54: Peace Can Never Last

"That was incredible! You four all fight like you've been doing this for years! I don't know if it's Adora's blessing but quite frankly I don't care! You brought results and that's all that matters!" General Daris compliments his voice full of gratitude.

"Thank you for the kind words, sir!" Layla replies.

"Without all of your amazing warriors and knowledge, we wouldn't have made it!" Mari states.

"We may have fought the battle physically, but you're the reason we could bring home the victory!" Sachi commends.

"We'd be lost without you, sir!" I say as the cold air freezes my sweat.

"Well with all of that out of the way! I want all four of you to do watch guard duty at least for tonight. I know I'm asking a lot after such a tiresome battle but it's important that you all get this experience. Got it?" General Daris asks.

"Understood sir!" We all say in unison.

Landon takes us to the top of a watchtower which is on top of the border gate. In it is a room with multiple beds, a cooking pot with a fire under it, a weapons rack, and a chalkboard that seems to be there to keep up with who is keeping watch.

"Finally warmth again… " I complain as I get as close as possible to the fire.

"I thought I'd be turned into a popsicle… " Mari adds as she gets close to the fire too.

"Popsicle? What the hell is that?" Layla asks as she throws some food into the pot for stew.

"Old world thing Layla!" Sachi answers as we all laugh.

Landon comes back into the room with a bunch of blankets and pillows.

"Here ya go! This should keep ya warm enough through the night! You should feel lucky actually! A lot of people love watch guard duty because they never have to fight. The only thing that sucks is switching off for sleep but I'm sure you guys will figure that out on your own." Landon explains.

"Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem! I'm a night owl anyways so I'll do the first shift so everyone can catch up on some sleep!" I insist as everyone gasps.

"No you aren't! You're probably more tired than any of us after fighting all of those Colossi!" Mari calls out.

"Seriously, you're going to burn yourself out, you idiot!" Layla remarks her voice full of annoyance.

"Crow just relax, let us handle some things too." Sachi orders as all of them look really worried about me.

"Damn, they're really on your case! You might want to listen to them, Crow. I saw how hard you were fighting out there and I'm actually astonished you haven't knocked dead asleep yet." Landon observes as I can tell even he's worried about me too.

"Okay, you all win!" I concede as I lay into a bed.

"Perfect, I'll do the first shift." Layla chooses.

"Then, I'll be right after you." Sachi confirms.

"Guess that leaves me! And Crow you'll be last since you definitely are a night owl!" Mari says as she flicks my forehead.

"Seems you all have it figured out! If that's the case then I'm gonna head back to Forteresse and get some rest too! I'll be back sometime around noon tomorrow to pick you guys up! Also, be sure to ring that bell over there just in case you see something suspicious!" Landon tells us as he yawns.

"Understood. Huh?" Layla replies as Landon puts his hand on Layla's head.

"I'm really proud of you Layla! You've grown to be a strong young lady and I see now that you never really needed me in the first place! I'm positive Father and Mother would feel the same way too!" Landon praises Layla as she smiles lightly.

"I'm proud of you too!" Layla responds as Landon leaves the room.

Shortly after I finally manage to get some sleep. This time I don't have any dreams but instead, I'm stuck with my thoughts. Why did I have that strange dream this morning? Was it actually real? I already knew my parents didn't think highly of me before I ran away but I didn't know they could be that harsh and evil.

Being here in Goliath has shown just how important it is to just accept people for who they are flaws and all. Whether you want them to be in your life or not is ultimately up to you but it's still important to keep in mind. My little family I've gained isn't perfect at all but knowing that they'd go so far for me gives me a sense of security that I didn't have in my old world. After all this time I've realized that everything that has happened so far wasn't a mistake. Dealing with conditional love and seeing how wrong it was set me up to finally have unconditional love…

"Hey, Crow. Wake up." Mari whispers as she shakes me and points at Sachi and Layla knocked out.

"Wow, I feel so much better now. I'm glad I listened to you guys." I reply as I stretch my arms out and carefully get out of my bed.

I join Mari at the window that oversees the border and can't help but admire the beautiful night sky.

"Here, have some of this!" Mari suggests as she hands me a bowl of the stew she and Layla made.

"Thanks, I was getting a little hungry." I reply as I happily wolf down my stew.

"That new transformation must've taken a lot out of you. I know that you and Kira had been working on it for months outside of school." Mari remarks as she scoots in closer to me.

"I was hoping to have more time to work on it but it was an emergency and I couldn't stand the thought of any of you dying." I respond as Mari lays her head on my lap.

"Ugh, you're so reckless sometimes. You can't keep trying to be the hero all the time, you have to care about yourself too you know?" Mari asks as she holds both of my hands tightly while looking up at me.

"I know, I just have to keep getting stronger so that we can help this land. When I first got here I could care less about what these people were going through. My real plan was to just explore this land and see what it had to offer. I was hoping that would be the case but of course, now here we are tied up in all the drama and fighting." I answer as I hold her hands gently.

"I'm just glad I'm not alone. I'm glad that you guys are the ones I ended up being stuck with. Even stupid Jack." Mari jokes as both of us chuckled quietly.

"Get some rest Mari, I'll take it from here." I assure her as she slowly closes her eyes.

"Okay, wake us up if you see anything… " Mari replies as she knocks out sleeping on my lap.

For the next couple of hours, I keep my eyes dead focused on the border and everything seems to be fine for now. Not even a single Colossi has shown up since we launched that triple threat attack, maybe we finally scared them off?

"Huh? What is this feeling?" I ask as out of nowhere I feel very sinister energy.

"There you are!" A sneaky feminine voice says as everything around me freezes in time.

"Mari, Layla, Sachi! Can you hear me!" I yell as none of them are moving at all.

"Give it up boy, they can't hear you!" The feminine voice confirms as all of a sudden a weird dark portal opens up in my room.

Vedora comes out of the portal and I finally get a real good look at her. She's tall, beautiful, and looks eerily similar to Mother Adora but has a quiet rage in her eyes that seems unyielding.

"If you're going to kill me just do it! But just leave them out of it! They don't deserve to die!" I yell as I ready my dagger.

"Relax, I can't kill you right now even if I wanted to. Your bothersome mother made sure that my powers were weakened. Of course, she only is stalling the inevitable! I will be back and when I am my goals will finally be mine!" Vedora declares confidently.

"I don't understand though, why do you want to kill your own people?" I ask as she casually takes a seat next to me.

"It's simple, this world is unfair." Vedora responds concisely.

"That's it? That doesn't justify killing millions of people!" I yell back as I'm hoping I can make her understand me.

"It's hard for a young Frodian like you-especially one not of our world-to understand my goals." Vedora replies ignorantly.

"You're just assuming that! If you explained it to me I might at least get where you're coming from!" I assert as Vedora lets out a huge sigh.

"I've heard it all before kid. When you've been around for thousands of years it's really hard for hope and love to stay in your heart. The fact of the matter is that both Frodiankind and humankind are cursed to always hate each other. I'm sure since you've been here you've noticed how similar Frodians are to humans." Vedora explains her voice full of apathy.

"But that doesn't mean we should just give up! I'm going to use my thousands of years of living to hopefully bring peace to this land! You gotta believe me!" I yell passionately as Vedora shakes her head.

"Man… That look in your eye… I miss the days when I still had it but unfortunately, those days are long past me. I have to do what I can to truly help our people and awakening of the Colossi will bring me one step closer! Ancient Art: Summoning of Honos the Second Colossal!" Vedora yells as she disappears and time unfreezes.

Suddenly, everything starts shaking as if an earthquake is happening!

"What the?" Mari shouts as she wakes up.

"What's going on?" Layla asks as she jolts up.

"Another wave of Colossi?" Sachi asks as she hops out of her bed and pulls out her bow.

"No, No! This can't be happening!" I shout as I look out the window and see the biggest Colossi we've seen so far.

It's Honos, the second Colossal…