“I don’t understand,” I said.
“They have figured out you’re the Guardian of Earth.
I’m not really surprised.” Nano took the torch from me and entered the cave,
leaving me to hurry after him. It was another ten minutes before he slowed
down, and that was only because the terrain was getting difficult.
“Can I ask you about your childhood?” I asked.
Nano shrugged. “Sure.”
“Did your parents know you were to be a Guardian?”
Nano gave me a confused frown. “I wouldn’t know. All
of the Guardians are taken from their parents at birth. Kiro… Edward and Ronez
were the exception; they were born sago and were made Guardians when their
parents were killed. They’ve actually become examples for the rest of us. All
Guardians are born with the power from the gods. You, on the other hand, were
created a Guardian without the will of the gods, because of
your
power.”
“But I only signed the book a few---”
“You were born to be a Guardian, Dylan. You couldn’t
become a true Guardian, though, because Ronez was Earth’s Guardian, so your
power was restricted until you could sign a book.”
“By who?”
“Well, by no one. The gods figured you’d die and
didn’t need to be dealt with. Because you were something they didn’t create themselves,
they assumed you would never be able to handle the power. The prophecies only
annoyed them at first. But you lived, and now it must infuriate them that their
greatest Guardian wasn’t their creation.”
“That makes me sound kind of…”
“Freakish?” he asked innocently.
“Thanks. But if the Guardians are all taken from
their parents, who raised them?”
“I’m surprised Edward hasn’t explained this to you,
but all Guardians are raised by monks,” he said.
That wasn’t what I was expecting. “Like, religious monks?”
“Every world has a degree of religion. The gods pick
a small number of monks, priests, whatever, from one or two religions that are
relatively accurate and have appropriate ethics. They teach the monks and give
the baby Guardian to them.”
“But Ronez and Edward stayed on Duran.”
“They were given to the monks of a small island. Soon
after their birth, there was a world-wide war, and before that every major land
had a different religion. These monks had learned the truth of the gods from
ancient history and magic, so the gods chose them to raise the boys and it
became tradition. Until you, that is. You remained with your family.”
“I want to say I wish I hadn’t, but I have no idea
what my life or personality would have been like if I had been raised by monks.
I bet they’d have been Japanese Buddhist monks.”
“Why do you say that?” Nano asked.
I shrugged. “A lot of Duran reminds me of Japan, a
country on my world, and Buddhism and Shinto are the religions of Japan.”
“Perhaps Japan was influenced by Duran. All worlds
have some cultures influenced by other worlds,” he said, as if it were the most
natural conclusion in the world. Before I could comment, he continued. “We are
now entering the swamp lands. Be mindful not to fall in.”
The tunnel opened into a gigantic swamp. Moss covered
the cave floor, leading to the murky green water. The only light in the cave
came from the trees growing out of the water. In the large swamp, there were
about a dozen thin trees, all glowing a gentle white light. In the center of
the swamp was a huge tree with a white glowing trunk and glowing leaves that
put out different colors.
“How do we cross?”
He smirked at me. “How do you think?”
“Magic.”
His answer was to face the water, raise his right
hand, and yell in his deep, powerful, commanding voice, “Van hyet!”
Answering his call, the water was suddenly separated
as stone pushed out of the ground to form a narrow, jagged, treacherous looking
path across the water. “Oh, yes, this is going to be fun.” I stepped forward
considerably slower and more hesitantly than Nano.
I was expecting it to be slippery, and I was right.
There was a slight layer of algae, glittering softly in the dim light. Walking
slowly, I was able to make it halfway across before slipping. After hours of
work with Edward just a few days before on the art of falling, I was able to
avoid diving clumsily into the water. Not all of me landed on the narrow
walkway, though, and as Nano tried to help me, something grabbed my leg before
I could pull it out of the water. I grabbed the other edge of the walkway, but
nearly let go from shock when the water creature started to lick my calf.
Nano grabbed me and pulled me away, but the creature
dug its claws in deep. Finally, after several agonizing moments of tug-a-war, Nano
won and pulled me firmly back onto the walkway. I rolled onto my back to see
the creature, which looked very similar to Gollum, in
Lord of The Rings
,
recede grudgingly back into the water.
“Be careful,” Nano said. I just glared at him, still
catching my breath. “Don’t worry, it didn’t want to harm you. It was probably
lonely and wanted attention. You would have drowned, though.”
This was the point where I started to wonder if maybe
Nano was just a little bit insane. “Sure, and drowning is nothing to worry
about. There’s something seriously wrong with you Guardians.”
“You’ve only met two of us. You don’t know the half
of it. Wait until you meet the Guardian of Vaigda. Don’t be mistaken; we’re all
insane.”
Maybe I’ll fit in after all.
“If I get eaten,
poisoned, torn apart, or worse, Edward will kick your butt,” I said, almost
certain of my threat.
“Would you rather be here, or on Duran alone?” he
asked. He walked away without waiting for an answer.
I decided to go along with it, seeing as how the
alternative was staying with the lonely water goblins. At the end of the swamp,
we came to the entrance of another cave. “Where is the torch? And why do I feel
like this is the wrong way?” I asked. The chill from the mouth made my skin
crawl.
Goblins behind me, the unknown before me.
“It fell into the water when I tried to pull you out.
This is Aranisia. Otherwise known in English as ‘Spider Caves.’ I hope you
don’t have arachnophobia.”
“I could hardly call it a phobia. I don’t
like
spiders, but they eat bugs I dislike, and they don’t particularly bother me.”
“They may after this.”
Well, shit
. “What are spiders doing on this
world?”
“They were imported. I’ll explain after we get out.”
With that he entered the cave. This habit of his was proving quite irritating.
Now, I am quite aware that if you step into a creepy
old house, the door will slam shut behind you. I was not prepared for the mouth
of the cave to collapse behind me! The terrible rumbling of massive rocks
colliding wasn’t nearly as foreboding as the sudden darkness and sound of
hissing from deeper in the cave.
“Do not be alarmed; the cave must close to prevent
the spiders from escaping.”
Oh, yes, that’s very comforting. “Are you sure we
have to go this way?”
I didn’t like his thoughtful silence.
“Well, now that you mention it, there is another way
that would have been much safer, but it’s too late now.”
I didn’t know where he was, but I gaped at the
darkness and hoped my glare was pointed at him. “Where are you?” I asked. I
jumped when I felt him touch my hand.
“Come on.”
“I am not holding your hand.”
“Fine, then, you can just follow my overwhelming
presence.”
With that, he was gone. Panicking, I tried to run
after him, but instead ran smack into the cave wall, barely avoiding hitting my
head.
“You shouldn’t do that.”
“I know that! You can see fine, can’t you?!”
“Of course,” he said.
I growled. Like an angry wolf.
He laughed. “You sound like a furious kitten!” he
said, his laugh growing in volume. I was able to follow the sound until I could
smack him in the head, which only made him laugh harder. “Let’s go, before the
spiders all die from laughing, too.”
“At least make a---” My request for light was cut off
as he said something quietly in his language. A gentle light kindled from the
end of a wooden wand that Nano was holding. As the light increased in a pulsing
rhythm, I could make out intricate writing carved around the wand and that the
light was actually emanating from a small crystal on the end. “You have a
wand,” I said brightly.
Nano looked confused. “I have a stick.”
“Yes, a stick that does magic. You have a wand.”
“It’s the stone on the end. Any stone, clear object,
or iron object can be easily used as a focal point for magic. Many wizards
carry a stone or crystal to focus their more difficult or dangerous magic.”
“So creating light is difficult magic? Why not just
use a flashlight?”
“What’s a flashlight?” he asked. I just stared at
him. “No, light isn’t difficult to create. In fact, that’s why I use the stone.
We Guardians always have something with us to fiddle with. As I expect Ki…
Edward has probably explained to you, your magic will spark when you have
uncontrolled emotions. This is manageable but never goes away. We each have
come across an object that we like to fiddle with. Over time, our magic sparks
are pulled into that object by unconscious intent.
“That object can become incredibly powerful and we
start to use that object to do the spells we’ve outgrown or just mastered so
easily we became bored with it. Mine is that stone. Unfortunately, the magic in
it has started attracting attention. People and creatures want it, and they
don’t know why, so I put it on the end of this
wand
to make it easier to
protect.”
“Wow. Edward never explains things that simply.”
“He’s more of a show-and-tell person than one to give
a lecture on how something works. He also tends to leave things vague in order
to make you think. He has had many more apprentices than I, and he’s much older
than me.”
“What is his magic object?”
“A stack of cards. Every time he meets someone
powerful that he wants to know, he asks them to a game of cards. Through that
game, and his cards, he can learn a lot about someone. He also uses it with
friends as a bonding thing. That creeps me out, though, I never let anyone play
with my crystal.”
I remembered the cards Edward used to play with
Divina and to teach me mind reading. “He never played against me. I’ve never
touched them.”
“That’s odd; he usually plays all his apprentices
before taking them in. Do you know how to play anything with cards?”
“
Poker
and
Go Fish
. What was Ronez’s
magic object?”
“I don’t know. He never told me, and I never really
bothered to find out. It’s not usually a big deal.”
“Do I have one?”
“I highly doubt it. When you find your object, you
will not realize it until one day you reach for it when you’re upset and you
realize that it makes you calm. When Edward is very stressed, you’ll probably
find him reaching for his cards, even if it’s only to touch them. Now we need
to go before the light irritates the spiders.”
I realized with a start that I could hear them. They
had to be huge spiders! I followed Nano through the caves, paranoid that there
were thousands of eyes on us. The cavern walls were shaped like any general
cave, but there were crystals sticking out of some and webs along many.
It was about an hour in that we came to an open area
with a stream. In the stream was moss. “How does moss grow without light?” I
asked.
“It’s the water.” He kneeled down and picked up a
small silver bowl beside the brook. He dipped it into the water and held it up
to me. “Do you think your master would mind me teaching you a survival skill?”
“I think Edward needs all the help he can get with my
survival,” I answered dryly, sitting cross-legged beside him.
“Then I will teach you to purify water to drink.
Clear your mind and look at the water.”
“Edward always tells me to close my eyes.”
“Only until you can clear your mind with your eyes
open. Never close your eyes in battle. I assume you know how to clear your mind
easily enough, now you should learn to do it facing the world. Imagine all the
little bits of stuff that isn’t water in this; germs, bacteria, dirt; imagine
it glows a color. It doesn’t matter what color. Don’t think about how much it
glows, that will come on its own. If it’s too hard for you, start daydreaming
about water, but keep half your mind on the glowing water in this bowl and do
not look away.”
After about five minutes, I let my mind wander to the
haunted springs. Edward said it was clean and I hoped it was because I did
plenty of swimming in it.
If I learn this spell, would he want me to
practice and drink from the springs? Eww… Ghost pee.
“It’s glowing!” I burst out before I even realized the
water in the bowl had a green glow to it.
“What color is it?”
“A greenish color.”
“That’s good. Green is natural plant matter. Red is
poison. Stay away from that. Yellow is bad, too, it’s fungus and mold matter.
And black is rot. Really, if it looks bad, you should avoid it. Now, to get rid
of the impurities is going to take work. Push your energies into the water to
line the inside of the bowl. Imagine it as something you can see clearly, like
a paper. Then you pull that energy together and filter out the impurities. Use
the energy as a semipermeable membrane.”
“Like a coffee filter?”
“I have no idea what that is.”
I put my overactive imagination to use and imagined
the energy I could feel inside me flow out in little whiffs of mist to form a
solid piece of paper.
“Does it need to be that strong?” he asked in a dry
tone.
“It takes a lot of mist to form solid paper.” I
settled my energy paper into the bowl and let it wrap around the insides.