When a person thinks that following, in most situations, a hallucination is good, then something is most definitely wrong up in the 'ol attic. But this is not that kind of situation. Dying and coming back to life isn't most situations.
While mulling over how badly things could go, I finally reached the source of the golden glitter. A good amount of it was spilling out of a window, cascading down in slow mesmerizing waves. Although it was quite tempting, I didn't know if I should touch it or not since I didn't even know what it was. I didn't even know if I was supposed to be here; the scene somehow felt personal.
As the minutes ticked by, a tremor shivered through the waterfall of gold dust. Startled by the sudden movement, I jumped back and just as quickly moved toward the dust. It never even occurred to me that this man could have been doing something bad to whoever was in that room. I naturally assumed that a small golden man meant no harm, but who knows. Spurred on by a sense of justice and protectiveness, I clumsily climbed up the neighboring house and used the various snaking pipes as handholds. As soon as I reached the right height, I looked toward the window and almost lost my hold.
Across from me was a scene that sent shivers down my spine, effectively freezing me to the spot. Like Hate, this creature was tall and emitted an ominous aura. A black robe covered his slim body, standing intimidatingly tall over the equally intimidating short gold man. While the gold man was surrounded by brilliant golden sand (I finally came to this conclusion since glitter didn't suit the dark, tall, and evil), the sinister man was bathed in black undulating sand.
"Well, well, well. Isn't it funny to meet you here again over the same bed seventy two years later?" smirked the dark man. He spoke in a soft, whispering voice that hinted at what really lay beneath his exterior.
Little gold man straightened his back and stood as tall as he could manage, looking defiantly into the towering man's eyes. I was a little surprised when he formed images out of the glittering sand to communicate rather than speak. From this distance, I couldn't clearly make out what he was trying to say, but I could tell from his stiff stance and quick gestures he was furious. The images, from what I could gather, were telling a story. Roughly translated, it told about a battle between him, the evil man, and a few others who defeated the evil. Anything else was lost among the rapidly changing sands.
Laughing, the sinister man leaned in closer and slowly dragged his finger across the gold sand, tainting them with darkness. From the newly born black sand came five other figures that ranged vastly in size and stature.
"You think I came alone this time? I did not intend to make the same mistakes Sandman."
He raised his left arm, "Greed. Death. Fear." Three pulsating figures smiled gruesomely. The first taunted at the Sandman. The second stared down at him with an arrogant demeanor. The third made some very rude gestures and stuck his tongue out, cackling manically.
He raised his right arm, "Hate. Gluttony. And of course, me," pointing to himself, "Nightmare." One of the figures was hunched over, looking around nervously with beady eyes. The other stood perfectly still, arms crossed over its chest. Then the dark man, Nightmare, gave a wide smile that revealed two rows of small rounded teeth.
"What do you think old friend?" Nightmare asked. "Do you think you and your 'Guardians' can win this time?" He cackled manically.
Walking away from Sandman, he and the five other figures followed him out the window. Looking back, he said, "You have won the battle, Guardians. The war hasn't even begun yet." He collapsed into the shadows and took the darkness with him. But just before he disappeared, the shadow man cocked an eyebrow at me and spared me a tiny, devious smile.
I took a deep shuddering breath and collected my thoughts before calling out to Sandman.
"H-Hey Sandman! That evil-looking dude didn't hurt or anything?" No response. Looking around nervously, I asked Sandman again. Nothing.
The little gold guy was busy gesturing to the air to hear me. It would be almost comical if not for the fact that Nightmare himself just winked at me and not in a good way.
I could the cold finally seeping into my limbs and knew I needed to find a place to sit down. Looking around desperately, I reached for a pipe above me but was just out of my reach. Cursing colorfully, I rose on the tips of my toes and just managed to touch the pipe, not enough to get a firm grasp unfortunately. Take a deep breath, I settled on my feet again and jumped for it. My right hand frantically scrambled for some sort of hold while my left made the connection. Dangling with only one hand that was quickly losing hold, I fully realized how stupid I was. There was a ledge that led to a lower section of the rood I could have jumped onto. The pipe I was slipping off of led straight to a dead end above me. Any other reachable surface was three feet away—a distance I can't reach.
"Well Maia. You've done it. You have managed to kill yourself within hours of your resurrection," I said to myself. By this point, I couldn't feel my hands or feet anymore. At least the fall won't hurt as bad.
As my last finger slid off the pipe, I braced myself for impact but instead found myself on an unimaginably soft surface. Opening my eyes, I saw I was sitting on a golden cloud of sand. To my left was the Sandman, staring at me with a mixture of confusion and interest. Images quickly formed from the sand that passed all too fast for me to understand.
Shaking my head, I said, "I don't understand you. Can't you, you know, talk?"
Sandman shook his head too and made a zipping motion across his mouth. Smiling, he gestured towards me with a question mark above his head.
"Oh! Uh, my name is Maia. Nice to meet you... Sandman?" I asked unsurely.
Nodding vigorously, he gestured some more at me.
"Well, um. This Voice inside my head resurrected and stripped—actually, no forget I ever said that. Technically he did but not in a perverted way, more like a magical transformation way."
I looked at Sandman with a please-do-not-think-I'm-weird-and-drop-me look. His head was tilted slightly to the left, looking confused but patient. I explained to him about my meeting with Hate (which promptly earned me an angry stare) and how nobody seemed to notice me. Sandman's eyes softened up and looked sad.
"What is it?" I asked. "You know why people are avoiding me don't you!" I gasped. Placing my hands on his shoulders, I pleaded him to tell what was wrong. Sandman only looked away with the same sad look, making him look much older.
Sighing, I released him and sagged my shoulders in defeat. Suddenly, he grabbed my hands and pulled me towards him. I looked curiously at him, but Sandman had a devious glint in his eyes and I decided to not question it. Now his golden hands were clenched in fists and gestured to me to pick a hand. Smiling a little, I chose the right hand. Immediately he released his right fist and a burst of gold fireworks shot from his palm, gently lighting the night sky in a warm golden glow.
"Thanks little guy," I said laughing silently.
Sandman proudly beamed at me and proceeded to nudge me gently with his left fist. I burst into laughter. I grinned and touched his hand which earned me a bouquet of beautiful flowers. We both laughed happily. I kept asking him to make certain animals and object which he happily obliged.
Before I knew it, I felt a cold rush of wind brush across my cheek. Ahead of us was an immense landscape covered in a thick blanket of freshly fallen snow. A galaxy of swirling colors swam in the night sky. Roughly shaped mountains protruded from the white surface, providing the only other source of color. Even then the snow was beginning to cover the jutting spears of rock and minerals. It was easy to imagine to get lost in the deadly terrain.
Sandman gently prodded me on the arm to get my attention.
"H-huh? What's going on? Did I say something weird?"
Smiling patiently, Sandman created a picture of reindeer flying above his head.
I knitted my eyebrows. "What are you trying to tell me? That Santa lives here?" I chuckled.
He nodded.
I paused to think. Well, since Sandman exists why shouldn't Santa be real? I'll tell you: Santa didn't do jack for me. Every damned Christmas meant that there were more robberies and muggings. Every god forsaken Christmas I spent trying to not get knifed or beaten up somewhere in a dark alley. To get straight to the point, I don't really appreciate Christmas.
I decided not to say anything. I didn't want to ruin the happy atmosphere.
As the minutes agonizingly ticked by, I finally heard something out of the ordinary. It was too faint but as we got closer, it became clear that it was a good old jolly song about dear Father Christmas.
Oh joy.
At least Sandman seemed excited so I gave it the benefit of the doubt. But I couldn't help be slightly annoyed by the overly cheerful music. It gave me more shivers than the actual cold. The glaringly bright lights stung my eyes while the cheesy architecture ever so slightly wanted to make me vomit.
The closer we got to living torture chamber, the more my mind said that this was not a good idea. My body starting heating up to almost unbearable temperatures and my hands and face were literally steaming, as in creating my own miniature cloud for everyone to bask in. I don't think that's normal, even for a person who just got resurrected.
I softly nudged Sandman. "Hey, uh, I don't think this is a good idea. This sounds insane but I'm getting some really bad vibes from his place." My desperation sort of showed.
Sandman shook his head adamantly and insisted that we continue onwards. He was pointing at the aurora borealis the whole time.
"You don't get it, little guy. It-I don't think I should be here. Something is definitely telling me that we should go back. Don't you trus-"
A sudden drop in altitude caused me to shut up immediately and hang on for dear life. I looked over and saw Sandman struggling to maintain the sand cloud. Surrounding us was the black sand from earlier; both the black and gold sand were battling each other, trying to get the upper hand. Although my vision was slightly impaired due to my very own personal steam cloud, I could tell that trying to keep us both alive and struggling to fend off the black sand was almost too much for Sandman.
"Dammit, aren't I the Spirit of Fire? Can't I shoot fireballs from my hands or something? Or at least create a distraction somehow?" I screamed. The more frustrated I got, the more steam that my body emitted. Soon I would not be able to see anything.
I tried everything. I tried to snap my fingers to see if the small of friction would somehow activate my fire powers. Blowing very hard didn't do anything except leave me light headed. Imagining up shooting fireballs from my hands almost got me a one way trip straight down to my death. I was tempted to click my heels together but even that sounded a bit ridiculous.
As the struggle continued, we steadily declined in altitude towards Santa's workshop. Nightmare was spreading his darkness, consuming Sandman's light. While Sandman was trying to defend us while fighting back the darkness, it was getting evident who was winning. Nightmare's laughs were echoing around us. Sandman's arms were trembling from the effort. Soon enough, we were going to crash into the workshop. Whether that would kill us or not, I didn't care to find out.
"Sandman!" I yelled, "We need to make a jump for it! At this rate we'll crash right into Santa's workshop!"
The little guy shook his head and created a faint arrow that pointed behind us.
I looked backwards just in time to see a giant red sleigh fly past us. I heard people yell interesting insults and taunts.
"Come back for more have you, you drongo! I was sure you carked it!" taunted one with an Australian accent.
"Thought I would never see you again old friend!" yelled another with a heavy Russian accent.
"Well look what we have here: another pest to deal with!" happily shouted another.
"Come on ladies! It's show time!" commanded the fourth voice.
Surprised by the sudden appearance, my frustration vanished along with my steam cloud. I could now see the sources of the four voice I heard.
The first one, with the Australian accent, was a tall silver-blue rabbit wielding two boomerang. The second one, with a Russian accent, was Santa Claus himself: a heavy set man donned with an equally heavy looking red coat with a black fur trim holding twin sabers. Next was a shorter and smaller pale guy with white hair wearing a blue hoodie and frayed trousers who had a Shepard's crook as a weapon. Finally, a woman covered head to toe in tiny blue, purple, and green feathers with rapidly moving wings on her back.
Next to me, Sandman sagged his shoulders in relief and looked at me with confident eyes that said: Do not worry. We are safe now.
Even though we were surrounded by literal infestation of Nightmare itself, I felt oddly safe around these strangers. I nodded back to Sandman and he left my side to go fight with the other people.
"What a lovely surprise this is! I hope we all can have a fun time together, Guardians! "yelled Nightmare delightedly.
He summoned his army Nightmares, horses with golden eyes born from the black sand, and spread them out in a circle, surrounding the Guardians.
"Ha! Mate, we had you runnin' for the hills you stonkered deadbeat! How's about another taste of these 'ol boomerangs eh?" said the Oversized Rabbit.
Nightmare raised his eyebrow and gave a small smile.
Oversized Rabbit raised his boomerangs and aimed them at him. "Don't get cocky with me."
"Now, now Bunny. No need to be so… what is the word?" asked Santa.
"I think you're looking for the word 'rash' North?" chuckled the pale boy.
"Ah, yes! No need to be rash, Bunny. We will do this together."
The guy with the white hair stepped forward. "Well, now that's out of the way, why don't we teach Pitch here another lesson. What do you say guys?"
"I absolutely agree," said the feather-coated lady. An army of miniature versions of the woman came out of nowhere, buzzing angrily.
North unsheathed his twin sabers and took an offensive stance. "Let us battle!"
Sandman prepared golden whips of sand and nodded to everyone.
"Oh don't get so riled up because of me! Aren't you forgetting somebody important… say a certain someone behind you?" questioned Nightmare.
"What are talking about n…?" The pale boy trailed off when he looked backwards. His eyes widened at the sight of me. "Who are you?"
Everyone turned around at stared at me.
That's when Nightmare made his move.
Oh wow, I'm pretty satisfied with this chapter. I am trying to make the chapters longer but the periods between each upload will be longer, if that's okay with everyone? I've been doing a lot of research and it's pretty interesting, all the information about the Guardians and the books it was based off of. Well, I'll end this Author's Note here and I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Leave any suggestions or PM me, I will be sure to read them.