Oliver sighed in boredom, once again they had been stuck with guard duty. Ever since they had their mission at Violina they've been stuck inside the metro. Olivia like usual was being a worrywart about him and Clara. But this time it was worse because Xofamai seemed to agree with her this time!
Speaking of him they hadn't seen the man in a while now. They were begining to worry, spring was almost over and yet there had been no sign of him anywhere.
Clara turned toward Oliver as he sighed once again. ''You know, you don't really inspire confidence in these poor kids when they see you moping around like an old man.'' Clara said in a scolding tone.
Oliver roll his eyes. ''Oh please nothing ever happen inside the Community. The only reason why we're guarding this place is because the General is too afraid of us getting outside and getting ourselves in danger again.''
Clara looked at him with an annoyed look. ''You should be glad that our General care so much about our safety. I'm sure if we were with the Knights or even worse CGO they wouldn't give a second thought before putting us in the harm's way.''
Oliver huffed in response and went back to watching people passing by with a bored expression. After a few hours of this someone walked up to them. Someone they recognised instantly. ''Xofamai where were you?!'' Oliver asked both in relief and annoyance.
He didn't betray any emotions behind his glasses and replied in his usual emotionless voice. ''I had to take care of a few things. But I'm barely back and it look like the General arleady has a mission for us.''
''Finally!'' Oliver exclaimed enthusiastically. Without a second tought he immediatly began to run toward the military station.
Xofamai looked back at Clara with a bemused look. Clara sighed and shook her head. ''He's been complaining all week about how bored he was.'' She said to Xofamai.
He nodded and smirked a little bit before walking in the same direction Oliver had run off. When they arrived in front of the shack he was arleady waiting for them with an impatient expression. Once inside Olivia greeted the with her ususal smile.
''I'm glad you could all make it.'' She said in a calm tone.
Oliver instantly ran up to her. ''So?! What are we doing? Defending a wall? Hunting a dangerous Elestia?! Or even better ptotecting a VIP?!''
Clara facepalmed at Oliver antics. Olivia on the other hand looked at him with an amused smile. ''Sorry to disappoint you but it's none of those things.'' Oliver lowered his head and his smiled vanished from his face. ''The Ding Dong Community is running low on medical supplies. I want you three to make a trip to the old hospital of Ringabell City and retrieve everything you can. Oh and be careful, Boreas isn't supposed to wake up from his slumber this week. But you can never be too careful when you're wandering the city.''
The trio made their way to the exit of the metro. They put on their coats and sprayed themselves with the unmarked can to mask their scent before going outside. It was snowing that day but it was a light snow that didn't hindered their vision too much.
As soon as they were far enough from the entrance Oliver released both of his Elestia from their Draconid Gems. Clara look at Sandy as she scretched her arms and legs and grew a curious look on her face. ''You know now that I think about it I never checked what Sandy was on the GEEK since she transformed.''
She retrieved the small machine from her pouch and pointed it at Sandy. ''Flodeera, Earth Nature. This is the second Ageing stage of Fawna. As they grow older they become much less reliant on summoning plants and instead defeat their foes with their impressive ability to summon rocks from the ground. They are known to protect forests from invasive species and humans who try to cut down trees. When they see a lost baby Elestia they will often take care of it as their own children even if it's a completely different species. Some Flodeera have even been observed to raise lost human children in the wild.''
Clara smiled as she finished reading. ''Wow see Oliver? There are good wild Elestia out there.''
Oliver sighed and looked down on the ground with a shameful expression. ''Yes I know that now, you don't have to remind me.''
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He was half expecting Clara to be there. But when he turned around he saw Sandy looking at him with with a small frown on her face. ''O-li-ver.'' Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the Elestia in shock.
Oliver in particular couldn't believe his ears. ''Did- did you just talk outside of the gem?''
''O-li-ver for-give.'' She said to him.
''Oliver forgive? Do you mean you forgive me for what I have done at Bajoon?'' He asked with an unsure expression. Sandy nodded and smiled at him.
Oliver gave her a hug. ''Thank you Sandy, I'm glad we're on good terms again. I would have never made it this far without you.''
She cocked her head and look at him in confusion. ''Why holding Sandy?''
He looked at her in confusion before realising she was from another world. ''Oh right... This is call a hug that's what humans do to say they care about someone.''
''Oh...'' She awkwardly proceeded to give a hug back before Oliver broke the embrace.
Xofamai walked toward the boy with an impressed look on his face. ''You should consider yourself lucky. It's rare that an Elestia learn to talk human's language. It show that she's very smart and care a lot for you.''
Clara rose an eyebrow at him. ''But don't all of your Elestia talk too Xofamai?''
The man nodded his head. ''Yes but all my Elestia are Kitsubi. They're one if not the smartest species of Elestia and they crave knowledge. Every Kitsubi on Earth know how to talk our language but for other species it's not that common.''
Then Clara looked down toward her pouch. ''Wait but if talking is a skill that can be learned by every Elestia why Marie hasn't talked yet? She should know how, she used to be human just like me.'' She said with a puzzled frown.
''I don't know all the details, but the way Elestia talk is different than how humans does it. They don't have the same vocal cords as we do. Which is why it's so hard for them to learn how to talk.'' He said to her.
Their conversation was interupted by a loud cry coming in front of them. A pile of snow errupted to reveal a small creature that came charging toward the group. Before Oliver could even give a command Sandy was arleady moving against the threat.
The Elestia looked like a young polar bear cub. Except that it was not made of flesh and fur. Instead the creature was made out of a thick layer of snow and it's eyes glowed with a eery blue color. The snow falling around the Elestia swirled around it like a protective barrier.
Sandy stomped on the ground with her right hoof. Then ground underneath the wild Elestia erupted as a large rock materialised under it and sent it flying in the air. Much to Oliver surprised just before it could land back on the ground, the snow under the Ice Elestia began to move on it's own and formed a mound under it that acted as a soft pillow for the Elestia to land back on.
Sandy growled and charged toward the wild Elestia. Oliver felt a pit drop in his stomach when he saw more snow begining to move and heading straight for the Flodeera. ''Sandy careful!'' He yelled. Sandy jumped back at Oliver's voice and she was just in time to avoid being crushed by two waves of snow that collided with each other with a loud crunch.
Clara ran toward Sandy and took a defensive stance. ''Let's take it down together!'' She said with a determined frown. Xofamai also took a purple Draconid Gem from his belt but both of them were stopped when Sandy turned to them and shook her head. ''Sandy take care of this!'' She exclaimed before glaring at the ice Elestia.
Oliver looked at her in surprise. ''You want to take care of it on your own, why?''
''Sandy need become strong! Can't rely others forever.'' She replied with a determined expression.
Oliver look at both Clara and Xofamai for guidance but both of them shrugged in response. With a sigh he nodded. ''Fine then, let's take care of that Elestia on our own!'' He said with a confident smile.
Sandy returned the smile before glaring toward her foe. The cub growled at her before more snow began to move and engulfed his entire body. The snow cleared away and the bear cub was gone, replaced by a ferosious beast that roared toward Sandy. The sound of it's voice was enough to make the ground tremble beneath their feet.
Oliver eyew widened in surprise. ''W-what happened to it?! Did it Age?'''
Xofamai shook his head. ''I don't think so, I think it used the snow to make itself more intimidating, this is the same Elestia as before. But I must say his control of the snow is impressive. We're basically fighting in his playground, be careful.''
''Alright then, Sandy it's clearly trying to keep you at a distance so what do you say we close the gap?''
Sandy nodded with a confident expression and began to run in the direction of the Ice Elestia. All around her snow started to move and tried to stop her in her steps but she was prepared for this and used her powerful legs to jump high into the air. She landed behind the Ice Elestia and delivered a powerful kick.
The wild Elestia cried out as the snow surrounding him flew away destroying his menacing form and turning him back into the much less threathening cub he once was. It looked up at Sandy's glaring face and squeaked in fear before running away.
Oliver sighed and walked toward his Elestia with a smile. ''Good job Sandy, you're becoming more and more powerful by the days.''
Xofamai stretched his arms before walking toward the boy. ''Well if it was me I would have killed that Elestia but you did a good job I guess.''
Clara looked at him with a frown. ''Why would you kill it? I thought that the Resistance had a reputation for sparing wild Elestia.''
He sighed and turned toward her with his arms crossed. ''The Resistance doesn't really have a policy on sparing Elestia or not. That entirely depend on the individual. I personally just don't like having loose ends this close to our Community. You never know if a wild Elestia will have learned it's lesson or if it will come back when your guard is down.''
Clara shook her head with a huff. ''Not you too! I thought we arleady went throught this at Bajoon!'' She said with exasperation. In the corner Oliver winced at the reminder of his mistake.
Xofamai shook his head. ''Don't get me wrong I'm not advocating for genocide like the Knights of Humanity. But when an Elestia is this close to a settlement it make me uneasy knowing they're free to do as they please. I prefer to nip it in the bud right away. Elestia are inteligent but they are still feral creatures. You can't just make peace with them that would require them to have a civilisation. As it stand a peace treaty with the Elestia would be nothing more than a useless piece of paper to them. Apart from maybe the Kitsubi tribes.''
Clara narrowed her eyes at him. ''But we can't continue as we do now. I'm not sure humanity can last another ten years in such a brutal world. We need to do something to make the Elestia less aggressive.''
Xofamai stopped walking and turned toward her with a frown. ''Let me guess you want to kill the Dragons?'' She looked surprised that he knew this. She had never really spoke of her plan in front of him before. ''You're not subtle about your goal at all, but let me tell you this. Ten years ago mankind deployed their entire military at the Dragons. All their best men and all their best equipment. At one point there was even talk of using nukes on the Dragons territories. In the end all of them failed, almost twenty millions soldiers were lost and every major government collapsed under the toll of human's life. So no offense to you, but it's not two teenagers that will succeed where the rest of the entire world failed.''
Clara wanted so badly to deny his claim, to say the power of Elestia would be enough to make them win the day. But even she couldn't be sure of that claim and so she followed him in silence until they arrived at their destination.
They arrived in front of large hospital with at least five floors. The frozen sign on the front was almost unreadable under all the cracks made over the years. Before they could enter inside Xofamai stop them. ''I think we should split up, the truth is we need something from the drugstore just a few block from here. Clara you should go there, we need some batteries for our community try to find as many as you can carry. Oliver you need to find oxygen tanks we've been running low on them lately. They're supposed to be at the top floor of the hospital.'' He said to both of them.
Clara frowned and looked at him worriedly. ''Are you sure it's a good idea? We could get attacked and we wouldn't be able to help each other. Not only that but what will you do in all that?''
He cleared his throat before taking a purple Draconid Gem from his belt. ''I'll be on the first floor I'm supposed to check if we left any food in the vending machines after out last raids on this place. As for your concern for security here take this.'' He handed her the purple gem she looked at it in surprise. ''Her name is Luna, I arleady told her she would be protecting you so you shouldn't have any issue. As for Oliver I won't be too far from him. Beside his two Elestia can deal with anything that might have taken residence in this place.''
Clara sighed but reluctantly she nodded. ''Well okay then I'll go to the drugstore. Be careful Oliver alright?'' She said worriedly.
Oliver nodded and smiled at her. ''Don't worry about me, I went throught much more dangerous things than this.'' He said before walking inside the hospital. He almost slipped on the frozen floor as he entered inside but he quickly regained his composure. On the other hand Sandy seemed to have much more difficulty in keeping her balance so he decided to recall her inside her gem for now.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
Obviously the elevator had frozen solid and was now unusable so Oliver had to use the stairs. As he climbed the stairs he could still smell a faint scent of sanitation even after all these years. After almost slipping and falling down the stairs three times, he finally arrived at his destination. He walked from room to room hoping to find the oxygen tanks but he was begining to think there was none left. That was until he saw three of them frozen solid in a room.
He went to grab the one on the left but it was completely stuck to the wall. He tried to pull at it with all his might pulling all his weight into it. Finally a part of the wall gave way with a loud crack and Oliver was sent falling on the ground along with the oxygen tank. ''Ugh, let's hope this is still usable I don't want to have done this for nothing.'' He grumbled under his breath. He lifted himself from the ground and tried to grab another tank but then a loud strident alarm resonated in all the city.
He looked up in confusion and tried to place the sound to something but he couldn't remember what it could mean. But then a glacial cold penetraded the frozen walls of the hospital even his large coat couldn't protect him from it. Oliver's face paled as he finally understood what was happening.
A large roar shook the earth, Oliver first thought was to pinch himself. But his heart sank when he felt the pain. He had this nightmare so many time before and he desperatly wished this was the case yet again. But here it was the creature that had ruined the rest of his life.
Boreas form appeared in the sky his body twisting and turning in an elegant dance. It would almost look regal if the creature wasn't bent on humanity's extinction. Oliver tried to quietly back away from the window before the Dragon could spot him. But in his haste he had forgoten about the oxygen tank behind him and was sent falling on his rear as the tank clanged loudly against the floor.
Boreas stopped in the air and turned toward the direction of the sound with a predatory glint in it's eyes. And then he spotted his prey trying desperatly to lift himself from the ground. Without hesitation the serpentine beast took a lunge and dove toward the frozen hospital.
''Shit, shit, shit!'' Oliver yelled before running in the opposite direction. He didn't even dare to look back as he heard the loud crash of the collapsing hospital behind him as the Dragon rammed throught the building. But then he came at a dead end, in his haste to run away he had ran in another room with no exit apart from the windows.
Oliver didn't even considered how high he was. In his panicked state he took any exit possible and crashed into the window. It was only once he was in the air he realised he had jumped from the fifth floor and was now facing imminent death. Oliver began to scream as he approached the frozen ground and when he was only a few meter away from impact he closed his eyes.
But the impact never came, when Oliver realised this he opened his eyes and gawked as he realised he was floating in the air. ''*Huff* *huff* are you alright Oliver?'' A breathless voice said to him. When he looked up toward the owner of the voice he was shocked to see Clara extending an arm toward him and her forehead gem was glowing brightly. ''When I heard the alarm I ran here as fast as I could and I'm glad I did!''
But before they could they could enjoy their reunion the hospital made another large cracking noise and the rest of the fifth floor exploded into shards of ice. Clara putted Oliver to the ground and took his hand before they ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.
Boreas looked down and his eyes narrowed as he saw his prey escaping him, with a growl he began chasing Oliver once again. Before he could reach him however a large orb of water hitted him on the stomach and it froze solid as soon as it made contact with him. The Dragon roared as he now had a huge hunk of ice slowing him down. He began to trash around hoping to dislodge the offending chunk of frozen water.
Xofamai along with his loyal Water Kitsubi Aqua soon rejoined with Oliver and Clara. ''That was really unlucky, Boreas wasn't supposed to wake up today!''
Boras had managed to break the ice on it's stomach and glared toward the retreating humans before giving a loud roar. As they ran throught the streets the group encountered many wild Elestia but as soon as they saw the angry Dragon in the distance they all fled with their tails between their legs.
''There! It's the Ding Dong Community's entrance we're safe!'' Clara said in relief before almost tearing the door apart before running inside along with Oliver. Xofamai stayed behind and commanded Aqua to throw another ball of water at the oncoming Dragon. This time it hit him in the face completely blocking his vision as it froze instantly.
Once that was done he recalled the Kitsubi in her gem and ran inside with the two teens. They quickly ran down the stairs and ran into the market station. Everyone there stopped what they were doing and looked at them in shock as they arrived.
No one dare make a move, that was until the form of a familiar old lady approached the group and immediatly grabbed Oliver and Clara in her arms protectively. ''I thought we had lost you! I'm so glad you managed to make it I would have hated myself for the rest of my life if you were killed because of me!''
Olivia smothered them in her embrace. Oliver was beginning to have trouble breating with how hard she was holding him. Seeing their predicament Xofamai decided to help them. ''Let them breath a little General they just escaped a close call.''
Seeing that she was being too overprotective Olivia blushed and let both of them go. She was about to say something else but a loud tremor shook the ground. A part of the ceiling fell and almost hit a man standing under it. Then another tremor hit and more pieces of the ceiling fell down. It was followed by a large angry roar coming from outside. Olivia's eyes widened and she turned to look at everyone in the station. ''Run! Get out of here as quickly as you can!''
The people didn't needed to be told twice and started scrambling toward the two exits to other stations. Oliver, Clara and Xofamai were one of the quickest group to react and managed to get out as quickly as they could but even with their speed thery barely managed to outrun the ceiling as it finally gave in and fell down unto the market station.
''Did everyone managed to make it out?'' Clara asked in a worried tone.
Xofamai shook his head. ''I don't know.'' He looked around and saw that a few dozens people were with them on the railroad. ''I don't see everyone here but maybe they went for the other side.''
''I hope so.'' Calra asked with a frown on her face. Then she look around and noticed someone important was missing. ''Wait where is Olivia? She's not here!''
As if to answer to her question the wall of rubble in front of them exploded in pieces and Olivia was standing there. Much to the group shock except for Xofamai the old lady was carying around five people on her back, three adults and two children.
Xofamai smirked as he saw the look of awe upon the two teens. ''It's not a little bit of rubble that will take out our General. She's not as frail as she look.''
Olivia looked at the three of them with a strained smile. ''Mind helping me here?'' The group of three imediatly went to her help Oliver was about to pick one of the man but the old General shook her head. ''You should pick one of the kids. You're too young to carry an adult.'' Oliver open his mouth and was about to protest, but she was arleady ready for that. ''Now don't argue with me young man, I know you want to show you're strong but that won't do you any good in the end.''
Oliver sighed in defeat and picked up a small girl in his arms. Clara went second and was about to pick an adult too. ''Now what did I just say?'' Olivia said in a scolding tone.
''But I'm a hybrid! I can easily handle it.'' She defended herself, but Olivia only narrowed her eyes in response and with a sigh she picked up a young boy in her arms. Xofamai was the last one and was able to pick a elderly looking man in his arms. Olivia was left with a man and a woman in her arms but despite her appearance she was more than able to carry them without breaking a sweat.
As they walked toward the hospital station Oliver couldn't contain his curiosity anymore. ''So... No offense but how does an old lady like you can be so strong?''
''Oliver! That's a rude thing to ask!'' Clara scolded him with a frown.
Olivia only chuckle in response. ''Normally you would be right but there's a little known trick I learned to use a few years ago. You know how Mind Elestia can boost their own physical power a little bit right?'' At their nods she continued. ''Well the way they do it is by increasing the flow of electricity and life force sent toward their muscles. Unfortunately since most of their brain is occupied in keeping in check their own power, not much of the brain can be used to make themselves stronger.''
Clara had a toughtful look on her face. ''I see I guess it does a certain amout of sense, but you're not an Elestia.. Unless you're secretly an hybrid like me?!'' She asked with wide eyes.
Olivia shook her head and laughed a little bit. ''No, nothing like that. On the contrary it's because I'm not an Elestia that I can become so strong.'' That earned a look of confusion on both Clara and Oliver's face. ''You see, not many people know this but Mind Elestia can not only boost their own power. They can also boost the power of their allies. Since I don't have any power to keep under control like Elestia do, the increase in my physical power is much greater than a Mind Elestia would normally be.''
''Wait but you don't have any Elestia with you right now so how-'' Before Clara could finish her question a small bipedal rabbit-like creature with a small magician top-hat encrusted with a blue gem appeared out of thin air, almost making her jump out of her skin. As soon as it appeared however it vanished back into nothingness.
''You will have to forgive my little friend it's always been a shy little thing. You probably passed by him everytime you entered my office without noticing him.'' Olivia said with a smile on her face.
But their happy moment was interrupted when Oliver suddenly stopped moving and his face became pale with horror.
The old general looked at him with concern. ''Oliver are you alright?''
''I-I don't hear her breathing anymore!'' He said with panic clear in his voice.
Olivia's eyes widened. ''You must go then! Run as fast as you can to the doctor! Hurry!''
''R-right!'' He said before doing just that. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him and the group was not far behind him.
- - - - -
Oliver was busy pacing back in forth in front of the small shack that served as the doctor operation room. The group had long ago stopped trying to make him sit down. Finally after almost an hour of painful waiting the doctor finally came out of the door with a grim expression on his face.
''Well... Four of the five patients you have given me have become stable... Unfortunately there was nothing we could do for the young girl. Her lungs collapsed after being crushed by a rock. In an Old World hospital we might have been able to help her. But with the ressources we had we could only make her passing as painless as possible, I'm sorry.''
Oliver finally sat down with a blank expression on his face. He was looking down on the ground and zoned out the rest of what the doctor was saying. That is until another man came rushing in the station. He was wearing a Resistance armor and saluted as he came in front of Olivia.
''How bad is it?'' Olivia said in a tired voice.
''We confirmed that around twenty-five people were injured by the falling debris and ten were fatally wounded. Most of them were merchants but we also lost a few Resistance members.'' He said all that in a formal voice not betraying any emotion.
Olivia sighed and shook her head. ''We knew that something like this might have happened at any moments. But somehow it doesn't make it feel less worse.'' She said and for the first time Olivia's eyes looked as old as she was. She turned toward Oliver and Clara with a sad smile. ''You two should go rest, this was a very tiring day for all of us.''
Oliver was still too shocked to answer so Clara nodded toward Olivia and took the boy by the hand before walking back to their shared tent.
- - - - -
''You want to do what?!'' Clara exclaimed in shock. It was now the next day following the tragedy that had happened to the market station.
Oliver had a resolved look in his eyes and wasn't about to back down. ''You heard me right.'' He said to her.
''You want to kill Boreas right now? Are you insane?! We've only been Resistance members for about three months. There's no way we can do anything as we are now!'' She said while looking at him incrediously.
''We don't have more time Clara! Boreas know our hiding place now! It's only a matter of time before he come back again and it's our fault he know where the Ding Dong Community is! We have to do something!'' He shouted at her clenching his fist tightly until his knuckles turned white.
''If we try to do something now we'll both die! And we won't be able to save this world like we tried to do since the beginning!'' She shouted back trying to make him see reason.
''If we don't do anything it's the whole Resistance that die. I'm not running away Clara, I ran for so long arleady and everytime I did I lost everything I cared about, I can't do it again! If you're not willing to come with me that's fine, I know we probably won't get out of this alive. But I still have to try no matter what.'' With that said he grabbed his backpack along with his Draconid Gems and walked out of the tent.
Clara was left alone in the now silent tent, a million thoughts was running in her head of all the possibilities that could occur and most of them looked grim. Then she turned to her best friend. ''I don't know what to do Marie.'' The small winged mouse looked at her with a knowing look as if to say 'yes you do.'
She sighed and rubbed her face with her hand in exhasperation. ''You're right, we have to do this. As foolhardy as he his, he does have a few good points. We ran out of time, it's time to act.'' Taking her own backpack with her she ran toward where the boy had left.
Finally after running like crazy for almost two minutes she managed to catch up to him. Oliver was surprised to see her. ''I have to admit I thought I would have to go alone.'' He said with a sheepish smile on his face.
''Even death won't let you get rid of me!'' She responded with a smirk on her face. ''So how are you planning to go outside? The only exit that wasn't sealed by the Resistance was in the market station and now it's just a bunch of rubble.''
Oliver smirked at that. ''The resistance sealed the other exits with rocks made with their Earth Elestia. Sandy will be able to get them out of the way easily. As for where we're going, the restaurant station is close until noon. So no one should be there to see us go outside.''
As they arrived at their destination they could see that Oliver was right. The station was completely empty not even the owners of the restaurants were there. Oliver took his faithful brown Draconid Gem in his hand and called out the name of his first Elestia. ''Sandy come out!''
The bipedal deer appeared in front of Oliver. ''Day good, master Oliver.''
At that he facepalmed. ''Firstly it's good day, not day good. And secondly don't call me master! It make it sound as if I'm a pompous noble!''
''Pompous noble? Is that animal that went extinct?'' Sandy asked curiously.
At that Clara had to stiffle a laugh and Oliver shook his head in exhasperation. ''Nevermind! let's just go. We're taking on Boreas today are you ready Sandy?''
The Elestia looked clearly surprised at the question.. ''Are you sure good idea? Lord of Winter very powerful!''
''We have to do this Sandy or many people will die.'' Oliver said grimly.
Sandy nodded her head but she still looked unsure. ''Very well then, what should Sandy do?''
''Well firstly our exit is blocked by rocks, think you can get them out of our way?'' He asked to her.
She responded with an enthusiastic nod of her head. ''Sandy move rocks, no problem!''
Then they heard the sound of footsteps coming their way. Oliver and Clara instantly went to hide under one of the tables. But in their haste they forgot Sandy who was looking at the both of them with confusion. Oliver was about to recall her in her gem but he was stopped by a familiar voice.
''It's okay I'm not here to stop you.'' Hesitantly both of them emerged from under the table and came face to face with a familiar old looking black man with a long beard. But what he wore was largely different than last time and almost gave them heart attack before they recognised him. The man was wearing an old worn down armor from the Knights of Humanity. It was glowing with an ethereal green energy.
''Justin Jones? What are you doing here? And why are you wearing this?'' Clara asked in confusion.
Justin sighed before looking at them with a sad expression. ''Yesterday there was a ceremony for the people that died because of Boreas. I don't blame you for not being there. It was something that even scarred me. I saw a poor woman being held down by a pair of men so she wouldn't jump with her dead daughter as they were cremating her. Somehow even after being a Knight for four years this was still the most tragic thing I ever saw. The Ding Dong Community gave me a home. Even when they had all the right to kill me where I stood for my past allegiance. So when I heard that a small group was going to stick it to that old Dragon bastard, I knew I had to join them.''
''Wait there's someone that arleady knew what we were doing?! Who?'' Oliver asked in alarm.
''It was me.'' Another voice responded and another familiar man appeared in the station.
''Xofamai!'' Clara exclaimed like a child being caught stealing from the cookie jar.
The man dress in black took a breath of his cigarette before throwing it aside on the ground and extinguishing the flame with his shoe. ''I know the two of you well enough that I knew you were going to do something reckless after this. Also I know that taking on the Dragon was your goal from the very beginning you were not subtle about it at all. I just wish it hadn't happened this soon. I suppose I should try to stop the both of you. But I know you're just going to wait until my back is turned before trying again. So I might as well come along and give you a chance to survive this insane plan.''
Both Oliver and Clara lowered their head. He had read them like an open book. Then Xofamai turned toward Justin and narrowed his eyes. ''Look I don't completely trust you. I lost a lot to the Knights before, so if you try anything I won't hesitate to kill you, understood?''
Justin gulped and nodded in understanding. ''Understood, sir.''
''Good because we'll need that armor of yours if we want to stand a chance. They were created to kill Dragons after all. That is before the Knights took ownership of them and hid with their insane Queen.'' Xofamai said in a bitter tone.
''Wait but didn't you say that using that armor shorten your lifespan? Are you sure you should be wearing it?'' Clara asked in concern.
''Don't worry I'll be careful. Beside when I was a Knight I swore an oath to defend humanity even at the expense of my own life. I still believe in that oath. I just don't believe in the people that made me say it.'' Justin said before placing his helmet on his head. The visor lit up with energy and the group was ready to go.
They say that a single act can change history. On that day the fate of one of the most powerful community left on Earth rested on the shoulder of four people and their team of Elestia. On that day they would either go down in history, or be forever forgotten by the sands of time...