Guardian: Darkness Rising (9 page)

“
ARE YOU NUTS,
RIVERDALE!?” Antonio exploded, his hands meeting the table’s
surface in a rather unfriendly fashion. He didn’t explode at James
like this often – only at the rare occasion where Antonio believed
James’s ideas went too far. And this was one of those moments.
“You’ll be leading the enemy straight to us! If we were to use that
stone to resurrect him, he’d be back at full power, ready to
destroy us! What do you think our chances would
possibly
be then?”

James gave Antonio a small nod, directed
toward the Spirits. “Look who we’ve got here with us, Tonio,” he
said. “I don’t think the Master stands a chance.”

Antonio snorted, obviously unimpressed. He
wanted to say something, but the chance to do so was taken from him
by Akilah.

“
Despite the fact that what you
just said was very flattering, James,” Akilah said, “you shouldn’t
think lightly of Asura. Our brother has beaten us before, and I am
sure that he might succeed in doing so again.”

James had a sinking feeling as he
watched the other Spirits nod, confirming what their sister had
just told him. “But – it’s always worth a try,” he tried, hopeful
to get a positive reaction to his plan this time, unwilling to give
up.

“
You’re being way too reckless,
Dad,” Luke said. “It’s too dangerous.”

James looked at his son; he
honestly didn’t know what to say. Yes, he knew he was being
reckless and that it was a risky move to make – but was it
truly
that
dangerous? Too dangerous for Luke, the mischief maker, to try
out?

“
I must admit that I agree with
uncle James,” Tony said silently. “You don’t know whether it’ll
work or not until you’ve tried. There must be some extra
precautions we can take to make sure the Master won’t break loose,
right?”

“
Actually,” Marco said, patting
Tony on the shoulder, “I agree with Tony, too. We can find a way to
secure our own safety... I think we should give Mr Riverdale’s plan
a shot.”

The Spirits exchanged looks with
each other, looking genuinely surprised – but, at the same time,
something in their expressions hinted at something that seemed to
resemble either pride or intrigue.

“
Alright, very well then,”
Aharnish said, one eyebrow raised in mischief. “I believe we can
arrange something – we can make special chains that keep him from
using magic, for example. We’ll look into it.” His expression then
turned stone cold, yet the mischief still didn’t fade from his
mismatched blue and golden eyes. “But, in return, we expect you to
lead the entire operation, James. You’ll be in charge and
responsible.”

James swallowed. ‘Responsible’ was
a word he still had to get used to, even after raising four kids.
For how much of the operation would he be responsible? At first, he
wanted to ask, but decided not to do so. He’d claim full
responsibility, no matter
what
would happen.

*

Not much later, the ten Guardians and Mari
were called by the Spirits. They’d been requested to join the
Spirits in the dungeon – where any necessary changes to the way the
Master’s body had been put away had been made.

The stone would temporarily be able to pass
through the barrier that kept all Dark Magic inside the four stone
walls of the cell, which meant James had to go first.

He was the one that carried the stone, and
would be the one to place it on the Master’s brooch – exactly the
way Mari had explained how to do it.

The Master’s instructions had been
oddly specific – Mari hadn’t noticed how specific they actually
were until she’d recited them to James. That stone must’ve been
very important to the Master somehow.

James, however, was more worried
about the consequences this would have; the Spirits reassured him
that the Master would be powerless when he’d be resurrected – but
now the time had come to do it, James felt as if he’d rushed his
plan – he should’ve thought it through. Antonio was right; this was
a bad idea – but there was no going back now.

James walked forward toward the Master’s now
opened coffin, and placed the stone inside the small, silver mould
on Master’s brooch that exactly matched the stone’s shape. The
stone was now exactly above the Master’s heart – it’d only be a
matter of time until he’d wake up; weak, chained, and ready to be
killed.

But his awakening went different than anyone
who was present in that cell would’ve expected. Dark fog seemed to
float around the cell for a moment, and the stone got a bright red
glow as it reacted to the newfound heartbeat.

As he sat up inside the coffin,
the Master grinned a vampire smile at the redhead who’d just
resurrected him. He spoke with the same spine-chilling voice as if
he’d never stopped speaking

“
Oh, James, you shouldn’t have
done that.”

That was the only sentence to
escape the Master’s lips before he did the same – with a single
wave of his hand, the Master evaporated in black smoke – leaving
James behind in the cell that had been designed to keep the Master
detained, his face pale and his eyes shocked.

Whatever it
Takes

“
Mum?”

James had left three children
behind. Bella had left behind one. Theo, Ian and Emma were missing
a brother and a father – Mia was missing a brother and a
mother.

As promised, the kids had spent time with each
other during the days their parents were gone – although Jaqueline
and Jacob, Daisy’s older sister and brother, couldn’t be there, as
they were in college.

The four kids didn’t like to sit inside, but
the weather had left them with no other option, as on the morning
the Guardians had left it had begun raining, and the thick drops of
water still hadn’t stopped falling.

And now, they were sitting in the living room
of the Riverdale house, curled up on the couch and watching TV. For
the first time in a day, Emma had finally opened her
mouth.

“
Yes, Emma?” Anna answered her
daughter.

Emma looked up, directing her blue eyes at her
mother. “What was it like when you were a teenager, when Dad
‘disappeared’ for the first time?”

Anna let out a small chuckle. She knew that
question would come, but that still didn’t mean she knew how to
answer it. “That’s... quite the question, Emma,” she said. “It was
mostly... difficult.”

“
Difficult as in how?” Ian asked.
“Not knowing where he was?”

Anna nodded. “I
did
know where he was,”
she told her son. “In fact, after aunt Samira, I was the first one
your father told about his concerns. I was the one who made the
suggestion of the fairytale being a reality.” She paused and let
out a sad chuckle. “I never expected it to be true, though. It
seemed impossible at the time.”

Ian and Theo looked at each other;
their parents true were something special. Of course their parents
hadn’t believed at first – but then, when they suddenly found
themselves in neck-deep, they
had
to. A feeling similar to what the teenagers were
feeling right now, and what Ian assumed Luke and the others were
feeling as well.

“
Your father was capable of
communicating with Grandma through dreams,” Anna said, as if she
suddenly remembered. “When he told me about it after he’d returned,
it seemed as if he found comfort in hearing his mother’s voice and
seeing her face.”

“
Do you think Dad will be doing
that this time, too, Mum?” Emma asked out of sheer curiosity. “Talk
to Grandma in his dreams?”

Anna sighed. She proceeded to face
away from her children as she lowered her eyes. “He didn’t have the
heart to tell her,” she said. “And... I believe that that decision
was up to your Dad to make – I just hope he contacts her when he’s
not sure what to do.”

*

The plan had backfired. In a
terrible way – the most disastrous way possible. And James was
responsible. Not that anyone blamed him, though – even the Spirits
were too astonished to say anything. How had he escaped the chains
they’d made? That was impossible. Or – at least, it
should
have
been.

James felt as if he was at the
brink of having a mental breakdown – what had he
done
? This was his
fault, and he wouldn’t let anyone tell him otherwise – simply
because it was the truth.

He’d caused this, he’d come up
with the plan – he hadn’t even thought it through. James
knew
how high the risks
of his plan backfiring were, and yet, he’d made the foolish
decision to just simply ignore
every
single
reason
why
and every way
how
the plan could’ve
backfired.

James menacingly pulled at his hair while
pacing around in circles. He didn’t know what to do anymore; they
didn’t know where the Master had gone or how to stop it. “The
Ritual?” he blurted in desperation. “Could that work
again?”

Akilah shook her head. “That’s
only meant to restore the balance between Light and Dark,” she
said. “It won’t destroy the Master.”

James grunted in despair.

“
Aside from that, James,” Antonio
said, “who would perform the Ritual? There are two Generations
here!”

“
I would,” James said decisively.
“My soul became part of the Light when Akilah saved me back then –
I believe that that means that I can control it without a problem
now.”

Akilah moved uncomfortably,
feeling slightly at unease by what James had said. There was
something about the fact that James was now basically part of
Lunaria’s light - the problem was that the Spirit hadn’t told
anyone – and she wasn’t planning on doing so now that the Master
had returned – it was impossible to tell whether he was listening
to the Guardians’ and Spirits’ conversations.

And that was the reason why Akilah decided to
keep her mouth shut for now, hoping that the Master didn’t know -
and wouldn’t find out, either.

“
You know we wouldn’t let you,
even if you’re right about what you’re saying,” Thomas said.
“James, this is insane.”

James looked at his friends. “We have to try
something,” he said, the desperation almost literally dripping from
his voice. “It’s my fault. I have to fix this.”

“
James,” Samira
said, “do you
really
think we blame you? We knew this was going to
happen.”

James turned around. “Sorry?”

“
Well - we knew he’d eventually
break free, although we didn’t know exactly when,” Aharnish said,
“so we placed a magical barrier around the Land of Light, in order
to prevent any Dark Magic spreading to the other
Realms.”

“
He won’t be going anywhere
anytime soon,” Aoife smiled. “Don’t worry, James. We’ll catch
him.”

James looked his friends, who offered him
encouraging smiles. “We just know that when you’ve got an idea,
there’s no way in stopping you,” Bella said. “And honestly – it
would’ve been a good plan if he hadn’t escaped.”

“
But how
did
he escape?” Thomas
said, inspecting the coffin the Master had lay in. “I thought you
said this chamber and coffin would leave him unable to use his
powers.”

Ince blinked, and swallowed fairly audibly.
“So thought we,” he said, “but apparently, he’s grown stronger than
we anticipated. We underestimated him.”

Samira put a hand on her brother’s shoulder.
“Well, what are we going to do now?” she said. “We don’t know where
the Master went.”

She wished she wouldn’t have said that, as it
instantly gave James an idea – it wasn’t about playing the hero,
but redeeming himself to his friends. Despite their reassurances
that they didn’t blame him for what had happened, James still
blamed himself, and he wouldn’t rest until he’d made up for what
he’d done.

“
He can never have gone far if
that barrier holds him back,” he said. “I am responsible for this
happening. I’ll go out and find him.”

James turned around and started walking while
reaching for his sword, but he was stopped in his tracks by Thomas.
“And where do you think you’re going?”

James looked at Thomas. “Step
aside, Thom, please,” he said. “I’ve got to do this. I
know
I can do
this.”

“
You can’t, Dad,” Luke said,
joining his uncle. The boy was starting to get convinced that
things were serious. “Not without our help.”

James looked at his son; by the look in the
boy’s eyes, James knew that Luke was filled with determination. He
turned around to see his friends and family stand in half a circle,
all smiling determinedly.

“
There’s eleven of us and one of
him,” Marco said. “If the eleven of us together can’t do it, then
no one can.”

“
Eleven?” Aharnish chuckled. “Hey,
kid, you weren’t thinking of leaving us out of this, now were you?”
he said, ruffling Marco’s hair.