by Oxford, Rain
The furniture consisted of a brown leather couch, two matching cushioned chairs facing the fire, a cupboard, a table, and a bookshelf. Other than a rug on the floor, a dark red velvet curtain over what I knew to be a huge mirror, and a creepy painting on the wall of a skull, there was little personality to the room. The walls were brick, the floor was hardwood, there were no windows, and there were only two doors, one of which was open into the kitchen.
I heard a sound in the kitchen and Hail tried to pull me to hide behind the one of the black leather chairs, but I resisted. “We’re here for his help. We know Ronez. He may not know us yet, but we know him well enough.” Then, just to be on the safe side, I returned my hair to its natural color.
“What do you suggest?”
“We go introduce ourselves,” I said, turning and walking to the kitchen. Hail sighed, but followed. It was with shock that I stopped cold in the doorway, however, because it was not my grandfather who was cooking at the stove.
I saw her face in the reflective window. The young woman had black hair, dark brown eyes, and a Japanese facial structure, but her complexion was lighter than the Asian norm. Hail tripped over the edge of the rug and smacked into the door. Alerted of her audience, the woman turned, raising her gun before she saw us. “Who are you?” she barked.
It didn’t matter that I could easily defend myself against a gun; she threatened me. Hail jumped in front of me and his bow appeared in his hand by magic I didn’t realize he had. An arrow appeared as well and he notched it, aimed, and paused. “Put the gun down.”
The balance roared inside me, screaming at me to stop Hail from hurting her. Obviously this woman was extremely important in the future.
“You’re a kid,” she said, not lowering her weapon.
“And I will absolutely kill you in a heartbeat just for threatening my brother. This is your one warning.”
“Hail, she’s a fixed point. She must survive this,” I said.
“She looks very familiar. Does she need her gun hand?”
“No.”
Ronez burst in behind us and placed himself between us and the woman. “Whoa, whoa, settle down, kid. What’s going on here?”
“We were looking for you. This woman shoved a gun in my face before we could even introduce ourselves,” I explained.
Ronez sighed. “Abby, they’re children.”
“They’re in your house.”
“That should have told you more than anything that they were safe. You know my home is protected. Listen, why don’t you go home and I’ll take care of this. I’ll call you later,” he said, giving her a half hug and small kiss on the cheek. He walked her through the living room to the door. “And tell your mother to call off the dogs. No twenty-five-year-old should have a curfew.” He shut the door behind her and turned to us. “Now, who are you?”
“I am Ronez Versus Keisei Yatunus, son of Dylan Yatunus and---” Hail cut me off my slapping his hand over my mouth.
“I’m Samhail Yano Toke Yatunus,” my brother said, taking his hand back.
“You two are Dylan’s sons from the future? It works out then? I mean, you both have Duran names.” He made a gesture to the couch so Hail and I sat.
“Well, it works out for us. Dad became the Guardian of Earth when you died and was trained by your brother.” The Guardian’s face turned ashen and I could feel Hail cringe beside me, but I didn’t want to lie to Ronez.
“I’m going to die?” He sat heavily on one of the chairs. “I always planned… I always thought I would find a way to balance our magics so we could… I was going to try to take him to Duran. I just wanted to be there for him.”
“Well, he did find out how to balance his magic. There is a guy named Mordon just a few years younger than Dad who is half dragon. He is Dad’s balance like Hail is mine. Once Dad met him, he stopped being unlucky and his magic was able to develop the way it was supposed to.”
“I met Mordon when they came to me in 1989, before Dylan was born. I made the time map for them. When am I going to die?”
“You will meet a guy name Krael. He’s actually the good guy even though he’s working for Vretial. You have to be his friend because he ends up saving our parents… everyone really. He was sent here to steal your book, but it’s actually another servant of Vretial’s that tries. At that point, you discard the book and he kills you. The book goes to Dad.”
“I was planning to contact Dylan tomorrow.”
“You can’t! Dad has to become the Guardian of Earth.”
“Not without knowing that his father loves him.”
“Write him a damn letter!” I stood when the balance inside me tingled furiously beneath my skin. Hail stood to try to calm me, only to moan and collapse.
“What’s wrong with him,” Ronez asked worriedly. He picked my brother up and laid him gently on the couch.
“He’s a seer. He’s…” At that point, my own vision dimmed. Suddenly, I was standing to the side of my dad and uncle. It was cold and dark, but clearer than any of the other times I had seen it, which meant it was closer. Once again, Mordon had blood across his chest and his dragon claws were exposed. The expression on his face was resigned, as was my father’s.
When Dad stood still as Mordon stabbed him with the azurath blade, I wanted to scream at them, but I couldn’t breathe.
* * *
I woke, startled by shrill screaming until I realized it was me making the horrible sound. I panted as Hail pulled me into his lap and hugged me. Ronez crouched in front of us. “What did you see?” he asked.
“You have to let everything take its course,” I said. “Write him a letter to say goodbye, get all your affairs in order, but do not contact my dad. Your time is almost over. However, if you screw this up, you could cause his death as well.”
He nodded and stood, obviously miserable. “What did you come here for?”
“Vretial asked you many years ago to hide a sword from him, right?” I asked. He nodded. “That is a special weapon used in the war of the gods. There are other weapons, too, including a bow, a dagger, a battle axe, and a wand. A war is starting between demons and everyone else, which we can stop, but we need something to fight with. We already got the dagger, battle axe, and bow.”
“So you need the sword?”
“No, actually. From our time, we have it. We need the wand.”
“I think I know what you’re talking about.” He left the room without another word.
“Poor Ronez,” Hail said.
“I know.”
“Can we do anything for him?”
“Not until after he is dead. Maybe we can call him back to our world for a while. I mean, he comes back enough after death that he probably has frequent flier miles. We’d have to wait until he is done training Blue Jay and Phoenix. Those two are very spirited now that they’ve gotten used to Dad.”
“Now that they know Dad isn’t going to blow their heads off with his superpowers, they are brats,” Hail argued.
Ronez returned carrying the one object I had hoped never to see again; the mage staff. “I thought it was supposed to be a wand.”
“Other than size, what is the difference between a wand and a staff? I believe this is what you are looking for. I found it on my lawn one morning. The postman tripped over it trying to get away from my dog, Cujo. He was a three-pound hellhound. Anyway, there was a letter taped to it, but the letter was completely blank.”
I scoffed. “Sounds like what Dad would do.”
When I tried to reach for the staff, the darkness inside me stirred and a force filled the air between us, similar to magnets. Just like the tricks Dad liked to play with magnets, the force grew stronger each time I tried to grab the staff.
“It’s a paradox. I can’t touch it.”
“Then how are we supposed to use it to win the war?”
“You cannot use it yet,” Alice said, appearing right in front of me. Ronez showed no sign of seeing her. “You must give it to the mage king of Treslen
so that Dylan can retrieve it from him.”
“No.”
“Absolutely not,” Hail said.
“No, what?” Ronez asked, confused.
“You have no choice. If you do not give Maslye the staff, it will create a paradox of a magnitude that even you cannot reconcile.” She disappeared.
“Maybe this is our chance to save Dad,” I suggested even as the balance fired up with outrage.
“Explain,” Ronez demanded.
“Pushy,” I commented. Hail widened his eyes at me. “What?”
“I think you’re more like your grandfather than you realize.”
I scoffed. “Hail keeps having a vision of our dad dying. Actually, it’s Mordon who kills him, but Mordon cannot kill him. It’s impossible.”
Ronez sat back down in the chair and propped the staff up beside it. “This I might be able to help with. I am a seer, too. I believe it runs in the family, but only one member of each generation inherits it.”
“Actually, Hail had surrogate parents. He’s not biologically your grandson, and I have no visions ever.”
“What about Dylan? Does he ever develop the ability?”
“No.” At least, not that we knew of.
“Good. He would have immediately started developing the when I died, and the only way you wouldn’t have noticed them was if someone was stopping them. These visions can save lives, but they can be deceptive. If you know how to use it, you can see the consequences of someone’s decision or what happened in the past.”
“Our mother trained us to focus, which made them clearer, and we can induce them sometimes, but they can still be confusing or happen at the worst possible time.”
“Stress can induce them because your body sees it as you trying to make a decision,” Ronez explained. “The problem occurs when you make a decision and someone else makes a different decision, or when you make a decision based on a vision you saw. In trying to stop Dylan death, you might do something that causes the vision to come true when it otherwise would not have happened.”
“About ten years ago, Dad and Mordon went forward in time to find an artifact that you made in order to close the gates of the balance,” Hail said. “They were following the time map you made them. Dad faced a mage there, who threatened him with a magic staff. This staff. I got a really bad sense about it and warned Mordon to destroy it, but apparently, Dad didn’t.”
“That sounds like my kid. So you are wondering if you shouldn’t give the mage the staff? It makes sense if you get that bad a feeling from it, and keeping it might prevent your vision from coming true, but the paradox that will follow can destroy everything.”
“So we just let Dad die?”
“Of course not. My son may not know me, but I have watched over him his entire life. Tell him what you know and let him do what he does best. In the meantime, give the mage the staff so Dylan can get it from him.”
Hail looked at me, waiting for my decision. I nodded. “How do we get there? Our mother sent us here, but she can’t send us home.”
“I can do it.” He fiddled with his watch and held his wrist up to the staff as if the watch was scanning the weapon. After a moment, he gave the staff to Hail, took off the watch, and handed it to me. “This is the one item I don’t want my son to inherit; I don’t want him to endure that burden.”
When I took the watch and put it on my left wrist, I was shocked that it fit. The frame of it was about an inch in diameter and the band was about half an inch wide. The face of it was a simple black background with silver hands and a silver frame. On the right-hand side of the background was a small, gold date stamp. As soon as I clicked the metal clasp shut, the background changed to stars and a nebula with dozens of colors.
“It adjusted itself,” I said, referring to the wristband.
“It can do that.”
“Why did the background change?”
“Well, it does prove you’re related to me. Of course, you’re also identical to Dylan when he was little. The watch only works with our bloodline. When you are home on your world and in your time, the background will be blank. When you are off of your home world, it will tell you the date and time as well as the location.”
“How do I use it?” There were three tiny, silver knobs on the right side and a gold knob on the left. I desperately wanted to push the buttons.
“If you push the gold button, it will send you home to your time, but anyone you are touching will be sent back with you. If you want to take someone along, you must have skin-to-skin contact. It’s set to the time and place the staff belongs in. Push the middle silver button and it will take you where you need to be. Once you give the staff to the mage, press the gold button to return to your home.”
“But how do I use it for other stuff?”
“Ask your mother, Divina.” When I gaped at him, he rolled his eyes. “It’s kind of obvious,” he said. I reached for the button, but he held out his hand to stop me. “I’m glad I got to see you before I died. I can’t tell you what it means to me to know for sure he’ll be happy.”
“This won’t be the last time you see us,” I said. “We see you all the time. Yeah, you’re dead, but that never stops you.”
I grabbed Hail’s hand with my left hand and used my right hand to press the silver button. A clear shield built around us and the world outside of it disintegrated into an abyss of white. When it reformed, the shield broke apart and vanished, leaving us in the dark streets of what looked like a decimated city.
It was night, the only sound was something similar to jets in the distance, we were surrounded by debris from collapsed buildings, and there was fire everywhere. Hail pulled me close to him and readied his bow for a target.
A dragon even larger than Rojan flew over us, filling the air with fire. “This way!” someone yelled. Out of the debris came a small man, who took Hail by the arm to try to lead us back with him. Between a dragon and a stranger, I liked my chances with the mortal man better. I took Hail’s hand and we followed the man though the wreckage for several minutes. Our trip was made longer because we kept having to dive under stuff to hide from the dragons.
We finally came upon a room, like a basement, that had survived the disaster that the rest of the city had come to. Twelve other people were hiding in the shelter, including three children, four women, and five men. The man who had led us here took off the black scarf around his face and accepted a large gun that one of the others offered him.
“You have come to Dargo at the wrong time, boys,” he said.
“Dargo? We’re supposed to be on Lore,” Hail said, panicking.
He frowned at us. “Dargo is this city. This is Lore, currently at war between the dragons and mages. What world are you from?” He aimed the weapon at my brother. “And are you mages or dragons?”
I reached out with my magic to tear the weapon from his hand and flung it across the room. “Do you want to see dragon? Point a gun at my brother again and I’ll give you hell! Nobody threatens my brother! I’ll take that gun next time and shove it up your---”
Hail put his hand over my mouth and pulled me into his arms. “Ron is a firecracker, but he’s not a dragon. We are from Duran.”
“Suspicious lot, they are.”
“Yet you speak English.”
“My father is human, my mother is sago. I was born in the very beginning of this war.”
“War seems to be going around a lot lately. We are looking for Maslye, the k---”
“I am Maslye. Who sent you?”
Hail hesitated and looked at me. “The Noquodi of Earth sent us to give you this,” I said, indicating the staff. The man looked startled.
“Why?”
“Because there will be less deaths if we give you the staff now.” Hail held the weapon out and the mage took it hesitantly. “What started this war?”
“Our god gave the dragons too much power, so the dragons believed that they could make us into pets.”
“Mages and dragons should
be allies,” Hail said. “Maybe you need more territory.” His face was deep in concentration. “Mordon gets snappy when he is overcrowded,” he told me.
“What we need is a Guardian,” the mage argued.
“You have no Guardian?” I asked, then nodded and took Hail’s hand. “Have hope. You will have a Guardian. Maybe not soon, but you will have one.” I pressed the gold button, a shell built around us, and the world disappeared. When the light broke to form our home and the shield collapsed, we were alone with Sen, Sari, and our griffins.
“Where is the wand?” Sen asked.
“Dad has it,” I answered. “That was the future,” I said to my brother. “That means, if Lore has no Guardian, we must have chosen Raktusha.”
“So those people are suffering without us?”
“Avoli is not a strong enough god to stand on his own. He needs you.”
Hail froze. “But… he doesn’t want you as his Guardian.”
“Dad said being a Guardian was like being in the mafia; you never get out, and nobody messes with the family.”
“When Ghidorah told Ron his mother only kept him to please his father, Dylan went off on him,” Sen told him. “He said that if Ghidorah ever spoke to his son like that again, he’s wake up with a dead whore’s head in his bed.”
“Horse head, Sen, horse head!”
“Really? Is there a difference?”
“Trust me; I speak English better than you.” I turned back to my brother. “I have learned many things over the last few days, including that I don’t want to be a Guardian. I also don’t want to work for Vretial. As long as Avoli is okay with me being with you, I think you should be his Guardian.”
Chapter 11
Dylan
I sat down at the kitchen table with a sigh and laid my head on the wood. It was cool, which helped my head a tiny bit.
“That potion should have kept you asleep for hours,” Edward said.