• Chapter One: Twilight Guardian Angel

    Dear Tony,
    I’m sorry I’m leaving you, but it’s to protect you. I don’t want you to die because I screwed up. I attracted what you called “Unwanted attention.” It was a mistake to let me come. I let you down, and I feel like I betrayed you. Now he’s after that stupid book that I stole. And now that you’re a vampire, you can get away from here faster than I can. They are coming fast so I better go.
    Sincerely, Alex—
    I left that letter by his nightstand, which was a rock. I took a deep breath, and grabbed the book lying in the cool damp grass. I took one last glimpse at the full moon. It might be the last look at it, I thought. A cool breathe picked up, and eerie howls rode on it. “They can smell the book,” I mumbled under my breath. I took a deep breath before heading into the shadows of the deadly forest. I was walking into a trap. I looked up at the volcano. That is where I will die. That’s where I would be trading the book for myself to live. I knew it wouldn’t happen, I know too much of his plan. But it would buy enough time for Tony to keep living. I was walking in the dense woods, when I started to cry. I lost control of my emotions, like I did before I went on this horrible adventure with Tony.

    BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. I woke up, startled. I was on my floor too. “How did I get here, I was in these dark woods……..” I trailed off. I got up and turned off my alarm clock that read 4:00 A.M. It must’ve been a nightmare, I thought to myself. I stumbled out of my room, wiping drool off of my tired face. I went into the bathroom, and got a shower. Warm………. I thought. This might be my last warm water shower for a while. I thought about my nightmare. Why did I have a nightmare about all of this? I shampooed my hair. In my nightmare, I was crying. I never cried in nightmares before. I hardly ever had nightmares or dreams. This was a rare occasion. I rubbed body wash all over me. I didn’t care about it anymore. I heard a pounding at the door—Tony. I quickly put conditioner in my hair, dropping the bottle on my foot. “AHHHHHHHH, I don’t have time for this!” I said to myself. I couldn’t rub the conditioner in my hair, it got in my eyes. I stumbled while feeling around, looking for the bottle. I fell out of the tub; the curtain was wrapped around me tight. I fidgeted around. The water was all over the linoleum floor. I finally got up, rubbing the soap out of my eyes, and spitting it out of my mouth. I wrapped the towel around me, and I slipped on the wet floor. “Is everything all right?” My dad asked from behind the door. “Picture Perfect!” I lied. I gathered the wet towel from the floor and wrapped it around me again. I opened the door and walked passed my dad that was standing in front of the bathroom door, looking into the bathroom horrified. I slammed my bedroom door behind me. I was completely frustrated. I took random underwear and put that on. I threw khaki shorts on and my best shirt on. I looked at the clock, 4:10. I brushed my hair, and put that in the knapsack. I grabbed it and left my room, running down stairs were I saw Tony and my dad chatting. I went into the kitchen to get breakfast and pack my provisions. Then I’d be set! One more thing, I remembered, I needed to take my book. I went into the living room. I grabbed my red cap off the back of my desk chair and put it on. My book was on my desk, so I picked it up and placed it into my knapsack. I went back into the kitchen and grabbed a box of cereal, a bowl, a spoon, and a carton of milk. I placed them on the table. I sat down and prepared it. I quickly ate all of it. When I was done, I placed them in the sink, and was ready for the provisions. “Are you ready?” Tony called out from the living room. “Ummmm, almost,” I replied.
    “Alex, you don’t need any food,” He said.
    “Why not?” I asked.
    “Because the path I picked has many sources of food on it. And, the village that we head to is far away, so the food you pack will go bad when we reach it. It’s better to pack nothing but a water bottle,” He explained to me.
    I trusted him. I got a water bottle from the cupboard and placed that into my—now full—knapsack.
    “I’m ready Tony!” I called out to him, approaching the living room. “I just got to say bye and we can go.”
    I walked into the living room to see my tired little brother sleeping on my mom’s lap, and my mom had her head on dad’s shoulder. They were crying, and seeing them cry, made me cry too. My brother woke up and saw me crying. He got up and hugged my leg. “It okay big brother, no cry,” he said. I knelt down by him, and hugged him—trying not to hug him very tight because he was only four—and cried some more. I couldn’t fight back my tears. “Okay big brother, you let go now,” he said. I chuckled. “I love you,” I told him. I let go, it was my mom’s turn. She stood up from her chair, and she hugged tightly. “I never knew you would be leaving so early, your 14 and your heading out into the world, leaving our village, traveling into—“
    “Mom, it’s okay, I’ll come back in one piece,” I assured her.
    “You better,” she said holding back a flood of tears.
    The only one without a single tear on his face was dad, even Tony, was crying, just watching us say our goodbyes. I expected dad to give me a hand shake, but no, a hug. He hugged me tightly and said two words, “be safe.” I knew he was having a war with emotions, holding back tears. “We……….We better get going…. its 4:30,” Tony said wiping his tears away. All I could do was shake my head yes. We were heading out now. We were all at a loss of words. As Tony and I crossed the front yard, the morning’s mist started to clear. I yawned. “Tony?” I started, “where are we going?”
    “To Port Garret, why?” He replied.
    “Because, I just would like to know where we’re going. I have another question though.”
    “You can ask me anything, what is it?
    “Why are we going on this adventure, what is the purpose?”
    “Alex…………….I’ll tell you when we’re out of town, k?”
    “What! That isn’t fair, why won’t you tell me?!” I asked him.
    He said nothing, he completely ignored me. I was…….Trying to act outraged, but I was so excited about going on this trip, that was impossible.
    “You know that isn’t fair.” I told him.
    “I know,” he said chuckling.
    “Jerk,” I muttered. “Hey Tony, one more thing, how do you expect me to fight against evil when my Aura is still developing?”
    “I’m going to train you,” he said softly.
    “YAY, what moves are you going to teach me first? Spitting gold flames, walking on lava, breathing lava, or how about…”
    “No, how about focusing your Auras fast and safely first?” He broke in.
    “That isn’t fair! That’s B-O-R-I-N-G! I said.
    Tony sighed. “I know, but that’s what you must learn first.”
    I rolled my eyes. I was silent the rest of the way to the massive village gate. I looked up to the all of the soldiers, standing silently like they were made from stone. The gate was a giant arch, and at the top were giant peripherals that the Head Alchemists Army looked down from. There were also small windows were knights and alchemists could look down from. The usual busy streets were empty. It was like a ghost town. A chill ran down my spine. “We’ve got unwanted attention Alex,” Tony whispered. I remembered the letter from the nightmare. I felt the presence of evil behind me. I turned my head back to see a long, sharp sword at the back of my neck. I gasped. “Don’t move,” Tony whispered. Tony shut his eyes, and a sinister purple beam blasted the sword the soldier was holding out of his hand. I was free. I turned around and saw the man’s face. He had a stubby beard and long hair. He had long hair that covered his eyes. He wore gloves, but one was torn from the plasma blast that Tony hit his hand with. The man was stunned. He didn’t know what to do.
    “Who are you?” Tony asked him.
    The man turned around and tried to run, but he tripped and fell. The man lay there, dead? He couldn’t have been the beam only hit his hand, that wasn’t a vital organ. Then guards from behind us walked up and arrested the guy. What a freak, I thought to myself. Crime ratings were up around these parts of town, I guessed.
    “Come on, we need to be out of here in less than a minute,” Tony said, already walking in front of me.
    I ran up to catch up to him. Seeing what happened back there, I felt safe around him. We finally reached the gate. We walked under the giant arch, into the wilderness. We were nearing the foot of the Trinity Forest.
    “We’re going in there?” I asked nervously.
    “Where else would we go?” Tony said.
    The surrounding area I was in my nightmare looked like the Trinity forest, but the dead trees……There wasn’t any dead trees.
    “Now that we’re out of town, can you tell me why we’re going on this adventure?” I asked him.
    He ignored my question and went into the shadows of the old forest. Now I was getting frustrated.
    “COME BACK!” I called after him.
    I chased after his familiar aroma. I found him.
    “Okay, what is wrong with you? Just tell me why!” I said.
    He stopped. He turned his head and looked into my eyes, his green eyes piercing my brown eyes.
    “We’re going to Mt. Dusk…….”
    I was puzzled. What and where was Mt. Dusk? He examined my puzzled look. He pulled his Green Knapsack off and opened it up. He pulled out a tattered old folded scroll and handed it to me.
    “I’ll explain while you find it on that map, k?”
    Did he read my mind? I pulled a blue string, and carefully opened up the tattered parchment. It rolled down to my feet and was wider than me!
    “Is………is this necessary?” I asked him. The map was huge! “It’s a map of the world!” I added.
    “Yes, it is necessary, and I know that it’s the map of the world. We need to know every route we can escape from.” He replied.
    “Es—Escape! What are you talking about? Are you a criminal? Who……What are you?” I asked him confused.
    “Relax; I’ll explain all of it. First of all, this is a dangerous trip. I’ve been planning this for a while with six others. They are all strong, and have the same goal I have.”
    “What’s this goal?” I asked him nervously, hoping that it’s not nothing like ruling the world.
    “To stop Zure.” He said.
    “Who is Zure?”
    “The one creating the “Utopia.”
    “What’s a Utopia, why do you need me, and I can’t find the Dusk Forest on this map!”
    Tony sighed and pointed it out to me. We were heading in the exact opposite direction Dusk Forest was in.
    “A Utopia is an ideal community or society.”
    “That’s bad because……” I asked him. It sounded like it would be something good, but apparently I was wrong. He seemed like he was trying to find words of what he wanted to tell me. Tony stopped again and reached into his knapsack. I rolled the scroll back up and handed it to Tony. He placed it in the bag and handed me a book. It had a picture of a golden star on it.
    “Go to page two hundred,” Tony demanded.
    I flipped to that page, and a bookmark was sticking in it.
    I read the first page:
    A Time of Change
    My Utopia will me like no other. It will be a Utopia where I will be in power, were I can kill anyone with just a touch, a Utopia for me. Now I come closer to my goal. I have already demolished ten towns, and no other pathetic town dares to fight back because the creatures I have as my army are invincible. They are all hybrid. I’m invincible myself, and with the pendent of life, I have immortality! Only fools who wish to die come and fight me. My next targeting town is Port Garret. That way, I can take away their superb Navy. This gives me a complete advantage against every town that is near water.
    “Who is this evil person?” I asked Tony.
    “Zure, his Utopia is for himself. Zure is a very greedy person. That’s why we must stop him.
    “But why do I need to stop him. Why did you drag me into this?”
    “Because, we think you’re one of us. A Twilight Prince.”
    “What’s that?”
    “When we reach Port Garret, all will be explained.”
    I couldn’t wait until till we reached Port Garret because it seemed like I had thousands of questions. We kept on walking on the endless dark path that stretched endlessly into space.
    “One more question, I started, wasn’t Port Garret captured?”
    “No, not yet,” he replied. And just like that, we descended into a thicker part of the forest. The twilight melted into the shadows of the trees, and darkness was all around us. The trees were like a wooden wall, giving no protection, but no harm. It was like a cage. The path grew much narrower, and the sky disappeared, and so did the ground. I couldn’t see.
    “Tony? Tony?” I was lost. And I tripped over roots. I was in some kind of goo. I knew what it was, it was a spider web. “HELP!” I yelled. I wasn’t expecting an answer. I was alone in the cold wilderness of the forest. Where did Tony go, how could Tony go. I was afraid to move. If I did, I would attract unwanted attention, the spider. Then I heard a loud buzzing sound. It almost sounded like a slurping noise. Then, a creature with eight glistening eyes appeared in front of me. It made the noise again, and it moved forward. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. It opened its mouth and razor sharp fangs hung from its mouth. They looked like a blade from a sword. It ventured closer to me, and bit my shoe. In seconds, my shoe was devoured. Now it was my foot’s turn. I knew what I needed to do. I focused my Aura, hoping I could at least spark him a bit. It opened its wide mouth, and chomped down. I was expecting the pain, but it didn’t come. I opened my eyes, and its fangs hit me. “OWWWWWWWWWWWW,” I screamed at the top of my lungs. Then, a sudden sun shined from my body. I suddenly felt calm. I could see the deep cut. My blood was boiling. Something supernatural was happening. The light grew bright, and it blinded the creature. The giant spider kept taking steps back. It let out a high pitch squeal. “GRAWWWWWWWWWWWW,” was what its shriek sounded like. Then something incredible happened, I exploded into a billion pieces into a beam of bright light. Then I started to take my form again. But I wasn’t on the sticky web or the cold ground, I was nowhere. My eyes were sealed. I couldn’t open them, but I was still awake. I could feel sunbeams shine on my face. I wasn’t sure if it was the light from the sun……But it was warm. Nothing was underneath me, was I falling? A small breeze filled the air, and it rustled in my brown curly hair. I was hot, like I was burning in a fire now. I couldn’t move it was like only a part of me was alive. Stress was released from my eyes. I sheepishly opened them, to see stars. Was it night? It couldn’t, it shouldn’t be night. I opened my eyes all the way and saw the night sky above me. It had to be night, but how? Maybe I passed out for a while. Where was Tony though? I still couldn’t move, but I was gaining a stronger sense of feel. I could feel a cushion under me. It was soft and relaxing, and it was warm. I was still hot, and it was getting more and more intense. My lips were sealed, I couldn’t say a word. My ankle started to sting. I remember the wound the creature gave me. It was burning like fire. I slowly started to gain mobility. I pushed myself up with my hands, and looked around. Was I sitting on clouds? That’s what they looked like. Maybe it was a mist. My mouth started to lose the stress that was keeping it closed.
    “Were am I?” I said.
    “You’re dreaming,” a sudden voice came from behind me. I jumped a little. I wasn’t expecting an answer, but I luckily knew it wasn’t a threatening voice. It was calm and cheerful. It was almost soothing.
    “I’m dreaming? Who are you?” I said, turning my head toward looking behind me. I saw a young girl with a halo. She was very pretty, and wore a long white dress and a red sash that went across her waist. She had beautiful, curly blonde hair, and looked like she was as old as me. She had a charming smile that made me smile too. She had perfect features.
    “I’m an Angel, but you can call me Yasmine.” She said, and her beautiful brown eyes caught one of the stars rays, and it made them sparkle into a crystal green. I sat there in awe.
    “Du-gee-hot-see,” was all I could manage out, complete gibberish.
    She giggled and said, “Well, until you find actual words, I’ll tell you why and how you’re here.”
    I just shook my head. I could feel my head grow hot, I was blushing.
    “Hmm, well you’re here because you exploded into light, which is a safety mechanism that you have.” She but her perfect hand on my chest, and that’s all I remembered before I fell over and fainted.