Charles Spirit was working late into the night again. His dark eyes glanced up at the clock on the

wall of his office.

                Almost midnight, he thought. I really should get some sleep….

                But then again, he had a strange sort of feeling about tonight—and he was a seer,

                He had been doing this for some time now, waiting for the Book of Heros to write the names of future Guardians, as it had done one hundred years ago. It was his job to report it as soon as this happened. And it wasn’t as if he had anything better to do: being a seer, he had tried these past few weeks to see things in his crystal ball about what would come to pass in the war. But nothing had worked so far. For five months now they had been losing the war with the Black Crystal Alliance.

                Charles was sipping at his mug of coffee, knowing that he would need both the caffeine and the anti-sleeping charm he had put on it, when a knock came at the door.

                “Who is it?” he asked.

                “It’s me,” came his wife Asaari’s voice, slightly muffled by the door. “Asla is also with me; she wanted to talk to you.”

                Charles sighed.

                “You can come in,” he replied.

                The door opened, and in strode Asla Delmare’s tall figure, her long hair flowing out behind her, with Asaari following her. Charles stood up from his chair behind his desk.

                “Good evening, Asla. What are you doing out so late?” Charles’s dark eyes glanced at the clock. “It’s almost midnight. Did you need something?”

                “Have you had any luck yet?” Asla asked in her usual brisk manner.

                “No, nothing yet, but…,” Charles trailed off.

                “But?”

                “You might think me silly, but I have a sort of… feeling about tonight.”

                “Well, for someone like you, that could mean something.”

                “Perhaps.”

                There was silence for a moment, then Asla said quietly,

                “After this long you start wondering if the Guardians really will come again.”

                “I have confidence that they will,” Asaari spoke up from the door, a light in her hazel eyes. “After all, they were supposed to come in our time of need, right? And we need them now more than ever.”

                “Yes, if the Black Crystal Alliance wins this war, all of the sacrifices on our side will have been for nothing,” Asla said, and her voice cracked. She turned away, fussing with the curly hair in front of her face, hiding her different-colored eyes. “And if the Guardians don’t come, I don’t think we have a chance at winning.”

                Just then, the Book of Heroes, which had been laying open on Charles’s desk, started to glow with a golden light, illuminating Charles’s dark skin as he stood over it.

                Charles waited for the glow to fade. When it had, Asla asked, eagerly,

                “What does it say?”

                “Kylie Renjay,” Charles read.