Keeper Of Light |book 2|

Chapter 4. The Light Meets The Darkness

It has been a year since she had her accident. Her mother was still friends with her therapist, and she had invited them for a small celebration of her grandmother's birthday. The woman who had inspired Angelina's therapist to pursue her career was turning 86 years old.

"This is my grandma," the older woman said, "Isabella."

Angelina extended her hand to shake the old woman's. Their fingers touched and she felt her cold fingers wrap around her. Angelina hated meeting strangers, but she had to do her best to enjoy herself.

When more people started to join in, she found her escape inside the house. It was quite old, reminded her of one of those museum houses that were all over London, the ones who survived the bombings of London in the second world war. As she explore the house, she happened to discover the guest parlor. It was quite there, and she could sit out the party. A small fireplace was lit in the center of the room on top of it she saw photographs. The one in the center was of a beautiful young woman with wild curly hair. Angelina traced her fingers down the photograph and looked at the other one next to it. On it, the same girl was in the middle. Two people were by her side, a girl her age, and a boy who was smiling directly into the camera.

"Those were my friends," She heard an old voice say behind her. Angelina almost dropped the photograph that she was holding on to as she turned around. The same old woman, Isabella, was sitting on her wheel chair in the corner of the room. Angelina had no clue how she had missed her before.

The older woman smiled as she rolled in, "don't be frightened, I too do not enjoy large companies," she pulled herself up from the chair and grabbed hold of her cane that was attached to the back. Walking up closer, the stroked the photograph, "my friend, Lucy, you know she inspired in me such a passion to help people who were lost. Trapped in their own mind." She tapped on Angelina's head.

"What about the boy?" She asked.

Isabella smiled, "handsome isn't he? He was Lucy's brother. My parents thought him to be proper and perfect for me, but he had problems of his own."

Angelina swore he knew him, or maybe she had seen him somewhere, he was so familiar. It was impossible, however, he was from the 1940s after all.

"He died." Isabella said, her eyes almost filled with tears, "right after the war ended."

Now there was definitely no way she had seen him ever. He was dead. There was no way to meet a dead person in this world.

"Well," Isabella said, "I have to go and sit as they cut the cake, what do you say you join me?" She smiled warmly and caressed Angelina's cheek.

The party had ended and Angelina's mother let her go to see her friend Edgar, at least she knew that Angelina was making friends. They started going to the library together. Angelina knew there was some book there that she remembered she had to find. Searching for hours across the isles with Edgar she had almost given up. Remembering that the book was not ordinary, that it had a whole world within it, she suddenly turned to him.

Edgar was reading some sort of fairy tale he found a couple isles before. His eyes ran across the pages as he scanned each letter with them.

"Do you believe in magic?" Angelina asked him, pulling out another book from the shelf and looking it over, only to put it back.

He pulled his book down and folded it, putting a finger between the pages he was reading, "what kind of magic?"

"Any kind really. A different world kind of magic." She clarified.

He thought for a moment, putting his finger up to his chin, which reminded her of someone, she just couldn't remember who really, "I believe there is magic within all of us, all it takes is just a little push."

His words rang through her ears like a prophecy. They echoed around her. Realizing that she was in a library and not in any magical world of any kind, she shook the feeling of goosebumps that gathered on her skin off.

"It's been almost a year since my accident, well tomorrow marks it, but I can't really remember why. Something effects me still, I just don't know what it is. I keep searching for something, and I don't know what, I keep remembering someone, but I can't remember who-"

"If you don't mind me asking," he interrupted, now putting the book he was holding onto down completely, even losing his page, "what happened to you, you keep talking about it, but you never explain."

She pushed herself against the book shelf and slid down, her butt hitting the cold ground of the second floor of the library, "I am not really sure, I remember bits and pieces."

Bending his knees, he sat down on the ground opposite of her, "why don't you start with that then?"

She told him about how she woke up on the cold ground of the train station, knowing she had just come from another realm. She wanted to desperately go back, but she didn't know how, and she had forgotten where to. The only thing she could remember was a great ruler and powerful creature.

"Aslan-" she said.

"Aslan?" Edgar asked, "how do you know that name?"

She thought for a second, "I don't know, it's one of those memories I can't explain."

Edgar sighed as if he partially knew what she was talking about, he wasn't surprised, neither did he think her absolutely crazy like her therapist did. 

"You know, my grandfather had told me that my family was special, we had some sort of power within is, power to fight the darkness. My father didn't want it, so he gave it to me. He gave me a stone, a stone as red as brick and told me that my magic will find me one day. That same day I got transported to a completely different realm, a realm of darkness. It was empty, almost completely, there were only two creatures there. A guardian, who guarded the gates, and a Lion who was as powerful as a god. The guardian taught me to fight, and the Lion, well he gave me a purpose. He said I was to become a hunter of evil. That's when I realized that we weren't the only being in that world," Edgar told her.

Angelina's eyes widened, "who else was there?"

Before Edgar could say anything, a gush of wind blew through the windows. Edgar leaped for his backpack that was next to him and pulled out a wooden stick with strings attached to it, moving it around a little, it turned into a bow. He proceeded to pull out arrows from his backpack, one by one. Angelina's heart started to race, she had no idea what was going on. She felt that same tingling sensation in her fingers.

She wanted to ask him what was going on, but the overwhelming sound of footsteps stopped her, Edgar put a finger to his lips and got his bow and arrows ready. Out of the book isles stepped a figure of complete darkness, as if it were a shadow of someone, or something. The shadow reached out its hand, but it wasn't pointed towards Edgar, instead it was pointed towards Angelina. Before it could grab her, an arrow shot through it's head.

It disappeared as a vapor and Angelina heard Edgar yell, "run!" He pulled her up, but it was too late. The second they got out from the labyrinth of books, they noticed that they were surrounded by shadows.

Edgar was still holding onto her hand, he quickly let go and pulled out another arrow, aiming it on the shadows, "if you stick your hand into my backpack you will find a knife, use it to protect yourself, for only it can stop the shadows!"

She pulled out the knife, but she didn't know how to use it. Instinctively, Angelina dropped the knife to the ground as if the blade burned her. Hearing the muffled screams of Edgar who was probably confused by her actions, she felt her head ache. Her vision went blurry and all she could see was light. The light that slept inside of her was awakened. The light surrounded her as if protecting her in a cloud and dispersed, killing every shadow that surrounded them. She could see through her blurry vision as Edgar ran up to her, but next to him was someone else.

"You did great love! You defeated them!" The other man said, his grey hair glistened and the light that was above him formed a halo over his head.

Trying to open her eyes was impossible, she was drained, coming in and out of her shock. She was slipping away into some sort of darkness, and she could no longer hold onto reality.