Shield of the Gods (Aigis Trilogy, Book 1)

by S. M. Welles

  “Choices, choices, choices.” Baku grabbed his overlapping ankles and studied his aurora sky. “You start off with infinite possibilities, but once you make a choice, all those possibilities collapse into that one. It’s how gods encounter limitations and new possibilities, but I’ll have to elaborate some other time.” He looked at Roxie. “Right now it’s more important for you to know and understand that most Creators choose to create multiple worlds and watch them grow, the number of worlds limited to an individual god’s own willpower. I have four of my own, counting Earth.

  “On the other hand, some gods choose never to earn the status of Creator, for one reason or another. And then there are other gods who would become incredibly dangerous if the could harness the power of a Creator.”

  “Why?”

  “Some gods like to create; others like to destroy. But, in order to destroy, one must create first, and then send their creations off to destroy other gods’ worlds. It’s one of those limitations borne from choices gods made long ago.”

  “Why can’t gods destroy other gods’ worlds themselves?”

  “Again: choices that created limitations later on,” Baku said. “Which brings me to my next topic: extended reality. Aerigo will be your true mentor here, but I’ll explain it to you a bit. Extended reality is what you know as magic, witchcraft, wizardry, sorcery and so on, but it’s also much more. It goes far beyond psychic powers, raising demons and doing amazing things that a normal person cannot. You already know a bit about your own special powers. That’s part of extended reality. However, not all worlds have the same access to these energies. Earth is a perfect example. Every new world starts with access to extended reality, but sometimes the planet’s inhabitants don’t use it, by choice or neglect, and the energies are slowly locked away. Extended reality does not disappear or the planet would die. It’s as necessary as air to living things to have those energies hold planets together. One thing that mystifies even the gods is that, sometimes, there are leaks in extended reality-dormant worlds. You are headed to one of those leaks right now, called the Bermuda Triangle.”

  Roxie turned to Aerigo. “Why are we headed to the Bermuda Triangle?”

  “We’re a little stuck on Earth until we get there,” Aerigo said.

  “Right,” Baku said. “And one other thing I feel you should know, Roxie, is that extended reality leaks can also appear in life forms, like Luis, who’s sharing his cabin with you. It’s a magical phenomenon. Pay attention to people that stick out from the flow of things, like Luis does. These enigmas often have something valuable to offer.” Baku’s face grew serious and his gaze shot skyward. He studied the dancing aurora over the lake, and then a crimson band over the forest. He looked at both Aigis again. “There’s so much more I wish I could tell you, Roxie, but you’ve been here as long as it’s safely possible. Be careful, both of you. Farewell.”

  Baku stood and his form began to fade.

  “Wait! I have a question.” Roxie got to her feet as Baku’s form solidified.

  “Be quick, dear child. I don’t want Nexus to sense that you’ve been to my realm.”

  Roxie glanced about her, then focused on Baku. “What did you mean about my birth not going as you planned?”

  “Surely Aerigo told you that you were born on the wrong planet?” the old god said.

  “He did, but how the heck does something like that happen?”

  Baku gave her a rueful smile. “I’ll show you.” His form faded into nothing.

  What sounded like static coming from a televesion turned to max volume zapped the air. Roxie flinched. When she opened her eyes, Baku’s realm was in pieces, huge chunks of it floating and rolling independently from each other like a chain of colorful asteroids.

  On hers and Aerigo’s chunk of realm stood a beaten and bloodied Baku staring down an equally beaten and bloodied young man twenty yards away, with curly black hair and eyes just as dark as Roxie’s. Both men wore the same cargo pants and belt.

  A disembodied voice from above said, “This is my memory of the day you were both mentally and physically conceived. That young man you see is my son, Nexus, your ultimate foe that you must stop from getting what he wants.”

  Nexus didn’t look overly intimidating; just a little older than her but… his eyes… they were full of cold hate. And this was another god she was seeing. How was she supposed to stop a god from getting what he wanted?

  “Aigis begin as a thought, an idea. And then that idea turns into energy with the potential to become an Aigis.” The memory-Baku held his hands in front of his abdomen like he was holding an invisible soccer ball. A smaller ball of white light appeared between his palms. “That ball of light is you.”

  Roxie felt butterflies in her stomach. This had to be a first in human history—er, mortal. When was the last time a god showed his creations the instant they were born?

  The memory-Baku’s mouth moved but made no sound, and then he took the ball of light in one fist, feinted a throw at Nexus, and then launched the ball into outer space. Nexus shared Roxie’s confusion for a moment, then formed his own energy ball, a red one, and sent it after the other energy ball. The red one caught up with the white, but right before impact, some sort of invisible barrier made the red one explode. The explosion knocked the white one off its course.

  Roxie’s ears were blasted by a second bout of static hiss. She and Aerigo now stood in the present, repaired realm, with Baku absent.

  “And that’s how,” the old god said. “Unfortunately, I have no idea what protected you from the red energy ball, so you’re very lucky to be alive right now. I’d put the last of my energy into veering your new trajectory towards Earth, or else you’d have sailed on forever, unless a wormhole or something else crossed your path. Now, farewell child.”

  Before Roxie or Aerigo could move, the realm vanished and they felt the hands take hold of them again. Their motion was thrown into reverse as they flew among the stars.

  Roxie found herself still standing by the railing and Aerigo sitting in his chair, as if nothing had happened. She let go of the railing, went to the balcony door and stopped. Luis was still folding the same shirt he’d picked out earlier. Weird. She slid open the door and Mr. Herschel looked up with a smile.

  “Guess he really meant ‘a second,’” he said. “If you’re done chatting, feel free to have a look around the ship. There are all sorts of things to do, or you can just relax, or whatever you feel like.” He put the shirt away and picked up another. “My family and I are going to catch a play later this evening, and you’re welcome to join us.”

  “Maybe we will,” Roxie said. She needed to be alone to think things out before she gave Aerigo a chance to explain anything else. Her emotions needed to catch up with her brain, too. She’d just met God in person, for crying out loud!

  Luis fished out his wallet. He pulled out a plastic card and held it out to her. “Here’s a keycard so you can get in if we’re not here.”

  “Wow, thanks!”

  “Don’t mention it. Are you alright? You look like a little shaken.”

  “I’m fine. I just need to go for a walk.”

  “Take care then.”

  Roxie waved and did her best to pop him a genuine smile on her way out the door.

  Aerigo crossed the room and headed after her.

  “Going with her?” Luis asked.

  “Keeping an eye on her,” he said.

  “Want some different clothes so you’ll blend in better? Seriously; a person in all black during the middle of the summer? Aren’t you hot?”

  “I’m used to it,” Aerigo said with a shrug and left.

  Luis glanced at his wife, who looked at him but said nothing while she put her socks away. “Whatever,” he said to no one in particular, and then went back to unpacking.

  The rest of the day went by in a blur. The Herschel family ended up going to the play without the Aigis, and returned to the cabin after a theatre supper to find Roxie and Aerigo lounging on the
ir patio. They left them in peace and went to bed.

  With the moon hugging the southern horizon and hidden by the stern, the night sky was glittering with more stars than Roxie had ever seen at once. The smog and lighting of Buffalo dampened such a sight. She had no idea the naked eye could, after adjusting to the darkness, see all those zillions of white pinpricks at once. She even saw a shooting star, and the faint smoky edge of the Milky Way cut the starry blackness in half. The sight made her feel insignificant and small. Where was Baku’s realm among all those stars?

  “I talked to Luis briefly while you were wandering around,” Aerigo said in a deep, soft voice, as if he were trying to not break the magic of the sky’s beauty.

  “Yeah?” she said back in an equally soft voice.

  “This ship makes a couple of stops before heading to Bermuda, so we have three days before we can get to Phaedra.”

  “Fay-drah?” Roxie said.

  “It’s home to one of my favorite cities to visit. You’ll see why when we get there. The sights might help you clear your head while we’re there.”

  Roxie nodded, not knowing what else to say. She returned her gaze to the sky and started thinking again about Baku the moment he conceived her.

  After a while, Aerigo asked, “What’s wrong? You look upset.”

  Roxie gazed through the one-foot gap between the top and middle railing at where the sky and sea met. She could barely tell where the night met the ocean surface. She sat up and raised her knees so she could rest her chin on them, and wrapped her arms around her legs. “I feel different,” she said somberly.

  “Different how?” Aerigo pressed when Roxie didn’t elaborate.

  “Not human,” she said. “I don’t know what to think of myself anymore. I don’t know what to do either—I guess I just feel lost.”

  “You’re not lost. You just have a lot to learn all at once. You can handle it.”

  “Thanks, I guess.”

  “I’m not really sure what to say. I don’t understand why you feel lost.”

  “From what little I know, my future is so uncertain. I was expecting to start college in the fall; not this. I don’t know what to anticipate, or what’s expected of me. I don’t like uncertainty.”

  “Don’t worry about it. You’ll adjust, and you’ll understand in time. For now, just rest. You look like you’re about to fall asleep on me again.”

  Without realizing it, Roxie had adjusted herself from her chin on one knee, to one ear pressed to her warm forearm. Her ability to focus on Aerigo’s shadowy frame was hazy. Her sore eyes were millimeters from closing. It had to be somewhere around midnight and the visit to Baku’s realm had been almost twelve hours ago. The Herschel family had returned not too long after ten-thirty, and that had been a while ago. “I am,” she whispered. “Goodnight.”

  Chapter 10

  Spies

  It took hours for Daio to recover from his head-butt with a thick wall of steel. If a human had rammed the wall that fast and hard, he probably would have mashed his skull into a hundred jagged pieces, and ruptured several discs, instead of escaping with a stiff neck and a major headache. Being an Aigis had its upsides.

  Once the pain passed, Daio inadvertently fell asleep in his beach chair for eight hours, according to the cell phone of the informative person lounging next to him. It was now a little after seven at night. Time for more mischief.

  The orders to spy on Aerigo so Nexus could glean what Baku was up to were easy enough to go along with. But when the girl Roxie had entered the balance—another Aigis—it had changed the whole mischief game. A long-standing and hopeless goal didn’t seem so hopeless anymore, provided that Nexus’ plans didn’t interfere.

  Daio sat up in the beach chair, stretched, then searched the main deck for a new shirt and a shower. The lady with the cell phone had done her best to politely inform him that he smelled like rotting fish. Daio couldn’t smell it unless he brought a sleeve to his face.

  He entered an open-air clothes shop and picked himself out a blue button down shirt with red tropical flowers outlined in white. Not preferable attire, but he needed to blend in with the rest of the passengers. At least his tattered pants could stay—he’d seen teenagers wearing ripped jeans. Maybe it was only against the rules to wear ripped shirts on this world. He found a garbage bin just outside the store and discarded his flannel shirt. He still had a white tank top underneath, which bore several holes in the torso, along with sweat stains beneath his underarms. Someone needed to write a manual on how to hunt moving targets and find time to take showers more frequently than once a month.

  Daio snatched the right size shirt then bolted off at superhuman speed for the bow and began searching for an empty cabin to break in to. Diving into the pool beside the beach chair he’d slept in earlier would’ve alleviated his aroma, but a few minutes of peace and privacy were in order.

  Somewhere overhead a boyfriend called for his “babe” so they could leave for dinner.

  Daio craned his neck as two slender hands disappeared behind the railing above. A patio door closed. He checked to see if any of the dozen people meandering the deck were heeding any attention to him. People gazed over the railing with dreamy eyes, stared at the person they were conversing with, or wandered along the deck.

  Daio bent his knees and counterbalanced himself with his arms poised behindhis back, then, swinging his arms forward, he jumped for the next deck up and arced over the railing and onto the patio, landing with a wooden clunk. He peered inside the darkened room just in time to see the door close. He reached for the glass door and, to his luck, it wasn’t locked. He slipped inside, new shirt in hand, then snuck into the bathroom and cleansed his body and clothes in a lovely porcelain shower.

  Daio had donned only his boxers and tank top, which were still damp, when he heard a door open. Crap! He dropped the comb he’d been using to spike his hair forward and started throwing the rest of his clothes back on. Two pairs of footsteps drew closer. Daio slipped his second foot down the other damp pant leg and zipped up his cargo pants, then reached for his metal bands. He hastily yet gingerly clapped the bands over his thighs, then pulled on his damp socks and cringed at the cool squishy sensation. He shoved a foot inside each boot, both still smelling far from pleasant. He clipped all the buckles, then reached for his new shirt and attempted to bolt out the bathroom as he billowed the shirt over his shoulders, only to have to grab the doorframe to stop himself. A middle-aged man backed into him, his hands full of bra-covered breasts. The stranger gasped and shielded his girlfriend.

  “What is it, Dicky?” the girlfriend asked, then gasped after her eyes looked past her boyfriend. “Oh my god, Kevin! Get away from him!”

  The man named Kevin punched Daio, hitting him squarely in the cheekbone. He stared wide-eyed at Daio, who’d barely turned his head, then at his fist. He doubled over, clamping it between his knees.

  The girlfriend pulled Kevin away. “I’m calling security,” she said.

  “You could just let me leave,” Daio said. “I was actually on my way out.” He pulled his shirt over one shoulder and fished behind his back for the other sleeve.

  “And let you get away wi’ whatever you stole?” Kevin said through a grimace.

  “I—well—” He donned the other sleeve and adjusted the collar.

  “Where’s your cell phone?” the girlfriend asked as she guided Kevin onto a bed.

  Daio let out a nervous laugh. Killing the two of them and throwing their bodies overboard would fix things for a little while, however killing anyone over getting caught using a shower was beyond pointless. Still: he couldn’t just let whatever security protecting the ship get ahold of him either. He got another idea, inspired by this morning’s encounter with Aerigo. Daio raised a hand and twitched it at Kevin as if he were trying to flick water off his fingertips and said, “Estudre.”

  The guy froze, blinked a few times, then stared unfocused at a wall.

  The lady gasped and cowered as Daio hurrie
d around Kevin toward her. He repeated the same confounding spell to the girlfriend, and the couple posed like daydreaming statues.

  “Look at me,” he said to them. They slowly turned in their spots. “You never saw me. I don’t exist.” That said, Daio exited via patio, just in case leaving through the proper door would arouse suspicion. He had no idea whether the confounding spell would work like it should, but he hoped it at least deflected their brains into thinking about something else if they could still recall encountering him.

  Daio headed straight for the stern and munched on two hot dogs he’d nabbed from a food stand. Daio ate his complimentary dinner at a picnic table as he scanned the ship with his eyes and mind for Aerigo’s whereabouts. So many humans; too many life signals tugging at his awareness. A fifty-foot-tall giant could easily hide from his mind’s eye on this ship.

  It wasn’t until well after the sun had gone down and stars blanketed the sky that his mind’s eye finally pushed in the right direction through all the distractions and onto a familiar soul. Got ‘em. With aid of his superhuman speed, Daio hopped over the railing darted along the main deck to within ten feet of the other two Aigis. He concentrated on pretending he didn’t exist while straining his ears for conversation. Neither Aerigo nor the girl spoke for about half an hour.

  “I talked to Luis briefly while you were wandering around, Rox,” Aerigo said in a soft voice.

  “Yeah?” the girl answered back in an equally soft voice.

  “Baku told me to go to Bermuda. This ship makes a couple of stops before there. So we have three days before we can get to Phaedra.”

  “Fay-drah?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why can you grow and shrink wherever you want, but not travel to other worlds?”

  So that was the world Aerigo wanted to stop at first! Daio hurried back to the bow on silent feet. He didn’t need to spend another second so dangerously close to Aerigo and the girl.

  The world Phaedra sounded familiar, but its significance lingered on the brink of his mind. He’d been to that world before. But what for? If Aerigo was taking Roxie there, then that made Phaedra a place of need. What did they need? Besides power...