Both Are Infinite
Book II: Gaea Rising
Preface: As I hoped you have noticed while reading Book I, "Both are Infinite" tries to express certain universal themes that concern the characters as much as they concern us in real life. My greatest reward, as the author, is to see that certain parts of the story have genuinely touched some people, and that the reader can take in the themes. We all of us have undergone, to some extent, the sadness and confusion experienced by the main characters. One of my goals is to convey, through the story, the kind of hope expressed by the following passage: "Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the heights. We cry aloud but the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry. From the voiceless lips of the unreplying dead there comes on word; but in the night of death hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing." (Robert Ingersoll) Keep this feeling in mind when you continue to read about the adventures of the Fanel family. Hope you'll like Book II. Don't jump to conclusions - please read through the whole thing first. Don't forget to tell me what you think!
The Trumpet of a Prophecy
The time is out of joint; oh cursed spite
That ever I was born to set it right!
Hamlet
Echoes of mourning filled the Nerya caves. The howling wind raced demonically through the endless granite tunnels in which all the remaining citizens of Fanelia sat shivering. It was the winter solstice. 21 ADW, the Year of the Dragon Wind, was drawing its last pitiful breath.
The low bellowing of an Asopian horn shuddered the caves and beckoned the people to gather in the main chamber. Though lit by rows of torches and rising on all sides into a majestic dome, the chamber enclosed death. As the procession of citizens wandered in with heavy looks and steps, a priest ascended the little platform at the centre and began a solemn hymn, originally written in Poetics:
Lofty and limitless, where darkness never comes,
All the dwelling places there are magnificent.
For they are happy in the light and know no pain
All who enter there stay for eternity.
Heaviness and drooping do not exist in their bodies
Decay does not exist in their fruit;
None who is among them has a dark shadow
Full of light is their living self; ever in gladness
And purity loving each other - they are beautiful. The alleviating hope of the song sent a rippling sense of beauty over the silent people. Melancholy briefly softened their dark vigils of despair. In everyone's mind was the frightful hope that death will one day free them from this pit of destruction and agony.
As the hymn continued, nothing but its grave echoes was heard. After all the citizens have been assembled, the royal procession entered through the crowd. Valorick walked in front, supporting Nestor by the arm. Behind them were Endymion, Celena, Hermione and Merle, all in tears, followed by various lords and military commanders. The priest ended his song, and bowed to Prince Valorick, then left the platform free.
With weary grunts, old Nestor was helped up to the platform. Time had been unkind to him. No longer did his eyes gleam with the vibrant intellect of his days, and his white hoary beard was dewy with tears. He adjusted his round spectacles and addressed the crowd in a husky, almost muffled voice: "My friends, it is with the ambivalence of grief and gladness that we gather here to crown our new king, but also to bid farewell to out former king, and queen. Fate has been cruel to our beloved homeland. But so long as Fanelia has a leader and a people, she has hope. Now, I realize that you are all very exhausted from a day of work, so without further ado, let us begin the brief coronation." Nestor was scant of breath, and he struggled to make the gesture that signified the commencement.
The crowd held its breath as Prince Valorick ascended the steps upon Nestor's call. Some poorly played trumpets flourished, and everything returned to silence right afterwards, until Nestor spoke. "I, Nestor of the Council of Fanelia, hereby represent the Fanelian people, and crown thee, Valorick Folken Fanel, as the new elected king of all Fanelia." A glistening new sword was presented. Nestor knelt down on one knee and offered it up, "Long may you reign."
Following Nestor's example, everyone, from lord to peasant, knelt down and a steady shout thundered the caves: "Long live King Valorick!"
Valorick stood at the centre motionlessly. His dry eyes remained fixed on the royal sword offered up to him. To take it would signify an acceptance of the tragedy, an acknowledgement that he was no longer the prince, but the heir who has taken up the throne left empty by his father's death. He dared not move, or look up at the people, dared not attempt to accomplish his parents' dream of a saved Fanelia. When he shut his eyes tightly, he saw an image of himself as a child, playing in the garden with his parents. Darkness had once seemed impossible - but that happiness was, after all, only a seeming. When he opened his eyes, he found his own hand gripping firmly on the sword.
He turned to the people. In that instant, the youthful charm of his radiant face suddenly hardened into profundity. "Fanelian, please rise," his sonorous voice stirred everyone. "It had been my late father's wish that the new law of ascension replaces the old dragon slaying rite with a trek across the wintry terrains of Asgard, as proof of endurance and worthiness. I thank you for your faith in my ability to take up the reins of leadership, but because of our present predicament, I cannot leave for Asgard just yet. As you know - " a sob suddenly broke our from Hermione; Valorick paused to look at her then continued. "The Fireans are still seeking destruction. With Asturia gone, we've lost our strongest ally, and since our home has been.destroyed, we have nowhere else to hide except here. I'm sorry that you have to remain hiding in these caves, I know it's difficult, but there's no other solution. We must stay put until help comes or until a better battle strategy can be drawn.
"However." Valorick felt he needed a different state of mind in order to say the following. "Do not despair. I know it's hard but we must walk through these shadows. I can't be as great as my father, but I will try my best to lead you out. Fanelia, and all our ideals of justice, goodness, peace.these do not exist in our palace, temples, diamonds or weaponry. Burn them all and Fanelia lives, because it lives in us. So long as we are here, Fanelia can be rebuilt! We will prevail over the Fireans and a new era will be born!" The people cheered, but Valorick sensed some delusion or ambivalence in their uproar. He heaved an inaudible sigh and sensed the same feeling in himself. He then understood what his father must have felt while giving those inspirational speeches. The truth must sometimes be left undeclared.
The ceremony ended untimely, as King Valorick did not know what else could be said. Everyone field out the same way they came in. As Valorick remained on the platform, eh noticed that various pairs of wistful eyes were turned and fixated on him. He very quickly evaded those helpless and pleading gazes. After Endymion, Nestor and all the guards left, Valorick lingered in the vast, empty chamber alone.
The reflection of torches danced on the glistening walls and seemed to create a rhythm all their own, so separate from the flows of human life. Valorick lay down on the platform and gazed upwards. The towering ceilings of the dome were still embedded with raw diamond fragments, and in the darkness, the dome resembled the starry night sky, something that the Fanelian people can no longer enjoy. Valorick let the circular space close in around him. The temporary peace reminded him of the comforting solitude he used to have in these caves. He imagined that his mother would come running down the main tunnel, looking for him. But the echoes of dripping water, "dong dong", suddenly drowned out her calls.
Valorick sat up and listened to the monotonous echo. It seemed to increase in volume. As he pictured the rippling of a water pond caused by the constant dripping, he trembled with the image. The echoes seemed to be murmuring to him, "There is no hope.there is no hope." He then understood what Hermione meant when she said there was something prophetic and undying about the ghostly Nerya caves.
He picked up his new sword and unsheathed it. The royal sword that had undergone innumerable battles with King Van has been destroyed, so a new one was created. The silver blade, unstained with blood, still shone with honor and glory. The dragonhead crest of Fanelia was carved exquisitely in gold and its sacred presence lent a sense of heroism and justice to the inevitable horrors that will one day color the immaculate blade. But Valorick understood better than that. He had seen through the meaning of war, and the frailty of human bonds. Yet insight was of no use since it was action that was required of him - action to be ever greater than his father in order to defeat the insurmountable evil. His determination to storm through the darkness coexisted with his resistance to accept that full tragedy, and with his disbelief in his own abilities.
As he scrutinized the dragonhead, he suddenly began hating it. All the sights and sounds of the chamber were somehow intensified. The glistening walls and dome, the echoes, the feel of the platform beneath his back, the eyes gazing on him.all were like menacing phantoms circling rapidly around him. He wanted to scream but instead, he cut his finger on the blade. A perfect line of crimson blood ran down the edge. Val shuddered at the apocalyptic implications of the sight, so he quickly escaped the chamber.
He ran down the tunnels, along which the citizens were sitting or lying. He meandered through the labyrinthine veins of the caves and came to a more secluded area, guarded by soldiers. He crouched down and entered a small cave chamber. Merle was curled up in one corner, already sleeping, though in pain. On a mattress in the middle of the chamber lay Hermione, with her sad eyes still wide open.
Valorick set his sword on the side and lay down beside his sister. "Hermione, you're supposed to be asleep. There's still work to be done tomorrow."
"Well, I just can't," she cried, "It was hard, it was so hard watching you being crowned king. So I'm like a duchess now or something?" she began biting her nails.
"Yes, you are a duchess so stop biting your nails!" he pulled her hand away from her mouth.
"Don't tell me what to do, you're not my daddy!" That phrase came out the wrong way, and it reverberated awkwardly in the space between them.
"No, Hermione, no, I'm not, but I have to act in his place and take care of you from now on," Valorick sat up and gazed down at Hermione. "Look, I know this is unbearable for you, it is for me too, but we must go on. It's what they would have wanted."
Tears began blurring Hermione's deep autumnal eyes. "I know but I.I just wish I could use my phoenix powers to bring them back!"
Valorick wiped her cheeks. "But you know that a phoenix can revive the dead only by raising them from their ashes. We have no ashes because the bodies.were never found."
"It's not fair!" she cried.
Valorick stroked her hair and all he could say was "I know, I know." That was his only way of showing the affinity that they shared in the bereavement.
A deathly silence ensued and both of them felt utterly alone. The passing of Van and Hitomi had estranged the family. Fanelia herself had become a little moribund. The chambers of the Nerya caves seemed disconnected from one another, despite the tunnels running in between. Each was enclosed in its own darkness.
After a while, just before Valorick dozed off, Hermione asked in a flavourless voice. "Can you sing that cradle song for me?"
He awoke insipidly. "What.you mean 'Dragon's Bride'?"
"Yeah, the one mommy always sang to us. It was daddy's favorite, remember? He said uncle Folken used to whistle it all the time."
Valorick sighed and cleared his throat. His voice was tired and coarse, but gentle enough to feel like a feather brushing past the ear. Soon, Hermione joined in the lullaby:
Sleep, my dear, have sweet dreams in thy sleep,
Rest beneath love's trembling calm starlight;
No more pain can reach thee in thy sleep,
So dream through the peaceful night. They surrendered themselves to the evanescent experience of a calm they once thought o be imperturbable. For one second, everything did seem to be a mere nightmare, and once they close their eyes, the world would be awake once again.
Just before Hermione fell asleep, she whispered, "Val, your voice sounds almost like daddy's, and you smell like him." Then she cuddled into his arms. While he waited for her to start dreaming, he held her and fought to stop the trembling in his body caused by the sobs. As soon as Hermione was deep in dreams, Valorick gently put her down and gathered his things together.
When he pulled aside the curtain covering the opening of the chamber, he met Celena who was just about to enter. "Aunt Celena! I thought you would be sleeping in Endy's chamber tonight."
"No, I think it's best I stay here and take care of the girls. You can share with a chamber with Endy. How's Hermione doing?"
Valorick stepped out into the tunnel and leaned against the cold stonewalls. "I think she's trying to cope, but all this is probably too much for her, as it is for all of us, I suppose. Sorrow comes in huge battalions, doesn't it?"
"Oh, Val," Celena placed a hand on his cheek. "I know what it's like to lose one's parents. A loss like that is never easy to bear, but you will pull through. With Allen and Orion gone, you two, Endy and Merle are all I have." In a short span of time, Celena had become inhumanly gaunt and frail. Wispy thin veins were visible beneath her skin that was like faded silk. She has become like the Mystic Moon, drizzly and robbed of serenity. And her beloved Tears of Time no longer encircled her wan orb.
Valorick cupped Celena's hand within his. "Don't you worry, Aunt Celena, we will survive. Endy and I will make sure no more harm comes to you."
"Val." Celena smiled sadly and kissed him goodnight. He waited until she settled into the chamber before he took off.
The veins of the Nerya caves appeared to cease pulsating and flowing. Most of the people were already drowsy with pain-numbing sleep. Valorick quietly worked his way around the motionless bodies lying in the tunnels and finally found Endy standing guard at the colossal boulder that blocked the only gateway of the caves. Valorick asked the other guards to take a break so that the two young men could be left alone.
Endy stood contemplating the flame of the torch hung on the wall, as if it were some unsurpassable landscape of moonlit beauty. Valorick came up to him and joined in the admiration of the flame. They stood there, side by side, without looking at each other, yet deeply acknowledging the mutual troubles they shared. That had always been their way of reaching forth and connecting infinitely.
Endy suddenly spoke, with his eyes still fixated on the garish blaze. "Do you know what I miss the most about my father?"
"Um.the way he was always your friend and never your parent?"
"Well, that too, but I really miss how he'd tell those really stupid, disgusting jokes," Endy laughed. "Guess I won't ever hear them again.You know, I'm scared to face my mother, I think my face reminds her of my father's because we look so much alike. She must be dying inside. They loved each other so much.I'm also scared to look in the mirror, aren't you?"
Valorick closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, it's like he's staring at me, through my eyes, looking at me from behind the line of death." Valorick empathetically laid a hand on Endy's shoulder. It agonized him to see his best friend shattered so. Endymion had been a child of the moon and stars, and the light he diffused was from up above, delicate and symbolic. Born with an aura of tranquility, he was always calm, free from tempestuous passions. He seemed capable of living beyond human sorrow. But now, for the first time, Valorick witnessed the waning of a celestial power, which had become as dark as himself.
Endy turned to him. "I'll survive. I still have my mother. But how are you doing, Val?"
Valorick dropped down onto the ground. "I.I don't know. I don't know how to go on.A mother and a father dead by a brother's hand.what am I supposed to do about that?" he gathered some stones in his fist and smashed them into the wall. "Am I supposed to commit fratricide in order to avenge my parents' death and Fanelia's destruction? As their son and as Fanelia's king, that is what I should do, but as a brother, I cannot!"
Endy sat down next to him. "Perhaps you shouldn't think of it as fratricide. Griffon is not really your brother in any case. It's like your mother prophesied, he's Branimir reincarnated, correct?"
"Yeah, I suppose," Valorick rubbed his booming temples. "But he is of the same flesh and blood as I, regardless of what he was in some previous life. Besides.father said I should learn to.to forgive."
He locked his head in between his knees and recalled back to the germination of this tragic seed: one year after Valorick was born, Hitomi conceived another child. But this baby, born on an inauspicious stormy night, bore a strange birthmark upon his forehead - it was in the shape of a griffin. From that moment on, the family had been ill starred. Van became increasingly suspicious that Griffon was a part of the Fireans (whose symbol was the griffin) and the child's incessant crimes nearly drove Van to madness. Griffon bit his own mother, attempted to set the palace on fire, gave his brother a deep wound in the left shoulder.there came a day when the healers decided that Prince Griffon must be locked away in the asylum, situated near the hospital in Fidell. Thus Griffon receded into the dark background; he became the shadow of the Fanel family, and only Hermione's birth could illumine the darkness he had left. Though he was hardly mentioned and though memories of him were largely repressed, Van and Hitomi would go visit him twice every color. There were times of anger when they felt that the perfect circle of their love had been broken by this hideous progeny that they could not believe was their own child. But other times, their hearts had vast rooms of love for Griffon, and the dire fate of their ill-born child tormented them beyond any danger or fear that Branimir could inflict.
Valorick recalled the times when he accompanied his parents to the asylum. In his mind still lingered the images of Griffon screaming heinously, and scratching his hands on the concrete ground, until the fingertips were bloodied. Griffon would sometimes let out a howling cry, sending Hitomi into tears. Sometimes, he would grab his brother violently, and start calling him by the name of Hamlet. Valorick never figured out what that name meant. Can this be my brother? He had often disbelieved the answer to that question, especially when Griffon escaped from the asylum and his identity as Branimir was revealed. Can brotherhood be so much? Can blood run as swift as water?
Then Valorick remembered his Persephone, the beautiful enchantress whom he once took to be a simple shepherdess from Serenus. But she too was cursed with the fatality of a blood bred in darkness. Persephone, my Persephone, how shall we ever overcome.
Endy shook Valorick a little and he awoke from his trance of remembrance. He touched the scar on his left shoulder, and hardened his mind. "What am I talking about? Forgive him? I've already rejected him. At that moment, he has already ceased to be my brother!" Valorick suddenly stood up and walked towards a small boulder that marked a side gate.
"Wait, Val! Don't go outside alone! It could be dangerous. Plus, you're the king now, you should have an escort!"
He held out his arm and signalled for Endy not to come any nearer. "No, please let me go alone! I'll be fine!" he began pushing the boulder aside.
"But, Val."
"Let me be, my friend. I need some solitude and fresh air. If there's trouble, I'll call for help."
The gate was opened, and the long-absent air rushed into the tunnels. The guards hurried to inhale a few deep breaths before closed the opening shut again. Endy reluctantly watched Valorick's shadowy figure retreat slowly out to the ruinous world.
In the lifeless aftermath of the destruction, even the wind gods and Aeolian spirits had fled the land. The smoke from the wreckage still flowed in the air, and the charcoal smell was nauseating. All the verdant beauty had been murdered. No trees swayed, no birds sang and no dragons roamed. The Mystic Moon hung like the eye of Death, grim amid the huge mass of the black earth and the black sky.
Valorick dragged his weary feet towards the central wreckage. His back was hunched as if he had just been in battle. The towering palace he once called home rested as a hill of grey debris, no taller than a tree, and the damaged pieces of guymelefs surround its base. Valorick did not expect it to be so ruined beyond hope. Amid the chaotic and disheartening remains was the devastated Escaflowne, its energist no longer resonating, and its crimson wings torn to hideous shreds. Escaflowne ceased to be a god of war or peace, but became a prisoner of a moribund eternity.
In rage, Valorick threw off his armour and unsheathed the sword. He stabbed it into the ground and knelt down, leaning his whole weight and soul upon the blade that was stained with his dry blood. "Ah!" he let out a scream. "Oh my soul.if I shall never come to know you, let me feel the lack. I don't want to be in this sepulchre of eternity. How can this wretched, perishable body be made of stardust?" he snickered to himself. "Someone tell me why.why.oh gods, ah!" he hit his forehead against the hilt and let out another pitiful howl. Nothing stirred, no answer came. All that was heard was the echo of his wailing cry that drifted across the Fanelian wasteland, bouncing between the barren peaks of life and death.
"So, so.alone. Tell me, saints above, who guides my drifting soul? Who takes pity on our agony?" The darkness of Fanelia had suddenly become darker, and it took Valorick a few seconds to realize that it was more than spiritual darkness. He looked up through his blurry eyes and saw that the land was indeed getting darker. The one source of light was being extinguished. He looked up and saw the lunar eclipse. Gaea was passing directly between Earth and the sun.
All his thoughts and feelings bled into the white light around the edges of the shadow's circle. For him, life and misery created the eclipse of love's fiery sphere. The barely visible light of the Mystic Moon formed a crown of incandescent vapor, flickering beyond the rim of the full black blot. But was the moon really still there? Did it survive the darkness that has overshadowed it wholly? Perhaps he saw no more than the bright kaleidoscope that transformed the madman's world as he tiptoed on the threshold of lunacy.
The eclipse was soon over. Valorick wiped away his teas and was ready to return to the caves. But just as he turned to leave, a voice restrained him. "I've always known you were the dramatic one of the Fanel family." It was a resonant and profound voice, and could easily be mistaken for a god's. But Valorick immediately recognized the tone, and he swung his sword around, pointing it straight at the white-bearded figure who stood upon the air.
"Aleph!" Valorick shouted. "What are you doing here? Who are you to judge what I'm like? Traitor! You've been helping the Fireans, haven't you? Give me back my parents, my homeland, my happiness!"
"Now, calm down, young prince. Don't be ridiculous, how can I be in league with the Fireans? Don't let the moonlight get the better of you," Aleph approached; his white light rivalled the moon's.
"Get.get away from me!" Valorick flung his sword around, as if in drunkenness, but he eventually fell down out of fatigue. "Don't hurt me anymore," he whispered wretchedly.
Aleph descended onto the ground and stood next to Valorick. "Now, just calm down and listen to why I have come to you. After you hear what news and change I bring, you will be grateful, my prince."
Valorick stared at the ruins and said lethargically, "You're like the harbinger of the apocalypse, what good tidings could you possibly bring?"
Aleph helped him up. "I bring release to your pain and to Fanelia's pain."
"Release?" Valorick chuckled and pushed Aleph away. "Release to our pain? How dare you speak of release? You know nothing of our pain! Nothing!" Valorick suddenly laughed like a lunatic and wandered around, swinging his arms in the air. "This burden upon my shoulder, do you know how heavily it presses down upon me? I cannot breathe! And have you seen the people inside those caves? Have you seen the look in their eyes.I don't believe in heroism anymore. Fanelia's cursed fate and Gaea's sadness.all the injustice.why must I set it right?"
"Because it is your destiny!" Aleph gripped him by the shoulders and sat him down on a log. "Stop wallowing in self-pity. I see your suffering. I know, I know. Listen to me, Valorick Fanel, do you know why your parents' consummation in the prison had the mysterious power to change the universe?" Aleph lifted up his chin so their eyes met; Valorick shook his head dumbly. "It's because you were conceived. Val, you are a very special boy. As the son of Van and Hitomi, it is your destiny and duty to realize a love even greater than theirs. You are the first progeny of eternal love and its power to harmonize darkness and light flows in your veins. Can you now answer its call?"
Aleph sat down next to him and continued. "Your parents believed in the Atlantis Within - do you? Can you believe in yourself, and in Persephone, regardless of what she is? Can you forgive your brother, and help everyone else do so, even if he is Branimir?" Valorick looked away from Aleph and into the distance.
"So are you ready, child? I'm going to tell you my prophecy, except, it's a prophecy of the past!" Valorick nodded firmly. "Well, your parents' death served an important purpose. Everything you've experienced in your life has formed one out of many unforetold possible futures. Many fates coexist simultaneously in the universe. All are equally real, and you have a possibility of experiencing any one of them, but you're presently aware of only this one that you're in right now."
Valorick nodded. "Yes, my mother told me about that."
Aleph began pacing. "There is usually no way of communicating between the different dimensions, except by going back in time and going up a different branch that leads to another potential fate. The one you've experienced is an ill one but it need not be that way since this fate is not the only one. Essentially, by dying in the present, in this potential world, your parents travelled back in time and entered another reality. They went back to the time when they were in the prison of Basram," Val stared in bewilderment and disbelief. "And the whole scenario was played over again. At the climax of life and death, they had faith in their love, hence they bonded even in the coldest of prisons. They changed fate for themselves, for you and for Gaea. They called up both an ideal past, which helped them escape the execution, and an ideal future where adversity will eventually be overcome. Hence, Escaflowne, God of War, was no longer needed once they escaped the prison. With your birth, a new future was set in place, but of course, it too has pains and perils. Ultimately, because of what they've done, you and Gaea are getting a second chance."
"Wait!" Val called out with excitement. "What do you mean? How will that work?"
"It is difficult to explain. You don't need to know how the universe works, not yet anyways, just know how to act within it. In a few minutes, time will be turned back to the summer of this year, before everything began," Valorick gaped. "Memories of this tragic future will be erased but will be returned to you and only you, from time to time. These memories will serve to remind you to act according to what is within your soul."
"So everything will happen again in exactly the same way?"
"Of course not, hopefully not. Certain things might be the same but hopefully the unfortunate ones will be replaced. In order for the potential future to fully replace the tragic one, you will have to choose correctly. You're right about time being out of joint - it is, and now you must set it right. The turning point will come again and at the moment of choice, you will be asked, once again, to choose either hate or love. You've chosen wrongly this time, hence Fanelia lies in ruins," Aleph gestured at the landscape.
"You mean this is all my fault? This is all because I couldn't forgive them?" the revelation overwhelmed Valorick with guilt and shame.
"In a way, yes. But you're not the only one responsible, my young prince - everyone who participates in this future is responsible. Furthermore, your parents are crucial in the beginning and end of all this. You're not alone, Val. Concentrate on your task. You may not be the creator or the guide of this destiny, but you are the mediator, the Concord, sitting between hate and love, darkness and light. You must harmonize them, unite them and help bring forth a new world order, a synthesis."
"But I." Valorick looked at Aleph with a tortured expression of confusion and hope.
"Do not doubt yourself, my prince. I believe that in this other potential reality, you will come to learn about love, family and about all the meanings of the word 'blood'. Now do you still think I'm the devil's messenger?" Aleph smiled.
Valorick tried earnestly to find his way through the unfathomable implications of this prophecy of both the past and future. He looked around him and an ardent flame arose within - the determination to change the awful fate, to see his family and Fanelia alive once again. None of the infernal images will linger in his memory, and he will regain his full life. The longing and desire intensified though he was still entangled in numerous questions and disbeliefs. As he turned to Aleph with the questions, he realized that a blinding light has encircled Aleph so that the white-robed figure was indistinguishable from the halo.
"Aleph! Wait! I still don't understand." but before Valorick could finish, the white radiance of eternity overtook him. Then came a distant song of angelic chorus like an apocalyptic farewell to this tragic dimension. For a few seconds, he could still hear the noises of Fanelia disintegrating, noises from which he would hopefully be eternally divided.
Then his consciousness was engulfed.
~ End of Part I ~
Firstly, I just want to pay special thanks to my ingenious and invaluable editor, JOSE, without whom the story would be like guymelef wreckage! Thanks for all your care and hard work!
Second, I know you must be really confused about the whole thing with Griffon. I did not have this in mind when I wrote the interlude, which is why it all seems a little too sudden. However, there are a lot of details and explanation later so I hope to make up for the sudden onset. It's like Endy said, Griffon is the reincarnated Branimir - a whole new story is going to develop behind this. (Remember Hitomi in Book I said that she felt Branimir is bad because of some very tragic reason? Keep that thought in mind). It has some similarities with the Van-Folken conflict but not exactly the same. It really tries to bring out the themes, which are the lessons that Aleph said Val should learn about: family, love and the meaning of blood. This will all tie in with the themes of Book I.
Third, in my mind, I have this design for the significance/role of the major characters, and it's sort of like this: Van and Hitomi are the "creators" of this fate/destiny/story (or whatever you want to call it) - you'll see how later on -, Valorick is the mediator (just like Aleph told him), Orion is the guide, Hermione is the perpetuator.I'm still undecided about people like Allen and Branimir, but generally, they're the protectors (yes, even Dornkirk is one). Hopefully, this design will work out through the narrative.
Lastly, as you may know, Persephone, in Greek mythology, is both the queen of the Underworld and the goddess of Spring (daughter of Demeter, goddess of harvest). This reference should lend a big clue to what this character is really like. You'll meet her in the third chapter.
Points of Interest: Did you know that Aleph's whole talk about parallel universes and potential fates is not just fantasy/sci-fi stuff? It's actually a huge part of astrophysics and cosmology. One theory of time states that every movement that has and will happen, exists simultaneously in a 4D spacetime reality. This is the "many-worlds" theory. One choice in any given reality branches out into innumerable choices, thus creating parallel universes. All possibilities are equally real but we can only experience one at a time. The problem with this theory is that it leaves us no room for free will, since everything is predetermined. An alternative is the quantum theory, which states that when the universe is faced with choices, it decides between them at random, in accordance with the laws of probability. This theory gives us free will. I think the Escaflowne story, both the original and my own, works toward a synthesis of these two theories.
The hymn sung by the priest near the beginning of the chapter is extracted directly from the Parthian Hymn Cycles of the Manicheans, a part of the ancient scripture of Gnosticism (these scriptures were found roughly around the time the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered).
The lyrics of the "Dragon Bride" song that Val sings to Hermione are actually supposed to fit into the cradle song you'll find on your Escaflowne CD (it's the song that Folken always whistled).
Endymion, again from Greek mythology, was a mortal (shepherd) loved by Diana, the goddess of the Moon. There are various versions of the myth, one says that Endymion sleeps eternally on the moon, and Diana comes to give him a kiss every night. The reason why I chose this name is because since Orion refers to the stars and Celena to the moon, it's nice to give their son a name that refers to the lover of the night sky.
Book II: Gaea Rising
Preface: As I hoped you have noticed while reading Book I, "Both are Infinite" tries to express certain universal themes that concern the characters as much as they concern us in real life. My greatest reward, as the author, is to see that certain parts of the story have genuinely touched some people, and that the reader can take in the themes. We all of us have undergone, to some extent, the sadness and confusion experienced by the main characters. One of my goals is to convey, through the story, the kind of hope expressed by the following passage: "Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the heights. We cry aloud but the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry. From the voiceless lips of the unreplying dead there comes on word; but in the night of death hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing." (Robert Ingersoll) Keep this feeling in mind when you continue to read about the adventures of the Fanel family. Hope you'll like Book II. Don't jump to conclusions - please read through the whole thing first. Don't forget to tell me what you think!
The Trumpet of a Prophecy
The time is out of joint; oh cursed spite
That ever I was born to set it right!
Hamlet
Echoes of mourning filled the Nerya caves. The howling wind raced demonically through the endless granite tunnels in which all the remaining citizens of Fanelia sat shivering. It was the winter solstice. 21 ADW, the Year of the Dragon Wind, was drawing its last pitiful breath.
The low bellowing of an Asopian horn shuddered the caves and beckoned the people to gather in the main chamber. Though lit by rows of torches and rising on all sides into a majestic dome, the chamber enclosed death. As the procession of citizens wandered in with heavy looks and steps, a priest ascended the little platform at the centre and began a solemn hymn, originally written in Poetics:
Lofty and limitless, where darkness never comes,
All the dwelling places there are magnificent.
For they are happy in the light and know no pain
All who enter there stay for eternity.
Heaviness and drooping do not exist in their bodies
Decay does not exist in their fruit;
None who is among them has a dark shadow
Full of light is their living self; ever in gladness
And purity loving each other - they are beautiful. The alleviating hope of the song sent a rippling sense of beauty over the silent people. Melancholy briefly softened their dark vigils of despair. In everyone's mind was the frightful hope that death will one day free them from this pit of destruction and agony.
As the hymn continued, nothing but its grave echoes was heard. After all the citizens have been assembled, the royal procession entered through the crowd. Valorick walked in front, supporting Nestor by the arm. Behind them were Endymion, Celena, Hermione and Merle, all in tears, followed by various lords and military commanders. The priest ended his song, and bowed to Prince Valorick, then left the platform free.
With weary grunts, old Nestor was helped up to the platform. Time had been unkind to him. No longer did his eyes gleam with the vibrant intellect of his days, and his white hoary beard was dewy with tears. He adjusted his round spectacles and addressed the crowd in a husky, almost muffled voice: "My friends, it is with the ambivalence of grief and gladness that we gather here to crown our new king, but also to bid farewell to out former king, and queen. Fate has been cruel to our beloved homeland. But so long as Fanelia has a leader and a people, she has hope. Now, I realize that you are all very exhausted from a day of work, so without further ado, let us begin the brief coronation." Nestor was scant of breath, and he struggled to make the gesture that signified the commencement.
The crowd held its breath as Prince Valorick ascended the steps upon Nestor's call. Some poorly played trumpets flourished, and everything returned to silence right afterwards, until Nestor spoke. "I, Nestor of the Council of Fanelia, hereby represent the Fanelian people, and crown thee, Valorick Folken Fanel, as the new elected king of all Fanelia." A glistening new sword was presented. Nestor knelt down on one knee and offered it up, "Long may you reign."
Following Nestor's example, everyone, from lord to peasant, knelt down and a steady shout thundered the caves: "Long live King Valorick!"
Valorick stood at the centre motionlessly. His dry eyes remained fixed on the royal sword offered up to him. To take it would signify an acceptance of the tragedy, an acknowledgement that he was no longer the prince, but the heir who has taken up the throne left empty by his father's death. He dared not move, or look up at the people, dared not attempt to accomplish his parents' dream of a saved Fanelia. When he shut his eyes tightly, he saw an image of himself as a child, playing in the garden with his parents. Darkness had once seemed impossible - but that happiness was, after all, only a seeming. When he opened his eyes, he found his own hand gripping firmly on the sword.
He turned to the people. In that instant, the youthful charm of his radiant face suddenly hardened into profundity. "Fanelian, please rise," his sonorous voice stirred everyone. "It had been my late father's wish that the new law of ascension replaces the old dragon slaying rite with a trek across the wintry terrains of Asgard, as proof of endurance and worthiness. I thank you for your faith in my ability to take up the reins of leadership, but because of our present predicament, I cannot leave for Asgard just yet. As you know - " a sob suddenly broke our from Hermione; Valorick paused to look at her then continued. "The Fireans are still seeking destruction. With Asturia gone, we've lost our strongest ally, and since our home has been.destroyed, we have nowhere else to hide except here. I'm sorry that you have to remain hiding in these caves, I know it's difficult, but there's no other solution. We must stay put until help comes or until a better battle strategy can be drawn.
"However." Valorick felt he needed a different state of mind in order to say the following. "Do not despair. I know it's hard but we must walk through these shadows. I can't be as great as my father, but I will try my best to lead you out. Fanelia, and all our ideals of justice, goodness, peace.these do not exist in our palace, temples, diamonds or weaponry. Burn them all and Fanelia lives, because it lives in us. So long as we are here, Fanelia can be rebuilt! We will prevail over the Fireans and a new era will be born!" The people cheered, but Valorick sensed some delusion or ambivalence in their uproar. He heaved an inaudible sigh and sensed the same feeling in himself. He then understood what his father must have felt while giving those inspirational speeches. The truth must sometimes be left undeclared.
The ceremony ended untimely, as King Valorick did not know what else could be said. Everyone field out the same way they came in. As Valorick remained on the platform, eh noticed that various pairs of wistful eyes were turned and fixated on him. He very quickly evaded those helpless and pleading gazes. After Endymion, Nestor and all the guards left, Valorick lingered in the vast, empty chamber alone.
The reflection of torches danced on the glistening walls and seemed to create a rhythm all their own, so separate from the flows of human life. Valorick lay down on the platform and gazed upwards. The towering ceilings of the dome were still embedded with raw diamond fragments, and in the darkness, the dome resembled the starry night sky, something that the Fanelian people can no longer enjoy. Valorick let the circular space close in around him. The temporary peace reminded him of the comforting solitude he used to have in these caves. He imagined that his mother would come running down the main tunnel, looking for him. But the echoes of dripping water, "dong dong", suddenly drowned out her calls.
Valorick sat up and listened to the monotonous echo. It seemed to increase in volume. As he pictured the rippling of a water pond caused by the constant dripping, he trembled with the image. The echoes seemed to be murmuring to him, "There is no hope.there is no hope." He then understood what Hermione meant when she said there was something prophetic and undying about the ghostly Nerya caves.
He picked up his new sword and unsheathed it. The royal sword that had undergone innumerable battles with King Van has been destroyed, so a new one was created. The silver blade, unstained with blood, still shone with honor and glory. The dragonhead crest of Fanelia was carved exquisitely in gold and its sacred presence lent a sense of heroism and justice to the inevitable horrors that will one day color the immaculate blade. But Valorick understood better than that. He had seen through the meaning of war, and the frailty of human bonds. Yet insight was of no use since it was action that was required of him - action to be ever greater than his father in order to defeat the insurmountable evil. His determination to storm through the darkness coexisted with his resistance to accept that full tragedy, and with his disbelief in his own abilities.
As he scrutinized the dragonhead, he suddenly began hating it. All the sights and sounds of the chamber were somehow intensified. The glistening walls and dome, the echoes, the feel of the platform beneath his back, the eyes gazing on him.all were like menacing phantoms circling rapidly around him. He wanted to scream but instead, he cut his finger on the blade. A perfect line of crimson blood ran down the edge. Val shuddered at the apocalyptic implications of the sight, so he quickly escaped the chamber.
He ran down the tunnels, along which the citizens were sitting or lying. He meandered through the labyrinthine veins of the caves and came to a more secluded area, guarded by soldiers. He crouched down and entered a small cave chamber. Merle was curled up in one corner, already sleeping, though in pain. On a mattress in the middle of the chamber lay Hermione, with her sad eyes still wide open.
Valorick set his sword on the side and lay down beside his sister. "Hermione, you're supposed to be asleep. There's still work to be done tomorrow."
"Well, I just can't," she cried, "It was hard, it was so hard watching you being crowned king. So I'm like a duchess now or something?" she began biting her nails.
"Yes, you are a duchess so stop biting your nails!" he pulled her hand away from her mouth.
"Don't tell me what to do, you're not my daddy!" That phrase came out the wrong way, and it reverberated awkwardly in the space between them.
"No, Hermione, no, I'm not, but I have to act in his place and take care of you from now on," Valorick sat up and gazed down at Hermione. "Look, I know this is unbearable for you, it is for me too, but we must go on. It's what they would have wanted."
Tears began blurring Hermione's deep autumnal eyes. "I know but I.I just wish I could use my phoenix powers to bring them back!"
Valorick wiped her cheeks. "But you know that a phoenix can revive the dead only by raising them from their ashes. We have no ashes because the bodies.were never found."
"It's not fair!" she cried.
Valorick stroked her hair and all he could say was "I know, I know." That was his only way of showing the affinity that they shared in the bereavement.
A deathly silence ensued and both of them felt utterly alone. The passing of Van and Hitomi had estranged the family. Fanelia herself had become a little moribund. The chambers of the Nerya caves seemed disconnected from one another, despite the tunnels running in between. Each was enclosed in its own darkness.
After a while, just before Valorick dozed off, Hermione asked in a flavourless voice. "Can you sing that cradle song for me?"
He awoke insipidly. "What.you mean 'Dragon's Bride'?"
"Yeah, the one mommy always sang to us. It was daddy's favorite, remember? He said uncle Folken used to whistle it all the time."
Valorick sighed and cleared his throat. His voice was tired and coarse, but gentle enough to feel like a feather brushing past the ear. Soon, Hermione joined in the lullaby:
Sleep, my dear, have sweet dreams in thy sleep,
Rest beneath love's trembling calm starlight;
No more pain can reach thee in thy sleep,
So dream through the peaceful night. They surrendered themselves to the evanescent experience of a calm they once thought o be imperturbable. For one second, everything did seem to be a mere nightmare, and once they close their eyes, the world would be awake once again.
Just before Hermione fell asleep, she whispered, "Val, your voice sounds almost like daddy's, and you smell like him." Then she cuddled into his arms. While he waited for her to start dreaming, he held her and fought to stop the trembling in his body caused by the sobs. As soon as Hermione was deep in dreams, Valorick gently put her down and gathered his things together.
When he pulled aside the curtain covering the opening of the chamber, he met Celena who was just about to enter. "Aunt Celena! I thought you would be sleeping in Endy's chamber tonight."
"No, I think it's best I stay here and take care of the girls. You can share with a chamber with Endy. How's Hermione doing?"
Valorick stepped out into the tunnel and leaned against the cold stonewalls. "I think she's trying to cope, but all this is probably too much for her, as it is for all of us, I suppose. Sorrow comes in huge battalions, doesn't it?"
"Oh, Val," Celena placed a hand on his cheek. "I know what it's like to lose one's parents. A loss like that is never easy to bear, but you will pull through. With Allen and Orion gone, you two, Endy and Merle are all I have." In a short span of time, Celena had become inhumanly gaunt and frail. Wispy thin veins were visible beneath her skin that was like faded silk. She has become like the Mystic Moon, drizzly and robbed of serenity. And her beloved Tears of Time no longer encircled her wan orb.
Valorick cupped Celena's hand within his. "Don't you worry, Aunt Celena, we will survive. Endy and I will make sure no more harm comes to you."
"Val." Celena smiled sadly and kissed him goodnight. He waited until she settled into the chamber before he took off.
The veins of the Nerya caves appeared to cease pulsating and flowing. Most of the people were already drowsy with pain-numbing sleep. Valorick quietly worked his way around the motionless bodies lying in the tunnels and finally found Endy standing guard at the colossal boulder that blocked the only gateway of the caves. Valorick asked the other guards to take a break so that the two young men could be left alone.
Endy stood contemplating the flame of the torch hung on the wall, as if it were some unsurpassable landscape of moonlit beauty. Valorick came up to him and joined in the admiration of the flame. They stood there, side by side, without looking at each other, yet deeply acknowledging the mutual troubles they shared. That had always been their way of reaching forth and connecting infinitely.
Endy suddenly spoke, with his eyes still fixated on the garish blaze. "Do you know what I miss the most about my father?"
"Um.the way he was always your friend and never your parent?"
"Well, that too, but I really miss how he'd tell those really stupid, disgusting jokes," Endy laughed. "Guess I won't ever hear them again.You know, I'm scared to face my mother, I think my face reminds her of my father's because we look so much alike. She must be dying inside. They loved each other so much.I'm also scared to look in the mirror, aren't you?"
Valorick closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, it's like he's staring at me, through my eyes, looking at me from behind the line of death." Valorick empathetically laid a hand on Endy's shoulder. It agonized him to see his best friend shattered so. Endymion had been a child of the moon and stars, and the light he diffused was from up above, delicate and symbolic. Born with an aura of tranquility, he was always calm, free from tempestuous passions. He seemed capable of living beyond human sorrow. But now, for the first time, Valorick witnessed the waning of a celestial power, which had become as dark as himself.
Endy turned to him. "I'll survive. I still have my mother. But how are you doing, Val?"
Valorick dropped down onto the ground. "I.I don't know. I don't know how to go on.A mother and a father dead by a brother's hand.what am I supposed to do about that?" he gathered some stones in his fist and smashed them into the wall. "Am I supposed to commit fratricide in order to avenge my parents' death and Fanelia's destruction? As their son and as Fanelia's king, that is what I should do, but as a brother, I cannot!"
Endy sat down next to him. "Perhaps you shouldn't think of it as fratricide. Griffon is not really your brother in any case. It's like your mother prophesied, he's Branimir reincarnated, correct?"
"Yeah, I suppose," Valorick rubbed his booming temples. "But he is of the same flesh and blood as I, regardless of what he was in some previous life. Besides.father said I should learn to.to forgive."
He locked his head in between his knees and recalled back to the germination of this tragic seed: one year after Valorick was born, Hitomi conceived another child. But this baby, born on an inauspicious stormy night, bore a strange birthmark upon his forehead - it was in the shape of a griffin. From that moment on, the family had been ill starred. Van became increasingly suspicious that Griffon was a part of the Fireans (whose symbol was the griffin) and the child's incessant crimes nearly drove Van to madness. Griffon bit his own mother, attempted to set the palace on fire, gave his brother a deep wound in the left shoulder.there came a day when the healers decided that Prince Griffon must be locked away in the asylum, situated near the hospital in Fidell. Thus Griffon receded into the dark background; he became the shadow of the Fanel family, and only Hermione's birth could illumine the darkness he had left. Though he was hardly mentioned and though memories of him were largely repressed, Van and Hitomi would go visit him twice every color. There were times of anger when they felt that the perfect circle of their love had been broken by this hideous progeny that they could not believe was their own child. But other times, their hearts had vast rooms of love for Griffon, and the dire fate of their ill-born child tormented them beyond any danger or fear that Branimir could inflict.
Valorick recalled the times when he accompanied his parents to the asylum. In his mind still lingered the images of Griffon screaming heinously, and scratching his hands on the concrete ground, until the fingertips were bloodied. Griffon would sometimes let out a howling cry, sending Hitomi into tears. Sometimes, he would grab his brother violently, and start calling him by the name of Hamlet. Valorick never figured out what that name meant. Can this be my brother? He had often disbelieved the answer to that question, especially when Griffon escaped from the asylum and his identity as Branimir was revealed. Can brotherhood be so much? Can blood run as swift as water?
Then Valorick remembered his Persephone, the beautiful enchantress whom he once took to be a simple shepherdess from Serenus. But she too was cursed with the fatality of a blood bred in darkness. Persephone, my Persephone, how shall we ever overcome.
Endy shook Valorick a little and he awoke from his trance of remembrance. He touched the scar on his left shoulder, and hardened his mind. "What am I talking about? Forgive him? I've already rejected him. At that moment, he has already ceased to be my brother!" Valorick suddenly stood up and walked towards a small boulder that marked a side gate.
"Wait, Val! Don't go outside alone! It could be dangerous. Plus, you're the king now, you should have an escort!"
He held out his arm and signalled for Endy not to come any nearer. "No, please let me go alone! I'll be fine!" he began pushing the boulder aside.
"But, Val."
"Let me be, my friend. I need some solitude and fresh air. If there's trouble, I'll call for help."
The gate was opened, and the long-absent air rushed into the tunnels. The guards hurried to inhale a few deep breaths before closed the opening shut again. Endy reluctantly watched Valorick's shadowy figure retreat slowly out to the ruinous world.
In the lifeless aftermath of the destruction, even the wind gods and Aeolian spirits had fled the land. The smoke from the wreckage still flowed in the air, and the charcoal smell was nauseating. All the verdant beauty had been murdered. No trees swayed, no birds sang and no dragons roamed. The Mystic Moon hung like the eye of Death, grim amid the huge mass of the black earth and the black sky.
Valorick dragged his weary feet towards the central wreckage. His back was hunched as if he had just been in battle. The towering palace he once called home rested as a hill of grey debris, no taller than a tree, and the damaged pieces of guymelefs surround its base. Valorick did not expect it to be so ruined beyond hope. Amid the chaotic and disheartening remains was the devastated Escaflowne, its energist no longer resonating, and its crimson wings torn to hideous shreds. Escaflowne ceased to be a god of war or peace, but became a prisoner of a moribund eternity.
In rage, Valorick threw off his armour and unsheathed the sword. He stabbed it into the ground and knelt down, leaning his whole weight and soul upon the blade that was stained with his dry blood. "Ah!" he let out a scream. "Oh my soul.if I shall never come to know you, let me feel the lack. I don't want to be in this sepulchre of eternity. How can this wretched, perishable body be made of stardust?" he snickered to himself. "Someone tell me why.why.oh gods, ah!" he hit his forehead against the hilt and let out another pitiful howl. Nothing stirred, no answer came. All that was heard was the echo of his wailing cry that drifted across the Fanelian wasteland, bouncing between the barren peaks of life and death.
"So, so.alone. Tell me, saints above, who guides my drifting soul? Who takes pity on our agony?" The darkness of Fanelia had suddenly become darker, and it took Valorick a few seconds to realize that it was more than spiritual darkness. He looked up through his blurry eyes and saw that the land was indeed getting darker. The one source of light was being extinguished. He looked up and saw the lunar eclipse. Gaea was passing directly between Earth and the sun.
All his thoughts and feelings bled into the white light around the edges of the shadow's circle. For him, life and misery created the eclipse of love's fiery sphere. The barely visible light of the Mystic Moon formed a crown of incandescent vapor, flickering beyond the rim of the full black blot. But was the moon really still there? Did it survive the darkness that has overshadowed it wholly? Perhaps he saw no more than the bright kaleidoscope that transformed the madman's world as he tiptoed on the threshold of lunacy.
The eclipse was soon over. Valorick wiped away his teas and was ready to return to the caves. But just as he turned to leave, a voice restrained him. "I've always known you were the dramatic one of the Fanel family." It was a resonant and profound voice, and could easily be mistaken for a god's. But Valorick immediately recognized the tone, and he swung his sword around, pointing it straight at the white-bearded figure who stood upon the air.
"Aleph!" Valorick shouted. "What are you doing here? Who are you to judge what I'm like? Traitor! You've been helping the Fireans, haven't you? Give me back my parents, my homeland, my happiness!"
"Now, calm down, young prince. Don't be ridiculous, how can I be in league with the Fireans? Don't let the moonlight get the better of you," Aleph approached; his white light rivalled the moon's.
"Get.get away from me!" Valorick flung his sword around, as if in drunkenness, but he eventually fell down out of fatigue. "Don't hurt me anymore," he whispered wretchedly.
Aleph descended onto the ground and stood next to Valorick. "Now, just calm down and listen to why I have come to you. After you hear what news and change I bring, you will be grateful, my prince."
Valorick stared at the ruins and said lethargically, "You're like the harbinger of the apocalypse, what good tidings could you possibly bring?"
Aleph helped him up. "I bring release to your pain and to Fanelia's pain."
"Release?" Valorick chuckled and pushed Aleph away. "Release to our pain? How dare you speak of release? You know nothing of our pain! Nothing!" Valorick suddenly laughed like a lunatic and wandered around, swinging his arms in the air. "This burden upon my shoulder, do you know how heavily it presses down upon me? I cannot breathe! And have you seen the people inside those caves? Have you seen the look in their eyes.I don't believe in heroism anymore. Fanelia's cursed fate and Gaea's sadness.all the injustice.why must I set it right?"
"Because it is your destiny!" Aleph gripped him by the shoulders and sat him down on a log. "Stop wallowing in self-pity. I see your suffering. I know, I know. Listen to me, Valorick Fanel, do you know why your parents' consummation in the prison had the mysterious power to change the universe?" Aleph lifted up his chin so their eyes met; Valorick shook his head dumbly. "It's because you were conceived. Val, you are a very special boy. As the son of Van and Hitomi, it is your destiny and duty to realize a love even greater than theirs. You are the first progeny of eternal love and its power to harmonize darkness and light flows in your veins. Can you now answer its call?"
Aleph sat down next to him and continued. "Your parents believed in the Atlantis Within - do you? Can you believe in yourself, and in Persephone, regardless of what she is? Can you forgive your brother, and help everyone else do so, even if he is Branimir?" Valorick looked away from Aleph and into the distance.
"So are you ready, child? I'm going to tell you my prophecy, except, it's a prophecy of the past!" Valorick nodded firmly. "Well, your parents' death served an important purpose. Everything you've experienced in your life has formed one out of many unforetold possible futures. Many fates coexist simultaneously in the universe. All are equally real, and you have a possibility of experiencing any one of them, but you're presently aware of only this one that you're in right now."
Valorick nodded. "Yes, my mother told me about that."
Aleph began pacing. "There is usually no way of communicating between the different dimensions, except by going back in time and going up a different branch that leads to another potential fate. The one you've experienced is an ill one but it need not be that way since this fate is not the only one. Essentially, by dying in the present, in this potential world, your parents travelled back in time and entered another reality. They went back to the time when they were in the prison of Basram," Val stared in bewilderment and disbelief. "And the whole scenario was played over again. At the climax of life and death, they had faith in their love, hence they bonded even in the coldest of prisons. They changed fate for themselves, for you and for Gaea. They called up both an ideal past, which helped them escape the execution, and an ideal future where adversity will eventually be overcome. Hence, Escaflowne, God of War, was no longer needed once they escaped the prison. With your birth, a new future was set in place, but of course, it too has pains and perils. Ultimately, because of what they've done, you and Gaea are getting a second chance."
"Wait!" Val called out with excitement. "What do you mean? How will that work?"
"It is difficult to explain. You don't need to know how the universe works, not yet anyways, just know how to act within it. In a few minutes, time will be turned back to the summer of this year, before everything began," Valorick gaped. "Memories of this tragic future will be erased but will be returned to you and only you, from time to time. These memories will serve to remind you to act according to what is within your soul."
"So everything will happen again in exactly the same way?"
"Of course not, hopefully not. Certain things might be the same but hopefully the unfortunate ones will be replaced. In order for the potential future to fully replace the tragic one, you will have to choose correctly. You're right about time being out of joint - it is, and now you must set it right. The turning point will come again and at the moment of choice, you will be asked, once again, to choose either hate or love. You've chosen wrongly this time, hence Fanelia lies in ruins," Aleph gestured at the landscape.
"You mean this is all my fault? This is all because I couldn't forgive them?" the revelation overwhelmed Valorick with guilt and shame.
"In a way, yes. But you're not the only one responsible, my young prince - everyone who participates in this future is responsible. Furthermore, your parents are crucial in the beginning and end of all this. You're not alone, Val. Concentrate on your task. You may not be the creator or the guide of this destiny, but you are the mediator, the Concord, sitting between hate and love, darkness and light. You must harmonize them, unite them and help bring forth a new world order, a synthesis."
"But I." Valorick looked at Aleph with a tortured expression of confusion and hope.
"Do not doubt yourself, my prince. I believe that in this other potential reality, you will come to learn about love, family and about all the meanings of the word 'blood'. Now do you still think I'm the devil's messenger?" Aleph smiled.
Valorick tried earnestly to find his way through the unfathomable implications of this prophecy of both the past and future. He looked around him and an ardent flame arose within - the determination to change the awful fate, to see his family and Fanelia alive once again. None of the infernal images will linger in his memory, and he will regain his full life. The longing and desire intensified though he was still entangled in numerous questions and disbeliefs. As he turned to Aleph with the questions, he realized that a blinding light has encircled Aleph so that the white-robed figure was indistinguishable from the halo.
"Aleph! Wait! I still don't understand." but before Valorick could finish, the white radiance of eternity overtook him. Then came a distant song of angelic chorus like an apocalyptic farewell to this tragic dimension. For a few seconds, he could still hear the noises of Fanelia disintegrating, noises from which he would hopefully be eternally divided.
Then his consciousness was engulfed.
~ End of Part I ~
Firstly, I just want to pay special thanks to my ingenious and invaluable editor, JOSE, without whom the story would be like guymelef wreckage! Thanks for all your care and hard work!
Second, I know you must be really confused about the whole thing with Griffon. I did not have this in mind when I wrote the interlude, which is why it all seems a little too sudden. However, there are a lot of details and explanation later so I hope to make up for the sudden onset. It's like Endy said, Griffon is the reincarnated Branimir - a whole new story is going to develop behind this. (Remember Hitomi in Book I said that she felt Branimir is bad because of some very tragic reason? Keep that thought in mind). It has some similarities with the Van-Folken conflict but not exactly the same. It really tries to bring out the themes, which are the lessons that Aleph said Val should learn about: family, love and the meaning of blood. This will all tie in with the themes of Book I.
Third, in my mind, I have this design for the significance/role of the major characters, and it's sort of like this: Van and Hitomi are the "creators" of this fate/destiny/story (or whatever you want to call it) - you'll see how later on -, Valorick is the mediator (just like Aleph told him), Orion is the guide, Hermione is the perpetuator.I'm still undecided about people like Allen and Branimir, but generally, they're the protectors (yes, even Dornkirk is one). Hopefully, this design will work out through the narrative.
Lastly, as you may know, Persephone, in Greek mythology, is both the queen of the Underworld and the goddess of Spring (daughter of Demeter, goddess of harvest). This reference should lend a big clue to what this character is really like. You'll meet her in the third chapter.
Points of Interest: Did you know that Aleph's whole talk about parallel universes and potential fates is not just fantasy/sci-fi stuff? It's actually a huge part of astrophysics and cosmology. One theory of time states that every movement that has and will happen, exists simultaneously in a 4D spacetime reality. This is the "many-worlds" theory. One choice in any given reality branches out into innumerable choices, thus creating parallel universes. All possibilities are equally real but we can only experience one at a time. The problem with this theory is that it leaves us no room for free will, since everything is predetermined. An alternative is the quantum theory, which states that when the universe is faced with choices, it decides between them at random, in accordance with the laws of probability. This theory gives us free will. I think the Escaflowne story, both the original and my own, works toward a synthesis of these two theories.
The hymn sung by the priest near the beginning of the chapter is extracted directly from the Parthian Hymn Cycles of the Manicheans, a part of the ancient scripture of Gnosticism (these scriptures were found roughly around the time the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered).
The lyrics of the "Dragon Bride" song that Val sings to Hermione are actually supposed to fit into the cradle song you'll find on your Escaflowne CD (it's the song that Folken always whistled).
Endymion, again from Greek mythology, was a mortal (shepherd) loved by Diana, the goddess of the Moon. There are various versions of the myth, one says that Endymion sleeps eternally on the moon, and Diana comes to give him a kiss every night. The reason why I chose this name is because since Orion refers to the stars and Celena to the moon, it's nice to give their son a name that refers to the lover of the night sky.