Godling (Kairenz Jistora Book 1)

by Dusks, Rydre

  I took a deep breath to steady myself. "Crane said demigods are forbidden."

  Velzae nodded. "Long ago, SolTansra told us that we were unable to find mortal partners for fear that the planet would turn to chaos. Demigods have more power than gods as they share the blood of both the divine and the terrestrial. With Stelliot being the first known to exist, it has caused the gods to frenzy. This, in turn, has caused the Mirrored Plains to sweep over the border of Cantor now, and it will soon creep into Ifearor. If Era does not stop waging war there will be no stop to the Curse."

  "Era started a war? And... weren't you pushing for the Mirrored Plains?"

  "Yes, Kro. To both. I have since then gone against the Fathergod's decision. Stelliot has changed my way of thinking. There is a way to save Kairenz without going KahRatese's and GaenVrellec's way, and without going the way of the Mirror Curse. And Stelliot will lead that revolution."

  "I don't think I understand," I breathed.

  Velzae glanced over at Crane's still form. "There isn't enough time to explain further, Kro. I will have a means of transportation sent to you for you to cross the Mirrored Plains with, then eventually back into Va'lent."

  "W-Wait a second. " I backed up a little. "The Mirrored Plains is cursed. If I take one step onto that crystal I'll be consumed by it. It happened to all the Cantorians."

  Teila was next to speak. "You forget that you have the power of a god, Ikio. It's time for you to stop thinking everything can be rationalized by science. The Mirror Curse is a form of judgment, and you have power above it. It will not harm you. We understand the fear it invokes, but just remember that Stelliot is waiting for you on the other side of Cantor. The Plains do not affect him either."

  I didn't realize how heavy my breath had become. The one subject that most GreyCrossers I'd grown up around feared was the Mirrored Plains. Kairenz's Judgment was an unrelenting force of nothing but death and stillness. It was also massive. The Mirrored Plains stretched clear across the province... which accounted for over 5,000 miles. Velzae’s means of transportation had better have been something long-lasting and reliable.

  "I will look after Mother and will do my best to distract Crane while I can," Velzae explained. "Start heading east and don't stop. You will find your source of transportation. And whatever you do, Kro, make sure to keep your heightened emotions in check. We cannot have you disappearing for another two years. Stelliot needs you so that this will all end in a way that will save billions of lives."

  Crane groaned, and Velzae pulled me away from Teila's side. "Go now, Kro. Everything will be straightened out later. First, focus solely on your son."

  I stalled. "How am I supposed to survive on the Plains?" I demanded. "There's absolutely nothing out there! I'll waste away!"

  Velzae pushed me more. "It will all be answered. Go!"

  His tone was so sharp that I had no choice. I turned and sprinted across the meadow, unable to look back. I didn't want to catch the neon gaze of Crane again. My rush led me deep into congregations of trees. A couple of times I caught myself on a twig or low-hanging branch, one of them cutting a long graze across my jaw. I focused as much as I could on running east, constantly reminding myself that Stelliot came first. All the matters of GreyCross, Sylvain, Saydea, two years passing, and my friends came second. Once I had Stelliot back in my arms, I could worry about the other things.

  My sprint nearly landed me in a river. For a moment my heart shuddered, and my mind regressed. I was thirteen again--my head and shoulders drenched in the icy, rushing water. I felt my father's large, calloused fingers around the back of my neck. I couldn't breathe--the water was up my nostrils and threatening entrance down my windpipe. I flailed. He yanked me out and hit me across the face. I hit the water... struck my head on a large river rock. The pain was only for a moment, but it left me in a state of utter insanity. I flung myself out of the river's edge, slapping the trees with sprays of freezing liquid, and lunged for my father. I pushed him backward. Just before he could get another grip on me, I ran to a tree, kicked up the trunk, latched onto one of the branches, and swung my foot at my father's face as hard as I possibly could. It struck him so sharply in the jaw that he stumbled sideways in a complete faint and landed with his head under the rushing current of the river. I dropped from the tree and watched. At first there was no movement... then he jerked a couple of times before staying still.

  Why had he tried to kill me? What were his words?

  "We should have done away with you when you first showed the signs of a demon."

  I'd been left to stand there with a concussion, little to no memory of my past, and the growing realization that I'd just murdered my father--the chief of the Anli. To avoid my own death, I'd left the forest.

  "'The signs of a demon,'" I said aloud, staring down at the water's current. My eyes lingered on the rocks that gleamed under faint moonlight. It came back swifter than I'd hoped. I remembered why my father had been after me. I once knew that I had abilities beyond human understanding. I knew I had powers--maybe I didn't know exactly why, but I knew I was different from the others. I could make things happen that others could not. I had spent many days in the Gasaidiatt showing terrifying signs. Every time I became angry with someone, they would become sick. Every time I wished harm on someone whom I knew was in the wrong, they would immediately break a limb. I had known how powerful I was, and I expressed it constantly. Thirteen years of it was enough for the tribe. They had voted to have me killed, and my father was trapped with the task of doing so. Perhaps he had hated me, or perhaps he had not. Either way, I had gone wild enough to kill him because of it. The river rocks must have broken a connection in my brain, because I had never lost my mind like that until he'd attacked me. The concussion discovered by the GreyCross Sendredin Hospital when I was fourteen was proof of my memory loss... and explained why that extra growth of mine had been null until just recently. I was awakening on a superhuman level thanks to the supposed god incarnates that surrounded me.

  Supposed? There was no 'supposed' about it anymore. Now that I'd seen TeilaLouna and Crane, I believed in the Crei. There was something supernatural going on that couldn’t be explained by science. There were no possible ways that a preteen with glowing green eyes could administer pain with a single look, or that a sole woman living in Alker could read the minds of any visitors.

  I said a small prayer in Anli beside the river, hoping my biological father's spirit was at peace. Whether I had been in the wrong to kill him or it was justified, I knew that the time I killed the guards in Roavo with my bare hands was not the only time I'd gone barbaric. There was a relentless anger inside me that I knew was the wrath of a betrayed, dark god... ignited by a strike to the head. If I didn't believe before, I knew it now.

  I crossed the river carefully. At this point I didn't feel like running from anything anymore.

  14

  The Godling

  My walk took me quite a distance. Velzae had failed to tell me where, exactly, this "source of transportation" was located, and how far away it was from Teila's cottage. The most I could do was keep going. I slowed more to catch my breath after a couple of minutes, and to avoid tripping any more. The forest ground was unforgiving here in Alker. Vines wound around tree trunks and hid under tall brush, making them easy dangers for my boots. I had to brush mud from my face and chest twice, and caught my coat on plant life more than once. Its tail was tattered from the abuse I'd put it through over the past couple years, and the tear down the shoulder and arm from the hovercycle crash was beyond stitching. Part of me wanted to get a new one when I was allowed back into GreyCross, if that was possible, but I figured at least this one had personality now. Kind of like Va'th's.

  A glimmer of something metallic caught my eye through the trees minutes later, spurring me to come out from my rambling thoughts. I paused for a second, listening. I didn't want to run into anything I wasn't supposed to. And not knowing exactly what it was that I was supposed to find made me even more c
autious. Feeling in my pocket for my Jux, I gripped it and drew it out.

  The glint came again as I picked out the shape of an equine foreleg past the greenery. The creature stood in a single strike of moonlight glowing through the canopy above, but it wasn't enough to see the entire being. I took a couple tentative steps, resting a hand on the back of my Jux and tugging it into a cocked position. The metallic chink of my action caused the creature to rear up onto its haunches and twist toward me. I pressed myself against a tree as it came back down with a hollow snarl, landing in the strip of light. As the night rays splayed across the creature's head, I saw that it was not alive. It had the front appearance of a herd animal with spiraling horns and a reptilian body, but I saw that its jaw was hinged with bolts.

  I lifted my gun and pointed it at the robotic monster, scowling. This was the fourth diabolical creation of gears and metalwork I'd seen in just a few days. I wasn't about to let this one attack me, too.

  It snarled again, curling massive claws into the damp earth. I waited for it to lunge, but it remained where it was, staring at me with eyes that gleamed with yellow incandescence. As I waited, so did it, and soon we both stood facing each other in defensive positions, anticipating an attack from the other. It wasn't until I noticed a leather strap dangling from a bit in the robot's mouth that I made the connection and lowered my gun. This wasn't an enemy--this was Velzae's "transportation."

  The moment I dropped my Jux to my side the machine came forward. It walked like a horse, but I now saw it clearly. It had a whip-like, jointed tail and the body of a riding animal. Its legs were built for speed--not for fighting. The closest thing I could relate it to was a conglomeration of animal parts the Earthans referred to as a dragon.

  "Are you my ride?" I asked quietly, storing my Jux back in my coat pocket.

  The machine sank down into a sitting position in the grass without answering, but it had turned enough to offer for me to place myself in the saddle on its back. I paused, considering it. I didn't often trust machines unless I'd grown up around them. Click and Zlade were those exceptions. As a Strejc my first instinct was to be skeptical about any bot.

  The metal dragon swiveled its head toward me as if expecting me to move. I decided there was no use ignoring it. Coming closer, I swung my leg over the saddle and dropped down into it, pressing my toes into the stirrups and taking a hold of the reins. I'd never ridden any kind of animal before, although I'd seen old pictures of people riding Earthan horses from long ago. I didn't count the unconscious trip I had on the back of the Roavo hound with Rook. I held my breath and clenched onto the beast's sides tightly with my legs as it rose with a billow of smoke from its metallic nostrils.

  It's like your hovercycle, I tried to tell myself. It's just like a bike. It's a big hunk of metal parts, just like a bike.

  But the dragon did not move like my bike. It took a few steps, and I swayed in the saddle. I pressed against the stirrups, trying to right myself with every wavering motion. The dragon started with a small crawl, then a type of prance, gliding between the trees fluidly. I was not so fluid. I bounced in the saddle so much that it upset my stomach. After a minute I found I'd been gritting my teeth hard enough to cause my jaw to ache. I tried loosening up as the dragon began moving faster, dodging low-hanging branches and spouting more smoke from its nostrils and mouth. I lowered myself down, twisted the reins around one wrist, and wrapped my other arm around the dragon's neck. Soon it was in such a fluid sprint that I found myself falling into a sort of soothed trance from the motions. My nausea left along with my fear, and I watched with a muted state of awe as the forest passed by me in a blur.

  A couple of times I caught sight of an animal through the trees, but the dragon moved much too swiftly for my eyes to linger in one place for too long. The travel was not as choppy or as dangerous as I expected. It maneuvered around obstacles as if already knowing they were there, and not once did it skip a step. The night wind felt good against my body, and although the beast was a machine, it was warm from its inner workings and felt as though it truly lived. It clinked and cranked with every gallop of its claws and legs, but that didn't stop my fascination for this furnace-powered dragon.

  After some time the beast carried me out of the forest and onto flatter terrain. The trees became sparse before disappearing completely from the scenery, and the grass below the dragon's feet browned and grew patchy. The sky neared dawn, surprising me. I hadn't expected the night to go by so quickly. Everything was illuminated in a pink hue--even the dragon. Its metalwork was chrome-like, so it almost appeared as a liquid reflection of the sunlight that bounced off its body. Before I could straighten and admire the view I noticed something strange about some of the weeds and rocks that we passed by. They were also a glossy and reflective tone, but much more reflective than the dragon's outer framework. They appeared black in color.

  The beast let out more smoke, and I sat up straight to focus my eyes on the horizon. More dirt, rocks, and weeds swept by us, completely coated in an inky sheen, and as I stared at the plains beyond I knew for a fact that this was the Mirror Curse. I instinctively tugged on the dragon's reins as it led me closer to the flat, black terrain.

  "S-Stop for a second," I urged, tugging more. "C'mon, robot, stop!"

  The beast did not listen; instead it pressed on. I held my breath as its claws began tapping and rattling against crystal. It slowed down to a degree as the glossy surface eliminated its traction. Something didn't feel right about the atmosphere over the Mirrored Plains. Everything felt stale and ominous, as if we were being chased. I glanced back just to be sure that wasn't the case, and only panicked more.

  The crystal moved. It shifted and distorted as if it were made of liquid... and it rippled toward the dragon from all angles, at a pace almost too fast. I watched pieces of glassy substance splinter into fragments and become thrown behind us. With a swift look down I saw that the dragon kicked up bits that were attempting to latch to its heels. It was certainly chasing us.

  "Oh, Sol," I breathed, holding onto the reins tightly again. "It's trying to consume you! Can't you go any faster?"

  As if to finally answer me the dragon gave several whirring sounds, and something pressed against my legs. I shifted a bit, and two appendages slid out from slots on the dragon's sides, unfolding and clicking as joints locked in place. They were wings. I watched as the fingers of the wings unfolded, spreading open bronze fabric that mimicked membranes.

  Within seconds we were airborne. The dragon beat its wings a couple of times to gain altitude, leaving the messy tracks of broken crystal behind it. I held on tightly, never having been on anything that flew higher than a few inches off the ground. The breeze had grown cold since the forest, and it stung my face a bit. But my fears were left behind with the silence of the Plains, and I finally looked ahead. With a flying mount like this I would reach the other side of the Plains in no time.

  "You won't touch ground again in a while, right?" I asked softly. To answer me, the dragon beat its wings once more and lifted just a bit higher. I smiled. There were so many things plaguing my mind, but right now all I focused on was that I was in the sky and flying on the back of a dragon. It may not have been a live animal, but it was real enough to me.

  This was a thing of dreams... a cursed land of magic and death beneath me, my dragon mount, being guided by the gods... I'd had the same feeling upon entering GreyCross for the first time as a teen. The first robot I'd met--Click--I'd called a wavusut, which was the Anli word for a creature that had no spirit. A beast even worse than a demon in my native culture. The very thought that creatures could exist without spirits scared me, and for a time I'd thought my new guardian Kajaru was killing the robots because they were abominations. Even when Kajaru had shown me pictures and videos of Era, I had a hard time swallowing the fact that the entire country was led by an infernal no-spirit. I walked through the city with Kajaru thinking I was in a dream world. I was astounded at my first sight of a MetalArt, my first ride i
n a car, even my first city meal.

  Now I had those experiences again. Everything was dreamlike and new. Most Kairenzi knew that the Mirrored Plains existed, but traveling across them like this just didn't happen. Not without a dragon, apparently, which any rational human being would also claim just didn't happen.

  "Siivash," I declared. It was a short Anli word for a wild beast highly respected by the other inhabitants of the Gasaidiatt. "Your name will be Siivash."

  Siivash let out another spout of smoke and a tin-toned roar. I placed my hand to its neck and gazed at the horizon ahead of us in determination.

  It was perhaps an hour into flight that the phone in my pocket suddenly started to ring. It seemed impossible that any radio waves would reach this far, but I pulled it out to look. The display screen read a series of numbers and letters I didn't recognize, but I answered the call anyway. Before I could place it up to my ear, an energy swarmed over me. It felt as though a blanket were wrapped around my body, and my sight changed. In a second I stood inside Saydea, and I knew that this was not a vision of my own.

  This isn't right, Sylvain thought. He isn't acting normal. I must contact Ikio. Bare feet rushed across tile floor.

  The young androgyne ran for the Saydea elevator and slipped inside before the doors closed. There was someone already in there, but Sylvain knew him well by now. He was a hackerbot who'd managed to assist in a mass shutdown of the Roavo prison camp.

  "You're in here," Sylvain started, gazing at Click.

  "Yes," was the flat answer.

  "Help me contact your master. I must speak to him immediately."