Authors: Rain Oxford
I made it to Mordon and Sammy before the demon could
decide if I needed to be dealt with. I picked Sammy up and passed him to Mordon
as I built a shield around us. Protective fields were one of the first things
Edward taught me, and using my god energy to enforce it was only natural. I had
never built one faster or more powerful before.
I trusted my magic to be stronger than the demon’s,
but not my knowledge of how to use it. I had to protect Sammy and Mordon. I had
to get them away from the demon.
I thought it was Erono calling me. Too late, I realized it was not. Too
late, because I had told Dylan that I would only be a minute. I stood in
Janus’s forest and knew it would be days before I could get back to Dylan, but
there was no breaking my contract.
Until the time that Dylan defeated the demon and sent
it back to Janus, I had to do as the half-demon asked. Contracts would be the
death of me for sure. Luckily, I knew Janus would not demand anything too foul
of me, because he preferred to do his own dirty work.
Even though I could not see him, as he was probably
in vapor form, I could feel him. “Good evening, Janus. I see you have not yet
held up your part of the bargain.” It was about this time I realized the sad
state Janus’s forest had become; it had a half-melted appearance to it.
“Give me time, Noquodi. It is difficult to send one
of mine through the void when the void walls are crumbling faster and faster…”
he said. I noticed a distinct increase in frustration in his husky whisper.
“This is in fact, the reason I summoned you. A pest has become trapped here, and
I want him out… You will remove him and I want never to see him again.”
“That is kind of difficult if this man dies and you
will not let him into the Land of the Dead.”
“I already have one of you terrorizing my demons… you
Noquodi are not supposed to be here. You are not supposed to die…”
“Who died?” I asked. What poor Guardian was killed
this time?
“I do not care to know his name. He did not die, he
has only become trapped… the pest…” His voice was fading too much.
“What is wrong with you? Has my brother been fighting
with you?” There was no answer. “Janus, I will get this Guardian out of here,
but where are you?”
“Stop speaking so loudly.” The demon finally formed
in front of me, but only barely. He was translucent and had a dark look about
him like a bruise. “This is not from your brother. The damage to the universe
is affecting the void… This must be fixed before there is no difference between
the universe and the void. You may believe the void is a horrible thing… but
your realm survives only because of it.”
“You said that the void was becoming stronger.”
“A lot has happened since then… the walls themselves
were surviving, but now they are not… The walls are crumbling and no one will
survive it.”
“My nephew is working to stop it.”
“He is not working fast enough. Get the pest out of
here. I am doing what I can to help your nephew.”
There was a sickening crack as Janus disappeared and
Rasik appeared in his place. The startled man resembled Dylan more than anyone
else; he appeared the same age, with medium brown hair and slightly duller
green eyes.
“Hello, Kiro. What are you doing here?”
I sighed. “I have been asked to take you home. How
did you even get here?”
He smiled, but it was the one he used in his shame.
It was fairly irritating that he would smile when he knew he did something
wrong, but I understood it was an impulse some people could not resist. “I have
no idea. I was just out looking for my book, and then I was here.”
“Well, I have to figure out how to get you home, and
you need to help me do so.”
“We can ask her advice,” he said.
“Whose?” I asked. He pointed behind me and I turned
to see the vanishing girl who had appeared to help in the battle with the sea
monster and the force in the forest. However, her spotless dress was duller and
she looked slightly sickly. It wasn’t any particular feature that made her
appear less healthy, it was just her overall aura. “Here to help again, are
you?”
“I hope to,” she said quietly.
“How did you get here? How are you able to appear and
disappear?”
“I can move through the original gates that are
closed. The void used to be a peaceful place I could escape to, but it will die
with everything else.”
“Dylan can stop it,” I said.
“The gods could stop it as well, but they would
prefer to bicker. The young Guardian may have the ability, but he will face the
choice just as they have.”
“He will make the right choice.”
She looked around the forest. “I know he will…
unfortunately. I tried to warn him, but he did not understand. Come with me.”
She wobbled a little as she held out her hand. The young girl was becoming
weaker by using her magic to help us. This girl was constantly helping and
getting closer and closer to death for it.
“You should rest,” I argued.
“I have no time to rest. You Guardians need to be
taken care of like children, always running around and getting into trouble.”
“You look like a child to me,” I said.
“I may very well be. I am not sure anymore,” she
said. Dylan would love her; he hated few things more than when a question was
answered with a riddle. “Please hurry. Time is seeping into this realm and I
must get to Dylan before he gets to Mulo.”
Rasik and I both took one of her outstretched hands.
The journey out of the void was no pleasant flash; the world crumbled slowly
until there was only white light, but the vertigo was atrocious. That was
probably caused by time bleeding into the void, for time was merely a
perception here.
I came aware of our surroundings and struggled to
shake it off. I didn’t recognize the highly inhabited city, but I knew the
gravity by heart. If that didn’t tell me I was on Earth, the impeded energy
flow did.
“Why here?” I asked.
“I tried to take us to Duran, but the beast is there
and I cannot go there now.”
“Dylan is fighting that demon and I can’t even be
there to help?” Before she could respond, I grabbed her arm and pulled her out
of the busy street-way. Every corner, crack, and crevice of this place was
bustling with people, except for a little post-office entrance. Rasik followed
us and we had a fair amount of privacy.
“You are in no danger; you have rejoined with your
body,” she responded.
“That is beside the point. Dylan is not safe.”
“He is, though. Dylan needs only to heal the hole the
beast made and it will be forced back into the void. The beast’s powers are
limited when it’s in a mortal body. In order to assimilate, it has to take the
child’s life.”
“Why can the gods not kill it?”
“Because the beast cannot be destroyed outside of a
mortal body; it is as old as the gods.”
“Does Dylan know this?” I asked. She shook her head.
“Then you must tell him!” She vanished, hopefully to share this information
with Dylan. I looked around to make sure no one noticed that a person just
vanished, but no one was paying us any attention.
“So, can you give me a ride home? My book is still
missing,” Rasik asked.
I shook my head. “I cannot.”
“Is your magic damaged as well?” he asked me. I
reached into my bag and pulled out my book. “It had been, yes, but Dylan healed
Duran. My book returned to me right as Janus called me to get you. I cannot
help you because Azenoth is angry with me and will not let me return. I suggest
you ask him to transport you.”
He shrugged a little and focused on his sleeve cuffs.
“He’s mad at me for losing my book,” he said.
I was forever being reminded that Rasik was the
youngest of the Guardians, except for Dylan now. Azenoth was known for a
horrible temper even more than Erono. Rasik was not the first Guardian of
Kahún, but the third; the previous two had been forcefully retired. While
Samorde suffered the appearance of a juvenile, Rasik actually had a lot of
growing up to do.
“Go,” I commanded.
He did. Normally, when we talk to our gods, our
bodies remain. It seems Azenoth was waiting to return him to Kahún, though,
because he instantly disappeared. I wondered if it frustrated Azenoth that his
third attempt at a Guardian was terrified of him and would hide any chance he
got. Actually, it probably pleased him.
Two young men interrupted my hiding place, as they
needed to use the ATMs in the post office. Chased out of my spot, I sighed and
looked around.
Well, I really didn’t recognize the highly populated
city, but the people were familiar. Ronez made me visit a few of the countries
of Earth once, including Japan. By the density of the city, I had to assume I
was in the Kanto region, as it seemed too dry to be Kansai. It looked more like
Tokyo than Yokohama.
“Sumimasen.” I stopped a lady who did not look
terribly busy. “Eigo ga hanasemasu ka?” I had learned English, but there were
too many languages of Earth to learn them all. Fortunately, I knew how to ask
if they spoke English in most of the dominant languages.
“A little,” she said. She smiled uncertainly.
“I am lost. Is this Shibuya?” It was really a guess.
“No, Shinjuku.”
“Oh. Arigato gozaimasu.”
She bowed and walked off. Figures I would arrive in
the most populated city in a country that was smaller than the state that Dylan
had lived it. It would take some work to find a place to travel safely. Despite
my rush to save Dylan, I didn’t want to cause mass panic if someone saw me
vanish.
After a few minutes, I knew that the post office
entrance would be busy for a while. The streets were more interesting the
further I went. There were huge intersections that branched into smaller, but
still very large streets. There was nowhere as massive or populated on Duran.
All over were vending machines of drinks, cigarettes, and alcohol. Little tiny
restaurants sat unassuming like jewels covered in mud, especially when I found
less busy streets.
Only those who knew where to look or who were lucky
enough to get lost would see the treasures buried in this city.
I found a narrow alley between a hotel and baseball
practice field. This would make a great place, as there were no cameras or
people. Surprisingly, the baseball practice court, which was too small to do
anything other than practice throwing or hitting the ball, was empty. Baseball
was a very important sport in Japan, so I supposed it was the wrong time of
day.
My transition to Duran started as normal, but I could
feel something hold me back. I had a split-second to decide whether to struggle
against the pull, or let it drag me back to Earth. I let it pull me back,
because anything powerful enough to stop a Guardian’s travel was powerful
enough to cause harm. Traveling was extremely dangerous, and I didn’t want to
end up half here, half somewhere else.
The girl appeared like static, an image not really
there, flickering. The amount of nominal energy expelled was enormous around
the girl. “Take this.” She tried to hand me Dylan’s iron star again, but
flickered away before I could take it. I grew more concerned as the seconds
passed. Finally, after several minutes, she reappeared, still holding the pentagram
out. “I am running out of time. Take this to Dios and use Dylan’s magic to heal
it.”
“How? I have no idea how he heals the worlds.”
“This magic is meant to heal and Dylan has already
used his energy to heal three worlds; it will heal the world on instinct.”
“That sounds very dangerous,” I said. “I don’t have
permission to be on Dios.”
“It is the newest assignment from Erono and Zer has
agreed to allow your safe arrival.” She vanished.
With my plans changed, I focused on the symbol and
magic of Dios. It was a slightly oppressive place. While the High King was a
good boy and a fair king, the entire world had been through so much misfortune.
Much like Duran in the beginning, the people were too
focused on power. Add to that the lack of resources provided by nature, and war
was the natural and frequent outcome. The people of Duran focused on their
spiritual belief that peace was the ultimate goal and the only way to get there
was to stop fighting. The people of Dios developed stronger and stronger weapons
until the entire surface world was obliterated and ninety percent of the
population dead. Still, it wasn’t as bad as what happened to the people of
Enep.
I wondered for a brief moment what my own aura looked
like, having seen so much suffering in my travels. It was the Guardian’s duty
to help all of those in need, except for those being punished by their gods. In
two thousand years I have learned that no matter how much I helped, there would
always be more suffering somewhere in the universe. I accepted this, and for
that, I can survive seeing people’s pain. I knew Dylan would never accept it,
and so he would never settle for it.
I once thought I could save everyone always, but I
was too old now, and I knew better. Dylan was different, though; he was smarter,
kinder, and far more powerful. He could do it for as long as he believed he
could. Perhaps I should feel useless, being so outdated, but I knew I had a
purpose. I was more useful than ever. I could protect my nephew so that he
could be the Guardian that no one else could.
Dios was also a rather dark place; the people used
magic to get what they wanted, the world crawled with goblins and trolls and
other underground creatures that were sentient, but not actually people, and
even the magic had a grimy feel to it. At least the people were trying to make
it better.
I arrived in Nila’s kingdom, right in front of his
door. I could have arrived in his chambers, but the guards would have panicked.
Even so, I had an energy shield in front of me ready for the attack I knew
would come. The goblins were a suspicious lot and startled easily. Still, as
powerful as their magic was, it was no match for mine.
The goblins stopped attacking when they recognized me
and all fifteen backed away fearfully. Nano must have recently scared them. Or
maybe it was that they remembered that the last time they attacked me, I set
them all on fire.
I heard the door open behind me and before I could
turn to look, I was being squished by Nila. He was the type of boy who would
never grow up. For the sake of his duty in life, I hoped he never would.