"No way! So if she's some kind of witch I'd die first!" 

"Who's a witch?" 

"Ahhh!" Both boys exclaimed and turned around immediately.

"What are you two dimwits looking for in these parts? Are you lost?" A shriveled up old lady asked.

"Umm. . .no, we we're just. . ."

"Passing by. . ." Choryrth muttered.

"Well you better get going cause crimson woods ain't a place for you two" she retorted and pushed past them, heading for the cottage.

"Hold on. . .does she live there?" Mako whispered to Choryrth.

"That's gotta be her" Choryrth whispered "excuse me! Old lady ma'am!" Choryrth stuttered.

"What'd ya want?" She paused.

"I'm supposed to meet the owner of this . . .nice. . .cottage? I was sent by Elder Sharman" he had blinked while talking and the old woman was no longer away from him but right in front of him.

"Oh lord!" Mako froze on the spot while Choryrth couldn't stop panting.

"Elder Sharman. . . It's been eleven years since I saw that old gizzard" she smiled, revealing her scary uneven dentition.

"Hehe. . .hehe" Choryrth chuckled nervously.

"Prove it!" She barked staring directly into Choryrth's eyes.

"I'm. . . Choryrth, he um gave me this pendant" he quickly held up the pendant as the old woman stepped back a bit.

"My my" she examined the authenticity of the jewel before smiling "you've grown so much" she cried.

"Now tell me this whole thing was not creepy" Mako said 

"Who's he?" She said to Choryrth.

"Sareena's son, Mako" Mako introduced himself "you're madam Saghirra right?"

"Muko!" The old woman exclaimed.

"It's Mako. . ." She pulled both boys into a hug.

"Come inside, follow me!" She said and waddled her way up to the cottage while the boys followed.

___________________________________________

Saghirra's Cottage:

"I told Sharman not to send you here until you're ready, you're still. . ." Her face creased into confusion as she looked up at Choryrth who was seated opposite Mako few meters away from the fireplace.

"A baby?" Mako shrugged.

"Exactly!" She agreed.

"I'm sixteen, I can take care of myself" Choryrth defended.

"But can you carry the fate of the world?" She asked in a rather scary tone as she lit the fireplace and poured a keg of water into the pot hanging above the fireplace.

"N. . .no, maybe?" Choryrth muttered "what does that even have to do with me?" He retorted.

"Ah, I see you left in a hurry. Sharman didn't even give you any briefings" she said and took a seat by Mako.

"The Red Dragon soldiers were looking for me because they found out I was an Earth elemental" Choryrth replied.

"Not just that, you are more than that" she smiled "for many years the Kamren generation have been the leaders of the guardians blessed with the mark of lord Mugen and you Choryrth come from that longline. Your grandfather, great and great great have all fulfilled their duties"

"Now that's cool" Mako smiled.

"I don't understand, what led to all this?  why did I have to find out this way? Why am I not with my parents?"

"Slow down champ, we're here to meet her for all those reasons" Mako confronted him and leaned back.

"Maybe we could start from the beginning" she said softly.

"That'd be better, I'm curious as well" Mako replied.

"Long before time had a name, the Shouken world was created by the first gods, the elemental dragons, by using the five elemental crystals of Shouken; weapons so powerful, no one could wield them at once, except of course the infinity dragon 'Lord Makiath'. Makiath had five brothers; Zuth the god of water, lorath the god of earth, levenath the god of air, Moeru: the god of nature and sorath the god of fire. They were sworn protectors of the Shouken Crystal but there was a slight, Shouken was empty and lonely. Thus mortals were created, inhabiting various sections of Shouken and multiplying, One of the greatest creations of the gods, they laid their trust in their creations and selected five individuals divined with the five prospective Elementals as the crystal guardians and then one individual from the most powerful generation, a direct descendant of lord Makiath who was granted the power of all five elementals. Every individual born as a guardian has passed the trait from generation to generation until one day, greed protruded" she paused to check on the water which was already heated   "The descendant of Sorath sought for more power, he committed blasphemy and was cursed by the gods on the day of the blood moon and by Makiath he was casted into the abyss. . .would you boys like some tea!" She yelled.

"Sure!" Mako replied.

"Alright one second" she replied and quickly prepared two fresh cups of tea before rejoining the boys.

"Thank you" both boys greeted.

"You're welcome, now where was I?" She replied.

"Sorath's descendant was casted into the abyss by Makiath" Choryrth replied with a hint of impatience.

"Ah yes! Sorath was indeed unhappy and disappointed but he also felt betrayed, as the controller of wrath he let loose and cursed the entire Sorath's descendants to come. Makiath requested that his actions be reverted but Sorath had said the deed was already done. The guardians of the fire Crystal however bore the mark of Sorath and the heart of the first guardian, an irrevokable defect of the curse placed by Sorath. For years peace reigned, other creatures occupied the land and mortals evolved.

         A means of exchange was devised by those of higher intelligence and used to send goods across, there was civilisation and coordination, Mine grounds were situated at every part of the main villages. Then one day some greedy men were at the Rock mines carrying out the days job when a rare gem piece, believed to be broken from the fire Crystal but was actually an illusion which was used to draw them deeper into the mines where they stumbled across a dark cave, dripping water, lonely. But there was something strange, a body clustered inside the rocks. They thought it to be someone who must have gotten trapped and unfortunately freed the first fire guardian, Gaundallas was his name, they fell victim, Gaundallas was weak and needed replenishment and revitalization, he devoured the men but only one survived 'sir Rothian of the Northern callibeur' he ran for his life, Gaundallas chose to let him flee to inform the gods, to inform Shouken that he was back for revenge"

"Spooky, so modern civilization for years brought the pit he was casted in up to the surface" Mako asked and took a hasty sip from the surprisingly tasty tea.

"So it seemed" Saghirra replied.

"Look, let's be quiet and let her finish the story first before we ask questions" Choryrth replied coldly.

"Yes sir. . ." Mako whistled and remained quiet.

" Gaundallas grew darker and greedier, afflicting mortals pain and taking blood sacrifices, he swore to destroy the work of the gods as a manner of his revenge. He was way too powerful for the Shouken guardians so Makiath and his brothers held a council on how to destroy Gaundallas, gods have limits and could not trespass the lands of Shouken to avoid causing rifts or damage on Shouken. Six Lords were summoned from the Haoken (lower heaven)

Mugen: descendant of Makiath, the infinity god

Heisiesh: descendant of Sorath, the god of fire

Pasiap: descendant of Lorath, the god of Earth

Mela: descendant of levenath, the god of air

Daana'd: descendant of Zuth, the god of water

Shiath: descendant of Moeru, the god of nature.

These six lords were sent down to Shouken as the Kaioken (lords of the realm) to aid the crystal guardians in the uncalled war against Gaundallas, but Gaundallas had consumed many mortals and had become more powerful than expected, the Kiaoken decided then to lend their Elemental powers to the soldiers temporarily which proved successful in taking down Gaundallas whose heart was sealed in a box afterwards; but before that Gaundallas had an encounter with Heisiesh during an expedition where Hesiesh's mind was poised and forced to believe in a new world order. After the war Heisiesh started an evangelism of the new world order to which he was rediculed by the mortals, however the few mortals who believed in him started a secret society of the new world order.

After years of furnishing his cult, the lord were asked to return to the lower heaven until they were needed again. In their absence it was rumored that there were Dallas tribe members blessed with the fire Elemental, they said they prayed hard to lord Sorath and was blessed with the gift but that was not the case, Heisiesh during his stay years ago had written scrolls and scriptures, rituals which he left behind with the leader of the Dallas tribe. The fire Elementals grew in number and the new world order began, the cult arose from the peaceful Dallas tribe thus tainting their names, they were believed to be evil since they brought nothing but destruction. Once again the Lord returned to Shouken, Heisiesh raped a mortal to create a vessel where he would restore Gaundallas' heart

      When the society of the new world order had stolen the heart of Gaundallas through Hesiesh's sabotage he took up the name of the dragon Lord, he had his brothers at his feet and fleed with the heart. While the search went on Heisiesh's offsprings grew, they were twins, the male twin's heart he replaced with Gaundallas' while the female twin was cursed with Sorath's symbol, a demigod who would later become his doom with the help of the dragon lord which happened to be Choryrth, during that same time Choryrth was born but kept a secret from the world.

       Balance was thrown off when Heisiesh brought war with his right hand man Cadigen his dragon lord who was granted the permission to nurse Hesiesh's offsprings Kilgharra and Saphirre. Mugen was the only brother brave enough to stand up to Hesiesh, with Pasiap by his side, both brothers dreamt of a world where there would be peace, a world where they would one day become mortals and settle down in some island raising livestocks.

            Crazy right?

      Those dreams were shattered by Hesiesh when he killed Pasiap, Mugen swore revenge. Kamren Imai resulted to consulting the Dallas tribe for a means of controlling the whole gibberish. The oldest member of the Dallas tribe had a way, he was going to design a pendant that held great powers to summon and seal a god but he would need portions of the crystals on one condition;

         That Imai would keep it a secret from the lords, and that when the pendant is created, the lords be sealed into it why? He believed the root cause of the war was power and envy amongst the brothers. Imai however swore an oath of secrecy and set out to gather pieces of the crystals which brought nothing but more destruction.

Makiath and his brothers could not believe how much chaos their creation had brought upon themselves, the withdrew their energy from the crystals which began to grow weak. 

Makiath cursed Mugen's blood to carry the responsibilities of Mugen.

Sorath cursed the female twin of Kilgharra and tied her fate to Mugen's blood since the feud was between both brothers.

Lorath gave his blessings to Mugen's blood for he saw the destiny ahead, his powers could not be manifested except through the dead Pasiap

The rest of the brothers cursed the younger generations of the guardians as a result of anger.

The brothers then agreed on a new prophecy: that during the greatest time of needs, the darkest times, these younger generations with the curse of the gods will restore balance and strengthen the crystals and bring the Kaioken back to order. They decided to sit back and watch events unfold.

When Imai had returned with the designed pendant a war had been declared in his absence, the guardians had split themselves. 

The guardian of the crystal of water took his people away and exempted themselves from the war, for such act lord Daana'd blessed them with the water Elemental to protect themselves from hidden dangers and keep the legacy of his regime.

The guardian of the crystal of air did same and the people we're blessed with the air Elemental to keep the legacy of his regime.

Same thing happened with the guardian of the nature crystal  but the Earth elemental guardian swore to fight for Pasiap by Mugen's side.

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