God of the Abyss (25 page)

It hurt. Everything ached. I tried to open my eyes,
but the word in my head got louder and stronger like a drumbeat.

Somebody was talking, but I couldn’t recognize the
voice or the words. Something happened. Something was still happening, but I
couldn’t remember anything. I couldn’t remember what happened or who was
talking. I couldn’t remember my name.

Someone was talking and my mind finally focused on
her words, but they didn’t make any sense. The words were wrong. I opened my
eyes and the word in my head vanished.

I was lying on a bed with a woman sitting beside me.
She was absolutely gorgeous, with raven black hair, dark blue eyes, and a
beautiful voice. She spoke to me softly as if trying to reassure me, but her
words made no sense. I ignored her and looked around.

The room was small and basic, like a cabin, and there
was one bed beside the one I rested on. Through one small window, dim light
spilled across the room. Another man stood from the other bed when he saw my
eyes were open and he came to stand beside the woman. The woman was now saying
a word, over and over with increasing volume, but it wasn’t the word in my
head, so I ignored her.

The man was different. He had one blue eye and one
purple eye. That was odd, but I knew him. I didn’t know who he was or why I
knew him, but I knew him. He opened his mouth and I recognized his voice, even
though his words were senseless. Although he looked worried, I didn’t know what
bothered him.

I closed my eyes to sleep and was startled by a sharp
pain in my shoulder. The man with the odd eyes had hit me! “What did you do
that for?” I asked. He responded in some foreign language and I sighed. “I
cannot understand you. Let me sleep.”

“Can you understand me?” the woman asked.

I studied her.
Still nothing. Never met her.
“Yes. I could not before, but yes.”

“Why are you speaking Enochian?” she asked.

I shrugged and closed my eyes to sleep. Another sharp
pain in my shoulder. “Would you stop hitting me?!”

“He doesn’t speak Enochian, Dylan. Stop trying to
sleep. You need to wake up. You’ve been asleep for days. We were all worried
about you.”

“Why were you worried about me? I just want to
sleep.”

“What happened? Something attacked you when you were
trying to get to me,” she said. I didn’t remember trying to get to her, but I
closed my eyes again. With my eyes closed, it was dark. It was dark before. I
was hurt. There is something in the dark.

“I was lost in the dark. I don’t remember.”

“What do you not remember?”

“Anything. I don’t remember anything.”

“Can you understand me?”
I heard the voice of
the man in my head and I understood his words. It felt weird.

I looked at him. “How did I hear you in my head?” I
asked.

He shook his head.
“I don’t speak Enochian. You
need to speak in English or Sudo. Can you do that?”
he asked. I shook my
head, closing my eyes again. I needed to sleep.

“Do not close your eyes. Do not go back to sleep!”
the woman demanded. She sounded desperate. I looked at her again. I liked her.
I didn’t know her, didn’t even recognize her, but I didn’t want her to be
upset. She put her hands on my face in an intimate way, yet it didn’t make me
uncomfortable.

The man said something to her that made her frown
doubtfully, before he focused on me.
“You want to sleep?”
he asked. I
nodded weakly.
“You need to remember. I think that’s why you want to sleep.
I don’t think this is amnesia. It’s okay. Just make sure you wake up soon.”

I closed my eyes again, hoping not to get hit.

*          *          *

A man sat on the chest at the foot of my bed. I
wanted to scold him; that chest was not meant for a seat, but I hesitated. It
wasn’t nice to scold adults, no matter how much it bothered me. His hair was
short and reddish, but the room was too dark to make out the exact color. On
the other hand, his light brown eyes had a slight glow, or reflection to them
that made them very visible in the dark. I felt like I should know him, but I
had never seen him before.

“You’re in my room,” I said.

“I am.” He rose from the chest and came to stand in
front of me, before bending so that we were eye to eye. He smirked. “And you’re
too little to do anything about it.” He went to my bookshelf, pulled out a
book, and flipped through the pages. When he tossed the book over his shoulder,
I ran to pick it up. I had to pick up several more books before he turned away
from the shelf. “Are these alphabetized?” he asked, as if it were the strangest
concept in the world.

“Of course. Who are you?”

“Vretial, the most powerful god you will ever meet.
Or I was. Now I’m not sure what I am. Still powerful, though, plenty powerful
enough to destroy you.” He approached my dresser next and started opening
drawers, pulling out clothes and dropping them to the floor. Still, I held my
tongue. “You fold your socks?”

“I never have to try to match a pair when I’m in a
hurry,” I explained. He turned to give me an insulted scowl.
How did I
manage to insult him?

“What kind of kid were you? I expected more from you.
To think, the warrior whose name sends demons running in fear was a stickler
child. Do you at least fear me?” he asked.

The odd stranger looked very upset for some reason. I
studied the man who had come into my room in the dead of night and rearranged
my stuff, examining every feature closely before opening my mouth. Adults
didn’t like it when I said what was on my mind.

There were no disfiguring scars, no gang tattoos, no
leather attire, and no weapons that I could see, nor were there folds in his
clothes to hide them. He didn’t have that addict look in his eyes, or the sweat
from withdrawal. His nose was perfectly straight in a way that it had never
been broken. Of course he was odd with words and rude in that he went through
my stuff, not to mention he was in my room without permission, yet nothing
about him looked scary.

“Why would I fear you? You weren’t very nice with my
stuff, but you don’t act like a bad man.” I knew bad men.

He looked a little taken aback, and a lot curious.
“What does a bad man act like?”

“What are you doing in my room?” I asked instead of
answering.

He sighed. “It was an accident… again, and it’s your
fault,” he said, not looking angry at all. When I didn’t answer, he went on.
“You and that son of yours.”

“I don’t have a son. I’m seven. Why are you being
silly?”

“I’m not being silly; you are. Keep up. You haven’t met me yet, but I
have you and you caused me a lot of trouble. That’s alright now, and you did
your part to repair the damage you caused… well, you haven’t now, but you did
then…”

*          *          *

I opened my eyes, my chest constricted, and my heart
beat out of control. I couldn’t breathe. The woman was there, pulling me into
her arms for comfort. It helped the pain settle in my chest and her scent
helped my heartbeat slow down. Her fragrance was familiar. “It’s okay,” she
said. I knew her. Her name was on the tip of my tongue.

“He’s not finished.” The man was still there, but his
words made sense like when he spoke in my head. He forced her to let me go and
pushed me back down. “You have to finish.”

“I can’t remember.”

“I can help you.” He pressed my book against my chest
and put my hand on it. How could I forget my name, but still remember my book?

*          *          *

“Here, have an apple,” he said, holding out a red
apple, which had just mysteriously appeared in his hand.

I took it, but thought immediately of the evil queen
offering a poisoned apple to Snow White. I could never trust a man offering me
food; I saw Mother fall for that trick several times and she never learned. “I
can’t eat at night. I sleep at night.”

He rolled his eyes. “Then save it.”

“I don’t like apples.”

“It isn’t a regular apple. It’s an omen. I can do a
magic trick with it. Watch.” He took it from my hand, tossed it in the air,
caught it with one hand, and covered it with the other. When he took his hand
away, he held a playing card with the image of an apple on it. “It does one
more thing, but it’s not ready to do it yet. I will hold onto it for you until
you’re older. Just remember that when you see it again, it means that
everything is about to change.”

He sat back on the chest at the foot of the bed as if
he had no plans to leave soon. “And one more thing; there’s something in the
dark.”

*          *          *

Once again, I woke struggling to breathe. Worse than
that, I couldn’t see. I felt Divina holding me and tried to speak, but couldn’t
get enough air. Mordon’s fire flowed inside me and my Iadnah energy absorbed it
without hesitation. My energy knew his fire, but this was… healing fire. Mordon
had created fire that healed.

The tightness in my chest loosened and the light
slowly returned. After a minute or so, I could see that we were in Edward’s
cabin. Mordon and Divina were the only ones here with me.

“How did we get here?” I asked. “I was trying to get
us to you when we were attacked.”

“I felt your struggle and helped, then brought you
both here.”

“How did you know we were in trouble?”

“Well, Mordon really wasn’t. He called to Erono for
help, but I felt you because you are my mate and the Guardian of my world. What
was it you remembered?” she asked.

“I was seven. I thought it was a dream, but it
wasn’t. Vretial visited me when I was seven. He said that there was something
in the dark. Whatever attacked me… It was dark and something attacked me. What
was it?”

“The balance of the universe.”

*          *          *

Divina left that night after giving a heartfelt
goodbye to both boys. She was only leaving for a few days, but she made a
bigger deal out of it than Vivian ever had when she left Sammy for many months.
Divina may have struggled with the idea that she could be a mother, but she was
pretty great at it, and she never treated Sammy any less than Ron. Vivian and
Nano still hadn’t spoken directly to their son.

It was a night for reluctant tolerance; there was
hardly a word between anyone because anything could send everyone into a bicker
fit. Eleven adult, opinionated men, two gorgeous, pushy women, two boys, a
three-thousand-year-old ghost dragon, and a gargoyle was just too much for one
little cabin. If anyone opened up, Edward’s backyard was likely to become a
graveyard.

Even though I had slept for days, the short time I
was awake drained me quickly. Meri was apparently tired, too, because she went
to bed early downstairs. Once all of the visitors were settled outside in
tents, Edward’s home lightened up a bit. Edward coerced Mordon into playing
cards while I played with the boys. It would have been better if Divina was
there, but I knew she had important things to do. I made a mental note to talk
with Regivus to see if I could help her have less work to do.

“I saw your memory,” Mordon said.

I barely heard him over Ron’s giggling as Sammy and I
tickled him. That was what he got for losing in hide and seek. All three of us
turned to look at him.

“I saw Vretial visit you when you were seven.” I
didn’t say anything, so he went on. “We need to figure out how to read that
map.”

“What map?” Sammy asked. I pulled the card out of my
bag and Sammy took it to show Ron. “Oh, we can do this.”

“No, see, we can’t. It was written for Daddy and
Mordon. Only they can read it,” Ron said.

“Wait, you guys know how to use the map?” Mordon
asked. They nodded. “Who taught you how to read it?”

“Daddy did,” they both answered in sync, which was a
little creepy.

“How did I show you how to read the time map? I don’t
even know how to do it,” I said.

They both frowned at me. “But you told us how to do
it. You said that only brothers could read it, and it could only be read by the
two it was made for.”

Mordon and I looked at each other, then knelt in
front of the boys. “What day was it? What time was it? Was it both of us or
just your dad?” Mordon asked.

Sammy shrugged. “It was a long time ago. I don’t
remember.”

That phrase was going around too much lately.

Ron slapped Sammy in the chest. “No, stupid, he told
us the date and time were important. He told us to remember that number.” He
turned back to me. “It was just you, Daddy. It was at the springs. You and
Mommy stayed home, but then you came to show us how to read a time map. You
said that it was a way to encode a location and time so that the wrong person
couldn’t find something. You said we would have to know how to read it.”

“When did I show you? What was the exact time I
arrived? Do you remember?”

“You told us. You made us memorize it in Earth-time.”
They both glanced at each other before they said, in complete sync,
“Two-two-one-four-one-five-zero-three-two-zero-one-eight.”

“How does that help?” Mordon asked.

I rolled my eyes. “Excuse me, but I know what I’m
doing,” I said. “Minute, hour, day, month, year.” I pulled out my notepad and
pen. “Say the number again.”

“Two-two-one-four-one-five-zero-three-two-zero-one-eight.”
Once again, it was creepy.

“2:22pm, March 15, 2018. Good job, boys.” I put my
notepad away and held Ron still by his shoulders. He met my gaze, understanding
my seriousness. “I am so proud of you for talking. Now never do that talking
together thing again. It’s extremely creepy.” They looked at each other and
grinned. “Show us how to use the map, just like I told you.”

“You need a crystal ball. Actually, anything crystal
or glass that is three-dimensional and not hollow,” Sammy said.