With his alertness half-visible, Asahi quickly grabbed Kendra and stepped away from the knight.
Both their feet were rooted into the solid ground; one held a liquid, blue luminance, while the other had a shiny sword. They kept their haggard breathing at bay and their awareness vital.
With each footstep of the knight gradually growing louder, they kept their mouths shut. A dim and uncontained aura radiated from the armor of the knight. The air around him was captured by his violent pressure when he stopped his approach with one loud stomp.
Rivers stretched and flowed from limitless dark horizons, extending to the many valleys of the quiet caverns. Waterfalls gushed evenly across the climbing ridges of rock and silage before they sank deeper into the unknown abyss below. The constant, echoing sounds of the ghastly waters reverberated across the dreary underground expanse, as an otherworldly force overlapped it.
Only a murmur of wind came up when IT had stopped its dance.
Each time the knight took a step, the environment reacted as if disturbed: winds swirled underground with every move, and distant towns and shadowed forests seemed to flinch at every swing of his spear.
A hopeless murmur drifted from the cavern, pleading for the anomaly to vanish.
Asahi and Kendra couldn't describe the terror they felt as they gazed at the knight.
It was as if their every limb froze up from the loud, otherworldly echoes of its stomps hitting against the cold, stone surface.
Everyone else but them had escaped.
(I don't know what to do.)
Asahi and Kendra found themselves atop a hill, a rock bridge leading to an ancient city. The knight's footsteps grew louder as they readied for the coming fight.
Kendra grasped a magical blue luminance, and Asahi clutched his sword's hilt. Eyes fixed on the steel alien, they fought not to flinch as it took a step forward.
As the two kept their mouths shut, the knight suddenly stopped still and weighed its boots at the center of the stone bridge. It stood silently, moving nothing, its helmet staring intimidatingly at Asahi and Kendra. The tension of this temporary silence rose with each second.
What will he do next?
What will we do together?
These were the only two questions that came to mind. The absence of followers was terrifying; nothing could compare to the depth and fear of knowing that no one but themselves was on their side.
But just as they could unstring their nerves, the knight solidly raised its spear and spoke.
"You... Both of you have defied the law. A rule so enforced and important that disobeying it is a SIN against this reality. It is a law that regulates the FATE… of this world. And you two have shattered it."
The knight's tone was deep, unsettling, and alien, croaky like a frog chirping into the vastness and vacuum of the deep cosmos.
Unknowing the knight's power, Kendra responded to the mysterious knight with a grip on her words.
"Who... are you?" She said as she lowered her guard.
Despite the knight's intimidating presence—its movements, strange patterns, and powerful spear strikes—it did not radiate evil. No darkness surrounded it. Instead, it showed extraordinary modesty and refinement, projecting a unique blend of morality and skill, a remarkable order of beauty and mystery.
The knight reacted to Kendra's response by lowering its spear, bowing down to them, and beaming with honor at its character.
"I... am what this universe perceives as... a Guardian. I am a being born from the expanse outside the boundaries of this reality." The knight replied as he stood beyond the farthest edge of the bridge. "From an order of an Elysian Realm beyond anyone's, both living and deceased, comprehension. One of you may have encountered one of the Sovereigns of that realm before. Here. In this... fabrication."
With each statement, confusion grew in Asahi's mind. The knight's grace made Asahi feel as if he, not the knight, was at fault. Yet the knight seemed ready to attack without hesitation.
Struck with the impact of disbelief, Asahi lowered his blade and asked The Guardian with a curious tone.
"What did we do to break the law that you mentioned?"
Stepping forward with a neutral motion, The Guardian turned its helmet over to the white-haired boy and took a step forward, raising its spear, replying.
"People from the surface shall never descend the depths above or below. It is a rule that seals the fate of this reality and The Elysian Realm, made by our leader, The Establisher."
The moment The Guardian had uttered that name, it broke a stupendous roar upon Asahi's mind. He couldn't bear to think about that woman anymore, the goddess who stole everything from him. The one who had...
(... destroyed my world.) Asahi mumbled in his head.
Although it wasn't confirmed, Asahi suspected who destroyed his world. He couldn't stop thinking that the Establisher was responsible. As The Guardian stood tall and Kendra stepped back, Asahi reflected on his visions.
(That cyan color matched the hue of the lightning that had annihilated our kingdoms. Before that, lava had consumed those lights. It swirled around in a vortex around those cities on the surface. It HAS to be her. It HAS to be The Establisher.)
While formulating questions, one thought lingered for Asahi: The mention of the Elysian Realm.
Guessing that The Guardian wasn't a threat, Asahi asked another question.
"What is the Elysian Realm?"
Although impatience mingled with scorn started to radiate from The Guardian's movements, it answered Asahi with an inaccurate strike from its spear.
"A place beyond normal understanding; beyond any supreme order. Some call it the Sea of Light, but to us, it is a kingdom."
After finishing, The Guardian retrieved its spear, stomped with force, and glittering cracks appeared in the ground. The knight's anger was absent—only impatience showed. It knew something unknown to Asahi and Kendra, which made it restless.
Upon its soulless gaze, The Guardian raised its spear, pushed Asahi and Kendra away, and ascended atop the stone pillar. Then, it planted its boots atop the moss, threw a sparkling string into the air, and hollered with an unearthly roar.
"No more! Impatience is running thin with our sovereign. I must say this, and I must say it quickly." He released another stomp and trembled the ground. "An occurrence had brewed several generations ago that had affected everything in The Sea of Light; A strange phenomenon that jeopardized EVERYTHING beyond material thoughts. And your realm... so has it... was included in this."
After Kendra and Asahi witnessed the hostile movements from The Guardian, they quickly raised their weapons and slid their feet into an alert stance, preparing to defend themselves.
"Throughout the reckoning of the incarnations of this world emerged an understanding, a trouble beyond any other for the future. Never would anyone think that a shard from The Sea of Light would end up in this realm. And with that arose a problem we can NOT fix."
As the situation's intensity lifted, The Guardian prepared for combat, twirled its body, and gathered several sparkling particles around it.
"One only concedes the existence of us if one were to defy the cardinal laws of this world. I am not from this reality; I'm only here for the problem. And you... may fate have it... are part of the problem."
(Me?) Asahi thought that the knight referred to that pronoun.
"What do you mean?"
With his question, The Guardian refused to answer.
Instead, its menacing aura grew more vigorous, and the twirling of its spear hastened.
Kendra shuddered in fear at the reveal of all that was said by The Guardian. Throughout her life, not once had she known about a 'Sea of Light' or 'cardinal laws' existing, let alone the incarnations of this world. She was only a mortal, A weak, clueless mortal.
Asahi also needed to know more. Kendra had a reason not to know, but Asahi was a Ruler. In his prime, he possessed extraordinary power and authority, enough to reshape the fabric of reality. His dominion was one where the impossible became ordinary; he could bend time and space to his will, and his commands were law. Together, he and the four others in his family governed with such strength that their influence reached the far corners of the world. Yet, all this greatness was obliterated by the devastation wrought by the Establisher.
The loss of his powers, his world, and his family all seemed to point to the fault of one person, and one person only: The Establisher. He remembered why he had hated that cyan glow. It was the hue that embraced The Establisher's presence. And now, seeing it also stick onto The Guardian infuriated him.
Now that he thought of it, coming to this place, the long-forgotten society buried underground to The Establisher seemed to draw more questions in Asahi than answers. However, this was only just the beginning.
(Even if my powers are gone, my determination is not.)
And so, bridled with pure anger, holding his Sword of Eventide straight without any disturbance, thoughts returned to him.
Memories of Aiyana's death, his forgotten parents, and his followers filled his mind.
(Kirei... Flavia.) Asahi thought. (Billions of people were here. And now. Only millions remain.)
These recollected thoughts bore a burning will in Asahi, increasing the flame of hatred scorching in his eyes. The visions of the cities, wonderful landscapes, and environments that once saw the sun and the stars flashed in his eyes. Before he could make a grasp at it, the visions of those past wonders faded back into the bleak, dead landscapes before him, not even emitting any sense of life. His heart plummeted into a lake of wrath. As he observed the underground cities one more time, he felt a sense of guilt swiftly pull his hope away.
Asahi would never have guessed that the old world had been buried underneath the new one. He had always thought that it was all in shambles when he and Aletha had returned. But the land and its people were alive, forcefully trapped under a stone ceiling.
And the thought that people on the surface were clueless about this made Asahi sick with rage, forcing him to fight.
Uprearing itself in tall, slender lines of its cyan light, The Guardian hoisted its spear upward and focused its gaze straight at Asahi. The tip of it crackled with bolts of cyan lightning and trails and sparks of immeasurable energy, harnessing absolute power with every strike.
Suddenly, a teal-green luster formed upon the edges of its armor, assembling a frightening glare that extended down the depths of the ebony surface. As The Guardian strode forward, its footsteps left behind scorch marks on the ground.
Cyan sparkles drowned the air as its voice boomed across the underground expanse with the force of a supernova.
With the power to cleave through everything I match with, I, Guardian, will slay the ones who have broken the cardinal laws! From the words of The Establisher, none of the surfaces shall ever, under ANY circumstance, delve into depths neither above nor below. And you... You two have defied such. Just as the endless depths protect our sacred realms, my duty binds me—my loyalty to the Establisher, my fear of the chaos if laws are broken, and my belief in the balance they provide. And so, shall you both be punished for delving into both depths? With no remorse."
Quivering among the tapestry of power of the knight, Kendra backed away from the knight as it redirected its gaze to her.
Startled by its stare, she stood on the ground, horror-struck, trembling and shuddering, aghast at the magnitude of this event.
Her blue hair was consumed in the radiance, speaking not a word. Bowed with an inevitable frigid surprise, Kendra backed away from The Guardian and cowered behind Asahi, whispering as the heart-stopping plucks of the disembodied strings returned.
"I don't know if I can… fight this thing now. I feel... I feel..."
Within the nanosecond, suddenly, The Guardian spun its spear so rapidly that it disappeared into a swirling, cosmic cyan light. Rocks started to levitate from the immense force; its boots shattered the ground beneath. Buried despair rose from their approach.
Asahi's hands started to tremble, and he slowly backed away with Kendra toward the unseen horizon of darkness.