The Keeper of the Heart

She walked silently through the forests of Meridian that night. Her dark green cape and perfectly white hair fluttered behind her in the wind. She grinned maniacally for the events she knew were about to unfold. A slight chuckle escaped her lips as she swiped her hand through the air to create the blue anomaly. She sighed joyfully at the shier chaos that would befall the small town of Heatherfield. After all, the universe was made of darkness and light, and the Heart of Candracar was no different, but she would watch for now as the chaos could only stop once the pieces were in place. She then changed her appearance to appear less foreign to the people of this world and slowly strode into town. The morning light was comforting and yet signaled the calm before the true storm.

“We are almost there, almost there.” A girl with short red orange hair sang as she and her two friends approached the city of Heatherfield. She wore a t-shirt that was too small for even her slender frame, and it appeared that it was probably once white. Her jeans were ripped and torn, and showed no attempt for repair. Strapped to her body was an expensive looking white and pink guitar, and it was probably the cleanest thing that the girl wore.

“Heather, stop your incessant singing.” Her friend Esmeralda ‘Esper’ Jones screamed forward at the group’s fearless leader. Her shoulder length black hair waved slightly in the breeze but it was nothing as the girl let out a sigh. She wore a blood red tank top and baggy black pants. She was the oldest but appeared to wear the cleanest clothing of the two, but then again; she was a good thief. All of them were good thieves. It just depended on what you wanted stolen.

“I kind of like it Esper-chan.” An Asian girl with short bright pink hair sighed. Her hair was the only one that was artificially colored and stuck out in contrast to her dark blue mini-tee. It was probably sky blue, but they’ve been going for awhile since they left from the mountainous regions of the U.S. She looked frail and always appeared to be in a thoughtful trance. The pants that Esper had gotten for her had to be tied to her skinny frame with a thick black cord, while the remains of a chain dangled from her neck to end just before her belly button. That chain was connected to a thick dark red collar that appeared to have merged with the girl’s skin. She carried a messenger bag that held the group’s main source of information, an old Dell Laptop, but it hadn’t been charged in weeks. That was probably why they were so happy to find out that there was a city coming up.

“You would, Ichi.” Esper responded in a calm peaceful voice that was so different than the one she used on the singing girl in front of them.

“I can see it.” Heather screamed happily looking at the city as the sun rose behind it.

“Time to get down to business then,” Esper said as the two ran up to their leader’s position. “You know what you need to do this time right, Heather?” Her voice became harsh once again as she spoke to the guitar carrying female.

“Yeah,” Heather said scratching behind her ear, “I’ve gotta get the food this time.” She sighed out of disappointment. “And I was so hopping to perform.”

“You can perform all you want.” Esper said as the three separated upon entering the city. “Just bring us food first. Understood, dingbat.” Ichi giggled at the word, though she usually did with words that she didn’t know.

“Be careful Heather-chan.” Ichi said waving to the sole girl walking down the street. She then followed Esper into a place with hopefully a plug to restore power to their laptop.

She watched the three girls separate from one another.

Excellent she thought happily, it will be easier to forge distrust between light and dark if the dark was separate. At least for now. She turned down the street and followed the orange haired girl. Her target nodded slightly as if she was gravely tired, but why escaped the woman.

It was starting to get late, and Heather had to go slightly deeper into the city to find a decent place to excavate precious food. Finally, she found one as the sun began to set. Perfect, now I have the cover of darkness.

She walked calmly into the store and quickly filled a basket with the things that at least Ichi liked. She yawned loudly and made the shop keeper look up from what he was doing. She made herself appear inconspicuous and cursed Ichi’s insatiable habit to sleep standing up while hugging her. She always lost sleep because they knew that Ichi was so paranoid in the first place, that if they woke her while laying her on the ground she wouldn’t sleep the rest of the night and keep them up with constant fearful gibberish.

Heather then sighed remembering what it had been for Ichi, and then shuttered at the thought of how she survived it. The shop keep returned to his whatever, as long as he was distracted.

She turned to walk out of the door basket and all, but that’s when it caught her eye. The red gem was the size and shape of a large marble as it began to get Heather caught in it. She closed her beautiful green eyes trying to make the hypnosis, or whatever, pass, but when she opened them the gem again forced her to stare.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” The store keep spoke. His words snapped the young girl out of her trance.

“Yes.” She said calmly as he held it up, but couldn’t help but to ask. “What is it?”

“Don’t know,” the old timer said while he finished attaching a platinum colored cord to the jewel’s silver casing. “It just appeared on my door step this morning. I’m thinking about giving it away.” She smiled and nodded a fake approval before continuing her robbery, but as she stepped away the crystal jerked slightly toward her. The shop keeper barely noticed and looked around for an open window that could create a breeze. Heather had stopped noticing the odd thing try to reach her, and again she got hypnotized by its remarkable red shimmer.

“Why don’t you take it?”

“What,” Heather snapped out of her gaze not realizing that she had dropped the basket, “no, I couldn’t.”

“Oh, but I insist.” He reached his hand out with the small charm within. “After all, it’ll help compliment those fantastic eyes of yours.” Heather blushed at the comment and figuring that he probably wouldn’t change his mind reached out and grabbed the jewel.

As her hand made contact with it, she at first felt a nice distant calm, and then a slight feeling of warmth and comfort. She looked at it in her hand. Something about it being in her hand seemed natural, as if she was a bird, and it was her wings. She placed it over her neck, though she hated things around her neck, but she also knew to respect people that were kind. He nodded and walked to the back before she could thank him. Heather let out another sigh and left quickly without the basket.

Heather quickly removed the jewel from around her neck, and stared at the little thing. It seemed to tremble as it began to glow a slight luminescence. Heather stroked it to assure it that it was safe and then wrapped the cord around her right forearm so that the little red jewel rested on the back of her right hand. She grinned as it seemed to calm down, and then she remembered the food.

“Damn it,” she screamed turning back, but the shop was gone. All that was there was just an empty lot. “What in the he…”

“Keeper.” A woman wearing a dark green cloak with a hood that covered all but her blue lips said from behind Heather. “Give me the Shadow of the Heart, and you won’t be destroyed.”

“Huh,” Heather said while turning around and gazing at the woman. The cloak was slightly behind her as the wind blew it forward. She was wearing a pure white denim vest that was zipped up, and her pants looked shredded near the bottom. On her right arm was a form fitting gauntlet with an etching of what appeared to be a pink version of Heather’s jewel on it.

“Give me the Shadow of the Heart.” She commanded once again, but this time she raise her left hand and said some strange words. A pink light shot from her hand and hit a pile of old bricks. The pile soon rose up and became a six foot tall golem of brick. “Do we have ourselves a deal?”

Heather was slightly afraid, she had seen enough T.V and movies of the Sci-fi and Fantasy variety to not be fazed by this, but to hide her fear would be stupid. Instead she instinctively flipped the jewel to her palm and clutched it tightly. It seemed to feed of what little fear was there and replace it with courage.

“Who the hell are you?” She asked as the monolithic being drew near.

“My name is Ice,” the woman answered removing her hood to reveal pure white hair. Her eyes were the actual weird feature about her though, one of them was a calm and gentle pink, while the other was a harsh dark red. She smiled menacingly at the girl before her. “I am a thrall of the Guardian’s of the Infinite Dimensions. They sent me here to destroy the Shadow Heart and its Keeper.” She grinned then and giggled inside. The child was still new to the world of magic, and so would believe the lie, and therefore the seeds of distrust would germinate into chaos.

The gem in Heather’s hand quivered slightly as the woman screamed that she would destroy it, but Heather squeezed it reassuringly and just said two words as if she knew exactly what to do in this situation. “Guardian’s Unite.”

The golem stumbled back a bit as the crimson marble shot forth a smaller purple orb that seemed to engulf the young girl. Soon, she was curled up inside the permeable darkness as a small pink light danced in the orb. It was over as quickly as it had begun, and now Ice faced the Keeper of the Shadow Heart; the Shadow Quintessence Guardian.

Heather was now an astonishing foot taller at five foot ten inches from her previous younger self. She was wearing a dark pink sleeveless top that stopped and formed the sides of an H around her belly button. Her stunning green eyes shoot out from behind a muffler that extended from her neckline to just above her nose. Her forearms were covered by red protective sleeves with pink trim that started at the wrist and ended at the elbow. A pair of purple shorts covered her legs. Her footwear was that of a pair of straw sandals with red socks in between them and her feet, but her most stunning features are the red, purple, and pink gossamer wings that stretched elegantly from her back. Strapped to her waist was a long kantana. Its sheath and hilt decorated with a stunning gold lightning pattern.

Heather stared at Ice for a second before uttering, “If you want this heart or whatever it is.” She raised her left middle finger to the woman while taking a defiant stance. “Then you’re going to have to go through me first.”

“That was the plan.” Ice smugly stated snapping her fingers, and the golem taking its mistress’ command backhanded the Guardian before she had time to react.

“Oof,” escaped Heather’s lungs as she slammed into a wall. She rose shakily and rubbed her soar backside. The brick hominid raised its left hand and fired a barrage of lethal projectiles at the young guardian, but she became attune to her new form quickly and naturally, though rather clumsily, flies out of the way. Heather flipped in the air, while thinking about how this situation sucked, and then threw a powerful lightning blast at the golem. It roared in what Heather hopped was pain as the blast decimated its right arm. Heather could swear that Esper would make a comment on her aim, but she wasn’t here at the moment.

“Hmm,” Ice says to herself with a grin, “she’s a natural. Perfect.”

The golem raised its other arm and continued to try to shoot the fairy down, but the longer Heather was flying the better she became. Sure she was no superman, but she liked however it was happening. She then heard the sirens of police cars in the distance. Heather gulped as she assumed that they were coming to check on a disturbance in the area. Especially, her area. She growled as a brick slammed into her shoulder. She could hear it pop.

“Might as well finish this,” she screamed while electrical energy gathered in front of her. She so hoped this worked. “Lightning Blitz.”

She didn’t have to yell out the attack’s name, but she felt the need anyway. She slammed into and through the creature as the energy around her discharged into it. The monster then crumpled and returned to a normal pile of bricks.

Heather returned her attention back toward Ice as she merely grinned and disappeared into a blue tear. Heather growled at this before she noticed the blue and red lights and quickly decided to flee to a safer area and somehow figure out how to transform back to normal.

“Hey guys,” Heather screamed while running up to her friends as they waited for her by the bridge that spanned the river. “Miss me?”

Ichi did nothing but run up and throw her arms around Heather. “So where’s our food?” Esper grumpily moaned.

“Yeah, about that.” Heather barely could start an explanation before she was slugged in the back of the head.

“Fine, I’ll do it tomorrow.” Esper said grumpily before lying down to go to sleep and then with a drowned sigh. “She fell asleep standing up again didn’t she?”

“Yeah.” Heather said with a disdainful sigh as she patted the sleeping Ichi on her head. She yawned slowly and for the first time she too fell asleep while holding her friend.

“Rest while you can, Shadow Guardian,” Ice said while staring at them from across the river. “For it gets more difficult, now.”

She grinned staring into the city, while in a small bedroom a thirteen year old red head is silencing a shimmering pink jewel with her pillow so she can get some sleep.

Author’s Note/ Random Stuff:Reworked version of the first Chapter of S.H.I.N.E: Shadow Guardians. I hope that everyone enjoys it.