SWNOVELS Chapter 32 - It’s Time to Search For Your Guardian
Professor Knudlac was nearby. When the man saw the girl, he got close to them.
“Hi, kids. How are things?”
“Alexander helped me a lot. After a long time guiding me, I read much better. I very rarely get letters mixed up now. Even more, I get the meaning of the sentences,” the girl exclaimed happily. If I could, I’d give Alexander five points ...”
Mr. Knudlac shook the boy's hand with gratitude. Alexander got to his feet when he saw the professor.
“Thanks, Alexander. As for the points ... you are lucky you don’t miss a few, because I heard what you did before.”
The boy smiled, satisfied. He knew he'd have Mr. Knudlac's gratefulness and respect forever, as he helped Elizabeth. Probably this was the only reason he agreed to train a girl.
"My pleasure, anytime. I'm glad I can help. It's not easy with a student like her, but with a little effort she’ll succeed. I’ll do my best for that, Professor Knudlac," continued the same Alexander who managed to act as a boy who cared and was willing to help the others.
But I guess we all know the truth.
"I know, Alexander it takes from your precious time. But you'll be rewarded for sure. One good turn deserves another. Our professors are satisfied too, as well as your professors."
The professor asked the boy preparing to leave:
"Alexander, before I forget. Take Elizabeth to the Sanctuary of Guardians, please. To pick a guardian. Or better said, to be picked by one of them. And then you’re free of the task I gave you, that of helping Elizabeth Edwards.
"Yes, sir," the boy replied, so helpful way, that if we didn’t know him well enough, he might fool us.
After Mr. Knudlac left, Alexander told Elizabeth:
"Let's go. You have to choose a beast, then I will no longer have to see you."
"Where are we going? And what is that Guardian?"
"You’ll see," said the boy slightly irritated. "I don't understand why you have to ask so many questions. Whatever I say, you come with a question."
The girl smiled. As she saw and got nothing but joyful stuff, she could hardly wait to see what that Guardian could be. She wasn't disturbed by the boy's arrogance. Her only concern now was to see what would happen next.
Surely the fact that she could have a guardian meant she gradually became a student ready to advance in the mysteries of magic and she was on the right track.
"Learn to be patient. It irritates me when people have no patience."
"Sorry."
The girl followed Alexander happily, whereas he was clearly disturbed by the fact that he had to show her everywhere. It wasn’t enough that he wasted so much time teaching her to read. Now he had to be her guide too ... or worse, her servant.
The girl and the boy stopped in front of a large building, with letters floating magically, shining in warm hues: "The sanctuary of mystical and non-mystical creatures."
A small creature like a little boy of four, with big ears and nose, wrinkled, chubby, introduced himself to the two:
"Hello, Mr. Alexander. Good morning, Miss, I'm Vajnijiu. I'm a stone elf."
"I'm Elizabeth Edwards. I came here…"
"I know very well who you are, Miss. I also met your parents, and their parents ... and those before them," said the little elf.
Hearing this, Elizabeth was amazed. She wasn’t sure if her parents were students or professors at this school ... She could find so many answers to the questions in her mind. But as usual, Alexander didn’t let her do what she wanted, but he pursued his own gain.
"Professor Knudlac sent us to find a guardian for her. And then I'm free. So we're late..."
“Of course, come in," replied the elf politely, putting up his nose a bit at Alexander.
Who knows how many children he talked to in his life, since he knew those who lived long before Elizabeth, maybe ruder than this boy. So he wasn't affected at all by the students' arrogance and pride.
The door of the Sanctuary opened by itself, and the two entered a round room, like the stage of a small amphitheatre. The girl looked at Alexander. The same infinite number of questions could no longer find their place in her mind. But right as she prepared to ask something, she saw the boy again calling for patience, as he would explain everything that was to be explained. It was evident that he was also eager to be left as soon as possible alone and to get rid of his position as her nanny - because that's how he saw things.
In that room there were a few old bookshelves with books and on the walls, numerous paintings of famous wizards, and if you looked more closely at any of them, the painting seemed to know that you look at it and began to show scenes from that wizard's life. In a few minutes one could find out a lot about the life lived by the one who was depicted.
Alexander was busy looking for something so Elizabeth started to look more closely at one of those paintings. Under that painting was the name Igor Dragoesti, who lived between 1157 and 1272. The painting began to present his life. A citadel appeared as a picture in there, and in a house within that citadel there was a baby, whose name was Igor Dragoesti.
The little boy, despite his age, helped his parents around the house and in the field, and looked after the animals on the farm. That picture also showed Elizabeth how as he grew older, the boy and his mother gathered various fruits in the forest. Finding an oak tree branch in that thick forest through which you could barely make your way forward, he began to carve it. That branch carved by Igor was a special stick, azure colour.
As he was walking with his mother busy with that branch, suddenly a bear cub appeared, followed by a female bear. The beast as tall as two people seated on top of each other rose to its feet, then leaned over his mother. With one blow it threw Igor's mother to the ground and then rushed over the boy.
When she wanted to attack the boy, he repulsed her with ... that branch. Unaware how and why, the boy sent a flame from that rod right in front of mama bear, who, scared ran away with her baby. And then the boy managed to see how ...
Silence is broken:
"Protectorum Sanctuarum," Alexander said.
And the round room began to disintegrate. The bricks that made it began to disappear. At first one, two, then tens, hundreds of bricks disappeared, until eventually the two children ended up in the open field.