Chapter 27: Inevitable

“Late!” Kiara, Cornelia, David and even Tiadora said in unison, once Jason had finally reached the clock tower an hour after reporting time. Jason scratched his head and kept apologising to everyone, but the one with the sourest face, was Mokona. Its tiny paws were at its hips and its mouth pouted into a nasty frown, "Late boy! Late boy! Tiadora angry."

"Well, sorry puff ball," Jason crouched down low enough to speak in front of its face, "but I was busy, unlike some couch potato that I know of."

"Mokona's not a couch potato!!"

"Jason," Cornelia, too, had placed her hands on her hips to show tantrum, "your valid reason for being late?"

"Coach Dean wanted a word with me," Jason lied perfectly, leaving himself in the clear. Tiadora nodded at his answer and told the guardians to form a small circle. "Hold hands," Tiadora commanded as the rest obeyed diligently. Very room, Vitani reappeared into the centre of the circle and gave a nod of appreciation to Tiadora before Vitani spoke with her eyes closed, "Dawn back to tears, wept away with the rays of sunlight. Thy is not wish and thy is not grant. Allow the earth and the wind to compose, and bring me close to the Fudox barrier!"

Unexpectedly, David's and Cornelia's element glowed brighter than ever. The grew and green light escaped from their silver bands as it circled above the flower child. Tiadora had a serious expression on her face while the rest of the guardians were in awe of the spinning bright light. David felt something squeezing in between his feet during the seconds of astonishment. He knew it was Mokona who had also wanted a piece of some fun. It was spending too much time in his room lately. Soon, their surroundings slowly began to take form. Once it was at the real of Kadic's block tower, then patches of it began to shred like paper, replacing the torn pieces with the images of the blue sky and...sand.

Yes, lots and lots of same began to appear beneath them at their feet. The dusty parched wind greeted everyone so strongly that it blew both Jason and Kiara off-balanced and out of the circle trance. Kiara tried getting up, irritated that the sands had gotten into her red ponytail. David lent a hand out to her, guiding her to stand up, but liar quickly fell again face down onto the ground. "I think it’s your heels," David admitted to his childhood playmate, holding both of her hands instead.

"You think?" Kiara kicked off her heels and finally stood upright. "Now where's that damn barrier?"

"Shh!" Jason commanded as everyone kept quiet to listen to the unknown sound that Jason claimed. Half a minute passed, yet no one seemed to have noticed Jason's strange discovery. Even Vitani looked unsure herself. Then after a split second, a soft faint sound was heard. Tiadora's senses went up high as she tried to scan through the never-ending kilos of sand. It sounded like the shots of a ray gun at first, but then the noise stopped. Only three seconds of that tune. Until Jason broke the unedifying silence, "We're not alone."

Instantly, David stomped his feet, sending a long cylinder block of earth from the sand, up into the sky. Jason soon realizes why, and sent fire balls from his right hand, but only to see it vanish after a few moments in the sky. Understanding the situation clearly, Tiadora ordered Kiara to send a huge wave from the ground. Kiara tried doing so with her right hand, but nothing seemed to have emerged from the yellow sand. With the sudden confusion, whitish-blue beams were shot from the sky, exploding into the sands. The hit portion gave way and made a thick fog, blocking everyone's view of the dessert. The guardians were trying to cover their eyes from the flying particles as the beams continue to hit the ground. Kiara tried again for her tidal wave, but still nothing happened. Instead, she felt a furry tug on her neck. Despite the nasty fog, Mokona's white fur was easy to spot on her neck. Mokona shouted out loud to Kiara as the simultaneous explosions were too loud, "The water must be too deep for your element level to reach . Use your 'strength' instead!"

Strength? Kiara thought. Isn't that the left hand? Isn't that the power that drains more energy than 'imagination'? Kiara shooked her head at its small body, "No way am I going to use up all of my strength and energy for one attack."

"But if you don't, you won't be able to pull the water out," Mokona spoke at a fast and serious pace, "Kiara, every second you waste, reduces everyone's chances of survival! Do it!"

The words sank in, forcing Kiara to do what she was told to. She concentrated all her might onto the spell and waited. About four seconds later, the stream burst out. Pure blue water fired out from the sands, erasing the fog and splashing up into the unknown source which was floating in the skies. Surprisingly, Kiara didn't feel drained at all. Yet, she felt a little dizzy, but other than that, Kiara felt fine. It was dinner, Kiara realised. Tiadora made us eat dinner to regenerate our energy. True enough, after quite some time of a waterfall, everyone could see figures.

Two human-shaped characters were formed. The unknown 'people' seemed to be coughing out water and have stopped attacking. An opportunity, Jason smiled to himself as he decided to give those strange figures a taste of their own medicine. He formed a fiery red sphere energy, which Jason had been working on, in between both of his hands. Once he knew of the full charge, Jason blasts the fire energy at the two washed-out figures as they fell down with a 'boom' on the sand. Everyone crowded around the dent area, seeing the transparent figures glowed in colour. It revealed two boys, when the invisibility wore off, just like everyone suspected so.

However, another gust of wind surrounded the two collapsed boys and pushed the guardians away from them almost all at once. Again, everyone had to shield their eyes from the force of the wind, fighting back. Once the wind cleared, the two boys were still at the same position as they were before. But this time, they were standing, confident and upright at a battle formation, smiling at the guardians gleefully. Together, they gracefully strolled forward nearer and closer towards the team. Tiadora came in front of Vitani, guarding her. One of them chuckled, nudging the other about Tiadora's gesture. They stopped around three feet away as the one who chuckled spoke, "Guardians. My liege. Vitani. And Mokona ! How's my favourite fluffy animal?"

"How do you know about Vitani?" Tiadora asked in a very serious tone. "How do you know that there is a flower here?"

"Simple," the other one spoke in a deeper voice, "We investigate. A magician does not tell his secrets."

"Why are both of you working with Xana?" Tiadora wondered aloud, "Or even together. Don't you always do a solo team?"

"Once you know Xana's true form, it's utterly impossible not to join him. He posses much more power beyond your wildest imagination. Oh how rude of me," the first one realised, "I forgot my manners. We haven't exactly met properly, haven't we? Of course, I know Princess Tiadora, but I haven't got quite a chance to actually speak to their magical descendants. My name is Artemis, and this is Tyran. You're Jason, Kiara, Cornelia and David. How nice."

"I see that you can speak in their language very well," Tiadora hated the irony, "Have you been with close encounters with them?"

"You have no idea," Artemis smiled, winking his left purple eye to Cornelia instead of Tiadora. That's when Cornelia noticed his eyes. They were the same as Ulrich's. Ulrich, she tried picturing his face in her mind, had two different coloured eyes but his left eye was blue and his right, purple, not the other way round. Artemis' eyes were both blue and purple but his right was blue and left was purple. She breathed a sigh of relief at her discovery, and calmed down a bit. Artemis turned away and nudged his buddy, Tyran who narrowed his eyebrows and growled, "Enough talk. Lets get back to what we came here for."
"Ah yes," Artemis' back was facing the guardians, opposite of Tyran's body language as he continued, "The Amarathine."

"Deox!" Tyran cast a spell to the ground, creating vibrations, rustling through the sands. Suddenly, a light wind breeze around the circumference of an imaginary circle on the ground and started to enlarge, forming a sand-whirlpool. A little hole in the middle sinked in deeper, forming a crater. Moments later followed an earthquake, and the guardians were separated on the edges of the crater. Tiadora held hands with Vitani, and leaped into the air. Cornelia saw what she was trying to do and literally blew both of them further away from the black dept. Tyran then started to chase after them in the north direction, hurling at them different kinds of spells before he himself floated into the air. Out of breath, Cornelia stopped short, kneeling down for a rest. That's when she realised the sudden attack. Artemis had jumped from the other side, a sword in his hands, high above her head as Cornelia was rooted to the ground. By what seemed like hours, David ran towards Cornelia, and pushed Artemis when he got close. Jason and Kiara were already on their way to Cornelia's aid, but she rejected, "No. One of you help Tiadora get the flower to the barrier."

Automatically, Kiara nodded, dashing off in Tiadora's direction. Her pace increased slightly, but she could feel the cramps already burning in her waist. Concentrating again, she sent the waves up to the ground, carrying her onto its tip as she tried to command the waves to move on further. Closer, Kiara forced the wave again as her distance between the flying-Tyran and her shortened. When she was finally about a foot away, Kiara took a gamble and jumped right onto Tyran. They crashed into the ground as Kiara used Tyran as bait to hit him down on the ground.

His face fumed and his eyes changed to coal black. Kiara immediately felt some strange force pushing her off Tyran, sending her rolling. As she got up, Tyran stretched out his hand to her and soon, Kiara found herself floating as well. But not on her own free will. She couldn't move or struggle. Her efforts died as her arms were secured against her body with her two legs together. Tyran toyed with her, moving Kiara up and down with every direction of his hand. "Play time's over," Tyran seethed, as he sent her flying fast over into Tiadora's direction. Kiara's limpless body crashed with them sending all three down. In an instant, Tyran was standing in front of Vitani after her fall too, and lifted the delicate little child up. "Flower!" Tyran's deep booming voice almost echoed through the desert, "Grant me world domination of this time!"

"My powers are only at level four," Vitani admitted frightfully, "That wish cannot be granted by me."

"Useless! Very well. I wish for unlimited pow..." Tyran didn't get to finish his 'fruitful' desire as Tiadora sent a bolt of energy in his direction. Kiara headed towards Tyran and decided for pay back. She tapped the sand on the ground, and a thin layer of water formed a small cylinder barrier surrounding Tyran. Once he finally regain conscious, Tyran found himself trapped in the water prison. Kiara came back to Tiadora and suggested, "I'll bring the flower. The rest needs your help more than I do."

Tiadora nodded, entrusting Kiara with the flower, "Vitani will show you the way. It's not far from here."

▽

Artemis sent another blow in Jason's direction. A three-on-one battle didn't seem to bother Artemis that much, as what Jason could see on his face. All three guardians were hurling out rays and beams continuous and at the same time, but Artemis had so far, been able to either dodge it or looked like he wasn't in pain if he had gotten hit. Then, Cornelia sent to both David and Jason a telepathic message.

I'll distract him. Then one of you push him into the hole.

Too risky. I won't allow it. Jason declared, but Cornelia had already started to get Artemis' attention. And in order, while Artemis concentrated on Cornelia, David made cracks on the ground, forming rocks as it floated by his side. When Cornelia gave him the signal, David pushed all of the rocks towards Artemis. Undetected, Artemis fell for the bait and stumbled into the crater, but an unknown root was caught by his hand before he fell into the never-ending darkness. Cornelia stared down at him, scoffing to know that he still had not fallen. She looked down again and suddenly realised that her step on the edge of the circle began to fall into the crater as she could hear screams of her name from above.

Cornelia tried to fly. She tried flinging her right hand to the lighted surface upteen times, but nothing helped her. Instead, she found Artemis reaching out for her hand, and when he grasped it, he held it tight. Cornelia was both confused and scared. Confused by what Artemis had done and scared for what lies below her. Resisting the gulp, she shot an angry look at Artemis, "Why did you catch me? You want me to fall by your hands, isn't it?"

"Fool," Artemis said it in a serious tone, "Is this how you thank the person who saved your life?!"

"No. No," the sarcarsim in her voice was unmistakable, "It's just that it’s weird. You’re supposed to be the bad guy. I mean, minutes ago, you tried to pierce a sword into me."

"But that guardian pushed me, right?" Cornelia could feel him calming as he spoke in a more relaxed way, "Isn't that unexpected? Even if he didn't, you would have run backwards."

"No, I wouldn't. I was scared half-to-death. It was a miracle coincidence that David was already coming for me."

"There's no such thing as coincidence," Artemis' grip on her hand harden, "Everything is inevitable." With that, Artemis gave Cornelia a Herculean swing which sent her up into the air. Stunned, Cornelia could hardly move while being suspended in the air, but moments later, she felt a sudden forceful push on her right. Jason had leaped from the edge of the circle, caught Cornelia and landed safely on the other side. "Thanks, bro," Cornelia patted him on the shoulder, but Jason looked more fierce than happy. Artemis materialized in front of them, all safe and sound, grinning from ear to ear. Tiadora made an entrance and stomped her way, in front of Artemis. There, she became to battle.

"Vuleik!" yelled Tiadora in one spell of their battle. She did a double back flip, dodging another one of Artemis attacks. He went in closer, trying to tackle her at a nearer range, but so far none have gotten through. Tiadora straightened her fingers and concentrated on her right hand, attempting to slash Artemis. He was able to dodge several attacks, but then a sound boomed throughout the desert. Tyran had finally broken through the water barrier, and was on a rampage. He was losing control of himself. Tyran barred his teeth, showing long fangs from his upper jaw. It was the size of a Saber-Toothed Tiger’s teeth. He went on all fours, charging directly towards the guardians.

But before he got close, another energy field emerges from the ground, propelling Tyran of his feet. Another round of a smaller tornado crystallized in front of the guardians. Everyone braced themselves in case of an attack, but there were none. Instead, a shape materialized inside the tornado. At first, Cornelia thought it looked like a human being, but as the shapes grew wider and different, she realized what it actually was. A neighing sound screamed from inside as the wind of the tornado began to vanish. There, standing high at attention was an animal.

“Gaia,” Tiadora managed to say under her breath. Her battle between Artemis had ended when Tyran began charging at them, but Tiadora made sure that she was still high on alert. “It’s Sir Thomas’ sacred animal, Pegasus Gaia.”

Flawless and white, the magnificent stallion had a pair of feathered wings that moved with much grace and poise. A horn stood at its forehead right above a black gem stone on its head. Pure blue eyes looked towards Cornelia as it trotted nearer to the guardian of Air, raising its head about inches higher than Cornelia’s. A small grin could be seen from the Pegasus’ face as its mouth began to move, to speak in a calming female voice, “Cornelia Lily Kingston, I’ve come for you.”

All she did was gasp, like what the others were doing as well. However, one voice from the crowd wasn’t too please with the arrival of the sacred animal. “Show off! Show off!” Mokona came walking towards the Pegasus. Compared to its size, Mokona looked like a football for the Pegasus to play with. “I came first and haven’t even showed off yet!” Mokona continued complaining, “Cheater!”

Immediately, the strangest happened. Mokona began to evolve. Instead of a small puffy white ball that it once was, Mokona sprouted out wings. Bigger feather-like wings than the Pegasus did and enveloped itself with them like a cocoon. A scintillating light ablaze through the desert grounds, blinding everyone from the transformation. Finally, as the luminescence faded away, everyone came to sight to something different.

Gone with the furry, small and cute, Mokona had changed into its true form. A golden beak reflected off a ray from the blazing Sun as the majestic beast stood up tall. Like how Tiadora had described, the spectacular green Phoenix was prodigious, as tall as the boys’ dormitory, that’s for sure. It spread out its impressive wings and did what it wanted to do, ‘show-off’. About ten times larger than the Pegasus, just like the Pegasus, a red gem glittered from the top of its head. But the whole grand transformation was ruined when Mokona started to ‘show-off’, “So how do I look?”

“Like a parrot,” Jason shouted from where he was, but all laughter and awe died out when Artemis gave a yell. He had strike first when Tiadora’s attention was on the sacred animals. At once, all the guardians ran beside Tiadora, firing rays at Artemis. Tyran was also on his way as he raised his hand high above his head, holding nothing. But a long yellow glowing rod materialized from his hand as he threw the luminous weapon into Tiadora’s direction. Jason caught sight of his target, and immediately shields Tiadora with himself as a block. The arrow flew at a rapid speed, and, to Jason’s relief, had just grazed through his shoulders.

However, the graze suddenly burnt in his left shoulder. Jason groaned and fell to the ground. Tiadora fell down on her knees to his aid, but Artemis made another attack. Za-bang! His strike blocked by the left wing of the Pegasus as it had swiftly glided from its far position to protect Tiadora. "Do not harm the Princess, Artemis," Gaia spoke in a stern and firm woman voice, "Haven't you already bear enough injuries?"

Instantly, Mokona spread its green wings and flapped them at Artemis, making the wind breeze through the area. That’s when the wounds could be seen. Slowly, many visible deep cuts and abrasions formed onto his body. Blood could be seen dripping down from his injuries, but Artemis was still standing up straight. One thing that caught Cornelia’s eye was his scar, a permanent brown line diagonally embedded across his ‘flawless’ face. The scar went through his left eye all the way to his right cheek. It must have been there a long time, Cornelia thought to herself. Ulrich doesn’t have that. Then, Artemis staggered, and almost fell, but he was able to support himself just like how he had done previously.

Tyran furrowed his brows as his injuries formed too, but unlike Artemis’, Tyran’s injuries were only minor and a few. He grinned, unmistakably ignoring Artemis’ wounds, and praised himself for his recent attack. Jason was still down, clutching onto his shoulder. It hurts, that’s all he could make out at that moment. Bloody fool, Jason muttered silently as he stood up on his two feet with Tiadora supporting his weight. He buried his hands into fists and a glow of red energy materialized just like his own anger.

However, Jason was forced to stop as a bright light flashed from the space in between the guardians and both Tyran and Artemis. It was a portal, Tiadora recognized. Surprisingly, a girl walked out of the opening and stared at the two opposing teams. She had long blue hair that almost touched the ground, and her eyes were as black as coal as she started to smile. “Marabonta,” Cornelia uttered to the crowd, seeing her for the second time.

The scary one, David remembered as he recalled that night at the beach when one of Xana’s accomplices had glared directly at him. Marabonta glided gracefully towards Artemis and Tyran, like as if she was cat-walking on a runway. A smile curved on her face when she finally got close. “Go back to the Heritage,” Marabonta spoke in her soprano voice.

“But...but…” Tyran stuttered his words while Artemis had an expressionless look on his face. “The Amarathine is…”

“…Not a problem,” Marabonta continued Tyran’s sentence, “it’s time.”

Reluctantly, they glared a fierce one at the guardians and soon all three villains vanished into thin without anyone finishing the battle or explanation. It took quite a while for anyone to say anything, but the eerie silence was broken with a cheer. “Yeah you better run!” Kiara shouted moments after their disappearance, “I bet your circus ringleader, Xana, is off to punish you for your job well-not-done!”And everyone giggled. Well not everyone, Mokona and Gaia didn’t. Cornelia walked towards Gaia and stroked its head gently. “Gaia?” Cornelia started, “Nice name. You’re female, right?”

“That’s correct,” Gaia nodded in response. Cornelia, then, patted its mane and stroked its back. “May I?” Cornelia asked.

Gaia nodded its head again as Cornelia excitedly got onto the Pegasus’ back. Its white wings spread out wide as it took off into the skies. The rest could hear Cornelia’s screams of joy and happiness as Gaia soar into the clouds and across the desert as well. Mokona stared angrily at them and walked on its two claws towards David. It brought its head down, lying onto the sand, urging David onto its neck. David eyes glittered with surprise as he took up the offer and hopped onto Mokona’s neck. Without any hesitation or delay, Mokona zoomed into the sky faster than how Gaia had, making David clutch onto its feathers tighter. “Woah!!!” David gasped frighten as Mokona flew above the clouds, closer to the atmosphere instead.

“Soon, David,” Mokona spoke as it flew higher above, “You’ll command on my head. Then that’s when we see the world together!!” At that time Mokona said that, they were out, in space, overlooking the far burning Sun. David held his breath, not because of the lack of oxygen, but because of the beautiful and unknown sight of the galaxy for the very first time. Between the few seconds in space, he wondered what Mokona had told him. Mokona was an enormous Phoenix. To be precise, as big as the boys’ dormitory. So standing on its head would still make him look small compared to Mokana’s gigantic size. “Hey Mokona,” David managed to call out to his sacred animal even though he used no air, “This is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me!!”

“Being in space?” Mokona tilted its head to face him.

“No,” David smiled sincerely, “being a guardian!!”