Dragon Frost (17 page)

Nafury almost took to the air to try dropping in on the Falls, but Kenshe emerged from the Eternal Waters. He had always been curious to how the phelan managed to pull it off. There were miles of water to swim through for air. All this while under intense the pressure. Then there was how their bodies went from the extreme heat to below freezing temperatures in an instant.

"You sound jealous," Kenshe said. The grizzled-brown phelan dragged himself high up onto the rocks to where Nafury was.

"Hardly."

"When you were Damek, you fashioned the phelan after the first Nightmare Eaters. We are of Aragmoth's being and Thread. Heat and cold don't bother him anymore than it does us. Well, minus when you froze then entire planet over. That was cold enough to feel. Kenshe shook out his fur. Most of the water landed on Nafury.

Nafury let out a long breath, forcing himself to not get mad. Kenshe's sole reason to exist seemed to torment him. He needed to accept that and keep his mind on the task at hand, and that was saving Sybl. It was too early in the day to let the phelan get to him. "I must have been drunk back then, as you're still the ugliest thing in existence," Nafury replied.

Kenshe dropped his mind into the past, and tilted his head back as he tried to recall something. "Did we have alcohol back then?"

Nafury sniffled as some of the water tickled his nose, before thinking on it himself. "Yes, we did."

"Huh," Kenshe said and brought his thoughts back. "That sucks. You know, I've been thinking..."

"Oh hell no," Nafury cut him off immediately.

"I was thinking about the differences between phelan and dragons. In many ways, dragons are more real than phelan for the simple fact that dragons were once part Sentry. Sentry are real, while phelan were weaved into being when you were Damek."

"It wasn't that simple," Nafury replied.

"Sure it was. Granted, we were fashioned after the Nightmare Eaters. But ultimately we never came from Earth. We were never real to begin with."

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm thinking of if worst comes to worst and Aster perishes, what happens to us illusions?" Kenshe asked.

"I think you're crazy and drank too much sea water," Nafury replied. "If Aster collapses, you will return to being what you started as. A Nightmare Eater."

"Under Hino's control? I don't think so. We would never answer to Hino," Kenshe stated. "We can't change Gods like the Awls can by simply changing our minds, not when we are pieces of the Great Dragon. If Aster perished, Hino would end up inviting a war onto his world."

Nafury was losing patience talking creation theories with the phelan. "You came with Daath to the first Aster. You were outcasts and demons on Earth, but also part of my--I mean, Daath's army. You were the opposite of Sentry."

"Demons, eh?" Kenshe replied, and looked towards the entrance. "Demons that your sister forgave enough to give souls to. Souls that have survived once before when the worst of the worst hit." He looked at Nafury. "So it would stand to reason that humans and Fay would not be the only ones left if Aster perished. I, for one, would still be there to make every moment of your existence a living Hell."

"How comforting," Nafury replied in a sarcastic tone. He turned his head to the side and brought his sapphire eyes to the sight of the waves crashing up against the rocks.

"At some point or another, and sometime soon, you're going to have to seriously choose a side. I have no intention of destroying Aster against Sybl's wishes. And Gwa in there," Kenshe said as he looked up at the volcano's side that towered over them, "is likely as twisted as you right now in your thinking. I frankly don't care what Gwa wants. But if we are going to get to Earth, we need to side with him long enough to make him fix the Gate. So don't screw this up."

"Whatever, let's just find the loon," Nafury replied.

Kenshe led the way around the volcano to a small cave that looked like it led to the Falls. Nafury followed the phelan shifter until they were forced to unshift in order to continue on. They walked in complete darkness for some minutes until a light at the end of the tunnel came into view.

The once great griffin city they entered was now a shattered remnant of its former glory. The base of the city and volcano that it had been built into was all stone-hard lava. What remained of the Tech and steel walkways overhead now dangled over the city like metal vines. The Falls looked like it had taken a direct hit from the Apocalypse itself. Nafury feared that one of the walkways overhead could come crashing down on them without warning.

"So much science and technology, yet none of it could save them from themselves," Kenshe said, not bothering to look back at Nafury.

"From what I heard, griffins were never ones to share." Nafury stopped walking as what he thought to be a ghost of a griffin appeared at the end of the walkway they were on. The dirty, white and rose-colored feathers of the half cat, half bird indicated that it was Gwa. The griffin took a defensive stance, keeping its eagle-like eyes fixated on Nafury.

"All right, that's enough! Put her down this instant!"

Ubi opened her eyes to what sounded like Prisca yelling. It took her a moment to realize that she was being carried over one shoulder by a dark-skinned phelan. He was easily the tallest shifter she ever saw. The ayame that chased them were barely half his height as they frantically tried to make him stop.

"I will do no such thing. Now step out of the way," he said with a low, but strong voice.

Ubi didn't have the slightest idea what was going on. She became even more surprised when she saw Loki walking next to them. "Loki?"

"Uh, morning, Ubi." Loki swatted his hand to the right to divert another Thread attack aimed at the phelan shifter. "I found--eh, I mean, he found us."

"Where am I being carried to? And who is he?"

"My name is Jru," the shifter said in introduction as he continued walking through the ayame. "I was your father's mentor all his life."

Ubi's grew wide. She couldn't see his face, but she remembered the shifter who stood next to Kas in her Vision of the past with Vanir. She wondered if she had accidentally summoned her own kidnapper by what she did.

"I apologize for the carryout, but it was proving next to impossible to get an audience with you. That and my Bond has refused to speak to me until I present you to her," Jru said.

"His Bond is a woman from Earth," Loki elaborated.

Ubi hung limp as her mind tried to process it all.

"Jru is also a Master of the Arts," Loki added.

"Arts? Like martial arts?"

Loki swatted another Thread away as he read Ubi's psi. "Yes, something like that. But including aeri and estus energy."

Ubi didn't put up a fight and looked down as Prisca took up Jru's back and was looking furious. "Prisca, it's okay."

"Lord Kenshe left you in my charge! Not this brute's! Ubi, demand that he sets you down at once!"

A devious smile hit Loki's face. "Would you like to be carried as well, Mistress Prisca?"

Prisca lost it on Loki and grabbed all his Threads at once. In one motion, she had Loki crumbling to the floor with a squeak. "I will have you both hung if you so much as raise your voice to her! Do you hear me, Jru?"

"You don't have to worry, Mistress Prisca. We are not so much as leaving the Atrum." Jru came to a stop a few moments later to a room in the lower levels and knocked once before opening it.

"Jru, I made it clear I don't want to so much as--" the dark-skinned woman stopped in her shouting on seeing who he carried.

Jru took it as permission to enter, and set Ubi down on a nearby wooden chair as if she were a new doll to present as a gift.

"By all the gods...she's real."

Ubi kept her cool as the woman rushed towards her, looking her over as if she were some paranormal anomaly.

"She looks like Kas," the woman said with glee. "But those eyes--are they red or blue? Is she truly human?"

"Hello again," Loki said. "This is her lady Ubi, dark Fay and daughter of Asil and Erebus."

Celia hurried from the room and back into it with a panel in her hands. She began to wave it around Ubi, scanning her energy readings. "Unbelievable. She's the exact opposite of Sybl--her estus energy is off the charts." Celia then put the panel down on the table and held out her hand to her. "I'm sorry--I just got crazy excited. My name is Celia. I was also born on Earth. And I see you've done well for yourself, Master Loki." She looked momentarily at the green-haired Awl. "Leader of the Eastern Tribes for that matter."

"I've been doing my best," Loki replied with his most polite tone.

Ubi smiled and took Celia's hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you. Did you both know my mother as well?"

Jru gave a short laugh as he scratched the back of his head. "We did, and I had the honour of being fired from the Custos by the Caelestis."

Ubi dropped her smile in worry.

Celia laughed. "It was alright. Jru was a Custos at the time and we couldn't be together as long as he was. They are forbidden to take a Bond while serving the Sanctus."

"Oh," Ubi said in understanding. "Like a priest?"

"Yes," Celia replied. "Something like that."

"Sooo, what brought you to Aster, Mrs. Celia?" Ubi asked.

"Oh, stop with the formalities. Last names and addresses like that don't exist on Aster." Celia looked to Jru then. "Could you make us some tea, sweetheart?"

Jru looked instantly relieved to be back in the 'sweetheart' category and not the 'floor mat's.' He headed into the kitchen without hesitation.

"Well, my story starts some time ago I was working for the Falls as a scientist in an establishment on Earth. Long story short, I eventually met Mersael, we fell in love, and I became pregnant with his child. He was a griffin shifter, and heir to the Falls."

"What happened then?" Ubi asked as her curiosity heightened.

"Well..." Celia continued as she took the small plate and cup of tea from Jru. She handed it to Ubi before taking her own."The Falls wasn't going to accept me, or our son as the next in line. The whole half-human thing wasn't going to work with them."

"That's when he tried to kill you and Gwa. By miracle of Aragmoth, I found you near the Gate you escaped through," Jru said, finishing the story. "Then I took you back to the Sanctus. But after the Phoenix destroyed it, we made the Atrum our home."

"That's horrible." Ubi then remembered the talks in the War Room that included the Falls. "Wait, Nafury went to the Falls with Kenshe--will they attack him?"

"There is only one griffin left at the Falls, and that is my son," Celia said. She looked around for another panel stashed in her bookshelf. "He has become dangerous and mad with grief since Sybl's death."

"Gwa hates Nafury more than anything," Jru added and took a step forward in concern. "We need to warn him."

Celia turned on the panel, then tried to get a lock on the Threads that linked it to the Falls. "I just hope we're not too late."

Nafury had only vague memories of the griffins, as they had appeared on Aster after the Last War. The creatures were variations of spirits that came to Aster from Earth, much like Sentry did for dragons, to become the protecting shifts for souls. But their kind was closed off to the rest of Aster and secretive. Most had perished shortly before he broke free of Daath's control. From how the Falls looked now, it was clear that the Great Dragon had caused much of the damage. Gwa was the only griffin Nafury recalled ever seeing up close.