Guardian: Protectors of Light (5 page)

*

The morning went by
slowly, but James managed to work it at his advantage, by going out
and doing some research, leading him to being able to show up at
Thomas’ house twice as prepared as he was earlier that
morning.

Thomas’ room was big and
impressive; three guitars, a microphone and a computer flaunted at
the side of the room, with a bed and closet at the wall opposite
them. Five beanbags were available inside the room; one for
everyone. The teenagers placed them in a circle between the
computer and the bed and sat down.

“
So, what are
we here for today?” Antonio started, sounding slightly
sceptic.

“
Lower that
sarcasm, Antonio,” James said. “You might be sceptic now, but after
seeing this, I bet you’ll think differently.” Without giving a
further explanation, he handed Antonio the book, nudging him to
take a look inside.

Antonio threw the
seventeen-year-old redhead a sceptical look, but proceeded to take
a quick peek inside the book anyway, probably due to his curiosity
getting piqued.

“
And... what am I supposed to look at?” Antonio
said at first, before reaching a page filled with drawings; his
mouth fell open and his eyes filled with unbelief.
“You’ve
got
to be joking, Riverdale,” he said.
His eyes shifted from the book to James, who was shaking his
head.

“
No, this is
all real,” James said. “As strange as it sounds, it is.”

Bella bent over to
Antonio, taking the book from him. “Can I see?” as she sat back in
her beanbag with the book in her hands. It took her less than three
seconds to realize what she was seeing and fall in
surprise.

“
Thomas,” she
yelled at the boy seated across from her. “You’ve got to see this!”
She tossed the book at Thomas, who skilfully caught it.

“
Be careful
with that!” James snapped at them. “You might rip out a page or
something.”

“
Oh
come on
, James!”
Bella said. “I only threw it – what, half a metre? Or even
less?”

But after seeing James’s
pouty face, she snorted. “All right. I won’t throw it again,
promise.”

Meanwhile, Thomas had discovered the drawings as well.
“Bloody hell,” he gasped. “And these are
real
?” he asked
James.

James nodded in response.
“Yep,” he said. “They’re as real as you and me.”

“
But- how is
this possible?” Thomas said. His friends couldn’t do anything more
than shake their heads and shrug.

“
Well...” James suddenly said. “I
did
go back to the library to ask them about the book.” He
paused to anticipate his friends’ reactions. “Carolyn was able to
tell me that this book’s origins date back to the tenth century,
and that it was originally a Latin poem. But somewhere in the
eleventh century someone rewrote it in English. The Latin poem is
about a legend, which resulted into the book being
written.”

“
Ah, so
that’s
what you went
out to do,” Samira said. “What kind of legend?”

“
The legend
of Asura, the Demon of the Night,” James said slowly, to add a
dramatic effect to the title. “Five children, corrupted and
frightened by nightmares seemingly caused by this wretched spirit
were taken from their beds – presumably taken into the Demon’s
world, or simply murdered by the Demon. The five children were
never seen again; that’s why someone wrote a poem about these
children, portraying them as the heroes who had to save the world
they were brought into from the Demon’s claws, who was known there
as the Master of Nightmares. In the eleventh century the Demon
returned; who wrote the poem into an English story is unknown, but
it seems to be a family member of the disappeared – who, this time,
were young-adult men and women. The Demon proceeded to return every
century, on the same date as the last.”

“
Seriously?”
Antonio said. “And nobody’s ever seen this- Asura?” he said, a tone
of unbelief lingering in his voice.

“
This is what
Carolyn told me,” James said. “How much of it is true – I don’t
know. But even she couldn’t explain the changed images, so I doubt
anyone can.”

“
So you’re practically saying that
we’re
next
?” Thomas said,
mildly worried, his face looking a little pale.

“
Not unless
you’ve been having nightmares since you’ve read the book, no,”
James said. He paused. “Oh God.”

He saw his friends look
at him; all with the same, worried face, all giving the same, small
nod.

“
Mirrors?”
James whispered, almost being too afraid to say it. More
nodding.

“
An evil
version of you attacking you?” James continued quietly.

This time, his friends
shook their heads, including Samira.

James lowered his
eyebrows. “Really?” he said. “Maybe... what happened beyond the
mirror was unique to all of us?”

“
That’s a
possibility,” Samira said. “I... for example, saw mom, Dad and me
in the mirror, but you weren’t there. That worried me – and then I
was suddenly wearing clothes similar to those in the
drawings.”

Her friends stared at her
silently for a few seconds.

“
To be
honest, I believe I didn’t see anything at all,” Bella said. “Or at
least – I can’t really remember.” She then looked at Thomas and
Antonio. “How about you two?”

Antonio shrugged; Thomas
quickly followed. “I don’t know,” the Brit mumbled. “I... don’t
really care, I guess.”

“
Yeah,”
Antonio agreed, “me neither.”

“
So... I
guess this conversation pretty much ends here, then,” James said,
as he took back the book from Thomas. “I’ll... talk to you guys
later. There is someone I need to talk to.” He stood up and waited
for a few seconds, perhaps waiting for someone to stop him, but as
he realised nobody was going to say anything other than “see you
later,” he turned around and left the room.

*

James had left Thomas’
house, heading for another friend’s house.

She didn’t live too far
away, yet it would probably still be a ten minute-walk or so. But
it’d be worth it.

He crossed the street, to
end up at her front door. He slowly made his way into the garden
and up the porch, and rang the doorbell.

While James expected one
of her parents to open the door, to his surprise, she opened the
door herself.

“
James,” Anna
smiled when she saw her best friend standing in front of her. “What
brings you here?”

“
Hey Anna,”
James said, smiling back. “I... just came by to say hi and see if
you want to hang out, I guess?”

Anna grinned at him. “But
of course I do,” she said. “Wait a minute. Let me put on some shoes
and get a coat, okay? I’ll be right there!”

The door shut for a short
moment, but hardly thirty seconds went by until it opened again,
this time with Anna heading out, locking the door and stuffing the
keys in one of her leather jacket’s pockets.

“
Let’s go,
shall we?” she said, as she shook her brown curls over her
shoulders, leaving them hanging loosely behind her back.

“
Uh- yeah,”
James said. “Does the park sound like an idea?”

“
A stroll
through the park sounds good,” Anna smiled, and the two headed off
together.

“
So?” Anna
suddenly said, as they were walking. “You look like something’s
bothering you.”

James looked at her and
opened his mouth to tell her that nothing was wrong in the first
place, but the look in Anna’s eyes told him that there was no point
in denying. He let out a loud sigh.

“
It’s... just...” he mumbled. “There’s
this
book
I picked up from the library
yesterday, and it’s been acting, well...
strangely
.”

“
A
book
acting
strangely?” Anna said uncomprehendingly. “How come?”

“
The pictures
are changing,” James said. “There’s a whole legend going on about
it... here.” Without saying any more, James handed Anna the book,
who carefully opened it, flipping through it, until she reached a
drawing.

“
Oh,” she
said. “That’s unfortunate.”

“
What do you
mean?” James said. “What’s unfortunate about this?”

“
Don’t you
get it?” Anna said, proceeding to inspect the book. “You’ve been
cursed, James. You and your sister, and all of your friends. The
first five people to read this book.”

“
How do you know?” James asked, as they entered
the park. Anna had really caught his attention
this
time.

“
Well, isn’t
it obvious?” Anna said, stopping beside a bench to put down the
book and focus all her attention on James. “This book somehow
happens to be magical, and you guys were the unlucky ones to
re-enact the curse.”

James snorted. “Magic?
Curse? You really believe in all that?” he said
jokingly.

“
Yes, I do,”
Anna said, pure honesty reflecting in her chocolate eyes. “Don’t
you?”

James stared back at her,
his eyes filled with confusion instead. “Well...” he said. “I can’t
say that I don’t.”

“
Then don’t
say
you don’t,” Anna
said. “Believe in what you want to believe, James.”

Suddenly, James’s eyes grew wide in surprise.
Believe. Believe in what you want to
believe.
That was what the
cryptic message was behind that single word on the last
page!

James sighed relieved as
his lips curled up into a smile. “Anna, you’re brilliant,” he said.
“And... in case anything happens, I just want you to know
that...”

“
Yes?” Anna
said expectantly.

“
I just want
you to know that...” James stammered, feeling all the blood pump
through his head. “...I... don’t want you to worry,” he
blurted.

...And I also love you, but I’m too much of a coward to say
it.
Smooth.

“
Oh James,”
Anna chuckled. “Why would I ever be worried something bad would
happen to you?” she said. “Everyone knows you’ll always save the
day, no matter what happens.”

James chuckled too;
although it was rather due to his nerves than because Anna had made
a joke. “Don’t worry,” he chuckled. “I will.”

“
Promise?”
Anna said. “Pinkie promise?”

She stuck up her pinkie,
as her other hand found its way into James’s. Slightly surprised
but not wanting to get “caught”, James went along with it, and
smiled back at her before locking pinkies with her.

“
Pinkie
promise.”

*

James hadn’t really said
anything to anyone after he’d returned home from walking through
the park with Anna.

After their conversation,
they’d had a little autumn fun together, before finally returning
home after a few hours.

Night had replaced the
day, and James was lying awake in bed; not wanting to sleep,
unknowing what would happen in his dreams this time.

He stared at the ceiling
in the dark, trying to fight the fuzzy feeling which quickly caught
him. But eventually, sleep got the better of him, and he doze off
to sleep.

Or did he?

Lunaria

James woke up; he wasn’t in his bedroom. But where
was
he, actually?

He sat up and scanned his
environment. Stone walls surrounded him, letting in sunlight
through two barred holes in the walls, making the room feel like a
prison – despite of its fairly large size.

It took James a little
longer to realize there were other people sleeping in four other
beds as well; he was quick to discover that these four people were
his friends.

It was a medieval scene;
the beds consisted of a simple wooden frame and a straw mattress
covered in linen sheets.

As he continued to look
around the room from his sitting position, James noticed a fairly
young girl, not older than fourteen, was staring at him from across
the room.

She had olive skin and
curly hair which had a dark red colour when exposed to light, which
was tied into two messy pigtails. She had dark blue eyes, which
twinkled with curiosity.

“
Hey!” she
gasped, as she realized James was looking at her. “You’re
awake!”

The girl quickly
approached James’s bed, smiling from ear to ear.

“
We’ve been
waiting for you guys to arrive for so long,” she said. “And now
you’re finally here! What’s your name?”

“
Uh- James,”
James mumbled, slightly confused and still feeling fuzzy. “What’s
yours?”

“
My name is
Rikki,” the girl said. “Nice to meet you, James!”