by Rain Oxford
“Ronez and Samhail never use nominal energy, anyway. They will be fine with their higher power. What else did Janus say to you?” Regivus asked.
“Other than the gates opening… The Ancient is still contained for now, but apparently he’s spreading my name. I popped off to Earth, as I’m sure you know, before Janus appeared. Edward and the others were attacked by demons while I was gone, but they ran off when I got back.”
“That sounds like a good thing.”
“Yeah, it might be, but that demon wasn’t a fool. I figured because you guys called him ancient, he was pretty old. You don’t get pretty old by being stupid. I think I scared him, but I don’t think I did any psychological damage.”
“You think it is suspicious that he is telling everyone that you are scarier than you are?”
“I do,” I said. Maybe the demon wanted to play me up to make his own failure less embarrassing, but I still didn’t trust it. “He was afraid when I took away his abilities to use any kind of magic; however, I didn’t think it was really the type of fear to last even as he sat trapped in the void.”
“I believe he was a lot more afraid than you think. Maybe you could not hear yourself the way he did,” Madus said.
“I was a little scared,” Avoli agreed. “You sounded like Vretial. You had this way about you, like you knew everything that was going to happen and you had complete control over the turnout. Every move you made was unique from what anyone else would have done, and that made you unpredictable.”
“Like when you created the body that could sustain him, gave him his magic back, and then took it away just a little at a time. You played on his natural instinct to hold onto what little life he had. That is the instinct of all life, really,” Divina said.
I didn’t realize I did that, I just wanted to… well, that was what I wanted to do, but I wanted to scare him after what he did to Mordon. “Janus also said that the gates are being opened by the balance.”
“That is very worrisome news,” Enki said.
“It’s better than Vretial trying to open them,” Divina argued.
“No, this is worse. Vretial can be fought and even reasoned with. The balance cannot be reasoned with and it will exist when our family is gone,” Regivus said. “It is not a sentient being but a force of nature. The universe was not built for intelligent life; we created it and had to bend the universe to our desire in order to sustain it. If the balance is trying to revert itself, there is little we can do.”
“But you are the gods. Surely you have the power to keep it the way you want it,” I said. Regivus gave me a doubtful frown.
“We have the power, yes, but unfortunately we don’t know the way,” Divina said. “Opening the gates is rather easy. That is not the case with closing them. We didn’t close the gates in the first place.”
Something was very wrong with what she was saying. Maybe it was a lie, but the others looked sincere. I knew my wife would lie to me without hesitation if she thought she was protecting me, but could she keep a secret from her brothers? “Who did? Who knows how to close the gates?” I asked.
It was Azenoth who gave me the most unexpected answer. “Our father.”
“Your father? You have a father?”
“We are siblings; of course we had a father. He was killed in the war,” Divina said.
“Or just lost,” Regivus amended. “So many were lost. The only one left who might know is… Vretial. He is older than us and still remembers what we do not. He always wanted the gates open, though.”
“Which is odd because Vretial wanted the books, didn’t he?” I asked. Divina nodded. “Why go through all the trouble to steal the books if he planned to make them worthless?” On the other hand… he didn’t take my book from me when he had the chance this time. “He wanted all of the control, but Janus said that the books gave more control to the gods than the people. And why, in all this time that the balance has been at peace with the gates being closed, has it suddenly decided to fight it?”
I didn’t wait for an answer because I knew then that I was asking the wrong gods. With my quickest flash yet, I popped back to Duran, grabbed Mordon’s arm, and thought of Vretial. I focused on the feel of his overwhelming magic, the sound of his voice as he threatened my life, and the need I had to find the answers to my questions. He had the answers. He always had the answers, even to the questions that hadn’t been asked yet. Even when he said he didn’t know, he was lying.
“Well, this was unexpected,” Vretial lied with a laugh, sitting on the large rock under the apple tree. “What brings you to visit my home without even a gift? I am a god, should I not get an offering?”
He was right, I guess. I mean, it was a bit rude to nag him with questions and not even give him something in exchange. I dug around in my bag until I found the bar of chocolate I had gotten for him on Earth and tossed it to him. “I didn’t know if you would prefer dark or white, so I thought milk chocolate was a safe middle ground. I was in a hurry.”
“This will do lovely.” The “evil” god looked delighted as he opened his chocolate and started eating it.
I could feel Mordon staring at me, but I shook my head. “There is something in the dark. Everyone keeps saying that, but what does it mean? Why did you lie to me before about not knowing?”
“It was a bad translation that got stuck. I didn’t tell you because you needed to wonder about it. If I told you that it was exactly how it sounded, you would have stopped thinking about it. Really, it is truthful, just a bit misleading. Like I said; badly translated.”
“What does it mean?” Mordon asked, getting irritated.
“Silly dragon. You should know more than anyone that there is not a word for everything. Sometimes experience is the only way to learn. Like getting your heart broken. It is a mortal phrase that explains a form of pain caused by love. Something no god could understand, but not even a person could understand it until it happens to them. I have seen what it does to people; I have healed them before. People beg when their heart is broken. They beg for revenge, for healing, for death… I could never stand to see that, so I would give them what they wanted. But no matter what it was they asked for, it was never the answer for them. It was always a mistake in the end.”
“You have a flesh body now,” I said. “You could live forever, love, hate, and get your heart broken.”
“No, I think even with a body that I am still merely a god. My sister had a heart before she had a life. I was never that lucky.”
“Why do you want the gates open?” I asked.
He frowned at me. “I believe I misjudged you. Why would you ever think I wanted the gates open? I closed them after all.”
“The others say you wanted them open. They were also under the impression that it was your father that closed the gates.”
“They are wrong on both accounts. They always did have a lousy memory. Our father died long before I closed the gates.”
“Then I have a better question. Why do they think you want the gates open?”
The god smiled and tossed his trash on the ground a few feet from me. I stared at it for a second before returning my gaze to him. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see it catch on fire. Moron was burning it to ash because he knew it bothered me. The god was testing me, looking for something.
“That is a much better question. I knew there was hope for you. Have an apple.” An apple fell from the tree right into his hand and he tossed it to me.
“So it was you who sent me back to save the boys? Why? And how did that shadow monster get to Duran from Skrev?”
“It was an echo, and yes, it was me who allowed you to save them. After all, I need them alive.”
I never bit into the apple, but I didn’t have time to respond before I felt the strength in my legs give. I was unconscious before I could even cuss at the uncouth god.
* * *
Mordon was poking me into consciousness. This in itself was no bother, and I knew it was him because he was th
e only one rude enough to prod me awake. However, he did it enough that I could recognize his mood, and this was his panicked poking.
I opened my eyes and was startled that it was so dark. Reaching up just an inch from my face, I encountered boards. Now, I had spent most of my adult life on Duran, but nobody could forget the details of hiding under a bed when their mother’s boyfriend was looking for them with a bat. Several times as a child I had felt the suffocation of heavy boards being my only protection from abuse. We were under a bed.
“Where are we?”
“I don’t know. I woke up on the floor beside the bed and heard someone in the other room. I figured whoever it was wouldn’t appreciate people in his house, so I hid us in the closest place I could find.”
I heard the shower start running and breathed easy. After a few minutes, I got out from under the bed and Mordon followed suit. We were in a small bedroom with black satin curtains covering the walls. There were no windows and only a small lamp on the cabinet by the bed provided light. If the gentle gravity and homely feel of my own world’s magic were not enough to tell me this was Earth, the electric lamp would have given it away. Having visited most of the worlds, I found only Vaigda and Earth understood the convenience of electric lights. The carpet was soft, thick, and dark.
I pressed my ear to the door that didn’t lead to the bathroom and listened, but the only thing I heard was the croaking of a coffee maker. I looked at Mordon.
“Something is really odd about that smell, like I should know it, but it’s not right. Like it’s really close to someone I know. The only person here is in the shower, but his scent is everywhere.”
“I’m sure we will regret this, because if the person smells like someone you know, we might be in trouble. But we have to know why we’re here.” I opened the door to a hallway. To the immediate left was a laundry/mud room with a door, probably leading to the back yard. Straight ahead was the living room and to the right was the kitchen.
The kitchen had wooden paneled walls, granite counter tops, and a breakfast bar dividing the kitchen and living room. It was decent and clean without a single feminine touch. The living room held a massive TV on a shelf with multiple game systems and shelves full of DVDs. There was a black leather couch and leather chair.
Mordon grabbed my arm and pulled me into the kitchen to hide behind the breakfast bar. “The shower shut off,” he explained.
I pulled him around to the other side, so we could be seen from the living room, but not the kitchen. “He just made a pot of coffee; he’s going into the kitchen when he gets done.” The door to the bedroom opened and I could hear him. As I had suspected, the man entered the kitchen. A cabinet shut, a cup clinked, and coffee was poured. Then the man started walking towards the living room and I had just enough time to hope he wasn’t a violent person before the phone rang.
Mordon and I looked at each other as the man turned and picked up the phone. Who on Earth still uses a house phone?
“Hello?”
I knew that voice. As rarely as I heard it, I knew that voice. While my father and Edward were identical in appearance, their tones of voice were very different. I stood up and saw my father, not ten feet in front of me. Ronez was turned away so he didn’t see me before Mordon could pull me back down.
“How long will it take to get here?” he paused. “I will expect you then.” He didn’t sound happy with whoever was on the phone as he hung up and walked into the living room.
Mordon rolled his eyes. “That is why I nearly recognized the smell, and why it was off,” he looked at me. “He’s alive. This is before he died. We’ve gone back in time.”
“It would seem so,” I said, looking around for a calendar.
Ronez wore only jeans and his hair was wet, but it was longer than normal. It went to his shoulders and had a few streaks that were clearly blue, even while wet. He closed the cabinets to the DVDs and started unplugging the game systems before setting them on the floor beside the couch. Then he pulled out a small black sheet from behind the couch and covered them.
Mordon yanked on my arm, trying to get me to duck back into the kitchen, but I patted his hand. Movement attracted attention, especially in the peripheral vision, and we were as good as caught already… but this was my father and we could talk our way out of any trouble. If nothing else, I’ve been told I look just like him and I could prove I was his son. Besides, he had seen me several times before he was killed.
Ronez then turned and went back into the kitchen, overlooking us completely. We both sat there in confusion; Ronez should have seen us. The man returned with his coffee, sat in the leather chair, and turned the TV on. Mordon’s eyes went wide and I choked as ALF was playing.
“What is that?!” Mordon asked.
“ALF. Alien Life Form. It only ran from 1986 to 1990, but it was one of those staples of the eighties.”
There was a knock at the door and when Ronez answered it, I could have been pushed over with a feather. The woman who stood there, heavily pregnant, was barely recognizable. After all, she had no blood on her face, a cigarette sticking out of her mouth, or a beer in her hand. Her light blond hair was even done up with curls and burets.
“What’s wrong?” Mordon asked me.
“That’s my mother.” Only younger… and pregnant. Even heavily pregnant, she wore a denim miniskirt, flip-flops, and a white tank-top. Since when did they make maternity-sized miniskirts?
“What took you?”
“It’s hard enough drivin’ around Houston at three in heavy traffic when the air condition’s broken without a giant mountain in yur lap.” She made an obscene gesture to her own swollen stomach. “There was another earthquake again. I tell ya, this baby is cursed. Here’s the ultrasounds.” She dug through her huge purse and pulled out an envelope.
“Never talk like my mother. She never could grasp the English language. Hick to her bones,” I warned Mordon when I felt his stare. I couldn’t blame him; I was the first to correct anyone’s grammar in English and I encouraged him to correct and berate me if I used Sudo wrong.
Ronez took the small package and pulled out pictures. “It’s a boy!” he said, grinning.
“Yeah, that happens sometimes,” she said, unimpressed.
Ronez pulled a wad of money out of his pocket and started to hand it to her before pulling it back. “Are you eating the stuff I got you?”
“Yeah, of course, even the pills.” She yanked the money out of his hand and shoved it in her purse. “Don’t believe those pills you said are good for babies. I think it’s a waste of money but since it’s yur money, don’t really care. When you moving in? I told you if you think you’re gonna leave me to take care of this baby alone I’ll get rid of it.”
Ronez glared at her and she shivered. “You will not harm my baby. I will move in with you and take care of you and my baby, but you will do as I tell you to. Never forget that you’re not important. That baby is. If you threaten him, you’re putting yourself in a very dangerous position.”
“Well, yur boy is in me right now so if you want him safe, you do as I say!” she yelled. Quick as lightning, he slammed his fist into the wall beside her head and growled. She shrieked and snapped her mouth shut, pressing herself against the closed door.
“Another word like that out of your mouth and you will wake up in a lab, strapped to a table for the next month. Then when my baby is born, you will be found in the lake and all records of you will be wiped clean. You will be buried as a Jane Doe. Nobody would know, and nobody would care. Do you understand how little you mean to me?” he asked. My mother nodded, shaking with fear.
I put my hands over Mordon’s ears when he stared at Ronez with shock. That wasn’t the man either of us knew.
“Good. Now, you are going to go home and have a healthy lunch and focus on taking care of that baby. I will move in and take care of you the way you always wanted to be taken care of financially. Do not get confused; I will not marry you. I will not be your man or your hus
band or your anything. I know you like your men rough and you can go out and do whatever you want after my son is born, as long as you never bring that scum near him.”
My mother left in a hurry and without another word.
“He wasn’t lying about any of that,” Mordon said. I stood up and started pacing. “What are you doing?!” he asked, looking at Ronez. I didn’t even have to turn to know my father was undisturbed.
“He can’t see or hear us. It was like with the boys, before I opened the void. That was my mother, younger and pregnant. ALF only ran from 1986 to 1990,” I said.
“You said that already.”
“I’m just being paranoid. I’ve been watching too many movies. Besides, that was a PS2 that he… hid… when he knew someone was coming. And the DVD’s, too. I’m not paranoid.”
“Oh, yes you are.”
“I mean about this. This is 1989. That was my mother, and this is 1989.”
Mordon stood. “It’s just like one of those movies you’re always talking about,” he walked up to my father and studied him. “Did he change? Or is this really him, hiding away behind a kind smile and sarcastic bite?”
“I don’t know. A lot can happen to people in thirty years, and this is 1989.”
“You keep saying the date. Duran calendar system, remember? I have no idea if that date is significant.” He started turning back to me and paused. “Oh, look at that.”
I went to his side and saw a glass apple, sitting on the table. I looked at Ronez. “What’s with the apples? Can someone give me a simple answer? I’m tired of the omen stuff.” Of course, my father didn’t hear me; he just kept staring at the picture like it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
“I think it was just fear,” Mordon said. “He was afraid your mother would hurt you before he could stop it so the only thing he could think of on the spot was to scare her. He would have followed through with it, but he didn’t want to have to. Actually, when he was threatening her, I could really see that he was your father, not Edward.”