Keepers: Blood of The Fallen (4 page)

“It’s not a good idea to bother him when he goes out for space. I’ll tell him later,” I said. I knew Mo wouldn’t want to be bothered.

“If you insist. You are about to become an instrumental piece in an army. All three of you. You have been living here for seven years by no coincidence. The bond that you sealed as you defeated the puppet was the beginning of what was truly your bond. You have been living together because fate has brought you all together. There is no way around fate.”

“Ok stop. Army?” Asia was still stuck on that word.

“Yes. An army. The Order of the Keeper is the highest, how do you say…they are the highest branches of government in the nation of Keepers. They live in the Seventh Realm, an unseen universe that was created by Brice, the second Keeper to ever exist. He believed that the ruling party of Keepers should be in a hidden place, to stay out of harm’s way. However, recently, the realm was pierced by an unknown source of power and a Navarium entered. He…destroyed the former Ruling Keeper of the planetary system Humolera.”

“Wait, what was that? You hit us with something about another dimension and another planetary system that apparently has life. Where is Humolera and how was the Keeper of Humolera destroyed? Navariums can’t kill us, right?”

“That is where things get a bit rocky. Navariums cannot kill Keepers. Navariums are capable of ripping pieces of a Keeper’s soul from their body. That usually leaves the Keeper with nothing to attack with, which means that Keeper is useless. Keepers are the only ones capable of killing Keepers.”

“So-”

“Yes. We believe that someone far worse than a Keeper is who attacked the order. We fear that the entire Keeper system has been tainted.”

“Meaning?”

“We have reason to believe that almost every Keeper has either been reaped, or their Guardian has been compromised. That is why I am here. You are the only ones we know for sure are still on our side.”

I couldn’t respond. I just turned and walked over to the window.

3

I knew Santana was thinking about what she was going to tell Mo. I had no idea how to handle the situation, but I wasn’t going to let her tell him alone. We all had become so close over the years, and we had gotten to a point where we could talk about anything. Only how do you tell your best friend that his mother is dead, powerless, or close to it? How do you tell him that his dad is the reason his mom will die? Those are things that are unimaginable to think, let alone tell someone.

As Quazo knelt down next to Cilandria, he was staring at Santana, like he was waiting for an answer. I think he even knew that there was something she had to tell Mo. She was standing in the window staring at him, as he stared down the hill towards the woods. I was the only one who didn’t seem frozen in the moment. Even Cilandria sat there with a look suggesting confusion. I picked up my glass of water from the side table and took a sip. I had never felt so dry in my life. I was nervous. I felt like there was something that had to happen, and I had to do it.

I looked at Quazo first and put a finger over my lips, telling him to keep quiet. I walked up to Santana at the window and told her to stay there. Then, I went outside.

II

1

Staring at the huge beasts at the bottom of the hill was getting tiring, and I decided to go back inside the house to ask the old raggedy man why they were here. Just as I turned to walk back inside, Asia came out of the door. I also noticed Santana standing in the window, looking in my direction. I automatically assumed the worst. I knew the old man had done something, and I was prepared to mess him up.

“Mo, I have to talk to you,” Asia said as she approached me.

“I swear, if that old bastard touched Cilantra, I’ll rip his head off. What is it about?”

“You should come to the bench so we can sit and talk.”

“I don’t want to sit, if he needs to be beaten, I’m going to go beat him.”

“It’s not him. Calm down. Let’s just go talk.”

“Ok, but first, look at this.”

I showed her the bigelsnipe looking creatures. She gasped and grabbed me around my waist. I grabbed her around her shoulders and told her that they were not going to move. It seemed like they were being held back from our yard by something, and they seemed exhausted. She stood up straighter and took her head off of my chest, but she never took her arm from my waist, so I kept my arm around her. After her breathing calmed, she told me to walk over to the bench with her so we could talk.

The bench was in the garden so I was surprised she wanted to sit there. She had become pretty anal about us stepping in the garden unnecessarily. She always preached to us about growing our own food, because she felt like something bad was coming. My mom kind of spooked her, I guessed. We walked over a half an acre to the garden, with our arms around one another, and sat down. She was still not letting me go, so I didn’t let her go. I didn’t want her to feel afraid, and I didn’t know she would react like that. I guessed it was a part of the bond she shared with Cilandria.

After she took a couple of deep breaths, she finally opened up about why we needed to talk.

“Quazo,”

“What?”

“Oh, the old man’s name is Quazo.”

“Sounds about right,” I said, as I shook my head and chuckled.

“He’s basically a servant for the highest order of Keepers. Almost a slave I guess, but he seems to enjoy it. Anyway, he says that there is a war coming. To make a long story short: almost all of the Keepers on Earth have had parts of their soul reaped or are in danger of it. There is also the possibility of death.”

“Yeah, there’s always the possibility of death, right?”

“Not exactly.” I felt her arm get tighter around my waist as she laid her head on my shoulder. “Not exactly. The Navariums can’t kill Keepers. Only Keepers can kill Keepers.”

“Then, how is death
a possibility
?”

“There is a Keeper, or worse, that is attacking the entire Keeper system. Quazo said that they suspect that the way it’s happening is through the Guardians being compromised.”

“So… The Keepers can tell right?”

“Your dad has always been compromised. You’re the result of that. Your mom doesn’t know, so if her soul has been reaped at all, she is unaware of it.”

I stared at a bare tomato plant and thought about how to handle the situation. I knew I was going to have to be careful. I knew my dad was losing the fight with the Navarium inside. I imagined that he didn’t have much time left before he gave up. I knew he had already reaped my mother. I could feel it. I had to be careful because I didn’t know if my dad was completely gone. I didn’t want to do anything that I would regret. I loved my dad, but I knew for seven years that he was compromised. It was hard to say I loved him more than I loved my mom, because I knew he was something evil. I even had thoughts about who cut the umbilical cord when I was born. Was it my dad, or was it that demon inside of him?

I snapped out of my trance when Asia kissed me on the cheek. I looked at her, and I could see that she was really there for me. I then started to wonder why Santana didn’t tell me. I had known her since we were little. We weren’t always the best of friends, but we knew each other well before Asia showed up. We locked eyes probably for a minute or two. She smiled and said, “I’m here for you. Whatever you want to do, I’ll support your decision and back you up. Santana will as well.”

“Thank you, but you don’t have to speak for Santana. She could have come out here with you. I really do appreciate you telling me.”

“She wanted to tell you, she just didn’t know how.”

“Well, whatever. The reason doesn’t matter. I’m glad that you’re here for me.”

We were still locked on to each other’s eyes. That was the closest I ever felt to Asia, and I think it’s safe to assume that it was the same for her. We had never had an intimate moment like that, and that’s why it just kind of happened. It didn’t seem like there was anything else that could happen. I kissed her on the cheek, and then she put her hand on my cheek and pushed my lips into hers. The embrace felt right. It felt like it was something that should have happened a long time, before that day. The moment presented itself on a silver platter. The sun was right up above us, but it was partly cloudy so it wasn’t hot at all. The smell of fresh fruit from the apple and peach trees was in the wind. The birds were chirping. We were both vulnerable, but she was vulnerable because I was. That told me that she was really there for me. I started to get deep feelings for Asia about two years after the Lenox ordeal. I never knew she was interested in me, though. I had always felt friendzoned.

I never wanted to leave that moment in time, but we had work to do, so the beautiful moment was short lived. I stood up and took her by the hand. I noticed that she had tears in her eyes, and I wiped them from her face. Then we shared another quick kiss, before we started walking towards the house, hand in hand. When we got to the door, Quazo was leaving. He was just…leaving. Tana wasn’t even in the living room anymore. Cilantra was also nowhere to be found.

I walked up behind him and startled him. He turned, with his eyes wide, and told us to take care of Cilantra. Taking care of her wouldn’t be a problem; heck, I was even surprised that Asia came outside without her. He also said he would see us again soon. That was interesting. When we got inside, I walked to the back of the house to find Tana. She was in her room, lying across her bed and staring at the ceiling. Cilantra was standing on the windowsill. Tana rose up to a seated position and cracked a nervous sympathetic smile at me.

I smiled and told her Asia told me. I then told her that I was ok. “I actually have decided on what I’m going to do, and no, it doesn’t involve us going to Oklahoma. I’m not going to do anything. Just like I’ve been doing for the past seven years. If my mom has been reaped, that’s on her. Before you judge me, I don’t mean I don’t care about her, because I do. I’m just saying I can’t do anything for her. I can’t do anything but call and see if she’s ok. I’m very sure she’s stronger than I am. If she can’t handle it herself, I know I can’t help her.”

“I understand that. Going there would only put you in a position to do something that you would regret. You would either kill your dad or let him kill your mom. You would lose a parent,” Asia said, backing me up.

“Exactly. All I can do is hope that they’re both fine. I can pray that they’re safe, but my dad has been compromised for nearly thirty years at least. I don’t think there is much hope. I can’t kill him though. I can’t kill him, but I can’t let him kill my mom. I’m helpless in their situation.”

“I don’t see anything you can do either. We can call them, though, and tell your mom what’s going on. Then whatever happens is on them,” Tana said to me.

“We could, but what if she jumps the gun? I’ll call, but only to see how she’s doing. We don’t need her doing something crazy.”

After that conversation, Asia walked over to Cilantra, and in doing so, she had to let go of my hand. That’s when Tana noticed we were holding hands, in the first place. She looked at me confusedly. I looked back at her and smiled. Only, she didn’t smile back. She just laid back down on the bed and continued staring at the ceiling. I guess you could’ve called me a fool if I didn’t notice what that was. However, I was no fool, and I knew exactly what it was. Santana did not like what she saw. I couldn’t blame her, because we had known each other for so long, but I honestly didn’t see how we could every muster a relationship. She made sure to keep that from happening.

Don’t get me wrong: I adored her. I loved everything about her, and I knew she cared about me. She didn’t love me though. Given that we had been living together under one roof for seven years, there was plenty of time for her to act on anything she could have been feeling. There was no reason for her to be jealous, other than the fact that I never told her how I felt about Asia. I was sure Asia never told her how she felt either. Still, Santana never told me how she felt, nor did she show it, so I guess I could kind of blame her, actually.

At the moment, I shrugged it off, because I knew the time to talk about it would eventually show up. At that moment I just wanted to know what the old raggedy guy said to her while I stood outside. I asked, but instead of Santana just coming out and answering me, she gave off a loud huff, and then Asia told me what she knew. Who would have thought that I wasn’t really a video game character? I was naïve to some of the things, but I always had a feeling that there were no such things as “moves,” in the game we were playing.

I had to admit to them that I thought the leader of the Keepers would be God, and I really believed that we were some sort of Angel-hybrid. I had no idea that there would be different dimensions and all of that. Zeus being a Keeper? That was crazy! I didn’t even think Zeus really existed. I guess I was a little shell-shocked for a bit, because Asia finished talking, and I was still staring at her, not really aware that she stopped. It was a lot to take in.

Santana finally sat up after Asia stopped talking, and said, “There’s one more thing.” She stood up off of the bed and walked over to the door. She looked back at us and told us to follow her into the kitchen. We sat at the table, and she looked me in the eyes.

“There’s no easy way to say this. I don’t want you to flip out on me,” she said in a serious tone.

“I’m not going to flip out,” I said with a smile.

“You might. You are so much more than a Keeper, Guardian, and Navarium. You have the weight of the world on your shoulders, and you don’t even know it. A war has been going on for years now. Seven, to be exact; it isn’t coming… It’s here.”

“What?” I could feel Asia’s hand grip my thigh. I knew something wasn’t right, and I knew I wasn’t going to like what was coming next.

“Yeah. You’re our leader. You’re the only one who can give us the ability to fight. We have to call your Navarium spirit forth. It’ll consume you, but you will be able to come back. Only Keepers can kill Keepers…and you…you’re the only one of us strong enough to kill the Keeper that’s been killing other Keepers. I can feel it.”

“Woah. Wait. No. I can’t! I can’t do that! That’s crazy. What about you two?! You could get…”

2

I watched Mo as he stood up from the table, his knees seemed wobbly. His hand was clutching the side of his neck. I knew what he was thinking. He didn’t know if he could come back after he gave in. I couldn’t tell him that there was a chance he could be lost forever. I turned and looked at Asia. She was staring at him, like a cat caught on the kitchen counter, like she knew he wouldn’t be able to return. Some lover she was, I thought. I knew nothing was going to be the same after that conversation. I didn’t care though. I was the only one who knew what needed to be done, and I was willing to get it done by any means necessary.

“Mo, we have to do this. Well…
you
have to do this. It’s the only way we can win. The person waging war on the highest order of Keepers is either a Keeper or a Kavar! You’re the only one that can compete with a Kavar, and we cannot let him continue or millions of innocent people will either die or become slaves. You have the power to do what is necessary. You are the only one. We need you. The uncontrollably blood-thirsty you.”

1

After I heard Santana’s plea for what I couldn’t do, I left the house. I couldn’t be there. I looked over the hill and didn’t see the beasts that once lay there, so I walked down the hill and into the woods. I didn’t care if there was anything waiting for me beyond the trees. That didn’t really matter. I walked out through the trees in the darkness of the night. The only thing lighting my path, somewhat, was the moon.

Every once in a while I would hear a fox or opossum in the near distance, but I didn’t care. Nothing that those woods produced had ever hurt me before. I kept walking, but I had no idea where I was going. Moving branches out of the way seemed to be relieving stress. I was breaking them off and tossing them to the side. I walked with a pretty fast pace, through the woods, until I came to a clearing. I had never been back in that part of the woods before, so it was new to me.

The clearing seemed to be a very peaceful place—one that I could see myself escaping to more often in the future—at the time. I didn’t really know whose land I was standing on, but I was sure no one would find me out there in the middle of the night. I had no intention of making any scenes, and I was pretty sure that I had more than enough space in between myself and any houses if I did. Then, I heard a rustling in the trees behind me.