The Protectors:
Book 1 in the Protectors Saga
Copyright 2011 Paige Dooling
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 1
The long cold steps seemed endless as she rushed towards the screams of her friends. Why had she just left them? Were they alright? These were the thoughts that raged through her mind as she finally reached the enormous stone doors. She flung the doors open with as much force as she could muster and then entered into the impeding darkness with both fear and anger weighing on her heart.
Once she was inside the chamber the doors slammed shut behind her. She couldn’t see or hear anything, but she felt him. Everything inside of her knew that he was close. Then, out of the darkness, his voice bellowed. Chills ran throughout her body as he spoke, “How does it feel to be so powerful and yet not able to save the people you really care about?”
Her confusion was laced with despair, and her voice trembled as she spoke, “What are you talking about? Why did I hear the screams of my friends?”
His laugh was cold and hard as he answered, “The screams of the dying are often heard for miles, and I don’t think your friends hold any exception to that.”
She felt the bile of panic rising up in her throat, “You’re lying,” she shouted, “my friends are at home, and alive, and out of your reach!”
“Poor child,” he scoffed, “you are so naïve; so young, and you have no idea as to how far my reach can extend. All together the Protectors became, and now all together you shall die.”
“You speak to anger me and it’s working…now…where…are my friends?” The silence that followed was broken as she screamed, “Show me!”
A second later a mist began to rise from the floor and in the middle of the room a luminescent glow began growing. Then, the glow started to turn into ghostly images. She saw the figures of her friends, her family; the people she knew and loved. She watched in horror as hordes of the darkest kinds of Demons raided her village, her home; the place where she had crept away from in the middle of the night, telling no one where she was going. She had done it for them, to protect and save them, and now all she could do was watch as they died without her. She kept silent as the destruction played out in front of her, until the image of her best friend, her most loyal fighter; laying dead on the ground in a pool of her own blood forced a scream of pure pain to echo throughout the empty chamber. Her legs gave out and she fell to the floor, unable to stop the tears.
“Now, now,” said a cold voice from behind her, “as much as your crying may delight me, it certainly won’t bring back your little companions.” He paused a moment, savoring her anguish, “As much as I’ll miss you and your friends getting in the way of my plans, everything must come to an end.”
“But…the prophecy,” she whimpered, still kneeling on the ground, “the prophecy said that if I came alone, it would only be me…it would be over. No one would get hurt…only me.” She could barely get out the last words.
He laughed, “Prophecies are just mist and dust. No one believes in them, except for fools.” He delighted in the fact that his words made her tears fall harder as he continued, “You really only have one course of action left, my dear.”
Desperation crept over her as she stared at the cold stone floor, praying for the answer to what she should do. She knew what it was that the Emperor wanted. He wanted to fight her; if he were able to defeat the leader of the Protectors his reputation alone would be enough to secure his place as a God amongst the darkness.
I can’t do it, she thought to herself, he’s too strong and I’m so weak. I’ve never been anything but weak…I’ll lose. Then the knowledge that she had already lost consumed her. What was the point in fighting if she had already lost everything?
“Get off of your knees.” He was getting impatient, “Fight me…now!”
She wiped away the warm tears off of her cheek. It took only seconds for her to make a decision, but to her it seemed like an eternity.
With sleek eyes she looked up at him and spoke with a soft defiance, a defiance that came from the knowledge that she wasn’t about to give him the pleasure of killing her, “You are right about one thing Emperor; I do only have one course of action left.”
She swallowed hard and drew in what she knew would be her last breath. Her movements were quick and precise as she drew the long steel dagger out from sheath strapped onto her waist. She thought how strange it was that holding the dagger would give her comfort. Even though she knew what she was about to do with it, to her, it was like an old friend. She raised her head towards the heavens, but all she could see was the dingy stone ceiling.
She spoke quietly, only audible enough for her own ears and couldn’t stop the tears from re-forming in her eyes, “Forgive me.”
In one swift movement she plunged the dagger deep into her chest and through her heart. There was no pain, only a dull sense of discomfort and a tightening that grew with every beat that her heart could not make. But even without pain she knew that she was dying; she was a skilled warrior and her aim was accurately deadly. The life was draining out of her and she could feel it, feel her body growing limp, and the air around her becoming colder. As she fell back onto the floor, in her last moments, she searched for the guilt she knew she should feel. The leader of the Protectors ending her own life before attempting to fight for this universe was an unheard of thing. A thing of guilt and shame, but she felt none of it, only a silver thread of relief. Relief that maybe it was finally over; all the worry, pain, and responsibility; everything that her life had been made up of. Although, there was something deep down inside of her that told her it wasn’t over, that this wasn’t it; a chapter had ended, but the story was far from being finished.
“Noooooooo!” The Emperor screamed with such fury it seemed to shake the chamber walls.
It had all happened so fast, too fast for the Emperor to stop her, and now he was deprived the acclaim of killing her. An act he knew he would have accomplished. In her condition, beaten down by grief and without the aid of her fellow Protectors, she would have been no match for him at all.
The Emperor walked over to her lifeless body and knelt down beside it, wanting nothing more than to bring it back to life so that he could strangle the life out of her with his own two hands. After a while he became amused at the irony of the situation. From the second of her birth he had hated her and wanted her dead more than anything else in the world, but now that she was actually dead, he realized he hated her more than ever. He began to gently stroke the torn flesh around the area where the dagger had pierced through her skin.
His thin lips traced the outline of her ear as he spoke to her body, “Avery,” he breathed her name, “I may not have the honor of your death on my hands, but now there is almost no one left standing in my way. Soon, even your little warriors won’t be a threat. In the end, I suppose you made it easier for me. In the end…you lost.”
The large chamber doors flung open once more, but this time instead of a single Protector walking through them, it was an assembly of some of the vilest beings alive, dark Demons from the underworld, brutish trolls, foul ogres, and monstrous beasts; all of the things that nightmares are made of, and all of the creatures that the Protector’s spent their lives eliminating.
“My friends,” The Emperor gushed, standing up from the body, opening his arms out to his visitors, “I’m so pleased you could
all come.”
A large Demon, humanoid in appearance, except for the fact he was covered in red scales, was the first to notice Avery’s body lying on the ground, “Is that her?” He asked, a hint of shock in his voice, “Is that the Protector’s leader, dead on your floor?”
The Emperor smiled slowly and motioned towards the body, “Yes, I suppose she was.”
“You actually succeeded.” Another Demon spoke, this one was grayish and covered in rancid ooze that smelled like stagnant water, “Although, I do not sense your power on her…you did not kill her with your own hand.”
“That is irrelevant!” The Emperor shouted, he was not about to let any of these putrid insects begin to challenge him, “I provided the false prophecy which led her here! I created the illusion of her village’s destruction, and if she had not been too weak to fight me I would have torn out her heart with my own two hands!”
A hush fell throughout the room. Not one of the creatures wished to anger the Emperor, fearing his power and wrath.
“The body of a Protector is still a grand trophy!” A massive green troll, standing against one of the far walls said, “You should display it outside for all to see!”
“Leave the body where it lies.” The Emperor bellowed, “Trust me, it’ll be much more effective this way.”
“What do we do now, my Lord?” The red scaly Demon asked.
The Emperor could barely conceal the anticipation in his voice, “We wait until they come, and when they do…we show them the same kindness that our previous guest received.”