The dark guardian

C10

The first day was the most boring of all, starting another week of classes was terribly stressful, it was the day and I had never adapted to this routine. Actually , I did it for my future, but since I was little I was not a lover of everything related to studies.

"Hello, Astrid," I smiled when I saw her, she was with her friend Mell in the hallway, this girl always stayed with her, she seemed like her escort or something. 

"Hello, James," he greeted with his smile that hypnotized me, "you have a face like you don't want to take classes ." Mell analyzed me from head to toe, it was uncomfortable  the way she acted every time I approached them, you could tell she didn't like me. 

She hated that, she was different from Astrid, I don't know why Astrid, being different, had a friend like her? I should give him a little advice, but better not. I wouldn't want to get in trouble. 

Mell —my coldness was noticeable. I hope you have noticed. 

"Hello," he didn't even meet my eyes, "can we go, Astrid?" He took her arm and led her away. 

Always this girl stayed with Astrid, she never had the opportunity to talk to her because of her and her bad temper. He is worse than his parents, he walks her taking care of her most of the time. 

-James! It's good that you came already—Harry was at the door of the classroom, leaning against the wall.— Will you go to the horror fair? What will the university do at night?

"Fright Fair ?" I frowned, "I don't think so," I kept walking. 

-Really? How are you going to say that! They only do that fair once a year and it's super, there will be people in disguise terrorizing the guests, come on, don't be boring—he begged me. 

"I'm not going, Harry, and if that makes me antisocial, then what does it matter?" I sat down at the desk. He didn't know why all the fuss with a stupid fair. It was something that was already boring, it is true that they did it once a year, but it was boring anyway. It was more than anything for minor people, people who really scared them, something that had no effect on me. 

"Come on, James, you have the right to have fun too, the fact that we have a mission underway doesn't mean you neglect your human side" Katsuro appeared in the classroom sitting next to me.

"I don't know, I'll think about it..." I rolled my eyes at their insistence. 

"Is everyone ready?" I spoke out loud to the family from the living room, I had decided to go to that silly fair, but this time I would go with my sisters and my father, since mom was tired. If I went it would be for her, because when I came home they also spent time begging me.

"Thank you for thinking of us." My sisters hugged me. At times like this their cutesy was noticeable, but when everything was over they would go back to being the usual little devils .

—Yes, please—zero kitsch.— We left in dad's car. 

In just the entrance it was super full, apparently not only had I had the idea to bring my family, I could see that other classmates came in the same situation as me. It seemed that the entire community had agreed to come to this. 

"Hello, again James," Astrid greeted, dressed in a pink sweater and white jeans, "I thought you didn't like these things," she was surprised to see me there. 

—That's right, but I came with my family, as you can see, and I hope that they can enjoy the time, because this isn't interesting for me —I shook my head.— Just look around you, it's not something that's my style. 

"Hey, I'm sorry about college now," she crossed her arms a little thoughtfully. 

"What are you talking about?" I wondered, I had no idea what he was talking about. 

—From when we were talking, I don't know why, Mell , he acts like this every time he sees you and you talk to me—he pursed his lips in discomfort. 

"Don't worry, nothing's wrong" I cheered up and caressed her hair, then I gave her a little squeeze placing my arm behind her back, it was brave of me so I was quite shy with her. 

"How nice of you." He did the same and it felt good.

“Hey, Astrid, hurry up or you'll run out of candy,” Mell was calling her name. This girl was insistent just when I was advancing with her and she appeared. 

—I'm sorry—he put his lips in a single line and left—I hope to see you later. 

"Don't worry, go with her, maybe another time we'll talk in privacy ." I rolled my eyes as I turned around. 

—It seems that this girl, Mell , I think her name is, is making your life miserable with, Astrid, your girlfriend.— Katsuro appeared by magic. 

"She's not my girlfriend!" Katsuro , rather, why don't you go out there and look for more spirits?— I glared at him, today is not my day and you, you're not contributing at all. 

—Change that face james, just relax today, I don't even feel an evil presence here, rather I would like to be human to enjoy all those delicious sandwiches that are seen. 

I kept walking and suddenly a guy came out with a bloody mask and a dirty outfit. 

—Ooh ... !

"What are you supposed to do?" Do you think that will scare me? - Take your mask taking it off. 

bitter guy !" He ran off. 

"Do you see why Katsuro didn't want to come ?" I find all this ridiculous , all these guys dressed that way... it's stressful for me to be dealing with this. 

—Don't exaggerate, you say that because you're used to seeing real spirits, but for a normal person it sure generates some fear. I bet if you had a normal life a while ago I would have given you something when I saw this. 

"Whatever" we kept walking. There was a passageway that led to another place. Past it, at the end was a dark castle. 

WELCOME TO THE HAUNTED CASTLE.

There were wails, some fires at the entrance and a huge door in the front, it looked gloomy, I accept it, but surely there were more of those types out there. The ones that didn't scare me. 

Katsuro had frowned as he entered. 

"What 's up?" I looked at him. 

—No, nothing, nothing happens.— We continue walking through the darkness. 

We went through a room where there was a torture chair full of blood, it caught my attention because it looked so real. They took me by the arm, a guy wearing a wolf mask. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you!" I hit him

—Hey, friend, that's enough—he defended himself—it's just part of the number, don't take it so hard. 

We were walking between corridors when we heard a strange sound coming from the ceiling. Something large was heard. 

"What do you think it is?" I frowned, this time it didn't look like any of these planned tricks. 

'll have to go, James," we headed for the roof. 

On the ceiling was a flashing blue circle, it looked like a crystal ball illuminating everything. The effect that it did had nothing to do with the tricks of the people who were here. 

—But what the hell is that , Katsuro ?— Gusts of wind came out of him that made us go back. 

—I don't know, but this is definitely not something from this fair—he covered his face with an arm avoiding the slip. 

narrowed my eyes to see what the hell was going on with that sphere, I could see how little a body was regenerating, a body similar to an insect. A kind of dragonfly merged into the body of a human.

"Step aside , James!" Katsuro warned me, "it's a demon spirit." 

—I will devour your soul—it opened a gigantic mouth to destroy me. Immediately I took out my sword stopping its bite.- You've been lucky, we'll see if you dodge this attack-some kind of snakes came out of its mouth, they spit out a poison similar to an acid, which melted everything in its path where it fell. 

In an attack he launched  poison uninterruptedly, it seemed like rain coming down on me . Katsuro cast a spell stopping the flow of acid. 

"What are you supposed to do, Katsuro ?" I scolded him.

your stupid ass or what?" Also this time, don't you want me to help you? - He positioned himself in front of me, stopping everything. 

—Not really, I think I can with this spirit rubbish, it's not that strong, the only thing that's so disgusting to see, I didn't know that spirits also had the form of insects. 

—I will devour both of them, whoever it is in the end, the same result will be—it moved its wings—their souls look a bit succulent. 

— Okay, Katsuro , we 'll both fight, but we have to take this battle elsewhere, remember that there are many people here, there are also my sisters and the boys from the university, I wouldn't like to expose their lives in this way. 

—You're right—he took the insect by one leg and we teleported to an arid area where we would have more freedom to fight. 

"So they didn't want to keep their friends in danger." The damned insect had seen through the plan. 

" Katsuro , go after me." I stepped forward with my sword to attack. 

I moved in a zigzag trying to distract him, Katsuro moved in the same way. 

—Now !— in unison we attacked—my sword could cut one of his wings, while Katsuro one of his katanas managed to cut a leg. 

"This was really super simple," I boasted. Turning without worry 

"We'll see what you do with this!" He threw a huge ball of acid. I closed my eyes. I imagined myself totally burned, everything had happened as if in slow motion. 

"Seriously you're still stupid, James," Katsuro used a shield to stop the attack saving my skin—a spirit is finished until the moment you take its life, otherwise you can't be trusted, always take that into account by how weak your opponent is. Now watch and learn, this time I will be the one to finish this job.

Katsuro positioned himself to attack, he took his katanas burying them in the ground and made some unusual movements with his hands. 

—Invocation of the fire dance!— his katanas took fire, an intense fire that reached me with its heat, he attacked the spirit cutting it into many pieces, he made what he had done seem so easy, sometimes he did not know Katsuro 's true power , but if he was a vigilante it was for a reason. 

"How did you get away? " that?” I was amazed, scratching my head processing what I had seen. 

—Practice my dear, James, it's just practice, one day you will perfect your technique making you even more powerful than me—he scratched my head — now we have to go back, I hope you have learned certain things from this simple battle. Because many more really await us  that we must be prepared. Oh, by the way, we make a very good team." He smiled raising his thumb. 

"James, where do you get so lost?" You haven't enjoyed the fair at all, you always do the same thing—my sisters were furious—you bring us in and then you leave us and dad also got lost after we went through a dark tunnel. 

—Is he lost? —I laughed—come on, we have to look for him, without him we can't return home, what a distracted man. I bet he must be trapped by one of those idiots who walk around with those masks—they smiled— he tried to take one, but it went wrong.