Guardians of the Light (Book 1: Rebirth)

Chapter 6

James fully understood what Ronin had asked of him, but it still did not make it any easier on him for having to do it. Be friending a complete stranger; get close to them so they felt comfortable to tell you all their deepest darkest secrets and then BAM! Tell them that their some savior child of a secret organization that fights off supernatural creatures. On top of all that that you possess some type of powerful light inside you that could either bring peace to the world or destroy it. Yes, that was a lot of information to dump on someone and James was not sure he was ready to throw someone into that life. When he had found out about everything, the Guardians, being a Child of Light, secret wars between light and dark and all the creatures that lurk there, he had thought it was all crazy. He thought he was dreaming, living some sort of nightmare.

However, the more he learned about what he was the more he understood. It still took him awhile to accept everything but he had Ronin to thank for that, without him James would have been lost and probably checked himself into a hospital. Through guidance and months of intense training provided by the Guardians and the Elders James had a better understanding of the world he must one day save from The Darkness.

That day he had met Ronin in that alley, the first time he had ever laid eyes on a demon had scared the shit out of him, pardon the language but those were the only words to describe what had happened. Ronin had come in like a bad ass he was and took the demon down like it was chopped liver. James was always in awe when he saw Ronin fighting. His Guardian had taught James the basics fighting skills to be able to handle his own if it came to that. It was only to be used as a last resort, Ronin’s purpose, as James Guardian was to protect him at all costs even if it meant his own life.

Another thing that was hard for him to get use to was having Ronin follow him around everywhere he went. Of course, this was for his protection, but it still did not make it easier for James to live his life somewhat normal. Ronin was always out of sight or blended in somewhere so it was hard to spot him, if need be he would be there in a flash, even still James knew that Ronin was there watching always on the lookout for danger.

When it was not Ronin, it was a team of Guardians disguised as members of the College Staff from teachers to grounds keepers and every job in between. They all had been chosen for this task with the soul purpose of over watching and protecting James if Ronin was not there to do so. It was a huge operation that took months to plan and organize, most of it had been behind the scenes.

James didn’t even realize it had happened until one night he was up late studying in the library for one of his mid-term exams and a fire demon had shown up to kill him. Thankfully, James had been alone in the library when it had happened, as he tried to run the fire demon cornered him behind the bookshelves. When out of nowhere the janitor who had been cleaning came up behind the fire demon and stabbed him with a holy blade blessed by the Elders and forged with holy water. James had been in complete shock as the fire demon exposed into ash right before his eyes. The janitor, whose name James had later found out was Guardian Barnett, had explained everything showing James the Guardian symbol inked into his skin as proof of who he was. James had spotted it right away when he saw Guardian Barnett pull the holy blade from his cleaning cart.

Normal human janitors did not go around carrying century old holy weapons everywhere. After the event and much talk between the Elders, Ronin was able to inform James of all the Guardians that were uncover at the College and what their uncover roles were. Ronin had explained that in an emergency where James needed help he would be able to get it quickly if he knew who was a Guardian and who was just a plain human. He would look out there if he run up to a human teacher telling them that a demon was trying to kill him, he was sure that would send him right to the hospital. James had come along since that day Ronin rescued him in that alleyway, both in his knowledge and understanding of the world he had been thrown into and his physical training as well.

Ronin had spoken about the true power within him but it was not yet the right time to be training how to use it. Previous Children of the Light had mastered their light energy quicker than others. James wanted to be one of those ones; he wanted to help save the world from The Darkness and all those creatures that served it. He had learned that in some cases in the past the light energy had been too powerful for its host and ended up killing them losing the light energy forever. Once a Child of the Light died, the light energy dies with them. Many scrolls spoke of tales of Children of the Light using their light energy as a last effort to battle The Darkness and in the process taking their life, Guardians and The Darkness with them.

Thankfully, it had not happened in ages but James had felt the full effect the power of the light energy that day he met Ronin. It was something he could not control it is as if his body and mind were working on its own and acted without thought. Elder Theokritos had told James that in rare cases the light energy could act on behalf of its host and in dire situations work to protect its host from The Darkness. James hoped to be able to control the light energy at some point, like the famous first Children of the Light back in Ancient Greek times when the Children of the Light had been created, but that was only a legend, no one had been able to master the light energy like that again.

All these thoughts were pulling James away from currently taking notes during the teachers lecture, it didn’t matter he would just get them later from a fellow student, his eye glanced over at the clock. He only had a few minutes after class to find Sara and figure out how he was going to introduce himself to her without sounding like a complete werido.

He had been practicing in front of the mirror about how he would go about approaching Sara and speaking to her. So far, he had not thought of anything good to say, it was not like he could just tell her everything that was going on.

oh hey by the way you have this powerful energy inside you and an secret organization is trying to protect you from creatures that aren’t supposed to be real, right also my names James and I am just like you.

Yes, that would go over really well, she would never talk to him again and he would fail the mission Ronin had given him.

The bell sounded overhead and James rushed through the crowded hallways of the campus, trying to pick Sara out of all the faces coming and going. It took serval minutes to finally find her after he had gotten out to the parking lot and was driving in his car. He stopped his car and rolled down the window, his brain still scrambling to find the right words, before he knew it the words came out, “Hey do you need a ride?”.