Chapter 32: Metamorphose
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"Lonely, Princess?" Tiadora heard Jason's charming voice behind her as she saw him approaching, holding two cups. He brushed through his blond hair while he handed to Tiadora a cup of orange juice. "I'm sorry," Tiadora said suddenly.

"Whatever for?" Jason puzzled by her words, "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Now that I think back," Tiadora muttered with downcast eyes, "I feel that it's really selfish of me for pulling everyone in. Now I finally see what Kiara meant during our first training. It's very unfair for the descendants to uphold the responsibilities of the mistakes of their ancestors. I've interrupted your normal trivial lives because each and every one of you has been bestowed upon the knights' flesh and blood. And right now, my presence separates you with your other comrades. You all feel that you're responsible for me because the guardians are the only ones who know the true story behind it. This is why I'm very sorry."

"Tia. Tia," Jason shooked his head and gripped her shoulders, realising that the party music had tuned into a hard rock genre, "Let's head outside."

Jason grabbed her hand and guided her outside of the basketball court/party area. His fingers went in between hers as he led her towards the clock tower behind the girls' dormitory. Together, Jason pulled her in and up the dark staircase into the open space which overlooks the glimmering sea. Jason sat at where David did the night Mokona came, urging her to join him. Tiadora reluctantly sat beside him, leaning onto his strong arm before he embraced her tight and stared into her blue-green eyes, "Tia, for what has happened to me concerning this, words like 'unfair' has never once crossed my mind. In fact, I find this more of a blessing that I'm able to meet someone like you. I've learnt many mysteries and this power only makes me want to work harder for the benefits of a better tomorrow. To see everyone's smiles and happy faces makes me feel good inside."
Jason held onto her right hand, the arm with the silver band, and traced along her smooth palms. "And I..." Jason began again, "well... I feel really glad relieving the times that I've actually had with you. I mean if I didn't have all this, I wouldn't have won today's match and, Tia, I don't know how to say this but..."

He held her face close to his with the words stuck in his throat as Jason stroked her cheek gently, “I love you.”

Tiadora slapped his hand away and looked down, clenching her hands into fists as well as hiding her bright pink cheeks. She couldn’t answer him. She didn’t even know why it had to be this way for both of them. A surge of energy flowed within her. Her element was trying to calm her down, with the adrenaline shocked throughout her body, not wanting to have this conversation at all. The frustration forced her not to look back, feeling the dire intensity to leave. Why? Why must it be you? Why couldn’t you have switched with Sir Lancelot and I won’t have doubts loving you too?

“I can’t love you, Jason.”

Jason held his breath at her answer but knew that he didn’t want to give up, “But why? Is it because of your loyalty towards my ancestor? Won’t our time frame change, Tia? Won’t you be with us, with me, after all this is over?”

He shook his head due to her reluctance, “Don’t deny that you don’t feel the same way.”

“You should know that…” Tiadora hesitated, extremely reluctant to speak of the unspoken, “I will not stay when Xana’s defeated.”

“What?! But you’re still going to come back, right? I mean isn’t that how you got here?”

“Then haven’t you wondered why there is not a single soul in the 21st Century who possess or uses either magic or guardian powers?”

“Eh?” realization hit Jason. It was true. Nobody even believed that it existed. Only in fairy tales that these ‘magical’ creatures popped up from.

Tiadora closed her eyes and leaned back towards the emptiness behind. “Veex. I haven’t quite told you and the others what it truly means.”

“Isn’t it just supposed to mean the stopping of the Sun?”

“Don’t you find it a bit silly? Having the Sun just stop there for a period of time?” Tiadora said monotously as she finally made eye contact with Jason.

“Actually, it didn’t quite cross my mind,” Jaosn admitted.

“There’s significance to every event that happens in history,” Tiadora replied, crashing the cup of orange juice in her hands, “Actually, Jason, ever since my mother somewhat turned into Pandora’s Box, it was the time when magic was being exposed to the whole kingdom. Everyone was overwhelmed, of course. They practically had the same reaction as you did. Anyway, there are those who misuse these privileges. People like Xana and Marabonta. And somehow, their evil ambiences have affected the environment tremendously. It weakened both the Sun and the Moon. Almost everyday, instead of the Sun rising in the East, it rises in the West. And the Moon will shine bloody red in some nights as if a dagger was stabbed into it.

“Specialists had theories that it was just signs of nature. Some even blamed the guardians for the mishaps. And after I’ve seen your world,” Tiadora stretched her arms wide, as if hugging the sight of the sea, “You don’t need magic or even candles to light the rooms anymore. The Sun’s healing itself, Jason, and when it does, all those that weren’t involved, will be sent back whether willingly or not at any time.”

“You’ll go back?!” Jason’s voice sounded almost cracked, “Then, what if our battle with Xana isn’t over yet and you get sent back?”

“Then, I’ll just have to battle alone then.”

“No!” Jason gripped her shoulders so that she faced him, “You can’t! I won’t let you! I’ll go back for you! We’ll fight them together.”

He found her hands and clutched them, interlocking his fingers with hers, “I just can’t bear leaving you, not when I’ve just found myself another friend.”

“By the time Veex is over, Xana would already have weakened by our efforts,” Tiadora explained as her hands slowly slipped away from his like as if it was slippery, “And once I reached Anastasia, I won’t have my guardian powers anymore, and neither would Xana posses any form of magical ability. My battle will be from there. The point of the descendant-guardians is to just weaken him because I know that he’s too much for us to defeat.”

“Does Xana know about this?” Jason continued asking, “That he will be striped of his powers?”

“Yes, that is why he’s trying to make as much damage as he can to the future to affect the past.”

“Isn’t the past supposed to affect the future?” Jason began confused.

“It happens both ways,” Tiadora played ramdomly with her long brown hair, “Unless Xana is able to somehow able to create an energy so great that it affects the 21st Century Sun, that’s when it will affect the Sun from our kingdom. Although, I don’t recall any spells leading to that because it concerns about the future. And no one can predict the future.”

“But…but…” the beating noise from the staircase stopped Jason’s words. He ducked his way back into the tower, with Tiadora tailing him behind. He halts just before the staircase, instructing Tiadora to stay behind him, as they waited beside a dusty cupboard behind the stairs. Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Someone was heading towards the intersection. Just a few more steps. Three, two, and…

♫

Ian slid his hand into Cornelia’s sports jersey and traced his finger across her smooth back as he pulled her closer in the mist of the song. As soon as she realized it, Cornelia instantly gripped his hand from outside her jersey, and crushed his fingers together. Quickly, Ian moved his hand away and out of her jersey, pretending that nothing had happened. Disgusted, Cornelia pushed Ian aside and walked towards the food table. She didn’t hear Ian calling her back, and it felt good, she felt like she needed to be alone. Maybe some fresh air will do, she cheerily suggested as Cornelia started for the door until…

"Cornelia!" she heard the second she turned around as his grip held her wrist, on her silver band. Cornelia met his confused eyes and smiled seeing that he had stopped dancing that other girl. "I want you to meet someone," Ulrich pulled her closer to the other girl. Her long straight silky orange hair draped over her shoulders, wearing a purple dress with leather boots. With blue highlights for her fringe, she had beautiful grey eyes as she smiled at Cornelia so innocently. "Cornelia, meet Melody," Ulrich made the introductions sweet and simple, "Melody, meet Cornelia. I just realised that Melody's my mother's friend's daughter. How cool? Oh and she's my classmate, Melody."

"Charmed," Melody sweetly held out her hand towards Cornelia. She looked down but didn't take it and just grinned, "Sorry. My hands are sweaty."

True, that her hands were sweaty. She didn't know why but she felt a little anxious. Instead, Cornelia ignored her and scanned the room for the rest. No one was here. "Cornelia, may I have this dance?"

This time, it was Ulrich's hand that was stretched out. Melody was no longer there. It was just her and him. But now, she didn't feel like partying anymore. "No," she put her glass of orange juice onto his hand instead, "I need some air."

There's something wrong, Cornelia's little voice played in her head as she turned away from Ulrich. Finally, she got out of the basketball court without difficulty and sniffed in a wholesome of the night air. It was eerie quiet outside, despite all the noise and the music inside. She felt so alone, so isolated as Cornelia walked with no destination in mind. "Air, guide me with your strength," she said as the breeze ruffle through her short messy blond hair. The wind blew into a narrow corridor on her left, and obediently followed. Dark as the night, the alley was rather a long winded one that brought her to the girls' dormitory. "What the..." a small stone hit on her head as she examined the mystery of the fallen stone. Hailstorms in Seattle? Cornelia wondered, looking up above her and laid eyes on a charging Tyran.

With the speed of light, Tyran came zooming down right onto Cornelia. The guardian of Air shielded herself with her right arm at the same time that Tyran unleashed his twin blades onto her. The silver band sparked with the whitish-grey element as the blades came into contact. Cornelia then pushed her arm upwards, sending Tyran somersaulting in the air, landing right in front of her and thrust his blades forward. Shocked by it, Cornelia continued protecting herself with her band, confused what spell to cast. Over again, Tyran kept on forcing all his strength into his swords, smashing her arm with such force that soon, Cornelia felt hurt from his swords' impact. "When one falls," Tyran seethed in between his attacks," everyone falls too!"

Cornelia couldn't take it anymore and with her left hand free, she built up a power surge. She knew that it would tire her body, but she didn't care. "Stop it!" she yelled pushing out a blast of white energy from her left fingertips at him. Tyran saw it coming and shielded the blast with his blades during the long attack. When it stopped, Tyran's swords shattered to dust in his hands, but he was still uninjured. "Amazing," he stared at his bare hands, "And those were my favourite weapons. Sir Thomas has never quite demonstrated such forcefulness. But still he might have been more considerate about himself."

Tyran smiled as Cornelia was on her knees, exhausted. Great, I can't even stand up, Cornelia complained to herself. Then something ticked inside her about what he had said earlier and whispered, "If one falls, everyone falls. What have you done with the rest of my friends?!"

"Nuh-thing. Well I'm not the one who is assigned to take care of them of course," he grinned cunningly, gesturing over to the clock tower at the far end of the school. Instantly, an explosion fired through the clock-face, cracking glass and sending the minute and hour hand smashing to the ground. The deafening sound was followed by a bright glow of yellow and suddenly, a female figure fell from the top, crashing in the debris of the clock. Cornelia's eyes were glued to the broken glass below and saw a stream of blood crawled out from the crash. At first, Cornelia wanted to throw another blow at Tyran but decided not to and ran towards the rubbles, wondering about the fallen person's safety more.

She pushed aside pieces of glass away, making way for her to get through. There splat in the middle of everything was a girl with shoulder-length blond hair, slightly longer than Cornelia's, wearing a red hoodie with shorts. Cornelia couldn't stand the gory sight of the motionless body. There was a large chunk of glass that pierced through her left thigh and her clothes torn from what looked like slashes which showed off her bleeding skin. On her forehead was also a long gash, spilling out more blood. Her eyes which were closed fluttered open to look at Cornelia and also down at her injured state. But there was one thing about her that Cornelia seems to find familiar, like as if she has seen her from the academy's halls. She was a student here! Cornelia realised and strangely, the teenager didn't scream in pain at all. The girl's eyes wondered around and finally broke into a what-seemed-to-sound like an evil laugh, "Tedex!"

Without hesitation, the bloody girl threw out a beam from her hands at Cornelia, slamming her in her tummy. Cornelia felt herself being thrown to the ground outside of the debris. She clutched her tummy and staggered to get up when she felt a sharp pain poking the back of her neck. "Don't stand, or I'll kill you for good this time," Cornelia heard another familiar voice from behind her, and turned her head to come face-to-face with Artemis. His features still the same as how she had seen the last they met, which in an ironic fact that he had saved her from the squid and now he was there, beside Tyran, thrusting out a sword to her neck. He had a scar stretched across his face from the top of his left eye, all the way down to his right cheek, with his blue-purple eyes locked in hers.

"Get away from my sister!" a shout made Cornelia turned back to the top of the clock tower, at the hole by which had once was the clock face. There, Jason and Tiadora stood side by side, a blade in Tiadora's hand. With her free hand, Tiadora grabbed onto Jason hand and both immediately jumped off the ledge. Cornelia was slightly scared for them, but Tiadora fired at the ground when they were near it and landed safely in between Cornelia and the debris. Jason clenched his hand into a fist and shouted, "I don't like to repeat myself, Artemis! Back away from my sister!"

"Forgetting about me?! Tedex!!" the girl who had crashed stood up from the debris and fired another energy beam into Jason's direction, but Tiadora repelled it with her sword. "Aren't you satisfied enough, Cleo?" Tiadora threatened staring at the injured girl's wounded body.

"That's Chloe, to you, Princess!! Aren't you forgetting that I'm what I seem to look like?!" Cleo shouted to her.

"Yes, I see that the Glamra has proven to be a useful potion to hide yourself as a student here in Kadic," Tiadora said, as she silently muttered into Jason's ear, "I'll take care of everyone, and you get Cornelia. I'll start with Cleo."

Jason nodded, and was about to make a move when he heard a scream from outside. Everyone's gazes turned to the empty lighted corridor and stared at the prettily premed principal of Kadic Academy. Mdm. Marinda stood there, baffled by the situation with the debris of the clock and especially the sight of Artemis' sword at Cornelia. "What on Earth is going on here?!" she shouted in a high pitch.

"Stay away, madam!" Cornelia managed to scream at the shocked principal, "These are...mafia-gangster groups, and are armed! Run away!"

"Artemis, Tyran, Cleo," Mdm. Marinda surprisingly called out their names correctly, "What on Earth is happening?! Aren't the guardians supposed to be already dead?"

Tiadora, Jason and Cornelia gasped, staring at their principal in utter shock as Mdm. Marinda chuckled, "Foolish guardians!" Suddenly, Mdm. Marinda's body molded. Melting, but yet also shaping it back. That's when her features came back, but with a whole different black outfit, blond wavy hair draped on until her waist and a purple hair band neatly secured on her head. The fake principal flipped her hair as she took a few steps closer, "It's good to look like myself again."

"Tia," Jason whispered from behind, "Who is she?"

"Cyrus, the pure-blood vampire," Tiadora managed to mutter back, "the oldest among all of Xana's minions."

"Vampire?" Jason breathed, gazing back at the vampire. Cyrus cat walked towards them and couldn't help grinning sheepishly, "You are outnumbered, guardians," Cyrus threatened, "Is this how you would want to meet your end?"

Thinking quickly, Tiadora shouted to Cornelia instead, "Cornelia, contact David and Kiara!"

But instead of being intimidated, Cyrus laughs even more at the command. "Don't waste your energy, guardian. I'll call them for you," she said as she lifted her hand and snapped. Slowly, a figure was emerging from the shadows of the corridor alley, making a scratchy sound as it approaches. Walking out, Jason saw David, his head down, covering his face with his fringe. Then, something caught Jason's eye as David strolled out of the dark alley. There, at David's hand, he was pulling onto a black cloth. At first, Jason couldn't see what it was until he heard Cornelia gasped. That's when he saw Kiara being dragged on the floor by David, unconscious. "David, what did you do to Kiara?" Jason accidentally said, as he started to walk forward. Tiadora stopped him and pointed to David instead, "Don't, Jason. Look at his eyes."

Jason obeyed, and was expecting to find David's normal green Harry Potter eyes, but what dimmed in the light, were scarlet crimson rubies, the same exact colour as Cyrus. "Red."

"You've noticed, haven't you?" Cyrus said, resting her arm on David's shoulder. Jason felt Tiadora trembling behind him, so he slid his palm into hers and tried to smile, but her tremble didn't stop. "Why... why..." Tiadora stammered, "Why did you do this to him?! What did he ever do to you?!"

"Tiadora," Jason was stunned with her sudden outburst, "What wrong? What did Cyrus do?"

"David," Tiadora muttered silently, "She turned David into a vampire."

"What?!" Jason also gasped at the realisation and shouted towards Cyrus, "How could you?!"
"Hey. I couldn't resist the temptation. His blood is simply, alluring and addictive," she spoke as she traced a finger nail down David's neck, letting a stream of blood flow out. Instantly, Cyrus bent down towards his neck and licked the blood off, nibbling his skin. Before Cyrus could stop herself, she opened her mouth to reveal a pair of sharp fangs and leaned forward, pressing them into David's neck. David closed his eyes, resisting the pain injected in him. He could do anything. Not yet, that is. The moment was long, and Cyrus was gulping in more and more of David's blood till some spill over her black outfit. "Stop it! Stop it!" Cornelia shouted, unable to stand the horrifying sight, "Can't you see that you're hurting him?!"

"I don't care if I do. So long as I get what I want, everything will go according to both mine and Xana's plan," Cyrus yelled, as she reluctantly tore her fangs off David. Jason couldn't stand it either, and he didn't know what to do. He looked to Tiadora, who had looked just as helpless as he was. Cyrus stopped and stroked David's cheek like as if he was her play-toy. "Princess, do you know how strong is the bond between both the pure-blood master and a human-changed vampire?" Cyrus ruffled David's hair playfully.

"Unfortunately, I hear, it's unbreakable. And that the victim is enslaved to the pure-blood’s every command, regardless on whether it is willingly or not," Tiadora said monotonously.

"Very good," she exclaimed as she moved away from David, barking orders, "Artemis, Tyran, Cleo, out of the way!"

Both Tyran and Cleo did, but Artemis still stood rooted at his position, his blade's tip still pressing against Cornelia's neck. He stared at Cyrus, all Cornelia could feel his vexation inside. "Xana may have put you in charge for this mission, but that doesn't mean that you can instruct me on how I execute my duties."

"Oh shut up, Artemis! Just because you're Xana's trusted right-henchman, that doesn't mean that you have the lease to disobey. Now move!" she rant. Cornelia felt the honed rapier moved away from her neck, and as soon as he walked away, Cornelia dashed to Jason's side with Tiadora. Everyone's eyes were on Cyrus. Wondering what she will do next. "Now, David," she strolled back to him and rested her head on his shoulders this time, "What is the phrase that I told you to abide by?"

"David, what are you doing?!" Jason shouted, "Attack her! She's the villain who turned you into a vampire. Avenge yourself! Why are you just standing there?!"

"Cyrus' words are law," David just muttered, with his same empty expression and soulless look on his face.

“Fabulous, my pet! Now do as your master commands you,” Cyrus crept in closer to David’s ear and nibbled it softly this time, “Kill them.”