Odyssey of the Guardian Emperor

Roots, branches, leaves… countless, countless leaves…

Alaric had unleashed the power of his Inborn Ability and the forest shuddered in response to his oppressive control.

The green-eyed boy took a few moments to re-adjust his senses, mapping out not only the layout of the tree he’d just merged with… but all the trees in the forest that were within the range of his consciousness while he used this ability.

In this form, a lot doesn’t make sense if one thinks like a human. For one, he didn’t exactly have eyeballs anymore. Trees didn’t sense everything around them the same way humans did.

However, the power he’d tapped into was not a pure depiction of trees on steroids either. Instead, it was a power that drew on the near-omniscient presence of nature and gave it a consciousness.

As such, Alaric wasn’t fully a tree either. He could move, albeit not the same way a human would. He could feel and he could see…

His vision, however, was also fractured a million times, giving him different images from so many angles at the same time.

When he spoke, the forest spoke with him, as though he was everywhere at once.

When he willed the forest to tremble, it trembled and when he willed the branches and vines to move, they moved per his command.

This was the omniscient power of nature that he was using.

It took him back quite a bit… to the first time he’d ever used this ability.

……………….two years ago…………………

Alaric, along with his two partners in crime, came back from Forest Grove Hill, a hill among the Five Hills that was covered in woods from top to bottom, serving as the village’s one source of timber and fuel whenever demon sightings outside their magic barrier grew more frequent.

For Alaric and his two best friends, this hill was used for nothing other than training.

Under Alia’s supervision, the three would endure gruesome training drills and learn how to use the weapons they’d chosen to master.

Two years had passed since Jared’s death… and yet the training never seemed to get easier.

Alaric and Finn had bulked up a bit and beneath Darla’s stunning looks was a weathered warrior female with callouses and scars no girl would ever want to have.

Her raw determination as well as the endless support she got from her comrades kept her going.

That evening, the trio was returning from a long day of training, walking at a pace slower than usual.

“Today’s training was brutal,” Finn winced at the pain that sprung up through his leg with each step.

Alaric supported the sandy-haired boy’s battered body as they walked on.

Finn turned to Alaric with an envious look. The green-eyed boy had barely broken a sweat compared to him and Darla.

His clothes were drier, cleaner and he lacked the signs of exhaustion they had, “Must be fun for you, having an enhanced body and all.”

Alaric smiled wistfully. His mind was preoccupied at the time, churning.

“Yeah…” he said absentmindedly.

“You’re thinking about your Inborn Ability again,” Darla hit the nail on the head with her observation.

Alaric nodded, “It’s been two years and she still refuses to tell me. We’ll be fifteen in two more and I worry that I won’t be strong enough by then.”

“Well, if it helps, most aspirants aren’t even trained by the time they are fifteen,” Darla argued.

“Yeah… I know. I just have this bad feeling, y’know. Every day I spend without knowing my Ability, I get more restless… like I won’t be complete until I find out what it is,” Alaric complained.

“Have you really tried asking Alia?” Darla asked.

The dark-haired boy felt his breath quicken with irritation at the question.

He’d said this dozens of times already. Alaric had pestered his guardian on the matter so many times… and each time, Alia merely frowned and turned away from him, saying nothing.

Normally, the stalwart knight guardian would butt into his conversations with others, distracting him and making him react in ways that didn’t fit the context of his conversations… but when he spoke of his Inborn Ability, she went silent as a grave.

Alaric took in a deep breath and nodded. It wasn’t fair for him to get mad at his friends. If anything he wanted to snap at his guardian… and even then, he couldn’t find it in himself to snap at the only reason he was still alive.

Unbeknownst to Alaric, the world around him had gone cold, reacting to his emotions in the slightest way.

The air around him went cold as though the world itself was angry and wished destruction upon everything that walked and breathed.

It was this way that his friends found out when he was angry.

Darla let the matter drop immediately… She knew how much he wanted to discover what ability he gained from having Alia as his guardian.

The black knight was insanely powerful. So powerful in fact that she didn’t manifest except in the presence of an S-class concealment barrier.

And yet, two years had gone by with no progress.

Later that night, Alaric was resting on one of the branches of the large oak tree in the garden, Old Thomper, Sister Marla’s guardian.

Whenever he was in a bad mood, he came here to relax himself.

Today, he felt especially agitated… partly because he had let his emotions run amok.

‘Don’t let your emotions get the best of you.’

‘Think with a levelled head.’

‘Your battle clarity is your best weapon.’

Alaric had heard similar phrases so much from his guardian that he could recite them in the order that they came.

He knew when to expect them… but today, the guardian remained silent and yet the phrases resounded within his mind like a broken record.

The tree guardian he was sitting in rumbled in agitation. His surroundings always got colder when Alaric came to ‘relax.’

Today, the guardian just wasn’t having it. Alaric steadied himself on the shaking branch, “Sorry, Thomper… I’ll… I’ll climb down now.”

Before Alaric could climb down the nature guardian though, leaves and branches bunched up around him, creating a cradle that kept him from leaving.

Alaric gasped at the sight, then looked up at the guardian.

Old Thomper never said anything except to his master, Sister Marla. It was through her that the orphans and residents of the Five Hills knew of his sentience.

Today, however, Alaric found himself asking the guardian a question directly… “What are you trying to tell me?”

The cradle moved closer to the creature’s girthy stem. Instinctively, Alaric reached out with his hands.

Right as his hands came into contact with the guardian, something beyond his wildest imagination happened to him.

His senses flared and his heart rate shot up. Suddenly, his perception got warped far beyond what he could have imagined.

“Young Prince,” an old earthen voice rumbled into his mind.

Alaric felt his knees go weak and his mind shattering into a million pieces. A short scream escaped his lips before he collapsed within the cradle Thomper had created, unconscious.

In the mess that his mind had endured, he’d found out several things about himself.

He’d felt emotions, power and a powerful connection to a world beyond his imagination.

When he awoke, he was in his bed in the boy’s dormitory.

A female knight in pure black armour was standing guard at the foot of his bed…

Alaric’s heart sank, “Why?”

“Welcome back to the world of the living, Little Prince,” Alia quipped.

Alaric nodded in response, then coiled in his bed, “The ability to connect with any guardian… and use their abilities.”

“An ability worthy of a king,” Alia sighed, defeated…

Her sad tone didn’t go unnoticed, “Enough with the king stuff. Why can’t I use your abilities?”

“Thomper’s power was enough to make you pass out. What do you think mine will do to you?” Alia asked.

“I thought that was just…”

“Just what, Alaric? Backlash! You weren’t ready? No, Alaric, Thomper is powerful… and I’m even more powerful.

Train hard… Only then do you have hope of using my abilities,” Alia vanished in a puff of smoke… and Alaric knew then that she was done talking.

What he understood through their connection was different though. Alia was… jealous.

[I will use your abilities one day] Alaric promised.