Sentinels of Creation: A Power Renewed

by Robert W. Ross

  “Ok, so this is starting to just feel awkward,” said Kellan finally, “Aren’t we supposed to be doing something? I thought we were pressed for time.”

  “There is no time here,” Micah and Nurisha said simultaneously.

  “Oh no you don’t. I will not deal with two autistic hyper-beings.” Kellan concentrated and found himself resting comfortably in the chair.

  Micah continued to stare off, clearly still engaged with Nurisha.

  “Micah, how long are you going to be in there? Do we really have time for this?”

  Kellan paused. “There is no time here,” he said to the open air, “Great. Now I’m doing it to myself.”

  Kellan chuckled softly, “Well screw it then, I’m taking a nap.” He snuggled deeper into the chair not noticing as it gently extended to accommodate his reclined position and within moments, Kellan Thorne, second Sentinel of creation, was fast asleep.

  Kellan’s body resisted the call to wakefulness. He grumbled and swatted away the hand shaking him, but it persisted. Moments later, he opened his eyes to find Micah continuing his attempts to gently rouse him.

  Kellan yawned. “How long was I asleep?”

  “There is no—”

  “Stop. Please, just a general idea. Pretend you aren’t annoying for a minute.”

  Micah smiled, “Well, I’d say that you were asleep the equivalent of a very good night’s sleep.”

  Kellan returned the smile, “See, now was that so difficult?”

  “How’s our girl? You have a nice time catching up?”

  Micah raised an eyebrow, “Nurisha? She’s headed off to explore creation as she put it.”

  Kellan sat up, alarmed, and immediately opened himself up to the power. He felt his eyes warm and as the power flowed into him, but didn’t sense her. He constructed a room where they had met but it was empty. He released the power and turned back to Micah.

  “What the hell? Where is she and how can I still use the power without her?”

  Micah had walked a few steps away during Kellan’s moment of searching and the old man glanced over his shoulder.

  “I suspect that if you seek her out intensely, she will come, but excepting that, she probably has better things to do than simply wait for you to need something.”

  “But without her, how can I still—”

  “She is still raw creative energy, Kellan, just now personified and with a sense of individuality. That energy is linked to you and is not constrained by locality. It is everywhere and everywhen. The individual aspect, the Nurisha aspect, well, that’s something new and it seems she can be somewhere or somewhen.”

  Kellan smiled. “Wow, that’s pretty cool.”

  “And,” the old man said, “pretty terrifying. There is no telling what the unintended consequences will be from what you’ve done here. This is the first time anything done within this space has had effect on real creation. She is not bound to this place so clearly there will be ramifications.”

  “Fortunately,” Micah continued with a wink, “I’ll be dead and you’ll have to deal with it.”

  “Not cool, Micah. Not cool at all.”

  He shrugged.

  “Ready for a lesson on evil and the unnatural? What did you call yourself—Padawan?”

  “Yeah, Master Jedi, I’m ready,” replied Kellan rising from his chair, but feeling very uneasy about the whole exchange.

  “Good,” said Micah, “because your eyes are open now and you will see all manner of evil and unnatural things in the world, so it will be best if you know how to deal with them.”

  “All manner of evil? Like what? Vampires? Werwolves?”

  “Of course, but many others. Demons, Djinn, Changelings, Fairies—“

  “Wait? What? Tinkerbell is evil now?”

  “Tinkerbell?” Micah asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yeah, she’s a fairy.”

  Micah looked taken aback. “You’ve met fairies before; that’s highly unusual for a mortal.”

  “Well, no. Not exactly,” began Kellan, “I’ve read and seen movies about them. Tinkerbell is just kinda famous is all.”

  “Really,” said Micah, his voice rising with amusement, “Famous is she, well I’ve never heard of her.”

  “Whatever,” said Kellan, “continue.”

  “No, you raise an important point. There are evil things and unnatural things. All evil beings are unnatural but not all unnatural beings are evil. Fairies are a good example of such. Of course some fairies are evil, but not necessarily so.”

  Kellan looked thoughtful. “Well, what’s an example of something that is just always evil then?”

  Micah didn’t hesitate. “Skin-Walkers, Demons, Ghouls, Wraiths—“

  Kellan sat down again, “Ok, you can stop now. Do I look like one of the Winchester brothers? How the hell am I supposed to know how to kill all of those things?”

  Micah’s brow knitted in confusion and then he broke out in a short laugh. “Ah, I see what you’re asking. Yes, there are very specific ways to defeat each of these creatures—if you were human, which you are not.” Micah reached out a hand. “Come on. Walk with me. I’ll explain.”

  Kellan accepted the hand and Micah pulled him up, then continued as they walked down the gently sloping hill toward a distant stream.

  “As a Sentinel, you are infused with some portion of the power used in creation, but not all aspects. This is why we cannot create but only alter that which has been created. However, the beings I mentioned, exist outside the natural order of creation. You will sense them when they draw near and will easily be able to pick them out by their aura.”

  Kellan stopped. “Their aura? Really? That sounds a bit Ms. Powers reads your future to me.”

  Micah kept walking and shrugged. “You are ignorant of such things so what it sounds like really doesn’t matter much. Everything in creation has an aura most are aligned with nature and natural things so are ignored. Those beings who exist outside of nature have auras that will be starkly different, usually visible to you are dark red pulses surrounding them.”

  Kellan had quickly jogged back to, again, keep pace with his teacher. “Ok, so that explains how I’ll recognize them, but you said I wouldn’t need any particular knowledge of how to fight them. Why?”

  Micah nodded to himself. “Yes, I understand your confusion. Vampires must be killed by decapitation or wooden stakes. Werewolves and Wraiths with silver. Ghouls, well, ghouls are difficult. Not only do you need to decapitate them, but you have to destroy the head or they will just put it back on.”

  Kellan stopped again and this time Micah turned to him quizzically.

  “Really? They just put their heads back on?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. Ghouls are annoying that way. But—“ Micah waved his hand in a vaguely negating way, “None of that really matters for you because you are infused with Ordered creative energy.”

  “Great, and what does that do for me?”

  “Well, beyond making it easy for you to identify unnatural beings, any lethal blow from you destroys them.”

  “What do you mean? I could shoot a vampire in the face and kill him?”

  Micah had picked up a smooth stone and stood examining it. He held it out to Kellan. “Look at the colors in this. It is almost iridescent.”

  Kellan glanced at the stone. “Great—pretty rock. Dude, stay focused will you? Vampires. Shooting them in the face?”

  Micah sighed and slipped the rock into the folds of his clothes. “Honestly, I don’t know about the shooting? You mean with a gun?”

  “No, I mean with a sling and a rock,” answered Kellan sarcastically.

  “Oh, then yes, I think that would work because the sling and rock would be an extension of you so would carry your essence with it. I know the same to be true of sword and bow.”

  Kellan ground his teeth. “I was being sarcastic. Yes, I meant a gun. I like guns. You can hit things from far away with guns. I like the idea of being far away from ghouls whe
n I kill them.”

  “Understandable,” said Micah almost to himself. He turned to Kellan and smiled, “but I don’t think a gun will work. It’s too disconnected from you and never had life in it. A sling is made of leather or cloth. Bows of wood. Your sword, well, your sword is an extension of mind and spirit. It will always be your most powerful weapon. Although—”

  “What?”

  “Your ability with fire was devastating and whatever you channel is a complete manifestation of your inner power: fire, lightning, wind. All those natural effects will serve you better than ever silver or a wooden stake could.”

  The two men had reached the narrow stream and Kellan marveled at how clear it was. Micah knelt down, dipping cupped hands into the rushing water and brought them to his lips. He looked up, smiled at Kellan who then did the same.

  “Ready?” Micah asked.

  “For?”

  “More lessons of course. I’d like to introduce you to lightning and earth channeling before the day is out.”

  Kellan stood and then bowed deeply, “I am but your humble Padawan, my Master. You command and I follow.”

  Micah looked up at the young Sentinel and laughed, “I find that quite hard to believe, but let us begin.”

  Kellan crested the rocky hill to find Micah sitting on a stone bench staring out into the distance. He put a friendly hand on his mentor’s shoulder and squeezed slightly, then turned and chuckled.

  “This for me? Doesn’t seem like your style. Why’d you make it?” Kellan asked as he moved to settle into the rough hewn chair. “It’s a bit ‘Iron Throne,’ don’t you think?”

  “Don’t sit there, Kellan.” Micah’s words were little more than a whisper but something in them brought Kellan up short and he stopped, looking back toward the old Sentinel questioningly.

  “Let’s just say the last person to sit in that chair is a bit of an,” Micah paused, “asshole.”

  Kellan laughed. “Very good, after all this time, I’m glad to see I’m rubbing off on you.”

  Micah patted the bench next to him, “Come. Sit.”

  Kellan did and the two looked out over the expanse before them saying nothing, the silence between them spreading outward to match the distance that lay before them.

  Finally, Micah shattered the silence, speaking softly but still causing Kellan to start as the quiet between them vanished.

  “Time has almost caught us my friend,” Micah said.

  Kellan grinned, “Has it? Do you think we should go on?”

  Micah glanced over, “I think we should have a party.”

  Kellan clapped. “Oh, bravo! An obscure Highlander reference, quoting Kastagir no less.”

  Micah smiled sadly, “Yes, your incessant cultural references have throughly corrupted me.”

  “It’s a gift,” Kellan replied, “but, hey, not the best quote because ol’ Kastagir loses his head right after that part of the story.”

  Micah just stared at Kellan pointedly.

  “Oh no, not yet. No, Micah.”

  “It’s time, Kellan.”

  “There is no time here. You’ve only said that dozens of times.”

  Micah ignored the comment. “You know what’s strange? I’ve been waiting so long for this moment. I’ve been so tired for so long. I asked Raphael to help make this happen and now that it’s really here, I’m disquieted. Isn’t that just the height of ridiculousness? Apparently, I’m a ridiculous man, who would have thought that? Anyway, I find myself envious of you, Kellan. You have the whole adventure spreading out before you and I’ve seen over our time in this place how you will proceed. You have learned in a span of what would be months out here, what it took me centuries to master.”

  He laughed, shaking his head.

  “And that’s not the half of it. You have done things that I’ve never been able to do and you don’t even see how miraculous that is. What was the fire thing you did yesterday?”

  Kellan was staring silently at his friend and mentor, eyes moist, but didn’t respond.

  Micah slapped his leg. “You know the stupid thing you did with fire and your voice—hydrogen was it?”

  Finally, Kellan answered. “Fusion—it’s fusion.”

  “Right, fusion. You took the hydrogen, turned it into…” He paused thinking, “helium, breathed some of that in, and then took the remaining helium and turned it into carbon. Then crushed that into a diamond”

  Micah laughed again as the memory played through his head.

  “And you did all that in the blink of an eye so that you could make a joke about proposing to someone while sounding like David Duck.”

  “Donald,” Kellan said softly as he struggled with his tears.

  “Huh? Oh, yes. Donald Duck.”

  “Fusion, Kellan. I didn’t even know that existed. I didn’t know that’s how stars work. I didn’t even know that the sun is a star, just closer.”

  Micah paused, shaking his head, “Raphael out did himself with you, that’s for sure, but I’m so afraid for you, Kellan.”

  “This all comes so easily to you. You progress so quickly that I’m afraid your capabilities already exceed your wisdom.”

  The old man looked again at Kellan, “I don’t mean this as a slight. You have a good heart, a strong moral compass, and a solid constitution. You are a good man, Kellan, but history is replete with good men who do unspeakable things because they lack wisdom.”

  “Then you shouldn’t leave me, Micah. We should take this journey together.”

  Micah turned on the bench staring intently at Kellan. “What do you mean? That is impossible, Kellan. Even after all the lessons I provided in this place and the many times I’ve explained it, still you persist. We share this power for but the frozen moment while we are in the place. Once we have held the power, we cannot live without it. It is part of us and we it—inseparable.”

  “That may not be true. I’ve been thinking about this and have tried a couple things.”

  Micah grew very still. “What kind of things, Kellan?”

  “Well, you know how the power can be splintered slightly and redirected? I tried to do that with you while you were sleeping earlier. I was able to redirect almost all of it into you, holding back just a sliver. I’m sure I could do that outside of this place as well. If I’m fast enough when we leave, I think I could keep you alive. Then it would just be a matter of maintaining that link so that you could—”

  “No, Kellan.”

  “Yes, I think it would work. I’m almost positive.”

  “No!” Micah growled, standing up and walking several paces ahead before turning back toward Kellan. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. Have you thought about the ramifications of what you’re suggesting? What would happen to Nurisha? Could she be splintered in such a way? What about our strength? The power is finite and balanced against its opposite. Even if you could do as you say, we would both be half as powerful as your adversary. Stop acting like a child, Kellan!”

  The young Sentinel said nothing, just lowered his face into his hands, finally speaking so softly that Micah could barely hear, “I just don’t want to lose you., not now. I’m not ready.”

  Micah seemed to immediately regret his anger, and walked over, kneeling down before the younger man, kissing his tousled hair. “You are ready, Kellan. More ready than I was, trust me on that. I just wish I could be around to tell you when you are about to do something especially stupid.”

  Kellan looked up, “Just when I’m about to be especially stupid?”

  Micah smiled, “Well, if I had to be around when you were just being normally stupid, I’d have to be omnipresent, now wouldn’t I?”

  Kellan snorted, “So true.”

  Micah brightened further. “Wait a moment, I actually have an idea. One of your endless retellings of modern stories just popped into my head. I could create a fetish stone for you.”

  Kellan just looked at his friend blankly.

  “It’s a means to impart the semblance of o
ne’s self to an inanimate object that can interact, be questioned, and respond similarly to to how the original person would.”

  Micah stood up, pacing and talking to himself. “It would, of course be limited, and I’d have to try and anticipate most of the situations, but it is definitely doable and time isn’t an issue if I make a pocket universe and do it there while he waits.”

  “Hey! I’m right here; your talking about me in the 3rd person again. What the heck are you on about?”

  Micah looked back to Kellan and was about to explain all the details of what he had in mind, but then just smiled and said, “I’m going to be your Jor’el.”

  Kellan’s eyes widened with complete understanding, “Oh. Wow!”

  From Kellan’s perspective, Micah had only vanished a moment before, having stepped into the glowing blue oval that was the portal to what the old Sentinel called his pocket universe. As he explained it, this was simply a way of leveraging the strange lack of time that existed in this place. By creating another instance of the workroom and closing it off from the one in which Kellan existed, Micah could, quite literally, spend an eternity building his fetish without any time passing for Kellan.

  The blue oval appeared again and Micah stepped through, looking somehow older and definitely haggard. “So, how long did it take you,” Kellan asked?

  The older man just shook his head, “No way to know for sure, but months of normal time if not years.”

  Micah smiled tiredly. “But, here it is. Don’t use it until,” he paused, “until I’m gone. I don’t want to see it.” With that, he handed the fetish stone to Kellan who turned it over in his hands.

  It was about a hand span in length, and appeared as a long, hexagonal white crystal that glowed slightly while being warm to the touch. After taking in its appearance for a moment, Kellan chuckled and looked up at Micah.

  “Really?” he said laughing again.

  Micah returned the laugh, “Well, I did say I was going to be your Jor’el so figured I’d go all the way. How did I do?”

  Kellan grasped the crystal firmly so only a bit of light escaped between his fingers, his voice becoming solemn. “You did great, Micah. It’s perfect. It’s simply perfect.”