Guardian: Darkness Rising

by Melanie Houtman

  “James?” the Master asked, referring to the man that had been sitting in a dark corner while the Master was venting. “I’ve got a task for you.”

  “What is thy bidding, My Lord?” James asked as he slowly rose from his kneeling position. His eyes were a startling shade of red, lying deep in their eye sockets; James, no longer in need of aid from his glasses, had thrown them on the floor where they lay, one lens cracked.

  “James, my boy,” the Master grinned, the fact that the Guardian that once had fought him so fiercely as now calling him Master, “I’d like you to go out there and find the Guardians. Make sure that they don’t leave this Realm – and do whatever it takes to make them stay.”

  James nodded and bowed deeply. “Will do, My Lord,” he said. “They won’t leave the Land of Light.”

  The Master rolled his eyes. “Please don’t call it that,” he scoffed. “It’s not ‘light’ anymore.”

  James nodded. “As you wish.”

  The Master nodded back at him. “Go on, now,” he said, “I gave you a task to complete, now didn’t I?”

  James turned around, planning to leave the throne room, but he’d hardly taken three steps before turning back around again.

  “What is it now?” the Master asked, slightly agitated.

  “What if the Guardians attempt to restore the Land of Light by completing the Ritual?” James asked. The Master rubbed his chin.

  “Hm...” he pondered. “You’ve got a point there. I could...” the Master paused for a moment to pace around and consider his options.

  “I could make a spell for you,” the Master ultimately decided after he’d stopped pacing. “With it, you can poison the Altars so the Guardians can do the work for us.”

  “...Poison the altars, My Lord?” James said, sounding as if he was questioning the Master’s word choice. “Perhaps curse is the word you’re looking for.”

  “Perhaps,” the Master mumbled, too busy thinking of a fit curse to even listen to what James had to say. He then realised there was one curse that would be capable of cursing the altars in the right way, but it would take time to prepare it. This meant that James would either have to wait – and thus risking losing the Guardians – or go out without any objective other than to keep the Guardians inside the Light Castle, which meant risking that the Guardians would perform the Ritual. Whichever choice the Master would end up making, there were risks to both.

  “Just stay here for now,” the Master decided. “I’ll prepare something for you which you can use to cast the spell, so you won’t have to cast it all by yourself.

  “This curse will assure our victory in case either of us gets compromised.”

  “Very well, sir,” the Master said. “But – please don’t doubt my competence, My Lord. I will not fail you.”

  The Master allowed a sinister smile crawl up his lips. “I have no doubt in you, or your services, James,” he said, before leaving the throne room.

  *

  Samira and Thomas had left the Dark Castle in such a rush, that they hadn’t considered in which direction they were actually headed – but apparently, they were headed the right way, as they ran into Bella, Antonio and the three remaining Spirits not too far from where they’d left off. They seemed rather shaken by the sudden change the Land of Light had undergone.

  “What happened?” Bella said worriedly as she saw the trio approaching. “The Land of Light has gone dark again. Were you guys at the Dark Castle? What did you find?”

  “I think it’s better if we ask one question at a time,” Aharnish said. “And... I think we’d better save them for when we get back to our own safe haven. It’s not safe out here.”

  “But what about James?” Antonio protested. He noticed that Samira took a step back, shaking her head. “What’s wrong, Sam?”

  “He won’t... he... won’t...” Samira whispered, trying to admit the fact that her brother had been overtaken by evil, but she simply couldn’t. She turned to her left and buried her face in her husband’s chest.

  “...James won’t be coming,” Thomas said quietly. “The Master got him. There’s nothing we can do for him now.

  “As for Luke, he got critically hurt, so we had Akilah and Ince rush him back to the Light Castle.”

  Aoife gave Samira and Thomas a sad, yet encouraging smile. “We’ll see about that,” she said softly. “We’re more powerful than you think... despite having our limits. But, Aharnish is right: before we take any actions, we should get back to the others. They’re probably worried.”

  Aoife wasn’t wrong. When the group returned to the Castle of Light, they found Violina in a frantic situation – and not just because the Land of Light had gone dark.

  “Oh, I’m so glad you came back,” the lady Fixie said to Aharnish, her face looking flushed and worried. “Luke’s doing fine, his wound has stopped bleeding – but Mari really needs your help.”

  Antonio’s expression instantly turned. “Take me to her,” he said. “What happened to her?”

  Violina shook her head. “I wish I knew,” she said.

  Antonio rushed after Violina, followed closely by the three Spirits. Something had happened to Mari, obviously something bad – but what?

  Violina led them into the room Mari had resided for the past day, where the girl lay still in her bed.

  The sight was horrifying; Mari’s brown hair was tangly and messy, her face pale. Black veins had started to spread to the sides of her head. Felicity and Daisy were sitting on chairs at each sides of the bed with worried faces. Marco and Anthony were sitting in the back of the room.

  “What happened to her?” Antonio said, as he sat down on his daughter’s bedside.

  “I wish I knew,” Violina said. Her eyes were lowered and her hands rested on her stomach. “There was nothing I could do.”

  “There’s nothing much you could’ve done,” Aine said quietly while carefully examining Mari. “The sudden change of the atmosphere in the Land of Light has allowed the darkness inside Mari to spread too fast. We need to get her away from this place first before we can begin healing her.”

  “I’m afraid we won’t be accompanying the Guardians in that mission, Aine,” Aoife, who had been looking out the window, suddenly said. “The barrier won’t hold much longer.” She turned around and beckoned her brother. “Aharnish, we must do something.”

  Aharnish nodded at his sister; he knew exactly what she meant. The darkness would eventually manage to slip through the cracks, causing it to get out of control and leaving Lunaria lost once again.

  “Very well,” Aarnish said, indicating that all Guardians had to listen. “This is the plan: Aoife, Aine and I will go with you to the edge of the Land of Light, where you will go on and we will stay behind to strengthen the barrier.”

  “But where should we go?” Samira said as she nervously tapped her feet. “Where does Mari have the best chance of survival?”

  “Aside from the Land of Light, magic is the strongest in the Silver Valley,” Violina suggested. “But I doubt that we can make it there in time.”

  “We’ll just have to risk it,” Luke insisted; nobody had noticed him stumbling into the room until he spoke. His head was bandaged. “Mari needs help; we can’t let her waste away like this.”

  “Luke,” the redhead heard Marco say, “dude, let’s put this whole thing realistically. That Dark Lord out there wants us dead – I doubt we’d make it out of here in one piece, even if we tried.”

  Daisy gave Marco a sideways glance, but then looked Thomas dead in the eye. “They did,” she said, referring to the four confused adults in front of her. “Twenty-five-years ago. So... why couldn’t we do it again?”

  “We, huh, kid?” Antonio let out a sad chuckle. “Yeah... about that. Things were different back then, Daisy. I hate to break it to you, but let’s face it: you don’t know the slightest thing about the way things work in this world. At least we had two weeks to figure it out before we ended up here.”

  “Does it re
ally matter?” Anthony suddenly said as he stood up; his blue eyes met his father’s, but he ignored Thomas and kept on talking anyway. “You guys will be by our side when we’re out there at all times. You can teach us about the dangers that lurk out there. We’re stuck here until the Master is defeated anyway; so we might as well just help out as much as we can.”

  Felicity’s head turned into her little brother’s direction as he spoke; he hadn’t thought Tony would ever be able to stand up like that, and she felt proud at him for doing so.

  “I must say that I have to agree with Tony,” Violina said. Her silverish-blue eyes had a mischievous sparkle due to the rather peculiar lightning. Both her hands rested on her hips. “I can stand in for James. The ten of us can take Mari to the Silver Valley. What’s important right now, is that we stay together.”

  Thomas looked at his friends to see what their opinions on the situation were, when he suddenly felt a slender hand touching his shoulder.

  “I think we should just do it,” Samira said. She gave her husband an encouraging smile, which apparently hit its target.

  “Fine, then,” Thomas decided. “But the five of you stay close to us at all times, and you do exactly what we tell you to, when we tell you to.”

  The faces of the five teenagers lit up. “Don’t worry,” Tony said, “we’ll do anything you say.”

  “Well then, what are we waiting for?” Aine said. “We’ve got to hurry.”

  Antonio and Luke helped Mari to get to her feet while Aoife, Aine and Aharnish went ahead. If they left now, there was a slight chance that the entire Bond of Light would make it out of the Land of Light by sunrise. Timing was critical at this moment.

  However, the Bond of Light had hardly set foot outside the castle before finding themselves surrounded.

  Pitch black, seemingly human mist creatures with soulless, blood red eyes floated around the Bond of Light, staring at them in an eerie fashion.

  “What are those?” Luke asked his aunt and uncle, who both shook their heads; these were shadow creatures they’d thus far been yet to encounter.

  “These are Night Stalkers, a personal creation of mine,” a surprisingly cold, yet familiar voice said. “I remember these creatures once being mentioned to me, but I have never actually seen one... So, I thought, why not make them myself?”

  It was James. The Stalkers floated aside, allowing the red-haired man to become visible to the Bond of Light. Two Shadow Walkers accompanied him in wolf form.

  “Hello, Guardians,” James spoke, all emotion absent from his voice. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

  “James!?” Bella exclaimed. “What happened to you?”

  “I’ve been meaning to tell you...” Samira said quietly, but James interrupted her.

  “Do we know each other?” he insinuated. “I am sorry, Ma’am, but you appear to have mistaken me for someone else.” He stroke the head of one of the Shadow Walkers that was standing beside him as he spoke.

  “You’re playing with us, right, mate?” Antonio said, with an anxious chuckle hinting about in the tone of his voice. “You do remember us, but you just hate us because of what that emo wizard did to you.”

  “Hate is such a strong emotion,” James stated, “of which I feel very little. I remember none of your faces, nor do I feel anything but apathy regarding you. I’m just simply doing as I was told.”

  “That doesn’t sound like the James we know,” Thomas said slowly, but James didn’t respond in any way other than with a teasing smile.

  “Then perhaps I’m not the James you all seem to be taking me for.”

  Thomas crossed his arms. “I doubt it,” he said “The Master just really did a number on you this time, that’s all.”

  “As I already told you,” James said, slightly spreading his arms, “I am just doing as I was told. And I was told to keep you from crossing the border to the other Realms – and to collect her.”

  James pointed at Mari, who was leaning on Luke. The Stalkers instantly took her from Luke’s side, but Luke responded by pulling out his glowing sword and angrily cutting – or, well, as close as it came to cutting – the Stalker that had grabbed his friend to bits.

  “Mr Bellucci,” Luke insisted, “please keep her safe. They’ll keep coming for her.”

  Antonio, who had been insisting on carrying his daughter all along (but hadn’t been allowed to do so by Aharnish and Thomas because they’d probably need him in a fight if it came to it), agreed more than happily. He allowed Mari to lean on him as he shielded her with both his body and glaive. There was no way these monsters would be taking his daughter from him again.

  “Dad, why are you doing this!?” Luke yelled at his father. “Please, stop!”

  “What did you call me?” James said, seemingly pitying Luke. “You think I’m your father?

  “Oh, you silly boy.”

  As James continued to speak, Luke couldn’t believe his ears; he felt his heart break as he heard the man in front of him, the man he’d called his father just a moment ago, say without any sign of emotion in his voice, “I don’t have a son. If I did, I think I would’ve been able to remember him, now don’t you think?”

  Luke didn’t know what to say. He just stared at his father, completely baffled. What was he supposed to say, after all? His own father had just denied that he knew him.

  Luke wouldn’t allow it to affect him too much, however; this wasn’t his father talking about him. This was the darkness that had overtaken him.

  “This isn’t you, James,” Samira said, somehow completely in sync with Luke’s thoughts. “Don’t you recognize us? Any of us?”

  James sighed in exasperation. “You’re wasting both our time, lady.” He commanded the Stalkers to separate Mari and Antonio from the group; at that exact moment, Thomas decided it was enough.

  He drew his sword and lashed out at the Stalkers that were standing between him and Antonio, causing them to dissolve as soon as the glowing blade passed through them.

  “JAMES!” Thomas bellowed, while pointing his sword at his former friend’s throat. “That’s enough. You’re either or letting us pass, or I’ll make you let us pass.”

  “Are you threatening me?” James said slowly, the tone of his voice drastically changing as he spoke.

  Thomas shrugged, without lowering his sword. “Yeah,” he said. “Maybe I am.”

  “Very well,” James said slowly, while reaching for his sword. But, to everyone’s surprise, the blade wasn’t glowing as James took it out of its scabbard - but black smoke seemed to be coming from the now jet black blade. “Let’s dance, Guardian.”

  James charged forward; Thomas dodged his opponent’s sword agilely, while yelling at the others to get back somewhere safe.

  He had no intention of killing James, but if he had to, he wouldn’t hesitate to do so. He felt stings of anger toward himself as soon as the thought came up in his head, but he had to think of his family first – the family that wasn’t on the Master’s side.

  Clang. The sound of two metal blades meeting was heard several times – Thomas thought back of the time when he and James had fought, trying to figure out a way to defeat him – and suddenly realised that this was the exact same place as back then.

  This revelation distracted Thomas for a second, causing James’s sword to make contact with his chest – luckily, the blade bounced off on Thomas’s metal chest armour, but still came down hard enough to send the Brit staggering backward a few steps.

  “If this is how you want to play it, then so be it,” Thomas grunted through gritted teeth and charged for his first attack; James dodged the first swing of Thomas’s blade, but the second sliced the fabric of his dark blue tunic, missing the skin by less than half a centimetre or so.

  Thomas dodged and caught James’s attack with his own sword; he used the same technique as he’d always done back when he had fencing practice with his father. He flicked his wrist and turned his sword, basically forcing James to drop his own.

&
nbsp; Thomas struck. The blade found flesh, piercing James’s side; he dropped to his knees, tried to stand, but had to drop down again.

  “I hope that next time, you’ll think twice before attacking me,” Thomas said, his blade lifting up James’s head by the chin. The pointy end of the blade pricked James in the throat; this was clearly an uncomfortable feeling.

  The expression in James’s red eyes had changed; apathy had made way for hatred. “Don’t worry,” he coughed. “I will. Next time, I’ll attack when you don’t see me coming.”

  “Then I will be waiting,” Thomas said, withdrawing his blade and disregarding James. “Come on,” he said to his friends. “We’re wasting our time here.”

  “Then what can we do to make this visit worth your while?” a voice asked, causing Thomas and the other Guardians to instantly spin on their heels.

  While the Guardians were attending to James, the Master had appeared behind them. The adult Guardians instantly got into a defensive stance, raising their weapons, ready to attack, but the Master didn’t seem impressed.

  “Oh, please,” he sighed. “Make yourself no illusions. You know those weapons won’t do anything.”

  “Perhaps we can’t kill you, but at least we can hurt you plenty,” Antonio spat, “which is almost just as good.”

  “Now now, Antonio,” the Master said, “I was hoping to have a friendly conversation with you. But...” he grinned. “I guess I was wrong.”

  In the meantime, James had got back up on his feet, and was now standing directly behind the Guardians. His side was still bleeding, and the red glow in his eyes was burning with anger.

  But as soon as James raised his sword, preparing to attack, the Master raised his hand. “James, here,” he commanded. James did as he was told; the Guardians let him pass by them without doing anything. Thomas threw the Master an angry glare.

  “The fact that you’re using James like this only proves your cowardice,” Thomas spat. “You’re too afraid to face us head-on.”

  “Am I?” the Master said, his grin growing broader. He then spread his arms, saying, “come on, Bennett. Do your worst.”