Guardians 1: Ashes

Chapter 45: Gold and Dust

Adam's POV

Uni and Rex came in my room with Cory rushed. They were talking at the same time and Cory seemed to be not all their. They seemed to be keeping Cory up because when they let go of his shoulder he fell to the ground with a thud but Uni and Rex did not seem to mind and continued talking.

"What the heck did you do to him?" I questioned as I picked Cory off the ground and set him on a sofa. I lifted his mask and saw his eyes were closed.

"He passed out while coming here." Rex said.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"Some crazy demon came out of Cory's necklace and tried killing me!" Uni shouted.

I rubbed my head,"It's getting worse..." I mumbled. "Where is Shelby?"

"Back in her room, do you need me to get her." Uni asked.

"No, if anything keep her away from Cory... see Red told me to keep them separated as you can see I have been sort of been distracted but he had a good reason for that. He said that their magic or entities didn't mix well so they get out of hand exposed to the other for to long." I said trying to explain.

Jin then came in from the other room, "It says here, the entities live in the necklace, which is why the necklace is the source of our magic. If Cory's entity can take form outside the necklace, that means well... it has been storing a lot of magic."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Rex demanded.

"Cory's entity is feeding off his surroundings, his and our own emotions, see Shelby's feeds off love, hope, and caring. The stronger the presence, the stonger the entity, the stronger her magic. If she was to have a great amount of love and hope the entity could take a form and help on battles, but it is the opposite case with Cory's. His entity feeds off distrust, hatred, fear, anger, and death. So for some reason Cory has been thinking or we all have been thinking a lot about it feeding the entity giving it a form, the form of death." Jin said closing the book he had open.

"How do we keep it in the necklace?" Uni asked.

"You don't." Jin said putting the book on a shelf.

"Then why is he passed out?" Rex asked.

"Side effect?" I said more in a question.

"Could be." Jin said then pulled another book off the shelf. He skimmed some pages then said," oh no... it's much worse... but it should stop on its own and wake up sooner or later."

"You better hope so." Uni said angrily pointing at Jin.

"Please, violence won't resolve anything." Jin said smugly.

"It's your fault he is like this!" Rex said at Jin. "If it wasn't for you, Cory would have never fought that guard and ran off."

"Oh please, I was only listening to Aphmua's instructions, she wanted Cory and Shelby to have some alone time together, she does this thing called "shipping" a lot where she basically hopes for two people to like one another in a romantic kind of way, then she goes over board and sets up dates... But it is mostly Adam's fault, he should have been watching separating them and watching closely." Jin said with his hands in the air is surrender.

"Hey!" I shouted.

"Fix him." Uni commanded.

"I don't know how." I responded not looking Uni in the eyes.

"He is just passed out, forming "death", is a real task and can drain a person a lot. I believe he can wake up faster if we... let him drain the life of other organisms." Jin suggested.

"That is crazy!" I shouted in protest," There is no way we are doing that."

Uni and Rex then looked at one another and nodded in agreement, they picked Cory up being extra carful not to touch his hands in fear of their life being sucked out of them.

"Where are you going?" I demanded.

They just walked away so I had no choice but to follow. We walked for a while, until an old meadow was in sight, it was filled with bright golden flowers. Uni and Rex paused in front of it and stared at its beauty then set Cory down in the middle.
The flowers vibrant gold turned into a dull shade of brown, then grey, then dust. A massive circle of dust grew and grew and grew as the flowers' life was taken from it. Once the process slowed almost to a stop, a good half of the meadow was turned into a dark ashy color.

Uni and Rex sat by Cory and waited. They waited until he was responsive again, I had forgotten his mask in my room so that would be upsetting for him when he wakes up.

He sat up quickly startling Rex and Uni, but they hugged him once they realised he was back. Uni looked like he was about to cry but refused. Whatever that demon had said to Uni, affected him deeply. Cory's smile on his face faded for some reason. He looked around at the scene of ashes and grabbed some dust in his hand and stared at it. Letting it fall between his fingers, back on to the floor. He slowly looked up at Uni in anger..."You knew..." He said as his face turned blank.
"You knew!" He yelled and got up quickly.
"I told you, they turned to dust in my dream! Tell me, what do you see here?!" Cory yelled at Uni.

"Dust." Uni mumbled softly. He tried to pat Cory's back but he turned away in anger and frustration.

"Do you believe me yet?" Cory said looking at Rex then, picked a flower he stood up and walked away.

"Cory!" Rex yelled. "I swear you better turn your butt right back round or I'll do it for you." Rex said angrily but also jokingly at the same time.

Cory froze and stared at him blankly," It's all gone, it's dead and it's your fault." He held out his hand which was holding the flower and showed it to Rex. It then lost is shimmering gold color, turned brown, then to dust which fell to the ground in the pile with the rest. Cory then turned around and said nothing but walked off in silence.

Uni looked at the dust and sat down dramatically causing a puff of dust to rise. "What have I done? I-I-I killed the flowers, this was the last place Cory and his parents were... this is where his dad died... And... I destroyed it!" Uni shouted grabbing his blue hair in frustartion. Rex just watched quietly poking at the dust.

"He would have died. You didn't want him to end up like the others.... it's understandable.... after all, this is the first time you tried to stop death." Rex said trying to cheer Uni up.

"Wh- what did you say?" Uni asked.

"It's your first time trying to prevent death." Rex rephrased.

"What's happening?" Uni said weeping. "It told me I would ignore it... again."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."
Rex said.

"I stopped it, but at what cost?" Uni said quietly.

"Uni, you have saved Cory's butt more than once, more than anyone,yes you let all those kids die-"

"Not helping." I said annoyed.

"But, you wouldn't have been put in that situation if it wasn't for you, trying to help Nick, and Cory." Rex said with a smile.

"What are you talking about, I didn't help anyone, I'm a coward it's right. Cory jumped on the guy Cory was the one trying to help Nick I just sat tied up. You tried to untie us, you freed Nick." Uni said glumly.

"Don't say that." Rex said sternly." Cory and I look up to you. You practically raised Cory, and you took care of me too. Cory looks up to you, because you protected him from me when I was a...uh... formal bully. And I'm proud to call you my brother. You are not a coward, that's Nick's job. And that is it."

"Then why do I feel like I ruined one of the only memories Cory had left of his parents." Uni said with a heavy heart.

"Because you did." I muttered and Rex elbowed me.