“What’s the ETA sis” Koren asked hurriedly as he raced across the sky,

“The Oasis is straight ahead.” Hope replied enthusiastically. “But the sensors have picked up 3 sand ships near its vicinity. It’s the villagers, they just reached the Oasis. They are safe Koren.”

Just as Hope said those words her expression changed. “Oh no Koren, I’m detecting non-human signatures coming from the surroundings. We have to hurry.”

Koren didn’t need to be told twice. “Time to go ultrasonic!!” Koren muttered as the plasma jets outtake valve changed from yellow to blue, and the sheer burst of power caused the space around Koren to ripple, before he vanished.

************

Matriarch Hera was ready for any trick the draconian’s might try. She was the first to get off the ship when they reached the Oasis. She looked on as a group of Oasis farmers approached her. They had been stationed here on a permanent encampment to look after the crops and livestock.

The group came to a stop and bowed.

“How are the preparations.” Matriarch Hera’s eyes met that of the lead female, who was dressed like a warrior.

“Matriarch, we have stored all the water in vats, and we have already packaged all the crops. All of the date trees have been harvested, the grain has been milled, and the meat has been salted and smoked. We are ready to load it all on the ships.” A female warrior, fitted in a desert robe with some metallic plates for Armor stepped forward and spoke.

“Any sign of Draconian’s” Matriarch Hera asked, her tone grave.

“Some of our scouts never came back to report. They should be nearby.” The warrior replied with a heavy sob. “My husband was one of those scout’s.”

“I am sorry for your loss, but know that his sacrifice will not be in vain. As for now, we need you to load everything on the ships.” Matriarch Hera stepped forward and patted the warrior’s shoulder. “Stay vigilant, at the first sign of trouble I want you to get into formation and defend the ships.”

“Yes Matriarch.” The Warrior saluted, and walked off, along with the rest of the farmers..

“Aunt Hera, don’t worry, with father’s Mirage Owl incarnation, they will definitely return safe and sound.” A woman walked out of the Yaris village ship together with Lady Zena. “Our worries should be for the people we are protecting, any minute now we could be under attack”

“Matriarch Hera knows this Suki, you don’t have to say it like that.” Lady Zena said, irritably. “I will check the medical supplies, we won’t be able to come back here to gather herbs again.”

However just as lady Zena started to walk towards the encampment, matriarch Hera’s eyes went wide with horror. “ STOP!!, Everyone on the ship” She Yelled. “Suki, your with me, Zena run inside NOW!!”

However, no one even herd her words, as all of them were looking at the sky, in utter shock.

Koren stood in the sky like a floating metallic idol. If it weren’t for the constant ‘hum’ of the repulsors under his feet, everyone would think he was a floating statue. He looked down to see the familiar faces of Aunt Zena and Matriarch Hera staring at him with shock and horror.

“You scared them with your flashy entrance. Take your helmet off Koren, they need to see you are human.” Hope appeared in front of Koren, she looked excited. “Besides, you look so different in your grown up state, no one will recognize you.”

Koren willed it and the helmet turned into metallic liquid and wriggled down to fuse with the remaining Armor.

“Give me their locations Sis.” Koren looked at the ground with vigilance.

“They are underground, it seems they want to attack the ships directly, cutting off any route for escape for the villagers, how sinister.” Hope stated angrily. “You don’t need the battle mode for this, just blast through the sand, and bust them out”

Koren looked down at the shocked faces of the people he had sworn to protect. “Don’t worry, everything will be ok” He said as the helmet came back on and solidified.

“Let’s go!” the repulsors keeping him afloat shut down and Koren fell, he then adjusted his orientation so his head would face downward and shouted “No mercy for the wicked!”

The plasma jets fired and he drilled into the sand, causing it to splash like a pond of water.

“What, what was that?” Suki stammered, fearfully. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“That face, it was human” Lady Zena murmured, with a look of confusion in her eyes. “And strangely familiar”

…Dhum…Dhum… Dhum…Dhum…

“Oh no that sound its coming from the ships direction” Matriarch Hera muttered as everyone finally came to their senses and ran towards the ships, only to feel the whole ground quake.

…Dhum…Dhum… Dhum…Dhum…

“What is happening” Someone shouted.

“That sound came from underground, we are under attack” Droves of people all dismounted the ships. Everyone was trying to make sense of the chaos.

…Dhum…Dhum… Dhum…BOOOM

The quakes ended and figures started to jump out of the sand one by one only to fall flat, unmoving.

“What!” Suki yelled as one of the figures fell near the matriarch face down. The figure was wearing a robe similar to the village scouts, but the matriarch could feel earth spiritual energy from it. The matriarch turned it over, followed by everyone’s gasps.

“It’s a draconian, it...its dead, did that metallic being do this.” Suki said with some hesitation. “They were underground, if they had attacked the ships, we would have been trapped.”

“Where is it now.” Lady Zena asked as she looked around at the numerous draconian corpses, there must have been at least a 100.

…Dhum…Dhum… Dhum…

“Everyone move away from the ships.” Matriarch Hera said as everyone started to move towards oasis.

…Dhum…Dhum… Dhum…BOOOM

Koren burst out of the sand with his hands clenched tightly around the necks of two draconian soldiers. Unlike the rest, these two were wailing and trying to break out of Koren’s grip with everything they had, but their struggles were for nought.

“Why did you ask me to capture them alive big sis” Koren asked, with aggressiveness. “They were going to burn down the ship, and kill everyone, they don’t deserve to live.”

“Didn’t you notice Koren, they are different from that other guy. These two are body martial path cultivators” Hope replied, grumpily “I asked you to capture them alive, so I can understand more about how they practice.”

Koren calmed down, this was the first time he had killed someone. He had killed in simulations when he was training for the battle mode, but this was different. He could feel rage and fury cloud his senses, and make him break the draconian warriors like a group of twigs.

“So these are body martial path cultivators, why do they give me vibe similar to that earth rhino we fought underground.” Koren asked as he noticed the aura of the two dangling draconian’s.

“You are right Koren, I can actually feel a hint of chaotic energy from them.” Hope said as she circled around the two. “It maybe somehow linked to their practice system.”

She came to a stop after a minute and turned to Koren. “OK, I’ve extracted all the data I need, you can do with them as you wish.”

As both Draconians were struggling under Koren’s grip, one of them spoke, fear apparent in his voice.

“Who are you, how dare you interfere with the Draco Kingdom.” The draconian warrior said in a barely coherent tone. “Don’t you know the punishment you will face.”

Koren chuckled. “Your Kingdom has no power over me”

However, this answer seemed to give the draconian the impression that he was perhaps dealing with someone from the Raavi Empire.

“You… you must be from the Raavi empire. My family name is York, my grandfather is a high ranking noble in the kingdom, don’t kill me, you can ransom me off.”

The second draconian who had remained quite also started to yammer.

“Me too, I can give you anything you want, all of my wealth, everything. You don’t have to kill me.”

Koren grinned under his helmet, and laughed quietly. “You two seem to be mistaken”

Koren didn’t bother to rattle on, his helmet came off and he stared at the horror stricken eyes of the two draconian’s.

“I am no Raavi, I am a Human, and your fates were sealed the moment you decided to come here.” Koren said with a grin.

“Nooo!!” Both of them yelled in unison as Koren tightened his grip and saw them wriggle for air, until their struggles ended and their eyes went grey.

Koren walked towards the Matriarch and dropped their corpses at her feet and asked. “Is anyone hurt.”

However, no one replied, everyone stared at Koren’s young face, metallic Armor that looked as if it was sculpted to fit the human male physique and his overpowering stance.

“Please, don’t be afraid. I am a human just like all of you.” Koren spread his hands out, the metallic Armor retreated, and his bare human hands were visible for all to see.

“Are you from the Icy Mountains?” The Matriarch asked. “Only they would have humans capable of what you just did.”

“You can think of it as such, but right now the important thing is to ensure everyone’s safety.” Koren looked around. “Where is te…um, your chief, I don’t see him around”

“How do you know I’m not the chief” The Matriarch asked suspiciously.

“Oh… I didn’t.. I… Well you are a woman…I mean they called you Matriarch.” Koren mumbled.

The matriarch looked at Koren youthful face and his nervous attitude and smiled.

“Have we met young one, because you give me a strange familiar feeling.” The Matriarch asked, with her brows furrowed.

“No..Noo we definitely have not met before.” Koren crossed his arms back and forth vigorously.

Suki who was standing behind Zena came forward. “Hello, my name is Suki, I am the spiritualist of Yaris Village.” Suki bowed, her cheeks rosy. “Thank you for saving us.”

“Thank you for saving us” More people came forward.

“What should we call you young one.” The Matriarch asked.

“You can call me Ko…” Koren was about to spill the beans, before Hope smacked him on his head, even though she was immaterial to others, she was very real to Koren.

Koren straightened up and looked at the Matriarch and the words floating at the top of his field of vision.

‘Armor Version: 12.9’

‘Armor Designation: Guardian’

He smiled and spoke. “I am the Guardian”

“…”

“Well Mr Guardian. The three chiefs of our village should be east, they should be in battle against the main force of the draconian’s. ” The matriarch said, her tone serious. “I don’t know if I can truly trust you, but I don’t have much of a choice, can you please help them.”

“Sis, extend the search parameters east.” Koren said, hurriedly.

“Already on it.” Hope replied. “Found them, they are not far, and they are already in battle”

Koren looked at the matriarch and said “Stay here, I’ll be back in a sec”

The helmet came back on and the repulsors fired, blowing the sand everywhere, as Koren rose off the ground.

Matriarch Hera looked at Koren and thought ‘what is this thing, it can use fire and wind to fly, uses metal like flowing water to form Armor and can be controlled by this fellow at will’

Koren continued rise till he was at least a 100 meters off the ground, then he adjusted his orientation and fired the jets. Flames burst out from the outtake valves and Koren disappeared.

“Path Walker” The Matriarch mumbled under her breath.

************

“You ant’s deserve to die, I will make you pay for your impudence.” Andre roared as he flapped his wings and took to the sky.

“And you will pay” Came a voice from the clouds, as a figure started its descent. “For your arrogance.”

Koren looked down at Andre, who turned to face him with a grotesque look on his face. “Who the hell are you?”

“I am here to put you down” Koren replied as the helmet came off. “like the filthy creature that you are.”