Guardian

by Jack Porter

  “Good enough for me,” I said, noting that Yua’s knowledge about Zavier was indeed more extensive than I’d first thought. But then, I hadn’t known her for long. “Why was Zavier sleeping, anyway?”

  “It is something I have often wondered, and I have a theory, but perhaps after we have saved Hannah? It is not quickly explained.”

  “Of course. What do I have to do?”

  “Nothing more than having an open mind. I do all the hard stuff,” she assured me. “Now sit cross-legged on the ground, lifting each foot on the opposite thigh. Then your hands on your knees.”

  As she spoke, Yua showed me the move with her own body, her short fur kimono riding up her thighs, making me swallow and focus on not having an erection while she was trying to help us find Hannah. Damn island.

  I copied her, or tried to. “I’m not quite as flexible as you are,” I said by way of apology.

  “Getting the form just right takes years of practice we don’t have. It’s more for show anyway. You could even just lay down if you want.” Yua smiled. She lay her hand flat in a wide gesture that let me know she was being serious.

  “That sounds better,” I admitted and unkinked my legs to lay down. The snow was so cold it burned a little, but not as badly as the flames had done a couple days before. I could bear it.

  Yua picked up her staff. “I’ll be putting you in a sort of trance. It will feel weird at first, and you may lose track of what you were meant to do. Try to hold on to the image of Hannah. Keep her in your mind as you go under. If she’s already unconscious, the trance should work for her as well. Reach out and ask her where to go next.”

  “Got it.”

  “Also, you can’t think of Zavier while doing this. Make sure you don’t connect with the darkness while you’re finding Hannah. If you do, his magic will find the spiritual path back to you. If it does, it will likely burn the soul out of you with its magic and take over your body.”

  “It will what?” Layla and I yelped together. But Yua was already passing her staff up and down the center of my body. Every time the staff came level with my eyes, Yua would give the staff a little shake, making the gold rings jingle in a pleasant way.

  My eyelids grew heavy, and suddenly I couldn’t feel anything other than the strong desire to fall asleep. Even the burn of the snow was dropped into the background, If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was laying on the world’s softest bed. But I did know better, and the more likely scenario was that my limbs were going numb.

  The staff passed in front of my face again and my vision grew slightly blurry, but I could make out the girls’ outlines. Yua was on my right, Layla on my left. I tried to open my mouth to ask them what I was supposed to be doing again. My mind would not focus. I was so tired.

  It was something to do with Hannah, I was sure. That’s right. I have to find out where Hannah is now. The thought burst with clarity through the heavy fog. Focus on Hannah, Yua had told me. So, I did. I pictured her in my mind’s eye, not as the goddess she was now, but as the human girl she’d been when we first met. I let the fire of her personality fill me up until I felt like I couldn’t concentrate any harder.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be with him the entire time. Kind of like a helpful assistant. He’ll be leading the way, but I can keep him on track if the experience becomes too much,” Yua was telling Layla. I was hard pressed to hear their voices now that I was so focused, but my mind instinctively tried to overlay the two tasks side by side.

  “You’ve done this before, right?” Layla’s voice was tight with nerves.

  “With myself yes, but it can’t be that different,” Yua responded, but I heard a bit of bravado in her voice, like she was trying to convince herself as well as Layla.

  Another pass of the staff. The haze of exhaustion grew deeper, and I could no longer see them. My eyes must have closed of their own accord.

  Yua’s voice was growing fainter even though I strained to hear what she was saying. “Guard our bodies. Even if Dexter doesn’t connect with Zavier, the god will still know something’s up and may send some of his animal hosts to...”

  The rest of Yua’s words muddled into half-formed sounds. They didn’t make sense to me at all. But I became keenly aware that I was in a space that wasn’t quite consciousness. I drifted for a time, following the sounds of the night, like one might walk aimlessly in a forest with no real destination.

  Then suddenly Yua was with me, though not in a way I’d ever seen before. She was herself, but impossibly younger, though her body looked the same. Her hair was extremely long, down to her hips. It was as black as Piper's soft ringlets in color and as arrow-straight as Layla’s silky brown strands in appearance.

  Yua wore a dark blue kimono, not unlike the one she had been wearing a few days ago, but these were of finer quality, probably not something she’d spun herself.

  Was I seeing a past version of her? She’d said something about being a princess before she became stranded on the island, hadn’t she?

  “Oh,” Yua said, sounding embarrassed. “I haven’t done this with another person in a while. I forgot when spirits connect like this, there is a level of intimacy involved.”

  This puzzled me. “You told Layla you haven’t done this with another person.”

  “I haven’t been in the role of guide, only the entranced, but I remember some teachings my master gave me as a young girl.”

  A man materialized into existence to her left. He must have been the master she was talking about. He wore an ancient garb that was only a couple shades darker than Yua’s. His beard was long and white, as was the hair he wore in a top knot upon his head.

  The man opened his mouth to say something to Yua, but she waved a hand through the man’s figure and he disappeared. “You may see glimpses of my past. I may see glimpses of yours, as well. Common courtesy dictates we are to glance past details like this for the privacy of the people involved. Do you think you can do that?”

  “Sure. I can do that. No problem,” I said, hoping nothing too embarrassing from my past popped up in front of Yua.

  “Good, then let’s begin. Focus on Hannah, try to find a strong memory of your time together, and use it to call to her.”

  I thought back to moments with Hannah. One jumped out at me, stronger than some of the others, and a scene formed between Yua and I.

  It was like watching a movie reel of my past from the third person. Hannah and I were back in the cave the night she found her crystal. She was sliding herself on my cock and moaning in pleasure. Her breasts bobbed in front of my face, teasing me. And I could see in the set of my jaw that I was losing the battle with my want for her.

  Knowing what came next, I waved the image away quickly, like I’d watched Yua do with her master. The scene disappeared until only Yua and I remained. She was looking firmly down, but her face held a blush that told me she’d seen at least some of it.

  “Sorry, Yua.”

  “Common courtesy. No worries,” she said, but her voice sounded dry. She cleared her throat and added, “Try again.”

  The next was an image rather than a scene of Hannah. We were still in the same cave. We were both relatively clothed. It was before her wings had appeared, but after she’d gotten her crystal. She was laughing at something I’d said, her pale green eyes alight with joy. I remembered wishing that I could see that laugh more often.

  “Good, hold that image and try pushing it out, like you want it to scatter all throughout the island.”

  I did as she asked, thinking this was quite easy, but then midway through ‘flinging’ the image out, it caught on something like a fish on a line.

  “Dexter?”

  The voice was unmistakably Hannah’s, but it was muffled. “It’s her,” I told Yua.

  “Good, bring her to us.”

  “How?” I asked frantically. Hannah’s presence grew small again. I had to fight to keep her face in my mind.

  “I don’t know. This was as far as my training got,” Yua a
dmitted. The next scene that played was of Yua standing over the dead body of her master. He’d been stabbed in the back by her father for daring to suggest Yua begin formal training for a head monk.

  How do I know that? No, it doesn’t matter. Common courtesy, I reminded myself and focused on Hannah again while Yua waved away the sad memory.

  Suddenly it was me who was at the end of the fishing line. I wasn’t sure I knew how I was, but I could just feel Hannah taking control. She yanked my presence across time and space toward her. Yua clung on, just barely, and then somehow used her presence to protect my mind from getting lost along the way.

  We stopped with the force of one car slamming into another. Yua took most of the damage.

  We were in the same clearing as my physical body. “That’s impossible,” I said, “Did we wake up?”

  No. I definitely feel Hannah here. That means they are still in the clearing. They are just hiding!

  Before I could tell Yua to take us back to the physical world so I could search for her, I heard Hannah’s frantic voice calling out to me. “Dexter! Run!”

  Hannah burst out from behind the waterfall. Instantly, I knew that must be where her sleeping body was. She was running toward me in her half goddess form, like she’d been before she was taken. Her wings were spread wide like she wanted to fly away but couldn’t.

  Why does she look so worried?

  Then I saw it. Coming up swiftly beside her was the obsidian, wraith-like image of Zavier’s host.

  Thirty-Seven

  “White Guardian,” the host hissed. “How kind of you to visit.”

  Knowing that this was Zavier speaking through the mouth of an old dead guy made me no less eager to punch him in his stupid rotting nose.

  Zavier continued, moving silently across the space toward Yua and I. “I see you’ve grown in power again. And look, you got yourself a little protector for your first visit to the spirit realm.” The host nodded toward Yua.

  The monk’s mind clung tighter to mine, trying to be the protector Zavier believed her to be.

  This resulted in Yua’s spirit showing me all sorts of intimate images. Most went too fast for me to see, but one stuck out among the rest.

  Yua looked as she did back in her shrine. She was laying on what I could only assume was her futon, for it didn’t look anything like the western style bed she’d provided for Layla and me. My guardian cloak was draped next to her naked body on the futon, and the hem of her kimono was loosened so I could see the barest hint of her midriff and every inch of her perfectly tanned legs. She squeezed her thighs together while her fingers worked her into a shuddering release. All the while she moaned my name and breathed in the scent of my body still clinging to the fabric.

  Yua made a small noise like she wished she could be anywhere else but where she was right in this moment. Still, I had to give her props for not pulling away from me. She was going to try and protect me no matter what I saw.

  I wanted to tell her that what I saw was okay, better than okay. Fantastic. I wanted to tell her it made me happy and finally resolved my worry that she didn’t have the same attraction to me as I did to her. But there was no time. Zavier’s host was rushing at us now, abandoning Hannah to the background where she flickered in and out before disappearing completely.

  Back to sleep, I thought grimly.

  “A very dedicated protector indeed. However, I think she is forgetting something.”

  Without ever touching her, Zavier extracted Yua’s spirit from mine, flinging her from me like he would fling a fleck of dirt on his favorite shoes. “This is my realm. And unlike your more corporeal one, I don’t have to spend as much energy getting things accomplishing my goals here.”

  “Yua. Yua?” I called, trying to remember what it felt like to send a message to Hannah. I pictured her in my mind’s eye, but our connection wasn’t as strong as the other girls. Right now, I desperately wished it was. I needed to know she was all right.

  “Don’t bother.” Zavier’s host’s mouth was curled up in victory and his tone was smug. “I put her back into her own body. I can deal with her and the rest of your little girlfriends after I destroy you and that infernal crystal my brother left behind.” The host wrinkled his nose. “You even look like him. I could hardly stand to look at you.”

  “You sure do like to hear yourself talk,” I growled and then promptly swung a fast left hook, connecting with his jaw. “That’s for Yua.” I followed it up with an even faster right jab at his nose. “That’s for Hannah.”

  I kicked him in the stomach for good measure. “That’s just for the fun of it.”

  The host took each blow harder than the last, rocking back. The kick nearly sent him spiraling to the snow beneath our feet, but he caught himself and stood. His nose was angled oddly, and I congratulated myself for breaking it.

  Zavier’s host narrowed his eyes in indignation. The black mist swirled even thicker around him. “You dare to hit a god?”

  “I don’t see anyone deserving of that title around here, do you?” I asked.

  The host’s face snarled from under the black curtain of mist, then suddenly smirked as if amused. “I was going to kill you quickly. But it’s been too long since I’ve had a mortal to torment. Your kind seems to have forgotten their place in the food chain.” The host’s voice went icy. “So, I think I’ll let you live a while longer. And make you watch the fear and betrayal in each girl’s face as you kill them with your own hands.”

  That was the only warning I got.

  Zavier’s black mist abandoned the host’s, who immediately winked out of existence. This was real, I knew. Zavier had severed his connection with the host, leaving him free to gather all of his energy into the spirit realm.

  The god’s formless shape grew to an impossibly large size and buzzed angrily above my head like a swarm of bees.

  There was no pain in my life that compared to how it felt when Zavier dove into my body. It felt like a thousand knives ripping into my very existence, pulling my spirit apart bit by bit.

  I imagined this was how Zavier’s darkness took over his animal hosts too, but their feeble minds were too scared to resist. And this was probably how it would have felt if Layla had tried to keep the dark crystal.

  Except this was worse. Once the dark power began to flow into me, whispers of power began to cloud my mind. I remembered Yua’s last warning to Layla and me about Zavier being able to take over my physical body.

  Well, I wasn’t just going to sit here and let this spoiled child of a god use my body to destroy everyone I loved. I’d protect them even if it cost me my life.

  Determination grew inside me even as the power began to seduce my every thought. The promise of power to make my every dream come true. It was a heady thing. The strongest I’d ever felt its pull before.

  Gritting my teeth, I reached for the crystal at my neck while I could still remember who I was, and sent a blast of energy into the black mist above my head.

  I was rewarded when little chunks of the darkness hissed away, transforming into white-blue light.

  Zavier roared in my mind. I could feel everything he was feeling, which was mostly just the desire to kill me. He was nothing but a being of pure rage and corruption.

  Zavier pushed his dark magic harder into me, trying to end this as quickly as he could.

  But I’d already had an idea. If Zavier could take me over, then with Kain’s crystal, couldn’t I do the same to him? Could I dispel the dark energy that was Zavier, until it was eradicated completely?

  No better time to test it out than now. I didn’t have anything else to lose, did I?

  Decision made, I began to feel confident in my new purpose. I began to send wave after wave of my crystal’s energy into the solid mass of the black mist.

  I knew this wouldn’t be an unfair battle like at the river when Hannah was taken. I was stronger and more capable in my power than ever before, and I knew what I was fighting, and who I was fighting for.

/>   Untold time passed during this back-and-forth war where I would send blue-white energy into Zavier, and he obsidian black power into me.

  We were evenly matched, but I guess that made some sense. Zavier could only draw magic from my own crystal’s power after all. I vaguely wondered what Zavier’s power would be without Zain’s crystal.

  It looked like we would carry on this battle until one of us eventually gave in to the strain of exhaustion.

  Or so I thought. A sudden image of Layla entered my mind, snagging me in the familiar way Hannah had done when she pulled me here. Not really thinking much of it, I yanked on that connection and within seconds, she was beside me.

  “Layla!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing here? Run, get somewhere safe!”

  “Yua sent me in to help you. She wanted to come in herself but she said she knew where Hannah was. She is going to find it and put her,” Layla paused for a brief moment, “wherever we are. Then she’s going to guard our bodies. I’ve already killed two of Zavier’s bats that he sent after us.”

  Layla moved forward to grab my hand, giving it a tight squeeze.

  Shortly after, Hannah appeared on Layla’s other side. She grabbed Layla’s hand in greeting, and let it go, then addressed me. “The darkness is not in full control of me anymore since he lost his only connection with the physical world. Bless his stupid little power-hungry twisted black heart.” Hannah’s voice was thick with a sweet anger that only a southern girl could pull off. “Yua dispelled what was left with her staff thingy. I woke up, but she sent me right back under to help you.”

  I grinned. “I could use the help. I see you have your crystal back too.”

  “Yeah, thanks for keeping it safe.”

  “No problem at all,” I said, meaning it, then abruptly gasped when a fresh wave of darkness rolled over me.

  The distraction of Hannah, while welcome, also caused my focus to slip. The darkness was taking my body over at an alarming rate, starting from my toes and ending at mid-waist.

  “We’re here to help,” Layla told me. “Remember how we defeated my guardian?”