Guardian: Protectors of Light

by Melanie Houtman

  *

  They had finally gained the courage to take a nap. Glimmer and Timothy would keep watch the entire time, so the others would have time to rest and catch some sleep.

  Except for James.

  Through the night, James kept waking up from nightmares, yelling, kicking and screaming; the nightmares followed him into the real world, haunting him as hallucinations.

  Most of the time, Samira had to be woken up by Timothy in order to get James to calm down, but no matter if either Samira or Timothy managed to calm him down, James would repeat the same sentence over and over again.

  “He’s coming. He’s watching us. We’re not safe here.”

  Both Timothy and Samira figured it was probably his mind playing another trick on him, and to let it slide until – eh, dawn?

  But what they didn’t know, was that there indeed actually was someone watching them. A mysterious figure, presumably either a man or a boy, lurking in the shadows, not too far away from them. And that figure had now run off to the Master, to bring him important news...

  Jason

  Dark boots trampled the dead plants as they ran across the dry ground. A raven black cape fluttered behind the mysterious figure, who’d been spying on the Bond of Light earlier. He had to tell his Master that they’d finally arrived in his territory. If he didn’t already know, that was.

  The Master was probably already aware that the Bond of Light was now finally within his reach, and was planning an ambush on them. Yet, it still gave his servant satisfaction to tell him anyways. It made him feel as if he was actually doing something, instead of just hiding out in the shadows and waiting for those pesky children to finally show up for once.

  He didn’t look out where he was going too well, as he bumped into another figure running through the night, seemingly in quite a rush.

  “Ow!” Sabrina hissed. “Who the-?”

  She rose to her feet, immediately taking a hostile position against the figure that’d bumped into her. She summoned a black knife out of thin air, holding it against his throat as he struggled to get up. 

  “Ah. Sabrina. How nice to see you here,” an icily cold voice spoke. The voice sounded young and handsome, yet it had something demonic which sent a chill down your spine with every vowel.

  “Jason,” Sabrina growled, as she drew back her knife. “What are you doing here?”

  “I could ask you the same,” Jason said, as he got up, brushing the dirt off his clothes. He clearly didn’t care that he’d just got a knife put to his throat.

  “I assume you’re headed the same direction as I am?” he said slowly. He clearly didn’t show any kind of intimidation toward Sabrina’s actions. But then again, neither did Sabrina to his.

  “Answer the question,” Sabrina growled. “What are you doing here!?”

  “Oh ho ho, we’re getting snappy,” Jason grinned. “The Master sent me out here, to watch out for any... ah, trespassers entering his grounds.” He pretended to clean his nails. “...If you know what I mean.”

  Sabrina snorted. She certainly was insulted that her master had sent her substitute to take care of the situation. “Oh.”

  Jason smirked, obviously amused by Sabrina’s reaction. “Come on now, Sabrina. No harsh feelings. Let’s go bring him our news together.” He turned around, but turned his head just far enough to be able to see Sabrina’s feet from the corner of his eye. “I bet you’ve got plenty of exciting news for him.”

  Sabrina grunted. She obviously didn’t want to go along with Jason, but as they were headed in the exact same direction, she couldn’t think of a reason not to have to go along with him. “Fine, I’ll go with you,” she growled. “But what news I’ve got for the Master is none of your business.”

  Jason smiled a vampire smile. “Good,” he said. “Very well.”

  The Master’s castle wasn’t too far away from their location. For Magic-wielders, it wasn’t too hard to find either; the gigantic, dark building emitted Dark Magic as if it was some perfume someone had put on.

  Both servants were let in, and were told to wait outside the throne room, until they were called inside, one by one; Sabrina first. She entered the throne room feeling slightly nervous, as she knew that her master wasn’t going to appreciate the news she had for him.

  As she walked in, Sabrina could see the reddish glow of the Master’s eyes and the droplet-shaped stone on his robe from the darkness surrounding his throne. Further facial- and other features were invisible; he was shrouded in darkness.

  “Ah, Sabrina,” the Master spoke. “Tell me what news you’ve come to bring me today.”

  Sabrina swallowed, yet was able to keep a straight face as she said, “The Keepers have now taken their position as Protectors, and they’re headed straight for the Land of Void. They are determined to find and protect the Bond of Light.” Then, she decided to add, “It might be wise to attack no, to lower the risk of the Protectors being too close.”

  While expecting an angry outburst, Sabrina was surprised to see that her master remained completely calm. He closed his eyes shortly, before responding to Sabrina’s news. “Very well. Could you send in Mr Morgan? We need to discuss... business.”

  “Jason?” Sabrina raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you prefer if I left, then?”

  She noticed her master closed his eyes again. “No. I need you to be here for our discussion, as it regards you as well. I bet Mr Morgan wouldn’t mind.”

  “As you wish,” Sabrina said, while making a bow, and went to get Jason.

  Jason was slightly offended due to the fact that he hadn’t been allowed inside while Sabrina was bringing her news to the Master, while she actually was permitted to stay while Jason reported his latest observations to his master. Yet, he put himself over his feelings and knelt down in front of the throne his master was sitting on.

  “Jason Morgan,” the Master spoke. “What news do you have on the Bond of Light’s whereabouts?”

  Jason smiled, yet spoke without looking up, as if he was actually trying to treat someone with respect for once in his life. “It’s going better than expected, My Lord,” he said. “Imagination’s powers are stronger than they were in previous Generations, but that makes them only glitch out even more. An easy target, if I daresay...”

  “Hm...” Jason could hear his master think out loud. “What about the Keepers? What do you know about them?”

  “Only one of them is currently with them,” Jason spoke. “Sabrina was able to kill the youngest in battle.”

  With that being said, the Master’s eyes and attention instantly shifted from Jason to Sabrina. “Is this true, young one?” he said.

  Sabrina nodded. “Yes. I don’t know how he knows it-” she decided to take advantage of the situation by throwing Jason an angry glare, “-but it’s true. Jason is right. Right now, they are with three left, but one of the fixies has joined them on their crusade, which makes four... Three of them, including the fixie, are on their way here; the fourth one is with the Bond.”

  The Master moved in his seat, probably to be able to rest his chin on his hand while thinking. “A fairy. What a powerful ally to choose... I must say, they made a wise choice. I’ve underestimated their skill and intelligence.”

  Jason stood up, looking the Master straight in the eye; he wanted to make sure he came across as determined. “Do you want us to stop them, Master?”

  It was quite hard to see, yet Jason was able to see that his master was shaking his head. “No.

  Sabrina’s done her job well; I’ve got them exactly where I want them. Killing one of the Protectors was the small push they needed; it has angered them, increasing their recklessness and lowering their common sense. We need not to seek them out, because over time, they will come to us. As for the Guardians...”

  What happened next, was what both Sabrina and Jason could’ve sworn they’d never seen their master do ever before. The Master got up from his throne and stepped out of the darkness into the light, revealing
his face.

  Despite the fact he was millions of years old, there was no way to notice he was; the fact that he was still a half-spirit kept his aging process at a zero, leaving him to look like a man in his mid-forties. However, his skin did look extremely damaged; a black mark resembling which seemed to be a strange combination of bird and bat wings covered the skin surrounding his left eye, which seemed to cause black veins to spread all across his face and neck, starting from where the mark was located. Jason had the same mark and veins on his face; Sabrina, however, only had the veins.

  One of his eyes seemed fairly normal; the right eye still had a glowing red iris, which was surrounded by dark veins and had a black, cat-like pupil.

  The other eye could’ve been considered a blind eye; it looked more like an empty eye socked with a creepy, bright orange glow inside of it rather than a fully functional eye. His hair was black with some signs of greying; the same grey streaks appeared here and there in his beard.

  His clothes looked simple; all what was seen of his clothes underneath the dark blue robe which covered his body was a dark purple turtle neck with golden details. The robe was sleeveless, and had golden details on both shoulders.

  The Master looked intimidating; even when he was completely serene as he was now. In fact, his serenity made him seem even more dangerous.

  Both his servants appeared completely awestruck by the fact that their master had shown his face to them for the first time in- nine hundred or so years? As good as never had he cared enough for any of the Generations to take care of them himself, with a few exceptions here and there.

  This certainly had to be different.

  Either the Master didn’t notice or just simply didn’t care for the reactions his servants gave him; he just looked at them, and said, “Yes. I still have a vast form. Surprised?”

  Sabrina blinked. “N...no, of course not,” she stammered. “Master-”

  The Master rolled with his eyes and let out a loud sigh of exasperation. With a wave of his hand, he waved away whatever Sabrina was meaning to say. “Please, Sabrina,” he said. “The three of us have known each other for nearly a thousand years now. Please just call me Asura.”

  He then focused on one of the burning torches across the room. Or just on nothing. “I assume you’re both aware of the plans I’d prepared for this day,” he said. “It’s about time we executed them.

  Prepare the troops and all that is necessary. We leave as soon as night falls; we’ve got no time to lose. 

  This is going to be an interesting Generation to fight.”