The Ten Guardians: Sacrifice©

Chapter Twelve: The First Awakening

Sparrow bolted awake to the sound of Jareth screaming through clenched teeth next to him! Sparrow sprang out of bed and looked wildly about the lean-to for the source of his distress when Jareth suddenly relaxed and yawned through stifled laughter.

“I’m sorry to startle you. I just had a little stretch,” Jareth said as he stood up while chuckling to himself.

Although slightly annoyed at the method of his rousing, Sparrow laughed softly as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Apparently, all the man needed was a full night’s rest to cheer him up.

“How about we each tend to our own business and then collect the ward stones to deactivate them? I’ll go over here. You go over there, and we’ll meet in the middle with the stones we picked up,” Jareth said while indicating areas with his hands.

Nodding in agreement, Sparrow got dressed and walked opposite Jareth towards a ward stone. Sparrow relieved himself before picking up the nearest rune stone and started walking in an arch around the camp to his left. Jareth was walking in the opposite direction with the first ward stone on that side in his hand.

The stones still held their reddish hue, making them easily distinguish from the rocks around them. Eventually, Sparrow had four or five stones in his hands and turned to see if he was done with his half of the circle when he noticed that Jareth was staring intently at the ground in front of him, almost in the same spot where he had started.

It was very faint, but Sparrow could feel a small amount of magic emanating from the man. Sparrow consciously slipped into dai schen and could see a faint line of magic coming from Jareth’s outstretched hand and down onto the ground.

Sparrow continued walking in a circle, collecting ward stones until he was standing next to Jareth. One of the ward stones was on the ground in front of the man, but there was something odd about it. Right in the center of the ward stone was a flower, and in a small circle around the stem was a hole in the stone. Not just a hole, though. It appeared as if something had exploded inside the rock, leaving just enough room for this flower to snake through the stone. The stone was also glowing red, and the flower petals were the same shade. They even appeared to glow faintly with the stone.

Jareth’s magical thread was connected to a clear white ball around the stone, with dozens of tendrils within the ball touching the stone and flower. Sparrow had never seen anything like it, but it felt like Jareth was probing for something. As Sparrow stood there watching Jareth work, trying to learn what the man was doing, he felt a breeze gently rush by him, and the memory of his dreams flooded into his mind unbidden.

He practically relieved the dream in seconds, yet the one part that was impressed on his mind was something that the strange voice had said to him. “I have a gift for you…”

Sparrow’s eyes were drawn in front of him, and about twenty paces away from him was another faintly glowing red-hued flower, and another twenty paces from that was another. He began walking towards the first flower when Jareth caught his arm and pulled him gently to a stop.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

Sparrow pointed to the flower in the distance.

“There’s another glowing flower over there,” then after a moment’s hesitation he haltingly added “I had a strange dream last night … I do not understand it exactly, but … I think this is a path I am supposed to follow.”

Jareth stood there looking at him with a deep yet unreadable expression, staring intently as if to bore a hole within him. After several seconds, Jareth released his arm.

“Alright, this is incredibly bizarre, and I will be the first to admit that my curiosity is piqued. However, there’s no telling how far this path stretches so we may need our mounts. Let’s eat breakfast and strike the camp first, and then we can follow the … path,”

He said the last part with some emphasis, though his voice had no malice or sarcasm. He sounded puzzled above all else. Sparrow realized he probably wanted to ask about the dream as well.

Jareth took the enchanted stones Sparrow had collected and added them to the ones he had collected already. They returned to the enchanted campfire, which Jareth had started burning again. Jareth placed the stones on the ground a few feet from the fire, then began rummaging through the saddlebags under the lean-to. After a moment, he came out with two small food packages wrapped in thick-coated leaves and a small collapsible grill. The grill was just a piece of mesh wire with four legs on hinges that you stuck in the ground over a fire, but it worked well for traveling. Jareth set up the grill over the fire and placed the wrapped food on top before returning to the pile of stones on the ground.

He knelt a few feet from the fire and motioned for Sparrow to do the same while facing him. He put the stones in a pile between them, then picked one up and held it in front of him. He gave no instructions before he started, but he made sure Sparrow could see everything that he did and worked slowly.

Jareth traced the runes in reverse with his finger as if drawing on the stones with a brush. He did not draw the mirror of the rune as when they were trying to open the strange door in the dungeon. He just started at the last curve of the rune and traced it in reverse. Nothing happened until he had completed tracing the rune and lifted his finger, and then the rune was gone. There was no noise or light or flickering. It was just suddenly no longer there.

Jareth handed a second enchanted stone to Sparrow to work on and picked up one for himself, this time working much faster than before. Sparrow embraced the magic and mimicked what he had seen. He was slow but steady with his tracing, and before long, he had reached the beginning of the rune. He lifted his finger and felt the stone become cold as the rune disappeared. The sudden coldness startled him, and he dropped the now normal stone on the ground.

Jareth glanced up and, seeing what happened, let out a small laugh.

“I’m sorry I should have warned you. The cold is normal. I guess I’m a little distracted at the moment.”

Sparrow noticed a quickness to Jareth’s work, as if he was excited about something and was rushing to complete an unwelcome chore so he could do something more interesting. The source of his excitement was obvious, of course. Sparrow picked up another rune stone as he glanced over his shoulder towards the flower at the edge of the camp, but he couldn’t see it right away. He stood on his feet to get a better look but still couldn’t see the flower anywhere.

By this time, Jareth had removed the grill and leaf-wrapped food to cool and was taking down the lean-to. Sparrow ignored him and walked towards where the flower had been, scanning the ground with his eyes the entire way. He eventually reached the broken ward stone with the hole in the center, just in time to see the flower’s stem turn to ash.

Sparrow looked up towards the next flower and noticed small amounts of ash beginning to fall off of its petals, and this flower had no broken stone beneath it to mark its location. Quickly Sparrow realized the path was fading, and his gift, whatever it may be, would be lost with it. He thought about casting his time spell, but somehow he knew it wouldn’t work. Nothing magical or otherwise, not even time itself, could stop the disintegration of these magical plants.

There was no more time to think. Sparrow started to run towards the first flower he could see. As he reached the flower, he noticed the petals were half gone, and the falling dust was beginning to thicken. He kept running while scanning the ground ahead for the next flower. He spotted it about twenty paces away, slightly to his left, and adjusted course accordingly.

He noticed immediately that this flower had just begun to turn into dust, even though the flower behind him was only half gone. He quickened his pace, racing past the flower while looking for the next, fearing it was also disintegrating. He spotted it again slightly to his left, but the decay had already begun on this flower.

Sparrow continued running along the path, passing flowers all beginning to disintegrate, when he realized he was in a bind. The flowers began their decay the moment he saw them, or perhaps it was when he approached them, but since the flowers in eyesight were always decaying, he couldn’t risk stopping, or he may not be able to find the next one.

He was beginning to tire, but he had noticed that the flowers took time to decay, possibly long enough for him to slow down. Maybe he could jog along the path and still reach the next flower before it decayed. With this in mind, he slowed his pace while staring hard at the flowers to see if there was a change. The flower closest to him rapidly decayed into nothing when he slowed down. With a start, he looked up to see the next flower was already halfway gone, so Sparrow jumped into a dead run, desperate to find the next flower before it was gone. The moment he began to run again, the flowers’ decay slowed, but just barely. He was now seeing each subsequent flower half decayed when he found it, and over time, less and less of the stem remained.

Sparrow urged himself to run faster, see further, and find the next flower before it was gone. His chest heaved as he gasped for breath but ignored it and ran faster. He desperately needed answers, and this path may reveal something to help him. As he ran, Sparrow noticed the flowers were closer together, or he was reaching them faster somehow. He also could hear something running after him, but it was taking all his concentration to find the next flower on the path before it disappeared in a puff of dust. The flowers were almost completely disintegrated when he reached them, so he picked up speed and heard the unknown follower fall quickly behind him.

He continued to run like this while dodging trees, trees that were significantly larger than they should be, and the blurred images of animals racing to get out of his path. Amid his concentration, he heard a voice calling to him.

“Stop, Sparrow …” the voice yelled before continuing, “… you have to stop now!”

Sparrow spared the smallest glimpse over his right shoulder towards the source of the voice before quickly finding the next flower in front of him. He saw an image of Jareth floating beside him, blurred and disfigured like he was a warped mirror instead of himself.

“Sparrow! You have to stop trying to find the gift which has already been given to you,” Jareth said, only this time softer and muffled, as if he was fading away.

Sparrow trusted Jareth, a trust he was not about to turn his back on now, so he slowed to a walk while glaring at the disintegrating flower. Then he stopped completely with a low growl of frustration. The growl took him off guard, but before he had time to think about it, he realized the flower was no longer disintegrating. Then the flower appeared to be reforming itself, quickly growing back to its glowing red self as if nothing had happened. Sparrow looked ahead to find the next flower in line, but all he could see was dust fading with the breeze. The one in front of him appeared to be the last remaining flower, or perhaps there was only one flower in the first place. He was no longer sure.

Sparrow looked around for Jareth but could no longer see his shimmering image or hear anything from him. Sparrow tried calling out to him, but there was only silence in reply. As Sparrow looked around, he realized that everything around him had changed. No longer were there small pine trees with sparse shrubs and needles littering the ground. Instead, there was a lush green-leaf forest. The trunks of the trees were large enough that he could not wrap his arms around them. The trees were not close enough to block out the sun, so the ground was covered with a thick carpet of grass coming up to his knees, and there was the occasional wildflower dotting the ground.

“What in the …” Sparrow muttered, taking in the landscape around him.

He turned back to the flower on the ground and stared at it thoughtfully, trying to decide what to do next. He stretched his hand towards the flower, unsure if he would touch it or pluck it, but he never had the chance to do either. Sparrow sprang back as a beam of light came out of the flower into the air in front of him, then, there was a window where he could see into the endless darkness. He could not see the grass or trees behind it, but it felt flat, as if he could walk around it and find it as thin as a window pane.

Images began to appear on the screen. People, animals, and unknown creatures, all completely lifelike, as if he was observing real events from the third person. As the images came and went, a voice entered the back of his mind, the same voice from his dream, narrating the images on the screen like a recording.

Sparrow drank it all in, wanting to know as much as possible. He watched as he was shown a brief history of the creation and existence of the guardians of this world and how they had become dragons. He saw them lose their memories and begin to fight among themselves. He saw the death of the guardians of Life and Death. He saw their release from their dragon forms, being restored to their true selves. He saw Life, his mate, sacrifice herself to stop him, the Guardian of Time, from possibly destroying the world in his attempt to alter history. He felt he was reliving his memories rather than seeing an ancient history far removed from himself.

It was over as quickly as it had come, and Sparrow was left blinking rapidly as the images disappeared from before him, trying to help his eyes adjust to the sudden change in light. Then he realized it was not the light causing him to blink rapidly but tears. Emotion overcame him as he remembered. He remembered the helplessness, fury, anger, and desire for revenge. Over everything else, he remembered the searing pain that wracked his soul when he watched his mate die. The sorrow was fresh and raw as if he had relived the moment. Sparrow fell to his knees and wept until the tears would no longer come.

Eventually, he felt a presence brush against his mind, and he looked up to see the last remaining wisp of magic disappear into the petals of the glowing flower. As he stared at the plant, the flower portion suddenly fell off the stem in one piece, and the stem turned into dust and blew away. The presence he felt faded with the dust.

Wiping his eyes, Sparrow went to pick up the flower but realized he was already holding something in his hand. He stood up and stared at the object in his hand, realizing he still held the ward-stone he had picked up from the campsite. He quickly shoved it into his pocket and bent to pick up the flower. The petals were hard to the touch, and the entire flower felt as if it was made of glass. He felt power coming from it but was unsure of what kind or its use.

As he stood staring at the flower, he understood that the gift promised him in his dream was two-fold. Not only did he receive knowledge of who he is, or used to be, and his responsibilities in his past existence, but pushing himself to chase after the disintegrating flowers had unlocked part of him. He felt stronger, more confident, and more comfortable with his identity. It was as if part of a lost mantel had been restored to him, if but a fragment of that mantel.

Sparrow pocketed the glass-like flower as he walked along the path the flowers had taken him in. He began to feel sluggish as he walked, and putting one foot in front of the other quickly became a chore. He had no idea why he was so tired but was determined to continue walking as long and as far as he could. After a few minutes, Sparrow realized the trees were ending at the edge of a massive meadow, with mountains in the distance. He was too tired to walk into that open meadow, so he leaned against the closest tree to catch his breath as he thought about what to do next.

As Sparrow was leaning against the tree, he noticed the trunk was sticky. He took a closer look and found a massive cut on the side of the tree, now filled with hard, sticky sap from when the tree had tried to heal itself. Several feet to his left on the very edge of the forest, there appeared to be broken tree branches and grass stems on the ground, all about the size of a very familiar large portal.

Realizing where he was, fear gripped his heart as he darted from the side of the tree, wildly looking around for the Jackal. He spun in a circle, trying to look at every angle at once, constantly spinning and scanning, not caring to stop and think that the Jackal was most likely far from this place by now.

“How did I get here?” Sparrow said through gasping breaths. “Jareth said this was a month’s journey on horseback. Did I run here in minutes?” Sparrow demanded of the wind as his gasping worsened.

He was beginning to feel dizzy as he looked around widely. He had no idea where he was and where he was supposed to go and knew that help was far away. These thoughts worsened his breathing, and he suddenly felt this immense pressure on his chest. He fell to his knees and focused all his energy on his breathing, trying to control the involuntary gasps that cut off his airflow. He felt like it was a losing battle that would end along with his life. He felt this immense pressure begin to build in his sinuses like his head was going to explode. His eyes flew widely around for one last attempt at help, and to his surprise, he actually saw someone.

She’s pretty, he thought to himself. Not that I have any business judging the beauty of a human, but I like her ponytail. How on earth would you keep such long hair clean, I wonder?

When Sparrow realized he was debating the concept of human beauty and hair length in what felt like his last moments, he truly believed he was already dead. Everything was wrong now. The world had turned sideways, and all he could see was the woman’s bare feet below her long dress as she walked quickly toward him.

Why can’t I see her face?  He thought to himself before blackness overtook him.