The Clandestine Six- The Gloom Horde

Chapter 13- The Concord Gems

"Oh please. Can you leave us for a moment and let us catch our breaths? And then we can come and fight you if you want." Roselle said.

"My dear, you are not here to fight me. You are here to take something very important from me." That voice said.

"Oh really? Wow. Now you're going to say something dramatic, like 'I'll give you the gems in return of something precious, like your souls..." Said Thomas still lying on the ground.

"Oh damn. Then you won't get mine because I have already lost my soul once and can't afford it second time." I spoke up.

The man chuckled "You all really have some weird stuff going on in your mind. You all sure that you haven't lost your marbles while coming here?"

"Oh yes. And actually, I am wondering whether you have lost your marbles because you are supposed to fight with us in here. Not have a good little chat with us." Grace said.

"I know very well what I have to do here. And by the way, it is quite annoying and disreputable when you lie down on the floor and talk with the Custodian without even having a look at him." He said.

"Okay guys, lets pay him some respect." James said.

I sighed and stood up, still feeling a bit weak. The wax was still on my body, and let me tell you, it was hurting a lot. But my curiosity was way more than my pain. So I decided to take in the view first. It was just like the previous one, just that with no tiles or hot wax.

Then I looked at the owner of that angelic voice and I expected to see a man wearing a flowy white tunic and look a bit more like a guardian. But, has it ever happened the way I think it of to be like? By this time, you must have understood that the answer is a complete no. So how he looked? He was also probably 18 or 19 years old (totally shocking). He had black hair and warm black eyes. He was wearing a blue hoodie and ofcourse, light blue jeans. To sum up, he did not look like a Custodian at all.

"Hey boy. You sure you're the Custodian?" I asked.

"Yup, pretty sure. Well, my name Axel and you can call me X." He replied.

We all murmured "hi."

"Oh you all are so glum and quiet!" he exclaimed.

"We weren't like that before the quest." Charlotte gave a short reply.

"Oh it's okay. I can understand. Uh, judging by your looks, I think you are a bit surprised how I am so young or something like that?" He asked.

We nodded, "Errmm... yeah. Kind of, yes." Roselle said.

"Ah... I expected that. Well, let me explain my story to you. I was just a normal teenager like you all, trying to have a normal life in.... I cannot tell you where. But whatever, all of a sudden I was sucked into the Quartz Portal and I was stuck in here! Then they appointed me as the Custodian for the Concord Gems. It was about.. a century ago? Yes somewhat like that. And since then I have not aged, so if we see I am atleast 100 years older than you. Whatever, shall we move on to our Gem Ceremony?" He asked.

"I-Wait. First, why did they appoint you as the Custodian? I totally expected some horrible creature to be here." Thomas said.

"The reason? I don't know myself. At first I thought it was a cool job and then after 10 years or so, I realised that it wasn't that cool. I got all bored and stuff but I couldn't break the Vow I made so I waited for 100 years for you all to come and take these Gems and free me from this duty." He explained.

I nodded, "Uh, okay... So, you are not gonna fight with us or something?" I asked.

"Oh no no. I am a peaceful guardian. Plus, you will have a hard time in the future, I don't want to trouble you much." He replied.