Back Home (Edited) Book 4 of the Guardians Saga

CH 15.3 Good Looking Males...Not Worth The Trouble

The warm sun beat down on Alex's and Cale's backs as they sat outside the canvas tent, surrounded by a clutter of tools and materials for crafting arrows. Cale's calloused fingers deftly carved the ends of the wooden shafts while Alex struggled to scrape hers, with Cale patiently guiding her. She held up a shaft for him to inspect, which he did, but then looked past it.

"Did you see that?" he asked, pointing towards a spot in the distance.

Alex squinted and followed his gaze, but she couldn't make out anything out of the ordinary. "No, what is it?"

Cale's face turned serious. "I think it was a black portal. We should check it out, just to be safe."

Alex stood and brushed off her pants. "You are the farthest-sighted of us. Let's go. Walk or fly?"

"We can walk. I'll see more as we close in and we can still turn around if I'm wrong."

As they drew closer to where Cale had indicated, they saw two figures apparently talking.

Cale's face twisted into a worried expression, and Alex couldn't help but ask what was wrong. "What's going on?" she whispered.

Cale placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and replied, "It's Rile and Tida."

Alex let out a frustrated sigh. "Of course it is. Do I have to confront them or should I just avoid the whole situation?"

"Stay away from them," Cale advised, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "You don't deserve to be hurt by Tida's antics. Rile will handle it and tell her to stop bothering him."

"Good, I'll feel less like a coward if you tell me that. Wait, what was that?" Alex's eyesight sharpened where Rile was concerned. "That looked like a flash of black and red light." Alex speed-burst with the tolerant Cale in tow.

A sense of dread crawled up Alex's spine as she watched Tida's hand, dripping with red and black sparks. Without hesitation, Alex's hand lit up with a bright white glow as she rushed to Rile's side.

"Hey there, love," Rile greeted her with a gentle smile.

"I'm telling you, Rile, you don't need that creature anymore. I have powers too." Tida's voice grated on Alex's ears as she held up her hand, bursting with dark flames.

"Where did you get those powers?" Alex tried to keep her voice steady, even though her heart was pounding in fear.

"From someone much greater than you," Tida boasted. "I can do everything you can and more for Rile. I can fulfill him in ways that a creature like you never could. Leave now and stop bringing destruction and death to my world."

In an instant, Alex's glowing hand stopped and dropped to her side. "Rile is free to choose."

"Let's go, Alex," Rile said firmly.

But Tida wasn't giving up that easily. "No! You must experience what I can offer! I promise it will be far better than anything that creature can give you!" She extended her darkly glowing hand towards Rile.

Rile took a step back, shaking his head. "Was I really so shallow that everyone thinks sex is all I care about?"

Alex shrugged. "Don't look at me, Rile. I don't know anything about your past or mine."

When Rile looked at Cale, his brother gazed up at the sky and clacked his claws. Rile threw him an annoyed look at his silence. Tida took advantage of his momentary distraction to grab Rile's arm. At his cry of surprise, Alex fired, Tida fired back, and the world exploded as the two blasts met. Alex recovered first, thanks to blind rage, and was on top of Tida, dagger at her throat.