Guardians

"To the one who will find this manuscript, I hope it finds you well. I'm sorry, but you will be burdened by everything I ask of you. You will have to carry the load that I've failed to carry. Believe me when I say, I am ashamed that I couldn't wait for his return.

"I am a servant of the nameless god, he created me, this universe and this world with patience and love. He was once a mortal, that lost everything. In his road for revenge, chaos and wrath trailed behind in his footsteps until the day he became the nameless god.

"As a mortal, he entered battlefields and provokes unimaginable fear, causing every single man to freeze where they stood. He didn't take sides, he simply slashed and decapitated every warrior that was unfortunate to come face to face with him. He hated war above all else, it was war that took everything from him after all.

"He set out to end wars by killing those who participated and incited them. He knew he was inciting more damage than the war would've but his heart had long died. So the consequences were trivial to him.

"When he ascended to godhood he again became the most ruthless and merciless of the gods. He never intended to create anything, but alas, he did. This devastated him greatly, as he could create worlds but couldn't bring back what he had lost all those eons ago because he'd forgotten the feeling, so much that he went on a slumber for millions of years.

"You may be confused by my first declaration that he created all this with love. But in a way, with a heart as dead as night, he did what he did for love, the love that was robbed off him, the love that was absent. In a way, he did, he killed for love.

"His slumber wasn't a short one, even for me. He left me to guard his worlds. But he has been gone for too long, I'm afraid, I cannot hold on any longer. So I've created this temple, for anyone worthy to find it. If you've defeated the guardian, that means you shall be the new one. Of course you won't be bound to this place, your job would simply to be a guardian of Asgard.

"You have no choice in the matter, I'm afraid. The moment you defeated my ancient guardian, you'd already set the wheels of fate in motion. It's too late for regrets, I hope you accept the job with a lighter heart. Asgard is in danger.

"Its in danger of being invaded by other universes. Your job, together with your forces is to fend them off. Fight them to the death. That is the only way to keep this world well and intact.

"Of course I won't be sending my successor to war with nothing. In the box, there are 4 vials of blood awakening potions. You need to be stronger, you need to protect this world.

"I leave it all to you. My precious successor. Even though we will never meet, I know you'll be great because anyone who could find this cave, should be. Good Luck, my apprentice."

"Just 4? How convenient." Kiro remarked when Isla stopped reading for a while.

"Wait, what does this mean? Guardians?"

"You read the damn thing, he said whenever there's an attack from other universes or whatever, we assemble, I guess." Kiro answered, a bit agitated because they'd already drank a blood awakening potion. So this meant, they didn't receive anything of worth.

"Well, let's each take one," Saanvi said opening the box.

The box had collected dust over time, but the inside was clean. They each took one. The girls drank theirs, and watched warily as the boys didn't do the same.

"Don't tell me this is poison." Isla held it up and pointed at the empty vial.

"Oh no, we'd already got these on our S Ranked mission." Hiro answered.

Ding!

[Congratulations, guardians of Asgard. The title will give you buffs based on your race and class. You will be summoned wherever there is danger threatening the world, and it'll be your job to uproot it.]

They were enveloped in a golden light. Their stats were raising, HP, MP, Attack power. Everything.

[Reward for defeating the previous guardian, 20 million coins. 40 million EXP for completing the guardian quest.]

Of course the rewards were split 4 ways. Kiro and Hiro levelled up once. Isla and Saanvi levelled up twice.

"I feel like, I'll never level up again. How can 10 million do this little." Hiro complained.

Kiro felt the exact same.

"It is a pity. But at least we got the the potions, they'll sell for high amounts."

"Or we can recruit people, who knows what the threat will be. Can we take care of it just the 4 of us?" Hiro reminded him.

"It's just a ga—" He didn't finish his sentence, as concerning thoughts invaded his mind. Was it really just a game? It certainly felt different from the one he knew. He never played the previous one, but this one felt different. "Okay, we will do it your way."

They walked back the way they came. They were right at the mouth of the cave when there ground started shaking violently.

Realising it was about to collapse, Kiro scooped up Hiro and activated blink. He came back for Saanvi just in time. Isla was an elf, agility was one of her gifts, so she didn't need saving.

"This game is trying to kill us at every turn." Hiro remarked a bit shaken.

They dusted themselves up and started towards the road to the capital. They found the road without a problem.

It was only then Isla found her voice, "what does the potion do exactly?"

"Turns you to the best version of your race." Kiro answered.

"You took the potion, yet I don't see anything different from when we saw you at the Labyrinth." Isla wasn't trying to be annoying, but she was confused.

"Well we haven't evolved, there's still time before we do."

The sun was setting, it wasn't as beautiful as it was the first day they saw it. They had been in that cave for the whole day, that perhaps distorted their aesthetics.

Many days passed without incident. They weren't out of food yet, they were deep within the white forest. Some animals started to show themselves and luckily could be hunted, the only downside was that, they were also white.

They didn't know what it was. But there was something shameful hunting an animal with a milk colour. But they had to keep eating, lest their avatars die from starvation. That would be a waste.

They walked, camped for 28 days straight. All this time spent was them getting to know each other better and training.

After spending outdoors together for nearly a month, they finally saw a separating line of the white forest and a normal one. They could see a gigantic structure at a distance. Though they couldn't tell whether it was made of stone, grass or steel.