The Legend of the Guardian

A long, long time ago, in the place that is now Chile, there was a city split into two factions. The two fought over everything, but since one of the groups was better equipped and wealthier, they eventually won. And so, the two factions came to be known as the Nobles and the Peasants. Despite the feud's fading into the past, both factions still hated each other; the Peasants hated the Nobles for never listening to what they had to say, and the Nobles hated the Peasants for contaminating their pure metropolis.

Nevertheless, regardless of how much the two factions hated each other, they could never destroy each other. The Peasants depended on the Nobles to maintain order, and the Nobles depended on the Peasants to generate the resources they needed. However, the Peasants started to outnumber the Nobles, and they started to get out of control. As a result, the Nobles killed the Peasants whenever it seemed that they would rise against the Nobles. Hateful, the Peasants stopped manufacturing resources for the Nobles and started to break away from the city. Soon enough, there were too few Peasants to keep the municipality thriving. However, instead of making things better for the Peasants, the Nobles decided to persecute the remaining ones.

It was during this time when our hero, Isaac was born. Ironically, Isaac was born into a Noble family rather than a Peasant family. Growing up, he was educated on the war between the factions and why the Peasants should be killed. However, instead of favoring the Nobles and denouncing the Peasants, Isaac sympathized with the Peasants. It must be hard, he thought, to live in a world where you were never recognized as a member of humanity. And so, for his thirteenth birthday, he asked to visit the slums so he could see the remnants of the Peasants.

The slums were a bleak place. Despite making up half of the city, it was mostly deserted - except for the few stragglers who refused to leave.   Even though all the buildings were crumbling to pieces, even though the water was covered in layers of grime, and even though all they had were tents made from ripped clothing, they stayed. The only thing keeping them there was their refusal to let the Nobles win completely. Even if it cost them their lives, they would stay and claim the slums as their own. As long as one of them was left, that would be enough; if the Nobles killed the last Peasant, they would be nothing more than normal people.

The vigor with which they spoke of keeping the slums inspired Isaac to join them in preventing the Nobles from taking over. He ordered his servants to deliver enough food to them to last several weeks but refrained from building them cabins because he knew that doing so would only result in the Peasants refusing to move in. Every week, he'd come back to check how the Peasants were doing, and in response, they slowly warmed up to him. Eventually, their relationship with Isaac was good enough that if Isaac asked to move in with one of the families in the slums, they'd allow him to and provide for him as if he were their own child.

Just as the Peasants developed a fondness for Isaac, he also developed a fondness for them - he used his influence amongst the Nobles to prevent them from abusing the Peasants' rights. Preparing for the day when Nobles would attempt to get rid of the Peasants, Isaac started to amass an army and began to train himself. Somewhere along the way, Isaac's sense of justice improved further, and his sights spread to the wildlife. He worried about the possible extinction of species necessary for human survival and restricted the amount of livestock the Nobles could kill.

But whereas the Peasants' affection for Isaac grew stronger and stronger, the Nobles detested him - they believed that Isaac was planning to undermine the Nobles' control until they were the same as the Peasants. Blinded by greed, they decided to set the slums ablaze. It would be easy; the streets were covered in flammable items and if combined with oil, the entire place would soon be nothing but ashes. Any leftover Peasants would be picked off by the Nobles and their soldiers.

Oblivious to the Nobles' plan, Isaac continued to establish more rights for the Peasants. Soon enough, the two factions were equal, but they still harbored a deep distrust of each other. Isaac was the only link between the groups, but he was on the verge of being executed by the Nobles. It was only his skill at negotiating with other cities that dissuaded the Nobles from murdering him where he stood, but this wouldn't stop them by the time the plan started - they would've found someone else just as good by then.

The Peasants - somewhat satisfied with their current situation - started to work again. Prices decreased, and the slums started to become sanitary. Despite the severe drop in expenses, the Nobles were still unhappy. They'd rather pay a high price for food and get to treat the Peasants unfairly than pay a low price and treat them as equals. However, the Nobles couldn't lift a finger against them. They knew that any action against the Peasants might cause them to leave; without the Peasants, burning down the slums would be pointless.

A few months passed, and the Nobles were ready to carry out their plan - they had found a suitable Noble to supplant Isaac, and they had gathered enough oil. There was only one problem: the slums couldn't really be called "the slums" anymore. In fact, it was cleaner than the Nobles' part of the city, which was a problem. Because of the lack of flammable things lying in the streets, the fire wouldn't rage as much as it would've back when the slums were still polluted. It would probably just burn an eighth of the slums, then run out. However, this problem was quickly set aside; instead of killing most of the Peasants through burning, they would send their armies instead.

And so, the day of the plan's execution arrived - or should I say, the night of the plan's execution. At midnight, while the Peasants were sleeping, the Nobles started to douse the structures with oil. Isaac was strolling about the slums when he noticed that the house he'd just walked past seemed to be soaking wet. Going inside the house, he gathered all of the residents and got them all outside to investigate just as a burning arrow hit the roof. Seeing the house start to burn, Isaac realized they were under attack, and at a bad time as well.

You see, Isaac's army was currently resting outside the country. He had sent them to go gather resources and make sure that the neighboring cities were doing well. And so, even if Isaac found a way to call them back, it would be too late - the soldiers would only arrive after the attack was over. Knowing that the Nobles would most likely send troops in to kill the Peasants, Isaac started to evacuate them. However, the exits from the city had been sealed off, so there was nothing left to do but fight.

The Peasants were at a disadvantage; the Nobles' soldiers were well-trained and better equipped than them. However, Isaac and some of the Peasants managed to hold off most of them until the others found a way to break through and escape the city. All seemed to be going well, and the Peasants were making their way to places where they were sure to be accepted.

Almost all of the slums' residents had made their way out when Isaac heard a girl crying. A soldier was standing over the girl, preparing to run her through with his spear. Diving towards the girl, Isaac grabbed her and turned his back to the soldier just as the man thrust his spear forward. Several other soldiers noticed the commotion and arrived at the scene as well. And so, the Guardian's life came to an end.

Isaac was impaled about seven times, and nearly a dozen arrows were piercing his back when he died. With the last of his strength, he'd thrown the girl far enough for an escaping Peasant to pick her up and take her away from the city. The Peasants that evaded capture lived happy lives, although somewhat scarred from the incident. The Nobles realized that everyone was the same after all the Peasants were gone, and devoted the rest of their lives to taking care of their environment. The neighboring cities eventually took over, but their reign wasn't cruel - they had heard of what happened, and ruled accordingly.