Guardian: Protectors of Light (29 page)

Breakfast consisted out
of some fruit they’d received from the Queen before they’d left,
while they prepared to continue travelling up the
mountain.

But as soon as they set
foot outside, they discovered that the blizzard had become
worse.

“
How are we
supposed to see through this?” Samira shouted, while she and the
others put on their hoods. 

Thomas shook his head. “I
have absolutely no idea,” he replied.

The others didn’t know
either. But they had to move on, or else they’d freeze to death
without ever reaching their destination. If they kept moving, they
could have a chance of moving past the blizzard and being able to
begin to ascend the mountain by sunset.

The blizzard didn’t make
travelling anything easier, though, since they had no clue of where
they were going, they had to stop regularly to make sure they were
still going the right way and were all still together.

The pack of snow on the
ground became deeper and heavier to walk through, which slowed them
down in their tracks.

“
W-wonder if
there’s a creature causing this blizzard that we can stop?” James
shouted, while they were dragging themselves through the bad
weather. His teeth were chattering.
“What do you mean?” Antonio shouted back.

“
Creatures
creating immense blizzards? You mean – like some entire creature
made of ice? An ice troll?”

“
No, an ice cream truck with its doors open, Antonio!” James
replied sarcastically. 
”
Of
course
 I mean a creature
with ice powers! Some kind of snowman or something!”

Antonio snorted. “Hah, kid! I know we’ve been through some
wacky times ‘round here, but what you just said was
literally 
the dumbest
thing I’ve ever heard!
”
he shouted
mockingly.

“
You never
know what you’re up against in this world!” James shouted
back.

“
Hey, guys!
Take a look at this!” Thomas shouted.

The other four reacted
immediately, causing James and Antonio to cancel their discussion,
and simply exchange a couple of dark looks while they were running
towards Thomas – or at least they walked as fast as the wind and
snow would allow them to go.

“
What have
you found, Thomas?” James asked when they stood around him. Thomas
pointed toward his feet – or the ground he was standing
on.

“
It’s like-
some kind of glass plate made of ice,” he said.

“
Thomas – wait – hold up,” James said. “I can’t bare this.
Thomas – it can’t be a 
glass
 plate when
it’s made of 
ice,”
 James
said. “Then it’s just an ice plate!”

“
Yeah, uh,
sorry,” Thomas mumbled. “But look at the detail! And I’m pretty
sure it’s strong material, too,” he said. “If I can stand on it...”
He stumped with his feet on the ice.

But he wished he
hadn’t.

Right after he had
stumped his feet, the ice caved in beneath him, causing Thomas to
fall down a deep hole.
“THOMAS!” James shouted, and dove after the Brit.

“
What are you
waiting for? We can’t just stay here; we’ve got to go after them!”
Samira shouted, and ducked down into the hole, to get her best
friends back.

Bella followed her
without hesitation, yanking Antonio along with her.

And off they
went yet again, into another mystery, another adventure, without
knowing what was coming.

Fiyara
Neiva

The hole the Bond had
fallen into, seemed to be a long slide made of ice, which caused
them to remain pretty much unharmed by the time they arrived at the
end.

The five teenagers slid
forward across the ice, until they ended up on rock floor covered
in snow.

“
So far not so good,” Bella mumbled, while he and the others
got up. “Where did we end up 
this
 time?”
“I don’t know,” James replied. He looked around, while scanning the
area for any signs of life forms. “I honestly didn’t know...
Couldn’t possibly imagine... That someone could have a secret
hideout hidden in these mountains.”

“
What are you jabbering about? There’s
absolutely 
no
 chance
that 
anyone
 would
want to live here in this freezing weather!” Antonio
grunted.

“
Let’s stop
this endless discussion, and just continue walking to find a way
out of here, 
guys,” Thomas said.

Antonio and James
exchanged looks with each other and shrugged. The hidden cave
within the mountains had something special to it. The ceiling was
made of a thin layer of ice, and any footsteps were muffled by the
crackling of snow.

“
But still,
I’m highly convinced that-”
“Put a sock in it, Antonio,” Samira groaned, not up for another
pointless argument with Antonio.

“
Sorry,
Sam.”

The five teenagers kept
on walking through the cave; it was as if there simply came no end
to the endless rows of rock. The walls looked exactly the same
everywhere they’d look, and there was nothing which revealed there
was an exit anywhere near.

“
Are you sure
we’re going the right way, James?” Samira asked. James shrugged in
response.

“
Honestly, I
have no idea where we are right now.”

Neither he would have
known where they would have been if they still would’ve been
climbing the mountain, but that wasn’t the case. There was a light
at the end of the tunnel, though. Literally. A few minutes later,
the teenagers ran into small, flying creatures. 
They were much smaller than pixies, and had smooth skin that seemed
to be made of millions of tiny ice crystals. Their eyes were a
shade of blue which was so bright, that they seemed to glow in the
weak blue light the ice ceiling let through.

They chattered and
floated about. The teenagers passing them didn’t seem to
bother 
them.

“
They appear
to be such happy and pretty creatures,” Samira said with a smile.
“Wonder what kind of creatures they are?”

“
Well... I
think they are ice sprites,” James replied, while watching the
winged creatures closely. “They... Look just stunning.”

“
They sure
do,” Bella said. “Guess you were right after all, James!” He
grinned at Antonio, who glared back at him.

“
Who cares,
Jingle Bells? Who cares for some drab Ice sprites? It’s not like
they’re going to get us out of this situation,” he
grunted.

Antonio heard James
snickering, and sighed. “All right. But I’ll admit defeat,” he
mumbled. “Jiminy Cricket?”

“
I feel
satisfied,” James replied with a smirk. “So I’ll mark that as
“Happy” for you.”

“
James: one.
Antonio: zero,” Thomas mumbled from a distance, clearly
amused.

Antonio grunted even
louder. “Sure, treat me like I’m just here for your everyday
entertainment.”

“
Come on, Tony! You 
know
 that’s not
true,” Samira said.

“
I know; I
just was in the mood for a joke,” Antonio replied. “I’m here for
your everyday entertainment, remember?”

Samira snickered. “Oh,
you-!” she shouted, and pretended to attack him.

They just kept walking,
the Ice Sprites still floating around them. But as they walked
further, a cold wind started to blow in their faces, seemingly
becoming stronger with every step they took.

But the weirdest about
the cold wind was that as they moved nearer to the source, tiny
little snowflakes started to appear around them.

More strange things
happened along the way. The walls and floors started to freeze
slowly, and got covered by a layer of shimmering ice. The wind
got stronger, and the air became colder and colder.

“
Shouldn’t we
be getting out of here? It’s starting to get freezing!” Bella
shouted.

“
We’ve got to
get out of here as quick as we can, or else we’ll freeze to death!”
Thomas ordered. The others followed his orders and started to run
through the blizzard, as the walls and floors continued to freeze
behind them.

“
I can’t see where we’re going! But there’s something
I 
do
 know: this is going to get us into a lot
of trouble for sure!” James shouted, protecting his eyes from the
falling hail with his arms.
While staying close together, James, Thomas, Samira, Bella and
Antonio ran through the cave, without knowing where it would take
them.
Somehow, nothing seemed to be going the way they’d planned it. One
moment, they were just walking on top of a mountain, and another
moment, they are trying to flee a terrible blizzard blowing inside
a cave on the inside of the mountain, without having any kind of
knowledge on a possible source.

The temperature of the
cave decreased with every second passing, and the wind blew
stronger and stronger, making it nearly impossible to even
move.

This all had come
completely unexpected, and made the cave nearly look like some kind
of ambush. The only thing that reassured the teenagers that it
wasn’t was the fact that the Master and his minions could only
control the dark, and not ice and snow.

But they did certainly not leave out the other Lunariae...
Something was definitely living hidden inside of the mountain, and
it was 
not
 happy to
have visitors. At all.

And so it was trying to
shoo the visitors away with some kind of bizarre snowstorm. Or was
it actually trying to kill them off instead? Suddenly, the cave
took a sharp corner.

And there it was.
James opened his eyes a little, and looked for a sign of an exit
through his eyelashes His eyes soon widened in
amazement.

They were standing right
in front of the most amazing building he had ever seen... An ice
palace like you’d expect to see them in fairy tales. An absolutely
stunning building.

It was small, because it
had to fit inside the mountain. But it was built in height. And the
blizzard appeared to be circling around its roof, and dissolved
from there into the blasts of cold air that had been “attacking”
the Guardians.

“
Guys...
Check it out,” James mumbled; his friends showed similar reactions
as they opened their eyes. “I hope there’s someone inside there who
can help us.”

The Bond of Light ran up
the steps of the ice stairs, careful not to trip, and started to
bang the door.

“
Please, let
us in! We’re freezing out here!” Samira shouted.

It didn’t take long
before the massive doors opened on their own, inviting the
teenagers in.

A figure appeared in
front of them, hovering a few centimetres above the floor, looking
worried and rushed.
It was a fixie, with beautiful white hair and bright blue eyes. Her
skin was white as snow, with blue ice crystals scattered over her
entire body.

“
Oh, please
forgive me; I caused the blizzard!” she mumbled
embarrassedly.  “I thought you were those awful Shadow
Creatures again! I- I should apologize.” She paused. “There are
dark creatures on the mountain – I don’t think they’ve found my
hideout yet, but if they do, they’ll kill me for sure.”

“
We’ve met
some of the creatures you’re mentioning,” James said. “It’s a
pleasure to meet you. I’m James Riverdale, and these are my
friends.”

The others mumbled small
greetings and waved at her. The fixie’s eyes grew wide in
amazement. 

“
Oh, why of
course! Why didn’t I notice it before?” she said and made a curtsy
toward the teenagers. “I am Fiyara Neiva Christella, Princess of
Snow. But you can call me Fiyara. It’s a true honour to meet the
Last Generation of Hope.”

“
Is everyone
we’ll meet going to be like this?” Antonio mumbled to Bella,
receiving an elbow from the teenager in his stomach as a response.
“Ouch!” he grunted.

“
I’m sorry if
I’ve hurt any of you by letting out that blizzard,” Fiyara said.
“I- I’m just not used to seeing any decent creatures around here
since the Dark Days. I was afraid you were one of them.”

The fixie looked at her
feet, clearly feeling embarrassed of herself. She sighed. “I
usually do more harm than good...”

“
Why do you
think that?” Bella asked. “I’m sure it’s not true.”

Fiyara looked up at her
and sighed. “Oh, but it is,” she said. “The fact that the Shadow
Creatures are on these mountains are my fault.” She became more
embarrassed thinking about it. “And that’s only just the
beginning...

“
The Spirits
of Light created me out of ice and snow. I was born while a heavy
blizzard was blowing over these mountains. To continue this was my
task, to watch over the mountain and protect it. I was responsible
for snowfall, so other creatures could enjoy the snow if they
wanted to. I created the Ice Sprites. They were my best friends,
and I did my best to protect them. Until the Master took them all
away.”