Queen of Souls
By Soul Hunter
Chapter Four
Freedom must have sounded empty for one such as he. Thought forever lost in his prison of darkness, his reveling heart has yet to re-acclimate to this sensation made foreign by hundreds of years of incarceration. He called it unjust, termed it as cruel. His persecutors did not understand his curse for requiring the consumption of human souls. So they shackled him, restrained him in asphyxiating earth. His cries went unheard in the ears of those who claimed to be saving innocents from his devouring greed.
What did he do wrong? What transgression has he committed? He had asked himself then, and was answered with spite. They plotted and collaborated against him, not realizing that he merely wished to thrive, to survive. If his nourishment consisted of human essences, what right have they to oppress him? He was merely a predator, a legitimate one. He had as much right to live as the unsightly Ochu who rope its food with one of its tentacles. He was just exercising his right to take his fair share of nature's bounty. If it happened to be the spirit that animates man, can he truly be blamed for it?
They can always reproduce; they can always bear their offspring in numberless quantities. Whatever that was lost, they can easily replace. Why can't they give him his freedom to survive? Was it because he had to kill one of their own? What if he preyed on lower life forms, would they take fault in that? Most probably not. They were nothing but bigots. Selfish, double-minded dogmatists who cared only of their own. They who hunt other animals for food, hypocritically punishing those who do the same to them.
Cruel humans who knew no charity.
And the accursed arms with which they performed their self-centered iniquities. The clan of Hunters. The wretched coterie of self-aggrandizing men who called themselves protectors. They were the most cruel of the lot. They were the ones who schemed his imprisonment and devised the heartless method for its execution. They were the ones who most deserve his righteous blade of vengeance. Whilst he would only feast on the souls of today's generation, theirs will he make suffer in the most delectable of manners.
He raised his nostrils in the air and sniffed. The family of contemptible adversaries may be gone now. But there remained one. He knew him not, but he was aware of the last Hunter's legacy. His was the fateful knowledge of their eventual confrontation. A preordained event that was as sure to come as the night after this sun-drenched day. And he will face the last son of his tormentors. He will face him and kill him and then savor the aroma of his sweet, adulterated soul.
But that can wait. He had no choice but to make it wait. After the hundred years of his forced slumber, his strength has not achieved its full potential yet. He has yet to return to the peak of his power. He still needed replenishment, and he could think of nothing else but that.
A welcome scent went past his awareness. A nearby town, teeming with her wives and husbands, flourishing with her youthful men and women who frequently come forward to her ministers in marriage. A congregation of the old working their chores and the young playing their games.
A vibrant fruit, ripe for the picking. And again, he felt the hunger.
----------
"And then she told me, ' Do you believe a guy could be totally faithful with his wife or girlfriend even if he's met someone like her?' Like, how in bloody hell am I supposed to answer a question like that?"
"Did you get into trouble again?"
"Not exactly. It's not like I openly flirted with anyone in front of her. But man, you know some things just can't be avoided. I mean, you have to admit, we don't exactly meet someone like her everyday. What's a guy supposed to do? Can't he appreciate beauty like that without all these suspicions?"
"You did get into trouble again. So what did you tell her?"
"I said I have eyes only for her. You know, the usual romantic drivel."
"She believed you?"
"No."
The poker-faced expression of the Estharian guard didn't change at the otherwise amusing quip of his partner. It had been a generally uneventful day for these two sentries assigned to the Intelligence Division office of Camp Tetsuo, a military installation just beyond the former site of the Lunatic Pandora lab *. Normally, ensigns like them assigned to guard duty would abuse their commanding officer's leniency and go for coffee during a similarly drab interval like this. But an earlier announcement about visiting SeeDs from Balamb Garden changed their normal routine. If anything, they wanted to at least catch a glance of those 'hotties from Garden' once more.
They were thankful that their shift officer wasn't present. Or else they would be engaged in another heated debate that almost always ends up with a DA measure, usually in the form of a hundred pushups. He had never been a gracious loser when outnumbered in an argument, they've always thought. And the last thing they wanted to do was express their unabashed sentiments in his presence.
Their muffled conversation was interrupted by a miscellany of footsteps drawing near their position. The first one turned his head slightly toward the approaching group. There were seven of them walking in the pack, with the sentries' eyes initially focusing on the three females. Their attentions alternating between the one clad in sky-blue and the other wearing an undersized, yellow dress, the guards eventually fixed their gaze on the tallest one with the blonde hair wearing a vermilion-colored sleeveless blouse.
"Good God, that bod! That angelic face The bullwhip!"
"Yeah!" His partner chuckled, finally showing some expression. "And that that Oh man! If I didn't know better I'd say she got an operation and had baby's skin grafted all over her."
"Now that's a nice scenario." The second sentry replied sarcastically. "Why don't you just say 'I wish she wore a dress like that short one is wearing' or something like that?"
"I can't. Too much for the imagination."
"Grr You have to be a priest to not fall in love with someone like her."
"A very DEAD priest, if I might add."
"Exactly!" The two finally broke out in muffled chortles.
In moments like this Quistis would normally feel a mixture of amusement and discomfort. Though fully accustomed to hearing people talking about her like this, her familiarization was usually limited to the generally innocuous remarks of her students. Less scrupulous commentaries like this tend to annoy her more than anything else.
But she hardly had any room for feeling anything else right now. It had already been a few hours, yet the perturbation still lingered on her like a persistent virus. She still can't shake off the turmoil brought about by visions revealed to her earlier in the Ragnarok. After that frightening moment when she saw glimpses of what old traditions described as a premonition, she immediately withdrew herself from the team's presence and sought reprieve inside the airlock. And that was were she stayed until they reached their preliminary destination.
Until this moment, she was still fearful of looking at her comrades, wary of seeing headless forms once more. She was even afraid to look into reflective surfaces, dreading that she might just see herself in the same, hair-raising situation. He did say that they were all going to die.
She stopped in mid-thought and wondered: why in the world was she believing his words? Quistis firmed herself while resolving that the unknown intruder was merely demented. He can't possibly be right about his warning. It wasn't like they were all green-horned neophytes and strangers to dangerous situations. Experience-wise, they were already seasoned veterans and acknowledged professionals. They had already defeated a future-based sorceress, a nearly omnipotent demigod and a murderous, calculating zealot. How could anything possibly be worse that what they have already faced?
But at the same time, how could she ignore the premonitions, if they are in fact that? Could she just turn her back to the possibility that her unwanted informer may be right? Maybe it was just an unknown technique of mental conditioning and manipulation. Who knows?
She must know. Deranged or not, the very instincts that governed the soundness of most of her past decisions had been compelling her to give him the benefit of the doubt.
She must know.
"Major Pearson and Captain Laggan have been expecting you." Echoed another sentry's voice that broke the instructor's musing.
She had no choice but to look up to her team and endure the ominous fear gripping her. Quistis was momentarily relieved to see them in their normal states. But how long will this last? And how would she take another instant when the premonition again manifests itself? She hated it, but she had to face the fact that she had never been this scared in her entire life. Her gnawing questions needed answers, and fast.
"Squall," Quistis called out to the commander, "could I uh sit this one out? I'm not exactly feeling up to this" She furthered, apprehensive of his reaction.
"Why? What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing. I I'm just feeling a little bit under the weather."
Squall looked intently at her. It wasn't like Quistis at all to plead for pass in mission briefings like this. If anything, she cared too much about her duties as deputy SeeD commander to assume a rather indifferent attitude. There has to be a very good reason why Quistis was begging out of the client meeting.
On the other hand, Quistis wasn't exactly lying. The recent fits of anxiety had brought about those uncomfortable, swirling sensations in her stomach. And that made her disposition even worse. Here she was, a tragic tiding about to unfold staring her in the face, and at the same time gripped with a consternating condition she had been languishing under for the past two months. This has got to be one of the worst times of her life.
"All right. But don't stray too far, we might need you here."
"Okay" She trailed off before turning about.
"What's with Quisty?" Rinoa echoed. Squall merely looked at her. He didn't want to consider the possibilities but something was telling him that things were not exactly well. Besides, it wasn't only the instructor who had been living under a shadow of fear during the last two months.
----------
The wrath of the earth won't nearly be enough to contain the thirst of the soul devourer. The machinations of the clan of Hunters will serve only as an impediment, but not as the ultimate solution. The cries of a thousand spirits begging for freedom will not rest until the chosen one is found.
In this babe's veins run the blood of heroic ideals that spawn Hunters. He is the perfect heir to the unenviable throne, the complete gladiator to grasp on the destroyer's heels and slow his march of doom. Before him, others have risen to the fires of war and fought the battle of Cimmerian adversity, adhering to the destiny by which his lineage was ordained to fulfill. In his sandals lay the petition of those slain, the piteous voices of spirits facing eternal incineration. In his blade shimmered the cries of vengeance written by a century of endless conflagration. In his heart was instilled the wisdom of sacrifice. Scores before him fell, bearing the same wisdom but taking no heed. Generations after him will die should he choose the same path.
And though the burden may be his to carry, he is not the chosen one. He will never be the chosen one. For the one anointed to exchange life for thousands of stolen lives will not come from the clan of Hunters. The lineage that fell across years will not bear the ultimate redeemer to free the captive souls.
But despite this, his is the consecration of the holy task. On his burdened shoulders rest the mission of snaring the one who is one with a legion of condemned souls fated to slay and be slain.
With Hyne's guidance, future generations will no longer be in need of a Hunter.
He had already lost count of the many times he read this manuscript. A scroll renowned for its ancient origin, said to have been passed down across generations of his so-called lineage of the Hunters. He had understood then what it meant the first time he read through it. But then, he didn't really care enough to give it serious thought. So according to the prophetic scripture, though his predecessors fought the beast of spirits directly, he was to take a different path. It was not his task anymore to fight the same war that claimed sporadic victories, but lost a lot more in return.
No. According to the prophecy, someone who did not belong to the clan had been chosen to defeat the devourer of souls. Someone whom he had to hunt down in fulfillment of his responsibility. He did not know who it was then, but nor did he care. He felt somewhat accountable then to at least feel even a tinge of remorse with the knowledge of the 'chosen one's' fate. But he felt no such morose emotion. He didn't even know who the person was.
Until he found her. At first he didn't want to believe it, especially after that night four months ago when he first saw her through the concealing bars of the air vent where he hid from her awareness. He felt unabashed skepticism then after basking in her bare splendor. She was the one spoken of in prophecies?
She's not a warrior. She's a goddess of love and beauty.
And even if she was, it still puzzled him. What was so extraordinary about her except for her undeniably fine abilities as a combatant? The devourer had ravished more warriors that he'd care to think about. She was no different. If she would amount to anything, that is merely to serve as food for the ravenous wolf of souls.
He tried to perceive something in her that might prove an exception. But instead of finding any value to serve the cause at hand, he stumbled on to something else. Instead of seeing her as the weapon to destroy the destroyer, he saw her as an arrow. An arrow that subsequently pierced his heart. He found it ludicrous, or at least tried to. But there was no denying the fact that she had endeared herself to him. Without her even knowing it, she tore down the barrier he had erected around his emotions to protect him from the hurt similar to what he experienced from a past failure.
He wondered how many times she had accomplished this with other men. He wouldn't be surprised at all if the answer yielded more than he would think possible. And it was this failing that brought another obstacle to his already daunting mission. He knew he was falling of her. And he also knew that she was destined to die together with her comrades. What was there left to do? He tried to persuade her to turn her back to her mission. And yet, he knew it to be an exercise in futility. He wasn't one to fall to the mistake of ignorance, and he was aware of the SeeD code of never turning their backs on adversity.
The one who was called intruder then wished he had never taken on this task. Never mind the difficulties he knew he'd face. All of those now paled in comparison to the prospect of witnessing her fate unfold before his very eyes. His heart shattered with the knowledge that he will eventually witness her death.
And as he watched her coming aboard the dragon ship, he felt the pain of impending loss once more. He had once been forced to openly witness a loved one walk out of his life once, and the pain it brought was anything but a joke. He was devastated then. And he was about to be crushed once more now. He knew she wouldn't listen to him but at least he had to try as much as he could. And all of the sudden, his mission had taken on a different hue.
"I hope you had at least considered my warning."
Quistis turned abruptly, but she wasn't as surprised as she was before. Somehow, she knew better than to not expect him this time.
"I would, but I don't exactly have the luxury of a choice." She echoed back at him as he somersaulted down from his pendulant position above the Ragnarok's entrance. She assumed an almost threatening voice to hide her faltering resolve. "Now it would do you good to stop whatever it is you're planning."
He looked at her gentle face and felt his heart melt. The struggle to feign a steely resonance became quite a chore for him. "You don't know who you're dealing with here."
"I don't?" She shot back wryly. "All right then, acquaint me. Who are you? And what are you hoping to accomplish by telling me that we are all about to die?"
He hesitated, deliberating on whether to reveal to her the full message of the prophecy he held in his hands. A subtle tug in his heart then persuaded himself to comply with her other inquiry.
"It's not going to do you any good. But if you're going to insist"
"And I intend to." The instructor firmly interjected. He couldn't help but admire the power of her will.
" You may call me Hunter."
Quistis maintained her steely expression. But at the same time, she felt something leap inside her heart. For some reason, the mention of his name carried with it a wisp of magic that excited her. It was like a profound gladness that she can't understand. Still, she didn't allow the moment of thrill to sway her from her objective.
"Explain this hogwash about our alleged deaths. Now."
"It's not hogwash, Quistis." Hunter momentarily paused to observe the instructor. She didn't look surprised that he already knew her name. "I wouldn't go through all this trouble just to play a prank on you. But if you're willing to listen, I'll tell you all you need to know."
Quistis thought deeply. She was aware of the danger lurking under a possible error of judgment should she choose to give him leeway. But she can't deny the signs that she saw the omen of doom hanging over her unsuspecting friends. If she were to make any sense out of it, it would definitely entail a certain degree of risk on her part. She felt she might regret it later on, but she also knew of no other option.
"Agreed. But I have to warn you: no tricks. I'm not deputy SeeD commander for nothing."
"Very well." Hunter concurred. "Let's take this ship for a ride."
"To where?"
"Tomb of the Unknown King. You will find your answers there."
Quistis suddenly hesitated. Leaving her comrades behind would certainly constitute desertion, one of the most serious infractions a SeeD can commit. She could be court marshaled for this action.
But she had to know.
"All right. Let's go."
End of Chapter Four
* Destroyed in The Fourth Universe