Authors: Rain Oxford
My head swam and my vision started to dim when a
sudden flash of light nearly blinded me. After it cleared, the little girl who
had helped me on the boat was there. There was nothing I could do or say and
right before I passed out, she disappeared, along with the pressure of the
invisible force.
* * *
I woke to drops of water on my face. The forest had
gone from slightly cold to an uncomfortable hot and humid. Sitting up, I found
Vivian huddled up by a tree. “You’re impossible to move,” she accused.
“Sago have a denser structure than humans, so we
weigh more. What happened to that little girl?”
“She was only here for a second, then she disappeared
and you passed out. That was about two hours ago and it’s been quiet since. It
just started to rain a little. We should have stayed on the beach and followed
the plan,” she said.
“What plan? We had a plan?”
“Mordon and I did. Distract the monster until Dylan
can get here,” she said.
Normally, I would admonish her for putting all her
faith in one person, but Dylan had that kind of track record. He always figured
out the clues, had the plan, and arrived in time where he was needed at the
last possible moment. That sounded like a pretty good plan.
As I got to my feet, the loud screeching from earlier
startled the silence. Several howls, roars, and screeches answered the call,
quieter but still very creepy. Vivian rolled her eyes and we went in the
opposite direction of the sound. This time we didn’t run. I’m not sure if
Vivian had given up or what, but she had a distinct lack of energy.
I wished we had run a moment later, when our path was
blocked by a nightmare; a horrible dog-like creature with glowing blue eyes and
foaming fangs. The beast was hairless and the skin actually looked charred in
spots. It was tall and skinny with long appendages and a long neck. Its head
was held low and fangs flashed in threat.
Vivian screamed, but I couldn’t comfort her. I don’t
think I could actually move. This was a creature all sago feared. While human
parents told their children about the boogie men, sago grew up hearing about
the dejeva.
“What is that?!” Vivian cried, trying to pull me back
and keep me in front of her at the same time.
“Hush. It can’t hurt us. It doesn’t exist,” I said,
more to myself than her. If I spoke any louder, it would have been with
hysterics. I couldn’t remember ever being more terrified. I would have gladly
faced Vretial alone instead of this creature.
“I can see it! It does exist!” she argued.
“The dejeva is a Duran myth. Just a myth.” The
creature growled and stepped closer. “The name ‘dejeva’ translates to ‘doll’ in
English. They are created by the death of a powerful wizard who wants to
destroy someone so badly that they are willing to die themself. But the dejeva
rarely kills. The venom in their bite can either kill someone slowly and
painfully, or it can turn a person into one of them. They like to eat someone
just enough to leave them alive.”
“Stop telling me this!” she cried.
“They spit venom that will eat your skin off.” The
creature made a rumbling grunting sound deep in its chest as if it were
laughing. It shook its head slightly, making the froth from its mouth fly from
the wrinkly muzzle.
“We’re going to die,” Vivian cried, hiding her face
against my back.
“Yes,” I answered. “Hopefully that’s all.”
The screech behind us informed me that whatever we
had been running from had found us, though I was more afraid that it would
provoke the dejeva to attack. I could feel Vivian turn to look at the newcomer,
but I still couldn’t take my eyes off the dejeva. However, the beast did take
his eyes off me. The monstrous creature peered above my head at whatever was
behind me. Nothing could scare a dejeva, though, so it resumed its snarling,
this time at what was behind me.
I felt the flap of its great wings before I saw it
bound over us. A black dragon, strangely familiar, hit the ground right in
front of me. It reared up and then pounded its front legs into the ground with
a screech. Trees trembled. Fortunately, it stood between us and the dejeva, and
seemed more interested in the one opponent. When the dragon’s left hind leg
missed me by a breath, and its whipping spike-tipped tail nearly gutted me, I
grabbed Vivian’s arm and ran.
We ran for the beach until I had to scramble for the
purchase of a tree. In between us and the bright beach was a hole, wide enough
to drop my cabin in and deep enough to bury it. I could not tell exactly how
deep it was, because I couldn’t see the bottom. It was black; not dark,
actually a hole of blackness. I couldn’t even see the walls of the hole. When I
tried pouring energy into it to explore the depth and contents, the energy
disappeared. It was sucking in the energy like a black hole.
I held Vivian back as she tried to see into it. It
felt like something was looking back at us. “What could have made this hole?
How far down do you think it goes? What’s down there?” she asked. She sounded
much more curious than afraid.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to know. Let’s go.”
“Really? You don’t want to know at all? I could go
down there and look around.”
“What?!” I demanded. “Why would you do that?!”
“I want to see. I want to go down there.”
I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away,
but she struggled and tried to fight me off. The more I pulled her away, the
harder she fought. It was difficult to go around the hole with Vivian biting me
and trying to push us in. When we made it through the trees, I shoved her to
the ground and pinned her down.
While I had lost my connection to my book, I could
still reach out to Duran. My soul knew my home, having reached through the bond
so many times. I could feel my concealing spell break and Duran reach kindly
back for me. With the bond to my world humming in my mind, I reached through my
lesser connection to Dios. My name was in Nano’s book, and through that bond I
could feel the worried Guardian. The only thing I could do was send him a
mental image of where I was in the universe. I hoped he knew I was with Vivian
and not just asking for help.
The woman in question went limp underneath me as I lost
my shaky connection. “Kiro?” she asked, fear thick in her voice. I looked down
at her. “Did I really just try to jump in a hole?”
I was about to answer her when there was a whooshing
sound. I looked up in time to see the upper atmosphere light with fire.
Fortunately, it was only over the area in the time field, so the nearby city
was safe.
“Would you kindly get off my mate, please?”
I rolled over to let Vivian jump up and run into
Nano’s arms. “That was quick,” I said, getting up from the ground and dusting
the sand off.
He frowned. “It took me a long time to track you
down, nearly an entire Dios day after I got your message.”
I shouldn’t have been startled. “We have a time warp
over us; it was hardly an instant before you arrived. However, your magic is
burning up the time field, so you need to leave now,” I said.
“Are you not coming?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Any moment, one of the gods is
going to summon me, and Zer will not let me land on Dios. If you tried to take
all three of us while I am blocked, there’s no telling what would happen to you
two.”
“Nano, he saved me; don’t let him stay,” Vivian
demanded.
“This place will explode the moment my traveling
magic burns through the time field,” Nano warned.
I nodded. “Good. The people of this world should not
be exposed to this place.”
“Dylan will be very angry.”
“He has Divina to keep him safe. Besides, he would be
standing here, too, if he had to make the same choice. Don’t risk Vivian when
you know taking me is too dangerous.”
He nodded. “Thank you.” With those parting words and
a crackle of energy, they both disappeared.
As the roaring of flames in the sky grew louder, I
knew I was out of time. It was sad to hear the scared cries of the beasts in
the forest. As much as the people should not be exposed to those creatures, I
was still against killing. I felt the ground shake apart and sink as the trees
caught on fire. I looked out over the ocean to see the waves turn violent, but
from one instant to the next, everything changed.
* * *
I was standing on a small, flat stone in the middle
of the sea. Even as calm as the water was, it lapped over the stone to wet my
boots. There was no land or ships in site. The lack of any wind, despite the
clear sound of it, informed me of where I was. Wherever my body physically was,
my mind was standing council to one of the gods.
He appeared in front of me with calmness, but I could
see by the glare in his eyes that he was angry. With shoulder-length black
hair, sharp features, and a lithe body, he was not what I expected a god to
look like, but it was a falsified image anyway. The gods appeared however they
wanted to, and created an environment to suit their desires.
“You know you are suspected of treason against the
gods.” It wasn’t a question. His Enochian was perfect, and I felt a little
shame that I never learned it fluently.
“I am innocent,” I pleaded respectfully.
“Yet you hide yourself on my world like a coward.”
“I came here… to help your Noquodi. He asked for
help. I lost my book when I arrived,” I had to choose my worlds carefully so
that I did not mistake my usage of vocabulary or grammar.
“You will not need your book again. For suspected
treason and for taking refuge on my world, I judge you---”
The god was interrupted by the arrival of another
god. As often as he had spoken to me, I never saw him with an image; Erono
fiercely reminded me that he was a god and I did not have the right to such an
accommodation. Erono felt that having a mortal image made him look less
powerful.
He was wrong. Erono, who stood before me, may have
looked like a man, slightly older than me with short black hair, an angular
face, and a size fairly bigger than my own, but he emitted an aura like no
other. Fortunately, it wasn’t me he was glaring at.
“Azenoth, how dare you judge my servant? He is mine
to punish if I will it.”
“He was hiding on my world,” Azenoth argued.
“Only because you were too blind to discover him. You
will never assume to judge another servant again who is not your own.”
On the echo of those threatening words, my virtual
reality crumbled to reveal myself lying on the ground in front of my cabin. I
sat up and looked around in shock. Not only had Erono saved me, but he returned
me home unharmed.
Dylan was gaining power too fast. When the demon attacked, I could see
that he lost control of it. He could do anything he wanted with magic, but if
he couldn’t control it, it would kill him. The one thing I could control above
all else was my fire; so that was what I used. I pushed all of my control and
will into him with my fire, and instantly felt his magic take to it. My fire
was much more structured than either nominal or physical energy.
Even as Dylan collapsed, I could feel and see him
draw the wayward energy back in to avoid further damage. I gently took Sammy
from him and watch for signs of heart failure in my friend. I wasn’t a healer
like he was. He looked up at us just before passing out and I thought that was
the sign that he was in the clear.
I was wrong.
As soon as his eyes closed, his heart rate dropped,
and the bracelet he wore started flashing and chirping. Sammy wiggled around to
touch Dylan but I held him back. With my eyes this way, I could see shapes as
dull, blurry objects and colors were completely washed out. However, I could
see people as their auras glow bright and colorful. What each color meant, I
wasn’t sure, but I could smell their intentions. I could also see energy as
light particles in space, objects, and people. Nominal energy was blue,
physical energy was whitish-yellow, and Dylan’s god energy was green.
Therefore, I could see that the god energy which
Dylan filled Sammy with to protect him against possession was still in him. I
worried what would happen if the baby touched Dylan and the energy flowed back
into my friend.
When Dylan’s heartbeat slowed even further, I had to
sit back. Sammy struggled so hard that I couldn’t even perform basic medical
assistance. What I really wanted to do was burn down that ice wall and get him
medical attention, but Sammy was going wild and I wouldn’t risk burning him.
Sammy’s teeth digging into my hand startled me into
letting him go. In an instant, he had his tiny hands over Dylan’s heart and
Dylan’s energy returned to him. “Heal!” the child screamed. “Heal!” The third
time he screamed it, Dylan’s eyes snapped open and his heart sped up. His
bracelet sparked and ceased chirping.
“Very impressive,” a new voice startled the sudden
silence. We all looked to see a man watching us calmly. “I thought I would be
needed, but you three managed that demon all on your own.”
The man was speaking fluent Sudo with a foreign
accent. He was built just like Kiro, with the same height and weight. His shirt
and pants were made of a simple black material that stretched across his chest,
but was slightly loose everywhere else. Around his waist was a tight, thin
chain attaching a small bag at his side.
“How did you get in here?” I asked as Dylan sat up
and pulled Sammy into his lap. Sammy stared at the stranger suspiciously, ready
to defend Dylan again.
“Should you not be asking who I am? That is more
important.”
“You are Emrys,” Dylan said.
The man’s eyes widened. “You do surprise. How do you
know?”
“You’re a Guardian, I can sense that. Also, both Nano
and Shiloh were looking for you because they said you can help us.”
“Well, you have made the correct deduction; I am
Emrys, Guardian of Malta.” He reached out for something on the ground and it
shot into his hand. “I believe this was for you.” He held it out to Dylan, who
took it hesitantly.
He frowned and showed it to me. It was a playing
card, but instead of a face or number, there was a picture of a red object.
“It’s an apple. A fruit on Earth.”
I took the card. On its smooth surface I could smell
Emrys and Dylan, since they touched it, but I could also smell Kiro and
something else. Something horrible. “It’s from Kiro, but there is something
else on this card.”
“It is death that you smell,” Emrys said. I opened my
mouth to argue, but he raised his hand to stop me. I hated when people did
that; however, we needed his help right now. “Not the rot or decay found
on
the dead, but death itself.”
“How can death have a scent?” Dylan asked.
“Everything has a scent. I would like you to meet
Madus, god of Malta. I assure you if you win his favor, he will be an excellent
ally. He is reasonable and his word holds value with the other gods.”
“Dylan needs to rest before that,” I insisted. Even
though his heartbeat was now strong, he looked dead on his feet.
“I’m perfectly fine,” Dylan argued. He stood up,
slipped the card into the baby bag, and held his hand out for Emrys to shake.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Dylan Yatunus.”
Emrys touched Dylan’s hand and in the space of a
blink, we were in a field. The grass was to my calf and there were several
small patches of purple and blue flowers. The god who stood in before us could
never be confused with a person, as he radiated power that dwarfed Dylan’s.
Madus had a similar aura to Enki, with a little less
of wisdom and a little more youth. He had medium, shoulder-length hair and
hazel eyes. His bone structure was like Enki’s, but he had a healthier build.
Dylan said something with a friendly smile.
I was confused as to why the bracelet didn’t
translate his words. For an instant, I thought I saw Sammy’s eyes glow a little
bit. I must have been mistaken.
“I’m afraid that is the extent of my Enochian
vocabulary,” Dylan said in English.
“It is impressive that you made the effort to learn,”
the god said. “I heard stories about you. Normally, I would have observed you
myself, but your goddess is very protective of you. I could have watched you
despite this, but I respect my sister’s decisions. She does trust you, and I
have never known her to act irresponsibly. Therefore, I only have stories to go
on.”
“Well, I can add a story for you,” Emrys said. “When
I arrived to bring them to you, they were in the process of battling the
ancient beast. You were uncertain of Tiamat’s decision to send them, but I
found your concerns invalid today. Dylan used the power of the Iadnah and the
mortal power together with dragon fire.”
“Dragon fire?” the god asked.
“That was Mordon’s,” Dylan said.
“Dylan had also used his Iadnah magic to create a
protective barrier on the child, which the child then used to heal Dylan from
the energy backlash.”
“That sounds very interesting, but I can see why my
siblings feel you are a threat. In fact, I think the efficiency in which you
work together would bother them.”
“So you won’t side with us?” Dylan asked. Sammy
squirmed around to shoot the god a glare, then buried his face against Dylan’s
shoulder as if he realized what he had done. The god just laughed.
“I see no reason not to. You forget how powerful the
Iadnah are, I think. I can see your entire life in the time it takes you to
blink. I cannot see every decision you will ever make, but I can see what kind
of person you are. Your previous choices stand to your defense as well. And
most importantly, Enki vouches for you. The reason the Iadnah are so suspicious
of you is that we did not create you. We created the Noquodi to have enough
power to do their purpose, but not enough to be a threat to us.
“Unfortunately for you, you have the same power we
have. While you do not have enough to overthrow us yet, the power of the Iadnah
is infinite. The Iadnah are not afraid of you as you are now, but of the
potential you have. Unfortunately for us, my brothers do not understand that
they are the ones creating the threat they fear. Tiamat gave you to your uncle
to teach you and he became your family. Now my brothers are trying to take him
away from you, what else can they expect but for you to fight back? They never
realized that they were the ones to alienate Vretial, and they did so because
they feared his superior power and his eccentricity. Then you prove that you
could defeat him when they could not.”
“But it was Tiamat who killed him.”
“Tiamat had a choice to sacrifice herself to destroy
him, or weaken him and put herself at less risk. She made a mistake, and Earth
would have died with her, but you used your Iadnah power to help her. You
pleaded with the souls of the worlds and they responded without their Iadnah’s
control. You have the potential to become a threat, but I believe you would
never betray your allies; therefore, I would rather be your ally than your
enemy. I will gladly offer assistance when you need it.”
Another win. Dylan is too nice a person for even
the gods to distrust him once they meet him.
Madus looked at me and I knew
he heard my thoughts. He gave me a knowing smile. “I have a question,” I said.
“Our original mission was to get Sammy off Earth so that the demon couldn’t
possess him, but when we got to Dios, the demon was able to come after us.”
“That is because the fabric of the universe is
unraveling. Your new mission is to fix it.”
“But when we were on Earth, the demon tried to
possess me and couldn’t. I assumed it was because I traveled. Does that mean
that the demon can possess me now?”
“Actually, it can, but your dragon would have
something to say about it.”
“My dragon? What dragon? And what would a dragon have
to do with me being possessed?” I asked. I wondered if he meant Blood.
Madus’s smirk was a little irritating. “That is a
question for your father.”
It occurred to me that my father and Blood could have
something to do with each other, but my father hated dragons and said they were
myth. He said princes were never to have such delusions. “I have instructions
to never talk to him.”
“That is your choice. Either way, both of you must
rely on your internal strength to defend yourselves and protect each other.”
Sammy interrupted loudly with what almost sounded
like baby garble, but the syllables were too clear. It certainly wasn’t English
or any of Duran’s languages.
Madus looked at Sammy with an immensely surprised
expression. “What a remarkable little child.” He looked as Dylan. “You should
be careful what you say and do around him; he will learn quickly.”
Emrys pulled his book out of his bag, as well as one
of those odd writing utensils that wrote with no ink or graphite. He handed it
to Dylan, who signed his name in Sudo and handed it to me. I signed my name
right under Dylan’s. I ignored the irritating cold patch on my arm even as a
symbol appeared in my mind, similar to the ones for Earth, Dios, and Vaigda.
“What about Sammy?” I asked.
“I will take care of it,” Emrys said, taking the book
from me, and then disappeared. Before I could ask where he went, he was back.
“The mother signed it,” he said, opening the book to show Sammy’s signature
underneath mine.
“You went to see Vivian and she didn’t demand her
baby? She just signed his name when she didn’t know where he is? I highly doubt
that,” Dylan argued.
“She did know where he was at the time. At this point
in time, she is unable to sign the book, so I went to her at a time that she
could and would.” Emrys sounded like time-travel was the only reasonable and
logical conclusion.
“Why didn’t you go to a point in time where he was
old enough to sign his own name?” I asked.
“Because the more time you travel that has not yet
occurred in your perception, the more decisions have been made and the more
likely you are to do damage.”
“Is there a world called Gallifrey? Because if there
is, it would really explain you Guardians. But then my father would still be
alive…” Dylan said. I sighed, hoping he wouldn’t get into it.
There was no warning before everything went black.
When light came back to the world, we were standing in the middle of a shallow
creek in a forest. Besides Dylan, Sammy, and myself, Shiloh and Emrys were
here.
The first thing I noticed was that the gravity was
too heavy and the air was thick and wet. Sammy started coughing, which caused
Dylan to nearly drop him. In attempt to get a better grip on the baby, Dylan
ended up slipping and falling into the water, barely keeping Sammy out of it. I
took Sammy and held out my other hand to help Dylan up. Soaked to his chest, he
started shivering.
I let my fire wash over him, not hot enough to burn
but to mostly dry his clothes. He acted like he trusted me explicitly and made
no move to panic or put out the fire. Instead, he looked a little annoyed.
“Thanks, but a warning is nice before you set someone
on fire.”
“Sorry. Next time I set you on fire, I will remember
to shoot you a warning.”
“How were they received?” Shiloh asked Emrys.
“Very well. Madus will protect them on Malta and
stand for them to the other gods. As Dylan has had little chance to explore the
worlds, I suggest that we give them a tour. Dylan can do his healing during
this.”
“Yes, but quickly. He should be familiar with every
world, but he needs to heal other planets before the wounds spread further.”
“He can stay here and heal astrophysically.”
“Absolutely not. It causes more mental strain and the
world could feel threatened. He would create a much better bond with the magic
if he visits the world to heal it.”
“And he can be put in danger that way,” Emrys argued.
“Many of the gods will find it a threat if he arrives on their world without
their permission, and some will attack him on sight without proper
introduction.”
Dylan huffed. “Nobody’s going to ask me what I want
to do?” he asked.
Shiloh was about to answer, but I beat him to it.
“That’s right,” I said. “There’s no way Dylan is going anywhere if he can heal
the worlds from here, where he’s safe.” As I spoke, Sammy reached down and into
the baby bag. I figured he was trying to get the stuffed dragon Shiloh gave
him.
Dylan started to argue, but was cut off as Sammy
threw a plastic wet-nap box at him. “Bad Dada!” he yelled at Dylan.