by Lady Lilium
Before he could speak, Lucas noticed movement over Ebony’s shoulder. A tall beast with sleek black fur lunged at him from the shadows of a narrow alley beside them. Lucas pushed Ebony aside and Kreas barrelled into him, knocking him over. Lucas fought desperately with the beast atop of him. Claws and teeth and wings were flailing everywhere. Lucas’ right wing flew up and was caught in the mouth of the beast. Lucas screamed in pain as the beast Kreas locked his jaws, biting down and jerking and twisting back and forth. Agonising seconds later, his wing detached, torn off at the joint. Kreas scuttled back, holding the broken piece of the wing in his jaw and cackling hysterically. Transforming into his human self he raised the wing triumphantly in both hands above his head.
‘This is for you Li!’ he howled. ‘This is for you!’
Lucas fell back, staring up at the sky as the clouds passed gracefully overhead, oblivious to the pain and suffering that was happening below them. Wreathed in sweat, Lucas was shaking and weak. Gasping in shock he tried to sit up, propping himself up on an elbow. Ebony was over him in an instant, kneeling next to him. She was beside herself, screaming and crying over his injury.
They had not but the briefest of moments together, when Ebony’s head snapped back and something shot past Lucas.
His breath caught in his throat, unsure for a moment of what had just happened.
And then he looked down.
A lance like weapon protruded from Ebony’s chest and ran mere inches away from Lucas’ shoulder and cheek. It was stuck in the ground, embedded in the tarmac behind him.
‘Ebony!’
Ebony gasped for breath, blood spurted from the hole in her chest as the lance was pulled sharply back out of her. She fell forwards onto Lucas. He felt her dead weight upon him as he held her there with one arm, still propped up on the other.
‘Lucas’ she pleaded, her voice was weak and fading. She began to shiver, ‘I'm so cold….’
‘Please’ he begged, ‘please don’t go…please don’t die!’ As he spoke the words he felt disgusted at himself for resorting to begging, for sounding so weak. ‘Please…’
Her body sagged, and she closed her bright pink eyes for the last time. A shining light grew from her body; engulf her whole torso and growing brighter.
Lucas squinted, turning his head away when he could no longer tolerate the brightness of the light as it became unbearably strong. The weight of her body lifted from his chest, and when the light retreated, Ebony was gone.
Upon his chest where she had lay, was a stone. It was startling pink in colour with cut edges, and large enough to sit in the palm of a hand.
Ebony was gone. This was all that was left of her.
A hand reached down, and picked up the stone.
The master walked away from him calmly as if nothing had happened, his heavy boots thudding on the tarmac.
He walked past Kreas, still holding the severed part of the wing, and towards Lagoon who waited at the end of the alley.
‘You monster!’ Lucas screamed in despair, rising to his feet.
The master dropped the stone into Lagoon’s open hand, turning and standing beside him. Lagoon’s face was calm and emotionless.
‘To kill innocent people….how could you take away the lives of those who cannot defend themselves? All for the sake of power!? For your own selfish reasons.’
‘Power’ Lagoon replied smoothly, ‘is possibility.’
Kreas began to cackle again. His voice continued on and on until it bore into Lucas skull, but still he did not stop.
Lucas snapped.
All the torment and grief and anger came crashing down on him. A dam whose wall had finally been breached, the power it had been holding back now unleashed its fury.
He screamed in rage, charging forwards and leaping upon Kreas he grabbed his face, digging his nails into his skin and baring his teeth in savagery. Kreas fell backwards onto the tarmac, laughing and repeating the name of the woman he had loved over and over, as Lucas smashed his skull again and again against the concrete.
Neither the master nor Lagoon reacted, not until after Kreas was dead, and Lucas was gasping and shaking from anger. Flecks of blood dotted his face as he sat back, glaring with hatred and loathing at Lagoon.
‘Power changes people’ Lagoon told Lucas as he sat upon the dead body of Kreas. ‘You never know. One day….you could be like me.’
‘I will never be like you’ Lucas snarled. Pure hatred and venom filling his soul; he felt only revulsion and disgust.
‘Ebony would have come to love you in time’ Lagoon informed him solemnly, ‘had I not played with her heart.’
‘What?’ Lucas gasped, taken aback. His emotions let go of the hate, and swiftly turned to heartache and uncertainty.
But Lagoon would not elaborate further. He walked away, ignoring Lucas as he called after him. The master followed Lagoon, and the two vanished.
Lucas had never cried so much before in his life. Disgusted at himself at what he had done, and suffering from the trauma of losing Ebony so violently, he began to slip into shock. Tears streamed from his eyes he covered his face, as if wanting to hide from the world. To hide from its cruelties and torment. Where was the justice, where were those that were supposed to protect the weak, the vulnerable, the innocent?
Reuben found him sometime later. Lucas remembered him calling out his name, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him.
But Lucas did not respond.
Chapter Fourteen
New World
The days that followed were long and drawn out and empty. The sudden absence of the philosopher’s stones left a gaping hole in the lives of the young guardians, and the elder guardians, the two of which had remained, were gone.
Having followed the philosopher’s stones and the young guardians so closely and without rest for so many days, their absence, like the absence of the philosopher’s stones, left a void.
After Ebony’s death, Sian and her brother Kyle had gone away, returning to their own home in the town nearby, and Lucas became withdrawn. Like Diz who had suffered greatly, Lucas chose to spend most of his days now alone. He spoke little, and like Lauralie with Diz, Reuben found himself helpless, and unable to do anything to make him better.
Reuben spent most of his days of late wandering alone. Sometimes he would wander to the abandoned hotel on the edge of the town in the industrial estate, and remember the way things used to be. Lucas had warned him in the past that it was dangerous to go there alone, but after everything that had happened, Reuben doubted that there was much in this world that could frighten him. Not now.
He spent hours a day just sitting there inside the hotel, moving from one room to another. He would think of Drake, before his injury, before the day they had become friends with Venom, who had once been known as Jacob, and remember the days that they had had together. The day they had broken Drake out of collage and come to this place to practice their magic, trying their best to hide from Lauralie as she constantly sought them out. Back in the day before Lauralie had known the street dancing brothers, back in the day before Adrian and his family were killed, before Diz went silent. Back in the day when Drake was truly himself.
It seemed that Drake could not let go of what had happened to him. He left the town shortly after Ebony was killed, and moved to live with his girlfriend Eleanor, in the town next door, making Reuben feel even more that he was alone. Drake barely made contact with Reuben now. Venom too, had stayed away.
On one occasion, when Reuben was sitting in the old hotel, slumped against the wall, his mobile began to vibrate.
He pulled it out of his pocket, and answered it.
‘I just needed someone to talk to.’
Reuben observed Sian closely. She would not look at him directly, but stared away towards the horizon from the harbour on which they stood.
‘Things have been so strange lately’ she continued, speaking to Reuben. ‘I don’t know what to feel anymore.’
She sighe
d, her shoulders sagged and she faced him at last.
‘How is Lucas doing?’
‘Not good’ Reuben answered. ‘I barely see him nowadays. He’s become withdrawn; he barely speaks to me, and shuts himself away most of the time.’
‘That’s awful.’
Reuben nodded mournfully, trying not to show how much it hurt.
‘He must have really cared about her’ Sian went on.
‘I guess he must have done’ Reuben shrugged. ‘I don’t know when things changed.’
‘I don’t know where things went wrong’ Sian corrected. She closed her eyes, tears falling quickly down her cheeks as she cried silently. ‘He meant so much to me, but….I guess…it just wasn’t meant to be.’
‘Hey’ Reuben smiled, moving closer to her and touching her shoulders.
She lifted her head up to him.
‘Don’t be sad’ he told her confidently. ‘Things will get better.’
‘I hope they do’ she whispered to him, her throat tight as he held her.
He smiled at her again, slowly and with warmth.
Sian lifted her hands between them, sending up before them a glowing pillar of light that sparkled and shone.
‘It’s so easy’ she told him. ‘Don’t you think?’
‘It is.’
‘Have you been a guardian for long?’
‘Yes’ Reuben nodded. ‘Lucas and I both.’
‘He never told me.’
‘He thought it best not to. He didn’t know how he would have explained it.’
‘Well now he doesn’t have to.’ She closed her hands together. ‘I've been practicing my magic for a few days’ she told him. ‘There is a lot that I can do.’
She turned from him then, dancing her hands through the air and weaving over and over again great shapes of fire all around them.
‘It’s comes so naturally to me.’
‘It does’ Reuben agreed. ‘Magic has been a part of me for so long now, I can’t even imagine life without it.’
‘I've noticed suddenly’ Sian began changing the subject and casting her attention all around them, ‘that since that day, I have not seen a single aberrant. Not one. I've not even heard a whisper, or any hint that they are still nearby.’ She paused. ‘I find that so strange.’
Reuben lifted his head, realising this for the first time. And he felt even more alone somehow.
‘I feel there are still some things I can learn’ Sian went on, glancing back at Reuben. ‘Can you teach me?’
‘Yes’ he breathed, returning his attention to her. ‘I can.’
She moved closer to him, leaning into him and wrapping her arms around him, resting her head against his chest.
‘I want us to be friends’ she told him. ‘So much has happened lately, and I'm so confused about everything. I need someone, another guardian, to help me cope. Someone that I can talk to.’
‘I understand.’
Sian backed away from him.
‘I should be going now. Will I see you again soon?’
‘Whenever you want’ Reuben said. ‘I will always be here.’
‘Good.’ She made to turn away, hesitating for a moment. ‘Tell Lucas…’ she fell silent in thought. ‘Tell him…that I still care about him, and I that want him to be happy, no matter what happens. Can you tell him that?’
‘I will.’
Sian marched away without a backwards glance.
Sometime later, Reuben returned home.
Lauralie knocked on the door hesitantly, and waited nervously for a response.
She fidgeted on the spot, tucking her hair behind her ears and rubbing her sweating palms against her jeans. Several agonising seconds later, the door was opened by an old lady.
‘H-hello’ Lauralie stammered.
‘What do you want?’ the old lady croaked.
‘Is Diz there?’ Lauralie asked hastily, before her nerves failed her.
‘And who are you?’ the hunched grey lady demanded.
‘I'm his…friend’ she finished shortly.
The old lady narrowed her eyes; then snapped the door shut.
Lauralie was taken aback, unsure of if the door would open again. She contemplated leaving for a moment, but then the door opened again, and Diz stood before her.
‘Diz!’ she cried, resisting the urge to jump up and down, so joyous was she to see him.
‘You know this girl?’ the old lady asked from behind Diz.
He gave a half glance back at her, nodding silently. He stepped outside, closing the door behind him.
‘Oh Diz’ Lauralie realised. ‘Your hair. It’s turning white.’
She could see from where she stood, white roots were growing through Diz’s light brown hair, and his blonde highlights she had loved so much were no longer visible.
‘So’ Lauralie went on, when Diz stared blankly at her, saying nothing. ‘You're staying with your grandparents.’
He gave a nod.
‘Your grandmother seems nice.’
He tilted his head at her.
‘Diz’ Lauralie began, bowing her head. ‘Listen. I just had to come to see you. I couldn’t stay away. I've been so worried about you. I wanted to see how you are.’
He didn’t answer, only stared at her, with his light blue eyes piercing into her.
‘Diz’ she went on. ‘…I love you….with all my heart, with all my soul, my very being.’ She drew a shuddered breath. A tear trickled down her cheek, but she ignored it. ‘I feel like I was put on this earth to love you, if you left, my world would crumple, please, stay with me, it’s hard I know, but let’s keep at it. I know things will get better.’
Diz still said nothing. He had not smiled since that day, not even to her.
‘I know you're sad right now’ Lauralie went on, ‘I know you miss your family, and your brother…I miss him too. But….things will get better, I’ll be here for you, if there’s anything you need.’
She reached towards him, and stroked his hair back lovingly, then drew away, sighing.
‘I wish none of this had ever happened’ she stammered. ‘I'm sorry’ she said turning away. ‘I've got to go.’
She ran from the house, no longer able to face him. No longer able to compose herself.
A short time later she ran into two of her friends, Christina and Alice.
‘Lauralie what's the matter?’ Christina asked in shock.
‘Nothing’ she sobbed, wiping the tears from her eyes.
‘This doesn’t look like nothing’ Alice scolded, taking a pack of tissues from her bag and handing it to her.
‘Thank you’ Lauralie whimpered sadly.
‘I've never seen you so sad’ Christina told her. ‘Something terrible must have happened.’
‘Oh’ Lauralie cried. ‘I wish I could tell you. I wish you could understand.’
‘We understand you’ her friends argued together.
‘Why would you think any different?’ Alice frowned sternly.
‘You’ve become so distanced from all of us lately’ Christina told her.
‘Ever since you first saw the street dancing brothers’ Alice realised. ‘Is this about them?’
Lauralie could not hold it back anymore. She burst into tears, bawling and crying hysterically. Her friends utterly bewildered tried desperately to comfort her.
But she was inconsolable.
It was dark inside the apartment when Reuben returned. Although it was broad daylight outside, all the curtains in the living room where shut, and not a single ray of light was allowed to enter the apartment.
Reuben closed the door behind him, and cast his sights down upon Lucas as he lay on the sofa. He had been here like this for several days now, almost in the same position. He rose only when he absolutely had to. He had barely eaten, and hadn’t drunk a single thing besides alcohol for longer than was healthy. Bottles now littered the floor around him, and day by day as the hours wore on, Lucas was becoming sicker for it.
‘DON’T!’ Lucas cr
ied suddenly in a panicked voice, alarming Reuben as he made his way towards the window, intending to open the curtains.
Reuben turned back to him silently.
‘I don’t want to see the light’ Lucas whispered. ‘It hurts my eyes.’
‘What’s happened to you?’ Reuben asked. ‘I've never seen you like this before.’
‘……Regret…’ Lucas mumbled, sitting back. ‘I feel…’ he croaked, his voice sounding as a rasp. ‘Regret…’ he finished. ‘Ebony said that she loved me. I feel regret….that I did not tell her…that I loved her…’
‘Surely she would have known’ Reuben answered.
‘The elder guardian…one of the ones that hunted her….he said that he played with her heart…that he made her love me.’
‘And can you believe the word of such a man?’
Lucas didn’t answer. He only stared vacantly upwards at the ceiling with a glazed expression. His black hair was greasy and unwashed, draped over his forehead and over his eyes.
‘I don’t know what to think anymore’ Lucas told the room.
Reuben stayed a moment longer, unsure of what to do.
He moved back towards the front door, slipping through it and closing it after him, leaving Lucas to his grief and sorrow.
Reuben took his mobile from his pocket, and dialled a number.
‘Reuben?’ came Venom’s worried voice on the other end of the line. ‘What is it? Is everything alright?’
‘Yeah everything’s fine’ Reuben answered quickly. ‘Listen, I need a favour to ask. Can I stay with you for a few days? Lucas isn’t doing well.’
‘Sure’ Venom replied. ‘I’ll meet you in town.’
‘Thanks.’
It was many days later, that Lauralie was sitting alone in the park. With her knees up on the bench, she watched the large fountain before her raining water down in the pool below. The weeping willow above her swayed gently back and forth; the people walked by her along the gravel paths.
Lauralie sighed miserably. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a handful of seeds and throwing them at the ground for the hungry starlings and pigeons.
