Chapter 4
It had been three weeks since the monsters had attacked. Everyone is gathered in Kaim and Sarah's place, the Mansion near the Northern Cape. Ming and Sarah are in the kitchen preparing for supper when Sed enters.
"Do you have any news?"
"Nothing we don't know already." Sed had taken the Nautilus and sailed along the coast, searching for survivors. They had found some and he brought them with him onboard, but not as many as he had hoped for. He sailed the entire east coast until the Pirate Fortress, his home. "My fortress is in shambles, it looks like a big battle had taken place there. Someone had taken the boat from the hideout, I am sure Bran has made it."
"But you don't know where he is?"
"I am sure he will find us Sarah. You need a hand?"
"We would appreciate that," Ming said while handing him some plates.
Sed makes his way in the dining room and places the plates on the table. Here too the conservation covers the monster attacks from a few weeks ago. Had it been three weeks already? It feels so much longer, Sed thinks. It was a hard and long three weeks and much had happened.
"We are not strong enough," Kaim's voice brings Sed back in the present. Sed takes a seat across of Kaim and listens to the conservation.
"If we fight them one at the time we must be able to kill them."
"I don't think it will be that easy Mack," Jansen replied, "and it seems nowadays they are never alone."
"But their must be something we can do?"
"You can help us get ready for diner," Sarah had brought the cutlery to the table and is on her way back to the kitchen, "you too Cooke.
Knowing they shouldn't ignore their grandmother they rise from their chairs and follow her.
"He has a point," Sed continued as if Sarah hadn't intervened in their conservation. "If we could split them up somehow and fight them one at a time we have a good chance at beating them."
"But we don't even know how many there are," Jansen starts counting on his fingers. "You spotted two, Kaim saw two, the children saw one, Tolten saw two and I saw two. That makes it a total of nine. But you did see what they did to other towns, there must be more of them."
"But we have to do something!" Sed slams his hand on the table, "before they kill us all.
"They are not all bad," Tolten intervened. "If it wasn't for this Odin I wouldn't stand here right now." His daughter is sitting in his lap, browsing through a picture book. She has no idea what her father and his friends are talking about. "Nor would she."
"That is one good one against eight. Still the odd are against us."
Mack and Cooke enter the dining room carrying their diner. Sarah and Ming follow them. After they have placed the bowls on the table everyone takes a seat and starts scooping food on their plates.
They eat in silence. All of them lost in their own thought. Thinking about what had happened and what will happen in the future.
Ming is the last to put her cutlery down and asks, "who wants a dessert?"
Nobody reacts, nobody is in the mood for a dessert. The same goes for eating, but they know they have to keep eating, to keep their strength up. But the food isn't tasteful and it is harsh to swallow.
"I want one," Toltens daughter Seth said. Her blond hair is put in a braid and her sparkling blue eyes look hopefully to Ming.
"Then you get one sweetie," Ming ruffles her hair and goes to the Kitchen to retrieve the dessert.
Even though nobody said they wanted anything, Ming brought some for everyone. For Seth she brought some ice cream, but for the others she brought a strong drink. "I thought we all could use some."
Reluctant everybody drank their spiked drink and Ming had finished her nonalcoholic drink. Seth wasn't finished with her ice yet, and it seems she hadn't eaten most of it with all the ice cream that is covering her face. Cooke rushed to the kitchen to get a tow to clean Seth's face.
"More please?" She said with pleading eyes after Cooke had wiped the ice cream of her face.
"Not today sweetheart," her father replied, "you have had enough for one day." Seth begins to pout, she looks at her father with her big pleading blue eyes. "Fine, you can have some more," Tolten just can't resist his little girls puppy eyes.
Seth turns on his lap put her arms around his neck and gives a small kiss on his cheek. "Thanks daddy!" She climbs of his lap and rushes to the kitchen, her empty bowl and a spoon in her hands.
"I will get her some," Cooke starts chuckling. "You really can't deny her anything huh?"
Tolten looks at his daughter lovingly and shrugs, "I can't."
"Will you tell me a story?"
"Of course I will." Cooke had offered Tolten to bring Seth to bed tonight. Cooke loves to spend some time with Seth, she loves her as a sister. She knows Mack feels the same way about her. She can't believe Seth is already three years old, she can remember the day of her birth like it was yesterday. Tolten was so nervous about the birth of his first child that he almost passed out. Thankfully that didn't happen, she thinks grinning. "Which story would you like to hear?"
"About mom."
It had been a full year since Seth's mother died. A terrible disease had taken her life away from her way too early. There was no cure, they had tried everything but nothing helped. Neither medicine nor magic seemed to help her get better. Thankfully it didn't take to long for death to claim her, every waking moment she was in so much pain, even the strongest painkillers couldn't ease her pain. Tolten was devastated. Every single citizen of Uhra was present at their Queens burial. So was the group of people sitting in the living room. Ever since her death it had been hard for Tolten to raise his daughter on his own, he was doing fine until the monsters attacked. Don't think about them now, she scolds herself, let's worry about them later.
"Your mom is an angel now," Cooke begins, "she is living in heaven, my mom is with her too and they are best friends. There are many other angels and you mother is friends with them too. Your mother has the most beautiful wings you have ever seen. And she watches over you," Cooke touches Seth nose which makes her giggle, "like my mother watches over Mack and me."
"Your mother has wings too?" Seth can't suppress a yawn.
"She does have wings, but they are not so pretty as your mothers wings." Seth is trying hard to keep her eyes open, she doesn't want to sleep. "Some nights they leave the heavens and fly into our dreams. Here…" Cooke hears the soft snoring of Seth and stops talking, "let's finish it another time," she whispers. She tucks her under the covers and places a kiss on her forehead. She tiptoes out of the room, afraid to wake her up. Dimming the light, Seth is still afraid of the dark, and demands to have some light in her room, she closed the door and makes her way to the living room.
Descending from the stairs she is surprised to hear the doorbell ringing, who can that be? She wonders.
"I'll get that!" She shouts and makes her way to the front door. Opening the door she is glad to see a familiar face standing there, "Bran!" she hugs him tightly "I am so glad that you are okay." She looks him in the eyes, "you are fine, right?"
"I am fine. Is Sed around? I have something important to tell."
"Sure, come on in." After Bran had entered she closed the door and walks to the living room, "follow me."
When both of them enter the living room the conversation falls silent when they see who is standing next to Cooke.
"Bran," Sed jumps up and gives him a bear hug. "It is so good to see you again. Are you alright?"
"Yes I am fine," Sed released him and pointed to a chair that was unoccupied. Bran sits down and continues, "I see you made it out okay. You did hear about the monsters right?"
"We have all been attacked by them yes, Jansen replied, "we were lucky to make it, but a lot of others weren't that lucky."
"I know, I have seen them," Bran strokes his newly grown beard, "most cities have been destroyed."
"Did you find any survivors?" Sed asks his friend.
"I did, most of them have found shelter along the coast. There had been no sight of the monsters outside of the cities."
"We have ordered the White Boa and the Nautilus to sail along the entire coast looking for survivors," Ming said, "there are a lot of people we can hold aboard."
"You can't save everyone."
"We know. But we must try," Ming said while stroking her belly.
"Bran. Have you encountered some of these monsters?"
"I did, I saw two in the Fortress. But the strangest thing is they were fighting against each other. And only after one of them saved me from the other."
"So that makes two?" Sarah mumbles.
"Two?" Bran asks confused.
"I too have been saved by one of these monsters," Tolten said to Bran, "I was attacked by one and then this Odin saved my life."
"I see. I heard people talking about other monsters so I decided to check it out. In Uhra and Numara there are at least six of these monsters. In Tosca and Saman I saw four others."
"Whom did you see?" After Bran had described all of the monsters he saw, they got to the conclusion he saw three other monsters beside the ones that they had encountered so far.
"I didn't see that Odin or that great Sea serpent but I did see a small green monster holding a knife in Uhra. In Saman I saw this three headed dog and that rabbit like creature."
"That makes it a total of fourteen monsters which we have seen so far, with only two of them fighting on our side." Sarah had described all the monsters they have seen so far in her journal.
"I don't know if they fight on our side, the monster that helped my said he was fighting for his own side. Whatever that means."
"But they didn't kill us," Tolten sees Bran wants to say something, "please, let me finish. They didn't kill us yet. All I want to say is that we should try to avoid them if possible. Maybe they will help us fight the other monsters and maybe the wont. Either way we have to be prepared to kill them in the end."
"That means if we even manage to kill one," Jansen said softly.
"There had to be a way," Cooke said while taking a seat next to Mack. "There must be something we can do."
"We need more information," Sarah closed her journal and puts it in her lap, "I have looked in the library but I haven't found anything so far, but there must be something we can find to help us."
"Captain if it is alright with you I would like to help find survivors."
"That would be appreciated. With both the Nautilus and the Escape we must be able to save more people."
"Yes sir!"
"We should also check the libraries of Uhra and Numara," Ming said, "perhaps you could drop us of first before you go check for more survivors?"
"You are not going anywhere," Jansen replied hotly. "You will stay here."
Before Ming had any chance to argue Kaim said, "I agree with him, you should stay here."
"So who is going?" Mack asks the group.
"We need two party's, one for Uhra and one for Numara."
"I will go to Uhra." Tolten replied.
"And I will go to Numara." Jansen said.
"I will go with Jansen." Kaim said while drumming his fingers on the table. "Sarah will go with Tolten."
"What about us?" Cooke asks for both herself and her brother.
"I need you to stay here. You need to help Ming search the library here."
"That won't take all three of us." Mack replied angrily. He doesn't like to be treated like a child. He can take care of himself. He can help them.
"I need someone to look after my daughter."
Mack takes a deep breath before replying. "We will look after her and search the library." He looks to Cooke and he sees she agrees with him.
"Sed you will go with Tolten and Sarah to Uhra and Bran will take us to Numara." Kaim looks everyone in the eye, asking them if they have any objections to this plan, seeing there is non he said, "we leave tomorrow."
One by one everyone said their goodnights and went to bed. After all those restless night everyone falls asleep immediately. Finally they have found something they can concentrate on and hopefully they will find the clue they need to destroy these monsters
Sweet dreams, the wind whispers, leaving two white feather's behind.
"What takes them so long?" Cooke asks to nobody in particular, grabbing another book from the large staple on the table before her.
Turning another page Ming traces her finger along the lines. "I don't know. But don't worry so much, they will be fine."
"I know Kaim and Sarah will be fine, they are immortal, but what about…."
"Tolten and Jansen will be fine." Ming intervened.
"How can you be so sure Aunt Ming?" Mack walks to the shelve and gets himself another heavy book. He takes his seat next to Seth again, she too is flipping through a book. Although her book is a children's book filled with pictures.
"I just know. I would know if something terrible happened to them."
Knowing Ming would never lie to them they continue their search for any information which can help them.
All three of them work in silence, the turning of the pages and their breaths the only sound in the room.
"Aah!" Seth suddenly screams. She drops the book she is holding and climbs in Mack's lap. She clutches his shirt and starts sobbing. Mack strokes her back and asks, "what's wrong?" But he gets no answer.
Cooke looks at the book Seth was reading and a, "Oh," leaves her mouth. "Seth found something." She said while she walks over to Ming with the book in her hands. "This looks like the monster Bran encountered at the Pirate Fortress. It sure looks scary."
"Why would that monster's picture be in a children's book?" Flipping through the pages she can easily recognize most of these monsters. Closing the book she sees the title, "Guardians of the World," she reads out loud.
"Guardians of the World? More like destroyers of the world." Cooke said sarcastically.
"Anything useful?" Mack asks. Still holding a sobbing Seth on his lap.
"Not much," Ming replied. "It states the names of the monsters."
"That's all?" Cooke said disappointed. She thought they had finally found something useful.
"No," Ming said while reading. Next to every picture there is a small description of the guardians. "It writes about the elemental they posses, but there is nothing about how to destroy them."
"Damn!" Cooke shouts. She looks to Ming and then to Seth, "sorry."
"It's okay," Ming said. She puts the book back on the table and walks to Cooke, giving her a hug. "Everything will be okay. I promise you."
Cooke feels a little tug on her leg and looks down. Seth is standing next to her, her eyes red from the crying. Her arms are lifted and she asks, "up?" Cooke lifts her up to her hip and the three woman hold each other tightly. Finding support in each others presence.
"Come here Mack." Ming said and Mack too is involved in their hug.
"Can I get a hug too?" A very familiar voice asks.
Ming can recognize that voice from everywhere, "Jansen"
She runs up to him and the two share a passionate kiss.
"Kaim. Bran." Mack sees the other two man standing in the door opening. An amused smile on their face. "Did you find anything? Did you see any of these monsters?"
"Unfortunately not," Kaim replied. "We were able to avoid the monsters, although we have seen three of them. The whole city is destroyed." After some silence he asks, "did you find anything?"
"We found a children's book with the pictures of these monsters." Mack grabs the book and gives it to Kaim. "They are called the Guardians of the World?"
"Guardians?" Bran looks over Kaim's shoulders at the book. "That is the one who attacked me." He points at the picture of the guardian named Diablos. "I wonder if the other one is in it too."
Kaim hands the book to Bran, whom starts flipping through the pages immediately.
"Anything useful?"
"Not really. We know their names and their element preference, but that is all."
"You did find something. There must be more."
"Gilgamesh!" Bran suddenly yells. "This is the one who saved my life." He turns the book so everyone can see the picture. "There is not much known about him. Only that he has four swords. I can't recall that he held so many swords, but I was kinda busy escaping so I didn't look clearly"
"Where is dad?" Seth pulls at Cooke's sweater to get her attention.
"He is not here yet. He will get home soon."
"They are not home yet?" Kaim turns his head to Cooke and Seth.
"No." Cooke shakes her head.
"I don't know about you but I am starving." Bran said while rubbing his stomach, "if I could get something to eat I can be on my way again."
"Of course, I will prepare something for all of us." Holding Jansen's hand Ming makes her way to the kitchen.
"Could you go to Uhra first?"
"Yep. I was planning to go south anyway."
"Thank you," Kaim said and he too makes his way up to the kitchen. Followed by Bran, Cooke and Seth.
Two days later Sarah, Tolten and Sed returned. It was still early morning and everyone was asleep in their beds, everyone except one.
"Daddy!" Seth screams and rushed up to her father. Tolten lifts her up and holds her close to his chest.
Sarah and Sed share a smile at this sweet reunion between father and daughter.
Seth's scream had woken up the others and all of them run down the stairs and exchange hugs and handshakes.
"We were worried about you," Cooke confessed, "you were gone for so long."
"We ran into some trouble along the way," Sed replied, "but we made it." a smile graces his face when he hugs Cooke. "And we found something."
"You did?" Hope rises in Cooke's chest. "That's great."
"What did you find?" Kaim asks Sarah after sharing a kiss.
"I brought the book with me," She taps the bag she is carrying. "We would like something to eat first though."
"Of course." Ming already walks to the kitchen. "I will make us some breakfast." Mack and Cooke follow after Ming to help her.
"Let's sit down at the dining table, we can talk while we eat," Jansen leads everyone to the table, they all take a seat and are waiting silently for their breakfast. It doesn't take long before the sandwiches arrive.
"We did encounter Bran." Sed said with his mouth full. "He told us about your little adventure."
"It wasn't anything near that funny." Jansen replied annoyed. What happened was funny, but not for Jansen.
"Anyway. I have sent both the Nautilus and the Escape to the White Boa. The will follow the orders of your General."
"That is good, thank you," Ming replied. "What did you find?"
"A book about our world." Sarah replied. "We found Gongora's diary. There is a lot of information about our world. I found this passage which explained something about some mythical creatures."
She flips through the diary until she finds the right page. "He mentioned something about a children's book. It is called 'the Guardians of the World' in wh..."
"We found that book!" Cooke yells. "I'll get it."
When Cooke returns she gives the book to Sarah. "That's it," Sarah said while flipping through the pages. "They are mythical creatures from our world, but they have been gone for so long that I haven't heard of them before. It says that they were created by somebody called Hyne. She wanted to save this world but she wasn't allowed the leave ours, she made the Guardians and she dispatched them to this world to save humanity. There is not much known about why this world needed saving nor why our people weren't aloud to come. It only states that the Guardians had saved this world and afterwards they disappeared. They hadn't been seen on either world again."
"If only we could go back to our world, we might be able to find some answers."
"But we can't go back," Kaim said. "The Hall of Mirrors is destroyed."
"Gongora wrote in his diary about a way to control these creatures," Sarah searches for the right page and when she found it she reads out loud, "I found out that a powerful magic engine can bring back these Guardians from my home planet." She closed the book and puts it on the table. "He says something about finding some samples to bring them back, but I can't make anything out. His handwriting is hard to read and I doubt he really knew what he was doing."
"But had he brought these Guardians back when he was still here? Shouldn't we have encountered them sooner?"
"It can't have been Gongora." Kaim shifts in his chair. "If he had succeeded he would have bragged about it in the Hall of Mirrors. He wouldn't have fought us, but let others do the fighting. It can't have been him."
"But who else can have brought them back?" Jansen counters, "the only immortals are present in this room, and you didn't even know about them. How can some mortal know about them?"
"Who wrote that book?" Sed asks Sarah.
Sarah gets his point and takes a closer look at the book, "there is no name."
"Gongora wrote that book," a voice said which they hadn't heard for over a decade.
"Momma?"
"Seth!"
"What?" the little girl on Tolten's lap asks. "Daddy? What's wrong?" She asks when she sees the shocked look on everyone's face.
"Hiya all!" Seth said to everyone. Taking a look around the table she sees how much Mack and Cooke have grown and that a child is sitting on Tolten's lap. The child looks at her with big blue eyes. "So cutie, what is your name?" She asks when she ruffles her hair.
"Seth."
A smile forms on Seth's face "Guess what, that is my name too." Both Seth's shake hands "Nice to meet you." Turning to Tolten she asks, "yours?"
He nods his head. That is all he is able to do.
"Well, this is the most warmly welcome I have ever had." She said mockingly. She hadn't finished her sentence or she was already involved in the biggest group hug she had ever seen. Even little Seth who had never seen her before, joined in the hug. "That's much better. Thanks." Everyone takes their seat again and Seth stands at the head of the table. "I have some bad news."
"How did you get back here?" Jansen wants to know, he suspect it had everything to do with the bad news Seth had.
"I am here to find Gongora. But what I did find disturbs me even more." She walks around the table and looks through the window outside. Dark clouds are gathering in the sky, it will rain today. "When did the Guardians attack?"
"Four weeks ago." Sarah replied. "You know about them?"
Seth nods her head and takes a seat between Tolten and Sed. "They told me, about how Hyne created them and after they saved this world they vanished. There is no one in our world who knows if this Hyne is still alive. Nobody has ever seen her."
"Why did Gongora wrote that book?" Kaim asks.
"We don't know. I only know that he was the one who wrote it."
"Did he give these Guardians new life?"
"He did." Seth shakes her head sadly "We had him contained in our world. There was no way he could get out of his prison. He must have had some help because one day he was just gone. We have looked all over for him but we found no trace. He wasn't on our world anymore, so he must be here. That is why they send me back. I have to find Gongora and bring him back."
"And what about these Guardians. Do you have any idea about how we can stop them?"
"I have no idea Ming. I fought one on my way here, they are strong. I barely escaped unharmed. I don't know if we can kill them." Feeling Seth needs some support little Seth climbs on her namesakes lap and makes herself comfortable. Seth puts her arms around her and the little one starts sucking her thumb lightly. Calming both of them with one simple action.
"Maybe there is something in the book?" Cooke suggests and she gets the children's book while Sarah grabs the diary and the both of them make their way to library.
"She sure is a cutie," Seth said to Tolten. "How long have I been gone?"
"Ten years."
That long? "How old is she?"
"Three," Tolten answers.
"Do you have any children?" She asks her son.
Sed's face turns bright red when he answers "not yet, momma."
"So there is someone you like?"
"Um… Yes."
"Good for you son." She pats him lightly on the shoulder, "I want one as sweet as this one. You did good Tolten."
Tolten's face also turns red "Uh…Thank you."
"No thank you." Seth looks Tolten in the eye. "For naming your daughter after me."
"That was my way of thanking you." Tolten replied, a small smile graces his lips. "You did help me a lot, thanks to you I am a better King now."
"Who is her mother?"
"Vera. She died," Tolten's eyes are downcast, "a year ago."
"I am so sorry." Seth squeezes Tolten hands. He looks at the child sleeping in Seth's lap and he can finally put a smile on his face, the lost of his wives doesn't hurt that much anymore. He has a daughter to live for.
All of them are waiting in silence for Sarah and Cooke. Hoping they will find a clue that can help them. Jansen and Mack are helping Ming cleaning the table while Ming is preparing some tea.
When Ming comes back to the living room she almost drops the cups she is carrying while Cooke comes rushing back to the dining room.
"We found something!"
A/N. Please, tell me what you think. Is it good? Is it bad? I don't know until someone tells me;)
