It has slept since the time when the goddesses left the earth and returned to heaven. That time was after the creation of the sky, the land, the rivers, the trees, and the men. It fought along side with the other guardians against the invasions of evil in the name of righteousness, that which its summoner claimed. It trusted its master, or masters. It gave its allegiance to the one who linked its spiritual entity with a material shell. In another word, it would technically serve whoever gave a sacrifice to house its spirit.
However, it is quite picky. Because its master, the creator of its spiritual entity, trusted a set of logics that the humans called morality. It kept a program of decision making, which its creator called "Good." Most conducts that contradicted its program, which it had observed in those its summoner claimed as "evil," were subjected to reformation, sometimes with brutal power.
Its creator, however, entrusted it with more than a logic matrix. It received a unique power. It did not understand this power, since the power manifests not as strength or ability in battle, neither as knowledge or action rendering enhancement. It was told that the day it could understand this power, it would not longer be a guardian. The creator told it that to unlock the power will be its ultimate duty, but gave no explanation on how.
Thus under the oath to its summoner, it and others became the swords that purged evil.
Unlike others, it was curious about its hidden power. The spirit of the sacrifice, a soul of a young human priestess, was kept and guarded by it. Instead of letting the soul vanish into nothing, it nurtured the soul and allowed that soul to reside in the body now belong to it. It would often converse with the other soul and learn about the humans that it vowed to protect.
It liked the other soul, who called their relationship as friendship.
Friendship, huh...
As the conversations continued as the war continued on, it became more and more different from the other guardians. Although all of them received the hidden power, it was the only trying to discover the use and the purpose. It began to question.
It asked the other soul, "Are you happy because you will exist for entity in this form?"
The other soul thought and kept silent for some time, then replied, "I am happy to know you. Yet I want to disappear, as a part of me that already did."
"You mean a body? That is easy to create with magic. I am confident with the ability that is bestowed on me."
"No, that is not I mean. Maybe, I am just a bit sad."
"Sad? I thought humans are happy for themselves and each other when their life spans are longer than average."
"That may be true, but I just felt like I do not belong to this world."
"I could not send you to the spiritual realm. Unlike dying, your soul should cease to exist when you volunteered as a sacrifice."
"I am grateful that you kept me in existence though."
"Why? But you are sad. I thought humans despise sadness. At least I saw many would rather disappear."
"Maybe. Seeing the war coming to an end through your eyes, I feel a bit content."
"Hmm...you humans sure are interesting creatures."
During the final battle against the Omni, the mastermind of evil, the humans end victoriously. However, the death charge of Omni destroyed many guardians. In the end, only seven guardians received nonfatal injuries.
It was fading. The dark magic of Omni has damaged its core existence. Bit by bit, it is falling apart into nothingness.
"Recovering Algorithm...nonfunctional...Vital Force...30% decreasing...Logics...25%...nonfunctional...Looks like I am going to break."
"Are you afraid to disappear?"
"Why? Should I be?"
"I mean humans usually would. Well, the night before my volunteered sacrifice, I cried all night and hoped I would live for just some more time."
"But you still did, didn't you? Why?"
"..."
"What is wrong?"
"I wanted to cry, but I realized there would be no tears."
"Are you despairing over the end of your existence, since that is linked to mine?"
"Maybe a little. But I am grieving over the loss of comrades."
"You should not be. Their glory remains with their noble cause."
"Maybe, but it is sad to remember that they were once there."
"Sadness...I still did not quite understand human emotions that well. Every time you felt sad, I can feel it...a feeling very hard to describe...very unique, too..."
"Well, if you are not here, I would have ceased to exist a long time ago. I thank you for everything you did for me, and for us humans."
"No, no problems at all. It was my oath, thus my duty."
"In the end, at least I can still do this for you. I am sorry, but I will go on ahead."
"Ah, vitality core open. System access denied...you...!...How..."
"I have paid my soul as the price to end the war and save my people a long time ago. Consider this as a delayed payment. Really, thank you."
"You are..."
The other soul vanished, as the destiny planned originally. It survived a breakdown, with the vitality force from the other soul.
For the first time since the body received a new owner, the tears flowed nonstop. It found a heart ranching pain, fresh and unexplained.
"This is sadness...I see..."
The surviving guardians lived on earth as the representatives of goddesses. However, their contacts are abolished with their summoners because of the pacts were complete. As time went by, humans began to fear and envy the power of the guardians. They desired the power for their selfish reasons. Seven guardians were slain as heretics. The guardians did not resist, since they did not understand this human folly and they had no motivations to retaliate against the "Good" they once served.
The eighth guardian--it, however, escaped the slaughter. Its soul, fused with the priestess, foresaw the dangers and warned its comrades. The effort was futile, as none of the others feared, or even felt, the threat of ending. To the other guardians, their purposes were fulfilled long ago, and their existence no longer has much meaning.
Hidden from the pursuers, it wailed on top of a volcano for three days and three nights. Across the land, the quiet anguish cry haunted people in their dreams.
On the fourth day, it stopped.
It materialized its halberd, the device of divine punishment, and exterminated anyone associated with the execution. Yet it did not stop afterwards, the rampaging guardians massacred town after town. The humans it once protected are too corrupt to be saved, it thought. Though its comrades felt nothing as they disappeared into the void, the endings were simply sad.
In this bloody revenge, the humans begged to goddesses for forgiveness. Their prayers were heard. In exchange of repentance, the berserker will be stopped.
A ray of blinding light struck the earth and sealed the rampaging guardian. The pillar was so bright that the midst of the night was clear as noon. The event would later be chronicled as the Heaven's Nail.
"You have discovered your power...it is truly regrettable that you could not use it correctly..."
Seven shines were built for the guardians that were the victims of human foolishness. However, the humans have not forgiven the eighth. They cursed it and did not record the incident as the result of their own ambitions. Instead, the eight guardian simply became a great demon, a fragment of Omni that survived the First War of Salvation. The seven guardians became seven heroes who fought against the demon and gave their lives for peace and justice. And as the heroes' effort waned, the goddesses intervened and sealed the demon.
Even they are the cause, the humans cursed the eighth guardian. Yet they did learn a lesson, as history should tell that the guardians were honored and the teachings of the goddesses needed to be observed closely.
With prolonged bitterness, the humans did not know that the guardian is merely sealed but not destroyed. As a punishment for the eight guardian, it remained in an the eternal slumber, as the goddesses asked it to reflect on its mistakes and the vow it broke.
For the past who-knows-how-many years, it slept.
