Guardian: Darkness Rising (28 page)

*

Antonio and Mari weren’t the only ones who
were ready to leave the past behind. The Spirits were,
too.

Aside from the dragons, their
fight had evolved to elemental magic. Some powers were limited to
the Spirits (such as Aoife’s nature-centred magic; she had to
revive the plants on the ground below if she wanted to manipulate
them), but they made do with what they had.

The battle seemed endless: the Spirits and the
opposing demi-spirit were perfectly matched to each
other.

The six opponents dodged each other’s attacks
quickly and agilely. Neither of the two parties was willing to give
up. But eventually, Akilah started to notice something. The
Master’s body was starting to tire.

Akilah, knowing she could take
advantage of the Master’s exhaustion, said, “There’s no need to
fight anymore if you are tired, Asura.

“
I know you are. Not just
physically, but mentally also. And I understand.”

The Master stared at his sister for a short
moment; the fight had been halted once again. “I’m not tired,” he
stated decisively, “and I won’t be defeated.”

He raised his hand again, intending to attack,
resulting in the same happening on the other side. But Akilah
stopped all five of her siblings in their tracks. This wouldn’t end
the same way as their final fight had just over a thousand years
ago.

“
No, Asura,” Akilah said calmly,
“you misunderstood what I meant.

“
I know how you feel. The human
body we trapped you in... It’s a prison to you.”

“
Wasn’t that what you intended it
to be?” the Master sneered. “A prison, a punishment? You wanted me
to be dependent of a vessel.”

Akilah turned to face her four siblings. There
was no denying the facts their brother had just stated. He was
right.

“
We... made a mistake, Asura,”
Aharnish admitted, obviously ashamed. “We treated you
unfairly.”

Asura’s eyes narrowed. “Glad you finally
manned up and realised your mistake.”

“
But we can help you,” Aoife said
hopefully. “Please, Asura. If you’re ready to let everything go, we
can help you – free you from your prison and your pain,”

Obviously, the Master didn’t
believe her. “You’re lying,” he said, quickly raising his voice.
“Once again, this is just a trick for you to be able to fix your
mistake! Covering up the error of your ways!” To everyone’s
surprise – even the Master’s own surprise – tears began to stream
down the Master’s cheeks. “You have no idea what it’s like to live
like this!

“
All I ever wanted was to be loved
and respected, and to be one of you!”

The Master stopped yelling. “But you never
gave me the chance,” he said silently. His face quickly grew cold
and expressionless.

“
And you never will.”

The Master looked at his hands; in his heart,
he knew that it was over. The Guardians were close to beating him a
second time, and it was about time he gave up. He was
tired.

Clenching his fists and gritting
his teeth, the Master reluctantly said, “Just do it,
Akilah.

“
Set me free.”

It took Akilah a few moments to understand
what he meant. “Are you sure?” she asked. “We won’t be able to
bring you back once you’ve moved on.” She paused. “I mean – we can
restore you to the Spirit you once were-” The Master cut her
off.

“
I don’t want to come back,
Akilah,” he said. “Too much has happened for me to ever become who
I was again.

“
And you know who the cause to
that is.”

Akilah nodded. And for a moment, for the first
time in centuries, Akilah recognized her little brother. “Very
well.”

She gestured at her siblings to join her; the
five of them surrounded the Master.

“
Asura,” Akilah said, “in the name
of the light, and on behalf of the Spirits that guard it, I hereby
release you from your prison. You have served your time; it is time
for you to move on and be free, like you always wanted to
be.”

The five Spirits all moved as one,
combining their powers together. The Master screamed in pain; his
body began to disintegrate as soon as the Spirits’ magic made
contact with it.

But as the Master’s body died, so did his
soul. And while the Master’s body faded into shadows, the Master’s
soul was represented by golden sparks. They floated around the
Spirits, as if to say goodbye before disappearing.

“
We did it,” Akilah said, a single
tear rolling down her cheek. “He finally made peace and moved
on.”

Akilah hoped with all her heart and soul that
her brother was finally happy; she regretted the way she’d treated
him for all those years, but knew that her brother would now
finally find happiness.

Akilah wiped her tears and replaced them with
a smile instead. “Come,” she told her siblings, “the Guardians
might need our help.”

“
I can’t believe it,” Ince said
quietly. “We’re finally going to be free.”

“
And this time, we’ll be doing it
the right way,” Aharnish added. “No one will ever have to carry the
burden that Asura did, because we will be carrying it
together.”

Akilah smiled at that comment.
Indeed, they’d do it together. On Asura’s behalf.

Weapon of
Mass Destruction

James was fighting. Fighting the effects of
the darkness that was slowly taking over his heart and mind again.
The impending amnesia that slowly sucked away his memories bit by
bit, the sudden urge to kill, everything.

But there was one good thing, making matters
slightly less difficult; there was no one left to control James. If
he was strong enough, perhaps he could retain his memories, and
repress the darkness.

He tried. And... perhaps he’d succeeded, even.
The veins were there again and his eyes were red, but this time, it
was different.

James remembered something. Hardly
enough to go by, but at least it was
something
. James remembered his son.
He had to get to his son, as he’d promised. James had to see Luke,
just so he could be sure that he was alright.

And thus, James turned around and ran toward
the Land of Light.

*

The Guardians had reached the Castle of Light.
This is where matters got serious. The adults had to prepare their
children for the Ritual, as they adults would probably not be able
to do it themselves.

The Spirits appeared to assist the Guardians
in their final moments of preparation, also bringing the news that
the Master had disappeared.

Both Generations were nervous; the
adults were nervous because they knew what would happen during the
Ritual, and the teenagers because they
didn’t
.

But the most nervous of the bunch was probably
Luke. He didn’t have anyone to help him prepare, no one to tell him
what would happen. James wasn’t there to do it.

The only thing his aunt and uncle could tell
him, was that the Ritual had nearly killed James – although Luke
was more or less ‘glad’ to learn that whatever had happened to his
father had been due to severe injuries and the Ritual combined, and
thus there wasn’t much of a risk of death for Luke.

...If he did it right, at least.
And that was probably the scary part; the teenagers didn’t know how
to do it ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, because there were no indications or
specific instructions as to
how
they had to do it. They just
had
to.

“
So... you’re really going to have
to do this, huh?” Mari said; she and Luke had retreated to the back
of the Ritual chamber. They just simply wanted to talk among two
friends.

“
Yeah,” Luke replied silently, not
exactly sure what to say. “They told us what to do – just simply
stand there and say a stupid riddle, and then everything handles
itself, I guess.”

“
That really doesn’t sound all
that difficult. Why is everyone so worked up about it?”

Luke let out his breath. “Because it went
wrong last time our parents performed the Ritual,” he said. “But
that shouldn’t happen this time... since the Master is gone and
all.”

“
I wonder if he’s really dead,”
Mari pondered. “Or if he’s still some kind of ghost.”

“
Probably not,”
Luke said, “if he
told
the Spirits to kill him... that man must’ve lead a really
messed-up life.”

“
As if we haven’t,” Mari chuckled.
Luke chuckled too.

“
Yeah.” He looked at Mari. “Hey...
can I ask you something?”

Mari looked back at Luke, raising her
eyebrows. “Sure,” she said. “Ask away, Luke.”

“
Where were you for all those
years? Before you came to Lunaria?” Luke asked, getting straight to
the point. “I never found you. No one ever did.

“
It was as if you had
vanished.”

Mari fiddled with her glove
nervously, trying to find out how far the fingers would stretch.
“I’ve been in many places, Luke. I-” She suddenly stopped. “New
York is a big city, Luke. Let’s leave it at that.”

“
And nearly all
the policemen in New York were looking for you, Mari,” Luke
demanded. “You were gone for
four
years. Your dad never stopped looking for
you.”

“
I thought about coming back many
times, you know,” Mari defended herself. “I thought that I could
maybe stay on your attic for a while.”

Both Mari and Luke chuckled at the
thought of Mari hiding on the attic of Luke’s house.

“
Dad probably would’ve found you
within a matter of hours,” Luke said with a smile.

“
Exactly,” Mari agreed. “And then,
I would’ve been sent back home to my parents. That... wasn’t what I
wanted.

“
At least... not yet.”

“
But then where did you go?” Luke
asked, his curiosity sparking. “You obviously didn’t stay in the
neighbourhood.”

“
No, indeed, I didn’t,” Mari aid.
She swiped her left foot across the marble floor nervously. “I
ended up going to the Bronx. There was this vacant apartment I
lived in with other runaways.” She turned her head away from
Luke.

“
I did a lot of things I wasn’t
proud of, Lucas. And I’m still not proud of the things I’ve done. I
guess that’s why I never came back.”

“
So you shoplifted to get food and
lived your life as a squatter?” Luke guessed. “Eh. You could’ve
done worse, Mari. Just be glad you didn’t kill anyone.

“
Did you ever get caught
stealing?”

“
No,” Mari said, slightly annoyed,
“but I’m still not proud of the fact that I did it. I felt like I
was disappointing my parents with every step that I took – just
waiting for a change that would never come.” She let out a sigh of
defeat. “I failed my mission, Luke.”

“
You didn’t to me,” Luke said.
Mari turned her head, looking at her friend with a confused look in
her eyes.

“
What do you mean?”

“
Well...” Luke said, not sure how
to continue, his eyes shifting between Mari’s green and blue eye.
“You did prove your point, Mari. You survived on your own, and...
you proved that there was more out there.” He gestured at the room
they were sitting in.

“
I...” he mumbled. “There were
times I regretted not accepting your offer to come with you,
Mari.

“
I went after you, Mari. More
times than I can count. Sometimes, I’d be gone for days – searching
all over the city for the slightest trace of you.”

“
I bet your parents didn’t like
that,” Mari said. Luke laughed.

“
No, they sure didn’t,” he said.
“But they understood. Your dad left the neighbourhood about a year
after you left, believing he’d be able to track you down. He
guessed you’d left New York.”

“
Well, he was wrong.” Mari sighed.
“One of the first lessons I learned while I was out on my own, was
‘Don’t look back, and never regret’,” she said. “And I think you
should learn how to do that too, Luke.”

Luke looked at her, his eyes
betraying his confusion. “What do you mean, Mari?” he asked. Mari
smiled mischievously.

“
Stop regretting your past
choices, Luke,” she said, “and be more cautious with your future
ones. I will do the same.

“
I am here now, and I’m never
leaving you again.”

“
I’ll stick you to that,” Luke
said. “Looks like we’re going to be following each other from now
on.”

“
Don’t become a stalker, Lucas,”
Mari warned him. Both of them laughed.

When it was time to perform the
Ritual, the five teenagers were called by Akilah, who gave them
their final instructions.

She directed each teenager toward the right
altar, and told them to begin meditating. The Ritual would tell
them when it was time to begin.