CHAPTER 30

The Past…

A month after the birth of the Phoenix Queen, Seven cloaked figures ran at full speed across the forest, trying to get to the hidden cave of the rest of the Guardians.

They stopped before a long wooden bridge, and beneath the bridge is a scenic and beautiful waterfall flowing down to the river beneath. Tying their horses to nearby trees, they gently cross the unsteady bridge to the other side of the mountain and stand before a raised slab of stone.

The stone has 7 indents fit enough for a small object, and from within their cloaks, they brought out 7 glimmering gems of different colours. Pressing them down into the indents.

The gems glow with power once hit with the full light from the moon, and the stone makes a scratching sound as it turns in a clockwise wise rotation. To the left of the mountain, a shimmering magical barrier appears before the cloaked figures and quickly they all pass through, appearing on the other side before a dark cave. The cloaked figures are greeted by a young lad with a silver staff.

He's wearing a cloak with the hoody pulled down to reveal his bright purple hair and golden eyes. "Is everything ready?" The leader of the cloaked figures stepped forward to ask, and the boy nods his head vigorously.

He motions them into the cave and creates an orb of light to guide their path. He leads them through various corners, past a narrow, condensed path leading directly to the garden of Elytrum, before motioning them into the cave of rest.

Raising his hands, he closes them together in front of his chest and closes his eyes as he chants beneath his breathe. A bright light shone and blinds everyone for a minute, before deeming to reveal the opening of an alcove with glimmering white diamonds embedded into the walls of the cave.

Crystal blue water flows gently by the side and it gives the cave a bit of light as it reflects on the diamonds.

Across the cave are seven glass coffins, each laid on a large slab of granite stone, positioned in a heptagon shape. Inside these coffins are the spirits of seven powerful Guardians.

The cloaked figures step into the alcove and the leader tilts his head in their direction. "We have to hurry."

"Yes, my King." They each bowed, stepping forward to stand in front of each coffin.

Moving to stand to the side, the young lad watched as they rest a hand on the coloured stones embedded in the granite in front of the glass coffins. They chant beneath their breathes and light begins to illuminate the stones, starting from the first angle of the heptagon to the last as each light rose into the air to connect.

Slowly, the spirits of each guardian flow from their coffins and retract into the stones. Once the retraction spell was completed, each figure stops chanting and reopens its eyes. Before anyone could say anything, a loud explosion goes off and the cave shakes, making everyone stumble where they stand in shock.

"My King, our enemies are here already!"

The figure standing before the seventh angle of the heptagon grabs his stone and murmurs a blessing into it, and the sapphire stone glows a soft blue colour before disappearing. He glances at the others with a determined expression, before saying. "My King, hurry and say your blessings while I try to hold them off."

He didn't wait for a response but runs out of the alcove and the figures all face each other with determined expressions.

One by one they grabbed their stone and murmured a blessing into it, and when each stone disappears, they rush off to fight. When the last figure grabs the Citrine stone, he never expects an arrow to pierce through his chest.

Stunned, he stumbles and grabs hold of the arrow in surprise. "My King!" The lad gasps in surprise.

Glaring at the soldier standing with a crossbow at the opening of the alcove, his face concocts in rage. The soldier quickly sets up another arrow on the crossbow and raised his hands to shoot, but the cloaked figure shifts out of his target range, making the arrow miss him by an inch.

He disappears into thin air and reappears behind him, and pulling out his sword from its sheath he plunges it through the soldier's stomach before he could react.

Making him drop dead in shock. The lad rushes towards the cloaked figure in worry when he suddenly drops to the ground, his legs buckling as his sword clatters by his feet.

"My King!"

"Help me sit up." The cloaked figure gasps, and the young lad kneels behind his back and rests his heavy body against his folded knees.

The pale face of the cloaked figure pinches tight as he tries not to groan out loud in pain, he grabs onto the other end of the arrow sticking out of his chest and breaks it. Taking in a deep breath, he pulls out the broken wood in one smooth move and let out a cry of pain.

His blood splattering across his face and body before it rapidly begins to pour out from his wound. Gasping, the cloaked figure slowly raises the Citrine stone clenched in his hand and pulls aside his cotton shirt to reveal his chest.

He takes in a deep breath before forcefully driving the stone into his bleeding wound, the action eliciting a deep groan due to the burning pain. "My King!" The young lad cried in protest. "You cannot-"

"I won't make it out of this cave alive." The cloaked figure cuts him off, and with great effort, he wedges the stone further into the wound.

When he was sure the stone has absolved a lot of his blood, he pulls it out and they both watch as the red substance covering the stone is slowly absorbed with a soft glow.

Tilting his face up slightly to stare up at the young lad, he says with a rasp, pressing the stone into his open palm. "I want you to take this stone and find its next master, I don't have time to bless my stone so I fed it my blood. My blessing is my power, my life, and my lineage. Whichever child this stone chooses will be a part of my kindred, so make sure the stone is embedded into the heart of the child so my blood can have time to merge with that of the child. After some years as passed, and the human is old enough, you need to remove the stone so it can fully awaken."

"But I can't leave you-"

"Don't, this is no time for petty emotions. I am just a means to an end. If this stone falls into the wrong hands, our entire world-" He cuts himself off to cough into his hand, a splatter of his blood coming out of his mouth. Letting out a sigh, he stared at the red liquid with a sense of resignation. "-our entire world would be at stake."

"My King." The young lad whispers in despair, his entire body shaking as he holds him tighter.

Suddenly grabbing onto the hand when he felt the cold presence of death, he stares into the eyes of the young lad and grips his shirt tightly. "Promise me," He gasps desperately, his eyes pleading. "Promise me you will succeed."

Nodding jerkily, he closes his eyes and whispers. "I promise."

Sagging in relief, he smiles faintly. "Thank you."

~*~*~*~

Those were the last words his King rasped out before his body goes limp in his arms. Feeling obligated the young lad stayed behind, cradling the still body of his King before a loud horn blares through the entire forest. The signal for a won battle.

But since that isn't the sound of the horn Avalon uses, the young lad slowly laid down his King and rose to his feet, taking it as a warning to get moving.

Wiping the tears that had slid down his face unexpectedly, he steps away from his King and summoned his powers. Slamming the end of his staff onto the ground, he closed his eyes as bright light bursts forth from his staff and illuminated the entire room.

It fills the entire alcove for a long minute with its brightness before slowly dying down, and when it does, the presence of the young lad is absent within the cave.

In a different world, he reappears before the entrance of a wooden cottage surrounded by nothing but the forest. Stepping forward into the light of the moon, he stared at the wooden structure with a tilted head and felt the presence of three living creatures.

As the keeper of the stones, he can locate the stones and use them to locate their masters. He can also reawaken the souls from the stones and help them merge with the soul they choose to reside within.

Such an easy task shouldn't seem difficult at this moment, but as he continued to stare at the wooden cottage barely lit due to its sleeping occupants, and the softly glowing stone in his hand, he couldn't help but wonder what sort of game fate seemed to be playing.

Letting out a sigh, he raised the hood of his cloak and made himself invincible to the naked eye. Taking several steps forward, he silently slips into the home of the three living creatures and stared as the stone only gleamed brighter and brighter.

He makes his way up the stairs and lay a hand on the knob of the door to the right. Pushing it open, he ignored the soft groan the door elicited or the fact that the noise could wake up the parents of the sleeping toddler in the middle of the room.

Taking several steps forward he stared at the toddler with lovely silver hair, watching the toddlers peaceful sleeping face, and wondering how something so small and harmless could one day become the saviour everyone needs.

Letting out a sigh, he pulls open the buttoned-up clothing of the child to reveal its small pale chest. Grimacing, he hesitates for a minute, not sure if what he's about to do is the right thing or not.

Shaking off his thoughts, he pulls out a dagger and stares at it for a minute before looking down at the child. "I'm sorry little one, this is going to hurt." He murmurs sadly.

He pierces the soft skin of the child and makes a long, deep cut down her chest. The child awakens in pain and her shrieking cries immediately fills the silent house, and when she squirms to get away from him, his dagger nicks the skin of his finger.

He ignores the stinging pain and quickly pulls out the stone, driving it deep into the child's open chest. He ignored the child's shrieking screams and continues with his task until the stone was safely lodged into the child's heart.

He felt sorry for hurting the small toddler so much at this age, but this is meant to be her fate. Removing his hand from its bleeding chest, he places his bloody hand over the wound and closes up the bleeding cut with a few whispered words.

And just when he steps back from the bed, the doors burst open to reveal her panicked parents.