9 — THE CEMETERY WHERE CLOTHS GO TO DIE
To the south of the great city on the Yangtze River is a natural mountain complex through which mighty rivers flow. In the high heart of these hills rise Five Old Peaks, which the elders said looked like wise old men seated on the horizon. The landscape is beautiful and the place still holds a complex of powerful waterfalls along the various rivers that cut through the hills.
A very old man is sitting in front of a huge waterfall in front of him, the biggest of one of them all around those peaks; beside him a small cane, on his head a bamboo hat. His face was all wrinkled and a white beard down to his chest. Eyes almost closed.
"Master… Shunrei said you would like to speak with me."
"Sit down, Shiryu." said the old man's hoarse voice.
She said nothing and just obeyed her Master. She sat beside him looking at the mighty waterfall that plummeted in front of them.
The water lapping hard on the rocks of the river below and never stopping was her childhood sound. From her training. From her happy days. From her sad days. It was the sound of her everyday. Since she had been found as a very young child near the rivers and brought to live with the Old Master at those Five Peaks.
"You're not sick, are you, Master? That's why Shunrei is so angry…" The Master let out a low, husky laugh.
"I'm going to have to cook her favorite food for a few days until she can forgive me."
"Well, Master… But why play with something like this? I'm very happy that you're fine, but..."
"Shiryu..." began the old man. "You are still a very young Dragon. No. You are still a little fish that swims against the current of the river to one day become the Dragon you so long for."
"Master?"
"Your heart is still very immature, young lady."
"It was a test, wasn't it, Old Master?"
"Yes, young lady." and the Master looked at her sweetly. "A test that cost your Cloth and nearly took your life."
Shiryu was silent absorbing the hardness of those old eyes, hearing only the sound of the waterfall. She looked from her Master to the relentless water of that fall.
"Should I forget my feelings during a battle?"
"No," corrected the old man quickly, smiling. "You have to let your heart give you strength and open your eyes, make you see even more clearly. Use your feelings to your advantage and don't let them become your weakness, taking you focus away, making you unable to see what needs to be seen."
Upon hearing her Master's words, Shiryu remembered that in that Battle Arena she was not the only one with a full heart. Seiya was also there for other very strong reasons, but unlike her, he used the force to end the Dragon's Fist and her Shield, take her life and still save her from the death.
Far away from that day and that place, Shiryu almost didn't seem to believe everything that had happened now that she was in her house, listening to her waterfall.
"Master… I still don't understand why you said my place was there. The rules do not allow Saints to fight for their own goals."
"Rules, rules..." commented the Master, laughing. "Well, Shiryu, and where is it written that the water of the waterfall must always fall from the top of the river?"
Shiryu looked at the waterfall again and smiled. She remembered the day she was honored with the Dragon Cloth. Her final test was to reverse the flow of water from the waterfall. And one day, after many years of unsuccessful attempts, she jumped with her burning cosmos to reach the waterfall and lift it up with a flying kick in the sky; the water that tumbled from the waterfall stopped its flow and reversed, furious, for the first time, as if a Dragon were born from the bottom of the river and ascended into the heavens.
"I know you have many doubts, young Shiryu. But I also see that you already have some sure ideas." said the Master, looking at the stacked Cloths she had brought.
"I'm going to Jamir, Master. For the Cloths to be restored."
"Jamir…" pondered the Master. "The path of Jamir is terrible. Even experienced Saints would find it extremely difficult to reach Mu. An inexperienced Saint like you can die in the Cemetery of Armors."
"A cemetery? But the battle against the Black Saints is at hand... and I promised I would bring the Cloths back." Shiryu said, getting up.
The Old Master looked at her with a smile on his face.
That's what he was talking about.
Three days have passed since then; Shiryu arrived in Jamir, a Himalayan region near China's border with India, more than 6,000 meters above sea level; the air is so thin that even highland Tibetans in the region had difficulty climbing. When the air had begun to fail in young Shiryu's chest, the trail finally took her into a valley covered with mountain mist.
She blew the air away with her fists and saw a grotesque scene unfold before her. Bodies scattered on all sides, decomposed and reduced to their bones, but still harboring their Cloths totally broken and lifeless, colorless. It was a war scene. But a very old war.
Shiryu swallowed and moved forward dodging loose arms, skulls and remains of Cloths strewn across the floor. There was an atmosphere of death, a death feeling that made her shiver. The valley narrowed, and as it closed, it became darker and darker. Shiryu felt like she was perhaps in Hell itself for an instant.
A voice echoed in the valley, menacing.
"Where do you think you're going, child?"
Shiryu had no idea where she was coming from.
"These are Jamir's Lands." said the voice from all sides again.
"I came to see Mu and restore the Bronze Cloths."
"Ahhh, are you a Saint?" said the voice with some pleasure. "What a bliss. It's been years since a Saint has walked this path."
"I am Shiryu, the Dragon Saint."
The voices chuckled and muffled a moment later. Shiryu continued on her way when she began to hear some sounds in the valley that she quickly guessed, with amazement, were some skeletons getting up; the sound of bones cracking and dead Cloths creaking.
"Mu's palace is ahead and the only way to get there is through our Cemetery." said the voice again.
"But we won't let you. You will have to prove that you are worthy of wearing the Bronze Cloth and that it is worth restoring it." said a second voice then.
"Otherwise you won't have the right to meet Mu and will rest eternally by our side!"
The Dragon Saint was surprised by the swift attack of those skeletons wearing dead Cloths; she found herself cornered on both side by them. Shiryu then used the valley in her favor and, jumping from there to here, easily managed to avoid the attacks and still knock down all those who got in her way.
But the more she felled those undead skeletons, the more rose up to attack her, so that the path ahead was blocked by these ghostly and ancient figures.
"Someone is eagerly awaiting my return, I can't waste my time with you!" she said before roaring. "Dragon Flight!"
Her voice echoed off the valley walls and her body, enveloped in a burning energy, swooped low in the path of her fist to destroy all those ranks of enemies that rose and placed themselves between her and the exit of the valley.
Shiryu finally reached the end of the line and found herself facing a natural stone bridge that connected the end of that valley to a cliff where a temple could be seen on the horizon. At the bottom of the ditch, she could still make out several dead bodies and Cloths of ancient Saints who had perished there on that bridge.
The eastern temple on the horizon was all white stone, though already stained and cracked with age. Shiryu didn't see any sign of the entrance door and could only peek through some windows on the upper floors. Confused, she noticed around her an energy moving stones close to her. The stones floated and then they all went towards Shiryu, burying her.
With ease, she blasted the stones everywhere, getting rid of that trick.
"Who's there?" Shiryu asked as she got rid of the stones and finally noticed that there was someone on the top floor of the tower. "Is that how visitors are welcomed here?"
"Shut up!" said the childish voice at the top of the tower. The child raised her arm and Shiryu saw beside her levitate a stone alone in the air, which was promptly destroyed by her cosmos.
"That's telekinesis, isn't it?" Shiryu commented. "Well, I've come from far away, I'm too tired to be greeted with a rain of stones. I've come all this way to fix the Sacred Cloth, couldn't you come down a moment?"
"Why don't you get up here, friend?" mocked the child. "If you can make it this far, maybe I'll make your wish come true."
Shiryu left the Cloths on the ground.
She then threw a powerful punch on the first floor of that temple, which had no window, no door, only the walls. Enough to shake the entire structure and, caught off guard, topple the unhinged fifth-floor kid to where she was. The boy fell into her lap, and she dropped him to the ground, much to the boy's complaint.
"I want you to fix these two Sacred Cloth. I don't have much time."
"But I can't do this." said the boy, who was much younger than she; he had a gold bracelet on his arm and two pale spots on his forehead. "I am not Master Mu!"
"You're not Mu? So… where is he?" asked Shiryu.
"What do you mean where? She's by your side. Didn't you noticed? She's been there all this time!" replied the boy.
Shiryu was confused as there was no one beside her. He looked this way and that, and when he looked back to his left, he realized that there really was someone there. She walked over to the boy slumped on the ground and stared at Shiryu, who was in shock, as she hadn't noticed her presence until then.
"I am Mu. What do you want from me?" she said and her voice was calm.
She was a woman with long hair, but tied at the end of the length and, like the child, with two pale spots on her forehead. Shiryu rested his hand on the Urn of his Cloth.
"There's only one reason for a Saint to come here. I brought the Dragon and Pegasus Cloth with me. Could you fix them?"
The woman looked at the Urns and with a movement of her hand, she simply made them open and reveal the Pegasus and Dragon totems, formed by the different parts of the Cloths. Shiryu was surprised by that power and Mu impressed by the depth of destruction and cracks in the two Cloths.
"Please, I really need them." asked Shiryu.
She looked at the Cloths from where she stood and turned to the slightly sloping temple.
"I'm sorry, I can't help you."
"What? Why not?" Shiryu begged.
Mu then raised her arm and the temple trembled at her power and straightened again. Shiryu felt a cosmo energy like she had never felt before and was impressed by it.
Upon returning to the Cloth, she explained.
"Those Cloths are dead."
"Dead?" Shiryu was confused.
"Yes. A Cloth also has a life and once they die, not even I can revive them."
"But… we must face the Black Saints and we cannot fight them without our Cloths."
"I am really sorry." she finished, very calmly, turning back to the temple.
Shiryu ran to her and begged.
"Please wait, Mu, you are the only person in the world who can repair a Sacred Cloth. If you refuse my request, I will have no one to turn to." she pleaded. "Please at least try!"
Mu looked calmly but unfazed at the young girl in front of her begging for her help. She held it in her hand and Shiryu felt like she had the warm touch; everything about that woman, for some reason, evoked in him a calm that even in the face of her despair was somehow comforting.
"There is only one way to revive a Sacred Cloth." she began.
"Anything." Shiryu said and Mu looked at her seriously.
"I need your life."
Shiryu was silent not understanding exactly what that meant.
"You need to risk your life and the chances of not resisting are very high. So think very carefully, Saint, about what you want to do."
"My life…" Shiryu mused.
As her life had been saved by Seiya. She had already died once and thanks to Shunrei's affection, Seiya's strength, Shun and everyone's care, she was alive. And now she was the only one who could give Seiya a chance in a battle that was so important to him. And for her too. From the moment she had promised Shun to return with the Cloths, she had already made her decision.
"I want to do it, Mu. I will risk my life."
Mu agreed.
And the risk was indeed a huge sacrifice that could cost Shiryu her life; a life that she had almost lost and that now, without thinking, she accepted to give it so that Seiya could have a chance. And she died at the hands of Mu; her body was swallowed by an infinite dimension in eternal fall to the Underworld. Her scream echoed off the walls of the Cemetery, joining the army of skeleton sentinels who never rested.
"Seiya! Wake up Seiya!"
The boy woke up shaken by his friend who was sleeping in the bed next to him in the middle of the night. It was the eve of battle, and for days the young Seiya had dreamed that Shiryu had fallen.
ABOUT THE CHAPTER: Exactly like the Manga/Anime events. You don't change what's perfect. =)
NEXT CHAPTER: THE SILHOUETTE IN THE MIST
The day of battle against the Black Saints finally arrives!