The Holders

Chapter 6 - Zara

The silence was unbearable. I almost screamed at one point. We all sat in the chairs around the low table. James was on my left, Talia on my right and Leon was sitting directly opposite me.

Leon must have noticed that I didn't tell James and Talia about the sword. To be honest, I have no idea what happened. I've thought about it so much since then that it almost feels like it didn't happen.

I watched Leon curiously. He was looking around the room. He had brown hair, a shade darker than James' but it was longer and kept falling in his eyes, he was constantly brushing it away annoyingly. He had light brown eyes, a very similar colour to the wood of the coffee table.

I looked around at the four of us sat here. It wasn't a coincidence, James had said that and it was true. The situations were too similar and the differences were too obvious... too different.

I still couldn't shake off the feeling that I knew these people. They were familiar but I had never met them before. It was like I knew them in another life.

I shook my head, it was something I did when I wanted to clear my head or get a thought out of my head.

Before I could think about it anymore a loud click interrupted my thoughts.

"Aha!"

I turned around in my chair to see Guy standing by the cupboard. He was pulling a key out of the lock. It obviously has been a long time since that door has been opened.

He then turned around facing us holding two books in his hands. The books were thick and well worn. He placed one in front of James and the other in front of Talia.

I leaned forward to have a look.

"Don't touch them." Guy commanded.

James' book looked like it had been taken outside one too many times. Mud was smeared on the cover with a mixture of grass and leaves. Moss seemed to be growing on the spine and vines crawled up it's back, the roots disappeard into the pages of the book.

Talia's book seemed alive. It was humming with energy and light was glowing through the pages in the book. Also someone had attached a small, rectangular, silver piece of metal on the cover. I thought it was a keypad or some kind of lock but there wasn't any buttons or controls. It appeared to be the books life source.

I was so busy looking at the two books I hadn't seen Guy get the other books out of the cupboard until he placed one in front of me and another in front of Leon. Guy placed each book carefully, same space apart, careful not to let any of them touch.

Leon's book looked like it was about to fall apart at any moment. The edges were burnt away and soot covered the book. When I started to look away from the book something caught my eye but looking back I couldn't see it. I focused on a spot on the wall and out of the corner of my eye it looked like there was a small fire on the book, never growing, never shrinking but always burning brightly.

Finally I looked down at my book. The book, just like the others, was thick and looked old with wear. However, the book was covered with frost. The frost started at the corners of the cover and merged together in the center. It left swirling patterns like ice wind gently blowing from the four corners. In the very center as all of the patterns came together, one crystal glowed with coldness in the shape of a single, beautiful snowflake. I would be lying if I said the book didn't take my breath away before I had even opened it. Then I noticed something strange, on the cover in what seemed like random places, the patterns were interrupted by fingerprints. Each fingerprint seemed different, from a different person. On the front I counted 9 finger prints, I assumed they carried onto the back as well with 1 fingerprint on the spine. All in total I would say about 19 fingerprints.

19 fingerprints, what did it mean? 19 different people? 19 different years? Who did these fingerprints belong to?

I heard somebody clear their throat behind me. I turned around to see Guy waiting for all of us to look at him before beginning.

"Right, first off, nobody will interrupt me when I'm speaking. You can ask all the questions you want when I'm done, agreed?"

I nodded quickly. Finally we were getting some answers.

"Many years ago, there was four teenagers. Arabell, Mavis, Jonas and Elias," Guy said the names carefully as if they were very powerful words. "They were the original Holders. They helped keep peace and balance. As long as they lived everything was right."

"One day they were tricked. All of them were brought together and had to suffer through their worst fears. The unknown monster which had tricked them killed the Holders. War broke out everywhere. Climate changed significantly; there was blizzards in Africa; deserts scorched Antartica; jungles roamed North America and huge thunderstorms covered Asia."

"The world was a mess and the only people who could fix it were dead. The monster ruled the world until exactly 50 years later when four new Holders appeared and defeated the monster, setting everything right. Nobody knows who this monster was but legend says that they swore that in 1000 years they would rise again and no one will be able to stop them."

Guy stared into space as if remembering a memory from long ago. Then he looked back at us.

"Ever since the monster was brought to it's knees a new generation of Holders are born every 50 years. Now, the new generation are brought together." He looked at each of us in turn.

"You are the new Holders."