New Dawn

There has always been a Guardian to save all races from one great threat that lurks somewhere deep in the universe, waiting… waiting for her chance to rule. Numerous Guardians have come and gone, most of them killed by the beast herself; however, some did live out a full lifespan, helping everyone who asked. The beast, although given plenty of opportunities, still did not attack. Now the most recent guardian has died at her hand, and the universe must look to the newest guardian…
**********************************************************************
Mari Johnson had just finished her 8 to 7 shift at the local diner in the middle of nowhere Illinois, and was taking her time walking back home; she knew what waited for her there, a drunken father and bitter self-loathing. She didn’t want that anymore, she wanted something better, something more adventurous. Ever since Mari was a little girl she wanted to travel the world, meet new people, and stay away from men. Mari took notice of the details around her, she saw everything as if it were a precious hold to life, nature was a good chunk of her lifeline and she spent as much time outdoors as she could. Mari stopped on the side of the road and lifted her face up to the sky letting the wind tousle her long auburn hair, let her face soak in some of the last warm rays of the sun for today. Summer was just beginning, and this summer she planned on getting out. There was nothing for her here, sure she loved the people she worked with at the diner, but she didn’t really have any actual friends, just acquaintances that she kept at a distance. Mari knew that she would only ever get hurt if she let someone in, that’s just the way it seemed work in her life.
As Mari looked around her as she resumed walking at her leisurely pace, and everything was shown in sharp relief, she had always had excellent eyesight; her senses in general had always been excellent, better than most anybody’s. She took in every single leaf on every single tree and just let nature consume her senses until she was barely aware that she was walking anymore. Every day, on her way home from work she stopped in a small park that was ten minutes from her small redbrick house and just sat. She sat there enjoying the peace and quiet, she didn’t think of her troubles, she thought of where she would go when she got out of this town, what she would do, who she would meet. Her possibilities were endless when she sat in the park; she was never bothered here either, there were other, larger parks in the surrounding area where most people took walks or just sat, like she did, and that’s what she loved most about this particular park, that no one loved it but herself.
On this particular day she was thinking about how much money she had saved so far, over 8,000 dollars, and for a 20 year old, she didn’t feel that was too shabby. Mira thought that maybe if she worked for a couple more weeks she could leave by the middle of July for Europe. If she booked her flights now than she could probably keep the cost down and still earn a little bit more cash before she actually left. This was her dream, the dream that was finally going to become a reality. Her mother, before she died, had always talked about moving to Europe and living in a quaint little village, knowing everyone’s name and holing up each winter next to the fire with a good cup of hot tea and a great book. After she died, her mother’s dream slowly turned into Mari’s dream. Mari shook off the sad recollections of her mother, this was her way of honoring her, and her continuous struggle in life and she had mourned long enough.
Mari sighed and lay down in the plush, emerald grass and closed her pale green eyes to the light, still feeling the rays soak into her skin, enjoying the feeling of peace. She felt a light breeze begin to brush lightly over her. She didn’t think anything of it at first, it was a normal breeze, and on that hot day it felt quite nice, and then she noticed the light was getting brighter, at first she thought it was just the sun but it was 7:00 at night and there had been no clouds in the sky to cover the sun in the first place, so she sat up slowly and opened her eyes. She had to blink spastically for a couple of seconds for her to really wrap her mind around what was happening and even then she still couldn’t.
The light was actually some sort of golden glowing substance that was swirling around her faster and faster until it was just a blur, and then it just stopped; everything seemed like it was suspended in time, like nothing else mattered but this moment right here. She held her breath, waiting for what seemed like eternity for something to happen, when in reality it probably wasn’t even half of a second.
Then a voice, like no other she had ever heard before surrounded her, and it filled her with joy, sadness, fear, courage, and so many other conflicting emotions that she recognized the voice of wisdom and age without ever hearing its voice before. She found herself pulled towards the voice, like it was a giant magnet, guiding her towards her destiny, whatever it may be, and she knew, she knew without a doubt that whatever happened, it would change her life forever.