every drop of energy she had vanished and a dark presence appeared in her room and smiled satisfied "Well well, a poor little soul has lost his way" Talah looked at the dark figure but was too weak to react "Who are you?" The dark figure once again smiled "A friend...who wants to help you get revenge on those bitches that stole your beloved one from you..." Talah was speechless and could not say anything back "Leave yourself go to me little one, I will take good care of you" The dark figure started to laugh while a dark shadow began to swallow Talah.

### The next morning, Drake and the others went to school, again with the intention of searching all day for the evil lying inside the school, Talah did not came to school that day and none noticed her absence, except for one of the friends who usually talks to her, but ignored it thinking it might be a flue. After all the searching, the group rendezvous on the school's roof "So...you found anything?" The girls shook their head in denial "Well...I guess it's pointless searching anymore, we looked and analyzed every place we could. Maybe the darkness disappeared or is well hidden and it's best if we wait for it to show up I guess" Everybody agreed with the idea but someone else entered the discussion "Interesting idea, I say you try harder instead ahahaha!" all 4 looked around trying to find the source of the voice but none had success "Ah, do not bother searching, my little puppets, I will show myself if I want to, for now know this...you will have a lot of fun the next days...or at least I will have for sure...bwahahah!" And like that the voice disappeared, as well as the dark presence he cast upon the group "Damn...him again" Reit began to clench her fist "Again?" Drake seemed curios "Yeah, he's the one that put us in trouble when you began being a guardian with that giant creature you defeated. He's also the one that would like to have me as his personal pet...he finds me charming....but I will find him and kick his ass so hard that he will remember my lesson forever!" Reit began to lose control but Lifia and Iris calmed her down "No purpose to get angry now Reit, he's gone" Iris nod too "Yeah calm down" She smiled sweetly "Try to relax...we will get him don't worry. But I am curios what he meant by 'having fun' in the next days..." Drake shook his head "No idea, we should be careful...for now let's go home. But stay on alert". The 4 went home after school. No one attacked them on the way home and neither at home but they still decided to take shifts and keep an eye out.

### The next day though, Talah's friend, warned Drake about her absence and began to get worried, she would not answer her phone and neither was home for when they checked on her and began to worry. Drake began to think about Talah, which he ignored for the past few days, but could not remember nothing strange since he was not paying much attention, busy searching the school. After trying to call her, without success, he proposed himself to check on her after school. The day was quite simple and went by normally, except for Drake's worries that began to grow little by little thinking about Talah. After school he went to Talah's home but she wont answer the door and, after some tries, he decided to go home, thinking about where could she be and starting to worry seriously about her. The late hour made him decide to resume the matter in the next morning.

### In the next morning, the pressing matter of the new enemy and the disappearance of Talah, seemed a little too much to worry about for the group so they decided to do a meeting before going to school and decide on a plan. "All right, we need to organize ourselves and split to solve the matters at hand" Drake watched the girls reaction but all 3 were paying attention to him and waiting for his next words "Good, someone must keep an eye on the school in case something happens while, the others, should search for Talah. I know it might be nothing...but I am starting to worry about her, please be careful everybody and eyes peeled. Iris and Lifia will go to school, the strange figure seems focused on Reit so it might be best for her to avoid the place for now. Also, Lifia and Iris, you can help much faster than the both of us in case something happens in the school. In the meanwhile, me and Reit, will take care of searching the city and known places in the attempt to find Talah" Reit sighed "I guess I'm stuck with the newbie. Very well then...but, why are you so worried about her?" Drake stood a little silent, everybody in the room wanted to know an answer "Well...I guess she was one of the few people that I care and who cared about me. I kinda forgot about her in the past days, too busy with the danger in the school to do so. I guess it's my fault too that she disappeared like that...." Reit, as well as the others, nod. Iris seemed a little off "Something wrong Iris?" Drake was a little worried about her too "Y...yeah, I was wondering...do you love that girl?" Lifia and Reit were stunned at the question, Drake was not different but he still managed to answer "She loves me...that I know for sure, but I never saw here as a possible choice. It's true that I care a lot about her, but for me she's an important person, but not in that way..." Iris seemed a little relieved but did not give herself away and, like that, the matter seemed solved "Very well then, let's go and take care of business!" that said, they departed to take care of the matter at hand.

### Lifia and Iris departed for school like the days before, trying to be cautious about everything they could see and hear, in the meanwhile, Drake and Reit started searching a few points, pinpointed by Drake, to be common places where Talah could be. He went to the mall and she went to the train station. The girls arrived at school and everything seemed normal and quiet, the everyday normal activities were going on with no problems and, seeing the quiet atmosphere, they decided to participate to a few hours of lessons. Drake arrived at the mall, and being a sunny day, everybody was doing shopping or having a walk inside of it and, considering it's size, it has quite some entertainments to offer so many hang out there. He began searching for Talah everywhere but she was nowhere to be found. But he did not gave up and went on searching for her in different locations. Reit in the meanwhile arrived at the station and started searching here and there, hoping to find Talah, but no sign of her. She was kinda hard to found but, even so, she didn't gave up as well, knowing the value of that person to Drake. While Drake began to search the city, heading to the next spot, Reit was distracted by a strange light between some houses and decided to investigate. Once there, a strong light blinded her for a few seconds and, just moments later, a strong attack made her fly against the wall. Once she came out of the wall, she saw a dark figure, a human shaped figure covered completely in darkness and with 2 blades instead of hands, 2 bloody eyes that resembled those of the lust of fury she has once at the peak of her berserker mode. With no moment to lose, she transformed "EMBODY!" the transformation ended and she was ready to fight. The figure dashed like the wind against Reit and started attacking her with incredible strength and speed, incredible even for her. Only Iris or Lifia could match such speed. For her was a little too much so she lost patience after several attacks she endured and started to answer back with similar rage while her fists began to be engulfed by a red energy that made them stronger, her eyes began to blank and she started to attack like a whirlwind the enemy, making it slide back with every hit. Reit was attacking with all her strength the creature and, although it was receiving such punishment, was still up and kicking, attacking back, but the rage of Reit seemed to wear off once she saw that her attacks were kind of useless and did not achieve much with them. The dark creature used an opening on her defense to strike a terrible blow on Reit, sending her sliding "Grr...What are you? Why, and how, do you keep fighting like this after all those hits?" The beast was just shouting strange noises once in a while but never stopped fighting and, while it was getting near, Reit was trying to recover her position to resume fighting but a figure appeared in front of her "Missed me?" Drake smiled while giving an amused look at Reit "Shut up..." Then she regain her composure and got ready to fight once again, side to side with Drake, which was transformed and came to help once noticed the commotion and energy discharges.

### Drake started to attack the creature, with every hit forcing it to retreat a little, but it never counter attacked and avoided when possible his hits. Drake stopped his attacks and slide back a little "Why does it just stand there?" Reit was getting ready to attack " I dunno, either your attacks are too weak or something happened...because trust me, it is everything but weak or quiet that little fellow" That said, she began attacking but the creature answered back with all its power and started again fighting with her "Tck.." Reit retreated after a while and looked at the creature "See? I dunno why but it seems that it wants to fight me mainly..." Drake was perplexed by the creature's reaction "Then let me fight it, you recover your strength. You might needed it." Reit nodded "All right but don't get too cocky" Drake smirked back and started attacking again but the beast unleashed a strange shout and, once again, did not answer any of the blows it got from him, it only tried to avoid or block them with a very good success rate too. Other than that it would not do anything else "Damn it, we can't hit it like this" Ryu was frustrated "I know! I am seeing that...but we don't seem to be able to do more, that all you got Ryu?!" The dragon began to get angry "No! Of course not, but I cannot seem to be able to use my full powers and I cannot understand why!" Drake just sighed "No use to think about it now. Let's give it our all!" Ryu nodded and started to focus again on the battle but with poor results nonetheless.

### In the meanwhile, Iris and Lifia felt Reit's call and alarm about the enemy "Reit is in trouble, we should go and help them" Lifia nodded and prepared themselves to go toward them but a voice blocked them instantly "Where are you going ladies?" The same black figure appeared again in front of them and smirked "I guess you should stay and have some fun with me instead. Your friends are having some fun with one of my little creatures" Iris and Lifia looked at each other and lose no time "EMBODY" Both transformed right away and prepared themselves for attack "Oho, no losing time hm? Very well" The dark figure raises his hand in the air and a puddle of darkness covered the 2 guardian's feet. Lifia jumped in time but Iris got stuck in the puddle and darkness started climbing on her little by little "Ehehehe...I hope you enjoy it because, once you will be swallowed...you will be doomed!" A green energy rose from below and a triangular shaped energy blasted the enemy "Shut up!!" Lifia began attacking it with strategic blows and magic attacks to keep him busy while Iris still struggled to free herself from the puddle "Dammit...." Her primal beast whispered calm "Use my special power Iris" "But...but it's very tiring and energy consuming to use, especially since it's not yours...." The primal beast nod "I know, but we do not have any other chances" Iris nodded "I invoke the sacred tiger's power, SACRED LIGHT!" Iris's fur began to release a powerful pink glow which melted the darkness almost instantly and allowed her to break free in an instant. But the usage of a that technique left her on a knee recovering energy and air. Lifia kept attacking, mainly to keep the figure busy and allow Iris some recovery time. The dark figure was skilled in avoiding her attacks and counter-attacked at the first occasion with a darkness energy sphere which sent Lifia flying back in pain "Ngh....your attacks are quite strong" The dark figure grinned "Of course they are, I am not a simple little wimp like the ones you fought till now. Hah! you are dead now" Then with one hand he started focusing his energy into a giant sphere of darkness while the 2 guardians were out of options "Iris...can you sustain that technique?" Iris nodded "Barely I guess...but we will use it to it's full extension this time" Lifia nod and they both started to concentrate together "DUAL FELINE ATTACK!" The 2 began to shift their form into a sphere of light and began charging the dark figure, attacking him furiously. Unable to defend himself, and surprised by the attack, he got damaged enough and disappear in thin air "That was....too easy" "No time to discuss Lifia, off we go like this because I won't be able to keep it up for long.." The 2 nod and started to speed up toward Reit in the duo feline form at immense speed.

### Drake was getting tired attacking and his attacks began to be slower and weaker, the monster never fought back and avoided every hit with ease "Why it does not attack?" Drake stopped attacking and looked at the creature while regaining his breath and energy "Damn, I am tired..." Reit in the meanwhile recovered some energy "Let's switch" Drake nodded "All right" Drake began to back off while Reit began attacking, but once that happens, the creature began to answer her attacks and gave her a hard time "What the..." Drake was surprised and didn't know what to do, he was too tired to attack further but the creature was obviously superior to Reit's raw power. The creature then stopped all of a sudden "D...D.....DREAKKK!" A high pitched shout went out from the beast and Drake seemed to know that voice, it had something familiar but he could not understand what was it.

### Reit got the chance to attack him and hit it hard, sending it flying against another wall "That's it! Good one Reit" Reit smirked but the beast got back up and started to dash again against Reit but, at half road, 2 energy sphere attacked the creature and caused it to slide back with each hit. Once the attack was getting weaker, the 2 spheres retreated near Drake and Iris and Lifia made their appearance, both tired "That's one strong creature...what is it?" Drake shook his head "Can't say, but it seems to attack only Reit" Iris and Lifia were pretty surprised "How so?" Drake shook his head again, then Lifia tried to attack the creature, which was recovering a little from the numerous attacks received before by the powerful dual feline form but, in a second, it counter-attacked back and sent Lifia flying back "It seems it hates me too..." Drake nodded "Seems I am the only one that it doesn't attack...but I am a little tired to do that..." "Ahahahah how are doing my little puppets?" The dark figure again appeared out of nowhere and stood floating over the group "You again? But we saw you vanish!" he then simply laughed "Fools! that was just a little dark copy of me, a mere tool to keep you occupied a little. But it seems that I underestimated you since you made it here so fast, it doesn't matter though, the little sweetie there will take care of you" Then he grinned widely while looking at the group.

### Drake was getting pretty angry "What is that thing? And why it doesn't attack me?what do you want from us?" "Oh? It does not attack you? It must still have some feelings for you maybe..." Drake was stunned "F..feelings?" The dark figure laughed "You still did not noticed it? What a fool you are! That one is your little friend which you forgot and ignored for all these days while she desperately tried to look for you and get your attention and love. She was soooo sweetly depressed when she saw you with other girls, ignoring her, that she broke down and began to get revenge...with a little help from me" Drake then realized what was that shout before, it was Talah calling for him "T...talah?" The monster just looked at him with his deadly red eyes "Is that you?" The dark figure laughed again "How fun is this!? Let me heat the party though, Cause I believe it's kind of cold here" That said he sent a flying dark energy ray toward the creature which shouted deeply when hit and, after a little smoke that came out of it dissipated, it began attacking with superior fury Reit and sent her flying away "NRGHHH!" The creature was obviously out of it's mind and began attacking Lifia and Iris too and, even if tired, they tried to keep it occupied "Damn it...STOP IT TALAH!" The beast still ignored Drake's voice and kept attacking the 2 tired guardians.

### The dark figure laughed once again "Ahahah this is such a beautiful show! I really enjoy things like this, now die like the little worms you are!" Drake began to focus his energy again "Ryu, I know you don't like me, I know I am not the guardian you wish me to be but...I need all your power to protect my new family and my old one too...I do not care with what price, give me your power" Ryu was silently looking at him "Doesn't matter the price?" Drake nod and Ryu just smiled, but then Lifia and Iris were sent on the ground by the beast's attack. The beast began focusing Drake shortly after "Damn..." He began to defend itself but the hits of the creature were hard and difficult to block and too fast to avoid. Reit began to raise herself while limping a little "Damn...Hey you!" her primal beast looked at her with fiery eyes "What do you want?" "I know that you felt betrayed by the dragon clan, I know how you feel about their way to treat your clan....but I need you to share more power, share all you have with me, give me the power to protect them...p....please!" The primal beast was surprised by the beg of Reit "You know, my family began attacking themselves while I was little, they battled each other like savage beasts and were on the verge of attacking me too if the chaos didn't started outside too...I saw trusted friends attacking me, as well as others, without any kind of remorse or feelings...since that day I never trusted no one. I chose you because we are similar, but it doesn't mean I must do what you want" Reit sighed "I know how you felt, you said it yourself...I am similar to you, I know how it feels to be betrayed and attacked like that, believe me when I say that. I know what you felt back then, and even if you don't believe me, please have faith in me and help me protect my family! you could not do that, you were young and could not do much to avoid any of that, but these people, they...they are different, they are my only family, please don't let the story happen again, give me the power to protect them and do what you could not....giving them a chance" The primal beast went silent for a few moments "Hmpf...I dunno why I listen to you sometimes...so be it, I will have faith in YOU, and YOU only! For now let it be enough" Reit nod and smiled "Thank you....I owe you one old bear!" The primal beast just smirked back. A powerful light engulfed Reit's body "TRANSFORMATION!" The light began to change Reit's body, the fur began to expand more, the tail and ears were a little bigger, his claws began to grow and glow with a little red light, starting to get sharper and pointy like a blade, her muscles and body began to grow and doubling in size and her eyes began to shine of a red color. "What the dark damn it's happening?" the dark figure was surprised by the light and looked it's way. In seeing the new Reit, he grinned "Interesting my little pet...." Reit instantly punched the creature that was beating up Drake and sent it flying back quite some space "Tch, you ok?" Drake nodded slightly "Thanks...what happened to you?" Reit smirked "Second form....take care of Iris and Lifia, I'm gonna take care of business..." that said she dashed against the creature and started attacking it with new speed and power, which the beast was unable to beat, and was getting a heck of a beating by Reit. In the meanwhile Drake shouted "Reit do not kill it! That's Talah!" Reit sighed and stopped attacking "Then think of a plan because like this we won't solve anything..." Drake nod while the dark figure laughed "Think fast little puppets!" and then he sent a dark sphere toward Lifia and Iris which were recovering from the hard beating they got before and were unable to move from there. Reit, like a thunder, reached them and protected them from the attack "I cannot fight in 2 places Drake!" "I know, I know!" The dark figure smiled "Let's see how much punishment you can suffer before going unconscious!" The figure began to shoot more energy spheres, the creature began to attack Reit as well who was struggling to keep them both under control with little results. Lifia and Iris retreated a little but were unable to do anything "Drake....we cannot fight like this, take our energy and help Reit!" Drake was surprised "Your energy?" Iris nodded "We can give energy to one another but it's usually not the best idea cause it worn us out in case we give too much and can even lose the transformation, still...me and Lifia are too tired to fight. You are still in shape for it, please help her" Drake nodded and concentrated himself while Lifia and Iris transferred their energy to him. A strange sensation of warmness began to fill Drake's body and a strange sensation of darkness too, but it was too little to be felt and he began to feel better and his energy rising again.

"Let's go!" Drake began attacking the creature to give Reit a hand but the creature tacked him off easily and attacked again Reit with fury "Damn it...Ryu!" The young dragon was looking at Drake "You know? You remind me why I choose you. I had a strict dad, he taught me about the dragon clan and how high and powerful we are, superior to other clans, sacred and holy, we must not confuse ourselves with the others, even if we fight side by side, we are guiding them like a clan leader or something like that...but now, now I see an ursine, considered traitors by many...defending us while getting hit just to protect us. This is not what I knew about them....maybe my father is wrong about some things, maybe he is just old fashioned from that old war. Now I know what you want to protect Drake....and you will have my aid" Drake nod. Iris and Lifia transformed back and went unconscious after giving all their energy to Drake. Drake started to recall all his strength and power, this time he could gather the fully potential of his form "Finally my full powers!Seems that we needed just to agree more and fight both for a reason Drake..." Drake nod and smiled "Let's get em!" Ryu nodded as well and so they dash against the dark creature, blocking it with both his arms "Time for payback!" Reit, now free from one pressure, could focus on the dark figure's attacks and fight back. She began to get near him by jumping on the building while avoiding his attacks "I'm coming for you, you bastard!" "How can you have so much energy left after all those attacks you took?" Reit smirked "Never underestimate a ursine berserk's power!" Then she began attacking him with all her strength and, even if he blocked most of the hits, the few hits that got him made him go back "Grr...damn you! You are lucky that I am unprepared and tired...but I will be back!" Then he disappeared in thin air while Reit was left shouting at the wind "COME BACK!! COWARD!" she sighed once she understood that he was gone and started to reunite with Drake which was holding the dark creature with his new strength.

### The 2 were almost having a strength contest, trying to push one another to get the advantage "Talah, please wake up! I am Drake, I came to search for you, please come back wherever you are!" The beast flinched a little and a voice came out of the monster "D...Drake, you....you....YOU BETRAYED ME!" The voice began to angrily shout at him "I was worried that you disappeared! I searched for you! I was worried! And what did you do? You came back after days with 3 girls and ignored me all this time!? I HATE YOU!!" Drake began to lose ground under his anger and power rising "Ngh...well....I...I didnt! I know you love me Talah, and it's true that I can't return that same love that you give me, but I came to search for you, I ignored you because I wanted to search for the darkness inside the school and avoid other victims. I just wanted to protect everyone, especially you. You...were my only family for a long time Talah, you were always there, even when I didn't wanted to. You took care of me since we were younger, and stood by my side for a long time, I know I cannot love you as you do, still you are precious to me and won't allow anyone to hurt you, I will sacrifice myself if needed and, if it's revenge you wish, then take it!" Drake retreated a little from the beast and opened his arms "Give me all you got and get your revenge! I am the cause of all this and I am going to pay the price if needed!" The creature began attacking Drake while he did not tried to block anything, the attacks were a lot weaker than before and were not hurting Drake as much, the attacks were getting slower too and, after a while, they began to be slower and slower, then Reit arrived but Drake said firmly "DO NOT interfere Reit! Let her get her revenge of me, I made her suffer like this!" Reit was unsure on what to do, but the creature stopped attacking him and stood silently to look at the injured Drake.

### Moments of silence filled the place, Reit was ready to attack in case the creature resumed its attacks, but that never happened because the creature embraced Drake and began to melt little by little. In that moment, a girl crying, emerged from the darkness and Drake embraced her, hugging her back while comforting her "It's all right, it's over" Talah began to cry without refrain and gave everything she had while the darkness melt away and faded into emptiness. After a while Iris and Lifia recovered their senses thanks to the little energy they received from Reit. Drake was embracing Talah which was still in shock and crying "I...I..." she was unable to speak properly and resumed to bury her face into Drake's chest. Drake smiled sweetly "It's all right, I know you didn't meant this to happened..." "But...even last time..." Drake put a finger on her lips "I know. Like I said, it's not your fault, it's mine, and I am sorry for ignoring you, I won't hurt you anymore, I promise" Talah nodded silently while her tears stopped pouring. Reit, Lifia and Iris stood to watch from afar, they didn't wanted to interfere, it was not necessary but Iris knew what she had to do once that was over. Drake smiled again "I know what you feel but I guess this is the best solution" Talah looked at him "What solution?" "I am sorry, this is the only way to protect you" and so he kissed her sweetly like she always wished, a farewell kiss, a kiss that seemed to bother quite a lot the young Iris who looked away and sighed with sorrow. Once Drake departed from her and smiled, Iris put a hand on Talah's head and began to erase her memories of Drake. All except for that little kiss, she left it like a dreamy kiss from her white knight, even if she didn't liked it, she knew what it meant for her and respected that. Drake and the others put the sleepy Talah back to bed and retreated to recover their energy, Drake still unsure if that was the best choice.

### The next morning Talah woke up and started to dress up for school as usual, a strange emptiness filled her heart in her walk toward the school, someone was missing "Hi" a person smiled and greeted her on the street and, when she looked at that figure, it seemed to her someone she could not remember, a familiar figure, an important person she could not focus on but, after a while, she resumed walking again toward school and start her daily routine. Drake stopped in a dark alley and looked at the floor with sorrow "Drake...this is the best solution, you know that as well" Drake nod "I know, but I will miss them, especially Talah" Ryu nodded as well " I know, but you made the right choice, let's go...." Drake began to slowly walk back to his new hideout, returning back to the team which withdraw from school, erasing everybody's memory of them and Drake to avoid putting them in danger again.
Chapter 6: The Dark One and His Helper

"You could avoid using so much power when hitting me you know?" The dark figure starts to slowly massage his right arm while looking at a precise point of a room in a remote location. 2 eyes opened slowly from the darkness "It was necessary, master, for it to seem real. Bear with the pain" the dark figure smirked lightly "I do not feel pain from so little, anyway...how is the situation with the group?" the shadow nods lightly "They are still unaware of me and the situation seems to be going as planned. Other than some skirmishes, they are pretty much weak and useless" the dark figure nods back "Very well, keep me updated and try not to be caught" The shadow nods and disappears in an instant while the dark figure started smiling alone in the room.

### Drake and the others were training in the new arranged place they managed to organize as per their needs. The kitchen was refurnished, Drake's room was arranged to be able to host all of the team, the living room was made into a sort of training room which allowed them to hone their skills for the next battle. The other rooms where used for whatever other needs they had or came up along the way.

### Drake was sitting on a couch, looking outside the window with Reit near him training. "Something wrong kiddo? You seem a little off today..." Drake smiled faintly "Just thinking...I am kind of sad about Talah, maybe I should've taken her with us" Reit stopped training and looked at him "I know how you feel Drake but...her life would had been in danger constantly, also, she would've been a burden for us...you know how difficult is to fight when protecting someone..." Drake nodded briefly and returned to look out of the window silently, Reit simply sighed and resumed training. After some time, Iris came out of the room yawning "Oh? You already up? Usually Drake is the last to wake up..." Drake smiles again faintly to Iris and then returns to watch the crimson sky "Something wrong?" Reit was unsure how to say it to Iris, she knows how much she doesn't like the presence of Talah near Drake, still...she tried to explain her the situation "Well...he is thinking about Talah, or more precisely....ehm, how can I put this, he is unsure that his choice was a good one" Iris stood silently and listened to what Reit had to say, she could not really react and simply started thinking for several moments before starting to walk toward Drake. Reit was pretty worried about the situation but choose to leave the 2 alone, it was the best thing she could think of.

### Iris stopped in front of Drake, her eyes seemed sad but her hands were showing her anger although she tried to cover them behind her back. Drake turned his eyes toward the young Iris and sighed "Sorry...I know that we cannot allow others to know about us...but...I still cannot forget her sorrow in that situation, it kinda hurts to know that we had to cancel her memory. I mean, she was one of the few that I could call my friend..." Iris lost all her anger and embraced him sweetly and gently while taking a sit next to him and whispering to his ear softly "I know how you feel Drake, I lost my parents like that, I know it is painful, it's hard to bear with it, but please...don't forget that now you have a new family to live with and you cannot take care of them if you live in the past..." Iris sighed slightly and smiled to him while letting him go "I promise that we will take care of her all right? Don't worry, she will be alright, but we need you Drake...never forget that" Drake was astonished by her words and could not answer back, he simply nodded back and smiled "Thank you..." those were the only words that came out of him. Iris jumped up and smiled "Good! Now get up, let's go make something to eat..." At the same moment Lifia came inside the house "We have visitors..." Iris and Reit immediately went to the entrance "What?" Lifia nodded slowly "I sensed some shadows out the city limits and went to check....there seems to be forming quite a force there, we must intervene fast..." Reit and Iris nodded to each other and started to prepare for the fight, Drake was thinking about everything Iris said and could not fully focus, but the group went toward the zone that Lifia confirmed to be home of some dark shadows nonetheless.

### Once there, several shadows began to surround them and taking them by surprise. "EMBODY!" The group started to transform and everyone took their first form. "Reit why dont you use your second form?" Reit seemed a little distressed "I can't seem to call the necessary power...I still don't know how it works and, besides, it uses a lot of energy..." The group started to fight in all directions.

### A dark figure was watching while floating in the sky a little farther from the group and smiling "Very well my little shadow....". The shadows began to disappear one after another, the group was very strong and united, defeating the shadows that ambushed them. Once every enemy was out, the group relaxed a little and looked around "No enemy in sight..." Lifia nodded "Still, it was a strange place for them to rally, also how did they managed to ambush us if we knew they were here?" Iris seemed a little perplexed, some things seemed a little out of place "Also, the battle was fairly easy, none managed to land a good blow on us..." Reit nodded after that little observation "Indeed strange.." After a while a huge shadow began to form behind the group and laughed "Silly guardians" the group turned around "Another one..." Drake snorted annoyed and started to rush against the shadow, but it easily dodged his attack and, with one single blow, made him fly against a tree not too far from their position "Ngh.....how?" The girls were surprised by the agility and strength of the new enemy and were unsure on how to attack. Iris noticed the characteristics of the enemy "Drake don't rush it, it's a shadow as the one we fought when we found you, it's quite a powerful enemy and a fast one too. Remember how it took you out with only one hit?" Drake got back on his feet while spitting on the floor "No need to remember me about that one...still, how did he managed to take me out if you were supposed to protect me?" Iris watched down embarrassed "Well...he was too fast....." Drake sighs slightly and then started to prepare for another attack "Then let's not leave it time to react...ready?" The girls nodded firmly.

"GO!" All the team started to rush against the target and began attacking it with all their might but the shadow, with some difficulty, seemed to manage to avoid their attacks "Fools, your attacks are far too slow for me, you don't stand a chance" The group stopped attacking and retreated a little farther away from the target "Tch, too fast for us" Iris seemed stressed out "Lifia! We must use again the dual feline attack, it's our best shot at it..." Lifia nodded "But it will tire us out, also, its been too little since the last one we used. We might not be able to sustain it until the end of the fight" Iris nodded seriously "I know, but I cannot overcome this one with my speed only also, without this, we might be defeated faster, let's go!" Lifia nodded and started to concentrate with Iris, their body began to shift into a light orb and start, little by little, to rotate around each other and going faster and faster. After a while, the 2 orbs began to rush against the enemy, their movements were so fast that it was almost impossible to follow. The shadow formed a creepy smile on its face "How interesting, but will you be able to defeat me? Bwahahaha!" That said it started to defend itself against the attacks of the combined strength of Iris and Lifia but could not overcome their speed and took many hits, although it seemed to not feel them as much. "Damn, their power is getting weaker, they don't have enough energy..." Reit seemed quite frustrated but had a point, the orbs started to get slower and their attack weaker, until both turned back to their original form and fell on their knees trying to regain stamina "Damn....it sustained all our attacks, we were too weak to fight it..." The shadow laughed amused "Such a pity..." A single attack of it was what it took for it to send the 2 guardians flying toward Drake and Reit, which, managed to catch them and save them from quite a rude landing.

### Drake started to check on them "You all right girls?" Iris could not answer, she seemed exhausted but Lifia seemed to be able to answer "We are all right, but we used all of our power..." Reit bit her lips "Damn you!" Her rage started to build up as she began to change form. Drake stood there to watch the transformation while tending the girls "Drake, take care of them, I have to go say hi to a friend..." Drake nod "Pay attention". Reit rushed in the fight like a murderous and crazy assassin who could not wait to taste the blood of his target, Drake in the meanwhile, watched her going ahead and tried to help Iris and Lifia to get back up. Reit was superior in power and speed for the shadow who seemed to have problems in keeping up with her but it still managed to defend against some blows. "Tch, stupid shadow, you will fall!" The shadow smiled and, from it's mouth, started to emerge a strange black light. A few moments later it shoot out a black beam toward Reit which was fully blown away by it but managed to land on her feet. "Damn you!" She was panting heavily but seemed to not have surrendered yet, a surge of energy got over her body and it started to glow red "I WILL OBLITERATE YOU, YOU STUPID PIECE OF SCUM!" after yelling with anger, she almost instantly reached him and started a flurry of attacks toward the shadow, which was unable to even see, let alone defend against them. After many hits, Reit charged one last attack, her fist was ready in the air, a huge red energy ball around it and after few moments, she launched it against the shadow with all her power, disintegrating the shadow under the immense pressure and power of the attack, causing it to disappear in thin air. Reit was unable to maintain the transformation anymore and shifted back, panting heavily and falling to her knees.

"You all right Reit?" Drake seemed a little worried, he was the only one still in shape to fight together with Lifia, Iris shifted back too because of the low energy she had left. "Damn....let's retreat, we are all exhausted..." While the day started to shift into evening, a voice could be heard in the air "So soon? And here I was hoping for another little show..." The dark figured appeared over the group smiling "Well well, you seem quite tired, took me quite a while to call so many friend to fight you, but it seems it paid off" Drake was already in fight pose "What do you want? We aren't afraid of fighting you!" The dark figure laughed amused "Really?" With only a single powerful blow sent Reit flying away and making her lose her consciousness "Seems to me that, your group, lost already another fighter..." Drake seemed troubled by the situation "I won't back off!" after that he started to rush against the dark figure, fighting it with all his might but, as hard as he fought, his strength and energy were fading slowly, his power started to diminish little by little while the dark figure smiled without counter attacking once. After a while Drake jumped back "Damn you! Fight me!" The dark figure laughed again "I don't need to fight you, besides, your team is already wiped out, you are not a problem, but I don't want to kill you yet...I want to have some fun with you little toys" Drake started to get angry "What do you m.." Without finishing his sentence, he was put out cold by Lifia with a surprise attack from behind, which left him without any power and made him transform back while losing consciousness.

### Iris was already out cold for a while to the hand of Lifia, the dark figure laughed "Very well my little pupil, now we can have fun with our little toys" Lifia kneel before him and nodded "Yes master, as you planned, they fell under our attacks" The dark figure nodded "Yes, it was smart of you to think how to drain their strength using those techniques. Also the choice of shadows: weak but many and fast but tough was brilliant, I taught you well my dear" Lifia nodded once again "Indeed master, it took some time to get into their group, I learned how to fight them efficiently, it was thanks to your power that I was able to put all this in act". The dark figure laughed and nodded "I am glad you recognized my power and ability little one, now...let us take them on a little trip in our modest place, shall we?" Lifia simply nodded without showing any kind of emotion or whatsoever, she was as indifferent as ever, she just obeyed the order of her master and started to carry the bodies, leaving the battlefield while the night was setting in.
Chapter 7: The Phoenix Elder and The Children of Darkness

### A man was walking on a road, a red fighting suit, a scarf around his neck floating in the wind half damaged and with holes in it, his dark red spiky hair was slightly weaving in the wind while, his fire red eyes, looked around and sighed slightly "I sense you, you despicable beings, come out" His deep voice was firm and strong, many shadows began to surround him and started to attack without even a second thought "Tsk, disappear from this place!", Without even moving, a huge fire barrier surrounded him and exploded, emitting flames in all directions, disintegrating all the shadows and leaving nothing behind. The man sighed once again "Useless things, why they keep struggling I wonder..." and so he continued to walk toward a town which seemed to had lost his colors. All the buildings seemed to be made out of darkness and shadows, all its surroundings were like dead and nothing seemed alive inside there. While walking, many shadows kept coming toward the man but he did not paid any attention to them, destroying them with his flames without even looking at them, the struggle was not necessary at all against such small flies.

### Once near the City, a huge shadow blocked his path "Guardian, what is your kind doing in Liria, the city of darkness?" The man simply raised a hand and a huge flaming ball formed around it in mere seconds "Move aside creature of darkness or perish like the others" The shadow flinched under such power, and with haste, it swifts aside letting him pass. After passing, the shadow tried to touch him from behind but, with only a single punch, he made the shadow burn and reducing it to ashes "Tsk, what can you expect from kinds like you?" That said he went toward the city. Many eyes were watching him while he walked the dark and empty city, everything seemed out of life, the place was depressing to say the least and nothing seemed to block the man's path. After a while he reached a tower, the building itself seemed different from any other building out there, it was like inviting the man to enter. The tower was glowing faintly of a dark light while darkness seemed to be flowing out of it like a river. The man entered the tower without a thought and started to climb the first set of stairs toward the first floor.

### Darkness was all around, nothing could be seen, not even his own hands. A voice started to talk out of nowhere "Krex...Krex!" A feminine voice, of a young woman, seemed to call in distress that name over and over. The man stopped dead in his track and closed his eyes "Damn you...do you think you can attract me with these kind of things?" a huge pillar of flame surrounded him and everything was again visible but, strangely enough, nobody was there...the huge fire and light made him see the staircase to the next floor "Tch, fools..." then he walked to the next floor without watching back even once.

### On the second floor there was a huge door blocking his path to the next floor. The man tried to push it but it was no use and, when he stopped, the door grow a pair of eyes and a mouth "Speak guardian, what do you wish from me and this tower?" The man smirked lightly "Let me pass, I am not in the mood for this crap" The door simply stood there to observe him without saying a thing, expecting a answer from him. The man started to attack the door with a huge strength, each punch made the entire room shake but the door would not open no matter how strong he threw the punches "Again, I ask you guardian, what is your purpose here?" the man stopped attacking and calmed himself like it was nothing "Tsk...damn you magical creation...I would like to obliterate your little tower...but let's see how much you can do against me you filthy dark creation..." the man then looked the door in to his giant eyes "I am here to clear the land" the door simply looked at him silently "Things like you should be gone for good, I was sure I blocked your sorry 'race', so to speak, into oblivion forever...I don't know who freed you...but I'm gonna find him and put his life to an end in matter of seconds..." the door again did not flinched and stood in silence once again "Let me pass now, I must progress my quest in this tower". The door, after a while, began speaking "Strange that you seek such bloody outcome guardian, we thought your race was a peaceful one. How come now your search for war?" the man started to gather a huge amount of power into his right fist "Peace? PEACE!? After slaughtering many lives, killing innocents and attacking others without a reason? That is your peace?!" a powerful fist went into the door and it actually scratched it badly, almost formed a hole in it "I am sick of your presence...BEGONE!" The second punch opened a hole through the door but it immediately regenerated itself. The man didn't seemed surprised at all, in fact he was expecting that "Tsk, regenerating doors...same old tricks" the door then started speaking "Very well guardian, if that's what you want...then you may pass, but I warn you...not every darkness is easy to bright up with light..." That said the door opened itself and let him advance to the next floor. The man passed silently through the empty room while ignoring the door's words but still being a little surprised by his permission.

### Once reached then next floor, he started to look around. Nobody seemed to greet him, it was a simple round and blue room. A young man, maybe 18 from the looks of it, appeared in front of him "Hmm Flame, I heard legends about you" the man did not react at all and simply looked the boy, scanning him with his eyes. The boy seemed simple, dressed like in high school, just his hair was of a deep dark while his eyes were of a deep dark purple. "What do you wish of me darkness creature?" the young boy simple sighed "You seem kinda nervous gramps, calm down" Flame simply looked at him silently "You know, while you were resting, our kind was freed...but when we got out of our prison, kindly made by you, not all of us agreed on returning to engulfing the world in darkness. A few of us wanted just to exist in peace and, while centuries passed, some of us thought about the past and agreed that, living, if so we can call it, was useless if the goal was to die while trying to kill others. Living to end other lives...until you lose your own...seems kinda ironic and pointless don't you think?" Flame sighs slightly "Don't tell me: you are the peaceful ones?" The young boy simply nodded "Indeed, but I believe you..." Flame attacked the boy with a huge flaming punch before he could finished speaking, but the boy blocked it without a flinch "W...what?" Flame seemed surprised, very few shadows were able to resist his attacks "It's not polite to interrupt someone who is talking..." after that the boy kicked Flame away with immense power, forcing him to slide aside. "Like I said: we don't want to fight, but we won't refuse to defend ourselves" Flame simply regained his composure like that kick was nothing "Tsk, prove it then! Let me go up, let me advance. If what you are saying it's true, then you shall not fear nothing from us...from me". The boy stood there quiet for a while and looking at him "Only if you promise not to attack nobody else" Flame smiled a little "Funny, but I don't agree" the young boy then smiled as well "You are allowed to defend yourself, is that all right now?" Flame looked at him a little surprised "Hm, very well, I agree to those terms, but! If I will be attacked until the last floor too much...I will obliterate this tower and town" The young boy did not answer and simply pointed him the staircase. Flame, without dropping his guard, started to walk toward the staircase and started to go up.

### Until the tenth floor nothing stopped him from advancing but, at the eleventh floor, a single shadow stood between him and the staircase "Welcome guardian" Flame stopped and sighed "I knew it, it was too simple..." The figure revealed to be a black armored knight which started to get his dark sword ready to fight. Flame simply took out a handle of a sword, but instead of the blade there was nothing. The knight performed a particular set of movements: First he did a circle with his sword, then made a cross that united the opposite side of the circle and then pierced the middle of the cross with his sword pointing at Flame, proceeding in standing still in that position afterwards. Flame laughed a little "Ahaha, been a while since someone challenged me to a honorable duel." a sword made of flames appeared out of the handle and Flame prepared himself for the duel "Let's see what you capable of, knight!". The battle started immediately and, in a blink of an eye, the 2 met swords in the middle of the room. Their movements were so fast that they could not be seen by an untrained guardian eye, all the blows ended up in a wide sound of the blades resonating with each other. "Interesting knight, but I am not done yet" the sword began to gain more power and flames, the sword became larger, bigger and more dangerous than before. With a single blow he sent the knight flying back but he still manage to block a direct hit but the power was so much that he could not stop the force which made him slide back quite a lot.

"...." the knight silently regained his fighting position and simply put his sword up in the air. The sword started to shine lightly while a dark aura started surrounding the blade. Again the 2 exchanged blows and, even if now the situation seemed as before, the knight seemed to have quite a difficult time in staying behind the strength and agility of Flame. After a few blows, the sword of the knight flew away cause by a ponderous blow inflicted by Flame "Tch, it was fun but this is over. Still, as a duel, I will give you the chance to defend yourself against one of my ultimate techniques...pick up your sword" that said he let his sword down and waited for the knight to recover his weapon. The knight saw the chance to attack Flame while he was with his guard down but did not used that chance, walking to gather his sword and got himself back into position. "Very well knight, try to defend yourself now..." Flame's body was engulfed in flames and, without even having the chance to blink, he flew at his opponent with a speed that surpasses that of the light and in a mere second, hundred blows were unleashed toward the knight which did not stood a chance to block or defend against such a powerful attack and took most of them directly.

### After those deadly blows, Flame simply stopped and looked at him...the knight was defenseless and exhausted from those many blows, kneeling down exhausted. Flame started to charge his powerful, and final attack "This duel is FINISHED!" Flame dashed toward the knight which knew it was his end, but nothing happened. After he waited a few moments, the knight realized that Flame stopped his sword in front of his face and did not finished his existence "You respected the rules of the honorable duel, you did not used tricks and neither used that chance to surprise attack me..." Flame knew very well that he was an easy target for a surprise attack back when he offered the knight the chance to take his sword back "If what that kiddo said is correct, then I have no reason to kill you, at least for now....You fought well knight, but you can't measure yourself with me. Train harder" Flame let his blade disappear into thin air and put back the handle of the sword, heading toward the stairs, stopping right before entering them "What is your name? If you have one of course..." the knight got himself up with difficulty after the several wounds and answered with a dark and deep voice "Riff" Flame simply nodded and went ahead to the next floor.

### Again, until the fourteenth floor, nothing bothered him but once reached the last floor, the fifteenth, he entered a wide chamber resembling a throne room where a throne was possessed by a young woman. The woman simply stood up and made a few steps toward Flame, executing a little bow and then smiled gently "Welcome Flame, Phoenix and Leader of the guardians, also known as Krex" Flame started to accumulate power in his fists "NEVER say that name again..." The woman seemed a little surprised but regain her composure quite fast "I am sorry, I did not mean to be rude or offend you" After that apology, which was a new thing to Flame coming from a shadow creature, he calmed itself down and his power was dispersed. "Who are you woman?" "I am the leader of this city of darkness, you may call me Ively" Flame swiftly snorted "I am not here to greet a creature of darkness like a queen or princess, so don't act like one!" The woman sighed deeply "Since you killed, and started attacking first our guard that simply asked your purpose here, I think you might as well listen to me a little?" Flame was at lost of words, it's true that the shadow that let him pass tried to touch him but he thought he was trying to attack, so he simply calmed himself and looked at the woman analyzing her in silence. The woman, with deep yellow eyes and platinum long hair, smiled gently "Excellent" her long dress made it impossible to determine her physical appearance but she seemed almost like a princess by the way she was dressed and behavior.

"I know about our past Phoenix, and I know many things about you and the clans, still...I must tell you a little story and it might surprise you, I know, but please endure it". The woman took a deep breath before starting "You see, once you sealed us away from this world, into the void, many of us started to rage against that prison and tried for millenniums to break it but with no results. After that, many began to think about the war, their existence, the purpose of the things we were doing. We were a minority, the other thought we were getting sloppy and they wanted to eliminate us, they saw us like some kind of weaker chain to eliminate from their forces. Much we stood there and discussed with them on the chance to live on our own and not bother the earth again, start something new or simply ignore the fights and live together with you guardians. It may seem difficult but we shadows have a human appearance and feelings too! Not all of us are made of only darkness or evil and, once some of us made some contacts with some guardians, without entering in conflict, reporting back their fun or enjoyable time, well...some of us were jealous and wanted to have a peace and fun existence too. That's when some of us started to abandon our shadow appearance and emptiness, starting to develop will, feelings and even wishes. But the tension between the warriors of darkness and us, children of darkness, was getting worse and they started to look at us like the enemy because of our wishes and intentions. We were on the verge of war, a war which we could not win, but then the seal got ripped apart and a portal into this world opened up...we don't know who opened the portal or broke the seal, but the warriors were so happy an thrilled to get their revenge, that they rushed out without a second thought, forgetting about us. They wanted to target any guardian that was still alive or their children, that's why they started to search for you guardians and humans, descendants of the older guardians but, we child of darkness, preferred to simply find a place to stay and not disturb anyone. Many cities of darkness were established into the land of darkness left behind by the warriors. We started to rebuild, live quiet on our own, without causing trouble, yet trouble seemed to be searching for us, we are seen as enemy by both sides and few understand that we don't want any trouble. Believe me when I say that we only want to live our own existence..."

### After the long speech the woman looked at Flame which listened with a lot of patience and silence, never stopping her "Do you think you can trick me?" The woman seemed a little alarmed "No...we..." Flame accumulated power in his hands and was ready to fight the woman "I WILL DESTROY EVERY SHADOW IN EXISTENCE!" after Flame started to rush toward her, the young boy encountered before in the tower, stood between him and the woman in a guard stance. The queen simply put a hand on his shoulder and tossed him aside while closing her eyes and waiting for Flame's attack. Upon seeing that, Flame stopped his attack bewildered and surprised "....Why?" the woman opened her eyes and looked at him silently "Why you tossed aside the only one that could protect you?" the woman smiled once again, a sad smile "If I must perish so be it, but I don't want him to perish alongside me. Like I said, we don't wish war, but we will defend ourselves, but against the legendary phoenix there is little we can do as we are now, even if this young boy is quite a skilled fighter, I would like him to flee and live his existence rather than seeing him sacrifice his life to save a queen that was not even able to convince the Phoenix about our true intention!" Flame was at a loss for words, he started to think very fast about everything he heard so far and all his power dissipated "I still don't believe you, but you did keep your word" Flame slightly snorted "And I appreciate that. I will leave you be...for now. But if I find you giving trouble to anyone..." he smirked lightly "I will be back for you..." that said he started to leave the way he entered without saying anything else "Thank you guardian..." those were the only words Flame was able to hear from the woman before leaving the tower, and the city, searching for his target:the one that destroyed his seal and brought back the darkness.
Chapter 8: Lifia's Slumber

### Drake woke up and watched around panicked "Where am I?" the room around him was dark and little could be seen, he was blocked into a steel platform which restrained his hands and feet. A dark figure appeared from one of the corners of the room "Finally...took you long enough mister" Lifia was looking at him with her eyes glowing in the dark, without emotion or feelings, almost like she was not feeling anything by looking at him. "Lifia? What happened? I remember I was fighting and....you...you hit me?" Lifia nodded slightly "You are so easy to fool little Drake, it took me little to infiltrate your group and trap you like a little mouse with cheese. Your precious companions are now being 'greeted' by my master, which you had been fighting till now." Drake seemed astonished, he could not even answer back for a while but, after some moments of recollection, he realized everything "We trusted you! You were part of our family!! Why did you betrayed us??" Drake seemed furious about this betrayal, his only family betrayed him, but Lifia simply shook her head "I was never a part of your tiny little circus, I was just instructed to keep an eye on you and prepare the trap after I finished gathering enough data. I had enough about the other 2, but with you, well...I did not need much to fool you, too inexperience and stupid do be in need of information about your powers. I even had to resist in your silly talking about family and stuff just for the sake of the plan...I am a darkness creature and servant of the darkness..." after a while Lifia seemed a little in pain and a soft, crying voice, said in a hurry "H..help me.....please" After that she came back to normal and spit on the floor "Damn her willpower..." after that she started to walk toward Drake which was blocked entirely and could not move despite trying his best. His partner seemed out of it too, pretty weak too, and could not use his powers.

"Tsk, such a silly child you are Drake, a family? Someone like you will never have one. Your life, as well as mine, is dedicated to fighting each other until the very end, until one of us lose this war and the other rules over the world forever..." Drake shook his head "You are wrong Lifia...and I know that's not you who is talking, I don't know what he did to you, but I will find him and I will destroy him" His voice was calm, very controlled, but behind it there was a blind rage building up and ready to blast. Lifia simply laughed "I want to see you try" then she puts her hand on his chest and looked him directly into his eyes "It would be so easy to kill you right now, but the master ordered me to wait and not do anything reckless...he wants to study you, you are one of a kind. It's been centuries since a dragon guardian showed up. You got his interests, but I could have fun with you...maybe a little torture? Who knows.....hehe..." Drake looked at Lifia silently without answering nor reacting to her word.

### In the main room of the dark castle, where the group was taken, the dark figure was looking at the sleeping guardians smiling happily about his 'preys'. After a while Reit came to her senses and looked around focusing on the dark figure "Damn you! What did you do to us?" The dark figure laughed amused "Nothing my little dear pet, I just ended my original plan and captured you as promised. Of course, now I have you in my power and I can do whatever I want to you" Reit tried to escape from her handcuffs that were holding her "Don't struggle my little pet, those are special handcuffs made of dark magic power and by the most powerful dark ones. They cannot be destroyed so easily and, your little raw power, is not enough to even scratch them, so please stay at ease and enjoy your stay in my mansion" Iris was still out cold but a shadow took her away, together with her handcuffs, and transported her in another room "IRIS! Where are you taking her you disgusting monster?" The dark figure laughed once more and smiled "Don't worry...for now she will be all right. But...might you get the stupid idea of escaping or fighting me...then, well...I cannot guarantee her safety" Reit bit her lip "....I hate you...." The dark figure nodded "I know, but you will soon start to love me my little pet, just like your 'friend' Lifia" Reit opened her eyes wide "What did you do to her?" The dark figure laughed amused "Oh nothing, she just choose to follow my lead once I instilled darkness inside her, enough to obscure her will and make her a darkness being" Reit was starting to get pissed and raised her voice "HOW!? We guardians are made of pure light! You cannot make a guardian a darkness creature!" The dark figure smiled widely "Usually this is true, but that light sometimes can be quite...weak. Also, a guardian is very weak and vulnerable when her or his powers are still latent or not yet fully awakened, easy to manipulate and even corrupt where necessary.A large amount of darkness can corrupt even the strongest light anyway, it may take a long amount of time and power, but it's not impossible sweety! The choice to welcome such darkness can make a lot of differences...." Reit looked down thinking about Lifia and her behavior "Tch, I observed that sometimes she was behaving strangely or was out more than necessary, but I could never think she would betray us!" The dark figure burst into a hysteric laugh "Did you really thought she was part of your group? She was always under my command and just infiltrate your group to fool you little pawns. And she did a splendid job, didn't she? You little kids really thought she was part of your group or something? You were just being tricked, she is an emotionless creature who likes to see you suffering...that's why she lead you right into my hands. Your powers are laughable and too weak to even be able to grasp, let alone counter, my own powers" Reit looked at him with rage in her eyes "I will get free somehow....and after that I will kill you with my own 2 hands you filthy..." The dark figure waved his finger at her "Nono, that won't do, remember about your little friend Iris? She could have quite an accident....maybe you should behave a little no?" Reit could not answer back anymore and had to swallow her pride and simply stay silent while listening to his biddings..for now.

### Lifia in the meanwhile was scratching Drake's chest, the cuts were not bad, Lifia was simply having fun by leaving behind traces of her nails on Drake, like if it were her personal tool. Drake was emotionless, seems like the betrayal of Lifia left a huge mark on him. At one point Drake looked at her perfectly calm "What is the point of all this? What is your purpose and objectives? Why don't you kill me so we can end this?" in the meanwhile Ryu came back and got a rapid grasp of the situation, but he was quite worried about what he felt: Drake's condition was weird and he could not fully grasp it. Lifia smiled lightly "Since I cannot kill you, like I said, I must find a way to pass time right? So why not having fun with you like my personal toy? In the end...it's quite boring waiting for my master to have fun with his little pets" Drake sighed slightly "Lifia wake up, I know you aren't like this, I felt you when we talked that night, I know you are not like that....wake up...please" Lifia laughed "Silly little child do you really think that..." After a while she began being surprised, eyes widen as large as possible, and started to hold her head "Ngh...Dra.....ke....I can't....she's too powerful..I...ca....can't.....AARGHH" Lifia started to get on her knees trying to fight back the darkness inside her "Kill me...please.....kill me....." Then with the last of her strength she launched an attack toward Drake's chains and freed his right arm. Drake Simply started to call his power out, almost forcing Ryu to obey with his sheer will and strange inner condition. "EMBODY!" with a serious face he swiftly transformed and punched Lifia so hard that she flew toward the wall, taking it down while losing consciousness. Ryu was speechless, his power was being used by Drake without a restrain or common sense, just pure power and rage was guiding him. Despite his efforts to communicate with him, Drake refused to answer Ryu in any way, starting to get toward the dark figure that he felt lurking into the castle he was in. On his way some dark creatures tried to stop him, but it was pointless, his blind raging power obliterated them in an instant.

### The dark figure was looking at Reit on all fours staying beside him "Oh yes, you will make a fine pet" Reit was almost crying out of rage but could not do anything for the safety of Iris. A sudden quake made the room shake "What the?" The door was crushed open by Drake's fists, his power was overwhelming, but he seemed to not be him anymore, he seemed almost without any emotion...a ruthless machine. "...You are dead..." The dark figure looked at him surprised "What are you....ngh!" Before he could finish, Drake punched him against a wall with all his strength and freed Reit, not trying to see how she was doing because he was already punching down the wall toward Iris's containing room. Reit was dumbfounded, but she recovered fast and called her powers "Embody!" and immediately started to look at the dark figure getting up from the impact with the wall "Pay back time..." that said she started to get into a deep berserker mode while getting into the second form. Not even a second passed and Reit was already fully attacking the dark figure with all her powers while Drake looked at Iris on the ground coughing "Drake....what happened?" Drake was silent and looked at her, but he did not answered "Drake?....what's wrong?" Without answering, he turned around and started to walk away toward the fight that was happening between Reit and the dark figure. Iris was too weak to do something concrete, her energy did not came back from the last fight where she used a lot of her energy in the dual feline attack, but since Lifia let her use up all her energy, not helping her with the technique, she was still not able to even recall her powers. Reit in the meanwhile had the advantage against the dark figure, his dark and gentleman figure was getting punched pretty badly by her raw power, but after a while, she launched him away. He managed to get on his feet but could not even realize a thing before Drake immediately punched him so hard that he flew against another wall destroying it.

### Reit was furious, but the dark figure started to expand a dark energy shield which blocked Reit and Drake from further attacking "ENOUGH!" the dark figure was furious and started to throw dark thunders all around him while shadows began to come from nowhere and began attacking the 2 while he was busy looking at the current situation "Stupid kids, you don't know when to quit hm? I told Lifia to hold you for good! Sshe will get punished quite a lot for this!" Drake then looked at him with lifeless eyes "Shut up" Again a powerful punch broke his shield in pieces while the shadows surrounding him were destroyed in mere second with a fast combo of attacks. The dark figure was surprised but did not let Drake hit him again and, this time, started to float away and focusing his power into a powerful dark energy attack toward him. Drake didn't even tried to dodge it, he fully withstood the attack while looking at him. Reit was still busy fighting the shadows attacking her "DRAKE!!" But even after such a powerful attack he was fine, even if injured "Drake?...what happened to you?" Iris seemed even more worried after getting up and assisting to that scene, she could not do nothing though. Lifia in the meanwhile, shakily, reached the room, injured and weak from Drake's attack. "I am sorry my master, I was unable to stop him, she freed him with the little power she had left, I failed you" the dark figure simply snorted toward her "You will have a good punishment and darkness instilled to you after all this is over" Lifia simply nodded and sat against the wall. Iris started to walk toward her, both were unable to summon their powers but, once near Lifia, she looked at Iris without any emotion "Get away from me you scum!" Iris simply slapped her, starting to cry lightly "I saved you, called you family and even offered you a place where to live with us...HOW COULD YOU BETRAY US?" Lifia was looking at her after the slap she took and could not answer, surprised by her action mostly, and went ahead into holding her cheek that turned red. Iris was looking at her with tears in her eyes, a show that Lifia never saw before like that but, the darkness inside her, reacted "Fool kid, I am a darkness creature, Lifia is dead! She was never here to begin with! I am a darkness creature, she is fading away as we speak and there is nothing you can do, you silly cat!" and proceed to slightly laugh. Iris got on her knees near Lifia and was looking at her...embracing her suddenly "...Please.....please come back to us, I beg you...Lifia....WAKE UP!" Her voice echoed in the room, a light started to came out of Iris's body and started to resonate with Lifia's own light, which started to shine little by little. In a dark place, the voice of Iris seemed to have reached the real Lifia "My friend....Iris....I am sorry but I am too weak....I cannot fight this darkness..." A voice then could be heard in the darkness surrounding her "You are not alone...let my light be your guide" A warm and powerful light started to cover Lifia's body that was floating in darkness, a fox came toward her, accompanied by a cat "Lifia, you are a very smart girl, I watched you develop into the fine young lady you are, I choose you as guardian because of your heart and skills, you are a great guardian, but had the bad luck of being corrupted before I could reach you. Ever since I tried to help you regaining control, and protecting you from fading, my powers were at the limit when you recalled that attack to free your friend Drake. I know you can do it, have faith in your friend and in me, I will lend you my powers but don't give up, let this be our chance of getting ourselves free from his control! She is weak and we can do it, let Iris's light and powers help you...fight the darkness, you can do it Lifia!" while all this was happening, Drake and Reit were fighting the dark figure and his shadows. Drake was injured but seemed to not care about that, he instantly jumped toward the dark figure and started to attack him with a fury never seen from him.

"Drake wake up! Stop using my powers like that! Dammit...." Ryu was unable to wake up and communicate with Drake, it was like he was in a coma or trance of some sort, he would not answer but he still was able to fight and muster his powers. Drake was hitting the dark figure with all his power, giving him a tough time "Tch! You stupid kid...BEGONE!" a powerful darkness field pushed Drake away and made him hit a wall, crushing it and leaving him covered by debris. The dark figure laughed amused "That teaches you kid!" A voice still could be heard strongly into the room "EMBODY!" Lifia was starting to transform while Iris was on the ground asleep, her powers reached her limit and she passed out, but that helped out Lifia to regain control and delete the darkness within her "It's time for the real me..." her aspect started to change, her ears began to be more pointy and large, her claws started to grow and fur started to grow on most of her feet and hands, her tails were growing bigger and bigger and her eyes started to glow with a shiny yellow color while she reached the second form and instantly launched several magic attacks toward the shadows, destroying them all. "After so much time under your power...it's time to pay the price for it!" Lifia then started to launch a machine gun of magic attacks toward the dark figure, her powers woken up and allowed her to regain most of the lost stamina and energy she needed to fight.

### Reit in the meanwhile was watching the show in front of her, undecided on what to do, but Lifia, with a serious face, while throwing magic attacks at the dark figure, looked at Reit "Reit! Take Iris away from there, then check on Drake" Reit was unsure on what to do "Why? You betrayed us once, why should I trust you?" The dark figure in the meanwhile was deflecting and blocking most of the attacks but that blocked him in place and could not move, otherwise his defense will shatter and he will receive too many attacks, also Lifia could adjust her aim and give him a hard time so he decided to stuck on defending momentarily "Now it's not the time Reit! I know I betrayed you, I was controlled by darkness, but now I am free, Iris helped me to regain myself back! But she is exhausted and I cannot keep this rhythm up for too long, I am injured and, although I had a power surge from the transformation, my conditions will not allow me to hold up this energy barrage for too long, now GO!" Reit, still unsure on what to do, rushed toward Iris using her powers and moved her in a more safer place. While Reit was moving toward Drake's position the debris started to move and Drake came out, like a beast from under ground and shouting like one "AAAARGHHHH!!!" After just few moments, a powerful beam started to leave his mouth and heading toward the dark figure, and unable to dodge, he had to withstand all the discharge of power that Drake was throwing at him. After the beam dissipated, the dark figure was barely floating and started to come down, Lifia was tired from his barrage of attacks and Drake seemed regaining his breath.

### Reit was too surprised to even realized what happened after that attack coming from Drake and could not do nothing if not look astonished. The dark figure laughed lightly "Damn kids, you won this time, but next time you will all die...Especially you, you filthy traitor!" a dark energy covered the dark figure entirely and he disappeared into the night, the dark figure used all his powers to run from that place and succeed since, nobody, was able to stop him, even Reit was too surprised to do something and did not expect his runaway.

### Drake still seemed out of it. After the dark figure escaped, he turned his lifeless eyes toward Lifia and started to walk toward her. Lifia was still regaining energy from his attacks and could not move, she just looked at him "You wanted me to kill you, I will solve that immediately" Drake seemed like was talking without any trace of human emotion, more like a machine than a human, but Lifia could not move "Drake...I am sorry.... I..." Drake still seemed not to listen and kept walking toward her while anger started to cumulate once again. Lifia at that point stood up and looked at him "I know you don't have a reason to forgive me...so be it then! Hit me as much as you wish, take your revenge!" Drake effectively shot Lifia away with a single punch toward some debris of a former wall and slammed her pretty hard too, leaving her unable to stand up. Reit stood in front of Drake "Enough! What's wrong with you?" Drake was looking at Reit, but his eyes...those eyes seemed familiar to Reit "Berserker eyes....no....it's something more, you lost your humanity....Ryu stop him!" Drake just sighed slightly and warned her emotionless "Get out of my way, I will end her life!" Reit just stood there "No, try to regain you consciousness, wake up Drake! You are not like that!" Lifia managed to stand up, although injured and holding her left arm "Reit, move aside. Let him do whatever he wants, I betrayed all of you, I betrayed his trust and ruined your family, I deserve to die...I would've been dead anyway...move aside!" Reit shook her head "No! I can't...." even with those words, she was unsure herself on what to do, she too was shocked about what Lifia had done and Drake simply ignored her and went toward Lifia but, this time, Reit did not move and watched him go. Iris in the meanwhile managed to wake up but could not move, she was at her limit, but could not ignore all that was happening, she wanted to scream, to stop Drake, to do something, but she was powerless.

### Drake in the meanwhile reached Lifia, which was simply standing there waiting for Drake to finish the job. Drake raised his fist once again to hit her and at that point Lifia closed her eyes, but no hit arrived, Drake was standing there with his fist in the air while a voice came out of him "He is not Drake anymore, run away, I cannot retain him anymore, he is forcing my powers out and I cannot control them, he is too strong but out of control..." Ryu desperately was trying to block Drake, but once his control subsided, Drake again was concentrating his powers to end Lifia. "DRAKE NO!" A high pitched scream came from Iris, it was the last of her willpower that remained inside her, her voice was the only thing she managed to use and that seemed to had blocked Drake from hitting Lifia as he intended to. After a while he put his fist down and looked down with his hair covering his eyes "Leave this place...." Drake was emotionless while saying that short sentence. Reit was unsure on what to do but rushed to Iris to help her up and was supporting her while, Lifia, simply looked at Drake and wanted to reach his face with her hand "Let's go together..." Drake slapped her hand away and screamed with fury "I SAID LEAVE!" Lifia simply sighed and shook her head "Not without you" Drake then punched down another wall with all his fury and started to calmly walk away "D...dra...ke..." Iris was already seeing blurry but wanted to stop Drake, shortly after though she fainted again.

### Reit could not leave Iris, Lifia tried to follow Drake, even if injured, "If you follow me...I will kill you" That was the only thing Drake said before going away from that place, disappearing in the night. "Let him be, we must go and heal our wounds and regain energy...but we must talk Lifia..." Reit was the only one still in one piece and with the necessary energy to carry both of them home, even if injured and tired herself, she was the only one that could help the 2 exhausted guardians. Lifia silently nodded and started to go toward Reit, collapsing on her thanks to her injuries, Drake did not went easy on her, but Reit sustained her "I still don't trust you, but you are still part of the team for now, I will take care of you both, but you have some explaining to do." Lifia nod without having the courage to say anything more.
Chapter 9: Drake's Path

### In a dark forest, Drake is carefully thinking about everything that happened. Another betrayal, another family lost, another place gone. Ryu, inside him, was worried. When Drake regained his senses and took the decision to leave, he saw how he felt, how much he was suffering, how much he wanted to run away. Ryu knew that he protected his now former family, still he decided to leave them to avoid any other problems, he saw what Drake was feeling back then, so he decided to stay silent and let him calm down and cool itself.

### In the distance, a little waterfall could be heard, water dropping down from a small hill, a calming sound which was helping Drake to think more clearly. Once found the little waterfall, he decided to sit down against a huge rock, his head was finally clear, not a thought or worry bothered him anymore in that instant "You ok now Drake?" Ryu was worried about his lack of anything in that moment and wanted to avoid another riot "Yeah...." Drake's reply was short and direct "Sorry for forcing your powers out....I was not myself" Ryu nod slightly "Few guardians can do that Drake, you are a special one and I confirm what I said when I choose you. I know how you felt back then, and I can honestly say I understand you...in some way. You are a powerful yet novice guardian, you cannot fight alone Drake. A full fledged guardian can even defeat an army alone, but you are far from that form...we are far from that form." Drake simply looked up at the starts in the sky and smiled slightly "Drake, when we choose our guardian, our companion, we grow with him both in power and experience, we give our best to help them in any way we can...but that's not easy. A good union and sync must exist between guardian and primal beast, otherwise no power can be mustered. That's why we both had almost no power at the beginning and, that's why, we can now use part of your potential now. Drake...I am the son of the great guardian, defender of the Creator's entrance, many expect much from me. They always watched me weird, almost like an enemy, and not one of their clan. Even if many were surprised by my choice, many others were relieved to have me gone from the Dragon realm and the Primal beasts Plane of existence. I know how you feel, no bonds or anything, my father was strict most of the times, I had to do the impossible for my experience and age just to live up to the name of the great guardian's son." Drake sighed slightly "Ryu, I know it was hard for you, but right now I am not in the mood or condition to cheer you up, I am shattered and destroyed after what happened, please..." Ryu simply smiled "I was not searching for a hand Drake, I was trying to say that I understand you fully and I believe that you will choose what's best, as I did when choosing you. What I saw in you was not a mistake, I am sure of that, but...Drake....are you sure you want to run away from what you found in those girls?" Drake stood silent and kept watching the sky, even if together, Ryu could not fully see through Drake's confusion and simply left him thinking while he focused on regaining his powers and rest, being there for him if needed.

### Back at home, Reit was watching over Iris who was in a deep slumber while Lifia was mending her injuries. "I...." Reit turned her gaze to Lifia, her hard expression left Lifia speechless and she could not talk anymore, resuming in simply curing herself silently. The atmosphere was very heavy, Reit was watching out of the window while the sun was slowly rising, she choose not to sleep so she could take care of the heavily consumed Iris who was still asleep since they got back. Lifia sighed unsure on what to do or say, she could not sleep, remorse and pain kept her awake and Reit's silence didn't helped at all. After a while she decided to risk it "I am sorry Reit..." Reit did not even turn her head to look at her and kept watching out of the window "I was controlled, I tried to fight it, but I was too weak to overpower the darkness in me, I tried to..." "Enough!" Reit snapped quickly and turned her furious eyes toward Lifia, her expression was a mix of sadness and fury "You betrayed us, put Iris into a coma, and made Drake go away...have you any idea how much Iris will suffer because of this?" Lifia looked down unable to fight back those harsh words, Reit sighed "I know you were controlled...but what you did is still difficult to forgive" Lifia, with tears in her eyes, stood up and watched Reit directly "Hit me, hit me until you feel better....please...." Slowly she started crying " Please hit me!....hit me until you are satisfied.....Do you think I wanted to hurt anybody!?" Reit was taken by surprise and could not react and simply listened to her, shifting her gaze at the same time toward her "I almost lost myself trying to free Drake from his prison! I just...I...I did not wanted for you to suffer....so please....please hit m..." Reit embraced Lifia tight, brushing her hair with her hand "I know how you feel....but I won't hit my family." after that Lifia simply could not bear it anymore and started crying without any holds up. Reit caressed Lifia's hair silently, letting her cry until she needed to, she had a lot repressed in her.

### After a while Lifia stopped crying and watched Reit "Th...thank you...it means a lot to me" Reit nod and smiled, that was more than any word of forgiveness could ever say, Reit was from the beginning very confused about all the situation but could not bring herself to hate someone that she called family. She forgave her because that's what she felt inside of her, even if doubtful about her own thoughts and feelings about everything that happened. Iris was still sleeping, her energy was regenerating very slowly, even Lifia and Reit started to worry after the second day of sleep without any positive changes "I hope she regains consciousness, she saved me...I cannot forgive myself if something happens to her because of me..." Lifia kept her company and guard without any hesitation or sleep, she was physically weak but refused to rest even with Reit's offering a hand. "Lifia, go to sleep, it's been 2 days now. Your energy and condition are worsening, you cannot sustain such harsh treatment" Lifia shook her head in denial "No I must ensure that" A slap crossed Lifia's cheek in that moment "Don't you think she worried enough about you? Do YOU think she would like to see you devastated and half dead of tiredness like this? Get some sleep...I can watch her while you rest" Lifia touched her slapped cheek and simply nodded "Sorry to be a bother again...." Then left to get some sleep into the other room while Reit sighed once again "You are not a bother, but...".

### Drake was resting against the same rock near the little waterfall, the sun was smiling on him and woke him up slowly and peacefully. Ryu was back as well, fully recharged after a good rest and ready to roll. Drake slowly stood up and watched the sunrise while still lost in thoughts, he could not bring himself to a order inside his head nor could he forgive the betrayal of his latest family "Why does it bother you so much Drake?" Ryu simply confronted Drake directly "In the past I had many friends, close ones too, I was happy and lived my life without a knowing what suffering is." Drake paused himself a little and smiled shortly, a sad smile which seemed to bring him back memories "My friend betrayed me, used me and discarded me once they did not needed me anymore, nobody really cared about me or about my condition or suffering, no one loved me...and I slowly began to be lonelier and lonelier, until I was totally alone, no one to trust, no one to care about. I could not heal what I was feeling back then...so I started to be cold and distant, never picking up any feelings for anyone...that was my protection, my shell, which helped me to stay sane and able to survive up until now." Ryu was listening silently and nodding once in a while but he felt his sorrow and sadness and did not dare to interrupt or comfort him, he knew that only him could understand and know how he felt in what he passed through "After that, I lived my life like that, with my little shell, it was protecting myself well...until I met them. I reopened up, I started to care again, to feel alive but, as I expected, once again I was betrayed and used by the ones that I trusted the most...." Ryu sighed slightly "Drake, Lifia was under dark control, she could not free herself from that control, she almost sacrificed herself to help you escape, can't you see that? She cared about you and wanted to protect all of you, she was ready to die just to make amend of her mistakes..." Drake shook his head slowly "Still, if she could get out to help me, she could use the same way to warn us..." Ryu again was unable to understand how Drake was feeling "Trust me Drake, you need a lot of power and will to defeat the darkness within you, it's not that easy, and still, she found that strength once you were in danger. You cannot blame her, you found your power in the same way!" Drake was silently listening but could not react in any way, preferring to look at the sky "She was ready to give her life away for you, one way or another, does anything else matter at this point? She cared about all of you, she did not wanted to betray you, think Drake, don't let your past haunt you and deny you your life from now on" Drake simply sighed thinking about everything, he could still not overcome his anger for that betrayal, no matter the circumstances or reasons, that act was simply a blow he could not stand.

### Night once again covered the skies and Drake decided to remain where he was, at the little waterfall, it was the only thing that kept him calm and helped him think clearly. The stars were shining in the sky and the moon was guarding the earth. Drake was sitting against the rock thinking hardly while Ryu was waiting for him to do something and, other than trying to make him think straight, he could not do much anymore. A young lady appeared on top of the waterfall, her clothes seemed made of water with a light blue color and ocean blue eyes, a long blonde-greenish hair and pointy ears and a smile that no human could ever forget even after seeing it only once. "You seem agitated young guardian" Drake stood immediately up, ready to fight. The young lady, now near the waterfall, revealed to be without any shoes or any other clothes other than that simple light blue dress which was almost resembling the water falling in the waterfall. She simply smiled to Drake and calmed him down in an instant. Drake's head seemed light and clear, he was calm and started to sit back down looking at the young lady "Who are you? What do you wish from me?" The young lady simply smiled again and started to walk toward him "Who I am does not matter young guardian, your hear seemed quite confused, the nature surrounding you can feel that, why are you so confused?" Drake was astonished and could not talk, the beauty of the young lady and her words were like a wind that was caressing his ears and a fire that was hypnotizing his eyes "I...I..." Drake could not make up his mind to start and explain because he was hypnotized by the young lady in front of him. She decided to sit besides him, caressing his cheek "Young guardian, even if life sometimes treats you badly, it always grants you a road to what you desire...to happiness. You just have to recognize it and take it. Sometimes it might be hard to recognize or even see that road, and sometimes it might even be a road that you already walked, but even if your life is blurred young Drake" another hand caresses Drake's other cheek while she smiled sweetly "You must see through it's deceptions and walk the true path you search for, even if that path sometimes might be dangerous or bring suffering" Drake could not do nothing if not look at her and listen, his clear mind was able to quickly grasp her message but could not react in any way "Once you find your true path Drake, walk it with confidence so that no one will be ever capable of leading you astray from it, have faith in yourself guardian. You are strong and can do many things still obscure to you, but you will learn only if you let them reach and teach you. Life can be a strict teacher, but a teacher nonetheless, and a teacher never hates his students, on the contrary, she loves them." That said the young lady stood up and kissed Drake's forehead and smiled one final time "I believe in you Drake, you should do that too...farewell" a gently, warm wind struck Drake's face and, when he looked the other way to see where it was coming from, the lady was vanished, leaving him a lot to think about.

### At daytime, Lifia finally woke up "Good morning, how is she?" Reit was standing next to the sleeping Iris "Still low on energy, but she did not got worse which is a good thing" Lifia nodded and started to head toward the exit "Where are you going?" Lifia simply smiled "Sorry to leave her in your hands, but I am going to search for him" Reit shook her head "Leave him be, it's the best" Lifia sighed "I made this mess so I'm going to fix it" without waiting for an answer, Lifia left Reit alone with Iris, a simple smile forming on Reit's mouth. Lifia started to search for Drake's position, his guardian powers were still fuzzy and was difficult for her to locate anything at all. Searching in the city brought no results so she decided to search near the battlefield where they fought the dark one. After hours of searching, nothing was found yet so she decided to search the surrounding area for clues or something about him. Not much later she started to have a faint sensation and started to feel Drake's power source even if it was blurry. Following his tracks, she reached the forest where he was currently staying. The forest was huge and it might take days to find him, that of course, if he does not leave the place where he was staying right now. Even if her powers helped her locate his area of presence, she could not pinpoint his right location, it was very fuzzy and unclear where he was exactly, she could only tell that he was somewhere inside that forest. Still strong-willed, she started to search the place, but the first hours of search lead to nothing. A young lady, the same that Drake encountered, smiled while standing against a tree "You search for the lost one it seems..." Lifia was surprised by the delicate voice that caught her attention but did not felt any hostility from her and simply nod "Yes, I must find him, do you know where he is?" the young lady smiled gently "Did you ever considered if he wanted to be found in the first place? Or if he wished of you to search for him?" Lifia stood silently by. Since the beginning of her searches, she never thought about anything else if not finding him, only now she started to think about the situation itself and how Drake must be feeling. At the beginning she wanted to apologize and bring him back, but what if he doesn't want to go back? Lifia was conflicted but her will answered for her "It doesn't matter, he is alone now, without someone near him. I betrayed him, made him lose everything he had, it's my fault and I will pay every consequences I need to pay in order to bring him back! If not for me, for the one that saved me" Strangely enough, her primal beast, was not speaking, or more precisely, he was almost like absent. The young lady smiled once again and caressed the tree "I see...you are resolute indeed, but the problem is not about the consequences, but about what he wishes to do. You cannot force him to obey your will, you know that right?" Lifia bit her lip "I....I don't know how, but I want to try to convince him to turn back, she needs him...please tell me where he is, I need to find him" Lifia watched the forest floor while biting her lower lip but...no one answered, the young lady disappeared and was nowhere to be found. A gently wind caressed Lifia's face and a wolf came out of a bush looking at her. His silver fur and eyes were somehow special and he seemed to be wanting Lifia to follow him. Without questioning what was happening, Lifia felt the urge to follow the wolf and started running after him.

### After some time of running, the wolf jumped into a bush and disappeared. Trying to following him, Lifia jumped through the bush as well, ending at the little waterfall where Drake was resting. Drake immediately stood up and got in fighting stance looking at Lifia "What do you want? I said to leave me alone!" Lifia was happy and sad at the same time by seeing Drake "I...Drake...I..." She was a little tired from the long search but mostly she didn't know what to say. After a while she regain her composure and walked toward him "Don't make another step if you cherish your life" Lifia stopped in her tracks and looked Drake in the eyes "Drake, I am sorry for everything, I know you are suffering, I know I betrayed you, but...it was not my will, I did not choose to betray you or back stab you. Do you know how many times I watched whatever I was doing without having the power to warn you? How many times I saw her living the moments and things that I could not? How many times I suffered while I could not do nothing to help in any situation?" Drake was still in fighting stance but was silently listening "I know that I am to blame for what happened, no matter what were the circumstances, but I don't want my only family to pay for it, do whatever you want to me Drake, but please come back to us, to them...to her" Drake left his fighting stance and watched Lifia starting to shake slightly and cry in front of him, tears came down her cheeks while she was standing in front of him "K...kill me if that makes you happy! But please...don't let them...her...pay for my mistakes...please..." Drake was looking at her and could not decide what to do but, after a while, he started to walk toward Lifia. Ahe was ready to accept her fate, whatever that might be, she closed her eyes and waited. A hand passed on her cheeks, sweeping away the tears and Lifia reopened her eyes amazed by that action, she did not know what to do and ended up looking at him with puppy eyes unable to speak. "Why......" That was the only word she could say in a whisper voice, Drake shook his head slowly "I cannot kill you" Lifia leaned against him and punched him in the chest, but in her condition, those punches were more like a breakout of her feelings rather than anything else "Why? I cannot do anything else for you! Take my life but please return to them!....please don't let me live in remorse and sorrow...." Drake embraced her gently and she stopped punching, unable to react anymore, she simply stood in his embrace like a doll "I cannot kill you, you are part of the family that I trusted, please go back Lifia, I do not wish for your company" Lifia shook her head violently "No, no! You're coming with me! I cannot return empty handed!" Drake slowly distanced her from him and looked her in the eyes "I can't Lifia. I can't return where I don't feel my heart at, I can't return where I feel betrayed or unwell, please try to understand..." Lifia looked down and bit her lips again, she could not think of anything else to convince him to come back.

### In that moment a gentle and warm wind caressed both of them and Lifia nodded slightly "Promise me...." Drake was a little surprised "W..what?" Lifia looked at him determined "Promise me you will return someday...to return where you are waited and welcome" Drake smiled slightly and nodded "I promise" Lifia then hugged him tightly for the first time using all her strength, smiling happily after many days of sorrow and worries "Thank you...." Drake simply nodded once again "Now return home...I need more time" Lifia nod and started to walk away "Take care, we will be waiting for you, your family will be waiting for you" Drake smiled once again seeing her off and started to sit down again against the rock in deep thought. Lifia, on her way back, saw a figure of a young lady on top of a tall hill, Lifia simply smiled to her and bow with respect and appreciation for everything. The young lady smiled back and nod, disappearing in thin air while Lifia started once again to walk toward home.

### Reit in the meanwhile was worried about Iris, her energy started to decrease fast, she did not know how to help her, she was not the magic type and doesn't have the right knowledge on how to help her if not by taking her hand and sustain her "C'mon Iris, don't leave me now! You can do it! I know you are a strong one, show me what you made of!" A little light started to shine where their hand were joined, her guardian simply advised her "Energy transfer in progress" Reit was surprised, she was not able of such thing "Her primal beast is struggling to do the transfer, I am just allowing him to take our energy" Reit nod and let Iris absorb her energy. Normally, energy cannot be easily transferred between guardians, since every guardian has his own energy, which is the life force sustaining him. Being a very powerful source of energy though it can be recovered through eating, resting and every activity that allows the body and mind to regain strength. One's energy usually is not easily compatible with others, it takes a lot of effort and a complex ritual to transfer energy from a guardian to another, which is not the same as transferring one's fighting stamina and energy on the battlefield, and it's usually not suggested to do so, it might even kill the donor if not done right. Reit was not caring about such details now, if she could help Iris in any possible way to recover, she would gladly do it without any second thoughts. Iris started to regain more and more energy but Reit started to feel more and more tired and consumed by that transfer, his primal beast struggled to keep the transfer stable but it seemed that the connection went astray and the energy was transferring strangely. The connection was severed and, at the same time, Lifia returned home "Reit?....what....oh my....REIT!" the primal beast of Reit severed the transfer, but Reit was out cold and collapsed on the floor, the transfer went astray too much but managed to restore Iris's energy to a minimum percent. The energy passed allowed her to stabilize and to start regaining back her strength and forces. Lifia immediately took Reit in bed and started take care of her the way she could and, even if her primal beast was more expert in magic and energy, her powers were still fuzzy and unstable to be used for a stable transfer, a bad usage of those and she could die as well, she preferred to let her rest, able to finally be at peace with herself with the matter finally solved.
Chapter 10: Reunion

### A new day was setting upon the girls, Lifia was napping a little, Reit and Iris were in stable condition and started to wake up. Lifia woke up as well and smiled upon seeing Reit and Iris awake and well "About time you 2 slackers started to come by and wake up!" Lifia smiled gently to the 2, Reit simply nodded half asleep while Iris was looking around confuse "Where are we?" Lifia put a hand on her shoulder "Home...we are at home." Iris nodded slightly "Drake! Where is he!?" Iris started to get a little agitated but her long sleep left her dizzy, calming calmed down out of a light physical pain and headache "He....is not here anymore Iris" Iris looked up at Lifia unsure on what to feel "But he promised to return...now we can only have faith in him..." Iris kept looking at Lifia, a little confused, but in the end she nod lightly and looked down on the bed. Lifia embraced Iris sweetly "Thank you, I waited so much to say this but...you saved me back then, almost sacrificing yourself..." Iris abandoned herself in that hug and hugged back smiling "You are part of my family and nobody hurts my family!" Lifia smiled and helped her get up, Reit in the meanwhile was simply looking at them considering such an extreme sweet scene a little too much for her taste. The girls went to eat something, Lifia and Reit were preparing while Iris was still trying to regain some of her former agility and movements by doing some warm up exercise. Iris's primal beast started to communicate with her "You should thank Reit. She shared her energy with you even if she could not manage to control such transfer, she risked her life...it's something that few would do..." Iris nodded and smiled gently "Reit...?" Reit at that moment turned around from cooking and looked at Iris "What's up?" Iris then smiled as sweet as she could "Thank you for saving me...and helping me out with your energy...." Reit became red "I...ehm...Didn't do anything special...." Iris shook her head "You did a lot, and not just now, but back then at the castle too. You took care of us while we were unable to do that ourselves, you are our sustain Reit..." Lifia nodded with a little smile "She has a good point there..." Reit became even redder and had difficulty answering "I...uh....just...hmm...Did what was right I guess...." Lifia and Iris started laughing seeing the confused Reit and simply let it slide, starting to eat together while exchanging a cheerful chat about the latest events.

### In the forest, Drake was waking up as well and decided to start to walk toward the city. Once arrived there, he started to simply look around, many students were leaving school or going home, and many housewives were going to buy necessary for their family. A familiar figure could be seen in the crowd and, once Drake noticed it, he started to follow it. The familiar figure entered a park and seated on a bench, the girl seemed a little lost and lonely so Drake decided to sit next to her and smiled slightly "Hi" the girl simply nod, being a little unsure about Drake and turned back to look at the sky afterwards "What's your name? What are you doing here all alone?" the girl seemed a little lost in thoughts but managed to answer while being a little distracted "Talah. I was just thinking...I come here a lot lately." Drake nodded calmly and watched the sky "What makes you think so much? Something happened?" Talah shook her head slightly "No...I just feel like...I am missing something, you know, like something from my life was taken away, I feel lost lately..." Talah smiled slightly "And I don't know why I am telling you this, I just feel secure looking at you...who are you?" Drake smiled back "Doesn't matter, consider me a friend....." Talah nod a little perplexed but Drake smiled after turning his head toward her "You know, I felt a lot like that too in the past, I felt incomplete, lacking vitality or even depressed, I was mostly alone and I could not do nothing about it. That's what was best for me...or so I thought. Then something occurred and it changed my life, it's like I found a reason to live and to fight on...you will find it too" Talah was looking at him all that time, hypnotized by his voice, and simply nodded "Yeah....I guess" Drake simply laughed a little while getting up "Keep hoping and never give up, fight for what you believe....search for your life objectives...and you will soon forget about those bad feelings" After that he started to walk away with a smile on his lips "Wait! May I know your name?" Drake stopped without turning toward her "It would be best to not know that....farewell" that said he disappeared in the crowd, leaving Talah wondering about him.

### Iris started to train with Reit and Lifia, a little movement could do very good for them now that they all recovered a little. In case of an attack it's important to be in good shape. "I want to search for him" Iris seemed focused on training, but her thoughts were somewhere else "I already told you Iris, he promised to come back, give him time..." Iris sighed "But why would he leave? He...." At that moment someone knocked at the door "I'll get it" Reit started to walk toward the door but no one was in front of it. "Damn pranksters..." while turning around she was surprised and went into a battle position, The dark figure smiled looking at her "We meet again my little pet" "Tch! How did you found us and sneaked in?" The dark figure smiled "You underestimate my powers" Iris and Lifia came hearing the commotion and started to prepare for the fight as well but the dark figure started laughing "Like you are in any condition to fight, you 3 are exhausted and weak to be fighting don't you think?" Reit was starting to get quite upset "What do you want!?" the dark figure smiled and nod "Oh I thought that maybe you would wish to accept my little proposal..." Reit was keeping an eye on him and was ready to fight at any moment now but she waited for him to speak "If you join me, I will not kill you or your friends, I will not enslave you but...you must obey my orders, otherwise I might get a little angry and start to hurt others...." Reit spitted on the ground near him "Do you really thought that I will accept that? I will personally beat you up until you regret your existence!" The dark figure laughed "In your condition? I would like to see you try" Lifia could not find anything to say and preferred to stay silent and idle since his presence was a great discomfort to her and she was barely resisting the urge of using all her power to disintegrate him. "Enough of you! EMBODY!" Reit immediately started to transform and fighting the dark figure, but his words were true, Reit and the other girls didn't fully recover and were no match for him, he was avoiding every attack "Let's have some fun shall we?" the dark figure went outside the window, followed by the furious Reit who was still trying to land hits upon him. Lifia and Iris nod to each other "I know it's hard for you Lifia, but you must fight with all your might all right?" Lifia nodded and they both transformed "EMBODY!". Outside, on the top of a tall building, Reit and the dark figure were exchanging blows, or better the dark figure was avoiding her attacks and was laughing about Reit's power "You are too tired to fight me my little pet, why don't you just give up and accept being my company lady?" Reit was starting to get even madder "NEVER!" An attack connected and the dark figure was shoved back by the powerful hit "Tch...good one bu.." Without even having time to finish, a energy blast hit him from behind while Iris attacked him and pushed him farther away. "The traitor and her friend joined the party it seems...." the dark figure laughed a little "Let's see if you can manage to fight US!" After raising his hand toward the sky, the dark figure punched the ground and a giant black creature started to form behind him while he was laughing. The creature started to take the form of a giant beast, similar to a bear but deformed and made of pure darkness. "I want to see how much you can resist with him!" The dark figure stood aside while the creature was charging the group, his powers were drained as well from the last battle.

### All 3 guardians rushed away to avoid his charge and started to attack him but with little results, his endurance seemed quite high and he was suffering little damage from the 3 combined attacks and, being weakened too, the girls could not seem to injured it enough to destroy it. The creature set his aim on Iris which started to pant a little from the effort of the fight in such a little time after waking up. The beast started to charge her but a huge energy blast destroyed the beast and obliterated it. "Quite unfair to pick on a weakened opponent, isn't it?" Drake jumped on the top of the building and was smiling toward his enemy "DRAKE!" Iris was happy to see him and started to run toward him, but the Dark figure took this opportunity to launch a surprise attack against her "Dammit Iris NO!" Drake swiftly jumped on her and knocked her out of the attack "Tch....are you all right?" Iris simply nodded "Sorry...." Drake nodded back and got up "All right you filthy being, let's end this!" Drake charged him with full speed and strength, knocking him down in few attacks, seems like the episode at the castle helped him to become quite stronger "It's not over!" the dark figure started to glow and began attacking Drake with an immense speed and force, forcing him into a defense position. After many hits, he managed to kick Drake away but he got up very quickly in mid-air and charged back knocking the dark figure away "Not so strong now are we? What's the matter? You don't seem to be in your top form either, seems like you rushed too much without thinking about your plan filthy creature!" Drake started to rush toward him, but the dark figure disappeared and reappeared in the air and it was glowing with a darkish red "Hehe...it seems so, but if I must be defeated, then you shall die with me and so will half of the city!" his body started to glow stronger and faster "What? Are you crazy? What's the point of blowing up like that you idiot?" Reit seemed quite angry with him but no one could do nothing to stop him from blowing up. Drake sighed "What a loser...." The dark figure looked upon Drake and smiled sadly "Yes I am a loser, I never obtained what I wanted: the person I wanted to have, plans, powers....nothing was ever within my reach! What's the point of existing if whatever I desire cannot be obtained? You cannot understand me! You guardians just exterminate us dark ones without thinking and then you call us beasts!" Reit was a little surprised by his outburst of sincerity, in some ways, he reminded her of herself when she was younger, before joining party with Iris. Drake was preparing itself to counter attack and finish him off using all his power, hoping that will stop his actions, but Reit started to walk toward him and put a hand on Drake's chest, stopping him from attacking the dark figure "Have you ever tried doing things another way?" Reit seemed very calm right now and was getting near the dark figure without going into a defensive position "I know how it feels to never be able to have what others have, but have you ever considered that the problem is the way you try to obtain them?" The dark figure was perplexed by Reit, but could not answer back at the same time, his glowing seemed weaker and slower while he was getting on the ground slowly "Maybe you should think about how it's better to obtain things, forcing or using power won't help you obtaining them, and you surely will never obtain anything if that's the only way you trying to obtain them." The dark figure was in front of Reit while the others were ready to attack in case the worst would happen but...the dark figure calmed down and his glowing was already vanished, he was looking at Reit and listening to her in quite a confusion "You should try other ways, find other paths...as I found mine...." The dark figure stepped back from Reit and was looking at her silently but, after a while, he took a step forward her and the other started to get ready to fight but Reit raised a hand to stop them "...." The dark figure was silent, even if usually talkative, his expression was serious and confused "I could obtain you?" The dark figure looked Reit in her eyes and was waiting for an answer but Reit shook her head "You never know until you try, it doesn't mean you could obtain me, but doing as you did till now won't help you obtain anything..." The dark figure looked down a little, thinking about her words, leaning toward her and kissed her forehead afterwards "...Adieu..."After saying that he walk toward the end of the building and jumped off disappearing in thin air.

### Reit stood silently and watched him and nod "Let's go home..." The group nod a little perplexed but preferred not to touch the argument and let it slide by for Reit's sake. Once home Iris took Drake's by the ear and walked him in an empty room "Be right back girls, you can prepare something to eat in the meanwhile..." Lifia and Reit smiled to each other and nodded. "What the hell is wrong with your head?!" Drake was surprised by Iris's reaction and lecture "You went away without a reason or without talking with us, with me, and then you even went who knows where without giving any notice! What is wrong with you?" Iris looked at him quite serious but Drake simply looked down "I had my reasons" "What reasons could there be to leave and never give a notice all this time? What could possibl..." "DON'T talk like you know me...." Drake started to raise his voice, but immediately after, he adjusted it and simply sighed "I had my reasons...my only family betrayed me and we almost died, or end up under control of a freak...I was betrayed like this before, by other people....I don't want this anymore...I..." A slap instantly hit Drake on the right cheek while Iris was looking at him angrily "We are not your stupid friends or whoever betrayed you in the past! We are not like that! Yes, one of us betrayed you maybe, but it was not her intent nor choice! She even used up all her energy just to help you! How can you judge her so harsh!? Stop acting like a kid and act like a grown up Drake! I know how you feel and how much you suffered, I abandoned the only ones I loved just for their sake! But....but this is not the same...no matter where you are or what happens...I will never betray or forget you...." Drake looked Iris in the eyes silently and nodded faintly, embracing her by surprise "Thanks...." That was the only word that came out of him but Iris understood everything only with that little word and embraced him back smiling "Have faith in me, in us, Drake...." Then she went on caressing his head a little, awalking out of the room smiling after a while "Let's go to eat" Drake followed shortly after.

### That night Drake could not sleep well, he got up and walked toward the windows and looked out of it in thought "What's wrong?" Ryu was as well awake "I can't sleep" "That much I noticed....but why is that?" Drake seemed a little lost in thoughts "I can't say, much has happened, and still...it seems like the situation is getting a little to a dead end. The dark ones are defeated but I can't shake my mind from thinking that there is a far greater danger" Ryu nodded slightly "There is Drake, that one was simply one of their little pawns" Drake seemed surprised "What?" Ryu sighed "You see, the dark tribe, shadow ones, dark fighters or whatever you wish to call them, are like the human world and specie. They are many...they differ in strength and have many things in common with you humans. They have different rules, have different objectives and reasons to fight and usually prefer chaos, as where humans, usually prefer peace and calm" Drake nodded "There are humans who love chaos too" Ryu nodded once again "I know, maybe those could be called dark humans maybe, but I was referring to the very core of things...their chaos is some sort of personal order but for the dark ones it's not a "order" of some kind, they purely love pure chaos and destruction. Think about it like a room. Most humans love to have their own order or disorder. That's normal and understandable but, the dark ones, usually love it destroyed and in utter chaos which is usually what happens if a tornado would strike a room, and even then, it would be not enough for their taste." Drake was silently looking at the moon while listening to Ryu "So what can we do to stop them?" Ryu shook his head "I don't really know, in past we sealed them, but if they are able to break out of it then it's pretty pointless. They are dangerous and can get stronger as well, a little like you, by training or even absorbing dark humans feelings, which they try to obtain often...even suffering makes them stronger." Drake sighed "I see, Still we must find the source of their power and destroy it...there doesn't seem to be any other way." Ryu stood silently without answering, he knew more than he wished to and could not explain to Drake how that was difficult...if not impossible. Drake returned to bed trying to get a little sleep but with little results, spending most of his night thinking about the black threat.

### In the morning Drake was asleep, Lifia and Reit woke up first and started doing breakfast, Iris woke up a little later after them and joined them. Drake was still asleep when breakfast was ready so Iris went to wake him up. "Hey sleepyhead, wake up! It's morning and we must eat breakfast" Drake opened slowly his eyes, he seemed very tired and exhausted "Is everything ok Drake? You look awful..." Drake nodded slightly "I had just some difficulty falling asleep..." "Why is that?" Iris seemed worried about him but Drake shook his head and smiled faintly "Nothing really, just...thoughts." Then he proceeded toward the door but Iris put herself in front of him, denying him to exit from the room "I already saw you leave and suffer enough times, this time I'm not going to let you be until you explain to me what is wrong!" Drake tried to move her aside but he was too weak and dizzy from the early awakening "You can't even move me and we both know you are more powerful" Drake smiled slightly "Want me to use my powers?" Iris shook her head "What's wrong blockhead?" Drake smiled once again "What's this? The day of nicknames?" He tried to laugh a little but Iris was quite serious and kept on looking him in the eyes "I will not ask again, what's wrong?" Drake sighed and sit down on the bed nodding "Ok ok, I got it, don't start beating me up too now..." Iris nodded and smiled once again sitting besides him "Start talking now" Drake sighed again "Well...I am worried about our current situation and about all the shadow situation. We might had defeated the dark figure, which was pretty strong, but from what I learned from Ryu...he was just a pawn, maybe a bigger one, but still a pawn. To really end this threat we must do a lot more than just defeat one major shadow....This situation might be impossible, or very difficult to solve forever...also we can't seal them cause they will just return back like before." Iris listened carefully but, while time was passing, Drake was interrupted by Lifia who entered the room calm, with her old coolness but with a new spark of life in her eyes, shining more than ever before. With a gentle little smile she nodded to the 2 and put a plate near them with the breakfast and left without saying anything "Thanks!" Iris smiled to her and she just simply nodded back and left to have breakfast with Reit.

### Iris then took her mug and started drinking while Drake was looking on the floor still in thoughts "You worry too much blockhead" Iris smiled gently toward Drake and caressed his hair "The dark ones were a problem since the beginning of time, the ancient war should say a lot about that. But we are still here fighting at this day, we are keeping them at bay and defeating every one of them that spawns up. Many guardians are awaking their power, and many will keep awakening and will start defending this earth with every power they have! The dark creatures might be a difficult threat to eliminate but...we will not surrender until they are indeed vanished from this planet! So everyone will live their live at their own pace and without worrying about some dark monsters that wants them disappeared from this planet..." Drake nodded but was still a little down "Listen Drake, I know we fought a difficult enemy, but now our powers are enhanced and we could defeat him easier, without many problems, even if he was strong...we are stronger! We can accomplish more than that. Even if there were bigger threats, we could fight it together! don't lose your sleep over such a 'common' thing such as this. I know it's not easy, but this problems has existed ages before and might still exist from here on...losing sleep or anything over it won't help you get to the end of it in any way. You should try to calm down and just look after your life while fighting the right fight. This situation will become a common thing shortly, I had those questions and thoughts too, but I went ahead of them and did my best everyday. I tried to be at my very best and smiled everyday no matter what danger might come at any moment....do the same Drake" Drake simply smiled a little and nodded while taking his cup and started to drink its content "Thanks Iris, I guess I got what you are trying to say, I will be more careful with my thoughts and try not to be as worried as I was yesterday night..." Drake smiled to Iris and patted her head gently "You are a good and sweet kitten Iris" Drake then laughed at her "I am not a cat, well, not really....argh, guess that's what happens when you kid too much with nicknames" Iris smiled and laughed too while finishing breakfast with Drake in the room, together.
Chapter 11: The Search

### Krex was walking down a dark road. He was not even paying attention to some of the shadows looking at him passing by, he was in is thoughts trying to get to his next objective, the next Target to take down, until he will find the one responsible for breaking the seal and releasing this dark plague on the world once again, not knowing how dangerous can they be or how much destruction they can bring. The guardians are fighting in many corners of the world but their awakening is slow and many have yet to wake up and take action against this threat. The phoenix was thinking about who could possibly open such seal and bring back those monsters but one thing is sure: he will find him and destroy it once and for all!

### A young dark child was wondering the road looking around, Krex stopped in his tracks and started to watch the young one's movements. The little child approached Krex, which was ready to fight, but just pulled his pants "Excuse me sir, where is the dark city? I lost myself after the battle that happened..." Krex was quite perplexed but indicated the way back of him. The child nodded "Thank you sir" and slowly started to walk the opposite direction from where Krex was going. Krex could not understand what happened exactly, it's the first time a shadow tries to approach him without trying to attack and being polite. In the great war in the past there was never a moment where such thing could happen.

### After a while some shadows approached the dark child and smirked, starting to push the child around. Krex was looking at them silently but could not get back on his tracks, he was trying to understand what was happening, but then, the word of the queen came to mind "But the tension between the warriors of darkness and us, children of darkness, was getting worse and they started to look at us like the enemy because of our wishes and intentions." and began to understand that those shadows were warriors while the dark child was not. His powers started to gather and he charged the shadows who were attacking the dark child and immediately destroyed one in a single blow while the others retreated a little "What do you want guardian? We didn't bothered you, why are you meddling with our business? Those child of darkness scum aren't your concern. They, as us, are shadows and enemy to you guardians! Why do you defend this little one now?" Flame simply snorted shortly "None of your business creature! Now come and have some fun with me or begone and leave the child alone...or else..." The shadows were looking at Flame but none decided to attack, they saw his power and knew it was a suicidal act so they decided to leave. "Thank you sir, you saved me!" The child smiled gently, his red eyes were a little intimidating and his ruffled dark red hair was a little stained by the dust of the place "Come kid, let me take you back to your city" And so Flame decided to turn back into the dark city and take the child in a safe place while making sure none were following or disturbing the journey.

### Once arrived, a couple of shadows in a form equal to those of adults in the human world, came running toward the child and embraced him while thanking Flame with all their heart. Flame was quite astonished, shadows were not like that! They were heartless creatures, assassins, and they could not feel pity or anything at all! It was irrational for them to thank him, to have feelings, to have anything at all if not darkness and thirst for destruction. Flame was, after a long time, confused and didn't knew how to react, but then, the young queen came beside him and smiled gently "Thank you for your help Flame, it was you that took the young lost child home..." Flame took the queen violently from the throat and started to talk with anger "WHY!? Tell me...did you hypnotize me? Why are you so similar to humans? You were formless and the few forms you usually took were simply for war! I never saw a shadow with feelings! What is this trick you are using huh? TELL ME!" The queen started to have problems breathing and many shadows started to surround Flame but he released the queen after noticing the situation. The queen, with a hand sign, dispersed the guards and caught up her breath "I know your confusion Phoenix, please calm down, let me explain..hopefully you will understand better. We shadows are formless in origin and that form can be used in combat but, by itself, its quite useless. For us to be stronger we must take a form of some sort so that we can use our strength and powers...the better the form, the better the power. A giant shadow with hands and legs is usually very strong and agile and is capable of many things. We child of darkness decided to take the aspect and uses of your world, the human world to be exact, and make it our own so that we could see how it was your life and, maybe one day, become like your race. This human aspect also allows for the best use of our potential so many of the dark warriors are now using this form to better fight or organize their army after the defeats they suffered in the past. We don't know who informed the warriors of strategy of such high quality and effectiveness nor who gave them the ideas they have...but even if many hate to take human form, the most powerful ones understood the potential of it and started to use it to max their potential. We wanted to emulate the humans, so we started to organize ourselves as a human society....we shadows grow, or get stronger, with time and training, and in our case, even grow up with time since we choose a different way of life. In the great war few guardians knew about the "civilization" behind the shadows, we had houses and families too although they were quite different from yours and were only just forming at the end of the war. We have 'kids' so to speak too, but we function differently, we child of darkness try to emulate humans so we began to use the idea of 'parenting' to learn from it..." Flame was silently listening and nodded a pair of times "I see....ehm....sorry about before" Flame was a little red with embarrassment but rapidly regain his composure and looked away.

### The queen smiled once again "It's all right, I can understand your confusion, especially for a veteran of war like you, that fought countless battles against many monsters that knew nothing but destruction..." Flame sighed and nodded once again "Yeah...kinda" Then he started to walk away from the queen, returning to his path "Don't you want to rest a little here in our city Phoenix?" the queen asked very gently but flame shook his head "No, I have a mission to complete...I cannot rest until I complete it and put an end to this nightmare....farewell. And call me Flame from now on" that said he started to get farther and farther from the city, following his path, while the queen nod and let him go with a smile.

### Walking and walking, Flame could not find much about the dark warriors he was searching, most of the landscapes were destroyed or in utter chaos, many cities were darkened and half destroyed and nobody could be seen in the deserted roads.

### A building made out of darkness became clear in the distance while he was walking. Building up pace, he started to rush toward it and reach its entrance. The dark giant door was shut and nobody seemed to greet him. Once again he summoned his immense power to break-open the door which could not handle the huge discharge outbreak released by Flame and was utterly slammed away and destroyed in an instant. A dark figure was sitting on a dark chair inside and was looking at him with a little smirk. His appearances seemed human, he had dark blonde hair, ice blue eyes and was wearing a black coat with a dark red shirt under it, combined with a pair of dark blue jeans. The human shaped figure stood up and smiled amused "The great and famous Flame, also known as the Phoenix, finally reached me...what a delight moment it is!" the figure smiled amused while flame took a fighting position "You are the one who caused all this destruction?" the young figure laughed back at him "I had my part on it, we took back a tenth of this little planet hm? This land of destruction is ours now, very brave of you to come here alone an try to fight us, but aren't you a little overconfident? Can you really defeat all of us?" Flame snorted annoyed "I don't care to destroy all of you, as per now...I care to find the one who dared to release this things back on earth and destroy him!" The young man once again laughed "Well congratulations, you found him! I released those little pawns. Your little seal was pathetic! It didn't took me long to lift it" Flame was surprised there for a little "You.....are a guardian? Only them could lift that seal that easily....and only a mighty one could do so..." The young man nodded amused "Exactly Krex, I am a guardian and I released the dark ones..." Flame was starting to get enraged while his body began to release a powerful aura with flames starting to swirl around him "WHY? WHY A DEFENDER OF EARTH WOULD DO SUCH A THING?! ANSWER ME!" again the man laughed at Flame, amused by his reaction "Because it's fun and I am having quite a good time commanding those stupid things to reach whatever goal and things I want to do ahahaha!" Flame rushed the young man without even thinking and started attacking him with mighty power, every punch he launched against him released so much power that the wall behind it started to shake under the huge pressure.

### The young man started to dodge without any problems his attacks "Pathetic, you can't even hit me..." Flame then jumped back "Who are you?" "Does it matter Flame? Why should I tell you my name?" Flame smiled a little "To know what should I write on your tomb once I finished with you, you little garbage!" The young man smirked and nodded "Well I know your name so....sure. My name is Xin and I am a guardian of the Dragon tribe..." Flame was looking at him astonished "The Dragon tribe retreated a long time ago! How come you are one of the Dragon tribe?" Xin smiled "They returned, and my little black companion had a liking to me so he gave me his powers, simple as that" Flame started to think while scanning the young man "You are a Black dragon guardian....a dark guardian...." Xin smiled once again "Call me what you want, but I command those little stupid things and I will reign over those foolish humans, and you...well you'll die today!" Flame shook his head "Poor little pawn, you don't even know what plague you released on the world, you think you can control something like the darkness? Your foolish acts will be your doom, now begone! EMBODY!" A huge pillar of flame surrounded Krex and 2 huge wings, made of pure fire, started to rise outside the flame pillar, a high pitched screech was released while Krex came out of the pillar. His appearance changed drastically, he had flaming wings, powerful and long nails, his head was that of a human-bird with a huge peck, hid body was full of flaming feathers and his appearance resembled those of a human-like bird, more on the bird side though. Xin laughed "You look like a giant parrot, let me now introduce you to my power! EMBODY!" darkness started to engulf Xin, slowly he came out of it, his body was full of dark scales, 2 horns on his head, his nails became dragon claws, his back had dark wings on it and his eyes were dragon-like filled with darkness and he was spitting fire out of his mouth while he growled toward the Phoenix.

### The 2, in a blink of an eye, started to attack each other. Their speed was unmatched and every blow seemed to put a huge pressure on the building itself, even if made by darkness. They started to rush onto each other, exchanging lethal blows, and with every exchange, the building started to shake more and more...until walls and ceiling started to collapse but only another single of their blows were enough to push away every bit of the building falling. The Phoenix had the upper hand, once he read his opponents movements he started to change strategy and started to land a few hits on the enemy but, even with his brutal and huge power, Xin seemed almost untouched by his attacks "Tsk, fool bird, my armor is made of Dragon skin! You cannot hurt me that easily!" Flame smiled shortly "Flaming bird:Thousand seasons!" In a single instant phoenix became a flaming bird and started to move so fast that in a single second Xin took about 500 hits, each powerful enough to take down an entire mountain. After 2 seconds Flame landed behind his opponent with his eyes closed and sighed "Sorry kid, you ain't a match for me" Xin fell on his knees and his transformation was undone, falling on the ground shortly after.

### Xin smiled "Heh, nice move....." After a while he raised his head and smiled toward Flame "Welcome to your demise...DARK EMBODY!" A large amount of darkness engulfed Xin and a huge energy source could be felt into the air, Flame was speechless, few had survived the thousand seasons, but his opponent's power was rising fast. A Dark figure exited the darkness, Xin was full of darkness power, his eyes were made of pure darkness, his claws were glowing with a dark and red energy, his wings were bigger and made of a pure dark matter while, his body, seemed almost untouched even after all those hits "My turn now" a huge and powerful energy blast was release from his wings, directed toward Flame, but he was ready and using his own powers, blocked that attack but not without feeling its effect. The previous attack, and this huge blow, drained his stamina a little and left him panting while Xin laughed "Already tired old man? I've just begun to have fun" Flame was in quite a difficult situation, but he was too focused on the battle to notice that someone else was watching that fight, some dark figures were watching from a distance while the fight went on.

"Tsk, seems that you sold yourself to darkness kid, that never turns out to be a good choice" Xin laughed once again amused "Jealous of my powers perhaps? I am stronger than you old bird, better start saying your prayers cause you can't win this fight!" Again a powerful beam was launched against the Phoenix who seemed not to care and, with his powers, he blocked once again the attack. "Poor fool, you lost your head for the power the darkness offered, but in the process...you lost your ability to grow as a guardian and develop to your full potential. Even if black, your primal beast will never be able to develop his true potential. Only true guardians can reach the top form and a few surpass it too" Xin shook his head "Ahhh I see that you started to blabber again about those stupid rules and traditions. With this darkness, my primal beast grows bigger by the second and can release all his powers, even YOU can't beat me, that should be enough of a proof!" That said Xin rushed against Flame but he blocked his punch and started to push him back with his power "Tsk, you know nothing kiddo!" Flame started to lock his hand with Xin's and started to push him but Xin opposed resistance and started to push back, they ended up using their powers to best the opponent. A huge energy was released from the 2 and the surrounding was trembling, the earth itself under their feet was shaking with the huge amount of power and energy those 2 were releasing. Xin Screamed in the air and pushed Flame with mighty force and made him fly quite a good way back "I am ending this!" Xin started to charge for a powerful attack but Flame, which started to fly using his wings, shook his head "Let me show the true power of a guardian, you little greenhorn... SACRED EMBODY!" A huge pillar of light engulfed Flame and, in an instant, a giant Phoenix came out of it. The mighty bird, bigger than any plane or even shuttle ever existed, started to screech in the air with might and pride. His giant wings were flapping and a gusts of wind made everything fly away from underneath it.

### Xin was surprised by the new form of Flame "Grrr....I WILL OBLITERATE YOU DAMN BIRD!" Xin continued to charge all his dark powers into his next attack but the phoenix shook his head looking at him. Even while under a huge sea of flames, created by the phoenix, a dark shield was resisting and in it Xin who was laughing hysterically "DIE!!!" A huge beam was shot toward the huge phoenix but the bird opened his beak and a monstrous amount of power was formed, creating a huge ball of flaming energy that released under the form of a beam, flying fast toward the dark energy that was incoming from Xin. The 2 beams collided and, for an instant, a huge light covered the whole area, even kilometers away from the battle. Everything was obliterated away, leaving a huge crater where those 2 were fighting. The power released left nothing but a little ground under Xin's feet, which resisted thanks to his powers. But Xin's energy seemed to grew weaker as well, the phoenix was too powerful and it didn't took long for his flaming energy to obliterated the dark one. After the beam collide was over, Flame was standing in front of the defeated and unconscious Xin, his body was scratched and in a bad shape "Finally, I can complete my mission..." His fist was raised up in the air, ready to finish him for good, but a darkness started to swallow Xin which took Flame by surprise and stopped his attack "What the..." Xin disappeared into the darkness, and nothing was left there if not the destroyed surroundings.

"Should we attack the Phoenix?" A voice asked far away from the conflict "No, for now we will leave it at that, we saw the extent of his power, it's enough. Heal that boy, we might need him in future...but for now leave the phoenix in his own little world." The 2 figures that were looking at the fight disappeared in thin air. Flame looked around in search of enemy or other presences but could find none "DAMN IT!" He punched the ground where Xin was lying but nothing happened "I failed again...." After that he looked around at the destruction the battle caused. Krex sighed and started to concentrate "Mother earth, energy filling the nature, give me your blessing and power. Maker give me your divine help and might, help my powers to restore what was lost...embody...." a huge amount of energy was released from Flame's body, but unlike the one that destroyed the surrounding, this energy started to cure and renew the surroundings. New plants began to born from the ground, the earth was recomposing itself where was destroyed, plants and life began once again to grow where none could before. The huge amount of power kept flowing into the earth itself and Flame kept concentrating for a long while. After his powers allowed the earth to cure the destruction caused by the fight, Flame fell on the ground panting heavily "Damn, I used too much energy during the fight and the restoration ritual....ngh..." Flame could see a figure in the distance, but he was too weak to hang on more and so faded into a deep slumber and everything turned black for him while he started to take his long rest to recover his powers.
Chapter 12: Iris's Awakening and The Pure Berserker

### Another day in the group's life was starting. After the defeat of the dark one, most of the shadows attacks seemed to have stopped, few episodes happened and were usually small skirmishes. The evening was closing in while Iris was preparing dinner helped out by Lifia which was silently doing her part.

### Drake was concentrated in the living room and talking to Ryu "So...till now Reit and Lifia reached the second form?" Ryu nodded slowly "Yes, it's a form where they agree with their primal beast so much that their feelings and thoughts became one or very similar. For instance, when Reit wanted to help and protect you with all her might in that battle. Those feelings were the same for her primal beast, they agreed on what to feel and to do, so they reached a higher form of power and union" Drake nodded lightly "There are only 3 forms right?" Ryu shook his head "Well yes but not exactly. Although there are 3 main forms that any guardian can reach...once they have a close relationship with their primal beast there is another form, we could call it ultimate transformation or the most powerful one anyway. It's the sacred embody, few can use it and is quite difficult to maintain and do in the first place" Drake seemed a little surprised "What do you mean? I mean...it does sound familiar but if I remember correctly...even Iris told me about it, but I can't remember any details..." Ryu snorted a little "That's because few know about this form and even fewer can use it. The only one at this moment and time that can reach such form is the Phoenix itself. He's the only one with enough power and experience to use this form at its best, without risking much after using so much power..." Drake seemed perplexed "You keep saying that is 'risky' but what's so risky about a superior form that gives you more power?" Ryu smiled a little "You're still a beginner and never cease to surprise me. Use logic, a huge amount of power means that one's body and mind have to be strong enough to handle it. That much power and energy can even destroy your body if you don't have the right amount of control and experience to wield it. It can even doom you to remain in a form that you won't recover from! Of course there are ways for those cases, but the main idea is that the sacred embody is quite dangerous if used without preparation and aid from a powerful guardian who can guide you and help you control the overflowing power. It's hard to explain but many negatives things can happen to you and, trust me...the destruction of your body could be the 'best' case sometimes..." Drake gulped hard "W...wow...seems kinda bad when you put it like that..." Ryu nods.

### After a while Iris calls everyone "Dinner's ready!" Ryu laughed shortly "Your kitty called you, you should go now" Drake snorted "Shut up...." Ryu laughed once again amused and left him return to reality and went to rest. Everyone gathered and were eating dinner while Drake was a little distracted by the night sky, lately he's been a little thoughtful, he was wondering why Iris hadn't reached her second form, does she and her primal beast don't agree? Or they simply never found a reason to agree? Many were the questions he was thinking about but none got an answer in his head so he resumed to eat dinner. "Hey Drake wanna train a little tomorrow? Lifia is kind of difficult to train with since she uses magic attacks..." Drake raised an eyebrow "Why don't you train with Iris?" Reit seemed a little distressed, she didn't took Iris in consideration for clear reasons...she was too weak to be a match to Reit's power and second form...but she never bought it up because she didn't wanted to hurt Iris's feelings "W...well, I uh..." Iris smiled to Drake "I am not strong enough to be a match for her" Reit shook her head "That's...that's not true Iris!" Iris shook her head and smiled gently to Reit "Don't worry Reit, I might not have Lifia's magic ability but I can estimate your powers pretty well and I am not even close in being a match for you...you don't need to lie or hide this truth from me, I don't mind...I know my...limits" Iris seemed a little hesitant in saying that last part but she still smiled once said it. Reit scratched her head and sighed "But...." Iris shook her head "No buts, Drake train with her please, you are one of the few that can keep up with her even in your first form" Drake nod but was a little worried while looking at Iris which seemed smiling but he wasn't at all convinced about that smile she was showing off.

### In the night Iris sneak out of bed and went on top of the building looking at the moon, after a while Drake sit next to her "What's wrong?" Iris jumped a little surprised by Drake's sudden presence and words "Woah! Stop scaring me like that" that said she punched him on the arm and sighed "Well, nothing really, it's just that I..." Drake smiled and pat her head "You feel useless to the team because you didn't reached your second form?" Iris sighed and nodded "You jerk, you could've been a little more subtle in saying that, you know?" Drake smiled slightly "My bad, not the best in creating up subtle ways of speaking or saying things...hehe" Iris smiled slightly but turned back to looking the sky, Drake smiled and patted her again "Listen, you are part of them team, no matter how much power you have, you took care of all of us and are the fastest. You might not realize this but you were stronger than any of us in countless times and battles, you saved Lifia when she was disappearing, helped Reit whenever was in need, helped me just few days ago when I was down. You are indeed the strongest and most precious member of this little family we have, without you, we might not smile as much or be as strong, your sustain and support makes us as you know us, without you...we might be a lot weaker and useless....you should have a little more confidence in yourself young kitten" Drake laughed slightly after his words and Iris smiled while embracing him "Thanks young dragon, those words mean a lot to me and helps a lot too..." Drake was getting red and was unable to react for some time but in the end he embraced her and smiled "I was just being honest and speaking the truth, really, have more faith in yourself and your powers" Iris nodded and remained hugged to him "Can I remain a little like this?" Drake smiled and nodded "Sure...".

### The night passed fast and a new morning came to welcome the world. Iris and Drake were still asleep when Lifia and Reit woke up "Hm they must be tired from being on the rooftop so much..." Lifia smiled gently and Reit nodded in agreement "Yep...let them sleep" the 2 then went toward the kitchen to have a nice breakfast without waking up the 2 sleepyheads. After some hours, Iris woke up and walked toward the kitchen "Why didn't you woke us up girls?" Reit laughed "You were too tired, even if we would had tried to, you would've ignored us and kept sleeping" Iris nodded "Can't say it's not true..." Lifia smiled slightly listening Iris's answer. "I want to train with you" Iris seemed determined while smiling to Reit "Wha...? Are you sure? I mean no offense...but you know..." Iris laughed "Oh this will be a different kind of training, don't worry. It might help you in fights." Reit was a little surprised but nodded "All right, the roof of the building will do right? I usually train there" Iris nodded with a smile "Sure! But better be ready for some intense training Reit, not gonna go easy on you!" Iris smiled once again and Reit laughed slightly "Whatever you say Iris..." Then they both started to get ready to train.

### Once on top of the building they started to get in position "Get ready, we're gonna use our guardians too" Reit seemed a little surprised, her raw power was far superior compared to the one Iris possessed, still she nodded and they both transformed at the same time "Embody!" The light covered the 2 as they started morphing into their form, they were ready to fight and in position. Iris smiled shortly "Your move" Reit, without a thought, started to charge Iris with all her powers, her speed increased by a huge amount and she was rushing to hit her opponent. Even with her speed and strength, her punch went and hit the air instead of Iris, she was already behind her and patted her shoulder smiling "This training is about reflexes and speed, even like this you can't match mine...catch me now!" She immediately jumped away from her while Reit was getting worked up about her taunt and started to recall her powers "You'll see!" Immediately Reit doubled her speed and started to chase Iris but she dodged her with a delicate movement and patted her on the head while she was rushing to catch her "You overestimate yourself sometimes, I might be weak, but I am no easy opponent" Reit snorted "This should be training, not a chase" Iris laughed shortly "In physical combat you need strength but even speed and reflexes to avoid being counter attacked or tricked by a faster enemy, you had your share of surprises by the enemy might I remember you. So quit complaining and try to hit me before talking!" Reit nodded "So be it, I warned you" After a while a red glow started to surround Reit's nails and her eyes started to glow slightly, her berserker powers started to activate and Iris was smirking slightly "Let's see what you can do" Within a few instants Iris and Reit were chasing each other, Reit's berserker power gave her a huge boost now and could keep up with Iris easily, but could not still catch her or land a good hit, she was always a little faster or early in predicting her moves, she was restless and kept following her trying to score a hit.

### After a while Reit stopped and Iris jumped back smiling "Giving up already?" Reit wasn't answering at all and was looking down with her hair covering her eyes. Iris began to worry and tried to get closer "Reit...?" Reit at that point took her head in her palms and started screaming "AARRGGHHHHH!!!" Her scream surprised everyone, even Lifia who was calmly looking at the town, without much attention for the fight. Reit's eyes were glowing with a livid red, her eyes almost were invisible in the red light and, after a while, she quieted down and looked at Iris. Iris was surprised but, feeling the hostility, she got ready to react. Reit was so fast that Iris could not even realize when she came behind her and struck her with a huge amount of power, sending her flying away. Luckily Drake caught her and put her back on her feet "Reit are you insane? You could've killed her!" Reit wasn't answering and was looking at Drake like if he was an enemy and pointed at him "Get ready!" her voice was low and dark, no human emotion was in it and she was getting in position to fight.

### A voice at that point started to laugh lightly "Hehe, Oh I'm sorry, I could not refrain myself in seeing such a funny show..." A human figure was floating above them, descending lightly while smiling. It was wearing black jeans and a shirt, his hair was dark brown and his eyes were made of pure dark energy. The figure chuckled "It's fun to see a similar scene, happened in the ancient war, happening today. You would thought that the berserker tribes would've learned to control their rage, but this little girl seems just like a lost puppy searching for food while in her berserker form...so funny" Drake Immediately transformed "Embody!" The figure smiled "What a delight, the dragon guardian, your powers are still weak though, you should train more kiddo, those weak powers won't help you in any situation..." Drake got into position to fight, but Reit immediately started to engage him with all her powers. Drake had a lot of difficulty in reading and avoiding her hits, although she was faster and stronger, he trained several times with her and knew how to contrast her berserker form but, this time, she was far more threatening and was tiring him fast.

### Iris looked at the young man floating "Who are you?" The man simply smiled "You don't need to know my name or who I am, simply know that you might die today, and by your comrade hand. I used a rage spell on her, usually this kind of spells works only on highly rage compatible subjects, which are very very rare, but the ursine berserker were always a fun subject. The spell is not easy and requires a lot of power and particular conditions to be cast, still it was worth the trouble! The show of you trying to defend your life from a teammate is priceless...In the great war we used a similar trick to make them attack their allies, it required a lot of power and sacrifice but it was worth it just for the fun of watching them slaughter between them!" Iris opened her eyes widely "That's what happened...." then she looked at Reit "No....REIT! Wake up! Try to regain control, you are not an animal! React!" Reit was not even listening to Iris but instead proceeded to fight Drake harder. Drake was having quite a hard time with Reit "Damn, Ryu can you hang on longer?" Ryu nodded "Yeah but my powers are at the limit right now, I can't seem to be able to give more than this, we should be able to sustain her assault for a while" A surprise attack though made Drake fly back, but with agility he recovered in mid air without a problem and regain his combat position. Lifia started to attack the man with magical attacks but they just dissipated before hitting him "Very cute little fox, you must be the one controlled by that fool, you dual dark foxes were the easiest to control by darkness, you were very compatible with our energy and some of you even decided to fight with us, but you decimated them when you found out about their treason, quite a rigid clan you had back then. Still, you can't touch me with that little power, I might had used a lot of my powers to cast that spell but I am not a fool to come here unprotected. ". Lifia sighed shortly but then focused on Reit "I will distract her with my magic barrage, but you must find a plan soon or she's really going to kill us, now!" A small magic spheres started to go against Reit, she immediately started to parry, the sphere weren't doing any real damage but were keeping her in place and on defensive since she could not do anything else for now. Iris looked at Drake "Drake, rest a little and take care of the nice guy here, I'll try to make Reit come back to her senses..." Drake nodded "Are you sure? She might not restrain next time..." Iris nodded "I am the only one that can do that" Drake nodded and started to rush toward the man who was floating.

### Iris started to rush toward Reit and nodded to Lifia. In a second, Lifia stopped her attacks and went to support Drake while Iris grabbed Reit and tried to contain her with all her strenght "Reit, Reit can you hear me? Calm down Reit. It's me, Iris, please regain your control, try to react to your rage, find your peace..." Reit was not responding but for a second she calmed a little, but a while later she tossed Iris away and was getting ready to fight. Iris recovered mid air and was getting ready to fight again but Reit was too strong and fast for her so she took some serious blows and was sent back sliding by her immense raw power "Reit...please, I don't want to hurt you, try to come back to your senses, react to that blind rage..." Reit was still attacking though, giving Iris a hard time. Drake and Lifia were attacking the man with magic and physical attacks, but neither were effective, he was too fast and magical superior to be hit by all those attacks, he was not trying to counter-attack either, he seemed to enjoy just dodging and parrying, more focused on looking at the fight between Iris and Reit. Iris was sent toward the entrance of the rooftop and hit a wall near it, she was injured and could not keep up the fight anymore "Why, why aren't you responding? Did you forget already? The first time I found you...were the same. You were blindly crushing everything! I fought you and, after the blows we exchanged, I embraced you and you calmed down...you returned to your normal self...why can't you do it now? Have you forgotten me in your rage?" Iris then jumped on Reit and embrace her "Please..." for a second a voice could be heard by Iris "Run...I...Can't.........RUN!" The voice then disappeared and Reit tossed Iris away with all her strength but Iris was too tired to recover and hit the ground pretty badly. Drake and Lifia were busy with the man to help and, every attempt made to help her, was stopped by the mysterious shadow.

### Iris was shaking but got back on her feet "Run?...No I won't run, you are my family, I consider you my sister....you saved me when I was losing my energy, you risked your life for me....now it's my turn..." A powerful light engulfed Iris's body, Her fur started to extend, her nails began stronger and longer, her feet began to be slightly curved, a little like those of a werewolf, her eyes changed shape into those of a feline and her nose changed into a cat one, her fangs grew bigger, becoming sharp as a blade. In an instant Iris was behind Reit, neither one of Reit's countless attacks could hit her, every punch were hitting only air and none of her attacks were effective. Iris was so fast that not even Drake could see her when she moved to avoid a hit or to change location, still she was hesitant to attack her teammate. The man watched the scene like if he was not even under attack, able to dodge and block any hit even while distracted and, after seeing the result, used a huge dark energy to make Drake and Lifia fly away "Unexpected things happen sometimes....seems I must take the lead here" with a single gesture of the hand, a powerful beam caught Iris by surprise and made her fly away, she recovered in mid air again with great agility, Reit was looking at him an with angry eyes but the man laughed "What's wrong bear? Angry I got your little prey away?" Reit rushed to attack the man but it was pointless, he was too fast and strong for her and she was sent flying down on the ground without any effort "Stupid girl..." but he could not finish the sentence that Iris started immediately to attack him furiously, she was so fast that could land quite some hits, the man could not block in time or simply could not follow her movements but he seemed not to feel her attacks that much, like if they were too weak for him to take any serious damage. After a while he invoked a dark energy sphere around him that pushed Iris back "Interesting power kitty, but those are as useless as you, you won't be able to beat anyone with those" That said the field started to expand and was pushing and hurting Iris at the same time. While she was trying to contain with all her strength the energy sphere, Reit was again on her feet and was watching Iris suffering heavily under the man's power, then she heard like a drop of water falling into a lake inside of her.

"Iris....I can't let you go like that...I don't want to....I WON'T LET YOU!" A powerful aura surrounded Reit as she started to release waves of energy all around her, her eyes began to be blank and her body began to be stronger and bigger, her rage was increasing and her hair started to flow up and down by themselves, her powers were increasing by the second. The man was dumbfounded and was curios what was happening but, in a blink of an eye, Reit got near the dark energy sphere and started to use her full powers on it, crushing it with one single punch. The man began to flow up in the sky "Tch...interesting..." But Reit was already in front of him, in a single jumped she reached him and started to fight him in mid air. Even if the man could block most of hits, and dodge the others, he was quite distressed and seemed to had quite some trouble fighting Reit in that condition. Iris in the meanwhile recovered and was looking at the 2 fight "Reit....." After that she smiled a little and went to help Drake and Lifia who were sent away, suffering quite some serious injuries for the few attacks they took in. Reit was fighting his opponent with fierce rage, she was emotionless and her eyes were blank but seemed surrounded by a red energy at the same time, her berserker mode seemed even stronger now and she was hitting his opponent with everything she had. The man snorted and pushed her back with a powerful dark energy shield but she quickly regain balance and jumped against him with rage. The shadow quickly retreated higher and further away from her "It was a pleasure to see you kids playing with me but I am requested elsewhere...I'll kill you another time..." that said he disappeared into thin air and Reit was standing watching at the sky where the enemy was.

### Iris already helped Drake and Lifia recover and came back to the entrance of the roof and was slowly approaching Reit "Reit...?" She was still ready to fight if needed, Reit seemed still in Berserker mode "Calm down Iris and lower your guard....I am fine" The voice of Reit was cold and emotionless, a little serious maybe, but it was hard to detect that. Iris was surprised and looked at her "W...what?" Reit closed her eyes and returned to normal and smiled shortly "I am alright I said..." Iris returned normal as well and nodded "Are you sure?...what happened?" Reit nodded "Well, by what my primal beast said, I reached the Pure Berserker Condition." Iris seemed a little perplexed so Reit sighed and explained shortly "It's the peek of my berserker mode, it makes me retain my senses and consciousness but at the same time use all the power from the berserker mode that I can muster, allowing me to redirect such anger and strength to the enemy and not to my allies. Its the ultimate form of berserker powers...one that few have ever reached in history it seems..." Reit sighed slowly "And I heard what he said about the past, I am not convinced that was true, but still it's good to know my kind was not at fault...or at least...not directly" Iris smiled and patted her shoulder "Don't worry about it now Reit, let's go and mend our wounds...for now just try to rest and not to think about negative things...It's a good new thing that you can finally avoid hurting others in your berserker state" Iris smiled widely, happy about the new power of control she had and so accompanied a thoughtful Reit and an injured Lifia and Drake back into the house to have some rest from the long fight.
Chapter 13: In Search of a Common Home

### A dark facility was conducting it's own experiments, no soul was around such building, but inside, shadows were scurrying left and right. The dark man that attacked the group entered a room "How are things going?" Another human shaped shadow nodded "Everything seems going according to plan, the dark energy seems to be resonating with the subject, but it doesn't seem able to overcome and control him yet. In fact that darkness is accumulating in one place and is staying idle, we tried to make it resonate more but...we did not obtain any result up until now" The man sighed "I see, continue with the experiments, we might get lucky and..." In that instant an explosion made the building shake and another shadow came running in the room "The subject has escaped!" The 2 dark figures in the room were astonished "Fools, he is precious and unstable, AFTER HIM NOW!" The shadows nodded and dashed away while alarms were sounding all over the facility.

### A young man, black hair and eyes with a strange black suit with purple lines on it, was running away while the confusion was calming down at the facility "Ng....darn them, I will make them pay one day..." the young man kept running farther and farther until he stopped suddenly when the brown haired shadow showed itself in front of him smiling "What a cute little subject you are, shouldn't you be an obedient guinea pig and stay in your cage?" The young man snorted "SHUT UP! SCREW YOU!" The dark figure laughed amused "Now now, it's not polite to treat like that those who can control your life...don't you think?" The young man got himself in a fighting position but the dark figure started laughing "Do you really think you can fight me? I'll show you what power means!" a powerful dark ray was emitted by the hand of the dark figure and hit the young man directly but he withstood the attack...until he was thrown down by it's raw power. After a while he started to get up "What?!" The dark figure was surprised by his recovery, that ray should had at least made him unconscious, but he was still up and ready to fight more "Not gonna be so easy, you disgusting thing...." a dark energy started to be emitted by the young man's body and he started hovering over the ground "DIE!" A dark sphere dashed with an incredible speed against the dark figure who could not fully block it and made him fly away followed by a violent explosion. The young man started panting heavily "Darn....." After that he used all his remaining stamina and power to hover away at an unthinkable speed, leaving his pursuer unable to follow, especially after the last attack that beat him down.

### The young man was far already from the facility and pursuers but his lack of energy made him faint on the ground. He found himself inside the darkness, he was floating aimlessly "Dark...Dark..." A low pitch voice was calling that name over and over until the young man opened his eyes and looked around the darkness he was in "Finally you woke up" The young man was surprised "Who are you?" The darkness itself answered "The darkness inside you, the one that was instilled in you and were experimenting upon" The young one with anger started to shout "GET AWAY FROM ME!" while still floating, the voice answered with the same calm as before "I gave you the power to resist and fight before, do you really wish me to exit from your body and go away? You are still in dark territory and they might catch you back. Are you sure you want me to go away?" The young man was silently thinking and looked around "Why would you help me in the first place? Aren't you darkness? The same thing that those scums are made of?" again the voice answered "I am not them, neither related to them. I was born from you and so I am you in many ways, You could call me your alter ego, guardian, other self, or whatever you wish, but I am the source of your powers too. Shadows have feelings as well as all the other things humans have, most are born from those same feelings but prefer to ignore them and suppress them, accepting the rage, hate or whatever feeling created them as their only source of power and guidance, so they become mindless warriors. The most open-minded, so to speak, are the generals and commander of the army of darkness, they are superior and more dangerous than the common shadows. I was not formed yet when they instilled me in you, so I used you as my source and started to become sentient and develop powers, thoughts and so on. As long as you hate those who did this to you...I will help you fight them, that if, you still don't wish me to begone..." The young man nodded "How do I know you aren't lying? They did that too many times..." The darkness started to accumulate around the young man "You know it's true, I don't need to prove it, you can feel me as I can feel you, we are pretty much one thing, but different at the same time...by being unite we can achieve many things, but that will be one hard union to accept and make..." The young man sighed and nodded "If you truly will help me destroy those scum then you are welcome to use me as you wish, but...I want you to obey me and use your powers as I command and wish, are we clear?" The darkness started to enter his body while the voice commented one last time "Yes, but things aren't always in your command....". The young man's body started to get on his feet "Ahh...finally I have the control, now...let's get me out of their search area..." That said he started to walk away while his eyes were no longer black but were pure darkness.

### In the meantime, at the apartment, the group was packing up the necessary "Drake, take whatever you think necessary, don't get heavy though, we might need freedom of movement to avoid any dangers or problems" Lifia in the meanwhile was silently packing up in the kitchen and, Reit, was simply standing beside the door with her eyes closed "Remind me again why are we moving out Iris? I mean we could keep beating the crap of out of them and keep this nice little place, good for practice too with that nice rooftop..." Iris sighed "I already told you, I know we could beat them, but they know our exact position, force and powers. They are coming after us, so the town is safe for now, especially if we go away, also we can't afford a huge attack or sneak attack, they might come in huge number and destroy us, we cannot allow that" Reit again nodded and sighed "Yeah yeah...I still think we could simply beat them to ashes..." but Lifia got word and, with her usual calmness, started to explain "It's more of a strategic move, not only we aren't safe here, but we lack what we need to organize ourselves at the best of our possibilities, also, if we are to find other guardians we should have where to place them. A common house is not enough, so, we must find another place, abandoned maybe, and use it as a base of operations, at least temporary. By the way...you could help here too you know?" Reit once again nodded in response "All right all right, whatever you say, but I wont help packing, I don't need much" Iris laughed "Like food or water? Don't need them neither?" Reit snorted back "All right already...I will carry the heavy stuff all right? I don't mind anyway, could be another good way to train while we travel" Iris nodded "Hehe, whatever you say Reit". In the afternoon the group started to move away from the house, in search of another home. While traveling, they passed again in the woods where Drake used to hide after the betray of Lifia, he started to look around and stopped on his stone, which he used to rest upon and where he met the young lady that helped him settle his thoughts. A voice started to echo around "Guardians...what is your business in this little forest?" The voice seemed far...yet near, a whisper...but clear like a shout and calm like the waters of a lake...but dangerous like a tsunami. "We are only passing by, we are searching for our new home" Drake simply answered without considering who was talking, he felt like that voice was familiar, friendly in some way...and answered without any restrain or thought "I see..." A young girl came from behind a tree and smiled "You are welcome in mother nature's territory young guardians" Then she graciously bowed toward the group and smiled gently once again. Iris watched around to be sure this wasn't a trap "Who are you young one?" The girl smiled gently to Iris's question "I am a servant of nature but, if you must use a name, then call me Arinretia or simply Arin" She once again flashed a gentle, yet calming smile toward the group. Iris nodded and calmed herself down once sure they weren't in danger "Mother nature knew of your arrival, she instructed me to guide you toward a new home that she found for you. It's not permanent, but as a temporary shelter should do" The group nodded to one another and started to follow the young girl into the deeps of the woods.

### Once walked for a while, they arrived at the base of a huge mountain and the girl stopped in front of its wall and smiled "Well...here we are" the group looked around and were quite perplexed "Ehm...here?" the young girl touched gently the wall and a portal opened magically showing the entrance "After you young guardians...." The group seemed a little hesitant but Reit began to walk into the portal annoyed by the situation and the others followed after her, but Arin simply smiled and vanished into thin air after the group entered. The group stood in front of a huge mansions covered in moss and abandoned, the place was new to them, they left the woods it seems but could not understand where they could be, a voice interrupted their thoughts and scouting "Welcome Young guardians, This mansion is a little gift from nature for you, use it well. This mansion is an hour far from the city on the opposite direction you departed your journey, also it's into a deep and confusing forest, but you can use the little entrance on the right of the mansion to get out of the forest...but it will take more to reach the city when needed. Allow us now to bless you with our power" After while the house started to free itself of moss, it simply started to retreat and go away, the house seemed almost new and was ready to be used. The group was quite confused but they didn't questioned, for now, what was happening. A new home is welcome for now and, if it was a trap, they would just fought the enemy. Once inside, they observed that the house was bigger than it seemed from the outside, simple design and filled with furniture and the necessary to live "We carried some of your race's things that we saw in their houses, we prepared this mansion for your efforts, such is mother nature's wish and will" That said the voice disappeared and the group started to organize their things and visit the house and it's rooms.

### Dark was still walking but was quite tired, panting and falter. His energy was getting lower and lower "Dammit...why couldn't they build their little lab in a better place? Maybe near a city or something, I'm tired of walking..." the other self started to regain consciousness "About time" The man watched around confused "How...when....where am I?" From inside him a voice answered "I took control of your body while you were out cold. You used all your energy, and a good chunk of mine, to fight back there but I could walk...so I did just that to avoid those pesky scouts" Dark seemed confused but nodded anyway "Ok....whatever, what now?" The darkness sighed "Well...search a place to rest for now, we need to get our strength back and move a little faster maybe." The man looked around and found a little place where he could rest but he was hungry too. Little was there to eat, just wasteland and desolation, but a little river was nearby and, following the sound of water, he found it and tried fishing but with no big results "Damn...too weak or inexperienced to fish..." the darkness once again sighed "Maybe we should use something a little more effective?" "Like what?" the darkness then got control of his right arm and shot a little dark ray toward the water and a dead fish came up "Like that?" The man smiled slightly "Nice trick there....uhh.." "Call me Dark, it's the best name for me, also I suggest you use it too...you are not far from what I am anyway...your previous name its now a tag you don't own and neither need anymore" The man nodded "So be it...". After some time, using a little of his power, he got a little fire up and got the fish well cooked, eat, and went into a deep slumber to recover the high amount of energy lost on that crazy day. Hours were passing fast while he was sleeping, a whole day passed and he woke up in the next morning "Man....quite a sleep I had..." The darkness once again spoke "Yeah, like 30 hours of sleep?" "What?" "You were asleep for more than a whole day...anyway it doesn't matter, it's normal...you are not used to use your powers, let alone using such a huge amount...let's be grateful you aren't half dead because of it and slept ONLY a day and something" Dark sighed "Whatever, let's go...but to where?" The darkness stood in silence for a while "...Well...A home? Somewhere where we could train, recover fully, and use as a base to organize our little raids against those things you call enemy." Dark started to walk toward a new home, an unknown one, but new nonetheless, it was vital for him to find a place, he could not hang on that much in that conditions. After a long time, he noticed a little entrance near a forest, kind of a cave, it was hidden and difficult to notice "Pay attention, it's magic protected too, technically It would be difficult for the darkness warriors to spot it, seems like our condition allows a little edge, also nice of you to notice such hidden entrance..." "What do we do? Try to see where it leads? At this point even a cave would be good for a rest, I'm beat after such a long walk, it's been a day or so since we started to search for a new home...I need a break" The darkness simply nodded, or at least that's how Dark felt it's silent answer.

### After walking for a while in the dark of the cave, he came before a huge mansion and looked around it "Wow, nice place, this would be a cool place to prepare for any fight with those things..." The darkness nodded again, and so, the young man now known as Dark, went at the entrance of the building. Before he could put hand on the door to open it, a voice stopped him "Who are you?" Reit jumped from the mansion's rooftop and landed near him but Dark backed off and went into a defensive position "The hell are you?" Reit looked at him and snorted "Oho another dark one to have fun with, I could use some payback time from the last imbecile" she started to get into fighting position "EMBODY!" In front of Dark, she started to transform while he could only watch amazed "Wha..." but not even a second elapsed and Reit punched him away against the wall of the building, which didn't shattered by miracle or strange reason, but Dark took a good hit "Damn you..." Then he looked inside him "Lend me your power!" The darkness simply started to go out of him and began to enter his hands, feet, body and head, his eyes changed into pure darkness "Let's roll baby doll!" Reit once heard the word 'doll', used by the dark figure, started to assault Dark and, even if he was very powerful, he could not parry that much of a flurry of attacks. Dark jumped back unable to defend itself any longer "How cute, but...let's see how you handle THIS!" Dark started to absorb darkness and created a huge sphere around him, made of pure energy but, before he could do anything with it, a powerful magic attack shattered his sphere and hit him directly "What the....ugh..." The attack was pretty powerful "Enough Reit, You can't attack like that...next time warn us" Lifia came out from behind a wall and Dark looked amazed at her face and figure but, shortly after, he fainted due to the high damage he suffered. Lifia examined him "He is not a dark one, but neither a human....he seems like both and neither." Reit spit on the ground "Whatever...I prefer things like him dead, can I destroy him?" Lifia shook her head while looking at Dark's face "No...we will take him in for now" Reit snorted "Why would we do that?" Iris then answered "Because we must first know who is he and get some information on how he got here. If anyone can enter this place then it might be quite a problem for us..." Reit nodded annoyed "Ok, ok...." then got him like a sack of potatoes and carried him inside the mansion.

### In a room, while night started to fall, Lifia and Iris were seated near the bed where Dark was resting. After some time he started to open his eyes, they were pure darkness again "Tch..." Lifia immediately pointed 2 fingers at him recalling some of her magical power "If you move...I will kill you" Her cold attitude surprised Dark "I thought only the dark warriors would do such things...not guardians..." Lifia looked at Iris, she nodded and Lifia put her fingers down, vanishing the magic she summoned. "Who are you? And how did you found us?" Dark looked around, it was clearly a simple room with not many chances to run or fight, it was a risky decision, but he preferred to explain the situation, he heard little of the guardians...but there was one thing he was sure about: they hated the ones that did this to him, or at least to his human part "I am Dark, I am darkness, like the ones you surely saw and fought till now, but born inside this human. He escaped from a research facility where they were trying to instill darkness inside humans they captured to make them dark warriors and help them defeat you guardians. We escaped due to the awaken of my powers and his will to run away from that place...I simply granted such desire. After a short fight we escaped and saw this little entrance and entered it...and now we're here." Lifia was quite pale listening to the story, she remembered her own encounter with darkness possession and she started to gather her powers "EMBODY!" Iris was surprised by her transformation and could not do nothing but watch while Lifia started to prepare a strong magic attack against Dark "I will vanish you, you filthy darkness!" Iris then put herself in the middle, stopping Lifia from attacking "Stop right now Lifia! It's not the same as you, he said he helped him escaped, also, he didn't attacked till now, calm down...let him explain." Lifia seemed very angry and it was quite some time since the last time she seemed so out of control and not her usual cold self. Dark in the meantime watched silently without moving "Hm...why do you defend me? She is right, I am darkness" Iris sighed while calming Lifia and patting her shoulder "Because I believe there is more than what you told us..." Dark nodded "Well, perhaps. Since I was born inside him, I took for myself also his desires and nature, we are pretty much the same thing, but different at the same time. The creature you fought were simply brainless shadows who decided to cling to a single emotion, which is usually the most violent or dark one they can feel. In my case I used all of his emotions to born and so I am him in many ways. I don't know what's the deal between you and the shadows, and frankly I don't care...if you intent to destroy them then we would like to assist in that, that if you don't destroy us in the meanwhile..." Iris thought for a while "We must discuss this, we will not confine you here with magic or anything, but if you will try to escape or try anything funny...you might not live enough to talk about it..." Dark nodded "Fear not, I am the only one awake for now and I will not do nothing, that to show you that I can be trusted and different from the others. Take your time deciding." Iris and Lifia went out of the room but, on the door, Lifia looked back at Dark which was looking back at her too. After a short silence, she exit the room, leaving Dark alone in the bed.

### Iris sighed "Go get Reit, tell her to guard the door, but I don't want her to attack him if not necessary, you Lifia...will come with me, we must discuss this while making something to eat with what we took with us, for now that's all. I will be waiting you in the kitchen" Lifia nodded and went in the opposite way to warn Reit. While dinner was served, Lifia seemed more moody and silent than usual, Iris was kind of serious while, Drake, was quite perplexed "Something wrong?" Iris sighed and nodded "While you were away scouting the surroundings, a dark being attacked us but...he was not a shadow, he was a human...well you have an idea on what I mean" Iris looked at Lifia shortly before going back to Drake "And we captured him, he's in one of the rooms inside this mansion. Reit is now guarding it..." Drake nodded silently, he was quite disturbed by the news too, bad memories came from what that man represents. Lifia took a plate and went toward the door "I'm going to give this one to Reit..." Iris stood a moment silent looking at Lifia and then nodded "No rash actions Lifia..." Lifia looked back for a few seconds...then left. Once arrived where Reit was guarding, Lifia handed the plate to her "Take a while to eat, I'll go talk to him" Reit looked at her silently and nodded "No fights Lifia..." again she went silently inside where the man was looking at the ceiling while tied up on the bed. When Lifia closed the door, the man looked up to her "They sent you to kill me perhaps?" Lifia looked silently at him "What? Say something at least...." Lifia got closer to him "Why don't you use your powers to escape? Why don't you attack me? Why are you alright in being half human and half darkness?" The man sighed shortly "Quite some questions you asked there. Look...I was locked inside a laboratory most of the latest month, they experimented on me doing things you don't want to know..." Lifia looked at him with angry eyes "I know already..." The man halted his speech and looked at her "You.....you had darkness inside you too...didn't you?" Lifia nodded shortly "But I was controlled by it...I was forced to betray those who I wanted to protect.....I hated myself, despised the being I was...how can you live with that thing inside you?" The man smiled shortly "Well...It's my only way of revenge upon them. This 'darkness' is my source of power and my ticket to get back to them and destroy every last of em I catch." Lifia arched her eyebrow "Until it will decide that wants to take control and use you..." The man smiled "I don't care....If he kills who I hate that much...he can do whatever he wants with me, my humanity was stripped away a long time ago" Lifia slapped him with anger "You lost your humanity? Revenge? How stupid can you be? You are still alive, you escaped from them, free to do what you want, and now...now the only thing you search is REVENGE? Is that the only thing you know about? Foolish of you to give yourself away just for that..." The man looked at her silently, his eyes turned into darkness and his voice was lower "Guardian, I don't want to take control of him, not now anyway, and I was born from his desires, so his thoughts are mine as well, I was not instilled already evolved like the others subjects. I was a 'special experiment' and the result is what you see...If you insist on saying our desires are fool...then destroy us and end this thing once and for all!" the door opened and Iris entered the room and looked at Lifia who turned around "Lifia...it's your decision, will you let him free or kill him? We decided to leave this into your hands" Lifia was confused, she was the worst choice to decide a dark one's destiny, still they appointed her as the one to decide this man's fate.

### Lifia raised a hand up toward him and a little magical power started to appear out of nowhere "...I..." Lifia turned around and Dark freed himself and stood behind her silently, Lifia didn't reacted, she felt the power surge coming from behind her but she still didn't reacted. The man put a hand around Lifia's neck, he didn't put any strength in it, his hand slowly went down to her shoulder and made her turn around looking her in the eyes "If you want to kill me then do it, I won't fight...but at one condition...I want you to carry my mission of revenge on those who did this to me..." Lifia silently was looking into his eyes but did not answered "Well, since I'm going to die...at least let me steal this from you" in a flash, he kissed her passionately and Lifia went eyes wide open and a powerful magic barrier sent him fly away while he was smiling "Heh...expected that, now I'm ready to go..." Lifia looked at him but she simply walked away toward the door "Do your mission yourself....." and left like that, without saying anything more. Iris, Drake and Reit were dumbfounded by the scene but didn't dare to say anything out of fear of Lifia's reaction. The man, once again, stood up massaging his neck "Boy...does she have a lot of power..." Iris scratched her head "Uhm...I guess you will join us? At least that's what I understood from her answer..." Dark laughed shortly "To be exact, I was left alive for now, that's pretty much her answer..." Iris nodded a little perplexed "Well then, let me welcome you to the team...The one that smacked you around was Lifia, I'm Iris, The guy there at the door is Drake and the girl next to him is Reit, we are guardians fighting shadows whenever and wherever needed" Dark nodded shortly "I won't be a bother as long as I can be part of the action" Iris nodded "Good...but you must obey our rules: no deadly fighting between us, no use of powers in a non training situation, no hurting other humans, and you must listen to what we say, is that clear?" Dark laughed amused "Yeah yeah, mainly follow your orders, I got it" then he got back into the bed and sighed "Can I have this room? Kinda used to be here" Iris nodded while Drake entered bringing a plate "Here you go, thought you might be hungry" dark grabbed the plate with haste and started to eat with huge hunger "Thanks mate.....hmm....soo goood!" then he proceeded to empty the plate in a second "Can I have seconds?" Iris laughed a little "Sure, I'll go get some more..." Drake extended his hand to take the plate but, once he touched Dark's hand, a little electric discharge made them both retreat their hand with haste "What...." Drake seemed confused as much as Dark but then his eyes became darkness again "Interesting, a connection..." Drake seemed even more confused "What? Connection?" Iris was surprised "It's when 2 guardians are particularly compatible and can reach powerful dual attacks, like the feline attack I do with Lifia..." Drake looked at Iris with surprise "But...he's darkness...how can I be connected to a dark being?" Iris shook her head, but then Dark answered "I may be able to answer that guardian. Since I am not a common dark shadow, I have the possibility, due to my nature, awareness and union with my host, to work a lot like a primal beast, thus I am able to cooperate with sacred beings because I am not full darkness, not made of hatred or evil things like the others. Also, the experiments they did upon me altered my nature and powers deeply, till what extend I cannot say, but I am more similar to a primal beast than a shadow, reason why I can even cooperate with my human form, so to speak. The difference is that we are one being and not 2 as you guardians and primal beasts." Drake and Iris were listening closely while Reit got bored and walked away to search Lifia. After the explanation Iris sighed "Well...whatever you are, I hope we can count on you, but don't expect much from us, we used to destroy darkness....not fight with it. At any rate, this is our new home and base, and I will need to know how you came here, this was supposed to be a guardian only place...very difficult to find" Dark nodded "I sensed the faint magic protection around the cave, but I was able to enter it nonetheless....you should reinforce it, I shall give a hand too in doing that, as a sign of trust and thanks" Iris nodded and went toward the kitchen with the empty plate while Drake stood and looked at Dark "What is it...Drake was it...right?" Drake shook his head "Nothing, I was just surprised by the connection, also...I would like to know you better once things settle down, for now...consider this your home...no point in being hostile if we accepted you in our team. Still, if you will ever hurt someone, I will hunt you down" Then Drake smiled and Dark nodded "No worries big guy..." at that point Iris came back with more food for Dark and Drake left the room after a final nod toward Dark.

### The group, now enlarged by the arrival of dark, is now ready for the events that are going to confront them.
Chapter 14: A Strange Awakening

### Flame Opened his eyes and looked around panicked, tossing the sheets away that were covering him. A gentle hand touched his forehead, the queen of the dark children smiled "Calm down Flame, you are safe" Flame prepared to attack in that moment but, seeing the queen's smile, he calmed down "What happened?" the queen nodded softly, not fearing Flame's rage "We found you unconscious on the ground, after you used most of your powers to restore the land's life, an incredible deed might I say, but you overdone it..." Flame nodded while recollecting the fight "Also, we took you back to our city and gave you a little first aid and a room where you could rest, you slept for quite a time...". Flame looked around, the dark walls and room was dimly enlightened by a simple candle put beside his bed and one beside the door, the queen smiled once more "You should rest here before going to battle" Flame shook his head "Ngh...whatever..." Then he snapped and looked at the queen like he was in a hurry "Did you saw, or found, anyone else on the battlefield?" The queen stood to think a little "No, the guards and I didn't felt nor saw anyone near the battlefield..." Flame sighed and nodded "I see...someone saved the one that bought upon this plague of darkness..." After a while he lift his head and looked at the queen "Ehm, I didn't meant you of course...I meant the ones that are causing troubles..." The queen chuckled a little, amused by Flame "It's all right Flame, I understood what you meant, it's true that we could exit our prison thanks to whoever freed us but the price for that freedom...are the ones that you are fighting right now..." Flame nodded slightly "Yeah, I know..." After that the queen stood up and started to walk toward the door "Rest Flame, you need to regain your powers and stamina, you were quite weak when we found you..." Flame nods lightly again "Yeah...I guess it is for the best..." after those words, the queen went out of the dark room, leaving Flame to rest.

### In the meanwhile, in a unknown location, Xin was in a dark chamber full of a dark but transparent liquid. "My lord, we are treating Xin accordingly to your orders, we are also increasing his power with darkness..." The dark figure nodded "Very well, Any news on the escapee and on the guardian's location, or the traitor's one?" The servant shook his head "No, We are still searching for them, we know that the group of guardians which caused us troubles are not in the known area anymore, but we could not identify their new location in any way. As per the escapee...we tried to follow his possible direction and escape routes, but we managed to find only a camp fire, made by him probably, and nothing else. The traitor however went rogue and disappeared just 2 days ago. His current location is not known by our scouts but we are still searching him." The dark Figure sighs and nods "Very well, keep searching the escapee and the guardians, but recall the scouts searching the traitor, he won't be a problem anyway, and besides, we can use those scouts for better purposes..." the shadow nodded slightly "Yes sir.". Xin in the meanwhile woke up and looked around confused, unable to move in the tank he was in. The dark figure approached the tank and nod "Don't worry Xin, we covered your wounds and we are currently enhancing your powers, The Phoenix was a stronger enemy that we thought, but you will be able to fight him at your best soon enough..." After that Xin nodded lightly and closed his eyes, leaving the rest in the cares of the dark figure.

### Flame, after a good rest, went out of the room that hosted him, the queen was talking to a familiar figure "You know what to do....now go" The young shadow nod and went away while Flame decided to come forward "What was that about?" The queen shook her head with a gentle smile "Nothing to worry about Flame, did you rest well?" Flame nodded lightly "Yeah, I'm better now...problem is...I don't know where the enemy is now...I have to start my searches from the beginning once again..." The queen smiled back "I sent scouts around the area to find the enemy you are searching for, we hope to find their base as soon as possible..." Flame sighs shortly "It's too dangerous, your people might die for this...and if they find you..they will attack and destroy you all. I saw their power...they are not going easy on anyone." the queen nodded "I know, but if we don't end them, they will end us eventually, no matter when, they will, if we do nothing. Also our new ally, if I may call you that, needs our assistance and we never ignore our allies needs." Flame smiled shortly "Tsk...been a while since I had allies...Since the disappearance of the primal beasts, I had been patrolling this world alone..." The queen approached him and touched his face gently "It must've been very lonely and awfully silent to live like that for centuries...." Flame smiled lightly "Kind of, but I am used to that kind of situations, besides...I am the leader of the guardians and the only one that guarded the world from darkness since I can remember...But I can't say I was lonely...Right Firewing?" A voice from inside him answered calmly, and almost half asleep "Yes, I never left your side. Also please call me Firax" Flame smiled "Nah, I like more Firewing..." The queen smiled "Incredible to hear a primal beast, we never had the chance to see, or hear one, if not from far away when battle raged near us...." Flame then nodded shortly "I see, My companion is quite a mystery most of times, very quiet and calm, rarely saw him angry or agitated...and when I saw him like that...usually there was no more anything around me." The queen smiled gently "Well...it's a pleasure to meet you Firax" The phoenix, once again, spoke from Flame "Thank you, for you used my real name dark queen. I hope to never have to destroy you like the millions I already destroyed." The queen seemed a little perplexed but nodded "W...Well, thanks I guess" and smiled gently once again toward Flame which simply was listening.

### A shadow came in the room where the queen and Flame were talking "Excuse me my queen, we have found an enemy camp not far from here..." The queen nod but before she could speak, a injured guard came inside the room as well "We.....are under....a....a....attack" then he fainted on the ground. Flame looked at the queen "Call your guards back, they don't stand a chance, heal this brave one....let me take care of them" The queen tried to stop him "You didn't fully healed yet!" Flame laughed " I don't need to..." Then he jumped out of the window and rushed toward the battle site. At the scene, many guards were confronting big and enormous shadows, resembling a giant with a club made of pure darkness, their power was overwhelming and the guards were sent flying away with every swing of that big weapon "Buahahaha what a pathetic form you are, cannot even sustain 1 hit..." after he finished the sentence, a huge fireball hit him directly in the head and obliterate him in an instant "Listen who's talking..." then he smirked toward the other shadows which were getting ready to fight "Tsk, a guardian, what is a guardian doing here?" another shadows shrugs "Who cares, two birds with one stone, let's get him!" Flame looked at the guards shaking while maintaining position "Retreat, I can handle them..." A guard comments "But they are too many, we won't leave our city to be destroyed by those things!" Flame sighs "Don't worry, I fought worse....now go and protect your queen, if she gets hurt...I will personally destroy you all, am I clear?!" The guards nods "Y...yes sir. Please be careful" the guards took the injured and retreated inside the city limits while the enemies was preparing to attack.

### Flame smiled "Tsk, I had worse but I've been better too...I am kinda weak and tired..." the many giants started to attack him with a flurry of attacks "Let's get this party started!" in a second, a huge pillar of flame surrounded Flame while his blade made of fire started to shine "Let's see what you can do!" Flame started to dash toward the enemy, slashing them like a tornado with countless attacks, his movements were fast and his hits were tremendously powerful and precise. Many giants started falling and disappearing, but even if many started to fall, others came to replace them, like if there were no end to them. After ending some of them he reached the ground once again "Damn, they seem endless...Firewing, can we recall the sacred embody?" A voice from inside him commented calm "No, we are too weak and we won't be able to maintain the form and destroy them all, we might end up helplessly on the ground without any energy, it's a better bet to keep fighting like this while saving energy..." Flame nodded "Got it....but they seem to be quite a huge number, and preventing them to enter the dark city is quite a feat..." After a few moments, a giant went down while a dark figure raised his sword and pointed it toward the enemies. The dark figure nodded toward Flame, the dark knight that fought him, Riff, was now fighting alongside him. Flame nodded back to Riff "All right, now it might be a little better....Let us defend this city..." Riff and Flame started to execute a flurry of attacks in air, as if they were dancing in the wind, their swords attacked like in sync and, every attack, was well aimed and strong enough to kill an enemy in a few seconds. Their combination of attacks hit the group of enemies like a tornado, killing them without a break. After a not so long fight, none of them were standing, Riff and Flame got down and looked around in search of any other enemies still alive. A dark figure was identified by Riff, but he quickly ran off "Tch....he went away....he will warn the others of the position of this town......too much power used..." Once again Flame collapsed on the floor but Riff approached him and lent him his shoulder, starting to walk him toward the tower of the queen.

### Once inside, the guards helped Riff to carry Flame who was barely conscious and was looking around until he saw the queen which kissed his forehead "Thank you for defending us Flame...please accept our thanks and hospitality for now..." That said they brought him back in the room in which he rested up until now. This time though, 3 shadows dressed almost like monks came forward in his room. The queen smiled "Please begin..." the 3 shadows began concentrating around Flame's bed and started to free a lot of energy in the air, Flame looked faintly around "What....." The queen smiled, understanding what he wanted to say "They are a particular kind of shadows, they went into temples and sacred places to you humans, studied your behaviors and rituals...and since they are shadows...they started a order of healers and fighters which serves the children of darkness, but few of them mastered the healing arts or fighting arts yet...these 3 are the masters of the order, they came here in order to help you heal faster and give you your energy back...It took them a while to be here, but they might be useful now...." Flame nodded and closed his eyes, strangely being able to entrust the situation to a dark creature. The 3 shadows created a powerful energy upon Flame who was starting to regain energy and power very fast, his condition was getting better by the minute and his energy was filling up incredibly fast but, after a while, the light dispersed and the shadows were huffing tired, they used all their powers to heal him, they were now too tired to do anymore and so retreated to rest themselves, but the ritual was successful and Flame was already blooming with energy and got back up feeling quite well "Thank you..." those were the only words directed toward the retreating shadows who helped him heal and regain powers.

### After getting up, Flame looked up at the queen "I shall protect your city, after the fight a scout escaped...it won't be long until another attack might strike" The queen smiled gently "Thank you Flame, but please don't let us slow down your quest and mission...your objective is our salvation too". Flame looked down for a little, thinking, and after a while, he looked the queen in the eyes "I shall resume my quest, but first I have to protect this town, I will train your guards and guardians...with a little training they might be able to fend for themselves." The queen nodded shortly "As you wish Flame...I will prepare the guards and troops for your training as soon as you see fit to begin." Flame nodded and then walked away from the room without saying anything else.

### That night, Flame was on top of the Tower looking at the stars in utter silence while the gentle wind caressed his face. A young figure approached him "Again alone in the night..." Flame looked toward the young figure, he was the one that parried his attack and was ready to sacrifice his life for the queen "Hm, and you were away if I remember correctly..." the young shadow nodded "Yes, I was sent on a mission, the queen wanted my aid and I gave it without hesitation." Flame looked up in the sky "Why were you ready to sacrifice yourself for her the first time I met your queen?" The young figure sat down beside him and watched the sky as well "Because she is the only one that ever cared about me and protected me countless times since we came out of the seal you used." Flame nodded "I see, but you seem quite capable by yourself, why did you needed protection?" The young figure smiled "I wasn't like this all the time, I was very young and inexperienced at that time, very weak too, but the queen appreciated me and protected me against those who wanted to pick on me or mock me. So I promised myself to become stronger, so I could protect the one who protected me when I was in need and weak..." Flame looked at him "A noble objective, I admire your intentions young one..." The shadow laughed a little "I might be little but I am no young, call me Kirth" Flame smiled back "All right, Kirth. I will train the troops of this city, I would like you to participate at the training sessions." The young shadow stood up and started to walk away "If the queen allows me, I will..." he then disappeared after jumping in the tower, leaving Flame with his thoughts.

### In the morning, the troops were gathered in a huge academy like building, even Riff and Kirth were there and Flame took a look at all the troops. "Very well, I called you all here to train all of you so you will be able to protect this town, or sanctuary if you like, from the ones that search to hunt you down. You might not be used to fight, at least not all of you, but I will teach you the art of war...I hope you are prepared for some hard days..." That said he invoked his flame blade and made a sign toward Riff. Riff draw his sword and went in front of Flame "First things first, watch and learn. I will fight Riff, look at his, and my posture, how we hold the weapons, our movements and skills, try to learn the best you can because, after our sparring exercise, you will do it one on one...." That said he prepared to fight Riff which was already in position. When the fight started, the blades collided many times and the 2 began a fierce duel, still, neither of them used any special technique nor power, they simply hold an exemplary duel to show the troops the best way to fight and best techniques to use in battle, the fight was pretty fierce nonetheless but, at one point, Flame jumped away and put away his sword "Thanks Riff, that would suffice" The troops nodded toward the 2 that stopped fighting, as in trying to remember everything "Very well, now it's your turn, pick a partner and start sparring, no lethal attacks or tricks, for now stick to normal sword fight, any question?" The troops were looking at him, but were too intimidated by him to say anything "Good...START!" The troops started to fight each other with passion, each one of them trying to emulate some techniques seen before and, some of them, were successful but with an imperfect technique and clumsy movement.

### Flame took Riff and Kirth away from the rest "Good, you 2 will be on special training, you both have combat experience and strength to beat all of them in a fight, so, to help you become stronger, I prepared something special..." That said he took the weapons of both of them "Start fighting, no weapons, use your powers as you like, but avoid killing each other. The winner will pass to the next stage...the loser will pass as well but to a different one. Now, I will cast a shield around you so you don't destroy the place and can go all out, hope it won't use all my strength knowing your powers, begin" That said he created a shield around the 2 and shifted to watch the other troops training, correcting them, giving advice and observations where needed. In the barrier, Kirth and Riff got into fighting stance "Sorry young prince..." that said, the knight rushed the young shadow like a train but kirth dashed and avoid him, attacking back with a fierce magic attack. Riff absorbed the attack, not even trying to avoid it, but rather trying to endure it, he then proceeded to punch away the young one but he endured the attack without a scratch and smiled "Don't be sorry, you might regret it if you go easy on me..." Kirth, in a blink of an eye, appeared behind him and launched a furious dark attack from his hand, throwing the dark knight against the barrier, causing a huge noise that made some soldiers stop and look at the barrier. The knight got back up as it was nothing "Tsk..." Then invoked a dark energy around him, many little flames made of darkness started to rotate around him "Game over...." the flames at that point started to rush violently toward kirth, attacking him and exploding on contact but, even if he took some hits, kirth assumed a defensive stance to endure the attacks, which seemed to not have an end. Riff, on the other hand, was looking at him while attacking "Defending won't bring victory....you mu..." A huge dark barrier started to expand from Kirth and destroyed every dark flame attacking him, destroying even the ones around Riff. The pressure of that attack made the barrier tremble but Riff withstood it "Hmpf...impressive...".

### Flame was giving direction and warning the troops, in a fight distractions are fatal, so, watching the shield, was a bad idea. Instead They should be focusing on the training. A Huge explosion happened afterwards and the shield got destroyed. Inside, Riff was kneeling down huffing while Kirth was standing but trembling. The fight was over, but whatever happened there, caused such a huge power to be released that the shield collapsed. Flame looked at them "Interesting..." Riff sighed "I lost, although I prefer to fight with my weapon...not fists or magic..." Flame nodded "Fair enough, tomorrow same thing but with weapons. Seems fair to give both of you a fair chance, since one is more skilled with a particular fighting style, also, nice job...to destroy such a shield is quite an achievement...." after that he smiled slightly to the 2 but, Kirth, collapsed on his knees huffing, Riff helped him get up and sustained him while Flame looked back at the soldiers "This should be a lesson for everyone, union and teamwork makes the dreamwork. If you fight together, you win together! Help each other when needed, but remember what I said about distractions...sometimes they are fatal and forces you to choose between your death or your ally's one...." Flame seemed a little sad for a little there but quickly recomposed himself "Anyway, for today it's enough, you fought well and your techniques got quite better, but we aren't done yet. Get some rest and we will resume again tomorrow." Everyone retired to get some rest while Flame followed Riff which was still helping kirth going toward his room "You had quite a fighting there" Riff nodded "The prince is quite powerful but he can't always use his full potential, especially since his body cannot sustain it." Kirth then cut in "Tsk, I tried many times to overcome this limit...but I can't change what I am...and neither my limits it seems..." Flame chuckled "Trust me kiddo, you can overcome them, you just didn't found the way to do so....but maybe one day you will, if you struggle enough..." That said Flame departed from them with a smile "Good rest you 2" and went to rest as well for the day.

### The next day, training was starting again, the soldiers were aligned and ready for a new training day. Riff and Kirth however, were put into a different training session. This time was with weapons, Riff with his blade and Kirth was using his 2 faithful knives. After the training session started, as before, a shield surrounded the 2 and was allowing them a free duel but...no magic attacks allowed today. Riff got his defensive posture "After you...." Kirth didn't even waited long before charging ahead and trying to stab him with one of his knives but Riff was way too prepared for that kind of attack and parried it with haste and agility. Kirth smiled and made a half turn with his body, trying to stab him from the side with the other knife, Riff dashed back just in time to avoid quite a dangerous attack. Kirth was faster than Riff, but he had no skills with weapons and duels, which was a great disadvantage, still he didn't seem to care about that, his objective was to fight and defeat his rival and that was the most important thing right now. The fight started to rage more ferociously, steel kept colliding and doing a lot of sound, which distracted many soldiers, until Flame snapped them back to reality with a blade slap on the head "Focus on the field, worry about yourself first, before you can worry about your allies...". Soldiers were struggling to fight each other, correcting posture, skills and techniques, and, under Flame's careful watch, they were fighting better and better, having the most expert veteran on earth training them was showing its results very fast. In the meanwhile the blade of Riff was colliding furiously against the 2 Knives of Kirth, which was barely able to deflect Riff's violent attacks. Riff then backed a little and looked at Kirth with a proud look "Very good, you hold well against my sword and techniques, but this is the end of this duel..." A dark energy started to surround the dark knight and his blade, a powerful energy started to expand and reinforced him, Kirth was not one to surrender, and so he started to focus his powers into his body and blades, ready to fight back the enemy. In a blink of a second, both started a flurry of attacks, explosions of pressure started to form while they exchanged blows, only a second passed and they exchanged already a lot of blows and seemed like there was no end to those exchanges, until a huge blow destroyed the shield and Kirth was sent flying down while, Riff, was putting his blade back "I have no opponents when it comes to weapon fights..." that said he walked toward Kirth and helped him up, the blow left him quite stunned and was a little confused for a while. Flame watched the whole scene and approached the 2 "It's a tie, but I saw a lot of power from both of you, tomorrow...I shall give you your lesson, to both of you. For now go rest, I have to keep training the soldiers" he then returned to keep an eye on the soldiers while, Riff once again, helped Kirth back into his room and got a good rest.

### The next day was considered a break for the soldiers, since it was a special training day for Riff and Kirth. "Very good, you 2 had quite a duel up until now, but it's time we put those powers to the test and reinforce them..." Riff and Kirth seemed a little confused but Flame smiled "You 2 must battle me together, as a team, using whatever weapon or powers you wish. If you win, then I will serve your queen as her personal guard, but if I win...I will kill you, your queen and I will destroy this city" Most of the soldiers started to chatter and some even tried to stand up to contest, but the look on Flame's face, his fierce and fiery eyes, made them calm down instantly. Riff simply nodded but Kirth got quite agitated "How could you do that? What did you trained us for then? Just to kill us? This is just plain stupid!" Flame still remained serious and got his blade out "Then you better win..." After that his blade started to form, flames from it started to shine but the soldiers then started to stand up and got between Flame and his opponents "We will not allow this, not even from you Flame, even if you protected our sanctuary. If you wanna kill someone...we will stop you!" Flame smiled "Very well" a powerful magic explosion made them all scatter and threw them away, they were little match for Flame, but none of them was killed nonetheless "Tsk, I was not kidding dark beings, my mission is to destroy you all, no exception....now get ready to fight!" Riff and Kirth were perplexed by his behavior but could not allow their city, and queen, to fall like that. The soldiers tried to stand up but were quite weakened by the attack suffered, still, they looked at Riff and Kirth "Only you can defeat this beast...take our energy, we are too weak to fight him" and like that, many soldiers transferred their powers to the 2 that Flame was about to fight.

### With new power and energy from the soldiers, Riff and Kirth nod to each other and so the fight started. Riff charged Flame with his blade while Kirth jumped back and started to focus his energy into his hands. Flame, in the meanwhile, smirked and got in position. The 2 blade collided together and Riff tried to pin Flame down while Kirth started to bombard him with magic attacks, a rain of attacks was heading his way but a powerful phoenix shriek, and a giant flame shield, blocked all of his attacks and Flame started to push back Riff, attacking him with fury and power, using his speed to overpower him. While Riff was having a hard time with Flame, Kirth came to help and jumped over him to attack Flame from behind but, surprisingly, Flame did a upper cut with his blade, hitting both him and Riff, which barely parried his attack but the strong raw force of it sent him sliding back. The 2 could not get an attack against Flame, he was, after all, the most powerful guardian in existence, but again they could not allow the atrocity which Flame intended to carry on. After a short exchange between them, both started to focus energy and began to empower themselves "You will not harm our city phoenix! HRAAA!" Riff started to charge so fast it seemed like he was teleporting toward his enemy, his blade was launched with such a fury that Flame had to use all his strength to stop that attack from breaching his defense, but while he was having a showdown of strength, Kirth started to hover into the air with his eyes full of dark energy "NOW!" Riff nod and started to free a huge dark energy wave toward Flame while, Kirth, began to summon hundreds of dark bullets which started to rain toward Flame. The guardian was quite surprised by those attacks and could not defend himself and had to endure both of their punishment. After those heavy attacks finished, and the dust scattered, Flame was kneeling down and huffing "Nice....but it's no use! PHOENIX! EMBODY!" After a while, a powerful energy surrounded his body and he transformed entirely, his eyes became that of a phoenix, his hand began to grow claws, under his arms wings started forming, and fire started to surround him while his transformation was finishing. Flame was again in position and ready to fight "The fight starts now...." Riff and Kirth were astonished, so much power was unbelievable, still they regain their posture and were ready to fight their renewed enemy.

### Flame flew into the air and started to charge them with such a speed that he disappeared from the common eye. Riff and Kirth however, were trained enough to see his movements but little could they do if not defend while, a flurry of fast paced attacks, started to rain upon them. Kirth's defense was quite weak and, the surprise of the new form, got him to take quite some hits. Riff then intervened in front of him and got into a defensive position, starting to parry and counter-attack Flame. Every parry and counter-attack that encountered Flame's fierce and powerful blows were like a ton of pressure released upon Riff, until he was not able to counter-attack anymore and was forced into a defensive stance trying to absorb all the blows while defending Kirth. After a while Riff went down on his knee while Kirth was behind him injured, Flame stopped and looked at them "Weak...." then he pointed a hand toward the Queen's tower. A huge power started to accumulate into his hand and form a huge fireball "Now I shall take my trophy" Kirth in the meanwhile was furious at himself for his weakness and was standing near Riff "You should've worried about yourself..." Riff chucked "We are a team, I have to take care of your weaknesses, as you take care of mines, without your magic we wouldn't even stood a chance from the beginning..." After that he patted Kirth's head and tried to stood up "Well...it's over, but I want to go with a burst.." then he started to accumulate a huge amount of energy into himself but Kirth seemed shocked "NO!" Kirth then put his hand on him and started to accumulate as well energy, trying to avoid Riff from destroying himself to save the city. Flame stopped his attack and turned around "Tsk...Still up hm?" Riff looked at Kirth and then at Flame "We will see how tough you are when a powerful discharge affects you!" Kirth at that point shouted "I WONT LET YOU!" a more powerful energy then started to surround both of them, Kirth started to became dark energy, while Riff was starting to hover over the ground, a powerful bond started to unify them as, Kirth, in the form of pure energy, entered Riff's helmet and started to empower him, make him stronger and bigger, giving him powers beyond any limit seen until now.

### Once the bond was completed, Riff descended slowly on the ground, his body bigger and stronger, filled with energy and ready to fight once again "We shall now show you our strength" Flame smirked once again and nod "Let's see" a fire tornado started to spin around Flame while a dark one started to spin around Riff and, in an instant, the 2 united their blades. Powerful waves of energy were sent in every direction, everything in the vicinity was blown away as their powers discharged into that one blow. Both started to attack relentlessly, with every hit encountering the other blade, countless attacks were launched against each other but Riff jumped back and with one hand he started to launch dark bombs toward Flame. Flame then countered them with his bare hands and laughed "Is that all you can do?" Then Riff appeared behind him "No" Then he stabbed him from behind, piercing flame through the chest, but he disappeared immediately after and reappeared behind Riff and put a hand on his back and, for a second, seemed like time stopped, all sounds were reduced to silence and, with a huge explosion, Riff flew away with incredible speed, crushing down a few walls in the process.

### After the huge crash, Kirth appeared unconscious near Riff, which returned to normal and was barely moving at all. Many soldiers were weak and barely on their feet but they saw everything, and tried to reach Riff and Kirth but Flame watched them with an annoyed face "Enough of you!" But then he transformed back "You all did well..." then he approached Riff and Kirth and gave them a little of his energy to allow them to at least walk and stand up "You 2 are very powerful together, don't forget that...lesson finished" then he smiled and turned toward the soldiers "Well...you learned something today, teamwork makes the dreamwork, you saw if for yourselves....never forget that. Work together and every fight will be easier." Riff shortly smiled since he was expecting something of this sort, but Kirth was quite surprised and, even if tired, he found the strength to land a punch to flame's back "A BLUFF? YOU DAMN BASTARD!" After that he went down on his knee huffing while Flame laughed "You found a way to surpass your limits, I guess it was a good lesson, make good use of it!" then he started to walk away. In the tower, the queen was watching and smiled "Quite a training might I say Flame....".

### Flame kept training the soldiers for some other days, enhancing their battle efficiency and power, helping them to fight better than ever but one day, he gathered everyone "Well, you came a long way, it was a week of hard training this one but you still managed to become so strong and a lot more skilled than before, but today is our last day, since my quest continues...but I have faith that you will defend this city and your queen until I might, one day, come back to see your accomplishments, but I want no failure or weaklings...am I clear?" All the soldiers then together saluted him "YES SIR, FLAME SIR!" And everyone stood at attention while he passed in front of everyone, heading toward the town's tower. The queen was waiting for him near the entrance of his room "So...it's time for you to go?" Flame nodded while preparing himself for the new journey "Darkness will not take a holiday only because I want to take one, and besides, I must still search and destroy the one that opened the seal, and reseal the darkness..." The queen seemed a little sad but still managed to smile a little "You know I didn't mean you" the queen nod and smiled once again "I know, but maybe it's for the best. We are not a part of this world, the others will not accept us. Even if one day, with peace and the permission to remain here, the others will not accept our existence, and, since the power that keeps us from the human eyes concealed is fading, we will be feared by them and we will be hunted down by the other guardians..." Flame then smiled gently "The future is always an unknown fate, You must not give up before you see what present it has for you, don't let the past blind you." that said he gave her a little token, a Phoenix necklace and started to walk toward the exit "Show that to any guardian and let them touch it, they will know" that said he started to head toward the exit of town after exiting the tower. The queen smiled and put the necklace to her neck and nod "Farewell brave Phoenix" and so, again, Flame's Mission continues.
About The Author

### About me, well it's the first time I have to write something about me personally, but I will share my information nonetheless.

### My name, as you know already, is Sociu Liviu Costin. Friends call me simply Liviu (please feel free to do the same, when and if, you send me a mail or contact me in any other way). I am Romanian, study as an IT Specialist (programmer).

### I am 24, at least, at the time I uploaded this book, and studied in Italy and Romania.

### I started to write simply because I had too many 'adventures' going on in my head and wanted to create a story with them and free my head, also it's a passion of mine to create stories...so why not. As per now I am studying Computer Science in Romania and striving to become a programmer.

### Well that's pretty much all my mind is able to come up with right now, but, if you have a question,curiosity or want to ask something (either about me or the book and it's content/world) please contact me using the mail I provided at the beginning of the book. I will try my best to answer everyone, and again, thank you for taking the time and checking my book out! Have a nice day!
