Far-flung: Chapter 1
"Everybody's looking for that something
one thing that makes it all complete"
Born from the jagged peaks some thousand leagues far-flung, the wind blew east with an icy chill unusual to July. The blustery weather crossed over the hilly pastures of the Oviedo Estate and plastered the pink-garmented figure atop the rocky promontory. She was Michelle Inures Oviedo, the heir to the ruling Countess of Emelan, standing there unshaken by the constant bombardment of an early winter's gusts.
She stood equal to most men in her white knee-reaching boots that showed wear from constant use. Her light-skinned body was muscled but still effeminate with delicate curves and her eyes were a smoldering gray as sharp as the rapier hankering at her waist. She wore her blonde hair gathered up in a pink ribbon, twisting down in a long ponytail, and assembled with a pink button up dress. A rose-shaped brooch of ivory was pinned between her high breasts, keeping the flowing alabaster cape in place behind her. She was a beautiful creature in all rites, even whilst maturing in such an uncanny, windblown climate.
Gusts of wind ruffled her clothes and hair.
When Michelle opened her eyes, the entire world closed in on her, along with the brocaded fringes of the pink parasol she held over her eyes. Emelan was beautiful; a flowing tapestry of tranquility, a manifestation of loveliness to compliment her own attractiveness. She drank it all in and veered her eyes to glimpse it all.
She remained a few moments, then took a final glance at the horizon and sighed somberly to herself at the last look. But she did not walk five steps when behind her the air rippled, shimmered, and then solidified into a young man who dropped backward onto the earth.
The girl spun about quickly at the deviance in sound from his fall, feeling for the handle of the sheathed rapier. Her face twisted briefly in incredulity as she stared down at a young boy lying upon the earth. He was no taller than she was though perhaps a few years younger. She could not make out a face of anyone she knew, but his skin and hair were fair just as her own. Both were common characteristics of the Emelanese but his clothing was outlandish. He wore all green, except for the intricate gold spirals and designs inlaid and emblemized on his doublet, short shirtsleeves, and short. None of his distinctiveness, the green, the designs, was regular to the Emelanese fashion.
Michelle ambled directly over him for a better look. His face was youthful and proportioned, with everything well placed and firmly set. She noticed he was rather good-looking, even though she could not see his eyes. As she admired the regal silver-leaved garland circling his forehead, she only concluded that maybe he was of some importance or background of opulence.
The boy roused and arched his back, letting out a low groan. His face crinkled and his eyelids opened revealing to Michelle intense green eyes. Further confirming he was a very handsome boy.
She did not even know they were starring at each other, even though he lay there piercing her with those magnificent emeralds. For a long moment, she stared down at him, captivated. Her heart pounded wildly and she could not breathe at proper intervals. Finally, after catching her breath, she smiled at him and he did the same.
Just that simple smile and Michelle's knees went weak and her bare neck began to tremble. It was foolish how he was making her feel this way.
Finally, after an eerie silence, Michelle sputtered her first words to him. "Hullo," she said shifting her hands uneasily behind her back. "I think you're cute." An impulse of course.
The boy gave a warm chuckle, a modest one, and Michelle realized what she had just said. She gasped and her mouth fell open, feeling the warmth overrun her face as it flushed. She was mortified and unable to surmise anything to recant her graceless remark.
"It's alright," he said. His warm voice, although not yet at full maturity, turned her into paste. "I mean you're cute too," he confided.
Michelle's skin tingled and became redder. She smiled awkwardly and held out her hand for him to get up. He accepted and stood to be at least an inch taller.
Pensively he observed the surrounding with his beautiful eyes, instinctively gathering the new world around him. He stemmed his concentration for a few seconds before he returned his gaze to Michelle. "I'm Aramis Viladriel by the way. Or Ari is just as well."
Michelle accepted his salutation of goodwill. "My name is Michelle; I am the daughter of Countess Oviedo." She gave a polite obeisance of acquaintance while trying to remain calm
"I hope you don't mind telling me where I am." His warm tone became grave. "I don't know how I ended up in this place, so I'd be most obliged if you'd be of some assistance. I cannot be delayed for too long, I need to warn my Emperor of what's going to happen." He averted his gaze again to look at the landscape. "I am sure my disappearance has already caused some alarm. I am a very valuable Prince."
Michelle narrowed her eyes on the boy, not certain if he was serious. "A Prince you say?"
"Uh-huh. I am the nephew of the Emperor Isolden. I was placed as Regent of the outlying Imperial territories in Sindar," he confirmed. "My home was invaded and I was captured aboard the Juraian vessel Consecrating Fist along with my Uncle Miko. As the battle culminated, an Imperial agent named Quatre Relner saved me. But what happens after that I cannot really figure out. I think I was sucked into a vortex of some sort, a mass hyperspace shadow caused by the ship's attempt to flee into space when emergency forces arrived. You must assist me. The gravity of this situation has reached insurmountable levels. I need to at least reach a comm. relay to warn the Emperor about a Juraian Invasion."
"Emperor Isolden…Sindar?" Michelle looked at him perplexed, but then she remembered her father's lessons concerning the different Galactic Kingdoms. Her eyes widened. "You're an Erressian!"
Neither Elves nor Men, the proud Tol Erressians only differed subtly with their green eyes, fair skin and hair, and highly ornate green clothing. Now with the ban against interstellar crafts that once kept the many Galactic Kingdoms in unity, the distant Empire has become only an enigma to worlds like Emelan. To meet one was a rare chance, and her encounter with the Tol Erressian prince excited Michelle.
Nevertheless, some things the boy was saying did not entirely make sense. Emperor Isolden no longer lived, and Sindar was destroyed a thousand years ago during his rule. The talk about space and vessels and Juraian invasions also complimented the fact that the boy may just be delusional. "I do not doubt you're a Tol Erressian or a prince, but what you say is outrageous," she said to him.
"Outrageous? What's that supposed to mean?"
"How old are you?"
"That's a funny question. I turned sixteen in April."
"Sindar has been in ruins for one-thousand years," she made clear. "Isolden, he no longer rules the Empire."
"What do you mean, a thousand years ago? But I saw the Juraians attack Sindar! You're saying that happened a thousand years ago? Of course not!"
"It's true," she said simply.
Aramis became silent and again stemmed into his concentration. He did not want to believe her but after a time, the boy asked, "What do you know about the one called Sin?"
The girl stilled for a moment at the mention of the terrible evil. It was not customary to speak its name in the open. She turned her eyes back over the promontory.
Aramis noticed her face pale.
"Sin is the punishment for crimes humanity has committed," she replied, clenching her rapier and lowering her parasol over her eyes more. "For one-thousand years it has scourged the Galaxy to bring perennial ruin."
"Michelle I remember that I met with Sin. I believe it hurtled me here when it attacked the Juraian fleet."
She sighed, "You just plopped out of nowhere. It's somewhat curious to bring you all the way to Emelan. But an encounter with Sin means you've fallen under the influence of its toxin. That's why you believe you're from Sindar."
"Emelan? You mean Kolkis."
"We no longer go by that name," Michelle retorted. "As our verification to the Goddess' demands we have abandoned our ancient namesake that reminds us of the evil machines. As for the tox-"
"Wait. What? Evil machines?" The questions began to stack up in Ari's mind. "Could you explain what exactly happened? And also," he continued, "I'm not under the influence of anything. I'm perfectly sound Lady Michelle."
"Whatever" she said, unconvinced. "When you're near Sin, it sort of messes with your mind. It makes you think irrationally. Your senses should come soon enough."
The girl went on to explain about the coming of Sin:
"A long time ago, there were many cities in Arendia. Grand cities that covered entire planets, with Machina--machines--to run them and even some that flew through space. People played all day and let the Machina do the work, completely forgetting about their devotion to our Goddess. Then, well, look. Sin came, and destroyed the Machina cities with Sindar along with them. It is all a punishment from the Goddess until the people make the Atonement for their crimes."
"Gee." He soon understood that Sin did not only throw him across the galaxy, but also through the frontier of time. One-thousand years actually.
"Oh, and one thing. Don't tell anyone you're from Sindar, okay?" Michelle sincerely advised. "The Valkyries (they're leaders of the Church Assimilation that controls the Galaxy), say it's a holy place. You might upset someone."
Ari only nodded. He didn't bother to argue about him being from Sindar to Michelle anymore. It was best just to go along with it, he figured.
The two quickly warmed up to one another and became lost in a following conversation, sitting side by side at the edge of the overlook. They talked about many things, making themselves hoarse all the while the minutes skated away as the two became entranced with each other's words.
The sun rolled westward across the sky as the talk seemed to last forever. The blustery, cold morning that Michelle had come out to was now a cheerful sunny day more suitable for the summer. The coming of the boy, and the brightening of the future-countess' mood all seemed to have an effect on the weather. The sky was azure with clouds of white lambs fleeting across within the Sun's contented rays. Everything was calm, just perfect for the two.
At about three, Michelle finally noticed how time had unavoidably slipped by.
"Aramis?" she asked in a thoughtful tone.
For some reason the sound of hearing his name, slipping off her tongue made him feel cold. There seemed to be a desire he did not hear before in it that made him feel shivery.
Aramis smiled faintly. "Yes?"
"Would you like to come home with me?"
Ari gulped down nervously, "For what?" he asked cautiously before agreeing to anything.
"It should be dinner very soon, and I'm sure you're hungry." She paused. "I've already missed breakfast and lunch. I don't believe my family would approve of me gone, but they always love a guest."
It was true. Ari had not eaten since the day before. "Yes, that would be nice. Not a bad idea at all." He smiled standing up, to grasp her dainty gloved hand.
They walked through a lovely afternoon, along the green plains of the Estate. Michelle, with her white cape billowing behind her and parasol overhead, led Ari through an orchard of unusually shaped trees with blue shriveled fruit. Emiram was what she called them, but they were not edible in their current condition.
Michelle stopped at a large statue of a winged woman at the edge of the orchard. Ari eyed her as she performed a curious gesture; shaping her right forearm over left forearm, fingers spread out, hands curved in the shape of a circle, and bowed to the effigy.
"Praise to the Mighty goddess and her faithful messengers. For without their guidance, the galaxy would be lost to Sin," she said softly. When she saw Ari did not pay the same homage, she eyed him, narrowing her eyes, but then bit back her response. The poison. He doesn't remember. She murmured a benediction for him
Ari looked at the statue. It was of a Valkyrie, rigid and proud, an authentication to the Creator's love of perfection. Her face was sullen but beautiful. There came from it came an unusual impression, one of undaunted strength and integrity and at the same time a concealed wickedness that Ari could not grasp. He eyed it for many moments mulling over what Michelle had told him this afternoon. It was hard to believe that the once mere clergywomen of the Galaxy had replaced the Ruling Senate government he knew altogether.
"Ari, we should leave now," Michelle said quietly
"Yeah, let's go now."
As the sun was going down, they reached the Oviedo Estate. Michelle gave instructions to a liveried and very hairy old servant to inform her uncle of her arrival. She also gave orders to stow her precious parasol in the proper place. The rapier, she told Ari, only left her side when in use. The servant bowed politely, and complied with a "Yes milady" before scurrying off.
"Ari," Michelle whispered in an unusually grave manner as they entered the marbled foyer. "I know this is probably a retch for a prince. You're palace is probably hundredfold of this"
"More like a thousand fold" he replied jokingly. "But it's better then nothing."
Michelle grinned at him. "Just remember, nothing about you being from the past at the dinner table."
The Oviedo household, from an ordinary perspective, was indeed grand. The interior was even more opulent than the stone-hewn exterior. All the furnishings were spun in the finest brocade of Emelan. Deep purples, although a truly hideous color to an Erressian, blues and other dark tones all embroidered with lavish designs.
Michelle tucked her hand in the crook of Ari's arm, and led him to the dining room. Rare woods, deftly carved, paneled its vast walls. The ceiling was high and spacious and the floors were of squared black and white marble that resembled a giant chessboard. A marvelous balloon-cut chandelier hung over the nacreous stone table, already meticulously set by a contingent of serving staff.
"Michelle!" A breathy voice suddenly called from behind them.
The two turned around and saw the buxom silhouette of Lady Deva Ramcrest framed in the enameled wood doorway.
She snapped her fingers, ending in a wide smile. "What do we have here?" She said pointing to Ari across the way. Her flowing black dress of satin organza rustled as she flounced her way to the young prince.
"It's not common to see Michelle bring anyone home for dinner. Especially a boyfriend," she purred from behind her spread fan. She held out her other hand to him and gave him a come-hither expression. "Lady Deva Ramcrest young lord, sister of Countess Oviedo"
Aramis accepted the greeting and bowed politely "Prince Aramis Viladriel milady."
"Prince Aramis Viladriel," she echoed in a musing tone, passing a scrutinizing glance over the boy from behind her fan. "That sounds exquisite." She nearly squealed in rapture. "But you're not from around here. Please my lord, do tell me of your business in Emelan. Are you an emissary?"
Aramis' gaze was fixed at the almost non-existent bodice on Lady Ramcrest's gown. The Lady stood taller then he, leaving Ari's probing eyes at the same level as her bursting cleavage. Squeezed and pressed up behind the sparse black fabric, her splendid globes of breast burgeoned with a radiance that the young prince could not help but stare at.
Knowing of her triumph over the blonde youth, Deva coyly lowered her lashes and stroked at the Prince's sleeves. "My lord?"
Stirred, he looked at her with a blank expression, and then he smiled at the Lady. Her face was flawless and looked alabaster with the darkened tones she wore. Deva continued to ogle at him from behind the fan, coaxing him with lackluster eyes, of the same hew as her fan, purple.
There was a lump in his throat; he could not seem to give a response to the older woman. The prince had always been awkward around the female gender, to say the least.
"My lord, you're starring at me."
Ari gave a toothy grin and his shoulders seamed to tense. "Oh I'm very sorry. It's just that-"
"I'm stunningly gorgeous. Aren't I?" she teased.
Ari smirked uncomfortably, unable to reply. He shifted uneasily as Deva continued to rub his shoulder.
Michelle rolled her eyes in disgust. "He's sixteen Deva, he's not interested."
Deva's jaw dropped at her niece's brazen then pinned her with a patronizing gaze. Then she smiled and shrugged as if she hardly bothered her. She shook her long midnight tresses, covering the right side of her face, then snaked her free hand onto Ari's neck.
"It's his decision to decide whether or not he's interested."
Ari looked askance at the Lady's boldness.
"Deva, just leave us alone please," Michelle said simply
Lady Ramcrest scoffed, "You have some nerve! I was only trying to be hospitable to our guest. Besides, I live here as well and it is almost dinner. I'll stay here if I want." Deva shot a disparaging glance at her niece. "Think of me anyway you would like, but I wasn't the one gallivanting around while your mother died of her sickness."
"What?" Michelle's world screeched to a grinding halt at her aunt's words. "'Died?' How! B-but she was fine this morning! Oh my god no…you're a liar Deva!"
"It's the truth. I don't look it, but I wear the mourning of my sister's death. I'm not the type that drowns in her sorrow." She turned away from Michelle. "Her dying words were to tell you she loved you."
Michelle's heart pounded rapidly. Her mother was fine this morning, she recalled checking up on her before leaving the estate. She was walking around the estate and she was beating her! What Deva said couldn't be true.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" her voice was stifled. She tried to remain calm and collected, blinking rabidly to hold in her tears. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought you knew. I told the servants to tell you, I guess some don't know yet" she paused. "You never did care much for your mother. I thought maybe it didn't faze you"
Deva was wrong. Even with the constant drama the mother and daughter each put upon one another, there was a bond between them. It was not always apparent, but the two envied at the other's way of carrying themselves. Michelle longed for the acceptance her mother knew all to well, while her mother longed for the adventure and freedom Michelle was adapted to.
Though there was sometimes disparity between the two and their very different worlds, they would always love one another.
Ari watched as confusion and disbelief invaded Michelle's countenance. He wanted so much to help her, but there was nothing in his power. He bit down on his lip when it crossed his mind that his own Uncle was dead now. He remembered seeing the Juraian Captain slew him in front of him, the fell axe swiped across his torso, killing poor Uncle Miko before falling to the floor.
A twinge of sadness overtook the young prince.
It wasn't only his Uncle he realized. Everyone he knew or loved was probably dead. His entire world was gone and this new one didn't seem at all sentimental to the emotions of the people. He felt the sorrow course through his body.
Michelle slumped down to the floor onto her knees. She looked up at Ari, her tormented gray eyes meeting his green ones. Michelle stared at him for no inherent reason, not for solace or anything of that manner. She stared at him intensely for what seemed to be an eternity. Even though her gaze seemed to pierce right through him and send shivers down his spine, all was well.
Ari fell abruptly to his knees too, right beside the girl he'd met this afternoon. For once, the two very different people shared something. They both carried the burden of a life that had left them behind, to wallow in their mourning.
The saddened older girl placed her hand onto his and leaned her head over onto Ari's shoulder. He didn't mind.
Michelle shut her eyes, but even in darkness, the world still seemed to whirl around her. It twirled and roared like a maelstrom within her mind. All her senses were gone; nothing had any logic anymore. What would she do? She didn't want to cry.
"I won't," she said to herself, "I won't, I won't. Tears can't do anything!" There was no force in the world that could bring her mother from the dead.
But she only tried in vain, as rivulets cascaded down her cheeks without any cognizant thought.
Now she was alone, truly without anyone to turn to. Except for Ari.
"All the things I see, they are different from how I had imagined they would. I never knew I'd be alone," she whispered into his ear. "What do I do now?"
"Shouldn't you see her?" Ari asked.
"I would like to, but-" She stopped; her words became lost as a thought wafted into her mind. Inconspicuously she moved her left hand around the cool handle of her rapier. She squeezed onto the steel grip firmly. It would have been so easy just to run her through with it and rid herself of her misery, but then again, it wouldn't bring back the life she'd lost. If she saw her mother, lifeless and ashen gray, it would only cause her more distress. If only she hadn't left-
"Milady, Milady!" A servant called out running into the dining room.
Michelle started at the hollering servant and scrambled up from her knees while bowling poor Ari over in the process. It was the same liveried servant she'd given her parasol to when she'd arrived at the estate. He seemed out of breath, his clothing was disheveled, and his face was very pallid. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath before he spoke.
"What is it servant?" Deva demanded. "Hurry and tell us!"
"Lady Ramcrest, Lady Michelle," he glanced at both of the women then wiped the sweat from his forehead before continuing. "Sinspawn were sighted at the gorge. They're heading this way!" His face darkened and then his pupils dilated. "M-milady I-" The servant made a choking sound.
The telltale steel tip of a blade protruded from his heart.
"Oh my god…" Michelle gasped falteringly, not at the skewered servant, but at what wielded the sword from behind. She stepped back, nearly tripping over Ari's sprawled legs.
Still recovering from being bowled over by Michelle, Ari caught a glimpse of the menacing figure behind a servant. Instinctively, the prince clambered to his proper stance, and bounded back behind Michelle.
"Way to be a gentleman Ari," Michelle said drably, still fronting nervously at the figure.
Whatever it was, it towered even over Deva by several feet. It raised its slender-bladed sword, longer than Michelle was tall, and flung the ill-fated servant like a rag-doll off it across the room. Now Michelle could see fully what had intruded on her household. Its rigid face vaguely resembled that of a human but was a dark copper in complexion, with a pair of great curving spikes extending from above long, pointed ears. The nose was relatively human, but its eyes were little more then slits set under bony ridge-like eyebrows. Its hair was long, thick and black, almost as lengthy as its massive sword. The creature's entire body was taut and muscular, three times the width of Ari, and encased in segmented black armor that secreted a rancid-smelling ichor from each segment. The creature's vambraces and rerebraces were richly garlanded in ivy-pattern, and spikes similar to its horns protruded from each. On its opposite arm was a large spiked buckler emblemized with what looked like a dragonfly. The entire cataphract, thick and overlapping, would serve its purpose, and in its own right was a capable weapon. However, most terrifying were the bat like wings that nearly filled the entire room when spread wide. It started at the three smaller figures, pacing slowly toward the Lady Ramcrest in a confident march with its blade held menacingly aloft.
"Deva what are you doing!" Michelle shouted at her Aunt. "Get back now!"
Deva, however, just stood transfixed only a few paces from the creature. But her steadfastness was not from fright but from defiance. She knew all to well what was in front of her, and possibly a way of ridding it.
The figure started ather with the long sword, raising it high over its head to deliver a deadly blow on the unwavering woman.
"Michelle stay back!" Deva cried noticing her niece unsheathe her rapier. "Your sword has no use here!"
Deva kept her footing and she stood her complete height, rigid and erect with her left arm raised. Ari noticed that Deva was much taller than he had realized before. She seemed to have changed with the altering of circumstances. She appeared less oversexed and from the flare in her eyes and self-assured visage a great and powerful woman.
The figure lunged forward with a snarl but Deva uttered a series of words from under her breath. She sent it reeling backwards, howling in its futility with a brilliant, with a sudden burst of white radiance from her body. In a crash of metal upon marble, the hefty figure lay unmoving on the dining-room floor.
Ari looked nervously, peering from behind Michelle's shoulder. "Is it dead?"
"We must leave at once." Deva eyed suspiciously at the fallen figure for any traces of movement, and then turned to face the adolescents. "It's stunned with an incantation, but it won't last long. We hurry to the gully."
"But there are Sinspawn!" Michelle cried. "That means Sin is near!"
Deva was on the verge of replying when she became aware of horrid hissing and lumbering over furniture, not from the stunned figure, but coming elsewhere in the house. She turned around at the sound of a crashing urn."We must leave now," she said, and without any further talk, she strode past the two youths with supercilious gait.
The crashing of vases and upheaval of furniture continued. "A most convincing idea," Ari agreed, and followed behind her (clutching securely onto Michelle's wrist).
The three figures escaped out through the back door into the grayness of the night after Michelle recovered her precious parasol. Michelle closed the heavy oaken door silently behind her not to alert anyone or anything of their departure and stealthily followed behind her quick pacing aunt. It was not particularly dark, but a fog had crept in over the estate during the time since Ari and her arrival. Deva led her younger companions through an open heathery moor with only the pale silver of the moon shining through the overcast as their light. To Michelle's surprise, Deva outran her, even in a gown clearly not intended for countryside traveling.
Ari, who was the most unfamiliar to this terrain and running in general, trudged slowly at the heels of Michelle. He plodded unorthodoxly and raucously through the peaty soil, and at times tripped over the bracken or lumps of moss. Although he did not complain aloud, his distress was apparent in the many whimpers or cries he made when his feet sank into the earth or when he stumbled over in the darkness. After some time Michelle was kind enough to slow down and run (if that's what you called what the boy was doing, tripping and panting and bowling) beside him. She didn't mind holding his hand, and he didn't complain at all, but by the look he made when she took hold, it obviously made him feel less of a man.
Deva kept ahead of her companions by many yards, but stayed within visibility to them. Deva's involvement in debauchery and her good terms with nearly every man in the region disgusted Michelle but she witnessed a great deal of change within her aunt, as if she were a different woman altogether. She noted her bravery and ability to cast down the terrible creature, and now the ominous silver glow emanating from the woman like a halo of moonlight. It was very queer and conduced to her Aunt's growing mystery. Exactly what Deva was planning to do at the gully was a mystery to the girl.
Into the night, they followed Deva across the vast champaign of the eastern Oviedo Estate. No one talked, though there were many questions to be asked, and there wasn't a sound to be heard (except that of their strides and from Ari's discomfort), any night birds, and not even the uttering of the wind.
The ground became springier and more manageable to run later on and Ari adjusted to the better earth with proper legging. He need not hold onto Michelle's hand any more and asked her to let loose, and she complied with an assured smile and left him to his own. He still was the slowest runner. Ari panted and mopped his forehead a lot, but kept behind Michelle steadily. The prince wondered why he hadn't collapsed in exhaustion yet; if he'd been back at home, he'd surely have given up running at the first twinge of tiredness. Maybe this adventure, which he began to call it, would do him some good. Life as a prince may be lavishly comfortable, but at times very deadening and lonesome, as the duties of royalty usually embezzle time for friendships. Adventures such as these usually were full of thrill that can't be found in the prosaic daily life and fostered wonderful friendships between the ones taking part in them. He'd read about them many times but never expected to actually take part in one.
Several hours later, and remarkably many miles journeyed, the landscape took a dramatic change. The fog had nearly lifted, except for a misty sheen that still mingled close to the earth, and the moor sloped upward and leveled off into an incredibly grim land of cliffs and chasms and deep gorges. Under the light of the full moon, it was a looming land that Ari and even Michelle didn't wish to travel. Fortunately, Deva only willed to bring them to the nearest gorge.
It took some time to climb up the slope and at last reached a rocky precipice extending over the chasm. Michelle and Ari scrambled tiredly behind the ever-invigorated aunt onto it and waited for her instructions.
Ari peered over into the chasm that plunged sullenly into black depths unknown to him. He stared down into it then thought that perhaps stepping a few feet from the edge would be wise. He examined the landscape again but didn't see any Sinspawn, whatever they were, but Michelle assured him that they were here.
No one dared speak a word to Deva who was busily reciting incantations and working her conjuring at the farthest edge of the precipice. Then she began waving her hands wildly in curious motions as if she was weaving and spinning some invisible strands of thread. Her incantations built into a dramatic crescendo of an unknown language, resonant, strong, and echoing.
Ari swore that some of the words Deva recited were Tol Erressian but they were vaguely familiar. Then he noticed something about the woman's ears that he hadn't seen before. Against the light of the moon, he could see that her ears pointed at the tops. Michelle's ears were normal like his. Then Ari began to list in his mind all the differences between Michelle and her aunt. Based on what Michelle had told him, Emelanese were blonde-haired and grey-eyed, Deva was black-haired and purple-eyed. Michelle was lanky and wispy-looking, while Deva was taller still but was bustier and had a fuller frame. In truth, Deva looked nothing like her niece, but she was the sister of the Emelanese countess.
Deva continued her sorcery but suddenly stopped at a noise neither Ari nor Michelle caught. She ambled her way past them and down off the precipice without dislodging a single stone. She moved cautiously to the slope over the moorlands with the furtiveness of any assassin.
Deva saw the light of several torches on the moorland and heard stirring and movement from down on the plain. Deva ducked behind a jagged rock and instructed her niece and the prince to stay out of sight as well.
Many men marched toward the slope in a column several dozen men long and five wide. In the night, their glimmering white armor and silver crested helms were very easy to spot and carried long pikes and bas-relieved pavises.
"Church Knights," Michelle whispered, "They'll lure out and kill those dreadful Sinspawn yet."
"The Sinspawn maybe, but Sin will slaughter them," Deva minimally retorted, "Besides, they're not after the Sinspawn"
"What do you mean?"
"Look there." Deva pointed up at the moon, and Michelle gasped at what she saw there: the same bat winged figure, black against the moon.
"Deva I don't understand. Why are the knights not attacking it, its presence is rather obvious"
"As valiant as the Church Knights may be, their only will is to serve their master-which it happens to be," Deva told her. "We need keep out of sight and reach safety immediately"
Ari looked out over the canyons with a scowl. "Deva, I don't think we'll make it that far with the cliffs and chasms and everything," he said.
The woman gave a chuckle, "I don't intend on making you poor children climb. Michelle-" she began but stopped to change her mind. "That will take too much time; it will be upon us by then." She looked upon the Prince vacantly standing in the open, "Ari where is the sword"
"What sword?"
"Omeigodis! The sword that Quatre gave you, the one that belonged to your father!" She appeared irritated. "We haven't much time tell me where it is."
Ari thought for a moment and then murmured something in Tol Erressian that Deva could not understand, and then he looked at her and then smirked stupidly. "I have no idea...but how do you know about Quatre, did Michelle tell you?"
"Your coming to here is no chance encounter Ari," the woman said. "Quatre intended to throw you into the rift Sin created and you ended up here just as anticipated. You were destined to meet with Michelle. You both play an important part in a prophecy of Deliverance. The sword is not needed at the moment, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't seek it still."
"Deva, Ari's been under the influence of Sin, he's not really from the past," Michelle corrected.
"Nonsense girl. You'll learn more when you depart."
"Umm, err, how are we to do that" Ari asked incredulously.
"I am sending you to Ether where you'll meet an Elven summoner about to depart on her Pilgrimage," she explained. "You will accompany her. Now go leap into the gorge. Don't hesitate, you'll be fine"
Michelle and Ari took some time to assimilate the information. Then without a word, stepped out from behind the rock's safety and walked toward the edge of the precipice hesitantly and tentatively, fearing that maybe Deva was playing a nasty joke and they would both fall to their deaths.
The girl's eyes glazed over the bottomless pit and her stomach lurched. She grasped Ari's arm not to console him, but herself. For the first time in her life, she felt afraid. She turned to him and he gave a reassuring smile that said "Don't worry, it'll be fine" all over it. Then she swerved around to see that Deva was not coming with her.
"I cannot child," the woman said, instantaneously reading the words on her niece's expression. "We'll meet in a later time when you've become wiser about all this mess. I know you'll stay strong and my blessings go with you both. Keep that rapier and parasol close, don't ever lose them, and don't ever lose sight of the path you follow even when the entire world seems to be working against you." She smiled; something Deva had never done before for her and it lifted Michelle's spirit. "Go now"
Michelle nodded and turned around. She swallowed hard, clenched her parasol, and tightened her grip around Ari's hand and they stepped to the edge preparing to leap.
There was a terrible screech, Michelle knew that the bat-figure had spotted them, and then there came the clanking of armored Knights running up the slope to catch them.
"Now is the time for dreams to collide with reality," she heard her aunt say. "Now is the time for deliverance and salvation. Now is the time to write your stories children. Go now and listen to your heart when it calls to you."
Michelle did not squander anymore time and dove headlong into the gorge, bracing tightly to Ari's hand, into the black depths below.