Guardian: Protectors of Light (55 page)

Each member of the Bond
of Light nodded understandingly. Of course they had to do this
together; this was the final trial to test their teamwork and
strength. Each of their powers had come from one of the Spirits of
Light, who’d sent it to the Earth so long ago. And now it was up to
them to return the Elements of Light to Lunaria.
“So, is there anything else we need to know before we’re getting
into this?” Antonio said.

“
Yes, one
last thing,” Madeleine said. “Once the Ritual has brought you into
the Trance, it can’t be interrupted. Or cancelled. Nothing can get
you out of it until it’s over.”

Thomas crossed his arms,
standing in a wide stance. “We’ll do what we must,” he said,
looking quite determined. “Let’s get prepared, shall
we?”

His friends
nodded at him, as they walked toward their own Altar; each one had
been indicated by the shape of the stone/broche that kept their
cape together around their necks being carved into the stone.
Except James’s looked... different. It looked like his three
stones, with two wings behind them.

Nobody thought much of it, however; they simply climbed the
altars and sat down in a comfortable seat, simultaneously saying
the lines they’d remembered from the book. Of course they’d
work.
“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”
The sight was breathtaking. The carvings in the stone started to
glow; blue, green, yellow, orange and purple. If there would’ve
been any red involved, it could’ve reminded them of a
rainbow.

The beams of light
started to join together, forming a bright, white light where they
joined together at the glass ceiling and spread out over the
world.
Slowly but steadily, the light of the lower altars started to die
out, leaving the light of the two upper altars united, forming a
cyan colour.
Samira, Antonio and Bella slowly got up and left their altars, to
watch James and Thomas do the rest; they were now standing upright,
floating about ten centimetres above the altars.
It also gave them the perfect view to something else. 
“Uh- guys!” Bella shouted, pointing out and staring at something
approaching in utter fear.

“
Better look
up! Look who’s coming!”

A black figure glided
close to ceiling-level. The one red, glowing eye and drop-shaped
stone were unmistakable, despite the figure moving quite fast. It
could be nobody else but the Master... in spirit form.

“
He’s heading
straight for James and Thomas!” Antonio shouted. “Darn! They’ve got
to get out of there!”

“
They can’t,
Antonio!” Samira shouted with her eyes locked on the duo floating a
few meters above them, on the special Ritual Altar. She was loading
her bow while doing so. “The Ritual cannot be interrupted! If they
do, it might cost them their lives!”

“
But we have
to help them!”
In the second Samira turned her head to speak to Antonio, it
happened. The figure aimed for one of the two brothers, while the
black fog around its hand slowly started to get a red glow, before
forming a red orb, shooting out of the figure’s hand, forming the
shape of a staff.

A red beam of energy shot
out of the orb, shooting towards James at the speed of
light.

The boy opened his eyes
just before impact, leaving a shocked expression on his face before
collapsing to the floor...

...Just as the light of
Thomas’s altar started to die. Of course the light of James’ altar
had died immediately after he’d collapsed, but Thomas couldn’t have
known until he ended with his feet on the solid surface of his
altar. As he looked beside him to check up on James, his face
turned white and his lip started to tremble. “No,” he
breathed.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the corner of the room, a young girl woke
up. Something flashed inside her red, glowing eyes. A sense of
hazel-green peeked through the reddish colour. “No,” she breathed.
“He didn’t. He won’t-”

Then, Sabrina came to a realization. She had to kill her
own Master. That meant she would die too, of course, as
he’d 
resurrected
 her
like this... But that was what it would take to free these
Guardians from the same fate. Her master would probably resurrect
James as an Evil Spirit too, and then he’d be trapped the same way
as she had been as well.
And she wouldn’t let that happen.
Making sure nobody would notice her and blow her party, Sabrina ran
through the darker part of the Ritual Chamber, picking up one of
the katanas Timothy had left there, before rushing to one of the
altars, hiding behind it.
The Master, who was floating downward, lowering himself to the
floor level of that exact same altar, laughed manically. “FOOLS!”
he laughed. “Did you 
really
 think you
could finish this without me interfering?”

His spirit form changed into his mortal body again, showing
a maniacal grin on his face. “You FAILED, where they ALL failed!
Don’t you get it? You’re 
children
!
 I’ve seen
Guardians TWICE your age, and they all broke before me
like 
twigs
!
 What did you
think you had that would make you any different?”
“They have an unexpected 
ally
 they can
count on,” Sabrina breathed, before raising the katana, jamming it
into the Master’s back, who gasped in surprise.

Sabrina, determined to
finish it once and for all, then proceeded to kick him off the
altar. The Master let out a yell of rage as he fell face-first on
the floor, making a bone-crushing smack.
“I’m pretty sure he broke something,” Bella said silently. Sabrina,
who was panting loudly, looked down at the Master, and then at
Madeleine; grinning broadly.
Madeleine nodded. “We’ll take care of the Master,” she shouted.
“You guys need to go help James!”
She didn’t have to tell them twice. Thomas had already carried
James down the altar back to the Bond of Light. Samira carefully
lifted up the bloody tunic; the Master’s spell had blasted a hole
in it.

“
This doesn’t
look good,” Samira said. “I... I don’t know if I can heal
this.”

“
Violina?”
Antonio said hopefully.  ”Can’t you do something?”

Violina glanced at the
wound in James’ stomach, grimaced and lowered her head. “I can’t
heal,” she sighed. “I’m... I’m sorry.”

Meanwhile, Samira was
trying her hardest to heal James. “Come on,” she whispered. “COME
ON!”
The Magic wasn’t working. It sparkled around the wound and closed
it, only to have the wound rip straight open again, causing James
to moan in pain.

“
I- can’t-”
Samira sobbed. “I can’t heal him! I-it’s da-ark Magic; the wo-ound
is pro-otected fro-om my po-powers! He-e-e’ll die!”

She buried her face in Thomas’s chest, who hugged her
tight. “There must be 
something
 we can
do...” he whispered. 

A ripping sound was
heard; Violina had torn up the bottom of the tunic she was wearing
to use it as a bandage for James’ stomach.

“
This silk is
enchanted,” she said.  ”It’ll... might help stop the bleeding
and stimulate scabbing.”
Samira took the bandage, carefully binding James’ stomach with it.
“You’re going to be fine, James,” she said desperately, as she
noticed that he’d been conscious the whole time. “It’s going to be
all right.” But she couldn’t help herself from sobbing.

“
Samira, it’s
okay,” James moaned, as he sat upright. “Could you help me stand
up?”
“If you think you can,” Samira said, and helped her brother to get
on his feet.

“
Listen,
guys, I’ve got to get up there and finish it. Even if I have to
start over.”

“
James, no!”
Samira shouted. “It’s too dangerous!”
James walked forward, grabbing Samira’s shoulders; her face was so
close to his, that his pointy nose slightly crumpled against
hers.

“
It’s okay,”
he whispered. “You’re going to be fine... I promise.”

He took her hands,
pulling her along in a short dance, to say his final goodbye to his
sister. They both knew this would be the last time they’d see each
other.

They stopped dancing.
James felt his throat closing up, all he could say was “Goodbye,”
before running up the altar stairs.

He heard Thomas’s voice
yelling at him to come back, his footsteps chasing him toward the
altar.

Tears stung in James’
eyes; but he couldn’t look back, no matter what he did. If he did,
he would want to go back, to stay with them.

But he couldn’t. He had
to do this for them to go home, and for Lunaria to be finally
completely free of the Master.

This had to end tonight.
And it would end with him.

James heard Thomas; he
was almost there, almost close enough to pull him away from the
altar.

But he was too late. 
James spread his arms into the sky with his legs wide, and yelled
the words to start the Ritual out loud, as fast as he could.
“This humble Guardian
presents to you

The Elements
of Light, to make this world anew

End the
Darkness, return the Light

Shining over Lunaria, clear and bright!”
“JAMES, NO!” Thomas shouted, but was blasted off the altar as James
was lifted into the air. 

It wasn’t the altar that
glowed this time. It was James.

The stone on the pin which held his cape together came
loose, as did the smaller ones on the sides, forming the exact same
jewel as shown on the altar.
“
James Riverdale,
This act of extremely rare selflessness, compassion and courage is
what makes a Guardian a Guardian.
And this is what earns you the power to save this world.
Your Guardian’s Totem; Valour.

The Golden Wing represents courage, innocence and
imagination. Here for, it belongs to you.
”
The blue light slowly turned white as it spread all across the
room; the Guardians covered their eyes, only to uncover them as the
light died.

Everything was light and
bright; the Castle was white once again, the sun was
shining.

All eyes were focused on the altar where James was standing
as the light extinguished.
Thomas was lying on his back, staring up at the altar; he watched
as the Golden Wing reattach it
self to James’s chest as its glow returned to normal and
James’ feet touched the ground.

James’s feet were unable
to carry his weight; his knees buckled and he fell forward on the
altar, desperately trying to get back up while leaning on his arms
before sinking through his elbows as well.

Thomas got to his feet as
fast as he could, yelling out James’s name as many times as he
could before running out of breath as he ran up the altar’s
stairs.

He knelt down beside the
redhead, checking his breath; quick, feeble breaths went in and out
of his mouth. 

“
Hold on,
James,” Thomas whispered, as he carefully lifted him off the
ground. “We’re going to save you. You’re going to be
fine.”

Thomas rushed back down
to his friends while carrying James, careful not to drop him. As he
carefully put James down, Sabrina and Madeleine came back, with
shocked expressions on their faces.

Samira had knelt down
beside her brother, and Thomas had stood back up again.

The Bond of Light,
including Violina, who’d gathered around James and Samira, looked
up at Sabrina and Madeleine. Akilah was with them.

Samira opened her mouth,
but one look from Akilah told her she had to remain silent. “I
know,” she said. 
“Please, let me see him.” 
 
Akilah knelt beside James, examining him; her face turned into a
frown almost instantly.  
“He’s...” she said quietly. Whimpering and gasping sounds could be
heard coming from the others.  They knew the answer. She
didn’t even have to say it.

“
No!” Samira cried out desperately. “Akilah,
you 
have
 to help
him!” 
Akilah’s eyes flashed from James’ face to his stomach. “There’s
only one thing that can save him. And that might mean James can’t
leave Lunaria... or at least his soul will always remain connected
to this world.”

“
But now he’s
dead,” Samira said. “Please. Help him.”

Akilah nodded. “All right,” she said. “When James gave up
his life to save Lunaria, his soul was taken into the light that
spread all across Lunaria. So that means that with a small sample
of Lunaria’s Light, I should be able to resurrect him.”
The teenagers made a few steps backward. Akilah placed left hand on
James’s heart, and lifted her right hand into the air.
“
Redit vita,
”
 she
said. 
“
Lucem
Vitae.
”
 
She kept repeating the same two spells multiple times, before
finally removing her hands as she stood up. 

“
And?” Thomas
asked hoarsely. 

“
He’ll need
time,” Akilah said quietly. “Just let the Magic do its job. You’ll
see.” Without speaking to anyone else or answering any more
questions, she walked out of the small crowd.