There were a couple of minutes where we both tried to
recuperate. Krael had struck as hard as he could and I was fairly certain he
had at least cracked the bone. However, what I did was worse, and he was having
trouble breathing. Even as I tried to assess the damage on my shoulder, the
pain faded away. I don’t know which of us started to stand first, but we were
suddenly both upright before we were ready. He wouldn’t attack first because
that would completely expose his weakness. I had definitely thrown him off. I
struck while he blocked. We somehow ended up in a sword lock, my sword to his
neck and his to mine. Neither of us could afford to give any ground. Without
letting go with my left hand or even knowing what I was doing, I punched him in
the nose. At the same time, his fist struck my nose. My eyes instantly watered
and my whole face burned. I couldn’t see, but neither could he. I tried so hard
to hold onto my sword, even as he was bringing his down on my injured shoulder.
I still knew where he was and how he would strike. He
swung up and I blocked, allowing me to strike his leg. However, it allowed him
to strike my left arm with the great force of his right. That was fine by me; I
switched the sword back into my right hand, which was no longer hurting. He was
not expecting that, so I used my arm to block while I thrust the handle of my
sword into his solar plexus. Although it wasn’t hard enough to knock him off
his feet, it did knock him back since it was my second strike to the sensitive
area. It was enough.
As he used the extra room to strike me across the
chest, I used it to strike his right shoulder. I could feel the damage, but his
strike wasn’t at full strength. The edge came up onto my exposed chin. That
disoriented me even more than the strike to my nose and then he slammed the
dull edge into my stomach. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to move and was
done for. I couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe, and both my arms were numb. But my
body had other plans. I was on my knees, and I still held my sword. He struck
me across my back. My sword came up just in time to block his from striking across
my throat. After blocking, I was able to throw it off, swing up, and then back
down to strike his right hand. Naturally, he dropped the sword and caught it
with his left hand. Without the gracefulness of his right hand, his swing was
off by a tiny amount. He moved to my left and kept his injured hand at his
chest.
When I swung upward into his chest, I struck so hard
that I almost lost my grip on my sword. His feet left the ground and he landed
with a gasp. I raised the sword again. Ronez was in control again, and he was
going in for the final blow. I wanted to stop, but I didn’t. Krael’s sword was
on the ground several feet away. I took a step back as he tried to sweep my
feet out from under me. He looked from his sword to my eyes. He must have seen
my move because instead of getting out of the way, he put his arms up to his
head. He wouldn’t have been able to get away quickly enough and attacking me
would have left him completely open. My sword swung down with all my strength
towards his neck. His arms would have provided some cushioning, but not enough.
I didn’t want to do it. I really, really didn’t.
“Stop!”
I yelled in my own head. The sword
froze merely an inch from him and I could feel myself regain control.
“Alright,”
Ronez answered. I sheathed my sword
as it grew black.
The release of energy as Ronez retreated made me
realize how much pressure it was. It made me feel light, empty, and weak. On
reflex, I drew in lots of energy until my body stopped shaking.
Ronez stood in front of me. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” I looked down at Krael. “Consider
yourself beaten.”
He gaped at me with something between fear and
respect.
“Before we go, tell him that his sister will be his
again and that he is forgiven.”
It sounded like add odd request, but I relayed the
message. Krael’s eyes filled with awe and sorrow. Without waiting for a
response, I started walking down other halls. “Thanks,” I said after a few
minutes.
“No problem. I’m sorry for getting enthusiastic. I’m
used to fighting. I’ve been in a lot of wars.”
“Oh, no, you aren’t gonna tell me your war stories
and tell me what life was like when you were my age, are you?” I asked. He
laughed and shook his head.
I could sense my book, but only barely over the
feeling of Edward, Ronez, Divina, and Vretial. I must have gotten used to the
energy, because I could distinguish between the emotions and power of Vretial,
Divina, Ronez, and Edward. I focused on Edward’s thoughts and emotions for a
moment, just to be sure he was safe.
“I just realized something,” I said. “We’re gonna
win.”
Kiro
Dylan finally took off. He sure was stubborn. There
was no way to really explain to him what I needed to do; he didn’t know the
bond of twin brothers that has strengthened and developed for more than two
thousand years. It wasn’t about revenge, I needed to fight back as my brother
would have; I needed to finish his fight.
I didn’t know what happened that caused fate to
unravel as it did. I had felt my brother’s stress and disorder. Even worlds
apart, we were eternally part of each other, but I could also feel that he
didn’t want to talk to me. Perhaps it was that we were so close that we
couldn’t stand to be civil for too long, and so our arguments were nothing to
worry about. Now, however, I wondered, as I will for the rest of my eternal
life, if there was something I could have done. His life was unfinished and his
death was too easy; too abrupt. My shock was more like a hole, but not
completely an empty one, for my brother didn’t seem dead, only missing.
Then I met Dylan, the human man who was a child to
me. He sounded and acted like my brother so that I burned with emptiness and
was soothed with familiarity. I could see my brother in the stubbornness of his
eyes. He was far more powerful than he should have been, and would be far more
powerful than my brother and I by our age. Even with his power and his
unfortunate “luck,” he was a humorous, happy person who would find his strength
best under fire, and still retain his juvenile joy.
I turned back to the table and stroked my hand across
the sword at my side. The man’s shadow fell across the floor, just short of me.
Dylan was gone, but someone powerful would follow him. If he needed help he
would find it. “My brother’s killer. Where is he?”
“I can take you to him. You’ll have to give me your
book, but if you don’t, we’ll send someone else after you. You won’t be able to
keep us all away. We’ll take your book and you’ll never get the chance to
attain revenge.” He wasn’t young. Despite the youth in his voice, his words and
tone were those of someone quite old, though still nowhere near as elderly as
myself. Unlike Dylan, who was true in everything he did and said, this man was
too general and uncertain of how I would react to his words.
“You’ll take me to the person who killed my brother,
I will fight him and he can try to take my book then.” I turned to look at the
man in my doorway. He was the young man from my Guardian vision, but his body
wasn’t real; he wasn’t alive.
“Okay. That sounds fair enough.” He turned and walked
outside. I followed and shut the door behind me. The man stopped, held out a
small metal disk, and threw it at me. I caught it and held it for a few seconds
as it burned before tossing it back at him. It was probably the foulest thing I
had every touched, so unnatural and sinister.
The ground started to shake and split open, releasing
a shield of bright light. The shaking ended and I walked into the light.
* * *
I opened my eyes and found myself in the cavern from
my vision. Standing several feet away to my right was the man, now in his solid
body. Five feet in front of me was Vretial, emanating enough power to make even
me sick. He was the most powerful of gods. His body was no more than energy so
strong and condensed it was corporeal. He had dark auburn hair and light brown,
luminous eyes.
In my two thousand plus years I had never once
believed I could fight a god, but Vretial was one I couldn’t even imagine dying
from. For the first time in centuries I felt hopelessness, deep down and buried
in countless, meaningless battles. It should have been the other gods fighting
Vretial, but even the gods didn’t want to face him. There was nothing I could
do, but I couldn’t do nothing. Discarding my book would be impossible with
Vretial right in front of me, and even if I could, he could get to it before
another Guardian could protect it. I really had hoped that I would find his
weakness by fighting his minions.
“Don’t look so forlorn, Noquodi, you don’t have to
fight me,” Vretial smiled. “Just give me your book and run off to play with
Shio. He’s the one who murdered your brother. You’ll know it’s him because he’s
wearing your brother’s body.”
A violent wave of nausea hit me. “What?” My voice had
a hint of unsteadiness in it. Not only did he kill my brother but he had the
nerve to use his skin. I didn’t want to fight Vretial; I wanted to destroy my
brother’s murderer.
“I know. I never cared for Shio, he’s a real brute.
Unfortunately for you, he’s busy at the moment, so you’ll have to wait in the
dungeon. Now, you can either hand over the book and live to fight Shio, or you
can refuse me and I’ll make you hand it over, then kill you. You’ve lived a
long and honest life and have learned many things, but have you learned how to
lose?”
I slowly pulled my book out of my bag. I didn’t want
to give it to him, but it was stupid to think I could fight him. My sole job in
life was to protect my book, but if I died before I could destroy my brother’s
murderer, then my brother’s life was unfinished. After that, I was free to
throw my life away trying to protect my book. How foolish of me, to give up my
book for my brother’s serenity, then to give up my life for my book.
Funny… the monks never taught us how to set
priorities.
“I think I will learn how to lose… In a few hundred
years.” I held out my book and felt its power recoil at Vretial’s aura. He took
my book.
“Very good. Now, if you’ll follow Krael to the
dungeon to wait.”
Krael started walking away and I slowly turned to
follow. It felt so weird and wrong. For the moment, the dark god kept his word
and didn’t kill me.
The cave grew dark and I felt the floor become
smooth. The darkness faded after a few minutes and we were in a long maze of
hallways, all exactly the same and lined with torches. It was a short walk and
no words were spoken between us. I was let into the dungeon, a dark cave-like
room with no light, and chained to the wall. I didn’t fight Krael; he wasn’t
worth the energy. He left soon and I could only wait.
This world had gravity almost as weak as Earth, but
the radiation was greater; the world was probably closer to a sun. The energy
magnified my senses, but also made everything fuzzy. I could still feel
Vretial’s power, but it wasn’t so overpowering of everything around him. I
could feel Krael, and several other people who seemed to be trying their
hardest to stay out of the way. After a few minutes, Krael’s presence
disappeared.
It was ten minutes later that I felt Krael, Divina,
Dylan, and two other people appear. One of the two people was the twisted,
dark, and angry little girl, and the other was worthless slime; he must have
been Shio. I waited for a few minutes until I felt Divina move away with
Vretial, and Krael and the evil one leave together. Dylan and Shio started
heading in my direction. I didn’t like that scumbag being with my apprentice.
Dylan didn’t like him, but he wasn’t highly distressed. It didn’t matter; I
wasn’t going to wait any longer. The rusted chains broke easily.
“Kiro, wait.”
I heard Divina’s voice in my
head.
“It’s not time. Dylan can take care of him. You need to follow Krael;
he has Dylan’s book. You’ll get your chance with Shio later. Trust me,”
she
advised.
I thought for a moment. Divina sounded like she knew
what she was talking about.
I didn’t answer her; I just felt the wall to the door
and left, searching for Krael. I went through hallway after hallway until I was
only a minute from Krael. The evil one had separated and seemed to be wandering
around aimlessly.
“Go, now to finish off Shio,”
Divina said.
“I haven’t gotten the books yet.”
Suspicious.
“I know. Not now. Now is your chance to kill your
brother’s murderer,”
she urged.
I sighed and started back down the halls. I didn’t
know if Divina was literally trying to waste my time or not, but my trust in
her was wavering under the weight of suspicion. A few minutes later I stopped
and changed direction.
“No! Dylan is taken care of! Let him handle it!”
The evil one, with her murderous objective, was with
him.
“He’s my apprentice; I’m not letting that thing kill him.”
“Have faith in him.”
“It isn’t about faith! He has barely had any
training. I don’t care about timing or faith. He’s my apprentice and my brother
can rest uneasily for a few more minutes for me to protect my apprentice.”
No one had the right to touch him, especially someone as violent and hateful as
that girl.
“He’s taken care of! If you interfere now you’ll
make things more complicated! Let him be, I swear she won’t so much as scratch
him. Trust me!”
I slowly came to a stop.
“Why?! Why should I?”
I asked. She didn’t answer, so I sighed.
“When this is over, you will
explain to me how you know what you do and why I should trust you.”
“By the time this is over, you will know.”