Authors: Rain Oxford
“You have no idea, child. Imagine having six billion
children, who will not ever stop trying to kill each other no matter what you
do. I chose to punish my children. Avoli faced the same issue, except he chose
to stand back and let them kill each other off. I didn’t know that at the time,
or I would have stopped it. Now that I know, I am glad that Vretial took Avoli’s
world.”
“Do you trust Vretial? He wants me to give him the
mage staff, which I know is evil.”
“Evil is subjective. Your brother calls Vretial the
dark god, but without him, Dylan wouldn’t be where he is now. While my older
brother is selfish and manipulative, he is very clever. He knows how to get
what he wants. So the question you should be asking is what does he want?”
“He… wants power?”
“No, that’s you. Vretial would have killed Dylan the
moment he was free from the balance.”
“He wants Hail and me as his Noquodi?”
“He would have tried to win your father over early in
Dylan’s life. Does he want to kill your father?”
“Not right now.”
“Then I would give him the staff. Now, would you
rather me send you to your father or your uncle? I would send you to your brother,
but there is something keeping the two of you away from each other. Also, your
mother seems to be in the middle of something as well.”
“I want you to send me back to Enep. My friends are
locked up by the Arcani. I can’t just leave them there.”
He sighed. “I will send you back and give you one
hour. No longer.”
“Thank you.”
“I know everyone compares you to your father, but
that isn’t a bad thing. I wanted to kill your father because I thought he was
bad for my sister. Before I could, however, I saw something in him that made me
give him a chance, and I never regretted it. I will give you the same chance
because Dylan is a good man and you are his son. Soon, you will have to decide
what kind of person you are.”
“What made you give Dad a chance?”
“He looked me in the eyes and was unafraid.”
I was right back on Enep, in the same place, and
surrounded by the same Arcani who arrested my friends. They recognized me and
the closest two grabbed me by the arms to restrain me. They dragged me down the
hallway, which I didn’t resist. We came to a heavy wooden door that they pushed
open. Inside was dark.
I stumbled because I wasn’t warned about the step
down, but they caught me and guided me impatiently down a flight of stairs. It
was a dark passageway, so I could only be glad the entire way that Hail wasn’t
here. He was brave, but he hated the dark because when his powers first
developed, he didn’t know the difference between a vision, a nightmare, or
reality.
As we traveled deeper into the compound, I memorized
the route. We came to a typical dingy dungeon filled with built-in cells so
cliché that I rolled my eyes. “Are you serious? I haven’t had my tetanus
booster.”
“If you become sick, we will treat you,” one of the
guards promised.
Plan C, good.
“If you have rats, I will scream
until your ears bleed.” They ignored my threat and pushed me into a cell before
slamming it shut. I took one look at the disgusting, brown/gray cot and
scoffed. “This is no place to keep a person! This isn’t even good enough for a
dog!”
They walked away without comment and I studied my
six-by-six cell. It was a corner unit, so two adjacent sides were concrete. The
bars were vertical, from floor to low ceiling, a good inch in diameter, and
about five inches apart. The straw-covered stone floor looked halfway clean and
the concrete ceiling had no mold or stains, but the bed was disgusting, made
worse by the urine-yellow stain on the pillow.
Outside my cell, there were three more along the wall
and four along the wall across from me. In two of the cells across from me were
Drake and Sen. In the cell two over from mine was a man I didn’t know. Keys,
which I assumed would unlock the cells, hung on the wall far out of reach.
As soon as the door closed behind the Arcani, Drake
and Sen stood. “What happened? How did you get caught?” Drake asked.
“I didn’t leave you guys. Vretial pulled me away when
my powers cut out. Regivus sent me back here, but he only gave me an hour. Sen,
do you have any stones that can get us out? There are keys on the wall.”
“I saw them, but I don’t have anything to levitate
them with, or anything to open a lock with.”
“Can you shift and melt the bars?”
“There isn’t enough room. I mean… I could try.”
“You know your body better than me; if you think you
can’t do it, I’ll take your word for it.” As I spoke, I started with the bar
closest to one wall and tested the durability of each bar until I reached the
other wall. “There is a way out. There is always a way out. Now, Dad had a
thing.”
“Should you be telling us this? I mean, is it age
appropriate for little Sen here?” Drake asked.
The dragon-mage scowled at the older boy. “I am a
dragon! You will not talk to me like that!”
“I wasn’t talking
to
you, I was talking
about
you!”
Sen blushed and his scowl deepened. “I won’t take
that from my mother and I won’t take that from you!”
They continued to bark at each other while I searched
my cell. The bars were stable, but Dad always taught me that if the exit was
easy, everyone would know about it.
Or something like that…
There…
A loose stone in the floor. I gripped the rock, only to wince due to the sharp
edges. My hands were as soft as they could be; I never did any physical labor.
“Drake, toss your shirt over here,”
“Why?”
“I’m not going to ruin mine.”
“I don’t want mine ruined either,” he said as he took
it off and threw it across the room.
I caught it easily, wrapped the dark blue t-shirt
around my fists, and tried again to move the rock. Despite the fact that it was
about a foot wide, ridiculously heavy, and attached to one of the bars, my
persistence paid off. I was panting by the time I got it out of the way, but I
was able to bend two loose bars out of the way enough to squeeze through.
Once I was out of the cell, I stood and dusted myself
off, then took the keys from the wall. “I did it without magic,” I bragged,
proud of myself.
“Great. Let me out now,” Sen whined. I unlocked his
and Drake’s cells. “How do we get out of here without the Arcani catching---”
“Please don’t leave me here,” the stranger in the
other cell interrupted.
“What did you do to get locked up?” I asked.
“No more than you.”
Evading the answer.
“If you don’t tell me,
we’re just going to leave.”
“He is the reason for the curse.”
We all turned to see Samorde, the Guardian of Enep.
Since he was nearly two thousand years old, it always bothered me that he
looked about my age. Although his light blond hair, bright hazel eyes, and
soft, trusting face were no doubt cute, I was not envious of him.
“This is Eton Luenough, the man who designed the
weapon that he destroyed the world with.”
“Why is he locked up?”
“Because Regivus always offers a way out. If this man
is killed, the curse will end. Knowing this, the Arcani locked him up to
protect him.”
“Why did he do it?” I asked as Drake picked up his
shirt and put it back on. It was out of shape and dusty, but there were no
holes in it.
“What does that matter?”
“I’m curious of the way he thinks,” I said. Drake
sighed. “Regivus gave me one hour and I’m running out of time; I promised I
would fix everything in the museum.” The words were barely out of my mouth when
the entire dungeon shook. The groan of the world quaking was a miserable sound,
as well as deadly.
When four demons appeared right in front of us, the
balance woke with a ferocity I hadn’t yet seen. They was not tearing out of the
void but traveling as the Guardians did, and that was unacceptable. The balance
bonded to my Iadnah energy at the same time nominal energy was drawn into me.
Outside my control, green lightning burst from my hands to strike all four
demons, causing them to burst into ash.
The silence that followed as the balance settled down
was deafening. Samorde hesitantly took a few steps back from me.
“Why would demons show up here?” I asked.
“They are looking for this, I imagine,” the Guardian
said as the bow appeared in his hands. He handed it to me gently.
It was the same size as Hail’s azurath bow, but
heavier, as it was made entirely of obsidian. “It was you who took it? Not the
demons?”
“I did not mean to cause a problem or get in your
way.”
“I know that. More importantly, my powers are working
now. Take this to Regivus.”
“You trust him?” Sen asked.
“He is a Guardian,” I said. Although I said that, it
wasn’t the real reason I knew I could trust Samorde. After Rasik’s betrayal, I
knew the Guardians were capable of it, but I also knew it was the fault of
their god. Rasik betrayed us because his god allowed him to. Azenoth wanted
more than he could handle. Regivus, on the other hand, could easily control
Samorde. It wasn’t that I trusted Samorde, more that I trusted Regivus.
The Guardian took the bow and disappeared.
“You cannot just leave me here!” Eton Luenough said.
“What is he saying?” Drake asked.
“He wants out.”
“Good idea. Kill him and end the curse,” Sen
suggested.
“You can’t kill him,” Drake argued. “Yeah, he may
have killed people, but you don’t have the right to judge him. Maybe there was
extenuating circumstances.”
“Maybe he killed millions of people for a good
reason?” Sen asked. “For what reason would killing millions of people be a good
thing? You can end the suffering of all these people. Why should they suffer
for this man’s sins?”
“That isn’t for us to decide!”
I sighed with frustration. They were both right, and
that meant whatever I chose was wrong. Worse, this was exactly the kind of
decision I would have to make as a Noquodi. I took Sen and Drake’s hands and as
light filled the room. When the light cleared, we were in the museum.
Elwyn was there, cleaning up. My magic was powerful
in healing people, but I knew I could repair these artifacts because they had
sentimental value to the people here. My energy flooded the room, not with the
intention to repair the artifact, but with the desire to help the people who
cared about the items. Glass, stone, clay, and wood suddenly fused together as
if in rewind, though anything on the floor remained there. When my magic had
done its job, the artifacts were repaired, while the dirt and rumble was still
all over the ground.
Elwyn gasped. “You did it. You fixed everything.”
Then she screamed and I felt a hard nudge against my back. I turned to find
Seimei sitting on her hunches. She narrowed her eyes in disapproval at Elwyn.
My griffin was so elegant. Being separated from me
for years while I lived on Earth was hard on her. After all, I hatched her and
took care of her since she was a baby… behind my parents’ back, of course.
Although she often snapped at Ikiru, she did it in an elegant way, as if nobody
could ruffle her feathers or her fur. She could usually glare at Ikiru until he
stopped doing whatever stupid thing he was doing to annoy her.
I knelt and hugged her. This seemed to calm Elwyn
down a little. Drake, however, was on the verge of hyperventilating.
“Seimei is his baby. If you insult her, Ron will eat
your entrails,” Sen warned the fae.
Drake waved his hands in a panicked motion and
gritted his teeth. “I’m not freaking out. Does it look like I’m freaking out?
No, I’m cool as a cucumber,” he said, his voice breaking.
Emiko laid her head on my shoulder as she stroked her
finger over my chest. She had something to say and I had been waiting for her
to say it all night. I didn’t feel like pushing the matter, since I knew what
she wanted to say anyway.
“I think we should stop seeing each other,” she
finally said, looking up at me. I continued to stare at the ceiling. “I don’t
love you.”
“I don’t love you, either.”
“We never make each other happy.” I looked at her and
she rolled her eyes. “Outside of the bedroom. It is not enough. I want to be
the most important person in the world to someone. I think I just like you
because you are the most powerful dragon I have ever met.”
“Rojan is anyway.”
“I know you could never love anyone the way I want to
be loved. You will never be happy.” She turned over to face the door.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
She sat up and looked at me. “If Dylan were a girl,
you would have married him already. There is no one more important to you than
him.”
“If Dylan were a woman I would be very jealous of his
wife. But I don’t love him that way. I don’t want to sleep with him at all. Not
only is he a guy, and not even an effeminate one, we are in each other’s heads
all the time. It would be weird. If he was a girl, I still wouldn’t love him
that way.”
“I can give you sex. I can even give you a child if
you wanted. But you would drop everything for him.”
“He is my brother.”
“That doesn’t mean the same to everyone else as it
does to you. You killed Rojan’s sister without hesitating.”
“She tried to kill us. Rojan never had the same
sibling bond as I do with Dylan.”
“It isn’t a sibling bond. You call him your brother,
but he isn’t. Maybe it isn’t a sexual thing, but you could never love a person
more than him, and I think he would even help you over his wife. And even then,
Dylan still loves his wife. I want someone to treat me like Dylan treats
Divina.”
And I wanted Sydney back. I only knew her as Sydney
for a short time, but her soul was Arazel, who Rojan had spent more than a
hundred years with.
A dragon never loves another after we find our
mate,
Rojan thought.
I know.
I had long since given up on the
argument. Rojan constantly reminded me that Emiko, although beautiful, was a
nightmare as life partner. She was like a poisonous snake; lovely to look at
and amazing in her survival strategies, but absolutely impossible to keep.
“If you want to stop seeing each other, I can handle
that.” I shouldn’t have felt sad to say it. As troublesome as the dragoness
was, she had been getting better over the years. I actually started to think
she really did care about me in her own selfish way. Apparently, I was wrong.
“If we saw each other more… Do you think you could
love me if I wait long enough?”
I sighed. “You just said you thought we should stop.”
“I do think we
should
, I just don’t want to. I
want to know if we will ever get anywhere with this.”
“I don’t know.”
“That is not very reassuring.”
“That is what I can offer you right now.”
She was silent for a few minutes while my fingers
played with her gold and red strands of hair. “I’m sorry about your knee,” she
said.
I realized when I moved back to Duran that part of
Emiko’s nature was to make sure she was actually with the strongest dragon,
which meant she was constantly testing me. If I didn’t rebuke her for talking
back or being rude, then I wasn’t what she wanted. She often provoked a fight
and then wanted to be cuddled and coddled after I won. I didn’t like myself
when I was with her… I just didn’t want to be alone.
“Mordon, I’m---”
The sudden appearance of Xul cut her off. The demon
ignored her as she covered herself up with the dark blue blanket, which I found
odd because she never used to hide her body from anyone.
“Is Dylan hurt?” I asked, instantly worried despite
the fact that I normally sensed when Dylan was in trouble. Something had been
off the last couple of days, though.
“No, Ron is trying to put himself in danger. I don’t
know how or why, I just know I need your help.”
I got up, put my shirt back on, and grabbed the
azurath sword from under the bed. The scent of the demon’s worry was enough to
incite my fire. The instant I stood, I was facing a creature so huge and
hideous that Rojan shuddered. Our instinct was to shift, but a dragon cannot
hold a sword and I knew that in a dragon fight, size mattered.
This monster stood as tall as some castles. Out of
what should have been its face, huge tentacles writhed and flexed, each moving
of its own accord to create a frightening, alien effect.
The creature reached for me and I swung, successfully
cutting off the creature’s clawed hand. Every move from then on was automatic
until my opponent was dead. The last thing I was expecting was for Ron to
attack me; however, Rojan and I both knew it was the balance, the natural force
of the universe, not my nephew. Ron was a little demon behind a sweet face, but
he put family first, which included me. Fortunately, Xul was able to shield me
in time since Dylan’s magic enabled him to be fast enough and powerful enough
to protect me as well as the boys.
When Ron struck again, it was Xul who went down, but
as he rose his hand to attack again, bright light filled the area. Ron was gone
when it cleared. I went to the demon, who was already struggling to his feet,
and helped him up. Although I could heal as any wizard could, such methods were
slow compared to Dylan’s magic, so instead I reached into the bag at my side,
pulled out a small vial, and handed it to Xul. He took it hesitantly, then
drank it down easily.
He frowned at the empty bottle. “Did you make this?”
“Yes.” Working with Dylan, I learned to always have
medical supplies on hand. Even though Dylan could heal anyone from anything, he
felt phantom pains of the wounds he healed. If I had something on hand that
could save him from the trouble, I would use it. This potion was specifically
designed to clear up nausea and kill pain without impairing judgment.
“Damn. You should sell potions professionally,” he
suggested. “It seems you took your vacation a few days too late; the demon war
has begun. Demons have been attacking some of Dylan’s known supporters.”
“What is Dylan doing about this?”
“I haven’t told him.”
“Why not? Dylan needs to know.”
He sighed, as if unsure whether or not to tell me.
“Vretial told me what Dylan is doing now will turn out to be pivotal to our
success.”
“And you trust him?”
“I trust Dylan, and Dylan seems to trust Vretial. Do
you want me to send you back to your dragoness?”
I wasn’t a fool; I knew Xul and Sydney had a history
together. Often when we were with the demon, Rojan felt perverse joy that she
had chosen us over Xul. Xul and I both refrained from bringing her up around
each other. Out of all of us, I was the one Xul was most civil to.
“Can you send me to Dylan?”
“I can’t. There is someone keeping you and Dylan
apart as well as Ron and Hail. Ron is trying to find the god weapons, while
Hail is stranded. I can’t find him, you, or Ron unless one of you is in
immediate danger.”
“What about Divina? Can she send me to Hail?”
“She is busy,” he said.
“Tell Kiro to separate from Dylan, then you can flash
me to him and he can… No, never mind; he can’t flash.”
“You realize that being less powerful than Dylan is
not a handicap, right? I was furious and jealous that he had so much power until
I realized how much shit he actually has to take for just being alive. Are you
ever jealous or angry at him?”
I shook my head. “He can be a brat, but he has never
done anything to really warrant anger from me or Rojan. I don’t think he is
actually capable of such a thing, not even accidentally. Send me to whatever
god you think would give me the time of day. I’m going to get Hail and we’ll
work on the keeping the demons from hurting anyone. You just… keep doing
whatever you’re doing.”
He looked a little offended. “I have been running
myself ragged trying to help everyone and keep demons under control. I have
even found out information about Janus.”
“What did you find out?”
“He’s missing.”
“Fantastic. We already knew that.”
“No, you thought he was dead. He isn’t. I don’t know
where he is, but I know he’s alive.”
Before I could ask him how he knew, the world around
me changed. Suddenly I was standing in a forest in front of Vretial, who was
sitting under the apple tree. He was perfectly calm, as if he expected my
arrival, so I took a moment to let Rojan adjust to the god’s presence. He was
insanely powerful and never bothered to hide his aura like Dylan instinctually
did, which bothered my dragon more than me.
This was because I was comfortable with Vretial. The
god was evil, manipulative, and could have prevented Sydney’s death, but he was
also necessary. Vretial was the one who brought Dylan into this whole thing,
particularly into
my
life. Personally, I thought the eccentric god and
my brother were good for each other; each of them was driven incessantly to
solve puzzles. They were a puzzle to each other, and even though Dylan no
longer viewed the god as a mystery, Dylan never left the god out of the game.
Dylan was married and mated to the goddess of Earth,
yet when things got really sticky, he turned to Vretial to bribe, threaten, or
make a deal with. The god, on the other hand, seemed more interested in
figuring out what Dylan was than building his own world. My brother was
constantly trying to heal everyone while the dark god was persistently trying
to manipulate everyone, but they satiated each other’s need to solve puzzles…
for the most part at least.
It was my belief that the cause for Dylan ending up
in danger so often was because he was trying to drive himself further away from
what he wanted to believe was a solved case. He couldn’t stand that Vretial was
possibly a permanent element of his life. At the same time, it hadn’t escaped
my notice that Vretial always either fell right into Dylan’s plans or
stubbornly refused to cooperate, yet whichever path the god chose, it worked
out for the best for them both. Whether as enemies, allies, or puzzles, they
needed each other.
“Why do you never bring me offerings, dragon?”
Vretial asked. “Dylan always brings me chocolate, but not you.”
“What do you want?”
“The mage staff that Dylan refused to destroy.”
“Why do you want it?”
“What’s with your family? Why do you think he kept it
instead of destroying it?”
That I didn’t know, but there were many things my
brother did that I didn’t understand. He could be ridiculously goofy, but he
picked up on things and made connections that normal people wouldn’t. He
rambled as a way to disguise his keen observations as well as to gage reactions.
Unfortunately, he didn’t always know why he did
things. After many years as his friend, I asked him about such erratic
decision-making. He explained a lot of psychological stuff that I wasn’t really
interested in, but what I understood was that his brain would pick up clues,
interpret them, and force him to act accordingly without cluing other centers
of his brain in. Edward, who overheard our conversation, immediately stood up
and left without a word. It was a month later that I learned he was upset because
what Dylan described explained things about Ronez that Edward had never
understood.
The relationship between those three was confusing
even to me, and more so for them. Ronez and his twin were so different, but
they equally loved Dylan as a son. I could see aspects of them both in my
friend. Still, it was Edward that Dylan felt was more of a father; that I had
seen from the very beginning.
Pay attention,
Rojan warned.
Amongst a god,
never lose your focus.
“I don’t know why he kept it. I assume it was because
he had planned to use it.”
“You came here for my help, and you offer me nothing
in return?”
“I’m not giving you the staff. We are on the same
side in the demon war, so you should help me. I need you to send me to Hail and
I need you to transport us to where demons are attacking. If you want the boys
to choose to be your Noquodi, this is exactly the kind of way to prove
yourself.”
“They will choose me, but I see your point. The boys
will make my life hell if I don’t help you.” The next instant, I was standing
in a cave with Hail and his girlfriend, Sari.
There was a very small fire in the center with the
two teenagers sitting around it. Hail was clearly wounded, though it wasn’t
horrible enough that his life was threatened. His eyes were light blue instead
of their usual purple and his black, long-sleeved, button-up shirt was open to
reveal a bandage around his chest. There were no bruises or wounds visible.
Sari looked just fine.
Sari made a soft gasp. “Who is it?” Hail asked.
I crouched in front of him and studied his eyes,
which didn’t follow my movement. “What happened to you?” I asked.
Other than a slight flinch, he didn’t move. “We’ve
been waiting. Why did you leave?”
“What are you talking about? I haven’t seen you since
I left the house with Miko.”
“You were here just a few hours ago. You healed
Hail,” Sari argued, as if I had forgotten.
“It wasn’t me. What happened, Hail?”
He hesitated. “Sari and I were kidnapped and held in
a lab. I was kept in a cage with stone bars that took away my powers. They said
it was an alien---”
“Gordzite,” I interrupted. “Kahún used it a long time
ago, before magic was outlawed altogether, to control criminals. To this day it
laces the structure of their cells.”