PARAGON
Remnants of the Great War Arc [6]
Chapter 15 : Rota, Land of the Guardians
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Ash woke up early the next morning. He and Cynthia would be flying out to Kanto later to meet with Albrecht at some function. Pikachu woke up when he did, and a soft jolt passed through Ash’s body as his tail brushed against his face. Pikachu cooed and smiled, and Ash scratched him behind his ears.
He knew Pikachu wasn’t an early riser like he was, but the mouse made the effort anyway for his sake.
As Ash brushed his teeth, his mind wandered back to his meeting with Albrecht two years ago. With everything that’d happened in the interim, he’d sort of forgotten about the man. The memory was easy enough to recall, he’d just had no reason to until now.
Albrecht hadn’t struck him as a trainer, but clearly the man was adept if he could be elected World Champion just like that. Of course, because of the election, Ash had no idea what pokémon he had or what his battling style was, but he was eager to find out.
According to Cynthia, he was coming along so she could try and “suss him out,” since he seemed to be interested in Ash two years ago. But to Ash, that just sounded like an excuse to get him away from the danger of an actual assignment, like going after AZ with N and Zinnia.
That decision stung him, but it was warranted, so for now, he’d go along with this benching. He’d proved himself to Cynthia already, and he didn’t expect her to keep him away from the action for long.
Either way, his encounter with Zagreus had been sobering, once again. Similar to his decimation by Cynthia, he was once again reminded of how far he still had to go.
Oddly, it wasn’t the worst feeling in the world. If anything, it only kindled the fire in his chest even further.
Against Zagreus specifically, Ash knew he could beat him. Their battle hadn’t lasted long, but Ash knew his pokémon were stronger. Even without N there, he knew he would have defeated him.
That was the frustrating part. Two years later, and he was still trapped in the mindset of a traditional pokémon trainer. Zagreus hadn’t hesitated to target him, but Ash had treated the battle like any other, for the most part. Unwittingly, he’d fallen into another set of habits while training against wilds.
Today, Ash swore, would be the last day he would let himself burden Paragon with his carelessness.
And he would get to work on it immediately.
Pikachu scampered up onto his shoulder after he changed and they headed out to get some breakfast.
Sabrina was awake in the living room, and sitting cross-legged on the floor, facing the window. Her eyes were transfixed on the sun outside, but her eyelids didn’t move in the slightest, much less blink.
“Good morning, Sabrina!” Ash said with a smile, and Pikachu chirped and waved.
Sabrina didn’t move, and at first he thought she hadn’t heard him. But as he approached her, she tilted her head ever so slightly in his direction.
“Good morning,” she said. After greeting him, she immediately shifted back into place as if nothing had happened.
Ash stood in the middle of the room looking like a bit of a doofus, and he glanced around to see if anyone else was seeing this. “Uhhh, so what’re you doing?”
Silence passed between them. Pikachu’s ears twitched, and he sent a jolt into Ash’s body for no reason. Just as he thought he was being ignored, she spoke up.
“Training.”
“Training?” Ash muttered, and he and Pikachu exchanged a look. He walked around her to see if he was seeing things right, but sure enough, it was just the sun outside, and she was staring right at it. He needed to squint because of how bright it was, especially reflecting off the surface of the ocean. “Do you do this every day?”
Again, after another awkward silence, she answered, “Yes.”
“And… what is it for?” Ash asked, after it was clear she wouldn’t be offering up the details on her own. He wasn’t the prying type, but ultimately, his ballooning curiosity won out against his social sensibilities.
After several seconds, she stood up and turned around to face him. She was a head shorter than him, and her crystalline gaze bore into him as she looked up at him.
“Using my psychic powers strains my eyes, so I watch the sunrise every morning to strengthen them.”
Ash nodded slowly. “Right…yeah, that makes sense. I think?”
She continued to stare at him. As the seconds passed by, her gauntlets began to whir and spin ever so slightly faster.
“Hey, do you want to have breakfast with us?” Ash asked, if only to break the awkward silence. He chuckled nervously. “Actually, I saw Sylvester left us some jelly doughnuts. Wanna dig in?”
Okay, had that done more harm than good? Sabrina simply kept staring at him, but her white skin was rapidly turning pink.
Pikachu saved the day by jumping onto her shoulder. She yelped when he landed and looked at him in horror as he found his footing. Ash laughed when he nuzzled against her cheek, and he could’ve sworn her mouth warble into a slight smile.
Before she could turn him down, he went over to the fridge and pulled out the box of doughnuts.
“Sweet, four left! That means two for each of us!” He pulled a couple plates from the cabinets and a bowl of pokémon kibble for Pikachu.
Sabrina joined them at the table, and she started picking it apart before Ash could get another word in. Pikachu sat between them on the table with his bowl, and Ash smiled in satisfaction before digging in himself.
He finished his second doughnut right as Sabrina was licking the last bit of jelly off her finger from her first. They both looked up at each other simultaneously.
“I’m not hungry any more,” Sabrina said. “You can have the last one.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
Ash studied her for a few more seconds, but as expected of a psychic, she gave nothing away. He shrugged and helped himself to it. “Thanks, Sabrina!” After taking a bite, he groaned in bliss. “Sho goood…”
Sabrina seemed glued to her seat and didn’t get up. Pikachu polished off his bowl of kibble a minute later and sighed, patting his belly.
Ash was almost halfway through the doughnut when he noticed Sabrina was staring at him. He glanced at her, then down at the doughnut, then back up at her. She blushed.
“If you wanted it, you should’ve just said so. Now I feel bad,” he chuckled. He cut off the rest of his half and lifted the other half onto Sabrina’s plate with his fork and knife. She stared down at it.
“Thanks,” she murmured, but before she started eating, she cut it in half again and placed one of the halves into Pikachu’s bowl.
Pikachu looked over at her and grinned, before bowing politely several times in her direction. She smiled back, and Pikachu turned to Ash and scowled at him.
“Oh, right. Yeah, sorry, buddy. I totally forgot about you. They were just too good.”
Pikachu started shouting obscenities at him, and as Ash defended himself, Sabrina stifled her giggles with her sleeve.
After Ash finished his meal, he stretched and yawned. “Oh yeah, sorry for disturbing your training. I didn’t mean to interrupt your focus or anything,” he apologized.
Sabrina shook her head and covered her mouth, full as it was of doughnut. “No, no, don’t worry about it,” she said once she’d swallowed. “I was finished anyway.”
“Oh, great!” Ash said, breathing a sigh of relief, and he saw Pikachu smirking out of the corner of his eye.
From there, they started talking about this and that, like what they’d been up to recently as far as Paragon was concerned. Sabrina actually seemed very interested in his encounter with Zagreus, which made Ash happy, as she always seemed to hide her emotions behind a mask of stoicism. They hadn’t seen each other much over the past two years, much less talked, and it was good to get to know her a bit better. He consciously steered clear of certain topics, like her wrist gauntlets and her past as a gym leader, but eventually, they found themselves talking about Ash’s battle with her all those years ago, and the Haunter he’d left in her care.
“Oh, yeah! That reminds me!” Ash suddenly said, and he pulled a pokéball from his belt.
His own Gengar emptied out, and quickly surveyed the situation as if looking for more prey to torture with his teasing. His eyes found Sabrina, but the girl didn’t seem fazed.
“Hey, Gengar!” Ash said before he could go on the offensive. “I have a favor to ask. You know how you leave a piece of yourself within all of my pokémon so we can communicate with each other on a moment’s notice? Well, I was thinking maybe we could do something similar with me too.”
Gengar frowned, and his head curled over one hundred eighty degrees in confusion. Gengar, unlike Dragonite and Lucario, had been the only pokémon Ash’d caught during his “year of hell” who hadn’t made the cut for his fight against Leon. But his talents lay elsewhere other than battling. Even before their two year training, Gengar had possessed the unique skill of splitting his body into smaller forms and infusing them within other pokémon. It’d been a priceless asset for their brutal training regiments in between gym battles, as Gengar could help animate his pokémon’s bodies past the point of exhaustion so they could continue training far longer than they should’ve been able to.
Once Ash had had his match with Cynthia, and the gears had started spinning for how he could push his pokémon even further beyond their limits, Gengar’s ability came to mind once again, and he’d thought up of a new application for it that, unbeknownst to him at the time, would become the critical foundation upon which the entire two year training would rest.
Gengar infused a tiny piece of himself into every single one of Ash’s pokémon. It wasn’t enough that he could boost their stamina like he’d done before, but it was just enough to allow him to communicate with them all, across any distance, with his main body as the nexus. It was thanks to him that they could train all across the world, and always know how each other were doing. And the pieces of his body still rested within them all, to this day.
A pair of disembodied eyes rose from Pikachu’s body, then a mouth, like a Gastly without its poison cloud. It blew raspberries at Sabrina, then disappeared back into Pikachu’s body. Pikachu shuddered and sneezed, but otherwise seemed unfazed.
“Yeah, that,” Ash said. “Do you think you could maybe put your entire body into me, and I can carry you around like that, instead of in your pokéball? That way, if I ever run into trouble again, I’ll have you as an extra layer of defense!”
Gengar grinned at the idea, but his expression quickly switched to dismay. He started gesticulating wildly, and belched out a thin cloud of poison.
“I see. So you’d be able to if you were a pure ghost, but since you’re a poison type too, it would kill me.”
Gengar nodded glumly.
Ash wrinkled his nose. Well, it was a good idea. But things couldn’t be that easy. Then, another idea popped into his head. “I have a new goal for you, Gengar.”
Gengar twisted in the air in curiosity, glancing between the others in an exaggerated frenzy.
“Suppress your poison typing,” Ash grinned. “I want you to protect me.”
Gengar’s eyes bulged out of their sockets, but he coiled into a sitting position as he floated through the air. He tried stroking his chin in thought, but his arms were too stubby, so he pulled it off his body, and set his finger to work brushing his chin. After a few seconds, he lit up and nodded furiously.
“Think you can do it?”
Gengar gave a thumbs up. Then he grabbed his disembodied arm as it started wafting away and stuck it back on his body. Finally, he gave a double thumbs up and grinned proudly.
“Alright, now get to work. Meet us at the plane when we’re leaving.”
Gengar nodded one more time and disappeared through the ceiling.
“Sorry about that,” Ash said, turning back to Sabrina. “Anyway, where were we?”
Sabrina was staring at the ceiling where Gengar had phased through, but she looked back at Ash after he asked his question. “That’s amazing.”
“What?”
“I do something similar with my Gengar, but it took us years to think of it. And you just came up with that idea on the spot?”
“Well, I thought of it yesterday, actually.”
“When you were in agony after waking up from a month-long coma?”
“Oh, ha ha, yeah, I guess so.” He rubbed the back of his head in slight embarrassment. “Wait, you said you do the same thing with your Gengar? And is it the same one as…?”
“Yeah!” Sabrina beamed. “It’s the Haunter you battled me with! He’s been with me this whole time!”
“Let me see him!” Ash said, and Pikachu stretched his face out to mimic the ghost.
“Oh, you can’t,” Sabrina said sadly. “Sorry, but it’s kind of complicated. It has to do with my psychic powers. So I don’t think I can help you with your own Gengar either. I’m sorry.”
Ash’s smile faded, but he quickly revved it up again. “Oh, don’t worry about it! It’s no problem, really! We’ll figure it out, no problem, like we always do. Right, Pikachu?”
Pikachu nodded and saluted his trainer, and that seemed to restore Sabrina’s spirits.
It didn’t take them long to finish their breakfast, and they parted amicably, with Ash going to shower, and Sabrina heading back to her room to prepare for her assignment in Rota. Ash had gotten her all up to speed about everything he knew about Zagreus, and after their breakfast this morning, he felt even better about leaving it in her hands.
Cynthia came outside several hours later, to no one’s surprise. Even a three thousand year old criminal on the loose or an audience with the World Champion could not disturb her sacred six hours of sleep, when she could get them. Nevertheless, she came out washed and dressed and ready to leave, so after a quick lunch prepared by Sylvester, they went out to the airfield and left for the Indigo Plateau.
At the same time, Sabrina took flight for Rota on the back of a pokémon no one in Paragon knew she had.
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Sabrina arrived in Rota later that day. She touched down on a hill that overlooked the region, and recalled her pokémon, placing it back on her belt in the very back. The wind blew her hair across her face, and she walked forward to view the land of Rota from above.
A sea of billowing trees shuddered in the wind below, and at the center of the forest lay a pristine lake, whose surface reflected the sky and cumulus clouds above perfectly. At the lake’s center, nestled between a pair of long viaducts, sat Cameran Palace, the home of the Aura Guardians. It was built of polished limestone, and roofed in bright red tile, like a castle pulled straight from a hero’s tale.
Beyond the palace, towering above the treeline and nearby mountains, sat an indescribable formation of rock. It looked like a giant mountain, but rested on a thinner shaft of rock, almost like a tree trunk. Clouds drifted across its face, and the sun shined off the emerald grass on its surface like glass.
Sabrina looked on the scenery in awe. Her entire childhood, she’d never left Saffron City. It was only after joining Paragon that she started to see the world, and there were few places in the world as breathtaking as the land of Rota. Though for Sabrina, almost everything was a breathtaking sight, sheltered as she’d been.
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She let herself absorb the view for several more minutes, enhancing her vision to watch a group of Pidgey and Petilil and other critters playing around in the forest, before turning away to focus on the job at hand. She wasn’t here to sight see, after all.
She jumped off the cliff, and the wind roared as it raced up around her. When she was seconds away from impacting the forest’s canopy, her eyes and gauntlets ignited, and a harsh light enveloped her body. She twisted through the air, between the trees, and landed on the shaded grass far below.
Exhaling, the glow in her eyes faded, and her gauntlets slowed, and she started toward the lake.
Of course, she could’ve simply landed closer, or used her power to fly to the palace much faster, but she always made a conscious effort not to rely too much on her powers. She lived a sedentary enough lifestyle, and needed to take advantage of any opportunity for exercise she could get.
Because she knew for an absolute certainty that she wouldn’t be exercising on her own time.
As was typical when she was left to her thoughts for a while, her mind wandered back to her last extended social interaction: breakfast with Ash and Pikachu.
Immediately, she cringed. What the hell were those response times when he first said “good morning” to her? He definitely thought she was being rude. She hadn’t meant to make things so awkward, but she was trying to recall what his current impression of her must’ve been, so she could be sure to match whatever he was expecting.
It was definitely not a normal way to interact with people, but Sabrina saw so little of the other members of Paragon that she literally didn’t know what they thought of her. Priority one was making sure they didn’t hate her.
And at that, she seemed to have failed. She definitely pissed Ash off this morning. Well, first she’d convinced him that she was a total weirdo, staring at the sun like a lunatic. Then, she’d pissed him off by freaking out at his Pikachu. Or for intruding on his breakfast. Or for lying about wanting the last doughnut. Or for all of the above.
The doughnut fiasco. It almost hurt to think about. Why? Why had she offered it to him even though she wanted it? He looked so annoyed at having to fork over half of a doughnut he’d already started eating. Not normal. Again, not normal. That was not a normal human interaction.
And then there was the Gengar conversation. Really? Oh, I can do that too, but actually I can’t tell you how so good luck figuring it out on your own! What was wrong with her? Somehow he’d slipped past her guard, and before she knew it, she was rattling off about things he definitely didn’t care about.
He had a lot of patience, listening to her go on and on about her latest missions. It was a wonder he didn’t tell her to shut up, or at least excuse himself discreetly.
Hopefully her giving his Pikachu some of her doughnut would make up for her poor performance as a conversationalist. That was pretty normal, right? At the very least, it’d gotten them arguing amongst themselves, which meant the attention was off her for a time.
Ugh. What an exhausting affair. Another bulleted list of blunders to file away after she foolishly ventured outside the security of her bedroom.
Okay, enough. Now she was getting self-deprecating.
She quickly replayed the morning one more time in her head and noted where she’d have to modify her behavior for the next time they interacted. Keep what worked, and toss what didn’t.
With her mind cleared, she tried to enjoy the rest of the walk toward the palace. Eventually she found the main path, and the walk became easier. Wild pokémon scampered across the path in front of her, and she tried smiling at the ones who stopped to study her.
Soon, she cleared the forest and arrived at the lake. The bridge was still a ways away though, so she continued on her trek.
She’d never been to Rota before today, but she had heard of the territory before. Apparently, it wasn’t technically a part of Kanto, and the royal family had some sort of agreement with the region or something. Either way, it meant her status as a former gym leader, or even a representative of Cynthia meant little here.
The Guardians were known to be selfless and kind hearted, but Sabrina wasn’t sure how they’d react to an outsider meddling in their affairs. Ash had given her a contact in the palace, a friend of his named Riley, so that was where she planned on starting her investigation. Hopefully he was here, and had all the answers they needed.
There was no one at or on the bridge when she arrived, so after an anxious breath, she started on the last leg of her journey. The lake below was like a mirror, and it only made Sabrina even more self-conscious. Hopefully this didn’t count as trespassing.
As she neared the palace, its façade loomed over her. Cameran Palace was thousands of years old, yet it looked pristine enough to have been built earlier this decade. It felt like there was a certain magic suffused in the castle’s masonry, and Sabrina swallowed after stepping foot onto the island the palace was built on.
It was an unsettling reality that she could atomize the entire thing, history and all, with a thought.
The path took her through a grove of golden maple trees, and the scent of them calmed her nerves just a little. Eventually, she came upon a curved flight of marble steps, which she ascended slowly, and she finally arrived at the gigantic front doors, twin slabs of oak carved with intricate mosaics.
Luckily, there were smaller, human-sized doors built next to the main doors, and she tried one of them. It was unlocked.
She sighed in defeat. Seemed she’d have to go inside after all.
After taking a few deep breaths, she pushed the door open and went inside.
It was quiet. Oppressively so. Sabrina found herself in a large atrium with a vaulted ceiling. Other doors lined the walls, leading to other parts of the palace, and a grand staircase curled up on the far wall. Huge paintings and stained glass windows told tales of the heroes of old, and the characters featured in them all seemed to wear the traditional blue uniform of the Guardians. The light that passed through the windows danced on the carpeted floor in a waltz of color.
“Can I help you?”
Sabrina turned, and saw she’d walked in right next to what appeared to be a receptionist’s desk. A woman sat behind it, dressed in the same blue, but she lacked the pointed hat the others wore.
“Did you lose your tour group?” the lady asked with concern.
“O-Oh, no,” Sabrina sputtered. “I’m here to speak with someone. Someone named Riley.”
“Riley,” she repeated, raising an eyebrow. “If I recall, he’s out training in the Tree of Beginning right now. Does he know you’re here?”
Sabrina blushed. Uhhhhhhh. “I-I don’t think so.”
“I see. Hmmm, well, I’d send you his way, but the Tree of Beginning is a dangerous place for non-Guardians. There’s no telling when he’ll be back… Is it urgent?”
“It is…pretty urgent.”
“I understand.” The receptionist pulled a pokéball from her belt. She released its contents, and a Lucario appeared beside Sabrina. “Lucario will lead you to the Tree and protect you whilst you’re there. I wouldn’t dally long there, however.”
Sabrina bowed. “Thank you.”
The woman nodded, and Lucario set off across the hall. They ventured through several rooms, and Sabrina had to force herself to keep up with Lucario, lest her attention be captured by the majesty of the palace’s statues, murals, and architecture. They left out another door and headed across the opposite bridge over the lake. Lucario said nothing as it guided her through the forest, taking each step with soldier-like precision. The few times she did fall a bit behind, it waited for her patiently, then turned back to the path.
Sabrina didn’t even notice how close they’d gotten to the Tree of Beginning until they passed through the forest and suddenly found themselves at its foot. Now that she was closer, she could see that it was actually made of shimmering crystals, and the grass she thought covered its surface was actually the hue of refracted sunlight.
Lucario didn’t stop to let her marvel, continuing over a small hill. From the top of the hill, Sabrina could see the entrance to the Tree. It was gigantic and yawning, like the entrance to a cave, and time-worn steps had been built down the other side of the hill, leading inside.
Lucario held out its paw toward Sabrina, and she suddenly felt a warm veil envelop her. This must be the protection the lady was talking about. Lucario nodded, and started down the hill and into the Tree.
The inside was an enchanting place. Sabrina wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but this certainly wasn’t it. The ground was rock, like a cave, but sharpened crystals jutted out all around her, casting their mystical light across the cavern. Some were so huge they had to walk around them. Pokémon that were normally pretty hostile walked past calmly without paying them a second glance. A Graveler meandered by with a throng of Geodude, and an Annihilape stared at them from its rocky seat as they walked past.
Soon, they came out into an enormous cavern. Here, the crystals grew plentifully, but they weren’t all. Normal trees and grass littered the landscape, and waterfalls emptied off glowing cliffs into basins in thin air. Sabrina audibly gasped at the sight, the whole thing looking straight out of a dream. The pokémon lived here in greater numbers too, and flying-types soared through the air. If not for the cave ceiling far above, and the humongous stone pillars that kept it aloft, this place would have looked like the outside world.
Lucario motioned to a scene below, on one of the rolling hills of the cavern. There, Sabrina saw a bare-chested man with spiky black hair tussling it out with an Ursaluna. The bear charged at him, but there was a flash of light, and somehow, it was redirected into a nearby boulder.
Lucario barked, and the sound echoed through the cavern. Though they were quite far away, Sabrina could see both the man and the Ursaluna look over at them. Then, they glanced back at each other, and the man climbed onto Ursaluna’s back. Then, it took off toward them.
It only took a minute for Ursaluna to run over and clamber up the crystal formation that grew between the grassy hills below, and the rocky plateau Sabrina and Lucario found themselves on, and it came to a stop on front of them, snorting.
The man was matted in sweat, and Sabrina looked away politely. “What’re you doing here, Lucario? Where’s Sarah?” he asked, after climbing off his pokémon’s back.
Lucario did not respond audibly, only slightly gesturing with his paw.
Must be telepathy, Sabrina thought. She could speak with her own pokémon nonverbally too.
The man glanced over at her, then back at Lucario as he got caught up to speed. When Lucario seemed to finish its explanation, the man nodded. “It isn’t every day I get visitors. I’m sorry you caught me right in the middle of a training session, I’m sure I must stink right now.” He held out a hand. “It’s nice to meet you, my name is Riley.”
“Sabrina,” she responded, shaking his hand bashfully. “I’m a friend of Ash Ketchum’s.”
Riley raised his brow. “You know Ash, huh? Well, any friend of his is a friend of mine. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.” He turned back to Lucario. “You can head back now, Lucario, I’ll take it from here. Don’t worry about me, it’ll help my training anyway.” He held out his hand, and the veil around Sabrina seemed to ripple.
Lucario bowed at her, then took off in the opposite direction before she could get another word in.
“It’s always business with that one,” Riley muttered. “Though I suppose my Lucario is no different.” He wiped his forehead with a towel slung around his neck. “I imagine this is your first time at the Tree of Beginning, Sabrina?”
She nodded.
“It’s a sacred place, especially for us Guardians. The Tree is one of the oldest places in the world, hence its name. Apparently, this is where the Hero of Kanto once saved the entire world by stopping the rampage of a whole host of legendary pokémon.”
Sabrina had heard of the Hero of Kanto, but like most Kantonians, she hadn’t known where his title had come from.
“It’s said one can find any species of pokémon here, since all pokémon have origins in this tree. But as Sarah eluded to, this place isn’t fit for humans. The Tree rejects all non-Pokémon lifeforms. The only reason we stand here without being set upon by all the pokémon within is because of Aura.”
Sabrina suddenly became aware of just how many pokémon surrounded them. An Aerodactyl clung to one of the cliffs nearby, and if it wanted to, it could probably attack them before she even had a chance to release one of her pokémon. She shuddered.
Riley held up his palm, and an orb of azure energy roiled into existence above it. “Aura is the life energy of all pokémon, and Guardians are humans with a gift to harness said energy. By masking ourselves in Aura, the Tree does not perceive us as threats. Only the strongest Guardians are permitted to train within the Tree, due to the sustained output of Aura necessary to protect oneself.” He paused. “Sorry, that sounded like a brag. Well, I have been here for several hours already and I’m starting to feel the strain.” He extinguished his Aura Sphere and recalled his Ursaluna. “Shall we head back?”
“I can take us back quicker, if you don’t mind,” she said, and released her Alakazam.
Riley nodded. “Very well.”
Alakazam’s spoons glowed, and the three of them disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing in the atrium with Sarah.
She jumped when they appeared, clutching her chest in surprise.
“Hey, Sarah,” Riley waved, and the woman rolled her eyes. “Please give me a bit to freshen up, and I’ll meet you in the library, okay?”
Sabrina nodded, and Riley took off.
Yes, awkward conversation on the walk back to the palace, averted!
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The library was about what one could expect from an ancient palace built to house an order of mystical Aura Guardians. Dark bookcases towered high, with ladders to reach the top shelves. There was a second floor with balconies that overlooked the room, and a few other Guardians sat within at tables or on plush chairs reading. The whole room smelled of paper and incense, and it put Sabrina at ease.
Though that didn’t stop her from stressing out over the fact that she was just suspiciously sitting at one of the tables doing nothing. She could’ve sworn she saw a couple people glance over at her curiously, but it could’ve been her imagination. She would’ve taken a book off the shelf to do some reading while she waited, but wasn’t sure if she was allowed to, so ultimately, she decided against it.
Luckily, Riley didn’t take long, and he strode into the library about ten minutes later dressed in the usual Guardian’s uniform, with his own Lucario pacing in beside him.
“Thanks for waiting,” he said, sitting across from her. Lucario walked off deeper into the library, leaving them alone. “So, what can I do for you?”
Sabrina had rehearsed in her head how she’d start this conversation, but it was still an awkward thing to bring up, especially while keeping the existence of Paragon a secret. “Does the name ‘Zagreus’ mean anything to you?” she began.
Riley mulled it over for a few seconds. “Zagreus? Hmm, I can’t say it does. Why?”
Sabrina deflated slightly, but pushed on. “The International Police is looking into a man called Zagreus who seemed to be an Aura Guardian.” While technically a lie, Paragon was close enough to Interpol that she could pass it off as the truth. “He was last seen pursuing one of the Plates of Arceus, and was willing to kill to get to it first.”
“The Plates of Arceus,” Riley frowned. “If he’s a Guardian, then it would make sense for him to go after them. Part of our charge as Guardians is to protect the legendary artifacts. But to kill… That certainly goes against our code. Beyond that, it is not within us to pursue any artifacts out of greed, which it sounds like this man was doing.” He nodded and chewed on his thumb. “I see. Yes, a rogue Aura Guardian is a serious matter indeed. You’ve come to the right place.”
“Have you heard of any Guardians going rogue recently? Or any time in the past decade or so?” Sabrina asked.
“The Guardians do see defections from time to time. The power of Aura is intoxicating, to say the least, and some let it get to their head. This Zagreus wouldn’t be the first to use his gift for evil purposes. But Cameran Palace is good about hunting down traitors and prosecuting them on our own, or handing them over to the proper authorities if necessary.”
“So you don’t recall anyone named Zagreus defecting from the Guardians recently, then?”
“No, I’m sorry. Though there is a small chance he wasn’t a Guardian, even if he had the ability to wield Aura. Guardians pursue those who have a latent gift and bring them back to Rota to cultivate their abilities if they so choose. But we don’t catch all of them. If this Zagreus was talented enough, he may have taught himself to control and harness his gift all on his own.”
“It’s possible,” Sabrina said. “But the man was dressed like a Guardian, only his uniform was black instead of blue.”
“Well, then he was certainly dressed the part of a rogue Guardian,” Riley agreed. “Unfortunately, I don’t know if I can help you any further. But this matter should certainly be brought to the attention of the royal guard. They’re the ones responsible for tracking down those of us who betray our kin. You should tell your story to them. Who knows, they may know more than me.”
He stood up, and Sabrina followed suit. Riley led them toward the entrance.
“What about your Lucario?”
Riley smiled. “Don’t worry about him. He’s a total bookworm. I’m sure he’s fully absorbed in some tome about the history of this or that. I let him know we’re leaving.”
Right, telepathy. With that, they left the library and passed through several other chambers. Riley seemed to be very popular, as almost every Guardian they came across greeted him by name.
As they were walking through a hallway adorned with suits of armor and more paintings of ancient Aura Guardians, they came upon a larger group. A whole squad of Guardians marched down the hall, though unlike Riley, thick capes tumbled down their resolute backs.
“Riley!” the Guardian at the front boomed. He was a stout man, but tall, with graying straw-colored hair that may have once been golden. “My boy, I thought you were training at the Tree! You slacking off again?”
“Captain Magnus,” Riley said with an embarrassed chuckle. “Of course not, I was just there earlier. But this is fortuitous timing. I was just on my way to the guards’ quarters to report an incident.”
“An incident? Oh no, what trouble have you gotten into now?” He seemed to notice Sabrina and looked her up and down. “And who’s this? I hope you’re not getting any funny ideas, I see the way that Sarah looks at you.” He smacked Riley’s shoulder, and the younger Guardian wore his smile like a mask.
“This is Sabrina, Captain,” he said. “It’s her report I wanted to bring to your attention. From the International Police.”
“International Police,” Magnus said, looking a bit more serious. “Well, come with us. The Queen just finished a tour and we’re on our way back to the throne room.”
As Sabrina fell into lockstep beside them, she noticed a beautiful woman with blonde hair within the throng of guards. The queen smiled at her, and she blushed, suddenly aware of how out of place she was.
Riley and Magnus continued to talk on their way to the throne room, and after several more minutes, they arrived. After everything she’d already seen, the throne room was rather modest by comparison. It was smaller than Sabrina expected, and it was made of simple white bricks, with the deep blue standard of the Guardians flanking two thrones along the far wall, one grand and ostentatious, the other, simple and practical.
The queen took her seat in the smaller throne, and Riley leaned closer to Sabrina as everyone filed in. “The bigger throne belongs to the king of the Guardians, but royal tradition states a new king cannot be crowned except by the current king, since the gift of Aura is not always inherited by a Guardian’s children. Our last king never crowned a successor, so the throne has remained empty for over three thousand years, awaiting his return, so it’s said.”
“What about the queen?” she whispered back.
“Ordinarily the queen would simply be the king’s wife, Aura or not. But we’ve had to bend the rules a bit because we don’t have a king, so Queen Ilene is the daughter of the previous queen, and she was the daughter of the queen before that, and so on. The husband of the current queen is called the regent, and he acts as the governor of Rota, but never sits on the throne.”
The queen’s guard took their positions at her side, and Riley leaned away.
“My queen,” he said, kneeling before her, and Sabrina quickly did the same out of respect.
“Rise, my Guardian,” the queen said. “And you, young one.”
“Sabrina, this is the Queen Ilene of Rota,” Riley said, motioning to her. “My queen, this is Sabrina. I’m sorry for bringing such troubling news to you, but she claims to have encountered a murderous Aura Guardian.”
Magnus frowned, and the guards turned to each other and spoke in hushed voices. Riley nodded to Sabrina to step up, and she tried to ignore the hammering in her chest.
“Y-Your Majesty,” she said, not sure how she should address the queen. “And honored Guardians,” she added.
“Please, just call me Ilene,” the queen said, smiling warmly.
Inexplicably, Sabrina felt some of her anxiety ebb away, and she continued with a renewed confidence. “Ilene. I came to Rota today in search of information. Are any of you familiar with a man named Zagreus?”
Sabrina saw a wave of confusion wash over the guards, and her heart almost sank. Until she saw Ilene’s face. The queen hadn’t moved, but Sabrina could immediately tell she recognized the name. Soon, the guards noticed their queen’s expression, and they tried and failed to hide their sudden curiosity.
“Zagreus, you say?” Ilene said quietly.
“Yes.”
Ilene looked to the side, as if considering something, then looked back at Sabrina. “I have heard of Zagreus. But I’m not surprised Sir Riley hasn’t. Or any of my guards.” She pursed her lips, her eyebrows knit in a concerned frown. “Zagreus is a forbidden name. A name wiped from all Guardian texts long ago. It is the name of a Guardian who committed a terrible sin during the Great War three thousand years ago.”
Next — Chapter 16 : Platebearer
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