Guardian: Protectors of Light (7 page)

The five teenagers
nodded, already picking up and looking at the clothes. How
were they to decide who was going to wear what? 

But... It were their
clothes, and they were going to have to wear them after all, of
course. 

James didn’t take long to
decide; the clothes he’d seen his reflection wear in his dream were
there. To exact detail.

There was the same blue
leather tunic with glowing pattern and matching gloves, the white
leather belt pouch, and a dark blue, long-sleeved tunic and grey
trousers to wear underneath it all. James stuffed the legs of his
trousers into the high, white leather boots that went with his
clothes.

And lastly, there was of
course the red cape with the broche of topazes, which fell lightly
around James’s shoulders, reaching to about his ankles.

Each of the five friends
had sought their own little “private” – or, well, as private as
possible, of course – corner in the room to get dressed after
they’d chosen which pile of clothes to wear.

It didn’t take them very
long to realise that each pile of clothes had been
colour-coded; James had shades of blue and white, Samira purple and
brown, Bella soft shades of orange and yellow and brown, Thomas
had  green, gold and silver, and Antonio had different shades
of red and dark blue.  

When they met each other
in the middle of the room, the five friends took some time to
admire - and mock - each other’s clothing.  

Each costume was meant to
remind of some sort of fantasy or medieval style, each including
leather items - which were mostly boots and gloves - and a cape in
their respective colour.  

Each cape was being held
together at the wearer’s chest, each cape having their own, unique
broche.   

Thomas had one, green
emerald which seemed to give off a faint glow, with silver
decorations following a swirly pattern on both sides of the
gem.  

Bella’s broche looked
like a sun; a flat circle, which shimmered like gold, with four
triangular, silver-coloured pieces of metal surrounding
it.  

Antonio’s broche looked
similar to Bella’s, except for the fact that the triangles were
much smaller and that a white, waxing moon covered about
a quarter of the sun’s surface. 

Nobody seemed to realise
how much time went into them admiring each other’s clothes, either.
Every last detail of each outfit had to be discussed; how accurate
the clothes were according to the messy, black-and-white ink
drawings in the book (apart from the colouring, of course; as the
drawings were in black and white, nobody could really tell which
piece of clothing would get which colour).

Samira looked elegant,
yet deadly; she was wearing a purple dress with elegantly puffed
sleeves, with the skirt coming to her knees. It didn’t matter much
though, as the rest of her legs were covered by two high, brown
boots and something which seemed to be lavender leggings. Dark
purple gloves, which reached to her elbows, and a bow to hold her
braided hair together finished the look, making her look like a
princess in disguise. Bella, on the other hand, looked much more
like a boy in medieval attire. She liked it, as it was comfortable
and easy to move about in; a leather tunic, covering a loose and
thin shirt. She was wearing pants made from a similar material,
just as loose and light, but thicker. The pants were stuffed into
high boots, which were similar in design to James’s and
Antonio’s.

Thomas, according to
Samira, looked like a true “knight in shining armour”. Antonio then
found a way to make a joke out of it by saying half the armour was
missing; he wasn’t wrong, though. A silver-coloured chest-and-back
plate, with extra protective caps for the knees and elbows; as if
he was some extremely rich – and medieval - skater. He just missed
the helmet. The kneecaps were no problem; Thomas easily slipped
them inside his boots, still being able to run and walk
properly.

Antonio seemed to be the
only one who didn’t like his clothes. He’d chosen the tunic similar
to James’s, except without the glowing pattern - and it was
bordeaux red, instead of blue.

The same shade of red –
including a few lighter shades of brown – appeared everywhere in
his costume, apart from his cape; the cape Antonio was wearing was
midnight blue.

When Madeleine heard the
laughing voices from behind the bookshelf door, she reopened it,
asking the five teenagers in the room if they were ready to go,
allowing them to return to the room and have a seat around the
fireplace, where Akilah was already waiting for them, sitting in a
fancy-looking chair.

“
Now, let me
tell you what your task is,” the Spirit said. “I want you to listen
closely, as any information you’re given while you’re here could be
crucial to make it out of here alive.”

She looked at the five
faces in front of her for a few moments to ensure everyone was
listening before continuing.

“
Tonight, you
will be sent off into our world as the Tenth Generation of the Bond
of Light. Five young, brave heroes, who will venture through the
five Realms our world consists of to get to the Land of Void, which
once used to be home to me and my Spirit brothers and
sisters.”

She paused for a second
to think about her past, when all was going well in Lunaria, before
brother Asura, Akilah’s youngest and personal favourite “sibling”;
the one she truly cared for as her little brother instead rather a
close friend.

“
...As I
said,” Akilah managed to pull herself back together, “you will have
travel all of the Realms before you can complete your journey. You
will meet powerful allies, as well as dangerous enemies. Keep an
eye on the shadows when night falls.”

Samira raised her hand,
and waited for Akilah to give her permission to speak. “Why will we
have to travel through every Realm? Can’t we go straight to the
Land of Void?” she asked.

Akilah looked at her; her face didn’t show her state of
mind. “You will have to seek your Guardian’s Identity that awaits
you in one of the Realms, my child,” she said. “Your Identity will
unlock access to your Guardian’s Totem. A special, magical object,
which is crucial to complete your journey. If you don’t complete
this journey to find your Identity, you probably won’t complete the
full journey, either.”

A short silence followed. Nobody saw that coming. Really?
Those “Identities” and “Totems” seemed like those unlockable bonus
items in a video game that were extremely hard, if not impossible,
to actually unlock to James.

Wouldn’t that be a
complete waste of time? But, then again... the wisest of all six
Spirits, who was probably over a million years old, if not older,
was telling them to go and get them, because they were likely to
die without them. So that meant they’d probably have to go get them
anyway.

“
The Demon,
whom you’ll often hear being referred to as the Master of
Nightmares, has full control over dark, shadowy places. So be
careful when night falls in an open field which should be sunny
during the day; during the night, the Shadow Walkers and Night
Stalkers will be out to get you,” Akilah continued, allowing James
to snap out of his thoughts.

Another hand rose. This
time, it was Thomas’s. “Night stalkers?” he asked. “What are
those?”

Akilah smiled, but her
eyes darkened. “Nobody knows what they are exactly are, as they’re
always hiding underneath dark cloaks, but they are beings that
cannot survive outside the darkness and feed off the misery of
others. Shadow Walkers are mist beings, capable of shape shifting
into any form, although they mostly appear in the form of predatory
animals.”

Everyone was listening silently, paying attention closely.
This indeed
was
crucial information.

“
Most of the
time, the Demon won’t come after you himself; he’ll just send his
minions to fetch you and bring you to him instead,” Akilah said.
“But don’t think you can defeat those easily; the only way to
defeat these Shadow Creatures is by having enchanted Light
Weaponry; you’ll have to go out into the Twilight Forest and speak
to Gabriel to get the right weapons. Enchanted, of course.” Akilah
allowed her eyes to glide across the room, as if she was trying to
think of anything else she had to say. “He will also provide you of
a map and a route to a safe shelter where you can stay your first
night. I wouldn’t recommend sticking around in one place though, as
this makes you more vulnerable and easier to find. You’re going to
have to want to keep moving.”

She looked at the five
Guardians in front of her. That was all she could do.

“
Prepare
yourselves,” she said. “Madeleine and I will try to make contact as
much as possible to make sure you’re still doing okay while you’re
out there. At dusk, Rikki will guide you to the safest exit to
Keeper’s Cove into the Twilight Forest.”

The Guardians nodded at her. They were feeling unsure
whether they were ready or not, but it didn’t matter. They’d
have
to be.

Goodbye

Dusk came quickly. Too
quickly.

The five teenagers spent
their afternoon preparing for whatever was out there, talking about
what they knew - and didn’t know.

A whole lot of time went
into Akilah telling about the War of Light and Dark, and Madeleine
and Rikki about their adventure in Lunaria; it turned out that they
were the first Generation. The Spirits of Light had fused their
souls with those of Madeleine, Rikki and their friends, allowing
them to stay “alive” within Lunaria to help the next
Generations.

It meant that their souls
would reseparate if either of the parties “died” again, which meant
if the Keepers (which is what the First Generation decided to call
themselves while helping the following Guardians) died while
serving Lunaria, they’d be no longer able to be saved.

Well, it wasn’t like they
could go back home anyway, after a thousand years.

When the sun had started
to set, Akilah called the teenagers to outside the hideout, saying
she required their assistance for one last favour.

“
It’s good to
see you, Guardians,” Akilah said.

“
What for do
you require our presence?” James asked. Akilah smiled.

“
It’s always
been a custom for Guardians to be allowed to say goodbye to their
loved ones before they leave,” she said. “If they want to, that
is.”

Something changed in
James’s expression; Samira squealed in delight, and the slightest
trace of a smile appeared on Thomas’ face.

“
Well?” Rikki
asked. “Is there someone you’d wish to say goodbye to?”

Five heads started to nod
rapidly. “Of course we do,” Thomas said. “Please, continue. We’d
like to know more.”

Akilah looked to her
side, where Madeleine was standing. (Of course, Rikki had been
standing to Akilah’s other side, but she didn’t only speak when she
was told to, so Akilah would never have to look at her and tell her
to say something). “Please,” she said to the black-haired girl. “Go
ahead.”

Madeleine nodded at her mentor and took a humble step
forward. “Allow me to explain to you how this works,” she said. “I
will cast a spell, which will be able to conjure one loved one you
have in your thoughts at that current moment. They won’t
really
be here, but you
will
be able to see,
speak to and touch them as if they are. The same thing goes to
them; they’ll just see you appear in front of them. They will be
temporarily transported to someplace between reality and dreams, so
they can see you as well as the other people you’ve
conjured.”

“
I don’t mean
to sound rude,” Bella said, “...but why only one
person?”

Madeleine’s expression
didn’t change. “Of course you’re not being rude for asking,” she
said. “The spell is only able to conjure a single image, as it
can’t take people to Lunaria in reality. That’d be too dangerous,
as they might not be able to go back home.”

“
...So...”
Antonio said slowly. “Is there anything we need to do in order for
this “spell” to work?”

Madeleine obviously
didn’t understand the concept of air quotes, otherwise she probably
would’ve called him out for being sceptical, but she didn’t. “Not
really,” she said. “All you’ll have to do is to think about the
particular person you’d like to say goodbye to. The only
requirements are that they are alive and know you.”

Everyone nodded,
expressing that Madeleine’s explanation had been clear and simple.
James did too, before turning aside to look at his sister. “Can you
think of Mum for me?” he asked. “There’s someone I’d like to see
before we go.”

Samira didn’t completely
understand what he meant, but agreed with him anyway. “Of course,”
she said. “Only one of us needs to think of Mum, anyway. I don’t
think it’d work if we both did.”

“
Is everybody ready?” Madeleine said. After receiving
approval, she started muttering a few Latin phrases, one of which
James recognized as
dicere
vale diligentis,
which
meant
to say goodbye to a
loved one. She
repeated this
same phrase a few times, while James and his friends thought of
that one last friend or relative they wanted to say their goodbyes
to. The person who’d have to share the bizarre news with their
families. Who had to explain everything.