Chapter 14 || Wish Me Home

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- Kai's POV -

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Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.

The starry woman's voice, insistent and hushed, drove me forwards as I ran towards home. I was breathing heavily, my muscles were aching, my lungs were stinging but I could hardly notice, not over the adrenaline, not over the panic.

She's just beyond this street, the starry woman's voice whispered. Yes, there. She's so close, Kai. Please help her.

There was something in her tone that made me shiver despite the raging fear – she was guilty. There was guilt in her voice – obvious as daylight and loud as screaming. I tried to not think about why the starry woman would feel guilty over what she was saying, and instead ran onwards – faster and with more power than what I could have mustered before I unlocked my fire.

I thought I heard yells from up ahead. I was panting and it was difficult to hear over the intake of my own frantic breath, but there was definitely yelling. Hurry! The starry woman hissed this time. Move your ass, Kai!

I'm trying, I spat back in my head. Fire was burning in my lungs stronger than usual, making moving painful. It screamed for release, for escape, but I had to hold it back until I found Mum.

The Child is here, the voice whispered, softly, painfully. She is here, Kai, kill her, kill her please!

Sound exploded in my mind when the starry woman's voice picked up a million degrees of volume, and I gripped my head between my hands to keep it from splitting apart. White hot pain flashed across my vision. I can't see, I thought. I can't hear. Where's Mum?

HURRY, KAI. HURRY.

People were running by me but I couldn't hear their footsteps anymore, HURRY, not over the voice of the starry woman who wouldn't stop screaming. Fire flared up in my stomach again, KILL HER, furious and vengeful. KAI! PLEASE KILL HER. PLEASE. Stop screaming! I cried, clutching my head with shaking knees. I can't think!

An abrupt silence suddenly began ringing in my ears. Slowly, the sounds I was supposed to hear, the yelling of people and the stampede of their running, came rushing back into me. I looked up – most people were gone, but up ahead, I could see something dark, something black and . . . something orange? Fire?

I bit my lip, straightened myself and started moving forwards again, slowly and then speeding up, thankful for the room in my mind to form thoughts. But what had made the starry woman so – so scared?

I followed the fire – it was two blocks down, on the road, swarming and swirling in masses of uncontrollable flares. The voice returned, and although I was expecting deafening noise, instead it was soft and guilty and sad and broken; I can't save her, Kai. Help me.

One block away. A suffocating, thick darkness was smothering the world up ahead, an aura so strong it was staining part of the street black. I could hear other voices, now – two of them, one louder than the other; a voice I knew too well from my nightmares.

Titles. Stars. The Child. Endermen. Dying.

"You can't fight forever, Nya Analove," The Child said coolly. "No one but me can fight forever."

Fire flared from a spot in the ground in reply – I saw my mother, a figure shrouded in orange light, arms raised, covered in huge black patches – patches that looked evil and consuming.

"You'd be surprised," I heard her say, weakly but still with her characteristic strength.

I stopped and yelled out to her. "MUM!"

I drew the attention of both the Child and Mum, and I didn't know which was worse – the fear in Mum's eyes at the sight of me here or the cold glare the Child gave me, one filled with malice. Then, instead of speaking to me, the Child turned to her right. "Two Wielders, now. I will break you faster than ice."

Who . . . I squinted my eyes at the blackness beside the Child, and realised that a figure was there, draped in dark robes with hair just as dark, purple eyes glinting the same shade as the Child – a cruel shade of purple. But their gaze was not cruel. It was agonised and fearful.

"Leave them be," they said, hard, commanding and forceful. I instantly recognised the voice – the starry woman. The one who'd greeted me in my dreams and told me about my destiny as a Guardian; the one who knew my mum.

The Child's face remained blank. "No," she said. "Not until you tell me the truth."

Lifting her hand, the Child let violet particles spill from her fingertips in precise grace, tumbling downwards. I ran forwards to Mum but she waved me away. "Go!" she ordered. "Kai, run!" Blood ran down her head and dripped from her wrists and legs – her sword was covered in jet-black ooze. A broken bow lay at her feet.

There were more violet particles – they were taking the shape of something malevolent and huge. I looked up at the starry woman, and our eyes met – hers were pupil-less and empty, but her face was contorted in a pained expression that looked like a warning.

Then I heard her speak again, a desperate sound only I could overhear; Help her, Kai.

Fear welled up in my stomach because the Child is here, oh Notch, she's here and she's fighting Mum – and it took everything to not run away. I didn't have any faith in myself – only blind hope that maybe, maybe my fire could do something. It always felt ready to explode, like it wasn't quite part of me – animalistic, brutal, merciless. If there was anything I had to depend on, it was that fire.

The particles were rising up to form a wall of purple, and in an instant, they surged downwards, straight on top of where Mum was standing. They smothered her and I panicked because I couldn't see her through the mass of violet swarm, but I swallowed my fear as best I could and focussed as much as possible –

Ready. Aim. Fire.

Flames burst through my open palms like beams of light, like roaring beasts that no one could ever hope to tame. They fed on the air around us and swarmed into a massive swirling vortex, around the particles, around Mum – the fire burnt and hissed and I could hear the Child's screams of frustration as her attack crumbled away, leaving only Mum standing there, scratched but unburnt, panting and clutching onto her blade.

She glanced at me – I saw a hint of approval in her eyes, and then she turned away and lunged at the Child. But right before Mum's sword caught its target, the Child was gone – instead, the blade cut through the starry woman. She didn't fall, though. She wasn't wounded. It went straight through her like she didn't exist.

She and my mum exchanged looks, quick as lightning, but as Mum turned around the Child appeared behind her and struck out with a hand filled with dark energy. She touched Mum's shoulder and I heard her scream.

Two voices yelled in return – mine, and the starry woman's.

"Stop this!" she said, her strange hued eyes betraying nothing but her tone expressing all. "Don't touch Nya!"

"Leave Mum alone!" I said, pulling myself up to summon more fire.

Mum collapsed to her knees, clutching over her shoulder as infectious blackness burnt itself into her skin. The Child leaned down and placed another hand on Mum's arm – she screamed out again, dropping her sword, screeching out protests that the Child didn't listen to.

I drew fire once more, but it was weaker this time, half the size and a third the force. There were spots in my vision and my head was pounding. Before it struck the Child she teleported out of the way – I moved around, frantic, watching for where she might appear again.

A hand curled around me and clutched my throat.

It burned – not like when you touch a hot furnace, but a cold burning – when something is so icy that it turns to heat on your fingertips . I gripped it and tried to pull it away but it didn't budge – it only held tighter. Black flashed through my mind and I gasped in pain – it burns, it burns, it burns!

"Tell me who the Guardian is," The Child said from right behind me, her voice still cold, still dark, still terrifying. "Or Kai Dare will die."

The starry woman, with Nya shaking at her feet, blinked but didn't make a move. "You will kill him anyway," she called. "You don't make deals."

I tried to pull away but her hand was too strong. Searing pain suddenly engulfed every sense I had - I think I screamed, I wasn't sure, I was blind and deaf and unfeeling to everything but the hand around my neck. "How about this, Clare Jones. If you tell me who the current Guardian is – if you betray the Stars and all you fight for – then maybe, just maybe . . . " The pain flashed again and my knees gave out, but I was held up by the arm that was too strong to be human, "I will make his death short. Nya's, too. You were friends, were you not? Both followers of my filthy excuse of a brother. You died for her, didn't you? It would be a shame to let her die slowly now, not when your death was so mercifully fast. Hardly fair on Nya, if you ask me."

I'm sorry, came the starry woman's voice in my head. I asked for your help because I couldn't fight, and now we're here. I got scared. I'm sorry.

"What do you want?" I asked through gritted teeth. I was dizzy with lack of air but I forced the words out – "What do you want from her?"

"I want many things, Kai Dare," she said, "and one of them is knowledge, facts that I can be given. So you will give them to me, Clare Jones." Her grip tightened again and I could feel the world slipping away – I can't breathe, I can't breathe, "because I always get what I want."

Silence. Then, "There is no Guardian."

The Child let go of my throat and I dropped to the ground, heaving and gasping and hunched over. "No Guardian?" she repeated, stepping around me to face the starry woman – "What do you mean, 'no Guardian'? You lie."

Guardian – they're talking about me. "The Creator decided that the Dark Blade no longer required protection," continued the starry woman. "After all, it was lost for centuries."

"You lie," the Child spat, her anger exploding, shattering her emotional shield. Purple crackled at in her hands. "There is always a Guardian. Tell me the truth – who is it?" She raised a hand. "Tell me now!"

The smallest of smirks crept onto the starry woman's face. "Now you're truly acting like a child," she said. "Only a child would whine and want like you do."

Energy erupted from the Child's outstretched arms, jagged bolts of lilac setting black fire to houses around us. The energy was everywhere, explosive and lightning fast – a few seconds later, it was over, and the Child was left standing with eyes so heated with rage they might've caught alight themselves. "You will not win this battle," she said, colder than ice.

Time, time, we needed time for recovery – so I stalled. From our last encounter, I knew the Child loved to talk. "What's the Guardian to you, anyway?" I coughed from the ground, my throat still sore and probably bruised, maybe even blackened like Mum's shoulders. "Who cares if some human has special powers?"

The Child turned to face me, eyes narrowed. "And how do you know of the Guardian?" she asked, slowly.

Oh no, I thought. "Uh – Mum, Mum told me what they are," I stuttered, "And what they can do."

She leaned down, closer to me, tone smooth as silk. "And how does Nya know what a Guardian is?"

Don't speak, Kai, said the starry woman. Or she'll know what you are.

"Uh, she, um, looked it up," came my reply – the Child's gaze glinted with dead amusement.

I said don't speak, you moron, the starry – wait, what was her name, what the Child had called her? Clare? – Clare hissed softly. If she finds out you're the Guardian, she will kill you faster than you could say 'all the Endermen can suck my ass and die'.

To be fair, that takes a while to say, I countered.

Shut up, she's looking right at you, Clare replied.

Oh. Right.

"Kai Dare," the Child mused. "Kai Dare, son of the Fire Wielder . Kai Dare, the enemy of the End." Her smirk grew and magenta started spilling from her hands in crystals. "Kai Dare," she raised both arms, "Guardian of the Dark Blade."

You know how people say that, like, right as you're about to die, your whole life flashes through your mind? Well, yeah, I don't think that's true, because I was literally about to be murdered by the Child's dark energy stuff and the only thing going through my mind was 'Endermen-can-suck-my-ass-and-die, YES! I said it in time', and that would've been a stupid way to go.

Instead, something awesome happened – Iris.

Electricity ignited the air like gunpowder and suddenly the Child was thrown to the side by a bolt of silver light. I stood up fast, shaking the dizziness out of my head, and looked over to my right, where Iris, Phoenix, Xavier and Eve were standing – all but Iris with swords in their grips. Iris's hands were too filled with lightning to hold a blade. "Dumbass!" Iris called, her hair static. "Come get me before you get yourself into trouble!"

I sent her a smile. Hearing the Child groan and in her moment of weakness, I ran towards Mum and . . . Clare. My fire was beginning to build up again; I could feel it in my lungs. Mum was on her back, facing upwards with eyes closed. She was breathing, thank Notch, but she was knocked out cold with wounds all over her. Lightning filled the air again and I heard a frustrated yell from the Child as she got pushed away once more.

Clare reached down to touch Mum, but her hand went right through the flesh as if she didn't exist at all –like a ghost. When I looked at her face so close, I realised that she reminded me of that other boy who had helped us during the attack on the school – another ghostly figure with fluctuating purple eyes, glowing like the surface of a nether portal.

"She wanted information out of me and knew the way to get it was to attack someone I once knew," Clare said sadly, worriedly, guiltily. "So she went for Nya. I'm sorry, Kai, I couldn't fight back and I had to watch – I had to watch the Child fight her, and I . . . I needed someone to come and fight for me."

"It's okay," I said, but I didn't really hear her words – here was the starry woman, the one from my dreams, but this time in the flesh. "Thank you for calling for me. Mum could've died, but she didn't, so thank you."

The starry woman – Clare – sighed. "I couldn't tell the Child who the Guardian was. You would be dead if I had. Instead I had to let Nya suffer." She sighed again, deeper. "I suppose that doesn't matter now, because the Child knows anyway."

"No, seriously, it's okay," I reassured. I tried to put my hand on her shoulder but it went straight through. Um, that was weird. "It's not your fault."

She closed her eyes and then pulled away from us, standing tall and straight. She opened them again and spoke with such smooth clarity it hardly felt real to listen to; "I must return to the Stars. Kai, you have the power of the Stars within you – cast me away. Release me from this Dark Energy – you have the ability to do so."

"Um, alright," I said, confused, standing up too. I stood there for several moments before asking, "And, uh, how do I do that?"

Clare smiled. "Wish me home."

Oh, okay. I wish for Clare to go home.

Golden light exploded from her and threw me painfully backwards into the ground. Once the light wore off, there was nothing left to see – just an empty space where Clare had once stood – oh wait, no, there was a box on the ground where her feet had been.

I will speak with you soon, Kai Dare. Sounded her voice from somewhere I couldn't see. You and I are both Guardians, after all.

Mum groaned in pain and I focussed back on her again, brushing strands of hair off her bloody forehead. "Kai," she mumbled, "Kai, what's going on?"

I turned around – bolts of lightning were coursing everywhere, and Phoenix was zipping in and out of sight, a mess of blond hair here, a sharpened blade there. Eve and Xavier were hanging back – good – but stood their ground just beyond where Iris was standing, open armed and powerful. The Child was on her feet, but was noticeably weaker – maybe Clare's vanishing had done something to her. That gold light had completely annulated the Dark Energy bonds, after all – it had to have had some effect.

"The Child," I said. "We have to get out of here." But where could we go? Where could we run?

Phoenix was trying to cut at the Child with an iron sword but not only were the hits rarely planted, when they were, they did barely any damage. Phoenix was growing more tired as time wore on but the Child just kept regaining her strength – panic started flowing through my veins again, and my fire grew restless, flickering just below the point where I could contain it. Think, Kai! We needed a weapon – something that could hurt the Child enough to drive her off, something that was strong and –

Mum's sword. The one that made me feel violent, the one Mum hid away so that I'd never touch it again. It had a power about it I couldn't quite place, and a huge part of me knew that we needed it.

But how could I get it?

Slowly, a realisation set in my mind. Mum's sword had a sort of darkness around it – an aura of evil that tainted my thoughts when I got too close to its metal. Darkness, darkness – darkness was what the sword reminded me of, what it plunged my mind into. Darkness . . . Dark . . . Maybe . . .

It had been lost for centuries, Clare had said. No one had an ounce of knowledge on where it may be. But I could picture it in my mind, now – a sharp glint of blue metal that burned with the desire to destroy. I could see its colour, see its glow, feel its power, hold its hilt, feel it burning away into my morals, corrupting and overriding . . .

That was something I'm sure no other Guardian could have done. I was probably wrong – I usually am – but why not give it a shot?

Clare said I was connected to the Blade. Maybe, because I knew exactly what it was, where it was, what its power felt like, I could call for it. If Mum's sword is the Dark Blade, that is. I can't be sure.

I pictured the sword in all its malevolent glory. I wish for the Dark Blade.

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- Mackenzie's POV -

- (brought to you by Chapter 35 feels)

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"Look, Mackenzie, I'm sorry for dragging you into this."

Nya's eyes were alight with that blue flame they always had, fierce and untameable and beautiful, just as she was. They were an ocean of apologies, a sea of fear, but too much of it for me. Sometimes, I think she forgets that I chose this – I chose to be with her, to be with Jordan and Zach and Emerald and everyone else, just as much as Clare decided to switch sides.

I smiled at her – she looked so worried, so fretful, and it wasn't fair to lay the burden of my safety onto her shoulders. "You didn't," I said. "Clare did. Besides . . . it's nice to be a help for once."

I saw embarrassed shock pass across her face as she stuttered in reply. "You've been great," she said. "Absolutely awesome."

A grin crossed my face – "Thanks, Nya."

Clare and Herobrine were fighting but I wasn't giving their battle much notice. I could feel Jordan's hand around mine, could feel the message his grip was sending me – we're alive, he was saying. We're safe, we're alive, and I'm so glad you're with me.

Me too, I thought. Me too.

Respect didn't come naturally to me. Everyone around me always seemed lower, somehow – as if my level was so unfathomable, no one would ever be able to come close to me. Watching Nya, her courage and her passion and her feelings – it made me realise how wrong I'd been. Nya was everything I aspired to be – she was kind, but she was strong; she was gentle, but her anger was terrifying. She was powerful, but she never once deemed herself better than anyone else. She was selfless. It made me wonder what selflessness was like.

Maybe that was why, when I saw the arrow heading straight at her heart, I stepped in front of her.

Maybe I'll never know why. But when I saw Nya's eyes closed in defeat, as if there was nothing that could possibly be done to help her, I felt a burden on my shoulders. I guess that must have been what Nya had felt like whenever any of her friends were in danger – that she had to carry the weight of their protection. I felt that weight, heavy as obsidian, as the arrow cut through air like a lightning bolt. I could do something. I could be selfless. I could help.

All I could taste was blood; all I could feel was pain in my chest as the arrow dug itself into my skin. For what seemed like hours I could feel nothing else, but then Nya;s hand was clutching onto mine, and I could hear her voice, soft and agonised and broken; "Not again. Please, no."

She was looking at me. Her eyes, never dulling in their wonderful blue, were reflecting all the things I didn't feel – regret, sorrow, pain, bitterness. I would never get tired of her eyes.

My words were just slurs but I forced them out. Jordan was here, Emerald was here, I could feel them but I couldn't see them, I couldn't see anything, it was all disappearing, it was all disappearing, I wanted Nya to stay. . .

But I wasn't selfish. I couldn't be, not anymore. So instead, I told her to save the others. Let me go. I'm gone anyway.

I'm glad she listened. And I'm glad that her eyes were the last thing I could focus on before everything faded into blackness.

I'd like to think I'd died with the burden of protecting others, but that simply isn't true. We all carry that burden – we pass it around from time to time, but even if one of us falls, another picks it up after we can't anymore. It's an endless cycle, but I like to say I did my bit to carry it.

After all, we're all selfless in the end, aren't we?

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So I was reading H:R and realised there were a few things I wanted to add – character things, not important or anything, but just interesting, so I figured I might as well stick them to the end of all these H:L chapters because why not. Also, I really like Mackenzie. I made her pretty gay in this mini-POV thing but let's all just embrace it

Sooo this chapter took longer than expected and remains unedited because I think it's midnight and I've been writing for a straight three hours and I'm super hungry. At least it's up, though!

(Ugh, this chapter 4000 words condensed into one massive headache. I need food. Can someone send me some Maccas)

Thanks for your patience. I really depend on and love all you guys who stick around for every update. You're all the best.

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QOTC: What languages can you speak?

(aotc: i can speak a little Italian, and i'm fluent in both english and dumbass.)

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Love all of you!

- Jazz