The events at Yaldir’s pool continued to plague Elizabeth’s mind. Her vision constantly replayed in the back of her mind. To clear her head, she made her way to the training hall. There was something about a long training session that always cleared head and alleviated the stresses that weighed so heavily in her mind.

Elizabeth swung her sword at the training dummy, slashing it in multiple directions. With each swing the memories at the pool came flooding back to her.

“You monster child!.” Rang in her ears as she envisioned the man’s hazel eyes that matched hers.

She took two steps away from the training dummy and placed both of her hands on the hilt of the blade.

The memory of being in the town square rushed through her as she pulled at the hilt of her sword with both hands and it glowed. The sword separated into two blades and Elizabeth continued her attack on the dummy, as she unwillingly ruminate on that dreadful day. She remembers it as if it was yesterday, the fire burning her skin, the chants of “Witch” and “Monster” all rushed through her at once.. She had repressed the memories of that day for so long, that now, as it’s coming all back to her, it was too much to handle. Elizabeth swung at the dummy with all of her might, the edge of her weapon lighting up with tiny sparks of fire as the dummy ripped in half and fell to the ground. Elizabeth dropped the spear and began to gasp as if she was fighting for air. Sweat covered her face as she tried to calm herself down. She glanced at the broken training doll only to see the burn marks from where she hit it. Elizabeth kneeled down to the ground and touched the cut her weapon made. It felt crisp, and the smell of the burning cloth filled the room. As she studied the dummy and the marks she heard someone behind her.

There stood Garrow with a worried look on his face.

"Have you seen Katsumi since earlier?" Garrow asked in a concerned tone.

"No. She hasn't come back yet?" Elizabeth responded.

"Something is off, this isn’t like her." He said.

"I found her!" Valeria shouted from out in the distance. She poked her head into the sparring room with a scared expression.

"In the portal room! Come quick!"

Elizabeth quickly picked her sword and placed it in her scabbard. Then she and Garrow made their way to the portal room as fast as they could. There, Valeria was trying to help an injured Katsumi with Yukio, but she just put her hand up, signaling them to stop. Katsumi looked terrible. Her hair was a mess, she had bruises everywhere, and she could barely keep herself up without the help of her sword. Everyone looked at her in horror. She was gasping for air as she looked up and said.

"Mimolt... has re...turned." Before collapsing. Valeria and Yukio caught her before she hit the ground.

“Quick, let’s get her to the infirmary!” Valeria ordered.

Everyone helped Katsumi into the infirmary. After a while, she regained consciousness. Valeria was watching over her when Katsumi opened her eyes and shot up from the bed she was laying in. A wave of pain hit her immediately after and she groaned at the feeling.

"She's awake!" Valeria called out to the others.

"Your injuries were severe," said with a worried look. “I tried to heal you the best I could, but your body has to do the rest.”

Garrow, Elizabeth, Cole, and Yukio rushed into the infirmary. They all sighed in relief to see that Katsumi was okay.

"What happened?" Garrow asked.

Katsumi turned away from them, playing with the bandage on her arm. "Axel escaped Pryeford, and he let Mimolt out. He’s stronger this time. Axel is too. I fought him outside of Pryeford's doors and he was so strong, the fight ended before it began..." she explained.

Garrow, and Yukio looked like they had seen ghosts, while Valeria, Cole and Elizabeth looked confused.

"Who's Axel? And how did he get out of Pryeford? Elizabeth questioned.

"Once you go in you shouldn't be able to get out, unless it's opened from the outside."

"Axel was the fourth guardian before Valeria. He betrayed the order when he tried to free Mimolt a long time ago. He was locked away in there too, but I don't know how he could've gotten out." Katsumi answered.

"If Mimlot and Axel escaped Pryeford, then that means he is powerful enough to take over the realms again. And with Axel on his side, he's an even bigger threat than before." Garrow said. "It's only a matter of time until Mimlot begins whatever he's planning. We have to get him now. If we wait any longer, it might be too late."

"Do nothing. We have to follow protocols and find a keeper. They should be able to help us find a solution to this." Katsumi said.

"And how is a little keeper supposed to help us? This attack was meant to make us weaker. We have to show Mimlot and Axel that this won't deter us from stopping them. It's better to do something now instead of waiting until later." Garrow replied.

"No Garrow, we wait," Katsumi said sternly.

Garrow looked at Katsumi with an outraged expression on his face.

He retorted in the same tone, "Well someone has to do something. I won’t stand to the side and wait for something else to happen." He stormed out of the room after that. Katsumi pressed her lips into a thin line before she said.

"You need to stop him. Garrow is going to go after them and he'll get seriously hurt. We already have one guardian out of commission. We can't afford to have another."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Yukio spoke.

All eyes were on him. It shocked them all. Yukio is usually silent and barely speaks. All the color on his face was drained. He cleared his throat and then said,

"I'm going with him. Seeing that you’re hurt, Garrow is the only form of leadership we have right now, and honestly, he makes sense. Sorry, Katsumi." With that, he left the infirmary as well.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"You can't be serious Yukio!" Valeria called out while chasing after him.

Katsumi lowered her head. Silence fell over her, Elizabeth, and Cole. Until Cole spoke up.

"Garrow is right, we can't wait around for something to happen."

Cole took his leave as well, leaving Elizabeth and Katsumi. The silence was so loud it became uncomfortable. Elizabeth glanced around the room, trying to avoid the sadness radiating off of Katsumi without leaving her alone in the infirmary. She pulled a strand of her long hair and twirled it around her fingers as the deafening silence consumed them. She tried to say something, but her voice just wouldn't work. Until Katsumi put an end to the noisy silence.

"I've failed the gods."

Elizabeth looked at her. Katsumi had her head lowered in her bandaged hands, covering her eyes.

"I've failed as a commander, too. How could I have been so dumb? I should've sensed something was off sooner." She berated herself.

“And how could he have gotten out? Once you get in Pryeford, you can’t get out!”

"I knew it wasn’t the best place to hold him, What was I thinking?! I should’ve fought the gods harder to convince them to put him somewhere else!”

Katsumi cupped her face and sighed deeply. At the moment Elizabeth didn’t know what to do, she had never seen Katsumi in this state before. All she could was stand there in silence, until Katsumi called her name in a low voice.

"Elizabeth..." She said as she removed her hands from her face and looked deeply into Elizabeth’s eyes, as if she was trying to look into her soul.

“The others are going to try to fight Mimlot… It’s bound to happen…don’t follow behind them. I want you to follow my orders and go down to Earth, in Edim.”

Elizabeth’s jaw dropped at this order.

'Earth. Why Earth?' she thought to herself.

Katsumi grabbed Elizabeth by both of her arms and pulled her to look directly into her coffee-colored eyes. Before giving her order.

“On Earth, there’s a keeper named Garrett Cleardane. He’s from a long line of keepers and should be able to help you stop Mimlot and Axel. You are to go down there and find him.” She began.

“He may not be as strong as us Guardians, but his magic is enough to help you along the way and find a solution to our current problems.”

“I want you to find a keeper named Garrett Cleardane. He is the descendant of the person I left my medallion with and he should now be the current holder of it. You are to retrieve it from him and he should help you find a solution to our current problems.”

"Then why can't I go to Yaldir's knowledge pool for a solution?" Elizabeth asked.

"Don't go to the pool!" Katsumi whispered while shaking Elizabeth.

"The gods cannot find out about this. Yaldir is connected to the pool, so if you go there asking questions about this, she's going to know."

"And why can't they know? Their realms are in danger and their most powerful guardian is out of commission." Elizabeth said.

"The gods are kind of... dramatic. If they find out about this they'll freak out and it’ll only ?make this much more complicated than it has to be" Katsumi explained.

Elizabeth let out a sigh before nodding her head.

"Don't worry, I’ll do it!" She smiled reassuringly at Katsumi but on the inside she was scowling.

“You should get some rest, I’ll go and start preparing to leave.”

"Thank you." Katsumi smiled.

With that, Elizabeth made her way out of the infirmary and into the hallway. She walked down the hallway until she was out of hearing distance and let out the deepest sigh she had ever made in all 416 years of her existence.

'Why do I have to go to that horrendous eyesore!' she thought

'Out of all the planets in all the realms, it just had to be Earth!'

Elizabeth thought of her orders as she walked down the quiet hallway. Then she heard voices coming from the portal room. She peeped in to see Garrow and the others talking.

“This is a terrible idea, Garrow! The best thing for us to do right now is to listen to Katsumi and wait!”

“And if we listen and do nothing Mimlot’s gets closer to reaching his goal.” Garrow replied in a firm tone while tightening the straps on his gloves. He hit his knuckles against each other and silver gauntlets with yellow gems formed around his hands.

“Garrow this is irrational and dangerous! We can’t just walk into a battle with no plan, no course of action, and fear, because this is exactly the case!” Valeria looked up at Garrow with desperation in her eyes as she was trying to stop him. Then she looked around at the others hoping they had a change of heart and saw where she’s coming from.

“There’s a time to wait, and act when the moment comes, but this isn’t one of them.” Yukio said while preparing his bow, while Cole sharpened his daggers to enter battle.

“We’re going Valeria, and you can’t change our minds, if Axel was strong enough to beat Katsumi, then he’s a bigger threat than we think, and he must be taken care of immediately.” Garrow shot back.

“Garrow…” Garrow cut Valeria off before she could finish her sentence.

“You can either stay here or come with us. Either way we’re going with or without you.”

Valeria clicked her tongue and looked away from them, she thought on her ultimatum before speaking up.

“I’ll go, but only to keep you three from doing something stupid."

Elizabeth stepped into the portal room. Garrow glanced over at her.

"You and Cole have to stay here."

"What! Why?" Cole said in shock. "You'd need as much help as you can get."

"You guys can't help us if you can't use your powers. You two are to stay here. It's an order." Garrow replied.

"Let's go," he said while walking into the yellow portal. Yukio followed behind him. Valeria was right behind them, but she stopped midway and turned to Elizabeth and Cole. She had a worried look on her face as she opened her mouth to say something but she quickly closed it and entered the portal, leaving Cole and Elizabeth alone.

"This sucks! Why do we have to stay behind?" Cole complained.

"I was hoping to go out there and kick some butt! Weren't you?!"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She was now stuck with a task and an annoying Cole.

"I was really hoping to use these! I've had no use for them until now." He continued as he pulled two bronze daggers that were attached to the sides of his hips with a silver chain. He twirled them around his fingers and slash the air with them while making whooshing noises with his mouth.

Elizabeth just stared at him as if he had just grown a second head. As he pulled the chain attached to the small blades and the hilt of one of them hit him in his face. He dropped his weapons and groaned out in pain as he grabbed his already scarred nose. Elizabeth just rubbed her temples and clicked her tongue. She looked out of one of the large windows of the room and saw the dark, starry sky. She took a deep breath in and then let it out. Then she glanced at a white portal that was at the end of the portal room and began to make her way to it.

“Hey! Where are you going?!” Cole called out while grasping his nose.

Elizabeth stopped in her tracks and rolled her eyes as she turned and made her way back to him. Once she was close to him she pulled him down by his collar to reach his eye level and looked at him intensely as she said lowly,

“I was given specific orders by Katsumi, our actual commander, to go down to Earth and follow protocols to stop Mimlot. You will not tell the gods or Garrow about what I am going to do.You will, however, stay here and watch over the Spire and take care of Katsumi until you’re told otherwise from her.”

"Do I make myself clear?" she said even lower than before as her hazel eyes intensely glared at him. Cole gulped but did not give her an answer.

She pulled him down closer so her intimidating hazel orbs can look into his lime green ones.

"Do I make myself clear?" She repeated in a sharper tone.

Cole quickly nodded, and Elizabeth released him.

"Good," she said as she smiled and let him go. She turned away from him and walked towards the portal at the end of the room.

Eventually, she got to the end of the long hall. Hesitantly, she took a step towards the white swirling lights inside the portal. She stares at it for a bit and then takes a step back, preparing to turn away. At that moment, following Garrow's orders didn't seem so bad. She was prepared to turn away and do what Garrow said, but then she remembered the blame that Katsumi had put on herself for everything that had happened. A sigh escaped her, and she scrunched her nose at the swirling lights. She reached up for her pin and began to play with it while she thought about her options.Stay and wait to see what happens. Or go to earth and do what Katsumi told her to do. A deep sigh escaped her, as she knew there was only one option. She rolled her eyes and entered the portal. The light was so bright that she had to close her eyes to avoid it. By the time she had opened her eyes, the light was gone, and she found herself in the place that she hated the most: Earth. Her unsure expression twisted into a scowl when she realized where she was. Elizabeth hadn't set foot on the planet in nearly four hundred years, and she was hoping to keep it that way as well, but with the current circumstances, she had no choice but to be there. She observed her surroundings and noticed that she was in a dark alleyway. When she looked out, she saw it went on for a little while, and then there was light at the end. She decided it was best to walk down the path to see where it was going to take her. When she got out, she was scared half to death by the loud, horrendous sound of a truck's horn. Taken aback by the sudden noise, she stumbled backward and into a person behind her.

"Watch it!" A person snapped at Elizabeth. She noticed they were wearing weird clothing, then she looked around to see nothing except enormous buildings, iron wagons without horses speeding down roads, and crowds of people in weird clothes everywhere. Her eyes widened as she said under her breath,

"Is this... really Earth?"

There was no way Elizabeth could be in the right place. This couldn't be the same Earth Elizabeth once lived on centuries ago, or is it?