3.

Gareth lives in the here and now in the present day. His mother was born in Delhi, India, and was brought to live in Dublin, Ireland, when she was just three years old. Gareth's father was born in Blackpool, England. Work brought him to Dublin, when he was twenty-three years old, and this is where he would meet the then twenty-one-year-old lady he was to marry and together they would just have one child. Gareth's dad was a structural engineer, and his mother was a beautician and in this present day both mum and dad are no longer living.

Life had turned upside down the evening two police officers came knocking to the Hutton household. They had the unfortunate task of having deliver news to a nineteen-year-old Gareth Hutton. It is a horrible thing that in this day and age racism is still a prevalent thing. Abuse often came mum's way. Both parents were together in such a moment when dad was having none of it and for his interjection into proceedings, he received a knife to the gut before mum's abuse would physical.

Dad continued to interject for as long as he could to the point it would end the moment his life would be taken. All her desperation, all her screaming done little to bring a disgusting attack to an end. Desperate to be at her husband's side, she was thrown into the back of a large white van where abuse turned a sickening kind of physical.

Upon receipt of the news, almost everything left Gareth. His heart sank right into the pit of his stomach, blood drained from his face, his very own soul left him. He fell to the ground and almost everything which occurred in the next couple of hours would go on and be nothing other than a complete blur.

The next memory he does has from after being told what he had been told, is of being in a hospital corridor and looking to find his mother. Mum was alive at this point but not doing all so well. How he got there, he could not say though there he was all the same. Gareth hardly left mum's side over the following three days, and he was with her the moment her life came to an end. He held her hand as she passed, felt the weakness in her hand fade completely, and this is something that never will be forgotten.

After mum's passing, Gareth walked the halls of the hospital for some time looking for a way out while being held in a daze. He had been asked as to if there is someone available that could come get him and bring him home. He said he'd be just fine ... though he was and would be far from that if he had been honest. There would be something seriously lacking for a long time.

In time though, and in an attempt to move on with his own life, Gareth sold the family home and moved away. Living alone for the past four years and now just twenty-three years old himself, Gareth finds his life turned once again turned upside down, but rather than thinking why me? He now feels a sense of adventure, something he has needed for quite some time. He now has purpose no matter how odd this purpose may be.

***

'If I was to tell you something very strange, I wouldn't be scaring you, would I?' asked the driver of the car within which Gareth now finds himself being a passenger in.

'Depends upon what it is you would be telling me', came the reply.

'I had this dream last night that I was driving along this road, the road I just happened to pick you up on. And in my dream, I picked up someone that I had never met before. This someone in my dream just so happens to look a lot like you ... my name is Neil by the way.'

Gareth didn't quite know how to react other than by shaking Neil's outstretched hand and saying ... 'I'm Gareth.'

'Gareth, can I ask you? Are you a Protector?'

Once again Gareth was puzzled knowing not quite how to react to this question. Just as Gareth was about to attempt to give an answer his crystal began to glow, and cars soon pulled up along and either side of the car he was travelling in.

'No way, seriously ...' Neil said apparently seeming quite excited, 'you are a protector and they ... they are real seekers ... holy heck ... this is real.'

Again, before Gareth could say or do anything, Neil slammed on his brakes and turned his car around a full one eighty without any difficulty, and he began to speed away in the direction he was now facing. The other two cars had continued on briefly before they too turned and began to give chase.

The chase lasted quite a while though Neil eventually would be able to put enough distance between himself and those in pursuit so that they would not become a problem. The glow also subsided so maybe there may be a break before anymore tracking could occur. Gareth needed answers though he would wait a moment or two before he would begin to ask any questions.

'Alright, so who or what are you?'

When Neil was sure that they were no longer being followed ... he began to slow down the car, not wanting to attract any unnecessary attention.

'I take it you are still quite new to this whole protector thing but for me it has been something I have known about all my life. Many think of it as nothing more than a myth, this is something that I have been trying to disprove for such a long time ... now here we are. My name is, as I told you, Neil and what you need right now is a companion, what you need is ... me.'

Gareth had been alone for such a long time, both through choice and of no fault of his own, and he felt he no more needed a companion now than at any other point in his life, especially with having found this mysterious crystal that somehow chose him to protect it. He basically kept to himself as much as he could since the deaths of his parents. He had little or no interest in mingling with others.

The truth in this moment in time is that Gareth has no idea as to what is going on, he could actually do with a companion especially now and whether or not as to if this is something he wants to admit to or not.

He, by this point, had met two of the previous protectors of an item he is now charged with protecting, one of whom he feels sure should be dead many years by this stage and he did feel that if he were to get through whatever it would be that he would have to go through then he would at the very least need them, besides neither of those two fellows are real, their just in his head, right? Something projected on him by the crystal.

They did more than just interact with Gareth so maybe they are something more than hallucinations. Maybe this whole situation is some kind of breakdown. Sure, this must be it. Within his own grief and loneliness, Gareth Hutton is having a mental breakdown, something which is only natural given the circumstances. No matter what is happening, there is something more to it, something that cannot be so easily explained away.

'Look, I am not trying to be bad or anything, but I don't need a ... companion. I am doing just fine all by myself.'

'Yes, you do need someone. See, I helped you back there. If I hadn't have helped you then you would have had to deal with the occupants of those two cars by yourself, and as well as that I clearly know things about your position that you most likely have yet to find out for yourself'.'

Neil does have a point, or does he? That Li Hai fellow must be a figment of Gareth's imagination as too that Cowboy Bill fellow must be, and all else which has been coming Gareth's way but if it somehow is real then what really does this Neil fellow know and how could he know it?

Together, Neill, along with Gareth, drove at a decent pace for the next few hours. Neil tried to complicate the journey in the hopes he would not make it too obvious as to where they may go, so hopefully it would make it all the more difficult for those who gave chase earlier to follow and possibly catch up.

Along the way, Neil explained a few things. What he is aware of is that the crystal holds a secret and this secret needs to be protected. The story surrounding the crystal is one that some had always believed to have been a myth, a legend, it had been a story told to Neil when he was young boy by his father.

All through his life he had dreamt of the crystal, he knew that these dreams where more than just his mind working overtime on the stories his father told him. For he knew the crystal was real, his dreams told him so and his dreams have led him to find Gareth. Neil felt he had as much a role to play for if he was not to directly be a protector himself then he is destined to aid the one who would be the protector. He'd be a sidekick ... so to speak.

Gareth had already come to know that there would be those with smaller crystals, hell bent on getting his crystal and Neil had referenced them as seekers, those whose only purpose now in life is to get the crystal that Gareth now holds. These seekers don't want the crystal so they can protect it, they do not care what secret or secrets it may hold, seekers only want the crystal for the power it gives to its holder.

Neil had money and plenty of it, Gareth not so much. Neil had prepared for this moment for most of his life, and Gareth's inheritance and profits made for the sale of the family home were more than beginning to run low. So, when it came time, Neil booked a room in a hotel so they both could rest for the night.

Gareth did need Neil, but he didn't trust him, not just yet anyway, and he insisted they had separate rooms. Neil paid for both rooms and Gareth could rest knowing Neil was not in the same room as him thinking of trying to take the crystal.

Morning came and Neil was woken by noise coming from Gareth's room. He quickly got dressed and went to Gareth's room. Gareth was in the midst of battle, having been attacked by seekers, perhaps the same seekers from the day previous. Neil was weary that he, himself, was no match to take on a seeker as each crystal does give its holder added strength and speed, however during a scuffle, Gareth ripped a crystal from around the neck of a seeker and dropped it to the ground which allowed Neil to make an attempt to better help out.

It came in an instant. Increase power and speed came to him the instant he came into possession of that fallen crystal. What a power rush this was, so much more than anything Neil could have ever imagined. No matter what he could ever have thought, he could not have imagined this. This smaller crystal gave Neil the ability to take on a seeker in battle, a seeker with who he could now be on a more level playing field with.

However, shortly after getting involved, Neil was knocked forcefully to the ground by a seeker he didn't see. As he lay on the ground, Neil would begin to witness other seekers apparently fighting with thin air.

When he got the opportunity, Gareth grabbed Neil, aiding him to his feet and fairly soon they both managed to make an escape. The manage to get outside and even so far as to get into the car and then onto make an exit from the scene of the attack while constantly watching out to see if they were being followed. After some time, it appeared as if they were no longer being pursued.

'There were seekers fighting with thin air back there, how is that?' asked Neil.

'You couldn't see them?'

'See who?'

'Lee and Bill, two of the former protectors.'

'What? There were two former protectors fighting alongside you back there? I had heard that the crystal could do that, not only are the former protectors a part of you but at times they can appear to you and also be with you too ... wow, that is awesome.'

Neil had indeed managed to get his hands on that smaller crystal which Gareth had ripped from a seeker, but Neil had also dropped that crystal when he had been knocked down by another seeker, however that very same crystal no longer lay on the hotel room floor.