Guardian: Protectors of Light (30 page)

“
Seems like
the same happened here as what happened to Violina...” Antonio
mumbled. “Keepers take their task very seriously. If they fail,
they blame and sometimes punish themselves,” Fiyara said. “The
Master wanted control over me too, so he turned the Ice Sprites
against me, to capture me – I was forced to watch while my friends
were transformed into terrible monsters. I had no choice to fight
them, and hide myself down here... I haven’t been above the ground
in a thousand years...”

“
Oh, Fiyara,
I’m so sorry to hear what happened to your friends,” Samira said,
sounding genuinely touched by the fixie’s story. “But we’ll save
them, together with the rest of Lunaria.”
“Thank you...” Fiyara said and smiled. She started to feel a little
more comfortable around the five teenagers now she knew they meant
no harm.

“
I’d be so
happy to be able to go above ground again! Guardians, as long as
you are on this mountain, I’ll fight with you. For my friends,”
Fiyara said. She smiled. “I shall show you the quickest way out of
here.

Come along, just follow
me.”

And follow her they
did.

“
So, where
are you taking us, Fiyara?” James asked. He wanted to know, so he
could recognize the place if they ever had to flee from something
again – while they were still on the mountain at least, of
course.

“
It’s one of
the two secret entrances I’ve made to get in- and out of this cave
safely in case I’m ever discovered,” Fiyara replied. “And you lot
found one of them.”

“
Sorry for
kind of busting your door,” Thomas chuckled. “Didn’t mean
to.”

“
Oh, no, it’s
all right, you silly boy,” Fiyara said. “You didn’t know I lived
here, let alone there was a cave underneath the
mountains.”

Fiyara took the Bond of
Light through her palace, to the back exit. From there, they had to
climb a large staircase that had been carved out of the stone walls
of the cave.

“
So we’ll
have to climb all the way up there?” James asked. “I’m pretty
positive that that is one of the easiest tasks they’ve given us
yet.”

“
If that is,
then I don’t think you’ll be surprised when I tell you that it’s
only going to get way worse from here,” Fiyara said.

“
No, I’m
not,” James replied. “I’m just worried for what’s about to come
next.” He nearly slipped on the slippery frosted steps, but luckily
for him, Thomas was able to grab his arm in a quick reflex and held
him back.

James looked at him, and
Thomas stared back, but quickly looked away before James could say
anything or even thank him.
Neither of the two boys could’ve ever imagined that what was
happening to them at that moment could’ve ever become any kind of
reality.

If it would’ve been a
story someone at their school would’ve told them, they certainly
wouldn’t have believed it.

But now they were there
themselves, with their friends, in real life.

They had no choice but to
believe it.

It was about time they
started to realise how serious this situation was, too. If the
teenagers wouldn’t become more cautious and aware of their actions
very quickly, it could mean the end for them.

After crossing and
ascending the mountains, they couldn’t rely on meeting any new
allies.

They’d be on their
own.

The past month had been
training, a preparation for the actual quest. It all started here
and now.

“
Fiyara...
How high are these stairs?” Samira asked; she was right to ask,
because they’d been walking up the stairs for just about a minute
straight now, and it still seemed as if there would never be an end
to the grey steps.

“
Don’t worry,
we’re nearly there,” Fiyara said, without looking back. “It just
seems to be so far away because it’s probably either evening or
night outside, so there won’t be any light coming through the
exit.”
And Fiyara was right. When they’d finally reached the top of the
stairs, it was still as dark as it had been before.

“
Watch your
step and be quiet,” Fiyara said. “These monsters can’t see very
well in the dark, but if you make noise or step on them... They get
very active during the night. They mostly hunt on the smell of...
well, fear.”

“
Sounds like
nothing to be afraid of,” Antonio said sarcastically.

Fiyara glared at him. “Don’t joke around, Guardian,” she
said. “If these monsters catch you, they summon Warlock Spirits to
capture you and take you to the Master
. Niveluae
, or
you could just call them Snow beasts, are not like Shadow Walkers.
They are much more powerful. The Dark Fairies in the Fairy Forest
could’ve summoned a similar beast, but they are way too selfish.
They like to take all credit for themselves.”

“
They did
send the Warlock Spirits after us, though,” Bella
said. 

“
Probably
because you were too far away from them,” Fiyara said. “They can’t
reach outside their forest.”

Bella shrugged. “Most
likely,” she replied. “We went through a secret entrance to the
Twilight Forest.”

James turned around.
“They must’ve seen us leave through the magical barrier, while we
couldn’t see them,” he said, while walking backwards. “That’s the
only proper explanation I could think of.”
“James, it’s very dark, please watch where you’re going,” Fiyara
said. But by the time she’d opened her mouth, the damage had
already been done.
James tripped over a rock that had been lying hidden underneath the
snow, causing him to get out of balance and fall backward...
against something that seemed to be a heap of snow.

...A
living
heap of snow, that is.

The “snow heap” started
to rise from the ground, with James still lying on its back.
Luckily, not for long, because as soon as the monster straightened
its back, James fell off.

Massive icicles grew out
of the arms, legs, back and head of the Nivelua as it turned
around.

“
WHAT THE-!?” Antonio exclaimed. ”
JAMES, GET AWAY FROM THERE!”

James quickly got on all
fours and started to crawl forward while getting up. 
Just in time for the monster to fully rise and let out a loud roar,
which seemed to cause the mountain to shake.

But the shaking wasn’t
caused by that single roar, but by other Niveluae rising up from
their hideouts.

“
What 
are
 those
things!?” Samira shouted.

“
Those are the Niveluae I warned you about,” Fiyara replied.
“Their names are... a play on the Latin words
Nive
and
Belua
. The singular
form would be Nivelua, I believe.”

“
Ah, our
typical kind of bad luck,” Antonio said, while reaching for his
glaive.

“
No, wait!
Normal weapons won’t harm them,” Fiyara said. She made a certain
movement with her arms, and icicles appeared out of thin air,
shooting toward the monsters. The icicles didn’t have much effect,
but it seemed like the monsters were brought out of balance and got
confused by them.

“
But if we
can’t destroy them, how do we defeat them?” Thomas shouted, while
barely dodging a huge fist trying to crush him. The others found
themselves dodging and barely escaping various attacks from the
monsters as well.

“
Well, since
I have limited power and energy like you lot, I could protect you
guys while you run for it,” Fiyara shouted back, while firing ice
and snow like blades toward the monsters.

“
But Fiyara,
what about you?” Samira shouted. Fiyara shook her head.

“
I’ll be
fine, don’t worry! I was made to do this!”

“
Thank you!
We won’t forget you!” James shouted, as he and the others ran off,
between the Nivuelae that were charging at them.

It was still pitch black
out, and the teenagers could barely see a thing. The only lights
they always had relied on in the dark were James’s and Thomas’s
glowing clothing, and those were either stuffed away underneath the
snow coats or in Thomas’s shoulder bag.

Once again they had found
themselves in serious trouble, and once again they needed someone
else to take control and take care of the situation.

All the people they had
met thus far, had been extremely brave. 

They were the actual
heroes, while the Bond of Light were the people they all looked up
to.

But they
weren’t the heroes. They were just five teenagers, who were assumed
to be able to put an end to a thousand-year lasting
war.

Why did the creatures and
people in this world not realise how strong they were? What they
could do? Why did they see a bunch of teenagers as their saviours?
Sure, there had been older Guardians. Way older. But they were
chosen as the Tenth Generation, the Last Generation of
Hope.

Would people lose hope if
they failed? 

Would there be no more
Generations? Would it all just end, and would the Master have
finally won? It was unimaginable, but most likely possible. These
people were the image of courage and faith, even though they didn’t
know it themselves.

And that’s why James
respected them so much.

They were too humble and
kind to realise that even they could make a difference if they
united as one.

If they only united as
one. All realms together against the Land of Void. Against the
Master.

They could do
it.

They could do it, for sure. They didn’t
specifically 
need
 James and
his friends to do it. 
Or did they?
Everyone they had met thus far, had spoken of a certain prophecy.
Involving them. And them specifically.

It was weird, though. If
the Spirits had foretold this would’ve happened, why didn’t they
try to stop it? Or was it beyond their power?

Fate?

Did it just have to
happen this way?

It was unthinkable
though, that their belief in Magic was the only thing that made
James and his friends stand out.

James was the only one who truly 
believed.
 Antonio even laughed at him for doing so at certain
times. Thomas was just being plain skeptic about it. Bella would
either be calling it “science,” or complaining how Magic’s rules
would interfere with scientifically proved facts.
Samira believed some of it, though, but that was mostly back when
they were little. Unicorns. Fairies. All the things little girls
would believe in. Nothing special.
James suddenly snapped out of his thoughts when everything went
pitch black before his eyes. Even darker than before.

His friends screamed in
fear, and James yelled out for his sister. ”SAMIRA! GUYS! Are
you okay!?” he yelled. He heard a noise of which he thought it was
his sister’s voice, but before he could be sure, something hurled
him through the air and threw him on his back in the
snow.

James felt he had fallen
between two people. He recognized the moaning to the left as
Thomas’s, and the rattling of arrows in a quiver to his left as
Samira.

James looked up, and
eight red dots in the dark betrayed that they had visitors.
Warlock Spirits.

“
Oh, please,
not again,” Antonio groaned.

“
Guardians,”
one of the four Warlock Spirits growled. “Surrender and give us the
Guardian of Soul.”

“
No, thank
you, option not available,” Thomas said. “Please select a different
option.”

The Warlock Spirit
growled viciously. “Guardian, please,” he growled. “You should know
better than to mess with us.”

“
What if I
did?” Thomas asked the Warlock Spirit. “Would that matter in this
situation? You’d try to seize me, anyway.”

While talking to the
Warlock Spirit and at the same time distracting him from his
friends, Thomas made a small and cautious gesture toward James that
he had to crawl backwards.

James copied the gesture
to the others, and did what Thomas asked him to do. He started to
crawl backward, and was shortly followed by Samira, Antonio and
Bella. They had to move slowly, though, so the Warlocks wouldn’t
notice while their attention was almost completely directed toward
Thomas.
The Warlocks didn’t really seem to like him, though. Their growls
became more vicious and angry with every word Thomas
spoke.

“
You know,
why are you following the Master’s orders, anyway? Who told you to
do so? What’s the reason?” Thomas asked, and started to crawl
backward too.

“
ENOUGH!” one
of the Warlock Spirits snapped.

“
I’ve had
enough of this nonsense! We’ve been listening to this gibbering
child long enough now! I don’t care if Asura wants him
alive!”
The other Warlocks tried to keep their “friend,” or more correctly
said “co-worker,” since it wasn’t very likely that creatures that
can carry so much hate inside of them would have anything like
friends, from attacking and killing Thomas, giving Thomas enough
time to get on all fours and shout at his friends: