"Beware the Eastern Sun"
Chapter 12
"...and I swear to uphold equality and justice throughout
the lands; to defend the freedoms of life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness; to honor the words and laws of the
land; and to forever stand for the principle that all men
are created equal."
-Oath of Allegiance, given by warriors upon making the Passage
Mim, Sora, Joe, Tai, and Izzy sat at
the wooden table outside of the huts that had served as their meeting point for
days now. Izzy was busy doing something on his laptop, and the others were
waiting for him to announce something. Tai had a stick and was idly scribbling
on the table with it. Joe, with his bag set on the table in front of him, was
unmoving and silent. Sora was looking off into the trees, watching the birds
and other small animals frolic in the grass. Mimi had her chin rested on her
folded arms; her thoughts were elsewhere. Finally, Izzy stood at full height
and addressed the group.
"Guys, I think I've cracked the
code," he began, "but I'll need your help. Mimi, Sora, you know this
place well, right?" The two of them nodded. "Good." He took out
a few pieces of paper. "Can you tell me where these locations are? This
one's by the lake." He pointed to the depiction of the moon over the
mountains and fields.
Mimi took the pile and passed a few of
the sheets to Sora. Frowning, she looked at them closely. They were easy to
recognize after she sorted out what represented what. The pictures were mostly
surreal, showing both what was there and what was not there. It took a great
familiarity to be able to put the pieces together. But she had seen the scenes
often enough to recognize them. Glancing at Sora, she caught a look of deep
concentration. She was poring over her own pictures.
"So, what do you think?"
Izzy asked them, hiding his eagerness.
After a few moments of thought, Sora
looked up from her papers. "A little strange, but identifiable." Mimi
nodded in assent.
"Good," Izzy said. "Now
look here." He pointed to the screen of his laptop. On it was a map of the
digital world from the top down. "Can you point to me where each of these
locations are?" There were seven symbols altogether. When Izzy plotted the
location, they made a circle with a point in the center. Izzy smiled.
"Thanks. I can take it from
here." He continued to tap on his laptop at breakneck speed. "See
these? These are the pages I got the symbols from." There was one symbol
per page for the first six symbols, and on each page, the symbol was located on
a different spot. The rest of the page was filled with scattered lines and
curves that made no sense. However, all of the six pages contained the seventh
symbol, the one for the center of the circle. "It's like a puzzle, and
this is the key. Watch." He continued to type. "See. For each of
these pages, I align them such that the symbol overlaps the location on the
map. So all of the pages are like pie pieces around that central point."
They watched as the pieces arranged
themselves and the scattered lines and curves of each page overlapped with the
others. The end result was a circular tablet with six symbols surrounding the
edges and a seventh in the center. Filling the rest of the circle was an
inscription. It was in Latin.
Frowning, Izzy accessed a translator
program he had kept on his laptop. "This is Latin, but it'll only take me
a moment." A pause. "O.K. It reads:
From the stars and the skies, the
fire will fall;
To the stars and the skies, the wolf
will reach.
And thence the heavens and the earth
will meet,
To determine Fate and Destiny.
'Ere the night, the Light will fall,
The shadows grow to engulf the world;
Through the void, the planet spins,
Seven times hence the wheels begin.
The Light and the Dark are two
inseparable;
When shadows cast, the Dark lurks,
But kisses the Light at where they
meet:
The edge, the border of the worlds,
The edge, the shadow's owner.
First is the Sign of the Shadow,
When the wolf will fly the banners of
all.
Behind, his friends, ahead, his foes,
But Destiny watches impassively.
Second is the Sign of Fire;
From the depth of the coldness,
The flames will
rise,
Engulfing all who dare trod near.
Third is the Sign of the Bear;
For in the winter, the bear sleeps
deep;
Waiting, watching, waiting, resting,
Saving for the time to come.
Fourth is the Sign of Time;
The time that was lost will be found.
Returning from the lands afar,
The sojourn ended at last.
Fifth is the Sign of the Sigil;
In the deep of night, the banners
march,
In the deep of might, the brave will
fall;
Reft apart, torn asunder, the piece
once whole will shatter again.
Sixth is the Sign of the Light,
Sixth is the Sign of the Night;
From far and wide, the wheels revolve,
And to the final Fate resolve;
In the heart of darkness here
The Light shall kiss the Darkness
shadows.
Seven Signs for Seven Souls,
One and Last, Fate will tell;
Seven Signs to guide the whole,
To the ancient paths of Destiny."
The group remained silent as they
soaked in the depth of what they were reading. It was a prophecy. A telling
from beyond of fate and future. Herein lay the secret to the coming encounters
of the digital world. Herein lay the key to the future.
Tai and Sora walked through the forest
following a slightly worn trail through the colorful blend of orange, red, and
green of the early autumn. Summer was still in the air, though, with the birds
racing from tree to tree to remind every being of nature that this was so. They
were scolded by the still-sleepy squirrels from their comfortable nestle in a
hollow tree. The human passerbys remained oblivious to the busy schedule of
nature; time was theirs.
As they walked in silence, Tai's
thoughts drifted far and near. On the one hand, there was Kari, his sister and
charge. Where was she in the large, inhospitable digital world? Was she O.K.?
He hated to have her out of her reach, but fate took a turn which he could not
control. He could only hope that Gatomon would be enough protection for her.
On the other hand, there was Sora.
Yes, Sora. It was quite a curious thing, this idea of coming to terms with the
self. Yet Tai had done this, strange as it seemed. Awkwardly, if not
confusedly, he had looked into himself and saw how he really felt about her.
So, at last, the conscious and the subconscious agreed: Yes, there was Sora,
they said. Mine.
Sora let her mind relax. Years of
relative solitude have given her many a chance to think, so she decided to let
her brain have a rest. Having mentally aged years beyond Tai was strange, but
she was still, physically, her. And Tai was ever himself. Or seemed to be.
Perhaps it was this change that she was worried about. How have the years
changed her? Is Tai really the same, or have his experiences in the real
world been as shocking as hers in the digital world? Why were things so
discordant? Everything used to make sense, but now they all just blend into one
large cacophony of sound.
Over the years, she has had much time
to think about herself. With Tai present, her thoughts could not help but dwell
upon him. It is strange what separation does to friends. You never seem to
realize how much it changes you until it actually happens. During her sojourn
with Mimi, she had felt an emptiness in her heart where Tai used to be. She
truly realized how much he meant to her and how much he cared for her.
She stopped in her tracks. Tai
continued for a few steps before stopping and looking back at her. "What's
wrong?" he asked, the tension evident in his voice.
Sora was looking at the sky. Black
birds were taking to the air, forming a circle over some spot ahead in the
forest. Occasionally, a few would dive down, only to return to their circling.
These were no ordinary birds, though. They were scavengers.
Tai followed her line of vision to the
birds in the sky. He lingered for a moment before gesturing to Sora.
"C'mon. Let's go on. It's probably some dead animal."
Sory held her position. Her survival
instincts, honed by many harsh years, were telling her that something was
wrong. There was something there, something abnormal yet somehow familiar. She
started off into the woods. Tai uttered a brief protest, but followed
nonetheless.
She weeded her way through the brush
towards the avian congregation until she reached a large clearing. There were
more birds there on the ground, but not many. They were waiting near two
figures, which must have been killed or injured recently, or else the birds
would not be standing by, trying to verify their death.
When she stepped into the clearing,
with Tai following behind her, some of the birds took flight and the figures
became visible. Sora gasped in horror.
"Kari! Gatomon!"
The two of them rushed onto the field
to where their companions lay unmoving.
Izzy sat at his laptop, looking at the
puzzle that was now complete. Mimi sat beside her, idly whittling a piece of
wood. He felt satisfied, yet not completely. He had solved the mystery of the
code, but that had only raised more questions. Who was responsible for this?
What was this meeting between the Light and the Dark? Were they really
referring to them, the digidestined? His mind raced, but he calmed himself and
let himself enjoy his brief moment of triumph. Yet there was something strange
about the whole thing...
"Izzy?"
Mimi's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Yes?" he responded.
"I was wondering," she
began, her eyes still on the piece of wood before her, "you know how the
prophecy said there were seven symbols?"
"Yes." Izzy nodded.
"How come there is no verse for
the seventh symbol?"
"Hmmm," Izzy rubbed his chin
in thought. "I've thought about that too. It seems strange and
discontinuous, and I can only guess at why. But if I did, I would say
that..."
"Izzy! Mimi!"
The two looked out into the dim
evening light. Tai and Sora were walking towards them, carrying two dark
figures. Mimi and Izzy stood up and took a few steps forward. "Get
Joe!" Tai shouted. When they didn't respond, he added with a sudden
harshness, "Now!" Izzy scrambled to the huts.
Mimi ran over to a nearby well and drew
a bucket of water as Joe came out of the hut, looking alert and ready. Tai and
Sora carried their companions to the huts and laid them on the bed. They backed
away as Joe stepped forward. Bravely, he donned a grim look and adjusted his
glasses. His friends needed him. Now was not the time to quail.
Hours later, the four, Mimi, Sora,
Joe, and Izzy, were sitting outside, soaking in the night air. They were
silent, sharing a pitcher of fruit juice between them. Joe was inside giving a
few final treatments to Kari and Gatomon; he no longer needed their help.
They were lucky. It was evident that
Kari and Gatonom had been placed there; there was no blood surrounding them
when Tai and Sora found them. Their wounds were dried and they were not
bleeding, but their flesh was still tender and newly healed. Luckily, none of
them had any infections. The tensest moments came when Joe had to check their
broken bones and set them. There, too, they were lucky-they only had simple
fractures. Now that they were in a stable condition, all that they waited for
was for them to recover so they could tell them what had happened.
Joe emerged from the huts. He was
wiping the sweat off of his brow with a small cloth. Silently, he took a seat
beside them on the soft, damp grass. Silently, Mimi handed him a cup of juice.
Silently, he took a long draught, letting the cool liquid sooth his body.
Taking a deep breath, he leaned back on the grass and stared at the sky.
"She'll be O.K.?" Tai asked
quietly.
"Yeah," Joe responded detachedly.
A pause.
"You know, Joe, I really want to
thank..."
"Don't mention it," Joe
interrupted.
Tai scratched his head.
"I just think you were really
brave. That's all."
Joe looked up at Tai and met his gaze.
In his face he saw a deep respect and admiration that he had never seen before.
The time had come. He had made the passage.
Up above, a star streaked across the
sky.