“Axel? Axel?!” Mimlot yelled out as he looked down at his staff. His face turned pale as he examined the small crack that formed in its crystal. The red glowing was now long gone and gray began to emerge from the crack and slowly spread into the rest of the gem.

He tapped the staff to the ground and began to spit orders at it,

“Locate Axel.” He said firmly

No response.

“Show me where Axel is.” He demanded.

Still, no response. Anger began to rise inside of Mimlot as the staff in his hands ignored him. The more he ordered and slammed the staff down onto the platform his throne sat on, the more the crystal cracked, until it eventually shattered.

“This can’t be!” Mimlot said in disbelief. The slowly rising anger from within him finally bubbled over and in a fit of rage, Mimlot threw the staff down the steps of his platform.

“How dare he!” He yelled, as he stomped down the steps after the staff.

“Who does he think he is, betraying me like this?!”

“I gave him one task and he couldn’t even do that right! Instead he just abandons me! For who?!” Mimlot shouted.

As he got to the bottom of the steps, he saw the staff lying in front of him. He kicked it out of the way, and continued his tantrum as he made his way to the doors of his throne room.

“Don’t worry I’ve got just the thing for him!” Mimlot stuck his hand out and before he knew it the staff that he took his anger out on was back in his qqgrasp.

He opened the door and made his way out and down to where his prisoners were locked away.

—

“Ugh, I knew this was a bad idea!” Valeria sighed as she braced herself on the wall of the tiny cell she shared with Garrow and Yukio.

She turned to face Yukio as she examined one of his wounds. “There’s protocols for a reason, we should’ve listened to Katsumi!”

“Staying behind was an option you know. You didn’t have to come.” Garrow retorted.

“It’s a good thing I did because look at you two.” She shot back.

“It’s not that bad.” Yukio spoke up.

Valeria glared at him before squeezing down on his arm, causing him to hiss in pain. “Are you sure about that?”

Garrow and Yukio were beaten badly, they were littered with injuries from their encounter with Axel. Valeria was the only one out of the bunch that was still somewhat intact. After examining his arm, Valeria hovered her arms over it, preparing to heal it.

A small golden light began to glow from her hand, before it flickered and then went out. Valeria looked down in confusion as she tried again, getting the same results.

“My powers, they're not… working.” Valeria said in a confused, worried tone.

Garrow looked down at Valeria as he clenched his fist and waited for it to glow, or some sign to prove Valeria wrong, before punching the steel bars. Garrow winced in pain as a burning sensation rushed through his knuckles. It quickly subsided as he removed them from the bars.

“What…?” He said as he looked down at his hands. His knuckles were covered in burns.

Valeria and Yukio looked at him in worry and shock.

“That’s not…” Yukio began.

“Normal?” A squeaky voice cut him off, followed by laughter.

Mimlot walked in front of their cell, he wore a smug smile on his face as he looked at the three of them.

“It seems like someone lost their powers.” He said in a singy voice. “It’s not a good feeling is it?” Mimlot traced the cell’s bars mockingly.

At that moment, Garrow saw red, he reached through the bars and grabbed Mimlot by the collar of his shirt. “What did you do to us?!” He yelled. Fear flashed in Mimlot’s eyes as Garrow lifted him from the ground and pulled him closer to the cell.

“Garrow stop!” Valeria rushed to him in an attempt to get him to let go of Mimlot.

“I think you should listen to the lady, from what I gather she’s the only smart one out of the three of you.” Mimlot laughed.

“Garrow let him go. If you hurt him we’re trapped in here for good.” Valeria looked at him worriedly.

Garrow sighed and let go of Mimlot before baring himself against a wall of their prison.

Mimlot fixed the collar of his shirt and readjusted his tie. “So he’s not just muscle, he’s brains too.”

Valeria looked down at Mimlot’s tiny lanky frame with an icy glare. “Let us go.” She said sternly.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Mimlot looked at her and then at Garrow and Yukio as if he was analyzing them. Then he put a finger to his chin as if he was thinking over her demand before a wicked smile grew on his face.

“How about I let you go, but you follow all of my commands? Deal?” He asked while sticking out his hand for Valeria to shake.

She was outraged by his decision, “I’ll never help you!” She shouted.

“Aww, that sucks because I wasn’t really giving you much of a choice.”

Mimlot smiled wickedly as he reached for his staff that floated right into his hand, and pointed it at Valeria. The stone at the end glowed red, his eyes following soon after. Then he blasted Valeria, making his smile grow even wider.

Valeria let out a scream as she fell to the ground while holding onto her head.

“Valeria!” Garrow and Yukio yelled in unison as they rushed to her side.

“What did you do to her?!” Yukio shouted at Mimlot.

“When I get out of here I’m gonna…!” Garrow threatened before Valeria went silent and let go of her head.

Mimlot set his staff on the ground. The stone had stopped glowing, and so did his eyes as looked down at Valeria. “Now this is how it’s going to work. I’ll let you out and you will bring me Axel and your little friend that’s running through the realms. Got it?”

Valeria looked up at Mimlot, her lavender eyes that were once bright and lively were now dull and lifeless.

“Yes lord Mimlot. She said. She sounded almost robotic like.

“Valeria. Val snap out of it!” Yukio shook her in hopes that it would bring her back to her senses.

“Oh it doesn’t really work like that buddy.” Mimlot said mockingly as he pointed to Garrow and Yukio with his staff, causing them to get pinned to a wall of the cell as he opened it to release Valeria.

He quickly closed the cell and let go of the hold he had on the two of them.

“Don’t worry! I’ll be back to do the same thing to you two soon.” Mimlot laughed wickedly.

“You.” He snapped at Valeria. “Let’s go, I believe you have a job to do.” Mimlot said as he exited the prison with his newest, brainwashed right hand following behind him.

-

Elizabeth and Greyson were now far away from the town they caused chaos in, and now in the middle of a grassy field, making their way to the mountains.

“My feet are killing me!” Greyson groaned. “Can we take a break?” Greyson stopped walking to complain.

Elizabeth ignored him and kept going.

“Hello? I know you can hear me.” He grumbled.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and turned to him. “No. We cannot take a break, we don’t have the time, the realms are in danger.”

“But I’m tired! A five minute break won’t spell doom for the realms.”

“We’re not taking a break, so you're gonna have to suck it up and keep going.” Elizabeth retorted. “I know it’s a bit hard for you Earth mortals to do that, but you’re going to have to try and suffer in silence for a bit. The mountain is not that far from here.”

“But..”

Elizabeth glared at Greyson, causing his woes to quickly die down into silence. Then she turned away from him and continued their walk towards the mountains.

“What part of “there’s no time”do you not get, liar? Hurry up!” She called out to him. Greyson grumbled before catching up to her.

Eventually, the two found themselves in front of an outpost sign, which led to the entrance of the mountain’s path. The writing in the sign was washed out and faded, but it was still visible enough to read.

“St..steining…” Greyson tried to read what the sign said.

“Stetding Rise.” Elizabeth corrected. “I don't know how a keeper doesn’t know how to read keepish.” She pushed past him and made her way to the path, the sign pointed to.”

“Well for one, I’m not a keeper anymore, and two, I’m rusty!” Greyson retorted as he followed behind Elizabeth.

“And how can you “not be a keeper anymore?’” She air quoted.

“It’s a lifetime commitment! That’s like saying I quit being a guardian.”

“Well what kind of Guardian can’t use all their powers?”

“A guardian in training? There’s way more to it than just magical weapons and shooting balls of energy at your enemies you know?” Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

“It’s spiritual too, and sometimes that takes long to master.” and sometimes that takes a while to master.” She paused before looking down at her hand.

“Being immortal for a long time can… take a toll on a person. It can make them numb to things that are important to mortals, like empathy.”

“That explains a lot about you.” Greyson mumble under his breath

Elizabeth glared at him before continuing. “The gods knew this, so they linked our powers to a memory that connects us to mortal life. Once I can figure out what it is, I’d be a fully realized guardian.”

“The others say that I’ll get it in time but, clearly that’s not something we have much of right now.” She said in a disappointed tone.

Silence fell over the two for a bit before Greyson spoke up, “I had a hard time controlling mana when I first started my keeping studies,” he broke the ice. “It takes a little bit of patience with time before you get it.”

Elizabeth looked at Greyson and slightly smiled at his words.

“You know liar, that’s the first smart thing you’ve said since we’ve been stuck together.” She said as she punched him in the arm. With that she sped up her pace and walked ahead of him.

Greyson smiled as she walked away from him before quickly grabbing his arm and silently groaned in pain.

From there the two ascended the path in silence until it got colder and the sun began to fall. Greyson stopped to catch his breath when he caught a glimpse of a beautiful view.

“Hey.” He called out breathlessly to Elizabeth.

“For the last time Liar, we are not taking a break!” Elizabeth sighed in annoyance as she continued her walk.

“Elizabeth…” he called out again.

Elizabeth pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance and snapped at him. “My gods you earth mortals are whiny!”

“Remind me to leave you in Youthaniss when we…” she was about to continue her rant when the setting sun’s light blinded her.

“Look.” Greyson said, amazed while pointing to the view in front of them.

Elizabeth closed her mouth as her hazel orbs soaked in the scenery. The sunset was kind of hidden behind trees in the distance. Shades of blue, pink, and yellow, colored the sky as sprinkles of stars danced around it. The view was a sight for sore eyes. Elizabeth’s tense posture and serious face relaxed while looking at the sunset.

“Wow... I’ve never seen something like this back home.” He stretched his arms before he prepped to continue their climb. “Too bad we don’t have time to actually watch the sunset, I’d have to make Maddie bring me here a day so I can.” He said as he quickly caught up to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth snapped herself out of the trance the falling sun had her in and glanced at Greyson before sighing in resignation.

“I guess….we can take a little break.” She said as she shook her head.”

Greyson’s eyes widened at her words and a bright smile grew on his face. “Really?!”

“It is starting to get a little cold, and I know you Earthlings are whiny weaklings, so I guess we should make a fire to warm you up before we go.”

“Thank you Elizabeth! I knew you weren’t as cold as you make yourself to be!” Greyson rushed to Elizabeth’s direction to pull her in for a hug, but Elizabeth quickly evaded him causing him to fall.

“Don’t overdo it.” She grumbled.

“And if you want this break I suggest you gather stuff to make a fire.” Elizabeth waved him off and took a seat on a rock nearby.