Erebus and the other two arrived on the Main Continent shortly after they left the Dragon Continent. As per usual, they had flown at a rapid speed that allowed them to cover miles upon miles of ocean and land within hardly any time.

Upon landing, they discovered that the civilizations on the Main Continent were still recovering from the war that had ravaged their lands a few years back; the dragons had done quite a number on them, and they were still scrambling to put everything back into some semblance of order.

There was was falling, muddying the earth and soaking the dragons’ clothing. A light fog hung low on the ground, making it a little difficult to see. They were in a large grassland that stretched out for quite a while, the long blades of grass brushed against their knees.

“Listen,” Erebus began, turning to the two younger dragons that were following him. “As Rolut said, we will be dealing with someone who is only on a slightly lower standing than our own. Meaning that you can’t just kill her because you don’t like her.”

Azure clicked her tongue. “Shouldn’t we be telling that to you?”

Erebus’ fist swung down and clocked her on top of her head.

She cried out, retreating from under his fist. “You know, just because I may be shorter than you doesn’t mean you have to take advance of the situation!”

Erebus eyes widened in surprise. “Seriously?”

“All the short people in the world are spitting on your grave,” Azure snapped.

“I’m not dead.”

“Your metaphorical grave, then!”

Massath stepped in, his voice bland, “Can I go to sleep before we go see her? I need to rest.”

“No,” Erebus answered immediately. He lifted his eyepatch momentarily, revealing his green eye before the black fabric covered the emerald orbs once again. “I found it. Let’s go.”

They obeyed, following after Erebus’ billowing cape and figure as he walked with purpose in his stride.

Knowing him, Azure thought, he was just trying to hurry and get this over with so that he could get back to doing whatever the hell he did in his free time--which they had a lot of.

“How do you know where we’re going?” Azure inquired, eyes piquing with interest.

“Intuition,” Erebus answered dryly even though it was an obvious lie. “Just follow me, I won’t lead you astray.”

Azure scoffed but kept her mouth shut; her eyes shifting over to Massath, who was dragging his feet with a devastated expression on his face.

Massath noticed her stare and looked back at her, his gaze pleading “let me sleep” it seemed to say. Azure quickly averted her eyes, focusing in on her feet and refusing to look back up.

I didn’t see anything... So please stop looking at me! she screamed internally, feeling Massath’s gaze burning into the side of her head.

Azure gulped, saliva dragging down her esophagus.

“Here we are,” Erebus said his voice breaking through Azure’s nervousness as he pushed through low-hanging branches and walked into a clearing where the fog didn’t enter.

There was a barrier there, actually; which is why the fog couldn’t go through. But Erebus--being Erebus--easily pushed through the barrier and the Azure and Massath followed in suit.

The first thing that they saw was the ginormous, clear mana stone that levitated in the air and iridescent liquid ran down its surface and fell into a lake. Sitting on a small island with just enough space for her body was a woman.

Her hair, pitch-black in color, fell around her naked body as if to serve as her clothing. The silky, onyx locks pooled onto the ground, and the ends dipped into the liquid mana she was surrounded by.

The Guardian’s heart-shaped face was like a pearl set in between her hair, boasting a beauty even greater than Tear’s. Everything on her face was set in perfect proportion: from her dainty nose to her almond-shaped eyes and her full, pink lips that were pulled into a warm smile.

Two ivory horns branched from the sides of her head while two ivory wings grew from her back and rested at her sides; it gave her an angelic yet demonic appearance but the strange mix didn’t sully her ethereal grace.

Erebus, unlike Azure and Massath, hardly even relished in her beauty and spoke to her, “Hello, Guardian. I am Erebus, the fifth dragon.”

“I am Massath, the seventh dragon,” Massath introduced himself, finally regaining his bearings after seeing Erebus barely bat an eyelash. He wouldn’t allow himself to be distracted because of her appearance!

“Azure,” the blue-haired girl said, almost brusquely as if she felt some competition between her and the Guardian. “The eighth dragon.”

“The children of this world named me Fate,” the Guardian spoke softly, her amethyst eyes glimmering as if they held the stars within them. “I am the Guardian of the Main Continent’s 「 Godly Stone」.”

“I know.” Erebus walked over then sat down in front of her, crossing his legs and staring straight at her. “So what was it that you wanted?”

She blinked, as well as the others, at Erebus’ casual behavior. Well... Azure wasn't expecting much but was still disappointed in the end.

Massath followed Erebus’ example and plopped down next to him to face the Guardian.

“I am glad that I am finally able to meet you,” Fate said. “I have heard a lot about you all and about how you handled the situation of the war.”

“And?” Erebus asked, suppressing a yawn. “Cut through the bull. What is it that you wanted to say?”

Fate’s dainty hands tightened into a fist. “Don’t you think your methods were far too violent for what the situation warranted? I could feel the tremors of your battle from here. You destroyed lands... entire civilizations. You didn’t even bat an eyelash, did you?” Her smile tightened. “For you to be protectors of Eirlok... Aren’t you the most dangerous of all?” Her question seemed to be pointed at Erebus.

His eye narrowed. “And?”

“And what?” Surprise colored Fate’s tone, her eyes widened at his words.

“What do you expect me to do about it?” Erebus questioned. “I can’t rewrite the past...” he trailed off then smiled mockingly at Fate. “Or perhaps we can.”

She adjusted her posture, her wings rustling.“That isn’t what I meant, I...”

“Then what did you mean?” Erebus tilted his head slightly in seemingly innocent confusion. “You’ve confronted me with a problem yet you don’t have a solution. Am I supposed to solve it for you?”

Azure chided, “Erebus... What was it that you said about being courteous?”

“I said that you two had to be polite--that didn’t include me.” He sighed, losing all motivation to continue on. Fate never dealt with any situations like this while Erebus spent plenty of time going back and forth with the others at the Dragon Council. She, he decided, was hardly worth the energy. “Was that all?” he asked Fate.

“Um... Well...”

“So it was,” Erebus said while standing up and dusting off his pants. “If you want someone to talk to, don’t call me--it’s annoying.”

Azure and Massath also stood up, the latter looking ready to fall over and go to sleep.

“Wait!” Fate called out, scrambling to get on her feet before they left.

“What?” Erebus asked, his gaze boring into her. “Do you have something to say or are going to continue wasting my time?”

Fate, for the first time in her lifetime, felt nervous. Speechless, even. She wrung her hands together, unsure how to proceed. She had something to say--but she didn’t know how to. Rather, with Erebus staring her down so venomously, she had difficulty being able to form her sentence. “I wasn’t done,” she finally managed to push the words out. “Speaking, that is. There was more.”

Erebus turned, completely this time so that his body was facing hers. “Let’s hear it then,” he said though it came out as more of a command.

“Let’s,” Azure echoed, feeling the need to input herself.

Massath kept silent but he held his gaze steady on Fate.

“Have you ever seen the Main Continent?” she asked. “My land is very beautiful.”

“We saw it in passing. Why?” Azure jutted her hip out and tried to appear intimidating but her head barely reached higher than Erebus’ waist.

“If you don’t mind, I would like to show you it all. I think that it’s a shame if you don’t explore the world you protect.”

“Explore?” Erebus repeated.

Fate smiled weakly. “Do you ever leave the Dragon Continent for more than some time to sleep for a year or two? What do you do with your time?”

The dragons looked at each other, not sure how to respond.

“I...” Azure said, trying to think of when she had done something. “Whatever! What are you going to do about it?”

“Well, I can’t go very far from my stone but I would like to show you around... Consider it to be our little adventure.”

“First of all, I don’t even like you. Why would I want to spend more time with you? Huh? You have an answer for that one? Huh?” Azure demanded, contorting her cute face into a sneer.

“Shut up,” Erebus told Azure. He said, “All right. You may guide us around, it’s a good opportunity to see some more of this continent.” Rolut wanted them to establish a relationship with Fate, maybe he would get off of Erebus’ back for a while if he did Rolut this one favor. It wasn’t really a favor, though... Rolut had demanded him.

Actually, it wasn’t like Erebus ever followed Rolut’s orders without adding his own spin to it. So... he was doing Rolut a favor by following his command. That was exactly what it was.

Erebus was satisfied with that conclusion.

Fate (her confidence was restored) smiled broadly. “How you have lived here so long yet never seen the world is a mystery to me. Anyway, follow me. I’ll show you what a human settlement looks like... I believe that there are some elves not too far away, also.” She continued to ramble on, seeming to have forgotten about how the dragon’s had dismissed her concerns earlier.

Erebus’ eyebrows quirked. She would take them to see... humans? They, to him, were an uninteresting and discarded species. At that time, they hadn’t been as weak as they were today but they still weren’t anything noteworthy.

“Who cares about humans?” Azure voiced Erebus’ thoughts aloud, her tone laced with boredom. “They’re weak and boring and weak.”

“You’re starting to sound like me,” Erebus remarked.

She guffawed. “You know, that isn’t a compliment? Being like you isn’t a compliment at all! Take it back, okay? I haven’t fallen that low yet.”

“I want to hit you,” Erebus said breezily with an undertone of malice.

Fate watched the two’s exchange, not sure how to process it. They changed character way too quickly; it was hard to gauge which was the real one. Erebus had a fearsome look in his eyes at one point but now it had vanished and was replaced by apathy.

She couldn’t tell which was worse, honestly.

Her eyes trailed over to Massath who was lethargically following behind them, his feet dragging on the muddy ground.

When he saw her stare, he offered her a weak and defeated smile before his eyes fell back downwards.

Fate exhaled, straightening out her posture and holding her head up higher.

She could do this. She would show them the world and explain to them the proper way to protect it. That was her goal.