WOOO. O.O Yea, my muse got mad at me and took an unexpected vaction. So I'm sorry for the delay in the update. Anyway, here ya'
go! R&R PLZ!
Vision 5: Prophecy
Dryden approached the book very cautiously. "I'm beginning to think this thing is demon possesed and that it's not really Issac's." He dipped his feather pen in the ink pot and touched it to the paper. "To answer your question, I am Issac's spirit..." the book replied forming the letters from the ink drop.
"What causes you to be bound to this world still? I thought you died at the end of the great war..."
"My other half still wishes to finish his research..."
"Research?"
"On the ultimate use of the Fate Alteration Machine."
"But he used the Zone of Absolute Fortune already..."
"Ah, but yet, there is a prophecy from the Ispano tribe..."
"Prophecy?"
"Yes, a prophecy."
Drdyen slowly sat down on the couch and put the book on the coffee table. "I want to hear it."
"For your own good, I should hope you would."
Then, the feather pen started to write pages after pages of words.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"So then Marius retracts his wings," I says holding a fake sword up in the air against Shiryo's fake sword. I slowly pull mine away from hers and "pretend" to sheath it. "And then he says, that if I can marry by the blue moon month, I can have Fanelia."
I let out a sigh and scratch the back of my head. "Sometimes, I wish someone would come steal this job away from me...but I know I can't run from responsibility."
Shiryo puts a small smile on her face and folds her hands together. "No one is better fit for this job than you," she says with her smile growing. "It's not a job or repsonsiblity to you like to most monarchial leaders you often hear about...no," she says shaking her head. "No, it's about the people; your pain is their pain, they are hungry and you are hungry for them. No one is better suited, so don't say that you feel like it's work..."
"I suppose your right," I say closing my eyes feeling the wind pass by.
"Van, that was a horribly mean joke..." calls a voice from a distance.
Shiryo looks at me with a confused look and I spin around to see who it is.
"Hitomi, girl, how are you? I can't believe you let your hair grow out!" Allen spins Shiryoku around.
"Oh, you weren't lying," Allen says sheepishly. "She looks a lot like Hitomi though...who is she?"
I look at Shiryo and motion for her to introduce herself. She startles me when she give a short curtsey and says, "I am very pleased to meet you Schezar-san, my name is Shiryoku Yukari Kanzaki Akane."
"Shiryoku Kanzaki Akane?" Allen asks with a raised eyebrow looking at me. I simply nod my head in agreement. "Then you mean to tell me, she's some relation to Miss Hitomi?" Allen eyes keep growing wider with every confirmation. "How do you know me?"
"My oka-san told me all about you..." Shiryoku says in a childlike voice. Allen still doesn't believe it.
"More informally, Allen," I say taking his hand and placing Shiryo's in it, "meet Hitomi's daughter." Allen wasn't expecting this at all, I could tell. It even appeared as if he went a little weak in the knees when he knelt to kiss the top of her hand. "I guess neither of us was the better man then, huh?"
"It's a long story," I say glancing at Shiryoku who looks like she is getting offened.
"LORD VAN! LORD VAN! LORD VAN!" cries an all too familar voice waving a doctor's bag in the air. Shiryoku lets out a small giggle. It's Merlu rushing Millerna up to take care of me. A few familar others are following her, such as the Moleman, Gaddes, and Dryden who appears to be extremely out of breath.
They all stop when they reach the are of the field that we are in, staring at Shiryoku. She slowly slides behind me peeking her eyes out from a side. "Why are they all staring at me?" she whispers.
"Well, I stared at you too the first time I met you..." I say trying to pry her from my back. "I know, but I was holding a dead body in my hands, I would have stared at me too!" she says finally letting go.
Millerna takes a step foward and starts to clean my shoulder wound while staring at Shiryoku. "You probably shouldn't have made that last statement," I say while wincing from the cleaner. "Oh hush, you're always such a baby when it comes to this part...." Millerna says with a motherly tone and an impish grin. "So, we're all wanting an explaination, Van," Millerna says quietly glancing back at the girl.
Merlu's hair and tail is standing up on end. She's growling and her eyes are red. "YEAH, WHO IS THAT GIRL?" she mutters with a hiss.
I think to myself with a sigh, "I didn't want to explain to everyone right now, but I guess I must." I pause a second and make sure I have everyone's attention. "She's Hitomi's daughter, Shiryoku." Some of them let out gasps, some of them simply hung their mouths open, some of them simply gaped at the girl even more. "But how?" Millerna asked as she continued to bandage my shoulder. "I'll explain when we get back to the castle. I'm sure everyone here is wanting to know."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"MARIUS!" screamed a dry, feeble voice. "MARIUS!"
"Yes, m'lord, I'm here! I just got back!" Marius screamed back impatiently.
"Well, did you follow the plan?" asked the voice as it cracked.
"Everything fell into place except for bringing the girl to me...she doesn't trust me..." Marius said removing his hood.
"SO, the dragon has the girl AGAIN?" the old voice asked annoyed by this fact.
"Yes, m'lord he does, but not to worry, I'm making the boy get married, surely that new woman will drive her away...and right into my arms, so to say..."
"Sounds like it should work, and what if she still resists?"
"Then, I'll expose the truth about her so called "friend," Marius ended this statement with an evil laugh.
"WONDERFUL! And how is the work on my mechabod coming?"
"As soon as we can get an acceptable drag engergist, it will just need some tweaking from there...otherwise, it's ready..."
"And Escaflowne? And the Fate Alteration Machine?"
"Escaflowne is still in the hands of the dragon; the FAM II is almost complete. It should be done within three days. When the dragon loses his throne, Escaflowne will be in my hands and the FAM II will have had PLENTY of time by then to be perfected."
"And what of the Vector of men's hearts? Did you direct it towards war?"
"Sir, Basram and Freid have already been bickering about trival political matters. I only instigated further problems to those that already existed. It seems that the people trust me more than their precious leader."
"EXCELLENT MARIUS, EXCELLENT! You are succeeding your father as a sorcerer!"
Marius leaves with a smirk on his face. He ascends up the stone stairs and stares out to what used to be the city of Atlantis. Suddenly, Hitomi's spirit appears. "Don't you hurt my little girl! I swear..." "What will you do?" Marius says with a sneer. "You're a simple spirit...you can't leave the Mystic Valley." "Yes, but I can reach my daughter's heart!" Hitomi yells as Marius passes through her. "And human hearts are swayed easily to easily sway the mind..." Marius says with a nonchanlant gesture. "She'll never believe you!" Hitomi says getting cross. "Wouldn't you rather your daughter to live in a perfect world, never knowing sorrow,pain, and tragedy? Don't you see? I can give her all that and a place of stature! It's so much better than what little she has on your pitiful Mystic Moon...she doesn't have any friends there, an empty house, an empty life..." "WELL, it's not HER fault I died..." Hitomi says with an indignant look. "No, it isn't," Marius says with an evil tone. "Goodbye, Hitomi, I have matters that need tending to...I do hope we may chat again sometime!" Marius calls to her as he continues to walk away.
Hitomi folds her arms. "He'd better not exploit her powers...but I can't do much...in the end...it's her choice..." she mumbles as she goes back to the large tree she usually stays around.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"Lord Van, there's something we need to discuss," Dryden said in a grave tone. He cut his eyes around the room and then back to me. "Alone."
"If everyone wouldn't mind..." I said motioning out of my room. "Just make sure that thing stays on tight," Millerna said jerking the knot even tighter and leaving with a smile. "YEA, TIGHT!" Merlu jerks it again. "Geez, you two are going to kill me!"
Everyone leaves and Drdyen hurriedly shuts the door. "She's Hitomi's daughter correct?" "Right," I say with a bit of unsuredness in my voice. "Look at this..." Dryden says pulling out a old, worn, leather bound book. "It's Issac's journal, like Allen's Father's journal...it fills all the missing gaps in his father's...and then some...the book tells of an Ispano prophecy..." Dryden's eyes narrow over his half moon glasses."If that's the case, we've got huge problems on our hands now..."
I felt my heart skip a beat. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, someone is planning to re-awaken Escaflowne, and it won't be you..." he said leaning with a hand on the table.
"And then?"
"And then, someone re-acitvates the Fate Alteration Machine, the Zone of Absolute Fortune, and the last stage of the process..."
"..........." I stared a Dryden, my gut filled with fear.
"Destruction or Salvation of one of the sister planets."
"What are you saying?" I say knitting my eyebrows together in concern.
"If what the prophecy says is true, someone was to bring the Herione of the Great War's daughter to Gaea. There will be much bickering between kingdoms and even disputes over the thrones. Someone is going to take advantage of this and as chaos slowly breaks out, they'll steal Escaflowne and hook it up to the Fate Alteration Machine. This starts phase two. Phase two is the Zone of Absolute Fortune, where the person in Escaflowne can foretell the absolute future, if it's hooked up to the Fate Alteration Machine. If the future they forsee isn't what they wish for, they may wish to change it. If that person wishes strongly enough, they may bring forth the Dragon's Maiden. There are two forces of Dragons: The Dragons of Heaven and the Dragons of Earth. The Dragon's Maiden will side with either Heaven, which is Gaea, and preserve it, or Earth, which is the Mystic Moon, and destory Gaea. Either way, one of the planets WILL perish..."
"Lord Van!" called Allen from outside the door. I ignored him. "What's to say this is true Dryden?" I asked with a skeptics instincts. "Lord Van! It's urgent! A messenger from Basram is here!"
Dryden simply folded his arms. "Have the Ispano let us down yet?"
"No, never..." I said glancing at the ground.
"Let the messenger in and see what he has to say..." Dryden said becoming even more cocky.
I fling the doors open and a rather plump messenger hands me this letter:
With warm regards to the grand King of Fanelia, in his Second Glorious Year,
My liege, Basram was allied with your country during the Great War until the bitter end, where we all turned one against another. Basram is truly sorry for this, and we wish to express our sincerest apologies. We also wish to express, that, we are under a new leadership since our last leader guided us along a path to war. We wish to introduce Marius La Cour de Fanel as our newest King and would hope you would be able to attend his coronation. Last but not least, Basram is having trouble with the Kingdom of Freid. We would like for you to confirm your alliance with us by attending the coronation of Lord Marius.
Sincerest regards from the Great Kingdom of Basram,
Nichon Alexander Donegels III
Royal Advisor to the grand King of Basram
"Oh no..." I thought to myself as my heart sank. I looked at Dryden and handed him the letter, my eyes whispering to him my fear. He rerturned with the same look after finishing reading the letter.
"Sir, I must know whether you are coming or not," said the messenger impatiently.
I glanced again at Dryden who was better at these things than most of my advisors. "Could you leave us a second?" Dryden said with a sarcastic smile as he slammed the doors in the face of the messenger.
"Legal ties, you have to go..." Dryden said pushing his glasses back up on his nose.
"But Marius..." I stuttered. "He has Basram, why would he want Fanelia?"
"Think about where we are in relation to Basram, Van," Dryden said.
"Fanelia, Basram, Asturia, and Freid are the four corner kingdoms...If one were to take over those four, he could have all of the continent!" I said after a moment of thinking back on my king's training.
"Exactly, I suggest you go, not only to make Fanelia look good, but to...how shall we say..." Dryden makes the quote signs in the air with his fingers, "spy and gather information." He winks and re-opens the doors. "My Lord has agreed to attend the coronation," he says with a sly smirk.
"That is all I needed to hear. Transportation will be provided for him and a Lady friend of his choosing. Coronation ceremonies will begin at high noon two lunars from today. I must go now, but thank you for supporting Basram." The messenger plows through the rest of the crowd and leaves the castle premises.
Everyone watches as he leaves but my eyes are searching for Shiryoku. "Did anyone see where Shiryoku went?"
"No, come to think of it, I think she left long before that man got here..." said Millerna.
"Oh man...I guess I'd better start looking for her...Dryden, I want you to stay here; I want to read that book for myself. Allen, if you wouldn't mind, I'd also like for you to stay. I'll send for a carriage to take you back to your house and get your wife and child to bring them here. "Millerna, keep your kingdom heavily guarded."
"Van," she said getting that damsel in distress look on her face, "What's going on?"
"Don't worry about it; for now, it's under control..." I say while running down the hallway trying to guess where Shiryoku went.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
I let out a huge sigh. "I'm lost in a huge castle...I should've known better than to go off exploring!" I say with a giggle tossing my arms behind my head taking large steps. I began to hum a little melody. "Lalalalala...lalala....lalalalaaa..."
"Hmn?" I felt the wind whispering to me. It was coming from outside. I saw a window overflowing with golden rays. I run over to the window and lean over it just a bit. Below me, appears to be the royal graveyard and then there's a big piece of machineary that looks very old. "...Maiden of Song...come to me..."
I squint as I continue to peer down at the machine. I thought I saw it move. I geuss not. "As for the voices," I say with a sigh, "I'm used to it by now."
I walk away from the window and keep looking for the way back to where I was. Everything looked the same though and the castle was so big. I then came across a little tapestry that had what appeared to be a family portiat woven into it. "He was such a cute little boy!" I squeeled with delight upon seeing Van about five or six years old being held by his older brother. "Folken wasn't too shabby himself," I say with a smile.
"Are you gawking at my older brother?" Van said with a smile as he leaned upon the wall. I flush a bright shade of red. "Uhhhh, no I am not."
"Liar," he says as he grabs my wrist and drags me back out into daylight.
"How did you ever learn your way around this place?"
"You know, I haven't been able to figure that out myself. How'd you like a tour of the kingdom?" Van said with a smile.
"OH! I'd love it!" I say while clasping my hands together.
"Great! Well, let me go get a carriage set up and we'll start it in a little bit. "Would you wait here until time to go?"
"Sure," I say while folding my arms behind my back. Van quickly leaves and there goes that wind whispering to me agian. "Maiden of Song...come to me...come to me...I need your help..."
I quickly spin around and see that machine again in the distance. "OH NO WAY!" I say gasping for air, my heart racing out of my chest. "That machine did not just MOVE!"
Suddenly, as quickly as I had lost my breath, Van returned and offered his hand to help me into the carriage. I tried to forget about the machine, but I couldn't help but stare at it. Did I imagine that? Or was it real?
The carriage drove off quickly, but my mind was still mulling over the machine. Nevermind though, I was getting to see Van's Kingdom!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Ok, kinda a bad spot to end, but I didn't want to leave you off at the Escaflowne moves part and provide another cliffie! So, just R&R and I'll be back soon! I love ya'll! ~jj~
go! R&R PLZ!
Vision 5: Prophecy
Dryden approached the book very cautiously. "I'm beginning to think this thing is demon possesed and that it's not really Issac's." He dipped his feather pen in the ink pot and touched it to the paper. "To answer your question, I am Issac's spirit..." the book replied forming the letters from the ink drop.
"What causes you to be bound to this world still? I thought you died at the end of the great war..."
"My other half still wishes to finish his research..."
"Research?"
"On the ultimate use of the Fate Alteration Machine."
"But he used the Zone of Absolute Fortune already..."
"Ah, but yet, there is a prophecy from the Ispano tribe..."
"Prophecy?"
"Yes, a prophecy."
Drdyen slowly sat down on the couch and put the book on the coffee table. "I want to hear it."
"For your own good, I should hope you would."
Then, the feather pen started to write pages after pages of words.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"So then Marius retracts his wings," I says holding a fake sword up in the air against Shiryo's fake sword. I slowly pull mine away from hers and "pretend" to sheath it. "And then he says, that if I can marry by the blue moon month, I can have Fanelia."
I let out a sigh and scratch the back of my head. "Sometimes, I wish someone would come steal this job away from me...but I know I can't run from responsibility."
Shiryo puts a small smile on her face and folds her hands together. "No one is better fit for this job than you," she says with her smile growing. "It's not a job or repsonsiblity to you like to most monarchial leaders you often hear about...no," she says shaking her head. "No, it's about the people; your pain is their pain, they are hungry and you are hungry for them. No one is better suited, so don't say that you feel like it's work..."
"I suppose your right," I say closing my eyes feeling the wind pass by.
"Van, that was a horribly mean joke..." calls a voice from a distance.
Shiryo looks at me with a confused look and I spin around to see who it is.
"Hitomi, girl, how are you? I can't believe you let your hair grow out!" Allen spins Shiryoku around.
"Oh, you weren't lying," Allen says sheepishly. "She looks a lot like Hitomi though...who is she?"
I look at Shiryo and motion for her to introduce herself. She startles me when she give a short curtsey and says, "I am very pleased to meet you Schezar-san, my name is Shiryoku Yukari Kanzaki Akane."
"Shiryoku Kanzaki Akane?" Allen asks with a raised eyebrow looking at me. I simply nod my head in agreement. "Then you mean to tell me, she's some relation to Miss Hitomi?" Allen eyes keep growing wider with every confirmation. "How do you know me?"
"My oka-san told me all about you..." Shiryoku says in a childlike voice. Allen still doesn't believe it.
"More informally, Allen," I say taking his hand and placing Shiryo's in it, "meet Hitomi's daughter." Allen wasn't expecting this at all, I could tell. It even appeared as if he went a little weak in the knees when he knelt to kiss the top of her hand. "I guess neither of us was the better man then, huh?"
"It's a long story," I say glancing at Shiryoku who looks like she is getting offened.
"LORD VAN! LORD VAN! LORD VAN!" cries an all too familar voice waving a doctor's bag in the air. Shiryoku lets out a small giggle. It's Merlu rushing Millerna up to take care of me. A few familar others are following her, such as the Moleman, Gaddes, and Dryden who appears to be extremely out of breath.
They all stop when they reach the are of the field that we are in, staring at Shiryoku. She slowly slides behind me peeking her eyes out from a side. "Why are they all staring at me?" she whispers.
"Well, I stared at you too the first time I met you..." I say trying to pry her from my back. "I know, but I was holding a dead body in my hands, I would have stared at me too!" she says finally letting go.
Millerna takes a step foward and starts to clean my shoulder wound while staring at Shiryoku. "You probably shouldn't have made that last statement," I say while wincing from the cleaner. "Oh hush, you're always such a baby when it comes to this part...." Millerna says with a motherly tone and an impish grin. "So, we're all wanting an explaination, Van," Millerna says quietly glancing back at the girl.
Merlu's hair and tail is standing up on end. She's growling and her eyes are red. "YEAH, WHO IS THAT GIRL?" she mutters with a hiss.
I think to myself with a sigh, "I didn't want to explain to everyone right now, but I guess I must." I pause a second and make sure I have everyone's attention. "She's Hitomi's daughter, Shiryoku." Some of them let out gasps, some of them simply hung their mouths open, some of them simply gaped at the girl even more. "But how?" Millerna asked as she continued to bandage my shoulder. "I'll explain when we get back to the castle. I'm sure everyone here is wanting to know."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"MARIUS!" screamed a dry, feeble voice. "MARIUS!"
"Yes, m'lord, I'm here! I just got back!" Marius screamed back impatiently.
"Well, did you follow the plan?" asked the voice as it cracked.
"Everything fell into place except for bringing the girl to me...she doesn't trust me..." Marius said removing his hood.
"SO, the dragon has the girl AGAIN?" the old voice asked annoyed by this fact.
"Yes, m'lord he does, but not to worry, I'm making the boy get married, surely that new woman will drive her away...and right into my arms, so to say..."
"Sounds like it should work, and what if she still resists?"
"Then, I'll expose the truth about her so called "friend," Marius ended this statement with an evil laugh.
"WONDERFUL! And how is the work on my mechabod coming?"
"As soon as we can get an acceptable drag engergist, it will just need some tweaking from there...otherwise, it's ready..."
"And Escaflowne? And the Fate Alteration Machine?"
"Escaflowne is still in the hands of the dragon; the FAM II is almost complete. It should be done within three days. When the dragon loses his throne, Escaflowne will be in my hands and the FAM II will have had PLENTY of time by then to be perfected."
"And what of the Vector of men's hearts? Did you direct it towards war?"
"Sir, Basram and Freid have already been bickering about trival political matters. I only instigated further problems to those that already existed. It seems that the people trust me more than their precious leader."
"EXCELLENT MARIUS, EXCELLENT! You are succeeding your father as a sorcerer!"
Marius leaves with a smirk on his face. He ascends up the stone stairs and stares out to what used to be the city of Atlantis. Suddenly, Hitomi's spirit appears. "Don't you hurt my little girl! I swear..." "What will you do?" Marius says with a sneer. "You're a simple spirit...you can't leave the Mystic Valley." "Yes, but I can reach my daughter's heart!" Hitomi yells as Marius passes through her. "And human hearts are swayed easily to easily sway the mind..." Marius says with a nonchanlant gesture. "She'll never believe you!" Hitomi says getting cross. "Wouldn't you rather your daughter to live in a perfect world, never knowing sorrow,pain, and tragedy? Don't you see? I can give her all that and a place of stature! It's so much better than what little she has on your pitiful Mystic Moon...she doesn't have any friends there, an empty house, an empty life..." "WELL, it's not HER fault I died..." Hitomi says with an indignant look. "No, it isn't," Marius says with an evil tone. "Goodbye, Hitomi, I have matters that need tending to...I do hope we may chat again sometime!" Marius calls to her as he continues to walk away.
Hitomi folds her arms. "He'd better not exploit her powers...but I can't do much...in the end...it's her choice..." she mumbles as she goes back to the large tree she usually stays around.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"Lord Van, there's something we need to discuss," Dryden said in a grave tone. He cut his eyes around the room and then back to me. "Alone."
"If everyone wouldn't mind..." I said motioning out of my room. "Just make sure that thing stays on tight," Millerna said jerking the knot even tighter and leaving with a smile. "YEA, TIGHT!" Merlu jerks it again. "Geez, you two are going to kill me!"
Everyone leaves and Drdyen hurriedly shuts the door. "She's Hitomi's daughter correct?" "Right," I say with a bit of unsuredness in my voice. "Look at this..." Dryden says pulling out a old, worn, leather bound book. "It's Issac's journal, like Allen's Father's journal...it fills all the missing gaps in his father's...and then some...the book tells of an Ispano prophecy..." Dryden's eyes narrow over his half moon glasses."If that's the case, we've got huge problems on our hands now..."
I felt my heart skip a beat. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, someone is planning to re-awaken Escaflowne, and it won't be you..." he said leaning with a hand on the table.
"And then?"
"And then, someone re-acitvates the Fate Alteration Machine, the Zone of Absolute Fortune, and the last stage of the process..."
"..........." I stared a Dryden, my gut filled with fear.
"Destruction or Salvation of one of the sister planets."
"What are you saying?" I say knitting my eyebrows together in concern.
"If what the prophecy says is true, someone was to bring the Herione of the Great War's daughter to Gaea. There will be much bickering between kingdoms and even disputes over the thrones. Someone is going to take advantage of this and as chaos slowly breaks out, they'll steal Escaflowne and hook it up to the Fate Alteration Machine. This starts phase two. Phase two is the Zone of Absolute Fortune, where the person in Escaflowne can foretell the absolute future, if it's hooked up to the Fate Alteration Machine. If the future they forsee isn't what they wish for, they may wish to change it. If that person wishes strongly enough, they may bring forth the Dragon's Maiden. There are two forces of Dragons: The Dragons of Heaven and the Dragons of Earth. The Dragon's Maiden will side with either Heaven, which is Gaea, and preserve it, or Earth, which is the Mystic Moon, and destory Gaea. Either way, one of the planets WILL perish..."
"Lord Van!" called Allen from outside the door. I ignored him. "What's to say this is true Dryden?" I asked with a skeptics instincts. "Lord Van! It's urgent! A messenger from Basram is here!"
Dryden simply folded his arms. "Have the Ispano let us down yet?"
"No, never..." I said glancing at the ground.
"Let the messenger in and see what he has to say..." Dryden said becoming even more cocky.
I fling the doors open and a rather plump messenger hands me this letter:
With warm regards to the grand King of Fanelia, in his Second Glorious Year,
My liege, Basram was allied with your country during the Great War until the bitter end, where we all turned one against another. Basram is truly sorry for this, and we wish to express our sincerest apologies. We also wish to express, that, we are under a new leadership since our last leader guided us along a path to war. We wish to introduce Marius La Cour de Fanel as our newest King and would hope you would be able to attend his coronation. Last but not least, Basram is having trouble with the Kingdom of Freid. We would like for you to confirm your alliance with us by attending the coronation of Lord Marius.
Sincerest regards from the Great Kingdom of Basram,
Nichon Alexander Donegels III
Royal Advisor to the grand King of Basram
"Oh no..." I thought to myself as my heart sank. I looked at Dryden and handed him the letter, my eyes whispering to him my fear. He rerturned with the same look after finishing reading the letter.
"Sir, I must know whether you are coming or not," said the messenger impatiently.
I glanced again at Dryden who was better at these things than most of my advisors. "Could you leave us a second?" Dryden said with a sarcastic smile as he slammed the doors in the face of the messenger.
"Legal ties, you have to go..." Dryden said pushing his glasses back up on his nose.
"But Marius..." I stuttered. "He has Basram, why would he want Fanelia?"
"Think about where we are in relation to Basram, Van," Dryden said.
"Fanelia, Basram, Asturia, and Freid are the four corner kingdoms...If one were to take over those four, he could have all of the continent!" I said after a moment of thinking back on my king's training.
"Exactly, I suggest you go, not only to make Fanelia look good, but to...how shall we say..." Dryden makes the quote signs in the air with his fingers, "spy and gather information." He winks and re-opens the doors. "My Lord has agreed to attend the coronation," he says with a sly smirk.
"That is all I needed to hear. Transportation will be provided for him and a Lady friend of his choosing. Coronation ceremonies will begin at high noon two lunars from today. I must go now, but thank you for supporting Basram." The messenger plows through the rest of the crowd and leaves the castle premises.
Everyone watches as he leaves but my eyes are searching for Shiryoku. "Did anyone see where Shiryoku went?"
"No, come to think of it, I think she left long before that man got here..." said Millerna.
"Oh man...I guess I'd better start looking for her...Dryden, I want you to stay here; I want to read that book for myself. Allen, if you wouldn't mind, I'd also like for you to stay. I'll send for a carriage to take you back to your house and get your wife and child to bring them here. "Millerna, keep your kingdom heavily guarded."
"Van," she said getting that damsel in distress look on her face, "What's going on?"
"Don't worry about it; for now, it's under control..." I say while running down the hallway trying to guess where Shiryoku went.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
I let out a huge sigh. "I'm lost in a huge castle...I should've known better than to go off exploring!" I say with a giggle tossing my arms behind my head taking large steps. I began to hum a little melody. "Lalalalala...lalala....lalalalaaa..."
"Hmn?" I felt the wind whispering to me. It was coming from outside. I saw a window overflowing with golden rays. I run over to the window and lean over it just a bit. Below me, appears to be the royal graveyard and then there's a big piece of machineary that looks very old. "...Maiden of Song...come to me..."
I squint as I continue to peer down at the machine. I thought I saw it move. I geuss not. "As for the voices," I say with a sigh, "I'm used to it by now."
I walk away from the window and keep looking for the way back to where I was. Everything looked the same though and the castle was so big. I then came across a little tapestry that had what appeared to be a family portiat woven into it. "He was such a cute little boy!" I squeeled with delight upon seeing Van about five or six years old being held by his older brother. "Folken wasn't too shabby himself," I say with a smile.
"Are you gawking at my older brother?" Van said with a smile as he leaned upon the wall. I flush a bright shade of red. "Uhhhh, no I am not."
"Liar," he says as he grabs my wrist and drags me back out into daylight.
"How did you ever learn your way around this place?"
"You know, I haven't been able to figure that out myself. How'd you like a tour of the kingdom?" Van said with a smile.
"OH! I'd love it!" I say while clasping my hands together.
"Great! Well, let me go get a carriage set up and we'll start it in a little bit. "Would you wait here until time to go?"
"Sure," I say while folding my arms behind my back. Van quickly leaves and there goes that wind whispering to me agian. "Maiden of Song...come to me...come to me...I need your help..."
I quickly spin around and see that machine again in the distance. "OH NO WAY!" I say gasping for air, my heart racing out of my chest. "That machine did not just MOVE!"
Suddenly, as quickly as I had lost my breath, Van returned and offered his hand to help me into the carriage. I tried to forget about the machine, but I couldn't help but stare at it. Did I imagine that? Or was it real?
The carriage drove off quickly, but my mind was still mulling over the machine. Nevermind though, I was getting to see Van's Kingdom!
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Ok, kinda a bad spot to end, but I didn't want to leave you off at the Escaflowne moves part and provide another cliffie! So, just R&R and I'll be back soon! I love ya'll! ~jj~