"Daiken Souichi," A rough, hoarse voice said, "I humbly apologize for what you just saw."
All the memories had stopped flashing about and Daiken was back to being in that lonely, empty, black space. Seconds later this voice spoke to him from nowhere, it sounded very apologetic but the roughness didn't seem human.
'Who is this? What are they apologizing for?' Daiken thought. 'I'm scared.'
"Do not worry child, I am the guardian keeper of the realm of mirrors," it spoke again. "I am apologizing since, Iwase, the one in charge of distributing the gems had accidentally sent the gem to you."
Daiken was shocked to hear a response to his questions that his mind went blank. From being numbed by the pain of knowing what his mother had gone through and seeing the memories that he had forgotten, and now hearing that he was never supposed to touch the bloody gem in the first place, he wanted to scream and to give the one who spoke a punch on the face for torturing him so much but thought otherwise.
'Guardian keeper, sir, can you tell me a little about this place and let me go home to my siblings?' He thought about choosing his words carefully. 'It would be a great help if you can allow me to move my body again.'
"Again I greatly apologize for not releasing you." The keeper said.
Seconds later Daiken felt himself fall before falling with a soft thud on a very comfortable, soft surface. When he cautiously opened his eyes he found himself in a dark place that had fog that went over his head. His hearing had also returned and a lot of voices went in and out of his ears. His hands felt stiff as he moved fingers around.
"Ahh that feels so much better, thank you for releasing me." Daiken smiled.
"You are very much welcome." the voice replied.
The place had an endless row of rectangles that looked as if it could reach the sky and were on both sides. Blinding, bright light spilled through making it impossible to see the other side. Fog leaked out of them that made it seem like the mist moved. The outermost place was pitch black but the golden light made it bright and very aesthetic.
From the third large rectangle from Daiken's right, a humongous, scaly, baby blue leg that looked a little like an elephant's but with navy blue nails and seemed like it might cause a scar if one went even an inch near it. The fog didn't go near it and formed a circle around the enormous leg.
"Daiken, are you sure that you want to see me?" It said seemingly anxious about Daiken looking at him. "I might not be how you expect me to be."
"Hm… it doesn't really matter, but if you feel uncomfortable it's fine." He replied as if he weren't eager to see what the suspicious 'guardian' looked like.
The 'guardian' stepped out of one of the huge rectangles like a shy girl to show her boyfriend the new dress he chose for her while shopping in the mall. It was a blue dragon that was blue and red. Its right side was in all shades of blue while its left side was all shades of red making it easier for Daiken to guess its powers. Even its tail was split in half by the colors, half red and half blue.
The longer that Daiken stared, genuinely amazed at the fact there was a dragon not any ordinary one but a dually colored one that can speak, the dragon felt a little conscious of his looks so he immediately withdrew back to where he came from.
"What's wrong?" Daiken asked with concern.
"You were staring too long," it said. "This is the main reason I have my messengers. I'm not very good with dealing with people and their curiosity."
"I'm sorry I stared for too long." Daiken apologized. "but when you apologized to me you sounded very confident… so I thought you would be some scary thing… but you're much better than I expected. Bu- but I'm still sorry."
"It's fine… the reason I got this position as guardian was that I'm very much introverted and very scared of humans." the guardian confessed, coming out once more. "Um… would it be better for you if I shrink or turn human?"
"Shrink? Sure I guess if it makes you comfortable."
Soon as the guardian was in full view, it whispered a few words before it shrunk down from a skyscraper tall to a few inches shorter than Daiken himself. It then walked to Daiken and stood in front of him like an excited baby.
"Daiken sir, can I sit next to you?" It asked. "Or do you want to look around?"
"Sir? Where did that come from?" Daiken laughed. "Sure you can come it with me." He pated on the sponge next to him.
"I am a 3000-year-old dragon that learned sorcery and I have been waiting to talk to you for a very long time." It said.
A moment later a blindingly bright light flashed around the tiny dragon, although it was gruesomely bright Daiken was able to make out what happened to the guardian. its tail, horns, and very small wings disappeared. Its face and snout became smaller and lighter in skin sinking into the rest of the head. It was very gruesome to watch in Daiken's eyes. The red and blue scales became a shirt and pants while the scales on top of its head became silky and very flowy, it became hair.
"What do you think?" he asked after fully transforming.
He put both his hands out and twirled around. The guardian keeper, ran his hand through his hair kind of mixing the red and blue in middle. His hair was a little long so he reached into the right pocket of his pants and took out a hair tie which he tied his hair into a low ponytail.
"Amazing." Daiken clapped with amusement.
He walked over to the human guardian and out of curiosity looked around him from head to toe before he touched the hair which felt very smooth, soft, and smelt like strawberries.
"This is so cool!!"
"Daiken souichi why don-" he was cut off by Daiken.
"Daiken is fine. No need to be so formal." Daiken said with a toothy smile.
"Ahhh, ok, Daiken I would like to talk to you, do you want to look around as we do so?"
"Sure, sounds interesting."