Chapter 4: Trap

The Golden Clow cards were far too powerful to be sensed by ordinary magic. Syaoran had succeeded in confirming their existence, but that was only because he was a descendant of Clow Reed. Being the reincarnation of Clow himself, Eriol had had no difficulty in locating the cards, but because he had not regained all of the memories from his past life, he, for once, did not have an advantage over these cards. And that would, ultimately, throw him into grave danger.

When Eriol returned to his house that evening, his guardians, Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon, were nowhere to be seen. That worried him a lot, because they were usually there to greet him when he returned. Eriol was about to call out to them when the terrified voices of his guardians rang through the house senting a chill up his spine.

"Eriol!" Spinel (in his false form cried). "Don't come upstairs!"

"It's a trap!" Nakuru screamed. "Get away!"

I can't let the cards hurt them, Eriol thought.

"No," he said firmly, "I'm coming."

Nakuru and Spinel could not believe their master's loyalty and stubbornness.

"We can't let him get here! Suppi! Block the door, make the garden explode, just-anything! Keep him away from danger!"

"I can't." Spinel pointed out sadly. "I'm tied up."

"That's the attitude, little cat, " Sound laughed evilly. "There's nothing that you can do now but watch your master suffer."

Five minutes later, though, the cards were still waiting.

"WHERE-IS-HE?" Sound hissed in frustration.

"Shut up, Sound." Possess groaned. "With a voice like that, Clow can hear you from the other side of the world!"

At that, the guardians brightened. Could Eriol have decided not to come at last? Their hopes were instantly crushed when a bright red beam of laser light shot through the door and stuck Sound to the ground. Magnet buzzed excitedly as it brought up its magnetic field, effectively blocking the next shot.

A bright, golden aura filled the room. It faded a few seconds later, revealing Clow's powerful reincarnation holding his staff.

"It's Clow." Possess said fearfully. "What should we do?"

"Eriol! I told you not to come!" Nakuru said angrily.

"Release the guardians." Eriol said in his grown-up voice. The four cards were frightened by the power in their creator's voice, but showed no sign of it.

"And what," Sound whispered, "Will we get in return?"

Even though he was prepared for the cards asking him this question, the risk involved in what he was about to do sank in once more, and Eriol wavered. His face darkened, and for a moment he looked weak and weary with defeat, but a second later, he regained his composure. And to the horror of his guardians, he said;

"Something that will defeat the card captors once and for all. "

To be continued...