Guardian of Elements

Chapter 30 - To rise and fall

Tawarthion made his way up, to Kate. There was no sign of his wound anymore.

"Kate... You... You saved me?" he asked in disbelief.

"Well, I guess so. You would do the same for me. You did, countless times," she replied, referring to all the troubles she had gone through back in her forest.

"But how? I mean, how did you find me and managed to bring me here? How could've you known how to heal me?"

Kate told him the story, about the ent and that tiger she followed and how she found him. He was listening quietly, she had no idea what he was thinking. When she finished, he turned to the empty lake, which was now just a crater with diamond sides.

"Powerless... I haven't been without any power... well, never." He attempted to do something, but his gem just flashed faintly.

"Don't worry, it will replenish. It always does. How long might it take?"

"A week, a month... How can I know? Will it even replenish when there's none left? I might even... Wait." Tawarthion suddenly stopped speaking and he was looking around them, searching for something.

"What is it?"

"I can't hear them." He seemed to be troubled.

"Hear who?"

"The Namidu, birds. They've been created from the Fountain to bring happiness into this forest. Their songs are heard everywhere by everyone who's willing to listen. Why can't I hear them?"

Kate realized there was no other sound than rustling of leaves on the trees around the lake. When she woke up here this morning, she was relaxed, and she could hear those birds. But now, there was just calm silence. She remembered how birds were falling from the sky when she was running to Tawarthion.

"I... I think they're gone," she answered with her head down.

"What? What do you mean?"

Kate explained how the tiger and then birds turned into pure power and vanished into the ground when the explosion hit them. He was shocked.

"They're dead? Worse, they just disappeared??"

He looked to the forest.

"Hundreds of animals, my friends..."

He made a few steps and his tone changed from despair to anger.

"This is their fault. Humans. They've murdered them, they almost killed me. And I am going to wipe out every single one of them from my forest in return."

Kate was scared by his sudden change of attitude.

"Tawarthion, wait. Let me deal with the humans. You have just risen from the dead, you have barely enough strength to stand!"

"Oh, do I? No, little Kate, I've lost only one half of my true power. And the second one will serve me just as well in doing justice. There is another Fountain, deep under this one. And I know that it's still full."

Kate got terrified when she realized what he was talking about. Verilion told her about the two versions of her power, the light one and the dark one. And now Tawarthion was going to use the latter, something the Guardian of Wisdom warned her about.

"No, Tawarthion, no! You mustn't do that! You know what has happened to Raya!" she shouted.

"And what other option do I have?" he continued in a deep voice. "The Fountain of Creation is no more. Creatures that were born from it disappeared with it. Humans still infest my domain. I'm going to set it free, no matter what. And the Fountain of Destruction will help me do just that." His gem was getting darker and darker and the grass around his hooves started to wither.

"No, you're going to destroy it! Look around, trees and plants are still growing! Do you remember Verilion's domain? By drawing on that dark Fountain, you're going to siphon life out of the forest too!"

"So, I should rather let humans do it? No, this is my land and you have no right to tell me what to do."

Dark and thorny tendrils emerged from the ground around him. She knew she couldn't allow him to continue.

"Guardian of Nature, stop at once!"

He turned to face her. His crystal was pitch black and anger in his face couldn't be mistaken. This wasn't him, his anger blinded him, and the dark power would keep clouding his mind more and more.

One tendril lashed out towards her but stopped before hitting her. She dodged it nevertheless and threw a rock at him with similar results.

"Tawarthion, see reason! Stop it!"

"Don't stand in my way of bringing justice."

"By justice you mean slaughter! Avenging your friends won't do them any good!"

Tawarthion gave out a deep roar of anger and the vines rose and pointed at Kate. She remembered her mother, standing face to face with Raya just like this, three years ago. So, this was how it would end up? Another fallen Guardian?

"No," she said aloud. Her markings came to life. She opened her eyes, pure white with her own power. The vines shot to her, but she gave out a fiery blast that incinerated them and turned them into ash before they could reach her. Tawarthion attempted to summon more tendrils, but the ground around him became permafrost, chilly and harder than any stone. Soil under his feet suddenly became muddy. He found himself trapped, but then it solidified again, pinning him down. How? How was she able to do this? This shouldn't be working on him, what secret had she learned?

Kate spoke again, but this time, it wasn't a desperate tone of fear. It was a heavenly voice, a voice of a Guardian.

"I haven't brought you back from gates of death just to let you fall into darkness. You are a Guardian. When you said that to me, I didn't know what that meant. Now I do. To protect, to maintain. To help the weak, to advise the strong. To guard the world."

Tawarthion was staring at the powerful Guardian in front of him. She was just like her.

"Andúril, forgive me..."