3,199 years after the creation of the order, a small white light was cut into the air of the quiet star-filled void called Edim as colorful planets orbited in the distance. The light expanded into an oval-ish shape and a girl stepped out of it. She had long, black, kinky hair, brown freckled skin, and hazel eyes dawning a blue sleeveless turtleneck jacket with a long back, blue pants with a black belt that attached a sword covered in a dark blue scabbard on her waist, and black knee-high combat boots. She stepped out of the portal while sucking in a deep breath and letting it out. Then a smile formed on her face, and her hazel eyes lit up. She had caught a glimpse of the planets orbiting around Edim. Neptune's beautiful shades of blue and Saturn and Jupiter's calming colors made her smile widen to her freckled cheeks while the sun's light illuminated her skin. The portal closed behind the girl, and she was left floating in the air, searching for something. The planets slowly orbited as she floated around the globes, looking around until she found a huge white globe, the moon. She floated down to it and landed on top of it. It was her favorite place to take in Edim's view.

“Such a beautiful view.” she said while preparing to sit on the rock.

The girl looked around Edim, soaking in its beautiful view until she glimpsed an ugly shade of green. Her smile twisted into a frown and her eyes filled with anger when she glared down at the hideous green and blue sphere: Earth.

'What's so special about that place?’ She thought to herself, the longer she glared, the more this thought tormented her mind. She just couldn't figure out why it was so special.

'Why does Goddess Reona love this planet so much?'

To her, the earth was just an eyesore, but to the goddess she served, Reona; though it was amazing. In the girl's eyes, there was nothing good about the planet, she just couldn't understand what made it so special to the gods. She rolled her eyes at the hideous rock and tried to shift her focus to the beauty that is Neptune, but she couldn't help but sneak a few more disgusting looks toward Earth. This continued for a while until she saw a huge asteroid hurtling towards the Earth. It rushed past the moon, giving her a good look at the rock. She stared at it for a while as it got closer to the sphere, thinking about what she can do next.

'What if... I let it hit Earth?' she thought to herself.

'The gods wouldn't notice.....right?'

She pondered on the thought for a little while letting the comet move closer to the Earth. Then remembering that she had no choice but to stop the falling star, she let out an annoyed sigh. As the sixth guardian of the order, protector of Edim and Osguild, it was her duty to watch over it. The girl huffed in annoyance and reached for the blue scabbard attached to her waist. She pulled a silver sword with a sapphire ombre that started from the middle of the blade down to the hilt from it. It was decorated with tiny flakes of gold on the indigo crossbar and a golden crescent moon rested at the bottom of the hilt as the swords pommel. The girl held the sword to her side and took a huge big leap off of the moon, beginning the chase after the speeding comet. With the speed she used to fly past the comet it didn't take long for her to catch up to it, and eventually surpass it. The girl flew past the comet and placed herself in front of the comet like a barrier between it and Earth. She firmly placed both of her hands on the crossbar of her sword and held it in a batting-like stance as the rock hurtled toward her. Once the asteroid was close enough, the young guardian swung her blade like a bat, deflecting the asteroid away from the planet she hated so much and breaking it into many tiny pieces. Once the pieces scattered, and the sixth guardian was sure the earth was out of harm's way, she looked down at the planet with a scowl. It was her job to watch over the earth as it was a part of the realms she was responsible for, but she despised it. The young sixth guardian had nothing but hatred in her heart for the Earth.

She stood there in silence, floating in the middle of the cosmos with a deep frown on her face. In the middle of her scowling l, a soft tap on her shoulder and a gentle voice tugged her out of her trance.

"Elizabeth." The voice says.

"Hm?" she responded, glancing at the source of the voice. Behind her stood a woman with silky black hair, wearing a kimono.

The top of the kimono was indigo with intricate silver flower designs along its long sleeves. The bottom was a long, simple black skirt with a blue cloth belt attached to the waist that held a sword covered in a black scabbard. She wore a warm smile on her face as she continued,

"When I didn't see you at the Spire, I figured you'd be somewhere around here."

"Commander Katsumi... I've completed all of my tasks for the day. I was just taking a brief break before I returned home." Elizabeth explains in a startled tone as she quickly turns around.

"Relax, Elizabeth. I was looking for you because you have trained with me now." Katsumi exclaimed.

"And don't call me commander; it sounds so serious." She proceeded.

"Sorry, Comm- I mean Katsumi." Elizabeth apologized.

"That's better!" Katsumi smiled.

"Now, let's start our training." She continued,

Katsumi reached for her scabbard and drew her Katana out of it. She placed her hand that was holding the scabbard at the end of its hilt to get a firm grip, then she slashed the air, making four cuts in a rhombus shape.

“Yaldir’s knowledge pool,” Katsumi said

The places she slashed with her weapon glowed as a radiant light opened within it. The shape expanded, and a portal was freed in front of them. She placed her blade back in its sheath and looked at Elizabeth with a smile. With that, Elizabeth stepped into the portal, and Katsumi followed behind her. The portal leads them into a crystal-filled tunnel. Small shards embedded in its walls gave off a light lucent blue color that dimly lit the tunnel. As the two walked down the long path led by crystals, Elizabeth looked around, astonished and confused.

"Why are we in a place like this? This isn't like our training room at the spire." She thought out loud.

"Today we are exercising the mind instead of the body. Yaldir, the goddess of knowledge, once stated, 'To grow, you must be strong, physically and mentally.' Of course, her eminence was correct." Katsumi explained.

"Even though the gods gave us these amazing powers, they didn’t explain how to use them. Instead, they locked them away deep within us, using a memory that connects us to the mortal realm.”

“Why?” Elizabeth asked.

“The gods never wanted us guardians to lose our connection to the mortal world. They knew that immortality would take away the sense of right and wrong, empathy, sympathy, and understanding of emotions that shape mortal lives from us. So, although we have eternal life, we can still feel pain, and get injured, but heal at a quick rate.” Katsumi answered.

“They used a memory of ours because it is a personal reminder of our life as a mortal in the realms. You wouldn’t know what memory it is, since it requires deep self searching. It’s something you must find on your own, but once you do, not only would you unlock so much more hidden power that was within you, you will also gain a power of your own. That is why I’ve brought you here today.” She continued.

After walking for a while, the tunnel connected to an enormous cave. The crystals that covered the walls of the tunnel were scattered across the cavern in many shapes and sizes. At the end of the cave, a grotto was laid and in the middle stood a statue of a woman with cupped hands holding water. The water overflowed in her palms and fell into the grotto, forming a waterfall.

"This is where we will be training today." Katsumi grinned as she walked over to the grotto. She slipped her shoes off her feet and placed them on the ground, then she removed her scabbard-covered Katana from her waist and placed it next to them.

Katsumi stepped into the water and kneeled in it.

"Come on." She said while sticking her hand out for Elizabeth to take.

Elizabeth gave her a strange look. Noticing this, Katsumi chuckled.

"The water is fine, come on!"

Hesitantly, Elizabeth took her boots and scabbard off and kneeled in the pool as well.

"This is the goddess Yaldir's knowledge pool. Anyone who meditates here shall gain her eminence's knowledge on a matter that bothers them. All the guardians have come here at least once with queries about this power." Katsumi explained while glancing around the room.

“I realized you haven’t come here since you joined the order and this may push you in the right direction of finding the memory that locks the full potential of your guardian power.”

Elizabeth's eyes widened at Katsumi's statement. Since she became a guardian, she only had access to the basic parts of her powers: heightened senses, super strength, speed, flying, and the ability to open portals, along with some simple magic. That was only some of the power that lay within her. The rest were locked away for some reason. Elizabeth looked at Katsumi skeptically. It sounded too good to be true. All the guardians have tried everything with her and nothing worked.

"Are you sure? What do I have to do?" Elizabeth asked.

Katsumi just gave her a reassuring look and said, "Just close your eyes and relax."

Sucking in a breath and releasing it, Elizabeth shut her eyes.

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"Now, clear your mind and focus on your heartbeat. Tune out all the noise around you and search for a light in the back of your mind." Katsumi instructed.

Following her orders, Elizabeth turn out the noise from the waterfall and focused on Katsumi’s voice. As she zoned out, everything became silent and very dark. After a long period of of silence, the common features on Elizabeth’s face turned into a scowl. She squinted her eyes as she began to open her mouth to say something, but then a small yellow light flickered, Elizabeth, sighed in relief and focused on the lights. The light glowed brightly as she began to hear muffled sounds. She concentrated more on the light, making it shine brighter, and the muffle sounds became louder, but sounded distant. Eventually, the yellow light turned white, and Elizabeth found herself standing outside the back of a brick house. It was cold out, a blanket of snow covered the grass and dusted the trees nearby. Cool crispy air filled Elizabeth’s nose as she looked at her surroundings, trying to piece together where she could possibly be. Then it hit her, she quickly trudged through the snow to the side of the house where she found a brown wooden door next to a window, as she got closer to it she heard people talking. When she reached the door, Elizabeth prepared herself to open it, reaching for the doorknob when she heard a lady speak,

“This witch thing is getting worse than we expected, they are putting people on trials!”

“I never would’ve moved us here if I knew this was going on. It’s going to die down eventually but for now we have to be careful.” A man replied.

Elizabeth peeped through the window, find a man sitting at a table, his hands covering his face, and a pair of glasses resting next to him. He had a tanned complexion, and slicked black hair with strands of gray scattered across his head.

“Edward. It’s already not safe here, and that girl will make it worse for us. She has to go.” The lady spoke as she made her way over to him and pulled out the chair beside him.

Edward’s head shot up at the woman’s words. “Elizabeth is my daughter, and she will not be going anywhere unless she chooses to.” Annoyance was laced in his voice.

“That girl is a monster, just look at her ears it’s not normal!”

“And when did you become a scientist to make a conclusion of what is normal and what is not Katherine?” Edward raised his voice at her as he rose from the table.

“Think of Charlotte…”

“Charlotte is not the one you trouble with, Elizabeth. There is nothing wrong with her, and if I hear whispers of my daughter being a witch, I’d have no problem directing Salem to the real that has been hiding under our nose.” He spat coldly before storming out of the kitchen.

Listening to the conversation, Elizabeth’s eyes widened as she realized where she was. The color drained from her face as she raised her hands to cover her mouth. Elizabeth slowly backed away from the house until everything around her began to change and she found herself standing in the middle of town square. With a bunch of eyes on her. She felt water drench her body , making her kinky hair flat and stick to her face and head, revealing two long, pointed elf-like ears. The sound of gasps and witch surrounded her, as she saw the man from the kitchen get pushed to the center of the square with the men behind him.

“I can confirm that this girl is a witch.” He said coldly, not even looking down to let his brown eyes meet Elizabeth’s matching ones. Everything around her changed again and she was standing on a wooden platform engulfed in flames. The chanting got louder, and through the flames. She could see angry people holding torches and throwing things at the platform she was standing on. She heard someone call out her name before the scene vanished into thin air and she saw the earth and then a boy with emerald green eyes and charcoal hair holding something shining brightly while saying something to her, but his words were inaudible. Elizabeth felt something touch her arm and heard a smothered, worried voice. She flinched at the feeling and in the blink of an eye, the vision was over. Before she could process what was happening, Elizabeth felt something wet on her cheeks and heard Katsumi worriedly, calling out to her. She quickly wiped away what was on her face and blinked repeatedly to catch herself.

“ Elizabeth! Are you all right?!”

Elizabeth had a shocked and scared look on her face. Unable to say anything, she nodded her head.

"Are you sure?" Katsumi said worriedly. "You were mumbling something, and then you started shaking. What happened in there?"

"N-nothing," Elizabeth said as she rose from the water and stepped out of the grotto.

"I’m… I'm going to head back to the Spire... can we pick this up tomorrow? Today's been very tiring."

"Yeah..." Katsumi responded. Worry still filled her face as she looked into Elizabeth's fear-filled eyes.

Quickly getting herself together, Elizabeth prepared to leave the cave. As she exited through the tunnel she entered, Katsumi remained inside the grotto. She let out a deep sigh, shut her eyes, and clasped her hands together.

"Lady Yaldir, I need your wisdom. I don't know what to do. Two guardians cannot use the powers you and the gods gave us to protect the realms. I've tried everything I can do to help them, but it's been no use. Please, please. Give me a sign or something so I can know what to do. I don't want to fail you, your eminence." She prayed. She opened her eyes and looked up at the statue of the goddess. When nothing happened, Katsumi lowered her head in defeat.

As Elizabeth walked through the tunnel, her mind was racing so fast that she could barely keep up with it. So many thoughts of the vision filled her mind.

'What does all of that mean?'

‘What does it have to do with anything?”

Lost in thought, she almost ran into the tunnel's wall. Realizing she's reached the end of the tunnel, she reached for her blue scabbard attached to her waist. She took her sword out of it and used it to cut an x into the air.

“The Spire.”

At her words, the x Elizabeth made glowed and expanded into a pink portal. When she stepped into it, the portal took her to a huge beige hall with other portals in various colors, such as green, blue, red, and yellow. She sighed deeply, stepping out of the portal and into the hall. She looked out one of the wide windows that were scattered across the room and saw her reflection. Elizabeth can see her dark, freckled skin, fear-filled hazel eyes, and two pointy nubs sticking out of her kinky black hair. Seeing this, her heart raced as she quickly tried to fix her curls to hide them once again. She let out a sigh of relief when they were out of sight, then she fixed her gaze on the star-filled sky. Looking at it made all the nervous energy that surrounded her disappear. Wide windows covered the upper half of the room. Looking out of them, she can see a star-filled sky, which helped her lose the tense energy that surrounded her. She became very relaxed as the thoughts of the visions left her mind and the serene quiet of the portal hall enveloped her. The peaceful silence was broken when a foot hit the marble floor. An excited shriek followed soon after.

"Hey, Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth turned to the owner of the shriek. It was a girl with copper skin, black curly hair, and lavender eyes. She walked out of a light green portal in the room and rushed up to Elizabeth.

"I heard you were training with Katsumi today. How did it go?" she asked.

"It was...fine." Elizabeth replied.

"So you can use your powers now?! Show me!" The girl said excitedly.

Elizabeth looked away, trying to come up with an excuse just as a tall tan figure walked out of another portal. He shook his head, making his shaggy auburn hair move as well and his icy blue eyes looked tired as he said,

"Leave her alone Valeria, you're annoying her."

"I wasn't doing anything Garrow, I was just asking Elizabeth a question," Valeria grumbled.

"A question you probably have the answer to." he retorted. Then Garrow smiled at Elizabeth and said.

"You'll get it soon kid, you seem to do better than a certain someone." he pointed to the green portal he had just exited and a pale, skinny guy with blue hair walked out helping another tall boy with ivory skin, long green hair and matching green eyes walk.

"I'm doing perfectly fine." he snapped.

"Then why don't you explain how you sprained your ankle," Garrow said with a smirk growing on his face.

Cole clicked his tongue and looked away. "I tripped on a rock." He grumbled

Everyone burst out laughing except for Elizabeth. She just stared blankly at them. Then Garrow ruffled her hair and chuckled.

"You'd think that after eight hundred years of being a guardian, this wouldn't happen. Something like this wouldn't happen to Elizabeth."

The sounds of laughter increased, but Elizabeth grumbled while trying to fix her hair.

"Yukio, take Cole to the infirmary," Garrow instructed.

Yukio nodded and walked with Cole out of the portal room and into the hallway it was connected to.

"Let me help you," Valeria said and followed Yukio out of the room, leaving Garrow and Elizabeth alone.

Garrow was about to follow the others out, but then he stopped.

"Elizabeth," he said.

"Lighten up, kid! You're always so uptight, and you keep to yourself all the time. You always have this sad look on your face, too." He continued.

Elizabeth stared at him.

"You're stuck with us forever, so you should make the best of it. And smile now and then! The melancholic look doesn't suit you." with that he walked out of the room leaving Elizabeth alone in the room.

She let out a sigh before clutching a golden pin that was attached to her top. “Stuck with them forever…I guess I am, this job is for eternity after all.

Elizabeth pulled the pin off and held it in her hand. It had the Order of the Realm Guardians insignia on it. The emblem was of a sword and twelve circles wrapped around it. Elizabeth traced over the badge with her finger before returning her gaze to the starry sky.

“Hm.” She said,

—

Meanwhile, Katsumi was doing her daily rounds around the realms before returning to the Spire. Her last stop was Pryeford. When she got there, two huge silver doors on a small piece of land stood in front of her. On their sides were two wide, long slabs of Vestium, the only thing that can imprison a god. Standing there, Katsumi could sense something was off but didn't know what. She inspected the prison, and everything seemed in order. But then a strange shift in energy hit her, and she sensed something was there. Katsumi slowly reached for her scabbard with one hand and the hilt of her Katana with the other. Then she calmly opened her mouth and spoke.

"Whatever is out there, I order you to show yourself."

Silence followed, and an icy chill ran down her spine. Katsumi quickly turned around, unsheathed her Katana from its scabbard, and held it in a defensive position.

"I said show yourself!" She shouted, anger now filling in her eyes.

The figure that was lurking around revealed itself.

It was a tall person dawning all black clothing. Their face was covered by a hood that wrapped around their neck and into a cape at the back. They wore armor that looked like it was made of leather or some other tough animal skin. The top had long sleeves and many pockets and zippers adorned the chest while fingerless gloves covered their hands. A belt held up a black scabbard attached to their waist and the matching leather bottoms, with black combat boots.

Katsumi glared at the person and spat, “So you leave the shadows but remain hidden under a hood? Take it off.”

The person didn't respond, but they listened to Katsumi’s instructions by slowly removing the cloak. They dragged it off of their head, revealing a man with cyan hair, intense, violet eyes, tiny scars scattered across his honey-colored face, and an emotionless look to pull everything together.

Katsumi gasped at the person who was once hidden by a hood.

"Axel..." Katsumi said, taken aback.

"You... How did you escape?!" she yelled out to him.

He stared at her and said nothing as he reached for the black sheath attached to his waist. pulling a sword with a black and red hilt decorated with thorns that lead up to a black blade with ridges out of it. He looked over at Pryeford and made his way to its doors. Katsumi stared at him in shock, but then charged toward him. He blocked her with his blade and then swiped at her. Katsumi dogged his attack and backed away from him. He held his sword in a defensive position and said calmly."Stand down."

Katsumi sternly replied, "Never."

She charged at him again, swinging her sword with all of her might, beginning a battle between the two.

The fight was long and intense. Axel still has the stoic look on him while Katsumi looked like she could collapse at any minute. Katsumi panted deeply as she tried to catch her breath. Her head was lowered and she had bruises all over, and a deep wound on the side of her stomach. Axel, on the other hand, hasn’t broken a sweat. Katsumi heaved as she clutched her injury. She slowly raised her head as she pointed her weapon toward Axel. And she lunged at him again. Axel moved to the side, dodging her attack, then he moved closer to her. Once they were face to face, Axel took his weapon and sliced a tiny star into the starry sky. A pink portal freed itself from the shape and Axel turned the empty crossbar of his blade to Katsumi and hit her with all of his might into the portal. It closed immediately after, and Axel turned his emotionless gaze to Pryeford.

He made his way to the big silver doors and landed on the ground. He pulled a golden jumped up to grab the huge gray handles and pulled them. The doors opened revealing pitch-black nothingness behind them. Axel released the handles and landed back on the ground. He stared into the dark abyss until a figure started to walk out of it. It was a slender disheveled figure. As it got closer to Axel a man came into view, he had piercing ruby red eyes, pale skin, and ruffled silky black hair, wearing an all-black suit that looked rumpled.

He staggered out of Pryeford and looked around at the starry sky that surrounded it. Then he turned around and called out,

“Finally Axel, we’re free!”

Axel walked closer to him as he called out to the dark and kneeled in front of him. The man turned to face Axel and jumped in surprise.

“When did you get here?!” He asked but all Axel did was lower his head to the ground and emotionlessly say,

“I am at your service, lord Mimlot.”

Mimlot stared at him blankly, then a sinister smile slowly formed on his face.