The Wizard's War (37 page)

“Of course I remember you, Dad, but I will still kill
you if you touch me. I wouldn’t be able to help it. I have created a body out
of the resources of the world, like the demons, but my power is too great. I am
burning it too quickly.”

As he said this with his hands still outstretched,
blisters and burns were creeping over his hands and up his throat. The robe he
wore was only barely corporeal, probably no more than magic itself.

Then he burst into ash with a painful grunt, only to
reform and instant later without the burns. “I have maybe a few minutes before
the body is destroyed again.”

“Can you possess me, like Zeb did?”

He shook his head, wincing as if he had a headache.
“I am too powerful; I would burn even your dragon’s form.” Yet he shivered. The
heat from his body was spreading on the wind like fire warming a camp, but it
was strong enough that Edward took several steps back.

“How do we help?” Edward asked.

Dylan ignored the Guardian and focused on me. “I need
you to kill me,” he said.

I gaped for a minute before I could even form the
words. “Never.”

He burst into ash and reformed, a little slower than
the first time, and he was panting when he stood before me. “My power is
infinite, but I cannot keep this up forever. If you want me to be able to
remain in this realm, I need my body back. To do that, I need it freed.”

“What?” Edward asked.

“You never pay attention,” Dylan said. “My pentagram.
You gave me my pentagram, but it was not my energy in it. Dleso Atos has
inhabited my body. I want him out,” he growled.

“Why are you not dead? Why are you so powerful?” I
asked.

“What did the demon call me?”

“I didn’t hear---”

“Not the Ancient…” He grunted as burns started to
appear on his cheeks. I reached out to try to heal him, but he stepped back
from me. “In the warehouse. Right after you discovered that the demons were
invisible.”

It took me a second to remember the event, but I
couldn’t remember the demons saying anything.

“Enochian words try to erase themselves from the
minds of non-gods,” Dylan told me. As he said it, my vision darkened until I
was back in the warehouse.

*          *          *

I wasted my advantage. The two demons started
shifting in a gory fashion, as if their skin melted until they looked like
people. “Go away, dragon. We have no business with you.”

“I am here with Yatunus-so Dylan to free those
kidnapped by you.”

“You come seeking to destroy us then. No friend of
him will leave this place alive. Dragons are no match for demons.”

“Demon powers allow you to understand their words,
but not Enochian. Only Iadnah energy can translate Enochian.” Dylan’s voice
interrupted the vision for a moment.

The other demon suddenly slapped his companion’s
arm. “That is Mordon, the dragon brother of the Qadah.”

*          *          *

My eyes snapped open. “That’s impossible,” I said,
breathless.

“What? What did the demon say?” Edward asked.

“Qadah.”

“Which means?” he asked, frustrated.

“The best human word for it would be… creator.” Dylan
burst into ash again and reformed again. It was really creepy, but knowing what
Dylan really was, was more so.

“You’re a god?!” Edward asked.

I picked up the remains of my clothes and put them on
as best as I could. Dylan made a slight gesture with his hand and my clothes
mostly sewed back together… but they were still bloody, as were my hands. My
claws refused to retreat on account of the adrenalin still pumping through my
veins.

“Not quite, but sort of. The demons call me Qadah,
while the gods call me Iaidonor. While the Iadnah are the gods of the universe,
including the Land of the Iadnah, I am the god of the void. At least my soul
is.”

“I don’t understand.”

Without a flash of light or a hint of warning,
Edward, Dylan, and I were sitting on the rock at the mountain. Dylan sighed.
“This is better.”

I reached out cautiously and touched his shoulder. He
felt solid and warm, but not like he was about to burst into ash again. His
pentagram still pulsed with a green aura.

“This is keeping tabs on my body in the mortal
realm,” Dylan said, tracking my gaze. “As long as it is green, Atos hasn’t done
anything horrible and my body is still functioning. Now, as I was saying… There
were originally three Iaidonor, two males, and one female. My soul was more
powerful and so, for that reason, I destroyed the other male.”

“Just because he existed?” I asked.

He nodded, looking completely unconcerned. “Maybe I
wanted more power. It was a long time ago. Actually, it was before any universe
even existed. The female and I were the only beings of intelligence; the other
insignificant beings in the void were more like floating debris than anything
else. So, we made the Ancients.

“Something we did created a pocket in the void that
became the Land of the Iadnah. The Iadnah themselves appeared as some stretch
of chance and remnants of the fallen Iaidonor. For some reason, probably my odd
version of curiosity and boredom, I captured one of the Iadnah and created
Janus. He was half Ancient, half Iadnah. I liked that.

“I must have been very conceited at that time,
because I believed the Land of the Iadnah had no effect on my realm. When Oiad
ended the war of the Iadnah by destroying all but thirteen, as well as the
original realm itself, my soul was… damaged. Perhaps I was too close. A small
part of me was lost in the universe and tried over and over to follow the
natural order; to be born. It never once took, however, because it was too much
of me.

“Then, finally, I was born as Dylan. The universe
tried desperately to kill me, but with the help of beings with greater magic
than my little sliver of soul had, I survived. The rest of me was dormant. I,
Dylan, had no idea who I was, but over the years, as I grew in power, my soul
healed over to become complete. That was also thanks to you.

“Then,
I
was awoken completely with the help
of that pathetic little Noquodi and the Iadnah powers.”

“You’re Zero.”

He smirked. “Yes. However, I am also Dylan. When Dylan
was ‘killed,’ his soul was returned to the void, where it once again became a
part of me. By some odd coincidence, Dylan is the part of my soul that can
attain humanity. For that, I grew up wanting peace. It was difficult for me to
feel nonchalant for anything living. Zero, on the other hand, was incomplete as
well, and could only feel indifferent. Although I knew what I was then, I
wasn’t concerned enough to mention it. As the two parts of my soul were
disconnected, I didn’t remember the interaction when I became Dylan again. Now
that my soul is whole, I am remembering the entity that I once was. I will
never be that again, for the humanity in my soul is too strong.”

“But you will never be Dylan again, either.”

“Oh, I am still that person. You should be able to
feel it in your soul. No part of Dylan was lost. I am just… more.”

I did feel it, like my soul was finally whole after
so many months, but I was also guarded. “Why didn’t any of the Ancients obey
you?”

“If I had known my power, I could have commanded them
to, but they didn’t remember me. I’m sure they could sense me, but the part of
my soul that was left, before it went dormant, wiped their memories of me and
their other creator. Janus was the only one powerful enough to eventually
remember, and only after Zero was awoken. I also created the void-bloods and
other void guardians.”

“How could we not know about this? After all these
years?”

He shrugged. “Honestly, there were clues everywhere.
Hell, I think there were clues before I was even born. Think back to every
unexplained thing you can remember.”

“Well, ‘god of the abyss’ wasn’t exactly something
someone could just come up with. How were we supposed to figure that out? Is
Ron like you?”

“He is not a part of my soul, but he is my son. He is
half Iaidonor. I am why you were sent to the spirit realm and not destroyed by
the void; you cannot be destroyed by the void because your soul is imperative
to the health of mine. I would have died without you to balance my power
against the forces of the universe until I was strong enough to do so myself.”

The pentagram on his chest started pulsing angrily.
“Is that bad?” I asked, since it was still green.

In the calmest, carefree tone, he said, “He hasn’t
done anything yet, but he is about to kill someone. Divina, probably.”

I stood. “Then prove that you are still my brother
and save her!”

He grinned slightly. “Don’t worry, I plan to. You
just have to follow my plan. You have to kill me.”

Dylan

I came into my body with great difficulty not because
Atos was more powerful than me, but because of the iron pentagram. My body was
not big enough for the both of us and short of forcing him into the pentagram,
I couldn’t outright expel him. The mortal struggled and, realizing how much
more powerful I was, tried to retreat. I wouldn’t let him.

Instead, I stood clumsily to my feet and faced my
brother. He was still covered in the blood of the monster he fought, his claws
were extended, and he was panting. The sword appeared in his hand with my
magic.

“Is it you?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said.

I looked at my wife and children by the door, who
were confused and afraid. To them, what they were about to see would be
traumatic and even impossible. Xul and Edward would hold them back, even though
Xul didn’t understand, either. The boys would probably be scarred by this, but
there was literally no time to explain.

If Atos escaped my body, there would be no telling
what trouble he could cause. I looked at my brother because I couldn’t stand to
see Ron’s face during this. “Be quick,” I said. I couldn’t hold Atos for long. I
refused to close my eyes because that would have been unfair to my brother.
Mordon aimed the azurath blade, hesitated, and then thrust it into my chest.
Ron screamed.

The magic of the sword came from me even as Mordon
wielded it because I was its master… and the azurath blade couldn’t kill its
master any more than Mordon could kill his brother.

I felt Atos’s soul disintegrating and dispersing into
the void… which was now my blood. I was part of the void. His energy, as
miniscule as it was compared to mine, flowed through the blade into my brother.
Mordon was now powerful enough to take the magic of his fallen foes. Still,
fortunately, Mordon was unable to use demon magic unless it was mine. Atos,
though not a demon, had developed the ability to use the void magic after his
death from his frequent dealings with demons.

Mordon removed the sword from my chest. Although the
blade pierced my organs and blood vessels, magic held me together because of
the sword’s inability to harm me. My internal workings reformed when the blade
withdrew and my wound closed behind it. The sword had no blood on it. I did,
however, have to change my shirt because of the large hole in it.

Weird. My life is so weird.

“Dad?” Ron’s quiet, scared tone tried to break my
heart. How many times would I scare him past his breaking point?

I could see him for what he was when I looked at him.
It was not his future, for that was far too complex, but I could see what he
would be. He would be amazing. He would be powerful, wise, and kind. Someday,
he would be loved by billions all over the universe. Until then, he was going
to be a major brat.

As the balance in him came alive in his system, he
was driven closer. He could have fought it, but he didn’t understand it. He
approached me hesitantly and held his right hand out flat.

A swirl of darkness emanated from his skin. I raised my
hand in the same fashion, but it was a swirl of light that came from my hand.
As we slowly brought our hands together, the light and dark ebbed and wove
around each other in a friendly manner, until our hands touched.

“I am the darkness,” Ron said in a stilted tone.

“I am the light,” I answered as I felt the void
inside me accept him as another Iaidonor.

“I am everything that exists.”

“I am the abyss.”

“Wait, Dylan is the void? But the void is evil,”
Divina said.

“The void is necessary,” I argued. “There is nothing
inherently good or evil about something older than any universe. Without the
void, there can be no life. Good and evil is determined by the perception of
man.”

“But I wanted to be the most powerful being in the
universe,” Ron said.

I smiled and ruffled his hair. “And you will be,
someday.”

“I can’t beat you.”

“But I belong to the void. I will rule the void and
you will rule the universe. Of course, I have to live here since my mate and
brother cannot live in the void, but I will respect the boundaries of the
balance.”

“What does that mean?”

“Whatever the hell I want it to mean; I am more
powerful than the balance. I could crush this universe in a heartbeat, but I
won’t. The balance can try to force me out, but it won’t. Now that I know who I
am, I think the balance will know better than to bother me.”

“So you’re not going to act blatantly against the
balance just for the hell of it in exchange for staying here.”

“Correct.”

Hail seemed to finally snap back to reality. He ran
to hug me and I had to use magic to keep from toppling over. Ron joined in.

“I don’t understand,” Divina said. Edward put his
hand on her shoulder.

“Let’s get some tea and I will explain it,” he said.

Instead of acknowledging him, she came to me and
kissed me. I returned her affections until Ron made a gagging sound and Hail
started groaning, and then I had to let her go because I was laughing.

*          *          *

Edward made tea, Mordon cleaned himself up, and we
all piled into the kitchen. Ron took the hints from his brother and started
cooking while I explained everything all over again. After we ate, we went
outside and the boys played fetch with Ikiru, Seimei, and Hobble. Edward, Xul,
and Mordon both sat on chairs while I sat on the lawn couch next to my wife. My
arms were wrapped around her as her head leaned against my chest.

Without really focusing on what I was doing, I
reached out with my magic and thought of healing Hobble. He was almost a full
sized gargoyle, but his living stone flesh had never repaired itself. My magic
was at its height, so healing the gargoyle was a small matter. The little
creature stumbled and studied its repaired leg with absolute astonishment, as
if he couldn’t remember ever being whole. Then he pranced around with
exaggerated joy.

“Are we okay?” I asked my wife.

“We will always be okay,” she answered immediately
and honestly. I kissed her head.

“What happened to the female?” Mordon asked.

“Well, that’s another problem. She hasn’t a fraction
of my power, but she is still powerful enough to rule the void. The problem is,
she wants me back.”

Divina growled. “You’re mine.”

“Unfortunately, I was hers first.”

“Did you love her?”

“I never knew love before I was born on Earth. You
are my heart and I’ll never leave you. However, she believes that if she can
demean all of you and save me, it would convince me to return to her. She has
been causing all these problems because that’s all she can do in this universe.
My father was very lucky to make it to the Land of the Dead, because she could
have used him against me.”

“But I was pulled into the void,” Mordon said.

“You cannot be destroyed by the void because your
soul is bonded to mine, but she could have taken you and figured out a way to
use you against me. You were sent to the Land of the Dead because that was the
safest place for you.”

“Is that why Xul was so eager to serve you?” Divina
asked.

“Yes. The Ancients don’t recognize me, but they feel
compelled to obey. Now that my soul is whole, no demon or void-blood can refuse
my orders. But they cannot disobey
Her
either, unless it is for a direct
counter-order from me. She is the one that the demons call the goddess.”

“Back on Lore, you sent me home. If you didn’t
believe I was betraying you, why did you do that?”

I poked her gently in her abdomen until she squirmed.
“Because I couldn’t let Alice get hurt.”

“What?” Her voice broke.

“You didn’t know you’re four months pregnant?”

She made a strangled sound. “No, I’m not!” she patted
her flat stomach as if to be sure she didn’t have a colossal baby bump.

“I would sense it if she was that far along,” Mordon
argued. Xul nodded his agreement.

“Nope,” I disagreed cheerfully. “Alice is just
special. And we’ll do it right this time; we won’t feed her puppy food or give
her anti-growth vitamins like we did with Ron.”

“Hey!” the boy said, outraged.

“Why did you say she wasn’t Iadnah?” Mordon asked.

“Alice wasn’t the only reason I sent Divina home. See,
the Iadnah didn’t like me very much, especially after I started the war between
them.”

Divina sat up and pulled away from me quickly. “You
are the reason my entire race is dead? Why would you do that?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I was bored, I guess.
Anyway, you were created by the Iadnah to destroy the Iaidonor, but since I am
your soul mate, you became a killer of the Iadnah and anyone else who was my
enemy instead. If Oiad hadn’t ended the war, you would have.”

I let her process that.

Ron stopped playing and leaned against the rails of
the porch. If he knew his hair was all sweaty, he would have freaked. I
couldn’t help but feel happy that his hair and eyes were natural again. “So, we
don’t have to be Vretial’s Guardians anymore?”

“Sorry, sweetheart, but you can’t be Avoli’s
Guardians.”

“Why not?” Hail asked.

“Alice will be his Guardian on account of her being
his mate.”

Divina choked on her tea.

Alice was the reason Divina nurtured Avoli as well as
why I got so frustrated with him. He wasn’t good enough for my daughter, but I
was willing to put up with him as long as he made her happy. She would be the
strength that Avoli needed and make his world into a place of peace and
prosperity. She would keep the people kind, strong, and free.

Vretial needed my sons just as much. Fortunately,
Sheena would be willing to move for Ron once he finally accepts her as his soul
mate. Hail would have no trouble getting Sari to live with him on Raktusha, but
he would have a hard time convincing Thessa that he and Sari will love her
unconditionally.

Oh, well.
It will work out in the end, or I
will help along the way.

“Why didn’t you destroy the mage staff?” Hail asked.
“You could have prevented all this crap if you had destroyed it like we said
to.”

I sat back, strangely unconcerned with my son’s
frustration. I wanted to explain, to ease his worries, but at the same time,
there was a strong part of me that didn’t care. A large part of me didn’t care
about people or this family.

Then a mental image was forced on me by Mordon. The
first time I saw Hail. He had looked up at me with nothing but love, trust, and
wonder in his huge purple eyes. I did care. I was Dylan. “Soon,” I said, as if
that explained anything.

Hail scoffed. “I see. You’re going to start talking
like Vretial now! God, everyone with their riddles!”

Mordon opened his mouth to ask about Sydney, but
instead he growled when Sen and Vretial appeared. I stood and blocked his path
when Mordon tried to get up and attack Sen. “Kill him,” Mordon demanded.

Sen’s expression was devastated.

“Sen? That ruby your mother got for you… Were you
able to use it?” If Sen’s magic had made Emiko pregnant with Mordon’s child, my
brother would be trapped. He would take care of the baby, but he would hate
himself and Emiko. Unfortunately, Mordon’s stake in this made it impossible to
see if it were so.

He looked questioningly between Mordon and me. “How
did you know about it?”

“Just tell me before Mordon shifts and eats you.”

“I didn’t. Mom gave me a ruby on the day that I
stayed with Ron. I haven’t had a chance… I just… I just wanted them to be
happy. I thought a baby would make them both happy.”

“Dylan, on account of you being alive, I am removing
my spell over the dragon-mage,” Vretial said. “You can now kill him, eat him,
strip his magic, use him for a dart board, etcetera… Also, I want to know how
you survived this time.”

“Come over to my place later and I’ll fill you in,” I
said. The realm I took Mordon and Edward into was like Vretial’s, except it
wasn’t the Land of the Iadnah. It was actually a space that was a mixture of
both the void and the universe. Only with my power was it stable and able to
support both life and demons.

“I’ll do that,” he said, then vanished.

I was almost amused when Mordon grabbed my arm, drew
in my energy, and summoned Ghidorah. The Guardian appeared in the yard facing
us. “Judge him,” Mordon said, pointing to Sen. Ghidorah took one look at Sen
and moved to attack.

“No!” I jumped over the porch rail and landed in
front of the ten-year-old. “Back off!”

Ghidorah stopped, but glared. “I must judge him. It
is not a choice.”

“Not him. Leave Sen alone.”

“You know it doesn’t work that way. He is Maslye’s
son.”

“He is Emiko’s son. He is important to Mordon and me.
Mordon is angry right now, but he will forgive him. He’s my family, and I won’t
let you hurt my family.”

“He’s evil,” the Guardian insisted.

“That’s our problem, not yours, and we’ll deal with
it as a family, like we always have before.”

“He must be judged. I cannot make an exception.”

“Can you pass the judgment onto someone else?”

“No. Dylan, you asked me to judge the mage king and I
did; you owe me. Step away from him. This isn’t easy for me, but I have to do
it and I don’t want to hurt you in the process.”

“You’ll have to go through me to get to him and you
cannot beat me. You are my friend, though, and I’d rather not fight you. Just
walk away.” But Ghidorah couldn’t. “What was your judgment for Maslye?”

“You said you didn’t want to know.”

“I don’t. But she needs to,” I said, pointing behind
Ghidorah. Emiko stood there, confused and frightened. The moment Ghidorah
arrived, I had summoned the dragoness. Really, I just wanted to see if she
cared enough to protect her son. Apparently, she didn’t.