Chapter 23: Erstwhile

"... Then she told me that she's not the only one from the academy who is Xana's goons," Cornelia recalled what Marabonta had said.

It was the very next day of school in the evening, the same time the Balistia came to attack. The police had come to a decision to release the guardians from their suspect list and move on to a hoax crime instead. At that time, Tiadora wanted everyone to get at least a full day rest from the experience before they were to discuss anything about it. Now, the guardians were all in Jason's room skipping dinner again, discussing on the events that took place the day before. David, for once, Tiadora noticed, had changed. Though he was lying down on Jason's comfortable bed, Tiadora realised that he wasn't as timid as the first time she saw him.

In fact, David has been acting as wild as Jason whenever Kiara, Cornelia and Jason weren't around. Now, he seem like he's fine with showing his true side. Tiadora didn't mind the change of personality but she sense something amiss in his actions lately. Although he was happy and cheery, Tiadora couldn't wear off the feeling that David's hurt inside. The door pushed open and Jason entered the room wearing a bathrobe, soaking wet from his bath. He ruffled his blond hair with a towel in his hand furiously, trying to get the wetness off as he stared at his guests in his room, "What? Haven't seen a guy bathe before?"

"Actually, I'm more than thankful that the academy provides us students with bathrobe cause," Kiara joked as she covered her eyes, continuing her speech, "Girls would be blind the minute you step out."

"But honestly, bro," Cornelia kicked him in the backside lightly, "You look nicer without your hair spiked up. Looks good when it's wet."

"I'll think about it," Jason imagined himself with his new hairstyle and smiled to himself as he sat down on his bed where David was enjoying the softness of the pillow. "No drool," Jason gave a warning to David as he took his bolster and hit David on his side.
Cornelia ignored her brother's actions and became serious about yesterday's situation again, "Tiadora, doesn't that mean Xana and his team are in the academy?"

"Actually, there are two possibilities," Tiadora rocked the chair that she was sitting on, "either that Marabonta was lying or the villains are using glamra."

"No offence, Tiadora," Kiara voiced out, "but when a foreign word comes in, please explain."

"Glamra is..." Tiadora struggled to say it in their language, "a potion that when worn, it gives away your identity."

"I don't get it," Jason admitted.

"Well, I'll give you an example. If I were to walk pass you," Tiadora stood up and walked from her position to the door, "You'd recognise me as Tiadora, right? However, if I was to use Glamra and I walk pass you again, you won't recognise as Tiadora. Your mind would tell you that you're looking at a total stranger and that I'm not Tiadora. So I may look exactly the same in both walks but all of you would only recognise me if I didn't use Glamra."

"So you're suggesting that if Marabonta was telling the truth," Cornelia confirmed, "that means that many of Xana's goons are here?"

"No, we don't know for sure if what Marabonta said was true," Tiadora came back to her seat, "but then again, it's good to be extra cautious. Glamra needs to be worn on the person if he or she would want it to work. So I suggest, we keep a look out for anything that could contain the potion."

"What colour is it?" David finally spoke.

"It's pink," Tiadora recalled, "bright pink. Though the potion has a time limit, and if I were to fill the potion in this," Tiadora pointed at Jason's Adidas bottle, "it'll last for a week, but that means that the bottle must be carried by the Glamra user at all times. Look out for things that are portable, something that people would wear on everyday and possible Glamra holders like necklace, braclet, bottle, pens, etc."

"Pens??"

"The ink inside," Tiadora demonstrated with an imaginary pen, "anyway the Glamra is very noticeable when seen because it's normally either glowing or have a really bright shade of pink."

David sat up, concern all over his face, "What about the Balistia? How would you explain that?"

"Since Marabonta was seen, there might bea chance that the Balistia was one of Xana's caught preys," Tiadora thought it over, "and sad to say, the Balistia is an easy monster to tackle and capture. That's why it simply just collapsed when Cornelia did a full strength whereas certain monsters are more than difficult to control."

"Then if you could have sealed the monster in a flash, then why choose me to do it in the first place?" David asked, "And what if the Balistia wakes up?"

"For the first question, it was a matter of test. I wanted to see if you were able to rise up to the next level and fortunately, you passed," Tiadora started to slouch for the first time in her seat, "and for the second question, since the Balistia is one of the 'dumb' creatures, the spell I cast made it sleep for about six months. So we don't have to worry about it now."

"Speaking about spells, " Cornelia wondered, "what was that mind-message that I got from Jason?"

Tiadora smiled, "It's your special skill. You are telepathic. You can speak to anyone through their minds and the person can also reply back to you telepathically. Though it only works with Cornelia. Example, Kiara and Jason can't talk telepathically unless Cornelia is in the telepathic conversation as well."

"Awesome! How will I master it?"

"Let's not concentrate on the special skills first," Tiadora walked over to Jason's desk and took out a piece of paper and pen, "Jason, may I borrow your stationeries?"

"Go ahead."

This time, Tiadora sat on his desk chair and wrote as she spoke, "Another main point of the discussion today is for you all to familiarise with your enemies before actually battling them."

"Say Xana's first," Kiara felt so eager to hear.

"Well, Xana is the first enemy I encountered when I just became a guardian. I and your ancestors did pains to find his source for power but Xana kept changing his tactics on very fight. And for all this while till now, I have not seen the face of the man behind that hood. Sir Lancelot and Xana were always game to challenge one another to an extent where both of them overdo it. He's known to be very strong among the other villains and many do respect him, in a negative way. He normally fights alone unlike some.

“On the other hand, Marabonta is a hypnosist. She can easily fool her prey by chanting. Normally fights alone, so it's a surprise to me why she'd want to team with Xana," Tiadora wrote down the points as the others attentively listened. She appreciated that. "So if Marabonta has said to warn Jason and not me," Tiadora turned to Jason, "Be careful. It may so happen that you might be her next target."

Jason gulped, probably scared of the thought being hypnotise. He stood up and walked into his wardrobe, a gift from his aunt. Although Jason's got lots of clothes, he always picks his favourite, army green jeans, a lighter green jacket with an even lighter shade of green for a singlet inside. His jacket sleeves is always folded almost to his shoulders and never fails to spike his hair but just for the night, he thought, let his hair be. When Jason stepped outside his walking wardrobe, he appreciated that Tiadora had waited for him to dress before continuing on the villain after Marabonta. Though he still had goose bumps about Marabonta, Jason knew that he had to be prepared for the attack.

Again, Jason sat down on his bed wit h David beside him, leaning against the wall. Jason noticed a smile appeared on David's face, a thing you won't see everyday, but somehow he felt that th e smile was forced. "You okay, man?" Jason placed a friendly hand on David's right shoulder. David nodded, "Yup. Why you ask?"

"Nothing," Jason ended their conversation and urged Tiadora back to explanation.

"Alright. Cyrus and Azric are both pureblood vampires," Tiadora started to cross her legs, beginning to get used to Kiara's jeans, "Now, these two normally they go in packs. And these packs are human vampires. Human vampires were previously humans w ho were bitten by purebloods. Other than normal magic, they have their usual vampire abilities such as flight, telekenesis, sixth sense..."

"Sixth sense? Hey someone here has sixth sense too," Jason nudged David in the elbow.

"David has sixth sense?" Tiadora felt confused.

"Since birth," Kiara, who sat on the floor commented, "David has always been able to sense these things and my family doctor says that its sixth sense. He has it in his medical status."

"Amazing! Unrelatedly, your special skill is not as similar as your sixth sense," Tiadora finalised, "You can be intangible and you, Jason, have the power to teleport from place to place. However, I'd rather you all concentrate on your elements than special skills."

"Fine with me," David said dully as the door became ajar and Mokona walked in. It looked small, white and puffy as it jumped onto David's lap and poked his stomach with its head. David lifted him up and Mokona tapped his nose, asking, "More heart biscuits! More heart biscuits!"

"I just bought it last Friday," David shocked, "You ate a hundred biscuits in five days?"

Mokona happily nodded in response and began jumping on David's lap. David just sighed not knowing what to do with his greedy sacred animal. It was bad enough when it began to snore resulting in sleepless nights and now it's fishing out money from him because of its appetite. It was a sacred animal after all and didn't want to risk being hated or less. Though David was always curious why Mokona disliked being hold or carried by Jason. After moments, David heard Tiadora giggled, "You know, David, you're supposed to be the boss of Mokona and not the other way round. It'll follow every of your order, even to stop eating."

David sighed and laughed, "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

But all laughs died out when the door opened with force once more. Jim, the fattest gym teacher in Kadic Academy, tapped his foot and eyed everyone in the room. For a moment, Jim smelled like sweat socks from the boys’ locker room, but when Jim saw Kiara pinched her nose, he fished out his perfume and sprayed everywhere on himself. Satisfied with his smell, Jim got back to his main objective of his visit and growled, "Aren't you all supposed to be at the cafeteria? Jason, Cornelia, today's carbo-load day. It's good for your stamina, athletes!"

"Actually, Jim," Cornelia slouched in her chair, "We're all on a diet for today."

"Cornelia, volleyball regional is tomorrow and you need your strength," Jim came in and patted her on the shoulder till something caught his eye, "What is this?" Jim took her right arm and examines her silver that was from her wrist till elbow. The white element wasn't glowing as last time which was all Cornelia needed as he let go of her arm and took a look at all of the guardians silver bands. "Jason," Jim saw one on Jason's wrist, "What's that?"

"Friendship band," David answered instead. Jim wasn't used talking to David especially in front of other students but Jim knew that Jason and David were friends which he thought was awkward. "Jason," Jim repeated his name again, "How many types of friendship band do you want to make?"

"This is the special kind," Jason smiled ironically, "Only my best friends get it."

"Well," Jim stepped back about to go out, "Just make sure you don't wear it to the regional tomorrow, Cornelia."

"Bye, Jim," everyone said in monotone as Jim shut the door behind him. Mokona who had been hiding under Jason's blanket popped up. Everyone didn't say anything for a while and stared at the floor. Tiadora stared at her paper and realised it was of no use. The paper disappeared in seconds and Mokona decided to try out something that it couldn't last time.

Mokona burped out loud.

♥

About several blocks away from the academy two days after the attack of the sixteenth century monster, the day of the volleyball regional, Jason arm was slung across Tiadora's shoulders walking on the same street. Tiadora had wanted to work for some cash as she felt bad letting Jason pay her school fees and borrowing Kiara's clothes all the time. Jason had tried to tell her yesterday night that it was not a big deal to him as he had a lot to spend anyway but Tiadora was persistent in her persuasion. Initially, when she asked for her search to be done on Wednesday, Jason had soccer, Kiara and David pushed their modeling to Wednesday because of Kiara's cheerleading and Cornelia was going for regional. However, Jason volunteered to skip his practice to help her out.

"You still haven't told me where we're going. We've passed so many shops," Tiadora grabbed onto the hand that was dangling over her shoulders. Jason had mentioned earlier that he was familiar with a shopkeeper who needed an assistant. They've been walking for thirty minutes and there've been getting nowhere.

"Aren't you supposed to be speaking in Shakespeare language?" Jason asked, totally changing the topic, "Like how Xana spoke his first sentence that night."

"What's Shakespeare?"

"A legendary storywriter who wrote the love story Romeo and Juliet."

"Is it a nice story?"

"It's more of a love and tragedy story. It's touching," Jason explained, "Now back to my question."

"In my kingdom, that language is called Veronian," Tiadora remembered, "After being exposed to many of the 21st Century people speaking in English, I catch up."

"Easily?"

"Yup. Your teenage slang included," Tiadora boasted, "Now back to my question."

"Okay okay," Jason chuckled at his plan, "I thought maybe we took the long way instead. Get to know you and Anastasia better."

"So what's the first question?"

"What are the differences with now and then?"

"There are more and taller buildings but no animals and not much greenery here," Tiadora spoke while she analysed the building surrounding her, “Plus, it’s more magical. You could always see at least three different species flying in the skies before sunrise. Flowers are always dancing in the meadows during afternoons and the winds are always breath-taking in the evenings. Love will always bloom in the night though. And it’s peaceful, unless you include the fact that the villains attack my kingdom once in a while.”

“How did you know,” Jason slide his arm away from her and dug it in his pockets, “that you are the guardian of Energy?”

“On my tenth birthday, my parents, the King and Queen, had a huge ball dedicated to me,” Tiadora started her story again, “Many who came gave plenty of presents to me. I didn’t have any friends at that time because I’ve never been out of the castle grounds before. The only people I could associate with were the servants and peasants like Figis. At that time, I was happy, dancing around with numerous strangers. Some were the nobles’ sons who were either younger or older. My parents were dancing too. Everything was so perfect until a strange music tune played.”

Tiadora fell silent, not wishing to continue but she felt like as if she needed to tell Jason what happen. She stared at Jason’s attentive face, waiting. They made another turn on their left towards a deserted side of the building as Tiadora continued, “When it was played, everyone stopped dancing, including me. There was an obvious bad feeling in the tone. Sort of like an uncomfortable vibe wrapping everyone in the ballroom. They played for about two minutes, and then the music stopped completely. My father kept shouting at the musicians about the music but none looked up from the ground to answer. Instead, all of them turned into dust and scattered onto the ground. That’s when the clock strike midnight.

“The gentleman, who I was dancing with, started to vanish slowly before my eyes and so did the rest of the guests. It was horrifying to watch. The people who were disappearing didn’t panic or struggle, but just smiled and were soon gone. In the end, there were only seven of us left, the King and Queen, me and four boys. Suddenly, I spotted a red light forming across the ceiling, and before I could say anything, my mother screamed in agony. The mysterious red light had turned into an arrow and had pierced into my mother’s heart. My father was cradling her in his arms as I ran towards them. The other boys were just as stunned as I was and came to his majesty’s aid.

“The Queen, my mother, didn’t bleed nor had any wounds from the shot. Her eyes were shut and face was lifeless, like the arrow tore her life away so quickly that it wasn’t merciful enough to give me seconds with my mother before she was gone forever. All I could do was wail at that time. I heard my father yelling orders at the guards outside the room for help, but no one came through the doors. Suddenly, my mother’s body glowed white. It was impossible to see but it looked like as if it was a light which rolled into a sphere and floated there. The light then fell to the ground and formed a chest. Unnoticeably, I found my father collapsed at the far side of the ballroom.

“I wanted to run to him like I had run to my mother, to see if he was alright. However, the chest was so mesmerizing, that I couldn’t take my eyes off it. The other four boys came behind me and together, we walked towards the chest with curiosity. Slowly, I lifted up the cover and till this day onwards, I have regretted doing such. Because immediately after I opened the chest, black snake-shaped smoke rushed out of the chest, scratching against my skin and tearing the lovely piece of fabric. It was a rather long time before all of those smokes were released into the world. I instantly closed the lit, but there was a little voice booming in my ears.

“Initially, I had thought it was the boys’ doing but all four of them had scalds and blood dripping from their faces. The voice kept shouting ‘Let me go! To defeat, release all of me.’ That’s when I realized that it was coming from the chest. I wasn’t committed to opening it again as I was afraid the darkness will hurt me again but somehow the feeling of goodness was strong and my will was telling me to do what the voice had told me. So I lifted up the chest once more and this time only light shone from the inside of the chest. It healed me within a second and I felt a weight on my wrist.

“It was this silver band,” Tiadora lifted up her right arm to her face to see, “This silver band was somehow growing onto me like fungi. Around me were all white like as if the light had enveloped the entire universe. And when the light faded, all that was left were an empty box and five of us with these silver bands. All four boys had the very same band when I turned to look at them, except every one of us shared a different coloured element. Then, all turned back to normal. The dancers were back dancing and the musicians were playing the tune that was before the eerie tune, but my father was still lying there at the side and the other four boys were still behind me. With everyone enjoying themselves despite us, I couldn't help but scream. The guards came in immediately, the musicians stopped their music piece and the dancers were rooted to the ground," Tiadora began to weep.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as Jason tried to comfort her. She fell to the ground and continued to cry, letting her release. Jason crouched down to her level to see Tiadora covering her eyes with her palms. He pulled her brown hair back behind her ears and cradled her face in his hands, telling her, "Tiadora. Tiadora! Look at me. It's not your fault. Your mother's death is NOT your fault. She's not gone. We just met her that day."

"That was not my biological mother," Tiadora wiped her tears and stood up, "My father remarried a month after the incident, and I was too young to say anything about their marriage. Then..."

"Jason?" a lady who was standing in front of them asked, "Welcome. Welcome. Is this the assistant you brought me?"

Jason suddenly realised that they have already reached the shop. 'Heta' was written in gold ink at the signboard at the top. He then knew that the rest of her story is still left untold, and before he could move on with the present as a guardian, Jason has to learn his own past, whether it’s his ancestor's or his very own. Because deep down Jason knew that there can't be two guardians with the same ancestor.