Odyssey of the Guardian Emperor

The waiter took their orders(Brett, Finn and Alaric's second serving), and left to have the food brought to them while Finn went on about the demons he'd fought in the stampede on Earl's Hollow. Alaric understood that it was all small talk to speak of these experiences, but he found Finn's stories more entertaining than he'd expected and strangely insightful.

"…Something shifted, and I could feel it. The snake demon took one look at my Mongoose stance—which I'd been practising, by the way—and he just turned tail and ran… jumped straight out through this big hole in the roof. He was so spooked that he forgot everything, severed arm and all. He just wanted to survive. So, there I was, eyes locked on my fleeing target with poison coursing through my veins. It burned like hell, Alaric… but I wasn't about to let myself die, so I put all my training on the line and took the leap," Finn narrated.

"Did you kill it?" Alaric nearly stood up in his seat, captivated by the tale.

"Oh, hell ya. That demon knew what it had coming. Why else would it try so hard to get away? Sadly, I doubt it felt the moment I severed its head. The poison stopped burning after that," Finn explained before launching into yet another epic tale, this one about a tentacled demon in a basement, trapped with a civilian.

The stories kept flowing, proof that Finn had fought a myriad of monsters, mostly within his range of expertise, owing most of his victories to the Dance of the Sword and quick thinking. It was a while before the conversation stalled, and Alaric turned to Finn's companion.

Brett and Finn seemed close despite the obvious difference in their power. Even with the dark-skinned boy's impressive presence, Finn didn't look intimidated in the slightest. Alaric gave the dark-skinned boy a long, hard look.

"Not everything is as it seems." He quoted.

Brett looked up from his food, turned his head left and right just to make sure Alaric wasn't talking to someone else, "Excuse me?"

"That's what my guardian told me when we saw you getting exposed by that man at the Appraisal ceremony," Alaric answered, "While everyone called you a thief, myself included, she pointed out your beat-up clothes and calloused hands. Your shoes were dirty, and I could tell your clothes were wet. I wouldn't have imagined you'd become friends with Finn, though."

Now that Alaric wasn't trying to beat a Dark Mage, he recognised the boy in front of him. This was most definitely the same 'thief' they'd seen back then.

Brett smirked and held out his hand for Alaric to shake, "The name's Brett, and there is no way I'm Finn's friend. Not with the way he's been dragging me across Melbourne like some bodyguard."

Alaric cracked a smile, "Still the same Finn, then."

Brett's mouth hung open with a gasp, "Wait! He used to do the same to you?"

Finn jumped in, "Hey! Don't make me the bad guy! Alaric went along with everything Darla and I wanted to do back then. Even then, he always looked like he was having fun, sometimes even more than we did. I only noticed that when I reached the Academy, though."

Alaric shook his head, "Don't listen to Finn. He was always looking for ways to get us into trouble. Can you believe he once got us to chase down all the lost cats in the village just so we could make a few coppers?"

"I've heard that one from General Darla before," Brett laughed.

"And we made a ton of coppers," Finn grinned, "Those were good times."

Alaric rolled his eyes, "Good times, indeed. Especially for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ignoring Finn's suspicious gaze, Alaric turned to Brett, "What you probably don't know is that Finn got us into that trouble because he wanted Sister Marla to heal the scratches."

Brett's eyes widened. "She's that pretty?"

Finn's eyes went wide, but he said nothing.

"She is," a soft laugh escaped Alaric's lips before he ruffled his friend's sandy-brown hair, "It sucks that I only noticed your attraction to her after we got separated."

Finn's face had turned a light shade of red, his attention completely glued to the food in front of him. Quietly, he mumbled, "You never play fair."

Alaric shrugged, "Never stopped you from challenging me to duels."

Finn didn't reply to this. The silence spoke more than words could. Spirit Sight caught his Temper Rank faster than anyone Alaric had ever appraised before. Finn was sporting a measly Level Three of the Glass Rank.

Finn was at the bottom of the food chain among the students at the Academy. Having a B-rank guardian and high proficiency in the Dance of the Sword should have placed him ahead of so many his age, so his Temper Rank wouldn't have mattered. Except that Alaric noticed a look that crossed his face every once in a while.

Alaric had known Finn too long not to see it. His eyes would go dark suddenly, losing all hope and happiness. For a split second, they'd turn into endless pools of darkness from which hope could never emerge.

It was a look Alaric had seen before, in Aslan's memories. It was the same expression LionHeart had worn all too often as he struggled to pull his weight in a place he was not equipped to operate in.

"Finn, what aren't you telling me?" Alaric asked gently.

Alaric had seen himself in the mirror that morning and was stunned by his appearance. It wasn't the same for Finn. The sandy-haired boy had barely changed. His hair was longer and just as messy as it had been back in the Five Hills. His shoulders were tense and his aether flowed through his body constantly, as if on edge. On his innocent face, though, he bore faint scars. Alaric could feel the stories behind each one and knew there were probably more on his body.

"You tell me," Finn turned to Alaric, eyes glistening with unshed tears, "You're the Great One my guardian's been talking about for weeks now. I don't know what that means, but, apparently, you do. So tell me, what's wrong with him?"

Alaric furrowed his eyebrows. "Your guardian said what?"

"He said you're the Great One. I don't know what that means, but you should know how to fix what happened to him," Finn repeated. Alaric's heart skipped a beat.

'I… did something to Finn's guardian?' he tried to catch up. What was happening here?

[ Not necessarily. ] Alia pitched in to stop Alaric's spiralling thoughts.

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

Brett, noticing the confusion on Alaric's face, pitched in, "Finn's guardian has been stuck in a weird state for a while now. At first, he could summon him, but as time went on, the guardian grew more unreliable until it became impossible to summon him at all. He was just about to be picked by a squad at the time. Right now, all they can do is communicate, but just barely."

"Oh. That's… what you mean." Alaric nodded, still half-confused.

"And from what his guardian has told him, he needed to find the 'Great One', and that only he would know what to do, and now that actually makes sense. If Guardian Emperor doesn't rhyme with Great One, I don't know what does," Brett explained.

Alaric nodded in understanding. The boy's logic was sound, even though Alaric himself had no idea how to solve this problem: "Alright, I'll take a look."

Finn raised an eyebrow at his friend, "You have that kind of power?"

Alaric scrunched his face, "I'm… still figuring it out. I found out where Darth's guardian went. Remember how she vanished so suddenly and Darth tried to, you know, kill me?"

"Yeah, it was freaky. It got LionHeart all messed up," Finn responded, "If there is even the slightest chance that you can help me, then I'm all for it, and if you need more time, we can do it another time."

"Let's try later today. Perhaps in a Tempering Chamber. I haven't used one in such a long time," Alaric replied.

***

Finn and Brett were treated to the unusual sight of a strikingly handsome young man barreling through one plate after another until a stack of six plates stood in front of him, neatly piled—as it had become his unconscious habit to stack an empty plate on top of his growing pile each time he finished it.

Somehow, Alaric managed to appear as though he was eating elegantly, yet even that was not enough to hide this wolfish appetite. The waiter approached the table with a wide smile, "Would you like me to bring you another, sir?"

"No, that would be too expensive, even for him," Finn butted in.

Alaric looked between Finn and the plates in front of him before going pale, "Crap! I forgot about the bill. How much is it?"

The woman giggled, "Oh, don't worry, sir. It's on the house. Is there anything else you'd like?"

Brett whipped his attention to the woman and slid between her and Alaric, "Pause! Ours too? Are… Are our meals on the house?"

"Yes," the woman flashed a smile, before it faded away in realisation of her mistake.

A few moments later, the table was filled with a wider assortment of foods and drinks, dwarfing anything Alaric could put away at least five times over. On one side of that heap of food were two Academy students unceremoniously wolfing down dishes they couldn't pronounce with no reservation whatsoever.

"What was this clammy thing called again?" Brett asked while yanking a chunk of meat off a bone.

"I can't remember," Finn replied between slurps of a delicious stew, "Souffle de something along those lines."

'What's so familiar about this?' Alaric thought to himself.

[ Jack's Fall. ] Alia chimed in with a hearty laugh.

And like that, Alaric watched with amused attention as these two boys drowned in a world of delicious high-class food. Their table got odd stares, and the waiter made a point to keep her distance when she walked by them.

An inhumanly large section of the food was eaten, crammed into two individuals who, suspiciously, hadn't been hungry before.

Alaric watched until both Brett and Finn were leaning over the edge of the table, panting from stuffing themselves with food. Seeing how full they were, he reached out for a cake at the centre, "I think I can keep the rest for…"

A hand landed on his, stopping him in his tracks.

Looking up, Alaric saw a dark-skinned boy grinning at him, "You don't need to trouble yourself with small matters, Great One. I'm sure I can find the right place to put all of this away."

Finn shook his head, "The 'right place' he's talking about is his stomach."

"Noted," Alaric backed off.

Brett, drunk on food, then proceeded to toss all the untouched food into a ring he was wearing on his finger. Finn lazily reached for a roll of bread stuffed with crushed meat, only for Brett to snatch it out of reach, "Don't get greedy, Sword Dancer."

The sandy-haired boy rolled his eyes and turned away with a huff, "Don't call me that."

It was as though a bell had just gone off in Alaric's brain. One glare from Finn and his mouth remained shut, but there was more than one way to ask for details. The group made it to the exit as Alaric hovered around the sandy-haired boy, staring at him intensely. He said nothing, but his eyes said it all. He was curious. He wanted to know.

Finn groaned loudly, "Ugh! Would you let it go already? The Dance of the Sword is unheard of, okay?"

"I know, but did revealing the name get you that nickname?" Alaric asked.

"No. Practising the Dance of the Swan with a bunch of bullies watching me did," Finn growled, "Now, if you're done questioning me, could we go? Melbourne is large, and I would like to see as much of it as possible before we have to leave."

"Like Jack's Fall?" Alaric asked.

"Exactly like Jack's Fall," Finn answered, and with that, their day started. Alaric didn't mind a tour. He actually sort of needed the walk.

He'd been awake a few hours now, and his mind was starting to catch up. Just a week ago, he'd fought a Dark Mage of the Steel Rank and nearly lost his life. Much had happened before that, but he was still trying to piece that together in a gentle way. A walk through town was exactly what he needed to let his memories unravel before taking any serious decisions about what he wanted to do next.

Aside from that, Alaric wanted to see how the city was faring and get Finn's side of the story. They'd already been talking for an hour, and yet, there was still more to catch up on.

Finn had a lot to tell Alaric, tales he'd been saving up ever since leaving the Five Hills on the back of a massive stingray. There were concepts Alaric was unfamiliar with like Brett's 'squad' and the fact that Finn was a cadet while Darla was a general.

Finn told Alaric of how he'd reached Melbourne. The meeting with Aiden, Brett and Darla. The tip Darla had been given by the Tower. The state he, along with Brett, had found the City in. The barrier the Dark Mage sprang up to stop their evacuation and nullify all traces of Holy Magic, keeping them safe. The Battle against the demons and the events leading up to their meeting.

Alaric got to hear of the heroics of Sariah, Scarlet, Lucy and a man and woman with white and golden hair—individuals Alaric knew were Heaven-Crested Eagles. These five individuals had dropped into the commotion and turned the tide of the battle in an instant. Without meaning to, they'd given Finn and Brett the opening to head back inside the city to find Alaric.

Alaric could tell Finn and Brett weren't aware that the pair of Slayers with bright-coloured hair were actually demihumans. According to them, Kair'ak and Grun'am were still in Melbourne, sticking around for reasons Alaric could probably guess.

'The High Sentinel's offer,' Alaric thought to himself.

[ Highly likely. You never did tell them whether you're going back to the Barren Mountains or not. ]

The trio visited the market, the Purification Tower, and the Orphanage, which turned out to be far more intimidating than what Alaric had initially assumed. Turrets stood from inside the walls, containing archers armed with powerful armaments. A barrier easily came up as well, reacting to anyone 'unusual.' The children inside, however, were treated to everything they could need and even taught some basics on how to fight as they prepared themselves for the Appraisal Ceremony.

Aside from the sites to see, Melbourne was healing fast. Repairs were almost complete. Alaric found the city walls, roads and buildings were undergoing the last of the repairs and that security at the gates seemed much looser. Even more than that, decorations were being put up all over the city. Lanterns and ribbons hung on shops and homes.

'This is starting to feel more and more like Jack's Fall,' the boy mentally groaned.

"Is there somewhere you want to go, Alaric?" Finn asked Alaric when they'd visited almost everything. The trio had managed to make their way around the city and were now seated at an outdoor table linked to a restaurant. A large umbrella hung over them while they were having a delicious serving of roasted meat from the temporary restaurant setup outside, decorated so much that it looked like it had been soaked in lanterns and ribbons.

Brett, unsurprisingly, was getting ready to dive in when Alaric said, "I'd like to visit Sariah's."

The two boys went silent, putting the food away in preparation for the conversation ahead of them, "Right. The slayer, who was a former member of the Hurricane Oaks."

"Yeah, exactly," Alaric beamed, "You've met her."

"Yeah… sort of. LionHeart told us about her, but something didn't add up. Did you know that Sariah is not her real name?" Finn searched Alaric's gaze.

"I remember something about that," Alaric responded with a frown. He'd only recently learned the significance of names. It was the reason he couldn't carelessly name his clone. Thinking back on it now, several things resurfaced. Sariah's home was inaccessible, guarded by a spell that made it impossible for her enemies to find and add her name to the equation: "She's in hiding, too."

"It might be worse than that," Brett sighed, "I looked into these Hurricane Oaks at Finn's request. Most of the written information about them has been destroyed, and the few who still remember them either don't know their names or want nothing to do with the investigation. That's all I could find out from this city alone, though."