The Guardians' Legacy

— It's over! There's nothing left to do, Colth. — said the boy, holding back tears as he watched his friend dig with his own hands the rubble of his own house in despair.

— No, no. Don't do this to me, Nya. — His hands were already completely bruised and bloody, but even so, he refused to stop searching.

Fueled by adrenaline and the anguish of seeing his sister buried under her own roof, Colth continued to remove stone by stone, brick by brick, from that pile of rubble that summed up his life and his dreams.

— Mommy... — the little girl in the background shook her mouth in tears as she broke away from her unrecognizable uncle.

— Stop it, Colth. You're scaring Agnes. — His friend approached the pitiful scene.

The sound of nearby explosions and the war of a single force surrounded the surroundings. The sparsely urban landscape no longer seemed so familiar after so much accumulated ash. He continued not to care.

— Colth! — shouted his friend, putting his hands on the frantic man's shoulders and pulling him with all his strength back to reality. — Stop it! We need to get out of here. Now!

— Let me go, Goro! — He pushed his closest friend hard.

— I already told you to listen to me...

 Before the boy could repeat his warning, he was hit by a sudden punch from Colth. With his right hand tightly clenched and in a rage, the younger man didn't even think about his actions; his blow hit Goro square in the face, drawing blood and almost sending him to the ground.

— Uncle Colth? — The little girl had never seen such savagery from that gentle man.

She accumulated her fears and could not bear the pressure. The child ran away quickly down the auxiliary street of what, until yesterday, was the residential neighborhood of the small, peaceful town where she spent her sweet childhood.

— Wait, Agnes! — Goro called for the girl's courage, but was not heard. He turned to his friend, his jaw still aching, and reproved him with the worst of looks. — Look what you did, Colth. Are you happy?

“Go after her.” He practically shrugged. “I’ll keep digging and looking for the…”

— No! You won't! — he ordered with impetus and energy like never before. — If we don't get out of here now...

Too late. A burst of energy violently hit the surroundings. More ash and debris were thrown up. The impact was so close and destructive that the heat could be heard in the surroundings. Dust spread through the air and made it difficult to see the sun itself.

— Damn. What is this? — Colth asked between choking on the dust.

— I don't know, but it sounds different from an explosion from army cannons.

As the thin mist of dust began to dissipate, something caught the attention of the two. A shadow, or rather, a human silhouette began to approach from the middle of that explosion of energy.

The two looked at each other, wondering how anyone could survive such violence. Even if they had been a few meters closer to the impact, they would have been completely pulverized.

They froze in astonishment and were even more surprised when they could see the figure's face. A beautiful woman in a noble red and black dress with long sleeves and silver hair that would stand out anywhere, even more so here, in the middle of a war field.

“You two there!” he said arrogantly. “Where’s the girl from the prediction?”

—Prediction? —Colth asked cluelessly.

— Don't play dumb... — The woman interrupted her words when she noticed something in the air. She stuck her nose up and let her nostrils receive the stench of the environment. — That smell. It's the same smell as the girl's blood. — She concluded her judgment when she observed the boy's hands dripping with the red liquid.

— What is this woman talking about? — Goro said impatiently.

— I'll give you one last chance. — He raised the tip of his nose again, this time to show superiority. — Answer me. Where is the girl?

— I don't know what you...

“As guardian of Rubrum, I command you to speak.” She interrupted Colth’s lost words nonchalantly.

— Red?

The woman wasted no more time. From one of the sleeves of her dress, she took out a small blade, as small as a butter knife, but enough to make the other two at least a little anxious. She pointed it at the palm of her other hand.

She didn't hesitate, she pierced her own skin without remorse, blood flowing as she reveled in the pain and caused the observers to feel a sense of fearful discomfort.

—What the hell is she doing? — Goro whispered.

He drew the blade and, his hand completely red, pointed the cut on his palm at Colth.

He, in turn, just took a step back, surprised by the act, and before he could understand what was happening, he was surprised again.

In front of the woman's hand stretched out in the air, blood began to accumulate in a completely bizarre way. The liquid seemed alive and did not obey any laws of physics.

Suspended in the air, the accumulated blood began to move and take different shapes until it solidified with an aggressive appearance, something like a stake the size of a small sword, making the two boys widen their eyes and fear what was to come.

The tip of the stake, made entirely of blood, was pointed at only one target: Colth. He was startled by such strangeness and fell silent, expressing his apprehension.

— If you're not going to be useful to me, your blood will be. — she said decisively. She prepared herself and shouted with attitude: — Disincarnate!

The blood stake trembled at a frequency that was not uniform, and as soon as the woman screamed her desire, the object was shot like an arrow. It quickly cut through the air towards the confused boy. There was nothing else he could do. He felt the piercing of his body before the tip of the abnormal weapon even reached him.

— Ahhh!!! — He woke up screaming.

Panting, he searched, placing his hands on his chest. He found nothing different and forced himself to calm down. He finally realized where he was.

In the passenger carriage of the train that was steaming along as it sped through the big city, Colth was judged by the uncomfortable looks of the other passengers.

— It was just a dream. Just a dream... — he whispered to himself, buying his own peace of mind as he settled into the wooden bench next to other travelers.

— What a weird guy. — complained an old man in a top hat.

— Sorry... — he felt embarrassed and shrank into his chair, still being the target of everyone's gaze. — Sorry.

“What a perfect time to have a nightmare.” He thought, embarrassed, and quickly tried to forget about it all. He used the beautiful cityscape outside the train window to do so.

— What a busy city... — he was delighted.