Guardian: Protectors of Light (44 page)

He shivered shortly.
Perhaps he was afraid of something after all.

“
We must
hurry. Come on, the rest of the team is waiting for us to
return.”

This Is
Real

After Sabrina’s sudden
disappearance, the three teenagers had decided to shake it off and
return to the others. It took a while, however, because it had
started to get darker outside as well, not doing their ability to
see any good. But they got there. And that was what
mattered.

As they climbed up and
crawled back onto the vast ground, the others were there, happily
greeting them.

“
Oh, James! I
can’t believe it!” Samira squealed in happiness and flung herself
around James’s neck. James laughed as well.

“
Magic,” he
said. “Do you believe now?”
Samira looked at him as if he’d been spouting nonsense. “What?” she
said. “Of course I do believe, James! I used Magic myself! Why
wouldn’t I believe?”

James got nervous by
Samira’s comments. She was right; he was a fool for asking if she
believed. “Just asking,” he decided to say, while rubbing his neck
nervously. “Just asking.”

He wasn’t sure why he’d
asked her if she believed either. Samira believed, he knew that.
He’d never even questioned that for a single moment.

Still… There was still a
strange feeling left in his heart, a feeling of insecurity… But he
wouldn’t give in to it. He knew that if he’d do so, if he’d give in
to his insecurities, that he’d bring himself and everyone around
him, almost everyone he’d ever held dear, in danger. And he
couldn’t do that. Ever.

Home

“
So, his name
is Finn, and we’ll probably be able to adopt him just in time for
Christmas.” Camilla proudly showed the pictures she’d taken of the
boy, who was smiling broadly while standing next to David. Finn had
dirty blond hair and happy green eyes. A beautiful boy.

“
He’s so
excited to come home with us,” David said, “I just can’t believe
it. I’m going to be a Dad! Plus, the kid actually likes me.” He
grinned at his joke.

“
I’m sure he
does, David,” Lucy said, while sipping from her glass of orange
juice. “Why wouldn’t he? After all, you’ve always been a great
godfather to me and Andy.” The chestnut red-haired eleven-year-old
sitting next to her nodded vigorously; he couldn’t speak, as his
mouth was stuffed with French fries. But he tried to anyway (which
resulted into him getting scolded by his mother).

David chuckled. “Yeah,
you’ve got a point right there, kiddo,” he said; suddenly, he
winked teasingly at her. “You know, he’s been mentioning you two as
his god-siblings. Isn’t that great?”

“
You’ve shown
him pictures of us?” Andy asked; David nodded. “Awesome!” Andy
cheered.

“
Yeah, he
can’t wait to meet you two,” Camilla said. “Finn is such a darling
boy. I’m proud of him; he’s told me that he absolutely doesn’t like
baseball or any other “boyish” sports; no, he wants to be a dancer,
and he’s not ashamed of that. And that’s what I love about that
boy. He stands for what he believes in. Kind of like James,” she
said, but quickly realised she’d promised not to bring that subject
up for one night. “Oh. I’m so sorry...” she quickly
apologised.

Cheyenne shook her head.
“It’s fine,” she said. “I haven’t heard from them for a while, but
I’m sure they’re doing okay. I just know they are
somehow.”

“
Our thoughts
are with them,” David said. “There’s... not really much we can do
to help, but we try,” he said. “After all, that world is magical.
And... Magic still relies heavily on belief, right?” He paused
shortly, as if he was about to make a great revelation. And maybe
he was. “So... maybe if we just believe that they’re strong enough
to make it through and survive, saving the world while they’re at
it, maybe they will be aided by our belief through Magic. I don’t
know.” He went back to silently poking his steak with his
fork.

“
You sure do
like coming up with crazy theories, don’t you?” his wife teased
him, while poking him in the shoulder.

“
Now you’re
talking like I do this all the time Cami,” David said. “And you and
I both know very well that I’m not a conspiracy
theorist.”

“
Well...” Nathaly suddenly said; everyone knew what was
coming. “David, to be honest, you kind of
are
a conspiracy
theorist.”

David snorted in disbelief. “Psht, easy for you to say,” he
said. He didn’t say anything, but the look he exchanged with
Nathaly said enough. “
Look at
your husband. Who’d you think I got it from
?”

Nathaly chuckled. “Just
admit it, Dave. You were one of the Crazy Three, and you’ll always
be.” The Crazy Three consisted of Martin, Angelo and David when
they were young. Now, sadly, David was the Crazy One. The last one
left.

But, despite getting
older, he’d never given up the spirit that kept the Crazy Three
alive and kicking. He still loved to do crazy stuff in his free
time, and was still able to rock out on an electric guitar. There’s
no fool like an old fool.

“
You know
what, Nathaly?” David said. “Maybe you’re right. I’m still a bit
crazy, and I’ll always be. At least now I have someone to pass it
on to, eh?”

Everyone laughed at that
last statement. If David was going to learn Finn all of his tricks,
the boy would be in for a lot of trouble – and fun, of
course.

Dinner ended later than
expected that evening; at eight, everyone was finally ready to head
home.

This night had done
Cheyenne good. Although she hadn’t spoken too much, she knew
everyone understood.

She loved to hear more
about Finn, and was excited to learn that the boy would most likely
spend Christmas with his new family.

But still, she couldn’t
keep her mind off the dream she’d shared with James – if she’d
shared it, of course.

As she drove home, it
kept nagging on her mind. Had it been real, or hadn’t it been?
After all – she hadn’t heard from him since. Two weeks, and she’d
heard from him only once.

But, later that night,
she heard a voice in her dreams. James’s voice.

“
I hate to break it to you mom, but whatever you’ve been
seeing in your dreams, it weren’t dreams. All you’ve been seeing –
no matter how much or how little -, it was all
real
.”

Lunaria

“
James? Are
you okay?”

“
Yeah,
Thomas,” James replied quietly. “I am.”

James had been staring at
the bridge he’d created nearly all night; the teenagers had decided
not to cross it until daybreak, since they had no idea what was
hiding behind the invisible barrier between Lunaria and the Land of
Void.

He didn’t know why; he
just couldn’t sleep. He kept having the feeling something bad was
going to happen. And he felt like he’d seen her again. Mom. It was
as if she was there with him, but there was just no way to contact
her. He’d tried; there was just no way of knowing whether she’d
heard him or not.

He felt like a living
ghost.

“
James, you
don’t seem okay...” Thomas sat down next to him.

James knew that Thomas
was right; he wasn’t really okay. But he couldn’t talk about it.
Not even with Samira, who normally was the only person who he’d
tell anything bothering him to.

It just wasn’t the kind
of thing he’d share openly with the others. This was something
personal, nothing they could do about it. Even he himself couldn’t
make them go away. Visions of his mother in his dreams, crying,
worried, calling out his name. His sister, in pain, perhaps even
dying.

Were it just reflections
of his own mind, of his own fear? He was afraid of whatever was
ahead; he was very well-aware of that. But the visions of the two
most important women in his life – they just seemed too real. Too
painful. And... of course, there was the thing he’d been trying to
ignore ever since Aubry told him about it back at Linmor village –
the possibility of the Ritual causing death.

He sighed deeply. “I’m
not sure, Thomas,” he said. “I just don’t know what to think of all
of this anymore.”

“
What do you
mean?” Thomas asked. “Is it something you can talk
about?”

“
It depends,” James said. “There
is
something
I 
can
 talk about.”

“
Well,”
Thomas said, “as you know, I’m a good listener. More of a listener
than a speaker, if I may say so myself.”

James chuckled. “Yes, you
are,” he said.
“Well... It’s about pretty much everything we’ve been through so
far,” he said. “The Magic. The adventure. The near-death
experiences.”

He couldn’t help himself
but to let out a snort. “Not that you’ve got any of those yet.
That’s more my way to go.”

Thomas shook his head. “I
wish it wasn’t so, Jamey,” he said. “But what’s bothering
you?”

“
It’s just- I
want this all to be a dream so bad,” he whispered. “Like you all
thought when we just started this. You all thought this was a
dream, and that we’d wake up sooner or later. But we didn’t. We
went to sleep so many times, and every time, I tried to convince
myself that this was all just a bad dream. That we’d wake up the
next morning, in our safe bedrooms. Yet we didn’t.”

He looked into the
distance for a little longer before speaking again. Then, he looked
Thomas straight in the eye, and said, “It’s about time we faced the
facts, Thomas. This is no fairytale. No joke. No game. No dream.
Not any of that.

This is real. And it’s
about time we’d accept that.”

III

Into the
Void

Dragons

Sunrise. Time for the
Bond of Light to pack their stuff and cross the ravine to the Land
of Void.

“
Are you sure
about this?” Bella said. “I mean- who knows what kind of dangers
lie up ahead. Shouldn’t we wait just a little more?”

“
Don’t worry,
Bella,” James said. “You’re not the only one who’s afraid. We all
are.”

He shortly looked at his
friends, and then stared at the invisible land that lay behind the
invisible barrier, waiting for them to enter.

“
But I’m
afraid we have no choice.”

“
He’s right,”
Samira said. “We’ve got to do this. It’s the only way to save this
world.”

“
I like that
attitude,” Timothy said. “You’re by far the most impressive Bond of
Light I’ve ever seen – not that I’ve seen that many of the eight,
at least not as a whole – especially considering your age.” He
smiled. “You guys are incredibly brave. You’re already acting like
true heroes.”

The Bond nodded at him.
And for the first time ever since they’d arrived in Lunaria, James
wondered about the previous Generations before them. How old had
they been? Adults? Children? Rikki was thirteen-and-a-half. She’d
been the youngest ever, right? So everyone had been over fourteen
years of age. Had they also been over 20? Thirty? Forty? He
remembered what Queen Eloine had told them.

“
Age doesn’t matter, as long as their belief in Magic is
strong enough
.”

Did adults believe in
Magic, too? Perhaps they did. It was possible, after
all.

“
I do need to warn you, though,” Timothy said. “None of us
know what’s ahead. And...” He waited a few seconds, perhaps unsure
whether or not it was truly a good idea to say what he was about to
say. “Once you’ve entered the Land of Void, you can’t go
back...
alive
.”

James swallowed. “That’s
a risk I’m willing to take,” he said. “It’s all for the greater
good, after all.”

Thomas nodded. “That’s
the spirit,” he said. “Shall we go, then?”

They nodded at each
other. One by one, they set foot on the bridge.

When they got halfway
across the bridge, the entire landscape changed instantly. The grey
sky coloured pitch black and black fog filled the suddenly chilly
air. The Dark Magic surrounded them could be felt very strongly.
When James looked behind him, the Edge had disappeared.

“
This place
looks very unfriendly,” Samira whispered. “I understand why nobody
comes here.”

“
It’s not necessarily that they don’t
want
to go
here,” Timothy said. “Well- they don’t, but they also
can’t
.”

They carefully got off
the bridge on the other side.

“
Any magical
creature would die out here,” Timothy continued. “The corruptcy and
Dark Magic feeds off their Good Magic. After the magical energy’s
been drained, it’s the turn for their life energy to get drained.
And once you run out of that energy, you die – but I’m assuming
that that’s no surprise to anyone.”

After seeing a couple of
shocked expressions staring at him, he said: “Luckily, we’re not
affected by the draining effect, since we’re human beings.” His
eyes flashed toward James. “But I’d have to advise you to be
careful with your abilities. You too, Samira and
Thomas.”