Things have been quiet lately, and I don't like it one bit. I suppose I should be relieved, but when you've lived here for as long as I have, you get to know your enemy.
  Oh, it's still there. That thing calling itself the Nemesis is still underground, waiting until Alexis' guard drops to do whatever it is that it does. I can feel it there, constantly trying its power against her.
  It's almost funny. I shouldn't say that, nothing about this is funny. But still... of all the people that my brother helped along the way, this one that comes along turns out to so completely magic-inept that she borders on resistant. The old Guardian had kept notes, like these, which gave me quite a bit of insight into the mind of our enemy - it seems that the Nemesis is very weak without people around to exploit. It grows, but very slowly - it had never been the same after the great Crusade all that time ago. After that, it had fed on the Guardians, slowly, by tempting them over to its cause. All the previous Guardians had been users of magic, though - and Alexis had the magic use of a stone. This was, fortunately for us I suppose, completely frustrating all of our enemy's attempts.
  It won't last forever, though. I can feel everything that's happening, even if Alexis can't. The Nemesis is starting to go against the slight tradition that's held it this far. The last time it went against the 'subvert the old guardian until the new one replaces the old' tradition, it started my family. My brother ended that particular attempt at expanding years ago, but I suspect that the Nemesis is starting to learn how to be more flexible. It's my greatest fear that one day, I'll wake up and it'll be coming after me. I don't know if I'll be able to fight it off, either.
  That's why I've got to do this. I've thought about it for a long time, and I'm pretty sure this is what I have to do. Of course, I can't be absolutely certain about anything anymore. Ever since Eric left us, I haven't had any of those certainties, like I used to. I don't know what's supposed to happen in my life, and I don't know what's going to happen as a result. Even worse, is that sinking feeling - the one that I get when I realize that I might not be doing the right thing. With my brother around, I always knew that everything would be okay. Even now, I don't know if all the things that I've been told about him are true, but I find that it doesn't really matter. Eric was my brother and, despite whatever horrible things others say he did, he protected me.
  That's why I have to do this. I'm not sure of what, exactly, the Goddess was accomplishing with my brother and me. I know we were supposed to do something, and I suspect that what he did before he was called back was foreordained, just like all the things that I had him do. And then, once he had done his part, the Goddess called him back via Alexis' actions. And I'm left all alone.
  Like I said, I'm pretty sure about this.
  Tomorrow morning, before Alexis wakes up, I'm going to leave this place. I'm planning on traveling further east, in the hopes of finding a place where I can study, a place where I can train and become stronger. I'll be coming back some day, and I'll probably have to battle Alexis when I do.
  Alexis, if you're reading this, I'm sorry to say that. I know you'll try to resist, but the creature under the earth is like nothing else that anyone's ever known. You'll be a slave again, and I'm sorry. I'm so very, very sorry. I will return, and I will free you, even if it is the only way that Guardians can be freed.
  But I'll do more than that. I intend to be the strongest guardian that ever existed. I will do what none have dared to accomplish before. I will journey downward to where that thing resides, and I will fight it.
  For my brother, for all of my family, for Alexis, and for all the people that were hurt.
  I'm going to kill that thing. It'll never hurt anyone again.
  I hope that nobody ever finds this. If they do, it probably means I've failed. I don't want anyone to misunderstand - I'm not doing this out of anger, though I suppose that's a part of it. I'm doing it because I don't want what happened to my brother to have to happen to anyone else. I guess I'm doing it for the same reason the other guardians did it, and for the same reason my brother wanted to return to this world to guard me. We have something we love, and we want to protect it.
  So, to whoever's reading this, don't give up hope if you don't find me. I might still be on my journey, or I might have actually succeeded, and just moved on.
  But leave a guardian, just in case.

    -Chrystle Andrews