Shade and Dusk: Guardians of Analysia

(8) Way More Than a Foot-Long

Shade and her mother were sitting in the kitchen table, Mom’s fingers laced.

     “Mom, I know this looks bad―”

     “I know what you’ve been doing,” said Mom. Shade blinked, “You do?” Mom nodded, “When you were born, I had a vision. I saw you as the beautiful self you are now, but surrounded in the stars during the night sky.”

     “So you knew I was chosen to be the Star Guardian?” asked Shade.

     “Well, your new sword is a dead giveaway.” Her mother nodded at her sword Nox, “I knew this is Leona’s doing, but you are sixteen now. I guess she figured you were ready.”

     Shade blinked, “You know Leona?”

     “I . . . know her,” said Mom. Shade raised an eyebrow. Was that jealousy? She decided to ask a safer question, “So if you knew I was the Star Guardian before, why didn’t you ever tell me?”

     “I did it for selfish reasons,” she admitted, “I thought I was protecting you by keeping it a secret. Your father also knew.”

     Shade was silent. She glanced at her necklace.

     Her mother sighed, “It’s getting late. I am sure Leona assigned training for you guys tomorrow, am I correct?”

     Shade nodded.

     “Alright,” she said, “Why don’t you sleep for now? We’ll talk more in the morning when you wake up.”

     “Okay,” replied Shade. Though she was too anxious to sleep, but she went to bed anyway. Before she did she looked around as she changed.

     Her room wasn’t much. The floor was made out of wood, with a light gray painted on the walls. A dress lay on the left wall, and on the right was her bed with a dark blanket on it. Her two pillows lay against the wall. Next to her bed was her night stand with a lit candle, her source for light. Next to her dresser her desk and chair was put, and her closet was located behind her.

     Now in her pajamas, she sheathed Nox and hung it on her wall, near her bed. She took off her necklace and placed it on her nightstand, then blew her candle light as it turned her room dark. Then she yawned and closed her eyes, excited for tomorrow.

     Since it’s a Saturday, Shade didn’t have to go to school; which means she and her friends could sneak into the woods unnoticed, since the rest of the town was still asleep. She met up with her friends Ray and Celeste, who were waiting for her at the entrance to the Dark Woods.

     “Ready for training?” asked Celeste, excited as ever.

     “You bet!” said Shade, her sword at her side.

     “No,” Ray grumbled.

     “Come on,” said Celeste, “We won’t get another awesome opportunity like this. I mean, people don’t get trained by a mage every day. Besides, if you don’t want to do this, then why did you bring Solaris with you, hmm?”

     “She has a point,” Shade agreed.

     “I only brought it because I felt like it, okay?”

     “Uh-huh,” said Shade, not convinced, “Come on, let’s kick some butt in this training session.”

     They entered in the Dark Woods. Shade was afraid that they’d get lost, but somehow she knew were to go. It was as if a certain scaly friend is leading a shadowy trail for her to follow.