Odyssey of the Guardian Emperor

The memories paused for a bit, giving Alaric a chance to rest. His mind was buzzing like a sore wound, suffering from the heavy influx of information. So much of it had flowed into his mind in a very short time that it left him reeling.

This process, to others, took only a few seconds. To others, the boy dressed in white armour embraced the lion's muzzle for a few short seconds, barely showing a difference. If it wasn't for the way the air about them shifted with a gentle breeze, this all would have been imperceptible.

To Alaric, though, this moment lasted an eternity. In the span of a few seconds, his mind was filled with more information than he should have been able to retain. He lived the life of not one, but two others, in just a few short seconds.

Somehow, it was less painful now than it had been the first time he did it with Old Thomper. This only went to show how much stronger he had grown. Unfortunately, his increased strength allowed him accomodate and retain even more memories, and this is what overwhelmed him.

Of course, he reserved the power to choose how much he wanted to see, or so he'd thought. Learning how to see memories of guardians had been the easy part, but he never once thought of a time it could work the other way around.

Aslan chose to show Alaric these memories even going as far as to choose what to show him and in the end, the guardian was going to grant Alaric his power against the boy's will.

'This ability of mine makes less and less sense the more I use it,' Alaric groaned.

So, now he knew LionHeart's Origins. Well, a summarised version of it. The man had lived his share of pain, and sadly, it was the kind of pain Alaric couldn't quite relate to. He knew nothing of being shunned by his guardian or of the prejudice that came of it.

What he did know was that LionHeart was stronger than he gave himself credit for. 'I wouldn't last that long without Alia,' he thought to himself. The black female knight didn't reply to his sentiments as his thoughts were running at a hundred miles a second in this state.

The boy also learned the truth about how hard it was to increase one's Temper Rank.

LionHeart had struggled excessively, gaining one level after another, gruesomely crawling his way through the Glass Rank. It was an arduous journey, one filled with so many pitfalls that it looked hopeless to forge onward. And yet, he kept at it until he inevitably bottlenecked at the earlier stages of the Wood Rank.

By the time Alaric met him, he was peaking the third level of the Wood Rank, in dire need of a catalyst to break through to the next level, a breakthrough which happened during his stay in the Five Hills.

Alaric didn't know what caused bottlenecks and didn't have the time to figure it out either especially considering how fast he was blowing through the Temper Ranks.

The memories that Aslan was showing him were still going. Time had flown by incredibly fast. LionHeart had bottlenecked at Wood Rank Level Three, gotten a few promotions among the ranks of protectors, made some good friends and even gone as far as to visit the Emerald City, Emerlin, once in a while to pay his old friend, Reginald, a visit.

Before Alaric knew it, the memories slowed down to a scene that had him floating high in the air beside the golden lion and his master.

They looked out at an azure stingray flying high in the air. LionHeart stared at the stingray with a strange mix of awe, envy and devout admiration.

"Lieutenant Garin has returned," the large man mused with excitement.

His guardian scoffed, [ It's not the lieutenant I asked you to look at. ]

[ Seriously?! What else is there? A bunch of kids? ] When his guardian hummed in confirmation, he just laughed, [ Hey, I know these kids were all born in the year of that great disaster, but that doesn't make them special. ]

[ Look not with your bias. ] The lion chided.

The man chuckled, then really focused. His eyes turned a few colours, then returned to normal before he tried several other appraisal techniques, some of which Alaric wasn't aware of.

A few moments later, he leaned forward with a curious smirk on his face. His eyes were pinned on a boy seated between a sandy-haired boy and dark-haired girl, doing his best to look inconspicuous, "Oh my! He's concealed himself well for someone without Body Tempering. Almost too well. What is he?"

The guardian chuckled, [ That is a creature that we, guardians, have been waiting on for a thousand years. It makes sense that he'd come from this generation. ]

[ You're not making sense, guardian. What is he? ] LionHeart tried again. He could sense the urgency in his guardian's words. This was no normal boy.

[ We call him the Great Protector. He's been gone so long we were starting to believe he would never return ] the lion explained, [ If he's here, then you can be sure there will be some chaos today. ]

[ The Great Protector. That's all great and fancy, but my question still stands. What's so special about him? ] The man asked, [ I've never heard of a Great Protector before. Is he like the protectors of the Tower? ]

[ I assume the tower got the title of Protectors from him. If the Seekers don't know about him, then he's a well-guarded secret among the Keepers. ] The lion responded.

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[ But you knew about him. ]

[ All guardians are born with knowledge of the Great Protector. With how well he's hiding, I doubt any guardians below A-class have recognised him. Under the right circumstances, he goes by another title that I dare not say, lest I risk dooming our continent to wait another millennium. ]

LionHeart ran a hand through his head in frustration. The boy looked so normal at first glance that he just had to ask yet again, "What's so special about him?"

The lion shrugged, unsurprised by his master's confusion, [ What isn't? He's hiding it well yet it just stares you right in the face. You don't need to be a genius to know he's special. The world speaks for him… even when he's not yet started Body Tempering. ]

LionHeart was about to dismiss his guardian's words for hubris when Alaric stood from his seat on the giant stingray. There was a subtle shift in the air, small but present. The only reason the man even acknowledged it was because of how many times he'd been in the presence of beings of High Temper Ranks.

The only difference here was that the world was being oppressed by the boy's presence but rather reacting to it, albeit in subtle ways.

The memory faded, and sped to a future Alaric was unaware of. As the memories were fed into his mind, he did manage to estimate how far into the future they went. After all, LionHeart's path and his had become intertwined shortly after his appraisal.

The memories flew past the start of his Tempering Ritual and onwards. During this time, it was getting more and more obvious that LionHeart was growing fond of Alaric.

With each passing day, the man grew to understand what his guardian meant by calling him special. Aether spilt out of the cottage in the woods, serving as Alaric's Tempering Chamber.

At first, it was taken to be normal, but the situation quickly escalated out of the realm of normalcy. An influx of aether was normal for a Tempering Ritual, except this aether was excessive and pure, pouring out of the cottage in torrents that didn't seem to have an end.

The woods grew faster in the presence of the dense aether. The barrier Sister Marla put up held the aether, too, creating an Aether atmosphere dense enough for crystals to form in the Five Hills.

It only got worse, though.

More aether spilt out of the cottage with each passing day. It was like a hole had been torn in the ground, rupturing a vent that spilt torrents upon torrents of aether from the earth, flooding the Five Hills and solidifying into massive crystals.

No one was complaining, though. Aether was valuable.

The people of the Five Hills welcomed it. They mined the crystals and, at Sister Marla's request, learnt to process them instead of selling them in their raw form to avoid arousing suspicion. Unfortunately, their pace couldn't match the rate at which the aether kept pouring out of the woods. The village was overrun, and a bunker was built to stash away the excess crystals.

LionHeart would spend hours watching over the Tempering children, and soon after, just Alaric. His punishment to protect the boy quickly evolved into a devout obligation.

During this time, he took advantage of the opportunity to carry out his own Body Tempering and broke through two whole ranks during those six months, a feat he'd never achieved before. Aether responded to him a lot easier than it used to, and his power got a major boost during those six months.

Shortly after the group had returned to the Tower of Seekers and been dismissed, LionHeart found himself going to sleep on his bed in the Tower. The past six months had been an adventure. There wasn't a lot of fighting, and yet the fact remained that he missed the time he spent in the Five Hills.

'What were the odds that the boy would skip the whole Glass Rank?' the man chuckled as sleep claimed his mind, 'Crazy lunatic!'

The man had just started drifting to sleep when Aslan whispered into his master's mind, [ Can we talk? ]

LionHeart shifted in his bed and hugged his pillow. [ If it's about Alaric, there is nothing we can do now that Casper has his eyes on him. ]

[ No… It's not that, and we're not about to lose that shifty-eyed crone! If Alaric had to choose between us and Casper, he would pick us. ] The lion defended himself.

[ You sure about that? Casper is an Elder Seeker. He's earned the trust of the Tower, has more power than we do and far more knowledge. I know he's an annoying piece of work, but I have no reason to disqualify him. You said Alaric has incredible intuition. You think that intuition would tell him to pick us. ]

[ It would. ] Aslan replied.

[ Why? ]

[ Because we are stronger than you know we are. ] The lion growled back

[ Than I know? ] LionHeart sat up in his bed. The lion's specific choice of words had reached him, [ What are you getting that? ]

[ You've always doubted the reason I was appraised as an A-class guardian, but I think it's time I told you. Today, I'll tell you my name, my power… as well as your Inborn Ability. ]

Alaric pulled his hands away from the lion's head and recoiled, clutching his head as the effects of his Inborn Ability took effect. The fundamental change to his body was taking root. His form began to glitch in place as he struggled to ground himself.

Primal information on how to use the guardian's power was starting to set into his body. But that was all besides the point.

[ He… didn't know your name? ] The boy screamed into the lion's mind.

[ No, he didn't. ]

Alaric crawled away from the lion, and this time, his voice came out loud, "You hid an ability that could have spared him so much pain."

"And where would that have gotten him? He would have grown reliant on that ability."

"That was his mistake to make, and you were meant to warn him, like my guardian did for me."

"I did what I thought was right at the time," the guardian replied, his voice gentle and laced with regret, "I know now there were other ways."

The boy stared at the lion for a bit, then turned away with a sigh, "It's fine. But what do you mean you told him your name? I said your name several times in Jack's Fall. LionHeart was never surprised to hear it."

"He understood who the name belonged to, but it never stayed in his mind longer than it was needed. Without my approval, he couldn't keep my name in his mind. Names have power, some more than others. I am Aslan, King of Lions, and I have dominion over space."

The lion bowed his head to the boy, then vanished into thin air. Alaric stared at the spot where it had just been standing, recovering from the memories infusing his mind. He pulled himself back together and allowed the memories to settle in his tired brain.

"What was that?" Bumi's voice cut the silence, his uneasiness evident.

Alaric sighed, looking into the cosy flames for a bit, "My Inborn Ability…"

Scarlett turned pale at the mention of Alaric's ability. She'd seen him merge with foliage before, but now that he mentioned it again, she realised she had him all wrong and that seemed to rattle her.

"I can copy the powers of other guardians," he answered.

"And you're telling us that now?" Bumi argued.

"You didn't need to know it until now. I need Aslan's ability to rescue Lucy." Alaric responded with a shrug. Standing up, he walked away from the fire and sat by a sleeping Heaven-Crested Eagle, "I'm tired. Good night, everyone."

Before Bumi could reply, Dara'k's wing wrapped around the boy, shielding him from the mountain's cold. The man tilted his head at the scene, then turned to LionHeart, "Who is that boy?"

LionHeart chuckled as he added more wood to the fire, "Guardians call him the Great Protector. Though for your safety, I ask that you keep all of this to yourselves."