The Guardian Chronicles 2: Dark Horizon by Matthew Burkey

us actually," Tony admitted. "It was Cody, he's our medic. He started treating you right after the attack but Aadesh is too modest, he deserves some of the credit too."
    Although he had never really thought anything bad about Cody, he was starting to see him in a whole new light. In fact, he was starting to see them all in a whole new light...and it wasn't just because of the physical abilities that they all possessed. They actually sounded like...heroes. The Guardians fought for those that couldn't fight for themselves, keeping the forces of darkness at bay and did it all in the shadows, knowing full well they would never receive credit for their deeds. Suddenly a whole new wave of anxiety washed over Gabriel and he started to think that this was a really bad idea.
    "So, that stuff healed me?" Gabriel asked, trying to push away the thoughts in his head that were threatening to send him into a panic attack.
    "Among other things, including Aadesh's skilled hands," Ryan said.
    "If this stuff is so revolutionary why not share it with everyone?" Gabriel asked.
    Aadesh sighed heavily. "The technology is still somewhat inefficient for mass production and we have only a limited supply of the solution. We are working on ways to correct that at the moment."
    “Come on, we have a few more rooms left to see.”
    “Geez, how many rooms are down here?” Gabriel asked.
    “Just the portal and armory left,” Ryan explained.
    "Portals?" Gabriel asked. "You guys can create portals?"
    "Not us," Tony reminded him. "Mages can, although it takes a tremendous amount of concentration and power. It's not as easy as they make it look in the movies, which why we only have one and it’s permanently opened to the academy."
    "It stays open all the time?" Gabriel asked.
    "Yeah," Ryan nodded. "They created it when this base was first established. Magical glyphs keep it open permanently. Only members of the Circle of Magi can close it down."
    "Huh?" Gabriel asked, making a face. "Should I be taking notes?"
    "The Circle of Magi," Ryan went on, they came back out through the main corridor and took a turn down toward one of two smaller ones. "The ruling body of the magical world, they generally spend most of their time at their home base in England.”
    "How many mages are there in the world?" Gabriel asked.
    "Last count was around three thousand," Tony shrugged. "A lot of them are Guardians or work with us. Some are rogues, running about and causing havoc and whatnot, and still others lead normal lives. There are some that don’t even know that they are mages and never learn to tap into magic at all.”
    "That doesn't seem like a lot.”
    "It isn't," Ryan said. "It's nature's way of ensuring that they don't drain all the magical energy off the planet."
    "I take it that's not good?"
    "Epic disasters would occur," Tony shrugged. "So, yeah not good."
    Gabriel only nodded. They came to a room at the end of the corridor, again with a keypad attached. Ryan tapped in another code and the door slid open, revealing a softly lit room beyond.
    “This is the armory,” Ryan smiled, as they walked inside.
    There were row after row of glass cases, every one of them had a first initial and a last name stenciled on it. Ryan led them toward the second row and stopped by the case that had R. Cloud stenciled on the top. He put his hand on a section of the glass, it glowed blue for a moment before sliding up and out of the way, allowing them access to the weapons inside.
    The first thing that Gabriel noticed was two daggers. Both had blades 12 inches long but what was the most incredible thing about the weapons was the vibrant silver/blue glow that seemed to emanate from the blades of the weapons. The handles were elegant as well, although entirely simplistic.
    “Wow,” Gabriel said, looking at the weapons.
    “ Daylighter,” Ryan said, grabbing the first dagger. “And Darklighter.”
    “They have names?” Gabriel asked.
    “When the weapon master makes your weapon