Thirteen Years Ago
It all started with cheerful humming on one harmonious autumn afternoon. Beneath the sunny veil and fiery leaves that hung suspended on thorny branches, tranquility was disturbed by melodic tunes and the rustle of green grass. The sweet voice belonged to a little girl, no older than eight, her diminutive stature and joyful humming masking her intentions without fail. Her feet moved quickly, leading the wandering child and the bag of tricks over her back to a quiet amphitheatre that opened up to the clear blue sky.
A single, speechless guardian stood poised and ready to meet her, watching over the vacant space from the centre of the clearing. Basking in sunlight, his steel façade glistened wondrously, displaying his towering magnificence in all its glory. The statue was situated on top of an embroidered iron slab, its shoulders eased in relaxation. One arm held a sword to its chest, the pommel held in a deliberate upside-down fashion so that the tip of the blade just barely scratched against the ground. The other hand donned a shield, a symbol of protection. At the bottom of the statue, a golden plaque showcased, "Prosperity". Like all statues, sadly, it carried an awful stillness about it.
This monstrous metal masterpiece portrayed none other than Eugene van Goff, the Lares who watched over the surrounding town. While most all the citizens had never seen their guardian angel in person, some insist that the monument — over three metres tall, mind you — was the same size as the real thing! It was at the base of the statue that this little girl stopped, emptying her sack filled with variably-sized metal balls, shields, and chains and the like. Was she making an offering through sacrifices?
Well, that's what van Goff believed, and it captured his interest as a king finding a new country to conquer.
Even a child knows of my brilliance, he haughtily thought, but the little girl didn't actually care. This was just another of her experiments. One by one, from tiny metal pellets to her late grandmother's rings to the pair of five-kilogram shields, each object was sacrificed faster than the last, until the second shield disappeared almost instantaneously.
"So," the little girl started as she spoke to herself, "You can use the energy from one sacrifice to break down another one?" She looked up to Eugene's gleaming steel face, her own eyes overcome with fierce curiosity. She had at least fourteen kilograms' worth of magical energy at her disposal, and it was all surrounding the fantastic statue from the base to the perfectly-cast locks of hair in a twisting, twirling blue light.
"What was the incantation again?" It took her a moment to think as the length of energy latched itself to Eugene's beloved sculpture, effortlessly engulfing it. She may have missed a few words, but the deceptive strength in her young voice had worked all the same coupled with the energy she'd already built up.
"Bound by the laws of magic, I, Kana Gotou, order you to become my power." In a matter of moments, the monument was gone.
No sound betrayed the startling phenomenon. Steel atomized as the entire figure cascaded down in the span of a breath, crumbling into floating particles of blue energy that were immediately absorbed into Kana's body. The whole process was utterly mystifying until the significance of her words hit a little too close to home. The small girl looked in joy and wonder at the fruits of her labor, yet something was off.
In response to her destruction, the skies flared red, embittered with celestial outrage as a deafening thunder clap rocked the clearing. An explosion roared behind her, the force of it shattering the earth and shaking trees. Out of the smoldering crater stalked a man. The air within crackled and hissed in chaos, as if distorted by the nature of his entrance. Elegant, domineering strides brought him up the light incline towards this impudent little criminal and halted just short of her, the gap between them only being the late statue's resting place. Glowering down, the lare was nearly twice Kana's height and he used it to full effect. The man's likeness was nearly identical to that of the statue's, but he was far from placid, and he was far from virtuous. Azure eyes narrowed in irritation where the statue had once been before drifting over the girl, who seemed even more interested in what she'd just caused. He was going to wipe away that oh so innocent expression of hers. Permanently.
"That was a wonderful magic trick," van Goff began with a click of his tongue and a livid grin. "You'd have made a great mage, child. Unfortunately, you've defiled a monument directly under my protection. More to the point, you chose to destroy a monument dedicated to me. Although a statue could never quite equate to my glory, this is a crime I view as a personal insult, the penalty for which is death." Death, to little Kana, seemed harsh.
"Any last words?" he asked as electrical energy snaked threateningly around his fist. Kana went into thought once again. She had an insane amount of magical energy at her fingertips, and she certainly didn't feel like dying. Looking up at Eugene's eyes, blazing with the rage of divine betrayal as they were, she remembered the more serene and protective expression on the monument's face.
"Your statue was prettier," she remarked, exploding into droplets of water that disappeared into the sky and escaped the reach of her demise.
It was the first and last time Eugene van Goff had met the defiant little girl, but he has never lived the humiliation down. Releasing an angry curse, the lare swore to restore his honor. Fortunately, he had all the time in the world.
Present
The twin double doors to the chamber slammed open with indiscriminate haste, instantly revealing the lithe form behind them. Ignoring the attention she had drawn, Rosena, the second guardian of the earth king, wasted no time in striding forwards. Apparently, there was only one individual deserving of her attention within the room and she approached him with purpose. A hint of urgency pinched her ordinarily smooth features as the woman halted before her King and bowed formally.
"My King. I have grave news to inform you. Telius, the Water King, and his protectors, are dead,"
“The Water King’s death is hardly something to get flustered over, Rosena,” the voice of Eugene van Goff echoed snidely from beside the King. A dreadful arrogance oozed from his downward gaze. Eugene’s words were rich and deeply spoken, but the accent was oddly indistinguishable, like someone had only just introduced the native language to the corporeal Lare. A giant of a man, the first guardian stood to attention, arms crossed over his impeccable uniform. As ever, he resided closest to Telius, though he hardly had a choice in that matter. “If the Water King and his ilk died, it only means the current incarnation was too feeble to fend for himself. Rest assured Rosena, the earth faction is nowhere near as weak.”
