Guardian: Protectors of Light (45 page)

James and Samira nodded.
Using Magic here would cost twice as much of their energy than it’d
do in Lunaria... The non-corrupted part, at least.

That made using Magic
riskier than usual, but it was a risk they’d have to take when it
came to it. If someone got injured, it was necessary for Samira to
heal them. As for James... The Ritual. But, of course, that would
be a shared burden with his friends.

The only way to drive out
the Dark Magic from the Land of Void, destroying the source of the
Master’s power. There was no way out of that, which was probably
the only thing that was for sure.

Yeah, sure, they could
try to kill him instead. But even if they’d even manage to only get
anywhere near him to be able to do so – let alone manage to kill
him – the Land of Void’s corruptcy and Dark Magic would be strong
enough to revive him. He’d be weaker than before his death, but
he’d easily rebuild that strength within a couple years.

James looked around. This
realm (or whatever it used to be) had gone even more corrupt by the
Master’s influence.

What once might have been
mighty trees, colourful flowers and green bushes, were now nothing
more than crumbling, dead remains. The grass (or whatever was left
of it, at least), had gone as dry as straw; they could hear it
crisp beneath their feet as they walked across it.

Thick, black fog hung in
the chilly air, limiting their vision, along with something that
seemed to cause a permanent feeling of fear.

“
Timothy?”
James asked. “What did this place look like when it was still
inhabited by the Spirits? What used to be here before this Realm
went corrupt?”

“
Ah,” Timothy
said. “Good question, James.” He took a few moments to look at the
others, to make sure he’d gained their full, undivided attention.
“You might want to hear this,” he said. “It’s quite an interesting
story.” He waited again, this time clearing his throat. “There are
legends about this realm,” he said. “Before it went corrupt by the
Master’s hand. This legend speaks of this realm as the Realm of the
Spirits. They watched over the Lunariae, inviting those who they
wanted to reward for their good deeds. That was, until the Master
used the Realm’s pureness to corrupt it and lock the Spirits away
by using their own powers against them – but then in a corrupted
way.

He lowered his eyes for a
split second, but then looked at the five teenagers in front of him
stridently. “And that’s probably exactly what’s going to do to you
when he finds us.”

“
All right, I
guess, seems fair,” Thomas said. “And there’s no way we can stop
him from doing so?”

Timothy shook his head.
“Well, if you’re fearless, he can’t harm you with the Curse of
Fear, but...”

“
Don’t
worry,” Thomas said, while patting his sword’s handle. “I’m not
afraid of the dark.”

Timothy shook his head
again; his blond hair swayed along with the movements his head
made. “It doesn’t work that way, sadly,” he said. “It’s not just
about regular phobias, but what’s hidden deep down below, inside
your heart. Your deepest, darkest fears are what he’s going for...
There’s no way to hide those fears from him. He’ll just dig ‘em up
and find them...” He shivered. “Anyway, we must go on now. A moving
target is harder to find and harder to hit.”

“
Yet more fun
to hunt,” Antonio grumbled. “But you’re right; we’ve got to
go.”

With that being said, the
Bond of Light officially began their dangerous journey through the
Land of Void. Their final quest.

But they’d barely even
walked away from their starting point, or they ran into another
problem.

They’d encountered a
river. But the water wasn’t clear at all; it looked like a green
and brownish muddy substance. Aside from that, the river wasn’t
even the problem; it was bridged by a grey-and-black stone
bridge.

The problem were the
bridge’s guards.

Dragons.

“
Uh-oh,”
Bella said. “This doesn’t look good at all.”

“
Well seen,
Bella,” Timothy said. “It’s not.”

Meanwhile, the dragons
seemed to have sensed the Bond of Light’s presence. They rose to
their feet, snorting loudly. Smoke poured out of their
nostrils.

They clearly weren’t keen
on receiving visitors. After all, nobody had ever crossed their
path for a thousand years... And they probably intended on keeping
it that way.

“
And what are
we going to do now?” Samira asked.

“
Isn’t it
obvious?” Thomas said, while getting his sword ready. “Prepare for
battle, of course!”

As if the dragons
understood his every word, one of them rose to its full height and
opened its muzzle, unleashing a mighty roar.

“
Oh well, at
least we tried,” Antonio whimpered. He wanted to walk away, but
Bella pushed him back. “We’re fighting these things, whether you
like it or not, Tonio,” she said. “So you better shape
up!”

Bella’s hand reached for
one of the daggers she’d been carrying the entire adventure, but
only had used once, while Antonio was getting himself
together.

“
You’re
right, Bella,” he said. “We’ve got to fight these things if we want
to get past.”

“
I don’t know
what kind of damage these pathetic things could possibly inflict on
a dragon, but all right,” Bella mumbled, shedding a disappointing
look on the daggers she was holding. “I guess.”

While Bella was gathering
the courage to fight, the roaring dragon had prepared itself for
its first attack.

“
What is it
going to do?” Samira shouted.

“
You better
go hide somewhere, Sam,” James breathed. “He’s going to spew
fire!”

And that was exactly what
the dragon was planning to do. It opened its muzzle once more, this
time to spew out a ray of blazing fire toward Samira.

James jumped in front of
her, blocking the fire’s path with his word. A rather heroic
action. He was barely able to take on the fire’s strength, but he
managed to stay on his feet.

The dragon closed its
muzzle, breathing heavily, more smoke coming from its
nostrils.

As the six teenagers were
completely focused on the fire-breathing dragon attacking them,
they allowed the other one to leave their sight.

“
Where did
that other one go!?” Antonio shouted. It wasn’t too long before his
question was answered; the dragon had taken flight, flying through
the sky, and was now homing for Bella. The teenager noticed it too
late and let out a yell as she was grabbed by a massive, scaly
claw, lifting her into the air.

Bella could hear her
friends yell out her name from below, which seemed to gain her more
courage. The courage to do something stupid, yet necessary if she
wanted to stay alive and not become a dragon’s
breakfast.

“
Oh no you
don’t!” Bella grunted while gritting her teeth, remembering the
dagger he’d been holding all the time. She gripped it tightly with
both hands, stabbing the claw that was holding her hostage with
it.

The dragon
roared out in pain, unleashing its grip on Bella. She fell down to
the ground, rolling over her head and standing up surprisingly
agile.

“
You see,”
she said to Antonio, wearing a triumphant smirk, “I can take care
of myself.”

“
I know,”
Antonio smirked. “You just need a bit of encouragement... Whether
it is from me or from a giant dragon.”

Bella chuckled. “My vest
is destroyed though,” she said, turning around, to show Antonio how
the dragon had torn apart the leather vest with its
claws.

Antonio shrugged. “What
can you do?” he said.

From a distance, he could
hear the others yell at each other while trying to defeat the other
dragon.

“
This is not
going to work,” James gasped. “We can’t block or dodge them
forever; one of us is going to get hurt at some point.”

“
He’s right,”
Timothy breathed. “There’s got to be another way. It can’t go on
like this.”

And luckily for them,
there was another way. Suddenly, they heard a loud roar coming from
above. It was a dragon. It’d come to save them.

A fairly small,
silver-coloured female dragon landed in front of the Bond of Light,
roaring loudly, taking a hostile position toward the dragons. And,
even though she was smaller than them, they seemed to... respect
her in some sort of way.

They did growl at her,
they did claw at her. But one breath of fire was sufficient: The
dragons stepped aside and sat down by each side of the bridge;
their tall necks and heads high in the sky, as if they were
statues.

“
Glimmer has
enforced their respect,” Timothy gasped happily. “We’re allowed to
pass now!”

“
...Glimmer?”
James asked. Timothy nodded.

“
Madeleine’s... pet dragon,” he said. “She found and helped
her when she was just a lost little baby, and from that point
Glimmer followed her around pretty much everywhere.”

But before they moved on,
everyone was way too happy to see Glimmer first. They all cheered
as they approached the small dragon to hug and pet her.

“
Glimmer!
We’re so glad that you saved us,” Samira said, while stroking and
patting Glimmer’s muzzle gently. “Who sent you here? How did you
know where to find us?”

Glimmer raised one big
paw at her, which a letter had been tied to. The seal was a big
“K,” with some sort of star in the background.

“
It’s the
Keepers’ Seal,” Timothy said. “It’s from Madeleine.”

Samira took the letter;
it was hard to read in the dark, but Timothy’s glowing katanas were
suffice to light up the page enough for Samira to be able to read
the curly handwriting.

“
Dear Bond of Light and Timothy,

I hope your
journey has progressed well. I heard from our mutual “friend”
Sabrina that you have managed to reach the Land of Void. My
congratulations.

At the river,
you’ll encounter dragons only Glimmer can control. Her species
stands above theirs; dragon logic. Don’t ask. That’s why I’ve
hereby sent her to you, to accompany you through the Land of Void.
Her protection might come in handy. An extra pair of eyes and a
brave warrior who knows how to handle fire.

And I’m sure
she’ll be happy to carry you when you tire out or get
injured.

However, it
also has come to my attention that Sabrina has made serious threats
toward you. As Keepers, it is our duty to keep you safe until the
Ritual has been completed, and that’s why you shall no longer see
any of Sabrina. We’re taking her on.

Timothy shall
stay with you for the rest of your journey. It’s better that
way.

Guardians, I
wish you all best of luck. We’ll meet at the Castle of the Spirits
once the Ritual has been completed. I’m looking forward to that
moment.

Goodbye for
now,

Madeleine
”

“
So that
means that Madeleine, Rikki and Gabriel are fighting for us now?”
James said. “I- I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of us.
We should hurry up.”

“
It’s no big
deal, James,” Timothy said. “We’re already dead; there’s no way we
can leave Lunaria anymore. So if we die, it only means our souls
are finally set free to rest. Don’t worry.”

James nodded. “I know
that,” he said. “But death – real or not - is a painful experience,
which I don’t wish upon anyone. Except for... Well, you know
who.”

Timothy smiled. “Glad I’m
not alone,” he said.

Without saying anything
else, the seven crossed the bridge. Six teenagers; five Guardians,
one Keeper and one dragon. Seven heroes.

Off to do what heroes do
best; saving the world from devastation.

War
Preparations

“
We need to
keep moving, guys. Come on.”

“
But we don’t
even know whether it’s night or day right now.”

“
That doesn’t
matter in the Land of Void; what does matter, is that we keep
going.”

The Bond of Light had
been walking as fast as they could for the past – however long it’d
been; it seemed as if they’d lost all conscience of time. While
everyone understood the reason why they had better hurry and the
consequences if they got caught in the open wide, the question to
stop and rest had come up various times. Especially from James’s
side, whose energy levels seemed to be dropping rather
rapidly.

Timothy and the others
thought of it as nothing at first, (and to be honest, so did James
himself) but they didn’t realize the consequences about ignoring
the fatigue James was feeling.

Of course Timothy had
warned them before, about magical beings and humans with magical
abilities being more vulnerable in the Land of Void, but nobody
could’ve seen this coming.

Apparently, James was
more vulnerable to the Land of Void’s energy than Samira, which was
rather logical since James had more abilities than she did, but
Timothy didn’t know that James was even vulnerable when he wasn’t
using Magic...