The Arcane Guardians Chapter 57: Chapter 53: The Harbinger’s Children (Part One)

Read chapter 57 of The Arcane Guardians by Mercynarie on NovelPedia.

Fun Fact: Each class manifests magic in different ways. Sorcerers draw magic from tomes. Warlocks use dark magic bolstered by their patron deities, if they have one. Clerics borrow power from the worshipped deities. Necromancers harness the residual Arcani of the dead. Mages command the power of elements. Shamans commune with and command minor deities. Soothsayers use the magic of the spoken word. Druids work with natural magic to manipulate the life force of plants and animals. ~ ~ ~ Felix watched from the top of a building as a group of people showed up in the distance, waddling in the snow like a family of colourful penguins. It was painfully obvious how much they were sticking out in the sea of white surrounding them, but it did not matter. This was not a stealth mission. It was a diversion. His ears pricked at the sounds of roaring. The ground trembled as a herd of Abominations charged towards his teammates, just as expected. Still, Felix’s mouth hung open in shock at the sheer number of monsters; there were at least fifty of them in this area. By the gods, did Aglaia do all of this? How many people did she turn into monsters? Sounds of rifle blasts ensued, and the boy aimed his grappling gun at a chimney. There was no need to ruminate; he could ask her himself later. The flue came into view soon, and he flipped his body gracefully. The grappling hook retracted with a satisfying whirring, and he slid into the rectangular hole. Felix tumbled clumsily onto the gravel floor. He swept the dust off his suit, cursing silently. He had forgotten how much it hurt to hit the ground without his protective aura. The boy pulled out the map, staring intently at the parchment again. He rolled his eyes in annoyance. It would be really nice to have his telekinetic senses back right about now, but Felix resisted the urge to tear open his suit. Nero had risked his life providing the layout of the building for him so that he could do this without alerting Aglaia. It would be a waste of his effort if Felix exposed himself prematurely. His heart was already hammering in his chest by the time the small shadow came into view. The solitary Guardian crept silently behind the circular hall, tranquilliser at the ready. Stray streams of light were pouring in through the holes peppered in the dome ceiling, and the stench of death filled the air. Felix watched the ground carefully, making sure not to step in the questionable-looking fluids staining the floor. The plan was to go nice and easy, to subdue Aglaia before she could even put up a fight. There would be plenty of time to counsel her after she ended this madness. That plan got shot all to hell when she broke the silence. “Here the path ends, sinner.” Felix immediately pulled the trigger at the shadow, but nothing came out. He looked at his tranquiliser in surprise; it had turned into a wooden gun. “Why not come out into the light so that you can see me?” Aglaia’s voice echoed around the empty hall. The boy sighed and removed his suit. No need to mask his presence now. He walked into the light, watching the little girl as his psychic senses fired erratically. Although her body stood in front of him, her consciousness was elsewhere. All that occupied her mind now were fragments of her alternate selves. “Half the population has been turned into monsters,” Felix said. “What, that’s not enough for you?” “That you are still willing to show us mercy, despite everything we have done wrong.” Aglaia’s face was wrought with stains of brown tears. “It defies all reason. What must we do to show you otherwise? What pain must we wreak on the world for you to finally see that I am irredeemable?” A woman, or corpse, rather, was writhing in agony beside her. Felix pursed his lips at the state of the Meta Liberty Fighter. Isis was neither dead nor alive. She was trapped between both realms; dead in almost all sense of the word, and yet still alive to bear full witness to her eternal torment. Aglaia was only keepin