Chapter 40 Guardian of Realms

The cold bare its fangs over her tiny meek body. A thin layer of ice began to well up around her ankles. Iris quickly shook it off, shivering uncontrollably with her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Aneira sat in one corner, hugging her knees, looking bored. It was effortless for her to keep the place frozen and she looked comfortable in the cold.

"This can't end well," Iris murmured to herself, having figured out in the past ten minutes that Aneira's vocabulary wasn't built for conversing. She just stared at her blankly, expecting Iris to take the next step in getting them out of there.

"There is one thing I still haven't tried…" Iris said, closing her eyes for a moment.

In that tiny moment, she was back inside the dome of skies. The eye sat beside her, engulfed in white threads that held it in place. There were thin conical icicles hanging from its eyelashes. Iris quickly ran a hand over it, wiping away the ice from the lashes. She then bent down to pick up one of the loose threads that sat next to her feet. The eye gave her a concerning stare.

"It's the only way…" Iris murmured to it, holding tightly onto the thread. It felt warm inside her fist, as compared to the cold around her.

Iris's eyes flipped open to a confused Aneira staring closely at her face. She jumped back with haste, almost slipping on the ice. She placed a hand on the wall to balance herself. They were inside the waiting room that had been completely blocked off from the exit. A white thread hung from the ceiling. Iris's eyes followed it, seeing that it just appeared out of the block of frozen debris.

"It didn't work…" she wondered aloud with disappointment evident in her tone.

Once more, Iris closed her eyes and found herself next to the eye. The skies rippled around her in waves. She bent down to grab another thread that was lying loosely next to her feet.

"This time, for sure," she told herself with a little bit of determination.

When her eyes opened, she was almost taken aback by the darkness. Aneira looked panicked as she paced around blindly. The hospital had disappeared all of a sudden. Iris stared down at the white piece of slightly glowing thread in her hand. She felt a bulge in her throat and quickly swallowed. Nervousness was starting to peek in. Iris had no idea what she'd done.

As she stepped forward, the thread slowly slipped from her grasp, falling onto the dark floor. It stayed there for a second before ferociously wiggling its way forward. It extended into the darkness, with another appearing out of the middle. The second one went up to form a square while another one completed the box. There were very few lines as compared to the space created by her predecessor.

They wiggle slightly out of place as if unstable. Aneira jumped as the lines went around her. She ran towards Iris, hiding behind her like a scared little cat.

"I think I did it…" Iris let out a breath she had been holding. It wasn't a perfect space, but at least she wasn't freezing anymore. The ice had completely vanished from under her feet as she took a steady step forward, not knowing where she would end up. Any place would be better than where she was before.

"Where?" Aneira uttered the words with a shaky voice.

"Don't worry. We're going somewhere safe," Iris assured.

The girl quickly grabbed onto her sleeve as she took slow, steady steps towards the empty darkness. The white threads wiggled their way out of place, extending further ahead to mark a path. Four lines extended to create the outline of a corridor. Iris could hear sounds, although muffled, coming from the other end.

"This way," she told Aneira, who followed behind closely with a low whimper.

There was the sound of heavy winds rising in front of her, followed by the shivering of tree leaves. Iris braced herself, holding her breath as she quickened her pace. She could feel Aneira's heavy breathing over her shoulder. That girl couldn't hide her fear if she tried. She quickly grabbed a handful of Iris's sleeve, tugging at it.

"It's just the sound of wind," Iris told her, quickly realizing that the girl might not be familiar with the sounds, having been asleep throughout her life. Just then, a gentle wind brushed against their faces, blowing their hair back a little. Silver strands of hair shivered around them.

They were getting close. The white threads ended a couple of paces ahead. The closer the two girls got, the heavier the winds blew towards them. Aneira almost stopped midway, but as Iris continued to walk further away, she quickly ran up to her. They were almost at the edge. It was like a wall of darkness. On the other end, lay an unknown landscape that they were about to tread upon.

Iris walked face first into the blank wall of darkness in front of her. The difference in exposure took time for her eyes to settle to. It was around sunset. The skies were pink with little bits of clouds scattered around. Aneira followed in after, taking in the new landscape with her mouth hung slightly ajar. The leaves rustled over their heads from the few trees that surrounded them. The ground held tiny patches of wild grass growing out of the cracks.

"This is…" Iris trailed off, just noticing the edge of land they stood upon. It floated in the air several thousands of feet above actual ground. Aneira took one glance beyond the edge and quickly retreated towards a tree, hiding behind it as if it would protect her.

"Iris?" A familiar voice rang in her ears. Iris turned around where she stood, to look at the person who had uttered her name. It was a tall man, with a familiar stature. However, the face was that of a stranger. He had dark hair and light gray eyes. She frowned at him for a second, trying to remember. He wore a long cape behind him that was torn at the edges. It was all too familiar.

"It's me," he said, pointing at himself. "Damon."

Iris's eyes widened beyond belief. For a second she felt her heart stick to her throat, unable to swallow it down.

"I see your powers have grown since the last time we met."

"The last time… you were thrown into the abyss!" Iris blurted out with disbelief.

Damon let out a kind yet sad smile. "It was but a small price to pay for my betrayal."

His eyes wandered over to the white haired girl peeking out from behind the tree.

"I see you also made friends," he commented.

"We got lost. What is this place?" Iris asked, craning her head up to notice more floating islands in the sky.

"It wasn't like this before. One day the land around me disappeared and then I was here."

"It's like it merged with this world," Iris guessed. "Was there a dark object in the sky before this happened?"

"There… may have been heavy winds," Damon nodded as he recalled. "Then the sky went black."

"So the same thing has been happening everywhere. I wonder if the culprit is here."

"It is possible. There were bolts of lightning coming from the island above us."

Damon pointed up towards a piece of land that floated several hundreds of feet above them. In an instant, Iris's senses picked up familiar vibes.

.

I stood still, watching the entire scene unfold. I watched her turn into an even greater beast than the one she faced. Goosebumps crawled up my arms till a sudden hand over my shoulder made me look away.

"There you are," it was Ricky, standing next to the rubble along with a hundred other people who had just evacuated from the hospital. More gathered around us, stopping to see what the commotion was about. The entire building that was built over the hospital had collapsed. Thankfully, no one was injured yet I saw no sign of Iris.

"Where is she?" I asked him, having just arrived at the scene. He shook his head.

"I asked around but nobody seems to have seen a little girl with her description."

I breathed out heavily, turning back towards the rubble. They were escorting the last person to leave the building, right before it all came tumbling down. It was a nurse from the patient ward, squinting into the sunlight that fell directly onto us. Something suddenly glinted at her feet. My body moved to cover the distance as I blocked the nurse's path. She squinted at me, possibly recognizing me for a second.

"Wait," I told her and bent down to pick up the glowing object from her foot. I placed it on my palm. It felt cold against my skin and quickly melted in the sunlight.

"What is it?" she asked, unsure what was going on.

I stared at my empty hand while shaking my head at her. She carried on, walking past me. Ricky walked up to me with questioning eyes.

"It's water…" I told him.

"What?" he frowned.

"There was ice on that nurse's foot. It melted in my hand when I picked it up."

"What would ice be doing there?" Ricky shook his head, lost in thought. He took off his glasses, rubbed his tired eyes before placing them back up again.

"That ice girl… the one we rescued. Where is she right now?" I shot a quick glance at him.

"She… should still have been in recovery," Ricky said, eyes wandering around, searching every face. "But she's not here…" he then replied.

"Which means she must still be underground… with Iris."

"They're alive…" Ricky breathed out with a sigh of relief.

"For now," I told him dryly. "There's no way to remove all that rubble without crushing them in the process… damn it!" I wondered out loud. "It's one thing after another…"

My shadows slipped into the rubble from under my feet. If I was to take any chances, the least I could do was to locate them. My eyes wavered around my feet as I focused. I could feel Ricky's hand on my shoulder when I'd gone completely still. He eyed me with concern, waving a hand in front of my face. I simply looked at him.

"There's no one there," I told him with disbelief evident in my tone. "They're gone."

"What do you mean they're gone?" Rikcy was just saying that when the rubble suddenly sank into the ground. Majority of the people jumped back in alarm, thinking it was another quake. I watched a bit of water trickle out from between the rocks.

"They're gone…" I repeated the words to myself.

"Maybe this time you'll just have to trust them," Ricky was saying. I wasn't sure if he even understood half of what was going on.

For some reason, Cheryl's words repeated in my head, sharp as a knife.

'I'm tired of everyone underestimating me so much,' was what she'd said.

"You're right. I'm sure Iris can handle herself. Both of them can…"

"Exactly…" Ricky agreed.

I let out a short laugh, feeling my shoulders stiffen up. Although I said I trusted them, the worry still remained.

"There is one thing I can do… It's to find the shadow king, wherever he's hiding," I told Ricky and his head snapped towards me at the mention of the king. "I need answers."

It was a short ride towards the forest where Ricky claimed to have seen the king. I didn't believe it till I saw it with my own eyes. Two people stood inside a grassy plane, surrounded by trees. There was an old wooden cabin behind them with overgrown moss sticking out of the cracks. It may have possibly been abandoned before Darke started using it.

What I didn't believe was Meryl being here.

"She's been secretly receiving training from him," Ricky told me from behind a tree trunk.

"And you're telling this to me now?" I eyed him with disbelief.

"The question is, why isn't she telling anyone," Ricky commented in an unemotional manner, having already absorbed everything that had been going on.

"Let's find out," I said, storming out of the trees as I made my way across the dirt filled grass towards them.

"Dixon!" Meryl almost gasped, eyes wide with shock. I gave a bitter stare toward Darke. His eyes found me uninteresting at the moment and quickly moved on to whatever he was telling Meryl.

"What the hell is going on here?" I demanded in a raised voice, glancing from one face to the other.

"What do you want?" Darke finally responded, covering the little distance between us as he walked up to me. He looked like he was doing good. His dark hair was grown out into a small ponytail, while his clothes were no longer that of an older century. He wore a dark gray jacket along with a thin scarf around his neck.

"I told you to get the hell away from us and you trick Meryl into training with you? What're you trying to achieve?" I blabbered on.

Meryl quickly held up her hands as she stepped in between me and Darke.

"It's not like that. I'm just learning to control my powers. He knows more than you think. I mean, he's been around a lot longer than we have."

"Isn't that why you're here?" Darke demanded, folding his arms across his chest with his head raised high. "Suddenly the world is changing and you don't know what to do. I bet your powers work differently now too." Darke flashed a taunting smile. "You don't understand any of it."

I pressed my lips into a tight line, thinking of a way to respond to that without letting it show that he was right. I sighed.

"I do need answers…" I ended up saying.

All of a sudden, a heavy wind blew from above. All heads popped towards it. I readied myself automatically at the sight of a dark wave heading towards us from out of the sky.

"Damn it, not again," I murmured.

This one was smaller but faster. Darke nodded at Meryl and she quickly stepped in front. I watched her bend down to punch the ground, releasing a heavy heatwave around us. I could feel the hot energy seeping out of her. The wave traveled in a circular motion, expanding in all directions.

The dark pulse quickly made an impact. There was a muffled thud in the air. Heat waves rushed into my face, ricocheting away from the pulse. It pinched my skin, as if trying to burn it off. I squinted into the sky where the pulse had stopped, a few feet away from us. As the sunlight shone through, I could almost make out a light orange sphere around us, glinting just a little bit in the rays of the sun. The pulse immediately recoiled, bits of it burning away into the air. I watched every last bit of it disappear.

"Meryl, when did you learn to do that," I whispered.

Darke's smile flashed even wider.

"Commendable," he said proudly to Meryl who breathed out in relief.

Then to us, he motioned with his hand to follow him.

"Come, let us talk."

We followed him close behind. I noticed Ricky and Meryl glancing at each other awkwardly as if they had some catching up to do. There was a wooden bench at the back side of the cabin with two pieces of logs on either side of it. Dark took a seat while I sat opposite him.

"What you saw there was one of the ancient powers at work. A darkness powerful enough to shift realms. What do you know about it?" He spoke as if teaching a lesson in a class.

"I know there's a girl behind all this. She calls shadows from out of a hand mirror or something," I told him and then raised an eyebrow, "I also know that she knows you. Explain that."

Darke placed both hands on the bench, resting his chin on them in a thinking pose. He breathed out through his nose, flaring his nostrils as he eyed each of us.

"I may have reached out to her in the past," he said, choosing his words carefully.

"What do you mean? When was this?" Ricky asked.

"The time when you and your friends were leaving town. I was after the shard desperately and sought her aid."

"When we were trying to leave town, there were these bulky shadows that came at us, almost crushing us along with Ricky's car," I recalled, then raised my eyebrows. "They didn't have eyes."

"They were not from my realm. The eyes are a mark of their king. They were strays I'd called for in the heat of the moment."

I slammed my fist onto the bench. Meryl almost jumped beside me.

"In the heat of that moment, you almost killed us!" I yelled.

Darke just stared back at me with narrowed eyes. "I would've sent you off into the abyss for using a tone like that. Back when I was king…"

I glared back.

"So you asked for her help in retrieving the shard. Who is this person exactly?" Ricky interrupted, trying to stay on topic.

"She's the current guardian of the realms. She holds the power to open and shift realms at will. It is unfortunate that her body has perished in this world, making it no longer accessible to her."

"You mean she's dead?" Meryl blurted out in surprise.

"Death is not the same for people with powers as great as this. Regardless, she tries to regain what she has lost, by reshaping the world into a place she can walk freely."

"Why now all of a sudden? Out of the blue she just starts changing things? I don't buy it. Something must've happened." I said confidently.

"She had eyes on the abyss in the shadow realm ever since I asked her for help. She was unable to access it for as long as I was king. I protected the realm until you came along…" Darke looked at me as if it was all my fault.

"You think it's my fault this is happening?" I eyed him with bewilderment.

"You left my realm to crumble! It was the sturdiest one out there. I built it from scratch and you put it to ruin!" Darke placed both hands on the bench and leaned forward. "And the minute you took away my powers, she swooped in and gained access. And now, none of you are strong enough to stop her."

I looked at him like he was joking for a second, not believing myself to be the cause of something so massive.

"I warned you," Darke was still talking, raising his voice, "I warned you about there being forces that were out of your control. Had you listened to me, none of this would be happening. And all that for the girl with the light who probably wouldn't have died even after getting killed."

"You mean Iris?" Ricky inquired. "Is she also like this guardian of realms?"

Darke nodded, "She, too, is an ancient power. She can walk through a space only she can create. She also has a realm of her own. I was surprised that she let herself be confined for so many years when it was this easy for her to escape on her own."

I looked back at Ricky who just nodded at me.

"What do we do now? How do I get to one of those realms where this guardian is at?"

Darke leaned back, stretching his arms out into the air for a yawn, ignoring me completely. I balled my fists and sprang up to my feet with a scowl.

"Tell me!" I demanded with force.

"You're the king and you don't even know how to do that," Darke smirked which quickly turned into laughter.

I lifted my fist into the air but Meryl grabbed and pulled it back down. She eyed me apologetically while at the same time shaking her head no. I sank back down onto the log, waiting for the ex king to finish his taunts. He eventually quieted down. No one spoke for those few seconds of silence. He then leaned forward wearing a serious expression on his face.

"It's the same as how you used to travel to the shadow realm. Except it will not be as effortless," he said. "And what will you do once you get there? She will just shift away into another realm. How do you plan on catching her then?"

I fell quiet, not having thought any of this through.

"You will have to create a space of your own to trap her in. She can not shift out of a space that already belongs to someone."

"I don't know how to do that either…" I said in a low voice, looking away.

"Then stay and train. That's the only way you'll learn."

Meryl watched Darke get up and leave the table. I followed, giving her some privacy. She craned her head over to Ricky beside her.

"How long have you known?" she whispered.

"A while," he replied in a whisper.

"Why didn't you say anything?" she frowned at him with concern filled eyes.

"You were doing good on your own. I didn't want to be a distraction. Isn't that why you cut everyone off? So you could train with a clear and focused mind."

Meryl nodded, placing a hand over his.

"Stay with us for a while," she said softly. "I haven't really been able to focus ever since I cut you off."

"And why's that?" Ricky let out a faint grin, placing his other hand over hers. I felt a tang of guilt for eavesdropping as I walked back towards the table. I saw my phone glinting under the slanting rays of the sun.

"Now look who's blushing," I muttered in a low voice, reaching for it, not expecting her to hear it. In an instant, Meryl turned and grabbed my ear, pulling it hard.

"Ow… ow.. ow that burns."

"Why're you still here?" she yelled. Her face really was red, possibly exuding smoke.

"I just came to get my phone," I said in a pained voice, quickly swiping my phone from the bench and held it up for her to see. She released my ear which felt hot for some reason. I then quickly turned to leave. Darke waited for me in front of the cabin. He watched me appear out from behind, rubbing one ear with a pained expression on my face.

"What the hell have you been teaching her?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"She has yet to control her powers. It is difficult as she has a hard time even controlling her emotions," he replied to me.

"You sound like you know her already. How long have you been training her?" I asked, looking at him as if he was a criminal.

"About as long as you were asleep," he simply answered, folding his arms. "Just before going into hiding, I told her where to find me if she ever needed help with her newfound powers."

"So she came to you herself… which she wouldn't have done if I had been there," I spat the words, making a face of disgust.

"You say that when you too have come to me for help," he pointed out.

I made an annoyed face.

"Whatever…" I muttered in a low voice, then looked him in the eye. "Now what do I need to do?"