Authors: Rain Oxford
“My father hates dragons. He insists they don’t
exist. And I know neither my mother nor father had anything to do with dragons.
So I don’t know why Blood seems so familiar to me.” He put his shirt back on
and walked out. When I entered the kitchen, he was slumped in a chair, looking
really bothered by it. I wasn’t sure what to say. All I knew was that we are
what we are, whether we know it or not, so he has always been this. Nothing has
changed.
“I don’t know what you are, but I know what you
aren’t,” I grinned. “You aren’t the next-in-line king of Mokii,” I said.
He thought for a second, then smiled wide. “You’re
right. I may not be completely sago, but I am free. I have limited options as
far as a career, but it will be my choice.”
About an hour later, we were ready to leave and find
Shiloh when sirens went off. I put Sammy back in the papoose I was still forced
to wear while Mordon grabbed mine and Sammy’s bags. Outside, there were people
running about. Some were still in sleep clothes and some were fully dressed,
but everyone looked panicked.
When Sammy started to cry, Mordon dug through the
baby bag. He finally pulled out some baby-sized ear muffs and put them on him.
As Mordon’s hands covered the tiny ear pieces, I felt energy draw into him. He
was using a powerful spell, so powerful I was worried about him using the
energy; if we were in danger, we both needed to be at our best. On the other
hand, Sammy stopped crying.
We followed the crowd to find the majority of people
taking turns in groups to get on the elevator. These people were polite; even
though they were startled and the alarm still blared, they each waited
patiently for their turn. As soon as we got in line, the older woman in front
of us looked from Sammy, to us, and back at him, before pushing us in front of
her, quickly croaking out that children should go first. Others pushed us
further up the line as well. We were not the only ones with a kid to protect,
and soon the entire front of the line consisted of families and scared
children. Sammy just frowned at them like they were all insane, but he probably
couldn’t hear the sirens over Mordon’s spell.
“Excuse me, do you know what’s going on? Is this a
fire drill?” I asked the frazzled woman in front of us. She was rocking one
baby, much younger than Sammy, and holding two boys by their shirts with her
other hand. The baby was absolutely screeching in her ear.
She managed us a quick glance. “Fire? No. We are
under attack. The announcement was made on our media screens right before the
alarm went off.”
When the families were all carted away, a group of
three men in uniform stepped in. Seeing as how the people got in groups of
about six, and we were next in line, we moved forward. The young couple behind
us stopped us hesitantly.
“You do not want to go with them. They are going to
fight. You need to wait for the next lift,” the man explained gently. The woman
held onto his arm, looking worriedly at Sammy.
I was unsnapping the papoose before they were done
talking. When I handed Sammy to Mordon, he grabbed my arm hard enough to leave
distinct finger marks. “Don’t you dare!” he demanded in English.
“Protect Sammy, it could be the demon,” I replied. He
couldn’t hold onto me and Sammy, who was squirming, so I broke his hold and
went to the elevator. Right before I reached it, there was an electric crackle
and a blue energy barrier went up over the door. I slammed my palm into it to
test its power and found it as steady as a brick wall. The elevator doors slid
shut and the barrier went down.
I turned to Mordon, glaring with everything I had.
Though I tried to remind myself that he was my friend, I wanted to hit him.
“You forget that while you are older and more
powerful than me, I have been practicing magic much longer than you,” he said
quietly.
“It has always been unspoken between us that we would
never use our powers against each other.” My words were more growl than voice,
something Edward did when he was truly angry. I found out that it was actually
a sago thing, and I had gotten it from my father.
Mordon glared back. “You brought me with you to help
you, and I will, even if I have to fight you to do it. I will get you back to
that girlfriend of yours alive. We fight together, or run together.”
“And leave Sammy defenseless?”
“He is hardly defenseless. Now get in the lift.” He
pushed by me and entered the elevator.
I followed and we were both pushed to the back as
people piled on. When the doors reopened, we were back in the garden room in
the museum. Finally, there were no alarms, so I put Sammy’s earmuffs back in
the baby bag.
While everyone else filed out of the museum, Mordon
and I explored. It was very much like a history museum on Earth. There was a
room full of pottery and rough tools made of stone and wood, and another room
full of skulls showing the progression of the ancient Vaigdan people, which
included several mummies.
Of course, we couldn’t read any of the writing, but
it was fairly self-explanatory. Sammy listened to us tell him what we were
looking at, but who knows how much he actually understood. He appeared
fascinated at least.
“We should let him walk more,” I insisted as we found
ourselves in a room displaying gems.
“Not in a strange place with many hiding places like
this. Children can escape fast.”
After exploring a room full of science gadgets, one
with books, and one with maps, Sammy got fussy again. I stood him on the floor,
crouched down, and asked him what he wanted. He gave me a confused expression.
“What do you want? Talk,” I said.
He looked from me to Mordon and squirmed around like
his skin itched. “Hide.”
That was about the last word I expected from him, but
as soon as it was out of his mouth, my skin started to tingle. Vaigda’s magic
brushed against me, no longer soothing but actually wild and a little
aggressive.
“Let’s get out of here,” Mordon said.
We headed for the exit, but when we rounded the
corner to face the doors, we both froze. Outside it was raining, just like it
had been on Earth. It was an unnatural rain.
“I can’t…”
“I know,” I said. I adjusted Sammy, grabbed Mordon’s
arm, and pulled him back towards the elevator. We made it through the garden,
only to find the elevator doors wouldn’t open.
Mordon moaned mournfully as the temperature suddenly
dived. It dropped from about twenty-five Celsius to twenty in about ten seconds
and kept sinking. Mordon’s silver band started making a loud beeping rhythm and
flashed with tiny blue lights. In less than a minute, the plants and water
around us started to freeze. Mordon was wearing a thicker shirt than me, but
was doing much worse; he was struggling to breathe.
“Use your fire.” I pulled in the energy around me,
heated it, and pushed it into him, which was difficult to do while I was
freezing. His breathing did improve, though. I didn’t feel him pull energy into
himself; the fire was already there inside him. It lit his skin like in a
horror movie, but it was only relief on his face. His clothes scorched but did
not burn into ash, so his fire must not have been too hot. His fingers turned
to claws and eyes became black.
The sharp crack in the air was similar to thunder,
but more sudden, like something breaking from a fall.
“Look!” Mordon demanded.
He grabbed my hand and heat rose up my arm before
spreading all over. The colors of the world around me dulled, but the empty
space in front of me lit up with an intense white light. The confusing image
sharpened into a thick, eerie, jagged crack of bright light suspended in air.
The crack opened like jaws and I could see the faint image of the demon that
hounded us.
It was more a reflex from fear than a conscious
action that I pulled energy from deep inside. Normally when I did magic, I had
to draw in energy and think of what I wanted it to do. Some things were easy,
some were difficult, and it all took control. When I healed, on the other hand,
it was more like instinct. I wanted someone to heal, I knew how the bones and
organs and flesh were supposed to look, and my energy made it happen. Energy
that felt more a part of me than the energy I took from the worlds.
What I drew out of me was my energy; I created it.
The intention I created it with was healing, but there was no way to shape it.
I wanted the tear to heal, and I needed it now. What startled me even more than
the demon, was that my energy shot at it like green fire. It wasn’t like when I
healed people, the dragon, or even Vaigda. It was aggressive healing magic.
Half my healing magic, half Mordon’s fire.
The strange magic hit the gaping tear, eliciting a
roar inside from the demon as the crack violently closed, actually burning.
Finally, the flames died as the wound in space was healed. My energy did not
return to me but was absorbed into the wound. Mordon let my hand go, the heat
rushed out, and my vision returned to normal.
With the demon gone, the temperature quickly rose to
the previous twenty-five degrees. Mordon slumped against the elevator doors
even as his wristband stopped beeping.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. Just tired.”
I sat down next to him and took Sammy out of the
papoose. “The face we saw…”
“I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to think
about it,” he insisted. Sammy snuggled in between us.
I glanced over soon to find them both asleep, which
meant that I needed to stay awake. Dealing with demons was exhausting, and with
the adrenaline draining, it became harder and harder to keep my head up. I
tried to stand, but Sammy started to stir and wrapped his arms around mine. My
body sank like a sack of sand and I was asleep before my head fell back against
the elevator.
* * *
I woke to the sound of foreign whispers. Before
opening my eyes or moving, I tried to get a feel for what was happening. I
never needed to pull energy into myself anymore because I absorbed it
naturally. It was second nature to feel out my surroundings with nominal
energy. Sammy was next to me, awake and alert, but not scared. Mordon was
waking up and liable to go on the offense when he came aware.
The whispering came from two people in front of us.
My magic didn’t find them threatening. I really hated reading someone’s mind
because I always got a lot more than I was looking for, so I preferred to
listen to someone’s flowing thoughts.
It was easy to get into the alpha state, half asleep,
half awake. It was more difficult to listen to their voices because I hadn’t
heard it before. Within seconds, I knew what was wrong with this strategy; the
translators did not work on their thoughts. Fortunately, the voices I heard did
tell me one thing. I opened my eyes to see two young boys, watching us with
curiosity.
Mordon let out a low growl.
“Calm down. Open your eyes and use your nose.”
Mordon woke completely at my voice in his head.
The children became frightened from the growl and
took off for the door. I glared at Mordon, but he just shrugged and strapped
Sammy back into the papoose. Sammy allowed it without a fuss, but wouldn’t let
go of Mordon’s shirt.
“Since the door will not open, I think we should be
moving.”
“Great. I was hoping we would get a chance to
explore,” I said.
“Maybe Kiro will teach you to travel worlds.”
“He always says it’s too dangerous. Shiloh said I
would be able to travel wherever I want for now. Maybe I’ll still be able to do
it after we defeat the demon and save all life.” Even as I said it, I really
didn’t want the ability. It was great for escapes, but the void sounded like
something I did not want to mess with.
Although, finding the exit was easy, we stood in the
doorway for about ten minutes just taking in the sight. The rain had ended and
the sky was clear. Outside was a city of fantasy. Cutting through the city was
a long canal, crystal blue with jets and lights. Surrounding the canal were
tall buildings that could have passed for artwork. Some were made of glass and
shiny metal, some were made of molded stone, and some were made of something
translucent and colorful. I couldn’t identify everything I saw, but it was
beautiful. The sun glittered off vibrant colors. There were circular patterns
on some of the buildings.
To accent the buildings were statues that consisted
of everything from people to animals and made of an array of materials in
outstanding colors and exquisite detail. The men wore clothing of little detail
for such an artistic place; the majority being a uniform of slacks, a fitted,
long-sleeved shirt, and a belt. The colors were simple. The women, however;
wore Celtic-styled dresses of rich colors and glittering hair pieces. All of
the women and girls had long hair.
Despite the rain from moments before, nothing was
damaged or muddy. If anything, it was more beautiful with the droplets of water
everywhere. Unlike in major cities on Earth, there was no trash or unidentified
muck anywhere in sight. It was a very clean place.
We picked a random direction and walked along the
river. The path was made of large, flat, polished stones. Some of the stones
were a solid color, some were swirls of color. On either side of the trail was
grass greener than I had ever seen it. Water flowed loudly, but the stone,
waist-high barrier prevented people from getting too close.
When Sammy started wiggling around, I stopped Mordon
to dig through the baby bag. Finally accomplishing the goal of my hunt, I
pulled out the tiny pair of baby shoes. Sammy immediately froze when he saw the
shoes. With his shoes on, he squealed with joy when I set him down. He ran
straight for the canal.
“Stop,” I said. He did and turned, nearly stumbling.
“Stay on the path.” He looked down at the stones, then at the grass he was
standing on. Then he looked back at the water and took a slow step. “No.”