Mythical Guardians

※6.Power of the Storm※

PRESENT DAY

She waited impatiently at the stormy cliffside, her long, black hair whipping in the unrelenting wind. Those fierce amber eyes of hers reflecting the light of the lightning when it lit up the sky. In normal circumstances, such a sight would send a human running in fear of being struck by any one of those deadly streaks of electricity, but she was no ordinary human.

   In fact, she wasn't human at all.

  A strong gust of wind signified the arrival of the individual she was waiting for. She turned, to be face to face with a tall man in his twenties to thirties, with shortly cropped black hair and piercing light grey eyes. Despite his appearance, she knew he was much, much older than what he chose to look like.

  "Herno," the man said tonelessly, like he was uninterested in seeing her. Some things never change, after all.

  "Little brother," Herno tutted," Is that the way to meet your long lost sister?"

  "Thirteen years wasn't that long," the man frowned," and you weren't lost. You were banished."

  Herno huffed," Well, nice to see you again, Shuri. Did you bring what I asked?"

  Shuri nodded, and produced a helmet from out of thin air, before handing it to his elder sister.

  Herno examined the helmet. Her helmet. She stroked the silver and copper lined sides tenderly, like a mother caressing her child," Oh, I have missed you."

  " Take care, sister," Shuri warned. "The rest of the gods were divided on your return. You will have to do something grand enough to impress them."

  "Of course," she snorted, then looked uptowards the taller god," Consider our bargain complete. Will you get into trouble?"

  "Depends," Shuri said, his expression as stern as always," I wish you luck. And you better whip up something big. Fast. You don't have a long enough lifespan to wait another century."

  Herno rolled her eyes.

  Shuri then stepped closer, glaring. Herno noticed his gaze and looked at him innocently,"What?"

  "The key," the god of air didn't break eye contact," I know you have taken it."

  Herno grinned deviously," Not bad after all, brother. Tell me, how long it did take for you to figure that out?"

  "Quite a while," Shuri growled," Where is it?"

  Herno laughed," Was the wild goose chase fun?"

  "Where is it?" Shuri demanded, his voice deadly calm.

  "You will never know," she chuckled," Unless I use it."

  The god's eyes narrowed, as a subtle cyclone of wind started building up around the both of them.

  Herno looked barely bothered," Please, by all means. Kill me, and your troubles will finally be over. The minions of Chaos will find the key before you do, and they would-"

  Shuri cut her off by wringing her neck, his eyes downright murderous.

  "I will ask you this one last time," he hissed," Where. Is. It?"

  Herno's eyes flashed dangerously, but she didn't reply, struggling to create a smug grin at her younger brother.

  "I don't like this," Shuri growled," But I will torture the answer out of you if I must. Sister or not."

  "Go...ahead," Herno hissed, her vision going blurry from the lack of oxygen,"I...will never tell."

  The tug from the ting hurricane increased, and Herno was on the verge of blacking out. But she maintained her smug grin, staring her brother down, fully knowing that he wouldn't have the guts to kill her.