by Rain Oxford
“Dylan looks exhausted. You were only gone for a couple of minutes, but how long was it from your side?”
“About six hours. It is difficult to tell time on other worlds because of the size and rotational speed of the world, but Rojan has some sort of grasp on time.”
“I’m not surprised that a dragon would. Did Dylan use a lot of magic?”
“After we got the dagger, we found some demons terrorizing a little village. Their castle was partially collapsed and we went all over the village and castle so Dylan could heal people.”
“And you killed the demons?” he asked. I nodded. “Guardians were created to defend the books of our worlds. All of us but Dylan were raised with monks, so we all have different ideas of what our jobs entail. We all want to protect and hate killing, but I don’t know if it really is a biological disposition or how we were actually raised. Dylan is definitely the most peaceful, but I have seen it in his eyes that he has the potential to be extremely vindictive.”
I shook my head. “Only when his family is threatened. He would never forgive himself if he lost control, so I intend to never let it come to that.”
“You will protect him from himself?”
“Always.”
“His mate is a god. He is surrounded by Guardians who would do anything for him after what he did five years ago. I would do anything for him. All the gods treat him like their little brother. Do you think he needs more than that?”
“I think every one of them, and you, would protect him from demons, gods, and monsters misplaced in time and space, but he can defend himself against those. However, he doesn’t stop. As long as he feels he can help someone, he wouldn’t ever stop. That’s why he needs me.”
I could smell the blood before the yelling started. Both Edward and I were out the door as quickly as possible. It was a dark morning with angry clouds. Emrys had Samorde on the ground with his hands tight around the smaller man’s throat, while Ghidorah was trying to pull Emrys away. Azyle, Shiloh, and Nano were in a fierce debate, which seemed to be about Vretial. Since they were yelling in another language, I couldn’t understand what the problem was. The other Guardians and Vivian were still in their tents.
Edward went to help Ghidorah get Emrys off of Samorde. Ghidorah first growled at Edward, then reluctantly accepted his help.
I thought that Rojan was going to yell at them when I felt Dylan wake. Instead, he sighed. Go back inside. They are not going to kill each other. Eventually, they will get tired of arguing.
Rojan was right. The more we shared our magic, the more I could sense what Dylan felt. He needed water and more sleep. Still, I knew my friend; he wanted to get right back to work.
I entered the cabin just as he was sitting up, then got a cup from the cabinet and filled it with water from the vase. He groaned as I handed the water to him. “I feel like I just got over two weeks of finals.” He drank the water and handed it back to be before pulling a strip of Wigknot bark out of his bag to chew on. “I wish I had this while going to college; it’s much better than Tylenol. Is there any breakfast?”
“I’ll see what I can get going.” I stepped outside to see Edward putting steaks on the fire grill. He lit the fire with magic as the Guardians and Vivian took their assigned stone seats. Samorde had bruises around his neck, but he was having a friendly conversation in another language with Ghidorah, even laughing.
Edward had a cup of knives and forks and a stack of plates next to the fire. Having seen what Edward was making for breakfast, I went back inside. There was a pile of bags next to the door with things we would need if we took the kids with us, including clothes and food. From the largest bag, I retrieved some bread and fruit. Sammy and Ron both disliked meat, and Sammy was grumpy when he woke up hungry. Ron was much more mild-tempered.
Dylan pouted when I put the food on the table. “I don’t get any?”
“You can go one morning without breakfast,” I said, teasing him.
He flopped down on his pillow dramatically and clutched his stomach as if in pain. “You’re trying to starve me!” When I ignored him, he got to his feet enthusiastically. “I smell the grill. Is Edward making ushiiku?”
Ushiiku was a large mammal that ran wild on Shomodii. It was also Dylan’s favorite.
“Yes. You should get the boys up and settled before the steaks are done,” I said. He went downstairs and I got two cups out of the cabinet. Next to the water vase was a bottle of kamitsue, a sweet juice made from roots. I filled the boys’ cups with the juice and set it down just as Dylan returned carrying Ron. Ron had his arms around Dylan’s neck and was still half asleep. Sammy trailed behind him before taking his seat and nibbling on a piece of fruit. “Why are you both so tired?” I asked.
Sammy gave me a blank, bleary-eyed stare. Ron wouldn’t let go when Dylan tried to set him down. “We had busy dreams,” Sammy explained.
“Of what?” Dylan asked, prying Ron off him.
“Lore. We had dreams of what Lore was going to look like. And Raktusha.”
Dylan froze.
“What is Raktusha?” I asked.
“Vretial’s world,” Ron said, grabbing Sammy’s bread instead of his own. Sammy ignored it and sipped his drink. Ron then took his own bread and put it on Sammy’s plate, apparently realizing he had taken his brother’s food.
Goofy kid. “Vretial doesn’t have a world,” I said.
“Not yet.”
“I know what Vretial wants with them,” Dylan said, sitting hard in a chair. He put his face in his hands.
“Daddy, it’s okay. We don’t have to decide for a long time,” Ron said, putting his tiny hand on Dylan’s. It was something Divina often did when trying to comfort Dylan or give him bad news as gently as possible.
“Decide what?” I asked.
“Vreital is building a new world. With the gates closed, he’s going to need a book.” He looked at me. “Of course he will need a Guardian.”
“And he wants one of the boys to be his Guardian?” I asked.
“He wants both of us as his Guardians,” Sammy corrected. “Avoli is uncomfortable with Ron because Ron is like Daddy and Divina. Ron would completely take over the world. Vretial knows we are brothers and not going to be separated.”
“Do you trust Vretial?” Dylan asked them.
Sammy and Ron both frowned. “Trust him to do what?”
“I don’t know anymore,” Dylan said, running his hand through his hair.
I thought I understood; it had to be horribly confusing for Dylan that Vretial was psychotic and bent on taking over all of the worlds when he met the god, but now Vretial was completely different. On top of that, he felt like he needed to protect his boys from the dark god, but he didn’t know that Vretial was really a threat to them.
When I sensed the discontent that Dylan felt, I realized I was wrong; it wasn’t about protecting the boys. Vretial had always been Dylan’s unfinished business. Dylan came into this life of magic because of Vretial. He had to defend Earth from Vretial. The dark god was the reason his father was dead, but he was also the reason Dylan was a Guardian. Vretial was a mystery that needed to be solved… and the only thing Dylan ever knew for absolute certain was that Vretial was his enemy.
Vretial was no longer his enemy.
Vretial killed Dylan’s father by sending Shio after the books, but then helped Dylan save the boys. The god had personal reasons to save Dylan’s sons, but he still did it. Maybe my friend didn’t even realize what he was upset about.
“Let’s take a look at that map again,” I said, trying to distract him. Unfortunately, I did distract him.
“Who was the girl in the purple dress?” he asked. I froze and he smirked. “Emiko. You called her Emiko. She was a dragon?”
“How did you know?” I asked. Stupid question.
“You had a dream about her last night.” He turned away with a smirk and grabbed the card from the center of the table. “Hey, it changed,” he said.
“Of course it
did, Daddy, you already saw the first location,” Sammy said, as if it were obvious that a map would change.
He stuck it on the table and set the crystal ball on it. Just before we activated it, Edward walked in with steaks. Dylan greeted him and excitedly took both plates of steak. I tried to take one and he growled at me, holding it to his chest.
I growled back and shifted my teeth when he still didn’t give it to me. Finally, he submitted and held out one of the plates for me. Edward handed us forks and knives, then went down the stairs grumbling about cavemen. Yeah, we were acting silly. Even Rojan grumbled, but everyone was used to Dylan and me teasing each other. Dylan thought that I would enjoy my food more if he made me work for it.
“Duran really needs potatoes. Buttered bread and steak is great, but I want French fries,” Dylan said.
“What do you know about growing potatoes?”
“I wasn’t suggesting I grow them. Edward already told me they would never survive our weather. I mean, between summer droughts and winter blizzards, not to mention fire blizzards, I can’t imagine how anyone on Shomodii can grow anything. No, I was suggesting I flash to Earth and get a bag of potatoes.”
“That sounds like a very frivolous use of your magic. Why don’t you?”
“I’m out of American money and I don’t think they’ll take Duran money.”
Both of us ate quickly and moved onto business. We poured our magic into the crystal until the energy shaped into another star map. Edward returned with Meri. Her hair was mussed and she wore a loose, white button-up shirt with a pair of short, dark gray sleep-shorts. While she was very beautiful, everything she did exuded sexiness.
Most disturbing was that even though I couldn’t look away, Rojan was indifferent. He pretty much gave me a mental shrug. Not nearly as cute as Emiko.
Emiko is a brat. An evil brat.
We can shape her up. She just needs some direction.
Why did that turn me on? I didn’t like where Rojan’s thoughts were going, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop him. Dylan elbowed me in the ribs until I focused the map. My friend was right; I really didn’t want to be on Edward’s bad side for ogling his girlfriend. I may not have been thinking about her, but I was staring at her.
“Recognize the stars?” Dylan asked Edward.
Edward frowned at it for a moment. “I think so. I’ll be right back.” Edward left and returned less than a minute later with Shiloh in tow. “Look at the star formation and tell us if that is Vaigda’s sky.”
Shiloh examined for just a second before nodding. “It definitely is.”
“Alright. We need to think of Vaigda,” I said. I thought about the quarantine rooms and the city in the sky. There was glass and technology everywhere and everything was so clean that the city on the ground glittered. I remembered the taste of the gross cream candy I got for Sammy and that everyone in the water city wore white. The gravity of the world was similar to Duran. I remembered the sounds and smells of the cities.
We were each focusing on memories that were very similar, so the images soon began crossing over. Dylan had seen into the heart of the world when he healed it, and I could see those memories.
The energy shifted to form a new image; which appeared to be a study. There was a large wooden desk with a shelf full of books behind it. We both looked at Emrys. “Do you know where that is?” Dylan asked.
He shook his head. “That doesn’t look familiar.”
“We are looking for a water cup,” I said.
Dylan frowned. “A cup for water?” I rolled my eyes and Edward sighed, pulling out his cards.
“This is what you’re looking for.” He held up a card with the picture of a ceremonious blue goblet. “These are a basic set of ritual items. What do you need them for?”
“I don’t know. Ronez just said we would need them to close the gates. He said that Tiamat told him to make them special and that they were dangerous. Why else would they be hidden the way they are?” Dylan asked.
Dylan and I focused on the cup until the energy in the crystal changed slightly. Now there was a goblet sitting on the shelf. The feeling of time formed in my mind, but I think it was stronger for Dylan.
It is in the past. A few years before we were there, I think, Rojan said.
“Okay. I got it. Ready?” Dylan asked me. I nodded.
“Wait. Maybe you can take Seimei and Ikiru with you. If there’re more demons then they can help you,” Sammy said.
“Mordon and I can handle it. The griffins should stay here in case one of the Guardians is possessed again.”
“I should go with you,” Shiloh said. “You have visited Vaigda, but you know little of the culture. If you are found without a medical bracelet, you will be detained. I can be of use to you whether in a fight or to keep the peace.”
Dylan smirked. “You forget, Shiloh; I have Iadnah magic. I can flash us out or put up an energy shield if we need it. Plus, Mordon is a powerful wizard and if anyone pisses us off, he can eat them. Besides, we really don’t need you running into yourself. With the gates opening, we want to make as few mistakes as possible.”
“You sounded like you support my idea of a council so that we can all help each other… but you refuse the possible help that I offer. If I can assist you in any way, why not allow me to come with you?”
“You already helped us,” Dylan said. “We couldn’t have done this if you didn’t tell us this was Vaigda’s sky. However, when it comes down to it, Mordon and I work together. We know how each other thinks and what the other person will do. If it’s me and him, there will be no collateral damage.”
“What he means is that if Mordon wasn’t there, he would certainly be grateful for your assistance. However, they have a system in place,” Edward said.
“Alright. We need to get going. The faster we get the ritual items, the faster we can take care of the gates,” Dylan said, pulling out the apple. I put my hand on it. “I’ll focus on time if you focus on Vaigda.”
“Got it,” I answered. We both closed our eyes. I replayed all my memories of Vaigda, but mostly pictured the room where the water cup was going to be. The apple grew warm and I felt the sudden absence of nominal energy as we left Duran. When I first traveled to other worlds with Dylan, I couldn’t tell the difference between the nominal energy of my home world and the others, but as I became more familiar with Dylan’s energy, the subtle differences became clear. What bothered me about this time travel was for a couple of seconds, I had no senses whatsoever.
When my senses returned, it was to the smell of books and water. I opened my eyes to see us in the study, which was expected. The smell of sea water made Rojan shudder; we were in one of the water cities. The room itself was cozy with rich, dark colors and wall-to-wall book cases full of old books. Behind the old wooden desk was a comfortable looking leather chair.
Dylan flopped down in the chair and put his feet up on the desk. “I always wanted a desk.” He put his feet down and scooted up to the desk with excitement. “Now I need a brandy, an old phone, and sexy lady in a miniskirt to sit on the desk.”
“Divina will skin you alive.”
“Divina isn’t the jealous type. She’s a god and very confident in herself. Besides, she knows I love her for everything she is, including her manipulative tendencies.” The water cup appeared on the table and Dylan dived for it. Dylan looked the cup over before holding it up for me to see.
It was a proper-sized goblet, big enough for me to wrap my hand around the clear glass stem, and the base was painted dark blue. The outer lip of the goblet was painted orange with eight light blue strips trailing to the stem. The rest of the cup was medium blue with orange sigils and foreign letter painted on. The letters didn’t look English, but they certainly were not a Duran language, not even an old magic scripture.
“That was easy. Do you hear any demons or people screaming?” Dylan asked.
I listened. After straining my ears and nose, I could hear people in the far distance, but
none of them were yelling or screaming. “It sounds calm. Let’s head home.”
He put the cup in his bag, leaving a huge lump, and pulled out the glass apple. I put my hand on it and we closed our eyes to concentrate. We both focused on the boys. Specifically, we thought about them right after we disappeared. A feeling pressed in on my mind.
This is what you are looking for. This is the time right after we disappeared. Pass it to Dylan, Rojan said. I focused on the sense that Rojan gave me and pushed it to Dylan.
“What is that?” he asked.
“Our time. Rojan knows what our time feels like,” I explained. So we both focused on that and immediately the nominal energy disappeared. When I felt the energy of Duran again, I opened my eyes. We were back in the cabin with Edward, Meri, Shiloh, and the boys.
“That was quick,” Edward said.
“That seemed to work a lot better when we know the time,” Dylan said.
We were away for less than a minute, Rojan agreed.
“I’m starting to understand the sense of time. Right now it’s like discovering a new sensation. It’s like a person who could never taste anything, suddenly tasting for the first time, when nobody explained to them what it was. My Iadnah energy reacts to it, trying to learn it. Humans are capable of learning to sense magnetic north. Maybe it’s like that.”
“Magnetic north is spatial sense and taste is a chemical sense we are born with. I think time should be more difficult to learn.”
“I agree, it should be,” he said. “We were only there for a few minutes. The cup showed up, we got it, and we left.” He pulled out the cup and dagger and set them on the table.
“If I am no longer needed, I’m going to go back outside,” Shiloh announced before leaving.
Edward leaned down to whisper in Meri’s ear. It was only with my dragon-enhanced hearing that I heard his words. “Would you go make sure Emrys doesn’t kill Samorde?”
She nodded and left.
