No Longer

Chapter 1

Ten Years Earlier . . .

Jason at only twelve years old was more brave than the strongest of Guardians—or more stupid. Depends on who was asking. He wandered beyond the city walls and passed through the barrier of the safe zone into the restricted area. Sometimes he barely registered that he'd left the safe zone, other times it was a deliberate choice. Either way, he did it often and without care for the dangers that lay beyond the barrier. Months of crossing the border and he had never come across any type of danger in the restricted zone, at least nothing different from what lay in the safe zone.

There were poisonous plants, a couple bears, maybe a few wolves, but that was the extent of the dangers. There weren't any people beyond the safe zone, Jason had searched, there was no evidence of human life in the restricted area aside from traces of the Guardians whenever they deemed it necessary to go beyond the barrier. Which wasn't very frequent, otherwise they might have noticed the little boy who liked to explore outside the safe zone.

The only different between the safe zone and the restricted area, Jason had found, was that Attunements in the restricted area were wild, woven within every aspect of the environment, whereas in the safe zone, it had become rare to find, used and abused by the inhabitants within. He was blessed to be born with Mystic Eyes, so he could see the aura that identified herbs, creatures, even humans with whatever Attunement they had. He preferred the restricted area because of the high Energy of the auras, it was like a breath of fresh air. Back in the city, he was often thought of as weird or a freak because he liked to look around people and not at them, and would comment on what he saw, no one understanding that he was looking at their auras, that his Mystic Eyes were something that couldn't be turned off.

On that fateful day, Jason was simply wandering through the forest that seemed alight with Energy, until he saw a shift in the aura just up ahead. He had never seen an Attunement change before, he had seen it increase and decrease in Energy, but never transform so completely from one element to another. It was something that was constant and—he thought—something that could not be altered. He was very wrong. As he was about to find out in his first encounter with it, there was one force in all the world that could change an Attunement; corruption.

He rushed to where he could see the odd ripple in the auras. Turning the corner, he paused at the sight of a wolf eating off a dead carcass that just didn't look right. The auras of the corpse and the wolf were not the same, the wolf was attuned to Water, the carcass—a deer that might have originally been Earth attuned—was now dark and shadowy, unnaturally so, even for a Shadow Attunement. As Jason watched, the ripples in the aura of the wolf grew larger, it's Water attuned markings darkening before his eyes until they took on the same characteristics of that dead deer, its aura turning from a dark blue to black and purple. This-this was not something natural. Auras didn't change. Attunements didn't change.

The wolf abruptly stopped eating and raised it's head, looking around, it's eyes locked on Jason, eyes that had been blue and kind and were now a malicious purple and full of hate. It's ears folded back, hackles raising as it snarled, showing off its teeth that seemed larger and sharper than before. Feeling suddenly unsafe for the first time in the restricted area, Jason slowly backed away. When the wolf started stalking toward him, he knew it would attack. Swallowing, he knew he had to make a decision.

This was not a normal wolf, wolves were pack creatures, they hunted together, but this one was alone, it didn't need its pack. If he stayed, the wolf would pounce and kill him without a second thought. If he ran, the wolf would give chase and the outcome would be the same. He didn't know if the barrier would stop the wolf, but it wasn't too far away, he might be able to make it before the wolf caught him, but he never felt safe in the city, not like he did out here, surrounded by Energy. With no good options, he bolted in the opposite direction of the safe zone, a plan forming, he could hear the wolf give chase after him through the trees.