ACCEPT!!!

Silence enveloped the field again as everyone thought what this would mean for them if they accept to be the guardians of the cross.

"All my life, I've been scared to try something new, afraid of the things that would come my way. But ever since I've been with you guys, something in me has changed. I didn't come this far just to back down now. This is could be my turning point and I hope you guys can accept it too" Nicolette spoke with honesty. Everyone has always known Nicolette has a good person that was why Nancy asked about her being pure of heart. Nicolette has always known Benjamin, Braun, prince and Nancy since middle school but their relationship was just acquaintances.

Prince sighed in defeat "I think I'm ready for this adventure, who's with me?" deep down he also wanted know mysteries of the cross but at the same time he was scared of what might be the outcome of this so called adventure. You only live once, he thought.

"I'm down" Braun raised his hands. He is always the playful one but serious if he thinks necessary. Braun is always the curious type and he makes sure he identifies the problem and proffer possible solutions. So, him not being here is a nightmare for him. Afterall his playful partner, Prince is interested. Benjamin is slightly different, very serious and responsible. Although he too is usually curious but he doesn't move forward with whatever hypothesis he has. He is liberal instead and can easily believe weird situations as he usually says, nothing is impossible. If stories exist, it's possible it happened no matter how weird it is. But really hard for Braun to believe due to his trust issues.

"If my brother is down, then I'm down" Benjamin commented. Nicolette was glad she was able to convince the boys about the crosses. One by one they were able to remove the crosses from their necks. They looked at Zander and Nancy wanting to hear their responses.

"I do love challenges, but I don't want to die" zander can sometimes be easily discouraged when somethings happen. But loves the challenges that comes with it as she believes it makes her better. Seeing all that has happened has given her less interest in finding out more about the cross but curious to know the challenges they might face. But as an overthinker, she sees more of the bad side.

"Who is talking about… death?" Braun asked slowly remembering how the creature chewed up his three of his friends.

"We hadn't even seen the cross and we smelt death" he waited awhile trying to think of an answer.

"We know, but just like Nic said we are in it now and there's no turning back." Braun offered his hand with expectances that she should take it. Still think of an excuse, she asked "we're not even friends. We can't have each other back"

"Of course, we are" Nicolette spoke as she walked towards her.

"Yeah. The moment we entered that cave" Prince added. The twins stared at Prince in shock. He is the strong hearted guy that doesn't admit to a lot of things. Nancy even had to ask him to be her boyfriend before they started dating.

"Okay. Let do this"

"Wait. Friends?" Braun asked still extending his hands

"Friends" she chuckled. Nancy just watched the scene looking quite disgusted at what they were saying. She can be sometimes very strong headed, really mean as she calls it truth, but nice in her own way. It might be really hard to convince Nancy but they have to try, five against one, right?

"Alright. Now Nancy you just have to…

His words got cut short when a blast hit the ground and sent them flying, hitting the ground hard. As fire circled around the field, a set of armed bandits in dark cloaks just like the ones in their holographic images emerged from the smoke. Their Galileo boots and black tied nose mask overshadowed with the hood cloak stood four feet's away from the kids who were now lying on the ground as they crouched in pain.

A seven foot, heavily built and fully masked bandit spoke stepping into the middle of the other bandits. "Return what you stole or die" The man in the middle spoke with a plain voice. He pulled out a pair of wide blades attached with short handles from his back pocket. The six eyes widen in surprise as they stared at the axe. Without warning, Zander's threw a triple side kick to the back of the head of one of the bandits and a fight broke out. The cross was in control of the kids again. They were able to fight the bandits like they had experiences in fighting. They were strong, slashing mightily against the bandits, knocking them out like they were nothing but feeble eggs around them. Blasts flying in air as Braun dodges the first hit and uses a side flip to strike one of the bandits. A face-off between the bandit with the axe and Prince. The cross turned into baton and clashed against the bandit axe. Prince dodged each incoming swing and then another before the bandit suddenly appeared behind him and hitting him at a critical point. Seeing Prince in danger, Zander charged her staff at the bandit which he dodged but Prince swung his fist and came at him. The bandit managed to react by blocking with his arms as he could not dodge on time and caught the blow. But that hit was so strong he was thrown many strides and crashed against the fence. 'wow' Prince thought. He had never felt so much power before. The others joined Prince and Zander as they all stood watching the bandit with axe rise. He was the only one left standing.

"Why won't he go down?" Benjamin asked himself waiting in anticipation what he was about to do. As if the bandit read Benjamin's mind he responded.

"we've been trained by father to control the power of the cross from holders who has gone rouge and you are no different." The next moment, a flash of something whisked out from the direction of the planks and struck at the twins, with reflexes they managed to block the unexpected strike, but they were still flung back many strides away and crashed into the building of the library but thankfully not really harmed due to the protection of the cross. The four charged at him, first Nicolette kicked off the ground with a puff of dirt and literally zipped over the bandit like a bullet. As Nancy approached the bandit, she extended her legs and kicked him square in the chest before immediately flipping in the air and landing on the ground. A quick blow landed on her face send her off the fields. Immediately a claymore crashed through the face of the bandit but was dodged and hit Prince. A fist to the ground to cause an earthquake sent them deep in the ground by the bandit. As they lied down defeated, the bandit raised his axe and the knocked-out bandits rose to their feet and a thunder came out from the sky crashing on them and they then disappeared.

"Who is father?"