The True Guardian
Eris ran to untie her master.
"You're too late..." Sarai said quietly.  She looked down at the book in her hands.  It was slowly vanishing away into nothing.  Her fingers intertwined behind her back, hoping that this would work the way she needed it to.
The earth began to shake beneath them, knocking everyone off balance.  The bridge shook violently, and for a second, it seemed sure to collapse.  Flaming streaks shot from the sky, and the teens quickly realized they were meteors.  The decided they were better off under the bridge.  The river became swollen and angry.  It seemed as if nature was retaliating against Sarai's spell.
"What did you do?" Avana asked, disappointed she had yet to repay her debt.
"Trust me!" Sarai said, wondering if she trusted herself.
"I will," Avana said with such complete faith in her voice that it threw Sarai off a bit.  The weight of her position as leader finally hit her.  If this didn't work, she didn't know what she would do with herself.
One rather large meteor struck the ground where it met the water.  A spray of earth and water began to rain down.  Those who were not tied up hid their faces.   The ground stopped shaking and the sky grew quiet.  Sarai was the first to look up, followed by Avana.  A large crater sat before them, seemingly to barely have missed them all.  Sarai rose slowly to her feet and walked over.  There in the bottom of the crater was what she expected.  A young woman sat peacefully meditating on top of a large rock.  She was either meditating or sleeping while sitting up.  She opened one eye and looked up at Sarai.
"Who are you?" she asked.  Sarai was joined by Avana, Emma, and Lilly.  Eris was most likely resuming her work untying her master as quickly as possible without burning him.  "And which ones are they?"
"Which?" Emma wondered.
"That was so cool!  You just fell out of the sky!  Were you riding that thing?  I want to try!"  Lilly said with delight.
"Sure, and when you burn to death we'll all be saved the trouble of listening to you," Avana suggested.
"Nevermind.  I can see it now.  You must be the princess or the individual.  Then this is the plain, the light, and the witch.  Correct?"
"Yeah, if you don't like names.  I guess," Sarai said.
"I'm sorry.  You may tell me your names if you wish.  But I'm sure you want me to detain the sorcerer and his minions first.  Correct?"
"Yes.  And the seer as well, while you're at it."
The four attempted escapees found themselves encased in ice and unable to move.  Sarai reached down to help the young woman out of the pit.  It took Avana and Lilly's help to pull her out.  The noticed she was a bit taller than them and had to be older as well.
"Hi!  I'm Lilly!  What's your name?  Where did you get your cool powers?  Did you know I can do magic too?  Are you going to join us?"
"Aerith.  I was born with them.  Yes.  No.  Princess, I take it you prefer your name as well.  Correct?"
"Yes.  Sarai works.  Emma is the plain and Avana is the witch.  You might also want to know Eddie the seer, Derek the sorcerer, Delta the messenger, and..."
"Eris.  The Enforcer."
"Yes.  You've met before?"
"I should think so.  She's my twin sister."  Aerith said, circling over to her sister, who was already melting the ace around her with great speed.
"I always wanted a twin!  I thought twins looked the same though?" Lilly questioned.
"Not all twins.  I'm guessing they are fraternal," Emma spoke up.
"Correct," Aerith answered.  She allowed her sister to free herself before dumping cold water on her head.  The fire vanished in a huge amount of steam.  Eris glared at her sister, but said nothing.  Aerith smiled at her sister smugly and held up a hand.  The ice around the other three vanished, but they still looked half-frozen.  It must have been very cold for them.
"Ooh Boy!  Brr!" Delta said quietly, her whole body shaking.  As the smallest, she seemed the most affected by the cold.  Derek was unable to move his hands enough to cast a spell, so he just glared at Sarai.  Eddie just looked unhappy.
"The seer is attractive," Aerith said flat out.  Eddie smiled for a moment then went back to shivering.
"Now why did you ask me here?"
"We need the truth.  Eddie won't tell us, and neither will Derek.  I want the whole story."
"Shortened version correct?"
"Yes.  I know you have a perfect memory.  I just need to understand what's going on.  The others know basically nothing."
"Very well.  As you are aware, I am the true guardian of the Dream Angels."
"So Eddie did lie about that.  I figured," Sarai said.
"Correct.  As for the sorcerer, he is not your true enemy."
"I t-told you," Derek muttered.  Eris walked over and put her arms around him to warm him up.  She was a few inches taller than he.  Delta also moved over to cuddle up against him.  She looked pleased with herself.
"It seems the balance between nightmares and dreams has been disturbed. Order must be restored."
"And just how do we do that?"
"By working together."
"WHAT?!  Why should I?" Derek cried out.  "I like having the nightmares free!"
"You can't control them.  Correct?"
"Well...no."
"That is because the balance has been disrupted.  You will have control once the balance is achieved.  I assume you prefer to be able to control them once they are free.  Correct?"
"And you don't mind giving me this power?" he said, more to Sarai this time.
"Control is always better than chaos," was all she said.  He nodded, understanding.  They would be enemies once this was over, but until then they would be reluctant allies.
"What do we have to do?" Derek asked.
"Kill ourselves," Eddie muttered.  Ice appeared around his mouth and froze it shut.
"Quiet seer," Aerith said, with a wicked grin.  The only one who didn't look surprised was Eris.  Apparently, the guardian had a wicked sense of humor.
"Well?"
"Well...you need to split up."
"From them?  No problem," Avana muttered.
"No.  From each other..."