God of the Abyss (21 page)

“No, please no,” I said. “Let’s talk about the
Guardian thing. Rilryn attacked us, then the griffin attacked him, and he was
fine. His soul was suppressed or something. So either something was controlling
him, or something possessed him.”

“It was the dark,” Sammy said. “The dark was in him,
but Ikiru got rid of it. Ikiru and Seimei only attacked the Guardians when the
dark was in them.”

“Who is susceptible to this darkness? The griffins
never went after Dylan, Ghidorah, or me.”

“Nothing can possess me,” Ghidorah said, “and your
dragon can keep you safe. As for Dylan and the boys, I doubt anyone can possess
someone with Iadnah energy.”

I knew it was possible because the ancient demon was
able to possess Sammy for a short time. He had only been able to possess me
because Rojan allowed it. I don’t know what the demon would have been able to
do had I not gotten it out of Dylan as fast as I had.

“No one can control Sammy because of me,” Ron said.

“But five years ago, the griffins were attacking
anyone,” Edward pointed out.

“They were lost then. I was too young to control them
and Ron wasn’t born yet,” Sammy explained. “They were confused and scared and
their masters, from their points of view, were erased from existence. They
couldn’t find or feel us and that made them…”

“Unsure who was friend and who was foe,” Ron
finished.

“Oh, we’re missing someone,” Dylan said. He
disappeared. Everyone seemed confused for a moment before I rolled my eyes and
pointed to the empty spot next to Nano.

Nano picked up the card and frowned. “I am not very
good at reading English, but I think this isn’t a name.” He turned it so that
we could all see and Edward started laughing hard. Sammy turned red with
embarrassment and Ron’s mouth dropped open.

“Oh, god,” Sammy said, hiding his face in his hands.
Edward laughed louder, getting a startled look from Meri.

Before I could ask what the card said, I felt it. I
felt what I hoped to never feel again in my life. Right in the middle of the
circle, the air crackled with charged energy and the void opened. A crack in
space and time opened and out of the abyss came three of the most horrifying
creatures I ever saw.

One of the creatures looked like a skeleton with
clawed fingers and glowing red eyes. Instead of the flat, normal teeth that
people had, its teeth were sharp. Most ominous was the black tar-like substance
oozing from between the bones.

Another creature had a shape similar to people, with
arms, legs, and even fingers, but everything was elongated and skinny, and its
skin was dark blue. I barely stood past its belly. The face was more creature
than person with black holes for eyes and a mouth full of jagged teeth. It had
no nose, ears, or hair. As tall as it was, it stood sloped over as if deformed.

Standing only a few heads taller than me, the last
creature was like a cross between a reptile and man. It stood bipedal but with
huge arms that made me think it could run on four legs. On the end of those
arms were long fingers and sharp claws. Its skin was a splotchy brown color and
was covered in sparse fur. It had a short snout with teeth too large for its
mouth. On top of its snout were big nostrils. Its eyes were small and the color
of blood.

Unlike me, the Guardians were ready. Ghidorah struck
the blue creature with a plasma ball while Edward hit the skeleton with blue
lightning. Both beasts turned on their attacking targets. I pulled my fire and
struck the reptile creature to no effect. None of our assaults were hurting the
creatures at all.

“Get Dad’s sword,” Sammy said.

“Bring it here.”

“I can’t. It’s azurath metal, created for the
Guardian of Earth; not even Granddad can use it. You can wield it because
you’re Dad’s brother. It’s under the bed,” Ron said.

Glancing around, I could see the Guardians teaming up
on the creatures and holding them off. Hoping the boys knew what they were
talking about, I went inside the cabin and downstairs into the bedroom. Under
Dylan’s old bed, there was a lamp, a spare left boot, and a sword. Dylan had
shown me this sword before with its black metal. I took the weapon and got back
outside as quickly as possible.

Hobble tried desperately to get out the door before I
could close it, but I shoved him in. Edward kept him inside for a reason; he
would fight to his death to protect us and we didn’t want that for him. Stone
flesh could be busted, but it wouldn’t heal like living tissue did.

“See, if you were not Dad’s brother that would be too
heavy for you,” Sammy said.

“I’m not biologically related to him,” I said,
lifting the sword. It was extremely light. As I turned back to the creatures,
the black metal emitted a dark blue, faint glow. Spurred on by his apparent
invincibility, the reptile creature came at me with no hesitation, easily
running into the blade. Shock crossed the grotesque face as putrid blood
spilled in the grass. I put my right boot on the creature’s chest to push him
back off the blade. The skeleton turned to me just as light filled the air.

I felt rather than saw Dylan appear behind me. “Bad
timing, Dylan,” I said. The two creatures that remained standing, as well as
the one writhing on the ground, all froze and stared at Dylan.

“No, no, I was just in the mood for demon hunting,”
Dylan said, no fear in his voice. There was nothing that could have surprised
me more than when each of the demons turned and scrambled to get back into the
void, which closed behind them. “Oh… Too bad, I guess. They didn’t want to
stick around to play.”

I took a cloth from my bag and wiped the blood off
the blade before handing it to Dylan and tossing the cloth in the trash by the
fire pit. Vivian stood next to Dylan, staring in shock at where the demons had
disappeared.

“Vivian,” Nano said. She went to him, gibbering about
missing him and being worried about him, and all that stuff people who are in
love say when they were separated… and Sammy looked devastated. His father
ignoring him was hard enough on the little child, but his mother…

Ron went to hug Sammy, but Dylan was already picking
him up. Sammy put his face in Dylan’s neck, obviously trying not to cry. “You
are loved so much more than they are even capable of. They are all each other
has, but you have all of us.”

“I know, Daddy. Go back to work; I’ll be fine.”

Dylan let Sammy down, but not before Vivian sent her
child a look of desperate longing. There was no sorrow or forgiveness in my
heart for her. She knew she could take him back with her, that Ron was old enough
to transfer their spell back to his mother.

Everyone took a seat again as Dylan pulled out a
notebook and started writing.

“I am curious,” Shiloh said, studying Ron. “Do you
take after your mother, or your father?”

The child grinned at him. “Yes.”

Father, then,
Rojan snickered.

“I hate you, Dylan. I’ll get you for this,” Vivian
growled when she saw what Dylan wrote on her card. Everyone ignored her, but
Sammy couldn’t meet her eyes. Dylan gave her his brightest smile as if she had
thanked him instead of threatening him.

“So we established that something is controlling and
attacking the Guardians. Have we established if any of the Guardians are
betraying the gods?” Dylan asked. I shook my head. “Okay, everyone please turn
your cards over and look at the colored dots. If you have a green dot, breathe
easy. If you have an orange dot, stay away from my kids. And if you have a red
dot, please leave.”

“What does this mean?” Meri asked, a little panicky,
and held up her card. It was a black dot.

“Oh, it just means you are Edward’s sex slave and
cannot be held accountable for treason.”

Meri sighed with relief and Vivian growled, having a
black dot on her card as well.

I looked down at my card and growled myself. “Dylan,
you
tengen
!” I cursed him. “I’m going to beat you within an inch of your
life!” I yelled, scratching the black dot off my paper. To my shock, it
actually peeled off.

“Relax, Your Grace; it was a mistake.” He pulled out
his sheet of dots, peeled a white one off gently, and stuck it on my card. “So
feisty when he’s not pleased.”

“Yay! I got an orange dot! I’m a suspect!” Ron yelled
with delight, holding up his card. In his other hand he held one of the plastic
sticks that Dylan had given him full of orange paint. He had obviously gotten a
white dot and painted it orange.

“I got a green dot,” Sammy moped.

“Can I have the red marker, please? I want leave.”
Edward grumbled at his green sticker. “Just get on with it, I’m getting old.”

“Stop complaining, please,” Shiloh said. “What do we
do now?”

“Alright. We know the gates have been tampered with;
the gods said so. We need to find out why and who did it. Any ideas?” Half of
the Guardians opened their mouths to speak. “Other than Vretial,” he quickly
added. Everyone paused and thought.

“Maybe another god has turned against the others in
secret,” Rilryn offered. “Maybe one of them decided he could do what Vretial
tried and get away with it by hiding behind Vretial.”

“Is it reasonable for a god to try something after
another failed?” Shiloh asked.

“They are gods; they think of things differently.
They may not even consider what happened with Vretial a fail on his part,”
Azyle said.

“I think they would be really upset with us if they
heard us saying anything about one of them turning on the others,” Rasik said
meekly. He looked around as if to be sure we were alone. “That being said, I
think Azenoth would be the first and most likely to betray the others for more
power.”

“Regivus is the most like what I’ve heard about
Vretial. It would definitely be him,” Samorde said.

“Zer wouldn’t do it,” Nano said.

“Erono would,” Edward said.

“Déjà vu,” Dylan said. “Okay, so we have some
suspects. We also need to know how to stop it, and why we want to stop it. What
is really going to happen if the gates open, other than demons getting out?”

He was obviously not going to say anything about the
dream.

“We just fought demons, Dylan, and it wasn’t easy,”
Edward said. “One on one, we can easily destroy a demon, but they don’t usually
attack alone.”

“Actually, I’m more worried about the Ancients. Just
one of them is hard enough to defeat,” I said. I should have kept my mouth
shut. Sometimes, that little click in his head was the sign that we would live,
that he had an idea to get us out of trouble. This wasn’t that sign. He had an
idea and I wouldn’t like it. A small sniff confirmed my fears… then I realized
what I just did.

“My nose! I can smell again!”

“Yes, of course, you smell lovely,” Dylan said, not
really listening. “If the Ancients get out, we need something more powerful.
Obviously I can’t hunt down and scare the piss out of a bunch of demons. It was
pretty much luck I managed to subdue the first one. How many Ancients are
there? I need to talk to Janus. If we could get…” He trailed off, right as he
was about to reveal his plan, and looked at me.

“What? If we could get what?”

“Your nose!”

“What?!”

“Your nose is working again! I told you the allergy
medicine would work! Didn’t I? I can’t remember, hang on, never mind.” He
started pacing, oddly similar to how Vretial had done so. “We need to go to the
ruins or maybe to the apple tree. Everyone assumed Vretial was opening the
gates, but he told me he needed my help.” He spoke just a little too quickly to
really understand his words, even though he spoke in Sudo.

“Did he lose his mind?” Ghidorah asked me.

“No, he just does this sometimes. I don’t think he
actually knows he’s talking. It’s like when you’re asleep; his brain is firing
ideas, trying to find connections.”

“He gets it from his father,” Edward added. “Just be
glad he doesn’t see the future, like Ronez did. It was really annoying when
Ronez started yelling at me for an argument we hadn’t had yet.”

“I want to go home,” Samorde said, leaning his head
against his knees.

“What are you?” Dylan asked Ghidorah.

The temperamental Guardian shrugged. “It is easier to
show you than to explain,” he answered, standing. “Do not be afraid; I would
never hurt your children.”

Just as Ghidorah was about to reveal his secret, I
felt a change in the air. Pressure built once again and it was like all of the
nominal energy in the area shuddered. The void opened to spew a black cloud
from its abyss, which fused and shaped until it was a man who stood before us.

“Janus,” Edward said, obviously familiar with the visitor.

The man had dark hair and eyes and sharp features,
along with a powerful, menacing aura that suggested he would sooner stab us
with a knife than say hello. I could sense Edward’s worry.

“How are you here?”

“It is the gates; they are opening.” He glanced at
everyone in a circle around him. “This is creepy. So far, I am the only one who
can get out, but soon there will be others.” He focused on Dylan. “It is nice
to finally meet you, young Guardian. I have heard more about you than I ever
cared to know. Your father never lets up.”

“Oh. Please say hi to him for me when you see him
again. Is the demon still in his cell?”

“
Your
demon? Yes. For now, he is still
contained and unable to use magic. He spreads your name like it is the plague,
with the encouragement of your father. According to half of my demons, you are
taller than the highest building, have more power in one finger than Vretial
ever had, and women throw themselves at your feet.”

That explained why the three demons ran when Dylan
arrived.

Dylan put his head in his hands. “Why are the gates
opening?”

“It is the balance. The gates were meant to be open,
while the books were only a fall-back method. Actually, the truth is not even
that simple; the books were created to limit the power of magic-users and
world-travelers.”