User blog:The Zero of Faram/Guardians' Peril: Chapter 8

I grabbed the dish out of the left side of the sink and put it under the hot water of the faucet. I rinsed it until I got as much as I could out of it and grabbed the cleaning solution from the cabinet below the sink and squeezed the solution on the sponge. I made it sink into the sponge before scrubbing the dish down. After I did so, I put it out under the water to rinse the solution. I grabbed one of the four clean plates and set it on the table. I grabbed the three other plates and set them down. I pointed to each one of them while I said the name of the others.

"Alyut, Ramna, Rina, Ophelia. And....." I said to myself while drying the last dish and setting it on the table.

"Lunaris. That's everybody. Everybody that's here anyway."

"You didn't have to wake up this early to fix dishes of all things." I heard Alyut say from the stairs. I yawned and walked back to the sink.

"Lots of things you don't have to do but help you. I have nothing to do but only cook and wash silverware and plates."

"You do both well. You worked in the famous food place in Lanara. Before that you were unemployed and finished high school with no job ideas until you had people come over and eat. They said you should start studying in food and cooking and you then got accepted by the famous cook in Lanara."

"Culinary Arts, Alyut. It's called Culinary Arts. And I was the only person bothered to actually go to college and finish it unlike you which could easily do a career in politics and Rina could pursue writing. You've read that packet she constantly updates with literature and ideas about gods and other lands. The others I have no idea. Raydn dropped out of his first year of college in Agni."I said while reaching into a cupboard above the sink.

"Ophelia could join the military and Ramna and Farlon could become a musical duo. Maybe if him and Raydn would make up, Raydn could play saxophone. Ramna would dance, Farlon would play piano or another instrument."

"Speaking of which, they haven't came back yet. Neither has Mia."

"The reaper lost Mia in the mountains back in St. Lamia." He said to me. I dropped the box of cereal on the counter.

"He did what?" I asked him looking at him.

"He lost Mia in the mountains. Something to do with a God or people with dark energy or something. He said it was a shadow he sensed. And reapers hunt shadows."

"How do you know all of this?" I asked him as I took a dirty bowl and out it under the faucet water.

"I listened in on the conversation with him and Rina. Apparently Rina doesn't like being lectured by you and up she like Sodis over me. She like Grybe but it won't mix anymore."

"She has to be told everything. Speaking of which. Did you brush your teeth?"

"What? Not yet...."

"Did you take a shower?"

"The showers do work but still no."

"Did you put on deodorant?"

"All of ours burned with the storehouse in St. Lamia."

"Did you check your...."

"No! I didn't. Stop please." He said.

"Why do you never listen to me and do what you have to do?"

"You aren't my mother. You aren't Rina or Luly's either. You aren't any of our mothers. Ours died prematurely when the invasion broke out."

"You're still not at least thinking about becoming a traitor? They've done bad. Really bad. They've..."

"Lunaris, the sink." He told me. I looked to the sink and saw that it was almost overflowing. I stopped the water and picked up the towel on the rack near me and cleaned the water that went to the floor.

"I think you work too much. You should take a break for a while."

"I can't. It's just that I have to so much to keep this team going and when their resting back in wherever they settle. I have to be the mother and you're acting like the father. It's like a family I have to help keep together. You only tell them what to do as their leader while I have to clean and cook." I said frantically cleaning the water from the floor.

"I am your leader and I order you to stop what you are doing and calm down. You are shaking when you aren't doing anything productive. Getting drunk as hell doesn't help when you are serving us food like a servant while you're drunk."

"No!" I yelled to him. He paused while I went back to cleaning the floor.

"Lunaris, I order you as leader of the Guardians to calm down and do something else. Take a stroll or read a book. We can't be there helping ourselves while you insist on spoon-feeding us like a desperate mother." He told me. I stopped cleaning and wrung out the towel in the sink.

"Fine, but only if I do something productive while doing so."

"Then go south to find the three that went out yesterday. I'm doing this to help you. Not act like I think you shouldn't help us. You help out but when you are dusting your dresser while you are asleep is too far."

"Alright but I need to finish this."

"Actually, take the day off so you can actually live through a day off because when those two free days happened you only cleaned and cooked. Not even reading a book while doing so. We are adults here and stress can kill. I can see you shaking right now."

"But I need to help more.... I can only help everybody like this."

"We need the help we get but we don't need you to become our damn maid. We don't need a maid even."

"Fine. I'll relax and find them. If Ramna burns the rice, you have the right to punish her. Hard."

"Don't have to tell me what to do as leader." He said to me. I put the towel back on the rack and went for the back door from the room.

"Aren't you going to change? You are wearing skimpy pajamas."

"I can form armor. I'll be fine. Now do you want me to leave or not?"

"It's not that we want you to leave rather than get out for a little."

"Alright..... Later I guess."

"Come back relaxed, please." He said before I left the room. I nodded back to him and left off.

The plains were as barren as ever. Nothing as far as the eye could see. No monsters even. Rare even for the barren Elios Plains. The plains were on an elevated surface with cliffs on the ends of the plains with even more cliffs below. They stopped at just about the underground layer covered barely with dirt. I continued through it with my dark lance in my hands and a dark wisp at my side. Like I usually had whenever I rarely went out. I walked more along a path people before the invasion made and I was really bored. I looked to the wisp.

"Any live signatures, wisp?"

"I have a name you know." The wisp said blandly.

"Fine. Any live signatures..... Um...." I said looking for his name.

"Ryrom! It's Ryrom!"

I sighed. "Any signatures Ryrom?"

"Thank you." Ryrom said before flying up into the air and coming back down. "Not yet, sadly."

"Where could they've gone?" I said starting to walk forward.

"Farther than this probably."

"The airship they went to find is north of here not south. Maybe they didn't know and went continuously forward until the far south end of Amdahl."

"But that means whey would've turned around by now to go back to the inn. Unless they died or something. The reaper would have a field day."

"Let's keep going. We may find them if we keep up."

"Agreed Ryrom." I said to him as I focused my sights back to the path. We walked a little longer until we heard a bird's call. I drew my spear.

"It's just a bird Lunaris."

"They're harpies Ryrom. They've followed us from the Saji Mines. We need to be careful."

"They are just harpies Lunaris. They aren't too strong."

"Remember the first time back in St. Mistral? We almost died from Slimes of all things! Slimes! The weakest things ever!"

"If you are that scared, put some armor on. And are you really okay with wearing stuff that skimpy? Do you alway like to show skin like that?"

"I've grown used to it. I prefer it actually. But I'll get the armor on. Be prepared and don't take enemies lightly."

"You sound like Alyut right now." Ryrom said. I twirled my dark lance and threw it up into the air. I caught it in midair and landed with armor over the pajamas I had on. I landed and prepared my lance. Then a swarm of harpies appeared from the direction the Saji Mines were. Ten, twenty, thirty! They appeared more and more.

"Now this is seeming to be a problem. There so many of them!"

"We can take them on. If you help me."

"I don't want to disappear though."

"You won't." I told him with stabbing an incoming harpy with my spear and pushing it off with my foot. "You know how to help me. Do it!" I told him.

"Do I have to be a footstool?"

"You are my getaway. Getaway and footstool are different. Stop questioning and go!" I commanded him. More Harpies came flying towards me. I pushed my spear forward, going through more harpies. I jumped back.

"Cruel Invitation!" I yelled out. I flipped backwards and creating an explosion of darkness. Many harpies fell and disintegrated but there were about five left. I landed on Ryrom and he bolted out of there with me on top. The harpies flew full speed towards us, charging electricity in their wings and seeming to be in some sort of bloodlust. I stomped on Ryrom to signal him to go faster while I prepared to block with my spear. The harpies shot orb of electricity at us. I drove my spear through the first four before grabbing and holding the last one. I crushed the orb and swung the spear to shoot out the orbs back at them, knocking out all but one of them. I threw my spear at the last one and killed it. The spear flew back into my hand and I rubbed my foot on Ryrom, signaling him to stop in his spectral tracks. He stopped and I jumped off to land on ground different from the plains. It felt more like it had amounts of gravel and more rocks in it. I looked around before consulting Ryrom for a search. He flew up before immediately coming back down.

"I've found a signature."

"Is it live though?"

"Dead signature but it's Farlon's body."

"Where is it?"

"Back in the plains. On the main path with dried blood everywhere."

"How did we miss it?"

"Maybe it's something to with us flying through the the plains as fast is a could go while you we killing things with unnecessary amounts of style."

"Alyut put me out here so I could relax and enjoy time off. I had to at least have some fun." I said to Ryrom. He started talking again but my eyes caught sight of people near the ghost ship. I told him to stop talking but he didn't stop and I decided on whether to go for the person. I started running to the ghost ship with Ryrom still talking his nonexistent mouth run on. Ryrom did stop talking eventually but that was when I was far ahead at the Ghost Ship. I saw a male in blue working at a makeshift wooden table with glass containers near the ship and closer to the Julep Village, which I remember Grybe grew up in. Two other people sat down and another one I haven't seen before pacing back and forth with Daniel siting down next to the male in red and also next to the blue girl. The new one had black hair and purple clothes, mostly consisting of a robe and boots. He also held a staff with an Orange Crystal on it with it placed on his belt. Ryrom flew next to me and floated beside me.

"What made you stop listening to me?"

"Shut up, I see Daniel and other people." I said pointing to them.

"Those are his units except for maybe the one in purple. I don't know about him."

"Units? Units, Ryrom?"

"He's a summoner, remember?"

"Ah, so he summoned all of them in the course of a few days?" I said skeptically. I heard Ryrom sigh and fly forward.

"Just go." He commanded me. I slapped the wisp so hard he didn't bother to speak for the rest of time we were out. I motioned him to follow me and he didn't even think of not doing it. We slid down the cliff toward the Ghost Ship. I jumped from the wall and landed near the village. I walked up to Daniel and his units. The new unit drew his staff and charged dark energy. He didn't know me and Daniel didn't tell him yet.

"Shida, stop. She's one of the Guardians of The Gods. I'm with her." Daniel said to him. Shida put away his staff and backed off behind Daniel with the others.

"Daniel!" I said going up to him. I was about to hug him but he pushed me away.

"What do you want?" He said annoyedly.

"What do you want? That isn't the way to speak now is it? What's wrong?" I said baffled about his tone.

"Nothing. Except for this mission being a complete bust. The reaper already went to the Inn and revived Ophelia."

"How did you know? If we'd known, we would have left you guys alone until next mission. If this didn't happen, I wouldn't have even bothered coming here."

"If only. Farlon and Raydn almost killed each other because of a stupid argument. "

"Happens too often. We all expected them to kill each other soon enough."

"I broke them up before they killed each other. Farlon killed himself for some reason and Raydn ran off. I don't know where he went."

"Knowing he probably went north to the inn. Or even past it."

"Stupid Raydn. He knew this would happen. He ran away like a little girl. And stupid Farlon. He killed himself even though he knew Raydn would help him. I saw Raydn shaking Farlon's body after he drove his blade through him. They are stupid people."

"What's gotten into you Daniel? Raydn used to be like your Brother or Guardian. Why are you now saying that?"

"Because of them I can't look at you guys the same anymore. They were deplorable in the way they acted."

"They were idiots Daniel. Don't let them represent what we are. We could care less for them if it weren't for army size. Ramna can move on. She was a cheater before Farlon."

"I don't care anymore. I just care about one thing. Guess what it is. Prove to me you are brighter than the idiots."

"It's Mia isn't it? She left with the reaper and got lost in St. Lamia."

"It was the reaper who lost her in the mountains?" He asked me.

"Yes... It was..." I said a bit shakily. He gritted his teeth together and ice formed spiked gauntlets and armor on him.

"I'll kill him! I won't stop until I see my fist through his heart!" He screamed to the world. He promptly ran away, scaling the mountain quickly and ice spikes trailing behind him. Shida looked off to the cliff where Daniel went. I walked up to Shida.

"Don't worry, Shida." I told him. He backed away to the other units.

"Sorry miss. I haven't been told whether or not to touch you."

"Don't worry. Daniel won't be back though for a while." The red unit stood up and walked to me.

"What do we do now Lunaris? He's not going to stop until he kills him." He said. Shida backed away and the water girl stepped up beside him.

"It's the second time we've seen him that angry." She said. The water male put down the glass containers he held and turned around.

"The last time he went mad because of the two people who destroyed the marketplace where he found Mia and the house he lived in along with his parents. He didn't get his way that time and he had to be revived by the reaper. The one who he's going after now."

"So much for a thank you. Now what?" Shida asked me. I thought about it before deciding on going back to Farlon's Body and taking it. I told the units the plan and we embarked up the cliff. We ran to the body and saw it completely void of blood. I picked him up. I looked to the others who were sluggishly following behind me. The blue male was dragging the wooden table while the others were in front of him. They stopped in front of me and as we were about to start moving we saw something flying towards the village. It looked to be made of obsidian which hopefully meant one thing. I dropped the body and the blue male dropped the table. We ran to the village hoping for Mia.

Hey you. Yes you. I can see you skimming past this part. Don't. Please don't. Thank you.

So this is what happens when you attempt to do a chapter in a week and procrastinate. It fails hard. Remember how it came of as me whining when I thought chapter 5 was bad because it was short? That wasn't to guilt trip people, I swear. But if anything this is the low point of Guardians' Peril. I apologize heavily. If I said sorry for how much I was sorry, I would be Canadian. Sorry if that offended some of you Canadians. And do not take this as what this series of writing is. I've done better. The previous chapter I swear is my high point. Other chapters are better than this. The collab was better than this.(I think highly of it) .Even chapter two which I don't think compared to anything was better than this. If you bothered to read this outro or even this chapter, remember that I've done better. I swear I could've said that in two sentences. The reason why this was rushed is because of the new school year that starts tomorrow for me. I rushed it. Happened before but it's at its worst now. I don't think I should say if you enjoyed it. If you did, props to you but I didn't. ~ZeroGx