Light began to filter through my eyelids as I awoke from my pitch black dream. I unsteadily sat up to see where I was. A willow tree stood behind casting a large shadow over me. A large clear blue lake filled the area in front of me with a waterfall cascading into it.
"Good morning sunshine," a voice said, "I worried you died!" I cranked my head around to see who it was. A tall man about my age stood a few yards away. His messy dark brown hair hung down to his dazzling green eyes. "The names Xavier. What's yours?"
"Azaria."
"Hmm, It's almost as beautiful as you. I'm surprised you remember considering how badly that devilish troll hurt you."
"He is not devilish, you brat!"
"Oh really? Then why was he trying to kill you?"
"I don't know," I answered sheepishly, "He's usually not like that. All of them did that, they went crazy!"
"I would've thought that after I saved your life you'd be a bit more gracious," He spit back.
"Well thank you Xavier, but I think I'll be leaving now."
"Not with those legs you aren't"
"And why's that?"
"Why don't you check for yourself?" As I uncovered my legs from the wet cloth that was laid over them my mouth dropped. Burns cascaded up and down my legs covering them with blisters while giving them a dark red appearance. "You're lucky I had medicine on me or those suckers would be completely gone."
"Th-Th-Thanks," I stuttered.
"Yep."
I checked the rest of my body to see what else was there. Bruises and sealed cuts covered half my body, but the thing I had expected to be there wasn't there. Blood. "What'd you do to me you creep! Why isn't there any blood?"
"Okay, okay, calm down..."
"No! I'm not gonna calm down," I interrupted. I tried to crawl away from him but he was faster considering he could use his legs. He pinned me down so that I couldn't crawl away.
"I didn't do anything to you Azaria. All I did was dunk you in the lake and cleaned off your arms and legs. I had to get your cuts clean." I stopped squirming.
"Oh." I said as I looked into his light green eyes. He climbed off me making it so that I could actually breath. It wasn't because he was crushing my guts that air didn't fill my lungs, but because there was something different about him.
I sat up so that I could look at the lake. I tried to avoid looking at him, but small glances escaped me. "How 'bout we start over," he asked. My gaze turned to him and I nodded my head. He sat down next to me, looking at my eyes. "My names Xavier and I'm your protector."
"My 'protector'?"
"Yep. We make sure people like you, the caregivers, don't die. All protectors are trained by a mentor when they're around fourteen. Then we are eached are assigned a certain caregiver."
"Wait, what are you protecting us from?"
"Your little fairy friends and such," he answered calmly, "Only when something like what you just encountered happens." I'd never heard of a protector before, but something about him made me trust him.
"So this has happened before?"
"Yes, but in smaller increments. And it only recently just started happening, that's when they started the protector program. Sometimes it's only the dragons, sometimes just the fenrirs. It depends. They usually have no control over what they're doing." It all made sense now. That's why they attacked my family. That's why the serpents killed them. It had been one of the nicest sea creatures I had ever met, then one day, it all of the sudden start attacking everything around it.
The memory of the large sea creature slithering out of the water came into my mind. We were having a picnic that day when it started. My brother, Kayne, had pushed me out of the way right before the dark blue animal struck him with his venomous poison. This happened to everyone except me. I watched them all slowly die and there was nothing I could do about it. After a few weeks the serpent went back to normal, not even noticing what it had done.
"What's doing this?" I questioned him. He fidgeted, figuring out whether he should tell me or not.
"His name is Ganon. Sadly he's been stealing the animals memories and turning them against us for years. The poor critters can't do anything about it either, well except the griffins. They can block his aptitude."
Since the animals can't do anything about it maybe I could.
"Don't even think about going after him," Xavier stated simply. How'd he known I had thought that? "Yes, I can read your mind."
"Ha! You've got to be joking," I giggled with an eye roll.
"I'm really not." Dead silence filled the air. I tried to talk but it came out in a jumble of sounds. "You think I ain't too bad looking." A charming smile was flashed in my face.
"Shush it lover boy. You could be saying that cause you're so full of yourself." And other than being full of himself he was also quite annoying.
"I also know I take your breath away," he whispered into my ear, "And, I know about your family, and I'm sorry." I looked into his intense eyes; They were pained and saddened.
I was on the verge of tears as he pulled me into a hug, wrapping his muscular arms around me. Time seemed to go on forever as we sat there. "We should be getting you something to eat," he said as he pulled away and stood up, "You must be starving!" Until he said that I hadn't noticed the empty pit in my stomach.
A few feet away he opened a dark green bag. Out of it he pulled a small sandwich and a silver ball. He walked back, handed me the food and crouched by my legs. I watched him twist the top quarter of the ball off as I stuffed my face. "What is that," I barely managed to ask with a full mouth.
His calm and steady face kept closed as he smothered a misty goo on my legs. My heart pounded every time he touched me. What is wrong with me?
"It takes away the heat," he finally mentioned, "Your legs should be healed by tomorrow." As I stared at him transfixed I realized he wasn't actually that annoying. His slightly crooked smile was adorable and his sun-kissed skin basically glowed with warmness. "You really are beautiful," he voiced.
My cheeks warmed as I blushed with excitement. "And, you also have a wonderful voice," he mentioned.
"So since you think I'm beautiful and you like my voice, could I talk you into taking me to this Ganon guy?"
He chuckled before he stopped to think about it. "So under that sharp tongue of yours there's a flirt. I'll remember that." I giggled slightly and then quickly stopped myself before I lost control and burst into uncontrollable laughter. Standing up, he put the sphere down and softly sat next to me, putting his arm around my shoulders. "If you really want to, I guess I can."
"Really," I asked excitedly.
"Well yeah. I mean if you care enough about these animals enough to risk your life, I can risk mine." I stared at the lake as happiness bubbled like hot water inside me. My smile couldn't be broken.
