God of the Abyss (19 page)

My friend is so tactful.

“How did you know that?” he asked, startled. “I was
born a Guardian, I just wasn’t the original Guardian of Kahún. I am, in fact,
the third. Azenoth was unsatisfied with my predecessors.”

“Are you the only Guardian… that is like you? I mean,
I know plenty about Kiro and my father, but other than Nano, I have barely met
the rest. Seven years as a Guardian and this is the first time we’re meeting.”

“It is understandable. We usually go many years between
seeing each other. Most of us actually know little about the gods. The last
contact I had with anyone was Shiloh talking about a council a few months ago.
Before that, it was Kiro helping me get my book back. Nano checks in on me
every few years, mostly to make sure Azenoth has not killed me.”

“Shiloh is trying to change that with his council. He
wants everyone to be in contact in case the gods suspect us of something. He is
under the impression the Guardians need to stick together,” Dylan said, watching
for Rasik’s response carefully.

Rasik frowned. “Does Ghidorah know? Oh, does Emrys
know that Shiloh wants him and Samorde to work together? I know that the others
see me as young, but I am not. I tried to learn from them when my future was
first decided. Maybe that is why I am a child in their eyes, but they are all
different and not one of them would ever turn to each other for help. I know I
can go to Kiro or Nano for support, but we are not a team. To call anyone for
assistance, I might as well ask them to take over for me.”

“So you disagree with Shiloh? He thinks all of us can
work together.”

“No, he
wants
all of us to work together. I
doubt he believes it could happen. He even told me that it would only work if
he could find the right person to lead it.”

Normally at this point, I would smell some sort of
manipulation. I shook my head when Dylan looked at me.
“He has no hidden
meaning. Shiloh probably never told him that he wanted you to lead the
council,”
I told him. “Who is the right person?” I asked aloud.

“Someone who could get all of us to work together. Or
maybe just someone who could keep Emrys from killing Samorde.”

“Emrys is a decent guy unless Samorde is in the same
room. What happened between them?” Dylan asked.

“It is really not polite for me to say. Samorde will
explain it to you if you asked.”

“I’ll do that. Anyway, we came here to ask you to
come with us back to Duran. Vretial is back and something is attacking
Guardians.”

“You mean, ‘Vretial is back
and
attacking
Guardians,’ yes?”

“No, I think the two events are a little more
complicated than that. I think something else is attacking Guardians.”

“Why do you think the dark god is back?”

“We saw him,” I said.

Rasik’s eyes widened and he swallowed nervously. He
had read the same stories that everyone else had. “Then you are lucky to be
alive. Why do you think he is not the one attacking the Guardians?”

“Vretial said so,” Dylan said with a little wince.

Rasik opened his mouth to speak, then shut it on his
words. After a moment of thought, he opened his mouth again. “And how do you
know the Guardians are being attacked?”

“Well, the gods wanted me to investigate them for
treason because of a lapse in communication and because several of us have gone
missing. Kiro was attacked, Shiloh was attacked, and then me. Nano was missing,
now he’s back and Emrys is missing.”

“The gods? More than your own god spoke with you?”

“Can we get to Duran and fill you in there? Your
shipmates are staring and Rojan doesn’t like it. Better yet, we can drop you off
and Kiro can explain it. I would prefer to spend as little time as possible
with Ghidorah.”

Rasik nodded. “I can understand that; Ghidorah’s
miserable attitude is contagious. However, I can travel to Duran without
assistance.”

“Actually, it would be better if you didn’t. If this
thing is attacking Guardians specifically, we probably shouldn’t do anything
related strictly to being a Guardian. Flashing you there would be better.”

His jaw dropped in shock, but the space was filled
with bright white light. It was a testament to how powerful my friend had
become that he could simultaneously flash Rasik to Duran and us to another
world.

We landed in the middle of a creek. I glared at Dylan
before I recognized the particular creek we were in. “Sorry,” Dylan said,
wading through the water. “It’s difficult to concentrate on two places and two
people besides myself at the same time, and this creek was a stronger memory. I
just figured one jump would be safer than two.”

Once out of the water, I shivered, letting my fire
rise to the surface. “Don’t worry about it. At least we’re not being eaten by a
fish-person.” My fire was warm as it covered my body, not hot enough to burn,
but it mostly dried out my clothes. I grabbed Dylan’s arm to let my fire dry
his as well. Just because I was more sensitive to the cold, didn’t mean my
friend wouldn’t get sick from wet clothes in winter.

I hesitated. While it was summer on Duran, the smell
of dead leaves and the sharp bite of dry, cold air told me it was certainly
winter on Malta. That struck me as odd. “What damage could the gates being
opened cause? The ripples from Vretial’s death caused things to get mixed up in
time and space. Why are the gods so afraid of the gates being opened?”

“Other than the demons getting out and Earth becoming
a dead wasteland, I have no idea. We can’t ignore the dream. I have no idea if
Guardian dreams are accurate, but they are definitely important.”

“But Earth being obliterated… it could have just been
a normal nightmare. You didn’t have a problem breathing like you did when
Vretial was after your book.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Seeing my world while floating
randomly in space seems weird, but damn, that’s not something we can take a
chance on. And Vretial acted like something was coming. He also said it was his
fault. Was he referring to the gates opening?” he asked. I sat down on a log
and he sat beside me.

“We’re not stuck. We can figure anything out,” I
said. Well, Dylan could, but I helped.

“There’s too much information coming in, and we don’t
know what’s connected. I want to piece every event together, but it doesn’t
fit. I think we’re working on more than one puzzle.”

“But that’s what you do; connect patterns.”

“Is that it? Hardly something to put on the resume.
We keep learning new things, but it’s mostly about the Guardians. How well the
Guardians get along should be far down the list of priorities, but it keeps
popping back up. So what is attacking us? Is it alive, or a thing? Who or what
is our enemy?”

“If it’s a thing, it’s probably being controlled by
someone, because it’s specifically going after a group of people.”

“Maybe we are actually dealing with a traitor. Maybe
it’s somebody’s magic. It feels wrong, though, like I’m saying something that
doesn’t make any sense.”

“Most of the time you don’t make any sense,” I said.
He punched me in the arm, but was thinking too hard to put any force behind it.
He acted like I was so much stronger because I was full-blooded sago and had
dragon blood, but Guardians were stronger than average people. Really, he just
subconsciously kept his strength in check. “Don’t worry about it; you’ll
suddenly realize something devastatingly life-changing when we get attacked.
Why are we here?”

“I chose Malta so that I could half-heartedly pretend
to look for Emrys while really trying to get my head straight. There are too
many people at home that aren’t family and that makes me feel anxious.”

“In other words, you can’t think with people putting
thoughts in your head. You know if you go home that a bunch of strangers who
are ancient and supposed to know everything will be telling you Vretial is a
monster and giving you all their ideas and opinions.”

He stared at the ground for a few minutes before
looking at me. “Vretial is back,” he said, no despair of any kind in his tone.

I opened my mouth to respond and was interrupted by a
slight crack in the pressure of the air around us. A man appeared in front of
us, which was happening far too often recently. Of course, it was rare to meet
a man with silver-red hair and eyes that were gray and gold.

“Rilryn. You escaped that place?”

Before I could even scent him, he attacked. He had a
sword in hand and took a swing at Dylan, completely ignoring me. Thankfully, he
missed my friend. I inhaled as I drew my fire. Instantly I smelled wet dust and
agitated nominal energy and knew he was a Guardian. Like with all other
Guardians and powerful wizards, the energy around him gravitated towards him,
eager to be used. There were too many Guardians.

I shot a ball of fire at him, hot enough to burn a
person, but not nearly as hot as I could have made it. My fire caught his
clothes and burned through before I could pull it back, since extinguishing
fire was ten times more difficult than setting something on fire. However, my
strike was only meant as a warning shot and I didn’t want to kill the Guardian.
Not yet anyway.

“Explain yourself,” I demanded in Sudo. I really
didn’t care if he didn’t speak the language. If he didn’t immediately surrender
his attack on Dylan, he would get to see what an angry dragon could do.

He looked around me as if calculating the quickest
way past the obstacle he faced. I was about to send out another shot when Dylan
put his hand on my arm. “He didn’t fight back. He didn’t even react to your
fire as his clothes burned.”

“I don’t care if he’s suicidal, I’ll burn him to ash
if he moves another muscle.” And then he did. He tried to dive around me to
strike Dylan, not even bothering to protect himself. As he struck, he left his
chest wide open. Instantly my claws were shifted and tearing through his skin
and muscle, which held as strong as wet paper to my claws. It was at the same
time that my eyes shifted.

Everyone had an aura, even Ronez, even the gods, even
the animals… except for this Guardian. Instead, there was an ominous absence.
Another quick sniff confirmed it. Forcing my claws to retract, I turned to push
Dylan further away from the man.

Dylan’s scratched arm angered me, but I gained us a
moment by the amount of damage the older Guardian had taken. He took another step
towards Dylan, still with the sword, and fell to his knees. Dylan had a slight
cut; his attacker was spilling his precious blood across the grass for his
error. The reasonable side of me, (the son of a king) felt regret for attacking
a man who was clearly under duress. The more primal side of me, (the dragon)
felt pride for defending my clutch.

Dragons had four categories for any person or animal:
family, friend, foe, and food. Dylan was my family and friend, and anyone who
attacked him was foe and food. My friend was the one who came up with the plans
to save the day and had the infinite magic to back them up, but I was a dragon;
I would protect what was mine even if he didn’t need protection.

Dylan raised his hand, indicating he was fixing to
strike with some form of magic, and I pushed it down gently. He looked at me
with confusion. “Something’s wrong with him. He’s–” My words were drowned by
a too-familiar screech. “Those griffins are getting to be a real pest.”

I had to take back my unfair words when the griffin
appeared only to go after Rilryn. The Guardian was still on his knees,
completely unprepared to be attacked from behind. Landing behind him, the
creature reared up and sunk his talons into the man’s flesh. Bright, empty,
wicked light burst from the Guardian and I instinctively shoved Dylan away from
it. I knew the torture of the abyss and would recognize its malevolence
anywhere; that was void light.

When the light died, it was quiet. The griffin was
gone again and the Guardian was unconscious on the ground, bleeding out. Dylan
moved to help him, but I held my friend back. I let my eyes shift and saw his
soul this time. I could smell little over the heavy scent of his blood, but I
could see him. He was old, nearly as old as Edward, but still young. He was
wise, though a little reckless. There was a deep past behind him and possibly a
monumental future ahead of him, and there was little for him to regret.
Overall, he was a good person who made a few mistakes.

I let Dylan go and nodded. Dylan didn’t hesitate to
go to his side and start healing, despite the fact that the stranger had
attacked us. Deep gashes stitched together in a matter of minutes and Dylan had
to hold what was left of the torn shirt away from the wounds to keep the burnt
cloth from getting wedged in the lacerations.

Rilryn woke with a hard gasp and clutched his chest
in shock. Still breathing hard after a few moments, he looked at Dylan. “What
happened?”

I opened my mouth to scathe, but Dylan held up his
hand. Although I knew that he meant no offense, it was extremely annoying. My
friend got diplomacy stuck in his head sometimes and expected me to predict his
every thought and never take offense.

“What do you remember?” Dylan asked.

“I was in the forest. You healed me and left and I…
lost track of time. It got dark too soon. It was cold and dark. Then I woke up
and…” He looked down at his mostly-healed wounds and the sword lying to his
side. “Have I been in a fight?”

I smelled no lie or deceit, just confusion and a
little bit of fear.
“Truth.”

“Is he safe to take back to Duran?”

There was something controlling him, but it is
gone now,
Rojan said.
Whether or not it will come back I cannot say.

I nodded. If nothing else, maybe we could shed some
light on the situation. “Do you know anyone who might want Dylan dead? Who
might try to use you to do it?” I asked.