Guardian: Protectors of Light

by Melanie Houtman

  *

  It was the last walk to the Castle of Light. The Bond of Light and their Protectors were almost there.

  There hadn’t been much talking since their “victory” on James’s and Antonio’s behalf, but James still felt the need to settle things out.

  “Hey, Samira?” he said, while they were walking behind the group. “About what you said earlier today...”

  “Yes, James?” Samira replied. “What’s the matter?”

  “I just wanted to say I understand now,” James said with a smile. “I mean- I understand why you apologized... But in reality, the only one who owes anyone an apology is me. I’m sorry, Samira.”

  Samira lowered an eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean? Why should you apologize?”

  “It’s just-” James said, lowering his eyes to the ground in shame. “You saved me so many times in the past few weeks and all I did for you in return was being an ungrateful brat. I’m sorry I acted that way.”

  Samira smiled at him, laying a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said. “You’ve been under a lot of pressure. We all have... I can understand.”

  “Really?” James said hopefully.

  “Really.”

  James looked forward into the distance, and suddenly noticed something. “Are you all blind or something? Why didn’t you guys say anything? We’re here!”

  Nobody had noticed until James did. The Castle of Spirits was right there in front of them!

  “We- we’re at the castle already!” Thomas gasped. “But-

  “Maybe it’s a trap... The Master’s minions should’ve shown up by now, don’t you think?”

  “Don’t you get worried now, bro! I’ve got your back!” Samira shouted laughing and jumped on her brother’s back.

  James found himself surprised by her sister’s weight, yet laughed while quickly clamping his hands around Samira’s legs to prevent her from falling off.

  “We’re going to finish this once and for all, guys!” James shouted, while toward the castle with his older sister on his back. “It all ends today!”

  Thomas shrugged, smiled and ran after them, followed by Antonio and Bella. 

  The Protectors followed them shortly, also with wide grins on their faces, despite being more careful and aware of any possible attacks.

  Things were about to get tricky now.

  There wasn’t much left of the castle; most of it had worn down over the years at the influence of the darkness and evil it’d been surrounded by. But luckily, the Ritual Chamber was mostly still intact.

  “It’s so... huge in here,” Samira said, as they walked into the Ritual Chamber.

  “ECHO!” Antonio shouted; his voice resounded all the way to the tall ceiling and back.

  “SHH!” Timothy hushed. “Be quiet! We don’t know who or what is hiding in here. Be careful.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Antonio grunted. “Sure thing, Captain Sparkles.” That last comment made Timothy’s head turn fiercely, throwing Antonio an angry, squinted-eyed look.

  Antonio still didn’t seem very impressed, though.

  “It’s beautiful in here,” Samira said, while gently stroking her hand across a marble banister.

  “Despite it’s been in decay for years... It still has some of its previous beauty.”

  “Yeah,” Madeleine said, watching the ceiling with her hands on her hips. “When I entered this place for the first time, it looked less broken-down, though. It’s sad.”

  “Don’t worry. You can consider this as your last visit.”

  The eight teenagers turned around in a flash, finding themselves surrounded by Warlock Spirits, Shadow Walkers, and Sabrina and Jason.

  “Welcome, Guardians, to the big finish of it all,” Jason said triumphantly. “As you can clearly see, our Master has sent us out here to finish you off. We’re stronger than ever... Give up now or meet the consequences.”

  James scanned the crowd; the Spirits looked like demons, nothing like the Warlocks in their dark, purple robes. And the Shadow Walkers, which usually represented wild animals... Well, they looked like a mix of beasts. A few of them looked like... A dragon mixed with a wolf, perhaps? All in all, they looked, in one word, plain terrifying.

  This would not be an easy fight. But they had to try.

  “You know what, Jason?” Timothy breathed, before roaring his next sentence out loud. “I’d rather die than give up on this world!”

  Jason’s face remained expressionless. “Then so be it,” he said. One move of his hand was enough to let his army know that it was time to attack.

  They stormed forward all at once, but the Guardians stood their ground. Underneath a cloud of thick, back fog, the battle was heavy and deadly.

  Clothing was torn apart, flesh was gutted, and blood was spilt. But nobody gave up fighting. Ever.

  Samira kept shooting arrows until she ran out, and then continued to rip Warlock Spirits apart with two of Bella’s daggers

  James and Thomas stood their ground with their swords, while Timothy swung his katanas around.

  Even Violina managed to bring up enough power to shoot powerful blasts of light at the Shadow Walkers, which caused them to dissolve almost instantly as they were hit.

  But Antonio had the best idea out of everyone. The Ritual Chamber’s ceiling was made of glass, so the energy beams from the altar could spread through Lunaria more easily. All Antonio would have to do was help the sun to rise a bit faster.

  As he brought himself to safety, Antonio lifted up his sceptre, slowly clearing the sky above the Chamber and raising the sun, allowing its rays to shine over the Ritual Chamber.

  There was nowhere to hide. The light was disastrous for the Evil Spirits and Shadow Walkers; Sabrina and Jason were able to stand in the light due to their mortal bodies offering them protection, but their army, which consisted entirely of shadows and black fog, dissolved almost instantly.

  “Game, set and match,” Antonio laughed, as he watched the evil army disappear in front of his eyes.

  Jason, however, wasn’t too happy. He stormed forward toward Antonio, yelling in anger.

  “You Guardians keep messing everything up! It’s about time one of you paid for all you’ve done to me!” 

  He lifted up his sceptre, transforming the orb in the front into a sharp blade. But just as he jumped into the air, ready to stab Antonio, who’d defensively raised his sceptre in front of his chest to block the blade, Timothy jumped in between the two, stabbing Jason in the chest.

  ...While, unfortunately, also getting Jason’s blade between his ribs, piercing his left lung and probably a part of his heart. The blade hit him with enough force to end up sticking out at the back; the teenagers who’d been spectating the event, pulled faces of horror as they saw what was happening.

  The two dissolved before they even hit the ground. Jason into black fog, Timothy into light.

  They’d killed each other.

  Everything went silent, as both the Bond of Light and Sabrina stared silently at the spot where Timothy and Jason had just disappeared.

  “No,” Madeleine mouthed, as tears streamed down her cheeks. “No.”

  Sabrina didn’t seem to be able to comprehend what just happened. She had a confused look on her face, as if she was questioning herself and her own choices.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, before fainting from what seemed to be exhaustion – or something else.

  “Life is but a dream to the dead,” Antonio said. “After all, how often do we get a second chance?”

  He decided to ignore the confused look Bella gave him, who seemed to have heard him.

  The Ritual

  Some time passed. Nobody knew how much time; all they knew was that everyone was still tired from the battle. Samira had been able to heal a lot of the wounds the enemy had inflicted; the deeper cuts had been reduced to scabs.

  A decision had to be made; they could either just sit there and wait for the Master to show up and finish them off, or compl
ete the Ritual now, while they had the time to do so.

  Except... there were certain things about the Ritual that were different from what Madeleine had told the Bond of Light when they first arrived in Lunaria; the biggest difference was that there were five altars instead of just two. Three low ones and two high ones; one for each Guardian.

  “So, before you begin, there are some things I haven’t told you yet,” Madeleine said. “I wanted to wait telling you this until we got here. The five of you need to get the Ritual started together.” She gestured at the three slightly lower altars below the high ones while talking. “As soon as you’ve fulfilled your part, you’ll know by getting awakened from the trance the Ritual will bring you in. The same thing goes for you, James and Thomas,” she said, shifting her attention to James and Thomas in specific.

  Each member of the Bond of Light nodded understandingly. Of course they had to do this together; this was the final trial to test their teamwork and strength. Each of their powers had come from one of the Spirits of Light, who’d sent it to the Earth so long ago. And now it was up to them to return the Elements of Light to Lunaria.

  “So, is there anything else we need to know before we’re getting into this?” Antonio said.

  “Yes, one last thing,” Madeleine said. “Once the Ritual has brought you into the Trance, it can’t be interrupted. Or cancelled. Nothing can get you out of it until it’s over.”

  Thomas crossed his arms, standing in a wide stance. “We’ll do what we must,” he said, looking quite determined. “Let’s get prepared, shall we?”

  His friends nodded at him, as they walked toward their own Altar; each one had been indicated by the shape of the stone/broche that kept their cape together around their necks being carved into the stone. Except James’s looked... different. It looked like his three stones, with two wings behind them.

  Nobody thought much of it, however; they simply climbed the altars and sat down in a comfortable seat, simultaneously saying the lines they’d remembered from the book. Of course they’d work.

  “We Guardians present to you

  The Elements of Light, to make this world anew

  End the Darkness, return the Light

  Shining over Lunaria, clear and bright”

  The sight was breathtaking. The carvings in the stone started to glow; blue, green, yellow, orange and purple. If there would’ve been any red involved, it could’ve reminded them of a rainbow.

  The beams of light started to join together, forming a bright, white light where they joined together at the glass ceiling and spread out over the world.

  Slowly but steadily, the light of the lower altars started to die out, leaving the light of the two upper altars united, forming a cyan colour.

  Samira, Antonio and Bella slowly got up and left their altars, to watch James and Thomas do the rest; they were now standing upright, floating about ten centimetres above the altars.

  It also gave them the perfect view to something else. 

  “Uh- guys!” Bella shouted, pointing out and staring at something approaching in utter fear.

  “Better look up! Look who’s coming!”

  A black figure glided close to ceiling-level. The one red, glowing eye and drop-shaped stone were unmistakable, despite the figure moving quite fast. It could be nobody else but the Master... in spirit form.

  “He’s heading straight for James and Thomas!” Antonio shouted. “Darn! They’ve got to get out of there!”

  “They can’t, Antonio!” Samira shouted with her eyes locked on the duo floating a few meters above them, on the special Ritual Altar. She was loading her bow while doing so. “The Ritual cannot be interrupted! If they do, it might cost them their lives!”

  “But we have to help them!”

  In the second Samira turned her head to speak to Antonio, it happened. The figure aimed for one of the two brothers, while the black fog around its hand slowly started to get a red glow, before forming a red orb, shooting out of the figure’s hand, forming the shape of a staff.

  A red beam of energy shot out of the orb, shooting towards James at the speed of light.

  The boy opened his eyes just before impact, leaving a shocked expression on his face before collapsing to the floor...

  ...Just as the light of Thomas’s altar started to die. Of course the light of James’ altar had died immediately after he’d collapsed, but Thomas couldn’t have known until he ended with his feet on the solid surface of his altar. As he looked beside him to check up on James, his face turned white and his lip started to tremble. “No,” he breathed.

  Meanwhile, somewhere in the corner of the room, a young girl woke up. Something flashed inside her red, glowing eyes. A sense of hazel-green peeked through the reddish colour. “No,” she breathed. “He didn’t. He won’t-”

  Then, Sabrina came to a realization. She had to kill her own Master. That meant she would die too, of course, as he’d resurrected her like this... But that was what it would take to free these Guardians from the same fate. Her master would probably resurrect James as an Evil Spirit too, and then he’d be trapped the same way as she had been as well.

  And she wouldn’t let that happen.

  Making sure nobody would notice her and blow her party, Sabrina ran through the darker part of the Ritual Chamber, picking up one of the katanas Timothy had left there, before rushing to one of the altars, hiding behind it.

  The Master, who was floating downward, lowering himself to the floor level of that exact same altar, laughed manically. “FOOLS!” he laughed. “Did you really think you could finish this without me interfering?”

  His spirit form changed into his mortal body again, showing a maniacal grin on his face. “You FAILED, where they ALL failed! Don’t you get it? You’re children! I’ve seen Guardians TWICE your age, and they all broke before me like twigs! What did you think you had that would make you any different?”

  “They have an unexpected ally they can count on,” Sabrina breathed, before raising the katana, jamming it into the Master’s back, who gasped in surprise.

  Sabrina, determined to finish it once and for all, then proceeded to kick him off the altar. The Master let out a yell of rage as he fell face-first on the floor, making a bone-crushing smack.

  “I’m pretty sure he broke something,” Bella said silently. Sabrina, who was panting loudly, looked down at the Master, and then at Madeleine; grinning broadly.

  Madeleine nodded. “We’ll take care of the Master,” she shouted. “You guys need to go help James!”

  She didn’t have to tell them twice. Thomas had already carried James down the altar back to the Bond of Light. Samira carefully lifted up the bloody tunic; the Master’s spell had blasted a hole in it.

  “This doesn’t look good,” Samira said. “I... I don’t know if I can heal this.”

  “Violina?” Antonio said hopefully.  ”Can’t you do something?”

  Violina glanced at the wound in James’ stomach, grimaced and lowered her head. “I can’t heal,” she sighed. “I’m... I’m sorry.”

  Meanwhile, Samira was trying her hardest to heal James. “Come on,” she whispered. “COME ON!”

  The Magic wasn’t working. It sparkled around the wound and closed it, only to have the wound rip straight open again, causing James to moan in pain.

  “I- can’t-” Samira sobbed. “I can’t heal him! I-it’s da-ark Magic; the wo-ound is pro-otected fro-om my po-powers! He-e-e’ll die!”

  She buried her face in Thomas’s chest, who hugged her tight. “There must be something we can do...” he whispered. 

  A ripping sound was heard; Violina had torn up the bottom of the tunic she was wearing to use it as a bandage for James’ stomach.

  “This silk is enchanted,” she said.  ”It’ll... might help stop the bleeding and stimulate scabbing.”

  Samira took the bandage, carefully binding James’ stomach with it. “You’re going to be fine, James,” she said desperately, as she noticed that he’
d been conscious the whole time. “It’s going to be all right.” But she couldn’t help herself from sobbing.

  “Samira, it’s okay,” James moaned, as he sat upright. “Could you help me stand up?”

  “If you think you can,” Samira said, and helped her brother to get on his feet.

  “Listen, guys, I’ve got to get up there and finish it. Even if I have to start over.”

  “James, no!” Samira shouted. “It’s too dangerous!”

  James walked forward, grabbing Samira’s shoulders; her face was so close to his, that his pointy nose slightly crumpled against hers.

  “It’s okay,” he whispered. “You’re going to be fine... I promise.”

  He took her hands, pulling her along in a short dance, to say his final goodbye to his sister. They both knew this would be the last time they’d see each other.

  They stopped dancing. James felt his throat closing up, all he could say was “Goodbye,” before running up the altar stairs.

  He heard Thomas’s voice yelling at him to come back, his footsteps chasing him toward the altar.

  Tears stung in James’ eyes; but he couldn’t look back, no matter what he did. If he did, he would want to go back, to stay with them.

  But he couldn’t. He had to do this for them to go home, and for Lunaria to be finally completely free of the Master.

  This had to end tonight. And it would end with him.

  James heard Thomas; he was almost there, almost close enough to pull him away from the altar.

  But he was too late. 

  James spread his arms into the sky with his legs wide, and yelled the words to start the Ritual out loud, as fast as he could.

  “This humble Guardian presents to you

  The Elements of Light, to make this world anew

  End the Darkness, return the Light

  Shining over Lunaria, clear and bright!”

  “JAMES, NO!” Thomas shouted, but was blasted off the altar as James was lifted into the air. 

  It wasn’t the altar that glowed this time. It was James.

  The stone on the pin which held his cape together came loose, as did the smaller ones on the sides, forming the exact same jewel as shown on the altar.

  “James Riverdale,

  This act of extremely rare selflessness, compassion and courage is what makes a Guardian a Guardian.

  And this is what earns you the power to save this world.

  Your Guardian’s Totem; Valour.

  The Golden Wing represents courage, innocence and imagination. Here for, it belongs to you.”

  The blue light slowly turned white as it spread all across the room; the Guardians covered their eyes, only to uncover them as the light died.

  Everything was light and bright; the Castle was white once again, the sun was shining.

  All eyes were focused on the altar where James was standing as the light extinguished.

  Thomas was lying on his back, staring up at the altar; he watched as the Golden Wing reattach itself to James’s chest as its glow returned to normal and James’ feet touched the ground.

  James’s feet were unable to carry his weight; his knees buckled and he fell forward on the altar, desperately trying to get back up while leaning on his arms before sinking through his elbows as well.

  Thomas got to his feet as fast as he could, yelling out James’s name as many times as he could before running out of breath as he ran up the altar’s stairs.

  He knelt down beside the redhead, checking his breath; quick, feeble breaths went in and out of his mouth. 

  “Hold on, James,” Thomas whispered, as he carefully lifted him off the ground. “We’re going to save you. You’re going to be fine.”

  Thomas rushed back down to his friends while carrying James, careful not to drop him. As he carefully put James down, Sabrina and Madeleine came back, with shocked expressions on their faces.

  Samira had knelt down beside her brother, and Thomas had stood back up again.

  The Bond of Light, including Violina, who’d gathered around James and Samira, looked up at Sabrina and Madeleine. Akilah was with them.

  Samira opened her mouth, but one look from Akilah told her she had to remain silent. “I know,” she said. 

  “Please, let me see him.” 

   

  Akilah knelt beside James, examining him; her face turned into a frown almost instantly.  

  “He’s...” she said quietly. Whimpering and gasping sounds could be heard coming from the others.  They knew the answer. She didn’t even have to say it.

  “No!” Samira cried out desperately. “Akilah, you have to help him!” 

  Akilah’s eyes flashed from James’ face to his stomach. “There’s only one thing that can save him. And that might mean James can’t leave Lunaria... or at least his soul will always remain connected to this world.”

  “But now he’s dead,” Samira said. “Please. Help him.”

  Akilah nodded. “All right,” she said. “When James gave up his life to save Lunaria, his soul was taken into the light that spread all across Lunaria. So that means that with a small sample of Lunaria’s Light, I should be able to resurrect him.”

  The teenagers made a few steps backward. Akilah placed left hand on James’s heart, and lifted her right hand into the air.

  “Redit vita,” she said. “Lucem Vitae.” 

  She kept repeating the same two spells multiple times, before finally removing her hands as she stood up. 

  “And?” Thomas asked hoarsely. 

  “He’ll need time,” Akilah said quietly. “Just let the Magic do its job. You’ll see.” Without speaking to anyone else or answering any more questions, she walked out of the small crowd.

  Madeleine and Sabrina followed her.

  “So I guess it’s safe to assume that you two have taken care of Asura?” Akilah said. 

  “Yes,” Madeleine said. “We locked up his mortal body somewhere he’ll never be able to reach. Although I still have my reasons to believe he escaped somehow.” 

  “It’s possible,” Sabrina said; she quickly grabbed her forehead as she staggered. “But then again...” 

  She staggered again, coming dangerously close to losing her balance, but was caught by Madeleine before she fell. 

  “Sabrina, what’s wrong with you? Are you all right?” Madeleine said worriedly. 

  Sabrina smiled at her; Madeleine didn’t know what was going on, but Sabrina did.

  “It’s all right,” she said. “It’s a foolproof system, Maddy. He resurrected me... So if the Master dies, so do I. And, since I am dying right now... He must be, too.” 

  Madeleine started to sob as tears streamed down her face. “No,” she said hoarsely. “I- I just got you back. You can’t leave now! I won’t let him take you from me again!” 

  Sabrina grabbed her best friend’s shoulders. “It’s okay,” she said. “After all... We’ll see each other again soon, right?” 

  Madeleine sniffed. “Promise?” she blurted 

  Sabrina nodded, offering Madeleine a smile. “Promise.” 

  A hug followed. They finally were able to look each other in the eye and hug after having been enemies for over a thousand years. Everything was all right. 

  They were all right. 

  Sabrina and Madeleine didn’t let go of each other; not even when Sabrina dissolved into light, leaving Madeleine behind with empty arms, hugging nothing but air.

  “It’s always hard to lose a loved one,” Akilah said, laying a comforting hand on Madeleine, who sank down to the ground, sobbing. “Especially if you just got the chance to reunite with them.”