"Ugh!" The woman slammed her hand onto the table, sending every single item off the desk at once. "Why can't anyone of them just catch her and bring her to me?! Why can't anyone do something as simple as that?! She is being trailed by so many and none of you can get a hand at her?!" Her voice echoed across the room with a very dizzying loudness.
"Calm down leader... As I have known her... She isn't that easy to get to as you say it is." The navy blue hat rested atop her white roots and blue ends of her hair. The very same that the Guardian of Silence had held before Death dissapeared from the terrible fall that started the end of an era. "I had been with her in the past life... And I have seen that she is good at hiding. Both emotionally and physically from threats."
"She did eighteen thousand and a hundred years ago! Of course she has changed as a person! I erased her memory before I let her go!" The woman clad in the same red and black gown with the thousands of crystals trailing it from the ends. "I shouldn't have just let her go like that!" Her hands slammed onto her forehead as she sat down at the table. "Someone give me a better idea to get her back! I am running out of my sanity!"
"..." The navy blue hat on top of her head toppled as she tilted her head to the side, then finally taking it off and holding it against her chest. "If you know very well sire... The person is still waiting for a punishment. You know that... He had also planned on attacking her." Her head bowed to a low angle as she looked down.
"Francesca... I think you should be the one to attend to this matter for now." The lady stood up while leaning against her table with her head held at a low angle. "I know you just came from a long quest and haven't gotten yourself some rest... But the person we are hunting... She is also hunting us back." Her soft steps moved towards her bookshelf and picking out a single book, 'Dying in a Battlefield'.
"You know her more then I do, because she had more memory of you then she did of me. And you too know, how best to lure her back to me." Flipping to the last page, the words left her mouth as she looked towards the person standing in the centre of the room. "From now on... That one-third of the division of the Torture Cell that is currently working to capture her... I entrust their duties to you." Her stern, jeweled gaze was captivating, it was a symbol that showed her close ties to that one girl she is currently after.
"Understood sire." The white-blue haired girl bowed while walking away. Her steps retreated out of the room as she glanced back one last time at the devastated leader. She has been working so hard lately, trying to find a way to get her back under the leader's control. But only one part out of the several many others did she managed to fulfil... And that was how she had been brought back to our world... Nikoan.
Her thoughts were brought to life with the way the hallway was silent as her gaze stayed focused at the leader. The same leader who was now forcing away visitors and avoiding any bad news about that one girl from reaching her ears. People don't see this side of her much, the fragile and broken side of losing something so precious and valuable, that she waited an entire eighteen thousand and a hundred years for her to just get a step closer.
The first time she had learned about her failure was when Albert had come back, twice, and each time he was killed by that girl. The second time... Was the maniac who says he didn't even know she was the person he had to capture and send to them. It was all just a blur by now, despite it being only hours since she had heard about this.
And when the maniac had described her... "She was mental! A psycho! She killed many of my beasts and I was left powerless to deal with her! I sincerely didn't know anything else besides that she was merely a ghost who had entered!" That was enough to determine the fact that she had changed a little too much over the years and getting her back was going to be impossible... With the Guardian of Silence continuously intervening.
Francesca lifted her steps from outside the door as she headed towards the courtroom. With the thoughts deep inside her mind, the memories and her conversations with the Guardian of Death. I don't know... Where you have gone really. But I don't think you knew I am also under the command of your leader. And honestly... I still don't know much about you until now, while I also know I don't have that luxury to try knowing about you anymore.
Her head tilted back, facing the ceiling as she watched the passing chandeliers and the dark redish-black hue it had coated. I don't know if it is true... But my abandoned nation has started to grow again with the help of a new ruler. Whoever that is, must be as powerful as one of the Guardians we had been with. Because how else will that person be able to restore the lands and bring in people who live there? Only a Guardian's power can unlease the land's original state again.
***
The Guardian of Death... She was a very close friend of mine. Good at hiding her emotions and daily life from the rest of us. From the time I had taken office as the Guardian of Peace, I didn't think I would easily be able to work with anyone else, just anyone from my division. There were two groups, both of them rivalling each other. In total, where were about fifty Guardians, governing their own nations and empires.
Of course, no one was allowed to take control over the other Guardian's land without their permission... Or worse... Awar. It is a little complicated to explain... But we had our values up until politics in land had erupted. Now there are Emperors, Kings and all those ranking between human beings too, which resulted in the execution of my father, and then the title came down to me, and first mission itself was to restore peace among the people.
As a rookie, I found it a little... Odd... To be trying to resolve the problems among humans whereas our own divisions were facing many different verdicts against each other. And it was also around that time that one of us decided we had enough and suggested that both divisions be handed over to a higher power who could handle out problems. With that, rose the three Aethelgard Heirs.
Put to the throne were the Guardian of Justice, the Guardian of the Everlasting Health and the unseen last Guardian who almost no one seemed to know, because they never revealed their identity and never allowed for that to happen. And the suspicious thing here was, including that Guardian, it would mean there were a total of fifty-one of us.
Although this matter was out to rest much sooner or later, I still find it a curious thing because during my problems, they won't hesitate to take my side. I asked many others in my division about this situation, and they just replied that I was lucky or that I was just being defended for being a total rookie. My trust over my own division broke there, and I was walking around with many thoughts one day when a Guardian from the opposing division had accidentally bumped into me.
My side had bumped onto her shoulder as her heavy bunch of papers, held in one hand as she read through another document while walking. The pile of papers flew into the sky as she fell to the ground and got covered in the flying obstacles. "Oh my god! I am so sorry!" I rushed over to help, as she got buried into that pile.
A hand shot up from inside as she took away the single piece of paper from her face and looked up with a smile. The Guardian of Death... From the Eclipse division, one supporting the darker side of humanity, and her title definitely suggested it. By the look of her face, she seemed young, although it as said her age was all the way back to the beginning of the era of Guardians. Despite the crueling expression and tone of voice I had expected from her, she seemed cheerful and joyous to meeting me.
"Oh don't apologize. I entirely blame my list of paperwork for this." She stood up as her dark, shiny shoes stepped onto the papers with a disgusted face pointed towards the ground. "They really have to learn doing their own work the next time. I mean... I am not expecting your division to force all of your works over to you or someone else... Am I right?"
The question... It felt friendly to me.
"You do all your colleague's work for them?" I asked her while scanning her from head to toe as she held up her deep redish black top hat. At one glance, it looked like she was trying to mirror my look. "Oh yes... Because they are a bunch of lazy freaks. That is one disadvantage when you work at the Eclipse division..." Her arms crossed over her chest as her face turned into a bored expression.
"Anyway... Are you hurt? I don't mean to leave you unattended if you are bleeding from a papercut somewhere? You are seemingly wearing a dress with three-quarter sleeves." She asked with a soft face as I glanced down at her formal appearance. A coat with a pinafore and a one shoulder cape, all in red and black. Her face was pale, with dark maroon eyes that almost looked black, and the tips of her hair red with the remaining starting from the roots a deep, void-like black, even with the sun shining brightly against it.
"Hello? Did you zone out or something?" Her fingers moved up and down as she got curious, but she didn't place a finger on me or anything despite the next question being, "You reek of fresh blood... I suggest you check your hand... Although you seem to be in outer space by now." Instead, she stepped back and away from her pile of papers and stood there standing.
"I should help you gather these." I immediately spoke as I crouched down to pick them up one by one. "Hold on... You don't have to do it." She spoke while staying stood and pulled out a knife from thin air. I was honestly scared... That she was with an intention to kill me, but surprisingly, the next moment left me speechless for the rest of my day.
Her blade had struck her own palm as a thick line of red coated it, and spilled a huge amount of blood to the ground, where it recollected and turned into invisible strings that pulled the papers together and brought them back into the pile she was carrying in her left hand, and that single page she was reading, returned to her right hand.
That was when I realized... That even when she was called the weakest Guardian among the fifty... She wasn't weak enough to not fight. If I were to force myself into a battle with her, the only thing I could do was motivate myself and motivate my teammates, and walk through any obstacles or the most I could do was write absurd contracts which were vowed to fail upon the first try. That is also when I decided, I would ask her for advices. "How do you do that?"
Her lively gaze turned curious as she laughed, not mocking, not teasing, like a genuine friend. "Trust me when I say you will learn about your extreme power someday... And you won't need any advice I give you." With that, she walked away. I didn't know her name or didn't give her mine, we didn't introduce ourselves, but it felt like if there were an alliance that could be formed between my division and hers, she would be the one to bridge the gap... Not me.
After she left, I stood my ground for a long time, thinking about the words she had said. Does she... Think I am powerful... Just because she is the said weakest? The thought stopped my mind, in every aspects as an urge inside me formed to know more about her, despite my restricted communication with the Eclipse division.
"I saw you speaking with a member of the opposing division... Do you have a plan for peace just yet?" The Guardian of Silence spoke from behind me, the said strongest out of our division, although not an Aethalgard Heir. "Or are you simply trying to worsen the matters and leave the humans suffering between conflicts and false verdicts?" She asked with a stern expression.
I immediately turned around and bowed my head to her presence and spoke out the truth, because why would I lie about something like that? "No, I had accidentally bumped into her... Please don't be upset of my dissapointing act." A fear struck my tone before I could react at all.
"Then I am assuming... If it is just anyone's fault... It would be her fault to began with. That insolent child-like Guardian, doesn't even do her work properly despite being from that division. I prefer you stay away from her... I will teach her a gruesome lesson for messing with one of my division members." Before I could stop her, she walked away hurriedly, leaving liquid, holographic footprints behind her.
It was stuck inside my head like a magnet the whole way there, as I watched the joyous faces of some of the Guardians on my way back to my office. Some tried to stop me, while others followed me... For unknown reasons.
Unfortunately, I was never allowed to know what had happened, and the very next day, I heard of rumors that a war was about to break between our division and the eclipse division.