The Sassy Sentinel ❤️🔥
Aki scrambled backward, pushing himself onto his elbows. The cold air burned in his lungs, and the hard coughing was tearing at the last vestiges of his strength. The blood was a hot, terrifying reality on his chin. He was broken, exhausted, and the creature that had just tried to slit his throat was now melting out of the grove's deep shadows.
Aki's wide, white eyes, fueled by Lyra's dimming power, took in the attacker. She was small, no taller than a human child, yet her presence thrummed with the ancient, unyielding power of the land itself. She was a paradox.
Her eyes were two burning points of unearthly red, fixed on Aki with an intensity that promised death. Her hair was a liquid curtain of impossible, dark black, falling in thick, braided waterfalls that trailed along the mossy ground, stretching for many feet behind her. She was clearly not a normal human, and the sheer weight of time in her presence betrayed her small stature; this was no child, but a being of ageless, enduring strength.
Her clothing was the most unsettling detail. It was surprisingly godly but designed with a bewildering, defiant minimalism. It consisted of shimmering, interwoven vines of pale gold and thin, strategically draped silk that looked like solidified moonlight. The attire was wildly shameful to look at by modern standards, revealing vast swathes of skin, yet it pulsed with raw, elemental magic, clearly the ancient, non-human uniform of a powerful divine guardian.
She gripped the dagger, her red eyes narrowed in suspicion and cold fury.
"Well, look at what the void dragged in," she sneered, her voice a sharp, sassy alto that cut through the tension. She kicked a piece of black, solidified corruption that had fallen from Kael's clothes. "You bring the filth of the Architect's pit to my sanctuary. That's a major violation, handsome. And I don't give second chances."
Aki ignored the sharp, playful taunt in her voice, focusing on the immediate danger. "We mean no harm!" he gasped out, his throat raw. "We're escaping! He's a prisoner, and this child… he's the serene god! He's been shrunk and corrupted!"
The Guardian didn't budge. "Save your breath. I can smell Acheron's taint all over you," she countered, pointing the dagger toward the still-unconscious child god. "And I don't care if that lump is a god, a demon, or a particularly handsome turnip. You brought a war to my doorstep. And look at you—you're dripping dark blood and spitting up poison. You're tainted."
Her gaze shifted to Kael, who was starting to stir from the sudden cold and the massive pain. "And that one? He stinks of pure possession. Malice wrapped in mortal flesh. I'm afraid my job description is quite clear: neutralize the threat. Permanently."
Aki felt a surge of desperate anger and defiance. He had risked everything, torn his soul, to save these two, and he would not let them be executed by a sassy, territorial guardian.
"Then look closer!" Aki choked out, fighting to keep the golden light of the Incarnation from completely dying. He pointed a trembling hand at his still, blood-soaked wings. "Do you think a creature of the Architect would look like this? I tore my body apart to save him! The cost is clear!"
The Guardian's red eyes flickered over the massive, motionless wings, lingering for a moment on the blood-soaked rent in his back. A flicker of doubt crossed her inhumanly beautiful face, but it was quickly replaced by cold suspicion.
"Cost is relative," she snapped, her dagger hand steady. "And I don't care about your sad little hero moment. I care about my land. Until I know for sure, you are three walking, talking threats that need to be contained, permanently."
Before Aki could make another move, before his weak light could even muster a shield, the Guardian acted. She didn't use her dagger. She slammed the flat of her hand onto the ground. The earth responded instantly. Ancient, thick roots, glowing with the deep emerald light of pure elemental energy, erupted from the mossy ground. They snaked around Kael's unconscious body, holding him tightly. Then, faster than Aki could react, they ensnared him. The tough, supple roots wrapped around his bleeding torso and his inert wings, pinning him mercilessly to the earth.
He was trapped again, a powerless prisoner in a safe haven. The thrill of the escape was over, replaced by the terror of a new, unexpected captor.