Odyssey of the Guardian Emperor

By the time Alaric opened his eyes, a considerable amount of time had passed. He groaned, then shut his eyes instantly.

'Ah! The light. The passage of time. I feel it!' he mumbled in his mind, fighting to regain control of the limbs of a body that had gone numb a long time ago. ' I can taste it!'

His body felt like it had been hit by a truck, then completely cut off from his mind and frozen in a tub of ice. It took everything to just roll onto his side. His eyes burned when he opened them, and the air tasted so dry. For the first three minutes, he didn't even care where he was.

Alia rolled her eyes from the In-Between, [ So dramatic! ]

Finally shaking these effects off, Alaric pulled himself up and scanned his surroundings. The room was white with gold and mahogany accents, and more accessories than Alaric needed for a lifetime. A dresser made of rich wood with all accessories adorned in a gold theme.

He instantly felt out of place, getting flashbacks of the small bed and thin blanket he'd gotten used to at the orphanage, as well as the better room he was given at Sariah's. This was not the first time he found himself in a luxurious room, but he still wasn't used to it. The air smelled of gravel and bathing oils, which didn't bother him in the slightest despite the odd mix. Aether hummed in his ear, keeping him aware of at least a dozen passive enchantments present in the room.

The bed stayed warm at just the right temperature, and—at first, he thought his eyes tricked him—the blanket kept crawling back onto the bed as though to keep it well-made. To quench this curiosity, Alaric stumbled out of bed and tossed the thick woollen blanket off, just to verify what he thought he'd seen.

Like a possessed animal made of cloth, the blanket and the sheets slowly crawled back onto the mattress and all tucked themselves in neatly, without a crease in sight.

"That is… cool [creepy] ," Alaric and Alia mused at the same time.

"What?!" Alaric squealed, "You've never made a bed before, okay?"

"Laying down sheets over a bed and making it look nice is a lot easier than the Dance of the Sword, but I understand the need to facilitate laziness," Alia replied, drawing a fit of laughter from her master.

His shadow bubbled, admitting the black knight into the room. The weight of her presence was something Alaric barely felt, given she was his guardian. Considering she was more careful about it than he was, Alaric took it as a sign that they were under an S-grade Concealment Barrier.

The knight gave the room a passing glance, "It's a nice room… except for the blanket thing. How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling great," Alaric responded with a smile, but even he wasn't so blind as to miss the concern in his guardian's tone. His wide smile withered into one less bright, but just as genuine, "I'll be fine, Alia. Thanks to you and Sabre, I have woken up."

The guardian nodded, "That's good to hear."

Alaric leaned against the wall, still failing to shake off the feeling that he'd been asleep for a very long time. His mouth was dry and his voice was hoarse, like the glands were just starting up again, "How long has it been?"

"It's been a week."

Alaric stared at her for a bit, his brain processing. 'A week… that's seven days. That's not possible.' He blinked a few times, then opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water before sighing, "You're not kidding, are you?"

The guardian shook her head gently.

With that, the boy ambled his way to the bathroom without another word. He took a bath, brushed his teeth and tinkered with nearly every accessory he could find in the room, sometimes putting the questionable ones in even more questionable places, like the weird comb-like clamp he used to clamp his lips shut(That hurt and he didn't do it again.)

The scents from the soaps he used lingered on his body, wafting fresh fruits and early morning dew everywhere he walked. The lotions were even better. When he came across the mirror, however, he froze.

His legs now awake, carrying him with exaggerated grace. He approached the mirror, curiosity burning in his eyes as he peered at the boy on the other side. His mind popped, 'What…'

The equally curious male who stared back at him through the mirror was no mere boy. This was a young man. Alaric could very well say he'd grown into a young man in the short time since the Appraisal Ceremony. His mind struggled to understand how a few levels through the Temper Ranks could have brought him to this state.

He was much taller than he remembered, and his face… well, his face was much more defined. He had a steady jawline and piercing green eyes that stunned even their owner if he stared too long. His skin was smooth and supple, nothing like he remembered it, and his hair had grown long and without any attention, and it sat on his head in messy curls. Surprisingly, the messy curls didn't blemish his appearance in the slightest. If anything, he looked 'okay' with messy hair.

'What's happening?'

A gentle chuckle filled the air, "Don't tell me you hadn't noticed."

Alaric continued staring.

His eyelashes were so pronounced that he could count them, and there wasn't a single scar on his face or body, for that matter. His green piercing eyes… were 'greener' and more 'piercing'—as his immature brain could describe them. He brought his hands up to his face and found that the callouses from training with a sword had long since vanished.

"I… I'd noticed but never taken the time to look at myself. I can barely recognise myself. Am I even supposed to look like this after spending a week unconscious?"

"Good question," his guardian responded, walking up behind him. She was a foot taller, so her face, partially hidden behind a helmet, could be seen above him, a smirk playing on her dark, pale lips. "You were treated well, so even though you slept so long, your body didn't lack anything. As for your looks, I liked you better when you were clueless."

Reaching for the table, she picked a comb and muttered a few words in the old tongue. Enchantments shattered, and the comb lost its golden shine, before she started untangling the mess Alaric had considered 'beautiful'.

"What was wrong with the comb?" The boy asked as he sat on a chair and tried not to complain while the guardian worked.

"It was going to make your hair shiny, and a little bit longer," she responded, "You don't need all that."

Moments later, he was staring at the mirror again, stunned for a second time. His dark hair had indeed grown longer, but now it cupped his face and made him unrecognisable. He needed a haircut, but even without it, he looked good.

"That's better." Alia placed down the comb and put her hands on his shoulders, "You must be starving."

The boy nodded vigorously.

Outside, Alaric was treated to the sight of a city bustling with life and activity. The wind blew through his hair with a playful tussle while the sun peeked over the clouds, casting a warm glow on the city that burned several degrees lower than it had a few moments ago, never once exposing Alaric to its fiery might. Several heads turned, instinctively spotting the cause of the sudden change.

Whispers and murmurs milled, but Alaric paid them no mind as he was preoccupied with taking in his surroundings. After all, right behind him was a seven-foot-tall black knight with pale grey skin, her beautiful face half-hidden behind a black helmet. She was just as much of an attraction as he was.

There was almost no sign of the debris left from the battle, except for a building not far off that was still undergoing reconstruction. Aether hummed while the men and women working on the building brought it closer to completion faster than any construction Alaric had ever witnessed.

After scanning for a bit, he got his bearings. They were in the streets of the higher echelons. Naturally, his eyes searched for a building that had been smashed by the explosion of aether and further demolished by a guardian in the form of a giant metallic centipede.

Standing three storeys high, the Sisters of Fragrance dominated the street with an overbearing air to it, completely restored with a fresh touch of cobblestone that made it look newer than Alaric remembered. Alaric's eyes widened, 'That was fast!'

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Magic, Alaric," his guardian answered nonchalantly, "You can do a lot with it, as I have told you before, including restoring a beat-up city. Add the power of a domain and an idle ring of aether practically begging to be used, and well… you get a city that's so easy to restore you might say it can heal itself."

Alaric furrowed his eyebrows, imagining potholes closing up like wounds did when exposed to Healing Elixirs. 'Where would the gravel, sand and stone be coming from? Where does the excess tissue come from when using a Healing Elixir? Am I thinking about this right?'His mind spiralled a bit.

Alia hid her smile as she led the boy down the street to a restaurant, before vanishing inside his shadow, [ You remember this place, don't you? ]

[ Yeah. ] Alaric could still remember the restaurant from his first days in Melbourne. It was the one with expensive food; the place where he'd met Yusa face-to-face and had an awkward conversation.

He walked in, took the same seat he'd taken back then, and looked outside the window.

Not a second passed by before a waiter came to take his order, fumbling with the notepad in her hands, "S-sir, w-what would you like to eat, sir?"

'Sir?' Alaric wondered. He'd never been referred to as 'sir' before. He didn't mind it, though, so he made his order and returned to staring out the window, his attention drawn elsewhere.

He'd never paid attention before, but a large structure built entirely out of metal, barricaded by an even thicker metal wall humming with aether, could be seen from where he was sitting. Everything about it screamed 'security'.

[ That's the orphanage, isn't it? ] Alaric noted.

[ How did you know? ] Alia asked.

[ Sister Marla didn't hide the secret of child abductions from us. Fortunately for us, the Five Hills are so remote that no one dares to come there. There were security measures placed in the Magical barriers she set up for the village, but that was about it. ] Alaric explained.

[ Clever woman. ] Alia noted.

Alaric nodded in reply. He was still too weak to look through his vines and observe every inch of the city, but then again, he didn't feel the need to. His gut hadn't flared up at all, which meant he was safe. The feeling was nowhere near the kind of safety he'd felt in the Jack's Fall, but it was something.

'The city is thriving,' he thought to himself.

[ It's more than that, 'Melbourne' is now a name etched into the Continent. It's recognized by Aether Beasts and has been marked by the Old Tongue. The Purified Zone doesn't hold Aether Beasts anymore. There are, however, plenty of Aether Crystals. The eight Cataclysts were a bit excessive, so the excess aether from the ring you created was condensed in the woods after it had been used to kill demons and aid construction. The Holy Barrier is back up, along with an S-grade Concealment Barrier for me to move around freely. Did I mention construction is moving faster than ever? ]

[ You did. ] Alaric smiled, [ What about the demons? The ones Taran said were attacking merchants. ]

[ Gone! ] She answered, [ Guildmaster Schiller led a raid to kill all the demons hiding in the woods between here and Flinstone's Quarry and other nearby towns, but they found nothing. Not a trace of Dark Aether. It was like they vanished as soon as the Matriarch awakened her domain. ]

"Mind if I sit with you?" a feminine voice yanked Alaric out of his thoughts.

He looked up to see a woman dressed in a green gown. Her hair fell down her shoulders like golden rivers of silk, too shiny to be natural—it reminded Alaric of the comb his guardian had messed with before combing his hair that morning. Her beauty made him hold his breath while also reminding him of who she was.

Alaric shook his head, "Not at all." As she sat, he fought to get her name from a dusty corner of his memory, "Seisha… no, Leisha… Something with an L."

"Layla," the woman corrected.

"Thank you… And that was embarrassing," Alaric responded with a nervous smile, his face heating up. 'Have I ever told you how intimidating this woman is?' Alaric sent a thought to his guardian.

[ It's the first I'm hearing of it. ] Alia giggled, [ Layla or Darla? ] Alaric turned several shades redder before Layla started talking again.

"I'll allow it this once. The local hero cannot be expected to remember the names of every peasant he happens by," she spoke, a little too elegantly. Snapping her fingers lightly, the waiter rushed forward to serve her a few drinks. Unlike Alaric, Layla was a lot more comfortable with the establishment.

The drinks were brought over without her giving an order and poured feverishly by a timid waiter who wouldn't look her in the eye. Alaric normally didn't take note of such, but this… [ The waiter's 'extra' nervous. ]

[ Something tells me Layla is not here to discuss the weather. ] Alia whispered into Alaric's mind.

Even so, she made a point to savour the first sip of her drink before speaking. Alaric's food arrived as well, along with a glass of juice he was grateful to have.

He'd just taken the first bite of the amazingly good food when Layla started speaking, "I spoke with the Alchemist Thai. He had quite a few things to say about you. All these ideas you have about using his prodigy to make some kind of fortune for yourself."

Alaric finished chewing before answering, "If I had known the old man's tongue was that loose, I would have paid for his silence."

"I would have paid higher," the woman winked, her dark brown eyes sparking with the kind of intrigue and deviousness that would make anyone squirm, "Don't fret. I'm not a bad person, or at least, I'd like to think that."

"You're not a bad person," Alaric shrugged, "Bad people make my skin crawl."

The woman opened her mouth to speak, then hesitated, thinking over her words before brushing off Alaric's nonchalant comment, "In any case, I have a deal for you. I'd like you to bring your products to me. I work for a group that runs a chain of Auction Houses in multiple cities all over East Valeria."

"There you are, Alaric. Did you have to leave the inn as soon as you woke up? I was afraid you'd skipped town," a male voice suddenly pitched in. Alaric stopped eating and turned to see Finn, his face lighting up with glee.

Behind Finn was a dark-skinned boy he vaguely remembered, and didn't care to look at as he jumped out of his seat and hugged his friend, almost tackling him to the floor, "Finn! You're still here?!!!"

"I wasn't going to leave until we spent some time together," Finn replied with a smile before turning to glare at Layla, "I already work for an Auction House, Miss Layla. So find some other adventurer to swindle. This one's taken."

The room went silent at Finn's comment as their surroundings dropped in temperature. The drink in Layla's cup froze into a block as a plastic smile played at her lips. Murmurs could be heard milling through the people inside, most of them criticising Finn for making such a stupid mistake.

"And you are?" Layla answered with a brilliant smile. The ice in her glass crackled, mirroring the emotions brewing inside her.

It was only then that Alaric thought to check the woman's Temper Rank… 'White… She's strong.'

"The name's Finn," the sandy-haired boy answered, unfazed. "Alaric's best friend. We go way back, and if anyone's going to be telling him where to sell his products, that will be me."

"How sweet! You must have known coming here that I won't back down," Layla bit back, "So what makes you think you can…"

"Can we continue this another time?" Alaric suddenly interfered, sliding back into his seat, "I have been asleep for a long time, and I am starving."

Layla, who was just getting ready to eviscerate Finn, gave a polite smile and with it, the air returned to normal temperature, "Of course. My deepest apologies!"

With that, she stood and left. The two boys sat across from Alaric with Finn practically shivering, "I thought she would stab me… with her bare hand."

Brett laughed, "That's what you get for pissing of an Upper Wood Rank. I heard the Lotus Auction House, where she works, has the tightest security… and a tendency to kill people who misbehave during their auctions."

Alaric furrowed his eyebrows, "She doesn't seem like that… sort of person."

"Is that what your gut tells you?" Finn asked. When Alaric nodded, he took another look at the golden locks belonging to Layla seated at the other end of the restaurant, "Then either we're missing some information or the kinds of people she kills deserve it… like that guy from last week."

Alaric's mind whirled in search of the guy Finn was talking about when Brett whistled from behind the menu he was holding up, "Finn?! You didn't tell me your friend has deep pockets."

Finn shrugged, "It's only natural for a Keeper-Candidate. Order whatever you want to eat. I'll pay."

"You?" the dark-skinned boy threw a raised eyebrow Finn's way.

"Yeah," Finn answered, "It's the least I could do for dragging you around the whole week."

Brett shook his head, "No way! I know you've got something going on at the Clover Auction House, but last I checked, the White Faction spit you out as soon as pretty boy here failed to show."

"They did," Finn chuckled, "and I had to work four times as hard as everyone else to make it this far."

Alaric instinctively scanned Finn's hands. Unlike his, they had callouses worse than what he used to have.

He didn't need Spirit Sight to see that his friend was weak in regards to Temper Rank. Despite all that, however, the boy had grown in different ways, and Alaric could see them. His voice was commanding, almost ready to pounce on those who crossed him, and his shoulders retained a slight tension they never had before.

It took a unique kind of mental fortitude to stand up to someone like Layla without having a sufficient Temper Rank, and Finn had achieved exactly that.

"How is the Academy?" Alaric asked, suddenly curious.

Finn gave a withering smile, "It's not exactly what we were told. The important parts remain valid. We can get information at the Academy regarding the Demon King, but even then, it's not so easy to get that information. Not to mention, the Academy doesn't work the way we thought it did.

The guardian-based discrimination runs deeper than anything I've ever seen. Cadets with weak guardians get tossed aside, and if nothing changes, they get expelled. Meanwhile, those with powerful guardians are put in the spotlight for all to see. Heroes of mankind, they call them. You'd love it there. They would treat you like a king."

Alaric smiled, "And I would drag you along with me like I did at the Tower."

Finn chuckled, calling over the waiter to take their orders, "The Tower got me to the Academy, and there were a few Seekers there who were good to me. But other than that, it's been hard. For what it's worth, I'm grateful that you got me into the Tower of Seekers."

Alaric smiled and said, "You're welcome." Yet as he turned his attention back to his food, he felt his stomach twist with guilt. He might have helped his friend with the resources of the Tower, but that hadn't been enough.

"I know that look," Finn sighed, "So let me rephrase myself. What you did for me made the difference between surviving and failing. Life's been hard, but that was always going to be the case. If it wasn't for you, it would have been unbearable."

"You mean that?" Alaric raised a brow.

"Of course, I do," Finn wrapped a hand around Alaric's and gave it a gentle squeeze, "Now, I have lots of stories. My best, however, are from the Battle of Earl's Hollow. Forget that nonsense you used in your cover story as Alistair. I have first-hand information. The good stuff."

"People died in that attack?" Alaric asked.

"Pfft! Of course, people died," Finn answered, "It was one of the ugliest demon stampedes in history. Big enough to put what we faced here to shame. The Academy had to deploy five whole Squads and all available cadets to deal with the situation."

Alaric's plate was almost empty by this time, and yet, he was still very hungry, so when the waiter came to check on them, Alaric asked for a second serving, doing his best to ignore the look on Brett's face as he casually asked for a second serving of a meal priced too high to be legal.