Beta

8. Multiple

"A scar?" Lola remembered the large scar across Grant's chest.

Suddenly, the thorns stopped at Grant's chest, exactly where the scar was. "Now... the extraction process... this is the hard part." Rob motioned his thorns to Grant's back. Afterwards, he pulled his headband off his right eye, revealing its dark black tone. Rob slowly pulled his fingers back, the thorns pulled back in response. In between the thorns was a small purple blob of energy. Everybody, expect for Asa, sensed a large amount from it.

"What is this energy?" Shibaki asked.

"This is indeed odd... the energy of the Guardian isn't supposed to be radiating until after it's pulled out." Mathys answered, though he was slightly unsure. "Don't tell... this is just only a portion of this Guardian's..."

Suddenly, as the purple blob continued to be extracted, a large of burst of force gave out. The force nearly knocked everybody back.

"W... What the hell?! Mathys, just what's going on?!" Asa yelled through the heavy force.

"I don't know! This isn't Rob's doing! This must be the Guardian's energy!" Mathys quickly answered. "Rob, what's the status?!"

"I... It's undetermined, master, but this looks to be only half of the Guardian's energy! I'll have to use my power to..." Rob was interrupted by a sudden roar coming from the blob as it began to take a humanoid shape. A purple arm burst from the blob, then another, and then a head began to form. Red eyes glowed on it, there was no pupil or iris, just a glowing red mark over where the eyes where supposed to be.

Grant woke up in his mind. He rubbed his eyes to make sure the blur escaped his eyes. What he saw was a field of water surrounding him. He was standing on the water oddly, like he was walking on top of it. Up ahead, he noticed a row of purple gates standing in front of him. Each gate had a symbol he couldn't make out, but he figured they were numbers.

"W... Where am I?" he asked around him, hoping someone would answer him.

"W... Walk forward..." a voice said to him.

"What? Who's there?"

"Through the gates... walk through the gates... and release me..."

Grant decided to do as the voice told him and walk to the first gate. He didn't know whenever to trust the voice, but he knew he didn't have anywhere else to go. The gate was massive, it easily towered his body and he had to pivot his head straight up just to see the tip of it. He took his first step.

Suddenly, he stepped back and held his chest in pain. "W... What the hell was that?!"

"Walk through the gates... face your greatest fear... release me..."

"What? My greatest fear?" Grant knew what the voice was talking about. It was the same fear that gave him the scar on his chest. He knew all too well what caused it. "I... I can't... it's too much..."

"Bare the pain... release me..."

"I... I see... you this was the thing Rob told me about. I have to face my what was holding my Guardian back to release it. But, that memory... can I really do it?" The memory that Grant experienced was the worst. He never wanted to remember the entire event ever again. The pain he went through was too much. "I... I can't do it..." he fell to his knees.

Outside of his mind, the purple blob continued to roar. Now, it formed a mouth and began to breathe fire out of it.

"I... Is it a Fire type?" Mathys stared in question.

The purple blob noticed the shadow thorns attached it. It grabbed one of the thorns and forcibly tore it out, sending another wave of intense energy.