Authors: Rain Oxford
“You are a Guardian. You are entirely human and sago.
And while you use mostly nominal energy, you also produce energy that is on a
different frequency. Using this energy, you can affect the field of time and
space. You can also control physical energy directly without nominal energy.”
I could feel his mind working furiously before his
expression became a picture of devastation. “I am so
stupid
. How do I
even remember to
breathe
, I’m so stupid. It bothered me three years ago
and I forgot about it.”
I could feel his disappointment in himself, and I
didn’t like that one bit. “What?” I asked.
“Tomie wasn’t speaking English. Three years ago, she
wasn’t speaking English, and damn me, I didn’t figure it out. I let it go. I
never let anything go!”
“Figure what out? How did you understand her back
then? You didn’t even know Sago then.”
“Because a god’s power can translate.”
“So? Vretial’s magic made you able to understand
her.”
“But you don’t understand!”
“I usually don’t. You start talking and I just nod
along with you and watch your face for clues how to react!”
“Nominal energy is not that powerful; it cannot
translate words. Edward has books he can’t read because he doesn’t know the language
and there is no magic spell to learn or translate a language. He told me, but I
was too stupid to get it!”
“I still don’t get it. Didn’t you use your book to
translate for us?”
“That’s it. I thought I did, I thought I was using
nominal energy, but I wasn’t. It doesn’t work that way.”
“So what were you using?”
“God energy,” Dylan said.
Shiloh smiled sadly. “Yes.”
“How did I get it?”
“No one knows, which is why the gods are so upset.
Furthermore, when you strain your power over nominal energy, you expand your
strength, but when you strain your power over physical energy, you produce more
god energy. When you connected to the worlds and drew on their power, you were
using both the energy you produced and the nominal energy you could draw.”
“Is this the magic I use to heal?” he asked.
“The energy you produce can be used for anything. You
can use the power of any world with this energy. You can contact any god and
any Guardian. You can use magic even if you are unable to use nominal energy.”
“So I can talk to Kiro?” he asked.
I felt a chill go down my spine.
“Yes, you can, but if you do, the other gods can find
him. Kiro is hiding for a reason. Do you trust him?”
Dylan nodded. “Then trust that he’s got a good reason
to hide,” I answered for Shiloh. Dylan looked at me. “He must trust you to take
care of yourself.”
“So what exactly is it you want me to do?” Dylan
asked Shiloh.
“I had heard that you were fairly sarcastic, not that
you were blunt. There are three things I would like you to do. One of them is
to help put the universe back together. I can help you by introducing you to
other Guardians and gods. It would be up to you to obtain their assistance. You
need to be on their world in order to heal it. We will also protect you from
the gods that want to destroy you and the demon.”
“So to clarify, you want me to convince others to
help me, like building a little magical army, and then you want me to heal all
of time and space.”
“Yes. The latter should be the easier part. We will
transport you to the places you need to be. From the scarring, you can see that
the universe is trying to heal and balance itself. When you heal pivotal places
and time fields, the universe will spread that healing.”
“And the third thing you want me to do?” he asked.
Shiloh grinned and I decided it couldn’t be a good
thing.
“The gods are not bad, but they have too much power
and too much suspicion. The Guardians are treated as servants with no say in
things. We need to be able to make decisions. I believe you should have been
trained by multiple Guardians, and others believe you shouldn’t have been. We
need to be able to get together and make informed, majority decisions.”
I knew where this was going. “You want to create a
council,” I said.
He smiled at me. “That is correct. I want the
Guardians to form a council that will deal with situations such as an attack,
new Guardian, or a Guardian at risk of his god. We can deal with projects
together instead of individually.”
“And you want me to be a member?” Dylan’s sour
expression portrayed what he thought of that idea. “Not that I don’t think it’s
a good idea, but I am too young to make a decision that important.”
When Shiloh took a step closer to Dylan, I stepped in
between them and disguised the move by taking the sleeping Sammy. I remained in
between them, but Shiloh pretended not to notice. “On the contrary… I want you
to be in charge of the council.”
“Why would you want that?” he asked.
“Because you are so young, for one. You will bring a
new, modern view to us ancients. We are so old that many of us are stuck in a
mind frame. Another reason is your magic. You could be a bridge of
understanding between us and the gods.”
“You want me to be a bridge between you and the gods
when they distrust me the most?”
“I want to help you gain their trust. It will take
time. You can meet with the Guardians and the more open-minded gods first. If
you help some of the gods, word will spread.”
Dylan looked at me.
“You have political
experience. I don’t want to be a politician. I doubt Edward will go for it,
either.”
I thought about it for a few moments while gazing
around at the hologram.
“I know you are not interested in politics, but it
sounds more like an opportunity to have a say in things. I agree with him that
you being young will be helpful. Old people like my father tend to create
unjust laws. He didn’t say anything about rules or laws, though. I think you
could be helpful. It would also help you to have some backup the next time the
gods don’t like something about you. However, if you do not want to lead, you
shouldn’t. At least not at first.”
“So you think I should decline leadership but take
a position on the council?”
“It isn’t even a council yet. I think you should
say that you are willing to consider a seat on the council when it is further
along. That way you are not denying or agreeing to lead. This puts you in a
position where you are not necessarily a threat but not a pushover, either.”
“Sounds good to me,”
he said. He looked at
Shiloh. “I am willing to consider a seat on the council when it is further
along.”
“With your advisor at your side?” Shiloh asked,
indicating me.
Dylan smirked. “Of course.”
“Not likely,” I responded. “I just escaped a similar
life.”
“You are very important to Dylan’s success.”
“As is Kiro,” Dylan insisted. He was so protective of
his mentor. I really could see that he cared for Kiro.
“He trained you. Of course he is important. But you
are going to have times when you will disagree with your master. You need to
decide for yourself who and what to trust. However, there will be times when
you need Mordon’s advice, and you will need to trust that he has your best
interest in mind.
“Mordon will never betray me. He will always try to
do what he feels is right.”
Sammy started fussing, still asleep, and I handed him
to Dylan. Sammy stopped fussing and the idea came to mind that the energy Dylan
was producing made Sammy feel better in the lack of the baby’s own energy.
Shiloh led us out of the dark into the bright white
hallway. I found the sterile, silent place to be a little depressing.
“Is this a hospital compound?” Dylan asked.
Shiloh looked startled. “No, we left the clinic. We
are now heading to the residential wing.”
“So everything is in one building?” I asked.
Shiloh reached over to a control panel that seemed to
appear out of nowhere. When he touched certain areas of the smooth, black
panel, the entire side of the hallway became transparent. Dylan backed away
from the new floor-to-ceiling window, but I moved closer.
Looking straight out, I could only see clouds and a
huge orange moon. When I looked down, there were bright city lights far below.
“We are in the sky.”
“Of course we are. This is one of the nicest sky
cities in the world.”
“And what keeps us floating in the sky?” Dylan asked.
“Science. If you will come this way, I will show you
to your room and you can get some food.”
We followed him on autopilot, both in semi-shock.
While neither of us were afraid of heights, we were in a floating building.
“Dylan? If I ever want to go on an adventure with you
again, hit me,” I said.
“I think I’m going to retire. I think I should be a
bread-maker or maybe a librarian. Scratch that, not a librarian. Books are
dangerous. I can find a nice, safe grocery store and stock shelves.”
Shiloh led us through a maze of hallways until came
upon a small room. And by small, I meant that the four of us would fit with
very little space left.
“You have an elevator? Haven’t seen one of these in
three years,” Dylan said.
He didn’t hesitate to enter the tiny room, but I hung
back until their stares got to be more uncomfortable than the lack of oxygen I
would face. The door slid closed as soon as I entered, but then slid right back
open… Except it didn’t open to the bright white halls. Now we were in a hall
with wood and dimmer lights.
“Well, your elevators are a little quicker than those
on Earth,” Dylan said.
“Only one room has been prepared for you due to a
temporary increase in visitors. What better time to celebrate a holiday than
when the universe is dying,” Shiloh said.
“What holiday?” Dylan asked.
“It is the holiday of peace. Once a year, for four
days, we celebrate the goodness of the people and gods. We have been leaving
the gods out of the holiday more and more over the years. I suspect it will
someday be the holiday of people.”
“So your people know about the gods and Guardians
pretty well then?” I asked. Duran seems to be sorely mistaken on several
important aspects.
“Oh, yes. Our god has no reason to hide. I know Duran
is very much kept in the dark, and I hope that a council of Guardians can fix
that.”
“That may be unwise. I think it should be a
planet-by-planet bases,” I interrupted.
“Why?” Shiloh asked.
“Because if the people feel like their god is hiding
the truth or even lying to them, some will turn against their god. Everything I
have heard about them suggests that they will not take kindly to being so
mistrusted. Besides that, even more secluded worlds would take it as lies and
threats to their beliefs. What would happen if you told people of Earth about
you being a Guardian?” I asked Dylan. He thought about it for a moment.
“They would try to lock me up. Either in jail or an
insane asylum. Even if I showed them magic, most people would say it’s a trick.
A few people could even be convinced, but it would just become another
religion. No, I do not think Tiamat and the other gods should be revealed to
humans.”
“Well, that would make a good point to make on a
council.”
“Yes, but it can also easily be argued against. See,
most do not want to know. However, they all have the right to know the truth
and decide for themselves what to believe. Very often the right thing to do is
unclear, unfair, and seemingly wrong.”
We were now walking through a hallway lined with doors,
each with a black panel to the right side. Shiloh led us to one particular
door. “Put your identification band over the locking pad. For the duration of
your stay on Vaigda, never take your band off. It is water proof, and the doors
all lock automatically. You need them to get food, also. If you are found alone
without one, you will be arrested and taken to the nearest clinic.”
Dylan put his hand over the black panel. With a happy
beep, the door slid open to lavish chambers. The ceiling was high, the walls
were dark paneling, and the wooden floor had lush furs scattered around. A set
of cushioned chairs sat in front of a huge fireplace. Several interesting
paintings on the walls did not make a clear image so much as a pattern of
colors. There were two doorways from this room.
Shiloh led us through one to the kitchen, which
consisted mostly of clear and black glass and silver. There was a large glass
table in the middle of the room with four chairs and a baby chair that Dylan
had called a highchair. Here were many glass panels in the wall as well as a
stove and a sink. Everything gleamed. One of the black glass panels was very
large, and the one in front of the stove actually had a small shelf built into
it. The far wall of the room consisted of a sliding glass door, which led to an
extravagant garden.
When we went back in the former room, Shiloh showed
us through another; a bedroom. The floor was wooden with furs like the entrance
room, but the furs were all white. The walls were made of layers of white fog-glass
panels. Along the ceiling were purple lights shining down on the fogged glass,
which made them glow.
The room was sparsely decorated, consisting only of a
bed and a bookshelf that took up an entire wall. The bed was high on a platform
with three wide steps all the way around it. The blankets and pillows on the
bed were dark blue.
“What about Sammy? He can’t sleep on a bed like
that,” Dylan said.
Shiloh went to the wall to the right of the bed and
pressed on one of the glass panels. They quickly slid behind others and a small
cradle slid out of the wall, which made a clicking sound when it was fully
emerged.
“And where’s the bathroom?”
Right next to the exit door, Shiloh pressed another
glass panel. This time, many panels moved to reveal a doorway to a bathroom. On
the far side of the room, the wall was made of pebbles and stones. Water flowed
down the stones into a basin with very brightly colored fish swimming around.
White lights pointed down on the waterfall, illuminating the room with a soft,
comfortable glow. On the left wall was a large glass box. Opposite of it was a
solid black toilet and beside that was two black sinks. Gold spread over the
black sinks like cracks. There was a wide mirror over the sinks with glowing
light around the edges. The floor was stone, but smooth.