Thanks to TehGramerPolise for helping with this chapter.
Journal Entry 265
Our first celebration of the Festival of Lights was about four months after we had started living together.
Oh, I guess before I continue my story you're expecting another peek into the brilliant mind of Remnant's singularly most attractive and spectacular criminal mastermind?
Fine here it is… you know all that garbage about Destiny and Fate, about how some great cosmic force has a plan for each and every one of us?
If that's true, then I got some cosmic-sized debts to pay, with a cosmic-sized gun.
There, you happy?
Anyway, as I was saying, Cola had just recently arrived back from Mantle, fulfilling his promise that he would visit after his business there was concluded. I was too young at the time to recognize the significance of the timing between the conclusion of his errand and the landmark legislation that was announced that allowed those outside the nobility to become officers in the military.
Trust me though, that will be important later in this story.
All the young me cared about was that he was there. The day that he arrived, there was a knock at the front door. Kyoko had looked up sharply, cutting off her lecture on the importance of the formation of the Fawkes Confederacy in the aftermath of the Great War. She then turned to me, and a hint of a smile appeared on her face, "Rowan, would you please get the door?"
I had stood up, confused at the interruption, but obeyed, and walked to the front door. I remembered at the last second to check the security cameras with my scroll; although, I realized as I did so that Kyoko had probably checked her scroll beforehand.
My heart beat excitedly as I saw the forms of Cola and Bayard standing on the doorstep, both wearing thick coats to ward off the freezing cold.
I pressed the button for the intercom, "What's the password?"
I saw Cola smile and lean forward, "The phoenix rises." he replied.
I grinned and walked to the front door and opened it, a chill wind blew through the open doorway and the two men stepped forward. Cola brushed the snow briskly off his coat and closed the door behind him. He looked down at me and his smile widened as he reached down and ruffled my hair.
"Hello Rowan! It's good to see you, my it appears Keara's been feeding you well. Ah, here she is now."
Keara stepped out into the hallway and bowed slightly, "It's good to see you sir."
Cola doffed his hat to her, "A pleasure to see you as well. Is there a place where I can hang my coat?"
Keara made a scoffing noise, "Knowing you, you know this house just as well as I do. So you tell me"
Cola chuckled and sure enough, walked up to a door in the hall to reveal a coat closet, "This is why I assigned Kyoko to teach you manners," he said to me with a wink as he straightened out the dark blue suit he wore under the coat,
In response I bowed to him, right hand on my heart, "Woh uani-jia, eneg zhufu hai ro tiankong." I said solemnly.
Cola looked at me in surprise then mimicked my movement, "Eneg taiyang ko musha yau-jia." he replied. He straightened and looked at me with approval in his eyes, "A task she seems to be performing quite well might I add, your old Mistralian is quite good."
I flushed slightly at this praise, suddenly Neo flew past me, "Mr. Cola!" she squealed in delight as she attached himself to his leg.
The giant man smiled, then made a show of looking around, "Rowan, have you seen Neopolitan around? I could've sworn I heard her, but I just can't seem to find her."
I desperately held back a grin and shook my head rapidly. Cola frowned in puzzlement and Neo giggled beneath him. "I'll see if she isn't over here…" he made a grand show of walking towards the hall, raising his long legs high to Neo's delight, who giggled as she held on tight to his leg as it rose and fell.
Keara rolled her eyes at this display, but I saw them twinkle slightly as she watched the scene unfold. Cola reached the hallway and looked to the side, "Kyoko, have you seen Neopolitan?" he asked, concern in his voice.
I heard Kyoko's voice reply but couldn't make out the words, whatever she said seemed to depress him and he walked over to the living room, where he sat down on the couch with a sigh. "No one's seen her?" he asked.
Bayard made a harrumphing noise, "No sir, haven't seen her at all." he replied, straight faced. Cola shook his head and suddenly began bouncing his knees rapidly. Neo held on valiantly, but eventually it was too much and she finally fell off, giggling madly on the ground.
Cola beamed as he saw her, "There she is!" he cried, he picked her up and hoisted her up into the air above his head.
"Hi, Mr. Cola!" she called out.
"High? You mean, you want to go higher?" he asked, and he stood up, raising her up as he did so, to the point where she was almost touching the ceiling.
"Cola sir, I have to inform you that I will quite cross with you if you put a hole in our roof with these antics." Keara remarked, but she was smiling as Cola lowered the girl down to face him.
He sighed, "Oh well then, I suppose we have to play something else." he informed Neo sadly, who pouted as he set her back down on the ground.
Kyoko entered the room with a tray holding a steaming pot and some tea cups. She placed the cups down on the table and poured the tea into them. Cola grabbed one of the cups and took a deep sip, he leaned back and sighed appreciatively. "Thank you Kyoko, that's very welcome on a cold night like this."
For a while we were all quiet as we enjoyed the wonderful tea, enjoying the warmth that spread through our bodies. Finally, Cola set down his cup and rubbed his massive palms together. "So!" he declared, "What game would like to play?" he addressed his question to Neo and myself. Eventually we settled on a variety of games, playing through a gauntlet of card and board games.
We had just finished a harrowing round of Charades, when Cola checked his watch. "Ah! Look at the time! Dress up for the cold everyone, we don't want to be late!" There was a flurry of activity as we all put on our thickest coats.
Suddenly Bayard cocked his head to the side and put his hand to his ear, he nodded slightly and voiced a quiet affirmative. He walked up to Cola and leaned in close, I made a show of busying myself in putting on winter gloves, listening intently.
"Sir, it's Belmorzh, he says he wants to talk about a shipping contract, class 12." Cola paused and I saw a calculating expression flit across his face. He opened his mouth to speak, then stopped abruptly as his eyes flickered over to me. I flushed as I turned to put on my winter coat, but listened closely for Cola's response...
"Tell him we can talk tomorrow." he replied gruffly.
"Sir, he says that it's urgent." Bayard insisted, "he's willing to pay double rate."
Cola sighed, "Refer this one out to Kuroi then, he'll appreciate the business, I'm busy tonight."
Bayard frowned, but nodded sharply and walked a few steps away, speaking quietly into his earpiece. I smiled as an indescribable warmth stole through me at Cola's decision. The large man chuckled as he ruffled my hair, "This is, after all, an auspicious night." I heard him murmur to himself as he walked past me to wait by the front door.
Soon afterwards we were walking down the sidewalk to the large limousine that was parked there. Bayard politely opened the door for us and we clambered inside. Bayard got into the driver's seat and checked his own watch before nodding sharply, "We shall arrive in roughly nine minutes and fifty-one seconds." he remarked before putting the car into gear and starting forward.
If you've never been to the Festival of Lights in Atlas or Solitas, I highly recommend that you do so before I obliterate everything via gunship and Grimm. The streets are teemed with lights that line the trees and the buildings. All of them the traditional colors of green and blue, twisted together into brilliant streams of light. It is the night that we celebrate the Northern Lights, the blue and green swirling colors that fill the night sky. On that night and indeed for a good couple of weeks afterward, Grimm hide deep in their holes, refusing to come out into the light of day or the dark of night. Many scientists have studied the phenomena, citing Aura, magnetism, even latent Dust crystal deposits in the sky.
However, on that night, even a few of them will whisper of the tale of Jack and the Star Maiden told in the Tale of the Four Knights, that compendium of legends from Remnant's forgotten past. The world of facts and figures lost for a night, to the wonder of song and legend.
It's a beautiful thing, and it makes me almost regret destroying the world.
Hey, I said almost.
We parked a ways out from the city center, Bayard neatly pulling into a conveniently empty parking space. Cola looked to his watch, "You're late Bayard." he remarked casually.
Bayard nodded slightly, "My apologies sir, I blinked 3.46 times more than anticipated." he unbuckled and walked around to the passenger door and opened it. We filed out onto the sidewalk, Neo and I froze and stared at the sheer amount of people that were walking by to a glowing point of light far off in the distance. Cola placed his hands on our shoulders, "Come, we should get to our seats."
We followed along, staring at the decorations and the glowing spot that grew larger and larger as we approached. Finally we gasped as the spot came into view.
It was a massive dome, the ACE Center, that's short for Acclimated Climate Event Center. It turns out that the high-brows of Atlas would never let a silly thing like winter cold stop them from celebrating a holiday or festival in full comfort. So they commissioned an enormous dome that essentially makes it a nice, steady temperature inside that stops any pesky things like snow or rain from getting in.
We entered inside and stared in disbelief, it was sunny and warm in the confines of the dome. Cola removed his coat and the rest of us hurriedly followed suit. Bayard collected them in a large suitcase that I only just realized he had brought with us from the car. There was a gigantic stage in front of what must have been thousands and thousands of seats, like a massive auditorium. Instead of walking towards these seats however, Cola guided us to one of a series of tower-like buildings that surrounded it.
We walked up to the base to find elevator doors, with a small key card reader to the side. Cola pulled out a card and swiped it, the doors opened and we filed inside. When we reached the top, we stepped out into box seats that screens of the main stage at every point. Cola walked over and sat down, gesturing for us to do the same.
Neo and I sat toward the front, we looked at the screens and then back to Cola, who arched an eyebrow at our confused expressions.
"Yes?" he asked us.
"Well, it's just that… why did we even come if we were just going to watch on screens anyway?" I asked.
He smiled and reached down to the side of his seat and pulled out a pair of strange goggles; he pointed at the side of my seat and I saw a pouch that held a similar such pair. He put his on, "Go ahead and put them on, twist the right dial forward to zoom in, the opposite direction to zoom out, push it once to reset it."
I did as he said and put them on, and gasped as the stage suddenly seemed to be right in front of me. I tugged them out from in front of my eyes and stared at Cola who smiled at my amazed expression.
"These are Mistral opera spectacles, they are essentially very powerful optic scopes that are synced to the stage to make such spectacles easier to view for the elite." Cola explained as he settled back in his chair. "You can press the button on the left eyepiece to call and dismiss a program for the night's events."
I did so and read quickly through the list; suddenly I felt an excited tug on my shoulder and I took off the goggles to see Neo staring at something on the goggles, her mouth open in delight.
"What's the Dance of Starlight?" she asked.
"It is an event where all of those who are of the ages between 16 and 18 may participate in a duos dance contest; traditionally one boy and one girl." answered Cola, "The winning two get to… well, I'll let that be a surprise, but they are declared the Jack and the Maiden of the Festival."
Neo turned to me and I was slightly perturbed at the intensity of her gaze; I turned my attention back to the goggles as a large man came to the stage.
"Welcome one and all, to the Festival of Lights!" he roared, the ground below erupted into cheers. When it quieted it down, the man spoke once more, "We come now this night, to celebrate life once more, as the foul Grimm fall back to the shadows. Let that celebration, commence!" the crowd roared to life once more as acrobats emerged onto the stage in flowing, vibrant colors.
The next few hours were a blur of acrobatics, plays, and songs. In particular one woman performed a fiery tune that made Keara applaud and whoop.
I admit that as a young man, even for such wonders and splendors such as these, my attention span was not quite up to the task of sitting for hours on end. I eventually was lulled into a bit of a trance, I was jolted awake, however, when Neo yanked on my arm.
"It's time for the dance!" she squealed. I focussed on the stage to see three men and three women standing still on the stage, dressed in a brilliant array of colors.
"That's not very many people." I remarked.
"The day before, the duos participating perform in front of judges, who select three of the pairs of contenders as finalists." Cola replied. "A panel of the judges and important persons from Atlas will then decide on the victors of the contest.
I watched as the first two stepped forward; the boy was dressed in a blue and red flowing robe, the girl in a deep red and green dress. Their dance was fast, their movements barely intelligible to my untrained eyes. The dance finished in a flurry and the crowd demonstrated their approval, their cheers echoing through the air.
The next two stepped forward, both were dressed in green and their dance was smooth and graceful, flowing across the stage. The crowd was more muted in their approval for this dance, yet the approval was there all the same. When the applause finally died down, the last two stepped forward.
I frowned as I saw the clothes of the boy and girl that stepped forward, they were ragged and bland; totally at odds of the two pairs that had gone before. I could see the crowd's confusion mirror my own; and a murmur swelled up from the ground. Then suddenly there was a flash and I was momentarily blinded, I heard the crowd scream and shout in shock.
When I had blinked the spots out of my eyes, I stared in disbelief and the crowd roared. The two had changed completely, the boy was dressed in a wild array of red and purple, the hues flowing in and out of each other. The girl was dressed in a river of blue and green, the calm colors a stark contrast to her partner. As one they burst into movement and I was transfixed at the flowing motion on the stage, I wasn't watching people dance, I was watching flashes of color and movement, a painting, a masterpiece even to my young eyes.
Finally the two fell still and for a time the crowd was silent; then it erupted with a deafening roar. I could practically feel the ground shake under the force of their approval. I saw the large man walk over to a table and discuss something with the people sitting there that I assumed were the judges. The conversation was short, and the large man walked back onto the stage.
"Ladies and gentlemen of Atlas! We have our winners!" he gestured grandly at the two dancers behind him, "May I present to you, Cesious and Azura, our Jack and Star Maiden!" The crowd roared and stamped its approval. The two bowed and hugged each other, besides themselves with exultation. The large man shook their hands, then dramatically pulled out a scroll and pressed a button. In the center of the stage, a large hole opened up, and a large lever emerged.
Cesious and Azura walked forward and placed their hands on the lever, then looked to the announcer. Who turned back to the crowd and held up his hand, "5!" he yelled out. "5!" the crowd chanted back at him. Behind me, I heard Keara chanting along, and I watched intently, curious what this could possibly culminate in.
"4! 3! 2! 1" On the final count, the two dancers pulled on the lever.
There was a massive grinding of gears and I looked up in astonishment to see the artificial sunny sky open up and I gasped in amazement.
Above our heads were the Northern Lights, the blue and green twisting along the sky, its light shone down upon us, tinting everything their calm and gentle colors. I felt a tug on my arm to see Neo regarding me seriously, "We are entering this and winning… promise me Rowan!" she demanded.
Under that light, at that wondrous time, I think I would've agreed to anything. I nodded, "I promise." I replied solemnly.
A massive smile grew on her face and she hugged me tight. I returned it gently as I stared up at the captivating display of colors overhead. It was there that I thanked whatever was out there that I was here, that I had survived that hell. That I had been lucky enough to be saved by this man who was smiling calmly behind me, that I was being raised by these women. One of whom was staring in awe up at the lights, the other of which was pulling out her scroll to snap a picture of us. I was grateful for everything, and I prayed that whatever was out there that I would be this happy forever.
See, I could understand if it had just said 'no', that would've been fine, I could live with that.
But whatever said 'no', whatever decided that the clock was now ticking on the amount of time little Rowan had to be happy. Whatever that thing is, it's apparently one hell of a sadist.
Because at the stroke of midnight, six years became 5 years and 364 days.