Lady A: Hey everyone and welcome back to Rise of the Dragonwitch! The last chapter was a little dark and probably slightly confusing but this chapter should clear up a few things but also make you wonder what's going on and what will happen. *grins like a mad woman* Thanks to all those who faved, followed, and reviewed on the very first chapter! You guys get virtual cookies. *passes them out* Now on with the show!

Chapter Two: Dark Guardian

A tall, young man dressed in black, wearing a black cloak, stood before a circular table. On the table was a dark red orb sitting on a silver stand. The orb was glowing softly, a swirling of golden energy dancing within its ruby depths. He stared into the orb, his shadowed face revealing nothing but hope filled steel blue eyes.

"We have waited such a long time and that patience has been rewarded. At long last, the High Priestess of the Old Religion has come." He spoke aloud, his deep baritone voice revealing his relief.

He continued to stare into the glowing orb, waiting for it to reveal his charge's whereabouts. She needed to be protected at all costs.

Artimes awoke in a forest, not unlike the one she had been running through before, and struggled to her feet. Her entire body ached and she was beyond exhausted. It was dark out and frightfully cold, her breaths coming out in white puffs. She wrapped her arms around herself, her body shaking uncontrollably. She was not used to such cold temperatures, given that she had only just moved to England. Before that, she had lived sixteen years out of twenty five in the sub tropical climate of Florida.

She had moved to London after a well renowned and well respected editor had accepted her series of novels and published them over the course of three years. She had been doing so well, her life going from dull and boring to fun and bright. She had her own flat, money to burn, friends to hang out with, and up until recently, a supposedly loving boyfriend.

She had been so stupid and naïve. All he saw was a beautiful and rich woman, his ticket for getting rich quick. He didn't see her, he didn't know her, and he used her. She wasn't blind; his friends had been drunk but he wasn't. His movements were not sluggish or relaxed like his idiot friends. He had orchestrated that whole thing! Her jaw clenched in rage. He and his drunk flunkies had raped her in the middle of the woods, stealing her virginity in the process, and were trying to break her so she wouldn't report them.

She forced her emotions down when she felt the warmth inside surge to the surface. She had to be careful. It was obvious that the power the voice had talked about reacted to her emotions, so she would have to learn to control herself. She didn't want to hurt anyone or herself by losing control. She started walking through the woods with no set destination in mind, but hoping to find someplace that was at least shielded from the elements so she wouldn't freeze to death. Tears flowed from her eyes once more, unable to hold them back as she did her best to ignore the pain in her body.

She had no idea where she was, no idea how she got there, and no idea to the identity of the owner of the rumbling voice that had spoken to her. Why had she been so inclined to trust that voice? She had trusted him, called on the warmth inside of her, and used it to fling three people away from her and she somehow teleported herself out of the cave and into a forest. What the hell was going on?! She just wanted some damn answers!

She was so confused and tired, but what hit her the hardest…wasn't the betrayal, wasn't the pain, wasn't the strange voice in her head, wasn't the warmth inside of her…no, what hit her the hardest was that right now, she was completely and utterly alone. Sure, she had been on her own at times like when she was a kid and her mom had to work or like when she first moved to London and didn't know anyone, but that hadn't lasted forever. There had always been someone nearby or a phone call away; her mother, her elder brother, her grandmother, her friends, her editor, but now she had no one. She was completely on her own, isolated, and that scared her more than anything else. She didn't want to be alone.

After what seemed like forever, she finally stumbled across a small cave, relatively shielded and looked to be safe and she went inside. She lowered herself to the ground slowly, whimpering as her body protested the change in position, and she curled into a ball. Her eyes slid close as she succumbed to her fatigue almost immediately.

The dark clad man that stood before the glowing orb growled low in his throat. He knew that the High Priestess had indeed arrived, but the Blood Stone refused to show him where she was. The only reason why it wouldn't would be if she wasn't using her magic and quite possibly didn't how to use it. He was getting frustrated because it was his duty to protect her and yet he couldn't find her. He forced himself to calm down, running a hand through his dark locks, and returned his focus to the orb, praying to the Goddess that he would find his charge soon.

Four days…that was how long she had been wondering about and yet this day was different than the last three days. Why…this was the day that she was being chased by men in weird clothes who were carrying swords. She assumed them to be bandits of some sort, but in all honesty, she didn't care because she was once again running through a blasted forest. At least it was daylight rather than night time.

She tripped and fell to the earth hard, crying out upon impact. Her body had not had enough time to recover and she was still in a lot of pain. It wasn't long before she felt several pairs of hands running along her body and she knew what was coming next. Why did this have to happen to her?! What had she done to deserve this kind of torture?! They flipped her over and roughly spread her legs apart, one of the bandits positioning himself in between her legs.

No! She refused to let this happen again! Never again! She grasped firmly to the warmth inside of her. It rushed to her command and she screamed as her eyes flashed gold. The bandits were flung away from her and she crawled backwards until her back hit a tree, unable to move any further.

Her little blast hadn't deterred them and seemed to egg them on. The bandits rose to their feet and stalked towards her, her eyes widening in fear as she remembered what her ex and his friends had done. Before the bandits could reach her; however, a whirlwind of dust appeared directly in front of her. The wind subsided to reveal a dark clothed man with slightly curled dark hair, wearing a black cloak, and was roughly six feet tall.

Who the hell was he? Why was he here? How did he just appear like that? Was he going to hurt her too? No, he was in between her and them so maybe, he was protecting her? Why would he do that? Nothing was making sense. The warmth inside her pulsed slightly as if assessing his presence and there was a responding call, warm like hers but also non threatening. Who was he? Could she trust him? She wanted to but she had no idea why he was there. She hadn't even seen his face yet.

Several of the bandits paled at the sight of the mystery man and dropped their weapons. Others simply ran away, yelling the words 'Blood Guard' as they did. Those remaining let loose a battle cry and rushed at the newcomer. He simply raised his hands in front of him and blasted them away. This time…they didn't get back up.

Lady A: Tada! Chapter 2: Dark Guardian is complete! And so we have introduced the second main character of Rise of the Dragonwitch! Can anyone guess who it might be? *grins* I bet you can't! Anyone who guesses correctly will get a special shout out and a whole batch of virtual cookies! Leave tons and tons of reviews and be on the lookout for Chapter 3: Healing Hands! Stay tuned!