A New Guardian

Did you truly believe sealing me away was enough? You’re a fool Asena! It won’t be long until I’m free. I will take away all that is precious to you.”

Asena wakes up with a throbbing headache. As her vision begins to clear she realizes her surroundings aren’t familiar and is locked in a cage. She pats her body around and notices her bag is gone and so is the pendant her uncle gave her. In desperation she shakes the bars of the cage and yells for help, to her surprise she gets a response. The earlier group of brutes follow behind a lean and gruff old man.

“I bet you thought you were safe from us didn’t you stupid girl?” It was the ugly thug from before. The older man thwacks him in the head.

“Open the cage, show me her shoulder.”

"No, stop! What are you doing!" Asena wildly swings her arms and legs but gets pinned against a wall.

“Heh. Look see, I told you I saw a Raven symbol on her shoulder! I did good, Leader Aether?!”

“Yes, you did. It seems we can leave sooner than expected, our Lord will be very pleased. Throw her back in the cell, we leave at dawn.” As the thugs throw Asena back into the cell an alarmed yell is heard.

“An intruder! The captives are escaping; hurry and capture them!” Aether instructs his henchmen to figure out what happened.

“What does the mark on my shoulder mean? Who are you?” Asena asks in a more composed tone.

“You don’t even know? How curious.” He grabs a chair and sits in front of the cage. He corrects his posture and crosses his arms.

“Do you know what happened to the previous royal family?” Asena sits criss-cross, scared. Her breath hitches.

“The royal family died from a disease. It spread throughout the Kingdom, leaving the princess the only one alive. But she’s missing, people believe she succumbed to the sickness and died.” Aether sits back in his chair and exhales.

“Wrong. Do you know what wielding is?” Aether asks as a swirl of glowing black orbs twirls around his fingers. This piqued Asena’s curiosity.

“You know magic?”

"How curious, you know nothing at all Princess."

"You have it wrong, I'm no Princess. I've lived here since; well."

"You can't answer and you never thought that weird Princess? Tell me how old are you?"

"I'm, I'm."Asena sits in silence; she can't answer.

"Why can't I answer? I should be able to answer."

"I'm sure you'd like to know."

Aether gets up from his chair and turns around to leave, the sound of his men getting defeated is not pleasing to his ears. A black shadow engulfs him and he disappears. Asena cradles herself, wondering why she can't remember anything. The sound of fighting gets louder; a thug crumples to the ground by her cage.

"Asena! Asena, where are you?!"

Asena wipes her tears and answers; that voice sounds familiar.

"I'm here! Burrg is that you?"

Burrg frantically runs to the cage Asena is in and attempts to break open the lock. He struggles and fidgets but can't break it. Distracted by the difficult lock the thug who was knocked out gets up and runs toward Burrg. Burrg turns around but doesn't react in time; he gets body slammed and the thug wails punches on him. Burrg tries his best to defend himself but he's too weak. Asena watches helplessly as her friend gets pummeled. The thug grabs a knife from his pocket and stabs Burrg in the stomach.

"Stop! Stop! STOP!"

A bright white light engulfs the surrounding area. The cage door blasts open, and the thug gets launched off Burrg. Burrg's wounds begin to heal; slowly he gets up. The sight of Asena awes him. Her body glows white and her eyes are changing color. He stands up and walks to Asena, they make eye contact, Asena walks to Burrg and speaks; her voice is calm and soothing.

"I don't have much time in this body, she's not ready yet. Her memories are still broken. Please! You have to help my daughter."

Asena hurriedly grabs Burrg's arm and presses her finger onto his forearm. Runes begin to form along with a searing pain.

"Ow! What did you do? What is happening?"

"You are the new Guardian of Princess Asena Ravenend. You're not alone, there are others who will help you; save Isle and protect your new Queen."

The glow from Asena's body dissipated. She falls into Burrg's arms, unconscious.