(Note! I use the word "glowing" too much, I know! Also, the Guardians aren't all girls! The chapter's point of view varies. This chapter is read in the Lightning Guardian's point of view. You can tell who's point of view your reading from where it tells you which chapter it is.)
Chapter 2: Lightning
The Lightning Guardian
My 6-year-old brother, Thomas, was staring at the cartoon, peering at the screen so intently that I was afraid his face would run into the TV screen. I sat on the tan leather couch, watching my younger brother.
“Lyn, could you come and help me fold the clothes?” My older sister, Elisa, shouted. Outside, the rain pounded against the window. Lightning flashed across the sky; thunder roared.
“Sure,” I called back. I stood up stretching and left the living room. Then I raced up the stairs and helped Elisa, who was sitting on her bed in the room we shared. Her blue blankets had been folded up neatly and placed to the side of her bed. A huge clump of clothes sat in front of her. Brushing my shoulder-length brown hair to the side, I sat down opposite Elisa.
Elisa smiled warmly. “I can't believe that it can rain for three days straight. The rain's been coming non-stop. I'm surprised the river hasn't flooded. So how's school these days? I heard you're number one in the history test.”
“It wasn't nothing. Look at you, you're always number one.”
“Since you like the rain so much,” Elisa said when we were done. “Could you go and buy some groceries?” Ever since our mom had died, Elisa taken her place. My dad was always busy working hard to make sure that he could afford food and school for us. Since he worked long hours, he was often not at home.
“Sure,” I replied. “What's the list?” Elisa handed me a long piece of paper.
“Why do we need eggs? I thought you bought a bunch of them yesterday.” I said pointing it out to Elisa.
“Oh, did I?” Elisa asked. “Oh dear, I'm awfully forgetful. I'll go check downstairs and I'll see what we need.” Elisa went back downstairs as I lied down on the bed in the room that Elisa and I shared, staring at the ceiling.
“Kids, I'm home!” It was my dad. I bolted up from Elisa's bed and ran down the stairs.
“DAD!” Thomas and my other little brother, Daniel, were hugging him.
“How was work, Dad?” Elisa asked with a smile before she turned to me. “Here's the shopping list. And don't forget to get some snacks. For Thomas and Daniel.” Elisa handed me the list, which seemed to be even longer.
“Hello, fellows.” My dad smiled. He hung up his coat and headed toward the living room where he sat down next to the blazing fire. I read the list quickly, before glancing up.
“I'm going out shopping!” I shouted. I slipped the list in to a hidden pocket of my yellow jacket, before pulling it on. I slipped on my gray shoes and opened the door
“Be careful!” My dad said. I waved then closed the door behind me. The wind whipped up my hair, and the rain splashed on my cheeks.
“Feels good, doesn't it?” A voice came from my right. I turned and saw Marcus, the blacksmith's kid, standing next to me. He had been bothering me for a while and he was starting to get on my nerves.
“Go away.” I said and began to walk down the path towards the grocery store, as I pulled up my jacket's hood.
“Hey, don't be like that.” He said with a smile. I was really, really, really tempted to punch him in the face. But I ignored him and kept walking.
“Where are you going?” He asked after a while.
“None of your business. Shouldn't you be helping your dad?”
“Well, it's none of your business.” Marcus replied. I spun around at him.
“Go away.” I snapped, glaring at him. “You are so annoying!”
“How am I being annoying?” He asked trying to act innocent.
“How are you being annoying? Why the heck do you keep following me? GO AWAY! And you're mean!”
“I'm not mean. Not to you anyway.”
“Exactly! You're mean to everybody! Except me! Shouldn't you be nice to everyone?”
“Why should I?” Marcus stood there calmly, there was a stupid grin on his face and all I wanted to do was to zap it off his ugly face. Marcus had short brown hair, and black eyes. He was wearing a short sleeve shirt despite the weather. He was barely taller than me. I was getting really, really annoyed. I had always been the one to get in trouble at school even though I had great grades.
“Besides, how am I mean to people? I don't walk up to them and say 'Hey, you suck.'”
“And that's what makes it worse! Just seeing you here makes my mood go down! Like that one day, I was already feeling horrible but you only made me feel worse!”
“What day?” Marcus cocked his head, in mock curiosity.
“Oh, you should remember. That one day when Marta and Niko had a huge fight! You just had to pop right up and say 'I don't get why you hang out with these people. They're poor and stupid beyond repair. Why don't you come over to my house for dinner? I'm better company then they can ever be.' You spoke so loudly, Marta and Niko heard what you said! It took me a month to get them to actually talk to each other. Then it took another month before they were friends again.”
Marta and Niko – which was short for Nikolina – were my two best friends. I remembered that day so clearly, it startled me.
“So?” Marcus shrugged. “It's true though. They are poor.”
“And? Who cares about wealth? They're not stupid either. In case you didn't notice, they got in to the top ten when we took that big test. Where was your name? You aren't smarter than them. As for wealth, I couldn't care a thing about money. You can call them poor, but you can't call them stupid.”
“Trying to defend them? They can't possibly be your friends. If they were rich, I would have thought they hired you as their fake friend. But they aren't. I'm surprise you hang around them.” My anger was piling up, slowly and slowly as his insults got worse. I couldn't stand it.
Suddenly, a flash a lightning lit up where we were standing. I closed my eyes, hoping that I wouldn't get hit.
BOOM!
I looked at where Marcus was standing. But he wasn't there. Well, he was there, but he wasn't standing anymore. His hair was burnt to a faint crisp. His clothes had turned dark brown.
“What? What happened?” I looked around. Marcus was lying on the ground. Is he dead? I thought.
“It seems your power is extremely strong. Perhaps stronger than the others.” A voice said. I looked up and saw a lady with black hair and brown eyes.
“Who are you?” I asked.
The lady sighed. “Oh, why does everyone ask me that question?”
“What happened to Marcus? You know, right? So? What happened to him?” I inspected her green robes and brown sandals. “Who the hay are you?”
“I see.” She replied. “Well, there's no need to know my name. Lyn, you know about the Legendary Jrakkon Stone, right?”
“Does it look like I care right now?” I was tempted to scream at this mysterious lady. I pointed at Marcus. “What happened to him?”
“I'm not going to answer your questions until you answer mine.” the lady stood patiently as if she had all the time in the world.
She probably does.
I sighed, frustrated since I didn't know what happened to Marcus. How could he be stuck by lightning, while I was standing perfectly fine?
“I know about the Jrakkon Stone, alright? Who doesn't?”
“Actually there was someone else who didn't know about the Jrakkon Stone. But she found out anyway. You'll meet her soon.”
“Okay, okay. Moving on now.”
“Mizu, the Water Guardian, she's the one that you'll meet soon. She's Najepean, you see. Now, do you know why that boy is lying there?” The lady indicated Marcus, whose clothes were starting to get all muddy from the wet ground.
“That's what I've been trying to find out for like twenty minutes!” I shouted.
“Anyway, Marcus was struck by lightning. Do you know why?”
“Well, you obviously know! So tell me!” I was getting rather annoyed. “So he's been struck by lightning, how come I'm alright? I was standing right next to him!”
The lady sighed. “Listen, Lyn, you are the Lightning Guardian. Do you understand?”
“Of course I don't understand, cause apparently, I'm a stupid little kid!” I said sarcastically.
“Really?” The lady asked, surprised. “I thought you were a 16-year-old.”
“NO! I was being sarcastic!” I replied.
“Oh, I've never heard of such a thing.” She had a thoughtful look for a while, and then said, “No matter, I will see you soon. Watch your power. You're lucky your power hasn't been fully developed.”
“Wait! I still have some questions!” The wind picked up, blowing dust all around. The lady either was ignoring me, or she just couldn't hear me through the wind. The lady rose into the air with a yellow glow around her then disappeared. Slowly, the wind faded, and the dust settled down.
I scoffed. “Watch my power? I should just blow Marcus to dust.” But I didn't. I left him there in the mud. Served him right anyway.
“I'm home!” I shouted, kicking off my shoes as I closed the door behind me.
“What took you so long?” Elisa rushed over and took the bags from me.
“Just took a little while longer.” I replied. I took off my coat and hung it up. “What are we eating for dinner?”
“I cooked beef stew.” Elisa called from the kitchen where she was putting the groceries away. “Come and eat.” I went into the sky blue kitchen. The sink, counter, and pantry were at the very right of me. My dad and my brothers were already eating at our plain wooden table. I took a bowl out of the shelf. Sitting down next to Daniel, I poured myself some of the stew Elisa had made.
“Did you run into Marcus again?” Elisa asked with a wicked smile. She knew that Marcus had been bothering me and she had this wacky idea that he liked me. I rolled my eyes and tried to buy myself time. How was I supposed to tell Elisa that I had hit him with lightning? Besides, she wouldn't believe me.
“Yup,” I spooned in some of the stew, hungry from the walk. “Not very pretty.”
“Lyn, don't tell me you hit him!” Elisa poured herself a bowl, as she glanced at me with a worried look. “That's rude!”
“I didn't hit him.” I grinned. “It was something much more different. And probably worse, actually.”
“Then what did you do? Trip him? Kick him? Slap him?” Elisa asked. “Wait, you did something worse? What did you do? Kill him?” Elisa's voice turned into a hushed whisper and her eyes widened. I was suddenly aware that all eyes were on me. The table had fallen silent; though I was sure there hadn't been any conversation other than the one between Elisa and me.
“I didn't do any of that!” I protested, my voice raised. “And I will never kill anyone!”
“Enough, girls.” My dad said, raising a weary hand. “What did you do during school?” He seemed to be looking straight at me, attempting to change the subject.
“We drew doggies!” Thomas said, his face glowing with delight. “It was fun!” My dad smiled. The wrinkles on his face seemed to have increased.
“What about you Daniel?” He turned towards my other brother.
“We read a boring book.” Daniel replied with a frown. He mixed the stew with his spoon, but didn't eat any. I glanced at Daniel, whose skinny face looked alarmed.
“Daniel, eat.” Elisa must have noticed what I had too.
“I'm not really hungry.” He replied, pushing his bowl back. My dad's face turned serious and tense, as if there was something he knew.
“Why?” I asked. I was already half way through.
“Just not hungry. I'm going to my room.” He pushed the chair back and ran upstairs before anyone could stop him.
“I don't see what's bothering him.” Elisa sighed. I looked at my dad, who had a troubled look on his face. He stood up.
“I'm going to go talk to him.” He left the table quickly. Elisa sighed again, her brown braids dancing about.
“Is my cooking that bad?” She asked me.
“No, I think it's great!” Thomas answered for me. I said nothing. I could tell that Elisa was probably thinking the same thing: if only mom was still here, then Elisa wouldn't have to cook.
“Thanks.” Elisa smiled. We kept eating. Thomas told us all about the dog he drew and the other ones his friends had drawn. I had almost forgotten about what happened to Marcus.
Almost.
“So, what happened to you and Marcus?” Elisa asked in a singsong way when we were settling down to go to sleep.
I froze, mid-step towards my bed. I had just turned the lights off. Elisa must have sensed me stopping because she said, “Let me guess, something big happened, right?” But I wasn't thinking about what had happened to Marcus, I was thinking about what that lady had said.
She had said that she would see me later. And according to the tale, the day the Guardian finds out that he or she is a Guardian, the gods' servant would give that Guardian a weapon that contains part of the stone. So where was my weapon? Or was all the lady said fake?
“Lyn, what's wrong? If you don't want to, you don't have to tell me.” Elisa's voice was pure worry. I felt my way over towards my bed and crawled in.
“I'll tell you some other time.” I replied, though I was certain that that “other time” would be a long time from now. “Good night.”
“Good night.” Elisa said softly. I lied there for a while, perhaps an hour, maybe two. I heard soft snoring coming from Elisa's side. I crept out of bed and slipped through the door. Quietly, I went down the dark hallway, stepped carefully down the stairs until finally, I was at the dining room.
“You are smart, Lightning Guardian.” The lady stepped out of the shadows, even though everywhere there were shadows. “Here, this is a gift from the gods.” The lady opened her hand. I gaped at it.
In her palm were too long knives. It was a bright golden color, and seemed to glow in the hazy gloom. “Wow,” I said too mystified to say much more.
“Go on, take it.” She said. “I'm sure you'll find out how to use it. The Water Guardian has already used her weapon.”
“So you've already seen the Water Guardian?” I asked, picking it up carefully. The knives were light, really light. They shone like the sun and felt warm in my hands. Engraved onto the knives' sheath there was a lightning bolt.
“I must leave for one is treading near.” The lady said bowing. “I'll be back.” Then the lady disappeared once again.
“Wha-what is that?” A voice asked behind me. I spun around and saw Daniel. His blue striped pajamas hung loosely on his skinny frame.
“Shh.” I said as soothingly as I could and knelt next to him, “It's okay, Daniel. I have to leave tonight. Don't tell Daddy about these knives, okay?” Daniel's eyes widened and he stared at me bewildered.
“What's wrong?” I asked. “Are you okay?” I felt his fore head to see if he had a fever or something.
“Lyn, don't go.” He wrapped his arms around my waist.
“It's okay, Daniel. I'll come back.” I said, stroking his brown hair. I pulled him away and looked at him in the eye. “Now, go back upstairs and forget that you've ever saw or heard me. Forget that I was ever down here. Okay?”
“I'm thirsty.” Daniel replied quietly.
“Then go and get a cup of water and go back upstairs. Go to sleep, okay? Forget about what I'm saying or what you saw tonight. Okay?”
“Why?”
“Because, it's better that you forget. And don't tell anyone either.”
“Not even Daddy?”
“Not even Daddy.” Daniel stared at me for a few moments.
“Promise that you'll come back? Pinky promise?”
“Pinky promise.” I hooked my pinky with his and shook it. “I'll come back. So stay here and wait for me. Okay?” I forced a smile.
“Okay!” He said smiling back. “Come back as soon as you can!” Then he walked up the stairs, and out of my view.
“It seems you know a lot.” It was the lady, again.
“Why did you just disappear and then come back? And now what am I supposed to do?” I asked. “Do I go and look for the other Guardians?”
“No, you must go to a certain place. I have circled it for you.” She replied pulling out a map. “And I had to leave because your younger brother is coming. I can't show up unless there is no one except the Guardian.”
“Where is it?” I had to get to business. If I was chosen to be the Lightning Guardian, then so be it. I was going to come back as soon as possible.
“Here, this is a map. I have circled the place where you will meet the other Guardians. There's a special tree in the very middle of those two villages.” She handed me a map of the world. “Use your power wisely.”
And once again, she disappeared. I sighed. “This is too much.” I muttered to myself as I stood up. Oh well, this was something that I had to do. I stared at the knives that were glimmering like diamonds and sighed. “Great. I'm supposed to travel with glowing knives.” I said to myself.
The lady had said something about my powers. Yeah she had said that my powers were strong maybe stronger than the others. Maybe I could make the knives stop glowing. I stood there, thinking.
Light bulb! An idea popped into my head. I concentrated hard on the knives in my hand. I thought, normal knives, not glowing, nothing, just normal. I stared at the knives, it wasn't shinning anymore.
Yes! No glowing knives anymore. Or so I thought. Just a simple thought of the bright knives made the knives flared back to life. “Ugh,” I said, frustrated. “This is stupid. They expect me to go and meet the other Guardians, but I can't because of this stupid piece of metal that won't stop glowing!” My anger seemed to last a second.
I'll try again, I thought. I closed my eyes and pictured the non-glowing knives and thought, knives that don't glow, it will never glow unless I want it to glow. Besides, who's ever heard of glowing knives? I opened my eyes, and to my satisfaction, the knives wasn't glowing anymore. Finally. I placed the knives in my pocket. Then I slipped on a simple jacket and slide through the door, silently. I started to walk, how long was this going to take?
When I had reached the village gate, the guards stared at me when I asked if I could go outside.
“Are ya kidding, girl? There are monsters out there. Ya basically saying that ya wanna die!” The guard said. “What are ya doing out here are this time anyway?”
“Uh...” I was stupid. I should have used the darkness and hoped over the gate. Now what?
You're being stupid, Lyn.
Oh, shut up. You only know as much as I know.
Why don't you shut up? You should just knock out the guards and sneak out of the gate. They won't let you pass. It was the annoying voice in my head. All the voice did was complain anyway. Never did anything good.
Oh quit complaining. What do you expect me to do?
Shut up and leave me alone?
That's too boring. And you couldn't have jumped over the gate, you're too short.
“Yo! Miss, go back to ya home. Come back in the morning, got it Miss?” The guard said. “Don't ya have school tomorrow? Better get to bed.”
“Okay,” I said and started heading back the way I had come.
“Don't ya try tricking us guards next time!” He shouted. Once I was out of the lanterns that the guards had lit, I made my way towards a different part of the gate. I was going to have to climb over it.
Good luck.
Shut it with your sarcasm.
I think you should.
Shut up! This is my head, so just go away!
Sheesh, you're starting to get noisy.
And you're one to talk?
Congratulations! You just won the National Sarcasm Award for being so sarcastic all the time!
Wow, I feel so special.
I know. You should.
Go away and leave me alone. I have to figure out how to get over this huge thing.
Sure, good luck.
The iron gate loomed over me, glaring down. I examined it, using the dim lights from the guards' lanterns. I searched for places that I could use as footholds or something to grab on. On the top of the gate, there were pointy spikes. The gate had three iron bars that went horizontally. As for the ones that were vertical... I ripped a strip of cloth from my shirt sleeve and took out the knives. They were in my way. All they did was stab into my legs. I tied them to my back.
Smart.
I slipped my right foot onto the lowest bar of the gate and reached for the second bar. It was too high.
Too bad. Guess you'll have to sneak into some carriage in the morning.
Shut up.
I stood on my tip-toes and reached as best as I could. But I still missed. Just a little. I only needed just a bit more of a boost.
Oh, just give up will you?
Go away.
No thanks.
I looked around, searching for something like a stool. Anything that could boost my height. There. About fifty feet there were a bunch of wooden planks.
What are you going to do with them?
You know what I'm going to do with them. And I also know what you want to say.
Good point.
I ran over and grabbed a few of them. They were each about an inch thick, I think. I stacked them up in front of the gate. I must have caused a ruckus, because when I finally had a grip on the bar and had hoisted myself up, someone screamed.
“Look! There's a girl over there! I think she's trying to jump over the gate! Someone! Stop her before the monsters get her!” Someone shrieked. I turned around to see who had shouted. The lights that were flickering on illuminated yawning and stretching silhouettes. Sleepy voices cried out in alarm.
“Who is it?”
“Who screamed?”
“What's happening?”
Things spread pretty quickly in this small village. If you told someone that something had happened, the next thing you know, the entire village knows about it. Even if you tell that person to not tell anyone, someone else will find out and then everyone else will know. Now all the villagers will know about me as the girl who jumped over the gate and got killed by monsters.
“Oh someone, stop her!” It was a mother's voice; I could tell from the worrisome tone. A pang of jealousy hit me, and I hesitated.
“Lyn? What are you doing?” A calm voice below stopped me. I had my right foot on the spiky part of the gate; my other foot was on the top iron bar. I turned around, ready to jump in case someone tried to grab me and pull me down.
Marcus was standing in front of me, his black eyes were cold, as if he knew that it was because of me that he had been hit by lightning.
“What's that on your back?” He attempted to grab one of the knives but utterly failed at it. I was too high. I stuck out my tongue at him, childishly.
“I'm not going to miss you the least bit.” I said. “Hope you enjoy your time here at this puny village.”
“What are you saying? You couldn't possibly survive out there, even with those knives of yours.” He sneered. I had never seen him this mad.
“Shut your face up.” I replied. I could feel the knives starting to glow a bright yellow.
“There's the girl! Quick! She's going to be killed!” The mother was screeching at the top of her lungs, pointing at me. I had no choice. I couldn't turn around anymore. A tall, muscular man was racing over to where I was standing.
But he was too slow.
“I hope I won't see you again.” I said to Marcus before jumping off the gate. I heard the villagers gasp. I landed safely on the other side of the gate.
“Lyn!” One of the villagers said, surprised. It was Mrs. Panderson. “Oh, Lyn, why?”
“Show off.” I heard Marcus mumble under his breath. I turned and beamed at him. Then I bolted into the misty darkness.
