The Red War

Chapter 7 | Guardians

| 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒮𝑜𝓊𝓉𝒽, 𝐹𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝒟𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝒜𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒬𝓊𝑒𝑒𝓃𝓈 𝒟𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽 |

For Leon the past five days had been the same old thing, train, eat sleep, repeat. He had no idea of what was going on beyond the forest, he was told to only focus on whats happening in the camp and nothing else. It had been almost a full month since he saw his mother. He wanted to be angry at her for making him join the Guardians but he couldn't, he knew it was the best thing for him and in the long run he will look back at her decision as the right one. Besides the constant thoughts of the outside world he didn't really do much. All of the other Guardians were introverts, they knew how to fight but not how to talk. The closest he got to a conversation with one of his group members was with Az. Az was the guy he met almost a week ago, ever since hes always noticed him in the corner of his eyes, watching but never doing anything. After one to many times Leon finally walked up to him and asked what his deal was. Az just responded with a lame excuse and avoided the topic. Leon knew there was something strange about him but couldn't pin point what. One person he did want to know more however was Sam. After his humiliating fight with her he kept trying to start up conversation with her but to no avail. Most of the guy Guardians would always chat up Sam, half the time she would beat them senseless. Sam must of thought Leon was another one of these sad men who wanted nothing more then to fuck her. He didn't want that however, all he wanted was someone he could talk to, someone he could call a friend.

Deep in the tunnels of the mountains Leon ventured. Many of the tunnels would lead to random dead ends or little rooms but he always enjoyed exploring them, it reminded him of being a kid again. Almost all of the Guardians were asleep or in training. There was never any rules about exploring the camp during sleeping hours so he would do so. Every night he went into the tunnels he would find new and exciting things, the strangest thing he found was an old blacksmith, the tools and weapons looked to be made for some sort of dwarfs. When he wasn't finding secrets in the mountain he was thinking, thinking of many different stories in his head to pass the time. He would wonder the halls for hours just lost in his own thoughts, not caring for anything or anyone else.

What sounded like wind passes by broke Leon from his trance. He turned around and looked down the long tunnel, there wasn't a soul in sight.
"Hello?" He called out. After no response came he went back to walking. He tried his best to remember where he left off in his story but seemed to had completely forgotten.
"Well shit." He thought to himself. Up ahead was a turn left, he had been down this exact tunnel many times and had never noticed it, he swore he could remember this being a dead end. Curiously he stepped around the corner and peered down. All stone walls were all covered by a strange green grass, the further it went the more dense it got. As he walked forward the grass along the walls glowed, faintly but still noticeable. It followed him as he walked further down the tunnel. After weeks of being here this was by far the strangest thing he's seen, little blacksmiths couldn't compare to this strange grass. He spun around in a circle to take in the whole tunnel, once he faced forward again he noticed something new. A woman stood in the distance. She was lanky and almost as tall as he was, her pink hair flowed down to the end of her back. The dark purple dress she wore gave Leon a weird feeling, it wasn't of fear or distress but uncertainty, besides that it was beautiful. Her appearance was very similar to Az's in one way, it didn't feel complete, overall something felt missing from them. It took Leon a little wrong to realize that something may be wrong, why was a random woman in this strange tunnel. The second he went to speak the woman stepped forth, he stopped in his tracks and watched.
"Leon isn't it?" Her voice was soft but had the ability to demand attention.
"Yes mam." He assumed she was just a high ranking Guardian he had never met before.
"Ah good. So, strange grass isn't it." She walked over to him and stood by his side. The two of them stared at the glowing grass for a few seconds before Leon broke the silence, this time he was more weirded out.
"Yeah it is... I'm sorry for being rude but do I know you?" She faintly smiled then turned his direction, the two stared at each other.
"No you don't. Ive heard of you though, your bloodline that is." Leon's faced went from a confused look to one of disappointment.
"If you want to ask a question about my father then please be my guest." By the sound of his voice she could tell that he's had many talks about bloodline in the past.
"No no no, ive heard all the stories of this Daniel, I want to know more about his son." He smiled when she asked this. In his eighteen years of life not one person had ever wanted to know about him and not his dad before.
"Well, what would you like to know?"
"Where do you see yourself in the coming years?" Leon thought for a moment, the answer was obvious but he still thought about it.
"I would assume as a high ranking member of the Guardians."
"Is that what you want?" He went silent, there was no point lying he thought.
"Home. I Wanna be in a room with my whole family, even if its only for a few seconds." The woman sighed and turned back to the glowing grass.
"I see both outcomes, two just as likely to happen. I think in time you will learn something to change your view on family... That's just a feeling anyway." She looked down at the ground and watched her feet, seemingly ignoring him. He was just left confused and filled with questions.
"What are you suggesting, wait, who even are you?" His short fuse was waring thin. The woman turned to him and glared at him, the look on her face set him straight.
"I'm just a passer by, doing my own thing. Ill see you again though, not sure when but I know I will... There's something special about you." Leon looked towards the grass once more, he wasn't going to take these riddles anymore.
"Ok what the fuck does that mean-" Where she once stood was empty, no trace of her. The grass that normally glowed when people got close was dark, she hadn't gone the way she came, just vanished. Now that he thought about it, the grass didn't react to her. Whenever he would walk near it the glow would follow, with her however it just remained dark... The truth of the tunnels is something he knew he shouldn't mess with. Before anything else could happen he left the way he came, turning back around the corner and going straight. Thinking about the lady and who she was left him with just more questions, he didn't even know her name or if she was even real. Whoever she was didn't matter at that moment, stood at the end of the hallway was Alex. He knew just be looking at his face that he was in for a lecture.