Chapter Four

A figure ran through the forest, her feet barely making a sound as she traversed the wide area for any possible traps or threats that could hinder her in her own game.

Her braided hair flew behind her as she moved through the air as if she was nothing but a wind in itself, an illusion of a human being that was moving in a blinding speed much akin to a god’s.

Her breathing was in concentrated pants as she ran, hoping to get away from all the things she had seen and was intent on something she was paid for to get.

A head for someone she knew long ago but refuses to forget.

Her mind flashed back to the memory that had haunted her ever since she had left that place. The place where she had sworn to bring all the guardians after they had found it in their selves to accept their destiny.

She gritted her teeth as she ran through the forest, the wind whistling past her as she moved. ‘Such a price for such a head.’ she thought as her mind replayed the memory.

Flashback...

She was in a tavern drinking a small keg of beer when someone approached her and gave her a letter and a proposition.

“1,000,000 gold coins.” she mused as she pointed at the picture and smirked. “Dead or Alive?”

The man who gave her the letter, just shrugged and said. “Either way, although it would be better for ‘im to be alive.”

She let out a sigh and leaned back on her chair, arms crossed over her chest. Then looked up at the man, her smirk widening. “Consider me sold.”

It was just like that. 1,000,000 gold coins.

But who would forked over such a huge amount for such a guy?

A guy with strange white hair and vibrant violet eyes.

Who is he?

She was about to ran past when she abruptly stopped as she felt a rather different presence around her. One that couldn’t have been possessed by an ordinary human.

Narrowing her eyes, she walked to the left where there’s no path that indicated that someone had gone this far yet in this forest. Following her instincts and also the aura that she had felt awhile ago. 

She traced the source and found to her utter shock and horror, two girls.

One with short green hair, with light brown complexion of small stature-presumably a child wearing a short light pink dress and what look like the end of a scarf around her neck. The other was of tall stature with braided violet hair, a blue cloak over her shoulders and pale complexion.

She then hid herself behind one of the bushes and waited. Wondering what the two girls were going to do.

“You can’t be serious.” She heard a voice spoke and saw the green haired girl arguing with the other. “You’ll only put yourself in danger.”

The violet haired one didn’t speak and stepped out from behind the huge tree they were hiding behind. From her vantage point, she could clearly see the taller of the two was indeed something that’s not to be reckoned with.

‘Was the presence earlier came from her?’ she thought as she mused then turned to look back again at the two.

“You’re a coward if you ran away from a problem you can fix.” Aedre told Tivona who was looking at her from behind the tree she was hiding.

The younger shook her head. “It’s not cowardice. Are you prepared to lose your life? None would take kindly towards you.”

The older scoffed. “You must have thought of me as someone who was on a pedestal to think that way. I’ve lived in a world where pleasantries are hard to come by. And if it did, pain would eventually come as a price.”

“They’re not ordinary poachers as I told you.” 

Her eyes widened as she listened to the conversation between the two. ‘Poachers?’

“I know what you told me.” Aedre told the younger. “But this is what I’ve been training for all my life. A guardian’s life is all about protecting what we deemed important to us.”

“Life’s not only about that.” Tivona argued. “It’s also about living it to the fullest so that you can wake up another day to do what you loved to do. Tell me, is all being a guardian worth it?”

The other didn’t answer as she just looked away and waited. 

She waited with a baited breath from her place behind the bushes as she wondered what will happen. And that’s when she felt it. The surge of power that only chosen beings are said to have.

‘It really came from her.’ she thought as she looked at the violet haired girl, the other’s body glowing a soft blue as the earth shifted under their feet like water flowing down a stream.

Gentle but with a horrifying grace that could make even the proudest and strongest men cower in fear in its wake. For a mere strike of water could bring down everything and could sweep away all that have been accumulated.

But then she frowned as she heard what the other girl said. That the violet haired is a guardian of some sort. And she let out a gasp as spears of water came spurting out of the ground. 

“A guardian of...water?” she whispered as she watched in utter amazement. At what was obviously not a show of illusion but of real magic.

A twig snapped and she turned her head to check her surroundings. Then turned to look at the girl again when her eyes widened. 

Not far from them are men walking towards the two, having no doubt had seen the display of power that the girl possessed at some point. At first glance she would think that they were men looking for fair game at this part of the forest.

And upon closer inspection that she noticed that they aren’t. These men were far equipped for such a simple game in which only a gun or whatever weapon of choice were carried along with a few supplies.

But these men carried chains on their shoulders with some sort of charm cast upon it. With a strange symbol hanging from one of the chain links.

“Are these the poachers the girl was talking about?” she asked herself as she bent her back and slowly took a step back. Her eyes never straying from the approaching men.

‘This would not end well if they encountered each other.’ she thought as she straightened herself up then turned on her heel and ran to the right, her mind already forming a plan.

She have to intercept. The violet eyed girl is too much precious to lose to such superstitious men. For she have a duty to fulfil. 

A duty that needed all of them if they were to survive.