The Secret of the Guardians: the lost sceptre

Prologue (13 years ago)

"Miriam, it's time, you have to go"

Miriam faced the face of her best friend, Dangelo, whose eyes , like hers, were bordered with silently shed tears. In the background, the deafening noise of the war unfolded, mixing with the internal terror that Miriam now experienced with the early loss of what would have been her eternal companion, the love of her life, her daughter's father.

Standing in front of her little girl, she looked at her: even amid all the noise and horror that was happening outside, Hadassa, her daughter, slept peacefully, as if no evil that the world was committing in those last months could harm her.

With that in mind, she turned to Dangelo and, with all the resignation she could muster, agreed to a nod:

"Let's do it."

"I'm going to open the portal now, you take Hadassa and together you will cross to Carmel, the safest place at the moment". Dangelo spoke as he stared frantically through the peephole of the Main Room of the Training Center. The only room that contained the portal that gave access to the third wind.

Miriam picked up her daughter, along with her backpack containing only what was needed, while Dangelo conjured the portal. This, already in the passage, looked back:

"Dangelo, wait! I want you to have this." She took it from her wrist where it was stuck by a titanium ribbon and handed over her opal. " You know, extra protection."

He looked at the small sapphire of strength and smiled back.

"See you in a few seconds, my friend."

And with and unsual burst of light, she disappeared into the portal.

She fell with all the pull she felt as she walked through the portal on the ground, taking the precaution not to hurt Hadassa. she felt a slight burning in her forearm and saw that it was all scratched and bleeding: "What just happened?"

Miriam looked around, from the trees aligned along the narrow streets to the suburban houses, but nothing there reminded her of Carmel. "Where did we go?"

They found themselves in the middle of a bumpy street, with average houses adorning both sides. As it was already at night, she could not distinguish anything else. She was about to start walking, despite the pain of the impact generated, when a flash of reddish light, as well as the sound of something falling next to the thick voices, caught her attention in the distance:

"Let's find her and kill her fast! She shouldn't have gone too far!"

Miriam felt every ounce of her body freeze, and soon understood the reason for the scratches; she had been pulled, deviating from its initial destiny. "But how, if Dangelo stayed to protect the portal?". It was then that an even more astonishing thought occurred to her: Dangelo was dead.

It was a lot to process in a few seconds. Before the record of events actually fell, she heard the noise of the heavy boots approaching with a speed beyond any capacity of a mortal human being. Before they got any closer, she understood what she had to do; her journey ended there, but Hadassa's would still continue and, if everything happened as quickly as she had thought, would grow away from all this.

Without a second thought, she touched the palm of her hand in the heart of her daughter, who was beating peacefully, closed her eyes and transferred all that remained to her. She quickly laid her little girl at the door of one of the houses, kissed her little forehead, looked at her little eyes closed, smiled and felt a tear slip from her lips:

"I love you very much. " And went out to face those who came towards her.

She looked at the two men standing there as if they were waiting for her. Both large, with equally black and red robes, and what looked like a kind of cape/overcoat that ended at the height of their calves, embraced their frightening figure.