Guardian: Darkness Rising (22 page)

She summoned another orb; Luke
caught it, but accidentally dropped it in his excitement. Eloine
laughed, and made him another orb, which Luke
did
manage to keep safe.

“
Okay, Luke,” Eloine said, “now
make it fly.”

Luke did the same thing he’d done
with the last orb he’d sent flying; he let it go, pushed it
forward, and then commanded it to go up. The orb stopped moving
forward and shook, threatening to drop to the ground, but
eventually did fly upward. Luke grinned. “Heh.”

He commanded the orb to fly back
to his hands; surprisingly enough, this time, the orb followed his
every command perfectly.

“
Seems like I’m getting the hang
of it,” Luke said, tossing the orb in the air, making it spiral
upward before spreading his arms wide and allowing the orb to
vanish.

“
Really nice,” Queen Eloine
nodded. “Now, I will teach you how to make an orb
yourself.”

Now this was the tricky part.
Controlling the orb wasn’t too difficult, but creating one seemed
to take up all of Luke’s concentration and energy. The first few
times, nothing happened; after five minutes or so of trying, Luke
would grunt in frustration, complaining that nothing was happening.
But Queen Eloine would encourage him to try again every time – and
so he did.

After a while, things finally
started to happen. Small sparks of light began to flicker between
Luke’s hands; first they were only white, but eventually, Luke
could manipulate their colours at will – and thus create orbs of
all sorts of colour – if the orb were to show up between his
palms.

But, after two-ish hours of trying and staying
determined to succeed, Luke finally created his first orb. As proud
as he was, he instantly sent it flying, spiralling into the air. He
allowed the orb to circle around him a few times before finally
catching it again.

“
Well done, Luke!” Eloine
applauded. “Now, I’d like you to try the same thing, but then with
fire.”

And so the day went on. Eloine taught Luke to
summon all kinds of things, although he did get his fair share of
swordfight training as well.

Several hours of defence and target practice
later, the teenagers met up again in the middle of the courtyard.
Sweat was shimmering brightly on the teenagers’ foreheads; the
guards wanted to make sure that these Guardians would return to the
Land of Light as prepared as possible, and thus they had really
made a point of wearying the young adults as much as
possible.

Queen Eloine sent the Guardians to get cleaned
up, and told them to meet her again in her study as soon as they
were done.

*

“
Ah, Guardians,” Queen Eloine
smiled as the teenagers entered her study. “It’s good to see you
again.”

Although the current Guardians
didn’t know, their parents might’ve recognized the study’s
interior; it looked almost identical to the guests’ reception room
in the old castle. Perhaps some of the castle’s old interior
had
survived, after
all.

“
Please,” Queen Eloine smiled as
she saw the teenagers stand around helplessly, and gestured toward
the blue armchairs, “do sit down.”

The Guardians did as they were told; the blue
chairs were soft and comfortable to sit on.

“
So,” Queen Eloine said, as she
joined the group of six, “how was your training?”

Luke’s eyes started to sparkle at just the
thought of how his training had been, but he was more interested in
hearing how the others had found theirs – so he just simply
listened to their stories, instead of telling his own.

Marco told about how he’d begun to
perfect his aim with his crossbow, which resulted into Felicity
mocking him how she was already a flawless archer; that wasn’t
quite true, but she was pretty good for someone who could only
depend on their sense of hearing and intuition. After training for
a while, Felicity had managed to hit every target the guards had
set up for her, and had even hit the bull’s eye twice. Only Mari
seemed rather silent and distant. Tony was excited to tell everyone
he’d finally got a sword that matches his length more
properly.

“
Do you have any questions before
you head out again?” Queen Eloine asked, after all teenagers had
told their stories.

“
Oh, so many,” Daisy sighed. “We
just have no idea where to start.”

“
Well... how about we start at the
beginning?” Felicity suggested. “Queen Eloine, can you tell us
about our parents? What they were like when they were
here?”

Eloine smiled. “Why, of course,” she said. “I
will start at the moment they arrived here.”

Queen Eloine told the teenagers everything she
knew, everything that had happened in those five days the Last
Generation had been in her company. How Violina led them safely
through the forest, how Samira cleansed her own curse and learned
how to heal, and how she then proceeded to use that ability to save
her brother’s life.

“
I don’t believe there’s much more
to tell,” Queen Eloine said as she finished her story. “I hope I’ve
told you all you wanted to know.”

“
Wait,” Tony said, “so that
necklace you gave my mum – it gave her special powers, didn’t it?”
Queen Eloine nodded in response.

“
Then why don’t we have anything
like that?”

Queen Eloine chuckled. “That’s a
good question, Anthony.” She thought of what to say for an answer
for a while. “Honestly, I don’t exactly know, but... I guess it’s
just that these items are unique, and the Guardians that claimed
them most recently are still alive. The Spirits kept the Totems in
their castle, and returned them to your parents as they
arrived.

“
That’s probably why you don’t
have anything as such.”

“
But what do the others do?” Luke
said. “The only thing I know about the Totems is that our parents
got them by completing a certain test – and that my father got his
Golden Wing for completing the Ritual and sacrificing himself. But
what does it do?”

“
I’m not entirely sure,” Eloine
said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, “but all Totems are meant to
strengthen a Guardian’s abilities. So... I guess the Golden Wing
makes it easier for your father to use his magic.

Samira’s necklace gives her the
ability to heal, that’s one thing I
do
know.”

“
While we’re asking questions
anyway,” Mari said, “is magic something you inherit from your
parents, or-?”

The corner of Queen Eloine’s mouth
pulled tight for a moment. “Well, in this world, yes,” she said,
“but as you all come from a world where magic is either yet to be
discovered or already gone extinct... I’m not sure. But I assume
the same rules apply, so yes.

That explains why some of you
might have enhanced senses you wouldn’t have on Earth, but only
Luke has
real
magic. Because of his father; he is the most powerful
Guardian to have ever lived.”

“
And that’s why the Master was so
eager to capture him,” Luke pondered. “To get access to that
power.”

“
Exactly,” Queen Eloine said.
“Anything else you’d like to know?”

“
Yes,” Mari said. “When James –
disguised as Violina – came to see you, did he say anything about
my curse?”

Queen Eloine’s head made a sharp turn. “Oh,
dear,” she said. “I completely forgot in all the chaos.” She
gestured at Mari to come nearer. “Child, please, come here. Let me
have a look at you.”

Mari stood up, and knelt down in front of
Eloine, who gently brushed Mari’s messy hair away to examine her
face. The marks had now spread to her cheeks, clearly
visible.

Queen Eloine’s face paled. “We
must hurry,” she said, standing up from her chair. “Please, follow
me to the garden.”

The Guardians did as they were told, and
followed the Queen to the palace garden. The Queen led them into
the royal conservatory greenhouse, where it instantly became clear
where the Queen was headed. In the middle of the garden, on a
pedestal, grew a single, golden flower.

“
This flower,” Queen Eloine said,
“is what cured both Samira and James back when they were visiting
my palace. “I decided to plant one of my own inside my greenhouse
to ensure I’d always have one at hand whenever I’d need
it.”

“
Couldn’t you have used it to heal
Violina?” Daisy blurted, recognizing her mistake a little too late.
Queen Eloine didn’t seem to mind, however, as she offered Daisy a
kind smile.

“
I’m sorry, Desirée,” she said,
“but magic can’t bring people back from the dead. In this world,
all living beings have life energy – which can be extended with
magical energy.

“
Violina’s life energy was mostly
gone... aside from that, the Fairy Folk can’t survive without their
magic. And once our magic is gone, it can’t be
restored.”

“
But Akilah brought my father back
from the dead,” Luke protested, knowing it wasn’t the right time to
make objections, but he decided to make a point of it anyway.
“That’s something.”

“
The Spirits can manipulate life,
Lucas,” Queen Eloine stated. “...well, to a certain extent. And I
don’t believe that it’s James’s own life energy that Akilah
restored.” Realising she’d run her mouth, the Queen quickly tried
to get everyone’s attention back to the flower. “So anyway, I can
use this flower to heal you, Mari.”

“
No, no, no,” Luke objected. “What
was that about Dad’s life energy not being restored?”

Queen Eloine sighed. “It’s not important,
Luke,” she said. “Just let it slide. I want to-”

Luke was persistent. “I want to know,” he
said, crossing his arms decisively.

Queen Eloine laughed silently. “Alright. Since
you’re not going to stop asking about it...” she mumbled. “Will the
six of you come along, please? There’s something I need to explain
to you.”

Suddenly, Mari felt a nasty sting of pain
spread through her chest and her head. Was it what she feared?
Following the pain, a cold feeling spread across her chest,
confirming that the moment she had feared for days had finally
come.

“
I- I’ll stay here,” she mumbled,
“I don’t really feel well. I’d like to sit down here and enjoy the
silence for a bit.”

Queen Eloine smiled. “Understandable,” she
said. “It’s been a wild ride for the lot of you, the past
week.”

“
Don’t catch a cold, Mari,” Luke
winked at his friend. “When I come back, I’ll have learned all the
secrets of the universe, and I’m willing to share them with you –
but not if you sneeze on me.”

Mari laughed. A sincere laugh.

She watched her friends leave the greenhouse.
The door had hardly been shut before Mari lost control; she sank to
the ground, gritting her teeth, feeling a throbbing, burning pain
as her heart seemed to beat in every single one of her veins before
completely freezing.

She’d become a Lost Soul. And if
she didn’t leave quickly, her friends would be lost,
too.

As soon as the pain had lessened,
Mari opened her eyes and got back on her feet. Her eyes had gained
an eerie, orange-reddish glow, and her pupils had become tight and
vertical, like a cat’s.

Just like the Master. Her Master?

NO,
Mari
thought.
No. He is not my Master, and he
never will be. But he will pay for what he did. He will pay for
everything.

Mari extended her left arm; an orb
of black magic materialized in her palm, blasting a hole in the
greenhouse’s windows.

Mari ran. Away from her friends,
away from the fear of destroying them. And toward the Master.
Toward his defeat, toward his demise.

She’d destroy him, just like he’d destroyed
her.

Darkness
Rising

Luke returned to the greenhouse
with an annoyed expression on his face. The Queen had tricked him
into thinking she was going to share important information with
him, but in reality, she had just spent thirty minutes making
terrible puns while telling a bad story. Well – it wasn’t really
a
bad
story in
terms of bad storytelling or a poor plot – if you could call it
that -, since it told about the time their parents had spent time
with Queen Eloine. But it wasn’t what Luke wanted to
know.

It had cheered his friends up, but that
cheerfulness didn’t last long, as they returned to the greenhouse
only to find one of its windows shattered and Mari gone.

“
Mari?” Luke asked, frantically
raising his voice as he ran toward the shattered glass.
“MARI!”

Many emotions soared through Luke’s heart and
chest at the same time. Fear, anger, frustration. “We shouldn’t
have left her here,” he said furiously. “We shouldn’t have left her
alone! Now she’s gone! Just like my father, like our parents,
like-”

“
Luke!” Marco shouted, grabbing
his friend by the shoulders, trying to calm him down. “Please,
Luke! Get yourself together!” he commanded, his eyes wide with
worry.