Authors: Rain Oxford
The dragon settled his head down.
Outvoted, I plopped down beside the dragon. The stone
was nice and hot. I was watching as Dylan opened his mouth to speak before he
collapsed, but I wasn’t able to catch him before he hit the floor. Fearing the
worst, I frantically tried to wake him as the dragon watched over my shoulder,
but Dylan would not stir. After making sure he was breathing, I settled down to
wait.
I wasn’t really awake, and not really asleep. The nearest thing I could
compare it to was what I thought death would feel like. I found myself in
Divina’s house, but everything was wrong; there was no air from the open
window, scent of the incense that was always burning, or even sounds of the forest.
It was a very unsettling feeling; one I hoped to never feel again.
“Hello, Dylan. I am sorry I had to contact you
this way, but I need you as my Guardian now.
”
The voice was wrong. It was hers, but not, like a
memory of her voice. The words, on the other hand, were very real in my mind.
Divina was contacting me in the way the gods do their Guardians.
“Divina?” I asked. “Where are you?”
“Away. I have found myself in a very confusing
predicament. I need to figure something out. In the meantime, there is trouble
on Earth. You must go there and deal with it.
“What about Kiro?”
“He is dealing with other Guardian duties.”
“Is he safe?” I asked.
“A Guardian is never truly safe.”
“What am I going to Earth for?”
“There was a ripple when Vretial was destroyed.
Gods are not meant to be killed. Something older than the worlds has found a
way in. Something that is not meant to exist has found its way through a tear.
And I am sorry. I am so, so sorry. But we cannot defeat it.”
“The gods cannot kill this thing?!” I exclaimed.
“It is as old as us. You do have an advantage on
your side.”
“And what is that?”
“You have a body and magic. This creature is not
alive, but it can control any living creature, except a dimensional traveler.”
“So, because I have traveled to Duran, I am safe?”
“Not safe, no, but it cannot take over your body.
It can still kill you, it just cannot control you.”
“How am I supposed to kill it?” I asked.
“You cannot kill it.”
“Then what am I supposed to do, invite it for tea?”
“Bring back what was lost.”
“A weapon?”
“A child.”
“Oh, God. So there is some ancient creature on Earth,
what killing people? And instead of stopping it, I have to find a kid.”
“This creature must find a suitable body, but
being so powerful, it must assimilate in the body of a child. Not a human
child, but a very special one. Only this child is powerful enough to contain
this creature, and the creature can only assimilate when the soul is young
enough to be killed. You must get this child away from Earth. The creature will
have no choice but to return through the crack.”
“And what if I fail?”
“Then you will no longer be needed, because there
will be no Earth for you to defend. Nor will there be Duran.”
“So, no pressure or anything. Even the Doctor had
companions. Can I get anyone to help me? Are there any Guardians out there who
are willing to get in on this?”
“They will come when they can. Otherwise, you have
Mordon.”
“Mordon? He’s barely an adult! He could get killed!”
“We all will die if you fail. He is not as he
looks. He was given a second life.”
“His mother? He told me about his mother giving him
her magic.”
“That is not the life I mean. He can help you.”
“I don’t agree, but I’ll take your word for it. How
do I find the child?”
“Remember the woman you left on Earth?”
“Vivian?”
“She is the mother.”
“What?! Hell...” Of course, I had to worry.
“You are not the father, you fool. You are not
powerful enough to overcome the laws of physics.”
Finally, I felt something; dread. My woman was angry
with me: Not very good for the health when my woman is a god. She never said
anything, but I knew she liked me having never been with anyone else.
“Kiro never told me how to travel worlds.”
“I can do it for you. It will not be very
pleasant. You must first get Mordon to sign his name.”
“When will I see you again?” I asked.
“When I am sure.”
“Sure of what?”
* * *
I woke up with a start, back in the cave with Mordon
and the dragon. Mordon was lying against the dragon and I was lying on the cool
stone ground with my bag being used as a pillow. I moaned as I sat up, my
muscles stiff and bones creaky. My sudden movement woke Mordon.
“Sorry I couldn’t make you more comfortable. You kept
moving away from Blood.”
I shook my head. “It’s the heat. I do the same thing
with Divina. I’m on the floor every morning.”
“Were you speaking with her?” he asked.
I was about to agree, when I caught myself. “I was
speaking with Tiamat,” I said instead. Not a lie, but I hated to mislead my
friend. “I have an assignment, and I would like you to go with me.” I explained
to him what I had to do.
“That sounds very dangerous,” he said slowly. Then he
grinned. “Do you have a pen?”
I pulled my book out as well as the pencil Kiro gave
me just to use for the book. “Make it good, you can never erase it.” I handed
the book to him and there was a crackling as he gently turned the pages,
looking for a good spot to sign. He found one and signed his name in Sudo, which
I committed to memory. As he handed the book and pencil back to me, he shivered
and got a weird look on his face, then pulled up his sleeve to display Earth’s
symbol etched in red on his arm. It faded quickly and he sighed. Mordon didn’t
like cold.
Shinobu tried to crawl up my arm, but I pushed her
away gently. “You have to stay here, Shinobu. Do you think she’ll be safe in
the forest?” I asked Mordon.
“She is a very dangerous creature. Even the draxuni
backed down from her. Unless she tries to eat a draxuni pup, I think she will
be perfectly safe.”
Suddenly there was a tightening of the air. I
couldn’t breathe; there was too much pressure on my body and the air was
trapped in my lungs. My eyes were forced closed and I felt the falling
sensation I had not felt in a long time. Strangely enough, I could hear the
dragon screech.
* * *
Landing was very disorientating, not because it was
solid ground, but because we were about to drown. It was raining, not a simple
rain of Anoshi, not even the dreadful rains of Shomodii. This was a rain so
fowl I wanted to go home and never return.
I could barely see Mordon through the water as I
grabbed him and pulled him to shelter. The only shelter was the covered outside
hallway of a motel, with doors to one side and rain to the other.
“What do we do?!” Mordon asked. He had to yell to be
heard over the rushing water. He was shaking so hard.
“Wait out the storm!”
As we shivered there, our clothes started clinging to
our skin. It wasn’t like it was drying out, more like there was something wrong
with the water. I scrutinized the wall of rushing water. It really was raining
that hard. I reached out and let the water cup in my hand, then brought it to
my mouth to taste. I quickly spit it out.
“Something’s wrong with the rain. It’s salty,” I
said.
Ten minutes later, I really thought we were both
going to die from the cold. Suddenly there was something burning my hand, so I
opened my fingers to find a small key. Just before I dropped it, Mordon took
it, but he didn’t seem to mind that it was red-hot. There was a small number
etched into the key. Two rooms down had a door with the matching number.
“Use it to unlock that door!” I said, pointing to the
door with a matching number on it. He didn’t waste time. The door opened easily
and he set the now cool key on the wooden table beside the door.
I flipped on the lights, made a beeline for the
thermostat, and turned it up. Mordon was disorientated as he headed for one of
the bed, not even getting the wet clothes off. I stopped him and helped him get
his clothes off, trying hard not to jar him. Even though I was freezing, Mordon
was sensitive to the cold and was much more likely to die of hypothermia. I got
us both towels out of the bathroom, then dried Mordon’s hair because he wasn’t
able to. Once he was dry and under blankets, I was able to dry myself. I
searched the drawer under the tiny coffee maker in the bathroom and found a
packet of decaf.
“You are going to hate this,” I said as it brewed. I
took the remaining dry towel and held it to the heating vent. Once it was
sufficiently warm, I placed it against his neck and chest, then checked his
pulse before quickly returning the blanket. His pulse was too slow. “Mordon!” I
snapped when his eyes closed.
He blinked up at me. “I’m awake,” he slurred.
“You better stay that way, too.” I didn’t know if I
should call an ambulance or not. I didn’t know what a doctor might find
differently in a sago. “If you turn blue or suddenly stop shivering, I will call
a hospital.”
I curled up in the other bed and tried to get warm
under the covers. The motel room was fair sized, but the two beds took up most
of it. They were covered with a terrible flowered blanket that sadly matched
the walls. The carpet was a dull gray color. Besides the table next to the
door, there was a night stand between the beds, a lamp, and a large television
across from the beds.
After a few minutes, Mordon was doing better and the
decaf coffee was done. I poured him a cup and brought it to him. After sitting
him up, he accepted the cup and went to drink. “You are not going to like the
taste,” I warned. “Don’t spit it out.”
One sip and he stuck his tongue out. “Is this
poison?” he asked.
I laughed. “No, now drink it.”
“How is your book?” he asked.
I grabbed my bag off the floor and pulled out my dry
book. Not a drop of water wrinkled a page or blemished the black binding.
“Completely waterproof. Unlike us. It was nice of Tiamat to give us a motel
room.”
“Your goddess is quite accommodating. We can’t go
back out there in the rain,” he said, still shivering.
“Are you cold blooded?” Not sure if I was joking or
not.
“Possibly,” he answered. “Am I still dying? I feel
too light. Or maybe it’s the bed.”
“No, you are lighter. I told you Earth is smaller
than Duran, but they have the same density; the gravity is lighter. I’m not
used to it anymore, and I don’t want to get used to it. I don’t want to feel
heavy when we get back home.”
The structure of Earth and Duran was basically
identical, but Duran was larger and had two moons. The sun in Duran’s solar
system was about the same size as Earth’s sun, but there were six planets
orbiting it. Duran was, of course, the only inhabited planet in the system.
“Would you never want to stay here?” he asked.
“You mean if it doesn’t work out with Divina and I
get tired of Edward? Probably not. I never made anything of myself here, and I
abandoned years of college. I didn’t leave anything behind. Duran is home now, with
Divina, Shinobu, and Edward. I mean Kiro,” I corrected myself.
Mordon turned over and looked at me. “Is calling him
Edward offensive?” he asked.
“No. It started out sort of to tease him. That was
how he introduced himself to me, trying to appear human. I tried to convince
others to call him that, but it sort of became my nickname for him. I don’t
want him to think of me as his son, because he doesn’t like his children very
much.”
“But you are not his child.”
“No, I’m his nephew. But neither of us planned for
that, either. He wants me as an apprentice, not a son. He thinks his children
are better off without him, but I’m not. He and Divina are all I have on
Duran.” And Mordon, of course. Divina was the woman I loved and Edward was the
closest thing I had to a father, but Mordon was my best friend.
“Then why not stay here?” he asked.
I looked at him. “Because here I have nothing.” Just
to blow his mind, not to change the subject or anything, I grabbed the remote
off of the bedside table and turned the television on. “Check this out.”
To be fair, I probably should have lessened the blow,
as I nearly gave him a heart attack. Luckily, it was just the news channel.
“Can they see us?” he whispered as soon as he could
talk.
“No, that’s the TV I told you about. This is the
horror channel, where they do nothing but tell gory and horrifying stories
about murder and child abuse.” I let him watch while I dug through the drawer,
looking for a pamphlet. There was none. After watching the news for a few
minutes, it still hadn’t said where we were. It listed a few cities, but none
that I recognized. We were not in Texas. Just to double-blow his mind, I turned
it to the cartoon channel, where a little animated Labrador puppy tried to
teach us Japanese. “Are you warm now?” I asked, switching off the television. It
looked as if he had stopped shivering.
“Yes. When will the rain stop?”
“I’m not sure. Probably in just a few hours. Earth
hours are shorter than Duran hours. Duran is larger, it spins slower, and has
twenty hours in a day, where Earth has twenty-four.” We talked about Earth for
a while. I told him about other countries that I wanted to see, especially
Japan, Italy, and Egypt.
“Now that my name is in your book, maybe Edward can
show you how to travel and you can show me these countries,” he suggested.
“Sure, but I don’t know the languages. Ancient scripture,
no problem, but I haven’t a clue on modern languages. Oh, look, the rain has
stopped.” I got up and peered out the window. Just as I turned back to Mordon,
there was a knock at the door.
“English, Dylan,” Mordon reminded me.
“I know.” I opened the door to reveal a young man
about my age. He had a rather unmemorable appearance with brown hair and brown
eyes. He smiled happily, though, as he wiped water off his face.