Now where was I? Oh yes. Animia's goddess Anatia was standing on, or rather, hovering above, the stage where, just mere minutes before, the year twelves of Anatoria High had been singing. And Freakazoid was lying face down in front of her. The goddess was staring me straight in the eye. It was more than a little intimidating, to say the least. I hastily bowed in the presence of the goddess, not really sure what else to do.

"Millicent?" I glanced up. The goddess's voice was...magical. Powerful and yet gentle at the same time. "Millicent Hall-E'Strange, Animia's newest guardian?"

I had to say something. "...Yes, Lady Anatia?"

"You have done well, in all you have done since you accepted your inevitable destiny. Now it is time to reveal a little more of who you are, and why you are here today. There are secrets too powerful for these mortals, but first..." She looked down at Freakazoid's sorry form. With a wave of her hand, the body of the mad scientist began to levitate. His eyes, no longer angry as they had been before, opened. He just had time to gasp before Anatia touched him and he disappeared completely. He just vanished into thin air. There one minute, gone the next. Julian was bowed beside me, and he seemed as shocked as me, and probably everyone else in the hall. It wasn't just those who had performed in or attended the concert, but a lot of total strangers as well. It looked like half of Animia was there. Well, most of the city of Anatoria, anyway.

"I summoned all of Anatoria here," said Anatia, as if she could read my mind, "so that they may know what this kingdom is coming to. The mortals of this city must know all I know about what happened when the Guardians disappeared."

Then, as if I was talking to some old friend, I blurted out, "They can't have died though, right? Not all of them. After all, there's me, and...him..." I didn't like putting myself in the same sentence as Freakazoid, but he must've been descended from a Guardian line too, right? "We must have been related to them at least."

Anatia looked thoughtful for a moment. I wondered if she was going to kill me for interrupting her. Luckily, she didn't. She muttered to herself, so quietly I almost missed it, "just like someone I once knew, aren't you?" Then she said out loud, "yes, you are descended from a Guardian line. That other man is too, though luckily not the same one as you. Even I don't know where the Guardians went, or how at least two of them disappeared without my knowing their whereabouts. What I do know is that, for some reason, shortly after they disappeared, a lot of the darkforce-born monsters and demons that plagued the land disappeared along with them. I don't actually know why, although I do have one idea. This is where the two of us must leave the mortals wondering, at least for a moment or two."

Nobody else had dared to speak. Julian was holding my arm, probably worried that Anatia might've blasted me to bits or something. The hall was too quiet. Not a sound could be heard. Nobody shuffled or squeaked or walked or ran or screamed or whispered. Even the people who had come to witness the night's unexpected grand finale were silent. It was as if the goddess had stopped time. Well, other than the fact that I could feel the pulse in Julian's hand on my arm.

Anatia looked up at all the people. There had to be at least five hundred, maybe a thousand or more. "People of Animia, I shall borrow your Guardian for a few moments, please stay where you are for the time being, for a new age in Animia's long history is about to begin." She then looked at me. "Take my hand, my dear. There are things we must discuss that would be too much for some mortals." I took the goddess's hand and suddenly there was a blinding flash.

We reappeared in a room like nothing I had ever seen before. There were white columns holding up the roof. At one end of the room was a white and gold throne. The walls, floor and ceiling of the room were white. White as Anatia's gown. "Welcome to the Temple of Life," I heard Anatia say. She materialised in front of the throne. "Now, onto why the monsters left...I think they were looking for the Guardians that went missing." What? I thought. Why would the monsters and demons born from darkforce LOOK for the missing Guardians when the Guardians were the ones trying to kill them? As if she could read my mind, Anatia said, "I wasn't as if they were worried about them, it was something to do with Animia's great prophecy."

"Great prophecy? Did it have something to do with the Guardians disappearing?" I asked. Perhaps this prophecy could provide some answers to my many many questions concerning my real parents, the disappearance of the Guardians, and just who Freakazoid was and what he wanted.

"No, but it is a powerful thing indeed. This is why I brought you here. If the mortals hear it, they might try to change it or decipher it themselves, and given what the prophecy foretells, that mightn't be such a good thing. I have only told one other of this prophecy, and that is Arithmius himself. Are you ready to hear it?"

If it could answer some of the questions buzzing around my head at a million miles an hour, then there was nothing I could do but hear it. "Yes, Lady Anatia. I am ready."

"Very well. Here is the Great Prophecy of Animia, something I heard in one of my dreams the night before Arithmius accepted his destiny." She took a deep breath, and began to recite:

"A child of she who spawned all life

Shall halt or cause the kingdom's strife

Be them god, half or something else

Will they live? Time soon tells

When all is done and the tale is told

When said child knows the power they do hold

The Creator will be avenged, the darkness ends

When all and one unite as friends."

I repeated the lines in my head until I had memorised the whole thing. What did it mean? "A child of she who spawned all life" must be talking about a child of Anatia, I thought. She was the goddess of lifeforce, after all. But what about the rest? And who was the "Creator"?

"'A child of she who spanned all life'" I repeated the line aloud. "Is that talking about...your child? Have you had any children?"

"I may only have one child in my eternal life. You know how the gods feared my powers as the goddess of lifeforce and what I might do with them? Well, when I left, they let me roam freely on the condition that I accept a curse, which was that I would only be able to have one child, whether they were a god, half god, or a child of myself and a species that wasn't god or mortal. They knew that any children I had would possess the ability to give, manipulate or take away lifeforce, as I do. They would be no ordinary Manipulative. They would be at least five times as powerful as Arithmius, the first Manipulative, and that would even be if they were only a half god."

"Oh," I said. "If you don't mind my asking...have you had this child already?"

Anatia didn't answer my question. She instead replied, "so back to the reason the darkforce born beasts disappeared. I think they wanted to stop the prophecy. They were wondering if the Guardians had disappeared to look after the child of the prophecy, as word of it reached them somehow, I believe."

"Lady Anatia, why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"Because I need to ask of you a great favour. It will not be easy, but I know you better than you know, and I am sure you know what this divine favour is." I did? I thought. As if reading my mind (again) Anatia said, "yes, you do. Will you protect fair Animia from the monsters that return to destroy it? Will you be the new Guardian of Animia?"

I didn't know what to say. An immortal goddess was asking me to protect the kingdom she had been watching over for so long. Of course, I had protected the land from two Freakazoid attacks now, as well as the stone demon. I would protect the kingdom with everything I had, because I knew I was its only hope now.

"It would be an honour, it really would, Lady Anatia. Even though there are no longer the larger numbers of Guardians and Manipulatives there once were, I will do my best to protect Animia. I know that the darkforce born monsters are returning, and that the mortals have no chance against them. I will protect Animia for you," I said.

"I knew you would. I now bestow upon you some of my divine power. May it assist you in the times to come, Divinata Automata."

"Divi...what?" I said. I didn't know what that was, but it sounded Ancient Animian, and if I was right, she had just called me it.

"Divinata Automata. It means "Divine Automaton of Life" in Ancient Animian. You should be able to understand it now, I think," she said with a smile that might have said "I know something about you that you will find out, but don't know already."

"You are not like the other Guardians, Millicent. You are at a disadvantage, because, as you said before, there were once a number of Guardians, but you will be protecting the kingdom alone. I leave you with three gifts to help you, two of which were possessed by only do e of Animia's ancient protectors, and the greatest gift of all, that which none who walks the earth has known before."

Anatia then took my hand in hers and suddenly, the two hands, mine and hers, began to glow. I suddenly felt quite different. Powerdul, and somehow...like I knew something powerful, something long lost to humanity. "The first of these gifts,"Anatia began, "is the ability to understand and speak in the ancient tongues of the Lamd of Lifeforce. If you don't yet understand what I mean, you will soon, I'm sure. The second gift is something I have kept for many centuries. The star of Arithmius himself." Anatia held up her two hands, and, just like when she had materialised in the drama hall, a glowing form started to take shape. It was long and thin with a sort of bump at the end. When the glowing light cleared, she was holding a long staff the same colour as my mechanical parts. There were ancient looking characters along the length of the staff, but as soon as I looked at them more clearly, it was as if a deep fog had been lifted from my eyes, and I gasped as I whispered aloud a single word: "Mechatina." I rolled the word around in my mouth, pronouncing each syllable of the ancient word separately: "Meh-kat-in-ah." As with when I "read" the word for the first time, a phrase came to mind as I stared at the characters on the staff. "First Machine."

"I see you have found your first gift in your second. The truth is that you have always had the ability to read the language of the Ancients, all I did was awaken that power. Now for the staff. It was created and used by Arithmius himself. It amplified his Manipulative abilities but was also a powerful physical weapon due to the light but strong properties of Anatium; no doubt you have discovered these for yourself as you are the second Guardisn of pure Anatium. I will leave you to discover the rest of Arithmius's little tricks for yourself."

I happened to glance done at my right wrist, where I had discovered (on the day of my transformation) that there was a small clock face, no larger then that of a normal wristwatch, built into the metal. The time was almost half past eight! "Good grief," I muttered to myself. "Mother she'll be wondering where I am!" (I had forgotten about everyone, my mother probably included, waiting in the drama hall)

"Oh dear, yes. I mustn't keep you. Take my hand and we'll head back." I took the goddess's hand, but all of a sudden she let go.

"Is something the matter, Lady Anatia?" I asked, looking around, half expecting something bad to happen.

"Please stop calling me 'Lady', just 'Anatia' will do," said Anatia with a grin on her face. "And no, nothing's wrong. I just forgot to tell you about the third gift. The greatest gift a goddess can give."

Wondering what "the greatest gift a goddess can give" was, I asked, "So...what IS the third gift?"

Anatia smiled. "Immortality."