The memories raced by, brief glimpses of my life flowing by. First was a scene from my childhood. I am about 10 years old, practicing my archery, hitting targets smaller than my hand from about 50 yards away. Another, still 10 years old, with a paper and charcoal, sketching mountains ahead of me in incredible detail. A year later, sunset, I'm painting the mountain scene as the sun creates beautiful colors. Two more years, I'm sitting in a room, sketching once more, my four-foot bow, and quiver of arrows nearby. The walls are covered in rich art, beautiful images of the world. A man bursts through the door and motions frantically, I get up and follow. The scene changes, I'm standing in front of a large pyre with a torch in my hand. I bend down and watch as the pyre, and the villagers, burn. I sling my bow and swords over my shoulder and walk on, my camouflage cloak blending into the night. Another scene rises in front of the darkness. I'm walking through the forest, surrounded by trees, when suddenly a six-foot tall rabbit jumps out in front of me, looking around nervously. His muscles tensed when he saw me. On reflex I tackled him into the bushes, my cloak hiding us from the horseman that follow him. "Thanks mate" he says. "Don't thank me yet, here they come!" with out missing a beat we're running, hard, fast without faltering. The trees whip around me as I push through the undergrowth, turning around to fire an arrow back towards the oncoming horsemen. "C'mon, not much farther!" he yelled towards me, I look back seeing a platoon of horsemen charging towards us. I look towards the thicket, and then back to the horsemen. "Brace yourself!" I yelled at him, dropping my bow. I grabbed his boomerang strap and his tail, throwing him through the thicket. I pulled a small ball out of a pocket, lit it with a rough gauntlet on my arm and threw it, destroying the entrance to the tunnel behind him. I turned around, drawing my twin swords off my back. I braced my self as the first horseman came, leaping over him and cutting him on the back. He fell off his horse with the thump of flesh on the ground. The other horsemen approached warily, careful not to come close enough that my swords could cut them. A nobleman, dressed in expensive furs, rode to the head of the group saying, "Where is the beast?" "Beast, I saw no beast. Just us, are you sure you're not seeing things?" I smiled, trying to provoke the nobleman. His eyes flashed angrily, "I'll get the truth from you, one way or another. Be careful not to kill him, I need him to tell me where the beast is." With that, the horsemen were on me. I managed to kill quite a few, but they eventually subdued me. They dragged me to their camp, where I was tied to a tree and beaten. Every few minutes they would stop their barrage and ask me where the "beast" was. I always answered with a few choice words pertaining to their heritage, strength and intelligence. Several times I almost gave in, a small voice inside of me trying to make me give up. Even so I held through, a connection yet unknown to me flows through me. I held out for days, waiting for something, anything to help me escape. Then an opportunity showed itself in the form of a boomerang, thrown high in the air, the signal I was waiting for. That's when I made my plan, the next time they interrogated me, I pretended to give in. I told them about a hole a few meters away from the thickets, hoping the man had a plan. When I told them that there was digging to do, they threw a shovel at me and pointed. Every moment I dug, I wondered if my guards noticed that the scorch marks were farther over. Apparently, they were oblivious. After a few hours of digging, a paw popped up holding a rather large knife. I quickly scooped it up and called to the guards, "I found something!" The guards ran over quickly, excited by my tone. The first to arrive died, and then I quickly killed the second. The third began to run and I threw the knife, impaling him in the back. I walked over and grabbed the knife, my companion popping out of the ground next to me. "What's your name? I asked him, "I save you life and that's the first thing you ask?" "Hey, who saved whose life first?" I asked, stopping and raising an eyebrow. He cleared his throat and said, "Weren't we leaving?" I laughed and he joined in "by the way mate, brace yourself" I barely managed to say "huh" before we fell, slipping and sliding down a tunnel that closed up behind us. "Whhhhoooooaaaaaa" I yelled as we shot out of the tunnel and into a pool of crystal clear water. When i surfaced, I was in the most beautiful forest I had ever seen. The trees were tall and wide, declaring their age for all to see. Flowers grew in all colors, bright and cheery in a permanent state of spring. Animals walked freely, without fear of my friend or me. "Whadda ya think?" he said looking towards me, his blue fur clinging to his body. "I want to paint it!" I said excitedly, swimming to the nearest bank. The giant rabbit just laughed and threw my pack to me saying, "Bunnymund." "Huh?" I said looking up, already setting up my easel. "E. Aster Bunnymund, that's my name, I'm a pooka, or a giant rabbit. My friends call me Bunny." " Conrì," I say, "so we're friends now?" I peeked around my easel and canvas, my eyebrow raised. "Who saved who's life first?" he replied, smiling as he climbed up onto the bank. Before long I was lost in paradise, I spent the next few hours trying to recreate the beauty before me. With each brush stroke the image grew more and more beautiful, attempting to show all of it. After a while I plopped down into the sand. Bunnymund had fallen asleep only minutes after I started painting, his adrenaline rush having ended. I laid back and watched as the clouds moved above us. I closed my eyes and darkness fell. When I woke up, Bunnymund was staring at my painting, studying the recreation of the forest before him. "Whadda ya think?" I asked, walking up behind him. "Just, wow. How did you..." "I don't know, I've always been good at painting and drawing." I said, shrugging " By the way, where are we?" "About a mile from my village, they know your coming." "Your village?" I said, collapsing the easel and rolling up the canvas. I put both into my pack and shouldered it. "You didn't think I was the only pooka, did you?" He started to walk and I followed, noticing the rock wall we had flown out of stretched into infinity above us. "Is this a cave?" I asked, puzzled. "Yup, we're on the other side of the world, under a mountain range." "Wow..." I said, watching the clouds again. "Where does the light come from?" "A type of moss that absorbs sunlight from the world outside and shines it back in here." I nodded, keeping pace with him. We walked for about twenty minutes before we came across the wall to the settlement. "Ho, who goes there?" a voice cried down from the wall. "Crikey Joe, I suppose your eyesight's gotten bad, but not that bad!" Bunnymund yelled back. "Yeah, I know you Aster, but who's with ya? Looks like a human." "That's because 'e is, you should have orders to let him in from the council" There was a moment of silence and the gates creaked open. As Bunnymund led me along I pulled the hood of my cloak up, trying to avoid the hostile stares directed to me. "What's up with them?" I whispered to Bunnymund "Why do you think we're down here? Humans drove us off the surface a long time ago." "Oh" I said, feeling more self-conscious. As we walked I noted that most of the pookas gave Bunnymund looks of respect or admiration. "What are you to them?" I asked, "they seem to treat you with a sense of... reverence." "I'm the Spirit of Easter and the Guardian of Hope." he replied, leaving more questions then answers. "What do you mean by spirit and guardian?" I asked, still puzzled "I'll explain later, we're almost at the town hall." We walked on in silence and through the double doors, through a hallway down into an antechamber where we waited for several long minutes. Then the doors swung open and we walked through. The scene faded and images started flicking past, me watching Bunnymund dance with who will later be his fiancée. Another again at the lake, with Bunny napping and me painting another section of the forest. Bunny and I protecting the village, fighting against the same horsemen who tried to kill him. Me walking back to the surface to find a new area to paint. Finally the images stopped and another memory began to play. I'm on a frozen lake with a brown haired boy, a wide-eyed girl on cracking ice between us. The boy coaxing her to jump towards him, she does and he trades places with her. The ice breaks under his weight and he falls through. I catch the girl, making sure she's all right. She's uninjured but she's screaming for Jack, the boy. I throw my bow aside, whip off my cloak and quiver. My swords clatter next to the bow. I prepare myself to dive in after the boy when I hear it, A deep rumbling growl. I whip around, grabbing by quiver, looping it onto my shoulder while pulling and nocking an arrow. "Run" I say to the girl. She runs behind me, away from the pack of giant wolves on the other bank. I pull and release the arrow, killing the lead wolf. I quickly empty my quiver, killing several of them. I drop my bow and scoop up my pack and swords. The wolves attack and I hold them off, but I begin to lose ground under their assault, backing into the icy trees. Soon the wolves overwhelm me, I feel a flashing sensation in my neck and darkness fell. Another set of memories, this time they're Bunnymund's. He's racing around, searching for me. The village is under attack and they need my help. He searches everywhere he thinks I could be, but he can't find me. There's only one reason why, I betrayed him. I would have left a sign or a message, but I didn't. Bunnymund, unsuccessful, returns home. The sight of his completely destroyed village greets him; he rushes around hoping he wouldn't find the love of his life. He does, with an arrow in her back and a knife in her hand. Bunnymund screams in pain a heart wrenching sound of total loss. I pulled out of the memories with a gasp, tears flooding down my cheeks. I stared at my hands, all of my memories coming back. I had known of the engagement and had been preparing a present for the couple, even if they hadn't known. That's when the worry crossed my mind, where had the other memories come from? A voice spoke behind me, answering my question. "Now you know. Seems such a pity that you hadn't known about the engagement, you might not have betrayed us, well then again you were a heartless asshole." I spoke without turning around "Actually I had known of your engagement, in case you don't remember I had known you for two years by then, I could always tell when you were nervous." " Yeah right, you're just trying to save your own ass." Bunny replied. "I died three days after I left, the attack happened six days later." "Ample time for you to tell them our defenses and numbers." "I was killed by wolves, not men." "Doesn't matter, accidents happen" I whipped around, tears still running down my face. "Goddammit! If you don't believe me look in my pack, third portfolio down, inside you'll find your engagement present, at the bottom will be a journal, detailing everyday of my travels. And if that isn't enough here!" I pulled the chain of keys from my neck, pulling off the one to teleport anywhere and the spirit section keys. "Here, find my book, read my story and know the truth! I've never been able to find it, so maybe you will!" with that I flew away into the early morning light. By the time I reached the town Jack and I had first found together, I had stopped crying. I landed lightly on Jamie's roof, watching the energy flow around me, relaxing me. I watched as Jamie's energy flow up, brighter and more vibrant than any other energy; the other kids were losing faith. I reached deep inside myself and pulled out the power of my imagination, now bolstered by my memories. I threw the energy out, bringing back the children's hopes and dreams. Ironic, I thought to myself, all of our powers are intertwined as guardians. Hope is bolstered by dreams, dreams are formed by wonder, and wonder comes from the need to make memories. But looking deeper fun, Jack's treasure, was at the root of all, children hope for fun, dream of fun, remember the fun times, and create wonders as they have fun. Then there was my treasure, imagination. Imagination also influenced these, but their treasures also created it. I sighed and felt a familiar breeze fly by, Jack was here. I looked down, Jack was drawing a rabbit on the windowpane, I breathed a little life into it. The rabbit jumped off of the pane and jumped around, Jamie staring in wonder at the sight. Jack nodded to me and we watched the boy, our disappointment evident as the boy laughed in delight. I turned to go as the rabbit burst and a single snowflake hit Jamie's nose. "Jack...Frost?" Jamie whispered, Jack whipped around. "Did, did you hear him?" Jack said, "He said my name, my name!" He ran up to me, grabbing my shoulders and laughing. I smiled at him, and then turned to go as he laughed in delight. "Can, can you see me?" Jack asked Jamie. I could sense Jamie's amazement as he nodded. My shoulders slumped, unbidden a scene where Jamie could see me flashed through my mind. I unfolded my wings and heard a surprised gasp come from Jamie, "Who, Who is he?" Jamie asked, now it was my turn to whip around incredulously. My jaw dropped as Jamie stared at me. "You can see him too?" Jack asked "Yeah, who is he?" he asked again. "C-Conrì" I said "my name's Conrì" "Wow, what do you do? I mean, I know Jack does wintery stuff, but what do you do?" my face broke into a mischievous smile and replied with: "This." with that I summoned up the same forest I had painted so long ago, calling from memory every detail. "Wow" he said when I ended the illusion, "so I'm not crazy or anything, right?" I smiled, "Maybe" He began to jump and shout, "Oh my god! You're real, you really exist, I told them, and I told them! So what about the Easter Bunny?" "Real!" Jack and I said joining Jamie in laughter, "Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy, Sandman, all real!" Suddenly we heard a voice below, "Jamie who are you talking to?" "uhhh, Jack Frost?..." "Ok" Jack and I laughed harder at this. Suddenly a crash came from outside, instantly our laughter ended. Jack and I darted out Jamie's window. Outside was North's upturned sleigh, we approached cautiously. Out of the sleigh came North, looking old and pale with Tooth, who looked tired. "Where's Bunny?" I asked North "Losing Easter affected us all, but it hit Bunny the most." he stepped aside and a small blue rabbit hopped up. "What are you looking at? I can still take ya." Bunnymund's voice emanated from the tiny body. I would have laughed if not for the seriousness of the situation. I heard the door close being us as Jamie came out, his energy enveloping all of us. I could see North and Tooth regain a little spirit as he ran up to them. "Jack are these?..." "Yup, North, Tooth and Bunny." he said, pointing to each in turn. Suddenly, a Nightmare raced past us, searching for Pitch. Jack and I looked at each other, "Take Jamie, I'll cover you" I told him. He nodded in reply, and the five of them began to run as I turned to face the Nightmares. The horde of Nightmares sprung out of the darkness, speeding towards me as I readied my powers. When they got in range, I lashed out, attacking them with the energy flowing around us. The energy flew around in a maelstrom of fury, Nightmares falling with each blow. Soon the tide of insatiable darkness began to ebb. After only a few minutes there were no Nightmares left. I tensed, waiting for more. When none came, I leapt into the air. I flew towards Jamie and Jack's energy, they were sledding. I sped down and summoned up a snowboard, laughing at the kids' wide eyes as I did tricks. Finally we came to a halt, before us was a giant mass of shiny black sand. We all stared as Pitch shouted, "Who will protect the children from THIS!" he smiled down on us as Bunny, North, Tooth, Jack and I stepped forward, "We will" I said "Oh I know you will, but who'll protect you?" Jamie and his friends stepped forward, "We will" Pitch started looking angry and said "So be it!" he yelled, motioning his Nightmares forward. As I watched them, a memory sparked in my mind. A way to beat the mares, the power of children. "Jamie! Tell your friends all they need to touch Nightmare." Jamie nodded and pulled his friends in close. "Hey Pitch!" I yelled at him, "there's a little problem with the Nightmares" "oh and what's that?" Pitch sneered towards me "Nothing much, just that all we need is a child with a dream and they go up in smoke?" "I have more than enough power to destroy you all!" "Maybe, maybe not let's find out" With that, I pulled at the energy I had been gathering during our conversation. I lashed out at Pitch, sending flying through the air. I charged after him, sensing more than seeing the Nightmares become golden sand. While the children hugged and Guardians fought, I traded blows with Pitch. He raised his scythe and I saw my opportunity, dropping my swords and diving through him, stealing the last little golden dust and throwing it into the air. Within seconds a whirlwind of golden dust formed into a clearly recognizable shape. "No!" Pitch gasped, turning to run. A whip of light snapped around his ankles and whipped him around, towards the golden sand. Out of it emerged Sandy, who promptly uppercutted Pitch into the air. Everyone gathered around him, thankful he was alive. I simply nodded to him and turned to look at the moon. For a brief instant, I thought that I felt as if someone was winking at me from it. I shook the notion off as Pitch slammed into the ground as a snowball hit my head. I whipped around, throwing several back at the group, hitting them all with snow. In moments the children and the Guardians were running around, throwing snow and playing around. After a little while, Pitch got up and started to run, the Guardians followed and ended up at a lake. Pitch was talking, but I wasn't listening, around the world children had begun to believe again. As the children became more and more vibrant, the energy of us Guardians began to grow with them, even as Pitch's diminished. I barely noticed as Pitch was dragged into the abyss. After a few minutes of standing there, Jack nudged me, "Hey, you ok? You seem kinda out of it." "I'm fine, I'm just... Enjoying the world." "Yeah well, we're gonna be official guardians in a moment in case you missed North's whole speech." I coughed and turned around a little embarrassed by my inattentiveness, so within minutes we were Guardians, flying into the sunrise in North's sleigh. Finally, I could focus on my Library, but as I did it felt strange, as if had already repaired and updated itself. In the system there was a note that said, "Welcome to the Guardians, it's time you got in, signed MIM." With that, I smiled content, for the moment.