Night Guardian

Chapter 2, Part 4

The next morning was hectic. Michael's condition was stable (if you could call it that) however, the healing potion caused whatever ailment that was in his body to come up violently, in the form of black vomit.

Uhn uuhn, I don't do vomit! Kayla thought to herself. She came to realize that in order to help Michael, whom she loved, she would have to endure the sounds (and smell) of regurgitation. Kayla tried not to become nauseated herself as he threw up into a mop bucket. She rubbed his back, nose scrunched at the smell. Lord help us all.

Nicholas left spare moon petals so they would never run out, and the smell of rotting onions (which was unfortunately how the vomit smelled) made it easy for her irritated eyes to shed tears. Plenty of moon tears potion to last them until the others returned (Kayla hoped).

"Is there anything else we can do to get rid of this illness?" Kayla asked Flaen, who just entered the room with yet another flask of hot flower juice.

"No, unfortunately. Curses are tricky. The only way for it to be vanquished completely is either for the original caster to die, or for them to willingly lift it. Another option is for the person who is cursed to overpower it." They looked at Michael, who was lying on his side on the couch, shivering and looking miserable as hell.

Overpowering the curse was out of the question.

"I wonder how the others are doing," Minerva said.

"There is a way to know actually, " Flaen responded, "I have a crystal ball."

"Alright, well we can't all watch it at once! Someone has to watch Michael."

Flaen agreed.
"I will monitor the crystal ball and relay the news. You two watch him ."

Kayla hadn't left Michael's side since he'd been cursed. Whenever she'd fall asleep trying to soothe his pain, Flaen or Minerva would keep watch, but she wouldn't let them move her anywhere else.

"Here we are!" Flaen said. He carefully carried the heavy ball to the center of the room. It wasn't really made of crystal, but pure onyx stone. Flaen placed his hands on the hard cold sphere and closed his eyes.

"Show me Sondra."

The ball turned a cloudy blood red color. A while passed before someone's face came into view.

It most definitely was not Sondra.

"It's Carlos!"

Carlos looked out at them with a perfect white smile and olive skin.
"Hello, friends. I was wondering how long it would take before you simpletons would try to seek me out. You didn't disappoint," he chuckled.

"Oh, I know that your friends are on the way. Pity. I wanted the pleasure of killing Michael first, but it seems as if I can already see him dying."

He peered out at them all with a wicked smile, especially at Michael, who was still lying down on the couch. Michael went rigid when he heard his voice. He turned around as best as he could and fixed him with a cold, hateful look. Kayla was glad she was never a recipient of that glare.

"How are you holding up Michael?" He said. "Does it feel as if your world is falling apart? How does it feel to know that no one can help you as you suffer?" He laughed.

"I can sense the bitterness in your voice," Michael said. He surprised them all by speaking. "I tried to help you, yet this is the thanks you give me? YOU didn't listen, and now you're even more pathetic than the day we first met, leeching off of the land to keep your strength. You are weaker than me!"

Carlos' s smile faded.

"I'm not the pathetic one here Maestro, you are. You send your least powerful guardians here to kill me, you let down your defenses to be so easily weakened by a minor curse, and you stay at home to have your woman coddle you while the world is being destroyed. You are no match for me!"

"If I am no match for you, you wouldn't have tried to weaken me rather than fighting or looking me in the eye, you coward! When I defeat your pathetic curse and kill your beast, then I will deal with you!" Michael said.

Carlos just laughed, which only made Michael angrier; he was tired of being nice to people who didn't deserve it. Especially since all people seemed to do was stab him in the back.

Michael's anger actually radiated across the room in waves, it was that strong. So strong in fact that it managed to cause the stone orb to vibrate. His eyes actually began to glow and then the orb exploded. If it weren't for the 3 magical beings in the room, Kayla would be pulling onyx stone shards out of her neck.

Little did they know the force of Mike's anger actually traveled through the connection and managed to injure Carlos himself.

"We need to find a way to warn the others," Minerva whispered after a moment of tense silence. "I will search for them with my sight and relay the message. Hopefully, before they know they're walking into a trap."

"I need to get up, I can't just stay here and do nothing," Michael said. He tried to rise but was met with a new wave of dizziness and sickness.

"No Michael. I won't allow it," Kayla chided. "Please listen to me when I say I don't want you damaging yourself further by exerting energy you don't have. Fight the curse, so you can help your companions."

He had tears of frustration building in his eyes.

Just then a sound was heard at the front of the house, like people arguing outside.

The front door to the mansion creaked open.

"Stay here," Flaen said. He went to go check out the intrusion.

A tense moment passed before Flaen came back into view with Sondra, Gil, and Nicholas.

"What on earth are you all doing back here? We were just about to contact you and warn you about Carlos!" Minerva exclaimed.

"We couldn't find a trace of the beast," Sondra said. "So we backtracked here when it felt like we were walking into a trap."

"We tried to see your progress on the orb, but Carlos intercepted the message. I don't know how he managed to do it. He said he plans to destroy the planet with this curse."

They were interrupted by a sudden sound, which made Kayla's blood run cold.
She'd heard that sound before. They all froze in place.

"Oh shit," Kayla said.