Bella tried to get out of the station as quickly as possible. She kept looking behind her to see if anyone was following her. She was shaking with fear. Now she really cares about her life.

She decided to go as far away from the other Rulers as possible. Surely the Guardians had learned of her and could search for her.  They have eyes everywhere. So she went to the forest. Maybe she could find an abandoned cottage there, where she could hide for a while.

The wheels of her trunk kept stuck in the woods. The forest was dark. In the end, she was happy to control the fire. At least she could shine a light on the way.

Suddenly she heard strange footsteps and something rustled in the trees. She has company. It is over. Her heart pounded in her chest. She felt she couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to scream angrily.

Bella turned discreetly to see who it was. Nobody was there. She was nervous, and suddenly something came from the trees again. She turned sharply behind it. Bella saw something jumping among the trees. She immediately prepared to fight. She was breathing fast, turning around when suddenly something threw her into the air. She let go of her suitcase, and the hood fell from her head. Bella flew over the trees. She panicked, had no water.  She had no way to ease her fall.  She closed her eyes in fear and waited for it to end.

When Bella thought she would fall, an air vortex caught her. A stone fell from her heart when she suddenly fell hard to the ground. She stood up quickly and turned directly toward them.  There were two. Two more experienced adult Guardians. Ruler of the Earth and Ruler of the Air. Suddenly a blow struck her from the side. The sharp pain pierced her body, but she still gathered her strength to retaliate.  Bella shoted a fire at the Ruler of the Air. She hit him directly in the hand until he stayed on his feet and fell to the ground.

As soon as she got to her feet again, the Ruler of the earth immediately knocked her back to the ground. Her hands were rubbed in blood and her clothes were torn. The Ruler of the earth  was already preparing for another attack, Bella trembling with fear when suddenly a stream of water hit him from behind. The Ruler of the earth just kept on his feet. He turned to face the attacker and began attacking him. The attacker was able to deftly bounce his stones. He was also a Master, like Bella.

Meanwhile, the Ruler of the air rose and attacked Bella with a healthy hand. Bella quickly dodged his whirlwind and fired another fire at him, but the Ruler of the air didn't let himself get caught and quickly put out her fire. Bella panicked. No water, only fire that he can put out. Against two Guardians and a boy she doesn't even know.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, she told herself. Why not trust him?

Bella got to her feet and prepared for a fight. She looked around for water. After all, she is more skilled with water. The Master who was helping her had just pulled water from a bottle by his belt and turned it into ice, stabbing the Guardian ruling of earth in the stomach. Bella looked at him in surprise. He just killed a man.
"My God!" Bella shouted. The hooded master looked at her in astonishment. Bella stood in a trance, watching the Guardian's body fall to the ground.

At that moment, Bella lost sight of the world around her. The Master shouted something at her, but she couldn't take her eyes off the dead body. It was the first time she had seen anyone die. It wasn't a pretty sight. She will never erase this memory from her head.

Suddenly the wind blew around Bella. The Guardian ruling the air around Bella created an air vortex. Until she gasped that she finally woke up. The ambient light began to fade and the sound intensified. Her legs turned into jelly and she fell to her knees.  When she thought she was slowly dying, the air vortex released her.  Bella tried to breathe. Exhausted, she fell to the ground and leaned against the nearest tree. She didn't care where she sat. Mainly that it's calm.

Bella looked towards the Ruler of the Air. She saw his body fall to the ground. Two dead people in one day. Both Guardians lay dead in front of Bella. Where are the times when she wanted to be one of them? She wanted to be the same hero, but today she looks at them from a different angle.  Killers, assassins.

"Breathe," said the Master, who had killed both Guardians. "You'll be relieved."
Even though she didn't know who he was, she obeyed him. He walked over to Bella and handed her a bottle of water.

As she exhaled calmly, she used her ability to create a small flame to find out who it was. Next to her knelt was a boy sitting across the train from her. His brown curly hair fell into his eyes and he looked at Bella worriedly.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess... I guess so," Bella said, slowly getting to her feet. Everything hurt her. She crossed the dead Air Ruler and picked up her suitcase. The Master was still looking at her. He studied Bella's torn clothes and the wounds she had on her hands.
"Who you are?" Bella asked suddenly, turning to him. The master raised his head and looked Bella straight in the eyes.
"Justin," he said calmly. He leaned on his knee and stood up.  Immediately, Bella took two steps back.
"Hey, you don't have to be afraid of me," he tried to reassure her.
"Don't I have to?! You killed two people with almost a snap! That's a big reason to be afraid of you!"  Bella said until she almost started screaming.
"Calm down!" he said calmly. His calm in voice made her so upset that she wanted to strangle him on the spot.
"I'd like to tell you more about myself, but the Guardians are everywhere and there's not much time. Do you understand?" he sighed. "Look, I'll take you to safety. Away from the Guardians. Don't worry!"

Such an insistence. She was supposed to go somewhere with a complete stranger, but he saved her life. What about her family?  She only has a father. What will he do if he doesn't have her anymore? Her mother's death affected him a lot, and what if she didn't even have Bella? So many thoughts raced through her head, and Justin looked at her patiently.
"But what about my family?" she looked at him sadly.
"Don't worry about your family. You'd better leave them than something happen to them. I know it's hard, but it's not otherwise. I'm sorry," Justin said.

She has to leave his family. Give up everything minute by minute.  She already knew that life would turn her upside down. She may never return to a normal life.
"All right! Let's go," she said at last, and went even deeper into the woods.

"Wait!" he shouted at her. "What about the corpses?"

"You killed them, so clean them up!" she smiled at him.

...

Along the way, Bella looked at him constantly. There was a grave silence between them. She began to laugh softly out of nowhere.
"What are you laughing at?" Justin turned to her.
"I just remembered the corpses. Are you sure you buried them deep enough?" she said with a laugh.
"Haha! Very funny!"

"Well," Bella cleared her throat. "How old are you?"

"Not here! Remember? The Guardians are everywhere!" Justin said.

"It's bored with you,"

"You're acting like a little kid!"

"Hmm... So you're older than me, aren't you? So you're sixteen or seventeen," she thought.

"All right, all right! I'm seventeen. How old are you?" he asked in return.

"Sixteen. And where are we going?"

"Far from those corpses that's buried deep enough for your safety. So don't worry, they won't come out," Justin smiled.

...

Bella's legs already hurt terribly.  After such a long time, they finally arrived at the cottage.
"Give me the suitcase," Justin said, reaching out to Belle.
"Thank you," she smiled.

The cottage was very old and rotten. There was an old broken fence next to her, and the windows were smashed. An unpleasant creak as Justin opened the door. Inside were two beds and a table with chairs. A burning candle stood on the table. Someone was there. Recently.

Justin brought her suitcase to one bed and immediately jumped into the other.
"Make yourself like at home here," he said with his hands behind his head.
"Yeah, eeh... What now?" Bella asked.
"Well, first of all... You'll do something about that suitcase. You're very conspicuous with it, and second... We'll go to the other Masters tomorrow. Any questions?" Justin said, looking at Bella. Bella stood there, staring at Justin in astonishment.
"What am I supposed to do with that suitcase?! And the second question... How many Masters are there?" Bella asked.
"Simply! Just take what you need most. Don't worry about the clothes. The other Masters will certainly lend you some. And there are more Masters here than you think," he winked at her.  "You'll like it there,"

Bella looked at her suitcase. It's full of clothes. She has nothing to take. Maybe just ...

"What is it?" Justin looked at her.

"These are two books from the school library. One is about the Masters and the other about the Artifacts—"

"About Artifacts?! Darion's Artifacts?!" Justin jumped into her speech.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" she looked at him suspiciously.

"I'll explain then, but be sure to take them. Both!" Justin said.

"Why a book about Masters? We know enough about each other. No?" Bella asked doubtfully.

"We do, but it's what they know about us," Justin laughed.

Bella nodded in agreement and tossed the books on the bed. Justin lay on the bed, staring thoughtlessly at the rotten ceiling. Bella looked at herself. She was still wearing torn clothes, and her wounds almost stopped hurting her.
"Justin?" she turned to him.  "Could you turn around? Please,"

"Yeah, sure," he said, rolling on the other side of the bed.
"Look, we're still looking for information from me, but I don't know anything about you," Justin said. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Isabella, but call me Bella," she winked at him, though he didn't see her.

"Okay, Bell, how old are you, again?" he smiled and turned discreetly at Bella. He saw her put on a tank top and straighten it into her pants.

"Sixteen, I've already told you," Bella turned, smiling. But the smile on her face quickly faded when she saw Justin turned toward her.
"You watched?! All the time?!"  she raised her voice.

"No, no, no... Not all the time," he said in a calm voice. "Only now have I turned around,"

Bella was angry. She wanted to shoot so much fire on him that he wouldn't survive. Eventually she calmed down. She was already disguised. She could sleep in peace.

Bella happily jumped into bed until the springs in the mattress creaked. She looked at Justin. He was playing with a small fire. He tossed fire up and down. Bella was afraid he would set the cottage on fire.

"Can you... Stop?" Justina asked.  Immediately, Justin put out the fire and looked at Bella.
"Will you tell me something about the Masters? Please," she looked at Justin as their eyes met.
"All right," he said, turning on the bed toward Bella. "You've probably heard of the Masters since they ruled here before. Certainly it's in your book. I don't know what they said to you at school, but the truth is different. Because of the disputes with the people, the Masters closed the gates to Darion. But it was our king's father who overthrew the Masters,"

"But why did he overthrow them?"  Bella asked.

"There are speculations that our king's father, Joseph Wallian, was trying to conquer as many worlds as possible. He had a really great interest in Darion. So the conflict with humans helped him a lot. Darion's people revolted, which you know, so Joseph Wallian took advantage of this and helped them. Now they have him as a hero, but no one here wonders why the Guardians won't let us into Wallia. Our spies have found that our current King Michael Wallian is secretly passing through the gates, ruling both here and there. It's interesting how many secrets they can keep in front of us,"Justin said, lying down again.

"What makes the Wallians so special?" Bella asked.

"They have abilities, but different abilities than the people here. Joseph Wallian was able to read minds and it is said that Michael Wallian can move objects," Justin said. Bella looked at him a little frightenedly. She didn't know what was hiding in their world.

When Justin saw her, it was clear to him that she was afraid: "You know... The best thing to do now is to sleep. We have a long way to go tomorrow..."

.......................................................

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