Chapter 31 – Darkness that surrounds her

Lost and confused, Jasmine stands alone atop a deserted wasteland. She has no recollection of how she arrived there. She screams for help, but not a guardian or a soul hears her cry for help. Instead, a creeping shadow takes over the land and slowly consumes everything. Yet, she courageously stands as she knows that the guardian will be there to save her. They always do.

Jasmine grabs her knife and tries her hardest to cast simple light magic. Her bottle by the waist glows with bright magic to fend of the darkness at bay. The shadow reacts violently to her light and backs off before it reaches her. And in the corner of her eye, a glimmering silver shines. Daggers emerge from the shadow and fly towards her, dancing to dodge Jasmine's knife. She tried to keep up, but she was quickly overwhelmed. She looked below and found her stomach bleeding.

Jasmine panics, and in her horror, she wakes herself from her nightmare.

"That's the fourth time this past week since we landed at Tymar and the same nightmare still gets me." Jasmine thinks to herself as she slowly gets up from bed. As she left, she found her pillow full of her dandruff. Ashamed, she shakes her pillow off and tries to play it cool before the others see it. Jasmine would like to keep herself clean despite being stuck in another world. She thinks maybe she isn't washing enough of her hair when taking a bath.

Breakfast! The favourite time of Tymarians and coincidentally the Antrians too. They laugh and make cheerful music as they eat in the vast hall. Jasmine took a seat and began eating the most delicious ham and tasty cheese she had ever eaten. She thinks to herself that this might be even better than her grandma's. She looked up the hall and saw Amihan and Tala fighting over a single loaf of bread, the last one with walnut and olive.

The spectators cheered as they flew and passed the bread between the beams. And soon enough, the bread manages to slip away from their hands and drops in the plate of Kislap. He grins in a devilish smile and declares the bread will soon find its way into its new owner's stomach. The two guardians gave chase and demanded that one of them provide the bread instead. And with his speed, he runs off out of the hall.

A man and a woman sharing the same body and with two pairs of limbs run across the room, passing on more and more food for their esteemed guest, the Chroniclers, the guardians and Amihan's men. It was unusually for Jasmine to see such a creature; she even found it stranger than the ones she had met before. Fascinated by this curious sight, she opens the White Chronicle to read a passage about it.

Jasmine found that Tymarians were once a descendant of the Titans, ancient beings that Bathala created to move mountains and adjust the world as he deemed. They were huge as the very mountain they pushed. All Titans are born with their soul mates and inhabit the same body. Thus a Titan always has two heads and living the lives as one. After Bathala made the world, Bathala gave the Titans this continent as their home.

The Titans were living their lives to the fullest, but trouble began to brew soon. As the Titans grew older, fighting amongst them became an everyday thing. It started as a marital argument between a husband and wife; then it snowballed into other items to the point that some of the Titans could not stand their spouses. This created discord within the Titans, and they were unable to operate as an effective government. Finally, it turned for the worst as the Titans could not stand each other to the point of madness and resorted to murdering their spouses if it meant having some peace.

It was believed that there was a wise Titan who made a potion that allowed a Titan to separate their bodies into two. This solved the Titans' issue of splitting themselves from their spouses, and soon peace returned to the land. And to honour his endeavour, the Titans named the continent after him, Tymar.

All was well and over time. More Titans who are at odds with their spouses opted to use more potions. But it came with an unknown effect; continuous use of the brew across generations yielded an unintentional result. The Titans' descendants became smarter, and their statures became smaller, and as the older Titan sees it, knowledge comes with hubris and arrogance. Moreover, the concoction amplified the effects of their dwarfism and a desire for order. And now, a new generation of Tymarian ousts their older Titan counterparts and is led by the royal family of Zeus.

Eventually, the use of the concoction is used sparingly. Now they are bit taller than humans, curled hair, toned and muscular features, broad faces and shoulders, and some Tymarian are be born with their soul mates intact while the rest are born without one.

Jasmine looked up and smiled as she realized the Tymar serving her earlier managed to work it out over the years. They didn't choose the easy way out and grew together to better one another. A better love story than the sappy soap opera that her mom and dad would watch after a day of work.

Over the other table, Jasmine can see Shamir and Atlas sharing a merry time with their countrymen. Their singing thru the halls rings a passionate virtue about food and their love for a better bountiful harvest. And the hall sang along and emitted a booming chorus, and surprisingly, Kulog was there too, just a table away from Shamir. Although her suspicion of Shamir is still present, it was slowly replaced by a trust as Shamir was one of the people who helped Kislap recover his strength.

Leshin tapped Jasmine on her shoulder. Finally, it's time for their training.

Jasmine was concerned about her dreams of being stabbed in the dark and shared them with the guardians. Unfortunately, this story did stir the guardians the wrong way, especially Leshin, as he took them seriously than the rest. However, the Chronicler's visions did come true: it warned them and was able to fend off the attack of Daija from an island on Antrian, and now Leshin believes Jasmine is experiencing a vision of what's to come. He wants Jasmine to be ready for anything, and training her in the art of war and magic will most definitely help.

Jasmine stands in the middle of the field with a straw-hat dummy acting as her enemy. Leshin controls the dummy with his magic and imitates a warrior wielding two daggers. The dummy attacks Jasmine, and her footwork makes a quick escape with days of training. Leshin holds his spear upward and increases the movement of the dummy to match Jasmine's.

"Don't rely on your feet. Use your arms to defend and look for an opening!" Leshin yells as the frequency of the attacks intensifies. Jasmine was deflecting the attack of the dummy with her short sword, but her arms started to give up. Finally, Juan arrives with a mug of mead. He raises the mug, gulps it down, and advises to roll out of the way and attack.

Jasmine just did that, and to her surprise, it worked! Managing to squeeze between the dummies legs, rolled out and slice its ankles. "That's my Chronicler!" Juan says as he celebrates Jasmine's attack. The dummy poised to a stand. It rotated its arms like a top and made its charge towards Jasmine. The attack made Jasmine uneasy as she wondered where and how will counter this.

Tala flies by with the bread in her hands. She smiles and begins to eat her breakfast and look at what Jasmine is doing. "If swords can't solve it, go for magic! Remember what we practiced last week? Concentrate all the magic you can muster on your fingertips and let it go on one attack!"

Jasmine just did that, but no matter how hard she concentrated, no fireball or lighting shoots from her fingertips. But it did faintly light the small bottle on her waist. With no time to think, the dummy charges! Jasmine dodges the spinning blade and bounces off the floor. And at the right moment, Jasmine sees the dummy slowing down when it turns to chase her.

"The Lantern of Zeus, as Atlas called it. It lights up when it detects magic. The stronger the magic is detected, the brighter it shines." Juan says as he smiles, seeing the Chronicler's magic capability developed over time.

Jasmine dodges the attack and rolls to the right more time, and there she stabs the dummy when it slows to turn.

Once the dummy fell, the guardians cheered her on. But Leshin calls for another round. He slammed his spear to the ground and came old rotten wood. Tala set them ablaze, and smoke filled the air until she could not see anything. Jasmine has been training for days, and this is one test she always manages to fail. Nevertheless, the guardians are teaching her to face what she saw in her dream, and hopefully, she can get the best of it if ever the times come.

She can hear the dummy moving again. The roots controlling it began to move slowly toward her. Her eyes looked for the slightest movement in the darkness, a glint from the knives as she conjured light magic shining on the tip of her fingernail. That's all she can do, but it's enough to shine a light on the knives.

She moves carefully, anticipating the next attack. She knows she needs to focus, but how can she? A vision of her death brings her on edge, but that too cause her to overthink. And with that, it failed her to notice the knife reaching from her back.

"Enough!" Leshin shouts as the knife tap Jasmine. Leshin's disappointment turns to another long lecture of needing to focus. Jasmine was grateful for their teaching but hearing the same old lecture almost every day is deafening to the ear.

"Leshin, I get it. But, I need to focus to get better and to grow my powers to survive."

"It's not about betting better! The previous Chronicler foresaw the 'snake' that will cause chaos in our world. You saw what Daija did and what Juan's encounter with the Aswang. Now your vision tells us your death, the death that will doom us all, Chronicler." Leshin let off more of his steam before realizing his temper was getting the best of him. He massaged his temple and looked up to his fellow guardians in the room.

"His words bring truth. We just want you to be ready for the dangers ahead. We will defend you as much as we can but we must be cautious. Your death is also our death, I hope you remember that." Tala chimes in.

"I, for once, agreed. We always have defended you and will always do. But this is a threat we cannot ignore." Juan also supports the two.

Since Jasmine told them about it, they are stricter than ever. She just keeps it herself, but she is pissed. Everything that she does is being micromanaged and monitored. Even with the minor task of washing the dishes or preparing a meal, she is under watch by one of the guardians. She knows her place in this world, but she can't help feeling that she is a prisoner more than a protector.

More days have passed, and everything is still the same: more training, small progress to cast powerful magic, more frustration. Yet, despite this, one guardian treats her less as a tool and more of a friend. That is Shamir. Among all of the guardians, she is the only one that treats her like a human than a tool.

Shamir is the only that gives her comfort, and she is the one that made everything possible here. When they arrived, they crashed landed in a nearby desert, the guardians were tired, and Amihan's men were wounded. Shamir used her sands and transported everyone to a village they were currently staying in. At first, the locals were afraid and pointed their weapons at them, but the people immediately took them in when Shamir showed up. The people won't be helping them without Shamir.

New day dawn, and Jasmine woke up scratching her head off more of same dandruff that keeps appearing no matter how hard she washes her hair. The morning went on as expected with the breakfast, and there Jasmine eats silently alone in her seat. She wonders where the other guardians are. They usually eat before they go out, searching for the source of the ones who hunt Shamir.

"Why the long face?" Shamir asked as she hovered above Jasmine.

"Same old story Shamir." Jasmine replied with gloom in her voice.

"Well, Leshin is not here today so might as well cheer up. No training today!" Shamir broke the news, and Jasmine turned her head with delight. Shamir continues, "He is scouting with the others to northern mountains in search for our enemies. Last night, Juan's frogs manage to get wind of black cloaked figures patrolling the mountains. In response they dispatch early and left to investigate and maybe deal with them if they are the very same figure."

Jasmine jumps with joy. "FINALLY!" she shouted and embraced Shamir. Jasmine felt the world finally gave her a chance to breathe and thanked Shamir as if she were her saviour. But her joy was cut short as a villager entered the halls and shouted for everyone to get ready as soldiers of Delphone.

Shamir hurried to Jasmine's side and threw her a cloak. They must be wary and hide from any soldiers. Despite Shamir's claim of saving this Tymar from her nemesis called 'Nightmare', their presence will attract King Zeus. And if Zeus drops by, then Kislap, Kulog, and Atlas temper might have caused a stir against Tymar's king.

The soldiers formed a small unified rank by the village square, and there a soldier stood and shouted, "Greetings! Village of Regis, your government of Delphone would like your cooperation. It was three weeks ago a huge explosion was observed by Athena from her palace. We were sent here to investigate this matter as we are concern for your safety. Would any of you know what cause this explosion?"

Jasmine began to feel the tension as no one from the village started to speak. The prolonged silence might paint this village guilty and might even provoke the guards to stay as they investigate the cause of the explosion – Amihan's ship that Shamir buried under the sand to prevent it from being found.

"Hey mister, may I ask why are looking for these explosions?" a kid among the crowd asked.

"Athena and Ares are concerned that this explosion might be an attack by Phronesia. As we all know, Phronesia are currently at war with us and the Olympians." The soldier replied.

Am old woman from the crowd shouted back, "We never wanted to be part of this war! Regis was living peacefully until 40 cycles ago that Athena and the rest of the royal family rebelled against Zeus! If you're going to look for the cause of the explosion, why not ask Zeus? He might be hurling thunderbolts from Mt. Olympus!"

The crowd began to resonate with her statement and began to rile up. They demanded the soldiers get out of their town. They never wanted to be caught in between the war of Zeus and some of his children and Phronesia.

"The Olympians and Phronesia is our enemy. All we wanted to is to ensure your safety!" The soldier explained as he tried to calm down the raging crowd. Finally, the soldier yells back, "Tymar was safe before! It was Zeus who became to compliance with his job and left Phronesia unchecked to expand. Athena, Ares and other children of Zeus rebelled against their father for you! The people!"

"We demand safety and peace! Not war! Your fake act of kindness will not get you our men. Like the Phronesian's, all you care is the land not your people. NOW GET OUT!" the Mayor says and the village road with him.

Then the soldiers slammed their shields together as the people began to push them back out of their village. The small unit of soldiers could not fight back against their people and was thrown out of the village. They picked up their weapons and began a long march back to the Delphone's capital.

The people cheered, and they returned to their houses. Jasmine was left speechless on how the village reacted against their government. Although thou it was a bit aggressive, it did solve their issue.

"Like them, you need to say your peice else the world will see you weak." Shamir said these encourage Jasmine. She was hoping that it could give her confidence. And it does. Her words ring the truth to Jasmine and help her regain her confidence.

Jasmine thought about this, and when she is about to be lectured by Leshin, maybe it's time she let her anger flow.

The day turns into night, and the villagers spot Phronesian soldiers travelling towards them. Like last time, they gather outside and prepare to turn these soldiers away. Their soldiers are clad in a black cloak wearing their weapons dangling on their waist. They are fewer compared to the ones that arrived from Delphone.

As they arrived, the village could also see these soldiers got a special guest with them, a Phronesian priest clad in white robes carrying a staff as he walked. The soldiers set a perimeter around the Priest as he began to talk, "Village of Regis, thank you for accepting us Phronesian to your humble abode. We are here not to talking you into joining us but rather a warning." The Priest held his hand high with a wanted poster of a woman that has a striking resemblance to Shamir "This woman is wanted by the Phronesian Crown for stealing. Please, if you see this woman let us know. You will be handsomely reward with your cooperation."

Jasmine and Shamir are hiding inside the inn as they are overlooking the windows. At this moment, Jasmine feels something happening, as if her Chronicle is reacting to something whenever she looks at the Priest. She held the bookmarks and summoned the lady to appear before her.

"What is it? Why is the Chronicle acting up?" Jasmine asked. The lady sat appeared in her spectral form from the bookmarks and shook her head.

"The Chronicle doesn't say anything but it feels something off. As if it's warning us that his presence spells badly for us. You can feel it too don't you?" The lady points to Jasmine's arm as her hair begins to stand up.

Shamir cuddled her away from the window. "Chronicler! Are you talking to the lady of the book again? Well snap out of it, the villagers are heated up and the Phronesians are not letting up! We need to move out of here if this is about to get ugly!"

"But the villagers might be in trouble!" Jasmine reasons, but Shamir grabs her and takes off.

Jasmine understands that Shamir is doing her best to hide their identity. However, if they got exposed, word of the Chronicler and her guardians will spread and prompt Shamir's enemies to find them.

"What good is there if we are to leave the people who helped us? If we keep this up, there is nothing left to protect Shamir!" Jasmine fought back and stood her ground.

Their argument paused when the crowd began to boo on their Phronesians.

The crowd wants them out of the village, but the Priest doesn't move an inch. The Priest has another message aside from the wanted poster. Instead, the Priest and their soldiers were tired from their long journey and wanted to rest at the inn. There the Priest looked up and smiled. The White Chronicle began to shake.

The Mayor shouts back, "Our inns are full. Get out of here Phronesians. Your presence here spells doom for us if Delphone soldiers see you here. We will maintain our neutrality and –"

The Mayor was cut off when the Priest slammed his staff on the floor, sending shockwaves across the village. "Neutrality within the territory of Delphone? You claim neutrality when you allow trade from all three sides of the war? Olympians, Delphone and Phronesians. Stop being such a heretic Mayor. As I see it you just want to be on the good side of every family there are in this. Once the war is over, only then you will rub your hands with the winning family and I believe you will utter that 'Regis is always loyal to you, we always traded with you' and so forth."

The Mayor stood there, and sweat began to drip. The village holds their breath. The jig is up.

"What? Cat caught your tongue?" The Priest laughs. "Don't play coy with me Mayor. I know your game and it won't work. We Phronesian's painted our path with blood. We always withstood our ground since the day we are founded. We will claim this land one way or another." The Priest scattered the wanted poster all over the air.

"Village of Regis, we are tired and the night is long. All we need is a bit of hospitality. All we need is your cooperation and I will ensure that your village will be part of Phronesian." The Priest says he looked over the window of the inn.

"No." The Mayor stood his ground. "We are Regis. We always stood here since the day it was founded and no kingdom shall take us away." Then the Mayor revealed his sword beneath his robes. And soon, the rest of the villagers raise their weapons against the Phronesian.

The Priest and his soldiers laugh at the notion that the villagers have a chance to defeat them. "Hold on now! When your village did begin to be courageous? Something changed. Last month, you village shook at the sight of us whenever we pass thru here. What changed?" then the Priest noticed that the Mayor looked intently at the wanted poster on the ground.

"Ah so she is here. You're harboring a thief among your villagers. This is the reason why you're so aggressive today!" The Priest looked up once more at the windows of the inn. "And I bet she is staying on the inn right now."

The Priest smiled at the Mayor, seeing the guilt that proves his deduction. The villagers can't hide it anymore. One time, their village was plagued by nights of an unending nightmare. It drove their villagers to near madness. Some almost resorted to suicide if it meant they could have eternal sleep without this nightmare. But, it was Shamir and her powers that saved them. She single-handedly drove the nightmare off their village and owned their lives to her.

Back at the inn, Jasmine and Shamir are still debating to help the villagers or not.

"Shamir! The people below is about to be massacred. Please use your sand powers to stop them!" Again, Jasmine pleaded, but Shamir stopped and held her hand tighter.

"I can't Jasmine. I cannot compromise you and our team." Her eyes began to swell up with tears. Shamir held her hand and pleaded to escape. Jasmine can't believe this! Shamir wanted to risk saving their lives and run rather than stopping this bloodshed.

The soldiers below were about to unsheathe their weapon, but then the Priest held his hand signal to stop their actions. "Now, there is no need for that. If anything, we can resolve this peacefully isn't it Mayor?" Then the Priest slammed his staff once more, and black mist immediately surrounded the villagers and put them to sleep. The fog spread fast across the village and into the houses.

Jasmine was gripped with fear, and she saw the black mist as it reminded her of the dream! She grabbed her knife and tried to concentrate her magic. But no magic erupted from her fingertip, nor any flash of light glowed from her jar.

Shamir jumped towards her and enclosed them with her sand. She was fast to prevent the mist from coming towards her but wasn't fast enough to stop Jasmine from inhaling it. Immediately Jasmine began to moan painfully. Shamir placed her hand over Jasmine's head and felt no fever but immediately felt a familiar sensation.

"Nightmare!" Shamir's sands began to crawl towards Jasmine and helped her to relax. Once Shamir finished murmuring her spell, she entered Jasmine's mindscape.

Shamir falls to Jasmine's mind. All she sees is darkness and in the middle is a single glimmer of light. Shamir runs towards the light and finds Jasmine alone with her blade in hand, fending off knives that kept attacking her in all directions.

Shamir used her magic and began to break the darkness. But as the darkness begins to fade away, it gives way to a sky of red, and the scenery begins. Shamir is clinging on the edge of the mountain while Jasmine is alone atop of it.

"This is the mountain near Vale!" Shamir says as she wonders what horrors will Jasmine's mind will create.

The sky darkens, and the snake with wings that Jasmine told the guardian stood tall, towering every mountain and cloud, Bakunawa! It slowly approached them and opened its gaping mouth to swallow the mountain whole!

"This nightmare plagues her mind. Even if I destroy this illusion, it will come back and create another form!" Shamir is left with no choice. Shamir summoned her sand and grabbed Jasmine. There she pulled Jasmine from her mind influenced by nightmares and into Shamir's mindset.

"Finally! You are safe!" Shamir hugs Jasmine as they can rest easy for a bit. Shamir then looked and Jasmine and began to wipe her tears away. "Shh! It's okay! You're inside my mindset now. No knives in the shadow or giant snake will kill you. Your nightmare is over for now."

"I wasn't afraid of dying to them. I was afraid of not able to live up to your expectation. Seeing myself failing to save anyone is the worst!" Jasmine began to collapse as her fear of failure still had a grip on her. And for a moment, Shamir just sat beside her.

"You can cry all you want here. The world outside our minds is halted to a standstill." Shamir put Jasmine over her shoulder, and she began to hum a soothing sound to help Jasmine. It was then she understood Jasmine more. Though she is just a child, she is courageous than most and more than anything; she is still human underneath that notion of being the 'Chronicler'. She was vulnerable and hurting from the way she was treated. Maybe it is better for her to be like this for a while. To be a child and worry nothing in the cruel world above.

Shamir's sands slowly cover Jasmine to cure her nightmare. As Jasmine cries, Shamir channels her power and begins to remove the nightmare from Jasmine. The black smoke exits Jasmine's body like thick tar, and Shamir's sand swallowed it whole.

And from the smoke, a small dead scarab is left. Shamir's eyes widen with disbelief. She cannot believe this. Her enemies have found her, and worst of all, they are in leagues with the Phronesian court! Her sand tore the dead scarab to pieces and readied herself on what was to come. Once they exit their mindscape and return to their sense, Shamir will have to defeat the Priest and his soldiers while protecting the villagers and Jasmine. She puts on a brave face forgets all of it for a moment. She grabs Jasmine shoulder and hugs her to give her some comfort.

"She need to see know about this. There is now better way of saying but my enemy, the Nightmare is back and created an army of undead to fuel his revenge against me." Shamir mutters to herself as she cuddles Jasmine.

As Jasmine finally gets her bearing back. She looked at Shamir's mindscape and was amazed to find this fortress of gold with a huge hourglass in the middle of it. Surrounding her fortress is swarms of flag-waving by the distance.

"Shamir, thanks for that. For the longest time, that helped me get by." Jasmine holds her hand and says she is ready to get back into the real world.

"No problem Jasmine but your right. This world needs defending and we need to return the favor to the people who gave us their kindness." Shamir says, agreeing to help the people of Regis.

"Heck yeah! Let's get these soldiers out of here and make the other guardians proud!" Jasmine says as she readies herself.

Before Shamir could pull them out of her mindscape, she saw a dark figure hunched near them. She immediately attacks the figure with her golden sand and yells to her the Jasmine, "Chronicler! Stay back! He might be the nightmare that plagues Tymar!"

"The Chronicler?! Wait, Nyx! It's me!" the figure tries to calm Shamir down, but she won't listen. The figure was immediately surrounded by the golden sand and immobilized his movement.

"No! We will take him down together!" Jasmine yells as she runs towards the dark figure, dagger in hand.