Guardian: The Awakening

The Origin Of The Dark Lands

"The same can be tell about using wind beasts, because they will become easy targets and us easy prays... this is a very dangerous place for us indeed. Just hiking this picks alone will be hard." Zhao said as he watched the titan red thing that slowly moved deep within the endless picks.

"Yunlan... I'm afraid, not all will survive this part of the journey and many will be leaving this territory with the mark of the dark lands, but even so... the red stone needs to be destroyed. It is a living creature in itself that poison the land and the inhabitants. The day is gone from our world, even the dark lands will transform back to what it was centuries ago, eventually." Yunlan's heart raced again, fearing for the lives of his companions, especially that of his lover.

"How come is a living thing? What's the story behind it?" Zhao asked curiously and just like before, the false sky lands changed to and endless forest. High above in the sky, he watched as a huge meteor set aflame leaved a stela of fire and smoke and went down, causing a huge crater and shockwave in a devastating circle.

In the middle of the crater, a stone, shining red seemed to pulsate, as it was a throbbing heart. Then, the time seemed to past in haste and he saw how the land near the stone begin to change, becoming barren, stealing the life of the earth bellow it, poisoning the place, then spreading.

That gave birth to the shadow lands and the many dark creatures and as more time passed, the more the lands nearby changed and so the Shadows born, the Furies, the bats evolved and so did all kinds of beast, becoming feral and gaining dark magic of their own.

It took generations to become what the lands are now, but the source of everything was definitely the red stone, which he knew now that came from outside their world. The first war with the inhabitants of the dark land was brutal, for which the Oracle and the newly found Clans make a special repelling seal at the borders of their lands to keep the tainted creatures away from their homes.

Their continent called Pangaea, was a massive one, divided in countless lands. The Clans had settle in the far east of the continent that was naturally sheltered from other territories with a chain of mountains that were hard to cross, however, the dark lands located in the south east, had a path free of mountains from which the thread was always present. Looking at the way that the red stone was poisoning the lands, very slowly, but surely steady, their lands will eventually became barren, tainted and transformed by the unnatural force of the thing that came from outside their world and the people would change as well, becoming more beastly like or who knows what else.

"I see..." Zhao murmur and the images disappeared.

"Be careful Yunlan... destroying the thing that is under the influence of the stone with just a small piece of it, is easy in comparison with destroying the full meteor."

"In other words, our true goal is not only defeating the puppet but also the puppet master." Zhao said and a final image was shown. A black mountain, resembling a volcano in were the meteor was hidden, deep inside.

"Indeed. The Clans were just beginning to bloom when the first attack came, so I only concentrate in defeating them and keep the Clans for warring with each other, but in this time and age, the Clans are strong enough to fight this thing and destroy it for good. The task cannot be delayed any longer, because the poison had spread too far already." The Oracle said.

"How can we destroy something that is not from this world and have the power to even change the land to such extent?" Zhao asked.

"What is not from this world can only be destroyed with something that also don't belong to our realm and precisely because of that, you born with special talents that will help you succeed in this task. You were granted of two strong magic, both water and cosmic that had already prove to be needed. Your lover holds the power to summon the four guardians set by the gods. The rare ability was granted to him, I believe, because it will be needed to destroy the red stone. The Nuwa worshipper was granted of another rare gift to make summoning circles outside the Clans, the young Earth Prince had exceptional control over earth, including stone, the Sage had overwhelming spiritual power that will guide you when your eyes will be clouded, the thread Master will grant you access to places you would had been deny it to go further otherwise. The Wind Prince will guide you to the next territory, because he can read the wind better than anyone."

"The goddess of humanity had grant your group of her blessing and she will keep assisting you when in need. The meteor was sent to earth by an expelled god in revenge for losing a fight for supremacy. Nuwa wants to clean the tainted lands and you all were chosen by the stars to carry on her wish, but in return, your too will be granted." Zhao looked at the Oracle quite seriously, as if he was really seen him for the first time.

There was something odd about Lord Tao Shi from the start, but Yunlan could never put his finger of what it was. No human had live for as long as the Oracle, but they all thought it was because of his absolute Star magic that could destroy the world if he so want it done. However, at that moment, he was thinking in another possibility, quite different from just having a unique kind of magic.

"Lord Shi, pardon my rudeness but I most ask... are you really human?" The old man smiled and Zhao widen his eyes as he saw the Lord true form. Zhao was instantly on his knees. There was a divine aura surrounding the now younger man, with long raven black hair, deep emerald and golden robes.

"Lord Siming, God of Fate..." The name was whisper by impulse, but Zhao was sure it was his true name.

"Ah, Yunlan, don't kneel to me, I am only an Oracle to the people. Let's leave it at that." Lord she said, while taking his older appearance once more.

"Yunlan! Yunlan!" It was the desperate voice of Shen Wei, resonating inside the place. Zhao looked behind, expecting to see his lover coming, but there was only mist there.

"He is too sensitive of your star magic, go back Yunlan or you may give your lover a heart attack." Zhao smiled.

"He is too strong for that... I'm surprise he is not here yet." Zhao said as he stood back to his feet.

"Keep an eye on him always, because his gentle heart will put him in danger more than once. Also, take in mind that his devotion to you will only grow stronger each day and if something happens to you, it will greatly affect him, so be careful too. Now, go back to the arms of your worry lover, you will never be in a better place." The old man winked at him and Zhao smiled, waking up to see Shen Wei's worry face.

"Shen Wei..." Zhao whisper, moving his hand to touch his beautiful face.

"Yunlan, I wake up and..." Zhao didn't let him finish, as he pull Wei closer to kiss him in such a tender way, that melted Shen Wei's heart all over again. Inside Yunlan's mind there was only one thing, love and even more love for the exceptional man he was kissing and despite himself, Yunlan smiled while kissing his Xiao Wei, because Lord Shi was absolutely right, he could not be in a better place that in the warm arms of his dearest Shen Wei.

AN: It's B-Day! Thank you my dear readers for all the support and care for the stories. I'm honor to have such wonderful readers and even more awesome Guardian community. The awesome part comes next later today or tomorrow. It was too long to add it here. Thank you all. ❤❤❤❤😙😙😙😙