The Guardian pushed between Akio and Ard and continued towards where Rin was standing. Ard turned to Akio, his eyes were wide open with excitement.

“Aki, that’s not just any Guardian. That’s Jack. Jack Rider, the Fire Guardian.” Ard said.

Akio and Ard moved closer to Rin and Jack.

Akio looked at Ard and noticed his grin went from ear to ear. Clearly Ard was struck with stardom.

“They’re getting stronger Rin. It took all three of us with our Dust companions engaged just to take that Dark Elf down.” Jack said in a defeated voice.

“I'm sorry Jack…” Rin said but was interrupted as Ard tapped Jack on the shoulder.

Rin’s face fell in shock. Guardians were considered war heroes that commanded respect. Akio knew that even top UEF generals knew not to mess with them. Recruits never spoke to Guardians.

“Excuse me Jack, what’s a Dust companion?” Ard questioned.

Suddenly, Ard was flung high into the air before Jack had fully turned around.

“Woah, woah, woah!” Ard shrieked in horror.

A bubble then formed around Ard as he levitated in the sky and above the trenches. Shots of fire, streaks of electricity, rocks, and small beams of light constantly struck the bubble from the enemies direction. However, the projectiles were either reflected or absorbed by the bubble leaving only ripples against the bubble wall.

A strong pressure was then felt by Akio, causing him to feel drained of energy. He turned to see a brown haired female with cute little brown ears and a tail. She held her soft looking hand up towards the air with a watery beam connected to the bubble that Ard was in. Akio noticed that she too had a red glowing breastplate with red arm and leg braces which were similar to Jack's armor. Akio could tell this girl was incredibly strong and could feel her intimidating presence.

“Silly little boy… How dare you touch Jack like that.” The girl angrily shouted.

The bubble slowly started to collapse on itself.

“Aki, a little help over here!” Ard shouted.

“Drop him Chicka” Jack said in a raised voice.

A disappointed look had sunk into Chicka’s face.

“Tch!” Chicka sneered.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Chicka lowered her hand. The bubble slowly vanished. Ard quickly hurtled towards the ground.

“AHHH! What the hell Chicka!” Ard shouted.

Akio could see by Chicka’s face that she was clearly offended by Ard using her name. Ard was just about to hit the floor but his descent was stopped inches away from it. His nose touching the dirt and his arms wide open, Ard then dropped face first onto the ground.

“My name is Chicka. I am Jack’s Dust companion.” Chicka said as she faced Akio.

“What is a Dust companion?” Akio curiously questioned.

“Simple answer is, we, meaning Jack and I believe that I was born from Jack’s subconscious. That’s why I call myself a Dust companion. We came from nothing, from literal dust. We are symbiotic. Jack has access to see beyond what other humans see. Jack calls it a heads up display, or HUD” Chicka happily responded.

“Isaac thinks what we see is like a leveling system that you would see in an online computer game. Not that we have any of those anymore.” Jack chimed in.

“How do I get a Dust companion?” Ard questioned as he got up and brushed the dirt off his uniform.

“You don’t.” A voice boomed out from behind Akio.

“A person with a new Dust companion hasn’t shown up for hundreds of years.” The person said as he walked past Akio and towards Jack.

The green armor created a calming aura around the Guardian and the cracks within the staff shined a brilliant green. Ard walked over to Akio and began smacking against his arm.

“Oh, oh… That’s Isaac! Isaac Ashton the Earth or Healing Guardian. He apparently can resurrect people.” Ard said in excitement.

“I can hear you, soldier…” Isaac then took a few steps back.

“Oh damn you are big!” Isaac said to Ard, looking him up and down.

“I’m just fed well.” Ard replied.

“Rin, we lost 182 people in today’s counter offensive. Also, we didn’t take any ground as it took all of us just to take down that Dark Elf.” Isaac said

“I don’t know what else to do, Isaac. We are running out of ammunition and some of the races our soldiers face are not damaged by the soldiers' rifles. Can you imbue more of the ammo?”

“My mana is running on fumes. I’ll need a day to recharge. The problem is, imbuing the ammo would leave me weak against a stronger enemy such as the one we faced today.”

“I know, but without the ammo we are leaving our soldiers vulnerable across the frontline. Jack, are you sure you can’t imbue ammo?”

“Nope, It’ll take me 100 or so years solely leveling that for it to be effective.” Jack responded.

“100 years! How old are you guys?” Akio said in surprise to Jack’s response.

“1017 years young.” Isaac replied.”

“How is that even possible?” Jack said in curiosity.

“After we got our Dust companions we stopped aging. We also can’t get sick. Only physical and magical attacks, curses or toxins can harm us. It’s like a curse in itself." Jack said in a deep casual voice.

An alarm then rung in the background as soldiers scurried past the officer tent in different directions.

"What's happening?" Akio asked.

"Oh no. This is too early!" Rin said in disbelief.

"They are fighting back is what it means." Jack said as he moved towards an open section of the trench.

"You two are soldiers. Get your rifles and ammo from the box over there." Rin commanded Akio and Ard as she pointed to a stack of green boxes and standing weapons.

Akio noticed Jack spread his wings. They were huge, he thought. Jack then lent down to the ground and bounced in the air and flew off. He then noticed Isaac doing the same. He looked up but they had already pushed towards the battlefield.

Akio and Ard moved towards the boxes.

"This is your favourite gun right?" Ard said as he threw an assault rifle to him.

After he caught the gun, Akio grabbed an ammo cartridge from the adjacent box. The sound and explosions rang out more frequently and loudly from every direction.

"Getting a bit dangerous now don't you think Ard" Akio said as he loaded one of the ammo cartridges.

"We'll be fine Aki, Chicka is with us."

He turned around and noticed that Chicka was not there.

"Ard, she's gone."

Ard turned to confirm that Chicka was gone. Ard then looked at Akio.

"We'll Aki. We are fucked." Ard said with a grin on his face.

"Go, go, go, up that ledge there soldiers. Don't look back and don't retreat unless you hear the siren!" Rin shouted to Akio, Ard and the other soldiers in their proximity.

Akio shook as the adrenaline and fear kicked in. This would be his first time fighting on the front lines. This was it he thought. Fight or die.