The God of Gravity part 4: Nine Guardians

Prologue

Ugh! My head! My eardrums are beating faster than my heartbeat. They feel like they could burst at any moment! Wait.. why am I feeling this way? What happened? What did I do?

“Leo!” cries someone.

Argh!! My fists... they're full of wounds. The salty water is stinging them. Why am I in the middle of the sea on this hull of a ship? Where am I? And... who am I?

“Leo!” It's a voice of a girl. She's holding both of my shoulders as we kneel facing each other.

“Is...” I stop talking for a second. I feel like my throat is full of thorns. Swallowing, I lubricate my dry throat to continue asking, “that... my... name?”

“It is! Now, look at the past so you could remember why we're here! Hurry, we're running out of time!”

“Look at the past?” I ask, confused about what she means.

“Yes.”

“I can't remember anything.”

“Not by memory. Try to-” Her eyes widen for something behind me. I try to turn to look there but, “Look out!” she cries, grabbing me and jumping to the right.

*Boom* followed by a fizzing sound, the hull of the ship where we jumped from has been totally annihilated. Even when we crashed on the island that's a mile away, when I turn around, tons of water and wreckage are flung up into the sky, going higher than the clouds. What thing did this?

In that gigantic explosion, somehow, I sense a powerful presence. I don't know why I can sense it. It's... it's not clear from this distance but in the middle of it, something shining gold emerges from the chaos, so slowly that it almost makes my lungs suffocate. What is this? Is it a person?

“She's so persistent!” spats the lady who saved me. “Get up, Leo!”

She grabs my arms to pull me up to stand. My knees are so weak but she helps me to stand by putting my left arm over her shoulder. I don't know who she is but I feel I have to thank her for saving me.

“Th... thank you, ” I tell her, my voice is cracked. “Who... are you?”

She takes me deeper into the jungle of the island. “No need to thank me,” she says, panting. “and there's no use in telling you who I am anyway.” There is a high cliff that we have to climb if we want to go on. “I've grown tired of telling you a hundred times today!” She hurls me up unexpectedly!

“Argh!!” I scream in fear. When I land face-first, I feel nothing. I didn't expect my skin would be so tough.

She grabs me again around my waist and lifts me until my feet are off the ground as if my weight is paper. I'm looking at the ground as I bend forward, letting her carry me.

I sense something.

My body has a mind of its own when my hands reach forward and a force explode, getting me off of the lady's grip. A surging power from an unknown origin takes over my body. I spin around, using my left leg to swing a kick against a shockwave that's about to devour us along with the island. Although strong, my kick isn't enough to stop it. I fall back, crashing on the island then tumble on the seawater as if it's concrete. Finally, I go down into the sea like a lifeless rock, not floating back as all living things should.

My lungs want air... I can't... move.

-

*

Leo falls unconscious. Involuntarily, he breathes in seawater instead of air, slowly drowning his lungs. Yanmei dives into the water, her face full of dirt and bl**d is being washed off little by little as she goes further to save him. She grabs him and kicks the water to instantly get to the surface.

“Leo!” she screams after gasping air on the surface.

Keeping their head above the water, she swims towards a coconut trunk. On the dense floating leaves, she puts lets him rest on it. Using her palm, she pushes against his chest a lot of times. Then she blows air into his mouth while closing his nose. Leo coughs, letting out seawater trapped from his lungs and out through his nose and mouth. Though, he couldn't open his eyes.

Yanmei sighs in relief and her smile is only a second when a swordfish comes sprouting from the water and in the air, it transforms into a tall bald man in yellow robes, a monk. He lands on the coconut trunk, holding a long sharp spear with the shape of a swordfish's snout.

“Monk Xiao!” Yanmei exclaims.

“Get him out of here!” he commands, putting up a stance, facing where the enemy is. “I'll hold her off!”

“Let's escape together!” she insists as she climbs on the log.

“There's no time! She will catch us no matter how fast we escape.” He sighs, frowning at the enemy—that is ready for another strike as she floats in the air from the distance. “I should've realized it sooner.” He stirs, smiling at Yanmei. “Well, little Yanmei, I guess my turn of being a vessel of my power is coming to an end.”

“What?!” she cries. “No!”

“I'll trust that you will keep the vessel of Buddha's power protected, Yanmei. For a thousand years, no one has been able to harness that power as this boy did. I doubt that there will be a better vessel than him.” He spins his spear, changing his stance. His eyes glow silver and the water tremble around him. “GO!!!” he cries.

“Goodbye,” she mutters as her heart couldn't bear everything that's happening.

She closes her eyes after she grabs Leo. A giant swordfish has its upper back exposed on the surface. On it, she rides while holding onto its fin as well as holding Leo as he's on her back.

The goddess from the distance can see them go. She's not frustrated nor alarmed. Her golden armor glistens from the sunlight. The twin sheathed golden swords on her back glistening the most. Insurmountable power emanates from them, although she doesn't need to use them. She has a very long and wide cloak made out of swan feathers, making her look like an angel. An angel of death.

Slowly, she raises her fist. The air becomes heavy, the sky and sea tremble simultaneously. Then with a single swing of her barehand, a powerful shockwave comes to obliterate her foes. Her face is still barren of emotions when Xiao redirects it.

It explodes elsewhere far from Yanmei and Leo. Even so, the huge waves soon reached them. The swordfish is fearless as it swims straight to it. Yanmei braces herself and Leo as it looks as if they're climbing up a slope of a mountain. The wave crests and the swordfish goes through it. In the air, the fish points its snout to the water below. Yanmei and Leo are still intact as it goes diving into the water again. Easy as it might seem, but Yanmei is struggling to keep holding on to the fin with her left hand's grip. Her right arm is holding Leo firmly so he won't get swept away underwater. Eventually, the fish returns to the surface to let them rest and breathe. They are heading towards the vapor cloud of seawater induced by the shockwave. Yanmei thinks that it's a good idea to go in there to hide their escape. For now...

Back where they left Xiao, he and the goddess are a mile away but can see each other's faces as if they're a meter away. He is on the log as before and she is flying steadily to where she last spotted Yanmei and Leo.

“I cannot let you pass!” he yells from afar.

Like he never existed, she flies over him. He jumps up to impale her but it only takes a slight dodge back for her to avoid his attack. That's not the end as he throws his spear at her head.

With her bare hand, she grabs the sharp end of the spear, stopping it from impaling her head. Her face says no effort although that stoppage is powerful enough to erase the clouds around her.

“That's where you made a mistake!” he yells and the spear vibrates and suddenly, the sharp end elongates to hit her.

She dodges by bending her head to the side. Some of her blonde hair has been cut. Falling, Xiao realizes that this goddess expected his attack. He telepathically pulls it from her grip and back to him. Putting it under his soles, he balances on it to fly.

The goddess is closing her eyes as she brushes her blonde hair over her long elven ear. She sighs for a moment before looking at him with a dissatisfied stare.

“Chaos and disorderliness are what you seek,” she says with a voice calmer than any untouched pond. “Giving me the lad would have spared you from unnecessary awful things.”

Floating on the same altitude as her, he answers, “That vessel is my duty to protect. From the day I trained to become a monk, I pledged myself to serve Buddha. He lives in that boy and because of that, saving him will be fulfilling my duty.”

“I suppose we have our duties to be done.”

“Perhaps.”

Raising one eyebrow, she says, “Then it depends on who does their duty better.”

“So be it.”

He puts up his stance with his spear pointing at her but the goddess does not unsheath her sword nor put on her stance. She shows him that she doesn't take this fight seriously.

Hours later, the swordfish has taken Yanmei and Leo on the western shore of the nearest continent. When she gets off with Leo on her back, she looks at the eye of the swordfish. She can sense its sorrow. It can sense the soul of its master leaving his body.

“I'm sorry, Xiao,” she weeps, turning around to walk to the dry land.

In space, a giant space ship steadily enters the sphere of influence of Mars—which is the range of which Mars's gravity can pull objects. Through the large glass window, above the throne of swords of Sayuri, she looks at the stars. They're clearer than ever. The scar on her left eyebrow never healed throughout these years. It just became a part of who she is: a goddess with a scar on her left eyebrow, The Goddess of Blades. Her dark irises are full of vengeance but her face is fair as a sweet young maiden. She's wearing black fitting jeans as well as a sleeveless black t-shirt. Lastly, a long coat with a standing collar, making her look like a dark goddess.

She begins to frown when the most jestful one among her companions, spoils her view.

“Woohoohoah!!” Jasper exclaims, floating before the glass with widened eyes. “There are so many stars! I wonder if they have their own solar systems. It would be interesting to discover new species. Would you agree, my lady?” he asks, smirking at her.

“Settle down, Jasper,” says Hiroki on the control panel with Prisha and Chao. “You might accidentally push a button that will kill us all.”

“I think I hear an alien blabbering from outside.”

Hyun chuckles as he sits on his throne made out of bl**d at Sayuri's right. “Here they go again,” he says, looking at her. She looks ahead and pretends not to notice as he grabs her hand and she just lets him.

“What?” Hiroki asks. “You can't hear sound from spa-” He realizes that Jasper is just fooling around. “I hate you so much.”

“Well, the more you hate, the more you love,” he messes with him. “Sorry, Prisha. I stole Hiroki's heart. I hope we can still be friends.” She laughs at him while Hiroki is frowning, operating on the control panel.

“It's a lot greener than I expected,” Gwen remarks, sitting right next to Oso at her right and Philip at her left.

“Of course it is,” says Oso. “It has been terraformed a long time ago.”

“After Venus, right?”

He nods, confirming, “After Venus.”

“The gravity is gonna be so weak,” says Icarus, sitting back, closing his eyes, and his arms behind his head. “It's gonna make us pretty weak too.”

“Then we shall train harder,” says Philip.

Icarus opens his eyes just to roll them and closes them again. “Suit yourself.”

“We have to keep getting stronger if we want to be useful for Lady Sayuri.”

After sighing, Icarus says, “If she needs strength, she has plenty of it. Not to mention Lord Hyun, Oso, Gwen, and Jack. We demigods have no place here when it comes to that. And if she needs minds, Jasper, Hiroki, Prisha, and Chao are all she needs. You and I have no special roles to play.”

Philip just frowns at him then looks forward, annoyed like his gritting teeth would get crushed. Jasper overheard their argument so he kicks against the glass and floats towards them. He couldn't control to stop himself so he crashes on both of them. His legs are on Philip's chest and his upper torso is on Icarus.

“Woops, sorry!” he chuckles. “Can't steer in midair.”

Icarus doesn't mind but Philip says, “We don't mind.”

“Okay.” He gets himself off of them and sits on the arm between their chairs. Then he wraps both of them in each of his arms. “You guys get along well, don't you?”

“Nope,” says Philip.

“That's bullcrap.”

Jasper cackles and says, “Yup, you guys are getting along well!” They give up trying to convince him that they're not. “Well, none of you guys are wrong. It just so happens that both of you are right with your stances BUT” He smirks and pulls them closer to him so that they will not miss a word of what he's about to say. “The more pieces we have, the more moves we can do.”

“So,” says Icarus. “strength in numbers?”

“Precisely!” Jasper remarks, tapping their backs so hard that they gasp for air. “We need all the help we can get! We're gonna face a bigger boss soon and h*ll's gonna break loose.” The two boys are disturbed by the smirk on Jasper's face. “Besides, with the two of you around, my stress in planning will be significantly lesser. Stress is gonna be bad for my skin. Don't wanna become so ugly that girls will be running away from me.”

“You're already ugly,” says Hiroki. “just shut up.”

There is minor laughter before Jasper floats behind him and choked him. Laughing, he yells, “An alien has taken over my mind, Hiroki! Argh!! I can't stop myself from killing you! Maybe itxs mad because you called me ugly!! May your soul rest in pieces!!!”

Hiroki is not hurt but just annoyed by his joke. “Stop! You're gonna get us all killed!”

“I can't, Hiroki!” he pretends but slightly chuckles.

Other members of the group laugh except Sayuri—as always. She just looks somewhere else, minding her own business.

“Argh!!” grunts Hiroki after Jasper lets go of him. “You id*ot!”

Jasper pushes himself away, spinning in the air. “Uh oh,” he mutters as he's heading towards Sayuri.

She glares at him and he did his best to stop in midair as if he's underwater. He's lucky that Hyun stops his motion by controlling his bl**d.

He sighs, saying, “Thank you, Hyun.”

“You're welcome.”

“That was close, my lady!” he smiles at her but she looks away. “Won't happen again!”

“You better sit down now,” says Hyun. “we're near.”

Jasper looks back and at the hologram above the control panels, the dot which means the position of the ship and line where the atmosphere of Mars starts are closing in.

*

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