Guardian of Elements

Chapter 47 - Calm before the storm

Kate quickly caught up with the two Guardians, leaving the field of frozen humans far behind. Oddly enough, she was able to maintain quite a fast pace, even though she was barely standing just minutes ago. The power that her domain had regenerated so far was enough to restore her strength, but not even close to letting her do anything more than keeping her heat bubble up, which was slowing its restoration further. She knew that she was heading into the upcoming battle completely powerless.

As they were running after Morcion, Eriana looked at her curiously. Kate knew what she wanted to ask by it.

"Arneia is fine," she told her without stopping. "But she's not in the den. She wanted to stay in the village with her parents. She asked me to tell you that when you'll want to meet her, go to the hill by the village and howl."

Eriana took her time to answer.

"Well, I knew that this was going to happen someday. I just hoped that she'd wait a bit longer and that I could be there with her."

"She'll be fine, as long as those barriers hold. But when I was coming here, I met humans that were evil again. I was near the village under a mountain and humans there..." Although she wasn't cold, she shivered at the memory.

"I know," Eriana replied. "I had to release my Marks to have enough power to stop those humans at the mouth of the pass. But the barriers should be still holding strong."

"I hope so. And I hope that those remaining humans won't ravage your forests while we're gone."

"Hey, you two back there, cut the chatter and stop slowing down!" Morcion, who had quite a head start, was displeased with them again.

"Don't mind him," said Eriana. "He's like this all the time." And she jumped forward to catch up with him.

As they were running to the center of the domain, Kate noticed that it was really just a path between high mountains, about twenty meters wide snowy valley, with occasional spruces. It was the smallest domain of them all, but probably the most important one. Before, it served as a hub between other domains, now it was a shield against open invasion.

Morcion suddenly slowed down, and then stopped. He seemed to be nervous, which Kate couldn't understand.

"What's going on? Why have you stopped?" she asked the fellow Guardian.

"I'm just not sure if you want to see this."

"See what?" asked Eriana.

Kate's foot suddenly slipped on something under the snow. She swept some of it away and realized that it was a piece of clothing. More than that, it was a human corpse.

Kate jumped back, startled by it.

"What is that?"

"And what did you expect?" said Morcion. "I've been fighting humans for three long years! So what, they should just disappear? That might work in Lerinth's haunted forest, but not here. And the constant cold won't allow them to decompose either."

"That's... grim." Eriana was walking slowly, desperately trying to not step on any humans, but their bodies were hidden under the snow.

"Don't try, there will be more. Much more," told her Morcion and he resumed running, leaving Kate and Eriana no choice but to do the same and ignore the horrifying scene. And he was right, it was getting worse. Sometimes there was a hand sticking out of the snow, or an entire body was visible. Kate was trying to not look around and just run.

Then, the pass became wider. Kate could notice a gap between the tall mountains on each side. They were running for a few more minutes, and then, finally, the three Guardians reached the crossroads, exhausted.

Kate had to rest for a second. She lay down on her belly, folding her legs under her. She let go of her heat bubble for a moment to cool herself down and looked around.

To the east, there was the long way that they just crossed, with nothing interesting but the grass trail in the snow that her bubble had made. To the west, the path continued without a change, still with occasional trees covered in snow. To the north, it was taking a curve to the right, its destination obscured by a mountain. But to the south, the path was descending rapidly, and through a mist screen, she could see the yellow colors of the forest of Souls and the great green tree on the horizon, far away, its top reaching their current altitude.

She remembered the day when she was down there, fighting her first battle with humans, alongside Lerinth. Back then, she became aware of her real potential as a Guardian for the first time. Now, this potential was still there, however the power she had at her disposal back then was not. She knew that should her mother fail to get the Guardian of Souls here in time, there was no chance of winning this battle with only three worn out Guardians. And even if Lerinth would arrive here in time, one Guardian against hundreds of humans... She didn't dare to guess the outcome.

Morcion came to her side.

"Admiring the view?" he asked.

Kate shivered as cold wind blew through her fur. She raised her heat shield again, making the Guardian of Might step away from her a bit.

"No, I was thinking," she replied and shuddered as the molten snow made her belly wet.

"Thinking about what?" He looked down to the pass too. "You know what, it doesn't matter." He turned around to go back to Eriana.

"Morcion, wait," she stopped him. He hesitated for a moment, but then came back to her, waiting for what she would say. Kate was still looking at the forest below.

"You know, when I left my forest, I was just a child, craving for adventures. But throughout those days, I've come to realize that the world is much bigger than my forest, much greater than me. Each one of you other Guardians showed me something I needed to know, something I'm going to value forever. Verilion introduced me to this world. He told me both what I needed to know and what I wanted to know. Lerinth, he showed me my powers, how to control them and not get controlled by them. Thanks to Tawarthion, I've come to understand what being a Guardian really means. How to help, how to care and not give up. As for Eriana," – she gave the Guardian of Minds a quick look, – "I guess I've learned responsibility from her. That the world can be as big as the greatest land or as small as one thing, and both need to be tended equally. I'm just wondering what you are going to show me."

Morcion was obviously taken off balance by this revelation. As those Guardians before him, he was just coming to realize that the blue cat sitting in the snow in front of him was his equal, not a small kitten.

"Well, I guess I could show you how to be righteous in your decisions." That was the only thing he could think of.

Kate was still looking to the distance in a dream-like state.

"You are referring to the incoming army." That was not a question, but a statement.

"Yes. Those people that you've frozen were only villagers. They were the remaining people that hadn't left Raya's domain before, like others who had lost their love. But there's also a great human settlement in the north of her lands, and that's from where this force is coming. They will be better armed and prepared. And..."

Kate interrupted him.

"And you're afraid whether I'll do what's necessary." She finally stood up and looked at him. "You don't have to worry. I've learned this lesson too. About an hour ago, when I saw them trying to kill you."

Morcion looked at her too, and then behind him.

"Well, it looks like we're going to find out soon. First humans have just crossed the northern border."