Tale of Vanguard

Kaelen found himself feeling as if he were being enveloped in a tunnel of swirling light with his body moving in an unimaginable speed, not to mention the space around him seems blurry to look at. All the phenomenon that is happening right now makes him want to throw up, but he hesitates. He tried to let out a voice but nothing came out, when suddenly a ghastly figure appeared in front of him, Kaelen looks a bit bewildered—how can this thing appear so clear in his eyes despite the blurry space that surrounds them?

The figure in front of him makes an uncanny gesture, despite its all around dark apperances, Kaelen knew that this thing is a human being, he had a feeling that this thing is trying to get his attention when all of a sudden, he feels incredibly sleepy. Despite his best efforts to stay awake, the drowsiness overwhelms him, and his eyelids slowly close.

***

Kaelen opened his eyes.

What he sees is a magnificent chandelier dangling on the celing above him, carefully lifting his upper body up from the ground, he slowly looks around his surrounding, he then sees the same rift that was created by Master Cronos in the hospital room, only this time, its much bigger in size, the black ooze that it emits also spread to its surrounding a lot farther—maybe it corresponds to the rift size.

Beside the rift, stands a man who looks to be guarding the rift itself, noticing that Kaelen is awake, the man approaches him. He had long brownish red hair that is tied to make its apperances look tidy. The man seemed to be in his late twenties wearing a gold coloured armor clad that looks heavy, he is also holding a spear in his right hand. The man stared at Kaelen for a few second

"So, you are the starborne that he found. Can you stand?"

The man smiled at Kaelen while lending a helping hand to him.

'a... starborne?'

Kaelen accepts the man's hand and slowly stands up with his help

"Thanks, but, what is this place and who are you?"

The man gives Kaelen a questioning look and sighed.

"I see, looks like the old man haven't told you everything huh?"

'By old man does he means Master Cronos? speaking of which, where the hell is he?'

Rogue explained the situation to him.

"Right now, we are at one of the four sanctuaries of the Kingdom of Calaria: Gloomshade Haven. My name is Rogue, one of the few people that has been tasked to guard the Astral Gateway of this very sanctuary."

After hearing his explanation, Kaelen tried to ask him a question.

"Uh.. i have a question"

"Go on"

"By Astral gateway, i assumed you meant that huge rift-like portal there"

Rogue nods.

"Yes, these gateways are what connected your world to my world, that one right there is one of the four gateways that belongs to our kingdom, with the rest of it is located at their respective sanctuary. Each of these sanctuaries is located in the cardinal direction of the kingdom, with ours at the west of it"

All of a sudden, the ooze that surrounds the gateway in the room starts to move uncontrollably. Looking at the gateway, Kaelen seems agitated, meanwhile Rogue doesn't seem the least bit bothered by it.

"Uhh does it supposed to do that?"

Kaelen asked nervously to Rogue.

Meanwhile, Rogue, who still has his sight fixated on the gateway, response to Kaelen:

"Yes, there is nothing to worried about, that just means someone is about to use the gateway to enter this place."

A few seconds later, what comes out of the gate did not match Kaelen's expectation. A creature head, 20 feet above the ground slowly exit the gateway. Its head, covered in black fur, has two long fangs and sinister red eyes. The shape of the head itself closely resembles that of a wolf. 

"Ar.. are you sure you were expecting that thing?"

Kaelen asked as he slowly steps away from the gate.

Meanwhile Rogue, with an indifferent expression, begins to kneel on one knee, holding his spear firmly in his right hand. Kaelen starts to question that man sanity—or maybe it was him who jumped to conclusion real quick.

As the creature's body slowly emerged from the gateway, Kaelen noticed what seemed to be a sword or some kind of weapon piercing through its torso. Beneath it was a bloodied girl carrying the creature herself. Beside her stood another woman, whose appearance contrasted sharply with the one carrying the creature.

The girl who carried the large creature with only her right hand looks to be the same age as Kaelen. She wore the same type of armor as Rogue, but in silver color and with more motif in its lining, she had long, lustrous black hair and icy blue eyes, with skin as white as snow. Despite her appearance being bloodied from top to bottom, Kaelen could tell that she was one of the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. The woman beside her looks more mature, probably in her early forties, she wore black cloaks that cover her entire body except her head, she had short, jet-black hair, with clear grey eyes.

"Welcome back, Your Highness, and to you as well, Madam Nyx."

Rogue greets both the girl and the woman that emerges from the gateway.

Both of them approached Rogue who is kneeling in front of them.

"At ease Rogue, the princess and i just returned from training, no need with the formality" the woman said in a calming voice with a smile in her face.

 Noticing the young man behind rogue, she stares at him curiously.

"Hoo.. and who might you be young man?" 

Before Kaelen could respond to the woman's question, Rogue looked at him and gave a gesture—it seemed that Rogue wanted him to kneel in the presence of both of these women. Noticing Rogue's intention, Kaelen complied and knelt on one knee.

"Uhh... greetings. My name is Kaelen,"

 Unsure of what to say next, Kaelen just simply introduced himself.

"Pardon him Madam, he just arrived to this place with Master Cronos from the gateway as well"

"Tch!" The woman's calm demeanor suddenly shifted to one of irritation.

"I see, seems that old geezer Alaric finally did his job properly, even though it took him a very long time," said the woman in an irritating tone.

'uhh is she referring to the old man? why did she sound so annoyed just now?'

Suddenly, the girl that carried the huge creature drops it to the ground and approached Kaelen. She crouches in front of Kaelen and brought her face closer to him until the distance of their faces are only a few centimeters away

"Whoa!"

Kaelen, shocked by her action, reflexively distance his face away from her. He gulped because of her pretty face that is so close to him

The girl's eyes were fixed on him, reflecting a sense of keen interest, just like a curious cat

"You look interesting." Said the girl.

"Uhh... thanks?"