Sometimes fantasies are filled with Guardians, Gears, and Gyaru Girls.

Thorjen POV

Darkness. A cold and formless shroud of nothingness clothed his entire form. The air felt subtly cold. And the boy could hear his breaths softly speaking into the lightless air.

“Where am I?” He voiced into the void

‘Everything feels so cold...so dark...so...cold’ he thought within

Amidst the chilling silence devoid of anything, the boy could hear the distinctive sounds of raindrops started to fall.

And then a green flame suddenly birthed into the darkness. Then a second flame, and a third one and a fourth and so on.

In a few moments a host of small, but brightly dancing green embers of fires aligned in a path leading towards the unknown.

The boy felt something odd once those green fires appeared. He looked down the path of flames, and on the end noticed an ominous silver throne, partially clothed in darkness.

Against the back rest of the throne, he could see a majestic red jewel carved into the shape of a bloody eye, piercing through the blanket of shroud and staring directly towards him. This filled his heart with an indescribable sense of dread.

“Hey...can you hear me” a playful voice spoke out from the void.

“What! Who-who-who are you? And where am I...” his own voice trembled

“Shh, be at ease. It is not the appointed time to reveal things just yet. But the Guardian of ???? has marked us...and because of me you will suffer..."

“S-suffer…b-but why? And... who are you” he asked the nothingness, and yet he could clearly feel a presence around him.

“Fufufu, I am your????.”

The voice trailed into an inaudible whisper as though a distortion was purposely muffling parts of the entities speech.

“What did you say? I-I can't understand you?”

“I say this for you to remember...

Remember who we are and what we must do...

In time you will seek me...

And at the appointed time we shall rule the world...as one.

But for now…open your eyes.”

The sounds of many beasts roaring awoke him from his slumber.

He felt dazed, and took a deep look around to find himself within a world covered in red sand. Beyond the horizon, he shivered upon catching the frightening glimpse of a carmine oval sun.

The sheer sight of it was almost like a large ocean of blood stored in one place.

There was a dense sandy fog moving in place of the wind and walking across the ground. The boys' eyes nervily scanned the world he was enveloped in. Tall grimacing mountains, misshapen with sharpened helms surrounded this dense sandy plain.

He narrowed his eyes ahead, trying to make out what seemed like large ivory boulders half submerged in the sandy dune covering the entire ground.

The dense fog started to lift. And once the veil of dust had carried itself elsewhere, his eyes widened with shock at the sight of the colossus sized bones half buried into the sand.

He had never seen beasts this size before, nor had he heard or read about such kind of creatures ,with skulls shaped in such a grotesque way.

If the boy had to place a name on them, he was reminded of something his mother had told him about, a long time ago. A race of beings so divine , that history had welded them as the grandest of immortal beings ...dragons.

The moment that thought passed through his mind, the entire world started to rumble. Suddenly he felt a terrifying fall upon him from above.

Something told him that the causer of such pressure was about to reveal itself . So, he nervily tilted his head upright towards the deep skies.

What he saw left him muttering inaudible words.

For directly above him, submerged in the thick fog gathered in place of the clouds, was a silhouette of a gargantuan sized creature. Its wingspan being so large that it blocked the entire red sun with a single flap of its wing. The entire place was sent into a moment of darkness.

He shut his two eyes and begged for this nightmare to end.

He heard a noise splintering roar from above, followed by a surge of wind which knocked him onto his back.

Now he was to gaze at the trepidation above him.

His heart started to beat faster...faster...now he was almost certain he was about to lose his sanity. When suddenly a gut-wrenching roar left his own mouth. A defiant roar stemmed from the pits of his own soul. The boy couldnt see it, but his own form had drastically begun to morph into one of a beast. At the same time, he saw an indescribable sized eye opening from the darkness above.

A beastly slit emerged from the fog of gathered dust.

Encircling around it, a gigantic carmine filled Iris.

“??????????”

“Wh-what?”

“?????????”

“No....please don’t...”

Thorjen POV

The boys muffled scream was drowned out by a sudden downpour of darkness clouding over his vision.

He gasped and awoke to a familiar plain looking bedroom.

He placed one hand against his chest, his breathing was laborious whilst his entire body was soaked in sweat.

He felt uncomfortable noticing his beige tunic sticking to his body. This made him frown, feeling slightly depressed about the recurring nightmares that continued to plague him ever since his 18th birthday. Thorjen decided to remain seated on his bed for a short while. Waiting for his breathing to relax.

He glanced around his dormitory. He remembered the first few months here; and how much he hated this room at first. Since his cultivation hadn't improved he was to house this small room on his own.

Its blandness and silence brought an uneasiness to him.

But with time, he gradually found this place to be called somewhat of a home.

His simple room was decorated with incredibly lifelike detailed drawings. He hung them across the celling using iron pegs he exchanged for some credits from the merchant stall near the foot of the mountain. They were made by himself, using soft black sand and a precise style of movement with his fingers.

Thorjen always wondered where he picked up such a talent from, considering he had never met anyone on the blue mountain who could finger paint. He gazed at the granite made pictures he hand painted, all with precise detail and artistry. His gaze fell upon the drawing of a familiar beastial eye. Thorjens gaze narrowed as he was reminded of that same dream which plagued him.

Whilst he observed the all too familiar drawings he made himself, he was reminded about his short comings these past 12 months. If only his cultivation were as good as his drawings.

'Then...things might’ve been different.' he thought to himself.

Thorjen lamented on the days of his youth, when he was doted upon by all the elders and youths, some of which even considered him a genius born once every few years. Up until the age of 10, there was no one along the mountain who didn't believe he would be one of the most famous Elves when he grew older. Despite being a half ling, Elves recognized strength above all manners of discrimination. Once he turned 10 however, everything changed.

What others had expected to happen to a genius, did exactly happen to him. On his 10th birthday, Thorjen was struck with an illness which left him bedridden for over 6 months. During this time his body underwent incredible changes. One of which was his life essence core being shattered, meaning his life span and his ability to cultivate for long periods of time was cut down by more than half. Lastly, the most disturbing change he underwent was losing the ability to store Qi within his body. When one of the elders checked his condition, they likened it to a river filled with multiple logs barring any free flowing current to exist.

Ever since that moment, his life was never the same again.

Thorjen slapped his two cheeks and woke himself up from his thoughts of despair. He was grateful to even have a chance to study within the Azure sect. A place centred to hone the cultivation and battle arts of gifted youths amongst the five Elven tribes. He still held fond memories of when he was only little his mother had walked him up the blue stone stairwell, leading towards the Azure sect. A paradise hidden amongst the clouds where all his future dreams would begin their growth. And here they had both stayed ever since.

He couldn’t help exhaling a deep sigh. So much had happened during these last 9 years.

‘This would be my final chance to earn a spot on the chose select to the mainland.’ He thought inwardly.

Thorjen hopped out of his bed and walked towards the sole mirror in the room. He checked his smooth brown skin. Admiring his distinctive bright tow dreadlocks that didn’t need much maintenance these days. He wore a dark violet hoop earring, with tiny runes embedded into the metal. A gift from his mother at birth to help ward away baleful spirits.

Thorjen was a half Elf, which was the reason for his slightly sharpened ears and beige-brown skin.

Because of which, his life was considered better than a lot of his human counterparts that was until the illness struck this blessing of his.

Amongst his peers he was part of the very select few who still hadn’t reached the early level of the Foundation Stage Realm. This was the first stage for cultivating a battle spirit grade, and widely considered as the easiest level to obtain. A fundamental requirement for anyone trying to better their cultivation was achieving complete mastery within the foundation realms.

Thorjen had consumed countless potions and beast meat over the years, trained as diligently as any other, but still couldn’t keep a pure enough amount of Qi within his frail body to advance.

He glanced towards one side of his room. A stack of books and scrolls were piled up here. Mostly gifted to him by his mother, in a bid to aid his cultivation.

‘I wonder if it’ll actually end like this for me.’ He thought to himself. The blessing ceremony was approaching.

The embarrassment he’d bring upon his mother and his friends if he didn’t receive a blessing weighed upon him greatly.

Just as his mind was sinking into a pitiful state, he was awoken by the sounds of a light rhythmic tap against his dorm room door. He approached the silver arch shaped doorway and twisted the knob to pry the door open. As soon as the door opened a pleasant-smelling fragrance wafted against his face. And he saw a familiar beautiful faced girl, standing on the other side of his door.

Threyja wore an even prettier smile against her olive-skinned cheeks. She was considered quite beautiful even amongst all the high noble girls her age and those descendant from royal lines. Her brown freckles formed against her cheeks, she carried almond shaped green eyes which shone like jade jewels. She didn’t know it herself, but Thorjen always thought she had wisps of golden light swirling within her iris.

Her curly dark brown hair fell just beneath her ears, she also had blonde highlights streaked through those wavy curls of silk. And these days depending on how she dressed, she wasn’t that much shorter than the slenderly tall Thorjen was.

Threyja had matured over the years, her chest size had grown considerably bigger, and her frame was developing well due to all her training.

“Wakey wakey sleepy head. I was just about to go to the training hall and wanted to see if you felt to tag along?” Her words were filled with cheer but Thorjen also understood she was probably just trying to get him to get some fresh air for once.

Thorjen had to admit he probably looked crazy these days with all the time he spent locked inside of his dorm , buried in the countless books and scrolls about cultivation & battle arts. He had also started reading the human texts about swordsmanship and chivalry.

“Err I’ll meet you I just need to finish up on a few things.” He said.

“Hmph like what? Surely whatever it is can wait. Come on! I want to show you something as well.” Thorjen knew his childhood friend would not take no as an answer. So he grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom to change. “W-wait here…I just need to change my clothes.”

“ Hurry up then...fufufu you smell like sweat” she giggled playfully.

After freshening up Thorjen got changed into his training outfit and followed Threyja out of his dorm.