The Last Guardian

The Last Guardian
Chief Kellerman's POV (Alive)

I'm standing in my kitchen at 3 AM, watching Detective Rivera through my window as she glows like a human star in Dr. Carver's garden.
The ghosts did it. They actually shifted all their power to her.
But something went wrong.
Rivera is floating three feet off the ground, surrounded by electric energy that makes the air itself burn. She's not just glowing - she's on fire with spiritual power that no human body should be able to hold.
I grab my phone and dial her number, but it just rings and rings. She can't hear anything over the supernatural storm roaring around her.
This is my fault. I should have stopped her from taking the ghosts' power. I should have known what would happen when that much spiritual force tried to cram itself into a living person.
But I was too scared to help. Too scared to risk Eleanor and the other ghosts changing their minds about helping us.
Now Detective Rivera might die from the very power that's meant to save children everywhere.
I run outside and across the street to Dr. Carver's house. The closer I get to Rivera, the harder it becomes to breathe. The air around her is thick with magical energy that makes my skin feel like it's burning.
"Detective Rivera!" I shout. "Can you hear me?"
She turns toward my voice, and I see something that makes my heart stop.
Her eyes are fully white. Not black like the shadow walkers, but white like fresh snow. Like she's looking into another world entirely.
"Chief Kellerman," she says, but her voice sounds like it's coming from very far away. "I can see them. I can see all of them."
"See who?"
"Every child who's ever been hurt. Every kid who's ever been lost. They're all calling for help at the same time."
"Detective, you need to calm down. You need to control the power."
"I can't control it. It's too much. There are too many children who need saving."
The energy around Rivera suddenly flares brighter, and I have to cover my eyes. When I can see again, she's no longer floating. She's standing on the ground, but the grass beneath her feet is sparkling.
"Chief, I think I'm dying."
"No, you're not. You're just adjusting to the power. Give it time."
"There is no time. The shadow walkers are already in twelve different cities. They're possessing children right now while I stand here burning up."
Rivera takes a step toward me, and I can feel the heat coming from her body.
"Chief Kellerman, I need you to do something for me."
"What?"
"If this power kills me, you need to take my place."
"That's impossible. The ghosts are gone. There's no one left to transfer power to anyone else."
"There's one ghost left."
I look at her. "What do you mean?"
"Sarah. Your daughter Sarah. She didn't sacrifice herself with the others."
My heart starts pounding. "Where is she?"
"She's been waiting for you to be ready to see her again."
That's when I hear a voice I haven't heard in fifteen years.
"Hi, Mom."
I turn around and see my daughter standing behind me. She looks exactly the same as the day she died - sixteen years old, with long dark hair and the smile that could light up any room.
"Sarah?" I whisper.
"I'm here, Mom. I've been here the whole time, waiting for you to stop blaming yourself for what happened to me."
Tears start running down my face. "Baby, I'm so sorry. I should have protected you. I should have fought harder against Eleanor."
"Mom, you did everything you could. Eleanor was too powerful, and she threatened to kill more children if you didn't cooperate."
"But I let your murderer go free."
"You saved other children by making that choice. If you had kept fighting, Eleanor would have killed my friends too."
I reach out to touch Sarah's face, but my hand goes right through her.
"I can't hold you."
"Not yet. But Mom, if you're willing to accept Detective Rivera's power when she dies, then I can transfer some of my spiritual energy to help you control it."
I look back at Rivera, who is shining so brightly now that I can barely look at her.
"What would that mean for you, Sarah?"
"It would mean I finally get to help save other children the way you couldn't save me. It would mean working together as a team."
"But you'd be trapped as a ghost forever."
"I'd be choosing to stay as a ghost forever. There's a difference."
Rivera falls to her knees, the spiritual energy around her becoming unstable.
"Chief," she gasps. "It's happening now. The power is going to either kill me or explode out of me in the next thirty seconds."
"Sarah, if I do this, will I still be myself?"
"You'll be yourself, but with the ability to see and fight supernatural threats. You'll be able to protect children from both human and ghostly dangers."
"And you'll be with me?"
"I'll be your partner. The way we always should have been."
I look at my dying daughter and my dying colleague, and I make the hardest choice of my life.
"Do it."
Rivera reaches out her hand toward me. "Chief, are you sure? This power comes with a terrible price."
"What price?"
"You'll be able to save other people's children, but you'll never be able to bring Sarah back to life. She'll always be a ghost."
I take Rivera's hot hand in mine. "Sarah's been dead for fifteen years. At least this way, she gets to be my daughter again."
"Mom," Sarah says, floating closer, "when we combine our power with Detective Rivera's, something new is going to be created."
"What kind of something?"
"A guardian force that can protect children across multiple dimensions of existence. Not just Earth, but other worlds where shadow walkers might spread."
Rivera's grip on my hand tightens. "Chief, the power transfer is starting. Are you ready?"
But before I can answer, something goes horribly wrong.
Instead of Rivera's power flowing into me, I feel something else. Something cold and hungry that's been hiding inside the psychic energy all along.
"Sarah!" I scream. "Something else is in the power!"
My daughter's ghost form suddenly goes black around the edges.
"Mom, the shadow walkers didn't just corrupt the living world and the spirit realm. They corrupted the power transfer itself."
Rivera tries to pull her hand away from mine, but it's too late. The energy link between us is locked in place.
"What does that mean?"
"It means when you receive Detective Rivera's power, you won't become a guardian of children."
"Then what will I become?"
Sarah looks at me with fear in her ghostly eyes.
"You'll become the most powerful shadow walker that's ever existed. Strong enough to possess every adult on Earth simultaneously."
The cold hunger inside me gets stronger, and I feel my own thoughts being pushed aside by something ancient and evil.
"Sarah," I whisper as my awareness fades, "run."
"I can't run, Mom. I'm connected to you now."
"Then fight."
"I'll try."
But as the shadow walker takes control of my body, I realize Sarah is just a sixteen-year-old ghost trying to fight something that's been planning this moment for over a century.
We're about to lose everything.
And there's no one left to save us.