The Guardian Spirit (The Guardians of Nine Heavens #2)

Chapter 2: Skull Territory

"The girl walked on, shivering from dread as the dry branches of trees pulled towards her like strangling hands, and just then, she heard a bloodthirsty howl of a demonic fiend!"

Damon raised his hands and bent fingers, imitating clawed paws of a beast. Timothy yelled and fell off the log he was sitting on. At this, everyone laughed hard:

"Aww, Timothy, you're such a scaredy-pants!" Lola cackled. 

"Yeah, what gives? He didn't even get to the most interesting part yet!" Rose giggled.

Timothy blushed with embarrassment and took back his seat. He sighed and looked down.

"Okay, now it's my turn!" Lola grinned.

"Huh? But I haven't finished my story yet!" Damon frowned.

"Come on! Timothy is already shivering to death. You did your part".

Damon proudly grinned, able to frighten his classmates with his story even though he hadn't yet finished it.

"Okay, go on".

Lola smiled and began:

"Once, there was a boy who lived in a giant palace together with his family... As you might guess, his family was quite wealthy. The boy was happy, and there was nothing that could upset him. However..."

The classmates were all ears, already thrilled.

"However?" Rose bent forward.

"However, once, all of his happiness came to an end... When he and his parents were in a bedroom together, the whole palace caught fire, as if it had exploded from the inside, and crimson flames covered the area..."

The children gasped.

"Lola, don't..." Rose grew worried, and they all obliquely glanced at Lucy, but Lola didn't give a pin for her word and continued with the same grim smile:

"The boy saw how his parents' bodies turned into ashes... and when he turned aside, he yelled in horror, for he saw a monstrous being with nine flame tails! But just as he caught a glimpse of it, its crimson claws pierced his throat and silenced him forever..."

Timothy had almost fainted from such a gruesome tale. The other children, however, were concerned about another thing - they worriedly looked at Lucy, and widened eyes, as they saw how she was trembling, her blunt gaze stuck on the bonfire.

"Um, Lucy?" Rose stretched her hand to touch her shoulder in a comforting way, but Lucy's eyes suddenly filled with tears, for she recalled an awful incident she tried so hard to forget, for all these years:

She lived in a beautiful wooden house in a village, together with her mother and father. She could still remember mother's calm, serene face and soft smile, and father's funny moustache and kind and loving eyes... But on that dreadful day, infernal flames took away both that soft smile and those kind eyes from her, for eternity...

She couldn't hear her classmates' worried cries anymore, for all she could see was that infernal fire that blazed in her mind. Tears gushed from her eyes. She stood up and ran off into the forest.

"Huh? Lucy! Wait!" the concerned children rushed after her.

"Huh? What the heck is wrong with her? It was just a story!" Lola raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you know her story? She's an orphan whose parents died in a fire!" Rose puckered at her and ran after Lucy together with the boys.

Lola frowned - how she dared reprimand her?! But then she gasped - if they didn't fulfill their task, dad would truly punish her later! So she sneered and ran after her classmates. It was of no use, however - Lucy was running at full speed, not even paying attention to her classmates' cries and shouts. 

"Ugh, we shall never catch up with her like that!" Damon stopped to take a breath.

"We must! Who knows where she_" but suddenly Rose noticed a dreadful thing ahead of Lucy, and gasped: "Lucy! Stop! No!"

All of the children gazed ahead and widened eyes in horror - there was a set of trees marked with skulls.

"The Skull Territory?!" Damon widened eyes.

"Oh no... I knew it! We're toast!" Timothy shuddered in dread.

"Lucy! Cut it out! Get back here!" Lola yelled in a bossy tone.

"Lucy!" Rose ran after her, but then stopped in midway - Lucy ran through the skull trees! She crossed the border.

"No..." Damon's hands trembled.

"Goodness..." Timothy gulped. Tears gathered in his eyes, so terrified he was.

Lola started - she really did it?! Rose suddenly clenched fists and turned back to her:

"You! You did this!"

"Huh? I didn't do anything! She just ran off on her own!"

"Do you realise what might happen to her?!"

"Wo, wo, calm down," Damon cut in. "We can resolve this, I'm sure. She will come to her senses".

"But what if spirits find her before she does?" Timothy trembled.

"Anyway, let's not sit around and wait. We've got to report to my father," Lola turned around.

"And tell him it was your fault!" Rose didn't surrender.

"Ugh, told you it wasn't my fault!"

"Calm down! Our top priority is to let him know of the situation," Damon grew annoyed by their senseless quarrel. "We must hurry. Do you not see the skulls have a special shape?" he pointed on the skull depictions on trees, "Some of them are fox skulls. That territory belongs to none other than the Huli Clan. We must hurry up before it's too late. Those damn foxes are not like ordinary animals. They're one of the most powerful spirit species".

"You're right," Rose frowned. "Let's hurry, and pray let Lucy be okay".

Thus, the children hurried back to their school camp.