Soulguard

by Christopher Woods

  “Perhaps you do,” he nodded, holding up the paper, “How did you describe this much detail to someone else for them to draw this?”

  I looked around to see only Guards around us in the Dome. I turned back to Tien and concentrated. My personal shield lit up and I didn’t need an aura to see the surprise Tien felt.

  “I can see everything without lighting it up, but I’ve been able to do this for almost every shield I’ve been able to make. Paige has a photographic memory, so I don’t have to do this very long for her to get the details.”

  Tien was smiling, “You can see them without lighting them up?”

  I nodded and turned the lights back off. He was looking at me with a wide smile on his face.

  “I never thought that it would happen in my lifetime,” He said softly, staring intently at me, “Colin, I’m two hundred and forty years old and I’ve seen things no one else has ever even thought of. I’ve studied every manuscript I could find and I know what you are.”

  I looked at him in surprise, “What do you mean?”

  “You know you’re different from other Mages. A long time ago there was a man they called Soullord. He could do amazing things and he’s the one who taught the Mages their skills.”

  “Greyson Kent,” I nodded.

  He nodded in return, “Most people don’t know it but he could see the Soulstreams and the Shields and all the power flows of the world. One of my ancestors was one of the Mages who worked with him. My family learned several new ways to use shielding from him.”

  I smiled, “The shiny cover that keeps me from looking in.”

  He nodded with a small smile, “At least, I know for sure it works, now.”

  “So I’m a Soullord? Paige has found a few references that might turn our thoughts in that direction, too. I’m not sure what that will mean later but for now, I’m just a Mage,” I said and changed the subject a little, “We’ve been working on some new Mage innovations as well as this shield for the Guard. I tried a rifled fireballer yesterday.”

  “Fireballer, heh, I heard about that. At the rate you’re going, there won’t be any more test dummies by the end of the year.” He laughed, “Have you got more copies of this diagram?”

  I smiled, “Oh yeah,” I reached into the folder and handed him a stack of them, “I was going to give each Guard one. If they choose to try it, anyone who needs it is welcome to come to me and I’ll help in any way I can. I can see what they are doing, whether they can or not. I’m willing to help any of you.”

  “The Guard will be forever in debt to you for this, Colin, Thank you,” there was respect in his voice and it felt good.

  ***

  “I wonder how long a shield can stay active once the link is cut to it,” I muttered to myself. I was alone near the test dummies at the lower end of the Dome.

  I created a shield about two feet around, like the fireballer and disconnected the link. It stayed active for a second then dissolved.

  “Hmm,” I rebuilt the shield and Pulled a small amount of power into it. Then I disconnected and the shield held for several seconds. “Hmm, I say.”

  I crafted a shield like the second one, with power in it but there was no weak spot in it. I rolled it across the floor. it dissolved about ten feet away. I tried again and I rolled it harder than before. It dissolved about thirty feet from me.

  “That should do it,” I mumbled but I opened the portal on my personal shield, just in case.

  I crafted another shield ball and powered it. Then I Pulled and channeled enough power for a fireball into it. I pulled my arm back and rolled it. There was a huge explosion and a brilliant flash two feet in front of me and I felt like I was hit by a truck.

  That was about when I realized I hadn’t anchored my shield, because the world was spinning as I was flipped through the air and across the Dome. I hit the shield wall of the Dome at the other end about thirty feet in the air and it felt like a second truck had run into me. I hit face first and upside down, and then fell straight down right in the middle of seven Soulguards who’d been playing dice.

  I know all this because I watched the memory of it in one of their auras a few minutes later. As for me, I had my eyes screwed shut and was screaming all the way across the Dome.

  I opened one eye and looked around at seven faces looking down at me. I felt around on myself to make sure all the parts were still there, and then opened my other eye.

  “Ouch.”

  A tall black haired Guard named Riley snorted, “I’d say.”

  I stood up and, as nonchalantly as I could, walked back to the scene of the crime.

  There was a roar of laughter behind me from the Guards and I made it a point to not look in their direction.

  Perhaps I could leave the tendril that feeds it connected till it was farther from me.

  “Probably just blow myself up again,” I muttered.

  I had been concentrating and hadn’t seen the Guard who coughed behind me to get my attention. I jumped and turned around to see a blonde haired Guard I’d seen several times around the Dome. She was usually sparring when I’d seen her before. Now she was trying to hide a grin.

  “I usually wouldn’t interrupt a Mage when they’re talking to themselves,” she started, “But when you started talking about blowing yourself up, I figured I better talk to you before you try that again.”

  I laughed, “What can I do for you? Before I blow myself up, I mean.”

  “The Weapon master said that we should come see you when we get the new shield built and have you check it out before we try to use it much. Would you mind giving me a minute of your time to see if I have it right?”

  “No problem,” I said and opened my Inner eye. She had gotten it very close to what the picture portrayed. Her portal was closed at the moment.

  “Ok, open the portal just a tiny bit and let’s take a look at the flows.”

  “You can actually see the flows?” she asked and surprise rolled through her aura.

  I wasn’t hiding it from the Guards, “Yeah, I can see them. There are certain people that I don’t really want to know this. But I trust the Guard, I was raised by two of the best.”

  She smiled and I saw approval roll through her aura, “You're right there, Jaegher and Nightwing are two of the best. And Guards don’t talk a whole lot with the people who don’t need to know, now do they?”

  “True.”

  She opened her portal and I watched the energy flow through her shield. It was pretty even except a small area in back where the weave hadn’t been as tight as it should be.

  “There’s a spot right here that is weak and needs to be tighter,” I was pointing at the spot and realized I was staring straight at her backside.

  “And just what do you think you’re doing?” I heard Paige’s voice and jumped, my face burning.

  “I was just checking her shield for her,” I stammered.

  “I’m sure it was her shield you were checking,” Paige returned looking at me with one eyebrow raised. I seem to get that look from everyone, because the blonde woman was giving me the same look.

  “Really, I was,” I couldn’t think of anything better so I concentrated on the Guard’s shield and tried to light it up like I do mine. Everyone’s mouths dropped open, including mine when the blonde’s whole stream, aura and shield became visible. The gap in the shield was plainly visible, and the Guard easily adjusted it with her mind.

  I felt dizzy and I broke out in a sweat so I Pulled a little from the Source into myself. The dizziness went away. Apparently, what I was doing took some strength to hold.

  “Holy crap,” I mumbled.

  “You can say that again,” Paige returned with surprise and awe in her aura.

  “Holy crap,” I repeated and she gave me the look again. I let the Guard’s aura disappear once more, and stopped Pulling energy into myself.

  “Please try not to blow yourself up,” the blonde looked at me with gratitude rolling across her aura, “You don’t even
know how much this means to the Guard. If you need anything at all, don’t hesitate to ask for it. Thank you.”

  With that, she nodded at me and headed back toward the exit to the Guard barracks.

  “Blow yourself up?” Paige asked looking at me with her head cocked to the side a little, “Experimenting, are we?”

  “Nothing that can’t wait,” I answered, “Wanna go get something to eat?”

  “Sure,” she locked her arm in mine and we headed for the Mess hall, “Admit it, you were looking at her ass.”

  Chapter 24

  “So what were you experimenting on?” Paige asked.

  “Oh, I was trying to make a fireball that wouldn’t bleed off any of the actual fireball’s energy to fire,” I shrugged and took another bite of the fried chicken leg in my hand, “I think I may have it figured out but I need to try it later in the Dome. You want to come see me get blown up again?”

  “What do you mean, again?” she asked with her fork paused inches from her mouth.

  “Oh, I’m sure you’ll hear about it soon enough,” I returned.

  I heard several Guards come into the Mess hall and I kept my head down. I could hear them plainly.

  “He flew all the way across the Dome flipping about four or five times to slam into the Dome. Then he fell right on Jake’s dice right after his roll.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “I’m not kidding! I swear it looked like something out of a freaking cartoon.”

  A third voice joined in, “You know what he said?”

  “What?”

  “He just said ‘Ouch’ and he got up and walked back over where he started and scratched his head.”

  There was good humored laughter from that side of the room, “Oh, shit there he is.” the first voice said quietly and the voices dropped a bit.

  Paige was staring at me with her mouth hanging open, “Really?! You really blew yourself up, today? Why? Why do you do things like that to yourself?”

  Her voice was higher than before, I was pretty sure everyone in the room heard her.

  “Well, no one’s gonna let me do it to them.”

  She sighed and I heard more laughter from the Guards.

  ***

  Once again, I was at the end of the Dome where the test dummies were and as soon as I’d gotten there, everyone who had been in the area found some reason to be somewhere else. I looked around at Paige.

  “What? What’d I do?”

  She let out a long slow sigh and shook her head. Then she turned and headed for the other side of the Dome, where a bunch of Guards had suddenly crowded. I saw money change hands several times.

  “Hardy freaking har,” I mumbled.

  I opened my portal all the way and anchored to the floor this time. They better not be betting on my trajectory, I thought, I wasn’t going anywhere.

  I shook my hands and popped my neck, “Ok, here goes,” I muttered.

  Once again I formed the shield and channeled power into it from the Source. This time I left the tendril that had powered it up attached. Then I Pulled again and filled the shield with power.

  I cringed as I threw the ball toward the test dummies. It didn’t blow me up this time, though. It rolled about forty feet away from me, next to a group of dummies and I snipped the tendril. The shield weakened and there was a large explosion that made my ears ring. Three targets were splintered through the shields, before the shield soaked up the rest of the power and it dissipated.

  “He shoots! He scores!” I yelled with both hands pumping in the air.

  “What is it with you and blowing things up?” I heard a familiar voice and turned to see Trent Deacons walking toward me. Alongside of him was Mattie Riordan.

  “It must just be a guy thing,” she added, “It’s good to see you again Colin.”

  “I don’t know if it’s a guy thing or a Colin thing,” I heard Paige comment as she walked up as well, “You just disappointed a lot of Guards, Hon, I think they wanted to see the flying act again.”

  “Once was enough,” I grumbled.

  “Flying act?” Mattie asked, “What’s he done now?”

  “Oh, according to the Guard, earlier he decided to blow himself up,” Paige reached her hand out to Mattie, “By the way, I’m Paige Turner, you must be Mattie and Trent. I’ve heard a little about what happened at Morndel, but this one won't say a whole lot.”

  Mattie shook Paige’s hand and said, “Let me tell you all about it...”

  The two of them headed back across the Dome talking back and forth with many hand motions that looked like possible examples of explosions.

  “I haven’t really blown that many things up,” I started, until I looked at the shielded targets. Eight of the twenty targets were destroyed. Three with the sword arc, two with the triple shielded powerball, and three from the Soulfire grenade. “Well...”

  “You broke all those? Aren’t they supposed to be shielded so they won’t get broke?” Trent asked.

  “Umm, Yeah.”

  “Did you really blow yourself up? Some of the Guards are talking about you.”

  “Sort of, yeah.”

  He chuckled, “God this place is gonna be fun.”

  Chapter 25

  I was lying beside Paige as she snuggled up beside me. She looked intently into my eyes, “I’m a little worried about you,” She said softly, “Why do you have to keep pushing things? If your shields hadn’t held up, you’d be a greasy spot in the Dome. They say you’ll be another Kelvin Demonkiller.”

  I smiled and she leaned up on one elbow with a small frown, “That was not a compliment. The Demonkiller ran off on some one-man war against a clan of Demons after his wife and child were killed. He demonstrated what a Mage can do but he also showed us that we need each other to survive. He died because he went alone. That’s not what you want to do, is it?”

  I looked intently at Paige, “Can you keep a secret?”

  “By now you know I can. What are you hiding from me?”

  I lay there, quiet, for a moment, “My real name is Colin Rourke.”

  Paige gasped, “Oh my God, He was your father?”

  I nodded, “He didn’t run off for vengeance, and I believed he had for many years. He went out to die and make everyone believe it was vengeance.”

  “But why would he do that?”

  “So that I could live without the Demons hunting me. They thought I was dead. He died for me and the reason I do what I do is to repay the sacrifice my father made.”

  “They found me at Morndel and another one hundred and twenty two people died because the Demons want me dead. They’ll try again, but I’m going to be ready for them. No one else is going to die for me.”

  “If I can show half the courage and dedication Kelvin Rourke did, then I can hold my head up proudly.”

  She reached out and touched my face gently, “I’m sorry.”

  I kissed her softly, “It’s ok, no one knows about him, except a very few, but one day they all will.”

  ***

  “What we know about the Demons is sadly not what we would like,” Nora began her lecture, “We know they are from some other dimension or just a different planet. They come here through portals.”

  She looked at me, “Colin, you’ve seen one of these portals, as have some of the new recruits in the Guard. Most of the veteran Guards have seen these portals. The portals stay open as long as the Demons are here. You’ll see plenty of these as you hunt them after you are posted to your station.”

  “It is theorized that the portals have to be open for the Demons to survive here. Possibly as an opening for their Soulstreams to flow from their planet to this one.”

  She paced across the area in front of us, “There are three kinds of Demons that we are familiar with. One, the Lesser Demons seem to act much like attack dogs. They come across and just slaughter anyone they come across. They’re vicious and they have no fear. Soulguards can handle them in great numbers.”

  “The second type is th
e Wrathguard, or Soldier Demon. These are fast, strong and smart Demons. They also control the Lesser Demons, making them more dangerous than before.” She paused looking at Yarden who was yawning, “I know most of you already know these things but some of this information may not be known by everyone, and it’s important to know your enemy as well as you can.”

  “The third type is not as well-known as the first two. The Wraith is not a Demon we really see a lot of, but when there is one of them, serious problems follow. They can control Soldiers and Lesser Demons making them much more deadly. They are extremely fast and strong. They can destroy a Soulguard in seconds and it takes the concentrated power of a strong Mage or combined might of multiple weaker Mages to kill them, usually.”

  She stopped in front of us and looked intently at each one of us. Her gaze stopped at me last, “Everyone knows what happened when Kelvin Rourke became the Demonkiller. One Mage can do amazing things, but you will need the Guards around you and the help of other Mages to survive. Rourke showed us what a strong Mage can accomplish alone but he paid a dear price for his success.”

  I knew at that moment that Nora knew who I really was and she worried that I would do the same thing as my father. I could see the worry in her aura and I saw memories of my father flashing across it as well.

  I felt almost ashamed for watching as I saw the emotions associated with my father flashed through her aura. Nora Kestril had been in love with him all those years ago, and I saw the loss and pain that his death had wrought in the Senior Mage.

  “If you really want to know about your enemy, talk to some of the Elite Guards posted here. They have been fighting them for over a hundred years and they will know much that a new Mage would find useful as they take up their duties.”

  “There will be a prime time to learn from them tonight,” she continued with a smile, “There will be an exhibition of martial skills, from 4 O’clock until 9 O’clock this evening. Anyone who wants to participate is welcome, Mages as well as Guards. I understand Colin is participating in a few exhibitions. I believe he is going to show some of his innovations to any who want to attend.”