The Last Guardian

Chapter_56: Seal Bearer One

Lisa jumped up from her seat and immediately rushed towards Johnathan’s room. She was happy to see him awake finally. Johnathan slowly opened his eyes and Lisa was the first one he saw. Billy, Raven and Farid entered the room and everybody was relieved.

“Johnny, Oh thank God! You’re okay-” said Lisa.

“Of course I am. I’m not going down so easily- How are you?” Johnathan smiled.

“I am fine I guess-”she sighed.

“Okay now Johnny my friend, no more taking such risks or making impulsive moves, take a lot of rest- we will handle everything else-”said Farid.

“Pfft! C’mon Brother, Look at him, nothing could hurt our Johnny- ain’t that right my boy-”remarked Billy.

Johnathan took a deep breath. He looked at the wall clock, it was about 3 p.m. The gang cheered him up and told him about how the police found the kids in the sewers. Farid looked like he had something else on his mind but wasn’t saying it aloud. Billy looked obnoxiously happy. Even Raven smiled a little. He asked Lisa to go home after a while and take care of herself. She had been through a lot. She said that she’d come by later.

“Ah! Billy- You old dog- I know what you’ve done to me- don’t try to act like you’re innocent- Azazel is in my head because of you-” Johnathan thought.

An hour later, Johnathan was all alone in his bed when he recalled about the deal he had made earlier with Azazel. He didn’t know what his endgame was but he understood that there was no going back after this. For now there were no voices inside his head, Azazel was quiet. But what happens when he asks to take over? Would he be responsible for what he chooses to do? How powerful would he get before he would become unstoppable. Johnathan was now thinking that he might have made a bad choice but what else could he have done? He blamed Billy for this and promised to himself that once he gets the chance, he would confront Billy. At the moment, he needed some rest – some good sleep, the sun was setting and he could see the golden rays through his window. His eyes fell heavy, the pain killers were working...

It was past midnight when Lisa came back to see Johnathan. She saw Brother Farid sitting on the couch reading some old book. She greeted him and sat down beside him.

“You know you can relax now, he’s okay and you should be resting too-”smiled Farid.

“I know but I feel restless , there are so many things that I’ve seen lately that has changed my views about this world. I have so many questions in my mind- it makes me sleepless-”replied Lisa.

“I think I can help you with that, what do you want to know?”asked Farid.

“Everything, why so many creatures and monsters have been popping out lately? Why now and why this place? This City? And why Johnathan has to fight them?”she asked.

“Well, my child, there’s a thing called the darkness that is growing at a rapid rate every moment- it is a primitive force and its only goal is to bring death and destruction onto this world. For the past thousand years or so, it has been caged and trapped by an ancient group of warriors called the Guardians. But humanity has declined over the years. Our wars, greed, hatred and corruption has made the walls of the cage weak and it is only a matter of time before it breaks free and ends this world. To stop it from ever attaining its full potential, the ancient Guardians had locked the cage and split the key into 66 pieces that were buried all across the world- these keys are called Seals. But its minions have broken many of the seals till date and only a few remain. Every time a seal is broken, a monster or a demon comes to life. According to my research, there are Five seals remaining and believe it or not they are located in an around this city. We cannot let them be broken or else- we lose the earth to eternal darkness. Somewhere in the pits of the darkest hell, this darkness awaits, scheming and planning to get out. And Johnathan is the only one who can stop this from happening-” Farid explained in detail.

“Hm, where are the seals? I mean what are they and how do they look like?” asked Lisa curiosly.

“That is something hard to explain- It is said that the seals have been etched to the souls of living beings. So it could be anything, from a plant to an animal or even a human being. To break the seal, one must make the bearer of the seal to sacrifice his own life- which the demons are very well equipped to do. The seal bearers are granted one special benefit though- that none can kill them and if anyone tries then a Guardian will always be there to protect them- Or so it says in the old scripts- I can’t tell you how much of this is true, for I’ve never seen a proper Seal bearer in my life.” Farid explained further.

Lisa fell into deep thought. She never knew that there was so much going on in this world that she was not aware of. Farid went back to his reading while Lisa went to get herself a cup of coffee from the canteen.

Johnathan was fast asleep. It was 1:30 a.m. The entire hospital was eerily silent. She could only hear the ticking of the wall clock and the sound of her own foot steps. Far away in the maternity chamber, some new born kid was crying and its cries echoed throughout the empty corners of the hospital. Lisa thought that she would see Johnathan once and leave. But as she approached the hospital canteen the lights started to flicker. Suddenly Farid came running from behind-

“ Lisa, Stop! Don’t go in there-”he shouted.

Lisa turned towards him in confusion.

“What’s wrong?”she asked.

“Miss, I think you should go home-”he replied panting.

“But why?”she asked.

Suddenly a mild earthquake shook the entire hospital.

“This isn’t a regular earthquake-please get out of here before it’s too late-”said Farid.

Lisa listened to him and ran out of the hospital towards the parking lot. She got into her car and drove away. As she stared on her rear view mirror, she saw a dark cloud surrounding the hospital.

“Is this the darkness?”she said to herself.

Inside the hospital, Raven and Billy gathered around Farid. Raven took out her demon killing gun, while Billy took out his dagger.

“Go! Protect Johnathan, something’s coming- “Farid ordered.

Raven and Billy rushed into Johnathan’s room. He was fast asleep under the influence of the pain killers.

Farid could feel the presence of something dark and ominous but he couldn’t see it anywhere. He felt that this dark force was much strong and it was converging on to this hospital. But Farid had a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He knew how to make the dark force appear so that he could see where it was going. He took out a pen knife from his pocket and cut into the palm of his right hand. He was about to perform some dark magic. Blood came pouring out from his palm and he let it drop gently on the floor.

“By the power of the light. Reveal yourself- I offer you my blood, come reveal yourself” he chanted and kneeled over the blood.

The drops of blood began to boil and suddenly a flash of light emerged from it and went out like a wave out into the hospital corridor. The dark energy became visible for a few seconds and Farid saw something dangerously hideous moving far in the corner of the hospital. It wasn’t going towards Johnathan’s room but towards the maternity room!

Farid ran in that direction, following the apparition. He reached the spot and saw a dark figure standing in front of the maternity ward - there were new born babies inside. But to his amazement the apparition wasn't interested in the babies. It moved away towards the general cabins and stopped before one room.

"Stop!!" shouted Farid.

"Who are you? What do you want?"asked Farid.

The apparition zoomed fast and within a second grabbed Farid's throat. There was no face in it, only dark smoke- the lights died out in the corridor.

"You dare interrupt my meal?"said the apparition in a mangled voice.

"Ooh! What's this? Fresh blood?"it said and grabbed Farid's bleeding hand.

It raised his hand and let the drops of blood fall in it's mouth.

"Ummm... haven't tasted human blood in ages-" it said and choked Farid until he fell unconscious.

The apparition let go off Farid and he collapsed on to the ground. It then proceeded towards the room and went straight through the door.

Inside the room was a young lady who had recently gave birth. She was around 30 years of age with blonde hair and she was fast asleep, with no clue that there was something else in the room.

The apparition slowly approached the woman and stood in front of her. It was about to touch her forehead and manipulate her into killing herself and then it would devour her. But before it could do anything to her, Johnathan rushed into the room.

"Oh not today demon!" he said and drew out his sword.

The woman woke up and saw the dark figure standing in front of her and let out a terrible scream. Johnathan leaped over her bed and kicked the apparition out of the window.

"It's all right ma'am- you're safe- "he said turning towards her.

The woman fell down unconscious on her bed. Johnathan leapt out of the window following the apparition.

"What on earth is this thing? It's no Demon I've ever heard of! It hides it's face- it's more stronger than anything I've ever seen or heard of! It's not a natural one-"he thought as he flew down from the window and on to the ground below.