I stood. The book found me. If Vivian didn’t have to
write an essay the day the book came to me, I wouldn’t have gone home and found
it. If I hadn’t been filling in for someone at work the day Edward found me, I
would have told him to get his book and get out so I could go back to bed. If I
hadn’t gotten lost and found Shinobu, the little girl, Tomie, would have killed
me at the springs. If Mordon hadn’t stayed at the same hotel as I, I wouldn’t
have learned the spell that got me away from Shio. This was not enough to
convince me of fate or destiny, but there had to be
something
that was
helping me along.
Without any better option, I started walking again,
this time with the strict determination to find whatever the hell I came to. It
was about ten minutes later that I found a door at the end of a hall, which I
entered without thinking.
The room was either a depressing bedroom or a cell.
The walls, high ceiling, and floor were stone and the only piece of furniture
was a bare bed set with a black metal frame. Attached to the frame were
shackles. The room itself was about twelve-by-twelve, which made it look even
barer.
“You shouldn’t be here,” a
young girl’s voice
whispered in my mind, sending chills up my spine.
“Good enough for me,” I said, turning back to the
door… but there was no door. The door had vanished.
“It is too late now.” I turned to see Tomie sitting
calmly on the bed. “You are going to die,” she said.
“But I’m too young to die; I was hoping to live till
Thursday at least. Oh, well.” I didn’t want to read her mind, and luckily, she
seemed to be shielding it. There was nothing I could try to move but the bed
she was sitting on, and I wouldn’t have had the time. There was no time to make
her sleep. So, with no real options left, I drew my sword and gathered more
energy. To my surprise, her eyes grew wide.
“Where did you get azurath? How did you shape it into
a blade? How are you able to lift it?” she questioned.
My sword seemed to pulse and hum with power, which
was so cool.
“Because I’m a powerful Jedi knight and this is my
dark saber. I can win, because I’m the good guy and you’re the bad guy. If I
had some apprentice or something, I would lose, but I don’t so I won’t. This is
the climax battle, and the bad guy never wins the climax battle.” I was very
fortunate that my faith in movies was so strong, because uncontrollably shaking
in front of a little girl was not going to intimidate anyone.
“You are very foolish, human. Do you really believe
you can defeat me?”
“Absolutely. There are a million different ways this
can go and one of them must have me as victorious. Since you can read my mind
anyway I might as well tell you I have a problem with attacking a little girl.”
“I am immortal, you stupid human, and more than four
hundred years old. Now, if the small talk is over, I will to kill you now.”
“But the small talk isn’t over!”
A pressure wrapped around my arms and tried to force
them down, but before the sword lowered, the pressure started to weaken,
leaving a tingling behind. I thought the tingling was my blood flowing back
into my arm after she let go, but her murderous glare and the sword’s increased
pulse made me consider otherwise.
What started as a slight heat in my stomach, like I
ate something too hot, grew into an intense burning that tried to spread all
over. My sword pulsed more violently than ever and the tingling extended up my
arms and then through my body. It overcame the heat until I was left with a
slightly uncomfortable tingling.
Tomie wasn’t happy. “How are you able to control
azurath like that?!”
“I’m not doing it. And apparently, your magic is
going to be worthless on me for a while,” I said. She went to the chest next to
her bed, which must have appeared while I was talking like the door had
disappeared. I didn’t try to stop her as she pulled out a double-edged sword
with a gold-colored tang and a black handle.
“Fine. I will defeat you with a sword.”
“Uh… did you forget that
I
can use magic?”
“I would hardly call what you do magic. I may not be
able to use magic against you because of your azurath, but I can defend myself
against you.”
“As old as you are, your body is that of a little
girl. Also, I have a better sword.” I was ecstatic that the gravity was lighter
than on Duran. Still, even if I could defeat her, hurting a child was wrong.
She may have been older than me by centuries, but she looked and acted like a
little girl.
She swung her sword at me and I easily blocked it. As
I had expected, she fought like a little girl. She was so good at magic, but
because of her body, she could never excel with a sword, and she would never
weigh enough to do any serious damage. On the other hand, I was clumsy enough
to do it for her. As I slid my blade along the edge of hers to break the block,
she moved hers in the same direction. The result sent my own blade slamming
against my leg. This reminded me of a move Edward taught me. I thrust the blade
upwards and she blocked, but it pushed her back.
“You have no passion for fighting,” she said, much
like a whiny child.
“No, I don’t, and I certainly don’t want to fight a
little girl. I don’t care how old you are, you look like a little girl, and act
like a disturbed little girl.”
“It is one thing to kill a pathetic nothing, it is another
to kill a man who will not fight even when he has the physical advantage. What
do I have to do to make you humor me? Do I have to rip open your gut? Or maybe
I need to promise you that if you do not kill me, I will kill everyone
important to you. It is not like I have anything better to do than kill
people.”
“I don’t need to hurt you, I just need to keep you
out of my friends’ way while they take care of Vretial.”
“What do you think will prevent me from just leaving
and going after them?”
“Pride. As long as this sword is magically protecting
me, you can’t beat me without fighting me physically. You haven’t laid a hand
on me yet. I know size isn’t everything, but you have a child’s body, so I bet
you have a child’s mind; I think you might be too proud to have mastered the
sword or martial arts. You probably relied on your magic. Am I right?”
“I am a master at everything I do. I never needed to
study the sword or martial arts.”
She struck with amazing speed, but I blocked with my
sword somehow without thought. Something like anger lit in her eyes and she
struck again, far faster this time. My blade moved fluidly before my eyes, too
quick to follow closely. And as my sword and hers clashed, all my hesitation
and self doubt faded to an almost arrogant, giddy confidence.
She moved so fast I could barely see her blade, but I
blocked every strike. I found myself not only able to keep up, but able to get
behind her. She turned to me with hate on her face and her sword went to my
throat. I didn’t even block this time; I just grabbed her wrist. She dropped
her sword and started hitting me in the side. She was very strong for a little
girl, but not strong enough.
I reached into my bag, took out the bracelet, wrapped
it around her arm, and held it on her. I didn’t know if she could remove it,
but I couldn’t take that chance. With no other choice but to rely on the
bracelet, I put my sword in its sheath, while still holding her wrist. She
clawed at my hand, trying to get the bracelet off. I pushed her onto the bed and
closed her little wrist into one of the shackles. Luckily, they fit her and
locked automatically. Before she could get the bracelet off, I locked her other
wrist into the other shackle. She started kicking wildly but I was already out
of her reach. She was trapped, unable to use magic, and so angry that she
couldn’t make out any sensible words.
The door reappeared.
I couldn’t leave her there to starve to death, but I
didn’t know what else to do with her. Edward would, but I couldn’t take her
with me to find him. I searched chest, which was filled with sharp weapons, and
pulled out a dull dagger. As quickly as I could, I cut a large X into the door,
and then left it open just a little so the light could make the edges of the X
more visible. I hurried away from her angry screams.
When I got a few hallways away, I stopped and sat
down. The growing unease was starting to make me paranoid. My body wasn’t
supposed to move like it did; it was supposed to move under my control.
“You let the girl off easy. You could have tortured
her,” a voice whispered, sending a chill up my spine.
“No, she was just a little girl,” another, lighter
voice whispered.
“Shut up,” I said to the lighter voice. “Continue,
darkness.”
“All that pain and threatening. Use your imagination.
You could have cut little designs on her skin so she’ll never forget her sins.
You could have hid her shoes somewhere she would never find them again. You
could have made her scream and cry for her brother and he wouldn’t hear. Go,
Dylan, torture her. Don’t leave her for your master to deal with. Torture her.
Torture her.”
I stood up. “Alright. Which way did I come from?” Of
course, I was joking, but so was my hallucination.
“Left, Dylan, Left.”
I turned to my left and got goose bumps. Something
crossed the hall behind me, about fifteen feet away. I looked and saw nothing
there. Of course, I had seen too many movies to go and investigate, and instead
looked up. Nothing… then the torch flames began to flicker.
That narrowed it down to mummy, zombie, ghost, or alien/mutant
monster.
My bag slipped off my shoulder and onto the floor. I
faced the left again and again I felt something behind me, only about five feet
away. Again, nothing there…
That left Japanese ghost or alien/mutant monster.
Suddenly something stood only a foot behind me, but I
could feel no breath. I could sense its presence, but felt no body heat.
“Blood, Dylan, blood.” I turned to see the one who would eat me, and as I did
my foot caught on my bag and I stumbled to the ground.
He looked so powerful and dangerous, staring down at
me with a cruel grin. There was so much energy in him it was like he was
glowing with it, though it wasn’t sickening like Vretial’s. His dark eyes
glittered with dark thoughts in the torch light. His light skin seemed to absorb
the light while his dark hair absorbed the dark. A Greek sculpture wouldn’t
have been as idealized as him. Although I knew his face so well, it was
shocking and seemed entirely inhuman. This time I didn’t mistake him for
Edward, and I knew he wasn’t Shio. It was undoubtedly Ronez who stood before
me.
He wore a black satin, button-up shirt, black jeans,
and black boots. He was about the same build as Edward and, though the face was
structured the same, it looked very different because Edward wasn’t as pale,
and I never saw him look as joyful and devilish as Ronez did. After a moment,
he laughed, as if my fear had amused him greatly.
Then he held out his hand, which I found myself
taking without thought, and he pulled me up easily. “Sorry about scaring you,
but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I couldn’t pass it up.”
“No, I get it. All my hallucinations have to mess
with me or I feel neglected. I’m sure I saw your body running around here, but
I can’t really tell you where.”
“That’s alright; I’m done with it anyway. I came here
for you.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not done with mine.”
“Oh, that’s okay, too. I’ll wait. Mind if I follow
you around until you are?” he asked.
I reached down and grabbed my bag. “Not at all; I
could use the company, and none of the voices in my head are on speaking terms
with me.”
I started down the hall, but Ronez stepped in front
of me and gestured to the left. “Let’s go this way, it smells nicer.”
“Okay. So, how’s everything going?”
“Oh, fine, I guess. It’s a little boring, being dead
and all. Of course, watching you fight bad guys is fun. Watching Divina fight
villains is even more fun. How are you enjoying my sword?”
“It’s wonderful. Were you helping me fight Tomie?”
“When you give it energy, which you unintentionally
did, you gave it power to protect you from her magic. I did give you a little
nudge, but she really wasn’t a powerful opponent without her magic, and mostly
I just gave you some emotional support. This way, please.” He led me down
another hall.
“So, how and why are you here?”
“Well, something not many know is that when your name
is in one of the twelve books, you can’t really die. Exactly what happens, I’m
not sure. Not even mortals enter the land where the dead rest. Furthermore, I
am immortal. Or I was. This is all new to me. I don’t really know where I was.”
“So if you weren’t dead, why are you only showing up
now? You’re not just teasing your brother, are you?”
“No, of course not. I wasn’t able to come before; I
really am somewhat dead. Remember that meeting Divina went to many hours ago?”
I nodded. “Well, now I can be here, but I’m not like a ghost or something.
Really, I’m soul and energy. The problem is that I’m taking up so much energy
with magic so unnatural that I’m disturbing the balance. I can’t be here for
long, but the closer I am to Vretial, who has insane amounts of power, the
longer I can stay. You have a question for me, don’t you?”
I didn’t even pause to get my thoughts together, and
I wasn’t quiet because I didn’t care if anyone overheard us. “Why am I your
successor? Why am I so powerful? Why was I chosen? Divina said it was because I
was the right person, not that I was chosen, but why?”
“You
were
chosen, Dylan, by me.”
“Why? You have so many descendants.”
“I knew you were powerful, but I also knew how you
think. You have a natural bond with nominal energy that not even Kiro and I
have. Even the way you used magic to talk to your friend was something far too
natural and far too powerful for a new Guardian. You learn quick and you adapt
well. I made the right decision. I do have many descendants, but you’re
different. Dylan, I am your father.”