Guardian Ch. 00: Prologue

"Mikael, it's your time." The slightly musical voice interrupted his peaceful, yet dreamless sleep.

"Just a little longer." He mumbled, almost out of habit.

"It's your time." The voice repeated. "We have much to discuss before you start your mission."

This time, Mikael opened his eyes, but snapped them shut straight away. He blinked a couple of times, allowing his eyes to adjust to the bright white light that filled the space around him. "Where am I?" he asked.

"This, Mikael, is the afterlife... Well, more like limbo to be exact - you're not quite at the afterlife yet."

He looked at the woman who seemed to float in front of him. Her pale, flawless skin seemed to glow and glitter, transfixing his gaze. She wore nothing but a filmy, almost transparent robe and he could see the delicate pink of her nipples beneath it. Mikael could feel his dick stirring and he swallowed audibly. He quickly averted his gaze, hoping the mystical woman who stood almost naked in front of him didn't notice. She gave no indication that she was aware of his arousal. He cleared his throat, her words finally registering in his head, "Wait... Did you say the afterlife? That means... I'm dead?"

The woman flicked her long blond locks behind her head, "Pretty much."

Mikael thought of all the people who depended on him - his sick mother, his younger sister. The two people that he'd sworn he'd always be there for. The ones who needed his protection. He combed his fingers through his shaggy, black hair, trying to remember his last moments; he came up with nothing. All he could remember was the morning - he'd left at the crack of dawn to work on the building site, manual labour was the only work an uneducated immigrant could get. He worked hard so his sister could have the chances at an education that he couldn't get when he was her age. He remembered getting to work, but nothing past that. "How did it happen?"

"We don't have time for this Mikael. You'll have to wait until your mission is complete to find what happened. There's a small chance you'll remember, but people who'd died in situations such as yours generally don't remember."

"What mission?" He tried to think about his life, why hadn't he gotten into the afterlife? He shouldn't be in limbo, he'd lead a good life, and he'd done nothing wrong.

"It's simple really, you have to protect your charge. You have to watch over her and keep her safe."

"What do you mean?"

The woman tilted her head, as if she was listening to something, then she waved her hand in front of her. The air shimmered for a second, and then a window seemed to open up. A kind of portal to another place.

Mikael stood and walked over to the woman, straining to see the scene that had unfolded. It seemed to be a hospital room. Suddenly, a loud scream pearced the serene tranquillity and other voices began to come through the scene. Doctors rushing about, machines beeping. The woman in the bed breathing heavily, panting and then screaming again. Then, it went silent for a second until a loud, high pitch cry erupted from between the woman's legs. A doctor emerged from under the blanket, "Congratulations," he said, "You have a lovely, healthy baby girl."

The scene faded, and the woman turned to face him. "You took longer to wake than I thought you would. So we don't have any time left. The baby girl you just saw will be your charge. She will not be able to see you, except for in her dreams and times of extreme stress. You'll watch over her and give her guidance. Whether you choose a path of good and kindness for her or a path of evil and cruelty, is up to you."

Around him, the endless expanse of white began to shift, like a curtain being lifted to reveal the hospital room that he'd just seen. The woman began to walk away, "Wait," Mikael called after her, "I don't understand."

"You'll work it out. I'll see you on her twenty-first birthday. Just try and keep her alive until then; her life is more important to you than you know."

The beautiful woman disappeared, and Mikael found himself standing in the busy hospital room looking at the baby. The doctors around him didn't give him any notice - as if he wasn't there. They passed through him as they rushed to the woman's bedside. The baby, on the other hand, looked straight at him and smiled.

"Doctor, her BP's dropping." A nurse said.

Another nurse lowered the head of the bed, sheets were removed. "She's bleeding too much; we need to get her into surgery right now to give her a chance of life."

"Emma, can you hear me?"

The woman just moaned in response, and shut her eyes.

"Come on, don't leave us just yet." They rushed her out of the room; people frantically cleared the way as they ran down the corridor. Emma didn't live to make it to surgery.

Mikael looked at the baby who'd just started crying - as if she knew that her mother had just died. He couldn't believe at the beginning and the ending of life that he'd just witnessed in a few brief seconds that had seemed to last a lifetime. He gently stroked the baby's cheek and she soothed almost instantly. "Looks like it's just me and you then, kid."