An Eternity to Love
Eighteen-year-old Kanata Saionji sat, staring blankly into the steaming hot chicken soup placed before him on the aged mahogany table in the Tai hoteru dining hall. His heavily bandaged hand was absently moving the spoon in the bowl, mixing the untouched soup in concentric-circles. The said brunet was much too deep in thought to realize the utter fact that the rest of his team-members were staring at him cautiously.
The one thought that was still haunting the young brunet's mind was the phantasm he had had back at the Taiyama Kingdom. He wasn't still sure what he should be most worried about any more—the fact that his mind had started to suddenly give him orders autonomously or the highly implausible event of having visions of a prosperous Taiyama Kingdom and with it a blonde girl or the fact that he had actually fainted.
He sighed finally.
He had had enough of this unwanted bedlam. Although his brain wanted to stay back and solve this "witch" problem, his heart longed to go back home and let it all go. He was never good with things he can't see and touch or explain. He hadn't told anyone about the illusion and did not intend to, but by the looks of his History Teacher, he was sure she'll get it out of him sooner or later.
He decided.
He was going to vote against his own word to get the hell out of this freaking place.
He looked up and parted his lips to inform his History Teacher sitting before him, the fact that he wanted to return home like the rest of his class, but she spoke first. She spoke, not only to him, but to the entire class.
But she could've just spoken to him.
"Hey guys, listen up!" she started, standing up, as the rest of the class looked up at her, still seated, "Since there's a communication problem currently, we'll go into the ruined Palace today and see if we can get anything useful…"
Everybody groaned.
Despite the fact that a way into the Kingdom had been discovered, people were still a little nervous in entering the Kingdom, especially after they had seen their ace classmate fall to the ground, unconscious, the moment he had entered the uncanny place.
"Come on guys…" sighed Miss Mizuno, "just one more day… we'll leave first thing tomorrow morning and let the professionals take over from there… just one more day…"
'Just one more day…?' Kanata thought.
He sighed inwardly, hoping nothing odd happens that one day he has to spend inside that uncanny kingdom.
But little did he know that the worst is yet to come.
Chapter 3
The Fallen Prince
"C'mon guys…" Miss Mizuno called energetically to her students as she stood at the entrance to the enigmatic passageway that her star student was fortunate enough to have located only the other day.
The students entering the passageway, following their History Professor, couldn't help but sigh with every waking step for the scream that they had heard not too long ago still haunted their waking minds.
But the brunet who was bringing the rear to the queue of students from the History Department of Heiomachi University had other things in his mind to worry about. He stood just a step outside the entrance, his heart beating hard against his chest.
The phantasm that he had had the day before was just too real to have been just a hallucination. Kanata held onto his bag over both his shoulders and sighed. He had no idea what is going to happen but there was this feeling inside of his heart that clearly shouted out loud that something undesirable is more likely to happen.
"Yo! Kanata!" Nozomu's voice floated through the dark passageway, "Come on in dude…"
"Ya…" replied the brunet as he heaved a huge sigh and tried to prepare himself for what lay ahead beyond those formidable walls of the Taiyama Kingdom.
As he took his first step into the dark passageway, his shoes making contact with the dead earth below, making an eerie crunching noise which was almost inaudible, all Kanata could hear inside of his head was the memory of the day before wherein he had walked the same passageway in pursuit of the mysterious humming.
He walked at a slow pace, not even making an effort to catch up with the rest of the gang. But he couldn't avoid the end at any cost.
As he stood a foot away from entering into that barren land, he closed his eyes. The memory of the illusion that he had had the day before burned hot in his mind and no matter how many ever times he tried to wish it away, it still pertained.
"Kanata!"
He opened his eyes at the call of his friend.
The brunet sighed and walked out into the bright sunlight. He looked around at the barren land and caught sight of the dead tree right in the middle of the barren area. He frowned as he saw the two ropes, turned grey with time, hanging from one of the tree's dead branches, swinging with the breeze.
As he continued to stare at the dead tree, another gentle breeze made its debut as it made contact with his warm skin, making him shiver lightly. He closed his eyes for a second and opened them again just in time to see his friend motioning him to follow him, as the troop seem to have found a way out of the dead valley.
Kanata sighed again and pulling his bag lightly, traced the steps taken by his classmates. Within minutes, he found himself at the end of a long line of his classmates as some of the guys were struggling with an overgrown shrub to get to the other side.
He waited patiently for he had not a glimpse of idea to help them in their pursuit. All he wanted was to return to the safety of the Saionji Residence but he was, as he constantly reminded himself, a day away from that desire.
"Finally," Kanata could vaguely hear his History Professor sigh in relief.
He guessed by the moving crowd that they had managed to cut down the rabid shrub. He found his feet had turned to lead as they took step-by-step towards the exit from the eerie gorge.
"Oh my god!" a girl from his class was the first to gasp as she came out into the ruins of the once-prosperous, the enigmatic Taiyama Kingdom. As Kanata came out last, he couldn't as well help but gape at the ruin which was the Kingdom.
The first to take a step away from the class and towards the dead and ruined Kingdom was none other than the brunet himself.
His eyes did not stray away from the magnificently towering and ruined citadel whose turrets and towers were visible from their position, roughly about half a dozen miles away from it.
As his brunet orbs stared at the ruined fortress, he couldn't help but wonder how a mere blaze could have destroyed something as glorious as that. He was only mildly aware that the entire kingdom, which covered about a five to six-mile radius, was burned down and not any tint other than black was visible throughout.
"What do you guys say?" his professor's voice came from beside him, "head up to the palace first?"
There was a murmured acquiesce to the said proposal and mustered with newfound enthuse, Miss Mizuno lead the way for her students, their eyes set on the ruined castle.
Again, Kanata found his place at the end of the group, lagging behind as he couldn't get his head straight no matter what he told himself because the Kanata Saionji never has hallucinations.
He sighed yet again as he pushed both his hands into his denims' pockets.
~An Eternity to Love~
"God…" panted the blond as he leaned with both his hands on his legs' knuckles, for support, "I don't think I can walk anymore…"
"Neither can I," breathed a short-haired girl.
"We've been walking for just two hours," pointed out Kanata to his blond friend as he stopped a few feet away from the rest of the group, beside his professor.
"We've been walking for two hours," corrected Nozomu, still not finding the essential energy to stand up and respond.
Kanata shook his head in disapproval.
"Why don't we all take a lunch break, then?" suggested Miss Mizuno kindly.
"I like the sound of that," cried a few.
"Well… we just need to find the right place to do that," she finished smiling.
Everybody couldn't help but sigh at that.
So, they ended up walking for another fifteen minutes, through the destroyed kingdom, careful not to get caught in any wrecks or trod on them. Everywhere the group walked, there were dilapidated little homes.
With every step he took, Kanata took pictures of the ruined kingdom in his reliable digital camera. He stopped at another ruined house and pulled up his camera for a photograph.
As he looked at the ruin through the instrument, he imagined it to have been a two-storey building and had once been a restaurant of some sort for the ground floor gave such an impression. He took a picture and zoomed at the partition between the ground floor and the first floor and found out that he was right.
There was a vague sign in ancient Japanese that resembled the signs used for the word "restaurant" but the first part of the board was too much ruined to be readable. He took a picture of the half-ruined board.
"Hey! Kanata!"
Kanata turned at the sound of Hikarigaoka's voice.
"C'mon man…"
The blond was waving towards him from afar.
Judging by the look on the blonde's face, Kanata guessed that they had finally found a place to rest. Sighing, once again, the brunet made his way towards the blond, his auburn irises glancing unconsciously at his heavily bandaged hands holding his camera.
"I bet this must have been the heart of the city," Taiyeshi proclaimed, adjusting his spectacles.
Kanata's irises opened an edge wider than usual as he stared at the towering statue, almost lost to embers, the upper part of which was already destroyed. His auburn orbs slowly moved along the statue and at its foot was what had once been a huge fountain.
"Amazing," a few were gasping at the enormity of the statue, given the fact that a major part of the statue had been annihilated.
Others however were sitting at the once sterile edges of the stone fountain. Kanata could almost imagine people of the town, tired from their arduous day of work, resting at the fountain—chattering away in ease and leisure.
"Saionji-kun, come sit with us," a group of his fan girls, he presumed, called him over.
Ignoring them, Kanata looked up at the sky to find to his surprise that the sky was nowhere even near to sapphire. It was almost completely covered by formidable looking clouds but it didn't look as though it was going to shower any time soon.
It was all just too weird for him.
He took a few steps away from the statue-fountain and raised his camera before his eyes, and zoomed out to cover the entire statue—or whatever was left of it.
After pressing the button to capture the ruin in his camera, he looked at the statue long and hard. There was something about that ruined old thing that he couldn't place his finger on. It was emitting a strange aura, was the maximum he could think of.
A few minutes later, after everybody had had their share of the lunch that the old man at the inn had been kind enough to pack for them for the day, Miss Mizuno got to her feet and stretched.
"Break's over people, up on your feet now…" she called to her young students.
Several groaned.
~An Eternity to Love~
The sun was at its peak now that the group of teenagers along with their chaperone had reached the end of their little pursuit—The Taiyama Kingdom's eccentric Castle. The group stood at the entrance to the castle which was almost as enigmatic at the Gates to the Kingdom itself, only with lesser security.
And unlike the main Gates, the gates leading into the castle were wide open as though inviting them to join the mourning of its dead kingdom. Nobody braved the ruined palace—nobody—except one.
Kanata walked in a slow pace towards the palace. He stopped at the gates and looked up at the ethereal palace and heaved a sigh. With his eyes closed, he took the first step inside the vicinity of the palace.
The brunet closed his eyes as a gentle breeze blew.
He opened his eyes and once inside said in his usual somber voice, "I think its okay to enter guys…"
And so the troop passed through the gates and looked around only to find the entire place devoid of any life whatsoever. They walked along the long path towards the main palace and through the almost-destroyed door they entered, only to find more ruins, decorating the once beautiful palace.
"I think we'd better split up and look around for anything worth…" Miss Mizuno suggested and they were all set to pairs as like when they had split up at the Main Gates.
But Kanata was not paying attention. His auburn orbs were straying about the ruined palace, a feeling of suspicion spreading through his body.
As he glanced about the estranged palace, its royal curtains and furniture, its superlative wooden steps, opening right into the middle of the huge hall they were standing in, were all withered and looked as though they might collapse any second now.
As those auburn orbs wandered around the hall, they rested for a moment on the long and withered drapes that covered the enormous castle windows which looked as though they had once been a striking shade of crimson.
Within a few steps the brunet realized that he had stopped in the middle of the hall. On all his sides were the withering Taiyama Kingdom's Palace—a long-lost beauty, the kind which did not deserve a demise as such.
No matter how hard he tried, the brunet couldn't control the emotion suddenly spreading through his body—an emotion of finding something.
He clenched his fist.
He had already made his decision to leave this place and scram as fast as he could. But being here, right in the middle of this lifeless and inexplicable palace made his heart long to find out the mystery that is being held by it.
"Now, let's split up people…!"
~An Eternity to Love~
Kanata walked, both his hands inside his pant pockets, his auburn irises cold with obvious boredom and his brunet locks as messy as always. He was closely followed by his tired blond friend, who was left with taking pictures of the ruined palace.
"Geez… can't you, for once do the working part," complained Nozomu, his usual carefree voice now tainted with nervousness and tiredness, "and I'd gladly take over the job of the bored brat!"
"I don't know Nozomu," replied the brunet lazily, "it's a difficult job… I'm not sure whether you'd be able to handle it very well…"
Nozomu's eyebrows twitched a bit in irritation at the brunet's comment. He was about to retort back when the auburn-eyed brunet silently stopped before a portrait hanging on the corridor wall. Nozomu followed suit and stood beside the silent brunet and looked at the portrait.
Kanata pulled out his camera from his backpack and placed it before his eyes, ready to capture the almost disintegrated and blackened portrait.
"Wow…" said Nozomu as Kanata took the first picture, "who do you reckon he is…? The King…?"
"My guess exactly," said Kanata impassively as he stared into those cold-looking amber eyes of the raven-haired man in the portrait. It was hard to make out properly but he sure looked hard at first sight. The man's faded crown and emerald robes were all more than a little faded but his face was clearly visible though parts of it was faded as well.
"Ke-kei-ta-tai Tai-tai-ya…" Nozomu read with difficulty the faded and ancient Japanese letters engraved along one of the frames of the portrait.
"Keitai Taiyama," breathed Kanata, staring into those blank amber-irises of the fallen emperor.
"Yea…" said Nozomu suddenly bright and then frowning again said, "that old man mentioned him, didn't he…?"
"Yeah…" replied Kanata, thoughtfully.
"It was in the reign of the Great Emperor Keitai Taiyama…" the old man sighed, "His rule was marked as the most vigilant and prosperous of the lot… At the tender age of fifteen he was bestowed with the kingdom when his father passed away…
"He was married soon, to the Lady of the Southern Empire, and the kingdom was blessed with a Prince…" he said sadly, "he was named Takakura Taiyama after his great-grandfather…"
Kanata stood there, wondering. This man was obviously someone whom he'd never cross in this world was his first thought. But he couldn't help but admit that to cross him would be fun nonetheless.
"Thank god, I found you!"
The two teenagers turned at the sound of the panting of Taiyeshi.
"What's wrong?" Nozomu was first to react.
"Saionji… you have to see this…" he panted, trying to catch his breath.
"What is it?" asked Kanata at once. He did not like the look in his classmate's eyes. There was definitely something wrong and he didn't like to even think about.
"No time to explain," he said, straightening up and preparing to run back, "Come on you two…!"
And so the two followed Taiyeshi as he traced his footsteps back to the main hall where they had decided on which way to split.
"Where's Miss Mizuno?" asked Kanata through the sprint, as they took a right at the main hall and emerged at another ruined and dark corridor.
"Everybody's already there," Taiyeshi informed as he picked up his speed.
They emerged at another new corridor at the end of which stood the rest of their class, staring at the corridor wall perplexed.
As Taiyeshi and Nozomu continued to sprint towards the group, Kanata slowed down his sprint and came to a halt. His heart had suddenly begun to beat faster than usual and he knew it wasn't a good sign at all.
As he watched at the place where he stood, Nozomu had come to a halt before Miss Mizuno who motioned him towards the wall. The blond turned confused and on sight of whatever was on the wall, the confusion on the blonde's face was wiped only to be replaced by sheer shock. He turned slowly towards where Kanata stood, with his eyes wide.
Kanata dreaded every step he took towards the lot. He was edging closer with every step he took and he was not at all assured by the look that his History Professor and his classmates were giving him right now.
He stopped before them and slowly turned to face the wall only to meet with another portrait—except this one was not that of the King.
"It's Prince Takakura Taiyama," offered Miss Mizuno, her voice grave.
Kanata's auburn orbs opened wide as he stared into the portrait.
"It's you Kanata…"
His heart began to beat more fast as he stared into those auburn orbs of the brunet in the portrait—a perfect replica of the brunet standing staring at them.
Seventeen-year-old Kanata Saionji, an ace student in high-school, a freshman History Major in the Heiomachi University, the son of a warm Buddhist priest in the peaceful town of Heiomachi…
Who would have thought that he has the reincarnated body of the last heir to the enigmatic Taiyama Kingdom—Prince Takakura Taiyama—the prince who had lost his life on the very day of his eighteenth birthday to the phantom fire which is heard to be the work of an immortal witch, who is known to still haunt the ruined Kingdom—The Fallen Prince.
Wait as the real story unveils itself…
End Chapter 3