The Guardian's Protector: The Chamber of Souls (2 page)

‘I’m not on my own as such,’ Amy said. ‘My boyfriend, Luke, should be here any minute.’

Amy looked at the door as she spoke.

‘That’s great,’ Adaizi murmured as she began to place rubber circles onto Amy’s stomach. ‘But I meant this
far
as in I think you may not have long to go.’

‘Oh,’ Amy said, a surge of adrenaline making her feel nauseous. ‘Well I hope he makes it then.’

Adaizi began mopping Amy’s brow. ‘I’m sure he will, beautiful. Until then, I’ll look after you.’

Amy stared at the door. Luke said he’d be right behind her. Where was he? ‘He’s never let me down before,’ Amy continued, biting her lip. ‘He’s more like my best mate than a boyfriend. If he says he’s on his way, he’s on his way!’

‘Then don’t you worry, beautiful,’ Adaizi said as she placed on some surgical gloves.

Amy couldn’t help it. This had nothing to do with intuition; it was obvious something was wrong. Luke would never let her down like this.

‘I need to do a little examination.’ Adaizi patted Amy’s knees and Amy relaxed them for her. ‘Just a quick look to see just how well we’re doing.’

‘What part of America are you from, Adaizi?’ Amy asked to distract herself.

‘New York,’ Adaizi replied. ‘I’ve been here seventeen years now.’ Amy sensed Adaizi missed the place but, her teeth gleaming, she still smiled.

Amy smiled back at Adaizi. ‘That’s just longer than I’ve been born!’

‘It sure is.’ Adaizi’s forehead wrinkled as she looked at Amy with a mixture of pity and pride. ‘Just relax a little more for me,’ Adaizi added as Amy felt a slight pressure on her cervix.

‘I didn’t plan to get pregnant.’ Amy felt the need to clarify as she glanced sidelong at the door again. ‘I wanted to wait until
after
my higher education. I’m just taking a gap year before I return.’

‘Oh? What is it you plan to do?’ Adaizi asked.

‘My father wants me to be a nurse,’ Amy said. ‘He thinks I’ll be a natural.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Is that the baby’s heart?’ Amy asked, only just noticing the
whoosh, whoosh
sound coming from the monitor.

‘It sure is,’ Adaizi said, standing straight. ‘And all looks well.’

‘I’ve got a job for now, though,’ Amy continued. ‘Just like Luke. He left college as soon as he found out I was pregnant and he’s saved every penny for us. He’s painted the entire maisonette that the council gave us, you know.’ She smiled thinking of him. ‘And bought carpets too. He wanted us to move into it all being done because my mum thought we’d be living in squalor. It was nice to prove her wrong.’ Amy looked at the door in longing each time a silhouette passed by.

‘He sure sounds like a good boy.’

‘Yes.’ Amy smiled, then felt like crying, wondering where he could be. ‘He normally is,’ she added. She couldn’t believe he wasn’t here. Amy’s stomach began to harden and she braced herself for another wave of pain. She turned to see the radar on the IV machine reach its highest peak, taking deep breaths as she’d been taught, but there was no pain.

Amy turned to Adaizi. ‘Is that machine making my belly go tight?’

‘No. That’s just your contraction.’

‘Well, what have you given me?’

‘Nothing
given
,’ Adaizi said.

‘Why am I not in pain then?’

‘Because I’ve taken it away. There’s no need for pain now I’m here,’ Adaizi stroked Amy’s arm again, and this time the effect was more powerful than just a deep sense of peace washing over her. Amy felt lightheaded, almost like she could float away, and she knew without a doubt Adaizi had given her something.

‘You weren’t at any of my ante natal appointments?’ Amy queried, her mind now taken from Luke’s absence.

Adaizi’s eyebrows rose in interest. ‘No, but I’m the best person for
this
birth,’ she said mysteriously. Amy considered her for a moment; there was something else to this woman she couldn’t put her finger on.

Amy felt the hardness of her stomach and watched the monitor in disbelief. ‘It’s not normal that I’m not in pain!’ Amy stated.

Adaizi looked amused. ‘It’s normal for you!’

Amy began to panic. ‘Shouldn’t I have two midwives?’ Amy said, now trying to locate anyone passing by the door, hoping another would naturally come now the lights had been restored, or that Luke would burst through at any moment.

‘It’s time to push, beautiful,’ Adaizi said, looking at the clock, which was approaching midnight. ‘We need him out before midnight!’

‘What?’ Amy said confusedly but, no sooner had she said it, a surge of adrenaline shot through her body and she felt an overwhelming sensation to push. Her heart pounding against her chest, she now knew for sure Luke would miss the birth.

‘Doing great,’ Adaizi said as Amy pushed, positioning her hands to support the head. Amy felt a warm, drawing sensation, as if Adaizi’s hands were aiding her efforts. As the head began to materialize and Amy pushed harder, she realised there was still no pain. Although it took effort, her lungs were the only part of her body that felt any strain. The feeling of giving birth was akin to relief; just an everyday occurrence for the human body. The expansion felt natural.

As the baby’s head appeared, a burst of silvery light illuminated the whole room and soared through the tiny window in the door, brightening the corridor, and the large window to her right, piercing the inky darkness. In accompaniment to the light, a low, humming noise began to rattle the pipes of the building like they were about to explode.

Adaizi ducked down, her dreadlocks spinning in both directions as she tried to locate the noise. Amy, wanting to scream at Adaizi to protect her child, could only wheeze something incoherent. Then an immense, white flash shot back in from outside and, with its force, rattled the window frame.

Supporting the baby’s head, Adaizi huddled herself over Amy’s legs as a form of shelter while the surge and light intensified. Both women tensed up and squeezed their eyes closed. The noise now causing her eardrums to ache, overwhelming dread rushed through Amy as she prepared for some kind of explosion. She believed in those seconds her life, and her child’s, would end but, as the baby took its first breath, the light faded, the noise stopped dead, and electricity was restored.

Amy howled with panic, her eyes scanning the room.

‘Look here!’ Adaizi said, wrapping the baby in a blanket and placing it in Amy’s shaking arms. ‘Look at your boy!’

‘A boy, wow. Is he…okay?’

‘Perfect!’ Adaizi claimed, in a matter-of-fact tone.

As Amy held him, a wonderful rush of emotion flooded through her like nothing she’d ever felt. He furrowed his eyebrows and gently blinked, looking all around as if confused to where he was, and she fell in love. He then closed his eyes for a moment, which seemed to relax his brows, and Amy stroked his smooth and luminous complexion. Then, like he’d been woken with a fright, his intense grey eyes snapped open, and held her gaze so dramatically, it almost looked like he was trying to peer into the very depths of her soul. Amy’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

‘He looks just like his beautiful mother,’ Adaizi said. He did look like her, yet she didn’t consider herself stunning. Her eyes were even the same bright grey as the ones staring back at her, studying her, but she shied away from compliments. ‘What will you call this wonderful boy?’ Adaizi queried, as if nothing at all had happened.

‘Tom, after my dad, Thomas,’ Amy said proudly, her hands still shaking as she stroked his forehead. Tom’s bright eyes sparkled astoundingly and he gave her a huge, beaming smile. Amy gasped. Her heart began to race. It startled her completely. ‘Is this…normal?’ Amy asked, knowing it wasn’t.

Adaizi smiled for a moment, like she pitied her. ‘Hmm, Tom,’ Adaizi said contemplatively. ‘I think he likes that.’

Amy looked back at Tom, thunderstruck. She couldn’t believe his expression. He did look…pleased! ‘Adaizi,’ Amy pressed, beginning to think she’d turned crazy, ‘is it normal?’

‘It’s normal for him!’ Adaizi smiled enigmatically, placing her warm hand on Amy’s arm as if to reassure her. ‘But,’ she added, her tone darker, ‘I’m afraid this is not all he can do!’

As Amy looked at Adaizi with a mixture of curiosity and confusion, a sudden coldness emitted from Adaizi’s palm and a prickling sensation, like tiny icicles had penetrated her skin, began to travel the length of her arm. As the prickling crossed the top of her body, a feeling of euphoria entered her state. The power halted her shaking at once.

‘What’s happening to…?’ Amy began but, after peering deep into Adaizi’s eyes, she caught the breath in her throat. To her complete bewilderment, hundreds of tiny lights like glowing stars in the night sky began to glitter and rotate inside Adaizi’s dilating pupils. Deeper and deeper they sank until Amy felt like she could see a whole galaxy through a narrow vortex of space. Amy knew she should have been scared but all her natural responses were nullified, like she’d been hypnotised.

‘Don’t worry, Amy, please,’ Adaizi said, her tone warm and non-threatening. ‘Just listen carefully. What I’m about to tell you will come as a shock…but you need to stay calm and focussed.’

Amy drew Tom towards her protectively. She made to speak but the speckles of light in Adaizi’s eyes gave a vivid flash and Amy felt an overwhelming sense of peace wash over her.

‘I am a Guardian of Divinity. I am imbued with
Light Energy
powers to help wherever necessary on Earth. This here boy is a Guardian too…but he is special and…unique!’ Adaizi stopped as if waiting for some kind of response.

Amy stared in disbelief. As she sat, motionless, in what could only be a drugged state, her mind telling her she was imagining things, she wondered if Adaizi was a lunatic from the street who captured babies from hospitals.

‘You are also a unique and gifted soul, known in Omnipion as the Protector of Delicates!’ Adaizi continued as Amy’s eyes grew wide in alarm. ‘Your purpose was to protect, nurture, and help prepare all the newborn souls before they enter the Chamber for their Test.’ Adaizi gave Amy an appreciative smile.

Amy concentrated hard, trying to muster some strength to her body. She couldn’t believe Adaizi had placed her in this catatonic state. She tried to sit up but all she could do was pull Tom in tighter.

‘Now then, beautiful,’ Adaizi said, ‘I’m going to take my palm off you, but you must try and stay relaxed.’

Talking in a calm and composed manner, Adaizi still even looked trustworthy. Even more curious to Amy was that, whether through sheer morbid curiosity or whether Adaizi had influenced her mind, she wanted to hear what Adaizi had to say. Amy knew this wasn’t rational. White noise buzzing through her ears, confusion clouding her judgement, Amy blinked in response whilst trying to concentrate on mustering some strength to her body.

‘You volunteered to be this magnificent child’s mother! You knew the importance of his arrival and, additionally, agreed to help prepare him for our mission.’ Adaizi stopped to look at Tom in a loving way and stroked his head.

Amy pulled Tom closer. She wished more than ever that Luke would come through the door.

Adaizi smiled amiably. ‘This soul is precious, Amy. You named him the Bright One because his light was the most powerful to ever rise from the core of Omnipion. We’d never seen anything like it before. He’s brighter than the Decision Maker himself.’

Focussing on her strength now rising to the surface, Amy remained still, trying not to show any sign her senses were returning. Her ears hot, her heart thundering against her chest, a tight coil began to churn inside her stomach.

‘We believe Tom came from the core, as bright as he did, to counterbalance an evil soul known as the Dogod, who has become so dark that ordinary Guardians are struggling to stop him. The Dogod has collected eleven of the twelve protected powers over his many lifetimes and, if he gains the last power he needs, he’ll be able to cheat his way into the inner fields of Omnipion and destroy all life.’

Eyes wide, fixed in horror, Amy was now fully in control of all her faculties. Rage climbing inside her like rapid fire, she wondered how she could escape. The woman may be insane but she obviously had some curious way of detaining her. As her eyes shot to the door and back to Adaizi’s hand, giving her thoughts away, Adaizi pretended she hadn’t noticed.

‘Tom won’t be imbued with his true powers until he’s age seven. That’s also when the Dogod will be sent his full powers, but
he
has residual powers now. You’ve never been earthbound before so, because we don’t know what gifts you may have of your own, we need you to invoke the Guardian’s Light Energy for now to protect Tom—and yourself—from the Dogod and his Dark Army, just like the rest of us can.’

Only half listening to Adaizi now, Amy used her ears to note any sounds from the corridor, wondering if she could shout for help. Amy would forgive Luke missing the labour and the birth if he would walk through the door right now. ‘Please,’ Amy said, ‘leave us alone.’

Adaizi looked at her pitifully for a moment before she continued. ‘The Dogod was reborn last night at seven p.m. There were four earthquakes last night at that time. An earthquake happens each time he’s born. The four children born at those exact moments were one female, which we can rule out because he always chooses a male embryo to operate in, and three male, one of which was born right here!’