Chapter 13

'I know why she came here, but I still don't like this place.' Seoman's footsteps echoed around the empty ruins of the Church of the Creation. The empty halls that until recently had been the home of Odin now were only occupied by spiders and tonberries. 'And us, of course.' Seoman finished climbing the flight of stairs and came out into the temple courtyard.
The moon gave the courtyard a pale glow, and cast eerie shadows of the shattered towers onto the courtyard. 'I remember when this was full of life and song. But Centra's gone now, according to her. Nature accomplished what Hyne couldn't.' A shudder ran down his spine. Hyne was still out there, and more worrying, he was also within him. 'Yes. Well. That's why you're doing this Seoman. You know her way is right.'
Footsteps coming from the stairs above warned Seoman of his sorceress. He knelt in front of her, and looked up. In the moonlight, she looked so beautiful that Seoman's breath caught in his throat. She looked like a goddess, her beauty gone beyond mortal bounds.
"Seoman," she said, and her voice carried a note of displeasure that made the knight cringe "he is still out there. And now you tell me he has gathered others to him. Could you not have stopped him?"
"No, I couldn't. They are three, and I am but one. And one of them caries twice the power I have in him. He is also unbonded, and I have read that he is reckless with his own life. That one could do anything, and those are the type of warriors I…" he broke off under her accusing stare.
"You what, Seoman? You fear? Have I bonded a mouse for a Knight? If you are afraid, how can you serve me?"
Each word felt like knives in Seoman's chest. The Knight groveled at her feet, and begged for one more chance. She relented, and told him what he must do.

***

She watched Seoman go. 'A fool. But a useful fool, nonetheless.' She walked up the stairs onto the great balcony, wrapped round the dome of the throne room. From here, on a clear night like this, she could see all the way to the Cape of Good Hope, and the lighthouse there. 'Where Ultimecia will reign, in thousands of years time. Another fool. What is the point in destruction? What's the use of being mistress of all you survey when all you survey is…nothing. I shouldn't be ungrateful though. Without her, my task would have been a lot harder.
'
She shivered. This high up, the air was bitter. She picked her way carefully down the stairs, and walked into the throneroom, where until recently Odin had sat alone, waiting for a knight errant to face him, while around him the world had changed, and chivalry had grown rarer and rarer. Knights weren't as plentiful as they used to be. 'Well, that's another good thing isn't it? If there were more knights, this might prove impossible.'

She strode up to the massive throne in the centre of the room, and sat in her own wooden chair at the foot. The time would come when she would have the right to sit on a throne, but that time was not yet. She sat there alone, lost in thought. Her eyes seemed to be far away, in another time altogether.

"Gilgamesh…."