Guardian: Darkness Rising (23 page)

Luke let out a heartbreaking sob while
gritting his teeth. He grabbed Marco’s shoulders, digging his
fingers into the leather shoulder pads Marco was
wearing.

“
We’ll find her, Luke,” Marco
said. “And we’ll find your father. And... with a bit of luck, we’ll
find the Master, so we can kick his butt.”

“
Indeed, we will
find him,” Luke grunted. “First, he takes my father – then our
family – then
Mari
– it’s enough. It’s about time we put this horrible man to a
stop, once and for all.”

Everyone agreed with the redhead on that last
comment.

*

After dinner, the Guardians
thanked the King and Queen for their hospitality – they really
couldn’t stay any longer, unless they wanted to risk losing Luke in
the middle of the night, too. And, if they wanted to find Mari,
they’d have to go after her
now
. It’d only be a matter of time
before the Master would find her – if he hadn’t already.

Queen Eloine had made a powder out
of the flower, assuming that it’d be easier to sprinkle an
unwilling person with powder than forcing them to drink a potion.
The teenagers couldn’t possibly predict what mental state they’d
find Mari in, of course. She’d put it in a leather bag, along with
some food and water – who knew how long it’d take for the teenagers
to fix everything, after all?

The teenagers set off into the
forest, where they passed under various Fairy villages. The Fairies
didn’t seem to be bothered by the Guardians that passed through
their villages, unlike what Violina had told the teenagers before –
perhaps it was due to the curse being broken.

It was difficult for the teens to decide where
to go at first; Queen Eloine had provided them with directions, but
it did take quite a while before the Guardians had finally made
their way out of the forest at the location they were supposed to
get out. The Bond of Light then proceeded to move toward the
mountain; the Queen had pointed out a secret passage so they could
cross the mountain quicker. The teenagers had to climb up for a
while in order to find it, but eventually, they found
it.

Still, somehow, there still hadn’t
been a sign of Mari, while they should’ve run into her way before
even reaching the mountain. As he and his friends crossed through
the secret passage, Luke wondered what had happened, and figured
it’d been nothing good. But what Luke did know, was that the Master
was behind all this once again. He
had
to be.

*

Luke didn’t know, although it might’ve helped
sooth his worry if he had, that Mari had made the decision to flee
on her own. And, as of right now, she was learning about the
advantages – and disadvantages – that came with being a Lost Soul.
One of the advantages was her increased speed; she was able to run
much faster, and jump much further. This was a true advantage to
Mari; she’d run through the forest and reached the mountain in
hardly ten minutes, and jumped from ledge to ledge on the mountain
to get across. She was determined to reach the Master’s castle
before her friends would get to her – she didn’t want them to see
the atrocious deed she was about to commit.

But Mari
had
to do it. Her new powers, her
new soul, had changed her. Had made her realise things she hadn’t
realised before. How could she possibly have?

Part of Mari knew that it was the darkness
inside her talking, telling her what to do, but Mari didn’t mind.
The darkness gave her the power to do things she’d never thought
she’d be able to do. It had set her free, and now she would set
Lunaria free.

And then, everything would turn back to
normal.

Mari paced through one of the
villages that surrounded the lake; the few villagers who were still
out, stared at Mari’s glowing eyes as she passed by. Mari paid them
no mind. But when she arrived at Linmor Lake, she stopped. How was
she going to get across, aside from swimming? She was able to jump
far, but not
this
far.

Mari sighed as she looked around
the dock; it was twilight, so there were hardly any people around,
save a few fishermen who’d just returned from a day out on the
water – she then realised for how long she and her friends had
actually been asleep. But there were a couple unmanned boats,
almost
begging
for Mari to steal one of them.

Mari knew stealing was bad, but
sometimes, the end justifies the means. She looked around before
approaching one of the boats, making sure no one saw her. As soon
as she was sure the coast was clear, Mari untied one of the rowing
boats and pushed it further into the water.

As she got into the boat, Mari decided to see
if she could sleep as soon as she’d got out of sight of the dock,
despite not feeling tired.

It’d probably take much longer for
her friends to get where she was; after all, they’d have to be the
perfect heroes and
buy
a boat.

Or maybe not...?

*

By the time Mari had set off into
the water, Luke and his friends had finally climbed down the
mountain. The teenagers were quite worn out, but Luke kept
insisting that they had to keep going; his friends understood, yet
they still wished Luke wasn’t so demanding.

The situation was dire. They knew.
Luke cared about Mari. They
knew
. Their parents needed their
help. The entire world was counting on them.

They.
Knew
. But Luke was just simply
pushing it too far.

He wanted to do something that was
just simply impossible to achieve in one day. Well, at least for
humans it was.

“
Luke, please,” Felicity said,
trying to talk some sense into her cousin, “let’s stop and go to
sleep. Mari’s probably long gone by now.”

Luke ignored her, and surlily kept moving
forward. This resulted in an angry response from his friends; it
took the four of them to work Luke to the ground.

“
Now you’re going to calm down and
get yourself together,” Felicity commanded her cousin; he was
glaring at her. “Nothing what you’re doing is helping
Mari.”

“
Well, I seem
like the only one who’s at least
trying
to help Mari,” Luke spat
angrily. “I’m sorry for just wanting to save my friends and
family!”

Felicity looked as if she was about to punch
Luke. “I’m going to let that slide,” Felicity said, her voice
emotionless, but her blue eyes icy, “because you don’t know what
you’re saying.

“
But next time, I’m kicking your
ass.”

“
...Of course,” Luke mumbled. He
sat up as his friends had finally got off of him. “Fine. We can
stay here for the night.” He sounded rather reluctant to come to
this compromise. “A few hours, nothing more. When morning comes,
we’re going.”

His friends smiled at him. “Glad you finally
made a good decision,” Marco said. Luke snorted in
response.

*

The Master was amused.
Too
amused. James was
under his control once again, the adult Guardians were out of his
way, and the new Guardians... well... they were trying their
best.

The Master gloated as he watched
the Guardians quarrel and fight over pointless issues. They were
friends, like their parents had been, but they were
far
from as close. These
teenagers were doomed to fail; the Master would be surprised if
they’d even make it back to the Land of Light before they’d get
sick of each other and split up. It was too bad that they’d
survived something that could’ve easily killed them again, but once
again, they’d only survived because
someone else
had saved their hide.
And now, they were on their own.

The Master couldn’t help but laugh in utter
amusement as he watched the teenagers struggle. He had the upper
hand at last. “James?” the Master called.

“
You called, My Lord?” James said;
he entered the throne room as soon as the Master had called his
name.

“
Indeed,” the Master said. “I
called.”

He walked down the steps as he continued to
speak to James. “James, now that our conditions have changed, you
may leave the Land of Light as often as you wish to.

“
But I don’t think you’ll have to
do so...”

“
Why not, Master?” James asked.
“Please. Tell me what I have to do.”

The Master grinned at the
obedience that almost seemed to radiate from James. This time, he
wouldn’t be cured just by walking out of the dark. In retrospect,
relying on only the dark atmosphere of Lunaria to keep James evil
had been stupid, ignorant idea. Of course the Master’s siblings
would’ve found some way to protect the world from going dark all
over again – but the Master guessed he’d just become overconfident.
His greatest weakness had always been his cockiness – the only
trait he shared with his siblings.

But none of that mattered now. James was under
the Master’s control, and he was planning on keeping it that
way.

“
James,” the Master said, “we’ll
have guests arriving soon, and I’d like you to form a nice welcome
committee.

“
Track down the Guardians and get
rid of them. There’s a special guest headed our way... I’ll take
care of her myself, but you’ll have to get the Guardians out of the
way for me.”

James bowed toward the Master. “As you wish,”
he said, before leaving the throne room. “Nothing will stand in our
way, My Lord. I promise.”

The Master watched his servant
leave with a fond expression on his face; he flashed a vampire
smile at the thought of James killing his own son.

And if Luke still somehow
survived?
Well, in that
case
, the Master thought,
he’d make a fine servant.

Louloudia

Night had fallen, and Luke was unable to
sleep. Perhaps it was due to his fallout toward his friends, or
maybe it was due to everything that had happened in the few
days.

Had it been like this for his father and his
friends, too? Had they been as stressed, as scared, as on the edge
as he was?

Luke held his knees and rested his head
against them as he watched his friends sleep. They’d been right;
he’d been treating them unfairly, he had set unreasonable
goals.

But why?

“
Hey,” Felicity’s voice suddenly
came from behind. “I saw you were awake.”

Luke looked at her. “Yeah,” he said. “Couldn’t
sleep, so I decided to keep watch.” He chuckled. “Somebody’s got to
do it, eh?” He paused. “Saw?”

“
Do you feel unsafe here?”
Felicity suggested, looking around; they’d found an abandoned cave
at the foot of the mountain and were using it for shelter;
apparently, Luke’s question was lost on her.

“
Maybe,” Luke mumbled. “I don’t
know. Maybe Dad’s out looking for us. Maybe the Master is.
I...

“
...I don’t know what to make of
everything anymore, actually.”

He looked at the exit of the cave;
from where he was sitting, Luke had almost a perfect view of the
night sky. It was filled with millions of stars that twinkled like
little diamonds. Luke knew that he’d never get the chance to see
something like that on Earth – not this clear. Not this bright. And
it amazed him.

“
I don’t think anyone does,
Lucas,” Felicity said. “We’re all a bit lost on what to do. But –
everyone’s counting on us, so...” She ran a hand through her dirty
blonde hair. It just brushed her shoulders, flopping around as
Felicity led her fingers slide through it. It felt gross and
greasy; after all, none of them had had the chance to take a proper
shower for a few days, save the necessary cleaning.

“
...we’ll just have to try and
make the best of it,” Felicity finished her sentence, her eyes
moving outside, to the stars. “If they believe we can do it, then
we probably can.”

“
But who decided
that we can?” Luke said. “We didn’t –
do
anything. We just read a book we
weren’t allowed to. And...” He sighed. “Even
that’s
my fault. The whole reason
why we’re here, Felicity – it’s
me
.” Luke buried his face in his
hands. “It’s all my fault. And it bites.”

Felicity put a comforting hand on her cousin’s
shoulder. “Knowing that Akilah needed our parent’s help anyway,”
she said, “I don’t think you should take this too hard on
yourself.

“
We agreed on the whole ‘stealing
the book’-plan, after all. So... I guess that that makes us all at
fault here. After all, there were five hands needed to release the
magic – five Guardians to complete the Bond.”

Luke shrugged. “Maybe you’re right,” he said.
“Maybe.”

“
I
am
right,” Felicity
said. “If anyone’s going to point any fingers, we’re
all
to blame for this.
Not just you.”