Guardian: Darkness Rising (29 page)

In the meantime, no one knew that James had
almost reached the Castle of Light. To the man’s surprise, more
memories had begun to flood into his mind as he neared his
destination – memories from before he’d turned the second time, the
things he’d done when he’d turned the first time – the curse he
placed on the altars.

The altars the young Guardians were about to
activate.

James accelerated in speed as he reached the
Castle, rushing through the hallway as quick as his legs could
carry him – he was sure that the Guardians would hear the sound of
his footsteps and approach him.

And James wasn’t wrong – the Guardians did
indeed hear him. Or at least one of them did, for that
matter.

The doors to the Ritual Chamber opened, and as
soon as James saw the blonde woman standing in the doorway, the
final bits of his memory returned.

All of it. His childhood, teenage years, his
first journey through Lunaria; everything came back, all at
once.

“
SAMIRA!” James shouted; his
sister was caught off-guard, as James’s eyes still had an eerie red
glow; James had his memory back, but was still filled with dark
energy. James understood why she looked so afraid; even he himself
wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to stay in control or
not.

“
Samira,” he repeated, on a
slightly quieter tone. “Get those kids off the altars.”

“
What are you talking about?”
Samira replied, realising her brother meant no harm. “James, what’s
going on?”

Thomas appeared beside her, joined
by Ince and Aharnish. Their eyes widened when they saw James
standing in the hallway, panting and panicked.

“
The altars
are
cursed
, Sam!”
James said. “The Master made me pour this strange potion into the
grooves between the altars’ stones – if the magic inside the altars
is released, then-”

James abruptly stopped talking to listen to
the voices of the five teenagers saying an awfully familiar
incantation.

“
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”

Halfway through hearing the
teenagers, James began to run. He sprinted past Samira, Ince and
Thomas, who quickly joined him. “STOP!” the four adults yelled in
unison, catching everyone off-guard; unfortunately, it was too late
to stop whatever the Ritual had set in motion.

The Ritual sure was different.
Instead of the five beams of light uniting to become one beam that
would spread its light through Lunaria, the altars emitted a
powerful blast of dark magic that shattered all windows in the
Ritual Chamber – including the roof window.

In the midst of chaos, the teenagers were
thrown off the altars in the process.

Luke scrambled to get up; it took a while for
his vision to become clear again. His left ear beeped and stung,
and a warm feeling spread from the shell of his ear down his neck.
When Luke moved his hand toward his stinging ear, he carefully
pulled a glass shard out of his ear. Horrified, he quickly dropped
it, the bloody shard shattering as it hit the floor.

The beeping was due to the loud blast, Luke
knew that – but he wasn’t sure whether or not that shard of glass
had pierced anything vital to permanently damage his
hearing.

“
Lucas?” Luke
heard his father’s voice coming from his right.
“
Luke
!”

James appeared before Luke; a chill went down
the boy’s spine as he looked his father in the eye. One was blue,
one still glowing red. An eerie sight.

“
Dad, what-” he
mumbled.

“
Luke, are you alright?” James
asked his son; Luke noticed that his father had scratches on his
face, varying in depth and length – he’d presumably been hit by the
flying shards of glass. “Your ear is bleeding.”

“
Y-yeah,” Luke mumbled. “I’m fine.
What about the others?”

James looked aside. “I haven’t checked yet,”
he said, looking back at his son, “but they seem to be
fine.”

Luke offered his dad a faint smile. “Dad?” he
said, “what happened?”

James bit his lip. “Come,” he said, “get up.
We have no time to waste.”

Luke did as he was told; he looked
up as he did, and was horrified at what he saw. The sky was no
longer its usual dark blue-greyish night-time colour; the sky had
turned pitch black, with flashes of purple and dark blue twirling
around in a circular motion, as if it were a black hole, sucking up
the world into an endless void.

Whatever this was, and whatever had happened
when the Guardians had performed the Ritual, Luke knew that this
wasn’t what was supposed to happen.

And he knew that this wasn’t any
good.

Sacrifice

“
James, what is going on!?” Thomas
shouted; the wind was howling loudly outside, and the fact that
every window in the Ritual Chamber had shattered didn’t help. “What
happened?”

James’ heart was beating quickly. “I don’t
know,” he said, “but I believe the Master wanted to secure his
victory by turning the Ritual into some sort of self-destruct
device.”

“
Self-destruct
device?” Aharnish said. “So... that’s why he was so content with
getting killed.” He clenched his fists to retain his anger. “I knew
he wouldn’t be willing change his ways that sudden! It just simply
wasn’t
possible
!”

“
Aharnish, please, try to stay
calm!” Aoife said, her big, brown, deer-like eyes full of worry.
“I’m sure we can fix this, it’s nothing to worry about!”

Luke and Mari stood beside each other, staring
at the sky, not noticing that their four friends were doing the
same.

The wind was howling, and thunder
and lightning surrounded the black, gaping hole.

“
So... Nice weather we’re having
today, huh?” Marco said.

“
The end of the world. Never
thought I’d live the day to see it.”

Luke snorted. “Well, it’s not the
end of Earth,” he said, and then on a darker tone, continued,
“but... it’s still the end of
us
.”

“
Maybe it isn’t,” Mari said,
sounding as if she’d come up with an idea. “I think I know how to
stop this. It might end badly, but- there’s nothing else we can do,
really.”

Her friends looked at her, their
eyes wide in surprise. “What are you talking about, Mari?” Daisy
said. “What could you – or
we
, for that matter – possibly do to
stop this?”

“
It’s... the least I can do,” Mari
said carefully her eyes quickly flashing from the left to the
right. She wasn’t sure whether the idea she had would actually work
or not. “I can repay you all for the pain I have
caused.”

She then proceeded to turn around
and walked toward the Spirits, who were having a heated discussion.
Mari said something to them, leaving them completely silenced,
before walking to her father and hugging him.

“
I’m sorry, Dad,” she whispered,
“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.”

Before her father could react, Mari had
already let go of him and ran toward one of the tallest
altars.

Luke knew what she was about to do, and
sprinted after her. “MARI!” he shouted; when he’d finally got close
enough to reach her halfway up the stairs, Luke grabbed Mari’s
wrist.

Mari quickly turned around to see
who’d grabbed her; her expression grew furious when she saw Luke
standing there, determined to hold on. “Luke, let go!” she shouted
frantically. “Let
GO
!”

“
No, Mari,” Luke said decisively.
“I promised you I wouldn’t let you go ever again,
remember?

“
I’m sorry, Mari. I can’t let you
do this.”

The sadness in Luke’s voice broke
Mari’s heart, but she didn’t stop struggling. “Just let me go,
Luke,” she demanded through gritted teeth.

“
If you want me to let you go,
then at least tell me what you’re going to do!” Luke
demanded.

Meanwhile, Antonio had appeared behind Luke.
“Mari?” he asked, his voice soft and worried, “what are you
doing?”

“
Dad,” Mari replied, at the verge
of tears; tears were stinging behind her eyes. “Let me do this. I
have to do this.”

“
Do what, Mari?” Luke and Antonio
said in unison, although they both said it with their own emotions
running through their voices.

“
I just – figured–” Mari mumbled,
unsure of what to say. “That maybe the Master has–” she continued
to struggle to find the right words for her insane plan – at least
she considered it to be insane. “If... if it’s possible for James’s
soul to absorb light and dark energy, then maybe so can
mine.”

Luke shook his head in frustration. “Mari,
what on Earth are you talking about!?” he yelled.

“
He’s right,
Mari,” Antonio said, “you can’t... absorb
this much
energy. Right?” He looked
down at the Spirits for their approval.

“
Actually, I can’t believe I’m
saying this, but...” Akilah mumbled, jumping up to land on the
steps next to Antonio, “Mari might have a point.”

“
What!?” Luke exclaimed; even Mari
seemed surprise that her own stupid theory might be
true.

“
Well... Mari was a Lost Soul, and
thus she’s – perhaps she’s got some abilities left – abilities that
can exist unnoticed if they’re never used. We were never able to
prove it, but–” She stopped. “Still, Mari, as much as I admire your
courage, we can’t let you do this. If anyone’s absorbing this curse
to stop it, then it’s me.”

“
No,” Mari protested. “I won’t let
you sacrifice yourself. This world needs your leadership,
Akilah.”

“
And your family needs you, Mari,”
Akilah interjected.

Mari noticed Luke had got distracted enough to
let go of her wrist. “I’m sure they’ll do fine without
me.”

A few steps backward up the steps were enough.
Mari felt how her body got pulled off the ground, as Luke and her
father screamed out her name below her. But she was too far away;
if any of the two would get any closer, they’d get pulled up, too.
In fact, Antonio had to pull Luke back to prevent him from doing
so.

“
Mari, please,” Luke cried out.
“If you do this, you’ll die!”
“I know,” Mari shouted to down below; the wind was howling, and she
could hardly hear what Luke was saying – but she didn’t have to
hear him to know. “And... I just want you to know that I’m okay
with that.”

Luke shook his head vigorously,
salty tears were shimmering in his eyes, making them seem even
bluer. “I won’t let you.”
“You can’t stop me,” Mari said. “Literally.

“
Unless love
really
does
conquer all. 

If you finally believe in me,
Luke, and only if you
truly
do, take my hand and try and stop me.”

Mari stuck out her hand at the redheaded boy
below far below her, beckoning him to take it.

And Luke did. He jumped away from Antonio, the
magic instantly getting a hold of him; it pulled him up, toward
Mari, allowing him to grab her hand.

“
LUKE!” James cried out; Luke
looked down at his father and nodded.

“
I’m sorry, Dad. But I have to do
this. I can’t let her get away.

“
Not again.”

Mari looked at Luke with unbelieving eyes.
“You...

“
Why?”

She was almost angry with him. Her best
friend, the one she’d been so desperate to protect, and now he’d
really joined her.

He’d actually done the one thing
she’d never expected nor
wanted
him to do.

“
Luke, what are
you doing?” Mari said angrily, tears streaming down her face. “Get
back down.
Now
.”

“
No. I will not leave you again,”
Luke said decisively. “Mari, when I told you I’d follow you for the
rest of my life, I meant it.”

Mari hugged Luke tight, knowing
that the magic surrounding them was about to make an end to their
existence. And they’d be taking all magic with them.

As much as taking in the magic
hurt, the thought of losing Luke hurt even more. “You really are an
idiot,” she said. “You’re throwing your life away.”

“
It’s alright, Mari,” Luke
whispered. Tears were running down his face and his voice started
to shake as he continued to reassure his friend, taking her face in
his hands. “No matter what happens, I’ll be with you. We’ll be
together.

“
I promise.”

Mari buried her head in Luke’s chest as she
muttered, “I wish I’d never left.”

Luke smiled. “Don’t look back, and never
regret, Mari,” he said. “Who knows what the future holds for us,
after all?”