Syphon: Guardians of the Fractured Realms

by Kunego, Chad

  >Well, that was fun.<

  Samuel started to nod at Raguel before passing out.

  Chapter 43

  Blythe watched as Samuel slowly started to plummet out of the sky. Without thinking, she took off at a sprint with Sybil slowly falling behind. As Samuel fell closer to the ground, she redoubled her efforts, running faster than she ever thought possible.

  Please God, let me get there in time.

  As she got closer, she felt a burst of energy. Instinctively running up the side of one of the centurions, she launched herself off it’s head, stretching her arms out as far as she could. Miraculously, she caught Samuel in her outstretched arms, the impact slowing his decent slightly. Pulling him in tight, they both dropped toward the ground. She felt a tickling sensation as Amitiel quickly slithered across her back before latching on and flaring her wings to try and arrest their fall, but they were too close to the ground and bounced heavily off the surface. Blythe felt the familiar sensation of having her bones break as they skidded to a stop. She tried to block out the pain as she gently stroked Samuel’s head, noting that he was still breathing softly.

  She gradually realized the pain was lessening as she felt her body start to knit itself back together.

  >What’s happening to me?< >You’re a wilder. Your life is only going to get more interesting from here.< She felt Samuel start to stir in her arms. Looking at his face, she watched as his eyes fluttered open.

  “Nice catch. I owe you one,” he whispered.

  “Well… I had to return the favor,” she said softly, “and I still owe you one.”

  Smiling back at her, he reached up and gently pulled her toward him.

  “No, I think we’re even.”

  Smiling, Blythe leaned forward and kissed him.

  §§§§§§§§§§§§

  Samuel slowly walked toward the library, his arm around Blythe’s shoulders. Glancing around, he noticed the bodies of several syphons laying broken on the ground while others tried to help the ones who were still badly injured but alive. As he got closer, Sybil finally caught up to them. Giving him a strange look, she nodded at them.

  “Are you both all right?”

  “Well, we’re fine enough for now.”

  “Was that really the archangel sword?”

  Samuel scratched the back of his head before responding.

  “Yeah, that was actually his sword. We kinda go way back.”

  Sybil looked at him suspiciously.

  “And you… Are you really who I think you are. There’s a picture in the archives that looks suspiciously like you.”

  Samuel sighed. He’d hoped that info would never get out, but these were strange days indeed.

  “Yeah, it’s me. I’m Adam.”

  “So that would make Genevieve…”

  “Yup… Eve.”

  “How…?”

  “It’s a long, long story. For now, let’s get this mess straightened up. The forgetfulness caused by that much aetheric energy spilling out will only go just so far.”

  Sybil glanced around before nodding.

  “Well, you’re the boss. At least it’s over with.”

  Samuel shook his head slowly while looking at Sybil.

  “I wish that were true, but this is just the beginning…”

  §§§§§§§§§§§§

  Hank watched as Samuel and his friend slowly started cleaning up the devastation caused by Damien. Unfocusing his eyes, he glanced toward the heavens, noting the various pulls and tears in the weave of the realms. Waving his hand, a steaming bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit appeared. Looking back at Samuel, he shook his head slowly as he turned around.

  “That boy has a lot on his plate now. I just hope he’s up for the challenge… For the sake of all the realms.”

  Taking a bite of the biscuit sandwich, he gave it an appreciative glance as he started walking away.

  “I really need to rethink my edict about eating pork,” he said as he slowly started breaking up into sparkling motes, “bacon has got to be on my top ten list of best things I created, somewhere just behind light…”

  Within seconds, all that remained was the slight scent of bacon.

  Chapter 44

  “So what are you saying, exactly.”

  Sybil glanced around the table before looking back at Samuel.

  “What I’m saying is, Armageddon has started. It’s just not off to as fast of a start as prophesied.”

  “And you know this how?”

  “Unfortunately, this isn’t the first Armageddon I’ve had to stop. This time though, Genevieve planned this attack pretty well. By drawing the sword of Michael, I helped weakened the weave between realms. I’m suspecting that, if Damien had gotten inside, he would have gotten to the Arch of the Covenant.”

  The Archivist gave him a confused look.

  “Don’t you mean the Ark of the Covenant? And what do you mean if he got to it. Nobody knows where it’s at since the Levites hid it.”

  “Nope, I meant Arch, but it’s mostly semantics. The Arch actually looks like the description of the Ark in the bible, but it’s actually a arch that opens a doorway to the Akashic records. If Damien had been able to reach that plane, he could have rewritten history in any way he chose.”

  Sybil gestured toward him.

  “That still doesn’t answer the question about why you think the Arch is here somewhere.”

  “Well, that’s easy enough to answer. I buried it here before I had the library built.”

  Samuel watched as everyone stared at him.

  “Well, now that we know who you really are, I’ll step down so you can lead us.”

  “Uh, no. As far as I’m concerned, you’re still the commander of this garrison. I gave up that role a long time ago and I really don’t want it back.”

  Sybil shook her head.

  “You’re the one who started our order. You need to lead us again in this time of tribulation.”

  Samuel gave her a firm stare.

  “No. End of story. You’ve done a good job up to this point and they trust you. Besides which, I’d rather not have everyone learn who I really am. I worked hard to bury that secret long ago. Plus, I’m going to be busy training Blythe for the foreseeable future along with trying to remember how to repair the weave since this isn’t the first time it’s happened. Hopefully the rest of my memories will return soon so I can remember how I fixed it the last two times.”

  “Fine, but this particular discussion isn’t over. Now what about this other syphon you said you came across?”

  “Yes, a professor by the name of Clarience Waide. We’ll need to bring him into the fold. I think him and the Archivist will get along great.”

  “But what group is he from? And why is he teaching at a university?”

  “That’s what makes him unique, actually. As far as I know, he’s the only person who’s ever been turned into a syphon by a peltae before.”

  “What? How?”

  “That’s what I hope to find out.”

  §§§§§§§§§§§§

  Cora watched as Samuel and Sybil walked toward them. Glancing down at Frank, she squeezed his hand before looking back up. Looking at Samuel, she noticed something different about him. As he got closer, she realized the way he carried himself was different. He stood taller, more sure of himself. As they stopped, Samuel gave them a warm smile.

  “Detectives Blanchett and Giani, please allow me the opportunity to apologize for the run around I gave the two of you over the past few days. I’m sure by now you realize there was a good reason for it, but it’s still inexcusable. As for you,” he said, looking directly at Cora, “I’d especially like to apologize for the way I treated you on the rooftop of the college. You were only trying to do your job. Please accept this gift as a token of my apology.”

  As he said it, he extended his hand out, gently grabbing her left hand before sliding something around her middle finger. Releasing her hand, he took a step back. Looking down, she saw that he h
ad slipped a large, plain silver ring with a flat, round top on her finger. Looking at it more closely, she noticed it had a faint starburst pattern radiating from the center of the circle.

  “Um… Thank you? You really didn’t need to—”

  Samuel held up his hand with a smile.

  “This is to help keep you safe until we can get you trained in the proper use of your own peltae and peleus. To use it, do this.”

  She watched as he gestured to her arm before curling his arm like he was hiding behind a shield. As she started to mimic the movement, she looked at him funny.

  “My own who and what?”

  As her arm came into position, she heard something similar to a transformer arcing as a large, transparent glowing blue field surged out of the ring, forming into a shield approximately three feet across. Tapping on it with the finger on her other hand, she felt a slight electric tingling run down her hand.

  “That’s an aegis shield. It can withstand most anything up to the force of a peleus. So as long as you can get it up, it’ll stop just about any physical force in this world. With a little practice, you should be able to get the hang of changing the size of it along with keeping it from opening on accident. Sybil can fill you in on the details.”

  Cora watched in fascination as the shield shimmered and shrank back down, disappearing into the ring as she straightened her arm. Looking back up, she noticed Samuel turning to walk away.

  “Wait! I have so many questions for you…”

  Turning back, he gave her what appeared to be a mischievous smile.

  “Don’t worry. You’ll have plenty of time to ask me questions throughout your training.”

  “Training?”

  “Yep, because of what we had to do to keep the both of you from dying, you’re both going to become syphons. Welcome to the family.”

  Cora’s mind went blank as Samuel walked away. She jumped slightly when Frank cleared his throat.

  “Uh… Syphons?”

  §§§§§§§§§§§§

  Samuel gently knocked on the open door. Glancing in, he noticed Blythe looking down at her hands, shoulders slumped forward.

  “Mind if I come in?”

  Samuel waited a moment for her to respond, but after she made no response, he slowly entered her room. Quietly bringing a chair over, he slowly sat down in front of Blythe, waiting for her to respond.

  “It’s not fair,” she whispered, not looking up.

  “What’s not fair?”

  Her head snapped up, tears running down her face as she met his surprised look.

  “You don’t have to pretend. They already explained that it wasn’t love you were feeling before.”

  Samuel tilted his head to the side in confusion.

  “Huh?”

  “Sybil told me why we were attracted to each other. It’s because I’m this wilder thing, or whatever it’s called. I was ‘pulled’ to you because of the aetheric energy flowing through you, so you don’t have to pretend anymore.”

  Samuel leaned back in his chair with a sigh as she went back to staring at her hands.

  “See, it’s true, isn’t it!”

  Samuel reached out and gently lifted her hands in his own and gave a light squeeze. When she tried to pull away, he held them more firmly.

  “Look at me,” he said softly.

  Looking back up, he could see the sadness along with a longing in her eyes.

  “I’m beginning to think Sybil only gave you part of the story.”

  He lifted one of her hands up and lightly kissed her palm before continuing.

  “Yes, because of our physiology, we were unconsciously drawn to each other, but,” he said as she tried to pull away again, “that feeling only makes you want to be near me. As in my general vicinity. It’s not an emotional thing.”

  “I don’t understand…”

  He paused for a minute to gather his thoughts.

  “Would you want to walk down the street naked?”

  “What! No! Why would you suggest that?”

  “Would you feel more comfortable wearing cloths to walk down the street.”

  “Well duh…”

  Samuel smiled slightly.

  “It’s like that. You’d just have a feeling of comfort being near me. The way we feel for each other, on the other hand, is entirely real.”

  He watched as he saw the hope blossom in her eyes before a look of confusion set in.

  “Then why would Sybil say something like that?”

  “It’s a long story… but to make a long story short, we used to be a couple not too long ago.”

  Blythe’s shoulders slumped slightly when he said that.

  “So I’m what, your rebound?”

  “No. I keep forgetting this is all new to you. Sybil and I broke it off nearly seventy years ago, give or take a decade.”

  “That’s what you call not to long ago?”

  “Comparatively speaking, yes. Suffice it to say, there’s nothing between us anymore.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Samuel smiled as he leaned forward to kiss her.

  “Absolutely.”

  §§§§§§§§§§§§

  Samuel held Blythe’s hand as they walked into the library. Looking around, he saw people milling around the area. On the other side of the room, he saw Sybil giving Frank and Cora a tour of the place. As he made his way over toward them, he noticed Sybil give them a slight frown before heading in his direction.

  “Blythe? How’d you get tangled up in all of this?”

  “Hi detective Blanchett. I kinda lied to you earlier when I said I hadn’t seen him before.”

  Samuel smiled at her as she looked at him. Looking back, he thought he caught another frown on Sybil’s face, but it was too fast to be sure.

  Cora looked at Blythe with a stern look.

  “Uh huh, thought so.”

  “But—”

  Cora’s stern look changed to a smile as she continued.

  “No buts. Looks like this time you found yourself a good one.”

  Blythe smiled before looking back up at Samuel.

  “Yes I did.”

  Samuel squeezed her hand slightly before looking back at everyone.

  “Did Sybil fill you in on everything.”

  Frank nodded at him.

  “I’m still a little hazy on the how’s and why’s, but for the most part yes. I guess the next question is, when do we start?”

  Samuel looked at all of them seriously.

  “As soon as possible. This is only the beginning. Genevieve knew that either Damien was going to access the Arch, or that I’d have to pull out Michael’s sword. One way would have allowed direct access to the Akashic records, the other would just weaken the weave between worlds. Either way, she’s one step closer to her goal.”

  “What goal is that?”

  Samuel glanced over toward Cora.

  “Basically, she wants to merge the realms back together and restore Eden to its former glory. And we have to be ready for her next move.”

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  On another note, I’d love to hear from you. One of the benefits of being a writer is learning how our mad scribblings impacted your life. Whether it’s just a needed distraction during your lunch break, a means to wind down from a hectic day, or whether it’s something you get lost in over the weekend, I’d love to know. I can be reached at:

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  I look forward to hearing from you.

  Chad Kunego

  www.ChadKunego.com

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  Kunego, Chad, Syphon: Guardians of the Fractured Realms