Deathsong Chronicles - Nocturne 10

Xepher plunged through the portal, and emerged in a 5 meter-cubed room. On three sides, there were archways. He walked through one, and came to a cupboard-like thing attached on the wall. It was separated into 16 compartments, a 4x4 kind of thing.

Carved on the wall next to it was: The X is where you are. Go to the O room to proceed to the next challenge. It was on the second room of the third row from the top, and the O was at the top-right corner. "Hmm...interesting."

Xepher walked on to the next room, and saw a portal. He jumped into it-

-and came out at the cupboard room. "What the heck?" muttered Xepher. He looked at the O sign. Northeast of his current position...

He proceeded all the way to the right, then all the way straight, and came to another portal. This he entered, and found himself in a massive arena.

"Whoa."

The crowd roared in anticipation, and a massive, four-armed warrior leapt into the arena. He was wielding a broadsword with each hand, making it like fighting four opponents at once. And it didn't help that his muscles rippled like mad. And the worst part was, there wasn't a shred of mercy in those crimson eyes.

No, the worst part was the monstrous warrior was charging at Xepher like a rampaging rhino. Xepher dodged out of the way, and tried to make the beast fall by kicking it's legs. The result was a bruised human leg and a loud monster roar of anger.

Cypheria came up to block two broadswords, and Xepher rolled out of range. The guardian cast a lightning bolt at the four-armed fighter, and blasted it away. It was bleeding heavily, and dropped all of it's swords.

Xepher rapidly sliced off all of it's arms, and morphed Cypheria into a rope, which he tied around the monster's head, and pulled. The result?

A fountain of blood spouting from a headless corpse.

Gasping with exertion, he looked around, and saw another fighter approaching. This one had a glowing sword and a normal-sized body. On one arm was a powerful aura, one of an azure hue.

"Guardian. Defeat me to gain the guardian's true powers. Fail to beat me, and you die." With that, the warrior charged at Xepher, blade raised.

"Whatever." Xepher responded by slicing at the warrior's legs. He managed a wound, not fatal but enough to make his opponent grunt in pain and anger.

What followed was completely unexpected. The warrior swallowed his sword, and gained a blue nimbus of electricity around his hands. He brought them together, and launched a bolt at Xepher, who dodged it and moved in for the kill as his opponent was recovering from the attack.

A deep gash appeared on the demon-warrior's torso, and he fell to his knees.

"You...have defeated me. And by doing so...you have acquired the power of the true Guardian, able to borrow the strength from your allies and the dead comrades and Guardians in the afterlife. Use this power wisely, and never use it for evil..."

With that, the warrior died, and Xepher felt the power of the true Guardian enter him. He turned around, and walked through the portal that appeared there, which brought him back to the Rift of Reality.