Guardian of Auzeria

by Jennifer Trias Swenson

Overview

It was one hundred years until another quartz crystal arose to another Auzerian, Rayna, making her a Guardian and leader and protector of her people. Struggling with her own powers and expectations of what it means to be a Guardian, Rayna disobeys the rule to never leave the Wall of Auzeria, and explores the unpredictable world beyond the crystal forest, the only home she has ever known.

But soon Rayna faces what her ancestors were trying to protect the Auzerians from all these years and is hunted for her crystal by men who seek to steal its power. With the help of a stranger, Rayna is left to use what the Guardians taught her and to trust her own intuition to find her way home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452582306
Publisher:	Balboa Press
Publication date:	10/01/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	66
File size:	559 KB

Read an Excerpt

Guardian of Auzeria

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By Jennifer Trias Swenson

Balboa Press

Copyright © 2013 Jennifer Trias Swenson
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-8229-0

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CHAPTER 1

Beneath the Weeping Willow

I cupped my hand over my mouth to silence my breath. But nothing could silence the drumming beneath my chest. The rumbling grew near, and I held my breath as their footsteps drew closer. Like a tornado, Zane and the rest of his henchmen stormed through the forest, destroying everything in their path. They circled the perimeter with axes in hand, looking in every direction for any remnants of my presence I might have left behind. My back hugged the bark of a tree while I stood absolutely still in the shadows.

The day fell into night, as many had since they began hunting me. Lately, the days and nights seemed to blur all together. I peeked from behind the tree and saw Zane's short red hair, which looked almost brown from all the dried pieces of mud and dirt soiled into it. His ice-blue eyes seemed to glow in the dark, piercing from a face covered with a mask of splotchy red freckles. He was with five men. Their eyes were dark. Their movement was sharp. And their mouths seemed to move in silence as they whispered among each other.

The heaving of their chests grew louder and faster as Zane gestured for them to head another direction into the forest as they ran behind him.

I think I had finally lost them. I let out a big sigh and felt the drumming beneath my chest subside to a light murmur. I was alone. Truly alone for the first time. Not just away from Zane and his men, but from home and everyone I knew—and it was not a good feeling.

I had lost my way trying to throw Zane off my tracks, and I did not know where I was. It was too dark to see where the mountains began and ended, but I knew I had to keep moving.

A flurry of wind rushed past me as I walked. Its force pushed me from behind, causing me to stumble forward to follow it. My steps were slow and heavy. And I moved as if I were sleepwalking, my subconscious mind letting my body take over to live out the scenes in my head.

The wind finally settled into the branches and leaves of a willow tree. Its long branches hung low, and its leaves lay limp, hovering slightly above the ground. The wind blew breath into the branches as they moved from side to side like a hypnotic dance, enticing me to come to rest beneath them.

I accepted the tree's invitation and sat down with my back against its trunk. My eyes squinted as I rubbed my hands along my brown pants, tucked into my brown boots that reached just below my knees. My long straight black hair gave some warmth to my bare shoulders, and it flowed down, touching the exposed skin just above my waist. I fidgeted with the two thin armbands that connected to the rest of my faded moss green-colored shirt just below my shoulders. It was a temporary distraction to keep my mind from the loose piece of cloth on top of my shirt that tickled my neck, giving me chills down my spine.

I looked up and saw it was a full moon tonight, which meant the energy was high and it was a good time to replenish and draw in power. At least that is what Mother would say. I wish she were here right now, telling me one of her stories. She could go on and on about our ancestors and the history of the crystal forest of Auzeria. I would nod my head and say, "Yes, Mother," as she continued to tell me stories. Right now, I would not even mind getting one of her lectures of the dangers of leaving the Wall of Auzeria. I knew she was worried. I could almost hear her voice telling me to please come home.

I opened the pouch attached to my belt loop and took out my crystal. I let it dangle from its cord and held it up to the moonlight that peeked through the branches of the willow tree. It had striations running down the sides of its frosty exterior, and the light shone through it, reflecting specks of rainbow colors all around me.

It was comforting to see a familiar face that I knew since birth. In Auzeria, each Auzerian is born with his or her own crystal, which guides each person from birth through the day he or she leaves the earth. I was honored to share an intimate moment in an Auzerian mother's life and bear witness once of a healer who delivered a baby in the mother's own home. Upon the baby's first cry, it called forth its crystal, and a golden sphere of light appeared. From deep beyond the soils of the earth, a crystal materialized into form on the ground. Then floating above the surface, like a magnet, it found its rightful owner, gently settling onto the baby's belly until the baby instinctively grasped it, making its first connection.

The crystal that arises upon an Auzerian birth is unique, like each individual, and it enhances the potential gifts that he or she possesses, encouraging inner abilities to surface. Although each crystal is unique along with its owner, it is very common to see clustering. With my family, a clustering of amethysts were born into the generations. My great grandmother, my grandmother, my mother, and even my sister all had amethysts arise to them. They all had a gentle quietness to them that immediately puts you at ease and an inner knowing that was wise beyond their years. On my father's side, there were many carnelian births. They were all focused and grounded, just like my father.

I never understood how the crystals chose their owners. It hurts my head to think about it too much. The answer I received from the Guardians was "they just know." I always wondered if the crystals were always right in choosing their owners. Could it be possible to make a mistake now and again?

For there was one crystal that was rare to appear. They say there was a special quartz crystal that arose to the strong-willed or wise and the one who possessed immense power. The quartz crystal was an embodiment of all other crystal energy. It was said to store all the knowledge of the Guardians' past, and when connected to, whispered words of wisdom to its owner. This person became a Guardian of Auzeria upon birth and would teach, protect, and lead the Auzerians.

Over the years, the appearance of a quartz crystal dwindled. There were three remaining Guardians left, and it was one hundred years until another rose to me, the fourth Guardian.

Sitting beneath the willow tree, entranced by the mesmerizing lights of my crystal, I lamented the nights when Mother and I sat on my bed facing the open window, staring at the twinkling stars while she told me stories of how there were many Guardians in the Days of Light. It was a time of peace thousands of years ago, when the Auzerians and humans first walked the earth. I could picture the Guardians now in their white flowing robes and the glowing light that emanated from the crystals they wore around their necks. I looked down at the braided cord necklace attached to my crystal that Mother made for me, but I never once put it on. The other Guardians seemed so grand, strong, and wise, and I wondered why of all people I was chosen to be one of them. Putting on the necklace would have made it all too real somehow, and I wondered if I would ever feel worthy enough to wear it.

The Guardians displayed great gifts, with their strong connection to nature and the earth. It seemed effortless the way they harnessed their powers and always used them for the highest good of our people. I wished I were more like them—strong, confident, and in control. Master Guardians were even more powerful, manifesting golden spheres of light energy in the palms of their hands and manipulating the elements of the earth.

Auzerians were also gifted, and the Guardians taught them to bring out their natural talents. Some became teachers, healers, and seers, who saw what was to come.

But despite the seers' warnings, the Auzerians in turn taught the people of earth, who at first took well to our teachings. But in time, jealousy corrupted the minds of the humans when they were unable to achieve the full gifts of the Auzerians. They did the unthinkable and stole crystals from the Auzerians in hopes to harness power of their own. But in the wrong hands, the crystals only amplified the people's emotions of greed and formed an illusion of real power in their minds.

"Why did the Guardians not fight back, Mother?" I would ask. With all the power they possessed, it would have been so easy to destroy the humans, I thought. But the Auzerians wanted to keep the peace and fled into hiding, while the people branched off, creating cities in every part of the world, trying to create power for themselves by digging up crystals from the earth to create their ways of technology.

Fortunately, our land flourished with many high-vibrating crystals that interfered with their devices, keeping us hidden, and the wall that only an Auzerian could open was created to protect us. Soon the people became so obsessed with their technology that they started to forget about the Auzerians, and the crystal forest soon became a myth.

"That is fine by me," I would tell Mother. I know there are many who still have the light of Auzeria within them and remember our teachings. But there are so many that are lost, and there are many who do not want to be found. When they are ready in their own time, they will awaken. But for now it is best they forget about Auzeria.

Mother told me there was even a time when the Auzerians were allowed to go past the wall after it was created, a time before I existed. For only shortly before my birth, a tragedy struck, when an Auzerian family went missing after leaving the wall and never returned. The Guardians deemed it too dangerous for anyone to leave our home. I should have listened to Mother's warnings of the outside world. Now I just wanted to go home.

I looked deep into my crystal. The colors seemed to dance inside of it. The image of a waterfall appeared, with shimmering blue light cascading gently against the rocks, pulling me into the memory of my first visit alone to the Guardians' crystal temple. Although I felt so small as I walked among the tall majestic white-leaf oak trees that stood on both sides of the dirt path lining the way to the temple, I was in awe of their beauty and the wisdom they held of our land and of stories of the past. The temple was shaped like a small frosty white crystal mountain, with laser-pointed crystalline peaks. As I approached the doorway opening in the center, I felt the cleansing energy from the open-faced amethyst geodes that stood ten feet tall on either side of the pathway. I felt peaceful, cloaked in their mesmerizing deep purple light.

Although my crystal comforted me with memories of Auzeria, it also reminded me how I was far from home. A drop of water rolled down the side of my crystal as more fell from the sky. I tucked my crystal back into my pouch and stretched my arms out to the side, over my head, and back in toward myself. The branches and leaves began to rustle as they intertwined and crouched down to surround me like a cocoon for the night.

CHAPTER 2

Diamond in the Rough

"That is it, Rayna," Jeremiel said.

The loose leaves rose off the ground and swirled in front of me as I held my palms out toward the leaves.

"Feel its energy," he said.

Jeremiel wore his long white robe, adorned with a border of golden thread embroidered all along the edges of the trim. His wavy, medium-length silvery white hair flowed free, slightly touching his shoulders, in contrast to his short and straight white beard, which was meticulously groomed. He was 117 years old and was the youngest of the other three Guardians. But even with all the age behind him, Jeremiel's face was smooth as that of a young thirty-year-old, and the only wrinkles he had on his face were from laugh lines. With a hundred years between us, Jeremiel still was the only one who seemed to understand me, more than anyone else I knew.

It was in the mornings when Jeremiel and I had our teaching sessions, and it was typical to have them in the garden outside of the Guardians' temple. The garden was covered with lush spring green blades of grass and stone archways with draping vines in the distance. Purple wildflowers flourished and hugged the roots of the surrounding trees. And the trees, with white, pink, and lavender leaves with blooms of budding flowers, offered nectar to flitting hummingbirds and a fragrant bouquet of floral scents.

Jeremiel's informal style allowed me to wear my regular clothes instead of the Guardian attire I wore during my lessons with Inhara and Orric, which made me feel more comfortable during our lessons.

"Good!" Jeremiel said as he gleamed at the swirling leaves.

I smiled with excitement and lowered my hands as the leaves fell back to the ground.

Jeremiel gathered ten small rocks and put them on the ground in front of me. He held his palms out as the rocks rose off the ground and began to swirl in front of him.

"Now you try," he said as the rocks fell back to the ground.

I held my palms out toward the rocks and concentrated. I stretched my fingers intensely, thrusting them forward as the rocks lay motionless on the ground.

"I cannot do it, Jeremiel," I said, throwing my hands down in frustration. "It is different. It is not like the leaves."

"Yes, you can," he said. "It may be rocks, but it is the same thing. It is all just energy. You have to feel it, connect with it, and work with it."

I held my hands out again and shut my eyes, and then I felt the heat in my palms and fingertips. I opened my eyes and saw the rocks shake.

"Yes! You are doing it," Jeremiel said.

My peripheral vision started to cloud, and my sights narrowed in on one vibrating rock. My palms began to sweat, and I felt my heart pounding and heard its beat pulsating in my ears.

I put my hands down again and exhaled deeply as the rocks lay motionless on the ground once again.

"I am sorry, Jeremiel," I said with my head down. I felt bad disappointing him, knowing he believed in me so much.

He put his hand on my shoulder and said, "It is okay, Rayna. You can try again."

I put my hand on top of his. It felt hard and pointy beneath my palm as I awoke stroking the tree limbs resting on my shoulder, realizing that memories of Auzeria had followed me into my slumber that night.

Light trickled through the branches, and I continued to awaken to the morning light. The smell of wet soil and moss lingered in the shelter I created the night before. My arms and legs longed to stretch out just as much as the branches around me longed to disentangle.

The light flickered beside me, and I peeked through an opening of leaves to the outside and saw it was just a bird flying to a neighboring tree. Zane and his men must be long gone by now. I held my hands in front of my chest and lifted them over my head and out to my sides. The branches and leaves began to disentangle from each other and allowed the tree to stand upright again. I too stood up and stretched my arms and legs. I placed my hand on the tree trunk and said, "Th ank you, my friend."

As I turned to walk away, I felt a cold scaly hand wrap around my wrist. "Going somewhere, Guardian?" a voice whispered in my ear.

I pulled away and saw Zane grinning at me, salivating at the corner of his mouth. A mixture of musk and sweat wafted against my nose every time he moved in closer. I felt a heaviness in my stomach. Instead of butterflies, it was more like moths piling one by one in the pit of my stomach, eating at the core. I held my stomach and inched my way backward.

He reached out his blistered hand and said, "How about you hand over that crystal to me."

I looked him straight in the eye, and without a word, I held my ground.

"Oh, little girl wants to play grown-up, eh?" he said.

Zane circled around me, looking me up and down. "So far from home, Guardian? No one here to protect you?" I could feel his warm breath graze the back of my neck each time he circled around me, sending chills up my spine. "That's so much power and responsibility for one girl. I can help you. Let me take care of it for you," he said.

Zane stopped in front of me, pulling me close. "And then let me take care of you," he whispered.

As I turned to run away, he tackled me to the ground. Flipping me over, he sat just below my stomach, pressing his legs against my thighs. I frantically threw my fists at him, only to have him grab my wrists, pinning me further onto the ground.

Zane's face hovered over mine as a bead of his sweat fell onto my cheek. I turned my head to wipe it on my shoulder, and then I saw the small rocks lying on the ground beside me. I opened my fists, and the leaves around me rose off the ground and chaotically encircled us. Zane looked at the sight around him as the rocks beside me began to shake. I narrowed in on one rock again and felt my palms sweat.

"What the—" Zane said. But before he could finish his sentence, the rock lifted off the ground and smacked him between the eyes. As he cradled his face in his hands, I broke free from his grasp. As I ran away, I heard Zane howling, and I knew the others would not be far behind.

I ran as fast as I could and hurdled across the rocks that bridged the gap of a ravine. Sliding down below the sides of it, the palms of my hands scraped against the gravel, trying to slow my fall. I found a bridge created by a fallen tree trunk and hid beneath it as I applied pressure on the open flesh to relieve some of the stinging.

Frozen with fear, I stayed absolutely still as I heard Zane and his pack of men whispering above me, their shadows close beside me. "Come out, come out wherever you are, Guardian," Zane said playfully as the rest of his men laughed. It angered me to feel helpless despite the power I possessed. Gathering the nerve to face them, I slowly raised my hand, but with another howl from Zane, they charged back into the forest.

I let out another sigh of relief and felt a wet sensation drizzle over my feet. I looked down and was relieved it was a cold, wet trickling from the stream and not a warm, wet trickling coming from me.

I followed the path of water, which led me to a soft mist hovering above the corner of the rocks. I did not know what was around the corner, but I had to keep going. I climbed up the rocks and continued following the stream. The trickling sound grew louder as I reached a clearing and found its source. The water sparkled like diamonds in the sunlight, and many trees surrounded this secret oasis. For a moment, I felt as if part of me were home.
(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Guardian of Auzeria by Jennifer Trias Swenson. Copyright © 2013 Jennifer Trias Swenson. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Author's Note....................     ix     

Prologue....................     xi     

Chapter 1 – Beneath the Weeping Willow....................     1     

Chapter 2 – Diamond in the Rough....................     7     

Chapter 3 – Shadow on the Mountain....................     23     

Chapter 4 – Fire Within....................     37     

Chapter 5 – Wall of Auzeria....................     41     

Epilogue....................     49     

Acknowledgments....................     51     

About the Author....................     53