“Um… what?”
My father… I have a father. No; I had a father.
Edward had been telling me about my father the whole time.
Edward’s… my
uncle. But this doesn’t make sense. How could someone so powerful and “wise”
fall for Mother?
“You’re my last child, and you’re the only one I knew
who would be the right Guardian. You know why you’re so unlucky? The universe
has to balance. Even without your Guardian power you were very powerful, so
much so that you created an unbalance. To correct this, bad luck hindered you
every chance it got. The universe was constantly trying to kill you. When you
became a Guardian, you were supposed to be powerful, so it evened out. In all reality,
Dylan, we couldn’t both live. You were meant to be a Guardian; you’re too much
like me. It’s one of the reasons why Shio was able to kill me… It’s just
unfortunate that it wasn’t the right time. I should be the one to fight this
battle, Dylan, but fate was sick of me and now you have to fight untrained and
my brother has to take my revenge.”
“So it’s my fault you’re dead?”
“No. I was meant to be replaced, and I knew it the
moment I met you.”
“You mean the moment I was born? ‘Met me’ makes it
sound weird.”
“Actually… yes. That’s exactly what I meant. The
hurricane was absolutely not your fault either. I really wanted to be there to
raise you, but we couldn’t be close. Even before you were born you were in
constant danger of everything from the flu to earthquakes. The night you were
born, your room caught on fire. After a week of constantly defending your life,
I knew I had to get away, where you couldn’t draw my energy. I wanted to tell
Kiro about you, but I was afraid of what he would do.”
“You were afraid he would kill me to save you?”
“We’re twins; we can’t help it. If he had a child who
would replace him, I would do something I’m glad I never have to. With proper
training, especially from Kiro, you can be far more powerful than I ever could
be, but you might always have bad luck.”
“It’s alright if I have bad luck as long as I have
the power to protect myself and others from it.”
“You will learn to. Until then, you can rely on Kiro
to help you. Unlike me, you won’t naturally draw your energy from him.” He
stopped and turned to me, making me halt. The look he gave me was warm and
slightly apologetic. “When you were young, you would ask your mother if I was
doing well. You wouldn’t ask her who I was or why I left. How come?”
“Well, I figured that you probably didn’t know about
me. My mother is very loose. I still wanted to know, though, a little about
you. I mean… you gave me life.”
He reached out to touch my face, but then faltered
and dropped his hand. “I wish I could have given you a childhood. I wanted to
be with you, but every time I saw your mother neglecting you I wanted nothing
more than to take you and go off to Duran. I didn’t take apprentices like Kiro
did. He’s had some very bad experiences with his children, but he treasured his
apprentices. I loved women, but I didn’t have so many children. I couldn’t be
there for every one of them, but I did everything I could for everyone. After I
had to see so many of my children die of old age, it became horrible, so I had
less. You were fate.”
“I knew it! I was a mistake. Thanks, that really
helps me.”
“You weren’t a mistake,” he laughed. “I wanted you, I
just didn’t learn until you were born that I had no choice. You were different
from the others. The night you were born, you fought and struggled your way
into this world, and hated the doctor’s cold touch. You had a strong kick. The
doctor handed you to me and you stopped struggling. You just looked up at me
with your wide, curious eyes, completely calm in my arms. I carried you to the
nursery and we created a bond. I loved you so much more than I could have ever
imagined. You would sleep, listening to my heartbeat and I hated sleeping
because I wanted to watch you. I never wanted to miss a second of your life.
But I had to. I watched over you every day, but I couldn’t do anything to help
you, even though I was alive. It ticked me off that your mother wouldn’t pay
for your college.”
“You caused that ‘government mistake’ that gave me a
lot of money for the death of my great aunt twice removed or something?”
“Yeah, but you still had to get a job, and you
shouldn’t have had to.”
“I don’t know what my life would have been like with
you. It got really hard when my mother left me without food or brought home an
abusive boyfriend. But I understand that us being together was dangerous. It
wasn’t fair and that isn’t your fault. When Edward… Kiro… was telling me about
you, I had no idea he was telling me about my father. I wish I knew you growing
up, but I really don’t know how I would have turned out if you were there. I’m
glad you weren’t just another one of my mother’s one-nighters.”
The look in his eyes was safe, and warm, and even
familiar. We would have had a great relationship… if we could have. I looked
away. He seemed so loving and fatherly that I was afraid of reestablishing that
bond he spoke of. It could turn out horrible and lonely to bond with someone
who was already gone.
On the other hand… better late than never.
“And also… That tiny little perverted instinct that
says pretty women are better than anything else and that you can get them all
if you find the right tactics… Sorry for that.” And he walked away.
I followed in silence for a few minutes until we
turned a corner to find Krael, leaning against the hall, waiting for me. He
grinned slyly and Ronez didn’t look surprised at all to find him there. Since
Krael didn’t appear to notice Ronez, I quickly decided that only I could see dead
people.
“I was hoping you would get around soon. Are you
ready to fight or do you need a minute?”
“Fighting really isn’t my strong suit. Can we just
play a board game, or some cards, and the loser gets locked in the room?” I
asked.
“Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. I really don’t
prefer to fight, but the thing is, I have to do what I’m told.”
Ronez approached Krael and waved his hands in front
of Krael’s unseeing eyes, then made indication of poking Krael’s eyes out. “I
command you to sleep. Sleep…” Ronez said in a deep, hushed voice.
Good to know Ronez had his priorities straight.
“I can’t really do much in the way of backup in this
form; I’m just haunting you.”
“I don’t have my book, I’m lost, I can’t even find
Edward, and there’s no way I could defeat Vretial. What could you possibly
accomplish by beating me?”
“That’s great, son, play the defenseless role. Really
makes him shake with fear,” Ronez cheered.
“Shut up,” I said. Krael frowned. “Not you, I’m
talking to my hallucination.”
“I’m not a hallucination. You’re not psychotic;
you’re neurotic, which makes it less likely to be my fault. Less likely passed
on by genetics. Don’t be afraid. You’ll win this fight, I know, for three
reasons: One, his attacks are weak, I’ve watched him, and he’s in his solid body
right now; two, there is nothing you can’t defeat with that sword; and three,
you’re far prettier than him. You have my blood in you; that makes you
powerful, smart, and good-looking.”
“You’re quite vain, aren’t you?”
“Sometimes, yeah,” Ronez answered with a smirk.
Krael sighed and drew his sword. “You really should
focus on your opponent instead of your delusions. Draw your sword and let’s get
this over with.”
“What if, instead of fighting, I ran as fast as I
could back the way I came from?”
“I would use magic to squish you. As it is, I prefer
to use the sword instead of magic. Feel free to use whatever you have,” he
offered.
As Ronez examined Krael thoughtfully, I drew my sword
and pushed energy into it. Krael didn’t draw energy, but there was a lot of it
in him already. And I had no idea why I could suddenly sense that, so I just
chalked it up to the wild energy swarming the compound.
“Block,” Ronez said.
I didn’t think, I just moved. My sword clashed
against Krael’s before I realized he had moved.
Krael’s eyes widened slightly and he smirked. “You
were able to block. Good; maybe this won’t be so boring,” Krael said.
I didn’t really feel worried about Krael beating me.
I was worried about Edward, who was surely safe, instead of me, who was less
capable. Perhaps it was because of Ronez’s serenity or his three reasons I
would win.
However, I wasn’t completely tranquil. Tomie was a
psycho-killer, but she was also a little girl, so it was difficult to fight
her. Krael, on the other hand, was a man. I didn’t like how he leered at Divina
like a toy and I didn’t like how he looked down at me. There was a very small
part of me that wanted to fight him, and that part could not lose to him. It
wasn’t the annoying hormones that made me want to fight men away from Divina or
even self-destructive pride. This was something I haven’t had to deal with
before. Maybe it was a feeling a Guardian gets when facing an enemy.
He pushed with his sword and I had to step back. As I
did, he turned the blade and thrust down, cutting shallowly into my leg. At the
momentary distraction, his fist slammed into my cheek. It wasn’t a great angle,
so it didn’t hurt too much, but it made me turn slightly and trip on my own
feet. I immediately rolled over and saw the blade nearly miss me. I tried to
kick his feet out from under him, but he stepped back, which gave me the
opportunity to get up.
“Let me fight,” Ronez said, stepping up beside me. “I
can’t do it for you, but I can help, and I can teach you moves you can learn
later. I know moves that you can even use on Kiro if you wanted to show off.
You haven’t had enough training and I want to help fight him.”
“Okay,” I said. Ronez stepped behind me and I felt
something very unnatural. It was energy being forced into me, not drawn in, and
it was cold. The energy made me jittery, not quite like physical energy, but
all my uncertainty washed away and left unwavering confidence. The will to
fight Krael grew. I let my own energy go because Ronez’s was plenty.
I understood for the first time why Edward and Ronez
both said Ronez and I were so alike; I could feel his thoughts and emotions. We
were raised very differently, but had we been raised and lived the same, we
would have been the same. Still, he was ancient to me, inhuman. He had
knowledge, power, and experiences I couldn’t dream of, emotions I didn’t know
existed. Misery that was so great it couldn’t even be called pain. Joy that
could kill. We were the same, except for where our experiences have changed us.
My sword suddenly raged with energy and the black metal glowed reddish-orange.
Krael raised his sword and I raised mine. He seemed
to move so quickly and slightly to the left it was like a twitch. I reacted
instantly. The idea to intercept left entered my head as I moved to the right.
My body wasn’t moving on the mighty brain’s command. I didn’t have time to
think when fighting him. I didn’t see him move until I was already intercepting
him. His twitch was a fake. My sword blocked his strike against my chest and I
stepped forward, throwing him off me. Krael turned away and brought his foot up
in a back kick that caught me in the stomach. However, as I fell, I grabbed his
boot and took him down with me. I rolled over onto my back and kicked downwards
into his side. He turned onto his back, sat up, and reached for my neck. I
blocked him only long enough to wrap my fingers around his neck.
Ronez was giving me his instincts, but he had more
control over me than suggestion. Forcing away his control, I let go. I didn’t
want to choke Krael and Ronez didn’t fight me.
Krael released me to reach for his sword and I rolled
over the other way to get to my mine. It was still slightly glowing, but when I
touched it, it lit bright and angry again. I swung the sword towards Krael’s
shoulder, but he turned and blocked. I pulled my sword up and started for a
strike to his back; however, as he started to react, I redoubled over the front
with a blow to his chest. He was thrown back and landed with a sound that could
have been a groan or a growl. I hadn’t meant to hit him that hard.
“You have to hurt him to defeat him,”
Ronez’s
voice sounded in my head.
“But I don’t have to kill him.”
Krael didn’t stay down for long; he quickly
reappeared on his feet with his sword in hand. He swung his sword up and I
blocked it, but then my jaw burned with pain before I even realized he had
punched me. I damn near let go of my sword. He then pulled his sword up again
and connected with the lower part of my arm. My sword fell from my hand but was
suddenly in my other hand. I was right-handed, but it felt no different in my
left. If this surprised Krael, he didn’t show it.
We kept attacking and blocking, faster and faster
until I had no idea if I was attacking or blocking. I very quickly adapted to
Krael’s punches and kicks, and then I could block them with my sword, so he
stopped using those tactics. Although I had little actual idea of what he was
doing and couldn’t predict what he was about to do, my body did.
I slid the base of my blade into his sword’s hand
guard until his and mine connected and then pushed forward. His handle slammed
into his gut and he grunted before pushing forward, which was the natural thing
to do. I used that leverage to push up on his sword with mine, swung mine back
down to the side, I stepped to the right, and I brought the sword across his
chest. He fell back again. I was being so violent, but it didn’t seem like I
was; it seemed like he was just getting easier to fight.
Krael seemed to be drawing his energy from
determination alone. I didn’t know where I was getting energy from, but I still
knew he would wear down sooner than me. Krael’s strikes became less damaging
and less energy-draining as he sped up. I needed to make him attack harder. I
couldn’t step forward because that would give him the advantage the moment I
did. If he had less room, he would have less space to swing his sword, so he
would make up for it by striking harder. He wouldn’t step forward until I
stepped back, so I needed him to think I had stepped back. Just like his little
twitch at the beginning, I moved so slightly to the left, with every intention
of taking a step back and going to the right. Krael instinctively reacted to my
trick. He stepped forward and I used the same strike that he would have used on
me if I had stepped forward. With full swing, I slammed my sword across his
chest with all the power in the point as it hit its mark; his solar plexus. As
I did, his sword came down on my shoulder.