Authors: Rain Oxford
We finally cleared the woods and hesitated. All
around us was slightly unkempt, hilly land littered generously with buildings
that were low and flat, made with small, synthetic rocks and a type of mortar.
“That is the school of science,” he said, pointing to a large building before
us. “There should be people coming and going. There should be people
everywhere.”
A brief search of the island showed no one outside.
Between twenty buildings, three observatories, and a swimming pool, there
should have been someone. Scouring the library, schools, dining halls, and even
the residential housing found more of the same. The place was completely
deserted. What was most worrisome was how quickly it appeared to have achieved
that state. Food was left on tables, books open in classrooms, and a selection
of small boats were still in the long-term port. The only evidence we found of
actual danger was blood on the rug in the library.
“What could have happened to all of these people?” he
asked.
“I have no idea, but I learned things in my years of
investigation and travel; stay out of the shadows, and avoid the library.”
“But it will be dark soon.”
“In all honesty, staying and uncovering this mystery
sounds delightful, but I am running out of time.” I sat heavily in one of the
cushioned chairs. “I am getting old; I used to solve many problems at once.” I
reached inside my bag for my cards, but didn’t take them out since I couldn’t
be sure how well they would work when there was no nominal energy.
“What is so much more important than helping all of
these people?” he asked.
Now, perhaps he did not want a real answer, but I had
one. A fine one I would say. “My nephew needs me.”
On the island of books and ships, we set out to find
our destination. We dug through book after book until I wanted to never see
Kahún again in my life. I could even hear Dylan groaning pathetically in my
mind. Perhaps that should be a punishment if he did not practice his lessons; I
would buy an obscene amount of books on the history of Duran and make him read
every one of them.
“You have a very cruel expression. I will look in
another section,” Cylo interrupted my pondering.
“No, as I said, we should take shelter in the light.
Unless you want to sleep on the bloodied flooring, I suggest we find another
place.” What does it say about a Guardian who is wary of the shadows on an
abandoned island? I practiced magic for over two thousand years; magic was a
reflex, a warning, a weapon, and a constant. Without it, I was incomplete. It
was like I tried to go about my day and realized I was deaf and mute.
We found a residential compound with many bedrooms
and few bathrooms. Each of the rooms had two beds, a closet, and good lighting.
I took the opportunity to bathe. The goblin city was a very unsanitary place,
and I couldn’t tell how long I had been unconscious.
Right before I entered my room, freshly washed, there
was a soft knocking. I stopped and listened and as it came again, realized it
was not a soft knocking so much as a faraway pounding. After grabbing a candle
from the bedside table, I headed down the hall in search of the noise. I could
hear Dylan in my head complaining a thousand times over about what I was doing.
Several levels up and down countless hallways, and I
was ready to turn back, but the pounding kept coming and I was getting closer.
Despite my lack of power and the possibility of death, I was a Guardian; it was
in my blood to protect those who needed protection. Finally arriving upon an
old bathroom, the pounding stopped. I opened the door and shown the light ahead
of me. The bathroom was empty, but when I turned to leave, my blood went cold.
On the mirror, of all places, there was a message in
white paint, either hastily written or by someone with terrible Lilat
handwriting.
Run
The
storm is coming back
Five
dead
Stay
away from the water
The statues
are
The warning was cut off with a spatter and some
fingerprints. Whatever made the pounding was gone, but the paint was still
dripping. The small window lit up with the lightning outside.
* * *
The first glimpse of light was met with dread as it
was apparent I had been found. Instead of the nothingness that Erono liked to
expose me to during his presence, I was in a dream-like version of Divina’s
cabin. Whether this was because she was more sago than the other gods or
because she was not trying to intimidate me, I didn’t know.
“Don’t worry, the others can’t find you,” she said.
Expecting to hear her voice in my mind instead of out
loud, I turned to find her standing, nearly solid, behind me. Only a slight
fade in color and softness in shape let me see that she was not really there.
Still, what a sight.
Even in times of peril, she had to dress to kill. Her
hair was done up in a band and she wore a dark red shirt that stretched across
her chest with a neckline hardly covering her goods. Her skirt was short and
denim and her boots only reached her calf. It wasn’t often that she wore boots
short enough to expose her legs, but she certainly had nothing to be ashamed
of. Normally her outfits were exotic and aimed specifically for driving Dylan
out of his mind; this attire looked more like she just threw something on.
“How did you find me?” I asked.
“I haven’t. I don’t even know how you managed to hide
from us, but I think only Dylan can find you.”
“Don’t let him. I need to do something first and if
he finds me, he will be in more danger.”
“I figured as much. He is worried for you, though.
You know he has his own mission on Earth. He’s with Mordon.”
“I know you wouldn’t let anything happen to him.”
“We are all fighting our battles right now. He will
need you soon.”
“With any luck, I will succeed and be able to return
with some backup.” I wouldn’t say anything else in case she was wrong and
another god could hear us. Luckily, she didn’t ask for further details.
“I cannot keep you for long, the connection is so
weak. I wanted to ask if there is anything you need me to do to help you.”
“That’s a first; a god offering their assistance. I
cannot ask you for help in my current situation, and I know you will look after
Dylan. I could use your help in the end. At the very least, can you tell me why
this is all happening?”
“Yes,” she said simply, with a sad smile. Then she
showed me.
* * *
Profound information given to me in my dreams always
made me grouchy in the morning. Really chatty people who wanted to ramble about
things mundane or obvious like the weather made me murderous in the morning.
Cylo wanted to try to find the people again, convinced they were trapped in an
underground chamber of some sort. I told him he could do what he wished while I
looked for information on the Stone of Iodus.
“Why is that stone more important than the lives of
so many people?”
“Because finding it will save the lives of more
people, and more importantly, my nephew.”
“What makes your nephew so important?”
“My nephew is special. He is the last thing I have
left of my brother. He is my apprentice, my nephew, my adopted son. I have
faced death with him and he saved everyone with his heart.”
“What do you mean, with his heart?”
“When I started training him, he was barely an adult
and he knew no magic. He had had a very difficult life and was frightfully
powerful, but he thinks with his heart. He treats everyone as his friend until
they prove otherwise. People seem to compulsively like him, and he is always
right there to help them when they need it. It is no wonder that when he is in
trouble, there are many people willing to help him.”
“Is he in trouble often?”
“No. Only rarely in the past three years. I know the
time is coming for him to change everything. I hope he has people with him when
he does.”
“You are willing to return magic to this world and
raise demons from their sleep, but how do you plan to control them?”
“When magic returns to this world, so will my magic
return to me. Besides the threat I pose, they will want what I offer in return
for their help.”
I rummaged in the library for hours while Cylo
searched for people. While the quiet was undoubtedly nice, I was getting
nowhere. I found not one book about the Stone of Iodus. I did however, notice
another incident of possible danger.
Perched haphazardly upon a stand in front of a
bookshelf was a stone statue. This statue must have been a replica of a
mythological creature, because any beast that creepy would probably have been
killed on sight by the people of this magic-fearing world. Not only did the
beast have two reptile-shaped heads on a cat-like body, but on each of its
front paws were three of the longest and sharpest claws I had ever seen. It was
there that I found the problem; on one of the paws was fresh blood.
I was just about to touch the blood when Cylo burst
through the door, dragging water in from the brewing storm.
“I heard people!” he declared.
I turned to follow without question, but just as I
took a step towards him, he vanished. In his place was about thirty people
milling about as if without a care in the world. I looked around, unable to
spot Cylo anywhere. No one acted as if they have been missing or attacked, and
the blood that had been dried on the floor a moment before was gone as well. I
did not want to look, but I turned to the podium again… the empty podium. The
statue of the beast was gone.
Power radiated from the creature, and my body was cramping and weak.
Vivian stood helplessly behind as Mordon tried to hold me out of the freezing
water. Even on fire, the creature still advanced on us. I turned at the sound
of Vivian’s scream only to find Nano, pushing her into the car. “Get behind
me,” he said.
Mordon started to ask who Nano was, but was
interrupted as I climbed to my feet and shoved him behind Nano. Neither of us
could remain standing when the ground started to violently shake a moment
before a giant tear in the pavement opened up and swallowed the creature. It
was horrible that the teenager who the creature possessed was dead, just
because the powerful monster chose him. That creature killed a poor kid for no
reason.
The ground settled down as quickly as it had started
shaking. Nano held out his hand to help me, then Mordon off the ground, but I
ended up falling back down, huffing and puffing as if I had run for hours.
“What did you do to deplete your energy like this?”
Nano asked me.
“It was… my father’s pentagram. It sucked out my
energy and disappeared.” It wasn’t just my nominal energy, which I could easily
pull from Earth, but my physical energy that was drained.
I began one of the first spells I had ever learned to
replenish my energy, but it was not a superfast process. Nano put one hand on
my forehead and used his own spell to help. Our combined efforts had me back on
my feet in under a minute.
“Thank you. How did you find us?” I asked.
He patted my back in sort of a half hug. “Tiamat told
me you needed help. She had a difficult time getting around Zer. The gods are
all fighting each other right now; it’s not a good time to be a Guardian, as we
are cannon fodder to them. Several Guardians have gone into hiding from their
own gods.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, it’s a little bit Vretial’s fault, a little
bit Tiamat’s, and a little bit yours. Plus, of course, this demon running
around.”
“Demon?” Vivian asked, climbing out of the car.
“It is not a demon as they are now. The creatures
between the worlds are called demons, but they are not as powerful as this one.
He is as old as the gods, and while he is not as powerful, he has resources
they do not.”
Then he did the most shocking thing; he kissed Vivian
deeply.
After kissing for way too long without breathing,
they let go of each other. “I knew you would be back for us,” Vivian said.
He took Sammy from her and kissed his forehead. “I
told you I would be.”
“So, wait. Nano is Sammy’s father?” I asked.
“He is the one you smelled like. Sammy smells like
him. Even Sammy’s magic smells like this man’s magic,” Mordon said, shivering
horribly.
I had tried to keep the water warm, but I couldn’t
create lightning without rain, and I couldn’t make it
not
winter.
“Then what you scented must have been when we met for
the second time, when we were at Anoshii. That was the first and only time I
was around Nano.”
“So, what do you say we get off this world before
your demon comes back?” Nano asked as Vivian gathered Sammy’s things.
“Mordon, this is Nano, another Guardian.”
“Do you trust him?” he asked.
I remembered how when we met, I was sort of kidnaped,
involved in stopping an assassination, and nearly eaten by a water creature, a
large cat, and a giant snake. “Yes, I do,” I answered.
Nano’s eyes grew wide. “Really?”
“For the same reason as last time. Edward would eat
your entrails if anything happens to me under your watch.”
“He might have a difficult time of that, since he’s
missing.”
“He doesn’t go missing; he chooses to not be found,”
I insisted.
Nano muttered something about too much faith all
around as he pulled his book out. Mordon took it and stared flipping through
pages. He signed right next to my signature, then handed it to Vivian while
examining the new symbol glowing on his arm.
“That is odd,”
he said.
“What is?”
“When I signed your book, coldness spread through
me and I felt a sort of release in my energy. This time it was warm and chased
away the chill of the water.”
“Let Vivian sign hers and Sammy’s names in your book
so they can return,” Nano said.
“Vivian can sign Sammy’s name?”
“Of course. She gave him his name. I couldn’t sign
his name because I didn’t name him. Vivian signed my book when we were
together, but Sammy wasn’t born yet,” he said as she signed Sammy’s name beside
hers in his book. Sammy shuddered, but didn’t look particularly upset. Vivian
handed Nano his book back and he slipped it into his bag.
I pulled out my book and flipped through it to find
Nano’s name; I figured her name should be next to his. When I found Mordon’s
name, I frowned. “Did you sign on a blank page?” I asked Mordon.
He examined it carefully. “No, there were three other
names on the page,” he said. They were gone now; his was the only name on the
page. “Does the signature disappear when the person dies?”
“Tiamat has to release them from the book’s power in
order for the dead to go where they belong,” Nano answered. “Once that happens,
the name will disappear. I can tell you this is not what happened to those
people. I hoped this wouldn’t happen to you, being a different kind of
Guardian.”
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“Do you feel less powerful?” he asked. I shook my
head. “The names are disappearing because the people are being erased. A few
other Guardians are seeing it, too.”
“They’re dying?”
“They are being erased from all time. Those who have
disappeared have now never been born. Any and all accomplishments they made
have disappeared. Soon their children will disappear.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I don’t have all of the answers. I will answer what
I can, but we must get out of here before the beast returns.”
I gave my book to Nano to find his name for Vivian.
Since he signed it when it belonged to my father and I didn’t read or speak
Dego, I had no idea which name was his. Vivian quickly signed her and Sammy’s
name in my book. Vivian shivered and looked at the symbol of Earth as it
appeared on her arm, then clutched Sammy tighter. Sammy showed no signs of
discomfort, which I found odd. For Vivian, who had no magic, signing a book
would have little effect on her. For Sammy, who had a great wealth of
undiscovered power, it should have been monumental… yet he acted as if it was
nothing. Perhaps he was too young to understand it, but he should have felt
something
.
I put my book back in my bag as I filed his lack of any reaction in the back of
my mind.
“Remember the symbol that appeared on your arm.” Nano
looked at Vivian. “It was a long time ago, do you remember?” She nodded. “Good.
You?” he asked me.
“Yes.” I could remember the symbol for Earth, Duran,
and Dios very easily. Either it was a Guardian thing, or it was because of the
bond with the worlds. I cleared everything from my mind except Dios’s symbol.
I felt the weightless, nearly falling sensation that
I would never be used to. It was not a particularly bad feeling, even though I
couldn’t breathe, it was just really bizarre. In a moment, it was over and we
were standing in a tropical forest.
“Since when is Dios habitable above ground?” I asked.
“We’re not above ground.”
“But we’re in a forest,” Mordon said, looking up into
the bright sun.
“Yes, we are.”
“We’re in a forest in a room, with an artificial
sun,” I surmised.
“Very good, Dylan,” Nano said, taking his baby from
Vivian. “We are in an artificially created ecosystem. The High King devised a
plan to experiment with small-range terraforming. He decided that we can create
different climates in different places in the world so that people can choose
where they want to live, above or below ground. The surface is coming along
nicely and the legal system is getting worked out, but people argue whether the
king should live above ground, below ground, or if there should be a second
High King.”
“How is Nila doing? Is his brother still after him?”
“Nila is doing well. Adre was always going after
Nila, but he was stealthy about it. So I got tired of letting him call the
shots. While you were with Nila, I confronted Adre. He confessed to murdering
his and Nila’s father, but by the time I returned after dropping you off on
Duran, he had escaped. Adre hasn’t bothered the young king since.”
“And that doesn’t seem weird to you?” I asked.
“What could be weird about it?” he asked. When I
didn’t answer, he shrugged. “Anyway, we’re safe here, but we need to figure out
our next step. The demon should be forced back into the void since there is no
host for him. I do not know if that will put things back to normal or not.”
As Nano turned his attention to his babbling baby,
there was a sudden and familiar screech. Sammy froze, his eyes widened, and
then he started wailing. Mordon and I took off through the woods towards the
sound of the screech as Nano and Vivian tried to calm their startled baby.
Lying on the ground under cracked and fallen foliage
was Blood. I tried to go to him in case he needed healing, but Mordon held me
back. I looked at him like he was out of his mind.
“I really feel like we shouldn’t touch him,” he said.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know, it just doesn’t smell right. He isn’t
supposed to be here. I think we shouldn’t touch what isn’t supposed to be
here.”
That wasn’t ominous at all.
I frowned and studied our dragon, who stared right
back at me. Blood was lying down with his wings tucked against his body, but he
didn’t look like he had any new injuries. “I guess that makes sense.”
Nano and Vivian came up beside us, Sammy calm in
Vivian’s arms. “Is that a dragon?” she asked. When she tried to reach out to
him, Nano held her back.
Before anyone could say anything else, there was a
loud crack. It was more than a sound; I felt it in the energy. I felt it in the
planet. The creature was swooping down on Nano the instant it appeared. He
dived to cover Vivian and Sammy.
It was one of the winged creatures that had attacked
Blood. Mordon shot a fireball at the creature and at the very same moment, a
stream of fire also shot at it from Blood. I didn’t react with fire. Instead, I
drew the moisture in the air to the beast’s wings and froze them solid with
ice. The fire hit the creature in midair, and then it dropped to the ground to
burn. As the fire burned its body, its wings remained frozen until the creature
vanished.
“Well, that wasn’t strange or anything,” Nano said.
Sammy stared at where the creature had vanished, then looked up at Mordon,
smiled, and held out his arms. “The gods are not on our side. I think we need
to find other Guardians.”
“Why?” I asked.
“The more heads we have in this, the better. Assuming
everything doesn’t revert back to normal when the demon returns to the void.”
“Yeah, like anything ever happens the easy way,” I
said. “We also need to figure out how to get Blood home. And why is Nila called
a void when he has no magic?”
“The void is the area outside the universes. It isn’t
space. This is where the Land of the Dead is, and the Land of the Gods. When
you see ghosts, it’s a window, a shadow, a clear place between the void and the
worlds. Used to be, the void was open between the worlds. There were gateways,
instead of the books, like portals from one world to another. When the books
were created, the gateways were closed.”
“Why? Why were the books created?”
“Because the demons started to devour the worlds.”
Nano led us to a particularly large tree. High up was a wooden platform and
what looked like a tiny cabin. “Wait here while I will get a ladder.”
Nano jumped and with a gush of wind, landed neatly on
the platform. I glanced at Mordon and he nodded, understanding that I wanted
him to protect Vivian and Sammy. I gathered the wind around me and jumped. The
wind was wet and heavier here than on Earth, but just about equal to Shomodii,
so it carried me easily. I landed gently on the platform and Nano looked at me
with startled eyes.
“You have learned a lot in two years.”
“I have. I’m comfortable with my magic now.”
“How does Kiro feel about that?” he asked.
I concealed the sting of his question as best as I
could. I wanted my mentor to feel proud of me, not useless. “His name is Edward
now, remember? I renamed him,” I said instead.
He barked out a laugh. “I had forgotten. You were a
kid back then. You reacted to danger by ducking and embarrassment with
sarcasm.”
“Oh, I’m still sarcastic. I think Edward actually got
a little bit from me. So, you and my ex-girlfriend have a little baby now.”
He started going through a wooden chest outside of
the cabin that was full of yard tools. “It was meant to be,” he said. “Just
like you and Divina.” He pulled out a ladder made of paper and wood.
“You know who she is?”
He turned to me. “Your father was my friend. When you
were a baby, he knew you were going to become Guardian, but the gods all wanted
you dead. He tried to get me and several other Guardians to help, but he never
told Kiro about you. Kiro would have killed you to protect his brother.” He
lowered his voice. “Zer told me that Tiamat was living as a person on Duran.
Divina was sneaky and secretive, but I eventually got the answer out of Zer.
Instead of betraying her secret to Kiro, I helped Ronez convince her to spare
you. Since then, she has used me as an informant. Keeping her secrets are not
fun.”
“I know.”
“Mordon?”
“He knows about me and Edward. He even knows about
the worlds and he is fluent in English… but I never told him Divina’s secret.”
And it was Hell keeping it from him. I imagined I was feeling what Ronez felt,
keeping the god’s secret from his brother.