Way One Moves Time
A MapleStory Tale In Three Acts
Written by Kal Ancalas
Author's Note: Three weeks ago, I said that this would be a oneshot.
As you can tell, I sort of lied.
Mainly, I thought my life would take a turn for the better once I got the weight of Revolt off my chest, but it hasn't. The personal troubles continue, and the fact that Revolt didn't get that many reviews certainly didn't help. Yeah, yeah, I know- 14 reviews are practically a godsend in the Maple fandom, but not when the story is on 60 people's favorites lists.
You will notice that this story doesn't start at the beginning (like Citizen Kane), and thus, about 90 percent of the stuff mentioned in this chapter won't make a flipping bit of sense. This is intentional. I'm not intending to write this as a light-hearted piece of fiction- this is a serious work, perhaps more so than any other author has dared to breach in the Maple universe (please forgive my blatant lack of modesty here, but I'm trying to make a point). Therefore, I'm trying to keep this story on a need-to-know basis- hence, events will be explained as the other two parts are written and released.
You will also notice that the main character's name is Kal Ancalas. This isn't meant to be a blatant bit of Mary Sueing here- that was never my intent. It's supposed to be symbolic more than anything, as the Kal Ancalas in this story goes through personal and physical conflicts that roughly mirror some of my own current feelings. In the end, as the reader, it will ultimately be your job to examine the story from several points of view and determine who is truly right and who is truly wrong in this literal game of good-and-evil. Again, I stress- this is not light reading, people. I wasn't in the best of moods when I wrote this. There's a lot of cursing and dark thoughts, and general depravity. You've been forewarned.
And yes, it IS possible to have Norse and Japanese mythology in the same story. Ecks dee.
Oh, and just in case you're wondering, this story isn't set in the same universe as Revolt. This should clear up any confusion.
I wrote this in under two hours, so don't be surprised if there's a typo or ten.
Just read, review, and ask questions later.
-Kal
"Someday, Ancalas, you shall know that life is all too short and precious to waste, that time, that great and lasting gift of god that is at once man's greatest blessing and his greatest sorrow, only moves one way."
-Clarias Faber
The moonlight shines through the window, bathing me in its light, and as I gaze out and stared into the twisted, dark depths of the black sky above, I feel my own heart beating a pulse of its own, a mantra that pushes words into my mind faster than I can shove them out, and I want to scream why, why am I standing here, why should I be the one to stand at the zenith of this tower, at this time, in this moment?
My heart pulses once more, and then it fades away.
I stand quietly, cold breaths of air escaping my tight, drawn lips. There is no sound, and yet noise is flooding my ears every second. Breathing, hard, heavy breathing. The cry of armor breaking in a shower of blood and steel. The whisper of a blade as it takes another life. The death of innocence as I left them forever and relinquished my grip on the life I once knew.
They are gone, and I know that. Nothing will change that- not even Tsukuyomi Herself.
Those who would be my friends, or claim to be my friends, they have vanished, gone from this cruel earth with no one's memory to claim them except my own. Susanne, she is gone. Elisabeth, gone as well. Clarias has gone also, and Drake has gone forever. Even Charles…he who would seize glory, he who had once been my closest companion. He is gone from me as well.
Friendship is dead to me. It is a sign of weakness, a sign of tacit acknowledgment that you are flawed. It is one thing I cannot tolerate. That, I have learned from Thaler and the hands of Tsukuyomi.
I turn away from the window, and the cries fade as the blade rustles in its sheath once more. I draw, remembering the days of years long past, when light still streamed in through the windows of my mind.
It is dark now. Dark, as dark as the night and walls that surround me. It is a restful dark, one that brings solace to me for the first time in years.
"You are the leader of the Aesir now, don't forget it." Thaler's voice echoes dimly in my ears, a sound that drowns out all others in my mind.
I won't, I tell myself, as the calm brand of night-black steel sluices through the air. Another imaginary cadaver lies at my feet as the soul flies to Purgatory. It is my responsibility to kill. I am Death, for where there is Death, there is also Life. It is the way of the world that everything must be divided. Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu rule the land now, and I at their side, shall lead it into the Great Awakening. The Armageddon.
The door opens, and I stand at attention. Moonlight throws its glow over the blood-red and night-black cuirass that I must wear for the rest of my days, as my duty to the true Goddess.
"High Lord Ancalas." The tone is bleak, subservient. It is exactly what I need to hear.
"Yes." I answer in response, neatly returning the night-lit brand of Fenrir to its sheath. "I am weary, Delphinor. I trust your tidings will be good."
"The forces of Amaterasu are readying themselves on the lands of Victoria, my Lord." he whispers. "They are preparing for war."
"And you know this from…?" I ask, my tone barely edged with poisonous malice.
"We have sentries in Victoria, Ancalas." Delphinor bows lightly, his robes sweeping the cold stone floor. "The Vanir are preparing themselves for their final assault. They talk of bringing Tsukuyomi to her knees."
"So I see." My blood-red eyes turn to the window as I gaze into solace once more. "Verana has decided to launch the world into Armageddon. I would never have believed it, such a dog-eared coward as he…but it is of no consequence. If anything, we should rejoice at this news, Delphinor. Amaterasu's blood shall stain the lands of Victoria for the last time."
"Yes." Delphinor keeps his face bowed to the ground. "Shall I alert the rest of the Aesir?"
"Please do. It would save me the trouble of having to rouse them myself." The hand twitches as it rests upon Fenrir's sacred hilt once more. "It begins at last. What of the sacred weapons, Delphinor?"
"Fenrir rests in our hands, as you know." I hear his sleeves ruffle in the breeze. "Jormungand and Helfyre have been safely recovered. As to the fate of Heimdall, Yggdrasill, and Ratatosk, I can unfortunately say no better…"
"It is of no importance." A thin smile curls around my face, and I am not sure which emotion I want to express. "I should have known that Verana would gather the Three Fates of Amaterasu before long."
"We have no matter to trouble ourselves about, then?"
"None at all." I whisper softly, the smile still on my face. "Glory to Tsukuyomi and the Coming Age."
"Glory to Tsukuyomi and the Coming Age." he repeats, his voice as cold and stone as it has always been, before he leaves. His footsteps echo across the ground as he walks, each a reminder of my past.
I want to step back and return to the early days of my youth, but they have long gone, as have the people within them. Charles and Susanne…the names are so familiar, yet so far away at the same time. Would anyone have known that they had once been my childhood friends upon the Maple Island, eager to make names for ourselves in the great world of Bera? Goddess forbid!
They were a wondrous pair, those two. Charles had been the timid one, intelligent yet shy and reserved, a future bandit. Susanne was his exact foil; brash, confident, and very determinedly unfeminine, she was destined for the way of the sword. And I, I seemed to be the glue who held them together, though it is so long by now, I cannot remember anything except bare fragments.
Fenrir trails softly as I stare into Tsukuyomi's moonlight. They would have wanted to die together. Though they never thought of each other as more than friends, I knew that they had harbored feelings towards each other for so long…feelings ultimately cut short by Susanne's untimely demise, and Charles's soon after.
There is no greater sorrow than what could have been, I think to myself, as memories slip through the windowpanes of my mind.
I recall that we had once been with Amaterasu's factions- all of us. And one by one, we had fallen, through the great gates of the gods into the netherworld, until none were left. The thought warms and chills me at the same time. I know I could not possibly have gotten where I am today without Amaterasu. Yet, at the same time, I am the leader of Tsukuyomi's Aesir, determined to bring her to ruin upon pain of eternal rest in hell's flames.
Clarias returns to me now. I see him as vividly as though he were standing here, and yet I know he is not. Every line of him seems razor-sharp, exactly as he had been years ago. His oaken hair shimmers in the moonlight, a rapier at his waist as magic gleamed at his fingertips. He was the former leader of Amaterasu, and he had once been my companion and trusted friend. As had all of them.
The knowledge is bittersweet, leaving a double-sided cut in my heart. For all of his faults, Clarias had one redeeming feature that I had always admired him for; his perseverance. Even if he knew he was fighting for a lost cause, he refused to give up. He wanted to believe that someday, the world would be free of ruin, even if he could not live to enjoy that vision.
He had known that, and he had told me that knowing full well how I would impart that knowledge.
Clarias died knowing I would betray him. I have often thought that many times since his death, since Elisabeth's death, since Drake's death, and I have asked myself if it was true. Certainly, I can never know for sure- it is one of the few secrets that he has managed to carry to the grave with him.
The clouds of war are gathering as I stare out into the window once more. Since then, I have taken hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives. I remember each, and I do not regret- save for five, five souls that shall rest in my tormented soul for all eternity, all because of something I had once known called friendship.
Charles, Susanne, Clarias, Elisabeth, and Drake…they are all gone now, into the realm eternal that I will someday enter, once I have found my favor with Tsukuyomi.
Perhaps then, I can see them once more.
As Fenrir's sheath shimmers in the moonlight, I turn away from the window as I think of one.
In another life, there might have been a time when I had loved Elisabeth Caelis, her dark hair fluttering in the breeze as her dear, sweet voice beckoned to me, telling me how perfect we were for each other. Her magic captivated me, beautiful as its caster, as we struck down hordes of enemies together without another thought of the future.
In another life, I am sure Charles, Clarias, and Drake would have approved.
Time has trapped me in its eternal grasp, and I can do nothing as Elisabeth disappears into the void once more, a void that scars more deeply than anything else because she had once been the one meant for me.
Her death rests in my heart, as does Drake's.
I cannot tell whether it was Drake that betrayed me, or whether I had been betraying him my whole life. Certainly, I hadn't known him as long as I had Charles or Susanne, but to say the least, I had grown accustomed to him, accepted the fact that he would be with me, regardless of his own motives. If slightly flamboyant, somewhat narcisstic, and a bit of a nihilist, I had never harbored any ill will towards the ranger.
I have always wondered what he was thinking the moment I killed him.
Do I blame myself? Perhaps, to some extent. I blame myself for all of their deaths, because I had been close to them. I especially blame myself for Drake's demise, because I had been the one that had dealt him the fatal blow.
But those times of regret have long since passed. I am no longer Kal Ancalas anymore; I am the scion of Tsukuyomi and leader of her forces, and it is my destiny to lead the world into Armageddon. And once the war is over, Tsukuyomi shall take the world in her tender embrace once more, and the world shall be saved.
I wonder what Charles, my best and closest friend since childhood, would have said. He had always been the timid and shy one- the nerd of the lot, to use the secular term. Without Susanne and me supporting him, I doubt he would have survived in this world. But survive he did. He quickly progressed from a simple glasses-wearing whelp to a Night Lord, the best I- or anyone else, for that matter, has ever seen.
He left me soon after Susanne's death, and I never blamed him. I knew how he had felt, because I had felt the same way with Elisabeth.
He is gone now, and I must accept that as I turn from the window for the last time and begin to descend the stairs of the tower, Fenrir gleaming at my side.
I am Kal Ancalas, master of the Aesir of Tsukuyomi, and it is my sworn duty in Armageddon to destroy Charles Verana, leader of the Vanir of Amaterasu, may the Goddess help me.
Try to review intelligently, please. There's going to be little to no chance that this will get updated without inspiration.
Also, if you haven't reviewed Revolt yet, get off your lazy arse.
-Kal
