Elementals: A New Dawn

Chapter 8: Zander's burden

Subject Name: Izora. 1.85M (6'1 ft). Azure green eyes and brown tinted black hair. Overall stamina 8 times that of an average guardian. I. Q of 170 plus. 'Hyper-talented' mage was the only description which did her justice. Her perception and detection abilities are off the charts as well. As part of her bonus abilities, she possesses a special type of shapeshifting- body transfiguration as well as the charm ability. Enormously beautiful such that she was believed to rival or even surpass Athena in beauty and curves further accentuated by the skin tight clothing she liked, which did little to nothing to hide her large F cup breasts.

Body transfiguration was a type of shapeshifting where you don't just change the shape of your body, you change the shape of literally everything, excluding your mind, but acquire base instinct related to whatever you have transformed into. That includes muscle memory, primal instinct, survival instinct, and the ability to communicate with others of your kind. You become essentially whatever, or whoever, you change into. The only downside is, since you still have your human mind, which is foreign to your new body, it's vulnerable. Izora, however, also learnt space magic from the first and most powerful space mage in Zoriah and the whole world as well. She used that to put her mind in an alternate space, putting it out of range and safe from any and all intrusions.

She devised a spell dubbed 'dissection' and another called 'observation'. Together she uses these spells to break down any magic spells, enchantments or castings and with her mind adept at learning all things magic related, she can learn any spell after seeing it once. She can become more adept at it than the original caster if thought by a third party. The only downside is its useless against opponents more than 3 times stronger than herself."

While CARMEN was still floating, giving her analysis to Izora, who was somewhere in that cyber space, smiled and reminisced about her past. "Yes, I still clearly remember how I was before. The Izora I was before I met with him. I still can't wait to meet him again. In the meantime, I will have to look after him from now on till we reach the future hehe"

Izora, a very kind, gentle and caring personality who doesn't care about traditional rules and believes in change. The change in question must only be a variation in the original oath which governs Zoriah and must not change the underlying principles. An example is seen in how she has spells related to all the various shunned abilities on Asteria, like necro-kinesis and umbra-kinesis.

Originally a very work obsessed person devoted to her research, her character took a 180-degree turn on a certain orphanage mission to clear void demons. There was some misinformation and the number of the demons was 10 times that of the original number. That was no problem as the orphanage children could all be classified as M class guardians–M as in a monster of course- but with the appearance of a demon general who single-handedly could be placed as a 4.8 D. S turned things grim and quick. Zander and Eragon had the opinion to stay and cut loose, but worrying for the safety of his comrades, he decided against it and ordered a retreat.

As part of the vanguard, she became in charge of holding back the demons for the others to make their escape. In the heat of the moment, too concerned for their safety, her mind gone numb with adrenaline flooding in she transfigured into a beast hybrid who originally had not existed yet- a part dragon, part griffon, part phoenix. There was no proper balance, muscle memory or base instinct she could take as they clashed for the different creatures but by a literal miracle, she, together with Zander and Eragon bought time for the others to get out and then got out safely.

As soon as she got to the orphanage, she entered a coma. All attempts to call a healer proved futile, as Asteria was currently facing demon invasions like what they had just faced and no one could answer their call. The fae queen who was resident at the orphanage- Titania- was consulted and diagnosed that although she has shifted back to her original form, her mind was still in an alternate space, and her body was uninhabited. Her mind was in panic and thus couldn't cross the space gap back into her body.

To remedy this someone had to go into her psychic space and get her to calm down and enter her body while titania and Mythica performed healing magic on her. Zander volunteered as the one who had put her as part of the vanguard. All this happened while the others went out of base to join with the magical beasts and protect the orphanage in case of any invasion. Upon entering her psychic space, he saw an ethereal portal which he cautiously entered. He found himself in a room which turned out to be a personal lab with a fair maiden in the process of trashing everything and physically harassing the chalkboard.

Looking down at her, he smiled and just walked across the room, picking a marker and going to the side opposite to the young lady's battlefield and started solving the magic circle composition problems. It took a while for her to notice, but when she did; she stopped hitting the chalkboard, partly out of surprise and partly because the poor guy was already in pieces. Walking up to him, she froze when she heard her name. "Izora…" he said and turned, revealing a face with warmth enough to melt the ice age.

"was he always this handsome? I think butterflies are in my tummy right now, ow they got there, who knows"

"We need to talk. But before that, I'm sorry for putting you in such danger. I'll keep you company as much as you want, and I'll do whatever you want me to do as part of my apology"

Looking back at him, she was confused.

'Did he just say sorry? He never does that, he's a good leader but her never apologizes. Wait, why is he even sorry? what happened? Why is he in my lab? He should be in his room, right?'

And suddenly memories came rushing at her. She remembered everything that took place in the fight. The lab suddenly faded out of existence, revealing a bloody battlefield. Zander visibly flinched at the sight of thousands of demons dead, a large metallic gate with a griffon and a dragon on either side and a phoenix on the top.

----

A/N

Double quotes "like this" are used when referring to audible verbal communication between people

Single quotes 'like this' when used in speech will be used to indicate inner monologues or psychic conversations

----

Zander unconsciously let his aura seep out and obliterated the demon corpses before turning back and seeing the sorry state of Izora. Eyes with dark circles beneath, a tired expression and her hands charred from continuous spell casting and fighting. She seemed on the verge of breakdown and it was as if a small breeze could cause her to shatter. Sure enough, soon as a smooth wind blew across the battlefield, her legs finally gave way and she fell face down to the floor.

However, before her body could touch the ground, Zander reached out and caught her in his hands. His eyes glowed yellow and Izora's body glowed with the same color. Her exhausted look disappeared, her charred hands regained vitality, and all her bruises and scars disappeared. Seeing that, his expression softened, and he turned towards the gate. He spoke in a soft tone but yet his voice reverberated throughout the battlefield.

"She unknowingly called upon you. You guarded her body from corruption, yet her mind, your current home, is almost gone. I have done what I could, but I'm no healer, and I doubt her mind can even be healed. She needs more than that. So, I beckon on you, spirit of destruction and rebirth. Destruction has been rough, bring about rebirth."

The phoenix screeched and ascended into the sky. Soon a flame bathed Izora and Zander, holding her. A soft, motherly and ethereal voice resounded in his ears.

"Welcome, child. If you know all that, then you must be Omega, guardian of the end."

"That I am," he responded. "Yet I beckon you, my current body, mind and soul cannot bear the burden of my spirit, soon as I leave this place, my mind will once again be protected from my spirit and so I will know nothing of this"

"Hush, child. As you know, I am only here with my children because she saved us from the void. Actually, I would say you did, but she is blessed, bestowed upon by a God and being part spirit, her mind is powerful enough to house us and keep us safe. The void of demons broke in here and she fought against them. I could not interfere as we are not contracted and I cannot break the balance by interfering with someone I am not bound to. Now, however, you are here and I can tell you what happened here. After the battle, the void demons under Eczosiri entered her unstable mindscape and they would have used it to plague Asteria with their kind. She found out and wanted to wipe them out to protect her home. She has been here for about 10 months in a continuous battle. Time passes differently in the mindscape. She managed to defeat them, but at the expense of her mind. The illusion you saw was just her mind trying to fool itself into believing this was normal. You have come and healed her and I just brought back her consciousness to ask if she would like to bond with me. That doesn't break the First Mother's rules of balance. That is all I'm allowed to do"

"That will suffice," he said

"Thank you..."

He then looked at Izora and smiled. With his index finger, he poked her forehead, and she awoke.

With a confused look, she glanced at Zander and then the phoenix and then back and forth several times over. Everything came back to her, and she looked at her recovered state. She looked at Zander and she noticed the difference from his usual somewhat immature disposition. She saw a mature calmness and when she used her dissection spell gaze on him to measure him up; she saw the normal Zander she'd always know, but then an astral form towered behind him who was so large and vast and held a floating omega on his left hand. Trying to measure his power only gave her one conclusion. "I'm too weak for that now. He's probably stronger than most gods, even. Not even Athena, a war goddess, gave me this feeling of staring into infinity".

"Zander? First, what are you? Are you Zander?"

"Yesn't"

when she saw the puzzled look in her eyes, he thought 'so cute!' He continued talking, however

"I am and I am not. Zander right now is not a complete being. As you and the others have previously wondered. I am the totality of his being. And I am also the guardian of the end. I will perform a mind link with you so I can share this with you. But first, no one, not even me, should be told this. Not the guardians, not the oracle, not the elders, not even the Gods, not our friends, not even me. Infect never should I come to know. They are not yet ready for that yet. Their story has just begun, and the time is young. Do you promise? If you do, I will tell you everything. But before that I will show you about spirits and your true heritage as a spirit-human hybrid"

As soon as she voiced out "I do", she gasped as she experienced memories she would ever only refer to as 'Zander's burden'. She also saw everything about spirits, as well as several mysteries of the universes. She saw as well that the phoenix spirit had not healed mind but  rather remade it. Her mind had gone through a cycle or destruction and rebirth and was stronger than ever.

Looking toward the phoenix and asked, "first what is you name, your excellency.?"

----

Your excellency was a point of etiquette that the guardians used to address non-human entities like fae, and magical beasts. Almost like the usage of air or madame between humans.

----

"my name doesn't have a pronunciation in any language. Just call me Ines"

She answered. And as if that were her queue, Izora continued with a solemn voice and expression.

"I accept your pact together with that of the other two. I forge a pact in sincerity and under the eyes of OMNIS. A pact of equal partnership."

A thunder resounded throughout the mindscape and Izora guessed correctly that it was currently being felt across every space and time, that 3 of the strongest spirits had forged a pact. Something which was simply unprecedented.

The phoenix and the 2 other mythical beasts soared into the sky and faded into millions of glowing pieces. Izora, who found that strangely satisfying, only heard 3 voices in her head speaking in complete harmony.

"The pact is made. We will go into slumber. Farewell for now, child. I do not know when we shall awaken, but our power will always be at your disposal. Use it wisely and cautiously. In everything you do, strive for balance, for that is the reason we were brought into existence by the First Mother herself"

Her mind went into a calm silence and she only had a few seconds to think about what had happened before Zander startled her out of her thoughts back to reality.

"I also showed you what you are. A hybrid of a spirit and a mortal. You possess potential, which is almost scary to consider. But that being said, due to being in the heat of the moment, you didn't only transfigure into a hybrid of legendary beasts, you called upon the spirits of the beasts and they took refuge here. They have protected your body from being invaded and you already know what making a pact with a spirit entails. you have accepted and made the pact. I have shown you what that entails and now I must go"

"Wait! what do you mean to go?" she asked in a panicked state

"I will be resealed and all memories of what happened, I would remember only up till I released the seals- the moment I crossed into your mindscape- and only after I had gone back to being sealed. I will still meet you in the future, but I will not remember this meeting with you or the spirits. You already know why that is necessary. And so, I can only wish you luck in your current endeavor."

"Can I keep your memories? I will keep them inside my mind and 'when the time is right' I will restore them again to you."she asked, expectancy written everywhere on her face.

After pondering with a hand under his chin and his face undergoing a myriad of expressions, as if considering a lot of options, he finally spoke up.

"I accept your proposal, but alas my time is up. I'm sorry, take care Izora. Godspeed!"

While all that conversion was taking place, they'd been sitting side by side on a bench Izora had conjured, but suddenly, Zander slumped with his head on her shoulder. She was startled, but figured it had to do with his time being up. She held him and placed him to lay down and collected all his memories as well as all information about the guardian of the end. Holding them as an orb materialized in her hand, she said as if speaking to the orb, "the burden you carry is too great, the one you are destined to shoulder is even greeter. I will always stay by you and make sualas,re I am there to pick you up. Fall apart and I'll put you back together, Zander."

Saying that, she flicked her wrist, and the orb vanished. Seeing he didn't wake up, she frowned and placed the index finger on his forehead. She found herself drawn into his mindscape and saw Zander sitting on a bench similar to the one they both sat on. He patted a place beside him and she sat down. He looked up at the starry sky and sighed. "I came in here to save you and you save me instead, huh? So pitiful." he flashed a self-deprecating smile that made her heart hurt for no apparent reason. She was about to speak, but she beat him to it.

"I'm glad you're safe, though, Izora. I came in here to get you, instead, but from how you look at me, know, I think you already know more than me about my own self since you're not surprised but have a look of pity. There is something about me that I am not ready to know. It's still frustrating though. But now that you know, I guess it's better in an odd way. I find myself here sometimes and when I get back to my body, I don't remember what I've done. If I was doing something bad, you wouldn't look at me that way, so I guess it's ok. But now I think it's safe to assume that we can both get back to the real world, right?"

"No. not right now. You're right that I know a lot of things. I can't tell you what I know either. I also haven't had even close enough time to let it all sink in, but I think I'll have to handle it. Time has barely passed. In fact, time almost doesn't pass in here and I would like to know more about you, Zander." Izora calmly said.

Heaving a heavy sigh and leaning back, he said, "this is going to be a long story girl. And I'm not that much of a storyteller, so I'll just show you we're in my mind after all. Let's start the story of Zander." He paused as if waiting for it to sink in, and when he saw her nod of approval, he started his tale.

"It all started on the streets of London in 1938…."

----

Can you guess who CARMEN really is? Join my discord and give suggestions and theories as to who.

The link to my discord server is in the novel synopsis. Join and send typo errors, comment, and send novel suggestions.

———