Guardian: Darkness Rising (11 page)

“
Clever plan, kid,” Aharnish
smiled. “I must give you that.”

Thomas chuckled. “He must take after his
father,” he said. “Don’t worry, kid. We’ll find her.”

Luke looked at his uncle. “I know,” he said,
rubbing the back of his neck. “I have no doubt we will. I’m just
worried whether or not we’ll find him before the Master
does.”

“
You’ve got a point there, Luke,”
Bella said. “We should waste no more time and head straight out
there.” She looked at her friends. “Antonio and I will go together,
Samira. I think you, Thomas and Luke should stick together, since
you’re, well – family.”

“
You shouldn’t think like that,
Bella,” Samira said. “You and Antonio are just as-”

“
I didn’t mean it like that, Sam,”
Bella said, sounding slightly agitated. “I meant that James will be
more willing to listen to the three of you than to us. You’re the
only one who’s always been able to talk sense into him whenever he
has moments like these.”

Samira raised her eyebrows. “Oh. You’re
right.”

Thomas nodded at Bella. “That settles it
then,” he said. “And – I believe that we should let Akilah and her
siblings decide who of the Spirits go with which group.”

“
I suggest Ince and I go with
you,” Akilah said, nodded at Thomas, “and that Aharnish, Aoife and
Aine go with Bella and Antonio.”

“
Seems like a good plan to me,”
Antonio said, placing his hands on his sides. “Let’s go,” he said,
as he reached for his sturdy glaive, “right now. We’ve got
absolutely no time to waste, now do we?”

*

“
No, indeed. You
don’t.”

The Master had, as James had
already predicted, retreated to the safety of his dark castle, and
had spent most of his time spying on the Guardians while planning
his attack – the first strike. He was confident that a single
attack wouldn’t do the trick, so he had to plan three strikes –
third time’s a charm, after all.

Plus, this time, everything would
be different. If the Master’s theories were true, he’d have the
most powerful Guardian of all Guardians on his side. And, something
the Master found very pleasing, was the fact that this, if done
right, would be irreversible – in
curable
. Another clever – even if
only the Master himself thought it was – change to his plan, was
the complete destruction of the Spirit Castle. He wouldn’t leave a
single wall standing this time; no Ritual Chamber, no Altars, no
Ritual, no way to bring back the Light to Lunaria.

And honestly, the Master found this new plan
of his so clever that he wondered why he hadn’t done it this way
the first time; it would have saved him a lot of
trouble.

But then again... he never would’ve been able
to enslave a creature as strong as he was about to now.

It was time to bring the plan into action; the
Master had wasted enough time spying on the Guardians.

*

James had come far. He’d almost made it to the
Master’s Castle, even. But whether he would’ve made it before the
Master had put his plan in motion or not, it didn’t matter. The
Master wanted to speak to James anyway.

The last thing James could
remember, was black fog surrounding him, accompanied by a sinister
laugh sounding in his ears before blacking out.

When he regained consciousness, James found
himself lying on the cold stone floor of a terrifyingly familiar
room; he was inside the Master’s castle, in the same room as he and
his sister had been trapped in during their last visit. Somehow,
his cloak had vanished; the Master had probably taken
it.

Fear instantly clutched James’s heart as he
jumped up and rattled the doorknob – he was locked in. There were
no windows, and the only exit was locked. What was he going to
do?

The fear clutching James’s heart
loosened its grip when James remembered what he’d left his family
for. The Master had put James exactly where he wanted to
be.

The darkness in the room gave him
some trouble concentrating – the only light source in the room was
a torch fixed to the wall opposite the door – but eventually, the
door clicked and opened. Using magic somehow now came as a natural
experience to James – he didn’t even know
how
he did it anymore; he just did.
But then again, the ease this door opened at... it almost
seemed
too
easy.

And it was. As soon as James had set foot
outside the door, he was thrown back into the room, making a nasty
fall on the floor. As soon as James had ended up there, thick,
black roped wrapped themselves around his limbs, leaving him lying
helplessly on the floor. No matter how much James struggled,
nothing worked; he couldn’t break free.

“
I beg your
pardon,” a deep, familiar voice said, which still manage to send a
chill down James’s spine after twenty-five years. “I didn’t mean to
be so rude... But I
had
to keep you inside somehow.”

James felt that he was forcefully
pulled to his feet, but not by a pair of hands. The Master entered
the room, and lit the other torches with a wave of his hand, giving
James a vampire grin in the eerie light. He hadn’t changed a bit in
those years... which almost seemed impossible. The Master still
wore the same, dark purple robes with the high collar and golden
and black patterns he’d always worn. A dark red cape hung over his
shoulder and his face remained unshaved.

The black scar near the Master’s right eye
stood out sharply against the man’s pale skin. The staff the Master
held a staff made of dark wood, with black and red patterns printed
on the hilt. A dark red orb was attached to the top of the staff,
the hilt ‘tangling’ itself around the orb to keep it in
place.

“
Hello, James,” he said, “it’s
good to see you again.”

James gloated at the Master as he lowered his
eyebrows. “Then I’m afraid the feeling isn’t mutual, Asura,” he
said, receiving a fake-shocked eyebrow raise from the
Master.

“
James, my boy! Where are your
manners?” he said.

“
Boy
?” James spat. “I’m forty-one.
I’m an adult now. Or did you just so happen to forget
that?”

The Master laughed. “Why,
of
course
you
are,” he sang. “In human years and experience, you’re a full-grown
man. But, compared to me...” He paused a short moment to give James
a sinister grin. “You’ll never be more than just a boy. And you
know it.”

James rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Just
get to your point,” he said, tired of the Master’s charades. “Why
did you bring me here?”

The Master smirked. “Well,” he
inquired, “don’t you think
I
should be asking
you
why
you
were heading over here
earlier?”

James snorted. “Well... I must say things
didn’t exactly work out as planned,” he admitted, “but I will be
honest with you. I came here to kill you.”

The Master rubbed his chin. “I see...” he
said, not giving away how he felt about James’s answer. “And now
you want to know why I brought you here, don’t you?”

James nodded. “Exactly.”

The Master spread his arms out widely. “Well,
then,” he chimed, “allow me to introduce you to my
plan.”

With a wave of his staff, the Master made the
same black fog as before appear, causing the world to disappear in
front of James’s eyes once again.

James
hated
teleporting. It made him feel
dizzy and nauseous. Although he hadn’t passed out this time, James
still wasn’t sure whether the dizziness was any better.

He found himself in a dimly lit
throne room; the Master was standing in front of his throne. A
golden ball was floating between his hands; when James looked
closer, he noticed that the floating ball was actually a globe of
Lunaria.

“
Look at this,”
the Master said, as he slowly walked down the steps, where James
was standing. “The entire globe is lit in a golden colour. The
light and dark are...
balanced
. Disgraceful, isn’t
it?”

James tried to shrug, but the way
the dark ropes tied his arms to his back prevented him from doing
so. “Why do you think it’s so disgraceful?” he asked. “I think it’s
beautiful.”

The Master didn’t look at James.
“That’s only because you don’t know the full truth,” he said
disheartened, “and you never will. You don’t know how cruel the
Spirits actually are.”

James lowered an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
he demanded. “This is just another trick to get some pity out of
me, isn’t it?”

The Master sighed and shook his
head, but couldn’t prevent a sinister smile from creeping up on his
lips. “Your opinion is biased, my boy,” he scoffed. “But that’s
alright. I won’t be able to change it anyway, no matter how hard
I’d try.” Then, he suddenly looked up. James felt as if the two
orange eyes – left seeing, right blind – staring at him were
looking right through him. “None of that matters, however,” the
Master whispered on a tone that sent chills down James’s spine. “I
believe it’s about time for me to check what your friends are up
to.”

The Master walked away from the globe, back to
his throne, and hovered a hand over something what seemed to be a
large, glass ball. James clearly couldn’t see what the Master saw,
because to James, it looked as if the Master was merely looking and
grinning at an empty, glass orb. “Yes...” he mumbled.
“Excellent.”

He then turned to James,
announcing happily, “your sister and friends are out there looking
for you, James! How do you feel about that?”

James sighed. He would’ve run his hands
through his hair if he only could’ve. “I knew they’d head out
there,” he said; he was in a cheeky mood all of a sudden. This mood
was the only thing providing him with the courage to say, “what’s
the holdup, Asura?”

The Master turned his head in surprise.
“What?” he said, obviously caught off-guard.

“
I said,
what’s the holdup
?”
James repeated. “Why haven’t you attacked them
yet?”

The Master laughed.
“At
tack
them?” he
laughed. “And take away their opportunity to watch you waste
away?”

“
Ex
cuse
me?”
James demanded.

The Master looked down at James, smirking
creepily. This was the moment he’d been waiting for. “Don’t you
know, my dear James?” he asked innocently, as he began to ascend
the stairs once again. “In that case, you happen to be in luck; I’m
in the mood for a story.”

James gloated silently at the Master, waiting
for more.

“
You see, James,” the Master said,
“Lunaria’s light lives inside you... and thus... so does the
darkness.” The Master suddenly put the orb of his staff to James’s
throat, who couldn’t help but feel his heartbeat speeding
up.

“
That’s right,” the Master
breathed. “You clever boy. You know exactly what I’m getting at,
don’t you? I’m going to bring your family here now... because I
want them all to see.” I want them to see you, and to watch as the
world crumbles around them – taking you with it.”

“
It’s never going to work,” James
said. “there’s no chance I’d ever join you. Especially not since
your theory has no proof to be backed up with.”

The Master withdrew his staff and
glared at James. “Oh, but I
do
have proof,” he whispered sinisterly. “Just have
a look at the stones on your Golden Wing. They’re
cracking.”

James could tell his hands were
shaking, despite being tied up. What if the Master’s theory
was
correct? If it was,
then James and his friends would be big trouble. Reconsidering
everything, there was a fair chance that the Master would turn out
to be right – after all, the Master’s knowledge of Magic was
significantly larger than James’s.

In the meantime, James had
disappeared into his own thoughts and worry to miss out on the
Master summoning Samira, Thomas, Luke, Ince, and Akilah, who’d been
outside searching for James.

“
JAMES!” Samira yelled as soon as
she realised where she was. The siblings ran toward each other, but
the Master interfered by freezing James in place and raising a wall
of black flames between Samira and her brother.

“
James?” Samira demanded. “What’s
going on?”

James’s voice trembled as he replied. “I don’t
know, Sam.”

“
Asura!” Ince’s voice bellowed; he
extinguished the black flames with a single wave of his hand while
angrily walking forward. “What do you think you’re
doing!?”

Asura didn’t seem too impressed by his two
angry older siblings. “You know exactly what I’m doing, my beloved
brother,” he hissed. “And, just like last time, I’m starting with
you.”

The Master raised his staff, but Ince was
faster. With a single move, the Master was thrown back against a
wall.