The Chosen And the guardians

by Liviu Costin Sociu

  Chapter 12: Iris's Awakening and The Pure Berserker

  Another day in the group's life was starting. After the defeat of the dark one, most of the shadows attacks seemed to have stopped, few episodes happened and were usually small skirmishes. The evening was closing in while Iris was preparing dinner helped out by Lifia which was silently doing her part.

  Drake was concentrated in the living room and talking to Ryu "So...till now Reit and Lifia reached the second form?" Ryu nodded slowly "Yes, it's a form where they agree with their primal beast so much that their feelings and thoughts became one or very similar. For instance, when Reit wanted to help and protect you with all her might in that battle. Those feelings were the same for her primal beast, they agreed on what to feel and to do, so they reached a higher form of power and union" Drake nodded lightly "There are only 3 forms right?" Ryu shook his head "Well yes but not exactly. Although there are 3 main forms that any guardian can reach...once they have a close relationship with their primal beast there is another form, we could call it ultimate transformation or the most powerful one anyway. It's the sacred embody, few can use it and is quite difficult to maintain and do in the first place" Drake seemed a little surprised "What do you mean? I mean...it does sound familiar but if I remember correctly...even Iris told me about it, but I can't remember any details..." Ryu snorted a little "That's because few know about this form and even fewer can use it. The only one at this moment and time that can reach such form is the Phoenix itself. He's the only one with enough power and experience to use this form at its best, without risking much after using so much power..." Drake seemed perplexed "You keep saying that is 'risky' but what's so risky about a superior form that gives you more power?" Ryu smiled a little "You're still a beginner and never cease to surprise me. Use logic, a huge amount of power means that one's body and mind have to be strong enough to handle it. That much power and energy can even destroy your body if you don't have the right amount of control and experience to wield it. It can even doom you to remain in a form that you won't recover from! Of course there are ways for those cases, but the main idea is that the sacred embody is quite dangerous if used without preparation and aid from a powerful guardian who can guide you and help you control the overflowing power. It's hard to explain but many negatives things can happen to you and, trust me...the destruction of your body could be the 'best' case sometimes..." Drake gulped hard "W...wow...seems kinda bad when you put it like that..." Ryu nods.

  After a while Iris calls everyone "Dinner's ready!" Ryu laughed shortly "Your kitty called you, you should go now" Drake snorted "Shut up...." Ryu laughed once again amused and left him return to reality and went to rest. Everyone gathered and were eating dinner while Drake was a little distracted by the night sky, lately he's been a little thoughtful, he was wondering why Iris hadn't reached her second form, does she and her primal beast don't agree? Or they simply never found a reason to agree? Many were the questions he was thinking about but none got an answer in his head so he resumed to eat dinner. "Hey Drake wanna train a little tomorrow? Lifia is kind of difficult to train with since she uses magic attacks..." Drake raised an eyebrow "Why don't you train with Iris?" Reit seemed a little distressed, she didn't took Iris in consideration for clear reasons...she was too weak to be a match to Reit's power and second form...but she never bought it up because she didn't wanted to hurt Iris's feelings "W...well, I uh..." Iris smiled to Drake "I am not strong enough to be a match for her" Reit shook her head "That's...that's not true Iris!" Iris shook her head and smiled gently to Reit "Don't worry Reit, I might not have Lifia's magic ability but I can estimate your powers pretty well and I am not even close in being a match for you...you don't need to lie or hide this truth from me, I don't mind...I know my...limits" Iris seemed a little hesitant in saying that last part but she still smiled once said it. Reit scratched her head and sighed "But...." Iris shook her head "No buts, Drake train with her please, you are one of the few that can keep up with her even in your first form" Drake nod but was a little worried while looking at Iris which seemed smiling but he wasn't at all convinced about that smile she was showing off.

  In the night Iris sneak out of bed and went on top of the building looking at the moon, after a while Drake sit next to her "What's wrong?" Iris jumped a little surprised by Drake's sudden presence and words "Woah! Stop scaring me like that" that said she punched him on the arm and sighed "Well, nothing really, it's just that I..." Drake smiled and pat her head "You feel useless to the team because you didn't reached your second form?" Iris sighed and nodded "You jerk, you could've been a little more subtle in saying that, you know?" Drake smiled slightly "My bad, not the best in creating up subtle ways of speaking or saying things...hehe" Iris smiled slightly but turned back to looking the sky, Drake smiled and patted her again "Listen, you are part of them team, no matter how much power you have, you took care of all of us and are the fastest. You might not realize this but you were stronger than any of us in countless times and battles, you saved Lifia when she was disappearing, helped Reit whenever was in need, helped me just few days ago when I was down. You are indeed the strongest and most precious member of this little family we have, without you, we might not smile as much or be as strong, your sustain and support makes us as you know us, without you...we might be a lot weaker and useless....you should have a little more confidence in yourself young kitten" Drake laughed slightly after his words and Iris smiled while embracing him "Thanks young dragon, those words mean a lot to me and helps a lot too..." Drake was getting red and was unable to react for some time but in the end he embraced her and smiled "I was just being honest and speaking the truth, really, have more faith in yourself and your powers" Iris nodded and remained hugged to him "Can I remain a little like this?" Drake smiled and nodded "Sure...".

  The night passed fast and a new morning came to welcome the world. Iris and Drake were still asleep when Lifia and Reit woke up "Hm they must be tired from being on the rooftop so much..." Lifia smiled gently and Reit nodded in agreement "Yep...let them sleep" the 2 then went toward the kitchen to have a nice breakfast without waking up the 2 sleepyheads. After some hours, Iris woke up and walked toward the kitchen "Why didn't you woke us up girls?" Reit laughed "You were too tired, even if we would had tried to, you would've ignored us and kept sleeping" Iris nodded "Can't say it's not true..." Lifia smiled slightly listening Iris's answer. "I want to train with you" Iris seemed determined while smiling to Reit "Wha...? Are you sure? I mean no offense...but you know..." Iris laughed "Oh this will be a different kind of training, don't worry. It might help you in fights." Reit was a little surprised but nodded "All right, the roof of the building will do right? I usually train there" Iris nodded with a smile "Sure! But better be ready for some intense training Reit, not gonna go easy on you!" Iris smiled once again and Reit laughed slightly "Whatever you say Iris..." Then they both started to get ready to train.

  Once on top of the building they started to get in position "Get ready, we're gonna use our guardians too" Reit seemed a little surprised, her raw power was far superior compared to the one Iris possessed, still she nodded and they both transformed at the same time "Embody!" The light covered the 2 as they started morphing into their form, they were ready to fight and in position. Iris smiled shortly "Your move" Reit, without a thought, started to charge Iris with all her powers, her speed increased by a huge amount and she was rushing to hit her opponent. Even with her speed and strength, her punch went and hit the air instead of Iris, she was already behind her and patted her shoulder smiling "This training is about reflexes and speed, even like this you can't match mine...catch me now!" She immediately jumped away from her while Reit was getting worked up about her taunt and started to recall her powers "You'll see!" Immediately Reit doubled her speed and started to chase Iris but she dodged her with a delicate movement and patted her on the head while she was rushing to catch her "You overestimate yourself sometimes, I might be weak, but I am no easy opponent" Reit snorted "This shoul
d be training, not a chase" Iris laughed shortly "In physical combat you need strength but even speed and reflexes to avoid being counter attacked or tricked by a faster enemy, you had your share of surprises by the enemy might I remember you. So quit complaining and try to hit me before talking!" Reit nodded "So be it, I warned you" After a while a red glow started to surround Reit's nails and her eyes started to glow slightly, her berserker powers started to activate and Iris was smirking slightly "Let's see what you can do" Within a few instants Iris and Reit were chasing each other, Reit's berserker power gave her a huge boost now and could keep up with Iris easily, but could not still catch her or land a good hit, she was always a little faster or early in predicting her moves, she was restless and kept following her trying to score a hit.

  After a while Reit stopped and Iris jumped back smiling "Giving up already?" Reit wasn't answering at all and was looking down with her hair covering her eyes. Iris began to worry and tried to get closer "Reit...?" Reit at that point took her head in her palms and started screaming "AARRGGHHHHH!!!" Her scream surprised everyone, even Lifia who was calmly looking at the town, without much attention for the fight. Reit's eyes were glowing with a livid red, her eyes almost were invisible in the red light and, after a while, she quieted down and looked at Iris. Iris was surprised but, feeling the hostility, she got ready to react. Reit was so fast that Iris could not even realize when she came behind her and struck her with a huge amount of power, sending her flying away. Luckily Drake caught her and put her back on her feet "Reit are you insane? You could've killed her!" Reit wasn't answering and was looking at Drake like if he was an enemy and pointed at him "Get ready!" her voice was low and dark, no human emotion was in it and she was getting in position to fight.

  A voice at that point started to laugh lightly "Hehe, Oh I'm sorry, I could not refrain myself in seeing such a funny show..." A human figure was floating above them, descending lightly while smiling. It was wearing black jeans and a shirt, his hair was dark brown and his eyes were made of pure dark energy. The figure chuckled "It's fun to see a similar scene, happened in the ancient war, happening today. You would thought that the berserker tribes would've learned to control their rage, but this little girl seems just like a lost puppy searching for food while in her berserker form...so funny" Drake Immediately transformed "Embody!" The figure smiled "What a delight, the dragon guardian, your powers are still weak though, you should train more kiddo, those weak powers won't help you in any situation..." Drake got into position to fight, but Reit immediately started to engage him with all her powers. Drake had a lot of difficulty in reading and avoiding her hits, although she was faster and stronger, he trained several times with her and knew how to contrast her berserker form but, this time, she was far more threatening and was tiring him fast.

  Iris looked at the young man floating "Who are you?" The man simply smiled "You don't need to know my name or who I am, simply know that you might die today, and by your comrade hand. I used a rage spell on her, usually this kind of spells works only on highly rage compatible subjects, which are very very rare, but the ursine berserker were always a fun subject. The spell is not easy and requires a lot of power and particular conditions to be cast, still it was worth the trouble! The show of you trying to defend your life from a teammate is priceless...In the great war we used a similar trick to make them attack their allies, it required a lot of power and sacrifice but it was worth it just for the fun of watching them slaughter between them!" Iris opened her eyes widely "That's what happened...." then she looked at Reit "No....REIT! Wake up! Try to regain control, you are not an animal! React!" Reit was not even listening to Iris but instead proceeded to fight Drake harder. Drake was having quite a hard time with Reit "Damn, Ryu can you hang on longer?" Ryu nodded "Yeah but my powers are at the limit right now, I can't seem to be able to give more than this, we should be able to sustain her assault for a while" A surprise attack though made Drake fly back, but with agility he recovered in mid air without a problem and regain his combat position. Lifia started to attack the man with magical attacks but they just dissipated before hitting him "Very cute little fox, you must be the one controlled by that fool, you dual dark foxes were the easiest to control by darkness, you were very compatible with our energy and some of you even decided to fight with us, but you decimated them when you found out about their treason, quite a rigid clan you had back then. Still, you can't touch me with that little power, I might had used a lot of my powers to cast that spell but I am not a fool to come here unprotected. ". Lifia sighed shortly but then focused on Reit "I will distract her with my magic barrage, but you must find a plan soon or she's really going to kill us, now!" A small magic spheres started to go against Reit, she immediately started to parry, the sphere weren't doing any real damage but were keeping her in place and on defensive since she could not do anything else for now. Iris looked at Drake "Drake, rest a little and take care of the nice guy here, I'll try to make Reit come back to her senses..." Drake nodded "Are you sure? She might not restrain next time..." Iris nodded "I am the only one that can do that" Drake nodded and started to rush toward the man who was floating.

  Iris started to rush toward Reit and nodded to Lifia. In a second, Lifia stopped her attacks and went to support Drake while Iris grabbed Reit and tried to contain her with all her strenght "Reit, Reit can you hear me? Calm down Reit. It's me, Iris, please regain your control, try to react to your rage, find your peace..." Reit was not responding but for a second she calmed a little, but a while later she tossed Iris away and was getting ready to fight. Iris recovered mid air and was getting ready to fight again but Reit was too strong and fast for her so she took some serious blows and was sent back sliding by her immense raw power "Reit...please, I don't want to hurt you, try to come back to your senses, react to that blind rage..." Reit was still attacking though, giving Iris a hard time. Drake and Lifia were attacking the man with magic and physical attacks, but neither were effective, he was too fast and magical superior to be hit by all those attacks, he was not trying to counter-attack either, he seemed to enjoy just dodging and parrying, more focused on looking at the fight between Iris and Reit. Iris was sent toward the entrance of the rooftop and hit a wall near it, she was injured and could not keep up the fight anymore "Why, why aren't you responding? Did you forget already? The first time I found you...were the same. You were blindly crushing everything! I fought you and, after the blows we exchanged, I embraced you and you calmed down...you returned to your normal self...why can't you do it now? Have you forgotten me in your rage?" Iris then jumped on Reit and embrace her "Please..." for a second a voice could be heard by Iris "Run...I...Can't.........RUN!" The voice then disappeared and Reit tossed Iris away with all her strength but Iris was too tired to recover and hit the ground pretty badly. Drake and Lifia were busy with the man to help and, every attempt made to help her, was stopped by the mysterious shadow.

  Iris was shaking but got back on her feet "Run?...No I won't run, you are my family, I consider you my sister....you saved me when I was losing my energy, you risked your life for me....now it's my turn..." A powerful light engulfed Iris's body, Her fur started to extend, her nails began stronger and longer, her feet began to be slightly curved, a little like those of a werewolf, her eyes changed shape into those of a feline and her nose changed into a cat one, her fangs grew bigger, becoming sharp as a blade. In an instant Iris was behind Reit, neither one of Reit's countless attacks could hit her, every punch were hitting only air and none of her attacks were effective. Iris was so fast that not even Drake could see her when she moved to avoid a hit or to change location, still she was hesitant to attack her teammate. The man watched the scene like if he was not even under attack, able to dodge and block any hit even while distracted and, after seeing the result, used a huge dark energy to make Drake and Lifia fly away "Unexpected things happen sometimes....seems I must take the lead here" with a single gesture of the hand, a powerful beam caught Iris by surprise and made her fly away, she rec
overed in mid air again with great agility, Reit was looking at him an with angry eyes but the man laughed "What's wrong bear? Angry I got your little prey away?" Reit rushed to attack the man but it was pointless, he was too fast and strong for her and she was sent flying down on the ground without any effort "Stupid girl..." but he could not finish the sentence that Iris started immediately to attack him furiously, she was so fast that could land quite some hits, the man could not block in time or simply could not follow her movements but he seemed not to feel her attacks that much, like if they were too weak for him to take any serious damage. After a while he invoked a dark energy sphere around him that pushed Iris back "Interesting power kitty, but those are as useless as you, you won't be able to beat anyone with those" That said the field started to expand and was pushing and hurting Iris at the same time. While she was trying to contain with all her strength the energy sphere, Reit was again on her feet and was watching Iris suffering heavily under the man's power, then she heard like a drop of water falling into a lake inside of her.

  "Iris....I can't let you go like that...I don't want to....I WON'T LET YOU!" A powerful aura surrounded Reit as she started to release waves of energy all around her, her eyes began to be blank and her body began to be stronger and bigger, her rage was increasing and her hair started to flow up and down by themselves, her powers were increasing by the second. The man was dumbfounded and was curios what was happening but, in a blink of an eye, Reit got near the dark energy sphere and started to use her full powers on it, crushing it with one single punch. The man began to flow up in the sky "Tch...interesting..." But Reit was already in front of him, in a single jumped she reached him and started to fight him in mid air. Even if the man could block most of hits, and dodge the others, he was quite distressed and seemed to had quite some trouble fighting Reit in that condition. Iris in the meanwhile recovered and was looking at the 2 fight "Reit....." After that she smiled a little and went to help Drake and Lifia who were sent away, suffering quite some serious injuries for the few attacks they took in. Reit was fighting his opponent with fierce rage, she was emotionless and her eyes were blank but seemed surrounded by a red energy at the same time, her berserker mode seemed even stronger now and she was hitting his opponent with everything she had. The man snorted and pushed her back with a powerful dark energy shield but she quickly regain balance and jumped against him with rage. The shadow quickly retreated higher and further away from her "It was a pleasure to see you kids playing with me but I am requested elsewhere...I'll kill you another time..." that said he disappeared into thin air and Reit was standing watching at the sky where the enemy was.

  Iris already helped Drake and Lifia recover and came back to the entrance of the roof and was slowly approaching Reit "Reit...?" She was still ready to fight if needed, Reit seemed still in Berserker mode "Calm down Iris and lower your guard....I am fine" The voice of Reit was cold and emotionless, a little serious maybe, but it was hard to detect that. Iris was surprised and looked at her "W...what?" Reit closed her eyes and returned to normal and smiled shortly "I am alright I said..." Iris returned normal as well and nodded "Are you sure?...what happened?" Reit nodded "Well, by what my primal beast said, I reached the Pure Berserker Condition." Iris seemed a little perplexed so Reit sighed and explained shortly "It's the peek of my berserker mode, it makes me retain my senses and consciousness but at the same time use all the power from the berserker mode that I can muster, allowing me to redirect such anger and strength to the enemy and not to my allies. Its the ultimate form of berserker powers...one that few have ever reached in history it seems..." Reit sighed slowly "And I heard what he said about the past, I am not convinced that was true, but still it's good to know my kind was not at fault...or at least...not directly" Iris smiled and patted her shoulder "Don't worry about it now Reit, let's go and mend our wounds...for now just try to rest and not to think about negative things...It's a good new thing that you can finally avoid hurting others in your berserker state" Iris smiled widely, happy about the new power of control she had and so accompanied a thoughtful Reit and an injured Lifia and Drake back into the house to have some rest from the long fight.