Okay, so this chapter is only going up so quickly because the prologue is so short. The others won't be up this quickly. Um...what else...I'm glad you all like the idea so much! Just a warning--while Merle may be important, she is not your typical Guardians of Time fanfic heroine. Keep that in mind.
Only Merle, Lonan, and the plot belong to me
Chapter One
Merle Sullivan brushes back a lock of her silken dark hair impatiently. Eagerly, she watches the sphere that lights the darkened room. Her Lady is fighting, and valiantly, against the forces of her wicked brother. Merle gloats at the thought of their imminent victory. Soon, very soon—what! Merle blinks once, twice, thrice—but that does not change the image the sphere now projects. Her Lady, the one Goddess whom she'd pledged to follow until the bitter end—dead? No, it couldn't be, not her, surely not Lathenia? True, Lorian could be dead, but Lathenia?
It couldn't be.
"Ciara."
Slowly, unwillingly, Merle drags her gaze from the sphere. "Lonan," she croaks. "Surely—it cannot be—Lathenia is not—not dead?"
Even from the shadows, Merle can feel his grimace.
"Lorian and Lathenia are both dead. The battle has been lost, the Prophecy fulfilled."
"No. No. The Prophecy was wrong—did it not change? Did our excursions into the past mean nothing?"
"Oh, the Prophecy has most certainly changed. In our favour, of course."
Merle breathes a sigh of relief. "Truly? What does it say?"
"That is for another time. You have been named as the Lady's successor, as I'm sure you well know."
"Yes…but of course, Keziah will not linger on Earth for much longer."
"I bring to you directions from Keziah and the Lady herself." He holds out a scroll.
Swiftly, Merle grabs and unfurls it. She squints against the darkness. "It says…'For when the Prophecy is fulfilled—for you know it will be, Merle. You must bring all of the Called together. Together, your powers will be equal to that of the Named, for, even with Lorien's gift, they are down two. Also, do not forget, I have endowed each of you with a gift of your own.'" Merle remembers that day well. Shortly after storming out of the fateful meeting with Lorien, Lathenia had immediately given her most elite Ordersmen—the Called—a gift that essentially gave them each a third skill. "'The Called must continue to go back into the past, wreaking as much havoc as possible, but do not be rash, for unskilled destruction can only bring about the end of the Order. However, before you start any of this, you must go to Veridian. Get the Prophecy—you can translate it later. Go soon, for the Guard will not expect an attack so soon. They will be celebrating; their security will be lax. Once you have the Prophecy, everything will start to fall into place. Take only one other with you. Keziah will open the path into Veridian for you, as he once did for Marduke. Be careful. You cannot be caught; this is a crucial mission. Lathenia, Goddess of Chaos and Life.'"
Merle looks up. "Lonan, will you come with me?"
"Of course. And the Called—?"
"Let us do nothing yet. Many of them don't even know that they are Called. We can deal with them later. First, we need to go after the Prophecy."
"Now? What about the troops?"
She flips her hand dismissively. "Keziah can handle them. Surely the old mage can handle them without us two humans present."
"Ciara—fine. We can go. But just one thing."
"Yes?"
A smile flickers across Lonan's face. "Don't call me by the name She gave me. Call me Blake."
"Fine, Blake. Call me Merle."
Yeah, they do talk very...in a stiff manner, but that's on purpose because they're so high up. Also, when I say Lathenia gave them a gift that's basically a third skill, I mean like, say, Isabel's gift of sight in all and any light. While it's only a gift, in day to day life, it's a very useful one that is basically a skill.