Chapter 19

The Alys we knew was gone, the only traces of him left were his features, but even then they seemed different. His normal eyes were replaced with writhing pools of darkness and torment, his once white hair becoming stained with small streaks of blood because of the horns that had poked their way through his scalp. They were small, but looked to be sharp, flowing to the back of his head. He had a different air around him, one that seemed to be more menacing. 

"I see you've finally fallen," the witch slowly walked over. "All I had to do was threaten to hurt what you love the most,"

I watched Alys' hand raise, bathed in wisps of darkness, and summon more spears. But this time they seemed different. They were rougher, more crystal than anything. More and more formed, some right in front of us, protruding from the ground in an attempt to protect us. None appeared around Hycis. 

"It's just you and me, Puella," he spat, speaking as if she was the scum of the earth. "Just you and me,"

"What about your guardian friends?" She gestured to us. Spears jutted out of the ground at her hand, almost pushing it back to her side. 

"Touch them, and I'll make sure your life becomes a horror to deal with," he retracted his hand, taking a deep breath. He twitched a little, but kept his composure. 

"Lydan, Va Bor," Elaria mumbled, elbowing him. "It's becoming worse,"

Sure enough, the tree was beginning to decay. Before, it looked like a regular tree, but now all the leaves had fallen to make a soft bed around the tree, cushioning the branches as they fell from the decay. Elaria grabbed my wrist, smiling softly at me through her tear-stained eyes. 

"Shall we go and save the world?" She asked. 

"We shall," I replied. 

We tried to make as little sound as we could when approaching the tree. At least I did. I didn't want Alys nor the witch to notice, just in case the other noticed and attacked. Elaria walked swiftly, carrying herself high like a Princess should. Lydan and Zath followed close behind, keeping an eye on the two. They quickly went to usher the elves inside and away from the danger. Neither one entered the death ring to save Hycis though. The little boy and his mother walked past, smiling brightly despite the fight behind them. 

"I knew you guys were real!" He beamed. 

"Go on Gael, get to safety," Elaria patted him on the head. "You can watch from inside,"

He beamed at her, running inside and away from harm's reach. The woman turned to us. 

"Take care, both of you," she said solemnly. "Don't exhaust yourselves. There's only so much we can do to help,"

"I promise we won't," Elaria smiled. She gave her one last hug before letting her follow her son inside. 

Elaria created a pathway through the decay, shielding us from the falling branches with an arch of vines which slowly slid them to the ground. 

We walked through. I felt anxiety biting at my ankles like a dog, slowly climbing and biting more and more as I walked closer. I began to doubt myself; I hadn't really had much practice, and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to pull out, to give the title to someone else, but I didn't have the chance to. I was chosen for a reason. I couldn't just give the title away. I had to do what I went there to do. 

I pressed my hand up against the tree, closing my eyes and concentrating. 

I can do this…

I can do this…

I can-

I looked up, curiosity biting at me like a monster. Nothing had happened. A soft glow came from beneath Elaria's hand, you could see the magic flowing, but underneath mine… was nothing. I retracted, feeling my limbs slump in defeat. 

"What is it? What's wrong?" Zath ran over, barely missing a branch that made its way through the arch. 

"It's not doing anything," I shook my head. "I should've known it wasn't me,"

"What?" He seemed shocked. "But… but how would the witch know to get you?"

"I don't know," I shook my head. 

"Try again, maybe you were doing it wrong?" He suggested. 

I let out a sigh, trying again, but nothing happened. I felt no strong connection, no strong magic like Elaria. There was nothing. I was just an ordinary human, nothing more. 

I saw Zath panic after I retracted. Elaria was still concentrating, trying her hardest, but it wasn't enough. The arch around us slowly began to grow weaker, and soon enough a final blow landed on it. Zath grabbed us both, barely making it outside the arch in time. Elaria looked up at me with tired eyes. 

"What were you doing?" She asked. "That should have worked!"

"It isn't me, I knew it wasn't," I shook my head. 

"But… I watched you," she mumbled. "Unless... that was simply basic magic,"

"We have no time to figure out what it was, we need to find out who it is and get them to help you," Zath stood up, helping us both up. Lydan appeared too. 

"We have a problem," he began, almost interrupting Zath. "The dwarves and whoever she is,"

Saera charged at Lydan with a sword. He barely blocked it, deflecting and pushing her away using his sword. She tumbled along the ground, immediately standing back up to face him. 

"Saera!" Zath stood in front of them. "What has gotten into you?"

"Move out of my way!" She screamed. "I'm here to do a job, and I'll be damned if I don't do it!"

"What job?"

"To get him out of the way!" She pointed the sword at Lydan. "That way, you'll be defenceless,"

"But why?" I heard the pain in his voice. "Why are you doing this?"

"You left me for ten years! That's why!" She screamed. "I was so lonely! Then you show up with your new friends, and you're close with them,"

"But that doesn't mean that I'm not close with you!" He replied. "I may have left, but I left to protect you, not to hurt you,"

"Well, you did the opposite," she regained a calm composure. "Step out of the way,"

"Why would I do that?" He replied, standing up straight. "You want to get to him, you have to get through me first,"

Saera smirked at him. "And how are you supposed to fight me with your bare hands?"

Within a split second, Zath had turned around, wrenched the sword from Lydan's hand and turned back around. Lydan stared at his hands, struck by how easy it was to take it. 

"Go and save the world, I'll hold her off for as long as I can," he told us, before turning to me. "Keep yourself safe, alright? Don't put yourself in harm's way,"

"You do the same," I replied. 

He turned back just in time to somehow deflect Saera and throw her again. That seemed to be her whole tactic; charge and hope. It wasn't that bad of a tactic if I was honest. She was doing a good job, constantly keeping Zath on his toes. She almost caught him a few times. Zath on the other hand never attacked her, he simply used the sword to defend himself from her and her manic attacking. 

"How did he do that?" Lydan mumbled, staring at his hands.  

"Now's not the time Lydan, we need to find out who is the other guardian and stop them from killing Va Bor!" Elaria exclaimed, taking us off guard. 

"We don't have enough time," he replied. "It's almost dead! We're as good as dead!"

"No we're not!" She shook him by the shoulders. "We still have time,"

"A few minutes, that's it," he picked her hands off him. 

As they were talking, I was observing Va Bor. I noticed something odd on the tree as I was. Something glinted in the light, what it was I couldn't see because I was short but it appeared to be tiny. I stood on my tiptoes, moving back in an attempt to see what it was. But I was too small. 

"What are you doing?" Lydan asked, noticing my looking. 

"What do you see?" Elaria moved next to me, also looking. 

"Do you see it?" I questioned, pointing at the shiny thing. "Right there. The shine,"

"What shi- my Goddess," she mumbled. As she spoke, the shine became bigger, and more appeared. It was crystal, black crystal. It moved and covered a small portion of the tree. More appeared, also spreading slowly. I had no clue what it was. 

"What is that?" Lydan asked. 

"No… it can't be," Elaria looked around frantically for something. Upon finding it, she grabbed it, running to a small crystal patch at the bottom of the tree. She placed them side by side. She found a bit of crystal from one of Alys' spears, and oddly enough it matched the crystal on the tree. I still had no idea what it meant, but it seemed like Lydan did. 

"No, no, it can't be," he shook his head. "Darkness,"

"I know, but it's worth a shot," Elaria stood up. 

"What is?" I asked, feeling a little left out. 

"Alys is the second guardian,"