by Rain Oxford
I knew I wasn’t getting through to him when he sneered, but as he did, Divina dropped to the ground, having been let go. He let her go. “Get off me, boy, before I kill you, too.”
The sound of Ron crying startled me, and everyone turned to him. He was kneeling and crying openly, brokenheartedly.
Dylan vanished.
Mom climbed to her feet, but Xul took her arm roughly. “You can’t go after him; you’ll just get yourself killed.”
Mordon rose unsteadily. “He’s right. Whatever is in Dylan right now is more powerful than any of us. We need a plan. He can’t hurt me. We can use that to talk him down.”
“He can hurt you, obviously. What kind of plan? What does he even want to do?” Divina asked.
“He wants to destroy,” Mordon asked. “I can feel it. I don’t care about the balance or the gods. Dylan is gone. I can’t sense him at all, only the creature that…” Mordon trailed off with a growl. “The balance between us is gone.”
He didn’t have to say anything more; I understood. The balance between them kept them on the same side. Without Dylan, Mordon was unstable and unpredictable.
“Why did he stop?” Divina asked.
I looked at Ron, who was no longer crying. I understood that, too. Nobody, not even the most evil creature in the universe or void, could withstand Ron crying. Without Mordon, the only chance we had of getting Dad back was Ron.
And suddenly, our surroundings changed.
We were in an old castle, no different than any other of Mokii, with stone walls and floors, a window displaying the sea below, and a bed piled high with dark blue blankets and pillows. However, there was no mistaking this place for Duran, because the gravity was… wrong. So was the energy for that matter.
“We’re not on a planet. It’s like the Land of the Iadnah… Where Vretial did our training. There is no nominal energy here,” Ron said in my mind.
“You are very perceptive, child,” the creature possessing my father said. He stood by the window casually.
“You shouldn’t be able to hear into my mind.”
He sneered. “You two have no idea how insignificant your power is compared to mine.”
“The fact that you overpowered my father is enough to prove your superiority,” Ron said obligingly. “Is he dead?”
“That is an interesting question. I really don’t care.”
“He’s my dad.” Ron’s eyes were weepy and his voice was gentle.
“Don’t you cry, little thing.” He approached us. I wrapped my arm around Ron’s shoulder, but Dylan didn’t look threatening. Of course, it was difficult to see my father as threatening. He stopped right in front of us and put his hand on Ron’s jaw. “You have strong potential. Your power will never amount to anything, but your spirit is intriguing.”
“You know, no matter how powerful you become, if you are ignorant of your foe, you will eventually lose,” Ron said. The enemy grinned. “What do we call you?”
“You want a name? I guess you could call me Dylan.”
“No, Dylan is the name of a man who is kind of heart, brave of soul, and very quick to figure out how to save everyone. You are something else. If you have no name, I will name you Zherneboh.”
“Really? You want to give him a name? He’s not an abandoned puppy,” I argued.
“I couldn’t care less what you call me. I may be willing to keep you alive for petty uses,” he told my brother. Then he put his hand on my chin and forced me to look him in the eyes. “You are not useful.” He let me go and turned away.
His words were an arrow of ice and pain that sunk deeply into my heart. Besides my brother, Dylan was the only one who loved me. “Why did you bring us here?”
“Well, I figured I could do with a couple of pets. I think most powerful people have pets.”
Ron’s suspicious gaze met mine. That seemed like a very odd thing for a creature older than the gods to say. I had no idea what this being was, but Zherneboh was not acting as I believed an ancient super-god would act. I reached for my brother’s hand, but he took a step away. He was keeping his feelings to himself and I didn’t approve.
“What if we don’t want to be your pets?” Ron asked.
“Then I will kill you both.”
“You are from the void, right? I mean, I can feel it. The darkness, the balance… it doesn’t know what to make of you other than that you don’t belong.”
“Yes, you can say that I am from the void. No being of life can ever be more powerful than me.” Mordon appeared with the azurath blade ready, but Zherneboh just laughed.
“How did you find us?” Ron asked.
“Let the boys go,” he told Zherneboh, ignoring us.
“And if I don’t? Are you going to try to kill me?”
“I want to, but I know better. I know you have nothing to fear from me. Thirteen years ago, I met Dylan and since then, I have faced all kinds of foes. Most of them are more powerful than me. I didn’t survive by making enemies of those stronger than me or with idle threats; I survived by not betraying Dylan, and by being more useful alive than dead.”
“How can you possibly be useful to me?”
“I am willing to betray anyone to protect Dylan and the boys. Use your imagination.”
Suddenly, Ron and I were back in the forest on Earth. Our mother, Ronez, Ghidorah, Rilryn, and Xul were there, but not the one we needed.
“Where is Mordon?” Divina asked.
“Zero must have kept him.”
Ron took my hand to share his support. “Zherneboh,” he reminded.
“That’s what I said, isn’t it?” I asked him. “We need to get Vretial to help us save Dad.”
“Dylan isn’t dead then?” Mom asked, her cheeks wet from tears.
“Mordon flashed to Dad. The only way for him to do that is if at least some small part of the bond between them is still intact. Thus, Dad must be alive,” Ron explained.
“Then we can save him,” she said.
I nodded. “You keep trying to find him. Ron and I will ask Vretial for help.” Before she could argue, Ron took us to the place we normally met the eccentric god. We appeared in the forest before an apple tree. Vretial sat upon the usual boulder, dressed in black pants, a black button-up dress shirt, and a black trench coat.
“Hello, children. Come to check up on me have you? Just making sure I haven’t died here on my own?”
“On your own? What would you die of here besides old age?” my brother asked rudely.
“Oh, I would love to die of old age, just to keep my power from you.”
No, the god was not allowed to die of natural causes, because my brother had already decided that when Vretial’s time came, it would be at the hands of Ron. “We need your help,” I said, trying to move it along.
“Of course you do. No one ever comes to me for a chat.”
“It’s because you are quite out---” I cut Ron off by putting my hand over his mouth. When he stopped, I removed my hand. “We need you to help us save our father. I’m sure you know all about Zherneboh.”
“I’m sure I know nothing about anyone with that name.”
“He’s the ancient, powerful being that took over my father. Help us.”
“Ancient, powerful being? Oh, that does sound terrible. And dangerous! No, not good… not good at all. However, if you really need me, then of course I shall help you defeat this Zero creature.” He stood from the boulder with a kind smile.
Ron glared. “What do you want in return?”
“Want? Me? Well, I just want to help you, of course. Did I ask for anything in return when I gave you the griffins?”
“This won’t make us any more likely to choose you over Avoli.”
“Certainly not. You should make up your own mind.”
“Then what is it that you want for your help?”
“I can’t really think of anything. After all, I have everything I could possibly want. Let’s just say you will owe me a favor.”
I hated Vr
etial. I hated him with everything I was.
“Whatever,” Ron said without consulting me. It wasn’t that he was foolish enough to trust the dark god, he just honestly believed he would soon be powerful enough to overthrow Vretial. “Now help us save our father. How do we do it?”
“Hmm. Well, we will need a weapon for this.”
“Mordon has the azurath sword, but we would have to get to Mordon,” Ron said.
“No, that would never do. I do know of a sword that would work. However, it might prove difficult to obtain.”
“Where is it?”
“Ask your grandfather.”
“Is it one of Edward’s swords? That should be easy enough to get.”
“Wrong grandfather,” the dark god said with a smirk. “Ronez was kind enough to hide it for me. See, I’m terrible about forgetting where I put something.”
“You can’t forget anything,” Ron said, glaring.
“No, I can’t. It makes it rather difficult to hide something from myself if I can’t forget where I put it.”
Ron laughed, his irritation completely forgotten. “You’re so silly.” Vretial gave him a kind smile and I pulled Ron closer. “So we will ask Ronez to bring the sword. How will that save Dad from this evil void-born creature?”
“It is not that simple, for the power of the weapon comes in two parts. The sword is nothing much on its own; it’s the physical bit. The second part is the magic, which is in a special staff. I assume you have seen it, as it is the staff that woke Zero in the first place. To save your father, I need the sword, the staff, and the book. Tell Ronez to bring me the sword and tell your father’s demon to bring me the staff and book.”
“What book?”
“In order for Rasik to have found the staff, he had to have had the book. It will be on his person.”
A bright flash filled the area and left us with the others.
“Did you find out anything?” Mom asked.
Ron nodded. “Ronez, he said you have a sword that he asked you to hide. He needs it. Zeb, he wants you to bring him the staff and a book that Rasik should have on him.”
Xul went to the dead Guardian, who had been turned over onto his back. Rasik had a red shirt with black pants and a leather bag strapped to his side. In the leather bag was his Guardian book and a much larger grimoire.
Divina took the book and staff. “I will take them.” She vanished.
“Flash me to my house,” Ronez said.
“Focus on what it looks like,” Ron told him. He still held my hand with his left and took Ronez’s with his right. The light filled the immediate area and faded to darkness. Ron squeezed my hand and a small ball of light formed in front of us.
The room had brick walls and a wooden floor. Other than the grand fireplace, there was really nothing intriguing about it. The furniture included a leather couch with an end table. There were a few paintings. Overall, it looked like the place was vacant. The only distinguishing feature was the maroon curtains hanging on the north wall.
“You know, one of these days, I should finally be rid of Vretial,” Ronez said, heading for the curtain.
When he tore them, loudly, from the wall, I pulled Ron away. A six-by-eight mirror hung on the wall about an inch from the floor. Ronez reached out and the instant his skin came into contact with the glass, it was no longer a mirror; the reflection vanished to reveal a doorway. I held Ron back as he tried to follow.
Ronez paused. “Don’t try to follow. Only Dylan and myself can make it through here. Anyone else would find it quite unpleasant.”
“I’m your grandson. Surely the blood connection is strong enough.”
“I’m afraid not, angel. Don’t fret. I will only be a second.” He walked into the dark interior only to return a minute later with a sword. “This is it. Flash us to the great, ‘darkest of them all’ so we can get to the saving Dylan part.”
The sword was a straight, long, double-edged sword with a simple black handle. I had been expecting gold and jewels or something after seeing the mirror turn into a doorway. Before I could examine it further, Ron flashed us to the clearing, where Mom and the dark god were arguing.
“Your face is going to get stuck like that,” Ronez warned Divina when she scowled at Vretial.
Ron looked at me in alarm. “Hail, don’t scowl! Don’t ever scowl!” He tried to reach for my face, probably to straighten out any imagined wrinkles, but I caught both his hands and held them in mine.
“What’s wrong, Mom?” I asked.
“I told you to get the demon, not your mother,” Vretial scolded me.
“I can do anything the demon can,” Mom argued.
“Sure you can, and more, which is why you cannot be the one to do this.” When Divina just glared at him and crossed her arms, Vretial sighed. “The last being alive or not alive that I trust to take Zero’s power is you. If I destroyed him, I would take his power, and the balance couldn’t handle that. It would be the same for you or the others. The demon is powerful enough to withstand this magic and not nearly as likely to absorb Zero’s power.”
“You want me to kill this being that possesses Dylan?”
I turned to find Xul behind us. He must have appeared in time to overhear us.
“If Zherneboh is left to his own devices…?” Ron started to ask.
“Who knows? Nothing good, that’s for sure. We cannot risk it. He could decide to kill every single living creature in the universe just because he can.”
“But we don’t know. Maybe he is good,” I said.
“He took over Dad’s body. He might be killing Dad’s soul as we speak,” Ron said.
“If I do this, will it hurt Dylan?” Xul asked.
“Most definitely. It would be impossible to kill one without the other. If you destroy Zero, Dylan’s soul will be destroyed as well.”
“No! You can’t do that!”
“You are no longer needed here,” Vretial said, waving his hand at us. I knew this god, however, so I was already acting before Ron was even done shouting. Pulling the magic from my brother, I bonded it with my own power, which was fueled by the desperate desire to protect him, and created a shield around us. My father would have been proud that the dark god’s magic couldn’t penetrate my barrier.
Instead, Mom and Ronez vanished, having been successfully dismissed by Vretial. “We will return the magic to the sword and then you will destroy Zero.”
“You said you would save our father,” I said.
“Well, I can’t imagine death is worse than what he is suffering now. This one time, I think I should help him by defeating his greatest enemy.”
“I won’t do it. If I kill Dylan, it will break our deal. Ron will banish me to the void,” Xul said.
Vretial sighed. “You owe me a favor. You would never have survived on Duran, so I sent you to Earth. I then told you not to have anything you couldn’t afford to lose. If you do not do this, we might as well all be in the void. Do not refuse, Xul.”
The demon’s face turned ashen. “How do you know my name?”
“People who don’t return their favors with me end up losing more than they bargained.”
“You mean Sydney.”
“Yes. She will die. What is more important to you? Until you break the deal and kill Dylan, you are guaranteed safe from the void. Once you kill Dylan, I will protect you from it. Choose wisely, before I kill your dragoness out of boredom.”
I could see every fear, desire, and thought on the demon’s face. Obviously, Sydney meant something to Xul, but he didn’t believe the god that he would protect Xul from the void. The demon had to choose between Sydney dying or spending eternity in the void.
He walked over to where Divina and Ronez had disappeared and picked up the discarded sword. “How do I do this?”
“The book itself was needed to find the magic of the weapon. If you try to read it, it would just send you off chasing your tail. We need to use the book to take the magic out of the staff and into the blade.�
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“But if it is the same magic that woke Zero, how will that help to kill him?”
“Like with the Ancients, there is a measure of vulnerability in inhabiting a flesh body. It doesn’t make him mortal, but it gives us a chance. Stab him through the heart with the blade and the magic will do the rest.”
“There must be another way. You cannot kill Dad,” Ron said.
“Your father would be offering himself up right now to save Mordon.”
“I’m not him,” Ron said coldly. “Dad will put the lives of others above his own and could never resist saving people. I just want to save my family. Mordon is not expendable. Dad is not expendable. You are expendable. I don’t need to figure out how to stop Zeb, I need to figure out how to put you in Dad’s place.”
“That’s your mother showing through,” the god chuckled. Ron’s steel gaze never wavered. “You come up with your plan or whatever while I actually get things done. Demon, hold open the book as if to read from it.”
Xul did as he was ordered. He picked up the book and Vretial held out one hand for the staff and the other for the sword. The staff flew from the floor into Vretial’s hand and the sword did the same from Xul’s grip. Then Vretial let go of the staff and it hung suspended in midair.
He aimed the sword as if to stab the demon, then let go. Instead of falling to the ground, the blade plunged through the air and pierced through the binding of the book, only to stop an inch from the demon’s chest. Xul swallowed, but didn’t voice his panic or relief.
Bright light formed from the staff and shot into the sword, illuminating the blade for a moment, then faded as if it never existed in the first place. Vretial made a beckoning motion and the weapon dislodged from the grimoire before returning to the dark god, who grinned. “I finally have a weapon that can kill Dylan.”
“Why would you want to kill my dad? I thought you saved him when he was little,” Ron said.
“Of course I had. Otherwise, he would never have been able to grow up and rid me of the balance. However, there will come a time when I am no longer useful to him, and he will no longer be useful to me. When that time comes, I want to take his power before he takes mine.”