I Guard The Book That Slays Gods

The crowd carved a path for Raiden, and he peered in Noelle's direction. Her eyes were solid white, no pupils visible, as metal erupted from the ground to coil around her body where she lay thrashing against the restraints. Worse still, Raiden couldn't spot Ash anywhere.

He gritted his teeth, growling like a mad beast. His fists clenched tight as veins popped along his trembling frame.

The four Justice Armadas turned as they sensed his presence. Raiden hardly looked at them, catching only flashes of dark and yellow auras before the air itself seemed to ripple. In the next instant, he stood before the closest of them.

A lightning-fast strike to the gut, then chest; too quick for any defense. He flowed to the next target, snapping the neck with a wet crack as blood sprayed hot across his face.

However, before he could make another move, dizziness hit him like a wave. Everything slowed—his movements growing thick and clumsy as he stood locked in place, knees bent.

The ground rushed away beneath him as he plummeted from the elevated platform. Through the chaos and darkness, the crowd could only register fragments: the sudden storm and two armadas crumpling in under a minute. Meanwhile, Raiden's mind drifted sluggishly, thoughts scattering like he was dissolving from within.

His transformation started to fade, and he knew this wasn't an attack. He'd pushed too hard through his illness, and now his body was failing him.

He dropped to his knees, collapsing, when suddenly he felt someone catch him. Forcing his heavy body to turn, he saw it was Noelle.

Her eyes blazed with a fury that dwarfed his own. She crushed him against her in a fierce embrace as her golden aura suddenly condensed, no longer flowing free but crystallizing into a dome around them—her domain made manifest.

When Raiden realized she was awake, a warm smile crossed his face, and his racing heart began to settle. He knew everything would be alright. But his body had reached its limit, and consciousness slipped away, leaving only Noelle's face and the murmur of confused voices from the crowd.

This was the first time he'd used his transformation since Snow helped him master it. He wished he could have wielded it better, but the next sensation after cold night air and warm blood was blazing sunlight searing the back of his skull.

His eyes slowly opened to see the ground passing steadily beneath him. The burning fever and bone-deep exhaustion had lessened from before.

But what drew his focus was a child, about ten years old, walking nearby with white hair cascading past her knees, pointed ears, and skin a smoky pale-gray like moonstone. A black robe draped around her small form.

His eyes widened as an odd familiarity washed over him; he knew this child somehow, yet was certain they'd never met. Panic crept in; maybe the armadas had taken him after all. He twisted to see who was carrying him, and the sight of short hair and smoke curling from her lips immediately told him it was Noelle.

He looked back at the child. "Who's that?" he asked, confusion clear in his voice.

Hearing his voice, Noelle immediately released him. He crashed to the earth, landing flat as sand coated his hair.

"What was that for?" Raiden asked, struggling to sit up. The child looked at him then, her large blue eyes locking with his golden ones, and his heart stuttered.

"Ash?"

"You are okay, Papa," Ash said, her smile radiant as she moved closer. Raiden sat motionless, confusion written across his face as he watched her approach.

Ash extended her hand and helped Raiden to his feet.

"Don't act so surprised," Noelle said with a sneer, starting to walk ahead. "Even I wasn't this lost."

"Is that really you, Ash?" Raiden asked again, ignoring Noelle completely.

Ash nodded gently. But none of this made sense to Raiden. When he'd last seen her, she'd been a dragon.

As Ash started after Noelle, he stumbled along behind them. "How? What happened?"

Ash stopped and looked back at him. "Aren't you used to strange things by now, Papa?"

Raiden raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to tell me or not?"

Ash sighed and started walking again. "I transformed like this because you've reached 50% mastery in all three abilities."

Raiden's jaw dropped. "And that's why I was getting sick?"

Ash nodded firmly.

Raiden's eyes narrowed as the pieces fell into place; his mysterious weakness had been because of her transformation. But he still had concerns, and some things felt unfair that he needed to address.

He clenched his fists until his nails bit into his palms.

"And don't you think it would have been best if you told me about it?!" Raiden's roar cut through the air like a blade, sending a visible tremor through Ash as fear flashed across her features.

The sound was so sharp it pulled Noelle's attention away, her head snapping toward the confrontation.

"Hey, come on," Noelle said, her voice steady as she began closing the distance, hands slightly raised in a peacekeeping gesture.

Raiden ignored Noelle completely, his gaze burning into Ash's wavering eyes. The fear rolling off her was palpable, but his patience had finally snapped. He was sick of being kept in the dark about her secrets, and her pleading expression wasn't going to work on him anymore.

"Go on, tell me," he demanded, his voice sharp enough to make Ash's fingers start their anxious dance while her eyes fled from his, finding refuge in studying the floor.

"I didn't know, Papa." The words came out strained and small as Noelle positioned herself next to Raiden, creating a united front. Their combined stare bore into her, demanding more explanation.

"I can only know things you've evolved enough for me to know," she said, her voice breaking apart like fragile glass. "I can't see what's coming until it's already unfolding."

She forced herself to look up, her eyes locking with Raiden's burning stare. "When I finally recovered that piece of my memories, I was with Noelle. There wasn't any way I could tell you about it."

She moved closer to him, tears spilling freely from her eyes, while Raiden stood like a statue, unmoved and unforgiving. "I can't lie to you, Papa. You have a piece of my heart… if I tried to lie, you'd feel it."

Noelle glanced at Raiden, still frozen in his silent standoff with Ash. She stepped forward and enveloped the crying girl in her arms, her thumbs brushing away the tears with tender care.

He could tell she wasn't lying. His new eyes would have detected any falsehood, and her heart would have betrayed her with its rhythm. But all he felt radiating from her was genuine worry and confusion.

But she should have realized the position this put him in. He was drowning in confusion, feeling as though her life was gradually swallowing his own through all these mysterious forces—and all because he possessed a fragment of her being.

A weary sigh escaped him just as Noelle stepped back from Ash. "It's okay," Raiden said, the anger draining from his face as he managed a reassuring smile and ruffled her hair gently. "Just promise me; if you remember something, you'll tell me right away?"

Relief washed over Ash's features as she smiled warmly, her eyes drifting closed while she nodded. "Okay, Papa."

A thousand questions about Ash and the moon dragon still swirled in his mind, demanding answers. But he forced himself to focus on the immediate priority; if he could secure those twenty pages, the rest might become irrelevant.

Turning toward Noelle, who adjusted a gray robe around her neck, likely hiding her tattoo. Raiden felt a bit confused about why she always did that. However, he brushed it off and gestured for them to start walking.

"Where are we anyway?" he asked as they fell into step together.

Noelle turned her head slightly toward him. "Turns out we weren't as far from Lunar City as I thought. That's our destination."

"Right!" he replied, though his gaze instantly moved to Ash when he felt her fingers intertwine with his as they continued forward.

A smile crossed Raiden's face. "I wish we could actually stay together. I would have had more time to help you sort through all this confusion," he murmured.

Ash glanced over at him and smiled softly.