Wayde Berrygrewd was like a typical father, going to work- doing his research, coming back home, kissing his wife- talking about the plan, and playing with his kids- training them in a way. He liked playing tea and dollhouse with Holly- organizing and diplomats, reading stories and drawing with the twins- literature and arts, and- being the exciting part- playing sword fight with MaXabiere more like training the boy in a much bigger battle.
The father knew he had little time, but it seemed so plenty as he spent time with his family. In the backyard, Wayde observed the ten-year-old Xabe holding a wooden sword. For the son, it was going to be another fun-driven exercise, imagining a swordsman with awesome skills against an opponent he will soon face. But as for the father, he wanted this to look like friendly sparring, but in reality, he was training the boy for what will come in the future.
Xabe lunged at Wayde as he raised his sword. For a ten-year-old, he was quite fast. Xabe swung his sword down, but Wayde was quick enough to dodge sideways on his right. He could feel the sword when it almost reached his nose. By the time Xabe swung down, he abruptly swung left.
Wayde blocked it with his wooden sword before Xabe’s blade could swing at his left upper arm. The father pushed back the young boy’s attack and spunk his butt, but not too hard though. Xabe reacted by shielding it with his hand with a shocked expression.
The father smirked but immediately cut short as the boy attempted to thrust toward his chest. Wayde continued to dodge as Xabe swung his sword in multiple directions with incredible speed and control- and the boy hadn’t even realized it… not yet at least.
At the right moment, Wayde swung at Xabe’s hand with a flash to disarm him. The young boy reacted to the sting and shook his hand. The father’s wooden blade could almost make contact with his head, but the boy sensed it so he bent backward and kicked the pommel out of his father’s grasp. Wayde watched as his sword spun in midair before it pierced the grass next to Xabe’s wooden weapon.
Both are disarmed, but the boy was ready to give him a few hits with his small punches and kicks. In other words, their “playtime” was wild.
“Good,” nodded Wayde. “Now, let’s see if you can hit your old man.”
“I’ll get you this time.” Xabe posed a fighting stance. Fists on chest level, right foot forward, and eyes locked.
Wayde scoffed, “If you remember how I taught you.” He made a hand gesture to come over. Xabe carefully came forward bit by bit. That’s right, Wayde thought. Don’t rush, just-
Xabe attempted a straight punch to fool Wayde, but it was not very effective. But the boy punches were real this time, as Wayde felt its power whenever he swooped the hits away from him. It was best to dodge and avoid getting kicked.
The boy’s mind was still young. Wayde put an end to this by letting Xabe almost jab at him. He evaded it and quickly grabbed Xabe’s right arm to flip him onto the ground. The father made a pose as if he was going to hit a blow, but Xabe finally landed on the specific spot, grabbed the wooden sword next to him, and quickly placed it on his father’s side of his neck.
Wayde hadn’t realized till now when he saw his wooden sword. He couldn’t help but bring a smile to his face. “Well done, MaXabiere.” Wayde hoisted his son up. Xabe’s mind may be young, but his thoughts were sharp.
“Ha, take that!” Xabe raised his sword. “I didn’t think this would happen.”
“You’re getting better for a ten-year-old kid.”
“Finally, I can kick some butt. Who knows? I may even become a hero.” Wayde watched as Xabe slashed the air with a few swings.
“Son, we play swords, have fights, and teaching you the right way is to defend, and only attack when necessary, not by wanting it, if you’re going to play as a hero- you may at least do it right.“ the father wrapped his left arm around his son’s shoulders.
“You sounded like a Flash Guardian, Dad.”
“Well, I am a researcher, after all.”
“Yeah, right.” Xabe put down his sword and proceeded to grab a bow and arrows that were displayed on a table near the window. He stood near the rocks that were aligned horizontally and started pulling an arrow to face a target of a wooden plank nailed on a tree in front of him with a carved face of a dragon in a cartoonish style. “How come you have time to do and teach me of all these? Mom says you do research for academic and scientific purposes all the time.” Once he loosed the arrow, it went perfectly straight to the carved cartoon dragon’s nose.
“At times like these.” Wayde walked to Xabe while staring at the target. “I took an interest in researching the heroes and their deeds and asked to be taught in case bad guys get in my way. And I thought it would be useful to teach my family a few things- especially to you.”
“But we’re safe now, right?”
“Mmm, looks like it. But who knows?” Only you can know. “Somewhere out there, danger hides from far away.”
“Until it comes?”
“Yes, in case of danger comes.”
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That was a few days ago before the night he left. At the present, he’s the one who was coming to danger, a bit of irony there, Wayde. Xabe later passed a log and died out of the bonfire. “He was here,” he muttered. Abruptly, Xabe sensed something aside from the thundering rumble, he heard the footsteps of at least three individuals. There was a chill on his spine from those three… must be one of the Darken clan. The three-headed dragon and that certain clan had a huge connection, no doubt.
“Red. I need you to fly over.” Sensing what he’ll do, the pileated woodpecker took off first before Xabe held the guard of his sword and posed a running formation. With the movement of his feet, he dashed with incredible speed.
The leaves above and the snow pile were swooshed away strongly from his passing as if a broom let out a mighty sweep. This wasn’t the first time he ran like this though, in fact, the only reason why he had a red mommy bike was that he could still keep his inner powers a secret… as long as there was no danger until this day.
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Who knew how long will Xabe arrive at the rumbling sound, but that didn’t matter because from the sky floating at a such great distance, a gigantic transparent silhouette of an invisible statue with a form of a griffin called the Grifforth.
Let’s just say the Flash Guardians kept themselves busy over the past six years. Inside the Grifforth head was the built-in command center. Flash Guardians who specialized in computer science were at their seats, facing the holographic computers to spectate the ship’s condition, monitor the surrounding area, detect coming movements on the radar, and last but not least, detect the power level of the monitored black crater. They were aligned in a parallel formation vertically.
Right in front of them was a huge HUD- short for heads-up display as they would like to call it- that enabled them to see the ground wholly while having built-in visual information. Between the seats built a matte white stage where a man wearing violet pajamas with glittering stars stood right into view. His pale skin matched the color of the floor, together with his white faded haircut, his sky-blue eyes gazed at the monitor while getting comfy thanks to his pink bunny shoes.
He took a good sip of the orange juice before saying, “What’s the status?”
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On the HUD, the view zoomed in to the location where the Dragonslayer braced himself against the three black figures. “The Destroyer Knights had been detected.” reported a female Flash Guardian.
From the rear door, it opened as an older Erik Vortecse, now promoted to platinum rank, entered the room. He sported his favorite black armor with a violet hue, but excluding his helmet. “All Flash guardians are stationed in Yardsville. Give me the context of the current situation, Giuseppe.” Erik stood alongside the violet pajama man.
“The Destroyer knights will give Devastrigon a boost, more like a ‘revival’. If Wayde deciphered the Darken seer’s ancient tongue, we can finally determine the countermeasure against this bullshit.”
“Yes. By countermeasure, it means it’s almost time.”
“Is he really serious about that?”
“He may turn a bit crazy, but at least Wayde’s research is one of our only chances to end this. But there’s one thing that bugs me.“
“And what is that?” asked Giuseppe as he took another sip of the orange juice.
Erik crossed his arms. “I read Wayde’s mind to see what’s the next move of our plan, but his thoughts were the same thing as the Darken seer’s ancient language. And so I wondered, how will he address the boy about it. Not to mention what will Dreyagon do with a kid.”
“You’re wondering about that?” Giuseppe finished his drink. “I was wondering if the kid can be one of us.”
“Sir Erik,” said a male Flash Guardian from his computer station spoke. “Something is moving towards the black crater.”
Erik and Giuseppe faced the guardian. “Elaborate,” said Erik.
The male Flash Guardian faced his computer while he pressed holographic buttons. “Following movement speed and activating camera.”
Erik and Giuseppe turned back to the HUD to see a small portion of the video. It showed that down behind the trees was an exploding snow pile going straight to the crater. “It appears to be an unknown anomaly running. Its speed continues to rise the more it accelerates,” added the male Flash guardian.
“What is that?” uttered Giuseppe to himself.
“No,” said Erik. “Most importantly, who is that?”
“You want to bet on it?” asked Giuseppe.
“What?” Erik looked puzzled.
“Do you think that’s… you know?”
With a glimpse of Giuseppe’s thoughts, Erik shook his head. “That’s ridiculous.” And with haste, Erik came closer to the HUD, closed his eyes, his fingers from his left hand touched his temple and started reading the mind of an anomaly, by anomaly, it meant reading a mind of a boy.
Erik gasped as he widened his eyes and pulled his left hand down.
“Hang on…” Giuseppe paused. “Is… is that real I was just kidding at first-”
“Reading his mind further.” He read the running boy’s mind again. Giuseppe couldn’t help but be impressed by Erik’s mind-reading range, as long as the Grifforth was near enough to chase the boy’s speed below. Erik was surprised that he saw a weird old lady inside his mind, despite wearing a different robe, there was no doubt it was her. She could be the reason. “Fuck,” he muttered. Erik glanced at Giuseppe. “I saw her, Gius, somehow she’s involved. She couldn’t be that far.”
Giuseppe commented, “Holy shit.”
Erik faced the computer guardians. “Contact all Flash Guardians to mount on their griffins, we’re heading out.” He turned to Giuseppe and said, “Watch over here. Most importantly, contact with Wayde. It is a must for him to know this.”
Magically, Giuseppe’s almost empty glass was filled with another flavor. “You got it. Nothing but a good four-season flavor to work me up.”
Erik made haste as he exited the command center.
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In a golden room with books and chairs were his squad: Nisr the eagle-eyed reading a book, Jorken the powerful shape-shifter slept on a brown sofa, Hugo the storm summoner meditated on the ground, Yrlin the cat-loving witch petted Kitty the black cat, and Willy the elf guardian yawned out of boredom while laying on the floor.
The door opened on its own by the time Erik barged in. Nisr, Hugo, and Yrlin’s attention immediately turned to their leader. Jorken and Willow jumped out with a fast reaction time before Erik could even see what they were doing.
Jorken stood firmly. “I wasn’t sleeping”
Willy followed the guardian’s example. “I wasn’t yawning from boredom for the sake of something will happen.”
“Oh, something is happening alright,” nodded Erik. “Prepare yourselves, I’ll explain on the way.”
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While walking down the golden hallway, Nisr reacted, “Whoa, so the kid is running towards Dreyagon because, for some reason, of that old lady?”
Yrlin said, “It doesn’t matter how she escaped, all it matters now is for her to be captured.”
Willy commented, “In a much thicker cage this time.”
Erik marched on. “First, we will take her in custody for further investigation, if she finally opens up… which I hope, or not… which would suck, we will bring her to Ascentilia. Queen Heather may have ideas of what to do with her.”
Hugo nodded, “Couldn’t agree more.”
Then Jorken asked, “What about Mr. Wayde?”
“I’ll let Giuseppe inform him,” replied Erik. They arrived at the hangar at last, where a squad of Flash Guardians mounted their griffins with colors of brown, orange, and red.
But as for Erik’s, he approached what appeared to be a black-slopped object- then suddenly it rose and opened its wings to reveal the appearance of a much larger griffin.
Erik rested his palm on its chest. “It’s time, BF. We have a seer to catch.”
Giuseppe’s voice popped out in the leader’s communicator. “Erik, the Destroyer Knights are engaging the Dragonslayer. The boy had increased his speed. And I couldn’t contact Wayde. His communicator must’ve been offline.”
Erik hopped on a crimson saddle of BF. “Dammit,” he muttered. “No matter, we’ll continue to engage to the possible location of the Darken seer.” He looked down to his team.” Yrlin, you’re with me, I need your witch magic as a counter-attack if she ever tries something funny.”
She smiled, “Good thinking, Erik.” Yrlin happily hopped in at the rear side of the saddle.
Erik faced the eagle-eyed guardian. “Nisr, keep your distance and keep contact with Giuseppe.” Nisr nodded in return.
The leader then turned lastly to Hugo, Willy, and Jorken. “The three of you shall engage with the Dragonslayer. If you see the boy, do what you can to assist him. Nisr, you’ll be joining them. Find the right distance between them and the Grifforth.”
Jorken nodded, “Right.”
Nisr said, “You got it.”
As Jorken shape-shifted into a bronze griffin, Willy summoned a saddle for him, Hugo, and Nisr to sit on. The hangar finally opened to view the dark sky and the snowy forest. Erik was first in the line of mounted Flash Guardians.
“Capture team, you’re with me. And Code Crimson team, you’re all with Jorken. But go forth to the Dragonslayer against the Destroyer Knights. We can’t let them do whatever they must to Devastrigon.” He glanced at his army of guardians before glaring at the opening. “Let’s go, go, go!”
The mounted guardians launched themselves from the stomach of the invisible Grifforth. They began separating into two groups; seven griffins on Erik’s side and thirty-eight on Jorken’s.
Erik’s telepathic powers were out of the boy’s reach now, so his reliability was up to Giuseppe, comms, and Nisr. The only way to know the location of the seer, however, was by reading her thoughts as she recited the ancient language- because that’s what seers always do.
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Over the cliff at Mt. Pike, the weird old lady watched as the sky’s color began to worsen. The blizzard clouds had begun to expand as if angry spirits were about to haunt the area. “What took you so long,” she said turning around to see a man whose dark red hair brushed up and reached his shoulders. His dark brown coat, black pants, and boots were sufficient against the cold. His emerald eyes focused only on the weird old lady.
“How long have you been here?” Wayde’s voice got deeper.
Her gaze went back to the view. “Ever since you left, I couldn’t help but put out my words in the Wooded forest. Coincidentally, the boy heard it… and you can already guess the rest.”
“Why do this?” he asked. “What is your endgame? And the words you were repeating-”
“We haven’t reached the endgame yet, it’s too soon.” The weird old lady then looked at the card of a shining white figure with a winged golden helmet as it held a burning sword with the label Bestowed. She pocketed the seventh tarot card before turning around to face him. “You see, the boy is awakening his inner power. This is the true sign of the old legend dying for a new one to be born. The three of us already knew that.”