Guardians Book One - Magic Rising

Epilogue I and II

PART I

Kath stirred the pot as it bubbled on the hob, staring at the contents.

"It's about time I learned how to cook," she announced to Day. The cloud flickered, reformed into a smiling face for a moment. Light is illusory, the Guardian had giggled when questioned about her still-ephemeral form. And I like being a cloud! Night had quit the battlefield before anyone had had a chance to speak to him, but Day seemed certain he'd return. The Guardian seemed happier than Kath had ever seen her in that knowledge, too.

"I look forward to trying it," Day said, although perhaps from politeness rather than sincerity. The stew didn't look quite how Delia Smith had probably intended it. Nevertheless Kath stirred it again.

How could it be only a week ago? She hadn't spoken much to Vicky, although she, Wisdom and Innocence had retired back to Dartmoor to – mourn, perhaps, or to just recuperate. For the moment, she had taken Lady with her.

"I do not blame you," Lady had said, although something in her green eyes had faded, the words mechanic. Kath couldn't say anything. Pestilence's body had simply flickered out of existence with the Lords, as if he'd never even bothered to recreate his form like the other Guardians. The animal scream that had torn from Lady's throat would haunt Kath, so much so she couldn't even grieve for the loss of her friend, herself. Lady's lost everything, everyone.

"I wish to be with mother. And then I need to travel for a while," Lady had said. "I will keep aware for those who could...learn from me, learn of Water. I will travel this world and..." she had trailed off, as if no words could explain her now. Kath had hugged her, and Lady had felt like mist in her arms. Her ice-pale skin still glowed, but her eyes were dark.

"Please stay in touch," Kath had whispered. Lady had nodded, and Kath had let her go to her mother, allowed her to be steered into the car. Vicky had taken Kath's hands.

"Thank you," she had said, quietly.

"I'm so sorry," the words had sounded pathetic and weak on her lips, but Kath said them anyway, because she had to say something. Vicky nodded, squeezing her fingers, and leaned in very close to Kath's ear.

"There might yet be a way," she breathed, so softly Kath wondered afterwards if she'd imagined it. "I don't want to build her hopes."

And then she dropped Kath's hands and was gone, leaving her with Day, a thousand questions and worse, housemates to whom she'd shortly have to explain the glowing cloud in the living room. She hadn't quite got round to that yet. Day was patiently avoiding them.

"You'll need to learn from us all anyway," the Guardian had told her with brain-bending casualness. Kath winced at the memory as she tipped some garlic into the stew pot. Oh yeah. I'm meant to know everything, or something. Still. Start small. One day at a time. Learn and teach others. Had the world changed? A little. The Guardians were – through practise if not desire – able to at least corral and sense the strands of their own magic so there wasn't a flood, but it was sneaking out from the panopticon that was London, that was the heart of the Guardians, and her. The world was sluggishly shifting forward. Kath was wary of the barrel roll it might become, but there was still a life to lead, magic to learn – rent to pay.

She sighed, feeling her phone vibrate in her jeans pocket. Day tilted towards her, and Kath smacked her hand against the phone.

"Nothing," she said, feeling a faint nauseous wave at the lie. She wasn't ready to share the strange messages from Ben; not quite yet.

PART II

He remembered...strange images, and pain, the memory of pain, that was the worst. But he was a healer. He had chosen that path, and it had taught him what paths in turn to take, to find a way through. He'd spoken to a creature who was as much his little sister as anything, sweet faced, blond haired, old as time and twice as deadly, who'd shown him to a man – a tall, strong, dark haired man who glowed with lost magic, a man who'd once been the embodiment of a god.

"I wanted to wait," the man had told him. "For my beloved Vicky...but my daughter needs you. The time I could have dwelt here or been sent back to the world as new life...that chance, that power, I want you to have it. I am ready. She is not." Then the man had danced away from him, and when the double doors had opened, the man who'd been a god had ridden on through on the back of a warhorse, saluted him goodbye, and she – the little sister he'd never known enough – had bowed, and when it had been his own turn to walk through the doors – on foot - he'd woken on the banks of a river, surrounded by impossibly tall buildings, lights and the distant laughter and cries of life.

He couldn't remember much else. His face in the reflection of a shop window and the faces of the other people around him, had been scarred and ugly, ensuring he was left alone in the night as he walked, but he smiled at them, and eventually, they smiled back, slowly, as they passed by. He could see the life behind their beating hearts, sense that which ailed and healed them, feel their very lives, and it moved him. He walked on. Was this the right thing to do? All he could remember was green eyes, sweet laughter, the cool splash of water, duty and pain and love. He walked on, because in those feelings were his past and future, his heart and soul, and his very lifeforce called out to anyone who could hear. Thinking of the pale oval face in his mind made his heart tighten, his chest filled to bursting, and he wanted to call out her name, the name of this person from whom so much had been taken, he knew, to whom he wanted to give so much, enough to make it right again.

The sign at the train station said 'Wimbledon', and he paused right there on the street. Here – was someone who could help him. He knew it.

All around him, the life of London laughed, ran, cried out and swept past, and he stood, the wind off the Thames ruffling his long, tattered hair, closing his eyes and listening for just a moment more to a voice on the wind that only he could hear. 

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BOOK ONE - FIN

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Hey, you! Thank you so much if you've read this far, for all the votes and comments and advice - every one has been AMAZING. Questions? Tips? Please let me know. Apologies for any disappointments with the story, as well. That's it - book one OVER!

THANK YOU FOR READING! <3

- B