by Eric Vall
“But we haven’t earned your wrath today, right?” I asked. “I mean, we’re just finishing our, ah, duty. You know, we killed the Sage and his little demon creature thing--”
“Demon creature?” Aeron pressed as he suddenly leaned forward and peered into my eyes. “What is this creature you speak of?”
“It was kind of like a wolf,” I explained. “But it had wings and yellow claws, and I’m pretty sure it was crazy.”
“Olivier created new life?” the god gasped and covered his mouth. “I didn’t drag him to hell quite fast enough, though I will ensure his punishment is increased accordingly.”
“He deserves everything you can give him,” I grunted. “And probably plenty more. He was a coward and a vicious murderer who took thousands of lives, all so he could open the Breach and kill even more. My dragon mate should have made his death last for days, in my humble mortal opinion.”
My heart pounded in my chest as I recounted Olivier’s crimes against my people, and I had to take a deep breath to regain my composure. When I finally met the god’s eyes again, his disdain morphed into something like compassion.
“You may continue your mission,” Aeron finally said. “But you must be quick and thorough. I don’t intend to waste my time watching you mortals move books around.”
“We will move with our utmost speed, great son of Kaderus,” Ruslan replied and dropped to his knee again. “We are ever grateful for your kindness, and we will continue to offer our thanks in prayer.”
“My kindness is limited,” the god replied with a smirk. “Once you finish, you are never to return to this cave, or the punishment will be severe.”
My mind flashed back to the fable I’d read earlier, and I shuddered to think he could drag us all to the underworld with a snap of his fingers. Aeron seemed like the type to do it if we pissed him off, and I wasn’t about to test that theory any more than I already had. I knew my father was annoyed with my lack of diplomacy, but I had to say something to get us out of this mess I’d gotten us into.
We all nodded our agreement, and Nike and Ruslan rushed back to finish pulling the books from the shelves. I hesitated, and then I approached Aeron uncertainly. I’d probably already pushed my luck with the god of punishment, but I couldn’t resist digging for a little more information about the fable that had left me feeling like there was a rock tumbling around my gut.
“Can I ask you a question?” I wondered, and he nodded with obvious curiosity. “Is it true you gods once dragged a man to the underworld for being too greedy?”
“That old fable?” Aeron chuckled. “How do you even know about that? It’s a tale told to small children who are raised in this realm to keep them in line.”
“Well, I found this.” I reached into my spatial storage and pulled the book out to show Aeron. “It just… I don’t know, it gave me a strange feeling.”
“You seem to be well-tuned to the magical current of our land,” he murmured as he took the book and opened it.
Another shudder vibrated my bones as the God of Punishment flipped through the pages while a look of horror slowly took hold of his features. I knew the book had meant something, and it felt like the rock in the pit of my stomach had grown into a boulder.
“What is it?” I asked, though I kept my voice quiet to avoid worrying Nike and my father.
“I, uh…” Aeron trailed off before he slammed the book shut and met my worried gaze. “Tell me exactly what you experienced when you touched it.”
“Chills down my spine,” I answered without missing a beat. “Like something dreadful was about to happen, but I didn’t know what or why.”
“I must go,” he said suddenly. “I’ll return shortly.”
In the blink of an eye, the god was gone. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding, and I whirled around to see Ruslan and Nike had almost finished clearing out the library.
“Where did he go?” Ruslan nearly shrieked, and his ears flattened against his head as his tail tucked down between his legs. “Did we run out of time? We’ve been moving as quickly as we can!”
“No, we didn’t run out of time,” I said and furrowed my brow. “I showed him this book I found earlier that sort of freaked me out. It seemed harmless once I read it, but it gave me the heebie jeebies.”
“It gave you a what?” Nike’s silver eyes glinted with stifled laughter.
“It creeped me out,” I replied with a smirk. “Anyway, I told Aeron it was weird, he took the book, and he said he’d be back. Then he blinked out.”
“Oh, gods,” Ruslan groaned. “We can’t offend the God of Punishment. That’s just something bad waiting to happen.”
“Well, let’s make sure we don’t give him anything else to be pissed about,” I suggested. “We can finish the books while he’s gone. I don’t know how long he’ll take.”
We split up and continued to shove the books into our spatial storage, but now we moved at a more frenzied pace. The last thing any of us wanted was to have our mission incomplete when Aeron returned, especially when he’d left so abruptly and we had no idea why.
It felt like hours passed before we slid the last row of books into Ruslan’s spatial storage and released sighs of relief. We had all of it, and the god had yet to make his reappearance.
Though that begged the question: Should we wait for him?
Before we could decide, the golden-armored god appeared in the entry again, and he seemed flustered and breathless as he stormed over to us.
“You have completed your work,” he observed. “Good. Now, you can leave. You have an important task ahead of you, life or death really.”
“What task?” I wondered. “There’s a lot of stuff we’re hoping to get done, so maybe you could be more specific on what the gods need from us.”
“Closing the Breach will always take priority,” Aeron thundered, and my skeleton seemed to vibrate at his words. “Nothing is more important than that.”
“Understandable,” I agreed. “We will close it. We just have to get a little more power.”
“There is no cost too high to complete this task,” he continued. “The underworld cannot be given the chance to take hold of this world.”
“Well, yeah,” I murmured. “Having demons running rampant through Rahma seems like a bad idea.”
“It is not only Rahma that will suffer if you fail,” the god growled. “It is the entire realm, and it won’t stop there.”
There was a brief pause as I tried to figure out what Aeron meant by that when Ruslan gasped.
“They could get to the other realms?” he interjected. “Is that what you mean?”
“You are very wise, Elder,” Aeron hedged. “I cannot tell you exactly what would happen should the Breach continue to tear through reality, but every living soul would be in grave danger. The demons of the underworld have gained entirely too much power, and losing the current hold on the Breach would lead to inconceivable levels of death and destruction.”
“Then why don’t you stop it?” I demanded, and Ruslan elbowed me sharply in the ribs. “No offense, but you’re the God of Punishment, right? Can’t you just punish the demons trying to break through? Then we could just shut it, no big deal.”
“The gods cannot interfere in worldly events.” Aeron stared at me as though his response was obvious.
“You have before,” I insisted. “Separating the Noble Spirits and the Celestial Triad, for starters. Plus, that fable thing you took. The gods don’t always mind their own business.”
“Choose your next words wisely, dragon,” the god rumbled, and his blue eyes seemed to flash as gold as his armor for a moment. “I can only do so much for you.”
“Okay, so, if you aren’t going to stop it, at least help us do it,” I retorted. “How do we close the Breach and take the power back from the demons?”
Aeron glared at me, and I had the distinct feeling he was contemplating using one of those lightning bolts on me. Then he sighed and paced back and for
th again.
“You and your wife are looking in the right direction already,” he murmured. “Though you will have to make a few slight adjustments to your plan.”
“Adjustments to what plan?” I demanded. “Bonding with the Noble Spirits?”
“Yes.” Aeron nodded and stopped to face me. “And you have chosen the correct ceremony, so do not change that when you adjust your plan. The Redimi Vincio will bring you the most power.”
“Why would we adjust it?” I asked. “What do we have wrong?”
“I cannot tell you everything,” he replied with a frown. “But we have agreed to help you when we can. Unfortunately, I have done more than my fair share today.”
“You have?” I arched a doubtful eyebrow. “By telling us we’re kind of right but kind of wrong?”
“I’m sure the son of Kaderus could have spent his time doing a thousand other things, my son,” Ruslan interjected with a look that told me to shut my mouth. “We are grateful for the insight he has given us today.”
“As you should be,” Aeron declared and puffed out his chest. “Now, I must return. We gods are trying to ensure our world doesn’t burn to the ground.”
Before I could ask anything else, the god disappeared. One second, he was standing in front of us, the next he was gone.
“That is both really annoying and really cool,” I muttered.
“Indeed,” Nike agreed, though his face was a little pale.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Ruslan demanded as he scurried closer to me and grabbed my robe. “I told you I wanted to come to appease the gods, not so you could disrespect one to his face!”
“Relax, Pops,” I chuckled and patted his hand. “I had it covered. Besides, he said I did all that great stuff, so the gods like me.”
“No, he said he wouldn’t kill you where you stood because you did something they needed,” my father argued. “Now, the debt has been paid. They owe you nothing!”
“I don’t need them to owe me anything,” I snorted. “I do what’s right. They have to see that.”
“Gods, I wish you’d grown up here,” Ruslan grunted. “You’d understand the gods better. For now, just know you are incredibly lucky Aeron didn’t strike you down.”
“I’ll take it.” I grinned and gestured for them to follow me out of the library and back into the cavern.
Alyona’s portal had disappeared, but I’d already learned how to open my own with the magical coin, so I plucked it from my pocket and gripped it in one hand as I spoke the word that would take us home.
As soon as the window appeared, I could see my lovers’ faces as they turned to watch us re-enter the archives. They were clearly happy to see me, and I was met with several hugs and kisses before everyone calmed down enough for me to relay what we’d found in the cavern.
“You met Aeron?” Alyona gasped as her amethyst eyes nearly popped out of her head.
“And he was rude to him,” Ruslan tossed out with a grimace.
“Oh, gods,” my wife moaned. “Why didn’t you just let your father speak?”
“It was fiiiiine,” I insisted. “He didn’t seem very powerful, but I guess he was an alright guy.”
“An alright guy, the God of Punishment,” Trina snickered, and her sisters collapsed in fits of giggles.
“You must have a high standing with the gods to have survived such an encounter,” Laika said. “They do not take disrespect lightly.”
“Well, I wasn’t trying to be rude.” I frowned and furrowed my brow. “Besides, he still helped us and said we have to close the Breach no matter the cost. Oh, and that they’ll help us when they can.”
“How did he help us?” Alyona wondered.
“Basically, he said we’re on the right track with the Redimi Vincio ceremony, but we’ll have to change a few things,” I explained. “He wouldn’t tell me what, though. Kind of a letdown there at the end.”
“I think we’ve already figured out at least one thing we’ll have to change,” my wife murmured as she flipped through one of dozens of texts at her feet.
“What’s that?” I leaned over her shoulder to read the book.
“The Redimi Vincio ceremony can’t be performed with a spirit,” she answered as she pointed to a section I didn’t have the patience to read. “It has to be a living creature.”
“Wait, you aren’t living?” I turned to Miraya who had stayed silent since we started discussing Aeron’s appearance.
“Well, not exactly,” she whispered and looked down to her feet.
“Listen, it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” I assured her. “I’m just trying to understand what we need to look for. I bonded with you, so why can’t I bond with your sisters?”
“Perhaps it’s simply the type of bond,” Miraya offered.
“Yeah, there are tons of bonding ceremonies,” Rebecca agreed as she held out another book. “I’ve found at least ten more that sound like they could work.”
“No, Aeron was clear about that,” I said. “He said not to change the ceremony we had in mind. So, we have to figure out a way to make the Redimi Vincio ceremony work.”
“I thought that might be a possibility.” Alyona smiled as she flipped to another book and handed it to me. “The Noble Spirits lend their power to their respective blades, which then become a conduit for the spirit power that can be accessed by the noble who wields it. That power then becomes part of the noble and becomes a sort of bloodline ability, which is why the Noble Swords are generally passed down to the eldest son of each noble who has one.”
“Okay, but I don’t think bonding with a noble dude is our greatest idea,” I muttered as I stared blankly at the page. “You want me to do that with all these eldest sons?”
“No,” Alyona giggled. “The ceremony wouldn’t work like that anyway. It looks like you could still bond with a direct descendant of a Noble Sword, since it would be in her bloodline regardless of her ability to wield the blade.”
“Hmm,” I mused as I pondered the new plan. “So, I could bond with a noble’s daughter who has the power of the Noble Spirit in her blood? I like it. I feel like this could work. What do you think, Miraya?”
“It sounds brilliant, my lord,” she replied with a wide smile. “Of course, I wouldn’t expect anything less from our princess.”
“Oh, come now,” Alyona giggled. “You are the only reason we even know about the Noble Spirits! You are amazing.”
I smiled as my lovers continued to tease and compliment each other, but I realized we were well on our way to growing my power enough to stop the Breach. It was only a matter of time now, but the first step was finding the other eleven Noble Spirits.
“So, did you figure out the memory thing yet?” I asked once the women had quieted down. “Wait, where’s Naomi and my mom?”
“They found the spell for projecting your memory,” Aaliyah purred. “They had to get some, ah, ingredients.”
“Oh, a potion,” I muttered as I recalled the horrible smell of the potions we’d found along the Breach when the Green Glass Sect had tried to weaken the seal with rifts.
“I can’t make any promises, but I think this one will smell better,” Alyona giggled. “No stinky flowers this time.”
“Good.” I smirked. “I’d hate to leave the archives smelling like that for ages.”
“Me, too,” my wife agreed with a grin. “So, while they’re retrieving the ingredients, can you show me what you found in the library?”
“A fucking treasure trove of books,” I replied. “Is there an empty section here somewhere?”
“Anywhere,” Alyona laughed. “You simply have to want an empty shelf.”
“What?” I turned around to see the shelf behind me was completely bare, though I knew there were dozens of books lined up there before. “How did that… did you do… how?”
“The archives were imbued with some sort of intuitive magic,” she explained. “And they love new knowledge, so if you want them to make room for more books,
you only need to want the space.”
“Weird,” I muttered. “But kinda awesome.”
Ruslan and I began to retrieve book after book from our spatial storages, and my wife’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. She grabbed various books before they even made it to the shelves, and soon several of my lovers were sitting on the floor together reading through the tomes.
It seemed to take just as much time to set up the books as it had taken to retrieve them, and I started to wonder if Naomi and Julia had traveled to another realm for the ingredients when Aunt Emma tugged on my sleeve.
I turned to look at her, but she jerked her chin over her shoulder, so we walked down the hall away from everyone before she finally spoke.
“You seriously met a god today?” she whispered in awe. “Like a real-life, no bullshit god?”
“Yeah, it was insane,” I murmured. “I’ve done some pretty crazy stuff since I got here, and I saw another goddess when she blessed my adoption, but talking to this guy was… interesting.”
“I would imagine so,” Emma agreed. “Now, what else did you find?”
“How did you know-- never mind,” I chuckled as I pulled the dragon history book from my spatial storage. “What can you tell me about it?”
“I can tell you it was practically screaming for me to touch it, even when you had it hidden away,” she replied and reached slowly for the brown leather cover. “Wow.”
“What?” I wondered as she closed her eyes and sighed. “What do you see?”
“Hold on one stinking minute, Evan,” Emma snorted. “I’m watching it.”
“Ugh,” I grunted as I held the book impatiently.
Since I’d brought my aunt to Inati from Earth, we’d quickly discovered she was a history maven, which meant she could touch something and learn its history. It was a power that certainly fit her personality, especially since she’d owned an antique shop back on Earth. It was actually one of her random antique purchases that had led me to Rahma nearly a year ago.
“This book was quite an undertaking,” she murmured after what felt like ages had passed. “It was written over four generations of a mortal family, and it was passed down like an heirloom for the next child to continue studying the dragons. It’s fascinating.”