The Guardians' Legacy

Garta went down the stairs and walked through some corridors following the secretary of the Ministry of Communications, she was taken to the office of the highest representative there. Empty, besides the two of them, the room had a large table in the center and several file cabinets that were crammed with papers around it.

The man closed the only door they had entered through and, without much courtesy, picked up a brown envelope from the surface of his desk, always having with him the mug of hot drink he was carrying.

“I need you to take this to the Defense Propaganda Officer.” The envelope was handed to Garta with little ceremony. The man continued, “You three brought the message, but you forgot to mention how long it should last. Didn’t the officer talk to you about it?”

— Excuse me, sir... — Garta had no idea what the man was talking about. She accepted the envelope and tried to hide it when she realized that the secretary had mistaken her for someone else. — The person in charge didn't discuss the details — she said deceitfully.

— I understand. — the man replied, sitting down on the surface of his desk in a casual manner while enjoying a good sip of his hot drink. — Well, I'll keep tomorrow's message for three hours, it should be enough for you to disperse any rebels in the North region.

Garta held back all the questions that flashed through her head like lightning. She hid her surprised expression with a fake cough.

— A dark creature right in the middle of a region of the Capital, the empire must be really desperate to end these rebels — added the man in a good-humored tone, smiling casually.

— Dark creature? — She couldn't hold herself back this time. It was too much, the words escaped her mouth and a doubtful expression appeared on the man's face.

— What's the surprise? The idea came from the Ministry of Defense itself, didn't it?

— The...

The knock on the door interrupted her stumbled response. Garta was saved by whoever had been knocking on the door. She still didn't know how to respond, but she was grateful for the extra time she would gain from the unexpected intervention from outside the room.

— You can come in — the boss allowed.

— Sorry to interrupt, sir. We were waiting for you in the lobby, but... — said the uniformed woman entering the room, a true police officer of the Capital. She didn't change her polite tone, but she was surprised to see Garta. — Oh. Sorry, I didn't know you had another visitor.

— Wait... — The secretary placed his mug on the table and stood up with confused looks. — You are...

— Julia Triala, sir. Support officer. To the work of the person in charge of propaganda at the Ministry of Defense.

The man's face became even more confused.

— If you are the officer in charge, then who... — Before he could finish his inquiry towards Garta, the guardian had already charged at the real officer.

“Taking down the strongest opponent first if possible is always the best option.” She thought instinctively and sprang into action.

The sole of Garta's right boot slid across the granite floor like a compass tracing a perfect circle on a sheet of paper, until it found the legs of the police officer who was completely unprepared for physical combat in that environment. After all, she would never expect a "coworker" to attack her for no apparent reason.

The woman's legs were dragged violently to the side until she lost any balance and chance of standing.

The guard's right foot returned to the ground and then used her left foot to kick the fallen officer's right ear with force. The poor girl couldn't even breathe in the meantime, she was thrown by the impact and only stopped against the wall at the front of the room, collapsing, cleaning the floor with her own unconscious body.

The frightened man saw the scene in bewilderment, took two steps back until he came face to face with his desk behind him. Without any further reaction, he just shouted in despair:

— Help!!! So... — Before his second call for help, the ministerial secretary was already interrupted.

Garta placed the palm of her hand over the man's mouth, preventing any sound from propagating. The woman pushed the frightened man's head towards the surface of the table so that the back of his neck touched the various papers on his desk.

The secretary's eyes widened, the woman's strength was astonishing, and he, without any precedent in fighting or even physical training, was completely surrendered on the table in a despicable manner.

— Tell me what you guys are planning for the North tomorrow!!! — Garta wasted no time. He kept a violent grip on the man's chin as he roared his doubts.

— I... I... — he hesitated.

— I swear I'll kill you! Say it now!

— A dark creature... The Ministry of Defense... He will summon a dark creature in the North region — he replied cowardly.

— Summon? — Garta asked himself without understanding, he continued without ceasing. — What the hell does that mean!?

— He's going to summon a creature there... I already told you!

— What? How is he going to do that!?

— With one of the special soldiers.

— Specials? I've never heard of that... — Garta thought out loud before continuing with the interrogation. — Who is this soldier!?

— I don't know... I don't know...

The warden had no luxury of time. She grabbed the secretary's mug of hot beverage by the handle and lifted it. With one sharp downward motion, she shattered the porcelain on the table, sending hot beverage from the container splattering across the room. The shard of the handle that remained between her fingers broke off, revealing something like a makeshift blade. The woman immediately brought the object to the terrified man's jugular.

— Is this enough!? I'll kill you right here! — Garta didn't measure her threatening tone.

— Okay, okay!!! — The screams amidst a cowardly cry prevailed. Those screams and noises would certainly draw attention, there wasn't much time left. — I only know him as Indigo, I've only seen him once, he has a blue tattoo on his neck and he's tall... and thin... and... and... that's all I know, I swear. — He cried like a child.

Garta thought quickly about it, but couldn't miss the opportunity to ask more questions, so he asked one more.

— You said “invoke”, what does that mean?

— I don't know! — the secretary replied with his face wet with his own tears.

Garta pressed the piece of porcelain against the man's neck so as to open a small, harmless cut, but enough to cause fear in the victim.

— I swear! Oh! I don't know! I think he knows how to attract a dark creature, he must train the creatures, or something... I swear, that's all I know!

— Train?... — The guardian thought out loud once more, unable to imagine such madness.

The door to the room opened abruptly. Quickly, Garta pulled the secretary's trembling body towards him, without removing the improvised blade from near his neck and turned to face the entrance.

She protected herself behind the body of the person being questioned, making sure to keep him in view of the two police officers who had just entered through the door.

The two men in uniform pointed their Sathsai rifles as they saw the scene they had not expected.

—Stay away, or I'll finish him off! — Garta exclaimed in a threatening and nervous tone. As soon as he finished his words, a siren with a notable warning tone echoed through the corridors of the building.

— You have no way out! Put that down! — shouted one of the police officers, pointing at the improvised blade in the guardian's hands.

The secretary continued to cry as the woman threatened to expose his carotid artery.

— Secretary, I have one more question for you, sir. — she said decisively. — Are you happy living under all these lies?

— What? — The secretary's tearful tone was embarrassing.

— Are you happy?! Or not?!

— I don't know! — The nervous response amidst the whining was on par with the screams. — I don't know!

As soon as the secretary finished his uncomposed response, Garta abruptly pushed him forward. The two police officers were not expecting that and intervened, trying to help the man from leaning over on the ground.

Blast! A flash of bluish light accompanied by the characteristic noise filled the room, catching the attention of the two police officers who had their eyes on the secretary.

Immediately, they both pointed their muskets at the back of the room again, but the woman was no longer there.

Garta's whereabouts, after using her displacement ability, was a place she already knew. An environment warmed by a single beautiful fireplace that always brought her security.

The sun was shining through the large windows, filling a good part of the library of the beautiful Ultima fortress. There was only one person sitting in one of the armchairs in front of the comfortable, dim fire while reading a book. His attention was caught.

- Sister?

— Hikki? It's good to see you. — she replied when she was greeted by the boy who closed the book he was busy with.

— What happened? Is everything okay? — He stood up and walked over to the guardian in the center of the room.

— Yes. I just came by to see how you were doing. — she lied, hiding her face.

— I'm fine. What kind of question is that? — the boy wondered for less than a second. — I have news about the emissary you captured during the Defense entrance exams.

— Did he say anything? How did you get it?

— I found my way. Hehehe. — Hikki smiled slyly and then returned to his revelation: — He said that his ability is to increase the brain activity of a target. This makes the person receive more stimuli and can process more things at once. He usually uses the ability to benefit the victim, but it can also be used as a type of weapon. Apparently, increasing the stimuli in the target's brain too much causes them to become confused and even catatonic for some time. I honestly found it to be a pretty useless ability.

— Okay, whatever. Anything else?

— I found out his name is Hauer and that he is very interested in board games and...

— Hikki, you can skip to the things that really matter — criticized the guardian, hurrying him.

— Right. He got the ability by selling his firstborn son to a god. Which was pretty smart of him, since he said he never intended to have children. Not that I think that's cool, but to him it seems...

— Hikki!

— Okay, I get it. Only important things. — he replied, rolling his eyes. — Well, besides that, Hauer received this little mission to take the Guardian of Tera to an unknown person.

— Did he say anything about this person?

— Actually, yes. This person is part of the imperial family. Yes, you were right, the empire really is involved in this. — the boy confirmed as he looked at his sister's slightly surprised face. — He also said that the god who granted him his ability had mentioned a traitorous guardian who intended to take power from the empire's hands and use it as a bargaining chip to be elevated to the position of new God.

— A traitor? — Garta thought aloud with one of his eyebrows raised. — What did you say the name of this god was, again?

— Ah, yes. god Rem, the divine of the world of Anima.

— R-Rem? — Garta's eyes widened. — Are you sure about that?

— Yes, I am sure...

— This is not good — whispered the guardian, walking thoughtfully without direction. — I need to go back!

— What? Why?

— It's nothing... Don't worry. — she replied, preparing for another move.

The palm of his hand shone on the fabric of the Capital police uniform as he prepared himself, an intense flash of light illuminating the entire room and bothering the boy's eyes without warning.

— Sister, what are you hiding? — Hikki whispered, lonely and worried.