The Arcane Guardians Chapter 44: Chapter 40: Meta Liberty Fighters

Read chapter 44 of The Arcane Guardians by Mercynarie on NovelPedia.

Fun Fact: Sorcerers and Warlocks are relatively new classes. When magic was first discovered, these two classes belonged to the same class, Wizards. The wizards were one of the most powerful types of Magi that delved into the roots of Arcani, Reality manipulation. After a bloody civil war that lasted a hundred years, the wizards eventually went extinct and split themselves into the two classes that we are familiar with today. Reality magic gradually faded out of existence as well and was replaced by much tamer forms, such as Divination magic. ~ ~ ~ The solitary Guardian found his quarry in less than five minutes. They were huddled behind a rotting wooden door under a few flimsy pieces of aluminium, which was a pretty decent lodging for a pair of disaster victims, all things considered. He swooped down from the freezing clouds and landed as gently as he could, before walking towards the mess of tents and pushing its makeshift door open. “No!” A small scream almost made him jump. “Please don’t hurt us anymore. I have no more Arcani to spare; I need more time to recover…” Sure enough, a woman and a young boy were sitting on the ground before him. Colour had long drained from their parched lips, and the woman was cradling her child to protect him from the biting winds. The young boy shivered further as cold air intruded into the cramped space, so Felix closed the door behind him. They pressed up harder against the wall in response. “Missus Doukas, am I right?” Felix squatted down, offering them a flask of warming elixir. “Here, take this to warm yourselves. Worry not, I mean you no harm.” “W— Who are you?” The mother seemed to relax her body as she received the tincture. She brought it to her child’s lips instead. “Are you with the Meta Liberty Fighters?” “Pardon me, I have no idea what that is.” Felix shook his head. “I’m from the Guardian Council; they’re on a mission to rescue any surviving stragglers still trapped out here. But I’m here for you on behalf of Nero.” “Nero? You know my husband?” The woman’s eyes lit up. “Oh, thank the gods he’s alright! Did you hear that, Cato? Your father is alive!” Felix smiled at the boy, but Cato only returned it with a glare colder than the outside winds. “You Guardians are bad people,” he hissed as his lips curled into a resentful snarl. “You left us behind. You took my father away and abandoned us here!” “Cato, they saved your father!” the woman exclaimed. “Don’t be so rude!” “What? It’s true!” Felix raised a placating hand before the boy got scolded by his mother further. “I can’t speak for all Guardians, but this is no place to be huddling in the cold.” He offered a hand to help them up. “Come with me. I’ll take you back to your family.” The woman did not budge. “I’m sorry, but we don’t exactly have a choice in this matter.” She hung her head, showing him a pulsating circular technomagick device on her wrist that was pulsing red. “You’re one step too late. This place belongs to the Meta Liberty Fighters now.” Felix frowned. “What the hell is that?” he asked, irritation seeping into his voice. “C’mon, we don’t have time to be lingering here.” “The Meta Liberty Fighters were an underground ‘brotherhood’ of Metas advocating for Meta superiority. Since they were only regarded as a minor terrorist group, the government never took them too seriously.” Felix pursed his lips slightly. Not like he was against Meta rights, but it was people like this who were working against that. It was one thing to make their voices heard, but another to cause trouble for innocent people. “Ever since this plague struck our country, they have gotten more and more aggressive in their recruitment campaign,” the woman continued. “And after the Guardian Council left with only half our population, they decided to take matters into their own hands. Most of us were doubtful about the capabilities, but they showed themselves well-trained enough to kill off all the monsters in this village. As such, they’ve taken over and