Guardians

PROLOGUE

Even in a world full of magic, life, and wonder, there will always be darkness seeking to bring these beautiful things under its shadow. A constant battle between light and darkness, good and evil, and everyone caught between. For over one thousand years, the harbinger of shadow had gathered his strength. Defeated, but impossible to destroy, and hungry for revenge.

Deep in the mountains of Initium, at the far edge of the continent of Luxbris, where the light of the sun can never reach, a dark shape moved about in the farthest corners of a cave.

“So long…” it whispered, in a voice so ancient and unused it sounded like the smallest breeze. “So long have I waited…” Its words echoed through the walls, burning and freezing all at once as it penetrated the minds of the creatures around it.

The creatures shivered in response, minions at its command, waiting for their master to reform after so long, so long, so long…

A flicker of blue flame outlined a cold, black eye. As the flame faded, bright white teeth curled into an evil grin.

1. New Beginnings

“Think fast!” Katherine didn’t expect a leather ball to come sailing through the garden heading straight for her chest. She dropped the weeds she had clutched in her hand and used the now open hand to make a grab for the flying object. Instead of making the awesome catch she intended, she ended up jamming her finger painfully against it. She had stopped its momentum, and as it began to fall to the ground, she managed to catch it with her other hand.

“What the hell Matt?” The loud, unmistakable voice of Abigail Bailey, one of her best friends, reached Kat’s ears.

“What? I didn’t aim at her face.” The only male voice of their friend group, Matthew Warren, responded to his girlfriend.

“You caught it!” Slightly higher pitched than Abby and sweet like the sugary confections her family created, Camille at least sounded impressed with the catch. Her platinum blonde hair swung behind her as she left the cobblestone path and reached Kat’s side.

“What are you guys doing here?” Kat asked curiously. She lobbed the ball back to Matt, who caught it with an easy grin.

“Well the girls wanted to hang out with you, and so I tagged along.” He responded, flipping his dark hair out of his eyes. Matt had brown eyes like melting dark chocolate. He was a little shorter than Kat, but the perfect size for Abigail. Everyone in town knew they would be an item, and last year Matt had finally worked up the courage to ask her to go steady, to which she had responded “About time, you dork.” They had been Kat’s best friends as long as she could remember, and she was as happy as everyone else that they were finally together.

“Of course you just tagged along. Not because you want to hang out with me.” Kat said, amused.

“Of course.” He responded loftily.

Abby rolled her eyes. “It’s our last day before the Testers arrive, we thought we would spend it together.” She explained, also reaching Kat and giving her a hug in greeting. Whereas Kat was tall and slender, Abby was shorter by a few inches and on the curvier end of the spectrum. She also gave the best hugs, and Kat happily returned her friendly squeeze.

“I’ll have to ask Mira. She asked for help in the garden today.” Kat said. She led the group of friends through her mother’s garden, which Kat and their housekeeper, Mira, attended to when Kat’s mother was with Kat’s father on one of their many diplomatic ventures.

Kat had a larger house than most. Her father, Daniel Lionett, was a well-known ambassador. He could speak over ten different languages including Fae, Treant, Elvish, Dwarvish and even Primordial, the language of the elementals. As such, he was decently wealthy and had been able to afford a nicer house in one of the main towns, Parvum.

She led them up the short path to the front of the house, the brightly polished wood adorned with beautiful hanging plants. Opening the door, they were greeted with a large sitting area displaying soft, well-kept furniture and a pristine woven rug of a forest scene.

“Katherine and friends! What a delight.” A lightly accented voice came from the far left corner that led into the kitchen. Mira appeared from the entrance and smiled brightly at them. Mira was a dryad that had wanted to explore the area away from her forest. A dryad could not be far from her tree, and so Kat’s father had agreed to have her tree moved to their yard, and Mira had been with the family ever since. She had dark skin that resembled tree bark and striking green and yellow eyes. While she “repaid” Daniel Lionett by being their housekeeper, she was more family than maid, and insisted she enjoyed the cleaning.

“Could Katherine please spend the day with us, Miss Mira?” Camille asked politely.

“Yes she may!” Mira agreed easily with a knowing smile.

“Thank you Miss Mira.” Kat said excitedly, before turning and ushering her friends outside before Mira could change her mind.

“Be back for dinner!” Mira called. Kat replied she would and followed her friends outside.

It was a beautiful summer day. Just hot enough to be uncomfortable, but with a cool breeze sweeping in from the lake to ease the heat. Parvum had originally been a small fishing town that had grown larger due to more and more people passing through it to reach the capital city, Demira. Eventually, Parvum began to expand to hold the increasing number of travelers and grew into the bustling market that it is today. Katherine’s family lived a few streets down from the main market, far enough that the ever-present hum of conversation and trade could be muted with the doors closed. Camille lived in the middle of it, as did Abigail’s father, who worked with her uncle at their blacksmithing shop. Her older sister had moved with her husband to the capital city, but Kat didn’t know much about her. Abby and her sister Tabitha had never gotten along very well.

Matthew’s mother also did trade in the marketplace as a fortune teller. His father was a fisherman who had died when he was a child, and his mother had raised five boys by herself. Matt’s older brother was a traveling merchant, and he would stop by every so often to visit and share with them some of the money he had made. Matt’s younger brother helped their mother gather herbs in the morning and during the day he was a bit of a pickpocket, or so Matthew claimed. Kat had never seen it, but she was also pretty sure their family didn’t have the money for the food that was always on their table. His other two brothers, twins, generally just followed their mother around when she couldn’t find anyone to take them, and Matthew was busy, as they were only two years old.

They did not head for the marketplace, however, but towards the lake. They would be in the marketplace tomorrow for the Testers, and they all agreed that some peace and quiet would be nice before the chaos of tomorrow.

As they stood in the lake, pants rolled up to their ankles, tossing the ball around, Kat hesitantly broached the topic. “What do you think the Test will be like?”

Abby shrugged, tossing the ball to her with an easy underhand toss. “Dunno. No one talks about it.”

“I tried to read up on it.” Camille, who had chosen to sit at the edge of the lake and just dip her toes in, shook her head violently as Kat mimed tossing to her. Kat instead whipped it at Matt, who jumped high in the air and barely caught it, stumbling as he landed. “It just says they “measure one’s magical aptitude,” whatever that means.”

Magic was a strange thing. It was commonplace, but no one knew where it came from. It had always been there, farther than the most ancient texts could recall. There were four kinds of basic magic: water, earth, fire and air, and the original beasts that represented them, but that was as much as anyone really knew. Each creature used it in its own way. For example, dryads like Mira lived exceptionally long lives and could encourage plants to grow using earth- and water-based magics. Centaurs used air magic to guide their arrows and earth magic to keep their muscles strong. With people, it varied. It usually began appearing nearer to adulthood, which is why Kat and her friends were being tested the following day. It was not a question of if they had magic or not; it was a question of determining what kind and what they would be most suited for.

“Is your Dad okay with you being Tested?” Matt asked, a trace of concern in his voice. Kat smiled. Despite their teasing, it was nice to know that Matt genuinely cared about her and vice versa.

“Yeah. I presented it as the most logical option, because knowing my aptitude will allow me to reach my fullest potential or whatever.” Kat answered.

Katherine’s Dad strongly encouraged her to follow in his footsteps and become a diplomat, but Kat had never been that interested. She admired him and his work, but when she thought about spending the rest of her life settling squabbles over territory, resources and other disputes, she could only think of how mind-numbingly boring it all sounded. She knew that diplomats, especially human ones who could work with other magical creatures, were coveted and her future would be secure if she followed him, but she wanted more than just job security. She wasn’t sure what she wanted exactly, but she didn’t like the idea of being tied down to something like that.

“Nice.” Abby commented, moving to join Camille on the edge of the lake. There were a few other teenagers about their age, also enjoying the day before the Testers came, and their splashing was beginning to irritate her. Normally she would choose some colorful words to “encourage” them to leave and stop getting water on her, but even Abby didn’t want to break the peace of today.

“What do you think they will recommend for you?” Katherine asked.

“Battle Mage.” Abigail answered confidently. Kat raised an eyebrow at that. Battle Mages were at the top of society, sworn to protect the people of this land against dark creatures. The details of what they did or what “dark creatures” were were vague, but Kat knew that Battle Mages only had one kind of magic instead of a mixture, and it was very strong. It was what made them so uniquely powerful and also why they worked in teams that complemented each other's magic.

Magic in itself was wild and untamed. It appeared in living things as water, earth, fire, or air; but it could be used for good or used for evil. As time went on, creatures that leaned towards good began calling their magic “light”, and those who used their magic for evil were considered “dark”. Kat knew that dark elves and shadow creatures existed and other things of that ilk, but only the Battle Mages were really trained in that knowledge.

“How do you know you will be a Battle Mage?” Camille asked curiously.

Abigail shrugged. “Just a feeling.”

“What if you aren’t a Battle Mage?” Kat asked.

Abby smirked. “Then I will battle them. What about you?” She asked Camille.

“I just want to be something I enjoy. I don’t know what I want to do, and I’m hoping the Testers will just tell me.” Camille admitted.

“I’m sure you’ll find something.” Matt said encouragingly. “If not, you can always work with your family.” Camille shuddered. “Ugh, please no. Anywhere but with them. I love them but they are always in my business. Some time apart will do us good.”

The other three shared a knowing glance. Camille’s parents were some of the kindest people they had ever met, as sweet as the candy they created. Unfortunately, after Camille’s younger brother died in an accident, they had become rather overprotective, practically smothering Camille. They were upset that she wasn’t going into the family business, and Kat knew they were hoping Camille would have their magical talents for candy and chose to stay with them anyway.

They spent the rest of the day discussing the pros and cons of different careers. Matthew admitted he wouldn’t mind learning blacksmithing, or doing something with his hands, or being a soldier. If he were a regular soldier, he might even have the opportunity to be stationed near where Abigail fought as a Battle Mage (Matt did not question his girlfriend’s certainty in the matter) or maybe if he was a good enough blacksmith he could build Battle Mage weapons and see her that way.

Kat just knew she didn’t want to be a diplomat. Her father’s father had been a diplomat, and ever since she was little her father wanted her to continue the “family tradition.” It wasn’t much of a tradition in Kat’s opinion if only two generations had done it, but that didn’t deter her father. He paid for private tutors, brought her along to meetings when he could, and everytime she did something particularly clever or compassionate or anything he could twist to say it was a sign of diplomatic talent, he would point it out. If the Test said “not a diplomat”, she could finally step out of his shadow without worrying about his hurt feelings. But if it did…she didn’t know what she would do.

Their discussion of different job options carried them through the afternoon, dissolving into a contest of who could come up with the best argument for why one of their group should have a job that wasn’t suited to them at all. (Matt won, with a surprisingly well-thought out argument of why Camille would actually be an excellent spy in the King’s forces). Finally, the sun began to set, casting a soft orange glow over the lake. They waved goodbye to each other. Kat made the customary gagging noises as Matthew and Abigail parted with a sweet kiss, and they all walked home to rest for the eventful day tomorrow.