Chapter 79: The Guardian’s Promise
Vedas landed inside the village first.
Arthur landed beside him.
Mithra landed with Kusa already drawn, the golden runes active at contact. Sun had Long in both hands.
Athena raised Aegis while Athy flew above the settlement’s perimeter. Melo’s tails spread outward. Kong’s fists met with a sound that communicated intention.
The Goblins in the settlement were looking at Vedas.
The older hunters had stopped moving. One had let his spear come down to rest against the ground, his hands no longer needing to hold it up because the calculation that had required him to hold it had changed. Another had his hand pressed against his chest.
"A Commander," one of them said.
Another, very quietly: "The stories..."
Children who had been pressed against walls and against each other looked at the adults they trusted and found the adults were doing something they did not recognize.
One small girl turned to the elderly Goblin beside her.
"Why is everyone crying?" she said.
The elderly Goblin did not take his eyes from Vedas.
"Because," he said, "hope came back."
The Thunder Wolves did not pause for the significance of the moment.
Arthur and Vedas moved as one.
The nearest Thunder Wolf burst through the broken gate with claws aimed at Arthur’s throat. Arthur stepped left. The movement looked small, but it changed everything. The wolf instinctively adjusted its attack, exposing its side for the briefest instant, and Vedas was already there.
His spear shot into the opening before the wolf realized it had made a mistake. The tip punched through its chest, and a burst of mana threw the beast backward across the dirt. It didn’t get back up.
A second wolf leaped over its fallen companion. Arthur met it head-on, driving his shoulder into the wolf’s ribs and knocking it off balance before it could land cleanly. Vedas’s spear swept across its neck in one smooth motion, and the beast collapsed.
Arthur grinned. "Nice."
Vedas pulled his spear free. "Again."
More Thunder Wolves poured through the shattered entrance.
Melo’s eyes suddenly glowed, and the center of the village filled with Goblins. Dozens of them, then dozens more. The illusion was so convincing that the charging wolves slowed, confused by the sudden increase in defenders, and that hesitation was all Mithra needed.
She rushed forward like a streak of green. Kusa flashed once, golden runes igniting along its blade, and the sword cut through the nearest wolf, releasing a pulse that disrupted the Thunder mana flowing through its body. The beast dropped before it even hit the ground.
Another wolf lunged toward her. Melo’s tail whipped across its face, blinding it for an instant, and Mithra stepped past the attack and cut it down with a single clean slash.
"Hah! Got you!" Melo cheered, puffing out her chest.
On the other side of the village, a Thunder Wolf cleared the damaged wall and charged toward a group of frightened Goblin children. Athena was already moving. She planted Aegis in front of her.
BANG!
The wolf crashed into the shield, its momentum stopping instantly. Before it could recover, Athena’s spear slipped through the gap beneath its jaw, and the beast went limp.
Above them, Athy folded her wings and dove from the sky. Golden claws raked across another wolf’s eyes, and blinded, the beast stumbled sideways. Waiting Goblin hunters found their courage. Three spears struck together, and the wolf fell.
Sun had already positioned himself where the village wall was weakest. Long spun through the narrow opening with practiced precision, striking every wolf that tried forcing its way through. Behind him, Kong charged after every opening Sun created.
One wolf staggered, and Kong’s fists crashed into it like boulders. Another tried climbing over the rubble, and Kong grabbed it by the neck and slammed it into the ground hard enough to crack the stone beneath it.
The monkey pounded his chest proudly.
Sun sighed. "Show-off."
A Thunder Wolf suddenly slipped past Arthur and Vedas, sprinting straight toward the center of the village. Before Arthur could chase it, something tugged on the back of his shirt. He glanced down. A tiny Goblin child clung to him with both hands, its entire body trembling.
Arthur smiled without taking his eyes off the approaching wolf. "Don’t worry." He pointed toward Vedas. "We’re good at this."
The child nodded so quickly it almost looked painful.
The wolf lunged. Arthur stepped aside, his elbow slamming into the side of its head and knocking it directly toward Vedas. The spear pierced through its chest before it touched the ground.
Arthur laughed. "Actually..." He pointed at his partner. "Vedas is the reliable one."
"I mostly help."
Across the village, Sun nearly stumbled. "WHY ARE YOU SAYING THAT IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT?!" His voice echoed through the entire settlement.
Mithra burst into laughter while finishing another wolf with a clean slash. Even several Goblins looked at Arthur in confusion.
Arthur only shrugged. "What?"
Then everything became quiet.
A deep growl echoed from above. Every head turned. The Alpha Thunder Wolf stood atop the tallest rooftop, dwarfing the rest of the pack, its silver-blue fur crackling with lightning as golden eyes overlooked the battlefield.
Then it roared. The sound rolled through the village like thunder. The Goblin hunters froze, their courage vanishing in an instant.
"We’re finished..." one whispered.
The Alpha crouched, its muscles tensing. Then it launched itself into the air. Its target wasn’t Arthur or Vedas. It was the children.
"No!" several Goblins cried.
Then the village began to glow. Golden light spread through the ancient stone beneath their feet, flowing through the streets, climbing the walls, and racing across weathered carvings that had almost disappeared beneath centuries of wear. The old symbols lit one after another. The watchtower glowed. The houses glowed. Every stone laid by the ancient Goblins awakened.
Arthur’s King’s Mark burned. Warmth spread through his chest before golden light poured from his hand. The entire village watched.
The air itself changed. Golden particles drifted upward from every direction and gathered in the center of the settlement. Not randomly. As though something was calling them home.
More and more gathered until they formed the outline of a person. The light became armor. A spear. A shield. An ancient Goblin warrior stood where the light had gathered.
He looked like Vedas. Not in appearance. But in presence. It felt as though Arthur was looking at Vedas after decades of growth.
The figure slowly opened his eyes.
Silence consumed the battlefield. Every remaining Thunder Wolf froze, their bodies trembling. One after another, they lowered themselves toward the ground. Not willingly. Instinct forced them to submit.
Even the Alpha growled uneasily, its legs shaking. For the first time since the battle began, it hesitated.
The Guardian took one step forward. The entire pack retreated.
The Alpha roared and completed its leap. It never reached its target as the Guardian appeared beneath it. As though he’d protected this village so many times that his body already knew where danger would come from.
One swing.
The spear struck with overwhelming force, and the Alpha vanished from the air. Its body shot across the battlefield and smashed through the village gate before crashing outside the wall.
Before it even landed, the Guardian’s golden spear left his hand. It crossed the distance in a flash of light, and the spear struck the Alpha cleanly through the chest, pinning it to the ground.
Silence followed.
The remaining Thunder Wolves stared for a second, and then they turned. One after another, the entire pack fled into the forest.
No one chased them. No one had to.
The battle was over.
....
The settlement was quiet.
Then the Goblins began to kneel.
The first hunter.
Then the one beside him.
Then the adults near the gate.
Then the elderly Goblin who had answered the girl’s question.
"Guardian Spirit," one of them said, with the quality of someone saying a name they have said in prayer for a long time and are now saying in the presence of the thing they were praying toward.
"You came."
"We thought you were gone."
Children who had not understood why the adults were crying before began crying themselves, for different reasons, the specific crying of things that have been very frightened for a long time and have suddenly been given permission to stop being frightened.
The Guardian looked at the settlement around him.
The worn walls. The faces. The hunters who had been trying to hold something together with insufficient tools.
"I’m sorry," he said. "I took longer than I should have."
"You still came."
The Guardian closed his eyes for a second. "...Thank you."
Silence.
"But everything is alright now." He looked at the adults. "Go. Check on the children. Check on everyone."
The Goblins moved.
Parents who had been separated found each other. Hunters helped the wounded. The elderly Goblin sat down next to the small girl who had asked why everyone was crying, and the girl climbed into his lap, and neither of them said anything.
...
Arthur was watching. "He’s really cool," he said.
Melo nodded rapidly. "Kyu!"
Arthur smiled. "See? She agrees."
Mithra smiled. "He is," she said. "You want to fight him, don’t you?"
Arthur blinked. "No... Maybe later."
Mithra laughed. "I knew it."
Arthur looked back at the Guardian. "I mostly want to ask him questions."
Mithra nodded. "He’s been alive for centuries."
"Yeah, so he must know so many things." His eyes shone in delight.
Mithra smiled. "That sounds more like you."
Sun was quiet for a moment. "Regardless, that entrance was pretty amazing."
Athena stared at the Guardian for several long seconds.
"A Guardian Spirit." She slowly looked down at the notebook in her hands. "Nobody is going to believe this."
"I wouldn’t either. Is that even possible?" Sun asked in shock.
She looked at the ancient Goblin one more time. "There have been sightings of spirits; heck, we even follow one. But to have one that not only protects the village and lasts for many years? It has never happened."
"Well, it seems we just discovered another shocking thing," Sun muttered.
"You have no idea."
Melo was staring at the Guardian with all three eyes open and was very still. Kong had stopped doing everything else. Athy had landed on Athena’s shoulder and was not moving.
Vedas had not moved since the Guardian appeared.
He stood, and he watched, and his expression was the expression of someone encountering something they had not known they were looking for until they found it.
The Goblins gradually spread through the settlement, and eventually the space around the Guardian was the Elder, several hunters, and Arthur’s team.
The Guardian turned.
His eyes moved through the group and settled on Vedas. "A Goblin Commander," he said.
Vedas straightened instinctively, and his grip around his spear tightened.
He didn’t understand why, but standing before the Guardian...
Felt strangely familiar.
Like something deep inside him...
Already knew this moment.
The Guardian’s expression shifted. "So," he said. "The next inheritor has arrived."
Arthur looked at Vedas. Then at the Guardian.
"Inheritor?" Arthur said.
"I have been waiting," the Guardian said, and his eyes had not left Vedas since the moment they settled. "Since before this settlement was built. Since before these children’s grandparents were born." A pause. "It takes time. Proper things take time. But you are here."
Nobody spoke.
Arthur looked at Vedas’s face and then at the King’s Mark on his own hand and then at Vedas’s face again. "Looks like we came to the right place," he said.
The Guardian turned toward the settlement’s center.
"Come," he said. "There is much you must receive."
The village began glowing again, and this time it was not a pulse but a sustained light moving through the ground in a specific direction. Stone that had been floor shifted, and a pathway appeared from beneath the settlement leading downward.
Arthur’s mark went from warm to bright. "There’s more underground?" he said.
Sun looked at him. "Of course there is," he said.
The Guardian was already walking toward the hidden passage.
Sun pointed after him. "We’re really following him?"
Arthur looked confused. "Of course. I still need him to help Vedas evolve again."
Sun froze. "...Alright then."
"Beside." Mithra shrugged. "When has Arthur ever said no to something interesting?"
Athena said without moving her head up from the notebook. "Never."
Sun nodded. "Yeah... That checks out."
Vedas followed quickly, and Arthur immediately smiled and hurried after him. The others quickly followed.
The Guardian stopped halfway down the ancient stairs.
Without turning around, he spoke. "The first inheritance begins now."
Arthur smiles. "We’ve made it this far. I’m sure we’ll figure it out."
The Guardian paused before smiling as he walked into the darkness. The ancient passage slowly sealed behind them.
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