The oldest being in the world was murdered. Now Jack and the Guardians must investigate who killed the cosmic being. A mystery that will carry the Guardians to the faraway corners of time and face their untimely fate.


Part 2 of 8: The Dragon Slayer

Outside the timestream, the one who murdered Father Time breaks the gem into four pieces and gave it to each of his men. "Each of you will be given a specific target. You must eliminate these targets in order to change the future of our world. After this, return to this realm."

The eldest in the group, who stated that he served the world's greatest king, asked his young leader. "What if I used my spells to turn him into a worm or a bird? I don't have spells to kill any living being. I'm just an old wizard."

The only knight in that group pulls out his dagger and gave it to the old man. "Strike the heart."

"Alright. Here is our first stop." The murderer swings the gem piece and a doorway opened. "You! The man in armor... this is your time."

He turned to his two companions especially to the wizard. "See you at the other side, old man."

The suspect drops one of his teammates to a large island and gave him instructions. "I'll leave you here, noble knight. Search this Viking boy and take him out immediately"

The knight nods. "It will be done."

"Oh, watch out for his pet. That creature is fast. You might get killed before landing a killing blow to that boy."

The knight smirked, disagreeing his expectations. "No beast can defeat me."

The man gave him a gesture of good luck and disappeared.


With the help of the map that North gave them, Jack and Tooth finally arrived to Father Time's throne room. It's a large iron gate hiding behind the clouds. The two guardians saw the gate was unlocked. It looks like the killer opened it easily. They enter it without using the combinations that North gave them. Inside, they saw the fifty foot throne room, ravaged and deserted. The great marble columns were mostly destroyed and near the throne was a wide puddle of blood. The stains on the floors and walls shows them that Father Time had a time to escape. He must have died while searching for help.

Tooth Fairy commented, felt scared of the destruction and gore around her. "Why are we here anyway?"

"We are investigating. Like Sherlock Holmes."

"Who?" Tooth has little knowledge to modern cultures.

"Oh, he is just some famous detective in television and books." Jack kneels down as he saw a shimmering object on the floor. He picks it up and inspect the shining fragment from the cracked floor. It's a sliver of an orange gem. "Remember that large thing that Bunnymund found."

"The necklace?" The pixie takes a look at the tiny and glowing piece. "What is it, Jack?"

"This must be from Father Time's necklace. The suspect must have pulled it out when he murdered the old man."

"He must be after that gem." She hypothesized but then she found something on the vast marble floor. "Jack, I think I found the murder weapon." She pointed where the weapon is.

"Where?" He turned to where the fairy was pointing. Lying on the red floor is a giant scythe. It has an old but strong wooden staff and a crescent-shaped blade. "That's Father Time's weapon. The killer must have used it."

The fairy looks around again and with luck, she found a door on the side, broken in by the suspect. "How about that room over there?" She points at the damaged wooden door. The two went inside to investigate more. As they got in, they just found empty shelves and books scattered all over the floor. Jack turns to the empty shelves and found labels on it. "Hrotti. Cla...yom..ha Solais."

"That's 'Claomh Solais', Jack." Tooth corrects him.

"Thanks." He reads the other labels and then comes to realize what those names are. "Tooth. These names... They are names of the legendary weapons."

"How do you know?"

The blue guardian shows her the other labels. "That one is Excalibur. This one is Tizona. These are legendary swords from other cultures."

"And Father Time kept them here? Why?"

"I think it's because they are dangerous and powerful to be used by anyone. The killer must have stolen these weapons after killing the old man."

"Is that the reason why he killed him? He just ransacked the armory?"

Jack denies it. "No. There is another reason for it. They took the gem too. And what does it do?"

Tooth answered, not sure if it's correct. "It can control time, I think. It belongs to Father Time, right?"

The pale guardian takes another look to the sliver. "Maybe this will help us. We can use it to take a peek to the past and know what really happened here."

The fairy moves closer to the orange shard. "So, if we have the shard that can take us back in time, we can save Father Time from his demise!"

"That is a great idea! And we will know who did it!"

"Great! So, how do we do that?"

Jack paused and looked at the small shard. "Oh... um. I think we should... tell it to send us?" The fairy just shrugged, she has no idea how that gem works. "Well, this is going to take time."


Back on Earth, the big old Father Christmas rides his way to a mountain where lies a secret passage. He landed his sleigh before that titanic doorway. Upon his arrival, two white knights in their silver armors twinkling like the sunlight never left them even if they're under the large shadow of the great mountain. "Hold it right there. What's a guardian like you doing in a place like this?" The knight interrogates North while pointing his divine spear on the big man's beard.

North raised both of his hands to show he's unarmed. "I'm here to talk to someone."

The two knights turned to each other and then laughed. "You came here to talk to someone? You are crazy."

"I know it's crazy. But I need to ask him some few questions. Please." He tries to convince the two of his task. "There has been a murder. And I need to ask your prisoner some questions. It will help me identify the killer quickly."

"What do you mean? Who was murdered?" The two got curious after that.

"If I tell you, will you take me to the ninth floor? Will you take me to him?"

"Sure."

After telling them the murder, the two knights of light understands the situation and leads Father Christmas to the depths of the world to meet the universe's first criminal. When they reached their destination by an iron elevator, the two knights gave him a warning. "You should take your coat off. It's pretty hot in the Ninth floor."

"Sure." The old man takes the red coat and gave it to the shining knights. "Take care of it. My beloved elves made that."

"Okay. We will give you five or ten minutes." The knight said.

"I'll just ask a few questions. That's all."

"Good luck." The two knights stood guard the elevator until North returns.

As he ventures to the hot and dark chambers of the Ninth Circle, North can feel a lot of evil presence around him, mostly traitorous people were kept there. He keeps on walking towards the person he's about to question however he can't help noticing those evil people in their cells, clutching their rusted iron bars and watching him walk by.

North can hear their whispers, asking their fellowmen what's a guardian doing in the Ninth Circle of Hell. Their questions will be answered when they saw the old man stopped at the large prison cell of the first cosmic criminal. "Lucy the former Angel of Light." The old man spoke the dark entity's name.

The large creature inside the cell turns to the old man who's standing outside, arms crossed. "Sorry, she's not here."

"Oh, you know why I'm here." The guardian takes out his handkerchief and wipes out the sweat off his neck. "It is really hot in here, right?"

"Welcome to my crib, guardian." Squatting in his cell, the entity of evil fixed his position, turning his attention to the old man. "What do you want?"

"Father Time was killed today, Lucy. I believe you have something to do with it."

The horned entity frowns at the old man. "Just because I'm labeled as the entity of evil doesn't mean I'm the one responsible for this crime. It's not me!"

"How can I trust you?"

"Believe me or not, I did not do it. And why would I do it anyway? Father Time is one of the three important beings in this world, remember? Father Time, Mother Nature and Man in the Moon. The Mighty Three. If one of the three is out of the group, the Shadow People will enter this realm."

While the creature speaks, North noticed one of the entity's horns was cut off. It was odd for him to see the evil entity missing a piece of himself. "What happened to your horn?"

The creature touched his horn and felt the missing tip. "Oh, this? I lost it when Horatius came up to me yesterday. Asking me ridiculous questions. I answered some of them."

North noticed that he got some lead. "Horatius? You mean Child New Year?"

"Yes. He came up to me asking questions like what will happened at December 21. I gave him a straight answer which is December 22. But then he started to argue with me, telling me to stop fooling around. Saying that I'm hiding something. He doesn't even make any sense."

North starts to think about Horatius. "I wonder..."

The creature heard the guardian and asked, "Do you think Horatius did this?"

"If he's the one responsible, that makes me wonder... why did he kill his own father?"

"That is all I can tell you, North. I have no connections to this trouble."

"We'll see about that. I'm going to the court to discuss about this."


In order to get in the Realm of Dreams with Sandman, Bunnymund must get himself some sleeping dust. The giant bunny lies down on a soft grass on the most quiet part of the forest. He flattens the grass and gives a big pat to make it smooth. "Alright, Sandy. Hit me."

The golden guardian creates a ball of golden sand and then threw it to Bunnymund's face. Instantly, the Easter Bunny falls on a deep sleep. Sandman disappears from the material world and then appeared in the Realm of Dreams. The small man walks around to look for the bunny.

Then he found Bunnymund 's dream and saw him lying on a huge mountain of fresh and delicious carrots. Sandy pulled him out from his dream and snaps him out of it. The Easter Bunny woke up and finds himself in the Realm of Dreams. "Wow. This looks creepy."A door slammed behind them. "What was that?"

That's your dream door. That is where I found you. Sandman spelled out his words with sand above his head.

The realm has flat foggy ground and a starless night sky. It has millions of doors displayed randomly. It looks dark and lonely however, you can hear the sound of happiness and a little ray of light with different colors on each of those doors.

"So, Sandy, lead the way." The bunny said.

The Sandman leads his companion by leaving a trail of golden sand on midair. The two went to the deepest corners of the realm where the person they are about to interrogate was imprisoned. Later, they found the large gold and iron cage and inside it was a man sitting on a big boulder while in a thinking stance.

"Is that him?"

Yes. That's him. Sandman gestured.

The man in the cage noticed the two guardians without turning his eyes. "So, you came. I know why."

Bunnymund does the questioning. "Alright, mate! We were sent here because you know something about this."

"About what, Mister E. Aster Bunnymund? What do I know?"

"You are the Thinker, right? You must have know something. You are Mister Know-It-All."

"Is that what they say?" Then the man in the cage stood up, climbed down from the boulder and walked towards his two visitors. "Is it about Father Time?"

"Yes."

"Ha! That's crazy. I have never thought he could do such a thing."

Bunnymund stopped him there. "Wait! Who's he?"

"I told him what he wants to know, what he needed to know. And then... he did this one. I have never thought he can do such a thing to Father Time?"

The guardian asked him again. "Who is he?"

However, the Thinker did not answer him. He just asked him a question. "Why are you all searching for the murderer when Father Time is gone?"

"The old guy needs justice. The killer must be captured before something happened."

Sandman draws out his question, knowing that the Thinker has some important thing to say. Why did you asked that question? Is there something that you want to tell us?

"Now that Father Time is dead, the countdown has started. You have to find someone who can replace Father Time before its too late."

Bunnymund waved both of his hands, trying to clear things up. "Wait! Hold up! What countdown are you talking about?"

"A countdown to the end of the world. When Father Time dies, the barriers of time will slowly disappear and those creatures called the Shadow People will enter this realm. That is the countdown." The Thinker said with eyes full of dread.

Sandman asked him. And when will this countdown end?

"What's today?" The Thinker turns to the bunny.

Bunnymund answered, "Um, I think it's November 21.

Then the Thinker calculates the countdown. "Let's see. Father Time was killed yesterday. In a Wednesday. Hmm... Thirty days. Yes. The world has thirty days to live!"

"So that will be at December 21!"

"Yes. The clock is ticking, guardians. You best move now before the barrier fades away."


Few centuries to the past, the knight arrived to a small viking village. He immediately blends in by taking off few parts of his armor and replace his helmet for a horned one. The brave knight searches for his target. However, the description that the man gave him was not enough. "A Viking boy with a dragon."

He looks around and saw a lot of dragons flying and crawling around the village. A lot of young boys are running around with their fire-breathing pets. "Oh, lord. This is going to be hard." But then he heard a girls voice calling out a boy's name. "Hiccup! Hiccup! You forgot something!"

The knight turns and saw a blond Viking girl running towards him while carrying a horned helmet. Accidentally, she bumps him by the arm. She immediately apologizes to him and moves on. The knight has some feeling that the girl can lead him to his target. So, he using his stealth skills and pursue her.

Several meters later, she approached to a kid with his black dragon. The boy saw her and the two share a kiss. "Thanks for the helmet, Astrid. I totally forgot that I left it in your house."

"Oh, shut up and go! Toothless is getting excited." She points at the dragon who's sticking its tongue out like a dog. "Hurry and go. See you later, Hiccup."

"You too." The boy puts on his helmet and climbs on the dragon.

When the girl left, the knight makes his move. He draws out his sword and slowly approaches the boy and his dragon. His armor did make a sound as he sneaks in. The boy's dragon cannot hear him. As he's getting closer, he felt that his first target is going to be easy.

A quick kill.

However, the knight halts and then remembers something. He saw the dragon moving its head side to side, sniffing. "Damn, I forgot their sense of smell." Then the scent of the knight reaches to the dragons nose, it turned and saw him. "Well, that's just great."

The Viking boy Hiccup saw the knight behind him but before he could raise his sword, the dragon turns and leaps towards the knight. He fell from his ride and his back first touches the ground. His dragon named Toothless shots its fire to the enemy.

The brave and quick knight dodges the flames in great speed. As he saw the dragon about to make another fireball he swiftly strikes the creature with his long sword to direct its next shot away from him. The flame hits a nearby hut and it instantly burned down and then caused a chain reaction to other huts around. The knight wounded the dragon's mouth and it gave him an advantage to give the dragon a killing blow.

Hiccup saw the knight raising his sword above the wounded dragon. "No. NO! TOOTHLESS!" Quickly, he saw an axe and picks it up. He swings it to the knight's sword, stopping it from touching his beloved dragon. "Who are you?"

The knight moves back away from Hiccup and the dragon. He removes the Viking helmet and shows his face. His dark brown hair flows out as the wind passed by. The fire grows bigger and spreads rapidly to the village. The knight speaks his name to the boy. "I am George of Lydda. And I'm here to change history."

=To Be Continued=