Realm Keepers 01 - Realm Keepers

protecting your world from Chaos.”
    “You’re clearly not up on current events,” Blade said sarcastically, “if you think our world is protected from chaos.”
    Greystone scowled at him. “Are legions of Shadow creatures marching through your lands, under the sway of a dark wizard whose power stems from death itself and against whom all are powerless to stand?”
    Blade opened his mouth to speak, didn’t, and closed it again. Finally he mumbled, “I thought you were ignoring me.”
    “So Chaos is trying to destroy Midrealm so it can get to Earth?” Calvin asked, as though everything made perfect sense to him now.”
    “Correct, young master,” Greystone said with a nod. “And for a long, long time, we have been fighting it. We cannot truly defeat it, only wear it down and send it running, and so we do so again and again and again. The brave men, women, elves, dwarves and all members of the Free People, are the only things standing between your world and Chaos. That, and the Rune Holders.”
    A chill ran down my spine at the words. That’s what the leader of the Shadows had called us. “What are the Rune Holders, exactly?”
    “The Rune Holders are you, and you are the Rune Holders,” Greystone said. His voice sounded as though he wanted to sigh, but he restrained it. “You have many names. The common men know you as the Realm Keepers, for it is you who will now be entrusted with Midrealm’s very safety. Kings and Queens will call you the Chosen, for this title reminds them that their power stems from luck of birth and riches, whereas your powers were granted to you by almighty Destiny.”
    “Whoah, who’s entrusting us with what now?” exclaimed Raven.
    “Did you say powers?” asked Calvin.
    “So when we meet a King, will he, like, bow to us or whatever?” asked Blade, smiling suddenly.
    “Regardless of what you are called, you are the Rune Holders,” Greystone soldiered on, ignoring them. “The stones chose you to be the guardians of Midrealm, a duty you will now carry out until your dying day. Which, if we are not very careful, will be extremely quick in coming.”
    “Out of everyone on Earth why us?” I asked. I still wasn’t sure I believed this guy, but we were in another world, that much I could take on faith. I wanted to know why.
    “Because we’re awesome,” Calvin said, waving me away dismissively. “That’s not the important question though. The important question is, why anyone? ”
    “What are you talking about?” Miles asked.
    Calvin looked up at Greystone, their twin pairs of pale blue eyes holding in a gaze. “Why anyone from Earth at all? Why aren’t the Rune Holders selected from the people of Midrealm?”
    “You are, once again, correct,” Greystone said with a nod. “It appears I may have underestimated you. Well,” he said doubtfully, casting a disdainful glance at Blade, “at least this skinny one.”
    “Bite me, grandpa,” said Blade cheerfully.
    “The Rune Holders come from Earth because Earth is the source of Midrealm’s power. Magic, after all, came from Earth in the first place, and only by maintaining a link, however tenuous, to its original home can magic continue to flourish. You are not only the selected representatives of your home, but you are imbued with all of the strengths of the Magic of old. The ancient wizards, such as those who summoned Midrealm into existence in the first place, had a power and a strength unlike anything the world had ever seen. The earth bent itself to their command, the air was their plaything, fire and water danced together from their fingertips, they could summon the stormcloud, and the minds of all men were under their sway.”
    I thought back to the pillars where we’d first come into Midrealm. I saw in my mind’s eye the symbols carved on each. “There were six of them,” I said, suddenly understanding. “Six of them, each with different gifts. And there are six of us.”
    Greystone nodded. “Indeed. You have been granted the powers of the Ancient Circle, each of you holding dominion over a different element that makes up the world. I can summon fireballs, shoot lightning from my fingertips, and cause wind gusts. But one of you can set a nation ablaze, another can create a storm that will sunder the very earth itself, and another can cause a tornado with a snap of the finger. No one is mightier in your magic than each of you.”
    “What did we all get?” Calvin said eagerly. “What’s my