Guardian(Part II): Soulborne

Chapter 13: Finn

Sitting on my bed in our solar of Quorias' palace was the girl I had seen in my dreams every night for the past week, exactly like she was when I saw her while I was sleeping. A Guardian Knight Captain of the Ranger class from somewhere in the Middle World. I couldn't believe that I was standing right across from her. At first, I thought I was having another one of these dreams, but I was wide awake, and could feel her immense aura of light. Haemon cursing at her just before we entered the bedroom was also more than enough for me to know that he saw her, too. She was definitely real, but I still wondered that. I could see through her, as though she was here, but not completely here.

"Wait," Haemon blurted. "She's who you're dreaming about?"

"Yeah," I answered.

"So, you see me?" asked the girl.

"Sort of," I said. "You're a bit... transparent." The girl lifted her hand off one of her knees and looked at it closely, raising her eyebrows in surprise before lowering it.

"I'm quite a distance away," she said. "That could explain it. My name is Nato."

"Finn," I greeted, then gestured to Haemon, saying, "And my brother, Haemon."

"I may not be able to speak with you for long, Finn," Nato warned. "Where are you?"

I hesitated before answering her. Even though she was another Guardian, and even though we were connected, Nato was still a stranger, who I only knew about from some dreams I had had. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to this than I knew.

"Quorias, Illondas," I answered. Nato's face went pale.

"I'm on a ship to that country!" she shouted. "To Clarnessa!"

"You are?" I asked.

"We could meet somewhere if you're available," Nato offered. "I'll be in Clarnessa in about three days."

"Well, in three days, Quorias will be under attack from Camnorish forces," I admitted. "I'm sorry, but my hands are full."

"I understand," Nato sighed. "So, what you're saying is, you're about to go to war?"

"More like the war's coming to me," I corrected. "King Heinrich has the Dark One as his ally, along with the Seven. We saw..."

"The Seven?" Nato gasped. "I fought one of them outside of Hearth. What do you know of their locations?"

"Well, Vindria's in Hell," Haemon answered. "Our mother's fighting Artoreus' army, and that's about it."

"Yeah, we can't really tell you anything else," I admitted. "I'm sorry. You're coming all the way from Hearth?"

"That's right," said Nato. "Let's talk while we can. I've been wondering what connects us ever since I saw you in a vision for the first time. What can you tell me about yourself, Finn?"

"Well," I began, sitting on the bed across from her. "I'm a Guardian."

"Okay," Nato acknowledged.

"My mother's an Ilentia," I continued. "I've been stabbed through the heart twice and lived."

"Really?" asked Nato. "With black blades?"

"Yeah, both times," I answered. "But I had no idea I would survive."

"I had a similar experience just last night," said Nato. "With Kerathos."

"The Archdemon of Pride?" I asked. "How did you run into him?"

"Hearth was attacked," Nato enlightened. "Kerathos led an army of Turned there, and I was ordered to leave the city myself to find you. I can sense you from halfway across the entire world!"

I was stunned by what she just said. If she was leaving on a ship from Faudia, but left Roah first, then she was thousands of miles away, and drawing closer to me by the minute. She had no idea that I was in Illondas before I told her just now. I couldn't think that her unknowingly coming closer to me was a coincidence.  If we could both survive injuries that would normally instantly kill us, and gave off an immense aura, very similar to one another's, then I could only think one thing about Nato. She was like me!

"Do you know who your parents are?" I wondered.

"No," Nato answered. "I'm was raised by the Monks of Qonghai. We were forbidden to know either of our parents."

"Are you now?" Haemon questioned. "Aren't you a Guardian yourself?"

"Yes," said Nato. "But I still don't know if I have any family. I would like to find out now that I'm allowed to, though."

"Could you have Ilentia blood?" I wondered. My question seemed to strike her with disbelief.

"You mean... like a god's blood?" she asked. "I doubt it."

"Oh, that makes sense!" Haemon exclaimed. "That's what connects you! Could you two be related?"

"Well, we're Mom's only children," I reminded.

"At least you know for sure," Nato sighed. "I don't know anything."

I began to sense a feeling of sadness from her. I had only heard of the Monks of Qonghai vaguely, and knew nothing more about them other than they were aura-sensitive. I had no idea that they weren't allowed to know who their parents were, or if they had any other family. Since she was a Guardian now, though, she could find out if she wanted to, but the look on her face told me that she had no idea where to start. I thought of Mom, and then my father. Unlike Nato, I knew exactly where I came from, exactly who my family was, and exactly who I was. I reached out and offered my hand to her. Nato stared at it for a moment, then reached out to grasp it, only for her fingers to completely pass through mine like air. I had forgotten that she was speaking to Haemon and I from a ship on the Sea of Suonan, off the coast of the south. We both chuckled as we pulled our hands back.

"Sorry," I said.

"No, don't be," Nato excused. She then looked at her own hand, and we both noticed that she was a little bit more transparent than she was when she first appeared before us.

"It looks like our contact with each other is fading," she guessed. "Finn, you must listen to me."

"About what?" I wondered.

"About the Seven and the people who could be serving them," Nato warned. "If any of them find you, they will show no mercy."

"I had not planned on allowing anyone to find me," I promised. "And you should do the same if you think you're with people you don't trust."

"Well, the person I'm with, I couldn't trust more," said Nato. "She's almost like me, now that I think about it."

"Just be careful," I warned.

"You, too," Nato warned back. "When I find you, I want to find you in one piece."

"Well, as long as you get here in one piece," I said. "Good luck, Nato."

"Good luck, Finn," Nato wished.

She began to fade further and further, until her radiant aura was gone, and she was gone. At least I knew who she was, now, and I wouldn't be going insane wondering who this girl in my dreams was. I wondered if it was more than our Ilentia blood that connected me to Nato, but I didn't know for sure if she even had Ilentia blood. If she didn't, then that wasn't what connected us. If she did, then it could have been what connected us, but I still had suspicions of what it truly could have been. Haemon didn't seem to have the same idea. He was looking up at me with a smirk on his face and his arms crossed. I knew what he was thinking, and rolled my eyes.

"You think she's hot," he teased, chuckling.

"Oh, give me a break," I sighed. "We should check out the necromancy she warned us about."

"Couldn't we do it in the morning?" Haemon groaned.

"If you need sleep, get some sleep," I suggested. "But I'm looking into this."

"Then I'm going with you," Haemon declared, yawning. "I might as well. That wyvern on the way here was too easy."