Guardian(Part III): Desolation

Chapter 25: Eris

"Thulgrium," I hissed. The Archdemon of Greed sat in a large chair with his arms crossed over his chest, and the dumbest possible smile on his face.

"The Scourge of Ember," Thulgrium taunted. "Long time no see, Eris."

"What do you want with these kids?" I demanded.

"An army needs soldiers, does it not?" said Thulgrium. "And children's minds are simply wonderful, and mendable."

"And you're turning them into monsters," I hissed.

"Don't act surprised, Eris," Thulgrium growled. "I'm doing them a favor. What other purpose do the weak have other than kneeling before the strong?"

"That gives you no right to do what you're doing to them!" Haemon shouted. He flew into the air and went after the Archdemon, swinging his staff. Before he could hit him, though, he warped away, and his aura of darkness disappeared. He was gone, for now.

"Coward," I whispered. I had always known Thulgrium for someone who always exploited others for his own benefit when he had the chance to. If what he said was true, then the children he kidnapped were from the poorest and most unforgiving places in the world, even by the standards set by the Last Winter. They were struggling to survive, and Thulgrium aimed to take advantage of that. Anyone who did that invited my anger upon them, but the Archdemon of Greed had done it since the War of Light and Dark, fifty thousand years ago, before I finally killed him during the Third Great War. If there was one Archdemon that needed to die because of his indifference to others' suffering, it was Thulgrium.

"This doesn't make sense," Haemon blurted. "He wouldn't be making Turned out of those kids. He should already have plenty."

"Then he's not making them into Turned," I guessed. "He must be turning them into something worse."

"Like Shadows?" asked Haemon.

"Possibly," I answered. I looked around the office, just to see what Thulgrium had possibly stolen since the end of the Third Great War.

"Woah," I whispered.

"Woah!" Daisy suddenly cried. She ran into the office, then started looking around with her eyes widened with excitement. I could hardly blame her for her enthusiasm. Many of these artifacts were from civilizations and races long-vanished off the face of the world. Centaurs, fae, merfolk, draconians, duar, epsilon, Tuatha, and even a few Ilentia artifacts. It was the Ilentia artifacts that caught my attention. Urns with pictographs that depicted the Giantess Zenartha becoming the world we live on now, the Ancient War, the betrayal of Xyhra, and even the War of Light and Dark. It wasn't only the historical urns that interested me, though. There was a small, round flask with a cork sealing it sitting on a plate. I pulled the cork from it, and my nose caught a familiar scent. The sweet smell of Ilentia-made wine. Mortals had always credited the creation of wine to Anzulminar in their various myths and faiths, which was one of the few things that was accurate. This wine must have been thousands of years old, made on Ember. I took a sip. My mind was flooded with memories from thousands of years ago. Before the War of Light and Dark, before the Ancient War, before any war. Before anyone's blood was shed at all. I remembered myself as only a child, with my parents, and my brother.

"Haemon," I called, resealing the flask, and tossing it to him. His face lit up with joy as he yanked the cork out of the flask and began to chug every drop of wine he could down his throat.

"Don't drink it all," I warned.

"What's this?" Daisy suddenly asked, looking at the collection of historical urns.

"Zenartha's sacrifice," she read aloud. "Ancient War, War of Light and Dark, 'Scourge of Ember'?"

I could swear I felt my own hear miss a beat. Daisy must have learned how to read and speak the Ancient Tongue from Nato, and was undoubtedly able to read everything on these urns, the last of which I must have missed. The labeling at the top did, in fact, say "Scourge of Ember". Me. This urn, though, depicted me... naked. I gently grabbed the top of the urn and turned my pictograph away from Daisy's face.

"Not for young eyes," I whispered.

"Oh," Daisy sighed. "Okay. Nato taught me the Ancient Tongue, so I couldn't help myself. Did I read something I shouldn't have?"

"No," I answered. "But the fewer people who do know about what you just read, the better."

"Sorry," said Daisy.

"It's fine, honestly," I excused. Daisy gave me a smile, then walked off to look at more of the artifacts. I looked at the "Scourge of Ember" pictograph for a little longer. It was almost exactly how I remembered it all happening. The Abyss finding its way into my heart, my weapon going from one enchanted by light to one enchanted by darkness, the black flames growing bigger and brighter. The carnage, death, and destruction I left in my wake. My eyes glowing more red than any demon I had ever seen. Every dark, painful memory from that event was accurately drawn on this urn, possibly by Ina, the Librarian of Ember. She must have thought that the black flames burned my clothes off, but they didn't. I couldn't bear to look at this pictograph any more, so I turned it back around, but what I saw then was even worse. I couldn't look at the details of what the pictographs depicted, but I knew what it was. It was titled "Aaron's Sacrifice". I already knew what happened. Every detail. I was out of control, what most others would describe as a monster, and Aaron, the first Guardian, chose to save a monster instead of killing it. That was what I knew him best for, though him slaying the Dark One would be what everyone else remembered him for. That was his legacy to them, but to me, he was someone who gave his life to save a world that wasn't even his, and to turn the monster ravaging it back into what it was before it was beyond saving. My eyes swelled with tears, recalling the sacrifice Aaron made for my sake. I cried with anger as I threw the urn onto the floor, shattering it. I saw Haemon and Daisy looking my way, then I saw Artemisa enter the office with the Huntsman, Marcel.

"What happened?" asked Artemisa, stepping towards me. She noticed the shattered urn before I could answer her, and the intact pictograph of the Scourge of Ember.

"Oh," she whispered. "Um..."

She raised her foot over the pictograph and stomped on the piece of glass with the heel of her boot. It was unexpected, but I was grateful for what she did. I would be in the long run, anyway.

"I saw nothing," she promised. "Who was keeping this stuff here?"

"Thulgrium," I answered. "Which I did not see coming."

"Thulgrium," Artemisa repeated. "The Archdemon of Greed, who you killed seventeen years ago?"

"I also killed Artoreus, and yet he captured both you and Neithus," I reminded. "And Azzuran raised an army of Turned to attack a city even though he supposedly died at the end of the war."

"So, Thulgrium's here doing... what, exactly?" asked Artemisa.

"I'm not sure," I answered. "Finn said that he and his friends just destroyed a bunch of War Machines, and Nato says that she went through a lab for... I guess, creating their own demons. I don't know what this is."

"Nato?" asked Artemisa. "Here?"

My eyes widened with surprise. I had just spoken with Nato, and I must have forgotten that I had brought her mother with me as we were talking to each other. I scrambled my mind to quickly think of an explanation as to why Nato was here at the same time Artemisa happened to be.

"Well, there were powerful monsters here, probably," I reminded. "Ones that no one had ever seen before. Commander Jonas probably just wanted the strongest team he could think of to handle it. Nato, Finn, and probably a few other Guardians, too."

"So, she's fine?" asked Artemisa.

"She was when I spoke to her," I promised. "And she told me that she's in a bioengineering lab. Whatever that means. We'll know more once we get to the Home Base."

"Is that where the Guardians have relocated?" Artemisa questioned.

"Yes," I answered. "Everyone will probably be going back there, now. Coming?"

"I suppose," Artemisa answered. "But Nato can't meet me, or see me."

"Okay," I sighed. "But what will happen if she does?"

The Huntress of Ember didn't have an answer for me. She wanted to help stop whatever Thulgrium was doing, but if Nato was involved in this, then it would only be a matter of time before she figured everything out. By now, though, even I didn't know whether that would be a good thing or not.