(During Issue 9: Before play rehearsals)
'There were once four dragons that ruled over the skies of Ancient China, the Red Dragon, Yellow Dragon, Black Dragon and the Pearl Dragon.'
'One day, they heard from the Earth below as they received incensed prayers from the people were brought up to them. The people's crops and livelihood were suffering greatly from the drought for the rain has never come upon them. The Yellow Dragon, who sympathized the most, took pity on them. The dragons soon flew toward the Heavenly Palace, where the emperor lived.'
'As the dragons spoke to Emperor Jade, he hesitantly agreed and promised to solve the matter out. Yet ten days had passed, and no rain had come to fall. The women had nothing to nourish their children as they eat on tree barks and roots.'
'So the dragons decided to resolve the matter to their own hands as they scoop their mouths with water from the Eastern sea and poured the rain down to the barren land and the needy people cheered and thanked the sky above.'
'Outraged, the emperor wasn't pleased with their actions and arrested them and the dragons were brought before him in chains. He commanded the dragons to be locked up into four different mountains.'
'But the nymph Xin Jing, a woman of courage, angered his actions. She could not tolerate the actions of the emperor and thus she passed her powers unto the brave dragons to be remembered for eternity.'
'The nymph absorbed the dragon's essence and soon after the four dragons became the into flowing rivers that crosses through China and all that remains of the nymph was a crystal amulet, which contain the essence of the four dragons and her own.'
Martin recalls as he works on the props after Hay Lin explained and told to every one of the class the story after the weekend. She has been appointed by Principal Knickerbocker to create a school play for the upcoming Christmas day, which should base on an Asian legend. It was definitely a right position for her to be the leading as director and story writer as her parents own a Chinese restaurant and comes from a family who lived from the other side of the world.
The whole class have been busy for the whole week as they create the props and the stage designs, while the others plan to cast the actors who will act out for the play. He especially and enthusiastically cheers on his girl, his beloved Irma who wanted to be casted on one of the leading roles of the story.
'If magic is possible…then, is it possible for fictional legends to exist?' Martin asks to himself as a hundred questions linger and disturb his factual-based mind. As a bright and intelligent as he is, he would really deny the existence of magic. Every sane person would know that magic only exists in fiction and only in the imagination and minds of the being. As a book-worm into a hundred scientific and well-researched books, there is no clear evidence that these sorts of fantasies truly does exist.
"Hey Martin, Martin? Hello Earth to Martin?" says someone behind him as he his daydream and deep thoughts fades away.
"O-Oh y-yes?" Martin turns around to Hay Lin, who has been tapping his shoulder for quite some time.
"Lost in thoughts?" Hay Lin tiredly asks as she chuckles slightly.
"S-Sorry, H-Hay Lin." Martin apologizes. "What is it?"
"We need a light designer and someone who can be in charge of the audio." Hay Lin replies as she hands out the script to him. "Just read the script and see what you can do."
"S-Sure…" Martin says as he reads the large highlighted and all caps title 'THE LEGEND OF THE FOUR DRAGONS'. He sighs in disbelief as he couldn't comprehend on what is real or not. "Is this just a fictional legend or a true story? Maybe based on your powers perhaps?" he mumbles to himself.
"Huh? What did you say?" Hay Lin asks as Martin thought she had gone away.
He then quickly recalls that he should not have to reveal anything about himself and the legionates to them. "O-Oh no! Nothing's w-wrong!" he replies quickly. 'I hope she didn't hear me!'
"Well, okay thanks again!" Hay Lin says as Martin looks at her she walks tired yet happily to her group of friends who greeted her in the corner of her classroom, Will Vandom, Irma 'Cupcake' Lair, Cornelia Hale and Taranee Cook. 'The Guardians of the Veil, and of the universe, are just ordinary high school teenagers right under my nose…"
"I have to find out for myself."
(During Issue 9: Hay Lin narrates ending scenes of 'The Four Dragons')
Two days later as the students got too busy for the upcoming play, Martin though once again unethical, stalk the five friends around as he discretely follows them whenever he has the time, just as he did to Nigel. He founds them at the school outdoor terrace and proceeds to hide behind the elevated platform of the terrace where he could clearly hear them.
"Xin Jing?" Will asks Hay Lin as she buts in to Hay Lin's story.
"It means of Heart of Crystal, Will." Hay Lin replies as she continues the retell the story of 'The Four Dragons' to them as they were not present during her short narration to the class.
'I knew it.' Martin says to himself as he somehow brought the pieces together of information together. 'Heart of crystal? Doesn't it sound like what Eric told me about where the Guardian's powers came from?' he ponders.
He continues to listen to Hay Lin narration until to the ending of the story. "Those dragons, the nymph…" she says. "That's us, you see? That legend tells us about the origin of our powers!"
"So the crystal amulet?" Will asks.
"Yes Will! It's the Heart of Kandrakar! This story was my grandmother's favorite. Now do you see why?" Hay Lin says.
'Is that c-correct?' Martin says to confusingly in disbelief. 'S-so every bit of information that I got from those guys were true t-then?'
"The Yellow Dragon loved the Earth." Hay Lin explains. "The Black Dragon flew better than others. The Red Dragon loved water, and the Pearl Dragon controlled fire…"
"…and the nymph, all by herself, made their transformations possible, right?" Will asks.
"Hmmm…A bit long and poetic." Cornelia says. "No argument there."
"What do you think about that? Dragons! Nymphs!" Taranee explains. "That's what I think of as real magic!"
"What does that mean?" Will asks sarcastically. "That you thought our magic wasn't real?"
'Real magic…' Martin says as he gets up on his feet back and leaves quietly away from them and sits on a nearby snowy bench. 'Even I an honor student and a proud intelligent student at that, couldn't tell the difference between fact and fiction.'
"Hey Martin."
Martin then turns around to see Nigel as he waves his hand and approaches him. "O-Oh hey Nigel, but your friends—"
"Don't worry about it. I already left them." Nigel explains as he continues. "I just wanted to tell you that I'll be working with you with the lights and the audio for the play, and since you're the manager, just call me whenever you need me."
"Sure." Martin says silently.
"You alright, Martin? You seem kind of gloomy." Nigel asks as he notices Martin's saddened face.
Martin sighs in confusion and rubs his head. "'The Four Dragons', is the story just a mere legend or did it really happened?"
Nigel sighs as he reveals a slight smile of amusement then sits next to him. "It seems you already knew behind Hay Lin's Asian 'legend'. I didn't expect for her to bring up such a 'factual' tale to the class about how the Heart of Kandrakar was created."
"So my ears were right, the girls—Guardians were right about themselves." Martin affirms.
"Listening to their conversations?" Nigel asks.
"U-uumm…I did…" Martin replies. "But it's just for this one time." He defends himself.
"You don't have to worry about it." Nigel says. "I used to keep a lookout yet secretly on the Guardians then when they were still new to their powers, and when they could handle on their own, we, the legionates, decided that we should let them go."
"So dragons? Nymphs? What other fairy tales are true?" Martin asks.
"Who knows? Others are truly just fairy tales and legends and others are true with a few 'cut' versions to the story to make it more appealing to the people, especially the children" Nigel explains. "Even 'The Four Dragons' has a 'cut' version on its own."
"Yeah? What is?" Martin asks.
"The Jade Emperor was known as the 'AntiAether'." Nigel explains. "He is a past powerful wizard who has the ability to destroy the four elements, he called the anti-elements. That's why he had the ability to capture the four dragons in the first place. Anyhow, that wizard is actually long gone now."
"I see." Martin says. "Is there something else that I should know? Because all this magic thing—really confuses me like it's challenging me what I see about reality." Martin sighs. "—Oh sorry, if I'm moody again—"
"It's okay Martin, you don't have to apologize." Nigel says as he stands up from his seat. "I know I can't understand how you feel being a smart guy and yet I know it's hard for you take in everything. But if you could just let go of yourself and take a leap of faith to believe, and through time you'll understand because there is and a hundred more out there than you can possibly imagine."
"Let myself go huh…" Martin says.
"Congratulations on being the top of your class and being the smartest kid of Heatherfield!" Doyle cheers on his friend Martin as the Happy Bears Club members, who encircle around the campfire in a chilly night, raise a toast of soda to Martin.
"Those extra hours for books in the library surely does pay off!" Ava adds on as they drink from their soda cans.
"Thanks guys!" Martin happily replies.
"So what are you going to do now since you became the first your class? Aren't you afraid that someday another will take your place?" Faris asks.
"It'll take me a hundred years before they could take me down!" Martin sarcastically boasts. "Mwahahaha!" he laughs with an evil holler.
"Don't joke on me, Martin." Faris replies
"Just kidding." Martin replies.
"Jeez, don't let that pride of yours blind you." Doyle says. "Because I bet there are some other things you don't know as well."
"What else should I learn if I already achieved what I wanted?" Martin asks as he shrugs his shoulder.
"Well, I don't know." Ava replies. "But If I were you, I wouldn't use my intelligence as a means of always being correct and understood. I think what's more amazing if you could discover knowledge more than just books but through new experiences around you too."
"Well I'll be going now." Nigel walks away from him.
"H-Hey Nigel!" Martin, recalled and enlightened by his past, calls him as Nigel surprisingly turns his head to him.
"W-Where do I sign up?"
