A Love That Destroyed Time

by Melanie Ray

  “Golden Wood is here. Mass of green must be the inhibitor, so deep in the mountains. Tower of the King is the original name of Vellag castle, so I guess the other castle is the waryes castle,” Yed cleared up. “I don’t know the next part though. Never ending between, or the purest disinnocent?”

  “Yes, you do. Both of you know this one. She will be the purest of those among you.” The Chronicle Keeper looked toward Yed’s pocket. “Someone you hold a special place for, but she will fall.”

  “Ezraponia. Ezraponia is involved in rhymes?” Xiam scratched his head. “Ezraponia and the babies? What could they possibly do? And hey!” Xiam suddenly felt offended. “My sister is not disinnocent.”

  “Disinnocent is a word that is not a word. A label of something that is not yet here. Throughout your journey, she will become what she is to be. If not, then the warnos will continue to fight amongst itself.”

  “Heh. Warnos don’t fight,” Yed almost chuckled.

  “Warnos fight amongst each other. You may say that the other is different, and they may call themselves a different name. Yet, nevertheless, you are the same.” The Chronicle Keeper covered her head. “Green to Red and Pink to Green. Everything will fade away. It’s up to you. Perhaps you.”

  “But, wait! That doesn’t help. What are we supposed to do,” Xiam cried out.

  “Even I don’t know the answer,” AnoNymous said. She looked toward Yed. “I still don’t know if you are the one. If you are not. If it does not work, you must come back and face yourself.”

  “Face myself?” Yed tried to put everything together. AnoNymous spoke in such a strange way, none of her answers were straight. It was like talking to a huge puzzle. “Is there anything else you can tell us?”

  “No.” She held her hand out in front of her. “It will be raining soon again. You do not know the actual amount of trouble coming. Bring your loved ones here. The Chronicles will repel the acid forever, and never let evil inside. Even this water will remain strong and pure. Remember that.”

  “How can...” Xiam cleared his throat. “How can our Chronicles actually be this powerful? All we did was write our day to day lives in them.”

  “Bring your loved ones here,” she repeated. “Then, you can ask more of me.”

  As she started to walk away, Xiam shouldered Yed. “Why ask more? Can’t understand her anyway.”

  Yed didn’t join in his playful shouldering. He looked around, noticing what AnoNymous said was true. There was no break in the books, and there was no outside damage that he knew of. The Chronicle Sanctuary always did hold strange power. Could they keep the water purified though?

  “Well, at least it wasn’t a total waste. Should we bring everyone here, or should we leave them at the safety house?” Xiam asked as he closed the book of lineage. “Yed?”

  “I don’t know the actual amount of trouble coming.” Yed moved towards the walls and gentle touched the Gold Chronicles. He moved along the wall, until he saw a fountain. They had been walking along, and the fountains had been so low, that he had not even considered it. He bent down toward the fountain, and placed both his hands beneath the running water. Pagnia was so poisoned that water was alcoholic. It had been that way since before he was born. “There’s no color at all. This water is clear.” He brought it to his mouth and took a sip.

  Pure. There were none of the usual chemicals he had always tasted inside of it. “Xiam, come here. You have to taste this.”

  Xiam took a small drink, and licked his lips. “It tastes...different. It’s missing a lot of...what?”

  “Chemicals. Acid. Toxins. Xiam, this is pure water.” Yed let the water seep through his fingers. This is where they all belonged. “We’ll bring everyone here.”

  “What about the Protectors coming?” Xiam asked.

  “Tug doesn’t want to intrude, but if we’re here, he can stay there. He’ll be able to live comfortably, and point them this way.” Yed couldn’t help himself as he kept swooshing the water in his hands. Water with no color. Crisp and fresh, it was a sight to behold. “You can stay if you want, I know you’re tired. I’ll be back in a couple of days with everyone.”

  “Alone?” Xiam touched the water. “I should sit on my butt for two days?”

  “To tell you the truth, you slowed me down, Xiamipoc.” Yed looked toward him. “I don’t like the way the Chronicle Keeper spoke. You stay here, and I will get here faster with the others. I’ll start at the other end of the Chronicle Sanctuary, it will take less time to climb around.”

  Xiam sighed. “You really know how to make someone feel wanted.”

  “I’ll be back with everyone. Two days, probably less.” Yed stood up. “Until then, stay safe.”

  Chapter 70

  TURNING SURPRISE

  "Careful."

  "I know," Ezra said to Iri. She held some food on a tray, making her way cautiously to the prisoner.

  "Tug said you need to be extra careful. Maybe he should be here while you feed him?" Iri suggested as she pointed to the prisoner.

  "Tug is busy, and he is getting hungry." Ezra continued forward with a smile. "Hello?"

  The prisoner looked up toward her, confusion within. "Ma'am."

  "Um, here is some basic food. Nothing fancy, just basic mnui." Ezra laid down the tray at her feet, and tried to scoot it his way softly. Yed would be screaming at her if he saw what she had been doing, but this needed to be done. "Here you go, sir."

  "What on Pagnia is going on?!"

  Yed? Ezra felt herself getting pulled back toward him. "Yed? Hey, you're back." His eyes were wide eyed, as in much disbelief as she had been. "That's the waryes prisoner." He did another double take between her and the prisoner. "You're seeing right."

  Ezra looked back toward him. He had been a waryes, same as any other when he came in. They had locked him up, but he had slowly changed. At first, his growling and lust ceased. Then, he became quiet, not complaining about food or water. Then, on the third day, his nose changed red. His fur had regrown bushy, with ringed colors.

  Not only had he not been a waryes, he was a full fledged warno.

  "What the..." Yed's mouth hung wide. "What?!"

  Ezra told him what happened, but it didn't help. Yed went over and questioned him. The warno shrugged and smiled, stating he didn't even remember who he had been.

  "Could you help me figure out who I am?" The warno was unaware of any danger Yed posed. He was calm, and willing to work things out. "I remember waking up here, and being a prisoner. That's all I remember."

  How would Yed react? Tug did not react well before. He even slapped him several times to see how long it would take to fight back. "Be careful, Yed. Tug has thoroughly tested-" It was no use. Yed wasn't going to leave it to chance.

  The newly born warno cried out in agony and tears as Yed bent his arm back enough to almost break it. Yed left himself up front, demanding him to take a whack at him. The warno just coiled away, begging him to leave him be.

  "I told you," Ezra said as he came back over. "He's not bad anymore. He doesn't remember anything."

  "How?" Yed looked back toward Ezra. "Waryes do not turn into warnos. They just don't!"

  "I don't know." Ezra wagged her tail slightly, looking at it. Just as bright and bushy as the new warnos. "He's just like us."

  Yed repeated the word how several times again, before he looked over at Ezra. "Ezraponia. Your scent."

  "Is still here, I know. He's locked up, and I'm locked up." Ezra looked toward the door. "I haven't gotten close, but there are others here now. Um."

  "Others here." Protectors were coming, but she didn't want to risk contact. He didn't blame her, the scent was strong. Especially down there where she had been staying. Yed rubbed his nose. "We need to get going. The fresh air on the trip will help out."

  "Are you sure?" Ezra motioned toward the prisoner. "What about him?"

  Yed watched him carefully. A waryes would rather die than scream in pain, and would rather be tortured than shed a tear.
This waryes was bawling like a baby. "We'll keep him chained up until I am sure he is safe." Which would probably be never, but he couldn't risk leaving him here in his home. If he had changed, if he actually had become a warno somehow? Then he couldn't kill an innocent. "I'll handle him. Get the kids packed, and tell Iri to get the Protectors together. We can't bring everything, but this will be our last move for some time." He looked toward Ezra and smiled. "You won't believe it, but, we've found clean water."

  Chapter 71

  THE CHRONICLE KEEPER

  “Wow.” Xiam flipped through another Chronicle slowly. The daily lives of warno kind when it began was more different than he could have imagined. Once AnoNymous showed him which ones were safe to access, he had spent several hours looking through the adventures of the long forgotten. He had known next to nothing about the first warnos. It was phenomenal!

  “Xiam!”

  Hearing Iri’s familiar voice, Xiam ran over and gave her a hug. “You got here already? Great!” Yed was right, Xiam had slowed him down. Luckily, Xiam had some terrific tales he had learned while he was gone.

  “I hope it’s great.” Iri looked over toward AnoNymous. “Who is she?”

  “The Chronicle Keeper,” Xiam said as he patted her hand and kissed her cheek. “Don’t worry. She’s too weird to even understand half the time, and only half as beautiful as you.” He watched Yed and Ezra come in next holding the twins. “Any problems?”

  “Nope.” Yed shrugged. “I wish it were that easy all the time.” He placed Wye on the ground. Ezra followed suit.

  “Is it safe for them?” Ezra asked as she looked around.

  “You’ve got to have muscle to move those books. These two can’t even crawl well.” He set Wye down, and watched his boy tumble over. “What on Pagnia am I going to do when you’re old enough to crawl better?”

  “Hm. One step at a time.” Ezra sat down with Carress. Yed followed suit, bringing Wye back over. Around them, there were two new Protectors looking around along with Regwallis.

  Xiam sat over beside Yed, holding a Chronicle. “Yed, you’ve got to look at this. These are the ancient texts of the first warnos.”

  Yed was swaying Wye up and down, causing his son to giggle. “We’re safe, Xiam. Can you give me a few minutes here?”

  “It’s interesting though.” Xiam looked at Wye, but he truly wanted to share. “I’ve been stuck here two days reading books.”

  “Fine,” Yed conceded. He made a funny face at Wye. Wye made a funny face back before Yed placed him in front of Ezra. He patted Carress gently on the head before paying attention to Xiam. “We’ve got two new Protectors to help out. I think they’re exploring right now.”

  Xiam didn’t care as he pushed the book toward Yed. “Magic.”

  “What?”

  “Magic. We had magic. Lots of it.” Xiam pointed to an entry. “Bessy refused to move today, so I lifted my head on high and cast thunder upon her butt. She squealed and not another word was said. Her brother tried to drown me for my insolence. When I told him his sister had a massive butt and it needed to move somehow, he laughed. We drank with merry after that.”

  “Cast thunder?” Yed looked at the wording. He looked through more entries. “I never heard of us having any kind of magic.”

  “This isn’t the only one. Everyone used it like it was an everyday thing. There are several entries in this one too.” He pulled over another Chronicle. “This is a popular female’s Chronicle. Many days talk about how the day would start out sunny, but always end in mass storms because of the boys she didn’t choose to spend the day with. There were lots of arguments and they made her choose and settle down with one. It didn’t help, there was five years of rain in the area before the sun shined again.”

  “Crazy. How come I didn’t know this? Where did the power go?” Yed asked.

  “If one bothers to pay attention to the weird sounding female,” AnoNymous grumped. “Perhaps I would tell. My beauty is only half that of another female though.”

  “Uh?” Xiam looked over at her, and then Iri. What was he supposed to say? “You’re not half bad?” He looked toward Iri. “No female could threaten our love?”

  “What do you know?” Yed said in a no nonsense manner. “AnoNymous, how come no one has ever told us we used to have magic?”

  “It was intense magic. Nothing like what you see out there today. We could change the weather, the water, even our world. Only the most powerful would control the weather around their area, and things got into a tussle. For we may have controlled much, we could not control two things: Growth and emotion. If you were sad, there was no magic in the world to make it shine. If you were happy, there was no way to produce rain. This struggle made the weather too complicated. Severe droughts to never ending rain. This was the way of the world.” AnoNymous picked up a Chronicle and touched it. “One day an extremely powerful warno was born. He was sick, and caused millions of warnos to die. Volcanoes exploded, hurricanes battled in the seas, and tornadoes ravaged the land. When he became happy, the world was a paradise, but babies were never happy forever.”

  “A temper tantrum causing that?” Xiam asked. “Whoah. That’s one incredible baby.”

  “Yes, and others feared it would happen again. Knowing that emotion and magic were mixed together, one warno wrote everything they felt into a book. They felt a relief come over them as their magic seeped into the book itself. Others mimicked him, pouring their deepest thoughts, experiences, and feelings into a book. Before we knew it, all of the power was trapped within what we referred to as our Chronicles. We treat these books with precious respect, keeping them close even after death. The magic inside stays strong.” AnoNymous gestured around her. “We are not protected by books. We are protected by the magic of millions of warnos that came before us.” She glanced toward Yed. “No one knows since we do not gain power until we are 200. We are given our first Chronicles before we know how to wield our magic. If an infant were to come along with such power again, the royal line would know what to do.” She glanced away. “However, why listen? I speak in riddles and in such a manner that no one understands.”

  Xiam tried to look away, but Yed caught him. He glanced back over to her. “I’m sorry for saying that too.”

  “I speak differently. I am from many different times. This knowledge does not mean that I have no emotions nor feelings,” AnoNymous said as she stood up. “Live out your days in peace now. I will be guarding the outside.”

  “How do you guard?” Xiam asked. “There’s more than regular warnos out there that get scared off by words.” He felt his shirt starting to choke him around the neck slightly, before it suddenly loosened.

  “Time has erased me. I do not know where in history I am from. I exist, yet I don’t. I have no Chronicle.” AnoNymous raised her staff. “What you call the waryes do not have Chronicles, but they are too evil in heart to wield their real magic. I have no problems engaging in battle with them.” She nodded and left out the door.

  “Pour soul,” Ezra said softly. She glanced toward Yed, but he didn’t meet her glance. “You two are similar.”

  Xiam watched Yed’s reaction.

  “I don’t care. I don’t remember another me. There may have been another me,” Yed said, “but it doesn’t matter. I am here, and I am living my life now. There’s nothing bad about that.” He touched Carressella on the nose. “I am far from the melancholy she suffers from. Besides, there are more urgent things. Figuring out the rhyme.”

  “Oh! I almost forgot.” Xiam nodded. “AnoNymous finally told me one. Never ending between. The wall between us and the waryes. It was first made to be a full 360 degrees, there were no breaks at all.”

  “If it’s the wall, then its positions." Yed looked at Xiam. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Placing the babies in each position? Well, I guess they don’t have Chronicles. There might be some power.” Xiam counted on his fingers. “Golden Wood is here. Mass of Green has to be in the inh
ibitor mountain somewhere.”

  “The biggest one. If this is East, we need West. North and South are the Kingdoms.” Yed looked toward Ezra. “Your position is somewhere along the wall.” He looked outward. “AnoNymous probably has a hint or two. How did you get her to spill?”

  “I uh...” Xiam muttered softly. “I said she had pretty eyes.”

  “Flirting?” Yed muttered back harder. “Are you kidding me? You’ve been flirting with the Chronicle Keeper?”

  “It wasn’t flirting, I just wanted to be nice and see if she knew anything else.” Xiam cleared his throat. “Don’t tell Iri?”

  “Hm.” Yed looked toward his children. “Without the other two, nothing can be done.” He slumped forward. “Muiny on another planet, being a pet.”

  The thought was hard to take for Xiam too. Was she fetching papers? What about her children? Being raised in that environment, their minds would start believing they were nothing but regular animals. There was nothing that could be done though. Or could there be? A transporter wasn’t easy to find, but could the royal family have another one somewhere?

  Xiam let Yed spend time with his family while he headed off to find Regwallis. He found the small king drinking water beside the other Protectors. “Regwallis?”

  “Xiam Uncle,” Regwallis smiled. “Hello again.”

  “Hello, Regwallis.” Xiam moved over closer. “I don’t suppose you know anything about any transporters in the castle?”

  “Yes. There’s one in the basement. You have to have a special code though,” Regwallis answered. “Have you tasted the water?”

  “Yeah. It’s refreshing.” Xiam walked away back toward Yed. They hadn’t even talked about bringing Muinela back since the war. Maybe it was time? “Yed, we need to talk. Regwallis says that there is another transporter in the basement.”

  “Muinela.” Yed didn’t bother looking at him. “It’s risky. She might be in a better place. This planet is going to be raining acid upon itself.”

  “The rhymes though. If we were that powerful. If the babies were that powerful? Then maybe...” Xiam shrugged. “Maybe it will stop it.” He pushed on Yed’s shoulder. “We have to at least see if she’s okay. What if they are doing something wrong with her because of the pet status? What if she can be disowned and killed? Muiny never was that good at listening.”