Guardians 1: Ashes

Chapter 12: Answers

Jin's POV

"Why did it attack me and Shelby?" Ross asked.

"We see things...differently. Shelby is the life user right?" Alex said.

"Yea." Nick responded.

"So she uses light magic. It wasn't that the entities were trying to hurt you Ross, they were just trying to Kill Shelby." Alex said that so casual I almost brushed it aside.

"They were trying to kill me!" Shelby said really really high pitched.

"Yea, that is their territory light users are not welcome, you were invading their home. To them you were a threat. An unwelcomed guess. You're lucky you had death on your side to stop them. For the most part they just leave people alone but for you, Gosh they tried to attack you at least 4 times. You didn't even know they were watching you for a good amount of time." Alex said.

I was listening very intently to what she was saying. "So the only reason they attacked was because of Shelby? What do they see exactly?" I asked.

"Well they see introverted, black is white, white is black. To them you are the darkness. You each have an aurora and yours Shelby, yours is black." Alex said.

I nodded as she spoke. "It's time to go to bed, we will leave once we are all rested." I said to everyone. Nick, Ross, and Cory left to their own tents.

"You can sleep in my tent if you want." Shelby said looking at Alex.

"Okay." Alex said and both of them went into Shelby's tent. After a good amount of time had passed. I put out the fire and went to bed myself.

Adam's POV

Some one had reported 6 people were coming in from the east. None of them had been wearing armor they had said. So me and Mitch went to see who, and what they were doing here. As me and Mitch walked, I couldn't help but think of what happened to Cory and Nick. I now knew why the were so secretative. I knew what had happened to them. What happened to thier friends. Should I call Cory and Nick about.

"If they want to share they would." I said aloud. And Mitch looked at me. Then looked up. There they are. I looked at the direction he had pointed and sure enough 6 people were headed our way. I looked closer and saw one had black hair covering half their face. Jin I thought.

"It's okay, I know them. They guardians of the Kalá kingdom." I told Mitch.

"I thought there was only 6, but there is one here, and 6 there, if my math is right, that is 7." Mitch said.

"You're right, we should approach cautiously then." I said. And we started to walk slowly towards them, with are hands on the hilt of our swords.

It was them, Jin,Shelby, Ross, Nick, and Cory. But there was a girl with them. When we were close to them to hear us, I said, " I'm guessing your mission was successful."

Jin shouted back, "Afirmative captain." He said with a grin.

"This is Jin, Shelby, Ross, Nick ,and Cory." I told Mitch.

"This is Alex." Nick said pointing at the girl with the purple necklace.

"I'm Mitch, one of the best warriors we have." Mitch said with a big smile. "Let's head back to the camp and exchange are findings then. The guild will be so stoked."

We all headed back together. While walking, I was able to separate Nick and Cory from the group. I tried to play it cool at first but I really don't know how to hide my curiosity. When we got back to camp, I took them to the infirmary.

"I'm guessing what ever you have been itching to tell us, is gonna put us in one of those beds." Cory said pointing to a cracked open door with patients in the other room.

I chuckled. "No. Well, maybe actuallly." I said with a grin. I didn't actually know how to explain, I've been just giving them weird looks sence they got here. I let out a giant sigh. Then began to spoke.

"Nick, Cory. I know you don't like to talk about the past, I know you try to avoid all questions about it. I know you don't want to remember it. But what happened to you two? I know half of the story now, but what happened after." I said.

"What happened after what Adam?" Nick asked.

"After-" I began to say but Nick cut me off. "How much do you know Adam?" I stopped and thought about Nick's question how much did I really know? Anyone could be named Nick or Cory, anyone could be an orphan. But it would explain Cory's stealing why he did it at least. But I wasn't actually sure if these are the right two people. It could be just a coincidence.

I spoke again. "Cory." I looked him straight in the eyes. "I know you are an orphan." I said.

His eye expression slightly changed but it was Nick who indicated that was true. Nick has a very worried mixed with suprise look on his face. Cory then looked at the ground.

"Yea right." He said.

"Nick." I said very stern and looked him directly in the eyes. "Tell me the truth is he an orphan?" I demanded.

"Well I don't want to be charged for lying to a guard sooooo, Yea, he is an orphan. I'm not though." Nick said with grin.

"Thanks Nick." Cory said.

"Well that helps my suspicion then." I said.

"Your what. I didn't do anything wrong...yet." Cory said.

"My suspicion of your back stories. As a guard I have files, I did background checks on everyone, including you Nick, but found nothing in relation to Cory." I said.

"Cory just tell me what happened. I promise I won't tell anyone. Guard's word." I said trying to reassure Cory. He looked very nervous and uncomfortable.

"W-What do y-you know already?" He asked me.

"I know about the abductions and the other two who were taken, but I want to know what happened when the man went back to get you." I said slow and steady trying to add reassurance in my words.

Cory shuffled around for a bit. He then lifted up his shirt revealing long scars going down his back. He then pulled off his mask.

He had a scar going on the left side of his face. It started next to his eye then stopped at his chin. I inspected every detail closely. His blue eyes were starting to get watery, his dirty blonde hair looked different now that he wasn't wearing a mask. This is who he is I thought to myself. He then put the mask back on. I tried to recall the image of his face, but I couldn't really, it got bluryer and bluryer the more I tried to remember.

I opened the door we were in front of us and ushered them to go inside. They did.

ARG was laying on a bed and Uni was sitting by his side. They looked up at us. They froze first when they relised that their old friends, Nick and Cory were here. Then Uni ran up to them and hugged them both tightly.

"Oh my God Cory, I thought you had died." Uni said still hugging them both. "And you Nick, I thought you were captured again to be honest." Uni said giving them a big smile.