Birth of the Guardian (4 page)

“Your eyes,” Jessica said, almost whispering
the words to herself. Lillian stepped forward; the sound of the
chain dragging caught her attention and without looking, she
reached down and pulled the spiked metal ball from her arm, and
then dropped it to the ground.

“It’s not what you think,” she said. “We’re
not evil.” For the first time, Lillian thought of her and Ariel as
one being—two creatures, one mind.

“Lillian, there is no time for such
nonsense,” Ariel pleaded with her. “Armaros would have felt the
loss of a claimed soul. He may already be on his way.” Ariel
snarled at the thought.

“What about them? We can’t leave them here?”
Lillian said aloud.

“With your injury, we can carry only
one.”

“Then we make as many trips as it takes,”
Lillian silently answered.

“You’re not taking us anywhere,” Jackson
yelled. “Jessica, run,” he said as he turned and ran, pulling
Jessica along with him.

Lillian understood that time was short, and
she reached out for her brother and pulled him close
to
her body. “Hold on.” Lillian glanced down at her
brother with a smile. “This might be a little scary.” Ariel’s wings
unfolded and rustled twice. Then with one forceful downward motion,
they
leaped
up, over one hundred feet in the
air.

“Yes, I’ve heard of them,” Lillian answered
Ariel’s unspoken words. “We call them the Great Lakes.”

“That much water will,
certainly
, hide us from Armaros,” Ariel said. “We’ll be
safest there.” Ariel banked and headed north.

“Armaros, my
Lord
.”
The man knelt before him. “A
hunter has returned. He is requesting an audience.”

Armaros stepped down from his throne. At one
time, it was a statue of Abraham Lincoln, but the searing heat of
Armaros’s fire scorched away any remnant of the once great
President, and it was reshaped into an alter where he was to be
worshiped, and where his subjects came seeking
favors
while he held court.

“And just how many souls did this hunter
bring us?”

“None, my Lord.” The man’s voice trembled as
he lowered his head in fear.

“None!” Armaros screamed furiously. “Bring
him
to
me.” The man glanced to his right, and
waved
, motioning for two guards to escort the
hunter before Armaros. The
hunter
was tired
and looked broken as he limped into view. “You,” Armaros said, as
he pointed at the
hunter
. “Why are you here?
Why have you returned empty handed?”

“She’s here, Lord Armaros,” the man announced
as he lowered himself to one knee. “The Guardian has been
chosen.”

Armaros turned and walked back to his throne.
“And how is it that you have come across such information?” He
asked. His tone filled with rage and his fierce eyes with anger as
he focused on the man.

“My brother and I saw her,” he answered. “We
met her in battle, five days walk from here, in the mountains.”

“In battle,” Armaros stood once again, “and
yet, somehow you survived your encounter with this Guardian,” he
said, as he laughed, doubting the hunters story.

“Yes, my Lord. She let me live.” The hunter
looked up at Armaros.

“I suppose she did.” Armaros
leaped
to the hunter’s side, and then grabbed him by his
throat. “Unfortunately, for you,” he said, as he lifted the man off
the ground. “I’m less forgiving.” Armaros slowly tightened his grip
around the hunter’s neck, and then violently jerked the man’s neck
to the
left
, breaking his spine. “Feed, my
friend,” he said. And from the shadows came an earth-shattering
roar, followed by the sound of razor sharp claws being raked across
solid marble as the dragon crept forward. Little by little, the
dragon emerged from the shadows. He was larger than
Ariel
. His wings had no feathers; they were just thick
leathery skin and bone. His scales were solid black with
scorching
red edges, and a row of sharp,
dagger-like
spines ran from his head to the
end of his tail. He was a fierce,
battle-hardened
creature who lived to unleash death and
destruction.

“Keagan,” Armaros called to the commander his
guard, as he turned and walked back to his throne.

“Yes, Lord Armaros.” Keagan stepped forward
and bowed before Armaros. “Command thy servant,” he said.

“Bring me a child,” said Armaros, as he
slammed his fist against his throne.

“Yes, my Lord.” Keagan stood and set forth to
carry out his orders.

Armaros, impatiently, sat on his throne of
destruction while he waited for Keagan to return.
I will end
her
, he thought, his jaw
clenched
at the
thought of meeting the Guardian in battle.

“Lord Armaros,” Keagan said as he returned.
“Here is the child you requested.” Keagan pushed the young boy to
the ground. “Kneel before your Lord,” he commanded the terrified
child, who couldn’t have been more than seven or eight years old.
The small boy was weak and frail with spindly arms that trembled as
he looked up at Armaros.

“Please,” the boy begged, “don’t hurt
me.”

Armaros leaned forward, “look at me boy,” he
said, as he sneered. “Do you not wish to please me, to serve me?”
Armaros rose up from his throne and stepped closer to trembling
child.

“Yes,” he cried.

Armaros stretched out his arms and slowly
closed his eyes. “Then accept your
fate,
my
child.”
Dragon
, he called out in his mind, commanding the
creature to bond with him. Without hesitation, the dragon vaulted
into the air and onto his master’s back. The creature’s
arms
wrapped around Armaros’s shoulders, crisscrossing
over his chest and his long, jagged claws ripped through his flesh,
sinking deep into his ribcage, completing the arc with his human
master. Armaros unleashed a raspy sigh and looked down at the
boy.

Although he was too young to comprehend most
of the world’s perils, the boy, instinctively, understood his fate.
“No,” he screamed in terror as jumped to his feet and ran. Armaros
smirked, then launched himself into the air, landing directly
in
the young boy’s path.

“Come now, boy,” Armaros said. “Do you really
think you can outrun me?” Armaros reached down and seized the boy
by his throat, and lifted him into the air. “Your sacrifice is
crucial,
” Armaros grinned at the thought of
taking the boy’s life. With a single powerful thrust, he drove his
hand into the boy’s chest and wrapped his fingers around his pure
heart. “This will get her attention,” he said as he tore out the,
still beating, organ and dropped the child’s lifeless corpse to the
ground, a tempered thud filled the silence.

“Oh God,” Lillian
screamed
out in pain as she clutched her chest and fell to
the ground. Her back arched as an agonizing sigh wafted from her
lungs and the pain spread to every part of her body. “Make it
stop,” she cried out, gasping for air as the pain raced through
her. Ariel, some hundred feet away, erupted from the
calm, cold
waters of the lake; a trail of water followed
him as he
raced
to Lillian’s side.

“Lillian,” he called to her, with his mind,
as his wings unfurled and he landed by her side, “roll over.” Ariel
prodded Lillian, and pushed her
to
her side,
then quickly bonded with her.

Once again, his razor sharps claws tore
through Lillian’s flesh. But now the arc was different. There was
no pain. There was no blood. Lillian felt only relief—only comfort,
as the dark loneliness and pain lifted from her body. “He killed
him,” she said, sighing as she fought to catch her breath.

“I know,” said Ariel, “he performed a
culling.”

Because of their bond created during the arc,
Lillian knew what a
culling
was; the murder,
the sacrifice of an innocent, or a
genuine
believer at the hands of Armaros. The act of
such a
slaughter
took its
toll on
Lillian. As
the Guardian, Lillian felt the young boy’s death. She experienced
his pain and suffering as if it were her own.

“He won’t stop,” Ariel said. “His goal is to
force you to face him before we are ready.”

“Face him,” Lillian said. Her eyes drifted
towards her younger brother. “How many will he kill?” She
asked.

“As many as it takes,” Answered Ariel. “As
many as it takes.”

The End

Book Extras

Ariel

Source: Wikipedia.com

Ariel
(Hebrew:
אריאל
,
Ari'el
,
Arael
or
Ariael
‎) is an archangel
found primarily in Jewish and Christian mysticism and Apocrypha.
The name Ariel, "Lion of God" or "Hearth of God," occurs in the
Hebrew Bible but as the name of an angel, the earliest source is
unclear.

Fallen Angels

Source: Wikipedia.com

Armârôs
(Aramaic:
תרמני
, Greek: Αρεαρώς) was the eleventh on a
list of 20 leaders of a group of 200 fallen angels called Grigori
or "Watchers" in the Book of Enoch. The name means "cursed one" or
"accursed
one".
The name
'Armaros' is likely a Greek corruption of what may be an Aramaic
name;
Armoni
is possibly the
original. Michael Knibb, Professor of Old Testament Studies at
King's College London, lists the meaning of his name as being "the
one from Hermon".

"Then sware they all together and bound
themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two
hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount
Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and
bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it." - Book of
Enoch

Source: Wikipedia.com

Asmodeus
: one
of the most evil of the fallen angels, being an
archdemon.

Asmodeus
(/ˌæzməˈdiːəs/; Greek: Ασμοδαίος, Asmodaios) or Ashmedai
(/ˈæʃmɨˌdaɪ/; Hebrew:
אַשְמְדּאָי
‎
, ʾAšmədʾāy; see
below for other variations) is a king of demons[1] mostly known
from the deutero-canonical Book of Tobit, in which he is the
primary antagonist.[2] The demon is also mentioned in some Talmudic
legends, for instance, in the story of the construction of the
Temple of Solomon. He was supposed by some Renaissance Christians
to be the King of the Nine Hells. Asmodeus also is referred to as
one of the seven princes of Hell. In Binsfeld's classification of
demons, each one of these princes represents one of the seven
deadly sins (Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride).
Asmodeus is the demon of lust and is therefore responsible for
twisting people's sexual desires.

Source: Wikipedia.com

Barbatos
: a
fallen angel who is a great count, earl and duke of
hell.

Barbatos
is an
earl and duke of Hell, ruling thirty legions of demons and has four
kings as his companions to command his legions. He can speak to
animals, can tell the future, conciliates friends and rulers, and
can lead men to treasure hidden by the enchantment of
magicians.

Source: Wikipedia.com

Beleth
: fallen
angel who is a terrible king over 85 legions. When appearing he
looks very fierce to frighten the conjurer or to see if he is
courageous. The conjurer must be brave, and holding a hazel wand in
his hand must draw a triangle by striking towards the South, East,
and upwards, then commanding Beleth into it by means of some
conjurations.