The Guardians' Legacy

The sun had already set a few hours ago. Even after the argument of the previous day, Aldren would not fail to visit his friend who lived in the cell in the basement of the mansion. After all, that would probably be his last visit to her. An inevitable goodbye that he himself decided to bring forward.

“It’s better to pull out feelings by the roots.” He thought as he sneaked through the dark corridors of the mansion to reach the completely empty kitchen.

The boy opened the compartment under the sink, as usual, and reached out to get the secret key he had used so often over the past few years.

— What? — he whispered, surprised by the missing object.

He bent down and looked twice more to make sure that the basement key was not actually between the crack in the wall and the metal pipe of the sink.

“How strange. This key has never been moved before. What could have happened?...” He worried without getting any trace of the answer.

It didn't take long for an idea to come to his head. Aldren remembered that there was a copy of that key, in fact the original, which was kept by the owner of the mansion himself, the powerful Buregar.

— If there's something wrong... — Aldren thought out loud as he headed towards the stairs of the silent mansion.

Everyone was, or should have been, asleep. Without any problem, the boy climbed the sumptuous staircase that connected the hall to the second floor of the mansion.

Entering the main hallway that led to the house's luxurious rooms, Aldren followed cautiously and walked slowly in silence to find the grand double doors with ivory details.

On the other side, there would be the anteroom to the Buregar couple's bedroom. It was not common for even the mansion's employees to enter there, since the sovereign, the lord's wife, had an illness that weakened her greatly and, as a result, Mr. Buregar had express orders to prohibit any unnecessary intrusion into his premises.

Even knowing all this, Aldren turned the white doorknob and, to his surprise, the door opened without resistance. He immediately found it strange, expecting it to be at least locked, but he didn't turn down the opportunity to enter.

He continued to sneak in complete silence over the plush carpet of the anteroom. The almost absolute darkness made it difficult to see, but the gleaming bookshelf beneath the window was noticeable, illuminated by the waning moon at the back of the room. Determined, he tried to reach it with slow steps.

The large door behind him suddenly let out a loud bang as it closed. The light turned on at the same time the noise echoed and completely illuminated the anteroom and the luxurious bedroom in the same room.

— So, it was you? Of course it was you.

— M-Mr. Buregar... — Aldren was surprised when he turned to face the bourgeois.

— I gave you food, shelter, education... And how do you repay me? With betrayal.

— Treason? No, I don't...

“Enough!” the man shouted in a suddenly frantic tone. “Who are you working for?!”

— What? I-I'm not...

— It was that wretch Edgar, wasn't it?

— Who? No... — Aldren truly had no idea what the man with the gray hair and wide eyes was saying. He couldn't hide his nervousness at being questioned by one of the most powerful people in Rasuey. — I wasn't sent by...

— Tsk, tsk, tsk. As much of a liar as his own mother. — Buregar began walking towards the boy while hiding his right hand behind his back in the middle of the anteroom.

— What? What does my mother have to do with this? — Aldren's tone immediately became serious.

— I welcomed you like any of my servants. So ungrateful...

— We have no reason to thank you. My mother worked for all this. I worked for all this food and shelter you spoke of.

— You're right. You're right. Even rats must fight for crumbs. Isn't that right, traitor?

— Ugh. I already told you I didn't do anything wrong. — Aldren lost his patience. — Listen, I never liked you. So I'm really happy to finally be able to leave this place, even if it means working in the mines. But I swear that if anything happens to my mother again, I'll come here myself to fix it.

— Hahaha. Of course... — the man replied in a sarcastic tone. — A kid like you? Have you forgotten who you're talking to?

— No, not at all. I'm just warning you.

— Funny. You really do look like your mother. She told me something very similar.

— Said? — Aldren was concerned about the other's vicious tone. — What did she say?

— Something about not messing with you, I don't remember exactly. Why don't you ask her? — The man shrugged and smiled cruelly. — She's right there next to you.

— Huh? — Aldren, almost involuntarily, looked around trying to understand what the boring man was talking about.

Finally he could observe the room and the anteroom he was in. Until then, he had focused exclusively on the bourgeois. He had not noticed the shelves with beautiful gold ornaments, the partition between the room that was also a bookshelf, the white carpet with a strange red design, or the lifeless body of a human being thrown in the corner.

Aldren froze in a cold sweat. His eyes widened in fear and moved slowly until they returned to the man with the sinister smile.

This time, Buregar's right hand was visible. With it, a beautiful, sharp silver knife.

The rest of a glutinous liquid dripped from the blade of the weapon and, when it dripped onto the floor, created a unique pattern on the carpet.

— Wh-wh... — Aldren's lips moved, but no words came out. He gave up.

He ran to the woman's body in the corner of the anteroom and, when he crouched down and touched her face to be sure who it was, he felt the cold of death that the corpse emanated. He wiped his vision, blurred by his own tears, which he hadn't even noticed, and, finally, he could see and be sure who it was.

— Mom? Mom? M... — he whispered as he hugged the woman's body. — No. No, please...

Aldren couldn't hold himself back. The crying, the tears, the lament, all came together. They didn't last long, the boy quickly swallowed it all and looked at the man he was with as just a sadistic observer in the center of the room.

— Don't look so incredulous. — Buregar's tone was completely casual and, at the same time, atrocious. — She died in the place she liked to spend her time the most. Your mother loved this room. Hahaha.

— You... You crazy... — The tears boiled with hatred. Aldren stood up after gently comforting the body on the carpet soaked in red.

— Why are you mad at me? She was the one who asked for it. She was always doing bad things so that I could punish her. — The man tapped the opposite side of the knife blade against his hand as he savored each word and smiled as he said them. — But this time, she went too far. Giving you the key to the basement so you could see my daughter was a complete mistake.

— She didn't give me any key, you crazy person! It was me who... — The boy froze in emotion. His own words hurt him as he realized that none of this would have happened if it weren't for him. "It's my fault..." He thought, looking at the stain on the carpet.

— So the poor thing there, didn't even know? It wasn't her fault? — The man smiled again, even more cruelly, his eyebrows raised provocatively. — Yeah. What can you do? It's a shame, her skin was so... soft and fragrant.

Colth's eyes immediately turned red. Without thinking twice, he charged at the lunatic.

— I'm going to finish you off!

The man had already expected the furious attack, he held the knife firmly and made a clean cutting movement, closing his arm with little control. What he didn't expect was that the boy was absurdly agile and devoid of fear.

Aldren took two long steps forward and, even with the knife blade hitting his shoulder and making him bleed, punched the man in the face who stumbled backwards with his eyes closed.

The bourgeois, cornered, returned the knife movement, opening his arm in a blow opposite to the first. He knew he wouldn't hit anything, his opponent would simply dodge the movement with a simple step back, but in this way, he would gain a few seconds to regain his balance and reposition himself in the fight. It didn't go as planned.

Aldren didn't even think about retreating. Even seeing the knife blade coming towards him in an obvious and easy move to avoid, he remained on the offensive. He received the cut on his chest, even deeper than the first one and, feeding on the anger and pain, he gave another blow with his closed right fist to the madman's face.

He didn't stop. With all his strength, the boy pushed the man to the ground and, on top of his opponent's body, he repeated the punch to the already disfigured man's face. The man tried one more move with the knife, but it was too late. Aldren grabbed his arm and, for the third time, punched him mercilessly. The knife fell onto the carpet, leaving Buregar completely vulnerable.

— Stop! Stop! — the man shouted in pain, receiving another trio of punches to the face.

The bourgeois gave in to exhaustion, lying almost unconscious, he no longer seemed able to move a single muscle. Aldren knelt before the wicked man and took a deep breath, suppressing his anger.

— You like seeing others suffer, don't you? — the boy asked, looking at the man who was moaning in pain. — I want to see if you'll like this...

Aldren collected the silver knife stained with his own blood and stood up carefully to minimize the pain and bleeding from the cut on his chest. He fixed his furious gaze on the defeated man on the ground.

Buregar realized the young man's intention and shuddered.

— Wait... What are you going to do? If you kill me, the entire Rasuey police force will come after you. You know how important I am, huh?

— Shut up... — the boy whispered as he turned his steps in another direction. He entered the room at the back of the antechamber with only one objective in mind.

— Wait! What are you... — Buregar's eyes widened, not knowing what was coming next. — You're not going to... No... Help! Someone! — He placed all his hopes in those screams.

— No one will hear you, idiot. — Aldren said loudly from the other side of the room, the bedroom. — You don't allow employees to sleep in the same building as yours, have you forgotten? It's your bad luck to have such a big house.

Realizing that his screams really weren't going to reach anywhere, the man concentrated as much as possible to gather enough strength to crawl across the floor towards the mansion's main room, his bedroom.

As he approached, he saw the boy. Standing next to the bed with the knife in his hands, Aldren was staring at the sheets covering the second resident of the room.

— Don't do this! She has nothing to do with this! — begged the crawling worm.

— She has nothing to do with it?! — Aldren retorted with angry shouts. — My mother had it? Celina had it? The maids you molested, did they have anything to do with it, Buregar?!

— No, please. I beg you. — The dying man struggled to get up, holding on to the walls.

Aldren raised the knife with his right hand and removed the sheet with his left in one go.

— What? — he whispered, surprised.

What he had expected was nothing less than the powerful Mrs. Buregar. But what he found lying on the bed, when he removed the silk covers from the bed, was a completely cadaverous body.

It was like digging up a body months after its death. Her skin, a dark, rotting gray, clung to the bones that defined her curves. Her hair looked more like dried corn silk on the soft pillow, her lips, once full and full of color, were no longer there.

The sour, rotten stench broke through the air and reached Aldren's nostrils, who immediately frowned in disgust.

— You are completely sick! — the boy exclaimed, filling his mouth and spitting the words towards the man.

— Please don't hurt her... I beg you. — replied the bourgeois, his face covered in bruises.

— Not hurt her? She's a corpse. She's dead, there's nothing left to hurt here.

— It's not true. I'll be able to bring her back... I know I will. I've kept her body intact until now, I just need a little more time. — Buregar said his words with difficulty. — Listen, you're a smart boy, Aldren. If you forget everything and help me with this, I'll give you a new life. How about a farm at the foot of the mountains?

— What are you talking about?

— You didn't like it? You can ask for something else... The mansion, how about the mansion?

— You're completely crazy. — Aldren whispered his thoughts.

— You just have to keep this a secret until I figure out how to use Celina's blood and then...

— Celina? — The boy immediately found this strange. He was silent for a second until things began to fall into place in his head. — So that's why you keep her locked up?

— ... — The man fell silent as he realized he had said too much.

— All because of a corpse? I don't believe it... — Aldren was sincere. — Whatever. I don't like it, but I'm doing you a favor, Buregar. — He raised the knife again towards the skeletal figure.

— No, wait! I'm serious. Celina has the ability to heal people, I just need to...

—Enough! Your madness ends here!

Aldren plucked up courage and stabbed the corpse. The blade penetrated the rotting heart without any difficulty.

— No! — the man screamed in despair, throwing himself at Aldren as a last resort.

The boy pulled the knife back in reflex and protected himself from the insanely moving man. The two met.

Before Aldren even realized it, his hands were warmed by a viscous liquid that flowed between them. He had torn Buregar's abdomen with an unintentional thrust.

- What you...

It was done, Aldren fell silent. He didn't regret it, much less was he content, he just opened his hands and let the man's body kneel on the floor. The complete silence of the room made everything more morbid.

Buregar mumbled something inaudible and leaned over the carpet next to the bed and his wife's corpse.

— It's all over... — whispered the boy, the only one standing, placing his hands on his head.

He left the room completely exhausted and stumbled towards the body in the anteroom. His chest burned like never before, he knew that the origin of this pain was not his injuries.

— Forgive me, mother. It's all my fault... It's over. — The tears began to appear again amidst her guilty and giving up whispers in front of the woman's body in the anteroom. — I should have done something. I shouldn't have kept quiet like everyone else... I'm sorry...

As he was about to sit beside his deceased mother to await the consequences of his actions, something caught his attention. A glow, coming from the woman's icy hands, reached his eyes.

He crouched over the body and delicately opened his mother's thin fingers to find the keys to the mansion's basement. He remained completely still for seconds while a storm consolidated in his mind.

— No, no, no. It can't end like this.

The boy shook his head and struggled to remove any useless reflections. Finally he gripped the key with one hand while the other wiped away his own tears.

— You always have an answer, don't you? — He took a deep breath with his eyes closed. — Thank you for everything, Mom.

He said goodbye one last time, stroking her hair, and stood up with newfound determination. He left the anteroom and ran through the corridors until he found the stairs to the ground floor.

He crossed the kitchen and unlocked the door in all haste, went down another flight of stairs and stopped in front of the familiar metal railing.

The girl on the other side was surprised as the boy caught his breath:

— Aldren? You came... Your clothes... What happened...

— There's no time to explain, Celina. I need you to come with me. — he announced as he used the key to unlock the cell.

— Wait. What are you doing?

— I already told you. I'll explain later. — He opened the door wide and stretched out his arm towards the confused girl. — Now, come.

— ...

The brief, freezing silence lasted only a short time, but it seemed eternal in Aldren's eyes.

— If I stay, I will be arrested and sentenced to death.

— What? Why? — she asked strangely.

— I'll tell you later. But for now, just come with me.

— I can't. You know I...

“It’s all a lie. Everything Buregar said is a lie,” Aldren tried. “Trust me, nothing will happen to you if you leave, nothing will happen to anyone.”

— It's... — Celina whispered, looking at her own bare feet.

— Wait. Did you know? You... — Aldren swallowed his words and his feeling of astonishment. He himself had never believed that, but he hadn't expected the same response from Celina, who had used it as a reason to never leave the basement. — Forget it. Listen to me, we need to get out of here, immediately.

— ...

— Are you really going to stay in this basement forever? — He took another step forward. — If you stay, I'll stay and get arrested...

— No, you can't...

—But if you do, Celina—he interrupted purposefully—I promise you’ll see incredible things out there. Things that your books can’t tell, or that haven’t even been discovered yet. Besides, you don’t need to be afraid, I’ll always be around.

The girl slowly raised her head until she met Aldren's eyes.

— Do you promise?

— Yes. I promise. — He was sincere.

Celina took a deep breath as if she were about to dive. She reached for Aldren's raised hand and responded with a slight nod without changing the serious expression on her face. She took a difficult step out of the cell toward the unknown.