The Four Guardians

BEEP BEEP BEEP

In the Guardian Tower, located at the centre of the demon realm. Tempus stood watching the last person evacuate.

"Oh, what now?" He said as he was receiving emergency communications from the dwarven leader, Elkol.

"Have you seen?" He said to Tempus who looked as if he hadn't slept in several years.

"I saw. Have you found Mane?"

"I'm afraid not. We don't know what happened after he cut the village in half but we saw him collapse so he must be near."

Elkol spoke to Tempus as the situation became dire. They spoke like friends putting their positions to the side as neither of them was prepared for this to happen. They both faced dread in the face and so did all the other world leaders.

"I fear I won't be ready to fight them," Tempus said questioning his methods.

"Do not worry. You are a great warrior. The time mage. You've lived a tiring life and survived worse. You'll do great."

Elkol ended the communications suddenly without even wishing him good luck. Tempus ignored the last words that Elkol spoke as his mindset was focused on Ifer.

"How's it going?" He said to Ifer through thought-communication.

"It's going well," Ifer replied in the centre of a rather populated city. "This is easier than I thought-"

"AAARRRRRGG!"

"What was that scream?" Tempus replied as he heard a blood-curdling scream from the other end.

"Oh, it's just this dumb sword. How do you even make a sword that talks?"

Ifer wielded a sword that looked as if it had a face carved into its handle. It insulted him at every turn and wouldn't shut up. Everyone around him was giving him stares but assumed it was just a child.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW GLUTTONOUS YOU ARE?" The sword screamed. "AND THAT'S COMING FROM THE SWORD OF GLUTTONY! YOU SHOULD KILL YOURSELF!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Ifer said wrapping the sword in the cheapest rag he could buy.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" It's muffled screams could still be heard even through additional layers.

"So any problems?" Tempus asked.

"I got attacked by bandits but they are all dead. Wasn't hard just killed them in one go. Should have been painless."

Ifer continued to roam around aimlessly whilst his laid back attitude put Tempus at ease.

"I'll head back now so don't worry. I haven't encountered one of those Jester masks so don't worry… Actually... I'll call you back."

"WAIT!" Tempus screamed. "If it's Greed don't look at his eyes."

"It's not Greed," Ifer replied, certain that what he was looking at wasn't the one called Greed. "It's me."

"What?" Tempus said trying to understand what was going on. "Is everything ok? What's happening?"

Tempus tried to get an answer but no matter how much he panicked, he wasn't going to get one.

"This bastard..." Ifer said.

"HAHAHAHA HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT!" The sword laughed at Ifer who was visible with rage.

"I didn't see how you did it," Ifer said looking down at his empty hands. "But I'm going to have to ask for that sword back."

Ifer stood empty-handed, looking at the clone of himself that now wielded the sword he was once holding. The sword he was tasked to retrieve.