Something bubbled in Kendra.
It wasn't despair or hopelessness but something more.
Something positive.
When her eyes anchored over and targeted the knight teasing her hero, Kendra took a heavy grasp on the blue magic in her hand and sprinted around the knight. Taking deep breaths, she had to realize that the magic she possessed was her gift.
The only gift she had other than her birth.
Without it, Kendra would have been just a typical human like all the other dwellers in The World of Gincad. As she sprinted, Kendra thought.
(I know I'm nothing compared to this creature… but…) Kendra struggled to keep her positive thoughts. The tragedies in her mind began to grapple her vigorously, causing her brain to suffocate under the influence of her thoughts.
She knew her stance in the situation. Even with her magic, Kendra would have just been a tiny droplet among the thousands in the darkness.
But like water droplets that fall into puddles, one of those could trigger a chain reaction like no other. If Kendra could find a source that may trigger such a reaction, she could match it with The Guardian. A blur consumed her surroundings as she sprinted left and right, unable to find where it had stood. The spiraling colors of blue and cyan encircled her like a vortex as the water-like essence contorted into a stringy-like form.
(Where are they?) Kendra mumbled faintly.
Upon her comment, the veil of the unknown lifted, revealing the knight in unparalleled glory. Its gauntlets had grasped Asahi's neck, clenching onto his skin tightly, forcing him to choke out of his failure. His blade had coldly dropped onto the floor, his eyes watered out of helplessness, and his face had never been more pallid. Kendra could feel her heart sink as she observed this with her eyes. The warmth of her hope had slipped away with each passing second.
Nevertheless, boiling inside her was feeling.
A desperate desire for action.
To avoid being afraid, Kendra voluntarily closed her eyelids shut. A thick darkness consumed the surrounding panorama of danger; Kendra could only hear The Guardian's boots scraping against the ground. As she wandered around the 'arena' blindly, Kendra began to grasp on another faint memory.
"When you face a frightening threat, close your eyes. Sounds may frighten you, but it is what you see that will instill fear in your every vein. Don't back down. Be brave, and once you feel that inner peace consumes you with closed eyes, trust in yourself that you can strike your target, even if you are momentarily blind." The man's voice was barely audible, echoing the vast expanse of Kendra's memories. But knowing how long it had been standing at the side of him, Kendra immediately knew who it was.
"Toivo." She mumbled aloud as she felt a ridged feeling touch the bottom of her feet. When she felt that texture scrape the bottom of her foot, Toivo's past voice continued to echo in her mind.
"Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds. And I know very well you have a strong head, Kendra. Even if you are blind to what is unknown, that doesn't mean you should stand there and do nothing. Regardless of your situation, always find a way to DO something. Because progress will ALWAYS be better than stagnation." As Toivo's young voice vanished into the darkness, Kendra gasped.
Feeling the winds of height pass by her, Kendra grasped upon her words and returned to reality. She assumed that she was standing near a cliff. One wrong move could end her life. So, smartly, Kendra hurriedly dashed away from the cliff backward onto the proximity of The Guardian. She could hear the knight's raspy breaths tickle her body.
These echoing, low, reverberating squalls sounded like they were screaming into the void. Yet, Kendra grasped onto Toivo's words.
When she heard the breaths gradually growing louder with each step, Kendra hurriedly tossed a lethal water bomb into the air, hoping to strike The Guardian with full force. The moment she opened her eyes, she watched the knight reel back from the magical splash. In a swift motion, The Guardian hurled its spear into the ground and watched as glowing cracks swallowed the floor underneath. But Asahi was still alive, breathing sturdily.
When he had seen Kendra stand defenseless with her feet underneath the cracks, Asahi dropped his blade and sprinted at her full force, pushing her away.
Both of them, including the sword, tumbled down a steep hill sloping downwards into the ruins of a castle. They had no time to discuss it. As they deeply observed their surroundings, Kendra hurriedly summoned a giant water spout and sprinted away from the cliff onward to a shattered bridge. Asahi took this brief grace period to retrieve his sword and return to Kendra, only to find her launched several kilometers into the air with her magic.
"Huh? Since when did she have the power to do that?" Asahi raised an eyebrow in confusion. Never would he have thought that a human such as Kendra could possess such a power. But in an effort to help her, Asahi pointed his sword in the direction of The Guardian's distant, approaching cyan glow.
"Kendra! The Guardian is over there!"
After she had heard Asahi's warning, Kendra nodded her head, and with one release, she threw several strings of stinging hot streams of water toward The Guardian. She watched as the otherworldly knight jumped and pranced gracefully, evading her attacks with bizarre dances. Once it approached the cliff, The Guardian retrieved its spear and plunged into the open ruins in a devastating ground pound.
Some people in this situation would have decided to flee from The Guardian after they saw this. Nevertheless, Kendra was different. She rooted her feet onto the other side of the shattered bridge, forcing herself to summon yet another cluster of stinging streams.
Deep in her heart, she knew her power couldn't match The Guardian. So, she closed her eyes again and felt herself dance to the threatening rhythm of the otherworldly knight.
One by one, Asahi watched as Kendra threw her magical attacks toward The Guardian. It danced with her every footstep, swinging its spear in hopes of drawing at least some sort of wound on Kendra. But despite its power, not once had a scratch formed on her. With only so many seconds to spare, The Guardian reeled back from the dance and threw its legs downward, causing the ground to tremble.
"Never in millennia have I ever failed on a task." As The Guardian's strangely-shaped helmet pointed toward Asahi, it stomped its feet on the ground again, increasing the trembles' intensity. "... but it seems after nearly countless years, I finally found someone worthy enough to express resistance upon my dance."
Losing their balance, The Guardian hurriedly charged toward Kendra and struck at a force so strong that it disturbed the stability of their surroundings itself. With each disastrous swing of the knight, she felt her body bleeding out, slipping away from her grasp.
One after another, her skin was consumed in a teal blaze, scattering into the air like dust particles. As if her powers were insufficient, The Guardian found new ways to humiliate Kendra with its overpowering attacks.
"Face the true power of The Elysian Realm." It said with a bold stance.
There it was. That mention of that place again. Although Asahi's memory couldn't truly grasp what that place was, he felt a comforting warmth inside his body every time that otherworldly was to mention that term. And then, Asahi's mind became aware.
After grasping his sword again, resisting the dangerous dance The Guardian had made, he remembered what he had promised his followers.
(I will find a way out for all of you.)
The remaining billion people had resided there for so many years.
(There is a world above us.)
Not just that but what he had promised himself.
(When I return to the surface, I will find Aiyana.)
With that, Asahi's awareness returned. Even when he had blocked The Guardian's attacks, Asahi stood next to Kendra's persistent presence and forced himself to stand at the chilling front of the dance. The knight's armor creaked and rattled as they gathered momentum, their muscles straining with effort as Kendra and Asahi pushed their attacks to their limits.
Yet, despite being overwhelmed by The Guardian's unfathomable attacks, Asahi and Kendra were still left standing. The cosmic blaze that had latched onto Kendra seemed to have flickered out of existence each time Asahi was next to her. His presence itself was enough to heal her wounds.
Though it may have taken a few seconds to realize, Kendra figured out how her power worked. In a gasp of realization, as they felt their stamina depleting with each swing of the knight, Kendra mumbled as memories flowed back inside her.
"Wait… is this what The Protector meant by… my powers being much closer than I think?"
Then, at a pace, so swift, Kendra remembered using this exact power with her siblings. Every time her ability was to emerge in the sparkling fields of Destia, her hands had always grabbed into someone else's. Not only would Kendra's power awaken in her body, but the other person who held onto her would also possess that very element. Sealing this realization with a conclusion, as Kendra became aware of her power, she hurriedly tightened her grasp on Asahi's hands and shouted aloud.
"Asahi. Hold my hand."
A gap of resistance formed in between the moment. Asahi had yet to learn how or what Kendra's powers were. So hearing this, especially in a dangerous moment such as the one they were in right now, confused him greatly. But after seeing the persuading look glittering deeply in Kendra's azure eyes, Asahi shrugged the thought off and clenched onto Kendra's soft hands tightly, responding with an unsure tone.
"Okay."
After they had tried desperately to block The Guardian's attacks, it led them toward the dead snot-green puddles of the underground expanse. The chittering shallow waters beneath them grew restless. Despite being assembled in steel, the water did not affect the knight. It continued to carry its threatening aura by using rapid slashes of sparkling essence.
"It would seem your power rendered both of your presences impassable. Continue onward, and I will surely end you where you stand." The Guardian said as it backflipped and reeled back from the partners. When it had reached its final step, it spun its spear so fast that it vanished into a swirling cosmic cyan light. Then, as it slowly approached Asahi and Kendra, The Guardian dug its heels through the damp earth, forcing rocks to levitate with its force.
"Don't let go," Kendra whispered to Asahi as both felt their feet lift off the ground. "No matter what lies ahead of us."
Once she had said that, a mighty pull forcefully pushed them down into the solid ground. As they got up, a blue luminance emerged in between their grasp. The trickling water beneath them bubbled out steaming, thick suds.
Several streaming blue strands started to emerge from the edge of their palms before they began to spurt out of control, blossoming like a flower.
After Asahi had witnessed this peculiar reaction, he mumbled as the situation's intensity increased.
(I don't understand why Kendra wants me to hold her hand, but it appears that when we do… I feel some warmth surrounding my heart. Could it be… that her power starts to awaken whenever we grasp?)
Suddenly, a loud shuddering boom echoed across the cavern.
Once Kendra and Asahi had touched the solid surface underneath the slim body of water, a sharp feeling stabbed into the bottom of Kendra's feet. It hadn't felt like a needle to her, but it almost felt like glass had entered her skin, causing her to bleed rapidly.
At the same token, Asahi tried his best to pull Kendra away. But with each drag, all Kendra would react was a painful, shrieking scream.
Asahi drew his eyebrows together in worry, witnessing his friend wince and screech in pain. He couldn't help but watch Kendra struggle to remain standing helplessly, hearing the thundering footsteps of The Guardian surround them. He bent over, and with all the energy he had left, Asahi asked her as he noticed the snot-green color of the water slowly changing to a sleek crimson red.
"Kendra, are you okay?"
With each millisecond, The Guardian's spear grew closer and closer to the two.
At first, Kendra wanted to scream, "yes!". But just as the pain had reached its maximum, it suddenly ceased.
The crimson-tainted waters transformed into a strange, milky white essence.
Floating, glittering particles had risen from the puddle of clear water like steam before a brilliant blue radiance suddenly consumed Kendra's pupils.
Three.
The Guardian was just centimeters away from striking them.
Two.
One.
With a burst of energy, as the slow footsteps of time caught up to the present, The Guardian thrust their spear powerfully forward to Asahi and Kendra; the weapon's tip glowing with a fierce, almost blinding light.
(BOOM)
But, instead of sending Asahi and Kendra flying, The Guardian had been consumed in the attack.
Deep underneath Kendra's skin was a strange colorful essence that surged in every corner of her body. One that Asahi had possessed before. But the luminance carving out of Kendra's body was brighter, colder, and darker than Asahi's. It was as if a deep abyss of water had submerged the underground expanse for a second. Nevertheless, even with that; A spark of life awakened in between the catastrophic, devastating pull.
At that moment, Asahi and Kendra watched as a colossal gash formed deep at the center of The Guardian's chest, revealing its glittering and pulsating cyan heart.
(CRACK! CRASH!)
A loud, metallic sound echoed through the air.
Followed by the tremor of a splash, the impact from the blow had sent The Guardian backward, landing on its back at the heart of a sighing cliff. Rocks, trees, and dirt collapsed and buried it until its arm was the only thing seen. The light slowly dissipated, the calm quietness of the underground cavern returned to them, and Asahi and Kendra... after all this time, finally found themselves breathing again.