46 — OTHER DIMENSIONS
With the universe convulsing around him, Shun lost track of where he was and also what was up, down, right or left. His body toppled through a gravityless infinity until the Nebula Chains left his two arms to return to the Gemini House, which was moving away, and attach themselves to the two columns beside the Gemini Saint.
Finally fixed in space, Shun watched with horror as Hyoga, unconscious, simply continued to wander through the cosmos; his body turning and falling away into infinity. Shun called his name many times, but there he couldn't even hear the sound of his voice. He screamed many times in despair, ordered the chains to let him fly to his friend, but she was at her limit and he couldn't reach his friend. And then the Nebula Chain pulled him back to the House of Gemini and he found himself again on the floor of that damned temple. Without his friend.
He pulled in a desperate breath, realizing that he wasn't breathing in that dimension, as there were no air to breathe.
"The Nebula Chain is known to have the greatest Defense instinct among all the Cloths." said the ghost's echoing voice. 'Were it not for her, you would have the same fate as the Cygnus Saint."
"Where did you send him?" Shun asked, panting.
The ghostly voice stated flatly.
"To another dimension."
"What does that even mean?" Shun asked.
"Your little mind could never understand." said the ghost. "He is trapped forever and will wander aimlessly through the vast universe until the end of time."
Shun, in despair, thought of Hyoga lost in a place that he didn't even understand what it could be.
"Don't worry, you'll be joining him in the Another Dimension as well."
Again the golden cosmos around that terrible silhouette; the eyes of his helmet tore the fabric of reality and he revealed the opening to that other dimension once more. A cosmic immensity, galaxies, stellar clouds and distant comets.
Shun's chains again halted their flight to infinity, still trapped and stubborn around two columns. Shun held them as tightly as he could, because this time his body was pulled violently into that infinite. He then heard that low, stagnant voice echo throughout the universe he was in.
"Your Chain is still trying to help you. But not for long."
Shun could only feel a sway in his cosmos until his right arm simply gave way, as if the chain had burst its length. He held only the left hand that spun him in the universe, and he could see, with horror, that the Gemini Saint, already far below in the temple, had his chain in his hands, ready to break it and finally end it with his life. He could do nothing.
The Nebula Chain finally cracked and the despair in her chest broke out in a scream that reverberated off the walls of that dimension. For Saori. For Seiya.
For Ikki.
The dimension exploded like a stained glass window and he fell back into the House of Gemini.
Perhaps it had been the unique strength of the scream that Shun exclaimed in that infinite, translating the immense despair he felt. Whatever it was, he was free from that dimension.
"Ikki..." muttered Shun, still with his eyes closed.
For there was no doubt that the Andromeda Saint had felt his sister's cosmos, however distant, however subtle and ephemeral. He opened his eyes and saw the floor of the House of Gemini.
But much more than that, when he found himself and looked up, he clearly saw the exit from the House of Gemini; the dreadful figure in the Gold Cloth was gone and his face was welcomed by a breeze outside, where he could clearly see the wide stairs ascending ahead to the next temple.
He took a few steps forward and then hesitated.
Hyoga.
What, after all, was going to happen to him?
His hesitation was his undoing, as the exit from the House of Gemini closed with a spectacle of falling columns that piled up in front of him, throwing the temple back into immense darkness. Illuminated by the only spotlight that was the Gemini Saint's golden cosmos behind him.
His deep laugh echoed through the house.
"The Gemini temple has closed again. You missed your chance to get free."
With horror, inside the helmet of Gemini, instead of a face hidden in the shadows, Shun saw how the infinity of galaxies swayed in that face, arrays of different colors, as if looking into a kaleidoscope.
"Hyoga is still trapped in another dimension." Shun spoke firmly. "I'm not leaving without him. When I get out of here, he'll be with me."
"Fool. There is no salvation anymore for the Cygnus Saint." said the deep voice. "But you shall be together once more."
"In another dimension, I imagine." Shun said, burning his cosmos ardently.
"Exactly." replied the voice.
The Gemini Saint again walked towards him.
Shun tightened his grip on his Chains and closed his eyes, concentrating on his cosmos. The Seventh Sense. He needed to touch the Seventh Sense if he wanted to have any chance there. He didn't need to be fast. Or even strong. He knew exactly what he needed. But in order to do that, his cosmos would have to ascend bright. Shine like Seiya had done against Taurus Aldebaran. As his sister had done, god knows from where.
"Another Dimension!"
The deep voice announced his technique tearing the fabric of reality; with his eyes closed, Shun noticed how his feet, once firm in the temple, simply lost their support to float in that cosmic spectacle he had seen before.
Because it was exactly what he wanted. Around him Shun contemplated precisely the origin of the cosmos, where they all came from and where they all belonged. His eyes closed and he pulled his Chains close to him; the two split ends of the chain attracted the triangular and circular spikes that lay lost in the House of Gemini, thanks to the terrible cosmo of the Gemini Saint.
His chains were whole again and covered his body with a spinning matrix holding him upright and interrupting the slow flight to infinity.
"It won't do any good, Andromeda. I will destroy your Chains as many times necessary." said the voice, echoing throughout the universe he was in.
"Not this time, Gemini." Shun said. "This time I'm exactly where I need to be. The Nebula Chains are part of me."
The two Nebula Chains were different from each other; in his left hand, Shun had the spherical-tipped Chain, which had a greater protective instinct than any other Cloth. But in his right hand, Shun wielded a Chain with a triangular tip, which was able to find his enemy wherever he was hiding.
"I feel part of everything thanks to your Another Dimension, Gemini!" Shun said, and his Cosmo kept growing. "And if the Another Dimension is part of everything there is, it can also take to anywhere I want."
Shun glowed in infinity. In his chest, whenever he struggled, an enormous anguish would set in, for he didn't like hurting other people; whenever he could, he resisted the use of his might. He defended himself as he could until his enemies gave up if possible. But there were times when he needed to fight. And that was one, as his friends and Saori were in danger. He would have to fight.
"If you're not here, you must be somewhere. I'll find you wherever you are, Gemini! Go! Thunder Wave!"
The Triangular Chain was hurled upwards by Shun and, like a living serpent, broke the Another Dimension by hitting a nearby star.
"Even if you hide tens of thousands of light years away, thanks to the Another Dimension, my Nebula Chain will find you!"
The Chain broke like lightning through impossible dimensions, where the colors and shapes didn't even meet the same physics as Shun's world. Colors, shapes, planets, galaxies, numbers and sensations, the Chain crossed the kaleidoscope of the universe, ripping all distances to infinity.
Finally Shun realized that the Another Dimension gave way and his body was once again firmly in the House of Gemini. In front of him, still the ghostly figure of the Gemini Saint, absolutely still as the first time they had met him.
Shun stared at that dark and empty face, which now also reflected his universe of dimensions; when at last the Andromeda Saint saw how an ephemeral glow began to rise from that face.
The Triangular Chain erupted from inside the head of that helmet to return to Shun's hand. And when the Andromeda Saint again touched his Chain that had returned from other dimensions, that entire illusion burst into light around him, clearing the darkness and revealing again the temple's exit.
In his hands, Shun had attached to his triangular Chain a necklace of ecclesiastical beads with precious stones. He knew he had reached the person responsible, for the labyrinth had disappeared and there was now a rosary attached to its chain; perhaps it was the key to discovering who was behind the Gemini Saint and beside that terrible force that had installed itself in the Sanctuary.
On the ground, the Gold Cloth of Gemini was thrown and its parts scattered, with no body left to wear; Shun clearly saw how a strong Cosmo manifested within her and finally the parts came together into a beautiful sitting totem with two faces, one on each side. It was the Gemini Cloth.
He had won, but he was thinking about Hyoga. Had the Cygnus Saint escaped his fate?
Seiya and Shiryu finally arrived at the next temple: the House of Cancer. The temple exudes a nauseating sensation and a metallic smell from its darkened entrance; the white stone façade has columns supporting its lower ceiling, if compared with the other temples.
"Seiya, I'll take care of the House of Cancer."
"I can't agree with that, Shiryu! If this Saint is the one who really..."
"You need to head to the House of Leo. We don't know how long we've been inside the House of Gemini and Saori needs our help." she said.
Seiya hesitated for a moment, annoyed, but nodded.
"Damn it, Shiryu. OK."
So they entered that temple which, without a doubt, was the darkest; much more than the Gemini labyrinth. They saw before their steps their own shadows lengthen, illuminated by the daylight that came into that temple. Very rarely were torches lit from a strange fire, for they were blue and glowed like wisps in the darkness.
They also didn't seem to give off any heat and, if possible, Seiya thought how absurd those blue flames were actually cold. The dim and bluish environment was infested with an almost transparent mist, which gave the place a dismal and disconcerting appearance.
Shiryu could also feel the cold of the house and the feeling of death inside that temple. It was like being in a cemetery.
If the Gemini Saint gave them the impression of being a ghost, that temple was the one that gave them an enormous sense of death. How they had never felt. Shiryu then stopped where he was, as his foot seemed to step on something strangely soft in relief on the ground.
"Seiya, wait a second."
"What is it, Shiryu?" Seiya asked looking at her.
"I feel like I've stepped on something weird."
When Seiya looked at Shiryu's feet, he saw something terrifying. It was a face that emerged from the stone; there was no rest of the body anywhere. Just the face, like a mask; the eyes, the forehead, the huge nose, the mouth open as if paralyzed in the middle of a scream.
"It's a face!" exclaimed Seiya, in terror. "A face. By Athena, it's a human face, Shiryu!"
"A face? What do you mean, Seiya?"
"There's a human face on the floor. And it's not just one. Now that I can see it better, the floor is covered in faces nailed to the ground!" Seiya's voice was broken and desperate.
His eyes, however, noticed that the faces didn't just emerge from the floor, but from the columns, from the walls and also from the low ceiling of that hideous temple. And, with amazement, Seiya told all his findings to his friend Shiryu while he kept discovering more and more scattered faces.
"They are laughing, Shiryu. The faces are laughing!" Seiya despaired when he heard a laugh inside the House of Cancer.
But Shiryu had heard that laugh before.
Walking through the mist, the Cancer Saint did not even manifest her cosmos, so that it would appear like an apparition of death and not a beam of hope in the light.
"Are you surprised?" she asked.
"Death Mask!" Shiryu guessed.
Seiya remembered what his friend had said earlier: for that was the name responsible for Xiaoling's death. For the attack on Palaestra and, in a sense, for the trap they had fallen into.
"What an honor to have you in my temple, Dragon." said that seductive and terrible voice.
"Shiryu, is this the woman you said that killed Xiaoling?" Seiya asked through gritted teeth.
"Yes. She is the Gold Saint who attacked the Old Master and Palaestra. And that's not all, Seiya. She also knows who is behind this evil installed in the Sanctuary and, even so, chose to be by his side."
"I'm not by anyone's side, if not the Camerlengo Master Arles." she said pompously. "I can't speak about this girl I'm accused of killing, but as you can see, my victims are many."
"The Camerlengo is at Athena's side!" scolded Seiya.
"No doubt about that." she agreed mockingly.
"How can you be a Gold Saint?" Shiryu asked, while accusing her. "You tarnish the Sanctuary's reputation!"
"And you talk too much." she said impatiently. "Soon the faces of traitors like you will also be decorations in this temple."
She placed herself in front of them and the blue flames took on different colors, lighting their faces in various hues.
"These faces are the faces of those who died at my hands." she said proudly. "Their souls could not find peace after death and were trapped here in the House of Cancer. Some of them express pain, others sadness and many of them a deep despair, because even after death they still suffer."
"What the hell." scolded the two friends.
"These are the proofs of my strength and the medals of my victories." she said in a hard voice. "And that's why they call me Death Mask."
Her stunning body was imposing with that Gold Cloth. The flames changing the colors of the temple reflected off the metal of her Cloth; her silver hair was short but full.
"How can you brag about something like that?" Shiryu said.
They both heard a low cry, and Seiya saw, among so many faces, also the small faces of children.
"By Athena, Shiryu. There are also children scattered in this House!"
"Even children? Damn you, Death Mask!"
"I don't know how this could have happened." she confessed, with a smile on her face. "They must have died by mistake while I was fighting my enemies. A small sacrifice to eliminate the forces of evil that threaten peace in this world."
"A small sacrifice?" revolted Seiya.
"For someone taken by the taste of death and fighting by the side of evil, how can you say that you fight for peace?"
"Look, child." she began seriously. "When wars rage between men, it is impossible to prevent bombs from falling where there are old people or children. The same can be said about a Gold Saint power."
"Shut up!" shouted Shiryu. "Saints should fight for justice!"
"You are very naive." said the Gold Saint.
Death Mask then stepped on a face near her, much to Seiya's revolt, who immediately armed himself, but was stopped by Shiryu.
"Wait, Seiya." she said, pulling her friend. "Death Mask, you don't deserve to wear a Gold Cloth. No, actually you don't deserve to wear any Athena Cloth. And, by the name of Goddess Athena, for Xiaoling, I will defeat you with all my strength!"
"Shiryu, I also want to kick her ass!" said Seiya, ascending his cosmos as well.
"Seiya, we agreed that you would move on. To the Leo Temple!"
"But Shiryu..." he insisted.
"There's no time to waste, Seiya!" she said. "We still have eight temples to cross and save Athena. We must not forget our mission."
Seiya took a deep breath, but he had in his eyes the fury of someone who wanted to avenge Xiaoling. Deep down, he knew that Shiryu was right: if he stayed there to fight, Saori could die if they didn't reach the top of that mountain in time.
"Damn it, Shiryu." he finally agreed. "I'm counting on you. You beter give her what she deserves. We'll meet again up the mountain."
"Yes, Seiya!"
Death Mask took her foot off the face on the floor and looked deep into Seiya's eyes; the boy broke away from the two, on guard, and then broke into a run down the corridor that continued ahead. The Cancer Gold Saint did not show any reaction. And then she smiled.
"Little does he know he's going to die in the House of Leo," she said.
"What did you say?" Shiryu asked, trying to understand properly what he had heard.
"Don't worry about him, Dragon. Let's finish our fight that started at Five Old Peaks. This time, Aries Master Mu will not be here to save you."
The Death Mask Cosmos finally revealed itself in that funereal temple and Shiryu felt its nauseating smell slowly sucking her body; he remembered that terrible technique that could suck souls into the Constellation of Cancer. His eyes again gleamed as he saw in her dark blindness a crack open to reveal the threshold to hell. Slowly revealing hills of eternal night within.
It was good, as Shiryu was sure where her opponent was. But her body was totally paralyzed when Death Mask's voice rang loudly in the house.
"Strati di Spirito!"
She remembered to be slowly sucked against her will, but that cosmic activation of Death Mask completely paralyzed her body and sucked it violently into that infernal threshold.
Slowly, Shiryu moved her hands and realized she was in a rocky place, a smell of death all around her, the cold hitting her face and the sound of whining all around.
Then she opened her eyes.
And she saw before her the dark stone on which she was lying, before her many white flames like wisps, a dark and undefined sky. She saw it all with amazement.
For she saw again.
She looked at her hands and saw them again.
She could see again.
"Am I dreaming?" she asked herself, not knowing where she was.
She got up, walked a few steps and felt her body a little lighter. Her sight sometimes blurred, sometimes made her lose her balance, as if she needed to get used to that lost sense again.
She saw in the distance and to her right, high on the crest of a rise, thousands of shadows marching. She tried to wipe her eyes to make sure of what she saw and had no doubts as she approached: it was a line of shadows that walked at a distance out of sight. A row of specters. Of downcast people who marched muttering wails, but in that amount they made the whole hill extremely morbid.
"What is this?"
Shiryu started following them wherever they were going. There were many figures, in the most diverse forms: tall and short, fat and thin, men and women, adults and children marched in silence and sadness.
"Hey!" she tried, shouting down the hill. "What place is this? Where are you going?"
But no one answered her. They didn't even look at her.
Closer, however, Shiryu saw something terrible.
Among so many different people marching in silence, she recognized someone walking in wails: Hyoga, the Cygnus Saint.
ABOUT THE CHAPTER: Yes, the Death Mask is Italian and will speak with an accent and its techniques will be in Italian. By the way, I searched the internet how our Italian friends localized the Death Mask moves to use here. I like it. =) You know what, I also used Sofia Loren as the basis for the description of the Gold Saint. Nice, right?
NEXT CHAPTER: CAST YOUR FEELINGS ASIDE
Sent to Another Dimension, after wandering for countless times, Hyoga finally arrives at his destination to find someone he loves again.