Guardian: Darkness Rising

Guardian:
Darkness Rising

Melanie Houtman

Titles available in the
Guardian trilogy

(in reading order):

Guardian: Protectors of
Light

Guardian: Darkness
Rising

Guardian:
Darkness Rising

Be careful
with your secrets...

Copyright © 201
6
Melanie Houtman

All rights
reserved.

Once upon a time, not so long ago,
the magical world of Lunaria was freed from corruption by the Bond
of Light. The Master, who ruled over Lunaria with an iron fist, was
defeated, and the Guardians returned home safely after restoring
the balance between the Light and Dark.

These Guardians returned to their
lives, and lived them to their fullest. There was only one rule
that had followed them all the way home, one which they had to
strictly follow: they could never touch the book that had brought
them to Lunaria in the first place again. If the book was to be
destroyed or its story to be read, it would possibly release its
magic into the world, with unknown consequences.

The five Guardians successfully
obeyed this rule for years, by finding new hiding places to hide
the book from sight every once in a while, and moving it from attic
to attic and from basement to basement as their lives went on. The
book remained carefully and successfully hidden for twenty-five
years, hardly ever touched and unread.

But, of course, the Guardians got
children. And those children got older. And with age comes
curiosity; the desire to investigate anything seemingly intriguing
and mysterious. Of course we all know how that old and rather
popular saying goes...

Curiosity killed the
cat.

But, before we find out what
happened to Lucas Riverdale, the boy who would be the one to
discover the dangerous and yet mystical book, there is another
story that needs to be told. The story you should hear
first.

Because stories should be written
in chronological order – and this particular story takes place four
years before the book was rediscovered. Both stories will connect
seamlessly at some point – don’t worry. You will get to know
everything about both; you won’t miss a thing.

Now we, the Spirits of Light,
invite you to join us and listen to this story. To watch as it
enfolds in your mind – or, if you’re imaginative enough, right
before your eyes. It won’t take too long, we promise.

Prepare yourself for another ride
through Lunaria. And... we’d advise you to buckle up, because if
you know what happened the previous time, you should know what’s up
next. This new road’s going to be a tad bumpier than the one we
went before, so be wary.

But be wary of one thing: once
you’ve joined us, there’s no going back...

I

The

Release

Runaway

Sunset on a late summer afternoon.
Aside from the sounds of happy chatting and the clinking of glasses
and cutlery coming from a few of the neighbourhood’s backyards,
everything was silent and peaceful. The residents of New York were
preparing themselves for the coming night.

And nobody would’ve expected
something bad to happen that night after the sun had gone
down.

Marilyn, Mari for short, was fourteen and full
of life. Her brown hair was cut short; Mari was a bit of a rebel,
both in appearance and personality.

There was, however, only one thing Mari liked
about herself: her eyes. Her left eye was blue, and her right one
green, the colour of her father’s eyes. A rare occurrence in human
genetics she’d inherited from her grandmother. But to her parents,
it didn’t make her look any less pretty.

Now there might be several
noticeable things about Mari, her family, and the reason why she
was running away. Her parents had always had issues, fighting over
the most useless things – but Mari had more or less put herself
over that.

Her parents weren’t the reason
Mari planned on running away. The main reason she ran away was one
of the main reasons teenagers often decide to run away: in hopes of
finding their own happiness. Mari felt as if no one truly
understood her, and she wanted to prove a point to her
parents.

Of course, running away just because no one
understands you might come off as a stupid idea. And... in most
cases, it is.

But it wasn’t Mari’s fault. Well... it wasn’t
entirely.

When Mari was young – too young to remember,
even – her father broke an important rule.

He’d snuck the book from one of
his friends’ houses to his own, to read the story to his daughter.
Perhaps he felt pride, since the story was connected to the
greatest adventure Mari’s father had ever experienced, and wanted
to pass it on to his legacy.

If only he hadn’t done that, maybe Mari never
would’ve left.

Because that night, the same night Mari’s
father read the story to her, something found the little girl. And
it was not planning on ever letting go.

Inside her room, Marilyn was
rummaging through her stuff, sorting out everything she’d need to
survive while she was gone. Mari made sure not to bring along too
much - she wouldn’t be gone for long, after all, just long enough
to prove to herself and her parents that there indeed
was
someone out there,
someone who understood.

Mari waited for her parents to go to sleep
before leaving.

Luckily, Mari’s father was at work and her
mother never went to bed all that late when she was alone. It
wasn’t long before Mari indeed heard her mother’s footsteps coming
up the stairs, entering the bathroom, and shortly afterwards
entering her bedroom to finally go to sleep.

Mari waited a little more; just long enough to
make sure her mother would be far enough asleep not to be able to
hear her daughter’s creaky bedroom window opening.

“
I’ll be back soon, I promise,”
Mari whispered, as she set foot on the roof – she felt the heat
radiating from the tiles through the soles of her shoes.

Mari carefully slid down the
drainpipe, which had been conveniently (or at least for this
particular moment) installed right beside her bedroom window, and
hopped off into the backyard.

There was one last person she
needed to see before leaving town. And that person was Lucas
Riverdale.

Mari dashed through the streets, careful not
to stand out from the people that were out late partying, just
arriving or leaving their friends’ houses or just simply having
fun.

As she neared Lucas’s backyard, Mari decided
to skip the backyard gate; she just simply hopped over the low
fence and ran over to the oak tree that stood near the
house.

Dropping her backpack at the roots, Mari
started to climb the thick trunk, all the way up to the one branch
that hung in front of Lucas’s bedroom window, the branch she’d sat
on so many times before.

But this time, it’d be different. This could
possibly be the last time she’d ever sit on that branch. Because if
she liked her new life enough...

...Mari wouldn’t be coming back.

She knelt down on the branch, leaning forward
just far enough to be able to knock on Lucas’s closed
window.

Hopefully, he was still reading a
book or playing videogames. Or anything similar that kept him up at
night. Lucas was a true night owl, and his parents often had to
‘threaten’ him with taking away the things that kept him up to get
him to sleep.

And luckily for Mari, Lucas was
indeed still awake. After a few more knocks, the curtains moved
aside, and Lucas’s face appeared behind the glass. His red,
slightly curly hair was a mess, but that wasn’t anything new to
Mari; his hair was always a mess.

He looked confused at first, but grinned as
soon as he saw Mari’s smile, and quickly opened the
window.

“
Hey, little bat,” he said. “Out
for a night fly again?”

“
Oh, I wouldn’t
know, Luke,” Mari grinned. She was tempted to use his nickname,
‘
Skywalker
’,
which was an obvious reference to Luke’s favourite movie series,
but she decided to leave it.

“
So... what are you up to at this
hour?” Luke said. The thirteen-year-old smirked at her; a
mischievous glimmer shone in his eyes, as if a dozen tiny stars
were floating around in his irises.

“
Well...” Mari said slowly. She
thought she’d prepared this well, thought out exactly how this
conversation would go. But now that it came to it, she had a hard
time thinking of what to say. “I just stopped by to say goodbye to
you,” she said; the confusion on Lucas’s face was instantly
visible.

“
You’re...
leaving
?” he said. “But – why? And where will you
go?”

Mari shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said.
“Wherever my luck takes me, I guess.

“
...You could come with me, if you
want.”

Luke bit his lip. “I...” He sighed. “I just
don’t understand why you’d even want to run away in the first
place. I mean – you’ve got everything you could possibly want,
right?”

Mari shrugged. “I know it seems selfish to
just run off like this,” she said, “but staying here just
doesn’t... feel right. There’s this voice inside my heart and head
telling me there is more to life than this.

“
I can achieve more than this,
Luke.”

“
Mari,
you’re
four
teen!
You’ve got plenty of time to achieve more than you have now!” Luke
exclaimed, quickly lowering the volume of his voice out of fear of
his parents hearing him. “Don’t you get it? We’re kids, and we’re
not sup
posed
to
be on our own yet!” He let out a sigh.

“
Please, don’t
leave. Go home, Mari. And
stay
there until you
know
what you want. You know, when
you’re sixteen, or maybe even eighteen, you’ll be much more
prepared for the outside world.

“
Maybe then you’ll be able to run
away and make it on your own.

“
But not now, not like
this.”

Mari’s eyes were confident, and
that reflected in the way she spoke. “What makes you think you’ve
got the right to judge? You’re
thir
teen.”

Of course, Lucas disagreed. “Mari,
you’re spouting nonsense.”

“
No, I’m not.” Marilyn was still
showing off that kind of confidence Luke loved about her – it was
just her insufferable stubbornness that often managed to set him
off.

“
Yes, Mari,” he
said decisively, “you
are
. As much as I respect your love
for adventure – I must say that I
envy
it, even – this is ridiculous.
You’ve got to draw a line somewhere.”

Mari rolled her eyes.
“
Really
, Luke?”
she said. “You’re saying I’m reaching over my limits?”

“
Should I remind you about your
age?” Lucas said. Deep down, Mari knew he was right. But she just
wanted to make sure Luke got her point, and that’s why she decided
to keep arguing.

“
I know I’m young, and therefore,
I actually shouldn’t be doing this,” Mari said. “You don’t have to
remind me. But I have to do this. For myself.” She patted her chest
confidently as she spoke.

“
If you really want to go, then I
won’t hold you back,” Lucas said. “But remember, there are people
who care about you Mari, who will be hurt when they find out you’re
gone.

No matter how careful you announce you’ll be
gone. They won’t care if you explain the exact route you’ll be
taking. You’ll be gone, Mari. And they’ll miss you.

I’ll
miss
you.”

Mari offered Luke a smile. “Hey, don’t worry
about it,” she said. “I won’t be gone for long; you’ll see me again
soon. I promise.”

She quickly hugged him before climbing down
the trunk. She’d made a promise; she’d be back soon.