Guardians of the Light (Book 3: Retribution)

Chapter 3

Death was not something new to James, not now in his life anyways. Before learning he was a Child of the Light James had never once experienced death in any form, because of what he was Ronin had prepared him with the wisdom that throughout his new life he might see death more often. But though he had seen more death than a person his age should, out of all those deaths only two had had such a detrimental affect on him. Starting with Elder Theokritos death, James had been one of the many who bore witness to the Elder's death at the hands of The Darkness. James wasn't the only one affected by this death too, those that were close to the Elder had some lasting effects of such trauma.

While Elder Theokritos death had been impactful, the worst was of course Ronin's death. Seeing your best friend die right before your eyes at the hands of the woman he loved had done things to James he could not even begin to understand or tell anyone about. He had seen what Ronin's death had done to Lillian and James knew he couldn't end up like that, Ronin wouldn't want him to end up like that. It was in that moment that James came to realize he needed to do everything in his power to help Lillian overcome the state of darkness she had been put in by having to kill Ronin.

He owed his best friend that much, to honor Ronin's memory. Problem was no matter how much he or Sara tried to bring Lillian back to the light it was no use, she had gone too far down the road of darkness and depression cutting herself off from the world and the people who cared about her. James could see the toll this was taking on Sara, with Lillian being this way it was almost like she had lost her best friend too. He was glad for her when Guardian Isadora had arrived in New Haeven from Rome, Sara finally had someone to provide some comfort for her. While James tried to figure out what more he could do for Lillian because at that point he knew it would have to be something more drastic to help her.

He had been lost for ideas so he decided he needed a distraction of some sort to keep his mind from drifting down a dark hole. When he heard that City Hall was looking for volunteers to help with the reconstruction he thought that might be a good step in the right direction. Over the last few months it had proven to be a good distraction and James had been surprised how much of a help he had been with the rebuild of City Hall. Not that he would currently admit it, even if Sara did bug him constantly about it, but he did enjoy the company of Sophia Hammond, current Madam Mayor of New Haeven. It was too early to really say if there was any type of relationship between them but James could admit that he did enjoy her company and he hoped she enjoyed his as well.

It wasn't until recently that James had come up with the idea of getting Ronin back. It had been a crazy idea and theory at first fueled by Ancient Greek literature. What if there really was an Underworld or something similar that souls went to after death, could there be a way to bring Ronin back. If anyone would know the answer it would be the oldest surviving Elder, that kind of knowledge would have to come from someone who had been alive for many centuries. After some digging and contacting the right Elder, James had learned there was a way to bring someone's soul back. The Elder had warned him that it was an impossible task and many others had tried to venture down that road before only to never return again.

James didn't care what it took if it meant bringing Ronin back he knew he would pay any price and he was sure that Lillian would too. To get a clear answer to James' questions about The Eternal Abyss, the Elder had pointed him towards the witches of the Coven of The Enlightened, they had much more knowledge on the matter than the Elder could provide for James. He still remembers the moment he saw the life return to Lillian the moment he had told her about getting Ronin back. It was like the light came back into her eyes, it had been a struggle for her though even with his news to readjust back to the life she had been missing out on.