The Guardians

Prolouge

Prologue:

"Zelly dear, what poem do you want to hear today?" my mother's soft voice called to me.

"I want to hear the Guardian prophesy again!"

"Oh dear, not that again. Dear, you can't have your head filled with fantasy stories, when you are going to be the heir of the the Fire Clan's royal family.

I looked up towards my mother. "Please, just this once? It'll be the last time I ask you."

"Alright. Well, once upon a time, there were two brother. Assa and Ulin. Assa had been born of the Ice and Fire, while Ulin has been pitifully created by shadows and air. Their father, their prophet, had always favored Assa, and with Uling being a curse to his family, was constantly jealous of his brother. With his jealousy and hatred fueling the other, he murdered his father in cold blood. But, with a dying breath, his father said:

Fire, Ice and Wind
Shall be joined together once more,
Once more shall darkness rise,
Combine all three and heroes arise.
Careful, take heed,
One shall stray and betray,
into the darkness.
Through pain and misery,
the fate of the world rest on the palms of three.

And then he died, hoping for a better future. Was that good? There, now go to sleep."

I tug at my mother's sleeve. "Do you think that the legend was real?"

"Zelly dear, we have always lived in a time on Kings and Queens. The legend is only a tale." She scoffed. "Now go to bed, I don't want anymore nonsense coming from you" She tucks me in, and kisses my forehead. "Good night my silly girl," she whispers softly. I close my eyes and I'm soon asleep.

A distant memory comes to me.

My mother is there with her crimson hair knotted in a braid. It's running past her waist. She's lifting herself up, and her finger beckons for me to follow her. In a trace, my body is lifted up. However, I wasn't walking, for my father was carrying me. I looks around, and find myself surrounded in a meadow full of flowers. A checkered cloth is laid before us with a large basket. We stop on the cloth, and my father lowers me, into the basket. I begin to struggle.

"Papa! Why are you doing this?" I cry.

"It's for your own good. Be a good girl and hush." he murmurs. He turns away, his broad back in a menacing figure. My mother's hair is now loose, and it sways. It envelopes their bodies, and they fade. I struggle to get out of the casing, but the iron lid kept me from doing so. I feel myself sinking into a pit, the glebe begins to trickle into the case, suffocating me.

I awake to my mother screaming, and I find myself in the chest at the end of my bed. I'm crammed in with the random things in the chest.

"Where is she? Where is the girl of the prophecy?" an unfamiliar voice yells.

"I don't know!" I hear my mother scream, and then thud.

"Come on! Search the house," the unfamiliar voice yells. I ruffle up and take a peek. A rough hand throws open the chest, as my little head pops up.

"Ello, ello, whot do I have ere?" The lid opens, and he hauls me up, and shoves me onto the wooden floor. He pulls me by my hair.

"I have the little wretch!" the soldier yells. He pulls harder, and I grimace in pain. I thrust my hand out, and search for a sharp object. A piece of broken glass will do. I cut my hair loose, and stab his hand. He yelps in pain, and backs up. I run over to my drawers and grab some things. Tripping ovet the tipped rug, a clatter follows from broken vases falling, with the muffled shouts coming closer.

I climb out the nearest window and race towards the woods. I glance back, and my eyes begin to rain. Mother. Father. I'm sorry. I continue into the forest until I'm far enough. I look back again and see a distant glow. I look forward and the sun is rising.