The Guardians of Destiny: Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - The Truth

In the darkness of the streets, a young man walked silently towards the center of the forsaken city. He was wearing a dark red cloak that covered all of his body except for his head. He was tall and he had dark brown hair and tanned skin except for the skin on the left side of his face from his left eye back - that skin was pale white. He was hardly visible in the nearly complete blackness. He seemed impervious to any fear of darkness as his eyes were constantly locked on the city's central square. His step was unfaltering as he approached his destination.
A man in a black cloak was waiting by the fountain in the center of the city. He stood there, unmoving, waiting as the young man in the red cloak approached. "Jonathan! It's been a long time." A deep and gravely voice spoke out from under the black hood of the cloak.
Jonathan walked straight up to the man and grabbed him by the neck. "Cut the small talk. Tell me what I came here to hear."
"Uggh...about - about the Guardian?"
"Yes, fool!"
"Never! Hahahaha...."The man in the black cloak reached out his right hand and Jonathan went flying back in a blast of purple shadow. "Fight me now... Solario!"
Jonathan stood up and his left eye was shining white. "Yes. That is my new name. It was given to me by the Master. I hope that for your sake that same Master shows you mercy when I send you to him." Solario raised his left arm and his red sleeve fell, revealing a large, complex symbol that glowed white in the darkness. The ground under him cracked.
"I'm afraid that you're the one who will die this night!" The black-cloaked man jumped into the air with a sword that seemingly appeared from nowhere. Solario pointed his arm at the man and a spike of earth impaled him in midair.
"Say 'hi' to my Master for me."
"Ooohhh........" The cloaked man fell limp.
"I'm going to eliminate this town and all of the filth in it. It is what the Master wants." Solario began to walk out of the city down the same road that he entered on. But this time buildings cracked and crumbled as he passed. The symbol on his arm glowed through his sleeve. The destruction spread like a virus throughout the city. In several minutes, the entire town was reduced to rubble. There was complete silence as Solario walked out of the destroyed city.

*

Gabriel opened the door and stepped out of the building. "Ahh!" He took a deep breath of the cool, crisp air. There was no telling how long he had been in that bed. Besides the pain in his chest, he felt great. He looked around at the grounds of what seemed to be an enormous manor.
"Wait a sec...," Gabriel suddenly realized that he must be at Shadow Academy. As he walked around the huge building, he saw the rest of the kids that had been on the ferry. He checked that his own uniform was intact, and then went to join the rest of the crowd. He quickly found Roy.
"Hey, Roy! What's up?"
"Gabriel? Hey! Are you okay?"
Gabriel quickly touched his chest then responded, "I'll be fine."
"Well you're just in time for some guy to read out the rules, you know, the usual."
"Yeah." Gabriel's thoughts suddenly changed to the white-haired boy on the ferry. "Roy, have you seen a kid with spiky white hair?"
"Uh, no. I think I would've remembered that." Roy laughed and then looked over at another group of girls.
Gabriel noticed Roy's sudden interest. "Okay, then hot shot, I'll leave you to your business."
"Uh-huh..." Roy wasn't even paying attention anymore.
"Okay then." Gabriel walked further into the crowd. He really wanted to find that white-haired boy because try as he might, Gabriel could not come up with any logical explanation for what had happened that morning.


Gabriel searched for the white-haired boy all the rest of the day, but he didn't find him until he was about to go into his dorm room later that evening. He had taken one last look down the hall when he saw him standing on a balcony right outside the hall window. Gabriel walked down the hall and out onto the balcony. The white-haired boy turned for a moment then looked back out at the sunset. "What do you see when you look at the setting sun?"
Gabriel stepped closer. "I don't know. Orange?"
The white-haired boy laughed. "True, true." He turned around and extended his hand. "I'm Steven Shadow."
"Gabriel Simon," Gabriel reached out and shook Steven's hand.
"Gabriel. Your skill with the sword impressed me earlier. We must duel sometime."
After what Gabriel had seen, the last thing he wanted was to be on the other side of this guy's sword.
"I'm sure-" Steven paused as he looked back up at the sky, "I'm sure you want an explanation for what happened earlier."
Whoa! Gabriel thought, This guy must be able to read my mind!
"However, now really isn't the time or place." Steven started to leave. "But trust me, soon you will know the truth." Steven walked off into the boys' dorm hall.
Well, that didn't help much, Gabriel thought as he watched the sun finally vanish over the horizon. What a day.

To be continued...