Chapter 1

The Guardian of Nature

During winter, mornings at St. Petersburg were always bitterly cold and filled with industrial pollution: it was noisy, smelly and crowded everywhere. Underneath the grey sky, people milled around ceaselessly in their thick overcoats and boots, either occupied with their jobs or merely enjoying the place.

St. Petersburg was most beautiful in its coldest season, nevertheless. The place held a lot of history too, and a bloody one, at that. Perhaps the most famous historical event that took place in the city was the massacre of the Romanovs, the royal family that ruled over Russia for three hundred years before they were ousted in 1916.

In the middle of the city lay the abandoned Catherine Palace, home of the Royal Romanov Family. Even though the walls had faded in time, they still stood proudly against the harsh winter cold. Not a single soul had dared to enter the palace premises, thought it was not because it was strictly forbidden, but rather due to the ill rumors that surrounded the place.

Locals believed that the palace was haunted by the unresting souls of the royal family, all of whom had been killed inside during the Revolution. Little did they know that those 'paranormal sightings' were just illusions; magical tricks created by the supernatural Guardian of the Forest, Lorax, to send away people who would trespass on palace grounds.

Lorax, the Guardian of the Forest, lived inside the Catherine Palace. On that morning, he was laughing heartily as he gazed outside through one of the palace's windows, watching a small group of kids scampering away as quickly as possible after being scared off by one of his booby traps. It only served them right for breaking a branch of an ancient fifty-year-old tree in an attempt to climb over the palace's walls. That tree had been The Lorax's friend for years.

"So long, boys! Hope you got a fright night!" he shouted, mockingly, chuckling as one of the kids tripped and fell face-first on the snow-covered ground. The short, orange-colored guardian then closed the curtains happily.

Lorax hummed a tune as his little footsteps made 'pit-pattering' sounds that echoed through the dingy hallway.

He was thinking about the only other occupant of the Palace: Anya, otherwise known as the Guardian of Nature.

Anya was a shy girl who always hid herself from humans. She had an unnatural attachment to Catherine Palace, much so that she had not once stepped foot outside its walls. The Lorax had always told her good stories about the outside world in an attempt to get her out, but he had never succeeded in even making her budge.

The Lorax was still in deep thought when he bumped on the huge wooden door of the chapel. Still pouting, he rubbed his hand on his aching nose until it felt numb, then he opened the door to let himself inside.

The chapel was probably the most depreciated part of the palace, but it was the Lorax's favorite place. The roof and ceiling had long been gone, allowing sunlight to stream in freely in the morning and providing a magnificent view of the starry sky at night. On that day, though, droplets of snow fell from above, landing quietly on the small patches of greenery that had begun to sprout between the cracks on the floor.

"Anya, another great day for the two of us! You and I had successfully scared the same group of naughty kids again," he announced gleefully to the girl who was sitting in the middle of the altar, tending to a bed of roses.

Anya stood and greeted the guardian with a warm smile. "Yes sir, those kids are really up to no good."

She fixed her long, snow-kissed auburn hair behind her ear and wiped her dirty hands on her black pants and olive green jacket. She took her black Russian cap from a chair and wore it on her head.

"Say, sir, can you tell me more about the outside world?" she asked the Lorax, her blue eyes shining with eagerness.

Lorax hung his head apologetically. "Anya, my dear, I would love to, but I've to visit and old friend of mine in the North Pole. Winter is coming in Romania and my dear forest doesn't like the cold much very much." He smiled at the girl regretfully.

Oh…Anya, suddenly, felt abandoned. She lowered her head and walked back to her roses, inwardly disappointed at the Guardian's plan to leave.

The Lorax saw her sudden shift in mood and the sadness in her eyes. It always broke his heart whenever he saw the girl feeling down, especially if it was because of him.

The Guardian cleared his throat.

"How are the red roses in this cold weather, my dear?" he asked, changing a brighter topic. Anya's powers enabled her to grow any kind of plant under any kind of weather, and The Lorax knew that it was one of the few things she felt very proud of.

"It's all right," Anya said with a small smile. The hand she used to touch the frozen floor began to glow with golden light. The light seeped in between the cracks of the cold earth, from which a red rose slowly grew.

Anya couldn't remember all of her past life. She couldn't remember her parents or any of her friends, if she had any, but she always felt nostalgic and saw vivid images of her past life whenever she looked at the roses.

"Anya, you can come with me if you like." Lorax invited her but he already knew her answer.

"No thanks sir…I have to tend the roses, they always cry whenever I'm away." Anya said, smiling, but deep inside she really wanted to come with him. She was too scared of the unkown that was the outside world.

The Lorax sighed and pulled his small tail behind him and floated away. Anya watched as the elder Guardian rose and disappeared without a trace.

"Ow…ouch!" Bunny yelped in pain as Tooth, the Guardian of Memory, applied a clean bandage cloth on his shoulder.

He and Jack were inside the infirmary of North's workshop. Beside him was the Winter Sprite whose head was also wrapped in a clean bandage cloth, surrounded by Tooth's little fairies.

"Sorry Bunny, I haven't done this for a while. What happened to you and Jack?" Tooth asked worriedly. The two looked at each other, not sure how to begin.

"Well, here's what happened..."Jack began recounting the series of events, starting from Jamie's request until the moment the ninja-like attacker appeared. Tooth listened intently, and so did her little fairies, whose looked aghast after Jack finished his story.

"I'm really glad that you two are okay. Did you get any identification, markings, or symbol?"

"Well…there's one. I saw it on the back of his cloak. Can you get me a pen and a paper?" Jack requested.

Tooth then called her little fairies and requested them to get what Jack asked for. The little fairies handed a pen and paper to Jack, who then drew what he can remember. Once he was done, he showed it to her.

Tooth stared at it, a puzzled look on her face.

"What do you think it is?" Jack asked her quizzically. Tooth just shrugged and looked at the symbol again, which was a pair of overlapping wings.

"I'm going to ask North about this. For the mean time I need you two to stay here, okay?. No Playing." Tooth smiled and flew outside together with her little tooth fairies.

"Who is he again, Jack?" Bunny asked.

Jack smiled wryly at the memory. "Eren Jaeger. And I bet he's also a guardian."

In the globe room, the center of North's workshop, North was discussing with his old friend Sandman, the Good Dream Guardian.

Sandman was explaining a lot of things to North about their new found enemy, which he called Dream-Eaters. The Dream-Eaters were creatures that appeared after they defeated their long-time enemy, Pitch Black.

They looked like dark skinned goblins with red eyes and pointed ears, at five feet in height. They had sharp nails and teeth and they eat the good dreams of the children for pleasure.

"I know my friend, however Pitch was exiled by 'Manny'. He couldn't have created something like that. He's powerless." North explained, but the small guardian didn't agree.

Sandman then created several images above his head, of Pitch escaping from the exiles of Man in Moon then Pitch creating the creatures in his liar, then finally to his 'predicted' scenario where he orders the creatures to steal and eat his precious good dreams.

"Hello North, Sandy." Their conversation was cut off when Tooth greeted them both.

"Ah! Toothy how're Jack and Bunny?" North asked worriedly, excusing Sandman.

"They're okay but Jack told me something."

Tooth then retold the story of Jack, from the request of Jamie until to the part where they were attacked by a mysterious elemental being. North listened intently, he was half-surprised but half interested because a new guardian had appeared.

"Jack and Bunny were attacked by another guardian, hmm." North said with interest, he looked at the symbol that Jack drew earlier. Hmm…this is interesting… he thought amusedly.

"What should we do North; do you think he is a threat, is he working for Pitch?"

"Not so sure."

'A guardian had appeared,' he thought again.' What could this mean-'

However his thoughts were cut off when Phil, one of his hairy yeti workers, said something in Yeti language. North then smiled because his long time friend has finally arrived.

"Oh, Sir Lorax is here, excuse me for a moment. Tooth, tell Jack and Bunny that I will visit them later." North said happily and went away to meet his old friend.

The sky was blue, the air was nice. He sighed with relief, the beauty of the whole scenery in front of him was amazing and he loved to stare at it even for eternity. He looked down below the wall, which was 50 meters high, and saw nothing, no enemy or 'them'.

'This is rare,' he thought.

Then someone called out his name. He turned around and saw a girl the same age as him. But that girl was not ordinary like any other, that girl was special to him. He greeted the girl happily as she moved near him.

The two stood beside and admired the whole scenery. He moved closer to her and slowly held the girl's hand.

"AH!"

The guardian boy named Eren suddenly woke up, holding his segmented blades firmly in his hands. He was locked in a fighting stance.

Breathing heavily, his grey eyes scanned the whole room, looking for hostile beings that can harm him. Then he heard a sound of a small creature inside his room. He reacted quickly and threw a blade to the uninvited creature (or creatures if there's more).

He stood up and walked towards the darkness to check if he hit the intruder. He stopped and looked down and saw a dead rat inside an opened cupcake box, which he finished last night.

"It's just a rat." Eren said calmly but his eyes still locked on the dead rat.

After checking if the coast is clear, he sighed and relaxed. Eren dropped his blades loudly, the noise echoing dully in the walls.

"Why am I dreaming that part…"he said melancholically, he put his right hand on his face. He walked towards a large window overlooking the whole industrial city of London then he looked at his own reflection.

'I'm still me', he touched his brown hair, and then suddenly, he heard a voice. The voice was very familiar; it was the voice of the moon, the moon's voice reverberating off the black, decaying walls of his room. It was saying his 'guardian name'.

"That's not my name." he clenched his fist, he didn't like the moon nor the name that the moon gave to him.

The large clockworks below him, continuously, moved to the stroke of 6. The bells of Big Ben began to move to greet the morning of London. It rang noisily above him but he wasn't startled.

The boy sighed in a relaxed manner despite the noisy large bells ringing and singing above him. He lived inside Big Ben since its completion in 1859 so the ringing of the bells no longer bothered nor startled him.

Eren looked down, his grey eyes scanned the city below. "Disgusting" he spat the word bitterly.

He then removed his long-sleeved vest jacket and his t-shirt, warmed up, and then started his every morning routine push-ups.

'Now…what should I do today?' He thought and grunted with each push he made.

Disclaimer: I didnt own anything.

First of all. You might found many errors in this chapter (Grammars and style and stuff) since I edited it myself. My sister, she's also a fanfic writer, was the one who edited the first chapter and she was skilled.

So if you find any errors and you want to correct me or if you if you've any suggestion for my room for improvement or to my story, just leave a review and correct me if you want to. I'll accept it openly. :)