The Gaiden Chapters
Chapter 51: Genesis (Basilio)
Before there was something there was nothing. The Void was all there was and all there will be at the end of everything. Creation is fleeting and beautiful, it would not be so miraculous if it weren't so. Adrift within the Void are countless monsters beyond comprehension and all that separates them from us is a wall erected by the Creator. Walking the lanes between are the creators, beings that make something from nothing. One of them, you know her by the name Mila, swept away the Void and began to build. The end result of her handiwork was our world.
"Wait, what?" Basilio interjected "The story starts at the dawn of creation itself?"
Tiki nodded "The context is necessary to understand what the core of the issue is. I'm sorry but this is going to be long and complicated."
"In for a penny, in for a pound" he reasoned with a shrug. "Go on."
Building a world is no simple task. To root her creation within the slippery confines of the Void, Mila created two Principles. These would act as the keystones to everything in existence. The first Principle was Life, the second on was Death. Using the duality of these two Principles, Mila brought to life all you she created the four elemental lords of creation, you have seen one of them out in the ocean. Synthesizing their powers with her Principles she built our world. Once she had created the backdrop Mila desired to create sentient life. Digging deep into the earth she extracted fire from the heart of the planet and melded it into a large mountain. After a great deal of sculpting and chiseling she kissed it to bring it to life and stood back to admire her creation. Thus the first dragon was born.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Basilio said "I thought that Naga was responsible for the creation of dragons."
"That is a lie," Tiki explained "Dragons were formed by divine hands." She could see he had questions but she held up a hand to stop him short "All will be made clear as I go along."
For a long time everything was good. The dragons grew and prospered under the divine guidance of Mila. In dragon lore we refer to this era as the Golden Age. But it was not to last. Mindful of her duties to create new worlds Mila departed. As her sacred light left this world, never to return, it is said the dragons cried out like a child to its mother. But it was futile, adulthood and all its pains had come to this world for better or for worse.
Shortly after Mila left my mother was born and experienced much of the pain which was to come. It's important to remember that the world was still new, small vestiges of Mila's divine power lingered in this world which would culminate in miraculous events. The greatest of these my mother saw personally. Longing for their lost mother the dragons' unconscious desire to be cared for manifested itself. On the cusp of a golden dawn a miracle happened. The Principles, once metaphorical, became flesh. Two great dragons, one of white-gold and the other of black-purple descended on the world. Overjoyed at their arrival my people erected for them two temples within which to reside. Pleased by the generous welcome the great dragons gifted my people with their names. The gold-white one was called Naga, the font of life. Wherever her claws touched fresh grass and beautiful flowers sprang forth. The purple black one was known as Grima, the herald of death. Wherever her piercing gaze lingered death would follow.
Meekly Basilio raised his hand "Yes?" Tiki asked.
"I thought Grima was a demon dragon whose goal in life was the destruction of all things," the khan commented "You yourself fought against her with the first Exalt. Are you telling me that the legends were lying?"
"Victory is written by the winners, no matter how ignorant they are the truth." She sadly mumbled "I had my doubts about referring to her as such but the decision had been made for me. Humanity hated her so much there was little I could do to dissuade them. So instead I remained silent."
"Is that your sin?" Basilio asked.
She smiled bitterly "One of many."
Together Naga and Grima represented the cycle of life. Newly married brides would visit Naga's temple to pray for children while the sick would lay in mats in front of her asking for mercy. Meanwhile the dying would live in Grima's temple to be close to her in their final hours so their passing would be peaceful. For a long while this was the state of things, a stasis in which the dragons lived. It's one of the greatest differences between our two races. Dragons are content to keep things as they are while mankind constantly seeks out new horizons.
Now, you asked me about humans, right? Where did they come from? Who made them? Regrettably their creation was what started it all.
Somewhere along the line Naga became proud. All of the praise and adoration reaped upon her had twisted her, just a bit. As her ego grew so did her trespasses upon the realm of the divine. While she was life itself Naga had never created a unique being of her own. All that she governed had been established by Mila. On the sly Naga began to test the limits of her power to see if she couldn't rectify that. In the dead of the night she would use her claws to fashion all sorts of odd things then infuse them with her gift of life. Initially her attempts were horribly lackluster. What crept along the floors of her temple illumined by the moonlight were nothing more than half wrought creatures tormented by their incomplete existence. But Naga had all the time in the world and ever so slowly she began to make progress. And then one night she did it, she created a truly living creature. Nestling it in her claws she nursed it tenderly like a mother with her newborn. At the crack of dawn all of the dragons gathered about her temple, unconsciously they knew that something had changed. As the first shafts of morning peeked out of the horizon something small and weak staggered out of the temple on newly formed legs.
It was the first human.
My mother watched it in mute shock as it gazed out at the world and its denizens. Frightened by the strange, giant beings that had crowded around it the human cried out for its creator. Protectively shielding it with her body Naga drew it back into her temple away from prying eyes.
Word quickly reached Grima who flew into a rage. How dare Naga create life without consulting her? They were two halves of a whole; all that existed were infused with them equally. But Naga had grown proud. Assured that she did not need Grima's approval she had snubbed her counterpart. Flying out of her temple in a black cloud of smoke and decay Grima arrived at the steps of Naga's temple and demanded an explanation. Reluctantly Naga opened her doors and the two had a long talk.
"What did they talk about?" Basilio asked.
Tiki shrugged "No one knows. Naga doesn't like to talk about the past and the last time I saw Grima she was more interested in committing total genocide than stopping to chat."
"I still don't understand one thing though," the khan admitted rubbing his bristly chin "If humans were made by Naga shouldn't we live forever?"
"Good question," Tiki commented clasping her hands in her lap "As you'll recall there are balanced aspects of life and death in everything. Naga invested within her creation all of her aspect but in order to balance that all of Grima's aspect was included as well. Dragons are a good example of this. We live very long but reproduce very slowly. We were given great destructive powers but little ambition. Humans are the opposite, how they were created made it impossible for their aspects to balance. You live short, chaotic lives but breed faster than rabbits. You are so filled with ambition and can create great things but your destructive impulses are out of control. Dragons had never warred before; there wasn't even a word for it in our languages. But humans? They were fighting each other from the onset." She chuckled to herself "I guess from a certain perspective humans are rather ungainly creatures. But at times, you can do the most unbelievable things."
Taking a breath she continued her story.
At first the dragons didn't know what to make of the humans. Their lives were so short that if a dragon blinked for too long they could miss it. Some land was cleared so the humans holed up in Naga's temple could settle down and that was it. The dragons didn't bother the humans and the humans didn't bother the dragons. Balance had been restored and everyone thought that would be the end of it.
Unfortunately no one could have predicted the rapid progress of human civilization. Mankind spread across the earth at a mindboggling pace. They had evolved from the cave dwelling hunter gatherers the dragons had grown used to. Now they built cities and castles, created currency, and had found out how to craft weapons from iron. With each passing century the humans spread outward and soon encroached on the dragons' territories. My people were confident that mankind would respect the boundaries between them. They were wrong.
Greed won out over prudence and humanity decided to wage war with the dragons over their land. Needless to say it didn't go well for them. For the first time ever dragons used their fire to kill and scorched the human's land barren. Emboldened by their success they made a fatal mistake, they decided to try and wipe out all of the humans. A fear had been driven into their hearts, for the first time they realized the potential humans had within them. Even if they had lost today they would recoup their losses much faster than the dragons.
But Naga intervened. Appearing from the confines of her temple she safeguarded her creation from the dragons' ire and in return she cursed them. With a whisper she withdrew part of the life force of the dragons enfeebling them. Unable to maintain their draconic forms my people were forced to split into two bodies. Thus the manaketes were born. Of course not all the dragons were capable of transforming into manaketes. Those who failed to do so, either out of stubbornness or inability, were driven mad and slaughtered each other. Of particular note all of the Earth Dragon clan succumbed to this fate, all but one. His name was Medeus.
Enraged at Naga's injustice he secretly began to plot his revenge. Meanwhile the manaketes had formed a coalition to discuss how best to proceed. Some sort of treaty would have to be struck between them and the humans so that it would not come to war. Seeking the counsel of Grima and Naga they invited them both to the Mila Tree. At the day of the meeting they came to the Mila Tree only to find something that chilled them to the bone. Naga had cast away her dragon form choosing instead to appear human. It was a betrayal, a massive one. Dragons had been the one to give Naga a physical form and she had tossed aside their precious gift. If Mila was the mother who abandoned her children then Naga was the mother who chose favorites.
Medeus could not bear another second of this nonsense. Strolling forward in front of the crowd he began to speak. I can still remember the passion of his words, the fire in his eyes.
"You were there?" Basilio asked incredulously.
"Yes, a mere babe in the arms of my mother." Tiki recalled with a small smile on her face "He met my gaze you know, looked right at me as he talked about the need to protect our children from the malevolent ambitions of humans." She looked away, her eyes cloudy "It's funny how fate works. Did we know, on some sort of spiritual level, we would forever oppose each other? I will never forgive what Medeus tried to do but…is it possible to hate and sympathize with your greatest enemy at the same time?" Tiki shook her head "I'm getting off track."
Naga heard his plea but refused to do anything. She loved how the human idolized her, the temples they built for her in their cities and the offerings they had burnt in her name. To them she was everything that represented good and who was she to dissuade them? Grima on the other hand had grown very, very bitter. Not only was she denied a hand in their creation they had also come to despise her. Since humans live such short lives they had come to fear death, they cursed her name and considered her the root of all the wickedness of the world. To dragons death is a welcomed end, you can only live so long before it becomes a burden so Grima was as honored as Naga.
Thus when Medeus' words fell upon Naga' deaf ear he turned to Grima instead begging for her help. With a great rumble she rose up from her spot on the ground and walked over to him. Lowering her head so their eyes were right next to each other she asked him "How far would you go to right this wrong? Would you sacrifice your very soul to achieve your aims?"
Naga sat up at this question, she had been staring off into space ever since Medeus had begun his speech. Heedless of her sudden interest in the matters at hand the Earth Dragon nodded at Grima "The hatred that burns in my heart can only be extinguished with human blood. Whatever your price is, I accept."
"Very well," Grima said and then she doused him in her coal black flames. I can still remember his screams; they haunt my nightmares every now and then. With one final plume of flame Grima let up and walked back to her spot on the floor. I was so scared but I didn't press my face into my mother's shoulder, my curiosity overrode my fright. At first we were sure he had been incinerated but then the smoke cleared and he stood before us. Medeus had once been beautiful, tall and muscular with a handsome features and a lovely voice. But the dragon that stood before us was dark, our form twisted into a brutal new weapon designed to kill.
"How is that possible?" Basilio asked "I thought Grima was only capable of death. How could she create something new?"
"She didn't so much as create something new rather than alter it." Tiki explained "Grima annihilated Medeus' kindness, his sympathy in exchange for awesome powers."
Furious at her counterpart's actions Naga rose out of her seat to rebuke Grima but a single fire blast from Medeus silenced her. No matter how much she enjoyed the affection from humanity she could not directly intervene. Helplessly she watched as Medeus created the infamous Doluna Empire. Many dragons had been moved by his words and joined his new army which spread across the land like a plague. Retreating back into her temple Naga schemed of ways to even the odds. As the tide of darkness threatened to engulf the land on single human stood fast against the current.
His name was Anri.
Impressed by his courage and skill Naga knew that he was the one who could change the course of fate. All he needed now was an advantage and she knew just the tool. Summoning the greatest smiths in the land she handed them a single fang from her discarded dragon form. After weeks of back breaking labor they whittled it down into the Falchion which she presented to Anri. With sword in hand he singlehandedly smashed the Doluna Empire in half and slaughtered Medeus in his keep. Of course that was hardly the end of things. An evil sorcerer by the name of Gharnef resurrected Medeus and his empire out of the delusional belief he could use them to his own ends.
Together with Marth and his companions I sent them back to oblivion and took my place as the Voice of Naga. I was so assured that we had triumphed I was taken completely by surprise when Grima made her move. Taking to the skies with a bone chilling roar she scorched the land with her breath and her wing span was so large it covered up the sun. Summoning the Risen as her army she sought to bring forth Armageddon. We came so close to losing, if it weren't for the First Exalt all life would have been annihilate. With Falchion in hand he broke through the ranks of the Risen and struck down Grima but couldn't kill her. As one of the Principles that our world was built upon she effectively invincible and even if we could kill her the world would have been doomed anyway. So instead I thought up of a plan to seal her away once and for all.
We cut up her physical form into six separate parts; heart, wings, claws, horns, tongue, and eyes which we planted in different places across the land. Finally we sealed her soul away and kept it within the Mila Tree itself. We had won but at a great cost. The world had sustained much damage and the sealing of Grima did not help things. Reacting to her pain the land shattered and the sea boiled. You know this event as the Schism.
Amid all this confusion someone managed to sneak into the Mila Tree and abscond with Grima's soul. While I was worried I didn't think anything would come of it. The seal could only be unlocked by either me or Naga or so I thought…
"So, what? Is Grima loose?" Basilio asked.
Tiki nodded "Somehow the thief managed to bind the soul to a host. Of course even if they were successful it would just be Grima's consciousness existing in a human body. They would need to gather, release, and rebind all the other body parts from across the world if they wanted to resurrect Grima in her full glory."
Basilio jumped up onto his feet "This is serious; we need to tell the others." He turned around to leave but paused "You've known this for a while now but haven't told anyone." He cocked his head to look at her with his one good eye "Why?"
Tiki shrugged "What good would it do?"
Basilio looked at her in utter amazement "What do you mean what good would it do? We're talking about the resurrection of a goddess of death hell bent on exterminating all life. We have to do something."
She sighed "That's the thing with you humans, you've never been good at seeing the big picture." She paused to consider her words "then again, neither have I and it was my mistakes that led to this. You see, sealing Grima is a temporary solution at best. Even if we could replicate what happened in the past the exact same thing could happen again. History is replete with humans who believe they can use Grima's power for their selfish ambitions and continue to plunge the world in danger. Eventually someone is going to succeed."
"Then…then what do we do?" Basilio asked.
"We have to deal with the heart of the problem," Tiki explained "Grima wants to destroy humans because she hates them so if we can get her to forgive human s then everything should turn out ok."
"You make it sound so easy," the khan grumbled.
"Well to be honest you've been making good progress on that front," the Voice commented tapping her chin "I'll admit, I had serious doubts this plan could work but you've given me hope. That's why I am telling you all of this; you need to the context for what happens next."
"What are you talking about?" Basilio asked exasperatedly "I haven't done anything like that."
"You have, you just didn't realize you were." Tiki said before taking a deep breath. "Think about the people you've met so far and who has changed the most thanks to their relationship with you."
Basilio took a step back "You can't mean…" But it made sense. All the secrecy, the visions, and the superhuman strength, the one person who had managed to worm her way into his heart.
"Ursula!"
Tiki nodded "She is Grima in human flesh, created by the Grimleal to bring about the end of the world."
The khan staggered back and placed a hand on the table to steady himself "It doesn't make sense, she's not some vile monster bent on destroying the world. Admittedly she is a bit crude and snarky but underneath all that she's a nice person."
Tiki beamed "Wonderful! She's opening up to you." Standing up she approached the khan and placed a hand on his shoulder "I know this is hard for you to believe but the fact is that you trust her enough to defend her is exactly what I am looking for."
Basilio rubbed his face "Alright, let's say for one second that I believe you. What do you expect me to do against the physical incarnation of death? I am all for a brawl but even I am not that conceited enough to think I stand one chance against her."
"Haven't you been listening to anything I've been saying?" she asked exasperatedly "We can't kill Grima! The violent approach won't work so we need to try something else. Right now Grima needs a friend, someone who can prove to her that there is something in this world that she cares about. You care about her, right?"
"Yes, but-" Tiki held up a hand to stop him.
"And she cares about you. I've seen it with my own eyes!" She insisted "I hate to say this but whether our world survives depends entirely on you. Trust your heart Basilio, Ursula is not a bad guy!" Even though she knew they were friends she was worried that the secret she had just revealed would ruin things. After all, how could you continue being friends with someone who would try to destroy the world? But if Tiki hadn't said something at this juncture Basilio would have found out sooner or later and who knows how he would have reacted? At least he had some time to think about it and if Tiki had to fall back to Plan B then she would have to make do.
"I need some time to think," he said gruffly before storming out of the room.
Clasping her hands together Tiki prayed 'Please, let this work. Let the balance be restored.' While she wasn't quite sure who heard her prayer; whether it was the egotistical Naga, the negligent Mila, or some other being entirely she didn't know nor did she particularly care. As long as someone up there was listening and willing to help then she was happy.
Meanwhile Basilio's head was buzzing with so many thoughts at once he began to get dizzy. Finding a small, secluded, alcove near the top of the tree he sat down on one of the branches. 'What am I going to do? This is all such bullshit!' he rubbed his temples.
"There you are," someone called out from behind him. It was the last person he wanted to see right now. Sidling up next to him Ursula put a hand on his shoulder "Are you alright? This is the first time that I've seen you thinking so hard." She smirked at her own quip but when he didn't reply it fell off her face "Is it something you want to talk about?"
"Not really," he replied "Could you leave me alone for a bit?"
"No, you're liable to end up doing something stupid if I leave. You've got that look." She plopped down beside him "I'll be quiet but I'm here for you if you need me, ok?"
They sat in companionable silence for a bit before Basilio worked up the nerve to say "You know, Tiki told me the oddest thing."
Ursula could feel her blood run cold but she managed to smile "Oh?"
"She told me…that you were Grima the Doom Dragon." He gave a forced chuckle "Imagine that, huh? Never would have thought that Tiki was such a comedian." He looked at her "She is joking, right?"
Ursula bit her lip, what was she going to do? The quickest and easiest thing was just to suck out his quintessence. All she had to do was grab his arm, drain his life force, and watch his ashes scatter to the four winds. No one would know and if they suspected her they wouldn't have any proof. It's what Aversa would want her to do; it's what she should do. And yet…she didn't. Her hand twitched for a second but never rose off of her lap. The tactician began to panic, the longer she was quiet the more incriminating it would be. 'Lie, just lie!' she thought 'He's your friend; he'll believe anything you say. Who cares what Tiki said, it's not like she has any proof to out me.'
Giving a nervous chuckle she punched him in the arm "Do I look like a dragon to you?"
"I'm being serious," the khan solemnly replied "I want to trust you but there's too many unanswered questions."
"I-I…" Ursula licked her lips; her mouth was so dry her tongue was sticking to the roof of her mouth. She was afraid. If she told him he would hate her, they all hated her. Standing up she faced away from him and hugged herself to keep from shaking.
Swallowing the lump in his throat Basilio rose to his feet and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We're friends, right?" he told her "Trust me; it won't change anything between us." Honestly he wasn't sure about that but seeing her so conflicted made him reach out to her. Turning Ursula around he locked gazes with her.
Taking a deep breath the tactician nodded "Yes, I am Grima." To prove it she reached up and swept away the strands of hair that had constantly masked the right side of her face.
Basilio gasped and took a step back. He recognized that symbol, it was the one the Grimleal wore on their clothing. Six eyes stared back at him, the two in the middle staring straight ahead while the two on the top looked up while the two on the bottom glanced down.
We cut up her physical form into six separate parts; heart, wings, claws, horns, tongue, and eyes.
She held up her free hand which transformed into claws "Surprise, you're friend with a monster." Switching back to her human hands she tucked her hair behind her ear and stared at him with all seven eyes "I guess this changes things, huh?"
"No, it doesn't." Basilio whispered. He had gotten over his initial shock and was astonished by how calmly he was taking this. "This changes nothing."
Ursula scoffed at him "You're lying. I know humans, while I wasn't a part of their creation I've been keeping a close watch on them ever since." She glared at him and crossed her arms "You've always been a hateful bunch and you're no different."
Basilio rolled his eye "I'm not saying I am special in any way, I just stand by my friends. Sure you may be the human incarnation of a dragon who's tried to wipe out everything in existence but… I wouldn't be friends with someone who would do something like that."
Ursula gave a mirthless giggle "Shows what you know, ever since I joined up with the Shepherds I've been trying to regain my dragon form to do just that. I'm planning on picking up where I left off, what do say to that!"
"Bullshit!" the khan shouted "If you were honest about all that then why are you here right now? Why have you been helping us all this time? The Grimleal seem to have everything under control so why are you here when you could be out there getting the other parts of your body back?"
"Because-!" she hesitated, why was she here? She gasped as he stepped forward and drew her into a hug "What the fuck are you doing?"
"I won't lie, I'm pissed you kept this from me even though I understand why you did." Basilio said "But I am serious when I said this doesn't change anything. I believe in you and I want you to believe in me. Don't shut me out."
"Easier said than done," the tactician grumbled laying her head on his shoulder. Reaching up she fixed her swoop "You're the dumbest human I've ever met. Maybe that's why I trust you for now." Disentangling herself from him Ursula gestured to the bottom of the tree "C'mon, we need to go meet up with the others. The Daathian army isn't going to rout itself."
