The Ritual of the Guardians is a fundamental event in the novel The Brewing Storm.[1]
History[]
Every hundred years, nature falls out of harmony and natural disasters wreak havoc across the lands. To prevent the world from destruction, the Ritual of the Guardians must be performed on the Night of Aeolus before midnight.
Five Elementals—an Earthshaker, a Windwalker, a Firestarter, a Waterbearer, and a Human Spirit—must come together at a pentagram known as the Circle of Gaea, which is essential to the ritual. On the Night of Aeolus, the ritual must be successfully performed before time runs out, otherwise the elements will continue to move out of control until the world splits apart. While the responsibility of gathering the Elementals falls mainly on the Firester, the Human Spirit automatically finds the Elemental by himself.
In the twenty-first century, the ritual was almost disrupted when the demon Tempest drove the original Firestarter to suicide, prompting the Charmed Ones to involve themselves and temporarily unbind Tyler Michaels's powers as he is the substitute Firestarter. Aided by Earthshaker Muriel Hammond, the Charmed Ones were able to find Windwalker Rafe—who had assumed his powers were simple Telekinesis—and Waterbearer Gabrielle Chambers—who was initially unaware of her powers—in time to perform the ritual. The Haliwells' mortal ally, Darryl Morris, was chosen to act as the Spirit Guardian, the elemental of heart, with Muriel never mentioning the Spirit Guardian during their quest because she recognised that Darryl would be the perfect choice.
The Ritual[]
The ritual must be performed by midnight at latest.
The elementals are to stand on one point of the pentagram:
- The Windwalker on the upper left.
- The Waterbearer on the lower left.
- The Firestarter on the lower right.
- The Earthshaker on the upper right.
- The Human Spirit on the top.
The Elementals each carries one object: the Firestarter and Windwalker carry a sword and a wand, respectively, while the Earthshaker carries coins and the Waterbearer a chalice. The Human Spirit is only needed to present his heart. Once all Elementals are gathered, the Firestarter will light a fire in the circle's center and send its flames into the air.
- Guardians of the North, the West, the South, the East…
- … Join together in the spirit of the circle…
- … And bring about peace.
- Calm the winds, holds back the rains, subdue the fire, and let Earth rest.
- On this Night of Aeolus, in this the Circle of Gaea,
- We implore you to take back your power by using our strength.