Guardian: Darkness Rising

by Melanie Houtman

  “Felicity?” Marco said, gently shaking the girl in attempt to wake her. “Felicity, can you hear me?”

  “She’s bleeding, Marco,” Daisy said, looking at the back of Felicity’s head. “And... by the looks of her ear, she’s got frostnip.”

  “Doesn’t that develop into frostbite?” Tony said. Daisy nodded, biting her lip. She then looked up at Luke.

  “We’ve got to get Felicity out of here to somewhere she can warm up,” Daisy said, “and fast.”

  Luke stared at his unconscious cousin. “Take off her armour,” he then commanded. “It radiates the cold. When her armour is off, take off your cloaks and wrap them around her – I’ll carry her down the rest of the way.”

  Luke’s friends agreed silently and followed his commands.

  “We’ve got to hurry,” Luke said, shoving his sword back into the scabbard. “Felicity’s life as well as Mari’s depends on it now.”

  Broken Curse

  But it wasn’t James who’d been the one to deploy the Stalkers. It had all been the Master’s doing. He was in a hurry, and had successfully managed to locate the teenagers.

  The Master was very well aware of the fact that these children were the children of another generation of Guardians, which made them a threat to his victory. And, aside from that, they moved fast. Too fast. And thus, the Master decided to get rid of them. It was too bad he had to give up his initial plan, which had been to capture Mari and test the curse on her whilst she was alive, but the Guardians were in a perfect position for the Master to take them all out at once.

  An opportunity he most certainly couldn’t afford to miss. And that meant that the Master would have to do the same to Mari as he’d done to Sabrina so long ago – resurrect her with Dark Magic.

  James kept insisting that he had to be the one to go out and collect Mari’s body, but the Master kept refusing his offers without offering any kind of explanation in return – this seemed to frustrate James, but the Master didn’t regard James’s frustration as a threat.

  James, however, took that differently. He was frustrated with the Master and his ways; the Master refused to give any logical reason as to why James wasn’t allowed to redeem his previous mistake and had to stay inside the castle instead.

  Unfortunately for the Master, James wouldn’t get discouraged – quite the opposite, actually. The curse that James had fallen under apparently didn’t have the effect the Master had expected. James’s free will was somehow still stronger than his desire to serve the Master, which made James vulnerable to the exact thing he was about to do; run away.

  James came up with an excuse as to why he was leaving the castle; it was a poor excuse, but for some reason, the Master fell for it. James told his master he was going to check if the Spirits had returned to their castle.

  But the truth was that James wanted to prove himself. And, aside from that, James wanted revenge. That Guardian had humiliated James, and thus he had to pay. And since Thomas was no longer around, the children had to suffer in his place.

  James quickly made his way to the border of the Land of Light, stopping at the barrier. The Spirits, who had gone to the barrier to strengthen it, were nowhere to be seen – but James could feel their strength flowing through the barrier as he touched it.

  “This barrier is the only thing that’s keeping us back, My Lord,” James said. “It must be destroyed... but you’ve been waiting too long. I shall prove to you that we can win this... it’ll only be a matter of time.”

  And after speaking those words, he crossed the border between the Land of Light and the Edge.

  Although plenty of dark energy had already slipped through the cracks of the barrier, it still wasn’t enough for the curse to keep a hold of James, causing the curse to be lifted almost instantly.

  To James, after the curse had been lifted, it felt as if he was finally stepping into the sunlight after having been trapped in a dark prison for decades. It was an amazing sensation; his memories of his family and friends flooded back into his mind, and the sense of warmth and happiness reunited in his heart.

  Being free again was the best, yet also the strangest thing. James remembered some of his actions, some of the things he’d done while being under the dark influence. And he didn’t like any of it; especially not since he didn’t know how bad the things he didn’t remember were.

  James felt the wound Thomas had made in his side sting, yet didn’t care. He was just glad he hadn’t harmed any of his friends.

  James quickly realised that it wouldn’t be long before the Master would know James had fled – although he’d initially left the Land of Light with a different purpose – and began to run.

  James was on his own in this one; he couldn’t count on any help of his friends. But there was one thing James could do; he could guide the children. They wouldn’t have to do this on their own.

  As he started to run, all James could do was hope that he’d be able to catch up with the teenagers that had fled the Land of Light before the Master would find him.

  *

  What James didn’t know, was that two particular shadows had been watching his back all this time, knowing the redhead would slip up eventually. And when he would, they’d be there to help him.

  But, before Akilah and Ince could guide James to his friends, they had to announce his return first, to prevent any... misunderstandings from occurring, obviously.

  Akilah just believed it’d be a good idea to give the teenagers a head’s up – as they remembered James attacking them in some kind of catatonic, evil state – and he was no longer like that.

  Of course the two shadows could still travel fairly, quickly, although it went quite a bit slower than usual. But they’d reached the teenagers soon enough; they were still walking down the mountain, as Violina had directed them toward a path that wasn’t too steep to walk on.

  “Violina?” Akilah said, approaching the young fixie. “We’ve got news.”

  “Miss Akilah?” Violina said, stopping dead in her tracks; she didn’t know of the events that had passed in the Dark Castle. “What happened to you?”

  “What happened to us is not important,” Ince stated. “What happened to James is.”

  Luke stepped forward, so that he ended up standing beside Violina. “What happened to Dad?” he said on a surprisingly demanding tone. “What do you know?”

  “Well...” Akilah said, smiling, although she wasn’t sure whether her smile was visible or not, “We know that James has broken free from his curse.”

  “But – how, then?” Luke said, while checking up on Mari; she was able to stand and move around on her own, but she seemed quite absent by the look in her eyes. “How’d he do it?”

  Ince moved his hands to his sides. “Oh, but that’s simple,” he declared. “He just... left the Land of Light.”

  “Wait-” Mari suddenly blurted, raising her palms defensively, “you’re saying that that is all it takes for him to return to normal?”

  “Well, yeah,” Akilah shrugged. “We... probably should’ve told you that before, shouldn’t we have?”

  “Yeah,” Mari confirmed, arms crossed. “You probably should’ve.” The others couldn’t help but agree with her.

  Violina, however, seemed ecstatic. She snapped her fingers twice as she rejoiced, “But of course! How couldn’t I have seen that before?”

  The fixie then turned to Akilah and Ince, her blue eyes sparkling with joy. “It’s the energy you transferred into his soul, isn’t it?” she spoke, the words flowing from her lips in a whisper. Akilah nodded.

  Violina continued to mouth her every word to Akilah and Ince, with her back turned toward everyone else but Luke.

  Luke tried his very best to make out what Violina was saying, but ultimately, to his own frustration, failed to do so.

  Akilah nodded again. “Yes,” she said, speaking out loud, “but the effects that followed were unexpected, and James is vulnerable to the energy that surrounds him, which led him to his tra
nsformation.”

  “The effects of what?” Luke asked, almost begging for answers; he almost forgot that he was still carrying Felicity. “Oh, come on! I want to know everything!”

  “You know everything you need to know, Lucas,” Ince decided. “We have to go now. We must make sure that James gets here safely. The closer he is to the lot of you, the smaller the chances of the Master reaching him will be.”

  “Sure thing,” Luke smiled. “Just bring my Dad back here safely.

  “Please.”

  “Don’t worry, kid,” Ince reassured Luke with a wink, “we’ve got this.”

  *

  James was still running. He didn’t know where he was, (mostly because he couldn’t see clearly without his glasses), but didn’t care, either. He just had to get as far away from the Land of Light as possible.

  Eventually, James just couldn’t take it anymore; he allowed himself to fall flat on the ground. The grass itched his nose, but he didn’t mind. He hadn’t slept in twenty-four hours, plus the dark magic that had overtaken his body had asked a lot from him. James hadn’t noticed while he was under the dark magic’s influence, but now everything had cleared, he felt the exhaustion and aching all over his body.

  James lay on his back, breathing slowly, his eyes closed. He knew he had to continue running, that there was no time to rest. But James knew he couldn’t keep running like that for hours without even knowing where to go. He had to find a way to contact Luke and his friends.

  And for a moment, it seemed as if his prayers had been answered. James opened his eyes upon hearing the sound of rustling grass; he quickly got on all fours to see what was going on, not sure whether to grab his sword or not.

  It didn’t take long for the redhead to realise that there were three creatures headed this way; he instantly recognised the beings as two Stalkers and a Warlock Spirit. James stared at the monsters, who were apparently now strong enough to sustain their form in bright daylight.

  For a moment, James hesitated; he was afraid he’d pass out if he’d start running again – but he had no choice. James reached for his sword, turned around and made a dash for it.

  The Warlock was fast. And the Stalkers were even faster. It didn’t take long before they’d caught up with James, who decided running was no longer an option, and would stand his ground against the three creatures instead.

  Unfortunately, that was exactly what the Warlock wanted James to do.

  The Warlock was carrying a staff, similar to the Master’s, but smaller in size, and was using it to send rays of Dark Magic flying toward James – who blocked them with the blade of his sword. The redhead dashed forward, dodging any additional attacks, and lashed out at the Warlock - slicing him in half in the process. The Stalkers were circling around him in the sky as he did so.

  “What do you think of the improvements I made to my hunters, James?” the Master spoke, his voice coming from behind. James turned around, and thus, didn’t notice the Stalkers floating down to the Warlock’s smouldering remains. The two shadows fused, causing the Warlock to become whole once again.

  The creature quickly rose to its feet behind James, who turned around, but was already too late – the Warlock trapped James against its chest by violently pressing the staff horizontally against James’s chest.

  “Perhaps I was too quick to ask that question,” the Master said, letting out a dark chuckle at the sight of James’s frustrated face. “It’s quite the upgrade, don’t you think?

  “And then to think that you designed those lovely creatures. Night Stalkers, did you call them, huh?”

  James growled at the Master. “Let me go!”

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that,” the Master said. “Although I must admit – without your glasses, you’re not worth much, are you, Riverdale?”

  James wrinkled his nose. “Don’t try to insult me,” he hissed. The Master laughed.

  “Oh, dear. Someone’s a little frustrated,” he said. “Trust me – there’s nothing for you to go back to... So don’t be in such a hurry to get away.”

  “How about you let him go, Asura?” Akilah suddenly spoke. “I’d like to have a little chat with you.”

  The Master turned his attention away from James to look at Akilah, but he didn’t order the warlock to let James go. Instead, the Warlock only pressed the staff tighter against its captive’s chest.

  The Master sighed dramatically. “Why do you always have to get in my way, Sister?”

  “Perhaps because we’re family?” Ince answered for his sister. The Master wrinkled his nose at the sight of the second shadow.

  “I thought I’d got rid of your nuisance by turning you into a shadow. But frankly, I was wrong.

  “It’s not your face I should get rid of, it’s your personality.”

  Well, feel free to try,” Ince said mockingly. “If you let James go, you can do whatever you want to do to us.”

  The Master snorted. He was so fixated on Ince that he didn't notice Akilah sneaking off toward James and the Warlock Spirit. “Why should I accept your offer?” he scoffed. “You're useless to me. You have nothing to offer me.”

  Meanwhile, Akilah had discovered how useful her current state truly was. She managed to 'merge' with the Warlock, gaining control over the Spirit's movements. Akilah freed James from the Warlock's grip, who then proceeded to finish the Spirit off.

  “We’re worth more than you think, “Ince said, as he watched the scene behind the Master. “Your minions are at our mercy.”

  That last sentence was bound to make the Master suspicious. Ince knew he’d grown overconfident, but was silently hoping that the Master would keep his attention directed toward his brother – but Ince was dead wrong.

  Akilah had urged James to run, to get out of the Master’s sight, and that just so happened to be exactly what James was doing when the Master turned around.

  The Master raised his staff, and James was forced to stop dead in his tracks. Both Akilah and Ince yelled out their brother’s name, but he wouldn’t listen.

  With a single tug on his staff, the Master pulled James in – when the redhead was close enough, the Master grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

  “Do not play me for a fool, Guardian,” he said. “You’re mine. No matter what these two dolts have to say about it.”

  Despite the fact that he couldn’t move, James clearly felt the sharp pain in his arm when the sharp bottom tip of the Master’s staff sank into his flesh.

  James sank to the ground; the sharp pain in his arm quickly spread through his entire body, eventually causing him to pass out. What James didn’t know, was that the ‘curse’ the Master had prepared to test on Mari was a small vial of the Master’s blood near the end of the staff, which would empty itself if the vial’s sharp, needle-like tip made contact with flesh.

  It assured the Master’s full control of his victim, who, in this case, was James.

  “I told you, boy,” the Master scoffed dismissively, “you’re nothing but a boy compared to me.” He then proceeded to grin at his siblings. “And there’s nothing the two of you can do to stop me.” After speaking those words, he swung around his staff and disappeared with James, both of them dissolving into black smoke.

  Ince moved around uncomfortably. “I think we should tell the Guardians about what happened here... I feel like we’ve given them false hope.”

  “We should do that. And... we should also admit that there was one thing we didn’t understand, or perhaps didn’t want to believe in,” Akilah said to Ince, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder as she smiled at him. It wasn’t a genuine smile of happiness, however; there was sadness reflecting in her eyes. “The rules of this game have changed.

  “And we aren’t the ones that changed them.”

  *

  The Spirits caught up with the Guardians by the time they’d reached the foot of the mountain. Akilah felt bad about having to bring such bad news – especially after seeing how happy Luke had been hen he found out h
is father was safe.

  In fact, Luke was the first to notice the two shadow Spirits hiding between the trees, beckoning them to come closer; the redhead seemed excited to see them. Of course he was.

  And it seemed as if the others were, too. Akilah cringed at the thought of their disappointment when they’d find out the truth.

  “Akilah!” Luke said as he approached the shadow, almost bouncing up and down with anticipation. “Where’s my dad? Is he safe? Is he alright?”

  Luke looked around as his friends joined him, and as James remained nowhere to be seen, Luke’s smile dropped almost instantly.

  “...He’s not here, is he?” Luke sighed. “The Master got to him again.”

  “I’m sorry, James,” Akilah said. “We’d found him just in time, and he almost got away – but the Master got the better of us.”

  Luke groaned in agony. “No!” he said. “So – he had to go through whatever the Master did to him twice? We’ve got to go back and save him!”

  Luke’s friends were about to object to his plan when Felicity suddenly moved. She didn’t make any large movements, but it was noticeable enough to let the others know that she was awake.

  “Felicity?” Luke said, instantly dropping to his knees to lay Felicity on the ground. “Felicity, can you hear me?”

  Luke saw his friends joining around him; they all wanted to know whether Felicity was alright or not.

  “...Guys?” Felicity said, slowly moving her hand upward. “Luke, is that you?”

  “Yes, Felicity, it’s me,” Luke said. “We’re all here. We’re safe, Felicity.”

  Felicity opened her sea-blue eyes. “Luke, where are you? Guys, this isn’t funny!”

  “But – we’re right here, Felicity!” Tony shouted, diving forward and grabbing his sister’s hands. “We’re right here!”

  “Tony?” Felicity asked; her eyes didn’t move toward his face, but remained unseeing, staring into the distance. “I... can’t... see anything.”