Chapter 17 - The Return

The dew drops slowly as the kids play around the pool of Mebuyan. It was misty like all the days before but Hel felt something is different in the underworld ever since Mebuyan left. Come strolling Masiken walking slowly with his hands on his head. Hel tends to the children and waited for Masiken to get nearer to the pond. Hel tries her best to hide her smile, she master her powers over the dead souls can now command the dead to her whims.

Masiken shrugs off the thought he had and proceeded to walk toward Hel. He was swarmed with the children asking him to carry them to lull them to sleep. He humors the children and conjures ghostly hands to carry the kids and sway them to sleep. Hel sees this and smile "I see that you are getting better as treating the kids, I guess you are now ready to become a father?"

Masiken pauses and blushes. "That is nothing Hel. I did that just to make sure the kids are put to sleep."

Hel asked Masiken to sit down and watch her perform her magic. Masiken followed her and sat down. Hel then excited claps her hand. She focuses her energy then separated her palm from each other. A dark and green colors flow from her hands then she carefully stretch her hands toward the nearest soil. "Arise!" she yells for her magic to follow her command; she stretches her hands and out flows the magic towards the ground she is pointing to. Specters of warriors and men arise from ground. They brandish their weapons and yells for Hel to take them to battle. "Pretty impressive huh?" Hel asks as she summons more of them but the rowdy warriors started to shout and cry for battle and glory scaring the kids by the pool.

The kids started to cry and this got Masiken and Hel worried. Hel stops casting her magic and the specters disappears in an instant. The two of them hurried and tend to the children. "Ugh, I was already manage to make them sleep and now they are yelling for Mebuyan" Hel tells Masiken as the both of them hurried to make the kids calm again.

Once the kids settled down and the two of them decided to take a rest. Hel asked Masiken how good was her magic; since Mebuyan left she was training nonstop to develop to be ready when Mebuyan returns. Masiken is happy and impressed, he comments that more practice is needed and then she can to rule her rightful place. Hel's smile was wide. She was happy that atleast someone can appreciate her strength but she also feels sad. Once she completes her training here, she must leave and uphold the bargain that his father and grandfather made – for her and her family.

"Masiken, once I become the queen of the dead on my realm, would you visit me there from time to time?" Hel asked. She wants the answer from him. She knows that he will visit her there but there is nothing sweeter than coming from his lips. "For sure Hel, I will visit you there." Masiken turns his head and moves closer to Hel. He placed his hands closer to hers. She looks Masiken at his eyes; she felt that his voice, his eyes and his smile gives her the impression that he is not lying.

Hel moves her pinky finger to Masiken hands. Masiken returns the favor by leaning closer her to her. Hel felt this is the right moment. She looks into Masiken eyes deeper than before, she holds her hands. Masiken closed in, his lips ready to meet Hel's. She closes her eyes and just wants to feel the moment. He does the same and closes his eyes. He grabs Hel's hand and doesn't want to let go.

"Boo!" a figure appears behind them. Hel and Masiken were so into the mood that they didn't notice this person and the both of them something sinister reeks from this person. Hel and Masiken leap out of their place. Masiken unleashed his staff and Hel summoned her horde of specters.

"WOAH! Chill out guys! I am sorry for disturbing your love affair." The man puts his hands up. He is wearing a kimono and a lot of sake is tied on his waist. "Who are you? " Hel yells at the man. The specters began to rally and are now raging for a fight. Masiken also demands the man to identify himself and how did her reach them here. The man began to laugh and demanded that they lower their magic and weapon. Hel and Masiken don't buy it as they see the shadows from this man seeping out from him.

Hel made the specters charge at him and Masiken run towards the man. The man was caught off guard by the number of specters that charged at him. At first what he saw was 20 specters but when they started to charge, more and more of them appeared and now it is a size of 50. The man's shadow reacted for him and a huge arm came from it. The specters catch the arm and the started slicing the shadow arm. Masiken maneuvers himself as the man's shadow began to expand towards him and began to form multiple arms and try to grab him. Masiken places himself behind the man and grab a potion from his waist; he throws it on the man and the potion's content began to envelop the man in a stick blue blob. The blob began to expand and cover his whole body and stiffen and in turn the man can't move.

"Oi! I said chill out man!" the man then began to expand his shadow. More and more arms began to appear around him. The shadow hands reached for the blob and tried to rip it off but to no avail; the blob began to expand and cover the shadow arms. The large shadow arm was destroyed and the specters charged in. The started to cut every shadow arms they see and they aim to silence the caster.

As the specters almost reached the man, a huge shock wave of swept and melts the blob into nothingness, the shadows retreated back to the man and specters vanish right before their eyes. Mebuyan recently emerged from her pool and saw the fight; she hurled a powerful magic that negates anyone's magic and made the three stop fighting. She approached the three and looked at Hel and Masiken "You two, leave at once. I will handle our guest from this point on." The two looked surprised. "My lady, you have returned!" Hel and Masiken bowed. Mebuyan asked to stand up and leave. The two wanted to argue but they knew better not to question Mebuyan's decision. The two stand up and left.

Mebuyan looked at the man and about to scorn him. "Oh come on! I was drunk! I was having fun with them." the man then reverts back to his form and there stand the devil. But he still wears the kimono and the sakes around his waist. Mebuyan asked the man an audience back at the pool. There waits an angel playing with the kids by the pool.

Mebuyan and the devil sat by the pool and didn't speak a word. "So. . . Yama was furious that his oni left their position and joined Orochimaru's crusade." Mebuyan said as she uses her powers to make the pool's reflective side show images of Orochimaru's battle with the guardians.

"I really thought that they will not win this one. I was shocked that the royal family of that island is there too. I thought they were killed but apparently, Izanami took a long vacation to visit each of their respective domains to check they are doing fine." The angel adds as she stretches her wings. Angel feathers began to scatter around the pool and the children began to flock towards it and play with it.

"Yeah, but then Izanagi also grew tired of his work. He decided to gather the other members of the family and they all sneak out to take a vacation. They met up in the underworld and found Izanami there too. Good thing that Yama was kind to us." The devil grabs another sake bottle and chug it all down.

"He left the care of the royal castle to his two descendants, Hoderi and Hoori. Good move but Orochimaru easily defeated the two of them. Since the castle is empty from any of the powerful rulers, Orochimaru bragged and decided to grab all their weapons to show that he killed the divine family." Mebuyan replies to the two. She grabs the gifts from her pocket. Incense, lot of rice pudding and sake are what Yama and the royal family gave them as a sign of their friendship.

"Yeah, Yama did try his best to maintain the peace in the underworld. More and more oni was leaving then before we left; Orochimaru's soul was drop to his realm. Looks like he is getting busy for following days." the devil giggles. He imagines the way this huge angry underworld ruler will do to Orochimaru's poor soul.

"And did you see the shock on the royal families faces? We left just in time when they saw Yama dragging the soul of Orochimaru right before their eyes. I wonder what they will do to that guy..." the angel spoke soft as she is worrying for the punishment for Orochimaru.

The water changed its image and there it shows Daija. "My children talking to me thru this pond and when we are at Yama's domain they told me that they saw that Masiken was talking to Hel about a vision he saw about a man holding the Chronicle and giving it to another person. This happened the same time when the Chronicler saw the body part of Bathala." Mebuyan adds as she stops casting her magic.

"You think it's the old man?" the devil asked.

"Watch your tongue! You will respect Bathala." the angel soft voice sharpens as her eyes shifted to the devil. The devil smiles back as his shadows began to spread around him. Mebuyan look at two and demanded the two to stop. "Iophiel and Iblis. I do not allow such things here and remember we need to carve the path for the Chronicler."

The angel and devil stop their fighting and apologized at each other. Then the devil stood up and his pockets began to shake. He grabs one of his contracts and look at it. "Oh no, another guardian died? I must go now my friends and I need to collect my due." Before the devil leaves the angel asked where this happened and the devil replied at the Vale.

Mebuyan summons her book and looked it up. "Yes, a guardian and he is also part aswang. He was killed in his sleep by other aswangs of his tribe. He tried to stop them from rallying towards the Vale but their chieftain decided to silence him as he considers a compassionate aswang, a traitor." She closes her book and the devil began to walk away to get the soul of the guardian. The angel spreads her wings and decides to go too. Mebuyan nods and bade the angel farewell.

Mebuyan is now alone with her children. She thinks for a minute about the next step that the Chronicler will have to do now she saw one part of the truth about the Chronicle's origin. Will she chase after it or let fate string them together. Then she thinks of the time when Hel summoned a specter of ghost warriors to her side. She is ready and soon Odin's Valkyrie can leave her post and let Hel manage it. Lost in her thoughts, the decision to make her grow weighs on her mind.

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The men cheered as Atlas raised the last wall for the town. Kislap entertain the kids with his powers and sometimes cracks jokes to make the kids laugh and forget the troubles they have. The guardians are doing their best to help the civilian back on their feet. Kislap enters the scene and asked his brother to be excused for a while; his brother bade the kids and they went on their way.

"Kislap, the ship is almost ready. Tsunade don't want us stay on this island for our help. She wants us to continue on helping the Chronicler."

"Oh! Did the Chronicler did say where are we going next?"

"Well, its Leshin the one asked us to return to Antrian and go to go to a place that might hold answer to the vision we saw, Sacred Hall of Gathering."

"Ugh, that place where we used as a base against the Aswang Swarm?"

"Why do you detest that place?"

"It's not I hate it, I just hate remembering the death of our comrades." Kislap look at Kulog. They both remember the horrors of the Aswang Swarm. The Chronicler back then ask the guardians of the seven continents to gather and help them push back the Aswang Swarm who are hell bent on conquering Antrian. Back then the guardians are dropping left and right as the swarm began to destroy Antrian. The Chronicler formed new guardians too and soon they made an army of guardians and among them are Tala, Leshin, Kislap, Kulog, Gil and Juan.

"Yeah, I remember that and I remember Leshin was the youngest among us. Look at him now. He acts like an old man"

"Haha that's why I don't slow down sis!" Kislap boost for a bit before Kulog realized there are women wooing over Kislap as they gather around him. Kulog urges Kislap for them to move. Kislap winks at the ladies, he shares his power to his sister and then in a blink of an eye they are gone.

Juan and Tsunade had a long chat across the weeks in rebuilding the town. As the guardians were busy, he and Tsunade travel across the island in making sure that the yokai threat are dealt with. There are still remnants of them but none will pose a threat since no one can lead them. The leaders of different factions and regions of the island are surprised that the threat was no more. They thought that no one can stand against Orochimaru as they saw the burning of the royal castle; their hopes of fighting back are gone that night. Juan and Tsunade paid visit to made sure that they are clear from any threat. They also visit the royal castle. Thou it is still standing, half of the structure were burned and can still be reconstructed. Juan and Tsunade then returned to Tsuande's place where Juan grant Tsunade's one wish, a formal date with Juan but Juan treat her in a friendly way and not a romantic one.

Leshin and Juan also looked at the aftermath on the damage that Daija did to the castle. Leshin felt the responsibility on this one. He thought that he killed Daija but Daija manage survive their battle, get into the cell of the tengu, and ate him. And when he finished his way with the tengu, the used his strength to destroy his cell and escape and eventually flew to Orochimaru.

Daija manage to get kill some of the jailers but Kento manage to fight off Daija. Kento suffered wounds too but it was nothing that serious. Leshin apologize to Kento and his men but they understand and don't blame Leshin. Daija is a different kind of beast.

Tala, Kulog, Kislap, Atlas and Gil used their strength and magic to help to rebuild the regions affected by Orochimaru's war. While Amihan flew around the country to make sure no tengu can claim the sky. She patrol the skies abroad her ship and sometime see other ships flying towards the island. Merchant from the main land Antrian wanting to trade with the island.

And Jasmine is busy understanding the lore that she acquired from the fight. Talking to the bookmark about the visions and even the guardians talk to her about it. They figure out who those were in the vision but they are sure that one of them is the creator of the White Chronicle and the one is the first Chronicler. During the weeks they stayed here, Jasmine started to learn how to defend herself. Tala and Leshin tried to teach her magic a simple light spell to illuminate her path in darkness, but she can't even manage to create a spark. Juan and Kulog on the other hand taught her how to use a knife. She can't use a sword but she can at least use a knife to defend herself. And apparently, she is quite good at it.

As the weeks went by, no word about Daija was heard. But after the battle, the yokai started to worship Orochimaru as their savior and they started a cult. And effectively, they made a snake cult after him. Thou the cult is spread among the other yokai none of them are brave enough to attack them. Jasmine and the guardians are now dedicated to find the whereabouts of Daija as they don't want another disaster to happen.

Finally, Leshin let the guardians know what went down between him and Daija. Everything from Daija being a Dogon and the part of Bathala that Daija keeps talking about. And just like Leshin, Tala demands Daija to be killed, this is heresy to the highest order but when the think about it. None can deny what they saw, a mummified leg inside Orochimaru's body. Plus when Jasmine saw the leg, that's when the vision started. The guardians are left speechless and they won't accept that Bathala is dead. Leshin believes that the body part they saw might be a creation of Bathala of immeasurable power, thus called it that way. The guardians are in denial and still arguing that if Bathala died, then why the world is still standing.

"Because I am carrying it?" Atlas replied this to group and none of them get it. Only Jasmine got that and she replied "Oh, because your Atlas of the Greek pantheon" she giggles for a bit and Atlas is happy that at least one of them got it but Atlas is unsure what the word Greek is.

Later on the palace, Tsunade personally see the guardians off. She stands alongside Kento and their soldiers who also want to pay respect to the guardians that help them defend and rebuild. The guardians stand proud as they can breathe ease knowing that this island is now safe. Tsunade waves as she smiles towards every one. Kento yells and assures that this time he will protect the island in Juan's stead.

"Oh wait, Chronicler! I intend to change the name of this island in way of showing our gratitude to you and your guardians." Tsunade yells.

"I don't think that's necessary. This island already has a name." She yells back.

"Then tell me at least what's the name of this island from your world and I shall call it from this day forward in honoring your help."

"Japan. We call this island japan in my home world"

Tsunade smiles and yells the world Japan over and over again. The soldiers gave their heartfelt praises and cheers as the ship floats. The townspeople can be seen from the distance waving at them. This is the first time that Jasmine saw this many people gather just to thank them. As much as she wants to take pride from this, she is just happy that she helped this people. The ship takes off and it started its long sail back main land of Antrian and land to the Sacred Hall of Gathering.

During the days flying on the clouds, Jasmine and her ways of using a knife is getting better and better and her magic still won't work. "Ugh, this is difficult since we cannot make magic since you have a small magic inside you" Tala says this during her training. "Then why won't we make her a item that can make her use of what little magic she has?" Kislap says while they train. "Like a conduit to her magic." Kulog adds.

Atlas then then grabs a bunch white smooth stone from his satchel "I know just a thing." Atlas then proceeds to crush the stone between his palms and proceed to turn them into dust. "Tala please keep a fire on the stone as long as possible. Tala conjures flames and the white dust turned into glass. Atlas used his magic to ignore heat and molded the glass into a bottle. Atlas then asked Amihan to cool the glass with her the wind and she did. Atlas then asked Gil to pour water in the glass he made, but the water must be infused with magical illuminating properties. Gil then does what Atlas and filled the bottle. Atlas then walks toward Kislap and Kulog.

"Hey! I know this! This is what Zeus made for his lantern in palace! You don't need to tell us what to do next." Kislap says. He grabs the bottle and summons lighting. It hits the bottle and Kislap uses his magic to concentrate the lighting in it. Kulog grabs the bottle and used her thunder magic. The lighting inside the bottle stopped jittering and then it stayed into a ball of lighting in the middle of the bottle.

Juan and Leshin saw what they are doing. Leshin then used his powers to form vines around the bottle and formed a lid and a covering at the top so the water and its content will never spill. Juan then used his magic and spread it around the bottle. This way the bottle can communicate easily and directly thru Jasmine's thoughts as long as she cast concentrate her magic thru it.

Juan then gave the bottle to Jasmine. "Go ahead Chronicler. Try it." Tala asked Jasmine to concentrate the magic on her palm into the bottle and used it to summon the light from it. Jasmine gripped the bottle on her hand. She concentrates her hardness and focuses her magic into it but no light came out. The guardians are a bit disappointed but they are under why this happened.

"Sorry guys, I can't bring a single light from it" Jasmine's voice is filled with disappointment as she felt that the she wasted the time of the guardians but none of them took it personally. But rather they all took turns of teaching Jasmine the essence of magic and how to use it. Thou Leshin, Atlas, Juan and Kulog teach her more on knife usage.

Few more days goes by and the finally reach main land Antrian. Amihan instruct the men to quickly resupply on the nearby town of Vale as the Sacred Hall of Gathering is just a day away on foot and they can reach it within a few hour of flying. But as they get near the Vale, they say a large group of people gathering outside of Vale.

The ship lowers itself and docked on a dock inside Vale. The guardians went outside and finally stretch their legs on the ground. Last time that Jasmine was here, she was greeted with a parade of people wanting to see her but this time the people are all over. The soldiers are on the walls with their spear and bow at hand. Among the busy crowd, Jasmine sees the mayor, a nuno sa punso being carried by a guard.

"Nicanor! It's been a while!" Jasmine waves as she walks toward the mayor.

"The return of the Chronicler! Well this is perfect timing. The aswang tribe outside are demanding to release the individual who attacked their Sigbin some weeks ago. The aswang's magic revived their Sigbin pets told their masters that they were minding their own businesses when suddenly were attacked by a person with deer for a headdress and with a spear." Mayor Nicanor looks at Leshin. The rest of the guardians heard this. Jasmine remembers that on her first day on this world, Leshin killed 2 Sugbin on their way here at the Vale. The guardians then started an argument about this but the mayor raised his hand and continues.

"Yes I know that is Leshin is a guardian. We tried to explain that you are long gone but the aswang demanded justice by us sending them food for apology but we declined. This escalates across the weeks and now we are reaching a critical point" the mayor points to the gate. The aswang yell strong for every passing minute.

"There are aswang outside shouting for justice. And if they won't get it, they will attack us." The mayor adds.

"Yeah, an aswang food is not fruits or bread, its flesh of a sentient creature." Jasmine nods and she looks at Leshin.

Leshin overheard this and he sighs. "The Sigbin are by the grass yes but them far from the fields of the aswang. It's a neutral ground thus my actions is justified."

"And the aswang are now using their numbers to intimidate us." The mayor adds but he clarified to the guardians that he doesn't want another Aswang Swarm to happen. As much as possible, they should end this in a nice way.

The guardians then to each other on how to deal this problem; as this is happening, they noticed that the voice outside suddenly become silent. The guard outside then yells "Halt! Civilian you better get out as we are opening this gate. . . " the guardsman suddenly falls silent. He looks back at the other troops and they all have the looks of disbelief in their eyes.

"The aswang fall asleep! They are on the ground sleeping with their Sigbin!" The

The guardians rushes over the walls and they see all the aswang outside are on the ground snoring.

"Sorry! I have to defuse the situation. Can you let me in now?" Says a woman over at the gate. I am no aswang I can assure you". The guards see this woman dressed in a brown cloak with a matching hood. Then woman then tie the pouch tightly on her waist and looked up to the guardsman.

"Please? I made them sleep so I can just enter the town. I just need to be here. I was called by a friend"

The mayo heard the woman's pleased and decided to let her in but in one condition. She is to the guard her teeth for fangs and any sudden movement can lead to her early demise. She agrees and the guards let her in. The guards checked her mouth and saw no fangs on her.

The woman the removes her hood and there they saw this woman is not an elf but a human. She is with brown hair, freckles on her lower part of her eyes and across her nose and brown eyes. She got a very sharp nose and her have natural curls that sways with the wind. She walks towards the town center and thanks the mayor for letting her in. The mayor asked her how she did made those Aswang sleep and she replied by raising her pouch. "With this, I can spread it across the air and make people sleep." She proudly smiles and shows it to the mayor. There Jasmine got a closer look at her and when the woman raised her pouch she saw Alibata letters on it.

Jasmine walks around the woman to read the Alibata around the pouch then she read "To whom that makes the world sleep." The woman heard Jasmine utter the words of her pouch. Her eyes widen as she heard the words that only the Chronicle can read on her pouch. She looks at Jasmine with her widen eye and run towards her. She jump for joy and yelled "Oh my gosh, I finally got to meet you! I heard the summons from another guardian that the return of the Chronicler is here. Good thing I finally got here so I can assist on your quest!"

She confidently says as she puts back the pouch on her waist. The woman must not realize that Leshin sent that message weeks ago. "Oh my where are my manners. I apologize for my outburst." She smiles and put thumbs up "My name is Shamir. Nice to meet you!"