6

The next weeks were quiet. Too quiet. Abigail had moved into another home that appeared from nowhere, and the others had gone back to their perspective home. That was all except Shaziah. Her family could not oversee what had happened even with proof and disowned her. Well not so much her dad, who was stationed in Korea, but her mother. And with no one there to make her not kick Shaziah out, and with Shaziah being 18 there was very little recourse on the matter.

Officer Brad Benton filed the report leaving out many details. There was no sign of the men dressed as scarecrows who had been keeping the teens captive, but they were certainly there as attested to by the straw. Since then, he had been placed on administrative leave. He has discharged his weapon with nothing to show for it, which was bad, especially at close range, this earned him the title of 'Storm Trooper'. Shaziah and Cygnus both had no place to go, so Brad Benton opened up his nice three-bedroom house left to him by his parents.

Cygnus was still in shock and dismay. As her powers as a Rose Guardian increased the power of the memory blocks and edits placed in her mind also faded. She was a little girl, taken from her family just like Shaziah had been. This meant that the Dark Lord was up to his old tricks. Was her brother truly her brother? What of the others? Did they have families someplace wondering what happened to them? She could not even remember her real name yet. She cried a lot thinking about how betrayed she was, and how she was going to have vengeance on the Dark Lord for what he had done.

Rayne had been rescued and her family almost did not seem to notice she was gone. One thing which did change as a result of beginning to merge with her former self was that when people gave her shit, she took much less of it. So, when her mom tried to slap her, she simply blocked, sidestepped, and tripped her right to the ground. There she held her by her arm and spoke very seriously.

"If you ever hit me again, I am going to destroy you!"

The woman trembled. Her daughter had never said or done anything like that before, and she did not know what to think. What had happened while she was taken?

Abigail sat on her porch smoking a cigar. Their daily lessons were getting easier to teach as the young girls and one man learned about themselves and their powers. For Brad Benton, he was the Rose Guardian of the Sun, and his animal was the Lion. His powers were barbarian almost, but he did bare the Solar Orb which allowed him to produce huge solar flare-like attacks which could destroy his enemies from afar. Cygnus was the Guardian of the Earth and her powers focused on flora, specifically, the rose was the Swan. Rayne was the Guardian of the Cosmic Rose and stood for the power of the stars, and Shaziah was the Rainbow Rose, the guardian of all powers combined.

Abigail walked to the side yard to find the others already to train, but that was when sirens could be heard through the air. Brad quickly turned on his radio. They were receiving reports of a murder in the park, which of course was basically where everything began. Abigail turned to the others.

"This is the first murder in Dayton for many years, this is big."

"Who did they kill and how?" Asked Shaziah.

"I will go see if I can find out." Said Brad as he headed to his car.

Rolling up to the scene his sergeant walked over and shook his head.

"This one is a doozy. Come on, I know you're itching to work."

Brad walked upon a ritual circle with candles and symbols. In the middle was a girl younger than Rayne. He looked away. Her organs had been removed and placed at the points of the stars. Oddly no wild animals had come to investigate. Brad was not surprised the presence of evil was intense. In his insides, it almost felt like having to poop about the feeling he was having. Suddenly bodies began to form up from the organs! The main body itself rises to a sitting position. Everyone began to scream and yelp However, Brad knew what to do.

"Solar Rose, Enfold me!"

After a brilliant flash of light, he appeared again in his radiant white robes with gold and silver trim and accents. The Solar Orb formed in his hands, as he stood.

"This manner of evil cannot be tolerated! The dead shall not be made to serve the living! Solar Flare!"

Solar fire erupted from his fingertips igniting the undead beings in flames. They screamed as they were turned to cinders. Brad turned and ran to his car. He needed to tell the others.

Meanwhile…

Abigail and the others had gathered for a training session as was common these days. They were learning to use their magic and to fight with their soul weapons. What they did not know was that they were nowhere near full power. They had been sleeping for so long that most of their energies were locked away in the spiritual realm. They would have to undergo trials to awaken their powers.

The powers of Earth belonging to Cygnus were the symbol of the physical world. She had dominion over plants and animals, but also over seismic forces, magma, and the forces of the Earth itself. The Powers of the Dark and Moon belonged to Rayne. She had dominion over shadows and twilight. Brad had dominion over the powers of the light, standing for the sun and the seen. Finally, was their leader. Shaziah was known as the Rose of Eternity. She bore the sept essence. The seven energies of the other rose hearts could flow through her if called upon. So far, they had awakened their most basic powers and some phrases of power left over from their former lifetimes. No, the magic needed to be taught so it came from within them now, not them then. So, the training was harsh, and many times Shaziah and the others felt like giving up. Shaziah turned as Brad ran up. He was never late, and the look on his face was much to be desired.

"What's wrong Brad, you don't look so good?"

Brad explained everything which went on in the park, how the body parts had all become bodies and how they came after everyone gathered. It was disgusting to use magic to do something so vile. Of course, the practitioners of dark arts tended to not care about who was hurt or put out by their actions. Cygnus had told them all she knew.

"Now that I have awakened my spiritual powers, I remember everything. I was probably five or six when the Dark Lord came for me. He used his powers to change the memories of myself and my brother, so we believed we were his children, and he murdered our parents. We were raised being trained to hate, to kill, to destroy. The trouble was I always felt like it was wrong somehow. Like it just did not fit."

Abigail nodded.

"What are they planning on doing Cygnus, why the sacrifice and all of that other stuff?"

"They are planning on using the undead to take over this town. It is built over an ancient temple with many secrets. The Dark Council has only found its way into part of those secrets. The rest are sealed with holy magic, magic so old most people have forgotten how to use it. Languages long dead live in the temple. Not one of us is capable of reading them."

Rayne and Shaziah looked at each other. This was beginning to sound more and more like something from a video game. The more time passed the more Shaziah expected to wake up from this dream, and she would be Billy again, and none of this would have happened. Now her life was completely destroyed. Her family could not understand the change, hell in many ways neither could she. Now she at least knew she was not alone, but what did it matter if there was no happiness to be involved. She did not notice the tears running down her face, but Brad did, with his thumbs from both fingers, he wiped her eyes and bopped her nose. She blushed wildly.

"Uh…"

"Wow, the loudmouth is silenced by a simple gesture of kindness, I would have never guessed."

Shaziah placed her hands on her hips and gave Brad a look causing everyone gathered to laugh. He did not seem to care about whatever she used to be. All he seemed to care about was right now, but what was to keep her from ever becoming Billy again? What if when their mission was over, and the powers went back to sleep she did not turn back into Billy? What would he do then, would he still love her if she were trapped back in her male body?

Abigail and the others retreated into the cabin for lunch and continued to discuss undead and its ramifications. Abigail began.

"An undead is a body which is being sustained by magic other than life force. This is a very dangerous practice, one which requires much study to perfect. If the Dark Lord is using this as his means of raising an army, then the most likely place to get bodies was the morgue and the cemetery.

"How are we going to patrol the morgue and keep bodies from vanishing from there?"

"We cannot really do anything about that, but we can watch the graveyard."

It was settled. They would begin patrolling the graveyard and around the hospital that night, and also, they would make sweeps of the park to make sure no more sacrifices took place.