Callum stood on a strange, rocky pinnacle amongst a fierce thunderstorm. Thunder roared before him and rain, wind and lightning danced aggressively before him. Yet, it didn't terrified him one bit. Instead, he was enthralled by the storm, watching the lightning as it flashed before him and the rain and wind danced around him. As he watches, he felt something, an urge to do something. What is it he does not know, but, eventually, he stopped trying to ignore the urge and began to spread out his arms as if they were wings.
But before he could do anything else, Callum heard some sounds coming up from behind him. He turned to see a baby Storm dragon, Ezran (his half-brother), a girl around Callum's age, a female and a male Moonshadow elves about his age, a male Skywing elf around his age, six adult Moonshadow elves (one female and five males), an young adult Sun dragon, and lastly, an adult man Skywing elf holding a staff with metal plates resembling wings surrounding a glowing blue stone.
The young Storm dragon came right up to Callum and stood up on his hind legs while putting his two paws on his legs for a bit, before the teenager picked him up and bring him up to his chest.
Callum looked at the dragon's bright blue eyes, before turning his gaze towards Ezran, Diana, the elven girl and elven boys, the adult Moonshadow elves, Soren, the adult dragon, and the elven mage with a smile. While he give everyone else a good gaze, his gaze towards the Skywing elf was much longer than expected as the elf gazed back at him with a smile of his own. For a moment, there was only silence between the two before the elf finally spoke.
"You too can be a great guardian one day."
Suddenly, Callum let a gasp as he opened his eyes, and then he lifted himself up and looked around as he took a few shallow breaths. Instead of the pinnacle, he was in his room and outside the windows, a thunderstorm was raging on, creating thunder and lightning in its wake. He looked down at the open book underneath him and realized he must have fallen asleep while he was reading it. It was a book telling stories of the legendary Guardians of Xadia, a group of draconic and elven warriors sworn to protect Xadia. Callum and his younger brother loved listening to the stories about them, since they were little. He even read them to Ez before he could talk.
With the dream still fresh in his mind, Callum read the page he was on very quietly as he didn't want to wake up Ezran who was sleeping in his own space with a grumpy glowtoad named Bait next to Callum's bed which was divided from Ez's by a single door in the wall. So, the brothers do share a bedroom, but only technically.
"Not long before the founding of Katolis, an Startouch elven archmage whose name has been long purged from history had went on a crusade against his fellow elves and the dragons, claiming the elves and dragons are cruel and arrogant. His methods were harsh, brutal, and deadly and every way he went, he laid waste, killing those he despised the most, leaders who followed their kinds' ways whom he viewed as stagnant and demonstrative of their kind's arrogance and large sense of superiority."
"All would have been lost if it weren't for the Guardians of Xadia rising up against this threat once they learned of it. They have sworn an oath to protect Xadia and all who live in it. So, upon learning of the elven archmage and his reign of terror, they came out from the Storm Spire to meet and confront the elf in a final battle, a battle whose name is best never spoken to any elf or dragon. The battle was fierce and both sides fought fiercely for the archmage has great power and mastery of all six primal sources and appears to have the advantage over his foes. When it seemed all hope is lost, King Avizandum, leader of the guardians, with the help of other archdragons and archmages, successfully defeated the elf and imprisoned in another dimension behind a magic mirror meant to protect Xadia from elf himself, for Avizandum knew that the elf archmage is responsible for another crime he committed long ago and has been waiting for the perfect moment to punish him for said crime once he found out."
"Despite the Guardians' victory over the archmage, however, another Startouch elf had a vision that one day, he will return. But, she was ignored for everyone else, expect for the guardians, is confident that the archmage will be imprisoned forever and forgotten as his name and actions are erased from the history books. Feeling bitter upon returning to her home, the elf seer was greeted by a different vision: two new Guardians, not elf or dragon, will appear and will be the first of their kind to become Guardians of Xadia. Surprised, the elf seer told the Guardians her vision and they listened ever since, they waited for the new guardian to appear, even believing they'll be their last hope against the archmage if they did indeed returned just as the fellow Startouch, the Seer, predicted."
Not long after Callum finished reading, a flash of thunder roared fiercely, surprising both the boy and Ezran who jumped up in alarm.
"Callum!" Ezran exclaimed in surprise.
"It's okay, Ezran. It's just a thunderstorm," Callum said, sitting up. "Nothing to be afraid of. Go back to sleep."
"I wasn't scared," Ezran said defensively as he curled back into bed with his pet glow toad, Bait. Bait disagreed and turned red before turning back into his usual yellow color as he went back to sleep.
Confident that Ezran is asleep once again, Callum wondered if he should get back to sleep as well. But then, he remembered his dream, especially the part where the Skywing elf had said he'll be a great guardian one day. Not helping with this is that he reminded of it upon reading the part in his book about the vision of a new guardian appearing that is not an elf or a dragon and that he'll be the first of his kind to become a guardian of Xadia.
Unable to think of any other option, Callum decided to draw. Drawing always soothes him and it's one of the only things he's actually good at. Once he's at his art desk, Callum drew out the only two creatures who could become a new Guardian of Xadia and be the first of their kind to become one. The first was himself as he can do primal magic, instead of dark magic. The second was a unicorn, gentle and compassionate creatures who were the only ones with the power to help humans with their magic and actually used it back in the old times. Because of this, unicorns are more highly regarded than the elves and dragons by humans, even up to the point that some humans successfully convinced the horned horselike creatures into hiding when dark magic came about as unicorn horns are the most sought out prize for dark mages.
If there is any creature with a higher chance of becoming a new Guardian of Xadia that isn't a elf or dragon than himself, it would be a unicorn if it weren't for the fact the unicorns themselves are still in hiding because of dark mages.
As Callum drew, he felt calmer and calmer, and it didn't take long until he became tired and sleepy again.
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The next morning, King Harrow smiled to himself as he walked out into the courtyard where his two sons once again playing "Guardians of Xadia." A teenage girl was watching on with curiosity and interest, but a faint look of amusement entered her eyes and kept to herself as she continued watching the two princes playing.
"Nice fighting skills you two." Callum was startled by the quiet voice and looked over his shoulder to see an outlined figure by the door, watching them quietly. He smiled at the sight of the girl, immediately recognizing her. It was none other than Diana.
Diana is tall and slim, but she has hidden strength within her. She long, wavy sandy-blonde hair that goes over her shoulders. Her dark blue eyes sparkled with a determined spirit and a spirited fire. Her light skin is fair from her time in the sun. She's wearing a long, dark blue tunic made of linen that fell to her thighs. She has a pair of brown pants complimented by dark brown boots that wrapped and laced up to her mid-shin.
"Thanks Diana," replied Callum.
He used to have a crush on her when he was younger. But he soon realized that she likes him as an brotherly figure and returns his bond to her just as eagerly. She has lost her parents to the Border — much like the princes had lost their mother — and was taken in by Roy (a member of the Crown Guard) and Nereus (a talented blacksmith).
It wasn't long till Callum started playing the guardian and Ezran was playing the elf archmage from the boys' favorite story about the guardians. But, not only was Callum not pretending to be a elven or dragon guardian as usual. He was pretending to be a unicorn instead, complete with a fake unicorn horn on his forehead and held in place with string around his head and a band with blue horse ears. Ezran was also different as he is playing the elven archmage, complete with a replica of the mage's robes that fit the young prince just right and fake antler-like horns, as if he was returned and back for revenge against those who imprisoned for his crimes instead of going on a crusade against his fellow elves and dragons as well.
"My horn, as sharp as any sword, is upon you, archmage!" Callum said, using his fake horn as a sword. "Your days of seeking your revenge is over!"
"Not so fast!" Ezran said, repeatedly dodging his search brother's sword swings. "You have no idea how great my anger towards the others for imprisoning me is."
"Perhaps, but I'm the first of my kind to become a Guardian of Xadia, the first unicorn guardian," Callum said confidently. "And like others before me, I have sworn an oath to make strong the weak, mend the broken, and vanquish evil."
"Oh, you know the oath very well. Don't you, unicorn guardian?" Ezran said in his best evil sounding voice.
"Yeah, that's right, archmage," rebuffed Callum playfully. "I know it well from heart and I know I can live up to it."
"If this is true, then let's see if your precious oath will protect from the greatest archmage of all time! Roar!" Ezran said, charging towards Callum who quickly dodged his search brother's initial charge and Ezran ended up falling flat in his face. Callum and Diana laughed a bit at the younger prince's fall, but Ezran wasn't amused. He got up and tried to charge at his brother four more times, only for Callum to dodge him again and again, with Ezran falling or almost falling every single time. When Ezran tried to charged at Callum for the fifth time, while dodging his brother once again, summoned a rune and shouted "Aspiro!" A sudden gust of wind at Ezran, causing him to fall over on his back, breaking one of the fake horns he was wearing in the process.
"Callum! You're a unicorn, remember?" Ezran exclaimed. "You're a creature of the Stars, not the Sky!"
"Whoops! Sorry, Ez," Callum said, sheepishly. "I guess I just felt the need to do Aspiro again."
"Eh." Diana shrugged with an amused smile. "I guess it couldn't be helped."
The two princes both laughed and Diana smirked at them as they continued playing their games. She's pretty fascinated by the game of based off of the stories and decided to watch the princes for some amusement. But she was immediately startled when King Harrow joined her side.
"Your Majesty." Diana bowed to King Harrow as he joined her side.
"Now, now," King Harrow told her and let her rise. "You don't have to be so formal."
Diana nodded and seemed to trying to find a way to ask him a question, but she was unsure of how to ask it to the King of Katolis and decided to be bold about asking the king about the question in her mind.
"Your Majesty, have you ever seen a Guardian?" Diana's curious question caught the ears of the two princes and they both joined them eagerly.
At this, Harrow's jolly mood turned to sorrowful, then turned away, sighing, seemingly unwilling to answer the curious girl's question. After a few moments, the king spoke, "I did once, Diana. But the circumstances of the meeting about us were those I do not wish to talk about for they brought me painful memories, memories I wish to bury, and yet, they keep on coming again and again as they are refusing to be forgotten, no matter hard I have tried. All you need to know for now, Diana, is just because you can't seen something doesn't mean it isn't real. It's like feeling something with your heart and through our hearts, the voices of the ages whispered to us and tell us what's right."
"I understand Your Majesty," said Diana with a respectful and understanding nod. "We all have our reasons of what we do."
Callum and Ezran's eyes sparkled at their father's words, yet are saddened by his sad tone. Diana decided to help out by shaking off the solemn mood in the air.
"Don't you all royal duties to perform?" Diana asked them curiously.
"You're quite right Diana," admitted King Harrow. "We better get going."
"Oh, right." Callum sighed as he remembered his fighting lessons with Soren. "I better get going."
"And I have my literature lessons," Ezran muttered, grumpy.
"Maybe you two can play latter after we're done with our duties," suggested Diana.
"Great idea Diana!" Callum beamed at Diana and returned the smile just as well.
"Callum, do you think the elven archmage will really return?" Ezran asked as he walked alongside Callum and Diana.
"You remember," Calum said as he took off his fake horn and ears. "It was the battle against him. The Guardians did everything they could to stop the elf, yet he seemed to have the advantage. Things look dark. Then, the King of the Dragons with the help of his allies defeated and imprisoned him in another dimension behind a magic mirror. The Guardians were victorious! Xadia was peaceful once more. Then, the Guardians all return to their respective homes, including the Storm Spire, home of the dragon monarchs. Yet, it was prophesied that the archmage will one day return."
Ezran looked scared at his older brother's words about the archmage's future return for a moment. But for Diana, on the other hand, looked concerned and puffed up with playful defiance to cheer up Ezran.
"Ha!" Diana's blue eyes sparkled mischievously and accidentally startled the princes. "If that crazy archmage comes back, I'll be more than happy to toss him off of a high cliff to get rid of him."
The two princes bursted out laughing at Diana's sarcastic reply. She looked pretty proud, but mischievous of getting her two royal friends to laugh at the concerning subject. Diana started walking towards her uncles and waved her farewell to the two grinning princes before she left the castle.