Anthony's Visit

He chuckled slightly and started walking towards her and stopped a few yards away. "Is that your way of calling me pretty," Lily spoke.

" No not at all, pretty fairies don't roam these kinds of woods, you are the scary type of fairy," Leo responded sheepishly then chuckled.

Lily started walking away towards a direction that probably was an outlet. She smiled slightly after feeling Leo following behind her. "I'm Leo.." Leo spoke trying to keep up with Lily's pace, of course he could go faster but that was not necessary.

Lily kept walking without slowing down until Leo gave up following her. "At least tell me your name," Leo shouted at the almost disappearing Lily.

"Forest fairy, you can call me that," Lily shouted back without turning around and continued walking away with a little smile on her face. "I knew it!" Lily heard Leo shouting back, " I'm here if you need a tour guide in the forest!", Leo continued.

He sighed then chuckled. The next moment his face got gloomy at once. Leo paid keen attention and there it was, whispers, strange whispers coming and going at intervals. He had been hearing these whispers since the night that woke to this morning, that was also the first night he spent in the tower.

He then pulled out something from his back, the object he had in his hands was an athame. The handle was wooden like with ancient symbols engraved on it. On the handle of the atheme, there was a tiny clear stone that looked like it was built in with the handle. Along the athame, the blade ran a good eight inch length.

The blade was double edged and the steel gave a clean silver look of rare steel. There were ancient patterns engraved on the blade that ran horizontally in the middle of it.The atheme was magnificently crafted and to any normal person's sight, it would look like something that was impossible to make.

It was indeed impossible to smith since it was forged by strong magic, a weapon formed by the tower itself. Leo ran his fingers across the atheme on the patterns engraved on the blade, he felt drawn to it by some force he couldn't quite understand.

Before he could complete putting it back to it's sheath, he heard the whispers again, but this time they were clear. It was a soft but chilling voice that called out his name. The voice was that of a woman and it was deep and firm but still had a sense of softness in it.

The voice called his name out again, "Leeeoo..."

Leo creased his eyebrows and had a worried look on his face for a moment then her turned to the direction he believed the voice was coming from and spoke back, "who are you." He stayed quiet for a few seconds but he did not get a response and so he decided to walk back to the tower.

He thought how he had to embrace his new life and the fact that everything was going to be different and even stranger. And now that he was a guardian, he had to expect the worst and the most dangerous of events.

But for now, his concern were the whispers he kept hearing and even more now than he heard it loud and clear. To think of it, he had never heard any voice that matched that of the whisper. The more he thought about it the stranger it got.

He did not know where it came from or why it sought him, all he knew was that he had to figure out who it was from. Before they went to the tower, his father always warned him of the happenings in the woods and the tower itself.

There would be tests especially to the guardian. And so far he had not experienced any, perhaps this would be it? Leo was deep in thoughts that he did not even realize that he had already reached the gates of the tower.

Those big massive gates released a slight ring in the air as Leo walked through the now closing gates. The gates were built in a way that they would automatically open once someone was before them. It was hard to tell if it worked for everyone or just the inhabitants of the tower.

Not long after Leo stepped within the compound of the tower, he saw his father Caleb speeding towards him from the tower and stopped a few steps from him. He looked at him with seriousness and a hint of discontent in his eyes.

"Your uncle is here." Leo chuckled and looked towards the tower, " let me guess, Uncle Anthony?" His father looked at him and nodded his head with discontent. He had never been that fond of his step brother.

Caleb was raised with Anthony as siblings after Caleb's mother passed and his father remarried. The woman he remarried had a child by the time she met Caleb's father, but the child was not Caleb's blood brother.

Over time, Caleb and Anthony were raised as siblings and they were quite familiar with each other and even loved one another when they were little. However, when the selection of the tower's chosen guardian arrived, Anthony started pulling away from his step brother since he was not qualified to participate in the ritual.

This was simply because Anthony was not kin or attached in any way by blood to the tower. This incident made Anthony hate his step brother so much that he couldn't see past his jealousy towards him.

Caleb however tried to relate with him nonetheless but Anthony had completely withdrawn. He tried to hide the hate for his older brother in front of their parents but it was quite evident. And so the hate grew even stronger when the family heirloom was given to Caleb, the ring that Caleb always wore on his pinky finger.

Anthony and Caleb were both raised with love and affection equally without bias but Anthony had his own perception. He moved out of their family house when he was of age and decided to go settle in a different City away from Umbra Town and the family.

It was only after all these years that he got word of the new developments and decided to visit the tower that was now being occupied by his step brother. This way, he had a good reason to step in it.

He always claimed to have a soft spot for Leo since he himself never had a son and Leo's birth was an utter miracle. He only got to see Leo as a new born since he insisted on seeing the baby for himself after hearing of the near death experience at the time Leo was to be born.

At that time, Caleb was in their house with his wife when she started experiencing labor pains. The sudden labor was sooner than expected so they were not prepared well. When Caleb went outside to start the track, he was shocked by the fact that it couldn't start.

He ran back inside to check on his wife who was on the floor with horror clear in her eyes. Caleb followed with his eyes the direction towards which his wife was looking at with fear. Before he could react, a dagger was throw directly at him.

He was swift enough to dodge it and rush towards the figure that was disguised in a black attire. With force he punched forward towards the figure and landed a blow in the abdomen. The blow was so fatal that the figure coughed up blood on the floor.

Caleb clenched his fist and with his left hand grabbed the figure by his collar, "who sent you." The figure did not answer and was about to reach into his pocket but Caleb did not let him. Instead, he pushed him backwards and lifted his hand that had the ring on it.

The figure felt immense pressure in the surrounding and let out a loud painful groan. The man then suddenly got still without making any movements and in seconds turned into ash. Sarah dragged herself on the floor wincing in pain looking at her husband.

Caleb rushed towards her and was about to lift her up when he heard slight movements from outside, "whoever attacked us is still out there." Caleb said lifting up Sarah who was now in a lot of pain because she was about to have a baby.

They had a secret passage other than the backdoor in case of emergencies and this was one of them. At this time Caleb was still living in Umbra Town and quite close to the woods, so that was the best place to go to since it would be safer to hide away from bare ground.

Whoever had attacked them was still following them and they were shocked to see more than three figured dressed in black robes rushing towards them. Sarah tried her best to drag herself as hard as she could to help her husband in speeding up.

They got deeper into the woods and they could feel a presence in the surrounding but they could not see anything. Suddenly a strong rush of wind knocked them over and they fell on the ground.

They immediately shifted their focus before them and immediately Caleb reached out to grab his wife with fear clear in his eyes. At this time Sarah had already gone into shock and there was not much of a reaction on her face other than blank dead eyes.