God of the Abyss (2 page)

He fell asleep between us. The only thing that would
have made the moment better was if Edward was there. Unfortunately, he had work
to do on Anoshii and wasn’t expected to be back for ten more days.

Sometime while we were gazing in amazement, and
exhaustion in Divina’s case, Sammy crawled onto the bed. As I sat up and pulled
him into my lap, he stared at the baby like he had never seen anything like it.

“My brother?” he asked.

I glanced at Divina, who had fallen asleep, and then
at Mordon sitting in the chair next to us. Mordon and I were as close as
brothers, and had proven that it was not always blood that made you family.
“Yes. I want you to meet your brother, Ronez Versus Keisei Yatunus.”

As if he already knew his name, the infant opened his
dark blue eyes and looked directly at the older child.

That night, when we went to bed, Divina was obviously
unsure about something. I could tell it was important, but I trusted that she
would tell me in her own time. However, when the morning brought Vivian and
Nano to get Sammy, my mate’s worry increased.
Suspicious.
Mordon left
the same day as Sammy.

We were sitting on the porch at sunset four days
later. The cheery little porch was one of the few additions made to the house
when I moved out of the cabin Edward and I shared for three years, and into
Divina’s.

I was reading a book while she rocked Ronez, who was
the most perfect baby anyone could ever ask for. He was completely healthy,
fairly alert, and never very fussy. Our life could have been calm and easy…
except I was the Guardian of Earth, she was a god, and we lived on Duran.
Really, my best friend was part dragon, my uncle was the Guardian of Duran, my
mate was the goddess of Earth, I had god magic, and I had a newborn son. What
could possibly happen?

Vivian and Nano appeared in front of the house with
Sammy crying his eyes out. Both parents looked extremely frazzled. Vivian
brought her child straight to me. “He’s been having horrible nightmares. He’s terrified
of the dark. We don’t know what to do.” Vivian set her son in my arms and sat
on the floor to rest her forehead against my knee.

I could tell by the tears in her eyes that she was at
wits end, so I petted her head to calm her with one hand and tried to sooth
Sammy with the other. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“He found me.”

I didn’t have to ask who he was talking about. I
looked at Divina, but she just moved her chair closer. Sammy stopped crying and
tried to get a better look at Ronez. It was cool out, so the newborn was
wrapped up pretty well.

“Is Ron cold?” he asked.

Seeing as how the boy had a habit of renaming
everyone, I was not surprised that he had already chosen a nickname for his
little brother.

“If he were cold, he would cry,” I said. He frowned
at me as if I said the weirdest thing in the world. “Divina? How did Vretial
find him?” I asked her.

“I’m not sure,” she insisted. “You have to understand
that anything to do with Ronez is a mystery to me. I used that spell to protect
Sammy… but when Ronez was born, I couldn’t feel it any more. I can’t be
certain, but I think it was transferred to him somehow.”

“So Ronez is protected instead?”

“No, I think Ronez
is
the protection spell. I
think the magic that protected Sammy is now coming from Ronez. However, as he
is only four days old, his magic can’t actually reach Dios.”

“So just put another protection spell over him,” I
said.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t. My magic was too good. I
created it to protect him from a god, so now that the magic is not coming from
me, it will protect him even from me. I can’t do anything for as long as the
magic is still active and still so powerful. It’s my magic, just not on my side
anymore.”

“But Vretial can get to him?”

“When Sammy is not with Ronez, yes. If Vretial really
did survive.”

“What spell?” Vivian asked. We had never actually
explained to her that a dark god, which we had supposedly defeated, was after
her child. It was not a fun conversation.

That night, Sammy slept peacefully with no fear of
the dark. He had no nightmares or visits and the next morning, I woke to his
laughing. I could sense that he and Divina were in the kitchen even before I
opened my eyes. I sat up and rubbed sleep out of my eyes with a contented sigh.

Our bedroom had me a bit spoiled. Before I lived
here, the house was dark and a bit creepy on the inside with skulls and candles
everywhere. It would remind me of the classic old witch’s house deep in the
forest.

The house was enchanted to make the exterior seem
small and cozy, but inside it was quite a bit larger. Whereas there was no
paint or décor before, now the bedroom had some dark colors and satin. The
house still had the skulls, candles, creepy roots, and potions lying around,
but with the addition of some children’s toys strewn about. There were
children’s fairytales next to Divina’s magic grimoires. It was more
comfortable. Other modifications to the house included indoor plumbing… which
ran on magic instead of electricity.

My own touches were minimal, since I had never
developed the habit of accumulating possessions. There wasn’t much I needed
when there was no electricity. I tried getting a laptop before, but my magic
caused it to crash constantly.

It was Divina that made it a home for me.

I got up to find Ronez not in his crib, so I followed
the sounds to the kitchen. It wasn’t a large kitchen, but it was a bit perkier
than the rest of the house. A dark red, wooden kitchen table dominated the
middle of the room. To the right of the door was a large ice chest that just
mysteriously kept cool. I had to be careful about reaching into it without
looking, because Divina loved experimenting with potions and sometimes her…
ingredients, had to be kept cold. Along the south wall was a dark wood counter
with a simple metal sink and cabinets above it.

Sammy sat on the table, mixing the contents of a huge
bowl. The concoction looked suspiciously like pancake batter, which I could
determine because he had it and flour all over him. Divina had Ronez in her
arms and was engaging his entire focus with a rattle toy.

Sammy held out the spoon to her, dripping everywhere
except on the infant. “Taste,” he insisted. She leaned over to lick the spoon,
then made a face.

“It needs chocolate,” she declared.

Sammy jumped up, yelling with joy and nearly dropping
the bowl to the floor. Divina easily steadied him with one hand and helped him
down from the table. I knew she only suggested chocolate to make him happy,
because she hated that stuff. Sammy ran to the cabinet under the counter to
grab the bottle of chocolate, turned to run back with his treasure, and froze
when he saw me.

“Dad! We wanted to bring you breakfast in bed,” he
said, upset that his surprise was spoiled. My heart still skipped a beat after
so many months of him calling me that. When he was safe from the demon and
reunited with his parents, he called them “mommy,” and “daddy.” While he
stopped calling me and Mordon “dada,” and “mama,” he now called us “dad,” and
“mom.” He never explained it, even though he stopped hiding his ability to
speak well beyond the natural ability of a child his age.

Divina’s notion was that he actually had little to no
control over his power until he came in contact with mine. The longer we were
together, the more his power surfaced, and his mental processing was the first
to be affected, followed closely by his linguistic skills.

“That sounds great, but it might be cleaner to eat in
here. You know I get crumbs in the bed because I’m human,” I joked.

“You’re human? That explains some things,” Mordon
jested, entering the kitchen silently. I hadn’t realized he was here, so he
must have been trying to sneak up on us.

“Mom!” Sammy screamed and ran to him.

I moved out of the way, then leaned down to give
Divina a kiss. Ronez stirred and she handed him to me, carefully supporting his
head. That was probably the thing she was most vigilant about.

Shinobu crawled up my leg to settle on my shoulder.
She sniffed at Ronez, but knew not to get too close. Bored with what she saw,
she hopped onto the table and started licking up the spilled batter.

“Morning, Mordon. Weren’t you here to bug us
yesterday?” I asked.

Sammy gasped. “He doesn’t mean it, Mom.”

“I know. Besides…” he shot me a fake glare, “I went
through all the trouble to bring him something.”

On cue, Edward walked in. He looked tired from his
travels, but still narrowed right in on Ronez. We had kept the name a secret
from him, just in case Regivus was wrong and we had a girl. When I told him my
baby was named after his twin brother, I heard his breath catch. He held Ronez
gently. He was huge compared to that baby, but was so gentle.

He ruffled my hair. “You did good, kid.”

“Well, not good,” I corrected with a sigh.

Divina laughed. Edward was more of a father to me
than anyone else, and I had him as a role model. I could be a good father
because I had one… it just came a little later in life than for most people.

Standing in this kitchen with my immortal wife, my
father-like uncle, my brother-like best friend, my unrelated son, and my
impossible newborn, I never felt more at home. It didn’t matter where we were,
what happened, or even what would come next. This was my family.

*          *          *

It was bittersweet when Vivian and Nano took Sammy
back, only to return the next morning because they couldn’t calm him down.
Vivian set Sammy down on the floor to discuss our options. When we came to no
conclusions, I realized it was quiet. We found Sammy had crawled into Ronez’s
crib and they were both sound asleep.

Nano was Guardian of Dios and could not live on
Duran. Sammy was being haunted by a dark god and could not stray far from
Ronez. Vivian had a horrible decision to make; leave her mate, or leave her
son. Until Ronez was old enough to actively use his magic, we could not risk
that Vretial was not truly gone.

Vivian left with her husband and Sammy was ours for
the next few years. I thought Divina would be upset, but she genuinely cared
about Sammy. A few days after Sammy’s parents said goodbye to him, he crawled
into my bed. Divina and I were reading, having put both boys to bed, so we
didn’t expect it. He sniffled, his eyes puffy and red. “Did Mommy not want me
anymore? Was I bad? Was I too weird?”

I hugged him and Divina ruffled his hair. “No, honey.
Your parents love you very much.”

“They left me. They’re not coming back.”

“They…” I started to disagree when I saw the look in
his eyes. “You saw this? You saw the future?” I asked.

He nodded and started crying. “They won’t take me
back. Why, Dad? What did I do?”

Children always thought it was their fault. My own
mother thought I was too weird, but I would never tell Sammy this, because it
was different. Vivian was a good woman who loved her son for everything he was.
My mother was a nightmare.

“I don’t know why they aren’t coming back, but it’s
not because of anything you did. They left because they love you and want you
to be happy and safe. We think you are safer here.”

“With Ron?”

“Yes.”

“Vretial doesn’t talk to me when Ron is close.” He
was quiet for a few minutes. “I’m going to be a Guardian someday, like you,
right?”

“Yes. You will be the Guardian of Lore, the new
planet of Avoli’s. You met him, remember?” I asked.

He nodded. “I think he was good, like you.”

“Are you okay being the Guardian?”

“Yes, Dad. I can protect that world from monsters. I
will make sure Avoli stays good and doesn’t do anything bad. You can trust me
to watch him. When do I have to go?” he asked.

I wondered why he thought his job was to babysit a
god. “When you are all grown up. You have lots of time. Lore isn’t even ready
for a Guardian yet. You can tell him to make sure the world has plenty of water
for you to swim in,” I said. The child could be an Olympian medalist on Earth
when he got older, which was odd, because he was half dile and dile were known
to sink. None of them could swim.

*          *          *

Over the next year, life settled down for us. Divina
was bored out of her mind and left the house for days at a time to have her own
adventures. I wanted to be out in the world, too… but we had a tiny baby to
care for, and it always fell to me. I wished my boys had their mother around a
little more, but she was a god and couldn’t endure sitting around.

Teaching Sammy was great; he was eager to learn and
highly skilled in all subjects, from math to magic. Ronez grew from a beautiful
little baby to a wonderful, small child. He was happy all the time. He would
follow Sammy around, first by crawling, then by walking. He was an inquisitive
boy who wanted to observe everything. Even when he never spoke, he was always
watching. Ron grew from a baby who almost never cried to a child who never
whined. Leaving him alone seemed to be the worst thing we could ever do. I
wondered how a child could look so abandoned when I left him in his crib to
give Sammy a bath.

Sammy insisted on Ron being everywhere with us. Most
children his age would be jealous of a new baby, but Sammy was very protective.
Sammy knew when Ronez was upset, even if Ron didn’t show it.

By the time Ron was two, I knew their sibling bond
was permanent. I also started to doubt myself as a parent. Ron had always been
such a good baby… but he never talked. Even Sammy spoke at two, and Ron was
half Iadnah. I couldn’t confide my fears to Divina, because I knew she would
blame and doubt herself.

Sammy took it in stride. He would tell us what Ron
wanted and thought. My son would never disagree or even seem upset by it.
Furthermore, if we asked Ron a question, he would often look at Sammy, who
would answer for him. When asked about it, Sammy would say that Ron didn’t want
to talk.