Odyssey of the Guardian Emperor

It was all too hard to miss.

The fresh feathers they found on their way. The disappointing levels of hostility coming from the Heaven-Crested Eagles. Even with an intruder running through their mountains, blowing up nests and conjuring tornadoes of flames, there was limited use of brute force in subduing Alaric.

Then there was the way they told Alaric to wait as they called the High Sentinel. It all made sense if and only if they had already known of their coming and had been commanded to welcome them. Only Dara'k, among all the Eagles, was interested in fighting Alaric to the point of putting a wound in the back of his head.

The boy's thoughts raced like a bolt of lightning striking all the right spots.

"You knew we were coming…" his voice came quiet, yet loud enough to make known that pit in his stomach.

"Something like that… The Tower informed us of a party that would come here in a few days. Among them, we'd be able to find the Great Protector. Naturally, we agreed to welcome them," the High Sentinel, flying high above Alaric and Dara'k, said.

[ Naturally, huh… ] Alia narrowed her eyes at the words.

Alaric kept his own reactions to a minimum. The golden bird was friendly now but he harboured no delusions about this great beings capabilities, [ It's not like we have a choice here. ]

[ What about your gut? What does it say? ]

[ That we can trust him… ]

The guardian was silent for a bit longer, then she sighed, [ Then that is what we will do. ]

Alaric blinked… 'Just like that…'

Shaking his head, he summoned aether into his eyes and stared off into the distance. This high up, he could finally catch a glimpse of what was happening with his friends.

His stomach sank, and the boy ground his teeth, "Hmm…"

"Lively friends you have down there," Dara'k snorted.

A nest had been toppled, its thick, heavy branches lying in a mess on the ground. Scorch marks in the shape of sword slashes riddled the barren stone and wood.

In a nest much further away from the party of adventurers, a bleeding Heaven-Crested Eagle rested with its wing covered in blood. The sight made Alaric's stomach twist into knots.

The other Eagles were keeping their distance, probably having learnt from their wounded comrade. The Eagles sent the power of the wind down on the adventurers in the form of terrifying twisters, powerful enough to send a full-grown man flying.

Byron was leading the attack, his blade glowing an angry orange colour as he prepared his next attack. Bumi stood further back with a deep blue orb in his hands. Alaric had caught glimpses of some of these in the Eagles' nests. It was a Storm Orb indeed.

Covered in residual fragments of grey rock, the Orb featured swirling mist with sparks of lightning held within its transparent surface—like a storm was trapped inside it.

Above the party of adventurers, spears of ice materialised while everyone got ready with their weapons and guardians. All hell was about to break loose… or at least it tried to.

Nothing could really happen in this kind of stalemate. The humans had their hands full trying to keep from getting blown away, all whilst still attacking with whatever they had.

Ranged attacks were rendered useless in the tyrannical winds. Spears of ice easily flew off course, and arrows lost their path in the powerful winds. The flames of Byron's slashes curved off course and crashed into the mountains, leaving ugly scorch marks but harming nothing in the process.

Alaric was actually surprised by the adventurers for lasting this long in such a one-sided show of strength. 'They aren't getting blown away,' he thought to himself.

[ Might be some kind of potion or spell. ] Alia surmised.

"THAT'S ENOUGH, HUMANS!" the High Sentinel's voice thundered. The adventurers flinched and looked up at the approaching group.

A golden bird flew higher than the rest, much larger and more intimidating. Aether rolled off its majestic body in waves. It was almost too petrifying to look away from the approaching calamity.

The guardians surrounding the adventurers snapped at the golden bird as well, snarling and hissing as it approached.

Alaric waved at his friends from Dara'k's back, "Hey guys… Stop attacking. We're all good."

The first person to lock eyes with Alaric was Byron, who couldn't look any angrier. For a brief second, the rage in his eyes seemed to burn even hotter than the blade in his hands, then it was gone, replaced by irritated indifference.

"Is that…? No!" LionHeart chuckled as he stowed away his sword. Aslan's towering form vanished into thin air, slowly followed by the other guardians.

"Who else would it be?" Sariah answered with a chuckle, "This had better be good."

Dara'k hovered high above once they were close enough, but wouldn't descend. Alaric tapped the Eagle's back. "Why aren't we going down?"

"You've seen your friends. Now, tell us where the Protector is?" Dar'ak asked.

"Didn't you hear my conversation with the High Sentinel? I am the Protector, or at least, that's what I've been told," Alaric tried.

"I'm sorry, but you don't exactly meet the description of the Great Protector."

The High Sentinel intervened in the Old Tongue, "The boy is wearing a Face Mask. I added that detail to your briefing days ago."

"Of course, Your Greatness… It slipped my mind," Dara'k stuttered, then banked into a downward spiral. Alaric didn't know what to feel about the fact that the High Sentinel knew something so sensitive about him. This whole situation had his heart pounding in his chest.

On their way to the ground, Alaric could help but wonder, 'How much of my identity does my Face Mask erase?'

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{Query: The Effects of a Face Mask…}

Sensing a long lesson on Face Masks, the boy cut the device off, "—Tell me about all that later."

{Understood}

[ Huh… You could do that? ] Alia piped up.

[ Felt right. ]

Moments later, they were on the ground. Alaric got off Dara'k's back and gave the bird a pat on the folded wing, "Thank you… for not dropping me when you had the chance."

"I'll get more chances," the Eagle snorted.

Alaric chuckled and rejoined his party, "So, I have good news. It turns out we don't have to fight the Heaven-Crested Eagles."

"Is that because you happen to speak the same language all Aether Beasts do?" Byron's voice silenced the rest as he sheathed his sizzling sword.

Alaric turned to him with a neutral expression, "It's the same language you hear when someone recites an incantation. It's not as alien as you might think."

"You…" Byron scoffed, "You speak the Language of the Constellations? Bite me!"

"No, thank you!"

"Whatever! While I still have you, let me ask. Are you or are you not the boy those damned soldiers are looking for?" Byron asked.

Alaric's heart skipped a beat as he furrowed his eyebrows, "I don't know. They've said some weird things about the boy that don't sound like me."

"Your cape had a symbol of the Tower of Seekers. That's a dead giveaway," the man argued.

"So what if I am that boy?" Alaric countered calmly, "We both know they didn't come to offer him some kind of present. Even if I knew who they were looking for, I wouldn't help them."

"That's quite selfish of you. You'd cause that much trouble for everyone else?" Byron argued, "They'll just take someone else in your place."

"If that was the case, then they would have already done it," Alaric sighed, "Failure might not be an option for them, but I would hate to see their master's face when he finds out they brought him the wrong boy."

Byron ground his teeth and hissed, "You're not planning to go back to Melbourne, are you?"

"No," Alaric responded, "Should the situation escalate, you can tell them I ran."

"They have a Dark Mage. They don't listen to reason," Byron yelled at the boy.

[ Well, he's annoying. ] Alia sighed within the boy's mind. Alaric remained silent with his brows furrowed. This conversation was getting them nowhere.

'Does he want to sell me out or not?' Alaric pondered.

[ Keep an eye on that human, Alaric. Haven't you noticed how he keeps confirming your identity as the wanted boy? He's looking for a way to sell you out… and he wants you to offer him that opportunity yourself. ] Alia's voice rumbled.

Byron's mind was at work, "Here is what's going to happen. You'll return to Melbourne with that Face Mask of yours and act like nothing happened… We'll defend our own like we always have and you will help us."

"We've already done that…" Alaric tried.

"Then what do you suggest? Do you think those men will leave Melbourne empty-handed? It was a simple search mission, but they've already been there four days, and people are starting to talk. Let's not forget the demon situation that's escalated. The city is on edge," the man argued.

Alaric backed away a few steps and took a deep breath, his mind churning, "Give me time to think about it, okay?"

Byron scoffed, "Think about it? What's a scrub like you going to come up with?"

"We'll all think about it," LionHeart intervened, "Arguing about it now won't solve anyone's problems… so let's get the Storm Orbs we came for and circle back to this conversation once we're done."

To Alaric, the burly man asked, "We are getting the Storm Orbs, aren't we?"

Alaric rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know yet. Let me ask… From what I can tell, these eagles aren't hostile. At least, that's what I'd like to think anyway."

Lucy approached the boy silently, looking past his face to something else. "Turn around," she whispered.

Alaric did as she asked, then braced himself for the painful sting if she touched his head. To his surprise, the sting never came. If anything, the pain he'd been ignoring at the back of his head began to vanish until it was completely gone, "Not so hostile, you say…"

"There was this… big misunderstanding."

"Uh-huh."

"I was throwing fireballs everywhere and trying to cause a commotion, then this Eagle tried to stop me…"

"Try not to get into another 'misunderstanding' while you negotiate for the Storm Orbs," the girl cut him off, "I'll heal you as much as you need… but I can't bring you back from the dead."

Alaric nodded, then turned to the towering golden eagle. The High Sentinel's head hovered at least two metres above Alaric as his voice boomed in the human language, "You're quite the rowdy bunch, aren't you?"

The sudden use of a language everyone could understand shocked them.

"We have our moments," Alaric shrugged, "I take it you heard the reason we came here."

"I did… but I must ask why you seek these Storm Orbs," the High Sentinel asked.

"Everyone else in this party has a reason of their own… but those reasons don't matter because it was I who convinced them to come on this journey. I needed a Storm Orb but didn't have a way to get here… With their help, I did… but not without offering them Storm Orbs of their own. They are quite expensive and rare items, you see…" Alaric explained.

"Excuses won't get you far, human!" The High Sentinel lowered his head to meet Alaric, getting his beak so close that the boy could feel its breath.

'Garlic, ginger, orange… cocktail juice?' The boy tried to stifle the shivers under the beast's intimidating presence.

Aether of dense purity rolled off the glowing beast and licked Alaric's skin, sparks of lightning sizzling between its feathers. What made Alaric hold his breath, however, was the Eagle's eyes.

Each one of them was a saucer of swirling gold, holding intelligence and power enough to make the boy go weak in the knees.

"I… I came here to get a Storm Orb, too," the boy swallowed, "I have a friend with ruptured Aether Meridians. He wants to be an Alchemist."

"Alchemists know not when they've taken too much from the continent. They take and take… and when they've had more than they can carry or use in a lifetime, they take more," the creature spoke sternly. For a moment, the two held each other's gaze before the Eagle's gaze softened, and he lifted his head. "Humans are such flawed creatures, ravaged by desire from the moment they are born. The root of all Dark Magic… all except for one."

Alaric released a breath he didn't know he was holding. "You don't sound like you hate them."

"Rage breeds rage. Happiness breeds happiness. It's a simple rule humans fail to learn," the High Sentinel's voice echoed as he walked away from the boy, only to start circling him like a predator, always keeping one eye on him. "Let's strike a deal, Protector. You see, Storm Orbs aren't the kind of items you just take from the nest of a Heaven-Crested Eagle. There are consequences for those actions. Sadly, those consequences only affect my people."

"What kind of consequences?" Alaric asked.

The High Sentinel looked up, "Try shooting down that nest with a wind spell."

Alaric looked up at the nest the High Sentinel was beckoning to before turning to face it. He invoked the power of the Constellation of Wind, Aero and summoned a gale strong enough to push back a human. On its own, it was harmless against a nest strong enough to hold the weight of these large birds, but the same couldn't be said if it took on some functional form.

His imagination was a weapon, and with it, he curved the wind in his hands into a blade and then launched the wind straight at the nest.

There was a cold wave of tension as everyone watched in anticipation.

The Eagles hovering above didn't flinch at the sight. Instead, Alaric could hear comments like, 'Not bad for a human… but I am disappointed to see that coming from the Protector.' 'The High Sentinel can cast more powerful Wind scythes. Besides, who said that's the Protector? It could be any one of those people down there.' 'Are you questioning the High Sentinel's judgement?' 'I would never… I just don't like that guy.'

Alaric sighed, watching the nest for the destruction that was to come.

It never did.

By the time his Wind attack reached the nest, it was nothing but a faint breeze. It didn't surprise Alaric either. He'd watched the Eagles attack with strong tempests, paying no mind to their nests.

'The only time a nest has been affected was when I used Fire Magic,' he thought to himself.

"Storm Orbs… protect nests from powerful wind…" Alaric surmised.

"Exactly," the High Sentinel confirmed.

"If you would like to take a Storm Orb, you'd have to replace that mechanism. There is an ancient spell you can use to bargain for some Storm Orbs," the High Sentinel explained in detail, "Are you still up for the challenge?"

Alaric brought his eyes back to the golden eagle, "Yes…"

Of course, the boy didn't miss the snickers that came from the other Eagles at his response.

Dara'k was less discreet, flying right up to the boy before he could make a move. His voice came in the Old Tongue, a conversation the others wouldn't be able to decipher, "You know, boy… You don't have anything to prove to everyone here. You can still change your decision. It would be wise to do so. Give up and return to your little human village before you bite off more than you can chew."

Alaric smirked, "And pass up the opportunity to wipe that smug look off your face? No, thanks!"

Dara'k scoffed, "Don't say I didn't warn you, human."