Authors: Rain Oxford
“Close your eyes and clear your mind,” Shiloh said.
I tried, but the room had a funny smell that was hard
to ignore.
“You can open your eyes now,” a new voice called.
I did. We were in a large white room, sitting in the
same positions. Everything was white and there was no point of light, but the
room was well lit. I felt the same as when Divina was talking to me in her
dream cabin.
Before us was a man. Well, he appeared as a man, and
a frail one at that. He had short, almost wild white hair and warm brown eyes.
His face had laugh lines and wrinkles that came with age. The black suit he
wore was outdated. I could have easily pictured him as a kindly butler… Except
for his power.
There was no doubt he was a god, as his power
radiated from him like a heavy heat. He leaned gently against the open air. I
looked over at Mordon, who seemed very uncomfortable. “What’s the reading?” I
asked out loud. I thought it would be impolite to talk in our minds in front of
a god.
“He has no smell. We’re not really here, we’re still
in that room, so I cannot smell anything from him. I can feel it, though.”
The god laughed a gentle, kind laugh. “If you look
with your dragon eyes, you can see what you cannot smell, and you would regret
it. You should never look at a god through a dragon’s eye.”
This was not a god who wanted to intimidate us, but
he was a god of wisdom, so I predicted a load of riddles. Situation assessed,
my drafted plan was to be as blunt and straightforward as possible. Maybe that
would discourage puzzles and the runaround.
I stood and Mordon climbed to his feet beside me. “As
I am sure you know, I’m Dylan,” I said. “This is Mordon and the little one is
Sammy. Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, I’m sure you’re busy with
the whole universe collapsing and gods turning against each other.”
He laughed louder this time. “It is nice to meet such
a respectful Guardian. I was expecting someone like your father.”
I hesitated. “Did you dislike my father?”
“No, not quite dislike. I disagreed with his methods,
but from what Tiamat tells me, you are more responsible. Sarcastic if nothing
else, but responsible in your job. She also tells me that you will do what you
think is right, no matter what the gods demand of you. I must say, I was one of
those who thought you should be killed at birth. Then you ended up helping
Tiamat destroy Vretial.”
Well, whether or not he was about to spout riddles,
at least he was brutally honest. I wanted that when dealing with someone so
powerful. “Yeah, I hear I’m not just a Guardian.”
“No. At first you were potential, either good or bad.
We had no idea how far your power would reach and we do not like threats. We
may not like each other, but we are all that we have left. There was a threat
that as you created energy like us, you could become as powerful as us.” As he
spoke, he was approached me, until he stopped just a foot away. “You proved
that you are a threat by killing one of us.”
“With the help of Tiamat.”
He smiled, and this wasn’t the kind smile he had
before. “That’s right. The goddess who fights for you. Erono believes you have
tricked her into helping you so that you can use her to destroy more of us.
Tiamat is the youngest of us, the least wise. She always trusted Vretial.”
“My turn?” I asked when he paused.
His smile grew a little kinder. “Of course. Go ahead.
Make me believe in you as Tiamat does.”
I never prayed. That wasn’t my thing, so I had to
guess how to talk to him without being heard by Mordon. I thought really
strongly and hoped he caught it.
I need privacy.
And just like that, we were alone. “Is that better?”
the god asked.
“Are they safe? They can’t hear us?”
“Absolutely. They are back on Vaigda and we cannot be
overheard.”
“Mordon doesn’t know Tiamat is Divina, and that’s not
my secret to tell.”
“And if he knew Tiamat was your lover, he would know
she is Divina. I understand, but why do you keep that from your friend? Don’t
you trust him?”
“Of course I do, but until Divina does, he will never
know. It is her secret that she can do with what she will. Now, to my defense…
First of all, there is nothing on heaven or Earth that can change that woman’s
mind. She may act like you can change her mind, but she’s only letting you
think you’ve won. I could never
make
her fight for me. I couldn’t make
her love me.
“But you did. Twice.”
“Both times were her own doing. She thinks I’m cute,
so that may have been a factor, but I can’t help it.”
“And how do you know her love for you is true? She’s
been known to seduce men for selfish reasons before.”
“Because she hates that she loves me.”
He frowned, stepped back, and then wandered slowly.
It never occurred to me before that a god would pace or move around
compulsively.
“How does someone hate loving another? I was under
the impression that love is a positive emotion.” He paused his movement and
looked at me as if waiting for me to confirm his notion.
“It isn’t always. You can actually love and hate a
person at the same time, or love someone you can never be with. I know people
on Earth who would do anything to stop loving someone.”
“I see. But that can’t be the case with Tiamat.”
“She doesn’t hate me, but of course she hates loving
me. I am a weakness. Because of me, she has to fight the other gods. I know she
loves me because of that look in her eyes the moment she wakes and looks over
at me as if to be sure I’m still there. I know she loves me because she will
ask me to open a jar for her as if she weren’t strong enough. I know she loves
me because she looks ill every time I hold a weapon. And I know she hates that
she loves me because sometimes she turns away from me when things are going so
well. I have been with her for three years; I have seen her as a goddess, as a
person, as a warrior, and as a mystery somewhere in between, but I have never
seen her as a fake.”
“But you know she is hiding something from you. Is
that her secret to keep as well?”
“I believe she will tell me if I need to know.”
“Really. What if I told you? I know her secret.”
“Then you must need to know more than me right now.
If she wants me to know, she will tell me, and only she has that right.”
He turned and walked away. He seemed to be thinking,
but I was worried he might still decide to kill me. After pacing for a few
moments, he faced me again. “Are you as committed to being a Guardian as you
are to Tiamat?”
“Yes,” I said.
“And you…” He looked at Mordon, who was suddenly
standing beside me. “Are you committed to helping this Guardian bring the
worlds back to peace?”
“I will stand by Dylan to protect him.”
“Why would you put your own life at risk for him?”
“Because I know he would never abuse it. My own
father spent his whole life forcing as many people as possible to serve him.
Dylan will spend his whole life trying to make the world better for everyone,
including me. If he needs another life, I know he would only use it for good.”
“And why is that?” he asked.
Mordon looked at me, then back at the god and smiled.
“I can smell it. I can smell the immediate intention of every person and
creature I have ever crossed paths with, but I can also smell every intention
Dylan has ever had.”
The god stared at us for a few minutes. “I will relay
this conversation to my brothers. Most of them are reasonable, so I think for
now that you will not need to fear them. As for me, if Tiamat trusts you and
you trust her as it appears, you would not hurt her by turning against the rest
of us. Make sure you sign Vaigda’s book so you can hide out here if you need
to.”
“Thank you.”
And we were suddenly back in the dark room.
Sammy wrapped his arms around my knees. Mordon turned
to me. “You made him send me back,” he accused.
“I had to talk about some of Tiamat’s secrets.”
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I started to respond when I saw his fist clinch and a
tick in his jaw and he ground his teeth. “No, I’m not,” I said. His fist
lowered in hesitation. I took the opportunity to pick up Sammy and get as far
away from Mordon as possible. “I am, though,” I amended.
He growled. “Put the baby down and get over here so I
can hit you.”
“You want to teach Sammy that hitting is okay?”
“Yes! Sammy, hit Dylan.”
“Dada!” The baby giggled and rammed his head into my
chest. I nearly fell.
“I would suggest more rest. You have had quite an
afternoon for someone who just woke from a coma,” Shiloh said. Mordon rushed to
agree before I could deny it. “But first…” He pulled out his book and a pencil
just like mine.
Mordon signed it first, but I was hesitant because I
remembered what happened when I signed Nano’s book. On the other hand, I was
already on Vaigda. When I signed it, all I felt was the familiar cold spot on
my shoulder. I looked at the fading mark, similar to the other marks that were
faded on my shoulder but etched forever in my mind. Like battle scars. But why
had I reacted so drastically to Dios’s world?
I could feel Vaigda’s magic respond to both of us.
Mordon’s eyes went wide. “The magic is warm. That feels so weird.”
“Vaigda has never had a person of the dragons before.
It can see that you hate the cold and wants to protect you from it.”
“What do you mean, a person of the dragons?” I asked.
That was probably the most unclear way to say what Mordon had to do with them.
“He has the power of a dragon.”
“Why?” Mordon asked.
“That is a question you should ask your father,” he
said cryptically.
“Well, I don’t exactly have a communication device in
my back pocket.”
“You’re supposed to say, ‘I haven’t got him on speed
dial,’” I interjected. They both stared at me until Sammy slammed his head into
my chest again as if to tell me to shut it.
“Are you saying my father is part dragon?”
“No, he was not related to the dragons, but I really
know very little. I asked Enki about you myself because I wanted to know what
you are. Unfortunately, Enki was not very clear on the matter. Most of the gods
are not very clear on things; it has to do with how they see the universe. They
can see the past, present, and future, things that should happen, things that
shouldn’t, and things that must not happen. I think that makes it difficult for
them to relay information in a way we can understand. The person you should
talk to about it is the Guardian of Skrev.
“What I know about dragons is rather limited. I do
know they are powerful, and I know that dragons are not so much a species as a
group or type of species. Just like how every god created a type of person,
some of them created a type of dragon long before people. Duran and Earth have
dragons left, but they have all died out on the other worlds.”
When Sammy started fussing, we returnedd to our room
and put him to bed. Mordon went to make himself some food while I sat down on
the bed to take my shoes off.
“Are you coming?” he called.
“In a minute.” Once I got my shoes off, I leaned back
for just a second and fell asleep.
* * *
I woke, once again, to the sound of Sammy fussing.
Mordon walked in before I could even sit up and removed Sammy from the crib.
When he set Sammy on the floor, the baby tried to crawl up onto the bed.
Somehow, he made it. The snuggly little worm rolled all over until he found a
comfy spot with his head on my chest and his arm in my face.
“If you drool on me, you will have peas for dinner,”
I threatened.
“Don’t threaten him,” Mordon said, holding up a
stuffed dragon toy. “Shiloh brought this for him.” He handed it to Sammy, who
held it against the other side of my neck.
I picked him up and set him on the floor. He frowned
at me like he couldn’t believe I had just putting him down, then held up his
arms to be picked up.
“No, you can walk. You can walk with us to get
breakfast.” His face twisted up like he was going to cry. “Don’t start. If you
want to be held, you have to talk.”
His face relaxed, he sat down on the floor, and
cuddled his dragon. I dragged a reluctant Mordon out of the room and into the
kitchen. We were halfway through our breakfast when Sammy walked in.
He came right up to me and looked at me with pleading
eyes. “Hungry.” He didn’t cry or whine, just calmly said what he wanted.
I sat him in the highchair and gave him a little bit
of bread, eggs, and fruit.
“Why do you think everyone keeps referring me to
dragons?” Mordon asked.
I shrugged. “Well, you can smell intentions, your
eyes turn black, you have incredible power over fire, and you have claws. Oh,
and you have a
dragon
tattoo. I can’t imagine.”
“I forgot about that!” he said, running into the
bathroom. I followed him to find him looking in the mirror with his shirt off,
trying to see the tattoo. And it was there. Between his right shoulder and his
spine was a small, dark green dragon. The wings were spread out and with the
tail curled towards the front.
“It moved,” I said.
“What? Tattoos cannot move.”
“I agree, but it did. Before, it was on your
shoulder.”
“You saw it wrong,” he insisted.
“I didn’t, though. Its wings were closed, too. Look
at it with that eye thing you do,” I said. He stared at me through the mirror
for a minute.
“It’s hard to do sometimes.” Finally, when his eyes
opened from a blink, they were solid black. He looked back into the mirror. “I
can’t see the dragon this way,” he insisted.
I looked at his unmarked back. “That’s because the
dragon is gone. Turn back to normal.”
He closed his eyes and concentrated. I knew the
moment he was back to normal as the dragon reappeared, just a little closer to
his shoulder. He opened his eyes and stared at it.