Odyssey of the Guardian Emperor

A pang of numbness struck Alaric's body, a hellish scream echoing through his mind before everything went black. Then, he plummeted, weightless, through an endless void; he slammed onto a jagged, unyielding surface. A vicious headache teamed up with overwhelming vertigo to keep him down, and yet he forced himself up. With a groan, his eyes flew open, and the sight before him seized his breath.

The land he'd crashed onto was covered in a glossy coating of metal. He knew this because it was simply impossible to believe any place could be made entirely out of metal. And littered all around him were trees covered in the same metallic sheen, frozen still, never to sway in the wind again. At most, the gentle wind sang through the mass of frozen leaves and branches, filling the alien land with a gentle metallic hum.

But this tranquillity was deceptive. Alaric noticed signs of life—and not the good kind. These were traces of a battle, shattered trees, crushed metallic leaves, and dented stems broke the tranquillity of the humming forest in random blots of destruction. The metallic coating wasn't complete either, covering large chunks of the land and leaving a few gaps through which rich dark soil, soft green grass and leaves peeked.

Nearby, a lake expanded out, its surface entombed beneath a thick layer of metal, the water now trapped beneath it to be forgotten. His eyes darted past the lake to the sky above. The clouds were too close, and the reason for that was obvious, too.

Chained across a vast sky were islands intertwined in a convoluted web of chains.

Alaric wasn't sure what he was looking at. This world was too alien for his tame imagination. Ignoring his headache, he walked over to the lake and crouched down to check it out. The metal surface was smooth, unyielding, and cold to the touch. Aether pulsed from his surroundings, including the lake, confirming Alaric's suspicions.

There was no doubt about it. He'd entered Finn's realm in the In-Between. The only problem was that there was no harmony here, only chaos—not as shattered as Lucy's realm, but unmistakably broken.

A sudden clatter of chains snapped his attention upward. In the distance, an island shuddered, its links rattling like a warning. Alaric frowned, muttering, "Don't tell me I have to walk on those."

He ventured to the edge of the island, staring at the massive chains dangling and shaking over what looked like a massive white abyss. Aside from the sky, clouds and chained islands, this realm looked and felt incomplete.

Simply looking down made his head throb and his vertigo worse. 'What happens if I fall?' he thought to himself, stepping back from the edge. He sank to the ground, watching the distant island quake, its underside trembling.

Perhaps if he waited long enough, the beings on that island would eventually get bored and decide to revisit this island. But with countless islands suspended in this strange realm, they could just as easily move elsewhere. Waiting for the inhabitants of this realm to return to this island was a waste of time, and time was something Alaric didn't have, considering the meeting with LionHeart and the others in an hour.

With a resigned sigh, he steeled himself and crawled onto one of the chains. He clung to it like a sloth gripping a branch, inching forward with agonising caution. It was a slow process, but it guaranteed his safety. Still, he gripped so tightly he wondered if he'd snap the chain before reaching the other side.

A few minutes later, sweat starting to wet his palms and bead his forehead, he craned his neck to look at the length of chain he still had to crawl along. His thoughts rumbled in his head, 'What was that thing Alia said about the In-Between? Travel is all about will. She made it sound so simple,' he thought to himself, 'As if I could just magically appear on that island over there… could I?'

As soon as he entertained this possibility, he vanished, reappearing mid-air above the island. He crashed onto the sand with a painful thud, sprawling on his side.

'Ouch!' he winced, scrambling to his feet. One look around this island and he drew a heavy sigh, 'Of course this one's different.'

He put a hand over his eyes and looked up at a scorching sun, 'How's the sun hotter?'

Rather than the cool, tranquil forest with a lake in the middle, this one was a sprawling desert, stretching for kilometres. And just like the last island, this one was littered with metal everywhere, its sand pocked with chaotic patches of metal, like explosions frozen mid-blast. The island shook again, and Alaric saw dust rise in the distance.

Alaric sprinted toward it, the sun searing his skin. Soon, he skidded to a halt atop a dune, gaping at a battle unfolding below. Two giants, each towering at least five meters, clashed with earth-shaking ferocity, their weapons unleashing forces that threatened to tear the island from its chains.

A blue-skinned woman dressed in lacy clothes reinforced with light armour made of living, flowing metal, floated from one dune to another. She wielded a sceptre that fired blinding orbs of light. The blasts, deftly dodged or swatted aside by her opponent, exploded on impact, transforming sand into rivers of molten metal that hardened into majestic, terrifying sculptures—plumes like those Alaric had seen before.

These showers of light, expertly dodged or knocked back by her opponent, blew up when they hit the stand, turning everything into a river of metal that froze within seconds, forming a majestic yet terrifying sculpture, much like the plumes of metal Alaric had seen earlier.

Her opponent was a horned, beefy knight dressed in armour that barely fit his large body, covered in rocks and scales, while wielding a steel mallet. He attacked with no reservation and brought lava to life with every swing of his mallet. The sand melted with each swing, and rivers of magma flowed only to be turned to solid metal by his enemy.

Alaric had never seen or imagined anything like it, and it made his blood quiver.

"So you're not merged?" he yelled out loud.

The burly gladiator stopped mid-swing to look at the source of the voice. As soon as the two guardians saw him, the anger and rivalry withered from their faces, and they began to fumble awkwardly in a fit to save face. The female wiped the sweat off her brow and straightened the lacy parts of her outfit before following the gladiator's lead and dropping to one knee with her head bowed, "My Lord! We didn't realise…"

Alaric, still panting from his sprint, didn't care for their formalities. The sun was roasting him, and he craved water. At least his headache was fading. His mind wandered, puzzling over how one island could be a blazing inferno while another was cool and serene. This place was maddening.

"Bah, forget it," he said, waving them off. "I'm here to help Finn."

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"You're here to take away one of us," the beefy gladiator said. His speech was slow, heavy and simple, but each word was laced with conviction. "I propose a duel to the death to decide who stays as the boy's protector."

"Barbaric musclehead!" the female fumed, the living metal armour rippling wildly as she glared, "Is battle all you think about?"

"It was all he ever thought about before you started putting ideas in his head? Who cares about a boy who can turn salt to sugar?" the gladiator spat. Their argument wasn't just about protecting Finn. It ran deeper, rooted in their very nature. The two guardians were different on fundamental levels, making harmony next to impossible.

Alaric watched this back and forth for a bit before raising his hands for them to stop, "I came here to do one of two things. Either to take one of you away or to find a way he could keep the two of you."

"That has never been done before and is against the rules of the Continent. Only you can wield more than one guardian, Your Majesty," the female said, keeping her head down as she did. Alaric pursed his lips, trying his best to ignore being called 'Your Majesty.' It was so jarring that he almost forgot to listen to what she was saying.

"I know that… but I also know it's not fair for Finn to have his dreams taken from him just because he's ambitious," Alaric responded, "So, I would like him to follow his ambitions as an Alchemist without losing the power to fight. I know Finn. He's probably been working just as hard on becoming an Alchemist as he's pushed himself to become a good Slayer. It would be a crime to deny him the fruits of labour."

The two guardians remained silent, keeping their heads down as though they were awaiting punishment. When it seemed as though they wouldn't speak, the female guardian raised her head a little, "If I may…"

The boy nodded, green eyes narrowing, "Let's hear it."

"You could transfer some of this brute's power to me, then I'd be more than capable of faring better in battle. Right now, my ability to spawn metals can only help him because of his ability to transmute, but with more power, he'd have access to more aether, and that translates to a lot of things," the guardian spoke.

"That's devious of you, metal witch," the gladiator hissed, his hand travelling to the handle of the mallet resting at his side.

"And yet you do not disagree," the blue woman replied with a small smirk. Even after seeing what should have been a threat, she edged the gladiator on, her sceptre close by.

The rocky guardian growled, gripping the mallet even tighter, "A guardian's job is to guide and protect. I am not a fool."

The blue-skinned woman grinned, "You can think? That's news to me."

The big guy ignored the jab and turned to Alaric, "Just so you know, I do not want my power stripped. I would be of greater help on the battlefield, but I would also be lying if I said I could help with Alchemy."

Alaric stared at the two guardians, then rubbed his temples. 'I need to sit down.'

At this thought, the sand behind him swirled and fashioned an opulent chair on which he sat. Unwilling to investigate how the chair had been made, a long sigh kicked off the gears in his head, sending him into a spiral of thoughts.

What use was his Will now if he couldn't merge guardians? The more he thought about it, though, the weirder it sounded.

What sort of thing would merging guardians even bring? Maybe he had this all wrong. It was like saying, 'If only he could merge Scarlett or Lucy.' It was either one or the other. 'Either one or… That's right. I had this all wrong from the start, huh,' his thoughts simmered down.

In the end, his friend really couldn't keep both guardians. Something like that just went against nature. Finn wants to be an Alchemist, and while alchemists don't fight as much as Slayers do, they remain crucial players in how Slayers obtain power. The boy let out yet another heavy sigh and locked eyes with the big guy, "I'm sorry, WorldHammer, you will join me in my realm, and BlueMercury will stay here."

WorldHammer, the large titan whose name Alaric had just uttered without any knowledge of how he knew it, bowed even lower, "If His Majesty wishes it, I will not fight it. A guardian's pride is in having a master to be proud of, a master who can grant them both an honourable death and an equally honourable welcome into the Spirit world." To the female guardian, he said, "BlueMercury, teach him well. I don't like you. You took my master from me when it was I who was born with him, but you also have what it takes to bring him honour. I will respect that."

Alaric stared at the pair with stars in his eyes. It was heartwarming to see WorldHammer take this like a champ, but his mind was spiralling, 'The Spirit World! And honourable death! This guy is dark! You just dodged a bullet, Finn.'

BlueMercury bowed in response and smiled, "I'll do my best to undo the brutish misconceptions you placed in his head. Alchemy is a delicate art, after all."

"Ugh. You make my stomach turn, woman," WorldHammer growled, flipping her off.

Alaric chuckled happily. This had gone even better than he'd assumed, "Now it was time to take WorldHammer away from Finn."

Reality stopped playing like a broken record before a pain struck him, tossing him out of the realm and right back into a colourful meadow. He landed on top of a large armoured creature, both of them groaning in pain, "Is this your realm, Your Majesty?"

Alaric rubbed his throbbing head as he crawled off the large guardian and landed on the cool ground, the tall stalks of grass towering over him while a gentle wind caressed his skin. It was nice to be gone from the desert island. Breathing deeply, he felt his heartbeat slow down. "Yes, WorldHammer, this is my piece of the In-Between."

A black puma came running towards them, "Alaric, where have you been? She's losing her mind and… and who is this?"

"Sabre, say hello to WorldHammer. WorldHammer, meet Sabre. The two of you should get along if you want me to sleep well," Alaric responded.

"I only respond to the strong. If this 'Sabre' wishes to have me submit, then she must do so in battle. Only then will I…"

"Not now." Alaric snapped at the large guardian, walking away whilst clutching his head, "I need to sleep."

Sabre shrank down to his size and licked the side of Alaric's face, "You don't look too good. Sit down."

They made their way to the shade under the tree on the small hill where Alaric lay down to rest. Unfortunately, his feelings of comfort only faded even faster as his body started heating up. 'What's happening?' he breathed.

"You need to circulate aether," Alia's voice filtered into his mind. He didn't notice when the knight appeared next to him, but he was grateful for her presence. Today, he'd used yet another facet of his power,r and while he still wasn't sure how it had worked, it had.

Now, however, he had to weather through whatever afflicted him. He couldn't tell what it was, but he found himself hesitant to leave the In-Between. "What happened?" he asked his guardian through the pain.

To him, everything was trembling, burning and extremely painful, but the world around him was still, even peaceful. If anything, it was glowing with a pure aether and growing larger. He barely sensed it when it happened.

"You collapsed after touching those two guardians… and Kair'ak asked that we take you to the Tempering Chamber and bring an alchemist. Troy came with Master Thai. They're now feeding your body all kinds of bases and elixirs. Troy says it's not enough," Alia mentioned.

"Not enough?" The boy raised a tired eyebrow at the guardian.

"You're shooting through the Temper Ranks again, but without the right Stone pill, you'll bottleneck in the Wood Rank. Considering how fast your levels are rising, it's only a matter of time before the Bases and Elixirs are ineffective," Alia explained.

"What happens to me when I can't find the Stone Pill?" Alaric asked.

"According to Thai, without the Stone Pill, you'll wake up in the high-tier levels of the Wood Rank, which, trust me, is already a frightening achievement as it is, but you won't be able to climb up another level. You'll most likely bottleneck at Level Eight at this rate," Alia explained.

Alaric could feel the pain going down, but one thing remained evident. His aether channels continued to burn with aether, much like they had that time after fighting the demon at the Shimmering Creek.

"You've not told me everything, have you?" the boy sighed.

Alia stood and walked away as Alaric pulled himself up to lean against the large tree. It had grown even larger now, boasting a meter in diameter and casting a decent amount of shade on the master of the realm.

The breeze under it was relaxing, yet it wasn't enough to remove the gloom that hung in the air. "If we don't find the Stone Pill or at least an Alchemist with the skill to craft one, we're looking at your meridians bursting, like Troy's. Only this time, you'll need much more than a Storm Orb to get them fixed."

Alaric rubbed Sabre's fur, glad that she knew when to come close to him. At this point, it was a reflex. When news like this presented itself, it was nice to have a cuddly guardian to soothe him.

He'd heard the rough version of the situation, now one thought rang in his head.

"How much time do I have?"