29 — BORN UNDER MALEFICENT STARS
Shoko sprints through the Coliseum entrance, Hyoga behind her. They cross the closed Avenue for the Tournament, pass among the passers-by and finally reach the sand of the beach.
"Wait for me, Shoko! Shoko!" called Hyoga behind her.
He reached the girl and stopped in front of her, hugging her. She was crying.
"Hyoga, I can feel it. It's my sister. I need to go to her."
"Calm down. We'll go together."
And he hugged her again.
"Shall we go together?" he asked.
She agreed.
And they ran along the beach, following Shoko's heart, who left the sand and ran towards a beautiful park with a well-kept wood. They crossed trees and descended a short hill to a strange entrance in a huge rising mountain.
Hyoga felt a terrible cosmo coming from that entrance and pulled Shoko to him.
"What is it, Hyoga?"
"No…" he said. "We can't go on."
"My sister is in there, Hyoga. This is my chance."
"Listen to me, Shoko." he said, looking at her. "This feeling inside of you has a name. We call it cosmo. And the one you're feeling right now is enormous. Like a universe."
He placed his hand on Shoko's pendant.
"All of us are made of the same thing as the stars up in the sky. And some of us are able to control this energy within us."
"What are you saying? What does all this have to do with my sister?"
"This feeling in your chest is the presence of a great cosmo. But it does not belong to your sister. It belongs to something very strong, but also terribly evil."
"No, you're wrong. It's my sister, Hyoga! You don't understand. I need her!" she said crying.
Then the boy hugged her very close and let his white cosmos ascend from his body shining the night. A warm energy that their close embrace made Shoko share that feeling, her face light up by the aura and her hair shimmering along that comforting energy.
He looked at her tenderly.
Her chest stilled and the feeling that had been pushing her heart was slowly dying and fading back to normal.
"I know. I understand."
"Hyoga…"
"I lost people who were very important to me as well. People I needed to give meaning to my life. I know what you're feeling."
He took her hands. And she no longer felt the anguish that hurt her before.
She looked at the entrance to that place, relieved.
"I felt something very similar in your arms." she said.
"That's my cosmo." he said.
"But it wasn't distressing. It was… comforting." she said, looking at Hyoga.
He was relieved, for all he wanted was to comfort her.
"I can control the universe I have inside of me. And I promise you, Shoko," he said, approaching her, "I promise you that I'll go into this place and if your sister really is there, I'll bring her back. But not today. Not tonight."
Shoko smiled at him.
"I believe in you, Hyoga." And she looked back at the entrance to that place. "I don't feel my sister there anymore. It's as if I never had."
Hyoga pulled her close to his arms once more, relieved. And together, they left those woods back to the city.
They returned in silence through the streets and Hyoga walked her to her house. They said goodbye with a long and warm embrace.
"Thank you, Hyoga." she said. "I'm so sorry I ruined our night. I don't even know who won at the Tournament. How silly of me."
Shoko seemed awake from a spell. And she said goodbye, smiling.
He came back alone with a sinking heart, as he knew the cosmos he had felt in the woods was dangerous. He wasn't afraid to face that dangerous Cosmos, but he was afraid that Shoko could be in danger.
He could barely sleep.
And as soon as the sun rose, he went out with his Bronze Urn on his back to the entrance to that strange grotto of the night before.
When crossing the woods, however, he noticed an absurd precipitation from the sky, as it was snowing, when a few moments before on the beach the sun was shining. He was on edge, because if there really was an evil cosmos lurking, it was only natural for him to protect himself. He walked cautiously when he heard a voice shout.
"Show yourself, Ice Saint!"
Confused, Hyoga appeared.
And he saw the Andromeda Saint being attacked by a dark figure twice. Dropping to the ground and being lifted by a Black Saint in an Armor identical to his own. A Cygnus Cloth.
Andromeda was trapped in a huge Black Ice Crystal, but when the Shadow Saint prepared to end Shun's life, Hyoga intervened and freed him from the trap.
"Who are you?" asked the Black Saint.
Hyoga looked him in the eye and measured him from head to toe.
"Where did you get this Cloth?" asked Hyoga.
The young man noticed that Hyoga had an Urn on his back.
"I see you also have a Cloth on your back. Do you want to know where I got mine? For this is the incredible Cygnus Cloth."
"Don't be stupid." Hyoga spoke. "There's only one Cygnus Cloth and I'm pretty sure that your ridiculous copy isn't that one."
"And who do you think you are? Are you by any chance fighting alongside these traitors?"
Hyoga found himself cornered, as he was not on the side of the traitors. And if he had to choose one side of his mission, he would probably be on the side of that ridiculous duplicate.
But his heart...
He knew he couldn't be by that man's side.
"Answer me!" ordered the man.
Hyoga burned his cosmos and his Sacred Cloth revealed itself resplendent in the forest in the form of a beautiful Swan in front of him; it dismounted to take every part of his young body, protecting him. The Black Saint was astonished to see the real Cygnus Saint before him.
"Impossible." he snapped, and exclaimed. "It's the Cygnus Cloth! But that cloth was sealed forever. How can it be?"
"Yes, it is true that an ancient renegade warrior hid the true Cygnus Cloth, for he wasn't worthy to wear it, and like a scum he did what a scum would do: created a copy and renamed himself the Cygnus Saint."
The young man's face twisted with anger.
"Are you saying I'm not worthy?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
"Then suffer from my Dark Blizzard!"
The Black Saint's roar caused the dark snow falling to gather in his fist and blow a terribly icy wind over Hyoga, freezing him completely.
"For here is the Black Saint again sealing the Cygnus Saint forever. It really seems that this is destiny…"
But the ice that had frozen Hyoga gradually cracked.
"What?"
"Your cold air is worthy of the fragile imitation that you are. You only froze the surface of my skin. You are a fool to think you can be of any match to me."
"Why, you…" But the Black Saint could no longer move, as he was trapped by circles of ice around him.
Hyoga walked towards him.
"This is the end for you, for I don't have time for this joke."
His Cosmo went up, but voices in the forest interrupted Hyoga's concentration.
"What do you think you're doing, Black Swan?"
From somewhere in that fog in the forest, Hyoga was attacked and defended himself with his shield, being dragged through the grass. Enough for his cosmos to waver and Black Swan to break free of the Circle of Ice and disappear.
With him, the falling snow was also gone. Only the shrapnel of a felled tree and Andromeda's unconscious body remained.
Hyoga had another mission. He would have to fend for himself.
He entered the deep groove of that forest and saw how some ruins appeared around him, all of them invaded by vines and roots. There was a cosmos permeating the whole place that Hyoga recognized as an arm of that huge sensation he had the day before. He walked through deep woods and abandoned ruins when he saw the dark figure of a person.
"Another Black Saint…" imagined Hyoga.
But when that person left to search something inside what appeared to be a small tower, Hyoga clearly saw that Shoko was trapped by thousands of webs, like the victim of a huge spider. Immediately, Hyoga despaired.
He made sure that the weird Black Saint was alone and stormed into the tower without a second thought. He surprised the man, who was busying himself with a glass of wine, and smashed him with his icy fist, breaking the glass, freezing the wine and vanquishing the enemy without him having even seen where he came from.
He noted, close to his body, however, that what he wore under his cloak was not a Black Cloth, but a stout protection of exquisitely ornamented detail as if it were made entirely of vines and leaves. It was dark, but wasn't a Black Saint. Something else was going on in that place. It didn't matter.
"Shoko, Shoko!" Hyoga said, tearing the webs that still held the girl. "Ah, Shoko, what are you doing here all by yourself?"
"Hyoga…"
"Why did you do that, Shoko?"
He hugged her tightly, as if to make sure she was alive and well.
"I need to find my sister, Hyoga. I need to find her."
"You shouldn't have come by yourself."
"Don't tell me to go back, because I won't!"
Hyoga looked at that girl with pain, because she had no idea what she was getting into. He doesn't either. But Shoko's eyes finally saw him in a light that streamed through the dense treetops and filled with wonder.
"You have an Armor too." she delighted at him.
"Yes," he replied seriously. "And I won't let anything happen to you, Shoko."
They heard the pained laugh of the warrior who had just been defeated on the ground.
"I wouldn't make that promise." he said and smiled. "You have no idea what's going to happen."
"What? Say it… what are you talking about?!" asked Hyoga.
"The rebirth of Discord Eris." the dying warrior on the ground smiled.
"Eris?" Hyoga was astonished.
But the man seemed to take his last breath, leaving Hyoga with that huge gray cloud on his head.
"What does he mean, Hyoga?" as much as he didn't want her to be in any danger, he also didn't want to have to hide anything from her anymore.
He looked deep into her eyes.
"Eris is Discord. A Goddess fueled by human conflicts."
"Does she exists?" asked Shoko.
"She did. Thousands of years ago. And if what that man said is true..."
"A goddess?" asked Shoko, confused.
"Yes," said Hyoga. "And that's why you need to go back." he tried.
"No. I can feel my sister. She is here. I will find her."
Hyoga's eyes were pleading, but he knew he would have no way to convince her, after all she had already went into that terrible place alone. If she was really determined to go on, Hyoga would do everything so that nothing happened to her. He would be by her side.
"Stay close to me. I will protect you." he said.
And as soon as they left the little tower, leaving that warrior's body behind, they heard footsteps echoing in the ruins; they hid on the opposite side of the tower, among the leaves of a twisted trunk. Hyoga asked for silence, as they didn't know who they could trust.
Two girls walked in the ruins and came to the rescue of the dead warrior in the tower; they were Dolphin and Ursa Minor, Hyoga remembered them from the Galaxian Wars pamphlet, and so did Shoko. They chose to be silent.
From the distance, they couldn't hear what they were talking about, but it wasn't long before the two of them left the tower to run along the huge corridor ahead.
Very cautiously, Hyoga decided that they would go through the trees, instead of taking the path to the ruins. And so they did, always very silent. Always with great caution.
The ruins weren't that big, so it wasn't long before the two simply stopped again, as the noises of a terrible battle echoed off the stones of the ruins. Taking advantage of the noise, Hyoga and Shoko advanced more quickly between the leaves.
And when they arrived in a large open chamber in the heart of that forest, they saw how the two girls fought fiercely against a single warrior who protected, at all costs, a huge leafless tree trunk, where in its heart was a huge Amber Sphere .
The fight was powerful, but it ended with both girls defeated and unconscious on the ground.
The warrior who guarded that Amber Sphere was also quite tired and, unsteadily, climbed a few flights of wide stairs to the sphere. Hyoga and Shoko approached, the girl's racing heart made her suffer.
And there was no doubt because the one who pulsed inside that Amber Sphere was really her sister.
"Kyoko!"
The girl left and ran to the trunk. Hyoga behind her came forward with enormous speed and surprised the warrior who was protecting the sphere.
Their fists locked against each other, but Hyoga didn't necessarily wanted to beat him at that moment, just wanted to get him out of Shoko's way. He flung him away from the Sphere, guessing that the girl was going straight for her sister's body.
And he placed himself between the guardian and Shoko who, behind him, punched the Amber Sphere as best she could, without any effect. She screamed for her sister's name, cried, tried everything.
"It's pointless." said the warrior. "The birth is almost finished and soon Eris will be among us."
"Who are you?" asked Hyoga.
"I am Rigel, the Ghost who protects the Discord."
"Tell us how we can save the girl!" Hyoga spoke.
"There is no more girl to be saved, only Goddess Eris." said Rigel.
Shoko continued to punch and cry for her sister, but it didn't make any difference, as she was just a normal human. Her badly bruised fingers made no difference in that massive Amber Sphere. Her sister's body floating in there, unconscious.
She wanted so much to have Hyoga's power. She wanted so much that her fists could be strong like Seiya's so she could break that sphere and rescue her sister.
And she cried.
And as she cried, she placed her hand in supplication on the Amber Sphere, saying her sister's name.
The Sphere reacted to her tears and Shoko noticed that her hand pushed the amber inside and a wave spread throughout the whole sphere. Her sister seemed to react.
"Sister. Kyoko! Kyoko!" she screamed and punched again.
Rigel realized that something had happened and tried to step forward to prevent any disturbance to his protegé.
"You're not going anywhere!" Hyoga said, putting himself in front of her.
"Get out!"
But Hyoga again grabbed Rigel and threw him away from the altar. He went downstairs and knew he would have to fight. As soon as the Ghost got up, Hyoga tied him with his Ice Circle, keeping him struggling for a few moments.
But the Ghost purple cosmos filled his eyes with fire and his own leafy protection ignited with blue flames and melted Hyoga's ice circle.
"Ignis Fatuus!" announced his mighty voice in the ruins.
The Ghost fist conjured flames around Hyoga to ignite him completely; all Hyoga could do to defend himself was to burn his own icy cosmos and use the Ice Circle on his own body, so that it would nullify Rigel's flames.
With great effort, he freed himself, but there were also brief marks on his body from the Ghost terrible blow. Looking closer, Hyoga saw that the Ghost had some difficulty using his right arm and, maybe because of that, he was still alive. It was certainly a result of their previous battle and that gave Hyoga a certain advantage.
As soon as he extinguished Rigel's flames, Hyoga aimed at his right arm with a concentrated and powerful blast of his Diamond Dust technique. The Ghost could not dodge, as Hyoga imagined, and was hit by the freezing cosmos.
Tied and again standing, the two felt how the evil cosmos again trembled, because again Shoko's heart seemed to make that huge Amber Sphere waver.
"No." Rigel bared his teeth, but Hyoga stood in front of him.
"I said before: you won't go anywhere!"
Faced with their flaming cosmos, the two were stopped by a miracle.
A golden glow engulfed the ruins, blinding the two warriors; a hot and violent cosmos overflowed through the altar.
Ahead of them, when the light dimmed, was a wonderful Gold Saint.
A fabulous warrior, whose Cloth gleamed as if it had a light of its own, protecting him from head to toe in the magnificent glow of the golden sun. On his back a white cape.
"The…Gold Saint." Hyoga was surprised.
When humanity was in danger, there would be the Gold Saint.
On the verge of the Discord rebirth, here was a Gold Saint.
He had his eyes fixed on the Amber Sphere, where Shoko continued to try to reach her sister with her heart.
Hyoga feared for her life and placed himself in front of the Gold Saint, who didn't even look at him, but the boy felt his entire body freeze inside a deep paralyzing fear that left him completely immobile and terrified. The Gold Saint passed him without doing anything else.
"What do you think you're going to do?" asked Rigel, also stepping in front of the Gold Saint.
The Ghost then fell to his knees, feeling intense and concentrated pain in his shoulder. A searing pain, radiating down his arm, across his chest. A huge burning and throbbing. Rigel saw that his leafy protection had a tiny hole where he got hit.
The Gold Saint's footsteps echoed throughout the entire temple. Footsteps that seemed to shake the planet, such was the magnificence of that golden figure.
Rigel tried to get up, though he was in pain. Hyoga, still paralyzed at the back of that enemy, saw how Rigel burned his cosmos with what was left of his life. He knew that the Gold Saint was there to destroy Eris.
The purple cosmos was not enough to stop the Gold Saint's march, and Rigel united everything he had in a huge cry of despair.
"Ignis Fatuus Saltare!"
Hyoga watched, helplessly, as Rigel's cosmos shattered into many violent flames, which consumed the Gold Saint's body only to reveal, with amazement, that only his white cloak had been burned.
The Gold Saint finally stopped his march.
"How foolish of you." commented his young, menacing voice. "How dare you attack me? I spared you the first time, but maybe the most fitting punishment for a pitiful creature like you really is death."
The Gold Saint turned to Rigel and Hyoga saw in his eyes, because he was still paralyzed, how those eyes were menacing.
He couldn't see what was about to happen; he also saw absolutely nothing as it happened. He felt for just an instant as if the very space of that temple distorted impossibly, silencing all the sounds and straining all the lights.
The Gold Saint disappeared and reappeared a few inches from Hyoga's face, who felt death invade his entire body. He had a smile at the corner of his mouth and his huge eyes invaded the boy's fears, looking him up and down.
It was clearly a threat not to challenge him as Rigel had.
And when the Gold Saint turned to walk back to the Sphere, Hyoga saw Rigel's vanquished body on the ground. Dead.
It was the end.
He was paralyzed.
Shoko still mourned her sister's life.
And the Gold Saint would kill them all.
Shoko turned to the marching Gold Saint and begged.
"Stop, please." she said. "She's my sister. Don't kill my sister!" she asked.
The Gold Saint's eyes were on her.
"I can feel my sister in there. Whatever is taking over her body, I know she's resisting. Give me a chance!" she asked.
"I already gave a chance for you two when you were young." he said. "This time, however, there can be no doubts. It's a choice between peace for all humankind or the life of your sister. The choice is obvious."
"No, I know I can bring my sister back, please don't kill her!" she pleaded.
The Gold Saint saw how the Amber Sphere looked more and more liquid.
"There is no more time." he said.
"There is time." said another person behind the Gold Saint.
Hyoga knew who she was.
It was Saori Kido.
She wore a beautiful white dress.
The Gold Saint turned to face the owner of that unusual cosmos. She was a girl. Another one. He decided to use his menacing eyes again to paralyze his prey wherever she was.
But Saori walked as if that didn't make any difference to her.
"Wh… Who are you?" asked the Gold Saint, amazed that his power was useless.
And the girl, much smaller than him, passed by the Gold Saint and took Shoko's hand. Her figure was somwhat translucent and shiny.
"I am the Goddess Athena." she said, looking into Shoko's eyes. "We're going to rescue your sister."
The Gold Saint was in shock. Hyoga, freed from his paralysis thanks to that divine presence, saw how Shoko, hand in hand with Saori, simply entered the Amber Sphere walking.
Remember, Hyoga, you are an Athena Saint.
Said the letter.
An immense darkness.
Shoko was holding hands with someone.
It was her sister.
Kyoko.
"Kyoko."
Her sister smiled back; she wore a school uniform like hers, and like many other girls. And then she found herself with her in an orphanage. The children playing with the ball and she taking care of the cleaning. One of those days Shoko missed so much when she used to go to help her older sister at her work.
Sitting on a short wall looking at the sea and the stars.
"You know what, Shoko?" Kyoko said. "We're so lucky."
"Why do you say that, sis'?"
"Every day at the orphanage, I keep watching the children that, for some reason, have been abandoned. Others kids that arrive from time to time. Some that are adopted and separated from their siblings and friends. But we both have each other. We have our beloved father."
"I never thought of that." said Shoko watching the kids play.
"It's all right." Kyoko said. "But I keep thinking that there are people who are born under bad stars, with bad luck."
"Do you really think that?" asked Shoko.
"Yes," she replied. "We're very lucky to have been born under such good stars, aren't we?"
Shoko smiled.
In the darkness once more hand in hand.
With Athena.
"I'm sorry, Shoko." said Saori.
"Do you know me?"
"Yes. Your sister talked a lot about you."
"Do you know my sister?"
Saori nodded.
"She is a great friend of mine." said Saori, her voice wavering. "And I'm very sorry that this has happened to her."
"What can I do?" asked Shoko.
"You should trust your heart." said Athena. "Let's go get your sister."
They plunged into the tense darkness that trembled, though they could see nothing. Their own bodies trembled.
Sunk in despair, a young body revealed itself in the depths of darkness.
"Kyoko!" shouted Shoko in the darkness. "Kyoko!"
And the eyes of that young woman nestled in emptiness opened.
"Shoko. Is that you?"
It was. And her eyes met again.
"Saori." Kyoko recognized beside her sister.
"Let's go, sister. Come back with us."
Kyoko smiled, but they saw that, in the darkness, another body entwined that lost sister. A winged serpent climbed by Kyoko's feet to wrap itself around her neck.
It was Discord.
"Oh well, Athena..." hissed Eris's voice. "How brave of you to visit this plane where you are so vulnerable. It seems to me that without your presence, the Discord on Earth will be even more tastier."
"I will not let you take the Earth, Eris." said Athena. "I won't let you take Kyoko." said Saori.
The serpent hissed loudly, rejoicing.
"Too little, too late, little Goddess. As long as there's conflict in your world, I'll be sneaking on your heels."
But Kyoko then proceeded to choke that serpent with her bare hands, bringing immense pain to that disgraced soul.
"Kyoko!" shouted Shoko out of desperation.
"Athena." Kyoko said, to Saori's surprise. "You are the Goddess Athena. The Goddess Athena that Eris fears so much in her deepest dreams. I can feel her fear in front of you. Athena…" Kyoko struggled to contain the winged serpent. "No. Saori!"
Kyoko pleaded.
"Saori. Destroy Eris!"
"No, Kyoko!" asked Shoko.
"Destroy Eris!"
"Stop it, Kyoko!" asked Saori.
"Destroy Eris with me. It's the only chance, Saori!"
She asked and Saori denied it, she asked again and Saori denied it once more. Shoko decided to dive even deeper into that emptiness and let go of Athena's hand to hug her sister. Together, they began to hang that ill omen.
"Shoko, what are you doing?"
"I'm not leaving you, Kyoko." said Shoko. "I don't want to be alone anymore."
"Shoko…"
"I love you, Kyoko. I love you my sister."
The two united and together lifted Eris's hissing soul with both of their hands; the serpent struggled, suffering a horrible pain, as if attacked by the worst sensation of them all: peace. For her soul was fed on discord, blood and conflict. Blinded by power and treacherous, Discord took the body of one who could bring ruin to Athena's heart, but realized too late that she made herself vulnerable to the love that inhabited her host's body. For there was no worse poison for discord than love.
Shoko loved her sister. Kyoko loved her sister.
Eris was finally expelled from that cursed link and thrown into the void of oblivion. But the fangs of that winged serpent still made one last terrible lunge. And disappeared leaving a last and terrible curse.
"Discord will always exist! And you two will never love each other again!"
The Amber Sphere exploded and its shards evaporated into the air in a golden spectacle.
At the heart of the tree, which was still standing, were two bodies lying down.
Hyoga ran to the aid of the girls, passing by the Gold Saint, who no longer felt the evil presence of Eris.
Shoko was unconscious and Hyoga hugged her, in tears. She was alive. She was fine. He kept his promise. And beside him, her sister Kyoko, whom he recognized from her imprisonment in amber, also seemed to be showing signs of life.
"Shoko. Shoko. Are you okay?" he asked, thrilled to see that she was slowly coming to her senses.
She sat up a little dizzy and looked at Hyoga, confused. He had a smile on his face that he rarely let out.
"Who are you?" she asked.
Hyoga, the Cygnus Saint from Siberia and the Eternal Glacier, never felt so cold as at that moment. His entire body froze and his mouth couldn't say another word. Shoko's eyes were lost and, if it were possible, empty. There was nothing there.
No, he was wrong.
She was there and alive.
He was the one who no longer existed in those eyes.
He walked backwards, scared. And he saw how she looked around and saw her sister. They looked at each other but didn't recognize themselves; Hyoga guessed immediately. And his heart broke.
Eris' curse was terrible. A deep oblivion. Nothing was as strong as the love between the two sisters, and the serpent of discord made them live, but live without remembering that they loved each other.
Hyoga wiped the tears and locked them in his throat.
He looked back and saw, close to the figure of the Gold Saint, how Dolphin and Ursa Minor Saints were also waking up. And then he looked back to the sisters who couldn't recognize each other. He saw Shoko kneeling with her head hidden deep in her chest. He wanted so bad to be there. But he wasn't inside of her anymore.
Remember, Hyoga, you are an Athena Saint.
He looked down at his hands and saw the Cygnus Cloth. He was an Athena Saint.
With his chest dead, he turned his back and marched out of the ruins.
"I hope this has served as a lesson for you." The Gold Saint's voice spoke to Hyoga behind him.
Hyoga was crying.
So it didn't.
ABOUT THE CHAPTER: Bringing Saintia Sho's first arc with Shoko, Kyoko and Saori fit perfectly with what Hyoga needed to do on my story and the reasons why he recognized Saori as Athena. I like that I also kept the Gold Saint showing up for later use.
NEXT CHAPTER: GODS AND CHILDREN
Seiya and her friends discover that Saori is Athena and that in addition to the Sanctuary, there is also the threat of Eris ahead of her.