Legacy of the Defender (The Defender Series Book 1) (53 page)

The flurry of my strikes did.

“So that was a bit of hero worship by that point, I imagine,” Jason added.  “After all, you got to watch so many battles of him defending the Earth and now you got to meet him.  I feel so stupid for going after him thinking I could kill him.  I wish I had known.”

“You did not kill him, Jason.  The daemons did.  That was an ambush set for him and their planning paid out.  You or I involved just added variables that a very formidable enemy needed to compensate for.  The fact that you saw them so many years ago, hiding in the forest, tells me this has been in preparation for a while.  Since they needed to get the smaller daemon here to sacrifice, that took some planning.  They built up a force here so slowly that the Sasquatch did not detect anything.  That worries me.  It also means when portals did open, those things slipped through.  I doubt they are indigenous to Earth.”

“I shot him.  Had I not messed things up, he might still be alive,” said Jason.

“How do you know you did not tip the balance of that engagement?  Maybe your presence put him on greater alert.  Maybe he would not have lasted that long and more would have come through the portal had you not started shooting.  Did you not chase him for miles?”  I asked.

“Yes, I did…through several properties, in fact, along the lake.”  He had that guilty look in his eyes so I went defensive and let him keep swinging for a few moments until he slowed and stopped.  Several quick breaths followed while he stared at me.

“Everything happens for a reason, Jason.  It may not be as it should, but there is a purpose for everything.  Sadly, not all of them are good.  He found peace after several thousand years of fighting.  He has earned his rest.”

“He is dead.  How is that peaceful?”  Jason asked.

“Celuine told me last night when I asked what had happened to his spirit.  Heaven is his reward; to live in peace and tranquility.”

“What was Heaven like?” he asked. 

I smiled at the question, for my presence in the afterlife was a dichotomy of truths.  My faith in God was there all my life, but my belief was not hardcore.  As a sinner, I have walked the streets of Heaven.  But sin is not in Heaven; those existing there have free will and no desire to be sinful.  I searched for a way to describe it but decided to simplify it.

“It was like everyone was happy.  I do not want to use a term like a
higher level of consciousness
but when the city fell under attack, there was no fear.  The souls did not show fear.  There were no negative emotions.  They enjoyed their life and did not worry about what was going on.  I heard them ask questions and they showed concern, but faith was absolute.  They knew God would protect them.”

Jason smiled.  “It would be nice to have that kind of guarantee that everything will be all right.”

I nodded and resumed the workout.

A series of different combinations was on my starting lesson plan today.  He already knew the eight angles of attack.  Since he favored one weapon, he used strikes with offhand grappling techniques.  His style worked for him.  I quickly executed a series of strikes so he could see what it looked like at full speed then slowed it down.  He followed the mechanics, including the foot work. 

It was rather warm.  My shirt was on the porch.  Several times he stared at the runes moving on my skin.  They could be a little hypnotic.  When I first got them, I spent many days staring at them...it was easy to get lost.  I tapped him upside the head to bring him back to reality.  It smarted a little and he rubbed his ear furiously.

"Hey, what was that for?" he griped

"You asked for this, so pay attention."

"I am, it’s just, and I don't know...something on your skin looks funny."

"What?  Where are you looking?"  I responded with curiosity.  He pointed to the runic pathways that allow me to use my whole body for gathering energy when I teleport.  One of them looked damaged.  That area bore so many wounds from previous battles; it was hard to remember which one did the most damage.  The daemon prince had an arsenal of weapons he brought to bear on me.  He hit me multiple times with most of them.  My shield took the hardest beating ever that day.

That had me thinking, especially since when I healed, the runes were floating magic on or under my skin.  It was hard to imagine anything could damage one of them.  Perhaps a magical assault targeting the rune could cause an issue.  I did notice that the muscle was tender in that spot.  I did feel things catch a little at times, which certainly had never happened before.  For some reason, the area felt a little weird when he mentioned it.  Eryn would look at it when she returned from work.

We continued to train.  Hours flew by.  Jason impressed me.  In mere hours, he excelled from where he was.

A car approached.  I dismissed my swords and waited behind where the gate would open.  The fence was tall enough to hide me from the outside.  No neighbors were close, but the fence was a good privacy screen.  Moving toward the side of the house where the shade was, I waited in the darker area until I heard a familiar voice.  The gate opened and Eryn stepped in.  The smile on her face was a wonderful sight to me even though she had only been gone for five or so hours. 

“I thought you were at work,” I greeted her with a surprise hug.

“I called in.  There were more important things to for us to do.”  Celuine came through the gate in her Sergeant form, carrying shopping bags.  I looked rather puzzled.

"Are you shopping for Eryn?"

Her smile told me it was for herself.  I tried to figure out why she wore such bad suits as cover for her role.  She laughed and walked inside.  I kissed Eryn and was about to inquire when she silenced me with a finger and mouthed the words "thirty minutes" before she entered the house.  I nodded and turned back to face Jason again.

"So what's going on?" he said as curious as I was.  I knew that he had a fixation with her, but he was just as in awe of her as I still was.  In the last few days, Celuine spoke several times about her roll and she looked forward to acting as a liaison to Heaven.  I could not speak directly to Father yet, but she could.  She reported to him on my behalf.  His responses were not very long.  But she advised me he was looking forward to seeing us soon when his duty allowed.

“I do not think this has anything to do with work.” 

“That is too bad.  I am itching to deprive more of these things of their lives.”

“In time you will, I imagine.  Resume,” I said, calling my swords and waded in.

We returned to sparring.  My shoulder suddenly hurt.  This was strange to feel pain when there was nothing wrong with me.  Jason withdrew still swinging his blade.

“What’s wrong?  Is your shoulder still bothering you?”

“It is.  I need to gather my thoughts.”

The shade called to me.  My thoughts raced more than usual.  Even with my memories back, my mind still wrestled, compartmentalizing all the new memories into my original body.  Meditation helped.  I sat in the shade and tried to place myself into a trance.  Time passed.  Something felt wrong though and all my attempts to self-diagnose my condition seemed to fail.  My healing helped a little, but it felt like something tore into me every time I moved.  The energy pulsed over me and stopped at the damaged rune before moving farther along. 

I stirred out of my mediation when Jason sat himself down next to me and took a drink from his water bottle.  He wiped his brow.

"I can’t get over how big you are.  It’s as if you are not even the same person.  If only your mom could see you now.  She would be shocked.  I do not think even the truth would matter and there is no way she could handle this," he trailed off for a second, and if I did not know better, I could have sworn he choked on his words.  Silence crept in.  Moments passed. 

I continued to rub my shoulder and let the healing flow.

"You know I looked into your parents’ death.  It was very odd the way the car crashed.  I have a fee..."  I held up my hand.  He looked at me, wondering why I cut him off.  The truth was I already knew that they had to die for me to be ready.  It was probably some sort of no attachment policy, or it was merely supposed to happen.  Maybe the Coven did it.  Perhaps it was God’s will.  I never bought the idea that it was his will cause pain.  A final reason came to mind.  It might have been someone’s desire to trigger the change in order to help my body catch up with my mind.

He tried to speak again.  “Dieter, I’m sorry…  I didn’t mea…”

"Do not," I said and looked at him.  He stared at me like at the hospital when he saw my rage first hand.  I could still smell fear rolling off him, but it was healthy fear.  There was no panic.  I got a similar feeling from daemon blood.  I did not get off on blood but just liked obliterating daemons and the threat they posed.  That much was just part of who I was and yes, I did love to fight my enemies.

"Okay Deitz, it was just a thought that we had not had a chance to discuss.  I won't bring it up again.  I did not mean to upset you.”

“Call me Tathlyn,” I whispered.  "You did not up..."  I never finished my sentence.

He slapped me right on the shoulder and pain exploded.  It flowed over all my meridian lines and I felt it travel the same pathway along the runes that connected on the outside.  "Something is wrong," I said and fell over convulsing so hard it looked like I was trying to snap my own back. 

“HELP!  Celuine…Tathlyn needs you!”  Jason shouted.

His voice sounded like he walked away.  The volume diminished.  Everything went blurry.  Inside I felt like fire.  Just like the poison.  My hearing faded.  I turned my healing on full as a last act of defiance.  Inside of me, it felt like something ripped my soul out piece by piece.  Rage collapsed the walls of serenity and in one motion ran its claws down the exposed emotional nerves, causing an overload of every meridian and chakras at once.

In that moment of pain and anguish, time stood still.  I could not move nor react.  Logic was impossible.  The alarms inside of me that used the runes as both detection and healing fired impulses all at the same time.  Something foreign was wrong.  How long this went on I do not know.  Blackness never came, but a living nightmare commenced.

Suddenly Eryn was over me.  My eyes tracked Jason and Celuine as well.  The pain resided.  I was on my back on the hard wood floor of the living room.  Hearing slowly returned...  My energy pathways burned.  The flow was running on high as if I was building up enough energy to launch a ship.  I was cleansing.

“Lay still,” the duo in my head said.  “Relax.”  So I did. 

A tinging sound, like a small piece of metal falling in a glass bowl echoed in the room.  Repeatedly the sound came, with no pattern or rhythm to it.  My energy returned to normal like an engine whose rounds per minutes dropped to idle.  Hands helped me sit up when they saw me try.  The burning sensation was gone, but I still felt the effects of something indescribable.

“That was really bad!” declared my blades.  I could feel them on the floor next to me.  They appeared on their own.  My hands were resting on the hilts. 

"Okay, what in the hell was that?”  I declared with my voice rising.

"We don't know, but it was buried in your rune and must have been shooting some sort of synaptic signal down your runic lines.  Eryn pulled this out."  Celuine held out a bowl and a small razor sharp pin sized needle that looked like it was for taking blood.  It bounced around in the bowl.  It was over an inch.  It looked like it partially dissolved...

"This is ridiculous.  How come with all my training and conditioning a needle can do this to me?  How am I supposed to protect the world or you when I cannot protect myself?  I cannot believe that something that small could..."  My voice trailed to a whisper.  It hit me.  There was no surprise when I realized it.  The answer was obvious.

"I know what it is."

They all stared at me.

"What?  Did you fight a giant porcupine and lose?"  Jason interjected in his usual smart ass tone.  Eryn looked worried, and Celuine was puzzled as well.

"No, it is from the poison gland from Amduscias’ wing.  It broke off inside me when I fought him.  He hit me so hard, he broke his own injector.” 

“Daemons are created to be lethal to man.  Amduscias was no different.  Except that his essence is also poison to humans…and angels.  This should have killed you.”

Eryn’s face went pale.

"How could this stay inside you when you healed yourself?"  Eryn asked, as the nurse in her wanted answers.  I think she had about enough of the bad for one day.  I cannot say I blamed her.  Sadly, I was used to it when I was in daemon-ville, but I had grown lazy since returning home.  My guard was down once I had my friends around to care for me.

"When I was healing myself to stop the bleeding, I closed the outside first without thinking.  It was only minutes after my memory returned did I go back and heal some more, but it was obviously not enough to prevent this.  I sealed the thing inside of me."  I stood up and put on my armored shirt.  It was obvious now that I needed to keep this on most of the time.  I retrieved my cloak from the second bedroom and put it on too. 

Celuine stood.  I noticed that she was smaller and in female form wearing a nice dress.  She looked amazing. 
Spectacular
and
stunning
came to mind.  Regardless of how much I loved Eryn, this woman, this angel, defined the word
beauty
.  The shopping bags must have been for her and she brought home a dress.