The Defender

Keith and Aidan

Shivering, I lay next to what seemed like a pole of sand, but when I looked up, it was actually a huge pile of rotting bones. I opened my mouth to scream when an arm yanked me out of that horrible world. When I looked up, I saw Aidan staring worriedly at my face. Surprised, I spat in his face.

Sputtering, he said"What did you do that for?"

Still shivering, I quietly confessed what I saw in the dream world. The look of pure terror that crossed his face told me that things were wrong. Very wrong.

"What's the matter?" I asked. Secretly, in a small part of my heart, I already knew the answer.

"You truly are the Defender. The place you saw was the birthplace of the demons, Hell." A solemn look crossed his face.

"Hell is just a story, is it not?" I questioned.

"All the stories are true Amber. We Guardians sent those stories to the most trustworthy philosophers from your world."

A small gasp escaped my throat as I backed up against the wall, looking around. I finally realized that we were not in my house anymore but from my observations, in a parallel universe. The sky was pure blue with no clouds, and the ground was green with fresh grass and flowers. At least that part was normal. But when I looked even further, I saw a tiny child being held by a man with wings. Suddenly, a sense of envy enveloped me, for no reason!

Confused, Aidan asked me what was wrong. I pointed at the man and he laughed. Laughed. Slowly he realized that I actually had never seen these things in my whole life.

"Why that's Keith! He is an angel of the highest rank, other than god of course." As he spoke the name, the angel-by the name of Keith looked over and gently set the small child on the ground. He the n transformed into a gentle, sleek cat. How did he know I loved cats, I wondered.

The sleek cat wandered over to where we were standing and said, "It's good to see you again, my good friend Aidan." With that, he switched back into human form. I can never truly capture the beauty of Shifting so I'll try my best. It was like a rainbow of colours enveloped him and every every bird started singing in tune with the light and music radiating off his body. To truly feel the magic, you must experience it yourself.

Anyway, he came over and said with a sense of pride,"Is this the new Defender?"

"Of course. Why would you doubt that? Does she not look the part?"

"Of course not. It's just you're the first female Defender in all of time."

That of course, made me stop in my tracks as I was thinking and say, "Surely, there have been female Defenders. I can't be the only one!" My voice rose to the point of being mistaken for hysterical.

"Don't panic. We might just have never recorded the existence of a female Defender," Aidan said soothingly.

"Shall we go?" Keith questioned.

Before I could ask, go where, I was engulfed in pitch black.