Guardian: Protectors of Light

by Melanie Houtman

  *

  “Urgh...”

  Thomas was the first to regain consciousness, followed shortly by Gabriel, Violina and the others.

  “Where are we?” he said. “It... looks like some kind of dungeon.”

  “I’ve been trapped inside this dungeon before,” Timothy said. “It’s the Master’s dungeon.”

  He tried to move, but soon found out he couldn’t move either of his limbs. “What the-?” he exclaimed, as he looked at the others and discovered their arms, legs and part of their torsos had sunk into the stone wall, as if stone could grow over objects.

  “The statue curse,” Madeleine said. “He used the statue curse to - literally stick us to the wall... Looks like we’re not going anywhere anytime soon.”

  “Can’t Akilah take over your body and use her powers to free us?” Gabriel said.

  “She can only do that if I’m free,” Madeleine replied. “Right now, neither of us can do anything.”

  Madeleine’s words stating that they were defenceless seemed to annoy Gabriel, as he let out a loud and overly exaggerated sigh. “Great.”

  “Hey, um... I’m not sure if anyone noticed, but we’re missing a few people here,” Antonio said.

  Gabriel lowered his eyebrows. “What?” he said. “Where are James and Samira?”

  “Glimmer is outside; she managed to fly away just before the attack commenced,” Madeleine said. “But James and Samira...”

  “They’re locked away somewhere more... secure.”

  The expression in Madeleine’s eyes twisted instantly at the sound of the Master’s voice.  She wanted to say something, but the Master shut her up with a single wave of his hand.

  “Hush, milady,” he said. “I promise I am not here to kill you... for now, that’s Jason’s job.”

  “That “for now” unsettles me, Asura,” Gabriel said; the Master’s eyes betrayed that he was offended by the teenager calling him by his first name.

  “I was saying that for now, Jason has some problems he needs to solve regarding the three of you,” he said, while gesturing at Gabriel, Timothy and Madeleine. “After that is settled, I will probably return you to your stone forms... to keep as trophies.”

  He smiled a vampire smile; the kind that sent chills down Thomas’s spine. “Where are my friends!?” he yelled.

  The Master turned toward him. “Safe,” he said. “...But probably not for long. Don’t worry; you’ll get to reunite with them soon.”

  Then, focusing his attention on all captives, he said, “Now, I’ll leave you with Jason. I’m sure he can take care of things on his own.  I have business to attend to... I have two guests waiting for me upstairs.”

  Sabrina glanced around the room and grinned at Jason before leaving the dark room together with the Master. The heavy, wooden door shut with a slam.

  “If you’re here to kill us, you better get it over with quick,” Antonio growled at Jason, who turned around to look at him; all of a sudden, the mark around his eye disappeared, together with the veins on his face and neck, and his eyes got their normal colour again.

  “We’ve got no time to lose,” he said, raising his staff and aiming for Madeleine. One spell, and her limbs turned back to flesh. The same happened for Gabriel and Timothy, but before Jason could turn around to free Antonio, Bella and Samira, Gabriel had lunged forward and tried to punch him.

  “Calm down, man!” Jason said, simply pushing Gabriel backward with magical force. “I came here to save you, and this is how you thank me?”

  “Save us?” Timothy said in disbelief. “After all that happened!?”

  “Listen – I made mistakes, I know,” Jason said, raising his palms in defence. “But my judgment had been clouded by the dark energy here. I had to obey that nightmarish man.”

  “I’m not buying this,” Madeleine said. “You were very well aware what you were doing.”

  “I LOVED YOU, Madeleine!” Jason exclaimed angrily. “And I was jealous! Of COURSE I didn’t know what I was doing! Honestly, I didn’t! I swear,” he defended himself. “Once you’re under the effects of the Curse, it spreads slowly through your body. And as soon as the Curse is complete, you’re lost. Once you’re in, you can’t get out.” He paused for a short moment and swallowed. “I was about to be replaced anyway. The Master has felt the power in Innocence’s abilities, and he wants to turn him.”

  Thomas and Bella gasped in shock in the background, but Jason ignored them.

  “Please, Madeleine,” he said. “That boy needs your help.

  I know – I’ve done many bad things. You couldn’t trust me back then, when darkness was all I could see... You know what the Master would do if he’d see me doing this? He’d kill me.”

  He started pacing around the room, his attention focused on Madeleine, Timothy and Gabriel.

  “People can change, Madeleine. I want to turn my back to all of this, I want to run away. I don’t want to be like this anymore.”

  Suddenly, Madeleine started moving along with him, so they ended up pacing in circles around the edges of the room. 

  “Nice try, Jason. But you seem to forget that you lied to us, mislead us, betrayed us. I don’t believe you’ve changed.”

  Jason, obviously disagreeing with her, threw the same back at her. “You’re wrong, Madeleine,” he breathed. “I regret every choice I’ve made. All I wanted was for you to be safe.”

  The circle they were pacing in kept growing smaller as they continued and became more agitated. Madeleine, still not believing him, said, “But you never tried to save me. You fought me, engaged in battle with me. And that’s why I killed you, Jason. You can’t be trusted.”

  At last, Jason stopped walking; the mark around his eye, which he was desperately trying to keep from returning, was slowly starting to reappear. He looked at Madeleine with sad eyes. “Do you see this mark, Madeleine?” he said, his voice sounding genuinely sad. “It reminds me of that mistake every single day. And not a day goes by that I don’t regret it.”

  And there they went again; pacing around in nervous circles; yet they were even smaller and faster now.

  “I don’t believe you, liar!” Madeleine snapped at him. “After all, once a liar you’re always one.”

  Anger started to appear in both the teenagers’ voices, trying to convince each other of their opinion.

  “I CAN be good, Madeleine!” Jason roared. “And the only thing keeping you from seeing it is your own vanity!”

  Jason stopped walking; now, his mark and the veins were fully back. He closed his eyes as he reached for the staff that had been hanging on his belt in wand-size.

  “Fine, have it your way. I can’t change, you say. I won’t change, you say. Well, if you truly believe that...

  Then Lord Asura has already won.”

  As he spoke the last sentence, he opened his eyes and fired a dangerous spell at Madeleine.

  “Oh no, you DON’T!” Gabriel shouted and jumped forward, pushing Madeleine out of the curse’s way.

  The curse blasted into the dungeon wall, leaving a big, smoking hole.

  Gabriel looked up at Jason. “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND!?” he yelled.

  Jason looked at him, fire in his eyes, teeth bared. “Yeah,” he said. “Maybe I am.”

  Gabriel let out a roar as he jumped up and ran forward toward Jason, ready to throw a punch at him.

  Sadly, Jason was quicker to draw out his staff and fired the same spell as before, right into Gabriel’s stomach.

  The spell didn’t blow a hole in Gabriel’s torso; but unfortunately, it was enough to kill him in an instant.

  Gabriel’s eyes went expressionless as he fell backward and landed on the ground with a thud.

  Jason’s eyes quickly shifted from the left to the right, right before he dissolved into smoke and disappeared.

  Everyone stood still; as if time had stopped. Nobody said a word; all they could do was stare at a spot hardly a few centimetres away from the empty spot J
ason had left...

  The place where Gabriel’s life had come to an end.

  “GABRIEL!” Timothy suddenly shouted, as he fell to his knees and took his best friend’s face in his hands. 

  But it was too late.

  Gabriel’s body dissolved into light as the two spirits living inside of it separated; the same light as Rikki’s body had dissolved into after she’d died.

  “No...” Timothy gasped hoarsely. “He didn’t deserve this.”

  “Of course he didn’t.”

  Apparently, Akilah had come in to rescue; she raised her arms and let Magic free the three Guardians and Violina from their stone prisons.

  Thomas and Violina both wore a shocked expression; all Antonio and Bella showed was anger and hate.

  “We must hurry,” Akilah said. “If what Jason told us is true, we must find James and Samira before it’s too late.”

  “But how?” Violina said. “We’re trapped inside!”

  With a single wave of her hand, Akilah unlocked the door. “Go,” she said. “Timothy and I will be right behind you. Save your friend!”

  She didn’t have to tell them twice. The team ran off into the castle, to find James and Thomas.

  But where were they supposed to look? Another problem that waited for them, just around the corner...

  Cursed

  James slowly regained consciousness, looking around the room. Where had he and Samira ended up? And where were their friends?

  “Samira? Are you all right?” James asked; after quickly discovering his limbs and torso had become one with the walls; the same spell that had been cast on the others had been cast on James and Samira as well. He could see his sister nod at him from across the room.

  “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” Samira said. “How about you?”

  James nodded at her. “I’m fine too,” he said. “I’m glad you’re okay, sis.”

  “Of course I am,” Samira smiled.” I wonder where the others are?”

  “The Master probably wanted us separated for a reason,” James figured. “That can’t mean any good.”

  “Who says it doesn’t?” An icy voice said, causing James and Samira to turn their heads toward the room’s entrance. The Master entered, followed by Sabrina, who wore a rather smug expression on her face, making James suspicious.

  “Welcome, my honoured guests,” the Master said. I welcome you to my humble home.”

  “I’d rather if you didn’t,” Samira said sarcastically. The Master glanced shortly at James, before turning toward Samira. To James, it felt as if the Master’s glare gave him a headache. It caused him to feel a bit foggy, as if he was suffering from fatigue.

  “You’re a smart one, now aren’t you, Guardian?” the Master asked Samira. “May I at least have the honours of knowing your names?”

  “My name is Samira,” Samira said. “His name is none of your business.”

  “Am I not allowed to know his name?” the Master suggested. “Let me guess; it’s because he’s your brother?”

  Samira’s pupils shifted in size. How could he know!? Oh... right... Sabrina had told him. That thought resulted in an eye-roll coming from the blonde teenager.

  Suddenly, she felt her body make hard contact with the ground; the Master had released her.

  Samira quickly got on all fours to see if James was all right, but James was still stuck to the wall.

  “Let him go,” Samira said.  ”I don’t care what you want from me; let my brother go.”

  The Master crossed his arms. “Perhaps,” he said. “I will let him go. Don’t worry.”

  He started to pace around Samira in circles, keeping his eyes locked on the girl. “I sense great power in you, girl. In both of you. And you’re wasting it.”

  “What power?” Samira said, while lowering an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? Or should I ask: What do you want?”

  The Master stopped pacing around as soon as he stood in front of Samira, and stuck out his hand at her. “Join me.”

  Samira raised both her eyebrows in offence and reached out for her bow and arrow, but soon found out it wasn’t there.

  “You might as well be looking for... this,” the Master grinned, showing Samira’s bow and James’s sword, which were hanging on a belt underneath the Master’s cloak.

  “Give those back,” Samira said determinedly. “They don’t belong to you.”

  “Of course not,” the Master said. “If you join me, I’ll return to you what is yours. But if you don’t...” He glanced at James, who felt the same wave of fogginess as before.

  “Samira, don’t,” James said hoarsely. “He’s playing a trick on you.”

  Samira looked back at her brother. “I know,” she mouthed. “Just trust me.”

  James’ eyes widened in surprise. “What are you talking about!?” he mouthed back. “Samira - no.”

  Samira simply nodded before turning back toward the Master. “All right, Asura,” she said. “What do you ask of me?”

  The Master grinned. “If you join me, we can take over the rest of this world together. I can give you power you could never even imagine,” he said. “Plus, your friends will enjoy full freedom... They can find a way home inside the Castle of the Spirits.” He paused. “Unless you want to destroy them before they get there, of course. But if you foolishly refuse my offer, you and your friends will find nothing but death here.”

  Samira shortly looked to the side to see James freaking out and yelling at her not to do it, but ignored him. Instead, she stuck out her hand at the Master. “Deal.”

  “WHAT!?” James yelled. “SAMIRA, NO!”

  “Very well, young Guardian,” the Master said, ready to shake Samira’s hand and seal the deal.

  “Sir?” Sabrina said. “I’m sensing Ja-”

  “-Son.” 

  Halfway through Sabrina saying his name, Jason appeared between the Master and Samira, looking agitated and annoyed.

  “I killed one of them, Master,” he said. “The Protector that lived in the Twilight Forest. He engaged battle with me – he’s dead.”

  “WHAT!?” James and Samira yelled out in offence. 

  “That wasn’t part of the deal, Asura,” Samira growled. “I’m sorry, but you said they’d leave unharmed.”

  “FOOL!” the Master nearly exploded while expressing his anger toward Jason. “I nearly had the girl turned to our side! WILLINGLY! What do you have to say for yourself!?”

  “What I have to say,” Jason said, surprisingly calm despite the Master’s angry outburst, “is that I can fix this. Just watch.”

  And without further explanation, he reached for his staff and fired a spell at Samira, hitting her right in the chest. 

  The spell had enough speed and power to send Samira flying to the back of the room, where she hit the wall right next to James, who stared at his sister in utter shock.

  “SAMIRA!” James yelled. “SAMIRA!” 

  Hardly a few seconds after Samira had smacked against the wall, James felt a sudden pain rising up in his chest. He yelped out in pain. The Master glaring at him was the last thing he saw before fainting.

  All of a sudden, Samira’s limbs started to jerk. Her back curled upwards in pain; then, she stopped moving just as fast as she’d started to.

  She slowly started to rise on all fours; standing up, with her eyes shut tight.

  “See?” Jason said, pride resounding in his voice. “Now she’s on our side anyway, Master.”

  The Master didn’t seem too impressed. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he said. “Your Curses aren’t strong enough to last. But... She might just be useful, for now.”

  Shortly after the Master had finished his sentence, the room’s door blasted open and the Bond of Light and Protectors came barging in.

  The Master stayed surprisingly calm, despite the hostile position the teenagers standing in front of him had taken toward him.

  Sabrina and Jason, however, didn’t manage to stay as calm. They�
��d drawn their weapons, but the Master gestured at them to lower their defences. “This is not our fight,” he said. “We can test out our new asset to take care of this one for us instead.”

  He reached for the belt underneath his cloak, took the sword and threw it at Samira, who skilfully caught it. The sword’s golden glow immediately reverted to black smoke.

  “You know what to do, Samira,” the Master said. “Destroy them.”

  Then, both the Master and his “guard dogs” dissolved into black smoke, leaving the Bond of Light alone in the room with Samira.

  Samira slowly walked toward the Bond of Light and the Protectors, while opening her eyes for the first time since she got back on his feet.

  As soon as her friends caught a glimpse of her red, glowing eyes, they gasped in horror.

  “Oh, no...” Thomas whispered, and Bella whimpered silently.

  Akilah, however, didn’t seem too impressed. It was more as if she sensed something as soon as she’d laid an eye on Samira’s eyes.

  “She’s not cursed,” she said. “It’s just a weak substitute. This wasn’t done by the Master; I can revert this with the right spell.”

  “How?” Antonio shouted, slightly panicked and freaked out. “We’re not going to have to fight him, are we?”

  “Yes,” Samira growled. Her voice didn’t sound the same; it had gained something twisted which didn’t belong in her own voice. “You are.”

  And, without anticipating any possible following reactions, she attacked Antonio, who blocked his attack with the silver Light Sceptre he still had, as it was the only object strong enough to block the teenager’s attack, as the glaive’s wooden stele would break instantly.

  The Sceptre hadn’t exactly ever been quite of use; Antonio had never even mentioned he had it in his possession, since he viewed it as an useless piece of silver.

  “Great! And what are we going to do about this!?” Antonio shouted at Madeleine, both demanding and irritated.

  “Antonio, Timothy, Bella, you keep him busy!” Akilah ordered. “Violina, Thomas, go see if James is okay. Madeleine, you can help me channel my power to create a reverse spell!”

  And she wouldn’t have had to tell them twice. Bella had engaged a knife-to-sword battle with Samira to keep her attention away from Antonio, but the blonde-haired girl quickly got bored and moved on to Timothy. Meanwhile, Thomas and Violina were checking up on James, while seeking for any possible spells or injuries that had been inflicted on him.

  After a while, Samira had apparently gotten tired of fighting Timothy and turned her attention toward Antonio again. To Antonio’s surprise, Samira handed James’ sword to him; Samira had retrieved one of Timothy’s katanas in their fight. 

  “It’s time for a real fight,” Samira said, but Antonio could beg to differ.

  “No,” Antonio said. “I refuse to fight you. This isn’t you, Samira. You’ve been cursed.”

  Samira raised her eyebrows in amusement and grinned widely. “Who knows?”

  Antonio’s eyes flashed toward Akilah, Madeleine and Timothy, who stuck up his thumbs at him, letting him know everything was set and they were ready to go.

  “Come on, Sassy,” Antonio said. “Snap out of it.” Samira didn’t know, but Antonio could see Madeleine sneaking up behind Samira, preparing to cast the spell on him.

  “I’ve had enough of all this standing around,” Samira growled, clearly irritated. “Come on, Guardian! Be a man and FIGHT ME!” 

  Samira lunged forward, just at the right moment to be hit by Akilah’s spell. It engulfed the teenage girl completely, pulling something out of her. Whatever it was, it looked like black smoke.

  As soon as the light had pulled the black smoke out of Samira’s chest, the light engulfed the smoke, shattering into thousands of small pieces and disappearing.

  The spell had worked; Samira had been freed.

  Samira just stood there, staring at nothing, panting heavily.

  “Wha- what just happened?” she stammered, then he noticed James, who was still passed out and hanging “in” the wall. “James!” Samira shouted. “Is he okay?”

  “Yes, he is, fortunately,” Violina said. “But neither Thomas nor I can tell whether the Master has done something to him or not.”

  Samira swallowed. “We need to get out of here. Now.”

  “How?” Thomas said. “He’s going to come after us for sure... We’ll be lucky if we’re even able to make it out of the castle.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’ll make it out of the castle just fine.”

  All eight teens – well, except for those of them who were already facing him – turned around to face the Master. “I must congratulate you all; I’m very impressed with your skills. I didn’t expect you to be able to pull this off... That’s why I’m allowing you to leave now.”

  Timothy took a defensive and unbelieving stance. “You’re... kidding, right?” he said. “I don’t think you’re planning on letting us go at all. This is just some plot to get us killed.”

  The Master raised his palms in defence and smiled in a creepy, seemingly sincere way. “Calm down, young boy,” he said. “I swear you’re free to go. Look.”

  With a wave of his hand, he released James; Violina and Thomas caught him before he hit the ground.

  “Go ahead; leave. The door’s open; I’ve ordered all my men to leave you be until you’ve gone more than five kilometres away from my castle.”

  “But that means we’d be nearly at the Castle of Spirits when they’re allowed to attack again,” Bella said.  ”Seems suspicious.”

  The Master didn’t respond. And though they didn’t trust him, the Bond of Light took their chance and left anyway, taking advantage of the given opportunity. Antonio, Timothy and Samira did throw the Master a dirty look as they passed him, but nothing happened.

  They left the castle safely, just as the Master had promised them they would. Nothing seemed strange; save the fact that the man who had sworn to find them and destroy them had just let his chance slip by.

  Or was it all part of the Master’s plan after all, and had they all walked straight into it with their eyes wide open?

  We All have a Dark Side

  The Bond of Light had made it out of the Master’s castle safely; now all there was left to do was to get to the Castle of Spirits safely.

  “Don’t you think we should be in more of a rush?” Thomas said, as he made sure James was still lying safely on top of Glimmer’s back, who’d been waiting for them just outside the castle.

  “If Asura keeps his promise, no,” Madeleine said.

  “And you expect him to do so?” Thomas said sceptically. Madeleine shrugged, unsure of what to say.

  “It’s possible that he will, you know. The Master might be a man of deception, but he’s probably trying to get some fun out of this. He won’t capture or kill us this easily.”

  Thomas crossed his arms. “Fine, then,” he said. “But we’ve got to keep moving.”

  “I agree,” Samira said. “The sooner we get this over with, the faster we can get back home.”

  Without wasting any more time, they went on. The others now had come to realize they were running out of time as well; the Master had officially opened the hunt and put a bounty on their heads.

  All they could do was hope that the Master would keep his word; if they were to be left alone until they were more than five kilometres away from the Master’s castle, they would be as good as inside the Castle of Spirits.

  As the Bond of Light was still more or less convinced of their safety, they stopped walking after a while to rest and talk about everything that had happened that day.

  “I just can’t believe Gabriel risked his life for us like that,” Timothy said, as they sat around the fire. “Again.”

  “He has always been a brave warrior, Timothy,” Madeleine said, putting a hand on Timothy’s shoulder. “He wanted us to be able to keep going.”

  Timothy smiled. “Well... let�
��s make sure that his sacrifice does not go to waste.” Pause. “After all, after all of this is over, we’ll be set free to rest in peace, too.”

  “What do you mean?” Bella said. “Won’t they still need you guys around here?”

  “Of course not,” Madeleine laughed. “We were only here to guide the Bond of Light as good as we could, until one Generation would rise and succeed into performing the Ritual,” she said. “Once you succeed, we will be relieved from duty, as the Light Spirits will separate from our souls.”

  “Whoa,” Antonio said. “That is deep stuff.”

  “Yeah,” Timothy said.  ”Tomorrow we’ll go to the Castle and finish this all... as long as the Master doesn’t stand in our way.”

  “Of course he will,” Madeleine said, resting her worried gaze on James, who seemed peacefully asleep. “He already is.”

  “What’s the matter, Madeleine?” Violina asked. “Do... you feel anything?”

  “I felt it when I looked at him back in the castle,” Madeleine replied. “I’m afraid the Master has managed to curse him.”

  Thomas lowered his eyebrows. “What does that mean?” he said.

  Timothy got up and walked to James, searching the leather bag that had been put beside him.

  “You can read in here what that means,” he said, tossing Thomas “A Guardian’s Guide to the Light”.

  Thomas caught the book and flipped through it, until he found the pages called “Cursed Spirits”. His eyes widened in surprise as he read what Timothy had written and clasped a hand before his mouth. “Er... Is there a way to cure this?”

  “Not without light,” Madeleine said. “Unless I’ve got power from the moon to help me, the Master’s spell will be too powerful for any of us to remove it.” She paused. “But then again, the moon will...”

  She didn’t get to finish her sentence, as Thomas had expected she’d already finished and had already started talking. “I’ll find a way to get the moon out so we can cure him,” he said.

  “You should all go to sleep, or at least get some rest. I’ll switch when I get tired.”

  The others went to bed without arguing with him, as they knew it would be no use.

  Thomas stayed up all night, reading through the entire book, trying to find a solution. Any kind of light source close enough to the moon would do for him. Unfortunately enough, he didn’t find anything to solve his problem except for Antonio’s Sceptre... But as he was yet to receive his Guardian’s Totem, the Sceptre had very limited power. Using it to cure James would probably not succeed.

  But it was always worth a try. With that mindset, Thomas woke Timothy up to take over watch and went to sleep.

  The night was short. Despite the fact that morning didn’t bring much light into the Land of Void, it was enough to help them see through the dark.

  The biggest surprise of the morning was probably James waking up. He was able to walk, but failed in recognizing or communicating with any of his friends. His pupils had grown to the size of his irises; yet they still didn’t seem to be able to see anything.

  “This is the second stage,” Madeleine said. “We- we can try to wake him out of it. After the third stage commences, it’s certain we won’t be able to help him... That’s why we’ll have to do it now, if we want to have any chances at succeeding.”

  “Please try,” Antonio said. “It’s less fun without him around... What do you need?”

  “All I need is Samira and Violina’s aid,” Madeleine replied. “Together, our powers might just be strong enough to bring James back.”

  Samira and Violina joined her quickly; Thomas and Bella brought James to them. 

  “All right, on my mark,” Madeleine said. “There is no specific spell for this – just think about James and what you remember of him.

  “Akilah, don’t let him down,” she added underneath her breath.

  But unfortunately, even all three their powers weren’t strong enough to return James’ soul in charge; the Master’s spell was too strong, as Madeleine had already predicted.

  Thomas let out a sigh as he saw the spell hadn’t had any effect; he was slightly discouraged, but knew that they weren’t to give up hope until night-time arrived. He’d discussed the plan with Antonio, who’d agreed to work along, despite not knowing whether the sceptre would work on the clouds hanging over the Land of Void or not.

  Since the spell didn’t work, there was nothing left for the Bond of Light and Protectors to do but to keep moving and getting to the castle.

  After they’d made the five kilometres away from the Master’s Castle, there were less than two kilometres left to cross to get there; it would not be much trouble to get there, unless the Master would reopen attack as soon as they crossed the five-kilometre line.

  Without any further ado, they could possibly reach the castle within less than two to three hours; not that exact time mattered. The only real problem was that everyone had been so worn down by the events of the past few days, that moving quickly wasn’t really that easy anymore.

  “Antonio,” Thomas whispered. “I think now’s a good time to give it a shot.”

  Antonio nodded at Thomas. “Gotcha,” he said. He took his sceptre from his belt, concentrating on raising the moon and clearing the sky as hard as he could.

  “MADELEINE!” Thomas yelled. “We’re finally going to see the Guardian of Night and Day in action; Antonio’s going to raise the moon so you can cast your spell!”

  Madeleine turned around in shock. “What!? NO!” she yelled. “DON’T! A FULL MOON TRIGGERS THE THIRD STAGE!”

  “Antonio, WAIT!” Samira yelled, but it had already happened. Antonio laughed happily as he saw the sun going down, getting replaced by the moon as the sky cleared slightly.

  At the same time, James’ body started to tremble. 

  Samira stared at her brother in horror. This couldn’t be happening. She’d caused this, because she’d refused to listen. It was her fault that James was now transforming into a ...monster.

  Something purely evil, with no free will or whatsoever at all. 

  Everyone got the same idea to take a step or two away from James as the trembling got worse and started to breathe heavily. The stones on his cape and the glowing pattern on his clothing started to get a bright red glow instead of their usual turquoise colour. Samira let out a scream of horror as black smoke started to surround the boy, leaving him yelping out in pain.

  As the smoke died out, so did all noise. Even background noises seemed to have been sucked out of the air.

  And the look in James’ eyes when he opened them was enough to unleash fear inside of everyone – even inside of Thomas.

  “Why, hello, my fellow Guardians,” an evil and twisted version of James’ voice said. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you.”

  Nobody said anything in response. They probably weren’t able to, or didn’t want to.

  James looked up at the moon and grinned; with a wave of his hand, the clouds drove back in front of it, making the place where they were standing nearly pitch black; James looked even scarier with his red, glowing eyes and glowing red clothing. “So, which one of you dumb-nuts did that?” he said, referring at the rising of the moon during the middle of the day. James looked at Antonio, then at his sceptre and pointed at it. “You?” he said. “Well, congratulations! You’ll be the one I’ll take down first!” 

  James lunged forward at Antonio, attacking him with his sword; but Antonio’s reflexes were fast enough to block James’ attack with his silver sceptre. “Come on, dude! This is nuts! First, your sister gets turned over to the Dark Side, and now you! This has got to end!”

  “Yes, indeed it does,” James replied, bashing his sword against Antonio’s sceptre multiple times, trying to break Antonio’s defence. “Why don’t we end it right here, right now!”

  Antonio’s eyes flashed toward the others behind James. “Help me!” he mouthed. 

  Luckily, his friends didn’t take too long before they snappe
d out of their mind-numbness and ran forward to help Antonio. Thomas used a smooth, quick move to cause James to drop his sword, but they all seemed to have forgot one important thing about James - his Magic. 

  Black fog formed thick, strong ropes around Timothy’s limbs; the same happened to Samira, Madeleine, Bella and Violina. But for some reason, he forgot to tie Thomas as well. Was it because he still had a hunger for a good fight?

  Probably.

  “You’re no match for me,” James hissed. “None of you are.”

  While he’d been so focused on the others, James hadn’t paid too much attention to the two enemies he had left on the loose behind him – Antonio and Thomas.

  James summoned his sword, and turned around. “Now,” he said, “let’s dance.”

  He attacked Thomas, who skilfully blocked the attack and stood his ground fighting back. “Stop it, James,” he said. “I’m serious. This is madness!”

  “You’re right,” James said, while lashing out at Thomas violently. They had always trained together; his father’s fencing lessons, Gabriel’s advanced fighting lessons; they were equal. The only thing that seemed to make James stronger was his hate, which fuelled his magical abilities.

  But James had forgot one thing; Antonio was still there. He snuck up on the two sword fighting teenagers, and threw himself around James’s legs when he saw the opportunity to. James fell, dropping his sword in the progress.

  He quickly got on all fours, wanting to summon his sword, but was stopped by Thomas, who pulled him against his chest, holding his sword against James’s throat.

  “One move,” Thomas whispered, “and you’re done. Also, don’t even think about using that dissolving trick, because...” He simply moved one of the blades a little lower, toward the stones around the pin holding James’ cape together. “You can’t.”

  Antonio appeared in front of James with a smug grin. “You might have transferred some kind of different soul into my friend,” he said, “that has made him become twisted and evil, but you’re still inside the same body. And if I know James well...” He paused for a second to lift up his sceptre and hit James against the temple with it, knocking him out. “...I believe to remember that he was easy to knock out!”

  Thomas carefully let James slide to the ground. He laid there, silently and immobile, on the hard, soil ground.

  “Well, that should take care of him for now,” Antonio sighed and nodded at Timothy. 

  Timothy nodded back at him. “Now let’s free the others and see if Madeleine can still fix this.”

  Castle Clash

  Timothy and Antonio were quick to untie their friends, who all then attended to James, who was still laying knock-out on the ground.

  “So, what are we going to do with him now?” Samira said. “As soon as he comes to, he’ll be right back on that killing spree the Master has sent him on again.”

  Madeleine knelt down beside James and examined him. “Akilah spoke to me inside my head,” she said, while putting a hand on the stone that rested on his chest; it was still glowing red, but it’s glow had slightly weakened. “She spoke of the Soul Separation Spell, suggesting to use it on James.”

  “And... does that spell do what I think it does?” Bella said, but from the faces of his friends, he quickly found out he’d just been stating the obvious.

  “It separates one soul from another, yes,” Madeleine said, raising an eyebrow. “It’s the reverse version of the spell Akilah used to combine the souls of the Spirits of Light with ours. It’s tricky... And I’ll need that sceptre of you, Antonio.”

  “But I’ve used all of its power!” Antonio said. “There’s nothing left.”

  Madeleine smiled as she stood up, looking at him. “I can take care of that.”

  She folded her hands together, and all of a sudden, Akilah appeared beside her.

  Silver and golden sparkles surrounded Antonio as he got lifted a few centimetres off the ground, leaving his friends gasping in awe while Akilah spoke.

  “Antonio Bellucci, you have shown incredible willpower against your anger issues and aggression by not fighting either of your friends.

  For this, you are rewarded with your Guardian’s Totem; Willpower.

  This unlocks your Sceptre of Light. You could use it before, but back then it had limited power. Now, it will give you full control over the Light.

  Use it wisely, just as you used your willpower.”

  “Whoa,” Antonio gasped as he got back on the ground. “I... feel... stronger,” he said “Stronger than I’ve ever felt before.”

  “Because you’ve overcome your fear, Antonio!” Bella laughed. “You were always afraid to actually hurt us because of your anger, but now you know how to control it! You did it, buddy!”

  Antonio turned his head to look aside, where Bella was standing. “Yeah,” he said, grinning broadly. “I did it. You’re right, Bella.”

  “Antonio, we’re so proud of you!” Samira smiled and started to applaud, in which the others joined quickly. However, the applause was short; they had a short moment to feel happy and proud of something, but time was running out, and James still needed their help.

  “There’s no time to lose,” Madeleine said. “Antonio, make sure that moon gets out here! Violina, Samira, join me while casting the spell. It goes pretty much the same as what we tried last time; focus on all the good things inside James. If we’re with the three of us, it will speed up the process and enlarge our chances of success.”

  Samira, Violina and Madeleine gathered in front of James, at his feet. They waited for Antonio to use the sceptre and clear the sky; the only preparation necessary for this spell.

  “Ready?” Madeleine said. “Remember the spell! Now, CAST!”

  Concentrating as hard as they could, Violina, Samira and Madeleine each cast the spell. “Separanimo!” they shouted; the effect was instantly visible on James. 

  He was still unconscious, lying on his back; after the girls had cast the spell, he was lifted off the ground, and a mix of a red and blue glowing light was drawn from the stone on his chest and the pattern on his clothing. They twisted and swirled, until finally splitting apart into that same, black fog as with Thomas before, and a bright, white light.

  The light went back inside the stone that rested on James’ chest as his body was lowered back onto the ground, while the fog disappeared into the sky.

  As soon as the light of James’s soul had returned to its rightful owner, he started to cough. Samira rushed toward James to help him.

  “Are you okay?” she said, helping her little brother to sit and eventually stand up.

  “Y-yeah,” James replied. His voice sounded slightly shaky and he had to lean on Samira with pretty much all of his weight, but at least he was okay.

  Samira grabbed her brother’s shoulders, turned him so that they were be facing each other, and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug.

  “I’m so sorry, James,” Samira whispered. “I’m so terribly sorry.”

  “What are you talking about?” James whispered back. “I don’t understand.”

  “Never mind,” Samira whispered as they pulled out of the hug. “It doesn’t matter.”

  It wasn’t until they’d let go of each other, until the two boys noticed their friends standing around them, with both unbelieving looks and smiles.

  “Group hug!” James shouted, and his friends laughed agreeing as they hugged each other; with James and Thomas in the middle.

  As the group hug dismembered, James suddenly noticed something odd about his surroundings. “Say,” he said, “how come we’re not inside the Nightmare Castle anymore?”

  “He... just... let us go,” Bella said. James raised an eyebrow.

  “What do you mean, he just let us go?” he said, sounding more or less unconvinced. “That doesn’t seem like the Master at all.”

  Timothy shrugged. “Do you think we believed him at first?” he said. “We didn’t. But he kept admitting defeat and insisting
he should let us go.”

  “Without any consequences at all?” James said, rubbing a hand against his lips. “Huh. Odd.”

  “He probably let us go because he was convinced you’d take care of us,” Samira said. “He’d cursed you, James.”

  “You mean like Sabrina?” James said, grimacing. “Ouch. Sorry guys.”

  “Nah,” Antonio laughed. “You weren’t that much of a pain in the butt... To be honest, we had you knocked out quite easily.”

  James grinned. “You sure about that, big guy?” he said. “By the way, nice fairy wand you’ve got there.”

  Antonio rolled his eyes.  “Haw, haw. Shouldn’t we keep going?”

  “Sure,” James said. “But honestly. I prefer calling it “finding out how the Master wants to kill us this time”,” he snickered, receiving a smack on the back of his head from Thomas as they proceeded on their final quest.