Guardian: Protectors of Light

by Melanie Houtman

  *

  “So, Guardians. Tell me: what brings you here?”

  The teenagers sat down in a room which was white and blue themed. Everything was either white or silver or blue.

  The blue armchairs they were told to sit on were surprisingly soft and comfortable. As James leaned against the back of the chair, he felt like he could drift off to sleep any second. Perhaps a little too comfortable, so he straightened up a bit to prevent himself from slipping off halfway through the Queen’s story and information.

  All five of them realised that this was the moment to pay attention.

  “We came here to retrieve information about this part of Lunaria,” James said. “We might need it further on in our quest. And we figured that you were the designated person to go to, Your Majesty.”

  “Oh, please, James. Call me Eloine,” the Queen said with a smile. “And what exactly do you want to know?”

  “Well,” James answered. “I’m curious about what exactly is so dangerous about the Fairies that roam the forest.”

  “Not all of them are dangerous, James,” Queen Eloine said.  ”Only the ones under the Master’s control. Their eye colours are the same as those of Shadow Creatures, but the difference is that they are the only ones with normal pupils.

  All of his other servants have either a cat’s pupil or none at all.”

  “But what happened? How did he even get here? His powers only go through darkness and shadows,” Antonio said.

  “He waited for night to fall,” Queen Eloine said. “He’s a predator; nothing will stand in his way of getting what he wants.”

  “But Violina said that it only affected the fixies,” Bella said, but Queen Eloine shook her head.

  “We only say that because the pixies were unharmed, Bella. But if me and my friends and sister hadn’t disappeared in time to protect them, we all would’ve ended up under the Master’s control.” Queen Eloine closed her eyes and sighed. “I lost half of my people that day to the darkness of the Master.”

  “Don’t worry, Queen,” Samira said. “We’ll go to the Castle of the Spirits and restore the balance between Light and Darkness!”

  Queen Eloine opened her eyes and looked at Samira. “You don’t know, do you?”

  “What do we not know?” Samira echoed.

  “I get the feeling you don’t know anything about the Castle of the Spirits at all. Not of its location, not-”

  “Well, we do know it’s in creepy-spooky-land,” Antonio said.

  Queen Eloine moved her eyes from Samira to Antonio and smiled. “At least you are aware of its location, then,” she said. “But it won’t be that easy. The castle is guarded... unless the Master has recently called it off because he’s gone overconfident.”

  “That could be used to our advantage, hopefully,” James mumbled.

  “It would be indeed, James,” Queen Eloine commented at his statement. “But the Land of Void is far away from here, across the mountains, toward the northeast. It will take you at least a two-week walk. 

  And then I’m talking about walking without resting, sleeping, eating, or being attacked. Just walking there would take two weeks.”

  “What!?” Thomas exclaimed. “But that means that we’re stuck here for at least another month!”

  He flung both his arms and his feet into the air, causing his feet to stump loudly when they came down on the marble floor.

  “I’m sorry, Thomas, but that’s the way it is,” Queen Eloine said. “The edge of these woods from here is at least four kilometres far to the north, and eight to the west. There’s no quick way out of here, although you could walk it in three hours if necessary. The mountains however, are the problem.”

  Thomas grunted something in disapproval, but no one could exactly hear what he said, except James, who was sitting next to him. 

  “Idiotic,” the Brit mumbled... “Just idiotic.”

  Suddenly, something caught Samira’s attention. Someone was whispering her name.

  Samira...

  At first she thought it was just the wind playing tricks on her mind, but as the whispering got louder, she was sure of it. Someone was calling her.

  “Um, Queen Eloine, do you have a bathroom here?”

  “Of course we do,” Queen Eloine said, smiling. “Do you need me to show you?”

  “No, I will find it myself,” Samira said.

  “Very well. If you leave this room, the first door to your right will lead you outside, where you’ll find the stall,” Queen Eloine replied while

  Samira stood up and left the room. But she didn’t need to go to the bathroom at all. She’d only been looking for an excuse to be able to go out and search for the voice whispering her name.

  Samira...

  Over here....

  Samira turned her head into the direction the voice seemed to come from. From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something move, like a shadow.

  She fully turned around, and saw that there indeed had been someone moving and calling her name.

  It was a Fixie, not much smaller than she was.

  Samira...

  Join us...

  Touch it...

  Before Samira could even think what the Fixie wanted her to touch, she noticed the gem on the Pixie’s silver headband; the gem started to glow vivid red. Its colour was almost... hypnotizing.

  Samira...

  Come...

  Join us...

  Samira wanted to turn around, run away, scream for her friends, scream for help, but she couldn’t. She knew it was wrong to listen to the voice, but it was irresistible.

  But she had to. She had to obey. She had to touch the stone. Whatever would happen if she did; it didn’t matter. Her legs seemed to move automatically, as her pupils grew to the size of almost her whole iris, blocking out the greyish-blue colour they usually were.

  Samira...

  Touch it...

  Touch the stone...

  “Samira, No! 

  Go away from there!”

  It was James’s voice. He had left the room to check why Samira had been gone for so long, and saw his hypnotized sister walking toward the Fixie. Samira slowly reached her arm out toward the gem on the Fixie’s forehead, and James knew there was something he had to do.

  Ignore him... the Fixie’s voice whispered. James couldn’t hear it; it was the spell the Fixie used to hypnotize Samira that caused the whispers.

  Go on...

  Samira...

  Touch the stone...

  “Samira-!”

  Samira had stopped walking and reached her hand out further toward the stone; James realised she wasn’t going to snap out of it, and ran for it.

  But it was already too late. Samira’s hand had touched the stone.

  A white force spread through the room, knocking James off his feet, as if he’d just witnessed an explosion.

  When he got back to his feet, both Samira and the Fixie seemed to have disappeared. But when James took a closer look, he noticed something lying on the ground. It was a pixie.

  He walked toward the pixie, knelt down, and carefully shoved his hands underneath the unconscious pixie’s back.

  When he stood up and examined the pixie a little closer, James came to a shocking conclusion.

  The pixie he was holding had long blonde hair with one single pink streak trough it, and was braided down her back.

  She wore a long, dark pink dress that looked awfully familiar. It was his sister.

  The pixie couldn’t possibly have been anyone but Samira.

  Sunset Village

  James rushed back to the room where the Queen and Violina and his friends were waiting as fast as he could. 

  He opened the door of the room quickly yet cautious, careful not to drop and hurt his sister, who he held in his right hand, his fingers slightly bent to protect her.

  “James? What happened?” Thomas asked, whose blue armchair was facing the doorway. He had looked up as the door opened, but threw
James a worried look when he saw the teenager’s pale face showing a slightly shocked expression.

  “Where’s Samira?” the Brit continued.

  “That’s the problem,” James replied between a short gasp. “She’s right here.”

  He carefully walked forward across the white marble floor, and slightly stuck out his arm toward Thomas. His hand hadn’t moved at all, afraid to hurt the little creature who was his best friend.

  “Oh dear,” the British teenager whispered at the sight of the unconscious Pixie that laid in James’s hand.

  “Hey, Jamey! What have you got there that’s such bad news?” Antonio called from behind James, where he was sitting next to Bella, who happened to be sitting at the Queen’s left-hand side. Violina and James had been sitting to her right-hand side, with Thomas and Samira next to James and the Queen next to Violina.

  James turned toward Antonio and Bella to show them Samira. Their reactions were the same as Thomas’s, just a little more, well...

  “Holy hell!” Antonio shouted. He threw himself against the backrest of the blue armchair he had been sitting on, pulling his feet onto the armchair as well. The chair couldn’t take the impact of the sudden extra weight and the power Antonio had thrown himself against the backrest of the chair, causing it to tip over on its hind legs and fall backward on the floor. A loud thud sounded as Antonio and the chair hit the ground, along with one of Antonio’s most beloved curses. 

  “James – Is that really Samira?” Bella asked in unbelief, while her eyes flashed between the Pixie and Antonio, who was struggling to get off the chair.

  “Sadly, Bella, yes, yes she is,” James said and slowly moved his hand toward his chest.

  He carefully stroke Samira’s hair with one of his fingers, when her eyelids started to flutter, causing James to quickly move his hand away.

  Samira breathed deeply before finally opening her eyes. She pushed herself up with her underarms and stared up at James while she was doing a succeeding attempt into sitting up.

  “James? What happened?” James was glad to hear that the voice the Pixie sitting in the palm of his hand spoke in was still his sister’s, and not some kind of strange high-pitched pixie voice.

  “You-you were hypnotized y a Fixie that had snuck into the Queen’s Palace somehow,” James replied silently, careful not to hurt Samira’s ears. All he could was look into her eyes while apologizing. “I- I tried to reach you, but I failed to do so. I was too late. I’m really sorry that this had to happen to you, Samira.”

  Samira remembered a slight shard of the whole happening which had been going on just three minutes ago, and looked up at James. She managed to get on her feet and attempted to use her wings, which seemed to work out pretty well.

  “Of course it wasn’t your fault, James. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine, for leaving this room and listening to her,” she answered to James with a serious voice.

  “But I couldn’t keep you away from her, I wasn’t there to save you,” James exclaimed. “So that makes it partially my fault as well! And don’t you try to tell me otherwise!”

  Samira sighed. “Whether it’s your fault or not, I don’t care. I’m not mad at you. I mean – always look at the bright side of life.”

  She offered him a warm and comforting smile, which eventually gave James the power to smile back at her.

  “You’re right, Samira,” James said. ”But now we must find away to get you back to normal... Little sister.” He couldn’t help but smirk.

  Behind him, he heard Queen Eloine clear her throat, announcing that she wanted James’s attention.

  “Oh, sorry, Your Majesty.”

  James turned around, with Samira on his hand, who had decided to standing was more her thing than of floating around all the time.

  The Queen didn’t look at James, but nodded. She examined Samira’s situation, and then sighed.

  “I see,” she said. “I see. It is very tragic that the Fairy’s Curse must find you, Samira.”

  “Is there a cure, Eloine?” Samira asked hopefully. “Can you undo the spell?”

  Queen Eloine nodded in response. “There is a cure, Samira, but I can’t undo the spell on my own. I can only cure you if you and Violina are willing to help. And it won’t be easy...”

  “What do you mean?” Samira asked uncomprehending. “What’s not going to be easy? Why can’t you heal me? You’re the Fairy Queen! You possess all Fairy Magic in existence!”

  The Queen shook her head. “Unfortunately, I can’t heal you, Samira. And that’s the hard part. You are going to have to do it yourself, along with a little bit of my help. And Violina’s, of course.”

  “What?” Samira’s exclaimed. “But- I don’t have any healing powers! I can’t do it! Why can’t you just do it? Because I bet you do.” Samira realised that she had been shouting at a Queen, blushed and apologized quickly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

  Queen Eloine smiled warmly. “It’s all right. But Magic alone won’t break the curse that has changed your appearance, Samira.”

  “What are you talking about? I always thought “Magic” could solve any problem!” Antonio said angrily, while waving his arms in the air.

  “Shut up and behave yourself when the Queen is speaking!” Violina hissed at him, but Queen Eloine shook her head at her. Now her attention was directed toward Antonio. She looked at him over James’s shoulder.

  “Antonio, I understand your misunderstanding. But trying to remove Magic buy using Magic, is like fighting fire with fire. It will just be replaced with new Magic; it doesn’t work,” she said. “Strong forms of Magic requires certain Magic to counterattack it. Otherwise, it’ll do nothing.”

  “Your Majesty, with all my respect, but I still don’t understand,” Antonio replied. “Does that mean if one of us would get magically hurt in any way, there’s no way to heal it?”

  “Violina?” Queen Eloine said. “I think it’s best if you explain. You are their Keeper, of course. I’m just a Guide that keeps them on their way.”

  Violina smiled as soon as she heard she got the ability to talk. “Certainly, sister,” she said. 

  “Well, Antonio, sometimes, there is, in fact, a cure. The flowers and herbs that grow around this world are specific for the land, and are very powerful when brought together in the right way. Like magical medicine.”

  “But you just said that-” Antonio mumbled.

  “I know what the Queen said, but the herbs work on most light spells, like a Fairy Flu.”

  “Fairy Flu?”

  “It’s a magical, much stronger flu than humans get when they’ve caught a cold. It causes fevers, and magical side effects, like... Um... Well, the one that’s considered to be least bad one for us fairies is sleep-flying or control-less flying, because they hurt the least and can be solved the easiest.”

  “Sounds scary,” Antonio mumbled.

  “It is, trust me,” Violina replied. “One of the Pixies had been cursed with it. You can only be infected if your opponent uses the special spell that belongs to the Fairy Flu. For Pixies it’s fatal.”

  “And for humans?” Bella asked.

  “I think you could last three weeks with the Fairy Flu in your system,” Violina replied. “Not longer than a month, for sure.”

  “So we must be careful with possessed Fixie or Fairy attacks,” James said. “Whatever you do: don’t get hit.”

  Violina nodded. “Avoid getting hit at all costs boys, and Samira in special, because if you get cursed with the Fairy Flu, you cannot leave until you’re fully healed from the Flu. You’ll need our assistance to complete the healing process.”

  “Then we just have to make sure it doesn’t happen,” James replied. “Now, what can we do to get Samira to change back the way she was?”

  “There is a special kind of flower that can heal anything caused by Magic,” Queen Eloine said toward the five teenagers in general, while looking at them one by one.

  “Great,” Thomas sudd
enly spoke, who had been sitting silently in his chair for the past ten minutes. ”Where can we go to collect it? I’ll just go quickly and be back before you know it.”

  The Queen coughed. “Oh, I beg your pardon, where are my manners...”

  She looked directly at Thomas and spoke with a strict voice. “Thomas, you cannot go and collect the flower without any assistance, even if it’s just only having the help of your friends by your side.”

  “Why not?” Thomas commented shrugging. “Go out, get the flower, get back. No sweat.”

  “Thomas,” Queen Eloine said, sounding even more strictly, “these flowers I’m referring to are growing in secret places, mostly far away from here. There is one field in the East of the Forest, far away from the Heart. You will have to collect at least three of them, in case you’re ever in need of their magical assistance again.”

  “Couldn’t someone have told us all of this before we left the Twilight Forest?” Thomas complained. “If we keep this up, the Master will find us and blow us to bits before we’ve even gotten across the mountains, for sure!”

  Queen Eloine smiled at the sight of Thomas’s ranting reaction. “Luckily, a path to the Lost Area of the Twilight Forest, where the flowers grow, leads from here straight toward there. It’s some sort of secret passage only Violina and I know the existence of.”

  Thomas let out a loud sigh of relief.  “Well, at least that spares us a long walk. At least one thing which is of our profit,” he mumbled.

  “Thomas, what in the world has happened to you? It’s been hardly three days since we’ve entered the Silver Valley and you’ve turned in such a grump,” Samira said.

  “I am not a-!” Thomas exclaimed. “Why do people always think I’m grumpy when I’m not?”

  “Nothing much,” Samira said dryly. “It’s just the way you’re acting that’s all.” She threw Thomas a teasing grin. “Gotcha.”

  Thomas grinned back. “All right, I’ll buy that. I admit I might have been acting like a grumpy old man in the past few days, and I’m sorry. But I am so upset because the role of the “Ultimate Optimist” has already been taken by James!”

  This caused everyone to laugh, but it didn’t last any longer than hardly a few seconds. There was work to do.

  “All right guys, let’s get back to business quickly before we lose it,” Antonio said. 

  “It’s about time we went and got those flowers to help Samira.” He looked at Violina and Queen Eloine.

  “Very well,” Queen Eloine said as she stood up from her light blue armchair.

  “Bond of Light; follow me, if you please.”

  The Five followed her, accompanied by Violina.

  They walked through the hallways of the Palace to an area outside at the back of the palace, something James would consider to be a huge, private backyard.

  At the edge of the garden, it seemed like the trees were bending toward each other at one particular spot. It looked odd.

  “Now watch,” Violina whispered.

  Queen Eloine walked forward, toward the spot where the trees were bending over.

  She raised her left hand, as sparkling pixie dust surrounded both her hand and the trees, that suddenly bended back until they were as straight and static as the others.

  The secret passage had been revealed.

  “Whoa, how did you do that?” Antonio asked in awe. Violina smiled at him.

  “Only The Royal’s Magic works on the gate,” she said. “Which is either mine or Eloine’s.”

  “So Samira couldn’t open nor close the gate if she tried?” Bella asked. Violina shook her head.

  “No, no Pixie or Fairy can, except The Royals. It’s magically protected, that’s why. Once you enter, the Gate’s timer starts. It shall count the number of life sources passing.

  The Passage’s Gate will remain open until the same number of life sources that entered has returned.”

  “So if something like a Warlock Spirit catches up with us and they’re at the Gate first-” Thomas said, but Violina cut him off in the middle of his sentence.

  “One of you shall not be able to return through the Passage, someone of The Royals shall have to open it at the other side.” 

  “Does every area have pixies?” Samira asked. “Just curious.”

  “Of course the other realms have pixies,” Violina answered the blonde-haired pixie’s question.

  “The Fantasy Valley has the most, in special then the piece that has been reserved for us. But in every Realm there are small, hidden Pixie Villages you can only find when you’re a Pixie or have a Pixie keeping you company. They are very careful with picking acquaintances.”

  “They must be, with all the danger roaming this world,” Thomas said while holding his chin with his right hand, like he was thinking. “I think we’d have better chances of surviving if we could win their trust and get as much allies spread over all five the Realms as we can.”

  “I’d give you a low chance in the Land of Void, my boy,” Eloine said. “No one with a pure soul has ever entered there and returned with the same, pure soul. It’s nearly impossible that you’ll find anyone like you and us at all.”

  “But where are the other two Keepers, then?” Bella asked. “The Five of the First Generation were chosen to be the Keepers of the other Generations. And we’ve met only three.”

  “They are probably waiting for you somewhere behind the mountain range,” Violina answered. “And that’s why you need to hurry. People are waiting for you.”

  “What do you suggest we’d do?” Antonio asked Violina. “Should we split up when we get there?”

  “I think splitting up isn’t a wise thing to do, Antonio,” Thomas said, trying to prevent getting himself separated from James.

  “Like Violina said: we need each other. That’s all we have.”

  The others nodded in agreement, and Antonio sighed. “Fine, fine,” he said. “I suppose that we’ll go back to the Twilight Forest together. But splitting up would’ve been faster.”

  “Splitting up might be faster, but not safer!” Thomas grunted through gritted teeth. “You know what happened last time that we got split up.”

  “When?” Antonio asked sceptically,

  “Remember when you almost fell to your death in a secret trap?” Thomas commented dryly.

  “I still have no idea what you’re talking about, Britty-boy,” Antonio replied shrugging, but his mouth was grinning. “Come on, we should go.”

  Thomas bowed quickly for the Queen, but then walked toward the gate with big, quick steps, so the others had to nearly run the first ten meters to keep up with him.

  “Thomas, Samira is kind of right, you’re acting like a little bit of a huge gru-”

  “James, I don’t want to shout at you, because I’ve had the feeling I’ve been angry at you - at all of you without any reason too much lately,” Thomas cut James’s sentence.

  “Just don’t mention it and it will fly by. It are just my nerves who can’t take this whole thing.”

  The nineteen-year-old British-born quickened his pace, so the other four’s attempts to keep up with him were kind of in vain.

  “Thomas, you’re the one who’s ranting about the importance of not getting split up, but you’re walking twice as fast as us!” Bella shouted, starting to pant. “We can’t keep up with you!”

  “Antonio wanted to get those flowers fast, and so do I,” Thomas replied. “The quicker we’re out of here, the better. I don’t feel comfortable with the idea of being back in the Twilight Forest.”

  The others couldn’t do anything but agree with the green-haired teenager, and responded by shrugging at each other.

  It didn’t take so much of a long walk before the Bond of Light had left the passage and entered the darkness of the Twilight Forest once again.

  “Guys, watch your step here,” James said, half whispering. “Make sure not to make too much noise; the Warlock Spirits are probably following our every move, waiting for a chance to
strike.

  Violina, can you, by any chance, locate the village hidden here?”

  “Certainly, James. I’ll try my best,” the silver-haired Pixie who had shrunk back to her usual size replied.

  It took her a while, but after they’d been walking for some time, Violina had found something. She opened her eyes, and shouted in a whisper: “There!”

  She pointed at somewhere in the shadows, but somewhere in the darkness, there were some lights glowing, like fireflies. The teenagers walked toward the village, and as they came closer, the illusion that hid the village disappeared. Suddenly, they were standing in the middle of the village, as if the rest of the Twilight Forest had never been there.

  “Illusion spell,” Violina mumbled to herself. “Smooth move.”

  As soon as the presence of the teenagers and their guide was noticed, Pixies started to come near them.

  They fluttered around the teenagers, chattering excitedly in Latin, and as soon as they noticed Violina, they started to chatter even louder.

  “Seems like they don’t get visitors like us all day,” James said and squatted to greet some of the Pixies around them.

  “Hi, I’m James, and I’m looking for a special flower,” he said, while waving with his hand. The Pixies squeaked in fear and quickly backed away, shaking with terror.

  “Hey- no, it’s okay! I’m not going to hurt you,” James said and smiled, like he was talking to a stray or wounded animal at the streets back in his home town.

  “Um, James, I don’t think it’s you they’re so scared of,” Thomas mumbled stiffly. “I think it’s them over there that are scaring the crap out of them.”

  James straightened his legs, and turned around to see what Thomas was trying to point out. It didn’t take him long to see what was going on, and gasped as fear clutched his throat.

  For as far James could see, they were surrounded by a clan of Warlock Spirits and Shadow Walkers.

  And they didn’t look like they were very happy to see the five teenagers.

  The teenagers stood as still as they could next to each other, and so did the Warlock Spirits at the other side.

  “Um, hello, nice to meet you,” James said suddenly. “May I ask you what you exactly want from us?”

  One of the Warlock Spirits snickered in contempt. “I can’t believe it,” he said to one of his fellow Warlock Spirits next to him. “Did they really choose these fools to be the saviours of their little world? And they truly believe they’re actually going to pull it off?” His red, glowing eyes suddenly stared right into James’s. It was almost mesmerizing, causing James to feel a little woozy.

  “I shall tell you exactly what we came for, boy.” The voice of the Warlock Spirit had an unmistakable threatening undertone. “Hand yourself over to us, and no one shall be harmed.”

  Somewhere inside his head, James could hear a tiny voice shout: 

  Do what he says! Save your friends, James!

  For a moment, James felt like he should respond to the voice calling him, and did a step forward.

  Thomas reacted instantly, and instinctively grabbed James’s forearm.

  The touch of Thomas’s hand pulling him back was enough for James’s heart to jump up and fight the mesmerizing eyes of the Warlock Spirit, causing James to snap out of it.

  “No, thanks,” he mumbled confidently as soon as he’d come back to his senses. “We can save ourselves, and we’ll free this world of your master at the same time.”

  “Your choice,” the Warlock Spirit growled. “Then die with your friends by your side!”

  The next moment, the Warlock Spirit lashed out at James with some kind of sharp blade, but James managed to dodge it.

  When the Warlock charged for his second attack, James quickly pulled out his sword to block the attack. The metal of the Warlock’s sword clattered against James’s sword.

  While he was struggling to throw the Warlock off, James noticed that the sword the Warlock Spirit was using was a real Glaive, just like Antonio. 

  They have a pretty interesting weapon choice, the redhead thought. If they only weren’t trying to kill me with them, I’d give them some compliments about the swords they’re using, for sure.

  He finally managed to win the struggle from the Spirit, who stumbled backwards and fell down in the grass. James took his chance and held his sword at the Warlock’s throat. He realised then that he hadn’t noticed that no one had moved since the Warlock slashed out toward him until he had defeated the Warlock.

  “Had enough?” James bluffed, like he was the toughest guy around (he wasn’t). “Any last words before I slice your head off?”

  The Warlock Spirit looked up at James. He had a dangerous shimmer in his eyes. “Kill him,” he said. “And don’t stop until you succeed doing so.”

  James lashed out with his sword as quick as he could, trying to prevent the other Spirits from hearing their leader’s command, but they’d already got the message.

  “Attack!” one growled, and the crowd came into movement. Approximately fifteen Warlock Spirits against four teenagers and two pixies. They were outnumbered, for sure.

  But all they could do to stay alive was fight back.

  There were sounds of screaming, shouting and moaning voices, clattering of metal against metal, agonizing yelping when someone got hit. Luckily, it were mostly the Warlock Spirits that were the screaming as they dissolved into nothing.

  James ran across the small area that had become part of the “battlefield,” searching for Violina and Samira.

  “Sam! Violina!” he shouted. “Samira!”

  But he couldn’t find her, neither could he find Violina, and it started to worry him. Where could they possibly be?

  But he couldn’t answer his own question, because right at that moment, both a Shadow Walker and a Warlock Spirit were running toward him. The Warlock was holding a weapon, but this was some kind of different blade. It was long and very thin; a Swallow Sword.

  James thought he would have enough time, but the Spirit and his companion came quicker than expected; they surprised the sixteen-year-old by dissolving into fog and reappearing behind him. As James turned around, the Warlock got a chance to lash out with the sword and cut James’s arm, right across the scabs, tearing them open again. James yelped, and yanked his arm backward in a reflex. His sword sliced right through the Warlock Spirit, causing it to dissolve and disappear along with its companion Shadow Walker. Dumb luck, but at least he was safe.

  Suddenly, the entire forest fell silent again. The colours of the city’s lights slowly came back to James’s eyes, and the pixies started to come out of their hideouts, where they had taken a flight to while the teenagers took care of the Spirits ambushing their village.

  “A-are you all right?” one of the Pixies mumbled. She wore a pretty dress, in green and pink colours. Her hair was lemon green, and her eyes were big and the irises were something like a warm caramel colour.

  “U-hu,” James replied. His eyes quickly flashed from the Pixie toward the cut in his arm. It didn’t feel that bad, and from what he could see, it didn’t look bad either. Lucky.

  He heard the footsteps of his approaching friends, and knew everything was all right. Except for Bella, who was leaning on Antonio’s and Thomas’s shoulders to stay up. She didn’t really look like she was awake, though.

  “What happened to her?” James asked.

  “A Shadow Walker bit her in the leg, then she tripped and fell backwards. She hit her head on a stone,” Antonio said. “We’ll have to carry her back to the Queen so she can heal her leg. I think it might be broken.”

  “Ouch,” James mumbled. “Typically Bella’s kind of bad luck. Well, it could’ve been worse...” He touched his own arm with care, and hissed through gritted teeth as his fingers touched the open wound.

  “James?” a familiar voice shouted from a distance. “Are you all right?”

  “Samira?” James turned back around, toward the unknown Pixie. Samira and Violi
na were approaching, and Samira held...

  ...A flower. No, three of them.

  James couldn’t believe it. They had pulled it off a lot quicker than expected! The flowers just grew in the Pixie Village. All they would’ve had to do was ask.

  “Samira! Violina! You’re safe! And you’ve got the flowers!” the red-haired teenager shouted happily. “That means we can leave straight away!”

  “Well, James, you owe some gratitude toward Sadria here,” Violina said, gesturing toward the Pixie with the lime green hair and caramel eyes. 

  “I am Sadria, Royal of the Sunset Village. My name means Lotus Tree,” the little Pixie said with a slight bow. “It’s been a true honour to help you, Bond of Light. I hope the flower will bring your salvation, Samira.”

  “I’m sure it will,” Samira smiled back. Apparently, Samira had explained the whole situation to Sadria. ”Well- at least, I hope it will.”

  “Queen Eloine said it would, Samira, so it will. Trust me,” James said, while laying a comforting hand – eh, finger - on her shoulder. “Sadria, what could I possibly do to repay you for bringing us the flower?”

  “Nothing, sir,” Sadria replied. “Being here, risking your lives for us plus the fact that you just saved our village alone is already enough.

  After all: it’s actually even more than we could ever repay you.”

  James blushed slightly and smiled. “Oh, please, don’t call me sir like I’m anything higher than you,” he said. “Call me James. Are you sure there’s nothing we can do? Nothing you want us to do?”

  “No, of course not, young Guardian James,” the pixie in front of him said. “All you can do for me, and I think and hope I speak for everyone of my folk,  is go and continue your quest and save Lunaria from the tyranny that it keeps captivated.”

  Sadria smiled at James, and James smiled back. The fixie looked like a twelve-year-old girl, but something in her eyes seemed to remind him of someone back home.

  Home. James felt an attack of homesickness coming up in his heart again, but quickly pushed it away. 

  “Very well, then,” he said to Sadria. “We will try our very best to fulfil your request.”

  “May you remain well and safe, Guardians,” Sadria said, still smiling. “And now, I’d like to say: Vale.”

  “Goodbye to you too, Sadria,” Thomas said smiling, careful not to move forward too much, because then he would have to drop Bella. “And remain healthy. Vale.”

  “Are we the only ones who don’t use random Latin words on a daily base just to sound interesting?” Antonio whispered to Bella, but realised that she was still unconscious and sighed deep. “So far for the conversation then, Jingle Bells. Nice talking to you.”

  He threw a worried look at the teenage girl. “Please wake up soon... Tell me you’re okay.”

  Antonio bent a little to the right and gave Thomas a tap on the shoulder. “Thomas?” he asked.

  “Yes, Antonio?” Thomas said. 

  “I think I can carry her on my own,” Antonio replied.  Thomas responded with a confused look.

  “Are you sure?” he said.

  Antonio nodded. “Yeah, she’s not that heavy, after all.”