Chapter 3
“Who’s there?” Kiro shouted when the sudden voice rang out.
The bushes rustled again and a small, thin figure stepped out. It looked to be a boy with soft golden hair and large purple eyes. His height didn’t really help to add any “masculinity” to his appearance, for he stood only a few inches above five feet. In fact, any one of the three in the group right then could have easily labeled him as “cute”.
“I-I’m sorry…” the boy apologized, acting incredibly shy, “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to ask if I could help you all…I was too frightened to go into the bar when you went in there…so I stayed out here. I heard what you said through the window…”
“So…you were stalking us?” Julian asked, rather disgusted by the notion.
“N-No! Well…maybe…I don’t know…!” the boy stammered, desperately trying to get his point across.
“Quit it, Julian.” Kiro frowned and looked at the boy, “Why don’t you just start by telling us your name and why you want to help.”
“M-My name is Elliot…I’m from the Shadow Region…”
“You came all the way from the Shadow Region!?” Kiro exclaimed, surprised, “Why?”
“I want to help you…and I need help…my mom…she was your father’s Guardian…” Elliot said.
“I see…” Kiro frowned. This boy was the direct heir to the Shadow Guardian, but he didn’t look like he could pull off the job…if appearances were anything to go by, “What happened to her?”
“She’s dead…” Elliot said, getting a mixed looks of pity and surprise, “Oh, but she’s been dead for awhile! It’s my aunt that needs help…”
“She must be in the same position as Fauna.” Nikki stated.
“And she sent you to come help us out?” Kiro inquired.
“Yes!” Elliot grinned and nodded enthusiastically, “She did! You understand!”
“Alright, but you must understand that we can’t come and help right away…we have to help Nikki’s mom…” Kiro told him.
“Of course!” Elliot said.
“I think you’re missing the point, Kiro…” Julian said to the prince, “Our mission is not to rescue the Guardians. Our mission is to make NEW ones.”
“And we have to make new ones in the shrines anyway, so to get to the shrines we need to get the enemies out. During that process we rescue the Guardians…” Kiro pointed out.
“Alright…as long as you understand. We can’t get caught up with these requests from others.” Julian said, ignoring the glares he was getting from both Elliot and Nikki.
“So, I can come help you guys?” Elliot asked.
“Well…” Kiro looked at him again. He didn’t look like he could do much. However, he was being distracted by the big puppy-dog eyes the boy was flashing him.
“You’re such a woman.” Nikki growled, seeing how easily Kiro was being persuaded, and then looked at Elliot, “What can you do?”
“I can fight, I swear!” Elliot was practically begging them.
“I don’t know about that…” Julian held back a snicker.
“Where’s your weapon?” Nikki asked.
“Oh, I don’t use one.” Elliot said, “I fight with these.”
He smiled and held up his hand, growing his fingers into long claws. The others couldn’t help but believe him. They were born on him after all, so he must’ve used them often.
“Well…what else can you do?” Julian asked him.
“Um…my mom said I can cook well…” Elliot blushed at the thought.
“You’re hired.” Nikki decided immediately.
The other two looked at him, and then at Elliot who continued to blush. This…would be interesting. Kiro laughed.
“Well, let’s go back then. We need to put Elliot’s cooking skills to the test! After that we need a good night’s rest.”
“We can use the next day to prepare.” Julian agreed.
The four of them returned to Nikki’s house. True to his word, Elliot’s cooking was AMAZING. Nikki happily devoured four helpings and promptly passed out afterwards. Elliot only ate a small portion before going to clean his mess, only to be pushed out of the way by Julian who took the opportunity to scrub down the whole home. Considering the place was made out of dirt and wood, his dream of making it spotless would never come to be. Kiro laughed again and stood up.
“I’m going to go and see if I can’t find any late-night deals. It’ll save us some trouble for tomorrow.” He announced; however, no one was paying any attention. Shrugging, he turned, grabbed his pack, and went out the door.
“Kiro?” Elliot asked, noticing Kiro leave.
~§•§•§•§•§•§•§•§•§•§•§•§~
Kiro couldn’t help but feel slightly disturbed. Someone was following him. Every time he turned around there was a visible shadow only a few feet back. He knew that if he were to break from the crowd, whatever it was would come out and attack.
“Excuse me? Miss?” the vendor poked Kiro was speaking to poked him on the shoulder.
Kiro was so surprised he didn’t even correct him on his mistake with the prince’s gender, “Oh, sorry! I’ll take it…”
After completing the transaction, Kiro stuffed his purchase into his pack and hurried into the forest. The shadow followed him, just as planned.
After getting a little ways from the town, he drew his sword and turned around. Out from behind the trees came the woman from last time! She pulled her hood down and grinned, revealing her light brown hair cut in a bob and her teal eyes.
“Hello, your highness.” She greeted him, “I came to finish what we started last night.”
“That sounds like a good plan…” Kiro agreed.
The woman pulled her own blades from their hiding place beneath her cloak and took a stance. After a moment or two of intimidating stares from both parties, the woman initiated the first attack. Kiro blocked her, and used his strength to throw her back.
“I suppose I should introduce myself.” She said as she caught herself and prepared for another attack, “My name…is Shadow!”
She struck out at Kiro’s shoulder, but he jumped to the side. Shadow? That was an unusual name for a dragon. But of course, Kiro grew up only knowing one family of dragons whose names all started with the letter “R”.
“I wouldn’t let myself get distracted if I were you.” Shadow said. She was behind him now. When did that happen!?
He tried to turn around but she grabbed his shoulder and pressed a blade to his throat, “Any last words?”
“I don’t need any…” he said, and grabbed her arm, flipping her over his shoulder and then running away.
“You..!” she cursed, trying to stand up and chase after him.
Kiro put good distance between them before looking back. She was preparing one of her spells again! He turned ahead and ran faster.
“Kiro!”
The prince stopped a moment, seeing Elliot just ahead of him. Kiro grabbed the boy’s wrist and continued to run. Elliot looked at him as if asking what was going on, but Kiro ignored him.
Wind rushed past them as Shadow fired off a new spell. This one looked like a purple arrow rather than a fireball. A couple more arrows flew past before Elliot suddenly howled in pain. He completely collapsed, bringing Kiro with him. The two tumbled down into a hole they hadn’t seen and rolled for awhile before coming to a stop. It was very dark where they were now.
“Elliot!” Kiro called, searching for the boy in the pitch black area.
“Shush!” the boy hissed, “She may hear us!”
Kiro looked up, seeing the opening to the hole above them. He saw the woman’s cloak appear a couple times, but eventually, she gave up searching and went away. Their new hiding spot must be pretty well hidden. Once she was gone, Kiro went back to searching for Elliot.
“Over here…” The boy said. He could apparently see in the darkness, “One of her arrows hit me in the leg. I’m sorry…”
“No, it’s okay.” Kiro said, finally finding him, “Let me just wrap that quickly…”
He reached into his pack (which he surprisingly didn’t lose) and pulled out some bandages Julian had luckily included. Doing his best in the darkness, Kiro wrapped Elliot’s calf and sat next to him.
“Can you walk?” he asked the boy.
“No, I don’t think so.” Elliot admitted.
“Alright…” Kiro said, “I’m sure the other two will find us eventually.”
The two sat in silence for a long time. It was hard coming up with things to talk about, especially when they had to stay alert in case the woman found them. Finally, Kiro thought up a question.
“What can you see?” he asked Elliot, for he couldn’t see a thing.
“Well…there’s a little passageway over there.” Elliot took Kiro’s hand and pointed it in the right direction.
“Really? Well, why don’t we go see what’s there?” Kiro stood up.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Elliot asked him.
“Well it’s death out there or death in here…” Kiro told him.
“That’s true…” Elliot nodded.
Kiro crouched down on his haunches, “Climb onto my back.”
Elliot reached forward and wrapped his arms around Kiro’s neck. The prince stood up and carried Elliot piggy-back style deeper into the cavern. Along the way, the boy told him what he could see, but it was practically just stone walls. Up ahead, however, Kiro could see a light.
The two traveled towards it, and were shocked to find that the passage opened up into a huge chamber! Inside was what looked like roots to a giant tree, most definitely the biggest one in the whole forest. On the bottom of the trunk to the tree was a large door. Light came in from the opening at the top where the trunk climbed out and reached its branches into the air, but why was this whole chamber carved out?
“It’s…the Earth Guardian’s shrine…” Elliot whispered in awe.
“Really?”
