Disclaimer: I own neither the WITCH cartoon-show nor Jackie Chan Adventures; they are the property of their respective creators, writers, and producers.
A/N: My most sincere thanks to all the people that read and take their time to review this story. You're all awesome. For those who didn't catch it, the introduction of Archduchess Galiene during the previous chapter was an homage to General Grievous' introduction in the 2003 Clone Wars series; the one done by Tartakovsky. Having said that, time to continue where we left last chapter… except not exactly. Enjoy your read, because here we go.
Guardians, Wizards and Kung-Fu Fighters
Episode Twenty one
Your Princess is in another Castle
Heatherfield; years ago
In the backseat of a car, a blond five year old girl sat and swung her legs in the air while looking out at the streets by the car's window. She was both nervous and excited, dressed into a cute, greenish dress that showed how the part of her legs below the knees were sporting a pair of blue leggings, feet covered in a pair of bluish shoes with little butterflies all over them. Her blond hair was tied into a braid that fell at her back, her blue eyes surveying the few images she got out the window.
When the car stopped and parked, she noticed how the nervousness had started to beat the excitement. When her father opened the door and unzipped her security belt; helping her to get out the car, by lifting her and leaving her on the ground, nervousness was everything she could feel. The air of early September still carried the heat of August with it, and the leafs of the trees still retained their green, Autumn still not having come to transform the flora of Heatherfield into a mantle of colors.
Instinctively, the tiny hand of little Cornelia Hale shot upwards and graved the hand of Harold Hale, the blond man dressed in a plain pair of pants and a white shirt. Around them, countless parents were bringing their children to kindergarten, each tiny boy and girl walking at different paces towards the building ahead, some carrying little schoolbags in their backs that contained, without a doubt, toys of some kind.
"Alright dear;" Harold addressed his daughter with the nickname he usually referred to her with. "Time to go. I need to buy the medicine for your mother's flu and then go back home. I will be right here when you get out, so don't worry."
"Uhum…" little Cornelia made an affirmative sound.
Sighing a bit, Harold kneeled and adjusted his daughter's dress. "I know this can look like something hard now, but you will have fun, I promise. Now you just have to go in there, smile and talk. You will make some friends. Would you like that?"
Little Cornelia nodded a couple of times. Making friends sounded like something very fun. It was worth a try. "Okay, daddy;" she said. Harold smiled and kissed the little girl in the forehead, making her giggle. Excitement strengthened once again, the little blonde girl walked away from her father and into the kindergarten.
Okay, here she was; the little girl in a new and mysterious world, ready to engage into unknown and thrilling experiences. What would be the first thing five year old Cornelia Hale would do? Uhm… the kids that were dirtying everything and themselves while painting with their fingertips seemed to be having fun. But Cornelia wasn't exactly a kid that liked dirtying herself. Maybe she could join the circle of children sitting in the ground and singing songs? And then there were two little girls fighting with long cylinders of foam, as if imitating medieval knights. Decisions, decisions…
"Your dress's pretty," a high-pitched, soft voice said at her back.
Turning around, little Cornelia Hale was met by the sight of a girl of her age, perhaps a year younger. Short hair of a straw tone of blonde, the girl was dressed in a bluish skirt and a little blouse of a pinkish tone. The girl had grey-blue eyes that were looking at Cornelia happy and kindly. Oh right! She had said something nice to her! Mom and dad always said that you had to answer with another nice thing when that happened!
"T-Thanks," Cornelia said, checking the girl's own outfit. "Yours pretty too… hey, is that Sailor Moon?" Cornelia suddenly asked, pointing to the toy the girl was holding in her left hand.
"Sure!" the other girl answered cheerfully, waving the toy in front of little Cornelia's face. "She's awesome! Do you like her too?" Upon the blonde nodding, the girl dedicated an enormous smile to her. "Do you want to play with me?"
"Sure!" Cornelia said, feeling that the other girl's cheerfulness was quite contagious. "I'm Cornelia," she said then recalling her dad had told her that you had to tell your name to new friends. "Cornelia Hale."
They both walked until they found a spot in the room a bit separated from the rest of the children, sat in the floor and started to play. As it turned out, this girl had even more toys. Uoh! More Sailor Moon figures! Sailor Mars, Sailor Venus… Crap, she should have brought some of her toys to share. Well, she could bring them tomorrow; nothing stopped her from doing that. Look at that, her dad had been right, this wasn't so horrible. She had been able to make a friend with ease, even. Oh, right! She should pay attention; the girl was just talking to her!
"I'm Elyon," the straw blonde told little Cornelia. "Elyon Brown."
Some years later, Heatherfield's sports center
"And with the gold medal, Cornelia Hale!"
The cheers and applauses were deafening. Sitting in the bleachers surrounding an ice rink, was Elyon Brown, now about ten years old straw blond hair longer, and already tied into her two braids. She had risen to her feet in order to clap her hands in awe. Below, in a small podium, a man was putting a golden medal around the neck of eleven year old Cornelia Hale, the blond girl smiling proudly and bathing in the ovation she was being given.
It wasn't until much later that Elyon was able to descend from the bleachers following Cornelia's parents, Elizabeth carrying a little two year baby girl in her arms. The baby was Cornelia's little sister, Lillian. As Elyon made her way through the swarms of people that had assembled there, she soon found herself with a barrier of people standing between Cornelia and her. Cornelia's parents and little sister had been able to reach the blond ice skating girl, while Elyon stood there where she had been left, being able to do nothing but watch as her best friend received so much praise.
A praise that she deserves, Elyon reminded herself. She wanted to be there too. Hugging her best friend and laughing with her. Wasn't that the reason Cornelia had invited her here? A part of Elyon's mind went and thought something that she shouldn't be thinking, that Cornelia had only brought her here to satisfy her ego. But that was ridiculous! Cornelia was her best friend. True, she could come as vapid, arrogant and sometimes a bit egotistical… but ultimately, they were friends. However, she didn't move. Instead, she remained where she had been left. After several seconds, her hands started to move and she joined the mass of countless strangers into clapping. Yeah… that was it, wasn't it? Deep inside her own self, a part of Elyon Brown was smiling wickedly.
Yeah, that's the only thing you're good for, that part of her said. Clapping after everything she does.
One year and a half later
"So… how did the date go?" Alchemy Ethel asked to Cornelia Hale.
They both were sharing a table at Sheffield's cafeteria alongside Elyon, eating their lunch before returning to classes. This was the time of the day for gossip and talking, for jokes and puns at the teachers and other students' expense. For the trio conformed by Alchemy, Elyon and Cornelia; it was the time of the day to discuss their short-lived yet intriguing love life. Particularly, the love life of the Hale girl.
"I dumped him," she said as she munched into a piece of meat, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"You did what?" Alchemy asked, not sure if she had heard her friend correctly.
"I dumped him," Cornelia repeated. "What?" she asked as she noticed the glares of the two other girls. "Don't look at me like that, what I was supposed to do? He was just a loser. Who'd date someone like that? Who'd like him?" Cornelia said as she let out a somehow cruel chuckle.
I kinda did… Elyon thought. The boy in question had been an auburn haired guy named Bryan McKnight, around their age, cute, liked dogs, somehow timid, a bit dorky… maybe? There wasn't anything wrong with that, at least in Elyon's opinion. But the boy had asked Cornelia out, not her. Well, she couldn't complain, it was his decision.
"That's… kind of cruel, Cornelia;" Alchemy told the blonde. "I mean, would had it hurt a lot if you apologized? Or if you gave him an explanation?"
"As if!" the blonde told the redhead. "I'm not gonna be losing my time with that kind of guy. I'm too much for him." After noticing how Alchemy was glaring at her, Cornelia sighed. "Okay, okay… I guess I could text him…"
A part of Elyon's mind, the one who had known Cornelia for almost her entire life, said: It's alright, it's just an exaggeration. Cornelia didn't know how to let the boy down without hurting his feelings, so she just dumped him. Now she's just making excuses. Another, smaller part of her mind, however? That part felt that Cornelia didn't need to make any cheap excuses, since Elyon was making them for her.
Sheffield's cafeteria; the day of Will Vandom's arrival
"So, have you seen New Girl?" Cornelia asked of Alchemy and Elyon, the three of them sitting at their usual spots at the school's cafeteria. Raindrops fell against the windows, making the day of any high school student even duller, if that was possible.
"The one with the dark red hair?" Elyon asked of her blonde friend. "I think she's called Wilma, or Will, or… something with 'W'."
"She seems nice," Alchemy told them.
"Yeah, but have you seen her outfit?" Cornelia commented, smirking a bit. "Where did she got those clothes, in a store specialized in tomboys? Someone should tell her we're in school, not in some gym. She looks like such a big loser;" Cornelia proceeded then to laugh at her own petty remarks.
Just because she chooses to dress different than you, that doesn't mean she's less that you; Elyon thought, and frankly, wanted to say. Instead she just joined in the laugh, and Alchemy rolled her eyes. Long gone were the days in which Elyon would try to justify each of Cornelia's actions. However, she still thought about the Hale girls as her best friend, and the blonde's comment could pass as a teen's usual mischief; so she overlooked it.
"By the way, I can't meet with you this afternoon," Cornelia changed the conversation's topic then.
"What? Why?" Alchemy inquired.
"Hay Lin slipped a note in my pocket when we were in class," Cornelia informed then both. "Told me to go to her family's restaurant this afternoon, alone."
"Really?" Elyon asked. "For what?"
"I don't know, but you go and tell no to Hay Lin;" Cornelia answered, pointing out how difficult it was to give the Lin girl a negative without having to withstand the strongest 'puppy eyes' of all Sheffield.
"Okay. Then Alchemy and I'll be on our own today;" Elyon said.
"Oh, don't worry;" Cornelia said in an arrogant tone of voice. "I'll be back to you as soon as I can. I mean, what would you do without me?"
Yeah… what would we all do? Elyon thought. Maybe we'd be better; added a small, weak yet persistent voice in her head.
Will Vandom's birthday party; months ago
"Back off!" Elyon heard Cornelia's voice came from behind her, startling her, Alchemy and that other girl that had approached the cute boy that had showed up on Will's party. He was cute, with beautiful green eyes, dark brown hair and (most importantly) a body that would make any teen that spent all his afternoons in the gym jealous. "I saw him first…" the Earth Guardian practically hissed.
Yeah, what a freaking surprise! She's always the one who gets to decide, she's always the one who sees everything first; the part of Elyon's mind that had started to harbor some serious resentment towards Cornelia spoke in a sarcastic tone that was practically dripping with venom. "Okay, okay;" Elyon said while waving her hands in the air. "Where are you guys going, by the way?"
"To get some pizza," Taranee answered, making Elyon to tilt her head a bit in surprise. However, she decided to ignore it, as she, Alchemy and the other girl headed back inside.
"Pizza, really?" the third girl that had come in order to get a better look at Caleb said as she distanced herself from Elyon and Alchemy. "That's the oldest excuse in the book to get out of a party."
See? a part of the straw blonde's mind told her. They're going somewhere without you! You're letting Will and Jade to take your places, just like that day in the mall, when they disappeared! They're so obviously lying! Grab Alchemy and follow them or something!
But Elyon decided to ignore those thoughts, just like she had decided to ignore them during the past years. Who was she to contradict anyone's wishes, who was she to get into someone's private life?
Cornelia's supposed best friend; that's who I am.
Last Sunday
"I bet she's just busy, or she's had some kind of emergency…"
The words of Alchemy Ethel did very little in order to calm the fury that was raging inside Elyon Brown's soul. The straw blonde was standing at her friend's side, a silver medal hanging from her neck. Her parents, Elanor and Thomas, were speaking with some other adults, distanced from them.
Yeah, she's just busy; Elyon thought. This time, it wasn't a thought that a part of her mind had and with which she disagreed; it was her thought, her opinion, her belief. Like all those times before. You know who wasn't busy all those times she needed me? Who was there in all those ice skating matches? Me!
Elyon had had enough, this had been the straw breaking the camel's back! No more niceties, no more excuses! If Cornelia wanted to be her friend then she would have to be loyal and supportive! If not… then fine! Elyon didn't need her at all!
Heatherfield, Silver Dragon's basement, the present
"Cornelia," she heard a voice. "Cornelia, wake up."
"Ugh…" was everything the blonde could say as she started to open her eyes. She noticed there was something soft against her back, something against which she was lying. A couch?
"Cornelia?" she heard again as she opened her eyes completely, meeting with the faces of her friends. Will reached out to her with her hand, which the blonde took, incorporating and sitting straight. As it turned out, she was in the Silver Dragon's basement, her fellow Guardians, Caleb, Jade, Jackie, Mr. Uncle and Tohru alongside that thief lady and Hay Lin's grandma standing around her, albeit they were kindly enough to give her enough room to breathe. "You okay?" Will asked her.
"Uh… what happened?" the blonde wondered.
"You fainted, Corny;" Irma told her. "And I mean fainted in soap opera style."
Cornelia glared at her friend for a few seconds due to her joke, but then proceeded to rub her forehead. "How much time was I…?"
"No more than half an hour," Jackie told her.
Cornelia grunted. Alright, no biggie, that hadn't been a lot of time. "Ugh… I don't know what just happened to me. I mean, I think I heard Caleb saying Elyon was the lost Princess of Meridian, but that's completely stupid…" The blonde stopped her sentence right there, noticing how everyone around her was now sporting a serious face. "Right?"
Nobody answered her. She had believed that she had heard wrong, maybe. Or perhaps that's what she wanted to believe. Anyway, her friends' lack of any direct answer was enough of one for her.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
Outside the Browns' residence, early in the night
The house of the Brown family wasn't something to be ashamed of. Three stories tall, a big backyard, a swimming pool for summer… No, it was definitely not something to be ashamed of. A lightning cut the clouded, starless and moonless sky then; followed by a thunder. Raindrops started to fall shortly after. Raining, it had started to rain. And that was weird, since today was supposed to be a sunny day, understandable since they were already on spring. For Elanor Brown, currently looking out at the street from a window, the rain was just another complication on top of the already complicated situation. She walked away from the window and into the kitchen, where her husband had just hanged his phone.
"Anything?" she asked.
"Nothing," Thomas Brown answered, starting to walk around the kitchen table, where he had left his phone. Elanor hated when he did this. Each time he got nervous he started walking from one spot to another in the same room, or in circles around something. She, instead, used to move less than usual in these situations.
This was strange. On top of strange, it was incredibly worrying! Elyon should have arrived home from her part time job at that bookstore hours before. And she wasn't picking up her phone!
"I'm going out," Elanor declared, walking towards the kitchen's entrance. "I'm going to find her."
"Where?" Thomas asked, following in his wife's steps. "In that bookstore? I will try calling Cornelia, or Alchemy, or their parents. Or the police if those fail. Elanor, we don't know…"
"You do remember we were royal guards of the Queen before this," she raised her arms and gestured to the house; "right?" Elanor asked of Thomas. "I will find our daughter. What if she has been hurt? What if she's lost? What if… what if a Portal has opened and she has crossed it by accident?"
That got Thomas. Returning to the table and taking his phone, he then followed Elanor out of the kitchen and into the house's main corridor. "I'm coming with you," he declared, but before they had time to even take their coats, they both heard a sound coming from the other end of the corridor. Both of them froze as they looked in its direction, Elyon standing by the opened door, water from the rain pouring inside and wetting the carpet, albeit their daughter appeared to be dry.
"Elyon?" Thomas asked with a bit of disbelief. Then his face lighted up with happiness and relief. "Elyon, thank goodness!"
"Where were you?!" Elanor asked next. "You had us so worried!"
"You lied to me," were the only words leaving their daughter's mouth.
Both parents, up until now thanking every divine being they could think of for their daughter to arrive safe at home, stopped in their tracks. Behind Elyon, a figure with long blond hair closed an umbrella and left it in the floor, near the entrance. For a brief moment, both adults thought it was Cornelia; it was difficult to see outside in a raining night. However, as the stranger finally entered their home, they both saw that it wasn't their daughter's friend at all.
"Mr. Hoffman?" Elanor inquired.
Yes, it was the man known to the Browns as 'Rick Hoffman', owner of 'Ye Olde Book Shop'; the kind and patient man that had given their daughter her first opportunity to work and earn money out of her own effort. Except he looked a bit different now; sporting the same bluish jeans and white shirt as usual, but the glasses were gone, and the ponytail had been ditched in favor of letting his blond hair fall over his shoulders. It made him look prettier, younger… and for some reason, far more dangerous.
"I believe it's time we ditch the whole 'Rick Hoffman' thing, don't you agree?" Cedric asked of the both of them alongside a devious grin. "The Princess here already knows my true identity. I was hoping that she could know yours now."
"Princess?" both Elanor and Thomas whispered at the same time. Realization hitting them, their eyes jumped from the smirking man to their angry daughter, her hands clenched into fists, scowling at them with something that resembled hatred. None of the Browns had ever seen Elyon looking at them like that. It felt so… unnatural.
"Elyon…" Elanor started to say, dedicating a hateful glare at Cedric before looking at her daughter with pleading eyes. "Elyon, listen. Whatever lies he has told you…"
"Lies? Lies?!" Elyon yelled; her two braids and the rest of her hair elevating in the air as if pulled by an invisible force, her voice echoing with power. A lightning cut the sky again alongside a thunder, and then a small tremor shook the floor. "He's been the only one who's told me anything that's not a lie! You're not my parents! Who're you?! Answer me!"
With those last words came another shockwave, this one shaking the house completely, bringing many objects to the ground, making many of the house's light bulbs explode, and almost every window in the house cracking and breaking into tiny pieces of glass. From the street came the sound of dozens of car alarms. The tremor had affected the whole street, apparently. Maybe the nearby houses too?
"Elyon, please, calm down;" Thomas begged his daughter. "You don't understand. Your power… the city…"
"Shut up!" Elyon declared with anger. "I… I don't even know who you're! Why should I trust you?! You've been doing nothing but lie to me my entire life!"
"Your Highness, if I may…" Cedric said with respect, placing a hand over her right shoulder. "Extend your hand towards them, concentrate and think something along the lines of 'Break' or 'Reveal your true self'."
"Elyon, don't listen to him!" Elanor shouted, rushing towards the pair, but before she could reach them the straw blonde did as told, pointing her hand towards both her parents. Her hair rose in the same vein as before and a stream of pure light shot from her palm. Both Elanor and Thomas fell to their knees, screaming in pain. For a second, Elyon's angry face left place to a horrified one, as she thought she was hurting her parents. But then the source of the horror changed, as the glamour hiding their true appearance started to slowly fade, revealing the two Galhots underneath.
"W-What're you?" Elyon asked with a broken voice.
"Elyon, it's us!" her father (albeit she wasn't so sure about calling him that anymore) told her. Even his voice sounded different, and that was not having how into account weird the bald head, the greenish skin and the scales were. Her mother was no different, with the same green color of skin and greenish locks of hair replacing her usual light auburn hair and normal, human-like skin. "It's still us, your parents!"
"Please, listen to us Elyon. We love you;" her mother practically begged of her, but the girl wasn't willing to listen.
"If you loved me," Elyon said with a face that showed rage and pain in equal measure; "you would've told me who I am! You would've told me… that I've got a brother! A life better than this!"
"Elyon!" Miriael called one last time, but her daughter ran out from their home, her parents losing sight of her shortly after.
"Oh my," Cedric said then, taking his umbrella back into his hand. "Better get to her; we don't want the Princess catching a cold, do we?"
"You monster!" Alborn yelled, just for his and his wife's bodies to start to glow, returning to their human guises.
"Oh, I'm a monster! I have surely never heard that one before." Cedric said sarcastically, rising one hand in the air in an overly dramatic manner. "And strange glamour, the one you two use. It seems to be either a very good one or an incredibly defective one."
"You…" Miriael muttered. "You lied to her! You are one of Phobos' servants!"
"And you two are Alborn and Miriael, aren't you?" Cedric asked, albeit he already knew the answer. "The former commanders and sole survivors of Queen Weira's royal guard, still loyal after all these yearsssssss;" the man declared, his tongue shifting to its reptilian appearance for a moment. "I read about you two in the palace's library. My apologies for not introducing myself earlier; I am Lord Cedric, Prince Phobos' trusted advisor and servant. During your time in Meridian, I was mostly known as the Snake of Cavigor."
"A filthy Beast…" Alborn whispered, getting to his feet and putting himself at his wife's side.
"Save me the slurs, little man;" Cedric declared, holding his umbrella with both hands and clearly enjoying the rising killing intent of his newfound adversaries. "Please, don't hold back. I do enjoy the humble job as a bookseller, but I would lie if I said that I did not miss thissssss!"
Miriael was the first one to move, charging at Cedric with all her strength. With laughter, the Shapeshifter blocked each of her incoming blows, counterattacking with a kick to her stomach that sent her across the corridor. However, Cedric wasn't fast enough to avoid a projectile that Alborn had thrown to his head. The projectile (a heavy vase, to be precise) smashed against the blonde's skull, shattering in the process and leaving the Shapeshifter a bit dizzy and with a deep, bleeding cut over his left cheek, just under his eye.
Alborn closed distances with him then, delivering a series of punches to the man's head and torso. They weren't precise punches; they attacks didn't have any finesse of form. It wasn't the fighting style of a martial artist like Jackie or Hak Foo, but the attacks of someone more accustomed to fight with swords and shield that with his own limbs. His last blow was blocked by Cedric's umbrella, and then the disguised Galhot found himself in the receiving end of a series of quick attacks that sent him to the ground, hurting. In a last ditch effort, he grabbed the umbrella and tossed it in the air; where it was taken by Miriael, who proceeded to use it as an improvised sword. She was able to deliver several strikes at Cedric's head with it. This only made Cedric laugh after taking several of the woman's blows, then grabbing the umbrella with one hand and punching Miriael with the other. He then proceeded to grab her neck and slam her face against the nearly wall with such strength that the wall cracked where her head had impacted. And thus, the woman fell. When Alborn tried to incorporate, Cedric just kicked him across the face. Once he was in the ground again, Cedric kneeled, took his head between his hands and proceeded to repeatedly smash Alborn's cranium against the ground.
What a violent show. And how much Cedric had missed it!
The two disguised Galhots ended in the floor, hurting, wounded and completely defeated; wishing their daughter had been there to see what just had happened to them. Cedric, meanwhile, inspected his umbrella to see if it had been damaged in some way (fortunately, it hadn't. Good umbrella!) and licked a drop of his own blood that had rolled down his cheek and into his lips.
"So this is what thirteen years of inactivity do to seasoned warriors;" the Snake of Cavigor commented as the cut in his cheek started to heal and close. "That or you wanted the Princess to see this, which was a terrible idea to begin with. After all, you started to attack me."
"Get away… from our daughter…" Elanor whispered.
Cedric loomed over the pair. "But she isn't your daughter, is she?" he laughed. "I must say, you two have made things too easy for me. If you had informed the Princess of her true identity, then my whole scheme would have crumbled under its own weight. But you didn't. I wonder if you didn't because you thought it would keep her safe, or because you didn't want this," he gestured towards the house in a not so different manner than of how Elanor had done before; "fantasy of yours to shatter." The Shapeshifter turned around and walked away, stopping at the doorstep. "The Princess will be returning to her home now, to her brother. Know, while lying there; that it happened thanks to you. However, I think Prince Phobos will want you two in Meridian. But don't worry, I made arrangements for that before coming here today. You just have to wait here until some friends of mine arrive. It won't take them too long, I promise. If you want to see your daughter again… then you will accompany them without making a scene. Have a nice night."
Using that as a farewell, Cedric disappeared in the rain, umbrella opened and searching for Elyon. Inside the house, Alborn crept towards Miriael, taking her hand into his.
Cedric found Elyon trying to hide from the rain under a tree three houses from hers. She hadn't got so far, and he was grateful for it. Of course, she was wet from head to toes when he found her; running under the rain had its downsides, after all. And to top it all she seemed to had been crying. Oh, perfect…
"Elyon?" he asked in a kind voice, standing under his opened umbrella.
The girl sobbed. "I-I'm sorry," she said. "It's just… I needed to… uh…"
"I know, I know;" Cedric said, putting a calming hand over her shoulder once again. "It was too much of a shock; I understand that you needed to run away from there."
"What are they?" the girl wondered.
"Galhots," Cedric answered; "a native species of Meridian like Shapeshifters as me are. They are similar to humans, but with skin of strange colorations and scales over it. They have been living here under a glamour, a spell that disguises your true appearance."
"W-What's going to happen to them?" Elyon asked, looking at Cedric's eyes with concern. "A-Are they going to be alright?"
Still concerned even when she thinks they betrayed her? Cedric thought. "We will probably need to detain them and imprison them in Meridian."
"Yeah, I supposed it'd be something on that line;" Elyon remarked in a sad tone. "I… I can't believe they lied to me for so much time. My entire life! Was… was anything they ever told me true?"
So now she wonders if the love those two professed for her is real; the Snake thought as he listened to the girl's words. "It's a lot to take in, isn't it, your Highness?"
Elyon nodded. "Yes… I mean, this morning I was just a normal girl without friends… and now, I'm a Princess of another world." The girl looked at him once again, her eyes full of doubts and begging for answers and guide. "So, what do I do now?"
"We should return to my bookshop," Cedric instructed. "I have a way to return to Meridian in there, your Highness."
"Alright," Elyon accepted, slipping under the umbrella and at Cedric's side. "And drop the 'Your Highness' thing. You can call me Elyon."
"I'm afraid I shouldn't," Cedric declared with a little grin. "You are royalty, while I'm not. As a servant of the Escanor royal family, it is my duty to refer to you as befitting of your title… your Highness."
Both of them shared a laugh then. One sincere, the other feigned. A false sense of happiness that was fated to break sooner or later, foreshadowed by another lightning cutting the sky.
The Silver Dragon; forty minutes later
"And I say it's impossible!" Cornelia Hale declared from the couch of the Silver Dragon's basement. This conversation had gone for far longer than intended. Elyon was the lost Princess; that was what Caleb had told them all. Cornelia, however, wasn't completely into accepting it. "I've known Elyon since we were little kids! She can't be the Princess! She's been living in Heatherfield all her life…"
"And how much is that?" Caleb asked then, one hand leaning against the pommel of the Sword of Thanatos. "Thirteen years? The exact same number of years the war has lasted? The same number of years since the Princess was taken from Meridian?"
"But… that's impossible," Cornelia repeated, convinced that if she repeated that phrase too many times, then it would become true. "Elyon's… my best friend."
"And according to the Mage," Caleb told her; "our true ruler."
"Well, the Mage could be wrong!" Cornelia protested.
"Uh… Elyon does kinda look like Phobos;" Jade said then, tilting her head and making her black bangs to move in the air. "If you let out the whole tyrannical Prince gimmick out, I mean. The hair's the same color, and the eyes too I think;" she said, recalling her memories of Phobos when she and Will had been captured so many months ago. "Maybe even the face?"
"Magic tends to call to Magic," Yan Lin interrupted the two teenagers. "Just like Heatherfield tends to call magic users from different corners of the Earth, there is a huge possibility that the power within the Princess, the Heart of Meridian, attracted you to her, as a future Guardian of Kandrakar."
"So Corny was destined to be best buds with Ely?" Irma wondered, folding her arms over her bosom. "It feels a bit weird."
"Alright, everyone's forgetting the important part;" Taranee said then. "If Elyon is the Princess, doesn't that mean she's about to be kidnapped or something?!"
"Everyone, calm down!" Will shouted, elevating her voice over her companions'. "We need to think this out. Are you sure Elyon's the Princess?"
"Yes," Caleb declared, trusting the Mage's words.
"Then we need to get to her. Now;" Will ordered in an authoritative tone, taking the Heart of Kandrakar from under her shirt. "If Cedric's been really here in Heatherfield all this time and the Mage's right, then he's already with her, right?"
"Uh…" the redhead heard then, the Air Guardian raising her hand up. "Do we… really want Elyon in this? I mean… I know that the Princess must return and all that, but this war's done… a lot to us."
That was a fair point, wasn't it? Leave it to cheerful and kind Hay Lin to always care for the feelings and well being of another, and also to point out that they were basically discussing taking Elyon into a situation that had caused all of them so much pain.
"Of course we want Elyon in this. We need Elyon in this," Will said after a time, already walking towards the basement's stairs. "With the Princess, we gain the true heir to the throne, delegitimize Phobos… with that, most of the nobility won't have to support him, and he and Wong lost the Heart… even the Guard could be convinced to change coats, with enough incentives… and maybe getting rid of people like Lothar. And that's not having into account how strong Elyon must be. We could turn the war's tides completely."
"Will, I'm not throwing my best friend into this freaking war!" Cornelia yelled, angry at how Will was talking about Elyon as if she was a… weapon of some kind.
"At least, let's help her!" Will yelled back, the redhead's expression matching the blonde's anger. "Do you want Cedric catching her? Do you want Phobos or Wong doing… whatever they'll do to her to obtain the Heart of Meridian?! Do you?!"
"Calm down, girls;" Yan Lin interrupted again, walking between the two girls. "Right now, fighting between yourselves won't help anyone but your enemy."
"Cousin is right," Uncle supported her argumentation. "Guardians should not fight between themselves now. Their duty is to protect the Known Worlds, and if either Phobos or Daolong Wong end with the power of a Heart… Aiyah! They would become gods!"
Both blonde and redhead calmed down, staring at the ground for several seconds before looking at each other again. "Alright," Cornelia said reluctantly. "What do we do?"
"Main priority is searching and finding Elyon," Will addressed the blonde and the rest. "We could try calling her…"
"On it," Cornelia said in a voice that had sounded perhaps a bit too much harsh, taking her phone out of her pocket and dialing a number with quick finger movements.
Crap, Maybe I overreacted; Will thought. Cornelia and Elyon were incredibly close. But how was she supposed to react? Elyon, kindhearted and patient Elyon of all people, was the Princess of Meridian! The Princess who could turn a war around with her sole presence! Heart of Meridian or not, Wong planning to betray Phobos or not; if Elyon appeared one day claiming to be the Princess and standing at her brother's side, it would mean that Weira's true heir was supporting Phobos! That would cost the Rebellion some of its support; that was for sure. Unless they revealed that Phobos and Wong probably wanted to steal the Heart of Meridian for themselves and then kill Elyon… Agh! Her head was in the verge of spinning! She needed to calm down and focus in the now!
"She's not answering…" Cornelia said with a preoccupied voice now. "I mean, she's been a bit angry with me lately but… it's not in her to not answer a phone call. Or three…"
Definitely overreacted, Will thought, a bit guilty. "It's better if we get to the streets and search for her. Maybe we should get to her home."
"Quick question here;" Jade asked aloud before they could depart. "How strong's Elyon supposed to be?"
"Any Heart-wielder," Yan Lin explained; "has the same amount of power of the five Guardians of Kandrakar… combined. As a world's source of mystical energy, a Heart is a massive amount of magic put together; almost infinite in what refers to energy."
"So it's like a giant magic battery?" Taranee wondered.
"It's much more," Yan Lin declared. "If Wong or Phobos got their hands on it, they would probably use it as a battery to boost their own powers to unknown levels. But Elyon has had this power inside her since birth, she is a natural wielder. Right now, due to her youth, she must be limited to performing very strong spells or magical feats. However, once she matures enough and with enough practice there would be very few things she can't do, especially in Meridian's soil. Albeit Heart-wielders are not invincible, only another Heart-wielder, or an entire generation of Guardians, can contend with them."
"Yeah, 'cause it'd be too easy if not, right?" Irma joked, her voice trembling a bit as she chuckled.
"Jade, could you locate Elyon via smell?" Will asked the Chinese girl.
"Not with all this rain," Jade answered.
"Right, right…" Will said, her mind thinking at top speed. Calm down, let's rethink all the facts we already know, she thought. Elyon's the Princess, has the Heart of Meridian inside of her… Cedric's been in Heatherfield enough time to gain her trust… gain her… Will could have sworn that a light bulb have manifested over her head right now. "Caleb! Do you know how Cedric looks in human form?!"
"I have seen him in human form very few times," Caleb started to say. And truthfully, he hadn't. Cedric had maintained his serpent form when he had captured him that fateful day, when he had blown up that armory. Each time they had collided in battle, the Lord had been in his animalistic guise. The few times he had been able to see him in human form had been from a distance, during announcements Cedric had made on the Capital, when Caleb was infiltrated amongst the commoners in order to gather information or new allies. "But according to what the Mage told me, her spy described Cedric's human form as a young man with white skin, blond hair… blue eyes? Yes, I think she said blue eyes."
"Wait, that sounds a lot like…" Taranee began to connect the dots.
"The bookstore guy!" Jade and Irma said at the same time.
"See?" Jade said afterwards. "I told you we shouldn't have gone to that place!"
"Rick Hoffman?" Cornelia asked. "But he's so nice!"
"And cute..." Hay Lin made a comment that should have been made in a less tense situation.
"And he's been around Elyon all this time," Will stated. "The description matches with him! That's the reason he offered that job to Elyon! Oh, we walked directly into it! How stupid! Let's go!"
"We start with 'Ye Olde Book Shop' then?" Taranee asked, adjusting her glasses and already walking towards the stairs.
"It's the best option we got;" Will told the Fire Guardian. The Keeper of the Heart surveyed the people that had gathered in the basement. "Jackie, take Tohru and Viper and go to the Browns' house; I want to know if Elyon's... er... parents," the redhead doubted that was the appropriate term with which refer to them anymore, "know something about this. If you see a man that matches Cedric's description, don't attack him and contact us immediately."
"Alright," Jackie answered, finding a bit strange how quickly he was accepting the girl's orders. When he had first arrived on Heatherfield this girl had needed his encouragement in order to accept the Heart of Kandrakar. Albeit a part of him would forever feel horrible for having a hand in starting the chain of events that had resulted into Will and his niece killing people and becoming far more ruthless than what they were before; there was a part of him that couldn't avoid feeling a bit proud about them, about how resilient they had been even in the face of all the adversities they had faced; especially about how Will had matured.
"Yan Lin, Mr. Uncle…" the redhead addressed the two elders.
"Oh, don't worry kid; I know when to step aside and let you handle things," the old Chinese lady told her kindly.
"Bah! Uncle wasn't going to go out with this rain!" the old Chinese man told her bluntly.
Having told everyone what the plan was, everyone at exception of the elders abandoned the Silver Dragon's basement, ready to find the deceived Princess and save her from the Snake. That left Yan Lin and Uncle alone in the basement, where they stood in silence for several moments. The retired Guardian of Air sat in the couch then, sighing.
People weren't accustomed to see Yan Lin act tiredly, the woman normally being surprisingly diligent and energetic for her age, something her granddaughter and her seemed to share. But now the woman had sat and she seemed way more tired than ever. Uncle sat at her side.
"Worried?" her cousin asked her.
"To the extreme," Yan Lin said. "And so are you, I know. The Veil is still there, and it costs them all a bit of their energy. Will doesn't even have access to her element. And Heart-wielders… Oh, Heart-wielders aren't your average foe."
Half an hour later
Tohru wasn't exactly the fastest man in the world. His girth, bulk and muscles made him into a fearsome opponent, but he was smart enough to know that they also meant a liability. He was stronger than any regular man, but he was also way slower. He had dedicated most of his life as a fighter to find ways by which he could use his strength to its fullest while making sure his enemies couldn't take advantage of his weaknesses. When he had served as Valmont's goon and fought Jackie in so many occasions he had found himself pitted against an opponent much faster than him, and that was far more trained than any of his other adversaries. As such, he had ditched any belief of being able to finish the fight as fast as he could, or of overpowering the man. He had to play slow, usually relying into people like Chow, Finn and Ratso or on Shendu's Shadowkhan in order to tire or distract Jackie so he could have an opportunity to strike the archeologist down. Now that he was training as a Chi Wizard he had found another alternative, since his spells granted him the ability to attack from a distance if dealing with a fast opponent. Yes, Tohru wasn't the fastest man in the world… that was the reason he was so glad that Jackie, Viper and him had come here in the archeologist's rented car instead of coming on foot.
The raining had stopped, but the ground was still wet and the skies continued clouded, a lightning crossing them from time to time. They parked in front of the Browns' house. The three of them advanced slowly across the dark street, every house dark, and every streetlight broken, the only thing to give them light the car's flashlights, since Jackie had let the engine on. What exactly had happened here? Their heartbeats sped up once they reached the Browns' house, recognizing it thanks to Cornelia's description. Every window had been shattered, and the door was opened. Why had nobody else come in order to check if the family was alright? Were all of them in their homes, thinking that the storm had caused a blackout? Or perhaps they didn't want to bother. Or perhaps a combination of the two.
"It seems there isn't anybody home," Viper declared as the trio approached the building, Jackie entering first.
As it turned out, the ex-thief found her statement to be completely right the moment they walked inside. The house was completely empty. Empty… and trashed.
"There was a fight here," Jackie said, inspecting the damaged walls and the rest of the zone. Standing near the doorframe, Tohru pulled his blowfish out of his pocket, the amulet glowing in a green aura. "Viper, can you…?"
"Go up and see if there's anybody there?" the ex-thief ended for him, already walking towards the second floor, lighting the way using her phone's 'lantern' app. "Sure thing, Tiger."
"What do you think?" the sumo asked of the archeologist. The green aura around the dried blowfish he and Uncle used in order to canalize their spells was still shinning with magic.
"I think Elyon isn't the only one that has been taken," Jackie declared as he passed a hand over a crack in the wall, clearly product of an impact. There hadn't been just a fight here, but a violent one.
"Second floor is as empty as this one," Viper told them as she returned. "And now?"
"I'm going to call Jade," Jackie told her. "And we are going to help the girls."
The archeologist pulled out his phone and started to dial his niece's number. The thunders had become something akin to a murmur on the sky as of lately, but the moon and stars had yet to be seen, since the thick clouds continued there. All three of them had a very bad feeling about this…
Meanwhile…
Elyon had walked the path from her house to 'Ye Olde Book Shop' so many times during the past months that she was sure she could walk it with her eyes closed. Even so, now she found herself in need of being guided by Cedric, both of them walking over the soaked streets of Heatherfield at a slow pace. This was a lot to digest. The magic, she being a Princess, her parents' betrayal… No! She refused to think about those two as her parents anymore! But… but how to think about them then? They had been the ones that had woke her up every morning, that had fed her and dress her; they had been the ones that had taught her how to talk, they had been the ones smiling with her, taking care of her!
But they lied to me! Elyon thought bitterly. Yes, how much of that love, of that parental care; had been true? And how much had been nothing but lies? They had known since the beginning, hadn't they? About her being a Princess, about her having all these powers… about her having a brother! A brother! And they hadn't said a word! Why?! Cedric had told her that this… Meridian was in a war between her brother and some kind of Rebellion. That only she could put an end to that war and the horrors it had produced. Putting those two facts together, the only answer to those question
She supposed she could ask that in any other moment. After all, Cedric had told her that the two of them were going to be arrested by some meridianites under her brother's employ. Her brother… she really was thrilled in that regard, excited to meet him. How would he be? Would he tell her about their birth parents? Her birth parents that were… dead, weren't they? Now that was a thought that left a bad feeling in her gut. That was the reason she had ended in this world to begin with, right? Would her brother tell her how that had happened? Were they nice when they were alive? Did… did they love her more than the ones that had raised her here on Earth? Her mind travelled back to her big brother once again. She hoped he would be nice. Of course he would be nice! He was her brother, he was a Prince! Those were always nice! And she would be able to control these powers and… and she was a Princess! What kind of girl didn't want to be a Princess?! Well, of course there would be some that didn't want to, but she definitely was in awe for that detail. Oh, so many emotions coming to her at the same time! Sadness, the feeling of betrayal, calmness, excitation, anger, joy… The turmoil those were creating inside of her seemed to be making her blood boil!
"Your Highness?" Cedric asked, noticing how nervous the girl seemed.
"Uhm?" Elyon asked of the blue eyed blond man. They had closed the umbrella shortly after the rain had stopped. They were now reaching Cedric's bookstore, which was just at the end of the street. "Oh, it's just… I'm a bit nervous. Is… is my brother nice?"
"Princess Elyon," the man said with borderline adoration, an adoration that Elyon mistook for something genuine. "You have no idea, but no idea; how much Prince Phobos and the entirety of Meridian's people have been waiting for this moment. Your brother is a fair and noble ruler, and he has been desperate to reunite with you since those two kidnapped you years ago. Your brother loves you, and he needs you. I already told you, my Lady, you can trust me."
Elyon giggled a bit after Cedric had called her 'My Lady'. The Shapeshifter fought the urge to roll his eyes, instead maintaining the calm and kind mask he was wearing for a face. Was foolishness a trait shared by all members of the Escanor royal line? Albeit he knew the Ritual of Amalgamation was the primary force behind this girl's willingness to trust everything that left his mouth, he also blamed his success into how this girl behaved and seemed to be feeling in regards to her own self. She stroke him as one of those people that had spent all their life playing by the rules of others, behaving nicely because that's what 'good people' did, content with the place that life had put them into, so concerned with the wellbeing of others that they tended to disregard their own; when deep down, the only thing that they wanted was to explode and tell everyone that they were also there, that they also deserved the same care, respect and consideration that they had been providing others with. In resume, they had been waiting for a prize, a reward for their noble behavior that didn't seem to arrive. A parody of the most devout and virtuous of Christianity, that's how big brother Charles had once referred to them. Cedric and Cyrus referred to them as teenagers. Those people were the easiest to manipulate, at least in an emotional level. Show them a little more respect or adulation than the rest of their peers, and they would try to stop a tidal wave for you. Of course, Cedric knew too well that not all of them were the same. But this girl… oh, this girl. He could almost see her, living her anodyne life, being friends with the Earth Guardian, going from home to school and back to home, smiling from ear to ear, being the voice of reason; and yet always muttering when nobody listened: 'I deserve more'. Well, he was about to give her more. He was about to give her a world to reign, no matter how brief the time of said rule was going to be. He wondered how long Phobos would be able to maintain the charade, but not that it was his problem. The Family's plan's first phase was about to be completed, and he would do his duty as a member of the Ludmoore bloodline. The only thing they needed to do now was to enter his bookstore (which of course he would miss) and cross the Veil to Meridian…
"Elyon!"
Ah, damn it all to Hell! Cedric thought angrily.
The yell had come from a voice both the Princess and the Shapeshifter knew too well. It had come from the group of seven teenagers that had appeared at the other side of the street, after turning around a corner. Cedric recognized them for who they were in the battlefield. The five Guardians of Kandrakar in their human forms, that girl to whom Wong (in his complete lack of insight) had granted the abilities of a Shapeshifter, and the rebel leader, garbed with a meridianite's clothes, the Sword of the Berserker hanging from his belt. Cedric cursed internally the day his brother had had the brilliant idea of getting that blade out of the mountains.
As for Elyon, she saw them for the teenagers she had lived with here in Heatherfield, the girls she had studied with in Sheffield, the ones she had called friends. Even Will and Jade, whom she had known for much less time than the others, fell under that category. Cornelia was the one who gathered most of her attention, a mix between bitterness and happiness growing inside of her while seeing her. And then there was the boy that Cornelia had hit on during Will's birthday party, wearing the weirdest clothes ever… and a sword?! Why was he carrying a sword?!
"Stay behind me," Cedric said as he positioned himself between her and the other teens.
"You stay away from my friend, you creep!" Cornelia yelled at him.
"It's end of the game, Cedric!" Will joined in the yells. "We know who you are!" Elyon saw how Will took a pink jewel from under her clothes, holding it high. "Surrender and nobody will get hurt!"
"What are you talking about?!" Elyon shouted too. All the eyes focused on her, and Cedric took advantage of it in order to feed the growing feeling of betrayal inside the Princess.
"Oh, you don't know?" the Snake of Cavigor said. "Your so-called friends have known about this entire situation since the beginning."
"What?!" Elyon shrieked, getting out from behind the blond man. "You lied to me too?! How could you?!"
Upon that last sentence, the Princess of Meridian glowed in white light for a few moments, a tremor shaking the entire soaked street. The five Guardians, the rebel leader and the Ben-Shui reincarnation fought a bit to maintain themselves on their feet.
"Elyon, if you'd just listen…"
"Shut up!" the Princess shrieked once more, and the street, this time alongside the nearby buildings; trembled violently once more.
"Elyon, stop! You'll end creating an earthquake!" Taranee told the girl, who upon those words and the thought of harming any innocents, put an end to the magic surging through her body.
"You… you knew I was a Princess the whole time?!" a more calmed Elyon asked of the six girls and the boy. "You knew I had a brother?! You knew my entire life's been a lie?!"
"We didn't know until a while a go!" Will yelled. "I swear Elyon, if we had known sooner, we would've told you!"
"Yeah, and that's freaking Cedric!" Irma joined in, pointing to the blond man. "He's tried to kill us! He tried to eat me!"
"And why should I believe you?!" Elyon retorted, gesturing towards Cedric too. "He's been the only one that's been sincere to me!"
"I bet he has," Caleb said then, stepping in front of the sextet of girls. "I bet he has told you how much of a great and just ruler Prince Phobos is. In the same way he hasn't told you about Sonder Hill, or the hundreds of people that your brother's regime has imprisoned or killed, or how he," the green eyed boy said, gesturing to the blond man; "threw me into a dungeon to rot."
"Yeah Elyon, you brother's a nutjob!" Jade was the one to shout this time.
Elyon narrowed her eyes at them, and Cedric once again put himself between the Princess and her former friends.
"The Princess will know, in due time, what her brother's court has been forced to do in order to get rid of upstarts like you, in the same way she shall know about the Rebellion's crimes during this war;" the Snake declared. "But you won't be taking the Princess away this time, rebel scum."
Caleb's hand gripped the hilt of the Sword of Thanatos. "You don't want to do this now, Cedric."
"If words aren't useful, then…" Will said, lifting the Heart of Kandrakar high. "Guardians, Unite!"
Elyon had to close her eyes due to the sudden flash of light around the area. When she opened them, each of the girls sans Jade were inside some kind of bubbles of different colors, emerging from them shortly after, each of the five girls having gained a handful of years (Elyon thought they looked around eighteen, maybe older) and were clad into the weirdest outfits she had seen, a combination of different types of skirts and shirts, colored in pink and greenish blue. And they had wings, literal wings at their backs. And they were flying. Cornelia was flying, Will was flying; Irma, Taranee and Hay Lin were flying.
"W-What?" Elyon was able to say. "You… you've got magic too?!"
"Elyon please, let me explain…" Cornelia begged to her friend, but once the blonde touched the ground, Cedric pushed Elyon away from her.
"Your Highness, please stay away from this;" the man told her. "I shall be the one dealing with these liarssssssss!"
Electricity coursed through Cedric's body, his arms growing green scales all over them, his legs disappearing and letting place to a long, reptilian tail. Where the handsome blond man had once stood, now was an enormous snake-like creature, with fangs, claws, a tail and a long, whitish mane of hair over his head.
"C-Cedric?" a confused and a bit scared Elyon asked of the man, who proceeded to take her in his coils and let her gently over the ground, away from him.
"Your Highnesssssss, sssssstay away;" the man hissed as gently as he could. "Pleassssssse, this isssssss for your own good."
"You wouldn't recognize good even if it was biting your own fat tail!" Jade told Cedric, her locks of black hair growing until the Chinese girl was covered in it. Then the hair transformed into fur and kept growing, the ball of fur starting to sprout legs and a canine face; Jade shifting completely into her wolf form after a bunch of seconds.
Jade too?! Elyon thought as she saw how the girl had transformed in a wolf bigger than a man. Everything was just a… everyone was just hiding information from her?! Was everyone just a big liar?!
"Taranee, defense! Irma, Hay Lin, attack him with everything you got! Caleb, Jade; the same!" Will ordered, remembering from their last encounter that Cedric's scales were able to withstand Taranee's flames, but that Hay Lin and Irma combining their elements into ice should do harm to him. Also, Jade and Caleb could actually inflict fatal wounds on the Lord if given an opening, though she wondered if Caleb's cursed blade could penetrate the Shapeshifter's scales. "Cornelia, you and I…"
But the blonde rose in the air, flew past her and directly towards Elyon; completely ignoring the redhead. Will fought back the urge to tell the Earth Guardian to not be reckless with all this, especially concerning how Elyon must be feeling right now, and flew towards the two blondes too.
Cedric roared then, trying to strike them with his tail. Jade answered him with her own roar, and charged at him while bearing her fangs. She jumped and hit his torso with her claws, sparks of red chi appearing around the wounds as they closed. However, she wasn't fighting the same Cedric she had fought back then, when both he and Wong were tired after fighting the girls. She was fighting a fully grown and experienced Shapeshifter that was fresh and ready to battle. As such, it wasn't all that surprising when Cedric swung his tail and hit the wolf with all his strength, ending her to the ground. It did very little to stop Jade, who was in her four paws in seconds, growling and baring her fangs at him, earning a hiss from the Snake of Cavigor.
"Hey, snake man!" Irma yelled, having flown over the Shapeshifter alongside Hay Lin. Both girls stood close to each other, pointing their palms towards the Lord. "Need a cold bath?!"
Hay Lin called her Air while Irma called her Water. Both elements mixed as soon as they left their respective Gaurdian's hands, transforming into a stream of pure ice that hit Cedric and froze him. Of course, the Lord was quick to free himself from the ice using his strength, but due to his cold blood, these kind of attacks bothered (and hurt) him strongly. If he was a younger or a smaller Reptilian Shapeshifter he was sure he would still be encased in the ice, letting the cold to slowly bring him towards death.
He then felt a chill to run all over his spine, from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. 'Predator! Predator!' screamed his animal instincts. He turned around and moved one of his claws fast enough to hit and parry the strike of a black sword that otherwise would have hit one of his coils. Caleb was able to withstand the strength of the blow, making a pirouette backwards and landing on his feet, Sword of the Berserker in one hand, black marks expanding over his body. He doubted his scales could be penetrated by a blade so easily, but considering Charles had told him that once this blade cut you, you were dead (and not a pleasant death to that) it was better to not take risks. It was better if he focused into taking the rebel leader out of the picture first and then taking care of the Guardians and the Black Wolf.
Speaking of the wolf, she howled and started an attack once again. Cedric decided to answer with an attack of his own this time, swinging his tail at Jade and delivering another blow, this one with even more strength. The wolf, however; took the attack head on, coating her body in blood-red chi and clashing with the tail of the snake. To Cedric's surprise, the strength of the Mammal Shapeshifter with the power of her Chi Magic added on it was enough to stop his blow, resulting into his tail bouncing back from the great wolf. Cedric noted how there were some claw marks in it, already starting to heal. He was unable to notice the sparks of blood-red chi around the wounds, however.
Meanwhile, the Chan girl landed graciously over the soaked ground, dedicating a proud howl to the dark skies of Heatherfield. Yeah, this was it! She was going to teach this lizard how it was done; she was going to tear…! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop there, Jade thought, forcing the wolf inside of her, hungry for battle, to stay calm. No more charging like an idiot and letting her mind to shut down during fights, that had ended horribly for her last time. Besides, she had already put something in motion to take care of Cedric.
"Taranee!" Jade called for the Fire Guardian, currently flying over her and behind Irma and Hay Lin. "I can take him out, but I need time!"
"Alright!" the Fire Guardian said, shooting a stream of flames to the ground.
As soon as her fire touched it, the water product of the rain and soaking the street evaporated, creating a huge amount of vapor. Taranee continued to employ her element until creating a small wall of fire between the two Shapeshifters. Not that Cedric had any time to focus on just Jade, instead trying his hardest to either block or parry all of Caleb's attacks while also trying to strike Hay Lin and Irma down with his tail. It wasn't proving very efficient, and thus the Snake of Cavigor had to partially ignore the two Guardians from time to time and focus mostly on the rebel leader, taking any blat of water, air or ice as best as he could. The rebel leader was actually proving far more formidable than he had expected; something Cedric attributed to the Sword of Thanatos and those black markings over his body. Normally, Cedric could get rid of any human or Galhot opponents by doing something as simple as swinging his tail, but now he found himself unable to do that to this single boy. The Lord couldn't avoid feeling thrilled about this entire situation, even if he knew it was counterproductive with his mission. Cedric Ludmoore was a man of literature and deception… but he was also a man of violence, and as he used his tail to block the latest ice attack of the Guardian pair, then smashing his frozen tail against the ground in order to free it; the man felt happy.
While Cedric fought against three Guardians, the current Ben-Shui incarnation and the rebel leader; Elyon Brown had ran away to the end of the street, near Ye Olde Book Shop. She had put enough distance between the fight and herself to not get harmed, but not enough that she couldn't see the fight in every detail. This was… this was insane! Cedric had transformed into a giant snake, Jade had transformed into a wolf, that boy was fighting with a sword, and now half the street was on fire! It was… it was how it really was, wasn't it? Magic, knights, princesses, princes, wizards and witches; all of those she had only read about in fantasy books were real. And… and she was one of them. It felt as if she had been her entire life watching a parade, one thing after another, but without knowing what was going on behind the curtains. Now someone had gotten rid of those curtains in an abrupt manner, and she could see everything that was going on. It made her feel scared… but also excited.
"Elyon!"
All those emotions and thoughts disappeared once Cornelia and Will appeared on her sight, landing in front of the petite girl. She looked at the blonde and the redhead with narrowed eyes, still trying to accept the whole 'wings and super-powers' thing.
"So?" Elyon asked with a hateful voice. "When were you going to tell me?"
"Elyon, I know how you must feel…" Will started to say, but she was silenced by the straw blonde stomping her foot on the wet ground, creating a tremor around the three of them.
"Shut up!" the straw blonde said, her voice resonating with power. "I didn't ask you. I was asking her;" she declared, pointing to Cornelia.
"Elyon, you don't understand what's going on;" Cornelia tried to appeal to her friend. "Listen, whatever lies Cedric's told you; you can't trust him! He's not your friend, I mean, look at him! He's a giant snake!"
"Cedric's more of a friend than any of you! He's been the only one that's been sincere with me once he knew who I am;" Elyon retorted, finding an oddly feeling of satisfaction in how Cornelia's eyes widened with surprise. "And bit of an hypocrite there, considering that Jade's a werewolf, or something; and that you are freaking fairies!"
"Elyon…" the Earth Guardian muttered.
"What, Cornelia?" the straw blonde retorted. "I don't understand? Oh, of course I don't understand, because I'm just normal, dull and plain little Elyon. It's Cornelia who's always got all the special secrets. Well, look at that, I'm special too! I'm a Princess! I've got a brother! An entire world waiting for me!"
"Wait, so that's it?" a heartbroken Cornelia asked. "You… you're doing this because you're jealous?"
"Jealous? Jealous?!" Elyon said, her voice echoing once more, and the ground trembling once again. "You think I'm jealous of you?! Yeah, what a surprise, Cornelia thinking she's the center of everything! Big news, you're not! But I told you that you were, every time you thought so. And did I ask for something in return?! No! Always walking behind you, always making sure you didn't screw things up, or that people wouldn't get angry at you! At least…" Elyon's voice lost almost all its rage then, becoming far softer and sadder. "At least you could've turned around and told me that you were grateful for it."
"Elyon, that wasn't me. Not the real me," Cornelia said, trying to confess to the girl why she had been acting like that all the time. But she found she couldn't guilt making her to swallow her words. All her life, trying her hardest in order to look like the best, the prettiest, the most of everything, just so she wouldn't feel like nothing, just so she could feel that she mattered, that she could met the expectations she thought everyone had for her. And thus, so she couldn't feel inferior she had made her oldest and closest friend to feel exactly like that.
"It doesn't matter," Elyon said in a harsh voice. "I'm done with you and I'm done with everyone lying to me, no matter if it's you or my false parents. I think I'll try my luck with this Meridian; at least they seem to be honest there. At least I've got a real family there."
"Elyon," Will intervened in the conversation once more. "Your brother's an insane tyrant, not even the people that fight for him stand him. He doesn't want you because he misses you; he wants you for your power!"
For a moment, Will thought she had been able to break through Elyon's pain and get to her, that the lost Princess was going to accept the truth. Doubt was there for a few seconds, but in the end it disappeared, leaving nothing behind. After all, the words of Will Vandom, well founded as they might have been, were weak in comparison with the feelings of betrayal and anger of Elyon, all of them strengthened thanks to the Ritual of Amalgamation and Cedric's manipulations.
"I don't believe you," Elyon said coldly, clenching her fists. "And it's funny, that you mention my power," remembering what she had felt during the ambush the pair of flying gargoyles had perpetrated on Cedric and her, her fists glowed in white, as did her eyes, her hair elevating upwards; "because I bet I'm stronger than you."
Kill him! Kill him and flay him! Oh, wouldn't his pelt look incredible hanging from a wall in the Infinite City?!
Shut your damn mouth, Abaddon; Caleb thought, fighting both Cedric and the growing voice in his head. He didn't know how much longer he could last with the sword unsheathed before the marks started to grow and cover his entire body in black, transforming him into the Berserker once more.
Yes, how long will you last, human? This battle, the next, the next one to that perhaps? A day, a week, a month or a year? It doesn't matter. Caleb could almost see the grin in the demon's face. You shall be mine, and then… then everyone will know why I was known as the Prince of Sheol associated with Wrath.
Prince of Sheol? You are nothing but a memory; Caleb thought, remembering the words of Thanatos own memory.
Careful now, boy; Abaddon replied in a funny tone.
Wha- Caleb thought back; just to get hit by one of Cedric's claws, sending him meters away from the snake. Damn it!
Cedric hissed triumphantly and then shifted his attention towards the three Guardians flying around him. The Shapeshifter wasn't exactly unharmed, however. He had several bleeding wounds all over his body; that would be in a much worse condition if it wasn't for the healing factor that all Shapeshifters of the Reptilian variety shared. Nonetheless, even the strongest of healing factors had its limits. One lucky attack that pierced his brain or any wound that destroyed any of his internal organs completely, and he would perish. But of course, his size and experience were enough to avoid getting a fatal wound most of the time, considering his usual enemies were human-sized, were on foot and some of their weapons couldn't even penetrate his scales. The three Guardians he was facing, however, were unharmed and didn't seem to be willing to stop shooting their elements at him, and those clearly could pierce through his scales.
"Isssss thisssss the best you can do, Guardiansssss?" the Shapeshifter hissed.
"Wanna see my best?!" he heard.
Practically in front of him, the wolf-girl had shifted back into her human form, her palms glowing with a blood-red aura. Cedric thought of it as a joke, but then he felt an enormous amount of pain coursing through his body. He fought back a scream of pain, bending over himself, scaly palms against the ground.
"W-What did you… do to me?!" Cedric shrieked. His veins, his… his blood! It felt as if it was burning! It was agonizing! It needed to stop, now!
"Turns out that, while you were playing bookseller;" Jade said as Taranee, Irma and Hay Lin descended from the skies and Caleb joined them, the rebel leader sheathing the Sword of the Berserker and the black marks disappearing from his body; "I was learning new tricks. You wanna see what I can do to your body now? Wanna see what happens if I tell your blood to get into your lungs? If not, then shift back to human. Now."
Christ, and I thought she couldn't get scarier than when she killed Tharquin; Irma thought, opting for not voicing her opinion.
With a hiss, Cedric obeyed and started to shift back into his human guise, becoming smaller and smaller, losing the scales and the tail until he looked like a blond man once again. The wounds over his body had almost healed by now, looking more like scars than actual wounds.
"You lost," Caleb told him. The rebel leader was panting, the empowering effects of the Sword of Thanatos quickly leaving him once he had sheathed the blade. He needed more practice, and to be fair, Cedric was far more useful as a prisoner than dead, considering the Mage's words about him being in league with Daolon Wong and Servantis' information regarding the Shapeshifter's role in court.
"I lost? Are you sure?" Cedric taunted them. "I believe that I won."
"We kicked your ass, you creeper!" Irma declared, pointing a finger towards Cedric.
"And yet I just see three Guardians here," Cedric said in a smug tone. "Uhm… now with whom did you leave the other two?"
Before any of the girls or the boy could say anything else, two figures flew over them, falling to the ground. They were Will and Cornelia, both of them fighting to come to their feet.
"Oh look, the victorious heroines;" Cedric mocked them.
"Girls!" Taranee shouted in concern, flying towards them alongside Hay Lin, she and the Air Guardian helping the Earth Guardian and the Keeper of the Heart to stand up.
"I… We tried to convince her, but she doesn't want to listen…" Will was able to say.
"Uhm, guys?" everyone heard Irma's voice. "We may've got a huge problem here!"
Something was bright. For a moment, all of them were blinded, their eyes getting accustomed to the sudden brightness. Only then they noticed that the source of light was human shaped, and that it was a shape all of them were familiar with. It was Elyon, the girl literally glowing, as if she were a walking, human-shaped white star. It was a beautiful sight, and also a terrifying one. Elyon looked inhuman, and for some reason all of the people in that street that moonless and starless night understood then that this girl was stronger than them all.
"Stay away from him!" Elyon ordered, her voice now enough to make the entire street, nearby building and even the skyscrapers in the distance to tremble.
"Oh Jesus, her voice…" a terrified Irma whispered.
"Elyon, calm down;" Jade said with worry, both for the Princess and for the entirety of Heatherfield. Meanwhile, Caleb gripped the hilt of the cursed blade once more, not sure if using it two times in a row would be safe for either him or his friends.
"I said…" Elyon declared, pointing her glowing palms towards them. "AWAY!"
Caleb, Irma and Jade were hit by a shockwave of purely white Raw Magic, which hoisted them in the air and sent them in the same direction the other four Guardians were, colliding with them. All seven members of the party went to the ground. The Guardians rose in the air shortly afterwards, while Jade helped Caleb to incorporate. They weren't very sure of what to do. None of the girls wanted to fight with Elyon, but none were sure they were looking at Elyon anymore.
"All of you," the Princess declared in her nightmarish, echoing voice. Her body rose a meter in the air, something that the girl didn't seem aware of. "Get DOWN! And don't MOVE!"
Another shockwave of pure Raw Magic hit them, this time originating not from the Princess' palms but from her chest, as if it had been born in the core of her own self, or more accurately, her Heart. It felt very similar as when Wong had hit them all with that gravity spell, so many months ago, in that building lot. Except this time it felt like it had been increased by a hundredfold, crushing the seven of them under a magic wave of pure light, the shockwave expanding over the whole street until the entire place was under some kind of dome of energy, another tremor shacking the ground, this one going past the street and expanding over the entire city, making every corner of Heatherfield to tremble without knowing why. And the Princess hadn't even tried to do that, she hadn't even wanted to do that. And yet, thus it ended that night's clash. With the five Guardians of Kandrakar, Jade Chan and Caleb, son of Julian; inside a crater on street, fighting to maintain their consciousness, completely defeated.
Such was the power of a Heart. Such was the power of gods.
In the midst of this destruction was Cedric Ludmoore. The man had been freed from Jade's Blood-Chi Magic in the moment Elyon had hit her with her powers, the Snake of Cavigor deciding to step aside and let the Princess deal with the Guardians and their associates in her own. And she hadn't disappointed, had she? Cedric had never had the privilege of seeing a Heart-wielder in action before, but even he had to admit it was a breathtaking and terrifying sight. For not speaking about the sensation it produced. It was as if he was an ant standing near a sun. As Elyon descended to the ground once more, the glow around her body fading, she started to wobble, Cedric quickly moving to her side in order to catch her before she fell. The girl, now completely returned to her normal self, looked in confusion at the street.
"D-Did I do this?" she asked remorsefully, half scared of herself, half amazed at her own might.
"Yes, you did;" Cedric told her with pride. "You will have to practice with your powers in order to hone your skills, your Highness; but I must say you are really talented. Now, let us go; before it's too late."
"E-ly… on…" the straw blonde heard a weak voice calling for her. Looking behind she saw Cornelia, the Earth Guardian and the other girls having somehow managed to stand up.
The Princess of Meridian dedicated one last contemptuous look at the rest of the teenagers assembled in the trashed street, her former friends… and the boy called Caleb.
"Goodbye… friends." She said the last word as sarcastically as possible, her voice dripping with venom and bitterness.
The last thing Cornelia Hale saw before losing consciousness was the image of Cedric and Elyon running inside Ye Olde Book Shop, a flash of light illuminating the bookstore's insides, or at least so it seemed to the Earth Guardian from outside. And so, they were gone. The next thing Cornelia knew she was enveloped by a flash of pink light.
Sixteen minutes later
Jackie Chan had driven as fast as he could without risking having an accident; pressed by the earthquake that had hit the entire city while they were moving from the Browns' house to the place where Jade had told them the girls and Caleb were going. Yet when he, Viper and Tohru had arrived they hadn't found an ongoing fight or anything similar, but the Guardians of Kandrakar and Jade back in their human forms alongside Caleb, all of them soundly defeated.
He ran towards his niece's side, helping her to incorporate, asking how she was, and checking if she was fatally injured. There were several bruises over her body, her nose bleeding slightly. He knew it was nothing her Shapeshifter condition couldn't take care of, but that didn't do anything to lessen his worrying. Meanwhile, Tohru tended to the five Guardians, while Viper helped Caleb to his feet.
"What happened here?" Jackie asked of Jade, the girl rubbing the side of her head.
"Elyon happened," Jade muttered.
"I think we got a firsthand impression of what a Heart can do…" Hay Lin complained, rubbing her back. "It was like when Phobos hit us with his powers in the dungeons, or when Wong used that weird magic with us… but stronger, way stronger. Oh, my poor little body…"
"And where is she?" Tohru inquired. "Where is Elyon? Where is the Princess?"
"She's… she's gone;" Cornelia was able to say.
"Damn it…" Will cursed in a low voice. "We lost."
Across the Veil; Meridian, the Castle
In any other day, in any other and normal day; Elyon Brown would be getting ready to prepare things for dinner alongside her… no-parents? False parents? She needed to find a term to refer to them. But anyway, she would have been hungry, or tired, or both. But not today; for today was a completely different thing and the only emotion Elyon felt was amazement.
Cedric had taken her to his bookstore, and there he had taken her hand and touched a book in the one of the shelves. Elyon had been wrapped in light and then the world around her had dissolved, letting way for a new one. They had first appeared in a huge, magnificent library, way bigger than any room Elyon had been during her entire life. Cedric had promised her that she would be able to pick any books she wanted from here… later on. Then he had taken her to the halls of this place (this… this castle!) and her amazement hadn't done anything but increase. Oh, the walls were of a pure white marble, torches lighting the way, sculptures here and there, everything was perfect and beautiful! Any feeling of doubt or remorse she could have been feeling was quickly brushed away in the moment she gave more than two steps into the castle.
While the girl marveled at the sights, Cedric, walking a few steps behind her, looked at the place with suspicious eyes. So Phobos had been smart enough to realize that the gloomy, dark and dismal palace wasn't the best to house the deceived Princess. Cedric wondered if this was how the insides of the palace looked back in the times of Queen Weira. The Prince must had casted a massive glamour around the zone, a feat that surely had cost him a lot of the precious energy he spent so much time siphoning into himself.
Careful, Phobos; Cedric thought; we don't want you exhausting your reserves before facing Wong. "Turn right now, your Highness;" he addressed the Princess.
Elyon did as told, turning around a corner and accessing an even bigger hall. It was even more brilliant than the ones she had walked before, with windows of bluish glass at one side and paintings at the other hanging from the wall.
An art gallery? Elyon thought. Is this like… a private art gallery?
She had been in art galleries before. She and Hay Lin had once spent an entire afternoon in a museum just to admire the painting techniques used in different pieces. Hay Lin… had Elyon acted fairly with her? Or with any other of the girls? Leaving them in that trashed street… No, no! She won't be feeling guilty about this! They had lied to her, and attacked Cedric! They were helping the people who wanted to usurp her brother!
"Ah," she heard Cedric, the man putting a hand over her shoulder in order to stop her. "There he is," he said, pointing onward.
Elyon focused her entire attention on the figure at the end of the large hall. A tall man standing with his back turned against them, dressed in a long, regal robe of red and black, an equally regal looking crown-like hat of the same colors over his head. She couldn't see his face, but yes the long mane of pale shade of blond hair that fell over his back.
"Prince Phobos," Cedric announced. "It is a pleasure for me to introduce you to Elyon Escanor, your sister."
My brother… Elyon thought with both glee and nervousness.
A good definition for Prince Phobos could be that he wasn't the nicest man to have around. If you actually took your time to ask anyone, they would tell you that that definition was an understatement. Phobos Escanor wasn't humble, patient, or particularly virtuous in any sense. He was arrogant, very quick to anger and perhaps too full of himself for his own good. However, and contrary to the perception of many of those who worked closest to him, he wasn't stupid. People tend to mistake madness with stupidity, and that should be always considered an error that can very easily become a fatal one. Phobos was aware of the lies his underling had fed his sister, and thus he had taken matters in his own hands in order to act according to how those lies had described him. Mad and incompetent ruler he may be…
At long last… "Elyon!" Phobos said, turning around, his lips forming a happy and warm smile. "Oh, is so good to have you finally back, dear sister!"
Phobos Escanor could be a surprisingly good actor. Only Cedric seemed to take notice of how, when his lips smiled, his eyes did not. And even so, the Shapeshifter found himself surprised. Perhaps Phobos had skills the Ludmoore middle brother hadn't given him credit for. Then again, what the Prince did was basically sit in his throne all day, so it's not that there were a lot of opportunities to see how he would unwind in different situations.
"Brother?" Elyon asked, finally seeing his face as he walked towards them. His eyes were of the same grayish blue as hers, the face was also similar, albeit the features were more mature and rougher, understandable considering the Prince's age and gender in comparison with Elyon's. And then there was the goatee. She had to admit that he looked surprisingly handsome, exactly like how she had imagined a Prince of a story would be; a thought that she discarded once she remembered that this man was her brother. Ew, ew, ew…
Phobos reached her and looked at the girl, having similar thoughts to the ones Elyon had had about him. Similar hair, similar eyes… petite and weak, that's how the girl looked in his eyes. Worse still, she looked too similar to…
To him, and her; Phobos thought. He was thinking, of course, about his late parents, Queen Weira and Royal Consort Zanden. She looked a lot like them, with his hair and nose, and her face. He supposed she would also develop her frame, if given time. Anyway, the hatefulness she had awoken in him wasn't something to show now; because the Heart of Meridian was there, inside of her, waiting for him to claim it. And he couldn't do so if his sister hated him, could he?
So instead, when Elyon extended her arms and hugged him, he fought the urge to shove her aside, pin her to the wall with his magic and torture her with his powers, answering her hug with one of his own. The sensation felt strange, not the one of hugging, but yes of touching another living being. He didn't even bother to notice how her sister was crying out of pure happiness against his chest, at least not until they separated. He frowned while Elyon rubbed her eyes, worrying that she would have dirtied his clothes. Once the Princess dried her tears, he smiled at her again.
"Sister, if you could accompany me," Phobos addressed her. "I have thirteen years of your life I would want to know."
"O-Okay," the girl retorted after a sob. "But what about Cedric?"
"Do not worry, your Highness;" Cedric told her, bowing his head to the pair of Escanor royals. "I have other duties to attend to, and I believe it would be better to let your brother and you to… know each other better, wouldn't you agree, my liege?"
"Indeed, Cedric;" Phobos told the Shapeshifter. "And good job," he added with a grin while taking his sister by the hand; both of them walking away from the Prince. As for the Snake of Cavigor, he left in the opposite direction.
Lord Cedric's chambers
Cedric's chambers in the castle weren't exactly austere, albeit they were far less bombastic than what anyone would expect from Prince Phobos' second in command. The room was large, befitting his status within court; with an equally large balcony from which one could 'appreciate' one of the inner gardens of black roses that the Prince had created.
There was quite a big bed, with a bedside table. A larger, round table occupied the room's center. No bookshelves here, there was no need since he could go to the castle's library if he desired to have a good read. Funnily enough, he had to sneak actual works of literature from Earth via his older brother, since the majority of what the palace's library housed were books describing meridianite history, several sorceries, and then some poems, songs or tales around the repetitive theme of Escanor, Queen Leryn and the Four Knights; and their respective triumphs against their enemies. However, right now there was only one book that interested him.
"I know you are there," Cedric whispered, approaching the balcony and closing its doors. Another thing he liked about his chambers? He had made sure that the Whisperers, little flower-like little creatures born of the Prince's paranoia, neither could hear nor see him here. "You still have much to learn before sneaking up on me."
"You can't blame a girl for trying," an animalistic voice said from the ceiling, and moments after Miranda descended from it, hanging from a spider thread in her spider-like form. Once she touched the floor, she reverted back to her human guise, dressed in her usual meridianite attire. "You are back."
"I am," Cedric said, looking at her blue eyes. Moments later, Miranda rushed towards him and hugged him, and in contrast with what Phobos had done with Elyon, Cedric welcomed the gesture right away; embracing Miranda tightly. God, she was adorable! And beautiful! And in contrast with all the members of the female gender that had showed interest on Cedric over the years, which weren't exactly few, she had a brain, a taste for literature! But oh, the best part was the predatory look on her eyes. He still remembered the day he had found her, during one of his raids against a group of angry peasants that may or may not have been rebels. He was, of course, in his snake form, creeping over the land, a platoon of guards at his back. He had felt something then, a scent of rotting meat in the air, the sensation someone was watching them. He had ordered the guards to stand away, and he had investigated on his own. He had ended tracking the scent to a cave, where he had found a young Miranda in her spider form. He had told her he wasn't her enemy, partly because he had been impressed by the high numbers of cocoons hanging from the ceiling, either containing animals she had hunted for food or… people perhaps? The scents were mixed, so he hadn't been able to discern which cocoon contained what. He had shifted back to his human form, and had said 'I show you mine, you show me yours.' She did, revealing herself as a little girl. And yet that look had remained there, even if she must have known that she didn't stand a chance against him. A look that contemplated him and saw not an enemy, but a prey. Just another animal. Even then, Cedric had liked that look. So he had taken her with him, and into the Prince's service, out of pragmatism, in order to use her. If he had been able to predict back then he would be falling in love…
"I missed you," Miranda said between his arms. When they separated, both were smiling. "You succeeded?"
"Of course," Cedric answered her. "You doubted me?"
"Not even for a second;" Miranda declared.
"Did you have any problems with the pair of Galhots?"
"No," Miranda answered. "I sent them to Cavigor, just as you entrusted. The pair of little flies didn't even try to fight." Then she searched inside her clothing, extracting a book with red covers. "I believe it's time, then?"
"Yes," Cedric answered, taking the book into his hands. The Princess had been taken, the Rebellion grew stronger day by day, and Wong was in the verge of making his move. "It's time for this family to conclude Phase One."
Across the Veil; Ludmoore manor
Charles was having a simple dinner composed of a salad and a fried fish, a half-emptied bottle of wine at his left; when he sensed someone writing a message in the Red Book. He stopped eating, cleaning his mouth and summoning his own tome. As he opened it, he recognized the handwriting as Cedric's, which meant that his brother was once again inside the castle. He read the words Cedric had written: 'Princess secured. Wong's confidence secured. Everything is ready to enter the last third of Phase One.'
"Excellent," Charles declared, sipping from his glass of wine. How much time it would take for Phase One to be completed in its totality? Perhaps a month? Two, maybe? It didn't matter, the family had waited for centuries, and they could wait for a handful of weeks more. "Well, time to finally stop with the neutrality and pick a side in this war…"
With his left index finger extended, he wrote a single phrase in the book using a very simple spell and a very little amount of his Raw Magic. As he finished, the following words could be read in the page:
'Convince the Prince to attack this manor and me.'
A day later; Across the Veil; Infinite City; morning
They had had a hard time finding a Portal for him, Caleb passing the last day as he usually did while being on Earth, sleeping in that… how was it called again? 'Couch', in the Silver Dragon's basement. Lady Yan Lin always tended to apologize for not being able to offer him something better, but he always retorted that it was a considerable improvement over all the places he had slept in during the war. Sword of Thanatos hanging from his belt and contained in the sheath, the rebel leader clenched his fist a couple of times in front of his face, feeling the strength in each of his fingers. His body still felt sore from the battle from a day ago, and not from Cedric's strikes, but from the girl's… the Princess' (he corrected himself) magic. That power… he hadn't seen or felt anything like that before, not even when he had been captured by the Snake and brought into Phobos' presence. Not even when he and the girls had faced down Wong. So that was the power of a Heart, right? The power of the Light of Meridian. If an untrained girl could do so much damage… what could experienced sorcerers like Phobos or Wong do with it? And that wasn't the worst part, no. The worst part was that the rightful heir to Meridian's throne, the one who was supposed to take the crown from her mad brother; was now on his side. This meant that the ties between the remaining members of the nobility and the crown would probably be strengthened, and that some parts of the smallfolk would start supporting the Prince's court just because the Light of Meridian was part of it now. It would be necessary to inform and convince them of the fact that Phobos was planning to strip her of said powers in order to add them to his own.
As he walked towards the Mage's workshop, his mind started to think about how to solve this problem. The most ideal solution would be for the Princess to change sides and join them… but that seemed nearly impossible right now. Perhaps there was a way to exploit Wong's treacherous intentions towards the Prince? Maybe there was some way of unveiling Cedric's lies? He would have to discuss it with the rest members of the Small Council, but right now, he needed to report.
He found the Mage in her workshop, as he usually did when searching her. She noticed him entering without having to turn around from whatever she was doing, inspecting a vial containing a strange liquid that didn't stop from changing color, many vials around it with similar, but not the same, liquids. Was the Mage trying to reproduce whatever was in the vial?
"Young Caleb," the 'Mage' addressed him, turning around to see. "How did everything on Earth unfold?"
Caleb evaded the ancient woman's gaze, instead looking at the ground. "We… failed, Mage."
The 'Mage' didn't utter any other word. Instead, she closed her eyes, letting the boy know that she understood. Behind her glamour, however, Nerissa Crossnic was cursing every single being in existence.
Blast! This complicates things even more, the fallen Guardian thought. Well, as they say, if you want something done right... It's better if I take matters in my own hands regarding Wong.
Across the Veil, a cafeteria on Heatherfield
"Continuing with the reports on the earthquake that shook the city yesterday in the night, the police and several other authorities have declared that the earthquake wasn't caused by any movement of a tectonic plate. Investigations continue to unravel what the real origin of the tremor was, still not discarding any other explanation. While the experts say there is no risk of our city suffering any more tremors, the earthquake has caused severe damage to the city's centre, both in the infrastructure of numerous buildings and in some sections of the water network. Fortunately, there hasn't been any fatal victims, but yes numerous injured. We can only be grateful that no hospital was damaged to such an extent that it wasn't available. Contrary to expectations, schools and the university are still opened today due to not being in the proximities of the epicenter of the earthquake. Costs in damages ascend to…"
"Danny, could you please turn that thing off?" an elderly, balding man sporting a pair of old glasses asked of the bartender. Only they and another were at the cafeteria at this hour of the morning, but it was better that way. It left them with time to talk. "I have enough with all the animals going crazy last night due to the earth playing games with us."
"You know what they say, Mr. Olsen;" the bartender replied, a young man in his twenties; with slightly tanned white skin and dark hair kept into a small ponytail. His body was slim yet somehow muscular, albeit not to the extreme to be called bulky. It was clear that the boy trained, but not to the extreme of obsession or dedication. "Animals' got that sixth sense thing going on."
"Yes, I suppose it's normal;" Herbert Olden replied. "However, it's really strange. I have been living in Heatherfield since I moved when I was a boy, and there's not been any earthquake ever."
"There's a first time for anything;" a blond man with tanned skin and glasses by the end of the bar said then, taking a bite from a donut he was eating alongside an emptied cup of coffee. "But I've been in town for only a couple of weeks." He finished the donut and rose to his feet, approaching Herbert. "Raphael Silla, it's a pleasure;" he introduced himself, offering a hand.
"Herbert Olsen," the elder said, shaking it with pleasure. "And this fine young man here is Daniel Ashcroft, but everyone calls him Danny."
"Hey there, fella;" Danny said, shaking the man's hand. "Say, never see people this early around here except Mr. Olsen and me. How come are you here?"
"Coffee's good," Silla answered. "And I'm new to the city, and I work from dawn to dusk. This place's one of the places that opens earliest in town. And with the whole thing about the earthquake from yesterday, the only one opened now."
"Yeah, it was a big, scary surprise for everyone;" Danny said, rubbing his neck. "Can't believe Sheffield's opened today. I even told Nigel that he could skip classes today, but he said he had to talk with your grandkid about something regarding their band."
"Oh, then I don't know anything;" Mr. Olsen replied with a small chuckle. "I never understood that new music every youngster seems to like now. Rock, punk… and let's not start with all those 'House' and 'Electro' styles, or whatever they're called. Whatever happened to blues? I still maintain it's the best thing that's ever been created in this country."
"Now that's a wise man speaking!" Silla spoke, sharing a laugh with the old man. "So your kids go to this Sheffield?"
"Not exactly our kids, though you could call them that. My lil' bro Nigel and Mr. Olsen's grandson, Matt;" Danny answered. "And better if they put effort into it. If I see them slaking around, I'll put them both to work with the dishes instead of a guitar."
Silla laughed again. "Alright, alright… it was nice meeting you too;" the man glanced at his clock. "But I better get going. Until tomorrow at the same hour, I suppose. But before I go…" Silla said, leaning against the bar. "This Sheffield place… do you know if they may be looking for some new computer teachers?"
Sheffield Institute; several hours later
"And that's the reason Russia is usually called a 'giant with feet of clay' when referring to the socio-economic situation it was in before the Bolshevik Revolution;" Dean Collins explained over a Power Point that showcased a map of Russia during the early years of the twentieth century; "during the rule of the Tsar Nicholas II and World War I. Any questions?" Once the teacher finished his explanation, he clapped his hands and looked over his students. Uriah Dunn, a fifteen year old student (and a fairly problematic one) with a slim frame and spiky, auburn hair; was playing with his phone, as were some of the other kids. The ones who weren't didn't seem to be very motivated to actually question any of his words. He supposed it was normal, after the tremor from yesterday nobody would be thinking about paying attention in class. Who the hell in the city hall had had the brilliant idea of keeping schools opened after what had happened last night? "Alright, let's continue."
As Dean Collins proceeded with the lesson, Will Vandom glanced outside the window. A sunny day, contrasting the rainy one from yesterday, could be seen beyond the glass. She fought back a yawn, product not of his mother's boyfriend's explanation, but of her own tiredness. The battle from the night before had been brutal, and she hadn't been able to sleep as much as she supposed she needed to. Whoever had had the idea of making Guardians out of teenage girls from Earth didn't seem to have had how modern school would work into consideration. She glanced at the wall-clock that hanged over the monitor in which Professor Collins was projecting the Power Point. Alright, it was almost time for the meeting. Her eyes travelled then to Cornelia Hale, the blonde sitting a couple of desks away from her, also looking at the window, lost in her own thoughts.
God, please let the bell ring already; Will thought. Heaven seemed to answer her pleas several minutes later, when the class ended.
"Uh?" the ginger haired teacher muttered. "I suppose I lost track of time. Alright, everybody, this was our last class before Spring Break. I hope you all enjoy this time apart from each other. Remember to do the homework I assigned you!"
After classes
"Martin, I told you once, and I don't like repeating me;" Irma lair told the bespectacled boy following in her steps through the halls of Sheffield, both of them carrying their backpacks. "Don't you get the meaning of 'No'? It's just two words!"
"C'mon Irma, you like all this radio stuff almost as much as me!" Martin said. "It'll be fun!"
Irma mumbled something between her teeth, rolling her eyes. True, she liked everything related to radio, she liked music, and cables, and hardware... and it'd be good to have a distraction after... everything that had happened. "Fine... but if this is some kind of plan to stay near me, I swear I'm gonna punch you!"
"Promise!" the boy said, rising one hand as if he was under an oath.
Afterwards the brunette walked away and towards the gates of the institute. There she reunited with her friends, and all six of them took off from Sheffield. The lot remained in silence for far longer than any other day.
"So... anyone else's grounded?" the Water Guardian asked, breaking the silence.
"Everyone," Taranee answered. "Up until spring breaks starts next week."
"Even you?" Irma asked of Jade as they turned around a corner and into an alley in order to change from one of the main streets to the others.
"Uncle Jackie said it's better if we don't raise suspicions;" the Chan girl answered. "But I think he just wants to keep a close eye on me. You know, 'cause Elyon mopped the floor with us."
"My mom wasn't exactly happy when I arrived late after an earthquake;" the Fire Guardian told her. "At least Cornelia, Hay Lin and you have someone to talk to about all this. Will, Irma and I just have to make some excuse, and I think my family's starting to grow suspicious of me."
"What do we do now?" Hay Lin asked of the group. "About Elyon, and Meridian..."
"This is all my fault."
And there it was. Everyone turned around to look at Cornelia, the blond having stopped, standing a few feet away from the rest of the group. It would be a lie if any of the other girls said that they weren't expecting this.
"Cornelia, this is not your fault;" Will told her, putting a lot of emphasis in the not. "This is Phobos' fault, and Cedric's. It'd be stupid to put the blame on Elyon or you."
"But you heard her," the blonde said. "When we were fighting… If I had been a better friend, if I hadn't been so selfish, if I hadn't been such a bitch just to appear so god damn perfect!"
"Cornelia, you're not selfish;" Will told the blonde, giving a couple of steps towards her and facing the Earth Guardian eye to eye. "And you're not a bad friend either. The fact that you're saying those words proves it. And thinking about 'what ifs' it's not going to help us."
"I know, I know…" Cornelia said, her eyes jumping from one girl to another. "This is the moment when you tell me I'm not a bitch."
"You were kind of bitchy, Corny;" Irma said. "When at your worst."
"And kind of a meanie in normal days," Hay Lin contributed.
"Uh, uh! And you sounded kind of egotistical, narcissistic, superficial…" Jade started to list.
"Okay, okay; I get it!" Cornelia stopped them. "I'm not the best girl in the world, I'm not gonna win a prize for good behavior, I'm not trying. But… look, I told Caleb this as well; that me isn't me. I mean, I do like winning, I do like being pretty, but… that whole 'I'm the best' thing that I had going on was just…"
"A shield?" Taranee asked. "To not feel vulnerable, because you thought you had to meet some standard?"
"Yeah," Cornelia answered plainly to the black girl. "But I thought that Elyon understood that. She's my best friend, for crying out loud."
"Did… did you ever told Elyon this that you're telling us?" Taranee asked again, and this time Cornelia didn't answer right away.
"No," the Earth Guardian replied after a while. No, of course not. She had kept everything to herself, every weakness, every doubt.
"Then you'll tell her when we save her," Will said then with determination. "Because that's what we're going to do."
"And the sooner, the better;" Irma said. "How long do you think it's gonna take my dad or any other cop to realize the Browns just disappeared in thin air?"
"Yeah, and how exactly do we rescue a Princess that doesn't want to get rescued?" Jade inquired. "Because I'm not too much into the idea of getting into Elyon's bad side again. Even worse, how do we know that Phobos doesn't have the Heart of Meridian already?"
"My grandma said that a Heart has to be freely given to another;" Hay Lin explained. "I suppose that Elyon would get suspicious if Phobos asked her for her super-powers after meeting her for the first time."
"If Phobos had the Heart of Meridian we'd already know," Will declared.
"Yeah, I bet Princey wouldn't let go of the opportunity to show off his new power;" Irma corroborated.
"And we also have to have in account that Wong and Cedric are planning to betray him and get Elyon's power… somehow;" Will continued, taking a hand to her chin. "Something's starting to rub me the wrong way about Cedric."
"What, the whole creeper thing he got going on with Elyon, or the fact he's totally chill with betraying Phobos?" Jade asked.
"Both," Will said, making the Chan girl to smirk. "Remember what Servantis told us? That Cedric's the one rising taxes, that he's the one that convinced Phobos to attack Zamballa? Caleb told us he's the one normally directing executions on the Capital. That doesn't seem the most efficient way to maintain a steady regime. And now he jumps into Wong's boat at the first opportunity? Seems… weird."
"You think Cedric's planned all this from the beginning?" Cornelia asked, letting her mind go away from Elyon for a second. "Betraying Phobos?" her mind went back to Elyon then. "You don't think… he's the one planning to get the Heart of Meridian?"
"I don't know," Will declared. "But this war just got much more complicated."
Across the Veil; Cavigor Prison; four days later
Miriael had thought that this would be worse. It was bad, don't get her wrong, but she had thought they would separate her husband from her, put each in a different cell and then chain them both to the walls, being fed only the necessary amount of water and food to not die from starvation. However, here they were both her an Alborn; sharing a cell that even incorporated a bed, after being taken by a Beast girl and a dozen of Lurdens, back in their homeworld and then thrown into a cage that had been brought by carriage to the infamous, inescapable Cavigor Prison. The fortress had been built centuries ago in a rock formation surrounded by a deep ravine, the only accessing point a simple bridge, and then the workers had dig a cylindrical hole in the earth, kilometers of galleries full of cells having been crafted in the walls, elevators and almost ten minutes needed to reach the bottom. To that you had to add two thousand guards operating the prison, some of them Shapeshifters, since apparently Cavigor had never had any standard in that regard. How could any respectable soldier work with those Beasts? Then again, Phobos' soldiers haven't struck her as respectable in any sense.
Speaking of the bottom, that's were Alborn and her had been imprisoned. Now both of them sat side by side over their small bed, thinking about what had happened. Their little girl… lost. And now that they had finally come back to their world, they had been thrown into the most impenetrable dungeon of Meridian.
"We should have told her," Miriael whispered.
"I know," Alborn declared. "I was so stupid."
"No, no; I must take part of the blame too;" Miriael comforted him, rubbing his back. "If we had been more careful… so many years on Earth perhaps made us too confident. I should have been more alert."
"Oh, would you two please shut up?! Both of you're to blame, okay?"
Both Miriael and Alborn froze upon the sentence. The two of them stood up from the bed and rushed to the cell's bars. In front of their cell there was just another one, its insides coated in darkness. It was impossible to see who was inside, so both had supposed there wasn't anyone there. As it turned out, they had been wrong.
"Who… who is there? Show yourself!" Alborn demanded.
"Or what?" the voice replied into a smug tone. "You're gonna come here and make me? I think you should give a better use to that strength if you could rip off these bars."
"My husband… wasn't trying to sound impolite," Miriael said in a much softer and nicer tone than Alborn's. "We have had… quite a horrible experience. We didn't know there was anyone else this low."
"Yeah, bottom's the most difficult part of here to get out or into;" the voice told her. "Which means you're either very important, very dangerous, or both. And playing the nice girl card won't do you any favors, I can't go to the bars; since I'm chained to the walls. Arms, legs, neck, tail… these bastards don't want me getting out. At least they got the decency to give me meat and water."
"Tail?" Alborn asked in whisper.
"What did you do to be here?" Miriael asked the stranger.
"Came from another planet to find some guys in order to do a job;" the stranger explained. "Turns out, the local authorities didn't like my… ways of testing the strength and resistance of the locals. Man, as if any of them hadn't evr seen a bit of fire in their lives."
"How… how long ago was this?" Alborn asked.
"Fifteen, maybe sixteen years?" the stranger said dubious. "It's hard to count in here. What did you two do?"
Fire? "Wait, I… I know who you are!" Alborn declared, remembering some reports from the officers that had come from the borders of the kingdom when he was in service of Queen Weira. "You are that… monster, that creature that was pillaging across the outer ring almost two decades ago! You burned down entire villages! And then you stole whatever hadn't been reduced to ashes!"
"Ah, so my reputation precedes me, eh?" the voice replied, and then it laughed. "Nothing personal, really. I made some dealing with a bunch of bandits. If I weakened the outer ring so they could raid villages easier, they'd help me with my business. If it wasn't for that damn snake and the rest of those Changelings, or whatever you call them here… I'd gotten away with it. Burned down two platoons of those guards before they took me down, and killed two out of five of those Changelings that came with the snake too."
Cedric detained this one? Miriael wondered with surprise. "You monster! You are nothing but a criminal!"
"Face it, we're all criminals here;" the voice replied funnily. "And if you're going to call me something…"
"Then call me Drago."
The Castle, two days later
Elyon Escanor couldn't feel any happier. And yes, that was how she was referring to herself now. Elyon Escanor, not Brown. Her brother had been educating her in her real family's history during these few days, on top of giving her some basic lessons about how to use her powers, mostly centered around controlling them for now. She had had real parents, grandparents, great-grandparents! All the way up until Escanor and Leryn, the first monarchs of Meridian, heroes in their own right! Oh, it felt so wonderful!
Of course, there were still some things she hadn't accustomed herself to. Her new clothing and her tiara were some of them, now the girl finding herself dressed in robes not very different from her brother's, except hers were of a light blue color. Having maids that insisted into preparing her clothes, her bath, her food and tended to every single one of her needs was another. But the baths were amazing! There was this room annexed to her royal chambers (which were enormous and incredibly pretty on their own) that was this big room made of marble with a gigantic bathtub in the middle! Oh, it was fantastic! Her brother accompanied her almost every time they moved around the castle, like a true gentleman would. And he was so nice! And they always ate together, and whatever she would ask, he would answer, and… and she was royalty! Royalty with super-powers!
"Princess?" she heard by the door. She was standing in one of the halls of the Castle, near a balcony from where you could see the entire Capital. In that balcony, her brother was giving a speech to the people… her people! And by said balcony's entrance stood Cedric, who was now smiling at her. He looked very different now than on Earth, his hair once again tied into a ponytail, but no glasses over his eyes. His robes were of an emerald type of green, reminiscent of his scales. "It's time," the Shapeshifter said, and with a deep breath, Elyon walked towards the balcony, Cedric going in first.
"And now, your Princess, Elyon Escanor!" Cedric announced her.
There weren't any cheers at first. The people below just looked up, and she looked down, dozens, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people looking at her. It was difficult to discern any individual face from the lot, but Elyon knew why most of them wouldn't cheer. She had been away from this world since she was a baby, so of course some of these people wouldn't believe her being herself. She supposed there were some ones that had thought she had died back then. However, her dear brother had thought about everything.
"Sister," Phobos addressed her. "When you are ready."
With another deep breath, Elyon concentrated. At first it was difficult for her to find the power, but it had become easier with each day and each lesson. Now it was just a matter of minutes. The power, the Heart of Meridian, her brother had called it; came to her in a very similar fashion it had done days before, during the fights. Except this time she didn't intent to harm anyone, instead pointing her hands towards the yellowish sky. Her brother had told her that due to the war's intensity and the strange weapons used in it, Meridian (and especially the Capital) wasn't exactly in the best of shapes. Horrible as that reality must have been, it provided a perfect opportunity.
And thus Elyon concentrated and liberated a stream of magic towards the sky, impacting it and blinding every person for a couple of seconds. When she stopped, she could picture the smiles on Phobos and Cedric's faces without even looking at them. The sky was, once again, of the same blue as the ones on the rest of Meridian. Her brother had told her that it would only be a short-term solution, that only when the war had ended they could make long-lasting repairs to their world. But for a few hours, maybe until night, the sky would remain blue.
And then it came, at first low but gaining strength by the second, until it erupted. The crowd of commoners surrounding the castle broke into cheers and shouts of happiness. "Elyon Escanor! Princess Elyon! Light of Meridian!" that's what everyone was saying, and Elyon couldn't feel happier.
There, standing in that balcony, the girl felt happy, safe, important, special, needed and at home. Little did she know that all of it was nothing but a lie.
Below, distanced from the crowd, there were two men that weren't cheering. Not that what had happened hadn't surprised them, but their worry surpassed that emotion. One of them was Captain Lothar (returned from the outer ring shortly before), and the other one was Frost, the Hunter. The two of them had been curious about what the Prince had to announce, since he rarely made any announce by himself, instead leaving that to Cedric. Imagine their shock when the Prince had announced that his sister, the long lost Princess, had been retrieved from Earth. Of course, none of them had believed it at first, but all those doubts had been dissipated the moment she had used her magic.
"What are you going to do now?" the brute demanded of the Captain.
Lothar thought for a moment. "Take Crimson and ride to the Meridian Plains. Inform all the nobles gathered there of this. From there send a message to Archduchess Galiene. Tell them that…" his voice stopped for a few seconds, the man doubting his own words, as if he wasn't so sure if they were the truth, of it they were good or bad news.
"Tell them that the Princess has returned."
Beware of broken friendship. There is nothing more dangerous than making an enemy of those who were your friends, for they are the ones who know your every weakness and your every strength, and they will take advantage of them better than any other. Halinor Clarkson
A/N: Jesus, this was one long chapter. Ah, sweet teenage drama. Yeah, so this is how my version of how the whole Elyon goes to Meridian thing plays out. It's not only deception and the whole Ritual of Amalgamation thing, but also emotional turmoil and, yes; a bit of egoism and desire to be special. But let's be sincere here, has any teenager ever not wanted to be special, or better than his or her equals at least once? Elyon, like all the rest of this cast, has flaws, and we should allow her to have flaws in the same way we allow people like Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, Hay Lin and Jade to have them. The reason I'm saying this is because one of the main reasons people criticize the cartoon version of Elyon is because they feel like she's an idiot that trusts Phobos when there are so much proof that she shouldn't. Elyon is naïve, and she's going to be portrayed like that (she thinks that being a Princess is all fun and games for now, and that's genuine) but she's going to mature across the story. Having written this long paragraph, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please, leave a review, and until next time.
Bye, bye!