Part 3
A night sky of two large moons among an ocean of stars.
One small moon of blue and another larger moon, a mix of the colors blue and green.
Smoke.
Dust
Raging fires.
Smoldering embers.
At the sound of a cough, the bleeding face of a young child began to wince.
Blue eyes opened to the dark sky with an orange hue due to the bright flames below.
The child turned his head.
The area was littered with a large amount of rubble from what used to be a village and is now a wasteland.
The discomfort from lying on the ground caused the young child to move, but it wasn’t much as something heavy was on his body.
The child glanced down at his chest.
There-
Sprawled out over him was something he was barely able to make out.
Long black hair that was spread out over the child's body.
A white dress covered in blood.
A mother who was laying over her children after shielding them from the dragon’s attack.
".... Mother" the child said in a broken voice.
The mother did not move.
As the child called out again, the mother's face began to wince as her body began to move slightly.
There was a groan as the mother opened her eyes, coughing up blood.
"......Al.....Alistair" The mother said it in a faint voice.
“…..Mother”
At the sound of the child's voice, the mother smiled.
Her children were alive.
The mother grunted as she used her bleeding, mangled right hand to push the damaged body of the young child, but her mangled arm could not support her weight, causing her to fall back over the child.
There were several deep breaths from the mother as she laid there. With a final exhale, she closed her eyes.
After a few seconds of silence, the faint white and blue vein-like pattern appeared on her skin, flickering on and off before shutting off completely as her aura energy faded out.
There was an exhausted exhale that escaped her lips.
In her state, due to her damaged body and dwindling aura, she would not be able to heal herself, even at a superficial level.
With an injured body, low aura, two children, including one infant, and no telling when the Dragonborns would come back,.
The situation began to dawn on her.
There was no way that they would be able to leave without her dragging them down, but-
If her oldest child was stronger, then-
Fully understanding the situation, she grunted as she pushed herself off the child, still holding the infant to her chest.
With a sad look on her face, she stared at the infant for what felt like an eternity.
A shuffling sound caused the mother to turn her attention to her standing son.
Kissing the forehead of the infant, she spoke to the standing child, moving her black hair from the left side of her neck.
"I....want you to bite my neck…”
It was a taboo act amongst their race, but now there was no time to argue customs and morality.
The mother grabbed the child's hand, pulling him closer.
The mother could sense the child's nervousness at what he was being told to do as he stumbled closer.
“Right now, you have to be strong for your sister.”
The child took in the mother's words as he moved his head to her exposed neck.
There was a slight hint of hesitation before-
The child bit into the mother's neck.
The mother let out a near-silent yelp as the child's teeth tore into her skin.
Blood started to pour out of her neck.
After a few seconds, the mother started to feel lightheaded as her blood was being sucked.
With the feeling of her life fading, the mother closed her eyes, rubbing the back of the child's head with her right hand.
“No matter what happens……. promise me that you will protect your sister.” The mother said it in a weak, fading voice.
The child’s blue eyes started to fade to a light red before he tightly shut them.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
Then everything went black.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The noon sky was beginning to set above the walled city.
“After all this time,” a female voice started, coming from a phone. “It is good to hear your voice again.”
The person holding the flip phone to his ear did not speak.
“How have you been?”
Once again, the person holding the phone did not respond.
Alistair Michaels.
Right now, he was leaning his back against a brick wall in an alleyway between buildings.
Dressed in his black school uniform, with his uniform jacket open, revealing his white button-down shirt. He had his black sunglasses raised above his forehead and parted his bangs, revealing his dark red eyes.
“I guess I could say that I am fine at the moment, surviving each passing day, you?”
“At the moment, I guess I am just like you, one day at a time. This world, this city, still takes some time to get used to. To be honest, it is hard to consider that our home world was not as advanced as this city.”
Alistair lightly smiled.
"So..." the female on the phone started. “Is this the call before you do something dangerous?”
Alistair's eyes narrowed at the statement.
“………….”
_____________________________________________________________________
Things were not going well for the teen at the empty table in an open yard outside.
Haruko Matsumoto.
The Crystal Guardian—well, more like the Crystal-less Guardian.
Right now, it was lunch time for the students at the high school campus, so most were eating off the school grounds.
Haruko was sitting at the table, staring at the note in his hand that was attached to his backpack.
Meet us at this location, and nothing will happen to you or the other Crystal Guardian.
That is what the note said.
Right now, both Aoi and his crystal necklace are missing. His blue eyes began to wander around the open area, scanning.
The people.
The trees.
The sky
Birds
Cars.
His light blue eyes glanced over them all.
Someone knew.
Someone knew that he was a Crystal Guardian and managed to take his necklace from right under his nose.
Meet us at this location, and nothing will happen to you or the other Crystal Guardian.
Haruko's eyes drifted back down to the note.
He turned the paper around.
The location.
On the back of the note were a bunch of random numbers.
There were too many numbers for it to count as a phone number, and even when he split the numbers, those numbers were not in use. So he was back to square one—no idea what to do.
(I know I talked a big game earlier, but with nothing to go off, what am I supposed to do now?)
“Haruko”
A voice startled Haruko out of his thoughts.
Tensing up and turning his head, he saw the sophomore student president standing behind him, Emi Takahara.
Standing here, she watched as Haruko slumped his shoulders and sighed.
“Oh great, it's just you,” Haruko complained.
Emi placed her hands on her hips and bent forward.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Haruko turned away with a blank face.
"Nothing; I said nothing.”
“Hey, what is wrong with you?”
"Nothing; I am just trying to take care of something really important right now, and I can’t afford to be distracted.”
Emi peeked over his shoulders to see that he was holding a note in his hand.
Averting her eyes, she spoke.
“This is about your Crystal Guardian powers, isn’t it?”
That single sentence caused Haruko's eyes to widen in surprise.
He quickly turned his head to face her.
“Crystal Guardian...powers,” Haruko said, staring at her, her expression never changing.
It was one thing to assume that he would have any powers since supernatural powers were commonplace in the city, but
To correctly guess that he was a Crystal Guardian was something else.
Realizing how serious she was, Haruko lightly smiled and rubbed the back of his head. “I don’t have any power like that; where did you get an idea like tha-?”
“I was there at the hospital with your sister and Reiko when you woke up.”
Haruko's eyes widen again.
“I heard everything that girl told you when I was outside in the hallway from the girl in your care.”
“Every…thing?” Haruko slowly said
Emi simply nodded.
Haruko's eyes and facial expressions soften to a somber look before his eyes glance down to the ground.
Realizing that he could not lie his way out of this, he spoke.
“Yeah, that part is true; not that it matters much anymore," Haruko said, turning away from Emi.
“What do you mean?”
“Someone took the necklace for my powers and kidnapped her.”
Emi's eyes widen in shock.
“Kidnapped? What are you going to do?”
With his back to the teen, Haruko did not answer.
"Haruko," Emi said in a soft, concerned tone in her voice.
“I’m not sure." Haruko said, staring at the note in his hand. “Even after everything happened with me gaining that power, I am right back to where I started—this powerless feeling.”
Emi stared at Haruko, feeling sorry for him.
She placed her hand on his left shoulder.
Deep down, she knew how he felt at the moment.
Peeking over his shoulder, she noticed that he was holding something in his hand.
A note.
On that single note, there were several numbers.
“What is this?” Emi asked, leaning over Haruko.
“This was the note that was left attached to my bag after my necklace was taken. They told me to meet them somewhere, but if I am assuming this correctly, which I shouldn’t do, then the numbers on this note are the address, and I don’t know how to decipher it.”
In a quick motion, she yanked the note out of his hand and began to walk a few steps away before stopping.
“Whoawhoawhoa! What the hell are you doing?" Haruko shouted out, turning around to see Emi standing there, reading the note.
The note.
Emi turned her head to Haruko, glaring at him, which startled the teen.
“You idiot, this is why you pay attention in class." Emi said before turning back to the note. “These aren’t just random numbers; these are coordinates.”
"Coord-coordinates,” Haruko said in a puzzled tone.
Emi turned to Haruko, seeing him struggling to process the information she just told him.
“Coordi-” Haruko repeated trying to jog his memory, but nothing came up.
“You know the y-axis and z-axis.”
(?)
Blank.
“Latitude and longitude”
(????????)
Blank.
Haruko just stared on with a dumbfounded look on his face.
“Come on, we learn this stuff in simple geography and..."
(?????????????????????????)
“…Geometry”
(!@#$%^&**&^%$#$^&**&^%)
It was like his brain short circuited when he heard the word geometry. The subject of math he hated the most.
Small sparks were emitted from the top of his head that quickly fizzled out into the air.
Haruko cocked his head back and groaned loudly.
Emi watched on as the sparks appeared from the teen head.
(Sparks…)
By now, she knew that Haruko had come into powers of his own, but she did not know to what extent.
Haruko now, the girl that was with him, and his current powers—all of it was a mystery to Emi Takahara.
“Haruko, what with those sparks coming out of you?”
"Oh,” Haruko said as he straightened himself up. "These,” he said as he glanced up, seeing the sparks fizzle out.
Blank.
“This is a result of my Crystal Guardian ability, which allows me to control lightning. I am working on my control, but the process is touch-and-go as I try to understand all of this.”
Deciding to get back to the matter at hand, Haruko got serious.
"With this latitude and xyz-axis stuff, would I be able to get a location off of that?”
She glanced at him before looking away.
“If the numbers are correct, then you might; I am not sure about accuracy.”
There was a chance.
“How would I be able to use this?”
“By using it.”
“How?”
“By using what you learned in class,” Emi said in an annoyed tone.
“I think we already established that at this point I am barely paying attention in class,” Haruko said without a hint of regret or shame in his voice.
“Fine, I do it.”
Emi pulled her phone out of her pocket and began tapping away on the screen.
Leaving Emi to her own devices, Haruko placed his finger under his chin.
(If this can lead me to a location where Aoi is, I need to figure out what to do. I can still use my Crystal Guardian abilities, but without the necklace, I am not sure to what extent, and rushing in blindly won’t help me now that I am at such a disadvantage.)
Haruko glanced at Emi.
(It has been a while, but I may have to use my brain for this one.)
"Alright,” Emi said, interrupting Haruko's thoughts. “I think I have a location.”
“Wait, really!” Haruko shouted out as he stood up from the bench. “Are you serious?”
_____________________________________________________________________
“It is almost time for all the pieces to gather on the board,” Alistair said to himself as he opened his left palm, revealing a necklace with a red six-sided crystal attached to it.
Soon, he began walking out of the alleyway into the open city streets.