Guardian: Protectors of Light (32 page)

All of a sudden, the
room’s door blasted open, letting in small streams of light. In the
faint light, James could make out the silhouette of a person
standing in the doorway.

“
YOU!” the
Master yelled, and charged for the mysterious person, who somehow
managed to dodge him. The Master fell, and ended up outside the
room; the mysterious figure closed the door with a slam, causing
the entire room to go dark again.

James heard footsteps
approaching. “Hey, sorry about that. It went a little rougher than
expected,” a teenager’s voice spoke. A teenage girl.

She walked to the other
side of the room, and soon, the room was lit by torches that hung
on the wall. The girl must’ve lit them with Magic, as the fire was
passed on in some kind of domino-effect.

A girl with blonde hair
turned around, revealing two forest green eyes. She was about
fifteen years old, and had a pointy nose. She was wearing a dark
blue robe, but whatever she was wearing underneath, James didn’t
know, since she kept the robe closed tight. 

She was pretty to look
at, and she had something... Innocent-like. Like a young child. She
wasn’t very tall, either, considering James being short for his age
and being taller than her.

“
Oh!” James
gasped in surprise. “Sorry. Didn’t see you there.” He tried to make
a joke out of the whole situation, but it didn’t quite work out as
he’d hoped.

“
It’s okay,”
the girl said, as she knelt down in front of James with a cute
smile. “I’m Sabrina, and you are?”

“
James,”
James said. “I’m, um-”

“
The Guardian
of Innocence, perhaps?” Sabrina asked.

James nodded. “Exactly,”
he smiled.

“
How
exciting! I was the Guardian of Innocence too!” Sabrina cheered.
“Well... a thousand years ago, of course.” Pause. “Oh, I’ve got to
show you something! Something you’re going to love!” Another pause.
“But... I’ve got to get you out of here first.”

“
Wait – what
about Thomas?” James asked. “You know, I’d love to come along with
you, but the problem is just that I don’t really want to leave my
friend. And I should really get back to the rest of the Bond of
Light, you see...? They’re... on the mountains.”

“
Oh, you mean
him one over there?” Samira said, pointing at Thomas. “Don’t worry,
I’ll make sure he gets back to your friends.”
Sabrina made a gesture toward Thomas, who was lying on the floor,
tied up in the same shadowy stuff as James, and the shadows
disappeared.

“
Your friends
will find him, for sure. I have to show you something.”

“
What is it,
then?” James asked again.

“
A secret
path. On that path, you’ll learn something crucial for your quest.
I’ve walked that path too. The most innocent person of the Bond of
Light is usually the Guardian of Innocence, and is therefore the
only one who can see and walk the Path. So you’ll need to do it
alone.”

James wasn’t sure. He stared at Sabrina as he said: “Are
you sure that’s safe? Shouldn’t I discuss this with my friends
first?
Before
they think I’ve disappeared and they
get worried?

“
Of course
not,” Sabrina said. “I’ll stay with you. I’m the same kind of
Guardian as you, after all.”

Something was burning
against Thomas’s arm, inside the pocket of his snow coat. He dug
around in it, careful not to announce that he was awake, and found
his sceptre.

The orb was glowing in a
deep, red colour, and Thomas immediately connected with his special
powers through the sceptre. He got on all fours, and spied on
Sabrina and James from a distance. His body was still too numb for
him to be able to stand on his feet, which made it hard for him not
to be able to run toward James and tell him that whatever he was
doing, that girl was fishy.

Something bad was bound
to happen, and it had something to do with her. That’s what the
sceptre told him.

“
James,
whatever you do, don’t trust her... She’s lying...” Thomas
whispered.

“
But –
Sabrina, if I may ask you,” James said, while rubbing his neck, “if
you’ve seen it before, whatever happened on that path – why won’t
you tell me?”

“
Because I
don’t know all of it,” Sabrina replied. “I... Got killed on my way
to the path. I just know of its existence and location.”

James sighed, and stared
at his feet while shoving his hands into his pockets; the snow coat
he’d been wearing had somehow disappeared. “And... what about the
Master just told me? That’s a lie, right?”

He had no idea what to do. He wanted to go back to his
friends, together with Thomas, but this
girl 
insisted
 that
he’d join her to some kind of weird 
path
 she
claimed to exist.

She could be speaking the
truth, but what if she wasn’t? What if she was lying?

“
Most definitely a lie,” Sabrina confirmed. “The Spirits are
good, I promise! James, 
please
!” she
proceeded to beg. “Lunaria’s future as well as yours and your
friends’ might depend on it!”

“
Sabrina, I
am terribly sorry, but I can’t do it without telling my friends...”
James mumbled.

“
Enough,
Riverdale. If I say you’re coming with me, you do so, understood?”
Sabrina suddenly growled. Her eyes got a slight red glow, and when
James caught her gaze, his pupils shortly became the size of his
irises.

“
Of- of
course,” he said. “Of course. I’ll go with you.”

Sabrina’s eyes returned
back to normal as she showed James a broad grin.

“
Thank you!”
she said. “Shall we go?”

“
James!”
Thomas shouted, as he saw him walk off with Sabrina.

“
JAMES! NO!
SHE’S LYING!”

Thomas’s legs finally
came back to life, and he got up as quick as he could. He jumped
out of his hiding spot, and ran after them.

“
JAMES!”

Strangely enough, no-one
was there. And Thomas...

Found himself back on the
mountain. Somehow.
“Thomas! There you are!”

Thomas turned around, and
saw his friends running toward him.

“
Guys!” he
shouted, waving his arms in the air. “Bad news! Very bad
news!”

“
What- what
do you mean?” Samira asked and looked confusedly into his grey
eyes.

Thomas sighed. He ran a hand through his brown hair, while
staring at the ground. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but James has
run off 
again.”

Antonio let out an
irritated groan.
“Not again! James sure does know how to get himself into serious
trouble,” he muttered. “What’s it this time, Thomas?”
“There- there was this girl, who freed us from – well, wherever we
were,” Thomas said. “She talked James into going with her. I tried
running after them, but somehow, that girl managed to teleport me
back onto the mountain.” He rubbed his chin.

It’ll be a race against the clock to find James,
he thought. 

*

It was as if James had
the stomach flu when the world returned to him. This was the first
time he’d ever teleported, and he for sure didn’t like
it.

“
So...
Sabrina... What exactly did you want to show me?” he said to the
blonde girl beside him.

“
Just follow
me,” Sabrina said. “It’s right in front of us, I
promise.”

James shrugged, not
thinking too much of it, and just followed her. Until...
“Here we are,” Sabrina said. She pulled James forward, and showed
him the path she called the “Path of Revelation.” It was hardly ten
metres away from the mountains, and yet it still didn’t appear
until they were standing in front of it.

“
Whoa,” James
said. What he saw, was absolutely incredible. The path seemed to
glow in the night. It made him feel as if it was calling out his
name, begging him to come and walk across.

“
It’s
beautiful, isn’t it?” Sabrina said. “They say you can change it to
your like with your imagination.”

“
W-what?”
James said, briefly looking at his hands. 

“
Go on, why
won’t you try it?”

He wasn’t sure what he
had to do, but as he’d done it before, this wouldn’t be any
different to him. James walked forward, and the moment he put his
foot on the glowing path, it turned blue. Exactly what he imagined
it’d do.

“
Wow,” James
mumbled.

“
It’s meant
to make you stronger somehow,” Sabrina said. “I don’t know all the
ins and outs about it either. But... there’s one
problem...”

“
What is it,
Sabrina?” James asked, while turning around. He saw Sabrina holding
her hand in mid-air, as if she was touching an invisible
wall.

“
It- it won’t
let me in,” she said. “Only one can enter...”

“
Oh, well...”
James said, slightly disappointed. “I guess this is goodbye,
then?”

“
I am afraid
so,” Sabrina said. “Good luck, James,” she said. “May the Spirits
be with you.” She smiled at him, and he smiled at her. “I’ll meet
up with you at the Path’s end.”
The next moment, she was gone.
James turned his back on the spot where Sabrina had just
disappeared, and stared into the distance.

He shrugged, and started
to walk the Path of Revelation.

*

“
So now, the
plan is basically, we’ve got to go after them and find them before
anything can happen to James?” Antonio asked.

“
Yes,
Antonio. James is more important than anything else right now,”
Thomas replied. “I believe that whatever she was going to show him
wasn’t too far away from the mountains... or at least I hope so. We
just have to make sure that we get off this mountain as quick as
possible.”

“
Roger that,”
Samira said. “Mission “get off the mountain” begins
now.”

“
Indeed...”
Thomas chuckled. “You really couldn’t think of a better mission
name?”

Samira shrugged. “Maybe I
could’ve,” she said, “but we’re kind of in a hurry, right? Pack up,
guys, we’re leaving!”

*

He was back to sitting on
his throne, shrouded in darkness, as usual. Asura, also known as
the Master, or the Demon – whatever you’d prefer.

He wasn’t happy with his servants. He’d clearly instructed
them to 
seize the
Guardian of Soul only,
 because his special apprentice would take care of the
other one. But no, they wouldn’t listen, chose to seize them
both.

The Warlock Spirits and
other Shadow Creatures were powerful, but not very smart. And that
was what bothered Asura so much, since their intelligence often
caused them to make their own plans. Stupid plans, bound to
fail.

He hated it when someone
refused to follow his orders and made a mess. Now, he’d lost the
Guardian of Soul again. And it was only to question whether or not
the Guardian of Innocence would be gullible enough to fall for his
trap.
Someone knocked on the door of the throne room.

“
Come in,”
Asura said, and the door slowly opened.

“
Ah, dear,
you’ve returned,” Asura said, while he slowly rose from his throne;
he still remained in the dark, however. “I assume you’ve taken care
of him?”
The figure knelt in front of the stairs that lead to the platform
where the throne was standing on.
“Yes, Master,” the figure said. It was a girl’s voice. “I’ve gained
his trust. You’ve told him what will happen to him and his friends
when he proceeds, but he doesn’t believe you.” Her voice sounded
sinister. “But, as soon as I’ve taken care of the Linmor Elder and
she confirms what you’ve told him, he will break down, and lose
trust in the Spirits for sure.” The girl with the blonde hair
looked up. Her eyes were blood red, and glowed in the same colour.
The same eyes as before. And her mouth showed a broad
grin.

“
And then, my
Lord, he’ll be all yours.”

“
Well done,
Sabrina,” the Master said contently. “You’ve always been quite an
acquisition to my army. I wouldn’t have expected anything different
from you.”

II

This Is
Real

Don’t Give
Up

Samira ploughed through
the snow as fast as she could, unsure what exactly she was going
after.

All she wanted was to
find James as soon as possible, although she knew that that would
be practically impossible to do.
None of them knew where Sabrina had taken him, nor whether or not
he was even still alive. 

All they could do now, is
continue ploughing through the thick pack of snow and dark night,
and try to get off the mountain as quick as
possible. 

“
Sam, where
are you going?” Bella woke the eighteen-year-old from his
thoughts. 

Samira had been walking
ahead of the others since the moment they’d reunited with Thomas
and had started to travel across the mountain.