The coming night out there is deceptively gentle, but I know the dangers it brings. I wake up from my long slumber and ready myself to face the hardest hours, but I know that all of my training will kick in, and I will not lose a fight. Putting on my armor and readying my sword and shield, I watch for the Creatures of the Dark who I know will come soon. I, Lee Hyunjin, do not remember any other life than this; my first memory is of being in a confined box with several other boys and girls being transported somewhere. We didn’t know who we were or where we came from, and I didn’t receive my name until Jiwoo chose me when she was barely three, officially making me a Guardian. I had trained for countless years in the Protectors of the Children Academy, learning how to use a sword, how to defend against terrible monsters. In those years, I was a strong headed boy sure that I could face anything, but when I was burdened with the safety of that little girl, it was the first time that I had felt crushing fear. There will never be a day, however, that I am not thankful to Jiwoo, and I will do everything in my power to keep her safe.

The door opens to admit Jiwoo and her mother, and they smile at me, and I at them. We have grown to love each other so much in a few short years. They come to the bed and Jiwoo lays down, having already taken her bath and cleaned her teeth. Her mother tucks her into her bed. She has never liked to tell bedtime stories, but like every night, her beautiful soft voice sings a soothing lullaby about how much she loves her daughter. Jiwoo listens, visibly becoming more relaxed and ready to sleep. When her mother finishes her song, she leans in and kisses her daughter on the forehead, giving me a smile and a nod, knowing that I will not fail tonight.

As I stay by Jiwoo until she sleeps, she smiles at me and says what she does every night:

“I trust you, Jin. The monsters won’t get to me tonight.”

Like every night, the room becomes darker and sinister as Jiwoo is at the brink of sleep. There is always something that wants to get her as soon as she goes to bed, and I have to watch for the sneaky Creatures who will try to disguise themselves. All of my training at the Protectors’ Academy made me smarter than them, though. A chill begins to set in the air that both Jiwoo and I can feel as the Dark Ones approach. My breath comes slowly and steadily, loud in my own ears, as I swear I can sense the Evil approaching. Every flicker of light and breath of breeze become warning signs when my responsibility sits heavy on my shoulders. There is something else too, something I can’t quite put my finger on, but there is a ball of apprehension tight in the pit of my stomach.

From beside the door, a sudden movement catches my attention and I immediately run over there before the Creature can get any closer. I use my shield to block the unseen force, smirking when the Anneray thinks it can fool me. Although I am used to this sort of Creature, I still have to be careful around it because they can utilize the darkness about them to sneak up on us. There may be some company as well, but I’d know if there were any. The disgusting things will not get past me, or I will die trying.

As the Anneray continues to push against my shield and try to hit me through my armor, I concentrate my will into the sapphire embedded on my shield. It begins to glow brighter when I chant the spell the Protectors taught me, and I know that this will end soon. The Anneray’s cloak of darkness falls from around it, and I look at a familiar figure, ugly to its core. Its eyes are too big and are an empty white, while its head is a slim deformed cone, a faded gray color to match its skinny body. We look at each other for a moment, me in my victory, before I realize it’s smiling too. I look behind me and see something on the floor moving by itself, and I curse. I bound over to where it was and use my shield to try to drive the other Anneray back, still disappointed with myself for not noticing it earlier. The one behind me begins to weave the darkness around itself, but I am already preparing my second spell. I finally find the cloaked one and concentrate my power on its cloak, revealing that one as well. Before the Creature behind me can finish putting on the darkness, I run back and strike it, making its concentration and the cloak fail. The two begin to circle around me across from each other, but since I caught on to their first tactic, I know that things will go easier from here on out.

One of the Anneri lunges toward me and I deflect its attack with my shield while simultaneously swinging my sword toward the other one. They both evade my second strike, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll get the best of me. Far from it. Both of the Anneri try to devise a new tactic with one of them preparing an offensive spell while the other protects it. I muster my strength and go for the defender, beginning to overpower him soon after. It does manage to strike my chest a few times, but my armor takes the blunt of the attacks, and I my sword through its heart not long after.

Suddenly, something from above begins barraging me, and I fall to my knees. The very real feeling magic rocks batter my armor and it hurts. The Anneray smiles disgustingly as it turns toward Jiwoo. I give a curse and growl, summoning the last of my will to stand up and go for the Creature of the Dark. It catches on rather quickly to my intent and evades me. We come face to face too close to Jiwoo’s bed, but I throw all of my weight into bringing down the Dark One. The Anneray and I roll around in a power struggle for a while until I am able to slam its head into the drawer, temporarily stunning it and giving me the chance to go take my sword. It gives me an evil glare as I raise my downward pointed sword with both hands and deliver the final blow. The Anneray dissipates, and I sit on the floor to catch my breath. It’s been a while since two Anneri have come at once, and that dread I felt at the beginning comes again.

In my paranoia, I sit and wait by Jiwoo’s bed, but nothing comes for a long while. Usually, there are at least two or three Dark Ones coming every hour or two, but the stillness unnerves me tonight. I am naturally grateful for the wonderful respite, but I cannot help but feel that something much more dangerous is waiting in the shadows. Trying not to let my fear overpower my senses, I take a breath and stand to brush a lock of hair from my Jiwoo’s face. Seeing her in calm slumber gives me the strength I need to keep watch tonight, and I try not to cry. The Protectors tried to dry all of our tears, but I can’t help it. I love her so much.

From the door, I hear another sound, but this one truly does bring fear into my heart. In the Protector’s Academy, they said that there is one kind of Creature that makes all others seem like child’s play, one that doesn’t come too often. When it does, however, they told us to give the fight nothing but our best. I recognize the deep rumble from what the Protectors described to me over the years, and I turn to face it.

A Tan’yami.

If this wasn’t the most terrible of Creatures that is twice my height, I would be looking at it in awe. I’m not so sure I’m not. The Tan’yami is what humans refer to as a dragon, but we call it a name that means “True Darkness,” for that is what it is. In spite of my racing heart, I take my sword from its scabbard and my shield from my back. All other nights before, I have prevailed against the Creatures of the Dark, and tonight is the night where I absolutely must not fail. I steal a glance behind me to Jiwoo, and the warmth that floods my heart pairs with the fear. If this Dark One were to get to her…no, I won’t let that happen.

The Tan’yami seems to acknowledge me as its opponent with a slight bow of its head, and I am surprised. Creatures of the Dark have never done such a thing before. Then again, the Protectors have always said that the Tan’yami are not like any other Creature, and so must be faced with even more determination. There are many things running through my mind, but my heart knows that I must do this for Jiwoo. I thought that my burden was getting lighter the more confident I became, but as I look at the Tan’yami, I am reminded just how heavy it is, and it just may crush me tonight. Jiwoo, I love you.

I get into a ready stance and the Creature does the same. The Protectors taught me all that they know about the Tan’yami in my years there, but not even that makes me feel prepared for this night. There is, however, one thing that I remember very clearly: “You can only kill a Tan’yami by piercing its heart; all other attacks will only slow it down. While it’s a simple concept, there is no easy way about it.” Suddenly realizing that my apprehension has been replaced with sheer determination, I look at the Creature in a new light. Yes, this will be the most trying night I have ever experiences, but I am not backing down. I have been laying my life on the line for Jiwoo since the night she chose me. I will not let her down. Ever.

The Protectors did give me some tips for fighting the True Darkness, but I find myself unable to recall much of them in my shock. My determination isn’t enough to completely assuage my fear, but I try to keep from panicking. It doesn’t work very well. The Tan’yami lunges toward me, swinging its forefoot to try to knock me aside, but I duck to avoid it. Its long claws don’t look very pleasant to endure. Seeing it recover its balance, I run toward it and attempt a strike between its forelegs. My blade does land on its tough skin, but it barely has an effect on it. That’s right, my teachers said that the Tan’yami’s skin can resist even the hardest of blows. So how am I supposed to defeat it?

Backing down, I ready myself for another attack while trying to think of a way to take this Creature down. Since my physical attack didn’t work, I decide to focus my energy on the stone on my shield, making it glow as I began whispering a spell. Some Creatures require a magic imbued blade to injure them, and I begin doing that even as the Tan’yami continues to try to attack me. Its fire breath comes so dangerously close to me that I can feel the heat through my armor, but I take this chance to drive forward again. My spell completes just as I swing my sword, giving it an almost eerie looking blue glow, and I land a strike on the Dark One’s leg. This time, it does manage to go through the skin, but I’d need a blacksmith’s arms to continue to do that enough to make any significant wound. Again, I curse and start to get frustrated. My fear over Jiwoo’s safety doesn’t subside one bit, though.

It’s not long before the Tan’yami manages to knock me down, and I have so little strength left that I can barely stand back up. I watch from the ground as the Creature of the Dark approaches my Jiwoo’s bed, and a fire lights in my guts. Suddenly, it doesn’t matter how battered or tired I am. I pick up my sword and run up behind the Tan’yami just as it bends down to the bed and opens its mouth. Jiwoo seems to sense the Evil and shifts in her sleep, and that gives me the last bit of strength that I need to do my job. I run up the Tan’yami’s back, making it try to shake me off, but I know what I’m going to do. My heart is a swirling hurricane of the emotions within me, and it seems to transfer to my blade. I jump up at last and raise the downward pointed sword with both hands and drive it straight through the Tan’yami’s back. Surprisingly, it pierces the Creature’s skin very easily and finds its way to the heart. The Tan’yami shrieks one last time as it begins to dissipate. I watch in fascination as the True Darkness becomes a black smoke that fades away from the blinding white light of my sword. I don’t remember conjuring any spell to enhance my blade, and the Protectors never taught me anything like that. Strange.

Jiwoo awakens right as the Tan’yami is gone and she looks at me with a worried expression. As I suspected, she had felt the Darkness about her, and a look of love and gratitude washes over her face as she looks at me, battered and tired. I smile back and her and go to give her a hug. She calms down quickly and closes her eyes again. When I’m sure that she’s asleep, I begin to cry. Hard. All of the fear I felt comes back all at once, and I can only think how close I was to letting the Evil get to my Jiwoo. Oh, how I cry and cannot stop.

As I’m crying, I dig into my front pocket for something that I’ve hardly used since Jiwoo chose me. The smooth green stone glows as I say the words through my racking sobs. In my conscience, a very familiar female voice rings, as my own is doing in hers.

“Hyunjin,” the Protector whispers, “are you well?”

“No, Protector.” She was never chosen by a child, so she has no name. “I just faced a Tan’yami for the first time tonight.” I begin to cry again, thinking of my precious Jiwoo.

A silence is my only answer, but this kind of news is very serious. Tan’yami aren’t a common enemy at night, but that just makes the news all the more alarming.

“I see,” she answers finally. “And have you failed for the first time? Is that why you’re crying?”

“No, Protector,” I say back gratefully.

The Protector gasps in surprise and laughs in relief. Not many Guardians succeed in killing a Tan’yami the first time they are faced with one. I know because many a Guardian have been scarred for years when the ones they Guard are attacked by the True Darkness. One of my close friends in the Academy contacted me through this stone that his child was brutally scarred before he could save him.

“There was something else,” I say as the flow of tears lessens. “My blade was glowing white and went through the toughest skin with no trouble. I don’t remember learning a spell like that.”

“It’s because we don’t teach it,” the Protector reveals to me. “The only way you can defeat a Tan’yami is through the love of your child that is transferred to your blade. You can’t even begin to do that until the last moment when you’re absolutely sure that your child is going to be hurt. It was your love for her that saved her.”

With that revelation, I begin to cry even harder, though I don’t know why. Maybe because that is true and I was so scared for her, maybe because my love for Jiwoo overflows. I thank the Protector for listening to me and even more so for her advice. I will never let anything hurt my Jiwoo. The dawn is coming, and I must go into my own slumber until she needs me again. I will have a good rest tonight, and my child won’t have a clue about what happened tonight. Because I protected her.

In a little girl’s room, a mother comes in and tells her daughter to wake up. The bus for school will be coming along, and she must get ready. Jiwoo wakes up and hugs her teddy bear tight with a smile on her face. She has no need to fear the monsters under the bed when she has her teddy with her. Bounding up from her bed, she gets ready for school, but not before placing a kiss on her teddy bear’s lips.

“I love you, Jin.”