Jack Ashwood, a child of the age of fifteen laid on the wild grass. The white sun illuminated the clearing of the forest like it was a heliax flower. He watched as the boring clouds moved slowly as they always do. He brought out his sketchbook to his face. As he flipped through it, he could see drawings lacking creativity or passion. Yet he could not exactly call them bad—in fact, they were drawn well. But they were very dull and unimaginative—such as the scenery of the wilderness.

He could not tell what they were missing. But they were not exciting to him nor could he proudly call them his. They were simply drawings of the environment he decided to steal from. He turned his attention to the most uninteresting one. It was a sketch of the grey sky and clouds. This one was not even finished, but it still was highly detailed.

“Almost a shame that I left this one unfinished,” he said with a blank face. “What did I find interesting about the sky anyway?” He tore off the page of his passionless work and threw it away.

He scratched his head coated with crimson short hair. He did not know what to do with his life now that his passion for art died. He wondered what he was missing. But the answer sure was not in the forest outside of the city walls. He picked himself up from the ground as there were better things to do than sit around bored; he needed to exercise.

He took a stroll through the trees; hoping he could find something for him. He saw many things, such as white bunnies and hares, but none of that was interesting to him. He noticed one of the bunnies bearing eyes similar to his own. White irises with no pupils surrounded by a thin dark grey line. It gazed at him creepily so he picked up the pace.

The hell was that about?

As Jack continued on, he noticed the flowers were a different colour from the white ones he usually sees. If the protectors were to know these existed, they would probably plunk every last one of them and burn it in a fire.

Yet they leave the brown trees as they are. As long as something is useful to them, they’re fine with it. But because the flowers are a different colour means to destroy them? What a stupid rule!

Before he could rant anymore, he caught a glimpse of a very glamorous flower. He wanted to take a closer look at it so he rushed to it. Only to trip on something just as he was about to reach it. He grunted from the impact of the fall and his face was now covered in dirt. His body was weak and he would easily go down in one hit. He was not fit to be outside in the forest, but that would not stop him at all.

He got up from the ground and faced back to see what tripped him. To his surprise, it was a long tree root from one of the trees—which was weird because none of the others had theirs sticking out.

“Where did that root come from?”

He followed the root to find the source of it. What it led him to, however, was even more interesting. A tree taller than any building he had ever seen in his life with branches spreading wider than his block. Its leaves blocked any light from passing through, leaving the forest in a large dark shade.

However, this had to be an unnatural occurrence. How does one miss a tree so large? Especially when just a few minutes ago, he was in the sunlight resting under the grey sky. He would have been able to see it from his home. Not to mention many others before him probably might have talked about it.

Where did this tree… come from? He pondered.

Had he made a new discovery? Was there a tree that could hide itself when viewed from afar? How fast could he draw it before it disappeared? All of those questions swam through his head, but one thing was sure. This was no normal tree.

Whatever the case was did not matter. He wanted to draw something new and exciting, so this never-seen-before tree was perfect for him. He had another goal in mind, but he had already forgotten it.

It only took him a few minutes at most to draw a detailed outline. Before he could finish it, he was interrupted by something. An eyeball stuck out from the trunk of the enormous tree. It observed its surroundings for a while before turning towards Jack. It did not blink nor did it stop glaring at him.

He could hear his heart beating and feel his sweat running down his neck. He wanted to run, but he would not move. Even when he was filled with fear, he simply stood in place, smiling. Any sane person would have run away by now, but it was too late for that now.

“What the hell is this?!” he yelled.

The eye had only blinked once and a mark of fire was branded onto his right hand. It glowed a crimson red that inflicted pain to his entire body. It was as if his whole body was residing in the sun. He screamed loudly as he bore the torment. Before it could get any worse, the pain stopped, as if the switch of the heater was turned off. What could possibly have happened to him?

It’s gone? Without killing me? Thank you?

He turned his head to face the tree’s trunk. The eye had apparently disappeared during the confusion. Its intentions, now lost forever in the tree branch he took an interest in. He still wondered what it did to his body, but there was no reason for him to chase it after it.

“What the hell happened to me?”

“Nothing much,” said a strangely charismatic male—it sounded male to him—voice behind him.

Jack was startled by the voice at first. Someone was watching him the whole time as the eye popped out from the tree to mentally burn his body. Some suspicion rose in his heart. He could not just put his trust in someone that would just spy on him. He would have to be cautious about it.

Jack turned around to the voice behind back. Only to find that no one was there. Was he all in his head? He wondered if his ears were working right, but decided to confront this person right now.

“Where are you?”

“Guess.”

He heard the same voice at his back. He rotated his head instinctively to the direction of the voice, but found nothing again. This had troubled him. He surveyed the bushes and trees to see where this guy was hiding. His breathing was off and he could hear his heart beating louder. He was already given two chances to live, he was bound to die this time.

I said guess, dumbass. I’m in your head for fuck’s sake.

Jack remained silent. He could not believe what the voice had just said, yet it was his only explanation as to why this could be possibly happening at the moment. He had seen even stranger stuff a few moments ago, so this probably was not strange compared to that.

Wait, what about the mark? He thought.

He directed his focus at the mark in his right hand. It was no longer glowing, but the crimson red remained. Although he was curious as to what it was, if he knew it could kill him then he would not try to even tinker with it. But where is the fun in that?

“What are you?” he said, facing the enormous piece of wood.

Thinking about it again, the eye popped out as soon as he came. Meaning, it must have been dormant for a long time now. Suddenly as he appeared, it branded his right hand with a mark that burnt his body temporarily. As soon as all of this was over, this voice in his head appeared and the eye was gone. The answer to his question was right in front of him.

He’s the eye from the tree, Jack speculated.

Correct! Good job boy. There’s hope for you after all.

You can hear my thoughts. Wait, that means I no longer have privacy…

Don’t worry. I’ll stay quiet about some of your more embarrassing thoughts.

He had hoped it would not have come to this. His privacy was no longer a thing, yet the voice’s thoughts were all fine. He could not call this fair at all. Lying to it was not an option. He could not accept this at all. Although, the guy in his head had other plans for him.

You just need to make a deal with me and you’ll get something cool.

“You’re in the mark on my hand?” he asked.

Yes. It’s needed for giving you powers.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

He had already assumed the voice was talking about ‘powers’ as in superpowers, but he wanted to be sure. The idea of him gaining a supernatural ability baffled him—mainly because he did not believe that such things existed. Until today. He had experienced three other moments like this one, he could no longer reject its existence.

Do I even need to explain?

“Nope. I’m in.”

Jack smirked confidently. His life was about to change for the better. Superpowers normally means superpowered enemies; it is better to have powers yourself than have none and remain fodder. The excitement was just a bonus.

Just give me your name and we’re done here.

“Sure, it’s Jack Ashwood. Yours?”

Orzach, I hope we can work well together in the future

As soon as they exchanged names, the mark on the boy’s hand glowed crimson again. The deal was set and there was no turning back. His body was relaxed. There were no longer any threats to worry about—or he had hoped for now at least. Maybe there were none in the first place, but assuming that would not do him any good. He still had a few more questions to ask so he started with the easiest one.

“What are you really?”

The voice laughed until it finally decided to respond. I’m a Guardian. Hope this makes you happy, kid.