Vanguard
He could still remember that mournful day like it was yesterday.
He could still feel the cool breeze and warm sunlight stroke him gently atop the highest peak of the watchtower. Today was his daughter’s eighteenth name-day, and yet she would never see this sun light. The moon of his life, his wife, had died giving birth to her, only to claim the child to her cradle among the heavens three days later.
This was yet another reminder of a truth he had learned over the centuries. As strong as one could be, one cannot save everyone, for that wish in itself is a contradiction. People are different and have different needs, to make some happy he would have to compromise on the happiness of others.
That was simply how the world was, and no amount of muscle could change that.
This is why he strived to make the greatest amount of people happy, the reason he had become the Watcher of the Citadel and Guardian Hero of his people.
Even if he couldn’t save everyone, he could still save someone. Twenty years ago, he had lost something very precious, something he could never replace, and for that he would weep. But every day he also gained something. Watching the city from above, he could see the children playing, the merchants haggling, the men courting, the women laughing and the elderly bickering…
The giant smiled. This was the peace he had strived to protect, so as long as he could preserve these smiles, he was satisfied. This little happiness was more than enough to keep the machine that was the Watcher running, and so he prayed to the heavens above that his wife and child were glad as well.
Suddenly, something peculiar caught his eye. Outside the city gates, there was a fair bit of hills and Greenland before reaching the Great Drop. Usually no one ventured outside the forest’s outskirts into the hills, so to see a child sleeping all alone so far away from the gates was certainly a strange sight. Curiosity had the best of him, and before he knew it he leapt.
With a single mighty kick, his leg crashed the wind around him, shattering the sound barrier and propelling him with a mighty thrust, this was the fun part. Flying across the citadel was such a liberating feeling, to soar up in the heavens like the great birds of legend and fly.
It felt wonderful. Then he crashed right into a tree. “Birds of legend my butt.” He groaned.
The young girl blinked, awaken by the very abrupt and unexpected impact. She turned around and blinked sheepishly at the man who had somehow driven himself into a tower sized tree.
“Oi, what are you doing here, sleeping so late?” He asked, driving his towering body out of the tree like it was paper, or at least he would’ve liked to, but this tree was seriously strong! He struggled to drive himself out, no matter what he wouldn’t give up! How could a hero lose to a tree??? For a second he could’ve sworn her presence felt familiar.
“What are you doing here, in a tree?”
A small child rose from a throne centering an empty castle. Or at least, that is what this desolate tower used to be. Begone were the wondrous decoration and elaborate silks of the Einzbern residence, the taint of machinery had driven all beauty away from the castle. Now all that was left was the color gray, the impending drumming of beating metal and the grinding of gears.
It had only been a few months, but his spirit was already corroding beyond repair. He could have returned to his core and bid his time, that would have been the wisest decision, but he hadn’t. He wouldn’t have it, that wretched jail of cold sorcery that violated his very soul for eons. He would never be contained again.
Compared to that indignation, the demonic energy that scraped at his very being without pause was comfortable. Almost enjoyable.
The child-like mass of muck and filth burst for a second, but quickly reformed and gazed up with its face, nothing but a blue scar running across its head down into a spiral.
“It is time.”
With small steps, he helped himself up and dragged his putrid body out of the infernal palace.
The hero rested above the watchtower, a small girl resting against his back. That night’s veil was spectacularly beautiful. It’s like they were atop the entire world, perhaps they could even touch the stars. The hero smiled and held his hand up in the sky, as if to reach a shooting star.
He made a wish and glanced back to the sleeping girl, stroking her purple hair affectionately. Yes, tonight was a beautiful night.
“I promise, this time I’ll protect you.”
“Kuh…” He groaned, feeling the energies within him crawling and rippling as more eyes opened across the garbage heap that was his body.
He was almost there; these months would soon bear meaning. The blueprints had been precise, his demands explicit. Relius could have betrayed him any time, but he would not. Both knew why.
He sees me as nothing more than a lab rat, a specimen to be observed and inquired upon. He will not use me as a tool, I am too rare to be expendable. As long as he is not bored of this specimen, he will not go against me. Very well, let him have his research. It doesn’t matter to me, as long as I can fulfill my goal.
Weakly, the demon pushed with what little strength he could muster the door, in order to penetrate the puppeteer’s domain.
Confined within the walls of her basement, a girl was surrounded by a mountain of books. Dim candlelight was all that separated this isolated room from total darkness. The flickers of the flame were drowned by the cracking sounds of old pages being flipped, that and the very irritatingly loud sound of bubblegum being chewed.
“Shh! Quiet, Karlheim.” She whispered.
A dark black haired teen, seemingly young with noble features despite his lowborn status was stroking his single pink bang while blowing bubbles of gum. A single piece of glass dangled over his finger, twisting and shifting into all sorts of objects.
“The sages must have erased all traces of records about the surface.” She finally spoke again, almost in disbelief.
“And why would they do that?” He finally spoke up in bored nonchalance, completely uninterested. On that moment, dozens of eyes opened all over his body and he floated towards the girl surrounded by her castle of books. He toppled one of them and pieces of the pile toppled over.
“I… don’t know. But please, you must believe me! I’m sure I saw it; it was a dream but it felt so real!”
“Sure…”
For a moment, the girl sounded afraid. “You don’t believe me?”
The many eyed figure sighed and shook his head, dropping down before sitting next to her. He held his hand and looked at her with a bitter, pained expression.
“Look, I’ve been in this so called surface, and I’ve seen it with my own eyes. My own TWO eyes. Ever wondered what happened to them!?”
The half demon spat the last words sourly, and a long awkward silence filled the room. For what seemed like an eternity, only the flickering of the candle’s flame could be heard. Suddenly, she spoke.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to push painful memories to you. I just hoped you could understand… I know. It’s selfish of me, but I feel like this is something I must do. The gods have given me a sign; it is my duty to answer it.”
The poor fella seemed unsure of what to say, but eventually mustered the courage to speak. “…I just don’t want you to get hurt. I-”
Before he could finish (or rather begin) his confession, an earth shatteringly loud crash could be heard from above. It was on that very moment that the two knew that they were screwed. If he found out that they had cut class…
Quick as lightning, the two tried put all the books back were they belonged, but he was faster than lightning and before they could blink, the door behind them blew up.
“YO!” An all too familiar jovial shout roared from behind them, exposing them mid-ridiculous pose and foretelling certain doom.
“H-hey! You’re earlier than usual!” Karl managed to mutter, meanwhile the girl trembled in utter horror, the same type of shivering she’d have when he’d tell her really scary stories when she was a kid.
She hated that, but never did let him know since he seemed to enjoy it so much.
“Yep! Today is the day of the Sky Ceremony, there’s no way I could miss it! Don’t tell me you two were dozing off till’ now. Did I wake you up?” The massive man answered teasingly.
The two looked so pale they might faint any second, but Karl spoke up abruptly. He was dead, so very dead. “No! No! It’s fine! We were just, erm, preparing for the festival! Yes! I was just about to propose a new design for the heavenly dress! See?”
The hero chuckled and simply shrugged, giving his daughter a wide toothy grin.
“Riiiiiight! Well, you know, you DO make a pretty cute couple.” He said, and on that moment 1000 shippers died inside.
“No way!”
“No way!”
Without any further word, the two ran out like the wind and the hero laughed. A few books wouldn’t make a hero like him falter, so he began to put them at place one by one. She sure liked to read, but he didn’t mind. It was always so fun to hear her retell the stories she’d read during the day.
With a mighty blow, he removed the dust from a book’s cover and raised an eyebrow at the strange design before blushing. How scandalous! They’d need to have a talk about that…
Theodore had finally reached the laboratory where the two were to meet. His breath was ragged, full of weak gasps, but it was nothing but an artificial machination. After all, this body didn’t need to eat, sleep, drink or even breathe. In that regard it was more like a machine.
“Hey buddy, you sure kept me waiting. For a second I thought you wanted me a goner, wouldn’t bringing it to me in a nice Christmas package be more convenient?”
The demon circled the body like a vulture, gazing at it with blank disinterest.
“Well well well, what do we have here...”
