Guardian: Protectors of Light (51 page)

Then,
focusing his attention on all captives, he said, “Now, I’ll leave
you with Jason. I’m sure he can take care of things on his own.
 I have business to attend to... I have two guests waiting for
me upstairs.”

Sabrina glanced around
the room and grinned at Jason before leaving the dark room together
with the Master. The heavy, wooden door shut with a slam.
“If you’re here to kill us, you better get it over with quick,”
Antonio growled at Jason, who turned around to look at him; all of
a sudden, the mark around his eye disappeared, together with the
veins on his face and neck, and his eyes got their normal colour
again.

“
We’ve got no
time to lose,” he said, raising his staff and aiming for Madeleine.
One spell, and her limbs turned back to flesh. The same happened
for Gabriel and Timothy, but before Jason could turn around to free
Antonio, Bella and Samira, Gabriel had lunged forward and tried to
punch him.

“
Calm down, man!” Jason said, simply pushing Gabriel
backward with magical force. “I came here
to 
save
 you, and
this is how you thank me?”

“
Save
 us?”
Timothy said in disbelief. “After 
all
 that
happened!?”

“
Listen – I made mistakes, I know,” Jason said, raising his
palms in defence. “But my judgment had been clouded by the dark
energy here. I
had
 to obey that
nightmarish man.”

“
I’m not buying this,” Madeleine said. “You
were 
very
 well aware
what you were doing.”

“
I 
LOVED
YOU
, Madeleine!” Jason
exclaimed angrily. “And I was jealous! Of COURSE I didn’t know what
I was doing! Honestly, I 
didn’t
! I swear,” he
defended himself. “Once you’re under the effects of the Curse, it
spreads slowly through your body. And as soon as the Curse is
complete, you’re lost. Once you’re in, you can’t get out.” He
paused for a short moment and swallowed. “I was about to be
replaced anyway. The Master has felt the power in Innocence’s
abilities, and he wants to turn him.”

Thomas and
Bella gasped in shock in the background, but Jason ignored
them.

“
Please,
Madeleine,” he said. “That boy needs your help.

I know – I’ve done many bad things. You couldn’t trust me
back then, when darkness was all I could see... You know what the
Master would do if he’d see me doing this? He’d kill
me.”
He started pacing around the room, his attention focused on
Madeleine, Timothy and Gabriel.
“People can change,
Madeleine. I want to turn my back to all of this, I want to run
away. I don’t want to be like this anymore.”
Suddenly, Madeleine started moving along with him, so they ended up
pacing in circles around the edges of the room. 

“
Nice try, Jason. But you seem to forget that you lied to
us, mislead us, betrayed us. I don’t believe you’ve changed.”
Jason, obviously disagreeing with her, threw the same back at
her.
“You’re wrong,
Madeleine,” he breathed. “I regret every choice I’ve made. All I
wanted was for you to be safe.”

The circle
they were pacing in kept growing smaller as they continued and
became more agitated. Madeleine, still not believing him, said,
“But you never tried to save me. You fought me, engaged in battle
with me. And that’s why I killed you, Jason. You can’t be
trusted.”
At last, Jason stopped walking; the mark around his eye, which he
was desperately trying to keep from returning, was slowly starting
to reappear. He looked at Madeleine with sad eyes. “Do you see this
mark, Madeleine?” he said, his voice sounding genuinely sad. “It
reminds me of that mistake every single day. And not a day goes by
that I don’t regret it.”

And there they went
again; pacing around in nervous circles; yet they were even smaller
and faster now.

“
I don’t believe you, liar!” Madeleine snapped at him.
“After all, once a liar you’re always one.”
Anger started to appear in both the teenagers’ voices, trying to
convince each other of their opinion.
“I CAN be good,
Madeleine!” Jason roared. “And the only thing keeping you from
seeing it is your own vanity!”

Jason
stopped walking; now, his mark and the veins were fully back. He
closed his eyes as he reached for the staff that had been hanging
on his belt in wand-size.

“
Fine, have
it your way. I can’t change, you say. I won’t change, you say.
Well, if you truly believe that...

Then Lord Asura has
already won.”

As he spoke the last
sentence, he opened his eyes and fired a dangerous spell at
Madeleine.
“Oh no, you DON’T!” Gabriel shouted and jumped forward, pushing
Madeleine out of the curse’s way.

The curse blasted into
the dungeon wall, leaving a big, smoking hole.

Gabriel looked up at
Jason. “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND!?” he yelled.

Jason looked at him, fire
in his eyes, teeth bared. “Yeah,” he said. “Maybe I am.”

Gabriel let out a roar as
he jumped up and ran forward toward Jason, ready to throw a punch
at him.

Sadly, Jason was quicker
to draw out his staff and fired the same spell as before, right
into Gabriel’s stomach.

The spell didn’t blow a
hole in Gabriel’s torso; but unfortunately, it was enough to kill
him in an instant.

Gabriel’s eyes went
expressionless as he fell backward and landed on the ground with a
thud.

Jason’s eyes quickly shifted from the left to the right,
right before he dissolved into smoke and disappeared.
Everyone stood still; as if time had stopped. Nobody said a word;
all they could do was stare at a spot hardly a
few 
centimetres
 away
from the empty spot Jason had left...

The place where Gabriel’s
life had come to an end.

“
GABRIEL!”
Timothy suddenly shouted, as he fell to his knees and took his best
friend’s face in his hands. 

But it was too
late.

Gabriel’s
body dissolved into light as the two spirits living inside of it
separated; the same light as Rikki’s body had dissolved into after
she’d died.

“
No...”
Timothy gasped hoarsely. “He didn’t deserve this.”

“
Of course he
didn’t.”
Apparently, Akilah had come in to rescue; she raised her arms and
let Magic free the three Guardians and Violina from their stone
prisons.

Thomas and Violina both
wore a shocked expression; all Antonio and Bella showed was anger
and hate.
“We must hurry,” Akilah said. “If what Jason told us is true, we
must find James and Samira before it’s too late.”

“
But how?”
Violina said. “We’re trapped inside!”

With a single wave of her
hand, Akilah unlocked the door. “Go,” she said. “Timothy and I will
be right behind you. Save your friend!”

She didn’t have to tell
them twice. The team ran off into the castle, to find James and
Thomas.

But where were they
supposed to look? Another problem that waited for them, just around
the corner...

Cursed

James slowly regained
consciousness, looking around the room. Where had he and Samira
ended up? And where were their friends?

“
Samira? Are
you all right?” James asked; after quickly discovering his limbs
and torso had become one with the walls; the same spell that had
been cast on the others had been cast on James and Samira as well.
He could see his sister nod at him from across the room.

“
Don’t worry
about me, I’m fine,” Samira said. “How about you?”

James nodded
at her. “I’m fine too,” he said. “I’m glad you’re okay,
sis.”

“
Of course I
am,” Samira smiled.” I wonder where the others are?”

“
The Master
probably wanted us separated for a reason,” James figured. “That
can’t mean any good.”

“
Who says it
doesn’t?” An icy voice said, causing James and Samira to turn their
heads toward the room’s entrance. The Master entered, followed by
Sabrina, who wore a rather smug expression on her face, making
James suspicious.

“
Welcome, my
honoured guests,” the Master said. I welcome you to my humble
home.”

“
I’d rather
if you didn’t,” Samira said sarcastically. The Master glanced
shortly at James, before turning toward Samira. To James, it felt
as if the Master’s glare gave him a headache. It caused him to feel
a bit foggy, as if he was suffering from fatigue.

“
You’re a
smart one, now aren’t you, Guardian?” the Master asked Samira. “May
I at least have the honours of knowing your names?”

“
My name is
Samira,” Samira said. “His name is none of your
business.”

“
Am I not
allowed to know his name?” the Master suggested. “Let me guess;
it’s because he’s your brother?”

Samira’s pupils shifted in size. How could he know!? Oh...
right... 
Sabrina
 had told
him. That thought resulted in an eye-roll coming from the blonde
teenager.
Suddenly, she felt her body make hard contact with the ground; the
Master had released her.

Samira quickly got on all
fours to see if James was all right, but James was still stuck to
the wall.

“
Let him go,”
Samira said.  ”I don’t care what you want from me; let my
brother go.”

The Master crossed his
arms. “Perhaps,” he said. “I will let him go. Don’t
worry.”

He started
to pace around Samira in circles, keeping his eyes locked on the
girl. “I sense great power in you, girl. In both of you. And you’re
wasting it.”

“
What power?” Samira said, while lowering an eyebrow. “What
are you talking about? Or should I ask: What do you
want?”

The Master stopped pacing
around as soon as he stood in front of Samira, and stuck out his
hand at her. “Join me.”

Samira raised both her
eyebrows in offence and reached out for her bow and arrow, but soon
found out it wasn’t there.

“
You might as well be looking
for... 
this
,” the Master
grinned, showing Samira’s bow and James’s sword, which were hanging
on a belt underneath the Master’s cloak.

“
Give those
back,” Samira said determinedly. “They don’t belong to
you.”

“
Of course
not,” the Master said. “If you join me, I’ll return to you what is
yours. But if you don’t...” He glanced at James, who felt the same
wave of fogginess as before.

“
Samira,
don’t,” James said hoarsely. “He’s playing a trick on
you.”

Samira looked back at her
brother. “I know,” she mouthed. “Just trust me.”

James’ eyes widened in surprise. “What are you talking
about!?” he mouthed back. “Samira - 
no.
”

Samira simply nodded
before turning back toward the Master. “All right, Asura,” she
said. “What do you ask of me?”

The Master grinned. “If
you join me, we can take over the rest of this world together. I
can give you power you could never even imagine,” he said. “Plus,
your friends will enjoy full freedom... They can find a way home
inside the Castle of the Spirits.” He paused. “Unless you want to
destroy them before they get there, of course. But if you foolishly
refuse my offer, you and your friends will find nothing but death
here.”

Samira shortly looked to
the side to see James freaking out and yelling at her not to do it,
but ignored him. Instead, she stuck out her hand at the Master.
“Deal.”

“
WHAT!?”
James yelled. “SAMIRA, NO!”

“
Very well,
young Guardian,” the Master said, ready to shake Samira’s hand and
seal the deal.

“
Sir?”
Sabrina said. “I’m sensing Ja-”

“
-Son.” 

Halfway through Sabrina
saying his name, Jason appeared between the Master and Samira,
looking agitated and annoyed.

“
I killed one
of them, Master,” he said. “The Protector that lived in the
Twilight Forest. He engaged battle with me – he’s dead.”

“
WHAT!?”
James and Samira yelled out in offence. 

“
That wasn’t
part of the deal, Asura,” Samira growled. “I’m sorry, but you said
they’d leave unharmed.”

“
FOOL!” the Master nearly exploded while expressing his
anger toward Jason. “I nearly had the girl turned to our
side! 
WILLINGLY!
What do you have to say for
yourself!?”

“
What I have
to say,” Jason said, surprisingly calm despite the Master’s angry
outburst, “is that I can fix this. Just watch.”

And without further
explanation, he reached for his staff and fired a spell at Samira,
hitting her right in the chest. 
The spell had enough speed and power to send Samira flying to the
back of the room, where she hit the wall right next to James, who
stared at his sister in utter shock.