After a bit of walking, the busy roads and crowds of people quickly turned into silent neighborhoods. The houses looked nothing like Elizabeth remembered, although some looked awfully familiar to her.
“Maddison was it? Just what part of earth are we in right now?” She asked.
Maddison looked back at her before answering,
“Salem Massachusetts, in the United States.” She smiled.
Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows. ‘So this really is the same place I left centuries ago…who would’ve thought they’d evolve to this state?’ She thought to herself.
“What year is it?”
Maddison was preparing to answer before Greyson cut her off.
“2091, you’d know that if you came here and I don’t know…kept tabs.”
“Greyson!” Maddison scolded as she hit him in his arm. Elizabeth glared at him.
“I’m sorry Elizabeth! He just has a tendency of being….stupid.” Maddison tried to laugh it off but neither of them looked amused. Greyson and Elizabeth glared at each other. If looks could kill, Greyson would’ve been dead.
Sensing the tension in the air, Maddison cleared her throat. “Come on guys! The keep is nearby, there’s not much walking left.”
This put the stare down on a temporary halt as Elizabeth pushed past Greyson to follow Maddison the rest of the way. Eventually, the three found themselves in front of a brick buildings, with white columns in front of it’s entrance. It stood out, yet blended in with the other houses so well.
“Welcome to the Salem keep! This was the first one built after the witch trials, Mistress Jeannette has done a great job maintaining this keep and its history!” Maddison exclaimed.
She opened the doors to the building revealing a huge library inside.
Maddison looked over to a boy stacking books on a shelf nearby.
“Mason,” She called out to him, “Where is Mistress Jeanette?” The boy looked just like Maddison.
“I last saw her where she likes to read, look there.”
“Right this way.” Maddison said to Elizabeth as she lead them down rows of bookshelves.
Before she knew it. Elizabeth was standing at the beginning of a book aisle. At the end of it was an old woman sitting in a rocking chair while reading a book. Her back was turned to the three as she was facing the window. Without even looking up from her book she began to speak.
“I assume you two found the cause of the portal opening.”
“Yes we did, it wasn’t just any portal though—” she cut her off.
“Of course it wasn’t just any portal, that’s why I sent you two to investigate,” she paused before setting her book down on her lap and turning her head towards them. “I wouldn’t just trust anyone to safely lead our Guardian to her Keep.” She smiled as she rose from her seat and made her way to Elizabeth.
“Welcome back my Guardian.” She bowed. “I am Jeannette, the Head of all the Keeps in Salem. How may we be of help to you?”
“Please, there’s no need for formalities, just call me Elizabeth.” Elizabeth began. “Mimlot escaped Pryeford with the help of a former Guardian from the order. Our commander is out of commission and the other Guardians went to try and stop Mimlot. The commander Left it up to me to come down to earth and find a keeper named Garrett Cleardane, she said that he would be able to help me.” Elizabeth explained.
“Dear, no one told you? He died many years ago.” Jeanette replied in a sad tone as she looked over to Greyson.
Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows, ‘If he’s gone, then who is to help me with this?’ She thought to herself.
“Even though he may be gone, I can still be of help to you. Follow me.”
Jeannette left the aisle and went to the next one. She placed her book into the bookcase mounted onto the wall and slowly the bookcase turned a light shade of blue. Then, Jeanette lightly tapped the book, and the cabinet opened like a door, revealing a long staircase. The four descended the staircase until they answered a library. All the shelves in the room were tall, starting from the highest ceiling and ending on the red oak 4, the books were neatly packed away on the shelves and the room was lit by candles that were hung on an iron wheel-looking chandelier. In the middle of the room were 3 wooden desks with wood floor matching chairs, each surrounding them.
"Keepers store and record the history of the Realms. With the history information that has been collected over the years, problems similar to them can be avoided or used to find a solution. We also solve minor problems in the realms, so you Guardians can focus on bigger issues." Jeanette explained.
“I had personally trained Garrett to one day take over the keep for when I eventually pass onto the afterlife, he was the best student I ever had. He was so talented, I believe that he was even better than me.” She smiled. “Sadly Garett lost his life serving the realms. The only things left of him are the hard work he put into helping to maintain the keep. I plan to train these two to take over in his place.” Jeanette patted Maddison and Greyson’s backs.
“There are no plans to train because I am not a keeper anymore.” Greyson interjected. “The only one in training here is Maddison.” He walked past the three of them and made his way to a table in the middle of the room where he threw himself into one of the wooden chairs. All Jeanette could do was stare at him with a saddened and disappointed expression on her face, Maddison shared the same look.
Elizabeth glowered at Greyson, she stared at him as if she was trying to burn holes into his head with her intense hazel eyes. Clearing her throat to get Elizabeth’s attention, Jeanette began to speak again, "This library holds all of the information on the Realm’s history, what are you looking for?"
“I need anything that will help stop Mimlot and Axel as well as finding the other guardians. I was ordered not to go to goddess Yaldir’s knowledge pool, so it kind of makes things a little harder.” Elizabeth replied.
“I see,” Jeanette replied as she brought her hand up to her chin. “Give me a moment to gather a couple of things, in the meantime please, take a seat at the table over there.” She pointed to the table that Greyson was sitting. “Maddison, come with me.”
Elizabeth huffed before she took a seat across from where Greyson sat. She glared at him as Jeanette and Maddison flipped through books on the shelves until eventually, Jeanette found the ones she was looking for. She picked out a dusty green book and a red one from the bookcases and placed them on the table.
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“Maddison, bring all the stuff for a knowledge spell.” She called out.
“Although there are a lot of limitations, keepers can do some things like crossing realms and magic using mana. Unlike the guardians, us mortals are only given the gift from the gods to use flowing energy deep within us, and it can only be used for a certain amount of time before it has to be replenished.”
Maddison returned with a glass bottle holding a bright blue, almost glowing like liquid, a small cauldron, and a rigged black stone. She placed them on the table in front of Jeanette.
“We keepers are well aware of just how…over-exaggerating the gods can be, so we’ve had to come up with a couple of tricks to not worry them and perform our duty.” Jeanette chuckled. “Using mana, water from Yaldir’s knowledge pool and this power stone I’m going to make a makeshift knowledge pool without a connection to goddess Yaldir so you can get your answers.” Jeanette explained as she propped up the dusty red book and began to flip through its pages.
Elizabeth nodded at Jeanette’s explanation while Greyson and Maddison looked at her with concern.
“Mistress, are you sure about this?” Maddison asked.
“Yeah, wouldn’t that be too much on you, it’s a pretty strenuous spell” Greyson asked as he sat up in his chair. For once he didn’t have a nonchalant look on his face, he looked more worried.
“Well if you were keeping up with your studies, you would be here and I wouldn’t have to worry.” She retorted.
Greyson huffed at her response and slouched back down while crossing his arms. With that, Jeanette began the spell by pouring some of the water into the cauldron and dropped the black stone in, then she began to mix it together.Soon after, the water started bubbling, and the stone turned into a light blue color of the water. Jeanette put her hand above the cauldron and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and slowly, a white light began to form in the palm of her hand. All of the lights that illuminated the library started to flicker, and the bubbling in the cauldron became more intense. Jeanette flipped through some pages in the green book before she stopped and scanned one of them. Then, she started mumbling something under her breath, it was so low no one could hear what she was saying but as she muttered, the light blue water turned white. The bubbles began to die down and slowly, the color shifted from white to yellow. The flickering stopped, and so did Jeanette’s muttering.
“Elizabeth, I assume you know how to use Yaldir’s knowledge pool?” Jeanette asked while turning to Elizabeth. She nodded in response.
“Good, this spell is the same process, stick your hand in the water, close your eyes, and think about the questions you want answers to.” Jeanette explained
Elizabeth shut her eyes and thought to herself, ‘How can we stop Mimlot? Where are the other guardians?’
After some time the library turned dark and the yellow liquid bubbled aggressively. It shot up into the air and made loose swirls of many sizes. The loose swirls clumped together forming shapes, most of the swirls remained dark while part of it returned to its golden yellow color. In the darkness she could see Mimlot with a sinister smile plastered on his face, behind him stood a dark figure with no face and Axel stood towards the end, where a little of the light shone on him. That quickly faded away and the swirls showed the guardians standing tall and proud, with Elizabeth at the forefront as if she was leading them, twelve circles formed around her, and circled her slowly, before lastly, all the guardians vanished, leaving Elizabeth standing by herself. Greyson stood beside her, he had his hand stuck to her as his lips moved, saying something inaudible. The swirls vanished with a bright flash and just like that everything in the library returned to normal. Greyson’s jaw dropped as he saw himself in the vision. Elizabeth stared at where the picture the swirls made was with a puzzled look on her face.
“What does it mean?!” She said in a frustrated tone.“None of this makes sense!”
“Why am I there?! I’m not a guardian!” Greyson began to freak out.
“Well, I think it means it’s up to you to save the realms.” Jeanette replied, she had a calm look on her face as Elizabeth turned to her and stared at her surprised. “As for the guardians, you’ll have to find them on your own.She continued.
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “Me?! Save the realms?! I can’t even use my powers yet! The one that was supposed to help me is dead! What am I supposed to do?!
“You seemed to have a good understanding of them when you tried to kill me,” Greyson muttered. Elizabeth glared at him.
“Well, that’s why I think Greyson is there.” Jeanette smiled. “You see, he is Garrett’s son, it means it’s time for him to fulfill his duty as a keeper.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened in shock."How can someone so respectable from what I hear produce something like him?” She thought to herself. It didn’t make sense to her.
“I’m not a keeper anymore, I don’t practice and I won’t ever again.” Greyson said sternly.
“We have to be interpreting this wrong, there’s no way I have to save the realms, I haven’t even reached my full potential as a guardian, how am I supposed to save the realms?!” Elizabeth asked worryingly
“Yeah, there’s no way that was me, do it again Jeanette!” Greyson said.
“No matter how many times I try, the outcome will be the same, something as set in stone as fate doesn’t just change because we don’t like what’s in store for us.” Jeanette was right. This was the second time he’s made an appearance in one of Elizabeth’s visions, so he must be important to her somehow.
Jeanette pat Elizabeth on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m sure you’ll figure everything out, but, if you need more answers, there’s a young keeper in Scoldar. His family have been keepers since the beginning of the order, he should have records that can help you. His name is-“
“Neburion….” Elizabeth sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“I see you already know him.”
Neburion is a shady keeper that is very good at his job. It’s the only reason the guardians leave him be. She’s well acquainted with him.
She smiled at Jeanette.
“Thank you for your help.”
“It’s an honor to assist you, my guardian. I’m sure everything will work out in your favor, I wish you good luck on your journey.” Jeanette smiled back and bowed, before she glanced over at Greyson. “Also, please watch over him on your journey, Greyson is just…” She trailed off. “ Lost, and I hope this will help him find himself.”
Elizabeth looked over at him as well, and a wave of annoyance washed over her as she stared. “I’ll try.” She promised her.
Jeanette smiled as Elizabeth. “Thank you.” She said while taking her hand and squeezing it slightly.
“Maddison, let’s head back up, we have books to store.” She called out as she began to make her way to the stairs.
Maddison followed behind her, before stopping in her tracks and turning to Elizabeth and Greyson. She ran up to him and gave him a tight hug before smiling,“You two be safe on your journey! I want to hear all about your adventure when you return!” With that she quickly bowed to Elizabeth before rushing to the steps that lead back to the main library, leaving Elizabeth and Greyson alone. Greyson looked at the stairs in disbelief.
“There has to be some sort of mistake! I’m not a keeper anymore!” He shouted. “Jeanette!” He called out for the older woman, but he didn’t get an answer.
“Let’s go, liar. Time is of the essence.” Elizabeth spoke as she reached for her scabbard, brandishing her weapon. Elizabeth swung the blade, cutting the air while saying, “Scoldar.” At that moment, a gray portal opened in front of the duo. Elizabeth glanced at Greyson and then back to the portal, signaling for him to enter it.
“Ha! Yeah right! There’s no way I’m going through that with you!” Greyson exclaimed as he pointed at the portal. “Find someone else to do it, not me. I’d be crazy to go with someone who tried to kill me!” He huffed.
Elizabeth clicked her tongue. “I wasn’t trying to kill you, I wanted my pin that you stole back!” She put emphasis on ‘stole.’
“I’m not exactly thrilled about bringing a lying, thieving, no good Earth mortal along with me, but there’s no time to complain about it seeing that the realms are in danger!” Elizabeth continued. “Now you are going to suck up your woes and march in that portal, and we are going to go to Scoldar and save the realms!” Elizabeth ordered as she pointed at Greyson and back to the portal.
“Do I make myself clear?” Defeated, Greyson let out a deep sigh before taking a step into the swirling lights made of many shades of gray. Elizabeth entered after him, marking the beginning of their journey.
-
In an enormous hall, a big black throne with small specs of gold sat on a platform in the middle of the room. The hall was dimly lit, with the only source of light being torches that were placed on immense columns around the room and some that lined the staircase that led up to the throne’s platform. On the dark throne sat Mimlot. His once disheveled suit was now neatly fixed and his formerly messy, silky black hair was now slicked back. He wore a bored look on his face as he sat slouched in his seat, while holding a staff with a dark rock. Axel entered the hall through its immense doors. He walked to the steps that lead to Mimlot’s throne and kneeled down on one knee.
“I was unable to complete my mission, Lord Mimlot.” Axel announced.
Silence followed soon after the sound of sound footsteps resonated in the room.
“Unable to complete your mission…” Mimlot repeated.
“Why is that?”
“I could only capture three guardians at Pryeford. The others weren't there.”
The footsteps came to a halt as Mimlot stood on the fourth step. He glared down at Axel through piercing vermillion eyes and asked,
“And where are the guardians you captured?”
Axel stuck his hand out in front of him and his palm glowed a greenish color. In a flash, Garrow, Yukio, and Valeria appeared in front of him. The three laid on the ground, badly beaten and lifeless like. Mimlot stared at the three before he made his way down the remaining stairs.
“Lock these three up, Axel.” Mimlot ordered.
He turned away from the guardians and stood in front of Axel. Axel looked up at Mimlot and into his vermillion eyes. Mimlot firmly hit the bottom of his staff on the ground. His vermilion eyes glowed and the dull, colorless crystal that sat at the top of his staff did as well. Then he stared down at Axel and said,
“Find the rest of the guardians and bring them to me.”
Axel’s eyes glowed the same color as Mimlot’s as he replied,
“Yes, lord Mimlot.”
“An old friend of mine named Neburion can help you. You’d find him in Scoldar.” Mimlot continued.
Axel stood up from his kneeling position and nodded his head.
“Failure is not an option.” Mimlot warned.
“Now lock them up and go.” Mimlot pointed to Garrow, Yukio, and Valeria, then began to climb up the steps, returning to his throne.
“Yes, lord Mimlot.” Axel repeated as the red glowing in his eyes died down and they returned to its normal violet color.