Chapter One

"Omnia causa flunt."

This is a tale from a world, far far from our own. This world had technology, art, science, opinions that wouldn't even be considered where you and I come from. It was hidden in secrecy as protection against Earth and those that roamed it.

This arrogant, and small world used telescopes, textbooks and lecturers to try and understand the meaning of life, of why there were stars and even what stars were.

That was my world. Years and years ago, and that is where we start our story. But remember, this isn't a story of good vs evil, this is a story of outrunning the truth, of outrunning fate.

"Elle! Elle! Get up!" my brother screamed. I groaned, rolled over and buried my face into my pillow.

"Now, or I'm leaving without you." After one last groan of defeat, I lifted my head and sat up.

I didn't take long to get ready, I never did. I grabbed a floral printed scoop necked dress that just hit my knees and added a belt to hide a stain of last night's takeaway, I tied the laces of my boots and took off my silk bonnet and started to tidy up my locs for the day. I couldn't help but wonder, as my brother changed the radio channel again, if I had once again let my Tiktok page run all night as the sides of my head was numb and my hands kept shaking.

"Elle? Are you listening?" asked Ari.

"What? I'm fine." I mumbled, lifting my feet onto the seat and burying my head into my knees.

"Elle, you need to tell me if something's… off." He said, a note of seriousness that I didn't ever hear.

"Relax would you. Jeez." I laugh him off and turn down the radio as we reach the school gates. Without warning, I hear the low dulcet tones of Ari's best friends.

"Arry! Over here!" Nate, Ari's best friend since primary school, bellowed. Ari, being over six foot with dyed purple shaved head and countless ear piercings, stood out over me, over most people. Still, although I wasn't particularly sociable or popular, I was popular by association, something that I had never even noticed until I was gone. Ari held up a finger to signal Nate that he would be over in a second, turned back to me.

"Look, Elle, I need a favour." He said, adding that strange serious tone I hadn't heard before. His shoulders had risen and tensed too.

"Yeah, what?" I asked, moodily and pushing my bag back onto my shoulders.

"Can you hang around with us today? I just really need to… focus on A levels and I kinda promised the guys that you'd help us revise." He grinned, making me roll my eyes. I was always more dedicated at academics than him, not to say I was smarter, but it was constantly hinted at by anyone that knew us. I don't think it bothered Ari, at least he didn't let it show. A pang of annoyance hit me - didn't it occur to him that I might have plans? That I might have a life? I mean… I didn't have plans that day, but still.

"Erm, nope." I smile wider, punching him lightly in the shoulder and began walking away.

"Wait, please." I turned back to face him. I narrowed my eyes and waited, letting him feel the silence.

"Maybe, if I have control over the tv for four months and… my choice of takeaways." Ari scoffs, but I had begun to walk away again.

"Wait- Fine." He sighed. Smiling quickly before turning back, I joined him in his walk towards Nate and the rest of his friends.

"Hey! It's Em- Emil- Emily?" stuttered one of his more idiot friends, Josh, I think. He had those annoying dirtied-on-purpose Nikes, grey hoodie and jeans that hadn't ever seen an iron.

"It's Elle. So, are we going in or what?" I ask, probably more moodily than my brother would have approved of, but after all I was doing him a favour. I was never one to purposely socialise, I guessed I would find better, more normal people in adult life, so I didn't even think about wasting my time.

"Assembly, remember. Besides, Emma, what else would you be doing?" Josh grins, dumping one heavy arm over my shoulders. I roll my eyes, and roughly push him off.

"Elle." I say between gritted teeth, this only makes Josh smile more.

"Ok, anyways, let's all relax. Come on we're gonna be late." Interrupts Ari, who gives me a stern look, to which I immediately stick my tongue out. I hear someone laugh and turn to beside Ari, a tall blonde boy, whose hair hung around his face and was cut exactly like John Wick, but cuter. His eyes were an ashy brown colour, and he had tattoos covering both arms, dark swirls and patterns. His face was angular, sharp, and his cheekbones made me blush.

"You new?" I ask, but his face drops. He looks around him but realises I'm talking to him. The rest of the guys were already nearly inside, but Ari held back and jogged over to me.

"Hey, what is it?" he asks, mildly out of breath. I stare blankly at him.

"The new guy, who is he?" I ask again, to Ari this time. His face too darkens and drops.

"W-What?" he stutters. Annoyed now, I snap.

"My God! Forget it, just a question, Jesus." I brush past Ari, who takes a second before catching me.

"Listen, Elle-"

"You haven't told her." Said a voice in the background, I turn and its angel-face boy. He sounds English, like us, but heavier, as if pronouncing each word was his mission.

"Told me what?" I snap, crossing my arms and sticking one hip out. Suddenly, the bell rings.

"Nothing, Elle. I'll talk to you after. Don't worry about it." Ari smiles, gently putting one arm over my shoulders and guiding me into school.

I drown out my drone-like teacher's voice, but I wasn't thinking about Angel-Faced boy, I was consumed by the ringing in my ears getting louder. It must be another panic attack, I reasoned. But it felt different, my whole head was numb and my hands were shaking uncontrollably. Hysterically, I couldn't catch my breath. Josh, sat to my left, stirs.

"Hey, Emily?" he nudges me, and that was my last straw. With a loud squeak I push my chair back, tripping over the student's feet on my way out that isle. I needed to get out. I needed air.

The room begins to spin, and the ringing gets louder. Distantly, I hear students laughing at my teacher, through her microphone shout.

"Elvi Johnson! Come back-" I leave the hall, banging the door into the wall as I go. Fuck, I can't breathe.

I somehow reach outside, and rest my hand against the brick wall. I try to breathe in, and out, just like before but it's not working. I feel tears fall down my cheek, and all I can hear is the ringing and my heartbeat.

I feel a warm, heavy hand on my back, I go to shrug it off, but as I look up, through bleary tearful eyes, I realise it's Angel-face.

"G-Go" I splutter, feeling more tears and embarrassment fill me.

"No. Here, sit." He says, not unkindly but firm enough for me to listen.

I sit against the brick wall, letting my thighs touch the cold pavement. I still can't breathe.

"Here, put your head on your knees." Angel-face directs. I do, and I can still feel his hand on my back guiding my breaths. I feel wave of dizziness from lack of oxygen, and sway slighting.

He doesn't let me fall, instead, I feel his hand on mine, gripping it enough that I felt safe.

Finally, I lift my head up and tilt it up towards the grey clouds of London. He had given me his jumper, a black knitted one that was warm and stretched over my knees.

"Sorry." I mumble, wiping tears and snot from my face. He chuckles.

"Trust me, it happens. Besides, I think I'll owe you an apology." He says quietly.

I look round at him, staring him in the face.

"For what?" that's when I felt the pinch in my neck. I didn't know what he had done, but I knew it wasn't good. The world swayed again, and I saw Ari, along with my headteacher, running out the assembly door, before the world went black.

I first woke to the sounds of a drip, loud, annoying, pestering. I opened my eyes, to the sight of a hospital room. The blinds on the windows were drawn, and I was still in my floral dress, but my boots were under a big green chair in the corner. I remembered what had happened and I realised Ari and that annoying, but surprisingly useful teacher, must have helped me. I was still wearing his jumper. Oddly, I didn't want to take it off, it was like a reminder.

"Elle?" floated a voice from outside the door. Panic shot through me, but I knew it was only Ari.

"Yeah?" I say, quietly. To my relief, it was Ari. Holding a brown box and a coffee. I smile at him.

"Hey, you're getting discharged soon." He says, I look at him confused.

"But, what did he do to me?"

"Who?" he asks, looking even more confused.

"Angel-face- I mean that guy." I say. Ari laughs.

"Wow, you must've been drinking some strong stuff." He laughs louder. For some reason, this hurts. My brother, my own blood is laughing at me.

"No, I know what I saw. I was outside, from assembly, and…" I say crossly. Ari laughs again. This only infuriates me more and I clench my jaw tightly.

"You're fine, we went to a party, and you drank way too much." He says, which provoked me again.

"No, Ari." I say indignantly. Still, he blanks me, and I choose to ignore it and investigate later as a sharp pain shoots through my head. He hands me the brown box, which I open and immediately start eating the brownie he had bought for me. Soon, the nurse had come around with a wheelchair that brought me to the cold outside. I ask Ari to bring the car around. The nurse waits, looking into the distance.

"Hey, I think something is wrong." The stone-faced nurse looks down at me, his height exceeded mine even if I wasn't in a wheelchair.

"What?" his voice was strangely monotoned.

"Well… I don't think I drank last night, I think this guy… I don't know who… drugged me and-" the nurses big sweaty hand clamped onto my shoulder, hard. I needed to get out of there.

I was about to speak when I noticed, his eyes, had turned a shade of black that wasn't human, and that spread across the white parts of his eyes. Despite my head screaming at me not too, I leapt up, and started to run the opposite way. The nurse-demon started coming towards me, I ran backwards until I hit something solid.

"Shit." I mutter, while praying that Ari would appear again, or that I would wake up and that this wasn't happening. When I opened my eyes again, I realised that this in fact was not a dream. I looked beside me, and saw a red fire extinguisher. I lifted it off its hook, and immediately it dropped to the ground. Note to self, fire extinguishers are never as light as they seem in movies. I decided, finally, to look at what I was leaning against, and to my horror it wasn't a wall, but a human being.

"Oh, erm, sorry?" I say awkwardly, before remembering the nurse-demon.

"Duck." Said the stranger, and given the day(s) I had, I ducked. A sound that I could only describe as a thunderous cannon, shot passed my head.

Behind me the stranger, once a teenage girl, now suddenly an elderly woman exploded with blank ink-like goo. My head swam again, and the pain that shot through my temple brough me to my knees. Thankfully, that prevented me from exploding with black goo as another shot fired over my head. I looked up, and instead of the hospital carpark, I was now in an arena. It was stone, crumbling and ancient, with only Ari in the audience. Except, Ari wasn't exactly Ari, he was ghostly, and his hair was half-grown in a mini afro style. His head was down, his mouth agape and he was shaking.

"Ari!" I yelled, but my voice echoed around the arena, and if he had heard me he made no move to escape or to help me.

The demon-nurse growled at me. I turned, and felt something cold in my hands. I realised, with a horror but also with a thrill that it was a spear, metal, indestructible and solid. But it was more than that, it was hope. My last hope of getting out of whatever this crazy nightmare was. I screamed as I pushed past the pain in my head, and charged. The demon-nurse and I were now only centimetres apart. With more force than my weedy build should have had, I thrust the spear into the demon-nurse. The demon-nurse roared, and arched backwards, I moved my head to the side as it spat the black goo at me. It missed my head, but spots scorched my bare hands. I screamed as the fire-like pain burned into my hands. I looked down and saw my own flesh searing away. I groaned, and looked back up but the monster was gone. I was alone in the arena.

I looked over to where Ari was, but he had moved. I looked around at the stretching seats, but he wasn't there.

"Elvi." It was Ari's voice. I jumped but he was right in front of me, and he looked normal again. With relief I began to step towards him. But my head screamed at me again, and I stopped. I grabbed the spear next to me, and with only a second's hesitation I threw it. Ari gasped, looked down at the spear that was wedged in his stomach. Horror dawned on me, but before I could cry or scream Ari exploded with black ink. I knew I was right, that Ari never calls me Elvia. He knows I hate it.

I looked back down at my hands, breathing heavily, the skin had shredded and peeled back in painful cuts. Suddenly, the air and the seats and walls around me began to pixilate and disintegrate. The world came back to me fast, and moving. Lights were being shone in my eyes, and when they were moved behind it was a lab-coat doctor.

I sat up with speed, feeling the world around me spin.

"Whoa, slow down." came a laughing, smug voice. I looked over and realised it was Angel-Face. I pushed the covers off me, and I stood on my bed, the world swaying and a look of nervousness crossed Angel-Face.

"Hey! Leave me alone, look this guy is dangerous, he-he drugged me and-" I yelled at the doctor. I look down at myself and realised there were wires attached to my arms and my stomach, and my hands, were scabbed and wounded.

I look over to the side and grab a scalpel and thrust it towards Angel-Face threateningly. He backed away, arms raised but laughing.

I quickly put a hand against the cold wall to steady myself as a wave of dizziness hit me again. Angel-Face tried to advance towards me, but I growled and thrust the scalpel again.

The door swung open with force, and we all looked over. My heart hit my stomach.

"Ari? What the fuck?!" I half-yell. Looking sorry, my brother stumbles into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Look, we can explain-" I go to lunge at Angel-face again.

"I can explain! Look please, Elle. I promise there is a good explanation." My brother desperately tries to reason. I rip out the wires, that were stuck on with just stickers, and the Doctor groans.

"Leave!" I yell at the poor doctor, who looks at Angel-Face, much to my annoyance, who nods and the doctor leaves. I try to even my breath.

"Ok, look, I will hear you out for two minutes, and only because we are related." I growl.

"Ok, deal. Can you put down the sharp stabby thing first?" Angel-Face quips. I glare at him, and he backs up again. I decide to sit on the end of my bed, as dizziness and pain overcome me. But I still kept the scalpel pointed at them.

"Ok, you remember that story?" my brother starts. I scoff.

"Which story?" I snarl.

"The one Auntie Jean told us, about fairies and other realms and shit?" my brother continues.

I nod.

"Well…"

"No, absolutely not." I say. Angel-Face sighs.

"Why is it so hard to believe? You just faced a demon, rather impressively I must add." Angel-Face calmly reasons. I shake my head.

"No, it was… a dream. This is a dream. Besides that doesn't explain why you DRUGGED ME!" I yell so loudly my voice hurts. Angel-Face's head tilts to the side.

"No, but it was too dangerous, your symptoms had been showing long before and your… brother…" he looks cruelly at my brother, "Didn't tell us."

"What symptoms, and who's us?" I say, desperately trying to ignore the pain in my hands. Angel-face sighs again. I could feel blood running down my hands, so I hide them in my hoodie's sleeves.

"Think. What did your Aunt Jean tell you." Angel-Face folds his arms condescendingly.

"That's just a kids story-" I say impatiently.

"No, think." He says calmly.

"Ok. Fine." Ari interrupts. "she said that a long time ago there were four queens. One of fire, one of earth, one of water and one of air. Queen of fire, however, was angry. She didn't get the land she thought she deserved from her dying Father, so she created Hell. Queen of Water, was even angrier at her sister, angry at disrupting the creations and the balance that their Father had so carefully curated, so she created tsunamis, that drowned out Hell. But Hell was risen again by Air, who was angry at Water for using her gifts against their sister. The final queen, however, was the angriest, the Queen of Earth." My hands were bleeding profusely now and seeping through my- his- jumper. "She used her power, and her sisters' powers to create the beings of the unnatural. The demons, the gremlins, the monsters under the bed. She sent her creatures all across the galaxy. When Water realised what her sister had done, she created The Guardians. Beings born into duty of protection and war, with powers of the element of metal and of Earth's core. Beings that were cursed, however, as they were forced to watch but never participate in human life. But, throughout the years these creations evolved into fae, vampires, werewolves, witches. Still, although the Guardians were split into fae, night children, Lunar children, sorcerers, and hunters, they remained bound to the duty of protecting each realm. That, Elle, is us." I laughed, but then the feeling in my face floated away.

"What? How-" it seemed crazy, it was crazy, but I was worried about Angel-Face's odd manner so I decided, for now, to play along.

"Ok, fine." I say quietly. The two boys share looks of worry.

"What?" says Angel-Face.

"I said, fine." To fill the silence, the sound of my blood dripped onto the tiled floor. Angel-face, looks at my hands.

"Shit- did the demon get you?" he sounded genuinely concerned, which surprises me.

"So what?" I say grumpily, Angel-face rolls his eyes and kneels in front of me. I move back carefully.

"You go grab a kit. I've got to go, house call." My brother mutters to him. I look at him, surprised.

"What? You're leaving me here, with the guy who drugged me?" I say incredulous. My brother looks at my raised eyebrows and sighs.

"He's ok, I promise. I'll be back." He gives me a peck on the head and leaves. Maybe he went to get help?

I roll my eyes.

"Can we put the stabby thing down now?" Angel-Face quips. I sigh and let it drop to the floor, which is now soaked with my blood. He stands up and disappears outside my room, and returns with a bowl of soapy water, and a green first aid box under one arm. Since I had taken his jumper, he was now wearing a t-shirt that hung around his neck slightly, revealing more swirling tattoos. My knees bounce up and down as he sets the bowl on the floor. Instinctively, I slide down off the bed and onto the floor opposite him. He looks at me weirdly.

"What? You just told me there's these magic people and demons and shit and I'm weird?" he grins, flashing his teeth. He opens the box and lays out on tissue bandages and some weird purple coloured liquid in a small glass bottle. I unstick his wool jumper from my bloody hands, and rolled the sleeves up to my elbows.

"Damn, my favourite dress is ruined." I mutter, uncomfortable with the silence. Angel-Face laughs and sits cross-legged in front of me.

"What is this place?" I ask. He takes my hands and I flinch, we make eye contact for a second before I let him take them.

"It's an underground sanctum, same as a hospital but for people like us." I laugh.

"Right, and what was your name?" I ask. As he pushes my hands into the warm water. I clench my jaw and squeeze my eyes shut with the pain.

"Nero Howells. Are you feeling better from earlier?" Nero asks.

"When you drugged me or?" I ask, both of us chuckle. "And what is that name? What are you, a fish?"

"No. You're thinking of Nemo. And I mean when you were having a panic attack." I had forgotten that, and suddenly felt embarrassed. He didn't laugh at my fish quip.

"Oh, er yeah. I guess it seems pretty stupid since you're all guardians or whatever." I laugh. He shakes his head, serious.

"No. Lots of people get them."

"How come you were surprised I could see you?" I asked, brushing off the topic. Nero shrugged.

"Cause, my species in particular is Sorcerer, which means I had hidden myself with magic, even if you are Guardian, you shouldn't be able to see me without me letting you." he said. I only laughed, what utter drivel. Still, a sense of truth rang about it that I ignored.

We faded back into comfortable silence, and I started to wonder about how I ended up here. How I got from school to that weird arena to this 'underground lab'.

"How did I get into that arena thing?" I asked, I wasn't as scared anymore. I didn't trust him, not one bit, but he wasn't an immediate threat. He stops washing my hands and looks up.

"Arena?" his crooked nose scrunches.

"Yes. That arena place the demon-nurse took me." I say, and his brow furrows.

Nero is silent for a long time, long enough that I hear the ticking clock on the wall.

"Nero?" I prompt, after what felt like minutes. He almost shrugs himself back into conversation, and plasters that strange smile that isn't quite happy, but isn't sad either.

"Here, this is for Guardians, it'll heal your hands within days." He says, taking my hands out and drying them carefully with a towel behind him. Nero unscrews the purple liquid and drops small droplets over my hands, which stings a little, and then carefully bandages them.

Nero carries the now bloody water and first aid kit back outside, and I wonder where outside is. I wonder if there are more people apart from him and the strange doctor. I wonder what sort of cult this is, and whether my Aunt was in it too, and how my brother got involved.

"It's past 10pm, you'll need sleep for tomorrow. I'll leave these here, just dump the jumper on the floor." He says, closing the door behind him as he steps back into my room and chucking a neatly folded pile of clothes on the bed.

"Tomorrow?" I ask, too awake to think of sleep. He doesn't answer, but instead nods and leaves the room. I grab the clothes, a large knitted black sweater, not unlike Nero's, and a pair of light blue joggers and thick wool socks. I change quickly, but taking care with buttons and zips and my large bandaged hands. I carefully folded up the bloodied jumper and left it on the floor in the corner, I tossed my dress scruffily next to it. The joggers fit well, with the help of my belt, and the jumper was comfy.

The darkness seemed to grow up the walls, casting strange shadows but there was no window, only a light switch and a light in the middle of the ceiling that shone an odd yellow light. I climbed back over to my bed, crossing my legs as I stared at the ceiling.

I can't be a prisoner; this is supposedly a hospital. And if we got in, I could get out. A small flicker of a smile spread across my face as I leapt out of bed. I scanned the surfaces, and picked up my boots and tied the laces together, then around my waist so that they hung off my waist. I didn't want to attract attention with the noise of my boots, but I knew I would need them when I got outside, if I got outside.

I took a deep breathe, imagining I was inhaling every ounce of courage, before pushing on the door handle. The loud squeak made me jump, I covered my mouth and breathed through my nose. I opened my eyes, and pushed the door open.

Outside, was a grey, cold, empty hallway. It had faint scratch marks across the walls that made me shiver. The floor was tiled and cold, but my socks gave a little comfort. I stepped outside, holding my breath with each step. To my left, was more empty corridor and black doors lining the sides, and to my right, however, was the more doors, but at the very end were lights. Signs of life. I swallowed my fear, or tried to, and headed right. Suddenly, wheels squeaked around me, and the courage I had gathered was lost as I dashed back into my room. I closed the door, and leaned against it breathing heavily.

After a few minutes, I decided to try again. If anything, I needed to find my brother, or find out what this place is. I opened the door again, and my heart beat faster. I turned to my right and speedily made my way down it.

It seemed to stretch further as I walked, but I at each door after the first eight, which were crosses, presumably for medical, there were different symbols. One was a vial, and there were at least twelve of those, the next was a crescent moon, about fifteen of those, a lighting type shape, at least ten of those, and more.

Finally, as I got closer to the strange light, I could make out double doors, wooden and with glass panes fitted into the top half, cut like the shape of waves. If I wasn't so scared, I'd find it pretty cool. I ducked into a crouch, and peered through the doors. Rows of wooden tables, like a dinner hall, had groups of student-aged people, all reading or talking in small groups, or playing cards, or eating. If I were to show a stranger this picture, they would assume it was a school, a canteen at some private school, not a cult, or a hospital.

Seeing that it was a dead end, I realised that the only way out was through. I shoved on my boots, hoping to fit in, and hid against a shadowing wall. Soon enough, a group of my aged teens swung open the door, all chatting happily with each other. I stayed a moment, trying to gather information that may prove useful.

"Hey did you hear? This new girl is here, apparently she's a clueless." Said one purple haired acne prone girl. She had called me 'a' clueless, like I was an object, and as if I was supposed to know what that even meant.

"I know right? Probably a rumour, but apparently it's Caelum' sister." Said a brunette boy next to her. Caelum? Not my Caelum, right?

"Who? Caelum Johnson?" laughs the purple haired girl. Shit, I guess you saw that coming? Once they had disappeared, I snuck through the closing door. The voices got louder, loud enough to feel like they were right next to me, which I suppose they were. While I hid behind a table, a group of teenage girls walked past, linking arms together, a couple laughed and sneered, and I realised I couldn't hide in here, so instead I stood up and with the fake confidence I had mastered in middle school, strolled through the hall. I received a few odd glances from strange gawky looking teenagers, but for the most part I stuck in.

I could now see the end of the hall, a couple bookshelves lined the walls beside the double doors, but I quickly made my way past them and through them. On the outside, the grey metallic corridor was colder, almost painfully cold compared to the warm cafeteria. I unwillingly undid my boots, no one else was in the corridor and it felt safer to hide. On the left, I looked down the empty corridor, where no doors, windows or evidence of life were, I felt my bones chill. Something was off, I wasn't sure what, but something was. I found myself running down that same corridor, further and further until the slapping of my feet against cold plastic-y floor stung. I could feel my breath getting faster and soon my legs were warm again. I let out a manic, panicked laugh as I still found no life. Finally, in the long distance, a set of fire exit doors, next to a keypad. Before I could continue in my sprint, I heard something. A scratching, scathing, creaking. I stopped dead, making me fall over my own feet. I looked towards the noise at my left, and a black painted door stared back. I took a deep breath, trying not to cry, but I could still feel the stressed tears welling. Against my own reactions, I pushed lightly on the door. It didn't move. I pushed again, harder this time, and with a creak it opened some. I pushed again, leaning my whole weight against it, digging my feet into the floor and pushing. Finally, the door came loose and I was flung into the room. Was it a room? I'm not even sure what you could call it. Huge, towering tanks filled with bubbling gases stared back at me, there must have been thousands, all lined up in equalled measure and as tall and big as windmills. I wasn't bothering to contain my tears any more, instead they came thick and fast down my face, making paled tracks down my cheeks.

"Holy shit." I heard my self say, although I had said it quietly, it echoed. I looked around again, and that was when I saw them.