My entire being screams in pain. Not just the body, but even my mind feels as if something is tearing it into pieces.
There won’t be a next time.
Echoing inside my head, these words, spoken in a voice as loud as thunder, are the only thing that makes sense. My inner space is in complete shambles after the damage I’ve sustained during my last fight. In all honesty, I think it’s a miracle I’m still alive at all.
Recollecting my thoughts back, I finally recognize this ominous voice.
Exarian.
The Godsword has given me a warning, or so I assume. Does him being here mean we won? I can’t focus enough to actually remember.
All I can do now is open my eyes and see for myself.
As soon as I open them, I see the familiar roof of the mountain heart. Slowly getting up, the realisation there is no pain occurs. Did my regeneration already heal all the broken bones?
‘Sunamar! You’re awake,’ a pleasant voice catches my attention. Turning around, I end up staring at none other than the elven ranger that has been travelling with me for the past couple days.
‘Hello, Aleiana. How long was I unconscious for?’
She looks at me with unease: ‘It’s… you, right?’
‘Who else would I be? Do you know anyone else that looks like this?’
‘That’s not what I meant… The thing that you turned into while fighting…’
I can see her hand is shaking slightly, no matter how hard she tries to hold it together. Her heart is pounding like crazy, so much that I can hear every beat like a church bell.
She’s scared. Very scared.
Reaching out my hand, I try to regain her trust: ‘Yes, he’s dormant once again. I’m sorry for frightening you like that, it was a last resort option.’
She gives me a worried look and after a moment pulls something out of her pocket:
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
‘I suppose it’s safe to hand this over to you, then?’
A Shard of Eternity! And a significantly larger one than the two I’ve found previously. Seeing it from this close, I can tell it contains a lot more mana than my pool does even when fully rested.
This thing could destroy an entire country if handled well.
Carefully taking the relic from her, I immediately lock it inside the small box I have designated specifically for the shards collected.
‘Seems like our job here is done, then. Thank you for helping me find it, Aleiana.’
With a smile on her face, she helps me get back up.
I faint but the ever-present breeze of fresh air flows towards us from the outside. If we follow it, we should find our way out.
‘Now, let’s return back to the guild,’ I declare as we slowly begin ascending the lengthy cave back.
Our way back to the guild was filled with constant conversations about various things; from our diets, through some of the Mortal realm’s history all the way to the nature of magic. It sure was a much more pleasant journey compared to the first one.
The guild has paid us wages that would feed an entire family for their lifetimes. I only took a small portion of the immense wealth, enough to sustain my future travels for a short while, and left the rest for Aleiana so she wouldn’t have to worry about money again.
Much to my surprise, everyone in the guild revered Aleiana as ‘The Slayer’ out of respect for surviving a dragon-slaying quest. All things considered, her survival was a very unlikely scenario to begin with, so she sure deserves the praise.
Her initial desire was to continue travelling with me, but seeing how it almost ended up this time around, I have turned her offer of companionship down. It’s way easier travelling alone, especially considering the huge bag of gold now in her possession.
Not to mention my adventures might get even more dangerous from now on, to the point where I won’t be able to guarantee my own safety, let alone hers. I really don’t want her to die just because of my incompetence.
Thus, with a promise of meeting once again sooner rather than later, we have parted ways as good friends and comrades.
Now to find the remaining shards, somewhere in this almost boundless world.
-to be continued-
CLOSING WORDS
Dear reader,
thank you very much for making it all the way here. I hope you’ve had fun following the first chapter of Sunamar’s journey through the Nine Worlds.
It was a great experience finally bringing my stories to an english-speaking audience, too, after so many years of writing exclusively in Czech due to a language barrier. There might still be some severe violations of the grammar, but please bear with me as I’m improving :D
As soon as my short break ends, I will begin writing a sequel to this short entreé to the Guardians universe while slowly chipping at the main saga of ‘The Guardians of Diabolus’.
I have also begun working on an additional one-time fanfiction crossover series, so if you're interested, follow and I will announce more soon about 'The Mad War'.
For now, stay safe and take care! :)
~Sunamar