Guardian: Darkness Rising by Melanie Houtman Page B

stopping it.
    Thomas, Samira and James could instantly feel
the effect of the world darkening; as the world darkened around
them, so did James’s heart. There was no away of fighting it, as
James felt his last grains of hope slip from his heart and mind,
only to be left with an ink-black stain inside of him.
    The last thing James was able to
tell at his family before being completely engulfed by the dark
was, “ RUN !”
    “ DAD!” Samira yelled, trying to
pull away from her husband, who had gripped Samira tightly; going
anywhere near James now was a terrible idea. “Sam, you heard him!”
Thomas yelled. “We’ve got to get out of here!”
    Samira continued to struggle, but quickly
accepted that he had to leave her brother behind. “Don’t worry,
James,” she yelled, before running after Thomas. “We’ll finish
this, once and for all! We won’t let him take you, I
promise!”
    “ I’d love to see you try, my
dear,” the Master laughed. James had been driven to his knees, and
was sitting next to the Master, panting loudly. “James is
mine.”
    Samira didn’t react, nor did she
look back. She just simply couldn’t look back.
    The only thing she could do to help James now,
was to keep Luke safe and find a way to cure James and save the
world at the same time. After all, she still was a Guardian – and
thus, she had to fulfil her duty.
    Whatever it’d take, Luke would get his father
back. And Samira would get her brother back.

Follow the
Light
    The Master felt as if he couldn’t be happier.
Everything had gone according to plan: the world was darkening once
again, and James was his loyal servant.
    Yet, something seemed off. The Master was
quick to discover the reason why; as he glanced at the globe, he
was expecting to see a completely black ball, but only the Land of
Light had turned black. The black colour was spreading, but it
looked as if it was struggling to get past the borders of the Land
of Light. The barrier the Spirits had put up had worked.
    “ AKILAH!” the Master bellowed.
“What’s the reason for this!?” he breathed. “AKILAH!”
    The shadows took their time to
appear; they didn’t seem quite impressed with the tantrum their
brother was throwing. Obviously, they made sure Luke was in good
hands first before returning to Asura.
    “ Akilah, what did you do?” the
Master said angrily, pointing at the globe behind him. “Why isn’t
the darkness spreading?”
    “ We had to keep you contained,”
Ince said calmly; the Master looked as if he was about to explode.
He just simply couldn’t stand the attitude his siblings had toward
him, as if they didn’t respect him and everything he’d had
achieved. They acted as if they were above him; the Master thought
his siblings were arrogant and narcissistic.
    They’d always been, and they’d never change,
either.
    “ How do I break this barrier,
Ince?” the Master demanded. “Tell me quickly, please. I don’t like
having to wait.”
    “ We all have to do things we don’t
like sometimes, brother,” Ince said smugly, and after Ince had
finished his sentence, both shadows simultaneously disappeared once
again. On the inside, the Master was boiling with rage, despite the
calm appearance of his face. How could his siblings be so arrogant,
so full of themselves?
    They were blatantly ignorant –
even after all that the Master had proven to be capable of, his
siblings didn’t seem the slightest bit afraid or impressed; they
just remained indifferent towards the Master. Annoyingly indifferent.
    The Master had no time to waste on
hinting down his siblings; the darker Lunaria would become, the
more weakened their powers would be, anyway. For now, his main
concern was finding a way to bring down that cursed barrier. Once
that would be done, the Master would regain full control over
Lunaria, enabling him to permanently wipe his siblings off the map.
They were insignificant little ants. No – they were cockroaches , because one
cloud of pesticide