Forbidden Mate: Awakening

~LILY’S POV~

As we had arrived at the entrance of the Wailing Woods, we finally came across the clearing filled with the giant stone statues. The statues looked ancient, their features worn by time. It was a bit spooky, as if the statues were watching us. They did look hyper realistic. There were five; 2 by the left, 2 by the right and by far the largest one just in the way of the entrance.

“Fuck! Look how huge they are…I gotta get a picture.” Sarah plopped out her instacam from her bagpack and started taking pictures.

“We don’t have time for that, Sarah.” Theo said, impatiently.

“Yes, we do. ” She shoved the instacam in his hands, “Take a pic of me, please.”

“What are you doing, Sarah? Don’t go close to those things…” I said, rather too forwardly but Sarah went anyways and stood close to the first one on the left.

“Making memories…if you won’t take a pic with me, just don’t complain.”

“But what if…”

“Take another one, Theo.” She ignored me and continued posing for the camera, which I doubted Theo was even using.

“Don’t touch it, Sarah!” I exclaimed when she bent her body to lean on one.

“Can you stop worrying? Oh, what are the odds they’d wake up and turn to real giants in front of-”

All of a sudden, the ground shook, and the statues began to move.

“Our…eyes.” Sarah said, mouth open and awestruck when the statue she was leaning on started transforming in front of her.

They started to transform into living beings right before our eyes.

Sarah was shocked and stationed on the spot when Theo called her, “Sarah! Get here now!”

She didn’t move. He had to run over to drag her back to where we stood.

These guardians, I took them for, were huge, towering over us. They had an intense energy and seemed to possess deep knowledge from ages past.

The guardians’ eyes glowed with a strange light as they got ready to face us. I felt they weren’t ready to let us pass into the Woods, and I wondered why not, when Sarah was busy taking pics and rubbing on them.

They glowed with an impressive light which made all of us just shook in their presence.

“I am Astanaklastika.” Guardian of Speed. The first one on the left said.

“I am Dynamisus.” Guardian of Strength. The second one on the left said.

“I am Duatmenthes.” Guardian of Elemental Control. The first one on the right said.

“I am Lagomsa.” Guardian of Teleportation. The second one on the right said.

“I am Cothro.” Guardian of Elemental Balance. The largest one said, and she sounded and looked more feminine than the rest.

As they introduced themselves to us, I could subconsciously already figure out their powers and roles as if they told only me.

“You shall not enter into our sanctuary if you cannot prove your strength, speed, control and concentration to us.” Cothro spoke.

“Only if you prove them to us,” Duatmenthes continued.

“Will you be allowed entry into our sanctuary,” Astanaklastika said.

“And be given a chance to claim the ring of Lythian.” Lagomsa finished.

Dynamisus’ voice rang out, “Do this or be slain here. Your time begins now.”

Cathro hit her scepter on the floor and the 4 turned to face us squarely. A wave of fear filled me up but I tried to stand my ground.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

Sarah held onto Theo and I, “Holy fuck! I didn’t want this to happen…. I’m…. I’m sorry. Can’t we apologize to them?”

Theo held Sarah’s arm, “Pull yourself together. We have to face this to enter. There’s no another way…”

I looked at Sarah, “We’ll be fine. Just don’t get hit.”

“O.. kay? Well, I’m dead.” Suddenly a large sword hit the floor in front of us and the three of us flew back.

The four guardians moved quickly, attacking with their powers, with incredible strength and agility. We had to be fast too, dodging the powerful strikes and just trying not to be pulverised by these gigantic warriors.

Every guardian had a different way of fighting, making the battle a real test of smarts and flexibility. One was super quick, another really strong, the third could control the elements and the fourth could appear and disappear as he pleased. I figured those were their main powers. We really had to think cleverly, use our own strengths and work together to beat those imaginably tough opponents.

The fight went on with these powerful guardians. We continued to dodge their strikes with all our might, our hearts pounding and our bodies filled with resilience.

When one guardian wanted to use tree vines protruding out of his palms to wrap Sarah’s legs, Theo jumped in the way and cut them all then pushed her out the way.

“Theo!” We both shouted out. He had transformed into a werewolf but the fall wounded his head a little, though he was fine. For some reason, I couldn’t unleash my guardian energy neither could I transform. I had to survive as a human, which was hard as I was already getting used to my other self during battles.

After the tough struggle, with sweat running down our faces, Cothro finally spoke.

“Stop!” The guardians immediately stopped and returned to their position. “You have shown great mastery of these four elements and for that, you have been granted entry into our sanctuary. Tread carefully and be victorious.”

The guardians, impressed by the bravery and strength we showed, bowed their heads in respect.

Then, they turned back into motionless statues, silent once again.

We looked at ourselves, exhausted and already tired.

“Someone tell me what we just experienced was all part of a dream…or an hallucination…Just tell me that it wasn’t real.” Sarah collapsed onto the floor and Theo turned back into his human self. He held her up.

“If you didn’t go around touching things…” Theo murmured but she didn’t let him finish.

“Hey, it’s not my fault. It did that by itself. You saw it too Lily, right?”

“We have to keep going. We don’t have time to waste. The longer we stay here, the less courage we have to face what’s in that place.” I told them and they both nodded decisively at me.

As they were walking in front of me, I looked at the guardians statues again.

It’s as if each of them told me something as I looked at them one by one.

Antanaklastika said, “Be sharp.”

Dynamisus said, “Strength isn’t only being fierce.”

Duatmenthes said, “Use what you have to your odds.”

Lagomsa said, “Be present and you’ll be everywhere.”

Then Cothro who was in front of me, looked down at me and smiled, “You are the first of our kind to begin the new era. Be brave, Guardian Atholigatura, for your destiny awaits you.”

Who’s that?

Her eyes shone a pure light that reflected in mine and I felt each statue reflect that same light which all passed through me and remained in me. I breathed out and held my chest, then I felt a pain on my right shoulder.

Before I could check it, Sarah called me, “Lily, aren’t you coming?!”

“Coming!”

I adjusted my shoulder and went in.