Guardian: Darkness Rising (26 page)

“
Because his magic is dark?” Tony
insinuated. Akilah and Ince laughed.

“
That’s superstition,” Ince said.
“Dark is weakened by Light. Light is weakened by Dark. But they’re
still matched to each other. It’s the one who gets the upper hand
who wins the battle.”

Luke nodded. “Makes sense,” he said. “They
need each other. That’s why the Guardians restore the balance
instead of destroying the dark completely, right?”

Ince nodded, although any movement
was hardly noticeable in the dark. “Exactly.”

Daisy seemed rather uncomfortable. “Shouldn’t
we keep going?” she said.

“
You’re right,” Luke said. “We’ve
got to get to Mari. And fast.”

“
Mari has reached the Dark
Castle,” Ince said. “We just saw her enter before we left to find
you.”

“
How did she get here so fast,
though?” Marco wondered. “She disappeared into smoke back in
Louloudia. How’d she do that?”

“
She can teleport like the
Master,” Akilah said, “because she’s a Lost Soul. They were once
the Master’s minions... the last two Lost Souls were set free
twenty-five years ago.”

“
Can we save her?” Luke said, as
the teenagers, now accompanied by the two shadows, continued
walking.

“
You can,” Akilah said, “with that
dust you’ve got. We created those flowers for a Fairy Queen a long
time ago. They can cure nearly anything.”

Luke looked at the vial in his hand; for some
reason, he hadn’t let go of it ever since he and his friends had
entered Louloudia. He wasn’t sure why he’d kept holding on to it;
perhaps he just wanted to have it ready to use.

“
So if we just use it on her,
she’ll go back to normal?” Luke asked.

“
She will,” Ince confirmed.
“You’ll be able to save all of your friends with it – except for
James.”

“
We can save him, too,” Luke said
decisively. “We’ll save our parents and then restore the balance
together with them.”

“
The Land of Light is a fairly
small realm,” Akilah said. “We’ll be at the Dark Castle soon. We’ll
have your parents freed before you know it.”

*

Mari crashed into the wall with a loud thud.
The Master was stronger than she’d anticipated.

Apparently, the Master had been waiting for
her, and had taken his time to prepare himself for a fight.
Fighting him was more of a challenge than Mari had thought it’d
be.

She quickly got back on her feet, scanning the
room for the Master; the dark demi-spirit had magically forced all
candles to go out, causing the throne room to be even darker than
it’d been before.

The only thing that gave the two fighters
away, were their glowing eyes. And, of course, the Master’s glowing
orb.

“
Giving up yet, Mari?” the
Master’s mocking voice came from the dark. “You might think you’ll
be able to save your friends, but deep in your heart, you know
better.”

“
Shut up,” Mari said under her
breath, but repeated her words in a loud yell. “SHUT UP!

“
You don’t know ANYTHING about
me!”

She suddenly noticed the red glow of the orb
moving in the corner of her eye, and barely dodged the blast of
energy that came her way.

“
Don’t I?” the Master said.
“You’ve always felt different, haven’t you, Mari?

“
Like there was more for you out
there.”

Mari charged her own energy,
throwing everything she had at the three glowing dots in front of
her. They disappeared for a short moment, but reappeared behind
her, catching her by surprise.

A single blast sent Mari flying; Mari once
again crashed against a wall, nearly ending up going unconscious
upon impact with the wall.

“
Don’t deny it, Mari,” the Master
said. “You and I are very much alike. In powers, in
personality.

The only difference is that you have a family
that loves you.”

Mari turned around, but remained
seated on the ground, as her legs felt too weak to stand on and her
head was foggy. She just simply remained sitting on the ground,
glaring angrily at the three glowing dots in front of her. The two
smaller ones seemed to have something sad in their
looks.

“
My family – the Spirits – never
loved me. They abused me, gave me near-useless powers simply
because it was a responsibility neither of them wanted. They mocked
me. Used me.

“
And when I showed them what I was
made of, they banished me. Isn’t it only fair of me to take my
revenge?”

“
No,” Mari said. “Revenge is never
the answer, Asura.”

“
You only say that because you
don’t understand,” the Master said. “Your family loves you, and you
love them. You wouldn’t want to hurt them.

“
But... I can make sure of that,
dear.”

“
What do you mean?” Mari
said.

“
I promise you, if you take my
hand now,” the Master said, presumably sticking out his hand
through the darkness toward Mari, “I will not harm your friends or
family. No harm will come to them from my hand.”

“
And... you’re keeping your word?”
Mari said, slightly suspicious. And for a good reason, too, of
course.

“
I promise I will keep my word,”
the Master said decisively. “I will not harm your friends or
family.

“
Let’s stop fighting,
Mari.”

“
Very well, then,” Mari said,
searching for the Master’s hand in the dark.

What she didn’t know, was that the moment she
shook it, she’d made a great mistake.

*

The teenagers had snuck into the
Dark Castle successfully. Normally, the Master would’ve instantly
sent his minions – Night Stalkers, Shadow Walkers, or any such
monsters – to find and capture the intruders, but since he was
preoccupied with Mari, it was safe for the teenagers to sneak
about.

“
The Master keeps the statues of
Guardians he’s captured in the castle garden,” Ince said. “We spent
about a week releasing every statue’s soul after the Master was
gone. It was terrible.” He shuddered at the memory.

“
So now it should be just the
statues of our parents,” Luke said. “I hope.”

The garden looked more like a graveyard. White
dust cloaked the ground, and the plants – or at least whatever
seemed to be plants – were either deformed to monstrous versions of
the original or dead.

In the distance stood four dark figures, their
silhouettes slightly lit in the dim moonlight.

“
There they are,” Luke said. He
wanted to sprint over and just throw the dust at the adult
Guardians, but he knew that it was wiser to tread carefully. Who
knew what the Master had done to this hell of a garden.

Luckily, nothing happened; the five teenagers
and their companions reached the statues safely.

Luke took small amounts of dust out of the
vial as he passed the statues; the stones started to tremble as the
dust touched them.

And eventually, all that remained were four
startled adults. The teenagers were quick to explain everything
that had happened while their parents had been gone; the adults
agreed with their children that they had to act quickly.

But before they left, Luke wanted to try
something.

“
Ince,” he said, “you said this
dust could cure nearly anything. So that makes me wonder... what
it’ll do for the two of you.”

Luke shook the vial, allowing some
dust to fall on his hands, but making sure there was enough left
inside for Mari. He then blew it in the two shadows’
direction.

Nothing seemed to happen at first, but after a
few short moments, a bright light flashed through the garden. When
the light finally dimmed, two glowing figures stood in the place of
the shadows – it had worked.

“
Lucas,” Akilah gasped, “thank you
for saving us.

“
Now... allow us to save your
friend.”

III

The

Saviour

Mercy

When the two Generations and Spirits entered
the throne room, they were caught by an unpleasant surprise. The
room was dimly lit, but the people standing inside were clearly
visible. The Master was standing in front of his mighty throne,
with Mari at his side.

“
Welcome, Guardians,” the Master
spoke on a rather triumphant tone. “Akilah. Ince. I see you’ve come
to finish this once and for all.”

“
MARI!” Luke shouted at the girl
standing beside the Master. “Are you alright?”

Mari didn’t respond. She completely ignored
Luke, even. As if he didn’t exist at all.

“
Asura, if you surrender now,
things will be a lot easier for the both of us,” Ince warned his
brother. “We don’t have to hurt you if you don’t
resist.”

The Master, however, laughed it off. “Of
course, Ince,” he said mockingly. “After well over a thousand years
of work, do you really think I’d be willing to walk away from
everything?

“
That’s where you’re
wrong.”

The Master then directed his
attention toward the Guardians. “You might’ve taken away my new
toy, but after all, James truly never was more than just a toy to
me. A distraction for the lot of you... although a pleasant
addition to my army when I have rebuilt it.” He paused for a
moment. “And when a child loses a toy...” The Master grinned and
placed a hand on Mari’s shoulder.

“
...it simply gets a new
one.”

Apparently, that sentence – or
touch, or maybe even a combination of the two – had been the sign
for Mari to attack. She drew her sword, leaping down to the
Guardians’ level. The Guardians backed away, not wanting to hurt
Mari.

“
What did you do to her, you
scumbag?” Antonio barked angrily at the Master. “What have you done
to my daughter!? TELL ME BEFORE I SLICE YOUR HEAD OFF!”

The Master laughed as he watched
the Guardians desperately block and dodge Mari’s attacks, both
physical and magical, as she chased them around the throne room,
forcing them to split up.

“
Mari and I merely made a deal,”
the Master said. “If she took my hand and allowed me to help her
up, I wouldn’t harm you. Any of you.” He grinned. “I guess Miss
Marilyn didn’t consider the consequences to grabbing hold of my
hand.”

Antonio sprinted forward and tried to grab his
daughter’s arms, as she continued to violently lash out at him.
“You’re in my way, old man!”

Antonio took out his sword, and tried to use
it to whip Mari’s sword out of her hands. Mari didn’t quite offer
him an opportunity to do so, though.

“
Mari, listen to me!” Antonio
said. “You’re stronger than this. I know you are! Try to fight it,
please!”

“
You’re wasting your breath, old
man!” Mari growled, proceeding to lash out at her father. “Now take
that word of yours and fight back! Show me what you’re made
of!”

Antonio kept on blocking his daughter’s
attacks, refusing to attack her.

He looked at the eighteen-year-old girl in
front of him, with her wild eyes and messy hair. Antonio was hardly
able to recognise his own daughter. “I will not fight you, Mari,”
he breathed. “Please.”

Just as Mari was about to attack again, golden
dust downed on her, stopping her in her tracks. The colour in her
eyes and cheeks was slowly restored as the black veins on her face
faded.

“
..Dad..?” Mari said
coarsely.

Antonio let out a cry of happiness, threw his
sword to the floor and hugged his daughter tightly.

“
NO!” the Master bellowed,
directing his rage toward Luke, who barely managed to dodge the
blast of dark magic the Master sent his way, tripping over his cape
as he did. The master continued to quickly approach Luke; his eyes
were wild and outraged.

“
You,” the Master hissed. “You,
boy. You have been the thorn in my side for the past few days...
You’re just as arrogant as my father.

“
So how about I get rid of you
just as I almost got rid of him so many years ago?”

The Master had raised his staff, but it was
cut in half by a sword before the Master could do anything.
“What-”

“
I wouldn’t do that if I were
you.”

Thomas was the one who’d cut the Master’s
staff in half; the other three adults and five teenagers, including
Mari and Antonio, had quickly surrounded the Master. Ince and
Akilah stood right behind their brother.

“
It’s over, Asura,” Ince
said.

The Master watched silently as
Thomas helped Luke to get back on his feet. “Is it?’ he asked
quietly, a grin creeping up on his lips. “I don’t believe it
is.”

A loud explosion followed. Something had
exploded outside the castle, possibly a couple of kilometres
away.

“
What was that?” Bella said,
although the Guardians already knew the answer.