The Ancient Guardians

The Ancient Guardians (Wind, Chap. 3)

THE ANCIENT GUARDIAN OF WIND

Chapter 3

It wasn't the pain that woke me. No, it was the smell; the smell of rotten food that had festered in the sun for too long. The pain followed. I felt it all over my body, but it was especially fierce in my left forearm. I opened my eyes and saw a blue sky; I was on my back. I sat up and looked around. Luckily, I hadn't fallen into the large dumpster from which the smell was emanating beside me. I was behind a building; probably a restaurant. Looking at the sky it seemed like it was late afternoon. The sharp pain in my arm was starting to make me worry, so I looked at it to and saw that large pieces of glass were poking out of it. Oh damn... I hesitantly pulled the pieces out one at a time; they were each about two inches deep. Surprisingly though, there was no blood. Nothing, not even a drop. All that was left were a couple holes in my skin, through which I could see my muscle tissue. Was this the right time to figure this out? Definitely not. I had to hurry and find the others. Might as well cover up the wound, just in case. I didn't have a shirt on, but the cloth tying my hair would do the trick. I undid it and tied it around my forearm instead, which was easier said than done since I could only use my right hand to do it. I finally managed to tighten it with the help of my mouth and was ready to hit the skies. I stood up and stretched my wings, but felt pain through them that was much worse than my arm. "MMMMMmmm!" I barely suppressed my suffering cry. You know how your muscles feel sore the day after you use them way more than usual? It felt like that, but ten times worse. I gently folded my wings. Okay... No flying for a while. Still, I couldn't just stay out in the open with my wings out; I had to hide. I saw a big sign on the building's roof; it was the back of it so I couldn't really tell what it was except that it had the shape of a person holding something. I made my way up the fire-escape ladder nearby and pulled myself onto the roof with just my right arm. It was easy to lift myself now that I weighed next to nothing. The roof in question was triangular so I could easily hide myself between the roof and the sign. I sat myself down and sighed. Well, nothing to do but wait.

I've never been particularly good at waiting. I tried not to think of my arm; it was just too weird. But what else could I think about? I was dying to listen to music, but a few minutes later I just started to hum songs instead. As time passed I kept stretching my wings once in a while to see how much they'd recovered. Needless to say I was disappointed by how little they did each time. After scanning the surroundings I came to the conclusion I was in one of the villages way outside the city. I didn't know if it was normal here since I'm from the city, but the whole village was really quiet and empty. I only saw a couple figures walking through the nearby streets and no one came out of the building I was sitting on. Maybe it's closed today.

After a few hours, as it was getting dark, a scream broke the silence. I quickly stood up and looked out from behind the sign. I tried to see where it came from with my eagle vision, but it was no use; the houses and buildings were hiding everything. Instead of getting angry though, I closed my eyes and thought back on my meditation. Don't look... Feel. Where is the air being disturbed? I felt stillness, mostly. I expanded my will; went further around myself. There was a small spot where air was moving abnormally, as if many forms were pushing through it. There was also something swinging around... it had a T-shape. It had to be there.

I didn't bother checking my wings' condition; I'd just have to bear through it. I leaped from the roof, opened them up and was met by a world of hurt. It wasn't too bad if I didn't flap them though; remaining in a glide was enough to reach my destination. In a few seconds I could already see what the commotion was: some woman was desperately fighting off three men with a long squeegee at the gas station ahead. I inspected the men more closely: black cloaks, hooded faces, white hands holding knives... Those aren't men: they're undead. I gathered the wind around me. No need to go easy on them then! As soon as I got in range I let loose a slash of wind that went straight through the torso of one them, slicing it in half, but the second one that I was almost aiming for only lost its left arm. Moonblade! I conjured up my weapon and landed between the remaining two undead and the woman. I raised my blade threateningly. "Come on!" The undead raised their knives and charged at me. Folding my wings, I swung at their blades by twisting to the left and knocked them out of their hands. I continued my movement to make a full turn; my loose green hair flowed along my motion and when I came back around I sliced both of their bodies clean at shoulder-height. They fell motionless on the pavement. After a moment I relaxed and dispersed the wind from my weapon.

            Apart from my heavy breath it was silent, then a voice sounded behind me. "An angel..."

            I turned around to look at the woman behind me, who still held the squeegee as if her life depended on it.

            "An angel saved me..." She murmured. It seemed like what just happened was still sinking in. She had black hair and wore glasses over her dark eyes. Her body was thin, especially her arms, and her shirt was a bit torn at the shoulders. "I-I was just stopping by for some gas," her voice was shaky, "and these... things just jumped me. I was done for if you hadn't come."

            I scratched my head in embarrassment. "It was nothing, really."

            She let the squeegee fall out of her hands and extended her hand to touch my wing.

            A spark of pain shot through my sensitive wing and I recoiled reflexively from the touch.

            "I can't believe you're a real angel." She said.

            "I'm not an angel." I told her.

            "What else could you possibly be?"

            I scratched my head again. It still felt unreal for me, so how could I say this with conviction? "...I'm an Ancient Guardian. I have control over Wind."

            "Ancient Guardian?" She seemed curious.

            I noticed the small grey car behind her. "That's your car?"

            She nodded.

            "Take it and leave. Right now." I sensed more movement coming our way.

            "But, I thought I was safe now." She said.

            "The village is likely overrun with more of those." I pointed at the corpses. "More are coming. Just go to the city; it's probably safe there."

            She suddenly got scared. "Okay... Okay I'm going." She went around to the driver side and opened the door. She looked at me before going in. "Thank you."

            I blushed and gestured for her to leave. "Go!"

            She got in the car, started the engine and quickly drove away.

           I sighed. Finally she was safe. It was my turn to go now though. Even if my wings still hurt, I gave myself away when I flew here. I gritted my teeth and leaped into the sky. I flapped my sore wings and headed south. I have to find the others, or else I'll be in trouble when my wings give out.