Guardian: Protectors of Light (8 page)

Who had to tell their
families that the five teenagers that were now missing from their
lives might never be coming home.

The teenagers waited in
anticipating silence for something to happen. And then it
did.

“
James?”

James, who’d shut his
eyes to be able to concentrate better, opened his eyes to see who’d
said his name.

He couldn’t believe his
eyes. “Anna,” he gasped. She looked as if she’d just got out of a
bad storm; she was dressed, but her dark brown curls were a
complete mess.

And yet, James thought
that her messy, frizzy, afro-like hair made her look even more
beautiful.

“
James?
What’s going on?” Anna asked. “And what are you wearing?” she said,
commenting on his clothes.

“
I don’t have
much time to explain everything,” James said, as he stepped closer
to her. “But I’ll try.”

Anna looked up at him,
straight into his eyes. “I was right, wasn’t I?” she said silently,
already knowing what answer awaited her, yet not wanting to hear
it, wanting to deny it.

James swallowed.
“Yes.”

Anna clasped a hand in
front of her mouth. James noticed the tears in her eyes, which
shimmered like diamonds. “Do you believe now?” she
uttered.

“
Yes,” James
said. “I always have. Because of you.”

Anna chuckled. “Don’t say
that,” she said. “You’ve always believed on your own. And all
you’ll need to make it through and save that world is by believing
in yourself and your friends.”

James smiled. “Won’t be a
problem, right?” he said. “We’re all friends, after
all.”

“
Keep up that
spirit,” Anna smiled. She leaned a little to the right and rose to
her toes, to be able to look over James’s shoulder. James
instinctively turned around, to see his mother and sister stand
behind him, one crying and one trying hard not to.

James, without saying a
word, opened his arms, allowing his mother to fall right into
them.

“
Did...
Samira explain?” James whispered, as he rested his chin on his
mother’s head, which he could feel nod to answer his
question.

“
I don’t
understand, James,” Cheyenne said between two silent sobs. “What’s
going on? Where are you two?”

“
In another
world, Mum,” James said. “And we have to save it.”

“
I know that, Samira said that,” Cheyenne said. “But
why
you
? You’re all so young! Why couldn’t they have
picked other people? Adults, for a chance?”

“
They could’ve,” James said. “But they didn’t. They
chose
us
. That means that we’re the only group of five
who can do it.”

“
But you have
your entire lives ahead of you!” Cheyenne shouted, looking up to
her son. “I... I just don’t want to lose you kids,” she said as she
allowed herself to be pulled closer to her son again. “You’re all I
have left.”

“
Don’t worry,
Mum,” James whispered. “We’ll come back. I promise.”

“
Don’t make
promises you can’t keep, James.”

James remained silent. He
didn’t know what to say.

“
It’s not a promise. It’s an oath. We
will
come
back.”

Cheyenne pulled out of
her son’s hold, offering him a warm smile through her tears. “Then
I’ll trust you with that,” she said.

James looked aside and
saw the others saying goodbye to one of their loved
ones.

Thomas was saying goodbye
to his fourteen-year-old brother, Ricardo, who was crying
uncontrollably. Bella had chosen her eleven-year-old sister, and
Antonio his mother.

“
I’ll lead
these guys home,” James said. “I owe them that.”

Akilah gave the signal
that it was almost time to say goodbye, and Cheyenne attended to
both her children. Anna joined beside her.

“
Be strong,
you two,” Cheyenne said, as a salty tear rolled down her
cheek.

“
We believe
in you,” Anna added. She walked a little nearer toward James, so
she could hold his hands. “I’ll be waiting for you,” she said.
“Always.”

James swallowed. He wanted to say “
I love you
”, but
he couldn’t. How hard could it possibly be to say it? Why couldn’t
he just get those three little words, which meant so much, over his
lips?

What was it that he was
so afraid of?

“
...And I promise I’ll come back to you.” And there it went;
another missed opportunity.
Again.
Oh, well...
Maybe it wasn’t
exactly
the right
time and place to make a love confession, as his friends and family
were all within earshot, but still... What if this
was
indeed the last time he’d ever see her again?

No, it wasn’t. He’d just
promised her it wouldn’t. And yet, still...

James gave Anna and his
mother one last hug (in which the latter was shared with Samira),
before joining his sister and friends to “return” to Lunaria, while
the others were sent back home without them.

As they slowly returned
to reality, the rather unsettling blend between home and Lunaria
the “in-between-reality” had been, slowly returned to Lunaria’s
regular landscape.

“
Now, it is
time for us to say goodbye, Guardians,” Akilah said. “I wish you
all best of luck.”

Akilah looked at
Madeleine, allowing her to speak. Strangely, Madeleine seemed too
shy to speak whenever she wasn’t told to.

“
Rikki will
lead you to the safest exit out of Keeper’s Cove. From there on,
I’m afraid you’ll have to do it on your own,” Madeleine said.
“You’ll have to be careful while looking for Gabriel. He’ll give
you advice on the right weaponry. You can use this map to find
him.”

Madeleine handed Thomas a
map, which had the magical ability to enlarge and display a
specific location when touched as if it were images from a
three-dimensional pop-up book.

“
You can also
keep the map flat, if you’d prefer,” Rikki advised. “It’ll also
show us Keepers’ locations by displaying our names on the
map.”

“
Does that work on anyone else?” Thomas asked. “I mean – I
don’t see
our
names anywhere.”

“
That’d be
too dangerous in case the map gets compromised,” Akilah said. “If
it showed your names, your enemies would be able to find you too
easily. Our names are just there so you can find us whenever you
need us.”

“
They won’t
be coming after us anyway; they already screwed us over enough,”
Rikki joked.

Some nervous chuckles
followed; the joke Rikki had made was funny in some sort of way,
but it was also kind of morbid. It seemed strange to laugh
at.

The teenagers said their
final goodbyes to Akilah and Madeleine, who promised to check up on
them every once in a while. With that being said, the Guardians and
Rikki went on their way.

Luckily, the safe exit
wasn’t too far away from the hideout’s entrance, but both were
well-enough hidden not to be found easily.

“
So...” Bella started carefully. “How come nearly everything
on our clothing
glows
?”

“
Ah, good
question!” Rikki smiled. “It’s for protection. The Shadow Walkers,
Night Stalkers, and all of the other beings that are under the
Master’s control, are powered by shadows. Light weakens them; so if
they come too close to you, their power will be slightly weakened,
giving you a chance to escape.”

“
...But my
clothes have more glowy-glow stuff than theirs do,” James said,
referring to his own clothes and his friends’. “How
come?”

James could hear Thomas
and Antonio snort behind him, and threw them an angry
glare.

Rikki coughed. “Well...”
she said, unsure where to start. “It has to do with your magical
abilities.”

“
magical
abilities?” Samira asked. “What are those?”

“
Each
Guardian has their own, unique magical ability,” Rikki explained.
“Most of them require a supporting object. Unless you’re talking
about Imaginative Creation.”

“
Imaginative
Creation?” Bella said. “What’s that?”

“
I was
getting to that,” Rikki said. “Imaginative Creation is a magical
skill each and every one of you can master, but only one of you has
the ability to unlock its full capacity.

That’d be you,
James.”

James felt that everyone
was looking at him. Attempting not to let all the blood rush to his
head, he uttered, “Who, me?”

Rikki nodded. “Yes,
you.

You might not believe it
now, but with proper training, you’ll be able to create anything
that comes to mind,” she said. I’ll have to warn you about one
thing, though.” The tone of her voice suddenly became cold, cold
enough to send chills down James’s spine.

“
If you
don’t
train your abilities properly, and
just go out there and use them whenever you please, the topazes on
your broche will pale out to a faint white if you’re taking on too
much at a time. If that happens,
stop using your Magic
until they’re blue again
, unless you want to faint and wake up with a terrible
headache,” Rikki said.

“
Just a wild
guess,” Samira said, “but what happens if the topazes stop glowing
completely?”

“
If the white
glow fades out,” Rikki said slowly, knowing everyone was listening
closely to what she was going to say next, “the stones will turn
black. Once the stones are black, the Guardian they belonged to is
dead.”

“
That’s ri
diculous
!” Thomas
blurted out, rather loudly. Realizing he’d done so, he decided to
continue his argument on a softer tone. “James shouldn’t be reliant
on Magic to keep him alive.”

“
Wrong,”
Rikki said. “If you proceed to use Magic while the stones are
glowing white – which isn’t impossible, as it’d only cause a
headache if you’re strong-willed, you’ll start using your life
force instead of magical force, as that’s already been used. And
once you’re out of life force...

Well, you know what
happens then.”

“
That’s kind
of morbid,” Bella said silently. The others nodded
agreeing.

“
Then make
sure you’re well-trained,” Rikki said. “Some of the Master’s
minions get their energy by harvesting yours. They are known for
sucking the magical force out of a being – in case it has any – and
using it for themselves. Unless the being doesn’t have any magical
force, of course. Then, they’ll just suck out one’s life force. And
that’s bad news.

Frankly, the Master
himself is known for doing it quite often as well. Especially when
the Guardian’s powers are strong. The stronger your powers, the
stronger his will become.”

“
Then what’s
the point of training them at all?” James said. “If he’ll only end
up sucking the life out of me...”

“
That’s why
you’re so well-protected,” Rikki said. “The glow in your clothes
should automatically weaken the effect of Dark Magic on
you.”

“
And if it
doesn’t?” James said.

“
Trust me,” Rikki said, “that has never happened before. The
clothes
will
protect you. Shadow Beings
absolutely de
test
light.”

“
If you say
so...” James mumbled.

They proceeded to walk to
the side of the forest Rikki had chosen to be the safest. When they
arrived there, Rikki suddenly stopped and halted the teenagers she
was guiding.

“
All right,
here we are,” she said. “But I do believe Akilah wants to give you
one lat piece of advice before you leave. It seems rather
urgent.”

Just as she’d finished
speaking, Akilah appeared before them. Not in person, though; her
usual glow was faint and she was slightly see-through, as if she
was merely a projection. And she probably was.

“
Guardians,”
Akilah said. Her voice echoed all over Keeper’s Cove, and James
worried if nobody could hear her. But Keeper’s Cove was probably
protected; otherwise, they wouldn’t be standing here, out in the
open, either.

“
You are
about to enter the Twilight Forest and begin your journey. Before
you left, I forgot to tell you where your journey shall end, so I
will tell you now. Your goal isn’t as easy as it seems, like I said
before. You will have to train and find your Guardian’s Ability, as
I believe Rikki already explained. You will only be able to use
this power if you have your Guardian’s Helper, so make sure you do
find those first. Once you are ready, you will travel to the Land
of Void, the Realm that is home to the Demon – I believe that from
now on you’ll be referring to him as the Master, as that’s how most
of the Lunariae know him – and has gone the most corrupt due to the
Demon’s influence.