章節 15: Chapter Fifteen: Guardians Of The Edge
The room fell quiet but for the crackling of the fires. Aiden's stomach cramped from hunger. The aromas around him were amazing and he wanted to dive in. But he held himself still as Ashala, Gunesh and the others absorbed what he said. He tried not to take the hurt settling in her eyes to heart.
Gunesh was the first to move. He drew a deep, deep breath, the intake going on and on, swelling his chest to bursting before he let it out in a rush of air. He sagged when he was done but his smile was no less welcoming.
"You have no memory?"
"No," Aiden said. "I have no knowledge." He sat back and sighed himself, wishing he did and wanting more than anything to be able to give them back their hope.
He explained as best he could what happened. He left some of the details of his world out, knowing it would make little or no sense to them anyway. No one spoke or interrupted through his entire story, their stillness making him more and more nervous as the moments went on. At times they stirred, like when he mentioned his parents' disappearing act, and at the description of Tremaine and his instructions not to touch the stone. There were looks of sympathy when he told of how he arrived in the desert above, but no one spoke.
When he finished, he felt drained but relieved he told them everything. He held one thing back. The fact he and his parents were thieves. It wasn't something he thought would be a good piece of information to be tossing around in a group of strangers. They bought his explanation they were hired to find the prize. He doubted any of them would be in a place to doubt him after the story he just relayed.
"I am very sad for you and your family," Gunesh said. Aiden felt emotion rise within him at the man's expression of sorrow. Despite his own hard circumstances, Gunesh still had empathy. The others nodded and murmured their own encouragement. Aiden berated himself for doubting them.
"Thanks."
Gunesh sat back and gestured at the table. "The food grows cold," he said, "and you are in need of nourishment. Please eat, and then we talk again."
Aiden helped himself as Gunesh rose, the others gathering around him. They spoke quietly, too quietly for Aiden to hear what they were saying. While they whispered among themselves, he took advantage of the food, eating with deliberate nibbles despite his ravenous hunger. He learned his lesson with the water.
The only one who stayed close was Ashala. Her face remained calm, stilled, the hurt gone. But then again, so was the hope. And she refused to meet his eyes, a bad sign.
It didn't take long for Aiden's shrunken stomach to groan as it stretched against the food he managed to eat. He sat back and rubbed at it, trying to help it settle so he could eat more. The crowd around Gunesh parted and dispersed, vanishing out the various tunnels in twos and threes with their heads low.
Gunesh took his seat next to Aiden again and picked at the food.
"I'm sorry," Aiden said.
Gunesh smiled at him and squeezed his fingers. Aiden got a better look at the patterns tattooed into his hands and gasped. They were the same as the glyphs on the prize.
Gunesh pointed them out with his other hand as Aiden stared.
"The process begins at a young age," he said. "When the Keeper's apprentice is chosen, the markings are applied at the feet first. They are continued as the chosen one grows and completed the day the apprentice becomes master." Gunesh smiled at Ashala. "My daughter has already begun her journey and will replace me someday."
"What do they mean?"
"No one here knows," Gunesh said. "Only that it is tradition. A Guardian could tell you."
"Why is that?" Aiden was full of questions and Gunesh was happy to oblige.
"Because," he said, deep voice falling into a drone as though he were teaching a lesson, "the Guardians are the makers of the Portal Keys. And only they can use them."
"That's why you thought I am one."
"Yes," Gunesh said. "You have a Portal Key. You are clearly from another place. That is why we assumed!" he trailed off, then frowned. "You must have the Blood, Aiden, or the Key would not have worked for you. So, whether you know it or not, you are a Guardian, or at least of their lineage."
Aiden's abused brain made the connection. "Tremaine! He said that to Candy. That I had the Blood. And something about a Key!and a man. Reacher."
"Who?"
"Some guy they were torturing." He passed the memory by, but filed it for further examination. He had larger things to figure out first.
"Who are the Guardians? And why are they?" Aiden grappled with the concept.
"The Edge was created by the Six to protect the worlds of the entire Universe from the Enemy," Gunesh said. "That entity wishes to take all that has been made and turn it into one so it can control all."
"And that would be bad," Aiden said.
Gunesh chuckled. "Yes, that would be very bad. As it was at the beginning, the worlds were allowed to touch, some even to overlap. Anyone could pass from one to another. But the Enemy's plan would have destroyed us all. The creation of the Edge, a void of portals between the worlds, stopped the Enemy but still allowed travel between without disrupting realities. It was restricted to the Six and their chosen, the Guardians of the Edge, bound by Blood and brotherhood to the protection of the Universe.
"They built the Edge, the nospace, from scraps of left-over worlds the Enemy already destroyed. Into this nospace, they built the Portals. When they forced the separation of the worlds, they realized there would be no going back. The one time they tried to open a direct path between two worlds, both of those were lost along with the two who attempted such a thing. They forged a great barrier, but constructed it so well it changed the way the Universe existed."
Aiden pushed around what remained of his meal, mind convulsing around what had to be fantasy. And yet, he found himself considering questions even as his logic rejected what Gunesh told him.
"So the Portals keep the world safe how?" He looked up again, meeting the older man's eyes.
Gunesh smiled as though Aiden were a prized pupil. "As things stand now, a Guardian must exit one world through a Portal, wait in the Edge until that Portal has sealed, then choose the Portal they wish to use. And, without a Portal Key, the gateways remain closed, even to the Six themselves."
Aiden found himself nodding as Gunesh went on.
"They chose a race of mortals to guard the Edge and charged them with its care. They created the Keepers so the Guardians would have eyes and ears on other worlds without having to use the Edge or the Keys. This way they keep peace and protect the Universe from the agents of the Enemy. So it has been for millennia."
"But?" More questions bubbled as he finally accepted what he was hearing. "You said you hadn't seen a Guardian for a long time. Is there supposed to be one here?"
"Indeed. The Guardians fought the armies of the Enemy for centuries. Even when the Edge Wars raged, they were plentiful and came here to recoup or recover. Rishi was a beautiful place, then, Aiden. A garden above, with sweet air and endless supplies of water and food, the sun gentle and the nights warm." Gunesh shook his head. "No longer. When the Enemy was driven off and the Edge War won, our people rejoiced."
"How long ago was that?"
"A thousand years," Gunesh said like it was yesterday. "For a time, all was well, very well. Commerce and trade between worlds was common, and visits from Guardians and even other Keepers happened with some frequency. But, over the last few centuries, the Guardians have come less and less. The Enemy is long gone, and there are those who believe the Guardians are vanishing because they are no longer needed. That the connection between worlds is not necessary."
"You disagree." Aiden said.
"Two hundred years ago," Gunesh said, "our sun had an event the likes of which no one here had ever seen. Our people died by the thousands, almost perishing completely save for the underground caves that sheltered us. We have adapted, but our world is dying and we have no options unless a Guardian comes to save us."
Aiden understood at last.
"You thought that was me."
"Yes," Gunesh said. "But there is more to this story. The condition of our world, the sudden decline, bodes sorrow for the Edge."
"Why?"
"It is how the deaths of worlds have been described," Gunesh confessed, "when the Enemy was destroying the Universe."
"You think he's back."
"I do," Gunesh said. "I have kept careful watch at my Mirror as my father did and his father before him. We have seen the decline of the Guardians, the loss of the great art of creating Portal Keys. I have managed to contact a few other Keepers through the Mirror, but the message I receive back is always the same. The Guardians have vanished, left us alone. Some even believe they are no more."
"Could they be hiding?" Aiden found it all so difficult to absorb.
"Possibly," Gunesh said. "But the Edge is crumbling, worlds are dying. The outer lip fails, disintegrating to powder much like our soil. Whether this failure is because of natural decay or the Enemy, I cannot say. But Rishi is on the lip of the Edge and our time draws short."
Aiden wasn't hungry anymore. He felt overwhelmed by what he just heard, like he managed to fail an entire world even though he had no idea about any of it prior to this moment.
"My parents," he said, the words emerging before he could stop them. "Where are they?"
Gunesh shook his head, but didn't answer directly.
"Come," Gunesh said, climbing to his feet, the scrape of his chair on the stone floor raising Aiden's hackles. "You need to see for yourself."
Aiden stood up, shouldered the backpack with its precious cargo and followed behind Gunesh. Glancing to his left, he saw Ashala stood beside him. He looked away from her as Gunesh stopped in front of one of the tapestries. This one, however, was the color of blood with silver thread woven through it in the same runes as marked the prize. Gunesh slid the covering away with great reverence, folding it with precision before placing it in Ashala's arms. She stood holding it while Gunesh gestured for Aiden to come closer.
The Mirror was taller than them both, twice as wide as its height. It showed his reflection, making him start. He appeared so foreign to himself, his face and arms burned dark by the sun.
"Behold," Gunesh said, stroking the side of the mirror. "Rishi."
The image within warped and changed. Where once Aiden looked at himself, now a beautiful pastoral scene shone back. It was so real he thought if he reached out he could touch the flowers, the trees, even the babbling brook running by. He glanced at Gunesh who nodded, smiling. Aiden raised one hand and ran his fingers over the smooth glass.
"It's beautiful," he said.
The image changed as he spoke, time speeding up. He watched the sun expand, a wave of destruction slam into the lovely scene and observed as the once idyllic paradise dissolved into a dry, empty desert.
The very look of it, the familiar sight, made him shudder. He could almost feel the heat all over again. His fingers slipped away from the glass and he took a half step back.
Another scene took its place. This was another world, covered in water. It, too, altered after a distortion in the sun, the ocean drying up, leaving nothing behind. World after world flashed before him, all of them once beautiful and lush, ending up wasted, empty, broken. A great hurt rose inside him as he saw the destruction happen again and again.
"Why would they let this happen?"
"We don't know," Gunesh said, as wrapped up in the images as Aiden. "We need to find out, and soon, or I fear the whole Universe, all of the worlds, are bound for this fate."
Aiden looked at him in shock, thinking of his own world, wanting to deny it. Gunesh must have read his thoughts from his expression because he turned back to the endless scenes of death, the flickering light from the Mirror distorting his face.
"If the Guardians are not found, if this is allowed to continue, the Edge will collapse and every world within it will be destroyed."
***
-- 收到的禮物 
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票