Guardian: Darkness Rising (8 page)

“
See?” Luke smiled at her. “You’re
doing fine.” He grinned, and decided to add a joke to reassure her
more. “It must be magic in your feet.”

Mari could feel the colour rising
in her cheeks. Indeed. She was doing fine. And... the fact that
everyone was staring at her and Luke didn’t seem to bother her at
all. It made her wonder what was going on for a few moments, but
she quickly let those thoughts go.

She was doing amazing, and for
once, she wanted the entire world to know.

To Tame a
Demon

The ball didn’t end until sunrise,
when all Lunariae were slowly starting to return to their own
realms and homes. The Spirits offered the Guardians that they’d go
to sleep for a while before getting down to business, and that was
exactly what they did – they were too tired to be able to discuss
serious matters now.

After everyone had slept off their tiredness,
the Spirits called in another meeting – and this one was about
Mari.

They wanted to know what the
Master was up to, what he’d asked her to do, and so on. They wanted
to know everything, up to the smallest details.

Mari managed to stay surprisingly calm as she
told her story to the five quite impressive creatures in front of
her; as soon as she’d finished, they started to silently discuss
what she’d just told them.

“
And that stone you just talked
about,” Ince said, “where’d you leave it?”

Mari blinked slowly. “Ah,” she said, “I
believe I left it in the purse I took with me last
night.

She slowly rubbed her arms; she’d put on a
pair of gloves she’d found in the closet of the room the Spirits
had given her to sleep in, along with a deep purple dress that had
been there, too. To her surprise, all the clothes she’d worn thus
far had fit her surprisingly well.

The black coloured veins had spread all the
way across Mari’s left arm to her shoulder; she didn’t know how to
stop it, or what the consequences would be if she just let it run
its course.

Maybe she could find a cure later without
having to scare her father.

“
Well, then,” Ince said
friendlily, “would you mind to go and get it so we can see it,
Mari?”

Mari nodded, bobbed into an
awkward curtsy and quickly left the Ritual Chamber to go find the
room she’d spent the night in. Luckily, it wasn’t long until she’d
done so. Mari quickly went through her chamber, got the purse and
went back to her family. She wasn’t sure what the big deal about
the stone was; both the Spirits and the Master seemed very eager to
have it in their possession.

“
Ah, there we are,” Akilah said as
she noticed Mari entering the Ritual Chamber, carrying the small,
leather purse. “Come, dear. Show us what you’ve got.”

Mari handed the purse to James, who shivered
at the touch of the purse – Mari noticed, but she wasn’t sure if
the others had noticed too.

James carefully took the stone out of its case
and let it slide to the table, unwilling to touch it
again.

“
What’s the
matter, James?” Samira asked her younger brother. She most
definitely 
had 
noticed how strangely James
responded to touching the small, tear-shaped glowing object. “Is it
something with the stone?”

James, feeling that everyone was looking at
him, nodded. “Yes,” he said. “It contains Dark Magic. And a lot of
it.”

Mari noticed that Akilah and Aharnish were
sharing a sideways glance. What was going on?

“…
Right,” Akilah mumbled. There
was a certain amount of uncertainty in her voice that Mari found
unsettling. “It might be worse than I thought.”

She hovered a slender finger over the stone’s
surface, and gently touched it, only to instantly withdraw her
finger, drawing it close to her chest.

“
What’s it, Aki?” Aoife exclaimed,
worried for her sister’s safety. “Is it what you thought it
was?”

“
No,” Akilah said dejectedly,
“unfortunately, it’s much worse than I thought. Especially if…”
Akilah glanced at James for a brief moment, but moved her eyes away
from him before James could ask her what the problem was. “Never
mind,” Akilah said. “We’ll find a way to stop this.”

Then, her attention went to Mari. “Mari,” she
said, on an alarmingly strict tone, “please tell me you haven’t
touched that stone with your bare hands.”

Mari started; what was she going
to do? She’d probably scare everyone if she showed her arm – it
probably meant something bad, if the Spirits
were 
this
worried about it –, but she probably couldn’t keep on walking
with it, either. Mari knew neither the repercussions this would
bring for herself, nor for her family and the rest of Lunaria –
that is, if there were any for them.

If she lied, the truth would eventually come
out – and by then, matters would probably be worse than they were
right now. And yet, somehow Mari still couldn’t bring herself to
telling the truth.

“
Marilyn...” Mari suddenly heard
her father’s voice, strict and stern. She couldn’t lie.

“
Well...” Mari then proceeded to
slowly remove the glove from her right arm, revealing the black
veins that had now spread to her shoulder.

While her friends and family let out surprised
gasps of horror, the Spirits remained calm; Akilah beckoned Mari to
come closer, so the Spirit could examine the veins on her
arm.

“
Oh dear,” Akilah said, worry
finally reflected in her golden eyes. “This is bad.”

“
What’s wrong?” Antonio said – if
Akilah was worried, then that meant something truly bad was going
on.

“
She’s been – poisoned,” Akilah
said, clearly unsure how to answer this particular question
properly. “With Dark Magic.”

“
What do you
mean?” Luke suddenly spoke, not realising he stood up in a rather
hostile position, despite the scepticism in his tone. “How can one
get
poisoned
with
Magic?”

“
Luke, please sit down,” James
said, but the teenager’s friends seemed to agree with him. They all
spoke to each other, at the same time, all sounds and voices
forming a noisy buzz together.

Mari hadn’t done anything but bite her lip as
she watched her friends explode into a massive argument of
incomprehension. It didn’t take long before the teenagers fell
silent again, though; their parents’ judging looks were enough to
do the trick.

“
Oh – um- we beg your pardon,”
Felicity said, feeling as if she had to take responsibility, as she
was eldest of the five teenagers – despite the fact that Luke had
basically ignited the fire that had led to this explosion of sound.
Ince, and eventually, the other Spirits too, nodded approvingly,
but the parents still seemed moderately frustrated with how their
children behaved.

“
We understand how frustrated you
younglings must be,” Aoife said, as she paced around the table. She
looked graceful, yet wise, as if she were the real Mother Nature –
which was, in Lunaria, basically the role she fulfilled as the
Guardian of Life. “There are so many questions, and those all need
answering... but I’m afraid we don’t have all the answers that you
seek. We are wise, but not omniscient.”

“
But we just
might
do
have
some of them, although even we aren’t sure,” Aharnish said,
suddenly stepping forward – he’d been silently discussing matters
with Ince and Akilah by one of the columns not too far away from
the table while Aoife spoke to the Guardians. It had been a rather
short conversation, but Aharnish knew his youngest brother well
enough to know his approximate plan of action.

“
We should leave that stone
alone,” he said. “It contains dangerous Magic, designed to leak out
at the touch of human skin – and meant to destroy beings of Light
Magic – like us.” He gestured at himself and his siblings as he
spoke his last sentence.

“
But...” a
careful, high-pitched boy’s voice spoke. “What’s going on with
Mari’s arm, then?” The boy in question was Tony, speaking for the
first time since he’d arrived in Lunaria; he probably had been
either too frightened or too confused to do so – or maybe he’d been
both. Tony had never been
that
much of an outgoing boy – when he was young, he’d
always rather hide behind either of his parents’ legs than say ‘hi’
whenever he was introduced to someone new. And right now, there
were strangers surrounding him, who were, well...
strange
.

They weren’t human, and by the looks of it,
extremely powerful, and Tony didn’t know what to expect of them.
But as he watched his parents speak so comfortably around them and
showing off at their son how much they trusted the Spirits
(although not necessarily intentionally), Tony slowly started to
ease up for a bit, but remained too nervous to speak for quite some
time.

Until now, of course.

“
Some of the Dark Magic that is
trapped inside that stone has escaped and found itself a way into
Mari’s bloodstream,” Aharnish carefully explained.

“
Well... not
exactly into the blood
stream
,” Aine suddenly said,
sounding surprisingly cold for someone who was supposed to take
care of bringing joy to people.

“
What?” Aharnish said, as he
watched his youngest sister rise from the table, having a face like
thunder – this was the most serious expression Aharnish had seen
his sister pull in years.

“
I know how this works,” Aine said
slowly. “Asura was cocky enough to explain it to me, thinking I
wouldn’t be able to understand. He so proudly told me of a weapon
powerful enough to turn anyone that comes in contact with it into
powerful, dark beings. He said it’d even be capable of resurrecting
the dead with dark powers.” She fell silent; her bright blue eyes
rested on the red stone that lay still on the table, still giving
off a soft glow. “He wants to use it to resurrect himself. That’s
why he sent Mari here; to put the stone back on Asura’s body, so he
can enter through the stone’s power.”

“
But that would mean he’d rise
just as powerful as before,” Thomas said, clearly shocked. “How’s
that even possible?”

Aine played with a lock of her own
hair; it slowly shifted colours as the Spirit let it twirl around
her finger. “Inside the body, this kind of magic can be compared to
a spider’s web,” she said, her gaze still fixed on the stone and
its mysterious glow. “It spreads across the body, forming a strong
web of threads that sprout from the veins, coming together at two
centres; head and heart.

Now the head centre is just the brain wrapped
in threads of Dark Magic to ensure that the wielder can use it
properly. The heart’s the core of the darkness.”

“
And... what about Mari?” Tony
said carefully, not wanting to offend Aine – he just didn’t get the
point.

“
I... don’t know,” Aine said. “I’m
not sure whether the magic will spread any further or not. If it
does, that could mean we might lose her.”

“
...’
Lose
’
me?” Mari snapped. “What!?”

“
We could lose you to the Dark
Magic if it finds itself a way into your heart,” Ince said, rubbing
his chin. “And we don’t know whether or not that’s going to happen
yet.”

Mari’s eyes met her father’s; there was
comfort in his eyes, yet also worry. “Don’t worry,” Mari said,
without taking her eyes off him. “It won’t.”

“
We admire your bravery, Mari,”
Akilah said. “But for now, you shouldn’t worry about that. We must
come up with a plan to trick the Master and defeat him.”

“
May I suggest something?” James
said, slowly rising from his chair. His sister grabbed his arm as
he stood up; the two siblings looked at each other. James nodded at
her. “It’s okay, Samira. I’m not going to do anything
stupid.”

Samira smiled back at her brother. “I hope
not,” she said.

“
Akilah,” James said, “is the
prison where the Master’s body is currently kept in Dark
Magic-proof?”

“
Well, it’s supposed to,” Akilah
said. “It’s meant to keep all forms of Dark Magic out. That stone
wouldn’t get in there. Plus, Asura wouldn’t last long inside this
castle anyway – there’d be too much Light Magic for him to survive
here.”

“
So... it’d be safe to resurrect
him inside this castle, because he’d be powerless for as long as
he’s in here?” James said, sounding as if he was up to
mischief.

“
James...” the judging sound of
Thomas’s voice sounded – he knew that his brother-in-law was up to
no good. “What are you planning?”

James looked aside to reassure his friend – it
didn’t quite help, though. It was probably a good idea to explain
the full plan – if not the best idea. “

“
Well, we can
only banish him for good if we get rid of
both
him
and
his body – at the same time,”
James said, his fingers nervously tapping the table. “So – I just
thought – if we did it here, in the castle – we might have a shot
at it?”