Guardian: The Great Beginning

Chapter Twenty-One - Last Hope

Chapter Twenty-One

Last Hope

After what felt like ages Akilah left the library, clutching the book tightly. Nothing could go wrong now. Nothing should go wrong now. If something did, then there was nothing left for Akilah to do about it, and Lunaria was doomed to Darkness. But Akilah didn't have time to think about that now, and thus she confidently assumed everything would go right a she'd planned it. She wasn't ready to give up on Lunaria just yet, and she'd fight to protect this planet with her dying breath.

It was time to face Asura and end this. He'd assume victory, only to be caught by surprise when the Guardians would arrive.

Akilah was sure her brother wouldn't be able to win a fight he hadn't prepared for.

This one, however, he'd had a thousand years to prepare for. And perhaps even longer, if you considered the nineteen thousand years he'd lived before then. There was no way Akilah could face him without her own Magic, and thus admitting defeat was the only option she had left.

...Or so it would seem to her brother, at least.

Violina's response was one of surprise and disbelief. "That's your secret weapon?" she said. "A book?"

Akilah nodded. She hadn't expected the Faerix girl to understand without needing a thorough explanation.

She told Violina everything; the Elements, how a Spirit's physical form worked, and how the Magic of the book would absorb all of this energy as soon as Akilah gave the signal by releasing her physical form and freeing her Element.

Eventually, Akilah came to the point where she told Violina about giving up her physical form for the greater good, and Violina's response was rather... defensive.

"So what you're saying is that you're essentially going to commit suicide?" the Faerix shouted as though she'd been insulted. "You can't do that! We'll be entirely defenceless!

"You can't just let him win that easily!"

Akilah couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "I just told you this book would take care of that," Akilah said, motioning at the brown object in her arms one more time for emphasis. "Our physical forms will fade from existence while our Elements are kept within these pages, looking for vessels to bring the Elements home."

"But why does it have to be humans?" Violina asked. "And why from another world?"

Akilah smiled. "A human is a curious creature," she said. "They have so much potential without even knowing it.

"We don't want to create any more half-Spirits like Asura, but combining the strength of a human and Elemental Magic has significant benefits." She paused. "And... any Magical creature would be incapable of harnessing Elemental Magic because it'd conflict with their own."

"Another world..." Violina said, hands at her hips. "And how will these humans you speak of learn to utilize your Elements? They'll know nothing about Magic!

"From what you've told me, they'll be coming from a land without any Magic whatsoever!"

Akilah winked. "That'll make them even more pure and difficult to track," Akilah said. "Most humans in Lunaria distrust us Spirits. Not only that, but the amount of villages left are few and far in-between." She directed her eyes towards the ground for a moment. She knew she was responsible for that matter.

"If Asura were to discover that it's the humans of this world that are building an army to oppose him," she explained, "he'd obliterate them in a moment. This other world, he can't touch. It wouldn't make sense to harm the Lunarian humans."