I'm going away for a week soon, so I better post mine now.
Hope was never an ordinary shield.
When she was young, Hope’s parents were killed by an explosion. Hope survived, and baffled elementals everywhere.
“You are destined for great things, Hope,” her parents had always told her. She had always believed them with the wide-eyed innocence of a child.
Today though, she had trouble believing it. Seven years later, she was training to be a shield, but was unable to block any attacks whatsoever.
“You will never be a proper shield,” her teacher had said. “You’ll be a relic at best.”
Hope had turned and ran outside. She had stumbled, her vision blurred by tears, but still she ran on, the only thing on her mind getting as far away as possible. Finally she had collapsed onto the ground where she now lay, sobbing.
Suddenly and strangely, she had the feeling that someone was watching her. She raised her head, wiping her eyes, and gasped.
Floating above her head was a small, luminous ball. She stood up shakily and raised her trembling hand to it. The ball bounced away as she touched it, whizzing behind her. It was shining gently, and emitting faint light.
“A ray of light,” said Hope, laughing at the silly name she had invented. She wiped the last of her tears away and stared at the ray of light. Suddenly some more rays appeared, and the air around them lit up as their collective light emission shone through the sky.
A crashing sound alerted her and she jumped around wildly. A giant frog was bearing down on her. It croaked – an ear-splitting, terrifying sound – yet Hope wasn’t scared.
Somehow the light emitted by the rays of light had given Hope courage, and she fearlessly faced down the frog.
I’m going to die, said the logical part of herself. But her newfound courageous side took no notice. The frog’s tongue flicked out of its mouth, straight at Hope – and she blocked it.
She was so surprised she nearly fell over. She had never been able to block an attack. The rays of light were somehow helping her!
With these rays, not even the False Gods could harm me, she thought before she could stop herself.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” said a voice.
The speaker could have been any lady elemental, except that her skin sparkled like diamonds. Her eyes were a burning crimson. Hope had seen pictures of her, but had never thought she would ever see this brutal tyrant in person …
“Divine Glory,” gasped Hope.
Divine Glory smiled. “So you really think that we Gods cannot harm you, mortal?”
“No,” stammered Hope. “I’m sorry, that was just an arrant thought …”
“If you keep thinking things like that, you’ll go the same way as your parents,” said Divine Glory.
Hope froze. “What do you know about my parents?”
Divine Glory laughed, a mirthless, terrifying laugh. “It was I who killed them!”
Red filled Hope’s vision. Suddenly she didn’t care about the fact that Divine Glory could kill her in an instant – all she cared about was bringing her to justice. Hope ran at her.
Red beams blasted from Divine Glory’s eyes. They hit the ground near Hope’s feet and created a huge explosion – yet somehow, the explosion passed right through her.
Divine Glory raised her eyebrows. “Immaterial,” she spat.
Hope had heard of the term before – some creatures and shields were born immaterial, unable to be harmed directly.
Divine Glory pulled out a bright, shining sword and threw it into the air. It hovered, twisted itself around in the air, then flew straight at Hope, blade-first. Hope blocked the sword and sent it flying back to its mistress. Divine Glory gasped.
“Hope!” called a voice. Hope and Divine Glory both spun around to see Firefly Queen, a girl from school, emerging from the bush. Divine Glory threw another sword into the air, and it flew at Firefly Queen.
“NO!” yelled Hope, rushing forth and blocking the sword from hitting Firefly Queen. Firefly Queen summoned a swarm of fireflies, which overwhelmed Divine Glory. Divine Glory gave a scream, before shattering like glass. The pieces disintegrated, leaving nothing behind.
“That was incredible!” exclaimed Firefly Queen. “You blocked all her attacks! You are literally the most powerful shield in the world!”
The rays of lights whizzed joyously around Hope. Pride welled within her, complemented with satisfaction that she had avenged her parents.
“This is dangerous,” said Firefly Queen nervously. “If the other False Gods find out about this, they won’t be pleased.
“No, we won’t,” said a wheezy voice.
The newcomer was clad in light blue, with the burning red eyes of Divine Glory. He held a long blue bow in one hand.
“Octane,” whispered Firefly Queen to Hope.
“Come on, Octane!” shouted Hope. “Try to hit me with your bow! See what happens!”
Octane’s eyes narrowed. Slowly he produced a bright blue vial from his cloak. He opened it and a bright blue gas secreted from it. It filled the meadow, and Firefly Queen and Hope coughed on it.
“So what, you’re going to choke us to death?” scoffed Hope.
Octane smiled. That smile gave Hope the shivers.
“Not exactly,” he said, then fire shot from his eyes and the gas exploded. All the rays of light hovering around Hope disappeared, casting darkness over the meadow.
“NO!” cried Hope, falling to the ground as all her hope disappeared. The tears were back – how could she have been so stupid? She could never defeat the False Gods, and should never have tried.
“Come on, Hope,” said Firefly Queen. “We can still do this.”
“No we can’t,” whispered Hope. “Those rays of light were the only reason I could block everything. And now they’re gone.”
Firefly Queen stared at her sadly. Then she began summoning fireflies.
“Don’t bother,” moaned Hope. “We can’t defeat him.”
“Yes we can,” whispered Firefly Queen.
Hope looked up mournfully, then gasped.
The fireflies were glowing. They illuminated the meadow with light, filling the void left by the rays of light. Hope stood up, courage coming back to her, and together she and her new friend faced Octane.
There was still hope.
