By Luke Daniel.
Chapter 1.
An unknown tale.
We were known about, a long time ago we were known rather well. We were winged figures that did holy deeds and protected the innocent. The description wasn't far off though I wouldn'd necessarily call it "holy". Angels, that's what we are we're angels. God may have created us though there was no sure sign. We were just born it was said that we came from random births we were not born with our wings, but we had a star tattoo in silver ink on our back between the shoulder blades.
This did not mean we grew our wing it meant we could we had to earn them by some way of great good some it was self sacrifice for their friends or family. Others just did many good deads never doing anything that was even slightly against the right thing to do.
Once we had went freely through the world when we were more common, when people could handle us. A long time ago we were a normal sight. Of course that was before the war, before the end of the angelic age. Though that's what people called us its not what we are. We're guardians we call ourselves the holy guardians (again with the holy remark). We are guardians and the people called us angels (ever wonder where the term guardian angel comes from?)
Oh yeah the war sorry I was getting off track. When we thrived in peace with the humans all was well. Back then humans looked anywhere for a mean of wealth. Some started to mine in caves looking for crystals diamonds gold anything worth a pretty penny. At first they dug carefully going for the money needed, but they soon became gready digging recklessly and too deep. In those depths something was found something…….different. they released and evil force that killed everything. In those dark caves they found a dark civilization that had been locked away from time.
They released foul,foul creatures from down there. These creatures fed off death and they bred like wildfire. Creepers. They were practicly the opposite of the guardians killing anything that moves and eating the flesh of those they killed. By anything I mean anything even others of their own kind. They often bred horrible monstrous creatures to help them collect food always something that thirsted for blood and could kill hundreds at a time.
The creepers were covered in scales, batlike wings. Yellow eyes with red slits in them. Their collar bones and torso stuck out far their stomachs layered with muscle. They're long tails had charp quils that went down them in a pattern of long,short,short,long. Long open bat ears. Their scales were a dark grey with sploches of green.
Their faces were horrible. The nostrils open for all to see and the cheek bones standing out remarkably far making it where the eyes seemed to be sunken in. their brow did the same thing and their sharp jagged teeth would stick out from under their lips.
I remember the first one I saw it had dove out of the sky into my town and plucked up my older brother into the air. It had bit into his neck and sprayed the blood through the air. After it had finished with him it had dove for me by my sister had jumped infront of me taking its long black talons in the chest. I was twelve then and I watched my brother and sister torn apart in the sky above me.
It was later on in that year that we went to war guardians fought along with us. I was there as a bowman seeing as I was rather young to be a warrior. I had been far back behind the line with a perfectly carved bow and an arrow full of quivers.
The creepers were in large numbers hundreds of thousands. Many men from many nations across the world had joined together into the ultimate army. All the mortals were mainly bowmen since creepers were usually in the air.
It was a glorious site all the mortal beings wore white armor with gold trim. And the angels in their golden cloth-like armor. Creepers didn't wear armor, they were muscled all over and their dark colors gave quite a magnificent show. Though creepy.
I had been kind of far back in the army and my longbow was already strung with an arrow nocked. We had marched for days from my city of Amanree. We had gotten to the plains of Mageera after 20 days march and they had already been there. What used to be such a beautiful magnificent place was now a dark charred ashfield bathed in the red stain of blood.
Millions of them were there. Much more than we'd expected. They bred like crazy we're not sure how they bred so fast but they did. It had been then when we'd see all this evil and our hopes had started to fade that the sound of wings had come up from behind us and the featherd wings flew past our heads. Guardians were here to help us. White wings and orange wings red wings and grays so many different colored angels wings.
When we were all together we formed into ranks. Creepers didn't care much about ranks it was war to them, but then again war was a game to them. We sat there waiting to strike as the king told his pre-battle speech. He was just about to be finished when an arrow flew through the air away from the enemy line and struck him in the chest.
Our king fell off his pure white horse now stained with blood. As bad as this was for us, it was the worlds worst thing they could have done because now we had something different in us except the need to protect. We had anger, We had rage, and we were going to kill each and every one of them.
After that happened we figured screw the routine. We charged. Not me of course I was an archer so I shot, and shot, and shot. I was just one archer so I didn't do much but with all of us we could murder them. One volley of arrows took down tons of them. Thousands with each volley.
Creepers may have been brutish but that didn't necisarilly make them stupid. They knew this was a threat. Arrows were their worst enemy. If we didn't have arrows we were stuck on the ground and they could carry us away with the large talons on their feet. If we lost our archers our hopes were gone. Just then we heard more wings, bigger wings. The other archers were still shooting when I finally turned around in time to see two large lizard like beasts land in the middle of the gourp of archers.
I was barely able to yell out before one of them nearly crushed me. "Drakes!" immediately the other archers turned aiming for the soft skin of the drakes arm pits or their eyes but the damage was done. The drakes were in our midst and they could easily take out all the archers, and now that I looked down all the regiments of archers had two drakes or more plowing through them.
The archers scattered in every direction I ran through the crowd a drake behind me following me as if I would be funner to kill than the others. Just when I was thinking it had moved on my leg was grabbed by a large scaly hand, and I was hoisted into the air. When it turned me around I looked down into its cold black eyes. I opened its wide jaws and was about to drop me in when a flash of color cought my attention.
From nowhere zoomed in four guardians each of them swarming around the drakes head. It made me wonder why they were protecting me specifically. Then I felt the cool breeze on my back. My shirt had folded down revieling the star tattoo on my back I'd had since birth. They were saving me to grow my wings. The drake dropped me to the ground annoyed by the intruders that swarmed around its head in a wall of feathers. They were saving their own.
I watched in amazement as these angels fought for me, saving me. A white wing was slashing aimlessly and uselessly at the creatures head. He turned towards me and yelled "Run child run and grow your wings." Then he turned to the other angels and yelled. "Protect the Engartom." As he finished saying that I picked up my bow and started to turn when the drake struck out at him. Catching him in its massive jaws. As it crunched down on him with its dagger sized teeth I saw the blood gush from his mouth and his perfect white wings were spattered red with blood.
"No!" I screamed and nocked an arrow I looked at the beast looking for a weakness, and I saw one no one else had ever noticed before. A small opening in the chest bone barely large enough for an arrow, but I saw it. I aimed and pulled back on the bow as hard as possible. Then I released. It screamed through the air and struck a perfect target in the opening, and it drove strait into the drakes heart. Blood spewed from the wound and it fell down almost immediately from the blow to its large heart.
But I wasn't done. Anger still welled in me I nocked another arrow and launched at a flying creeper. Took it down in one hit my arrow busting right through its thick bones. I then nocked four arrows at once and launched them at four different targets. All perfect shots. I came up to the other drake it was chasing around some of the men in the archers regiment. I was behind it and its tail was wagging infront of me. I grabbed the tail and ran up the beasts back dodging its spikes and when I got to its neck I pulled back on the arrow on my bow and released the arrow into the skull of the beast. It sounded like breaking glass.
I went through this rage for a long time launching so many arrows it was madness. Finally my quiver ran out. No problem. I threw down my bow and picked up two guardian scimitars. I then ran through the ranks slashing at every evil beast before me. Once I got to an open space I saw four creepers spot me from the skies and they came diving. I stood ready and when the first came I struck. They never knew what hit them.
The first I slashed through one of its wings and then its neck in a fluid motion. The second I dug the sword into its expose spine. The third got my left scimitar to its righ eye. The last was struck down by a quick blow to the side of the head.
I had never fought with a sword so well ever before, but hey I wasn't complaining. Of course there was this extremely annoying itch on my back. I was still on my rampage when I heard the words "Your Highness!" screamed from the soldier next to me. I looked at the top of the hill to see prince Kalmer fighting away eight creepers, but there were too many for him. They were playing with him waiting to strike quick and kill him.
With all the power I could I jumped and went toward the hill at the fastest run I had ever ran. When I got there they were just about to finish him off. Too bad I'm still going crazy. I swung in circles striking the cold reptilian bodies. I was murderin them. I ducked and struck forward and then dived left in time to sever ones neck . I had nearly killed them all when it happened.
I noticed another creeper off to the side a long spear in his hand and his eyes were set on the prince. A throwing spear. He pulled back and threw fast and strong. The prince had no chance. I ran to him so fast it felt like….flying. I dove infront of him and took the spear to the chest. I felt the pain and I tasted the blood. I had about four seconds of pain before the pain left and I felt no more.
Except that awful itch.
I thought I was dead. I was positive I was dead. I think I was dead, but I was alive. I woke in a medical tent later that morning oddly enough I felt great my whole chest was bandaged up, but other than that I was fine. I tried to sit up in the bed but a large surge of pain racked through my chest. Okay maybe I wasn't "fine".
It took me a moment to realize that I wasn't in the usual medical tent. I was separated from the others. Now that was odd. There was something weird here, but I knew that medical staff checked the patients periodically. So I waited.
Eventually my assumption proved true. A medical maid came in about 30 minutes later. She was going around doing her work messing with bandages and everything but she never looked at my face so she never knew I was awake. Eventually she threw a passin glance to my face "Oh!" she yelped and dropped the plate holding all her ointments and what not. She reached down to clean them up but they had all mixed together in the dirt and were just one big glod of mush.
She straightened up and smoothed the crinkles out of her dress. She motioned certain movements saying she was thinking about what to say. After a while she must have found her words "J-Just stay here" I laughed "Like I have much of a choice." She ran out of the tent and left me there to wait. So I did the only thing I could. I waited.
She took quiet a while to come back so long that I was almost asleep again by the time she came back. I was almost out when I heard voices. I heard them exceptionally well considering it felt as if they were on the edge of the medical area. Wait a second. I could feel them? It was an odd sensation, but after I heard their voices I had somehow focused in on them almost as if I was blind and I focused on their location by sound.
I sat up and waited for them to enter as I slowly searched their voices so I could tell who they were. I could identify two immediately. The princes (now kings) voice and then the general or my legion. The other two were difficult one was female but ti wasn't the maid, and the other was a male but he was different he was graceful even in his speech.
I snuggled into the feather soft bed preparing for their entry. Finally when the prince swung the flap out of the way and entered. "Your higness." I said bowing my head seeing as I could bow no more than my head. Then he surprised me. He bowed down. I gasped. The king was bowing to me! I stuttered not knowing what to say but he spoke first. "Soldier you saved my life." After he did this the general entered. The king pulled himself up from the bow and the general bowed down as well.
The king turned toward the general "What is this soldiers name general?" the general studied my face then replied "I'm not sure my lord hes one of my archers not one of my swordsmen." After this the king turned towards me directly. "Your name?" I cleared my throat and tried to speak clearly. "Gregor. My names Gregor." He nodded and turned again towards the tent opening. This time a young lady walked in.
She walked powerfully and gracefully, and most of all. She was beautiful. Her long green dress went to her feet and slightly dragged behind her and her long orange-red hair went to her waist. Her striking green eyes looked around the entire room taking everything in before she saw me.
The general bowed to her then runed to me "This is Selena your personal healer shes been working on you for about three weeks." I was glad to know this, but three weeks seems like a short time for a spear to the chest wound. He spoke again "She has come to check your wound one last time before we tell you the news." I looked quizaccly at him "What news?" he ignored me and motioned to Selena.
She nodded to him and moved over to me. I had to lean up as she pulled the covers down and started to unwrap my chest. When the bandages finally came off I gasped. Not only was my wound almost healed, but the injured area wasn't even scarred. I reached down to touch it and she slapped my hand away. She must not have been any older than me, and when she slapped me a smile flashed over her face. I was 16 she may have been 17 or 15 I couldn't tell.
When she'd cleaned the bandage she placed a new one as not all the wound was closed yet. I saw her look up at me then behind me in a split second. What was behind me? I was about to turn my head when her hands came up and grabbed my face. She had very soft hands. "You should wait for the news first." I was baffled so I turned back to the general who opened the flap yet another time. This time in came a guardian. He had large orange wings that were folded behind his back as he came in but he loosened them a bit once inside, and the tips extended infront of him while the rest of the wing stayed behind.
His large orange wings had streaks of a blondish brown mixed in them. He had short bleach colored hair that was short enough to stick up on its own but not in one layer many spikes went further than others (it was unknown how guardians kept their hair like this or any of their odd styles it just happened naturally). He bowed and then turned the unmistakeable blue eyes of a guardian on me.
I know some people have blue eyes, but these eyes were almost white but had a small twinge of blue. I bowed my head again. The guardian stepped forward and looked deep in my eyes. "Well theres no sign of taint there was no creeper venom in him when he was struck." He stepped back and the general looked pleased. "Your lucky you know. That you didn't get bitten during all your fighting. Do you know what the total number you killed was?" I shrugged. "15 maybe 16." He laughed. "You killed 73 before you went down." Wow. I hadn't believed it to be that many.
The guardian finally spoke. "Then you sacrificed yourself for the king. That took great bravery. Your lucky the wound didn't take your first and second life." Second life? This was all starting to make a scary sense. The itch, not being able to look back, how fast I had healed. When it hit me I looked up at them to find all of them smiling.
The guardian spoke again with his fluid voice.
"Welcome to the world of guardians."
Chapter 2.
The guardians tale.
I looked back and saw beautiful white wings with black dots in them like snow owls wings. I realized now why the bed had seemed so soft. It had been my wings. I reached back and touched them. So soft. I can't believe that I hadn't noticed them before. They were huge. Stretching atleast 12 feet they were a beautiful white. "You're a white wing." I turned toward the guardian who had just spoken. "White wings are excellent flyers best of all the angels. Your also extremely graceful and a bow should be an extremely easy tool for you. White wing are usually wind or lightning element masters but we'll get to that later."
Now the pain couldn't hold me down I stood up from the bed covered in only my bandage and a small piece of cloth molded into shorts, crude but effective. I stood trying out movement with the new weight on my back. They weighed practicly nothing. Now that I think of it I felt as if I weighed less now. I jumped and found the force I usually used for a hop sent me atleast five feet in the air.
I felt as if I weighed nothing wich was likely as I had to be very light in order to fly. I stepped toward the door and walked out. We were in beautiful lush green land with a soft breeze and the smell of flowers on the breeze. The breeze. It felt so great it felt as if it was calling to me. So I answered.
I launched myself into the air with a 25 feet high jump and I beat down with my great white wings. I soared into the sky going higher and higher until I thought I was high enough and decided to level out and fly forward. I was above the clouds soaring over the beds of white beauty. I flew faster and faster reveling in the feeling of flight.
I had been flying for a long time before I heard the wing beats behind me I looked back to see the orange winged guardian behind me, and the funny thing was he was having trouble keeping up with me.
I slowed my pace until he could fly with me at a comfortable pace. For him it was comfortable to me it was slow…..and boring. His wings were small compared to mine, but he had a beautiful way of flying. His orange wings were smaller but they were stronger as they had been used more.
Orange wings weren't actually good at flying though, orange wings were magic weavers. They casted the strongest spells pulling the elements together in great unison to strike with great power. He turned his eyes to me and spoke again "Your flying is already superb I'm surprised that you were already flying faster than me. White wings are good flyer but you're the first that adapted so fast." At this I pulled in my wings and dove through the clouds quickly descending faster than I could have ever thought a guardian could travel.
When I finally pulled my wings out I was about 10 feet above the ground. Close, but that's what made it fun. I turned around and looked to the camp. It was no longer in sight. I beet my wings as hard as I could flying in the camps direction at a great speed. It wasn't long before I was over the camp and I drifted down to a soft landing in the middle of the camp.
I felt something new now. I felt complete. Flying was freedom, flying was completion, flying was life. I waited there not sure what to do when a maid came forward with some new clothes. They were guardian robes white and they fit perfectly like a cloak with a hood as well and loose sleeves with wide openings that hung from my wrists.
I tied them around me body and moved my wings until they slipped into the right spot. Eventually a small group of say six guardians approached. Two gold wings one red and two orange. I bowed my head as they approached and they returned the gesture wich confirmed it was the appropriate motion. They carried with them two things.
One was a belt with the white metal guardian twin scimitars on them. The other was a long bow, a white wooden longbow with a golden wire as its string. Along with the bow came a quiver with golden feathered arrows and white metal tips. No one knew where this unique white metal came from, but the guardians used it. I put my hands out and bowed as the weapons were put in my hands.
"Thank you." I said pulling up from my bow. As I pulled up one of them reached forward motioning to my hood. I bowed my head to allow him to push the hood down. The red wing a very able bodied woman walked forward and cleared her throat. "Well you have now been welcomed to the world of guardians and you have been given your weapons. These scimitars will never dull and they will always strike true. Your bow was more of a rare work we have never been able to make one so good and seeing as you changed the day it was finished we figured it was a sign to give it to you. It is made form a very special wood that does not have a name the woods usually too strong to bend into shape, but we found the wood for that bow adrift in a river and we made it while the wood was wet to make it right. Now ti has dried and it will shoot further than any other bow in existence."
"You have been welcomed into our order and now have the right to call yourself guardian. Be proud young one you have surpassed all else that lives on the planet. Now I have seen great things in you I cannot make them into an exact image of what the deeds are, but I expect much from you new guardian. May your strength radiat for years to come. Many many years."