The Guardian of Light.

Chapter 6: The old treehouse

"Ready to earn some money?" I asked Sarah as we walked into the casino. "I forgot how that works." She said. "Really? Well, you join a game of $10, $20, $50, or $100 bet. So, you have two things to wager, your cards and your money. The casino usually doesn't win the games, the players do. The casino makes more money when players lose their cards, two spots open in the games in the $50 area, let's play!" I said. Sarah and I ran to the table and took a seat.

The game was flash, which is foolproof in the casinos as they shuffle your deck before handing it back to you. There were five players, so 4 cards each. My card strengths were valued for, 18, 14, 10, and 16. Pretty strong, but I wish I had gotten at least a 20. 21 is the strongest number you can get but they are rare and I have probably three. The first card laid down was by the casino. Strength of 8. The guy next to me laid down a card with a strength of 1. Sarah challenged it with card a strength of 6 for an easy win. I laid down my 10 card next to Sarah's 6 card and won. The guy next to me challenged my card with an 11, but lost out of a not-too-small chance. For this round I took the cards and the cash.

"I think we should leave." Sarah said. "Oh come on. How about double or nothing." The guy running the table I said. "$500, what do you say? Your boyfriend can join your team." He said. "I am not her boyfriend." I said, slamming my fist on the table. "Your mad after one round? Come on be a sport and play." One of the guys at the table said. We heard the door open behind us. I caught one glimpse of who they were, Three Darkened.

Everyone stared. "Get ready to fight." I whispered to Sarah. We both stayed staring at the table. The two Darkened grabbed us. "Why are you acting dif-" One of the Darkened said as they turned us around. I punched him in the gut, then stabbed him. "Everyone run!" I yelled. Sarah pulled out her pistol. Two guys came behind us and started choking us. "Alright, where's our money?" They asked the Darkened. "I promised you nothing." One of the Darkened said. "Give us our money or we'll let them run." The guy choking me said. "Shut up about money or I will blow your face off." The other darkened said. Again, novice. Seems to be a thing nowadays. "Fine, you asked for it." The two guys let us go and we ran for it. I saw the Darkened holding their hands up to charge a magic blast at us, then I heard a gun click.

When we ran out into the night we turned hard right. We had our hands on our knees and were panting. "Whew!" I said. "We're alive!" Sarah cheered. "That problem kind of took care of itself didn't it.?" I said. Sarah nodded. "Let's head back to the forest, I used to live in that cave we were in, did I ever tell you?" I said. "No, you didn't. You don't tell me a lot of things." She said. "That cave was my old military base. Of course that wasn't my favorite place to be in the forest." I said. "What is your favorite place?" Sarah asked. "The place I've been working on for the past two years., but, it's a surprise." I said, then smiled.

"You know, maybe not fighting is the thing I needed to stop being a 'pure soldier' as I called it." I said quietly. "What'd you say?" Sarah asked. "Just thinking out loud." I said. "Trust is something you still need to work on." She said. We both laughed. "We're here." I said, then started climbing a tree. "Wait Zack!" Sarah said, I already disappeared into the tree. I tossed a rope down. When I felt a tug I pulled it back up and Sarah was on the end.

"Wow!" She said, surprised. "This is all I did in my past time. As a kid I could see this place being a huge forest city, I don't know why but I liked the idea. Now this is where I disappear to every time I'm in my hometown and just want to think or sleep. It was kind of my only connection between monster and human." I said "Zack, do you really consider yourself a monster?" Sarah asked. "Yes, I do, I've killed so many Darkened, going so far as my own brother. I think war is evil, but then why do I fight?" I said, thinking out loud. "You fight because you fight for a good cause, you want war to end, so you're running through the maze and participating until you find the answer. Zack, I don't care how many people you kill so long as it's for a good cause and the ones who fall to your blade are not innocent. For every Darkened you kill, you may have just saved a few lives. The Darkened are evil. They're killers, They..." Sarah's voice trailed off.

"They...?" I asked, confused. "They killed my family, my brother, my mom, and my dad, dead thanks to them." She said. I put my hand on her shoulder. "They're going to pay, but it's our break , so let's enjoy it, Hey follow me!" I said as I climbed up another tree. I helped Sarah up. "Alright so why are we up here?" Sarah asked. "Look up, at the stars." Sarah looked up. "I honestly never imagined you as a star-gazer." She said. "It helps me think and calms me." I explained. There was a long silence.

"Sarah, thank you, not only as a friend, but as a teacher, showing me what it is to be human again." I said. Her cheeks turned red. "Stop it, you're embarrassing me." She said. We both laughed. "Let's head back down. I'll show you where we'll be sleeping." I said. We climbed back down onto the wood walkways, and into my treehouse. Sarah fell asleep quickly. Thoughts came flooding back to me. What if Sarah ended in the same way Ash did. No, that won't happen, I won't let that happen, not this time. I summoned my sword and slashed in the air out of anger. I accidentally woke Sarah up.

"Zack, you okay?" She asked. "Anger is normal, right?" I asked. "Only if you're angry for a good reason." She said. "I might as well tell you now. The Darkened took someone important to me, Ashley was Jack's sister. I promised Zack That I would protect her. Now she's dead because I wasn't strong enough." I explained. "It's not your fault, It's the Darkened's and your going to make them pay for that, but first you need to stop blaming yourself." She Said. "K, thanks for the tip, I appreciate it." I said sincerely. "Alrighty then." She said, and fell asleep again. I ended up falling asleep soon after that.