Authors: Rain Oxford
“So could the demons,” Divina said.
He snarled at her. “Janus can keep them in line. And
with this body that you gave me, I would never need to hurt anyone.”
“I suppose you would want me to give you back your
demon energy, too?” I asked.
Of course he did, but he wanted to live. He gave me
his most submissive look and I was glad I did not have a dragon as Mordon did;
Mordon’s dragon forgave when his enemy submitted. I forgave until one of my
friends was hurt.
“I could live with nominal energy,” he said, unsure.
He was not used to acting docile.
“Try it,” I dared. He shook his head. “Use the
nominal energy. Now,” I demanded.
Divina took a step back from me, careful to keep
Mordon behind her. The demon knew it was a trick, but also knew better than to
deny the one holding all of the cards. He drew in the free-flowing, pure
nominal energy around him and screamed in agony, then fell to his knees,
huffing and puffing.
“Oh, no, did I leave a little of my energy inside you
when I took your power away?” I’ve never heard something so condescending come
out of my mouth and I wasn’t about to stop. “I guess you will have to never do
any magic again.”
“Why are you doing this? I read in your friend’s mind
that you were peaceful and merciful,” the demon cried.
I never knew a demon could beg for mercy. What a
disappointment.
I crouched down in front of the demon, eye to eye,
and gave him a grin, hidden from the other gods. He tried to look down, but I
sunk my fingers into his short hair, damp with sweat, and yanked his head back.
“I was wrong,” he said, realizing that he made a
terrible mistake.
“You were.”
“Please let me go. I will never use magic or kill
anyone again! I never want to go back to the void. You can understand that.”
“You messed with my family.”
“I am sorry. I did not realize he was so important to
you. I just wanted to live.” He was still begging. He was sincere now, and I
could have let him go. While the demon would never be a model citizen by
anyone’s standards, he would be too afraid of me to kill.
Divina tried to say something, but one of her
brothers stopped her.
“You could have your father back,” the demon said. I
paused and he took that for an opening. “With the gates open, with the demons
free of the void, he could live here with you. The gates will keep the universe
in balance and the powers that kept you apart, that took him before you even
knew him, would be at peace. Your friend’s dragon… if you open the gates, the
dragons can be free again and escape those who hunt them.”
When Nano had told me that there were prophesies
about me, I thought I could avoid it. I thought it was blown out of proportion.
That I would change the universe? Impossible. But this was the moment that everyone
knew was coming, and Divina had known.
Feeling something weird in my free hand, I looked
down to see I was clutching sand. Why it bothered me, I didn’t know, but there
was something about sand… something just out of reach in my memory. It was like
I was trying to remember a dream I had a long time ago, or maybe it was déjà
vu.
“We closed the gates because ancient demons like this
one could not be contained with them open,” Divina said, distracting me. “You
could open the gates, but you would no longer be the Guardian of Earth, and the
Ancients would be free. Modern demons are weak and can be kept in line by
Janus, but not the Ancients. Not even all of us together can control all of the
Ancients all of the time. Dylan, you have to trust that we know best.”
I didn’t look at them. The demon’s eyes were
pleading. Divina wanted to keep me away from the void and had flat out told me
she didn’t believe that I could save Mordon. Would she keep Ronez from me just
to keep me safe from the void?
“Dylan, trust me,” the woman I loved pleaded.
I kept eye contact with the demon, still trying to
save his own life. Tearing open the void with as much delicacy as I could, I
called out with my magic for assistance. The tear was visible, spewing vacant
light. A black fog instantly reached out of the emptiness and enclosed the
demon. I let go, stood up, and stepped back. The demon was dragged, thrashing,
into his prison. He told me how horrible the void was and that he wanted to
live… after pulling Mordon in to suffer the same horror. It was wrong that
Mordon had been forgotten by the mortals for even a second, and now the demon
would never ever forget him.
Divina pulled me around to hug me and kissed my
shoulder. “Never doubt that I trust you. I don’t always believe you, but I
always believe
in
you,” I said.
“I am glad he is on our side,” Enki told one of his
brothers quietly.
“I am glad we are on his side,” Madus responded.
“Could you imagine if we had decided to kill him?”
“I think maybe you would have failed,” the god I
hadn’t met before said.
I turned to them and Divina let me go. Mordon looked
wobbly, but was staying on his feet. “You good?” I asked him.
“Shiny, captain. Rojan is a bit bothered being
surrounded by gods, though,” he said. I could tell that it was him who was
bothered, but his secret was safe with me.
The god was tall and a little more built than I
expected of an Iadnah, and a lot friendlier looking. Almost a bit average; by
looks alone, I couldn’t pick him out of a crowd of friendly Texans. He had
medium, dirty blond hair and blue eyes. The gods created their own image to
suit their needs; this god was a pacifist.
“Avoli, this little mastermind is my mate,” Divina
said proudly.
“Little? What about me is little?” I asked, deplored.
She hid her face in my shoulder and laughed. “I’m taller than you,” I mumbled.
“It is nice to meet you, appropriately-sized
mastermind,” the god said. Pacifist, of course.
“And you. I think I need to get my friend to a place
to rest,” I said. I wasn’t sure who flashed us, but Divina, Mordon, Avoli, and
I appeared back at the cabin.
“I’m not crippled,” Mordon griped as Ronez tried to
get him to sit down in a chair on the porch. He did sit, though.
Edward, Ronez, and Sammy were where we left them.
Almost as soon as our flash cleared, Vivian and Nano appeared. Sammy turned to
see them and reached out. “Mommy!” he screamed. Mordon looked on reflex, but
didn’t move to take the child, currently being held by Edward.
Vivian took her baby and both parents fussed over
him. I was sad that I had to say goodbye, but I was happy for him. Vivian was a
wonderful woman and would make a great mother. After all, she mostly raised her
younger siblings. Nano, I wasn’t so sure about, but Nila had turned out all
right, so I figured he couldn’t be too bad.
Edward wasted no time before checking me for
injuries. I caught Ronez’s eye and it looked for a second like he was the one
who wanted to worry about me. Instead, he barked at Mordon when the man tried
to stand.
“What happened?” Edward asked.
“All of the gods showed up and we won.” I said.
“Not all of the gods,” Divina corrected. “Azenoth,
Mreje, and Zer are still suspicious of you. Besides, they had nothing to do
with you single-handedly defeating the demon. And this time you can’t say I did
it, like with Vretial. It is a good thing my oldest brother is gone or you’d be
in trouble,” she said. She seemed a bit too giddy, as if she really did enjoy
getting me in trouble. “He wanted the gates reopened more than anyone.”
“So he would be one more god gunning for me. Lucky me
that he’s gone,” I said, pulling my book out of my bag. I first checked the page
that Mordon signed to find three names in addition to his. Throughout my book,
names that had vanished were returned. “I guess everything that was misplaced
is returned.” The words were barely out of my mouth before Araxi appeared.
We stared at him as he glanced at all of us like we
were weird for standing around. “Dylan, I have to thank you for your
assistance. I thought my Guardian, Ghidora, had run away, but it turns out he
was lost. The poor thing was scared and alone and here I thought he was a
coward. Your actions returned him, so thank you.”
“Your Guardian’s name is Ghidora?” I asked with
shock.
Divina started to sigh, but it was cut off with what
was nearly a squeak. I had never heard her make such a sound, but I also never
had a two-headed serpent/cat gargoyle appear a foot away from me, either. The
creature was an ugly, monstrous little animal, but when it quirked its heads to
the side at me, I had to admit that it was a little cute.
“Oh, no. Hobble, what are you doing here? I told you
to fly away, not follow me to another planet.” He tried to sound harsh, but the
stone creature hobbled up to him and licked him with two forked tongues while
rubbing its little heads against his legs.
To my surprise, Vivian cooed at it. “Hello, Hobble!
I’m so glad you didn’t die.” This time, it was Vivian who squeaked when Emrys
appeared right in front of her, holding his book and a pen.
“Hello, I am the Guardian of Malta. I am in a hurry
and need you to sign your son’s name,” the Guardian said. The mother looked
flabbergasted.
“You really need to do that,” Mordon said. “I think
you might end the universe if you don’t. Paradox and all that,” he said.
As he insisted, Vivian signed Sammy’s name and Emrys
disappeared with no goodbye. He was in a hurry after all.
“Dylan, you never told me your ex was so pretty,”
Divina said calmly.
A chill ran down my spine. “Yes, I did. I covered all
my bases pretty well.” I knew secrets regarding exes had a history of coming
back to bite people, so I made sure to tell Divina everything I could think of
about the woman I left on Earth. Luckily, Divina was a god and had nothing to
be jealous of.
“Dylan, who is she?” Vivian asked.
“This is Divina, who I told you about.”
“Dylan, there need be no secrets between the people
here. After all, she is the only person here who doesn’t know the truth,”
Divina said kindly… too kindly
I frowned at her. She was all about secrets. She had
been friends with Edward for many years before I was even born and I still
found out before him, but I trusted her to know what was coming. I figured if
she was willing to reveal her secret that Vivian would remain in our lives
somehow.
Or I was wrong and my girlfriend was jealous.
“Vivian, Divina is also known as Tiamat. She is the
god of Earth.”
She stared in shock for a moment, then her eyes
narrowed. “The god of Earth is a woman?” Suddenly, she smiled brightly. “I
won.”
Divina frowned. “You thought the god of Earth was a
man?” she asked me.
I could feel my face heat up with shame. “I thought
there was no all-powerful god.”
She slapped me in the chest. “You are stupid.”
“I wasn’t atheist or anything, I just didn’t have any
scientific evidence whatsoever. I believed Edward just fine when I had proof…
which was when I came face to mouth with a giant alien cat.”
“Faith,” she said simply.
I knew at that point that she was just teasing me.
Divina had no faith, and I didn’t think she really understood the concept.
“Oh!” Divina said. “I forgot. Vivian, you need to pop
back to Earth and get someone to give Dylan and Mordon dry clothes. When they
get there, it is during the rains and they would get hypothermia.”
“What?” The woman was very confused, and not alone.
“When Dylan and Mordon went to Earth, I had shelter
ready for them. They were also given dry clothes so they wouldn’t get
hypothermia. You were the one who gave them clothes.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“The man said that a hot redhead told him to give the
bag to us. You gave it to the man to give to us. You just haven’t done it yet,”
Mordon understood. “I’m so confused.”
Or… maybe he didn’t.
Vivian handed her baby to Avoli, promising to be
right back. Divina flashed both Vivian and Nano back in time and to Earth.
“No, hold on a minute, this is important, very
important,” I demanded. Everyone stopped to stare at me and I looked at Araxi.
“Your Guardian’s name is Ghidora?” Instead of answering, the god disappeared.
Avoli was gaping at the baby in his arms with the
deer in the headlights look. “She handed me her baby.” He whispered as if
afraid to spook the child. “Quick. Take it before it breaks.” Nobody moved.
“Seriously, Dylan, take the baby.”
“He’s your Noquodi,” I answered.
“Here, sister, take my Noquodi.” Avoli said with
serious nervousness in his voice. The baby had been peering at Avoli with
wonder until he said that. Then the baby glared. When he rammed his head into
the god’s chest and Avoli grunted with pain, Divina laughed so hard she had to
lean against me. “Why is he so strong?” the god gasped as Edward took Sammy.
“He’s half dile. Human and dile was a lovely choice,”
Edward said sarcastically. “I mean no disrespect to you, but you can pretty
much expect him to be enormously strong, as the dile are known for, and
voraciously stubborn, as the humans are known for.”
“Sounds like an award-winner to me,” I said. Sammy
giggled and hid his face. I suddenly got it, and could have slapped myself for
not getting it before. “It didn’t occur to me this entire time why Sammy was so
physically strong. I should have known; Nila is tremendously strong, and so is
everyone else I met on Dios.”
“You didn’t know they were built that way?” Edward
asked.
“Not really, no.”
“Before I leave,” Avoli began, “I need a name for the
world and I thought it would be fitting that I asked for your opinion,” he told
me.
I grinned and opened my mouth, but Mordon, suddenly
beside me, slapped his hand over my mouth. “He will name it something from one
of his science fiction movies, and you don’t want that.”