Guardian: Protectors of Light (9 page)

This Realm was once home to me and my Spirit brothers and
sisters, but now it’s gone too corrupt to live there.” She paused
to see if everyone could still follow what she was saying. “The
Land of Void is a dangerous place to venture, but you
will
have to go there to return the Light and bring balance to
the Light and Dark.

The castle where we
spirits used to live has a special altar in the middle of the
ceremonial chamber, from which me and my siblings used to make sure
the Light and Dark remained in balance.

But, thanks to us, you
have that ability too. Of course we would’ve preferred to do it
ourselves, but the Demon has banished us... plus, we would never be
able to survive the dark forces that roam that Realm long enough to
complete the Ritual. That’s why we have to ask you to take our
powers and do it for us.” She paused again, this time to catch her
breath. The Guardians nodded at her, to let her know that all
information had been received and properly processed.

“
Very well
then. Guardians, I wish you all best of luck. We’ll be watching
over you.”

The “projection” of
Akilah then disappeared, and James looked ahead. They were standing
at the edge of a dark and silent forest. The Twilight
Forest.

“
Well, I
suppose we should get going, then,” Thomas said. “We should be all
right finding that Gabriel, right? Since his house and name are
located on the map...”

Rikki looked at him.
“Don’t think too lightly about this,” she said strictly. “It’s
harder to make it out of there alive than you think. Trust me; I’ve
been there before.”

Thomas looked at her, and
then looked back up at his friends to check on their opinions. They
seemed to agree with Rikki; however, Antonio still seemed rather
sceptical about everything.

Thomas was about to get
in another argument with his best friend, telling him to stop
joking around, but Rikki pulled him down by the collar of his cape
to whisper something in his ear.

“
Just wait
until he sets himself on fire,” she said. “He’ll come about.”
Thomas couldn’t help but chuckle.

“
...But yes,
you should go,” Rikki said. “Gabriel will be waiting for you. The
quicker you get your training, the bigger the chance you’ll
survive.

Gabriel is my brother,”
she suddenly decided to add. “He’ll take good care of you, and
he’ll also equip you with any other supplies you might need to make
sure you’ve got everything to help you on your way.”

“
Well, then I
believe it’s about time we went out and found your brother, then,”
Bella said. “Who’s with me, guys?”

A cheering “I!” came from
her friends. They were ready to do this. But would they still be in
five minutes, when they would’ve entered the Twilight Forest,
unarmed and unsure where to go?

But how could they know unless they actually
went
there, right?

The Guardians said
goodbye to Rikki, who stayed at the forest’s edge until the
teenagers had gone too far into the forest to see them before
returning to the secret hideout.

“
And? How’d
it go?” Madeleine said, as she saw Rikki running down the
stairs.

“
Well, they
seem to have the right spirit,” Rikki said. “I think that the
prophecy that old book has given us is going to come true, after
all.” She shortly made a gesture toward Akilah, who was holding the
Book Madeleine had showed the Guardians earlier.

“
I sure do hope so,” Madeleine said. “They
have
to be the Generation that succeeds. According to the Book,
they’re the Last Generation. The Tenth. Which means...”

“
...They’re our last hope,” Akilah finished Madeleine’s
sentence. “That means we
have
to trust
them.”

Forest

The forest was dark; if it wasn’t for the glowing patterns
on their clothes, it would’ve been impossible to see. So it turned
out those weird patterns were good for
something
, after
all.

The sun had now
completely set and night had fallen; the dangers lurking in the
shadows of the forest could be felt all around the teenagers,
leading them to tread carefully. There was hardly any time to talk;
their main objective was to find Gabriel and get weapons – and
whatever else they might need to protect themselves.

Thomas, accompanied by
James, was holding the map and leading the group. Together with
James, he tried to figure out which way to go; this was less
difficult than it seemed at first, as all James had to do was to
keep his hands up high enough to shed a light on the map. It looked
awfully strange for James to walk with his hands up whenever Thomas
wanted to check on the map again, but it was the only way to be
able to read the old, parchment thing until at least
dawn.

“
All right, I
believe to have figured out how this works,” Thomas said.
“Technically, we’re still more or less in Keeper’s Cove, as this
part of the forest is located on the same island as the Cove. From
here, we’ll have to go east and cross the bridge there to get
deeper into the forest.”

“
Why would we
even want to go deeper into the forest?” Antonio complained loudly.
“Can’t we just find that guy here and get out as soon as
possible?”

“
I’m afraid
not,” James said, taking a closer look at the map. “The bridge is
near his hideout. He’s not there at the moment,
however.”

“
I’ve got to
admit,” Samira said, “that magical map is proving itself to be
somewhat useful. Without it, we’d never be able to find
him!”

“
Maybe he
eventually would’ve come to find us?” Bella suggested. “...But then
again, we could’ve been anywhere, which wouldn’t make it any easier
at all.”

The five teenagers didn’t
spend too much time chitchatting, as they knew something was on to
them. They proceeded to head east, to the bridge and Gabriel’s
hideout.

It would be best if they
got there as quick as possible; the quicker they got at least a
little bit of training, the safer they would be - well, for how
much they could call themselves safe, of course.

James wasn’t too sure
about safety at the moment, though. It was if there was this black
fog, floating low over the ground, going by almost unnoticeable in
the dark night; it was as if the fog was following them with every
step they took.

James decided not to make
any mention of it, as it’d probably only stress out his friends
even more; that so-called “fog” was probably not even there. And it
certainly wasn’t anything worth breaking their minds
over.

But what happened a short
while after James had noticed the black fog, he wished he would’ve
said something about it. Because apparently, that fog was a clear
indicator for danger.

Danger coming from the
shadows.

“
Guys?” Bella
said; she’d suddenly stopped walking, causing everyone to do the
same and look at her. “Do you hear that?”

Everyone went quiet.
Bella was right; aside from the usual forest sounds, some strange
kind of buzzing sound could be heard. It wasn’t easy to pinpoint
its exact location, as the sound seemed to be coming from multiple
directions.

“
It sounds
like the growl of an angry animal or something,” Samira said. “Any
idea what it could be?”

“
Well, unless
you’re eager to find out, I’d suggest we get out of here,” Thomas
said. The others agreed with him, and they continued their journey
on a quickened pace.

But the growling caught
onto them, and the monsters that made the sound became more visible
with every metre they ran.

It were wolves, but then
wolves the size of bears. Their fur was as black as the night and
strangely smooth and shiny. The fog seemed to follow them, as it
was emitted from their mouths, which were filled with rows of sharp
teeth. The most extraordinary about these creatures however, were
their eyes; they had an orangish glow, with striped pupils, like a
cat’s.

No matter how fast the
Guardians would run, the giant wolves ran faster, surrounding the
Guardians in no-time.

“
Okay, does
anyone have a plan B?” James said rather nervously, as the wolves
started to move closer, closing in the teenagers.

“
Well, I was
hoping you had one,” Samira said. “But I’m starting to get the idea
that you have got nothing either.”

“
Then you’re
getting the right idea,” James said. “I’m clear of ways to get us
out of this one.”

“
Well, then I
believe it’s good for me to be around, huh?”

An unknown voice was
calling from a tree branch. Shortly after, a figure jumped down
from them, holding a glowing bow and matching arrows.

The wolves started to
growl louder and tried to attack the figure, but he was faster and
quickly sent three arrows flying from his bow, hitting the closest
wolf in the chest, causing the others to retreat until they were
back in the shadows, from where they growled
dangerously.

The same happened on the
other side, where the light from the arrows couldn’t reach; yet
again, the figure was too quick for the wolves to be able to
inflict any serious damage.

The wolves quickly
realised this was an opponent who knew their weaknesses, an
opponent who wasn’t easy to attack. They proceeded to retreat back
into the shadows, until their glowing eyes and vicious growls had
disappeared from sight and earshot completely.

James and his friends
were watching the figure in awe. How easily he’d fired those arrows
in the dark, hitting their targets almost perfectly.

When the figure turned
around, James could see his face more clearly. It was obviously a
man; the orange stone he wore, which appeared to be a broche
similar to Bella’s, had a strong glow, which caused strong shadows
to appear on the man’s face.

It took some time for
James to notice that the man was smiling. “You guys look like you
could use some help.”

“
Well, we obviously did,” Antonio said. “What
were
those things?”

“
Shadow
Walkers,” the man said. “I’m Gabriel, by the way. But you guys can
call me Gabe. I’m the Keeper of the Forest.”

“
Oh,” James
said. “In that case... Akilah sent us to you.”

Gabriel looked at him. “I
know,” he said. “As soon as I heard you guys were coming this way,
I went out to find you. Guess I succeeded on that part.” He let out
a small chuckle.

“
But- how
can
you know?” Samira said. “Do you guys
have – super fast carrier pigeons or something?”

“
Oh, no,”
Gabriel said. “Carrier pigeons are way too risky; the chances of a
bird being intercepted by the enemy or people who aren’t the
recipient are way too big. I’ll explain everything to you when we
get to a safer area.”

The following was
expected; he invited them to follow him to his hideout – although
Thomas insisted on using the map to prove he had enough map-reading
skills to get them there. His friends didn’t agree with him, so
everyone just ended up following Gabriel – which probably would’ve
been the best choice.

Gabriel, who knew the
woods by heart, led them through the safest parts of the forest,
avoiding any further Shadow Walker trouble. They stopped at
something which seemed to be a massive tree.

“
And...
this... is?” Samira said slowly; she’d been walking in front of the
line most of the time, right behind Gabriel; Thomas seemed rather
annoyed by the fact that she was, and followed her
closely.

“
It looks
like a tree to me,” the Brit said. Obviously, he didn’t know what
it was either, as it was too dark to see that it was, in fact, a
big tree, with a tree house built near the top.

Gabriel didn’t say
anything; he just walked forward to the tree trunk, and pulled one
of his arrows out of his quiver. He held it forward for a few
second, until dozens of tiny little lamps started to light up,
revealing a wooden spiral stairs around the trunk.

“
Voila!”
Gabriel shouted proudly. “Guardians, you are welcome to enter my
tree house hideout.”

The Guardians did what
they were told and went up the stairs; Gabriel followed them. The
lights unlit themselves as he walked by them.

They entered the tree
house one by one; the main room looked comfortable, with a hammock
filled with blankets and a woollen pillow; there was also a pile of
bigger pillows, which could’ve represented some sort of
couch.

There was a door that
lead to a second room, and a well-protected fireplace in the middle
of the main room.

“
Please,
sit,” Gabriel said, gesturing at the pile of large pillows. He
himself sat down in the hammock, looking quite
comfortable.

“
So, what
would you guys like to know before we get started on your
training?” he asked.

The teenagers looked at
each other, unsure of what to say. This was the first time they
were able to see Gabriel completely; he wasn’t that old, probably
seventeen or eighteen, and had olive skin and chestnut brown,
frizzy hair. His eyes were hazel, with that same sparkle as his
sister’s.