GUARDIAN OF THE END

Jason continued to see the same thing for a few seconds but nothing changed.

[ Host, I think you should stop touching Hestia's arm. ] the system suggested in a worried tone.

'Hmm…' Jason thought on the topic for a few seconds before pulling himself away from the memory playing in front of him.

He appeared back in the temple. With some effort, Jason pulled his hand away from Hestia's body.

[ Damn it! Its happening. ]

'What's happening?' Jason questioned. Unfortunately, he got the answer to his question soon.

Jason saw a new set of memories playing in front of him, all of them being his memories. His entire life started playing in reverse.

Jason saw himself surviving in the forest, making new friends, fighting Hecate, fighting in the tournament, meeting Hecate in the Kamizel forest, learning to control the light and dark element and everything else he had experienced in his second life.

'This…'

Jason suddenly froze as he looked at a scene he didn't remember. It was Erebus standing in a void like place where countless white balls of light, souls to be specific, were present.

Erebus zoomed in on one of the souls and stood there. Suddenly, another soul appeared in his hand.

Jason didn't know whether things were moving in reverse or not. Erebus guided the soul towards the other one and merged both of them together.

[ That's me… ]

'What?'

[ He combined both of us together so that no matter what happens, I will be able to help you. ]

'Wait, does that mean that you were once alive?' Jason asked with widened eyes.

[ I don't know. ]

Before Jason could ask anything else, the memory vanished. Now he saw himself on Earth, fighting the soldiers around the bunker.

Things continued to move backwards and soon enough, Jason saw Thalia again. His stomach contracted yet the memories didn't stop.

His first life played in reverse and even showed his birth. For the first time, Jason got to see his mother.

'She looks beautiful.' Jason noted as he saw his mother. Her hair were shining silver, much like his current hair. Her eyes were golden brown, almost shining like the sun.

'This should be the end.' Jason sighed.

He had went through a mixture of emotions by seeing all of the memories. But now that he had gone through his first life, nothing would be left.

'Huh?' Jason suddenly felt surprised when the scenery changed again.

Thunder rampaged on the top of a hill, much similar to the one he was currently standing on. The same marble temple stood on top of the hill yet it looked brand new.

Hestia was flying above the temple, her eyes burning with power. She pointed her right hand towards the dark sky, releasing a dark beam.

A pure white thunderbolt shot from the sky and clashed with the dark beam. For a second, Jason thought that he saw a person inside the thunderbolt.

'Another part of Hestia's memories…'

Jason was suddenly pulled back to the temple where a frozen Hestia was hovering in front of him.

He didn't say anything and landed on the ground. Jason started taking deep breaths to calm himself.

'Someone should issue warnings at such places. Something like, "Warning: entering and touching the frozen goddess will give you a free ride across the memory rollercoaster". This is a necessary thing.'

[ I agree. This was unexpected. ]

Jason glanced at Hestia one last time before he walked towards the entrance of the marble temple.

His shock limit for the day had been achieved.

***

Jason woke up on his bed with a thirsty throat. With a sigh, he stood up and started moving towards the orphanage's kitchen.

Suddenly, a drop of water fell down from his right cheek. It was followed by a few more drop of water.

'Is it raining outside? I gotta say that if that's the case, this orphanage is built really badly.'

But the moment Jason looked at the ceiling, he realized that it wasn't raining. The drops of water were coming out of his eyes.

'Am I… crying?' he blinked in surprise.

His vision had started blurring from the tears yet he felt no emotion inside him.

[ There aren't your tears, host. ] The system said in sad tone. [ These are the tears of someone who lost everything not once but twice. These are the tears of someone who watched worlds vanish in front of their eyes. ]

At first, Jason didn't understand who the system was referring to. But after a few minutes, it finally hit him.

[ You are right, host. The moment you both connected during the Trial of Fear, Hestia's soul became a bit more lively. So when you took the trial, she was fighting her own fears.

Till this moment, she is still fighting her own fears. Remember how Phobos suddenly seemed afraid? I think Hestia was the reason for that. But due to using her powers, she was trapped in her own nightmares. ]

'This means that the scenes I saw were just a part of the endless nightmare that she keeps on experiencing.'

Jason steeled his heart and walked out of the room. Tears continued to flow out of his eyes but he made no attempt to stop them.

Jason started heading out of the orphanage. His throat no longer felt dry. He simply wanted to see the night sky and sit under it until the tears stopped coming.

Jason exited the orphanage and went to sit on the ground where he practiced daily. The sky above his head was partially cloudy and slow wind was blowing all around.

Despite that, the stars and the moon were clearly visible over his head. Jason looked at them with blurry vision.

Slowly, the tears started dying down.

'System, do you remember anything from your previous life?' Jason asked.

[ No, I don't remember anything. ]

'Perhaps that's the reason Erebus stopped me from giving you a name. We will have to wait for some time to see whether you will remember anything from your previous life or not.'

Even after the tears had stopped coming out of his eyes, Jason didn't feel like going back inside. Something about the night kept him outside for good.

"Damn, its cold out here."

Suddenly, a feminine voice echoed inside Jason's ears. He turned back to see Amber standing behind him with a curious expression.

"I take it you tried to meet your guardian and see what happened?" Amber questioned with a curious face.

Jason blinked in surprise. "How did you know that?"

"Well, I received a similar response to what happened with you." Amber smiled.

She walked forward and sat beside Jason. Flamey was calmly sleeping on her neck, making Jason sigh.

"Yes, I did try to get my guardian back but it didn't go as expected. I saw some… things."

"You saw some of her memories didn't you?" Amber asked. "Not only that but you also saw your own memories playing in reverse."

Jason simply nodded. "You experienced the same thing when you tried to get Flamey back?"

"Yeah. Flamey was stuck in a nightmare. Heck, I didn't even know that he was a she until I saw Flamey's real form." Amber sighed exasperatedly.

"Wait, you are telling me that Flamey is actually a female? How did you not know that?"

"I mean, he always spoke with me in a neutral voice. I ASSUMED he was a male."

"…"

Jason asked the system what the time was. Fortunately, five minutes had already passed by since midnight so his shock limit had already been reseted.

"Did you see anything related to a war?" Jason suddenly questioned.

Amber hesitated to reply at first but after a few minutes, she replied, "yes, I did see some scenes like that. Flamey was fighting some guys."

Both of them sat in silence for the next few minutes. Neither of them knew what to say nor were they sleepy enough to go inside and sleep.

"Hey Jason, how much time do you think has passed in the outside world?"

"Definitely more than two months. After experiencing the trial of fear and entering a dream world, I don't think time flows normally here."

"I feel the same." Amber sighed. "Do you want to fight?"

Jason blinked in surprise. "Though that's random, sure."

The duo stood up and put some distance between themselves. Since they were still dressed in their night suits, they didn't look intimidating and instead looked like children who were sleep walking.

"Let's do one element only. I will use dark element." Jason suggested.

"Then I will use fire element to match the destructive power of your dark element." Amber grinned.

Both of them raised their hands forward and shot their respective attacks at each other. Jason had used a beam of darkness, similar to the one he had seen Hestia use.

Amber on the other hand had released a Chinese dragon made from flames. Both of the attacks crashed mid-air, causing a big explosion.

Their users smiled on their spots despite knowing about things that were enough to break the hearts of their guardians.

After all, both of them knew of worlds which vanished.