Part 3

Blue eyes open to the world belonging to the Water Crystal Guardian, Aoi.

She was on her knees with her arms raised. Her wrist was wrapped in dark blue chains, holding them in place in the air.

She began looking around the area she was held in. There were several pieces of construction equipment spread out.

Aoi began struggling against her chains but was unable to free herself.

"So, your awake, that is good," a deep voice startled her, causing her to turn her head toward the source of the voice.

There he stood.

Nereus.

"Who are you?" Aoi questioned.

"Someone who is very much like you, at least not on the surface level, no."

Without a change in her demeanor, water began to appear out of nowhere and swirl around her.

"Oh, that is a nice trick," Nereus said sarcastically as he watched the girl.

Not taking her eyes off the man, the water began to rise into the sky, causing Nereus to raise his head with a bored expression on his face.

In a quick motion, a high-pressure blast of water began to converge upon the man.

Aoi watched as the water hit the man, only to see that the water did not hit the man; nothing did. The water poured around him as if there was something shielding him from it.

Surprised, Aoi focused her attack again.

The water rose again and compressed itself in the form of small spikes pointed directly at the man.

Like a bullet, the spikes shoot toward the man. Aoi watched as the spikes shatter and melt away before they came into contact with him, still with the same bored expression on his face, never changing.

Aoi screamed out, which caused more water to appear. A vast amount of water began to rise behind her, merging together into one giant mass.

"Without a doubt, this is impressive," Nereus said as he was amazed at what he saw behind the girl.

What stood behind the girl was a giant body made of water with glowing blue eyes; there was no mouth. White lines traveled across the body. The body held out its right arm as a sword began to form in his hand.

"I see brute strength. Once again, it is an impressive trick, but..."

The massive body swung the sword down with such force that it cut through the air.

"If you know the secret to the trick, regardless of how massive it is, you can shatter that illusion."

Something in the chest of the body exploded above Aoi, causing her to look back to the body of water as she watched her eyes widen.

"Wha….?"

As if the broken pieces weighed several tons, the broken pieces of the body crashed into the ground, shaking it and kicking up dust and smoke around them. Solid pieces then turned into liquid, falling to the floor.

Aoi slowly turned her head toward the man, only to see him dusting his left shoulder off-still with a bored expression on his face.

(No way…..this is impossible; he managed to disrupt my powers.)

Aoi could not comprehend what was going on.

"Do not be surprised; the Crystal Guardians powers are absolute without any limitations on their abilities. Among their abilities to control the elements at their highest level, another one comes up that doesn’t get brought up much."

Nereus began walking up to her.

"That is, the complete and utter rejection of those said elements being used against you, almost like an immunization, quite the conundrum."

Aoi watched as the water on the ground unnaturally moved away from him with each footstep he took toward the girl, as if the water was avoiding him.

"But that then creates the biggest problem: when two Crystal Guardians of the same element do battle, neither one can truly overpower the other."

"You’re a Crystal Guardian."

Nereus stopped walking.

"To answer your question, yes, and at the same time, no."

Aoi stared at him.

"When the second used his power to split his, I was granted control over the element of water before his departure. It was a great honor to have, but ultimately conflict befell us. There were many devastations, but the biggest was that I lost my power. No, that would not be a fair statement to make. My power was stolen from me."

Aoi's eyes widen at his statement.

(….Stolen?)

Nereus stopped walking.

"I’m pretty sure that by now you are aware that the crystal necklace that is hanging from your neck is connected to your soul. That little fact means that no one besides you can remove that crystal besides you, the bearer. That is false."

Aoi's eyes widen in shock.

"With enough force, it can be removed, but doing so will shatter that person’s soul, resulting in death. That process is what befell upon me."

"If your powers were lost that way, then how are you still alive? No one can survive having their soul destroyed."

Nereus placed his hand on his hip and chuckled.

"Of all the things, now I’m going to start sounding like him, but you are under the impression that I am truly alive."

Nereus right hand peered through the opening of his cloak, unclipping the straps that connected both sides near his left shoulder. He opened up his cloak so that it was hanging off his shoulders. He loosened the black tie around his neck, throwing it on the floor.

He exhaled.

He began dragging his left index finger down from his collar downward, breaking the buttons of the shirt and suit jacket, causing them to fall to the floor. With his right hand, he pulled the right side of his shirt to the side, revealing his chest to the chained girl.

Aoi's eyes widen in horror as she saw his chest.

"Just as I appear before you alive, I am also very much at the same time dead."

On his chest was a mass of dark black veins that were spread out, nearly covering it.

"I am not dead or alive; I am in a state of in-between. Never fully be on one side; this existence is my very own purgatory. My body right now is operated by nothing more than a broken soul hanging on a very literal string and my own willpower. By canceling out the crystal guardian abilities within your soul with the broken mess that is mine, I can feel myself slowly tip over to the other side, which is death, but I will not fall here."

"How?"

Nereus lowered his right hand to his side.

"This is the end result of having my soul partially removed from my body and having my crystal necklace removed at the same time."

"!"

"But I should be grateful; that method revealed to me the very method I will be using to take your soul and power."

Nereus put both of his hands in a prayer motion.

Suddenly, a large gray statue of a man rose up from the ground behind him.

The statue was a nude male with a demonic face. Despite the statue being all gray in color, its eyes were pitch black.

Both of its arms were stretched out before him in a begging pose.

"What is that?" Aoi asked as she looked at the statue behind the man.

"This process to claim both your soul and power as my own is a long one; this statue is the final part of that, but..."

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Gray chains burst out of the statue's chest, impaling Nereus back. He did not react as the chains traveled out of his chest towards the girl.

Four chains pierced the girl's chest.

The girl felt nothing as she looked down at her chest.

There was no impalement or blood.

"When an individual becomes a Crystal Guardian, their souls are transformed, and because of that, those powers become the deepest part of that person. That small tidbit is how that necklace is connected to you, not your entire soul. That part is in you, just as that very same part is in me still. I agitate that part within your soul, and these chains will pull it out along with your soul."

Aoi's eyes widen as she begins to struggle against the chains.

"Don’t bother; as of right now, our souls are connected. These chains will yank your soul out of your body and prevent that soul from leaving the area….."

Nereus slammed his right palm into the dirt.

With a loud yell, he began pouring his energy into the surrounding area.

The ground.

The trees.

Dark blue energy began to rise from the ground into the sky, forming a barrier around the area.

Nereus stood up.

His vision was blurry. He placed his hand on his head, trying to gather himself.

(No, I am so close.)

Aoi watched as the man staggered back up to his feet.

The face of the statue behind Nereus began to twist into a crazed smile.

There was a ringing noise coming from the chains as they began to vibrate. Slowly, the chain began to reel itself back into the statue.

Aoi tried to free herself.

She stopped moving as the ringing became louder. The sound of loud church bells rang out.

With each bell toll, she started to feel more nauseous, as if the sound was ringing every corner of the inside of her head, causing her body to writhe in agony.

Her vision started to get blurry.

Aoi clenched her fist shut as she tightly closed her eyes, trying to drown out the noise.

Everything went black as the bell tolls continued to ring out.

_____________________________________________________________________

Elora groaned as her eyes opened to the night sky above her.

She groaned as she sat up from the bench she was lying on.

Everything was quiet around her.

She began looking around the area as she placed her hand on the right side of her cheek as it stung.

"That damn kid and that doctor."

Elora sighed as she closed her eyes.

In the blackness that was the center of her mind, there was a dark blue flicker that quickly faded out.

She opened her eyes.

"I can feel his energy; he is still alive."

She staggered to her feet before leaving the hospital yard.

(Wait for me, your majesty.)

_____________________________________________________________________

With a loud bell toll, Aoi's eyes shot open.

Space was distorted as large boulders floated in a purple void.

Aoi stood alone on a single flat rock, no longer shackled by the chains of her wrist. She began looking around; there was nothing beyond the floating rocks.

"This isn’t real; it can’t be," Aoi said, as there was an echo in her voice.

"If this is not real, then what is?" A booming, distorted female voice spoke out, causing Aoi to turn around to the source of the voice.

There she saw ‘it’.

A large, flying blue mass weaving through the floating boulders.

A dragon.

Blue body.

(No.)

Black arms and legs.

(No…no.)

Two pairs of black wings with glowing blue markings.

A fear began to creep up inside her as she watched the creature fly.

Bright eyes that were shining more than the moon that was staring at her.

Water began to form in her open palm as she had her hand at her side.

(Stay away.)

Aoi thrust her hand forward.

Water blasted out toward the dragon as it blew through the rocks.

The water blast clipped the left wing of the dragon, causing it to spin out of control.

Suddenly, several of the boulders merged together, forming a flat surface to break the fall. The dragon crashed into the ground, rolling around as its claws stabbed into the ground to balance itself.

On a flat surface above her, the dragon peered its head over the ledge to glance at the girl and roared, creating a shockwave.

Aoi shielded her face with her forearms from the blistering wind.

The dragon lunged at Aoi, causing her to hold out her hands in front of her, creating a wall of water to shield her.

She expected the dragon to hit it head-on, but as the dragon got closer, it broke apart, scattering into the air around the girl.

Nothing.

Aoi watched as she took several deep breaths as she lowered her arms, causing the water shield to melt away, falling to the ground.

Aoi began turning her head left and right.

Nothing.

Silence.

The dragon was nowhere to be found.

There was a rumbling sound in the distance as the boulders began falling down into the void.

Without second thought, Aoi began running in the opposite direction from the falling debris.

As she was running, she spotted something at the corner of her eye.

Several of the small boulders began to merge together into a flat surface, and a white stone door began to rise from the surface.

(A door.)

She began making her way toward her one chance to escape.

The door slowly opened with a loud creek, as if it were inviting her inside.

Dodging the falling rocks, Aoi made her way to the door. She jumped into the air toward the door as the ground beneath her began to break apart.

Her shoulder slammed into the door, breaking it wide open as she crashed on the floor with a loud thud.

Aoi was breathing hard as she laid on the floor.

Her breathing was cut off as the door closed loudly.

The room she was in was dark.

Aoi rose to her knees to look around the dark room.

"Well, this is truly a surprise; after all this time, I was beginning to think that we would never see you again," a deep male voice spoke out, causing Aoi to open her eyes in shock.

Her eyes slowly glanced at an all-black, male-shaped figure sitting on a large gray throne on top of several stairs.

The dark figure had no distinctive figure except for a pair of bright purple eyes that were staring daggers at the girl.

The figure rested its head on its right hand.

"Do you have nothing to say, daughter?"

_____________________________________________________________________

Nereus stood a few feet away from the chained girl.

He watched as the young girl's body twitched.

A small flicker of light emerged from the girl's body.

(She has been like this for a while; no matter what, just a little bit, this should all come to an end.)

Nereus then looked up at the night sky.

(Soon.)

_____________________________________________________________________

Aoi began to stand up.

"Fa….father" Aoi's voice echoed out in the large, blackened room.

The dark figure sitting on the throne did not reply.

Aoi was looking around the area she was standing in. Surrounding her on all sides were dozens of human-shaped figures with various eye colors staring right at the girl.

"I believe I asked you a question: do you have nothing to say, daughter?"

Aoi did not answer due to a fear that swept over her.

There was a silence.

"Traitor!!" A voice shouted from one of the figures that surrounded the girl.

"You left us!!"

"Deserter!"

"How dare she appear before us, before the king!"

Aoi began looking around at the voices that were shouting at her.

The crowd of black figures began closing in on the girl.

With a frightened look on her face, water began to rise around her. She quickly pushed the water outward, blasting the figures away in the room.

She turned her attention to the throne in the room, only to see that the figure that was sitting there was now gone.

(Wh….what?)

The room went black.

Pitch black.

Something grabbed her, lifting her off the ground.

In the darkness, Aoi felt her body being squeezed as a large black hand grabbed her.

The area around the girl became chaotic as it broke away, revealing the dragon as the darkness cracked away.

"DID YOU THINK THAT YOU COULD AVOID FATE?" The voice of the dragon roared out. "DID YOU THINK THAT YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO RUN AWAY?"

"SHUT UP!" Aoi shouted out.

The dragon's hand gripped the girl tighter.

Aoi screamed out in pain.

Water began to form around her, and she shot toward the dragon.

"FOOLISHNESS, EVEN NOW YOU ARE TRYING TO HIDE BEHIND THAT POWER," the dragon roared, creating a shockwave that blew the water away. "THAT POWER DOES NOT CHANGE WHAT YOU ARE, AND IT WILL NOT CHANGE WHAT YOU WILL BECOME IN THE FUTURE."

Aoi looked up to the dragon with fear in her eyes.

"TRY TO RUN FROM IT, AND I WILL ALWAYS BE RIGHT BEHIND YOU; TRY TO DENY ME, AND I WILL ALWAYS SHOW UP IN FRONT OF YOU."

"LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!" Aoi shouted out with all her might.

"………………"

The chaos in the room began to die down.

Still holding the girl, the dragon brought his face closer to her.

"YOU HATE ME, YOU HATE MY EXISTENCE," the dragon’s voice spoke out, its voice getting softer.

The dragon slowly released its grip on the girl, causing her to fall to the ground beneath her. Aoi watched as the dragon began to shrink in front of the girl.

No more was the large behemoth of the dragon but a dark female figure that stood just a few feet from her.

The dark figure was just about the same height as she was, with dark blue eyes that were staring at her.

A crack emerged along the face of the figure.

"You hate me." The voice that came out of the figure was the dragon's, but calmer. "Even though I have been with you longer than you had those powers,"

The figure closed his eyes.

More cracks began to emerge on the figure's face.

The cracked pieces began to flake away, slowly revealing the head.

Aoi slowly opened her eyes.

Black and blue hair began flowing from the figure.

"You hate me because……"

Brown skin.

Thick eyelashes.

A scar on her left cheek.

Aoi took a step back.

The darkness that shrouded the figure completely broke away from its body, revealing a young girl.

"……I’m you."

What stood before Aoi was no longer a dark figure but an exact, nude mirror image of herself.

_____________________________________________________________________

(She has been like this for almost half an hour.)

Aoi body twitched, which had alerted Nereus.

He grinned.

(It’s time; her soul is weakened enough.)

"When the second sage created the first generation of Crystal Guardians, those who were selected were carefully selected not only to wield that power but to use that very same power to lead us into the next age. It was a tremendous effort on our part, but it was for a good cause."

Nereus pointed to the chained girl.

"The fact that your soul can be so easily wavered only proves that you are not deserving of such power. I don’t know who created the new generation of Crystal Guardians, but whoever that person was, they did so with no end goal in sight. This world needs correction at all levels. To prevent its own destruction."

Aoi's eyes shot open as she screamed as the chains began to slowly pull themselves out of the girl's chest.

"Whatever reason you have to hold on to that power, it is not enough anymo-"

Blank.

Nereus cut himself off as he felt a blank, void feeling. It was just for an instant, but in that split second, he felt it.

He did not have time to comprehend that feeling as the barrier broke apart like a popped balloon.

Nereus looked around the area to see the tattered remains of his barrier floating in the air, quickly disappearing.

(What the….?)

The chains stopped pulling themselves from the girl's chest.

"My barrier collapsed……that impossible. No......someone is here, but who?"

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Aoi coughing.

Nereus looked back at the sound of footsteps approaching him.

Aoi started to exhale deeply, trying to catch her breath.

"Oh, good, you're still alive," a voice broke out. "I guess I am not too late."

Aoi's eyes widen when she hears his voice; her eyes slowly drift up from the ground. Past the man and the statue, she saw him.

A feeling of warmth washed over her.

A person who said he would save her—a girl who she herself considered doomed to be hunted—a girl she herself lost to the abyss.

There he stood.

Haruko Matsumoto.

A person who was not involved with her.

Haruko looked at Nereus, and then his eyes drifted towards the chained girl.

Both Haruko and Aoi stared at each other without saying a word.

Haruko closed his eyes and sighed.

"We got to stop meeting like this, or people are going to get the wrong idea," Haruko said as he grinned.

Haruko opened his eyes with a serious look on his face, looking toward Nereus. He clenched his fist.

"I hope you are ready; this long nightmare ends here."

Nereus turned a step toward the direction of the teen, and as both men looked at each other, a grin slowly appeared on his face.