Authors: Rain Oxford
“I used to argue with Jedes.”
“Do you miss her?”
He shrugged. “She was my childhood friend. I never
wanted a deeper, or different relationship with her. Maybe she was too young.”
“And that woman yesterday?” I prompted.
He sighed. “I think she was using magic.” I didn’t
say anything for a minute, so he went on. “She had a really strong herbal scent
that I really didn’t like, but that I wanted to keep smelling. I didn’t find
her attractive, but my body did. In fact, I could smell that she was a
manipulative witch, but I kept talking to her. The more she talked, the more I
wanted to go back to her room, but I don’t remember what she said.”
“Sounds like magic to me. I would stay away from her
if I were you.”
“Yeah, that might be difficult,” he said, looking
worried. “When I was coming back from getting breakfast, I felt someone staring
at me. I turned to see her just a few doors down, grinning at me in a real
creepy way.”
We talked about going to the playground again, but we
didn’t want to risk running into the woman. Instead, we decided to go to the
shopping district and see if we could find Sammy a toy octopus-like creature.
As we gathered our stuff, we were discussing ways to contact Shiloh when there
was an urgent tugging on my left leg. We looked down at Sammy, who was clearly
panicking.
“What’s wrong, honey?” I asked.
He stuttered out some letters and then paused for a
second. “Hide,” he said.
I looked up at Mordon and we both understood what he
was saying, so we put on a burst of speed. If the demon was attacking us again,
we couldn’t be in this underwater city. If the demon attacked here, everyone
could drown.
We were out in the hall, heading for the entrance as
fast as we could move. “What if it attacks here after we get up there?” I
panted.
“It’s after Sammy! We have to risk it.” When we got
to the elevator, it was sealed. Mordon pounded on the door. “I can’t fight down
here. I need my fire,” he said.
As soon as he said it, there was a creaking in the
structure around us. Sammy hid his head in my neck. “It’s psychic. Think at
it,” I said.
“Open!” Mordon shouted at the door. I knew his fear
of freezing water had to do with his unnatural power over fire.
The clear dome around us started to cover with ice
and the sudden gust of air was the only warning before water began to pour out
of thin air like rain. With magic, I pulled that water into the tunnel and
froze it solid. Nothing was getting through that five-foot thick wall of ice
without melting it. Hopefully, it would prevent any damage to the structure
beyond that point. The water finally settled, but the energy in the room began
to crackle. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Mordon’s claws shift and eyes
turn black.
“It’s trying to take Sammy!” Mordon warned.
While my senses were overwhelmed by the energy, I
trusted Mordon’s. I felt inside for the same energy I use to heal. This time I
needed it to protect. I imagined the energy flowing into Sammy, filling him,
and then pulsing out until it formed a barrier. No other energy or entity could
pass through this barrier and I knew that because this newfound magic in me was
far stronger than any demon.
As this energy, so similar and different than nominal
energy swirled inside me, I felt the confidence that I could defeat any enemy.
This was like concentrated nominal and physical exploding together inside me.
Pure, unparalleled power poured through me until my body burned and my thoughts
clouded. This power would obey my emotions and instincts when I could not think.
About the time the crack of light appeared, I
realized that I really was filled with clashing nominal and physical energy. As
my body started to burn, I knew what was happening; when nominal and physical
energy conflicted, it created lightning.
I tried aiming my energy towards the expanding crack,
but my nominal and physical energy were unstable. My body burned, my head
pounded, and my new energy wanted to kill something to stop the pain. A small
object shot out of the light like a spark, but fell short of reaching either of
us.
I saw the face in the bright white light at the same
time I felt Mordon push me from behind. It was like an epiphany when his fire
burst through me. My swirling, unstable, and dangerous magic took the lead it
was given; without my conscious thought, lightning burst from me. It was a
blinding mix of eerie green, cold blue, and fiery yellow. The power attacked
the crack and the creature inside and closed the threat with a snap. The
leftover energy flashed through the room and out the clear walls, which then
started to crack.
I knew if I didn’t stop the energy, it would cause
the room to collapse, so I pulled the energy into myself, careful not to hurt
Sammy. It still burned. It burned so badly, but as I forced myself to think of calming
thoughts and slow my breathing, the energy slowly settled down. I looked up to
see Mordon holding Sammy, both watching me worriedly. I couldn’t gather enough
strength to speak.
I started towards the door, but the little girl still held my hand. The
crack grew until the light was nearly blinding. This time, the child advanced
with me and the light reached out wrapped around us.
“Janus.” The little girl’s voice was laced with
power. What started as a wisp of smoke slowly grew thicker and darker until it
formed a blinding fog around us. The girl let go of my hand and the darkness
became black.
I stood in the dark, but not alone. I could feel the
demon, like a thick, cold, wet pressure. Gently it wrapped around me,
threatening, but more curious than anything else. The demon tried to press in
on my mind. As weakened as I had become in days without magic, I could still
prevent the creature from getting inside me. I knew what I would see if he did
get inside my mind.
“Janus,” I whispered. There was something dangerous
about shouting in the dark.
The presence ceased his intended possession. The area
around me grew lighter until I found myself in a forest. It was not a cheery
forest, of course; with snow on the ground and a cold bite in the air, the
bareness of the trees was to be expected, but not the twisted mangled limbs.
The trees looked dead and mutated.
“I could say it is nice to see you again, Kiro, but I
would be lying.” As he spoke in a scratchy, whispery voice, the smoke formed a man.
Portrayed in human mythology to be a wise and kindly god, the demon Janus was
hardly someone I enjoyed meeting. All demons used scare tactics, as they fed on
fear. Janus was in fact, not a full-blooded demon, but something of a mystery.
He was plenty powerful for what I needed of him, though.
Janus appeared as he did the last time I met him. He
was no taller than me with dark brown hair and matching eyes. Despite being
known as the god of time and transition, he chose to appear rough and dark
instead of old and wise. While he was no god, he was the demon who controlled
the passing though the Land of the Dead and the void. People, demons, and the
dead all had to be protected from the void. While some people were born on
every world with the power to guard any passage to the void, Janus guarded from
this side.
“I am glad you would never lie to me.”
“For no other reason than that your brother would
complain. He does like to talk too much.”
“He likes the sound of his own voice. He did make it
to the spirit world, I take it?” I had to ask. Even though Divina said she
would not try to bring him back again, I worried he would never rest in peace.
“He has found a pleasant, if unorthodox resting
place.” The demon rolled his eyes and examined one of the most gnarled trees.
“His hobbies include bothering my demons and influencing the living. If I
cannot get him under control, we will soon have Noquodi-demon hybrid babies
running around the void.”
He turned to me as if I would help him control my
dead brother. I couldn’t stop the man from trying to overpopulate Earth, how
would I stop him from doing so to the Land of the Dead? Then it occurred to me.
“He is trying to take over the realm.”
The demon sighed. “I know. He ranted something about
ruling Hell or Heaven when I told him he could not lay with my daughter.” He
rubbed his thin hand upwards on the charred bark of the tree. The bark gained
some healthy brown color and the branches slowly untwisted to look less
menacing. “I hate this forest. I am tired of this realm. I want to be involved
with the living again.”
“You want the gates reopened,” I surmised.
There was hope in his eyes, but I knew Janus was a
tricky one. “I would control the demons this time, lay down rules and
consequences. My demons would be more vulnerable to the gods and Noquodi.”
“But they would also kill the living.”
“Rules,” he said simply. “I suppose you are here for
information again. The realm of the abyss gets stronger as the membranes on the
other side of the void whither.”
“A beautiful image, thank you. Actually, I want
something from you,” I said. There was a greedy glint in his eyes, for I paid
well. “I want help from you to protect my nephew. He will give you the demon that
escaped to the other side.”
The demon snarled. “He is a wild beast, far more
rabid than me. All of the Ancients are.”
“I know. And you cannot get him back here yourself
because you aren’t allowed through the void. But your demons are.”
“You want me to send a demon to protect your nephew,
and in exchange he will send the Ancient back here.”
“Something like that.”
“There was something else, yes? Something you need to
know?” he asked. I reached into my bag and pulled the card out that I had set
aside from the others.
“I need to know what this means.”
He took the card and studied it, then leaned forward
to smell it. “Not yours. Who is this card for? Whose scent is this?”
“Dylan’s. That’s my nephew’s card. What does it
mean?”
He looked at me with pity. A demon’s pity. “It means
that I need to prepare for one more Guardian in the Land of the Dead.”
I took the card back and put it in my bag without
looking at it. “Just follow my plan and Dylan will be fine.”
He stared at me suspiciously. “And my insurance plan?”
“The same as last time; myself.” With that deal in
place, we discussed the details.
* * *
The void closed behind me, returning me to the troll
king’s castle.
“Are the demons coming?” Cylo asked me.
I shook my head. “Magic is slowly flooding the land;
you have enough to deal with without demons invading.” While I said this, I
soaked up the energy around me like air. It was like having a limb back after
having to live life without it. Maybe I was too dependent on it, but it was all
I had other than Dylan. And it wasn’t like Dylan needed me anymore anyway.
“You have forced us to break a ban on magic that had
been in place for years,” the queen said, holding her daughter tightly in her
arms. “I hope your nephew is worthy of your faith.”
“My nephew has more potential than any Guardian ever
born. If you cannot believe that, you should meet his mate.”
“His mate?” she asked.
Instead of answering, I gave a small bow. “I have
done what I can to help him. Thank you for your assistance, but I must leave
now.”
“What about what was taken from me?” Cylo asked. “I
have not found what was taken from me.” He looked from me to the royal family
in despair.
“What was taken from you?” the queen asked.
“I cannot remember, but it is so important.” He looked
like he was going to cry. “It is the most important thing in the whole world
and it was taken and I need it back.”
I reached out with my energy to see what I could
about him, but my magic recoiled. It was normal for me to scan someone before
trusting them, but I couldn’t when I first met Cylo, and I wouldn’t be able to
when he was having a mental breakdown. Every person in the entire universe was
capable of breakdowns, but I always felt awkward around them.
Normally when someone was about to breakdown, I
reacted in the best way I could think of to stop it; I pushed my energy inside
him. Adapting the magic I used to read someone’s mind, I started searching
through his memories. I dug in about the time he was a young adult and started
flipping through nearly every day of his life from that point on. I was able to
pull myself mostly out of his mind. While he was remembering every day of his
adult life, it would drive me insane to see that much of someone. Still, I knew
he would see a few of my memories because it was my magic. I hated to do this,
but he needed his memories back.
The man dropped to his knees in a daze. He made a few
unintelligible noises, but most were happy sounds. The royal family watched in
apparent fascination until I felt the man’s mind return to the present. I
became worried as I pulled away my magic and he continued to stare into space.
“Cylo.” He looked up at me. “Are you okay?” I asked.
“They took my---” The rest of his sentence was
drowned out by a horrible screech.
I was becoming too familiar with screeches lately.
The solid wooden doors burst open and two huge griffins surged in. I had never
been attacked by an extinct beast before, but it was a day for firsts. In fact,
getting attacked by a water monster that did not exist yet had also been a new
experience.
The queen snatched her daughter up and ran from the
room while the king shielded them. One griffin tried to distract him while the
other went after the fleeing mother and child. Griffins were created to be the
powerful companions and guardians of wizards. They were nearly impervious to
all magic, as strong as an elephant, as smart as a dolphin, and as
temperamental as a bull shark. Their wings, though covered in feathers, could
not be pierced by any metal.
Trying to head off the one going after the queen and
child, I passed a metal pole holding a decorative vase. I doubled back to grab
it, not even considering my luck that it was not attached to the floor. There
was a small crash as the vase hit the floor. I did manage to get in front of
the beasts, but only because the troll king was large enough to occupy them
both. He was wielding a sword like a warrior, which every king should be able
to do, but still, the weapon did no more than irritate the creatures.
I smashed the metal pole into the face of my
shrieking opponent, aiming for the eyes. In an instant, it had the pole firmly
in its beak. Besides in magic, Guardians were also physically stronger than
regular people; I broke the pole in half. Now I had to get closer to the beast,
but I had two weapons and better control over them. When I stabbed it in the
left eye with the free pole, it let go of the other one. The pole was bent from
the strength in the griffin’s beak.
Hobble, missing so far, came barreling clumsily into
the room, straight for the griffin attacking me.
Meanwhile, Cylo had found a decorative sword and went
after the other griffin. I yelled for him to get back, but he didn’t listen. He
ran to stab the griffin in the back of the neck, but the creature swatted at Cylo
with his massive paw. The instant the beast’s talons touched Cylo, both the
griffin and Cylo disappeared.
The small gargoyle fared much better in his attack.
He dove under the large griffin as it turned to strike, then latched onto its
neck with both heads. The gargoyle dugs its claws into the griffin’s underbelly
and with several flaps of its wings, flipped the gargoyle onto its back. Sharp
talons scratched at the stone wings but the gargoyle was too small and quick
for the griffin’s talons to catch any real stone flesh. Unfortunately for the
griffin, the gargoyle’s cat-like claws were perfect for digging at sensitive
eyes. With a painful screech, the blinded griffin took off.
I felt sorrow for the beast. Griffins were extremely
territorial but mated for life. Because they both attacked together, I had to
conclude that they were a mated pair. The griffin had to suffer the loss of his
or her mate and its own blindness. However, with their great healing power, the
blindness may be temporary; the lost mate was a much worse blow. Still, I had
to feel more regret for Cylo. I had no idea where he was, but I would find him.
A soft whimpering warned me that there was more
trouble to come. Turning back to the troll king, I saw a young woman huddled on
the floor in a fetal position. “Who is that?” I asked the king. He shrugged his
massive shoulders.
“When the beast and your friend disappeared, she
appeared in their place.”
I crouched down beside her and she slowly looked up
at me. The woman was absolutely beautiful, with rich, dark red hair, light
green eyes, and perfect skin. “Are you hurt?” I asked in Lilat. When she stared
at me blankly, I tried again in Sudo, and then a third time in English. She
shook her head. When I held out my hand, she took it and let me help her to her
feet. “Do you speak English?” I asked in English.
“Yes. Where am I?”
Since she spoke English, I had to assume she was
human and knew nothing about other worlds. “Very far from home.” She was pretty
tall for a human woman.
I heard a weird purring sound and felt a nudge
against my hand. I looked down to see the little gargoyle, covered in blood,
but looking so proud of himself. Unfortunately, the woman didn’t see it that
way, and screamed. Hobble scrambled behind me to hide from the loud woman.
It took several tries to shush her, but then I made
sure to pet both of Hobble’s heads to tell him I was proud of him.
“What is that thing?” she asked, her voice wobbly.
“Some gargoyle creature, probably from another
world,” I answered. I don’t think she liked that answer, but got over her fear
of Hobble and joined him behind me when she saw the troll king. I sighed. “The
day is never over for the Noquodi,” I said to the confused king.
“Am I still on Dios?” the woman asked. I turned to
her and frowned.
“What do you know about Dios? Aren’t you human?”
“I knew you weren’t human!” she declared. “That
language isn’t human! I am a human, but my boyfriend is from Dios, and that’s
where I was. He left to find someone and then my baby and friends disappeared.
Everyone helped me search for them, but there was some sort of attack. One
minute I’m talking to a grouchy goblin, and the next I’m here. Sammy’s not even
two years old!”
Something felt off about that. “The Dios people are
not very friendly with humans. What city were you in?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I can’t pronounce much of their
language. All I know is that the king is my boyfriend’s nephew.”
“Which king?”
“How do you know English if we’re not on Earth?”
“I have been there. Which king? What was his name?
What did he look like?”