by Oxford, Rain
“Hello, Mio,” Cylo said in Lilat.
She frowned at him. “What brings you here, Cylo?” she asked, her voice as delicate as she looked. “With a friend?” she added, looking back at me.
There was no attraction in her gaze, only curiosity.
“We’re looking for the Stone of Iodus,” he said. She turned and went into her room. Cylo followed quickly and I entered cautiously.
Her room was sparsely decorated with a bed and a desk. The walls were white and floors were wooden. It really did not suit the girl who looked like she needed jewels and fine oils to keep her happy. She quickly drew up a map worthy of a cartographer, stopping only to get Cylo a towel to dry off with.
When she handed the finished map to Cylo, she had a hesitant look in her eyes. “I need payment for this,” she said.
To my surprise, he tilted his head to expose his neck. She pulled him close, leaned up, and sank two glittering fangs into his neck, then proceeded to drink the flowing blood. Anyone who walked in at that moment would think it was an intimate affair, except that when she opened her eyes, they had turned from beautiful dark blue to light and silvery as moonstones.
All the beautiful girls are taken or monsters.
Before she took too much blood, Mio removed her mouth, licked the wound closed, and let him go. “You need to leave before the time field collapses. Stay away from the water.”
“What time field?” I asked.
“They cannot support all of us. You two should not have come; now we all may die.”
“Why?” Cylo asked.
“Just go,” she said.
Mindful of her warning, I hurried Cylo out into the hall. We went back to the docks without delay because I wanted to be away just as much as Mio wanted us gone. At the docks, we met an old man with a friendly smile. However, when asked to rent out a boat, he frowned.
“I cannot let you boys take out a boat right now with the storm.”
I looked out over the night waters. The huge moon illuminated the still water and millions of stars lit the sky. “What storm?” I asked.
“It is there, can you not hear it?”
I listened but heard nothing other than gentle waves. “No. We must go, though. Thank you for the warning, but I will leave this island tonight with or without cooperation.” I didn’t like the fear Mio had shown towards us. For whatever reason, she felt us being there was a danger to them and it had something to do with this mysterious storm.
It would have been much faster and easier with my magic, but Cylo finally convinced the man to sell us a boat with my Duran money. Sadly, it cost us a lot of time as well. Getting the boat into water was easy, but we had to turn around three times until Cylo could figure out the map. After a short, heated argument, we were on the right path. I hoped we would get to the private island midday the next day. Cylo took the opportunity to sleep, probably worn out from being snacked on by both a water monster and a beautiful girl.
* * *
Laying five of my cards out across the wood felt like dripping water on a wet canvas. The magic in the cards was still there, but fading every minute. I folded them out in formation and started turning them face-up. When I tapped the card on the upper right, I felt Dylan’s energy. I hesitated before moving onto the others, leaving his unturned. The card on the top was always the hardest to read; the soul. Half the time it was just a playing face, but this time, it came through for me. It displayed what looked like the eye of a reptile… but I couldn’t remember ever knowing a reptile with ice-blue eyes.
The card on the upper left was just clouds. So the past was changing, we all knew that already. The card below that was interesting; it displayed an empty cradle. That could have meant many things, so I hovered my hand over it and closed my eyes. With my own self empty of energy, I felt the ghost of magic from the card seeping into my skin. Behind my lids I saw a dark room. I was not in this room and couldn’t feel if it were warm or cool or even the gravity. There was no indication of what world this was or if it was in the past, present or future, but there was a child here. Though it was just a little too dark to see, I knew the cradle was there in front of me. There was something else in the room.
I opened my eyes and took my hand away from the card. The card on the lower right was something new as well. It was the image of a storm over water. Obviously that would be helpful to understand when on a small ship in the middle of the ocean, and the card in the lower left was always the special card. Using these cards, I could see many things. When playing someone, I could see their soul. This was never my real purpose for using these cards; it was to see what was coming. Interpretation was sometimes easy, sometimes difficult. I touched the card and felt the wetness. I thought it was the water from the storm, but it was too warm. When I brought my fingers away, they were wet with blood.
Something was coming tonight and someone, or something, would die. Overall, it was a very unhelpful draw, but I could blame that on myself; without my magic to guide them, what else could I expect?
The image on the card was fading, and when I checked, so were the others. I held my hand over Dylan’s card, assuring myself it was his energy I felt. I had seconds to decide whether or not to look before the magic in the cards was gone. It was always a tossup with Dylan. I never knew when I would regret looking or when it would save the day.
I needed to know. I had used my cards to protect my brother for two thousand years and Dylan for three. There has been many times in my life that I regretted it, but for those few times that I was able to save them, I would continue to turn that card over when it came up. I could live with my regret.
I turned the card over.
* * *
Just as I was getting settled into the quiet night, a screech came from above. Flying with stone wings was the rock creature from the library. And it brought friends. The one in lead landed at the steer, then reached up with its clawed paw and turned the wheel. I tried to scare the beast off, but all I accomplished was a furious hiss from both heads. Three other creatures had taken a grip on the edges of the boat and were trying to turn it manually. Despite their success in turning the boat around, we continued in the same direction.
There was a loud cracking sound, nearly drowned out by sudden thunder. In an instant we went from having a completely clear sky to being in the middle of one of the worst storms I had ever seen. When the ship tried to shake apart, the beasts let go and landed on deck. One of them grabbed a startled Cylo by the shirt and dragged him back to the others. Instead of eating him, they formed a protective circle around him and faced the storm, ready to strike.
I turned the ship back in the right direction for the little good it might do. The boat was rocking hard enough it could tip over any moment. On reflex, I reached for energy. Nothing. No magic at all. What good is a Guardian without magic?
I have lived my whole life with the understanding that throughout time and evolution, the creatures in the sea were far more dangerous than anything on land. This includes plagues and demons and magic… everything except people. And in a two thousand-year-old user of magic, this creates a sense of invincibility. Not a virtue, of course, but nothing has killed me yet. The problem is that as a Guardian, I have faced beasts much bigger and meaner and louder than me and walked away. I have even swum in the waters of Duran that are inhabited by the largest and most fearsome beasts.
When I first discovered my powers were stilted on Earth, I was still young and adaptive. I disliked the drag on my power, but I was never in danger. Since I could remember, I have had magic, and it came naturally to me. It never failed me. My entire life, eternity as it felt like sometimes, I have faced creatures bigger, faster, but never more dangerous than myself. Yes, I faced Vretial in a way, but it was in Tiamat’s shadow with the supposed protection of Erono.
But now I had no magic. I was just a man with skin that could tear and bones that could break and blood that could spill. Without my magic, I had no god or spells to protect me. It was the w
orst time to fully grasp that, but it was the moment I stared death in the face for the first time and saw it for what it was.
The creature rose from the water dramatically and slowly. It was in no hurry to devour its trapped prey. Really, I could have gone my whole life without seeing this beast, and I very nearly did; the creature was partially invisible. Only when water rolled off its dark brown, leathery hide did the flesh became visible, so as it became less and less translucent, I knew it chose to be seen. It was a water creature that was invisible when wet. I could not see much of the body, but the four long necks rose high above the boat. Atop every neck was a different head, each snarling and ready to attack.
The head on the left had a really long and narrow snout full of jagged teeth that stuck out because they were too large for its mouth. This head swallowed prey whole. Its eyes were on the side and fairly small, so I assumed it relied on hearing instead of sight. I couldn’t imagine an aquatic monster would have a good sense of smell.
The second head from the left was more flat and wide with short spikes all over. Its eyes, set on top of the head, were big and yellow. Its teeth were smaller but with its mouth open, I could see at least three rows. The muscles in its neck and the sheer size of its mouth implied that it had a very strong bite.
The third head from the left had the distinct mouth features of a frilled shark with a slightly more snake-shaped head. Its eyes were large with slit pupils. Personally I thought the frilled shark, one of my brother’s favorite sharks, had a friendly look. Somehow this beast did not pull that off.
The head farthest to the right was the smallest but by no means the least dangerous. It was rounder and a short snout which ended with two husks pointing down like fangs. The two teeth in between the husks looked like fangs, while the rest of its teeth were more like a canine’s. This was the one that had bitten Cylo, but I figured, after seeing the actual size of the teeth, it must not have had a good grip.
I reached into my bag and pulled out a dagger. I knew it would do little good, but maybe I could take out an eye before dying. The thought came to mind that Dylan would be okay, and how glad I was that I did not bring him with me this time. Of course, it occurred to me to think of my children, but I couldn’t imagine a single one who would care what happened to me. I was two thousand years old and knew only one person who would truly care if I died.
The two heads pondered the stone beasts while the two on the left turned to me. The head with the narrow snout went around to the side of me while the spiky one hung back. I held my dagger out and dropped my bag from my shoulder to move easier. The narrow snouted head started to strike, far too fast to get out of the way, but instead of my delicate flesh, its jagged teeth met hard stone. One of the winged beasts had put itself in front of me.
The monster shook the smaller beast before letting it go and roaring. Several of the formidable teeth were lost in the process. The little gargoyle hobbled with a damaged front leg until it stood in front of me once again. One good sway on the ship in the storm nearly knocked the poor creature over. It flapped its wings for balance.
The two heads currently trying to attack Cylo were having similar results, as the stone creatures were not letting them get the man. The head with the husks suddenly pulled back with a roar of anguish and blood pooling from its eyes.
Long-snout and Spiky took advantage of the distraction to attack together. Instead of me, they attacked the gargoyle. Long-snout got a good scratch on his face, but Spiky took the gargoyle by its stone wing and slung it into the ocean. It cried out a miserable sound and sank swiftly. Another took up in front of me, but I knew the water beast could easily pick them off now. I tried to pull the creature away so it wouldn’t die like its companion, but it stood its ground.
Ice-cold, little fingers grabbed my hand in a gentle grip. If it hadn’t startled me so much, I would not have looked. Beside me stood a little girl with long white-blond hair and dark blue eyes. She wore a white gown very out-dated for this day and was barefoot. The rain beaded off her skin, hair, and clothes like she was coated with oil.
She didn’t even look at the water beasts, just at me with her large, trust-filled eyes. She held out my hand and placed Dylan’s iron pentagram in it. The metal was cold to the touch, but burned instantly. The burn flowed up my arm and throughout the rest of my body until I was filled with so much magical energy that I thought I would burst. My skin felt tight and my muscles cramped. As the water beast moved to attack I raised the pentagram like a shield. The little girl stepped off to the side.
I did not think malicious thoughts or of spells I used often… The power burst out of me, through the pentagram, at the threat. “Burn.” The growl was ripped from my mouth as the magic was from my body. There was no instinct or thought, just the magic destroying the enemy. It wasn’t even fire that left the pentagram but bright white light that hit the water monster in the spiky head.
Every head let out the most horrifying screech and withered in pain. The monster died in seconds and slipped back into the ocean. The storm quickly disintegrated until it was calm and silent.
My body was drained and my muscles sore, but I managed to remain on my feet, barely. I went to help Cylo up, who was shaken but unhurt. The little girl was gone and the winged beasts took flight again. Instead of flying back to their island, each gripped a part of the destroyed ship and guided it back. Without them, we would have sunk.
“We could have died,” Cylo said, shaking.
“No, we could not have,” I responded.
He looked at me. “Why not?”
“Because then I would not have done what I needed to do to help Dylan.”
“Why are those statues helping us? Why did that storm appear out of nowhere? Are they never going to let us leave?” As he finished his ranting questions, we came upon the dock.
On the shore, about a hundred people where waiting for us. The gargoyles let go of the boat as soon as we were safely at the dock and flew off over the island. Mio, standing at the head of the crowd, threw herself into Cylo’s arms.
“You saved us!” she declared.
“Why is no one afraid of the stone creatures?” Cylo demanded before she covered his lips with hers.
“Because they were not threatening the people, they were protecting them,” I answered since she was busy.
A small man approached me. Being half of a pair myself, I knew instinctually that he was Mio’s twin brother. His short peach-colored hair and vivid blue eyes matched his sisters, as did his small frame.
“You are correct; they have been protecting us for months. One day, a storm came in and brought death with it. The creatures came the next morning and chased the death off. We were scared of them, but eventually learned they were here to help us. The storm came back, though, so the creatures put us in an alternate time frame.”
“A what?” Cylo asked.
“A parallel dimension of time. Like being a moment before or after the rest of the universe. When we came and when the storm came, we were in the same dimension as the rest of the world. So was the sea monster. The people were in a different space, like a bubble overlapping us, which we could not hear or see. When the water monster came, the gargoyle put me in that bubble, but then had to chase you down to save you, too.”
“That was too much strain on them and would have collapsed the bubble,” Mio said. “They could barely hold it with everyone else.”
“That makes no sense. Time bubbles do not exist.”
“I agree,” I said. “These creatures are not meant to be… but they are, so let it go.”
“Well said,” the man said. “I am Kai. Did my message help you?”
“The paint on the mirror?”
“It was difficult to write a message across the time field and make the noise to draw you there,” he said.
“I am sorry to disappoint you, but no, it did not help at all. You should have wrote, ‘the stone creatures are your friends, stay away from the storm.’ That would hav
e been helpful.”
He frowned. “I will keep that in mind.”
“So how do we return to our time?” Cylo asked.
“We are in our time. When we were in the ocean, the stone creatures tried to turn us around because we were too close to the edge of the time field. Once we broke through the time field, the water monster was ready for us. Its death caused the entire bubble collapsed and everyone was set back in the right time.”
“Oh, someone wanted to see you safe for himself,” Kai said as if he forgot something.
Several people in the crowd moved and the little gargoyle that had sank into the ocean hobbled forward. It wasn’t until I saw him on the ground that I realized it really was a little gargoyle, just slightly more than half the size that the others were. It saw me and hobbled faster.
I remembered the day I found Tibbit, who had been injured by a rumbustious child that broke his wing. I made the little boy leave the bird alone, but then the bird followed me home, hopping and walking and flapping one wing. I healed his wing but he wouldn’t leave. Ronez suggested I keep him, and so I did. Tibbit was named so because he was very small, but he grew very large until it was a joke of a name. I knew Tibbit bothered Dylan, but the bird only did it to get a reaction out of the young Guardian. He certainly didn’t deserve the relentless attacks from Shinobu.
The gargoyle stopped in front of me barely in time to avoid knocking me down, and put his paws (surprisingly careful with his claws) up on my thighs. With no idea what else to do, I pet the one of the stone heads and then the other.
“Most of them never act like that,” Kai said. “We think he is a juvenile.”
“Well, we need to get going, but we destroyed this ship and I have no money left.”