Taking his usual afternoon walk around town Alden stumbled across a strange object on the ground.

“What's this? It looks like a ring?” Alden wondered aloud as he paused to observe the object.

Alden was another seemingly average boy, in the same average town, with the same boring life, just like anyone else, or so he thought. He dressed in his own unique style, and was sarcastic whenever possible. He really didn't care too much about what others thought of him, it just wasn’t worth his time outside keeping up basic appearances. He would get up every day, wash, get dressed, go to school, and walk home. That was his simple routine, occasionally changing it up to hang with Cian or go for a walk around town, almost as if patrolling for something meaningful.

“I wonder who dropped this,” Alden said, picking up the silver ring and carefully observing the azure etchings.

A flash of blue light filled the street and dispersed quickly the moment he picked it up. He could feel a change in the density of the air for a brief moment.

“Hmmm…guess I’ll hang onto it,” Alden said passively, if it wasn’t going to do much else he’d just wait until it did.

As he continued walking he slowly realized something was off. He stopped for a moment to observe his surroundings, they were slowly transitioning into a white space of alternating colours. Slowly, the trees, sidewalk, road, and houses were consumed by these colours and Alden felt a pulsating sensation in his hand that held the ring.

“What...?” Alden said, his mellow attitude never breaking.

The feeling of ground beneath his feet dissolved, and he felt as if he was being slowly carried down a calm stream.

“This is an odd sensation…” he mused, only to suddenly be interrupted by a human sounding voice calling to him gently.

“Welcome, Guardian. Firstly, I am very glad you made it. If you would be so kind, please call out my name. Feel the warmth inside your soul and you will find it,” the voice stated with overwhelming confidence.

With some confusion, and a lot of curiosity, Alden searched deep inside himself for this name. He was a bit startled to find it so easily, as if it had always been there.

“Nero,” he said, after a long pause.

“Thank you Master,” the voice responded, as another sudden burst of light pulsed around him.

The confusion on Alden’s face lessened but he was still uncertain of the situation, not that it bothered him much.

“Sooo...what exactly is going on here?” Alden asked, looking around the strange void as a gentle jet of air lifted Alden from the stream.

“I am a Dratmana, a medium or a tool, for Guardians such as yourself. I help protect you and anything else you desire. This is the 4th World. More specifically, this is what we call the waiting room prior to acclimating to the 4th World. I’ll give you a moment to process this information,” Nero stated, the voice almost like that of a librarian explaining how to check out a book.

“Right...so, I’m still not quite understanding what exactly you do to help me?” Alden responded casually, closing his eyes and letting the wind carry him.

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“I change into the weapon and armor of your choice. Unfortunately, once decided I’m limited to that weapon type alone, but the upside to this makes me more powerful than a system with multiple weapon settings. I am always going to be slightly more powerful than the other system, but you must keep up with training in order to keep it that way. If trained enough, the other system can come close to matching a single weapon system such as myself. I can however form many different protective gear, armor if you would,” Nero explained.

“Cool, could I try it out then?” Alden asked, opening his eyes and getting excited at the novelty of this chain of events.

“As you wish, Master. First place the ring on your finger and then classify your weapon and armor,” Nero responded.

“Hmm…I guess I’ll go with a medium armor set for now, imbued with Air and Water. Make sure I don't lose too much speed. As for weapons I’ll go with dual straight swords, one imbued with Air and the other with Water,” Alden requested without much visible thought.

Alden was the type to take quick decisive action with rigid logic behind it. He never had a reason to doubt or believe what was in front of him because he took it casually while constantly running the events against his logic. Not that he would always arrive at the correct answer, but it was the process that helped keep him level-headed and ultimately help him arrive at the answer that didn’t betray his own convictions.

“Classifications set,” Nero responded casually.

“Straight and to the point. It seems like we’ll get along well,” Alden said, smiling slyly. “Alright. What now?” Alden asked, continuing to look around.

“Focus your energy and activate the system,” Nero stated.

Closing his eyes, Alden focused and the air started to grow cool and gentle, his hair and clothing started to float upwards as an air current started blowing. Piercing cold drops of water materialized in the void slowly pelting Alden.

“The water freezing to become my steel defense, the raging winds become my blade to protect, the surging waves become my weapon to kill,” Alden spoke calmly, coldly, with an oddly intimate understanding of the weight his words held.

“Command recognized, system activating,” Nero spoke as a blue light flashed around them briefly.

“System active,” Nero spoke once more.

“Thank you, Nero,” Alden said gratefully as he looked down at the ring on his finger.

“No problem, Master,” Nero said solemnly, accepting Alden’s resolve.

“Now, I obviously have more questions,” Alden stated.

“Of course, Master. Shall we relocate?”

“I think that would be best,” Alden agreed.

Just as Alden finished speaking, he once again gently transitioned back into his own world, his feet touching upon solid ground.

“I think it would look odd to the people of my world to see me like this,” Alden stated, carefully observing for any potential onlookers.

Luckily there was no one around at this time and with a flash his armor and weapons vanished into the ring.

“Neat,” Alden mused. “I guess I’ll continue my walk as planned after all…although it may also be awkward to be talking to myself out in the open?” Alden asked questioningly, expecting Nero to have a solution already in mind.

“Of course, we’ll simply speak via telepathic link. All you need-” Nero started but was cut off.

“No need, I get it. Let’s go,” Alden replied telepathically, as he continued his walk.

“Interesting…” Nero stated. “You said you had questions?” Nero asked.

“I do. You didn’t really answer my question from before. It’s great that you can turn into a weapon and armor and that you call me a Guardian. I can certainly assume that means I’m going to be ‘guarding’ something? Or someone? But who and or what and for what reason?” Alden asked, a bit of annoyance in his tone.

“Apologies, Master. A Guardian helps preserve the balance of quanum across both our worlds,” Nero explained.

“Hmm, quanum? Some kind of magic?” Alden asked, as he considered for a moment. “Perhaps not.”

Glancing down at the ring, he thought back to how he felt as his armor and weapons materialized.

“Ah, more like psychic, or some sort of mental energy?” Alden asked curiously.

“Shockingly accurate…humans have the ability to manipulate quanum, both consciously and subconsciously. Without a Dratmana conscious manipulation is nearly impossible but subconscious manipulation is always occurring. Usually it’s not noticeable, but when sleeping the natural limiter for quanum gets released and this is where the true danger is. We’re not entirely sure of the mechanism at work but it is the reason for our existence,” Nero explained.

“I see, sounds like you’ve had it rough,” Alden said earnestly. “I’d like to hear more about your origins more than anything, let’s hurry back to my place, talking like this is getting exhausting.”

“As you wish, Master,” Nero agreed.