Revenge on Guardians
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Revenge on Guardians
Guardians Thriller Series (Book 4)
Anabel Bright
Copyright © 2020 by Anabel Bright
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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About the Author
Anabel Bright is an author, entrepreneur, and mentor. She enjoys travelling, sports, reading, listening to music, watching movies, and taking pictures. She is inspired by great stories and movies. She is creative in her unique ways, spinning a fantasy world that draws you in. Anabel is an emerging author in such genres as fantasy, action and adventure, mystery, thriller, suspense, and romance.
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Contents
Summary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
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Summary
REVENGE ON THE GUARDIANS
The Chosen Guardians
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This story is about the war between Luther, his beasts, and the Guardians. Luther kills a lot of the Guardians and the Guardians retaliate by killing even more beasts. When Luther sees he is being defeated, he goes into hiding and begins to gather more beasts.
Rachel is made one of five Key Guardians because one of the Key Guardians has died during the war. She also becomes romantically involved with the skilled fighter.
Chapter One
Luther sat on a seat in front of the mirror, thinking of the girl Rachel. His lips quirked into a smile. She was something special, he thought. He stared at a mark on his face. It was a mark from long ago when a Guardian had gotten close enough for her sword to draw a line on his face. The line was straight and long, from ear to his eye. He was lucky the sword hadn't destroyed either.
Selene.
Luther could never forget that name. It was the name of the Guardian who had given him the mark on his face. Selene was one of the key Guardians then, and she was one of the Guardians who had put him in a tomb. The girl, Rachel, reminded him so much of her. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought Rachel was a descendant of Selene. But he knew better. Oh, how well he knew better. He knew Frank, the key Guardian for sword fighting, was the descendant of Selene. He would have his revenge on her by killing him.
He traced the mark on his face with his right thumb. He would have so much joy killing Frank. He was sure Selene would shout in horror from the spirit world when she would see Frank's detached head from his body.
He threw his head back and laughed.
Oh! What joy.
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It was three days after we arrived at the temple and I was tired of being cooped up in a room. After I had drunk the potion, I was feeling a bit better and was shown to a room which was to be mine until we departed. For the past two days, I had stayed in my room, only leaving it so we could gather to eat or I would check up on Brandon, who was still in the hospital. Thankfully, the last time I had seen him, he was doing much better. He was the only one who had taken the brunt of my stupidity.
God. How could I have been so stupid? Allowing Luther to get so close to us, close enough to kill any of us. Something he had planned to do, considering the fact that Brandon was still in the medical room. Because of my stubbornness. Granted, Luther had been the one to send us the message that the Goddess and keepers of the Realm were requesting our presence. Master Philip had questioned the keepers, asking if they were the ones who had sent for us, and their answer had been negative. That meant Luther had planned everything from the start. I hadn't known that Aviona was, indeed, Luther who was just masquerading as a little girl. But still, if I had not been so stubborn ... If I hadn't been too compassionate ... If I hadn't disregarded Master Charles and Mistress Adele's suggestion to send Aviona back alone to the City of Kings ... There were so many ‘ifs.’ I would have done things differently to prevent the battle we had fought at the entrance of the Temple. Things I could've done differently to prevent Brandon from lying in the medical room.
Everything was my fault.
I had brought Luther so close to entering the Temple. The sacred ground of the Goddess. Maybe I wasn't so special, after all. Maybe I had not been chosen by the Goddess. Even if I was, she would be regretting choosing me after what I had done. I was sure everyone was blaming me for what happened. I had avoided talking to anyone after the incident. I ate my food quickly and left the room before anyone else. And whenever I visited Brandon, I did so when he was asleep.
Today I was tired of my self-pity. I was tired of wondering what everyone thought of me now while still dreading to know. I was tired of hiding from every keeper in the temple so I wouldn't see the accusatory look in their eyes. I didn't want to know how they blamed me for almost bringing Luther into their holy place.
I stood up from my bed and cracked the door open a little to check if there was anyone outside. Everywhere was silent. Satisfied, I stepped out of my room. Bored out of my wits because of my decision to isolate myself from others, I needed some relief. I decided to tour the Temple. I was sure there were many interesting things to see.
The first room I saw turned out to be, well, a meditation room or something. I had opened the door and peered inside to find some men and women, ‘keepers,’ with their legs folded under their body and their hands clasped in front of them. I immediately closed the door and exited that place before anyone could see me.
The next room was some sort of training room. At first, I frowned at seeing the keepers fighting each other. I was surprised. But then I came to the realization that it was necessary for them to train. What if the Temple was attacked by some unexpected force like what happened with Luther just two days ago? It was indeed necessary for them to be prepared in times like that. I groaned again with the guilt. I found Master Philip and Alec in the training room with the keepers. Just as I turned to close the door and retreat, Master Philip's eyes found me. Caught, I blushed and closed the door before running down the hall to check out another room. The next few rooms I opened were empty rooms. The ones that weren't empty had been nothing spectacular.
I left the building entirely and walked around the temple compound. I hadn't gone far when I saw a line building with a single door. It looked interesting enough, so I walked towards it. I opened the door an
d looked inside. The room was for ... Okay. I didn't know if it was used for anything or what it was used for. The room was huge and was decorated in different ways. A part of the room had flowers, another part had food items and another part had rocks, rocks that were piled on top of each other as if someone was paying homage to the Goddess. The middle of the room held carved images that were mostly of the Goddess on a table. I didn't know who the other images that were carved represented. In front of the images was a mat and the back also held a mat. The left side of the room was covered with a bright red curtain as if it held someone highly esteemed behind it. As I glanced around, I noticed the room was painted with five different colors. Yellow, blue, red, white and purple. The colors of our Goddess. The place looked so sacred.
"Hello?" I called out quietly. I looked around, waiting for someone to come out from the closed curtains, and question me on what I was doing in the room. But no one came out.
I cleared my throat, and this time round shouted, "Anyone in here?"
Although no one answered me, I still felt like I was violating a sacred place. I turned to leave when the curtains were thrown up, and a woman emerged.
The woman looked like she was in her early forties. She was barefoot but was dressed in a blue flowing gown. Her wrists each had two red beads wrapped around them. Her face was covered in white dots. She was carrying a basket of fruits as she came out. I could only stare at her, wondering who she was. She stared at me for a while without uttering a word. Then she spoke.
"What are you doing here?"
"I ... Uhm," I stammered. "I lost my way. I'm sorry. I'll just let myself out." I took a step backward when the basket in her hands fell to the floor and the fruits in it scattered around the room. I looked from the fruits to the woman and gasped. Her eyes that had been dark brown were now growing pure white.
"Hey. Are you okay?"
"Rachel."
I froze. How did she know my name? I hadn't told her my name, had I? We had only exchanged a few words, and our names had not popped up. "How do you know my name?"
She laughed; she actually threw her head back and laughed. "I know everything about you, girl. Your past, your present, and your future."
I shivered. Her voice sounded so different from when she had emerged from behind the curtains. It sounded so surreal and melodious. It sounded like something otherworldly. It was like another person was speaking through the woman. Someone high and mighty. "Who are you?"
She cocked her head to one side. The gesture seemed so robotic. She stared at me as she said her next words. "You know who I am, Rachel. I made you."
I gasped. Liliane. The Goddess. How had she entered that body? What was she doing here? I glanced around the room once again. And most of all, where was this?
She gestured to the room with her hand. "This is my private chambers."
"I'm sorry for invading your private chamber."
She shook her head to take away my worries. Another movement that looked forced, like she wasn't sure how to do it. "I brought you to me."
I frowned. "Why?"
"To tell you to stop doubting. I chose you as mine. You're so special, Rachel. You need to stop doubting yourself every step of the way. A huge responsibility is going to befall you very soon. Don't shy away from it. Do it. The position was meant for you all this while. She only held the position temporarily for you, for you to grow up into the wonderful woman that you now are, to become a fearless warrior. I am proud of you, Rachel. Never forget that."
"What?" I asked, confused. "What responsibility are you talking about? What position? And who is the female that only held the position temporarily for me? What is going on?"
"Uhm," the woman cleared her throat. "Can you please stop shouting? You're giving me a headache."
I looked at the woman in shock. Her eyes were back to dark brown. And her voice was changed. It was no longer surreal and melodious but was back to normal. Her movements didn't seem forced and robotic anymore.
I looked around the room like I would find the Goddess looking at me again somewhere. "Where is she?" I asked the woman. I wasn't done with the Goddess. I had a lot of questions to ask and she needed to answer them.
"Who?" The woman asked.
"The person inside ..." I trailed off. Maybe she didn't know the Goddess had inhabited her body just now? If so, I didn't want to be the one to break the news to her.
The woman smiled at me. "The Goddess, Liliane, right? You can say it, you know."
Oh well... "Where is she?" I repeated.
"She's gone." The woman bent down and began picking her fruits from the floor where they had fallen and put them back into her basket. It was as if I had hallucinated everything that had happened just a few minutes ago. Like the Goddess hadn't spoken to me through her body. After picking up all the fruit, she sat on one of the mats, the one where she could still see the door even though she was seated. She placed the basket on the table and took an apple, biting into it. She paused as if suddenly remembering something and turned to face me.
"Forgive my manners." She offered the basket to me. "Want one?"
I couldn't comprehend what was happening. Who the hell was this woman? I didn't bother giving her a reply before hurrying out of the weird room, which the Goddess claimed to be her private chambers.
I had just stepped out of the room when I nearly collided with someone – a keeper.
"Oh goodness," the keeper, a female, exclaimed and came to a halt to prevent hitting me.
"I'm sorry," I rushed out.
She waved away my apology. "It's okay. From the look on your face, it seems like you have met Susan. She always has that effect on people."
All thoughts of avoiding people, especially the keepers, to avoid seeing the blame on their faces, fled out the window after my weird encounter inside the weird room. "Susan?"
She nodded. "Yes, Susan. The woman inside there." She pointed at the room I had just stepped out of.
"Who is she?" I asked the question that had been plaguing me.
"Susan is the vessel and mouthpiece of Liliane, our Goddess. The Goddess sends her messages through visions, and she relates the message to the concerned parties."
"Just that?" That wasn't what had happened inside the room some minutes ago. "My question might sound weird to you, but I just have to know something. Does the Goddess-like, I don't know, inhabit her body sometimes and pass a message directly to someone."
"Yes. That has only happened a handful of times though and ..." The keeper trailed off and stared at me in a new light. Like she was just seeing me clearly for the first time. "Did that happen to you when you were inside the private chambers of the Goddess?"
I shrugged. "Maybe?"
"That's just ... Wow. That is just so special. You must be someone special. I've served our Goddess in this temple for fifteen whole years, and nothing of that sort had happened. Yes, I've heard it happened before but not since I arrived at the temple. What did the Goddess say to you?"
I didn't feel like telling this keeper what the Goddess had told me. I haven't even processed the information myself. Something told me the keeper wouldn't be satisfied until I told her the message of the Goddess. I tried to think of something to say. "I think I heard my name," I lied and pointed down the hall. "Someone is calling me. It must be Mistress Adele."
I didn't wait for the keeper's reply before turning and running towards the direction I had pointed.
Chapter Two
The direction I pointed toward turned out to be a place I knew well. It was the path that led to the medical room. I had been planning to visit Brandon in the evening, but since I was already there, I decided to visit him now. Thankfully he was asleep when I arrived. I took a seat and sat by his side, watching him sleep. He looked so peaceful in sleep. Not like he did when he was awake. When he was awake, it was like he carried the troubles of the world on his shoulders. I knew the death of his mother and sister still troubled him. He never talked about them. I had only stayed
in the room for a few minutes when his eyes fluttered and flew open.
I stilled. I hadn't been expecting that. I didn't know what to say. Apologize for getting him injured? The last time we had spoken was the day we had seen Luther.
Before I could say anything, Brandon broke the silence with a smile. "Hey."
"Hey. How are you doing?"
"Tired of staying in one place," he replied. "I'm all fine, but the nurses wouldn't let me go." Brandon was just like me. We couldn't stay in one place for a long time.
I chuckled. "They just want to make sure you're okay, Brandon."
"I'm okay. I'm glad you visited, though. I was beginning to think you were purposefully avoiding me."
I licked my suddenly dry lips. He didn't know, did he? "Why would you think that?"
He shrugged. "Because whenever I asked about you, the nurses always told me you came while I was asleep and just left. It was either you were avoiding me or you're now a creep who has a thing for watching men sleep."
I laughed. Brandon had a way of making me laugh and taking away my troubles. And that was exactly what I needed after hearing those words from the Goddess. "I don't have any ‘thing.’ Fine. I was avoiding you, okay?"
He raised his head from the bed and sat down, his gaze turning serious. "Why?"
I bit my bottom lip and took my eyes away from him to play with my fingers. "I... I just feel it's my fault you were injured."
He frowned. "Why would you think that?"
I threw my hands up helplessly. "Because if I hadn't been so stubborn about Aviona, or rather, Luther, he wouldn't have gotten his way with us."