50 — VOICES OF THE MOUNTAIN
"Shiryu. Shiryu!"
The Dragon Saint woke up from what seemed like a nightmare of many years to find Shun's sweet face above hers. He was trying to bring his friend back to consciousness and was happy to see that she was awake again.
"Is everything okay, Shiryu?"
Shiryu was back in the House of Cancer, the memories of Xiaoling and Death Mask buried, as if she had dreamed. She got to her feet and felt the temple was different.
She also noticed that her eyes had returned to their former blindness; she could not see again and understood that only on the threshold of the Worlds could she see with those wounded eyes.
"I'm fine, Shun." she said.
"Are you sure?" asked the friend. "You're crying."
She hadn't even noticed, but she put a hand to her face and found her blind eyes crying. She hugged Shun tightly.
"I met Xiaoling on the threshold between the Worlds of the Living and the Underworld."
"A threshold?" Shun asked, confused.
"Yes. The Cancer Saint had the ability to send her enemies to the threshold between life and death."
"So Xiaoling really is dead?"
"I don't know." Shiryu commented. "But she choose to stay on the other side. And asked us to protect Athena for her."
"Xiaoling." Shun lamented softly.
Shiryu took a few steps towards the exit and found it strange.
"Tell me, Shun. Can you see if there are faces scattered around the House of Cancer?"
"Faces, Shiryu?" he asked in amazement as he looked around. "I don't see anything. Did you win against the Gold Saint?"
"No. Xiaoling did it." she said, missing her friend.
Shun put his hand on her shoulder to ease her sadness a little, but Shiryu spoke again to her friend.
"I'm also worried about Hyoga, because I saw him on that threshold. Saori as well."
"Hyoga?" worried Shun. "I actually felt his Cosmo exploding ahead."
"Maybe we're really united in some way. Anyway, we must go soon, as there is still a chance to save him."
"Let's go then, Shiryu! Seiya must be waiting for us at the House of Leo!"
They ran together out of the House of Cancer and Shun saw in the fire clock that the Cancer flame had gone out.
Ahead by those stairs, the two climbed broad and clear steps, intersected by few flat points in the mountain, and soon after those the stairs again rose with columns on both sides.
The stairs went up to a plateau where a wonderful temple rose with details and gold filigree on the white stone; an opulent and pristine facade, guarded at the entrance by two wonderful carved marble lions on the edge of a staircase that led to the hollow entrance to the House of Leo.
Inside of it, the Pegasus Saint was hurled against a column of amber stone; the spine broke in half and collapsed beside Seiya's bloodied body.
His Pegasus Cloth had cracks in many places, his face already had a lot of blood running down his forehead, his spleen was slightly cut as was his thighs.
A golden sphere passed through the House of Leo and destroyed another column beside Seiya, revealing there the figure of two huge men, who were watching the battle from hiding.
"Get out of here." said Aioria's heavy voice. "You're not welcome and I don't need to be spied. Go back and tell the Camerlengo that I will finish off the Sanctuary invaders."
The men were much bigger than Aioria, but still hesitated for a moment, but the Gold Saint stepped towards them menacingly.
"If you don't get out of here right away, I'll kill you too, so you'll know whether I'm telling the truth or not. I am Aioria, the protector of the House of Leo."
Seiya saw how the two huge figures left the Lion temple running scared, even though they were twice the size of Aioria.
He looked at the Gold Saint and saw his majesty walk with hard steps towards him.
The Athena Sanctuary was a lost region in Greece that also included a village on the edge of the Aegean Sea, among hills. On the biggest of these great mounts rose the twelve temples of the Houses of the Zodiac, which Seiya and his friends were now trying to climb with great courage to give Saori Kido, the Goddess Athena a second chance.
But there was also a place in this region that was opposite to the zodiac temples. A sacred and forbidden place for everyone in the Sanctuary. Even the Gold Saints were denied access. There was no trail. There was no road. There was no way to reach this sacred mount where a stone spire rises making this place the highest point in the region.
Those who live in the Sanctuary call this elevation the Star Hill.
That was the pinnacle of stone that Marin seems to gaze into the distance at the mouth of an inlet of a nearby mountain, for for the past few weeks she and Moses, the Silver Saint of Cetus, have been climbing valleys and hills to reach that sacred and prohibited place.
"What do you think you will find there, Marin?"
"The answer to this whole mystery, Meko."
"It is forbidden for everyone, including the Saints, to approach Star Hill."
"Are you afraid?"
He snorted with displeasure.
"Maybe you're tired of the climb." she tried.
"Don't make me laugh." he sneered, taking a sip from his canteen. "But I don't think we'll have it easy from now on."
"The Giants." Marin guessed, alone.
"Yes, the descendants of the Gigas guard this region and live in these mountains."
"Tell me, Meko. You are also a descendant of the giants, aren't you?"
He let out a dry laugh.
"Yes, but from far, far away from here. Among the maero giants was that my father was born." he said, closing his eyes and saluting the horizon with an outstretched hand.
"Meko." Marin said, repeating his name.
"Meko Kaire." he spoke beside her and Marin looked at him curiously, as she didn't know his last name. "I don't care that the Sanctuary chose to call me Moses, it seems to make sense to them."
"I prefer Meko." Marin spoke and the Silver Saint smiled beside her.
Marin again looked up at the Star Hill.
"Tell me, Meko Kaire, do you know what the voices of the mountains say?" Marin asked mysteriously, and he smiled briefly.
"Since you kidnapped me for this mission, I haven't had time to talk to the mountains." there was a mocking tone in his voice. "But I don't need the mountains to tell me what we both know. There is a group of traitors who have invaded the Sanctuary and the Twelve Temples of the Zodiac. And your disciple is among them."
She looked at him, but he could see nothing behind that silver mask.
"In that case, we need to hurry."
Marin and Meko jumped out of that inlet and continued down the cliff where they had camped to the foot of the main hill in the region; the next climb was the last, for the hill beyond was exactly the one where the stone spire at the top rose. Marin's destiny.
The hill was extremely bumpy, so in a way the climb wasn't all that complex at first, and skillful as they were, both Marin and Meko soon left an extraordinary height behind. They quickly reached a platform where they could stop to take another sip from the canteen; below, there was already a drop of hundreds of meters where the wind howled with force.
And just as Meko had guessed, it was there that the two were immediately intercepted by three huge figures; even bigger than Meko. They were dressed in huge but crude clothes, with simple protection over their shoulders, breasts, and huge knees. Their voices were terribly hoarse and deep. One of them, who appeared to be the leader of the trio, had a much larger and dislocated eye than the other. Horrible.
"I'm Jaki. Here is Daiko and Rotun. Get out of here. What you do is prohibited."
The three were easily twice the size of Marin.
"Giant brothers." began speaking Meko, who saw himself there as the middle-man. "There is something terribly wrong with the Athena Sanctuary, and we believe the secret is in Star Hill."
"Come back." said Daiko beside Jaki.
"Listen to me, brothers." he tried again. "The war against the Gigas took many victims among your families. We believe it was a terrible mistake and the secret that lies at the top of that hill can help us punish the one responsible for so many deaths."
Marin noticed how Rotun and Daiko looked at each other in confusion, but Jaki remained ahead of them menacingly and unmoved.
"Do you understand what I mean, Jaki?" asked Meko. "There's an evil placed in the Athena Sanctuary that needs to be removed. This evil may have blamed the Clan of Gigas for the Sad Night."
"We're not to blame for that." said Daiko, very gravely.
"Whatever is hidden at the top of this hill can prove it!" finally said Marin, tiny among them all.
Rotun and Daiko again looked at each other and clearly seemed to have let their guard down in the face of that information, but Jaki remained adamant when a laugh sounded too hoarse.
"I don't care for the truth. We will be sworn in as Athena Saint! You won't pass and if you insist, we'll have to kill you right here!"
"Jaki." called one of the giants beside him.
But the huge Jaki, who had hideous eyes, simply pushed Daiko violently, causing the giant to lose his balance on the rock's edge and his body to fall into the abyss as his guttural roar echoed losing volume until his voice was no longer heard. His death was certain from that height.
"Jaki!" Rotun yelled beside him, immediately taking him by the neck in an armlock.
But the leader among them, Jaki, was so because he also had an extraordinary strength, and with skill he got rid of that armlock and buried Rotun's body in the rock of the mountain, hanging him little by little.
The Cosmos of Meko and Marin ascended in silver and the enormous Cetus Saint used his strength to pull Jaki's body to prevent him from killing Rotun by hanging. The fight would now be between him and the three.
His body was hard as stone, Meko noticed when engaging with him.
"Jaki, we always knew we weren't to blame for the Sad Night. What are you doing? Why did you kill brother Daiko?" said Rotun's voice, irascible.
"I will be an Athena Saint!" roared Jaki, heading towards Rotun.
"Who promised you that lie?" Marin asked, tiny among them.
"The Star Hill!" he said.
Closer and again trying to prevent Rotun from being thrown into the abyss as Daiko, Meko saw in Jaki's eyes that the giant was far from his rationality.
"Marin!" he shouted. "Jaki is under some kind of spell."
"You're gonna die!" shouted the giant, hitting a powerful fist in Meko's stomach and throwing his body against the mountain wall.
Jaki then turned to little Marin, who was walking away from him near the edge of the abyss; that platform was too small for a fight of that size between such huge figures. He stomped on the rock and reached out to take Marin's small body in his hands, but he realized too late that no one was there and his clumsy hands slapped against the rock. He lost his balance and the stone at the edge gave way to his enormous weight and Jaki finally fell through the abyss.
His right hand, however, remained steady on the edge, still holding his enormous weight.
"Run. Climb to Star Hill" roared Rotun, heading towards Jaki.
"Marin. You'll have to go up without me."
"But Meko?!"
"There's no time, I can't follow you like this, I'll just slow you down."
"Right. But I will come back."
"I know you will."
Marin then saw how Meko was tending to his wounds, while Rotun actually pulled Jaki back to the surface. And that was why she had little time; she sought out the best indentations and climbed back up that slope that was now much steeper.
She reached an enormous height when she heard, from below, Jaki's howl of rage as he saw that she was already out of reach. She thought of Meko there with two giants, but her mission needed to continue.
In the village next to the Sanctuary, in a place that Seiya had spent so many years of his life, a woman suffered her days and nights in a simple house in the farthest district, near some smaller crops. Shaina woke with a start from the delusions that still plagued her mind, startling a huge boy beside her.
Cassius called her name, worried that she had woken up so scared.
"Cassius. Cassius, where are you?" she asked, still a little lost.
"Miss Shaina, are you awake? Do you feel better?" asked the big worried boy.
"Yes, I'm better." she said, a little hoarsely. "Thanks to you, who took care of me day and night."
"Please don't thank me." He began slowly looking at the purchases he had brought from the village fair.
He took a kettle from the heat and made her some tea he had been waiting to be reduced.
"There's no reason to thank me. Here, Miss Shaina." he offered, and she drank to hydrate herself.
His voice came back to that house.
"It was nothing compared to what you did for me, Miss Shaina. You raised me and trained me and I'm just a fool who will never be a Saint. I always wanted to thank you for that. That's my way of saying I'm grateful for everything you've done for me."
Shaina was clean-faced, unpainted in her eyes. She saw how her huge disciple had sad eyes. Shaina knew her disciple very well and that sad spirit was not part of him.
"What is it, Cassius? What's happening?"
He was silent, taking some apples from a bag he had just bought at the village fair.
"Tell me, Cassius!" she ordered.
Cassius let out a startled sigh and one of the apples fell.
"There is a force prowling the Temple of Eris."
"The Temple of Eris? I sealed the Temple of Eris." Shaina mused, by herself.
"It's not just that." he added, unable to lie to her. "Traitors are invading the Sanctuary."
Shaina startled, asking if she had heard what he had said correctly, but Cassius had to step forward to ask her to lie down or at least not get up, because she was still very weak after being hit by Aioria's fist and tormented by the phoenix demons.
"Tell me, Cassius." she tried. "What do the voices of the mountains say?"
Cassius hesitated, as he knew Shaina was aware of his ancestry; and he knew of the delusions his master had had all these nights. Calling Seiya's name. He knew that if she knew the truth, she would try to help him. Seiya. His biggest rival.
"Something terrible is about to happen." he just said.
"Cassius!" Shaina yelled.
But then, maybe for the first time, Shaina saw how her scream cornered a boy who was twice as big as her. She felt bad that the boy had taken care of her so zealously, and if she was feeling better, it was no doubt thanks to him.
"Sorry, Cassius." she said to him.
And the boy looked at her in such a way as if he didn't even recognize her in that calm, apologetic tone of voice.
"I've been terrible to you all these years."
"No!" he interrupted immediately. "Don't apologize, Master Shaina. The great joy of my life was to have been trained by you. It was an honor that someone from the mountains like me got to be accepted as your disciple."
His training was perhaps the most horrific of all Saints-to-be, as Shaina pushed him against his physical limits so that he could use all the strength that descended from the mountain dwellers. But in Cassius' eyes, though terrible, Shaina was still a beautiful woman. She spoke to him as he lost himself in thought.
"What are you hiding from me, Cassius?"
He closed his eyes as he spoke.
"Seiya and a few other Bronze Saints are the ones who are now trying to get through the Twelve Temples."
"Seiya?!"
"Yes."
"Do they want to try to get through the Twelve Temples?!" she marveled.
Cassius confirmed sadly.
"But how stupid they can be?" Shaina asked herself.
"And that's not all. The foreigner Marin has invaded Star Hill."
"Marin?! Seiya. What is happening?"
She was very confused and tried to get to her feet when Cassius spoke to her again in his deep voice.
"The voices of the mountains say that Seiya is now in the House of Leo ahead of the other Bronze Saints."
For the first time Cassius saw that Shaina fell down, as if relieved, looking at the ceiling of her house.
"At least he's with Aioria." she said, remembering that the Gold Saint had sworn loyalty to that Athena he saw emerge. "Aioria is at their side."
Shaina had seen absolutely everything between her catatonic and half-conscious state, though she couldn't get up or do anything. She remembered perfectly the events of the appearance of the Sagittarius Cloth.
"Why are you so worried about Seiya?" Cassius asked, very sincerely.
"Don't be an idiot, Cassius." she interrupted. "I don't want someone else to kill him. I want to be the one that ships him to the other world. That's why I…" she stammered.
"In that case, I'm sorry to say it won't be possible."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Because the House of Leo will be his tomb."
"The Lion's temple?" she got up again. "What are you saying, Cassius? Aioria swore loyalty to be by their side. With Aioria, they will hardly have problems crossing the Zodiac Temples."
Cassius remained silent.
Shaina got up from the bed and placed him against the wall, knocking a few more apples off the table.
"What do you mean by that, Cassius?" Shaina asked, beside herself. "What do the voices from the mountains say?!"
"Seiya will be killed by Aioria."
"I already said that Aioria swore to be by their side!"
"Aioria is very, very different from the Aioria who brought you back."
She shook him with despair.
"But how so?! Say it at once!"
"They say he's under a spell." said Cassius, mysteriously. "After he left you here he went to the Temple of Athena to talk to the Camerlengo."
"To the Camerlengo Altar?"
"Yes. It is not known if he reached his destination, but it is said that a terrible battle took place against another Gold Saint."
"A fight between two Gold Saints?" Shaina asked, and Cassius nodded.
"It is said by the giants that during this fight against the Gold Saint, Aioria was hit by a terrible technique that changed his mind. Made him a devil. Violent and beside himself."
"By Athena, Seiya will die." Shaina despaired.
Cassius was silent, but Shaina knew him too well.
"Tell me everything, Cassius!"
"No, Miss Shaina, please don't make me."
"Cassius! Don't hide from me!"
He looked at her and his Master Shaina's eyes had tears in them, which he never thought possible.
"The spell in Aioria's mind is terrible. Because he can only return to normal if he kills someone in front of him, just so that he suffers the pain of having killed the one he was supposed to protect."
"Like Aioros' betrayal." Shaina thought aloud.
"Miss Shaina!" Cassius reproached when he heard his Master speaking the name that could not be mentioned in the Sanctuary.
But she left Cassius's bulk and stumbled out of that house, leaning on the bed.
"Where do you think you're going under these conditions, Miss Shaina? Do you really want to go there?" he asked, his chest aching. "Do you really want to put yourself in peril, do you plan on dying to save Seiya's life?"
She did not answer.
Her silence was confirmation of everything Cassius was afraid of.
Shaina turned to leave, but felt terribly dizzy and staggered heavily to the side. Cassius took her in his arms and placed her back on the bed.
"I knew you would, Miss Shaina."
"Cassius." Shaina lamented. "Why I'm feeling so dizzy?"
Her eyes were unable to stay awake and she immediately slept soundly in bed. The tea that Cassius had prepared was not an ordinary tea, because he knew that if his master knew the truth, she would run out of there to try to save him. Every time she spoke his name between delusional dreams, it was like a knife piercing his heart.
"Master Shaina, do you love Seiya so much?" asked Cassius, crying.
He looked out the window where the mountain of the Twelve Temples loomed. He remembered the years of training, the fateful battle in which Seiya had humiliated him in front of his Master Shaina. When he lost his right ear, a wound that still hurt so badly.
Seiya had not only defeated him in battle and taken the Pegasus Cloth, but he had also stolen what he held most dear: Shaina's heart. He had taken everything from him.
He covered her in bed and left the place.
ABOUT THE CHAPTER: Unlike the original story, I didn't make Shiryu regain her sight after the fight in Cancer, as I think it's important for her to remain blind, as I believe that's core within the character. The entire plot of Marin, I took from the Anime episodes that show her invading Starhill, but I expanded it by adding this idea that there are Giants (which I took from Episode G), but as inhabitants or descendants in Rodório, who know the secrets of the Sanctuary and that they live in the rocks of Greece. This is also why Cassius, another descendant of the giants, knows what happens in the Twelve Houses. Here I explain why they call the Cetus Saint as Moses, since his real name is Meko. The idea is that the Sanctuary eliminate the identity of foreigners and give them chosen names (as they did with Shaina).
NEXT CHAPTER: THE GIANT WARRIOR
Cassius decides to interfere in the battle between Seiya and Aioria.