Chapter 2
The Guardians
"Who in their right mind would live this deep in the forest?" Elizabeth snapped angrily as she continued on her journey deeper into the forest of SilverPines. Prior to which she had gone to the village and asked some of the locals in which general direction Kaya and Ember's home might be… That had taken a few hours, as it turned out that most of the locals were absolutely terrified of what was deeper in the forest. Eventually she managed to coax the general direction out of the townsfolk… And thus she had been traveling in that direction ever since.
"I can't be going in the wrong direction… At least I don't think I am… Grrr." Elizabeth muttered as she felt a bad headache beginning to form. Though she wasn't sure what it was that was really causing this migraine… Whether it was the fact that she could not find Ember and Kaya's house, or that back at the castle, her brother was slowly dying and there was nothing she could do about it…
A sudden feeling of fear suddenly washed over her like the oceans tide. It was a feeling that she really despised… It was the feeling of being watched… She was used to it but that didn't mean she had to like it…
Only right now it felt different…
Whatever was watching her now felt inhuman. A feeling that she had experienced with Hobbes and Balverines before… But this… This just felt worlds apart from them. This feeling distracted her so much that as she hopped over a fallen tree she failed to notice that on the other side of that tree was a sharp drop off… The poor young queen hit every ledge on the way down getting herself covered in plants and dirt before she finally landed in an area full of plants covered in thorns.
"Damn it!" Elizabeth snapped as she managed to stand and make her way out of the thicket she landed in. After she brushed herself off and actually took a look around she stopped…
Apparently she had found what she had been looking so hard for…
She was in middle of a secluded valley… It was quite a beautiful area, with several hills covered in ancient trees and beautiful flowers. And running through this little hidden paradise was a small stream; and as Elizabeth looked around for something hidden amongst the trees caught her eye… as she walked closer to get a better look, she saw realized that it was a mansion…
It was big and it was old… If Elizabeth had to guess it must be have been several centuries old at minimum. It was beautifully made, the entire mansion was made of stone and growing all over its exterior were various types of ferns and vines. It was set in an ideal location, hidden within the trees... It practically blended in with the rest of the forested landscape. Although as Elizabeth drew nearer to this mansion, she could not help but notice that it been repaired recently… As she looked closer at one section near the door it appeared as though it's rocky exterior was slightly scorched… As though at one time the whole house must've been ablaze. Well either way she had more important things to think about than that. So she knocked on the door hoping to get this unpleasant business over with…
There was no answer…
Elizabeth was not in the mood for this… So she knocked again, harder this time…
And again there was no answer…
Elizabeth began to really lose her patience… She had not come all this way, just to be here in the middle of nowhere on the one day that Kaya and Ember were not there. So it was no surprise that the next time that she knocked on the door… she may have applied a little bit too much of her hero strength.
… And the door broke and fell inward…
"Whoops." Elizabeth muttered as she picked up the heavy oak door that had broken off its rusty hinges… And she tried in vain for several minutes to fix the now broken door, but upon finding out how useless this was she just propped it up against the wall inside of the mansion. Once that was done, Elizabeth finally got her first look inside of Kaya and Ember's home…
"Now this is more like what I was expecting… Creepy…" Elizabeth thought silently to herself as she looked around the house's interior.
As Kaya and Ember were nobles it was not surprising to find that their home was well furnished with semi-expensive furniture. Although it looked like most of their stuff was worn down. The stone floors were covered with ancient looking rugs with intricate designs woven into their patterns. There were several small tables that each were occupied by either some small statuettes of Balverines and wolves or perhaps a vase here and there… All expensive looking. But what really caught Elizabeth eye was that most of the walls were adorned with ancient weapons; primarily swords. Each sword looked very well preserved, and sharp. No doubt they were cleaned with the utmost care, and sharpened to perfection.
Elizabeth walked deeper into the mansion, her eyes skimming the hallways and staircases in hopes of finding either of the sisters. But the house was cold and silent and sent a chill down her spine. To her the feeling of being watched had not diminished, if anything it was being merged with a feeling of pure dread… She did not like it here. And her sense of foreboding did not diminish as she reached what was no doubt the sitting room. The furnishings in this room were… very unusual…
The room was fairly large and circular. There was a large black sofa with two red pillows… And judging by the wear on this sofa, it was frequently slept upon. There was a rocking chair that looked extremely old. But surprisingly not worn down, there was a rug covering the floor. Its colors were purple and gold, and it was oval-shaped. A fireplace was in the center of the room and all pieces of furniture faced it. But here is where it got really strange…
There were two other pieces of furniture in the room… The first was another chair but it was considerably larger than any normal chair should be, it looked like it was made for a giant! And calling it was a chair would be inappropriate, this was by every definition of the word a throne... and it was very well made… The throne itself was adorned with intricate designs of skulls, and set within it were several obsidian and ruby jewels that glittered like wicked stars… There were also several other intricate designs that looked as though they were made with black marble that was literally sculpted onto this throne… Although in spite of its obvious great crafts work, it appeared as though this throne had long fallen into disrepair and had been patched several times very haphazardly with random pieces of wood, and paint… thus leading what was once a gorgeous seat for a ruler, to look very… Well… it just kinda looked tacky…
The next odd item in this room was what appeared to be a birds perch… Only it was 100 times bigger than any bird perch Elizabeth had ever seen before! It nearly went to the ceiling, with maybe a few inches to spare. Not even enough for a bird to sit upon. It was huge, and apparently was crafted very well. Elizabeth did not even want to begin to fathom what kind of winged beast would have roosted upon such a perch.
"Maybe a vulture? No, not even a vulture is not even that big…" Elizabeth mumbled as she looked at this creepy room… It was official Ember and Kaya were clearly not home. This had been a wasted trip, and the Queen had never felt worse… But it was just as she was turning around to leave.
"Hey! Who the hell are you?" Barked the voice of the woman who had apparently just come in behind the young queen…
… Elizabeth looked into the eyes of Kaya…
Elizabeth couldn't help but stare a little bit, Kaya had literally not changed at all since the last time she had seen her nine years ago. Kaya was an attractive looking woman; she had very long dark brown hair that went down to the center of her back which she kept in a ponytail. She was extremely skinny. Her skin was very pale, like she didn't get out in the sun a lot… Kaya also wore a military suit, much like the one Elizabeth had that she had found behind a demon door, in fact it was almost identical… The only differences were that the trim on the upper body was dyed gray… And where the sun design was usually on the back, Kaya had a light blue design of a crescent moon instead. But other than that it was identical to the standard military suit… But it was her eyes that had really surprised the young queen… Her eyes were like amethyst stones… Beautiful and purple, with a hint of magenta glowing slightly around the pupil.
That was one of the reasons why Elizabeth's mother; Sparrow had been surprised by this particular family of nobles… They all had very unusual eye colors. While Elizabeth had really only seen the eyes of Kaya and Ember, she had forgot how stunning they were… It was said that their great-grandfather, the one who had actually spoke with her mother about arranging for Logan to meet Kaya… It was said that his eyes were as red as fire and blood.
It took Kaya a minute to look over this stranger who had suddenly appeared in her house… Before she realized just to it was.
"Lizzie?" Kaya questioned raising an eyebrow… Elizabeth found herself drawn back into the real world and she cleared her throat and nodded.
"Yes, it's me… Logan's sister." She said with a small smile… Although no such smile was returned by Kaya, who only seemed to frown more so at this.
"I know who you are… Oh and congratulations on the whole becoming queen bit. I should've dropped a letter, but I've been busy… Something I'm sure you're very used to being queen and all." Kaya said as she began walking back towards the front of the house, and with a motion of her hand she indicated for Elizabeth to follow… Which she hastily did.
"There's a reason I'm here Kaya…" Elizabeth began… But suddenly her brother's words interrupted where she was going with this.
"Please, don't tell her I'm dying… I want her to come on her own, I don't want pity…" Logan had asked before Elizabeth had set out…
"Oh really? The Queen of Albion has business with me? What do you want?" Kaya asked flatly… She seemed genuinely irritated… Although Elizabeth could hardly blame her, the last time that Kaya spoke to a member of the royal family it was not a pleasant conversation… And then of course there was the current matter that Elizabeth had technically broken into her house… Which certainly could not be helping the situation.
"It's about my brother, Logan…" The very mention of her brother's name made Kaya's eyes glow in a frightening manner.
"Logan? What in the world does he want? I thought that when you took the throne he got the guillotine." Kaya said with a bit of a hiss in her voice. Elizabeth's eye visibly twitched.
"No, he's alive… And he'd really like to see you." At this Kaya burst out laughing.
"Oh, that's rich! First I'm not good enough so he dumps me, and now when he is not King anymore and down and out, he expects me to come back to him! Really?" Kaya snapped… Elizabeth clenched her fists but did nothing, even though right now all that she really wanted to do was punch Kaya in the face for that.
"It's not like that Kay-"
"What the heck happened to the door?" Another voice suddenly interrupted Elizabeth and Kaya's conversation…
It was Ember. Kaya's older sister, though she was not older by much, in fact she was only a year older than Kaya… But there was quite a size difference as Ember stood a good foot taller than her little sister… Ember was also every bit as beautiful as Kaya. Her hair was inky black and extremely long… It flowed behind her like a cape and was not restrained by any form of ponytail or braid. Her skin was as pale as moonlight and just like polished marble, without a single blemish or flaw. Although unlike Kaya, her choice in clothing did not accentuate her own natural beauty… She wore a Men's Magical Coat although it seemed to be missing its ascot; and the heavy coat itself didn't pronounce her curves very well, even less so because the rest of her outfit was Women's Mercenary Gloves, Woman's Highwayman pants, and Men's Magic Boots. Clearly Ember was not one to care a lot about fashion… But again her eyes were immediately noticed and they were just as unique as Kayas…
Her eyes were like firelight. That was at least the first thing that Elizabeth could think to describe them as. Embers eyes were bright gold in color, with a tint of blood red splashed around the pupil. And they were just as haunting as Kaya's eyes…
"We have company Sis!" Kaya said… Oddly loudly… Immediately Ember ran out of the house, but as she was halfway out, she seemed to be pushing something that was apparently trying to accompany her inside back out… And she was muttering something very quickly to whatever it was, before returning inside.
"I don't believe it… Lizard! How have you been?" Ember said cheerfully… But there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Elizabeth however rolled her eyes… God how she had hated that nickname.
"I'm fine but-"
"Get this Ember, Logan wants me to come back to the castle…" Kaya interrupted. A look of shock crossed Ember's face before it turned into an angry sneer…
"Really? Little creep…" Ember hissed darkly. "And he didn't even come to talk to you in person? He sends his little sister? Apparently he really is nothing more than a lowlife little coward."
Something inside Elizabeth snapped and she rushed at Ember drawing her sword… But before she could even begin to swing her blade, she found herself on the floor pinned down, with another sword pressing against her throat… Ember was clearly much quicker than Elizabeth expected.
"Don't ever try that again your Majesty… You may be the Queen of Albion, but you are still in our home. And it's a very bad idea to pick a fight with me or Kaya on our home turf." Ember warned with an amused chuckle in her voice… Her eyes though… The red seem to have flooded into the gold of her eyes making it look like her eyes were alive with a raging fire.
"You do have a lot of nerve Elizabeth… But let's stop playing now, what do you want?" Kaya said flatly as Ember backed off sheathing her sword once more… Ember's sword appeared to be a broadsword of sorts; its blade was an oily black with a red shine accentuating its sharpness along its blade and its handle was also black and had varying designs etched into it as well.
"I want you to come back to the castle… and talk to Logan." Elizabeth said calmly… Well as calmly as she could manage, everything was starting to catch up to her and she was getting angry… And desperate.
"There is no chance in hell of that happening…" Kaya said without even a hint of emotion in her voice. Elizabeth growled as a sudden feeling of helplessness began to fill her heart.
"Please Kaya, I know that he hurt you! I know that he humiliated you! And I know that you are angry and you have every right to be! But… now I am asking you to come back and talk to him! If you won't do it for him, please do it as a favor for me!" Elizabeth pleaded to Kaya… Who blinked in surprise at just how desperate the Queen was.
The room was silent for a few long minutes… Kaya's eyes now showed an unreadable emotion although her expression had softened considerably.
"Is this a Royal order?" She finally asked… Elizabeth shook her head no. Again the silence filled the room… Until Kaya sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"I'll… I'll think about it." Kaya finally said, getting a strange look from Ember who didn't say anything… obviously feeling it was not her place. At that Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you Kaya…" She said softly.
"I just said I'll think about it… I didn't actually promise you that I'd do it…" Kaya snapped darkly… At that Elizabeth merely nodded. Feeling more exhausted now than the time she had to fight her way through Reaver's crazy mansion.
"I'll leave now." She said softly and both Kaya and Ember nodded.
"There is a path near the North side of the valley that will take you to Millfields… It's a hell of a walk but you shouldn't meet up with too many critters like wolves or Hobbes. They usually stay pretty far away from here." Ember said gesturing with her hand in which direction Elizabeth should go in order to find the trail.
Again Elizabeth merely nodded and she walked out of the mansion… Just as a flash of lightning blazed across the sky, and the ominous storm that had blanketed Albion's skies weeks now finally began to downpour. Almost instantly Elizabeth found herself soaked… outside… alone… in the dark…She silently began to make her way towards the path Ember had mentioned…
… But something suddenly stopped her cold…
She could see it as plain as the rain that was pouring all around her… There was a space where the rain seemed to be hitting something that could not be seen... This thing looked like it could have been made of shadows; and the way the rain fell over it showed that it had an almost humanoid form, only much, much taller…
…It was staring at her…
Never in Elizabeth's life had she been gripped by this much dread… Not even when she had faced the Crawler… It was as though the emotion of pure fear had taken over her body and forbid her to move. Everything just seemed so wrong here, she could tell whatever this thing was it was extremely dangerous…
…she heard it chuckle…
She quickly found herself able to move again, and mere seconds after she had noticed the thing in the rain… She found her Guild seal and warped to her mother's sanctuary where she immediately passed out from the fear… Much to the horror of Jasper who spent the rest of the night tending to his fallen queen.
(Back at the home of Kaya and Ember)
"She's gone." Ember said having watched Elizabeth disappear using her Guild seal. Kaya sat in her rocking chair, rubbing her temples as a pounding headache began raging in her head.
"Who in their right mind could have seen this coming? I know I didn't…" Ember muttered as she sat down on her sofa. "I'll fix the door later. It's kind of propped up now, but it should keep the rain out… but still; what do you want to do about this?"
"This is been the day from hell Ember…" Kaya growled at her sister. "I really just want to think about this on my own right now." Ember just let out amused chuckle.
"Really? Then you might want to close your ears… Because here comes the voice of reason." Ember said just as the sound of the broken door once again falling all over, resounded throughout the house. Along with a very deep inhuman growling sound…
"For a Queen she certainly scares easily! Honestly I'd almost forgotten what it was like to scare someone down to their soul… heh… I miss the good old days…" The cackling voice of a newcomer suddenly resounded throughout the room… Only there was something very strange about this voice, it seemed that there was something very wrong with it. The voice was definitely male and it sounded very deep. But there was something else within this voice; it seemed to have an echo to it… A resounding inhuman echo that could chill blood in the veins…
…The creature that entered the sitting room to whom the voice belonged to, was even more frightening in appearance that it's voice sounded…
For a moment in the room, it appeared as though a section of the air rippled. Like when a drop of water contacts a still pond. Shadows rippled across a humanoid form before revealing it entirely.
The first thing that was immediately noticed was that the creature was tall, almost about 9 feet and quite muscular. It was also humanoid in shape and garbed in armor, but the armor was as dark as a moonless sky and accentuated with shadowy hues. Billowing behind it was a long tattered black cape, that also was attached to a hood that covered most of its head… although there were two holes on either side of this hood, from which protruded a pair of ram's horns. The horns were as black as night and curled backwards… But it was its face, or lack thereof that was really frightening… All there was, was some sort of mask. The mask was white, although it was highlighted particularly around the eyes with jagged black designs… Like the markings that would appear around the eyes of an evil hero… There were no eyes were visible from behind that mask. There was just a deep blackness… Off to one side there was what looked like some stitches… But it appeared to be made into the mask itself and was not a repair… And last but not least, on its back it had a colossal hunting bow, with what appeared to be a glowing red jewel in its center.
…This creature could've passed as a warped version of the Jack of Blades…
"I take it you were eavesdropping." Kaya questioned coldly. The creature growled deeply and from within the blackness of where its eyes should have been, a pair of glowing red orbs suddenly became visible and narrowed dangerously…
"Of course I was! The nerve of that little bitch…" He snarled evilly brandishing his armored claw-like hands. "I should have killed her when I first saw her! Like I do with all intruders…"
"Yeah, and when you do that I'm usually stuck cleaning up the blood and hiding the bodies." Ember said bitterly as she adjusted her position on the couch.
"You can't just kill everyone you don't like… This is not the Void… You don't go around killing everybody that gets into your territory!" Kaya said putting her face in her hands.
"I agree wholeheartedly with Kaya." Another voice said as a sudden rush of air blew through the room. And just like when the first creature appeared… The air rippled, only this time not with shadows, and after a moment another mysterious creature appeared. Only this one was even more bizarre than the first…
It was just as big as the first creature, standing nearly 9 feet tall and its voice had the same strange echo to it, although its voice didn't seem as deep as the firsts. But unlike the first creature… This one looked even less human.
First thing that could be easily seen was that this creature was also garbed in armor, but unlike the first's the armor was very pale, if it wasn't for its obvious metallicness it would have been sheer white; and his body looked thin yet still very muscular. A tattered white cloth wrapped around his chest and covered his head in a hood… But there were two holes on either side of the hood that made room for two gigantic bat-like ears… The ears were white in color, and tinted gray inside. His legs were inhuman, and were digitigrade in appearance but they were still garbed in metallic armor and his feet were lethal three toed talons… His arms were a bit longer than they should have been, and his hands only had four oddly long fingers, but were extremely sharp. However… Protruding from his wrists and extending past his hand was a thin membrane. It stretched far past his arm for about several feet, and was very flexible. The membrane also attached again to his hip… This membrane was in fact colossal pair of wings… His face was a mask just like the other creature, only different; whereas the markings on the first creatures mask looked menacing and evil, the markings were much gentler on this one. On either side of the eyes, where the subtle butterfly like markings that would appear on the face of a good hero, prior to their angelic transformation. These markings were highlighted in green; while entirely surrounding it eyes were the much more noticeable angelic design that will come after the final good transformation. This was a vibrant color of blue. And there was another design of stitches off to one side of mask just like on the other one. But his eyes were very haunting, unlike the first creature whose eyes were hidden in the darkness of its mask unless it wanted you to see them; this creatures eyes were always visible, and they were creamy white… indicating that this creature might very well be blind. Also on its back, seemed to be a pair of Long-Swords… Their blades were glowing bright blue with powerful Will…
… Overall this creature looked like a mutant bat…
"Do you even know what we're talking about?" The first creature questioned darkly as he sat down upon the decrepit old throne, his red glowing eyes slowly fading back into darkness…
"No, my ears are just used for decoration…" The second creature replied sarcastically. "Of course I know what you're talking about! I was watching as well… err, you know what I mean. My sight may not be very good but I can still make out what goes on around here."
"Please both of you… I don't need to hear this right now." Kaya grumbled irritably. "I have a lot to think about…"
"What's there to think about? You can't be thinking of going back and talking to that little bastard? Do you not remember the last time? I know I haven't forgotten…" The first creature said coldly; his voice getting to a low growl…
"Of course she hasn't forgotten… none of us have. But still… Kaya I would suggest that you consider going back and talking to him." The second creature said softly to Kaya as he began to spread his wings; and in a single fluid movement, he had darted across the room and his talons then dug into the bird stand… and he hung upside-down from it, slowly wrapping his wings around his body until it appeared that he was wrapped in a cape.
"Have you gone crazy? That is the worst idea yet! What the hell could be gained by talking to the little cretin?"
"What can be gained by not talking to him? We seldom get the news on time out here… Perhaps we missed something? Isn't it better to know what his side of the story is?"
"Who cares what his side of the story is? If I'd had my way I would've killed him and his miserable family as soon as I had the chance…"
"Yes we all know what you would have done… And then there would have been even more trouble than there was… revenge is never the answer." At this the first creature bolted upright his eyes blazing red with anger. Although he did knock over his throne in the process… and most likely he broke something else on it.
"Oh really, well what did we accomplish by listening to you? Nothing! No vengeance, no decapitation, not even a little disemboweling! What does doing nothing accomplish Mr. Pacifist?" He snapped hatefully. Although the second creature didn't even look phased, it that anything he looked bored.
"Try to wrap your mind around the concepts of 'Restraint' and 'Self-Control.' I know it may be a bit difficult for you… But still, I'm sure you can manage it." The second creature said simply.
"Why you little-"
"Skorm, Avo, would you two just shut the hell up! You're not helping the situation!" Ember growled darkly as she quickly got up, and got in-between the two feuding creatures. Having apparently been fed up by their arguing.
…The two creatures reluctantly became quiet…
"Avo started it…" The dark creature, who at this point was no doubt Skorm stated irritably. This caused the bat-like creature who was now identified to be Avo to roll his large white eyes.
"Real mature Skormy… Real mature…"
"Bite me…" Skorm retorted.
"Would you all just shut up?" Kaya roared at everyone. "Look I appreciate the advice, but I really want to make my own decision. So please... Could you guys just go away for a bit? Please? I have a big enough headache now; and you guys bickering like a married couple will only make things worse…"
"Very well… If you need me, I'm going to be killing some nobles over in Millfield's." Skorm said in a very bored tone as he proceeded to walk out through the still-destroyed front door.
"No you don't… If you insist on violence, then we'll kill some Balverines not nobles." Avo said flatly.
"Nowadays what the hell is the difference?" Skorm grumbled as he waited outside for his companion.
"…Touché…" Avo corrected as he hopped off of his perch and followed Skorm outside… Well, it was more like he tripped over the broken door and fell outside… This naturally prompted a round laughter from Skorm… Which caused the bickering to resume until both of them were too far away to be heard anymore.
"…Seriously people used to worship them?" Ember questioned with a slightly amused tone in her voice.
"What was our Great-Grandfather thinking? Taking in those two…" Kaya muttered her voice was clearly tired… Although there was just the slightest bit of amusement in it.
"Well think about it, he found them when they were kids… Small, demonic, insanely powerful, little kids that had somehow crossed over to our world from the Void. Maybe they were cute or something way back then." Ember theorized which prompted a small laugh from her sister. Although it did little to hide Kaya's distress… Embers smile faded. "You know you don't have to go back if you don't want to…"
"Of course I know it… Heh, look at me; right when I think I've moved on with my life something like this happens." Kaya said and judging by her tone… She was nearing tears. "I spent years imagining what it would feel like to go back to the castle… and just beat the living crap out of Logan."
"Don't let Skormy hear you say that…"
"But it's true… I spent years hating him! And so help me God I still hate him! But now that I actually can go back and face him… I don't know what I'm feeling more of… hate or hurt. I don't know how to explain it Ember." Kaya said as she closed her eyes and tears silently began to cascade down her face.
"Look Kaya… No one can make this decision for you. Not me, and definitely not Tweedle-dumb or Tweedle-dumber. I'm sorry sis, but you have to figure this one out on your own." Ember said sympathetically.
"Ember… Are you hoping that I'd say I'm going back to the castle so that you can have an excuse to go to Bowerstone Market and raise holy hell?" Kaya questioned suspiciously as she wiped away her tears… Ember however did her best to put on an innocent face.
"Me? Raise holy hell? Honestly do you really think I'm capable of such a thing?" She asked innocently… While proceeding to pull out a hidden dagger from within her coat and began twirling it around haphazardly.
"Oh, shut up Ember." Kaya said in a defeated tone. "I think… I'm going to go to sleep. I'll figure this out in the morning when my head is clearer."
"We both know you're not going to get any sleep tonight Kaya… But still, you should at least try to get some rest. I'll go out and make sure that our brothers don't get themselves into too much trouble." Ember said as she proceeded to walk out of the house into the pouring rain. Although she did stop and with a little effort managed to put the door upright as she left.
"Have fun Ember… But do try to keep the carnage to a minimum." Kaya said as she stood up from her rocking chair and headed upstairs to her bedroom. Only once the door was closed did she collapse onto her bed; and spent the rest of the night wide-awake… trying to figure out what she should do.
Well that's it for Chapter two! Again sorry about the wait, but now that I'm on break the next update shouldn't take as long. Although Reviews also tend to help me write faster so pretty please R&R!