God of the Abyss by Rain Oxford Page A

king’s uncle, which proved that they were not very wise.
    Mordon’s fire rose to the surface and I turned away
from the door to face the goblins. If they did not surrender, Rojan would set
them on fire. It was a dragon thing; apparently, they did not like people
thrusting swords at them.
    I heard the doors open behind me a few seconds before
I was flattened. In one fluid move, the young king climbed off me and pulled me
up, then hugged me until my organs shriveled and my bones creaked. He was
unbelievably strong. Since I met him seven years ago, he grew just a little. Still
very slim and small, he now looked about nineteen. In other words, he aged
about two years in seven. Fortunately, he never lost that eccentric personality
that made him so unique.
    He then proceeded to hug Mordon, and even the dragon
looked a little worse for the wear. No sago, no dragon, no Guardian that I ever
met was physically stronger than a dile, and Nila was the strongest I knew. The
boy was even stronger than Nano. At least Sammy knew how to keep from hurting
people with his strength. Nila just never seemed to realize and used his
strength to show his affection.
    “Dylan! You’re home and you brought your pet!” he
declared with excitement. The guards lowered their weapons and Mordon growled.
Nila ignored Mordon’s warning. “Where are my nephews?”
    Nila had adopted me as his brother and Rojan had
something to say about that. Apparently I wasn’t big enough for two brothers.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he made it official. Nila recorded that I was his
brother and next in line for the throne should anything happen to him. I told
him there was no way I could live permanently on Dios and he shrugged it off.
The constant bickering between Mordon and Nila was exhausting.
    What made Mordon so irritable was that his fire was
considered magic to Nila’s void blood and could never burn the boy-king. On the
other hand, Mordon’s fire could burn Nila’s guards to ash if they attacked him.
Still, Nila always had a hug for my friend. I think it was a trick.
    “Hello, Nila. I know I haven’t been around much, but
I’m in the middle of some important work now.”
    “Yes. Nano and the others are in trouble. Why do you
never bring my nephews as I ordered?”
    I ruffled his hair. “Because I don’t follow orders
from my brothers.”
    He sighed and motioned for us to follow him back into
his throne room, then turned around as soon as we were inside and slammed the
doors in the guards’ faces. “They follow me everywhere.” With an exaggerated
eye-roll, he held his arms up in a gesture of frustration. I had the
inappropriate image of him as a teenage girl.
    “You are the king, Nila, you need their protection,”
I said. Mordon glared at me and it suddenly clicked. “That’s why you are always
picking on Mordon; he’s free. You never had a problem with him until you found
out he was a runaway prince. Are you tired of being king?” I asked.
    He flopped himself down on his chair with a sigh and
propped his legs over the side. “No, of course not,” he sulked. I walked up to
him, sat on the other arm of the chair, and ruffled his hair. Nila was like
Ron; naturally happy. Nevertheless, he had an entire world relying on him, and
that kind of pressure can weigh on anyone. Or maybe he’s going through
teenage girl things. Who really knows with aliens…
    “Your hair is too long. You should cut it,” I said.
    “Nobody ever asked me, you know. Everyone just told
me I would be king. And I am High King, so I have to be protected. On top of
that, many people think I am delicate because I’m a void. In order to go
anywhere, even to another village, I must be followed by many guards.”
    “Do you even have any enemies? Isn’t the surface
culture flourishing?”
    “People are happy outside. People in the under cities
are unhappy. They are people afraid of change and miserable for hobby. They beg
me to move above ground.”
    “But your goblin