“In the name of the Order of the Realms, I Elizabeth, sixth guardian, and protector of Edim and Osguild, place you under arrest!” Elizabeth exclaimed as she pointed her weapon at a set of moving rubble. “You will be returned to Pryeford with Mimlot where you two can rot together for eternity! But first, I have questions that you have answers to.”

Axel rummaged his way out of the rubble and groaned as he held onto his head. “What are you talking about?” Axel looked at her with a lost expression on his face.“There is no sixth guardian in the order, there’s only four of us.” Axel grabbed his head and groaned in pain.

Instead of the lifeless orbs that met hers before, Axel's violet eyes looked more lively and his face showed more emotion than the stoic look he had in the beginning of their fight. It confused Elizabeth. It was like she was standing before a completely different person. Although it threw her off she still kept her guard up and never lowered her weapon.

“Do you think I’m dumb enough to fall for your tricks? How foolish of you. Elizabeth huffed.”

“How foolish of you to claim to be a member of the Realm Guardians when you’re looking right at one.” Axel retorted. “Including me, there are four members, not six, I’ve never seen you before.”

“And what do you mean that I’m returning to Pryeford with Mimlot?”

Elizabeth looked at Axel stunned, but it quickly turned into a serious and annoyed one.

“You are a traitor to the Order of the Realms! Now why don’t you save the little dignity you have left and surrender. It’s pathetic to see you stoop this low to try and escape.” Elizabeth snapped

“That’s ridiculous! I would never turn my back on the order, they’re my family.” Axel said in a shocked tone. “Where am I?” He looked around the former shopping district which was now left in ruins.

“Look I don’t have time for this, I have realms to save. You’re in Scoldar on Neburion’s planet, now where is Mimlot and how did you two escape Pryeford?” Axel looked at Elizabeth confusedly as he processed what she said. As he played it over in his head it sounded like it made sense but none all at once.

“Neburion….? Why would I be…..?” Axel began to mutter under his breath.. Before he could continue a sharp pain pierced through his head and he groaned.“Traitor to the order…that doesn’t make sense…” The pain became worse for Axel as his groans became louder and he put a hand to his head, and another over the brooch attached to his scabbard. Wary, Elizabeth grew closer to him, but she never lowered her weapon. Something about him seemed off to her, he seemed confused, like he had snapped out of some sort of trance. She knew it could be a trick, but deep down she felt like he truly didn’t know what was happening. As she got close she noticed that the brooch he was holding was damaged. It was cracked and small pieces of it were missing. Axel held onto it as if it was a part of him as he groaned in pain.

“Hey…are you…okay?” she began in a concerned, yet stern tone.

At the sound of her voice, Axel let go of his face and stared up at Elizabeth. His eyes were back to its lifeless violet irises and his expression filled face returned to a stoic one. He slightly raised his hand and a huge puff of dark cyan smoke began to fill the area. Elizabeth coughed from the smoke and tried to swat it away but it was too thick.

Once the smoke cleared up and Elizabeth was able to see again, Axel was gone. He had vanished into thin air.

“Ugh!” She yelled in frustration.

“How pathetic of him, running away like a coward.” She mumbled under her breath.

Elizabeth stood there, alone I’m the forest for a moment or two, thinking about her next course of action.

‘Axel may be gone but Neburion couldn’t have gone far, who knows maybe the liar has some sort of purpose and he was able to catch him.’ Elizabeth thought to herself.

‘And then also his library, there’s so much stuff in there, he must have something that could help this Mimlot problem.I better get to the cabin as soon as possible before something else goes wrong.’ With that Elizabeth headed back to Neburion’s shop.

-

“You did what?!” Elizabeth yelled. Her and Jackson stood in the traitorous Neburion’s library, the only place intact after Elizabeth and Axel’s duel. “How did you even manage to let him get away?”

“He used magic to open a portal, it's not like I could’ve stopped him!”

“You have magic, you’re a keeper too! You couldn’t have…. I don’t know, stall him?!” She said as she dropped her sword on the table.

“What do you not get by, “I am not a keeper, I do not practice anymore?” I don’t partake in all of your magic mumbo jumbo, and even if I did there’s no way I’m chasing him through a portal to a place I don’t even know.” Greyson shot back.

“And it’s not like you’re any better! Judging by the looks of it, you didn’t exactly catch that Guardian-beater!”

“Because I wasn’t trying to catch him and I knew I didn’t have a chance even if I wanted to!” Elizabeth retorted. “The plan was to stall him until he realized it was pointless and I did just that!”

Elizabeth glared at Greyson before sighing deeply and pinching the bridge of her nose.

“At least we have his library, there has to be something about Mimlot in here.” She began to scan the messy library.

“You earth mortals are so unreliable! I left you with one task and you couldn’t even do that!” Elizabeth mumbled loudly as she made her way to a book stack on one of the cluttered tables.

“You speak so lowly of humans, but weren’t you one before you became a guardian?” Greyson asked as he side eyed Elizabeth.

“Well according to your kind, I’m a monster. But I’d rather be that than one of you.” Elizabeth answered in a sarcastic tone as she reached for one of the books on a nearby table.

“I hope you made yourself useful and at least looked through some of these liar. The sooner we take care of Mimlot, the sooner you get to go back to your crappy planet, and I get to return to my home and pretend you never existed.”

“You don’t think I know that? That’s exactly why I flipped through these books, and as torn up as they are I was actually able to find something.” Greyson retorted.

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“So you do serve some sort of purpose.” Elizabeth made her way back to where Greyson sat. “What did you find?”

Greyson grumbled before he reached for a green book from the stack in the chair next to him. “We all know that the first guardian was the one that stopped Mimlot all those years ago, There's a record of it. What isn’t recorded though, is how she did it.”

Greyson opened the book and began to flip through it as he continued. “Katsumi, the light in the dark, was a mortal when she defeated a Mimlot. She lived in a time where magic wasn’t fully understood, which is why her feat is so great. But as powerful as she was to stop Mimlot as a mortal, there’s no way she was able to travel to Mimlot wherever the gods reside and stop him, and that, lead me to this.” Greyson stopped on a page that had a map. He placed his finger on top of the ancient text and slowly read what it said.

“You….tan…is?” He read in an unsure tone.

“Youthaniss.” Elizabeth corrected. “He’s hiding out in Youthaniss.”

“Yeah, that place. This,” Greyson pointed to the map. “Will lead us right to Mimlot, then we can go, lock him up again, and I can go back home!”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at his statement and picked up the book from in front of him. She scanned the map looking at the various places the path went through, from forests, to rivers, and caves, before she ripped it out of the book.

“Hey! That’s ancient history you just ripped out!” Greyson exclaimed.

“Take a look around this dump, does it look like Neburion cares about ancient history? Last I checked, you don’t even care about ancient history.” Elizabeth raised an eyebrow as she folded the map and tucked it away into the pocket of her jacket.

“Well I do now.” Greyson mumbled as he crossed his arms.

“No more fooling around Liar, we have to get to Youthaniss.” Elizabeth reached for her sword and pulled it out of its holder, then she pushed a nearby table out of the way to make space. “Youthaniss.” She firmly said as she slashed the air. Nothing happened.

“Youthaniss.” She repeated as she slashed again, but still she got no response. With her patience running thin, Elizabeth tried two more times before grunting out of frustration.

She pinched the bridge of her nose before sighing. “There’s not enough.”

“Not enough what?”

“There’s not enough Mana here to get us to Youthaniss. It’s too far from here.” Elizabeth put her sword away.

“But why would that matter to you if you’re a guardian?”

“Are you hard of hearing? I can’t use the full potential of my powers, what do you not understand? We need to find a mana pool to get out of here. I know there’s one in the mountains not far from here, let’s go.” Elizabeth grabbed her weapon and placed it back in its sheath as she made her way to the stairs and looked at Greyson.

He picked up the book and began to make his way behind Elizabeth, before he stopped in his tracks.

“You know, I don’t feel safe walking around unarmed, or unprotected while you have all this gear and theres things that want to kill us.” Greyson grumbled.

“Where do you expect to find anything in here? It’s a library.” Elizabeth crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

Greyson pointed to the closet they hid in, making Elizabeth sigh. “If you search through there and find something, would that make you stop complaining?”

Greyson nodded, which prompted Elizabeth to wave him off as rushed to the closet and pulled the door open. The closet was way messier than he expected. It was as if everything was sloppily thrown in there without a second thought. He rummaged through the mess pulling out random items he might’ve wanted to take, then he pulled out a satchel. It was a blue bag with a black strap, and a clasp that was as green as his eyes.

“Woah..” Greyson examined it closely. It was oddly familiar to him, but he just didn't know why.

“Liar, hurry up! We don’t have time for this!” Elizabeth shouted out to him.

“Give me a second! Geez!” Greyson quickly stuffed the book inside of the satchel along with some of the bits and bobs that were sloppily tossed in the closet before slinging it across his body and following behind Elizabeth.

-

Silence filled Youthaniss’ cosmos as Axel exited from a red portal. He stretched as he let out a deep sigh.

“Last task for the day.” He said as he began to float through Youthaniss

Today, it was Axel’s turn to patrol Pryeford, a task that he hated. He hated being around Pryeford. There was always an eerie feeling that surrounded the doors, it was almost like he could feel the evil radiating off of Mimlot. It left him with shivers running down his spine the whole time he was anywhere near Pryeford, Especially now of all days. As of late, Axel felt like something was watching him on his patrol days. To put his mind at ease, Katsumi would accompany him on his days, but she couldn’t today. It made him dread patrol days even more.

Fresh into his journey to Pryeford, the feeling of being watched began. Axel tried to ignore it as he floated through the realm, but this time, it was a feeling he just couldn’t shake. Once he reached Pryeford, Axel reached behind himself for his sword and looked around. No one was there.

‘It’s all in my head’ he thought to himself as he sighed deeply and floated his way down to Pryeford. Axel began his patrol, looking around the area to ensure its security. Then, he went on to check Pryeford’s door to make sure it wasn’t tampered with. Axel made his way back to Pryefords entrance. He looked up at the two large doors. As he moved to get closer for his inspection, he noticed footprints on the ground. They didn’t belong to him. Axel became alarmed at his findings, someone was there with him.

“I know you’re there.” He said while slowly reaching back to draw his weapon.

“Show yourself.” He called out sternly while he took a defensive stance. Silence followed his order. “In the name of the order of the realms I command you to show yourself!” He yelled in an angry tone. Axel took a defensive stance as he looked around the star-filled area. Suddenly, a figure in a dark cloak appeared out of nowhere. Axel’s eyes widened in shock until he spoke to the figure in a stern tone.

“I don’t know who or what you are, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave. This place is prohibited.” The figure didn’t respond to him. It didn’t move or anything.

“I won’t warn you again….” Out of nowhere, the hooded figure charged toward Axel. A wicked laugh followed behind it as it grew closer to him with a smile, a smile that radiated so much evil, one couldn’t even begin to describe. Just looking at, Axel felt paralyzed in place, he mind ordered his body to move but it just wouldn’t. The laugh coming from the figure was almost hypnotic just hearing it made a huge wave of drowsiness wash over him until eventually, his eyelids became too heavy, and they finally closed.

That was the last thing Axel remembered, up until now.

Cyan smoke began to fill the inside of a dark cave, as the sound of heavy panting followed behind it. As it cleared up Axel can be seen braced against the cool cave wall holding onto his head. He grasped his head in pain as he tried to process what Elizabeth had told him. As Axel thought back to his encounter with the supposed “sixth guardian” the pain in his head worsened. It was a throbbing like pain, and it only grew the longer he thought about it. He felt as if he had just woken up from a dream.

“Sixth guardian of the order….Mimlot escaping…me, a traitor? None of that makes sense…” Axel felt as if he had just woken from a dream. He couldn’t remember anything, except for digging his way out of the rubble from the mess he made in Scoldar and facing Elizabeth’s blade and her interrogations. Even then, thinking about it made his head hurt terribly. He slid down the wall and onto the ground.

‘Something isn’t right.’ He thought to himself. None of what Elizabeth had told him made sense, in fact, nothing that was happening around him made sense. How could she possibly be the sixth guardian in the order when to his knowledge, the fifth one wasn’t even chosen? Why was he even fighting her to begin with?

On Top of that, how did he end up all the way in Scoldar when he last remembered being by Pryeford? Axel grabbed his head and pushed his cyan hair out his face. As he groaned in pain. Just then he felt something warm in the pocket of his jacket. He pulled it out only to find a brooch with a cracked red jewel in its center. Confused, he held it up in the air to further inspect it and just then, a loud noise came out of it.

“Axel?! Axel, are you there?!” The voice called out. Axel took a closer look at the brooch, then he tapped it, causing it to glow and a tiny version of Mimlot to shine out of it.

“Axel!” The voice yelled again.

“Axel, where are you?!l

As Axel looked into the badge in confusion, he felt a wave of sleep overcome him. The longer he looked the more he felt as if he was falling asleep. It was hypnotic. Slowly, Axel began to feel like he was losing control of himself as he responded,

“Scoldar. In a cave.” He replied vaguely.

“Why are you there?! I gave you orders to find Neburion!”

“And I did. But Neburion had Guardians hiding out in his dump of a lair.”

“And did you capture them?”

“No.”

“I give you specific orders and you can’t even do that right! If I had known you’d be so useless I would’ve left you in Pryeford to rot!” Mimlot spat.

In that moment, everything came rushing back to him, the last thing he remembered up until this point was that he was fighting someone, near Pryeford. At first, the person was just a blur but as he thought harder it was Mimlot. He remembered the sinister smile, the cloaked figure rushing him, and that wicked laugh, everything after that was just blank. Putting it all together, that figure was Mimlot, Elizabeth was right. Axel's eyes widened, and a crack in the brooch began to grow, splitting it into smaller pieces. Mimlot began to break up and the glowing became more violent until eventually, it died down and the rock broke into tiny pieces.

Axel dropped the brooch, “she was right.” He whispered under his breath.

Slowly it was all coming back to him, his duel with Katsumi, freeing Mimlot,and capturing the others. “What did I do?”

Axel looked at the broken pin on the ground. Because of him, Mimlot was free, he turned against his friends, his family and hurt them. The very place he swore that he would protect is now in danger because of him.

“I have to make this right.” Axel said in a firm tone. With that Axel rose up from the ground.”

“I have to find that Elizabeth girl, and help her save the realms.”