Chapter 10

Double Trouble

Heatherfield

Will tumbled out of the fold and rolled onto the floor of the Silver Dragon. She grabbed at the Heart, throwing it across the floor, where it slid into the corner. Getting to her knees, she looked at her hands, which were steaming red from holding the burning hot Heart of Kandrakar. Irma quickly covered Will's hands in a stream of cold water.

"Thanks." Will said, struggling to her feet.

"So, recap anyone?" Cornelia said, leaning against a nearby wall. "What just happened?"

"We got our butts handed to us." Taranee said. "Nothing we had did a thing to him."

"Even the toughest baddies we've faced in the past at least reacted to our powers. This guy just took it." Hay Lin added.

"Except for Will. It looked like her lightning made him flinch." Matt said.

"And look where that got me." Will said. "He was barely tickled by my attacks, and the only thing I could do against his was…"

"Run away?"

Will turned to see Spectre approaching from a nearby corner, Heart of Kandrakar in his hand.

"Now you know my choice, and my shame." He said, handing Will the Heart.

"Ok, nobody's shaming anyone." Irma interrupted. "I for one am kind of glad that we chose survival over certain death."

"Irma's right. I'd rather fight tomorrow then die today." Taranee said.

"Doesn't change the facts." Will said. "There's a world that doesn't exist anymore because we couldn't win a fight. Because we had to run away."

"And they'll be ten more worlds that are glad we did." Matt replied, putting a hand on Will's shoulder.

A ringing cell phone interrupted anything else Matt had to say. Will pulled hers out of her pocket and looked at the caller ID.

"Kandrakar." She said wearily. "That can't be a coincidence."

"Maybe they're thanking us?" Hay Lin offered.

The looks on the faces of the other girls suggested they disagreed.

"Well, answer it anyway." Hay Lin said with a sigh.

With dread, Will answered the phone.

"Hello?" She said.

"Kandrakar. Now." Came Yan Lin's voice from the other end.

Simultaneously, the call ended and a fold opened up, no doubt leading to the fortress.

"This is not going to be fun." Taranee said as the girls entered the fold.

Kandrakar

Taranee had only been sent to the principal's office once. It had been in second grade, and it hadn't been for anything serious, all she had done was throw stones at a bully, but Taranee still remembered it well. She remembered how nervous she had been, and the fear she had felt. It was the exact same fear as she felt now, walking towards Yan Lin and Himerish. If the rest of the girls felt the same way, they hid it well.

Both Yan Lin and Himerish looked even more impressive then usual, framed against the large stone columns of the Kandrakar council room. Despite the firm glares in front of them, Will confidently lead her team forward. As Taranee watched the long purposeful stride of her friend, she began to realize something. They were no longer students answering to their teachers. They were, now more then ever, Guardians. And they would be treated as such.

Will had steeled herself for whatever onslaught of criticism awaited them, but what happened instead caught her quite off guard. Once the Guardians had stopped a few meters away from Yan Lin and Himerish, the former rushed forward and gave her granddaughter a large hug.

"Thank goodness you're all safe!" Yan Lin said, holding Hay Lin tightly.

"Um, ok. This is a much nicer reaction then I was expecting." Hay Lin said, returning the hug.

"Wait for it…" Irma said.

"And don't you ever do that again! Or I'll ground you for the rest of eternity! I'm an Elder, I can do that!" Yan Lin shouted, wagging a finger in her granddaughters face.

"There it is." Irma said.

"I take it you know what happened." Will said, focusing on Himerish.

"To a degree." Himerish replied. "We know where you went, but we did not see what happened there. The cost of affording you privacy, I suppose."

"Well, break out the textbooks, because we've got some questions we want answered." Will said.

"I'm afraid you don't get to ask questions right now." Himerish said. "You waved that right when you disobeyed our instructions and needlessly risked your life!"

"Hold on a second!" Will replied. "That world was dying, and you knew it! How could we stand by and do nothing?"

"Tell me Will, did you save that world? Or did it still die?" Himerish asked.

"It died." Will admitted. "But at least we tried! At least we did something!"

"Do you take us as fools?" Himerish shouted back, louder then the Guardians had ever heard him. "Do you see us as dour old men and women, wandering the hallways of Kandrakar aimlessly, thinking of ways to make your life miserable? Twiddling our thumbs while the universe burns around us?"

The Guardians stood in stunned silence, not knowing how to answer, so Himerish continued.

"The most important thing in any fight and in any war is knowledge. Knowledge is power. You walked onto a world you knew nothing about, to face a foe you know nothing about. Therefore, you went in powerless."

"Except we do have some other powers." Hay Lin interrupted. "And they didn't do anything."

"Up to now, you have relied solely on your elemental abilities." Himerish replied. "And up to now, they have sufficed. But now you face foes on a completely different scale then those before them. These are not enemies you can simply blow away with a gust of wind."

"At least we tried to fight." Will said weakly.

"Fight a battle you could not win, yet easily could have lost." Himerish said. "Imagine if you hadn't come back, if you hadn't survived. Not only would that world have died, as it did anyway, but every other world would have eventually shared its grim fate. Now, since knowledge is power, share what you have learned with us."

Will clenched her fists and bit her lip. She wanted to scream, and unleash the pent up energy inside, but she couldn't. Like it or not, the only thing she could do to help anyone was to do as Himerish said and explain what happened. So that was what she would do.

"He called himself Death." She began. "And it seemed like he could live up to the name. He was a bit abstract, but it seemed as if he was… I don't know, converting people? He was killing people on worlds, and then controlling them after they died. Or something."

"And he was pretty formidable on his own." Taranee added. "We threw everything we had at him, and it didn't make a mark."

"You want to add anything to that?" Irma asked. "Do you know who this guy is?"

"Perhaps…" Yan Lin said.

"Not really." Himerish interrupted. "We have theories, and precious little else at this point. But your knowledge is helpful. We have been tracking both of the entities, and gathering as much information as we can. Only once we are sure of a strategy will we act."

"Will, I know it seems as if we are sacrificing worlds by waiting, but we are looking at the big picture here." Yan Lin said. "If we are correct, then we are dealing with something far greater then anything we have ever faced before. Rushing in without the proper information will only lead to greater loss of life, including our own."

Will wasn't listening any more. She had keyed into a word that Himerish had said, and what that word potentially meant. Just by looking at her friends, she could tell they had heard it too.

"'Both'? What did you mean, Himerish, when you said both entities?" She asked.

Himerish and Yan Lin looked at each other with worried looks.

"Are you saying that the man we fought today is not alone? That this is happening somewhere else too?" Hay Lin asked.

"You know, for someone who says 'knowledge is power', you seeming to be keeping a lot of knowledge hidden." Taranee added.

"You are correct." Himerish said, his head lowered. "We were withholding information from you. We did not want to worry you any more then you were, and we weren't sure it was relevant."

"There is another event occurring, similar to the wave of destruction caused by this Death being." Yan Lin said. "World after world is going silent, and the pattern suggests a sentient being."

"Another Death? Same as the guy we met today?" Irma asked.

"We're not sure. But we have an idea." Himerish said.

"And that idea is?" Will asked.

"We'd rather not say until we are sure." Himerish replied. "There are many things we are not certain of at this point, and we feel no information is better then misinformation. I would not want you to act foolishly on incomplete data."

Will had to agree with this. No doubt whatever beings were powerful enough to get Kandrakar this nervous were complex people. No sense in memorizing one set of lore only to have to throw it out in favor of another one later.

"As difficult as it may seem girls, we are asking you to be patient." Yan Lin said. "Trust our experience with these matters, that waiting is the best option. We want this dealt with just as much as you do."

"Please Guardians. We are your allies. Although we have given you little reason to do so in the past, we ask you to trust us." Himerish said.

Will hesitated. Every cell in her body wanted to go back and fight Death once more. They had fought hard odds in the past, and they had always found a way to win. Surely this time was no different. She looked at her team, only to see her own uncertain face reflected in theirs. Once more, they were willing to follow, if she was willing to lead.

"Ok." She said at last. "I don't like it, but we'll play by your rules. For now. We won't go after this guy… sorry, guys until you say so."

Will tried to sound confident in her decision, but she knew many restless nights were ahead.

Unknown

Gabriella, or Gabe as her friends called her, was an ordinary woman. She was born to ordinary parents, in an ordinary city. They had had ordinary jobs, her father an executive and her mother a teacher, and she had had an ordinary childhood. She had found an ordinary job, a teacher like her mother, and married an ordinary man. Together, they had two ordinary children, who live in an ordinary house. In her entire life, Gabe had never done or been anything other ordinary. Until two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago, she had started having dreams, dreams that were not ordinary, but were unique to her, even if she did not know it. At first, she thought nothing of it, but as the days went on, the dreams began occurring with disturbing regularity. Every night, without fail, she dreamed of a man in black, a woman in white, and worlds she had never seen before. She had kept these dreams to herself, not wanting to alarm her husband or her children. After all, it couldn't be anything too significant, things like that didn't happen to her. She was simply ordinary.