by Lola StVil
“Marcus my love, you can rest now. Your daughter, your granddaughters and your wife, three generations of women, are strong, loved and, yes, happy.”
After the ceremony, the Guardians take off to have their own celebration. We fly over to Glacier National Park in British Columbia. We land among the snowcapped mountains and frozen valleys. We enter the kids’ favorite place, the City of None.
The city is like a real-life video game where the entire town is made up of human holograms. The point of this game is so that angels can practice fighting evil and rescuing humans. It’s a great place to hone your skill and have some fun. The kids love it; it’s the angel version of Disneyland for them. Before we enter the city, we make sure the setting on the device that runs the simulations is set to child friendly.
We expect the kids to start flying in every direction, playing around and competing with each other. But with Nix looking so sullen, word gets back to the kids, and soon, they all know something is up with Nix. The first being to go over to him is Summit. She feels it’s her job to fix everything (like mother, like daughter).
“Where is Winnie going?” Dylann asks.
“Your sister is trying to make Nix feel better,” I explain. My baby girl shakes her head as if to say “that’s not what I would do.” She then places her hands on her hips and addresses her mom and me.
“Okay, I gotta go!” she says, as if we would just let her cruise the frozen terrain by herself.
“Where are you going?” I ask.
“Dad, I’m the second Toren. They need me. What about mean icy men? What to do if they come? Winnie needs me. Bye,” she says. Before her mother and I can really start to worry, East signals that he has an eye on her. I thank him and turn my attention to Pryor.
“Are you going to talk to him?” I ask.
“Yeah, I thought I’d let Summit try. It’s her team, you know,” she says.
“Yeah, I get it. Is Randy coming?” I ask.
“He has a lot of work, but he’s gonna stop by this weekend,” she says.
“I think it’s time you talked to your nephew,” I reply as I watch Summit walk away sadly, shrugging her shoulders in defeat. While I go to cheer her up, Pryor goes over to talk to Malakaro’s son.
Nix is seated on a bridge that links two mountains together. Had he been a human, the height would have frightened him, but as an angel, a Toren no less, heights give him a sense of calm. I hear Pryor walking over to him; she sits in the middle of the bridge alongside him.
“There are some really nice peaks to jump off if you don’t want to play rescue,” she says.
“No, thanks,” Nix replies.
“So you know all about your dad now. You wanna talk about it?” she asks.
Nix shrugs his shoulders and lowers his head, ashamed.
“You can ask me anything you want about your father,” she offers.
“Did you kill him?” Nix asks.
“Yes. I had to.”
“Why?”
“Your dad was sick—not like a virus or anything. It was a different kind of sick.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your dad, Jason, was suffering from hatred. And sometimes when it’s really strong, hatred can be just like a virus. It can get a hold of you and make you sick. It can change you. And that’s what it did. It turned your dad from a smart little boy named Jason to a living nightmare called Malakaro. I had to end his life so he could stop hurting people and so he could stop hurting himself too.”
“Why couldn’t he get better? Why didn’t he get medicine?”
“Nix, sometimes there is no cure. But he tried. I think he really tried to be…good. In his own way,” Pryor says mostly to herself.
“They said he was the most evil being that ever lived. Is that true?”
“Very close to it. But that’s who he became. That’s not how he started.”
“Aunt Pry, am I going to be sick like him one day?”
“No,” she says with certainty.
“How do you know?” he asks.
“When he held you, I saw a light in his eyes, one I didn’t think he was capable of having. When you were in his sight, he was…softer. I see that side of you every day.”
“What if you’re wrong? What if I am bad too?”
“Your dad told me something, something he wanted you to know.”
“Malakaro left me a message?”
“No, Phoenix, Jason did.”
“What did he say?”
“Tell my son my steps are not his steps. My pain is not his path. And tell him I left him with family, so I left him with…everything.”
Once Phoenix starts to feel better, the rest of the kids drag him over to play. Soon they are jumping off mountains, saving hologram humans, and shoving loads of junk food in their mouths in between rescue games. Then they have the nerve to challenge all the Noru to a snowball fight.
“Alright! It’s the battle of all battles! Noru versus Toren! Ready, set, go!” Easton shouts.
Snowballs are flying everywhere, angels diving off cliffs, children turning against their parents in an icy takeover. We have to cut the evening short because duty calls, but all in all, it was a lot of fun.
A few hours later, Pry and I pick up the kids from Mrs. Maybelle after defeating a horde of demons who had converged on a town in Italy. When we get home, we put the kids to bed and head back to the living room. We are not alone. We find Julian getting off his Port, in a hurry to talk to us.
“Grandpa, what’s wrong?” Pryor asks.
“Listen, I’ve been keeping an eye on the other two Echos because I don’t trust the angel world with my family, you know that. The power that makes someone an Echo gets left behind once an Echo is killed. If all three of them are dead, their powers can be harnessed to make a new Echo,” Julian says.
“Someone wants to get their hands on all three Echos so they can use that power and replace Omins. Okay, we know Summit is protected. Who’s looking out for the other two Echos?” Pryor asks.
“You’re not hearing me. The other two Echos are dead! They were attacked in their homes. It was brutal and swift,” Julian says.
“And now they’re coming here. They’re coming to take our little girl,” Pryor says to herself.
“It’s okay. We won’t let that happen,” I assure her.
“No, we won’t. Who’s coming? Who do I have to kill?” Pryor says venomously.
“Everyone who ever thought they could do a better job than Omins. So…everyone. Everyone is coming!” he says.
“Damn! How long do we have?” Pry asks.
“Pry…” I call out as I look out the panoramic window.
“Grandpa, talk to me. When will they be here?”
“Now…” I reply as I look up at the sky. We are completely surrounded by upper-level demons. Every inch of the house is covered by evil…
End of “NORU” series.
The author invites you to read the spin off series:
Book 1: The Toren (Release date to be determined)