The Guardians

NB:

All characters and reference to real places and historical names are meant to be used in purely fictitious ways. This is a work of fiction and bears no resemblance to any person alive or dead.

Prologue

Legend tells of the Florentine poet, Dante Alighieri whose love for Beatrice led him on a spiritual journey to help him see the errors of his way. His dead love Beatrice had asked the Virgin Mary to show him penitence; Mary accepts and sends him on a journey through Hell, up Mount Purgatory and finally to Heaven in the sky.

In Inferno, Dante finds himself lost in the dark woods, surrounded by vicious wolves and beasts like. Spiritually unguided, Dante desperately seeks a way out. He is stopped by the ancient poet; Virgil who explains to him that the only way out is for him to finish the journey; to reach Paradise and to do so, Dante must first follow him on a tour of Hell.

Through the gates, Dante sees the nine circles of Hell and their inhabitants. Beyond the sixth circle, Dante finds that each circle of Hell has more inner levels within them. And in the fourth level of the ninth circle of Hell, he comes face to face with the Devil himself. Seeing enough to burn his eyes, Dante begins to hate sins and fear punishment. The two poets then exit Hell in time for the sun's rising on Easter Sunday to which Virgil now leads him to Purgatory.

Entering Purgatory, Dante carries with him seven P's for each of the sins and each burden is removed the higher up Mount Purgatory he climbs. Here the saved are purged of their sins and await entry to Paradise.

At the end of the seventh terrace of Purgatory, Virgil leaves him and Dante is reunited once more with his love, Beatrice, at the gates of Paradise....

"Ella...my love that's enough reading for now..." Isabella tried to stifle her yawn as she looked up to see her father beyond the rows of books on his desk.

"But Papa....A little bit more please..." the little girl pleaded. The wizened Professor Rafael Allegri put down his reading glasses and began to walk towards his daughter. He could see her nodding away since after dinner but didn't have the heart to part her from her precious reading. She, like him would always have a love for books.

Her soft brown hair was dark like her mother's but her eyes, piercing green like his. Looking at them through her half hooded lids, he could see them turning almost dark green with fatigue.

She was asleep even before they got to her bedroom and Rafael smiled as he looked at his beautifully precious and only daughter curled up against her favorite blankie. Pulling up the covers, he kissed her forehead and opened her palms to kiss her small fingers. He saw the wooden carved bracelet around her wrist and sighed. He missed his Anna so much... She had made him promised to give their daughter the bracelet on her 10th birthday as a gift from her. Rafael closed his eyes to stop the tears from falling.

Walking back to his study, Rafael picked up the book his daughter was reading and shook his head.

Divina Commedia

– read the title. He saw her tiny little markings on his book to indicate that she had stopped just before the section on

Paradiso

. He smiled, knowing that she must be dreaming about Paradise at that moment....

*********

RING!!!!!

"Ella! Wake up! We're going to be so late for class if you don't stop dreaming!" wailed her flustered roommate, Cathy, who was busily stuffing books and pens in Ella's bag.

"We're so gonna be late Ella!!! Ella!!!" yelled Cathy as she banged at the bathroom door.

And...30 minutes later...

"We're sorry we're late... Prof..." Ella managed to huff her apology as she was totally out of breath from all that running from their dormitory to the lecture hall.

"It's alright. I knew you'd be late Ella," a baritone voice replied her. It was then that she looked up to see one of the most handsome men she had ever laid eyes upon. He was tall, about 6ft and had shoulders way too broad for a professor, she thought. His hair was blond and his eyes had a sharp intensity that she couldn't stare at them for long. She didn't even dare to ask how he

knew

she was going to be late.

"Ella!" hissed Cathy who was already seated. She gestured to the seat next to her and Ella quickly scrambled to her seat and tried to settle down.

She saw his name already written on the board in black ink- Ben Martin. Below his name he had written the subject of his vocation: Medieval History and Linguistics

Cathy had scribbled a note at the top of her notepad that said 'BORING!' and underlined it several times. Showing it to Ella, both girls ended up giggling as Cathy began to sketch a funny drawing of Professor Martin in metal armor.

"Miss Ella, you seem to have a knack for distracting my focus today. I wonder why is that?" his baritone voice echoed loud in the auditorium. Ella's head snapped back up to face his piercing gaze. She was usually vocal during her lessons, but staring at him at that moment, she couldn't bring herself to give him any reason. Somehow, she felt really stupid at that moment in time.

Seeing Professor Martin walking towards her direction, she quickly tried to burry her nose deep in her textbook but her ploy failed for he rapped his marker at her desk and said,

"Since you have a penchant for seeking attention, perhaps you would like to enlighten us all as to what exactly the term 'Medieval' refers to?" Ella didn't dare to look up at him. She didn't know if she feared him or felt the beginnings of a crush but she couldn't stare at his eyes. Didn't anyone else notice how intense they were? They seemed to be glowing like sunlight each time his eyes were set in a gaze.

"No? Anyone else?" he turned to face the rest of the freshman class. Someone had raised his hand and Professor Martin had walked over to the student. Even though he was far from her at that moment, Ella could still sense his gaze penetrating through her skin. She didn't know why she had such a strong emotion for this person. It was neither hate nor liking but it was deeply intense.

The lecture continued for the next hour without him moving anywhere near her. After the class ended, Cathy was bubbling with excitement.

"Oh, Ella! Did you see how handsome our professor was? God... he is to die for. Oh... and that voice of his... it's so captivating that I couldn't help but hear every word he said! Oh the Romans and the Byzantines... it all sounds so boring yet he made it so romantic! Oh Ella... I would never ever be late for his class ever again!" chirped Cathy as she held Ella's hand and swung it in glee.

"Hey, Ella! I'm talking to you babe... what's gotten into you huh?" Cathy tried to shake Ella out of her thoughts.

"Oh. I'm sorry Cat... It's just, that professor was really mean... I mean... I wasn't the only one giggling!"

"Oh, don't be a sour pot. Maybe he thought you're hot!" Cathy said laughingly.

"Yeah right," retorted Ella. She often heard people calling names at them each time they walk in the halls. 'Beauty and the Beast' they had said. Ella didn't need anyone to tell her who's the Beast.

After lunch, Cathy had left her to go for another class. Ella decided to take a walk to the Faculty office. She had a lot of things on her mind and she knew just the right person who could help ease them all.

The hallway to the Faculty office was always like a ghost town. No one seemed to like talking to their professors. Ella closed the door gently behind her and started walking towards her destination; she's done it a thousand times. Suddenly, she felt a light tap on her shoulder and almost shouted in surprise as she turned to face her perpetrator.

"Ella," his voice was calm as he greeted her. Ella wanted to kill him for scaring her like that.

"Professor Martin," she replied back, out of courtesy. She had to get away from him as fast as possible.

"Visiting the Professor I suppose?" he said, matter of factly. Ella was frowning. What, can he read minds now? She didn't reply him but simply gave a soft knock on her father's office door and waited for his reply.

"Yes, come in," the booming voice from inside answered. Ella pushed the door open, leaving Ben Martin standing outside. But the moment her father's eyes looked at the door, his first words were not addressed to her but to him.

"Ah, Abben... how wonderful to see you. Do come in, come in!" he said, getting up to pull a chair for the young professor. Ella was very upset. She had come here to tell her father about the man sitting comfortably beside her and how is she suppose to do so with him around?

"Would you like tea, Abben? I did ask Miria to make me a pot a while ago," her father said. Ella glared at Professor Martin. What kind of name is 'Abben' anyway, she thought.

"It's Latin, my dear. I fear that my mother had a thing for such ancient language when I was born," he simply said as though reading her mind. Ella was furious and turned to look at him. She regretted the moment she did that for she felt a sudden twirl of excitement in her gut. His chiseled lips were curved in a smile so slightly and his eyes... they weren't the same colour and brightness as they had been back in the auditorium. They were greyish green. She couldn't believe it. His irises looked as though they could have been translucent! He held her gaze for no longer than a second before standing up to assist her father with tea.

"Rafael, let me. Why don't you sit down?" he said, gesturing towards the chair.

Sitting down, Rafael turned to his daughter and caressed her cheek.

"My Bella... why are you always wearing those horrendous looking sweaters... don't you think they are a tad too big for you?" Rafael said as he stroked his daughter's hair.

"But they're Mama's."

"Yes, they are but they are so old and worn out my dear... one day we will have to let it go..."

Ella looked at her father and somehow sensed that he wasn't just talking about her sweater anymore.

"Anyway Papa... did you know that Professor Martin here is one of my core subject instructor?" she said, trying to bring back his focus to the present.

"Ben will do, Ella, since we are in such intimate circumstances," Ben replied as he looked at her. Ella didn't like the way he said the word 'intimate'. It felt as if he had stroked some parts of her body and left her naked right in that room. She turned away from his gaze and looked at her father.

"Well then Ella. You are so fortunate! Abben here is a superb authority on Medieval studies. There is nothing that one can ask that he wouldn't know. Isn't that right my friend?" Rafael gave Ben a playful wink.

"But I thought you're the best there ever was!" retorted Ella.

"Oh Bella... you know that is not true. Everyone has their specialties. Mine is in Literature and he in History. That is the beauty of knowledge, haven't I always told you? You can either study them all or study one in depth. You can't have it all my Bella... that is why we have books for people to share their knowledge."

Ella sipped her tea and stared at the two men who were sitting in front of her. Their closeness brims just beneath the veneer of politeness that they both engaged in. Perhaps they had worked together on a paper before. But Ella had never saw Ben Martin ever walking in the halls of Princeton.

****

Princeton- That's where her Papa said they were going to live. She didn't like the sound of it. So foreign... she wanted to stay in Italy, close to her Mama's grave but her Papa won't hear of it. He said he had a job at this strange place called Princeton and she must go with him because she is his daughter. Ella had remembered sulking for days, watching her Papa pack their things.

She had gotten sick onboard the plane and Papa had patted her to sleep so she wouldn't feel nauseous.

Papa had said their house was going to be at Springdale Faculty. She had liked that name. It made her think of spring, her favorite season because it was neither too hot nor cold.

He had given her a very pretty carved wooden bracelet. He said it was a gift from Mama. Ella loved it very much for it was always reflecting off light and never got wet even when she took it to play in the bathtub. She had never taken it off ever since.

But Princeton took her Papa away from her for many hours at times. She would sit in his office reading his many books simply to past time after school. At first, she couldn't speak English and had kept to herself during school lessons, only to rush back to her father's office to burry her nose in his extensive collection of books written in Italian. Even after 5 years, she felt homesick sometimes and reading in her native language helped ease the longing...

It was during those lonely afternoons that she found the heavy leather bound book hidden under a few other on her father's desk. She couldn't recognize the other books because they were in another language. She knew that she should be reading those instead to improve her English but something about the Italian words on that leather bound book caught her attention:

Divina Commedia

What, she had wondered could possibly be so funny inside this book? Papa had told her stories of the Shakespearean comedies and how she loved each and everyone of them. But he had never told her this one.

The book had startled her with its rather rude quote 'Abandon hope all ye who enters here!'. She had gotten scared but her curiosity pushed her to read further. Dante, the poet was ruthless in his description of Inferno, and Ella was grateful for the afternoon sunlight for company as Dante took her down the darkness of his writings.

There were some strange scribblings on one of the pages but she couldn't understand them. She had thought them english but they were actually a far more ancient language that she did not know. Flipping a page, suddenly, a small parchment fell out. Papa must have been making notes for his class she thought. But when she turned the parchment over, she saw a picture of a painting... or was it a sculpture... of four horsemen. Maybe Papa was using this as a bookmark, she thought, but as she looked closer at each of the men, she felt herself drawn to the first one. She could see his eyes... they were so empty and hollow. She found herself staring at his face even more and more...

"Papa... are all comedies suppose to be funny?" she had asked her father later that night during dinner.

"Oh my Bella... of course not. Poetry in the ancient world fell into two categories- high to which it is called a tragedy and low to which it is called a comedy. So a low poem or a comedy usually has happy endings and talk about everyday things. Of course eventually people come to think of it as having humour in it only. Why do you ask my love?"

"But why is Dante's

Divina Commedia

a comedy?"

"Oh... Bella... you should not be reading such things at your age..."

"Why is it a comedy Papa?" she insisted.

Sighing to himself, Rafael continued, " Italian was considered a low and vulgar language of the Medieval times. Many would have expected him to write in Latin to describe such a serious topic."

"Papa... who were the horsemen in the book? I saw it on a parchment..."

"That's enough Isabella..."

******

RING!!!!!

"Ella! Wake up! We're going to be so late again for class if you don't stop dreaming!" wailed her flustered roommate, Cathy who was busily stuffing books and pens in Ella's bag.

"We're so gonna be late Ella!!! Ella!!!" yelled Cathy as she banged at the bathroom door.

Cathy had not waited for her this time. By the time Ella had gotten herself down to the auditorium, she saw her coursemates strolling out.

"Ella! You are so dead. Prof Martin was looking for you. He gave us a pop quiz today. You are so dead!" Ella couldn't believe her luck. Why must she be late on the day he intends to give the quiz? She had been punctual every lesson after their first late incident. She had been dreaming again about those damn horsemen. Damn them!

Peeping into the auditorium, she noticed that Ben was still there. Taking in a deep breath, she tiptoed in.

"Professor Martin...."

"Ella, see me in my office in 10 minutes," he simply said and walked off. Oh boy... was she dead or what.

30 minutes later...

She was still in his office, waiting for him. She knew she was in trouble but for how long did he intend to make her wait for him?

Shuffling her feet from side to side, she decided to check out his office. He had a ridiculously medieval looking bow and arrow set hanging on the wall behind his desk. Rows of photos in frames lined the side of his desk. There were some with 2 other men- one red head and another black haired one. There was also another with a beautiful woman with pale blond hair like his. Was she his sister? Or wife perhaps? Ella didn't want to speculate but she did feel a twang of jealousy for no reason. Putting down the frame, she turned to the last frame which was of him alone. He looked truly handsome in this picture. He was standing beside a beautiful white horse and he was smiling. Ella realized that it was actually a rare time she saw him smiling showing his teeth. He seemed truly happy in this photo.

"I wouldn't touch those if I were you," his voice startled her suddenly and she dropped his picture frame on the floor. She didn't even hear the door open!

"Professor... I'm sorry... I was just looking... I was waiting for you and..."

"Perhaps you now understand the essence of time Isabella. Time waits for no one. Just because your father is a colleague of mine does not mean that I will be lenient on you."

Ella tried hard to stare at the floor. He had already sat down on his chair and she was standing in front of him like a petulant child. They remained like that for several seconds; it felt like many minutes to Ella.

She continued staring at the floor and he continued staring at her. He wasn't moving from his position yet she could feel his gaze penetrating through her skin like a ray of light. She actually felt the heat rising in the room and felt uncomfortably warm in her clothes. Finally, breaking the silence, she looked up and caught his gaze. Her sudden move had caught him off guard and he blinked to shake off her returned gaze.

Ella felt a little confused. It was as if it hurt him to have her look at him when he did not expect her to.

"Will I fail the test because I did not take it?" she cautiously asked.

He remained silent and looked at her. The sharp piercing look was no longer in his eyes but a soft greyish amber lined his pupils. He looked almost defeated at the moment.

"I don't know what to do... with you," he said as he rose. He could not sit down and look up at her anymore. Ella felt that strange twisting in her gut again. Sure, Professor Martin was hot... and probably the most handsome guy on campus... but surely he didn't intend to make a move on her right? Ella felt her words choked down her throat.

He was merely standing there and she was feeling this ridiculous sensation that she couldn't understand. He was looking at her and once again, she felt naked in front of him like the other time in her father's office.

"Isabella..." she thought she heard his voice in her head. He wasn't even opening his mouth! No... she must have been hallucinating because she is so afraid of him...

"Don't be afraid of me... please." Again she heard him in her head! Ella was definitely beyond mad now. Suddenly, she felt it... like a distant memory suffocating her and overpowering all her senses at once.

His lips... so soft on hers. She didn't know such defiant lips could elicit the softest kisses. She had breathed out a sigh as her hands felt his solid muscles over his tunic. He was gentle, guiding her through her first kiss. One hand held her back firmly while the other was pulling her shoulders closer to him. His lips parted and coaxed hers to open as well for an erotic dance of tongues. His felt so strong yet gentle as it caressed hers into its wakening dance. She had been on tiptoes and her arms were around his neck, holding on for her dear life.