Chapter twenty-nine… Here
Li had kept her face buried in the High Mage's robes since they passed the village being attacked by monsters, her eyes dry and slightly swollen, her mind fuzzy and numb. One idea surfaced in the hazy ocean of her thoughts: If I just don't look, all of this might just disappear.
Some time passed—maybe a few minutes, maybe an hour or two; time seemed to have no meaning anymore—before the High Mage once again touched her shoulder, this time to get her attention.
"Lady," he said, gently shaking her shoulder. "Lady, look ahead."
Li did not know what might have gotten the mage's attention, but she was sure that she didn't want to see it. After all that had happened, she was afraid it could only get worse.
Banter shook her shoulder with more purpose this time. "Look ahead."
"No," she insisted, but she lifted her head anyway.
At the same moment, the griffin's great lionlike paws landed firmly on solid ground, and Li found herself staring directly into the gaping mouth of a cave leading into the wall of rock that stretched out before them. She blinked, then cast a glance behind her.
Open air. A carpet of forest at least a mile below.
Startled, she yelped and grabbed the mage's robes as if to save herself from falling—although the griffin had perched ten feet away from the edge of the wide, level ledge on which they now were.
Banter swept an arm towards the darkened cave entrance. "We're here," he said simply. "We're on the sacred mountain of the Rune God."
The aircar settled gently on the ocean's surface and bobbed for a minute or two before slipping underneath, descending into the darkness, the silence of an underwater trench.
Mako watched air bubbles peel themselves off the aircar—although submarine would probably be the better term now—and stream frantically upward, as if they were running in fear of what lay beneath the waves.
His stomach twisted uncomfortably.
He could see fish now, fish everywhere—little flashes of silver darting together, bright flares of color here and there, and now larger ones, some drab-looking, others beautifully ornate, and still others so weird and unearthly that they looked like underwater dragons.
He tried to steady his breathing, wondering why his heart was racing.
And still the car sank lower. The light from the sun overhead was failing, but if he craned his neck he could see pinpricks of some other ghostly light below, maybe from some magical coral or the Cephirian equivalent of angler fish, although these pale dots did little to illuminate the floor of the trench… if they were anywhere near the floor yet.
Mako closed his eyes for a moment and mentally tried to steel himself for whatever lay ahead.
All too soon, it seemed, Mokona had located a hole—no, not just a hole, a tunnel in the nearby wall of the trench, and their little pink car was directed into it.
Mako had never been afraid of the dark, but the blackness, the complete and total darkness of this tunnel, was eerie enough to put a touch of nervousness in him. Eventually, though, the blackness gave way to gray, and the tunnel curved sharply upward.
The car surfaced in an underwater cavern, dimly lit by a series of large, fluorescent seashells attached to the roof of the cave, and by two torches that burst to life on either side of a great pair of stone doors the moment Mako stepped out of the car and onto the damp but solid ground.
Mokona gently tugged on Mako's pant leg, and the Knight nodded in agreement. "Yeah," he murmured to the guide, "we're here, aren't we?"
Keilin felt Cail lower her from the grasp of the spell, and she was gently set down on the plush, springy grass that spread before the castle of the Pillar.
The legends, Cail had mentioned, insisted that this castle had not been built by human hands, but had been formed by the Creator of the world as housing for its Pillar. This was easy enough to believe. The castle was shaped like an enormous cluster of crystals, all jutting skyward, although there were just as many of these structures rooting the castle deep into the ground. It was strangely beautiful.
We're here, Keilin said, unnecessarily.
She sensed Cail's response: Yes… we most certainly are. It is time. Let's go.
There were no doors or windows present on this magnificent, glittering palace. Keilin strode straight up to the crystalline wall nearest her and reached out her fingers to touch it.
As if the wall itself was conscious of just who was seeking entrance, it crackled with magic and shot a bolt of green lightning up her arm, and from there it spread over her whole body, relentlessly attempting to zap every square inch of her to dust.
This seemingly-simple defense reeked of such a powerful, intense magic that it would have killed anyone else. Keilin, however, was invincible, and she knew it.
It doesn't seem like they're too eager to let us in, she said lightly.
Cail reflected her tone of voice. If they will not offer us a door, we will have to make our own, won't we?
I suppose you're right, she answered. Her next two words were spoken by mouth:
"DEVIL'S SCYTHE!"
Hawk hastily scribbled calculations and continued tweaking wires on a number of little gadgets he had scattered before him.
He had been working at top speed for three straight hours while Princess Ciela knelt on her cushion somewhere behind him, forcing prayers out of herself, shouting them to the glass ceiling overhead as if trying to drown out all the tormented visions that must be crowding into her head.
Nervous sweat decorated Hawk's face as he desperately tried one thing after another. He was so close, it was just trial and error now, but that would take time, precious time he didn't have, he was so very close—
An unbelievably violent earthquake suddenly shook the castle.
Hawk's little mechanisms went skidding in all directions, his sheet of calculations flew through the air, and Hawk himself was thrown backwards, his legs flipping over his head—he landed flat on his back, his breath was beaten from him, pain exploded through his chest, he had surely cracked a rib—
The glass over the Pillar shattered, and shards as sharp as knives rained down—but Ciela had been tossed from her pillow and was lying, stunned, on her side some ten feet away—her eyes were wide in pains of her own, but she dragged herself to her knees on the polished marble floor within seconds, continuing her frenzied prayers with more energy than before—it was then that Hawk realized that this had been no earthquake, no earthquake could have done this, it was something much, much worse, and he was out of time—
Ignoring the vicious, burning pains stabbing at his chest, he crawled to the only gadget of his still withing reach and began channeling his own brands of magic into it, desperately trying anything, hoping against hope that he would not have to see the Pillar and the country he had come to love be destroyed.
As she and the High Mage walked further down the passageway carved into the mountain, Li felt the temperature of the air rise rapidly and steadily; within five minutes, her brow was slick with sweat, and beads of persperation were forming around Banter's hairline. Odd shadows had begun to dance on the walls, giving the nonliving stone the illusion of movement, flickering like…
The tunnel ended, and Li found herself in the heart of a volcano.
Flames.
Fire leaped into the air, it erupted from everywhere around her, it climbed the walls and darted across her field of vision in all directions. As she and Banter progressed down a narrow strip of rocky path leading to an enormous pair of heavy, elaborately carved stone doors, little tongues of heat and light seemed to pierce her, bore straight through her… and oddly enough her very heart was warmed, comforted, soothed by these mystical flames.
He is calling for me, Li thought, hardly aware of her voice relaying these words aloud. The One of Fire is here.
Banter said something, but his voice was faint to her ears, and the words he spoke made no sense to her. He had stopped, but she continued walking, feeling as if her body had taken control of itself and she were a mere passenger along for the ride.
Those doors. They loomed in front of her now, massive and forbidding. They alone blocked her path to the sleeping god she sought.
I am here, she announced in her heart, although the sounds tumbled from her lips as well. Time flows unchecked, like the fire's blazing path. I must move forward.
And as if her words alone held the strength of a hundred men, the doors cracked open and tendrils of fire snaked through, wrapping around her waist, her chest, her legs and arms, and she let these carry her along to what lay beyond.
Mako felt as if he'd stepped not into an underwater cavern, but into an otherworldly palace. He cast one lasted awed look around at the ghostly sources of light on the ceiling, then swallowed his fears and drew close to the exquisite double doors. He raised his right hand and stretched out his fingers, but he did not touch the stone.
"Mokona," he said quietly, the pads of his fingertips just an inch from the doors. "I just wanted to say thank you… for being with us… for helping us."
Mokona gave two short puus, one of puffed-up importance, the other a humble you're welcome.
Mako took a deep breath. "If anything happens in here like what happened to Keilin, you get your own rear out of here to safety, you hear me?"
Mokona protested, but Mako didn't pay heed. He reached just a bit further and planted his hand on the cold granite door.
Immediately it swung out to admit him, and water suddenly streamed ankle-high from the space between the doors—Mokona's startled cries were echoing faintly somewhere in the back of his mind, but he ignored the guide and pushed forward, sloshing through the flowing seawater. With his heart he reached out to the entity somewhere beyond him, even though the corresponding noise coming from his mouth seemed like just a jumble of sounds:
Time flows unchecked, like the breaking of the waves. Rune God of the Water… I come.
Keilin and her master surveyed the wall before them.
"Wall," however, did not apply here anymore. Smoke rose from the perimeter of a jagged, fifty-square-foot hole, and the crystalline material that should have been there now blew away as powder in the wind.
Well done, Cail said. Although they will not have missed this.
Keilin did not seem worried. What can they do?
Cail laughed once, very softly, and they did not move or speak again until the first wave of the palace guards and mages apprehended them.
"You there!" barked the nearest, a large man with a well-crafted sword gripped tightly in both hands. He then shot a startled double take at Keilin, but quickly managed to regain his composure… mostly. "Girl! Stay where you are!" he said shortly, but there was a definite tremor in his voice now. "Just come with us, there's a lass, come and answer some questions—"
Fear, uncertainty, Cail murmured, half to himself. It drips from every one of them like sweat. Use this.
They're handing us weapons, Keilin agreed, and as the squad of soldiers advanced, she threw out her hands and summoned a swarm of demonic, bloodthirsty bats, fueled by the wavering wills of the very ones they had come to destroy.
"It's close, Hawk," Ciela gasped suddenly.
The System Master's furious concentration snapped in half, and he looked at the princess, startled. "What's… close?" he asked.
Ciela sucked in a shuddering breath. "The plague of this world, Hawk Vision… it's not just close, it's here." Without another word, she plunged back into her prayers with renewed passion.
Hawk studied her for a second, then turned his gaze on the mechanism in his shaking hand, and for a few heartbeats he couldn't remember what he had been doing with it.
Li Kimoi felt fire caressing her, its touch gentle, with a sense of belonging… almost as if she'd been called home.
She would have stayed there, floating along the flames with her eyes closed until the end of time, quite happily—but when the voice spoke, her attention switched focus so quickly that it startled her out of this dreamy state.
Young girl from another world.
Li's feet were set down upon the flames themselves, and she found she could stand as easily upon these as upon the ground itself. Her first glance of the Rune God of Fire, however, almost drove her to her knees.
A lion? she wondered silently, and then, No… wolf.
The Rune God was impossibly huge, a lupine creature with one horn between his blazing red eyes, crowned with flames that covered his neck, framed his face, ran down the belly and the back, and the plume of his tail trailed sparks as he held it aloft.
Majestic did not do this creature justice, and it never would.
My name, he said in a deep growl of a voice that went straight to Li's soul, is Rayearth. I am the one you seek.
The girl could not find her voice.
"And my name," she choked out after a second, "is Li Kimoi. I am the Magic Knight of Fire."
Rune God, Mako called with both heart and mouth, hear me. I am here.
He progressed further into the seashell-lit Shrine, feeling for all the world as if he were swimming, not wading, and that this water was the purest, cleanest thing he'd ever touched—and he was not swimming any longer, but just gliding as it went through him, reaching into him… and rinsing every fear and concern away.
This unbelievably freeing sensation, though, was nothing compared with the deep, strong voice that answered him now.
I hear your heart, young boy from another world. Look upon me.
With a start, Mako found himself to be standing on his own two feet. He cast his gaze forward.
A dragon lay comfortably before him, the same dark blue as twilight, the same sparkling sheen of the ocean, the same boundless expanse of the sky. Two scaled wings draped over its back, and at the joint of these sprouted a wicked-looking claw. Two relatively short horns stretched beyond its head, sharp fangs ran the length of its mouth, and the deepest, most intelligent eyes Mako had ever seen looked at him steadily.
I am called Selece, the dragon said, and the sound of his voice made the boy's breath catch in his chest. I am the Rune God of the Water.
Mako's voice shook, not from fear, but in complete and total awe: "M-Mako Keines… the Magic Knight of Water." An abrupt smile of wonder swept across his face, and all hesitation vanished. "I'm here."
