by Oxford, Rain
“Well, share it among the people here. Sammy doesn’t like fish anyway.” Dylan passed over the basket and took the tray.
I knew that it wasn’t just about Sammy, though Dylan might not have realized why he was doing it. Dylan had naturally and instinctually found a way to befriend the tribe. Trading or sharing food was a very primal tradition in alliances.
“If it isn’t rude to ask, what magic can you do in the land tribe?”
“All of our people can make plants grow and create a basic telepathic link with the animals that live here. Most of us have additional abilities. I can send out my senses through the plants and animals. I can sense movement through the trees and grass and see through the eyes of weaker-minded animals.”
“That sounds very useful. Does everyone in this world rely on magic? There is no technology at all? No electricity? Do you know what electricity is?”
“Yes, we have all heard stories of other worlds, but it is a bit out of the range of our understanding. We have lightning and know how to harness it, but why would we? The tribes get along well as we are. The water tribe is a little too independent, but they have never done anyone else wrong. When we need fire we ask and when they need to grow more food they come to us. The water tribe provides water. If there is sickness we ask the mend tribe for help.”
“What about traveling?” I asked.
He frowned at me. “My legs work perfectly fine. I can walk and run as well as anyone.”
“I grew up in a world where the world was run by cell phones. People met, dated, and even married on the internet. Everyone knew everyone else’s business with a click of a mouse and Facebook. It wasn’t all bad, though. I could make friends on the other side of the world and never step a foot outside. Then there were credit cards, because cash wasn’t easy enough to steal.”
I shook my head. “Ignore him, Yaden, he gets like this. He will go on and on talking about something and you have no what he is talking about because he isn’t really talking to you. He rambles.”
“It sounds like he misses home.”
“He grew up on Earth, but moved to Duran three years ago. Now he lives at a place that has no electricity…”
“No plumbing, no TV, no laptop, no internet,” Dylan finished in English. Yaden frowned, not understanding English, but Dylan just went on as he put Sammy to bed. “Duran does not even have soda. Of course, I never met an obese sago. But that might have more to do with there being no fast food and less to do with sugary drinks. Hey, am I rambling?”
“A little. It’s okay; nobody is listening,” I said.
“I have heard about Earth. It is said to be the world that never sleeps, that it never goes dark,” Yaden said.
“That would be a fair accusation,” he snorted. “We are the world that never sleeps, never goes dark, and never shuts up. Not just the sounds and signals we constantly send into space, but the sounds people make in masses… Most people don’t like the dark. Our children sleep with lights on, at least in the United States. If the world were dark, people would see it as a sign of the end. It isn’t really the dark, though; it is the silence that follows.”
“Come with me, I want to show you something.”
We followed him outside. The cabin was in a tree on a platform, sort of like a porch that wrapped all the way around. Facing out of the tree, we could see the sky above the treetops. There were billions of stars and nebulas.
My father had once taken me to Shomodii, where I could see the sky without the city lights. I watched the stars for hours and decided it was the most beautiful thing. This was even more beautiful. It wasn’t just stars; there were nebulas out there, clouds of outstanding color.
“Can you see this on Earth?” Yaden asked.
Dylan shook his head. “Never. When I got to Duran, I would sit for hours on end, night after night on the clear nights. Most of Shomodii has no electricity, no street lights, so you can see billions of stars. But not like this.”
“We are people who appreciate what we are given by nature, because we are given everything we need. I will leave you to peace and bid you a quiet night,” Yaden said before leaving.
It was a bit too cold for me, so I gave up and went inside. Dylan checked his book before we went to bed, distressing that there were clearly fewer names than before. “I don’t feel any different. That was the first question Nano asked me about it was if I felt less powerful.”
“Maybe things haven’t settled yet. The names may reappear when you heal the world those people belong to.”
When I turned the light out, it was very dark. I settled down into the bed, only to sit back up when Sammy started crying. Dylan tried to comfort him, but the baby wouldn’t settle until Dylan laid him in bed next to me.
In no time at all, we were asleep.
* * *
I woke to the sound of arguing in a foreign language. When I saw that Dylan and Sammy were still asleep, I bounded off the bed. I had to stop them before they woke Dylan. He needed more sleep if he was going to do any magic healing.
Two men stood arguing right outside the cabin with a crowd standing back. One of them was Yaden, and the other was a stranger. When I came out, they both stopped yelling and turned to me. Yaden looked apologetic. I could smell the relief he felt that someone else was there to take the attention off of him, but he was also worried over having woken me.
“I am sorry to disturb you, master fire-user, but he would not leave.”
“Are you the one who healed the water tribe?!” The stranger demanded in fair Sudo. The man was slim and tall with short, slick black hair that kept falling into his eyes, which were light blue with a silvery sheen. His robe, the same silver-blue as his eyes, draped from his shoulders, held closed with a clasp at his chest. I was not close enough to see the symbols on his clasp, and he was lucky for that.
“What’s it to you?” I asked in English. He looked entirely confused. “Who are you?” I asked in Sudo.
“I am Davsi, master air-user and priest. I demand to know who would heal the water tribe and not us!” he yelled.
Sammy started to cry.
I don’t know if it was the time of morning, the tone of his voice, the smell of his slimy intentions, or the sound of Sammy crying, but something snapped inside of me. My eyes and claws shifted, my teeth itched as they became sharp, and my fire rose. Whatever had stirred in me before had woken and all I could feel was power and anger. I would kill them all for causing me distress.
“Mordon,” Dylan said sleepily from behind me. I had smelled his approach, so I wasn’t startled. “They woke Sammy. Eat them, please.”
“Of course,” I answered. My voice was more growl than anything and smoke came out of my mouth. I could see Yaden’s innocent and gentle aura as he retreated, as well as smell his fear. The stranger’s aura was not innocent, and he did not back down. I was more powerful than them, and while Dylan may have been joking, I wasn’t. This new part of me was able and willing to kill any mortal for any reason. Yet while this entity was so new to me, it felt like I was so much older than I was before. It wasn’t settled yet; I was still changing inside.
I made another growl, a final warning. I felt like I should stay in between the man and the cabin, but I was perfectly willing to just kill him. He still did not back down, so I moved forward. Even without seeing his actual body, I could see enough to know where to strike.
“Mordon,” Dylan’s voice stood out against the rumble of people and I stopped. “Sammy wants to be held and we decided I shouldn’t do it, so you’re going to have to wake up,” he said.
I was awake. I felt like I had been asleep for a long time and now I wanted to kill something. The man whimpered as I advanced.
“Mama!” Sammy cried out.
I stopped. I could kill the man later, but Sammy wouldn’t be okay until I held him. He was probably too cold. I backed up until I was next to Dylan before looking at him. His aura was truly a good one. He wasn’t innocent or naïve, he would just never d
o anything he didn’t think was the right thing to do.
“Don’t pick Sammy up with those claws, wake up,” he said. Worry slowly stirred in him, but so did trust.
The entity, the part of me that had taken over, suddenly became separate again… I was still changing inside. It now felt like a separate being from me, and felt more so as it settled down. Its ire was calming. One random thought that the demon might have possessed me after all made the being feel humor. Like it was scoffing at the thought. It was an incredibly powerful entity and it knew it well.
My eyes shifted back and Dylan smiled. “There you are. Welcome back. Go get Sammy while I calm these people down.”
The creature inside me bristled, not at the command but at the idea that Dylan would not need my protection. I had already judged that they were a threat so they needed to be dealt with. Or maybe I hadn’t… when had I decided they were they were a threat? I already knew Yaden was docile.
“I want to kill them,” I said in his mind.
“No, whatever is inside you does.”
I went inside and found Sammy sitting on my bed. He stopped crying and held his arms out for me. I picked him up gently and the entity inside me settled down even further. Sammy watched me with confusion, looking straight into my eyes as if he were searching for something.
Finally, he gave up and laid his head on my chest. We went back outside to find the air-user calmly explaining that all his people were dying. The man squeaked when he saw me and the entity liked that.
“I will help your people, but I must help the land people first, as I am here now. I will get to everyone.”
“My people are dying at this moment!” he demanded.
The growl started before I could stop it and the man lowered his eyes.
“The people here are dying,” Yaden insisted.
Dylan looked at me. “I’m going to do my thing now.” I knew he was telling me to keep Davsi away from him. “I want to be low to the ground, but not in danger of falling into the swamp.”
Yaden took us to a low deck, just barely above the murky water. Dylan sat right in the middle and I growled at anyone who looked like they wanted to come closer.
“I need to do something to bond with the land in order to heal it,” he said.
I searched around the deck until I found what I needed, then picked up the small rock and threw it at Dylan. He instinctually stopped it with his magic. “That wasn’t so hard,” I teased.
“Bite me.” He then focused on his task. We were really starting to worry the land tribe; they would soon think all aliens were crazy.
I could feel the change in energy all around me. The entity liked the change and I was able to stop growling like a draxuni guarding his pup. Dylan sighed and flopped to his side. He was not unconscious, just tired. I dug into the baby bag to find another bottle of water, but it was the last one. I filled Sammy’s cup, but before I could hand Dylan the bottle, Sammy pushed his cup at him.
“Here, Dada.”
Dylan looked at the cup and laughed. “Thank you, buddy, but you can have that. I’ll drink later.”
“You can have this,” I said.
He wouldn’t take it. “No, seriously, I think I would throw up if I tried to eat or drink anything. Not having enough nominal energy is making me feel nauseous.” He sat up and I helped him climb to his feet, then put the bottle back in the bag. “I bet this is what Edward feels on Earth and Sammy felt on Vaigda.”
“You shouldn’t have done that if you are so sick,” I said.
He shrugged. “I’m not about to let people die because I feel icky.”
I tapped his arm. “Yes, you do feel very icky.” He punched me in the shoulder.
“No hitting, Dada!” Sammy insisted.
Emrys arrived and was willing, at the air-user’s request, to lead us up to the air tribe. This time, with the help of Madus, we would “flash” there instead of traveling on foot. I questioned it, but it was the very literal definition. There was a flash of light and we were standing on the cliff of a mountain.
We were as high up as the clouds, overlooking a deep valley. All around us were other mountains with caves and homes built into the sides. Between them were narrow wooden bridges. There were no people milling about and that made the empty bridges seem ominous.
“Okay. I am going to puke now.”
I let my eyes shift just long enough to check his energy. While he was flooding with god energy, his nominal energy was extremely sparse. As Sammy was strapped to me in his papoose, I had my hands free to grab Dylan. I did this because I didn’t know what his reaction would be when I forced every bit of nominal energy I could into him. When he only gasped, I let him go. He raised his arms up and made a happy holler I had never heard him make.
“God, that’s better than Mountain Dew! Fantastic! Feels way better. Let’s go save the world.”
Sammy’s mouth was hanging open.
Before Emrys could even remind Dylan that he had to use the magic before he could heal it, the hyper Guardian created a mini-tornado. Emrys and the stranger were both at a loss as to what was going on. Dylan got right into healing the air tribe.
This time, as he sent out healing magic, the air swirled around him in a bubble, as if protecting him. I watched with my shifted eyes as his magic healed the numerous and devastating wounds. The green energy inside him just kept forming.
When he opened his eyes, they glowed just a little greener than normal, but he looked very rested.
“I think I’m getting the hang of this new energy,” he said.
I wish I could get the hang of this beast snarling inside me.
“Where to next?” he asked.
Emrys looked unsure. “The fire tribe, I suppose, but do you not want to rest first?” he asked, frowning at me as if I could convince my friend to take it easy.
I wanted to agree with him, but Dylan looked too keyed up to rest.
“I’m good. Where are the people?” he asked, looking over the cliff before backing away from the edge.
Davsi stepped forward. “They are sick from the magic. Thank you for helping us.” When he took another step towards Dylan, I growled and intercepted. He immediately lowered his eyes. He was learning at least.
“When we’re done here, maybe we can get back to Duran and see Edward.”
“I doubt it.” The flash was just as blinding as before, made worse by the darkness we were engulfed in when it cleared. Only the cracks provided light. We were in a dark tunnel, littered with fissures, and each crack glowed red and yellow. The air was dry and hot, and the darkness combined gave it a very comfortable feeling. This would be a place I could happily live in. The entity inside me, which had grown quieter, felt pleased.
“Oh, god, it’s hot. Like, I grew up in Houston and they would call this Hell.”
“It is not uncomfortable,” I said. Sammy rammed his head into my chest. “Where are we?” I asked Emrys.
“In the fire tribe. Usually, Madus lands me exactly where I want to be, but for some reason, we arrived in the mountains instead.”
I hated when things happened “for some reason.” I suddenly knew the entity inside me was really alive, for I felt the confidence it had in its own strength. This was a challenge the beast in me wanted to face.
“Dylan, something’s wrong with me,” I said in Dylan’s mind.
He nodded. “I can sense it; something as old as Edward, and possibly as powerful. It’s not the demon, though.”
“Are you sure?” I questioned. I felt its disapproval at my doubt.
“I think the demon would possess you if it could, but this doesn’t want to.”
“It’s alive, and growing stronger.”
“Maybe it’s not the one growing stronger; you are, and that is why you feel it more.”
“How could I have this inside me forever and I’m only now learning about it?”
“You have always been searching for something. Maybe it was that a part of you was missing.”
“I don’t like this.” There was a definite rumble of disapproval. We turned the corner in the cave and saw the narrow opening. Sunlight poured welcomingly. The entity felt disappointment. Get over it, Sammy is too hot, I thought. Before we could reach the mouth of the cave, the mountain started to shake and rumble, knocking loose rock into the narrow gap. In one moment, our exit was blocked.
Sammy started to cry.
“Do not fear, children, I can push the stone aside,” Emrys said. I bristled at being called a child, and Sammy continued to cry.
The creature inside me started to rise again in annoyance, and I could do nothing to stop it. It could easily push me aside and take control, but instead, it gave me strength. My fire roared to obey, but waited for my command. My eyes and claws shifted and I saw the problem. The real problem was not the heat in the mountain or the danger of suffocating, or even the incredible anger I felt from the creature. The space around us was torn, like a jagged wound that was healed wrong and re-torn so many times there was no semblance of what it was before. It wasn’t the mountain about to collapse around me but part of the universe itself.
“What do you see?” Dylan asked me.
I tried to speak, but somehow my mouth only filled with smoke. It wasn’t in the air, but coming from in my chest. I grabbed him, unable to actually see him, and my power flowed between us. His gasp was strangled.
I saw the green energy build faster than ever inside him as it spread out to heal. At first, I thought the magic was doing no good, but then I realized there was just so much to heal. The scars and wounds started to look more normal, less violent. After what felt like hours, they were completely healed and the cave was flooded with god energy.
The creature was pleased and settled back down in peace. Dylan slumped against me, still conscious, but only just. Emrys moved the rocks away to reopen the mouth of the cave and both Dylan and Sammy breathed easier. I hadn’t realized that we were running out of oxygen.
