chapter 6

Elowen's senses heightened immediately. Something has entered the portal room, and they have tripped the silent alarm. Her connection to Nature gives her some things she needs to know about the being, but not enough.

She peeped lightly to see who dared breach the portal room, and it was a single being dressed in a robe like a cleric. A mere glance at her long ebony hair tells Elowen that it's a female, but who? She couldn't perceive her aura, nor could she tell the level of her strength. The intruder did well to conceal it.

Elowen waited and waited, allowing the intruder to think no one was watching. And when they were ten paces away from reaching her location, she dashed out of her hiding spot, a place where no one could think. It was amongst one of the statues.

Being a mage with Nature power, she moved with the wind, blending in the air with her blade slashing at the intruder unaware.

Elowen's blade went through the image, which dissolved quickly like a bubble in the air, and her reflex kicked in at the same time. She ducked swiftly, followed by the slicing sound of a blade that would have cut her in two if she had moved a second late.

"Illusion," she mumbled, closing her eyes and listening to every sound around her. She heard everything clearly, and she could decipher all the sounds around her, about a hundred of them, not excluding the moving of ants on the wall and the swinging of spiders.

She felt the change in the air behind her, and she ducked, slashing at the intruder, but the opponent parried and then blended with the winds again.

"Hide and seek," Elowen chuckled, switching to her third eye.

Now, she could see the figure standing ten feet away from her. However, she couldn't make out her facial expression because her eyes were covered with the veil of alien illusions.

"You've got nerves and tricks, girl," she said, drawing two guns from her pocket dimension. "But I've got more."

Yet, the figure didn't look bothered, nor did she say a word. She continued to walk towards her.

"In case you don't know, I can kill you with these guns," Elowen warned, "I'd advise you to stay back."

"In case you don't know, so can I with a flicker of my shoulder." She finally replied, her voice straight, and the warning in her voice was clear, like a robot.

"Well then," Elowen cocked the gun and then duplicated herself into two. "You leave me no choice."

With a shared glance, the two Elowen fired at once. To their astonishment, however, the beams seemed to hit some kind of invisible shield surrounding the intruder, which filtered the energy, allowing some to penetrate while keeping the rest out. Those that penetrated got absorbed by the intruder immediately.

"I guess it's my turn." The intruder said, and bolts of electricity shot out of both hands, striking the two, but they were equally unharmed.

"Magically resistant body armor," the real Elowen explained, "which means you can't do anything to us."

The two beings drew swords again and rushed down the corridor, but with a flick of her shoulder-length hair, the intruder caused the weapons to fly from their grasp. Undaunted, they switched to the knives they had strapped to their wrists and closed the gap, but all they struck was a shadow again.

They scarcely had time to recover from that shock before a large linen cupboard flew across the corridor to slam into the real Elowen.

Pinned painfully against the wall, Elowen cried out, but her breath was knocked from her lungs as one of the statues flew out, catching her full in the face and pinning her against the wall on the opposite side.

The intruder faces the clown, easily dodging her attack and then sending her away by just touching her forehead. The blade from the illusion levitated before it could reach the ground; the same goes for the two swords, and they face Elowen in a threatening stance.

"I believe you have learned," the intruder said, a dirty smile forming on her cheek.

"Not really," Elowen replied, not ready to give up. Still pining, she stared deeply at the intruder and chanted, "You don't want to hurt me! You don't want to hurt me. You will lower your guard and allow me into your head."

Her eyes glowed dimly, and the intruder's eyes dilated for a second. She had finished releasing Elowen before she came back to her senses.

"Damn!" The intruder cursed under her breath, removing the alien illusion covering her face to reveal a beautiful girl in her early twenties with a straight birthmark on her cheek. "Your telepathy has grown extremely strong. Unless you meet a worthy opponent like me, no lesser being can break free."

Elowen smiled, jumping on the intruder and pecking her cheek, "Thank you, Aeloria Moreover, you've grown strong, too. Your shadow movement has increased drastically. You're at the peak of becoming a divine guardian."

Aeloria grumbled, "I don't want to be one." Elowen disengaged from the hug, grabbing her friend's hand and leading her outside the portal room.

The portal room was located between space and time, a void placed in Aethoria where whatever magic they harness won't ripple across the fiber of the universe or alert anyone about divine beings with divine power.

The air shifted as Aeloria hid the portal room from view with just the flicker of a thought in her mind, and then she stepped into a swirling vortex she summoned from the back of her mind while Elowen followed.

The fact that she has divine power floating in her blood and a mage with nature power as her best friend made everything easy for her.

"Are you done reading the book of Vishanti?" Elowen asked, frowning.

Aeloria hissed, "I don't want to talk about it." It's a dismissive tone, which Elowen doesn't like. She was assigned as Aeloria's guardian, meaning that part of her job is to make sure she studies every magic in the book of Vishanti and also trains her on the right path.

"You know father won't take that lightly with you." She tried to scare her.

"If you are trying to scare me with father's name, it won't work this time," Aeloria looked unbothered. "Moreover, I'm powerful enough. Take a look around you; have we ever been attacked before? All we do is maintain the balance of the kingdom to make sure people don't know about us. I have more than enough power and strength for that."

She walked out of the swirling vortex without turning to look at Elowen while the latter shook her head at her ignorance. She wishes to tell her friend about her birth, about the threat ahead of her, about the fact that Aethoria isn't the only kingdom that exists like the leaders had made them believe, but she couldn't. At least, not yet.

Sighing deeply, she walks out of the vortex to the welcoming face of Aetheria Sky. The world of Aethoria was well-named, for the sky, both day and night, was dominated by a perpetual vortex of swirling energy. The shape and pattern were continually shifting, and its intensity seemed to wax and wane according to some vast cosmic cycle, but even at its lowest ebb, it was far from what anyone could describe as 'calm.'

Of course, in this era, only a few beings in this world considered this unusual or strange. After all, their leaders make sure they lack knowledge of other worlds out there with which to compare theirs. To the people of Aethoria, the higher being makes it look like this was simply the nature of reality. But deep down, it's something greater: magic.

Aethoria is a kingdom known for its deep connection to the aether, where the leaders harness the ethereal energy to shape the world around them.

"Hey, wait!" Elowen yelled, running after Aeloria, who was jogging into the woods. The evening breeze was blowing gently, touching her face and making her hair fly backward.

She giggled but didn't stop to spare Elowen a glance. In truth, Aeloria loved exploring nature rather than studying or training.

The two of them continued to explore the forest, a few people parting ways for them as they went. Some bowed slightly to show respect for Aeloria since she was the daughter of one of the Elders while some threw her a playful warning tone.

Aeloria kept running and then picked up pace until she reached the fountain of Elyon. It's one of the sources of water that flows throughout the kingdom. This is where she came to enjoy her evening after a hectic day of training.

She stopped a foot away, turning to give Elowen her attention. As she did this, she felt something changing in the air. A threatening aura.

Elowen looked at her, obviously feeling it too.

Her connection to nature exposed the source of the threatening aura, "A demon's portal."

The moment those words left her lips, the air thickened with a low hum as the ground trembled beneath them, rippling like the surface of a disturbed lake. Dark clouds gathered overhead, swirling in unnatural patterns, casting an eerie shadow across the fountain. Slowly, a jagged crack appeared in the earth, glowing with a faint crimson light. The air around it warped, distorting reality itself as the portal widened.

From the depths of the crack, a heavy, sulfurous scent wafted through the air, and the ground around the portal began to smolder. The portal itself seemed to breathe, pulsating with dark energy, as tendrils of smoke and shadow coiled outward.

From within, a deep growl reverberated the unmistakable sound of something ancient, angry, and malevolent stirring.

From the depths of the swirling portal, a monstrous form began to emerge, its presence bending the air around it.

The ground cracked and scorched beneath its weight as the creature stepped forward, a towering silhouette cloaked in smoldering shadows. Its skin was like charred stone, black and cracked, glowing with veins of molten red that pulsed like the heartbeat of hell itself.

Massive, twisted horns spiraled from its skull, sharp and jagged like the peaks of an infernal mountain, while burning coal-like eyes flickered with unholy fire. Its wings unfurled, vast and leathery, stretching wide enough to cast a shadow that blotted out daylight from the two girls, each membrane tipped with spiked talons.

As the demon merged fully, its gaze went straight at the two girls, "How long has it been, guardians?"

The demon's laugh rumbled like distant thunder, deep and resonant, and then rested his gaze on Aeloria.

"Where are your friends?" It asked with a deep, guttural, unnatural tone and twirling its neck. "Melanie," it said, "Where are your friends? Call them out. It has been a long time since we danced."

Elowen's feet trembled slightly in fear as she recognized the demon in front of them, "Bahdar!"