Nightmares
by TacomaSquall
Part Eight: Interlude
Ultimecia was terrified.
Her rise to power had
been foreseen by Hyne herself. Her
crusade against the SeeDs was foretold within the pages of the Prophecies. At the verge of her ultimate triumph, the
Prophecies foretold, she would be defeated by the very warriors who founded the
Way of the Lady.
Every step she had taken
was delineated within the Prophecies' pages, although not detailed in plain
speech. One passage confused her,
however, and she could not see the relevance to her crusade.
Queen of Heaven bridges time's abyss,
Fallen Guardians at her side –
Sins of the father
Son brings retribution –
Way's defenders redeem the Betrayer.
Knight of the Cross,
With Fated Fist and Doom's Mistress,
Fights for the Angel –
For the Lionheart –
For the destiny of all.
Lifedeath beckons all,
Should cycle be broken.
What was must be –
What will must be –
What is, contradicts.
Reunion must take place –
The sundered, return.
Hopeless must find hope,
Lost must be found –
Mother sees child before conception.
Destiny's coils tighten –
The Queen's vengeance is sterile –
The Fated yet exist –
Doom's word is yet silent.
The bridge is not stable.
What did that mean? Did it mean that her journey through time
was doomed to failure? Was there no way
for her to avoid the confrontation depicted on the Prophecies' cover? Did any of her actions make a difference,
one way or another?
With an inarticulate
screech of rage, she threw the Prophecies to the ground. The ancient Hexadragon hide that bound the
pages of the tome together, crackled when it hit the flagstones of Ultimecia's
castle. It skidded along the floor,
keeping the prophetic pages bound within.
Enraged, Ultimecia
called upon a Flare spell. The
explosion of incandescent rage was enough to vaporize the tome as it lay on the
floor.
"Your Majesty?"
Ultimecia turned. Standing in the entryway to the Hall she had
ordered the Ellone Device placed in, was a slender, auburn-haired man. His hair color, and the ponytail he wore his
shoulder-blade-length hair in, marked him as one of the Ilmit. It was Dougal, the Ilmit crafter who was
fashioning leads for the Ellone Device's synaptic electrodes.
In the slender crafter's
hands lay a delicate latticework of plas and circuitry. In fact, two identical sets of the same
latticework, which seemed likely to serve the same function as the heavy
electrodes she had wore during her first assay with the Ellone Device.
"Why are they smaller,
and less solid, Dougal?"
"The leads are smaller,
to offer less resistance to impulses traveling from the wearer to the
Device. With less resistance, there is
less waste heat being produced by friction – the electro-neural energy passes
more smoothly." The Ilmit looked
worried. "Your Majesty, we have not yet
been able to test this."
"No matter, Ilmit." She smiled cruelly. "Assist me in attaching these leads."
As the Ilmit nervously
stepped to her side, and began placing the circuitry lattice upon her body,
Ultimecia allowed herself to look him over. Perhaps a reward was in order for his loyal service... She felt a hunger rise that she once felt
towards her beloved Prince Nerid, but now associated only with the satiation of
infrequent lust.
She sighed. Now was not the time.
As the Ilmit continued
his task, she send her mind questing down the mental pathways that led to the
Guardians she had Junctioned.
What is your
bidding, Queen of Heaven? As always, Hades' reply was tinged with a
note of interest in Ultimecia's thoughts and plans.
We go to change the
past. From her experience with Hades, Ultimecia
knew that there was some terrible deed that Hades wished undone in the
past. He fixated upon that past event
so much for it to be considered by the other Guardians an obsession. So long as Hades could pursue his desired goal,
Ultimecia knew she had his support.
Indeed. And which of us will you need with you, to
enforce your will?
I want all of you,
except Griever, which I release to be Junctioned to Omega. While I am elsewhere, I want Omega to begin
the assault upon the least of the rebellious Galbad strongholds – Winil. When we have returned, it will be to
celebrate the ultimate defeat of our hated enemies and the restoration of my
beloved.
It shall be done,
dread Majesty.
Ultimecia felt a rush of
energy away from her, as the most puissant of the Guardians uncoupled his
spirit from her mind. A glowing
felinoid specter, Griever paused and then sped out the door of the Hall,
heading outside the Tower of Heaven. It
did not stop in its headlong, glowing flight, until it had reached the
monstrous incarnation of the planet's fury. Griever's essence merged with Omega, and the monstrous beast's eyes
sprang open.
Within the Hall of the
Ellone Device, Ultimecia looked at the handsome Ilmit again. He had just completed placing the
latticework over her skin, attaching it to her skin with miniature electrodes. Her skin tingled from the man's touch, and
she smiled. When she had returned,
perhaps she would reward him for doing well.
The Ilmit bowed deeply
to Ultimecia. "Majesty, if it would
please you to sit in the chair built into the Device, I will attach the neural
lattice."
Ultimecia rose
gracefully, and walked slowly to the Ellone Device. She stood over the Ilmit, who was still in the appropriate
posture of respect. "You have pleased
me well, Dougal. I would have you
attend me upon your return."
The crafter went pale at
her request, and then flushed. "You
d-d-do me far too great an honor, your Majesty."
"Perhaps. But good service should be rewarded." Ultimecia smiled, showing her gleaming white
teeth. "And you have served me well,
crafter."
She sat down in the
chair. It slid backwards, and part of
the back shifted, conforming itself to the Queen of Heaven's contours for the
greatest comfort. As the chair shifted,
the Queen allowed herself a smile. His
service will permit me to save you, Nerid. We will reign side-by-side, as we were meant to.
"Relax, your
Majesty." Dougal's voice intruded into
Ultimecia's thoughts. "The less tense
you are, the better the neuralware will work."
Dougal activated the
Ellone Device, and Ultimecia's mind was cast backwards, through the walls of
time. As the years unraveled, she
became each sorceress, in regression, for a moment, before time's reversed flow
tugged her further on.
She was Arista, in
agony. Screaming as she labored to
bring her son, Nerid, into the world. Her body tensed as she underwent a contraction, lower muscles rippling
in an intense effort to bring a child into the world who would one day love her
murderer.
She ripped away from
Arista, and into the life of an aged woman from Trab, Diana, as she accepted
the power of the Sorceress. Diana was
selected by her long-lived predecessor, Kimiko, to be Queen of Heaven until
Arista was old enough to rule in Kimiko's stead.
She was Kimiko, ordering
the SeeD to find and destroy her husband, who had chosen to dally with an Alsy
girl, betraying their wedding vows.
She was Via, and Forca,
and Ovelia, and a hundred other sorceresses as she raced backwards through
time. Each generation gave her a moment
of insight into their lives, although most would remain little more than names
on a faded parchment list of Sorceresses.
Finally, she rushed into
the mind of the one she sought.
To Be Continued…