Author's Notes: Thank you to all who reveiwed. I am soo sorry it took so long to update. And now cames another cliffhanger ending. I apologise in advance. Heh. Now things get interesting.. and -gasp- a plot appears. I shall hinder you no further. Enjoy.
Chapter Nine
Panting, Nietori ran. He ran faster than he had ever run in his life. He could sense Blaze's distinct aura behind him, but it was warped, twisted with a tainted, oddly mutilated, wrongness. Wings tore through his shoulder flesh, and Nietori took flight. As fast as his angels wings were, they could not escape this path of destruction, this disfigurement of pure magic. It ripped through Araeisth, obliterating everything that it touched. Blaze screamed, and, in mid-flight, Nietori turned, to see his friend caught in the wave of death. Blaze's human features twisted in agony, his flesh melting away to partially reveal his ethereal face. He screamed again, and looked directly at Nietori with one Prussian blue eye, and one dark, grey eye. His last thought came into Nietori's head, as he too, was consumed by the rumbling torrent of magic.
"I couldn't stop it. I was not enough," he opened his mouth, forcing the anguish from his body and soul out in a guttural screech-
Nietori woke, shaking, sobbing, and clutching at anything and everything around him. Blaze had been in his vision… but what could have happened?
Sweeping out of his bed, ignoring the clash of warm, moist skin against cold, sterile air, he found his way in the darkness over to a basin in the corner of his bedchamber. The Conspicionaes was filled with cool water. Looking through the clear liquid to the bottom of the basin, Nietori let out the breath that he had been holding in. As if sensing his anxiety, the water rippled, from the center outwards, small waves lapping against the edges of the Conspicionaes. Nietori concentrated on the images from his dreams. The water now sloshed away from the center, spilling over the sides of its stone container. Picturing clearly Blaze's melting face, and feeling again the emotions and pain of the dream, brows drawn together and mouth held in a grimace of absolute focus, a single word escaped from between his tightly pursed lips: "Aeperi."
As the echoes of the whisper died away, the water of the Conspicionaes began to take a different texture. Partially liquid, partially solid, and partially gas, the edges began to emit a tangy, pungent steam. The gaseous substance traveled inwards, until the entire bowl gave off wisps of vapour. Nietori snapped open his eyes, releasing his visions fully to the Conspicionaes. Erupting in blue flame, the mist and smell disappeared. Watching the flames closely, Nietori slowly reached out to collect the iron goblet which always stood on a stone pedestal beside the basin. Lifting the heavy cup to the flames, he dipped it into the center of the contrivance, filling it with ice cold fire. As he lifted the goblet from the blazing bowl, the flames went out, leaving blackened, steaming water. The iron goblet however, was still very much ablaze, and stepping back from the smouldering liquid, Nietori raised it to his lips, downing the icy inferno in one gulp.
Sensations heightened by the potion, Nietori felt as of he had just swallowed snow that did not melt, that stuck to the lining of his throat. He traced the icy sensation through his gut and into his veins; it spread through his heart, his lungs, numbing his legs, his arms, and finally his fingers, before the next sensation took him: intense burning surging, tearing at his insides, flooding his frosted body. Eyes glazed, body humming with magic, Nietori's naked form fell to the floor.
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Standing in a flurry of rushing thoughts, emotions and physical sensations, Nietori waited for the potion to take full effect on him, to dull the keener of his senses and thus make this jumble easier to understand. Feeling slightly drunk, he began opened his mind to the visions that the magic of the Conspicionaes would send him.
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"An institute. Sterile walls. A metal door. A young human sits on a bunk. Moss green hair falls over his face. Tears trace their path down to his chin. I feel Blaze's presence in him. He looks up, directly at me. I see the midnight blue eyes from my dream, filled with sorrow, and I know it is he. The sorrow is replaced with a steely, emotionless look, and I can feel the first tendrils of the stain seeping into Blaze, beginning to skew his aura. He fingers a black, metal object that he holds on his lap. He jumps off of the bunk, and places the object in a holster around his thigh. He puts on a tailored cloak, which appears to host several devices and several more copies of the object in the holster. He opens the door, peers around the corner, and slips outside, and quietly closes the door behind him. Seconds later, the room is filled with flames." (1)
"The human Blaze lies dying on a bed. Several men stand around him. One appears satisfied with Blaze's condition. They are talking. The one they call Odin Lowe keeps glancing in the direction of the bed. The men leave. Odin Lowe stays behind. After five minutes, he begins to set up little black boxes around the room. He pierces Blaze's skin with a metal device and pushes a liquid of some sort into him. Blaze's eyes open. He appears to be recovering. Odin Lowe explains something to him in an odd language, Blaze nods and tries to sit up. Odin picks him up and carries him out of the room. The room again fills with flames." (2)
"A slightly older version of Blaze kneels beside the Odin Lowe. He is dying. The stain seeps farther through Blaze's aura. After the man draws his last breath, Blaze runs away, and again flames fill my head." (3)
A pause.
"This is where the visions became erratic and confusing, it's never happened to me before when I have used the Conspicionaes before."
"Keep going Nietori. I feel that the next visions will be ones of outmost importance." The Sage looked at her apprentice through distracting tendrils of hair that grew from her eyebrows, becoming so long that they fell in front of her eyes, to her cheekbones. Not that it mattered; the old angel was all but blind, as far as physical sight went.
"Feelings are present, but visions have not yet come; even the feelings are primal, basic, and few. Pain is eminent; a heart beats in the background. Anger, followed by sorrow strikes the senses. Everything then disappears, except for the heart beat. No more emotions come."
"I face a human with green eyes and brown hair. There is something very familiar about his aura, but I do not know what it is. He steps to me, I feel afraid of his aura, of his power, and I push him away."
"There is fire, chaos, pain and suffering everywhere around me. It is my dream over again, the wave of death is again unleashed upon us, but everything ends just as Blaze opens his mouth to scream." (4)
"I find myself once more facing this man, with green eyes and brown hair. He beckons, but I cannot go to him. I know his aura. Intimately. Every nuance is familiar. He smiles at me, and steps closer. As he embraces me, a new vision comes to me."
"In my own hands, I am holding a black object like that of Blaze's. I am running from something, and I cannot tell what it is. A almost matured version of Blaze leans into me, bleeding."
"This is all?"
Nietori nods. "The man… with green eyes. I know him. Who is he?"
The Sage puts a hand to his forehead. She says quietly, "Can you send his aura for me?"
Nodding, Nietori pictured the man in his head, and focused on the aura. Almost immediately, The Sage pulled away her hand. Looking up at her face, which was contorted in a grimace that would have scared anyone but her apprentice, Nietori said, "You know him."
"Yes."
"Do I?"
She smiled, letting the grimace slip away. "Yes, you do know him."
"Who is he?"
"Sleep, Nietori, I will discuss this with you when I know more myself."
Knowing better than to argue, Nietori fell worn out, onto his bed, and welcomed the dreamless sleep that came after using the Conspicionaes.
(1)Right. Because I'm lazy, and because I'm starting to get really bored with recap ofHeero/Blaze's life, I did a lot of it here. After heand Odin Lowe escape fromthetraining facility, thestoryline, and timeline, follow that of the manga "Episode Zero." Which, might I add, since I haven'tseen the series since I was about nine years old, is my god. If you're confused about the use of first person in the flashbacks, it's because Nietori was describing them to the Sage.
(2) This is where Heero/Blaze meets Odin Lowe. It is entirely speculation on my part. I don't think it actually happened in the mangas or the series.
(3) This actually did happen in "Episode Zero."
(4) I know who the man is and you don't! Well.. you know who he is in the series.. (I hope) But I know who he -really- is. -Wahahahaha-
I really will try to hurry with the next chapter, but as Latin is currently taking any spare time available to me, the next section will be either shprt, or a long time in coming. Sorry, again. Oh, and I promise that in the next chapters, and at the latest chapter twelve, this story will actually get under way. I'm sorry it's taking so long to explain!
Cheers
Inky.
