God of the Abyss (18 page)

“Hitting is wrong, Mom,” Sammy declared from the
porch. Nano frowned and I figured we would have a discussion later on. Ron went
to Sammy.

“Granddad can watch us, Daddy,” Ron said. Edward
preferred Ron’s nickname for him over Sammy’s. “Go on to work and we’ll be
fine.”

Sammy gaped at him and Ron elbowed the older boy
before shooting him a pointed look. After a few seconds, they both turned back
to me with matching grins.
Oh, no.
The boys were up to something.

“Can you smell anything? Smoke, maybe? Brimstone?”
I asked, hoping Mordon could pick up some of their intentions.

“Nothing.”

“Don’t worry, I’m watching them,”
Edward said
in my mind. It wasn’t the same as the way Mordon and I spoke. If it made any
sense, the connection between Mordon and I was more natural. I could use magic
to speak to Edward, but it was like an inborn ability to talk to Mordon. There
was no more magic involved than when talking to him out loud, which was a very
good thing if magic ever started to fail like it had when Sammy was a baby.

“Book check,” I said, getting blank stares from half
the Guardians. “Everyone get out your books and make sure they’re in order.” I
pulled out mine, then Edward did his. Watching Edward, Samorde immediately
pulled his out. Shiloh shrugged and followed suit. Azyle and Nano hesitated,
but finally did as I said.

“I don’t keep my book on me, Ghidorah said.

After skimming through the names, I slipped my book
back in my bag. Everyone else scanned their books before putting them away
except for Samorde, who was frowning at a page in his.

“What’s wrong?” Edward asked.

Samorde snapped his book closed with a jump as if he
had forgotten he wasn’t alone. “Nothing. Nothing is wrong. My book is fine,
yes, all names are accounted for.”

“We’re going to try to find Emrys,” I said.

“You want to bring him back here?” Samorde asked, his
voice breaking with fear.

As the air filled with light, I already knew we would
not land where I wanted us to. Flashing was based on a person or place I
thought of in my head. A voice, the feel of their magic, the feeling of being
somewhere, a picture of a memory… It was only by accident that I learned how to
flash, and it was one of the few things I never asked one of the gods to
explain.

I tried to flash us back to Malta, figuring that was
as good a place to start as any. I was prepared to be attacked by whatever was
after the Guardians. I was prepared to fight. I was not prepared to be
intercepted peacefully. Instead of fighting it, I let the presence pull me to
it, because I would have recognized him anywhere.

Mordon

We landed in the middle of stone ruins, possibly the
remains of a temple or castle, surrounded by tree-covered mountains. I listened
and heard only the natural sounds of nature, including a river in the distance.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“In the forest where I met Rilryn. Only… in a
different area of the forest,” he said. Then he explained to me everything that
had happened since he left to look for whoever was calling him. When he told me
about eating the apple, I slapped him. He continued until he got to the part
where the shadow monster showed up, then paused.

“They are okay now,” I said, making him sit on one of
the stone blocks.

“I opened the void. I didn’t really know I could even
still do that, I just did. All I could think about was that burning light and
then… They saw me. They couldn’t see me until I opened the void. Until then it
was like I was just watching a 4-D video. I say 4-D because I don’t know what
else to call it when you feel the cold of the snow and smell ice. Then I yelled
at them about sneaking out at night, made them agree never to talk about it and
promise never to sneak out again at night, and followed them until they made it
home. Oh, the letter.”

He pulled out the letter he had mentioned before and
handed it to me to read, which was silly because it was written in English,
which I couldn’t read. He continued explaining everything, right up to the
point where he arrived home. I examined the card and attempted to get a scent
as he spoke. My nose was already clearing, but I still couldn’t smell much. I
had seen it before; it had come through the void and smelled of death.

“He said it was a map?” I asked.

“He also said it was a game, that only brothers could
read it, and they had to do so together. We need to ask Edward if Ronez ever
explained it to him.” He put both the letter and the card back in his bag and
stood. “How is your nose coming along?”

“Much better. But I thought we were looking for
Emrys, not Rilryn. Why are we here?” I asked, standing.

“I have no idea; I didn’t bring us here. He did,” he
said, indicating the being who appeared before us. I should have expected this.
All the warnings, all the signs… yet nothing actually prepares a person for
meeting a hostile god.

Dylan told me before that he had barely met Vretial,
but he talked about the god often. He asked Divina and the other gods about
Vretial. It was worse when Sammy was little and warned Dylan that the dark god
was back. Divina told Dylan repeatedly that he didn’t have to worry, that
Vretial was gone, but that wasn’t what bothered him. He still had questions, he
just didn’t realize what they were, or that he was asking the wrong god.
Vretial was a mystery that Dylan never got to solve; Vretial was his unfinished
business.

“Hello again, Dylan,” the god said. He didn’t look at
me, so I had a moment to observe. I was careful not to let my eyes shift, but I
could pick up his scent easily. Vretial was definitely a powerful god and I
could feel his power pulsing. “Afraid now?” he asked.

Dylan had told me that it bothered Vretial that he
wasn’t afraid of him. The god was certainly fear-worthy, even with a corporeal
form. If I had seen him on the street without sensing his power, I would never
have given him a second look. Any woman would have, though; it paid to be able
to design your own appearance.

He had medium-length, dark auburn hair. His eyes were
light brown with a reflective tent. Just by looks alone, I would say he was
about ten years older than me; around thirty-seven years old. There was no
specific physical characteristic about him that was sinister; instead he had a
vague, overall aura of darkness that made him appear deceitful.

Despite that, it was his scent that made me hesitate.

I could smell things that are not actually smells.
Intentions, genetics, energy, and danger were just some of the scents I could
pick out in most people. There was something in a dragon’s blood that made them
able to analyze everyone and everything. It was possibly the greatest power
that a dragon had… and I inherited it. It was what made me an asset to Dylan, even
if I didn’t always know how to correctly use it. Sometimes, like with Dylan’s
father (who died and kept being brought back for visits) it was difficult to
understand what I was scenting. In Vretial’s case, it really wasn’t.

I was told that Vretial wanted to take over all of
the worlds and control their people. I was told he wouldn’t hesitate to kill
and was prone to fits of anger. I was told he was psychotic. It seems I was
told wrong. This god before me had no such ambitions to conquer, he was very calm,
and I could smell that he was only a little off. He was certainly no more
psychotic than any Guardian. Most important though, wasn’t what he was missing…
It was what I could smell in him that made me unsure.

“Sorry,” Dylan said, shaking his head with a regretful
frown. “Maybe if you grew a beard. I think all evil people have beards.”

“Really?” the god asked, rubbing his jaw as if
considering himself with facial hair.

Dylan nodded. “My aunt Patty had one. You were in my
bedroom,” he said.

Obviously, weird things flew out of my friend’s mouth
at any given time, but he never said anything about being visited in his
bedroom by the god.

“When I was little. I forgot about it.” He frowned,
thinking hard. “There were many strange men coming and going, so you weren’t
really a big deal.” I never imagined a god could look so insulted, yet Dylan
went on, oblivious. “But you had a magic trick… a card, I think.”

“This card,” the god said, holding a card up.

Dylan searched his bag before gawking at the god.
“You got that out of my bag,” he said.

“Well, yes.” Vretial smirked. “It wouldn’t have been
nearly as suave for me to say, ‘check your bag.’”

“You’re right, that wouldn’t have been as cool. But
if you could take something out of my bag that easily, you could have taken my
book.”

The dark god paced thoughtfully. “I could have, yes.
Did you ever figure out the map on the back?” he asked.

“No, I haven’t had time to figure it out. It wasn’t
on the back of the card when you showed it to me as a kid.”

“It was new then. Your father hadn’t gotten it until
after I showed it to you.”

“You said something about the dark. You said that
something was in the dark. Everyone has been saying that lately. What did you
mean? The shadow monster from Skrev?”

The god shrugged. “Can’t say I know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? You said it,” Dylan
said, glowering.

He seemed to be forgetting that he was talking to an
all-powerful god, but until the god in question realized it, I just hoped
Vretial was as forgiving as everyone said he wasn’t.

Vretial stopped, holding up a finger as if to tell
Dylan to wait. “Not yet, I haven’t.” He approached Dylan, but my friend didn’t
step back and I didn’t feel the need to intercept him.

For the moment, Vretial was only interested in
talking.

He stopped just an arm’s length away from Dylan. “You
said I visited you when you were a child. I haven’t yet. Unlike my siblings, my
superior memory leaves my personal foretelling skills lacking. I can read the
timelines of others easily enough, but my own future is sketchy. At least I
have a future, though. That’s nice. I love having a future.”

“So you’re holding a card that you haven’t created
yet?” Dylan asked, gazing up at the sky.

“What are you looking for?” Vretial asked with
genuine curiosity.

“Human-sized bat creatures, bleeding skies, maybe
some burning wolves falling… you know; anything to suggest a paradox. The signs
usually come from the sky.”

“If it would make you feel better, I could arrange
for that. Are you going to introduce me to your dragon here?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. This is Mordon, my brother. His
dragon is Rojan. So if time is a bit bent up right now and you haven’t met me
as a kid yet…” he paused. “When was the last time you actually saw me from your
perspective.”

The god smiled. “I last saw you when you and your
mate destroyed me.”

“We failed, though.”

“No, you didn’t. I assure you that you successfully
destroyed me. As a result, the universe took the hit and nearly shook apart.
I’m sorry to say, this time it is my fault.”

“What is?” Dylan asked.

Vretial waved his hand around to indicate our
surroundings. “Everything that is coming.”

“What if Tiamat and I destroy you again? Would that
stop it?” Dylan asked.

The god shook his head sadly. In light of Vretial’s
easy-going behavior, I couldn’t blame Dylan for not figuring out what was wrong
with the god. I mean, he couldn’t smell it. “Dylan,” I said, hoping the god
wouldn’t interrupt. He glanced at me, careful not to turn his back on Vretial.
“Vretial doesn’t smell malicious. He doesn’t even smell psychotic. What I do
smell is… It’s hard to explain, but life. He’s alive, Dylan. I can hear his
heartbeat and breath. He blinks. He smells alive. He smells like Divina.”

Dylan scowled at the god as if he would deny it. “You
said we destroyed you.”

“You did. You also freed me from a bit of a parasite.
I was the one who taught my brothers how to create life. Why shouldn’t I have a
go at it?”

“Why did you go to Sammy when he was a baby? Why are
you going after my son now?” he asked.

The god smirked. “Now, Dylan, I had gathered that you
were intelligent. Can you really not figure it out? Besides, I think you have a
more important question to ask,” Vretial said. Dylan hesitated, not sure if it
was the time to push or not.

“Are you the one who’s attacking the Guardians?” I
asked for him.

“No. I am afraid you have an enemy worse than me. In
this case, we share the same nemesis.”

“The griffins?” Dylan asked.

“They are not your enemy.”

“Why did you call us here?” he pressed. The god
raised his eyebrow. “I love getting straight answers and I seem to be on a
roll,” Dylan said.

“I called you here to make sure you wouldn’t stand in
my way again. It occurred to me that if my siblings told you to stop me, you
would obey them. I wanted to see for myself what kind of man you are, since I
didn’t really get chance before.”

“So you didn’t bring me here to kill me?”

The god scoffed. “If I killed everyone who defied me
or tried to destroy me, I would be knee-deep in bodies. It would be
counterproductive to kill you, because you are still of use to me.”

“With the gates?”

“Yes.” He held the card for Dylan to take. When Dylan
took it, the god held up his other hand with the actual fruit. I needed to
watch his hands more closely. “Did Tiamat ever tell you that apples were not
her idea?” he asked.

Before Dylan could answer, the space filled with
bright light. When reality returned, we were standing on the deck of a large
wooden ship in the middle of the sea. It was daylight and there were a few men
standing around us, gaping. The gravity was heavier than Duran’s, but only
slightly so.

“Where are we?” I asked, inhaling the air. I didn’t
recognize it by smell.

Dylan stuck his tongue out to taste the air. “Kahún,”
he answered.

“You can’t really taste what world we’re on, can
you?” I asked.

He smirked and one man emerged from the crowd. While
unimpressive in appearance, with young age and forgettable, average features,
his aura was unmistakable.

Wizards come in all levels of magic and are easy to
spot. Most people of Duran actively practice magic, and the few who don’t, have
at one time or will in their future. People who rarely used it, and even those
who were just unsuccessful with it, were not considered wizards by the rest of
the population. Edward explained to me the title actually described a genetic
disposition that descendants of Guardians had in the art. He then tracked my
family history to find that I was a direct, though distant, descendant of him.

While the line between wizard and meager practitioner
was vague and insignificant to me, there was a huge distinction between even
the most powerful wizard and a Guardian. It wasn’t the age gap, since Dylan was
younger than most the wizards I knew. It wasn’t even the instinct that the
Guardians had to protect. Something about every one of them suggested they were
more than people.

Having met many of the Guardians, I recognized this
man for what he was. Without hesitating, Dylan reached for me, sharing his
energy to give me the ability to understand other languages. It was a habit he
developed immediately after learning the power himself. After all, I was his
adviser as far as anyone else was concerned, so I had to know what people were
saying.

“Welcome to Kahún, Dylan,” the man said, holding out
his hand. Dylan glanced at me before shaking his hand.

“He smells friendly enough, but I thought all of
the Guardians are older than dirt,”
I said.

“As far as I know, all of the gods took a Guardian
between fifteen hundred and two thousand years ago, soon after Vretial took
Avoli’s world.”

“It’s difficult to tell because he is immortal and
extremely powerful, but this man is no more than three hundred.”

 “Nice to meet you, Rasik. I have heard a lot about
you.”

“Not from Ghidorah, I hope. Unfortunately, I am a
little behind on the gossip. I heard Ronez was killed and you destroyed
Vretial, then became the new Guardian. Kiro mentioned you the last time I saw
him. In fact, he made quite the deal about you.”

“Yeah, he’s proud of me.” And Dylan couldn’t have
been happier about it. Since he spent his entire life being rejected by the
people that were supposed to love him, Edward’s love and approval meant a lot
to him. “Actually, it was Tiamat who destroyed Vretial. I just helped a little…
as a distraction and… then a siphon. So, how did you become a Guardian?” Rasik
blinked at him. “What caused you to be become a Guardian so recently?”