The Chosen And the guardians

by Liviu Costin Sociu

  Chapter 13: In Search of a Common Home

  A dark facility was conducting it's own experiments, no soul was around such building, but inside, shadows were scurrying left and right. The dark man that attacked the group entered a room "How are things going?" Another human shaped shadow nodded "Everything seems going according to plan, the dark energy seems to be resonating with the subject, but it doesn't seem able to overcome and control him yet. In fact that darkness is accumulating in one place and is staying idle, we tried to make it resonate more but...we did not obtain any result up until now" The man sighed "I see, continue with the experiments, we might get lucky and..." In that instant an explosion made the building shake and another shadow came running in the room "The subject has escaped!" The 2 dark figures in the room were astonished "Fools, he is precious and unstable, AFTER HIM NOW!" The shadows nodded and dashed away while alarms were sounding all over the facility.

  A young man, black hair and eyes with a strange black suit with purple lines on it, was running away while the confusion was calming down at the facility "Ng....darn them, I will make them pay one day..." the young man kept running farther and farther until he stopped suddenly when the brown haired shadow showed itself in front of him smiling "What a cute little subject you are, shouldn't you be an obedient guinea pig and stay in your cage?" The young man snorted "SHUT UP! SCREW YOU!" The dark figure laughed amused "Now now, it's not polite to treat like that those who can control your life...don't you think?" The young man got himself in a fighting position but the dark figure started laughing "Do you really think you can fight me? I'll show you what power means!" a powerful dark ray was emitted by the hand of the dark figure and hit the young man directly but he withstood the attack...until he was thrown down by it's raw power. After a while he started to get up "What?!" The dark figure was surprised by his recovery, that ray should had at least made him unconscious, but he was still up and ready to fight more "Not gonna be so easy, you disgusting thing...." a dark energy started to be emitted by the young man's body and he started hovering over the ground "DIE!" A dark sphere dashed with an incredible speed against the dark figure who could not fully block it and made him fly away followed by a violent explosion. The young man started panting heavily "Darn....." After that he used all his remaining stamina and power to hover away at an unthinkable speed, leaving his pursuer unable to follow, especially after the last attack that beat him down.

  The young man was far already from the facility and pursuers but his lack of energy made him faint on the ground. He found himself inside the darkness, he was floating aimlessly "Dark...Dark..." A low pitch voice was calling that name over and over until the young man opened his eyes and looked around the darkness he was in "Finally you woke up" The young man was surprised "Who are you?" The darkness itself answered "The darkness inside you, the one that was instilled in you and were experimenting upon" The young one with anger started to shout "GET AWAY FROM ME!" while still floating, the voice answered with the same calm as before "I gave you the power to resist and fight before, do you really wish me to exit from your body and go away? You are still in dark territory and they might catch you back. Are you sure you want me to go away?" The young man was silently thinking and looked around "Why would you help me in the first place? Aren't you darkness? The same thing that those scums are made of?" again the voice answered "I am not them, neither related to them. I was born from you and so I am you in many ways, You could call me your alter ego, guardian, other self, or whatever you wish, but I am the source of your powers too. Shadows have feelings as well as all the other things humans have, most are born from those same feelings but prefer to ignore them and suppress them, accepting the rage, hate or whatever feeling created them as their only source of power and guidance, so they become mindless warriors. The most open-minded, so to speak, are the generals and commander of the army of darkness, they are superior and more dangerous than the common shadows. I was not formed yet when they instilled me in you, so I used you as my source and started to become sentient and develop powers, thoughts and so on. As long as you hate those who did this to you...I will help you fight them, that if, you still don't wish me to begone..." The young man nodded "How do I know you aren't lying? They did that too many times..." The darkness started to accumulate around the young man "You know it's true, I don't need to prove it, you can feel me as I can feel you, we are pretty much one thing, but different at the same time...by being unite we can achieve many things, but that will be one hard union to accept and make..." The young man sighed and nodded "If you truly will help me destroy those scum then you are welcome to use me as you wish, but...I want you to obey me and use your powers as I command and wish, are we clear?" The darkness started to enter his body while the voice commented one last time "Yes, but things aren't always in your command....". The young man's body started to get on his feet "Ahh...finally I have the control, now...let's get me out of their search area..." That said he started to walk away while his eyes were no longer black but were pure darkness.

  In the meantime, at the apartment, the group was packing up the necessary "Drake, take whatever you think necessary, don't get heavy though, we might need freedom of movement to avoid any dangers or problems" Lifia in the meanwhile was silently packing up in the kitchen and, Reit, was simply standing beside the door with her eyes closed "Remind me again why are we moving out Iris? I mean we could keep beating the crap of out of them and keep this nice little place, good for practice too with that nice rooftop..." Iris sighed "I already told you, I know we could beat them, but they know our exact position, force and powers. They are coming after us, so the town is safe for now, especially if we go away, also we can't afford a huge attack or sneak attack, they might come in huge number and destroy us, we cannot allow that" Reit again nodded and sighed "Yeah yeah...I still think we could simply beat them to ashes..." but Lifia got word and, with her usual calmness, started to explain "It's more of a strategic move, not only we aren't safe here, but we lack what we need to organize ourselves at the best of our possibilities, also, if we are to find other guardians we should have where to place them. A common house is not enough, so, we must find another place, abandoned maybe, and use it as a base of operations, at least temporary. By the way...you could help here too you know?" Reit once again nodded in response "All right all right, whatever you say, but I wont help packing, I don't need much" Iris laughed "Like food or water? Don't need them neither?" Reit snorted back "All right already...I will carry the heavy stuff all right? I don't mind anyway, could be another good way to train while we travel" Iris nodded "Hehe, whatever you say Reit". In the afternoon the group started to move away from the house, in search of another home. While traveling, they passed again in the woods where Drake used to hide after the betray of Lifia, he started to look around and stopped on his stone, which he used to rest upon and where he met the young lady that helped him settle his thoughts. A voice started to echo around "Guardians...what is your business in this little forest?" The voice seemed far...yet near, a whisper...but clear like a shout and calm like the waters of a lake...but dangerous like a tsunami. "We are only passing by, we are searching for our new home" Drake simply answered without considering who was talking, he felt like that voice was familiar, friendly in some way...and answered without any restrain or thought "I see..." A young girl came from behind a tree and smiled "You are welcome in mother nature's territory young guardians" Then she graciously bowed toward the group and smiled gently once again. Iris watched around to be sure this wasn't a trap "Who are you young one?" The girl smiled gently to Iris's question "I am a servant of nature but, if you must use a name, then call me Arinretia or simply Arin" She once again flashed a gentle, yet calming smile toward the group. Iris nodded and calmed herself down once sure they weren't in danger "Mother nature knew of your arrival, she instructed me to guide you toward a new home that she found for you. It's not permanent, but as a temporary shelter should do" The group nodded to one another and started to follow
the young girl into the deeps of the woods.

  Once walked for a while, they arrived at the base of a huge mountain and the girl stopped in front of its wall and smiled "Well...here we are" the group looked around and were quite perplexed "Ehm...here?" the young girl touched gently the wall and a portal opened magically showing the entrance "After you young guardians...." The group seemed a little hesitant but Reit began to walk into the portal annoyed by the situation and the others followed after her, but Arin simply smiled and vanished into thin air after the group entered. The group stood in front of a huge mansions covered in moss and abandoned, the place was new to them, they left the woods it seems but could not understand where they could be, a voice interrupted their thoughts and scouting "Welcome Young guardians, This mansion is a little gift from nature for you, use it well. This mansion is an hour far from the city on the opposite direction you departed your journey, also it's into a deep and confusing forest, but you can use the little entrance on the right of the mansion to get out of the forest...but it will take more to reach the city when needed. Allow us now to bless you with our power" After while the house started to free itself of moss, it simply started to retreat and go away, the house seemed almost new and was ready to be used. The group was quite confused but they didn't questioned, for now, what was happening. A new home is welcome for now and, if it was a trap, they would just fought the enemy. Once inside, they observed that the house was bigger than it seemed from the outside, simple design and filled with furniture and the necessary to live "We carried some of your race's things that we saw in their houses, we prepared this mansion for your efforts, such is mother nature's wish and will" That said the voice disappeared and the group started to organize their things and visit the house and it's rooms.

  Dark was still walking but was quite tired, panting and falter. His energy was getting lower and lower "Dammit...why couldn't they build their little lab in a better place? Maybe near a city or something, I'm tired of walking..." the other self started to regain consciousness "About time" The man watched around confused "How...when....where am I?" From inside him a voice answered "I took control of your body while you were out cold. You used all your energy, and a good chunk of mine, to fight back there but I could walk...so I did just that to avoid those pesky scouts" Dark seemed confused but nodded anyway "Ok....whatever, what now?" The darkness sighed "Well...search a place to rest for now, we need to get our strength back and move a little faster maybe." The man looked around and found a little place where he could rest but he was hungry too. Little was there to eat, just wasteland and desolation, but a little river was nearby and, following the sound of water, he found it and tried fishing but with no big results "Damn...too weak or inexperienced to fish..." the darkness once again sighed "Maybe we should use something a little more effective?" "Like what?" the darkness then got control of his right arm and shot a little dark ray toward the water and a dead fish came up "Like that?" The man smiled slightly "Nice trick there....uhh.." "Call me Dark, it's the best name for me, also I suggest you use it too...you are not far from what I am anyway...your previous name its now a tag you don't own and neither need anymore" The man nodded "So be it...". After some time, using a little of his power, he got a little fire up and got the fish well cooked, eat, and went into a deep slumber to recover the high amount of energy lost on that crazy day. Hours were passing fast while he was sleeping, a whole day passed and he woke up in the next morning "Man....quite a sleep I had..." The darkness once again spoke "Yeah, like 30 hours of sleep?" "What?" "You were asleep for more than a whole day...anyway it doesn't matter, it's normal...you are not used to use your powers, let alone using such a huge amount...let's be grateful you aren't half dead because of it and slept ONLY a day and something" Dark sighed "Whatever, let's go...but to where?" The darkness stood in silence for a while "...Well...A home? Somewhere where we could train, recover fully, and use as a base to organize our little raids against those things you call enemy." Dark started to walk toward a new home, an unknown one, but new nonetheless, it was vital for him to find a place, he could not hang on that much in that conditions. After a long time, he noticed a little entrance near a forest, kind of a cave, it was hidden and difficult to notice "Pay attention, it's magic protected too, technically It would be difficult for the darkness warriors to spot it, seems like our condition allows a little edge, also nice of you to notice such hidden entrance..." "What do we do? Try to see where it leads? At this point even a cave would be good for a rest, I'm beat after such a long walk, it's been a day or so since we started to search for a new home...I need a break" The darkness simply nodded, or at least that's how Dark felt it's silent answer.

  After walking for a while in the dark of the cave, he came before a huge mansion and looked around it "Wow, nice place, this would be a cool place to prepare for any fight with those things..." The darkness nodded again, and so, the young man now known as Dark, went at the entrance of the building. Before he could put hand on the door to open it, a voice stopped him "Who are you?" Reit jumped from the mansion's rooftop and landed near him but Dark backed off and went into a defensive position "The hell are you?" Reit looked at him and snorted "Oho another dark one to have fun with, I could use some payback time from the last imbecile" she started to get into fighting position "EMBODY!" In front of Dark, she started to transform while he could only watch amazed "Wha..." but not even a second elapsed and Reit punched him away against the wall of the building, which didn't shattered by miracle or strange reason, but Dark took a good hit "Damn you..." Then he looked inside him "Lend me your power!" The darkness simply started to go out of him and began to enter his hands, feet, body and head, his eyes changed into pure darkness "Let's roll baby doll!" Reit once heard the word 'doll', used by the dark figure, started to assault Dark and, even if he was very powerful, he could not parry that much of a flurry of attacks. Dark jumped back unable to defend itself any longer "How cute, but...let's see how you handle THIS!" Dark started to absorb darkness and created a huge sphere around him, made of pure energy but, before he could do anything with it, a powerful magic attack shattered his sphere and hit him directly "What the....ugh..." The attack was pretty powerful "Enough Reit, You can't attack like that...next time warn us" Lifia came out from behind a wall and Dark looked amazed at her face and figure but, shortly after, he fainted due to the high damage he suffered. Lifia examined him "He is not a dark one, but neither a human....he seems like both and neither." Reit spit on the ground "Whatever...I prefer things like him dead, can I destroy him?" Lifia shook her head while looking at Dark's face "No...we will take him in for now" Reit snorted "Why would we do that?" Iris then answered "Because we must first know who is he and get some information on how he got here. If anyone can enter this place then it might be quite a problem for us..." Reit nodded annoyed "Ok, ok...." then got him like a sack of potatoes and carried him inside the mansion.

  In a room, while night started to fall, Lifia and Iris were seated near the bed where Dark was resting. After some time he started to open his eyes, they were pure darkness again "Tch..." Lifia immediately pointed 2 fingers at him recalling some of her magical power "If you move...I will kill you" Her cold attitude surprised Dark "I thought only the dark warriors would do such things...not guardians..." Lifia looked at Iris, she nodded and Lifia put her fingers down, vanishing the magic she summoned. "Who are you? And how did you found us?" Dark looked around, it was clearly a simple room with not many chances to run or fight, it was a risky decision, but he preferred to explain the situation, he heard little of the guardians...but there was one thing he was sure about: they hated the ones that did this to him, or at least to his human part "I am Dark, I am darkness, like the ones you surely saw and fought till now, but born inside this human. He escaped from a research facility where they were trying to instill darkness inside humans they captured to make them dark warriors and help them defeat you guardians. We escaped due to the awaken of my powers and his will to run away from that place...I simply
granted such desire. After a short fight we escaped and saw this little entrance and entered it...and now we're here." Lifia was quite pale listening to the story, she remembered her own encounter with darkness possession and she started to gather her powers "EMBODY!" Iris was surprised by her transformation and could not do nothing but watch while Lifia started to prepare a strong magic attack against Dark "I will vanish you, you filthy darkness!" Iris then put herself in the middle, stopping Lifia from attacking "Stop right now Lifia! It's not the same as you, he said he helped him escaped, also, he didn't attacked till now, calm down...let him explain." Lifia seemed very angry and it was quite some time since the last time she seemed so out of control and not her usual cold self. Dark in the meantime watched silently without moving "Hm...why do you defend me? She is right, I am darkness" Iris sighed while calming Lifia and patting her shoulder "Because I believe there is more than what you told us..." Dark nodded "Well, perhaps. Since I was born inside him, I took for myself also his desires and nature, we are pretty much the same thing, but different at the same time. The creature you fought were simply brainless shadows who decided to cling to a single emotion, which is usually the most violent or dark one they can feel. In my case I used all of his emotions to born and so I am him in many ways. I don't know what's the deal between you and the shadows, and frankly I don't care...if you intent to destroy them then we would like to assist in that, that if you don't destroy us in the meanwhile..." Iris thought for a while "We must discuss this, we will not confine you here with magic or anything, but if you will try to escape or try anything funny...you might not live enough to talk about it..." Dark nodded "Fear not, I am the only one awake for now and I will not do nothing, that to show you that I can be trusted and different from the others. Take your time deciding." Iris and Lifia went out of the room but, on the door, Lifia looked back at Dark which was looking back at her too. After a short silence, she exit the room, leaving Dark alone in the bed.

  Iris sighed "Go get Reit, tell her to guard the door, but I don't want her to attack him if not necessary, you Lifia...will come with me, we must discuss this while making something to eat with what we took with us, for now that's all. I will be waiting you in the kitchen" Lifia nodded and went in the opposite way to warn Reit. While dinner was served, Lifia seemed more moody and silent than usual, Iris was kind of serious while, Drake, was quite perplexed "Something wrong?" Iris sighed and nodded "While you were away scouting the surroundings, a dark being attacked us but...he was not a shadow, he was a human...well you have an idea on what I mean" Iris looked at Lifia shortly before going back to Drake "And we captured him, he's in one of the rooms inside this mansion. Reit is now guarding it..." Drake nodded silently, he was quite disturbed by the news too, bad memories came from what that man represents. Lifia took a plate and went toward the door "I'm going to give this one to Reit..." Iris stood a moment silent looking at Lifia and then nodded "No rash actions Lifia..." Lifia looked back for a few seconds...then left. Once arrived where Reit was guarding, Lifia handed the plate to her "Take a while to eat, I'll go talk to him" Reit looked at her silently and nodded "No fights Lifia..." again she went silently inside where the man was looking at the ceiling while tied up on the bed. When Lifia closed the door, the man looked up to her "They sent you to kill me perhaps?" Lifia looked silently at him "What? Say something at least...." Lifia got closer to him "Why don't you use your powers to escape? Why don't you attack me? Why are you alright in being half human and half darkness?" The man sighed shortly "Quite some questions you asked there. Look...I was locked inside a laboratory most of the latest month, they experimented on me doing things you don't want to know..." Lifia looked at him with angry eyes "I know already..." The man halted his speech and looked at her "You.....you had darkness inside you too...didn't you?" Lifia nodded shortly "But I was controlled by it...I was forced to betray those who I wanted to protect.....I hated myself, despised the being I was...how can you live with that thing inside you?" The man smiled shortly "Well...It's my only way of revenge upon them. This 'darkness' is my source of power and my ticket to get back to them and destroy every last of em I catch." Lifia arched her eyebrow "Until it will decide that wants to take control and use you..." The man smiled "I don't care....If he kills who I hate that much...he can do whatever he wants with me, my humanity was stripped away a long time ago" Lifia slapped him with anger "You lost your humanity? Revenge? How stupid can you be? You are still alive, you escaped from them, free to do what you want, and now...now the only thing you search is REVENGE? Is that the only thing you know about? Foolish of you to give yourself away just for that..." The man looked at her silently, his eyes turned into darkness and his voice was lower "Guardian, I don't want to take control of him, not now anyway, and I was born from his desires, so his thoughts are mine as well, I was not instilled already evolved like the others subjects. I was a 'special experiment' and the result is what you see...If you insist on saying our desires are fool...then destroy us and end this thing once and for all!" the door opened and Iris entered the room and looked at Lifia who turned around "Lifia...it's your decision, will you let him free or kill him? We decided to leave this into your hands" Lifia was confused, she was the worst choice to decide a dark one's destiny, still they appointed her as the one to decide this man's fate.

  Lifia raised a hand up toward him and a little magical power started to appear out of nowhere "...I..." Lifia turned around and Dark freed himself and stood behind her silently, Lifia didn't reacted, she felt the power surge coming from behind her but she still didn't reacted. The man put a hand around Lifia's neck, he didn't put any strength in it, his hand slowly went down to her shoulder and made her turn around looking her in the eyes "If you want to kill me then do it, I won't fight...but at one condition...I want you to carry my mission of revenge on those who did this to me..." Lifia silently was looking into his eyes but did not answered "Well, since I'm going to die...at least let me steal this from you" in a flash, he kissed her passionately and Lifia went eyes wide open and a powerful magic barrier sent him fly away while he was smiling "Heh...expected that, now I'm ready to go..." Lifia looked at him but she simply walked away toward the door "Do your mission yourself....." and left like that, without saying anything more. Iris, Drake and Reit were dumbfounded by the scene but didn't dare to say anything out of fear of Lifia's reaction. The man, once again, stood up massaging his neck "Boy...does she have a lot of power..." Iris scratched her head "Uhm...I guess you will join us? At least that's what I understood from her answer..." Dark laughed shortly "To be exact, I was left alive for now, that's pretty much her answer..." Iris nodded a little perplexed "Well then, let me welcome you to the team...The one that smacked you around was Lifia, I'm Iris, The guy there at the door is Drake and the girl next to him is Reit, we are guardians fighting shadows whenever and wherever needed" Dark nodded shortly "I won't be a bother as long as I can be part of the action" Iris nodded "Good...but you must obey our rules: no deadly fighting between us, no use of powers in a non training situation, no hurting other humans, and you must listen to what we say, is that clear?" Dark laughed amused "Yeah yeah, mainly follow your orders, I got it" then he got back into the bed and sighed "Can I have this room? Kinda used to be here" Iris nodded while Drake entered bringing a plate "Here you go, thought you might be hungry" dark grabbed the plate with haste and started to eat with huge hunger "Thanks mate.....hmm....soo goood!" then he proceeded to empty the plate in a second "Can I have seconds?" Iris laughed a little "Sure, I'll go get some more..." Drake extended his hand to take the plate but, once he touched Dark's hand, a little electric discharge made them both retreat their hand with haste "What...." Drake seemed confused as much as Dark but then his eyes became darkness again "Interesting, a connection..." Drake seemed even more confused "What? Connection?" Iris was surprised "It's when 2 guardians are particularly compatible and can reach powerful dual attacks, like the feline attack I do with Lifia..." Drake looked at Iris with surprise "But...he's darkness
...how can I be connected to a dark being?" Iris shook her head, but then Dark answered "I may be able to answer that guardian. Since I am not a common dark shadow, I have the possibility, due to my nature, awareness and union with my host, to work a lot like a primal beast, thus I am able to cooperate with sacred beings because I am not full darkness, not made of hatred or evil things like the others. Also, the experiments they did upon me altered my nature and powers deeply, till what extend I cannot say, but I am more similar to a primal beast than a shadow, reason why I can even cooperate with my human form, so to speak. The difference is that we are one being and not 2 as you guardians and primal beasts." Drake and Iris were listening closely while Reit got bored and walked away to search Lifia. After the explanation Iris sighed "Well...whatever you are, I hope we can count on you, but don't expect much from us, we used to destroy darkness....not fight with it. At any rate, this is our new home and base, and I will need to know how you came here, this was supposed to be a guardian only place...very difficult to find" Dark nodded "I sensed the faint magic protection around the cave, but I was able to enter it nonetheless....you should reinforce it, I shall give a hand too in doing that, as a sign of trust and thanks" Iris nodded and went toward the kitchen with the empty plate while Drake stood and looked at Dark "What is it...Drake was it...right?" Drake shook his head "Nothing, I was just surprised by the connection, also...I would like to know you better once things settle down, for now...consider this your home...no point in being hostile if we accepted you in our team. Still, if you will ever hurt someone, I will hunt you down" Then Drake smiled and Dark nodded "No worries big guy..." at that point Iris came back with more food for Dark and Drake left the room after a final nod toward Dark.

  The group, now enlarged by the arrival of dark, is now ready for the events that are going to confront them.