Authors: Jordan Mendez
“You’re
so dense!” she fumed. “
I’m
your Guardian!” I stopped trying to get up
and looked up at her in disbelief. After a few minutes I reacted. I started
laughing my butt off.
“That’s
funny, kid!” I laughed through tears. “You really think I’ll believe that?” I
started rolling around on the ground clutching my aching sides. It hurt, but I
couldn’t stop laughing. Madam Gale shook her head and Yuki shifted
uncomfortably.
“Scarlet,”
Madam Gale groaned. “This is Siren, your Guardian,” I laughed even harder.
“You’re
in on this too?” I managed to say between howling laughter. “I didn’t know you
were even capable of pulling pranks!” Madam Gale sighed and shook her head.
“Scarlet,
I don’t think they’re kidding,” Yuki said nudging me. I sat up giggling, trying
to recover from my laugh attack.
“Oh
please,” I said while rubbing tears from my eyes. “You really believe them?
It’s total crap.” I looked at Madam Gale and the girl with a smile on my face,
only to get dead serious stares back. Slowly, my smile faded.
“You’re
not serious are you?” I asked hesitantly.
“Honestly,
I wish I wasn’t,” Madam Gale said. “I could not return Siren to her full power
in the little time we had, and as an animal she would be utterly useless. I
could only make her take human form again, though I could not make her in her
adult form.”
“Scarlet,
I know it might be hard to accept, but we are telling the truth,” Siren said
putting a hand on my shoulder. “You’ve seen me before in my older form. Look at
me. Do you really doubt that I’m your Guardian?” Seeing the little girl again,
I recognized her a little bit. Her hair was short, but it had the same golden
curls. And her eyes were exactly the same. She did look like a younger version
of the woman I have been seeing. I threw my head in my hands in defeat.
“Do
you believe us now?” she asked and I nodded.
“You
know, you could have told me that rock was my Guardian,” I sighed.
“I’m
sorry child, I have kept much from you,” Madam Gale apologized. “I should have
told you what I am going to tell you sooner because this may be the only time
you will ever be able to hear it from a truthful voice. You weren’t born for
just any reason like other children. Your mother gave birth to you for a
specific reason.” The mention of my mother made me shut my mouth.
“Twenty
years ago, Moraj was attacked,” Madam Gale’s voice grew darker as the scene
formed in my mind. “The attacker was a foe from the past, Enzio. He attacked
the city alone all except for the demon blade Alma Ladron. His intent was to
free his master from his bounds within the blade. He needed an enormous amount
of souls for that, and he chose the biggest place he could find. If he went
unchallenged, the survivors of Moraj would not be alive today, but there were a
few who dared to fight him. One of them was your mother, Aru. The other two
were your father, Arthur, and his most loyal companion and assistant Gidian.
Out of the three, your mother was the most powerful and the biggest threat to
Enzio. She was not human. Aru was a Guardian, like Siren. She was your
father’s Guardian, whom was Moraj’s fiercest and most valiant weapons master.
They stopped Enzio from destroying Moraj completely, but they could not stop
the Convergence. They hardly escaped with their lives, but they managed to save
the survivors. Aru knew that eventually with the souls Enzio had stolen,
Velkire would be revived. She came to me for guidance, hoping that there was
some way she could defeat him herself. I told her what I had once told another
long ago. Only the spawn of a Guardian and a mortal can defeat Velkire, because
that would be his opposite. At first, she was opposed to the idea. She didn’t
want to send a child to fight Velkire, let alone her own. And so your mother
waited years for Velkire to revive so she could kill him. But her power began
to wane as Arthur grew older and weaker. Eventually, she gave in. And so Aru
had you with Arthur. You spent the first two months of life living in the camp
with the survivors of Moraj as your mother and father took care of you along
with Siren. For your mother, it was the happiest time of her life. But her time
with you was cut devastatingly short. Enzio attacked the camp in search of you,
killing many. Your mother and father fought to their very last breath trying to
protect you, but Enzio overpowered them. Siren fled with you until she came to
the forest of Laetus, where she sacrificed herself to save you. And so you
lived your entire life in bliss with your new family, until the day you met
Vaze.”
Suddenly,
my body felt weak. I struggled to support myself as I tried to get to my feet.
Siren took my arm and helped me up.
“It
may be a lot to process, Scarlet,” Siren began. “But we’re telling the truth.
You were meant to kill Velkire permanently. It’s what you were destined to do.”
I looked at her in disbelief. My head was reeling.
“I
was meant to do what?” I said breathlessly as my heart raced.
“Kill
Velkire,” she repeated.
“Oh,”
I said, and began to laugh. They all looked at me like I was insane. The
information was a bit too much for me to handle. Before any of them could
react, I passed out.
~
“Come
on Al!” The tall cloaked man urged as the panting Al fought off his summoned
minions. “You can do this! I chose you because you are the only one who can!”
Al
did his best to ignore his master. Having to train endlessly each day was hard
enough, but at the end of each day, Al’s master tested his skills against one
hundred dummies that had been brought to life. Al wasn’t allowed to sleep until
he defeated them all or was knocked out. He had been trying to fight the whole
night after Scarlet had run off.
At
first, Al allowed himself to lose, but it resulted in even more difficult
training the next day. Everyone thought very highly of his master, but Al just
thought he was insane. He never got close to defeating all of them. However, Al
wasn’t going to complain—that just wasn’t who he was.
And
Al’s master hadn’t necessarily chosen him. Al caught him practicing one day and
later begged the man to train him. Al wanted to be powerful like Scarlet and
Vaze. Out of all of his brothers, Al was the weakest, and was always protected
by the others. The last time Scarlet tried to save him, it almost got her
killed.
“You
said you wanted my power!” his master called to him. “Prove to me that you
deserve it!” Al’s body groaned in protest. His muscles were already torn enough
as it was, but Al refused to back down. With one cry of pain and determination,
Al forced his body to keep moving. He forced his resistant arm to punch the
dummy in front of him as hard as possible. The wooden dummy flew back with its
neck broken and splintered.
Exhausted
and breathless, Al fell to the ground face first. He didn’t care if he failed
again, his body was so spent, it wouldn’t move anymore. Besides, he could always
try again tomorrow. It wouldn’t make a difference. Using the last of his
energy, Al rolled over on his back to look up at a blue cloudless sky. A
smiling face looked down on him.
“You
have done well, Al,” his master said, no longer wearing his hood. Al couldn’t
speak. His master had always hidden his face from every one. “You are ready.” Al’s
heart started to beat faster with excitement. With one quick burst of energy,
he scanned around. There were no more opponents standing.
“Get
up,” his master commanded.
“Yes,
master,” Al responded quickly while getting to his feet. His body was still
sore, but the feeling of victory made him feel as light as a feather.
“Don’t
call me that anymore,” his master said while rubbing his neck. “It’s too formal
for me… do I really look old enough to be called a master?” Al shook his head.
His master looked in his late twenties at the most.
“Just
call me by my name,” he said.
“Yes,
sir,” Al stuttered. “I mean, what is it?” His master looked to the sky and yawned.
“My
name is Gidian,” the very tired man replied. The man smiled in spite of
himself. No one had used his name since his best friend was killed. It would be
nice to be actually treated like a human being for once and not some super
powerful being that survived Enzio’s attack before he was even ten years old.
I
woke up rather rudely from my sudden fainting. My face was stinging, wet and
cold. I wouldn’t have been as pissed off as I was if a little kid wasn’t sitting
on my stomach slapping me.
“It’s
still not working Madam Gale,” Siren sighed in a very bored tone.
“Just
wait, Siren,” Madam Gale replied. “She’ll wake up eventually.” My eyes fluttered
open, but Siren didn’t stop slapping me. I snatched Siren’s hand before she
slapped me again.
“What
are you doing!” I yelled at her. Siren responded by slapping me with her other
hand.
“That
was for fainting like a spineless fool,” she replied while getting off of me. I
scowled at her and sat up.
“I’m
sorry I found the information a little too much,” I spat. “You people are crazy
if you think I’ll get anywhere near Velkire, let alone fight him. I think you
might have the wrong freak for the job. I’m not that brave
or
stupid.”
“You’re
wrong, Scarlet,” Madam Gale said. “You are the only person who can do it. Even
if there was another person born from a Guardian and a human like you, you
would be the only one who could. And before you ask, no it is not because of
your power. Your power over fire is hardly a sliver compared to your true
power. It is that power deep within you is what Velkire truly fears.” I
scoffed.
“What
could he possibly fear about me, huh?” My voice began to rise a bit. “If it’s
not my fire than what it is it? I can’t last five seconds in a fight with
Enzio, so how would I be able to defeat the man he fears so much that he obeys
his every command? How can I beat that? Tell me!” I fumed as I waited for my
answer. This was way too much to ask of anyone.
“You
would not understand, child,” she replied calmly. “Not yet at least.” I was
about to argue more, but my anger was halted by a sudden shriek. I whipped my
head to find Yuki screaming and pointing at the ground terrified. When I
looked, I could see why she was so afraid.
Accompanied
by blinding cracks of light, a hand was clawing its way out of the ground. The
earth rumbled as the sound of what seemed like wood being ripped apart cut the
air. The hand tore the ground open, paving the way for a whole arm, and then
another.
A
blood lust roar erupted as the arms pulled a body through the crack, and before
I could see the body more clearly, I was pinned up against the wall by my neck with
one hate driven hand squeezing the life out of me. I clawed at the arm in
desperation and focused my wide eyes on my attacker. Blazing red eyes bore
holes into my skull in return.
“I’m
going to drag you to hell!” Enzio roared as he shoved me hard into the wall. My
fear wouldn’t kick in, and neither did my brain. I was completely paralyzed. I
squirmed like a caged animal as my eyes began to roll back in my head. I tried
to scream, but all that came out was a long squeak. “You’re coming with me!” A
pole of black fire rose from the ground behind Enzio, and expanded into a
window of swirling black flames.
“No!”
Madam Gale jumped into action. Faster than any old woman should have been able
to move, Madam Gale attacked Enzio. Enzio expected that about as much as the
rest of us did. Frightened, Enzio dropped me and pulled a black dagger from his
belt.
“I
will not allow you to take any of these children!” Madam Gale got between Enzio
and I. Yuki rushed to my side as I gasped for breath.
“You
can’t beat me, you old hag,” Enzio hissed. “You know that.”
“I
don’t think you believe that at all,” Madam Gale replied with a wry smile.
Enzio cringed. “You’re still the same brat you were back then, and I’m going to
beat you just like I did before. But this time, I’m not going to let you live.”
Time seemed to stand still as Enzio’s vicious red eyes bore holes into Madam
Gale. Each dared the other to move first, as if even someone sneezing would set
off the fight.
Suddenly,
the first move was made. Enzio lunged towards me with his arms outstretched and
madness in his eyes. It was a dumb move, and Enzio realized it too late. Madam
Gale caught him by his cape and yanked him back with a force that it made him fly
into the opposite wall.
Enzio
roared in frustration and bounced back to his feet, his eyes blazing with
hatred. He flicked his wrist and in response black dagger like claws flipped
out of his fingers. Even though Madam Gale couldn’t see Enzio’s new toy, she
could sense something was wrong. The old woman began to tense up a bit.
“I’m
going to make you pay for what you did to me, you witch!” Enzio moved so fast,
it seemed like he disappeared. Before Madam Gale could react, Enzio was by her
side with his claws already coming down towards her neck. I screamed to warn
her, but she didn’t need it. The little old woman grabbed Enzio’s cold metallic
hand, stopping it immediately. With her other hand Madam Gale grabbed Enzio’s
shoulder. With amazing strength, Madam Gale threw Enzio into his window of
black fire, and his body began to disappear until there was nothing left.