Guardians - Death

1 - Rubies

“The weather is too perfect.”
I walked out of the school building together with Travis, heading on our way home. The sun was shining while tiny clouds speckled the sky. It wasn't too hot, not too cold, and that was bothering me. Too perfect.
“Oh come on Amira, lighten up! School's not the worst and you know that. A D on a stupid math test won't kill you.” Travis walked next to me while putting his hands into the small pockets of his black jeans. He was happy, too happy for me. Couldn't blame him though, since he got a fucking A in that test.
I wasn't mad because I had a D, since I barely cared about my results at school. I couldn't really find a reason why I was mad at all. Maybe I was just stressed.

I sighed as we walked by the beginning of the giant forest that enclosed our small town. There's one particular tree in there that people call “Terra's Tree” after the myth of the earth goddess Terra. It's said to be at least three times taller than all the trees in the whole forest and people claimed it glows sometimes. I've never been there though because I am scared to get lost in there. Despite the fact there was a town right next to the woods, they were fairly unexplored. Only a few hiking routes lead inside, never much further than a mile.
I felt Travis poke my shoulder and I looked up. I was so lost in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed he said something. Ha probably guessed I didn't listen and repeated: “Wanna climb one of those trees?”
“Eh.. I just wanna get home.”
“I bet ten bucks I'll be at the top before you.”
“Is that a challenge?”
It was a challenge. I could tell by the determined look in Travis’ face and the glow in his dark green eyes. He smiled for a second, then dropped his bag and started running towards the nearest tree.
I immediately threw my bag to the ground next to Travis’ and started chasing after him. I shortly caught up and went ahead of him. Travis keeps underestimating me.

He didn't seem to believe his eyes as I rushed past him and jumped at the first branch of the tree we were heading for. I grabbed onto it and pulled myself up, then reached for the next one. The tree was quite tall, about 45 feet or so. I was already more than halfway up as Travis got hold of the second branch.
I felt like a squirrel climbing the tree. I was fast, strong enough to quickly pull myself up the branches and I could even jump between trees if they were close enough.
I arrived at the top branch that could still carry my weight and waited for Travis to catch up while enjoying the view.
When Travis finally arrived, he was all out of breath. “How are you so fucking quick?!”, he asked while panting. I just shrugged and smiled. “You owe me ten bucks”, I then said.
“I should stop making bets I know I can't win”, Travis sighed. “Well, at least I got you to smile at least once today!”
I laughed. “Good job.”
Travis could always find something to make me laugh or smile. We sat on our branches and stayed silent while watching the small clouds slowly slide across the sky for a short while.
Then I looked back at Travis. We've become friends in elementary school, and have been almost inseparable since. I couldn't imagine what my life would have been like without him. “Thank you for being there for me all this time”, I quietly said. Travis didn't reply, instead he just stared at something behind me.

I wanted to ask what was wrong but a girl's voice calling my name interrupted me.
I abruptly turned around to see who for the love of God decided to scare the Hell out of me. Almost falling off the branch I was sitting on while turning, I saw someone in a long pink hooded coat floating next to me.
“What the-”
It was a girl of about 15 or 16 years as I could tell by her voice, though her face was almost completely covered by the hood. All I could see was her mouth, calmly smiling.

“There's someone who needs your help.” She stretched out her arms, a large red gem in the shape of a diamond appearing in the space between the palms of her hands.
Looked like a Ruby. It seemed as if there was something inside, I just couldn't tell what. I remained speechless as the pink hooded girl handed me the gem. It wasn't heavy at all, despite the size.
I finally managed to find some words to say. “Who needs my help?! What am I supposed to do with this?”
“You'll know what to do when the time has come, Amira.” And just like that, she disappeared.