This is actually more of the history that will be behind an upcoming story since the polls have closed and Double Trouble won out. Still, it is long enough to be considered a short story in it's own right and since I'm not sure if people will visit my website to check it out I decided to post it here and it will show up on my site when I make the section for this story public when I finish it up. There are minor clues to spoilers to the story contained here, though nothing too big.

Also, this will be the basic lore to most of my W.i.t.c.h. stories with a few things possibly changed depending on the situation of the story. Such as a story I'm planning on writing some time after Double Trouble that I'm calling Demon Queen at the moment where Phobos will be absolute evil...and yet he will think twice about messing with Will after he meets her betrothed.

Also, I want to thank Penguin Lord0029 for his feedback on this and his help with it.

The True History of the Guardians

Light (Heart) of Meridian: Xin Jing

Quintessence: Aether

Water: Aphros

Earth: Avani

Air: Aura

Fire: Adena

Throughout the years the true origins of Kandracar has been retold and retranslated so many times that much of the original truth was lost and what is believed to be the truth is nothing but a fairy tale. It is believed that there once was a kingdom that was suffering from a prolonged drought. Feeling pity for the people of the kingdom, the Jade Emperor's four dragons came together and used their magical abilities to bring rain to the land. However, in doing so they enraged the Emperor himself. Angered that they had acted without his permission, the Emperor ordered that the dragons be confined in the hearts of four mountains. The Emperor's daughter, however, realized that the dragons were right in helping the people. She argued with her father and when he refused to reverse his decision she freed the dragons herself. After being freed from their mountain prisons, the dragons became one with the Emperor's daughter, and she left. All that remained of her was the Heart of Kandrakar.

This however is not the true origins as it is much more complicated and actually begins centuries ago when both Meridian and Midgard were connected and trade was between the worlds was commonplace using stone gates that housed portals. Everything was peaceful until a spoiled prince became emperor of the great empire that was known as the Xuchang Empire, inheriting it from his father after he choked on a piece of candy.

The empire started to suffer under his rule as he had anyone who offended him in the slightest killed. The more people he killed the more his people turned against him and wanted him dead. He was powerful though, a long line of creatures known as the fae that lived very long lives unless they died of a rare disease that could infect them or unnatural causes.

Believing that he could do whatever he wanted, he took one of the minor fae he was infatuated with and when she wouldn't marry him he locked her in a tower. Night after night he attempted to win her love, promising her money, clothes, jewels, anything her heart desired. After weeks of trying, she finally told him that the only thing she desires was to be free of him. Enraged he decided to take her by force almost every night until she became pregnant and soon gave birth to a daughter named Xin Jing.

Xin Jing was a lot like her father when it came to power, inheriting his great power and at times showed that she was more adept at controlling them than anyone who lived over the last thousand years. She was also vastly different from the man as she was kind to everyone and enjoyed helping people as much as she could. Infuriated by this, he had her fitted with a collar she should never be able to remove on her own that would nullify her power unless he granted her access to them.

It was this turn of events that that led some of the more vocal people of the empire to form a rebellion against the emperor who would do such a cruel thing to the princess that everyone loved. In response, the emperor used his powers to force a drought upon the land killing off many crops and causing famine to spread across the land. By the time Xin Jing was a teenager, the empire was a shadow of it's formal glory.

The fae were not happy about this turn of events, as they were nervous about crossing the emperor for fear of hurting his captive...the princess of the nymphs. They knew he would kill her if he even saw one of the fae heading his way, but this was too much. The council of dragons, one of the most powerful races of fae who was equal to the emperor when their power was combined, decided to act and help the people of the empire. Using their large jaws, they each scooped up water and rained it down upon the dry landscape ending the drought.

Once again, the emperor's rule was challenged and he once again used cruel and manipulative ways to stop his opposition. Forcing the nymph princess out before the dragons with a sword at her throat, he demanded that the dragons submit to him or she would die right before their eyes. At first they all refused, but when the princess was also brought out and the emperor said he would release her power if they submitted, so they gave in. The dragons one by one bowed to the emperor who forced them into their human form showing all of them as woman. With an evil grin he had each one collared sealing their powers and shipped off to separate fortresses to keep them from being able to combine their powers and free themselves.

He knew better than killing them outright though as it was dangerous to do so without siphoning off their powers first. When a dragon died, it was because hey used up all of their power and no longer had the energy to maintain their life. To end their life early by violent means meant unleashing all of their violent power and devastating miles of landscape and killing everyone in the release of power. So instead of killing them, he had his mages chain them in the center of the fortress inside a magic circle that would put them in a kind of stasis.

This was the first mistake in what would lead up to the emperor's downfall as he had made a promise and the spells on Xin Jing's collar was voice activated, not activated by intent. So she regained her power, though she hid it from her father and secretly got in touch with the rebels and became their hope. One by one, each of the dragon's were freed from their captivity thanks to information Xin Jing was giving them.

Once again together, the five dragons combined their power and freed themselves from their collars as well as gave Xin Jing a gift for freeing them. Each dragon gave the nymph a spark of their life energy granting her lesser powers than their own over quintessence, water, fire, earth and air combined to her own powers. They power was too much for the nymph to control at first, so the dragons sent after the shamans of their tribe and they linked Xin Jing with the planet so that she would pass on her powers to her daughters, as the dragons were a matriarchal society who believed that women were better suited to rule as they were seen as ones who created life. Males were often seen by the dragons as ones who destroyed and made good warriors, but lousy rulers. Thus, the first bearer of the Heart of Meridian was created, though many of the people called her the Light of Meridian.

From there it was easy for Xin Jing to free her mother from her imprisonment and confront her father. She may have been disgusted with him over everything that he had done, but he was still her father. She still had some feelings for him, but when he informed her that she was nothing but a pawn to him it broke her heart. It however did not break her spirit as she gave him an ultimatum to give up or they would forcibly remove him from his seat of power. She tore her collar off and threw it to the floor shocking him, making him attack in fury. It was easy for her to deflect his powers, which in the end destroyed his own body.

The people cheered now that they were free of the emperor's tyranny and named Xin Jing their new empress. She told the people that she did not want that tile as the empire would bring up bad memories in the years to come. Instead, she became their first queen with the five dragons becoming her guardians and peace ruled the land for one thousand years. As with many creatures of the fae though, they all became tired of immortality and the unending reign over the kingdom.

Xin Jing finally found someone whom she could trust her heart, though he was human. They married and had a daughter which had power over the Heart of Meridian much like her mother before. As per the shamans warning, most children of the royal line would be female and the Heart would only respond to the female line though they weren't prepared for it slowly growing a consciousness of it's own.

The nymph wasn't the only one who wanted a child to pass their legacy onto. Unlike the nymph though, when a dragon gave birth they gave much of their life force to their child. And when it came to the royal line of the dragons, their elemental powers also passed on as well. Unlike the Heart of Meridian though, their powers were not connected to a celestial body and controlled the actual elements themselves no matter what dimension they visited.

Much as the nymph though, the dragons mated with humans granted their children an unusual amount of power. Their power threatened to not only consume their half human bodies as they matured, but destroy everyone around them as well. Again, the dragon shamans were summoned once again, though they reluctantly agreed to come as it was taboo for a dragon to mate with a human. Even if it was their royalty of the different clans.

They shamans were not the only representatives that came for the fae, as many others worried about what could happen if these young women's powers went out of control. Races from several worlds and several members of the light and dark fae came to see what was going on and everything looked dire until a shaman came up with a solution that could solve the problem while at the same time granting the women even more power. They would merge the dragon's powers along with their daughters into the Heart of a devastated world and create aurameres that regulated these women's powers.

What the shaman didn't tell them was that they made it so that when each new guardian gave birth, their power would mostly transfer to their first born daughter leaving them with a small trace. It was a side effect of their dragon heritage and the rituals that would create the aurameres, one that they didn't bother informing the young women until it was too late to search for another possible solution.

The group that all met and created a portal to a world that nearly destroyed, the surface being mostly inhospitable. There they created the floating fortress that they named after the head shaman, Kandrakar. They took the women to the center along with their mothers in human form. After performing the rituals, the five aurameres were created that would regulate the powers as well as the key to unlock the power called the Heart of Kandrakar. As their human bodies grew stronger they would be granted more power and stronger forms in stages so as not to burn out their bodies.

It was then that the group collected decided to create a council to guard these aurameres instead of the few people they originally thought to have. The shaman was named the first oracle and the group would be known as the council of Kandrakar and would be known as a neutral side unless balance was going to be greatly threatened then they would use their power to take care of it or send the guardians to put a stop to it.

Of course this didn't last long as the light fae quickly gained control on the council and they decided to push their own agenda and enforce the rules they decided to set. They decided what was considered good and if anyone stepped too far out of line and threatened other worlds the guardians would be sent in to stop them, told that they were stopping a great evil...even when that wasn't the case.

During their free time they remained on Meridian protecting the royal family for generations. Generations of guardians passed as they were now human, though their bodies aged a little slower once reaching their prime. Generations of Queens passed, some growing jealous of their friends powers that at their peak could rival that of the Heart of Meridian.

Sadly, the close friendship that was once between the guardians and royal line slowly declined until it looked like the ties may be restored as the only pair of twins were ever born to one of the dragon's descendants in history. The father being of the royal line, the mother being the Keeper of the Heart. One daughter inherited the position of guardian while the other became queen. For a short time the ties of friendship were restored as the royal line was wiped out except for this prince that fathered the Queen who would become the hope of future, daughter of Kandrakar and Meridian.

Sadly she became known as the betrayer as she knew the secrets behind the guardians. The current generation brought up to be like sisters, including her birth sister, her very twin, faced the ultimate betrayal. After becoming Queen, the woman waited until the guardians gave birth and would be at their weakest point to kill them. She never got to kill their babies though as the guardians found out the Queens plans to invade Midgard and sent their children with members of the council who acted as midwifes. The guardians wanted to believe in their sister and give her a chance to turn away from her plans, but they weren't stupid.

The current Oracle used power from the aurameres to raise a veil over Meridian stopping the Queen's plans enraging her while the newborn babies were sent to Midgard...to Earth to be adopted by loving families.

As time went on, the people of Meridian grew more and more resentful of the monarchy as Queen after Queen abused her power more and more. It was history repeating itself, and this time the fae was near extinct thanks to the last two generations hunting them down and executing them with blades made of the purest iron.

It was shortly before Weira, the last Queen of Meridian was born when a prophecy was foretold by one of the last mages. A prince would stop the cruel cycle of the dark monarchy while the lost princess would restore the light. It was this prophecy that enraged Weira when her first born was a son, something that had never happened. She almost killed him, but her husband had begged her to spare him, which she did despite reservations. Instead she abused him daily, beating him and verbally assaulting him.

When they boy turned five years old when Weira gave birth to a daughter and also learned that a dark fae had infiltrated her court and had been secretly tutoring Phobos. It turned out that Phobos was a genius as well as extremely gifted in magic. When Weira attacked the fae, Phobos stuck up for her and redirected his mother's own attack back managing to kill the Queen and the King didn't even put up a fight while the newborn princess was smuggled off world through one of the unstable portals that would show up every once in awhile.

Growing up the under the dark fae's tutelage, Phobos learned the ways of anger and vengeance as Phobos took out his darker emotions on anyone who crossed him with the only once being able to balance him being two friends he made of light fae that were shapeshifters. He was more misguided than anything else by this dark fae, being taught to harness his darker, more base emotions leaving him unsure how to truly use or understand his lighter emotions. Thanks to this, Phobos was left with a warped view of the world and the people surrounding him.

In the end when Phobos was forced to choose between the woman and his two newer friends, he chose Cedric and Miranda, a brother and sister, over the dark fae. He had learned she was using him for her own dark agenda. The dark fae was mortally wounded, but escaped from the furious prince.

The damage had been done though as the dark fae had already convinced Phobos that in order to survive he would have to keep in control of the kingdom. And in order to do that he would have to find his sister and drain her power because otherwise she would turn out like their mother and kill him. He confirmed this when he spoke to the mage and was told that he shall lose his throne by the return of the Light of Meridian. Thanks to his warped view of everything, he never once believed that he may survive after that as the dark fae had often told him that the only was to survive was to keep control of the kingdom. And if the return of his sister threatened his life, he was determined to strike the first blow and end her existence first.

During all of this a rebellion had started during Weira's rule and continued on during Phobos's reign. Some groups believed that they would be better off with a male ruler after the last several generations of Queens had caused nothing but trouble. Others believed that Phobos and his sister were the children of prophecy and that she would return and put an end to Phobos's cruel ways. And the final faction didn't care who ruled as long as they unseated the tyrant.

Meanwhile on earth the children was raised on the bastardized history of the guardians, not that much of the truth was recorded or remembered anywhere. For several generations they did their best to guard the veil, even though their tenure normally lasted maybe one or two years as they lost their powers once they gave birth, only a small spark remaining as they passed on to the first born daughter.

There were two problems with this though when Theresa Cook had a miscarriage of her first born which was a daughter while she did give birth to her second child, a son. There was complications during pregnancy and had to have a cesarean and immediately go into surgery to survive. Sadly, it left her unable to have any more children. So when Adena, the dragon visited Theresa in her dreams and showed her the ritual to pass on the fire dragon spark to a child with a spark of magic, she adopted a baby girl that had the gift of magic and performed it, passing on her legacy as guardian to a new line.

The other problem was less of a problem exactly as Susan Vandom gave birth to the only set of twins in known history since they knew so little of before coming to earth, not that any of them knew they originally came from Meridian. Tony and Susan ended their marriage in a messy divorce with each parent gaining sole custody of one of the twins. Tony ended up leaving Heatherfield, shortly followed by Susan in search of him and her other daughter.