The infant's song played and grew tall, but remained entwined in the fabric of the mountains' bellowing chorus, and thus protected by their desperate maternal embrace. Then... discord.

A scream.

A lick of flame fell inwards and scalded the child.

The mountains shattered into screeching noise to hide the child's pain. More flames fell in towards the child. Screams and burning flesh. The mountains froze in panic. The very fabric of the protective web woven around the child was in flames and falling inward. The mountains called for the Void to destroy the flames altogether, and it did.

The child nearly suffocated in the stillness that followed. The Void retracted its dead grasp, and the wind swirled inward. Cold and bitter, the biting swirl crusted over patches of skin and the child screamed some more. The dried frozen skin peeled up and was ripped off by the wind. The child's screams became shattered and blotchy.

Skinless and pleading.

Kole pulled the Bonesword from the ground. He held it aloft behind him for a moment and focused his breathing.

He felt the connections to the elements retract softly back into place, and he could taste their knowing on the wind. The universe had been told this story in a voice it had not yet heard.

...The child...

The child needed to learn how to survive in the bitter mountain air. He had been over-nurtured and was never allowed to acclimate himself to the harsh world that surrounded him. Once the protective structure collapsed, the shock of sudden reality almost killed him.

Kole sheathed the Bonesword again and exhaled sharply. The Bonesword spoke.

"Don't distract yourself with the details, Kole. All that matters is that the netherspore is destroyed."

Kole waited for his own question to form. "What is it exactly? All I could get was the sense of a small child being protected by the mountains, then attacked."

The Bonesword paused. Moments like these, Kole could feel the relic's age. The Bonesword paused to connect itself into the patterns and then divine not the answer to Kole's question - it already knew the answer - but just how much Kole needed to know in order to do what was needed. There was a universal order being woven. Kole and his actions were simply one strand on the tapestry.

"The child you refer to is actually an isolated valley populated by several thousand Humans untouched by the Earth's changes. Klalech had been poisoning them for more than a year from the other side with chaos so as to make the land fertile for when he planted the netherspore."

It all made sense now. Back at the City-In-The-Sea, Klalech was able to steal a piece of the gateway, a netherspore, because Kole and the guardians had gotten sloppy. No netherspore had taken root in the last 500 years - They were always found and destroyed - they give off such strong and distinct patterns. But here, in these conditions of naivete and defenselessness, a netherspore would thrive, and the protection of the mountains hid the netherspore's growth from the outside world. Perfect.

Kole and the guardians had believed that there was no real danger even if a netherspore was stolen. He could taste how that indifference had weakened them. Monthly, the guardians would enter the caverns below the gateway and collect all of the netherspores - the "buds" of the gateway - so that they could be destroyed by Damir, the Elder Magan. The monthly visits to the caverns had become more of a game over time. Damir had warned them not to be too complacent - netherspores were dangerous, and despite it being common knowledge that for 500 years no netherspore had been able to grow into another gateway, there are still those who will try. The underground market price on netherspores are intangibly high, and that fact in itself may be motivation enough for someone to try to steal one.

Arrogance.

That's the word he searched for. The guardians had become arrogant. They were considered the most skilled warriors in the continent, and despite the occasional challenge by cocky outlanders who wanted to prove their mettle, they were universally respected. Uncontested.

Klalech must have had some inside help. A glint of fear cut through Kole when he tried to assign the label of traitor to one of the guardians. Klalech would not have been allowed to pass through the gateway unless both the guardians on duty or an elder had allowed it... even if Klalech had gone to extreme measures to disguise himself externally, the Elders can sense a soul. They would be able to see him for the vicious corrupter that he is...

"Boney?", Kole began to the Bonesword.

"I wish you would not call me that. You should address me as Jhebon Mettit. Damir instructed you in this."

Kole simply waited.

"What is your question?", the Bonesword asked.

"...speculation... When did Klalech cross over?"

"Kole, this is unproductive. Damir is focusing on finding the means by which he came through. It is your task to stop the netherspore from taking root. Nothing else."

"Yes, but if I do not clear in my own head who was responsible for letting Klalech through, my focus is distracted to my other guardians. I feel guilt for seeing one of them as possible traitors."

The Bonesword paused again.

"It is still uncertain. It is possible that Klalech employed the soul of another to mask his own transport."

Kole was insulted that this was the Bonesword's answer - the words spoken to a child. The direct translation was: "Talk no more about this." Something more was beneath this...

"The Elders would see through that..."

"... possibly. He is a Demon Lord, and his strengths are many. It is not known what Klalech is capable of until he manifests it on Earth. Remember, he has never been to Earth before - there is no record of his skills."

Kole considered this. Klalech was taking a big chance coming here. He couldn't know how his powers would manifest until he actually set foot on Earth...

He's desperate.

He NEEDS to create this gateway as a last chance to recover his losses. Most of his minions were wiped out in the first invasion - rerouted away from Earth into some Abyssal Reality - and rumor has it that his domain has been in decay ever since. Demonic bankruptcy. His once-allies wait by his gates ready to claim his realm for their own.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Klalech had been more resolved. That is another reason why he succeeded in stealing a netherspore. That is why Kole had to be even more resolved and focused. The bonesword was right... it no longer mattered how Klalech came to Earth. What mattered was that it was up to Kole to stop Klalech from creating another gateway.

Kole felt something warm him. It was painful, yet comforting...

In most conflicts, there is no right and wrong, but only different perspectives. As a guardian, the bulk of his days were spent finding the truth within the accusations and anger between two beings, which usually could be solved by a compromise. The nuances of truth were sometimes very elusive. Often, frustratingly vague. Always, a balance was achieved, ideally involving an eventual understanding between the two opposing perspectives.

But in this case, Kole could see the truth clearly. It was not his task to be a mediator. He was not travelling through hostile territories to uphold some subtle balance. His task was hard and cold. He had to destroy the netherspore by any means necessary, and Klalech would protect his investment by any means necessary.

The thought that warmed Kole so deeply was that he was no longer a guardian. He had become an instrument of the universe. A device created to cut off a diseased extremity. Kole's sole purpose was to kill Klalech.

...and the faces of the dead guardians filled him.

He was not Kole anymore.

He was Vengeance.