GUARDIAN OF THE END

"I will be going now. We can talk at night if you want." Jason said before standing up.

Amber simply nodded and remained at her spot. Jason stared at her for a few seconds before heading towards the manor again.

His mind was still thinking about Amber's question while he made his way to the lab. Once he appeared there, he saw that the two guardians had already vanished and that Risa was present there again.

"I was wondering whether you would show up or spend some time with Amber." Risa smiled.

"Its important for me to learn this in case I or someone else gets hurt in the future. I can still spend time with her later on." Jason replied with a determined expression.

Risa nodded in agreement before gesturing for him to begin. Jason took a deep breath and cut off his pain receptors.

He stepped forward and let Risa cut his skin off. During this, he couldn't remove one thought from his mind.

'The question is, how long will this peaceful moment exist?'

***

At night, Jason hit his bed with a tired expression. He still hadn't been able to control the dark mana successfully to prevent any infection from getting to his skin.

The frustration caused by this was next level but there was nothing he could do except continue his training.

'I just have to figure out what I am doing wrong.' Jason sighed.

He was minutes away from passing out when he heard a knock on his door. Jason slowly dragged himself up and walked towards the door.

Jason opened the door to reveal Amber standing on the other side.

"You look like a half-dead person…" Amber commented the moment she saw his appearance.

"Well, constant training of this level can do things like this to a person." Jason smiled before stepping aside to let Amber enter his room.

He had cleaned it a bit after taking a shower so he could let her enter it without causing any problems for himself.

[ I still don't understand how that would have caused a problem. Your room barely has anything in it and even if you didn't clean it, it would still look pretty good. ]

'Somethings don't require explanations. They are just based on instincts.'

Jason and Amber sat down on the bed together, an awkward silence hanging over them. The only sound present in the room was that of the wind blowing in from the window.

"So… what exactly are you learning?" Amber questioned, thus breaking the silence.

"I am learning how to heal major injuries passively. Its quite an excruciating thing to do."

"But how are you learning to heal injuries when you have the dark element?" Amber asked in a confused tone.

It was at this moment Jason realized that he had slipped up. Risa had told him that such knowledge was extremely destructive for the rest of the world so it was better if we kept it restricted to himself.

"Dark element still can heal injuries due to its corrosion. Most people can't do this since it requires at least an A grade affinity with the element to do this.

Even then there is no guarantee that the mage can learn it. I am not sure that I will be able to learn this either but giving up isn't going to do me any good." Jason explained, mixing some truth into his story.

"That makes sense. My grandma told me the same thing about my elements. Due to my affinity and magma element, there are things that I can do with the fire and earth elements that others can't." Amber replied.

Her shoulders sagged down a bit when she said grandma. Jason, who had his fare share of experiences with losses, gently placed his hand on Amber's shoulder.

"Amber, answer me honestly. How are you feeling currently?" he asked calmly.

"Sad. Grieving. Confused. A bit lost…" Amber replied honestly, her voice decreasing to barely a whisper.

Jason gently used his light magic to create a somewhat warmer aura around Amber. Risa had taught him that doing things like this helped in calming the emotions of another person.

"Truth be told, I have no idea how it feels to lose a grandparent," Jason said. "I have had both of my grandparents with me ever since I was a child. However, I don't know anything about parental love. Neither my mom nor my dad have met me ever since I was born."

[ Technically, your mother was there with you for a short period of time after you were born. ]

'That doesn't really count.' Jason pointed out.

"What I want to say is that those who are usually considered gifted or talented have to face more problems and drawbacks than the others. We will have trauma and depression yet we know that we can't stop.

Once we stop, what is the point in living? Pessimists say that everyone will die in the end so everything is useless but is it? What is better, giving up on life or struggling to live?" Jason fell silent.

For some reason, he felt like he had achieved some degree of spiritual wisdom. If someone had said the same words to him during the war on Earth, perhaps he would have gone for shelter instead of saving those lives.

That in turn wouldn't have reincarnated him into the world of Duphia.

"You know, that's one way to motivate someone to live…" Amber replied, her lips curling up into the barest of smiles. "But I guess staying this way isn't going to help anyone. I have to find some kind of thing to do."

"You can train to become stronger. You can strive for revenge or a better society than the one we have. There are many kinds of things that you can do and it doesn't have to be a big one." Jason explained.

"You don't really sound your age. I might expect someone thrice my age to say these things." Amber replied with a genuine smile.

Jason faked a cough since he didn't have a reply. Technically, Amber was telling the truth since his mental age was definitely more than her.

"I guess I can try finding something to do tomorrow." Amber sighed. "But tonight, I just want to have a good sleep."

"Just lie down on the bed and close your eyes. Try to think about a happy memory or something and you will fall asleep soon."

"All right."

Before Jason could say anything else, Amber crashed down on his bed. She took the right corner and closed her eyes.

Jason was about to get up and sleep on the couch when Amber's hand grabbed his arm.

"Stay here. If I have nightmares, I at least want to know that someone is beside me." Amber said while keeping her eyes closed.

Jason took a deep breath before sitting on the bed with his feet resting straight. Amber retracted her hand yet her body was still facing in his direction.

A few strands of her hair were covering her face as she tried to sleep. Jason could feel his heart pounding a bit faster while seeing this.

'Get a hold of yourself, idiot!' he shouted at himself before letting his body relax.

He extended his legs and peacefully lay on the bed. Unfortunately, his mind was way too active to let him sleep in peace.

"Maybe you are the one who needs to relax." Amber snickered from the side.

"Its not easy to sleep…" Jason murmured under his breath.

"Jason, do you know about the flames of the heart?" Amber suddenly asked.

Jason turned to look at her face yet her eyes were still closed. He closed his eyes as well and turned back to his original position, his head facing the ceiling.

"No, I don't."

_{𝑓r𝘦𝘦𝘄eb𝒏𝙤vel.c𝙤𝙢}

"My father told me that grandpa believed that every heart had flames inside it. These flames were responsible for making people experience different feelings. The gentle yet tender flames of love.

The high burning flames of anger. The low burning flames of sadness. According to him, every heart had these flames. If one could master to control them, they would be able to gain master over their emotions." Amber explained.

"Now that sounds like something someone his age might tell to youngsters." Jason commented.

"I know, right? But when I was a child, I used to believe in his words. I tried to master the flames which lead to a lot of accidents." Amber chuckled.

"Do you believe in them right now?" Jason asked curiously.

"My faith in that has died down over the years but I still believe in it a bit. I did discover that certain people can make those flames change without meaning to do anything." Amber chuckled again.

Jason felt confused a bit before he realized what Amber was hinting at. He turned again and stared at her.

"Do you mean…" His voice trailed off when he realized that Amber had fallen asleep, that too with a smile on her face.

Jason could only sigh and curse a bit at the red-haired girl sleeping beside him. In the end, he too closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

However, he couldn't help but wonder whether the flames of his heart were changing unconsciously as well…