Life in a family can change quickly. People are never sure what would be the big change in their life. It could just be to have a new pet. It could be a bit grandiose such as the children could become adults and leave their home, it could be the birth of a child. It could be a new job or a promotion for examples. That was for a normal family.

Sarah, her brother and her parents already went through many changes in a year. The discovery for the parents that Chaotic and Perim were real, the kidnapping of Peyton and was now trapped in Perim. One of the more recent was when the kidnapper returned and brought the parents of her best friend with him.

Now, the family faced another change right outside of their home. A large and muscular bug looked at Sarah's family with a bit of a judgemental look. He said nothing as he observed them. He wondered why they were so quiet.

They got a body guard who was too big and too heavy to be in the house.

Chapter 49: Her Protector

After the presentation, no one said anything for a while. None of them knew what to say and it turned a little bit awkward.

Alexandre broke the silence, "It would have been better if it was Odu-Bathax," her brother joked with a small smile on his face.

"I heard of you from him," he put his hand over his abs. He frowned at the male human suspiciously, "And you will keep your hands away from here," he glanced at his hands.

"You're not him. So, you are fine. I just like to get a rise out of him," he chuckled.

"I have no problem if you get a rise out of him," Ekuud replied. He then turned to Sarah and bowed, "With me around, those Metalist won't lay a claw on you. I promise you that," he sniffed the air, "And resist the many sugary temptation with ease."

The Danian was still a bug like an ant. It shouldn't surprise them.

"How are you going to protect her if you can't get into our house?" her father asked.

"I will patrol outside and made sure that no intruder managed to get inside. They will have to go through me. If they resist, they might lose a limp of two. Doesn't matter if they are humans from the Cothica. I won't tolerate any criminals," he frowned.

"He's a serious guy Sarah," Alexandre told his sister with a small smirk.

"Thanks Alex, I didn't notice that little obvious detail," she replied, before gently hitting his ribs.

"You're welcome," he chuckled.

The parents weren't sure how to welcome him. They glanced at each other's. They knew he was there to protect their daughters and them, but a giant bug was still a weird feeling.

Pamela was the one who felt the most lost for her situation. She didn't really know what to say or do anymore to help her daughter. Everything just turned into such a complicated mess. Not only, her daughter's boyfriend went to Perim, the real him, in other to appease a tribe of creatures with body made of the four elements. It was just too much right now. She let her husband handle the situation while she tried to make sense of everything.

Jeff saw his wife gave him a short nod and began talking, "Why are you here and not Wamma? I thought they were close friends," he asked first.

"My queen believed we need to send someone who will be and remained focus on his mission. It isn't Wamma's greatest strength to remain focus. If it was me who trained him and not Odu-Bathax, I would have straightened him up already… And made him lost a lot of pounds," Ekuud replied as he clenched his four hands.

Sarah couldn't see Wamma as thin and muscular, even when that possibility was just proposed. She could see him managing to hide from the intense training. That was her Danian friend greatest talent. A lot of effort to spend little effort in fighting and training. Unless it really put his tribe in danger or she was in danger. She thought even more and he did train for a while. Wamma wanted to be strong enough to protect her, "He's doing that now."

"Because he wants to protect you with everything he had," Ekuud told her with a small smile, "That was his spark. You are one of the most important persons he values. Of course, the queen is above you, but you don't have Danians ready to fight to protect wherever you go."

Jeff went on, "How do we organise everything? The neighbors are watching us and are probably curious about what you are planning to do," he pointed at them.

The five saw a few humans watching them curiously in a few homes. It was mostly the children who were excited to see a big bug.

The creature was a bit confused about the way the humans lived, but it was easy to accept it was very similar to the other tribes. They were family units and the family was what mattered the most. He waved at them. The children waved back. He turned his attention to the family and answered, "It might be best that I don't do too much. I cannot watch inside of the house and it wouldn't be a good idea to just stand near the window to lead to Sarah's room," he pointed at it.

They were a bit surprised he could guess which one. Still, it did have a few things that stood out from their point of view. They could see the picture of Sarah and Wamma that they took last year. The red beetle somehow had something in his mouth, munching something and smiling at the same time. It was blurry from where they were, but they guessed the creature had better eye sighed.

The danian went on, "I think I will do a few rounds around your house, but remained here. I cannot go inside, so I will sleep outside. I will and my antennas ready for any sign of trouble," he crossed his two pair of arms, "And once they are used to my presence and know why I am here… I will do more larger and complete patrol. I will never go far away, but things might go around elsewhere," he looked at the teenage girl, "And we will need to talk about this boy you are dating. Tom. I will have to follow you anywhere, even with him. You were dating together when Peyton was kidnapped," he told her. He noticed the sudden awkwardness and the little bit of tension in the air. Something obviously happened and he had no idea.

He began to give a long explanation at how he would watch and protect her. He also explained clearly how he would be around with any of her social interaction in the city and elsewhere. The creature kept talking and didn't notice he lost their attention. His voice turned into background voice.

The family looked at each other's and wondered how they should explain this. What he said was true, but there was a bit of creepiness in protecting her. Also, Tom wasn't here anymore. It seemed the news didn't spread around.

"Should we tell him?" Alexander asked as he observed the creature talking. He knew of Ekuud reputation, but he didn't completely live it. Maybe it was because he wasn't with danians or maybe because it was the Guide of the Cothica for his tribe. He might also receive clear orders too. There were many things that wasn't explained yet.

"Maybe you should tell him Sarah. You are the one who can explain things best. I mean, you get more what's going on," Jeff commented.

Pamela nodded, "He surely is going to listen to you best. And, also, be a creep in a way if he understood what he is doing," she crossed her arms, "And I still have trouble understanding why Tom went to another world and his parents let him."

The watched the danian who still wasn't done with his speech. It was a bit comical as they chuckled a little bit.

Sarah waved her hand near his face to get his attention.

"What?!" he grunted at the interruption. He tensed up. His body tensed at something he considered insubordination. His breathing was a bit loud. He quickly calmed down as he put his hand on his chest. He shook his head, "What?"

It was clear for them he wasn't use to anyone interrupting him.

Sarah sighed, before she looked into his eyes, "About Tom. He isn't here anymore."

Ekuud asked a question. His antennas were a bit low as he asked it. He sounded uncertain about telling her his next sentence, but he did it anyway, "You stopped dating him?"

"No. I'm still his girlfriend. It's just that a lot happened recently and you weren't there when Tom left our world. He went to Perim yesterday, his real self."

The danian eyes seemed to shrunk a little as he heard that news. He blinked twice before he asked, "Why? How?"

"There's been a situation and…" Sarah didn't remember if she told the tribe or not. She wasn't sure. Maybe Ekuud didn't know. Anyway, she went on, "He left our world because of a situation with the elementalist tribe. They wanted him and Milla'iin because of you coming here. Some kind of revenge. He won't be back for a while and we are searching for him and Peyton in Perim. As the how, there is a portal that led to Perim, one like the one in Chaotic," she resumed it.

The creature was perplexed, but didn't comment on it. He grumbled and thought deeply. He watched the girl. He didn't want her to get the idea to use it to find her boyfriend. His antennas pointed at her when he sighed, "You better not thinking of doing the same thing."

"Of course not, we will have to pass through the Guardian of the Cothica first."

"The what?" he yelled.

The family guessed he missed a lot and maybe the danians too.

"I'll talk to them when I port in Perim. They don't mind me wandering around since I'm your big brother," Alexander decided.

Sarah sighed. It was a bit more complicated to have a bug that lived with them when he knew little of what happened on Earth. She looked into his eyes and explained briefly, "It's the humans who can use the power of light. One thing I am learning, just in case those metalists can another thing," she thought about rescuing Peyton. She went on, "They are guarding a portal that led directly in Perim. They pretty much know more about everything and that our world is the Cothica," it was the very short version and she hoped that soon, they won't need to explain it again.

Ekuud quickly understood and nodded. He decided not to dwell on the subject. He guessed those people might show up eventually, or when she might go to train. He wondered what the power of light could look like when the full potential was reached.

Jeff coughed quietly to get the bug's attention, "Welcome to Earth Ekuud. I hope you won't cause too much trouble while you are here just like Khybon."

"I have no intention to embarrass you or your family Sarah's father."

"You can call me Jeff and my wife is Pamela."

"Mister Jeff. I am here to make sure you are safe from those creatures. We won't know when they might strike again," he nodded at the human.

"Are you hungry? We can prepare something for you too," Pamela asked politely.

"Not for now," he put his hand on his chest and nodded, "I need to plan everything and make sure that everything is secure right now."

The family guessed that this might take a while. They had no idea what the result of those changes might be. They decided to let it go. They would know soon enough.

AC: This is the end of this chapter.

Next: An Outing.

Peyton and his parents managed to convince the king to let them explore the city a bit with Steel as their protector.