The Origin of the
First Twenty-First Century Nature Guardian

Alexander Boardman was just a teenager, sixteen years old. He had a mom. A dad. He had friends at his school.
That summer day, Alex was at his family’s cabin in the Daybreak Forest. They had spent five days already, and they were going to leave the next day.
He was reading a new book he got at a bookstore, he had been searching for it for quite a while. Haze Down the book was called.
“Time to eat, son,” his father called up from the ground floor of the cabin.
Alex walked to the kitchen table.
“Do I have to eat?” Alex asked, “I’m so close to finishing Haze Down. You won’t believe what happens, you see…”
“Don’t spoil it, Alex. I haven’t caught up yet,” his mother said.
Alex put a piece of chicken in his mouth, “But, you just have to know that Kennen… I’m just kidding. Nothing happens to Kennen, possibly,” he smiled.
“Chew, son,” his father said.

Later, in his room, he glanced at his green and orange backpack. It contained his laptop, maybe he would play on it later.
But then, it happened.
His mom burst through the door, huffing and worry, combined with fear, in her eyes. “Alex, a forest fire has happened! We need to go now!”
Alex was shocked, so much in fact that he quickly placed his bookmark, before getting up. As he ran out his doorway, he grabbed his backpack and slung it on his shoulder. He couldn’t leave his things.
“This way!” his father screamed. He was at the front, refusing to escape without his family.
Alex ran to his father.
“I got the keys!” his mother had the keys in hand as all three of them headed towards the car.
They packed into the car, then drove onto the only street out of there.
His mother stepped onto the gas. But, the smoke clouded her vision at times, and she missed a turn.
Crash!
Alex fell unconscious.

“Alex, Alex,” the voice was faint, barely audible. But the voice, his father’s, became clearer, “Alex, we need to go.”
He undid his seatbelt, and stepped out of the car. It was rammed into a thick tree.
“Mom, where is she?” That’s when he saw her body slumped on the dirt ground. “Mom!” he knelt next to her, feeling for a sign of life, any sign. He held her hand.
“Sorry,” his father was barely holding back tears, “I thought she was still alive. So I got her out of the car to perform CPR, but then I checked her vitals. There were none.”
The heat started to get to Alex. “Mom,” Alex let his mother’s hand free as he followed his father down the dirt street. His walk turn into a slow run, he couldn’t muster more, his mind kept on flashing to his mother, dead laying next to the car.
Alex heard a loud snap, then a tree thump behind him. He twisted. His father was on the other side of the large burning tree.
“Go!” his father demanded, “Save yourself!”
Alex took one last look before he stumbled to get out of there. He flinched each time he heard a creak of a tree. He caught something out of the corner of his eye. Another trail. He looked down it, however it led to a cliff.
Alex almost turned away to continue to run when he noticed an animal at the edge. A tortoise hidden in its shell. Alex could’ve ran, left it, but his heart said no.
A tree leaning toward the trail creaked.
He didn’t care, he forced his body to run towards the tortoise. He swooped it into his arms. “I’ll get you to safety,” he said to the tortoise, turning towards the road.
The leaning tree fell in front of him.
Alex stumbled back, falling off the cliff.
In that moment, Alex whispered to the tortoise, the words, “I wish you’ll be alright.” In the air, Alex turned his body so that his back would hit the ground before the tortoise. He curled his body around the tortoise.
His body hit the rocks. As he took his last breath, he felt the tortoise was alive. He smiled.

Magic started to envelope him. Enter his body.
He gasped for air, and just as he did, the magic blew around to the whole forest, this magical wave invisible to the naked eye.
He stood up, feeling the tortoise starting to move out of its shell.
A green magic portal opened up in front of him.
He couldn’t see what was on the other side. Curious, he stepped through to the other side, carrying the tortoise with him.
On the other side, was a small front room, the only door on the other side. There nothing in the tan walled room except an armor stand with some sort of suit on it.
The suit was a green and brown magician’s robe. Below that was a brown shirt, he realized it was long sleeved when he inspected the suit. The pants were brown and looked similar to jeans. A brown belt with a blue jewel at the buckle was wrapped around the pants. There were blue socks, but they were so thin, you could see the feet through them.
The door flew open, and a slip paper was blown into his open hand.
It said:

The Nature of the Universe

The House of Nature is a pocket dimension to which Mother Earth, a Mother Planet, herself has given a Nature Guardian access to, along with the power of Nature Magic. Mother Earth isn’t a living being. More of a magical AI that was created by Mother Nature, one of the first beings to ever exist.
Mother Nature sacrificed herself so that whenever a planet had enough living beings on it, a Mother Planet is born to bestow upon any being it deems worthy to become a Nature Guardian.
Nature Guardians use Nature Magic, which is powered by their planet’s living things. Each living thing gives off a certain amount of Nature Magic.
A Mother Planet can see in the future and will alert its Nature Guardian if there is an event he or she needs to stop, in order to protect that planet’s nature. The Mother Planet will also give the Nature Guardian pieces of information about the event. The information--like a company name or coordinates--is always readily available to the Nature Guardian. When the Nature Guardian is prepared, the Nature Magic will teleport the Guardian to or near the location of the mission.
You have been chosen to be the next the Nature Guardian.