Guardian: Darkness Rising (16 page)

Although plenty of dark energy had already
slipped through the cracks of the barrier, it still wasn’t enough
for the curse to keep a hold of James, causing the curse to be
lifted almost instantly.

To James, after the curse had been
lifted, it felt as if he was finally stepping into the sunlight
after having been trapped in a dark prison for decades. It was an
amazing sensation; his memories of his family and friends flooded
back into his mind, and the sense of warmth and happiness reunited
in his heart.

Being free again was the best, yet
also the strangest thing. James remembered some of his actions,
some of the things he’d done while being under the dark influence.
And he didn’t like any of it; especially not since he didn’t know
how bad the things he
didn’t
remember were.

James felt the wound Thomas had made in his
side sting, yet didn’t care. He was just glad he hadn’t harmed any
of his friends.

James quickly realised that it wouldn’t be
long before the Master would know James had fled – although he’d
initially left the Land of Light with a different purpose – and
began to run.

James was on his own in this one; he couldn’t
count on any help of his friends. But there was one thing James
could do; he could guide the children. They wouldn’t have to do
this on their own.

As he started to run, all James could do was
hope that he’d be able to catch up with the teenagers that had fled
the Land of Light before the Master would find him.

*

What James didn’t know, was that
two particular shadows had been watching his back all this time,
knowing the redhead would slip up eventually. And when he would,
they’d be there to help him.

But, before Akilah and Ince could
guide James to his friends, they had to announce his return first,
to prevent any...
mis
understandings from occurring, obviously.

Akilah just believed it’d be a
good idea to give the teenagers a head’s up – as they remembered
James attacking them in some kind of catatonic, evil state – and he
was no longer like that.

Of course the two shadows could still travel
fairly, quickly, although it went quite a bit slower than usual.
But they’d reached the teenagers soon enough; they were still
walking down the mountain, as Violina had directed them toward a
path that wasn’t too steep to walk on.

“
Violina?” Akilah said,
approaching the young fixie. “We’ve got news.”

“
Miss Akilah?” Violina said,
stopping dead in her tracks; she didn’t know of the events that had
passed in the Dark Castle. “What happened to you?”

“
What happened
to us is not important,” Ince stated. “What happened to
James
is
.”

Luke stepped forward, so that he
ended up standing beside Violina. “What happened to Dad?” he said
on a surprisingly demanding tone. “What do you know?”

“
Well...” Akilah said, smiling,
although she wasn’t sure whether her smile was visible or not, “We
know that James has broken free from his curse.”

“
But – how, then?” Luke said,
while checking up on Mari; she was able to stand and move around on
her own, but she seemed quite absent by the look in her eyes.
“How’d he do it?”

Ince moved his hands to his sides.
“Oh, but that’s simple,” he declared. “He just...
left
the Land of
Light.”

“
Wait-” Mari
suddenly blurted, raising her palms defensively, “you’re saying
that that is
all it takes
for him to return to normal?”

“
Well, yeah,” Akilah shrugged.
“We... probably should’ve told you that before, shouldn’t we
have?”

“
Yeah,” Mari confirmed, arms
crossed. “You probably should’ve.” The others couldn’t help but
agree with her.

Violina, however, seemed ecstatic.
She snapped her fingers twice as she rejoiced, “But of course! How
couldn’t I have seen that before?”

The fixie then turned to Akilah and Ince, her
blue eyes sparkling with joy. “It’s the energy you transferred into
his soul, isn’t it?” she spoke, the words flowing from her lips in
a whisper. Akilah nodded.

Violina continued to mouth her every word to
Akilah and Ince, with her back turned toward everyone else but
Luke.

Luke tried his very best to make out what
Violina was saying, but ultimately, to his own frustration, failed
to do so.

Akilah nodded again. “Yes,” she said, speaking
out loud, “but the effects that followed were unexpected, and James
is vulnerable to the energy that surrounds him, which led him to
his transformation.”

“
The effects of what?” Luke asked,
almost begging for answers; he almost forgot that he was still
carrying Felicity. “Oh, come on! I want to know
everything!”

“
You know everything you need to
know, Lucas,” Ince decided. “We have to go now. We must make sure
that James gets here safely. The closer he is to the lot of you,
the smaller the chances of the Master reaching him will
be.”

“
Sure thing,” Luke smiled. “Just
bring my Dad back here safely.

“
Please.”

“
Don’t worry, kid,” Ince reassured
Luke with a wink, “we’ve got this.”

*

James was still running. He didn’t know where
he was, (mostly because he couldn’t see clearly without his
glasses), but didn’t care, either. He just had to get as far away
from the Land of Light as possible.

Eventually, James just couldn’t
take it anymore; he allowed himself to fall flat on the ground. The
grass itched his nose, but he didn’t mind. He hadn’t slept in
twenty-four hours, plus the dark magic that had overtaken his body
had asked a lot from him. James hadn’t noticed while he was under
the dark magic’s influence, but now everything had cleared, he felt
the exhaustion and aching all over his body.

James lay on his back, breathing slowly, his
eyes closed. He knew he had to continue running, that there was no
time to rest. But James knew he couldn’t keep running like that for
hours without even knowing where to go. He had to find a way to
contact Luke and his friends.

And for a moment, it seemed as if his prayers
had been answered. James opened his eyes upon hearing the sound of
rustling grass; he quickly got on all fours to see what was going
on, not sure whether to grab his sword or not.

It didn’t take long for the
redhead to realise that there were three creatures headed this way;
he instantly recognised the beings as two Stalkers and a Warlock
Spirit. James stared at the monsters, who were apparently now
strong enough to sustain their form in bright daylight.

For a moment, James hesitated; he was afraid
he’d pass out if he’d start running again – but he had no choice.
James reached for his sword, turned around and made a dash for
it.

The Warlock was fast. And the Stalkers were
even faster. It didn’t take long before they’d caught up with
James, who decided running was no longer an option, and would stand
his ground against the three creatures instead.

Unfortunately, that was exactly
what the Warlock wanted James to do.

The Warlock was carrying a staff,
similar to the Master’s, but smaller in size, and was using it to
send rays of Dark Magic flying toward James – who blocked them with
the blade of his sword. The redhead dashed forward, dodging any
additional attacks, and lashed out at the Warlock - slicing him in
half in the process. The Stalkers were circling around him in the
sky as he did so.

“
What do you think of the
improvements I made to my hunters, James?” the Master spoke, his
voice coming from behind. James turned around, and thus, didn’t
notice the Stalkers floating down to the Warlock’s smouldering
remains. The two shadows fused, causing the Warlock to become whole
once again.

The creature quickly rose to its feet behind
James, who turned around, but was already too late – the Warlock
trapped James against its chest by violently pressing the staff
horizontally against James’s chest.

“
Perhaps I was too quick to ask
that question,” the Master said, letting out a dark chuckle at the
sight of James’s frustrated face. “It’s quite the upgrade, don’t
you think?

“
And then to
think that you
designed
those lovely creatures. Night Stalkers, did you
call them, huh?”

James growled at the Master.
“
Let me go
!”

“
I’m afraid I can’t do that,” the
Master said. “Although I must admit – without your glasses, you’re
not worth much, are you, Riverdale?”

James wrinkled his nose. “Don’t try to insult
me,” he hissed. The Master laughed.

“
Oh, dear. Someone’s a little
frustrated,” he said. “Trust me – there’s nothing for you to go
back to... So don’t be in such a hurry to get away.”

“
How about you let him go, Asura?”
Akilah suddenly spoke. “I’d like to have a little chat with
you.”

The Master turned his attention away from
James to look at Akilah, but he didn’t order the warlock to let
James go. Instead, the Warlock only pressed the staff tighter
against its captive’s chest.

The Master sighed dramatically. “Why do you
always have to get in my way, Sister?”

“
Perhaps because we’re family?”
Ince answered for his sister. The Master wrinkled his nose at the
sight of the second shadow.

“
I thought I’d got rid of your
nuisance by turning you into a shadow. But frankly, I was
wrong.

“
It’s not
your
face
I
should get rid of, it’s your
personality
.”

Well, feel free to try,” Ince said mockingly.
“If you let James go, you can do whatever you want to do
to us.” 

The Master snorted. He was
so fixated on Ince that he didn't notice Akilah sneaking off
toward James and the Warlock Spirit. “Why should I accept your
offer?” he scoffed.  “You're
useless
to me. You have
nothing
to offer
me.” 

Meanwhile, Akilah had discovered
how useful her current state truly was. She managed to 'merge'
with the Warlock, gaining control over the Spirit's
movements. Akilah freed James from the Warlock's
grip, who then proceeded to finish the
Spirit off. 

“
We’re worth more than you think,
“Ince said, as he watched the scene behind the Master. “Your
minions are at our mercy.” 

That last sentence was bound to
make the Master suspicious. Ince knew he’d grown overconfident, but
was silently hoping that the Master would keep his attention
directed toward his brother – but Ince was dead wrong.

Akilah had urged James to run, to get out of
the Master’s sight, and that just so happened to be exactly what
James was doing when the Master turned around.

The Master raised his staff, and James was
forced to stop dead in his tracks. Both Akilah and Ince yelled out
their brother’s name, but he wouldn’t listen.

With a single tug on his staff, the Master
pulled James in – when the redhead was close enough, the Master
grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

“
Do not play me
for a fool, Guardian,” he said. “You’re
mine
. No matter what these two dolts
have to say about it.”

Despite the fact that he couldn’t move, James
clearly felt the sharp pain in his arm when the sharp bottom tip of
the Master’s staff sank into his flesh.

James sank to the ground; the sharp pain in
his arm quickly spread through his entire body, eventually causing
him to pass out. What James didn’t know, was that the ‘curse’ the
Master had prepared to test on Mari was a small vial of the
Master’s blood near the end of the staff, which would empty itself
if the vial’s sharp, needle-like tip made contact with
flesh.

It assured the Master’s full control of his
victim, who, in this case, was James.

“
I told you, boy,” the Master
scoffed dismissively, “you’re nothing but a boy compared to me.” He
then proceeded to grin at his siblings. “And there’s nothing the
two of you can do to stop me.” After speaking those words, he swung
around his staff and disappeared with James, both of them
dissolving into black smoke.

Ince moved around uncomfortably. “I think we
should tell the Guardians about what happened here... I feel like
we’ve given them false hope.”

“
We should do that. And... we
should also admit that there was one thing we didn’t understand, or
perhaps didn’t want to believe in,” Akilah said to Ince, placing a
comforting hand on his shoulder as she smiled at him. It wasn’t a
genuine smile of happiness, however; there was sadness reflecting
in her eyes. “The rules of this game have changed.

“
And we aren’t the ones that
changed them.”

*