Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The News of Waxxen

Ross’s questions led him to finding out some information that sparked his interest.

“What?” Ross said in shock.

“Yes. I am a Guardian.”

“So… are we going to the guardian HQ or something?” Ross asked in high hopes.

“Yeah… I thought you might like that.” Barricade said smiling.

Ross smiled. They were heading towards a dim lime light. Ross could make out faint noises.

“You’ll love Samuel!” Barricade said catching Ross off guard and making him jump.

“Who’s he?” Ross asked.

“He’s our leader. He did some pretty amazing stuff… Never mind that though, we have current troubles now.”

They were now staring at a definite lime light. Ross heard the voices quiet down. They approached a door looking thing now. Ross saw a slit open.

“Ello’? oo’ do we ave’ ere’?”

“Barricade.”

“Do you swear you pledge allegiance to the guardians?” The voice asked.

“Yes… Every fiber of my being…” Barricade said in a rather sarcastic voice.

“Just ‘checkin.” The person said.

As they walked, Ross, in a very curious state, asked Barricade many questions. Though most of them, Barricade didn’t answer. Ross thought these questions might’ve been very secretive subjects and such.

As they wandered through the HQ Ross noticed that the in most areas, the overwhelming mood was dark. He saw a glowing golden light at a chair covered in rubies. There was a cat sitting on that chair (don’t worry, other animals come into play soon…).

“A newbie?” The cat said getting up. The cat now looked hopefully towards Ross.

“Yeah, he says his name is Fredric…” Barricade said smiling.

“Ross…” Ross pitched in.

“It’s you… it’s really you!” Samuel shouted, rushing towards Ross.

“I never thought I’d see you again! Definitely not like this!” The person said wrapping their arms around Ross.

“Samuel? You know Ross?” Barricade asked in shock.

“Why, he’s my nephew!” Samuel said beaming.

“Nephew?” said Ross backing up.

“Most of my uncles died in the war twelve years ago! All of the others are in hospitals, and retirement homes and such!” Ross confused.

“They didn’t tell you? You were adopted…” Samuel told him.

“No…” Ross said sitting down on a nearby clump of crystals.

Ross thought at never being told… There was silence for awhile… Ross could hear noises in the other parts of the Guardians’ Headquarters.

“So why are you here?” Samuel asked breaking an eerie silence.

“Well, the S.A.S.P.S. showed up at my house.” Ross said in a day dreamy voice.

“No!” Samuel said in defiance.

“Samuel, it’s starting. Dem is back.” Barricade said softly.

“What? Who? Should I be scared?” Ross said nervously.

“Death…” Samuel said slowly.

“Death? What’s this about?””

“The dang Dem.” Samuel said ignoring Ross.

“We have to act soon. I don’t want it corrupting guardians.” Barricade said.

“AHHHGGGG!” Ross out broke.

“… Ok… you need the rest of the Spontus story to understand. Samuel?”

“Fine…” Samuel grunted

“Where were you?”

“Oh, I was talking about how we’re safe guarding it…” Barricade told him using finger quotations.

“Oh, yeah…” Samuel zoned out for a bit, lost in thought.

“So, anyway, umm… yeah, we’re keeping it in… BARRICADE!” Samuel’s voice burst with rage.

“Yeah?” Barricade said feebly.

“YOU DIDN’T ID HIM DID YOU?”

“Well, I forgo-”

“FOR ALL WE KNOW, HE’S A DIGUISED S.A.S.P.S AGENT!”

“OK!” Barricade shouted.

“You were beaming at him earlier! ‘Hi nephew! How are you?’ All sweet…” Barricade said doing a fine impersonation of Samuel.

“Well, we need to ID him.” Samuel said.

“ID me?” asked a confused Ross.

“And how exactly does that work?”

Samuel urged Ross to follow. Samuel was going towards the other end of the Guardian’s HQ. It was a surprisingly long walk. Three minutes was more than Ross expected.

They approached an oddly shaped table. There were strange scanning looking objects, and mysterious mirrors. Ross sat down at a chair.

“Alright then,” Samuel said pulling up a chair.

“State your reason of being.” Samuel said in a monotone voice.

“Well, I was at my house, and the S.A.S.P.S. came.” Ross said very anxiously.

“Continue…”

“I ran upstairs, and stupidly sat on a window seal, and then I fell outside. That’s when I fo-”

“I’m sorry, but you left your window open? No screen either?” Samuel asked half laughing.”

“Well the window wasn’t open when I sat there. You see, my father is in contact with this strange dog that’s trying to invent some weird window style that opens when you-”

“Ok. So, after you fell?” Samuel budded in.

“Well, before I fell I hovered above the ground. It was quite strange.”

“Nice, you can hover?”

“And fly!” Ross said smirking.

“You have one of my personal fav- ok, ok, back to ID-ing!” Samuel stopped himself.

“So, after I fell, I ran a long way, till I found an alley where I hid. I took a rest, woke up, and found Barricade making some weird deal.”

“Deal? Ok, ID over, you’re done for now… BARRICADE!”

“Ugh!” Barricade strode over, temper slowly rising.

“Into here with me Barricade.” Samuel said slightly happy, slightly upset.

Barricade and Samuel went into a seemingly small room. Now, Ross was uncomfortably standing alone. He looked around at all of the Guardians and other magical folk. Then he noticed one of his friends that had been gone from school for some time. He half racing went over to him.

“Quincy? What are you doing here?” Ross asked panting.

Quincy turned around immediately, startled. Then, after seeing Ross, he started scratching his head.

“I was hiding at the school because the S.A.S.P.S.-”

“Because the S.A.S.P.S.  were after you? And then you were saved by a guardian and brought here?” Ross finished.

“Uh… yeah…” Quincy said scratching the back of his head.

They stared at each other for a moment.

“I have a feeling that this ordeal is a whole lot bigger than it seems from our perspective…” Quincy randomly tuned in.

“Amen…” Ross, looking for something to say, replied.

“Well then, are you being sent to Waxen?” Quincy asked him.

“Excuse me?” Ross asked even more-so confused.

“Waxen, you know… the magic school.”

“I’m not familiar.”

“Well then, I guess you still have a chat with Samuel in store. I heard he’s your uncle?”

“I guess… Say, what abilities do you have?” Ross liked the sound of magic.

“Me? Mind reading…” He said with a smirk.

“Oh really? I’m thinking about tacos…” Ross thought.

“Mm! Tacos… I suddenly have a craving…” He smirked again.

“And you Ross?”

“Flight… as far as I know that’s it though.”

“Cool!”

Samuel and Barricade came out of the room. They were both laughing, with big grins on their faces.

“Ross, It’s time for our ‘chat with Samuel’ you ‘had in store’.” Samuel said still smiling.

Samuel pulled Ross into the room that Samuel had earlier entered with Barricade. It had a strange feeling, entering the room. Something felt right about it…

“So, you liking life’s new twist?” Samuel asked.

“It does make everything a bit more confusing…” Ross answered, trying to take it all in.

“Well, I’m guessing you’ve heard about Waxen?” Samuel asked, now trying to get to a very startling point.

“Kind of… I know it’s a magic school…”

“Well, yes. They teach you how to better use your powers, when to use them, why to use them, and then some skills and such.” Samuel said, his grin fading.

“I don’t get why all of this is happening.” Ross finally blurted.

“Well, the S.A.S.P.S. are trying to make the next Guardian leader a double agent. And, well, amidst all the chaos … You see, we store the Spontus here. The Spontus is a very, very powerful gem containing both light and dark magic… Oh yes and Dem… A powerful creature we call the ‘Dem’ is trying to take control of peoples bodies to get to it, and that would cause utter chaos. At the same time we got the S.A.S.P.S issue. And then… there’s the issue of the next lead guardian…”

Ross felt a strange feeling come over him.

“The belief is that you are going to become the next leader Ross…”

Ross, who was slightly not paying attention, bolted his head upwards at this.

“Me? A leader? Of magical things?” Ross thought this impossible.

“Well, the magic seems to typically run in relatives blood lines…” Samuel informed him.

“Still, I don’t even really want to be leader… can’t… Quincy be the leader? Yeah, Quincy! He’d be a great leader! I don’t even see why it needs to run in the blood-”

“Ross! You don’t seem to get it… You’ll inherit the powers… even if you don’t want to…”

“Powers? So… I can do more than flying is what you’re getting at?” Ross asked.

“Yes. Your speed in short distances helps the fact. You have speed powers!” Samuel said showing a faint grin.

“Err… that makes perfect sense…” Ross said quietly.

“Actually, It does. You just haven’t mastered speed yet, and the energy… is doing weird things to you.” Samuel said, still using a faint grin.

“You probably have more powers than those two anyways.”

“That’s where… Waxxen comes in?” Ross asked, feeling extremely curious.

“Yes. And other things too… like leadership and agility. And then the coolest thing (that I thought) was at Waxxen, was that there’s a special class for everyone. You aren’t supposed to tell anyone what your class is either. You’ll get something awesome since you’re going to be lead guardian.” Samuel said, his smile no longer faint, but completely visible.

“So no escaping it, huh?” Ross asked, a bit disappointed.

“Nope…” Samuel said, his grin losing.

“So about Waxxen… when will I go? And how will I get there?” Ross asked, now thinking about his speical classes.

“Well, I think we have someone who can take you…” And with this, Samuel walked toward the door. Ross stayed seated at first, then followed him. As the door opened, Ross saw the lime lights all around. Then he saw someone coming towards him and Samuel.

“’Ello Samuel! This is Ross?” He asked. Ross recognized this as the person who was waiting at the door for him and Barricade.

“Is Quincy coming with me and him?” Ross asked. Samuel shook his head, then looked towards Ross’s escort.

“Ross, I’d like to introduce you to your escort to Waxxen.” Said Samuel smiling.

“Meet Ruke.” Samuel said.

“Ruke Frost.” Ruke said, shaking Ross’s hand.

“Nice to meet you, Ross.” Ruke said, smiling.