Author's Notes: I'm back to being stuck again…Woe is me!
Disclaimer: Saiyuki isn't mine, na-uh.
**
CHAPTER 11: Heaven No More
Kamatayan sighed and slowly removed her cloak. She didn't like the idea of revealing herself to a bunch of infidels but she WAS, after all, the guardian of Eli. Plus, she figured out that it's best to finally get this thing over with. They haven't started the Journey yet and it was high time they should. She looked at the Sanzo-ikkou and heaved a much heavier sigh. She REALLY didn't like this idea. Speaking in her most mysterious tone, she set her cloak aside and snapped her fingers, "Be prepared to see an DEATH."
And she appeared slowly, before their very eyes. Eli smiled thanking Kamatayan silently. This would mean that she was ready to tell EVERYBODY everything. Her eyes told her so. She looked at everybody to see the reactions. As expected, Gojyo and Goku wore an even stupider look while Hakkai forced a smile scratching his head. She turned to Sanzo and saw him roll his eyes and cursed. And when he saw her looking at her, he gave her a sharp look and looked away. How she wanted to give him the finger!
Sanzo cursed as he saw the bitch, Kamatayan, spread her arms. There's little chance he's going to keep his secret anymore. Damn that Eli! He regretted for not shooting her when he had a chance. So what if she's a vah? He kills humans and demons. And it wasn't such a bad idea to murder a vah. But then, all he could do now is sigh his butt off.
Kamtayan cleared her throat and wasted no more time, "I am Kamatayan. I'm a person from somewhere you probably haven't heard of before. I hate introductions so I think I'll skip that part." She looked at Goyjo and Goku and chuckled seeing their confused looks. Then she added, "I bet you want your heads to be cleared, right?" She was met by a bunch of sarcastic smiles. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, let's start off to a story about heaven and well, heaven. It's an ancient legend forgotten by your people." She smiled and grinned, "This is going to be a long tale. Once upon a time…"
**
Both of their eyes widened in shock. They couldn't believe what they saw. They knew this would happen but they never expected it to happen NOW. Blair took a step backwards as he watched the Palace of Heaven, his home, burn before his very eyes. He was caught dead on his tracks. His body grew suddenly stiff and even though he wanted so badly to move, it seemed that nature opposed his will.
Blair felt his knees weaken, his head throbbing in pain, his heartbeat booming violently, and just when he couldn't hold it any longer, his Vah held his hand and shook him violently.
"Get a hold of yourself, my God!" the Vah's shout was a mere whisper in his ear. But it was enough to bring him back to consciousness. "My god!"
Blair shook his head and gulped hard after he sucked in a great deal of air. "What-what happened here?" It was a stupid question but the palace burning was even stupider. He looked at the worried stricken Vah and lowered down his head.
Her answer was a sudden pull. She had to drag him inside the palace to save the other gods. She, too, was shocked at the sight of the palace burning. However, she had a hint that something was about to happen that day. There were many signals, and not only once did she saw Death smiling towards the palace. Maybe that's why she had the sudden urge to go THE hill. Staying in the palace had been really uneasy that day.
She led him to a small shed not far away from the interior gates. There, she did everything to snap the hell out of the stunned Blair. She let him sit down and with her fingers, gently stroke his hair. She had learned that the hair of the gods were considered to be nerve endings from their brains…which was of course kind of icky to think about, but it was REALLY simpler that way. She used her right hand to stroke him while the other was slapping his face softly. In a whisper, she told him to take it easy and relax. It wasn't the end. The gods were smart and anytime now, they'll appear out of nowhere safe and unharmed. Like they always do.
"Smart? Us? Gods?" Blair replied half unconsciously. He was still in the state of shock but he WAS slowly recovering. "We have never been smart."
"Sshh. That's not true. We'll just wait here for a couple of minutes and we'll see what'll happen. If nobody comes out, then I'll go and take a look."
Blair didn't reply. All he did was to look past his vah into the blazing inferno that was supposed to be his home.
"Home?"
**
Spade opened his arm and shouted as he let out a massive ball of fire killing the invaders instantly. An arrow passed by him and he ducked as he heard another being shot by a guy beside him. Irritated, he dashed towards him and knocked him out with his fists that was blazing in blue fire. "Where the hell did these things come from?"
Sarah lifted up her hands and released a gush of boiling water towards those positioned in the ceiling. "I don't know! You tell me." She evaded an attack and immediately tore the attacker into pieces with her 'Sword of Ice'. "Forget about that! Where are the others?!"
Spade shook his head as he kicked another, "Beats me. We better go. I'm getting pissed off. Nobody told me there was an attack!" Sarah rolled her eyes and looked at him sarcastically. She produced her sword again and slashed her way to Spade. "There's too many of them!"
Spade sighed in frustration. He clutched a guy in the collar and gave him a head butt. After that, he grabbed hold of his dagger and closed his eyes. He concentrated for a moment chanting a spell of some sort. Then he opened his eyes and shouted, "TO HELL WITH YOU!!!" Instantly, the room exploded with him and Sarah escaping the hellhole.
**
Thene pounded his staff before him and opened his eyes slowly. The ground cracked open burying those unknown beings down below. He twisted it and stopped when it faced directly to the rest of his opponents. He closed his eyes again. Suddenly, pointed rocks fell down out of nowhere. The invaders were killed in no time. However, there were about five hundred of them and Thene was having a hard time since he had to protect Lady Rei, who was hit by a poisoned arrow in her abdomen.
"Stay with me, sister." He whispered softly in her ears as he surrounded them selves with his force field. He was never the warrior type and it was probably better for him to shield himself than to kill. "Sister, hold on. I'm sure the others will be here."
Sure enough just when countless poisoned arrows were shot towards them, the fire god and Sarah barged in. As Sarah hit the invaders and Spade burned the speeding arrows, Thene couldn't help but notice how pissed off the both were. Their eyes were cold and unforgiving and in amazement, he realized that he, too, was fuming mad. He knew they were from Darkness, but he never thought the guy would attack.
"We should all go to the Sapphire Room. Zhehn must know of this." Thene called out right after Spade finished the last batch. Spade rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "Yeah right." The palace was burning down and they obviously don't have much time now. He figured out that Zhehn must have escaped already. But Sarah shook her head and sighed, "It's better if we should go. It's our responsibility."
So amidst the crumbling structure and the fire, the four elemental gods entered deeper to the Sapphire room, the territory of the God of Heart. Unfortunately, they all forgot that it was the same room where Darkness was created.
**
"I have to go, my god. They've been inside long enough." The vah whispered softly as she slowly let the Spirit God lay back. "I'm going to check on them."
"I'll go with you."
"You can't. I'm going." Blair wasn't exactly the strongest god but he can surely be really stubborn especially at the wrong time. "I can manage. Trust me."
After a moment of hesitation, she finally heaved a sigh in retreat and shrugged it all off. "Let's go then."
**
"So, were they met by some opponents?" Sha Gojyo asked impatiently. All of them were paying attention to Kamatayan. It's as if they themselves were in the story, for the characters in it seemed vaguely familiar. Cho Hakkai almost felt he could picture Thene as himself. Sha Gojoy related well with Spade and Sanzo had a hunch that Blair was actually his past life. However, Goku, couldn't find anybody like him and that made him wonder, "What about HIM?"
Kamatayan grinned, "Well, there was a bunch who were in their way but the vah managed to crush them one by one. Finally, they reached the Sapphire Room together with the elemental four only to find Zhehn being murdered in the hands of Darkness. They witnessed how Darkness sucked Zhehn's power slowly and after that disgusting episode, Zhehn's limp body was thrown aside. Nobody dared to move for they were staring at the eyes of death itself. And they knew that Darkness would engulf them eventually. Their hopes were all gone now, now that they saw how the strongest of them was murdered like that. They had absolutely no chance since all vahs were killed now. Well, except for one. And this one was different from them, this one was ruled with her will and her heart and that made all the difference…"
**
Thene couldn't hold it much longer. He was slowly losing every inch of his powers and he knew he'll collapse anytime now if this keeps on going. "I- I'm getting tired." He shook his head slowly and tried to stand still but his strength betrayed him and he couldn't do anything but wobble like some old geezer on the brink of death.
"Hold on, Thene." Spade held his brother's hand as tightly as he could. He's not just going to stand there and do nothing while his brother slowly dies, "Don't push it too hard." He looked at Sarah sharply and snapped, "Don't you just stand there and gawk at them. Do something!"
But Sarah couldn't hear anything. She couldn't believe what Darkness did to Zheho, the truth suddenly became much more clearer and the horrifying fact that she forcefully ignored was slowly happening before her very eyes. They're not invincible. They can stop existing after all. Closing her eyes, she surprised herself as she wished that she were born human instead. At least, humans can reincarnate. Gods will just disappear.
She raised her head and looked murderously at Darkness. Then quick as lightning, she broke Thene's shield and attacked him. She charged him with her Sword of Ice desperately trying to stab him. But he was much more stronger and in a short moment a loud scream echoed in the corridor of the palace. And Sarah disappeared.
Blair's eyes slowly widened, "NO!!!"
**
Kamatayan closed her eyes, "Yes it was very sad. Poor Sarah." She sighed as she shook her head and continued, "To make the story short, Thene gradually began to lose his powers and it didn't take long for him to finally collapse. Some said that he died together with Lady Rei for she, too, lost all of her strength. It was believed that they died holding each other. 'Tis a sad thing indeed."
"After that, Darkness began to focus his attention to the rest of the gods. Spade and Blair were ready to do battle with him. It was a desperate fight but at least they tried. They knew hope was gradually fading away and that defeating Darkness is impossible yet they persisted, almost like annoying pest on the fields or some hoard of lice on your head. However, their efforts weren't completely useless. They're lives weren't just wasted for the sole sake of vengeance and hatred. They endured the pain to give ample time for the Vah to power up. For short, they had a plan."
"You see, only the sapphire sword can banish Darkness to the eternal space beneath the earth. And only vahs have the strength to control it. So with their last ounce of strength they fought as the vah and Blair were racing to the other side of the room. Right before the two gods disappeared, the Vah finally got hold of the sword and in an instance, stabbed Darkness in the middle of his back."
Goku smiled and eagerly asked, "So, they did it!"
Kamatayan heaved a sigh and looked up the skies, "They did the task, indeed." She sighed and looked at Goku steadily. For that brief moment, right before she spoke, her eyes suddenly became sad pools of mirror reflecting her true nature and it told them what she really was--- the compassionate old lady who cares. Then she smiled sadly and continued, "Alas, there is a grave matter bestowed upon the Sapphire Sword. And the vah was cursed, never to step in heaven again. The gods will return but never will she."
"Oh, that sucks." Gojyo muttered. He scratched the back of his neck and took a glimpse of Eli. He wasn't stupid and he knew that somehow, Eli must be connected with this vah. Or she may just BE the vah. He can't really tell but there's no reason to be hasty, he'll know it---soon.
"Yeah. All things suck. Nevertheless, the vah knew this and she accepted her fate. Surprisingly, Blair had no clue about the curse. Either that or he must have forgotten, for confusion suddenly showed in his lovely features as the vah slowly dropped to the ground. She bid goodbye as if it was the most natural thing to do and this hurt Blair even more. There were so many things he wanted to tell her, so many confessions he wanted to make, so many dreams with her, and so little time. And in her last minutes, he held her like he had never held anyone before and did his final curse. After the mysterious curse, he whispered the name he had given her. With her last breath, she thanked him and she perished. And he kept on holding her."
"And that one REALLY sucked." Gojyo muttered bowing low. They were silent for a while until Kamatayan began to stand up straight. They looked at her, and saw that she was alarmed.
Then, the earth shook. Dark clouds suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The winds started to blow strongly and the trees, stout and mighty as they looked, began to bend downwards. It was mid-morning but the sun wasn't there anymore. And for a moment, Eli wondered in fear how quickly the weather changed in this world she had gotten herself into. Shortly, she could see smaller rocks rising up the air. Frightened, she turned to look at the others then her eyes widened in fear.
There was no one around her.
No one but Sanzo.
She opened her mouth to speak to him but as if in a scripted play, nature opposed her with a deafening strike of thunder. Her shouts were useless because the sound of banging things suddenly surrounded her and unexpectedly, the tree behind her clashed towards her. She managed to stumble her way avoiding a near death by an inch. But right before she rose up, the ground she was standing on suddenly cracked and in no time it broke apart sending her to fall in a deep abyss.
Then a hand grabbed her.
But she was still falling…
**
eleezyienne: pls. r& r!
