CHAPTER ONE

Curiosity drove Jason towards the gem that shone brightly in the early morning sun, it called on him, dragging him towards itself. He reached tentatively, picking it up gently. On both sides of the gem were inscriptions in a language that was vaguely familiar to him, not like any known language he knew of or he’d seen before, but for some reason he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was supposed to understand the language, like deep down in his mind that language was locked.

It beckoned on him to read it out and soon he was caught up in it,

"Florea varecto illummino scythe-"

"JASON!, what's taking so long!" his aunt called from the kitchen cutting him Midway through whatever spell the gem had put him under,

 Shaking his head to clear his mind of the haze he was in, he dropped the gem, moving farther away from it as he felt his mind race, what was he doing?,

what had he just stumbled upon?

and how the fuck did he get into this by just taking a bath?

 Footsteps climbing the stairs indicating his aunt was coming to his room for her usual early morning nagging and in a flash of panic, he shoved the gem in the pocket of his jean.

Aunt Elise peeped into the room to see Jason zipping his backpack, "hey, everything okay?" she asked,

"Well I woke up with splitting headache and I did that water cooling stuff that you said was the taps regulatory function and then I had this weird dream of guardians and shadow warriors, oh and a gem I saw in my dream appeared mysteriously on my bed with some weird inscription on it, so how did that pass for okay?" he thought to himself but nodded to her in the outside.

The ride to school was quiet with Jason catching his aunt stealing glances at him in the mirror, he pretended be oblivious to her. He had other pressing concerns, like what that gem meant and how it got to his room.

The gates of crest Ville high shone in the sun as they got closer, the cheerleaders giggling in their group car so to say, and the school football team cruising in with their cars also covered the front yard of the school.

It wasn't like they were poor and couldn't afford all this, but his aunt insisted that he lay low at school and forced the principal who was very reluctant to allow such a heavily built person to escape the school team, and when he asked why she did it, all she said was she was protecting him from unwanted attention.

What other attention could he get apart from the skimpy cheerleaders and the school, he could even be eligible for a scholarship!

"so, you forgot to tell me about the parents summit today" she said breaking the silence,

oh no I didn't, I just figured that since they said parents and my mom was presumed dead, also with no whereabouts of my dad, it would be of no use to you since you're my aunt..... ,

Jason bit back the repulsive answers and looked at her calmly, anger seeping through his head,

"sorry aunt, they said parents and since you're my aunt and not my parent, well..."he replied letting her figure the rest out.

If his reply hurt her, she was good at covering it up. A tight smile at the side of her lips were the only expression she showed. She didn’t deserve that and he knew it, since he was little she had been the rock that stood by him, but most times he couldn’t help but feel like she was holding him back from  his purpose in life, whatever that might be, and with this gem in his pocket, well….

He made to get out of the car when she gripped His shoulder tightly making him turn,

" I know you have questions about your parents and I haven't been......cooperative" she started,

you think? he thought but allowed her to continue,

"when you get back from school, I'll tell you all you need to know" she finished.

That totally caught him off guard, he didn't expect her to tell him anything about them, not with her freaking out whenever he asked why.

He nodded in acceptance and stepped out of the car ignoring the feeling in his gut that told him to make her spill here and then, to beg her forgiveness while he still saw her. Where had that thought come from?, of course she'll still be at home when he came back, waiting for him as she normally did, or so he hoped......

**************

Far away,

Realms beyond

Aratia.....

Far away, in another realm where the laws of earth held no sway and gods manifested to explain their divine will. A realm where the very air flowed with magic in its various forms stood a mansion, more like a castle that floated in the very air, held by magic in the form of runes and scripts. The walls of the mansion gleamed with gold and brass, pillars that reached up to the very sky hold the second floor of said mansion, and at the gates stood tall humanoid creatures in black metal armor, their shadows rising and twirling around them as if alive. The two moons of aratia shone brightly over the glittering mansion giving it an heavenly appearance, which was ironic as to what took place in the mansion.

Captain regron, commander of the 3^rd division of the blades of Herega, goddess of storms and chaos bringer walked briskly down the hallway, nodding briefly to the lines of the panic-stricken workers that went by. He shook his head as he mused to himself, poor things he thought to himself as he moved on towards the large door that had become visible, they were only mortal with a touch of magic in their veins, they couldn't handle what they saw on a daily basis at the hands of their king who he knew to be a sick bastard.

The doors swung open and speaking of sick bastards, the man that brought darkness to this world, the man that invoked Herega the goddess of storms and first born of dradror the embodiment and deity of chaos, lord marxis tregroff the first.

Somehow regron knew that if given the chance, marxis would find a way to raise Drador himself and finally upsetting the balance of the divinities illummino and drador which the creator did.

Marxis turned from the woman that was lying on his bed to face regron who saw what he'd been doing, a pregnant woman lay on his bed with her belly slit open and the foetus outside. Regron finally understood why the goddess chose Marxis as her protege, he was bloody, no sense of pity.

Even him a creature born of the darkness felt a little pity for the pains the woman felt when he opened her up, and knowing the bastard that he was, he was sure he didn't give her any pain reducing potion.

He looked up to see a staring marxis and remembered why he was here,

"It seems your Majesty, that we have found the last elixtu" he said and continued when he got no reply, glancing at marxis who seemed to be rinsing his bloody hands in water, he continued,

"one of the sergeants posted on earth found a guardian with the gem of artemon, unfortunately the gem was lost" he said and quickly rushed in

"but we've traced it to his location, we have Jason elixtu" he said when he felt the room getting hotter.

Marxis smiled briefly and spoke softly but clearly, "find him and bring me his head and the gem", captain regron nodded and turned away walking fast out of his presence, he loved it when that happened.

He walked to the window smiling to himself,

after all these years, I've finally found you he thought, oh Jason, what have you become? he mused to himself in the moonlight......