By: Eric Xu

Prologue

Tarak stood his ground, trying to keep the monsters outside of his barrier from breaking in.

“It’s no use. We have to do something else.” Asher said as he maintained the fire lining on the forcefield. “They are going to break in. We have to do something to trap them all.” He looked around at the grim faces around him.

“We have to do what we always feared we had to do,” Icicle said, looking down at her hands. “There is no reason to hold back.” She looked out of the barrier at the hordes and hordes of demons and monsters, all throwing themselves at the fire, trying to penetrate it.

“Then let’s do it. Tarak… I trust you to finish this.” Quake said as he conjured a dark, brown stone from the ground.

“Wait, why me! You all… you all are much more powerful. What if I fail?” Tarak said, looking around. Everyone had just a little bit of determination in their faces as they all conjured their stones. Each one, emblazoned in their own element, floated toward him.

“We trust you. Don’t screw up.” Icicle said, with a slight smile on her face. They all started to fade, and Tarak knew it was time.

“Let all the stones, each one empowered by the world and each of its multiple parts, be spread and let our ancestors, and our ancestors’ ancestors, and forever onward be used by only them, and protect this world from the evils of this world. That is how it was, and how it will always be.” As the stones started to teleport away to distant parts of the world, each let out a shockwave, strong enough to destroy every monster. Tarak fell to his knees, crying. He looked around at the places where his friends were, just a few moments ago.

Chapter 1

“It is beautiful!” I gasp as I step out of the cabin. The night sky was filled with stars as bright as the sun, but different. It was colder, yet more comforting than the harsh rays of the sun.

“I knew you would say that,” Tarak said, smiling. “Cause that’s what I thought when I first saw these stars. This was the first thing that I saw when I opened my eyes.”

“It was?” I asked, looking over my shoulder at him. His gaze was still fixed on the stars.”

“That brings me to my main point.” He took a step next to me. “There was a gift, passed down from generation to generation. There were ten stones, each containing magic in them. Only those who were guardians could use the stone that was assigned to them.” Tarak said, still gazing up at the stars. “You are one of those guardians. You can access the stone of the stars. Sadly, those stones are lost. Without them, monsters will arise. They will plague the world and kill everything in their path. First, with the guardians and their relatives. Then, the rest of humanity.” He looked at me, and his eyes were pure white instead of the cool blue that were always in them. Instinctively, I took a step back, but I felt a sharp prick cut my back.

“And you, without that stone, are powerless.” Tarak’s skin fell away, revealing a huge devil. He loomed over me, smiling with the same serenity as before. He leapt at me, swiping at my neck. I ducked, letting Tarak sail over me. A huge crash sounded as I started to run. I risked a glance back, seeing Tarak and another devil right on my heels. They were approaching fast, and their claws glittered in the moonlight. As I turned around, I crashed into a huge body. I fell backwards, looking up at a figure above me. For a second, the darkness of the figure blocked my view, and I thought I was done for. But as the figure stood there, my curiosity outweighed my fear.

“Well, what trouble did you get into?” He stepped back, revealing a human, not a monster. “Okay, I know what trouble you got into. I was just wondering how?” He looked up, just in time to see Tarak leaping toward him. The boy, around the same age as me (16), kicked Tarak back. Fire radiated from the boy as he grabbed a sword from the air. He stepped forward and sliced through Tarak, leaving only a trail of dust.

“How did you do that?!” I asked, as my mind slowly started to comprehend what had just happened to me.

“What’s your name?” He asked. I was about to tell him that he did not answer my question, except I probably shouldn’t do that to someone who had just saved my life.

“I’m Kieran. How about you!” I say, trying to muster up as much politeness as I can because I do not want to turn out like Tarak.

“You need an explanation.” He says, completely ignoring my question for the second time. I was about to angrily retort and probably secure the chances of my demise when he grabbed my arm. The world around us started to swirl and I let out an ear splitting scream. As the world went back into focus, I looked around to find myself in a laboratory. In front of me sat a man, whose back faced me. He was sitting down in a chair, looking at a huge screen split into multiple cameras.

“Sir, Kieran is here.” He slowly swiveled around to reveal the face of my best friend, Tarak.