*
Morning came early. Too early.
James and the others had decided to stick around the village until somewhere around midday, since it was just about the safest place for the five of them to recover from the previous rather stressful period.
They had decided to do so after Thomas had considered what Violina and Queen Eloine had told them before they left: in the realms beyond the mountains, the Master’s power only grew stronger.
That meant they had to shape up before leaving the one place that would be probably one of the final safe havens they could visit.
Thomas had also figured it’d be a good idea to have a small conversation with Aubry, the village elder.
She was the best way to get more information on what laid ahead of them, in the realms beyond the mountains.
Also, she’d been so kind to let them sleep in her house. She also could’ve abandoned them to their fate, but she decided to help them.
And luckily, Aubry thought the same way about it as Thomas, even though he didn’t know it yet.
The parents of the children which James had saved the day before had invited the Bond of Light for lunch.
It was a simple, yet tasty lunch. And by adding some of the food which the five friends had taken with them from the Fairy Queen’s Palace, it became a true feast.
“Thank you for saving our children,” the woman said to James as they were eating. “You have no idea what this means to us. We’ve been taking care of these two for nearly five hundred years. I can’t believe we might as well finally get the chance to watch them grow up at last.”
James swallowed the bread he’d been chewing on while listening to the woman. “Of course,” he said.
“Anyone of us would’ve done the same. It’s- it’s what we’re here for, right? Saving people.”
The little girl clapped her hands, her brown bangs dancing around as she bounced up and down. “Thank you so much, James! You’re my hero!”
James smiled. “And you’re mine, little girl.”
Right after James had finished his sentence, he heard a woman clearing her throat behind him. The eight at the table turned their heads in her direction simultaneously.
It was Aubry.
“Guardians?” she asked, on a serious tone. “Can I speak to you?”
“Sure,” James said, standing up. He was about to thank the villagers for the lunch, when Aubry interrupted him.
“Sorry, James, not you. Just your friends,” she said.
“Why?” James asked her. “Is- it something I shouldn’t know about?”
“I’d like to tell your friends about the history of our village,” Aubry replied. “You can keep eating those slices of bread you’ve got there. Nothing you haven’t heard yet.”
James nodded at the elder as he sat down. Thomas, who sat opposite him, looked at him.
“You sure you’re going to be okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” James said. “Just go. She obviously only wants to talk to the four of you. I’ve already heard the story.”
Thomas nodded at him as he and the others stood up. “We’ll be back before you know it.”
“I know,” James said. “I know.”
“So... what is this story you wanted to tell us about, actually?” Thomas asked, as he, Samira, Antonio and Bella walked off with Aubry.
“Actually, I wanted to talk about your young friend over there, but I didn’t want to upset him,” Aubry replied. “I’m pretty sure you understand.”
“We do,” Samira said. “But what exactly is it you want to talk about?”
“Well,” Aubry said, “let’s go to my house. We can talk freely there.”
In a small village like Aubry’s, it’s easy to get from the one side to the other. It didn’t take too long before they all sat around the round, wooden table in Aubry’s house.
“Young man,” Aubry said, referring to Thomas. “Yesterday, I heard you say that James “wasn’t at Death’s door for once.” Has your friend been the target or victim of any previous actions of Shadow Creatures?”
“Well...” Thomas mumbled. “Yes. He has.”
“Actions such as?” Aubry asked, suggesting that Thomas should explain the situations they’d been in.
“Well, he’s been cursed with the Fairy Flu while we were travelling through the Silver Valley,” Samira said. “He only just made it.”
“I see,” Aubry mumbled. “Anything else that happened?”
“Well,” Bella said. “They tried to kidnap Thomas on the top of the mountain, but when that failed, they took James instead. And then they took them both... kind of.”
“Ah...” Aubry mumbled. Her responses didn’t make up a clear image of how she felt about the things that the teenagers had told her. “I assume there’s more?” she asked.
“I’ve noticed that he’s been having these dreams, well, nightmares,” Samira said. “Whenever there’s been one of “them” near him. You know, those spirits. They all seem to involve... one of us getting hurt.” She wanted to say “me,” but then she was reminded to the fact that nobody was allowed to know about their particular connection.
Aubry lowered her eyes. “Yes.”
When she looked up, she looked Thomas straight in the eye. “Make sure to keep an eye on the boy. At all times. Do not leave him alone. Ever. Especially not in battle. With my Magic, I am able to read personalities if I need to - and your friend’s personality fits the Guardian of Innocence’s personality profile perfectly, I must say.”
“What do you mean?” Antonio asked. “In what ways can he be more of a dork than he was before?”
“Well, I’ve seen there’s a lot of goodness and kindness inside his heart. A lot of affection towards the ones he loves.”
Samira bit her lip, praying she hadn’t found out they were related. If evil ears picked up they were, they’d be done for.
“But with his innocence comes also great naivety. Which means he’s quite gullible,” Aubry continued her story.
“Old news,” Antonio muttered, rolling his eyes. “Naivety caused him to end up here in the first place.”
“What I am trying to say,” Aubry said, “is that the Master feeds off innocence. That’s how he lures his victims into his traps. With smooth lies. Empty promises. He tries to lure them in and get them under his control...
That’s what you shouldn’t let happen. Never. The Master can turn only the most innocent souls into his minions, turning them into Cursed Spirits. Though they maintain their human form, they conceive a completely different personality, by getting their memories altered. This causes them to view their friends as their enemies. They often forget who they really are, or once were. It is almost impossible to reverse a curse like that.”
Thomas plucked at his lips. “You’re saying it’s almost irreversible,” he said. “Does that mean there is a slight chance of reversing it?”
Aubry sighed. “I was afraid you’d ask that,” she said. “If you want to reverse it, you should do it while the curse is in its early casting stages; the possession stage.”
“And if that fails?” Samira asked.
“If you fail to break the spell in the possession stage, you have to release the Curse from its vessel. With any luck, it’ll separate from the original host’s spirit it merged with. But the chances of someone surviving that are near to zero.”
“Why?” Bella asked, almost feeling sorry for asking.
“You’ll have to kill the vessel to release the Cursed Spirit,” Aubry said. “So far, only the first Generation had a possession.”
Samira gasped. “That must be the fifth Guardian! We’ve met only three so far, but... one is missing.”
Aubry nodded. “They managed to get the poor girl here while she was possessed. I thought I had managed to break the curse, until the sun started to set...”
She lowered her eyes again. “It turned out I had failed. And that’s why I wanted to warn you.”
Thomas s
wallowed. “But why isn’t James allowed to know this?”
“Because he’s already enough of an easy target without him knowing this,” Aubry said. “Once he’s aware he’s the main target, he’ll only get more nervous and easier to catch.
I believe you’re aware you need him to get all the way to the end.”
“Yes, we do,” Samira said. “Without James, we can’t perform the Ritual.”
“Indeed,” Aubry said. “But you also need each other, because each of you has a flaw which is fulfilled by someone else’s character traits and skills. If one of you drops out, there’s a break in the chain link.”
She smiled shortly. “And a broken chain can’t hold up a drawbridge.”
“No, indeed, it can’t,” Bella said.
Guardian: Protectors of Light Page 38