WARNING: VIOLENCE, GRUESOME CONTEXT, and BLOOD
A huge wave of confusion and panic strikes Thenea's head. Viv is behind Pygmy who she's been trying to get to tell her what she found out, knives raised above her.
'He's going to kill her.'
Pygmy froze in her seat and no matter what happens, she can't escape. She's trapped.
"VIV!!!"
Viv suddenly turned around and moved his arms in a sudden yet precise manner; a loud thud came after.
"What?" both the ladies said.
Two giant wild wolves were creeping behind Pygmy; drools soaked their fur, and evidence showed how they were eager on having their fangs snap the spirit in two. If Viv wasn't able to escape her barrier, she wouldn't have had enough time to react and save the guardian. Her mission would fail and she would come home severely injured.
And with her family's overprotectiveness, they won't let her continue as an adventurer. She is very grateful for him.
"Viv," Thenea panted, "you're wounded."
Viv looked at his thighs before ripping his shirt and tying it on his wounds to stop the blood from gushing out.
It seems painful but he paid it no mind, he is acting like he just had a small scrape on him.
'How much blood did he lose?'
The wolves had the knives on their forehead, their soft growls slowly faded. But it is not something they should worry about, there are still a bunch of wolves beyond and inside the barrier, this many cannot be taken care of in an instant, especially with how the sun is slowly setting and there's barely sunlight entering where they are due to the gigantic trees covering them.
What should she do?
"Spirit?" Thenea called for her the spirit who is trembling miserably. She somewhat understood what's happening and readied herself. She let her mana slowly flow towards her staff, "you have to tell me."
Pygmy watches Thenea trying to stay calm, feeling the power flowing inside her.
'Who is this person? She feels familiar.'
"Viv," he looked at her, "please fight them one last time."
Viv is a type of person who obeys people who he senses are nice to him. No matter how difficult a situation is, if he can still move, he will do it. Not caring if he's severely wounded or seriously ill, he will fight if he can stand up. And this is also the first time someone asked for his help.
"Ung," he nodded, taking another knife.
Thenea brought her hand on top of Viv's head and tapped his forehead.
"You will be alright," she smiled.
She gave him a small amount of mana and covered him with a light shield. She can't bear watching him taking another bite from those beasts.
"Go."
Viv entered the barrier once again and fought the wolves, to his surprise, his body has gotten lighter, and although he doesn't seem to mind his wounds, it was painful. But right after what this girl he's protecting tapped his forehead, he can't feel anything.
He grinned, it'll be a lot easier.
His happiness became a motivation to him. He threw his head at the back and started laughing, "This is—"
Viv then slouched his body, snickering, "this is amazing!"
He hopped on a nearby branch and stood there, balancing himself smiling eerily on the wolves who's waiting for him and feast on him.
"Say," his voice became high pitched, "let's play."
Viv jumped down on them laughing menacingly.
The sigh of the bloodthirsty Viv angered the wild wolves even more, the growled at him and jumped on him together, wanting to rip off his limbs, and chop him off in pieces.
Pygmy's green-ish skin faded and became fair and it alarmed Thenea. She's never heard of an elemental creature changing its skin color. On top of that, she looked even weaker.
"Spirit," Thenea tried to touch her but her fingers pierced through her skin, "what is wrong with you?"
The guardian of earth raised her hand and looked at her fingers, it's getting clear. It struck her, this information was passed on to her by her predecessor, when an elemental's skin became translucent it could only mean one thing: death. Not just any death, agonizing but sudden death.
To those who will be able to witness this kind of death, the spirit will explode and release all of their magic through a beam of light. But the truth of their passing, once they explode, it is not over, their pain will continue as long as the beam of light is present. They will only be released from it once it fades.
The longest beam ever recorded in their history lasted for almost six months.
How it will be determined is still unknown, no one knows how the spirits could lessen the process of their deaths. But, there is hope, as the shortest beam recorded only lasted for one hour.
These guardians will experience their flesh burning through the light they emit, their past life will be shown through their heart and will keep on reliving the day when they did something harmful towards humanity. On top of that, countless voices in different tones would overlap from each throwing a mixture of negative and positive words they heard from people who once talked about their myths.
A guardian spirit's life exists to be given away.
"Help me," Pygmy's tears rolled down her cheeks. Thenea's heart was crushed at this sight.
She then activated the orb on her scepter, and lit it up near Pygmy, "I will. But please tell me what happened here too."
Pygmy nodded, "stone."
"Stone?"
The orb kept its light, searching for something around Pygmy.
The guardian turned her head to the entrance of the forbidden area, "there."
"What's in there?"
"Did you not hear what happened to the previous adventurer who went missing around this area?" Pygmy didn't leave her eyes on Thenea.
"Who?"
Being a sheltered child, she was not able to hear rumors or stories from the outside world.
"Her name was Nyx Ciar," Pygmy started, "she was a ruby rank like you."
"A ruby who went missing?"
Thenea was confused, if she's a ruby rank who went missing, shouldn't she hear about this? Did they seal this information?
Pygmy nodded, "she was a dark mage, opposite to yours," she smiled.
"She's so powerful to the point when their generation disbanded, the king kept her by his side as his personal mage."
The orb started to blink, getting something near Pygmy. But since it hasn't shown Thenea what it found, they continued.
"One day, she left her house early in the morning. They speculated she ventured through this area as her horse was found wandering around the forbidden area. But because of how hot it is here, the horse couldn't come near."
"How was this investigated?"
Pygmy shook her head, "I don't know but since that incident, that unknown thorny bushes and sturdy vines began to grow and locked the area. Completely isolating the stone from the rest of the forest."
"So you think the stone has something to do with all of this?"
A small smile was the only thing Pygmy could think of to respond, "Probably."
"What is that stone?"
Pygmy's brow raised, "you guys were not informed about this?"
The mage nodded.
"How? You're a ruby rank!"
Before Thenea could say anything, the orb started to release a bright light and released an image of a stone.
"Do you trust me?" she asked Pygmy.
With the situation they are in, she could only nod, "yes."
"Then," she stood, "let me try and get you out."
"What?!" the spirit panicked.
"I'll break this thing that's imprisoning you."
"No, no. Don't!"
"Why are you so adamant on this?" she yelled, "This is for your own good."
"IT WILL CRUSH ME!" the tiny thing cried.
"You're hiding something from me."
Pygmy lowered her head.
"It's tightening on you, I will do it."
"Please, don't."
"We have to get you out!"
Anger started to rise within Thenea, it's the first time in her life she's become this mad.
"If I am free from here," Pygmy sniffed, "it will come get me. It will kill me!"
"It?"
The spirit bit her trembling lip, she looked so scared.
"What is it you're not telling me, guardian?"
Pygmy gasped and covered her mouth. She bawled her eyes out, she's scared.
"It will destroy us all. If it keeps getting stronger, all life force will be drained of power and energy." She mumbled.
"Do you know how to stop this?"
Pygmy shook her head, "I wasn't able to determine its real cause."
"But that stone," Thenea looked at the thorny bushes.
"It's just a tool," Pygmy smiled dry, "I don't know who it is. I can only feel darkness."
'Darkness?'
Thenea closed her eyes and summoned a lot of her mana, compressing it before placing her palms on top of the spirit's leg, she whispered.
"Lend me your strength and the goodness of your heart," she started, "Let me help all creatures be set free from the darkness that binds them. As the darkness fades, the light will shine. Set this creature's leg free and guard her from harm."
When Thenea opened her eyes, the spirit levitated a little and was surprised at what happened.
"I've been free?" she said, not believing her own eyes.
But that happiness is short lived, their smile faded when there was a burst of red light coming from the crack the spirit was trapped in.
'What?'
"This sensation," the spirit realized what's happening and looked at Thenea.
She understood it immediately and turned to run towards Viv.
"Viv!"
When he heard her call for him it was already too late. The light surged quickly and before he could move, the wolves were able to bite him.
A wolf took a hold of one of his arms, three on his legs, and another one pinning him down, biting his shoulder blades.
"ARGH!"
"No!" Thenea tried to summon her power to break up the wolves away from him but everything is happening too fast.
Pygmy forced herself to protect the two with such a small mana and as the stone exploded, the three of them were blasted off.
The two of them were unconscious when Tenzin found them, but the surprise was how the wolves were nowhere to be seen. No matter how hard the J.I investigated the area afterwards, they couldn't see a single wolf but their tracks were everywhere.
Pygmy also vanished.
Thenea and Viv were brought into the center immediately. Tenzin was the one who drove the carriage to have them treated as soon as possible.
They were a complete wreck.
Severe burns, splinters, and bruises covered their body. But Viv had it worse, aside from the injuries he got from the explosion, he was also covered in wolf bites.
Worse, their toxic rabies had already spread towards his organs. If Tenzin brought them in an hour later, he would have been dead.
Everything went completely silent. Only the flickering of the fire they made can be heard. They don't know what to say, how to react. It was terrible and they were glad Viv was saved. Setting aside his tendencies to go overboard, he is still an important ruby member.
"And so, you know," Thenea smiled, "when I got better, I was by his side all the time."
No one dared to speak.
"I was nursing him through day and night. But of course, when my grandfather found out about what happened and what I have been doing, he was furious."
She giggled remembering Lord Ember's face while scolding her. She knew he was just scared.
"When Viv got better, he too got one week of rest from missions to really fully heal."
Thenea looked at Viv, "that's when I asked him to live with us."
The guys' eyes immediately traveled to Viv; brows rising.
"He refused though, but I was persistent. Eventually, he agreed!"
Viv just nodded, confirming everything she said.
"And that is how we ended up living under the same roof!"
All of them had one thing in mind, 'that was crazy scary.'