A Book Of Unsung Heroes

The Beginning

A muffled rumble echoed throughout the school. Teachers and student alike lurched at the sound. Lately, strange things have been happening in Vermont High, explosions, break-ins and kidnapping are at an all-time high. Jake Andrews sneaked out of the class-room and into the hall, looking around him in search for the source of the explosion. He isolated the sound and headed for the school gym,

"It's the third attack this week, Jake" a soft voice at his right spoke to him, Jake turned to the pretty brunette and nodded gravely,

"We've got to stop these attacks; they're disturbing the peace and tranquility of this place. On top of that, Gaia hates explosions; since they normally leave the earth scorched." Jake pointed at the door ahead of them. Gaia, the goddess of the earth, plays a big role in the duo's lives.

"Ready?" he asked her. They burst into the room and stopped dead in their tracks. Half the gym was just open air, whatever caused the explosion looked like it took a huge chunk of the place. The once green and lushes garden outside the gym is now reduced to cinders and black earth. Jake noticed the flames left behind were a shade of blue before he rushed towards the dark patch of earth,

"Chloe," he turned to the brunette, "we've got to fix things up here."

Seeing through the magical spectrum, where anything arcane could be seen as light and rays, they could discern a thin lining of crimson surrounding the flames and both of them understood. The flames did not originate from this plane; the lining shows that the flames were Hell-Fire originating from the deepest parts of nether Hell. Only demons of immense strength were able to cross planes and wreak terror on Earth and the fact made Jake shudder. They tried restoring the earth as much as they can but they knew it was in vain, Hell-Fire destroys instead of burns. They gave up and slunk into the shadows as firemen suddenly burst into the room and tried to extinguish the flames but to no avail. The flames were unaffected and in the end, the firemen decided to shroud the flames with fireproof sheets. At first, the sheets looked as if they would catch fire but the flames died before it could happen.

"Fires just like this one are popping out of the city often." said one fireman to the headmaster.

"Is it safe now though?" the headmaster asked anxiously, worried about the safety of his students.

The fireman nodded and rounded up his colleagues. "Except for the gaping hole and that patch of scorched earth, everything is pretty much okay"

Jake clenched his fists at the mention of the destruction. Little did they know that Jake Andrews and Chloe Simmons were newly pledged Druids, a race chosen to protect Gaia and the life in it, who get their power from the earth and it hurt and saddened them to see the earth in such a state. They had moved into the city after 5 years of hard training under their Arch druid and hoped to protect Gaia from the devastation that land development brings along with it.

When the bell rang to dismiss the students, Jake looked for Chloe and found her already waiting for him outside the school's gate. They walked home together, since cars pollute the air, towards their 2 story house which they share; much to the envy of other boys. They were pretty well off since both their parents are druid themselves and own a construction firm specializing in making infrastructure that does the least damage to Gaia, as well as helping her since their designs focus on lush hanging gardens and tranquil meditative areas. They were halfway home when Jake noticed the lurking figures around them. He switched his vision to the magical spectrum and bound the blue lines of Chloe's consciousness to his own

"Chloe, can you hear me?" he asked her telepathically and saw her jolt slightly,

"Jake! You know how much that scares me!" she replied but he cut her short.