Sean struggled against the ropes, working feverishly to free himself. His thumb popped loudly out of place, and through the screaming pain, the dark-haired teen was able to remove his hands from their bonds.
He leapt to his feet and watched the barn burn. The crackle of the fire grew with each passing moment. Read, yellow and orange consumed the white-washed wood, giving the air an acrid smell much strong than a campfire.
If anyone were nearby, the thick billow of smoke would attract their attention. Sean needed to flee, but something froze him where he stood.
At the base by the barn door, Sean saw a young man not much older than him desperately trying to squelch the blaze. Above the man's head, the flames licked at some overhanging beams covered in straw thatch. What would normally have served as a covered porch and respite from the sun for the farmhands was now a death-trap.
Sean called out to the man, "Look out!", but the man could not hear him over the roar of the flames.
The teen should not care about the foolish man. He should run. He knew if he stayed that he'd likely be caught. If this man died and was important enough, Sean would not be a prisoner; he would be hanged.
The beams would fall any moment. Even now they looked brittle and riddled with holes from the fire. Sean turned to go, but he couldn't leave. No, he couldn't just leave the man to die.
Sean scoffed at his own foolishness as he headed into the conflagration. He did not have time to talk; the porch's ceiling was about to give way. Tackling the man to the ground, the pair rolled free just as their previous position was engulfed.
Sean struggled to catch his breath as he heaved and looked down at the man with relief. What he saw confused him. Instead of gratitude, the man's dark brown eyes seethed with rage.
"You did this," he screamed, punching Sean squarely in the jaw.
Sean went reeling from on top of the other man and rolled away on the grassy ground. Coupled with the blow from earlier, his vision blurred and doubled. "What? No, I didn't. I was saving you." He countered.
The man lunged at him again. Sean rolled to the side just in time to miss the brunt of his attack. Like lightning the man turned and rained blow after blow on Sean's back. He was unusually strong.
"We can still save some of the barn. Let me up and I can help you." Sean pleaded. He turned to block his body with his arms. The hitting became even more intense.
"You have ruined everything. The barn is gone, and soon you will be too." The man stood and kicked Sean in the side. As often as the teen had been beaten. This was by far the worst. The rage of the man was undeniable.
Sean could feel the blood on his forehead from an overhanded strike. His arms and legs began to go limp and he struggled to remain conscious. It was no use. 'This man is a monster with strength to match,' Sean realized as he began to fade.
"Borit, what are you doing?!" a woman's voice wailed over the crackling flames.
The blows stopped. "Go away mother," the man responded. The anger in his voice was replaced with disdain.
"You've killed him!" She cried even louder, her concern evident.
Borit shook his hand to relive the tension in his fist. He stood and faced his mother with a dangerous glint in his eye. "He robbed our home. He set the barn on fire. He deserved to pay."
"But killing him?! Borit, you'll lose your commission. Training begins next week. You know how the king feels about justice. If anyone finds out about this, and he is not connected to the bandits, you are finished!" The woman sobbed loudly. Her whole world was crashing in.
"Mother, stop crying. You know how I feel about crying," Borit gritted his teeth.
Suddenly she became quiet. "Your father's gone to get help to put out the fire. Help me get this man to the river, and we'll send him on his way. No one will ever have to know this happened."
Without another word, Sean could feel his body being dragged along the ground mercilessly. It was a short trip to the river, but it felt like an eternity. The sound of rushing water grew louder and louder until his ears felt like they would burst. Abruptly, Sean was released to the ground.
"Check his pockets," the woman ordered, "Make sure none of our possessions are on him."
"He has nothing," Borit answered.
'I am nothing,' the boy lamented to himself. Even those he saved treated him like trash. Even his own body ignored him now. He was little more than a rag doll.
Sean felt his body roll down the muddy bank and then water swept over him. He wanted desperately to reach the surface for a breath of air, but his arms and legs wouldn't cooperate. Resignedly, he realized his eyes had closed for the last time. This was the end. His mind drifted like the river as sleep permanently overtook him.
Then a hand reached through the rapids and gripped his collar. Suddenly air surrounded him and he was on the bank. He could feel an intense light next to him even with his eyes closed. The light was warm and it calmed his spirit. 'I must be dead,' he thought.
The light faded. "You're safe now," a voice said. Sean opened his eyes slightly to see an old woman smiling at him. How could she had pulled him from the river?
Sean tried to respond, but instead coughed and sputtered water from his lungs.
"Oh dear," the old woman said in a voice that was light and airy, very unlike her appearance. "Drink this if you want to live."
She held up a vial of strange glowing liquid and smiled kindly. Sean could feel the life draining out of him, and hard as his life had been, something in him was unwilling to give up. There has to be more for him; he just knew it. The woman lifted the vial to his lips. He swallowed once, but once was enough.
The liquid light burned like he had swallowed a star. It felt as if his insides were being ripped in every direction at once. 'What cruel joke is this?' Sean writhed in pain and cried out, "Trick!"
"It's no trick," the woman said calmly. "You just had that much damage in your body. Relax. Let the medicine do its job."
For some inexplicable reason, Sean believed her. He slowed his breathing and tried to calm his panic. After a moment, he closed his eyes and let the light take him. A strange and pleasing calmness overtook him.
—————
When he awoke, Sean found himself tucked into a warm cot by a fire. He was in the main room of a home. The walls were made of beautiful sturdy wood and the stone hearth was well built. Someone had put time and effort into crafting this dwelling.
'How did I get here?'He looked and saw the old woman staring at him barely a breath away wearing that ever present smile. Caught off-guard, he shrunk back into the cot sheepishly. From the edge of the covers, he studied the lady before him.
The woman's body was old and decrepit. Her gnarled hands rested on her knobby knees. They were so distorted that Sean wondered how she had uncorked the vial at the river before. 'The vial! Did that really happen? It must have or how would I still be alive? Who is this woman?'
The old face was not as wrinkled as the body. Her nose was crooked and her hair was scraggly, but something didn't match. Sean realized it was her eyes. The color of iris was white, no beyond white almost clear, with only the pupil and a dark ring to frame it on either end. It was beautiful and terrifying all at once, and Sean couldn't look away.
Inside those mesmerizing eyes, all the colors of the world took shape. It was the most fantastic thing he had ever seen. He watched as those eyes told the story of Fates, love, hurt, betrayal, and hope. Sean could see the history of time laid out in his mind's eye.
Among the myriad of stories he saw a slew of magical creatures which he never knew existed. He saw a magical barrier made to separate and protect. Onward down the tapestry of history, he saw one particularly valiant Empress and her struggle to maintain peace. The tale made him want to weep both with joy and sadness. Continuing on, he witnessed the war of Fates and humanity that occurred only a couple hundred years before.
Threaded through these tales, he could see pain, the selfishness of man, and the hatred and evil that sin caused. But he could also see a love that he yearned for, one he had never truly felt. It was the love of friendship, family and self-sacrifice. A love he wasn't sure even existed until he saw it in this woman's eyes.
Finally the story played out, and Sean once again fell asleep. In a moment of clarity, Sean could clearly hear the old woman speaking to someone else.
"This boy is destined to be a Guardian," she had said gravely. He tried to process the words, but they were incomprehensible to him. 'A Guardian?' When Sean finally managed to open his eyes again, the old woman was gone.