Guardian: Protectors of Light

by Melanie Houtman

This Is Real

  After Sabrina’s sudden disappearance, the three teenagers had decided to shake it off and return to the others. It took a while, however, because it had started to get darker outside as well, not doing their ability to see any good. But they got there. And that was what mattered.

  As they climbed up and crawled back onto the vast ground, the others were there, happily greeting them.

  “Oh, James! I can’t believe it!” Samira squealed in happiness and flung herself around James’s neck. James laughed as well.

  “Magic,” he said. “Do you believe now?”

  Samira looked at him as if he’d been spouting nonsense. “What?” she said. “Of course I do believe, James! I used Magic myself! Why wouldn’t I believe?”

  James got nervous by Samira’s comments. She was right; he was a fool for asking if she believed. “Just asking,” he decided to say, while rubbing his neck nervously. “Just asking.”

  He wasn’t sure why he’d asked her if she believed either. Samira believed, he knew that. He’d never even questioned that for a single moment.

  Still… There was still a strange feeling left in his heart, a feeling of insecurity… But he wouldn’t give in to it. He knew that if he’d do so, if he’d give in to his insecurities, that he’d bring himself and everyone around him, almost everyone he’d ever held dear, in danger. And he couldn’t do that. Ever.

  Home

  “So, his name is Finn, and we’ll probably be able to adopt him just in time for Christmas.” Camilla proudly showed the pictures she’d taken of the boy, who was smiling broadly while standing next to David. Finn had dirty blond hair and happy green eyes. A beautiful boy.

  “He’s so excited to come home with us,” David said, “I just can’t believe it. I’m going to be a Dad! Plus, the kid actually likes me.” He grinned at his joke.

  “I’m sure he does, David,” Lucy said, while sipping from her glass of orange juice. “Why wouldn’t he? After all, you’ve always been a great godfather to me and Andy.” The chestnut red-haired eleven-year-old sitting next to her nodded vigorously; he couldn’t speak, as his mouth was stuffed with French fries. But he tried to anyway (which resulted into him getting scolded by his mother).

  David chuckled. “Yeah, you’ve got a point right there, kiddo,” he said; suddenly, he winked teasingly at her. “You know, he’s been mentioning you two as his god-siblings. Isn’t that great?”

  “You’ve shown him pictures of us?” Andy asked; David nodded. “Awesome!” Andy cheered.

  “Yeah, he can’t wait to meet you two,” Camilla said. “Finn is such a darling boy. I’m proud of him; he’s told me that he absolutely doesn’t like baseball or any other “boyish” sports; no, he wants to be a dancer, and he’s not ashamed of that. And that’s what I love about that boy. He stands for what he believes in. Kind of like James,” she said, but quickly realised she’d promised not to bring that subject up for one night. “Oh. I’m so sorry...” she quickly apologised.

  Cheyenne shook her head. “It’s fine,” she said. “I haven’t heard from them for a while, but I’m sure they’re doing okay. I just know they are somehow.”

  “Our thoughts are with them,” David said. “There’s... not really much we can do to help, but we try,” he said. “After all, that world is magical. And... Magic still relies heavily on belief, right?” He paused shortly, as if he was about to make a great revelation. And maybe he was. “So... maybe if we just believe that they’re strong enough to make it through and survive, saving the world while they’re at it, maybe they will be aided by our belief through Magic. I don’t know.” He went back to silently poking his steak with his fork.

  “You sure do like coming up with crazy theories, don’t you?” his wife teased him, while poking him in the shoulder.

  “Now you’re talking like I do this all the time Cami,” David said. “And you and I both know very well that I’m not a conspiracy theorist.”

  “Well...” Nathaly suddenly said; everyone knew what was coming. “David, to be honest, you kind of are a conspiracy theorist.”

  David snorted in disbelief. “Psht, easy for you to say,” he said. He didn’t say anything, but the look he exchanged with Nathaly said enough. “Look at your husband. Who’d you think I got it from?”

  Nathaly chuckled. “Just admit it, Dave. You were one of the Crazy Three, and you’ll always be.” The Crazy Three consisted of Martin, Angelo and David when they were young. Now, sadly, David was the Crazy One. The last one left.

  But, despite getting older, he’d never given up the spirit that kept the Crazy Three alive and kicking. He still loved to do crazy stuff in his free time, and was still able to rock out on an electric guitar. There’s no fool like an old fool.

  “You know what, Nathaly?” David said. “Maybe you’re right. I’m still a bit crazy, and I’ll always be. At least now I have someone to pass it on to, eh?”

  Everyone laughed at that last statement. If David was going to learn Finn all of his tricks, the boy would be in for a lot of trouble – and fun, of course.

  Dinner ended later than expected that evening; at eight, everyone was finally ready to head home.

  This night had done Cheyenne good. Although she hadn’t spoken too much, she knew everyone understood.

  She loved to hear more about Finn, and was excited to learn that the boy would most likely spend Christmas with his new family.

  But still, she couldn’t keep her mind off the dream she’d shared with James – if she’d shared it, of course.

  As she drove home, it kept nagging on her mind. Had it been real, or hadn’t it been? After all – she hadn’t heard from him since. Two weeks, and she’d heard from him only once.

  But, later that night, she heard a voice in her dreams. James’s voice.

  “I hate to break it to you mom, but whatever you’ve been seeing in your dreams, it weren’t dreams. All you’ve been seeing – no matter how much or how little -, it was all real.”

  Lunaria

  “James? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, Thomas,” James replied quietly. “I am.”

  James had been staring at the bridge he’d created nearly all night; the teenagers had decided not to cross it until daybreak, since they had no idea what was hiding behind the invisible barrier between Lunaria and the Land of Void.

  He didn’t know why; he just couldn’t sleep. He kept having the feeling something bad was going to happen. And he felt like he’d seen her again. Mom. It was as if she was there with him, but there was just no way to contact her. He’d tried; there was just no way of knowing whether she’d heard him or not.

  He felt like a living ghost.

  “James, you don’t seem okay...” Thomas sat down next to him.

  James knew that Thomas was right; he wasn’t really okay. But he couldn’t talk about it. Not even with Samira, who normally was the only person who he’d tell anything bothering him to.

  It just wasn’t the kind of thing he’d share openly with the others. This was something personal, nothing they could do about it. Even he himself couldn’t make them go away. Visions of his mother in his dreams, crying, worried, calling out his name. His sister, in pain, perhaps even dying.

  Were it just reflections of his own mind, of his own fear? He was afraid of whatever was ahead; he was very well-aware of that. But the visions of the two most important women in his life – they just seemed too real. Too painful. And... of course, there was the thing he’d been trying to ignore ever since Aubry told him about it back at Linmor village – the possibility of the Ritual causing death.

  He sighed deeply. “I’m not sure, Thomas,” he said. “I just don’t know what to think of all of this anymore.”

  “What do you mean?” Thomas asked. “Is it something you can talk about?”

  “It depends,” James said. “There is something I can talk about.”

  “Well,” Thomas said, “as you know, I’m a good listener. More of a listener than a speaker,
if I may say so myself.”

  James chuckled. “Yes, you are,” he said.

  “Well... It’s about pretty much everything we’ve been through so far,” he said. “The Magic. The adventure. The near-death experiences.”

  He couldn’t help himself but to let out a snort. “Not that you’ve got any of those yet. That’s more my way to go.”

  Thomas shook his head. “I wish it wasn’t so, Jamey,” he said. “But what’s bothering you?”

  “It’s just- I want this all to be a dream so bad,” he whispered. “Like you all thought when we just started this. You all thought this was a dream, and that we’d wake up sooner or later. But we didn’t. We went to sleep so many times, and every time, I tried to convince myself that this was all just a bad dream. That we’d wake up the next morning, in our safe bedrooms. Yet we didn’t.”

  He looked into the distance for a little longer before speaking again. Then, he looked Thomas straight in the eye, and said, “It’s about time we faced the facts, Thomas. This is no fairytale. No joke. No game. No dream. Not any of that.

  This is real. And it’s about time we’d accept that.”