C H A P T E R  T W O

O N E  G A T E  C L O S E S , A N O T H E R  O N E  O P E N S

Thud.

“Ouch..” Zelo scrunched his nose as he landed on the ground with his body first. Thud. “Yah! Get off—“ Jongup fell right on top of Zelo, and this continues.. Thud. “MOVE AWAY!” Zelo tries to shove Jongup and Youngjae away from his body, but he could handle their weights, until.. “OH MY!” Daehyun landed on top of Youngjae, sandwiching Jongup while Zelo is cramped by their weight. “NOW MOVE!” Zelo shoved three people with his staff, and three of them rolled to the ground next to Zelo. Jongup, Youngjae and Daehyun stood up, stretching their tensed muscles after all the chaos at Valhalla. When Zelo stood up, Himchan and Yongguk suddenly appeared from the Gate. And again, Zelo stumbled backwards, while the older brothers landed softly on top of Zelo. “Oh Etro, this is why I hate Border Rift. It always makes me want to vomit or else..” Himchan sat up straight, while Yongguk quickly get off from the boy below him. “Guys, where’s Zelo?” Himchan looked to his brothers and they pointed to the ground. Himchan quickly get off and pulled the almost-died Zelo, “Sorry! No wonder why the ground felt so….hard.” Himchan punched Zelo’s steel armor, and grinning playfully.

“Guys.. I think.. We’re on the wrong place or…” Youngjae gulped, seeing the horrible sight in front of him, followed by Zelo who widening his eyes in fear. “G-Guys.. Look at here..” Zelo calling all his brothers, to let them see the.. destroyed town, or now they should said, ruins. “Who did—“ Himchan placed his bow on his back, scanning the surroundings, taking a big pebble of the pillars. “Cie’th. We still didn’t know who break the borders between Valhalla and Gran Pulse.” Yongguk slid his blade back to its’ case, squats down to see the remaining buildings below. They stood on a big hill, only showing the sight of, Bresha Ruins. Youngjae pulled his tablet and scanned the ruins with it, updating more datas and informations about the place. Jongup jumped down, carefully reached the lower ground. “Jongup!” Zelo catched behind the silent Ravager, walking side by side with him. “I wonder is there any people alive here..” Daehyun muttered, still holding his axe, asking Yongguk who’s confused right now. “I-I hope people in the Academy are saved..” Yongguk sighed, didn’t believe about what is happening right now. “Seriously. There’s no signs of human living here.. Except us..” Youngjae shook his head and put back his tablet inside his bag. “We should get going now..” Himchan said, and then following his brothers, exploring the ruins.

After a few hours walking, the blue sky slowly turned into dark purple, showing the stars glittering the night sky, and it feels empty when Cocoon is not floating anymore. Six of the Guardians decided to take some rest, they made a little basecamp in a building which suitable to use for a night.  The Guardians took some time to rest, after the sudden attack and pressure back at Valhalla. They removed their heavy armors and piled it on the side, next to their weapons. Youngjae still tapping his fingers on his tablet, investigating and keeping up the updates from the only one Crystal. Daehyun poking the bonfire with a twig, slowly getting bored all by himself, but his mind is wandering to Valhalla, will the soldiers safe from the attack? Or they already died? He sighed and keep poking on the bonfire. “Daehyun, stop poking the bonfire, you’re going to burn the bird.” Himchan said, grilling the bird he just hunt 20 minutes ago for their dinner. The young brothers are playing with each other, trying to relieve their stress for a while, having fun before the adventure starts again. And the Commander, alone by himself on the open field, not to far from his brothers, but far enough so they couldn’t hear his words. He always speaks all by himself if he got mixed emotions, like now.

“Why don’t you wake up..” He mumbles, looking up to the sky, which showered by twinkling stars, like there’s nothing happened. His shoulder felt so heavy, with all those task he had given by Etro, also his heavy armor and blade. Fireflies starts to wander around the field, illuminating the dark surroundings. It looks like the Spirits, small orbs with blue and white lights surrounding the orbs. He smiled when he opened his hand, some fireflies landed softly on his palm. Calm and peaceful. Wish the universe is like this now. Wish everything will go back to the past, when everything is balanced, Valhalla and Gran Pulse. There will be no war. Just like Etro said to them in their ‘dreams’.

“Yongguk! Dinner is ready!” Himchan called him, snapping Yongguk back to reality from his day-dream. Himchan waved a twig, signalling the food is ready. “Yah! It’s Yongguk’s portion! You guys go grab the other one!” Himchan smacked his fellow brother’s head, who amost munched their leader’s dinner. Yongguk let out a small chuckle seeing the warmth of their closeness, finally, after ‘sleeping’ for such a long time, he finally see this kind of scene between his brothers. His only one family. He sat on the ground, warming up his body with the heat of the bonfire, while taking his plate. “It’s alright, they need to eat more than me. They’re still young.” He said calmly, patting Himchan’s back. “Ha! You heard that! Himchan always nagging at us, Yongguk!” Zelo said, with his mouth full of food, earning another smack from Himchan. “Yah! Swallow your food first then talk!” He glared to the young Synergist, and back to his dinner again. Meanwhile, Daehyun already finished his dinner in no time, making his brothers looked at him in awe. “Are you ‘that’ hungry, Daehyun?” Youngjae asked, placing his tabled on his side, and put his plate on his lap, still full of food. Daehyun shrugged his shoulder and put the empty plate away, “Is it wrong if you’re hungry like a bear after sleeping for….200 years or less or more?” He raised his eyebrow, and his brothers laughed hard at his antics.

They chit-chatted a bit, bringing down the tension they had before, Yongguk could feel his brothers are tireda and pressured, but he tried to bring the mood up. “I know! I mean, I could chiseled the Crystals and turn them into perfect sculptures!” Zelo said, clicking his fingers at his ‘creative’ idea. “Yeah, and Etro will punish you and turns you into a Cie’th. You want that, Ze?” Jongup lightly shoved Zelo with his elbow, stucking his tongue out playfully. “At least I’ll be stronger than you, Jongup!” And there he goes, youngster fight. “Guys guys guys, save your stamina. Hey hey hey! Enough!” Himchan tried to split them both, but Zelo and Jongup are fighting like a glue, not a real fight but, they’re tickling with each other. And Himchan, being the mother again.

Daehyun, being a pig. After he ate a lot, well, he took half of Yongguk’s portion and there he is, sleeping peacefully while hugging his axe. And there’s Youngjae, back again with his tablet, swiping his finger, tapping rapidly, how can he manage his eyes like that? “Yongguk. I’ll go there for a minute, okay?” Youngjae pointed to the open field where Yongguk stood before being called by Himchan. Yongguk replied with a nod, “Be careful. We don’t know if there’s any Cie’th lingering around here.” The leader said, then Youngjae quickly skipped to the open field, but Yongguk keep an eye of him in case there’s something happen.

“Okay! Now you, kids, go to sleep.” Himchan wiped off his sweat from his forehead after managed to separated Zelo and Jongup. “Alright alright. Who’s going to wake us up tomorrow?” Zelo asked, propping himself comfortably on the soft grass, laying down right next to Jongup. “I will. Good night.” Himchan flashes his motherly smile, and patted their foreheads. “Where’s Young—“ “Over there. Maybe he got no signal from the Academy.” Yongguk pointed to Youngjae, who’s pacing back and forth, lifting his tablet up, ruffling his hair in frustration and repeat the process. “Aigoo that brainy kid..” Himchan chuckled, seeing how cute whe Youngjae is frustrated with his own technology world. “No wonder he almost recruited by the Academy to join the research of Time Gates. Eventually Etro found him first..” Yongguk said, still watching Youngjae from a far. “Yeah.. But.. Sometimes, I’m scared if we can’t go far in this journey.. Stuck here, hopeless. No way out and such. It scares the hell out of me.” The Sentinel let out his thoughts to the leader, brushing his hair to the back, and then sighed deeply. “You mean, the Gate before? … Youngjae told use, we couldn’t use that Gate anymore. It’s locked permanently.” Yongguk sighed too, now he’s thinking how could he took his brother away from this place and set on their journey further away to find the last Crystal. “That’s the thing..” Himchan leaned his back to the log behind him, thinking the same thoughts as Yongguk.

“ASAAA!” Youngjae pumped his fist to the air and run back to the camp. Yongguk and Himchan turned to see the smiley Youngjae, showing off his tablet. “Good news. The Crystal is still in one piece. Pretty weird since the Cie’th is lingering around the Crystal but they didn’t touch it. Even harm it! They didn’t lay any fingers on it.” Youngjae said, switching off his tablet. “And. Academy is still alive. But they’re on Danger Phase 2. Which means, they already sent out the armies out.” He continued, and Yongguk motioned him to continue. “Oh. About the Gate.. There’s one Gate here. But it’s deep inside the ruins. The Water Temple. I hope the road isn’t blocked..” Youngjae finished his update for today ad he yawned. “Okay.. I better get some sleep.. Himchan, your turn to wake us up tomorrow!” He said and propped himself on the soft grass, slowly drifting off to dreamland. Yongguk looked at Himchan, and he looked back at him. Yongguk patted his brother’s back and smiled. “Heard that? One Gate closed, another one will open.” He said, finishing his wise-words to Himchan before he goes to sleep. “Oh you, old wise man.” Himchan chuckled and he followed his brothers to sleep. Maybe this is going to be a good start for the Guardians, hope that this will take them much further, to save the universe and bring Cocoon back.

Behind the trees, on the forest near the Guardian’s camp, one silhouette standing behind it. Observing the Guardians silently without making any noise to wake them up. His eyes glistening in red, with his mouth turns into a frown as he could sense his clan is going to be in danger if they go any further

‘Kai. Get back here. Now.’

In seconds, he disappeared in black smoke, gone to another part of the world.

a/n : Look who's here~ Kai already arrived to the fic yaay!