The Chosen And the guardians

by Liviu Costin Sociu

PART OF THE DRAGON CLAN, BE STRONG AND PROTECT HIM FROM HARM. FIGHT THE DARKNESS RISING AGAIN AND AVOID ANOTHER GREAT WAR. THIS YOUNG ONE HAS PURE HEART, TAKE CARE OF HIM. A GREAT DARKNESS IS HIDING IN HIS LIFE AND DAILY ACTIVITIES, BE ADVISED AND CAREFUL, YOUR ENEMIES ARE NOT WEAK NOR STUPID. TAKE CARE GUARDIANS AND BE CAREFUL, MAY THE CREATOR PROTECT YOU" Drake's body collapsed on the floor but was hastily caught by Iris's speed and reflexes "Yes highness...we will take care of him" Then she smiled sweetly toward him and gave him a kiss on the forehead "You saved us...thank you". Reit was still enraged about what the guardian said, Lifia put a hand on her shoulder "No matter what happened in the past Reit...you are our teammate and part of the family...do not give it much thought" Reit nodded and, like that, they all started to head toward 'home' together while Iris carried Drake's senseless body.

  Drake was floating again in the same dark space, the place began to feel almost comfortable and like home to him but, while he was floating, a huge figure appeared out of nowhere and began to talk while a claw began to sustain the young man's body "Now that I am your primal beast we must clarify some things..." Drake seemed confused, especially since he was unconscious but he could still understand him "Who are you?" The young dragon shook his head "I am Ryu, son of the silver guardian, and your primal beast and companion from now on, young guardian" Drake nodded "I see...so I am now a guardian?" The young dragon nodded as well "You saved the ones you cared about and my father made sure that you won't fail this time but, next time, we will have to fight our own battles...we cannot count on him anymore" the dragon got the young man's body near to his nose and analyzed him thoroughly "You are still weak and your potential is still far from being discovered, still, you might have a chance if you will follow the path I say..." Drake watched the dragon and began to float by himself, releasing himself from his claw "I do not take orders like that....no one can make my path! My entire life was decided by me...and like this shall continue!" The dragon was speechless at first and stood in silence for some moments before answering back "Young guardian...you are quite stubborn but I am the son's guardian and you must listen to my guide" "I will follow my path, not yours dragon!" The 2 were staring at each other with fiery eyes but none seemed to want to back down and, after neither a second, a light from above greeted drake's figure "Tsk...we shall resolve this soon guardian...you have my word but, for now, return to the reality of the ones you care...." Drake at that point was drawn toward the light while, the dragon, was swallowed by the darkness and disappeared into his consciousness.

  "Finally! He's waking up!" Iris seemed relieved while Drake was opening his eyes and moving in the bed, she stood all the afternoon and night to guard him while he recovered and, at her words, even Reit and Lifia entered the room. "Ou...what happened?" Iris embraced Drake and smiled "You saved us....that's what happened" Neither Reit could comment this time, she just stood there looking while Drake was trying to get a hold of himself and understand where was he "How much did I slept?" Iris left his neck after the initial greeting and smiled again "like 15 hours, or more, I can't remember" Drake nod and looked at the other 2 "Hey..." Reit just answered with a little nod of her head while Lifia looked at him with persistence "I was sure you were an interesting one...." That said she giggled and went out of the room leaving the others quite confused, Reit followed her shortly after and without a word, a little lost in thoughts, Drake was too dizzy to realize that. "Come, Lunch is ready" Iris stood up and went toward the other room but was waiting Drake at the door. Humbly, he got himself up and headed toward the door, to reach the others and eat in the other room. While the group was eating, Iris interrupted the silence "We must do the rite Drake..." "What for?" Iris smiled again "For the link between us, so we know where we are and feel each other in case of danger" Drake nod a little confused and resumed to eat, his sleep and efforts made him quite hungry and ate twice as much as usually.

  After lunch the 4 were gathered outside and started preparation for the rite, a strange circle with strange symbols were written on the floor with 4 big squares containing each a circle for the 4 members of the team. Slowly the 4 gathered on the 4 squares and, even if Drake was unsure on what to do, Iris began the rite and assured him to relax "We call upon the ancient magic...Might our souls connect, might our beasts make a bond, may a link be born out of that bond so we might always know where our brothers are!" A strange light began to engulf the 4 and then a circular light began to descend on the 4, sparkles were flying around and everybody closed their eyes, the holy atmosphere of the rite was proceeding splendidly but all of a sudden everything shattered like a glass, making the same sound, and the light disappeared in an instant while the circles itself got shattered, both the light one and the ground one, with Drake being pushed strongly outside and ended up against the wall of the house "Tch!". The girls were stunned about what happened, none could understand what happened exactly and Iris rescued Drake who was on the ground "What happened?" Reit was confused but Lifia was inspecting the details about the circles and cracks "Hmm...seems like the primal beasts of your newcomer wasn't ready, or does not desire to create such link" Iris looked at Drake "Why Drake?" Drake was confused as much as the girls "How should I know? I just got my primal beast and I still didn't even talked to him after I woke up...I cannot even feel him truth to be told...if that's even possible" After that he shakes his head to recover and got back to his feet easily "I will not bond myself to such low creatures!" The voice that came out of Drake was not his own but that of a creature much stronger and with a much lower voice, more of a growl than speech. Reit immediately react to his words "Hey you little punk! What do you mean low creatures?" She began to walk toward Drake furiously while Iris positioned herself in between "Easy now Reit...it's new for him too and you know that he is the son of the guardian...be patient" "Patient my ass! I'm gonna crush that little head of his and show him which is the low creature!" that said she avoided Iris and rushed a punch toward Drake who was not responding at all, that is until the last second in which he managed to block her strike quite easily "Stupid ursine, do you really think that your power can surpass mine!?" Drake, or Ryu, launched Reit against a tree with raw strength but she managed to recover position easily and started running back at him "YOU ARE DEAD!!" after that she transformed "EMBODY!" nobody could stop them now, Reit was in full berserker mode and started attacking Drake and, even if he was defending himself quite well, his conditions didn't allowed him to be efficient in fighting so he suffered many attacks and took a particularly hard hit in the chest that made him fall hard on the ground "Ngh....you little traitor..." "What...?" The word 'traitor' made Reit came back to her senses while Drake was coming back to his feet "Tsk, like in the past you are attacking a so called 'teammate' who helped and saved you" Reit was beginning to be nervous "I could do it alone!" Drake smirked "Yeah, sure ursine...still this doesn't change the fact that you are a tra..." "ENOUGH!!!" Drake's voice came out loudly like an explosion and sent a strong wind in all directions "RYU! If you ever take my body like this again I will make you pay!! DO YOU HEAR ME?" The dragon just retreated with a calm answer "Tsk, by doing what little human? Stay in your place....have fun with your so called 'friends' who attacked you" that said he vanished and Drake took complete control over his body. Reit at the same time was surprised by Drake's recovery but, even with that, she was shaking and when Drake tried to say something "I...I am sorry..." "SHUT UP!" Reit shouted with all her strength before disappearing in the forest with haste.

  Drake could not do nothing but watch with sorrow in his eyes, Iris got herself near him and put a hand on his cheek "Do not feel bad, you didn't do anything bad...you see, the ursine berserker, Reit's clan, betrayed the alliance fighting in the great war and caused many deaths, many said that they were provoked and lured into a trap that made their berserker mind, and instincts, go wild, forcing them to attack everybody, there are tales about many who saw ursines fighting each other, as well as darkness creatures alike, so it's not sure whether they turned or not
against the alliance but, that thing, haunted their clan a lot and made them look like traitors to everybody's eyes. This led their life to be kind of lonely and hard, even sad some times...so every time this subject comes back into discussion...she kinda tends to go into depression a little, even cause of his primal beasts feelings. We guardians share almost everything with them, the more we bond with them, the more we become united in soul and body, ending in feeling each other as a part of ourselves. It's said that primal beasts choose a guardian who is similar to them in as many aspects as possible." Drake nodded "I see...I must go and find her" Iris smiled gently "There is no need for that, she will come back and she'll be all right, leave her be" Drake shook his head "No...I said those things and I must apologize for them as well...I'll be right back" he then began walking in the direction which Reit was running, Iris left him go and smiled sweetly "That's why I think you are precious....pure hearted one".

  The forest was thick and the sun was shining trough the leaves, the light of the day made Drake's job to follow Reit's heavy steps easier and was able to follow her until he reached a river. Reit was giving punches at a rock with all her might "I" and a strong punch landed on the rock " AM NOT " another punch was launched against the rock " A TRAITOR!" Both hands landed against the rock crushing it in half while Reit fell on her knees "Dammit..." Drake watched the scene from behind a tree, not trying to hide, more like surprised by the scene itself. Steps were coming toward Reit, He decided to get near her with calm but, once she noticed him, she looked at him with anger "What do you want piece of trash?" Drake didn't answer and came closer while looking at her, Reit raised herself and prepared a punch "If you come any closer I will send you against the first tree you jerk!" Drake was still advancing closer and so Reit punched with all her might..but missed him, whether on purpose or because she was not focused Drake could not know but he arrived in front of her looking her in the eyes "...Whatever your story might be, whatever your actions will be, whatever everybody believes of you...you are still part of my team and my family now. And no one can change that...neither you" Then he went silent, still looking at her, Reit was stunned by his words, usually they provoke each other but now...he seems to show mercy or...maybe affection? She was not sure about what to believe and, with a thousand thoughts beating her brain, she broke down and started to cry using Drake's shoulder. He just embraced her silently, letting her calm down.

  After a while, once she recovered, she left him and backed a little "Thank you...." that said he punched him in the cheek slightly, more of a caress than a punch "Still...that won't change the fact that you are a newbie in my eyes...do not forget that" Drake smiled slightly "Yeah yeah, and you will be the bossy girl, I get it" Both laughed and then silence fell once again "Let's head back Reit...I guess the others are worried about you...shall we?" Reit nodded and started walking ahead of Drake, still he was not able to walk because he was paralyzed "Tsk, how dare you interfere with what I said? She was a traitor to our kind and the cause of death of many! How can you be friend, or even care, about someone like her!?" Ryu was angry and was talking furiously against Drake, who calm, was looking at him in his subconscious "You must never again question MY actions, I decide for myself...if you want to fight her then do it with your powers...not with my body and words" Ryu stood silent and looked at him, many moments passed while the 2 kept looking at each other "Tsk, so be it, you humans are so soft sometimes....makes me puke rainbows...." That said he disappeared once again. "Drake are you coming or your legs are afraid of me?" Reit was already quite ahead and was waiting for him "Yeah yeah, I'm coming" And so they returned back calmly to the other 2 girls who were waiting them.

  Lifia was waiting outside and looking at the sky while the 2 were just returning "You did took your time..." Reit sighed "Shut up Lifia..." and with that she went inside, Iris was cooking and Drake remained With Lifia a while "She is more fragile than I thought" Lifia smiled "Do not say that in front of her...or you might see how fragile is your heard against a wall" Then she winks and heads inside as well, leaving Drake alone outside. The crimson sky was bringing the evening while Drake seated near a tree and was concentrating, mainly to communicate with Ryu which doesn't seemed to want to cooperate "Answer you big Reptile!" Drake seemed pissed "What do you want snack?" Ryu answered with the same manner as Drake "Took you long enough to answer me" "Yeah, well I do not talk to snacks" The discussion seemed to degenerate quite easily but Iris came by Drake, who was looking calm while concentrating, and smiled while seating near him "Am I disturbing you Drake?" Drake came back to his senses surprised by the voice of Iris "Woah!....ehm...ahem, no it's ok" Iris seemed troubled "I didin't mean to interrupt...should I leave you alone?" Drake shook his head in denial "No, it's ok...say Iris.." Iris smiled back "Yes? what is it?" Drake shifted his eyes to the crimson sky "Why did you fight this war?" Iris became strangely dark and her eyes fell on the ground "Ehm...I...." Drake put a hand on her shoulder "It's all right if you do not want to talk about that..." Iris sighed "Well...it's just that they are painful memories, I usually prefer to avoid this subject but, eventually, I will have to tell you my story so might as well start now..." Drake nod and focused his attention on the girl "I had a family, well not my real one, I was adopted, they loved me as their own child, I never knew my real parents...they said they found me near a trash can, strangely near their house, they didn't saw anybody coming near their house that day, still they took me in and took care of me" Drake smiled "It's good to have someone that loves you..." Iris nodded and resumed "Well...I found out to be a guardian when I reached 16, since I was little I played with a little pink cat, my now primal beast, I did not know why but...I always saw her since I was little and was my best friend. Once 16 she told me about the story of the guardians and dark creatures, it was very hard to believe it all, but then she showed me the transformation...so it was kind of difficult to ignore everything" Drake nodded while listening "Still I did not change my usual life and preferred to live on without caring about a 'war' I never heard of...I was still young and preferred to think about other things...." Her eyes began to wet while sorrow and sadness began to fill her expression and voice "Once....Once I was 18 they came and attacked my family..." Drake was listening unable to move or react surprised by her reaction "They injured my father and kidnapped my mother..." Iris tried to stop the tears from flowing "So I fought with all my strength and was able to save my father's life but my mother is still in their hands...and I do not know if she's still alive. My father went into a coma in a hospital.....and it's still there" Once finished saying that she could not stop her tears anymore and began to cry, unable to continue her story, Drake moved near to hold her and comfort her "...." he was speechless and let Iris get rid of all her sadness while cuddling her "I...I promise that we will save them, you have my word" Iris looked at him, with wet eyes, and smiled a little "Thank you....I appreciate the thought" then she put her face back on Drake's chest "May I....may I stay like this a little please?" Drake simply nod and let her rest like that until she was satisfied.

  Lifia and Reit was looking from the entrance of the house "She told again that story..." Reit nodded "It makes her cry every time...she must have really loved her parents..." Lifia sighed "Yeah and this makes her sometimes weak..." Reit seemed confused "What do you mean?" Lifia just made a vague sign with her hand "Nothing, nothing..." then went back inside to finish putting dinner on the table while Reit remained confused looking at Lifia but preferred to drop the discussion and look back at Drake and Iris, which were getting up and moving toward the house. Dinner was particularly silent that evening and neither one of the members talked much, and once over, they went to bed silently.

  Drake was a little sleepless and could now fall asleep so he began thinking about many things, he remembered his school, he was absent for a while and should go back, still the guardian life required him to leave everything but this was very hard for him to accept, inner conflicts started inside him until he fell asleep and returned t
o the darkness he was used to be.

  The young dragon was looking at Drake in the darkness "Stop beating yourself up with those thoughts, your previous life could be lost, accept it, you are now a guardian and cannot afford commodities like school or daily routines...you know that right?" Drake opened his eyes and looked in the darkness, even if he could not see the young dragon, he knew where to look anyway "I know, but there are things I cannot afford to abandon..." The dragon sighed "Whatever, you must accept the guardian life, this was explained to you before accepting...am I wrong?" Drake looked down "Yes..." Ryu nodded "Then you know that this is reality and must accept it, my father said that there is a powerful evil there, so there is a chance that you will have to keep going there to find the source and eliminate it, but keep in mind, once the work is done, you will have to leave and erase the memory of the ones that knows you, for their sake at least" Drake nodded sadly "I know...it's just that it's quite sudden, plus...I thought I would never return" A moment of silence fell between the 2 "Well...I will see what I must do once I will be there" Ryu sighed again "I suggest you take a decision before...because once there...you might not be able to take one clearly or to fight focused enough if this keeps bugging you" Drake nodded "I...I will think about it" Ryu nodded "Then good rest young guardian" and so he disappeared once again and Drake fell into a deep slumber, sleeping till morning.