

Guardian: Protectors of Light

Peter Houtman

Guardian: Protectors of Light

Copyright © 2015 Peter Houtman

All rights reserved.

"Once upon a time, a long time ago, were six Spirits. These Spirits were called the Spirits of Light; the Almighty Spirit, the Spirit of Innocence, the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Joy, The Spirit of Night and Day and the Spirit of Darkness. These six Spirits combined their powers to create a magical world and balance every element in it.

This last Spirit, the Spirit of Darkness, was young and ambitious, and he envied the influence its older brothers and sisters had on the world, compared to its own.

To these five Spirits, the good and the light were the most important elements, and were therefore the elements to rule their world. This left the Spirit of Darkness, as he was in charge for the bad and dark elements in the world, in the dust.

For many years, the Spirits lived in peace, in their very own Palace of Spirits. They watched over the six Realms and its inhabitants, making sure all lived well and peaceful.

And still, there was barely anything for the young Dark Spirit to do. He started to use his power to agitate the Lunariae, pursuing them to do the bad instead of the good; it was only a matter of time before the Spirits of Light discovered the chaos in the land was all his doing.

They decided to punish him. The Spirits turned the young Spirit into a human and locked him away in a dark prison; the worst mistake the Spirits could've ever made.

The Spirits believed that as a human, the young Spirit could no longer do any harm. But they couldn't have been more wrong...

They'd forgotten that as they turned him human, they didn't immediately strip him from his powers. The young human's Spirit abilities grew stronger, and as the years went by, he grew angrier. Inside his prison, he trained his abilities, becoming less and less human, despite the fact he could never fully regain his spirit form. He would always remain a half-blood.

The young half-blood remained inside his cell for centuries, until he, after having been locked away for centuries, finally managed to break free from his prison.

The anger and envy he'd felt toward the spirits had grown stronger due to the dark he'd been trapped in; his Spirit had gone corrupt. Anger and envy had become hatred.

A battle commenced, which soon grew out into war; the Spirits of Light versus a young half-spirit with a hunger for vengeance and power.

The war lasted for thousands of years, and Lunaria suffered underneath it all; the Spirits were immortal, yet not indestructible. They fought the young Spirit, who they once called Asura, but who now went by the title of the Demon, but to Lunaria's inhabitants, he'd be known as the Master.

He used the Spirit Realm's pure energy and turned it against the Spirits, corrupting all surrounding land in the process.

This left the Spirits of Light outnumbered and defeated. The Master of Nightmares locked them away in the same dark prison as he'd once been.

From that moment on, with getting rid of the Spirits of Light, he'd be free to rule the Six Realms in Lunaria, without any fear of being defeated ever again.

Or so he thought he would.

Before they were trapped by the Master, the Spirits of Light sent their Sources of Light, which they once used to create and guide Lunaria to another dimension, hoping they wouldn't be lost forever.

These Sources were sent to Earth, where they were meant to find a new vessel. Each of the five Sources would find a human being, pure enough to become a Guardian of Light.

Together, the Guardians would from the Bond of Light, the only bond strong enough to destroy the Master of Nightmares.

However, a prophecy was read by one of the Spirits of Light at the very last moment. It said that a thousand years would go by, with ten Generations of Guardians, yet only the tenth would succeed.

They called this generation the Generation of Hope.

The only Bond which would be strong enough to save Lunaria."

"Wow, Daddy! That is the most awesome one yet!"

"Indeed it was, Daddy! Where did you find this one?"

A father by the name of Martin smiled at his two children. A boy and a girl; three and five years old. The girl was the oldest.

"Who knows?" he said, with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Perhaps I made it up, or perhaps I didn't. As long as you like it, it shouldn't matter to you."

Both his children were obsessed with fairytales; something he loved almost just as much as the children did.

Their parents would usually spend entire days telling them all the fairytales they could find. The boy's name was James; the girl's Samira.

Their parents enjoyed seeing their children enjoy something so simple; even when they grew older, their mother would continue reading them the stories their father used to.

It helped the two siblings forget the terrible accident that caused their father to be taken from them permanently.

"The Protectors of Light" turned out to be the story which would become James's all-time favourite. He'd often make up his own stories of various Generations; they were as real to him as real people.

Even as he grew out of his childhood and got in his preteen years, the story stayed with him. Probably purposely, as the story was a way to keep his father close and the love he'd always shown for the little fairytale.

James was just a boy. A boy with an incredibly wide imagination.

A boy who was loved by many, who often made it very hard for anyone to hate or dislike him. Of course he had his flaws, but after all, everyone did.

James actually kept a lot of his childhood way of thinking with him as he grew up; he kept his belief in the paranormal, and especially his belief in Magic.

Nobody in his family truly believed in Magic except for him, save the support he received from his older sister. That's one thing he knew. But he couldn't help himself; he just spent night after night, reading the stories he'd written, which had been based on the Protectors of Light.

He often found his mind wandering, thinking about what would happen if Lunaria was a real place. What'd it be like if the Master didn't reign over the Six Realms; what if the Spirits would've won? Or; what if there would never have been a war at all?

But what he never considered, were the consequences his obsession with this particular, seemingly innocent fairytale would bring later in life..

I

The Five

Thirteen years later

A gloomy autumn morning announced itself. The sun tried to break through the thick pack of clouds hanging overhead, but without much success.

A post office van stopped in the middle of the street, at the sidewalk by number 32. The delivery boy left his van and opened the back to collect a package. He then entered the house's front yard, off to deliver the said package.

From upstairs, a boy was looking out of his bedroom window, following the delivery boy's every step as he walked into the front yard. The boy's name was James Riverdale. His red hair lay on his head like flames, with two bright blue eyes sparkling underneath; a pointy nose between them.

"That's got to be it," James said. "It's finally here!"

He made his way downstairs as quickly as he could, his feet drumming hastily on the stairs, but as soon as he'd reached the hallway, his eighteen-year-old sister had already answered the door.

"Package for Mr Riverdale," the delivery boy said to her.

"Ah," she replied. Her name was, of course, Samira. "I'll go get him for you."

However, she didn't have to, as James walked up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder.  
"That'd be mine," he said. "Where should I sign?"

"Right here." The delivery boy handed him a pen and a clamp board. James quickly wrote down his name and returned the clamp board, exchanging it for the package.

"Enjoy," the delivery boy said, before walking back to his van. Meanwhile, it'd started to rain.

James shut the door, watching his package closely, until he noticed his sister was looking at him.

"What?" he said. Samira shook her head. She wore a big smirk on her face.

"Really, James? Ordering books again?"

James's eyes shifted from his sister to the package in his hands. "Uh... Yeah?" he said. "What's wrong with that?"

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Well... You do know there's a library just around the block, huh?"

James nodded. "I do," he said, "but..."

"But what?" Samira said. "It'd be much easier if you just went over there and rented a couple books every month or so, instead of buying a bunch every month!" She spread her arms out while talking. "Renting books is free!"

James shrugged. "I don't know," he said, "but somehow I never find anything interesting inside that old library... But I do in bookstores."

Samira crossed her arms. "Your call," she said. She turned around and started to walk away. "But anyway, what books did you buy this time?"

"Oh, you just watch!" James shouted, as he ran past his sister, into the living room. "A bunch of the newest fantasy books. They looked really interesting!"

Meanwhile, his sister had bent over the coffee table and picked up the newspaper, and was busy reading an article. "Well, this might sound interesting to you as well," she said.

James tilted his head as he looked at her. "What do you mean?" he said, as he moved over to his sister, who was pointing out an article inside the newspaper.

"Look!" she said. "The library's closing for expansion next week; they're giving away old books!"

"Really?" James said, as he put down the package on the table to have a closer look at the article. "Hey, you're right! Sweet!" He looked at his sister as a big smirk grew on his face.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, sis?"

Sabrina smiled at him. "I think you're going there to snatch a couple of books."

"I sure am," James grinned. "First, I'm going to read one of these," he said, while pointing at the still unopened package resting on the coffee table, "and when the rain's stopped, I'm heading down there to take a peek! Old books are the best!"

He then picked up his package and disappeared out of the room, off to spend the morning stuck in a book.

Shortly after he'd gone upstairs, a blonde woman appeared in the living room. "I thought I heard James?" she said.

Her name was Cheyenne, James's and Samira's mother.

"Yes, he just left with another of his book-orders," Samira said. "Well... At least he doesn't spend his money on games or other stuff."

Cheyenne smiled. "He's got that love for books from his father, that's for sure," she said.

Samira chuckled, moving her hands to her hips. "Yes, he does," she said. She shook her head; seeing how much James resembled his father gave her joy, yet also a sense of sadness. Thinking back to the way they lost them, James resembling his father was a lot less fun.

According to the doctors, Martin had died from the injuries he'd gained after a car accident; the same white lie Samira could remember her father coughing at her mother in his last conversation they ever shared. But still, Samira couldn't shake the feeling something more had been going on.

It was a painful subject, of which they rather never spoke. And so they didn't.

Samira let go of the thoughts about her father, and looked at her mother. "Well, I guess I'll go check out what he's up to," she said. Cheyenne nodded.

*

"James? Are you in here?"

Samira opened her little brother's bedroom door, her head peeking around the door's edge. James, who she noticed was sitting on his bed, gestured at her that she could come in.

As soon as she did, Samira could clearly see James had stationed himself on his bed; three books lied in front of him. He was reading the fourth one. A smile appeared on the teenager's face as he saw his sister walking in.

"Enjoying the book?" Samira said, pointing at the book James was reading, as she found a place to sit between the books in front of her brother. He nodded at her.

"I sure am," he said. With that being said, he enjoyed pretty much any book he'd order or buy, but that couldn't ruin his fun. And then again, this one...

"It reminds me of the fairytale Dad used to tell us," James said. Suddenly, a thought struck his mind. "Why don't we head for the library together?" he suggested.

Samira nodded. "Sure! I'd love to."

James slammed the book between his hands shut. "Then it's a deal," he said. "How about we go now?"

"Wait," Samira said on an uncomprehending tone. "You mean now as in – right now?"

James nodded. "Yeah. Why not?"

"But it's raining!" Samira complained. "Are you nuts? I mean – it's no more than five minutes walking, but with the amounts of water that are currently falling from the sky, we'll be soaked by the time we get there! And how are we supposed to take any books back home without letting them suffer the same fate as us?"

James chuckled at his sister's rant and gave her a small shrug. "You know I've never been bothered by rain at all," he chuckled.

Samira rolled her eyes and snorted. Indeed, he hadn't ever been bothered. James had absolutely loved rain since he could walk. He'd usually spend rainy days running around outside, coming home all wet and, occasionally, muddy.

The boy also found the rain rather calming on different days; there were moments he could barely even control his emotions or actions, and if it was raining during one of those moments, he'd just simply sit down in front of a window to calm down. Which he managed successfully.

When it came to this certain subject, Samira was the rather opposite to her brother; she tended to get rather moody on rainy days. Especially when she had somewhere to go, which meant she was most likely to get there soaked. Going outside to get willingly soaked just to go to the library didn't exactly make it to her "fun"-list.

But then again, it was autumn break, and what else was there to do? Right, nothing.

Then again, aside from staying inside all day, or going to the cinema... Samira shrugged. "All right then," she said. "Let's go."

James's eyes widened as a smile grew on his face. "Really?" he said. "You're serious about this?"

Samira smiled at her brother and said, "Yeah. If it makes you happy. I'd be more than pleased to spend some time with you."

James smiled back at his sister. So would he; he and Samira had hardly spent time together for the past few months. His sister had just graduated from high school and had taken a gap year; yet she spent that year filling out college applications and taking part-time jobs. Meanwhile, James had started his senior year of high school, which meant he was busy studying for the extra tests, and, of course, his final exams in May.

Most of the time, both of the two teenagers were simply too busy to spend time with each other, let alone with their friends. Sure, they spoke from time to time, but since Samira had left school together with the other members of their main friend group, James had been left on his own. He did have a couple of friends in his own year (Anna, a pretty and friendly Thai girl, being certainly special to him), but all of his closest friends were older than him. So yeah, it was about time they took some time to put school and stress aside and spent that time together instead.

"All right then!" James cheered, while getting off his bed as fast as he could. He pulled his sister to her feet by taking her hands, and laughed. "This is going to be a great day, I feel it," he smiled.

Samira smiled back at him. "Curious," she said, "As I've got the same feeling. Now, let's go tell Mum we're going out, and then get going to the library, shall we?"

James showed his sister a mischievous grin. "Way ahead of you."

And before Samira could say anything in response, James had already run out of the room, and was making his way down the stairs.

"That counts as a false start, James!" Samira shouted at him, before following the sixteen-year-old downstairs.

Downstairs, they found their mother reading a book in the living room. "Where are you two going?" she asked, as she saw brother and sister racing down the stairs and grabbing their coats.

"To the library, Mum," James said.

"Don't worry; we'll be right back," Samira added.

Cheyenne chuckled. "You two? To the library?" she said. "Remembering the last time I took you two to the library, "be right back" means "in a few hours"."

James showed his mother a mischievous smile. "Who knows?" he said.

As brother and sister went outside, they noticed that the rain had stopped falling, leaving petrichor lingering in the air.

"Don't you just love how it smells outside when the first rain has passed after a dry spell, James?" Samira sighed.

"I beg to differ," James huffed in response. "I think it leaves the air feeling rather stuffy... I don't really like it." His sister chuckled; she grinned at him.

"Now there we share a difference of opinion," she said. "Anyway, we should get going. You never know whether the rain comes back or not." She looked at the sky while talking, as if she was expecting rain to fall instantly. It seemed almost inevitable that it was going to rain again, as there was a thick pack of gray clouds hanging overhead.

"Sure," James said. "We should get going already. The earlier we get there, the more time we can spend digging around in the books."

The siblings then smiled at each other and ran off to the library.

Luckily for the duo, the library wasn't more than three blocks away; within minutes, they'd arrived at the majestic, old building.

A poster had been stuck to one of the front windows. Closing soon for renovation; All old books must go! We're giving away books that have been in the library for 10 years and longer. Interested? See inside!

As they entered, James's jaw dropped in awe. It'd been so long since he'd been there; the building was small, yet breathtaking.

It had two levels, similar to any other old library; this second level sure did make up for the fact that the library was particularly small in size.

The reddish glow of the mahogany furniture gave the building a warm feeling; by the look in her brother's eyes, Samira could tell they would be there for a while. It was as if James had reverted to his ten-year-old self.

He knew he wasn't allowed to run inside a library; otherwise, he would've done so. He walked and turned around for a bit, his eyes fixated on the piles and rows of books that towered above him. He even ignored gestures and whispers from his sister requesting him to keep it down.

James eventually answered to her requests, as the librarian walked up to the two siblings and greeted them.

"Ah, James and Samira, right?" the woman said. She was probably in her mid-forties, and she had puffy, short brown curls. James remembered her in an instant; she'd been a friend of his father's. Her name was Carolyn.

"It's been a long while since I've seen you two," Carolyn smiled. "Tell me; what brings you here?"

James smiled at Carolyn. "Just browsing," he said. "We actually came here because we heard you were giving away old books." He tapped his fingers against his chin. "Could you show me where they are?"

Carolyn clapped her hands together. "Of course I can," she said. "Follow me."

James grinned at his sister as they followed Carolyn through the library. They ended up in the south wing; the old book section containing books which were being given away was rather a small part of the library's whole collection.

"Sweet," James smiled, as he saw the bookcases in front of him, filled with books ready to be taken home.

"I hope you'll enjoy your visit," Carolyn said. "Just tell me when you've found something you like."

Carolyn was about to walk away, but Samira stopped her by grabbing her arm. James had already walked toward the bookshelves.

"Actually, I was wondering if you have any action books?" she asked. "Anything new?"

Carolyn smiled at Samira. "Of course," she said, "I remember you were always a fan of action-packed stories when you were little." She noticed she was about to daze off into a memory of long ago, so she just decided to say, "Follow me."

While Samira was following Carolyn, James was already digging about between the old books. He scanned the bookcases, taking several books off the shelves as he went.

He scanned each book quickly while flipping through it and reading a couple pages. Yet, there still wasn't anything to have caught his eye.

This kept going for a while, until he stumbled onto a book, which had been stuffed away way to the back of one of the bookcases.

"Hmm..." James mumbled, intrigued by his new find. He reached out for it, and brought it to one of the nearby tables he'd stalled out the other books on as well.

The book certainly looked old; the binding was made of leather, and on the front cover, in golden, curly letters, a title had been written. Nothing else.

"Guardians of Light," James read the book's title. On both the front and back, the book had been decorated with curly patterns. Despite its age, the book looked as if it was in good shape.

James couldn't hold his curiosity, and decided to read the first page; the book started with a picture of a magical landscape, with white trees and flowers growing everywhere. It looked beautiful.

"Once upon a time, a long time ago, were six Spirits. These Spirits were called the Spirits of Light; the Almighty Spirit, the Spirit of Innocence, the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Joy, The Spirit of Night and Day and the Spirit of Darkness. These six Spirits combined their powers to create a magical world and balance every element in it," James read. Suddenly, he remembered the story his father had told him so many times.

This was that story! Someone must've taken the original fairytale, and used the original story to expand it. Or something like that; James didn't really care. He'd found it!

Overflowing with joy, he ran through the library. He didn't run too fast, though; he didn't want to get kicked out before being able to show his sister his miraculous find.
Guardians of Light

Not much later, the two teenagers were making their way across the streets back home. Of course, James had decided to take the book. What did he have to lose? The library was giving it away, anyway. If it didn't match his childhood memories, he could easily stuff it inside his bookcase to maybe read it someday.

As they were walking down the street, Samira and James discussed a few details about the book.

"I've read the first few pages," James said, "and the prologue to the story is pretty much the same as the story Dad used to tell us. But there are lot more pages after the prologue, so I'm guessing someone wrote a whole lot more!"

"Well, I'm curious to find out the rest of the story," Samira said, while examining the book. "The title's different as well."

James nodded. He wanted to add something, but he hadn't even opened his mouth before getting interrupted by a familiar voice.

"James! You book worm! What are you two dorks up to?"

As soon as he heard his name, James turned around and grinned. Samira joined him, smiling as well.

"Hey, Bells! Thom!" The two teenagers approached the siblings quickly, waving and smiling at them.

"Hey, Sammy, Jamey," Thomas said. "Let me guess; James has bought a new batch?" he continued, after laying an eye on the book Samira was holding.

James gave him a triumphant look and said, "Actually, no. I got this one from the old book section in the public library." Pause. "They're giving them away." Another pause. "For free."

Bella smirked and crossed her arms, bending her torso a bit forward. "So, now we're on that tour again, aren't we, James?" she said.

James smirked back at her, shoving his hands in his pockets and shrugging. "Nah," he said, "I highly doubt I'll be doing this again. I mean... they have good books, but I see this book as one in a million, eh?" He slowly drifted off as if he forgot what his point was. "...My point is that I might slow down on my buying-routine after finishing the books I've got to read now."

Thomas leaned back, crossing his arms as he raised his eyebrows in a sceptical way. "Now why am I having a hard time trying to believe what you just said?" he said, baring his teeth in a wide grin.

Samira couldn't help but letting out a chuckle. "He's got plenty of books to read for now. I think he'll be busy finishing those for a while." She turned to look at him. "But slowing down after that? I don't believe it either."

"It's true!" James had gotten on his tiptoes and pointed his index finger into the air, as if it'd help him prove his point.

As they were talking, small drops of rain started to fall from the sky, which quickly fastened their pace and grew in size. All four teenagers ran off to find the nearest shelter; the house of Antonio, their mutual – yet Thomas' best, for that matter - friend, who made their usual gang of five complete.

The doorbell rang, followed by the muffled sound of shouting voices behind it, probably discussing who had to go get the door. Then, the door was opened by the one who'd lost the discussion.

...And apparently, it was Antonio himself. He wore a grumpy face, probably from annoyance due to the fact that he had to open the door, but his face lit up as soon as he saw his friends standing in front of him.

"Hey, guys!" he said. "What are you doing here?"

"Seeking shelter, of course!" James said, who'd tucked the book underneath his jacket. "There's a storm raging out here!"

"Don't exaggerate, James," Antonio snorted. "It's, well... raining. But please, do come in."

He didn't have to tell them twice. Everyone followed Antonio up to his room after taking off their wet clothes and shoes, and all sat down on the bed. It wasn't until there when Antonio's eye suddenly fell on James's book, after James had taken it from underneath his vest; he'd tucked it inside the inner pocket in his vest as he'd tucked it under his jacket.

"What's that?" Antonio asked, while making a small gesture toward the book with his hand.

Samira, who answered before her brother could, said: "I just got an idea! Why don't we read it now?"

James threw her a sceptical look. "Uh- you mean, as in right now?" he said, while flipping through the book. "...Sam, I don't mean to burst your bubble, but this book is kind of long. As in really long."

Samira laughed. "And all of a sudden, you seem to have a problem with that?" she giggled, and paused. "Just the first five chapters or so, to see what it's like."

James shrugged. "All right then, I'm in," he said. "What do you guys think?"

Bella, Thomas and Antonio nodded agreeing. "Sure, why not?' Bella said. "It looks pretty interesting."

"Yeah," Thomas added. "I'd like to know what that story's actually about. You haven't told us that much yet, after all."

"Well, I'm curious to find out more too," James said, while opening the book on the first page. "I've never seen the part of the story that comes after the prologue, either."

Samira leaned to the side, a little closer to her brother, to be able to read along as he read the story out loud. "Well, let's find out, then," she said. "Let's start at the prologue."

*

And so the afternoon went on. They spent all afternoon reading, getting lost in both time and the book. The thing the five of them were the most amazed about were the extremely detailed drawings that supported the story; they were really good and were drawn very realistically, almost as if they were pictures of actual people.

A funny thing was that they got so lost in the book, that none of the five teens realised what time it as until they'd reached the end of the book and had already finished reading.

"...Wait, was that really the last page?" James said, as he turned the last page and found a blank page on the other side.

However, the page wasn't completely empty; in the middle of the page there was one word, written in stylized, curly handwriting; "Believe".

"'Believe?'" Samira mumbled. "Wonder whatever that's supposed to mean... I believe we kept on reading a bit too long, guys."

"A bit too long?" Thomas shouted worriedly, while looking on his watch. "It's almost four o'clock! I promised my mother I'd be back at two!"

"Your mum's still got you on a curfew?" Antonio snickered. "Really, Thomas? You're nineteen, for God's sake!"

"It's not a curfew," Thomas snapped. "She just... likes to check on my whereabouts. She's a control freak, trust me."

"That's what parents do, Thom," Samira laughed. "Control our lives as much as they can."

"Yeah," Bella said. "But they love us though. Otherwise, Dad never would've allowed me to pursue my dance career."

"Didn't he try to stop you?" Thomas remarked.

"He was scared of the dance I wanted to do, not of the idea of me dancing. But I succeeded in doing both..." She paused, taking a few moments to realise Thomas was trying to get the conversation off-topic. "But that's not the point!" she shouted.

"Guys, this isn't the time to argue," James decided. "Let's talk about the book instead.hat do you guys think of the story?"

"I think it was kind of bloody, to be honest," Bella said. "That so-called Master of Nightmares might be a half-human, half-demon, but to me, he's a full-bred monster!"

"He might be," Antonio said, "but he's still an awesomely written villain. You've got to admit; he doesn't take shit from anyone and he makes sure everyone knows it."

"Would you mind?" Thomas commented, regarding Antonio's choice of language, but Antonio however didn't seem to care much for it.

"Why don't you lighten up a bit, you itty-bitty-Britty-boy," he grinned.

Thomas didn't really seem to like the nickname he'd been given "What did you call me?"

Antonio sighed and rolled his eyes. "There you go. He wants to fight."

Thomas jumped up from the bed and walked over to Antonio while throwing off his grey vest and rolling up the sleeves red sweater.

"I sure do," he said. "At least, if I have your permission."

"Guys!" Samira shouted angrily. "I am not in the mood for this!"

"Let's save this one for later, shall we?" Antonio hissed beneath his breath. "I owe you one."

"Fine," Thomas said, and found his seat next to Bella again. "Coward."

Antonio crossed his arms. "Don't say that again, or I might rethink my decision."

James, attempting to get the conversation started again, laughed nervously. "All right, guys," he said. "So..." He quickly flipped through the book, as if it was going to help him find something to talk about, when his eye suddenly fell on a group picture of the five Guardians of Light.

"The costumes the Guardians are given once they arrive in Keeper's Cove do look really cool, though," he said. "What do you guys think?"

His friends leaned over closer to him in order to be able to see the picture he'd mentioned, so James stuck out his arms and held the book more forward so everyone could see.

"I think she looks really cool," Bella said, pointing at a girl dressed in armour; she wore a hooded cape which had been coloured black with messy, black scribbles, and looked strong, yet mysterious. Her raven black hair was a rather complete mess, and her face looked determined. "Like a knight in shining armour."

"She sure does have a kick-ass sword," Thomas said. "I'd like to wield a sword once. You know, a real one. Not some plastic lightsabre from a Disneyland shop or something like that."

"I think I'd prefer bow and arrow," Samira said. "It has some elegance to it, I don't know."

"Well, this girl here uses a crossbow," James said, pointing at a fairly small girl, who was seemingly quite a lot younger than the other Guardians, and had curly hair. "So I guess that's a thing too. But I think I'd prefer a sword, though."

"Throwing daggers would be my thing," Antonio said. "Easy to carry, fast and deadly. ...But a halberd is awesome too, I must say."

"I wanted to discuss costumes, and now we've gone on to discussing weaponry," James chuckled. "Their weapons played a more important role in their surviving anyway."

"But they didn't," Thomas said. "They... just... died." He paused. "I disagree with the ending. The villain never wins. This is wrong!"

"But the Master of Nightmares didn't really win, after all," Samira corrected him. "The Spirits of Light merged with the spirits of the Guardians, so they could help them guide the next Bond of Light until they find the Tenth Generation."

Thomas threw Samira an uncomprehending look, but James nodded at him. "It's right here," he said. "She's right."

"Of course I'm right," Samira said. "I'm always right."

"Agree to disagree," James said, while looking at the clock that hung on Antonio's wall, right above the door. "I think we should head home for dinner. It's getting kind of late."

"Maybe we should," Samira said. "It's been fun, you guys."

"If you're going, I'm going too," Bella said. "I've got four hours of training tomorrow morning. I'm going to need a lot of sleep tonight..."

"I had to be home about two and a half an hour ago, so I think I have to get going as well," Thomas said. "Or else my parents are going to be pissed."

Antonio snickered, but didn't say anything after receiving a killer glare from Thomas. "All right, see you guys tomorrow," he said.

He walked his friends to the door and they said goodbye. James, Samira, Bella and Thomas walked the first bit of the way together, until they had to part ways.

When James and Samira entered their house, smells of grilled chicken and garlic bread filled the hallway.

"Mmm, smells like Mum's started to cook dinner already," James said, licking his lips.

"That's right!" their mother's voice shouted from the kitchen. "And it's ready, so please sit at the table! I'll be right there in a minute."

As James and Samira sat down at the dinner table, their mother came rushing in, carrying a big dish of chicken.

"Smells good, Mum!" James said, as Cheyenne began dividing the chicken over three plates.

"Thank you, sweetie," his mother smiled at him, as she set down his plate. Then, she noticed the book lying next to him on the table.

"James, you know the rules: no books, phones or other things on the table when we're eating," she said.

"Sorry Mum," James said, as he put the book on the ground. "I just picked that one up from the library this afternoon."

"Really?" Cheyenne said. "What's it about?"

"It's either the full version or some kind of sequel to that fairy tale Dad always used to read to us," Samira said. "It's really cool, with swordfights, Magic and everything!"

"Yeah," James said. "It kind of continues with the first Generation of the Bond of Light that's mentioned in Dad's fairy tale."

"I'm glad you've found something you like," Cheyenne smiled, as they proceeded to eat dinner.

*

Night had fallen, and the entire family had gone to bed. Yet, still, James didn't seem to be able to sleep. There was just something about that book that was so intriguing, so interesting... He just couldn't figure out what.

"Come on," he whispered to the book, as he, hidden underneath a blanket fort with a torchlight in his hand, scanned each and every page carefully. "I know you're hiding something. Tell me your secrets."

He closed the book and opened it on the back page, the page with nothing but 'Believe' on it.

The author of the book had put it there as if it was a secret message. But to who? Their readers? Someone more specific?

James kept thinking about it all night, until his mind finally doze off to sleep.

What he didn't notice, was that as he fell asleep, the people on the pictures in the book slowly started to change.

It seemed almost as if the pictures could magically change into the Next Generation as soon as the book had selected one.
Sweet Dreams

James sat up. He found himself sitting in the middle of a dark, unfamiliar room. Where was he?

He got up and started to walk around, searching for his friends.

"Samira?" James called out. "Guys? Anyone?"

No one answered. He was all by himself, alone in a dark room without knowing where he was.

"Oh, come on guys! I know you're there; this isn't funny!" James cried, yet still no one answered his calls.

James was on the verge of admitting that he'd been deserted, when he suddenly noticed something shiny, not too far away from him.

He walked closer, and found himself in the only area of the room that was lit by three, small candles, standing around a mirror.

James slowly walked toward the mirror, wanting to catch a glimpse of his own reflection.

But what he saw in the mirror as soon as he stood in front of it was not what he'd expected to see at all.

The face glancing back at him was his own; two bright blue eyes stared back at him in a confused manner, with messy and un-brushed red hair hanging in front of them in messy tangles. The clothes the reflection was wearing, however, were completely different from James's pyjamas.

James's reflection was dressed in an all-blue attire, with shades varying from marine to cobalt. A red cape was draped around his shoulders which reached to about his ankles; the cape, unlike the rest of his clothing, was a royal red colour. The cape was held together by a brooch with three oval gemstones on it; topazes. They glowed in the soft, blue colour the gem would usually have if it didn't glow (because of course, gemstones aren't known to glow on Earth).

The reflection also wore long, blue leather gloves, which matched the leather tunic he wore; a bright blue, swirly pattern which glowed in the same colour as the topazes did, running all the way from the middle of the hand to the elbow. The same pattern appeared on the tunic.

Most of his blue trousers were covered by long, white leather boots.

It took James a moment to realize what his reflection represented; he looked like the Guardian of Innocence, one of the five Guardians from the book.

Completely baffled, James stood as stunned in front of the mirror, with his reflection standing just as still as he was.

But that came to an end.

James stumbled backward as his reflection came to life; the blue glow on his clothes and the three topazes on the broche made way for a bright, threatening shade of red, catching James's attention.

When he looked back up and glanced at his eyes in the mirror, James was startled by what he saw. His eyes – or at least the reflection's eyes - had changed; the white in his eyes had turned black, and the iris had gained a bright, blood orange colour, making it seem as if they were glowing in their dark surroundings. The pupils had been stretched and become sharp at the edges; like a cat's pupil looking into the sun.

The expression on the reflection's face had changed as well, no longer resembling James's expression, which had shifted into rather fear than confusion; the reflection was grinning back at James in a devilish and sinister way.

James slowly started to walk backward as the reflection started to move; instead of going backward, like James did, the reflection walked forward, setting a foot outside the mirror, as if it was merely a wooden frame he'd been standing behind.

James tripped in his hurry to get away as he watched the scene unfold, and started to crab-walk backward as fast as he could, without ever taking his eyes off his reflection, who had now come out of the mirror completely and was walking toward James.

James crawled backward as fast as he could, but the reflection got the best of him; he bent over, baring his teeth in a sinister grin, before lunging out at James, who let out a yell as he braced for impact.

James shot upright, finding himself back in the safe darkness of his own bedroom. He could feel drops of sweat roll down his face; his heart was pounding loudly in his chest.

Letting out a loud sigh, James allowed himself to fall back on his pillow. What had that been all about?

He couldn't remember what had exactly happened, but he could remember being attacked by himself... looking vaguely similar to one of the characters inside the book.

As he felt that his heartbeat started to slow down, James looked aside, at the led-screen of his alarm clock. It was close to six o' clock; there was no use in going back to sleep now. Despite of the autumn break, James still always got up early.

He silently slipped out of bed, flipping on the light of the lamp on his nightstand. He searched for the book he'd been reading earlier that night and pretty much all afternoon; he was convinced that his dream had something to do with that book.

With the book, James climbed back into bed, with his back resting against his pillow and the book resting on his knees. As he got comfortable, he opened the book somewhat halfway, right on two picture pages; just the right pages to come to a surprising discovery.

"The people in these two pictures..." James gasped. "They look different than yesterday – they look an awful lot like us."

After making this discovery, James proceeded to flip through the book, searching for other pictures, hoping it'd been just a simple coincidence, or maybe the sleep still being in control over his eyes.

But it wasn't. Every single picture looked exactly like James and his friends; and he was certain that those drawings hadn't looked like them ever before.

It mildly worried him; yet, he put down the book, turned off the light and rolled over to his left, trying to get some more sleep and put everything off his mind for a bit.

Luckily for James, he was able to sleep for a few more hours, without having any more strange dreams.

When he woke up about two hours later, he got dressed and quickly headed downstairs, where he found his sister eating breakfast.

"Where's Mum?" James asked his sister, slightly confused, as he wasn't able to find his mother anywhere.

"Good morning, James, yes I slept well, James, how kind of you to ask," Samira said sarcastically, while poking in a fried egg with a fork, putting it on a sandwich. "Mum had to go to work; her flight left earlier. She'll be home by three." She then proceeded to turn around to look at her brother, holding her sandwich. "Why?"

James shrugged. "I was just wondering." He sat down beside his sister and tried to steal a piece of the egg, but his sister slapped his hand away. "Don't touch that. Bake your own egg."

James snorted. "Fine," he said. "Maybe later. I'm not hungry now."

They sat there for a while, James watching Samira finish her sandwich, before deciding to talk to her about his strange dream. But... in a kind of different way.

"So..." James started out, slightly nervous. "Have had any weird dreams lately?"

Samira ran her fingers through her hair, as if James's question had made her feel slightly uncomfortable. "Now that you're mentioning it..." she said, "...well, yes."

James raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really?" he said, eager to know more. Perhaps Samira could help him find the meaning of the bizarre dream he'd had, if he could do the same for Samira. "Tell me about it," he said. "What did you dream?"

Samira looked at him. "Please don't think I've gone mad when I tell you," she said. "There was a dark room. And-"

"And a mirror?" James finished her sentence, as Samira had to take some time to think.

Samira nodded. "Go on..." she said.

"Oh," James stammered, slightly surprised. "Oh- well... let me guess: you saw yourself in the mirror, looking like one of those Guardian characters from the book?"

"Yes, exactly," Samira said in utter surprise. "How'd you know?" It took her a few seconds, but eventually, she came to the most "logical" conclusion.

"You didn't have the same dream as I did, now did you?"

James laughed nervously. "Well, now you're saying it that way, it sounds a bit strange," he said, "but yes. I had the same mirror dream. I can't put it any other way."

Samira stood up, and brought her now empty plate to the kitchen. "I really think you should eat something," she shouted at her brother, who was still sitting at the table.

"No thank you once again," he replied. "I'm still not hungry."

"All right, your choice," Samira said as she walked back to the table. "So, is there anything else bothering you, something you might want to talk about?"

James chewed his nails, with both his elbows resting on the table. "Well... yes," he said, as he stood up from his chair, shoving it back underneath the table. "One moment, I'll be right back."

He rushed upstairs, fetched the book and returned downstairs.

"The book?" Samira asked, as James handed her the book. James didn't reply, but just opened the book on the same page as he'd done last night. Samira threw one look at the drawings, resulting into her eyes widening in surprise as she gasped and clasped a hand in front of her mouth.

"Bu-bu-but-" she stammered. "These people- look like- us?"

Her eyes shifted back up to meet James's, who couldn't do anything but nod. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees them," he said, with a nervous chuckle at the end. "I thought I was perhaps still dreaming or my mind was still fuzzy from sleep when I saw it last night, but when I looked again before taking the book to you, they were still the same."

Samira flipped through the book. "But- how?" she said. "Yesterday, these drawings were still more or less random people. And now it's us?"

James shrugged, scratching the back of his head. "Trust me sis, if I knew the answer, I would've given it to you already," he said. "We should ask the others for help on this one."

Samira smiled at her younger brother; she had the exact same idea. After all, the others were appearing on the drawings as well; something weird had happened, and they were all in this together.

And that meant that they also were going to have to fix this issue – or whatever it'd turn out to be – together.

"Come on, we should go right now!" James said and rushed for the hallway.

"One thing," Samira said, as she saw her brother rush toward the hallway, pulling his coat off the coat rack. "It's eight o'clock in the morning, James."

James looked at her; he'd completely forgot how early it actually was. His family consisted almost entirely of morning people, but that certainly didn't apply to his friends.

"Oh, yeah," James chuckled. "Forgot about that."

"Yeah, you sure did," Samira chuckled. "Also, don't forget that Bella said she'd be training with Daniel from eight to twelve."

James snapped his fingers. "Right," he said. "We can always call and ask if they want to meet up at one o'clock?"

Samira nodded. "All right, let's do that," she said. "Until then, try to put your mind off it, okay?"

James watched her leave the hallway as he hung his coat back up on the coat rack. He smiled at her, but as soon as she was out of sight, his smile dropped into a concerned frown, as he took his coat back off the coat rack. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "but you and I both know that I can't."

*

The morning went by slowly, but James managed to work it at his advantage, by going out and doing some research, leading him to being able to show up at Thomas' house twice as prepared as he was earlier that morning.

Thomas' room was big and impressive; three guitars, a microphone and a computer flaunted at the side of the room, with a bed and closet at the wall opposite them. Five beanbags were available inside the room; one for everyone. The teenagers placed them in a circle between the computer and the bed and sat down.

"So, what are we here for today?" Antonio started, sounding slightly sceptic.

"Lower that sarcasm, Antonio," James said. "You might be sceptic now, but after seeing this, I bet you'll think differently." Without giving a further explanation, he handed Antonio the book, nudging him to take a look inside.

Antonio threw the seventeen-year-old redhead a sceptical look, but proceeded to take a quick peek inside the book anyway, probably due to his curiosity getting piqued.

"And... what am I supposed to look at?" Antonio said at first, before reaching a page filled with drawings; his mouth fell open and his eyes filled with unbelief. "You've got to be joking, Riverdale," he said. His eyes shifted from the book to James, who was shaking his head.

"No, this is all real," James said. "As strange as it sounds, it is."

Bella bent over to Antonio, taking the book from him. "Can I see?" as she sat back in her beanbag with the book in her hands. It took her less than three seconds to realize what she was seeing and fall in surprise.

"Thomas," she yelled at the boy seated across from her. "You've got to see this!" She tossed the book at Thomas, who skilfully caught it.

"Be careful with that!" James snapped at them. "You might rip out a page or something."

"Oh come on, James!" Bella said. "I only threw it – what, half a metre? Or even less?"

But after seeing James's pouty face, she snorted. "All right. I won't throw it again, promise."

Meanwhile, Thomas had discovered the drawings as well. "Bloody hell," he gasped. "And these are real?" he asked James.

James nodded in response. "Yep," he said. "They're as real as you and me."

"But- how is this possible?" Thomas said. His friends couldn't do anything more than shake their heads and shrug.

"Well..." James suddenly said. "I did go back to the library to ask them about the book." He paused to anticipate his friends' reactions. "Carolyn was able to tell me that this book's origins date back to the tenth century, and that it was originally a Latin poem. But somewhere in the eleventh century someone rewrote it in English. The Latin poem is about a legend, which resulted into the book being written."

"Ah, so that's what you went out to do," Samira said. "What kind of legend?"

"The legend of Asura, the Demon of the Night," James said slowly, to add a dramatic effect to the title. "Five children, corrupted and frightened by nightmares seemingly caused by this wretched spirit were taken from their beds – presumably taken into the Demon's world, or simply murdered by the Demon. The five children were never seen again; that's why someone wrote a poem about these children, portraying them as the heroes who had to save the world they were brought into from the Demon's claws, who was known there as the Master of Nightmares. In the eleventh century the Demon returned; who wrote the poem into an English story is unknown, but it seems to be a family member of the disappeared – who, this time, were young-adult men and women. The Demon proceeded to return every century, on the same date as the last."

"Seriously?" Antonio said. "And nobody's ever seen this- Asura?" he said, a tone of unbelief lingering in his voice.

"This is what Carolyn told me," James said. "How much of it is true – I don't know. But even she couldn't explain the changed images, so I doubt anyone can."

"So you're practically saying that we're next?" Thomas said, mildly worried, his face looking a little pale.

"Not unless you've been having nightmares since you've read the book, no," James said. He paused. "Oh God."

He saw his friends look at him; all with the same, worried face, all giving the same, small nod.

"Mirrors?" James whispered, almost being too afraid to say it. More nodding.

"An evil version of you attacking you?" James continued quietly.

This time, his friends shook their heads, including Samira.

James lowered his eyebrows. "Really?" he said. "Maybe... what happened beyond the mirror was unique to all of us?"

"That's a possibility," Samira said. "I... for example, saw mom, Dad and me in the mirror, but you weren't there. That worried me – and then I was suddenly wearing clothes similar to those in the drawings."

Her friends stared at her silently for a few seconds.

"To be honest, I believe I didn't see anything at all," Bella said. "Or at least – I can't really remember." She then looked at Thomas and Antonio. "How about you two?"

Antonio shrugged; Thomas quickly followed. "I don't know," the Brit mumbled. "I... don't really care, I guess."

"Yeah," Antonio agreed, "me neither."

"So... I guess this conversation pretty much ends here, then," James said, as he took back the book from Thomas. "I'll... talk to you guys later. There is someone I need to talk to." He stood up and waited for a few seconds, perhaps waiting for someone to stop him, but as he realised nobody was going to say anything other than "see you later," he turned around and left the room.

*

James had left Thomas' house, heading for another friend's house.

She didn't live too far away, yet it would probably still be a ten minute-walk or so. But it'd be worth it.

He crossed the street, to end up at her front door. He slowly made his way into the garden and up the porch, and rang the doorbell.

While James expected one of her parents to open the door, to his surprise, she opened the door herself.

"James," Anna smiled when she saw her best friend standing in front of her. "What brings you here?"

"Hey Anna," James said, smiling back. "I... just came by to say hi and see if you want to hang out, I guess?"

Anna grinned at him. "But of course I do," she said. "Wait a minute. Let me put on some shoes and get a coat, okay? I'll be right there!"

The door shut for a short moment, but hardly thirty seconds went by until it opened again, this time with Anna heading out, locking the door and stuffing the keys in one of her leather jacket's pockets.

"Let's go, shall we?" she said, as she shook her brown curls over her shoulders, leaving them hanging loosely behind her back.

"Uh- yeah," James said. "Does the park sound like an idea?"

"A stroll through the park sounds good," Anna smiled, and the two headed off together.

"So?" Anna suddenly said, as they were walking. "You look like something's bothering you."

James looked at her and opened his mouth to tell her that nothing was wrong in the first place, but the look in Anna's eyes told him that there was no point in denying. He let out a loud sigh.

"It's... just..." he mumbled. "There's this book I picked up from the library yesterday, and it's been acting, well... strangely."

"A book acting strangely?" Anna said uncomprehendingly. "How come?"

"The pictures are changing," James said. "There's a whole legend going on about it... here." Without saying any more, James handed Anna the book, who carefully opened it, flipping through it, until she reached a drawing.

"Oh," she said. "That's unfortunate."

"What do you mean?" James said. "What's unfortunate about this?"

"Don't you get it?" Anna said, proceeding to inspect the book. "You've been cursed, James. You and your sister, and all of your friends. The first five people to read this book."

"How do you know?" James asked, as they entered the park. Anna had really caught his attention this time.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Anna said, stopping beside a bench to put down the book and focus all her attention on James. "This book somehow happens to be magical, and you guys were the unlucky ones to re-enact the curse."

James snorted. "Magic? Curse? You really believe in all that?" he said jokingly.

"Yes, I do," Anna said, pure honesty reflecting in her chocolate eyes. "Don't you?"

James stared back at her, his eyes filled with confusion instead. "Well..." he said. "I can't say that I don't."

"Then don't say you don't," Anna said. "Believe in what you want to believe, James."

Suddenly, James's eyes grew wide in surprise. Believe. Believe in what you want to believe. That was what the cryptic message was behind that single word on the last page!

James sighed relieved as his lips curled up into a smile. "Anna, you're brilliant," he said. "And... in case anything happens, I just want you to know that..."

"Yes?" Anna said expectantly.

"I just want you to know that..." James stammered, feeling all the blood pump through his head. "...I... don't want you to worry," he blurted.

...And I also love you, but I'm too much of a coward to say it. Smooth.

"Oh James," Anna chuckled. "Why would I ever be worried something bad would happen to you?" she said. "Everyone knows you'll always save the day, no matter what happens."

James chuckled too; although it was rather due to his nerves than because Anna had made a joke. "Don't worry," he chuckled. "I will."

"Promise?" Anna said. "Pinkie promise?"

She stuck up her pinkie, as her other hand found its way into James's. Slightly surprised but not wanting to get "caught", James went along with it, and smiled back at her before locking pinkies with her.

"Pinkie promise."

*

James hadn't really said anything to anyone after he'd returned home from walking through the park with Anna.

After their conversation, they'd had a little autumn fun together, before finally returning home after a few hours.

Night had replaced the day, and James was lying awake in bed; not wanting to sleep, unknowing what would happen in his dreams this time.

He stared at the ceiling in the dark, trying to fight the fuzzy feeling which quickly caught him. But eventually, sleep got the better of him, and he doze off to sleep.

Or did he?
Lunaria

James woke up; he wasn't in his bedroom. But where was he, actually?

He sat up and scanned his environment. Stone walls surrounded him, letting in sunlight through two barred holes in the walls, making the room feel like a prison – despite of its fairly large size.

It took James a little longer to realize there were other people sleeping in four other beds as well; he was quick to discover that these four people were his friends.

It was a medieval scene; the beds consisted of a simple wooden frame and a straw mattress covered in linen sheets.

As he continued to look around the room from his sitting position, James noticed a fairly young girl, not older than fourteen, was staring at him from across the room.

She had olive skin and curly hair which had a dark red colour when exposed to light, which was tied into two messy pigtails. She had dark blue eyes, which twinkled with curiosity.

"Hey!" she gasped, as she realized James was looking at her. "You're awake!"

The girl quickly approached James's bed, smiling from ear to ear.

"We've been waiting for you guys to arrive for so long," she said. "And now you're finally here! What's your name?"

"Uh\- James," James mumbled, slightly confused and still feeling fuzzy. "What's yours?"

"My name is Rikki," the girl said. "Nice to meet you, James!"

"Ditto," James said, as he let his eyes glide through the room, looking over the girl's head. "So, Rikki- I was wondering if you could tell me where I am?"

"Are you kidding?" Rikki said, her voice filled with both excitement and unbelief. "You're in Keeper's Cove!"

James clearly didn't comprehend, as the name said little to nothing to him; although it did ring a bell in the back of his head, yet he couldn't put his finger on it. "I'm – where?" he uttered.

If possible, the light in Rikki's eyes started to sparkle even more. "You really don't know, do you?" she said quietly, like a young child about to share a secret. James responded by shaking his head; as he touched his left shoulder, he noticed something which seemed to bother him more than the fact that he didn't know where he was and was talking to a complete stranger.

"Why am I not wearing a shirt?" he exclaimed, instantly withdrawing his hand, as if his skin was scorching it. "I always wear a shirt when I sleep!"

Rikki shrugged. "I don't think that to be very relevant if you don't even know that you're part of the Bond of Light, which means you're one of the Great Five," she said.

"What?" James blurted out, remembering the book with the changing drawings. "The Bond of- oh God."

Rikki tilted her head slightly and pulled a pouty lip. "You really think it's that bad, huh?" she said. As she noticed James responded with a silent nod, she couldn't help but frown.

"Well, you better shape up, then," she said, "as things are about to get a whole lot worse."

James moaned loudly as he bet over to bury his head in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. "What have I done?" he moaned, the sound of his voice muffled by his hands. "What did I drag my friends and myself into?"

Rikki offered him a sad smile. "Don't blame yourself, kiddo," she said. "You wouldn't have been able to escape this anyway. It's fate!"

James removed his face from his hands to look- er, well, stare at her.

Trying hard not to laugh at the uncomprehending look on the boy's face, Rikki said, "You didn't find the book, James. It found you. It's magical, remember?"

James shook his head as he let out a loud sigh, reburying his face in his hands, moaning silently. He only looked up when he heard a familiar voice say his name; he looked up and turned around, to see his sister sitting at the edge of her bed.

"James?" Samira said. "Where are we?" She hadn't noticed Rikki until then. "Who are you?"

"I'm Rikki," Rikki said, as Samira walked over to James's bed. "What's your name?"

Samira quickly warming up to Rikki, and smiled at her. "I'm Samira," she said. "Nice to meet you, Rikki." She then turned to her brother. "Mind telling me where we are, and what we are doing here?" she said, not sounding too happy.

James let out a nervous chuckle. "Uh- long story," he said, trying to talk his way out of it. Samira moved her hands to her hips and threw her brother an angry glare. "Don't worry," she said, "I've got plenty of time."

James let out another nervous chuckle, which quickly ended in a sigh of defeat. "Fine," he said. "We're, well... we're sort of inside the book."

"Inside the what?" Samira exclaimed, sounding both surprised and angered. James just literally said that they were inside Guardians of Light? But how could they possibly have ended up inside a book? "That's impossible!" she spoke out her last thoughts.

Rikki looked at Samira with a rather smug expression on her face. "If it's impossible..." she said, "...then why are you here?"

Samira pointed at the air and opened her mouth as if she was to make a counterargument, but quickly lowered her hand and closed her mouth as she couldn't come up with one.

"...You've got a point," she grumbled, unwillingly admitting defeat. "But I still don't get how all of this is possible."

"Didn't you listen to the story I told you and the others yesterday?" James said. His voice had a slightly reproaching undertone. "Every century, the Master of Nightmares snatched five children – or young adults – from their beds, to mysteriously disappear... and never return, for that matter."

"I'll have to correct you there, though," Rikki said. "You weren't brought here by the Master, otherwise you would've been roasted long ago. We chose you."

"We?" James and Samira said simultaneously. Rikki nodded.

"Don't worry, everything will be explained soon," she said with a playful wink. "We just have to wait for your friends to wake up."

James snorted. "Well, good luck with that," he laughed; Samira couldn't help but giggle silently as well.

*

And the wait for their friends to wake up indeed was long. After all three of them were up, they were quickly briefed in about the situation (with the casual tantrum here and there), before Rikki told them they had to see Madeleine and Akilah. However, she refused to give any information as to who those two people – if they were people – were, as she just kept telling them they'd be "quick to find out" and Madeleine and Akilah had to "explain who and what they were themselves".

The five teenagers, still mildly confused, followed Rikki down a fairly long hallway, until they finally arrived at a hidden trap door, which revealed a stone circular staircase, which led down into what seemed to be a secret basement or hideout.

When they arrived downstairs, they discovered it was the latter; a circular table stood in the middle of the squared room, which was lit by various torches and candles. Somehow, they managed to let a fire burn without having the smoke fill up the room; an empty, silver-coloured cauldron was hanging above it.

As he came down the stairs, James could see two womanly figures stand at the far end of the room. A girl, dressed in dark green robes, and a... glowing woman?

Rikki immediately walked toward the duo; they turned their heads at the sound of her voice and footsteps coming down the stairs. A smile instantly grew on both their faces.

"Ah," the glowing woman said. "Welcome, young Guardians. Come in."

James slowly stepped forward, further into the room, and the others slowly followed him down the stairs and into the room as well.

James was quick to find out that the tall lady smiling at him from across the room was indeed glowing; she had fair skin, which seemed almost see-through in its glow, and golden blonde hair with a few silver streaks in the front, which was tied in an unusual yet attractive updo.

Her eyes were hazel; the silver dress she was wearing was long and flowed gently around her, making it seem as if she was floating.

The girl standing beside her was surprisingly pretty as well; two dark green eyes were hiding underneath long bangs. The rest of her black hair was up in a bun.

James couldn't see her clothing, as it was hidden beneath long, green robes.

Both women seemed rather pleased to see Rikki and her five new friends, despite the fact that these five people were complete strangers with unknown intentions; James started to feel more comfortable being there with the moment.

"I'm sure you all have many questions," the glowing lady said. "I'll be happy to answer them... my name is Akilah, although most Lunariae recognize me as the Almighty Spirit."

"And I might as well be able to help with that," the black-haired girl said with a smile. "My name is Madeleine, by the way."

The teenagers nodded at the ladies in front of them, mumbling a few shy and informal "hel-los". But they knew that there was no time to get properly introduced for too long; they had to get down to business as soon as possible.

"You five have come a long way from home to get here," Akilah said. "We would've preferred to bring you here less sudden so you could've had more time to prepare, but we were in a hurry due to unexpected circumstances." She paused for a short moment to look at the five teenagers in front of her, all staring at her in awe. "But the reason for that is for a later discussion," she said. "Now, we have to teach you the basics to get you youngsters on your way."

"Whatever you say, ma'am," Thomas said, stepping forward from his group of friends. "You're in charge."

Akilah nodded at him. "Very well. I will tell you everything. But first, Madeleine will help you find your identity."

James stepped forward, and stood beside Thomas. "...Identity?" he asked.

Madeleine nodded at him. "You noticed the drawings in the book, right?" she said. "Those drawings assigned you an identity. That identity is your Guardian's Energy." She looked at the five baffled faces in front of her, and couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh, right."

She walked over to the bookstand behind her, to get the book that laid on it. She took the book back to James and his friends, while trying to find the right page.

"Look," Madeleine said, holding the book so that James and his friends could read it. "That's the spell the Light Spirits used that got you here. That got every Generation here."

The prophecy was almost exactly the same as described in James's book, despite the fact that it'd been merely summarized there; it did give a good view of what it was supposed to be, but of course, being able to read it in full was even better.

"Every century once five young men and women will find,

this book and the mysteries that lie behind.

Belief in Magic is required,

a soul young at heart desired.

These Five shall rise,

guided by the Spirits, bringing them advice.

They will reprise ten times,

ten Generations; ten centuries to stop the Demon and his crimes.

But beware: if the Tenth Generation is doomed to fail,

the Demon's darkness forever will prevail."

James read the prophecy out loud and swallowed. "You said we were the tenth Generation, huh, Rikki?" he said, turning his head toward the red-haired girl standing next to Madeleine.

Rikki nodded. "You are," she said. "So I believe you're beginning to understand our situation and the reason for us being in a rush."

James swallowed and gave Rikki a small nod. "I do," she said. "And I believe that I'm also speaking for my friends when I say that we're willing to help."

He felt a hand on his left shoulder; it was Samira's. She smiled at James, and said, "Well, you're speaking for me for sure."

Bella stepped forward, appearing beside Samira. "And for me," she said.

On James's other side, Thomas was nodding as well. "You're speaking for me as well, bud."

Antonio appeared beside Thomas, wearing a big grin on his face. "If you guys are in it, then so am I," he said.

Madeleine, Rikki and Akilah, seeming happy to hear that the five teenagers were willing to help, smiled encouragingly at them.

"Thank you so much," Madeleine said, before she went to return the book to where it belonged. "We should get started with your preparation straight away. Follow me, please."

The teenagers followed Madeleine to the east side of the room, where she moved a book inside the bookshelf, causing the bookshelf to shove aside, revealing a secret chamber.

Madeleine lead the teenagers inside the room, which reclosed after everyone had entered.

"You'll have to prepare here first by getting dressed," she said. "Your clothes arrived here the same time as you did."

And Madeleine was right; five small piles of clothes, including boots, occasional armoury and other useful accessories, were stalled out on a long, wooden table in front of them.

"Really cool," Bella said as she walked forward and picked up a thin, beige tunic with long, loose sleeves, "but how do we know which clothes are whose?"

Madeleine, who'd already started to walk out, turned around and smiled a teasing grin. "Oh, just follow your feelings and you'll know." She left the room, and before shutting the "door", she said, "Just let me know if you need anything and we'll be right there."

The five teenagers nodded, already picking up and looking at the clothes. How were they to decide who was going to wear what?

But... It were their clothes, and they were going to have to wear them after all, of course.

James didn't take long to decide; the clothes he'd seen his reflection wear in his dream were there. To exact detail.

There was the same blue leather tunic with glowing pattern and matching gloves, the white leather belt pouch, and a dark blue, long-sleeved tunic and grey trousers to wear underneath it all. James stuffed the legs of his trousers into the high, white leather boots that went with his clothes.

And lastly, there was of course the red cape with the broche of topazes, which fell lightly around James's shoulders, reaching to about his ankles.

Each of the five friends had sought their own little "private" – or, well, as private as possible, of course – corner in the room to get dressed after they'd chosen which pile of clothes to wear.

It didn't take them very long to realise that each pile of clothes had been colour-coded; James had shades of blue and white, Samira purple and brown, Bella soft shades of orange and yellow and brown, Thomas had green, gold and silver, and Antonio had different shades of red and dark blue.

When they met each other in the middle of the room, the five friends took some time to admire - and mock - each other's clothing.

Each costume was meant to remind of some sort of fantasy or medieval style, each including leather items - which were mostly boots and gloves - and a cape in their respective colour.

Each cape was being held together at the wearer's chest, each cape having their own, unique broche.

Thomas had one, green emerald which seemed to give off a faint glow, with silver decorations following a swirly pattern on both sides of the gem.

Bella's broche looked like a sun; a flat circle, which shimmered like gold, with four triangular, silver-coloured pieces of metal surrounding it.

Antonio's broche looked similar to Bella's, except for the fact that the triangles were much smaller and that a white, waxing moon covered about a quarter of the sun's surface.

Nobody seemed to realise how much time went into them admiring each other's clothes, either. Every last detail of each outfit had to be discussed; how accurate the clothes were according to the messy, black-and-white ink drawings in the book (apart from the colouring, of course; as the drawings were in black and white, nobody could really tell which piece of clothing would get which colour).

Samira looked elegant, yet deadly; she was wearing a purple dress with elegantly puffed sleeves, with the skirt coming to her knees. It didn't matter much though, as the rest of her legs were covered by two high, brown boots and something which seemed to be lavender leggings. Dark purple gloves, which reached to her elbows, and a bow to hold her braided hair together finished the look, making her look like a princess in disguise. Bella, on the other hand, looked much more like a boy in medieval attire. She liked it, as it was comfortable and easy to move about in; a leather tunic, covering a loose and thin shirt. She was wearing pants made from a similar material, just as loose and light, but thicker. The pants were stuffed into high boots, which were similar in design to James's and Antonio's.

Thomas, according to Samira, looked like a true "knight in shining armour". Antonio then found a way to make a joke out of it by saying half the armour was missing; he wasn't wrong, though. A silver-coloured chest-and-back plate, with extra protective caps for the knees and elbows; as if he was some extremely rich – and medieval - skater. He just missed the helmet. The kneecaps were no problem; Thomas easily slipped them inside his boots, still being able to run and walk properly.

Antonio seemed to be the only one who didn't like his clothes. He'd chosen the tunic similar to James's, except without the glowing pattern - and it was bordeaux red, instead of blue.

The same shade of red – including a few lighter shades of brown – appeared everywhere in his costume, apart from his cape; the cape Antonio was wearing was midnight blue.

When Madeleine heard the laughing voices from behind the bookshelf door, she reopened it, asking the five teenagers in the room if they were ready to go, allowing them to return to the room and have a seat around the fireplace, where Akilah was already waiting for them, sitting in a fancy-looking chair.

"Now, let me tell you what your task is," the Spirit said. "I want you to listen closely, as any information you're given while you're here could be crucial to make it out of here alive."

She looked at the five faces in front of her for a few moments to ensure everyone was listening before continuing.

"Tonight, you will be sent off into our world as the Tenth Generation of the Bond of Light. Five young, brave heroes, who will venture through the five Realms our world consists of to get to the Land of Void, which once used to be home to me and my Spirit brothers and sisters."

She paused for a second to think about her past, when all was going well in Lunaria, before brother Asura, Akilah's youngest and personal favourite "sibling"; the one she truly cared for as her little brother instead rather a close friend.

"...As I said," Akilah managed to pull herself back together, "you will have travel all of the Realms before you can complete your journey. You will meet powerful allies, as well as dangerous enemies. Keep an eye on the shadows when night falls."

Samira raised her hand, and waited for Akilah to give her permission to speak. "Why will we have to travel through every Realm? Can't we go straight to the Land of Void?" she asked.

Akilah looked at her; her face didn't show her state of mind. "You will have to seek your Guardian's Identity that awaits you in one of the Realms, my child," she said. "Your Identity will unlock access to your Guardian's Totem. A special, magical object, which is crucial to complete your journey. If you don't complete this journey to find your Identity, you probably won't complete the full journey, either."

A short silence followed. Nobody saw that coming. Really? Those "Identities" and "Totems" seemed like those unlockable bonus items in a video game that were extremely hard, if not impossible, to actually unlock to James.

Wouldn't that be a complete waste of time? But, then again... the wisest of all six Spirits, who was probably over a million years old, if not older, was telling them to go and get them, because they were likely to die without them. So that meant they'd probably have to go get them anyway.

"The Demon, whom you'll often hear being referred to as the Master of Nightmares, has full control over dark, shadowy places. So be careful when night falls in an open field which should be sunny during the day; during the night, the Shadow Walkers and Night Stalkers will be out to get you," Akilah continued, allowing James to snap out of his thoughts.

Another hand rose. This time, it was Thomas's. "Night stalkers?" he asked. "What are those?"

Akilah smiled, but her eyes darkened. "Nobody knows what they are exactly are, as they're always hiding underneath dark cloaks, but they are beings that cannot survive outside the darkness and feed off the misery of others. Shadow Walkers are mist beings, capable of shape shifting into any form, although they mostly appear in the form of predatory animals."

Everyone was listening silently, paying attention closely. This indeed was crucial information.

"Most of the time, the Demon won't come after you himself; he'll just send his minions to fetch you and bring you to him instead," Akilah said. "But don't think you can defeat those easily; the only way to defeat these Shadow Creatures is by having enchanted Light Weaponry; you'll have to go out into the Twilight Forest and speak to Gabriel to get the right weapons. Enchanted, of course." Akilah allowed her eyes to glide across the room, as if she was trying to think of anything else she had to say. "He will also provide you of a map and a route to a safe shelter where you can stay your first night. I wouldn't recommend sticking around in one place though, as this makes you more vulnerable and easier to find. You're going to have to want to keep moving."

She looked at the five Guardians in front of her. That was all she could do.

"Prepare yourselves," she said. "Madeleine and I will try to make contact as much as possible to make sure you're still doing okay while you're out there. At dusk, Rikki will guide you to the safest exit to Keeper's Cove into the Twilight Forest."

The Guardians nodded at her. They were feeling unsure whether they were ready or not, but it didn't matter. They'd have to be.
Goodbye

Dusk came quickly. Too quickly.

The five teenagers spent their afternoon preparing for whatever was out there, talking about what they knew - and didn't know.

A whole lot of time went into Akilah telling about the War of Light and Dark, and Madeleine and Rikki about their adventure in Lunaria; it turned out that they were the first Generation. The Spirits of Light had fused their souls with those of Madeleine, Rikki and their friends, allowing them to stay "alive" within Lunaria to help the next Generations.

It meant that their souls would reseparate if either of the parties "died" again, which meant if the Keepers (which is what the First Generation decided to call themselves while helping the following Guardians) died while serving Lunaria, they'd be no longer able to be saved.

Well, it wasn't like they could go back home anyway, after a thousand years.

When the sun had started to set, Akilah called the teenagers to outside the hideout, saying she required their assistance for one last favour.

"It's good to see you, Guardians," Akilah said.

"What for do you require our presence?" James asked. Akilah smiled.

"It's always been a custom for Guardians to be allowed to say goodbye to their loved ones before they leave," she said. "If they want to, that is."

Something changed in James's expression; Samira squealed in delight, and the slightest trace of a smile appeared on Thomas' face.

"Well?" Rikki asked. "Is there someone you'd wish to say goodbye to?"

Five heads started to nod rapidly. "Of course we do," Thomas said. "Please, continue. We'd like to know more."

Akilah looked to her side, where Madeleine was standing. (Of course, Rikki had been standing to Akilah's other side, but she didn't only speak when she was told to, so Akilah would never have to look at her and tell her to say something). "Please," she said to the black-haired girl. "Go ahead."

Madeleine nodded at her mentor and took a humble step forward. "Allow me to explain to you how this works," she said. "I will cast a spell, which will be able to conjure one loved one you have in your thoughts at that current moment. They won't really be here, but you will be able to see, speak to and touch them as if they are. The same thing goes to them; they'll just see you appear in front of them. They will be temporarily transported to someplace between reality and dreams, so they can see you as well as the other people you've conjured."

"I don't mean to sound rude," Bella said, "...but why only one person?"

Madeleine's expression didn't change. "Of course you're not being rude for asking," she said. "The spell is only able to conjure a single image, as it can't take people to Lunaria in reality. That'd be too dangerous, as they might not be able to go back home."

"...So..." Antonio said slowly. "Is there anything we need to do in order for this "spell" to work?"

Madeleine obviously didn't understand the concept of air quotes, otherwise she probably would've called him out for being sceptical, but she didn't. "Not really," she said. "All you'll have to do is to think about the particular person you'd like to say goodbye to. The only requirements are that they are alive and know you."

Everyone nodded, expressing that Madeleine's explanation had been clear and simple. James did too, before turning aside to look at his sister. "Can you think of Mum for me?" he asked. "There's someone I'd like to see before we go."

Samira didn't completely understand what he meant, but agreed with him anyway. "Of course," she said. "Only one of us needs to think of Mum, anyway. I don't think it'd work if we both did."

"Is everybody ready?" Madeleine said. After receiving approval, she started muttering a few Latin phrases, one of which James recognized as dicere vale diligentis, which meant to say goodbye to a loved one. She repeated this same phrase a few times, while James and his friends thought of that one last friend or relative they wanted to say their goodbyes to. The person who'd have to share the bizarre news with their families. Who had to explain everything.

Who had to tell their families that the five teenagers that were now missing from their lives might never be coming home.

The teenagers waited in anticipating silence for something to happen. And then it did.

"James?"

James, who'd shut his eyes to be able to concentrate better, opened his eyes to see who'd said his name.

He couldn't believe his eyes. "Anna," he gasped. She looked as if she'd just got out of a bad storm; she was dressed, but her dark brown curls were a complete mess.

And yet, James thought that her messy, frizzy, afro-like hair made her look even more beautiful.

"James? What's going on?" Anna asked. "And what are you wearing?" she said, commenting on his clothes.

"I don't have much time to explain everything," James said, as he stepped closer to her. "But I'll try."

Anna looked up at him, straight into his eyes. "I was right, wasn't I?" she said silently, already knowing what answer awaited her, yet not wanting to hear it, wanting to deny it.

James swallowed. "Yes."

Anna clasped a hand in front of her mouth. James noticed the tears in her eyes, which shimmered like diamonds. "Do you believe now?" she uttered.

"Yes," James said. "I always have. Because of you."

Anna chuckled. "Don't say that," she said. "You've always believed on your own. And all you'll need to make it through and save that world is by believing in yourself and your friends."

James smiled. "Won't be a problem, right?" he said. "We're all friends, after all."

"Keep up that spirit," Anna smiled. She leaned a little to the right and rose to her toes, to be able to look over James's shoulder. James instinctively turned around, to see his mother and sister stand behind him, one crying and one trying hard not to.

James, without saying a word, opened his arms, allowing his mother to fall right into them.

"Did... Samira explain?" James whispered, as he rested his chin on his mother's head, which he could feel nod to answer his question.

"I don't understand, James," Cheyenne said between two silent sobs. "What's going on? Where are you two?"

"In another world, Mum," James said. "And we have to save it."

"I know that, Samira said that," Cheyenne said. "But why you? You're all so young! Why couldn't they have picked other people? Adults, for a chance?"

"They could've," James said. "But they didn't. They chose us. That means that we're the only group of five who can do it."

"But you have your entire lives ahead of you!" Cheyenne shouted, looking up to her son. "I... I just don't want to lose you kids," she said as she allowed herself to be pulled closer to her son again. "You're all I have left."

"Don't worry, Mum," James whispered. "We'll come back. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, James."

James remained silent. He didn't know what to say.

"It's not a promise. It's an oath. We will come back."

Cheyenne pulled out of her son's hold, offering him a warm smile through her tears. "Then I'll trust you with that," she said.

James looked aside and saw the others saying goodbye to one of their loved ones.

Thomas was saying goodbye to his fourteen-year-old brother, Ricardo, who was crying uncontrollably. Bella had chosen her eleven-year-old sister, and Antonio his mother.

"I'll lead these guys home," James said. "I owe them that."

Akilah gave the signal that it was almost time to say goodbye, and Cheyenne attended to both her children. Anna joined beside her.

"Be strong, you two," Cheyenne said, as a salty tear rolled down her cheek.

"We believe in you," Anna added. She walked a little nearer toward James, so she could hold his hands. "I'll be waiting for you," she said. "Always."

James swallowed. He wanted to say "I love you", but he couldn't. How hard could it possibly be to say it? Why couldn't he just get those three little words, which meant so much, over his lips?

What was it that he was so afraid of?

"...And I promise I'll come back to you." And there it went; another missed opportunity. Again. Oh, well... Maybe it wasn't exactly the right time and place to make a love confession, as his friends and family were all within earshot, but still... What if this was indeed the last time he'd ever see her again?

No, it wasn't. He'd just promised her it wouldn't. And yet, still...

James gave Anna and his mother one last hug (in which the latter was shared with Samira), before joining his sister and friends to "return" to Lunaria, while the others were sent back home without them.

As they slowly returned to reality, the rather unsettling blend between home and Lunaria the "in-between-reality" had been, slowly returned to Lunaria's regular landscape.

"Now, it is time for us to say goodbye, Guardians," Akilah said. "I wish you all best of luck."

Akilah looked at Madeleine, allowing her to speak. Strangely, Madeleine seemed too shy to speak whenever she wasn't told to.

"Rikki will lead you to the safest exit out of Keeper's Cove. From there on, I'm afraid you'll have to do it on your own," Madeleine said. "You'll have to be careful while looking for Gabriel. He'll give you advice on the right weaponry. You can use this map to find him."

Madeleine handed Thomas a map, which had the magical ability to enlarge and display a specific location when touched as if it were images from a three-dimensional pop-up book.

"You can also keep the map flat, if you'd prefer," Rikki advised. "It'll also show us Keepers' locations by displaying our names on the map."

"Does that work on anyone else?" Thomas asked. "I mean – I don't see our names anywhere."

"That'd be too dangerous in case the map gets compromised," Akilah said. "If it showed your names, your enemies would be able to find you too easily. Our names are just there so you can find us whenever you need us."

"They won't be coming after us anyway; they already screwed us over enough," Rikki joked.

Some nervous chuckles followed; the joke Rikki had made was funny in some sort of way, but it was also kind of morbid. It seemed strange to laugh at.

The teenagers said their final goodbyes to Akilah and Madeleine, who promised to check up on them every once in a while. With that being said, the Guardians and Rikki went on their way.

Luckily, the safe exit wasn't too far away from the hideout's entrance, but both were well-enough hidden not to be found easily.

"So..." Bella started carefully. "How come nearly everything on our clothing glows?"

"Ah, good question!" Rikki smiled. "It's for protection. The Shadow Walkers, Night Stalkers, and all of the other beings that are under the Master's control, are powered by shadows. Light weakens them; so if they come too close to you, their power will be slightly weakened, giving you a chance to escape."

"...But my clothes have more glowy-glow stuff than theirs do," James said, referring to his own clothes and his friends'. "How come?"

James could hear Thomas and Antonio snort behind him, and threw them an angry glare.

Rikki coughed. "Well..." she said, unsure where to start. "It has to do with your magical abilities."

"magical abilities?" Samira asked. "What are those?"

"Each Guardian has their own, unique magical ability," Rikki explained. "Most of them require a supporting object. Unless you're talking about Imaginative Creation."

"Imaginative Creation?" Bella said. "What's that?"

"I was getting to that," Rikki said. "Imaginative Creation is a magical skill each and every one of you can master, but only one of you has the ability to unlock its full capacity.

That'd be you, James."

James felt that everyone was looking at him. Attempting not to let all the blood rush to his head, he uttered, "Who, me?"

Rikki nodded. "Yes, you.

You might not believe it now, but with proper training, you'll be able to create anything that comes to mind," she said. I'll have to warn you about one thing, though." The tone of her voice suddenly became cold, cold enough to send chills down James's spine.

"If you don't train your abilities properly, and just go out there and use them whenever you please, the topazes on your broche will pale out to a faint white if you're taking on too much at a time. If that happens, stop using your Magic until they're blue again, unless you want to faint and wake up with a terrible headache," Rikki said.

"Just a wild guess," Samira said, "but what happens if the topazes stop glowing completely?"

"If the white glow fades out," Rikki said slowly, knowing everyone was listening closely to what she was going to say next, "the stones will turn black. Once the stones are black, the Guardian they belonged to is dead."

"That's ridiculous!" Thomas blurted out, rather loudly. Realizing he'd done so, he decided to continue his argument on a softer tone. "James shouldn't be reliant on Magic to keep him alive."

"Wrong," Rikki said. "If you proceed to use Magic while the stones are glowing white – which isn't impossible, as it'd only cause a headache if you're strong-willed, you'll start using your life force instead of magical force, as that's already been used. And once you're out of life force...

Well, you know what happens then."

"That's kind of morbid," Bella said silently. The others nodded agreeing.

"Then make sure you're well-trained," Rikki said. "Some of the Master's minions get their energy by harvesting yours. They are known for sucking the magical force out of a being – in case it has any – and using it for themselves. Unless the being doesn't have any magical force, of course. Then, they'll just suck out one's life force. And that's bad news.

Frankly, the Master himself is known for doing it quite often as well. Especially when the Guardian's powers are strong. The stronger your powers, the stronger his will become."

"Then what's the point of training them at all?" James said. "If he'll only end up sucking the life out of me..."

"That's why you're so well-protected," Rikki said. "The glow in your clothes should automatically weaken the effect of Dark Magic on you."

"And if it doesn't?" James said.

"Trust me," Rikki said, "that has never happened before. The clothes will protect you. Shadow Beings absolutely detest light."

"If you say so..." James mumbled.

They proceeded to walk to the side of the forest Rikki had chosen to be the safest. When they arrived there, Rikki suddenly stopped and halted the teenagers she was guiding.

"All right, here we are," she said. "But I do believe Akilah wants to give you one lat piece of advice before you leave. It seems rather urgent."

Just as she'd finished speaking, Akilah appeared before them. Not in person, though; her usual glow was faint and she was slightly see-through, as if she was merely a projection. And she probably was.

"Guardians," Akilah said. Her voice echoed all over Keeper's Cove, and James worried if nobody could hear her. But Keeper's Cove was probably protected; otherwise, they wouldn't be standing here, out in the open, either.

"You are about to enter the Twilight Forest and begin your journey. Before you left, I forgot to tell you where your journey shall end, so I will tell you now. Your goal isn't as easy as it seems, like I said before. You will have to train and find your Guardian's Ability, as I believe Rikki already explained. You will only be able to use this power if you have your Guardian's Helper, so make sure you do find those first. Once you are ready, you will travel to the Land of Void, the Realm that is home to the Demon – I believe that from now on you'll be referring to him as the Master, as that's how most of the Lunariae know him – and has gone the most corrupt due to the Demon's influence.

This Realm was once home to me and my Spirit brothers and sisters, but now it's gone too corrupt to live there." She paused to see if everyone could still follow what she was saying. "The Land of Void is a dangerous place to venture, but you will have to go there to return the Light and bring balance to the Light and Dark.

The castle where we spirits used to live has a special altar in the middle of the ceremonial chamber, from which me and my siblings used to make sure the Light and Dark remained in balance.

But, thanks to us, you have that ability too. Of course we would've preferred to do it ourselves, but the Demon has banished us... plus, we would never be able to survive the dark forces that roam that Realm long enough to complete the Ritual. That's why we have to ask you to take our powers and do it for us." She paused again, this time to catch her breath. The Guardians nodded at her, to let her know that all information had been received and properly processed.

"Very well then. Guardians, I wish you all best of luck. We'll be watching over you."

The "projection" of Akilah then disappeared, and James looked ahead. They were standing at the edge of a dark and silent forest. The Twilight Forest.

"Well, I suppose we should get going, then," Thomas said. "We should be all right finding that Gabriel, right? Since his house and name are located on the map..."

Rikki looked at him. "Don't think too lightly about this," she said strictly. "It's harder to make it out of there alive than you think. Trust me; I've been there before."

Thomas looked at her, and then looked back up at his friends to check on their opinions. They seemed to agree with Rikki; however, Antonio still seemed rather sceptical about everything.

Thomas was about to get in another argument with his best friend, telling him to stop joking around, but Rikki pulled him down by the collar of his cape to whisper something in his ear.

"Just wait until he sets himself on fire," she said. "He'll come about." Thomas couldn't help but chuckle.

"...But yes, you should go," Rikki said. "Gabriel will be waiting for you. The quicker you get your training, the bigger the chance you'll survive.

Gabriel is my brother," she suddenly decided to add. "He'll take good care of you, and he'll also equip you with any other supplies you might need to make sure you've got everything to help you on your way."

"Well, then I believe it's about time we went out and found your brother, then," Bella said. "Who's with me, guys?"

A cheering "I!" came from her friends. They were ready to do this. But would they still be in five minutes, when they would've entered the Twilight Forest, unarmed and unsure where to go?

But how could they know unless they actually went there, right?

The Guardians said goodbye to Rikki, who stayed at the forest's edge until the teenagers had gone too far into the forest to see them before returning to the secret hideout.

"And? How'd it go?" Madeleine said, as she saw Rikki running down the stairs.

"Well, they seem to have the right spirit," Rikki said. "I think that the prophecy that old book has given us is going to come true, after all." She shortly made a gesture toward Akilah, who was holding the Book Madeleine had showed the Guardians earlier.

"I sure do hope so," Madeleine said. "They have to be the Generation that succeeds. According to the Book, they're the Last Generation. The Tenth. Which means..."

"...They're our last hope," Akilah finished Madeleine's sentence. "That means we have to trust them."

Forest

The forest was dark; if it wasn't for the glowing patterns on their clothes, it would've been impossible to see. So it turned out those weird patterns were good for something, after all.

The sun had now completely set and night had fallen; the dangers lurking in the shadows of the forest could be felt all around the teenagers, leading them to tread carefully. There was hardly any time to talk; their main objective was to find Gabriel and get weapons – and whatever else they might need to protect themselves.

Thomas, accompanied by James, was holding the map and leading the group. Together with James, he tried to figure out which way to go; this was less difficult than it seemed at first, as all James had to do was to keep his hands up high enough to shed a light on the map. It looked awfully strange for James to walk with his hands up whenever Thomas wanted to check on the map again, but it was the only way to be able to read the old, parchment thing until at least dawn.

"All right, I believe to have figured out how this works," Thomas said. "Technically, we're still more or less in Keeper's Cove, as this part of the forest is located on the same island as the Cove. From here, we'll have to go east and cross the bridge there to get deeper into the forest."

"Why would we even want to go deeper into the forest?" Antonio complained loudly. "Can't we just find that guy here and get out as soon as possible?"

"I'm afraid not," James said, taking a closer look at the map. "The bridge is near his hideout. He's not there at the moment, however."

"I've got to admit," Samira said, "that magical map is proving itself to be somewhat useful. Without it, we'd never be able to find him!"

"Maybe he eventually would've come to find us?" Bella suggested. "...But then again, we could've been anywhere, which wouldn't make it any easier at all."

The five teenagers didn't spend too much time chitchatting, as they knew something was on to them. They proceeded to head east, to the bridge and Gabriel's hideout.

It would be best if they got there as quick as possible; the quicker they got at least a little bit of training, the safer they would be - well, for how much they could call themselves safe, of course.

James wasn't too sure about safety at the moment, though. It was if there was this black fog, floating low over the ground, going by almost unnoticeable in the dark night; it was as if the fog was following them with every step they took.

James decided not to make any mention of it, as it'd probably only stress out his friends even more; that so-called "fog" was probably not even there. And it certainly wasn't anything worth breaking their minds over.

But what happened a short while after James had noticed the black fog, he wished he would've said something about it. Because apparently, that fog was a clear indicator for danger.

Danger coming from the shadows.

"Guys?" Bella said; she'd suddenly stopped walking, causing everyone to do the same and look at her. "Do you hear that?"

Everyone went quiet. Bella was right; aside from the usual forest sounds, some strange kind of buzzing sound could be heard. It wasn't easy to pinpoint its exact location, as the sound seemed to be coming from multiple directions.

"It sounds like the growl of an angry animal or something," Samira said. "Any idea what it could be?"

"Well, unless you're eager to find out, I'd suggest we get out of here," Thomas said. The others agreed with him, and they continued their journey on a quickened pace.

But the growling caught onto them, and the monsters that made the sound became more visible with every metre they ran.

It were wolves, but then wolves the size of bears. Their fur was as black as the night and strangely smooth and shiny. The fog seemed to follow them, as it was emitted from their mouths, which were filled with rows of sharp teeth. The most extraordinary about these creatures however, were their eyes; they had an orangish glow, with striped pupils, like a cat's.

No matter how fast the Guardians would run, the giant wolves ran faster, surrounding the Guardians in no-time.

"Okay, does anyone have a plan B?" James said rather nervously, as the wolves started to move closer, closing in the teenagers.

"Well, I was hoping you had one," Samira said. "But I'm starting to get the idea that you have got nothing either."

"Then you're getting the right idea," James said. "I'm clear of ways to get us out of this one."

"Well, then I believe it's good for me to be around, huh?"

An unknown voice was calling from a tree branch. Shortly after, a figure jumped down from them, holding a glowing bow and matching arrows.

The wolves started to growl louder and tried to attack the figure, but he was faster and quickly sent three arrows flying from his bow, hitting the closest wolf in the chest, causing the others to retreat until they were back in the shadows, from where they growled dangerously.

The same happened on the other side, where the light from the arrows couldn't reach; yet again, the figure was too quick for the wolves to be able to inflict any serious damage.

The wolves quickly realised this was an opponent who knew their weaknesses, an opponent who wasn't easy to attack. They proceeded to retreat back into the shadows, until their glowing eyes and vicious growls had disappeared from sight and earshot completely.

James and his friends were watching the figure in awe. How easily he'd fired those arrows in the dark, hitting their targets almost perfectly.

When the figure turned around, James could see his face more clearly. It was obviously a man; the orange stone he wore, which appeared to be a broche similar to Bella's, had a strong glow, which caused strong shadows to appear on the man's face.

It took some time for James to notice that the man was smiling. "You guys look like you could use some help."

"Well, we obviously did," Antonio said. "What were those things?"

"Shadow Walkers," the man said. "I'm Gabriel, by the way. But you guys can call me Gabe. I'm the Keeper of the Forest."

"Oh," James said. "In that case... Akilah sent us to you."

Gabriel looked at him. "I know," he said. "As soon as I heard you guys were coming this way, I went out to find you. Guess I succeeded on that part." He let out a small chuckle.

"But- how can you know?" Samira said. "Do you guys have – super fast carrier pigeons or something?"

"Oh, no," Gabriel said. "Carrier pigeons are way too risky; the chances of a bird being intercepted by the enemy or people who aren't the recipient are way too big. I'll explain everything to you when we get to a safer area."

The following was expected; he invited them to follow him to his hideout – although Thomas insisted on using the map to prove he had enough map-reading skills to get them there. His friends didn't agree with him, so everyone just ended up following Gabriel – which probably would've been the best choice.

Gabriel, who knew the woods by heart, led them through the safest parts of the forest, avoiding any further Shadow Walker trouble. They stopped at something which seemed to be a massive tree.

"And... this... is?" Samira said slowly; she'd been walking in front of the line most of the time, right behind Gabriel; Thomas seemed rather annoyed by the fact that she was, and followed her closely.

"It looks like a tree to me," the Brit said. Obviously, he didn't know what it was either, as it was too dark to see that it was, in fact, a big tree, with a tree house built near the top.

Gabriel didn't say anything; he just walked forward to the tree trunk, and pulled one of his arrows out of his quiver. He held it forward for a few second, until dozens of tiny little lamps started to light up, revealing a wooden spiral stairs around the trunk.

"Voila!" Gabriel shouted proudly. "Guardians, you are welcome to enter my tree house hideout."

The Guardians did what they were told and went up the stairs; Gabriel followed them. The lights unlit themselves as he walked by them.

They entered the tree house one by one; the main room looked comfortable, with a hammock filled with blankets and a woollen pillow; there was also a pile of bigger pillows, which could've represented some sort of couch.

There was a door that lead to a second room, and a well-protected fireplace in the middle of the main room.

"Please, sit," Gabriel said, gesturing at the pile of large pillows. He himself sat down in the hammock, looking quite comfortable.

"So, what would you guys like to know before we get started on your training?" he asked.

The teenagers looked at each other, unsure of what to say. This was the first time they were able to see Gabriel completely; he wasn't that old, probably seventeen or eighteen, and had olive skin and chestnut brown, frizzy hair. His eyes were hazel, with that same sparkle as his sister's.

When nobody knew what to say, Gabriel said, "Oh, come on! Don't be shy; put my knowledge to the test!"

Suddenly, Samira remembered her question back in the forest. "You were going to tell us how you and the other Keepers communicate," she said.

"Oh, right," Gabriel said. "I was. Well, you could call us telepathic. Our connection with the Spirits allows us to contact each other through the mind. It's pretty cool and useful."

"I can imagine," Thomas said. "It allows you to contact each other in secret, without letting anyone know." His eyes then widened as he let out a gasp of excitement. "Do you think we'd be able to learn how to do that too?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Maybe. But it's unlikely you'll be able to develop the ability completely. We only were able to learn how to do it because our souls are fused with the Spirits."

Thomas didn't say anything; he was disappointed to hear that telepathy was pretty much out of the question. "Oh. That's a shame."

"Where'd you even need it for?" Gabriel said. "We can contact you if needed. It doesn't need to be the other way around."

"You think?" Antonio said. "If we're not telepathic, how are we even going to receive your telepathic messages in the first place?"

"I wasn't necessarily talking about telepathic messages," Gabriel said. The mischief grin on his face made it look as if Antonio's sceptical attitude amused him.

"Akilah and Madeleine have created some very clever ways of communication, but you'll find out more about that later. Telling you now would only ruin the surprise."

"On another note," James said, "Madeleine mentioned that you were the First Generation, and we're the Tenth. How come you don't speak old English?"

"It's been a thousand years, kid," Gabriel said. "You learn a thing or two from the people coming from back home - a lot can happen and change in a century." He paused. "My sister and I didn't even speak English when we first got here. But Magic helped us with that, luckily. Communicating with the three Brits would've been a lot harder otherwise."

The teenagers were listening silently. Hearing about the history of this world and its inhabitants was quite interesting.

"Well, it seems to me that you no longer have any questions," Gabriel said. "Unless anyone disagrees, I believe it's about time I started to train you to become proper warriors."

He got out of his hammock and walked over to the door that lead to the other room. "You will enter this room one by one, and then select a weapon from my personal collection," he said, pointing at the door.

"Innocence, you go first. I always find it quite interesting to see what kind of weapon you guys choose."

The Guardians, who were still sitting on the makeshift couch, stared at him in silence. "Who?" Thomas said.

Gabriel let out a loud sigh of dismay. "You're... you're not telling me you don't know which Guardian each of you is, now are you?" he said hopefully.

Obviously, he wasn't too fond of the response which confirmed his concerns. Another loud sigh followed. "Oh dear.

Well... first of all, you can tell by the clothes you're wearing, but mostly by the brooches that are attached to your capes. While every costume is adjusted to match your personality – which makes it more likely that you will choose the right costume on your arrival, although it seems as if you're magically drawn to it – anyway, I'm heading off topic. The brooches will always be the same, indicating what your soul was meant to do here and why it was chosen."

The Guardians reacted instantly, by tugging on their capes to be able to see the brooches; they were indeed unique in shape and colour, and always seemed to match the colour of the costume.

"I'll keep it simple, as I don't know your exact names yet... Although they have been told to me, I don't know which name belongs to whom, since we have two girls and three boys," Gabriel said. "But... I think I'm beginning to figure it out. The topaz broche belongs to the Guardian of Innocence, the emerald broche to the Guardian of Soul. The orange sapphire sun broche belongs to the Guardian of Joy, the sun and moon broche to the Guardian of Day and Night, and finally, the rhombus-shaped rose quartz belongs to the Guardian of Life." He paused for a second, and said, "there's something I wanted to say regarding something I learned from the Guardian of Soul that came here about a century ago, in the Generation before you – not the music."

"I told you it was a rose quartz, and not a pink diamond," Samira whispered quietly in Bella's ear. They'd been arguing over the names of their gemstones for quite some time, and now it'd finally been decided who was right. Rose quartz and orange sapphire.

"...Anyway, so now you know who you are, so do I!" Gabriel said, carefully examining the five teenagers in front of him. "Two birds with one stone, eh? So, James, you go first."

James stood up and walked up to Gabriel, who opened the door of the weaponry chamber for him.

The room's interior was pretty impressive; it was stacked with medieval weapons from all kinds of material; all shapes and sizes were available. It was obvious that Gabriel was trying to have something in store for every kind of warrior.

James instantly headed for the side of the room that had been reserved for swords, knives and other bladed weaponry, as those were the weapons he knew how to fight with best; he'd had a lot of sword fighting practice with his sister when they were younger. Of course, that had merely a pretend game; it were the fencing classes Thomas' father had given his son's friends when they dropped by his house that counted.

James took one of the swords, which was covered by a dark blue scabbard with matching light blue glowing patterns; it matched with his other clothes, as if it was meant to be his.

A similar scabbard stood beside it, but then glowing in green.

The sword James had chosen was tall and thin, yet still small enough for him to be able to handle. He carefully slid of the scabbard and swung it around a bit, before shoving it back into the leather and taking it outside.

Thomas was next to go inside; he chose the green glowing scabbard, which seemed to please James. Thomas then made the joke that they "matched", as if they were teenage girls buying matching T-shirts.

Samira came back with a wooden bow and arrow and a murrey quiver, well-filled with fifty arrows.

Bella had chosen some other bladed weapon of which James wasn't sure what it was exactly as he didn't recognize it; it looked like a sickle, but then with a much broader blade. He decided to dub it "war sickle" until he'd find out what its real name was (which actually turned out to be the weapon's real name, according to Gabriel).

Antonio, wanting to impress as usual, thought it'd be a good idea to take the tallest weapon he could find, and ended up walking out the door with a gigantic pole arm - a glaive.

Once everyone was sure about their weapons – Gabriel made a point out of it to ask them if they'd like to take a secondary weapon. Bella did end up taking two knives along, putting them on her belt, but nobody else truly felt the need of taking a secondary weapon. They'd probably be fine with the ones they had right now.

"So, we've got weapons. Now what?" Antonio said, probably expecting to hear Gabriel say that he wasn't going to train them after all, and that they would have to fend for themselves.

But that didn't happen.

"Follow me to outside," Gabriel said. "I'll set up an arena for you."

The teenagers stared at each other, slightly confused, but then decided to do what Gabriel had asked them to and followed him outside anyways.

They walked around the tree house, where a large, open field revealed itself. The teenagers gasped in awe; from the front, it seemed as if the tree house was standing in the middle of the forest.

"Cloaking spell," Gabriel said proudly. "I can't have any Shadow Creatures sneaking around here while I'm training myself or others. Pretty sweet, huh?"

He opened his hand and released a bunch of the same, glowing lights as those that had surrounded the spiral stairs. They floated about, lighting up the open field around the edges and the middle. Various wooden targets had been set up there; from wooden, humanoid figures to normal archery targets.

"Target practice!" Gabriel shouted, to make sure everyone could hear him. "Something you'll be doing for a while in this world if you want to stay alive. Of course, at some point, the targets will be fighting back, making a bit more of a challenge." He grinned. "But for now, you'll be practicing on wood. And on me, of course."

He pulled a sword from his scabbard, similar to James's and Thomas'. He was also carrying a bow and quiver over his right shoulder. "I will test your skills, and guide you through the training," he said. "Although I used this bow and arrows to fight my way through these realms, I also learned how to use a sword on my own." He paused. "I had a lot of free time in the past thousand years, you see." He grinned again. "Anyway. You can practice on one of the targets whenever I'm not training you personally; you can also train in pairs, if you'd like. Now let's get started!"

"For how long will we be training?" Thomas said. "I'm kind of exhausted."

Gabriel turned around to look at him. "I'll be training you until I can send you out there safely, so I won't have to worry whether or not you guys have any idea of what you're up against," he said. "I need to be sure that you kids know what you're doing."

And so the training started. A great portion of the time was consumed by an argument between Gabriel and Antonio; Gabriel claimed that Antonio wasn't following the instructions given, whereon Antonio came with a counterargument, saying that it wasn't the most important thing to live by orders and instructions to make the right choice in the heat of the moment.

Thomas and James were having a one-on-one swordfight against each other, while Bella was practicing throwing knives at a wooden dummy's chest, and Samira was perfecting her aim on the archery targets. Later, when Gabriel had focused his training on her, she had to shoot arrows at the wooden shield he was carrying while he ran around, trying to dodge; he did the same with Bella and her knives.

When it was the turn for James and Thomas to show what they had got, Gabriel first joined their one-on-one combat, before allowing Thomas and James to join forces against him. The training was concluded with a game, some sort of mix of sword fighting and tag, using wooden swords; if you were to be touched by someone's weapon, you'd be "wounded" and were out of the game for five minutes (determined by Gabriel's hourglass). If you got hit five times, you'd be pronounced "dead" and be out of the game. The last man standing was the winner.

They ended up playing at least five rounds of this game, until the break of dawn.

"Well, I certainly believe you teens are ready," Gabriel said. "You should rest a little before you head back out there again. You earned it."

Gabriel didn't have to tell them twice; they spread the pillow-couch out over the floor, so the pillows would cover more space. Gabriel gave each of the teenagers a blanket, despite of the fact that it wasn't that cold; within a matter of minutes, everyone had passed out on the pillows. Gabriel sat in his hammock, staring out of the window it was hung up beside.

*

The Guardians didn't sleep long; hardly six hours had passed before they'd all woken up. It was time to go.

Gabriel had provided Thomas with a leather bag, where they could carry food and other necessities in.

"You're going to have to hunt for food," Gabriel said. "There will be some fruit trees along the way, but to get enough food, I'd advise you to shoot a few birds every day."

"Sure thing," Bella said, although James and Samira had a doubting look on their faces.

"Thank you for teaching me how to craft arrows," Samira said to Gabriel, who responded with a humble nod. "Of course," he said. "You'll be running out of arrows sooner than you think, so you'll need to be able to make your own. Now you know." He smiled at Samira, and she smiled back.

The Guardians said goodbye to Gabriel and left. Gabriel promised they could stop by any time in case of trouble; the teenagers took his advice to heart before officially starting their journey.

Attack

The sun was up high in the sky, although it wasn't really noticeable through the right roof of leaves the trees of the forest formed, blocking most of the sunlight.

"How's this actually possible?" James said, inspecting his sword. "Every time I pull my sword out of its scabbard, it instantly starts to glow. How's that possible?" he asked his friends.

Nobody seemed to really know the answer, however. Perhaps it was something within the blade, maybe it was enchanted. Who knew but the smith?

They continued down a narrow path - or at least, a small dirt road which seemed to be a path.

"So, did Gabriel give any advice on where we should go next?" Bella asked Thomas, who was still walking in front of the group, carrying the map. It was slightly easier to read it during the day.

"He mentioned a house he'd built to figure as a shelter, beyond the river to the east," Thomas replied. "As soon as we cross the bridge, we should be almost there."

As he was staring at the map, Thomas suddenly froze. His hand moved up to stop everyone from walking.

"Shh," Thomas whispered. "They're back. They followed us here."

The question "Who?" was answered before it was even asked. The Shadow Walkers appeared from the shadows again, growling loudly and teeth bared.

"Don't worry, guys!" Antonio yelled. "This is what we've been practicing for, right? I'd say it's time to give these furry freaks a show!"

His friends agreed with him; drawing their weapons, they ran forward and engaged in battle.

The wolves were strong, fast and agile, and incredibly hard to see when they hid in the shadows. But the strong glow of their eyes gave them a disadvantage; their eyes were visible at all times, unless they kept them closed, forming a moderately easy target to hit.

James tried using his fencing skills against one of the wolves, but was quick to learn that he had to develop his own style. When he noticed the wolf was about to leap forward, he slid down underneath it, stabbing the beast in the chest with his sword. As soon as the sword pierced its flesh, the Shadow Wolf dissolved into black smoke, which seemed to blend in with the shadows. James looked behind him, looking if any of his friends needed help.

Antonio was standing his ground, tricking the wolves into attacking each other; he used another wolf to knock them out, by piercing the smallest with his glaive and smacking the wolves with it like a baseball bat. The three wolves dissolved on impact.

Unfortunately, Thomas was in less luck. He and Bella were fighting back-to-back, until Thomas noticed something from the corner of his eye; Samira looked like she was in trouble.

She managed to keep the Shadow Walkers at distance, but they came up faster than she could shoot. James, Bella and Thomas all three rushed in to help her, while Antonio had their backs.

They fought off the wolves as a team, until the very last one - or at least, so they thought they did.

One wolf had been clever enough to hide itself in the shadows and wait for the right moment to strike, which turned out to be when everyone had their back turned toward it.

"Next time, we need to fight more as a team," James said. "We can't just go running around on our own; together, we'll be five times as strong as on our own." He noticed something moving in the corner of his eye, but didn't think much of it. At least, not enough to instantly attack it, which was ultimately what he should've done; luckily, Thomas noticed in time that the wolf was about to attack Samira, as she'd been standing in front of him all the time.

"SAMIRA!" Thomas yelled. "WATCH OUT!"

He grabbed Samira and threw her on the ground in a rather harsh fashion, but only then he could've got her out of the way of the wolf's jaws in time. Instead, Thomas himself leapt forward, thrusting his sword into the wolf's chest, getting an unfortunate jab at his head from one of the wolf's claws in the process. Thomas yelled in pain as the wolf dissolved and he fell forward on the grass. The sword ended up on the ground in front of him.

"Thomas!" Samira cried as she got on all fours as quick as she could. "Is everything all right?"

Thomas didn't reply immediately; he tried to push himself up on his elbows while moaning in pain. "I... believe I got hit in the head," he groaned.

Samira inspected the wound on his head, while carefully wiping hair out of the wound with a delicate finger. She was holding his head up by his chin with her other hand; Thomas groaned silently whenever she accidentally touched the wound; he didn't want to make himself look vulnerable by showing it hurt.

"We've got to go back to Gabriel," James said, who'd knelt down beside his sister to gauge the severity of Thomas' wound. "We don't have anything to treat this kind of wounds; we should at least ask Gabriel for help. I'm sure he will know what to do."

"It's – I'm fine," Thomas grunted. "It doesn't– hurt – that – much, really. We can – urgh – go on." He groaned painfully a few times while talking, although it was obvious that he was trying hard his hardest not to.

Samira tilted her head, looking at Thomas with a worried shimmer reflecting in her sky blue eyes. "You weren't expecting us to actually believe that, now were you?" she said.

Thomas offered her a faint grin. "I was kind of hoping you would," he said. "But... you're right. You wouldn't."

"Come on, big guy," Antonio said, carefully grabbing Thomas' shoulders. "We've got to get you to Gabriel. James, can you help me get him up?"

James nodded, and together the two boys helped their friend to get back on his feet.

He leaned on both of them as they walked back to Gabriel's hideout, while Bella and Samira kept an eye out for any other attackers.

The teenagers ran into Gabriel not far from his house; he was hunting for food. As soon as he saw the teenagers approaching him he dropped his weapons – he'd just shot a pigeon, but didn't seem to care enough to go get it first – and rushed toward the teens to help them.

"Do you think you can stay in balance long enough to climb the stairs?" Gabriel asked Thomas, who responded with a nod. He then proceeded to do so, with Gabriel providing support behind him and Antonio in front of him. The others followed closely.

Thomas did stagger a few times, but managed to stay on his feet until he was inside.

He sat down on the makeshift pillow-couch, with Samira beside him. Gabriel cleaned two pieces of cloth in a bucket of clear water; he used one to clean the wound and put a green paste he'd got from a small shelf on his wall on the other. He used the cloth to bandage Thomas' head wound, explaining the paste would stimulate the natural healing process.

"Just try not to touch it too much and you should be fine," Gabriel said. Thomas nodded.

"I understand why you guys came back," Gabriel said, "but next time someone gets gravely injured, you might not make it to someone who can help you." He paused. "But there is someone who can help you; Eloine, Queen of the fairies. She lives in the forest of the Silver Valley. You should go find her; she can teach one of you how to heal with fairy Magic. This is crucial for your survival."

James looked at Gabriel. "Who will she teach how to heal?"

"Whoever the Queen thinks is the right person to teach the fairy ways," Gabriel said. "I'd advise you to travel during the night; sleeping during the night is too dangerous, as the Shadow Creatures have free play in the dark.

You should be able to make it to the Silver Valley within three to five days."

Samira looked at Thomas as they stood up. "Are you sure you can manage?" she asked.

Thomas looked at her as if she was crazy. "Of course I can," he said. "Just... don't make me run. Or jump." Both he and Samira chuckled.

They said goodbye to Gabriel one more time, promising to head straight to the Silver Valley.

"There'll be a surprise waiting for you when you get there," Gabriel had said. "Just you wait; I promise it's a pleasant one."

But they sure had learned from this experience; it'd become clear to them that on their own, the Guardians would never be able to survive. They had to stick together, which was of course the purpose of being the Bond of Light. Everything the Keepers had told them was related to teamwork. The Ritual had to be performed by the five of them; they had to help each other overcome their fears. Everything they were going to have to face and go through would be to test the strength of their friendship and how well they could work together as a team.

And if they could not work together as a team, they'd fail, like every other Generation before them had.

*

The Guardians had proceeded to travel in silence, trying not to attract any unwanted attention. They'd learned their lesson; talking carelessly attracted their enemies. Silence wasn't going to help them communicate, but until they got out of the dark forest, they'd have to be careful.

Luckily, they made it to the shelter Gabriel had mentioned to them earlier at sunset, without too many problems. Of course there were the occasional Shadow Creatures that could be seen stalking them from the shadows, but strangely enough, they never attacked anymore; as if someone was in control of them and had ordered them not to.

It didn't really seem to bother anyone of the team though, as nobody had mentioned it aside from Samira, whose concerns were quickly wiped away from a sarcastic comment from Antonio.

They entered the shelter, which was nothing more than a two-roomed cabin; one room had a fireplace and a table with four chairs, and the other counted five beds. All built quickly, of simple materials. But it'd suffice for one night.

"I'd suggest we stay here during the night and hunt for food during the morning before leaving," Thomas said. The others agreed with him.

"It seems safe enough to sleep inside this cabin," James said. "There's an oil lamp on the table. We should light it."

"Yeah, and the fireplace too," Antonio said sarcastically. "At least we'll make sure we're nicely roasted when those Shadow Creatures come to feast upon our flesh." He then snapped at James. "DO YOU WANT TO BURN US ALIVE, RIVERDALE!?"

"No," James said, raising his palms in a defensive manner, "but I just figured that the more light there is around us, the bigger the chance the Shadow Creatures will leave us alone."

"Well, if you ask me, they'll attack us whenever they feel like doing so, so I wouldn't worry about that," Antonio said. "We could, of course, let someone keep watch and switch every three hours or so." His face was smug, but not for too long.

"Great idea," Bella said with a smirk. "Then why don't you be the first to keep watch, huh, Anton?"

Antonio's expression shifted. He obviously hadn't been planning to be the first to keep watch, or probably ever. "And why should I? There's no need to!"

Bella was about to reply, but James decided to break up the argument by touching Bella's shoulder and saying, "never mind, Bella; he's not worth the effort. I'll keep watch."

Antonio rolled his eyes as he let out a loud sigh. "There he goes again," he said. "The little kid trying to be a man. Give it up, James."

James didn't respond, which was probably the wisest thing to do. He simply walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

"Well... I think we should go to sleep, then?" Thomas said carefully. Everyone was staring at the door, except for Antonio, who'd already walked into the shelter's sleeping area.

"Maybe we should..." Samira said silently. "Antonio can be so insensitive sometimes."

"Yeah," Thomas said, "but James takes it well. I think we should just leave him alone with his thoughts for tonight. I think something's bothering him."

"Then why don't you ask what's bothering him?" Bella said. "If you're so sure... we should help him rest his mind, right?"

"No, Thom is right," Samira said. "We should just leave him alone. He'll come get one of us when he's tired. Don't worry."

But James didn't come. And it wouldn't be until Samira would wake up hours later, until someone would notice.

James just sat outside the shelter, going through his thoughts. There was something about everything they'd experienced for the past few days which made him feel uneasy.

A part of him was still blaming himself for getting his friends involved into this mess; but when he thought back of what Rikki had told him about all of this just being fate, he started to wonder whether or not this truly was his fault.

Maybe it was his father's fault, for reading that story to him and Samira over and over again.

Maybe his father knew? He probably didn't.

How could he possibly have, after all? James's father was probably just one of the many people who thought that it was just a fairytale, just another bedtime story to tell to their kids.

But what if his father did know? Even just the slightest bit?

James kept shaking his head every time this particular "what if" popped up in his mind. His father didn't know. He never did. And secondly, what if he did know, what did it matter?

He wasn't there for James to be able to ask him, anyway. And he never would be again.

*

James woke up, discovering that the leather of his gloves had left an imprint on his cheek due to sleeping on his arm. How long had he been sitting outside?

Where were his friends?

He quickly rose to his feet, and went inside the cabin. His friends were still asleep; Samira turned around on her bed and looked at James.

"Hey there," she said. "You look like you had a wonderful night's sleep." She got up, putting her boots and gloves back on and retying the cape around her neck. While running her fingers through her hair, readying it to braid it, she walked up to her brother. "Morning, bro-bro," she said.

"Morning, Sam," James said. "Gosh, do I really look that terrible?" He was referring to Samira's first comment.

"Yeah, you do," Samira replied. "What did you do all night? You look like you ran a marathon and then got a bad haircut."

James quickly started to rub over the flaming red mess on his head, trying to make it look somewhat bearable.

"The others should be up soon," Samira said, while tying her braided hair together. "We could go fish by the river, if you want."

"Sure," James said, taking a quick sniff at his armpits and pulling a disgusted face. "I know what else I'll be doing there..." Samira chuckled.

The river was right behind the cabin; the teenagers had crossed the bridge the previous night. Samira used James's sword to fish, which was easier than she'd expected. When James had finished washing up, Samira had caught three fish big enough to share between the five of them.

It was a frugal meal, but it would do. Especially if they could pluck some fruit to eat somewhere along the way later that day.

Brother and sister returned to the cabin. "I'll see if I can find something to cook those fish with," James said, as they entered the small, wooden building.

"Why don't we roast them on sticks over the fireplace, like marshmallows?" Bella suggested. She was sitting at the wooden table, cleaning her knives, which seemed to be a rather unnecessary task, as the blades were spotlessly clean. "The boys are still asleep," she said. "We can wake them up after we've finished those fish." A teasing grin appeared on her face; Samira and James knew she was just kidding.

"We can wake them up when we've got the meal prepared," Samira said. "Does either of you know how to skin fish? Since I don't."

Bella smirked. "My Dad's a chef, remember? He's taught me pretty much everything he knows, which includes filleting a fish." She made use of the moment to correct Samira's mistake.

"If you say so," Samira said. She didn't sound too confident in her best friend's cooking skills. "I'll go out to the river and fill the water sacs Gabriel gave us with water. James?"

"I'll go get sticks and firewood," James said, taking his sword out of his scabbard before allowing it to slide back in.

"All right then, that means each of us has something useful to do," Samira said. She handed Bella the fish, and left the cabin again together with James. While she filled the five water sacs with fresh river water, James started to chop off tree branches until he had enough to make a fire. When each their jobs had been finished, they returned to the cabin, where Bella was still busy trying to fillet the fish.

"Not doing so great now, huh? Samira joked as she saw Bella struggling with the fish grates.

"All right, I'll admit it," Bella sighed. "Dad might've taught me everything he knows, but I'm just... not a good cook."

James and Samira laughed. "Don't worry," James said. "It doesn't have to be perfect. We'll just tell the boys to chew carefully."

Now Bella couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah, good luck with that," she said. "Just go get dressed already!"

James looked down at his clothes; his trousers were hanging out of his pants. Although it took him a little longer, he eventually found out his shirt was on backwards. "Oh. Right."

Just as he was about to walk into the bedroom, two figures came walking out, looking almost just as bad as James.

Thomas was wearing nothing but the brown sweater that was supposed to go underneath his chest plate and his grey trousers that were actually too big for him, and his short hair seemed twice as long. Antonio however was already fully dressed, but looked more like a dog that had run through a clothesline and was dragging along underwear and shirts that were hanging over his back. He'd probably got in trouble while trying to put on his vest while he still was half-asleep.

James, Bella and Samira couldn't help but chuckle when they saw the two "manly messes" standing in front of them.

"Good morning boys," James said, while walking past the duo with a broad grin on his face. Thomas followed James's movement with his head and watched as the teenager walked into the other room to get dressed, staring absently.

"...Mind to share where we are?" he mumbled.

"What, you've forgot already?" Bella said, moving her hands to her hips. "Did that head wound give you amnesia after all?"

"I don't know..." Thomas groaned, carefully touching his bandaged forehead. "I was kind of hoping that everything had just been a bizarre dream."

"...And so it turns out to be reality," Antonio said, sounding moderately disappointed. "I should probably apologize to you guys for being such a jerk last night; I don't know what came over me. I guess it was just all the stress and everything building up..." He scratched his neck in anticipation of an answer; his friends nodded at him.

"But really, you shouldn't apologize to us," Samira said, crossing her arms. "James spent the entire night outside because you were being a jerk."

Antonio bit his lip. "He didn't seem to mind," he said carefully. "He offered to keep watch himself. I didn't force him to."

"Oh, come on, Antonio!" Thomas said. "You know how James thinks. Besides from that, you're three and a half a year older than he is. Wouldn't it be right for you, the oldest, to be the adult and admit that you were wrong by apologizing?" Antonio shrugged.

"Maybe I don't want to be the responsible adult...

The kid probably doesn't even care," he quickly decided to add when he saw three pairs of eyes glaring angrily at him.

"Whether he cares or not, he does deserve an apology," Thomas said. "Now go and apologize!"

Antonio let out a loud, dramatic sigh and rolled his eyes, but did turn around and walk into the other room to talk to James eventually.

When Antonio walked in, James was just finishing getting dressed; he was tying the hip bag around his middle. "Hey, Tonio," the redhead said. "What's the matter?"

Antonio seemed rather hesitant, but did speak up eventually. "So... About last night," he said slowly. "I'm sorry."

James smiled teasingly. "I know," he said. "Don't worry about it."

Antonio lowered his eyebrows and crossed his arms. "Really? You know what?"

James's smirk changed into a laugh. "I heard you guys talking in the other room," he said. "No door, remember?" Antonio snorted.

"Yeah. I guess you're right," he said. "So... we're good, right?"

"Always have been, always will be," James said. "Just don't let your temper get out of hand like that when it's directed toward us. Use that energy on the battlefield, okay?"

He stuck out his hand at Antonio, who took it. "Agreed."

"Come on, Tonio," James said with a smile. "We're having fish for breakfast."

Tricks and strategies

They took their time to enjoy breakfast, but knew it couldn't last forever. They had to hurry and move on. This was their third day in Lunaria, and they could count on it that the Master had become aware of their arrival.

That meant the hunt had officially been opened. Although Samira and Bella trusted Madeleine's word that he wouldn't be coming after them unless they got too far into the world, but James, Thomas and Antonio didn't seem too sure.

The discussion during breakfast was mainly about discussing strategies; they had to move quick and as unseen as possible. It was for sure that there was a price on their heads, and they didn't know who was on their side and who wasn't. Why, they didn't even know who and what inhabited this world. What they would be seeing. What they would be experiencing. But at least they knew one thing; this, everything altogether, was going to be one hell of an adventure.

After breakfast, the teenagers prepared to leave the cabin. The water sacs had been filled with clean water and all five stomachs had been filled.

Today was the day when everything would officially begin. Of course the trip had begun two days earlier when they arrived, but from now on they'd be on their own for a while. Nobody knew how long, but it would be a while until they ran into someone who could help them with information and backup again.

And of course, they had to be careful who they approached. Anyone could be under the Master's control without even knowing. That meant the Guardians had to be careful who they spoke to.

Thomas had suggested that they'd continue to rely strongly on their map, but try to get around on their own as well. They had to get familiar with their environment. Knowing where to go if they had to flee would become useful at some point.

The forest was dense, and the amount of clear paths and quick escape routes was slim. The chance to trip and fall and get hurt was somewhat worrisome.

Most of the time, they walked silently, only talking whenever necessary. The forest was still a dangerous place, and the Shadow Creatures were out to find them.

And the Master probably was too.

The journey was paused after a while, because Bella had noticed fruit trees along the route they followed. Antonio, James and Thomas went to pick some fruit, while Bella and Samira checked their location on the map.

They were following the river to the south; according to the map, the river would lead them to the Silver Valley. While the part of the forest which was inhabited by the fairy people was a part of the Twilight Forest, there was a magical barrier around the forest and a part of the Silver Valley, preventing any unwanted forces from entering the Fairy Kingdom from the Twilight Forest. This meant that in order to get in, the Guardians would have to travel around the barrier first to get to the gates to the 'kingdom'...

...Which just so happened to be easier said than done. Of course it was.

After the guys had returned with a bag full of fresh fruit, the five teenagers sat down to revise their plans for the rest of the day. There was no way that they'd make it to the Valley before sundown, and they needed a plan for the night hours.

"We are seriously going to have to change our sleeping schedules if we want to survive out here," Bella said. "Gabriel said that those Shadow Creatures feed off the dark and can't survive in daylight, so we've got to use that to our advantage. That means we'll have to sleep during the day!"

"Bella has a point," James said, while biting down on an apple. "I mean- aside from the fact that she just simply repeated Gabriel's advice - no offense," he quickly said to Bella, who nodded. "Anyway. We should indeed sleep during the day from now on."

"So you're basically implying that we're going to keep going all through the night?" Thomas said. James nodded.

"We'll have to," he said. "Otherwise, we'll never be able to adjust, and keep going in a vicious circle."

Samira stood up as she threw away her apple core. "Well, I guess that means we've got no time to lose then, huh?"

"Before you leave, would you mind helping a lost, old man find his way home?" an unfamiliar voice suddenly spoke, causing five heads to turn in the direction wherefrom it'd come.

A man stepped forward, looking frail and old. He was wearing a long, dark cloak, which covered most of his body, revealing nothing but his face.

"Uh- of course," James said, while standing up; he quickly walked over to the man. "What's your name, sir?"

The man looked at James. "Mordred," he said. "I am lost, and am having trouble getting around in this forest. Would you youngsters care to help me out?"

Samira rubbed her chin and squinted at the old man. "Mordred..." she whispered. "I've heard that name before somewhere."

Bella looked at her, pulling her friend's hand down from her chin. "Stop being so judgmental of everyone you meet," she said. "Come on, the guy's just an old man! How can a knight's name-" She stopped mid-sentence. "Huh."

Meanwhile, Mordred had continued his conversation with James. "Tell me, boy," he said, "which one of you boys is the strongest?"

James chuckled. "Well, you could say that Bella is stronger than any of us, but I'd say Antonio and Thomas come pretty close," he said, with an honest smile on his face.

"Is that so?" Mordred said, squinting his eyes. "Not you, my son?"

"Oh," James said, and chuckled again. "No. Certainly not. I'm more... mentally strong, I guess." He smiled again.

"You know that being mentally strong is just as important as being physically strong, right?" Mordred said. "King Arthur wasn't necessarily the strongest young man just because he could pull Excalibur out of that stone. It was the strength of his heart that made him a true king."

Thomas leaned a little closer over to Samira. "I don't like where this is going," he whispered, careful not to let Mordred hear what he was saying.

"You're not the only one," Samira replied silently. "Certainly not since he started talking about Arthur..."

"But tell me, what can we do to help you?" James said, trying to speed up the conversation. His friends weren't the only one getting nervous due to the way Mordred spoke. There was something about his voice, which was just so... strangely eerie. As if you were speaking to a ghost.

"The matter's not how you can help me, boy," Mordred said, suddenly getting awfully close to James, who instinctively backed away a bit. "It's about how I can help you."

Mordred reached out for James's arm with a gloved hand, but James pulled away his arm as soon as he felt the leather trying to curl itself a way around it.

"Come on, boy, don't be afraid," Mordred said, sounding almost threatening. "Let me... help you."

"Okay, that's it, creepy man! You've overstepped the line; step away from the boy!" Bella yelled, pulling out her war sickle. When Mordred refused to move, she growled at him, "I said, step away."

Mordred looked at her; something in his expression changed. He was grinning at Bella; an evil, mischievous grin. And then... he changed. His bones started to grow rapidly as his robe fell off, revealing a skeleton body wearing armour; his "face" had disappeared in the process as well. His bones grew longer and longer, until there was a skeleton of two and a half a metre standing in front of them, with eerily glowing eyes.

The teenagers let out horrified yells as they watched the scene unfold. "What is THAT!?" Antonio yelled.

"Let's not take the time to figure out what it is, shall we?" Bella said, and lunged out at the skeleton-like creature with a loud cry.

Mordred, however, was surprisingly agile and easily avoided her attack, causing Bella to nearly end up getting impaled by her own weapon. She quickly got on all fours and turned around, ready to attack again.

Meanwhile, the others had prepared for battle and drawn their weapons; Mordred however, didn't seem to be willing to fight.

"You're wasting a great chance," he said, speaking with a lower, yet still scarily eerie voice. "If you would've joined the Master, you would've been spared all the pain and suffering that awaits you here. But, with this... ah, action, here..." He took a short moment to look behind him, where Bella was still standing, breathing heavily. "... It seems you have sealed your destiny."

"Tell your master we are willing to fight him, and whatever he puts in our way," James said confidently. The look in his eyes showed that he meant it. "We'll be ready for him."

Mordred's eyes narrowed. "Then so be it, Guardian.

Your arrival will be notified to the Master. And trust me; he'll be coming for you. And you won't stand a chance against him."

Thomas glared at Mordred as he stepped forward. "Let's see about that."

Without saying anything more, Mordred dissolved into thick, black smoke that eventually disappeared between the trees.

Meanwhile, the sun had started to set; the Guardians needed some time to process all what had just happened.

"Was that... thing... trying to... transform me, or what?" James said, looking at his arm as if the hand's touch had left a mark on it.

"It appears so," Samira said. "Mordred was the name of one of the Knights of the Round Table. He was the one to ultimately betray King Arthur. That probably should've said enough."

"Yeah, maybe," Bella said. "Hey, 'Tonio? You've been awfully quiet! What's up?"

Antonio had walked a few metres away from the group, and was staring at a bright, orange light that was coming from between the trees. The others quickly joined him; James was the first to realise what was going on.

"He set the forest on fire on his way out," the teenager gasped, while he could feel his mouth and throat drying up. "Everyone: grab your stuff and RUN!"

He didn't have to tell them twice; they turned around and started to run as if their lives depended on it – which they actually did. Thomas quickly grabbed the leather bag he'd left on the forest ground while running, making sure nothing would fall out of it.

"Why'd he set the forest on fire!?" Antonio yelled. "That's nuts!"

"He promised we'd be sorry for trying to attack him," James replied, while gasping for air. "I guess that this is what he meant!"

"The fire will destroy the forest if we don't do something about it," Bella said, and suddenly stopped running. "We have to stop this!"

"BELLA! ARE YOU NUTS!?" Samira cried and ran back to her friend. She started to tug on Bella's arm to get her walking again, but Bella stood firm. "No," she said. "James! Use your Magic!"

James, who'd gone after his sister after he saw her running back, stared uncomprehendingly at Bella. "What?"

"GUYS!" Thomas and Antonio had stopped running too, but only because we're hoping to get their friends running again; Thomas had started to yell at them to get their attention. "THERE'S NO TIME FOR THIS! COME ON!"

"Bella!" James demanded, his eyes flashing between the raging fire ahead, Bella's eyes and their two friends yelling their names behind him. "If you've got a plan, explain it now. And quick."

"Use your Magic, James," Bella said. "You can extinguish the fire."

James blinked. "But I haven't had any training!"

"According to Akilah, you don't have to," Bella urged. "Just think with your heart, James!"

"How?" James yelled back; Samira ran towards him, grabbing her brother's hands. "Have faith in yourself," she said. "You can do this. I know you can."

James made an insecure nod. Samira stood beside him, and Bella joined them on James's other side.

"All right," James whispered underneath his breath. "Let's do this."

Aiming all his concentration and energy on the fire, James began to order the flames to stop. To stop moving, to stop burning everything.

"Stop," he thought. "Stop. I order you to stop." He saw that the fire didn't respond to his demands, and decided to close his eyes to concentrate harder.

"Stop," James said underneath his breath. He could feel the heat of the fire tingling on his skin; the fire was spreading fast and coming awfully close.

James heard worried sounds coming from Samira, and Thomas and Antonio yelling at them to run in the distance.

"Stop," James said. "Stop!" He breathed in deeply.

"I, THE GUARDIAN OF INNOCENCE, ORDER YOU TO STOP!"

The fire extinguished as James yelled out the last word. James had opened his eyes, only to see the fire extinguish barely ten centimetres away; his lips trilled as he allowed himself to fall to the ash-black forest ground.

He'd done it.

Hurried footsteps were coming from behind; Thomas and Antonio were coming back.

"That was totally wicked, man!" Antonio shouted. "Whoa, man!"

Samira had knelt beside her brother, who was now sitting on his knees. "You should be careful for a while when it comes to using your Magic, James," she said. "Your gems have paled out quite a bit."

She wasn't wrong; the strong, blue glow of the three topazes had faded to a faint, baby blue glow.

Samira and Bella helped James get up, whose clothes were now covered with ash. It didn't seem to bother him that much, however.

"See, James?" Bella said. "I knew you could do it. All you had to do was believe."

All of a sudden, the orange sapphire gemstone on her brooch started to glow brightly, and Bella herself was lifted off the ground a few centimetres. Her friends watched in awe.

"Bella," Akilah's voice echoed from between the trees, without having any locatable source. "You showed great courage and leadership, which lead to James succeeding in connecting with his magical abilities. For this achievement, you have earned your Guardian's Totem: Leadership."

As the gem on Bella's chest started to glow even brighter, an orb of light was subtracted from its glow, floating right in front of Bella's head. When Bella reached out for it, the light extinguished, revealing a golden coloured compass; the word Leadership had been engraved into the back in curly letters.

"This is the Leading Compass," Akilah's voice said. "It will also warn you when dark forces are near and help you find us, and, of course, the other way around. Keep it safe, and it will do the same for you."

Bella made a soft landing on her feet, as her friends gathered around her to have a look at the Leading Compass.

"So that's what those Totems are like?" Antonio said. "Just- magical objects that help us get around and are useful for us?"

"That's basically what Akilah told us three days ago," Samira said. "If you would've listened, you would've known that." She then shifted her attention and took a closer look at the compass. "It's beautiful."

"It is indeed," Bella said. "I should secure it somewhere on my clothes, so we won't lose it and always have it close."

She attached the compass to a silver ring on her belt.

"All right, guys, let's go," Thomas said. "We can make it to the edge of the forest before dawn if we try."

"You think?" James sighed. And the others knew exactly what he meant.

It'd been a long day – night, even – and they were tired. The fire had helped them one way, by having them move twice as fast, but at the same time, it'd got them off-course. Thomas had decided to pull out the map and, after a while, had managed to use the compass to calculate their location more precisely.

The direction they'd gone when fleeing from the fire had lead them more to the east, yet not too far from their destination. It was indeed possible for them to go the distance before sunrise, if they hurried.

Anything to get out of that forest.

The teenagers went on their way. They'd decided to do the last few kilometres as fast as they could, so they could sleep somewhere in the Silver Valley during the day.

If they could reach the Silver Valley before sunrise, they'd have all day to sleep. They were going to need as many hours as they could get in order to get their energy levels back up.

Although getting to the Silver Valley wouldn't secure their safety – there was still plenty of danger ahead-, the sunlight would help a lot when it came to it. And while it was important to go and visit the Fairy Queen as soon as possible, it would probably be even more important to explore the Valley for a bit more before heading straight down there – just so they could get more familiar with the environment... For as much as it was worth.

"How far is it to that stupid valley?" Bella sighed. "My feet are killing me."

"Just take a look at the bright side of this whole experience, Jingle Bells," Samira teased her best friend, although fatigue was hinting at her own face as well, behind her smile. "We get a free, daily eight-our workout! Every single day! When we get home, we'll be as light as feathers!"

Yeah, if we get home, James thought. And that thought, which had suddenly popped into his head out of nowhere, bothered him. Why would he think something like that? Of course they'd be going home after all of this was over.

Were they?

James looked aside and noticed Samira was inspecting him from a distance, as if she had read his mind. He decided to swallow his worry and ignore it; after all, in stories, good always won from evil.

And, after all... this was some kind of story, right? There had been a whole fairy tale based on the adventures James and his friends were experiencing right now, and all the people that went before them.

James was sure of it; they'd be the first to succeed into doing what the other Generations couldn't; reach the Land of Void and free the world from the Master.

And then they'd be going home. Unharmed.

Dear Mother

The past few days had been awfully quiet back home. Cheyenne hadn't gone to work ever since her children had disappeared, and spent the days waiting for them, checking up on their beds regularly. Yet, they still remained empty every time she checked.

Worried friends and family who'd been signed in on the situation had dropped by to help her go about her day, which seemed to help her a bit. But the man that kept dropping by the most often was David Hayford. David had been a childhood friend of Martin and Cheyenne, and was godfather to Lucy and Andy, Cheyenne's niece and nephew. Her father, Martin's brother-in-law, had died in a similar accident as Martin – or, at least at the hands of the same man, that was for sure.

David had always been there to support the two widowed mothers ever since, despite not knowing how to raise a child. But as he got older, he matured and learned how to be more of a mentor for the four children instead of just a fun playmate.

He'd taken a day off from work to sit down and talk to Cheyenne, hoping to be able to take some of the weight off her shoulders.

"So, how are you today?" David said, trying hard not to sound like a psychologist – which he failed to do, unfortunately. Cheyenne looked at him; the bags underneath her eyes revealed that she hadn't slept in days.

"Worried," she said. "I still am."

"I can understand that," David said, as he sat down beside Cheyenne. "But really, there's nothing you can do for them. Worrying is not going to help your kids."

Cheyenne let out a loud sigh of exasperation. "I know that," she said, the tone of her voice rather annoyed. But the annoyance wasn't directed at David; it was directed towards herself. "But I still can't help it. I mean... all my life, I've been making sure my children would grow up safely, and then suddenly-"

"-they get ripped away from you, without knowing whether they'll be safe or not," David finished her sentence.

"Exactly," she agreed with him. "It's just- so stressful. There's nothing I can do to help them, and I can never know where they are or when – or if, even – they're coming home. I'm their mother, David! And I'm completely powerless!"

She buried her face in her hands, while her shoulders started to shock. She was sobbing; David placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"It's... been four days now, David," Cheyenne sobbed. "Four days."

"Give them some time, Chey," David said softly. "They'll be back before you know it. There are five of them, and there's nothing they can't complete together."

Cheyenne didn't give him an answer; she just turned around and buried her face in David's chest, who in his turn accepted her hug, and just sat there with her for hours.

*

David had decided to spend the night, because he didn't consider Cheyenne being able to go around on her own. He cooked for her (which she embarrassingly admitted she wouldn't have done if it hadn't been for him), and shared dinner with her before helping her catch some sleep.

While David stayed downstairs and watched TV until around eleven o'clock, Cheyenne had decided to go to bed early. But she still couldn't sleep; the same thoughts went through her mind over and over again.

David was right. He always was. She shouldn't worry as much as she did. But she just simply couldn't help it.

Falling asleep hours later didn't make things any better, either.

Cheyenne found herself in the middle of a dark forest. She didn't know where she was; all she knew was that there was danger nearby. She made a small attempt at moving forward to investigate, but as soon as she heard careful footsteps slightly crunching the dry leaves and sticks that were covering the forest ground, she froze.

"Who's there!?" she yelled. "Don't come any closer! I- I'm armed!"

The voice that replied sounded rather confused and familiar. "Mum?"

Cheyenne turned around and was caught by surprise when she saw her son standing there, not too far away from her. He instantly approached her, hugging her tight.

"James, what is going on?" Cheyenne said confusedly, as she accepted her son's embrace.

"I don't know, Mum," James said. "I'm just glad to see you again. That's all."

"Please come home, James," Cheyenne said. "Come home. Take your sister and your friends and come home. I'm begging you."

James let go of his mother; his expression was a mix of strictness and sadness. "You know I can't, Mum," he said, sadness and longing lingering in his voice. "No matter how badly I want to."

"Please, James," Cheyenne pleaded; her voice sounded heartbreaking; James's heart ripped in half inside his chest just by listening to it. "Please come home." But James shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Mum," he said. "I truly am... But this world needs our help."

"I know, you and your sister explained it all before," Cheyenne said slowly. "If you can't come home... James, I beg you to promise to me you'll be careful."

James smiled warmly at his mother. "Oh, Mum, but of course!" he said, seemingly delighted that his mother still worried for her sixteen-year-old son's safety. It was probably the thought that counted. "Why, of course I'll be careful, Mum. And there's always Samira and my friends who always look after me."

Upon seeing her son's warm smile, Cheyenne finally seemed to have found the strength to lift up the corners of her lips into a faint smile.

The faint sound of a shouting voice was heard. James looked over his shoulder, recognizing the voice. It'd been calling for him.

"Mum - I've got to go," he said; the realization that he was going to have to leave his mother behind once again seemed to tear him up, as the boy was clearly swallowing his tears as he spoke.

"I promise you I'll be coming back soon, okay?" He was speaking quickly, as if something was after them; the yelling voice got gradually louder, but was echoed and still too unclear to hear who or what it was. "Mum. I promise I'll be back."

Cheyenne didn't say anything; she just nodded at her son to let him know it was okay for him to go. This was only a dream, after all.

She wasn't going to see him in real life for a very long time. Her baby boy. Stuck in some kind of magical world, with its fate on his shoulders... luckily, he had his friends to help him – they were all in it together.

Maybe that's what made it easier for Cheyenne to say goodbye to her son again.

Cheyenne woke up, still fuzzy from sleep. It was strange how clear she could remember her dream. She'd been talking to James; it was almost as if he'd come looking for her.

She couldn't remember to have ever had a lucid dream before, so this was a first. But, whether it'd been reality or not, it was nice to see him again.

To see he was okay.

*

Somewhere awfully far away, James had awoken too, and he too could remember the conversation he'd shared with his mother while he was dreaming.

He'd dreamt lucidly before, but this surely was... different. It'd seemed almost real. It hadn't been, of course, because he hadn't any recollection of feeling anything whenever he touched something inside that dream. It'd just seemed real, because his mother had been there.

Was James really able contact home through his dreams? Could he contact other people, too? Or just his mother?

Because if he could, he'd surely try to do the same thing with Anna. And... maybe finally tell her what he should've told her so many times before.

He looked aside, at his sister, who'd caused him to wake up. "Why'd you wake me up, anyway?" he said. His words were a whisper; the others were still asleep.

"You were... restless," Samira said. "You kept twisting and turning, as if you were having some kind of nightmare. I thought it'd be best if I woke you up."

"I saw Mum in my dream," James said, running his fingers through the grass, which had a strange, silverish hue. The teenagers had arrived in the Silver Valley earlier before falling asleep in the silver grass.

The extraordinary colour of the grass was probably what gave the valley its name; the leaves on the birch trees that grew there was similar to that of the grass. It looked beautiful.

"You know, Samira?" James said. "I think I might be able to reach home through my dreams."

"Really?" Samira said, itching to know more. "But... how, then?"

James shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "It's like a lucid dream, but more realistic. As if there's another person on the other side of the dream, sharing the dream with me. And this person happens to be Mum for now. I don't really know."

"Maybe you can ask the Fairy Queen about it," Samira said, running her fingers through her hair, getting ready to braid it. "Maybe she knows more. Or maybe she knows someone who can tell you about it."

James allowed himself to fall backwards in the grass; he couldn't help but yawn. "Yeah..." he said, between the yawn. "Maybe... we should..."

And before he even knew it, he'd fallen back to sleep. But this time, he wasn't able to contact home. No matter how hard he tried; he just couldn't reach out, couldn't find his mother.

He did have another lucid dream, however this time, it was empty.

The Silver Valley

The teenagers waited for sunset before leaving their safe place and setting off into the valley. They didn't have the idea that it was autumn; all trees were still fully-leaved, and even the night was fairly warm.

It'd been decided that they wouldn't be going to visit the Fairy Queen first; Thomas felt there was something he had to do near one of the caves near the mountain. They were known as the Ogre Caves to natives (the Guardians spent some time talking to the occasional gnome whenever they needed any information).

"So... what is so urgent you need to do inside those caves?" James asked Thomas, who was still carrying the map. He didn't answer, however.

"Do you think they're under the Master's influence? What if they attack us?" Bella said.

James could clearly hear by the tone of his voice that she was mildly scared. He didn't blame her; ogres weren't exactly the kind of magical creature that was famous for its kindness.  
"We can't possibly know, Bella," he mumbled. "The valley is the part of the world that's the least affected by the Master's Magic, due to the many open fields..." he mumbled. "But since ogres are fairly strong and tall, making them good warriors, and they live in a dark area, I'd say that there is a certain possibility that they are."

Bella sighed. "Oh boy.

By the way, Thom; the kid asked you a question! Care to answer?"

Thomas looked up from the map, and looked aside, at Bella. "Huh? What?" he said. "Oh, right. Well... I don't know. There's just a... certain feeling that's pulling me toward there somehow."

James looked at him. "Oh?" he said. "Well... we're almost there," he said, pointing at the small hologram floating above the map. "Look."  
"Oh... So that's it?" Bella said. "It looks awfully close."

"It is, Bella," Samira said. "I can see the mountains from here. We should be there within a few minutes."

She was right. After barely a quarter of an hour, the team stopped in front of a row of caves. Ogre caves.

"It sure is dark back there," Samira said. "I'm not going in there, just so you know." Samira was afraid of the dark; the others knew she was.

"Don't worry, Sam," Thomas said. "You won't have to go inside."

He walked towards one of the cave's outer walls. He laid his hand against it, as if it was made of some strange material.

"I..." he mumbled.

"What's the matter, Thomas?" James asked, as he approached Thomas.

"I... can feel something inside this cave," Thomas replied. "It's calling for me. I should go in there on my own to go get it."

"Thomas, you're not going in there on your own," James said. "Someone has to go in there with you."

"No, James, you've got to stay here. This is something I've got to do on my own." Thomas replied strictly.

"Thomas, James is right," Antonio said. "You can't go in there all alone. If any of the ogres catch you, you're dead."

"All right then," Thomas said. "Antonio, you're going with me. But stay right behind me."

James stared at him; the indignant look on his face caused the British nineteen-year-old chuckle. "James, this isn't anything you should take personally," he said. "But you're just... a kid."

"I might be just a kid, I am taller than Antonio!" James protested. Antonio laughed.

"Yeah, but I can lift you up with one hand while you've got trouble with picking up a milk carton," he laughed. James wasn't amused.

"Fine, go ahead," he grunted.

Antonio and Thomas spent a short while outside of the cave laughing, but eventually entered

With great care, the two boys set foot in the darkness of the cave.

"Thomas? Do you see anything?" Antonio asked with a careful whisper. The only lights that shone were the blades of their weapons; they could hear deep breathing all around them, and the smell was unbearable.

"I think they're asleep. Watch your step!" Thomas whispered back.

"Roger that," Antonio said. "What are we actually looking for?"

"You see, that's why I didn't want anyone to come along at first," Thomas whispered, as he agilely avoided stepping on something that seemed to be an ogre's arm. "I don't know what it looks like. I just have this strange connection with it, whatever it is..."

"You mean as in some sort of energy source?" Antonio said; he'd accidentally set foot on an ogre's chest, but quickly jumped over it; luckily, the ogre just snorted loudly, but didn't react in any other way.

"Where are all these questions coming from?" Thomas whispered looking at Antonio. "You usually seem to prefer short and brief, yet useful conversations..."

"Sorry for showing genuine interest in you for once," Antonio replied, slightly indignant. He saw Thomas nodding in the dark.  
"Sorry, that was rude."  
"It's all right. I don't really show too much interest toward you guys, so I guess that's my own problem," Antonio said. "I should work on that. Seen anything yet?"

Just at the moment he'd said that, Thomas disappeared behind a corner of the cave, from where a mysterious light seemed to shine.

"I- I think so," Thomas said, when Antonio joined him. On a stone altar, at the middle of the room, lied a sceptre. It was made of gold, with a green gem hold by a sort of claw. It had a dark green, glittering pattern of tiny little gemstones all over the gold.

"Is- is that what we came for?" Antonio asked.

"Yes... I think it is," Thomas replied. "Let's take it out of here and then find out whatever it is. It... looks like some kind of sceptre."

"Well, if it looks like one, I guess that it must be one as well," Antonio replied, and leaned carelessly against the stone wall.

Suddenly, his elbow hit a rock, which shove backwards and a trapdoor in the wall opened and the floor moved down, causing Antonio to fall.

"ANTONIO!" Thomas yelled, and was able to grab Antonio's hand just in time.

"Shit!" Antonio spewed; Thomas was too busy pulling him out of the trap pit to make a comment.

Antonio, together with Thomas' help, managed to pull himself back up. But... their yelling had awakened some of the ogres.

They were standing in the only exit; they didn't seem to be too happy with the two intruders. "What brings you two here, boys?" one of the ogres spoke, in a low voice, with a strange British accent.

"Um... We came to pick up something I believe belongs to me," Thomas replied. Antonio looked at him as if he'd gone mad, but Thomas decided to ignore it, and show the ogres the sceptre.

"I see," the ogre said as he inspected the sceptre. "The Sceptre of the Soul belonged to a Guardian that died in our very cage. He said we had to hang on to it until another Guardian would come get it. That must be you."

"Yes," Thomas confirmed. "I am the Guardian of Soul, and this is my friend, the Guardian of Day and Night. Our friends are waiting outside for us."

It was strange; he didn't feel any kind of fear for the three gigantic, grey creatures in front of him, who could probably crush his head between two of their fingers. They spoke to him in a friendly fashion, and he responded that way. There was no need for him to be afraid.

Antonio was still staring at him as if he was nuts, though.

"Well, my young Guardian, then I assume you'd like to return to your friends," the middle ogre said. "Be our guest."

As he spoke, the other two ogres moved aside, allowing Thomas and Antonio to pass. "Go save our world," the middle ogre said. "Our fate lies in your hands."

Thomas thanked the three ogres and left the cave together with Antonio. "Now, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" he said.

"You think?" Antonio burst. "I don't even know what in the world that ogre was saying!"

"Wait – you didn't?" Thomas said, sounding genuinely confused. He'd heard everything the ogre had said in perfect English – so why hadn't Antonio? But he was pulled from his thoughts by his friends approaching.

"Look! There they are!" Samira shouted. "What took you so long, guys?"

"Had some trouble getting through," Antonio replied with a deep sigh, while leaning on the rock wall of the cave with his right hand. When he realised what he was doing, he quickly pulled his hand back.

"What do you mean, "had some trouble getting through?" " Samira asked, but James shook his head.

"Never mind," he said. "Thomas is, apparently, fluent in Latin."

"I'm not!" Thomas argued with him. "The ogre spoke in English, and I replied in the same language. Unless..." He looked at the strangely shaped sceptre in his hand.  
"I- I don't know," Thomas replied, while looking at the strange-shaped sceptre in his hand; suddenly, the orb started to glow bright green. The emerald around his neck was glowing as well, lifting him off the ground in the same way Bella had been lifted.

"Thomas," Akilah's amplified voice said. "You trusted your intuition inside that cave, engaging in conversation with a seemingly hostile creature; you trusted it not to attack you. In the meantime, you have retrieved your Guardian's Totem: Intuition." The sceptre floated in mid-air and rotated to its side, so the word Intuition that had been engraved into the sceptre became visible. "This is the Sceptre of Soul, which allows you to speak and understand any language you are addressed in. However, everything will sound like English to you.

As long as you possess the Sceptre, you will be able to feel dark energy in one's soul, which should help you pick your allies.

Good luck, Guardian."

The light extinguished as soon as Thomas grabbed the sceptre and his feet touched the ground. He lifted the sceptre up and held it into the light.

"Wow," Thomas whispered. "Amazing."

"Great job, Thomas!" James cheered. "But I think it's about time we followed Gabriel's advice and went to visit the Queen."

"We can't keep Her Majesty waiting, of course," Samira said. "Maybe she'll want to marry you, James."

The others chuckled; even James couldn't help it. It was good to hear that jokes still weren't out of the question. "But really, guys," James said. "We should keep moving. There's a lot waiting ahead of us. And I just want to get this thing over with."  
Get this thing over with, the words echoed in his head. That was exactly what he wanted to do. Get it over with; let it all be done quickly. But why, he didn't know.

But what if it hadn't been true? That dream he had earlier? What if it was just something of his own fears, something his sub-conscious made up from his mind? What if he couldn't contact home at all?

He'd try again in the morning. Just to make sure. Perhaps he could only contact his family, or could only contact people in general whenever they were asleep.

Yet, still, there was some kind of strange fear that kept creeping up on him. Like some kind of homesickness. He just wanted to talk to someone from home; in any way possible. It didn't matter how, where or when.

He just wanted to, because he felt like he needed to. And if anything happened, he'd make sure to tell his sister. Because if James could contact home every now and then, he could keep his mother posted on their adventures – well, more or less -, and let her know they were still okay.

*

It was to say that the sun rose earlier than expected. It was probably also due to the fact that the sunlight mostly went unnoticed back in the Twilight Forest, but the teenagers kept going through most of the day because they didn't feel the need to sleep at all.

After all, they were finally making some process. They were on their way to visit the Fairy Queen, who could tell them all about the Silver Valley, and, of course, teach one of them to heal.

Besides that, getting enough sleep wasn't their main priority at the moment, as the Fairy Queen could probably offer them a safe place to sleep anyway. All that mattered was that they would get to the Fairy Gardens safely and then took it from there.

They travelled pretty much all through the day, which they knew would take its toll at some point, but none of the five teenagers truly seemed to care. They spent most of the time having fun in the sun, rolling down the hills and playing tag. It might've seemed childish, but daytime in the Silver Valley pretty much equalled complete safety.

The sun started to set as The Five travelled across the Gloomy Valley. Fairies came out of their hideaways, lighting up the area with the bright colours in which their wings glowed.

"I wonder why they didn't show up during the daytime?" Samira thought out loud, while she was walking between James and Thomas.

"I think they're saving their energy at day to keep the Valley a safe sanctuary at night as well," James replied. "I think."

"Seems like a solid theory," Thomas commented. "But from whom would they have to keep it safe? I mean: I haven't seen any signs of Shadow Creature-danger here yet all day."

"Shouldn't we ask around?" Antonio suggested. "To be honest: I am pretty curious about the great danger that lurks here this time. I mean, apart from those cute, girly fireflies, I don't really see anything we should be totally worried and concerned about."

James kicked away a stone; it bounced off against a tree and disappeared out of sight as it fell down in the ankle-high grass. Aside from having fun, they'd been walking all day, and he was yearning for some fresh water; they'd been nowhere near the river for the past couple days, and the water sacs were almost empty. The others were thirsty as well, but since their provisions were so limited, they decided that it would be best to wait until they would find a pond.

There had to be something like a small lake or stream nearby.

"I don't think it's really necessary, Antonio," James said. "I think it's more for their own purpose. You know, for their own safety. I wouldn't be eager to be under control of that creepy sorcerer that roams these lands as soon as the shadow falls over my land and he gets free game to do whatever he wants... It has probably nothing to do with us." He finished his statement with a shrug, without moving his hands out of his pockets.

"Are you sure about that, James? I mean, they're pretty much stalking us, lighting up any area we are in." Antonio looked at James, uncertainty reflecting in his eyes.

"Curiosity?" James replied. He pulled an uncomprehending pout with his lips and shrugged again at the Guardian of Day and Night. "Tonio, to be honest, I have absolutely no idea. Anyway, whatever it is they're trying to do, they're doing their job very well and that's all that matters."

"James, you're probably right," Antonio replied, rubbing his chin. "But still..."

He walked off, towards a group of fairies. "Hey, little girls! Can you tell me what's going on?"

The fairies made exited, chattering sounds and smiled widely at Antonio. They surrounded him and started to fly at a fast pace in circles around him.  
"Hey- little ones- what are you doing?" Antonio mumbled a little worried. "Guys? A little help, please?"

"I think they like you, Tonio!" Bella replied with a smirk. Even Thomas and Samira couldn't refrain from chuckling.

"Ah, shoot!" Antonio shouted. "Just tell me what you want already!"

One of the pixies flew up to Antonio's eye-height, and started to talk. Her voice was actually lower than Antonio actually expected.

"Please don't go into the forest," the pixie exclaimed. Her long, silver hair danced around her as she floated. She's beautiful, Antonio thought.

"Um, why not? We need to visit your Queen and ask her for advice; according to the information we've been given, she lived inside the forest! So I'm afraid we'll have to go into the forest."

"You are The Five Guardians, the Bond of Light, the Last Generation, the Last Hope," the pixie continued.

"Yes, we were already aware of that," Antonio said. "Can we move on? Like, go into the forest to finish our quest?"

The fairy shook her head. "No, you cannot enter the forest. It's too dangerous," she said with a rather strict tone in her voice.

"Why is it too dangerous?" Antonio simply continued to ask questions.

"If your ignorant mouth would just let me finish without breaking in all the time, I could tell you," the pixie sighed. "Please tell your friends to get over here, then I can explain. It's important for them to hear, too."

"Oh, sorry," Antonio said. "You're right." He turned around and gestured at his friends that they had to come closer. "She's got some important news to tell us, guys!

"I'm hoping for finally some good news for a change, because I think we've been getting enough bad news lately," Bella commented, while they walked towards Antonio.

Bella was right. They had been through a lot since they'd entered Lunaria. Trickery, dangerous wolves... They'd even been ambushed in the middle of a dark forest. Twice.

But of course, they could've known that the pixie had nothing but bad news to bring them.

And a warning.

"Please, sit down, Guardians," the pixie with the silver hair said and gestured at the ground.

The grass was soft and fluffy, so none of the teens protested as they sat down.

"Oh, miss, I love the flower crown you've got there," the pixie commented at Samira's flower crown.  
"Oh, please, call me Samira," Samira said smiling. "And thank you." Bella, James and Samira had spent the day making flower crowns, despite of the endless teasing from Antonio and Thomas that repeatedly had come their way.

"Of course," the pixie replied. "Why, how rude of me; I haven't even properly introduced myself." The pixie took a short bow in apology before telling the teens her name.

"I am Violina, Sister of the Queen," she said. "I protect the Valley together with the other pixies.

I practically lead them. We are protecting this Valley like this for over a thousand years. It's gone wrong only once; the pixies' flowers were closed too long by some kind of spell, causing the Valley to remain dark. The Guardians of that Generation were then ambushed, and, sadly, separated. The Warlock Spirits took one of the Guardians with them, and the other Four were lost without him."

The pixie paused, waiting for reactions; she was lucky to get some out of the teenagers.

Samira raised her voice and asked, "Violina, this might sound like an odd question, but which Guardian exactly did the Warlock Spirits capture during that ambush?"

"They took the Guardian of Imagination away back then," Violina answered.

"And there was a reason to that?" Samira asked again, with a concerned look at James.

"The Guardian they usually take is one of the Leading Guardians, because without them, the other Four cannot reach the Castle of the Spirits," Violina replied. "So they'd try to take whoever leads your group. But they could seize anyone of you, since they are trying to do anything to tear the Bond of Light apart."

"How do you know our names?" Bella asked, fascinated by the fact that the pixie knew who they were. Violina looked at her and smiled. "Because it's been foretold, my dear Bella," she said. "This had been planned thousands of years ago, when the Master conquered our world.  
"As you might know, the Spirits of Light used six Sources to make this world. The great amount of darkness and evil that roams these lands was never a plan of theirs. It was someone else's.

And as Guardians of the Five Sources of Light, the Sixth being the Master's Darkness, of course, it is your job to restore the balance between the Five Sources and the Sixth. Asura, the man you know as the Master, or the Demon, was the only one of the Spirits that had been tasked to create darkness. But he was different from the other Spirits. The Spirits had made an agreement with each other to keep the balance between each of their powers fair. But Asura, as young and hungry for power as he was, wanted more. He grew hungry for power. He almost succeeded to grow more powerful than the Spirits themselves. But before he succeeded to do so, they overpowered him and punished him. But instead of destroying him, they took away his memory and... well, most of his powers. Not the smartest thing to do. He was still left hungry for power.

When he was casting spells one night, he retrieved his memory. Ever since he retrieved them, he tried to become the way he was. But he never succeeded to become more than half-human half-spirit. But it was enough to lock the Spirits away and scatter the Light Sources to pieces.

That led the Spirits to gather these pieces and send them to Earth. You are, more or less, the personifications of the Light Sources."

"Thank you for the in-depth background information," Antonio said. "But why can't we go visit the Queen? We need to visit her to gain more information about the Fantasy Valley."

"Antonio! Haven't you been listening to what I just said?" Violina replied, sounding incredibly irritated. "In case you haven't been paying attention, I said: 'They'd try to take whoever leads your group, but they could seize anyone of you, since they are trying to do anything to tear the Bond of Light apart.' Got that, sir?"

Antonio nodded. "But I just still don't understand why-" he said, but Violina cut off his sentence.

"Before you spout any more ignorant stupidities," she said, "The answer to your question is just that simple. That forest back there is crawling with Warlock Spirits and Nightmare Fairies. Creatures that want to find you. Capture you. Bring you to the Master. Bring you to your imminent death. Or worse."

She gestured towards the Fairy Forest that was located somewhere in the dark behind them. "And trust me; with just the four or maybe even three of you, you're lost."

"But we really need to see the Queen," Samira complained. "We'll have to take the risk."

"We can't let you put your life in danger," Violina decided, crossing her arms.

"We're already doing so just by being here, so who cares," James said. "Just let us go into the forest, Violina. We'll be fine." He was lying on his back in the grass, staring at the skies.

"Are you sure, James?" James could by the way Violina spoke that she was truly worried about their safety.

"Well, yes, since if it weren't for the Keepers, we would've been dead already, or worse," James with a crooked smile. "So... Actually? I definitely think we should go."

Samira smiled at him. He could do things to people no one could, since he was like a Magician if it came to words and conversations. As little kid, he always had been good in talking himself out of trouble.

He never simply blamed someone else, like his sister always blamed them for everything that went wrong, but he simply explained the situations.

Both his mother and father had always found it adorable. So that caused him to assume it was a good thing to do.

And it didn't seem to work on just his parents.

Whenever he got in trouble at school (which wasn't often, but still, sometimes he would "borrow" something from the supplies closet from their Chemistry class, and that sometimes seemed to seriously bother the old man who was their chemistry teacher (and who could blame him, right?). But he always got away with it by talking some smooth talk and convincing the teacher it had been for a good cause.

He was rated "Teacher's Pet," but then in a good way. All teachers loved James for his ingenious ideas and plans. He was always busying around on planning school activities, but still managed to get great grades.

Like, the perfect student. Well, almost perfect, save the "borrowing stuff from school and teachers without asking" part.

School... Home... Every time anyone brought up anything home-related, it was painful to realise how much they missed home.

James felt his eyelids getting heavy, and Violina's words faded out. He could hear that she was talking, but couldn't hear what she exactly said. It didn't take long before his eyelids closed and he drifted off asleep.

"So, if that's your decision then-   
James? Are you even listening? James!"

"Jimmy goody-two-shoes seems to have fallen asleep," Antonio said chuckling. "Guess he found your story something really boring, Lina!" He grinned broadly, but Violina's eyes said murder. "They at least could've chosen someone more polite..." she sighed. "But if the boy is really asleep, he must've been really tired. Let him rest."

Thomas simply shook his head and smiled when he looked at the redhead lying in the grass next to him. The kid looked peaceful when he slept. Like a little, redheaded angel. Thomas hoped that James would finally be able to sleep the night through.

Thomas hadn't finished his thought, or James screamed and shot upright. He jumped to his feet and pulled out his sword.  
There the sixteen-year-old was standing on his feet, breathing heavily, ready to fight.

"I felt something," he simply said. "I sensed something. Something's approaching."

"James, I bet it was just a dream," Thomas said, in an attempt to calm James down.

"No, it was real. I'm for one hundred percent sure," James replied. "Get packed and get going, guys. We should be getting out of here to a more lit-up place. We have to find a place to make a fire. And that is anywhere close to the forest."

"James, entering the forest at night isn't a good idea. While you were asleep, Violina explained that the pixies can't protect the Forest- it's crawling with monsters."

"We've fought them before, so we know how to defeat them," James simply replied; he'd already begun to walk. "You coming or what?"

"I think we have no choice, or he takes off on his own," Samira commented toward Violina's concerned looks. "It's either this or that."

"I'm coming with you," Violina said and flew towards Samira. "I'm going to be your 'torch' and guide tonight."

"Are you going to help us get to the Queen before the night ends?" James asked.

"That, my young Guardian, I cannot guarantee. But I will guarantee that you will get there safely, that you won't do anything stupid while you're on your way," Violina replied.

"Shall we go, then?" Bella said. "The night has only just begun. I'd guess the sun has set about an hour ago-"

"Bella, please spare us your boring lectures! Don't you see absolutely nobody in this world gives a heck about time? It's useless here!" Antonio mumbled.

"Well, as a person living in the modern world, I am used to living with time!" Bella replied.

"Bella, it's just "day" or "night" here! We have no concern of the time! I mean- it's not like we've got a strict appointment with that Asura Nightmare Guy at 2 o'clock! So just zip it!" Antonio shouted.

"Zip it yourself!" Bella made a comeback.

"Are you going to continue like this all night or what? If there's one thing that attracts Shadow Creatures aside from darkness, it's noise! And after that capturing and kidnapping story of Violina, I'm really not feeling like meeting any! So please don't argue so loud!" Samira shouted. "Please! Shut up!"

Both the teenagers looked a little startled; their eyes shifted from each other to Samira, who was looking over her shoulder, giving them an angry glare.

"Samira-"

"What Samira!?"

"Samira!"

"WHAT!?"

"IN FRONT OF YOU!" James shouted and ducked to the side to slice something that looked like some kind of Warlock that was about Samira's arm in half.

"Turns out I was right," James gasped. "Violina! Please call on the pixies to surround us! They've found a way to get into the Valley! Everyone, stay close together!"

"Got your orders, sir!" Violina shouted, and flew up into the air, and stopped when she was about a metre above the teenagers on their horses, who started to move closer toward each other.

She made a high-pitched noise, which was too high for the human ear to hear, but pixies could hear it properly.

The noises she made formed a song, sending a message to the other pixies around her. "The Bond of Light is in Danger. Warlock ambush! Protect the Bond of Light."

The pixies responded nearly immediately. They seemed to come from everywhere, surrounding the teenagers in a bulb of colours and light.

"That should scare them off," Violina said, as she came back down.

"Yes, thank you, Violina. James, you are a genius!" Thomas shouted. But when he turned around to high-five his friend, nobody was there.

He checked around. Samira, Antonio and Bella were there. But James was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is James!?" Thomas shouted.

"We don't know! He was here just this moment!" Bella shouted. "Then he suddenly disappeared! Out of nowhere!"

"Oh, he's going to play the hero again, isn't he!?" Thomas grunted through gritted teeth. "You three! Stay here! I'm going to fetch him! Violina, come with me!"

The pixies made an opening to let Thomas through, who ran off into the suddenly dark night. Violina followed him.

"Violina! Wait! Should we stop or just keep moving?" Samira shouted up at the silver-haired pixie.

"Keep moving! We'll catch up!" Violina replied, before disappearing into the night.

As she went after Thomas, her silver glow became even brighter. "Thomas! Where are you?"

"Over here!" Thomas shouted. "Look: there he is! He's nuts; fighting two of those things at once!"

He rushed toward the battlefield, while pulling out his sword, holding it ready to charge."What do you think you're doing!?" he roared at James.

"Saving the pixies!" he shouted. "As long as these creeps are here, they have nowhere to return to! These Warlocks will destroy everything they have!"

"What's with the sword?" Thomas asked, while slashing away against the Warlock Spirits. It didn't help as much as it did with the Shadow Walkers, but it kept them at a distance.

"That's called 'instant kill,' Thomas! Watch!"

He stuck the glowing sword into one of the Warlock Spirits' stomachs; it collapsed and dissolved into smoke, like the Shadow Walkers back in the Twilight Forest had done.

"Amazing," Thomas said.

"Thomas! Watch out!" James suddenly hollered. He ducked forward, but this time off his horse, because Thomas was just too far off. He slashed his sword out toward the Warlock Spirit that tried to stab Thomas with something that shot out of the sleeve of its deep purple and blue robe. Thomas couldn't exactly see what it was, only that it was as sharp as a razor.

Instead, it hit James, tearing his entire upper arm open and piercing his flesh. James yelped in pain, but while he fell to the ground, he cut the Spirit's head off.

"James!" Thomas shouted as James rolled over the ground, away from him, and lay still as the dead in the grass.

Still as the dead.

"Don't worry!" Violina shouted, who was suddenly ten times as large as she was before, about as tall as a thirteen-year-old. "He's dropped his sword, I'll use it to finish them off! You go and take care of your friend!"

She didn't have to tell him twice. Thomas ran toward the figure lying in the grass; there were more Warlocks approaching. He had to get James out of there.

Thomas turned James from his side on his back and carefully took a look at the wound. It looked extremely painful; the weapon was still in it, even.

"Thomas..." the redheaded sixteen-year-old moaned. "Are they gone? Did we do it?"

"Yes. Violina's taking care of them."

"My arm... What's... that thing?" James mumbled.

Thomas carefully lifted James's arm up and moved it onto the boy's chest, so he could examine it.

"It's too dark to see, James," Thomas said. "All I can do, is get you to a safer place. Until then, I have nothing."

Violina landed on her feet next to Thomas. She was still big. "Can I help? With some light perhaps?"

She moved over to James's other side, throwing her light on his injured arm.

"Oh my... that's not a knife."

Thomas didn't know what the object sticking in James's arm was at all. It looked like... A ninja blade in the shape of a claw.

"Black claws," Violina said. "Those can cause deep wounds."

"The slash in his arm the claw made doesn't look bad. I'm more concerned about the depth of the wounds it made where it got stuck..." Thomas said.  
He carefully pulled the claw out of James's arm, causing him to wince.

"Sorry," Thomas whispered.

"Violina, can you bring us to your Queen overnight? I think it's important to have him healed as soon as possible."

The claw had made a pretty deep gash in James's upper arm, right under his shoulder. It was bleeding like crazy.

"I can do something so he'll survive the night," Violina said. "We'll be lucky if we arrive at the Queen four hours after midnight.

I'll show you the shortcut through the woods. The pixie shield will come along, to keep you safe from other attacks."

"Thanks, Violina. Are you coming too?"

"Do I look like I'm crazy?" Violina replied. "Of course I'm coming. James, please close your eyes. I'm not sure how much I can heal the wound. But the slash in your arm is small enough to disappear completely."

She laid her hands over the wounds in James's arm. James winced again and closed his eyes. Silver light surrounded his arm, wrapping itself around it. In a matter of minutes, the slash closed up and healed. The gash closed, turning into a scab.

"It will still be painful for the next two weeks, but you won't need any more healing, I guess," Violina replied, while examining his arm.

"Thanks, Violina," James said, while he stood up. "Luckily you guys noticed I was gone. I don't know what would've happened if they got me with those things.

"Luckily you noticed that thing trying to drill a hole in my chest," Thomas said. "Just unlucky that your arm caught it."

James grinned. "Hey, look. I'm fine now," he said. "But we probably should get back to the others."  
"Of course," Thomas said, and the brother-like duo started to walk back. They would catch up with the gang soon, with Violina, who had shrunk back into her normal size, in their wake.
Past and Present

"Hey! Hold on for a second and wait for us; we're still here, you know!"

The shield made of pixies stopped floating forward at once as soon as the pixies heard Violina's voice. The three Guardians who were walking in their midst turned their heads to see who'd made it back. The pixies made an opening in the back of the shield by simply flying to aside, so Violina and James and Thomas could get through.

"James! Thom! You made it!" Samira shouted happily. Antonio and Bella smiled as well, but their smiles faded away as soon as they saw James's injured arm.

"James? Can we have an explanation regarding what exactly happened there?" Samira asked, referring to the blood-stained and ripped sleeve and the five scabs on the sixteen-year-old's right upper arm.

"One of those Warlock Spirits that were chasing us thought it would be fun to attack Thomas with some kind of claw-like blade thing," James commented dryly. "I jumped forward with my sword to cut its head off and hoped to be able to block the attack with my sword at the same time, but unfortunately my arm caught the damage of the attack and my sword was only capable of slicing the creature's head off. There was also a pretty large slash all over my arm, but that wound was small enough for Violina to heal completely."

"So... That claw-thing you're talking about... That thing was stuck right into your arm?

Didn't that hurt an awful lot?" Antonio asked confusedly. "Doesn't it still?"

"Well, as I mentioned before, I forward, between Thomas and the Spirit. During my landing I rolled across the ground, which actually worsened the impact of the claw on my arm, because the rolling caused the claw's razor sharp blades to push even deeper into my flesh. I felt a little dizzy when I lied there in the grass, and it took a while before I came back to my senses.

So... You could say it did hurt quite a lot."

James smiled weakly, as if he'd just told a genius joke no one understood, but dropped the corners of his mouth as soon as he saw that he wasn't going to make anyone else smile.

"Don't worry; it's fine. It's just a little bit stingy, that's all," he told his worried sister. IT seemed to relax her a little to know that her brother wasn't gravely hurt.

"You got lucky with that sword of yours," Violina said as she handed the sword she'd been carrying since she defeat the Warlock Spirits back to James. It was miraculous how she could still hold the blade in her shrunken form.

"Oh, yeah, the trick with the sword. I don't and can't take any credit on that one, unfortunately," James said, while taking the sword back from Violina.

"What do you mean?" Violina asked. "How did you pull that off?"

"Well, to be honest, it wasn't my idea at all, nor was it any of ours," James replied, while he shove the sword back into its scabbard.

"Gabriel did it. I don't know how, but all of our weapons have a magical glow that makes it possible to defeat Shadow Creatures. It's all thanks to him, really. Otherwise, we probably would've been dead by now"

"I remember Gabriel," one of the Pixies floating in the shield said. "He was very brave." She had long hair that was braided down and had a lovely golden colour, that reminded James of sunflowers.

Her hair had brown streaks through them and her eyes were big, brown and puppy-like.

James wondered if there was any kind of connection between a pixie and her colour, or that it was randomly and genetically chosen, like human hair colours.

"It was a true honour to help the Last Generation," a pixie with blue hair and blue eyes said. "We really don't know how those Warlocks got past our protection spells, though. This realm should be nearly completely protected against the Feared One's power."

"Feared One?" Bella repeated. "Who's that?"

"That's how pixies call the Master," Violina answered. "He is feared by all of us, and that has practically formed the nickname. Kind of obvious, don't you think?"

"Violina, if I may be so bold... Now I am the one with a question for you," Thomas said. "I was wondering how you can shift between your small and tall shape?"

"That is because I am practically not a pixie," the silver-haired girl said as she sat down on Thomas's shoulder. She looked at the others. "I am a fixie."

"Fixie?" Bella repeated. "Like some kind of half-fairy, half-pixie?"

"Correct," Violina said. "I can swap between a small fairy and a big pixie. That's actually why I am taller than the most of the pixies, but smaller than a fairy. It's the Royal Fairy Race."

"Are you the only one who's that way?" Samira said, while taking the ribbon out of her hair and redoing the sank-out braid. Strands of hair had been sticking out everywhere, and Samira didn't like it whenever her hair was a mess.

That was practically also the reason why she hated the heck out of high humidity, as her hair would become all frizzed up. That had happened quite a lot in her life, especially during summer. When it happened during the weekend or a vacation, like summer vacation, it didn't really bother her, but she could be extremely embarrassed if her hair suddenly started to frizz halfway through a school day. There she sat in the classroom, with a blonde afro-like haircut.

She quickly swapped the strings of hair between her fingers, braiding it all back together. In a matter of seconds, she was done, and bound it back together with the ribbon.

"Certainly not, Samira," Violina replied to Samira's question. "There are thousands like me. Or... there were. The Master either destroyed most of the Royals or forced them to submit to his power."

"And your sister? She lives in the forest, right?" Bella commented. "How did she protect herself?"

"Very few of us escaped," Violina said. "My sister is a fixie as well. I believe there are two more of us out there, which makes four in total."

"Well, that's a lot of confusing information," Bella said. "I think I'm never going to understand everything before we di- I mean, before we reach the Land of Void."

"If I may add more information to the list, Bella," James said. "Warlock Spirits-"

"Please don't, James. I think I've had enough for tonight," Bella cut James off mid-sentence.

"Um, okay, but if we get attacked again and you don't know something important, it's not my problem," James replied.

"Fair enough. My answer is still no."

"Okay, whatever you say, Jingle Bells."

James shrugged and started to walk slightly faster. He didn't know why, but he had to.

During the rest of their journey toward the Fairy Forest there wasn't much time to talk; there was tension in the air. Strange tension

The pixies that framed the shield around the Guardians remained loyal and didn't move from their side for a second, so they wouldn't have to worry about any further attacks while the night lasted.

The shield the pixies formed around them reached from their ankles to just about halfway their chests, so the five teens could all clearly see where they were going.

Violina floated about twenty centimetres above the edge of the shield, giving directions to either James or Thomas, depending who she was the nearest by at that moment or who would hear her first.

She knew the Valley like the back of her hand; she knew exactly where the dangerous plants, like the flesh-eating ones grew – and it wasn't quite a good idea to have to pass any of those in the dark.

James knew they could trust these pixies blindly, and the level of trust they had allowed him to get wasn't easy to let him gain in these lands. Not by any creature. It was different with people like Gabriel and Rikki, because they were clearly human. And they were two of the many Guardian's Keepers. How many were there again? Ten? Four Main Keepers, and a bunch of hidden ones – the ones that usually didn't count. Violina was one of those hidden Keepers, James then realised.

But trust wasn't something the red-haired sixteen-year-old could give away easily. Especially not now he could feel the presence of Shadow Walkers around them, lurking in the shadows, ready to attack whenever they'd get the chance.

Though they hadn't been bothered on the rest of the journey since the last ambush a few kilometres ago, James was alerted twice as alert as he was before, and he had a lot going on in his mind. He kept worrying about the same things.

If the Warlock Spirits and Shadow Walkers could even reach them in the safest realm in Lunaria, they could find them everywhere. They would never be completely safe without having to worry about a possible enemy popping out of the blue and attacking them.

Nowhere.

If every time it would turn night the Shadow Walkers would come after them, and the Warlock Spirits, who could even appear in broad daylight, would grow twice as powerful than they were at daytime, they would be- be- screwed.

James couldn't think of a different word to explain their situation more politely. No. They would just be screwed, full stop.

Like they hadn't been doomed to die already.

"Don't worry, Mum. We'll come back. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, James."

"It's not a promise. It's an oath. We will come back."

"Then I'll trust you with that."

The promise he had made to his mother started to get to his mind more often lately. Was it because he felt guilty?

James felt kind of lucky that Thomas and his friends had been too busy saying goodbye to their own friends and family to hear the conversation between him and his mother. Samira and Anna understood the way he felt of course, after all.

Cheyenne was everything to him, and he knew he and Samira were the same to her. He always promised his Dad after his death to take care of her, even though he wasn't there anymore to see him keep the promise.

And he wouldn't break a promise. Ever. And so he wouldn't break the promise he had made to his mother, either. They would return home at all costs, just because James had promised her they would do so.

"We'll come back, Mum.

I promise."

And for a second, it was as if he could hear his mother's voice coming from somewhere.

"I know you will," her voice said.

*

It was about sunrise when they reached the entrance of the Fairy Forest. The trees were really high and seemed to be very ancient; once again, the leaves were silver-coloured.

James couldn't exactly tell what kind of trees it were, and when he looked aside he saw even Samira, who knew nearly every tree since she was seven years old, throwing confused looks at the trees.

The kind of tree they looked the most similar like were oak trees, so James told himself it were oak trees.

A solution any adult would consider childish, but it was the way James used to think when he was younger.

When it looks like it, it is most likely to be so!

More investigation followed quickly afterwards, but this time, he wouldn't have too much time to get his utensils out and properly examine the trees, so he left them with a simple and plain "oak tree"-stamp in his mind.

It didn't really matter anyway, so why even bother?

As they entered the forest itself, James felt the bad presences wrap around them, and from the corner of his eye, he could see Thomas shudder.

The powers of the Spirits were very strong here, because of the huge numbers they were hiding in here. Thomas could feel a connection with Spirits through his sceptre; it was a strange, yet magical sensation.

But now he knew that Rikki didn't tell everything about their Guardian's Totems. Some of the magical artefacts, mainly the ones that were supposed to help them personally, also came with some unpleasant side effects.

Thomas could clearly feel the evil that surrounded them, the Shadow Creatures lurking in the dark. But the problem was; it didn't help him locate them or their attacks.

It didn't solve anything at all, because the Spirits were resistant against Magic.

Most Magic didn't work on them. You had to be a really powerful warlock to be able to begin something against them.

Take the pixies, for example; they would have to unite with hundreds at once to be able to take on just one Shadow Creatures.

And then again, in this forest, the Shadow Creatures were the ones that were with hundreds.

And they were with five. And about fifty pixies, at the most.

We're no match for the Spirits, Thomas thought. If they attack us while we're unprepared, we'll be blown away within a second. The only luck we have at our side is that their powers are slightly drained by the minimum amount of sunlight that is peeping through the leaves of these massive trees.

As they slowed down a bit because they had to follow a pretty narrow path going through the Forest, Thomas glided with one of his hands across the trunk of one of the trees. He still hadn't figured out what kind of trees it were, and he wondered if it bothered anyone else what kind of trees it were.

Perhaps it bothered James, but Thomas thought it wasn't the right moment to ask.

As they travelled farther through the Forest, the attempts of the sun rays to make their way through the roof of leaves that became more tighter meter by meter seemed to end in vain more and more.

The Warlock Spirits and black fog kept circling around them, but the shield of pixies kept protecting them in a circle around them and most of the time a couple of trees as well.

James found himself getting distracted by the area and sounds that seemed to be voices whispering his name with a tense of violence and threatening, but he knew he shouldn't listen to them, because they were trying to lure him to a trap.

But by his surprise, every time he heard them, it were female voices.

The fairies were whispering at him!

James...

James... Come with us...

We can get you home... Come with us...

But what James couldn't possibly have known, was that all of his friends heard the same voices.

The fairies were trying to get them away from the group, bringing each teenager a different offer.

We can protect your friends...

Join us...

Come...

Let us help you...

But the shield of pixies protected the Magic from reaching their mind, so it wouldn't be anything more than idle whispers to their ears.

But Thomas knew that once the pixies had to leave them, it would be hard to block the voices out of their minds.

As he realised this, he started to hope that the pixies could stick with him until they got out of the Forest almost immediately.

He wished they could stay with them even longer; he wished they could bring them to the Land of Void.

But Thomas knew that in these lands, no creature had ever left their own specific Realm, so he didn't know what kind of effect the other Realms would have on the little pixies once they would leave the Silver Valley.

Perhaps they couldn't even leave; that was another possibility that was left. After all, except the things he had learned from the book – which happened to be about the First Generation, he had no knowledge about the subject-specific abilities of the creatures that lived all over Lunaria.

There was one thing that Thomas had learned in the past month; everything he thought to know and had learned from watching fantasy movies and reading countless numbers of books; it didn't matter here. Everything was different in Lunaria.

Every single thing.

For example: Fixies, what are those? He thought. He had never heard of that species of fairy-pixie before. Never, anywhere. And yet, somehow it still existed here.

What more was there to discover about Magic that he didn't know? He never understood it completely, after all, even though James always had tried his best to explain it.

They'd always had those days they'd spend all day role-playing; when they were kids, they would usually play out scenes from the stories James had written. They were fun to play, and – for their parents, at least – fun to watch.

Thomas looked up at the sky and returned to the present. He wondered why he had been drifting off into old memories so much lately.

"It's because I'm worried about what will happen once we reach the Castle," Thomas whispered to himself.

"In my dream, we reached the Castle, but something terrible happened there."

Thomas swallowed for a second at that thought. How was he going to tell Samira? Or James? Or – any of his friends, really?

He'd lied to them. He told them he didn't remember what he'd dreamt of the first time. So... perhaps it was too late to tell them anyway.

Was it?

"Hey, Thom? What are you mumbling to yourself?" he suddenly heard James's voice calling from a distance. He looked at the redhead, who was grinning broadly. "Keep yourself together! We're almost there!" He had gone so deep into his thoughts, he'd stopped walking. He was surrounded by a small bunch of pixies forming a shield around him, impatiently tapping their feet on the air with their arms crossed over their chests.

Thomas blinked, and the nineteen-year-old's face turned bright red. He mumbled some quick apologies to the pixies for having to wait for him so long and ran after his friends.

The Queen will see you now

"Hey, Thomas, are you all right? It seems as if something's bothering you." Thomas had to continuously brush off his friends' concerns.

He kept trying to assure them that he was fine, that nothing was bothering him, but his friends knew him too well to believe that.

James would then remain silent for about a minute or two, but then he would ask the same question all over again.

"Are you sure, Thomas?" the red-haired sixteen-year-old asked, while walking slowly next to each other. "Thomas, you know that the five of us promised each other that if anything was bothering us we would tell and talk about it to one another."

Thomas couldn't stand seeing anyone getting concerned over him. He was just so used to his family – save his siblings, luckily – not care about him, he just wasn't used to this kind of contact. And though Thomas always tried his best to act as neutral as he could, which seemed to fool most people, James always seemed to have this kind of "brotherly instinct" that told him whenever Thomas was troubling about something.

James's words slipped onto his mind slowly, and he remembered the promise he and his friends had made to each other when they were younger.

Always together, best friends forever, nerds of a feather...

...Stick together.

"You're right, James." Thomas smiled. "I- I just need some time to figure things out, and as you know, I prefer to do things like that in my own way; in silence."

James smiled back. "Phew," he replied. "I thought you were feeling bad about something."  
"I- James, don't get me wrong, but actually the things I feel bad about are the things I need to figure out."

"Like what?"

"I don't want to trouble your mind with that. You need to stay focused on our mission."

"You know I can't possibly do that," James joked.

Thomas hid a grin that seemed to shoot trough his heart right to his mouth underneath his hand. James was right; the kid had the attention span of a rodent; unless there was something going on where he genuinely felt interest in.

But it also kept his mind clear, somehow. Thomas never understood how James had been able to stay so calm and focused all the time. Like now, when everything that could possibly have gone wrong so far, actually had gone wrong, James still remained pretty cool about it – at least toward his friends.

Thomas decided that he had to put his worries about James aside and just focus until they would have a more clear view of the situation.

...Which perhaps wouldn't be until the very end. But the last thing that Thomas wanted was to lose all grip on the entire happening that they had because he was someplace else inside his head all the time, so he had to put his concerns aside.

For now.

It was about midday, the sun shining high and bright in the sky, when Violina suddenly stopped floating ahead of the teenagers.  
"Stop," she ordered, and the teenagers obeyed – but of course they did.

"Violina?" Samira asked. "Is this the place where your sister lives?"

"Practically, yes," Violina said. She "The open place in the heart of the Fairy Forest. And trust me, despite of it being officially a part of the Twilight Forest, the Fairy Forest is a lot bigger than you've seen just yet."

She turned back around and swallowed, as if there was something she didn't want the teenagers to know.

"Why aren't we going any further?" Samira asked. "She's your sister, and we're the Bond of Light; I'm pretty sure that she won't kick us out if we enter."

"That's not the problem, Samira," Violina replied with a tight, whispering voice. "This is the first time in five hundred years that we're seeing each other again."

"But that means that you're-!" Antonio mumbled, completely stunned.

"I am twenty thousand years old, Antonio, in case you were interested," Violina said. "You can compare one thousand fairy or pixie years with one human year. But yet, we do still have to live through five hundred years... I just can't believe we're seeing each other again."

"Five hundred years... Seesh... Seems like forever," Antonio mumbled.

"It actually is, really long." Violina sighed. "Five hundred years still remains five centuries. No matter how fast – or slow – you age."

"Then you must be really eager to meet her," Samira said. Violina nodded without looking at her; the way she nodded didn't seem to be too confident.

"I am," she said, "I really am. But I'm also quite scared. Things have changed so much..." She turned back around, facing the teenagers again, and sighed deep. "I'm responsible for the failure of one Generation. It was my fault that I couldn't prevent the Warlock Spirits to cast the spell over our flowers... I'm the one who let them in back then because I wasn't careful enough.

And if James hadn't been so smart to figure a way to get out of that ambush last night, your Generation would have been in danger as well. The Last Hope! If I would've let our last hope slip through our fingers right into the claws of the Master..." Violina stopped talking and shuddered.

"But Violina, none of this was your fault! Neither was it that other time! It's the fault of the Shadow Creatures and their Master!" James exclaimed. "No one blames you!"

"That's really gentle of you to say, young Guardian," Violina said. "But as Keeper of the Fairy Valley, I'm supposed to protect you while you are here. And if I fail, I am the one to blame. That's the way it is, I can't change it."

"But we're the Guardians of Light, the ones you need to protect, and if we say that you're not the one to blame, then it is so," James stated.

A tiny smirk escaped onto the fixie's face. "You're a smart little guy for your age, James. And I appreciate all you're doing for us and our world. But rules are rules."

"What rules?" James responded, flinging his arms in the air. "Were we supposed to get a manual at the beginning that we were supposed to read? Like a leaflet or something? Come on! No one told us there were rules to this... this... quest!"

"There are very little rules for you to follow, James, that's why no one told you," Violina replied on a rather neutral tone, like she wasn't affected by James's outburst. "You will learn all you need to know as your journey progresses." Violina turned around again and started to fly forward. "We've got no time to waste; you need to speak to the Queen."

"But-!" James protested, but Thomas interrupted him by giving him a tap on the back of his head with two fingers. "Shut up, redhead," he whispered. "Before she changes her mind. We're still surrounded by Shadow Creatures, so anything could happen, remember?"

James nodded and the teenagers followed Violina toward the open place at the heart of the forest.

*

The heart of the forest was breathtakingly beautiful. The grass was bright green, with fireflies and bumblebees fluttering all around the exotic flowers that grew all across the ground. You didn't have to be a genius to know that the Heart was protected by Magic barriers that even the Master himself couldn't break (or so said Violina).

In the middle of the open place stood a small temple-like building of white marble in the style the Greeks built their temples.

Around the temple grew red and white roses and other pretty flowers, which seemed to grow all in a row around the moat that streamed around the temple for protection. Built across the moat was a bridge, to allow humans to get to the other side as well.  
James had to keep himself from jumping out line sticking his head into the bright water of the moat that surrounded the temple. Yeah, I am that thirsty, he thought.

But his thirst had to wait for a minute. He was going to visit a queen, and it wouldn't look very impressing if he entered her temple with his clothes completely drenched because he felt the need to drink out of the moat. First impressions counted, of course. So it'd be wiser to make a good first impression rather than a bad one.

Violina had told them multiple times that no creature with a dark heart could enter the Heart, but there was simply something Thomas didn't trust. He couldn't tell what it was, but there was something that didn't feel right. Anything could still go wrong.

Violina sank down to the ground and in a silver flash, a big version of the little pixie was standing where the pixie stood at first.

Violina walked over toward the door of the temple. Even though the temple was in a style inspired by Ancient Greeks, there were differences that made it look slightly more like a fantasy palace.

She knocked three times.

"Eloine?" the Fixie whispered. "Are you there?"

The heavy white wooden doors cracked as they opened slowly in front of the Fixie and five teens' amazed eyes.

In the door's opening stood a rather tall figure. She was female, and about approximately twenty centimetres taller than Violina.

Her wings had the most beautiful golden glow, and her facial features were very similar to her sister's. The same nose and freckles. The same bright, warm smile. And yet there was something about her that made her look even more beautiful than her younger sister.

The colour of her dress was a very pale blue which seemed white in the sunlight, with golden accents which were sewed on the light blue fabric.

A long, white see-trough cape with the same golden patterns fell behind her back.

Her long, golden hair had silver highlights all the way from the roots of her hair to the tips, and was braided back at the front, but fell loose over her shoulders at the back.

The four boys gasped at her beauty, but snapped out of it when Samira cleared her throat exaggeratedly loudly.

The woman in front of them smiled. Her wings fluttered for a second. "Welcome, young Guardians," she spoke with a warm voice.

The five teenagers nodded. "It's a true honour to meet you," Samira said.

"Oh, no, dear Samira," the Queen replied. "We, as inhabitants and protectors of the Silver Valley, are honoured to have the right to welcome you here."

She stepped aside, gesturing toward the hallway behind her, inside the temple.

"Please, come in. I can't leave you waiting outside the door."

"We shall wait here," one of the pixies said to Thomas as he passed by to enter the temple.

"We are not allowed inside the Queen's Palace without permission, and it's our duty to keep the Shadow Creatures away from the magical barrier."

But one pixie managed to sneak away from the crowd. She had a dark red glow around her, and her hair was deep red with black streaks. Her eyes glowed red, but her pupils were normal. A pixie, undercover for the Master.

No one knew she was even there.

She snuck into the temple right after Violina, and right before the doors closed.

*

"So, Guardians. Tell me: what brings you here?"

The teenagers sat down in a room which was white and blue themed. Everything was either white or silver or blue.

The blue armchairs they were told to sit on were surprisingly soft and comfortable. As James leaned against the back of the chair, he felt like he could drift off to sleep any second. Perhaps a little too comfortable, so he straightened up a bit to prevent himself from slipping off halfway through the Queen's story and information.

All five of them realised that this was the moment to pay attention.

"We came here to retrieve information about this part of Lunaria," James said. "We might need it further on in our quest. And we figured that you were the designated person to go to, Your Majesty."

"Oh, please, James. Call me Eloine," the Queen said with a smile. "And what exactly do you want to know?"

"Well," James answered. "I'm curious about what exactly is so dangerous about the Fairies that roam the forest."

"Not all of them are dangerous, James," Queen Eloine said. "Only the ones under the Master's control. Their eye colours are the same as those of Shadow Creatures, but the difference is that they are the only ones with normal pupils.  
All of his other servants have either a cat's pupil or none at all."

"But what happened? How did he even get here? His powers only go through darkness and shadows," Antonio said.

"He waited for night to fall," Queen Eloine said. "He's a predator; nothing will stand in his way of getting what he wants."

"But Violina said that it only affected the fixies," Bella said, but Queen Eloine shook her head.  
"We only say that because the pixies were unharmed, Bella. But if me and my friends and sister hadn't disappeared in time to protect them, we all would've ended up under the Master's control." Queen Eloine closed her eyes and sighed. "I lost half of my people that day to the darkness of the Master."

"Don't worry, Queen," Samira said. "We'll go to the Castle of the Spirits and restore the balance between Light and Darkness!"

Queen Eloine opened her eyes and looked at Samira. "You don't know, do you?"

"What do we not know?" Samira echoed.

"I get the feeling you don't know anything about the Castle of the Spirits at all. Not of its location, not-"  
"Well, we do know it's in creepy-spooky-land," Antonio said.

Queen Eloine moved her eyes from Samira to Antonio and smiled. "At least you are aware of its location, then," she said. "But it won't be that easy. The castle is guarded... unless the Master has recently called it off because he's gone overconfident."

"That could be used to our advantage, hopefully," James mumbled.

"It would be indeed, James," Queen Eloine commented at his statement. "But the Land of Void is far away from here, across the mountains, toward the northeast. It will take you at least a two-week walk.

And then I'm talking about walking without resting, sleeping, eating, or being attacked. Just walking there would take two weeks."

"What!?" Thomas exclaimed. "But that means that we're stuck here for at least another month!"

He flung both his arms and his feet into the air, causing his feet to stump loudly when they came down on the marble floor.

"I'm sorry, Thomas, but that's the way it is," Queen Eloine said. "The edge of these woods from here is at least four kilometres far to the north, and eight to the west. There's no quick way out of here, although you could walk it in three hours if necessary. The mountains however, are the problem."

Thomas grunted something in disapproval, but no one could exactly hear what he said, except James, who was sitting next to him.

"Idiotic," the Brit mumbled... "Just idiotic."

Suddenly, something caught Samira's attention. Someone was whispering her name.

Samira...

At first she thought it was just the wind playing tricks on her mind, but as the whispering got louder, she was sure of it. Someone was calling her.

"Um, Queen Eloine, do you have a bathroom here?"

"Of course we do," Queen Eloine said, smiling. "Do you need me to show you?"

"No, I will find it myself," Samira said.

"Very well. If you leave this room, the first door to your right will lead you outside, where you'll find the stall," Queen Eloine replied while

Samira stood up and left the room. But she didn't need to go to the bathroom at all. She'd only been looking for an excuse to be able to go out and search for the voice whispering her name.

Samira...

Over here....

Samira turned her head into the direction the voice seemed to come from. From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something move, like a shadow.  
She fully turned around, and saw that there indeed had been someone moving and calling her name.

It was a Fixie, not much smaller than she was.

Samira...

Join us...

Touch it...

Before Samira could even think what the Fixie wanted her to touch, she noticed the gem on the Pixie's silver headband; the gem started to glow vivid red. Its colour was almost... hypnotizing.

Samira...

Come...

Join us...

Samira wanted to turn around, run away, scream for her friends, scream for help, but she couldn't. She knew it was wrong to listen to the voice, but it was irresistible.

But she had to. She had to obey. She had to touch the stone. Whatever would happen if she did; it didn't matter. Her legs seemed to move automatically, as her pupils grew to the size of almost her whole iris, blocking out the greyish-blue colour they usually were.

Samira...

Touch it...

Touch the stone...

"Samira, No!

Go away from there!"

It was James's voice. He had left the room to check why Samira had been gone for so long, and saw his hypnotized sister walking toward the Fixie. Samira slowly reached her arm out toward the gem on the Fixie's forehead, and James knew there was something he had to do.

Ignore him... the Fixie's voice whispered. James couldn't hear it; it was the spell the Fixie used to hypnotize Samira that caused the whispers.

Go on...

Samira...

Touch the stone...

"Samira-!"  
Samira had stopped walking and reached her hand out further toward the stone; James realised she wasn't going to snap out of it, and ran for it.

But it was already too late. Samira's hand had touched the stone.

A white force spread through the room, knocking James off his feet, as if he'd just witnessed an explosion.

When he got back to his feet, both Samira and the Fixie seemed to have disappeared. But when James took a closer look, he noticed something lying on the ground. It was a pixie.

He walked toward the pixie, knelt down, and carefully shoved his hands underneath the unconscious pixie's back.

When he stood up and examined the pixie a little closer, James came to a shocking conclusion.

The pixie he was holding had long blonde hair with one single pink streak trough it, and was braided down her back.

She wore a long, dark pink dress that looked awfully familiar. It was his sister.

The pixie couldn't possibly have been anyone but Samira.
Sunset Village

James rushed back to the room where the Queen and Violina and his friends were waiting as fast as he could.

He opened the door of the room quickly yet cautious, careful not to drop and hurt his sister, who he held in his right hand, his fingers slightly bent to protect her.

"James? What happened?" Thomas asked, whose blue armchair was facing the doorway. He had looked up as the door opened, but threw James a worried look when he saw the teenager's pale face showing a slightly shocked expression.

"Where's Samira?" the Brit continued.

"That's the problem," James replied between a short gasp. "She's right here."

He carefully walked forward across the white marble floor, and slightly stuck out his arm toward Thomas. His hand hadn't moved at all, afraid to hurt the little creature who was his best friend.

"Oh dear," the British teenager whispered at the sight of the unconscious Pixie that laid in James's hand.

"Hey, Jamey! What have you got there that's such bad news?" Antonio called from behind James, where he was sitting next to Bella, who happened to be sitting at the Queen's left-hand side. Violina and James had been sitting to her right-hand side, with Thomas and Samira next to James and the Queen next to Violina.

James turned toward Antonio and Bella to show them Samira. Their reactions were the same as Thomas's, just a little more, well...

"Holy hell!" Antonio shouted. He threw himself against the backrest of the blue armchair he had been sitting on, pulling his feet onto the armchair as well. The chair couldn't take the impact of the sudden extra weight and the power Antonio had thrown himself against the backrest of the chair, causing it to tip over on its hind legs and fall backward on the floor. A loud thud sounded as Antonio and the chair hit the ground, along with one of Antonio's most beloved curses.

"James – Is that really Samira?" Bella asked in unbelief, while her eyes flashed between the Pixie and Antonio, who was struggling to get off the chair.

"Sadly, Bella, yes, yes she is," James said and slowly moved his hand toward his chest.  
He carefully stroke Samira's hair with one of his fingers, when her eyelids started to flutter, causing James to quickly move his hand away.

Samira breathed deeply before finally opening her eyes. She pushed herself up with her underarms and stared up at James while she was doing a succeeding attempt into sitting up.

"James? What happened?" James was glad to hear that the voice the Pixie sitting in the palm of his hand spoke in was still his sister's, and not some kind of strange high-pitched pixie voice.

"You-you were hypnotized y a Fixie that had snuck into the Queen's Palace somehow," James replied silently, careful not to hurt Samira's ears. All he could was look into her eyes while apologizing. "I- I tried to reach you, but I failed to do so. I was too late. I'm really sorry that this had to happen to you, Samira."

Samira remembered a slight shard of the whole happening which had been going on just three minutes ago, and looked up at James. She managed to get on her feet and attempted to use her wings, which seemed to work out pretty well.

"Of course it wasn't your fault, James. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine, for leaving this room and listening to her," she answered to James with a serious voice.

"But I couldn't keep you away from her, I wasn't there to save you," James exclaimed. "So that makes it partially my fault as well! And don't you try to tell me otherwise!"  
Samira sighed. "Whether it's your fault or not, I don't care. I'm not mad at you. I mean – always look at the bright side of life."

She offered him a warm and comforting smile, which eventually gave James the power to smile back at her.

"You're right, Samira," James said. "But now we must find away to get you back to normal... Little sister." He couldn't help but smirk.

Behind him, he heard Queen Eloine clear her throat, announcing that she wanted James's attention.

"Oh, sorry, Your Majesty."

James turned around, with Samira on his hand, who had decided to standing was more her thing than of floating around all the time.

The Queen didn't look at James, but nodded. She examined Samira's situation, and then sighed.

"I see," she said. "I see. It is very tragic that the Fairy's Curse must find you, Samira."

"Is there a cure, Eloine?" Samira asked hopefully. "Can you undo the spell?"

Queen Eloine nodded in response. "There is a cure, Samira, but I can't undo the spell on my own. I can only cure you if you and Violina are willing to help. And it won't be easy..."

"What do you mean?" Samira asked uncomprehending. "What's not going to be easy? Why can't you heal me? You're the Fairy Queen! You possess all Fairy Magic in existence!"

The Queen shook her head. "Unfortunately, I can't heal you, Samira. And that's the hard part. You are going to have to do it yourself, along with a little bit of my help. And Violina's, of course."

"What?" Samira's exclaimed. "But- I don't have any healing powers! I can't do it! Why can't you just do it? Because I bet you do." Samira realised that she had been shouting at a Queen, blushed and apologized quickly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude."

Queen Eloine smiled warmly. "It's all right. But Magic alone won't break the curse that has changed your appearance, Samira."

"What are you talking about? I always thought "Magic" could solve any problem!" Antonio said angrily, while waving his arms in the air.

"Shut up and behave yourself when the Queen is speaking!" Violina hissed at him, but Queen Eloine shook her head at her. Now her attention was directed toward Antonio. She looked at him over James's shoulder.

"Antonio, I understand your misunderstanding. But trying to remove Magic buy using Magic, is like fighting fire with fire. It will just be replaced with new Magic; it doesn't work," she said. "Strong forms of Magic requires certain Magic to counterattack it. Otherwise, it'll do nothing."

"Your Majesty, with all my respect, but I still don't understand," Antonio replied. "Does that mean if one of us would get magically hurt in any way, there's no way to heal it?"

"Violina?" Queen Eloine said. "I think it's best if you explain. You are their Keeper, of course. I'm just a Guide that keeps them on their way."

Violina smiled as soon as she heard she got the ability to talk. "Certainly, sister," she said.

"Well, Antonio, sometimes, there is, in fact, a cure. The flowers and herbs that grow around this world are specific for the land, and are very powerful when brought together in the right way. Like magical medicine."

"But you just said that-" Antonio mumbled.

"I know what the Queen said, but the herbs work on most light spells, like a Fairy Flu."

"Fairy Flu?"

"It's a magical, much stronger flu than humans get when they've caught a cold. It causes fevers, and magical side effects, like... Um... Well, the one that's considered to be least bad one for us fairies is sleep-flying or control-less flying, because they hurt the least and can be solved the easiest."

"Sounds scary," Antonio mumbled.

"It is, trust me," Violina replied. "One of the Pixies had been cursed with it. You can only be infected if your opponent uses the special spell that belongs to the Fairy Flu. For Pixies it's fatal."

"And for humans?" Bella asked.

"I think you could last three weeks with the Fairy Flu in your system," Violina replied. "Not longer than a month, for sure."

"So we must be careful with possessed Fixie or Fairy attacks," James said. "Whatever you do: don't get hit."

Violina nodded. "Avoid getting hit at all costs boys, and Samira in special, because if you get cursed with the Fairy Flu, you cannot leave until you're fully healed from the Flu. You'll need our assistance to complete the healing process."

"Then we just have to make sure it doesn't happen," James replied. "Now, what can we do to get Samira to change back the way she was?"

"There is a special kind of flower that can heal anything caused by Magic," Queen Eloine said toward the five teenagers in general, while looking at them one by one.

"Great," Thomas suddenly spoke, who had been sitting silently in his chair for the past ten minutes. "Where can we go to collect it? I'll just go quickly and be back before you know it."

The Queen coughed. "Oh, I beg your pardon, where are my manners..."

She looked directly at Thomas and spoke with a strict voice. "Thomas, you cannot go and collect the flower without any assistance, even if it's just only having the help of your friends by your side."

"Why not?" Thomas commented shrugging. "Go out, get the flower, get back. No sweat."

"Thomas," Queen Eloine said, sounding even more strictly, "these flowers I'm referring to are growing in secret places, mostly far away from here. There is one field in the East of the Forest, far away from the Heart. You will have to collect at least three of them, in case you're ever in need of their magical assistance again."

"Couldn't someone have told us all of this before we left the Twilight Forest?" Thomas complained. "If we keep this up, the Master will find us and blow us to bits before we've even gotten across the mountains, for sure!"

Queen Eloine smiled at the sight of Thomas's ranting reaction. "Luckily, a path to the Lost Area of the Twilight Forest, where the flowers grow, leads from here straight toward there. It's some sort of secret passage only Violina and I know the existence of."

Thomas let out a loud sigh of relief. "Well, at least that spares us a long walk. At least one thing which is of our profit," he mumbled.

"Thomas, what in the world has happened to you? It's been hardly three days since we've entered the Silver Valley and you've turned in such a grump," Samira said.

"I am not a-!" Thomas exclaimed. "Why do people always think I'm grumpy when I'm not?"

"Nothing much," Samira said dryly. "It's just the way you're acting that's all." She threw Thomas a teasing grin. "Gotcha."

Thomas grinned back. "All right, I'll buy that. I admit I might have been acting like a grumpy old man in the past few days, and I'm sorry. But I am so upset because the role of the "Ultimate Optimist" has already been taken by James!"

This caused everyone to laugh, but it didn't last any longer than hardly a few seconds. There was work to do.

"All right guys, let's get back to business quickly before we lose it," Antonio said.

"It's about time we went and got those flowers to help Samira." He looked at Violina and Queen Eloine.

"Very well," Queen Eloine said as she stood up from her light blue armchair.

"Bond of Light; follow me, if you please."

The Five followed her, accompanied by Violina.

They walked through the hallways of the Palace to an area outside at the back of the palace, something James would consider to be a huge, private backyard.

At the edge of the garden, it seemed like the trees were bending toward each other at one particular spot. It looked odd.

"Now watch," Violina whispered.

Queen Eloine walked forward, toward the spot where the trees were bending over.

She raised her left hand, as sparkling pixie dust surrounded both her hand and the trees, that suddenly bended back until they were as straight and static as the others.

The secret passage had been revealed.

"Whoa, how did you do that?" Antonio asked in awe. Violina smiled at him.

"Only The Royal's Magic works on the gate," she said. "Which is either mine or Eloine's."

"So Samira couldn't open nor close the gate if she tried?" Bella asked. Violina shook her head.

"No, no Pixie or Fairy can, except The Royals. It's magically protected, that's why. Once you enter, the Gate's timer starts. It shall count the number of life sources passing.  
The Passage's Gate will remain open until the same number of life sources that entered has returned."

"So if something like a Warlock Spirit catches up with us and they're at the Gate first-" Thomas said, but Violina cut him off in the middle of his sentence.

"One of you shall not be able to return through the Passage, someone of The Royals shall have to open it at the other side."

"Does every area have pixies?" Samira asked. "Just curious."

"Of course the other realms have pixies," Violina answered the blonde-haired pixie's question.

"The Fantasy Valley has the most, in special then the piece that has been reserved for us. But in every Realm there are small, hidden Pixie Villages you can only find when you're a Pixie or have a Pixie keeping you company. They are very careful with picking acquaintances."

"They must be, with all the danger roaming this world," Thomas said while holding his chin with his right hand, like he was thinking. "I think we'd have better chances of surviving if we could win their trust and get as much allies spread over all five the Realms as we can."

"I'd give you a low chance in the Land of Void, my boy," Eloine said. "No one with a pure soul has ever entered there and returned with the same, pure soul. It's nearly impossible that you'll find anyone like you and us at all."

"But where are the other two Keepers, then?" Bella asked. "The Five of the First Generation were chosen to be the Keepers of the other Generations. And we've met only three."

"They are probably waiting for you somewhere behind the mountain range," Violina answered. "And that's why you need to hurry. People are waiting for you."

"What do you suggest we'd do?" Antonio asked Violina. "Should we split up when we get there?"

"I think splitting up isn't a wise thing to do, Antonio," Thomas said, trying to prevent getting himself separated from James.

"Like Violina said: we need each other. That's all we have."

The others nodded in agreement, and Antonio sighed. "Fine, fine," he said. "I suppose that we'll go back to the Twilight Forest together. But splitting up would've been faster."

"Splitting up might be faster, but not safer!" Thomas grunted through gritted teeth. "You know what happened last time that we got split up."

"When?" Antonio asked sceptically,

"Remember when you almost fell to your death in a secret trap?" Thomas commented dryly.

"I still have no idea what you're talking about, Britty-boy," Antonio replied shrugging, but his mouth was grinning. "Come on, we should go."

Thomas bowed quickly for the Queen, but then walked toward the gate with big, quick steps, so the others had to nearly run the first ten meters to keep up with him.

"Thomas, Samira is kind of right, you're acting like a little bit of a huge gru-"

"James, I don't want to shout at you, because I've had the feeling I've been angry at you - at all of you without any reason too much lately," Thomas cut James's sentence.

"Just don't mention it and it will fly by. It are just my nerves who can't take this whole thing."  
The nineteen-year-old British-born quickened his pace, so the other four's attempts to keep up with him were kind of in vain.

"Thomas, you're the one who's ranting about the importance of not getting split up, but you're walking twice as fast as us!" Bella shouted, starting to pant. "We can't keep up with you!"

"Antonio wanted to get those flowers fast, and so do I," Thomas replied. "The quicker we're out of here, the better. I don't feel comfortable with the idea of being back in the Twilight Forest."

The others couldn't do anything but agree with the green-haired teenager, and responded by shrugging at each other.

It didn't take so much of a long walk before the Bond of Light had left the passage and entered the darkness of the Twilight Forest once again.

"Guys, watch your step here," James said, half whispering. "Make sure not to make too much noise; the Warlock Spirits are probably following our every move, waiting for a chance to strike.

Violina, can you, by any chance, locate the village hidden here?"

"Certainly, James. I'll try my best," the silver-haired Pixie who had shrunk back to her usual size replied.

It took her a while, but after they'd been walking for some time, Violina had found something. She opened her eyes, and shouted in a whisper: "There!"

She pointed at somewhere in the shadows, but somewhere in the darkness, there were some lights glowing, like fireflies. The teenagers walked toward the village, and as they came closer, the illusion that hid the village disappeared. Suddenly, they were standing in the middle of the village, as if the rest of the Twilight Forest had never been there.

"Illusion spell," Violina mumbled to herself. "Smooth move."

As soon as the presence of the teenagers and their guide was noticed, Pixies started to come near them.  
They fluttered around the teenagers, chattering excitedly in Latin, and as soon as they noticed Violina, they started to chatter even louder.

"Seems like they don't get visitors like us all day," James said and squatted to greet some of the Pixies around them.

"Hi, I'm James, and I'm looking for a special flower," he said, while waving with his hand. The Pixies squeaked in fear and quickly backed away, shaking with terror.

"Hey- no, it's okay! I'm not going to hurt you," James said and smiled, like he was talking to a stray or wounded animal at the streets back in his home town.

"Um, James, I don't think it's you they're so scared of," Thomas mumbled stiffly. "I think it's them over there that are scaring the crap out of them."

James straightened his legs, and turned around to see what Thomas was trying to point out. It didn't take him long to see what was going on, and gasped as fear clutched his throat.

For as far James could see, they were surrounded by a clan of Warlock Spirits and Shadow Walkers.

And they didn't look like they were very happy to see the five teenagers.

The teenagers stood as still as they could next to each other, and so did the Warlock Spirits at the other side.

"Um, hello, nice to meet you," James said suddenly. "May I ask you what you exactly want from us?"

One of the Warlock Spirits snickered in contempt. "I can't believe it," he said to one of his fellow Warlock Spirits next to him. "Did they really choose these fools to be the saviours of their little world? And they truly believe they're actually going to pull it off?" His red, glowing eyes suddenly stared right into James's. It was almost mesmerizing, causing James to feel a little woozy.

"I shall tell you exactly what we came for, boy." The voice of the Warlock Spirit had an unmistakable threatening undertone. "Hand yourself over to us, and no one shall be harmed."

Somewhere inside his head, James could hear a tiny voice shout:

Do what he says! Save your friends, James!

For a moment, James felt like he should respond to the voice calling him, and did a step forward.

Thomas reacted instantly, and instinctively grabbed James's forearm.

The touch of Thomas's hand pulling him back was enough for James's heart to jump up and fight the mesmerizing eyes of the Warlock Spirit, causing James to snap out of it.

"No, thanks," he mumbled confidently as soon as he'd come back to his senses. "We can save ourselves, and we'll free this world of your master at the same time."

"Your choice," the Warlock Spirit growled. "Then die with your friends by your side!"  
The next moment, the Warlock Spirit lashed out at James with some kind of sharp blade, but James managed to dodge it.

When the Warlock charged for his second attack, James quickly pulled out his sword to block the attack. The metal of the Warlock's sword clattered against James's sword.

While he was struggling to throw the Warlock off, James noticed that the sword the Warlock Spirit was using was a real Glaive, just like Antonio.

They have a pretty interesting weapon choice, the redhead thought. If they only weren't trying to kill me with them, I'd give them some compliments about the swords they're using, for sure.

He finally managed to win the struggle from the Spirit, who stumbled backwards and fell down in the grass. James took his chance and held his sword at the Warlock's throat. He realised then that he hadn't noticed that no one had moved since the Warlock slashed out toward him until he had defeated the Warlock.

"Had enough?" James bluffed, like he was the toughest guy around (he wasn't). "Any last words before I slice your head off?"

The Warlock Spirit looked up at James. He had a dangerous shimmer in his eyes. "Kill him," he said. "And don't stop until you succeed doing so."

James lashed out with his sword as quick as he could, trying to prevent the other Spirits from hearing their leader's command, but they'd already got the message.

"Attack!" one growled, and the crowd came into movement. Approximately fifteen Warlock Spirits against four teenagers and two pixies. They were outnumbered, for sure.

But all they could do to stay alive was fight back.

There were sounds of screaming, shouting and moaning voices, clattering of metal against metal, agonizing yelping when someone got hit. Luckily, it were mostly the Warlock Spirits that were the screaming as they dissolved into nothing.

James ran across the small area that had become part of the "battlefield," searching for Violina and Samira.

"Sam! Violina!" he shouted. "Samira!"

But he couldn't find her, neither could he find Violina, and it started to worry him. Where could they possibly be?

But he couldn't answer his own question, because right at that moment, both a Shadow Walker and a Warlock Spirit were running toward him. The Warlock was holding a weapon, but this was some kind of different blade. It was long and very thin; a Swallow Sword.

James thought he would have enough time, but the Spirit and his companion came quicker than expected; they surprised the sixteen-year-old by dissolving into fog and reappearing behind him. As James turned around, the Warlock got a chance to lash out with the sword and cut James's arm, right across the scabs, tearing them open again. James yelped, and yanked his arm backward in a reflex. His sword sliced right through the Warlock Spirit, causing it to dissolve and disappear along with its companion Shadow Walker. Dumb luck, but at least he was safe.

Suddenly, the entire forest fell silent again. The colours of the city's lights slowly came back to James's eyes, and the pixies started to come out of their hideouts, where they had taken a flight to while the teenagers took care of the Spirits ambushing their village.

"A-are you all right?" one of the Pixies mumbled. She wore a pretty dress, in green and pink colours. Her hair was lemon green, and her eyes were big and the irises were something like a warm caramel colour.

"U-hu," James replied. His eyes quickly flashed from the Pixie toward the cut in his arm. It didn't feel that bad, and from what he could see, it didn't look bad either. Lucky.

He heard the footsteps of his approaching friends, and knew everything was all right. Except for Bella, who was leaning on Antonio's and Thomas's shoulders to stay up. She didn't really look like she was awake, though.  
"What happened to her?" James asked.  
"A Shadow Walker bit her in the leg, then she tripped and fell backwards. She hit her head on a stone," Antonio said. "We'll have to carry her back to the Queen so she can heal her leg. I think it might be broken."

"Ouch," James mumbled. "Typically Bella's kind of bad luck. Well, it could've been worse..." He touched his own arm with care, and hissed through gritted teeth as his fingers touched the open wound.

"James?" a familiar voice shouted from a distance. "Are you all right?"

"Samira?" James turned back around, toward the unknown Pixie. Samira and Violina were approaching, and Samira held...

...A flower. No, three of them.

James couldn't believe it. They had pulled it off a lot quicker than expected! The flowers just grew in the Pixie Village. All they would've had to do was ask.

"Samira! Violina! You're safe! And you've got the flowers!" the red-haired teenager shouted happily. "That means we can leave straight away!"  
"Well, James, you owe some gratitude toward Sadria here," Violina said, gesturing toward the Pixie with the lime green hair and caramel eyes.

"I am Sadria, Royal of the Sunset Village. My name means Lotus Tree," the little Pixie said with a slight bow. "It's been a true honour to help you, Bond of Light. I hope the flower will bring your salvation, Samira."

"I'm sure it will," Samira smiled back. Apparently, Samira had explained the whole situation to Sadria. "Well- at least, I hope it will."

"Queen Eloine said it would, Samira, so it will. Trust me," James said, while laying a comforting hand – eh, finger - on her shoulder. "Sadria, what could I possibly do to repay you for bringing us the flower?"

"Nothing, sir," Sadria replied. "Being here, risking your lives for us plus the fact that you just saved our village alone is already enough.  
After all: it's actually even more than we could ever repay you."

James blushed slightly and smiled. "Oh, please, don't call me sir like I'm anything higher than you," he said. "Call me James. Are you sure there's nothing we can do? Nothing you want us to do?"

"No, of course not, young Guardian James," the pixie in front of him said. "All you can do for me, and I think and hope I speak for everyone of my folk, is go and continue your quest and save Lunaria from the tyranny that it keeps captivated."

Sadria smiled at James, and James smiled back. The fixie looked like a twelve-year-old girl, but something in her eyes seemed to remind him of someone back home.

Home. James felt an attack of homesickness coming up in his heart again, but quickly pushed it away.

"Very well, then," he said to Sadria. "We will try our very best to fulfil your request."

"May you remain well and safe, Guardians," Sadria said, still smiling. "And now, I'd like to say: Vale."

"Goodbye to you too, Sadria," Thomas said smiling, careful not to move forward too much, because then he would have to drop Bella. "And remain healthy. Vale."  
"Are we the only ones who don't use random Latin words on a daily base just to sound interesting?" Antonio whispered to Bella, but realised that she was still unconscious and sighed deep. "So far for the conversation then, Jingle Bells. Nice talking to you."

He threw a worried look at the teenage girl. "Please wake up soon... Tell me you're okay."

Antonio bent a little to the right and gave Thomas a tap on the shoulder. "Thomas?" he asked.

"Yes, Antonio?" Thomas said.

"I think I can carry her on my own," Antonio replied. Thomas responded with a confused look.

"Are you sure?" he said.

Antonio nodded. "Yeah, she's not that heavy, after all."

*

The teenagers had said goodbye to Sadria and her friends and were heading back to the entrance of the secret passage.

"Do you think she'll be all right?" Samira asked Antonio while sitting on his shoulder, referring to the still unconscious Bella whom he was carrying.

"I hope so," Antonio replied. "Her leg looks pretty bad, and there's a huge hole on the back of her head. Her hair is now sticky all the way due to the blood."

"Oh," Samira gasped. "I hope Queen Eloine can find a way to heal her..."

"Sure she can. It didn't happen by Magic right? And if she can't, you'll perhaps be able to do it," Antonio commented.

"Antonio, how many times do I have to repeat myself? I've already told you, I have no idea what the Queen meant when she said that I could heal myself! If I don't know how to heal myself, how can you possibly expect me to be able to do something for Bella? What if I hurt him, or cause his injuries to get worse?"

"You won't Samira, trust me," Thomas commented. He was talking to Samira, but his attention in general was directed toward James, who was walking between Antonio and Thomas. James had clamped his left hand convulsively to his right arm and moaned slightly.

"James, perhaps if you just let go of your arm, it wouldn't hurt so much," Thomas mumbled toward James, but the red-haired sixteen-year-old shook his head.

"It won't stop bleeding, so I have to keep my hand against it," he responded.

"James, if you just let me see, I might be able to-"

"Thomas, no, I told you it won't stop bleeding! It's not bad enough for me to bleed to death, but I'd like to keep my clothes clean." The voice of the sixteen-year-old started to become more irritated.

"Then you should see what this is doing to your gloves," Thomas muttered.

"I can clean those any time if I want to," James said, "but my shirt is already missing half of its sleeve due to the hole the claw made in it-"

"Just let me see, James."

"No."

"James, don't be such a cocky little kid! I'm trying to help you, and that wound has to be cleaned first before we do anything about it!" Thomas was trying to keep his voice soft and gentle, but the irritation in the tone on which he spoke was unmistakable.

"Thomas, we can clean it at the Queen's Palace if you want to so badly! Right now it's safe from harm, underneath my hand," James said.

"James, you have washed neither that glove nor your hands in days! Don't you understand how bad it is for the wound to keep your hand on it?"

It was Samira. She had fluttered from Antonio's shoulder to Thomas's, and saw the awful condition the cut had gotten in. The scabs from earlier were cut open again, following a new cut, that went from James's shoulder to his elbow. The hand James pushed against the wound was stained red at some spots due to the blood trying to find a way to stream from underneath James's hand.

"Do you have a better idea to stop the bleeding then, Samira?" James asked her.

The Pixie shook her head.

"Well, then."

The teenagers were too busy arguing to notice they were being watched. By warrior fairies.

"Are you sure that it's them?"

"Unmistakable! Look at their costumes! It has to be them. There's no other possibility."

"They're coming for the flowers Asura asked us to guard with our lives. The Guardians must not get them! At all costs!"

"If you say so... Then we should attack!"

The teenagers didn't get any time to realise what was going on, because within a matter of seconds, they were under attack of six angry fairies.  
They instinctively pulled out their weapons as the Fairies attacked; Antonio rushed to a tree to make sure Bella was safe first.

"Antonio! How are you doing?" James shouted as he blocked a magical attack from a blonde-haired Fairy.

Antonio seemed to have a lot worse time, because he had to take on two Fairies on his own. He threw his glaive at one of them, which appeared to turn out into a shot in the bulls-eye. The Fairy stumbled backwards and disappeared into fog.

"Great, Jamey! Thanks for asking!" Antonio yelled, as he retrieved his weapon.

He wanted to push the glaive right into the other fairy, but she caught it and managed to turn the tables. Antonio ran forward, and fought her hand-to-hand until he had his weapon back – and the fairy had disappeared.

Thomas turned his head as he defeated the Fairy that had been attacking him. "Samira! Look out!" he shouted, as the fifth of the six Fairies aimed for Samira. Thomas swung his sword forward, just in time to block the attack. The curse the fairy had cast out shot away, seeking for a new target.

James yelped as the beam that represented the curse hit him in the chest and threw him backward against a tree.

"JAMES!" Thomas shouted, and angrily lashed out to the remaining two Fairies. Stunned by Thomas's sudden, furious attack, they backed away and took the flight, off into the Forest.

Samira flew as fast as she could toward Bella, making sure she was still doing okay as well.

Thomas had already knelt down next to James, who had collapsed against the tree. "James! James, are you all right?" Thomas exclaimed worried.

It took a while, but eventually, there came a response from James. "Yeah, I'm fine," the red-haired teenager said. "Just a little dizzy due to the impact..."

"Come on, buddy," Thomas said, while helping James to stand up. "Let's head back to the Queen's Palace. She needs to check what kind of Magic has hit you."

*

The remaining few metres of the way back to the Passage were spent in silence. When the Five – or, well, they were with six - arrived at the Entrance, they were unhappily surprised.  
An Warlock Spirit was blocking the path, probably one that snuck away from the battle earlier and waited for them at the Entrance.

"This is where the road ends for you, Guardians," the Warlock Spirit said while raising his arm and pointing with his index finger toward the teenagers.

"Surrender now or you'll be separated. And you all know what separation means for the Bond of Light...  
...Game over." He laughed.

"We're not afraid of you," Thomas said. "It's just one against at least two. We can take you out within a second."

"Attack me, and I will enter the Entrance, Guardian," the Spirit said threatening. "This means that one of you won't be able to return through the Entrance and shall have to travel through the Twilight Forest on their own, where they will be found by the Shadow Walkers roaming the forest... You have no choice but to surrender."

Thomas grimaced. "I'm never going to surrender, and especially not to someone who's way beneath my dignity."

He took a step forward, causing the Warlock Spirit to glide backward closer to the Entrance, but it didn't enter.

"What's the point, anyway? I mean- it's not like we have to go through the Secret Passage. We can get back to the Valley through the Twilight Forest if we want to. We've done it before."

The English-born teenager's eyes darkened as they stared angrily at the Warlock. "You have no kind of control over us."

"You think I don't, boy?" the Evil Spirit said, still gliding further toward the Entrance. "This Entrance remains open until six life sources will have passed. It cannot be manually closed. And when I enter, the Magic barrier your Queen has created around her lands to protect her from evil, will be gone. Darkness shall be able to destroy everything good in the Fantasy Valley, and the gates shall always be open! Then you shall have no place left to run to, and no place left to hide! And now you're trying to tell me I hadn't any kind of control over you!"

Thomas swallowed. The Warlock actually did have a point there. But he couldn't back away now. He would just have to bluff him and his friends a way out of it.

"Bring it on, then," he said confidently. "Show me what you've got."  
The nineteen-year-old pulled out his sword and ran forward, while roaring loudly. But just at the moment he was about to lash out at the Warlock, the Spirit dodged his attack and disappeared into the Entrance.

"Oh, screw it! Antonio, take James and Bella through the Passage and make sure that they reach the Palace! The injured first!"

"But Thomas-" Antonio protested.

"Do as I say, Antonio! Trust me!"

Antonio didn't ask more questions. He just simply grabbed James's healthy arm, without letting go of Bella, and ran through the Entrance, with Violina after them. James made loud protests at first, but they faded out as soon as they had entered the Passage.

"Thomas, what are we going to do now? Only one of us can pass! This isn't going to work!" Samira exclaimed.

"It's just a matter of time before the Shadow Walkers get here, so we have to act quick and concrete," Thomas mumbled. "Samira, step onto my hand."

"What?" Samira asked. "Thomas, please talk louder, I can't understand what you're saying."

Thomas simply stuck his hand out toward the Pixie on his shoulder. "Sit down," he said.  
Samira did what she was told.

Thomas started to run toward the entrance, and pushed Samira slightly against his chest. "I hope this works, and that it won't kick one of us out," he said. "There we go!"

He ran through the Entrance, which instantly started to close. Thomas ran as fast as he could to stay ahead of the bending trees, and it eventually worked.

When he entered the Queen's Valley, he nearly tripped over a tree root and stumbled forward across the open place.  
Antonio and Bella weren't there, but James was. "I sent Antonio ahead with Bella," he said. "Come on. Let's go."

The Bond of Light arrived at the Queen's Palace without any further problems. When they entered, Violina was waiting for them in the hallway.

"The Queen is expecting you in a different room this time," she said. "Follow me."

The room they entered was decorated in the same style as the living room, but seemed to have a much warmer feeling, due to the floor being from spruce wood planks.

A king size bed stood in the middle of the room, and someone familiar to the teenagers was lying in it.  
"Bella! You're awake!" Samira said as she fluttered toward her, while still carrying the flowers. "You've still got them!" Bella responded. "I'm glad to see you're okay, Sam."  
"So are we to see that you are as well," Antonio said with a crooked smile on his face, as he fluffed Bella's hair.

"Ouch, Antonio, that hurts," Bella moaned. "Please be careful."

"Oh, sorry, Jingle Bells. I thought you would've already recovered."

"She might still feel pain in her leg and head for the next few days," Queen Eloine said, who had suddenly seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

"And there is a chance that her leg won't be strong enough to carry him today. Especially not when you'll be climbing the mountain, so I'd advice that you spend the night here, and see how it goes tomorrow morning."

"If you've got the time, could you please examine James?" Thomas said. "He has been hit by some kind of Magic spell." James was leaning on the Brit's shoulder.

"I will, boys. But I can't say if it's anything bad or not before any symptoms show up, so I'll have to give it an hour or two before I can examine him," Queen Eloine said. "I suggest that you have dinner together with me and sleep here. If I can watch it progress throughout the evening, I can come up with an quicker solution. For now... Samira, will you come over here and bring me one of the three flowers?"

Samira dropped one flower on Bella's bed and fluttered with the other one to Queen Eloine.  
"Your Majesty, can you show me how I am supposed to use the flower?"

The Queen nodded. "Come with me to the living room, there I will show you. Bella, I'd suggest that you try to sleep and take some rest. It's been a long day; we'll wake you up before dinner."

The four teenagers and left Bella alone, who immediately sank down on her pillow and closed her eyes.

In the living room, Queen Eloine walked toward a medicine cabin and got some sort of golden bowl out of it. It had been decorated with tiny emeralds and sapphires; she took the flower from Samira, put it inside the bowl, before setting it on the table.

"Now, Samira, I want you to concentrate on the flower's energy," Queen Eloine said. Samira landed on the table and spread her arms.

Nothing happened at fist, and Samira was starting to get worried it wouldn't work. But Queen Eloine kept encouraging her to keep going. And suddenly, the flower started to glow, and so did Samira. She got lifted off the ground as a trail of sparkles surrounded her.

A white flash filled the room, but it didn't knock everyone back, like the one that changed Samira at first.

The white light faded out, and Samira was sitting on the table. She had been turned back into her old self.

She gasped happily while looking at her hands, jumped up from the table and hugged James and Thomas. "Guys! We did it!" she cheered loudly.

"Samira, I am so proud of you! I knew you could do it!" James said, holding his sister's shoulders and smiling at her. "And now all of this is out of the way... I'm thirsty; I'm going to refill our water sacks at the moat outside."

He grabbed the leather shoulder bag Thomas had dropped on his chair earlier that day and left the room. "I'm back before you know it," he said.

Samira waited for about a minute after James had left the room before leaving as well. "I might better go and look after him. We still don't know what he was hit by."

At the moat, James was digging around in the bag which he had hung around his shoulder to find one of the water sacks.

But right as he pulled one out of the bag and wanted to squat to fill it, his hands started to shake. It felt like they were asleep; it was a cold and tingly feeling, that quickly spread across his body, causing him to lose all muscle control.  
James's fingertips first turned white, and then blue. The same kind of colour appeared underneath his eyes, forming a strange pattern across his head.  
James winced and staggered, but tried to stay on his feet and not to fall into the water, with his feet at the absolute edge of the moat. But he quickly lost control of the muscles in his legs; his knees buckled and he fell forward into the water.
Fairy Flu

"JAMES! NO!"

Samira sprinted toward the moat, where James had just disappeared underneath the water's surface. She knelt down at the water's shore, bending over until her head was under water, in hopes of finding her brother, but she had no such luck.

"Dang it!" Samira said as she pulled her head back up to breathe. "It's a whole lot deeper than I was hoping it'd be down there." And without any further hesitation, she took a deep breath and dove into the cold water. Luckily, James hadn't sunk down too far, so Samira was able to get to him quickly.

She grabbed him, and held on to him tightly while swimming back to the surface and dragging the two of them back on land.

As quick as she could, Samira got to her knees and looked at James to examine him. The redhead was extremely cold, with a bunch of blue marks going all around his face and fingertips.

"Oh no," Samira mumbled; she knew that whatever this was, it wasn't good. She stood up, got her brother in her arms as careful as she could, and started to run back to the Palace.

"Samira! Violina!" the eighteen-year-old shouted, while quickening her pace. Antonio, Thomas, Violina and Queen Eloine approached him from the other side of the hallway.  
"What's wrong, Samira?" Violina asked.  
"Something's wrong with James," Samira replied with a very concerned look in her eyes, which immediately reflected on her friends' faces.

Queen Eloine gently pushed Thomas and Antonio aside and stepped forward.

"Come with me," she said. "We'll need to put him on the examination table."

They all returned to the room where Bella was sleeping, who woke up as soon as she heard the nervously mumbling voices and footsteps entering the room.

"What happened?" she mumbled, still sleep-charged, but nobody answered or even looked at her. The Queen used her Magic to let a steel examination table roll toward them by itself.

Bella slowly managed got out of bed, and tried to stand on the leg that had been broken. It hurt a little, but she was able reach the others while half walking and half hopping, where she managed to cling onto Antonio's shoulder.

"What happened?" she whispered. Antonio turned his head and looked at the teenager clamping onto his shoulder, and then moved his arm around the girl's shoulder.  
"It's James," Antonio said. "He's quite the unluckiest lad in the world, currently."

Samira carefully laid the red-haired teenager down on the cold steel table. It was clear that James could feel the cold, because he winced for a second before becoming motionless again.

His chest rose slowly yet naturally, but the blue marks were still there.

"Can you tell what's wrong with him, Your Majesty?" Thomas asked. "It better be quick. I don't think he looks too well."

Queen Eloine stared at James, and carefully hovered a hand over his chest.

"It looks like a strange mutation of the Fairy Flu," she said, while her blue eyes kept looking at James with a concerned look. "This is not good."

"What- what do you mean by that?" Samira exclaimed, almost sounding desperate. Her eyes flashed from the Fairy Queen in front of her to her little brother on the table.

"I mean that normally, the first stage doesn't occur until 72 hours after being cursed," Queen Eloine said. "For James, it took hardly an hour."

"W-what?" Samira almost had to squeeze the word out of her throat.

"It means if we don't act now, James could be dead in less than a day," Queen Eloine said. There was sadness in her voice.

"No! We can't let that happen!" Samira shouted, as tears started to sting her eyes again.

"There must be something you can do! Like- the flowers! Can't you use those to heal him?"

"Samira, as much as I'd like to see your brother back in full health, this won't be an easy job. The Magic that was used to curse your brother is stronger than any fairy Magic we've ever experienced before," Violina said. "Where did he get hit?"

"He was hit right in the chest," Thomas mumbled. "Please don't tell me that that makes it worse."

"It does," Queen Eloine said. "The heart and the head are the worst places to be hit with Magic... It's the hardest to remove the source from a vital organ."

She tilted her head and looked at Samira. "Samira, you are going to help me save your brother."

Samira stared at the Queen, not knowing what to say or do. "But how would you expect me to help you?" she finally asked, hoping not to sound disrespectful. "I lost all my magical potential when the curse was lifted!"

Queen Eloine smiled. "No, I certainly believe you haven't. Don't you remember what Akilah told you?"

She walked away and left the room, but returned shortly.

"A long time ago, Akilah told me to hang on to this necklace until I'd find someone who it belonged to. She never mentioned who, but I believe I do now." She returned to the teenagers while carrying a silver-coloured satin pillow with a beautiful necklace on it. It was a long chain, with a single gemstone in the exact middle. It was a pink, rhombus-shaped diamond that was glowing softly. On the silver surrounding that kept the diamond secure to the, the word "Loyalty" had been engraved.

"Please, take it. It belongs to you," Queen Eloine said.

Samira's hand slowly reached out for the necklace to pick it up. Once her fingertips touched it, she felt some kind of connection being created between her and the energy that was sealed inside the stone. But it didn't feel new; it felt like it had always been a part of her.

"Come on, Sammy, let me help you with that," Bella mumbled from behind Samira when he saw her struggle to get the lock of the necklace to lock around her neck, and took the two threads from her to do it for her; apparently, Bella's leg had now grown strong enough to carry her weight again.

As soon as the necklace was hanging securely around Samira's neck, the pink stone's glow became even brighter, creating a similar scene as to what had happened to Bella and Thomas.

"Samira Riverdale," Akilah's voice echoed around the room.

"Guard this stone with your life. It represents your power; to heal the sick and injured. All you have to do is believe, like you did when you believed in yourself when you removed the Fairy Curse which had been casted on your own soul.

When it comes to it, this energy could save one's life. Believe in yourself, Samira. Stay loyal to your friends, and to yourself. By doing so, you'll unleash your Guardian's Totem; Loyalty."

Samira's feet touched the ground, and the light of the stone dimmed again to the way it had been before.

The girl stared with unbelieving eyes at the stone, which rested peacefully on her chest; she touched it carefully with her fingertips.

"So... You knew this all along?" Samira said, while raising her head, directing to the Queen.

Queen Eloine smiled. "Of course I did. All of this has been foretold, remember?" she replied. "Together with the powers within the flower and the Magic that's contained within that stone and within your soul, I might be able to heal him. We might be able to heal him."

"...Might?" Bella mumbled, leaning on Antonio's arm once again. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that Samira needs training on how to use her powers, but I fear that James doesn't have enough time for that," Queen Eloine replied. "As I said before, the first stage had showed upon him within less than an hour. That's three days – or 71 hours – early for humans. This means that the second stage shall begin before midnight."

"How many stages are there?" Antonio asked, while slight confusion was showing in the nineteen-year-old's eyes.

"Four," Queen Eloine replied. "The later the stage, the longer it lasts, but it also gets more painful as the stage progresses."

"Is there nothing you can do?" Samira said. Her eyebrows were curled in a worried frown which had a certain angle which most likely no one's eyebrows had ever been at before, and the worry in her eyes was so great that it was almost literally heartbreaking to see the girl's face.

Samira fell forward on her knees, clasping her hands together. "I am begging you, Queen Eloine," she said.  
"I beg you, please teach me how I can help him. He's my brother. I couldn't imagine a life without him."

Violina covered her mouth as her expression changed. She stared at Samira in something the eighteen-year old first mistook for confusion and worry, but seconds later she realised that there was pity in the fixie's eyes. Pity and fear.

The Queen gave the teenager that had just knelt in front of her and desperately begged her to save the injured boy on the examination table a disappointed look. But it wasn't Samira whom the disappointment had been directed toward.

"This has never happened before," she whispered. "Only once. And she promised us all..." Queen Eloine walked past the teenagers and returned to the still unconscious – or perhaps sleeping – James. She gently stroke the boy's red hair, before walking over to the window, where she held still.

Queen Eloine stared out of the window for a few seconds more, before finally speaking up again. "She promised us all that she would never do it again."

"Who? And what?" Samira asked, feeling slightly bewildered, but didn't approach the Queen. In fact, everyone remained where they were, as if frozen in place. Except for the Queen, who sighed deeply and turned around to face the teenagers.

"I'm sure you all know the tale how the first Bond of Light was chosen," she said. "And, of course you know what happened after this first Generation had fallen. A part of the Spirits lives in them, in their souls. Waiting to be set free and to return to their former bodies when the Light has been returned – or the Keepers' body whose soul they are connected to dies. Then their souls shall separate again."

The Queen fell silent again, perhaps waiting for one of Antonio's witty comments, but none came.

"The Almighty Spirit, Akilah, was the one who'd set it all up. Quickly, before discussing it with her brothers and sisters. She was able to take their shattered pieces and send them off to Earth... but she'd added a preference for the kind of soul the pieces would choose.

The Guardians took the Sources of Light with them to Lunaria, and when the fifth Source was activated, the Spirits who created the Life Sources connected themselves to the souls of the Guardians, making them "immortal." Which they weren't really, of course, because they could be killed – just as easily as any regular human.

But it prevented them from aging and so a natural death, because the Spirits don't age either, of course.

But the little "quirk" Akilah had decided to add, was that every single Generation required two blood-relatives. In the case of the First Generation, it were Rikki and Gabriel – the little sister and the older, overprotective brother.

Rikki unfortunately died before her brother, leaving Gabriel behind heart-broken and grieving, unable to keep his mind on the quest.

This became his undoing in the end.

It angered all of us Keepers after we heard Gabe's cries for his little sister. We went to find Akilah, hoping to receive an explanation, which she gave us.

She thought the strength of a family bond alone would be strong enough to complete the quest, but unfortunately, the girl was too young.

Never since then, a Guardian younger than Rikki had been chosen, nor had any people who were in any kind of relation been."

"How old was Rikki when she died?" Samira asked out of curiosity.

"Thirteen and a half," Queen Eloine said. "She mentioned the half part once. We put an Age Line around the selection of Guardians. The Age Line is fourteen, though no one really agreed with Guardians of that young, but Akilah was convinced that the Innocence of Children is the strongest kind of magical weapon that we could possibly have."

The Queen fell silent, as the candles threw dark shadows on her beautiful face. The sun had started to set, and had already disappeared behind the trees.

"I think it's most rational if we begin James's healing process right now, Samira," Queen Eloine said while she walked back to her former spot. She walked toward the girl and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.  
"I shall do what I can to heal him, and won't stop until I've given everything, Samira. I promise." She then shifted her attention toward Bella, Thomas and Antonio. "I insist you three wait outside, and perhaps have some rest. Violina shall show you your rooms."

"But- can't we stay?" Thomas mumbled. "We've-"  
His sentence got cut off by Samira, who suddenly was standing right next to him. She smiled, but it wasn't a smile of happiness, but of pity. "I know what you mean, Thomas. But it's best if you waited outside.  
I'm worried about him, just like you guys are. But there's nothing you can do.

Thomas? Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do, Samira, why wouldn't I?" Thomas replied, slightly confused.

"Then leave," Samira said. "Leave, get yourself some dry clothes, have some sleep. I'll keep healing James until he's completely back to normal. I promise."

She opened her arms, and Thomas walked into them. He was surprised that he wasn't grossed-out by the wet clothing Samira was wearing; instead, he wanted to hold her tighter – and probably even kiss her. But he knew she wouldn't accept his kiss – let alone answer it.

"Samira, I should get you and your brother some dry clothing," Violina said. "I think we have some clothes for you and your brother that have belonged to former Guardians. I'll get you to them straight away, and I'll put those you're wearing now outside to dry. We absolutely can't afford to take the risk that James is going to catch a cold as well, which he's most likely to get if he keeps wearing those wet and ripped things. And so do you."

Violina escorted Thomas, Antonio and Bella out of the room, leaving Samira and Queen Eloine alone with James. The fixie returned shortly with a tunic and trousers that were identical to the ones James was wearing, plus a pair of fluffy grey socks and white underwear.

"Just give me his shoes, cape and gloves, and I'll be out of here," she said with a broad smile, but it was obvious that she wasn't truly happy.

"Just a moment," Queen Eloine said. She quickly made a circling motion over James's clothing and then pointed with that same flat hand toward the clothes Violina was carrying.

The clothes glowed shortly, and the next thing that happened, was that Violina now was suddenly carrying James's wet clothes, and James was dressed in the new, dry clothes.

"Simple swapping spell," Queen Eloine explained to Samira. "Avoids embarrassing situations... if you know what I mean."  
This statement of the Queen caused Samira to laugh. "Works like a charm," she said.

But she knew that this wasn't the moment for goofing around. Her best friend and little brother was dying, and the fate of his life was in her hands.

Her clumsy, tiny hands. How was she supposed to save him? Like she'd saved herself earlier that day? Samira didn't even know how she'd pulled that off, so how could she possibly repeat that?

It was as if Queen Eloine possessed the power to read minds (which she probably did, but you can never know for sure). She smiled warmly and comfortingly at Samira, and laid a hand on the young girl's shoulder.

"Do not fret about him, Samira," she said. "He is in pain, but he will be all right. All you have to do is believe he will; the first step of using Magic."

"But- I don't know how to believe..." Samira mumbled. "In... something... impossible. Except when..."

"Except when?"

"Except whenever it involved a plan of James's," Samira replied, and moved her hand subconsciously toward James's, to hold it.

It still felt as cold as it did before.

"He- even when we were young, he was able to do the impossible. I wasn't, and I still am not. I- I'm nothing like him, I can't do this."

"Samira... Believe," the Queen said. "Just feel it in your heart. Will you try it for me? If you won't try it for me, then please try it for James. He's relying on you, Samira, and only you can save him.

He'll die either way if you don't try. You saw how devastated your friends are, and you can feel your own devastation in your heart... So... Do it for him, do it for your friends..."

This made Samira think twice, and smiled at the Queen. "All right," she said. "I promise I will try to save you, James."

Something like a little squeeze in her hand came from James's side and a little smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, causing Samira's heart to go on a flutter.

She could do it, and he was trying to encourage her. But- he was unconscious, right?

"Is- Is he awake?"

"He's between asleep and awake, currently," Queen Eloine said. "I bet that he heard your heartbreaking beg as well... It's one of the first effects of the second Stage. We must hurry."

"Let's begin, then," Samira said. "Where do I have to place the bowl with the flowers?"

"One at a time, Samira," Queen Eloine said. "We have to make a potion out of the flowers and mix that with your healing powers."

"How do we make the right potion?" Samira asked.

"Like this," Queen Eloine said, taking one of the flowers out of the bowl Samira was holding, and crunching it in her fist.

A golden, smooth liquid poured out of the flower; all that remained was a yellow powder, which Queen Eloine allowed to fall back into the bowl. The other flower remained intact.

"It's easier if he drinks this," Queen Eloine said. "That way, it'll stay in his system longer. But we'll have to use the second flower as well tomorrow.

Now, it's up to you."

Queen Eloine handed the bowl to Samira, who carefully accepted it. She stared at the golden liquid that looked smooth and as if it was actually liquid gold; but of course it couldn't be.

"What should I do?" Samira said. "Just- use my powers while helping James drink this?"

Queen Eloine gave her an elegant nod. "Exactly."

Samira looked at the Queen, feeling overwhelmed and not sure what to do. "...How do I use my powers?"

"Concentrate," Queen Eloine said encouragingly. "Each magical being has their own way of activating their Magic. When do you feel the strongest? As in a feeling like you can take on the whole world."

Samira didn't hesitate. "When I'm singing," she said. "Singing gives me confidence."

Queen Eloine smiled warmly. "Then I'd suggest you choose a song that has a deep meaning to you and your brother, and sing it to him while helping him drink, if he's able," she said. "Even if nothing happens magical-wise, you'll be able to communicate with your brother's sub-consciousness."

Samira nodded at the Queen; the smile that appeared on her face reflected faith and confidence. She was slightly hesitant at first, but started to sing the lullaby their parents used to sing to them when they were younger, while Queen Eloine propped up James's head with care and opened his mouth. The song had been written by their father; before each of their births, he'd written a lullaby that was meant just for them. Their mother continued to sing the lullabies after he'd passed away.

"Little boy, don't you fear,

Know that I'll always be here with you,

Keep you close in my heart,

Where you've been from the start

Close your eyes, go to sleep

Let your worries fade away

Let them fall, let them go

Like the clouds on a rainy day"

She carefully started to pour the liquid into her brother's mouth; he was swallowing it, and this encouraged Samira to keep singing.

"Little boy, know that you

Will always hold the key to my heart

I love you, my little boy

You fill my heart with joy

Close your eyes, go to sleep

Know that I will be here

By your side, through night and day

To keep the monsters far away"

Samira couldn't describe what happened as she sang; the pendant around her neck started to glow, and seemed to add extra power to the golden liquid that she was pouring down her brother's throat.

He looked a bit better, yet the blue marks were still there.

"That was beautiful, Samira," Queen Eloine said, as she carefully laid James's head back down on the table. "We should let him rest for tonight, and check back on his condition tomorrow morning. Then, we'll decide whether he'll need another healing session or not.

You and your friends should rest as well. You need to regain strength."

While the Queen and Samira left the room, Samira looked back once more, at the boy who laid there on the cold metal table, as silent as the dead.

But she knew he wasn't. He was going to be okay, thanks to her; but despite that, she knew it wasn't just because of her. It was due to the little smile and the hand-squeezing that Samira felt confident that James would be strong enough to survive.

Fear Equals Danger

When Queen Eloine entered the temple's main room, three heads turned her way. The teenagers had made themselves comfortable, by undoing themselves of heavy armour or other uncomfortable clothing. Queen Eloine had sent Samira to go find Violina, who would have a clean dress – or whatever else she'd picked out – ready for her to wear.

"Is he all right?" was the first question asked. "Can we see him?" was the next.  
Thomas spoke on such a high pitch while talking, that he sounded like a little kid.  
An anxious and worried little kid. But, of course, nobody blamed him. Everyone was  
"He will be all right, Thomas, don't fret," Queen Eloine said with a calming voice. "We'll perform another Healing Session tomorrow to remove the last remains of the Flu."

Suddenly, a figure appeared in the doorway, and Thomas realised it was Samira, along with Violina.

Samira's purple, double-layer dress had been replaced for a soft, lavender-coloured dress that flowed around her like a fluffy cloud. Her dirty clothes had been hung up outside to dry, along with James's. Her hair was down, and had been washed and dried; Thomas felt as if he was looking at a princess. And a princess she was.

"James is going to be fine," she happily proclaimed. "But... I would like to go visit him again."

"Then I'll go with you," Thomas said, as he rose to his feet. He looked very determined, but also showed Samira a loving smile as he walked over to her and placed a hand over her shoulder. "You don't have to do this alone, remember?"

"We'll come with you too," Bella said, as she stood up; Antonio followed her.

Samira smiled at her friends. "You should all come and say something to him," she said. "He might not be able to respond... but he would like to know that we're there for him."

And so they went to the infirmary, where James was still lying on the cold table.

"We should put him in bed," Thomas said, looking at James with a tilted head. "He might end up getting hypothermic if he stays out here like this."

The others agreed with him; Thomas and Antonio cooperated to lift up the sixteen-year-old. Thomas lifted him up by the shoulders, Antonio by his feet. Together, they walked over to the bed with the boy and put him down carefully. "There," Thomas said. "Buddy, we're here for you. We're waiting for you to come back to us."

"Please do so soon," Bella joined in. "It's been a dull affair without you around. No offense," she said, meaning her friends.

"Nah, I get what she means," Antonio said with a teasing grin. "We're missing our bit of redhead-sparkle. Wake up soon, Jamey. We need you."

Samira nodded. "Indeed... we need you, James. And we're not leaving you behind.

Ever."

The four friends stood beside each other, shoulder to shoulder. Samira was right. They were a Bond; a union. They couldn't go on without James. After all, they'd been warned many times to never split up.

They stood beside James' bed for a while, until Thomas decided it was time to go to sleep. Everyone agreed; Bella and Antonio left the room quite quickly, and so wanted Thomas, but as he looked back to see if Samira was coming, he decided he would stay a little.

"Hey, you're going to be okay, you hear me?" he said, as he placed a hand on Samira's shoulder. "He's going to be okay. He's still fighting; he's fighting so he can come back to you. To us." He turned Samira around, just to show her the encouraging smile on his lips. "Your brother isn't one to give up quickly."

"I know," Samira said; she sniffled a bit. "I should... have faith in him. That's the only right thing to do."

"Exactly," Thomas said; to his surprise, Samira leaned forward, locking her arms tightly around his torso. She looked up at him as if she was about to kiss him for a brief moment; but she didn't. She just buried her face into his chest, as he accepted her hug, holding her tight.

"Take as much time as you need, and then just follow the sound of my breathing, so you'll know where we're sleeping," he whispered. Of course the last part had been a joke; the both of them let out a small chuckle. "Stay here as long as you want. We'll come find you in the morning."

Samira watched as Thomas left. As he walked across the hallway, he noticed the candles on the walls and on the chandeliers that hung on the ceiling extinguished themselves one by one.  
The house went to sleep as its owners did.

Only one candle remained lit; one simple, candle, in the middle of the wall of the infirmary where James and Samira were.

It was either meaning to say that James was still awake, or it was still lit just because Samira was there. Samira sat down and stared at her little brother with worried eyes, trying to find the courage to grab his hand again; maybe he would squeeze it again to let her know he was aware of her presence.

And eventually, she did take his hand, because whether he was awake or not, there was something she needed to get off her chest. Something her friends had no need of hearing.

"James, I hope you can hear me," Samira whispered. "I- I know you can. And even if you can't, I just need you to know that I am sorry for everything that's happened... If I'd never told you about the Legend of the Guardians, you never would've begged Dad to tell it to you. I always thought it was a fairytale.

Of course, all of us did." She paused for a second, hesitating if she should go on. "I... I didn't believe in fairy tales, because I didn't believe in Magic. I thought it was nonsense... But this adventure, all of this, is making me realise that I was wrong.

Everything we've been through- together- I- I don't think-" her voice faltered.

"I- I- remember you said- when we were young- that- we'd always be together, but now it just looks like this world is doing everything to tear us apart, and I don't think I could ever go back home if you're not there to go with me."

Samira turned her face to the ceiling and pressed her lips and eyelids together not to burst out in tears.  
"Good night, Jamey," she said, and gave her brother a kiss on the forehead before leaving the room, determined not to return before morning. Because if she would, she knew she wouldn't be able to get herself to leave.

*

"I wanted to be there for him."

Morning had come, and all Samira had done since she'd woken up, was sit inside the infirmary, waiting for Queen Eloine's confirmation that she could continue healing him. Thomas had joined her after a while, unknowing whether or not she would lose it if she was left waiting too long.

"You are there for him, Samira," Thomas said. "Like you always have been. He knows you are."  
"No, I wasn't there for him to prevent him from getting hit," Samira replied. "I... This curse was meant for me. I should be the one lying in this bed." her voice started to falter, and she stopped talking to prevent the tears from streaming down her cheeks.

"It wasn't your fault," Thomas said. "If it was anyone's fault, it was mine. I caused the curse to get sent in another direction." He paused for a second, but then was reminded of something. "And by the way, you know you would've died almost instantly if you would've been cursed, right?"

"Does it make a difference?" Samira said and looked at Thomas. She looked as if she was about to cry. "Now he's dying."

"He's already looking better than last night. I think he's recovering," Thomas said. "I mean – the marks are already fading."

"Thinking, assuming, it's still no assurance that he'll ever recover, Thom," Samira sighed in desperation. "I- I just can't accept that one of us won't make it out of here alive! It's not fair! Not towards him, not towards any of us! We never chose to be here! I- I want to go home! I want to forget all of this and pretend like it's never happened!

I want to wake up from this terrible nightmare!"

To finally tell her troubles and speak from her heart was hard for Samira, because it made her finally realise that she was feeling just as scared as James had been in the past few days. It was hard for Samira to accept that she was scared, but it was the truth.

And – she wasn't alone. Thomas admitted to her was more scared than he had ever been in his entire life. In barely a week, they had nearly been killed over four times – and now James was at the brink of death. But this was different – he was there on his own, with no one else to share the pain with.

And it was serious pain.

"Thomas, yesterday you said you trusted me. That I could do it. That I could succeed in healing him. You said you trusted Queen Eloine and Violina. So please trust me now when I say that you're not the one to blame. James wouldn't want you to blame yourself."  
Thomas looked at Samira, and Samira looked at Thomas.

"He wouldn't want you to blame yourself, either," Thomas simply said. "He would've done the same for you."

"You're... you're right." Samira smiled weakly. "Can you smile for me, Thomas?" she asked.  
"Maybe," Thomas replied, but did smile at her eventually.

He's so gorgeous when he smiles, Samira suddenly thought. I never noticed before.

She didn't have more time to think about Thomas' smile though, because Queen Eloine and Violina walked into the room. They looked exactly the same as the day before, like they'd never gone to sleep at all.

"I understand the way you must be feeling about this," Violina said, as she approached the duo.

"I understand that you're fearing for the life of you and your friends," Queen Eloine said, as she joined her sister.

"But both of you; keep holding on to faith. Keep holding on to hope and you'll find out everything will be all right in the end. And if it's not, then it's not the end," Violina continued.

"If one of us dies, it's the end, and then it's not okay," Thomas answered the Queen and the Princess – if she was one.

"Death doesn't have to be the end of the line, Thomas," Violina said. "What that means, you will learn on your journey."

Thomas threw her an uncomprehending look for a few seconds, but then his attention went back to the Queen.

"I'm assuming you want to continue healing him?" he asked. Queen Eloine nodded.

"I know what you are trying to ask, Thomas. But no matter how bas you want to stay with him, to watch over him, you won't help him by staying here and exhausting yourself by worrying and not sleeping. I want you to go take some rest."  
Thomas stared at Queen Eloine.

"I-" he mumbled. "I- All right."

He stood up, and Samira joined him. But in order to do so, she had to let go of James's hand. As soon as James had lost the touch of his sister's hand, he started to wince.

Without opening his eyes, James attempted to lift up the hand Samira's hand had just let go of, seeking to get her back.  
"Samira... don't go!" he wheezed, and at that exact moment, the marks on James's hands and face that had once been fading, now turned pitch black and because dark as they had been before the first healing.

"Q-Queen Eloine? What's going on? What's happening to him?" Samira shouted in shock.

Thomas just covered his mouth with his hand in horror. What was happening? All Samira had done was remove her hand.

"Samira, Violina, we must act now. I need the both of you to assist me," Queen Eloine said. There was a trace of panic in her eyes. "Somehow, James has caused the Flu to skip two stages. His situation is critical."

"But what has caused this to happen?" Samira said , still horrified.  
Queen Eloine glared at her. "You," she said. "It happened when you let go of his hand. Fear has triggered this, Samira." She paused for a second. "Fear of being alone."

"So..." Thomas mumbled.

"Samira, while we attempt to heal him with the potion, you have to keep holding his hand. You need to tell him that you're still there. You have to remind him he's not alone," Queen Eloine said. "That might be the only way to slow the Flu down and save him. And no matter what you do: don't stop trying."  
Samira bit her lip and nodded. She sat back down on the bed, while the two fairies approached James from the head's end of the bed, carrying the bowl with the golden liquid.

It was the last flower they had. It was James's last hope. If this didn't work, nothing would.

Samira grabbed James's hand and started to talk desperately. "James, can you hear me? You're going to be okay, James. I promise. You hear me?" she whispered.  
"You're going to be okay..." She stopped for a second and listened to the song the fixies were singing while healing him. It was some kind of Latin chant, but she couldn't understand what they were singing.

But of course, Thomas could.

"Power of the Spirits, we hereby summon thee

To help us save this soul, to set the Magic inside it free

Help him, help him

Solve his damned fate

Reverse the clock, turn back time

Help him, help him,

It's not too late"

Samira stopped listening to the singing fixies as soon as she saw James's eyes moving behind his eyelids.  
"Sam...ira..." the boy gasped weakly, barely audible due to the two fixies who were trying all they could to save his life.

"James, I'm so sorry I dragged you into this mess," Samira cried. "I'm so sorry James..."

"Samira..." James gasped. "You... shouldn't... be..."

The redhead teenager let out his breath and stopped moving, causing Samira's heart to skip a beat. Or two. Or many.  
"JAMES!" Samira screamed. "JAMES! HOLD ON! You're going to be okay, you hear me? You can do this! You are strong enough! You're going to be all right..." Her voice slowly faded out from powerful yelping to soft, heartbreaking throbs. "You're going to be fine... James... Please... Wake up!"

Suddenly, something impossible happened. A bright, golden light quickly spread across the black marks, and caused James to float a few centimetres above the bed.  
The now brightly glowing marks separated into tiny, golden energy bulbs with a flash before disappearing. James had been cured.

The light extinguished as the last energy bulbs disappeared, and James slowly sank down to the bed.

When Samira finally had gathered enough courage to look at James's face, he noticed that all the marks had disappeared, revealing how pale the boy had been underneath them.  
James's chest raised and lowered slowly and steadily.

"James?" Samira whispered. Tears stung behind her eyes, but she managed to hold herself strong enough not to let them go. She heard Thomas behind her, approaching them carefully.

James's eyes moved behind his eyelids again before he managed to open his eyes a little.  
"Samira," the sixteen-year-old uttered with a weak smile on his face.

"Oh, James," Samira let out in a sigh of relief. "You're-"  
"Tired," James interrupted him with a broad yawn. "Tired and weak, but alive."

Thomas smiled at James. "We should let you rest a little," he said.  
"It seems like they've completely forgotten about us two still being here," Violina said, but smiled when James heard her and smiled at her.  
"Oh well. He's back in the world of the living and that's what matters," Samira said; as she noticed James had managed to sit up, she laughed and hugged him tight. James laughed as well.

Two voices, loudly talking, were approaching the room. It wasn't hard to identify the two voices as Bella and Antonio, arguing as usual. "But he wasn't there all night, he must have-" Antonio replied to something Bella had said as they entered the room, but he was quickly interrupted by Bella.

"Look, Antonio! He's back!"

"James! You're all right!" Antonio grinned.

"Of course I am," James said, slightly overconfident. He was recovering quickly, but it was unlikely that he would be allowed to run about by Samira straight away.

Nobody seemed to notice that something had been going down between Violina and her sister; they were arguing silently. "Fine," Eloine said finally, to conclude the argument.

"We'll leave you guys alone for a minute," Violina said, as she chased her sister, who was stomping out of the room. "We'll be right back."

"So, James," Bella said, as she sat down on the bed, on the other side of James. "How are you feeling now?"

"Much better, luckily," James said; the colour had started to return to his face, leaving a lot more of a healthy impression than he'd done a few minutes ago. "So, Antonio, in case you want to fight me one of these days; I'm open for business!"

But to everyone's surprise, Antonio wasn't there. "Where'd he go?" Bella said.

"I don't know," Thomas said on an irritated tone. "But I'll find him. You guys just wait a minute."

Thomas checked everywhere; the bedroom, the main room; even the bathroom stall outside the temple. But Antonio was nowhere to be found.

As he entered the hallway on his way back to the infirmary, Thomas noticed a door that had been opened at a crack.

He heard Violina and Queen Eloine discussing at the other side of the door, and it sounded seriously.

Thomas wasn't an eavesdropper by nature, but the way the discussion between the two sisters sounded caused him to get curious, so he decided to silently listen at the door for a while.

"Violina, I am begging you to come back."

"No, Elly! I'm a threat to the entire Forest!"

"No one blames you for that incident."

"Well, you might not, but I do! I feel bad for being responsible for the end of almost two Generations of the Bond of Light!"

"Violina, please! None of this is your fault!"

Thomas was so surprised to hear Antonio's voice, that he nearly smacked his head against the door. Antonio gently pushed him aside, gesturing at him that he had to be silent, and walked into the room.

"Violina, please, listen to me. You are the best person I've met here so far."  
He gently grabbed one of the fixie's hands as he guided her toward two chairs and made her sit down.

"From what you've told us, you have tried what you could; and here we are. You have saved us. Multiple times. It's time for you to believe in yourself."

Violina looked from Antonio to her sister, who was nodding in agreement.

"He's right, Violina," she said. "Please come back. Take your crown and title back. Please. I need you.  
I want my little sister back..."

"Why don't you ask Thomas what he thinks about it?" Violina said; she bent over to look through the doorway, showing the nineteen-year-old a smug face.

Thomas was startled. He just stood there, but no one seemed to mind. "I- I- sorry," he mumbled. "I should leave. This is rude."

He walked away quickly, blood rushing to his head in the process.

"I think I startled him," Violina whispered and chuckled, but that didn't last long.. She stared at her feet. "I..."

She sighed.

"Do you accept my offer, Violina?" Queen Eloine made an elegant gesture with her hands, and a crown similar to hers appeared in her hands. She held it out to Violina, who looked at it.

Volina stood up and touched the gem in the middle of the crown, stroking a finger across it's smooth surface.

"All right," she said, and took the crown.

As soon as it was back on Violina's head, the place where it belonged, Violina's dress got surrounded by light. It changed to a beautiful white and silver dress a princess would be jealous of. It looked a little bit like a Cinderella dress, but then with long, thin sleeves that were skin-tight, elegantly following the figure of her tiny arms.

Queen Eloine smiled. "Welcome back, Princess Violina, Princess of the Pixie Valley," she said and spread out her arms. Violina hugged her sister.

"Thank you, Eloine," she whispered.

The Climb

The position of the sun told the teenagers that it was late in the evening when the teenagers had decided it was time to leave.

But, of course, James and Samira had to retrieve their own clothes first; Thomas had been so kind to get them for them.

He was wandering around the temple on just his socks, on his way to find his friends' clothes.  
"Are you looking for something, Thomas?"

Thomas made a little jump when he was startled by the sudden sound of Violina's voice behind him, as if she had appeared out of thin air.

One of the advantages of having wings; the ability to sneak up on someone without making a single noise... Although the twinkling sound the wings made could come across as a tad distracting.

"Um, yes," Thomas mumbled, as he turned around toward the fixie. "Clothes. Our clothes."

"Why, of course," Violina answered.

"I've been up all night to fix the rips and gaps in your brother's tunic. Samira's wasn't quite in a perfect state either, so I fixed some loose stitches." Then, she was reminded of something. "Oh. And I also removed some small dents from your armoury. But I'm sure you won't mind."

She gestured with her hand that the teenager had to follow her. "Come on, follow me. I'll show you where I've stocked them."

Thomas followed her to a room that looked like an old-fashioned tailor's workshop; an unusual choice. It was nothing like anything you'd expect a fairy work shop to look like.

On the workbench laid two piles of clothes, with one pair of shoes on top of each pile.

"There they are," Violina said. "I'm not a Fashion Fairy, and I doubt that those even exist, but I was able to find my last roll of enchanted fabric. It strengthens the original fabric and adapts itself to the colour and material, so you can barely notice that it's been patched."

"Thank you very much, Violina," Thomas said, while he walked over to the workbench and picked up the two piles of clothes.

"I'll go wake up James, get us both changed and then it's time for us to leave, I guess."

"Do you think he's strong enough to continue already? The walk from here to the Mountains of Pruina is still at least five kilometres long."  
"How do you-?" Thomas asked in confusion.

Violina shrugged. "A long time ago, some adult Guardian explained to me how you measure distances on Earth, and I noticed that it's system is quite similar to Lunaria's metric system," she said. "The only difference is that we measure in so-called "metra," and one metrum – which is the singular version of the word - is one of your metres."  
"Interesting. So it's still five thousand trees away. And how high is the highest top of the Mountains of Pruina?" Thomas asked.

"It'd say about four metra high," Violina replied.

"Oh dear... That's way too high," Thomas sighed. "And the lowest top?"

"Two," Violina said. "You might want to reconsider leaving tonight."

"I'll discuss it with the others," Thomas said with a light shrug. "If they say we can leave, we leave. But if James doesn't feel like he can, we don't."

"Your choice, kid," Violina said, and they both left the tailor's workshop.

Before they'd leave, the Queen had invited them for a meal, but since James was eager to get out there again, they ate rather quickly.

A proper thank you was in order before they left, though.

Samira looked at Queen Eloine and made a humble curtsy in front of her. "It has been a true honour to be your guests, Your Highness," she said.

"And it has been a true honour to serve you, Bond of Light," Queen Eloine replied and made a curtsy toward Samira as well.

"Thank you for saving my life, Your Highness," James said, while taking a deep bow.

"Very well, James. Violina shall escort you on your final trip through the Forest, just to make sure that you make it out of here safely." Queen Eloine nodded and smiled. Violina walked forward, wearing the same clothing as when the teenagers had met her in the Valley.

"Violina? What happened to your dress?" Antonio asked with a slightly tilted head.

"I don't want to risk ripping it, since I've used my last roll of enchanted fabric to fix your friends' clothes," Violina answered with a shrug.

"Well, guys, if you're all ready to go, I'd say we should," James said. The others nodded in agreement.

When they left the temple, the Forest seemed to be nothing but one huge, black blur. Only the protected open place was slightly lit by the light of the full moon.

The teenagers believed it would be fine if they'd travel with just Violina by their side, though; she had sent the other pixies home as soon as James had been cursed.

"Do you think those creepy Dark Fairies will come for us again?" Samira whispered at Violina while they walked through the darkness of the Forest as silently as they could.

"I don't think they will. I don't think they're even still alive," Violina replied. "Thomas scared them off with that attack, and servants of the Master that have failed him never live long."

"Wow, that guy starts to sound nicer by the minute," Antonio mumbled, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm really looking forward to meeting him, and by chance chopping his head or any other limbs off while passing by."

"You're really not taking this serious at all, are you? Do you really think that easy about this? Oh, please, Antonio!" Samira said, slightly annoyed. "Do you really think we're just going to walk into that castle and save the entire world without even breaking a sweat?"

"Hold on for a second, Sam, I never said it'd be easy!" Antonio defended himself. "I'm just saying that if I get the chance to finish him off, I won't let that chance slip by!"

Samira let out a sigh of exasperation.

"You two sure like arguing, don't you?" Violina asked.

"Oh, Antonio argues with everyone," Bella grinned.

"So... First things first," Thomas said, declaring that he wanted to get down to business.  
"Do we even have all the equipment to get up there? The first two kilometres, we won't be able to walk. We'll have to climb up..."

Everyone shook their head in unison. The Queen wasn't in possession of mountain-climbing equipment, the snow coats they had received from Violina were the best they had. Those would prevent them from freezing to death after a few hours of walking upward on those mountains.

"No, we don't," James said, and suddenly, a sparkle appeared in his ultramarine eyes. "But I can make some."

"How? We don't have any kind of metal here," Antonio said confused.  
"My Magic can summon some tools," James replied, causing the others to shaking their heads.

"Spare your energy, James," Samira said. "It's going to be a long way to get to the end."

"It doesn't use up too much energy," James tried to reassure the others. "I'll just snap my fingers, and – poof! – there is our equipment."

"But James, that's not the point," Bella said, trying to get through to James. "It doesn't matter to us what you're convinced you're capable of, James. We just want you to get the chance to strengthen and revalidate from the effects of the Fairy Flu."

James sighed. "I don't want you guys to treat me like a little kid. What's next? Is Thomas going to carry me up those mountains?"

Thomas responded with a silent shrug, which most likely could've meant apparently, yes.

James sighed and shook his head. What was he expecting? Why was he so mad? His friends were just trying to protect him, and he was brushing their help off like it meant nothing to him.

And by the extremely exasperated way he spoke to them, he even sounded like their protection and worry felt like an insult to him.

He never took his friends' love for granted, but he was still upset for no particular reason, so James decided to fake a smile and sighed. "All right, then. No equipment."

He swallowed and stopped for a second to think about what he had just agreed to. Not only did they risk the chance to fall all the way down if one of the rocks broke apart, but they didn't have any kind of belay devices or ropes to break their fall either, so if one of them fell, they would be doomed, because there would be no way possible that one would survive a fall from that height.

It was a really big, dangerous risk they were taking. A leap of faith...

"Don't worry, James," Samira whispered from behind in his ear. "I won't let you fall."

"I know," James replied, and joined the others, who were already packing in and heading for the mountains.  
*

"So... this is it," Antonio said, when they arrived at the mountain after a while. "We're leaving the safest realms behind us, and will continue to the part that is completely under the Master's control."

"As frightening as it sounds, we'll have to move on," Samira replied. "Or else we'll never get back home. I don't feel excited for being trapped in here forever or dying here."

James and Thomas looked at each other and nodded in unison.

"I think you guys are going to be just fine," Violina said. "But... I'm going to have to leave you here."

"Violina, thank you so much for helping us out," Antonio said, smiling at her. "It really means a lot."

"Thank me later," Violina smiled. "When you're back home safely."

She then transformed into her pixie form, and floated away while waving at the teenagers. They watched her float all the way back, until she was nothing but a small light on the horizon.

"So now our objective is getting up there," Thomas said. "Safely."

"Well, then, what are we waiting for? Come on, guys! We have an entire mountain ahead of us, so prepare for this to take a couple of days!" James shouted, and ran toward the huge mass of rocks.

"Looks like he's back to action," Antonio said and the others grinned in amusement.  
*

"Ugh- Never thought- it was going to be this hard..."

"Antonio, quit complaining! You ain't seen nothing yet," James shouted at Antonio, who was climbing underneath him, on Thomas's advice.

If James passed out, and Thomas failed to grab him, he wanted to make sure Antonio would succeed into doing so.

"James, you know that "ain't" isn't-" Bella said, but James interrupted her.

"Bella, do you really believe this is the right moment for a grammar and vocabulary lesson?" he snapped at her.

"No, you're right. Sorry, it's just my brain which works that way... I didn't mean to upset you," Bella replied.

James sighed, while pulling himself up another few centimetres. "I'm sorry, it came out angrier than I meant," he said. "But this is really not the right moment to correct people's grammar."

Then, out of nowhere, while they were climbing, something really funny came to the redhead teenager's mind.

Something that might have suited the situation they were in at that very moment, but also could've offended everyone in his company, since he was the one who kept telling everyone not to joke around about the entire situation they were stuck in.

That was the main reason why he hesitated and waited until they had climbed a few metres at first, but James couldn't refrain from making the joke that just had to be made.

"You know... Now we're talking about Bella and her pet peeves... Why don't we just let Bella make an impossible math test for the Master? I'm pretty sure he'll just run away crying after five minutes," he said.

Luckily for James, everyone laughed, as he had hoped, and - more or less, though he wasn't completely sure what their reaction would be - expected.

James sighed in relief. "What a relief to hear that they're still able to have a laugh at a terrible joke," he said.  
Thomas smiled, although James couldn't see. "Your terrible jokes? Of course we can still laugh at those," he said. "Some of them are so disappointingly sad, that they are actually funny. Like this one."

James snorted. A typical Thomas-comment, just the way he liked them.

They climbed further in silence for a while, which seemed to suit them quite well, and helped them to hurry up quite a bit.

But, of course, as always, there had to be a part where someone would make that one, stupid comment or would get that one stupid idea that would totally screw everything up.

"The air's getting thinner and colder by the minute," Antonio said. "Thomas, do you think we're nearly there? I can't see through Jiminy Cricket's butt."

"Yes, I think we are nearly there," Thomas said, while trying to look up. It was getting foggier, and his arms and legs were getting a little tired of the climbing.

"Wait-" James said, receiving a sudden revelation. "You've been staring at my butt the whole time?" he shouted at Antonio.

"Well, not that I wanted or chose to look at your butt, but yes! Since that's the only thing that's above me, I've been looking at your butt when I wasn't looking where I was putting my hands and feet on!" Antonio shouted back.

Antonio's comment caused Samira to laugh so hard, that she didn't watch where she put her feet, which unfortunately enough turned out to be a weak spot in the mountain wall. The rock caved in beneath her feet, just before she could place her right hand on a safe part.

"HELP!" Samira yelped, clamping on to the rock with her left hand."I- I'm afraid I can't hold this for too long!"

"SAMIRA!" Bella shouted.

James looked up, and saw that they were nearly at a flat platform where they could rest on, and ordered the others to climb on the flat edge.

"I'll fetch Samira! You guys go ahead!" he shouted, while climbing in the opposite direction of the other three boys.

"Are you crazy? What if the rest of the mountain over there is just as instable as that particular spot and you two both fall?" Thomas said.

"We won't, Thomas, trust me," James replied and continued climbing down.  
"I hope you know what you're doing, kid..." Antonio replied.

"By the way, Antonio... were you serious about the butt-thing?" Bella whispered after James had passed them.

"Nah, I was just kidding," Antonio replied with a grin. "I just wanted to see his reaction."

James kept climbing down until he was hanging right beside Samira, on her right side. It was going to be tricky, but it had to be possible.

"Samira, put your arms around my neck," he said. "I'm going to bring you to safety."

Samira stared at him for a second. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah, I can do this," James replied. "I can do it." He had to repeat it to himself to be completely sure.

"All right," Samira mumbled. "Well, then... here I go, I guess."

She slowly moved her right arm over to James, and clamped herself around his neck. Then, she quickly added her left arm.

"Hold on tight," James said, and Samira nodded.

It was harder for James to get up with about 69 extra kilos – his sister was somewhat heavy for her height, and she was very insecure regarding her weight, despite the fact that she was absolutely gorgeous – hanging around his neck, but eventually, he managed to climb up.

It went slowly, because other parts of the mountain threatened to break apart when James placed his feet and hands on them, forcing him to climb aside, but it were only fifteen metres or so which he had to climb up to get him and Samira back to their friends.

James pulled himself up on the flat platform, and Thomas and Antonio ran in to help him immediately. They dragged him onto the platform until he had his full upper body laying on it, and James himself pulled his legs up.

Samira let go of James's neck, rolling over the platform. She sighed in relief, and smiled broadly at James.

"Well, we made it up," she said, and James smiled back at her.

"Yes, yes we did, luckily," he replied.

"So... What's up next, guys?" James said, while he got up from the ground. "The climb up here took us quite a while. It took less time than expected, but still... I'd guess that it's somewhere near sunset."

Thomas looked up at the sky and nodded. "You could say so," he said. "The sky's turning pink."

"How about taking a quick nap?" Samira suggested. "This climbing adventure has exhausted me a little. I mean – the climbing wasn't easy, and then the near death-experience... No, thank you, I wouldn't like to repeat any of that."

James rubbed his neck. "The walk up to the top of the mountain is now left... It takes perhaps about a two-hour walk to get to the top... Plus the snow... Possible blizzards... Three hours."

Bella made a step forward, but didn't notice a piece of rock sticking out, and fell.

"Ouch!" she moaned. When she pulled her trousers out of her boots to check on her leg, she noticed that the rock had scraped a new, fresh wound at the place her bone had been broken.

"I'd suggest we find a cave and just go with that nap while we still can," Bella sighed. "I don't really feel like walking around here at night."

James looked at Bella's leg and swallowed. "Good point," he said. "We'll go look for a place to set up our camp."

"Speaking of possible blizzards, is it just me, or is the wind getting stronger as we speak?" Samira said.

"I'd suggest we put our snow coats on while we search for a sanctuary.   
James, you had kept them in your leather bag, right?"

"Well, since Thomas took my bag, he's got them, and not me," James replied.

Thomas nodded and dug in the leather shoulder bag hanging over his shoulder. He pulled out Violina's last gift, and handed it over to the others, who thankfully put on the coats and stuffed their capes into the bag.

The snow began to fall faster and the wind got stronger as the teens travelled up the mountain. But they didn't have to walk through the beginning snowstorm for too long.

After the teens had walked for a while, they walked past a cave hidden in the mountain wall, out of the wind's path and safe for the night. The five teens decided to enter the cave and sleep inside of it for the night.

Antonio helped Bella to sit down, and examined the status of her leg.

"Samira, do you think you can heal it?" Bella asked the teenage girl. While Samira's eyes were adjusting themselves to the darkness of the cave, she scanned her friend's leg and nodded after a while.  
"I- I think so," she said. "I'll have to."  
Samira knelt down next to Bella's wounded leg, while the others watched and waited. Samira hummed a quick song, while holding both her hands over the wound on Bella's leg. At first, it seemed like nothing happened, but after a couple more seconds, the wound started to heal itself.

"Amazing," Bella gasped in awe as she looked at the now perfectly fine, save a small scar, leg.

Samira shrugged. "I guess it's what I'm here for," she said. "Helping others, like I used to do back home."  
James tried to hide a broad yawn underneath his hand, but Samira already noticed it.  
"James, if you're really that tired, I'd just say that we all go to bed tonight. No shifts."

"What?" Antonio said. "But-"

"It's most likely that they're busy looking for us in the Forest for the rest of the night," Samira replied, while she lay down on the rock floor. "Plus, I wouldn't want to go out in this weather." A cold shiver went across her spine. It really was cold.

"I don't have enough energy left to make a fire out of nowhere," James mumbled. "I'd at least need some burnable objects..."

He lay down next to Samira, and Thomas joined him shortly. "e should you took off as blankets," he said, while showing his own, dark green cape. "It might help."

Not just James and Samira, but Bella and even Antonio followed his advice, and went to sleep.

This was certainly going to be one of their most uncomfortable nights ever since they had arrived in Lunaria.

"James?"

"Mmh?"

James turned around, and saw that Samira was staring at him. Perhaps she had been doing that all night.

"What if we don't make it back?"

"What do you mean, Samira?"

"What if- if one of us dies? Or if we get separated? What if we never go home?" Samira asked again. There was a certain level of worry in her voice which James had never been able to see or hear at daylight. Guess she cleverly kept it covered.

Samira was one of those girls who would keep themselves together, pretend to be strong throughout the day, but break down in fear and worry at night. That's what made her a sensitive girl.

James smiled at her. "Samira. Of course we make it back. I'll do anything to make sure to get you all home."

"What about yourself?"

"You guys – Thomas, you, Bella, Tony... You guys are on my first place. Together with my family. I come as a second matter."

"Promise me you'll look after yourself."

"I promise I'll look after myself."

"Pinkie promise it."

Samira stuck out her pinkie at James. That's how he used to make promises to Samira and Anna if they wanted to prevent him from breaking it.  
He hooked his own pinkie in hers.

"I pinkie promise that I'll look after myself," James said.

"I pinkie promise that I'll make sure you keep your word," Samira replied.

"Do you think you'll be able to sleep now, Samira?" James asked.  
Samira smiled. "I think I can now," she said.

*

The morning seemed to arrive way too early. Waking up went slowly, due to various back\- and headaches from the cold and uncomfortable rock floor.

Breakfast consisted out of some fruit they'd received from the Queen before they'd left, while they prepared to continue travelling up the mountain.

But as soon as they set foot outside, they discovered that the blizzard had become worse.

"How are we supposed to see through this?" Samira shouted, while she and the others put on their hoods.

Thomas shook his head. "I have absolutely no idea," he replied.

The others didn't know either. But they had to move on, or else they'd freeze to death without ever reaching their destination. If they kept moving, they could have a chance of moving past the blizzard and being able to begin to ascend the mountain by sunset.

The blizzard didn't make travelling anything easier, though, since they had no clue of where they were going, they had to stop regularly to make sure they were still going the right way and were all still together.

The pack of snow on the ground became deeper and heavier to walk through, which slowed them down in their tracks.

"W-wonder if there's a creature causing this blizzard that we can stop?" James shouted, while they were dragging themselves through the bad weather. His teeth were chattering.  
"What do you mean?" Antonio shouted back.

"Creatures creating immense blizzards? You mean – like some entire creature made of ice? An ice troll?"

"No, an ice cream truck with its doors open, Antonio!" James replied sarcastically. "Of course I mean a creature with ice powers! Some kind of snowman or something!"

Antonio snorted. "Hah, kid! I know we've been through some wacky times 'round here, but what you just said was literally the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" he shouted mockingly.

"You never know what you're up against in this world!" James shouted back.

"Hey, guys! Take a look at this!" Thomas shouted.

The other four reacted immediately, causing James and Antonio to cancel their discussion, and simply exchange a couple of dark looks while they were running towards Thomas – or at least they walked as fast as the wind and snow would allow them to go.

"What have you found, Thomas?" James asked when they stood around him. Thomas pointed toward his feet – or the ground he was standing on.

"It's like- some kind of glass plate made of ice," he said.

"Thomas – wait – hold up," James said. "I can't bare this. Thomas – it can't be a glass plate when it's made of ice," James said. "Then it's just an ice plate!"

"Yeah, uh, sorry," Thomas mumbled. "But look at the detail! And I'm pretty sure it's strong material, too," he said. "If I can stand on it..." He stumped with his feet on the ice.

But he wished he hadn't.

Right after he had stumped his feet, the ice caved in beneath him, causing Thomas to fall down a deep hole.  
"THOMAS!" James shouted, and dove after the Brit.

"What are you waiting for? We can't just stay here; we've got to go after them!" Samira shouted, and ducked down into the hole, to get her best friends back.

Bella followed her without hesitation, yanking Antonio along with her.

And off they went yet again, into another mystery, another adventure, without knowing what was coming.

Fiyara Neiva

The hole the Bond had fallen into, seemed to be a long slide made of ice, which caused them to remain pretty much unharmed by the time they arrived at the end.

The five teenagers slid forward across the ice, until they ended up on rock floor covered in snow.

"So far not so good," Bella mumbled, while he and the others got up. "Where did we end up this time?"  
"I don't know," James replied. He looked around, while scanning the area for any signs of life forms. "I honestly didn't know... Couldn't possibly imagine... That someone could have a secret hideout hidden in these mountains."

"What are you jabbering about? There's absolutely no chance that anyone would want to live here in this freezing weather!" Antonio grunted.

"Let's stop this endless discussion, and just continue walking to find a way out of here,   
guys," Thomas said.

Antonio and James exchanged looks with each other and shrugged. The hidden cave within the mountains had something special to it. The ceiling was made of a thin layer of ice, and any footsteps were muffled by the crackling of snow.

"But still, I'm highly convinced that-"  
"Put a sock in it, Antonio," Samira groaned, not up for another pointless argument with Antonio.

"Sorry, Sam."

The five teenagers kept on walking through the cave; it was as if there simply came no end to the endless rows of rock. The walls looked exactly the same everywhere they'd look, and there was nothing which revealed there was an exit anywhere near.

"Are you sure we're going the right way, James?" Samira asked. James shrugged in response.

"Honestly, I have no idea where we are right now."

Neither he would have known where they would have been if they still would've been climbing the mountain, but that wasn't the case. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, though. Literally. A few minutes later, the teenagers ran into small, flying creatures.   
They were much smaller than pixies, and had smooth skin that seemed to be made of millions of tiny ice crystals. Their eyes were a shade of blue which was so bright, that they seemed to glow in the weak blue light the ice ceiling let through.

They chattered and floated about. The teenagers passing them didn't seem to bother   
them.

"They appear to be such happy and pretty creatures," Samira said with a smile. "Wonder what kind of creatures they are?"

"Well... I think they are ice sprites," James replied, while watching the winged creatures closely. "They... Look just stunning."

"They sure do," Bella said. "Guess you were right after all, James!" He grinned at Antonio, who glared back at him.

"Who cares, Jingle Bells? Who cares for some drab Ice sprites? It's not like they're going to get us out of this situation," he grunted.

Antonio heard James snickering, and sighed. "All right. But I'll admit defeat," he mumbled. "Jiminy Cricket?"

"I feel satisfied," James replied with a smirk. "So I'll mark that as "Happy" for you."

"James: one. Antonio: zero," Thomas mumbled from a distance, clearly amused.

Antonio grunted even louder. "Sure, treat me like I'm just here for your everyday entertainment."

"Come on, Tony! You know that's not true," Samira said.

"I know; I just was in the mood for a joke," Antonio replied. "I'm here for your everyday entertainment, remember?"

Samira snickered. "Oh, you-!" she shouted, and pretended to attack him.

They just kept walking, the Ice Sprites still floating around them. But as they walked further, a cold wind started to blow in their faces, seemingly becoming stronger with every step they took.

But the weirdest about the cold wind was that as they moved nearer to the source, tiny little snowflakes started to appear around them.

More strange things happened along the way. The walls and floors started to freeze slowly, and got covered by a layer of shimmering ice. The wind got stronger, and the air became colder and colder.

"Shouldn't we be getting out of here? It's starting to get freezing!" Bella shouted.

"We've got to get out of here as quick as we can, or else we'll freeze to death!" Thomas ordered. The others followed his orders and started to run through the blizzard, as the walls and floors continued to freeze behind them.

"I can't see where we're going! But there's something I do know: this is going to get us into a lot of trouble for sure!" James shouted, protecting his eyes from the falling hail with his arms.  
While staying close together, James, Thomas, Samira, Bella and Antonio ran through the cave, without knowing where it would take them.  
Somehow, nothing seemed to be going the way they'd planned it. One moment, they were just walking on top of a mountain, and another moment, they are trying to flee a terrible blizzard blowing inside a cave on the inside of the mountain, without having any kind of knowledge on a possible source.

The temperature of the cave decreased with every second passing, and the wind blew stronger and stronger, making it nearly impossible to even move.

This all had come completely unexpected, and made the cave nearly look like some kind of ambush. The only thing that reassured the teenagers that it wasn't was the fact that the Master and his minions could only control the dark, and not ice and snow.

But they did certainly not leave out the other Lunariae... Something was definitely living hidden inside of the mountain, and it was not happy to have visitors. At all.

And so it was trying to shoo the visitors away with some kind of bizarre snowstorm. Or was it actually trying to kill them off instead? Suddenly, the cave took a sharp corner.

And there it was.  
James opened his eyes a little, and looked for a sign of an exit through his eyelashes His eyes soon widened in amazement.

They were standing right in front of the most amazing building he had ever seen... An ice palace like you'd expect to see them in fairy tales. An absolutely stunning building.

It was small, because it had to fit inside the mountain. But it was built in height. And the blizzard appeared to be circling around its roof, and dissolved from there into the blasts of cold air that had been "attacking" the Guardians.

"Guys... Check it out," James mumbled; his friends showed similar reactions as they opened their eyes. "I hope there's someone inside there who can help us."

The Bond of Light ran up the steps of the ice stairs, careful not to trip, and started to bang the door.

"Please, let us in! We're freezing out here!" Samira shouted.

It didn't take long before the massive doors opened on their own, inviting the teenagers in.

A figure appeared in front of them, hovering a few centimetres above the floor, looking worried and rushed.  
It was a fixie, with beautiful white hair and bright blue eyes. Her skin was white as snow, with blue ice crystals scattered over her entire body.

"Oh, please forgive me; I caused the blizzard!" she mumbled embarrassedly. "I thought you were those awful Shadow Creatures again! I- I should apologize." She paused. "There are dark creatures on the mountain – I don't think they've found my hideout yet, but if they do, they'll kill me for sure."

"We've met some of the creatures you're mentioning," James said. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm James Riverdale, and these are my friends."

The others mumbled small greetings and waved at her. The fixie's eyes grew wide in amazement.

"Oh, why of course! Why didn't I notice it before?" she said and made a curtsy toward the teenagers. "I am Fiyara Neiva Christella, Princess of Snow. But you can call me Fiyara. It's a true honour to meet the Last Generation of Hope."

"Is everyone we'll meet going to be like this?" Antonio mumbled to Bella, receiving an elbow from the teenager in his stomach as a response. "Ouch!" he grunted.

"I'm sorry if I've hurt any of you by letting out that blizzard," Fiyara said. "I- I'm just not used to seeing any decent creatures around here since the Dark Days. I was afraid you were one of them."

The fixie looked at her feet, clearly feeling embarrassed of herself. She sighed. "I usually do more harm than good..."

"Why do you think that?" Bella asked. "I'm sure it's not true."

Fiyara looked up at her and sighed. "Oh, but it is," she said. "The fact that the Shadow Creatures are on these mountains are my fault." She became more embarrassed thinking about it. "And that's only just the beginning...

"The Spirits of Light created me out of ice and snow. I was born while a heavy blizzard was blowing over these mountains. To continue this was my task, to watch over the mountain and protect it. I was responsible for snowfall, so other creatures could enjoy the snow if they wanted to. I created the Ice Sprites. They were my best friends, and I did my best to protect them. Until the Master took them all away."

"Seems like the same happened here as what happened to Violina..." Antonio mumbled. "Keepers take their task very seriously. If they fail, they blame and sometimes punish themselves," Fiyara said. "The Master wanted control over me too, so he turned the Ice Sprites against me, to capture me – I was forced to watch while my friends were transformed into terrible monsters. I had no choice to fight them, and hide myself down here... I haven't been above the ground in a thousand years..."

"Oh, Fiyara, I'm so sorry to hear what happened to your friends," Samira said, sounding genuinely touched by the fixie's story. "But we'll save them, together with the rest of Lunaria."  
"Thank you..." Fiyara said and smiled. She started to feel a little more comfortable around the five teenagers now she knew they meant no harm.

"I'd be so happy to be able to go above ground again! Guardians, as long as you are on this mountain, I'll fight with you. For my friends," Fiyara said. She smiled. "I shall show you the quickest way out of here.

Come along, just follow me."

And follow her they did.

"So, where are you taking us, Fiyara?" James asked. He wanted to know, so he could recognize the place if they ever had to flee from something again – while they were still on the mountain at least, of course.

"It's one of the two secret entrances I've made to get in- and out of this cave safely in case I'm ever discovered," Fiyara replied. "And you lot found one of them."

"Sorry for kind of busting your door," Thomas chuckled. "Didn't mean to."

"Oh, no, it's all right, you silly boy," Fiyara said. "You didn't know I lived here, let alone there was a cave underneath the mountains."

Fiyara took the Bond of Light through her palace, to the back exit. From there, they had to climb a large staircase that had been carved out of the stone walls of the cave.

"So we'll have to climb all the way up there?" James asked. "I'm pretty positive that that is one of the easiest tasks they've given us yet."

"If that is, then I don't think you'll be surprised when I tell you that it's only going to get way worse from here," Fiyara said.

"No, I'm not," James replied. "I'm just worried for what's about to come next." He nearly slipped on the slippery frosted steps, but luckily for him, Thomas was able to grab his arm in a quick reflex and held him back.

James looked at him, and Thomas stared back, but quickly looked away before James could say anything or even thank him.

Neither of the two boys could've ever imagined that what was happening to them at that moment could've ever become any kind of reality.

If it would've been a story someone at their school would've told them, they certainly wouldn't have believed it.

But now they were there themselves, with their friends, in real life.

They had no choice but to believe it.

It was about time they started to realise how serious this situation was, too. If the teenagers wouldn't become more cautious and aware of their actions very quickly, it could mean the end for them.

After crossing and ascending the mountains, they couldn't rely on meeting any new allies.

They'd be on their own.

The past month had been training, a preparation for the actual quest. It all started here and now.

"Fiyara... How high are these stairs?" Samira asked; she was right to ask, because they'd been walking up the stairs for just about a minute straight now, and it still seemed as if there would never be an end to the grey steps.

"Don't worry, we're nearly there," Fiyara said, without looking back. "It just seems to be so far away because it's probably either evening or night outside, so there won't be any light coming through the exit."

And Fiyara was right. When they'd finally reached the top of the stairs, it was still as dark as it had been before.

"Watch your step and be quiet," Fiyara said. "These monsters can't see very well in the dark, but if you make noise or step on them... They get very active during the night. They mostly hunt on the smell of... well, fear."

"Sounds like nothing to be afraid of," Antonio said sarcastically.

Fiyara glared at him. "Don't joke around, Guardian," she said. "If these monsters catch you, they summon Warlock Spirits to capture you and take you to the Master. Niveluae, or you could just call them Snow beasts, are not like Shadow Walkers. They are much more powerful. The Dark Fairies in the Fairy Forest could've summoned a similar beast, but they are way too selfish. They like to take all credit for themselves."

"They did send the Warlock Spirits after us, though," Bella said.

"Probably because you were too far away from them," Fiyara said. "They can't reach outside their forest."

Bella shrugged. "Most likely," she replied. "We went through a secret entrance to the Twilight Forest."

James turned around. "They must've seen us leave through the magical barrier, while we couldn't see them," he said, while walking backwards. "That's the only proper explanation I could think of."  
"James, it's very dark, please watch where you're going," Fiyara said. But by the time she'd opened her mouth, the damage had already been done.

James tripped over a rock that had been lying hidden underneath the snow, causing him to get out of balance and fall backward... against something that seemed to be a heap of snow.

...A living heap of snow, that is.

The "snow heap" started to rise from the ground, with James still lying on its back. Luckily, not for long, because as soon as the monster straightened its back, James fell off.

Massive icicles grew out of the arms, legs, back and head of the Nivelua as it turned around.

"WHAT THE-!?" Antonio exclaimed. "JAMES, GET AWAY FROM THERE!"

James quickly got on all fours and started to crawl forward while getting up.   
Just in time for the monster to fully rise and let out a loud roar, which seemed to cause the mountain to shake.

But the shaking wasn't caused by that single roar, but by other Niveluae rising up from their hideouts.

"What are those things!?" Samira shouted.

"Those are the Niveluae I warned you about," Fiyara replied. "Their names are... a play on the Latin words Nive and Belua. The singular form would be Nivelua, I believe."

"Ah, our typical kind of bad luck," Antonio said, while reaching for his glaive.

"No, wait! Normal weapons won't harm them," Fiyara said. She made a certain movement with her arms, and icicles appeared out of thin air, shooting toward the monsters. The icicles didn't have much effect, but it seemed like the monsters were brought out of balance and got confused by them.

"But if we can't destroy them, how do we defeat them?" Thomas shouted, while barely dodging a huge fist trying to crush him. The others found themselves dodging and barely escaping various attacks from the monsters as well.

"Well, since I have limited power and energy like you lot, I could protect you guys while you run for it," Fiyara shouted back, while firing ice and snow like blades toward the monsters.

"But Fiyara, what about you?" Samira shouted. Fiyara shook her head.

"I'll be fine, don't worry! I was made to do this!"

"Thank you! We won't forget you!" James shouted, as he and the others ran off, between the Nivuelae that were charging at them.

It was still pitch black out, and the teenagers could barely see a thing. The only lights they always had relied on in the dark were James's and Thomas's glowing clothing, and those were either stuffed away underneath the snow coats or in Thomas's shoulder bag.

Once again they had found themselves in serious trouble, and once again they needed someone else to take control and take care of the situation.

All the people they had met thus far, had been extremely brave.

They were the actual heroes, while the Bond of Light were the people they all looked up to.

But they weren't the heroes. They were just five teenagers, who were assumed to be able to put an end to a thousand-year lasting war.

Why did the creatures and people in this world not realise how strong they were? What they could do? Why did they see a bunch of teenagers as their saviours? Sure, there had been older Guardians. Way older. But they were chosen as the Tenth Generation, the Last Generation of Hope.

Would people lose hope if they failed?

Would there be no more Generations? Would it all just end, and would the Master have finally won? It was unimaginable, but most likely possible. These people were the image of courage and faith, even though they didn't know it themselves.

And that's why James respected them so much.

They were too humble and kind to realise that even they could make a difference if they united as one.

If they only united as one. All realms together against the Land of Void. Against the Master.

They could do it.

They could do it, for sure. They didn't specifically need James and his friends to do it.   
Or did they?

Everyone they had met thus far, had spoken of a certain prophecy. Involving them. And them specifically.

It was weird, though. If the Spirits had foretold this would've happened, why didn't they try to stop it? Or was it beyond their power?

Fate?

Did it just have to happen this way?

It was unthinkable though, that their belief in Magic was the only thing that made James and his friends stand out.

James was the only one who truly believed. Antonio even laughed at him for doing so at certain times. Thomas was just being plain skeptic about it. Bella would either be calling it "science," or complaining how Magic's rules would interfere with scientifically proved facts.  
Samira believed some of it, though, but that was mostly back when they were little. Unicorns. Fairies. All the things little girls would believe in. Nothing special.

James suddenly snapped out of his thoughts when everything went pitch black before his eyes. Even darker than before.

His friends screamed in fear, and James yelled out for his sister. "SAMIRA! GUYS! Are you okay!?" he yelled. He heard a noise of which he thought it was his sister's voice, but before he could be sure, something hurled him through the air and threw him on his back in the snow.

James felt he had fallen between two people. He recognized the moaning to the left as Thomas's, and the rattling of arrows in a quiver to his left as Samira.

James looked up, and eight red dots in the dark betrayed that they had visitors.  
Warlock Spirits.

"Oh, please, not again," Antonio groaned.

"Guardians," one of the four Warlock Spirits growled. "Surrender and give us the Guardian of Soul."

"No, thank you, option not available," Thomas said. "Please select a different option."

The Warlock Spirit growled viciously. "Guardian, please," he growled. "You should know better than to mess with us."

"What if I did?" Thomas asked the Warlock Spirit. "Would that matter in this situation? You'd try to seize me, anyway."

While talking to the Warlock Spirit and at the same time distracting him from his friends, Thomas made a small and cautious gesture toward James that he had to crawl backwards.

James copied the gesture to the others, and did what Thomas asked him to do. He started to crawl backward, and was shortly followed by Samira, Antonio and Bella. They had to move slowly, though, so the Warlocks wouldn't notice while their attention was almost completely directed toward Thomas.

The Warlocks didn't really seem to like him, though. Their growls became more vicious and angry with every word Thomas spoke.

"You know, why are you following the Master's orders, anyway? Who told you to do so? What's the reason?" Thomas asked, and started to crawl backward too.

"ENOUGH!" one of the Warlock Spirits snapped.

"I've had enough of this nonsense! We've been listening to this gibbering child long enough now! I don't care if Asura wants him alive!"

The other Warlocks tried to keep their "friend," or more correctly said "co-worker," since it wasn't very likely that creatures that can carry so much hate inside of them would have anything like friends, from attacking and killing Thomas, giving Thomas enough time to get on all fours and shout at his friends:

"RUN! NOW!"

The five teenagers didn't think twice before getting on all fours and starting to run, in the same direction as where they'd come from.

But, of course, it didn't take too long before the Warlock Spirits noticed and ordered each other to go after them. "Get them! Don't let them escape!"

And so the hunt was on.

They were running again, like they had been doing all week, ever since they came here. It hadn't mattered; they had to run due to their own actions, creatures trying to kill them or other people telling them to do so.

All they had been doing in the past week was running. Especially when speaking of running away from the truth.

In fact, everything they had been running from was the truth. Reality.

"Everyone okay?" James panted. He was quite a sporty guy, but he wasn't an athlete. He wasn't prepared for running this much, every day over and over again. He felt like he was about to have a burn-out, and would just break down to the ground.

But apart from that, he didn't understand what the Warlock Spirits wanted. They had obviously been summoned by the Niveluae. But still...

A couple of days ago, they wanted James to turn himself in, which he didn't do, of course.  
And now, all of the sudden, they were after Thomas. Were they trying to figure out who was the leader? What made them so special that the Master wanted them specifically?

He didn't get too much time to think about it, nor did he allow himself. He had to stay concentrated, or else he or his friends would get in trouble.  
More trouble.

"Make sure to stay close to each other, guys," he heard Thomas say right next to him. "Make sure we don't get separated."

His friends followed his orders. In fact, Samira grabbed James' wrist to "make sure her little brother wouldn't get lost."

Still, it was as if Thomas had barely spoken the words before it all went terribly wrong.

One of the Warlocks pulled out something which looked like a sceptre, with a bright red glowing orb at its end.

He pointed it toward Thomas, and a red beam of light shot out of it. Unfortunately enough, James noticed the beam of light before Thomas did.

"THOMAS!" James shouted. He let go of Samira's hand, and ran toward Thomas, to get between him and the red light.

Black shadows with a deep red glow wrapped themselves around the redhead's middle, and pulled him toward the Warlock like a tractor beam.

"JAMES!" Thomas yelled. But when he tried to run after James, another Warlock did the same to him, and both boys were forcefully pulled toward the four Warlock Spirits.  
"Two birds in one stone," one of the Warlock Spirits said. "This is just too easy."  
James struggled all he could, and even tried to escape using his Magic, but couldn't. All he could do was shout at the others: "RUN, GUYS! RUN! BEFORE THEY GET YOU TOO! RUN!"  
Samira and Bella just stood there in shock, frozen in place. But eventually, Antonio yanked them along.

"Haven't you heard the guy? Run!" he shouted.

"But we can't just leave them behind!" Samira protested.

"There's nothing you can do when you're captured, Samira! We must find Fiyara and figure out how to save them! But right now, all we can do is do what they told us to do: and that is run! Run back to Fiyara as fast as we can! She knows everything about these mountains, so she might as well be the only person that could possibly help us now!"

Samira looked back, and saw how the two boys still struggled to get away from the Warlocks.  
Thomas's hands and feet had been tied together by the shadows, but was also being dragged forward at his middle.

James' torso was completely covered in the dark stuff; he tried to dig his feet into the ground, but failed to do so, since all there was to dig in was powder snow.

"Please be strong, guys..." she whispered. "Please find a way to escape. Like you'd always do."

It didn't last long before Bella, Samira and Antonio ran into Fiyara again.

Fiyara reacted shocked upon seeing the fear in the eyes of the three teenagers who were standing in front of her, while panting loudly.

All around them lay massive heaps of snow, and – strangely enough, considering the temperature was beneath zero degrees Celsius on the top of the mountains – melting icicles; the remains of the Niveluae Fiyara had managed to defeat.

"Guardians!" Fiyara shouted. "What happened? Where are the your friends?"

"James and Thomas- they were captured... By Warlock Spirits," Samira panted, still in shock. "They told us- to run, so we did- and we decided- to come to you, hoping you- could help us or at least tell us- about the Shadow Creatures' ways..."  
Fiyara sighed. "I tried everything I could to stop them. I really did.  
But one of them managed to get away and summoned your friends' captors." She lowered her head, staring at the floor.

"I'm terribly sorry. This is my fault."

"Of course it isn't, Fiyara," Bella said. "Those monsters were immensely huge. It's not your fault. We couldn't have stopped them either and we were with five."

Fiyara looked up at the sixteen-year-old and offered him a weak smile.

"I appreciate you saying that, Guardian, I really do. But part of this is my responsibility, and I am willing to accept the consequences. I shall do whatever I can do to help you rescue your friends." She turned around, and looked at the night sky. "I might as well know something which could help us track them down before they leave the mountain..."

"What do you mean?" Antonio asked. He walked a few steps forward. "Since you've got me quite curious right here..." He kicked some of the fluffy snow up, causing his reddish leather booths to be covered in white specks.

Antonio looked very careless and nonchalant at first sight, with his hands in the pockets of the furry beige XL snow coat, kicking up the snow as if nothing mattered.  
But when you looked closer, you could notice the worry in his eyes. James and Thomas were smart guys, but they had never actually dealt with anything like this.

These guys truly implied on killing them. Plus, they had way more dangerous weapons. And Dark Magic.

Especially the Dark Magic part was horrifying. They had nothing to defend themselves with if it came to that part. Even Samira couldn't heal wounds or anything caused by Dark Magic...  
So if anything happened to James and Thomas that would involve Dark Magic, it would mean serious bad news.

Treacherous Ally

A soft wind blew across the mountain, causing Fiyara's dress to glitter in the moonlight. She threw her long, white hair back over her shoulders and crossed her arms.

"I know what the Warlock Spirits do when they take captives on the Mountains of Pruina, since I've seen it happening before," she said. "I know what route they take. All we need is to track them down and catch them somehow."

She turned around, floating above the ground. "Could you show me where they were caught?"

Samira nodded. "Of course, just follow us. Our footsteps will lead us straight there..." Suddenly, the teenage girl gasped in surprise.

"What?" Antonio asked.  
"That's it! Footprints! We can just simply follow the footprints of the Warlock Spirits!"

"Samira! What a marvellous idea!" Bella cheered. "You're absolutely brilliant!"  
"No need to remind me," Samira said teasingly, and flipped back her hair, that was still tied up in the same braid as how she'd done it back at Queen Eloine's palace.

Fiyara smiled sadly. "Samira, I am terribly sorry," she said. "But... Warlock Spirits don't have any footprints..."

Worry struck the eighteen-year-old's blue eyes. "What!?" Samira shouted. "But- how are we supposed to track them, then?"

"Don't worry, dear, we will find them," Fiyara replied. "Just leave it to me."

*

The foursome followed the footprints all the way back to where the ambush had taken place.

The Warlock Spirits were gone, and so were James and Thomas.

In the pale moonlight, signs of struggle and dragging across the snow were clearly visible.

James had been trying to dig the tips of his feet in the ground all the time, which had resulted into two deep lines being drawn across the floor, leaving two heaps of snow behind at the end of the tracks.

The place where Thomas had been dragged away looked different. Since he'd been tied to hand and feet, Thomas couldn't do anything. But the drag was clearly visible.  
Samira also noticed something lying on the ground.

Something brown.

"Thom's shoulder bag!" she said, while walking toward the leather bag. She picked it up and wiped the snow off the surface of the sealed bag.

"Thomas must've wriggled himself out of it. As if he didn't want the Warlock Spirits to have it."

"I'm not surprised he didn't, since it contains our food and the map," Bella replied. "He hoped we'd find it later on and took it."

Samira hugged the bag. "Poor Thomas," she whispered. "You're so brave..."

"Samira, please don't drift off," Bella said. "We need you right here, right now."

Samira looked at her. Her eyes clearly said: "How do you know!?", but Bella decided not to

continue talking about it.

They had a job to do, and that was saving their friends.

*

James was hanging upside down from the ceiling, still trapped in the shadow-stuff. He didn't know where he was; the room was far too dark to see, anyway.

"Ah. I see you're awake."

A deep, raspy voice with a dangerous tone spoke to James; however, he had no idea where the voice was coming from, as the room around him was all dark. But the mysterious speaker revealed himself shortly to James; two glowing eyes appeared in the dark. James first thought it was another Warlock Spirit, but it couldn't be, as one eye had a cat-like pupil, and the other didn't, as if the other eye was blind.

The man spoke while remaining in the dark, as if he didn't want James to know what he looked like. "Welcome, young Guardian. I have been expecting you; you may call me Master Asura."

"Easy for you to say," James said, while struggling to get himself free. The blood was rushing to his head, and his head started to ache. "You were the one who sent out those monsters to capture me and..." He started. "Thomas..." he whispered. "Where is Thomas!? What have you done to him!?"

The Master laughed. "Stop yelling, dear boy," he said. "That's just the blood rushing to your head talking. Your friend is safe, behind me. He's still... asleep."

"If he dies, I swear to you I'll make sure the same thing happens to you!" James yelled, fuelled with hatred for the being, who though he had the right to appear in the form of a man. "I won't let you hurt my friends!"

The Master laughed even harder; he was mocking James. "I like that attitude, my boy," he said. "There's so much hate burning inside your innocent little soul... You'll probably hate me even more when I tell you the truth about the Spirits of Light." The tone of his voice darkened, and James became slightly pale underneath the reddish colour on his cheeks.

"What are you talking about?" he asked carefully, but quickly added, "you don't expect me to actually believe anything you say, right?"

The Master let out a small chuckle. "They didn't tell you?" he said. "Of course they didn't."

His eyes moved upward, looking James straight in the eye. "They want you dead, my boy. All five of you. It's not me who's being the villain here. Of course, I have my... ah... quirks," he chuckled at the sound of the word, "but I'm not the one who's brought you here, right? Put you on this dangerous quest? You're just a boy. And you won't make it out of here alive, whether I kill you or the Ritual."

"Just get to your point!" James shouted; worry had begun to layer his voice. "Just tell me what you want to!"

"All you need to know is that the Ritual is a trick," the Master said. "The Spirits will use your life force to relight this world. Don't you get it, boy? They require your death. Just to get their precious little kingdom back."

"I don't believe you," James spewed. "I bet your monsters are after my friends right now... I swear, if I get out of here and find out my friends have been harmed-!"

The Master raised an to James invisible hand and laughed. "Oh, don't worry, my boy," he said mockingly. "Your friends won't be harmed... by me." James couldn't see the outstretched hand that pointed towards him, ready to cast a curse.

All of a sudden, the room's door blasted open, letting in small streams of light. In the faint light, James could make out the silhouette of a person standing in the doorway.

"YOU!" the Master yelled, and charged for the mysterious person, who somehow managed to dodge him. The Master fell, and ended up outside the room; the mysterious figure closed the door with a slam, causing the entire room to go dark again.

James heard footsteps approaching. "Hey, sorry about that. It went a little rougher than expected," a teenager's voice spoke. A teenage girl.

She walked to the other side of the room, and soon, the room was lit by torches that hung on the wall. The girl must've lit them with Magic, as the fire was passed on in some kind of domino-effect.

A girl with blonde hair turned around, revealing two forest green eyes. She was about fifteen years old, and had a pointy nose. She was wearing a dark blue robe, but whatever she was wearing underneath, James didn't know, since she kept the robe closed tight.

She was pretty to look at, and she had something... Innocent-like. Like a young child. She wasn't very tall, either, considering James being short for his age and being taller than her.

"Oh!" James gasped in surprise. "Sorry. Didn't see you there." He tried to make a joke out of the whole situation, but it didn't quite work out as he'd hoped.

"It's okay," the girl said, as she knelt down in front of James with a cute smile. "I'm Sabrina, and you are?"

"James," James said. "I'm, um-"

"The Guardian of Innocence, perhaps?" Sabrina asked.

James nodded. "Exactly," he smiled.

"How exciting! I was the Guardian of Innocence too!" Sabrina cheered. "Well... a thousand years ago, of course." Pause. "Oh, I've got to show you something! Something you're going to love!" Another pause. "But... I've got to get you out of here first."

"Wait – what about Thomas?" James asked. "You know, I'd love to come along with you, but the problem is just that I don't really want to leave my friend. And I should really get back to the rest of the Bond of Light, you see...? They're... on the mountains."

"Oh, you mean him one over there?" Samira said, pointing at Thomas. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he gets back to your friends."  
Sabrina made a gesture toward Thomas, who was lying on the floor, tied up in the same shadowy stuff as James, and the shadows disappeared.

"Your friends will find him, for sure. I have to show you something."

"What is it, then?" James asked again.

"A secret path. On that path, you'll learn something crucial for your quest. I've walked that path too. The most innocent person of the Bond of Light is usually the Guardian of Innocence, and is therefore the only one who can see and walk the Path. So you'll need to do it alone."

James wasn't sure. He stared at Sabrina as he said: "Are you sure that's safe? Shouldn't I discuss this with my friends first? Before they think I've disappeared and they get worried?

"Of course not," Sabrina said. "I'll stay with you. I'm the same kind of Guardian as you, after all."

Something was burning against Thomas's arm, inside the pocket of his snow coat. He dug around in it, careful not to announce that he was awake, and found his sceptre.

The orb was glowing in a deep, red colour, and Thomas immediately connected with his special powers through the sceptre. He got on all fours, and spied on Sabrina and James from a distance. His body was still too numb for him to be able to stand on his feet, which made it hard for him not to be able to run toward James and tell him that whatever he was doing, that girl was fishy.

Something bad was bound to happen, and it had something to do with her. That's what the sceptre told him.

"James, whatever you do, don't trust her... She's lying..." Thomas whispered.

"But – Sabrina, if I may ask you," James said, while rubbing his neck, "if you've seen it before, whatever happened on that path – why won't you tell me?"

"Because I don't know all of it," Sabrina replied. "I... Got killed on my way to the path. I just know of its existence and location."

James sighed, and stared at his feet while shoving his hands into his pockets; the snow coat he'd been wearing had somehow disappeared. "And... what about the Master just told me? That's a lie, right?"

He had no idea what to do. He wanted to go back to his friends, together with Thomas, but this girl insisted that he'd join her to some kind of weird path she claimed to exist.

She could be speaking the truth, but what if she wasn't? What if she was lying?

"Most definitely a lie," Sabrina confirmed. "The Spirits are good, I promise! James, please!" she proceeded to beg. "Lunaria's future as well as yours and your friends' might depend on it!"

"Sabrina, I am terribly sorry, but I can't do it without telling my friends..." James mumbled.

"Enough, Riverdale. If I say you're coming with me, you do so, understood?" Sabrina suddenly growled. Her eyes got a slight red glow, and when James caught her gaze, his pupils shortly became the size of his irises.

"Of- of course," he said. "Of course. I'll go with you."

Sabrina's eyes returned back to normal as she showed James a broad grin.

"Thank you!" she said. "Shall we go?"

"James!" Thomas shouted, as he saw him walk off with Sabrina.

"JAMES! NO! SHE'S LYING!"

Thomas's legs finally came back to life, and he got up as quick as he could. He jumped out of his hiding spot, and ran after them.

"JAMES!"

Strangely enough, no-one was there. And Thomas...

Found himself back on the mountain. Somehow.

"Thomas! There you are!"

Thomas turned around, and saw his friends running toward him.

"Guys!" he shouted, waving his arms in the air. "Bad news! Very bad news!"

"What- what do you mean?" Samira asked and looked confusedly into his grey eyes.

Thomas sighed. He ran a hand through his brown hair, while staring at the ground. "I know it sounds ridiculous, but James has run off again."

Antonio let out an irritated groan.  
"Not again! James sure does know how to get himself into serious trouble," he muttered. "What's it this time, Thomas?"  
"There- there was this girl, who freed us from – well, wherever we were," Thomas said. "She talked James into going with her. I tried running after them, but somehow, that girl managed to teleport me back onto the mountain." He rubbed his chin.

It'll be a race against the clock to find James, he thought.

*

It was as if James had the stomach flu when the world returned to him. This was the first time he'd ever teleported, and he for sure didn't like it.

"So... Sabrina... What exactly did you want to show me?" he said to the blonde girl beside him.

"Just follow me," Sabrina said. "It's right in front of us, I promise."

James shrugged, not thinking too much of it, and just followed her. Until...

"Here we are," Sabrina said. She pulled James forward, and showed him the path she called the "Path of Revelation." It was hardly ten metres away from the mountains, and yet it still didn't appear until they were standing in front of it.

"Whoa," James said. What he saw, was absolutely incredible. The path seemed to glow in the night. It made him feel as if it was calling out his name, begging him to come and walk across.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Sabrina said. "They say you can change it to your like with your imagination."

"W-what?" James said, briefly looking at his hands.

"Go on, why won't you try it?"

He wasn't sure what he had to do, but as he'd done it before, this wouldn't be any different to him. James walked forward, and the moment he put his foot on the glowing path, it turned blue. Exactly what he imagined it'd do.

"Wow," James mumbled.

"It's meant to make you stronger somehow," Sabrina said. "I don't know all the ins and outs about it either. But... there's one problem..."

"What is it, Sabrina?" James asked, while turning around. He saw Sabrina holding her hand in mid-air, as if she was touching an invisible wall.

"It- it won't let me in," she said. "Only one can enter..."

"Oh, well..." James said, slightly disappointed. "I guess this is goodbye, then?"

"I am afraid so," Sabrina said. "Good luck, James," she said. "May the Spirits be with you." She smiled at him, and he smiled at her. "I'll meet up with you at the Path's end."

The next moment, she was gone.

James turned his back on the spot where Sabrina had just disappeared, and stared into the distance.

He shrugged, and started to walk the Path of Revelation.

*

"So now, the plan is basically, we've got to go after them and find them before anything can happen to James?" Antonio asked.

"Yes, Antonio. James is more important than anything else right now," Thomas replied. "I believe that whatever she was going to show him wasn't too far away from the mountains... or at least I hope so. We just have to make sure that we get off this mountain as quick as possible."

"Roger that," Samira said. "Mission "get off the mountain" begins now."

"Indeed..." Thomas chuckled. "You really couldn't think of a better mission name?"

Samira shrugged. "Maybe I could've," she said, "but we're kind of in a hurry, right? Pack up, guys, we're leaving!"

*

He was back to sitting on his throne, shrouded in darkness, as usual. Asura, also known as the Master, or the Demon – whatever you'd prefer.

He wasn't happy with his servants. He'd clearly instructed them to seize the Guardian of Soul only, because his special apprentice would take care of the other one. But no, they wouldn't listen, chose to seize them both.

The Warlock Spirits and other Shadow Creatures were powerful, but not very smart. And that was what bothered Asura so much, since their intelligence often caused them to make their own plans. Stupid plans, bound to fail.

He hated it when someone refused to follow his orders and made a mess. Now, he'd lost the Guardian of Soul again. And it was only to question whether or not the Guardian of Innocence would be gullible enough to fall for his trap.

Someone knocked on the door of the throne room.

"Come in," Asura said, and the door slowly opened.

"Ah, dear, you've returned," Asura said, while he slowly rose from his throne; he still remained in the dark, however. "I assume you've taken care of him?"  
The figure knelt in front of the stairs that lead to the platform where the throne was standing on.  
"Yes, Master," the figure said. It was a girl's voice. "I've gained his trust. You've told him what will happen to him and his friends when he proceeds, but he doesn't believe you." Her voice sounded sinister. "But, as soon as I've taken care of the Linmor Elder and she confirms what you've told him, he will break down, and lose trust in the Spirits for sure." The girl with the blonde hair looked up. Her eyes were blood red, and glowed in the same colour. The same eyes as before. And her mouth showed a broad grin.

"And then, my Lord, he'll be all yours."

"Well done, Sabrina," the Master said contently. "You've always been quite an acquisition to my army. I wouldn't have expected anything different from you."

II

This Is Real

Don't Give Up

Samira ploughed through the snow as fast as she could, unsure what exactly she was going after.

All she wanted was to find James as soon as possible, although she knew that that would be practically impossible to do.  
None of them knew where Sabrina had taken him, nor whether or not he was even still alive.

All they could do now, is continue ploughing through the thick pack of snow and dark night, and try to get off the mountain as quick as possible.

"Sam, where are you going?" Bella woke the eighteen-year-old from his thoughts.

Samira had been walking ahead of the others since the moment they'd reunited with Thomas and had started to travel across the mountain.

She hadn't spoken a word since; she just needed some time alone with her thoughts.

When Samira refused to reply to Bella, the teenager took a sprint forward and grabbed her friend's shoulder. Samira simply shook the hand off by making a sharp movement with her shoulders and continued walking.

Antonio wanted to shout at her, but Bella prevented him from doing so.

"Let's just leave her be for a while," she decided, with her eyes locked on Samira.

"She's over-concerned about James and his whereabouts. Just as we are, but- we're just-"

She couldn't find the words for it, and corrected herself. "You know what Samira's like."

Bella looked at Antonio and Thomas. "We just need to make sure she doesn't leave our sight or does anything stupid."

Samira was too deeply concentrating on her own thoughts to be able to pay attention to her friends' concerns. All her thoughts were with James; she was busy trying to figure out where her brother could've possibly disappeared to.

That girl... From what Thomas had told her, as soon as James had started to become hesitant and no longer wanted to go with her, she... Just...

She... Hypnotized him? That was how Thomas had described it. At least it meant that James wanted to make the right decision. He'd almost managed to get away from that witch. If only...

Samira stopped walking and sighed. She looked up, and stared blankly into the distance.

It was hopeless.

James was gone, and Samira had no idea where he was. The world they were in was so immensely huge, that the chance they'd ever find him again was impossibly small.

It was over.

It was all over.

Suddenly, it was as if Samira's legs refused to even move. They buckled, and Samira simply just moved along. She didn't do anything to prevent it from happening.

The sun was coming up, and Samira did nothing but just simply stare at it.

She didn't want to continue. James was gone.

She didn't want to finish this quest without James. She didn't want to go back home without James.

She didn't want to live without James.

Hopelessness overtook her while the tears burned behind her eyes. It could end quickly. She could just run a few miles, to the edge of the mountain, and throw her off the edge.

If that was what it'd take for her to find James - and probably also her father-, she'd do it.

"Samira! Are you all right?"

Samira didn't turn around. She didn't want to. All she could was sit there, on her knees, staring at the rising sun.

It was hopeless.

"Samira!"

Thomas ran over to her, carefully approaching her.

The brown-haired teenager knelt in front of her, and looked at her.

"Samira," he said, in a calming tone, but also sounding quite determined. "It's not over yet. We're going to find him before the Master does. I promise."

He looked her in the eye, and smiled; he carefully brushed a few loose strands of hair out of her face. Samira had taken out her braid, and didn't care to braid it again.

"Listen," Thomas said, while slowly moving his face towards Samira's. "I'm not giving up on you, or on your brother. But there's one thing I know for sure; I'm never letting you go again."

His face proceeded to come closer to hers, while he carefully drew her near with two fingers underneath her chin. His lips sought hers as his eyes closed, eventually finding them and gently kissing them.

The kiss he'd been waiting for three years. He'd finally got it. Thomas had always known Samira liked him, but he was afraid she'd lost interest - she'd had about two boyfriends in the past four years, but it never worked out. As if she'd been waiting for him.

His eyes slowly reopened as he gently pulled away from Samira.

"Thomas," she breathed, before throwing her arms around his neck. Thomas hugged her back.

"I love you," she whispered to him.

"I love you too," he whispered back.

They didn't care that Bella and Antonio were watching; after all, the only way the two teenagers seemed to react to the scene that had unfolded itself in front of them was "finally", and "It's about time".

Samira and Thomas slowly let go of each other, both smiling broadly. "Thank you for pulling me out of the pit I was in," Samira said. "I was kind of having a tough time back there,"

"You're welcome," Thomas winked at her before standing up and yanking at Samira's arm.

"Now get up!" he shouted, while pulling her up. "Get up, get up, get up! We've got to hurry, if we want to find James before the next sunset! If we find him before sunset, he'll probably even be still alive!"

Samira chuckled. "You're right, Thomas," she said. "We mustn't give up hope yet. He's probably found a way to escape from that girl and is out there somewhere, looking at us."

As she spoke, she wiped the snow off her skirt and looked at Thomas.

"Do you want your bag back?" she asked, while gesturing at the shoulder bag she was still holding on to.

"Yes please," Thomas replied, while Samira handed over the bag.

"I was very careful with it," she said. "There's important stuff in there, so I didn't want to damage it."

"Of course you were careful," Thomas said, while hanging the bag over his shoulder. "The important stuff is the reason I didn't want the Warlock Spirits to have it in the first place." As he spoke, he dug around in the bag, trying to find the map. "I guess no one's hungry due to this situation we're stuck in at the moment?" he said, checking.

All three of his friends shook their heads.

"To be honest, I've got to make a confession," Antonio said.

"I'm pretty worried about James. I'm afraid he's got himself in some kind of trouble again..." he mumbled. "I mean – he's a smart kid and all, but he's really gullible."

"We all are worried about him, Antonio," Bella said, while patting the broad-shouldered nineteen-year-old on the shoulder – although she had to stand on her toes to be able to do that. "And we all know he's in trouble. And that's the reason we're going to find him."

And so they continued walking. There wasn't really anything left of the usual laughter or fun conversations they used to have while travelling now James was gone, however.

James, being the optimist, was usually the one to make all the jokes and cheering up the others. He always stuck around with Samira and her friends, despite the fact that they were all older than he was.

He knew how to keep everyone's tempers down, the chins up and the hope strong.

Now he wasn't there, they'd have to do it all by their own. Until they'd find him, of course.

Samira felt guilty for some reason. Perhaps it was the fact that he was the one who'd always looked after James and had sworn to protect him.

And Samira felt like he'd been failing this mission since the moment they were brought to Lunaria, into this terrible nightmare.

Samira felt like she had failed to protect her brother multiple times. Her brother.

Her little brother.

She'd failed to save him so many times, from so many things.

She couldn't save him from Mordred in the Twilight Forest, not from the Fairy Flu, not from Sabrina.

Every time, someone else had to jump in and clean up the mess. And that while Samira had been the cause for one of those events to happen.

But this time, Samira wasn't going to let it happen that way. No, this time, she'd be the hero. She'd be the one to save James this time.

Whatever it'd take, she'd save him.

*

"You know... Is it just me, or is the mountain ascending already?"

Samira looked up, and looked closer at the mountain ground further in the distance.

Bella was right.

The mountain was slightly steeply descending, but not too steep to walk on. This would be in their advantage, being able to ascend the mountain much quicker.

Suddenly, Samira got an idea. It was childish, but it was an original idea, which could set their minds off the worries a little.

Help them relax a tad more.

"So... Guys... Have you ever watched penguins?" the eighteen-year-old asked her companions with a grin from ear to ear on her face.

"The way they walk? What their favourite way of transporting themselves is? Do you get where I'm going here?"

"Yes, I do," Bella said, although you could hear that she wasn't too sure whether she knew what Samira meant or not. "Why?"

"Well..." Samira mumbled. She paused for a bit, thinking about how ridiculous it would sound if she could actually manage to get the words over her lips.

It would most likely sound like she'd lost her mind. But she wanted herself and her friends to have fun, and it'd be the quickest and most fun way to get the hell out of the cold weather.

Plus, she'd always loved playing in the snow during Christmas break from school. Especially on Christmas morning, those mornings when it'd snowed so hard that you could dive into the snow without even touching the ground.

One of those moments like the one they were having now.

It shortly made Samira wonder if they'd even celebrate Christmas at home. Or if they would celebrate Christmas at all.

But then she couldn't retain herself any longer. It had to be said, it had to be done.

"...Let's be penguins!" she shouted, spreading her arms and legs while jumping in the air.

Samira landed on her stomach, turned around and slid forward. The coat wasn't too great to sled on, but it'd do.

"Oh great goods, she's lost her mind," Antonio said, and shook his head. He covered his mouth with his hand, only to conceal a wide grin of amusement.

"Psh, I'm glad she has!" Thomas said; he was grinning as well. Samira had always been that nut-job kind of girl, and he totally loved that about her "There wouldn't be no fun in doing this if you'd consider yourself acting strange, now would there?"

And before Antonio could say or do anything, Thomas lay flat on his stomach, going after Samira. He yelled and laughed.

Like children playing in the snow during Christmas break on a white winter day.

Bella and Antonio looked at each other, exchanged a shrug, and followed their lead. After all, it wouldn't harm them if they had at least a little fun out of the whole experience.

Even if they weren't supposed to.
The Secret Village

James wandered over the Path of Revelation. It hadn't stopped glowing in the bright blue shade of cyan ever since he'd set foot on it, so there was always enough light to lead him and keep him going in the right direction.

He didn't know where he was or going, nor where the path would actually lead him to; all he was doing was what Sabrina had told him to do. And that was following the path.

She'd promised to meet him at the end of it, and he had put trust in that she'd do so. All he had to do was to follow the path and wait for whatever was about to come.  
James felt guilty about leaving his friends behind just like that; he knew he'd left them in worry and distress.

But Sabrina had convinced him that this path contained crucial information that would add to their journey, which meant he had to walk it until the end to find out.

Thomas and Samira were probably going to yell at him for ten hours straight after they'd reunite.

...If they would reunite.

Then came the moment for James to realise what Sabrina had been trying to do. She'd separated James from his friends, making him an easy prey to fetch. Don't get separated.

He'd ignored Akilah's most important warning, and put himself and his friends in danger by doing so. James quickly turned around, and started to run back over the path like a madman. It was only a matter of seconds until he noticed a cracking sound beneath his feet. The path he'd been walking on was made of glass.

In a split second, everything seemed to happen at the same time. The glass shattered, the path stopped glowing, and James fell down into a deep hole.

Luckily, his reflexes were quick enough to grab the glass edge of the path just in time.  
While the glass cut his palms, James looked down at the deep, black hole he'd almost fallen in.  
"Focus, 'Dale," he whispered to himself, squeezing his eyes shut. "Focus. You can do it."

Then, he spoke up. Still not very loud, but loud enough for anyone nearby to hear.

"If this hole leads to anywhere important, I demand a safe route to appear and take me there," he demanded. Strangely enough, the Path seemed to be responding to James's demand.

In barely a few seconds, the redhead was surprised by the feeling of vast ground beneath his feet.

James let go of the glass edges and rubbed the sore spots of which some were bleeding. The Path glowed less bright than it did before; using Magic was taking up all the energy James had left.

It didn't matter; he had to keep going. He could sleep later, when he got back to his friends. But in order to be able to do that, he had to get there first. And that meant he absolutely had to keep going.

More reasons to go on built up inside James's brain as he kept walking. The secret awaiting, the underlying truth, Samira, his friends, Anna... Home.

He'd do anything to be able to go home. All together, in one piece.

What he didn't notice, were the three topazes on his brooch, which were turning paler with every step he took.

*

"Look guys, I think we're finally there!"

The Bond of Light had continued to ascend the kilometres of mountain that were left. It had been a very tiring job, but they had finally arrived at the foot of the mountain. The last kilometre had to be climbed, due to the snow melting and the mountain getting steeper again.

"Indeed!" Thomas said, as he jumped down, landing steadily in a squat. "Now, let's go find James!"

The others had to follow the determined eighteen-year-old quickly, careful not to lose him out of sight.

Both Samira and Thomas wanted to find James as quick as possible, no matter what it'd take.

Samira wanted to yell at him, scold him for being so stupid and careless, and then hold him closer than she'd ever done.

Her brother was everything to him. James was stubborn, cocky and naive, yet the smartest kid of his age you'd ever meet. Unfortunately, stubbornness in combination with naivety was the one thing for James to keep getting himself into trouble.

It'd never really been a problem back when they were younger, but now...

Thomas shook his head, blinking his sleep-deprived eyes. Sleep was for later concern. For now, they had to keep moving. Who knew what kind of trap that girl had set up for James? Unfortunately, he didn't know. And neither did James.

*

Sabrina hurried. She had to reach that darned village before James would. She'd have to trick Aubry into telling James that the Spirits wanted him and his friends dead.

As soon as she entered the village, people stopped what they were doing, just to stare at her. Sabrina's cape slightly fluttered behind her, making her look dark and dangerous.

"AUBRY!" Sabrina called, as soon as she stood in front of a certain door; the house it belonged to was particularly bigger than the others. An old, yet tall lady answered the door, not seeming all that impressed.

"Yes?" Aubry said, as Sabrina stormed into the house.

"We need to talk," the blonde said. "A Guardian will be coming here. He'll be arriving any minute. And I need you to do something for me."

"I already told you; I don't do business with you monsters," Aubry said strictly. "And I'm not planning on doing so any time soon, either."

Samira had turned her back on Aubry. "I see," she breathed, trying to stay calm. "Well... I don't want to start a fight here. That'll draw attention to us," she said. Instead, she snapped her fingers, and two black, poisonous snakes came from her sleeves, gliding toward Aubry and wrapping their slimy, smooth bodies around her.

Sabrina turned back around toward Aubry, approaching her menacingly. "You either do what I say," she said softly, her face creepily close to the old lady's, "or I'll make sure the same happens to this village as what happened to those that surrounded yours."

*

James kept walking through the dark tunnel that had appeared in front of him. The tunnel that would lead him... somewhere.

To keep up the mood a little, James started to hum the melody to a song his father had sung for him when he was little. After a short while, he had hummed the entire song, and decided to sing it instead.

"When I look into your eyes,

All I see is mine

Starry eyes, colour so blue

telling the story of me and you

I'm sorry if I have to go,

Leave you all alone

Keep your mother and sister close

Protect the ones you love most

Don't worry now, and have no fear

Know I always will be near

Close your eyes, rest your head on your pillow

If you listen, you can hear

The song of the silent willow"

James breathed in deeply as he began to sing a little louder as he got to the chorus.

"Hidden away, deep in the meadow, stands a silent willow

Birds land there to sing their song all day

Now it's time for me to say

You can find me there,

Anytime, anywhere

Just me and you,

Listening to the song of the silent willow"

James lowered the volume of his voice again a little, afraid anyone might have heard his singing, but he decided to continue with the second verse anyway.

"Don't you worry now, and have no fear

Know I always will be near

Just look up, at the moon

And know I'll be looking too

And I promise you,

I will be back soon

Until then, just close your eyes...

Hidden away, deep in the meadow

stands a silent willow

Birds land there to sing their song all day

Now it's time for me to say

You can find me there,

Anytime, anywhere

Just me and you,

Listening to the song of the silent willow"

The song was almost over now. James's father had added an extra verse when he left for the final time – although he'd spoken it more rather than he'd sung it. He thought he'd return soon, even though he wasn't sure.

"Now listen, my son,

As long as that willow is still singing silently in your heart,

I'll never be too far away"

The final verse had always been the verse that had brought tears to James's eyes ever since. But the song also comforted him, reminding him that his father had a special little place in his heart.

James had always wondered what had happened to Clarissa, Thomas's mother – she had to flee the country short after James's father had died, but came back a few years later. He also had believed that Thomas wondered the same about Martin, James's own father. Even James didn't know the full story.

And he probably never would, either.

James was surprised to hear someone humming the same song as he'd just sung. It was a little girl, with big brown puppy-like eyes and short, frizzy brown hair. She was adorable; she smiled as soon as she saw James, revealing that one of her front teeth was missing.

"Finally, you're here!" she squealed. "It's such an honour to meet you, Guardian! That was a beautiful song you just sang."

"Thank you," James replied, a little startled by seeing the little girl at the end of the tunnel, who had apparently waited there for him.

How long had she been standing there? Had she even eaten? She didn't look underfed, but by the looks of her bare little feet – James was a little worried.

The little girl took him by the hand and pulled him up a second pair of stairs. When James was above ground, the path stopped glowing instantly.

"We saw the stairs appear and immediately knew someone was coming," the little girl said, still pulling on James's hand. James had to bend over to be able to walk along with her. "Sabrina showed up too, and she said it was really a Guardian who was visiting us!"

"Oh," James mumbled. "Sabrina."

He still wasn't sure what to think about the girl with the blonde hair. She looked really nice at first, but then- then she just got really creepy all of a sudden.

The little girl lead him to something that seemed to be the town square, where seemingly a hundred people were waiting for him- perhaps even more. Sabrina was standing in the middle of the half circle the people formed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the five brave men and women who are going to save your town and world!"

The townspeople started to cheer and clap for James, as Sabrina walked closer to him. She wanted to grab his arm, but James shook her off.

"Don't touch me," he hissed at her, before directing his attention toward the townspeople. "So- um- yeah," James said. "Hello. My name is James Riverdale, and I am the Guardian of Innocence."  
The people started to clap again. James chuckled.

"Please," he said. "No need to clap. It's a huge honour to be here with you today. And Sabrina- she's right."

"Really?" the little girl, who had joined her mother, father and baby brother in the circle, said. "Are you going to help us, James? Are you here to fight with us, to free us?"

James looked at her. And at the woman, who held her daughter close to her side. She smiled at James. A face of hope. James and his friends were a bulb of hope for them.

"Yes," he then said, with a surprising amount of determinedness in his voice. "I am."

The people started to cheer even louder. Several women and children walked toward him to hug him, men shook hands with him.

After a while, the eldest of the town walked forward. A tall woman, seemingly still strong, despite of her age.

"Young Guardian," she said. "Can I have a word with you?"

"Why, yes, madam," he said.

The woman lead him away from the crowd, to a silent corner of a sandy street.

"Very well," she said. "I want to tell you a little something about our village. Sabrina asked me to."

At that moment, Sabrina appeared. "Hi, James, I told you you'd make it!" she said.

"Yeah, sure," James mumbled in response.

"I assume you two have met before," the woman said.

"We sure have," Sabrina grinned.

"Let me introduce myself to you, James," the old lady said. "I am Aubry, and I am this village's elder. I have been their leader for about fifty years now."

"You must've been very young when they chose you," James said. "How did you become village elder that young?"

"The cause began about fifty years ago," Aubry said, knowing that question would come. "There was an uprising amongst all the villages. There were many more beside ours," Aubry said. "The Master did not like the unrest in the realms. And that's why he destroyed over fifty villages. As a warning for the remaining ones."

"What!?" James exclaimed. Aubry nodded.

"We were one of the targets. And luckily, I knew about that. I did what was necessary to save my village." She paused for a second, and lowered her eyes.

"What did you do?" James said, eager to know more.

"I temporarily managed to stop the time inside the village," she said. "I used Magic to create an invisible shield around our village. When he'd blast our homes to pieces from the sky, it'd look like our village was destroyed to him. But we'd be able to live on underneath that fake layer of destruction. We do have to be careful during the day, however, since there appear to be Shadow Creatures that can look straight through the shield. It's happened before."

Then, Sabrina came into the conversation. "See, James? This is what I wanted to show you. To know this, is crucial for your trip. You need to know that these people, normal people, defenceless against the Master's evildoings, depend on you! You need to help them."

"I- I'll try," James said. "I'll try whatever it takes to finish this quest and bring the Master to a stop. I promise, Aubry."

Aubry and Sabrina exchanged a short look. "But... there's something about this Ritual the Spirits require you to do, my boy," Aubry said. "What I'm going to tell you now, is something you need to keep in mind."

James fell silent, worriedly anticipating what Aubry would say next. Had the Master been telling the truth?

"It is possible," Aubry said carefully, "that you die after having performed the Ritual. But this happens only under very specific circumstances.

Guardian, I beg you, tread carefully. Be careful who to trust."

James swallowed and nodded. "I will." The Master had been telling the truth.

He was distracted just long enough to miss Sabrina snapping her fingers. A few moments later, a young woman screamed. James instinctively turned around and ran toward the place where the scream had come from. Sabrina grinned.

"HELP!" the woman screamed. Other townspeople were screaming as well; one of the houses had been set on fire.

But James wasn't the only one who had heard the scream.

Thomas and the others were running through the neighbouring village of the village where James was, and they were just close enough to be able to hear the scream. The next thing Thomas heard, was James's voice shouting as well.

"What-!?" Thomas shouted, as he scanned the ruins of the destroyed houses. "JAMES!?"

The screaming continued. Thomas started to run into the direction he thought the sound was coming from.

He ended up at a village wall. The village seemed to be completely destroyed, but when he climbed over the "destroyed" outside wall...

A hidden village! And James was here!

"Come on!" he shouted toward the others, who followed him quickly. They were going to be reunited at last.

But what had actually happened in the village?

"HELP!" the woman screamed, as James ran toward one of the houses. The screaming woman was the mother of the little girl who had lead James into the village.

"My house! It's on fire!" the woman shouted, grabbing James by the shoulders. "And suddenly, as if there was sorcery going on, the water in the well evaporated while I was filling my bucket! It just disappeared! And my daughter and son are still in there! My husband's gone to get them! Please help my babies!"

James looked at the crying woman. "Don't worry," he said. "I'll help."

He concentrated on the house, keeping a well in mind. "Water," he whispered. "Water is what I need. Lots of water."

The woman stared into the well; nothing happened.

"Water," James hissed, while pushing harder, still unaware of the very pale colour of the stones around his neck.

"WATER!" James shouted, as a thick stream of water shot up out of the nearest well, blasting the house.

James tried to stay focused, even though he was tired. He kept sending water toward the house, until the fire had been extinguished completely.

"JAMES!" Thomas, Samira, Bella and Antonio shouted.

James turned around, and grinned at them. "Hey, guys! Took you so long?"

"You saved our children," the man said, as he stumbled toward James and his crying wife, this time crying tears of joy. He was carrying the little boy in his arms and the girl was holding her father's hand.

"Thank you, James!" she shouted, ran toward him and hugged him.  
James knelt down in front of her. "Here," he said, as he picked a poppy bud from the grass field and let it bloom with a wave of his hand, giving it to her. The next moment, he would've wished he would've never done that.

Because that was the last drip, the last drip of Magic to make the stones turn completely white.  
James staggered and fell backwards in the grass.

People gasped in shock, as Aubry and Sabrina neared the fainted boy.

"No!" Thomas said. "Not- not again!"

"Don't worry, kid," Aubry said, laying a hand on James's chest and examining the white stones. "It's his Magic. He has used every single drop of it. He's completely exhausted, that's all. Let him sleep, and he'll be fine."

Thomas let out a sigh of relief. "Finally, he's not at Death's door for once," he mumbled. "I think it's best if we let him sleep and we went to sleep as well. It's near sunrise.

"You can stay here for the night," Aubry said. "I have plenty of spare beds. Come along, and take your friend with you."

"Sure," Thomas said, as he knelt down to pick James up.

As he knelt down, he noticed Sabrina, hidden away in the shadows. Thomas threw her a dangerous squint. He knew what she'd been up to, and luckily for James, his friends had arrived just in time to prevent it from happening.

Take Care

Late in the afternoon, after school, teenager Lucy Flynn decided she had to go visit her aunt. With all the recent events that'd terrorised the family, she felt like it was the right thing to do.

Of course she'd been hurt by the news that her two cousins had disappeared, it hurt their mother even more. David, her godfather, had been briefing in on Cheyenne's situation to her by mentioning the woman every once in a while, and after nine days had passed since the disappearance, Lucy had decided to drop by herself for once.

Lucy and Cheyenne always had a close bond; the redhead had always loved to come by the house and play with her favourite cousins. She knew that Cheyenne cared.

Cheyenne cared so much.

And now her son and daughter had been taken away from her, out of her reach, leaving her unable to protect them from whatever kind of danger they would be up against.

Lucy understood how hard that was on her; Nathaly, her mother, had always felt the same way whenever Angelo (her husband) had to leave home.

It got even harder the night he never came home.

Lucy walked through the backyard to the back door; she owned a key to that door, knowing she was always allowed to use it whenever she needed to.

And right now, she felt like she did.

She entered the house, walking through the kitchen; the dishes had been done, and the house had been cleaned. Cheyenne was slowly getting herself together again.

"Aunt Chey?" Lucy said. "Are you there?"

And she was; Cheyenne looked up from her book, and smiled as soon as she saw Lucy standing in the living room. "Lucy," she said. "It's good to see you."

Cheyenne stood up to greet Lucy with a hug. "How have you been?" Cheyenne asked the fifteen-year-old.

"Fine, I guess," Lucy replied. "I kind of came here to check and see if you were doing okay. I've heard so much about you."

Cheyenne smiled at Lucy. "That is so sweet of you," she said. "I'm doing better than I was before, thank you. David's been helping me to put everything back together... although it's been nearly two weeks."

"Just have patience, aunt," Lucy said. "They'll be back, right?"

Cheyenne nodded. "Yes," she said, "they will. I saw James in a dream a few days ago; it seemed as if they were still doing fine, which gave me a bit more hope that they would be coming home okay."

"Then make sure you hold on to that spark of hope," Lucy said. "We're all cut from the same wood in this family, after all." She chuckled; she and James had always been the more active side of the family, while Samira and Cheyenne only showed their truly mean sides when they had to.

"Do you remember what it used to be like around here when you were kids?" Cheyenne said. "This house always used to be one big party."

Lucy chuckled. "It still can be," she said. "We could hang out here again. Every day."

"But it'd still be different," Cheyenne said. "You kids have grown up, after all. You're not running around in pink frilly dresses anymore..."

Lucy shrugged. "That's right," she said. "We don't. To be honest, I'd prefer to go back to the time when we were like that as well," she said. "Things were so much easier back then. No worries, no school..."

"Life goes on, huh?" Cheyenne said. "Welcome to adulthood. In ten years, you'll be having kids of your own."

Lucy laughed. "Aunt, please! I don't want to be thinking that far into the future yet. I've still got two years to go in high school."

Cheyenne gasped. "Oh dear, that's right..." she mumbled. "This is James's last year... He's going to miss so much just because of all of this! He's never going to make it through his exams if he misses too much!"

Lucy crossed her arms. "He'll be missing hardly a month," she said. "He can catch up with that, I'm sure of it. James is smart enough to find himself a way out of it and ace his exams."

Cheyenne rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile. "I know, I know..." she said. "And yet, still, I wish that he would be given a fair chance to study as much as the other students. I mean – his exams are in May, and we're almost halfway through November. He doesn't have that much time left to study..."

Lucy laid a hand on her aunt's shoulder. "Just trust him, aunt," she said. "Trust him that he'll pass his exams like you trust him to come home safely."

Cheyenne smiled at the redheaded fifteen-year-old in front of her. "All right," she said. "I will."

Lucy happily clasped her hands together. "Good!" she cheered. "Is it... okay if I bring my Mum and brother over for dinner tonight?" she asked. "Or do you have other plans?"

Cheyenne chuckled. "Of course not," she said. "I'd love to have you guys over. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Great!" Lucy cheered, hugged her aunt and made her way to the door, eager to tell her mother they'd be eating at her aunt's. "See you tonight, then," she said.

Lucy was already at the door, but Cheyenne stopped her by calling her name. "Lucy?"

The teenager turned around. "Yes?"

"Don't forget to invite David."

Lucy's face lit up after Cheyenne had told her to invite her godfather. "Of course not!" she said, and quickly left, while waving at her aunt.

Lunaria

Samira was awakened by a familiar sound. She hadn't slept as well as she had now in days, which made her feel good for a split second. But the good feeling slipped away as soon as she looked aside, where the sound was coming from.

James was trashing about underneath the thin blanket, his face contorted in pain and fear, silently mumbling the same words over and over again.

When Thomas moved a little closer toward James, he could hear what he was mumbling:

"No, please. Please don't hurt them. Please, take me instead... Don't hurt my sister. Don't hurt Samira. I'm sorry... I'm sorry... Sorry..."

Samira frowned and shuddered slightly. James had started to have nightmares about the future.

It gave Samira little reassurance that the stones of his cape, which lay folded up next to his bed, on top of Thomas's cape and armour, were glowing again. There was still something else bothering her.

There was something which was triggering his nightmares, but Samira couldn't figure out what it was. James hadn't had a single nightmare concerning their future since the last attack in the Twilight Forest.

Then, her eyes moved up. She noticed something in the corner of her eye, someone hiding in the shadows.

Two red eyes and a red stone, which glowed just strong enough to reveal certain parts of a familiar face, glowed in the dark shortly before disappearing into thin air.

"Sabrina... She's one of them," Samira grunted. "I knew it. The dark energy those Spirits radiate causes James to react like this. Not a very reassuring thought, if you ask me..."

She stood up and shoved his bed closer toward James's.

As she lay back down on her side, she laid a hand on one of James's twitching shoulders.

"Shh," he whispered. "It's all right, James. You're safe."

"Samira..." the redheaded boy uttered, as his tensed body seemed to relax completely by his sister's voice and touch.

"We're going to finish this as quick as possible," Samira whispered. "We need to get you out of here. And the quicker, the better."

Samira wanted to remove his hand from James's shoulder, but she could feel the muscles underneath tense up as soon as she even only moved his hand.

"If that's what keeps you calm," Samira mumbled and closed her eyes, without removing his hand. "Sleep well, little brother."

Unfortunately for Samira, Sabrina hadn't disappeared. She'd just covered the stone with her cloak and kept her eyes closed.

"So that's what you two are up to... Foolish decision, Akilah. Two siblings getting permanently separated is even worse than two best friends separated. You've seen it happen before...

Just wait for it until it happens again. Then you'll see who the ruler of these realms is."

The red eyes glowing in the dark disappeared again, this time really disappearing.

Off to tell their master what they had discovered.

*

Morning came early. Too early.

James and the others had decided to stick around the village until somewhere around midday, since it was just about the safest place for the five of them to recover from the previous rather stressful period.

They had decided to do so after Thomas had considered what Violina and Queen Eloine had told them before they left: in the realms beyond the mountains, the Master's power only grew stronger.

That meant they had to shape up before leaving the one place that would be probably one of the final safe havens they could visit.

Thomas had also figured it'd be a good idea to have a small conversation with Aubry, the village elder.

She was the best way to get more information on what laid ahead of them, in the realms beyond the mountains.

Also, she'd been so kind to let them sleep in her house. She also could've abandoned them to their fate, but she decided to help them.

And luckily, Aubry thought the same way about it as Thomas, even though he didn't know it yet.

The parents of the children which James had saved the day before had invited the Bond of Light for lunch.

It was a simple, yet tasty lunch. And by adding some of the food which the five friends had taken with them from the Fairy Queen's Palace, it became a true feast.

"Thank you for saving our children," the woman said to James as they were eating. "You have no idea what this means to us. We've been taking care of these two for nearly five hundred years. I can't believe we might as well finally get the chance to watch them grow up at last."

James swallowed the bread he'd been chewing on while listening to the woman. "Of course," he said.

"Anyone of us would've done the same. It's- it's what we're here for, right? Saving people."

The little girl clapped her hands, her brown bangs dancing around as she bounced up and down. "Thank you so much, James! You're my hero!"

James smiled. "And you're mine, little girl."

Right after James had finished his sentence, he heard a woman clearing her throat behind him. The eight at the table turned their heads in her direction simultaneously.

It was Aubry.

"Guardians?" she asked, on a serious tone. "Can I speak to you?"

"Sure," James said, standing up. He was about to thank the villagers for the lunch, when Aubry interrupted him.

"Sorry, James, not you. Just your friends," she said.

"Why?" James asked her. "Is- it something I shouldn't know about?"

"I'd like to tell your friends about the history of our village," Aubry replied. "You can keep eating those slices of bread you've got there. Nothing you haven't heard yet."

James nodded at the elder as he sat down. Thomas, who sat opposite him, looked at him.

"You sure you're going to be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's fine," James said. "Just go. She obviously only wants to talk to the four of you. I've already heard the story."

Thomas nodded at him as he and the others stood up. "We'll be back before you know it."

"I know," James said. "I know."

"So... what is this story you wanted to tell us about, actually?" Thomas asked, as he, Samira, Antonio and Bella walked off with Aubry.

"Actually, I wanted to talk about your young friend over there, but I didn't want to upset him," Aubry replied. "I'm pretty sure you understand."

"We do," Samira said. "But what exactly is it you want to talk about?"

"Well," Aubry said, "let's go to my house. We can talk freely there."

In a small village like Aubry's, it's easy to get from the one side to the other. It didn't take too long before they all sat around the round, wooden table in Aubry's house.

"Young man," Aubry said, referring to Thomas. "Yesterday, I heard you say that James "wasn't at Death's door for once." Has your friend been the target or victim of any previous actions of Shadow Creatures?"

"Well..." Thomas mumbled. "Yes. He has."

"Actions such as?" Aubry asked, suggesting that Thomas should explain the situations they'd been in.

"Well, he's been cursed with the Fairy Flu while we were travelling through the Silver Valley," Samira said. "He only just made it."

"I see," Aubry mumbled. "Anything else that happened?"

"Well," Bella said. "They tried to kidnap Thomas on the top of the mountain, but when that failed, they took James instead. And then they took them both... kind of."

"Ah..." Aubry mumbled. Her responses didn't make up a clear image of how she felt about the things that the teenagers had told her. "I assume there's more?" she asked.

"I've noticed that he's been having these dreams, well, nightmares," Samira said. "Whenever there's been one of "them" near him. You know, those spirits. They all seem to involve... one of us getting hurt." She wanted to say "me," but then she was reminded to the fact that nobody was allowed to know about their particular connection.

Aubry lowered her eyes. "Yes."

When she looked up, she looked Thomas straight in the eye. "Make sure to keep an eye on the boy. At all times. Do not leave him alone. Ever. Especially not in battle. With my Magic, I am able to read personalities if I need to - and your friend's personality fits the Guardian of Innocence's personality profile perfectly, I must say."

"What do you mean?" Antonio asked. "In what ways can he be more of a dork than he was before?"

"Well, I've seen there's a lot of goodness and kindness inside his heart. A lot of affection towards the ones he loves."

Samira bit her lip, praying she hadn't found out they were related. If evil ears picked up they were, they'd be done for.

"But with his innocence comes also great naivety. Which means he's quite gullible," Aubry continued her story.

"Old news," Antonio muttered, rolling his eyes. "Naivety caused him to end up here in the first place."

"What I am trying to say," Aubry said, "is that the Master feeds off innocence. That's how he lures his victims into his traps. With smooth lies. Empty promises. He tries to lure them in and get them under his control...

That's what you shouldn't let happen. Never. The Master can turn only the most innocent souls into his minions, turning them into Cursed Spirits. Though they maintain their human form, they conceive a completely different personality, by getting their memories altered. This causes them to view their friends as their enemies. They often forget who they really are, or once were. It is almost impossible to reverse a curse like that."

Thomas plucked at his lips. "You're saying it's almost irreversible," he said. "Does that mean there is a slight chance of reversing it?"

Aubry sighed. "I was afraid you'd ask that," she said. "If you want to reverse it, you should do it while the curse is in its early casting stages; the possession stage."

"And if that fails?" Samira asked.

"If you fail to break the spell in the possession stage, you have to release the Curse from its vessel. With any luck, it'll separate from the original host's spirit it merged with. But the chances of someone surviving that are near to zero."

"Why?" Bella asked, almost feeling sorry for asking.

"You'll have to kill the vessel to release the Cursed Spirit," Aubry said. "So far, only the first Generation had a possession."

Samira gasped. "That must be the fifth Guardian! We've met only three so far, but... one is missing."

Aubry nodded. "They managed to get the poor girl here while she was possessed. I thought I had managed to break the curse, until the sun started to set..."

She lowered her eyes again. "It turned out I had failed. And that's why I wanted to warn you."

Thomas swallowed. "But why isn't James allowed to know this?"

"Because he's already enough of an easy target without him knowing this," Aubry said. "Once he's aware he's the main target, he'll only get more nervous and easier to catch.

I believe you're aware you need him to get all the way to the end."

"Yes, we do," Samira said. "Without James, we can't perform the Ritual."

"Indeed," Aubry said. "But you also need each other, because each of you has a flaw which is fulfilled by someone else's character traits and skills. If one of you drops out, there's a break in the chain link."

She smiled shortly. "And a broken chain can't hold up a drawbridge."

"No, indeed, it can't," Bella said.

*

As soon as they returned to the house where the five had lunch earlier that afternoon, they found James there.

He was talking to a familiar... someone.

Sabrina.

As soon as they got within hearing distance, Thomas could hear what they were saying.

"...You should be more frugal when it comes to your Magic. That trick with the glowing path? Really cute, but it drained your energy."

"You were the one who sent me on there."

"But I didn't tell you to let it glow, did I?"

"No, you didn't... But still."

"Shape up. You're going to need that Magic once you're getting closer to the Lands of Void, kiddo."

And in a flash, she was gone. Disappeared into thin air, as if she'd never even been there.

James sighed. But his face cleared up as soon as he heard his friends calling his name.

"I told you we'd be back in a minute!" Thomas shouted, as they approached James.

"Yeah, you did," James said. "And? Anything interesting?"

"Kind of," Thomas said. "What she told you, bla bla bla, back story stuff."

"All right then," James said. "So, what's next?"

"Next stop, Imber Lake!" Thomas said, pulling out the map in all its magical glory.

"But..." Antonio mumbled. "We don't have a boat. How are we ever going to cross that lake? Swimming?" He sounded rather sarcastically.

Aubry smiled. "There's a fisherman in our village. He can help you get a boat which will make it to your destination," she said.

"Thank you so much, Miss Aubry!" James said. "We can't ever thank you enough for all you guys have done for us."

"You can thank me – and the rest of this world, too – by saving our world and returning home to your own safely, young Guardian," Aubry replied, still with a smile on her face.

"That's all we really need, after all."
Don't Go Swimming

It was around midday when the Bond of Light was finally ready to leave Linmor village – the town's official name, which Bella had been able to inform her friends about after seeing it on the map – Aubry told them it'd be only visible while they were inside the village, though.

Neither of the five really knew what it meant, nor did it actually matter.

"Thank you so much for helping us out by letting us stay here," Samira said, while thanking Aubry. "But I think it's about time we'd set sailing. Literally." She smiled at her own pun.

Aubry nodded. "Take care of yourself, children. You've got a long way to go; don't be fooled by anything others might tell you."

"About sailing, lads; have you seen yer fine new ship yet?"

The Bond was surprised by hearing the sound of a man's voice. Overpowered by curiosity, they turned around, watching a strong-looking man approach them.

The man had a black beard and short hair. And despite the muscles, due to his facial appearance, he seemed to be in his mid-forties. His toned muscles were well-visible, due to the fact that neither his leather vest nor linen tunic had any sleeves. You could guess from the way he spoke that he was a man from the sea- a sailor, perhaps even a pirate.

A nervous smile played about James' lips, unsure what to expect from this man. The townspeople he'd met earlier had all been very nice, but James found it was always better to be safe and sorry when it came to accidentally picking fights.

"Actually, we haven't seen our ship yet, sir," he said, in an as polite fashion as he possibly could.

Luckily for James, the sailor noticed that the boy wasn't sure what to do and say, and gave him a firm pat on the back.

"Don't ye be worried, lad! It's all right. I've built ya lassies the best vessel you could wish! And a darned pretty one she is, too!"

James found the ability to squeeze out a laugh. Still a tad nervous, yet less nervous than he had been before.

This man had reassured him of one thing: everyone in this village was on their side; nobody meant any harm.

And that was truly a reassurance. Since at least half the inhabitants of each Realm they'd travelled through before had been trying to kill them.

The ones that had helped them really were helpful, though. Rikki, who had helped them on their way, Akilah, who'd got them their information, and Madeleine, the Keeper of Guidance, who had given them their map and clothes, Gabriel, Keeper of the Woods, who had given them weapons, Violina, Princess of the Fairy Realm, and her sister, Queen Eloine of the Fairy Realm, who had healed James' sickness and helped Samira lift her curse, Fiyara, Princess of Snow... And then there was Sabrina...

James still wasn't sure whether Sabrina had been there to help them or she had set up a plan that had failed.

Nevertheless, there were Aubry and the other Linmor villagers.

There had been plenty of people helping them, and without them, they never would've made it all the way through.

They really had to be thankful for all what these people had done for them. Yet, the people were thankful to them.

What had they really done, so far? Nothing, right?

Not really.

And yet, the people saw them as their heroes.

James woke up from his train of thoughts and returned to the real world.

He could hear Samira ask the sailor a question from the distance, but since he was more focused on his own thoughts than what she was saying, he didn't really pick it up.

"If I may ask... Where is i- I mean- she?" Samira asked the sailor, "she" referring to the ship.

"It's good ye're askin', lass!" the sailor said, wearing a big grin on his face. "We don't have quite a harbour anymore 'round here, since it was destroyed a 'couple hundred years ago, right? So I've put it at the edge of the lake for you lads. It should be safe out there, though I'd recommend ye'd hurry to get it.

Perhaps someone would be interested in a fine ship. I don't know."

"Well, I guess that's all we need," Samira said. "Once again: thank you all so much-!"

"Yeah, yeah, lassie!" the sailor shooed her and the others toward the Village Gate. "It's fine! Now go! Save the world, be heroes! Make us proud!"

The teenagers left the village, heading for Imber Lake. It was quite a big lake, ending in two rivers on each side. Six hours, at least if they wanted to end up at the safest spot to get off.

Lots of people living in Lunaria saw the Mountains as the big border between the dangerous Realms and the safer ones to stay, yet Imber Lake proved them wrong.

After they'd cross the lake, everything would get a lot more dangerous. Not quite the place where you'd like to celebrate a holiday.

James and Thomas both closely inspected the rowboat's hull for any sabotage – not saying the sailor would've sabotaged it, but there were certain passers-by who could've. Just to be better safe than sorry.

The sailor hadn't bragged a single word; the boat was one chunk of total craftsmanship. And it was big enough to transport five people without getting awkwardly tight, which added another plus to the list of pros.

After a few minutes, the boat had been packed and launched into the water, the passengers had entered and they were on their way.

Antonio had decided to take the first turn to row; they'd switch clockwise every twenty minutes. It had been an averagely peaceful day, but James knew it wasn't going to stay that way. There were creatures in the water, yet they didn't know what kind.

But sooner or later, they would... And the encounter sure wasn't going to be pleasant. Except if the creatures turned out to be friendly, of course.

Unfortunately, the creatures they'd meet weren't quite friendly. At all.

It was Samira's turn to row, and Thomas sat in the back of the boat, staring into the water, as he noticed something staring back at him, swimming just underneath the water's surface.

At first, he wasn't sure whether to look away or keep looking at first, but as soon as the sound of a beautiful voice singing filled his ears, he was sold.

A siren.

He wanted to keep looking at the woman who sang for him, never leave her side again. She had him hypnotized, completely mesmerized.

Thomas bent over the edge of the ship's hull, as the woman stretched out her arms to pull him underwater...

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

It was Antonio who pulled Thomas out of his trance, by pulling him up by the hood of his cloak just in time before the siren could grab him.

The monster wearing the face of a woman hissed angrily at the brown-haired teenager, before disappearing under the water again.

"Thomas! Those are sirens! Don't look at them and cover your ears! Or else they'll mesmerize and take you!" James said.

"Oh, but we don't just take people when they're mesmerized," one of the sirens said with a hiss, while rising out of the water. "We just like drowning you foolish Guardians!"

And then, she made the jump and grabbed Thomas, pulling him out of the boat. He disappeared underwater before you could blink with your eyes.

"THOMAS!" James shouted, as he climbed to the other edge of the boat and jumped after Thomas before Antonio could stop him.

James swam after the siren who'd taken Thomas, yet unfortunately enough, she could swim way faster than he could.

The sun side of the story was that Thomas didn't quite agree with the siren taking him underwater without his permission, and started to struggle and kick the creature with all his might, making it hard for her to hold him.

Once he'd kicked her off, Thomas wanted to reach for James. As they had almost reached each other, something jerked at James' leg, pulling him down at rushing speed. The redhead let out a yell, before realizing he was underwater.

Luckily, the siren's grip on James's leg wasn't too strong, so he could easily kick her off.

Thomas pulled the redhead up to the surface as fast as he could as soon as he noticed James was about to drown.

Gasping for air, the duo climbed back on the wooden boat, welcomed by three worried glares.

"God, am I glad to see you two again," Bella sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, good times, it was really fun down there," Thomas gasped. "Let's keep going. I don't want to meet these things again."

After having said those words, he took the paddles from Samira and started to row as fast as he could.

Nowhere in this world was safe. Absolutely nowhere.

And most definitely not if they were the ones to be hunted all the time.

It might have been plain luck, but apart from the first attack, the Bond of Light had been clear from any others.

The other edge of Imber Lake was coming closer and closer, as were the dangers of the Land of Void.

After leaving the Lake, they wouldn't be in the Land of Void immediately yet, but they would arrive at "The Edge."

The Edge was the common name for the last Realm of Lunaria which was still less corrupted than the Land of Void.

The Edge was a Realm, which had been corrupted by Magic strongly enough to even make the ground cave in, revealing deep lava pits which had been hiding under the surface.

Whatever was left of the ground was rather dry and unstable; anyone treading an careless step was sure to find immediate death.

The Realm's corruptcy also allowed attacks coming from beings controlled by Black Magic to become more powerful and more frequent.

There was a slight chance the Shadow Walkers would also reappear due to the same reason, the Dark Magic making them strong enough to appear there, broad daylight or not. But what was for sure was that there would be plenty of fire-based monsters hiding in the lava, ready to surprise the five teenagers.

While James preferred - and secretly also wanted - to just sprint and rush through that burning lava pit, the better idea was to absolutely not to.

The ground, however would be strong enough to carry the five of them at once, as long as they'd walk slowly and carefully.

As long as neither of them made any sudden moves – especially Antonio deciding to jump wouldn't be a good idea - they would be safe.

Somewhere unknown

"Sabrina, you've made a huge mistake."

"Why?" the blonde-haired girl said, clearly showing no respect toward her – well, at least former - best friend. "I'm not the one who's been hiding underneath a dark hood for the past thousand years, Maddy."

Madeleine, trying to reason with her friend, nervously plucked at her dark green robe, while brushing some of her jet black hair off her shoulder. She then looked back at Sabrina, with concerned eyes.

"The Spirits of Light did what they could to save us, Sabrina," Madeleine said. "It's just easier for Akilah to communicate with the Guardians if she -"

"So you're saying that one of the most powerful Spirits of all time is a coward?" Sabrina said, without even letting Madeleine finish. Her face showed a hateful grin, obviously amused at the thought she'd just mentioned.

"She's not," Madeleine growled. There was a dangerous tone in her voice. "The Light Spirits wanted to save you too... You know that. We couldn't find you anywhere, and we ran out of time..."

"Don't you get it?" Sabrina said, while shaking her head. Her blonde locks flew around her head. "You never wanted to save me in the first place. If you would've, then why didn't you save me when I needed your help most? Didn't you see me there, crying, begging for you to help me? You stared at me, you knew I was there. You saw me. You could've saved me...

Yet you didn't."

"Oh, for God's sake, Sabrina!" Madeleine cried, without even realizing she'd made a slip of the tongue. Tears started to stream down her pale cheeks as she continued to speak. "That's a lie, and you know it! You know that's not really what happened! Whatever he's told you, he's altered your memories! They're not real!"

The look on Sabrina's face was rather unpleased. "He?" she snapped. "You mean Lord Asura, the Master, King of Fear? The one who gave me a new life, another chance?"

Sabrina took a rather hostile position, as if she were to attack Madeleine.

"If it weren't for him, I would've never returned! Not even to this world! The only price to pay for my life was that I'm now trapped here, together with the lot of you! But you were the ones who refused to save me, while he did!"

"Sabrina, I've been trying to tell you: WE TRIED TO SAVE YOU!" Madeleine cried. "Why won't you believe me? We had no idea where you were! Until you suddenly showed up weeks ago! That's been the first time in nearly a thousand years since I've seen you!" She flung her arms forward, looking hopeless and in despair.

"We brought you to Linmor Village, remember? One of the five hundred villages you destroyed! Aubrey tried to save you!"

"Lies," Sabrina breathed. "The witch is still alive. Boy, do those darned women age slow... It's rather impossible that they were all still alive, the entire village – considering the state the village seems to be in from the outside... But I made a discovery a few weeks ago, and that's why I sent Riverdale there, hoping to be able to get rid of him together with the entire village at once... But then apparently his friends needed to find him - again."

The way she spoke about James and his friends was rather annoyed. Obviously, she didn't like them.

"If you would've killed the boy, you know you would've disobeyed and angered your master," Madeleine said. "Is that really what you would've wanted?"

She crossed her arms, a slight smug grin hinting about her lips.

"Were you truly willing enough to risk your own life, just to fulfil some personal vendetta? Really, Sabrina? Were you?"

Sabrina bared her teeth. "No personal vendetta, Maddy," she growled, "but business. All I intended on doing, was making the boy completely harmless by draining his power. It'd be easier that way to take him to Master Asura, who then would proceed with his plan for Riverdale without any further interference. The vendetta you're mentioning has nothing to do with Riverdale's death, nor of any of the Guardians. But with yours. Trust me on my very word, Madeleine: I'm going to kill you all. And then it's the turn for the Guardians."

"So he's got a plan with James?" Madeleine said, completely ignoring Sabrina's threats concerning her and her fellow Keepers' lives. "And what about the other one? With the brown hair?"

"Bennett?" Sabrina said, letting out a small snort, while a vampire grin grew on her face. "Oh. Thomas's an exceptional story... but then again, that girl, Samira... I'm sure she'll break pretty easy as soon as Master Asura has finished business with her little brother."

Madeleine's eyes widened in surprise, as her jaw dropped a couple centimetres. "What?" she stammered.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Sabrina said. "Your beloved Light Spirit has broken her oath. And for what? This so-called prophecy, the Last Generation of Hope?" She snorted again, obviously amused.

"She's using you, Maddy. And the boy. All of them."

"They're this world's Last Hope, Sabrina," Madeleine objected. "The Prophecy... It's been foretold. He's the Last One to have the ability to connect with the Golden Wing.

...And you were the first."

"Yeah, sure," Sabrina said. "But consider this: what if the boy fails? What if it turns out he isn't able to connect with the Golden Wing after all? What if they're all lost, and they don't even know it yet?"

"He has to, Sab. He's got the Three Topazes."

"Not if we get him first."

"Sabrina-" Madeleine started, but Sabrina interrupted her.

"They're fighting for a lost cause..." she mumbled. She then continued on an unpleasantly threatening tone:

"You better assemble your Keepers, Wise one. There's a storm coming."

Madeleine's emerald green eyes darkened as she replied to Sabrina's threat. "Fine. So be it. But be ready, because we're not going down without a fight."

Sabrina showed Madeleine a threatening crooked grin. "I wouldn't expect anything different. But I'm afraid you've got no chance of winning. We've got more trumps to play... This was certainly not our last."
The Edge

"How big is this lake, actually? It feels like we've been sailing forever!"

Antonio was rowing the boat, while complaining about the length of time they had spent on Imber Lake all the time.

It was obvious that he didn't like water; or perhaps he just wanted to get the journey done as quickly as possible, since the end of the line was slowly coming in sight.

Samira could partially understand Antonio's rush; he wanted to go home. She did, too, but what was ahead of them scared her too much to be in a hurry.

She obviously didn't know what exactly was ahead, but she knew that it could never be good. And the sky in the distance, which was getting darker and darker as it went further into the distance, told her enough.

Wherever they had been earlier, nothing had been as dangerous as what was about to come.

Samira was pretty sure Antonio was aware of that, too, but he was just too stubborn to admit he was scared.

She could've asked him if he was all right, or could've told him that it was for the better if they'd stay on the – more or less, save the sirens and other water monsters – safe lake for just a little longer.

"Antonio, please stop complaining," she decided to say instead. "We'll get there when we get there. For now, we should enjoy our last few minutes in "safety"." She made sure to use quotation marks as she said that last word.

"Samira's right," Bella said. "We have no idea what will happen once we arrive at The Edge. But I do know what it can't be good."

"Actually, I've been wondering..." James suddenly spoke. "What about that last Keeper? You know, number five? Number one was Rikki, two was Madeleine, three was Gabriel, four was Violina, since one of the Guardians is out of business... So there should be a number five as well, shouldn't there?" he said, while counting the number of Keepers they'd met thus far on the fingers of his right hand.

"I don't recall Akilah mentioning five Keepers specifically," Bella said. "But you've got a point."

Thomas nodded. "But that would mean that they would be hiding somewhere around the Edge, right? I wouldn't expect any kind of pure being to be able to stay in the Land of Void for longer than a day."

"And yet we're going to do it," James joked. Thomas rolled with his eyes, but couldn't hide the obvious grin on his face.

"Theoretically speaking," Thomas said. "Oh well. I'm sure we'll-" His sentence was interrupted by thick fog, which seemed to kick in almost immediately.

...Black fog.

"Eh...?" the British teenager let out a nervous squeak.

"I've got a feeling this ain't no good!" Antonio shouted, completely disregarding his grammar, and started to row as fast as he could.

"But we're on the middle of a lake, for Heaven's sake!" Bella complained. "How could they possibly appear at broad daylight, on water!?"

"I don't know, Bella," Antonio gasped between firm rowing movements, "but let's just get the hell out of here instead of waiting to find out!"

And that was the right thing to do indeed. Whatever was planning on attacking the Bond of Light from the black fog, it wasn't anything good. They weren't exactly in the position to fight; a fairly small boat, which could capsize quickly and drop them all into deep water filled with more hostile creatures.

Antonio managed to get them out of trouble fairly quick, as after barely five hundred metres the boat rammed against the shore.

"All right guys, this is it... Exit safety," James said, as the five teenagers stood up, getting ready to leave the boat.

No word had been too much about The Edge.

Everywhere they looked, the ground was made of either dry soil and gravel or some kind of red-and-black stone. Granite.

And it looked neither pleasant nor safe to walk on.

"Do we – have to do this? As in – can't we just take the boat, row around until we find somewhere safer?" Bella mumbled.

"Unfortunately not, Bella," James said. "I've looked at The Edge on the map a couple of times. This is the only way we can access the Land of Void... this place was made to keep people away from there."

He could hear Bella swallow next to him.

"Oh-" she mumbled, while small drops of cold sweat started to glimmer on her forehead. "Well- then I guess... If it's really the only way... I'd say we should tread carefully." Bella had normally always been brave, but she'd changed quickly in the past few days. She'd become more careful – more scared sometimes, even. James was sad to see that Lunaria had such a devastating effect on a strong girl like Bella.

"Well, how about before you do that, we have a little chat first?"

A boy approached the five teenagers, not much older than them. He had blond curls and grey, friendly eyes. "I believe we haven't met before."

James smiled back at the boy. "No, we haven't," he said.

"Well, let me introduce myself," the boy replied, while shaking James' hand. "My name is Timothy, and I am the Keeper of Hope. You must be the Bond of Light."

"Yes, we are," James said. "Nice to meet you, Timothy."

"Same to you, my boy," Timothy said. He then moved his head around, nodding at the others.

"You all must be tired. And hungry. Or maybe both?"

"Well, make that both," Antonio said, patting his grumbling stomach.

"Antonio, don't exaggerate it too much," Samira said. "You've had lunch hardly three hours ago!"

Antonio shrugged in response. "I know," he said, "but the rowing of the boat was very intensive," he said. "Especially that last bit. And... I just get hungry really quickly."

Timothy laughed. "All right then," he said. "I suggest you all pay a visit to my hideout, where we can get to know each other more and also talk a little."

He then turned around, gesturing at the teenagers to follow him. "I'm sure you've got a lot of questions, and I'm sure I can answer them."

*

Timothy's hideout was located somewhere with pretty strong ground, since the house was made of stone and fairly big.

"I know it's kind of a big house to put in the middle of such a dangerous place," Timothy said as they entered the stone house, "but it's mainly so big due to the dorm. There are nine beds in there... I've built them all myself, over the years."

"So did you build this yourself?" James asked. "Like Gabriel did with his tree house?"

"No," Timothy said. "Not all. The Light Spirits have helped me. When they had just resurrected us - I believe you've heard of that story, we were all separated and alone. I found myself here, in The Edge, so I had to find shelter. And that's what I got. I've done the rest myself."

They sat down at a big wooden table, which seemed to have been carved rather professionally.

"It wasn't easy," Timothy continued. "I had to travel a lot to get all of this done. Luckily, my father had been a carpenter and his brother-in-law a smith, so I knew how to get things done..."

"But why didn't you choose a different location to live?" Antonio asked. "If you could travel, you could've decided to stay anywhere."

"Because I wasn't allowed to stay anywhere else," Timothy said. "We'd all been given a task. And we had to guide the ones that went before you... So I had to return here eventually. But to be honest, you're the first Generation that got this far – by one piece, that is. Some Generations made it here – with a person or two missing. All I could do is guide them as well as I could, but I knew that their hope of succeeding was lost..."

He paused a few moments to lower his eyes. "It's hard to see people, young people, go through this. But there were also older men and women... Sometimes of over forty. Just because their shared belief in Magic and childlike minds were strong enough to be able to take on this task."

He looked up again, showing a kind of sad grin. "And then those men come here, only to leave and do what some nineteen year old idiot has told them to," he said.

"It's sad. I also recall meeting a woman one time, who was twenty-nine and had two very young children... She had done nothing but crying and worrying about them all of her journey. And that was the reason her life ended..."

He paused again and nodded a few times. "That really gives you a wake-up call. How serious the situation here actually is."

James, who had been listening to Timothy's story closely, allowed his eyes to wander around the room a bit.

There were candles everywhere, giving the cold stone walls a warm glow. He noticed something on a shelf further in the room, but he couldn't make up what it exactly was.

He then quickly returned his eyes to the table, where he listened to Timothy finishing his story.

"So actually, before we move on and I tell you anything else," the blond nineteen-year-old said, "is that I want to give you one advice. Be careful of what you say and do here, because anything could be used against you. If the Master happens to mean harm toward you specifically, he'll try to pursue it in as many ways as possible.

The Master is a master of filling one's heart and mind with fear. If that man finds your weakness, it could mean your end."

The Bond of Light had spent about an hour chatting with Timothy, while he gave them information about The Edge and told them stories of previous Generations.

The blond nineteen-year-old knew plenty of interesting stories to tell, though almost every single one of them had a sad ending.

Timothy knew a lot about the area, but not just only about The Edge. He was the first and only Keeper to ever travel through every Realm in Lunaria, causing him to know much more than most of his fellow Keepers knew.

Even though all of this, he had to admit he'd never went to the Land of Void, so he knew pretty much about that place.

And who could blame him for that? At least James and the others didn't. They could understand that after Timothy had returned to his own Realm, he didn't have energy – or courage, for that matter – left at all to pay a visit to the Land of Void.

"I shall be your guide through the Edge, and the Land of Void," Timothy said. "It's about time I got to learn all the secrets to the last Realm. Just to complete my collection of knowledge and get you guys to the end of the line safely, of course."

"But I thought you weren't allowed to leave the Realm you were chosen to protect for too long," Samira said. "What happened to that rule?"

"Ah, yes," Timothy said, understanding Samira's confusion. "This particular rule is only in effect when we are off-duty. But when we are guiding the Bond of Light," he took a second to gesture at the five teens sitting around him at the table, "we're doing our duty, so that means we're allowed to leave our Realm temporarily, as long as we return to our Realm after our duty's been done."

He smiled through his grey eyes at Samira. "I am allowed to stay with you five until I've fulfilled my duty and I know for sure you're all safe."

"That's good to hear." Samira smiled back at him.

"Uh- so- is there anything else we should know?" James interrupted the two, clearly uncomfortable seeing how well Timothy seemed to get along with Samira. Thomas let out a small snort hidden behind his hand.

"That's my sister, you pervert," James muttered behind his teeth.

Timothy either pretended like he hadn't heard what James had muttered, or just really hadn't heard, because he smiled at the redheaded sixteen-year-old while speaking.

"Well, there's one thing I could help you with..." he said. The next moment, he stood up from his chair and walked off into the room.

James turned his head to follow Timothy around the room with his eyes, and saw that Timothy had picked up the mysterious object James himself had been staring at earlier.

As Timothy sat back down in his chair and put the brown, rectangle object on the table, James finally knew what it was.

A book. A big, brown book.

"This book," Timothy said, "is called A Guardian's Guide to the Light. It contains information of every single Realm from a Guardian's point of view. I've been writing this for over nine-hundred years."

"Oh, and that's why you travelled so much! To get information for the book!"

"Yes, that's why," Timothy said. "I wrote down everything I'd learned from our journey in Lunaria as Guardians first, then started adding information from my travels. This book might come in handy if you need to save yourself out of nasty situations."

He shoved the book across the table toward James. It didn't make it all the way, but James got the hint. He took the book and placed it inside his leather sac.

"Read it as often as you can," Timothy said. "Whenever time allows it."

James nodded. "Got it."

"You see," Timothy said, "it contains more information than what any other Keeper has told you before. Of course Madeleine, Gabriel and Rikki know almost as much as I do – since they went everywhere I went. Except for Rikki and Gabriel... Since, you know – Rikki was killed on Imber Lake by – some kind of shadow monsters, which seemed to come from underwater. Did you encounter them?"

"Almost," Thomas said. "We got out of there as soon as we saw fog."

"Good," Timothy said. "You're vulnerable out on the water. One of you could've died like Rikki did... And Gabriel lost it after she did. He committed some heroic suicide..."

Timothy paused for a second and swallowed. "At the end of the Edge, there's a ravine to prevent Lunariae to cross to the Land of Void. Sabrina had gone missing just after we'd left Linmor Village, and we had to get to the other side of the Ravine...Gabriel had climbed down the ravine and had tied a rope tied to a rock... He then jumped, still holding the rope, and it seemed as if he'd climbed back up to a higher spot in the ravine and somehow managed to tie the rope around another rock without getting hurt... But he didn't really.

The last we saw of him, was when Madeleine and I had climbed to the other side by using the rope, and he said: 'I wish you both good luck, and I hope you find a way out of this hell... But it's too late for me.'"

Timothy paused again. Telling this tale was the hardest so far. "He... Then...We noticed the blood stain... He'd got hit by one of the rocks while taking the rope to the other side – it looked really severe, and – he then just fell backward into the ravine..."

He buried his face in his hands for a few seconds. "That was the worst thing I'd ever seen."

The Bond of Light just sat there, in complete silence. "We had no idea..." Samira mumbled. She looked at Bella, then at Antonio, then at James. "So..."

"Madeleine and I tried to keep our promise to Gabriel that we'd find a way out, and we made it to the end of the Void... But... We never got out. We didn't save Lunaria," Timothy said.

"But we are," James said. He noticed that he'd stood up as he spoke. "We've come this far, we're still all in one piece, and I'm not giving up."

Thomas looked at him and stood up as well. "I'm with you."

Samira looked at the duo and smiled before standing up as well. "I'm with you two, too. We've got to do this."

Antonio now stood up as well. "If we stay together, we can do it," he said.

Finally, Bella rose to his feet too. "Indeed," he said. "We've got plenty of brain and brawl, we should be able to do this. It won't be easy, but we just have to believe in ourselves."

The five teens looked at Timothy. "And you, Timothy? Are you with us?" James asked.

Timothy lowered his eyes and sighed, but then smiled as he rose from the chair. "Of course I am," he said. "Why wouldn't I be? Payback time for the guy that had to ruin millions of lives? Always."

"All right then!" James cheered, before letting out a yawn. "We'd better catch some sleep... I don't think we'll be able to sleep during the night safely when we're in The Edge. Due to the Dark Magic, even the Day isn't completely safe around there."

"He's right," Timothy said. "You better go spike up your energy levels before we leave this place. It's about the safest place we're going to have from this moment on. I'll wake you up; we'll leave at sunset."

And so they did. Timothy showed them the bedroom as the Bond of Light got rid of unnecessary and/or uncomfortable clothing and accessories and lay down.

Fire and Water

While his friends spent their time asleep, James spent most of it reading the Guardian's Guide to the Light Timothy had given to him.

It contained information about literally everything in Lunaria, from its creatures (A short bit of what Timothy had written on Fairies: Most Fairies are cute and adorable and are not bigger than a hand, but some of them, known as either Warrior Fairies or Dark Fairies, are as big as a normal human and have been created by a curse, and are meant to attack any creature that enters the Fairy Woods in the Fantasy Valley.) to different types of eyes (Each creature has their own kind of eye. But the Cursed Eye is always the same; an orange glow, and a cat-like pupil. Some Cursed Spirits have the ability to hide their eyes, so always be careful whenever someone's acting strangely! Side note: Cursed Eyes are the same eyes as those of Shadow Creatures.)

Timothy sure had gathered an impressive amount of useful and interesting information, and he had written it in such a fashion which made James enjoy reading it, despite of the obvious old-English fashion the writings had to them. Maybe Timothy knew something, a solution, which would prevent the scary fate the Master had mentioned after they completed the Ritual. Keeping that thought in mind, James closed his eyes.

He must've fallen asleep as the afternoon went on, because the sun was setting when he was awakened by Samira, telling him it was time to go.

James packed the heavy book in his leather sac and put his cape back on before joining the others.

Before leaving, the five teenagers ate whatever was left of the food they had received from Queen Eloine. They had barely eaten anything in the past few days, with the lunch in Linmor Village being an exception, so they were grateful for the given time to eat the leftovers of that lunch.

Timothy advised them to fill their water sacs at the Lake's edge before leaving, which they did. The Edge was very hot (hence the lava pits), and water would probably be more precious than food there.

After all the water sacs had been filled, there was no more reason for procrastination. It was truly time to go. Off into the unknown, leaving the safety of Lunaria all behind, to finally end this journey and free Lunaria's inhabitants from their tyrant.

Timothy's house had truly been at the absolute edge of The Edge (pun intended), since there seemed to be a tiny stream of lava with some sort of stone "bridge" separating the island his house was on from the true dangers of The Edge.

It was obvious that no Lunarian dared to tread there; as James looked up to the sky further in the horizon, he could see the clouds pack together, turning darker and darker every kilometre. He could almost see the blackest clouds above the Land of Void, and shuddered.

They were coming very close to the end now. Too close. He remembered the Prophecy... And the weird dreams he'd had over the past weeks...

What if all of that was true? He'd tried not to think about them, but as they got closer to the finish line, the thought of everything being true crept up to him more and more.

He heard Timothy explain something to his friends in the distance, and it sounded rather important, but James couldn't listen to what he had to say right now. He was too busy thinking about the future, the dark shadow that awaited the five of them.

It also reminded him of something Sabrina had told him while Thomas and the others had been talking to Aubrey. Something which caused him to question everything he'd seen and done so far.

"One of the Keepers around here in Lunaria is not what they seem. Keep your eyes open, or else you might wind up in some serious trouble. Don't let them trick you. Especially not in over-using your Magic... Like you did yesterday, that's wrong. It'll cause you to end up completely drained from all of your energy. You should be more frugal when it comes to your Magic. That trick with the glowing path? Really cute, but it drained your energy."

One of the Keepers is not what they seem... What did she mean by that?

"James?"

James turned his head toward the direction his name had been called from, and he discovered that he'd somehow turned away from his friends and had been staring into nothing for nearly five minutes straight.

"James? Are you all right? Is there something wrong?" Timothy said.

James shook his head heavily, his slightly curly red hair flapping around his head. The gel in his hair had become nonexistent in the past few days, causing his hair to curl more.

"No," he said. "I'm all right. I was just thinking."

"About what then, silly?" Samira asked on a teasing tone. "Timothy just explained how careful we've got to be in The Edge. Thomas even has to wear the hood on his cape."

Thomas nodded at James. He was wearing the hood of which James had always wondered what it'd be useful for.

"Huh?" James mumbled, realising how stupid he sounded. "What's the hood for?"

"Huh?" Antonio mimicked James in a slow voice. "That's exactly why you should've listened while Timothy was explaining why, Jiminy Cricket."

Timothy chuckled. "It's all right guys," he said. "I'll explain it again. You see, James, Thomas's sceptre has the ability to read thoughts, minds and feelings of all sorts of creatures, but it also makes it easier for the creatures to attack him – or us - by sending him false information. This hood protects his mind from anything which is sent out purposely."

"Sweet," James replied with a smile. "Anything for us we need to do?"

"Not that I can remember, no," Timothy said. "I think that that's practically all. We're good to go now."

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" James said. "Let's go kick some butt."

But the six teenagers had barely entered The Edge, or disaster was already upon them.

"Guys, do... do you feel the ground shake?" Samira asked, as they walked across a small road, surrounded by lava streams at both sides.

"So I'm not nuts?" Antonio asked. "It's almost as if-"

Instead of finishing his sentence, the seventeen-year-old let out a loud yell. The others quickly turned around to see what had happened, and they found Antonio kneeling on the ground, holding on to his leg.

"It's only a first-degree burn," Antonio grunted. "But- something – just grabbed my leg! What the heck was that thing?" he said, as he stood up.

His question was soon to be answered by one of the lava pits. The lava seemed to rise up from it, but...

"Fire sprites!" James exclaimed. The others clearly didn't know what the tiny, fairy-slash-terrifying lava monster-like creatures were, because they gave him a look of complete incomprehension.

"I read some information on them while flipping through the book last night," James breathed. "We've got to run."

And so they did. It was risky to run though, as was mentioned before, since the ground was unstable and started to crumble apart all around them as they moved on.

Aside from that, the Fire Sprites spewed fire and bulbs of lava at them wherever they'd go, following the six teens from their precious lava pits.

They jumped from platform to platform as they dodged the falling lava.

"This is getting too dangerous!" Samira shouted. "We need to get rid of these creatures!"

"Water!" James exclaimed. "Water! Make yourself wet! Absolutely drenched! These things hate water, and everything covered in it!"

He hastily got their water sacs, threw them at the others, and then threw his own over his head and clothes, drenching them quickly.

It worked. The Fire Sprites hissed angrily at the now drenched teenagers, and then disappeared underneath the lava's surface.

"How did you know that?" Thomas gasped, as they stood still for a few moments.

James shrugged. "I like to read a lot," he said. And he was glad he did.

*

Drenching wet, the five teenagers and Timothy continued their journey through the burning heat of The Edge.

There had been more downsides to the Fire Sprite attack they'd experienced earlier than upsides. The water kept them cool for a short while, but it warmed up and evaporated quickly. As soon as most of the water had evaporated from their clothes, it left behind a gross, sweaty feeling.

Also, their water sacs were now half empty, and they'd need their water the most in the place they were now.

Dehydration was around the corner, sooner or later.

But for now, all they could do was move along and hope they'd have just enough water to make it through.

Despite the fact that the overhead pack of clouds was thick enough to block most of the sunlight from coming through, it also prevented most of the lava-generated heat to escape, causing the heat to burn on their skin, making travelling nearly unbearable.

But of course they had no choice: the only way to travel and get to the Land of Void was by going through the burning heat of The Edge.

"Are we there yet?" Samira said while panting loudly. Next to her, Antonio held his water sac all the way upside-down above his wide-opened mouth, hoping to get a few last drops out of the sac.

"We're almost out of water," he said on a disappointed tone, while shaking his empty water sack. "We better be nearly there, or we're dead."

"Those Fire Sprites probably attacked us on purpose," James said. "They wanted to get rid of our pretty much quite precious water storage."

"Or they just hadn't anticipated that you'd read that book Timothy gave you and knew they hate water," Thomas replied.

James nodded and shrugged. "Possible."

He looked at Thomas, whose face had gained a reddish colour underneath the dark green hood. Drops of sweat streamed down the nineteen-year-old's forehead.

"Why don't you take off your hood?" James said. "Just a minute; you'll be cooler without it."

He chuckled. "Pun intended."

Thomas shook his head. "I now know what Timothy was talking about," he said. "I've experienced this a couple times before after collecting the Sceptre, but never as bad as around here. Those monsters' minds are dark places. I certainly wouldn't like to find out more."

James gave him a small nod. Understood.

After all, he had no idea what Thomas was going through. If he could read the mind of every creature he passed... But wasn't there a way to block and trigger that ability? If there was one, it meant that things would be a lot easier for Thomas.

Timothy hadn't told them about it, though. So maybe he didn't know either. But perhaps he'd written it down in A Guardian's Guide and wanted James and Thomas to figure it out for themselves.

Maybe.

James swallowed in an attempt to bring some water into his dry throat and mouth. Without much effect.

The upcoming days would be though; out of water, stranded in a burning lava pit. Dark Magic surrounded them, endangering them even more.

James was used to hot weather, since he'd usually spend his summer days in the backyard inventing things, no matter how hot it'd get. But this hear topped any heat wave he'd ever experienced at home. This was an extreme heat wave.

How hot was it, actually? 30°C? 40? Perhaps even hotter? It wasn't likely, since humans aren't exactly able to survive any temperature above 40 to 42 degrees Celsius.

He didn't know how hot it was, after all, nor did it really matter. It was just very hot, that was all.

James could hear Antonio complain loudly behind him. Something about the weather and the temperature.

"So many clouds in the sky and it still won't rain," he complained. "When is it finally going to rain here for once?"

"Another problem caused by the Master," Timothy said, indicating there was an explanation coming. "He's trying to ruin the other realms by keeping the rain from falling there. You know, fields, plants... Luckily, it'll be winter in just a little more than a month-"

Antonio grunted loudly while responding to Timothy's story. "Well," he said, "it would've been nice if the Master would've chosen eternal rain instead of no rain ever." He pulled at the collar of his cape. "This lava pit could sure use some cooling down.

"Chances are small though," Bella replied. She shrugged. "You know. Regarding the current circumstances... It just doesn't seem like it's going to rain."

"Well, it is possible, though," Timothy said, while wiping sweat and drenched strands of blond hair from his forehead. He had also gone red from the heat. "Since the Master likes to put the Guardians to the test, it rains more often here than in any of the other Non-Corrupted Realms. I guess he likes to see how they react."

James still didn't know what to think exactly of this mysterious enemy they were battling, the Master. Asura.

They'd never seen him before, of course. After all, so far the movie hadn't been too accurate to the things they'd gone through thus far.

Sure, they'd got the main point, "five people fighting for the sake of a magical world they have never even heard of while facing their worst fears," but plenty of things had been way different. And of course they were. After all, that movie had been based on a fairytale.

Back in the real world, nobody had any idea at all that this fairytale and its magical world and characters truly existed. James wondered whether the whole tale had even been based on the actual people they'd met.

It was for James also kind of hard to believe too at first, though.

For a moment, he wanted to be like the others, he wanted to believe that everything he saw was just a bad dream, a stupid trick of his own sub-consciousness.

But as soon as James saw his family and he had to say goodbye to them, he knew it wasn't a dream.

This was all very real.

Sometimes, James got the feeling that the others, save Thomas, still weren't quite convinced of the reality they'd ended up in. Perhaps they still believed everything was just a dream. A horrible nightmare.

Perhaps they still believed that they were asleep, safely in their warm beds, to be awakened any time soon at the break of dawn.

But, of course, the chance that James had it completely wrong still existed. And he hoped he was.

He hoped that the others would've realised that this wasn't any kind of silly game. This was the real deal, and if they weren't careful, someone was going to get hurt.

It were especially Timothy's stories which convinced James even more of the danger there was in this world, and the imminent threat the Master formed. If he could follow them wherever they went and read their minds, where in this world would they truly be safe from him?

And also, why hadn't he come looking for them yet? Was he waiting somewhere, waiting for the right moment to strike? What was taking him so long?

Was this all just a test? Was he putting the Bond of Light to the test once more, to see if they could survive everything the others couldn't?

James knew for sure that whoever – or whatever - this man-spirit-hybrid creature was, he was cruel. Very cruel.

Letting a bunch of teenagers put their lives in danger time and time again, just for his own entertainment, and then just killing the remaining ones himself in the end. If they didn't meet their end somewhere else, that is.

James finally started to understand why everyone was so scared of this man.

He didn't care who you were or what you did: if you were to stand in his way, he'd kill you without a sense of remorse.
No More Peace

It was starting to get to the point where going through got tough. The Bond of Light had officially run out of water, and it wasn't doing any of them any good.

But they still had a long way to go, and some of them were afraid they wouldn't make it without water.

They were lucky they didn't get attacked any longer. Because, as could easily guess, the six teenagers were in no condition to take on a fight – nor any serious injuries.

This added to the criticality of the current moment; if any creature decided to get in the Bond's way and attack, they'd be done for.

And that was especially in Samira's case. She'd been gasping for air while letting out some dry coughs for the past thirty minutes, until she staggered one last time before finally collapsing to the hard, hot rock ground.

The others turned around in an instant, reacting to the muffled thud they'd heard which was Samira falling.

"Samira!" Thomas yelled, as he ran over to help her.

"Samira, are you all right?"

The Brit knelt beside her, carefully turning her to her back, while the others approached the two as well.

"Y-yeah," Samira uttered weakly. "I – just feel a bit dizzy. It's probably the lack of water, I think – and the heat. Nothing too serious."

"Nothing serious?" James said on a rather worried tone. "Samira, you do know dehydration can be a death cause, right?"

Samira nodded. "I do, but-"

"All right, then," Thomas said, and lifted the blonde-haired eighteen-year-old from the ground. "Come on. You're not going to waste any more energy. I'll carry you."

"Thomas," Samira objected, "this really isn't necessary-!"

"It is, Samira," James decided, siding with Thomas. "End of discussion. I don't want to hear a single word from you about this."

Behind them, James could hear some romantic sighs.

And a whisper: "He still doesn't know those two kissed?"

And the response: "Kissed? That was a complete make-out session, if you'd ask me!"

James didn't quite know what that exactly meant, but he was assuming something had happened between Thomas and his sister.

And he didn't even mind.

Timothy appeared next to him, nodding fondly.

"I see you're all very fond of each other," he said. "I admire that. I don't believe I have ever seen bonds between Guardians as strong as yours are before."

James nodded. "In this situation, we have to take care of each other if we want to make it through," he replied. "We need each other."

Timothy gave him an agreeing nod. "That's the spirit."

Thomas looked up at the sky. "It's almost dawn," he said. "Are we nearly there yet?"

Timothy nodded at him. "Yes, we are," he said. "We can travel a little more through the day to make it through to the end of this Realm completely, so we can rest safely."

Behind them, Bella let out an agonized sigh.

"Can we just slow it down for a bit, then? Please?" she muttered.

"Bella," James said, "Samira needs help. Something to drink. And quick."

"I know," Bella said, "but we've been walking for hours now! And I thought- maybe a little rest wouldn't harm anyone..."

"Don't worry, Bella," Timothy said. I promise you we'll be there within less than two hours, so there's plenty of time to sleep left when we get there. We don't need to cross the ravine to the Land of Void straight away."

Bella grunted silently. "All right," she muttered. "Two hours. No more."

Most of the remaining travel-time, nothing happened. But then, suddenly...

"Stop," a female voice hissed. "Go no further."

The gang turned around simultaneously, to stand eye-in-eye with a womanly figure.

Except for the fact that beside her shape resembling a human, nothing about her actually truly was human.

Her skin looked like it was made from molten lava. A darker, orange pattern covered some parts. Her glowing skin lit up everything around her in an orange glow.

Her hair was a pack of real flames, which blazed around hear head. Her eyes were red, with pupils like a cat's.

"Go no further," she repeated. Even her voice sounded like the blazing of flames.

"Um?" Antonio said. "Who are you to decide whether we can go further or not?" He clearly wasn't too fond of the Fire Sprite standing in front of him.

"My young Guardian," the Sprite hissed, yet not sounding hostile. "My name should matter not to you. But the warning I give you should."

Antonio's expression didn't change, yet there was the slightest bit of interest in his voice. "And that is?" he said.

"The Master waits. He has a terrible fate set out for all of you, young Guardians... And at the end of your journey, one of you shall wear his Mark."

She turned around slowly, to show a dark mark, which had been scorched onto her back.

"Beware of this Mark. Wear it too long, and you shall obey his every word. Your will shall be lost."

"And then what about you?" Antonio said.

"I don't want a young boy to suffer," the Sprite said, as she turned to face the Guardians again. "H shall lose his every free will to the Master's Word."

James and Thomas shortly exchanged looks with each other. Who was she talking about? Who would wear the Master's Mark?"

But the Sprite hadn't finished speaking just yet.

"I warn thee, Guardians. Go no further. Go home, somewhere safe. You'll live longer."

She closed her fiery red eyes shortly before speaking again.

"Yet, if you decide to ignore my warning, and decide to enter the Land of Void anyway, I must advise you one last thing. Tread carefully, Guardians. Make no faulty step, or the Prophecy shall come true.

Only you can change your own fate."

And suddenly, like she'd never even been there, the mysterious Fire Sprite was gone. Vanished into thin air.

"Freaky," Antonio said. "Just freaky. It's getting crazier around here every minute we stay... What does she think we are? Stupid?"

He flung his arms into the air, while, without even noticing he was, raising his voice.

"Does she really think we're just going to sit here and patiently wait for the Master to find us? To hell with her prophecy!"

Thomas nodded. "Well said, Antonio. We'll go on, no matter what it takes."

"But Thomas, aren't you worried?" Samira said, between two dry coughs. "That Sprite seemed pretty serious about everything."

Thomas shook his head. "It's probably just another test, Samira. Don't worry."

Timothy nodded. "We shall continue, yet more careful than before," he said. "Just in case. Does that make you feel better, Samira?"

"Yes, Timothy," Samira said, while smiling at the blond nineteen-year-old. "It does. Thank you."

And so, despite the Fire Sprite's warning, the Bond of Light continued on their journey through the Edge. On their way to battle the Master.

Five weeks ago, they might have been scared off by words like the Sprite's. But they'd been through worse now; they weren't scared away that easily anymore. Whatever kind of danger awaited them in the Land of Void, they'd have to face it and go through with it.

Just because they could.

At long last, the final kilometre came in sight, and the Bond of Light was as good as safe.

The final kilometres had consisted of mostly chitchat and tiny arguments between Samira and Thomas.

Samira kept insisting that she could walk herself, while Thomas refused to put her down.

The others made jokes about how the two could have been an old married couple, to which the two teenagers both responded rather nervously.

Of course certain things were funnier to the others than they were to Timothy, since he didn't know about the situation between Thomas and Samira, but it seemed as if he tried his best to understand the underlying meaning of their jokes – or he just simply laughed along.

So far, this place really hadn't been that dangerous, even after all Timothy had told them about it. As long as they didn't run and stayed on steady ground, not getting near the lava, everything was fine.

Or was that part of the test? Was the Master just leaving them be to set up a trap in the Land of Void to have them caught off guard, making them easy to catch? Unprepared and unaware?

Perhaps. Perhaps that Fire Sprite had been right after all. Perhaps they really were in trouble.

Nobody of the teenagers had really been thinking about the Fire Sprite's warning, though.

Not that they didn't care, but they didn't truly trust the Sprite. After all, she served the Master. Hence the mark on her back.

Perhaps she'd set up a trap for them, hoping they'd get scared and go back – and run straight into it.

Luckily, they were smarter than that.

Were they?

The sun had started to rise, colouring the few visible parts of sky deep red underneath the pack of grey clouds.

"It looks like a red sky," Timothy said. "It might be hard to see, but I see some red here and there... That means it might rain soon."

"Thank God," Samira said. The others also let out sighs of relief as well.

"Finally, at long last, tomorrow shall be kinder... Until we get to the Land of Void, that is," Antonio said. "Finally some rain."

"Not exactly "some" rain," Timothy said. "When it rains around here, it rains heavily. Short showers, but heavy showers."

"Only makes it better," James said. "We're sweating waterfalls here."

Thomas nodded. "The more rain falls, the cooler we'll be," he said, while smirking at James.

James understood the joke Thomas had made and smirked back. "Pun intended."

And Timothy as right. Within a matter of minutes, the first thick drops of cold rain started to fall.

"Everyone! Take out your water sacks to fill them!" James shouted at the others, which was exactly what they did. The rain was completely clean, so it was completely safe to drink – if the Master didn't have the power to do something to it, that is.

The sacs filled themselves quicker than the teenagers could drink. Never they had felt so thankful for a fresh shower.

"Finally," Samira cheered, while she wiped the wet strands of hair out of her face. "I felt like I was about to lose it!"

While continuing to enjoy the rainfall, the teenagers ran over the freshly-set islands which used to be lava before the rainfall toward the end of the Realm, where a couple of small grasses started to grow from the ground.

"It has become obviously cooler here," Bella said, while her hair lay flat on her head; since she turned fifteen she usually straightened it, but with the given circumstances, it had started to frizz and get curly again ever since they arrived in Lunaria.

"I'd say that this is the perfect moment to catch some sleep," Timothy said. "This shower should be over shortly."

And, of course, indeed it was. As soon as the rain had stopped falling, the teenagers sought a safe spot in the grass and fell asleep underneath their capes.

It wasn't completely safe to just fall asleep like that, but the six teenagers were so tired, that they fell asleep without even thinking about it.

*

"Has that Sprite done any damage, Sabrina?"

"No, Master. They didn't believe her. You can stop worrying about her."

"Sabrina, you know this is your fault, don't you? You're supposed to keep those pesky creatures in control! If they're all going to become tell-tales like that particular sprite, those unknowing teens will ruin everything we've worked for! And I believe you understand that we mustn't let that happen."

"Y-yes, Master, I understand, but-" Sabrina was starting to get a little nervous. Her master had never been this angry with her. "No disrespect, Master," she said, "but why are you so focused on them? I don't understand..."

"Some knowledge is not required to perform a task, Sabrina. I gave you a task, didn't I?"

"Yes, Master..."

"So then you just do what you're told. It can't get easier than that. This Prophecy... We must prevent it from happening. And the only way to do so, is by taking them down one by one."

*

James started as he woke up from his dream. What had just happened?

Had he-? He wasn't exactly sure what he'd seen. Had it really been him? The Master himself?

James had no idea what the Master truly looked like, after all, so he didn't really know if it had been him. But that girl had kept calling him "Master..." So he was pretty sure that it'd been him.

Take them down one by one... Did that mean the Master wanted to separate them? Or wasn't he talking about the Guardians? But if he wasn't, then who was he talking about then?

Somewhere far way from there

"Gabriel! Gabriel!"

Two girl's feet dressed in boots rushed across the forest ground. The little girl was carrying a crossbow, since entering the Twilight Forest unarmed wasn't the best idea. A midnight blue cloak fluttered behind her, while she wore the hood over her head.

She stopped at Gabriel's tree house and looked up while shouting his name repeatedly.

"Gabriel! You've got to come! And quick!"

A hatchet in the floor close to the tree trunk opened and Gabriel's head appeared in the hole. "Rikki?" he said.

"What's going on?"

Rikki shook her head. "No time to explain! It's time, brother! Get your bow and arrow! And don't forget Madeleine's sword!"

Gabriel nodded and went off to get his weaponry. He came back shortly after, also dressed in a cloak. Except while Rikki's cloak was dark blue, Gabriel's had a golden colour.

"Where's Madeleine?" he asked, waving the sword around in his left hand. He carried a silver bow and arrow carrier over his shoulder.

"Where's Madeleine?" he asked.

"I'm here," Madeleine said, as she approached the brother-sister-duo. Her usual green robe had been replaced by a dark green cloak.

Gabriel noticed her hair had been braided up as she took the sword from him.

"What's the matter, Madeleine? Is it finally happening?"

Madeleine nodded. "She's back. And she's made some serious threats against us. We'll have to find her and take her down."

"And you're letting her go?" Gabriel said, while pointing at his little sister.

"Come on, Gabriel! I can take care of myself!" Rikki objected.

"You're thirteen!" Gabriel shouted. "I don't want to lose you, Rikki! Not again!"

"You won't, Gabriel," Rikki said. "I promise."

Gabriel grunted. "I can't believe I'm going to say this," he said, "but all right. You can come."

He then looked at Madeleine. "How about Timothy? Don't we need to get him too?"

Madeleine shook her head. "No," she said. "He's guiding the Guardians to the Land of Void. We can't risk anything happening to them there now."

Gabriel nodded. "Understood."

"Well then, Gabriel," Madeleine asked, "are you with us?"

"Yes," Gabriel said, while nodding again. "I'm with you. Always. Just like I was a thousand years ago."

*

After a quick nap, the six teenagers decided to take the remaining time of the day by resting in the more comfortable climate for just a little longer.  
Timothy hadn't exaggerated a single word: Ahead of them lied a ravine of at least 10 metres deep and perhaps 50 or 100 metres wide, splitting the two "continents" apart.  
Down in the ravine streamed a small stream. A river.

"So... How are we supposed to get past here?" James asked. "I mean – without falling to our death? We can't just jump in, nor can we climb to the other side. So how are we going to get to the other side?"

Thomas gave him a confused look. "What's the rush?" he asked. "I'm not exactly feeling that excited to go there." He gave a small not at the foggy, hidden mystery that laid across the ravine.

"I'm not really in that kind of a rush, don't get me wrong," James defended himself. "But I do wish to finally go home."

The others responded by giving him a small, understanding nod. They got it. They wanted to go home too.

"Well, I wouldn't advise you to do it the same way as Gabriel did," Timothy said.

"It appears as if the ravine dividing this land from the Land of Void has grown larger in the past thousand years."

Samira walked over to the edge of the ravine and looked down.

"Careful, Samira!" James warned her. Samira more or less ignored him.

"That's quite a deep drop," she noted as she looked down. "We've got to be careful."

"We sure do," Antonio said. "it's easy to lose someone here if we're not careful."

He looked around, perhaps looking for any anchor points to tie a rope to.

Unfortunately, as there were no trees, and the tiny rocks scattered around the ravine's edge were too small to carry one person's weight, let alone six before it'd slip over the edge, there were none.

"So... Actually, I suppose James is right," he said. "What exactly are we going to do about the ravine?"

Timothy shook his head. "I have no idea," he said. "It's changed a lot around here..."

"Yeah," Antonio replied, sarcasm hinting through his way of speaking. "You've mentioned it a couple times before."

Suddenly, James gasped. "Samira! I know what to do!" he exclaimed, as he rose a fist in the air.

"What's it, James?" Samira said. "Have you got an idea?"

"I sure do," James replied triumphantly, as he walked over toward the ravine's edge.

"What if I tried to use a little bit of my Magic to build us a fine hanging bridge?"

"James, no-" Samira objected while raising her palms, but James completely ignored his sister's objections.

"Remember what happened last time, James?" Samira objected.

"So what?" James shrugged. "All I'll need afterwards is a bit of sleep, and then I'll be fine, Sam."

Samira grunted, clearly irritated by her brother's naivety. "Please, James! It's the Land of Void! What if something bad happens?"

"Samira!" James moaned, in the same, irritated tone. "I am not ten! I am sixteen years old, and very capable to take care of myself!"

"Well," Samira replied, more or less angered now, "I'm not sure if you noticed, but whether you're ten or sixteen, you're still my little brother, and I feel responsible of taking care of you!"

The two hadn't realized until now that they'd ended up standing nose-to-nose with each other. The others stood in the background, silently staring at the seemingly escalating argument between brother and sister.

The two teens slowly walked a few steps backward, both showing embarrassed expressions on their faces.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to shout," Samira mumbled.

"It's okay," James assured her. "I started this by bringing up the idea. But I just really want to do this. To test myself just a little more, see?"

Samira smiled and nodded. "Then you should do it."

"Really?" James asked. "Are you sure?"

Samira responded by a simple nod.

James made a jump in the air, while punching it with a fist. "Wicked! Well, I better get started then!"

Samira slowly walked toward Thomas.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Samira?" the Brit whispered, while looking at James, who was concentrating on bringing the bridge to life.

Samira shrugged. "We've got to trust him," she said, also with her eyes fixed on James. "He's right; he's not ten years old anymore. He should be able to take care of himself and make his own decisions by now."

Meanwhile, James was busy trying to create that hanging bridge.

This was going to be a lot harder than just "summoning" water from a dried-up well. But if he concentrated hard enough, he could do it.

He visualized the bridge coming to life, hanging by its ropes in the ravine front of him. A bridge steady enough to walk on.

James peeked at whatever waited in front of him through his eyelashes, and he was delighted to see a bridge was forming.

Blue sparkles floated around as they were crating the wood and ropes. His plan was working.

Unfortunately enough for him, he was focusing on the bridge too hard to even notice the disaster going on behind him.

The Dark Magic corrupting the Edge was strong enough to allow four Warlock Spirits to walk during the day, in bright daylight, accompanied by three Shadow Walkers in wolf form.

"Hello, young Guardians," one of the Spirits growled. They all sounded awkwardly the same.

"At long last, we meet again."

"Should've stayed away," Thomas grunted, while reaching for his sword. But the Warlock Spirit was faster, flinging the sword out of his hands by the flick of a wrist.

"Hold on a second, young man," the Evil Spirit hissed dangerously.

"You wouldn't want to start a fight with Samira's dear brother's life at stake, now would you?"

A thousand thoughts shot through Samira's head at a time.

How did they know? How did they find out? Who told them?

But only one thought made it through. The only thought which truly mattered to her. And that was the thought she yelled out loud as she turned around: "JAMES!"

But it was too late. James, who had just finished the bridge, had turned around to call his friends and move on, only to be lifted a metre off the ground.

Samira jumped at the Spirit keeping her brother captive, but the Spirit swiftly moved away, causing Samira to end up smacking her chin on the ground.

"Careful, my darling," the Spirit threatened her. "If you cause me to lose my concentration, I might just... drop him."

And, just to prove he wasn't bluffing, the Warlock Spirit loosened his grip on the invisible force which held the boy up, letting him fall for a split second before grabbing him again.

"If you hurt one hair on his head, I swear I'll-!" Samira growled.

"What?" the Spirit asked, slightly tilting its head, clearly unimpressed by Samira's threats.

"You'll do what? Attack us, with your tiny little bow and arrow, while your poor brother plummets to his death? Is that what you want, Guardian?"

The look in Samira's eyes remained filled with anger and hatred for a second, to make place for a different expression, which filled both her eyes and heart. Fear.

It was true. He was powerless against this. If she'd make a single wrong move, the Warlock Spirit would drop James in the ravine without showing any kind of mercy or hesitation.

"Samira," James shouted. "Just go! I'll catch up with you guys later! Just cross the bridge and go!"

"Are you out of your mind?" Samira shouted. "We're not leaving you behind, James!"

"Oh, come on, Samira," James said, while letting out a sad chuckle. "Look at me, then. I'm hanging just about a metre above an eleven metre-drop.

I don't think we're really in a position to demand anything right now."

"Don't worry, James!" Timothy shouted. "We're called Keepers for a reason, you know!"

All eyes were pointed at Timothy after he'd said that. As if it'd appeared out of thin air (which was most likely what it'd done), he was suddenly wearing a royal purple-coloured cloak, and he held two katana sword. One in each hand.

But these were no ordinary swords; they glowed brightly, as if they were stars in the night.

Even during broad daylight, their bright glow was clearly visible. The blades glowed, just as those of the Bond of Light.

Timothy took advantage of the confusion wisely. Within the blink of an eye, he'd slit two of the four Warlock Spirits in half, causing them to dissolve into black fog.

Unfortunately enough, the Shadow Walkers didn't like it that their owners were slaughtered. One of them dissolved and shifted its shape from a wolf to a grizzly bear, the other two attacked in their wolf form.

Thomas took the chance to retrieve his sword in the same confusion.

"Thomas, don't!" James yelled, but Thomas ignored him.  
He pointed his sword at the Warlock Spirit.

"Let him go, Spirit," he said dangerously. "Put. Him. Down."

The look in the Warlock Spirit's glowing, blood red eyes changed. They got something of amusement. The dangerous kind.

"Put him down?" he hissed. "If you insist..."

It all happened too fast for anyone to comprehend.

The Warlock Spirit unleashed its grip. James fell down, while Samira leapt forward in an attempt to grab him...

Love and Hatred

Lucy had successfully managed to convince her mother and David to have dinner at Cheyenne's; but Cheyenne had decided that it would be better if she took the lot out to dinner. They didn't go to anything too fancy though; after a short discussion, they settled on Macy's, a family diner not too far from Cheyenne's house.

It wouldn't be a good idea to discuss too many private subjects in a public area, but as long as they'd keep it down and not talk about Magic and other worlds too much, they'd be fine. And, of course, there was the "disappeared teenagers"-part that nobody was supposed to hear.

The group of six (David's wife Camilla had come along too) took a table in the back of the restaurant, as far away from the other dining people as possible.

Not much was discussed that evening, though. They were mostly talking about Camilla and David, who were considering adopting a boy – Camilla had always been infertile, but she truly wanted children.

The boy's name was Finn, and he was twelve years old and eager to join his new family.

Talking about this young boy getting parents that loved him made Cheyenne feel happy inside; it allowed her mind to drift off from all personal trouble for a bit. But her heart still was with her own children all evening.

The Edge

"JAMES!"

"SAMIRA!"

Two hands, trying desperately to reach each other, to grab each other. One, falling rapidly, gloved by a blue, fingerless glove. The other by a black, with a bronze plate covering the back of the hand wearing it.

The hands reached for each other, but the falling hand fell too fast to grab the reaching hand.

They missed.

James fell.

Samira watched James as he disappeared in the darkness, while hanging over the edge of the ravine, one hand stuck out into the depths. The hand which had attempted to grab James's.

"James!" Samira shouted. "JAMES!"

She kept shouting her brother's name, until the shouting faded away in sobs of hopelessness. No.

This hadn't happened.

The Warlock Spirit and Shadow Walkers seemed to have disappeared. But it didn't matter to Samira. They had taken the most precious thing in her entire life away from him; her brother.

Her father had been taken from her years ago; now she'd lost her brother too.

Samira felt she was grabbed, forced to stand up. It was as if her ears had gone numb; she heard his friends' voices shouting her name, but it was as if they were miles away...

"SAMIRA!"

Samira came back to her senses by a hard slap in her face. Thomas had slapped her to bring her back.

"Samira, are you all right?" Thomas asked. He looked worried.

"What?" Samira asked. A creepy smile crept up around her mouth. A laugh followed. "Yes, Thomas!" she laughed, sounding almost maniacal.

"YES! I am perfectly fine! WHAT DO YOU THINK?" she roared.

"We're going down into that ravine right now, and find James! I don't care how deep it is down there or whatever awaits at the bottom-"

"Samira, that's not a good idea-" Thomas said, but Samira ignored both his and Bella's objections. She proceeded to walk toward the ravine's edge where she had been dragged away from, but Antonio stopped her in her tracks.

"Calm down, Samira," he said. "Your anger has raised to your head."

"Antonio," Samira said, "please let me pass. I have to save James-"

"James is gone, Samira," Thomas said. "There's no way he could've survived a fall like that."

Samira closed her eyes. "He's not," she hissed. "And I am going to find him."

She wanted to walk past Antonio, who prevented her from doing so by grabbing her shoulder.

"James is GONE, Samira! Thomas's right!" he shouted. "There's nothing you can do!"

"He's NOT! HE IS NOT!" Samira shouted, jerking away from Antonio's grip with all her might.

"Listen," she breathed, slightly calmed down. "Here's the deal. I don't care whether you're coming with me or not, but I am going down there. I refuse to believe he's gone until I've seen it with my own eyes. I am not leaving him behind."

"I'm with you, Samira," Timothy said, still wearing his purple cloak and carrying his glowing katanas.

"Good," Samira replied. "Anyone else is welcome to follow. If not, wait for us here. Or leave. Whatever."

Without saying anything more, Samira walked toward the ravine's edge and started the climb down.

Timothy followed her closely.

Thomas, Antonio and Bella looked at each other. "Shouldn't we be following them?" Bella asked.

Thomas nodded. "Bella's right, Antonio. We should go after them."

But Antonio shook his head. "No way," he said. "We're staying here. We'll wait for them to come back; we're with too many not to be seen down there."

Thomas stared at the ravine. "I hope Samira's right..." he sighed.

Meanwhile, a couple metres further down in the ravine, a sixteen-year-old boy had managed to save his own life by clinging on to a ledge and creating one to stand on underneath his feet shortly after. Magic.

James was surprised to hear someone calling his name in the distance. A familiar voice. It was Samira!

"Samira?" James replied. "I'm okay!"

"James?" Samira's voice came from the darkness above him. He could see the light of Timothy's katana swords move around with them. "I'm glad to hear you're okay! Stay there; we're coming to get you!"

James did as he was told, and waited for Samira and Timothy to come and get him. He stood still as he waited and watched the glowing katanas come closer, until something else caught his attention.

A tiny, green light, floating not too far away from him.

He tried not to look at it at first, but his gaze was drawn to it, as if it was hypnotizing him to look at it...

The longer James looked at it, the calmer he became. It was as if the light radiated a sense of serenity, bringing that feeling of calmness over James.

It almost felt like the light was calling out to him. Wanting him to come nearer.

What he didn't know, was that Samira was now nearby enough to be able to see the little floating light as well. Apart from this, the feeling it gave Samira was exactly opposite to the feeling it gave to James.

Samira knew this "light in the darkness" could never mean anything good; he could feel it.

In the glowing light of both the katanas and the green light, Samira could finally see him. "James," she breathed.

She got in such a sudden hurry to reach her brother, that she misplaced one of her feet in the dark and nearly fell down.

"Careful," Timothy said to her. "Falling down here is the last thing you might want to do."

"Tell me about it," Samira grunted.

She wanted to keep her eyes fixed on James, but she had to keep an eye on where to put her hands and feet instead, to prevent similar repetitive actions from occurring.

So it happened that she didn't notice what was going on down there where James was.

Driven by curiosity, James decided to go check out whatever the green light was supposed to be. He knew it was a bad idea, yet he still wanted to know.

But every time he got close enough to reach out for the light, it'd float away from him, just out of his reach.

As if he was hypnotized, James scaled the wall, following the light all the way across it. He made sure he never let the light out of his sight.

"I'll get you," he whispered. "You'll see."

What kinds of danger could there possibly be behind this small, innocent light, after all? It seemed like nothing to worry about.

Samira probably wouldn't mind if he just went to check it out for a short moment. Right?

Meanwhile, Timothy and Samira had arrived at the ledge James had created to prevent himself from plummeting to a painful death. But he wasn't there...

"Where is he?" Samira said, while looking around. "Where's James?"

Fortunately, Timothy knew the answer. He pointed one of his glowing katanas into the dark distance, saying, "There he goes! He's following that green light!"

"Oh, give me a break!" Samira grunted. "We must catch up with him, before he winds up into trouble - again!"

But they'd barely begun to scale the wall, or both James and the light seemed to have disappeared into the dark.

"What!?" Samira exclaimed in frustration. "Where did he go? He can't just have - disappeared - right?

Timothy looked at him. His golden locks seemed to glow in the light of the katanas. "Perhaps the ravine takes a turn over there?" he suggested. "We just have to follow him and we'll find out."

And so they did. They kept climbing, careful not to misplace their hands or feet.

It was obvious that Samira was in a hurry, but despite of that, he knew this wasn't the right time or place to be in a hurry.

One wrong move could cost them their lives.

James, who was still following the mysterious floating light, had ended up in a secret cave, hidden in the walls of the ravine.

The light had stopped moving, and was now floating still in the middle of the cave. Nothing – or nobody, for that matter - else seemed to be present here.

"Hello?" James asked. "Is anybody there?"

Nothing happened. Until, a few seconds later, a familiar voice spoke to him from the dark.

"At last, James," the voice said, still hidden in the shadows. "We meet again."

She then stepped into the light, showing her face. It was Sabrina.

"Sabrina?" James asked, instinctively starting to move backwards. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same," Sabrina said. Her voice sounded cold and almost threatening, and her face looked unnaturally pale in the green light.

"I – uh – fell," James shrugged. Sabrina still didn't smile.

"You used Magic," she said, still on a chillingly cold tone, which sent chills down James's spine. "Something I thought I'd restricted you to do."

She looked a lot different than the last time they'd met.

There were deep, purple circles underneath her eyes, indicating sleep deprivation, and her blonde hair was tangly and untidy.

"I have no choice, Sabrina," James said. "It's the only way to get past this ravine."

"Exactly," Sabrina said, still, on that same, cold tone. "You're not supposed to cross the ravine, James. You never were... And now I've found you, you shall never do so, either, I'm afraid."

James knew something fishy was going on, even though he didn't know what exactly. "Sabrina?" he said, sounding slightly suspecting, "what's going on?"

The next moment, he let out a yell in horror.

Black veins had started to appear from the skin on Sabrina's neck, spreading all over her face. Her eyes changed their colour to blood red.

"You should've run when you had the chance, boy," she hissed. "Because there's no chance for you to get away now. There's no way to run..."

James did want to run. And grab his sword. But when he tried to do so, he found out that all four his limbs were completely frozen. He was paralyzed, unable to move.

"Your powers belong to the Master," Sabrina hissed. "And he has sent me personally to collect them."

"Sabrina, NO!"

Sabrina started as two figures entered the cave. She wasn't pleased to see either of them, but the blond-haired one appeared to irritate her the most.

"Ah, Timothy." She spat the name out. "By your outfit, I'd assume you and your little friends are on your final quest."

Timothy snorted in disdain. "I didn't want to believe it at first, though. Just for the sake of you being you... I think you understand how disappointed I am to find out it was true. Especially after all we've been through, Sabrina."

"You should be disappointed in yourself, Timmy," Sabrina said. Her eyes shortly flashed toward James, then to Samira. She realised she was cornered and her chances of seizing James gone, because she threw Timothy a withering look.

James didn't think he'd ever seen such hatred in a pair of eyes.

"I warned your little friend-keepers to leave it be, to stay away..." Sabrina hissed. "But they wouldn't listen. And now..."

A malicious grin crept up around her mouth, showing a set of vampire-like teeth behind her thin female lips. "And now you've got a storm coming."

"What do you mean?" Timothy said. "Speak up."

"You better watch over those teenagers, Timothy," Sabrina threatened him. "Or else you won't have anything to look after at all pretty soon..."

Both Samira and James, who'd been freed from his paralyzed state due to Sabrina's lack of interest in keeping him captive, instinctively reached for their swords after Sabrina had made this particular threat. This was bad.

Timothy's eyes darkened. He didn't like to be threatened, that was obvious.

He looked very confident, and that same confidence also returned in the way he spoke to Sabrina.

"I'm not afraid of you, Sabrina," he said. "I'm not afraid of anything. This world's taken the meaning of fear away from me. I shall defend the Last Generation of Hope, and I know my fellow Keepers will do the same.

We will hunt you down, Sabrina. You're going to lose."

His confident face made way for an amused, arrogant smile. While slightly shaking his head, he said, "We're already dead, anyway. We've got nothing to lose."

Thomas became even angrier than she already was. "Just wait and see how much you've got to lose, Keeper," she hissed. "Because I'll take it from you."

And with those final last words, she was gone. In a flash, like the darkness had swallowed her.

All what was left of her was the glowing green light.

"She's going after them," Timothy said. "She's going after my friends."

He looked at James and Samira. The look in his eyes was serious. "It won't take long until she's alarmed the Master that things are getting out of her control. And when that happens... The man himself shall take care of the situation."

He shivered shortly. Perhaps he was afraid of something after all.

"We must hurry. Come on, the rest of the team is waiting for us to return."

This Is Real

After Sabrina's sudden disappearance, the three teenagers had decided to shake it off and return to the others. It took a while, however, because it had started to get darker outside as well, not doing their ability to see any good. But they got there. And that was what mattered.

As they climbed up and crawled back onto the vast ground, the others were there, happily greeting them.

"Oh, James! I can't believe it!" Samira squealed in happiness and flung herself around James's neck. James laughed as well.

"Magic," he said. "Do you believe now?"  
Samira looked at him as if he'd been spouting nonsense. "What?" she said. "Of course I do believe, James! I used Magic myself! Why wouldn't I believe?"

James got nervous by Samira's comments. She was right; he was a fool for asking if she believed. "Just asking," he decided to say, while rubbing his neck nervously. "Just asking."

He wasn't sure why he'd asked her if she believed either. Samira believed, he knew that. He'd never even questioned that for a single moment.

Still... There was still a strange feeling left in his heart, a feeling of insecurity... But he wouldn't give in to it. He knew that if he'd do so, if he'd give in to his insecurities, that he'd bring himself and everyone around him, almost everyone he'd ever held dear, in danger. And he couldn't do that. Ever.

Home

"So, his name is Finn, and we'll probably be able to adopt him just in time for Christmas." Camilla proudly showed the pictures she'd taken of the boy, who was smiling broadly while standing next to David. Finn had dirty blond hair and happy green eyes. A beautiful boy.

"He's so excited to come home with us," David said, "I just can't believe it. I'm going to be a Dad! Plus, the kid actually likes me." He grinned at his joke.

"I'm sure he does, David," Lucy said, while sipping from her glass of orange juice. "Why wouldn't he? After all, you've always been a great godfather to me and Andy." The chestnut red-haired eleven-year-old sitting next to her nodded vigorously; he couldn't speak, as his mouth was stuffed with French fries. But he tried to anyway (which resulted into him getting scolded by his mother).

David chuckled. "Yeah, you've got a point right there, kiddo," he said; suddenly, he winked teasingly at her. "You know, he's been mentioning you two as his god-siblings. Isn't that great?"

"You've shown him pictures of us?" Andy asked; David nodded. "Awesome!" Andy cheered.

"Yeah, he can't wait to meet you two," Camilla said. "Finn is such a darling boy. I'm proud of him; he's told me that he absolutely doesn't like baseball or any other "boyish" sports; no, he wants to be a dancer, and he's not ashamed of that. And that's what I love about that boy. He stands for what he believes in. Kind of like James," she said, but quickly realised she'd promised not to bring that subject up for one night. "Oh. I'm so sorry..." she quickly apologised.

Cheyenne shook her head. "It's fine," she said. "I haven't heard from them for a while, but I'm sure they're doing okay. I just know they are somehow."

"Our thoughts are with them," David said. "There's... not really much we can do to help, but we try," he said. "After all, that world is magical. And... Magic still relies heavily on belief, right?" He paused shortly, as if he was about to make a great revelation. And maybe he was. "So... maybe if we just believe that they're strong enough to make it through and survive, saving the world while they're at it, maybe they will be aided by our belief through Magic. I don't know." He went back to silently poking his steak with his fork.

"You sure do like coming up with crazy theories, don't you?" his wife teased him, while poking him in the shoulder.

"Now you're talking like I do this all the time Cami," David said. "And you and I both know very well that I'm not a conspiracy theorist."

"Well..." Nathaly suddenly said; everyone knew what was coming. "David, to be honest, you kind of are a conspiracy theorist."

David snorted in disbelief. "Psht, easy for you to say," he said. He didn't say anything, but the look he exchanged with Nathaly said enough. "Look at your husband. Who'd you think I got it from?"

Nathaly chuckled. "Just admit it, Dave. You were one of the Crazy Three, and you'll always be." The Crazy Three consisted of Martin, Angelo and David when they were young. Now, sadly, David was the Crazy One. The last one left.

But, despite getting older, he'd never given up the spirit that kept the Crazy Three alive and kicking. He still loved to do crazy stuff in his free time, and was still able to rock out on an electric guitar. There's no fool like an old fool.

"You know what, Nathaly?" David said. "Maybe you're right. I'm still a bit crazy, and I'll always be. At least now I have someone to pass it on to, eh?"

Everyone laughed at that last statement. If David was going to learn Finn all of his tricks, the boy would be in for a lot of trouble – and fun, of course.

Dinner ended later than expected that evening; at eight, everyone was finally ready to head home.

This night had done Cheyenne good. Although she hadn't spoken too much, she knew everyone understood.

She loved to hear more about Finn, and was excited to learn that the boy would most likely spend Christmas with his new family.

But still, she couldn't keep her mind off the dream she'd shared with James – if she'd shared it, of course.

As she drove home, it kept nagging on her mind. Had it been real, or hadn't it been? After all – she hadn't heard from him since. Two weeks, and she'd heard from him only once.

But, later that night, she heard a voice in her dreams. James's voice.

"I hate to break it to you mom, but whatever you've been seeing in your dreams, it weren't dreams. All you've been seeing – no matter how much or how little -, it was all real."

Lunaria

"James? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Thomas," James replied quietly. "I am."

James had been staring at the bridge he'd created nearly all night; the teenagers had decided not to cross it until daybreak, since they had no idea what was hiding behind the invisible barrier between Lunaria and the Land of Void.

He didn't know why; he just couldn't sleep. He kept having the feeling something bad was going to happen. And he felt like he'd seen her again. Mom. It was as if she was there with him, but there was just no way to contact her. He'd tried; there was just no way of knowing whether she'd heard him or not.

He felt like a living ghost.

"James, you don't seem okay..." Thomas sat down next to him.

James knew that Thomas was right; he wasn't really okay. But he couldn't talk about it. Not even with Samira, who normally was the only person who he'd tell anything bothering him to.

It just wasn't the kind of thing he'd share openly with the others. This was something personal, nothing they could do about it. Even he himself couldn't make them go away. Visions of his mother in his dreams, crying, worried, calling out his name. His sister, in pain, perhaps even dying.

Were it just reflections of his own mind, of his own fear? He was afraid of whatever was ahead; he was very well-aware of that. But the visions of the two most important women in his life – they just seemed too real. Too painful. And... of course, there was the thing he'd been trying to ignore ever since Aubry told him about it back at Linmor village – the possibility of the Ritual causing death.

He sighed deeply. "I'm not sure, Thomas," he said. "I just don't know what to think of all of this anymore."

"What do you mean?" Thomas asked. "Is it something you can talk about?"

"It depends," James said. "There is something I can talk about."

"Well," Thomas said, "as you know, I'm a good listener. More of a listener than a speaker, if I may say so myself."

James chuckled. "Yes, you are," he said.  
"Well... It's about pretty much everything we've been through so far," he said. "The Magic. The adventure. The near-death experiences."

He couldn't help himself but to let out a snort. "Not that you've got any of those yet. That's more my way to go."

Thomas shook his head. "I wish it wasn't so, Jamey," he said. "But what's bothering you?"

"It's just- I want this all to be a dream so bad," he whispered. "Like you all thought when we just started this. You all thought this was a dream, and that we'd wake up sooner or later. But we didn't. We went to sleep so many times, and every time, I tried to convince myself that this was all just a bad dream. That we'd wake up the next morning, in our safe bedrooms. Yet we didn't."

He looked into the distance for a little longer before speaking again. Then, he looked Thomas straight in the eye, and said, "It's about time we faced the facts, Thomas. This is no fairytale. No joke. No game. No dream. Not any of that.

This is real. And it's about time we'd accept that."

III

Into the Void

Dragons

Sunrise. Time for the Bond of Light to pack their stuff and cross the ravine to the Land of Void.

"Are you sure about this?" Bella said. "I mean- who knows what kind of dangers lie up ahead. Shouldn't we wait just a little more?"

"Don't worry, Bella," James said. "You're not the only one who's afraid. We all are."

He shortly looked at his friends, and then stared at the invisible land that lay behind the invisible barrier, waiting for them to enter.

"But I'm afraid we have no choice."

"He's right," Samira said. "We've got to do this. It's the only way to save this world."

"I like that attitude," Timothy said. "You're by far the most impressive Bond of Light I've ever seen – not that I've seen that many of the eight, at least not as a whole – especially considering your age." He smiled. "You guys are incredibly brave. You're already acting like true heroes."

The Bond nodded at him. And for the first time ever since they'd arrived in Lunaria, James wondered about the previous Generations before them. How old had they been? Adults? Children? Rikki was thirteen-and-a-half. She'd been the youngest ever, right? So everyone had been over fourteen years of age. Had they also been over 20? Thirty? Forty? He remembered what Queen Eloine had told them.

"Age doesn't matter, as long as their belief in Magic is strong enough."

Did adults believe in Magic, too? Perhaps they did. It was possible, after all.

"I do need to warn you, though," Timothy said. "None of us know what's ahead. And..." He waited a few seconds, perhaps unsure whether or not it was truly a good idea to say what he was about to say. "Once you've entered the Land of Void, you can't go back... alive."

James swallowed. "That's a risk I'm willing to take," he said. "It's all for the greater good, after all."

Thomas nodded. "That's the spirit," he said. "Shall we go, then?"

They nodded at each other. One by one, they set foot on the bridge.

When they got halfway across the bridge, the entire landscape changed instantly. The grey sky coloured pitch black and black fog filled the suddenly chilly air. The Dark Magic surrounded them could be felt very strongly. When James looked behind him, the Edge had disappeared.

"This place looks very unfriendly," Samira whispered. "I understand why nobody comes here."

"It's not necessarily that they don't want to go here," Timothy said. "Well- they don't, but they also can't."

They carefully got off the bridge on the other side.

"Any magical creature would die out here," Timothy continued. "The corruptcy and Dark Magic feeds off their Good Magic. After the magical energy's been drained, it's the turn for their life energy to get drained. And once you run out of that energy, you die – but I'm assuming that that's no surprise to anyone."

After seeing a couple of shocked expressions staring at him, he said: "Luckily, we're not affected by the draining effect, since we're human beings." His eyes flashed toward James. "But I'd have to advise you to be careful with your abilities. You too, Samira and Thomas."

James and Samira nodded. Using Magic here would cost twice as much of their energy than it'd do in Lunaria... The non-corrupted part, at least.

That made using Magic riskier than usual, but it was a risk they'd have to take when it came to it. If someone got injured, it was necessary for Samira to heal them. As for James... The Ritual. But, of course, that would be a shared burden with his friends.

The only way to drive out the Dark Magic from the Land of Void, destroying the source of the Master's power. There was no way out of that, which was probably the only thing that was for sure.

Yeah, sure, they could try to kill him instead. But even if they'd even manage to only get anywhere near him to be able to do so – let alone manage to kill him – the Land of Void's corruptcy and Dark Magic would be strong enough to revive him. He'd be weaker than before his death, but he'd easily rebuild that strength within a couple years.

James looked around. This realm (or whatever it used to be) had gone even more corrupt by the Master's influence.

What once might have been mighty trees, colourful flowers and green bushes, were now nothing more than crumbling, dead remains. The grass (or whatever was left of it, at least), had gone as dry as straw; they could hear it crisp beneath their feet as they walked across it.

Thick, black fog hung in the chilly air, limiting their vision, along with something that seemed to cause a permanent feeling of fear.

"Timothy?" James asked. "What did this place look like when it was still inhabited by the Spirits? What used to be here before this Realm went corrupt?"

"Ah," Timothy said. "Good question, James." He took a few moments to look at the others, to make sure he'd gained their full, undivided attention. "You might want to hear this," he said. "It's quite an interesting story." He waited again, this time clearing his throat. "There are legends about this realm," he said. "Before it went corrupt by the Master's hand. This legend speaks of this realm as the Realm of the Spirits. They watched over the Lunariae, inviting those who they wanted to reward for their good deeds. That was, until the Master used the Realm's pureness to corrupt it and lock the Spirits away by using their own powers against them – but then in a corrupted way.

He lowered his eyes for a split second, but then looked at the five teenagers in front of him stridently. "And that's probably exactly what's going to do to you when he finds us."

"All right, I guess, seems fair," Thomas said. "And there's no way we can stop him from doing so?"

Timothy shook his head. "Well, if you're fearless, he can't harm you with the Curse of Fear, but..."

"Don't worry," Thomas said, while patting his sword's handle. "I'm not afraid of the dark."

Timothy shook his head again; his blond hair swayed along with the movements his head made. "It doesn't work that way, sadly," he said. "It's not just about regular phobias, but what's hidden deep down below, inside your heart. Your deepest, darkest fears are what he's going for... There's no way to hide those fears from him. He'll just dig 'em up and find them..." He shivered. "Anyway, we must go on now. A moving target is harder to find and harder to hit."

"Yet more fun to hunt," Antonio grumbled. "But you're right; we've got to go."

With that being said, the Bond of Light officially began their dangerous journey through the Land of Void. Their final quest.

But they'd barely even walked away from their starting point, or they ran into another problem.

They'd encountered a river. But the water wasn't clear at all; it looked like a green and brownish muddy substance. Aside from that, the river wasn't even the problem; it was bridged by a grey-and-black stone bridge.

The problem were the bridge's guards.

Dragons.

"Uh-oh," Bella said. "This doesn't look good at all."

"Well seen, Bella," Timothy said. "It's not."

Meanwhile, the dragons seemed to have sensed the Bond of Light's presence. They rose to their feet, snorting loudly. Smoke poured out of their nostrils.

They clearly weren't keen on receiving visitors. After all, nobody had ever crossed their path for a thousand years... And they probably intended on keeping it that way.

"And what are we going to do now?" Samira asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Thomas said, while getting his sword ready. "Prepare for battle, of course!"

As if the dragons understood his every word, one of them rose to its full height and opened its muzzle, unleashing a mighty roar.

"Oh well, at least we tried," Antonio whimpered. He wanted to walk away, but Bella pushed him back. "We're fighting these things, whether you like it or not, Tonio," she said. "So you better shape up!"

Bella's hand reached for one of the daggers she'd been carrying the entire adventure, but only had used once, while Antonio was getting himself together.

"You're right, Bella," he said. "We've got to fight these things if we want to get past."

"I don't know what kind of damage these pathetic things could possibly inflict on a dragon, but all right," Bella mumbled, shedding a disappointing look on the daggers she was holding. "I guess."

While Bella was gathering the courage to fight, the roaring dragon had prepared itself for its first attack.

"What is it going to do?" Samira shouted.

"You better go hide somewhere, Sam," James breathed. "He's going to spew fire!"

And that was exactly what the dragon was planning to do. It opened its muzzle once more, this time to spew out a ray of blazing fire toward Samira.

James jumped in front of her, blocking the fire's path with his word. A rather heroic action. He was barely able to take on the fire's strength, but he managed to stay on his feet.

The dragon closed its muzzle, breathing heavily, more smoke coming from its nostrils.

As the six teenagers were completely focused on the fire-breathing dragon attacking them, they allowed the other one to leave their sight.

"Where did that other one go!?" Antonio shouted. It wasn't too long before his question was answered; the dragon had taken flight, flying through the sky, and was now homing for Bella. The teenager noticed it too late and let out a yell as she was grabbed by a massive, scaly claw, lifting her into the air.

Bella could hear her friends yell out her name from below, which seemed to gain her more courage. The courage to do something stupid, yet necessary if she wanted to stay alive and not become a dragon's breakfast.

"Oh no you don't!" Bella grunted while gritting her teeth, remembering the dagger he'd been holding all the time. She gripped it tightly with both hands, stabbing the claw that was holding her hostage with it.

The dragon roared out in pain, unleashing its grip on Bella. She fell down to the ground, rolling over her head and standing up surprisingly agile.

"You see," she said to Antonio, wearing a triumphant smirk, "I can take care of myself."

"I know," Antonio smirked. "You just need a bit of encouragement... Whether it is from me or from a giant dragon."

Bella chuckled. "My vest is destroyed though," she said, turning around, to show Antonio how the dragon had torn apart the leather vest with its claws.

Antonio shrugged. "What can you do?" he said.

From a distance, he could hear the others yell at each other while trying to defeat the other dragon.

"This is not going to work," James gasped. "We can't block or dodge them forever; one of us is going to get hurt at some point."

"He's right," Timothy breathed. "There's got to be another way. It can't go on like this."

And luckily for them, there was another way. Suddenly, they heard a loud roar coming from above. It was a dragon. It'd come to save them.

A fairly small, silver-coloured female dragon landed in front of the Bond of Light, roaring loudly, taking a hostile position toward the dragons. And, even though she was smaller than them, they seemed to... respect her in some sort of way.

They did growl at her, they did claw at her. But one breath of fire was sufficient: The dragons stepped aside and sat down by each side of the bridge; their tall necks and heads high in the sky, as if they were statues.

"Glimmer has enforced their respect," Timothy gasped happily. "We're allowed to pass now!"

"...Glimmer?" James asked. Timothy nodded.

"Madeleine's... pet dragon," he said. "She found and helped her when she was just a lost little baby, and from that point Glimmer followed her around pretty much everywhere."

But before they moved on, everyone was way too happy to see Glimmer first. They all cheered as they approached the small dragon to hug and pet her.

"Glimmer! We're so glad that you saved us," Samira said, while stroking and patting Glimmer's muzzle gently. "Who sent you here? How did you know where to find us?"

Glimmer raised one big paw at her, which a letter had been tied to. The seal was a big "K," with some sort of star in the background.

"It's the Keepers' Seal," Timothy said. "It's from Madeleine."

Samira took the letter; it was hard to read in the dark, but Timothy's glowing katanas were suffice to light up the page enough for Samira to be able to read the curly handwriting.

"Dear Bond of Light and Timothy,

I hope your journey has progressed well. I heard from our mutual "friend" Sabrina that you have managed to reach the Land of Void. My congratulations.

At the river, you'll encounter dragons only Glimmer can control. Her species stands above theirs; dragon logic. Don't ask. That's why I've hereby sent her to you, to accompany you through the Land of Void. Her protection might come in handy. An extra pair of eyes and a brave warrior who knows how to handle fire.

And I'm sure she'll be happy to carry you when you tire out or get injured.

However, it also has come to my attention that Sabrina has made serious threats toward you. As Keepers, it is our duty to keep you safe until the Ritual has been completed, and that's why you shall no longer see any of Sabrina. We're taking her on.

Timothy shall stay with you for the rest of your journey. It's better that way.

Guardians, I wish you all best of luck. We'll meet at the Castle of the Spirits once the Ritual has been completed. I'm looking forward to that moment.

Goodbye for now,

Madeleine"

"So that means that Madeleine, Rikki and Gabriel are fighting for us now?" James said. "I- I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of us. We should hurry up."

"It's no big deal, James," Timothy said. "We're already dead; there's no way we can leave Lunaria anymore. So if we die, it only means our souls are finally set free to rest. Don't worry."

James nodded. "I know that," he said. "But death – real or not - is a painful experience, which I don't wish upon anyone. Except for... Well, you know who."

Timothy smiled. "Glad I'm not alone," he said.

Without saying anything else, the seven crossed the bridge. Six teenagers; five Guardians, one Keeper and one dragon. Seven heroes.

Off to do what heroes do best; saving the world from devastation.

War Preparations

"We need to keep moving, guys. Come on."

"But we don't even know whether it's night or day right now."

"That doesn't matter in the Land of Void; what does matter, is that we keep going."

The Bond of Light had been walking as fast as they could for the past – however long it'd been; it seemed as if they'd lost all conscience of time. While everyone understood the reason why they had better hurry and the consequences if they got caught in the open wide, the question to stop and rest had come up various times. Especially from James's side, whose energy levels seemed to be dropping rather rapidly.

Timothy and the others thought of it as nothing at first, (and to be honest, so did James himself) but they didn't realize the consequences about ignoring the fatigue James was feeling.

Of course Timothy had warned them before, about magical beings and humans with magical abilities being more vulnerable in the Land of Void, but nobody could've seen this coming.

Apparently, James was more vulnerable to the Land of Void's energy than Samira, which was rather logical since James had more abilities than she did, but Timothy didn't know that James was even vulnerable when he wasn't using Magic...

...Like the magical creatures living in Lunaria.

"Guys, can we please stop for a moment? I'm not feeling okay," James huffed. The circles under his eyes had become deep purple in a very short amount of time, and his face looked awfully pale in the eerie light.

"James, I've explained to you for a million times why we need to keep moving," Samira said, but as she turned around, laying an eye on her little brother, her opinion changed in a flash.

"Maybe you're right," she said. "You do look like you need to rest."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," James replied with a small chuckle, as Samira supported him while walking toward Glimmer.

"Come on, James, sit down on her back," Samira said. "I'm sure she won't mind."

Glimmer shook her head and stopped walking, allowing James to step on; he needed a little help from his sister in order to do so, however.

"Are you sitting comfortably?" Samira asked. "Think you can sit up on your own?"

James nodded. "Sure," he said. "I'll be back on my feet soon, Sammy. Don't worry."

Samira smiled at her brother, before walking over to Timothy. "Timothy?" she asked in a low whisper. "Is this a part of James being vulnerable to the Land of Void's corruptcy, or not?"

Timothy shook his head. "I don't know," he whispered back. "It probably is. Maybe. I don't know... I've never guided a Generation here who still had their Guardian of Innocence alive and kicking, or at least present... And Sabrina was gone long before we even got here, as I told you before.

So, to be honest with you, I have no idea."

Samira nodded. "I see," she said. "I hope his situation doesn't get worse." She turned her head toward James, who was leaning forward on his arms, trying hard to stay awake. "We can't have it if he breaks down here right now. That'll make him too much of a risk."

Timothy nodded. "I understand what you mean," he said. "If the Master appears out here while he's in this condition – or perhaps even worse... That would only lead to a capture. If we fail to protect him, that is, of course."

"Well," Samira said, "then that means we mustn't fail him."

That, of course, was much easier said than done.

As they got further into the Land of Void, James's condition worsened. His breathing became feeble and short after a while, before he finally fell asleep on Glimmer's scaled back.

Thomas and Samira stayed close to him the whole time, checking whether he was still breathing regularly.

At first, it seemed as if James was going to be fine after all, but that idea was soon put to an abrupt end.

James woke up in shock, screaming and yelling. His limbs jerked about so much, that he failed to stay on Glimmer's back, and fell off.

Thomas ran around the dragon, approaching James, pressing a hand on his mouth, trying to get him to shut up; he wrestled with the boy that kicked all around him uncontrollably.

Eventually, the jerking at his limbs stopped and James went quiet. He stared at Thomas, completely in shock.

"Knock it off!" Thomas hissed. "What were you thinking? You're going to get every Warlock Spirit and Shadow Walker on our back if you do that again!"

James gasped. "Thomas," he whispered, "behind you..."

Thomas turned around with a jerk while getting to his feet, hand reaching for his sword; but there was nothing there.

"James, what are you talking about?" Thomas yelled at the boy, who was still lying on the ground in front of him. "There's nothing there!"

James stared at the nineteen-year-old as if he'd gone mad. "Don't- don't you see it?" he said, while getting up. "It's right there!" He had gone from speaking to yelling rather quickly.

James reached for his sword, ran past Thomas, and lashed out at the air. Thomas quickly disarmed him, putting him back on the ground.

"As I said earlier; knock it off!" he shouted. "Timothy, what the heck's wrong with him?"

Timothy ran over to the duo, followed by Samira, Antonio and Bella. James had started to scream and kick again, so Antonio threw himself on top of him, muffling the screaming sounds.

"This has to be caused by the Land of Void," Timothy said. "There's no other explanation."

Thomas grunted. "So you're saying that this place is making him go berserk?"

Timothy nodded. "But it isn't James himself who is going berserk," he said. "His imagination is. It mixes with his fears, making them come to life in front of his eyes. He probably saw a Shadow Creature ready to attack you, or something like that."

Thomas grunted even louder. "And what are we supposed to do about this?"

"Make him calm down," Timothy said. "Put him to sleep. Keep him away from actual Warlock Spirits and other Shadow Creatures; that might cause him confusion and memory loss... He might forget who the true enemy is."

Thomas swallowed. "All right," he said. "Guys, put him back on Glimmer's back, and make sure he falls asleep."

"No problem; he's already passed out," Antonio said. "He must be really tired, because after struggling with him for about a minute, he just collapsed."

Thomas sighed. "Here we go again," he said. "As if we haven't had enough to worry about related to him in the past few weeks."

*

The three Keepers had made their way through the Twilight Forest, to the Gnome Village.

They needed information on Sabrina's whereabouts; the gnomes claimed they'd seen her around. You need to remember that these gnomes aren't exactly lawn gnomes, so they aren't to be messed with...

"Greetings, Madeleine the Wise," Barnaby, the Gnome Leader said. "We 'ave received yer message; Sabrina the Dark indeed was 'ere."

Madeleine shook the gnome's hand. "Good," she said. "How long ago was she here?"

"No' very long ago, surprisingly," Barnaby said. "She probably was just passin' thru 'ere. She probably needed to get a message to 'er master without runnin' into the Guardians."

Madeleine nodded. "Did you know where she went?"

Barnaby shook his head. "Scared 'er off, we did," he said. "Wanted magical diamonds from our mines, but we refused to give 'em to 'er. She fled into the Fairy Forest. Perhaps Queen Eloine can help ya."

Gabriel nodded. "Got that," he said. "It'll only be a matter of time until we run into her... She's probably looking for us."

Rikki, who was just a little taller than Barnaby, smiled at the gnome. "Thanks, Barnaby."

"No problem at all, lass," he said. "By now, we'd do anythin' for freedom, eh?"

"Don't worry, Barnaby, you'll be free once again soon," Madeleine said. "You'll no longer have to worry about Shadow Walkers ruining your villages and land again."

Barnaby nodded. "I 'eard," he said. "Those kids are magnificent... They are the first to make it this far in a thousand years, eh?"

Madeleine nodded. "Yes," she said. "They are... And we're proud of them."

Barnaby smiled, before reaching inside his pocket. He drew out a leather bag, which had been tied shut with a rope.

"These are fer you," he said. "In case yer going to need 'em while takin' that girl down."

Madeleine nodded, and took the bag. magical gems were powerful; no doubt Sabrina wanted them too.

They said goodbye to the dwarf, before continuing to hunt down Sabrina. They followed Barnaby's advice, and set their next destination as the Fairy Forest.

The Pixies looked at the trio as they walked through the Pixie Garden. Everyone knew them; everyone knew what the Keeper Outfits meant. War.

Shortly after their arrival, Violina was notified and she approached them quickly. "So it's true, after all," she said.

"Sabrina's back."

"Indeed," Madeleine said. "We need to speak with you and your sister. Quickly."

Violina nodded. "Of course," she said. "Follow me."

The Keepers were completely safe to travel through the Fairy Forest, since practically all their weapons glowed brightly, similar to Timothy's katana blades.

The blade of Madeleine's sword, which she held up ready as if it were a torch while manoeuvring past the trees, glowed in a golden colour, and so did Gabriel and Rikki's arrows and daggers.

"I know it's none of my business, really," Violina said, just a while before they reached the castle, "but I can't keep myself from asking... Has she attacked the Guardians?"

"Unfortunately, she has," Madeleine said. "Multiple times. But none of her attacks were successful."

"At least that's something positive," Violina said. "We're here... I'll announce you."

Madeleine nodded. "Very well," she said. "We'll wait here."

Violina returned shortly, inviting the three Keepers inside. Queen Eloine was already waiting for them in the hall.

"We must hurry," she said. "We've got no time to lose if the situation's as bad as I heard."

"Well," Madeleine said, "I think it's probably worse than any of what you've heard."

Queen Eloine nodded. "Sit down," she said. "We'll discuss options."

The five sat down inside the big room where the Bond of Light had been sitting two weeks earlier. "First things first," Queen Eloine said. "If I understand the rumours correctly, Sabrina has been sighted and is under the Master's control once again."

Madeleine nodded. "And she's made so far unsuccessful attempts at capturing or injuring the Bond of Light."

"Barnaby said that she'd fled into your Forest," Gabriel said. "Have you seen her?"

Queen Eloine shook her head. "Neither of us has," she said, "but various Pixies in the Pixie Valley have."

Gabriel nodded. "Any idea where she's now?"

Violina shook her head. "No..." she said. "Or..." She looked at her sister.

"Fiyara," they said simultaneously.

"Explain?" Rikki asked.

"Fiyara visited us about a week ago... It's been ages. She said she'd seen Sabrina shortly after she'd finished guiding the Guardians across the mountains... She seemed rather excited about something."

"So that means she's been following them for very long," Madeleine said. "We're behind."

"What do you mean?" Violina asked. "Where is the Bond of Light currently, then? Are they all right?"

"They have currently crossed the border to the Land of Void," Madeleine said. Violina gasped.

"Do you hear that, Eloine?" she said. "Antonio and the others made it to the Land of Void!"

Queen Eloine smiled. "I'm glad to hear that they're still together in one piece... And that they're guided by someone as smart as Timothy."

"It sure is a whole lot of a reassurance," Madeleine smiled. "Timothy... Is rather brave, and clever, yes..." A slight honey glow appeared on her cheeks, and she stopped talking.

"Anyway, we had better hurry," she said, as she stood up. "We've got to take the passage through the mountains; that's our best shot."

"Is there a passage through the mountains?" Violina said. "You mean – as in a tunnel?"

Madeleine nodded. "You didn't know?"

Violina shook her head. "No. I didn't."

"Perhaps I should've informed the Bond of Light it was there... I thought you knew..." Madeleine said. "But it no longer matters now... We should go."

They thanked Queen Eloine and Violina for sharing information with them. But just before they left, Violina stopped them.

"I'm coming with you," she said. "I'll fight with you."

Madeleine, Gabriel and Rikki nodded. "Fine," Gabriel said. "It'll be good to have at least one strong magical person on our side. Especially if..." he stopped mid-sentence.

The subject he wanted to speak of apparently wasn't something appropriate to discuss at that moment.

"Maddy, do you even know where we're actually headed?"

"We know this place like no one else does, Gabriel! Of course I do!"

"Luckily we've got the passage through the mountains, or else it would've taken us days to get to Sabrina!"

The Keepers had made their way to the secret passage underneath the mountain. They better had hurry; as they weren't sure of neither Sabrina's current location nor the possible damage she already could've caused thus far.

While they hurried their way through the secret passage, they shouted things at each other. But whether they were meant as advice or just shouting in frustration was left to question.

The main reason why the Keepers were frustrated and stressed was because time was running out; and another was that if they'd fail in stopping Sabrina, Lunaria and the Bond of Light were most likely to be as good as doomed.

The Keepers were given new life by the Light Spirits for a purpose; serve to save. This might sound like complete gibberish to the unknowing ear, but they were to be serving the Bond of Light, who would eventually save Lunaria. Serve to Save.

The Keepers had sworn to serve in peace, unless a threat coming from the Master had a certain danger which the Bond of Light couldn't face on their own.

And to Madeleine, Sabrina was this certain threat. The Master had used her, manipulated her, and turned her against her best friend...

But if Sabrina was still alive, could that mean he was, too?

Madeleine shook her head to get rid of the thought. It was impossible. She'd watched him die.

She'd killed him herself... Something she knew she'd regret for the rest of her life.

Madeleine was forced to return to reality, as they reached the location of the destroyed villages.

And there she was. Sabrina.

Squatted in the middle of one of the village ruins, as if she'd discovered something. Suddenly, she seemed to notice the Keepers' presence, as her head shot up in their direction.

The Keepers charged for her as she got on her feet and ran for it as fast as she could.

"You can't run, Sabrina!" Gabriel shouted. "Not again!"

Sabrina turned her head, looking at him. "Let's see about that, huh?" she said.

Gabriel heard Rikki panting behind him. But as soon as he looked back to check on her, the panting stopped; Violina, who was little taller than Rikki, had taken her on her back. "Don't worry," the Fixie said, giving Gabriel an encouraging smile. "I'll make sure she gets there."

Gabriel smiled at her. "Thanks, Vo." He then fastened his pace, running after Sabrina.

When she reached Imber Lake, Sabrina suddenly stopped running. She turned around; her face showed a devilish grin, as her glowing red eyes reflected the water's blue colour.

"What's the matter, Sabrina?" Madeleine said mockingly. "Can't swim?"

Sabrina narrowed her eyes for a short moment, but the grin didn't shrink a bit. "I can," she said, "but I remember someone who couldn't..."

Gabriel made a growling sound. "I swear, if you bring that back up, I'll drown you with my bare hands-!"

Sabrina pounded and tilted her head, obviously amused. "It was your adorable little sister, wasn't it?" she said. "Oh, how hard you tried to save her..." The grin returned. "Yet couldn't."

"ENOUGH, SABRINA!" Gabriel roared as he ran forward, bow and arrow drawn.

But as soon as he'd started to run, he stopped, as Sabrina had multiplied... By four.

Two were standing in front of him, and two were standing...

Behind Rikki.

Rikki and Violina had just arrived; Rikki had insisted on walking on her own after she'd seen her brother running toward Sabrina. She'd run closer to the scene; away from Violina.

Gabriel turned his head angrily; he growled as soon as he saw the two Phantom Sabrinas stand behind his sister.

"Leave her alone," he growled. "Or else..."

"You'll kill me?" one of the Sabrina's standing in front of Gabriel said.

"Don't make the wrong choice."

Gabriel loaded his bow and drew the arrow backward, and within the blink of an eye, one Sabrina standing in front of him and one of them behind Rikki had been hit.

...They were Phantoms.

"Oops," the real Sabrina said, as the last Phantom in front of him disappeared. "Wrong choice."

Gabriel leapt forward, but one move from Sabrina, and he was forced to stand still in his position, unable to move. And apparently, the same had happened to the others...

...Except for little Rikki.

She ran out of Sabrina's way as quick as she could, drawing out her crossbow. "Stay away from me!" she shouted. "I'll use this; I swear! You've seen me do it before."

For a while, Sabrina didn't move a muscle. It was as if she was actually hesitating. Then she noticed how close Rikki was standing to the lake's edge. The water was at least 3 metres deep; anyone unable to swim would be defenceless down there.

Sabrina made a step forward. Rikki did exactly what Sabrina had expected she'd do; she fired the crossbow.

Sabrina raised her hand, using Magic to block the arrow from hitting her in the face, and sending it straight back to Rikki...

Who didn't see the arrow coming until it was too late.

The arrow pierced through her chest; straight into her heart. Her eyes, filled with shock and tears, sought for her brother's, right before she fell backward into the deep water.

And that was the point where the spell got broken.

"RIKKI! NO!"

Gabriel stumbled forward, tears streamed down his cheeks. Without even thinking about it, he dropped his weapons and dove down into the water, to save his dying baby sister.

Meanwhile, Violina and Madeleine took rather hostile positions against Sabrina, who was laughing manically at the sight of the seventeen-year-old trying to save his thirteen-year-old sister.

"You'll never learn!" she laughed. "You'll never do!"

"Well, let's see about that," Madeleine growled.

Gabriel had managed to reach Rikki. She'd gone unconscious; the arrow was still stuck in her chest.

He reached out for her; as soon as he got a firm hold of her, he took her back up to the surface.

Gabriel laid Rikki's body down on the shore; meanwhile, he searched for Sabrina.

"Where is she!?" he roared. "I want to kill her!"

"She's gone, Gabriel," Violina said. "She disappeared as soon as we tried to attack her."

Gabriel let out something which seemed to be some sort of mix between a grunt and a heartbreaking sob. "Not again," he sobbed. "Not again."

He stroke a gentle face across Rikki's pale cheek. "Rikki?" he whispered. "Listen to me. You're going to be fine..."

Rikki opened her eyes weakly, and looked at her brother. "I know," she whispered, offering him a weak smile. "I'll see you soon. And then Lunaria will... be free, right?" Her eyes opened a little further.

"Can you promise me that, Gabriel?"

Tears streamed down his cheeks and he felt like he had a lump in his throat, as Gabriel said, "yes, Rikki. I promise."

Rikki smiled feebly. "Good."

Then, all motion left her body.

For at least five minutes, all Gabriel could do was sob, while holding his sister close to him. He removed the arrow, but couldn't bear even to look at it.

Violina and Madeleine stood there, silently. Crying as well.

Then, Gabriel suddenly spoke.

"That girl has taken her last life tonight," he growled. "Next time, it'll be hers."

*

They had finally gained the courage to take a nap. Glimmer and Timothy would keep watch the entire time, so the others would have time to rest and catch some sleep.

Except for James.

Through the night, James kept waking up from nightmares, yelling, kicking and screaming; the nightmares followed him into the real world, haunting him as hallucinations.

Most of the time, Samira had to be woken up by Timothy in order to get James to calm down, but no matter if either Samira or Timothy managed to calm him down, James would repeat the same sentence over and over again.

"He's coming. He's watching us. We're not safe here."

Both Timothy and Samira figured it was probably his mind playing another trick on him, and to let it slide until – eh, dawn?

But what they didn't know, was that there indeed actually was someone watching them. A mysterious figure, presumably either a man or a boy, lurking in the shadows, not too far away from them. And that figure had now run off to the Master, to bring him important news...

Jason

Dark boots trampled the dead plants as they ran across the dry ground. A raven black cape fluttered behind the mysterious figure, who'd been spying on the Bond of Light earlier. He had to tell his Master that they'd finally arrived in his territory. If he didn't already know, that was.

The Master was probably already aware that the Bond of Light was now finally within his reach, and was planning an ambush on them. Yet, it still gave his servant satisfaction to tell him anyways. It made him feel as if he was actually doing something, instead of just hiding out in the shadows and waiting for those pesky children to finally show up for once.

He didn't look out where he was going too well, as he bumped into another figure running through the night, seemingly in quite a rush.

"Ow!" Sabrina hissed. "Who the-?"

She rose to her feet, immediately taking a hostile position against the figure that'd bumped into her. She summoned a black knife out of thin air, holding it against his throat as he struggled to get up.

"Ah. Sabrina. How nice to see you here," an icily cold voice spoke. The voice sounded young and handsome, yet it had something demonic which sent a chill down your spine with every vowel.

"Jason," Sabrina growled, as she drew back her knife. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same," Jason said, as he got up, brushing the dirt off his clothes. He clearly didn't care that he'd just got a knife put to his throat.

"I assume you're headed the same direction as I am?" he said slowly. He clearly didn't show any kind of intimidation toward Sabrina's actions. But then again, neither did Sabrina to his.

"Answer the question," Sabrina growled. "What are you doing here!?"

"Oh ho ho, we're getting snappy," Jason grinned. "The Master sent me out here, to watch out for any... ah, trespassers entering his grounds." He pretended to clean his nails. "...If you know what I mean."

Sabrina snorted. She certainly was insulted that her master had sent her substitute to take care of the situation. "Oh."

Jason smirked, obviously amused by Sabrina's reaction. "Come on now, Sabrina. No harsh feelings. Let's go bring him our news together." He turned around, but turned his head just far enough to be able to see Sabrina's feet from the corner of his eye. "I bet you've got plenty of exciting news for him."

Sabrina grunted. She obviously didn't want to go along with Jason, but as they were headed in the exact same direction, she couldn't think of a reason not to have to go along with him. "Fine, I'll go with you," she growled. "But what news I've got for the Master is none of your business."

Jason smiled a vampire smile. "Good," he said. "Very well."

The Master's castle wasn't too far away from their location. For Magic-wielders, it wasn't too hard to find either; the gigantic, dark building emitted Dark Magic as if it was some perfume someone had put on.

Both servants were let in, and were told to wait outside the throne room, until they were called inside, one by one; Sabrina first. She entered the throne room feeling slightly nervous, as she knew that her master wasn't going to appreciate the news she had for him.

As she walked in, Sabrina could see the reddish glow of the Master's eyes and the droplet-shaped stone on his robe from the darkness surrounding his throne. Further facial- and other features were invisible; he was shrouded in darkness.

"Ah, Sabrina," the Master spoke. "Tell me what news you've come to bring me today."  
Sabrina swallowed, yet was able to keep a straight face as she said, "The Keepers have now taken their position as Protectors, and they're headed straight for the Land of Void. They are determined to find and protect the Bond of Light." Then, she decided to add, "It might be wise to attack no, to lower the risk of the Protectors being too close."

While expecting an angry outburst, Sabrina was surprised to see that her master remained completely calm. He closed his eyes shortly, before responding to Sabrina's news. "Very well. Could you send in Mr Morgan? We need to discuss... business."

"Jason?" Sabrina raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't you prefer if I left, then?"

She noticed her master closed his eyes again. "No. I need you to be here for our discussion, as it regards you as well. I bet Mr Morgan wouldn't mind."

"As you wish," Sabrina said, while making a bow, and went to get Jason.

Jason was slightly offended due to the fact that he hadn't been allowed inside while Sabrina was bringing her news to the Master, while she actually was permitted to stay while Jason reported his latest observations to his master. Yet, he put himself over his feelings and knelt down in front of the throne his master was sitting on.

"Jason Morgan," the Master spoke. "What news do you have on the Bond of Light's whereabouts?"

Jason smiled, yet spoke without looking up, as if he was actually trying to treat someone with respect for once in his life. "It's going better than expected, My Lord," he said. "Imagination's powers are stronger than they were in previous Generations, but that makes them only glitch out even more. An easy target, if I daresay..."

"Hm..." Jason could hear his master think out loud. "What about the Keepers? What do you know about them?"

"Only one of them is currently with them," Jason spoke. "Sabrina was able to kill the youngest in battle."

With that being said, the Master's eyes and attention instantly shifted from Jason to Sabrina. "Is this true, young one?" he said.

Sabrina nodded. "Yes. I don't know how he knows it-" she decided to take advantage of the situation by throwing Jason an angry glare, "-but it's true. Jason is right. Right now, they are with three left, but one of the fixies has joined them on their crusade, which makes four... Three of them, including the fixie, are on their way here; the fourth one is with the Bond."

The Master moved in his seat, probably to be able to rest his chin on his hand while thinking. "A fairy. What a powerful ally to choose... I must say, they made a wise choice. I've underestimated their skill and intelligence."

Jason stood up, looking the Master straight in the eye; he wanted to make sure he came across as determined. "Do you want us to stop them, Master?"

It was quite hard to see, yet Jason was able to see that his master was shaking his head. "No.

Sabrina's done her job well; I've got them exactly where I want them. Killing one of the Protectors was the small push they needed; it has angered them, increasing their recklessness and lowering their common sense. We need not to seek them out, because over time, they will come to us. As for the Guardians..."

What happened next, was what both Sabrina and Jason could've sworn they'd never seen their master do ever before. The Master got up from his throne and stepped out of the darkness into the light, revealing his face.

Despite the fact he was millions of years old, there was no way to notice he was; the fact that he was still a half-spirit kept his aging process at a zero, leaving him to look like a man in his mid-forties. However, his skin did look extremely damaged; a black mark resembling which seemed to be a strange combination of bird and bat wings covered the skin surrounding his left eye, which seemed to cause black veins to spread all across his face and neck, starting from where the mark was located. Jason had the same mark and veins on his face; Sabrina, however, only had the veins.

One of his eyes seemed fairly normal; the right eye still had a glowing red iris, which was surrounded by dark veins and had a black, cat-like pupil.

The other eye could've been considered a blind eye; it looked more like an empty eye socked with a creepy, bright orange glow inside of it rather than a fully functional eye. His hair was black with some signs of greying; the same grey streaks appeared here and there in his beard.

His clothes looked simple; all what was seen of his clothes underneath the dark blue robe which covered his body was a dark purple turtle neck with golden details. The robe was sleeveless, and had golden details on both shoulders.

The Master looked intimidating; even when he was completely serene as he was now. In fact, his serenity made him seem even more dangerous.

Both his servants appeared completely awestruck by the fact that their master had shown his face to them for the first time in- nine hundred or so years? As good as never had he cared enough for any of the Generations to take care of them himself, with a few exceptions here and there.

This certainly had to be different.

Either the Master didn't notice or just simply didn't care for the reactions his servants gave him; he just looked at them, and said, "Yes. I still have a vast form. Surprised?"

Sabrina blinked. "N...no, of course not," she stammered. "Master-"

The Master rolled with his eyes and let out a loud sigh of exasperation. With a wave of his hand, he waved away whatever Sabrina was meaning to say. "Please, Sabrina," he said. "The three of us have known each other for nearly a thousand years now. Please just call me Asura."

He then focused on one of the burning torches across the room. Or just on nothing. "I assume you're both aware of the plans I'd prepared for this day," he said. "It's about time we executed them.

Prepare the troops and all that is necessary. We leave as soon as night falls; we've got no time to lose.

This is going to be an interesting Generation to fight."

*

James was sitting by the fire. He didn't know whether it was still night or already day, nor did he actually care. He didn't care about anything; all he wanted was to go home.  
He used his Magic to play around with the fire, as Timothy had advised him to use a bit of his Magic to "retrain" it; he made it burn brighter and softer, making funny shapes appear within the flames. One of these shapes resembled his mother, smiling at him.

James sighed. "I miss you," he whispered to the head in the flames. "So much. Even though sometimes I was a pain in the butt to you." He sighed and smiled at the thought. "...But you always meant well. You never helped us out at inventing because you were afraid that one of us would get hurt, or you would mess up, and I regret yelling at you so often those times that you did help us. But... Now, I just can't help but regret the fact that Samira and I might haven't done enough to involve you into our projects. The situation we're in now makes me wish I would've done so."

James tore his eyes away from the fire and closed them, while sighing deeply. "I'm sorry if I don't make it home, Mum. I'm sorry if I never see you again."

After he'd finished talking, or actually confessing, as if he was hoping his mother would hear him somehow, James wanted to put out the fire, but as he heard footsteps behind him, he refrained from doing so.

He instinctively got on all fours and pulled out his sword, ready to attack, but then noticed who'd actually approached him.

It was Samira.

"Hey, James..." she said carefully. "What are you doing?"

James lowered his sword, but however kept holding it, and smiled at her. "Hey, Sammy," he said.

"I... Came here to check and see if you're okay," Samira said. "I wanted to make sure you were okay before Thomas woke up... Are you all right?"

James nodded at her, attempting to broaden his smile. "Yes, I am, Samira."

"You don't look fine to me."

"Rgh..." James didn't want to lie to her, but he didn't want to worry her, either. He decided it was for the better if he just changed the subject. "You know," he said, "this night reminds me of our first night in Lunaria. Oh well – our first real night. The one in the cabin in the Twilight Forest."

Samira smiled. "You were thinking about home again, weren't you?"

James shrugged. Denying he was wasn't going to neither help nor harm him, so why do so?

Samira walked closer to him and took the sword out of his hand, shoving it back into the scabbard it belonged inside of. "What you need," she said, "is new Hope." Samira took both James' hands and pulled him along, moving as if she wanted to dance with him. "I remember that one night, while I was lying awake, I heard you were whispering to yourself that we were almost home. You were trying to comfort yourself enough to fall asleep... I kind of took it as if you were also speaking to me. To all of us.  
And yes, James, I know it's been a hard month and a week... but we're getting there."

She pulled him close, looking him in the eye. "We're going to make it home, I promise. They're waiting for us."

Before James could respond, Samira threw both her arms around his neck and hugged him. Something they hadn't really done in a long time; despite always being there for each other, James had always had the feeling that he and his sister had been growing apart for a long time.

"Come on," Samira said. "You need to rest."

It took her a few moments, but eventually, she'd convinced her brother to lie down and go to sleep, while she kept watch.

Samira could see James' body slowly starting to relax and relieve all the tension as he drifted off. It was good to see the innocence return in him; the happiness he always showed at home was the same happiness he showed when he was asleep.

She hoped fiercely he wouldn't get any bad dreams; a good night's rest was well-deserved after all he'd been through.

For all of them.

If she had to be completely honest, getting to where they were now, getting to the Land of Void, was further than she'd ever dreamed they'd be able to get. And she knew the others were thinking the same.

They were almost there. Al they had to do now, was believe they could make it through to the Spirit Castle, and then they would. Without their faith and hope, they would be nowhere. If they couldn't count on each other, they would be lost.

Samira looked at James again, who now was fast asleep, seemingly peaceful. Her eyes wandered off to the fire, which had now started to die out, where James had made their relatives appear earlier. Samira could understand how he felt. She felt the same about her own family, and she was highly convinced the others were thinking the exact same about their own families.

But they would only be in the Land of Void for just a few more days, perhaps a week or two, and then they'd be there. All they had to do was stay out of the Master's clutches.

That wasn't going to be an easy task, but if they played the game right, they had a chance at winning it. Right?

And she had better hold on to that thought as she looked into the distance and let out a startling yell to wake everyone up.  
"AMBUSH!"

You are Your Own Enemy

Samira's yelling had awoken everyone within an instant.

Sleep drowsiness didn't seem to affect them at all; within a heartbeat, everyone was standing up with their weapons ready, all ready to fight.

Except for Thomas, perhaps; as he'd just woken up from his sleep, he wasn't wearing his armour. He'd wanted to keep it on while sleeping, but took it off anyway when James kept nagging him he had to do so.

They stood in attack position before even knowing what they were supposed to attack.

The teenagers were soon to find out; the mysterious, dark figures moved swiftly through the night.

The figures appeared to be human; or at least their appearance was suggesting they were.

As soon as they'd appeared, they had the Bond of Light surrounded. And then, as he looked straight at one of the five figures, he figured out who he was looking at.

He was looking at himself.

"Uh- guys? I think we might have a problem!" James yelled out.

"Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing?" Antonio replied. "They're us!"

"They're not," Timothy breathed. "They're Reverse Guardians. The Master believes that you are your own worst enemy, and that fighting yourself would be impossible. Don't let them trick you!"

"Won't be a problem," Antonio said. "Have you even seen their eyes? They're the same as all that other Nightmare scum!"

"Why aren't they attacking us?" Samira questioned. "They're supposed to take us out! So why don't they?"

Timothy tore his eyes off the Reverse Guardians surrounding them to answer her question. "They're scanning you. As soon as you make a move, they'll be able to mimic you. That's why you can't let them trick you, or else they'll become invincible!"

"Well, it's not as if just standing here like this is going to solve the problem," Thomas said. "We've got to fight them!"

"Thomas, wait!" James shouted, but Thomas had already lashed out toward his doppelganger, who quickly moved away from Thomas by dissolving into the usual black smoke and reforming behind him.

Thomas's attack seemed to have triggered the other Reversed Guardians to fight too; they attacked all four at once.

"Great thinking, Thomas!" James threw the Brit a sarcastic yell as his doppelganger threw him to the ground. "Really!"

"It's not like you would were about to come up with something!" Thomas remarked.

"I NEEDED MORE TIME!" James yelled, this time truly angry, as he threw Reverse James off him, trying to stab him with his sword."But no, the "knight in shining armour" had to run off on his own again!"

"Let me tell you something-" Thomas said, but was interrupted before he could continue.

"Boys, stop it!" Samira shouted. "This is no time for arguing! That's exactly what they want you to do!"

"No, Samira!" James snapped, still fighting his Reverse. "I am sick and tired of being treated like a child! He's got to cut it out!"

He pushed his Reverse aside, letting his attention drive off, allowing his Reverse to dissolve and reform... to be able to attack Samira.

She quickly loaded her bow to fire arrows at the Reverse, who barely managed to dodge Samira's perfect aim.

He extended his arm to form a foggy shape resembling an arm and a hand, and used it to pull on one of Samira's ankles, causing her to lose balance and fall.

In a flash, Samira was lying on the ground and Reverse James was standing in front of her.

Meanwhile, James had focused on nagging Thomas by reminding that attacking the Reverses had been a bad idea, until Antonio reminded both the boys they were in battle.

While they were listening to Antonio, Thomas was knocked to the ground with high speed, and landed with his head on a hard rock. His sword ended up several meters away from him.

"Thomas! Are you all right!?" James yelled. He saw Reverse Thomas aiming for the unconscious real Thomas and wanted to defend James, but as soon as he got between the Reverse and James, the Reverse used the same fog arm move as Reverse James had used on Samira to knock James' sword out of his hands.

With a single kick, the Reverse managed to get James on the ground. Apparently, the Reverse had now set his mind on taking James out first.

It seemed as if there was no way out at first; but then, James noticed Thomas's sword, lying less than a meter away from him.

He rolled aside, just in time to dodge the Reverse's sword which ended up drilling deep into the ground.

This came in handy; it gave James plenty of time to get the sword and stand up while the Reverse was still busy trying to get his sword out of the ground.

James however didn't wait for the Reverse to get his sword out of the ground; he closed his eyes to make the blade glow with his magical abilities, and sliced Reverse Thomas in half. The Evil Spirit then dissolved and disappeared, leaving the sword behind for James to pull it out of the ground.

He quickly ran over to Thomas, who had just regained consciousness, and looked at his older step-brother with a concerned look. "When this is over, need to talk," he said, before running off to help the others, leaving Thomas behind with the sword and a confused look on his face.

Samira looked into Reversed James' eyes. It scared her to see James this way, even though she knew it wasn't really him. But still... It felt as if this figure standing in front of her had her fretting for the future. James's future.

"SAMIRA! WATCH OUT!" a voice shouted, just at the moment Reverse James lashed out at her.

But instead of hitting Samira, he hit hard metal. James had stopped his Reverse's attack with Thomas's sword. He had picked up his own sword along the way, which he held in the other hand. If Timothy was able to fight with two swords, then why wasn't he?

James looked down at Samira and winked at her. "I've got it under control," he said. "Go help the others. There's still three of them left!"

He didn't have to tell her twice. Samira got on all fours, grabbed her bow and ran off to help Antonio, Timothy, Bella and now also Thomas, who'd rejoined them, in battle.

The remaining battle was rough, yet they managed to make it through somehow. Timothy was extremely clever with his katanas and had been able to take Reverse Samira out on his own, while Antonio and Bella were fighting their Reverses together.

The only one who seemed to be having trouble was James.

It wasn't that he wasn't able to fight or couldn't handle two swords; he was fairly good with both of them. It was the fact that he was getting magical corruption attacks again.

The earth started to dance in front of his face, leaving him unable to determine what was real or not. It also didn't help that his Reverse kept taunting him; it kept dissolving and reforming in different places and multiplying itself, as if it was amused by the fact that James was weakening.

James felt his energy draining by the second; as he tried his best to see and dodge his enemy, he scanned the background for his friends. They were rushing toward him; the battle had been ended. All there was left to do was to defeat Reverse James.

And James wasn't able to do it himself.

He let unconsciousness get the best of him; he dropped his sword, allowed his knees to buckle and fell forward in the dead remains of grass.

Although he hadn't gone completely unconscious; he could clearly feel two pairs of hands lifting him up by his shoulders and feet to drag him somewhere safe. A little further away, he could hear sounds of a fight, but those went as quickly as they'd come.

They'd won. They'd done it.

James tried to open his eyes and look at his friends. The first face he saw was of a worried Thomas, lit by the pale green and blue glow of the stones on the brooches that held both the boys' capes together.

"Are you all right?" Thomas asked. James gave him a small nod.

"I- I'm sorry about what I said earlier, Thomas," he said, as he sat up.

Thomas smiled at him, and helped him to sit up when he saw that James was struggling to do so. "Hey, it's okay," he said. "You were the hero today. You saved my life."

James smirked. "Yes, yes I did. That's where friends are for, right?"

Thomas nodded. "Indeed, they are," he said. "Plus, we are almost brothers. And we fight. Because... That's what brothers do," he said. "So no worries. We'll make it through, I promise."

Thomas looked Thomas in the eye. Indeed; they were as close as brothers. "I promise I won't give up on you."

"Pinkie promise," James said, sticking up his left hand.

"Pinkie promise," Thomas smiled, as he and James linked pinkies together.

Indeed. They would make it through together; giving up on each other didn't sound like something they'd ever do.

Never.

*

"Thomas, I believe we need to talk."

Thomas turned around, seeing Timothy stand behind him. He held his hands to his hips and wore a serious, frown-ish glare.

"Uh- sure," Thomas said. "We can talk while walking, right?"

"Sure," Timothy said. "Walking. We've been doing that for hours now. Without a break."

Thomas shrugged. "What are you going to do about it?" he said. "If we don't we'll never make it to the Castle. We need to keep moving in order to stay out of the Master's clutches."

"That's exactly the point I was getting to."

"What's it, then?"

Timothy's voice got a stern tone. "Thomas, you and your friends are in great danger."

Thomas turned his head toward Timothy. "Breaking news; we're in danger. Come up with something new."

Timothy shook his head; his sandy blond hair swayed along with the movements. "I didn't mean it that way," he said. "There's a new threat."

Thomas threw him the sceptical look. "Gosh, more people to join the party," he said. "The new threat is...?"

"Yourselves," Timothy said. "It might sound weird, but the dark energy in this world is messing with James in different ways than I'd expected. We need to be careful."

Thomas plucked his lips. "As in? You mean how he keeps getting annoyed by the tiniest things?"

Timothy nodded. "Exactly. The Master is trying to drive a wedge between you two. And you need to make sure that that does not happen."

Thomas raised his palms. "But how!?" he shouted, but quickly lowered his volume as he noticed Antonio and James turning their heads toward hem. "It's happening anyway; this place is Asura's domain! Nothing can stop his power here."

Timothy looked at him. "Don't worry. Nothing more than this should be able to happen unless Asura gets his hands on James."

"Don't worry," Thomas said. "James is not stupid enough to get captured. I'll make sure the Master stays a thousand miles away from him."

"You will try," Timothy said.

Thomas lowered an eyebrow. "You're saying I'm incapable of protecting him?"

"I don't think you're incapable of just protecting him, but of protecting yourself," Timothy shrugged. "Haven't you thought of the fact that the Master just might think of using you or Samira to get to James?"

Thomas didn't reply, but simply raised his eyebrows. Yeah. He had to be honest, he hadn't thought of that yet. He was already aware that the Master wanted to get rid of all of them, but the fact that he'd use either one of them to get rid of the other... and probably their friends along with them, hadn't crossed his mind yet.

But why hadn't it? Thomas smacked his palm against his forehead.. "Right. That does sound bad. Sorry for being a sceptical jerk."

"It's okay," Timothy said. He smiled at Thomas. "You have a very determined mindset, and I admire that. It's your greatest strength, but might also be your downfall. You need to remember that you don't need to just look out for your friends, but make sure you stay safe as well."

Thomas scratched his neck and looked up. "Eh. Don't worry, I do look after myself. But... just not as much as I look after them. They're my friends, you know. I don't know what I'd do without them."

"You remind me of someone," Timothy said. "Myself."

"How?"

Thomas turned his head toward Timothy, clearly uncomprehending about how he could possibly have reminded Timothy of himself.

"Well... To be honest, Madeleine and Sabrina were the only ones who knew each other aside from Gabriel and Rikki," Timothy said. "We... lied to you. The five of us were complete strangers to each other, didn't even like each other for the first few weeks. Madeleine missed her crush home, but... things changed. I changed them... and then other things started happening.

That very moment was the moment when I realized I had to save her. And that's why I gave up my own life to rescue her."

He paused for a short moment. "I don't want you to do that, because they need you."

Thomas swallowed. "I wasn't planning to do that."

Timothy raised an eyebrow. "Don't lie. This is the reason the Spirits had decided to, after us, choose non-related people who could still form a strong bond. Losing family is losing an eternal bond."

"So is losing a friendship-wise bond."

"Point taken."

Timothy looked at Thomas. "But be careful. Remember that it's required for you and James to perform the Ritual if you want it to succeed. Without you, your friends are lost."

"Hey, Timothy, I'm just curious: why did you decide to sacrifice yourself for Madeleine? I mean – didn't she need you to survive?"

Timothy looked away from Thomas, at the ground, as if he was ashamed of something. "She didn't," he said. "She could've gone back home to her crush, even without me. The Almighty Spirit could've helped her get home. But she chose not to. Because of me."

"But doesn't that mean that she wanted to be with you more than with him?" Thomas said. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"Maybe. But I feel like it was my fault she died." Timothy sighed.

"You died for her, Timothy. Then she died for you. There's nothing about that where you could possibly be to blame for," Thomas said. "It was her choice. And..." He paused, his eyes shifting from Timothy toward Samira, who was talking to Bella. "There's a girl who'd I'd die for too... She came here with me."

Timothy's face lit up. "Then make sure you go back home. Together with her."

Thomas nodded. "I will. And I'm taking my friends with me."

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear," Timothy grinned and the two teens high-fived, before catching up with the gap between them and the group their conversation had caused again.

Capture

The Bond of Light had spent most of the day walking, just to make it closer to the Castle of Light. This gave James an opportunity and enough time to think about everything that'd happened over the past two days.

He was still hallucinating from time to time and didn't possess full control over his abilities yet, but he was trying to get things right again as soon as he could. But he knew the darkness and Dark Magic were trying to penetrate his Magic and corrupt it, just as it'd done with everything else magically pure and good that had entered this realm.

James sighed as he turned around and watched Timothy and Thomas high-fiving. Timothy had been talking to Thomas for hours, but he hadn't taken the effort to brief anyone else about the case they'd been discussing.

What could he possibly have to say to Thomas, which he couldn't share with the others? They were all in this together, right?

"What's wrong, James? You seem upset."

James looked aside, and saw Samira's worried face. The worried expression on the teenage girl's face spoke volumes, and her normally smooth hair was frizzy and messy, and no longer tied into a braid.

James shook his head. "No. Not really."

Samira frowned and lowered her eyebrows in disbelief. "You do know that that didn't sound quite convincing at all, do you?" she asked.

James smiled shortly and rolled his eyes. "I know it doesn't." He paused for a second, just to appreciate his sister's interest. She knew he was a very bad liar. "I just can't help it; I keep having that same, nagging feeling as if we're about to be ambushed again any moment."

"Why are you feeling and thinking like this, James?" Samira said. "I'm worried about you."

James rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to catch a glimpse of the moon, but the thick, black clouds were blocking his view.

"I can feel him, Samira. The Master. I keep feeling his presence surrounding us, as if he's waiting for the right time or place to open attack again..."

"Knock on wood, Jiminy Cricket!"

Antonio, who'd overheard the conversation between James and Samira, gave James a pat – er, a rather firm pat - on the back.

Antonio's little "pat" on his back came in hard enough for James to stumble forward and nearly end up face-first in the grass. He still smiled at Antonio, however.

"Don't you worry, Jamey! We've taken on things from his hand before, and I'm sure we can do it again if we work together."

Bella had appeared beside Antonio, nodding vigorously. "Exactly," she said.

Thomas had his magical holographic map pulled out, as if he was about to show them something important. "All we need is a good strategy in which we work together... As if for the Master's energy you're feeling... We're getting close to his castle."

"He's got his own castle?" James said while looking at the map, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "Why does that sound like bad news to me?"

"Because it is bad news, James," Timothy said. He and Thomas had rushed to catch up with the rest of the group. "We need to get out of here as fast as we can."

"Why?" James asked. "I don't understand."

Timothy gave him a sceptical look. "Can you run five kilometres straight?" he said.

"...No?" James mumbled, unsettled by how Timothy had decided to avoid his question. "But you didn't answer my question. I asked why we need to get out of here all of a sudden," he demanded.

"Theoretically speaking, I did answer your question," Timothy corrected him. "But for further explanation: That castle is the core of all corruption. Within a five-kilometre radius from that castle, every single one of us is powerless, as the Master has no limitations to his power and control or whatsoever here." He looked at James, raising an eyebrow. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"No," James said, "this is far worse than what I wanted to hear... Or was hoping to."

"Well then, now you're prepared for the worst," Timothy said, with a creepy kind of confidence in his voice.

James looked at Thomas, who'd just appeared next to him. "Are we?" he said.

Thomas responded with a crooked grin and a shrug. "All we can do is to find out is to wait and see," he said. "If we aren't, then we'll be quick to find out."

James snorted. "Sounds very positive," he said.

"Indeed," Thomas said sarcastically. "It does."

"Hey," James suddenly said. "Where's Glimmer?"

"I sent her to pick up the other three Protectors," Timothy said. "Together with them, we'll be even stronger. That'll make us just a touch more prepared... I believe she'll come back soon."

If the Protectors still wanted to join the Bond of Light and protect them, they better had hurry.

The Master was waiting for them, barely a hundred metres away. He'd been expecting them; the Bond of Light was now close enough to his Castle for them to be defenceless against his power.

"They might have been lucky last time," Jason whispered to Sabrina, "but they won't be this time."

"They sure won't," Sabrina said, cracking her knuckles. "I'll call Master Asura as soon as they come near enough for the spell to be effective."

"How fast do you guys think Glimmer can fly?" Samira said. "I think she flies pretty fast."

"What do you mean?" Bella said, but realized what Samira had meant as soon as he looked up at the sky behind him.

It was not very clear, but a shining dragon, carrying two figures with glowing weaponry and one flying fairy beside her was approaching quickly in the sky.

"Look, it's them already! Hey, guys!" James shouted and waved at the dragon, but Thomas shut him up.

"Do you even realise where we are!?" Thomas hissed at James, who looked at him with guilt in his eyes.

"Sorry," James whispered back.

"Urgh!" Sabrina grunted; the teenager was hiding behind one of the dried-out bushes not far away from the Bond of Light. "You can't be serious! Did that curly-haired grunt seriously call them in now!?"

"Don't worry, Sabrina," a deep voice behind her said. It was the Master; he'd decided to join in on the party and check what was going on himself. "Even with nine of them, they will be no match for the three of us."

The Protectors had just got off Glimmer when they were greeted by the Bond of Light and Timothy.

"Timothy!" Gabriel said. "How's it going? It's been ages since we last spoke!"

"Yeah," Timothy said. "Like, nine centuries or so," he laughed.

Violina was greeted by the Bond of Light, and Antonio in special. "Violina!" he shouted.

"Antonio..." Violina said.

"I didn't expect to see you again," Antonio smiled.

"...Neither did I," Violina smiled back. "But... I'm here now!"

Meanwhile, James seemed to notice something else, as he and Thomas were greeting Madeleine.

"Madeleine?" James asked.

"What's the problem, James?" Madeleine said.

"I... hate to ask it, and I fear I might already be aware of the answer," James said. "But... Where's Rikki?"

An awkward silence fell over the teenagers greeting each other, and Gabriel's face turned into a frown instantly.

"She... didn't make it," he mumbled. "Sabrina killed her."

Samira gasped; Bella clasped her hands in front of her mouth. Antonio lowered his head, slowly shaking it.

"I... I'm so sorry," James said. "I shouldn't have asked."

Gabriel offered him a sad smile. "It's all right, James," he said. "You couldn't possibly have known."

"I'm sorry to break this up guys," Madeleine suddenly said, "but we haven't got time to hang around and do nothing! We've got to get going and end this all now!"

"Sure thing, boss!" James laughed, causing the others to laugh as well, before continuing on their journey.

Sadly, not for long.

"Are they within range?" the Master asked.

"Yes, Master," the two Cursed Spirits beside him replied.

"Good. Engage."

The Master, including his two helpers stepped out of their hiding place, a few metres away from being right in front of the Bond of Light and the Protectors.

"Oh God," Timothy said. "RUN! IT'S THE MASTER!"

But it was far too late to run. The Master raised his staff, with its orb glowing bright red. The ground started to shake, freezing everyone in their places.

Eyes flashed from the left to the right, gazes met. Everyone could feel what was happening; everyone knew they were done for.

And then it happened. The unexpected.

James tried to move his legs, but failed to do so. Upon gazing down at them, he noticed that they were slowly turning to stone, as were his arms.

The last he saw was the fate of his friends and companions; they were all turning to stone.  
What was the purpose of this? Would they end up here as statues forever? Or would they be put somewhere in the halls of the Master's castle, as a bunch of morbid trophies?

Or would something else happen?

Before James could process everything and go through any possible escapes, he could feel the nerves in his face stiffening quickly, leaving it only a matter of seconds before everything went black before his eyes.

*

"Urgh..."

Thomas was the first to regain consciousness, followed shortly by Gabriel, Violina and the others.

"Where are we?" he said. "It... looks like some kind of dungeon."

"I've been trapped inside this dungeon before," Timothy said. "It's the Master's dungeon."

He tried to move, but soon found out he couldn't move either of his limbs. "What the-?" he exclaimed, as he looked at the others and discovered their arms, legs and part of their torsos had sunk into the stone wall, as if stone could grow over objects.

"The statue curse," Madeleine said. "He used the statue curse to \- literally stick us to the wall... Looks like we're not going anywhere anytime soon."

"Can't Akilah take over your body and use her powers to free us?" Gabriel said.

"She can only do that if I'm free," Madeleine replied. "Right now, neither of us can do anything."

Madeleine's words stating that they were defenceless seemed to annoy Gabriel, as he let out a loud and overly exaggerated sigh. "Great."

"Hey, um... I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but we're missing a few people here," Antonio said.

Gabriel lowered his eyebrows. "What?" he said. "Where are James and Samira?"

"Glimmer is outside; she managed to fly away just before the attack commenced," Madeleine said. "But James and Samira..."

"They're locked away somewhere more... secure."

The expression in Madeleine's eyes twisted instantly at the sound of the Master's voice. She wanted to say something, but the Master shut her up with a single wave of his hand.

"Hush, milady," he said. "I promise I am not here to kill you... for now, that's Jason's job."

"That "for now" unsettles me, Asura," Gabriel said; the Master's eyes betrayed that he was offended by the teenager calling him by his first name.

"I was saying that for now, Jason has some problems he needs to solve regarding the three of you," he said, while gesturing at Gabriel, Timothy and Madeleine. "After that is settled, I will probably return you to your stone forms... to keep as trophies."

He smiled a vampire smile; the kind that sent chills down Thomas's spine. "Where are my friends!?" he yelled.

The Master turned toward him. "Safe," he said. "...But probably not for long. Don't worry; you'll get to reunite with them soon."

Then, focusing his attention on all captives, he said, "Now, I'll leave you with Jason. I'm sure he can take care of things on his own. I have business to attend to... I have two guests waiting for me upstairs."

Sabrina glanced around the room and grinned at Jason before leaving the dark room together with the Master. The heavy, wooden door shut with a slam.

"If you're here to kill us, you better get it over with quick," Antonio growled at Jason, who turned around to look at him; all of a sudden, the mark around his eye disappeared, together with the veins on his face and neck, and his eyes got their normal colour again.

"We've got no time to lose," he said, raising his staff and aiming for Madeleine. One spell, and her limbs turned back to flesh. The same happened for Gabriel and Timothy, but before Jason could turn around to free Antonio, Bella and Samira, Gabriel had lunged forward and tried to punch him.

"Calm down, man!" Jason said, simply pushing Gabriel backward with magical force. "I came here to save you, and this is how you thank me?"

"Save us?" Timothy said in disbelief. "After all that happened!?"

"Listen – I made mistakes, I know," Jason said, raising his palms in defence. "But my judgment had been clouded by the dark energy here. I had to obey that nightmarish man."

"I'm not buying this," Madeleine said. "You were very well aware what you were doing."

"I LOVED YOU, Madeleine!" Jason exclaimed angrily. "And I was jealous! Of COURSE I didn't know what I was doing! Honestly, I didn't! I swear," he defended himself. "Once you're under the effects of the Curse, it spreads slowly through your body. And as soon as the Curse is complete, you're lost. Once you're in, you can't get out." He paused for a short moment and swallowed. "I was about to be replaced anyway. The Master has felt the power in Innocence's abilities, and he wants to turn him."

Thomas and Bella gasped in shock in the background, but Jason ignored them.

"Please, Madeleine," he said. "That boy needs your help.

I know – I've done many bad things. You couldn't trust me back then, when darkness was all I could see... You know what the Master would do if he'd see me doing this? He'd kill me."

He started pacing around the room, his attention focused on Madeleine, Timothy and Gabriel.

"People can change, Madeleine. I want to turn my back to all of this, I want to run away. I don't want to be like this anymore."

Suddenly, Madeleine started moving along with him, so they ended up pacing in circles around the edges of the room.

"Nice try, Jason. But you seem to forget that you lied to us, mislead us, betrayed us. I don't believe you've changed."

Jason, obviously disagreeing with her, threw the same back at her. "You're wrong, Madeleine," he breathed. "I regret every choice I've made. All I wanted was for you to be safe."

The circle they were pacing in kept growing smaller as they continued and became more agitated. Madeleine, still not believing him, said, "But you never tried to save me. You fought me, engaged in battle with me. And that's why I killed you, Jason. You can't be trusted."

At last, Jason stopped walking; the mark around his eye, which he was desperately trying to keep from returning, was slowly starting to reappear. He looked at Madeleine with sad eyes. "Do you see this mark, Madeleine?" he said, his voice sounding genuinely sad. "It reminds me of that mistake every single day. And not a day goes by that I don't regret it."

And there they went again; pacing around in nervous circles; yet they were even smaller and faster now.

"I don't believe you, liar!" Madeleine snapped at him. "After all, once a liar you're always one."

Anger started to appear in both the teenagers' voices, trying to convince each other of their opinion.

"I CAN be good, Madeleine!" Jason roared. "And the only thing keeping you from seeing it is your own vanity!"

Jason stopped walking; now, his mark and the veins were fully back. He closed his eyes as he reached for the staff that had been hanging on his belt in wand-size.

"Fine, have it your way. I can't change, you say. I won't change, you say. Well, if you truly believe that...

Then Lord Asura has already won."

As he spoke the last sentence, he opened his eyes and fired a dangerous spell at Madeleine.

"Oh no, you DON'T!" Gabriel shouted and jumped forward, pushing Madeleine out of the curse's way.

The curse blasted into the dungeon wall, leaving a big, smoking hole.

Gabriel looked up at Jason. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND!?" he yelled.

Jason looked at him, fire in his eyes, teeth bared. "Yeah," he said. "Maybe I am."

Gabriel let out a roar as he jumped up and ran forward toward Jason, ready to throw a punch at him.

Sadly, Jason was quicker to draw out his staff and fired the same spell as before, right into Gabriel's stomach.

The spell didn't blow a hole in Gabriel's torso; but unfortunately, it was enough to kill him in an instant.

Gabriel's eyes went expressionless as he fell backward and landed on the ground with a thud.

Jason's eyes quickly shifted from the left to the right, right before he dissolved into smoke and disappeared.

Everyone stood still; as if time had stopped. Nobody said a word; all they could do was stare at a spot hardly a few centimetres away from the empty spot Jason had left...

The place where Gabriel's life had come to an end.

"GABRIEL!" Timothy suddenly shouted, as he fell to his knees and took his best friend's face in his hands.

But it was too late.

Gabriel's body dissolved into light as the two spirits living inside of it separated; the same light as Rikki's body had dissolved into after she'd died.

"No..." Timothy gasped hoarsely. "He didn't deserve this."

"Of course he didn't."

Apparently, Akilah had come in to rescue; she raised her arms and let Magic free the three Guardians and Violina from their stone prisons.

Thomas and Violina both wore a shocked expression; all Antonio and Bella showed was anger and hate.

"We must hurry," Akilah said. "If what Jason told us is true, we must find James and Samira before it's too late."

"But how?" Violina said. "We're trapped inside!"

With a single wave of her hand, Akilah unlocked the door. "Go," she said. "Timothy and I will be right behind you. Save your friend!"

She didn't have to tell them twice. The team ran off into the castle, to find James and Thomas.

But where were they supposed to look? Another problem that waited for them, just around the corner...

Cursed

James slowly regained consciousness, looking around the room. Where had he and Samira ended up? And where were their friends?

"Samira? Are you all right?" James asked; after quickly discovering his limbs and torso had become one with the walls; the same spell that had been cast on the others had been cast on James and Samira as well. He could see his sister nod at him from across the room.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," Samira said. "How about you?"

James nodded at her. "I'm fine too," he said. "I'm glad you're okay, sis."

"Of course I am," Samira smiled." I wonder where the others are?"

"The Master probably wanted us separated for a reason," James figured. "That can't mean any good."

"Who says it doesn't?" An icy voice said, causing James and Samira to turn their heads toward the room's entrance. The Master entered, followed by Sabrina, who wore a rather smug expression on her face, making James suspicious.

"Welcome, my honoured guests," the Master said. I welcome you to my humble home."

"I'd rather if you didn't," Samira said sarcastically. The Master glanced shortly at James, before turning toward Samira. To James, it felt as if the Master's glare gave him a headache. It caused him to feel a bit foggy, as if he was suffering from fatigue.

"You're a smart one, now aren't you, Guardian?" the Master asked Samira. "May I at least have the honours of knowing your names?"

"My name is Samira," Samira said. "His name is none of your business."

"Am I not allowed to know his name?" the Master suggested. "Let me guess; it's because he's your brother?"

Samira's pupils shifted in size. How could he know!? Oh... right... Sabrina had told him. That thought resulted in an eye-roll coming from the blonde teenager.

Suddenly, she felt her body make hard contact with the ground; the Master had released her.

Samira quickly got on all fours to see if James was all right, but James was still stuck to the wall.

"Let him go," Samira said. "I don't care what you want from me; let my brother go."

The Master crossed his arms. "Perhaps," he said. "I will let him go. Don't worry."

He started to pace around Samira in circles, keeping his eyes locked on the girl. "I sense great power in you, girl. In both of you. And you're wasting it."

"What power?" Samira said, while lowering an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? Or should I ask: What do you want?"

The Master stopped pacing around as soon as he stood in front of Samira, and stuck out his hand at her. "Join me."

Samira raised both her eyebrows in offence and reached out for her bow and arrow, but soon found out it wasn't there.

"You might as well be looking for... this," the Master grinned, showing Samira's bow and James's sword, which were hanging on a belt underneath the Master's cloak.

"Give those back," Samira said determinedly. "They don't belong to you."

"Of course not," the Master said. "If you join me, I'll return to you what is yours. But if you don't..." He glanced at James, who felt the same wave of fogginess as before.

"Samira, don't," James said hoarsely. "He's playing a trick on you."

Samira looked back at her brother. "I know," she mouthed. "Just trust me."

James' eyes widened in surprise. "What are you talking about!?" he mouthed back. "Samira - no."

Samira simply nodded before turning back toward the Master. "All right, Asura," she said. "What do you ask of me?"

The Master grinned. "If you join me, we can take over the rest of this world together. I can give you power you could never even imagine," he said. "Plus, your friends will enjoy full freedom... They can find a way home inside the Castle of the Spirits." He paused. "Unless you want to destroy them before they get there, of course. But if you foolishly refuse my offer, you and your friends will find nothing but death here."

Samira shortly looked to the side to see James freaking out and yelling at her not to do it, but ignored him. Instead, she stuck out her hand at the Master. "Deal."

"WHAT!?" James yelled. "SAMIRA, NO!"

"Very well, young Guardian," the Master said, ready to shake Samira's hand and seal the deal.

"Sir?" Sabrina said. "I'm sensing Ja-"

"-Son."

Halfway through Sabrina saying his name, Jason appeared between the Master and Samira, looking agitated and annoyed.

"I killed one of them, Master," he said. "The Protector that lived in the Twilight Forest. He engaged battle with me – he's dead."

"WHAT!?" James and Samira yelled out in offence.

"That wasn't part of the deal, Asura," Samira growled. "I'm sorry, but you said they'd leave unharmed."

"FOOL!" the Master nearly exploded while expressing his anger toward Jason. "I nearly had the girl turned to our side! WILLINGLY! What do you have to say for yourself!?"

"What I have to say," Jason said, surprisingly calm despite the Master's angry outburst, "is that I can fix this. Just watch."

And without further explanation, he reached for his staff and fired a spell at Samira, hitting her right in the chest.   
The spell had enough speed and power to send Samira flying to the back of the room, where she hit the wall right next to James, who stared at his sister in utter shock.

"SAMIRA!" James yelled. "SAMIRA!"

Hardly a few seconds after Samira had smacked against the wall, James felt a sudden pain rising up in his chest. He yelped out in pain. The Master glaring at him was the last thing he saw before fainting.

All of a sudden, Samira's limbs started to jerk. Her back curled upwards in pain; then, she stopped moving just as fast as she'd started to.

She slowly started to rise on all fours; standing up, with her eyes shut tight.

"See?" Jason said, pride resounding in his voice. "Now she's on our side anyway, Master."

The Master didn't seem too impressed. "You shouldn't have done that," he said. "Your Curses aren't strong enough to last. But... She might just be useful, for now."

Shortly after the Master had finished his sentence, the room's door blasted open and the Bond of Light and Protectors came barging in.

The Master stayed surprisingly calm, despite the hostile position the teenagers standing in front of him had taken toward him.

Sabrina and Jason, however, didn't manage to stay as calm. They'd drawn their weapons, but the Master gestured at them to lower their defences. "This is not our fight," he said. "We can test out our new asset to take care of this one for us instead."

He reached for the belt underneath his cloak, took the sword and threw it at Samira, who skilfully caught it. The sword's golden glow immediately reverted to black smoke.

"You know what to do, Samira," the Master said. "Destroy them."

Then, both the Master and his "guard dogs" dissolved into black smoke, leaving the Bond of Light alone in the room with Samira.

Samira slowly walked toward the Bond of Light and the Protectors, while opening her eyes for the first time since she got back on his feet.

As soon as her friends caught a glimpse of her red, glowing eyes, they gasped in horror.

"Oh, no..." Thomas whispered, and Bella whimpered silently.

Akilah, however, didn't seem too impressed. It was more as if she sensed something as soon as she'd laid an eye on Samira's eyes.

"She's not cursed," she said. "It's just a weak substitute. This wasn't done by the Master; I can revert this with the right spell."

"How?" Antonio shouted, slightly panicked and freaked out. "We're not going to have to fight him, are we?"

"Yes," Samira growled. Her voice didn't sound the same; it had gained something twisted which didn't belong in her own voice. "You are."

And, without anticipating any possible following reactions, she attacked Antonio, who blocked his attack with the silver Light Sceptre he still had, as it was the only object strong enough to block the teenager's attack, as the glaive's wooden stele would break instantly.

The Sceptre hadn't exactly ever been quite of use; Antonio had never even mentioned he had it in his possession, since he viewed it as an useless piece of silver.

"Great! And what are we going to do about this!?" Antonio shouted at Madeleine, both demanding and irritated.

"Antonio, Timothy, Bella, you keep him busy!" Akilah ordered. "Violina, Thomas, go see if James is okay. Madeleine, you can help me channel my power to create a reverse spell!"

And she wouldn't have had to tell them twice. Bella had engaged a knife-to-sword battle with Samira to keep her attention away from Antonio, but the blonde-haired girl quickly got bored and moved on to Timothy. Meanwhile, Thomas and Violina were checking up on James, while seeking for any possible spells or injuries that had been inflicted on him.

After a while, Samira had apparently gotten tired of fighting Timothy and turned her attention toward Antonio again. To Antonio's surprise, Samira handed James' sword to him; Samira had retrieved one of Timothy's katanas in their fight.

"It's time for a real fight," Samira said, but Antonio could beg to differ.

"No," Antonio said. "I refuse to fight you. This isn't you, Samira. You've been cursed."

Samira raised her eyebrows in amusement and grinned widely. "Who knows?"

Antonio's eyes flashed toward Akilah, Madeleine and Timothy, who stuck up his thumbs at him, letting him know everything was set and they were ready to go.

"Come on, Sassy," Antonio said. "Snap out of it." Samira didn't know, but Antonio could see Madeleine sneaking up behind Samira, preparing to cast the spell on him.

"I've had enough of all this standing around," Samira growled, clearly irritated. "Come on, Guardian! Be a man and FIGHT ME!"

Samira lunged forward, just at the right moment to be hit by Akilah's spell. It engulfed the teenage girl completely, pulling something out of her. Whatever it was, it looked like black smoke.

As soon as the light had pulled the black smoke out of Samira's chest, the light engulfed the smoke, shattering into thousands of small pieces and disappearing.

The spell had worked; Samira had been freed.

Samira just stood there, staring at nothing, panting heavily.

"Wha- what just happened?" she stammered, then he noticed James, who was still passed out and hanging "in" the wall. "James!" Samira shouted. "Is he okay?"

"Yes, he is, fortunately," Violina said. "But neither Thomas nor I can tell whether the Master has done something to him or not."

Samira swallowed. "We need to get out of here. Now."

"How?" Thomas said. "He's going to come after us for sure... We'll be lucky if we're even able to make it out of the castle."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you'll make it out of the castle just fine."

All eight teens – well, except for those of them who were already facing him – turned around to face the Master. "I must congratulate you all; I'm very impressed with your skills. I didn't expect you to be able to pull this off... That's why I'm allowing you to leave now."

Timothy took a defensive and unbelieving stance. "You're... kidding, right?" he said. "I don't think you're planning on letting us go at all. This is just some plot to get us killed."

The Master raised his palms in defence and smiled in a creepy, seemingly sincere way. "Calm down, young boy," he said. "I swear you're free to go. Look."

With a wave of his hand, he released James; Violina and Thomas caught him before he hit the ground.

"Go ahead; leave. The door's open; I've ordered all my men to leave you be until you've gone more than five kilometres away from my castle."

"But that means we'd be nearly at the Castle of Spirits when they're allowed to attack again," Bella said. "Seems suspicious."

The Master didn't respond. And though they didn't trust him, the Bond of Light took their chance and left anyway, taking advantage of the given opportunity. Antonio, Timothy and Samira did throw the Master a dirty look as they passed him, but nothing happened.

They left the castle safely, just as the Master had promised them they would. Nothing seemed strange; save the fact that the man who had sworn to find them and destroy them had just let his chance slip by.

Or was it all part of the Master's plan after all, and had they all walked straight into it with their eyes wide open?
We All have a Dark Side

The Bond of Light had made it out of the Master's castle safely; now all there was left to do was to get to the Castle of Spirits safely.

"Don't you think we should be in more of a rush?" Thomas said, as he made sure James was still lying safely on top of Glimmer's back, who'd been waiting for them just outside the castle.

"If Asura keeps his promise, no," Madeleine said.

"And you expect him to do so?" Thomas said sceptically. Madeleine shrugged, unsure of what to say.

"It's possible that he will, you know. The Master might be a man of deception, but he's probably trying to get some fun out of this. He won't capture or kill us this easily."

Thomas crossed his arms. "Fine, then," he said. "But we've got to keep moving."

"I agree," Samira said. "The sooner we get this over with, the faster we can get back home."

Without wasting any more time, they went on. The others now had come to realize they were running out of time as well; the Master had officially opened the hunt and put a bounty on their heads.

All they could do was hope that the Master would keep his word; if they were to be left alone until they were more than five kilometres away from the Master's castle, they would be as good as inside the Castle of Spirits.

As the Bond of Light was still more or less convinced of their safety, they stopped walking after a while to rest and talk about everything that had happened that day.

"I just can't believe Gabriel risked his life for us like that," Timothy said, as they sat around the fire. "Again."

"He has always been a brave warrior, Timothy," Madeleine said, putting a hand on Timothy's shoulder. "He wanted us to be able to keep going."

Timothy smiled. "Well... let's make sure that his sacrifice does not go to waste." Pause. "After all, after all of this is over, we'll be set free to rest in peace, too."

"What do you mean?" Bella said. "Won't they still need you guys around here?"

"Of course not," Madeleine laughed. "We were only here to guide the Bond of Light as good as we could, until one Generation would rise and succeed into performing the Ritual," she said. "Once you succeed, we will be relieved from duty, as the Light Spirits will separate from our souls."

"Whoa," Antonio said. "That is deep stuff."

"Yeah," Timothy said. "Tomorrow we'll go to the Castle and finish this all... as long as the Master doesn't stand in our way."

"Of course he will," Madeleine said, resting her worried gaze on James, who seemed peacefully asleep. "He already is."

"What's the matter, Madeleine?" Violina asked. "Do... you feel anything?"

"I felt it when I looked at him back in the castle," Madeleine replied. "I'm afraid the Master has managed to curse him."

Thomas lowered his eyebrows. "What does that mean?" he said.

Timothy got up and walked to James, searching the leather bag that had been put beside him.

"You can read in here what that means," he said, tossing Thomas "A Guardian's Guide to the Light".  
Thomas caught the book and flipped through it, until he found the pages called "Cursed Spirits". His eyes widened in surprise as he read what Timothy had written and clasped a hand before his mouth. "Er... Is there a way to cure this?"

"Not without light," Madeleine said. "Unless I've got power from the moon to help me, the Master's spell will be too powerful for any of us to remove it." She paused. "But then again, the moon will..."

She didn't get to finish her sentence, as Thomas had expected she'd already finished and had already started talking. "I'll find a way to get the moon out so we can cure him," he said.

"You should all go to sleep, or at least get some rest. I'll switch when I get tired."

The others went to bed without arguing with him, as they knew it would be no use.

Thomas stayed up all night, reading through the entire book, trying to find a solution. Any kind of light source close enough to the moon would do for him. Unfortunately enough, he didn't find anything to solve his problem except for Antonio's Sceptre... But as he was yet to receive his Guardian's Totem, the Sceptre had very limited power. Using it to cure James would probably not succeed.

But it was always worth a try. With that mindset, Thomas woke Timothy up to take over watch and went to sleep.

The night was short. Despite the fact that morning didn't bring much light into the Land of Void, it was enough to help them see through the dark.

The biggest surprise of the morning was probably James waking up. He was able to walk, but failed in recognizing or communicating with any of his friends. His pupils had grown to the size of his irises; yet they still didn't seem to be able to see anything.

"This is the second stage," Madeleine said. "We- we can try to wake him out of it. After the third stage commences, it's certain we won't be able to help him... That's why we'll have to do it now, if we want to have any chances at succeeding."

"Please try," Antonio said. "It's less fun without him around... What do you need?"

"All I need is Samira and Violina's aid," Madeleine replied. "Together, our powers might just be strong enough to bring James back."

Samira and Violina joined her quickly; Thomas and Bella brought James to them.

"All right, on my mark," Madeleine said. "There is no specific spell for this – just think about James and what you remember of him.

"Akilah, don't let him down," she added underneath her breath.

But unfortunately, even all three their powers weren't strong enough to return James' soul in charge; the Master's spell was too strong, as Madeleine had already predicted.

Thomas let out a sigh as he saw the spell hadn't had any effect; he was slightly discouraged, but knew that they weren't to give up hope until night-time arrived. He'd discussed the plan with Antonio, who'd agreed to work along, despite not knowing whether the sceptre would work on the clouds hanging over the Land of Void or not.

Since the spell didn't work, there was nothing left for the Bond of Light and Protectors to do but to keep moving and getting to the castle.

After they'd made the five kilometres away from the Master's Castle, there were less than two kilometres left to cross to get there; it would not be much trouble to get there, unless the Master would reopen attack as soon as they crossed the five-kilometre line.

Without any further ado, they could possibly reach the castle within less than two to three hours; not that exact time mattered. The only real problem was that everyone had been so worn down by the events of the past few days, that moving quickly wasn't really that easy anymore.

"Antonio," Thomas whispered. "I think now's a good time to give it a shot."

Antonio nodded at Thomas. "Gotcha," he said. He took his sceptre from his belt, concentrating on raising the moon and clearing the sky as hard as he could.

"MADELEINE!" Thomas yelled. "We're finally going to see the Guardian of Night and Day in action; Antonio's going to raise the moon so you can cast your spell!"

Madeleine turned around in shock. "What!? NO!" she yelled. "DON'T! A FULL MOON TRIGGERS THE THIRD STAGE!"

"Antonio, WAIT!" Samira yelled, but it had already happened. Antonio laughed happily as he saw the sun going down, getting replaced by the moon as the sky cleared slightly.

At the same time, James' body started to tremble.

Samira stared at her brother in horror. This couldn't be happening. She'd caused this, because she'd refused to listen. It was her fault that James was now transforming into a ...monster.

Something purely evil, with no free will or whatsoever at all.

Everyone got the same idea to take a step or two away from James as the trembling got worse and started to breathe heavily. The stones on his cape and the glowing pattern on his clothing started to get a bright red glow instead of their usual turquoise colour. Samira let out a scream of horror as black smoke started to surround the boy, leaving him yelping out in pain.

As the smoke died out, so did all noise. Even background noises seemed to have been sucked out of the air.

And the look in James' eyes when he opened them was enough to unleash fear inside of everyone – even inside of Thomas.

"Why, hello, my fellow Guardians," an evil and twisted version of James' voice said. "It's such a pleasure to meet you."

Nobody said anything in response. They probably weren't able to, or didn't want to.

James looked up at the moon and grinned; with a wave of his hand, the clouds drove back in front of it, making the place where they were standing nearly pitch black; James looked even scarier with his red, glowing eyes and glowing red clothing. "So, which one of you dumb-nuts did that?" he said, referring at the rising of the moon during the middle of the day. James looked at Antonio, then at his sceptre and pointed at it. "You?" he said. "Well, congratulations! You'll be the one I'll take down first!"

James lunged forward at Antonio, attacking him with his sword; but Antonio's reflexes were fast enough to block James' attack with his silver sceptre. "Come on, dude! This is nuts! First, your sister gets turned over to the Dark Side, and now you! This has got to end!"

"Yes, indeed it does," James replied, bashing his sword against Antonio's sceptre multiple times, trying to break Antonio's defence. "Why don't we end it right here, right now!"

Antonio's eyes flashed toward the others behind James. "Help me!" he mouthed.

Luckily, his friends didn't take too long before they snapped out of their mind-numbness and ran forward to help Antonio. Thomas used a smooth, quick move to cause James to drop his sword, but they all seemed to have forgot one important thing about James \- his Magic.   
Black fog formed thick, strong ropes around Timothy's limbs; the same happened to Samira, Madeleine, Bella and Violina. But for some reason, he forgot to tie Thomas as well. Was it because he still had a hunger for a good fight?

Probably.

"You're no match for me," James hissed. "None of you are."

While he'd been so focused on the others, James hadn't paid too much attention to the two enemies he had left on the loose behind him – Antonio and Thomas.

James summoned his sword, and turned around. "Now," he said, "let's dance."

He attacked Thomas, who skilfully blocked the attack and stood his ground fighting back. "Stop it, James," he said. "I'm serious. This is madness!"

"You're right," James said, while lashing out at Thomas violently. They had always trained together; his father's fencing lessons, Gabriel's advanced fighting lessons; they were equal. The only thing that seemed to make James stronger was his hate, which fuelled his magical abilities.

But James had forgot one thing; Antonio was still there. He snuck up on the two sword fighting teenagers, and threw himself around James's legs when he saw the opportunity to. James fell, dropping his sword in the progress.

He quickly got on all fours, wanting to summon his sword, but was stopped by Thomas, who pulled him against his chest, holding his sword against James's throat.  
"One move," Thomas whispered, "and you're done. Also, don't even think about using that dissolving trick, because..." He simply moved one of the blades a little lower, toward the stones around the pin holding James' cape together. "You can't."

Antonio appeared in front of James with a smug grin. "You might have transferred some kind of different soul into my friend," he said, "that has made him become twisted and evil, but you're still inside the same body. And if I know James well..." He paused for a second to lift up his sceptre and hit James against the temple with it, knocking him out. "...I believe to remember that he was easy to knock out!"

Thomas carefully let James slide to the ground. He laid there, silently and immobile, on the hard, soil ground.

"Well, that should take care of him for now," Antonio sighed and nodded at Timothy.   
Timothy nodded back at him. "Now let's free the others and see if Madeleine can still fix this."
Castle Clash

Timothy and Antonio were quick to untie their friends, who all then attended to James, who was still laying knock-out on the ground.  
"So, what are we going to do with him now?" Samira said. "As soon as he comes to, he'll be right back on that killing spree the Master has sent him on again."

Madeleine knelt down beside James and examined him. "Akilah spoke to me inside my head," she said, while putting a hand on the stone that rested on his chest; it was still glowing red, but it's glow had slightly weakened. "She spoke of the Soul Separation Spell, suggesting to use it on James."

"And... does that spell do what I think it does?" Bella said, but from the faces of his friends, he quickly found out he'd just been stating the obvious.

"It separates one soul from another, yes," Madeleine said, raising an eyebrow. "It's the reverse version of the spell Akilah used to combine the souls of the Spirits of Light with ours. It's tricky... And I'll need that sceptre of you, Antonio."

"But I've used all of its power!" Antonio said. "There's nothing left."

Madeleine smiled as she stood up, looking at him. "I can take care of that."

She folded her hands together, and all of a sudden, Akilah appeared beside her.

Silver and golden sparkles surrounded Antonio as he got lifted a few centimetres off the ground, leaving his friends gasping in awe while Akilah spoke.

"Antonio Bellucci, you have shown incredible willpower against your anger issues and aggression by not fighting either of your friends.

For this, you are rewarded with your Guardian's Totem; Willpower.

This unlocks your Sceptre of Light. You could use it before, but back then it had limited power. Now, it will give you full control over the Light.

Use it wisely, just as you used your willpower."

"Whoa," Antonio gasped as he got back on the ground. "I... feel... stronger," he said "Stronger than I've ever felt before."

"Because you've overcome your fear, Antonio!" Bella laughed. "You were always afraid to actually hurt us because of your anger, but now you know how to control it! You did it, buddy!"

Antonio turned his head to look aside, where Bella was standing. "Yeah," he said, grinning broadly. "I did it. You're right, Bella."

"Antonio, we're so proud of you!" Samira smiled and started to applaud, in which the others joined quickly. However, the applause was short; they had a short moment to feel happy and proud of something, but time was running out, and James still needed their help.

"There's no time to lose," Madeleine said. "Antonio, make sure that moon gets out here! Violina, Samira, join me while casting the spell. It goes pretty much the same as what we tried last time; focus on all the good things inside James. If we're with the three of us, it will speed up the process and enlarge our chances of success."

Samira, Violina and Madeleine gathered in front of James, at his feet. They waited for Antonio to use the sceptre and clear the sky; the only preparation necessary for this spell.

"Ready?" Madeleine said. "Remember the spell! Now, CAST!"

Concentrating as hard as they could, Violina, Samira and Madeleine each cast the spell. "Separanimo!" they shouted; the effect was instantly visible on James.

He was still unconscious, lying on his back; after the girls had cast the spell, he was lifted off the ground, and a mix of a red and blue glowing light was drawn from the stone on his chest and the pattern on his clothing. They twisted and swirled, until finally splitting apart into that same, black fog as with Thomas before, and a bright, white light.

The light went back inside the stone that rested on James' chest as his body was lowered back onto the ground, while the fog disappeared into the sky.

As soon as the light of James's soul had returned to its rightful owner, he started to cough. Samira rushed toward James to help him.

"Are you okay?" she said, helping her little brother to sit and eventually stand up.

"Y-yeah," James replied. His voice sounded slightly shaky and he had to lean on Samira with pretty much all of his weight, but at least he was okay.

Samira grabbed her brother's shoulders, turned him so that they were be facing each other, and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug.

"I'm so sorry, James," Samira whispered. "I'm so terribly sorry."

"What are you talking about?" James whispered back. "I don't understand."

"Never mind," Samira whispered as they pulled out of the hug. "It doesn't matter."

It wasn't until they'd let go of each other, until the two boys noticed their friends standing around them, with both unbelieving looks and smiles.

"Group hug!" James shouted, and his friends laughed agreeing as they hugged each other; with James and Thomas in the middle.

As the group hug dismembered, James suddenly noticed something odd about his surroundings. "Say," he said, "how come we're not inside the Nightmare Castle anymore?"

"He... just... let us go," Bella said. James raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean, he just let us go?" he said, sounding more or less unconvinced. "That doesn't seem like the Master at all."

Timothy shrugged. "Do you think we believed him at first?" he said. "We didn't. But he kept admitting defeat and insisting he should let us go."

"Without any consequences at all?" James said, rubbing a hand against his lips. "Huh. Odd."

"He probably let us go because he was convinced you'd take care of us," Samira said. "He'd cursed you, James."

"You mean like Sabrina?" James said, grimacing. "Ouch. Sorry guys."

"Nah," Antonio laughed. "You weren't that much of a pain in the butt... To be honest, we had you knocked out quite easily."

James grinned. "You sure about that, big guy?" he said. "By the way, nice fairy wand you've got there."

Antonio rolled his eyes. "Haw, haw. Shouldn't we keep going?"

"Sure," James said. "But honestly. I prefer calling it "finding out how the Master wants to kill us this time"," he snickered, receiving a smack on the back of his head from Thomas as they proceeded on their final quest.

*

"So... they managed to cure him. They're clever children. That, I cannot deny."

The Master was sitting on his throne once again, shrouded in darkness, while closely watching or examining a vision of the Bond of Light and the Protectors, which was floating in mid-air, right in front of him.

"Jason! Sabrina!" he called.

His two loyal servants came in straight after hearing their names, and knelt in front of their master's throne.

"You called us, my Master?" Sabrina said.

"I did, Sabrina. Indeed," the Master said, still looking at the vision floating in front of him.

A group hug. How... adorable.

"I called you in, because I believe it's time for us to execute the Castle Clash," he said. "And I want you two in charge of it."

Jason smiled; clearly proud of the fact that his master was showing faith in him to lead an operation, but didn't manage to gather the courage look up. "I am truly honoured, my Master," he said. "We'll make sure there's no need for you to get your hands dirty; their numbers are declining every time we fight them. I'm sure we can eliminate them all before they can complete the Ritual."

"I have no doubt in your abilities," the Master said. "I'll watch everything closely from a distance. When I, and only I think all else we have in store will fail, I'll come help you to make sure it won't."

He rose up from his throne, spreading his arms forward toward the door. "Now, go, lead your troops to the castle! Make sure those Guardians are soon-to-be history!"

Jason and Sabrina nodded at their master as they stood up and left, shutting the heavy throne room doors behind them, leaving the Master alone to watch his vision of the Guardians in peace.

As he watched them travel while laughing and talking, something resembling anger and hate boiled up inside him. They were foolish teenagers, and that's all they'd ever be. They were no match for him or his power; they'd be crushed as if they were annoying bugs underneath his boot.

"It's about time someone put a stop to their shenanigans once and for all; and I believe that I'm the best possible man on the job."

Although the Master wasn't fond of showing his emotions, he could clearly feel the frustration boiling inside of him, making it hard for him to stay calm.  
He should've taken more risks; he should've gone out into the lighter Realms of Lunaria to take these children out himself. The forces he'd set up in these Realms to do it for him clearly weren't competent enough to do so.

But there was nothing left to do about it now. He'd have to count on his two most loyal servants; only if they failed, he'd have to solve the problem himself.  
After all, how hard could it possibly be to take out just one of them? If they were with four, they wouldn't be able to complete the ritual.

They were with only eight left. The Shadow Walkers and Evil Spirits were now stronger than ever; they could be outnumbered easily. It'd be an easy job... if done right.  
And doing it right was what seemed to be the problem with his servants. But soon they'd learn; they would teach those pesky Guardians a lesson.

*

It was the last walk to the Castle of Light. The Bond of Light and their Protectors were almost there.

There hadn't been much talking since their "victory" on James's and Antonio's behalf, but James still felt the need to settle things out.

"Hey, Samira?" he said, while they were walking behind the group. "About what you said earlier today..."

"Yes, James?" Samira replied. "What's the matter?"

"I just wanted to say I understand now," James said with a smile. "I mean- I understand why you apologized... But in reality, the only one who owes anyone an apology is me. I'm sorry, Samira."

Samira lowered an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean? Why should you apologize?"

"It's just-" James said, lowering his eyes to the ground in shame. "You saved me so many times in the past few weeks and all I did for you in return was being an ungrateful brat. I'm sorry I acted that way."

Samira smiled at him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay," she said. "You've been under a lot of pressure. We all have... I can understand."

"Really?" James said hopefully.

"Really."

James looked forward into the distance, and suddenly noticed something. "Are you all blind or something? Why didn't you guys say anything? We're here!"

Nobody had noticed until James did. The Castle of Spirits was right there in front of them!

"We- we're at the castle already!" Thomas gasped. "But-

"Maybe it's a trap... The Master's minions should've shown up by now, don't you think?"

"Don't you get worried now, bro! I've got your back!" Samira shouted laughing and jumped on her brother's back.  
James found himself surprised by her sister's weight, yet laughed while quickly clamping his hands around Samira's legs to prevent her from falling off.

"We're going to finish this once and for all, guys!" James shouted, while toward the castle with his older sister on his back. "It all ends today!"

Thomas shrugged, smiled and ran after them, followed by Antonio and Bella.

The Protectors followed them shortly, also with wide grins on their faces, despite being more careful and aware of any possible attacks.  
Things were about to get tricky now.

There wasn't much left of the castle; most of it had worn down over the years at the influence of the darkness and evil it'd been surrounded by. But luckily, the Ritual Chamber was mostly still intact.

"It's so... huge in here," Samira said, as they walked into the Ritual Chamber.

"ECHO!" Antonio shouted; his voice resounded all the way to the tall ceiling and back.

"SHH!" Timothy hushed. "Be quiet! We don't know who or what is hiding in here. Be careful."

"Yeah, yeah," Antonio grunted. "Sure thing, Captain Sparkles." That last comment made Timothy's head turn fiercely, throwing Antonio an angry, squinted-eyed look.

Antonio still didn't seem very impressed, though.

"It's beautiful in here," Samira said, while gently stroking her hand across a marble banister.

"Despite it's been in decay for years... It still has some of its previous beauty."

"Yeah," Madeleine said, watching the ceiling with her hands on her hips. "When I entered this place for the first time, it looked less broken-down, though. It's sad."

"Don't worry. You can consider this as your last visit."

The eight teenagers turned around in a flash, finding themselves surrounded by Warlock Spirits, Shadow Walkers, and Sabrina and Jason.

"Welcome, Guardians, to the big finish of it all," Jason said triumphantly. "As you can clearly see, our Master has sent us out here to finish you off. We're stronger than ever... Give up now or meet the consequences."

James scanned the crowd; the Spirits looked like demons, nothing like the Warlocks in their dark, purple robes. And the Shadow Walkers, which usually represented wild animals... Well, they looked like a mix of beasts. A few of them looked like... A dragon mixed with a wolf, perhaps? All in all, they looked, in one word, plain terrifying.

This would not be an easy fight. But they had to try.

"You know what, Jason?" Timothy breathed, before roaring his next sentence out loud. "I'd rather die than give up on this world!"

Jason's face remained expressionless. "Then so be it," he said. One move of his hand was enough to let his army know that it was time to attack.

They stormed forward all at once, but the Guardians stood their ground. Underneath a cloud of thick, back fog, the battle was heavy and deadly.

Clothing was torn apart, flesh was gutted, and blood was spilt. But nobody gave up fighting. Ever.

Samira kept shooting arrows until she ran out, and then continued to rip Warlock Spirits apart with two of Bella's daggers

James and Thomas stood their ground with their swords, while Timothy swung his katanas around.

Even Violina managed to bring up enough power to shoot powerful blasts of light at the Shadow Walkers, which caused them to dissolve almost instantly as they were hit.

But Antonio had the best idea out of everyone. The Ritual Chamber's ceiling was made of glass, so the energy beams from the altar could spread through Lunaria more easily. All Antonio would have to do was help the sun to rise a bit faster.

As he brought himself to safety, Antonio lifted up his sceptre, slowly clearing the sky above the Chamber and raising the sun, allowing its rays to shine over the Ritual Chamber.

There was nowhere to hide. The light was disastrous for the Evil Spirits and Shadow Walkers; Sabrina and Jason were able to stand in the light due to their mortal bodies offering them protection, but their army, which consisted entirely of shadows and black fog, dissolved almost instantly.

"Game, set and match," Antonio laughed, as he watched the evil army disappear in front of his eyes.

Jason, however, wasn't too happy. He stormed forward toward Antonio, yelling in anger.

"You Guardians keep messing everything up! It's about time one of you paid for all you've done to me!"

He lifted up his sceptre, transforming the orb in the front into a sharp blade. But just as he jumped into the air, ready to stab Antonio, who'd defensively raised his sceptre in front of his chest to block the blade, Timothy jumped in between the two, stabbing Jason in the chest.

...While, unfortunately, also getting Jason's blade between his ribs, piercing his left lung and probably a part of his heart. The blade hit him with enough force to end up sticking out at the back; the teenagers who'd been spectating the event, pulled faces of horror as they saw what was happening.

The two dissolved before they even hit the ground. Jason into black fog, Timothy into light.

They'd killed each other.

Everything went silent, as both the Bond of Light and Sabrina stared silently at the spot where Timothy and Jason had just disappeared.  
"No," Madeleine mouthed, as tears streamed down her cheeks. "No."  
Sabrina didn't seem to be able to comprehend what just happened. She had a confused look on her face, as if she was questioning herself and her own choices.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, before fainting from what seemed to be exhaustion – or something else.

"Life is but a dream to the dead," Antonio said. "After all, how often do we get a second chance?"

He decided to ignore the confused look Bella gave him, who seemed to have heard him.

The Ritual

Some time passed. Nobody knew how much time; all they knew was that everyone was still tired from the battle. Samira had been able to heal a lot of the wounds the enemy had inflicted; the deeper cuts had been reduced to scabs.

A decision had to be made; they could either just sit there and wait for the Master to show up and finish them off, or complete the Ritual now, while they had the time to do so.

Except... there were certain things about the Ritual that were different from what Madeleine had told the Bond of Light when they first arrived in Lunaria; the biggest difference was that there were five altars instead of just two. Three low ones and two high ones; one for each Guardian.

"So, before you begin, there are some things I haven't told you yet," Madeleine said. "I wanted to wait telling you this until we got here. The five of you need to get the Ritual started together." She gestured at the three slightly lower altars below the high ones while talking. "As soon as you've fulfilled your part, you'll know by getting awakened from the trance the Ritual will bring you in. The same thing goes for you, James and Thomas," she said, shifting her attention to James and Thomas in specific.

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 itself 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.

Madeleine and Sabrina followed her.

"So I guess it's safe to assume that you two have taken care of Asura?" Akilah said.

"Yes," Madeleine said. "We locked up his mortal body somewhere he'll never be able to reach. Although I still have my reasons to believe he escaped somehow."

"It's possible," Sabrina said; she quickly grabbed her forehead as she staggered. "But then again..."

She staggered again, coming dangerously close to losing her balance, but was caught by Madeleine before she fell.

"Sabrina, what's wrong with you? Are you all right?" Madeleine said worriedly.

Sabrina smiled at her; Madeleine didn't know what was going on, but Sabrina did.

"It's all right," she said. "It's a foolproof system, Maddy. He resurrected me... So if the Master dies, so do I. And, since I am dying right now... He must be, too."

Madeleine started to sob as tears streamed down her face. "No," she said hoarsely. "I- I just got you back. You can't leave now! I won't let him take you from me again!"

Sabrina grabbed her best friend's shoulders. "It's okay," she said. "After all... We'll see each other again soon, right?"

Madeleine sniffed. "Promise?" she blurted

Sabrina nodded, offering Madeleine a smile. "Promise."

A hug followed. They finally were able to look each other in the eye and hug after having been enemies for over a thousand years. Everything was all right.

They were all right.

Sabrina and Madeleine didn't let go of each other; not even when Sabrina dissolved into light, leaving Madeleine behind with empty arms, hugging nothing but air.

"It's always hard to lose a loved one," Akilah said, laying a comforting hand on Madeleine, who sank down to the ground, sobbing. "Especially if you just got the chance to reunite with them."

*

It felt as if they waited for hours for the Magic to work. Thomas just simply sat beside James with his head in his hands, completely silent. The others were trying their best not to cry; Samira had buried her face in Violina's chest, who was trying to comfort her by telling her everything was going to be all right.

They just waited for something to happen.

And then it did.

The pattern on James' clothes as well as the topazes on the Golden Wing lit up bright blue; they started spouting sparkles shortly after, drawing everyone's attention. The sparkles were with enough to fill the entire Ritual Chamber; as they came down, they healed every wound they touched.

And they did the same with James.

James shot upright, coughing loudly; only to find his friends staring at him in unbelief for a second.

But the eyes that caught his most were Samira's.

"J... James?" Samira whispered, before letting out a laugh.

"JAMES!" she shouted, flinging her arms around James' neck.

And for the first time in a very long time, Samira cried. Tears of joy.

"I thought I'd never see you again," she whispered, sobbing loudly.

"It's okay, Samira," James whispered back. "I'm here now."

They just sat there for minutes, surrounded by nothing but the sparkles of Magic and utter silence, which would only be interrupted by silent sobs. All they wanted was to hold each other.

Even their friends, who were overflowing with joy, had the respect to let the two siblings reunite.

But as soon as they let go of each other, James was whisked away by them, cheering, laughing, and crying.

They'd done it. They saved the world.

After they'd calmed down again, Akilah and Madeleine approached the six friends – of course, Violina was still there.

"Well done, Guardians," Madeleine smiled. "You did it."

"Thank you for freeing our world," Akilah said. "We are forever in your debt."

"It's nothing," James joked. "Really."

"If I may be so bold..." Samira said. "Who want to go home and tell our parents we're not dead!?"

"We do!" Bella and the boys cheered simultaneously. They could finally go home; everything was over, and their lives would soon be normal once again.

And, the best of all was that they wouldn't miss a minute of their Christmas break – it was only halfway through November, after all.

"Of course you want to go home," Madeleine said. "Why wouldn't you?"

She then turned to Akilah. "And, to be honest... so do I."

Akilah nodded at here. "Your friends were already waiting for you to join them."

A white light engulfed Madeleine shortly, causing her to turn see-through. The light engulfed Akilah shortly as well, making her whole once again.

"James, Guardians... Once again, thank you so much for what you've gone for this world," Madeleine said, as she joined her friends, who were in the same, see-through state as she was. Gabriel. Sabrina. Timothy. Rikki. They were all there. The original Guardians, Keepers of Light. There was no more need for them to be around.

"Goodbye, guys," Rikki said.

"See you again sometime," Gabriel added.

"Let's hope not, okay?" James joked. His friends nodded agreeing, and waved at the spirits who'd become their friends, as they said the rhyme which seemed to set them free.

"The Darkness is gone, the Light has returned

Back is the peace for which we yearned

Lunaria has been freed,

and so are the Keepers they no longer need"

The Bond of Light, together with Violina and Akilah, watched as they disappeared; finally free to rest in peace.

"And now you guys," Violina said. "It's been an honour to fight by your side."

"Same to you," Antonio grinned. Violina giggled.

"I believe you are ready to leave," Akilah smiled. "However, before you leave, there is one last thing I need to say. Hide that book. Don't ever read it again; it's an object generated by strong Magic. It's known to change according to the timeline, rewriting itself after each Generation has died. Which means this book will last forever, and it's dangerous to anyone who reads it, as I don't know what effect the Magic will have on them."

"Can't we just destroy it, then?" Antonio said. "That takes out all risks of anyone reading it ever again."

"If you destroy the book, it will spread the Magic contained inside all over Earth," Akilah warned him. "You don't want to know what'll happen then."

Antonio nodded. "No destroying. Got it."

"Just hide it somewhere where no one will ever find it," Violina said. "And never speak of it again. Problem solved."

"Understood?" Akilah said. The Guardians nodded.

"Very well," Akilah said. "James; that wound in your stomach might take some time to heal, but don't worry about it. It might scar though." She paused and smiled. "The Magic I used to revive you will keep your soul connected to us and this world, so don't worry if you catch a glimpse of us every once in a while when you're sleeping."

James nodded. "That's all right," he said. "At least that way I can know everything is still fine here."

"Farewell, Guardians," Akilah said. "And sleep well."

*

James slowly opened his eyes, to the surprise of finding himself inside his bedroom, in his own bed. He went out of bed to investigate and see whether they'd truly returned home or not.

"Samira?" he said, as he ran into her halfway through the hallway. It seemed as if she'd been awake for a while, but looked just as surprised as James was.

Had it all just been a dream? Impossible...

James carefully touched the spot where the Master had hit him. Exactly what he'd thought; the wound was still there. Not a dream.

"I believe I heard something," a muffled voice said behind from downstairs; another voice responded, but was inaudible. Footsteps coming up the stairs followed shortly.

"I know, but I want to check anyway!"

A woman's head appeared just above floor level as Cheyenne came up the stairs; as soon as she saw her two children, she started to cry.

"It's them!" she shouted. "THEY'RE HOME!"

The sound of feet rushing up the stairs was heard, and soon enough, David and Lucy appeared, crying tears of joy as soon as they saw James and Samira were safe and sound.   
"My boys!" Cheyenne cried, as James walked over to hug her. "Oh, I am so glad to see you two safe!"  
"We should call the other parents to check if their kids are back as well," David said, while hugging Samira.

"We should! I'll call the other households, to see if they're back," Lucy said, while briefly saying hi to her cousins before running down the stairs, overflowing with joy. "We need to celebrate this Christmas together, as one, big family!"

"Isn't that what we've always been?" James said with a smile.

"Actually, James, you're right," Samira said, while ruffling his hair. "Yes. Yes we have."

And all of a sudden, it hit James. There was something he needed to do; something he'd promised himself he'd do as soon as he got back.

He apologised to his family and David for having to leave so quickly – of course they didn't understand, but they would soon enough.

James quickly threw on some simple clothes, got his jacket from the coat rack and rushed down the street, while reaching for his phone. Anna was on his speed dial, so he could call her without having to stop running. The phone rang, and eventually, someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Anna!" James shouted through the phone, happy to hear Anna's voice. "Guess what?"

"...James?" Anna said, sounding slightly confused. "Are... are you back yet?"

"What do you think?" James said; he'd reached her front yard. "I'm standing in the middle of your yard, silly!"

Behind one of the windows of Anna's house, the curtains moved, and a face appeared behind them. She was still holding her phone; she waved at the redheaded teenager as soon as she saw him. "Stay there. I'm coming downstairs."

James heard Anna running down the stairs through her phone; she didn't hang up until she was running out of the front door, straight into James's arms.

"I don't believe it," Anna said, her eyes sparkling with happiness. "It really is you."

"Of course it's me," James said. "Who else?"

He breathed in deeply. He had to say it now. He had to.

"Anna?" James said carefully, his voice trembling with nervousness.

"Yes, James?" the girl replied, highly anticipating the answer. She knew what he was going to say; she just needed the confirmation from his mouth she so desired.

"I love you," James said; he said it quick, yet loud. Loud enough for Anna to hear, and just quick enough for her to be able to respond to the feeling of James's lips kissing hers.

This was the moment they'd both been waiting for; and now, at long last, it'd finally arrived. And, after all, all they had to do is believe in each other, and believe in themselves. Belief is where Magic, whether light or dark, is based on. Without belief, there is no Magic.

A thought to keep in mind in the future...

***

~ TABLE OF CONTENTS ~

I: The Five

II: This Is Real

III: Into The Void

