Chapter 25: The Guardians

* Our team got back on the road the next morning after swallowing canned food. We had to continue for a good ten kilometers before arriving in a kind of snowy forest. We who believed that all this expanse in front of us was only ice and desolation *.

-So what do we do ? Shall we sink? * Lars asked *.

-Will have to be. After all, the Morabe have been living there for a long time. * I replied *.

* As we advanced I counted the distance, how long it would have taken in a car, tank or plane. Nothing is less certain and to imagine a military presence here one day made me dizzy. As we advanced I paid attention to the physical condition of the group. real tough guys, they were all holding on. Even Arianne who didn't have a crazy training especially managed to keep up. This woman was really something. While we galloped cautiously we finally saw the first dwellings. I motioned for everyone to stop because these guys could shoot us without warning *.

-We are going to hide our gear behind the trees and continue on foot. *I said*. Aaron you cover our backs and you keep the wagon. Adrien you stay with him.

-But I wanted to come with you ...

-You have already done a lot by coming here so stay calm.

* I then turned to Brenda and untied her ties *.

-This is the time to make yourself useful.

-Thank you very much. * She said sarcastically *.

-At the slightest misstep we stick a bullet in your skull. * Said Maggie *.

-My My such violence. * Lars sighed *. Don't worry, I'll cover yours.

* Lars stayed just outside the forest to secure our rear, Aaron was even further back with a sniper rifle. There was only Arianne, Dimitri, Maggie and me. The thing is, once we finally got to the village ... It was deserted. And that I was surely the only one to have understood it because the others were still looking for people with their eyes. It was a small village like we see in our country, wooden houses with chimneys, a market in the public square and a frozen lake *.

-It's weird why I can't hear anyone? * Asked Dimitri *. Is it an ambush?

-You are going to stop with your paranoia, you will break them down at the end. * Maggie growled *.

-Someone has to be wary. * He retorted *.

-But what a moron. * Smiled Maggie *.

* I walked over to Brenda with the gun down, she was still scanning the surrounding houses *.

-It's weird why there is no one?

-Is it the Morabe village? Or there are several.

-There are dozens of them like this, but this one is our lair with Jessie and the others.

* She started shouting to call people but only the echo of the mountain came back to her *.

-Nabila, Kadi, the children, is there anyone?

* But again it was only the echo of the mountain. I walked over and patted his shoulder *.

-Softly you're going to trigger an avalanche.

-I know but....

* I saw the frustration in his eyes and felt something was wrong. I walked slowly to the door of the house next to me. I saw Arianne position herself behind me as if we were doing CQB. Her way of holding the rifle is a bit too similar to that of the Elysian soldiers. I opened the door very slowly and entered the rifle first. The first thing that struck me was the smell, a smell that had been familiar to me for a while *.

-NOOOOOO ....

* I heard Brenda scream and I rushed in her direction. I entered the house where she was and found her on her knees with a corpse in her hands. It was half the body of a child and she was screaming, crying hot tears. This kid was .... *.

-Is that her little brother? * Arianne asked *.

-Yes .... * I say sadly *. What the hell is going on here?

* We walked around the houses, it was the same thing, the smell reeked of death and putrefaction. In other circumstances, I would have vomited all my guts in front of these inhuman acts but I had to be firm in front of my friends especially since I thought 3 days in the conscience of two crazy people known for their horror. Seeing that hardly affected me anymore. The only thing that still affected me was that I knew all these people personally. It was hard not to be pissed off, there were too many dismembered corpses, entrails that had been strewn all over the place, a miserable spectacle worthy of Huan Yi. Suddenly a cry resounds in the forest, a cry of fear *.

-Adrien? * Arianne wondered *.

* No time to think, I activated my gift and launched myself at full speed through the forest. I would run incredibly fast to make Ussein Bolt Jealous. Once in the forest, I guided myself with my 6th sense, feeling the danger. I slalomed between the trees and then ended up facing what I didn't want to see. Adrien was leaning against a tree while a ... Creature because I did not have the name, stared at him. She had a black, hairy, uniform body. She walked on all fours and her head had a crown of fur like that of a lion. Its mouth was saber-toothed like a tiger *.

- You bastard.

* I fired a shot in the air and found that this critter was also able to stand on two legs as it backed up in panic. But what is wrong with this part of the world? Athena had told me, guardians are residues of the presence of magic, the more you believe in them the more powerful they will be. The bug stared at me for a long time and I gave it a dark look. He gave a shrill scream just to scare me but I stuck a bullet in his chest. He stepped back and got back on all fours. I fired again over and over again as he pounced on me and ended up killing him with a bullet in the throat. I had aimed precise and sharp, but it was mainly because I had kept my cool. Not sure that the others do the same *.

-It's okay you're not hurt?

-N ... N ....

* He was all in tears and clung to me with all his might. Frankly, he hurt me. I crouched down and looked him in the eyes *.

-Adrien ... Adrien look at me ... Look me in the eyes.

* He wiped his eyes and the snot that was dripping, then made an effort to stop looking at me. I picked up the rifle he had brought and put it in his hands *.

-Repeat after me ... This is my rifle.

-This ... This is my rifle ...

-There are many like him ...

-There are many ... like him ...

-But this one is mine.

-But this one is mine. * He said more confidently *.

* After that we repeated both in sync *.

-This is my rifle ,without him I am nothing there are many like him but this one is mine.

-Without me my rifle is nothing and without my rifle I am nothing.

* He regained his confidence little by little and raised his weapon. I straightened up and turned to the caretaker's corpse *.

-And remember this ... There is nothing on this earth that a gun cannot kill. Nothing...

-And .... If one day I come across a creature that a gun cannot kill?

* I turned in his direction and smiled at him *.

-So you bring a bigger gun.

* After that I went to the village with the kid. Aaron apologized a thousand times for letting him slip away, but I didn't hold it against him since no one was hurt. And then it allowed me to see and confirm that the guardians apart from their appearance are kind of like animals, aim for the throat, head, legs and that should do it. They gathered all the bodies of the villagers and set them on fire. Brenda was on her knees in front of her brother's body, clutching her locket very tightly *.

-What happened in the end? * Asked Dimitri *.

-He was attacked by a sort of wolf that was much too big. I think it was the pack that killed the people in the village?

- Are you kidding me eh Seb? * Said an angry Brenda *. You want to make it believe that wolves we could overcome our whole village with all the fighters who were there?

-If they were simple wolves of course not, but those are really different from those we know. I saw one stand on both legs.

-Oh oh oh slowly you're telling us that you saw a Werewolf. * Said Dimitri puzzled *.

-A wolf that mutated. Probably because of the climate.

* The others were having a hard time accepting the truth that I gave them and that was good. The less they believe in it, the better they will behave when we have to face it. For them it would just be bigger wolves. Lars walked over to me and whispered in my ear *.

-Have you really seen a Werewolf?

-No ... It was probably worse.

-I was saying to myself. Since we have been in the North I have the impression of being suffocated by unstable pressure, as if I was no longer in the kingdom of the living.

-Me too.

* After that, I took them to where I shot the guard but the body was gone. And seeing the tracks, someone or something had indeed dragged him to the depths of the forest *.

- Looks like ....

-Do not say anything. * I cut *. We set off again.

* Getting back on the road was the best thing to do. At least I was sure of one thing Jessie was still alive since her corpse wasn't lying on the road. The days which followed the guard tours were firm, we were constantly on our guard especially since we knew we were being watched. We camped by establishing checkpoints and then at the back of the cart were two motorcycles stolen from the Elysian army. With that Dimitri and Arron went on reconnaissance to see what awaits us or possibly find Jessie and her group *.

-So if I understand correctly * Said Lars *. Jessie got it into her head to go to the end of the world something like that. And you ran away from her father before following her in her delirium.

-It's not a delirium. The village served as a HQ, and expeditions were carried out from time to time. But this time we went far, too far.

-And you ended up getting into a hell of a mess. The "wolves" Nahel talks about ... Have you seen them?

-Just in silhouette, they attacked us while we were exploring a cave. Jessie and I were separated by a landslide and she decided to continue exploring on her own.

-What a fool. * Shouted Maggie *. Sorry it came out on its own.

-I don't know if that's what we discovered in the cave but ...

-What have you discovered? * Lars insisted *.

-Water, not blood ... Purple.

-Dragon blood. * I say at the same time as Arianne *.

* We both fixed ourselves curious, wondering where we could have known this info. Mine comes to me from a goddess but you Arianne, where does she come from * ...

-In Elysion, legend has it that the dragon scarred by * Siegfried * lost so much blood that it formed a lake. This lake would be at the bottom of a cave.

-Siegfried? * Maggie asked *. Do you really believe that Arianne bullshit? You are indeed an Elysian.

-I would ask you to respect my culture. * She said in a firm voice *.

-It's okay, I didn't mean to offend you.

-Siegfried or not it seems that this cave exists and the blood is there. * Said Lars *.

* The Dragonblood Guardians may have woken up because of Jessie and have been unleashed into the wild. This filth is going to keep coming on us if we don't stop it. While I was thinking of a way to kill them Aaron and Dimitri came back on a motorbike *.

-It's good the path is clear.

* And the journey resumed. We walked through this expanse of snow, we sometimes found corpses of people, dismembered or just frozen to death. We knew we were being watched by these silhouettes who were left with nothing but spectators waiting for our guard to drop. The snowstorms were sometimes strong, sometimes violent, sometimes calm. The one was calm but the snow was less thick in some places. Suddenly Dimitri's horse tottered, probably from fatigue. Dim fell and his beast slowly slid down to the ravine *.

-The reindeer. * Lars shouted *. Let someone catch the reindeer.

* Just in time I managed to catch the reindeer but I must admit that even with my strength a horse remains in the 380 kilos. Lars and Aaron came to help me but the beast struggled unnecessarily not making it easy at all. There I saw Brenda walk up to him and whisper stuff in his ear *.

-You are not the only little boar. We don't mean harm to you, you know we just want to help you. Go get up ....

* The horse leaned on its hind legs and propelled itself forward. We could finally reassemble it. Damn it was heavy *.

-I didn't know you were a whisperer.

-Aisha showed me a few things.

* Dimitri approached her a little indignant *.

-Thank you .... For having saved my horse, I care a lot.

-Fuck you I didn't do it for you.

-Tch if we can be more polite.

* We continued our expedition in this way until we finally arrived where we should have been. The place was in the middle of nowhere but clearly visible. It was under incredible pressure and God only knows what made Jessie enter it *.

- Looks like we're there guys. * Said Lars *. The entrance of the dragon. I get chills just imagining the inside. * He said with a Russian accent *.

-Wow you're freaking out man.

-The emotion comrade. The emotion.

* We dismounted and each of us armed himself with his rifle. I searched the back of the cart and handed Brenda a shotgun *.

-Hey but aren't you serious? * Said Dimitri *.

-You really have a stubborn grudge you. * Said Brenda pointing it with *. Pan ...

-Calmos damn. *I said*. Ok we'll do it like that. Lars, Brenda and I are going to the cave. Once we have Jessie we go out and we go full speed.

-You're going to be heroes again, eh? * Said Maggie *. Watch out for yourself.

-Arianne you're coming. * Said Lars *. You seem to know more than you want to know.

-Who is that me? But I...

-Go say yes. I'll protect you then don't worry. * He said with a smile *.

-If it's so kindly offered.

* I walked over to Aaron and Maggie and whispered to them *.

-You know what to do if we don't come back within 1 hour. I count on you.

-And I'm counting on you to be on time. *She says*.

-Ha I love you guys.

-Hey but stop saying awkward stuff like that.

* Well the dice are cast, I'm finally going to see what Athena has been hiding from me for over a decade *.

-I'm coming Jessie.

* End of chapter *