Authors: Rain Oxford
This will work better when you stop fighting me.
The
voice was strong and unfamiliar in my mind. It was definitely masculine, too. I
gasped in shock. Honestly, I should have expected it; the creature could now
talk to me.
Yes, you should have expected this, and I am not a
mere creature.
I had enough control to sit up and reach for Sammy.
The baby took one look at me and squealed with delight. The beast inside me
liked the child a lot. How odd.
Do you have a name I should call you?
I
asked the creature.
My name is Rojan, and I will never be inhibited
again.
I could have been angry by how much that sounded like
a threat, but I felt sorry for him. I was so concerned with him controlling me
that I jumped at the chance to crush him completely. He was just as alive as
me. He certainly wasn’t sago, but he had just as much right to live. I just
didn’t get why he had to be a part of
my
life.
I’m sorry for having
that girl suppress you.
I understand that you were scared. You do not yet
understand that I have always been here. I gave you your fire, your fate, and
your breath.
I get the fire part, but how did you give me my
fate?
You never told Dylan what you were doing that
night you met.
I was running from my father.
Because you told him you believed in dragons and
wanted to find them. He beat you in anger.
He hates dragons. He says they’re not real, but
who could hate something that isn’t real so much? I think he fears them. I
think he must have met one before and fears them. That doesn’t explain how you
gave me my fate.
I was the reason you suddenly obsessed over
dragons. I made everything happen so that you would meet Dylan.
I realized Dylan had been talking to me, but I was
too deep in my head. He stood right in front of me, and stopped talking when I
blinked at him. Then he smiled. “Welcome back.”
I knew that knowing smirk. “Me or the creature inside
me?”
“Yes.”
That was so much clearer. “Did you have a nice chat
with Tiamat?” I asked as I stood. I hadn’t noticed during the attack, but it
must have been pretty physical, as the massive table was moved several paces
from its original position.
“I barely connected with her before I was back here
to find that I had missed all of the fun. How are you doing? The demon tried to
get in you?” he asked.
“He succeeded, but before he could get control of me,
my dragon broke free and kicked him out,” I said. I realized what I said when
he arched an eyebrow.
“Your what?”
“I hadn’t meant to call the creature a dragon, or
mine. That girl kept calling him
my
beast. And as for calling him a
dragon… I never asked him what he is.”
You assumed, because it only makes sense. The gods
have even said as much, but you are not a shifter, like that girl had thought. Shifters
have a beast inside them, like I am in you. When the person is in their normal
form, they are in charge, but they can always feel the beast. When they are in
their beast form, the beast is in charge. Most dragons have learned to shift
into people, so there are no “dragon shifters.” You either are a dragon who can
shift into a person, or you are a person. I am not a mere beast.
So what is this then? Are you a dragon or are you
not?
That is not the question you should be asking. I
am not simply anything. The only thing I am is you.
“Oh, god, enough with the riddles, both of you.”
“Mama’s lost his mind, honey, come away now,” Dylan
said to Sammy, who looked startled at my outburst. “If you give me a minute,
I’ll heal up this last tribe and we can get moving again.”
Dylan is feeling agitated. I think he feels like
he should have been able to help you fight the demon.
That made sense; I had felt pretty useless. I had
never been a particularly good wizard; my only real strength was my fire and my
more advanced senses. And that was all the dragon. Without him, I was nothing
but a meager wizard.
“There is no such thing as a meager wizard, stupid,”
Dylan said.
“Did I say that out loud?” I asked.
“You were thinking it pretty loudly.”
I can block him from hearing your thoughts,
the
dragon suggested.
No, he is my friend and his intentions are good.
How is this going to work? You may have always been here, but I never even felt
you until a few days ago.
Until you got away from your father. Your fire and
senses have always been better than others, but you had never been able to
shift your claws, eyes, or teeth until you escaped him. Now your powers grow by
the day and you have more control than ever.
My father did this?
I wasn’t sure what “this”
is, but I hated that my father might actually have taken something from me.
Your father loved you, and he would have given his
life for you.
He disapproved of me. He would never have given up
his kingdom for me,
I argued. I was getting upset and I felt the need to
growl. As twisted as it was, the dragon tried to sooth me.
“Mordon, you need to learn to pay attention while
you’re talking to your dragon. I know he’s new and exciting, but people are
starting to think something’s wrong with you,” Dylan said.
He was right; I hadn’t even realized we had walked
into another room. “I’m sorry. I’ll get it with practice. Go ahead and heal
this tribe,” I said. He gave me an irritated look and my eyes shifted without
my control. There were no wounds or scars anywhere.
“I already healed it; you weren’t paying attention.”
I was back to feeling miserable; I had been too
distracted to protect Dylan while he was busy. I had
one
job to do this
entire mission; to cover Dylan, and I got distracted. What good was I?
I was watching over him for us
, Rojan said.
That probably shouldn’t have made me feel better, but it did.
Dylan and I are able to talk telepathically. Since
you and I can, are you able to talk to him?
I wonder.
I watched for signs from Dylan, but
he made no move of surprise.
No, I cannot communicate with him.
I realized Dylan was talking just in time to pay
attention. At least I knew that if I wasn’t listening, my dragon was.
“Now that we healed Malta, can we go and heal Earth?
Or Duran?” he asked Emrys.
As long as we didn’t go back to Dios yet, I was
happy; I wanted more time before we had to return Sammy to his mother.
“That is really up to the gods. You are free to
travel to Earth, but Erono would likely fight your return to Duran. We will
return to the creek, and from there we can try to make it to Earth.”
“Try? What happens if we fail?” I asked.
Emrys shrugged. “I hope we never find out.”
We were traveling back to the creek, which was
apparently only a few hours’ walk, when something burned in my pocket. I pulled
out Dylan’s pentagram.
“I didn’t realize I put this in my pocket. The little
girl popped in and gave me this when you were talking to Tiamat. I think your
magic inside it is what broke the magic that the woman had used on Rojan.”
“Rojan?” Dylan asked.
“That doesn’t sound like a good dragon name?” I
asked.
He opened his mouth, but Sammy turned and glared at
him. “It sounds like a lovely dragon’s name.” He relented as he took the
pentagram and returned it to his neck. “I am worried, though. Your weakness is
pretty obviously the cold. It’s bothering me real bad that the demon was in you
when your dragon awoke. Is coldness a weakness common to dragon shifters?”
To dragons, yes,
Rojan answered.
“Yes, dragons are sensitive to the cold. I’m not a
dragon shifter; there is no such thing.”
“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind. I just can’t help
but worry… what if the demon realized it was a dragon in you. What if it knows
that dragons are sensitive to cold and has figured out that that is your
weakness?”
Then we are in grave trouble,
my dragon said.
It was that moment that the sky broke out into rain. It was not a natural rain,
but the ice cold, heavy rain that we had encountered on Earth.
“Hide!” Sammy cried.
It was cold enough to make my chest hurt, but the icy rain and harsh
wind was a deadly combination. Unfortunately, it incapacitated Mordon in an
instant. He pushed Sammy into my arms and fell to the ground, his head
splashing into the rising water before I could catch him. I got him out of the
water as quickly as possible, but he had already passed out. There was no way I
could concentrate enough to use any magic in the freezing rain while holding
Mordon and trying to keep Sammy warm.
The demon came in the body of a young man, who
sauntered closer like he had not a care in the world. Steam rose as the icy
rain splattered his fevered skin. Emrys created a ball of plasma and threw it
at the demon, but it disintegrated before it reached its mark. The demon was
not playing around this time. Unfortunately, Guardians were not immune to an
attack of plasma, which was worse than being struck by lightning. The demon
created another, brighter sphere of the fourth state of matter, and attacked
Emrys, who collapsed before he could even counterattack. This creature was so
powerful and ancient that the gods could not defeat it. All we had accomplished
so far was to run from it. Now we couldn’t run.
I was shaking, Mordon was slipping from my grip as he
started convulsing, and Sammy went limp in my arms. I could felt the nausea and
knew I was about to pass out, but I couldn’t; if I fell, both Sammy and Mordon
would drown. I had to hold it together…
There was so much water that I was breathing it in.
The demon stopped just a step in front of me, smirked, and held his arms out
for Sammy. If I gave him Sammy, the baby would live as a slave in his own body.
If I didn’t, Sammy would die with me and Mordon.
Help me.
I called out to anyone listening; it
was more like a request from my soul than a conscious act. The instant I could
no longer hold myself and Sammy up, I heard an explosion.
* * *
I was in space which, for the record, was incredibly
creepy. I could breathe just fine and I wasn’t freezing, but it definitely
looked like I was floating in space. Before me was my home world, far away
enough that I wasn’t in the atmosphere, yet close enough to see continents.
Actually,
the moon should be around here somewhere.
My book was in my hand. I had the deep urge to hide
it, but I couldn’t move.
The space in front of me suddenly flooded with bright
white, which grew brighter by the second. A slit was opening in front of the
planet, widening into a gaping whole. The light inside was ominous, hideous,
and shook me. It was oddly thrilling and equally horrifying. I knew what that
white abyss was; I could feel it in my soul.
I felt the moment the doorway was fully and
permanently opened.
The book in my hand turned to sand and floated away
on a nonexistent wind. When it was gone, the surface of Earth changed. It a
worldwide, catastrophic wave that I could see even from space, the seas dried
up, the plants died, and the planet surface became a barren wasteland. In a
matter of seconds, my world was destroyed and billions of people were dead.
* * *
The gentle prodding to my face was irritating enough
to wake me. My first thought was that Edward was out on mission and Tibbit was
trying to eat my face. I opened my mouth to tell Shinobu to eat him, but my
chest cramped with pain. I felt myself roughly being turned and then I was
coughing up liquid. This was familiar; it wasn’t the first time I had drowned.
I had a Guardian warning dream. Something was coming
and I had to stop it.
I felt around with my arms for Sammy, clinching my
eyes against the bright light. “Dada.” Sammy’s whimper was a great relief as
the baby was set in my arms. He buried his head in my neck and cried.
Assured that he was okay, I opened my eyes to search
for Mordon. Instead I saw a boy standing over me. By boy, I meant he couldn’t
have been more than fifteen years old. He looked a lot like a younger Nila with
his blond hair, but his eyes were predominantly forest green, speckled with
chocolate brown.
After he helped me turn back over, I looked around
for Mordon. We were outside, in the same place as before, and the ground was
still wet, but the sun was shining strong and hot. Mordon was curled up on his
side, just out of arms reach.
“He is alive, though unresponsive,” the boy said.
I wiggled closer the best I could until I was able to
reach his neck and feel for a pulse. It was strong.
“Do you think you can stand up?” he asked me.
I ignored him and rubbed Sammy’s back. I needed time
to process what happened and determine if there was any damage. Mordon
definitely needed help. But that wasn’t the only problem. I had a dream…
something about the void.
“Dylan?” the boy prodded.
He was distracting me. I had to remember my dream,
but it was slipping away. I looked up at him. “How do you know my name?” I
asked.
He looked confused. “Are you unable to feel my power?
I am the Guardian of Enep. My name is Samorde.”
“You’re a Guardian?” Mordon asked. I looked over to
see his eyes open, but he didn’t look like he was focusing well.
“You look a little too young,” I said.
He smiled. “I suffer my people’s punishment. Stand
and join me on Enep. I am not very welcome here and I must take you to meet
Regivus.”
“I don’t think I want to meet someone named Regivus.
What are you doing here if you aren’t welcome?” I asked. What I really wanted
to ask was why he wasn’t welcome.
“You asked for help.”
“You saved us?”
He shrugged. “I stopped the beast from taking the
child and killing you both, but you should return the favor by meeting Regivus.
I did not ask his permission before responding to your aid. Forgive me, my Sudo
is sketchy and I never learned any languages of Earth.”
“Your language is fine, just a little proper for
someone so young. Where is Emrys?” I asked.
“The other Guardian returned to his god so that he
could be healed and so that I could arrive here to help you. Madus does not
like me personally, but he would let me be here to save you. He took Emrys
because Emrys would kill me on sight.”
“That doesn’t sound like the man we know. How old are
you?”
“Around one-thousand, five hundred of Duran years.
Can you stand now?” he asked.
As much as I wanted to lie still, I didn’t want to
get him in trouble by keeping him here. The climb to my feet was difficult, but
Mordon struggled with getting up as well. Before I was even standing
completely, we were in a brightly lit room. I had thought it was a flash of
light, but it was actually just the brightness of the white walls.
In front of us was the most intimidating god we have
met so far. The reason being was that he looked exactly like my first
stepfather. His short black hair was combed back like he had no time for stray
hairs. Frown lines marred his weathered face and dark brown eyes, with just a
hint of red-copper, glared. As he stood about half a foot taller than me, but
was slender enough to be called willowy, I could only assume that the god
purposely chose this form to upset me.
This one is going to be bad.
Mordon took a step closer to me, as if he wanted to
protect me, but he didn’t know how.
“He is more powerful than Madus or
Enki,”
he warned me. I nodded, grasped his arm, and seeped my magic into
him to heal any lasting damage caused by the frigid rain.
“You look quite startled, young Noquodi.” The god’s
voice was a purr and I had the image of him as a lion, sitting upon a rock
throne, watching pray wither around helplessly beneath him. Nobody ring the
dinner bell. “Interesting interpretation.”
“It is nice to meet you. Nice outfit.” I was
referring to his body, and not the simple black clothes he wore.
“You like it then? I thought it would befit the
circumstance.”
“You take the form of a man who tried to kill me,
before you kill me? Yes, I think you hit that on the head. Kind of a mortal
thing to do, though.”
“I thought the gods were above cheap scare tactics,”
Mordon finished.
“This is more for my own amusement. I will not
stretch this longer than it needs to be. Child Noquodi, do you have any defense
for yourself?
“And what would I need a defense for?” I asked. This
was the reaction I am sure the god should have predicted; I was an extremely
sarcastic person to my stepfather.
“Your betrayal of the gods, for one. For another, you
were never meant to be a Noquodi, as Tiamat did not create you as one. Then, of
course, your enslavement of her affections and trust can be judged against you.
Shall I go on?”
“Please do, you sound like Alec even while speaking
English.”
He looked startled. “I am not speaking English. You
and I are both speaking Enochian.”
“That would be difficult for me, because I never
learned it.”
“I’m hearing Sudo,”
Mordon said. All three of
us looked at Sammy at the same time to see his eyes glowing slightly.
“You are a contagious abomination, I see.”
I opened my mouth to defend Sammy when Mordon beat me
to it. “Neither Sammy, nor Dylan are abominations! No more than you, when you
were born with your own power.”
“Are you saying this half human, half sago wizard is
a god?” the god asked. He was furious now.
I handed Sammy to Mordon and blocked them from
Regivus. “He only means that I cannot help the magic I was born with. However,
I have Kiro to train me and he is an honorable man. If I am only ever trained
to use my magic for good, then there should be no problem.”
“‘Ifs’ and ‘shoulds.’ Pathetic. All Noquodi think
that upholding honor and a greater good are their purposes. They are wrong. The
purpose of the Noquodi is to serve the gods. That is why you are called
servants. If you knew this, you would have been accepted by the gods as the new
Noquodi of Tiamat’s, but you think as the others do. Therefore, I judge you an
improper Noquodi and a betrayer. Your punishment is immediate death.”
“Stop it.” Her voice was not loud, but it could stop
a jaguar in its tracks. Apparently a lion-like god, too.
We all turned to see the goddess of Earth. Divina was
truly the most beautiful woman I knew, both inside and out. She was loving and
affectionate, playful and passionate, curious and clever… but she was also a
warrior when it came to being a goddess. She was the youngest of the gods as
well as the only female, but she made up for it by being manipulative and
daring. She was a master at deception and knew when to play her cards. With
incredible power, she could stop any foe with brute force, subtle influence, or
seduction. But most importantly, she was the person I loved more than any other
on any world.
Having not seen her in weeks, I felt like I had been
holding my breath and could finally breathe. I hadn’t realized how much I
missed her or worried about her until she stood in front of me. I wasn’t
worried about a goddess, but the woman I loved.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t looking at me, and she had
that look in her eyes that said someone was going to die. I usually got smacked
at this time.
“You cannot judge my Noquodi based on your
prejudices. Just because yours is a mere servant, does not mean the rest of us
should treat ours the same,” she said.
Poor Samorde looked extremely offended by that.
“You are a cruel and unforgiving brother and you are
no better a god.”
“You have no say; you cannot even follow simple
instructions!” the god exploded.
Divina’s anger was much more threatening as she kept
her temper. “You cannot command me to carry on the family line when there are
no Iadnah left other than you and our brothers.”
“They want you to have babies with someone?!” I
asked. They both looked at me, stunned.
“When did you learn to speak Enochian?” Divina asked
me. Obviously they had not meant to be overheard. I just pointed at Sammy. “My
brothers and I are the last of the Iadnah, and we will forever be the last.”
“Divina?” Mordon asked. He was staring at her with
his mouth open.
“Yes, Mordon, I am Tiamat.”
“Yeah, I kind of already figured that out. It’s just
that you’re prettier here than in the real world,” he said.
“First of all, how did you figure it out? Second,
really? This is my real body, not a swappable form.”
“It is not your true body; the Iadnah have no mortal
body!”
Well, I could say right there that he was wrong in
Divina’s case; she had a fantastic body that I was intimately familiar with. In
fact, she did look a little extra amazing. I knew she had heard my thoughts
when she gave me a grin. Divina always wore stunning outfits, but it looked as
if she were dressing for me. She wore cowboy boots, short jean shorts, and a small,
thin, red, plaid flannel shirt. She knew I loved that look, but it was made so
much better by how well it fit her.
“Disgusting! Lusting over your god!” Regivus started
to say more, but Divina interrupted.
“Ren, stop yelling. He is my mate whether you accept
it or not. Even if you killed him or me, he will always be mine.”
Now he turned his glare on me. “You would be loyal to
her even though she could never give you offspring? You would live for eternity
without children for her?”
“Yes,” I answered without hesitation. “But whether or
not we have kids has nothing to do with you. There are many children out there
for adoption who need loving parents. There is also surrogacy and other
methods. And if she never wants kids, I will deal with that, because I need her
more than I want kids.”
It was such a familiar gesture; I felt her hand slip
into mine. I turned to see Divina’s face just a few inches from mine. “You were
really upset when I explained that I couldn’t have kids, though. You would be
happy with a child that isn’t yours?”