A loud roar reverbated throught the swamp. A huge hulking creatures made of stone glared dangerously toward the one who had dared attack him. In front of him stood two women clad in armors. The armors lit up with blueish colors, but while one of them was an aqua blue color the other one was a much paler and icy shade of blue.

''This thing is much more solid than normal rocks. It resist my high pressure attack like it's nothing. We need to find a weakness.'' The voice of Jasmine Jones said to her loyal squire.

The bear made of stone stomped on the ground and a bunch of rocks came out of the grown and was thrown in their direction. Jasmine shattered the rock by whiping at it with a tendril made of water. But once she was done she glance at the creature with a unbelieving stare. ''All the Earth Elestia we killed thus far has lost their powers. How is this one still able to use his?!''

She shook her head. ''Now is not the time to get distracted. Squire get ready on my signal!''

''Yes ma'am!'' The younger woman replied immediatly.

Jasmine outscretched her arms and the grass and flowers around her all withered and died as she extrated the water from inside of them. When she had gathered enough of the liquid she sent a massive torrent of water toward the beast made of stone.

The Elestia tried to errect a wall made of rocks and dirt but it was immediatly shattered by the water and the bear was soon engulfed in the water. ''Now!'' Jasmine yelled. Just as she ordered the water turned to ice and the creature was frozen on the spot.

Jasmine held her breath to see if the Elestia would break out of it's icy prison. But to her relief nothing happened. Once she was sure the creature was frozen to it's core she created another tendril of water and used like a whip to shatter the Elestia in a thousand pieces.

Jasmine finally relaxed and let out a sigh. ''I didn't expect so much resistance from this creature, I'm almost dehydrated. Give me a bottle of water Squire.''

Noelle did as ordered and gave the Duchess a bottle from her backpack. Jasmine uncapped it and proceeded to chug the whole bottles in a matter of seconds. ''Ahh~ nothing like a cold bottle of water after a good fight.''

Jasmine was about to walk away and go relax for a while but all those thought fade away when she heard the sound of a twig breaking behind a bush. Instantly she tensed and aimed the palm of her hand toward the bush. ''Come out so I can cut you to pieces.''

Instead of listening to her she heard the sound of rapid footsteps retreating from her. She narrowed her eyes. ''Oh no you don't, Squire come on!''

Noelle nodded with a determine frown and ran alongside her Duchess.

- - - - -

''Why are we running?! There's only two of them we can take them!'' Oliver said as both he and Clara sprinted as fast as they could.

''I felt a strong aura of life force from one of them, I'm almost certain she's a Duchess! Xofamai said we shouldn't fight enemies of that level on our own!'' Clara replied, she looked back and saw that despite their heavy armor the two Knights were gaining on them. She used her power and sent one of the trees tumbling down in their path. The trees around them were really close to each other, so close that it almost acted as a natural wall stopping anyone from going anywhere outside of the dirt path they were on.

The tree did managed to slow down the Knights, but not for long. Jasmine sent out a torrent of high pressure water that cutted thre tree in half. Satisfied with her work the Duchess and her squire resumed their chase on the two fleeings Chosens.

Jasmine let out two wave of water, but much to Oliver and Clar's surprise the water were not aimed at them. Instead the water was writhing on the ground like a pair of snakes at a blinding speed. Then when it was a good distance in front of the two teenager the two mass of water converged in each other and formed a wall of water in front of their path.

''Now Noelle!'' They could hear the voice of the Duchess say. Much to their horror the water in front of them turned into a huge wall of ice and there was no way to go around it.

''Crap, look like we're going to have to go against Xofamai's wishes. Prepare yourself for a fight Oliver.'' Clara said while glaring at the two oncoming Knights.

''We finally caught up to you Chosens. Now surrender before we are forced to kill you!'' The Duchess said with some steel in her voice.

Oliver scoffed in disbelief. ''Surrender? You think we're dumb enough to do that? The Knights of Humanity burned down the entire village of Xilo simply because a young girl owned an Elestia. There's no way you would ever spare members of the Resistance.''

Noelle casted a worried glance toward her Duchess after his remark. ''Is that true lady Jasmine?''

''I don't know what sort of propanganda the Resistance fed to you but-'' Jasmin began but was immediatly stopped as Oliver started yelling at her.

''Don't give me that bullshit! I was there when you burned down the village! The girl you executed was my sister and I was too much of a coward to save her back then, but this time I'm ready, you will pay for the death of Mika Wilden! Bolt come out!''

The Shockrirrel burst out of the yellow Draconid Gem and immediatly leaped toward the Duchess in front of him. The Duchess was ready for him and sent a wave of water that sent the squirrel flying in the opposite direction. He cough and spluttered as he landed on the ground.

''Are you alright Bolt?'' The Elestia chittered and lifted himself back on his four paws. ''Alright use a lightning bolt!'' The Shockrirrel did as ordered and sent out a beam of electricity toward the Duchess.

Jasmine created a bubble of water in front of herself, when the electicity hit it, it was contained inside. With a flick of her finger she sent the bubble crashing into the squirrel and he was hitted by a torrent of water ad electricity. Before he could recover Jasmine raised her hand and sent another torrent of high pressure water and Oliver heard the chilling sound of a banshee scream.

''Bolt come back!'' The Shockrirel was recalled inside his Draconid Gem just before he could be hit by the water. Now that His Elestia was gone Jasmine focused her attention on them. She created a whip made of water and aimed it at them. Strangely Oliver received no warning from his Reaper's Cry and he would soon learn why, as the whip came a few inches away from them it suddenly bounced off an invisible barrier.

Oliver looked at Clara and noticed for the first time that her eyes were close in concentration. He had been wondering why she hadn't tried to attack them. Jasmine's eyes narrowed and she proceeded to beat on the shield over and over again with her whip. Clara was straining under the weight of the attack and Oliver could see small cracks appearing in the barrier.

''Alright Snowy come out!'' The bear cub made of snow emerged from his gem and and let a growl toward the two Knights.

''An Ice Elestia, you must have caught it a while ago. We have tried to kill them after the death of Boreas but it seem like most of them fled north into Doremi Forest where it's too dangerous to go.'' Jasmine said while staring at the Blizzacub.

Snowy glared at her realising she wanted to killed the other of his kinds. ''Snowy use your snow breath!'' Oliver commanded, with a cry of approval the small Elestia opened his mouth wide and released a stream of extremely cold air toward the two Knights.

Jasmine released a wave of water which instantly froze as it came in contact with the ice but much to Oliver horror it did not stop. Now instead of water there was big chunk of ice coming straight toward them. They slammed in the barrier Clara had errected and with a cry she collapsed on the ground as the barrier around them broke in a millions shards before disappearing into thin air.

''Clara!'' Oliver yelled in concern, he rushed to her side and could see that she had a small trail of blood coming out of her nose. Before he could properly checked if she was okay he heard the cry of a banshee and dodged just in time as whip of water struck the spot he had just been standing on.

To his surprise however Jasmine quickly bolted into action and ran straight into him before he could even react. He was pinned on the icy wall as the older woman glared down on him throught her helmet.

''Playtime is over little Chosen, you had your chance to surrender and you wasted it.'' She put her hand around his neck and was about to strangle him, but she felt her hand brush against something. She didn't know why she did it, maybe she instinctively knew what it was. But she reached underneath the boy's shirt and retreive the necklace underneath.

Jasmine froze when she saw half of a heart pendant with the two letters 'JO' written on it. She removed her helmet and bought out her own half of the pendant. Placing them together completed the the heart and the words 'JONES' was written.

Oliver putted two and two together and now looked at the Duchess in a new light. ''You're Jasmine Jones.'' He said barely above a whisper.

''How did you get this?!'' Jasmine demanded with a small snarl.

''Justin gave it to me before he died, he said he wanted me to return the pendant if we ever met you. He also wanted me to say that he still believed he did the right thing.'' Oliver said in a somber tone as he remembered that day all too well.

The older woman closed her eyes and tears started streaming down her face, she quickly turned away so Oliver wouldn't be able to see her face. ''H-how did he die? The details were always really vague.''

''Boreas knocked us all down during the fight and were probably about to die. Justin used up all his life force in a massive attack that heavily weakened Boreas. After his sacrifice me and Clara were able to deliver the final blow thanks to him.'' Oliver replied.

Before anything else could be said the top part of the wall of ice exploded outward and a familiar figure dress in black landed between the two teenagers and the Duchess. Arleady three of his tails had spouted behind him and he snarled as he took a protective stance. His sword was covered in blood and was swirling with black energy.

''A man wearing all black, with red glowing eyes, with fox ears and tails and wielding a black shadowy sword. The Queen warned us about you, Bartholomew Dreemara. It look like we'll have to retreat for now Squire.'' The younger Knight nodded at her Duchess before both of them quickly retreated leaving the three Chosens alone.

Once they were out of sight Xofamai seemed to relax somewhat and two of his tails retracted inside of him. He walked toward the fallen form of Clara and listened to see if she was still breathing. When he felt her hot breath against his hear he sighed in relief before slugging her on his shoulder with a grunt. He frowned as he stared at the now crumbled wall of ice. It was too jagged and tall for them to climb without any risk.

''I got this, Ember come out!'' Oliver exlaimed before the phoenix emerged from her red gem. ''Can you melt all that ice away?''

The bird of fire nodded. ''It will be a piece of cake.'' She flapped her wings and suddenly her whole body glowed as it began to radiate heat like a miniature sun. The ice quickly shrunk as more and more of it melted, but Oliver realised too late that it was melting too fast and now they had a huge wave of water coming their way.

''Ember come back! Sandy come out and redirect that water away!'' The Flodeera nodded as she materialized and with a slam of her hoof she created a trench in front of them. The water was safely contained inside of it before it could reach the group.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Oliver smiled proudly as he glanced at his Elestia. ''Good job Sandy! Now let's get back to-'' Before he could finish his sentence he suddenly began to feel really dizzy, his vision started to blurred and before he knew it everything around him faded to black as he felt the ground rushing to him...

- - - - -

Jasmine had a slight frown on her face as she glance down at three dead Knights laying on the ground. She could tell by the wounds that their armors had been pierced by a sword and she knew who did it. She should feel angry that the man she had let go had killed some of the Knights under her command. But these Knights were not men loyal to her, she knew deep down they had been sent with her to keep an eye on her for the Queen.

Everyday it was becoming harder and harder to stay loyal to that cold hearted woman. Deep down she thought maybe her brother had a point when he decided to desert the Kingdom. She really hated the Queen she had treated her as nothing more than a pawn since her brother left. But she still felt like she couldn't leave.

The men who were loyal to her would be lost without her and she didn't trust the other Dukes to care about their well being like she did. That and she still hated these monsters who had taken everything from them. The Knights of Humanity was the only organisation in Orchestralia who were willing to exterminate the Elestia like they needed to, to reclaim their world. If she had to deal with an uncaring bitch to do so, then so be it.

''So there you are Jasmine Jones.'' A nasally voice said behind them. The man in question was casually levitating a bunch of rocks above his hand with a blue aura. His armor was glowing with a purple light.

''Duke Mortimer what are you doing here?'' Jasmine asked with an edge in her voice. She had never liked the man, he was a complete loose cannon. The Queen had replaced his entire squad twice because all of them had been killed under his command in raid against Dragonlings. The only reason why he had remained in their rank was because he had a Mind Nature and he had the 'Gift' which was a really rare combination.

It is a known fact that using the Dragon Slayer armor is extremely dangerous and will eventualy drain all of your life force, taking away years and years out of your life. Most Knights retired after only five years of service and most of the veterants look like they're eighty years old, even if most of them are only in their mid twenty's.

But the armor doesn't seem to affect everyone equally, some of the Knights have been in service for close to a decade and are only now showing signs of being too old to continue. And even more rare are certain individuals who doesn't seem affected at all by the draining effect of the armor no matter how much they use them. Those individuals are said to have the Gift, an unusually resilient life force that doesn't get damaged by the use of the armor.

People with the Gift all had important roles within the Knights of Humanity. Jasmine and the other Dukes all had the Gift, Noelle and the other Squires had it too and so did Queen Roxanne.

''I was sent here by Queen Roxanne.'' Mortimer said with an annoyed tone in his voice. ''She wanted me to send a message to you. she has recalled every Dukes and Duchesses back to Brassington and that include you.''

Jasmine was surprised at that news, the Queen had never needed the four of them at the same time before. ''Did she tell you what this is about?''

Mortimer had a viscious grin on his face that sent chill down her spine. ''I have heard rumors that the Queen is very pissed off after what happened to Bajoon City. She's especially pissed at the Resistance for letting the hybrid freaks live in their settlement instead of ending their suffering. It seem like she's finally decided to officially declare war on the Resistance and on CGO.''

''She's declaring war on two factions?! Is she crazy?! If anything we should focus on the cult! As much as it pain me to admit it at least the Resistance is doing some good things for Orchestralia. Even if they're constantly flip flopping between helping the people and helping these monsters.'' Jasmine said with gritted teeth.

Mortimer shrugged at that. ''I'm not the one that decided on it, if you feel so strongly about it you should tell it to the Queen.'' He said with a sneer on his face.

Jasmine glared at him and huffed, she knew she couldn't do that. The Queen arleady didn't like her, the last thing she needed is give her an excuse to execute her for questioning her authority. ''Lead the way Mortimer, we can't make the Queen wait.''

The Duke nodded and smiled but she could tell it wasn't sincere. With a flick of his fingers he took the corpses of the three Knights in his psychic grasp and flung them in the river a few meters away. It was crude but it was better than being left out in the open. With that the three of them made their way back to the Knights capital.

- - - - -

The familiar sound of a train chugging on a set of rails alerted him back to his sense. Harmony was arleady sitting in front of him, smilling at him as he gain awareness. ''I'm asleep?'' Oliver said while looking around in confusion. ''When did I fell asleep? The last thing I remember is the two Knights running away and then me and Xofamai were on our back home.''

''You fell unconscious.'' Harmony clariffied as his smile vanished. ''It seem like you used too much of your ether, don't worry you're not in danger. I guess you are still not used to using the Reaper's Cry during prolongued battles. With time and practice your ether will become stronger like a muscle. Your ether is also tied to the number of calories you have in your body. So if you ever feel weak after a battle you should eat something as fast as you can.''

Oliver nodded toughtfully but then his eyes widened. ''What about Clara?! When her shield shattered she fell unconscious and her nose was bleeding!''

''Do not worry she was simply knocked out, Clara made a shield by extending her ether around herself. When it was broken all the energy came rushing back to her brain and it overwhelmed her senses. She will recover once the ether stabilise within her body.'' Harmony reassured with a gentle smiled and Oliver sighed in relief.

The metro train passed in front of a familiar filed with a rainbow colored tree. But much to Oliver's confusion the train simply continued on it's way and entered another tunnel. When he turned to Harmony with a questioning look the old man shrugged nonchalantly.

''I tought we could go visit somewhere else today.'' He said simply, they waited a couple minutes but soon they stopped and Oliver jaw dropped.

They were in a city that reminded him a bit of old Ringabell City. But it was still in it's prime and it was even more perfect than in his arleady idealized vision of the Old World. There weren't any signs of trash anywhere, there were no cars or factories that were polluting the air. Wild animals like lions, elephants and a triceratops of all thing were wandering freely without being threatened. And the most unbelievable thing of all was the fact the city was built on top of a sea of clouds.

He looked at the people wandering trought the city and saw that all of them were friendly with one another. People of all colors and ethnicities were talking and laughing with each other with no social barriers separating them. There were people flying in the air without any wings or technology helping them. They landed on the ground and waved at the people. Everyone greeted them like old friends even if they didn't even knew who they were.

There was one thing that putted off Oliver however and it was the fact that every single person in the city was naked. No one seemed bothered by that fact, they didn't even felt the need to politely look away from other people's genitals, for them it was like it was any other part of the body.

''What is this place?'' Oliver asked in awe.

Harmony look at the scene forlorny before turning his attention back to the boy. ''This is a city contained within the universe of the All-Mother, this is the spirit realm. Or rather it is a recreation of it that can be seen by mortal eyes.''

''What do you mean by that?'' Oliver asked in confusion.

''Mortals cannot lay their eyes upon the realm of the All-Mother, it would drive them completely mad.'' Harmony said with a grim expression.

''Why is that?'' Oliver asked wondering how much better could the real deal truly by.

''The love of a benevolent goddess is something too powerful for words. All who enter this realm will be loved unconditionally by the All-Mother no matter how good or sinful they are.'' Harmony replied.

''So everyone is accepted in the spirit realm even the truly bad people?'' Oliver asked bewildered.

''Yes and no, you could say that the world within the goddess is separated into tiers. People who are truly good will not have to deal with the ones who are corrupted to their core, people from higher tiers can go down to visit more sinful people if they wish to. But the bad people cannot go up unless they express genuine interest in redemption. But the place where the wicked are place into is not the place of eternal torture you humans came up with. Instead the All-Mother let the wicked live with each other and whether the realm turn into a hellish place or not depend entirely on the actions of the people living there.''

Then Harmony frowned for a second. ''I will admit the place where all the genocidal maniacs, live is not exactly a pleasant place. But if they're not able to live with people similar to themselves then it's their fault for causing so much suffering. Some of the places, like where the thieves go for example, is not so bad. You might find your things stolen form time to time, but it is still pretty pleasant and similar to the good parts of the realm. As for the people who killed themselves they're placed closest to the All-Mother's spark, for they are the ones that need the most support out of all the souls.''

''What about people like rapists?'' Oliver asked with a hateful expression.

''For them, the All-Mother removed their reproductive organs and prevent them from ever having any sexual pleasures for the rest of their stay in this world.'' Harmony responded, Oliver honestly tought they deserved way worse than that, but maybe that was why he wasn't a god.

As they wandered around Oliver noticed that there was a few dozens people laying on the ground. They were all twitching every so often and Oliver could hear the unmistakable sound of moaning. All of them seemed stuck in some sort of trance they couldn't wake up from.

''W-what's happening to them?!'' Oliver asked fearfully.

Harmony looked at the scene with a calm expression. ''Don't worry there's nothing wrong with them. As I said a goddess love has a powerful effect on people. So much so that people who newly arrived in the spirit realm are overwhelmed. To them it feel like their entire body is in a constant state of orgasmic europhia. The effect will never go away as long as they are in this realm, but they will get used to it. This might be why everyone here is so pleasant. It's hard to be mad while you're in a constant state of afterglow.''

Oliver had turned into a new shade of tomato as Harmony ended his explanation and they mercifully walked away from the embarassing spectacle. ''This is why mortals forget about the afterlife when they are reborn in the mortal realm. Not because the All-Mother want to make you doubt the existence of an afterlife, but because you would simply not be able to function in the world of the living if you remembered the feeling of being in the presence of a goddess. The All-Father has removed his presence within his own realm. Very few people can feel him and as such living in his world while remembering the love of the goddess is absolute torture. The very few people who did try to go back in the mortal realm with their memory intact said it was very much similar to how they tought actual hell would feel like.'' Harmony said with a frown upon his face.

Oliver gulped at that, he really didn't want to know how that felt like. ''So that was very informative Harmony, but why did you show me all this? No offense but I'm not intending to die anytime soon if that's what you're implying.''

Harmony sighed and looked down at Oliver with a sad expression. For a moment the boy tought the old man really looked like a being older than time. ''The truth is, I have been feeling a bit guilty lately as I remember all my mistake. I suppose before I explain everything I have done, I wanted to show you what motivated me to do those choices. The realm of the All-Mother is very dear to me and I have done a lot of costly mistakes in making sure it was safe.''

Oliver didn't know what to say to that so he stayed silent and waited for him to continue. ''I have chosen you as my Champion after you slayed Boreas and bought peace to Orchestralia. I said it was the reason I chosed you as my Champion, but the truth is I had my eyes on you for a while now. Ever since you caught the Elestia you named Sandy, I could feel that a powerful bond had been formed, a bond so powerful enough that it might save the world one day.''

''Then why did you wait so long to contact me if you arleady tought I could do what was needed back then?'' Oliver asked, he wasn't feeling angry. But he wondered how much these powers could have helped if he had them when fighting against Boreas, would Justin had have to die? He couldn't tell.

''Because I was scared, scared that I was making yet another mistake. You see Oliver while it is true that I saw something powerful coming from you. You were not the first or the last to have such a strong tug of destiny placed on you. Before you I felt this feeling twice, the first one was called Arthur Clementine, he was a surprisingly old man and yet the tug of destiny was strong within him and so I trained him just as you did. He accomplished much during the first year after the Invasion. He was the first Chosen to ever being able to tame a Dragonling and he was the one that founded the group you are part of, the Ding Dong Resistance.''

Oliver was shocked to hear this, in all his time in the Resistance he had never heard of that man and yet he seemed really important. But he felt a tighness in his chest as Harmony expression grew more sad.

''Only a few months after he founded the Resistance he had an encounter with Boreas. He was with his daughter at the time and he tried to use the Rainbow Breath to counterattack the Dragon's ice to protect her. But Boreas power was too great and he was overwhelmed, his body exploded from the sheer amount of ether he absorbed and with the explosion his own daughter was frozen to death. Back then I tought we had truly lost the battle against the Dragons, I thought we had failed and everything was lost...''

''But then I felt another tug of destiny. This time it had been a young woman, I was worried about repeating the mistake of Arthur and so I tried to take things more slowly with her. But... before I could properly turn her into a proper Champion she was turned astray by her own grief. She completely twisted what I was trying to teach her and my connection with her has been severed. Honestly I do not know what has become of her since then.'' Harmony said with a sad shake of his head.

''When I felt yet another tug of destiny I decided to carefully observe you before making any decisions. I was worried the same thing as the girl would happen again. You just had so much anger inside you. When I saw what you did at Bajoon, I honestly tought you weren't the one.'' Oliver winced at that, it really wasn't one of his proudest moments. But then Harmony smiled gently as he look at him. ''But I realized I had judged you too quickly, you learned from your mistakes and tried to become a better Chosen. And when I saw you deliver the final blow against Boreas I knew I needed to help you and stop feeling sorry for myself.''

Oliver opened his mouth to say something but the world around them suddenly turned completely white. ''Look like you're waking up.'' Harmony said. ''Thank you for lending your ear, I hope you can still find in your heart to trust me after this.'' And with that the world around him vanished.