The Mergence: Book 1

The Path To Jerusalem

We simply stared at her.
Not a single word was spoken for a good few minutes, the air was awkward but Layla's smiled beamed brightly. Like a kid who just told you a dinosaur fact they learnt at school.

"Wonderful news. I have a couple issues" Codrin broke the silence

Layla responded by nodding her head towards him
"How do you know that?" He asked

"And how on the Gods confusing earth do you expect us to get there?! We have no money" Lev added, following up on Codrin's question

Once again there was a silence, at least that's what it sounded like to everyone else, in my head I could hear my own clogs ticking, trying to devise a plan to get to Jerusalem, we had to go across an entire ocean to even get close, then traverse across deserts, not to mention actually finding him in the quite literally Gods forsaken place.
Then suddenly an idea came to mind
"Dillon can control water right? He's some sort of child of the sea" I asked

"Yeah he's a child of Neptune" Lev replied

"What's your idea, son of Odin" Amelia questioned

"Is it within his power to give us a path through the ocean. Or even allow the ocean to carry us across itself until we get to Jerusalem?" I asked

From behind me Dillon shouted "ABSOLUTELY NOT"
His voice made me jump, but I turned towards him.
"No it's not within your power or no you won't do it?" I asked tilting my head

"No as in I won't do it, it's not up to me whether you get there or not, I couldn't care less"

"Surely what lucifer does with his power is as big as a threat to you. As it is to all of us" I retorted

"You have no idea what he's planning on doing, none of us do, for all I know he's planning on making the world all sunshine and rainbows, all I have to do is survive" Dillon growled, stepping closer to me.

In my mind I wanted to move back, to avoid the confrontation that Dillon seemed so welcome to but instead I puffed my chest out and stood my ground, Dillon was slightly shorter than me but still so much more intimidating.

"But what about the people here?" I argued

"What about them? All they are to me is human shields in case monsters attack" he exclaimed

"You don't mean that!" I heard Codrin shout "surely you're not THAT heartless"

Dillon looked past me and towards Codrin "sorry fish, but it's the harsh truth"
When I looked at Codrin his expression was one I'd never seen before, one filled with sadness.
His bright bubbly bouncing persona looked as if it had deteriorated into a lump of sadness. It was a shocking sight, even when he was passed out after the fight with Bennu he still looked a hopeful in his sleeping expression.

When I looked back at Dillon his facial expression had changed, I couldn't tell what to but it wasn't angry anymore. He turned around and began walking towards his lake.

"A wise idea Noah, it's a shame that one didn't agree" Amelia said as she patted my shoulder, obviously referring to Dillon
"I'll go talk to him" Lev said, his face looked hopeful, much more so than everyone else's
"Lev you can't-" Codrin began to speak but Lev interrupted
"I've known him for a while, ever since a certain something happened" he teased "I'll try my best to convince him to help"

Lev walked towards the lake before anyone could say anything else. My first thought was to see how Lev would attempt to convince Dillon to help but instead I walked over to Codrin, he was already being comforted by Wulf but I placed my hand on his shoulder
"Hey, how are you?" I asked

"I'm fine" Codrin attempted a week smile but anyone could see through

"Codrin, Dillon is just- he's difficult, he's been through a lot I'm sure"

"I know what he's been through! I've been around him for ages, when I moved schools because of my fake parents he was always there. I know it's just circumstance, hell my parents probably tracked him down so they could kill me and Dillon.
We never talked much but when we did I managed to get him out of his shell little by little, he was the first person I trusted when I left. And he constantly swapped school with me and helped me learn some of my powers" Codrin admitted.
Suddenly it made sense,
Why Dillon didn't always look like he hated the world when he saw Codrin, and why Codrin was able to skip stones whereas the water just parted when I tried or the rock just sank.

"Listen, maybe he's just scared" I offered but to my surprise Codrin laughed, his bright smile came back

"Dillon is many things, but scared is never one. He's one of the most amazing fighters I know, when I've seen him in action he welcomes the fight. I look up to him, he means so much to me"

I smiled at him "I'm sure he'll come around" I patted him on his back and stood up and darted my eyes around.
My eyes landed on Layla, she was sitting back down on a log, facing the fire. She was drawing something in the ground beneath her with a stick.

"What's that?" I said as I walked over to her

"It's where lucifer is" she said "he's in some kind of dome building near the centre of the city"

"How-" I began

"It was in my dream... we were all there in front of him, it felt so real, I've had dreams which have come true before so we ALL need to go" Layla interrupted

I knew what she meant, I thought it'd be best to leave my dream about thor alone, although it helped her point that some dreams predicted the future.

"I promise you I'll be with you every step of the way" I smiled to which Layla copied me, beaming brightly

Her shoulders relaxed like she was nervous and how she was relieved, I hoped it was because she knew I understood her

"All we need is tranpo-"

"I'll get the sea to carry us there. But it'll tire me out so don't expect me to help you in fighting the fallen Angel" Dillon stated towards everyone, just past him was Lev looking absolutely shattered so I thought maybe he used some of his love power to make Dillon feel kindness.
Either way, it was good that Dillon had agreed to help. All we had to do now was follow him.