The Isle of Guardians

"Run, don't look back. Always keep to the shadows my love, they will protect you. "

The wind brought her mother's voice to her as Reyna made her way through the dense forest that hid the Magi from the world. The sounds of the night creatures brought back unwanted memories from years back. She half expected to hear the deafening sound of her house exploding and waited for the thick smoke that had dragged air out of her lungs.

Just like the last time, she was running for her life but she wouldn't look back, because there was nothing to look back to. Reyna's eyes stung with unshed tears even as bile rose up her throat and threatened to choke her. The feeling of betrayal burned deep and how she wished she could still cry and empty out all the raw pain that simmered at her core but that ability had been stripped off her just like everything else.

Her muscles were straining to keep up with the pace she had set but that wasn't a problem. All the vigorous training in the Magi had prepared her for this. She could ignore the exhaustion and control her breath just fine but the trees were proving to be an obstacle she had to fight against. They scratched her skin and caught the light material that made up her training outfit. Reyna had not had time to think through the plan she had come up with let alone find something suitable to wear.

The anger that had clouded her mind at the time was now replaced by bone-chilling fear that made her question her decision to run. Where was she going to go? Reyna couldn't trust anyone. Twenty years of torture were more than enough and after the one person she cared for broke her, she didn't want to leave anything to chance.

Reyna remembered how she came to be a captive of the Magi and after a few years; their agent. She remembered how she met the person she considered as a friend of sorts. Her heart ached as memories of years past whirled through her mind, each one more painful than the last. They clouded her vision and made her lose her focus. Reyna knew her pace was reducing and at times she lost her footing but her mind was overwhelmed with the flashes of the past. She didn't see the propped root that tripped her, didn't feel herself falling as her consciousness slipped from her grasp.

Just as the darkness closed around her, she heard a raspy voice close to her ear.

" Rest now my darling, you are safe."

The scars on her back flared up and dulled as Reyna gave in to the feeling of nothingness.

________________________

It was the day after she had been brought to the Magi camp. She had woken up in the dark cellar with the back of her head throbbing in pain. Reyna watched her five-year old self look around the bare room while touching the back of her head, her red hair gave off a dull glow in the dark. It was just a memory, her present self knew that but the intensity of it still overwhelmed her. She had always been able to see well in the dark for as long as she could remember and even now she watched as the sturdy metal door at the farthest end from were the five year old her was, creaked and finally opened.

The man whom Reyna had called master for the years she had been in the camp entered. She had met him only a few times and after every encounter Reyna could never remember what he looked like matter how hard she tried. Even in this memory he was still a blurry dark silhouette that was only distinguished from the rest of the dark room by the shimmering air around him.

"No matter how hard you tried to run all these years, I have finally found you and I promise you that this time I won't let you go."

His voice sounded like a distant echo whose accent she hadn't figured out yet. As the door locked behind him the room began to tilt and spin as other images of the days she had spent in that cellar sped by until it all finally stopped.

The darkness in the room had not changed but the Reyna on the tiny cot was older. It was after her first escape attempt when she was eight years old. She wished she could close her eyes and not relive the same experience but her body was not responding to any of her commands or pleas.

The door opened again and a boy was thrown in before it was quickly shut again. Before him, Reyna had never met any other children in the camp, only the bad trainers who hit her when she did something wrong. The boy had long black hair that younger Reyna wanted to touch and feel how soft it was. He had a funny smell, like that of something burning and his clothes were too big for his slim figure. The boy went to a corner and sat with his hands and head on his knees as if to make himself small. His hair covered most of his face and blocked Reyna's view of his eyes.

" What is your name? I'm Reyna. Why are you here?"

She had been forbidden from ever talking unless it was required of her but at the time Reyna had been head strong, thinking that if she resisted enough, she could keep her will from being stripped off her. Then again she had been a child, she didn't know what was at stake then but that was about to change.

"Do not mistake me for a friend mortal child, I would rather you not talk to me."

The present Reyna had the same confusion that she had back then, why did he speak like those old movies that her mother used to watch. He hadn't seemed older than her by that much and she had not known the meaning mortal back then.

"If you have met the trainers then you know I don't follow orders. Why do you talk funny?"

A scoff came from the bundled figure in the corner,the boy in the corner lifted up his head and she could finally see his eyes and just as they had the first day they met, his eyes mesmerized her and pulled her in. They were a ghostly shade of white and the best name she could come up with was moonlit gray as they reminded her of the surface of the moon on a clear night.

"Don't be a hero child, you'll only call death to yourself"

The room tilted once more as he smirked at the words and faded away, she wanted to reach out and touch him, reminded herself of what they once had but he was already gone. She was alone again in the storm of memories.

The room stilled again and she stared at the cot, expecting another version of herself to be there.

"Reyna, you don't know how long I've waited to talk to you."

The woman sitting on the tiny cot was utterly breathtaking and definitely not a version of Reyna. This was not one of her memories, a woman that beautiful did not belong in the camp and was not easily forgettable either.

"Come sit, we have so much to catch up on."