God of the Abyss (20 page)

“Are you joking? I can think of many who would want a
person as powerful as Dylan dead. The gods did. There were prophesies about
you. Your father told me that everything relied on you,” he told Dylan. “He
said that you would decide the future of everyone.”

“That all already happened,” I told the Guardian.
“Dylan destroyed the dark god and saved the universe from falling apart.”

Dylan glared at me. “It was Tiamat who destroyed
Vretial. And he’s back. So you have no idea what happened the last seven years?
You never heard my father died or that Vretial was destroyed? You didn’t have
any trouble with your magic or book or anything five years ago?”

“I did have trouble, but it went away, so I assumed
Mreje had solved the problem,” he said.  “I never knew of your father’s death,
either.”

*          *          *

Edward’s cabin was not exactly how we left it. No
surprise, really, when you leave seven powerful men who cannot get along, two
young boys who like to play innocent pranks with powerful magic, a woman almost
as attractive as Divina, and a gargoyle alone. However, I couldn’t have
predicted what we actually saw.

All seven Guardians were standing around, having a
peaceful discussion. Meri was sitting in a seat on the porch while the boys sat
on the steps. Everyone was there, including the two griffins. They weren’t
attacking, and nobody was attacking them, not even Hobble.

“You can see them, too?”
Dylan asked.

“Yes.”

“Oh, good. That’s alright then.”

“Oh, lord, you found another one,” Ghidorah grumbled,
glaring at Rilryn. “Got the whole gang together now.”

“That’s cool; I’ve never been in a gang before. But
Emrys is still missing,” Dylan argued.

“Who needs him?” the irritable Guardian asked. Edward
growled at him and he growled back.

“Shut up, both of you,” I said. “I’m tired of this.
There is something out there attacking Guardians, the griffins were attacking,
but now they’re just sitting around, and Vretial is back, but not attacking
anyone.”

“Hey, where is Rasik?” Dylan asked.

“What do you mean? He never came here,” Shiloh said.

“Then we have another one missing. I flashed him here
a while ago. The griffins obviously didn’t take him. Does anybody know what’s
going on?”

Each of the Guardians looked around, but nobody spoke
up. The most powerful person of each of the worlds, and nobody had a clue what
was going on… and then both Sammy and Ron raised their hands. When everyone
stared at them, Sammy pulled Ron’s hand down.

“You know what’s happening?” Dylan asked. They nodded
shyly. “Why are the griffins here and why are they not attacking?”

“They’re not attacking because everyone here is okay.
Everyone is clean. They are here because this is home,” Sammy said.

“They’re ours,” Ron added.

“You went back,” Dylan said, too sternly to be a
question. Ron nodded and dropped his eyes in shame.

“Not at night,” Sammy said quickly. “Sorry, Daddy,
but you said not to sneak out at night. You didn’t say not to sneak out during
the day. We had to save the eggs from freezing to death. The griffins were a
gift.”

“From who?” I asked, but I already knew the answer.

“From Vretial.”

“Vretial was killed,” Ghidorah demanded.

Dylan glared at Ghidorah until he stepped back.
“Killed implies dead. The gods are immortal. He was destroyed, not killed, and
he’s back. Where are Emrys and Rasik?” Dylan asked.

Ron gave Sammy a worried expression and I inhaled to
see if I could tell what he was worried about, but all I got was the deep,
overwhelming, lung-clogging scent of Ghidorah. I started sneezing and tried to
breathe through my mouth instead, but then started coughing and choking.

“They are hidden.”

“From who?”

“Not from who, from the dark.”

“Why are they hiding from the dark?”

“There’s something in the dark,” Sammy said. Ron
smacked him lightly in the chest and Sammy looked at him.

“Sammy is saying it wrong. The dark is bad, Daddy.”

“Are you talking about the shadow monster? That thing
that attacked us in the woods?” Everyone around us had confused expressions.

Sammy hesitated, obviously unsure of what to say.
“You said we were never to talk about it.”

Ron didn’t bother. “No. The dark is bad. There’s
something coming.”

“Vretial?” Edward asked.

“Something bigger,” Ron said.

What could be
bigger
than a god?

“Something worse,” Sammy added. “Don’t you see it’s
getting dark?”

“Of course it is, it’s night time,” I said. I looked
up and saw that the sun was below the tree line. Well, I couldn’t see
where
the sun was, but it must have been sunset. It was still half an hour or so
before full dark, so that left plenty of time to get inside if there was some
horrible monster hiding in the dark.

“What are you talking about?” Shiloh asked. “You have
been gone an entire day and the sun has only been up for about three hours. It
is morning.”

“Then why is it so dark? I did not even realize it
had been getting dark until he said that,” Ghidorah said, looking around for
the sun. Both griffins flexed their wings in agitation.

“Dark?” Edward asked. “It’s not dark at all. I’m getting
sunburn.”

“They can’t see it.”

“Mordon, shift your eyes,” Dylan said.

Glancing quickly at Ghidorah, I shook my head,
because I couldn’t stand seeing him again. Dylan grabbed my arm and I felt his
energy cycling through me, gently taking some of my fire. I didn’t even have
the chance to warn him before he put up an energy shield in front of Ghidorah.
While his normal shield had a purple and blue glow and looked like electricity
trapped in layers of glass, this time it was opaque black.

Dylan’s eyes became solid black, which I always
thought was creepier than it must have looked on me. On the other hand, I was
never prepared to see it. He glanced around quickly before letting my fire go
and dropping the shield.

“How did you know not to look at him?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes. “As if I wouldn’t know exactly
what was bothering you, you dork. You normally refuse to do your dragon eyes if
Divina is in the room too. Obviously Ghidorah’s soul bothers you as much as his
smell. Rojan can’t see the dark, either. It looks nearly high noon through your
dragon eyes.”

I am looking through your eyes, though, and I can
see the dark. Why can a dragon not see something that is there?

Maybe it’s targeting some of us.

“Samorde, can you see the dark?” Dylan asked. The man
in question didn’t answer. His eyes darted around as if he was afraid, but it
was a little too dark to see his expression perfectly, and there was no way I
was going to try to get a scent again.

“What is he doing?” Ghidorah asked.

“He’s just standing there, not moving,” Edward
answered. “Samorde, can you hear me?” When Samorde didn’t respond, Edward took
a cautious step closer. The darkness started fading slowly, but Samorde still
looked scared. Edward got almost within reaching distance from him before the
frightened Guardian vanished, along with the darkness. The sun was shining
straight above us.

“Seimei, go after him!” Ron said. One of the griffins
spread his wings and disappeared. The other griffin looked at Sammy, but the
child shook his head, so he settled down.

As suddenly as Samorde had disappeared, Rasik
appeared with a flash of bright light. “Oh… that was odd.” There was no
physical sign of injury or stress.

“What was?” I asked. “Where have you been? Do you
remember anything?”

“There was a bright flash of light, I was with
Azenoth, and then I was here.”

“I’m sorry. Seeing Azenoth must have been terribly
traumatic,” Dylan said. “What did he have to say? Nothing kind, I’m sure.”

His eyes widened. “Dylan, the gods are always
listening. You should not speak of them that way. Azenoth just wanted to warn
me against betraying him… he also may have told me not to talk to Nano.”

The Dios Guardian glared. Shiloh stepped between them
while trying to be inconspicuous about it. “Once the council is enacted, I know
we will be able to work together without our gods’ interference.”

Ghidorah snorted rudely.

“Edward, I need your help,” Dylan said, walking off
into the forest. Everybody stared after them as Edward followed.

“Did he call Kiro ‘Edward’?” Shiloh asked.

“It’s a nickname Dylan gave him when they met on
Earth. Nano, catch Rasik up on the last seven years.”

“Me, too, please,” Rilryn said.

I turned to the boys. “What is your dad up to?” I
asked.

Sammy glanced at Ron and then back at me. “You’re his
brother; you know him better than us.” He stepped around me. “Ikiru, go find
Emmy.” The griffin stood and flexed his wings before disappearing.

A few minutes later, Edward and Dylan returned
carrying a half a dozen huge rocks, only to dump them and go back into the
woods. Sammy and Ron started rearranging the rocks, ignoring everyone else.
Edward and Dylan once again emerged from the forest with their arms full of
rocks and the four of them arranged the stones without a word. Sammy had to
help Ron with the bigger ones. It took about five minutes before I realized
they were making a large circle.

Dylan then vanished. I hated it when I didn’t know
what Dylan was thinking. He was most likely trying to organize his thoughts by
organizing the world around him. He always said he couldn’t think when things
were cluttered, yet his best epiphanies came when in the middle of everything
blowing up.

Meri emerged from the cabin and brought us each some
bread and fruit. Edward wrapped his arm around her waist, took some of the
bread, and threw it at Ghidorah. He didn’t want his girlfriend anywhere near
the grumpy Guardian.

I felt Dylan’s magic before he appeared next to me,
so I didn’t startle. Meri, on the other hand, wasn’t expecting it and jumped.
He ignored her and handed me a small, heavy potion bottle. “Drink that, hold
this, and be still,” he said, handing me a stack of thick, small pieces of
paper and a larger piece with colored dots all over it.

With a weird, thick pen in one hand, he took a card
and held it against my back to write on it. “Rilryn, how do you spell your
name?”

“Spell? What do you mean?”

“Never mind, you wouldn’t even know if I misspelled
it in English.” He quickly wrote on each paper and then put a lid on his pen.
“Oh, I got these for you.” He turned to the boys and pulled a book and a
colorful box out of his bag. “I couldn’t find crayons.” He paused before Sammy
could take the box. “Markers are for paper, nothing else. If I see marker on
the walls, you’ll never see them again. Got it?”

“Yes, Daddy,” he said, taking the box with one hand
and Ron’s hand with the other. Ron took the book and they ran to the porch.

“What did you give them?” I asked.

“A coloring book and markers. I said to drink that.”

I took the lid off the little bottle and sniffed
instinctually. While Ghidorah’s scent still burned, the smell of the potion
could be detected just a little over it. It smelled like plants. I drank it.

It was a fair feat that I didn’t spit it out. “What
is that?” I asked. I trusted my friend not to poison me, but that potion was
horrible and made my nose run and my eyes water. Dylan handed me a cloth.

“Allergy medicine. Sort of… industrial strength.
It’ll take a while to kick in. Now, places.” He started tossing the cards down
on the rocks, each with a word on them. I could fluently speak English because
Dylan taught me, but while I could recognize English letters, I never learned
to read it.

Edward picked up one of the cards. “Shiloh, this is
your seat.” He went from rock to rock, looking at names. When he called mine, I
looked at the card.

“Is that my name in English?”

“No, Dylan’s trying to be funny. He wrote ‘King
Arthur.’ Whatever you do, don’t ask him about the Knights of the Round Table.”

“Oh, did someone ask about–” Dylan started, looking
up.

“No, you’re hearing things, kid,” Edward interrupted
before moving onto another seat. A few rocks away, Edward held a card and
sighed. “Ghidorah, this is your seat. Dylan, really, is this necessary?” he
asked, turning the card around. The letters were definitely not English. They
actually looked more Sudo, but they were not any symbols that I knew. Even more
confusing was the crudely drawn three-headed monster. “Where did you even learn
to write in Japanese?”

“I looked it up when I picked up the index cards and
yard sale stickers,” he said. Right in front of him, Samorde and one of the
griffins appeared. Without even blinking, Dylan took the startled Guardian’s
arm and led him to a seat between Shiloh and Ghidorah. “This is your seat.
Sammy, get him some water, please.” He turned and took a step back an instant
before Emrys and the other griffin appeared. “Your seat is over here.” He led
Emrys to a seat nearly opposite of Samorde.

Both Emrys and Samorde looked extremely confused.
Samorde seemed otherwise healthy, but Emrys’s clothes were dirty and torn as if
he had been in a fight. Sammy brought Samorde some water and Ron brought Emrys
a cup of something else. The Guardian sipped the liquid before looking at the
child with wide eyes. “What is this?”

“Hot chocolate. Chocolate is Earth’s leading
non-addictive antidepressant.”

“It is
not
an antidepressant,” Edward argued.

“Alright, everyone sit down. We need to figure this
out,” Dylan said. Everyone took their assigned seats and I looked around in
shock. Dylan had figured out who went where perfectly so that there was no
fighting. “Let’s deal with the Guardian thing first. Unless you want me to give
the ‘round table’ speech?”