Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.
Aozaki and Tohsaka – The Serpent's Feathers
Chapter 9
The crossing of the surrounding jungle was made without incident. Neither bandits nor predators crossed the party's path, only rough ground and wild jungle obstructing their course. The rustling of plant life from their passing and of birds twittering and crying above mingled into a backdrop of natural sound to their journey, and in what seemed like no time at all, they reached the broken gates of the ruined city they had earlier witnessed in the sunrise.
The doors were long gone, no doubt having been made of wood and rotted away millennia ago soon after the city had been abandoned to the jungle. The walls to either side were tumbled down and broken, only mossy stones and an overgrown base running into the distance to vanish into the depths of jungle hinting at what once was.
The posts of the gate still stood tall and strong, though. They were cracked and pitted, strung with creeping vines and covered in moss and lichen, but they still stood for all that. The vibrant colors of the statuary were gone, but the sculptured forms of warriors as though standing on guard and shouting about the coming of visitors were still visible through the marks of time and the elements.
"Eagle Warriors…?" Benedek ventured at the sight. "Or Jaguar Knights?"
"Neither," Touko firmly said. "Both of those divinely-ordained orders were of the Aztec warrior caste. These ruins though, are of the Maya, if not of the mysterious civilization which built Teotihuacan."
"Hmm…they look similar though."
"Similar…" Touko said. "…but not the same…come on. Let's keep moving."
Benedek grunted his agreement, and then the party passed through the gates and entered the city's remains. Immediately, the difference with the jungle outside became apparent, starkly so.
In place of rough and muddy ground, the way from the gates and across the city was paved with stone flags. They were cracked and pitted, covered with moss and lichen, and here and there grass poked through between the flags or bulging roots heaved up or broke through the stone entirely, but it was quite the change from the outside.
Stone pillars stood at regular intervals along either side, faded hieroglyphs barely visible on their sides. Here and there pillars lay fallen on the ground, a few in one piece, others reduced to broken fragments. Most stood enduring and proud though, testaments to the forgotten achievements of the ancients.
"Huh…" Sakura murmured in realization as they proceeded along the road.
"What is it, Sakura?" Touko asked her apprentice.
"I just noticed that these pillars only line this road." Sakura said. "The roads branching out from this one don't have pillars at their side."
"They're probably markers, then." Touko said with a nod. "Something to highlight the importance of this road…and probably a few others. I wouldn't be surprised if there were three others apart from this one, branching out in the four cardinal directions from the pyramid at the heart of the city."
"I see."
Touko nodded at her apprentice's remark, and they continued in silence. The ruined city was quiet, but for the gentle if not mournful murmur of the wind blowing through the ruins. Broken and empty homes could be seen as far as the eye could reach, not a single one having a roof, and all sporting at least one tumbled down wall, exposing their desolate insides.
It was a sad sight, even – or especially – for an archaeologist like Touko. Even if it amounted to little more than fragmentary materials and semi-substantiated speculation, she knew a little of the glory that once was.
Long ago, this place had been home to tens if not hundreds of thousands of people. It had had been filled with life, rich and vibrant, artists and sages recording and passing on the legacy of centuries if not millennia, warriors practicing the arts of war and battle learned from wise and skilled masters, priests and mages studying the mysteries passed down from the gods themselves, and ordinary men, women, and children, living their lives in peace and prosperity.
When did it end?
How did it end?
Was it quick and brutal, a civilization that was old when Greece was young vanishing in the blink of an eye?
Or was it slow and cruel, a civilization rivaling glorious Babylonia and cruel Assyria crumbling and rotting away from the wearing of time?
So many questions, but so little answers. Only the warm and moist wind from over the jungle canopy was left, mournfully blowing through empty houses which had been home to families, down crumbling streets and desolate squares once filled with throngs of people.
It was as though the wind remembered, and mourned what now only belonged to the past, lost in the sands of time.
If so…
…if the wind truly did mourn the passing of this civilization…
…how tragically fitting it would be…
…for Quetzalcoatl had been the god of the wind…
…just as he had been the father of civilization.
The hours passed. The Sun rose higher into the sky, climbing to its zenith at noon. The wind slackened and died, and the distant sounds of the jungle faded away into nothing.
There was only silence, but for the crunching of their boots against the stone, until at last the party stood before the pyramid at the heart of the city. Silence…an ominous silence…as though everything around them waited with baited breath, for a judge to measure the scales and pass judgment on those which stood before him.
"Sergeant," Touko said, her voice soft. "You and your men stay here. Only me, Sakura, and Benedek will go inside."
Nores nodded before looking into the pitch darkness at the heart of the pyramid, through the doorway at its base. "…I'd rather you didn't, lady." He said after a long moment. "Some things are better left forgotten…but that's just my personal opinion."
"…and your professional opinion?" Touko asked after another moment.
The old and grizzled mercenary met her eyes. "Well," he said. "You have to do what you have to do, otherwise all this effort would have been for nothing."
"Hmm…so I – we – do."
"God go with you, lady." Nores said while checking his G3 Battle Rifle. "We'll stay here and watch your back."
"Thanks, sergeant." Touko said with a nod, before taking a deep breath, and taking the first step towards the pyramid's heart. "For all the good it'll do…"
Nores looked on in silence, as the three magi followed their leader into the darkness.
Sound gently echoed as the three magi entered and pressed forward into the antechamber that led into the depths of the pyramid. It was cool and moist inside, in contrast to the heat and humidity outside. As their eyes adjusted, they took in the stone-lined architecture of the pyramid's interior, and noted the surprisingly well-preserved frescoes and murals which could be seen even through the marks of time and the elements.
"Huh…" Sakura observed, as her eyes trailed over the walls. "…these paintings and carvings…I think they're of the city around us."
"Yes…I think so too…" Touko agreed, her eyes on the ceiling, depicting the Sun cresting over the pyramid as though at noon.
"…hmm…I'm not sure if I should mention this…but…look at the floor…" Benedek said.
Curious, the two other magi did as asked…
…and then promptly did a double-take. There, in the middle of the floor, was a mural of a mirror, above which towered a pale-skinned figure in black armor with blue contours and ornamentation in gold and red.
"Tezcatlipoca…" Touko murmured, though she trailed off at the ominous sight of three figures depicted as though staring into the mirror, under the baleful gaze and covetous reach of the Smoking Mirror.
Then as if triggered by the thought, the pyramid around them heaved, throwing all three magi from their feet. Then with a groan of burdened stone, a door slammed down behind them, cutting them off from the light of the Sun and the safety of the outside.
Stone gave way, and both Touko and Sakura shouted in alarm as they fell and slid down ramps opening down and below them, which then heaved shut. "…Touko…Sakura…!" Benedek shouted into the darkness. "…damn it!"
There was fumbling and rustling…
…and then light, as Benedek pulled out and lit an electric torch. Flashing it around him, he saw no sign of either of his companions, while behind him a solid slab of stone blocked the entrance, an ominous mural of what seemed to be a dragon of some kind glaring at him in warning.
"…I could probably blow through the door if need be…" Benedek thought to himself. "…but as tempting to do just that is…I might just bring the whole pyramid down if I did. Or even if I did get out…Touko might see it as leaving her to die…only she won't…and she'd be pissed…very pissed…best not to risk it either way…"
Sighing to himself, Benedek turned, and spotting the corridor at the far end of the antechamber, only briefly hesitated before heading just that way.
This might just be part of the trials of the Mirror of the Sun, if not its beginning.
If so…if either of those two make it through their trials…then we'd meet at the mirror…
…well…Touko would no doubt pass her trials…
…as for that that kid…and myself…God help us…
Grunts and shouts of pain erupted and echoed through the dark, and then Sakura was tumbling – rolling – out of a ramp which had lowered itself open in the ceiling. Then a cry of pain and the sound of a Human body falling hard on the stone floor filled the darkness, followed by stone heaving as the ramp lifted itself shut.
Silence…
…silence in the dark…
…and then coughing and groaning, along with the rustling of cloth, as Sakura rolled herself into a crouching position, heaving as she caught her breath.
And then she blinked, as pale and eerie light pushed the darkness back ever so slightly. Witch light…corpse light…
…yes, that's what it was, and it set Sakura's nerves on edge.
Then she was gagging, as a foul stench filled the air. "Good gods…" she thought, as she brought up a hand to her nose, and struggled to keep from vomiting then and there. "…it's like…blood…piss…and shit…all mixed and rotting together…"
Struggling to her feet, Sakura began to stagger away, head turning to and fro as she tried to find a way out and to rejoin her fellow magi. Then something wet and heavy fell on her shoulder, and Sakura growled low in her throat.
That better not be what I think it is.
Frustration at what she thought was shit falling from the ceiling turned to confusion and apprehension as…whatever, was on her shoulder began to move, wriggling and squirming. Sakura turned her head…
…and yelled loudly in disgust, springing away while swiping it off her shoulder. It fell against the ground with a wet slap, hissing angrily and in pain. Despite the poor light, it…or what it looked like, was disgustingly clear. It was a…worm, as long as her hand and way thicker than any of her fingers, looking disturbing like a man's genitals with fangs opening up at its head.
Snarling, Sakura reinforced her body before reaching into Imaginary Numbers Space, and pulling out a pocket crossbow, took aim and loosed a bolt. Made from manganese steel and augmented by magical means, the bolt struck with the force of a .50 round, pulverizing both the worm and the stone underneath it.
"Aww, now that was mean." An eerily-familiar voice said with marked disappointment from behind Sakura. "You didn't need to do that. Momo just wanted to say hello and get to know you, you know?"
Sakura whirled, her crossbow already reloading. Between an ancient Chinese design provided by her master, modern materials, and magical augmentation, Sakura's crossbow functioned like a semi-auto, while having the power of a heavy machine gun with every shot. Of course, it came with a price, that of horrendous recoil that not only made it impossible to aim much less loose a bolt without reinforcement, but would shatter her arm if she tried.
Nor did she only have one: even as she turned, she reached into Imaginary Numbers Space with her free hand, and pulling out another pocket crossbow, aimed it into the darkness as well. Reinforcement was such a wonderful thing. Not only did it let her use such powerful, custom mystic codes, it let her dual-wield with lethal accuracy.
"Who's there?" Sakura demanded, eyes narrowed and face set with determination. "Show yourself!"
Laughter echoed in the shadow, and Sakura faltered ever so slightly. Something…something was familiar about that laugh…
…and it sent shivers up her spine.
Then there was the sound of footsteps on stone, bare feet against aged and crumbling rock, a pale-skinned figure stepping naked into the light. Sakura's eyes widened, her mouth opening wordlessly in a gasp of shock and horror, as she recognized the woman standing in front of her.
How could she not?
She saw that face every time she looked in the mirror.
"Don't you recognize me?" the violet-haired and violet-eyed reflection of herself, covered and dripping with pale and translucent slime that caked into its hair, asked in a sing-song voice. "I'm you…what you're supposed to be…your destiny…"
Sakura mouthed the word 'destiny' in horror…
…and then blue eyes narrowed and her mouth slammed shut in gritted fury as she raised her crossbows again…
…but before she could loose her bolts, her twisted and corrupted reflection held out its hand, its face twisted with a grotesque smile. The darkness and the witch light trembled, and then paper-like strips of material shadow edged in ugly red light struck at the speed of thought.
Wrapping around Sakura's wrists, they pulled her arms firmly away, and causing her shots to go wide. She cried out in pain, as…something…burned at her skin, through her flesh…and into her very bones as the shadow lifted her into the air. Then she cried out again, as more shadows bound her ankles together…
…and then she gagged and choked, as a shadow wrapped around her neck. Laughter echoed in the dark yet again.
"Aww, are you in pain?" Sakura's reflection asked, and the shadows tightened, causing Sakura to gag and for the burning of her bones, skin, and flesh to grow even further. "You'll get used to it. Yes, that's what it means to be the inheritor of the Makiri worm and shadow mysteries. Power and knowledge your family could never dream of…you just have to live with endless torture…forever…"
The reflection tilted its head. "Isn't it wonderful?" it asked. "I think it's a great deal, don't you? Your father certainly seemed to think so…and so does grandfather…and my – our – father thought so too…and brother…"
"…shut…up…" Sakura growled out, her body shaking in rage and agony as she fought the burning curse blazing through her body. Magic circuits glowed bright and hot across her body, their fire another dose of pain as though bathing in molten metal, but it was a clean and familiar pain, a reassuring one even, and something that anchored her and allowed her to bring her thoughts into order, and to think things through rationally.
…a curse…and some kind of mystery rooted in a concept I can't quite figure out…but…they're all…
…yes!
Imaginary Numbers…they're connected to each other through Imaginary Numbers! How and why I don't know…but if I can just…disrupt…reverse the polarity…then…!
Sakura's magic circuits flared bright…
…and then the shadows dissolved, turning into smoke that quickly faded away. Landing on her feet, Sakura took aim at her stunned and shocked reflection, and loosed her bolts.
They punched into its chest, causing the reflection to go flying and land in a sprawl on the ground. "I don't have a father, or a grandfather, or a brother, or whatever twisted family exists in the fantasies you've cooked up in your illusionary head." Sakura spat. "And I sure as hell don't have a destiny…at least, a destiny I don't choose and make for myself!"
In the distance, the reflection pushed itself off the ground, and then pulling out the bolts clambered to its feet before staring at Sakura with an air of weary resignation. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this." It said with a sigh. "I guess we really are the kind that needs the lesson to be beaten into us."
Sakura scoffed, before returning her crossbows into Imaginary Numbers Space. "And what lesson is that?" she asked, as she pulled out a full-sized crossbow.
The reflection tilted its head. "You cannot escape your destiny," it answered. "Sakura Matou."
Sakura was silent…
…and in one smooth motion, took aim, and loosed a volley of bolts.
The sound of boots against stone echoed in the dark corridor, the torch's light swinging slowly to and fro as Benedek regularly swept it back and forth to illuminate his way. There were no more frescoes or murals on the floor or ceiling, though there still were on the walls. Nothing particularly ominous, just depictions of plants – flowering shrubs or bushes from the look of things – in ceramic pots spaced with regular intervals.
A T-junction loomed ahead, and Benedek came to a halt. He swung his torch around, trying to find any sign to indicate where he should go, but there was nothing. Only more murals of plants, not just potted ones this time, but a towering fruit tree of some kind at the junction itself.
Childish laughter tinkled in the dark, and Benedek whirled to his left, shining his torch down the corridor. He briefly caught the flash of white cloth as something – someone – small and diminutive turned and fled down the corridor.
"Wait, you!" Benedek shouted, running down the corridor and drawing his Azoth Dagger with his free hand. Magic circuits came to life…
…and then he staggered, bumping into and nearly falling over a desk. Built high, wide, and strong, the hardwood furniture bearing the ornamentation and scrollwork of a master craftsman's work.
Benedek gaped, looking and staggering around himself in surprise and shock. He knew this place.
Whether it was the desk and chair…
A young boy sat with his father, poring over centuries-old texts and scrolls.
…the paintings, portraits, and pictures on the wall, the oldest oils from the Enlightenment if not earlier, mingling with watercolors from the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] Century, and black-and-whites and colored pictures from the 20th Century…
The boy huddled in a corner, hearing the angry shouts of a woman in the distance, the placating words of a man, and his name, spoken over and over again.
…even the thick carpet, made by Persian weavers in the Middle Ages…
…blood soaked deep into the carpet, seeping through and staining the marble beneath from the corpse lying lifeless on the ground. The door banged open, allowing an elderly woman in a rich gown of violet brocade and black lace to enter. She saw her husband lie dead on the ground, and a young man standing over him.
She screamed in rage and loss, and leapt forward with a poniard in hand, raised to strike at her husband's murderer.
Benedek looked at himself, gaping further at the frock coat and tailored trousers he wore, rich and serviceable brown trimmed in gold, with a white cravat pinned at his collar by a silver and diamond brooch. And then he heard.
"Benedek, where are you?" a woman called through an open window, a gentle spring breeze blowing through and carrying with it the faint smell of flowers in spring.
He knew that voice.
"Gretchen…" Benedek murmured, walking slowly and numbly towards the window.
She sat there, under a trellis of white-finished wood, trailing with carefully-pruned vines blooming with blushing flowers, tending to a tea set even as a pair of children played with the flowers around the trellis. They saw him then, and waved happily at him.
"Daddy! Daddy!" they shouted, even as the woman turned and gave him a smile.
Benedek smiled back, stepping away from the window, towards the door and across the house to the garden, to join his family…
…and then he blinked, reaching down to his waist, and the heavy weight there. Slowly, his hand wrapped around the leather-bound hilt, and pulled it from its sheath.
Twelve-inches of steel, forged not in an industrial steel mill but in a blacksmith's shop, magic woven into the metal from the moment work began. Benedek stared at himself, reflected in the metal of the blade, and took in the soaring eagle that formed the crossguard, and the sharply-cut opal at the pommel.
Benedek stared coldly at his stepmother as she screamed and ran at him as he stood over his father's corpse. And then raising a hand, unleashed his magic without mercy.
"What a waste…" Benedek murmured while closing his eyes, and gripping his Azoth Dagger tightly stabbed down hard.
Pain erupted and blood spilled down to the ground below, and then Benedek opened his eyes. He stood in the middle of a circular room, his torch lying abandoned and broken on the ground next to his feet.
Stone heaved and the entrance behind him closed shut, a mural of a warrior brandishing an obsidian-bladed spear visible on the stone. Around him, the walls of the room showed jaguars pacing as though circling their prey, and then stone heaved once more, an exit opening on the far side of the room.
Sniffing at the sight, Benedek pulled his Azoth Dagger out of his left hand with a hiss of pain. Then hurrying forward and through the exit, he pulled his kerchief out and began wrapping it around his hand.
Monster…!
Abomination…!
You're not welcome here!
You're no Human!
Touko sighed at the voices whispering in the dark around and about her. "Just because my body isn't Human anymore, it doesn't mean I've stopped being Human." She remarked. Strangely enough, the half-hearted self-justification triggered a moment of self-reflection on the Grand Magus' part. "…I think."
Today is your reckoning.
Touko groaned. "…this is going to suck I can already tell." She lamented.
Let us show you what you will become.
"Is this really necessary?"
We will show you.
"I don't think…"
And you will die.
"That's…"
Touko reeled then, at the sheer power filling the room. Her magic circuits burned hot and bright, her body gasping and staggering as micro-seizures erupted in a symptomatic response to her mysteries struggling to stay real in the face of a greater mystery around her. At the same time, the demon bound within her raged and strained at its bonds as they buckled from without.
And then she saw and heard.
Leading an army to attack the Clock Tower. A throne under a burning sky. Hurting Alice and Sakura. Dueling Aoko. Losing the duel, and being burned and dismembered as the Fifth cast her out. Alice and Sakura dead. A ghastly king seated on the throne. Entire worlds reduced to ash. Humanity wiped out across time and space.
You are the greatest magus to ever walk the worlds, beyond the predictions of all but myself.
So be honored, and bear witness, as all becomes one.
She saw herself then, and not herself, seated on a throne under a sky lit with the fires of Humanity's funeral pyre.
"What the hell?"
See what you will become?
See why you must die?
Touko narrowed her eyes, and then fed prana into them. Irises glowed as both of her two sets of Mystic Eyes of Enchantment came to life, and the voices screamed as Touko bound them under a virtually-infinite set of bindings.
"I've got no idea what's going through your heads," Touko said. "Assuming you've got a head or more, that is. And I certainly don't have any idea where and how I'll get or do anything you've shown me."
Touko paused and tilted her head. "That said," she continued. "While I wouldn't care if someone burned that cesspool called the Clock Tower down, I've got better things to do than be the one to do that. Alice and Sakura…okay, that one is…troubling, but if they ever stab me in the back…well, they know what's coming to them. As for the rest…"
Touko paused and sniffed, before glaring defiantly into the dark. "I've got no time to play with your fantasies or whatnot, Tezcatlipoca." She spat, and the air trembled as the lingering emanations of a dead god recoiled in shock and rage. "I've got other and better things to do, so release me already!"
A hiss like that of an enraged snake filled the dark, followed by a looming and overwhelming sense of danger. Touko grit her teeth, ready to face the coming wrath…
…and was nearly bowled over as a powerful wind blew cold across the room. Angry, ghostly shouting could be heard as though from an infinite distance, the roaring of a god denied…
…and then laughter. Golden, shimmering laughter, sweet and warm like the summer, moments before a door opened on the far side of the room. Ghostly fingers pressed down on a shoulder, and Touko turned her head sharply, noticing ever so briefly that she wondered if it was just her imagination, a scantily-clad blonde woman with eyes the color of the jungle, smiling reassuringly and encouragingly at her.
And then Touko stood alone in a room with murals of the Tzitzimitl feasting on the blood and flesh of fallen warriors. Sniffing at the farce of a trial she'd been forced to face, Touko strode towards and through the exit, which slammed shut behind her, the image of Tezcatlipoca upon it shattered as though struck by a powerful blow.
At the sight, a woman's laugh echoed ever so briefly in the empty room, and then was gone.
A/N
Tzitzimitl, star goddesses considered to be…evil, by the Mesoamericans. Strangely enough, they're also fertility goddesses, and are prayed to by women for protection during childbirth.
So, what'd you think about the Trials of the Sun? Or Quetzalcoatl's little cameo? Personally, I haven't had this much fun writing since Ayame's Phantasmogoria.
