Chapter 3: Choices & Decisions
Drake was thinking while silence filled the room, minutes passed and the 3 girls just waited for him to say something...that until Reit snapped "Ahh! C'mon already! What's so difficult? You must choose what you want" "REIT!" A strong voice brought the silence once again when, Iris, admonished her "I do not want to repeat myself! I said to leave him time, I was designated to take care of the situation right? We 3 decided that was the best...so respect my requests!" Reit seemed a little surprised about Iris's reaction but still she got back to her place and quietly waited again whispering only a "Sorry".
Drake sighed after a while watching the scene between the 2 girls "I don't understand why you struggle so much with me, I might be a guardian as I understood, still...am I worth all this? You can always find others..." Reit seemed pretty pissed about his answer but she restrained herself from doing or saying anything to avoid another conflict with Iris but, Lifia, sighed and answered with extreme calm and coldness "Every guardian is important, our job and duty is to protect humanity and guardians alike, so everyone is special...you included. We have difficulty in fighting the darkness creatures. They seems to be increasing in number and strength by the day, without considering that they become stronger based on how much humans are distressed or evil, which is kind of common these days, so a hand could be useful" "So I am only another 'hand' for you?" Iris sighs loudly "Lifia tends to be a little cynical sometimes. The point is that we will protect you and we need you at the same time, either you decide to join us or not, we will still assure your protection. But we do not want to force you into choosing one or another, we wish for your free and complete willingly choice.".
Drake nodded and sat on the bed the best way he could, trying to be comfortable, and began looking at the girls "All right, I understood most of the things I guess, eventually they will clarify themselves I guess so I will be patient for now, still I am curious...why do you do all this? I mean beside the duty you have" The girls looked at each other and nodded, Iris took word "Well...everyone has a different story, personal and private, we will tell you about them in time if the opportunity arises, know this though: We wanted to protect who we love, guardians are dispersed and low in numbers right now, the area we protect is very vast and tricky, no other guardians are in the area we cover...so we had 2 choices: fight to protect everyone or let them face doom while we lived our lives until it lasted. We chose and now we want to know what you will choose. We understand the difficulty of this choice so we will not force you to take it immediately, take your time...some days maybe" "Iris that's not..." Iris halted Lifia's comment with an open hand toward her "He needs time, its natural, we can spare some days, and besides, the situation is quite calm right now, he will have many things to think of." Drake seemed a little confused about the dialogue between the 2, the matter seemed a little pressing and troublesome, still the decision remains difficult "Drake, I know how difficult must seem this but...once you become guardian, you will vanish from everyone's life and memory, few exceptions usually are made and, sometimes, memories may remain, but you will have to give up your life and fight a war you maybe not want, that is why we want to give you time. Please think about it carefully, in case you refuse we will erase your memory and, chances are, that you will not be able to be a guardian ever again but we will still continue our duty and guard you as well as everybody else.".
That said Iris went silent for a few moments, taking word after she took a look at Drake "I see you are tired, all those information are hard to swallow and maybe a good sleep will help you refresh your ideas, its night already so we will leave you sleep. If you are hungry feel free to come in the other room and serve yourself, all right?" Drake simply nod but noted a change in the tone of Iris, a lonely or sorrowful voice marked her while saying all this, she almost seemed disappointed about something, still he could not dare to ask what was it. Slowly the girls left the room and Drake was left alone with his thoughts while darkness filled the room since no windows were there to bring any light. Drake decided to lay down, cleaning up his head while reorganizing all he learned.
Drake was standing there, looking at the ceiling, thinking, but a dark presence filled the room, he rapidly got straight up but ended up being paralyzed and a man, made of darkness with bloody red eyes, grabbed him by the neck and smiled like a devil "YOU... WILL ? DIE!" then he threw him toward the wall. Drake woke up all sweaty and panting heavily, the nightmare seemed gone but, it was so realistic and scary, the he could not sleep anymore and decided to go out for a breath of fresh air. Once passed the door, the second room was kind of a kitchen-living room with 3 beds in the right corned beside the door, Drake tried to make as less noise as possible and went out to take some fresh air, feel the refreshing cold night on his skin. He noticed the location he was in: many trees were located almost in every direction, forming some kind of forest, some light could be seen in distance, maybe the city nearby, but the pure air suggested that the place itself was somewhere a little higher than the city, maybe a little mountain or high hill, with little visibility from the other side of the little forest, thing that helped the place to remain stealthy from outside curios eyes. The wooden house was simple, but big enough to hold 2-3 rooms and was made to be low enough to be hard to detect, even from someone who casually walks by. A ladder got Drake's attention, and profiting of his presence, he got up the roof to look at the stars, but as soon as he set foot on the roof, a hand blocked his throat "You should not wander in the night, its quite dangerous" Lifia let Drake go and sat back on the roof, Looking at Drake gaining back air and recovering from the strong grip he was in.
"Why are you here?" Drake took a seat slowly near Lifia, careful not to get her angry again, risking another breath taking moment "Just wanted to take some fresh air, had an uneasy sleep and could not fall asleep again." Lifia nodded quietly and looked at the full moon while talking "You know, you are the first guardian we encounter in months, at some point we were worried that we've might be the only ones in the area...or that they all died." Although what she said was quite grim, her voice was neutral and unconcerned "Whatever you choose, it wont change our mission and duty, that's for sure. Still, a new teammate might gave us a little more advantage over the fight we are having..." Drake quietly listened to what Lifia was saying but seemed a little off focus "What's wrong little man?" her voice seemed a little amused but he didn't minded "Nothing in particular, I was wondering why all this is happening, and why Iris seemed almost depressed before going to sleep..." Lifia sighed and patted his head "Iris is the most caring person here, she is always cheerful and happy, smiles a lot and gives everyone attention and help whenever she can but...she had her own experiences and doesn't like to cancel other's memory, she....suffered from it, so to speak, so...whenever that subject comes around...she gets a little moody. As per the War, well...we do not know why, we just know that, if we do not fight, we are all doomed. And this time the ancient clans are not here anymore to help us" Drake nodded again while listening "I see...that explains some things, anyway, it's strange to be thrown in a war like this so suddenly." "I know. It's not easy but necessary, we cannot afford the luxury of time. The beasts that we fight are getting stronger, the one you saw that evening was a tough one. We had to combine our powers to even damage it, it was not an easy job to make sure you were all right and fight at the same time. Still we managed to save you somehow. I still do not know how you survived such a blow, but you are a tough one.". Drake laughed a little "It's strange but...I am the one that thinks that you 3 are strong and tough, being in this war. It's still kind of difficult to believe all this, could be a prank or a kidnapping affair...but...what I saw that evening it's hardly just an illusion...and you killed that beast...I kinda fear you in a way or another". Lifia laughed a little and flashed a smile toward him which, thanks to the moonlight, made her face sparkle with a special light, revealing a beauty rare to see, after that she kissed his cheek "You are quite an interesting subject Drake, I
kinda like your silliness and honesty, but trust me, this is all real and it's not a prank or anything". Drake blushed a little after the little gift he got from Lifia and nodded "S...sure, I understand that and will keep that in mind.". Lifia got up and, with a leap, jumped down from the roof "Goodnight Drake, I suggest you go to sleep now..." and after that she disappeared inside the cabin while the young man stood alone with his thoughts for some time before going back to his room in trying to sleep and regain energy and strength.
In the morning Iris entered Drake's room and spoke gently to not rush him "Drake....Drake wake up, it's morning..." Since he doesn't seems to react, Iris tried to shake him gently until he woke up "Ngh...what is it?" "It's morning Drake....time to wake up and have breakfast" once said that Iris, little by little, withdraw smiling. Drake tried to wake up but the night passed outside, and the fatigue he accumulated until then, seemed to bug him more than expected and he sleepily got in the other room, where, the other girls, are already waiting at the table with breakfast ready. At his arrival Lifia just looked at him and smiled a little while Reit seemed annoyed by his presence there "Morning everybody" his sleepy voice was quite hard to not observe but, once he sat down the chair, his face went down in the bowl with milk and cereal, waking him up suddenly but with some cereal on the face too. Iris could not refrain herself "Pfff...you...you have some cereal there....ahahaha!!" Once at the edge, she began laughing hard, Lifia just smiled and shook her head amused by the scene while Reit used this situation to mock him "What's wrong princess? Not used to wake up this early?" Then she smirked at him in a provocative manner, but still it was quite useless since Drake was more busy cleaning up and regaining a composure to be bothered by her word and sat back smiling embarrassed "Sorry, I kinda had little and hard sleep tonight..." That said he began eating breakfast together with the girls. The only one eating normally was Iris, Lifia ate half a bowl and was done already and Reit was eating like a dinosaur who was hungry for days and finally found meat, Drake was a little perplexed but didn't said anything to avoid fights or discussions.
Once breakfast was over, Iris started cleaning the table, Lifia went out toward the town to make some shopping and Reit went to train herself. "So how are you feeling Drake? The head is better?" "Kinda...I still have a light headache but it will pass eventually, but I am surprised about everything....you said that you are guardians but its hard to swallow all this without some evidence, could you show me your powers?" she was a little perplexed "I... I guess, we usually do not waste our powers like this but in this case I could make an exception and show you my first form if my primal beast agrees..." "Wait wait..you can talk to it?" "Of course...we are fused together...we can read each other minds, if we allow so, and we share powers...so it's normal that we communicate..." That said she concentrated, staying focused and serious for a while...until a pink light started to glow from Iris's body, getting stronger and stronger until it exploded when she said "EMBODY!" and changed into energy, creating an pink aura around her, flashing vividly while Iris started to change shape: cat ears started to grow on her head, a tail started to grow as well, followed by longer and sharper teeth and claws, a little pink fur started growing near her ears, hands and on other parts of her body "This is my guardian form... I am a pink were-cat, an independent tribe which powers are equally strong as the flashing tiger clan. The clan didn't participate directly in the ancient war, instead we just provided support to the flashing tiger and the other clans but never served none!" Drake remained astonished to see such powerful transformation and was unable to say anything. After a while Iris returned to her normal form and smiled "Sorry about that...my primal beast usually likes to affirm herself and tell you the role of her clan in the ancient war. That's because, usually, other than the 4 major clans that fought, the others were pretty much left outside the story and she is quite angry about it" Drake just nod, he was still surprised by all he saw. Once he came back to his senses he started questioning Iris "So that was a transformation...you get powers and the aspect of the beast? Do you fuse with it and you become one? Or how does it work exactly?" Iris laughed slightly "Calm down, calm down. I'm going to explain how transformation works for guardians..." She took a big breath before beginning "Practically, the primal beast becomes part of you, he lives inside of you and can see your thoughts and whatever you see and hear, it's like he lives the same life as you, just that he doesn't do nothing while inactive, usually he recovers energy and rests or keeps you company, a lot like a friend who never leaves you alone, not even while sleeping. When you must fight, or decide to transform, he lends you his powers, he kinds of takes control of you and, together with you, helps you fight,react and move much faster and precise. Your resistance and stamina goes up, your endurance gets better and you gain his physical appearance. The problem is that the power of the primal beast can be borrowed only based on the friendship and link you have with it, that means, if you are in bad terms with your primal beast, you will receive little of his power and will not gain advantage from his presence. That is usually unlikely, otherwise he would have not chose you, even if there are exceptions, since sometimes the primal beats must choose a guardian for the sake of humans and to fulfill their duty. Usually there are 3 levels of transformation, each one gradually more powerful than the one before. The first stage is like the one you saw, little appearance of the primal beast's characteristics and some of his powers, the second stage is more radical and powerful, but also the most unstable one, since the animal instinct and powers usually tends to overflow and lose control, or overdo it, with heavy consequences on the body of the guardian. The third stage is said to be the perfect harmony with one's primal beast, the body changes almost completely and gains a lot of power from the primal beast. There is another stage called Animal blessing or Sacred embody which is believed to allow the guardian to become one with the primal beast and gain his fully, and most powerful, form while taking his appearance. This, however, was never neither proved nor done till now...not that I know at least" That said she smiled toward Drake "I see...I think I got it but...isn't it a little strange to have a uhm...'primal beast'?watching you and being always with you?" Iris chuckled and shook her head "No, usually they are like a radar for the dark creatures and act as a protection when we sleep or aren't paying attention. Even if there are creatures that can avoid being detected by them they are good protectors. Also we can remain linked with the guardians that we made contact and friendship with, thanks to the 'brother linking ritual', which allows the primal beasts of 2 or more guardians to establish a link between them so they can sense each other when in danger and pinpoint their location, even if not precisely. Also it's said that we can transfer each other energy, in case one of us is too tired to fight anymore, but we still could not master this skill entirely, we don't know how we can do that but, up until now, Lifia seems the best in using this technique." "I understand, very interesting indeed, and convenient, but why the primal beasts don't fight themselves the darkness creatures?" Iris smiled again "Well...it's not that simple. It's true that the primal beasts have powers, but they are still mortal animals that can get injured or tired as well, also their power cannot reach it's peak without a guardian, so they usually choose to fuse with a guardian to gain a lot more power, endurance and protection. They can come out and fight, but it's usually the last resort, since their death would mean the death, or at least the disabling, of the guardian itself and, in some cases, even deleting his powers and the chance to remain a guardian. There are exception...since some creatures became strong and are more of a loner kind. Even if the primal beasts almost dies, there are ways to save him, or her soul to be precise, and give him another chance to fight and remain in this world, but that usually means extreme sacrifice or hard ritual. This rituals sometimes even destroys the primal beast's body and leaves his soul into the guardian itself, without the chance of getting out ever again, as well as denying the guardian the chance to transform back to his human form and forcing him to remain trans
formed forever but with a boost in power and skills since their union is very powerful, having 2 souls working together in unison. Still, sometimes that can drive the guardian insane or makes impossible to recognize the guardian from the beast. Even if this hardly happens, there are subjects that suffered this end and are called 'the forgotten ones' which are like some kind of mutants that live isolated and far from the other guardians and humans. There are rumors that they gathered together and formed some sort of city but was never found or heard of." "Uhm...kinda complicated and risky then, I mean losing a primal beast, isn't it better if he stays all the time inside the guardian?" "If his life is in danger...what is the points in remaining there?" "I suppose you are right, yeah..." "Do not complicate yourself about it, those are limits and rare cases, it's hard for them to happen, just do not overthink it, all right?" Drake nodded and smiled back "Ok, ok...I will try".
After the long talk, Reit came back all satisfied "Another day of training! It's so good to feel the muscles working so hard to achieve some results!" Iris laughed "Always training...you should relax sometimes Reit" "Training is my relax time!" Then she laughed loudly and turn her head toward Drake "Hey pipsqueak, you should do some exercise...in your state you won't last even 1 minute in battle! Hah!" Drake was kinda annoyed by her continuous provocations and started to talk back "No thank you, I do not want to become like you: a former idea of a 'woman' which now has too many muscles that shifted position from brain to arms" Reit grabbed him by the collar "What did you just said asshole!?" Drake smirked back "You heard me manly man" Iris tried to break between the 2 and calm them down but it was too late and could not do nothing when, Reit, threw Drake out of the open door, making him slide on the ground "Tch...." "That teaches you, you little smart-ass" Iris reached Drake and checked on him "Are you all right Drake?" Drake tried to get back on his feet, the power of Reit was indeed high and dangerous, but he was too cocky to let it go "Yeah I'm ok...let me show titzilla how to fight" that said he looked toward the entrance "Hey, dinosaur with the appearance of a woman! Come out and fight like a man you are!" Iris tried to stop him but it was quite useless, Reit came out furious "I'm gonna KILL YOU!" That said she throws a powerful punch at him but misses the target and, like that, got destabilized, giving Drake the chance to make her fall on the ground using a turning low kick.
The situation was getting out of hand and Iris was worried "Please stop...this is not good, we are not supposed to fight each other!" But the 2 were too much into the conflict to stop and listen to her. Reit got up and was looking at Drake "You gonna pay this...." with light speed, she gave him a powerful punch, making him fly toward a tree,breaking it in half and falling on the ground afterwards "DRAKE!!" Iris hurried toward him to see his condition, the punch got him bleeding from the cheek and the tree was near him broken in half "REIT!! Are you crazy? NEVER USE THE GUARDIAN POWER TO HURT PEOPLE!" Reit was looking toward Iris with a provocative look, she too was worried about Drake, and realized only later that she overdone it, but she could not do anything since her pride was at stake. Drake slowly regain senses and tried to get up "Ahh....what happened?" Iris helped him on his feet "Don't force yourself Drake..." He was kinda injured and had difficulty in using his left leg but, helped by Iris, was going toward the house "Reit....we will talk later" Iris seemed anything but happy but Reit looked Drake in the eyes "That teaches you pimp..." Drake grinned back "It's easy using someone else powers to win..." and after that he entered the house, leaving Reit confused and with the sensation that she lost more than winning in that fight.
Iris came out again angry "Reit...if you EVER use your powers again to fight someone that isn't a darkness creature you WILL. FIGHT. ME! Am I clear enough?!" Reit just nod, unable to fight back the angry Iris, she knows very well that she is difficult to piss off, but once she is angry, she can be more dangerous than her. After a while Drake came out of his room, limping slightly, Reit was seated near the entrance and looked at him in the eyes but could not say anything, only a whisper was released by her "Sorry..." but it was so low that Drake didn't hear it. Drake just ignored her and went out, the fresh air made him relax, which is what he was looking for. In that moment Lifia returned with 2 bags of stuff, bought in the city, and noticed Drake limping "How did you ended up like that?" Drake sighed "Well...let's just say that we had a little discussion earlier..." While indicating the entrance of the cabin. Lifia made a short laugh "I guess you had a quarrel with Reit, Iris could never do that to you..." Drake just nodded and Lifia smiled "Well that happens when you disturb the sleeping bear, she is very...hmmm...energetic so to speak, so it's best to not give her reasons to give you problems" That said she went inside without waiting for Drake's answer. Once inside Reit commented "I heard your example of the 'sleeping bear', very funny Lifia..." Her voice was serious even if calm "Well, it's kinda true and represents your short temper very well" Then she left to order the things she bought into the proper place while Reit just sighed and let the argument fall.
The evening approached little by little and Drake remained out most of the time in deep thoughts, looking at the sky, Iris was cooking dinner with Lifia's help while Reit was looking at Drake from the cabin's window near the door, she was a little worried about what she did, but could not bring herself to approach him and preferred to look from a distance "Are you worried?" Lifia's voice surprised Reit who jumped a little "Geez...announce yourself next time. Not really, it's just..." she kept silent for a while "I hope I didn't crushed anything" "You know he is strong, he got a worse hit and survived...so that's not it" Reit was a little perplexed, Lifia was too sharp for her, or her plays "All right, all right...I guess I used too much strength, even if I didn't mean to, it's just that he provoked me..." "And you lost it.." Reit nodded "Don't worry Reit...I guess he understands...or he will at proper time...or maybe you should talk to him" Reit just stood there, without saying a thing, sighing after Lifia returned to help Iris with the cooking. The moon was shiny in that night and Drake was still outside to look at it, he was lost in many thoughts about the situation and conditions, he could not budge from there "Hey boy, is that moon so beautiful that you got hypnotized?" Drake didn't turned his head toward Reit who came out for him "Hm...why did you became a guardian?" Reit was fairly surprised about the question asked so suddenly but answered looking at the stars "I found a family, maybe it's not a classical one, but it's family to me...I didn't had one before, I was alone, and now I am no more, maybe that is the reason I guess. I wanted to protect that family at all costs...becoming a guardian was the best way to do so, also...I had nothing to lose..." Drake just nodded "I see...." After that, silence fell upon the 2, and Reit simply gave Drake a good pat on the shoulder "Dinner's ready, so, if you are not too wasted about the hit you got, come and eat with us" Drake nodded once again silently but kept staying there, still looking at the moon while Reit returned inside.
Minutes passed and Drake would not come inside so Iris came out to see him "Drake...dinner is getting cold, we are waiting for you to start eating, are you mad about what happened earlier between you and Reit?" Drake shifted his look to Iris, his eyes were serious "Why? I am not part of your team, I am just a newcomer, who you do not know if will join or not the fight...why?" Iris looked straight in his eyes "You are part of our family....even if you are for 1 day or for 1 year, until you decide, you are part of our team and like that we will treat you" he was staying silent, looking at her. A family, that's a word he didn't heard in a while...he never heard about his family, neither he had one till he was little, he got money and other stuff to help him raise himself from someone who he could not track, he knows those are his parents or someone who cares about him, but he could never found them and so he lived alone up until now. Drake nodded "Very well, excuse me for making you wait" Iris smiled widely "Don't worry...come now" And so the 2 entered the cabin and started eating in a strange and silent atmosphere.
The next morning everybody was up and ready to begin a new day, sadly the breakfast was interrupt
ed by a particular event. "A darkness creature..." Iris looked toward the city with a concerned look while Lifia and Reit got up from their seat and prepared to go out "Let's go Iris, it should appear in about 10 minutes" Lifia went out and started to go toward the city, followed by Reit. Drake was getting up "What's the problem?" Iris smiled "An enemy...we must go and do our duty, please stay here and do not wander..." Drake shook his head "No, I'm coming too" Iris smiled again "I appreciate your concerns but you cannot help us, you are weak and do not have a primal beast to help you, so you cannot fight. I know how you feel, but right now you are a burden, and besides, you didn't decided what to do" Drake smiled again "I am part of the family and team...I have to come" Iris laughed "Thank you Drake, that's wonderful news, but please stay here, you do not have a primal beast and I do not want to lose you this time, you risked once...you may not be so lucky a second time" Drake just remained there looking at her, unable to say anything, but then she smiled one last time "We will be back" then left after her teammates "I will not stay behind" that said, Drake departed after them.
The Chosen And the guardians Page 4
