In Aiolia, there exist beings known as Guardian beasts, mythical beings who hold sentience like us Jaegers. They may look like animals, but like us, they have their own values, beliefs, and societies. Guardian beasts follow the God of Earth, Gaia, and the God of vows, Vye. It is said that Gaia created the animals and the Guardians to protect ZeO and its good-naturedinhabitants. Like us, they have different personalities and quirks, but unlike us they are duty bound to vow themselves to others. In accordance with their fathers will, Guardian beasts vow themselves to mankind, the relationship is much like a vassal and their lord. The contract terms or pact is determined between the two and for how long the two would be linked. Most of these vows are eternal, until the other dies. The Guardian beast can add in things to the contract/vow to boost their own power and master, the more limitations placed on to the contract/vow the more power Vye gives to the vow and the Guardian beast.
The three most common self-imposed limitations are:
1. The Guardian Beast takes a vow of silence, but can speak telepathically to their lord.
2. The Guardian beast links their mind, body, soul and spirit to their lord. If their lord dies then they die with them. (But not vice versa. Only the vassal dies.)
3. The Guardian beast exiles themselves from returning to their original home. (They can be invited by their King if their lord needs to speak with their kin.)
The hunting houses each have an animal as their family crest, these aren’t just for their crests or to differentiate the differences of the houses. These are eternal vows that sects of Guardians beast have made with these houses. For example, House Illum made a vow with the wolves of Aiolia. Not every Guardian beast wolf was a member of the sect that made that decision and so there are wolves who aren’t in a vow with the Illums. Like the giant white wolf, Roa, who was defeated in battle by Marcus Illum. After his defeat, Roa made a vow to Marcus and joined House Illum as Marcus’s personal Guardian, and became a protector of the fortress of light, Lumencia. Guardian beastwolves that are associated with the Illums, automatically can make a pact with members of that family and are on friendly terms with all members. Guardian beasts fight alongside their lord, using their unique abilities and traits. A Guardian user is known as a summoner, and usually only has one contract made,with a single animal. But there have been others that had the strength and ather to sustain multiple vows and contracts.
— Let’s Learn about Guardian beasts! 4th edition with full color illustrations, by various authors intended for use to teach the youth of tomorrow.
“What? But Bar–” Bartz grabbed the book from the Prof.’s feathery fingers interrupting him. “ I represent you and my father as well. You wouldn’t make it in time in your condition.” He placed the book under his armpit as he opened his satchel and grabbed the book he had in it. He stopped in place, this was it. He was doing the one thing he fought so hard not to do.
He was going to enter the battlefield, the battlefield he alluded to for most of the years of his existence. He was terrified, causing the arm gripping the book in his satchel to tremble. The Prof. noticed and tried his best to get back on his feet, grabbing Bartz for stability.
“You don’t have to push yourself boy. I will go, I’ll protect you from the fate you always loathe.”
As the Prof. clinged to Bartz’s arm, it caused the boy to pull the book in the satchel slightly. The Illum bracelet was on top of the book and fell to ground, bouncing two times before resting itselfon the dirt covered stone ground.
Bartz stared and stared at the bracelet, the one only given to those with ather in his family. The bracelet that his sibling rejects were told they could never truly have, the one he was given and had rejected. The one of the family he loved, but thought he wasn’t right for, that he didn’t have the right mindset and the brave heart to be selfless and face the Night.
The bracelet of the family whose pressure and legacy to live up to was too much for him to bear.
“Take the first step.” Cecil's words rang, erupting into his mind. “I know you have a brave heart.” But did Bartz really believe that he did? Was what he felt, seeing the evils of the Raksha, the will of the First?
Did my soul rage? Did it burn at the Raksha? He asked himself, still unsure. “I want to face this evil together with you” Bartz wondered why Cecil wanted to fight together, why his father sent him on this hunt. What can I do that someone else couldn't?
Images of what the Raksha did flashed in his mind and while the fear of his own death was still there, he could feel his soul blazing hot.
“I will be waiting for you.”
“Take the first step.” His heart pounded in his chest; he was so scared of all of this. So scared of the feeling he felt in his soul. Of the burning sensation that he tried so hard to hide from others. He leaned down to pick up the bracelet off the ground, replacing it with the book he had in his hand.
The tiny bracelet in his hand felt so heavy. One bead has a piece of my soul and the souls of all the other members of my family,some of Cecils. He lowered his eyes away in shame from the bracelet, feeling that he was still not worthy of it. He still felt the pressure of its weight, and placed it back into his satchel. He freed himself from his uncle’s hand and placed the book, titled,“Of monsters and the Night Vol. 2” into his satchel next.
Bartz looked at his uncle in his crow like eyes, tears accumulating on his own. I do hate this, I hate the fact that I was expected to be a great Jaeger, expected to protect people I don’t know before I even had a say. I hate myself for failing the expectations of my ancestors and everyone alive today before I even tried. I’m selfish, like those outside our family tell us we are.
Bartz smiled wryly “I don’t want to risk my life. It annoys me that my life was set in stone before I was even born. But… What those monsters are doing… it's not just. I’m going to warn them about Marcus, about our new discovery.” Bartz closed his eyes. There in the darkness he looked for the words to say, to convince his uncle to leave this to him.
What would father say? What would Marucs say? What would Uncle Higs and Uncle Blaive say? Then the words appeared, the four letter words that Cecil had vowed to him, that his older brother Marcus would have said to him if he was here. The words that Chiefitan Oshi expressed with a strong conviction, that his Uncle Higs had just uttered to him and the words he was always told by his father.
I will protect you.
“And… I want to protect the people I love. I want to protect you and Cecil,” Bartz selfishly said. And everyone living in Lumencia!
He turned from the hands of the one who held him when he was a baby, from the one that taught him about books, science, and history.
Bartz ran towards adulthood. At this moment, his Illum rite officially began. The Prof. fell to his knees “Oh Sig, you would be so proud,” he muttered as he then began to pray for his favored nephew’s safety.
The male Jaeger with the daggers, the one that decided to stay behind, was sitting nearby under a tree. He had watched the whole exchange and looked down at the ground, ashamed of himself for not being twice the Jaeger that the crowku scholar and boy were.
Bartz passed the sightscreen and the crowd that had gathered, but no one said anything to him. They were glued to the screen and the bleak battle unraveling before them. Bartz was sweating, not because he was overexerting himself, but because he was freaking out.
Holy crap, holy crap, I really don’t want to go. Was that really me that said all of that? He gulped. It was me; I can’t back down after I said all that cool stuff to uncle Higs! He slowed down, doubt coming back to his mind. Just as his run turned into a light jog, a female Jaeger passed by him, carrying the little girl Cecil had saved from the Raksha. There was snot and tears all over her face and the shoulder of the woman who carried her. The gross snot skeeved Bartz.
“GRRRR,” Bartz gritted his teeth and pushed forward.
The Female Jaeger placed the little girl in the arms of the onside doctors and nurses. She bowed and began to head back to the cavern when a voice stopped her. “Y-you need help bringing the injured children back?” The male Jaeger who stayed behind asked.
“It would be much appreciated.” She nodded to him and the two made the trek back towards the cavern, ahead of them they could see the lanky body of Bartz, running full steam ahead.
///
Oshi was covered in the bile sludge of Raksha blood, he had kept a small record in the back of his mind just how many of the creatures he had disposed of.
So far, his hunting count was sixty-three. Yet there still so many of these blasted creatures. A Raksha suddenly jumped towards him, flailing its broken arms in a desperate struggle to take anyone down with it.
Oshi dodged it, a powerful yet graceful turn of his bod. Then he slammed his elbow into the back of the Raksha. Its spinal cord had broken inwards, ending its pathetic life.
He then swung his long katana, slicing the head of another creature that was trying to sneak itself towards the chieftain. He exhaled a breath and took a few seconds to look around the battlefield.
The eighty or so Jaegers that entered the cavern had diminished, now Oshi guessed fifty of the Jaegers were left. Of course, this was a high guesstimate, from what he could see.
Already half of the vanguard was taken out by the influx of the Raksha that they hadn’t taken into account.
That thought weighed heavily in Oshi's mind and heart, so he hoped that estimate wasn’t real. He just needed to keep fighting this grim battle.
The Raksha had the kidnapped children, and their safety was the new primary priority. The Raksha took advantage of this new shift and focused their assault on the Jaegers who were extracting the children.
William and Lady Bulwark were each single handedly battling their own gangs of the Raksha, trying to get the Raksha’s attention away from the other Jaegers.
Oshi saw one of the Raksha drag the body of a recently deceased Jaeger. They had started to rush their little ceremonies and rituals and use the bodies of his fellow Jaegers to birth more of their kin.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Those with no life left in them became husk Raksha, mindless creatures that were controlled by a select few Raksha leaders, one of those being the current shaman that held the demonic staff. And the ones that still breathe, they would become full Raksha, the very thing they vowed to hunt, a creature of the Night.
It made the giant, but kind Oshi feel sick, to see these Jaegers, ones who were just starting their journeys and others who had survived every battle up until today, become the evil they all vowed to destroy.
The Jaegers were battling in a confined space, as spacious as the cavern was to accommodate the hordes and hordes of Raksha and the Jaeger vanguard; they still were within friendly fire with one another.
The plan was to fight normally, only using their weapons powered by their athers to cut down the armies of Raksha, then if the Raksha were culled or the vanguard forces depleted they could all start to wreak havoc. Unleash their true abilities and secret techniques.
The knowledge of the children still within the Raksha caught the Jaegers all off guard. Causing their plan to be delayed, they needed to make sure that every bulbous back Raksha was taken care of, and the child slowly taken out of their prison.
With the number of Jaegers left, it was time to unleash the plans and powers they all had, the remaining children would still take priority to save, but they needed to turn the tide.
Chieftain Oshi clapped his hands together in front of him. “Asani.” He yelled before the sound of the clap echoed loudly throughout the cavern.
A small orb of yellow and blue appeared next to Oshi in the air, crackling lightning and thunder as it extended to the form of a cheetah.
Asani had orange fur with black spots that each had tiny thunderbolts designs in them. He wore a feline shaped chest plate that had handles on the back for someone to grab on. Feline shaped gauntlets wrapped around all four of his paws.
In the front of his right paw, a weapon was placed that he could grab, a dual sided knife whose handle was just the right size for his jaws to clench onto.
His beautiful long tail, at least double the length of a regular cheetah's tail, had what looked like a thunderbolt at the end of it.
Asani wore a bandana that covered the top of his head but had slits for his ears to pop out. It was colored orange, but had thick black lines in a horizontal pattern.
Like the falcon, Shaheen, this cheetah named Asani was a Guardian beast. And not just any Guardian beast, one of the Seven.
The Seven are protectors of Rune, asked by the God of the dragoons before his death to always watch over Rune and its people.
Many years ago, the Roland family seceded from the Amberrosa kingdom and decided to ally themselves with the principality of Rune.
During their formative years, they had to endure many hardships in this new land and culture. The head of the Roland clan went out to find aid of any kind and stumbled upon the domain of one of the Seven.
Listening to their plight, one of the Seven gave the head of the Roland clan a difficult trial and promised to help him in return if he succeeded, which he did.
The two made a vow towards one another, and the Guardian beast told the leader of the clan to go to the other six and complete their trials, which he did aas well.
Their clan had influence and power enough to survive in Rune and take up one of the lesser tribe spots. They are known as a clan and not a tribe, out of respect for the wishes from the older generation of the Rolands.
They wanted to keep as much of their history, customs, and traditions as possible. The contract between Clan Roland and the Seven is very secretive, not many know exactly what the terms are, or if they have changed over time.
But the Seven have honor bound themselves to the Roland’s until the bloodline dies. Once the current head dies or retires, the Seven shoot up towards the sky and return to their domains, where they await the next leader of the clan to start their pilgrimage.
This pilgrimage was part of the original vow and contract and must always happen. All of Oshi’s ancestors went on this pilgrimage; his mother, himself, and hopefully, in the future, his daughter will go on her own journey once she is named chieftain of the clan.
The Seven protectors of Rune is one of the only political powers Oshi has left. The Seven allying themselves with the Roland’s protects the clan from the wrath of those trying to see them snuffed out.
The ones who want to take the Seven for themselves.
Asani purred with a low growl; he was ready to kill what needed to be killed but he waited for his lord to give him instructions.
“Asani, tear apart as many of these demons as you can.” Oshi commanded, as he held his sword and causally stabbed the back of a Raksha head nearby. “The ones with the big sacks on their backs have children in them, pull them out and hand them to any Jaeger near you or move them near the entrance.”
Asani chuckled at the mention of the word sack, causing Oshi to roll his eyes at the giant feline next to him. Asani understood his mission, and in a flash began his quest. Asani wasn’t mute, unlike Shaheen, Asani accepted a self-imposed limitation into his contract with Oshi.
Oshi was physically strong, in terms of his technique with weapons and the fighting style of his people, he was one of the best the eighth generation of Jaeger had produced. Yet the only reason he was at such a level was because he was overcompensating for something he lacked.
Oshi was born with low levels of ather ability, to the point that many thought he was actually a reject. The people of his clan and the greater and lesser tribes all had looked down on him in his youth. “He would never live up to his mother’s legacy” or “How could the next leader of our clan be so weak?” These were things he heard constantly in his youth. Oshi worked hard and did what he could to get to the position of power he was at today.
The Grand Chieftain, otherwise known as, “King strongest above all,” in the Rune principality, acknowledged and loved Oshi as his own son. He became the Grand Chieftain’s right hand man, although it actually made clan Roland's reputation even more hated. But Oshi didn’t care, he proved them all wrong and became a protector of his people and land.
And through the Grand Chieftain, he met Lord Sigurd, whom the Grand chieftain’s daughter had fallen in love with. Not only did Sigurd hold the title of honorary dragoon, given to him by the Grand Chieftain of the dragoons, but the Grand Chieftain himself handed his favored daughter to the wolf. The Grand chieftain had a grandson who had human blood in his veins, something the Grand chieftain is still chastised for to this day.
Oshi had always been at awe of Sigurd and through his king started to sow the seeds that would help his clan. Oshi was the one that rebelled against the expectations his detractors had placed on to him, he knew his weakness yet still left his mark in the annals of history.
Asani watched Oshi grow up, he saw the boy be beaten down by the harmful words and expectations of others, he chose this self-imposed limitation to aid the boy he helped raise, to help the man who became a proud Jaeger that protected the people of his clan. To help the man who was an amazing father.
He would have done as many self-imposed limitations as he could if not for the original vow the Seven made to the gods. Asani couldn’t die, not yet, not until he had a successor. But even so, he and the rest of the Seven have all given something up for the boy they watched become a man.
For the father of the young girl they currently were watching grow up.
Asani was summoned over the other six, and it was time to show his love to his lord and do the task he was given. He accelerated into top speeds, lighting crackling out of his paws and tail, biting and clawing off limbs of the Raksha he passed. Asani pounced one of the bulbous backed Rakshas and ripped its head off, then clawed the child out.
Holding the child by her shirt in his mouth, he ran towards the entrance of the cavern, leaving steps of lighting and discharging static off of his body.
A bolt of lightning fired out towards a Jaeger as Asani passed him. The Jaeger wasn’t aware of the guardian beast's wild electricity and took the bolt into his back.
Oshi ran and swung out his long katana, just making it in time to push back the Raksha the fallen Jaeger had been fighting.
Oshi killed the Raksha and helped the jaeger back on his feet. There was just too much going on, too many Raksha to face, too many children who were still captured. “I’m sorry lad, Asani is a storm when he gets serious.”
Asani continued his onslaught and pulled another child free of the Raksha clutches. Cecil was near the vicinity of where the lightning cheetah had just ripped apart another Raksha to pieces. Cecil sliced through a Raksha near him, carrying another child in arms.
“Hey Asani, got room for this guy?” Cecil carefully placed the boy on Asani’s back Asani nodded in thanks and pounced away. Cecil continued to fight against the Night, swinging his sword and cutting down Raksha after Raksha until he could see Oshi near him.
“Things are looking pretty grim, huh?” Cecil asked with a smile, jogging up to Oshi. The two unleashed a combination attack against a group of creatures. The long katana stabbed into a few Raksha as Cecil jumped onto the blade of the katana and beheaded the stationary monsters. “Yes, it’s about time we push forward.”
Cecil whipped the dark blood off the blade of his sword and looked towards the main altar.
They were currently at the center of the cavern, a sea of never ending Raksha in their way as they screamed, danced, and swung their arms and weapons towards anyone around them.
Cecil could see between the creatures and saw the figure of a lone woman in meditation. “It’s about time we face her anyways,” he said. Oshi grunted in agreement. “Zill, Bulwark,let Asani provide support for our Jaegers. It’s time we march forward.”
William and a few of his personal Jaegers, who still carried the cylinders tubs on their backs, appeared beside Cecil. Lady Bulwark stabbed a few Raksha, killing them before joining next to Oshi.
///
They will never know… Never know the truth.
Harriet sat on her knees; eyes closed. She had been in that position for the past two days. Waiting for her orders to join the battle, even though her eyes were closed she could still feel the battlefield around.
She could still sense the ather of the evil Raksha and her allies of the different hunting houses.
No, they aren’t my allies anymore.
It pained her to think that, pained her to recognize the athers of people she fought with, to feel their souls ripped out of their bodies after their deaths.
Snuffed out, one by one.
She felt all of it and was denied the ability to grieve, the ability to fight against the Night. Harriet was an elf, more specifically a common elf, with long black hair, she wore both the sides of her hair braided. She bore white and gold armor, earned from the noble house she vowed to protect.
The one that gave her a last name, a home and a family to protect and love. See, Harriet 's story is one of great adversity,but also a modern day legend, admired and told by all. Harriet was orphaned at a young age, living on the harsh streets in the Amberrossa kingdom.
Abandoned by her elf parents in a human kingdom, she killed her first man at the age of seven, who was trying to force himself onto another orphaned girl a bit older than Harriet.
Harriet couldn’t eat or sleep after what she did, to kill another person at such a young age broke her mind. To make matters worse, the girl she protected later died of sickness the next week.
She wanted to end her own life by jumping off the roof of a nearby three story building, or jumping into the dark abyss of the ocean near her home.
But she stopped just at the apex of her misery, just as she was about to take her final steps in this world… She chose to live.
Harriet lived the rest of her childhood and teens in isolation until she was found by a Jaeger known as Andre Telli.
There he saw the ragged girl with hollowed eyes and felt pity on her. He took her into his home and began to train her and make her his apprentice.
Harriet was one of few born to have two athers, the legendary ather Void and the common ather Flame. She used those inherited athers, the skills she was taught by her teacher to raise her status and rank as a Jaeger.
Harriet was a rising hero who eventually participated in two of the most important cataclysmic events of the modern Jaeger era. She was the de facto reason those hunts succeeded, and those successes catapulted her status in the Jaeger zeitgeist.
She was a living legend. All wished to be her, most of the Jaeger youths first crushes were of Harriet, and many wanted her in their hunting house as an official member.
But she denied all of that, she didn’t want to be tied down to a hunting house. After all she had already done the unthinkable. She was a solo Jaeger, with no house or name backing her for most of her career.
That is what made her so special, so captivating and interesting to everyone. She gave hope to every child that they could do the same, to rise up in this cruel world, to survive and become something more.
And at the height of her career, with all the titles she earned she was given the graviton spear, a legendary treasure from the noble elf house of Feylana. It felt like it was specifically made just for her. She then was given the same name as the spear for a title, and asked to become the bodyguard of the Feylana house. To be adopted in this long standing noble house. This she accepted, as it was what karma had owed her for her terrible early life and experiences.
Yet, here she was after killing her fellow guards, after killing Feylana family members that tried to stop her, after killing Jaeger after Jaeger that appeared in her way. After kidnapping Esmeralda, the lord’s daughter, the girl she had vowed to protect from harm, and her step sister who loved her dearly and looked up to her.
Here she was.
They would never know the truth. I’m ashamed to say that’s all I can think about, how my reputation and legacy is forever tainted. She cried externally, for she knew the truth. The fact was she was always a pawn, her fate sealed long ago.
Her parents didn’t abandon her, they were worshippers of the self-made. They had found the faith and aided the Raksha in their goal and pledged their unborn baby to be the pawn. The property of the Raksha.
Both of her parents were Flame ather users and during her birth, sacrificed their souls to a soul merchant and imparted their Flame ather into her.
Empowering her to heights normal people dreamed of, her Void ather was also gifted to her by the self-made God himself. The man she killed? She never did it to save anyone, the self-made pushed her to do it, but her humanity caused her psyche to break.
When she was going to kill herself, the self-made stopped her and forced her to continue to live. Deep down she fought against his influence subconsciously, not eating, barely sleeping until she was a hollow husk of a ragged girl.
Then the kind and gentle Andre Telli found her and taught her to fight against the Night and for a long time she did what she wanted and became a hero. But even that was something they wanted, that disgusting God and his creatures wanted all of this to happen.
Because one of the key main components they needed was the soul of a high born elf. Something Harriet and her biological parents weren’t. Highborn elves had stronger ather waves in their souls and the self-made wanted to be summoned in his best condition.
Summoned… They don’t even know the truth about that either.
So, while she was rising the ranks as a Jaeger, the Raksha were getting the other requirements and components they needed. She would turn down offer after offer until a noble elf house came to her.
Then she lived with them for seven years, waiting, waiting for the self made and the Raksha to begin the countdown and start the ritual.
Harriet was never truly special, she was never a hero, she was constructed for the single purpose of being used by the Night.
Harriet was never told of this, her memories were altered until one day she had an awakening as she killed the people she called friends in her lord’s house.
She was possessed but she had been possessed by the self-made since before her conception. She couldn’t break free at this point, there was nothing anyone could do, at least as far as she knew.
They would never know the truth. She repeated. They will never know that I never wanted to betray them, that I always wanted to do good. They would never know.
“Isn’t that hilarious? I find it so amusing, chosen one.”
The voice of the self-made echoed in her soul. She couldn’t respond back to it, the power in his voice was accompanied by a strong pressure pushing her soul into compliance.
He would never call her by her name, instead by the moniker of chosen one. His tone was always one of belittlement and mockery. Of immense disrespect to the girl that was given to him to use.
Harriet hated being called chosen one, she pushed herself and the possessed with her own willpower.
Her soul burned and for the first time in her life, her voice broke out against her oppressor.
“I’m not your chosen, my name is Har—“
“SILENCE, SUB-ELF TRASH. Everything you had in life, I allowed you to have. Your titles, accomplishments, even your inherited ather. I gave it all to you. You earned nothing. That makes you my chosen.”
The God’s voice tore her soul apart, taking away her ability to voice her thoughts. “A BITCH LIKE YOU DOESN’T DESERVE A NAME. I CREATED YOU, YOU ARE MINE, YOUR SOUL IS MINE.”
She didn’t respond, instead she just accepted her fate. He returned her voice “who do you belong too?” The God asked.
“You and the Raksha,” she replied.
“Good, the leaders of these Jaeger fools are about to reach you. The sword is still not to my liking, it isn’t perfected yet. Push those weak Jaegers back, kill them all, I don’t want them to see my marvelous glory. The time for my birth is nigh.”
Harriet nodded and opened her eyes.
[https://i.imgur.com/ZnhzWT7.png]