Lucky Souls

Chapter 4: The Nexus

"Soul of the mind, key to life's ether."

Darkness all around, coldness inside and out, was it death that took her, or something far worse? As the young girl floated alone in that darkness, that unending abyss around her, she wondered if it was all really worth it.

"Soul of the lost, withdrawn from its vessel."

She wondered if all of this was really worth losing her life for, worth her friends losing their lives, both physically, and emotionally. She made them give up everything to even attempt to join on her in this journey, what right did she have? Their parents weren't missing, their lives were peaceful, they could have just lived, but no, she would have none if it.

"Let strength be granted, so the world might be mended."

Maybe her father didn't even want her to pursue him, in fact, deep down, she knew he didn't. Had he wanted her to come with him, he would have said so. And if he had asked, would she have gone? She didn't know, she couldn't know, not now, not after she had failed so miserably. Such a cold, dreary death was a fitting end for one such as her, she mused, and she hoped her friends would not be judged as harshly in the after life, they were innocent bystanders in her opinion.

"So the world might be mended."

Her father was gone, and she should have just faced facts, moved on. No, but she couldn't, could she? It's hard to lose someone you care about, but it's worse if you don't even know the reason. If her father yet lived, she had to know, more than anything she just wanted to know. She wanted him to live, and live with her, she wanted to go back home to their small, rusty shack of a house. She wanted to laugh with him, to cry with him, to live with him, she wanted nothing less, and nothing more.

"Awaken."

Her train of thought was suddenly torn; she heard something, quietly humming in her ears. It was a soothing voice, very low pitched, but beautiful at the same time, the voice of a young woman, no doubt. She didn't know where, but somehow that voice was familiar to her.

"Awaken."

It spoke to her again, what did it want? She was tired, she wanted to rest at last, after everything she had gone through, she just wanted to rest. It seemed the voice would not let her be, it would not let her go, and it had no intention to. It needed her, and she needed it.

"Awaken."

Suddenly, colors began to form in front of her again. The blackness that threatened to consume her faded, slowly but surely, and began to form objects, shapes. She moved her hand instinctively, and the appendage slowly became solid in front of her eyes, forming fingers, as if she was still growing in her mother's womb for the first time.

Looking down, the girl watched as she suddenly sprouted legs, and upon them, ten perfect toes, she really was being born she thought to herself with a chuckle.

Blue came into her field of vision next, vast amounts of it seemingly pouring from nowhere, and as she noticed, it was her hair, folding itself down her back, over her forehead, and next to her cheeks. It rolled like mountains across a plain, and ended far below her.

She blinked, once, twice, until like clockwork she found herself checking to make sure she could still see. She reached her still forming hand to her face, and felt warm, flushed skin. She could feel, and she was amazed at that, she could feel her heart as it slowly pumped blood throughout her body. She could feel the light pulse in between her fingers, upon her neck, and in her toes.

The ground below her was there, but it was not at the same time. The ground was composed of light, of clock-like shapes, each clicking downwards, as if signaling something. A barrier, she thought at first, something for sealing, it was a mages trick, and she knew it well.

She glanced upwards, and saw nothing but stairs, winding staircases leading up into the heavens, the dimly glowing light above her. Wherever the stairs led, she didn't know, they seemed to go up into eternity. Statues were also situated around the area, massive ones the size of small buildings, however, each one was hanging by its feet, blindfolds over their marble eyes. The statues hung upside down, from the ceiling, but she could not tell how or why they did this, they simply did.

Around her, were six similarly shaped archways, each one with a different figure and pattern upon it. She didn't know what they were, what they signified, or what they were for, but each one appeared more menacing than the last.

The girl felt life flow into her once more, the shaping process was complete, and she was now fully aware of her surroundings. This place was dark, and damp, lit only by the thousands of candles that lined its walls. At first glance, it seemed uninhabited, but as she looked around, she saw there were others. There were people here, shops, families, it almost looked like a refugee camp for those caught in war time, but she could tell something was off.

She attempted to stand, only to wobble back down her feet. She had no energy, she couldn't catch her breath, something about this place weighed down upon her, would not allow her to attempt to rest.

"Welcome." A voice suddenly sounded, she noted it was the voice from the blackness, the one that hummed in her ears, and that beat inside her mind.

Her ears twitched in the direction of the voice, and turning, she nearly gasped at the sight.

"You…" She managed to breath, slowly standing up to face this person. She had seen her before, and she knew that voice. This was the woman that haunted her dreams, whose cold stare wretched within her every moment of every day since their meeting. She was one who had spoken to her father, whom had given her lodging in her time of need.

"Yes, Konata. I had a feeling we might meet again." She quietly spoke, her long blue hair still tied in that same braided pony tail. Her features, as soft and gentle as ever, and her eyes, still fogged with cold blindness. "But I did not expect it to be in the Nexus, of all places." She sounded once more, a slight smirk appearing on her face as she spoke.

The smile almost made the bluenette wish to strangle her; it was almost a mocking smile, like she was making fun of her. It made her even angrier that the woman had remembered her name, like she somehow thought she was worthy of remembering, she didn't wanted to be remembered by a woman such as this. Her anger had to be put aside for the moment however, she had no idea where she was, or what was going on, she needed answers.

"The Nexus?" She asked as she surveyed the area, her eyes trying to memorize every cast shadow, every crack in the wall, and every source of light.

"Indeed. This place is all that holds the northern kingdom of Boletaria together. For without it, there would be no kingdom." She began to explain, placing her hands in the air and beginning to stroll, and as Konata noticed, for a blind woman, she sure knew how to step over every crack and pebble on the musty floor. "Each of the arch stones will connect you to another node, but beyond that, this kingdom is broken."

Konata heard the woman speak, but she didn't pay attention to much of anything that escaped her lips. She only wanted to know one thing, where her father was, this woman likely knew. Everything was fine, then she just showed up, and her father vanished, putting two and two together like that would make it all the easier to the cut the blind woman down, but Konata was no murderer, and she wouldn't allow herself such base thoughts.

"Who are you, really?"

A silence filled the air, and the braided maiden stopped in her tracks. She turned towards her questioner, but her face did not change, she didn't seem threatened by the question, but she did not seem overly eager to answer it either.

"Who I am is not important." She whispered dully, her gaze slowly shifting towards the endless staircases of the Nexus. "The Monumental awaits you above; it will explain the Nexus to you." Once again in a whisper, and content with herself, the blinded woman turned to leave, only to be grabbed by her robe by a tiny hand.

"Uh, hey, I'm not done talking to you yet." Konata started, not even attempting to hide the anger in her voice, but before she could question further, the robe melted from her hand, and the maiden slowly vanished before her eyes. "Hey, wait!" She yelled after the disappearing girl, but was met only with her own echo in response.

Glancing upwards at the staircases, she groaned inwardly, would she really have to climb all of those things to find out what was going on? Apparently so, she thought to herself, maybe this 'monumental' the maiden spoke of would have the answers she sought, then again, it wasn't as if she had any other options.

As she began her ascent up the many flights of stairs, the girl allowed herself a moment of reprieve. What had happened? She couldn't recall, the last she remembered she was dying, or dead, she didn't know if she had made it to that stage yet. And before that…light, again, always with the light she moaned to herself.

And what of her friends? They were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps they didn't share the same fate as her, was this hell? Punishment for her sins? She wasn't that bad of a person she mused, that might be a little extreme. Plus, there's no way Miyuki or Tsukasa would be in hell, her tsundere on the other hand…

She allowed herself a chuckle; it was a simple charity, and the only thing she could do to keep her spirits up in such a situation. She was in quite the mess, and if she even wanted to begin to get herself out of it, she would need to speak to this monumental.

Reaching the apex of the staircases, Konata found herself in a curved room lit only by candles, and the ever-present glow that seemed to fill the nexus. Slumped against its walls were bodies, each one looking exactly like the last, young, bald, and wrapped in a cloak. In front of each, a candle, but all of them were unlit save one.

Letting her eyes drift towards the one light in the darkness, she made her way over to it, and found that one of these husks still lived.

"Hey, are you the-" She was interrupted by a chuckle, an eerily familiar one, what was this pattern of familiarity she kept finding in these strange lands? Honestly, she was getting tired of it.

"We have long awaited you, slayer of demons." The husk began, its listless eyes slowly drifting up to meet the girls. "I am one of the Monumentals. We preserve the fabric of reality." The husk continued, its candle light slowly swaying in tune with its voice, which seemed to speak from many voices, a man, a woman, a child.

"Look, I don't mean to sound rude, but can you just tell me what's going on? Where am I? Where are my friends?" Konata impatiently interrupted, growing tired of these games. She loved a good mind game, but only when she wasn't the one being vexed.

"There is something thou need's to know." The monumental whispered, it's voice causing a slight rumble within the bluenette, she figured it might be best to just listen at that point, whatever this force was that she felt secreting from the Monumental, it certainly wasn't human.

The Monumental's cloak slowly ruffled, and from it, two gangly looking arms holding an old book. The husk opened it slowly, and upon its pages, nothing.

"Uh…" Konata mumbled to herself, getting down on her haunches to make sure she wasn't missing anything. Suddenly however, a drop of black appeared on the book, it looked like ink she thought. The ink blots slowly began to form into pictures, and finally came into view as six equally shaped stones, in fact, they looked quite a bit like the ones she had seen at the bottom of the Nexus.

"Once, we too faced a scourge of demons." The Monumental began, slowly brushing its hand over the illustration. "In the distant past, under the benevolent rule the world was united, owing to the soul arts." The picture upon the pages suddenly began to change, its form taking on the shape of hands, clasped in unity. "Until, a lust for power caused the awakening of the Old One, and across the land seeped a colorless deep fog." At the husks words, the picture changed once more, this time into the Old One, the great demon that had caused the destruction of Boletaria, the one from Miyuki's book. It looked as snarled and beastly as ever, it's root like maw still offering the same tantalizing glow.

"And the world…faced extinction at the hands of demons." The voice of the monumental almost grew solemn, but why would it Konata thought? Surely it was a demon as well, or something close enough. "Thanks be, we Monumentals were able to lull the Old One back to its slumber, yet only after the loss of innumerable souls, and half the world…erased by the fog." The monumental spoke as the pictures changed with its words, forming once again into the six arch stones.

"In order to mend the fabric of what land still remained, we entrusted six elders with six precious arch stones." Upon the blank slates of the arch stones, figures suddenly began to form on their surfaces, of kings, queens, rulers. "One to the king of a small yet diligent land." Konata knew the man that appeared upon the first stone, it was King Allant the twelfth, ruler of Boletaria. "One to the king of the burrowers underground." Upon the next, an old decrepit looking individual, he wore a mighty beard on his face, and pick ax slung over his shoulder.

"One to the wise queen of the great ivory tower." Upon the third, a beautiful woman, clad in jewels and accessories. "One to the chieftain of lost and ill-fortuned souls." On the next arch stone, a portly man, covered in the juices of his meal and wine, and a large bird-like mask upon his face. "One to the shaman of tempest worshipping shadow men." A man covered by a robe, a thorn crown upon his head and a staff in his hands, he was quite intimidating the bluenette thought. "And the last to the great giants of the northern lands." The final arch stone had nothing but a fist upon it, taking up its entire surface, and in its clench, a human man.

"The arch stones were placed across the earth. We contained the Old One inside the Nexus, and banned the soul arts." As it spoke, the Monumental suddenly became quiet; its voice drifting off as it slowly slumped backwards against the wall with a light sigh. "And finally, we became Monumentals, half living sentinels of the fabric of reality. Alas, the other Monumentals have perished, and only I remain."

As the husk rambled on, the bluenette began to wonder where exactly it was going with any of this talk of demons and destiny, but knew better than to interrupt it a second time. She stared down the demon for any hope of figuring it out, what exactly it told her all this for. Its eyes held no answers, just pits, and more mystery, it could be lying about everything, but why would it? It wanted something, and as much as she hated to acknowledge the fact, she had a hunch of what the husk wanted from her.

"Now, it is your turn." The husk spoke once more. "You must lull the old one back to its slumber, and seal it away for all eternity. If not, the deep fog will absorb all that we know. Have you the strength to accept this mission?" As it finished its little hiring pitch, the husk let a lazy smile drift onto its face, almost as if it wanted to come across as caring or friendly, Konata thought.

"Look, before I agree to or say anything, I have some questions, and I really can't accept half-wit answers, alright?" Konata spoke in an unusually impatient tone, she was becoming more like her tsundere every day, not that she minded the influence.

"Ask, and I shall answer." The husk spoke, its smile slowly melting into a more indifferent façade to whatever it was truly feeling.

"Okay. One, where are we exactly? You called this place the Nexus, the fabric that holds reality together or something…so without this place, the fog would cover the world?" Konata asked rather dully, hoping for an upbeat answer like 'not if you seal the Old One!' or 'you can do it, champ!', but the husk offered only a grimace.

"Quite so." The answer was short and sweet and to the point, and offered nothing else, Konata supposed this was probably for the best, she was still trying process everything anyway.

"Okay. Question two, what is the Old One? Why is it doing this?" She asked the husk hopelessly, not expecting anything other than 'it's a demon', but she figured she might as well give it a shot.

"The Old One is timeless. It has always been, it is like a parasite, it latches hold, and then fills itself on life force until finished, but unlike a parasite, its hunger is never satiated." The Monumental spoke just as grimly as before, it did have first hand experience after all.

"That's not good…" Konata mumbled, rubbing the back of her head, probing herself for further questions she could ask in this dire hour. "Okay, here's another. Am I dead? What happened? Last I remember I was pretty banged up…" As she spoke the words, she felt herself just to make sure she still could, she sure didn't feel dead.

"No. You are not dead, in the traditional sense." At the words, Konata raised a brow, what was the untraditional sense? "You are in a state of limbo, as it were, not entirely living, but not deceased either, and you shall remain this way as long as you are trapped in the Nexus." The husk continued to explain, and at the word trapped, the bluenette breathed out rather hard.

"Whoa, back up. Trapped? What do you mean trapped? Why am I trapped here? How do I get…you know, un-trapped?" Konata questioned desperately, her situation seeming worse and worse as the Monumental continued to explain it.

"Any occupants who are trapped within the Nexus, shall be trapped within forever more, until the Old One has been sealed." The Monumental downwardly claimed, averting its gaze away from the young girl, knowing what she must be feeling at that moment.

The husk was not as heartless as it seemed, it had the body of a demon, but it had once claimed ownership over the heart of a human, it surrendered its mortal self for the greater good, and held no pleasure in the tasks it ordered others to carry out, but like the prisoners of the Nexus, the Monumentals were prisoners in their own way. They had once had friends, family, homes, but relinquished these ties for the whole of the world. As the husk saw that glint of despair in the young girl's eyes, it offered a light to her darkness.

"Your friends are safe, albeit they are trapped in this realm as well." The Monumental sounded, and at the words, Konata's eyes beamed.

"What? Where are they!" Konata demanded, even if she didn't intend for it to come out quite like that.

Silently stirring for a moment, the Monumental seemed hesitant to answer, but if it was to ask this girl for assistance, it would have to lend some of its own.

"It is hard to transport mortal souls, and even harder to bring back them back from the brink of death. I was only able to transport you here, safely to the Nexus. Your friends, however, fell victim to the arch stones, and lost their way." The Monumental explained pleadingly, hoping that the soul warrior it sought would not turn on it. It had tried the best it could, given limited time and resources. "But please, know they will be alright. The one known as Miyuki was transported to a place not too far away, the place you sought. As for the twins…their locations are unknown to me, they were lost somewhere between the Boletarian mines, and the great ivory towers of the mountains. They will be safe, but only for a time." The Monumental finished grimly, and glancing at the young girls now fiery eyes, knew she would like nothing more than to kill it.

Konata stood silent for a moment, brushing her anger against these demons for tugging on her strings like a puppet, controlling her, but she had no time for this. If her friends were truly in danger, she needed to act, and immediately. She turned to leave, seeing the pity the Monumental offered her, but not caring. Although in the pit of her gut, she knew she had no one to blame but herself.

Stopping at the door, she turned to the silent husk, wishing it pain and torment, but secretly thanking it for what meager information it offered her. "I'm not saying no to what you're asking me…but, until I find my friends, it's out of the question. Deal?" The bluenette asked, noticing the slight curve of a smile presenting itself on the Monumental's face.

"Deal, as you say." The husk spoke, almost as if it was enjoying the human mannerisms.

Konata left the Monumental to its devices, and returned to the main room of the Nexus staring across the six arch stones, studying them, and wondering exactly how they worked. She felt a presence behind her as she did so, and knew it was blinded maiden, waiting like a shadow.

"So, these things are like teleporty-things, right? They'll take me places?" Konata asked with her back still turned, not really wanting to deal with the cold stare of the maiden.

"That's right. Each stone connects to a different area of Boletaria." Brushing past the young girl, the blinded maiden began to point to each arch stone, and once again as the bluenette noted, pretty dead on for a blind woman.

"This arch stone is the palace of Boletaria. King Allant the twelfth's seat of power, and his home." She passed the first stone, and Konata recognized it from the Monumental's story, King Allant was indeed engraved upon its surface as well. This was where Miyuki was, according the Monumental, anyway, if it could be trusted.

"This one is the arch stone of the miners. It leads to the great tunnels of Boletaria." Her finger passed over another stone; it too was from the story. "This stone leads to the great Ivory Towers, home of beautiful queen, and the greedy king." It seems the demons could be trusted about some things apparently; the story was true it seemed. "This one leads to the land of the giants, but it has been destroyed for the safety of all." Konata noticed this detail was different, this arch stone was destroyed, probably unusable too, but in the story book it was presented well-maintained.

"This stone leads to the temples of the shadow men, and the last stone, leads to the dead valleys, the dumping grounds." These two arch stones seemed a little more demonic, Konata noted, she should probably stay away from them for now, even glancing in their direction seemed to strain her eyes.

"Okay. So how do I use them?" Konata asked as she stepped up to the first presented stone, the one that would lead her to the palace of Boletaria. This was her original destination after all; she figured she might as well start here. Running her hands over the stone, she felt a vibration, a sort of power it was giving off, it was discerning to say the least.

"Place your hand against the stone, like you are doing now. And clear your mind; the arch stone will pick up on the rest." The maiden explained as she saw the girl closing her eyes gently, probably testing out the process as she explained it, which didn't bode well, at any rate. "Before you go, you should probably know-"

The maiden's words came a second too late, cut off by a sharp whistle and a bright flash of light, queuing that the bluenette had succeeded in the teleportation process. Heaving a sigh, the maiden glanced upwards to the beyond, her lifeless eyes casting across the great statues of gods and goddesses, she sought their guidance, what should she do? She held no joy in her purpose, but everyone must have a purpose, and as she turned towards the arch stone the young girl had vanished into, she grimaced.

"Even you, Konata."

Author's Note: So, yeah, as anyone reading my story has noticed I didn't update for a good three weeks or so. Well, there were bills to paid, the wife complained we don't spend enough time together, the children wanted raises on their allowances, and then I woke up. Seriously though, it won't happen again, just been pretty busy, but that's all passed now, and I'm free as an unemployed rat again! Wahoo! Oh wait, this isn't something to be celebrating about. Regardless, chapters will be released bi-daily, maybe even daily, if I can keep that up.