Author's Note: I really appreciate all the feedback guys, I didn't really think this was anything special, but you guys certainly encourage me to keep writing and keep writing I shall.

Chapter 13: Guardian

Yugo smiled happily as Evangalyne gave him his new hat, glad to cover up his wings again. He hesistated a moment before putting it on, he had been rather attached to the old one, by the looks of it Eva had managed to recreate it down to the last detail. He put it on and moved it a bit.

"It's perfect Eva!" Yugo said happily "It's just like the old one!"

"How did you get to look like that?" Otomai asked "You didn't have a reference."

"Well," Evangalyne answered "we spent a lot of time on adventures, I kinda saw a lot of the old one."

Yugo ran around happily like a child, Eva was glad to see it. She suspected that for his race he should still be innocent and child-like since he clearly hadn't grown up any physically. It was sad to see the harshness of the world reflected in those child-like eyes for the last week or so, she was glad to see him happy again. Amalia seemed to agree, well at least with the happy part.

"Yugo!" Amalia said cheerfully "You're hat's back!"

"It's great isn't it?" Yugo said happily.

"Not to burst everyone's bubble" Otomai said "But Adamai and Jack both found us here, and we are not accomplishing much, standing around like this."

"Otomai's right!" Percedal said "It's time for another adventure!"

"And where would we be going mighty Iop?" Eva said "And who is going to watch the children?"

"We would be going to the Valley of the guardians," Otomai answered for him "The hiding place of their brotherhood. And the children should join us, their powers will be useful."

"Powers?" Evangelyne asked.

Otomai looked at Elely who stood behind them with Flopin as they spoke "Your daughter has a rare ability for a Iop," he said "She can read emotions, even at a distance, can't you little one?"

"How did you know?" Elely asked

"I saw how you delt with Yugo," he said "That was very kind of you. Your boy has power too, I can sense it, but I don't know how or when it will manifest."

"I have powers?" Flopin said "I mean, more than just regular cra powers?"

"Yes," otomai said.

"How do you know all this?" Eva asked

"I am an alchemist." Otomai said "I must be able to sniff out rare and valuable traits in animals and plants, turns out it's also useful for people. We should also bring Chibi."

"I'm not sure about that." Yugo said "He's young, not ready."

"I'm young!" Lucian said from the table.

"Yeah, kind of." Yugo said "But you have the body of someone older, and the abilities and mind of one as well."

"it was you who made me this way." Lucian said.

"I shouldn't have," Yugo replied "I should have allowed you grow up like a human, gain experience with age, instead of throwing it all at you at once, I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Lucian said with a smile "I don't know another way to have lived, so I have no reason to envy one. But if Mr. Otomai thinks we should bring Chibi, then we should."

"Okay," Yugo said.

"That's settled then," Otomai said "Ruel, may we use your buggy?"

"Might as well," Ruel said.

"Good," Otomai said "Then let us go."

Alibert was exhausted, he had no idea how to deal with this. Yugo's powers hadn't manifested until he was twelve, old enough to look out for himself if necessary. Chibi was only six, soon to be seven, he was too young, and Alibert couldn't keep up with his "Bad Dreams." Without Yugo to share them with, he would cry and ask Alibert to help him. It only took one dream to make him want to stop.

He had seen the Gods in some weird dimension full of floating islands, they were coloborating, several were injured badly. Was that what had happened after the events of the vision he had shared with Yugo. Alibert tried to withstand them all, the last was terrible. A woman with a spiked whip stood over a gilded army giving orders to move and break.

After all this abuse he was so glad to see Yugo walk through his door and into the kitchen.

"Dad," He said with a concerned look in his eye "What happened? Why is the inn closed?"

"Yugo?" Alibert said in near disbelief "Yugo!"

Alibert rushed his adoptive son and hugged him tight. "Help me my boy," He said in fear "I don't know what to do."

"Dad," yugo said with greater intensity this time "What. Happened?"

"It's Chibi," Alibert said "He's been having more visions, he always tries to share them with me, and they are terrible."

"What have you seen dad?" Yugo said "You need to tell me, the world may well hang in the balance."

"More than that my boy," Alibert said "The whole Krozmos is in an uproar."

"You're father is correct." A voice from inside kitchen said. A man in Xelor armor covered in a black cloak walked out,"

"Who are you?" Yugo demanded, letting his father slump back to his chair.

"I am Xelor, young Eliatrope king." He said calmly "I don't mean any harm, I and the other Gods believe we have something for you. a chance that can let us both defeat our enemy."

"Okay," Yugo said "I have a question first, why do the gods care about me and this brotherhood, we are mortals, we aren't powerful enough to do this kind of thing."

"Quite the contrary," Xelor said "You are Yugo, king of the Eliatropes and leader of the council of twelve. You are one of the twelve original children of The Great Dragon and Eliatrope the wakfu goddess. You are in fact a god yourself Yugo, you and all the other council members, why do you think you are immortal?"

"I am not a god!" Yugo said "I don't want to be worshipped, and I don't want to rule!"

"We know." Xelor said quietly. "But you are our older brother, weather you remember it or not, and we need our brother's power now."

Yugo hung his head "No." He said angrily, "The last time I went all out, when I used the eliatrope dofus…"

"You don't need them," Xelor said "We are against a powerful enemy, His name is Seraphin Bartolome, or so he says, a man named Jack the immortal is with him."

"I fought with jack, he says they came here to help us." Yugo said "Otomai believes him."

"Hmm…" Xelor though over that for a moment "Come to think of it, he did say something about coming in peace, before Goultard rushed in."

"Perhaps we should give them a chance." Yugo said.

"Perhaps," Xelor said "Not much time remains, and you are still dodging the subject. If he will speak peacefully with you then please tell him we wish to speak with him as well. If he refuses then we will know he is an enemy. You will have to make a choice Yugo, man or god."

The deity disappeared in a flash of green returning to the Ecaflip dimension, and leaving Yugo with more questions than answers.

"I'm sorry Alibert," Yugo said "But I have to take Chibi and Grougal with me."

"I understand," Alibert said his eyes were heavy with lack of sleep, but he seemed to know what he was talking about."It's for the best, I can't be mayor if I keep on like this."

Yugo walked back towards Chibi's room, he found the child sleeping, though he had bags under his eyes as though he was not sleeping much. Yugo picked him up and carried him, he nudged Grougal awake. The dragon didn't even attempt to attack Yugo, more proof how serious things had become.

"C'mon Grougal," he said "We have to go."

Yugo led the dragon out of the Inn and carried Chibi with him, he took them to the buggy that waited outside. Ruel fired the buggy up and left.

"We'll stop in Astrub to rest in the Inn." Ruel said.

"Okay." Yugo said putting Chibi down and sitting next to Amalia, Lucian sat across from him with Cleophee sitting next to him. Percedal and Eva sat with their children. Otomai sat with Ogrest sleeping peacefully on his lap.

The group had entered the inn several hours ago, again Yugo was the last to let sleep claim him. Amalia slept peacefully in their bed, he envied her that. He drank a glass of cold water, trying to calm his nerves enough. He did not notice when the world around him stopped, nothing moving any longer.

"Jittery?" A voice said from the couch in his room.

Yugo spun around facing the man "I'm Getting really tired of these surprise visits from you guys." He said.

The man was blonde with blue eyes, he wore a blue shirt with golden edges. And golden brown pants, his boots were black and gold. Yugo looked around, he tried to wake Amalia, but she felt like she was made of stone or metal.

"What did you do to her!?" he demanded.

"I did nothing to her," the man replied "I have simply removed us from time."

"I Already told you my answer," Yugo said angrily, assuming the man to be Xelor "Taking another form wont help you."

"I believe you've mistaked me for another," The man said "Perhaps the god Xelor, I am not he."

"Then who are you?" Yugo asked.

"An interesting question," The man replied "I have gone by many names: Seraph, Machael, Bartholomew, Xeron'Kal, but most recently I am called Seraphin Bartoleme."

"You are the one the gods spoke of," Yugo said "The one who fought them."

"In fairness," Seraphin said "They attacked me."

"Xelor implied as much."

"I am told that you are the most reasonable of your brotherhood." Serphin said "I wished to speak with you, but did not wish to wake the others, where I come from to interrupt one's sleep cycle is considered very rude. Would you prefer I return us to time's regular flow?"

"No," Yugo said "This is fine, provided all you want is to talk. But whatever you tell me now, you will have to tell my friends anyway."

"That is acceptable." Serphin said.

"I am going to tell you something that only your creator gods know." Serphin said "Your universe, The Krozmos you call it, is one of many. Together all the universes in existence comprise the Omniverse. My people, The Aetherians were the rulers and masters of the omniverse."

"What happened to them?" Yugo asked.

"Not what," Serphin answered "Who, a particularly powerful aetherian named Achron destroyed the aetherians, exempting those who chose to serve him, and a few that escaped his wrath. I was born after this, into an omniverse in need of a hero, I wished to become that hero."

"So you fight this Achron?" Yugo inferred

"Yes," Seraphin said "I have established a nation, The Gilded Kingdom, that is powerful enough to give Achron pause. We are the center of the Gilded Alliance, a force Achron would rather avoid dealing with for now. I hope to bring your universe into that alliance, and under our protection, but achron moves fast, and we will have to repel him first."

"And if we don't." Yugo asked "What does it matter if we are a part of his empire or yours?"

"Under the fist of Achron," Serpahin said, folding his hands together "You will be slaves, he will sap every resource he can from your universe, and when it no longer has anything to offer him, he will annihilate it, removing it from existence. Under the alliance you will be free to remain yourselves, all we ask is aid to our cause whenever you can provide it.

"So fighting Achron outside the krosmos?" Yugo asked

"On occasion perhaps," Seraphin said "most just offer us supplies, our forces are smaller than Achron's because we do not force anyone to join, they only join of our own volition."

"I believe you," Yugo said "Xelor said to tell you, that if you are willing, the twelve gods will sit and speak reasonably with you, they will listen to what you have to say."

"That would save me a lot of time," Serphin said "I would appreciate it greatly. Tell them to set a time and place, Jack and I will come to them."

"Percedal will not listen most likely," Yugo said "He will want to fight you."

"Percedal is the minor deity that fought with Jack before?" Serphin said.

Yugo just about spit his water out, but managed to swallow it. "He is one of the twelve major gods of the Krosmos."

"That is disappointing," Seraphin said "I do not wish to fight this person, or any of you, it only hinders my purpose here."

"Percedal is a Iop." Yugo said.

"I don't know what that means." Seraphin replied.

"Iops are a race, they do not speak with words," Yugo said "They speak with action, fighting is like a language to them. If you want to convince him, you'll have to let him fight you."

"Very well," Serphin said "I will let him have his fight."

"Good." Yugo said

"I will return us to time's flow now," Serphin said.

As time was restored Yugo felt a wave of nausea and disorientation sweep over him. He pushed through it and felt fine moments later.

"I will return tomorrow to – "

Seraphin's words were cut off by the sound of Chibi crying. The boy knocked on Yugo's door and Yugo answered, Seraphin watched with a eyebrow cocked.

"Yugo This one was really bad," He said, he had started speaking more clearly.

"What did you see?" Yugo answered.

"No need to answer young one." Serphin said "I feel them as well, Deum Tenebrus."

"What?" Yugo said

"It translates to gods of darkness," Seraphin said "They are Achron's elite enforcers, and two of them have arrived in the Krozmos. Kain and Mortis, The Betrayer and The death dealer."

"Then Chibi isn't seeing the future?" Yugo said

"No, he sees the present as it happens." Serphin approached the child and placed his hand on Chibi's head. "You have not slept well child, be at peace."

Chibi's eyes closed slowly and he collapsed caught by Yugo's arms he was in a deep sleep.

"What did you do?" Yugo asked

"I suppressed his powers of sight temporarily," Seraphin said "and suggested his brain to put him to sleep. He should get a full night this time."

"Okay," Yugo said, "Who are these dark gods, are they powerful?

"They are lesser Aetherians," Serpahin replied "They are more powerful than jack, but not as powerful as I."

"Okay," Yugo said again "Come back tomorrow, we'll try to speed things up."

"Gladly," Serphin said, the man then disappeared as though he were never there.

Two holes in the krozmos had opened, unlike Serphin's neat hole, it was clear that these were forced, looking more like they were torn through, than slowly made. From these two holes two dark individuals appeared.

The first wore red armor with black undertones. His eyes were red and had black shadows surrounding them. He had jet black hair that reached halfway down his back.

The second wore a large cloak with a hood, beneath the hood his face was mostly covered by a skull mask, though the bottom jaw was missing revealing his mouth, which was a thin line, never smiling or showing enotion. He bore a large scythe and what parts of his arms and legs could be seen were clad in black and green armor.

"Are you ready for some fun?" The first asked the second.

"We have a mission Kain," The second replied.

"Geeze," Kain said "Why did the boss have to put me with you of all people."

"Because," The second replied "He shares my desire for unity among all."

"You're a crazy son of a bitch, Mortis" Kain said.

"On the contrary," Mortis replied "It is crazy to cling to life, when death brings peace and unity."

"Whatever, Let's just get this done."

Author's note: I know my updates have been more spread out, I'm having trouble thanks in part to finals. I should be doing better soon. I also wasn't sure about this chapter, I know what the major events I want to do are, I just need to lead up to them.