by Oxford, Rain
“You can wait in here while I see what my brother wants and get rid of him.” She left through the opposite door, leaving it open just a crack.
As I opened the door to her place and took a step in, I was bombarded by my Guardian instincts; I was going to miss something important.
Heeding the warning, I closed the door and followed after Leina into her brother’s place. There was very little furniture, boxes of papers, and a bed perfectly made. No pictures or art were displayed on the white walls, or anything to identify this as a home. The kitchenette looked like it had never been used. I found Leina and her brother on the balcony, looking out over the sea.
“What is it?” I asked. Leina jumped slightly, but pressed her back against my front. I put my arms around her because it was getting cold out and her clothes were fairly thin.
She pointed to a small island not far from the city, maybe ten minutes by boat. The island was secluded with thick trees, but something felt wrong about it. I actually felt as if something there was watching me. Still, except for my instincts, I could see nothing wrong.
“What about it? It looks fine,” I said.
Her brother turned to look at me. “It looks like a nice enough island. The problem is, it was not there yesterday.”
“What do you mean, ‘not there yesterday’? Islands do not develop overnight,” I argued.
“I agree, but this one did. I arrived this morning and passed right by it. I almost landed there to explore it, but there were horrible sounds coming from the forest.” He shivered as he looked back at the island. “Truly horrible sounds, and not just one. That island is bad. People will go there to explore it and they will die.”
I patted Leina’s arm and let her go. “I will take care of it.”
“What?” she demanded as she turned to me. “There are monsters there and you want to go find them?”
“If it is a threat, I will take care of it. That is my job, and I do my job well.”
“You are a monster hunter? That is a terrible job!” she said. I laughed and went back into the room. “What about…?” she asked.
“If the sounds are from the same creatures that attacked this city, they could return at any time for a second round. It could take all day to uncover and neutralize a threat hiding on that island, and I do not want to be there when it gets dark. I need to go now.”
“You can take my boat,” the brother supplied. He told me where it was tethered. It was difficult to leave Leina there, but I had to; my duties as Guardian come first.
Just when I found the boat, I heard my name called and looked over to see Vivian standing there wearing a dark blue, fitted dress and brown leather boots. “You went shopping? How? You don’t have any money,” I said. The skills of some women…
She shrugged. “I traded for the clothes I was wearing. Did you have fun corrupting that woman?” she asked.
“No,” I answered.
She frowned. “I’m sorry it wasn’t that good. Maybe the next city we stop at will have a more-experienced slut you can play with. Or maybe women of the sea are not that great.”
“I meant no, I did not get to do anything with her. I’m going to check out a creepy island that screams danger and grew overnight,” I answered, purposely trying to scare her off.
“Ooohh! Sounds like fun!” She jumped in the boat before I could untie it.
I sighed and got in. Nano was going to kill me.
I knew something was wrong within a few minutes. By distance, it should have taken about ten minutes; however, I realized that the closer we got, the quicker we were eating up the distance. We were not actually moving faster, the island had some form of time warp around it. It was drawing people in.
“I think we made a mistake,” Vivian said. “Something’s wrong. I don’t want to be here. Turn around.”
“I need to find out what’s here and fight it. You can stay on the boat.”
“Are you kidding? I’ll get killed in two minutes!”
“Then I’ll get off and you head back to the city,” I said. She was muttering when we reached the island. The boat hit sand and I hopped out. “Come back for me before nightfall, but don’t come alone.” I gave the boat a shove. The boat drifted off a little, then rolled back with the tide. I pushed it off harder, but it came right back. Vivian used the row, which stuck right into the water and struck no dirt.
“There’s a steep drop there. Oh, god. I don’t like this. I would rather die with you on this horror movie than drown alone at sea. Oh, god! The ocean’s so deep!” She was panicking now. She actually stood up like she was going to jump, but the boat rocked hard and she fell. When the boat hit the sand a third time, I helped her out.
I had to listen to her rant about drowning until we reached the trees that towered over us. Then fear took her breath and voice. Inside it was dark, not to the point that I couldn’t see through it, but definitely dark enough.
“I don’t want to die. I have a baby.” Vivian started crying and held onto my arm tightly. “Please, we have to leave. Please.”
“We can’t,” I said. I pointed back out to sea, where our boat was drifting away into the open ocean. She started crying harder and I sighed. I knew what I had to do. My life would be in danger the moment I did, but I could never stand a crying woman. “Alright. We’ll go back to the beach and I will call for Nano.”
“What?” she asked, startled out of her crying. “I thought you said you couldn’t do anything!” she yelled.
“I can’t travel worlds, but I can send out a signal. I can make sure it finds Nano, and he’ll come.”
I expected it when she slapped me. “Why didn’t you tell me before?! He can’t come here; he’ll be killed with us!”
At least she cared about his life. Once I gave up my hiding spot, I was free game for the gods to kill me. “He can travel,” I said. “He can take you and get out of here in an instant. Even the time field will have no effect.” No effect to them, anyway. It was likely that the Guardian’s power would react with the time field and blow this island to bits as soon as they left.
I grabbed her arm to escort her back to the safer beach, but at that moment, I felt the jerk of something else grabbing onto her. She screamed as she was pulled into the dark. I raced after her, but the speed of whatever had her was insane. Abruptly, she was dropped, but at the haste she was going, she rolled quite a ways.
I pulled her into my lap as she cried and shook and used my magic to check for damage. Unfortunately, there was an energy barrier around her; Nano had created a shield to protect her from magic, but it was keeping me from helping her. I could have broken it, being the stronger Guardian, but the backlash would have hurt Vivian.
Instead, I had to hope there was no internal bleeding. I took the healing cream out of my bag and covered the minor scrapes on her delicate skin. While it stopped the wounds from hurting, prevented infection, and sped up the rate of healing, the real reason I used it was to cover up the scent of blood. I learned a long time ago that in the dark, you don’t want to smell like blood.
A loud screech had us back on our feet. Whatever it was, it was big, and we did not want to meet it. Vivian ran with me, but limped a little. “Where is your gargoyle? Shouldn’t he be helping us?”
I hoped we were heading in the right direction towards the beach. “He isn’t my gargoyle; he is a wild gargoyle that can do what he wants.” As we made our way to the beach, the roots in the ground started to whip around like some kind of psychotic snakes. The faster we ran, the more they moved.
I slowed to a stop, holding Vivian back with me. She didn’t question me and used the time to catch her breath. I reached into the ground, sopping with moisture, and froze every drop of liquid I could. The roots instantly collapsed. I reached for Vivian to get us running again, when I felt something hit me. A force of energy shoved me back hard into a tree trunk. Whatever it was, I could see nothing, but it was strong and solid. When it compressed me harder into the tree, I lost my breath. I co
uldn’t even tell Vivian to stay away when she tried to pull me off the tree. It didn’t just compress me from the front; it wrapped around me and constricted like a snake. I tried to draw enough energy to fight, but it was like there was nothing there. My energy could actually feel an absence of everything.
My head swam and my vision started to dim when a sudden flash of light nearly blinded me. After it cleared, the little girl who had helped me on the boat was there. There was nothing I could do or say and right before I passed out, she disappeared, along with the pressure of the invisible force.
* * *
I woke to drops of water on my face. The forest had gone from slightly cold to an uncomfortable hot and humid. Sitting up, I found Vivian huddled up by a tree. “You’re impossible to move,” she accused.
“Sago have a denser structure than humans, so we weigh more. What happened to that little girl?”
“She was only here for a second, then she disappeared and you passed out. That was about two hours ago and it’s been quiet since. It just started to rain a little. We should have stayed on the beach and followed the plan,” she said.
“What plan? We had a plan?”
“Mordon and I did. Distract the monster until Dylan can get here,” she said.
Normally, I would admonish her for putting all her faith in one person, but Dylan had that kind of track record. He always figured out the clues, had the plan, and arrived in time where he was needed at the last possible moment. That sounded like a pretty good plan.
As I got to my feet, the loud screeching from earlier startled the silence. Several howls, roars, and screeches answered the call, quieter but still very creepy. Vivian rolled her eyes and we went in the opposite direction of the sound. This time we didn’t run. I’m not sure if Vivian had given up or what, but she had a distinct lack of energy.
I wished we had run a moment later, when our path was blocked by a nightmare; a horrible dog-like creature with glowing blue eyes and foaming fangs. The beast was hairless and the skin actually looked charred in spots. It was tall and skinny with long appendages and a long neck. Its head was held low and fangs flashed in threat.
Vivian screamed, but I couldn’t comfort her. I don’t think I could actually move. This was a creature all sago feared. While human parents told their children about the boogie men, sago grew up hearing about the dejeva.
“What is that?!” Vivian cried, trying to pull me back and keep me in front of her at the same time.
“Hush. It can’t hurt us. It doesn’t exist,” I said, more to myself than her. If I spoke any louder, it would have been with hysterics. I couldn’t remember ever being more terrified. I would have gladly faced Vretial alone instead of this creature.
“I can see it! It does exist!” she argued.
“The dejeva is a Duran myth. Just a myth.” The creature growled and stepped closer. “The name ‘dejeva’ translates to ‘doll’ in English. They are created by the death of a powerful wizard who wants to destroy someone so badly that they are willing to die themself. But the dejeva rarely kills. The venom in their bite can either kill someone slowly and painfully, or it can turn a person into one of them. They like to eat someone just enough to leave them alive.”
“Stop telling me this!” she cried.
“They spit venom that will eat your skin off.” The creature made a rumbling grunting sound deep in its chest as if it were laughing. It shook its head slightly, making the froth from its mouth fly from the wrinkly muzzle.
“We’re going to die,” Vivian cried, hiding her face against my back.
“Yes,” I answered. “Hopefully that’s all.”
The screech behind us informed me that whatever we had been running from had found us, though I was more afraid that it would provoke the dejeva to attack. I could feel Vivian turn to look at the newcomer, but I still couldn’t take my eyes off the dejeva. However, the beast did take his eyes off me. The monstrous creature peered above my head at whatever was behind me. Nothing could scare a dejeva, though, so it resumed its snarling, this time at what was behind me.
I felt the flap of its great wings before I saw it bound over us. A black dragon, strangely familiar, hit the ground right in front of me. It reared up and then pounded its front legs into the ground with a screech. Trees trembled. Fortunately, it stood between us and the dejeva, and seemed more interested in the one opponent. When the dragon’s left hind leg missed me by a breath, and its whipping spike-tipped tail nearly gutted me, I grabbed Vivian’s arm and ran.
We ran for the beach until I had to scramble for the purchase of a tree. In between us and the bright beach was a hole, wide enough to drop my cabin in and deep enough to bury it. I could not tell exactly how deep it was, because I couldn’t see the bottom. It was black; not dark, actually a hole of blackness. I couldn’t even see the walls of the hole. When I tried pouring energy into it to explore the depth and contents, the energy disappeared. It was sucking in the energy like a black hole.
I held Vivian back as she tried to see into it. It felt like something was looking back at us. “What could have made this hole? How far down do you think it goes? What’s down there?” she asked. She sounded much more curious than afraid.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to know. Let’s go.”
“Really? You don’t want to know at all? I could go down there and look around.”
“What?!” I demanded. “Why would you do that?!”
“I want to see. I want to go down there.”
I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away, but she struggled and tried to fight me off. The more I pulled her away, the harder she fought. It was difficult to go around the hole with Vivian biting me and trying to push us in. When we made it through the trees, I shoved her to the ground and pinned her down.
While I had lost my connection to my book, I could still reach out to Duran. My soul knew my home, having reached through the bond so many times. I could feel my concealing spell break and Duran reach kindly back for me. With the bond to my world humming in my mind, I reached through my lesser connection to Dios. My name was in Nano’s book, and through that bond I could feel the worried Guardian. The only thing I could do was send him a mental image of where I was in the universe. I hoped he knew I was with Vivian and not just asking for help.
The woman in question went limp underneath me as I lost my shaky connection. “Kiro?” she asked, fear thick in her voice. I looked down at her. “Did I really just try to jump in a hole?”
I was about to answer her when there was a whooshing sound. I looked up in time to see the upper atmosphere light with fire. Fortunately, it was only over the area in the time field, so the nearby city was safe.
“Would you kindly get off my mate, please?”
I rolled over to let Vivian jump up and run into Nano’s arms. “That was quick,” I said, getting up from the ground and dusting the sand off.
He frowned. “It took me a long time to track you down, nearly an entire Dios day after I got your message.”
I shouldn’t have been startled. “We have a time warp over us; it was hardly an instant before you arrived. However, your magic is burning up the time field, so you need to leave now,” I said.
“Are you not coming?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Any moment, one of the gods is going to summon me, and Zer will not let me land on Dios. If you tried to take all three of us while I am blocked, there’s no telling what would happen to you two.”
“Nano, he saved me; don’t let him stay,” Vivian demanded.
“This place will explode the moment my traveling magic burns through the time field,” Nano warned.
I nodded. “Good. The people of this world should not be exposed to this place.”
“Dylan will be very angry.”
“He has Divina to keep him safe. Besides, he would be standing here, too, if he had to make the same choice. Don’t risk Vivian when you know taking me is too dangerous.”
He nodded. “Thank yo
u.” With those parting words and a crackle of energy, they both disappeared.
As the roaring of flames in the sky grew louder, I knew I was out of time. It was sad to hear the scared cries of the beasts in the forest. As much as the people should not be exposed to those creatures, I was still against killing. I felt the ground shake apart and sink as the trees caught on fire. I looked out over the ocean to see the waves turn violent, but from one instant to the next, everything changed.
* * *
I was standing on a small, flat stone in the middle of the sea. Even as calm as the water was, it lapped over the stone to wet my boots. There was no land or ships in site. The lack of any wind, despite the clear sound of it, informed me of where I was. Wherever my body physically was, my mind was standing council to one of the gods.
He appeared in front of me with calmness, but I could see by the glare in his eyes that he was angry. With shoulder-length black hair, sharp features, and a lithe body, he was not what I expected a god to look like, but it was a falsified image anyway. The gods appeared however they wanted to, and created an environment to suit their desires.
“You know you are suspected of treason against the gods.” It wasn’t a question. His Enochian was perfect, and I felt a little shame that I never learned it fluently.
“I am innocent,” I pleaded respectfully.
“Yet you hide yourself on my world like a coward.”
“I came here… to help your Noquodi. He asked for help. I lost my book when I arrived,” I had to choose my worlds carefully so that I did not mistake my usage of vocabulary or grammar.
“You will not need your book again. For suspected treason and for taking refuge on my world, I judge you---”
