"That's not our way." The Watcher motioned to the back of the cave. "Gods, Guardians, and Naturals can pass through, too."
"Keep playing your games," Darian growled. "Soon, I'll figure out how to do more than track your kind. Maybe then your wayswill change."
The Watcher continued to ignore him. "Have you never wondered what remains, since regaining your mind?"
Darian stared at the portal, memories swirling through him. The only part of his life that had been good lay beyond the gateway in front of him.
No, he told himself. The good part of his life was gone. Only memories remained. He'd been enslaved the day of the Schism, and Damian would never speak of what happened to their home. Was it the way he left it? Were the gardens where he was born and the beach where he played as a child still there? If he walked beneath the apple trees in the orchard, would she be waiting for him with her sweet smile, as she had the day they met? As she had the day she betrayed him?
He couldn't help fearing everything was as he left it, and the only thing truly broken in either world-was him.
"Maybe someday," he said, turning his attention to the Watcher. "You say you don't know where the Others' entrance is?"
"We cannot track them in the mortal world until they use a substantial amount of magic."
"What will you do if I tell you where they are?"
"Confront them."
Darian eyed him. With the memories of a better time drifting through his mind were memories of a war brewing between Others and Watchers that ultimately ended in the Schism, the severing of the mortal and immortal worlds. The battling immortals had nearly destroyed the human world in pursuit of one another. The only way to protect the humans was to close the gateways between worlds.
And now, two gateways were open again, and the immortals readying the human world for another battle.
"No," he said. "I'm the Gatekeeper. I manage who and what comes through these gates. I'm responsible for you-and them-fucking up my world. Which means, I'll let no one through who can fuck up my world."
"We would remove them."
"I can remove them now. I don't need your help," Darian said and turned away.
"You said you'd help us!" the Watcher said sharply.
"I'll help you by getting rid of them. That's what you said you wanted. Or is this another Watcher riddle?"