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Chapter 3

Guardian?

I shook the sleep out of my eyes, and discovered that I was on the ground; I must have rolled of the bed in my sleep. Noticing that I was still dressed in my suit, I stood up and looked around drowsily. I saw that the bus was empty and pulled into a wild life preserve. Walking down the aisle I called out, "Claire...Bill? Is there anyone here?"

For about five minutes I wandered the bus, until I spotted Bill outside of the bus, sitting in some kind of meditative pose. Walking up behind him I asked, "Hey...umm...Bill what are we doing here. Where is Claire?" Apparently I did something wrong because the instant I opened my mouth he wheeled around, a colt in his hand, and shot at me. Lucky for me, the bullet whizzed right past my face with no contact.

I backed up with my hands held high, to show him I meant no harm. After a minute of standing still bill simply lowered his gun and said,"Oh it's you. Sorry about that kid, thought you were someone else." Not wishing to be shot at again I simply tried to let out a laugh, but it came out extremely faked. He continued to say, "Well if you're looking for Claire she is about, hmmm, a mile into the woods from here. Just keep walking straight until you find a stream, and you should find her."

I hastily left him and walked into the forest, trying to put as much distance between me, and that crazy man. It wasn't long before I walked into a clearing, which had a stream flowing right though the middle of it. Sure enough Claire was sitting there, her shoes at her side, feet dunked into the water. I went to say something, but she just put up a finger and told me,"Before you say anything, listen. Before we go any further I want you to know, that your path isn't truly set. I can stop the events in motion, even if I can't give you your life back."

I was silent, which Claire must have taken as a cue to continue what she had to say. "You are my Guardian at the moment, but you still have one day to go back to the way you once were. I want you to take this day to consider all I have said, and think hard about what you want. I want you to consider which life you want. The one I have given you, or the one like what you once had. And before you think to hard in this, you will simply be a human, and your governments will most likely track you down and question you about me."

I thought for a second, about what she was saying."So," I spoke up."You mean to say that by making me human again I will be unable to continue what I used to have; that I could never go back to my family and friends?" She nodded a quick yes, and I felt my mind was made up. "I will stay then!" I exclaimed, and she simply smiled as if she knew that would be my choice.

"All right then, now that that little matter is out of the way, we can begin training."I was confused by what she said, but my mind was put on the right path when she said, "For you to use your powers of course." My eyes lit up at this prospect, and in my mind I felt prepared for this.

"So you're going to teach me how to use magic?!" I exclaimed. She simply sat there and giggled. "It's not magic, but simple physics." She stated her voice rising with a tone of superiority. "And before I can teach you how to use it," She continued."You must understand where these powers come from, so it will require your complete attention."

"In every Angel there is what we call a core. These cores are some kind of foreign substance, but it is organic in nature. These affect our brains and unlock hidden capabilities to impose our will on nature itself." I was listing to every word as if my life depended on it, and with Claire being the teacher it probably would. "In order for Guardians, like you, to be created, an Angel must split their core into multiple shards within their own bodies' and infuse a few to the host's body directly. Thus why I had to kill you back then."

I nodded, everything making a little bit more sense now."If Angels are so powerful, then what need is there for them to have a Guardian?" I asked, wondering what use I could be. She smiled and said, "Well compared to humans, Angels are all powerful; but we live under a strict set of laws. One of them is that we are physically unable to 'purposely' kill any living being, other than humans. So every other animal is still a large threat to us." She paused for a bit, kicking her feet back and forth in the water.

"Also Angels may not harm other Angels directly, and that is another reason why Guardians exist. So essentially you are both my shield and sword."That on the other hand, made much less sense. 'She wants me to kill people like her?' I thought to myself. She stood up and snapped her fingers; a tree behind me burst into flame, just like that officer back at the road block.

I stood up and stared at the tree, burning away very rapidly, and wondered if the whole forest was going to burn down. Then she snapped again and the flame went out; to be quickly replaced by ice. I looked back at her, and she was smiling at me, as if I were a child watching a magician for the first time. "Now," she started back up. "Tell me how fire is created."

"Friction of the molecules?" I replied, uncertain what she was asking exactly. She just gave me a look of displeasure and said, "Is that a question? Be surer of your answers. But yes, you are correct. Now what I simply did was impose my will on the molecules of the tree, and cause them to rapidly accelerate; to the point of bursting into flames. Then I stopped them from moving, preventing the fire from spreading. That is our power, one part understanding, two parts doing."

I couldn't stop myself from smiling like an idiot, as I contemplate me getting to use this power. Grinning I said, "So you're going to show me how to do things like that?" She simply nodded her head no, and stood up pointing towards the stream. Suddenly the water itself started to flow up into the air, the fish swimming in a circle; unsure what to do. And then my stomach growled; causing me to remember that I hadn't eaten for a while.

"No," She said after a while. "Your training is to catch us dinner. As I just said, I can't intentionally kill anything other than humans." She paused and then continued, "So your job is to do that for me; and be sure to catch a large amount, as you will notice your body will eat less often, but will need more intake to fill you up." After she finished she simply turned towards the bus and walked into the woods. I didn't even get a chance to tell her that I had never killed anything before.

When her shadow had finally disappeared, I heard a massive splash behind me as the water stopped floating to rejoin its previous course down the stream. Now I had no tools and no easy fish I could just grab out of the air. I watched the fish swim downstream for quite some time, thinking hard on the path I had chosen. "What am I even doing here?" I questioned myself out loud.

Shaking away my self-doubts, I set my mind to the task at hand. I started trying to catch the fish with my hands; it was actually much easier than I had previously imagined. It seemed as if the fish had gotten much slower then it looked like they were moving. It was harder to hold onto them though, and my first few slipped right out of my hands, and back into the water. I needed a way to hold the fish after I grabbed them, and after looking around for a bit I saw a rather long stick lying on the ground. It was pre-sharpened, and I somehow knew that Claire had given me a tool; albeit a rather barbaric one.

The first fish was the hardest, not physically but mentally. I tried to tell myself that it was for the greater good; for my own survival, but it didn't make things any easier. It was the first life I had taken, excluding any insects and microorganisms I may have killed on accident. I used the same spear to catch all of the fish, sliding the last one up as I went to stab the next one; their flopping as they died making me feel bad.

I started to head back towards the bus after I had captured a little over ten fish, heading the direction I came from. My stomach actually started to hurt as I imagined eating the fish. When I finally exited the brush into the clearing that hosted the bus, the first thing I noticed was a picnic table. And then two people at the table; both Bill and Claire were sitting there, eating a nice meal.

Bill turned to look at me, his face curling up as he saw me holding a stick with lots of fish on it, saying, "Whatchu got there kid? Why did you go fishing when we have plenty of food here?" Claire did not turn around to look at me, but I assumed that she was smiling. Once again I had been made a fool by that girl.

I simply threw the fish into the wilderness behind me, and walked onto the bus, sitting in the last chair. It wasn't any easier to hide my embarrassment as Claire walked onto the bus, holding a rather large plate of steak in her hand. I simply stared at her with cold eyes of hate as she walked up to me, placing the plate next to me and walked back off the large vehicle. I felt my stomach growl, and my resolve to defy Claire weakening as the smell of the freshly cooked steak wafted up into my nose.

I was still a man, and my stomach took priory over my pride. It was probably the best steak I had ever had, but I still felt hungry after eating it. That's when I realized what Claire was trying to do; lure me outside with the promise of more food. In the end I sucked up my pride and walked back out of the bus, empty plate in hand, and sat down at the picnic table.

Bill smiled in my direction and said, "So you want seconds?" I nodded yes, and he grinned even bigger as he popped open a nearby grill, and shoveled another large steak directly onto my plate. I polished it off in less than a minute, holding my plate out for more again. He laughed louder and said, "Big appetite, eh kid? Well I'll give you more if you tell me what your name is; your real name, not the one you stole from that dead boy."

I was silent as I didn't know what to say, although it didn't hinder Bill from enjoying his own food. I stood up, finished with my meal, turned around and walked back onto the bus. It must have looked to others as if I was pouting, but I was really deep in thought. I looked out the windows and saw that the sky had started to turn orange, and I felt tired. Way more tired than I had just a few seconds ago. I slumped onto a nearby seat, and drifted off into sleep.

I awoke slightly when I heard the voices of people talking. I lay there on the bench, listening to the two talk, but I was too drowsy to make sense of what they were saying. One of the few things that did go through though was Claire's voice saying, "Yes I'm positive that he is ready for this step." Shortly after I recognized Bill's voice remarking, "But it took him too long as it was to finish his last test. I say that we put this off for at least a few days!" Apparently Claire was having none of it, but I didn't get to hear what she said next as I drifted back into slumber.