The Dragon's Eyes

by Oxford, Rain

  “Go,” I commanded.

  He did. Normally, when we talk to our gods, our bodies remain. It seems Azenoth was waiting to return him to Kahún, though, because he instantly disappeared. I wondered if it frustrated Azenoth that his third attempt at a Guardian was terrified of him and would hide any chance he got. Actually, it probably pleased him.

  Two young men interrupted my hiding place, as they needed to use the ATMs in the post office. Chased out of my spot, I sighed and looked around.

  Well, I really didn’t recognize the highly populated city, but the people were familiar. Ronez made me visit a few of the countries of Earth once, including Japan. By the density of the city, I had to assume I was in the Kanto region, as it seemed too dry to be Kansai. It looked more like Tokyo than Yokohama.

  “Sumimasen.” I stopped a lady who did not look terribly busy. “Eigo ga hanasemasu ka?” I had learned English, but there were too many languages of Earth to learn them all. Fortunately, I knew how to ask if they spoke English in most of the dominant languages.

  “A little,” she said. She smiled uncertainly.

  “I am lost. Is this Shibuya?” It was really a guess.

  “No, Shinjuku.”

  “Oh. Arigato gozaimasu.”

  She bowed and walked off. Figures I would arrive in the most populated city in a country that was smaller than the state that Dylan had lived it. It would take some work to find a place to travel safely. Despite my rush to save Dylan, I didn’t want to cause mass panic if someone saw me vanish.

  After a few minutes, I knew that the post office entrance would be busy for a while. The streets were more interesting the further I went. There were huge intersections that branched into smaller, but still very large streets. There was nowhere as massive or populated on Duran. All over were vending machines of drinks, cigarettes, and alcohol. Little tiny restaurants sat unassuming like jewels covered in mud, especially when I found less busy streets.

  Only those who knew where to look or who were lucky enough to get lost would see the treasures buried in this city.

  I found a narrow alley between a hotel and baseball practice field. This would make a great place, as there were no cameras or people. Surprisingly, the baseball practice court, which was too small to do anything other than practice throwing or hitting the ball, was empty. Baseball was a very important sport in Japan, so I supposed it was the wrong time of day.

  My transition to Duran started as normal, but I could feel something hold me back. I had a split-second to decide whether to struggle against the pull, or let it drag me back to Earth. I let it pull me back, because anything powerful enough to stop a Guardian’s travel was powerful enough to cause harm. Traveling was extremely dangerous, and I didn’t want to end up half here, half somewhere else.

  The girl appeared like static, an image not really there, flickering. The amount of nominal energy expelled was enormous around the girl. “Take this.” She tried to hand me Dylan’s iron star again, but flickered away before I could take it. I grew more concerned as the seconds passed. Finally, after several minutes, she reappeared, still holding the pentagram out. “I am running out of time. Take this to Dios and use Dylan’s magic to heal it.”

  “How? I have no idea how he heals the worlds.”

  “This magic is meant to heal and Dylan has already used his energy to heal three worlds; it will heal the world on instinct.”

  “That sounds very dangerous,” I said. “I don’t have permission to be on Dios.”

  “It is the newest assignment from Erono and Zer has agreed to allow your safe arrival.” She vanished.

  With my plans changed, I focused on the symbol and magic of Dios. It was a slightly oppressive place. While the High King was a good boy and a fair king, the entire world had been through so much misfortune.

  Much like Duran in the beginning, the people were too focused on power. Add to that the lack of resources provided by nature, and war was the natural and frequent outcome. The people of Duran focused on their spiritual belief that peace was the ultimate goal and the only way to get there was to stop fighting. The people of Dios developed stronger and stronger weapons until the entire surface world was obliterated and ninety percent of the population dead. Still, it wasn’t as bad as what happened to the people of Enep.

  I wondered for a brief moment what my own aura looked like, having seen so much suffering in my travels. It was the Guardian’s duty to help all of those in need, except for those being punished by their gods. In two thousand years I have learned that no matter how much I helped, there would always be more suffering somewhere in the universe. I accepted this, and for that, I can survive seeing people’s pain. I knew Dylan would never accept it, and so he would never settle for it.

  I once thought I could save everyone always, but I was too old now, and I knew better. Dylan was different, though; he was smarter, kinder, and far more powerful. He could do it for as long as he believed he could. Perhaps I should feel useless, being so outdated, but I knew I had a purpose. I was more useful than ever. I could protect my nephew so that he could be the Guardian that no one else could.

  Dios was also a rather dark place; the people used magic to get what they wanted, the world crawled with goblins and trolls and other underground creatures that were sentient, but not actually people, and even the magic had a grimy feel to it. At least the people were trying to make it better.

  I arrived in Nila’s kingdom, right in front of his door. I could have arrived in his chambers, but the guards would have panicked. Even so, I had an energy shield in front of me ready for the attack I knew would come. The goblins were a suspicious lot and startled easily. Still, as powerful as their magic was, it was no match for mine.

  The goblins stopped attacking when they recognized me and all fifteen backed away fearfully. Nano must have recently scared them. Or maybe it was that they remembered that the last time they attacked me, I set them all on fire.

  I heard the door open behind me and before I could turn to look, I was being squished by Nila. He was the type of boy who would never grow up. For the sake of his duty in life, I hoped he never would.

  “Edward, welcome home!” he exclaimed, before taking a huge breath. “I am fluent in English speaking now, you should not ever be gone again so long, Nano has mate and baby, did you---”

  I put my hand over his mouth, but he continued talking, even when it was too muffled to understand. I hated when he went on and on without pausing or even breathing between sentences; it couldn’t have been good for his health. “You know my name isn’t Edward.” I let him go and he gave me a look as if I had said something stupid.

  “Dylan say he name you Edward,” he said. I sighed. Nila was really just messing with me. “What bring you home?”

  I never actually understood why he called Dios my home like that. “I’m here to help Dios.” I pulled the pendent out of my bag and held it up. “I’m just unsure how to do that.”

  I was about to ask where Nano was when Nila reached out and touched the iron. He gasped when the iron flashed with a green light, which immediately flooded the entire room. The energy released was as violent as an explosion and everyone was thrown off their feet.

  I held onto the metal pendant as energy pulsed and, even as it burned, I couldn’t let go. Only minutes passed before the energy reversed direction and poured into the pentagram. When all of the energy had retreated, I dropped it to the ground.

  The goblin guards created an energy shield over Nila just before rubble fell from the ceiling that would have seriously injured him. The shield went down as I reached him. While it looked like he was uninjured, I could never be sure with a void. With absolutely not a drop of magic in him and no magic effective on him, I couldn’t use my energy to search for internal bleeding or broken bones.

  “I am fine. Why Dylan’s magic is in a star?” he asked, letting me help him to his feet.

  The guards were very nervous; they wanted to protect him, as that was their job, but they
knew better than to challenge a Guardian. I wished I could fire them, because they should be willing to risk their lives to protect their king.

  “How did you know that was Dylan’s magic?” I asked him.

  “Dylan healed me; I know Dylan’s magic. I touch metal and Dylan’s magic explode. Iadnah magic stronger than void blood. Magic heal Dios even near me.”

  “Dylan healed you? How? Your blood should be immune to all magic.”

  “Universe bleed, void suffer, I become not void. Dylan’s magic healed me when I not void. Now I void, but I feel Dylan’s energy still. Only magic I feel is Dylan’s.”

  “Because his energy is different from nominal energy, or because he healed you?”

  “I do not know.”

  I picked up the pentagram, which had grown cool enough to touch, and slipped it into my bag. None of the energy had actually been destroyed, nor had it been lost, so I should be able to use it on another world.

  “Is he with you?” Nila asked at the same time I heard a squeak. I turned to see Cylo standing there. Three of the guards had swords drawn on him, and the man was terrified.

  “Let him go,” I told them in Dego, as it was the main language of Dios. They looked at their king for confirmation before sheathing their weapons. Cylo appeared confused and nauseous. “What happened? Where have you been?” I asked him.

  “What do you mean? I have not been anywhere. We were in the castle, fighting those winged monsters, and now we are here… with odd-looking goblins. Was I knocked unconscious? Have we left the castle?”

  “We have, yes. I guess I need get you back to Kahún,” I said. He was muttering to himself as I turned away. “Nila, can I borrow your throne? I need a place to sit and concentrate,” I asked the young king.

  He smiled as if I had asked if he wanted candy. “Of course, Edward. You are family now.”

  “How do you figure?” I was afraid to ask. Nila often came to odd conclusions and frequently visited a world that resided in his head. I wondered if this was how Dylan acted when he was a child. Dylan would make a good role model for Nila.

  “You are uncle of Dylan. I adopt Dylan as brother. That makes you my uncle. Uncle to High King is big honor, yes?”

  “More like a chore. Does that mean I can resign from being your uncle?” Nano asked. We all turned to see him standing in the open doorway with Vivian tucked against his side.

  Nila nodded. “You are no longer needed. You are mean uncle to not bring Dylan back.”

  “You tried to kidnap him,” Nano accused. “It’s nice to see you survived, Kiro,” he said to me. Vivian agreed, with considerably less confidence in my survival skills.

  Nano may tease his nephew, but he cared about him as much as I cared about Dylan. All of the Guardian’s had a common goal; to protect the worlds and our books. Nano and I shared a unique goal; to protect someone very important. Dylan and Nila were both very young and very powerful. Dylan had the magical power to destroy Earth, and Nila had the political power to destroy Dios.

  Nano and I were friends, and I would never want to cross that friendship, for in a battle without magic, I would lose every time. While sago had a meager advantage in strength to humans due to our density, we had nothing on dile. Zer was smart when he created his people; he learned from the other gods’ people. Dile were enormously strong, and still as fast as sago. Those who were slim, such as Nano and Nila, were actually stronger than the bulkier men of Dios. In any battle of physical strength, no one could best a dile.

  Oddly enough, they were not normally heavier than a sago. Zer had done something no other god perfected; they were extremely compact and light, but unbelievably strong. The people of Dios had a weakness, though; they all feared water. Their bodies were extremely difficult to damage, but no dile could swim, because they would quickly sink and drown.

  This was one of the reasons there was so little water on Dios. I hoped someone had warned Dylan and Mordon to keep Sammy away from the water.

  “I can return this man to his world if you are worried about facing Azenoth again.”

  “Actually, I need Rasik’s help. I want to ask Azenoth’s permission to return to his world and heal it.” I pulled Dylan’s pentagram out of my bag. “This belonged to my brother before he was killed. I thought it might have a little of his power left in it, so I gave it to Dylan to protect him.”

  Ronez had spent Dylan’s whole life protecting him, and when you spend so long protecting something, it becomes at least a part of the essence of your magic. I wanted Dylan to figure this out for himself, because it was such an important, and instinctual, part of a Guardian’s success.

  “I can help?” Rasik appeared before us as if summoned.

  “Were you listening in?” Nano asked. He sounded as if scolding a child. Rasik was mischievous in an accidental way.

  Rasik shook his head. “I wasn’t listening, I just thought you wanted help.”

  “Wait… What they took from me… you helped me remember,” Cylo asked desperately.

  “What did they take?” I asked.

  “My daughter. They took my daughter. Please help me get her back. I have no idea who took her or why, but she is gone!”

  “I need permission to return to Kahún and when Dylan’s magic heals it, Rasik can probably help you.”

  “Without my book, I am no help to anyone, but I will do what I can,” Rasik confirmed. “I can attain you an audience with Azenoth. He may try to kill you, but I am fairly certain he will listen to you first.”

  “Can you convince him not to kill me?” I asked.

  “I cannot even convince him not to kill me. Give me just a moment,” he said before vanishing.

  I took a seat on Nila’s throne. Gods never seemed to care if you became concussed as a result of their brusque summons. I barely touched the seat before I was standing on the stone in the middle of the sea. Azenoth appeared before me as he had before, similar both in appearance and in temperament.

  His glare demanded I remain silent, but I had a tiny amount of time to both state my case and convince him to let me live after bothering him again. “I offer my assistance,” I said in Sago. As disrespectful as it may have been to speak something other than Enochian, it would have been worse to misuse the god’s language.

  “You want to use the magic of the younger Noquodi to heal my planet. Why should I let you on Kahún? My world does not need your help.”

  “Your Guardian’s book is missing. My book returned to me when my nephew healed Duran. His magic can heal Kahún.”

  “I am more powerful by far; I can take care of my world.”

  “You are not mortal. You created this world and gave it life, but no world has ever been exactly what its god made it to be. With respects, you are not alive. Your world is trying to patch the cracks, but it needs a living being’s imagination. A living person can imagine what it looks like, bond with the world. I can’t explain because I have not seen it as Dylan has. As far as I know, and as far as Tiamat has told me, only Dylan has the right combination of life force, desire to help, creativity, and power to do this task. What I have to offer is a small amount of Dylan’s power, which has healed enough worlds and has a strong enough connection to Dylan to do this.”

  He glared at me, but I could see it in his eyes that he was considering my words.

  “It may be the purpose of the Guardians to serve their gods, but it is our instinct and drive to help. Not just our own people, either. Please allow me to land at Kahún. I can leave the moment the magic has done its job.”

  “In order for you to release the magic in that amulet, someone of pure origin must touch it.”

  “Pure in blood, or pure in the origin of the planet?” I asked. Pure in blood would be easy to find, because that meant they could not have an ancestor from two worlds; not that they had to be from the world I was trying to heal. I would work in that case, because I was pure sago. However, if he meant pure in the origin of the planet, that meant that the person had to be a nat
ive to the planet specific planet I was helping, but not necessarily that they couldn’t have an ancestor from another world.

  He sneered. “Pure in both,” he said.

  So the person had to be native to Kahún and have no blood of a foreigner. The gods encouraged their Guardians to interrelate with other planets in order to mix genes and keep the races compatible. Some of the gods forced it while others, like Azenoth, thought their people were better kept pure. Even on a more pure world like Kahún, at least sixty percent of the population would have a distant ancestor of another world. I knew for a fact that Ronez had a few children on Kahún a few hundred years ago.

  “I can get it done.”

  “Do it quickly, because if I lose my patients with you, it will be the last thing you ever regret.” The instant he finished his sentence, I was flashed to the most useful place I could ever hope to arrive; the troll king’s castle on Kahún. Rasik and Cylo appeared beside me in the empty chamber.

  The throne sat empty, so where had the royals gotten to? Why are there no guards to spot us? I sat down in the huge throne. I probably looked like a two-year-old in the massive chair.

  Cylo gasped. “What are you doing? That is the troll king’s seat! He will kill us!”

  “Why would he do that? His chair is not being used, I might as well sit.”

  “Are you trying to get us in trouble?!”

  “Actually, I’m trying to get their attention, and the louder you yell, the faster we’ll get it. So yeah, I want his adrenaline going when the guards burst into the room to arrest me. He’s more likely to listen to me if I confuse him, and he’s not going to agree with me easily.”

  “You are insane!”

  “A bit, yeah. I need to find someone who is of this world and completely pure of blood. You already said you are half sago. Rasik is half Vaigdan and I am not from this world.”