Darian's legs were shaking. 'Joining their group? What do they even mean?' thought Darian confused, as he remembered one of the words used before by Liro he thought something else, 'Were all these people Alterids?'
"You shouldn't be thinking about that," Alerya said, her tone more serious now. "You don't really have a choice. It's yes or yes"
"Just… give me a moment…"
Darian sat down on a nearby sofa. Vane was next to him, watching with a wide grin, the kind people wear when they're clearly having too much fun.
"We can't let you roam freely," Alerya continued, turning to look out the window. "The people in the city think you killed the king."
"We'll tell everyone you died. If there's another killer in town, we can't let panic spread" added her.
After hearing these words Darian's eyes opened in surprise.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!? You're going to tell everyone I'm the killer? I won't ever be able to leave then!" shouted him as he couldn't believe what this woman was saying, as he raised his voice he completely forgot about the situation he was a few minutes ago, but as the group noticed Alerya remaining chill, they all did the same.
"Oh, don't worry about that, Darian," Alerya replied in a calming voice. "They saw you while you were transformed. Your body looked completely different. No one would recognize you now. We'll just say it was a Krukin, and that we killed it."
'That doesn't sound like a great plan, like it would just spread more panik… but I mean… it might work, yeah' thought Darian a bit unsure, but realizing that he wasn't in the position of giving order, he could only agree with what she was saying.
"By the way…" Darian had a dozen more questions buzzing in his head. He needed answers.
"The one who died... he was a king, right? I remember him having a crown…" asked him, before answering, Alerya nodded with her head.
"Yes… he was my father," Alerya replied, her voice dimming. "He was giving a speech when it happened."
"What was he talking about that got him killed?" Darian asked more confused.
"He was announcing the plan... to reclaim Earth. He wanted to destroy the Krukins and make humanity free again… but someone had interrupted his speech"
Darian's face twisted in shock as he couldn't believe what he had just heard, 'WHY WOULD ANYONE KILL THE KING THEN??'
"I don't get it," he said aloud. "Why would someone stop that? Did they not want humanity to progress or he had enemies in the city?"
"We don't know," Alerya replied. "But it won't stop us."
She slammed her hands on the desk, everyone in the room jumped.
"If whoever shot the king thought we'd be afraid, they were wrong. The Veilguard won't back down" , as she said it with a serious voice, the group nodded firmly.
"You said you're the Veilguard, right?" Darian asked.
"Us," Vane corrected, slinging an arm around Darian's shoulder. Snowy, perched there, yelped as he tumbled to the floor.
"Yeah… so who exactly are you? Are you like, the city's protectors or something?" asked Darian a bit annoyed by Vane's hands around his shoulder, Snowy who had just fell on the floor slowly jumped back.
"Well, sort of," Alerya said, walking closer to her team.
"We're all Alterids protecting the city. Each of us has strong abilities. But we never know who we'll face out there, so having one more hand would help."
She extended her arm toward Darian, who took her hand, and she pulled him up.
"Let me introduce you to the full squad. You've already seen Kael's power, right?"
Kael stood up, and Darian's diary began floating into the air.
"My ability lets me modify an object's gravity." The diary hovered a moment, then dropped. Darian caught it.
"Oh, I'll go next!!" said a woman with long blonde hair as she hopped up from the sofa. She wasn't very tall, and her cheerful voice instantly felt kind.
"I'm Lara! My power, Florahealth, helps me heal injuries."
Vane got up and wrapped an arm around Lara.
"Without her, we'd be dead a dozen times over. By the way, I'm Vane."
He extended an arm. Darian mirrored the motion, and Vane slapped his palm in greeting. Then he walked to a more open space.
'Huh? Why is he moving away? Is he going to show me his power?' thought Darian as he looked Vane confused.
"Vane, I know what you're thinking. Please don't do it again," Liro said, concerned.
"Yeah, just turn into the small one," Kael added, equally wary.
"What happened last time?" Darian asked, placing Snowy down beside him.
"Oh, the thing he turns into is just too big... it wrecks everything," Lara laughed from behind him.
"You weren't the one who had to clean it up…" Kael mumbled.
"Alright, alright, I get it…" Vane rolled his eyes, then transformed into a majestic eagle.
"As you can see, my power Bestmorphia lets me turn into animals... I can turn into a polar bear, a buffalo, and this eagle."
He transformed back, and crashed directly into Liro.
"Oh, sorry, Liro!" Vane laughed, while Liro looked annoyed.
"At least you didn't break anything this time," Liro said, pushing him off, Vane's body crushed against the small table between the sofa.
'How strong is that little guy…?' Darian wondered, watching Vane chuckle on the floor amused by his words.
"My power's called Eidetron," Liro said. "It lets me create illusions and dynamic representations."
A glowing 3D map of the building appeared in midair.
"Whoa… so cool!" Darian admired the projection, until it morphed into a perfect replica of himself.
"Ah!" shouted Darian surprised as he jumped back clearly not excepting that, Snowy near his feet looked at the illusion with always his same eyes.
Everyone seeing Darian's reaction brust into a big laugh.
"Liro can create illusions too. That's not a mirror, that's you!" Kael explained.
"Or maybe it is a mirror and you'll never be sure" said Vane with an amused tone as he got back on his feet.
"I guess I'll go next," said the figure in the simple brown robe that covered their entire body.
"I'm Allocen. I'm not actually an Alterid. My power is called Geonir. I can manipulate the ground."
Kael walked up beside him.
"Allocen's been with the Veilguard for just three weeks, but he's crazy strong. That's why we chose him."
"Yeah, in battle he barely moves, he just buries enemies underground!" Lara said with a giggle.
"...Well, yeah," Allocen muttered, going quiet again.
Darian turned to Alerya. "And you? I just realized I never got your name properly."
"I'm Alerya, as you might have heard, I'm the princess of the city and leader of the Veilguard."
"Oh. What's your power?" asked Darian as he excepted her to explain the power just like everyone else, but what after he said these words everyone turned quiet.
"You want to know Alerya's power?" Liro said. "That's like… taboo around here."
"Yeah… We just know it's extremely powerful," Vane added, his tone suddenly serious.
"But Alerya doesn't like to talk about it" added Kael.
'Even Vane got serious? Maybe I misjudged him…' thought Darian.
"Don't worry, everyone," said Alerya as a reassuring smile appeared over her face. "It's just that my power hurts me every time I use it. That's why I never go on missions."
To lighten the mood, Allocen spoke without someone asking him first to do so, around here it was rare occurrence so everyone was surprised.
"We saw your power earlier, Darian. Maybe you could show it again? What exactly can you do?"
"Whoa. Allocen spoke?!" Vane rushed over. "That's extremely rare! Are you feeling okay?" He rubbed Allocen's head like a pet.
"I'm just… curious about his power," Allocen said, locking eyes with Snowy. "And that creature" Allocen looked directly at Snowy in his eyes and while Darian looked at Snowy first, then he looked at Allocen's look.
Darian couldn't tell what kind of look Allocen was giving Snowy. 'It feels… intense. Maybe curiosity? Maybe hostility?'
"Well, alright. Let me explain," Darian said, stepping forward.
He described how his power worked and how his transformation with Snowy functioned.
Everyone seemed confused… except Liro.
"Booooring, skip the usless stuff and let us see something more serious" said Vane as a smirk appeared over his face.
"Snowy?" Darian extended his arm, and Snowy leapt onto it.
"Mhm, but earlier you said it could theoretically enter your body anywhere, right?" Vane asked, a mischievous smirk on his face.
Darian's eyes widened... then he smirked too.
There was an invisible thread connecting their thoughts perfectly. The others looked on in confusion as they stepped closer to each other.
"SO IT COULD ENTER THROUGH THE BUTT TOO!!"
They shouted the words in unison.
Lara burst into laughter. Liro looked absolutely horrified.
After some silence the room suddently returned serious.
"Now I would like to show you some magic..." said Darian as he coughed to break the silence, as he positioned his hand over his chest his usual armor was created.
"Ice Armor! Guys someone try to hit me!" said Darian as he opened his arm wide waiting for someone to hit him.
"Well, I was the one that asked you to show us your spells so…"
Allocen summoned a stone pillar and launched it at Darian.
The moment it touched the icy armor, both the ground and the pillar exploded.
Debris flew everywhere. Kael dropped to his knees.
"No… I HAVE TO CLEAN ALL THIS AGAIN! AARGGHH!!!"
Everyone burst out laughing.
Later that night, Darian lay on a bed inside the building. Apparently, each member of the Veilguard had their own room, and there happened to be one free.
Snowy curled up beside him as Darian was looking at the roof while laying on the bed.
"Snowy… we did it. We found humans."
Darian smiled. A new chapter of his life had begun.
"At first, I was scared that they would have killed me especially after everything that had happened… but I'm happy to see that everything turned alright…" as he tilted his body to look at Snowy directly in his eyes it felt that something was off, it was like someone was watching him.
As Darian tilted on the bed he noticed a small hole in the wall, 'what's there?' thought him confused, as he raised from the bed and reached for the hole he noticed a small white string.
Darian pulled it and a feather fell in his hand.
It was pitch black, with purple-tinted edges.
"What the hell is this?" he muttered, confused.
He sat on the bed, turning it over in his hands.
"I don't think this came from any animal… I'm no zoologist, but still…" Darian looked confused at the feather but then he simply left it in his bag, "Well it isn't anything important… I'll let Rusty analyze it whenever he has time" with that he returned to the bed with Snowy still curled up in the same position.
For the first time in forever, Darian had spoken with humans. And now, he was about to work with them. He had so much information to share and he wanted to help.
Meanwhile, in another room, Liro and Alerya were deep in conversation.
"Princess," Liro said, his tone laced with fear, "remember when I was reading Darian's diary?"
"Mhm? What is it, Liro? It's rare to hear you sound like that… you usually have this tone only when you're scared" answered Alerya.
"I found a description… of a monster that shouldn't exist" Liro trembled with his whole body and Alerya remained surprised.
"What do you mean? Explain yourself" said her almost raising her voice.
"It just felt… wrong," Liro said. He described to Alerya the massive creature Darian once saw after he returned to earth.
"What is that? We've never seen anything like it! And we've done countless expeditions" said Alerya shocked after hearing the whole explaination.
"I know… But if it really exists…"
He swallowed.
"…it could mean the end of humanity."