A tall, fit, young man stood in front of a large temple-like building made of old stone. He stared at it for quite a while, thinking about what he was to do upon entering.

He had long dark red hair that went up to his shoulders and tan skin. His eyes were a subtle mixture of Green and brown. He wore a simple black shirt and long, grey pants and had a tan backpack on his back that held a few portable weapons.

The man was named Julian Chora. He was a guard that worked in the large stone building, though he'd been gone for quite some time.

The building was more-less a housing arrangement for Guardians. Guardians were not residents of any specific marahs, and were assigned tasks by ones they were acquainted with. It certainly a different lifestyle than most humans around that time.

He took a deep breath and hesitantly entered the building. He noticed it had much more plant life now than it did before he left. It almost looked abandoned, but he knew it certainly wasn't.

When he entered, his eyes made contact with two others. Eyes from a beautiful, yet powerful-looking young woman. She had short dark brown hair that reached only to her shoulders and beautiful shiny brown eyes. She wore a brown set of shirt and pants, usually worn under aurmor.

She was sitting on a desk made of dark wood and seemed to have been reading, seeing as she was holding a packet of papers in her hand.

She saw him and smirked. "Well, well, well, look who it is. Julian Chora, himself." She said, as she put down the packet of papers and turning to him completely. "It sure has been a while."

Julian broke eye contact. "It has..." is all he said.

The woman crossed her legs. "Who knew a three-week task would turn out to last four years?" She asked, sarcastically emphasizing "four years".

She paused for a moment, then continued. "Did you at least complete the task?" She asked.

Julian rolled his eyes and dug in his pocket, pulling out a shiny, red jewel. "Yes, Charlotte." He said, handing it to her.

She nodded. "Alright, well...I'm sure you've got a lot of catching up to do, don't you?" She asked. "You are staying, right?"

Julian hesitantly nodded.

"Great." She said. "Be ready tomorrow for training. You being gone for so long isn't any reason for the rest of us to get off-track".

"Of course not." Julian said. He often didn't talk much, unless here was a need to, so he usually answered things shortly.

"Everyone's out back if you want to get up to date". Charlotte said, uncrossing her legs and turning back to her papers.

Julian nodded, then slowly made his way to an exit that lead to a large backyard. He peaked his head out and saw nothing but lively green grass and tall trees. His eyes roamed for a moment before something startled him.

"Julian!?" A sqeaky voice yelled, immediately making him jump back. He heard footsteps get closer until he felt somebody's arms wrap around him. "Julian, I thought you were dead!" The person said.

They pulled away from the sudden embrace and Julian immediately recognized them. It was a short, stubby girl with dark brown hair. Her almost chubby, brown face held ocean-blue eyes and many freckles.

Julian felt his heart skip a beat when he saw her face. "Willow...!" He greeted, breathlessly.

Willow had a single tear rolling down her face. "I missed you, Julian! Where the hell were you???"

Julian looked away, nervously. "That's not important..." he said. "Though, what is important is the fact that you seem to have grown shorter!" He joked, changing the subject. He had alway jokes about that before he left, so he thought it'd be a nice ice breaker.

Her face grew serious. "You're gone for four freaking years...and it's not important?!" She retorted. "You leave your significant other for four years and it's not important!?!?"

Julian sighed. "Willow, please calm down...I need some time before I can explain." He reassured her.

She rolled her eyes. "Four years wasn't enough?" She said, sarcastically. She took a deep breath. "Whatever. Talk to me when you're ready, I guess."

She then smiled sadly and placed her hand in his. "I really missed you, Julian..."

He hesitantly imbraced her hand in his. "...I missed you, too..." he said, though, in reality, he really hadn't all that much.

They had been a couple for about two years before Julian left. She seemed to always be madly in love with him, but over time, he'd lost those feelings for her. He just couldn't find the courage to tell her that.

He turned his head only to notice there was nobody else around. "Where's everyone else?" He asked.

"They went farther out to train today...things've been getting tougher in certain marahs we're aquatinted with lately." She answered.

She began walking, still holding his hand. He followed.

"We've also lost treaties with some, too...meaning we can't enter them now." She continued.

They made their way to more trees, only these ones were much taller and had more vines.

"Which ones?" Julian asked.

"Kalarai and waligo, so far. However, we're not on very good terms with oudai right now, so they'll probably break their treaty eventually."

Julian nodded. "How about bandits?" He asked. "Do we still deal with those?"

Willow shrugged. "I guess...there aren't many around anymore, though."

They finally reached a large clearing where there were multiple other people, each doing their own thing.

Julian let go of Willow's hand. "Woah..."

The clearing hadn't been there before he left. It was definitely new.

Willow chuckled. "Like it? We cleared out a bunch 'o trees and decorated a bit, then boom! Perfect place to train!"

One of the people finally noticed them. It was a tall girl with blond hair reaching up to her hips. She had pale white skin and a few freckles here and there. Her eyes were a strange mixture of blue and green and she had brown lipstick on only her top lip.

She was holding a wooden bow and arrow, though she set it down on the floor when she turned to confront Julian and Willow.

"Willow! Who's this?" She asked, curiously, tilting her head.

Willow smiled. "This is Julian. He worked here a few years before you came here."

The girl nodded, however, still looked curious. She held out her hand. "I'm Golip. Pleasure to meet you."

Julian shook her hand. He couldn't help but notice how squeaky, yet calm her voice was.

Golip let go of his hand and brushed hers off on her skirt. She noticed that Julian saw her and chuckled awkwardly. "S-sorry...I just don't like human interaction all that much..."

Julian chuckled. "It's fine." Though, he wondered what she meant by "human interaction". Did that mean she wasn't human?

She turned around. "Well, I'm off." She said, picking up her bow and arrow and with a simple jerk of her foot, flew up into the air and onto a tree.

"What the...?" Julian mumbled. Though, that had certainly answered his question about her not being human.

Willow grabbed his hand again. "Don't worry. Theo and Aria are still here, so you won't feel totally out of touch."

That was a relief. Everything felt so different to Julian now. A whole lot had changed in those four short years.

Willow called out to two other people. A short, dark brown-haired woman with brown eyes and brown skin, and a man with short, spiky, black hair and green eyes. The woman was Aria and the man was Theo.

"It's been so freaking long!" Aria stated, walking up to them. "What happened?!"

"I'd...rather not say...?" He answered, though it sounded more like a question.

Aria put her hand on Theo's shoulder and  leaned on him, casually. He rolled his eyes.

"Really? We're going with that?" She replied, sassily.

Theo shook his shoulder, which caused Aria to almost fall over; though she put her foot out and caught herself before that could happen.

"He doesn't have to tell us anything." He said to Aria. He turned to Julian. "You here to stay?"

Julian nodded. "And I ain't lying this time." He said, jokingly.

Theo chuckled "You better not. Willow wouldn't shut the hell up about you." He said, smirking at willow, who now had her arms crossed and a pouty face.

"Oh come on. Stop picking on me!" She said.

Julian and Theo both laughed. Things now seemed more natural; as if nothing ever happened. Like he hadn't been gone for years. Like he's always been here.

Julian was relieved. Maybe things would go back to normal and stay that way. Maybe.

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Published-
Edits- None, so far
Words- 1460
Notes- I've been so excited to write this chapter! I've never really done much with these characters in the past, but now they actually have a purpose!