by Oxford, Rain
I watched Dylan and Ronez fight Krael. While I knew Krael was just acting as a distraction, I grew angrier with each injury he caused Dylan. Dylan would win, but I still did not like seeing him hurt. I stopped watching them as I checked on Kiro, who was just finishing up with his brother’s revenge.
I told him his apprentice made it just fine and directed him to the corrupted child. Kiro easily found Tommie where Dylan had left her incapacitated. His thoughts swirled and I knew he was on the right track.
When Kiro asked me to help her, I flashed into the room, hoping Vretial would not intercept me. Surely he did not mean for me to stay in that very room. It was very easy for me to suck out the girl’s immortality, but all of her unnatural and much of her natural power was also revoked.
Once all of the dark power was removed, I destroyed it. While nominal energy was impossible to destroy for anyone else, gods created an even more powerful energy, and so we could extinguish it. “Your turn.” I sat down on a chest next to the bed.
Kiro knew what and who I was. We spoke for a moment about Ronez and trust and I knew we would never be the same. I was spoiled, undoubtedly, for I had what no other god had; a friend.
“I spent a lot more time with you than them, so I learned to trust before I had to deal with faith. After how we met…”
I often wished I could have made him forget the story of how we met without breaking the trust between us. That was a story I never wanted anyone to hear. “You will never tell Dylan that, will you?” I asked.
Of course, he said he wouldn’t lie to his apprentice. The fact was, somewhere deep inside Kiro, he felt that Dylan was his closest remaining connection to Ronez. While Kiro may not yet have figured out how closely related they really were, Dylan was still maturing and would eventually look extremely similar to his father.
As Kiro was distracted with concern for the corrupted child, something else was wrong; Vretial took Dylan. “Things are about to get sticky. Check on your apprentice,” I said.
“Divina! Can you get me to him?”
“Yes. Protect Dylan, but I need you to distract Vretial.” I didn’t bother to tell him that there would be a time distortion because of Vretial’s energy. It could be a few seconds, or it could be half an hour.
The moment I flashed Kiro out, Krael burst through the door. He looked at Tomie and then at me with frightened, wild hope.
“She will be fine, but she is no longer immortal; she will live her life, grow up, grow old, and---” I was cut off by the man’s crushing hug.
“Thank you.” He pulled back, reached into his bag, and pulled out Erono’s book and both of Vetial’s books. “Ronez trusted you?” he asked.
I stopped myself from reaching out to the book. “He did. And he died for it,” I whispered.
“Woman, I watched him die. I was the last person he spoke to… he did not regret his death. He regretted leaving his loved ones behind, but he knew he was dying for a good cause. If you were that cause…” he handed me the book, “I will trust you as well. You will defeat Vretial.”
I smiled sweetly. “I am surprised it is not my Guardian you are encouraging. After all, Dylan is Ronez’s son.” I enjoyed his stunned expression for a moment before returning to the matter at hand. “There is just one more thing before you run off to live a happy life with your sister.”
“What is it?” he asked.
“Where are the people? Why is the planet empty of people?”
“Because as soon as Vretial knew he could lose, he ripped holes to all of the worlds and moved the people from both of his worlds to live elsewhere.”
I was in shock. He is that powerful? “Why did he do that?”
He gave me a guarded look that could have meant anything. Then he gathered Tommie into his arms and started to walk out without answering me.
“Wait. When did Vretial realize he could lose?” I asked. Maybe I should not believe in my brother so much.
Krael turned back to me and smirked. “When Dylan looked him in the eye and was not afraid.”
* * *
I tried to draw power from Erono’s world, from any world, but only mine would respond. Even though I was connected to Erono’s world, his power prevented me from syphoning. I asked my brothers for help, but none answered.
My own power was not enough. Whatever it was my young Guardian was meant to be, meant to do, he was not ready. My only option was to take Avoli’s power away from Vretial. I could either take the world for myself, or I could destroy the world, keeping Avoli from ever regaining it. If I took control of it, I would have too much power. It would burn out my body and probably my mind.
But could I defeat my brother first? For Dylan’s life, I could, but then my world would be under threat as well. I opened Avoli’s book and sent an apology to my most carefree brother. A sense of peace washed over me. It was what he wanted.
I cut my wrist with a mere thought and held my arm over the book. I flipped from page to page, spreading my blood over the ink. Finally, it was done. I had destroyed a world, an empty one, but a creation of art.
I felt Vretial’s sharp anger, followed by Dylan’s unbearable distress. I turned my attention to them in time to see Ronez’s last words. I knew Ronez did not have long, but they should have had more time.
What’s more, Ronez’s spirit was being turned over to the Land of the Dead. I would never be able to bring him back if that happened. I could trap him here; bind him to Earth, or Dylan, or his brother. He would be as he was; able to see and hear people, but not be seen or heard. But was that any way to live? He loved Dylan so much, but if I let him go, it would be thousands of years before they saw each other again, if ever. There were so many reasons for and against, but he was slipping away so quickly.
The decision was made.
Dylan
Divina didn’t sound like herself at all as she appeared behind Vretial. She didn’t look even like herself. Her eyes were solid black. She no longer looked cute and beautiful; she looked downright dangerous. Her body was visibly radiating power and the air around her actually crackled with heat. Her voice echoed unnaturally off the walls and held a sort of controlled anger that made me sweat. She wasn’t the sweet, soft woman who had kissed me just a few hours before.
Edward pulled me behind him slowly and backed away. The chair Vretial was sitting on was suddenly gone and he was facing her.
Vretial made a sound of joy. “I knew you were better than the others said. You were always the one who knew when to move and when to sit still. Too bad you weren’t on my side,” he said. She raised her hand and black fire shot out at him. Instead of it engulfing him, it turned into of shower of tiny, black jewels. “How sad that you think such simple magic can destroy me. You thought taking one of my worlds would weaken me enough for you to win, but it didn’t. You should have destroyed both worlds, or taken them for yourself.”
“No,” she said. “After I destroy you in a fair fight, I will give your world to Avoli.”
He laughed. “Fair… you will never be as powerful as me.” Like lightning, something bright red shot from Vretial and struck Divina. Before she could recover, he struck her again and again.
Divina needed help. Vretial could not be allowed to win. I reached out for my book with everything I had, and it reached back. I used it to search for my connection with Duran and Dios. Finally, after several agonizing moments, when Divina started to collapse, I felt them. Every attack Divina used got shot down, and every one of Vretial’s attack was taking her down a little further. She needed help.
With a desperate call for help, I drew the magic of Earth into me and then straight to Divina. The more I pulled and pushed, the faster the flow became, until I was a river of energy into Divina. And this was not regular energy; it was concentrated and beautiful.
Then I felt new energy joining Earth’s inside me. Duran was answering me. Soon Dios’s magic joined in. The goddess stood to her feet. She shot a bolt of black lightning at Vretial, and it hit him sq
uare in the chest. He went down.
“What are you doing?!” Edward asked me.
I could not speak. Now it was Divina who was on the offensive.
I thought I would burst with the strength of the power flowing through me, but then I felt new connections form. Foreign worlds were giving me power to give to Divina. I would have passed out if I could have. I didn’t even realize I had broken out in fever until Edward grabbed me. His skin was like ice, but he quickly let me go with a yelp.
“Stop!” he yelled.
I tried. There was no slowing the flow; it was too strong. I tried pushing the energy back, keeping my body from taking it in. I hurt too much to concentrate.
Edward grabbed me again. For a few seconds, it hurt, but then the flow slowed and it was like there was a comforting ice pack all over me that dulled the pain. The flow came to a trickling stop, but Edward did not let me go until my fever broke. Then I had to grab onto him because my legs wouldn’t hold me up.
Divina was all-powerful at this point. She took a slow step towards Vretial and there was a loud snapping sound from the static shock that followed her movement. I felt really sick.
She raised her right hand and Vretial slowly slipped to the floor. He sat on his knees with his arms limp, his eyes closed, and his head up. He was so calm about it. The light went out and for a moment there was darkness.
Then, with a fascinating effect, black fire flowed out of Vretial’s body and dimly lit the room. There was enough light to see that Divina’s eyes were no longer black; her irises were red, yellow, and glowed like fire. Vretial didn’t make a sound the entire time Divina was doing her magic.
The black fire was still rising from him as he fell back. It was only seconds later that the last of the fire rose and faded away, leaving everything in dark. Then, to my disgust, Vretial’s body lit with regular, bright fire. That was the end of the almighty dark god, who was the object of fear even for the other gods. The end of all his actions.
Probably…
Divina fell to her knees and I went to her before Edward could stop me, but I couldn’t get close to her; the power was too strong. “Divina? Are you okay?” She looked up at me with pure black eyes.
“Careful!” Edward cried.
“Get away,” Divina said.
Her eyes flashed yellow a split second before I was flying backwards into the wall. I hit hard enough to disorient me and I slid to the floor. Warm liquid trickled down my neck. Edward was by my side instantly.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, not able to focus on anything.
“When she defeated Vretial, his power became hers. She can’t take the power of the two worlds. Erase Vretial’s name.” With that, he was gone.
I found a book in my hand, but it wasn’t mine or Edward’s, so I opened it and tried as hard as I could to focus. There was only one signature in it, of which was so foreign that it could only belong to someone ancient. “How?” I asked.
I saw Edward talking to her and she was standing again. He was trying to calm her. “Blood.”
That made absolutely no sense to me. Fortunately, it must have to my body, because my hand went to my head, came back bloody, and wiped the blood all over the signature. I thought I was seeing things when the name and blood disappeared.
The effect was instantaneous; the field of power around Divina vanished. She started to fall, but Edward caught her and helped her onto the chair that liked to disappear and reappear. She leaned her head back and Edward was suddenly helping me up. I tried to hold onto the book, but it was impossible as it suddenly turned to sand. That confused me.
Edward turned me to face him and held me up. “Are you okay?” he asked.
I tried not to sway. “I’m fine,” I lied. Edward helped me over to Divina and I fell to my knees, but managed to stay in an upright position. “Divina? Are you okay?”
She slowly lifted her head to look from Edward to me. She swayed and blinked as if she couldn’t focus well. “Who are you?” she asked.
I fell back, but Edward didn’t seem surprised, only upset. “He’s your Guardian. I’m the Guardian of Duran.”
She shook her head, then tried to steady herself. “No. Ronez… My Guardian… What happened?”
* * *
Edward attempted to explain to her what happened, but she argued with everything. Though she seemed to have an idea who Edward was, she had no idea who I was, and she was convinced that Ronez was the Guardian, but had no problem believing he was dead. It was like talking to someone who couldn’t hear you completely; she didn’t seem to be in the room with us, or even in reality. I myself was having trouble focusing.
Edward kept insisting we had to get home before this world was destroyed, but I kept trying to sleep. By the time he somehow got us home, I was half unconscious. I passed out completely soon after, despite Edward’s pleads. I was pretty sure he was trying to keep me awake. It did occur to me that I wouldn’t wake up if I passed out, but that didn’t matter to me. The empty blackness that closed in on my world promised my escape from the pain and confusion.
* * *
I woke up to the sweet scent of Divina. I didn’t open my eyes. Though I couldn’t remember why, I knew I didn’t want to face reality just yet. I just relaxed there on the comfortable bed and enjoyed her wonderful scent. She smelled like berries, vanilla, and oddly… Indian spices.
“How’s your head?” Edward asked. I opened my eyes and everything came back.
While I reached up to touch the bandage around my head, I tried not to cry out and tried harder not to heave. I was back home; in my bed in the bedroom of the cabin in the woods of Shomodii on Duran. Vretial was gone, Divina was lying next to me, asleep, and Edward sat on his bed across the room.
“It hurts. Are you okay?”
“Moderately uninjured. You’ve both been out for a couple of days. Try to take it easy.” he said as I heaved myself up.
It was a very stupid move, but once I was halfway up, I had to go the rest of the way. Everything spun. Edward moved surprisingly quickly and handed me a piece of Wigknot bark. I tried to lift it to my mouth, but needed help.
“Divina… she’s…”
“I know who she is. Do you remember what happened?” he asked.
“Divina killed Vretial, I erased the only name in his book, and she lost her memory,” I said.
“Close. She didn’t lose her memory, she mildly lost her mind. She couldn’t handle the power of the second world. I think Vretial could handle it because of the way his mind worked. The other gods have supposedly been informed of what happened. What you did enabled her to kill Vretial. I felt you calling on Duran for help, and I felt it answer your call. You were… Never question your Guardian ability again. You are more powerful in your determination to help and do what is right than any Guardian has ever been. How you erased the dead god’s name is beyond me.”
“What happened… else?” I asked.
“What you weren’t there for?” he asked. I tried to nod and failed miserably. “While you were in the caves with Divina and Shio, I was escaping from the dungeon. I found my way to the little girl that you left for me and removed her memories. Divina removed her immortality. She’s upstairs and she’ll be on her way to Anoshii tonight, along with her brother. I know someone who can adopt her. I also killed Shio, sort of. Vretial thought we were distracting him so Divina could get the book, but in reality, we were distracting him so Krael could get it.”
That didn’t make any sense. “But… Krael…”
“Turned out to be the good guy, plotting with Divina from the moment they arrived there. He got the books that belonged to Vretial and gave them to Divina.”
“What happened to Vretial’s worlds? I erased the name… what did that do to the world?” When he didn’t answer, I looked up at him.
“It… the world was destroyed,” he finally said.
I felt my heart sink into my stomach… and boil in the stomach acid. I destroyed a world. I looked down at my hands
, imagining the blood that would never wash off, and didn’t attempt to stop the tears.
“If you hadn’t erased Vretial’s name, Divina would have destroyed both Earth and Vretial’s world. No sentient beings were on that planet. Apparently, Vretial had considered the destruction of the world, so he moved all the people to other worlds just before our arrival,” he said.
Divina had said I would kill people as a Guardian, but I destroyed a world. I lied back down and tried to keep my tears silent.
“Just get well. Focus on healing. I did what I can, but healing the brain sometimes just takes time. Sleep.”
He left and in the silence, I considered what he said. Vretial moved the people off of his worlds because he thought they would be in danger. Why would a god do that if he were so evil? And up until the end, he was so confident. If he had no doubts, why move the people? If he did doubt, why didn’t he act to save himself?
* * *
I woke again and my head felt much better, but I was alone. After about ten minutes, I got out of bed and somehow made it up the stairs. The front door was open to let in bright light and when I stood in the doorway, I saw that Edward had brought two of the kitchen chairs out on the porch. He was sitting on one and reading a book. I started to turn back.
“Feeling better?”
“Yeah.” After a few seconds of indecision, I stepped out onto the porch and sat in the seat next to him. “Where’s Divina?”
“She went home. She wants you to come by soon, though. Before leaving, she told me that Avoli, the original owner of Vretial’s second world, was glad his world was destroyed. Vretial had poisoned it. Avoli is supposedly regaining power and rebuilding. According to Divina, the gods are looking for change. They don’t want this to happen again. How that will affect you, not even she could tell me. Do you want to talk about what happened?”
