Chereads / The Forest Guardians / Chapter 4 - 4. Chapter 3

Chapter 4 - 4. Chapter 3

Omen's Point Of View

The carriage came to a stop in front of the Phantomhive mansion. The masquerade dress I was wearing was hindering my movement and my private driver decided to lend a helping hand for me to descend the small steps of the carriage to the gravel road.

"Have a pleasant evening, Ms Monrey." He gave a cheeky smile when he sensed my annoyance towards my dress.

"Thank you, David." I replied to him with as much politeness I could master as he bowed and moved away.

This is it. The real showdown. I stifled a grin at the thought. The snap of reins and horses neighing brought me back from my reverie. I turned around to see my carriage ridding away.

"David! I expect you to be back by 11!"

"Alright, Ms Monrey!"

I chuckled before I observed my surroundings. Couples and many notable nobles were all ascending the stairway to the mansion. Some ladies who had witnessed the exchange had stared at me behind their elaborately decorated hand held mask, simply horrified at my unrefined behaviour. I stifled a grin and placed my mask on before ascending the steps.

~~~~~

"Welcome Ms Kira Monrey to the Phantomhive Mansion. I believe you are here to represent Sir Aron La Will."

A butler gave a sweeping bow, his crimson eyes regarding my marigold ones. A redhead maid with a pair of cracked spectacles was standing next to him with a guest list in hand. Meyrin.

"Quite right, Sebastian. I'm surprised that there's a butler like you who is so well informed and can see through the identity of people."

"Likewise. I see my mask has little effect to conceal my identity. "

I nodded my head and smiled. Walking away, I winked at the large glass doors which had revealed a spacious and well pruned garden.

Time to start moving, mesias.

~~~~~

"Typical of her to send us here before she arrived. And she gets all the fun."

A green haired Omen hissed in annoyance. This particular Omen is called Envilia, a persona of Omen who gets irritated easily and is straightforward. She is an expert on the elemental power of earth, or rather nature because Omen has the rare gift of owning all the basic elements of fire, earth, water and air. As she observed the actual Omen walking away from the raven haired butler, a small wink was sent towards her direction earning a glare in return.

"That could have given me away!"

"Hey, Miss."

She swivelled her head around and saw Bard in his Chef uniform, taking a puff of smoke. In a heartbeat, she knocked him out and had him restrained with the vines in the garden.

Alright. She thought telepathically to the other Omens. Time to move.

Got it, Sister. They echoed.

With that, she disappeared into a cloud of silver blue smoke.

~~~~~

A couple was snooping around the rooms when they received the command. In fact, they were the twin Omens with golden hair and eyes. Mischievous little devils called Yin and Yang. The sister, Yin is an expert over the elemental power of fire while the brother, Yang is a prodigy over the elemental power of water.

They stared at each other mischievously before chasing each other around, giggling and laughing.

"Um...Sir? Miss? I'm sorry but you're not supposed to be here."

The couple stopped and stared at the bespectacled red haired maid. She blushed furiously when she realised she had bluntly stopped them in the middle of their fun. She began to finger the laces of her apron nervously while looking down on the ground. In the midst of her uneasiness, she did not noticed the couple coming up to her.

"Sleep tight, Meyrin." The woman sang as the man knocked her out with a flower vase located on the table nearby.

The twins sniggered lightly as they high-five and disappeared off like the previous one.

~~~~~

A silvered haired Omen sat by the fountain. When she heard the warning, she simply summoned a small yellow bird, humming along with it. She is Shiro, the quiet but wise Omen who masters the power of wind.

"Ooo.... That's a pretty bird you got there, Miss."

She turned around as the scared bird fluttered off to the nearby branches, timidly peeking through the foliage. There stood Finny who gazed at the bird with a sad smile.

"It's not mine." She replied quietly as her eyes mirrored the sorrow in Finny.

"Eh? Th...Then...." Before he could finish, he had abruptly crashed onto the ground.

The yellow bird fluttered down on the ground near Finny's head, chirping softly as though in sadness before it fades away with the girl leaving behind a ghostly melancholic whisper.

"It's yours....."

~~~~~

Real Omen's POV

Memories of the other Omens leaked into my mind after their disappearance. Smirking at the progress of the plan, I stationed myself next to the sweets section of the buffet while being under the pretence of drinking champagne. I hid my disgust with a small cough when the bitterness of the drink settled into my throat before realising that the chatter had died down. Everyone's focus was on a small boy standing proudly at the top of the stairs.

Looking every bit like an aristocrat, Lord Ciel Phantomhive held his head high and gripped onto his cane. His cold blue eyes looking down at the nobles with a condescending look. It felt as though his eyes had sent a wave of blizzard across the crowd. How bitter and uninviting.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming to my party in celebration of Bitter Rabbit from my Funtom company getting a new gothic outfit in the light of this year's hottest trend. Please, enjoy yourselves and don't forget to get a special gift from the sides of the room."

The chatter resumed as Ciel descended down the stairs, passing a few comments and words to the nobles around him.

He casually reached the buffet table before subtly taking a few sweet delicacies to stuff into his mouth. Unable to resist my laughter at his cuteness, I gave a small chuckle.

"For a boy with such cold eyes, you do have such a cute demeanour, Lord Phantomhive."

He gave a scowl for not noticing me before he inquired about my identity.

"Kira Monrey, a humble representative sent by Lord Aron La Will. I'm sorry if you can't distinguish me with my mask on. "

"It's okay. I can't blame you since this is a masquerade party. Nonetheless, I have a deal with you and Lord Aron La Will."

"Is it? I thought you will only have need of my master. Alright then, shall we go?"

I placed the glass on the buffet table and waited for him to finish up. By then, the party was in full swing and no one had noticed our absence. He led me to the middle of the rose gardens where there was a fountain. A cheeky looking Cupid was holding a bow and arrow with water gushing from the tip of it.

"I thought your study room would have been a better place to make a deal but I don't mind this place." I eyeing the back of Ciel.

He stopped at the fountain before I heard him murmur, "Attack her."

Instantly, an array of cutleries were thrown in my direction but I avoided them quickly, thanks to my advanced hearing from all those Assassin trainings. The culprit was none other than Sebastian as he threw the knives and forks at me with much ease and expertise.

"You thought that by disabling my servants you will leave me vulnerable." He turned around, sitting on the edge of the fountain and gloating at the events unfolding before him.

"I thought I was lending a hand to stop the servants from falling into this hell with you if they knew who Sebastian really is and what you have done to obtain your revenge." By this time, I had summoned Corvus and blocked off the attacks from Sebastian. "Besides, I too did not want them to know of whatever exchange we are going to have now."

It was a deadly fight with a perfectionist demon as his every moves were accompanied by twirls and slashes while I countered them with dodges and jabs at his every available openings. It was like we were dancing to some otherworldly music if the situation wasn't so grim. And if he wasn't playing around with me.

"Ciel, could you please stop getting comfortable there and ask your servant to withdraw? I can't exactly answer your questions when Sebastian is clearly playing with me." Small cuts have begun to appear on my hands and face. I gave a small nervous chuckle when a rip was evident at the side of my dress.

"Sebastian, stop attacking her."

I held my breath as a butter knife swiped down the side of my face. Instead of blood splattering out, there was a dull thud in the ground. My mask had fallen off.

I scowled, "I don't mind you throwing cuts on me for fun but I don't appreciate you revealing my face, Sebastian."

"Why would such a lady like you hide your face? Besides, I think you should take off your disguise." He smiled, agitating me even more.

As I began to seethe, I took a deep breath before willing my hair to return to its original blue. But my hair colour wasn't the only one which changed; my clothes began to morph into the trademark forest green cloak with a simple white shirt and brown leather pants. Ciel stumbled back in shock while Sebastian merely stood there, smirking.

I chuckled, "You already knew who I am."

Shock was evident in Ciel's face when he realised his butler had not informed him of who I really was. I laughed.

"My real name is Omen but I am truly an assassin trained by Master Aron La Will. Please to make your acquaintance, Lord Phantomhive." I gave a small curtsy.

Unfortunately, Ciel did not buy it.

"Who exactly are you? What history did you have with my butler, Sebastian?"

"Young master," Sebastian mused." You are mistaken, we have never met before but we will know instantly because we are from the same organisation."

"A Demoness?" Ciel narrowed his eyes.

"Nah, the term for us is 'Guardians'. We have a chance to choose which race and in this case, Sebastian chose Demon hence this job. Meanwhile for me, since I'm a greenhorn, I haven't chosen any race that I want yet."

Ciel slowly mulled over the information before he asked, "Being a Guardian for what?"

"A Guardian for Imagination. We protect the existence of Imagination to prevent the unimaginable from happening. We are nicknamed as the Forest Guardians..."

"Because you guys protect the forest?"

"In a way, we protect the books. And books come from the forest. Not only that, we protect the Worlds inside the books. Worlds like yours."

"There are other Worlds?"

I nodded in confirmation.

"Then if you are protecting the books or the Worlds, what are you doing in here?"

I smiled apologetically. "I'm afraid I cannot say here. There are ears and eyes everywhere."

"Alright then." Ciel took my hint so instead, he took out the letter that I left in the allusion to attract his attention. "Did you write this letter?"

He tossed me the letter that I had left in the illusion. I skimmed across it before I frowned.

"Curious. I admit that I wrote this letter to you but....I did not write such a crude poem."

That's when the letter emitted out a bright light.

In my shock, I dropped the letter but instead of falling towards the ground, it floated up the air where the light expanded into a figure of a woman.

The mysterious woman was the definition of red.

Sebastian gave a small shudder. I knew what he was thinking because I read the book. He was recalling on how the mysterious woman looked so similar to Grell. Clad in red armour with an emblem of a blood red spade, her fiery short hair and eyes stared at us in confusion before it switched to rage.

"Who are you intruders? Take me back to the battlefield you fiends!" She swung her saber towards us.

I naturally met her attack but her strength overwhelmed me until she forced me to kneel. Sebastian quickly threw a butter knife towards her direction and she hit it away with her saber before creating a distance between us.

"Who are you?" Ciel coldly asked.

I held back my laughter when I realised this was the 2nd time he had asked. I was quite sure that was going to be his pickup line.

"Who am I? I am..."

Her eyes rolled back and she dropped on the ground, turning back into the letter. My eyes widened when I realised the identity of the person who nonchalantly picked up the letter.