by Oxford, Rain
“You don’t. There is no way out of here. You can only go through.” And when you do, I’ll have a little time alone with your pretty friend. Maybe Vretial will let me have some of her power.
I didn’t like the leer he gave her, though she remained silent. “Where is…” I trailed off as I felt the sudden presence behind me. It wasn’t Divina’s warmth, but a cold, dismal, powerful presence.
“Dylan, move,” Divina said.
I moved to the side before turning to see Vretial. He was surprising by all means, but I knew it had to be him. He had short, dark, auburn hair, and his eyes were the color of peanut butter, but they glowed. He was wearing black robes and boots. Probably the most surprising characteristic of his appearance was that he looked thirty at the most.
He also seemed to glow with power and radiate dark energy. The energy was so strong I had trouble standing. It was sickening, worse than any flu I’ve had, and made my body feel heavy.
He smiled widely at Shio, Divina, and then me. “Well, isn’t this a reunion. I’m glad to finally meet you, face to face. I hope you don’t mind, little human, but I’m going to borrow your companion.” He turned to Shio. “You can handle the human, right?”
“Of course, master.”
“Good,” he said before grabbing my arm roughly. His skin was cold and hard like stone, but sent chills up my spine like he was something dead and slimy. I didn’t know what being touched by a god was supposed to feel like, but the difference between his touch and Divina’s was unquestionable.
“Get your hands off my Noquodi!” Divina growled.
Her devotion surprised me, but Vretial paid her no mind. He wrapped a solid, metal bracelet around my left wrist before letting me go. The bracelet had symbols etched across it in what looked a lot like early cuneiform. “Um, it’s pretty and all, but I don’t think it goes with my eyes.”
Vretial laughed. “Such a funny little human you are. This charm will keep you from overpowering my servant, here, and escaping.”
“Really? How will it do that? And what if I just take it off?”
“Only a servant of mine can remove the charm. Now then, if you’ll excuse us. Shio, take the human to see his master.”
Shio bowed to him and the god grabbed Divina’s arm roughly. There was a flash of light so bright it hurt and when it cleared, Shio and I were alone in a stone hallway and Vretial’s overpowering energy was far less potent. There were lit torches lining the left side of the hall, about ten feet apart. Shio shoved me forward.
“Easy, zombie,” I said, but I started walking.
Passing many side halls, we continued straight down the endless path. I could feel everyone; Edward, Divina, Vretial, and his three servants, but I couldn’t tell where they were. I could sense emotions, auras, thoughts, intentions… but they were all mixed up in the wild energy. It felt like I was in super thick fog or smoke, except that I couldn’t see it with my eyes. The energy seemed to be magnifying everything, as well as clouding it over.
After about five minutes, I was getting irritated. Shio wasn’t guarding his thoughts, and he had a dirty mind. “So, Shio, tell me; how did you find Ronez?”
“That is none of your business.”
Somehow, this wild energy was causing me to read thoughts without my control. Either the energy wasn’t affecting Shio the same way, or he was too poor a wizard to hear my thoughts in return.
“Isn’t it? I’m his successor; I have to make sure you can’t track me the same way. Besides, I thought you would want to brag about it.” I glanced back at him and he glared. He had Edward’s face, but he didn’t know how to use the predatory glare that Edward had. “And who would I tell? I don’t expect you to let me go, seeing as how you went through so much trouble to find me.”
“Shut up. When I gave my soul to my master, I was granted a small amount of his power. I became something even more powerful than you Noquodi, and this power became a new soul. The new soul, which is controlled by my own mind, can travel the worlds. When I am where I want to be, I find a body. My mind and soul take over theirs. I was traveling a world called Kahún when I heard word of the Noquodi on Earth. It was said that the Noquodi of Earth, Ronez, was having problems with Earth’s god and Duran’s Noquodi, and was currently unstable over the matter. So I went to Earth in search of him. My soul is drawn to the books, and therefore, him. I later killed him, but he discarded the book.”
“So, why did you kill him? Because you killed him, there had to be another Guardian. Didn’t you consider taking him to Vretial and then hunting the book?”
“That was not possible. I can travel because my soul was created by a god’s power, but my body cannot. The books allow your body to travel with your soul. My master has a… device that can rip through the worlds and create a portal.”
“How? That sounds like some kind of futuristic space thing.”
“Tampering with physical things like that really is not hard. Physical things are easily destroyed and changed with magic energy.”
It’s like what Mordon was talking about. “Nominal energy is like change. Like its purpose is to change physical things. Right?”
“It is the only thing I know magic energy does, but I do not know if its purpose is to change things. The purpose of something really does not matter to me. But, as I was saying; the disk creates a portal that does not require separation between the body and soul. Of course, Vretial was not concerned with the life of a Noquodi enough to have had me use the disk on him. So I killed him. Then, Vretial let me use the charm to get this body back here.”
“So he let you use the charm to bring his dead body back, but not him alive?”
“Bringing him back alive would have done nobody any good. For killing him, I have a body I am quite happy with.”
“Just like that, huh? I don’t like you. You’re kind of a disgustingly horrible person. Honestly, I wish you could meet my mother and suffer through her Christian rants.”
“Yeah, and you are a little small to be dealing with gods. You are very loud for someone your size.”
I was obviously getting to him, which had my intended effect of distracting him from his disgusting thoughts of young girls. If I couldn’t shut off the mind reading, I had to distract him. “Why bring me and Edward here, then? Why not just kill us?”
“I would have killed you, but it was Krael who found you instead.”
I tried hard to think of what I had learned. There was nothing around I could lift and hit him with. I definitely can’t try to use my sword. I couldn’t control fire enough to do anything. Despite the fact I tried it on Tomie, I don’t think I have it in me to burn a man from the inside out, not even the one who killed Ronez. Then what? Maybe I can stand behind him and make him forget about me. Not likely. The only thing I could think of without drawing my sword was Mordon’s sleeping spell, and it seemed impossible to do while walking, but I had to try something.
I imagined Shio, in Ronez’s body, getting tired, and then tried to draw in energy… but I couldn’t. It was like there was a barrier around me that prevented me from getting energy, even while I was bathing in an insanely huge quantity of it. I looked down at the bracelet. I needed it off, but when I pulled on it, I found it completely solid. I needed it off, I needed Shio to pass out, and I needed to find Edward.
How exactly I was reading Shio’s mind without drawing upon the energy around me, I didn’t know. One more question for the bag. “How far until we get to the dungeons? Is it a straight walk there?” I asked.
“Yes, this hall leads directly to the dungeons, and it is not far now. Your master will be there, probably weak and miserable.”
“But… I…” I made a face I hadn’t made in years that I knew made me look like some pathetic little kid. “I got to go to the bathroom.”
He snarled. “Hold it.”
“No, no, I can’t hold it! I have to go!” Perhaps it was not strong enough for Vretial to notice or be concerned about, but I never did get over subconsc
iously drawing in energy. So while I was not able to draw in anymore energy; I had a lot in me already. “Please. Please.” I imagined him getting tired, gently pushed my nominal energy into him, and imagined the nominal energy virus converting his physical energy.
After a few minutes of my begging, fatigue won him over. “Alright!” he growled.
I stopped talking as we took a detour, but I continued to convert his energy. After a few minutes, I assumed that I wasn’t being annoying enough… so I only had one option.
“I’m Henry the eighth I am, Henry the eighth I am I am.” I began to sing quietly, barely more than a mumble. Shio took it like shock therapy.
“What are you doing?!”
“Entertaining myself. If I’m gonna die, I want to at least have a last little ounce of self expression.” And if my plan doesn’t work, maybe I can annoy you enough to take out yourself, also. “I got married to the widow next door. She’s been married seven, times before…” I went on and when he realized that the verse repeated indefinitely, I was very glad that I was the only one able to wield my sword, not that he tried yet.
About five minutes later, we came into a large, bare room that was parted by a wide stream in the middle. “Go.”
For a split second my blood ran cold when I thought that he wanted me to jump in and die; that I had been too annoying. Then I realized, fortunately, that wasn’t what he meant. “Here? This is worse than an outhouse! Does no one understand the convenience of indoor plumbing?!”
I had no time to waste; I was running almost dry of energy. He was already wobbling. I turned to the stream, took a deep breath, and crossed my wrists with my left over right. “Will you at least take these shackles off? I can’t do anything with them on.” It was a cheap shot but he was so tired and I was so annoying that he slowly stepped forward, grabbed the bracelet, and pulled. It snapped open easily.
In a split second, I drew in as much energy as I could, as naturally as inhaling air, and Shio dropped to the ground without a sound. For a few moments I had to hold onto the wall; I drew in enough energy to make me dizzy, so I decided to let most of it go. Then, when I could stand upright, I stuck the bracelet open in my bag and took off running down the halls to find Edward. It was about fifteen minutes later when I realized that I was completely lost.
How unlucky.
I wandered around, getting more and more lost. Apparently chanting “find Edward” in my head over and over didn’t help much. I finally sat down when I discovered with horror that I was a little lost puppy looking for his master. What was I gonna do if I found him? He couldn’t tell me to go home.
What I needed was to figure out how to help them… No. What I need to do is find my book and protect it. I had no idea how to protect it, but I had to do it anyway. Edward can protect it. He’s probably already escaped and looking for the books himself. I was still alive, so they weren’t Vretial’s yet. If I discard my book like Ronez had, would it fall safely to Earth? No, Edward would have told me to do that if it were an option.
I stood. The book found me. If Vivian didn’t have to write an essay the day the book came to me, I wouldn’t have gone home and found it. If I hadn’t been filling in for someone at work the day Edward found me, I would have told him to get his book and get out so I could go back to bed. If I hadn’t gotten lost and found Shinobu, the little girl, Tomie, would have killed me at the springs. If Mordon hadn’t stayed at the same hotel as I, I wouldn’t have learned the spell that got me away from Shio. This was not enough to convince me of fate or destiny, but there had to be something that was helping me along.
Without any better option, I started walking again, this time with the strict determination to find whatever the hell I came to. It was about ten minutes later that I found a door at the end of a hall, which I entered without thinking.
The room was either a depressing bedroom or a cell. The walls, high ceiling, and floor were stone and the only piece of furniture was a bare bed set with a black metal frame. Attached to the frame were shackles. The room itself was about twelve-by-twelve, which made it look even barer.
“You shouldn’t be here,” a young girl’s voice whispered in my mind, sending chills up my spine.
“Good enough for me,” I said, turning back to the door… but there was no door. The door had vanished.
“It is too late now.” I turned to see Tomie sitting calmly on the bed. “You are going to die,” she said.
“But I’m too young to die; I was hoping to live till Thursday at least. Oh, well.” I didn’t want to read her mind, and luckily, she seemed to be shielding it. There was nothing I could try to move but the bed she was sitting on, and I wouldn’t have had the time. There was no time to make her sleep. So, with no real options left, I drew my sword and gathered more energy. To my surprise, her eyes grew wide.
“Where did you get azurath? How did you shape it into a blade? How are you able to lift it?” she questioned.
My sword seemed to pulse and hum with power, which was so cool.
“Because I’m a powerful Jedi knight and this is my dark saber. I can win, because I’m the good guy and you’re the bad guy. If I had some apprentice or something, I would lose, but I don’t so I won’t. This is the climax battle, and the bad guy never wins the climax battle.” I was very fortunate that my faith in movies was so strong, because uncontrollably shaking in front of a little girl was not going to intimidate anyone.
“You are very foolish, human. Do you really believe you can defeat me?”
“Absolutely. There are a million different ways this can go and one of them must have me as victorious. Since you can read my mind anyway I might as well tell you I have a problem with attacking a little girl.”
“I am immortal, you stupid human, and more than four hundred years old. Now, if the small talk is over, I will to kill you now.”
“But the small talk isn’t over!”
A pressure wrapped around my arms and tried to force them down, but before the sword lowered, the pressure started to weaken, leaving a tingling behind. I thought the tingling was my blood flowing back into my arm after she let go, but her murderous glare and the sword’s increased pulse made me consider otherwise.
What started as a slight heat in my stomach, like I ate something too hot, grew into an intense burning that tried to spread all over. My sword pulsed more violently than ever and the tingling extended up my arms and then through my body. It overcame the heat until I was left with a slightly uncomfortable tingling.
Tomie wasn’t happy. “How are you able to control azurath like that?!”
“I’m not doing it. And apparently, your magic is going to be worthless on me for a while,” I said. She went to the chest next to her bed, which must have appeared while I was talking like the door had disappeared. I didn’t try to stop her as she pulled out a double-edged sword with a gold-colored tang and a black handle.
“Fine. I will defeat you with a sword.”
“Uh… did you forget that I can use magic?”
“I would hardly call what you do magic. I may not be able to use magic against you because of your azurath, but I can defend myself against you.”
“As old as you are, your body is that of a little girl. Also, I have a better sword.” I was ecstatic that the gravity was lighter than on Duran. Still, even if I could defeat her, hurting a child was wrong. She may have been older than me by centuries, but she looked and acted like a little girl.
She swung her sword at me and I easily blocked it. As I had expected, she fought like a little girl. She was so good at magic, but because of her body, she could never excel with a sword, and she would never weigh enough to do any serious damage. On the other hand, I was clumsy enough to do it for her. As I slid my blade along the edge of hers to break the block, she moved hers in the same direction. The result sent my own blade slamming against my leg. This reminded me of a move Edward taught me. I thrust the blade upwards and she blocked, but it pushed her back.
“You hav
e no passion for fighting,” she said, much like a whiny child.
“No, I don’t, and I certainly don’t want to fight a little girl. I don’t care how old you are, you look like a little girl, and act like a disturbed little girl.”
“It is one thing to kill a pathetic nothing, it is another to kill a man who will not fight even when he has the physical advantage. What do I have to do to make you humor me? Do I have to rip open your gut? Or maybe I need to promise you that if you do not kill me, I will kill everyone important to you. It is not like I have anything better to do than kill people.”
“I don’t need to hurt you, I just need to keep you out of my friends’ way while they take care of Vretial.”
“What do you think will prevent me from just leaving and going after them?”
“Pride. As long as this sword is magically protecting me, you can’t beat me without fighting me physically. You haven’t laid a hand on me yet. I know size isn’t everything, but you have a child’s body, so I bet you have a child’s mind; I think you might be too proud to have mastered the sword or martial arts. You probably relied on your magic. Am I right?”
“I am a master at everything I do. I never needed to study the sword or martial arts.”
She struck with amazing speed, but I blocked with my sword somehow without thought. Something like anger lit in her eyes and she struck again, far faster this time. My blade moved fluidly before my eyes, too quick to follow closely. And as my sword and hers clashed, all my hesitation and self doubt faded to an almost arrogant, giddy confidence.
She moved so fast I could barely see her blade, but I blocked every strike. I found myself not only able to keep up, but able to get behind her. She turned to me with hate on her face and her sword went to my throat. I didn’t even block this time; I just grabbed her wrist. She dropped her sword and started hitting me in the side. She was very strong for a little girl, but not strong enough.
I reached into my bag, took out the bracelet, wrapped it around her arm, and held it on her. I didn’t know if she could remove it, but I couldn’t take that chance. With no other choice but to rely on the bracelet, I put my sword in its sheath, while still holding her wrist. She clawed at my hand, trying to get the bracelet off. I pushed her onto the bed and closed her little wrist into one of the shackles. Luckily, they fit her and locked automatically. Before she could get the bracelet off, I locked her other wrist into the other shackle. She started kicking wildly but I was already out of her reach. She was trapped, unable to use magic, and so angry that she couldn’t make out any sensible words.