Chapter 10 – Dreams are Doorways

Shoryu dreamt.  He was a little boy who seemed to always constantly chase after his father.

“Daddy!”  His father, tall and imposing ignored him.

“Guyver!”  The light blue armor of Guver I encased his father, masking his face from the ten year old Shoryu.  The cold hard bug like eyes was actually more familiar and comforting than his father’s usual expressionless face.

“Daddy!” cried Shoryu.

Guyver I again ignored him and leapt up into the air and quickly disappeared from sight.  Shoryu fell to his knees and cried.  Strong arms wrapped themselves around his thin chest and a warm voice spoke in his ear.  “Shhh, little one.  Your father is off to battle once more.”

“He hates me!” declared Shoryu.  “He wishes that I was never born!”

The man who held him turned him around and Shoryu was looking into the kind round face of his uncle.  “That is not true Shoryu.  He loves you very much.  That is why he goes to fight.  You are the only part of your mother that is left to him.”

Shoryu rubbed his eyes and said sadly, “Uncle Tetsuro, why did mommy have to die?”

For a moment, a painfully sad expression crossed Uncle Tetsuro’s face.  “Your mother loved you too much to let you die.  She knew that if she carried you to term, there was a chance that she may not survive the delivery.  No mere mortal can survive giving birth to a Guyver.”

“I killed mommy?” wailed Shoryu.  Fresh tears sprang from his eyes.

Uncle Tetsuro hugged him tightly.  “No, don’t ever think that!  My sister knew the risks and she accepted them.”

“Then why does my father hate me?  He never talks to me and he hardly ever looks at me!”

Uncle Tetsuro wiped Shoryu’s face clean and then sat down on the ground and pulled the boy down beside him.  “You’re father has had a very tough life.  He has been fighting this war for almost all of his life.  He’s lost his own father, his wife, and countless other friends.”  Uncle Tetsuro’s looked at the horizon and his expression was unreadable.  “For a while, everything seemed as if it was going fine.  He had won a great victory after coming back from the dead.  He had merged with the control medal of an alien starship and it made him powerful enough to challenge the Zoalords.”

Uncle Tetsuro paused and seemed to be lost in thought.  Shoryu nudged him to get his attention.  “Then what happened?  If he was more powerful than the Zoalords, why didn’t he kill them all?”

His uncle took off his large round glasses and wiped his eyes before replacing them.  “He lost the power.”

“Lost it?  How can he have lost it?”

“We don’t know Shoryu.  We only know that he lost it around the time your mother died.”

Shoryu processed this information and his young mind leapt to the most obvious conclusion.  “It was my fault wasn’t it?  I killed Mommy and Daddy lost his will to fight!”

Uncle Tetsuro looked crossly at him and said, “Don’t say that!  No one blames you for your mother’s death.  It wasn’t your fault.  You were just a baby!  My sister knew that there was a 50/50 chance that you would be born human.”

Shoryu didn’t say anything for several moments.  All of his young life seemed to be filled with people telling him that it wasn’t his fault that he was born as a Guyver.  That it wasn’t his fault that his mother had died as a result of trying to give birth to something that was so much more than human.  None of it mattered though, because he knew the truth: He killed his own mother.  He saw the sad expression on his beloved uncle’s face and tried to change the subject.  “What’s going to happen now?”

Uncle Tetsuro sniffed and blew his nose into a handkerchief.  “We’re going to go into hiding for a while.  I know of an old monastery in Tibet.  We should be safe there.”

Shoryu wrinkled his nose.  “A monastery?  There won’t be any kids there my age!”

Uncle Tetsuro smiled.  “There’s a school not far from the monastery.  There’ll be plenty of kids there too.”

Shoryu perked up.  “Really?”

“Yes.  My friend who lives there even has a daughter around your age.”

“Ewww, a girl?  I’m not going to play with girls!”

Uncle Tetsuro tilted his head back and laughed out loud.  “Someday, you’ll be glad just to be able to speak to girls.  Don’t worry, you’ll like my friend’s daughter.  She’s rather sweet and cute.”

Shoryu shook his head in disbelief.  “What’s her name?”

Uncle Tetsuro gave him a sideways glance, as if to gauge his interest.  “Her name is Miyu.”

Uncle Tetsuro’s face blurred and faded away and Shoryu groaned in his sleep.  His subconscious mind reacted to the name and images flitted back in forth in his restless mind.  Something like a soft hand touched his mind, and caressed his thoughts.

“Shhh, easy…rest…show me more…”

Shoryu’s agitation eased and a new dream began.  A young girl’s voice was calling his name.

“Shoryu!  Shoryu!”

Eleven year old Shoryu glanced back at the young girl who was running towards him.  He quickly turned and ran as fast as his feet could carry him in the other direction.  What was wrong with that girl?  Why wouldn’t she leave him alone?

He jumped from the forest path and ran down a grassy hill.  At first, he managed to navigate through the thick brush, but then suddenly, his foot tripped on an exposed branch and he was sent sprawling.  What had been a classy escape from a pesky girl became a headlong fall down a hill that was growing more and more slippery.

The next thing he knew, he was staring up into the worried face of the very girl he had been trying to escape.

“Are you ok Shoryu?” asked the girl.  Her hand was caressing his forehead.

Shoryu frowned and brushed her hand away.  “I’m fine.  I’m just taking a nap Miyu.”

Miyu smirked and said, “Oh really?  You just decided to take a nap in the mud?”

Shoryu sat up painfully and realized that he was in the middle of a large pile of much, several feet away from a trilling creek.  His clothes were ripped and dirty and he knew that he was going to get a scolding from Aunt Natsuki again.  “Yeah, so what?”  He tried to get up but slipped in the mud.

Miyu giggled and offered her hand.  “Come on and get up!  Here, let me help you.  You know, if you only paid more attention in class you wouldn’t have fallen like that.”

“If you weren’t chasing after me, I wouldn’t have fallen!” snapped Shoryu.  “What do you want anyway?”

Miyu shrugged and said, “Then monks say that you haven’t shown up for your lessons lately and your aunt asked me to find you.”

“Those classes are boring.  All we do is sit there with our eyes closed!”

Miyu giggled.  “You’re not supposed to close your eyes silly.  You’re supposed to look at the hourglass as the sand falls.”

“It’s sand and it falls!  What’s the big deal?”

Miyu giggled again and said, “You’re supposed to imagine the sand slowing down and stopping.”

“That’s impossible!” exclaimed Shoryu.  “No one can stop gravity!”

“You’re not supposed to silly!”  Miyu picked up a glob of mud and hefted it.  “Here, dodge this!”

Shoryu looked dumbly at Miyu as she threw the mud at him.  Before he could even think to dodge, the mud splattered against his chest.  “What’d’you do that for?”

Miyu giggled and danced away.  “Try and hit me back.  If you can hit me, you get to kiss me!”

“I don’t want to kiss you!”  Shoryu could feel the blood rushing to his face as he said this though and wondered secretly what it would feel like to kiss the cute girl.  To hide his embarrassment, he bent down and cupped his hands together.  He scooped up some mud and shaped it into a mudball.  Miyu was standing a few feet away from him and her eyes appeared to be half closed.  He grinned and threw the mudball with all of his strength.

Miyu swayed to the side and the mudball flew by her.  Shoryu frowned and scooped up more mud.  The second mudball had the same zero effect as Miyu swayed away from it.

“Stand still!”  said Shoryu angrily.  She was only a few feet away, why couldn’t he hit her?

Miyu batted her eyes at him and said, “Why Shoryu, you really want to kiss me that much?”

“That’s not true!  I just want to get you back for hitting me with mud!”  Shoryu tried throwing to mudballs at once but Miyu deftly sidestepped.  “How’re you doing that?”

Miyu giggled at him.  “If you would only pay attention in class, you would know silly!  It’s called a time-sense trance.  I can see you move in slow motion but you’re such a klutz that I don’t think I even need to use it!”

“A klutz?!”  Shoryu suddenly charged forward.  Miyu’s eyes widened in astonishment as he tackled her.  Shoryu lay with his body half on top of the girl and he triumphantly said, “Who’s the klutz now?”

Miyu reached up and cupped his face.  She expertly placed a wet kiss on his lips. Shoryu sputtered and pushed himself away.  “Ewww!”

Miyu giggled again and said, “There’s another class in ten minutes.  Hurry up or you’re going to be late!”  She turned and started to climb back up the hill.

Shoryu stared at her as she climbed and touched his lips gingerly.  The kiss hadn’t felt all that bad at all.

“That is right, little one…show me more…let me in…”

Shoryu groaned in his sleep once more.  More images flew through his mind.  For the most part, they were memories of a happy time in his life.  His subconscious knew the ultimate ending though and a part of him resisted the natural progression of the images.  The gentle hand that was caressing his mind shied away from the unpleasant memories because the emotional trauma from them could cause Shoryu to awaken prematurely.

Inside of his mind, Shoryu started a new dream.  This was a new dream, and not one of his memories.  He was walking down a long dark corridor and he was calling out someone’s name.

“Lexi!  Lexi, where are you?”

His voice echoed down the corridor but there was no response.  “Lexi!”

Shoryu tried to make out details of the corridor, but his eyes wouldn’t adjust to the darkness.  Up ahead, he could barely make out a dim light.  He hurried up his pace and ran towards the light.  As he got closer, he could see that the light was coming from underneath a large wooden door.  “Hello?” he called out.  There was no response.  He knocked on the door but his knocks sounded flat.  “Hello?”

From behind the door, a voice that was unmistakable female answered, “Come in.”

“Lexi, is that you?” cried Shoryu.  Anxious about Lexi’s wellbeing, Shoryu grasped the door handle and pulled.  The heavy door opened easily and Shoryu stepped inside.

He found himself inside a large room.  There were thousands of lit candles all over the room.  In the centre of the room was a large round pool of black water.  Arising from the water like a water nymph was a woman of indescribable beauty.  She was completely naked with high proud breasts, a narrow waist and wide hips.  Lush lips arched into a smile as she walked towards him.

“Greetings Gatekeeper.  I have been waiting for you.”

“Where’s Lexi?” demanded Shoryu.  He fought to keep his gaze above the mysterious woman’s neck and tried to ignore her voluptuous body.

“She is not here,” said the woman.  “But I am here, and you are here.”  She stopped in front of Shoryu and caressed his sweaty brow with a soft cool hand.

Shoryu felt his blood burn from the touch.  For some reason, the unknown woman aroused within him, a lust that was almost overpowering.  His body reacted in the most obvious of manners.

The woman glanced down and smiled a feral kind of smile.  Her other hand reached down and caressed Shoryu.  To his dismay, he realized that he was completely naked too.  The woman’s hand encircled his erection and began to tug at it.  Shoryu could feel his willpower slipping away as he allowed his body to follow the mysterious woman.

“Who…who are you?” asked Shoryu in a shaky voice.

The woman leaned in and planted a deep kiss on his lips and said, “I am Lilith.”

Behind Shoryu, the heavy wooden door slammed shut.

---

Lexi jumped out of the bed that she shared with Shoryu.  She looked around but found that she was alone in the room.  Where was Shoryu?  Had it been all a dream?  She shook her head.  No, it couldn’t have been.  Somehow, and she didn’t know how, Shoryu was in danger.

Lexi pulled on the dark outfit that her host had provided and rushed out of the guest bedroom.

“Rachel!”

Lexi hurried down the hallway and knocked on Rachel’s door.  “Rachel!

“Lexi?  Are you awake?”  Rachel’s voice was coming from downstairs.

Lexi rushed down the stairs.  In the living room, she found both Rachel and Faye sitting on the couch.  The TV was on and they were watching something on it.

“Shoryu’s gone!”

Both girls suddenly snapped to attention.  “Gone?  What do you mean gone?” demanded Rachel.

“He’s gone!” said Lexi.  “I woke up and he wasn’t there!”

Faye frowned and said, “We’ve been down here for a couple of hours.  We didn’t see anyone come down the stairs.”

Rachel closed her eyes for a moment and then said, “The wards on the house are still intact.  Nothing got in or out.”

Faye looked carefully at Lexi and noted the wild look in her eyes.  “Tell us what happened.”

Lexi shook her head in an attempt to shake the cobwebs out of her mind.  “I am not sure.  I just woke up with the feeling that Shoryu was in danger.”  Lexi closed her eyes and said, “I think I was dreaming…Shoryu was walking down this long dark corridor, calling my name.  Then he went into this room and started talking to this woman.”

Faye and Rachel exchanged a glance and then Faye said, “Describe this woman.”

“She was naked and beautiful.  She made me feel desire for her, even though I do not have those sorts of tendencies.”  Lexi opened her eyes and stared at the two girls.  “Who was she?”

Rachel looked disgusted and said, “Lilith!”

Faye looked disgusted too.  “Damn it!  I underestimated her!”

Lexi frowned and said, “Wait, are you telling me that Lilith has kidnapped Shoryu?  How?”

Rachel smacked her head with her hand.  “Damn it!  Dreams!  Dreams are doorways for Lilith.”

Faye said, “That’s why she didn’t trip on any of the wards.  That does it.  Rachel, you have to call Az!”

“Why?  He won’t help us against Lilith!”

“Maybe not directly, but Lilith has taken away a guest of his house.  He has to do something!”

Rachel touched the gold angel pendant that was hanging from her neck and cried, “Az, come home!”

Nothing happened right away and Lexi asked impatiently, “How do I find Lilith?”

Both Rachel and Faye shook their heads.  Just then, a dark portal appeared in the middle of the hallway and Azazel the Dark Angel stepped through.

“What has happened?” he demanded.  “I was just about to zero in on Afrael.”

“Lilith has kidnapped Shoryu!” exclaimed Rachel.  “Do something!”

Azazel arched an eyebrow.  “I cannot confront her directly.  I will not destroy her.”

“Then what are you good for?” demanded Rachel angrily.

Lexi put a hand on Rachel’s shoulder and addressed Azazel directly.  “She has taken Shoryu away while he was under your protection.  Surely this means something, even in this dimension.”

Azazel gave her a small rueful grin.  “Yes, it does and it puts me in quite the quandary.”  He addressed all three women and said, “My pact with Lilith means that I cannot act directly against her and she cannot act directly against me.  But that does not mean that I cannot do anything.”  He turned from them and commanded, “Follow me!”

Lexi followed the Dark Angel as he made his way to the basement.  Rachel and Faye brought up the rear.  In the basement, Azazel went directly to the table where Lexi’s katana and Excalibur were resting.  Without a word, Azazel drew Lexi’s katana from the saya and held it up for Lexi to see.

“How attached are you to the appearance of this katana?” he asked mildly.

Lexi stared at the katana that had been by her side for so long.  She briefly thought about her old sensei, and the circumstances that had led up to her owning the ancient sword.  “I love that katana, but I love Shoryu more.”

Azazel nodded and said, “Good answer.  Beautiful though this katana is, it is not enough for the battle that you will soon wage.  Though it is a true masterpiece, it is far too fragile.”  Azazel spoke several words in a strange language and his face furrowed in concentration.  Dark sparks flashed around him and sweat beaded his face.  A dark circle appeared in front of him and he raised his hand and plunged it and the sword into the dark circle.  He held the katana for several minutes before withdrawing his hand from the dark hole.

Rachel gasped in alarm as soon as she saw his hand: it had shriveled into a mockery of a hand.  “Az!  Your hand!”

Azazel took the sword with his left hand and smiled reassuringly at Rachel.  “I will be fine in a moment.  This human body was not made to withstand the rigors of being submerged in The Pit.”

True to his statement, Azazel’s hand slowly regained its original form.  Azazel presented the sword to Lexi.  The blade of the sword had turned completely matte black.  “Deep in the Abyss, there is an even deeper well.  They say that this well sinks all the way down to the bottom of the Abyss, which is why we call it The Pit.  The fluid in The Pit is lethal to anything that touches it.  I have bathed your katana in this fluid.”

Lexi took her sword back from the Dark Angel.  She studied the black blade and shivered as she felt the dark powers that were swirling around in it.  “Thank you Dark Angel,” she said formally.  “If you could please tell me where I can find Lilith, I will be much indebted to you.”

Azazel gave her a thoughtful look and said, “I just may call in that debt!”

Lexi shrugged nonchalantly as if it did not matter to her.  Rachel clapped her hands together and said, “Great, now that you’ve got yourself a weapon, let’s get going!”  Rachel was about to reach for Excalibur but Azazel blocked her.  “Get out of my way Az!”

“No,” said Azazel firmly.  “If you waltz into Lilith’s domain, she will kill you.  The same goes for you Faye.  She does not forgive anyone easily for killing her children.”

“She can try to kill me, but she’s gonna find that hard to do if I kill her first!” said Rachel angrily.

“You are not strong enough to challenge her,” said Azazel.

Rachel looked into Azazel’s face and saw no way to budge him.  She looked imploringly at Faye.

Faye caught the look and said, “Uh uh.  No way Rachel.  Lilith could eat me for breakfast without breaking a sweat!  Not even at the height of my power could I hope to beat her and her Lilin army!”

“So you’re just going to send Lexi in alone against her?” said Rachel to Azazel.

“I have given her a weapon almost as powerful as Excalibur.  What more would you have me do?”

Rachel glared at Azazel for a moment and then ran up the stairs.  She returned shortly after a couple of minutes and handed a dark bundle to Lexi.  “Here,” she said.  “Az made this for me a long time ago.”

Lexi took the dark bundle from Rachel and let it unfold.  It was a long black hooded cloak.  Rachel said, “It will protect you from the dark and it has some other powers that I was never able to unlock.”

“Are you sure?” asked Lexi.

Rachel shrugged.  “Heck, I couldn’t travel the dark pathways without freaking out, even while wearing it.  The only way for me to conquer my fears is for me to confront them.

Lexi thought she saw a sad look cross Azazel’s face as Rachel spoke but it was gone before she could be sure.  “That cloak will grant the wearer the ability to open portals into the dark,” said Azazel gravely.

Lexi grinned sardonically.  “I am an eight hundred year old vampire.  The dark holds no mysteries for me.”  She slipped the cloak over her shoulders and pulled the hood over her head.

“Just before I came, I was tracking Afrael,” said Azazel.  “When Rachel and Faye told me that my son was in league with Lilith, I was concerned.  With an ancient Nephilim on her side, Lilith can become a force to be reckoned with.”

“Afrael is the giant that attacked Shoryu and I?” asked Lexi.

Azazel nodded.

“I may have to kill him,” said Lexi.

“I would consider it a favor if you do,” responded Azazel.  When Lexi looked at him in surprise, he said, “If you kill him, you will give him the chance to reincarnate and start fresh.”

Lexi nodded and took her saya from the table and stared once more at what her katana had become.

“All powerful swords have names,” said Azazel.  “What will you name yours?”

Lexi thought about it and then said, “You once called Lilith the Queen of the Night.”  Lexi addressed her sword as if it were alive and said, “I will call you Yabun Kiru.”

Azazel nodded approvingly.  “A fitting name.  I would ask that you not take that too literally.  While I do not agree with her methods, I do understand Lilith’s motives.”