Guardians Of The Magic Realm 2 Read online

  She sat cross-legged in the grass of the outside pup play area. She had her arms resting on her knees, as she read through one of Hunundi’s journals. Francesca, one of the wolf pups nestled against her side, laying her head on Odessa’s stomach.

  Odessa had yet to find the writings on Lorna LaFae, that Hunundi had insisted in his letter, her magic would lead her to.

  She had tried just about everything she knew how to do, to access the whereabouts of the writing, but had been unsuccessful in her efforts. Odessa put her book down and she gathered Francesca in her arms. The wolf was a good eight months old which meant that she pushed nearly one-hundred-and-fifteen pounds. It made it hard for Odessa to hold her, but she hugged her, nonetheless. Soon, Francesca padded away to go play with Pypachi, as did the rest of the pups, leaving Odessa to her thoughts.

  Once alone, she let the positive energy, of the enclosure, flow through her. She had worked hard trying to forget the fact that she had killed a hunter in the outside playpen.

  She took her legs and twisted them in the lotus position, as she breathed in and out through the discomfort. Her stomach nearly rested on her folded legs, which felt a little odd to her, but she was going to have to get used to it. She laid her hands, palms up on her knees, letting her middle finger and thumb rest slightly together. She began to inhale the earth around her until she could pick up the connection.

  In seconds, she was tranquil and breathing easy. Her aura began to glow red a little which caused Pypachi to stop in his tracks to see if he might be needed.

  “It’s okay Pypachi,” she whispered to the dog when she closed her eyes.

  He whined a little before going back to play with the pups. Odessa let positivity flow around her. As good energy came in and out of her, she breathed deep, hoping meditation would help her. Using the deep magic had proven to be more harmful to her than help the past several weeks, so she decided to try the simplest form of her magic.

  As she breathed, images began to flash through her head. She held her positivity in the forefront, but many of the other images were not so pleasant. She saw the day her parents died, the hell hole she was brought up in, the day after her eighteenth birthday when she was running down the alley in the darkness. She saw Hamachi sitting by her in the hospital, the first time they touched. The feeling she felt when she first realized she loved him, and the thoughts about her unworthiness. She remembered Hunundi releasing her magic, and Hamachi and Pypachi spilling their blood for her. She remembered their first kiss, Pypachi coming to live with them, him becoming her item. Odessa shuttered at the hunter, and the feeling when the darkness seeped into the camp. She had triggered her wolf and killed the man who had killed her parents. Tears began to flow as she saw Hunundi sacrificing himself for them.

  Then the twister with the witch in it ran past her subconscious as the image of her picture from the book flew in front of her memory. Laurna LaFae was evil reincarnated, and Odessa knew it.

  Finding out she was expecting a baby as Rainnah had her hand on her stomach came to play. The truth about having a son and the declaration of the impending darkness swirled over her imagination.

  Odessa deepened her core, holding in the good memories, hoping they could protect her from the bad. Colors swirled in front of her, followed by everything going white.

  She couldn’t see anything anymore as her meditation deepened. Swirls of grey formed in front of her as puffs of white cloud began to materialize in front of her eyes. Nothing made sense at first, but the more her meditation deepened, the more the clouds began to come together in front of her.

  “My child,” the voice of Hunundi came from the swirling white clouds. “What do you ask of me?”

  “Hunundi?” Odessa asked in disbelief.

  She had to strengthen her aura to make sure she did not lose Hunundi. She had so many things she wanted to ask him but didn’t know how long the connection would hold to wherever she might be connecting with the elder at.

  “Yes daughter, you are seeing me in limbo,” Hunundi spoke clearly through the clouds.

  “What is limbo?” Odessa asked.

  “Limbo is the realm between life and death. My, spirt is being held here because I was sacrificed for the light.” Hunundi spoke with clarity as his appearance crossed between the old man and the young. “I will live again, but not until there is peace.”

  “Why?” Odessa screamed. “Why did you sacrifice yourself? You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Yes, I did, young Odessa.”

  “I know you did, but we miss you dearly.” She sighed. “What will happen when you return? Will you take charge again?”

  “No,” his eyes crinkled with a smile. “You and young Hamachi have taken over my authority and magic fantastically. I will come back, to live the rest of my days until my death in peace.”

  “And when will this come into actuality Hunundi? We need you!”

  Odessa could feel her reserve weakening as her nose began to bleed. She deepened the meditation, even more, making sure she could hear everything. She could feel her aura swirling around red hot with anticipation. She could feel Pypachi come and sit up against her side allowing her a little more energy than before.

  She strengthened a little, but not enough to last much longer. She knew she needed information.

  “When the child is born, on the evening of the third day, the evil will try to prevail,” the old man frowned. “You must protect your son at all cost and defeat the darkness.”

  “They will not get to our son.” Odessa could feel her strength build a little more, but not much.

  “Then fill him full of the deep magic at his birth, cut his foot with the athame, name him, then hold him to the moon the night of his birth,” Hunundi coughed a little as the cloud began to fade, “place the amulet on the child, and the spirit of your parents will bind his magic into the items, to help protect him, as they did you.”

  “Is this the only way Hunundi?”

  “It is my daughter.”

  Little white clouds began to waft on the wind as Hunundi became only transparent bits of cloud.

  “Where do I find the writings on Laurna LaFae?” She yelled to the whipping wind.

  “Only your magic will know,” the faint voice of the man called out from the mist.

  “Hunudi…help me,” Odessa said in a whisper.

  Her magic was weak and began to falter. Odessa opened her eyes to see that she was levitating a few feet off the ground. Suddenly, she fell to the ground, landing on Pypachi who had felt the impending fall and had come to her rescue.

  Odessa laid on the ground, holding her stomach with one hand, and bleeding nose with the other. She could feel the fight that was coming to her own front door and didn’t know what to do about it. She only hoped Hamachi would know what to do, also she knew that she had to find the writings on Laurna LaFae before Laurna LaFae found them.

  Chapter Eight

  Odessa must have fallen asleep on the ground with the pups because Hamachi woke her up a long time later. The sun was setting in the sky. She was still laying in the middle of the pups play enclosure, with dried blood on her face.

  She hadn’t planned on scaring her husband like that, but sometimes her magic took so much out of her she had to sleep and had been known to pass out, quite often, during her pregnancy.

  “Are you alright?” Hamachi asked her.

  “I think so,” she said sitting up.

  She looked around and realized that Pypachi and all the wolf pups had formed a protective boundary around her. They were sitting in a circle with their backs to her to make sure they could see any oncoming danger. Once they saw she was awake, they turned and went to her, licking her and nuzzling her.

  “I saw Hunundi,” she said to Hamachi.

  “Where?” He looked around like Hunundi might be standing around somewhere.

  “I spoke to him in limbo.”

  “You were in limbo?” He squawked at her.

  “Yes…that is where
he says we were.”

  “You have to be near death to pass back and forth between here and limbo,” he said as his eyes crossed back and forth between worry and concern.

  “I think I am alright,” Odessa said as she got to her feet.

  “Just in case I think we better get you home and let Rainnah take a look at you and the baby.”

  She nodded as she let Hamachi help her to her feet. They made their way out of the refuge, the darkness stayed in the distance, but still there. Secretly, Odessa knew not to be afraid, she knew there was at least three and a half months until the darkness fell once again.

  In only a small amount of time, Odessa was laying in her own bed, with Rainnah’s hands hovering over her stomach. Hamachi gifted Rainnah some of his own magic, but she still needed some of Odessa’s in order to see what she needed to see, inside her stomach.

  The shifter blinked her eyes a few times while she tried to focus on what she was seeing. It took her a while to begin to breathe in the air around her, so she could center herself. Odessa felt like the longer Rainnah had gone without her magic, that even the most simple tasks like meditation was going to grow more and more difficult for her to do. It took everything in Odessa not to urge Rainnah to hurry up, but she knew that the woman was missing her brother and her magic, so she gave her the time she knew she needed.

  “I see him,” she sighed as if she was happy. She had finally seen something.

  “Is he alright?” Hamachi asked her excitedly.

  “Yes, it would seem,” Rainnah said with a frown on her face.

  “What is it?” Odessa asked.

  “Give me a second. He is trying to communicate with us.” She said as she pulled more magic from both Hamachi and Odessa.

  They all were silent as they waited for what they were supposed to hear the unborn child say. Odessa had never heard of a fetus communicating, but she knew with the deep magic, anything was possible.

  They waited so long, Odessa’s nose began to bleed again, and she was starting to feel weaker. Rainnah must have felt Odessa’s magic wavering and turned towards Hamachi as she broke contact with Odessa altogether.

  “What is it?” Hamachi asked.

  “He knows he is important,” she sighed. “He was with Odessa when you both saw a raven-haired witch in the twister when she saw the woman on paper, and then again when she was in limbo. Hunundi, when were you two going to ask for help?” She finished exasperated, as she sat on the end of the bed, with Odessa trying to regain strength.

  “So, the baby saw everything?” Odessa asked bewildered.

  “No,” Rainnah spoke softly. “He didn’t see anything as much as he felt it through your heart.”

  “We have it under control,” Hamachi spoke unsurely.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” Rainnah said to him, “and no offense to you Odessa,” she patted Odessa on the leg, “but you both need to tell people about what is going on here.”

  “The Council knows,” Hamachi spoke kindly towards the woman. “They advised not to talk to the people yet.”

  “They want you to wait until the darkness is upon us?” She had a little bit of anger in her tone.

  “No…well yes,” Odessa said. “They want to wait until I find the hidden journal on Laurna LaFae, and we learn more about her before we include the shifters, but we can advise for a small council.”

  “My brother is dead,” Rainnah spoke strong. “I may have no magic right now, but I will fight for you and be on whatever council you two might have.”

  “We will ask The Council,” Hamachi said. “Tomorrow.”

  “Good,” Rainnah spoke. “Now, name that baby; give him a name with a meaning, to give him purpose. He will be one of the strongest shifters of our lifetime.”

  “We will,” Odessa said softly.

  Rainnah got up to walk out but stopped just at the door.

  “I love you both,” she smiled. “Jarneth loved you, but you are neither one strong enough to protect your baby on your own, even with the help of The Council.”

  “Thank you Rainnah,” Odessa smiled. “I love you too my friend.”

  She walked out of the door into the sun. They hadn’t noticed a new day had arrived during the events that had taken place. Odessa leaned in and kissed Hamachi.

  “Take a walk with me,” she said to Hamachi.

  Pypachi’s ears perked up at the mention of a walk. Without a word, Hamachi helped his wife up, and they walked out of their cabin hand in hand with their wolf closely behind them. Before they knew it, they had walked to their stump, the one they went to the first day Odessa was at Camp Sacred Moon. They had carved their names in the stump and had made sure it made it with the camp when they moved its location. It had been a few months since they had visited the place.

  They could feel how accepting the place, in the woods, was of them. The air swilled comfortably; it picked up leaves swirling around them, mixing with their magic. The place was sacred to them and felt like a place that they could forget everything, even if it was for just a little while.

  “Do you think Rainnah is right?” Odessa asked. “Do you think we need to name the baby now? What name do you know to make him feel like he has a purpose?”

  “It couldn’t hurt,” Hamachi said, as he took her hand.

  They sat together on the stump while Pypachi played around them in the whirling leaves.

  “Do you have any ideas?” Odessa asked.

  “No,” he admitted, “but this is not something to take lightly. His name needs to be special, a memorable one that means something grand.”

  “Let’s ask the deep magic,” Odessa whispered softly.

  “Let’s do it,” Hamachi agreed, “but don’t push yourself. If you feel weak for one second, break the seal and we will try again later.”

  They both turned to stand on either side of the stump, their names were carved on the side of it from months earlier. Hamachi pulled his beads out from a small pouch he kept them in when they were away from home. Pypachi sensed his need and came to sit by Odessa.

  They joined hands as they began to breathe in the earth, allowing the deep magic to seep into them both. Hamachi’s aura glowed soft, nearly transparent blue first, as the earth sunk into his lungs. Odessa and Pypachi began to bleed forth their red aura as the woods around them combined with them; it all blended together in a royal purple hue that only came from their mixed magics.

  Odessa and Hamachi began to chant at the exact same time in the tongue of their people. The wind whipped around them and they could feel the deep magic come in like a rushing wind.

  Sparks of lightning hit between them. It stroked the top of the tree trunk, sending bits of wood spraying on them. Odessa could feel herself weakening, she didn’t want to give up, but she knew that Hamachi would be able to feel her magic fade. She squeezed his hand lightly, letting him know she was having troubles.

  They stopped at the same time, letting the words of their ancestors fade to nothing as the beads and Pypachi went cool, devoid of their auras. The lightning quit abruptly, and Odessa hoped she had lasted long enough for the deep magic to work.

  They both looked down at the stump as smoke still rose from the top of it. There was something there, but they couldn’t see it at first. Finally, after some time, the smoke subsided exposing a name carved in the wood. The deep magic had given them the name for their son, the name of Takeshi.

  Chapter Nine

  Odessa began to walk back to the hut, leaving Hamachi and Pypachi to follow behind her. They didn’t know why she had left abruptly but thought best not to ask too many questions of the woman on a mission.

  Hamachi wondered if perhaps Odessa did not like the name the deep magic had given them, but he couldn’t think of any reason that would be the case.

  She stormed into the hut and went to work quickly going through Hunundi’s books. She rattled around until she came to the one she was looking for. Something hid behind her eyes as she laid the book in the middle of the table.r />
  “Pypachi,” she whistled, calling the dog and he went over and sat on her right foot.

  She shot forth a small amount of the deep magic, while she kept the image of what she was looking for, in the forefront of her mind. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it before, but she knew she had read it a hundred times over. She had to show Hamachi the one thing she felt would confirm what Rainnah had seen and what they had just witnessed.

  As she stretched her hands forth, even more, the pages of the book began to flip on their own. They landed on a paper with handwriting on it. She let the deep magic settle inside her as her and the wolf’s red aura dulled to nothing.

  “What’s going on here?” Hamachi asked her.

  “Read for yourself,” she said as she spun the book around for it to face Hamachi.

  Hamachi stepped up to it, which caused the look of surprise, that crossed his face. The writing was so thin it was barely there. She read along with him.

  To Our People, The Shifters of the Five Tribes of Light.

  It is told of the deep magic, that a child will be born in the generations to come…born of light with capability for dark. The firstborn, son of a woman of light and a man of light with combined powers to defeat the sixth tribe. The child’s name shall be Takeshi which means warier, born under a full moon. Three score days after his birth shall come a darkness like the world has never seen. Under a binding spell, the child should be hidden, but only for three days and half the next. After that, the child’s magic will be loosed at the set of the sun. If the unbound child comes forth with light, then light shall abide victoriously. Should darkness seep in during those days, and the day of the unbinding the child brings forth darkness, then all darkness shall reign forevermore. Blessings on Takeshi and the parents of the babe as darkness must be kept from the child or all shifters will fall to the submission of a great witch whose name will ring clear half a day before the unbinding. Shifters must fight the darkness for ten and two hours to protect the babe before he is unbound. May the deep magic have mercy upon all future generations of shifters.