LEGACY

  Jacob

  20th day of Silvershine, Year 1011 of the Custorian Calendar

  This might be the weed talking, but when we finally go home, I’m taking the recipe for this meat stew back with me. I don’t know if Daria prepped it from scratch or not, but either way, it’s outstanding. The spices complemented the meat perfectly, and it wasn’t drowning in vegetables. The ratio was spot on.

  Then again, other than that snack in the truck, I hadn’t eaten since I'd wrecked a hot pocket in the break room back at work yesterday. So my opinion of this stew might be slightly skewed by how hungry I was.

  “This is a short tale that every child in this world is taught," Thena began. "I apologize if it goes contrary to whatever religion you may follow, but this is the true history of how both our worlds came to be,” Thena said.

  “We’re not religious, so fire away,” Ash reassured her.

  “Right,” she let out an exhale and started nodding her head anxiously. “We don’t know where they came from, the ten Gods that created the ten realms, or universes as you call them. Our world is in one realm and yours in another.”

  She picked up a stick, and in the dirt she drew ten circles in a row by her feet. Then she dragged the stick, creating a single line that ran through them.

  “The realms are connected linearly as so. To travel between realms, you must pass through one of the two rifts that reside within each. That will allow you to travel down the line to the next one. Our's is the fourth realm.” With the stick, she pointed at the fourth circle from the left. “Your realm is one over to the right, the fifth on the line, and thus connected to our realm by the rift in the royal capital of Elric.”

  She looked up at us. “Is this clear so far?”

  “Yeah, so there are two rifts on this world. One rift going left on the line of universes and one rift going right?” Ash asked.

  Thena nodded. “Correct. The second rift is in the demon nation, just outside their capital city of Davosh.”

  She straightened back up and nodded, seemingly confident to continue her story.

  “Each god created one realm and set a prime world within it on a path to bring forth life that could evolve, and explore the beauty of the realm they had been gifted."

  “The gods watched on like proud parents as the life they had created began to thrive and civilizations grew. They swore a vow to remain uninvolved and merely observe their realms, no matter what may transpire. However, one of the gods broke the vow for reasons unknown. Their name was Interitus, the mightiest of the gods. He descended to the mortal plane, sacrificing much of his godly power in the transition, and led the race he'd created through the rift.”

  She placed the stick in the first circle on the left and dragged it into the second.

  “The race that he commanded was the Brax.”

  “Those nasty bastards from the forest, right?” I asked.

  “Yes, they are a plague upon all life. A cancer that can reproduce and spread with terrifying speed. They are strong, intelligent, and led by his five acolytes; beings that Interitus granted incredible power and supernatural abilities.

  “You see, they didn’t come for resources, to conquer, or even enslave the inhabitants of the realm they invaded. It was nothing more than the genocide of all sapient life. For what purpose this mission was bestowed upon them by Interitus, we still don’t know. All we know is the terror and bloodshed they brought with them.”

  Thena paused for a moment, her eyes dropping away. Her jaw clenched, and a look of concern grew on Ash’s face as he watched her intently.

  “When they invaded the first realm, the gods watched the genocide happen, but abstained from action, holding true to their vow not to interfere with the mortal struggle." Thena drew an X through the second circle. "The Brax moved on to the next realm. Again, the gods watched as the races that lived there peacefully we slaughtered. Then the Brax came here,” she drew an X on the third circle and tapped on the fourth.

  “Before they arrived, a little over one thousand years ago, our world had been at war. Each nation, fighting the next over petty differences such as race, religion, or territory. But when the Brax arrived through the rift on the Demon continent, everything changed. The invading creatures began to decimate all the races of our world. The kingdoms joined forces to combat the threat, and still they were pushed back.”

  “So, what happened?” I asked tensely. This was starting to sound really familiar. Ash had stood and begun to pace, one hand wrapped around his stomach while another rubbed his chin.

  She continued, “Custos, the god that created our realm, could watch no more. He relinquished his godhood and descended to the mortal plane to fight for us. To save us. He united the races of our world, giving them hope. He taught them of magic, and slowly the tide of battle began to turn. Ultimately, he led them in a final fight against Interitus’s army. A fight where he and the fallen god he once called brother finally collided. One fought for life. The other for death. Though Custos fought bravely, Interitus and his Acolytes overpowered him and landed a blow from which he would never recover."

  Everyone in the camp had gone still and sat straighter as Thena spoke. Daria's hand rested over her heart. Her eyes glistened with tears in the lamplight. My own heart began to punch against my chest as memories came flooding back.

  Holy shit... I do know this story.

  “As our god lay there, clinging to life, a single being placed himself before Interitus and raised his sword in challenge. It was a man. Just a simple, foolish, normal man named Baskerian. He had no chance of besting this enemy… but there he stood. Without a hint of fear in his eyes. Driven by the hope that Custos had inspired in him. Interitus laughed uncontrollably at the sight of a lowly human daring to challenge him. But Custos didn’t laugh. He sensed a light from within that man. A strength of soul that he did not realize could manifest within the beings of this or any world.

  “In his final moments, Custos made the man an offer. He would become one with the man’s soul and give him the power to save not only his world, but all worlds. Doing so would end Custos’ life, but through this sacrifice, victory was still possible.

  “The man understood the weight of what was being asked, and accepted our god into himself. He was no longer the man he was before. He had become something...more. A Guardian. He struck quickly, before Interitus fully grasped what had happened, and delivered a mortal wound upon his enemy. Seeing their lord on the verge of death, the five acolytes took Interitus and retreated through the rift with what remained of the Brax army. The battle had been won, though the losses were great. The Guardian used his power to seal the rift, that it may hopefully never open again.”

  I turned around to see Ash standing there, staring at me with the same serious expression that I knew was on my face. We were way passed the possibility of Thena's story being bullshit.

  “That day, the Guardian told the kings and queens of the great races to end their wars and remain united. For if Interitus survived his wounds and one day recovered his strength, he would break the seal upon the rift and invade our world again.

  “He said that each generation, Custos’s soul would be passed on to a new champion of our world within his family line. If the day ever came when the Brax returned, then the kings of the allied nations need not but summon them. He gave the kings and queens a symbol that would help them locate the soul when the hour of darkness approached once more. That symbol was the mark of the Guardian. The same one that you both wear upon your skin. This is your legacy.”

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  The joint dropped from my hand, and I stared at Thena as if she'd just told me I forgot to flush down a turd at a hot girl’s party. A wave of nausea washed over me as I glanced at my brother.

  “Ash, wasn't that...”

  He was rubbing his forehead and groaning.

  “Yeah. One of the stories that Mom and Grandma used to tell us when we were little. And all that Guardian talk?”

  I looked down at the ground, the pieces falling into place. "Mom’s Dojo Creed…” I mumbled. My mind flashed to the final words of the creed, painted on the wall behind the boxing ring. I shook my head and looked at Thena. “Okay, assuming that this isn’t just a fable and it’s real, then I have a few follow-up questions for you. Starting with, why don’t I have any superpowers? You’re saying I have a god-soul in me, but I’ve never been anything but a really, really, good-looking guy that’s in great shape... wait, is it Ash who has the soul and I just got dragged along?”

  “Ignoring his fantasy about being good-looking, this ugly bastard brings up a good point,” Ash said, while jabbing his thumb in my direction. “I don’t have any powers either, so what’s the deal?”

  “This is something that, for the moment, I am just speculating about, but… I think it’s both of you.”

  Everyone around us looked confused.

  “What?” Ash and I said.

  “The circle should have only brought the person with the soul. But since you two are twins, then I think it is possible that you two… share Custos’ soul. That is just what I suspect, anyway. I could very well be wrong.”

  Ash and I looked at each other skeptically.

  “As to your powers, when we were driving to find you, I was on the transvox with my father, in Arromak. He explained the circumstances by which you arrived here and said that it was possible that you might not arrive here with your abilities awakened. The soul has been apart from this realm for centuries, so it has likely gone dormant. Now that you have returned, it will begin to awaken, and you should begin to notice changes within yourselves. Maybe. Have you by any chance experienced anything that you would consider abnormal?”

  Ash and I looked at each other and shook our heads.

  I told her, “Sorry, but no signs of second puberty just yet.”

  "Yeah, Jacob's still as lame as he usually is."

  She nodded. “I see… what were your other questions?”

  “If you knew for almost a thousand years these things might come back, why weren’t you ready for them? I mean, we shouldn’t even be necessary. If there are only two places in this world that a rift can open to another realm, and only one of them leads to where the Brax live, then why wasn’t it locked down?”

  She sighed and leaned her head back slightly. “That was the carelessness of time,” she answered as she looked at me again. “After about six hundred years of the Brax not returning, the kingdoms began to think that Interitus truly had perished and the threat had passed. The nations were living in peace, so they all drastically scaled down their militaries. Truth be told, there were few left in these modern times that even still believed the Brax were real until a few weeks ago. After a thousand years, they had become nothing more than a myth. Much like both of you.”

  I shook my head and mumbled, “I told Dad I was legendary, but this isn’t what I meant.”

  “The Demon Nation, however, did stay vigilant up through current times as the rift was beside their capital city. They were the only military that still went about as though the Brax could invade at any moment. About a month ago, we lost contact with their entire nation. Our military was suspicious and quite worried after an unusual transmission suddenly came through by way of a very outdated technology, so our generals sent most of the platoons from the northern territories to investigate as a precaution.

  “It took time for them to reach their destination as the Transport Ring to the Davosh was not connecting, so we couldn’t send immediate aid to help and investigate. Sixteen days ago, the few surviving soldiers of the nearly two thousand that had been sent made it back to the border, bearing a grim message. The Brax had returned. Davosh had fallen. It was about this time that waves of refugees began to cross the borders between nations, looking for shelter and aid as the Brax pursued them.”

  “I need a minute,” Ash walked off a short way from the group, his hands tightly wrapped around the back of his head. I needed some time to process all this, too, but one other thing had caught my interest.

  “You keep mentioning demons. Are they allies? I mean, where we’re from, all literature on demons says they’re monsters from hell sent by the devil to kill us.”

  Surprisingly, Thena looked affronted by this question.

  “Yes, they are most certainly our allies. They are not born of any devil, nor are they devils themselves. They are just a race upon this world, like the humans, Dwarves, Beast Folk, or Elves. It was ignorance like that, brought forth by the religions born of your world, and their hate for anything pertaining to magic or other species, that made our world seal the rift to yours-” she stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes went wide.

  “What was that last part?” Ash demanded as he came storming back.

  “Shit,” Oren started, “the king wanted to break that to them.”

  “What exactly do you mean by ‘sealed the rift’? That sounds permanent.” I asked, standing up.

  “Well, you see-”

  “Thena, you should probably wait and let-”

  “Oren, I am your commanding officer. If you have an opinion on this matter, I will hear about it privately. Am I understood?” She silenced him quickly with that, but it was obvious now that she was trying to dig herself out of a massive hole.

  “You two deserve honesty...and that is what I shall give you. Long ago, people from our world would cross the rift and explore yours. The rift on Earth opened in a place you know as Europe. We would go to learn of other cultures, sciences, inventions, and medicine to help the societies of Fullna progress. This is how the different races from our world ended up in the fables and lore of yours. But, as religions like Christianity became more dominant in your world, it became less safe for our kind there.”

  She brushed her hair behind her pointed ear again, and it hit me. Back in those times, women were burned at the stake just for being accused of witchcraft. If any of the non-human races she’d listed off had been spotted on Earth, they would have been hunted and killed. Including Thena.

  “So, the decision was made around two hundred years ago to seal the rift before the people of your world could discover how to open it and invade ours in a holy war to kill those that did not fit their image of what God’s creations were supposed to be.”

  Ash stood beside me silently with his arms crossed. He looked furious, but I knew he was receptive to what she was saying.

  “One final exodus of human families was allowed to leave and take up residence on your world, but with one condition. We would let them settle around the world and live without worry for six decades. Then we would begin summoning back one member from each different family every thirty years. They were to bring back with them knowledge and items relating to medicine, science, and technology. Anything they felt would benefit the people of our world. The people returning to Fullna were to be well-trained in one of those fields so they could teach us how to best implement the knowledge they returned with. Your ancestor must have been among those who left in this last group.”

  “Okay, if people can be summoned back here, then can’t we still be sent back to our world?” Ash asked with his arms still crossed.

  “It’s sealed,” she replied, looking him straight in the eyes and sounding remorseful. “We can send no one there, and they can send no one here. All that can occur now is a forceful summons back to our world. It’s like a selective one-way valve to protect our world from yours." She shook her head. "To even summon someone back to this world, it takes no less than one hundred extremely powerful mages to power the circle. The only way the seal could be undone is if Interitus or one of equal strength were to destroy it.”

  I glared at Thena, and she averted her eyes from mine, seeing the anger and pain they contained.

  I guess I’m just gonna have to get strong enough to knock down that door.

  Ash was standing beside me with his backpack now slung over his shoulder. We didn’t say anything more to Thena. Instead, we just walked back toward the truck to grab the camping pads and small pillows they had set out for us.

  As I approached Baylor, he looked up at me. The little dog ears that had been pointing up on top of his head were drooping now.

  He spoke so softly I could barely hear him say, “I’m sorry, Mr. Jacob.”

  I stopped and stared at him.

  Why the hell was he so sad about this? He didn’t do anything wrong.

  “You have nothing to be sorry about, kid.” I looked away and followed after Ash. He had already grabbed the pads and pillows and disappeared to the far side of the truck, away from the lights.

  We both settled in for the night. For a while, there was only silence between us. We stared at the cloudless sky above, and I marvelled at constellations that I’d never seen before. They twinkled and danced around moons of gold and green that glowed like jewels in the black. It was beautiful. But I had no intention of living the rest of my life under this sky. I still wasn’t convinced that we were stuck here. Not yet.

  A short distance away, the group was having a heated discussion. I couldn't tell what they were saying, but the sadness and regret in their voices carried through. After a few minutes, I became sure that it wasn't just an act they were putting on. They really did feel bad about what was done to us.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Ash staring at a picture he had taken out of his wallet. A good indicator that he was not in the mood for conversation. We both had a lot to think about. Our situation here, worrying about Dad, and Ash was still battling his demons.

  Sometimes my brother just needed time to process things by himself. Usually, that was fine.

  But there was one time that I shouldn’t have left him alone. I knew I shouldn't have, but I did it anyway–believing him when he said he was fine. That mistake almost cost me a brother. Not a day goes by that I don't remember finding him, white as a sheet, lying in a pool of blood on that bathroom floor, whispering "I'm sorry" over and over. He was so cold when I pulled him into my arms, screaming at the 911 operator to hurry.

  Ash put the picture back into his wallet, and I turned my head to face him.

  “Ash?”

  “…What?”

  “I swear to you, I’m gonna get us home. I don’t know how, but I will. I promise.”

  He reached over and bumped my fist.

  “Night, Jacob. Love you, bro.”

  “Yeah, I love me too.”

  Then, as an afterthought, I glanced to the top of the Hauler and called up, “Good night, Gimli. We love you.”

  After a few seconds of silence, a gruff voice above us replied, “Fuck you.”

  Strangely enough, that let me fall asleep with a smile.