Hey all! I know, I know, it's literally been FOREVER since I've updated -
but I was just too distracted by the battle with schoolwork! Nehow, here's
the climax we've all been waiting for! Thank god I finally got it out of
my system. Just to let you know beforehand, it's kinda unconventional, so
please don't proceed with expectations - I wouldn't want to disappoint you.
Just have fun and dream of Van! In case that you don't remember what
happened in the previous chapter (hell, I don't even know if I remember),
here's just a brief recap: Van and Hitomi are transported to Basram where
they become imprisoned; President Basante (who works for the evil Branimir)
wants them dead; in prison, they meet Zeer, Zongi's brother, who helps them
out; there's that scene with Folken and his girl, Nerya; in the other
world; Orion goes to save Van and Hitomi - and before he leaves, he gives
Celena a kissy kiss! Blah, blah, blah.Hope that helps! Of course, you are
more than welcome to go back and read the last chap! Enjoy the new one!
X. The Atlantis Within
The tower room is dark. But they light each other's faces with their smiles.almost like children that dread the night, they press close into each other. And yet they are not afraid. There is nothing that might be against them: no yesterday, no morrow, for time is shattered. And they flower from its ruins. R. M. Rilke, "The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christophe Rilke"
A clamorous clatter of steel crashed against the ground as Basante dropped the weapons nervously. Frantic and bloated with confusion, he knelt and banged his head on the floor. "My Lord, I'm most sorry."
The large amount of metal and steel present in the armoury served to provide a magnificent echo of the booming voice. But the echo amplified not the voice's god-like quality but it's all-resounding evil. Basante, you should be sorry. First, your assassin failed to kill Orion. Then, your troops failed to destroy Freid. If it weren't for my Fireans, they would have escaped.
"I, I, I.I'm.my most humble apologies," Basante blinked irritably as sweat dripped into his eyes.
Nevertheless, you did well at the trial. They are in prison, right where I want them. But really, Basante, you ought to read more. It's quite embarrassing having you say the most preposterous words. Now, these are your final instructions, listen carefully: kill Orion again, make sure the head comes off this time! Execute him next dawn so Vannius will live to feel the pain. Kill the two of them next but make sure he watches her die. Understood?
"Yes, Milord, yes, yes," Basante's wrinkled nose pressed uncomfortably against the ground.
Today, Basante! Do it fast and do it good. You know what would happen if you fail me. Go!
Basante jumped up in fright and scurried over the scattered weapons and ran out the door.
The breathless evil remained, but it did not exist in the room. Branimir's world is not of Gaean or Terrestrial space. It is of Time - past, present, future and eternity. His voice echoed through the infinite tunnels and fabric of Time and it held an invisible hold on the universe. His spirit travelled with his voice and it too echoed within its own hollow core.
He began his soliloquy. Alas, Seraphine, my love, what have you become? You've carved such deep trenches on my heart that I shall never be complete without you. Why must you love Vannius? It was I who rescued you from misery and prison, it was I who gave you your precious Amadis. Poor, sick little Seraphine, what a weak human you've become, a plaything of Time. If you had loved me wholly, the power of Atlantis would have been ours, not theirs. We will have ruled as they rule! You would have had the pleasure of outshining Her! Now for you, there is none but death. How happy!
Let your betrayal and your machinations follow you to the grave. Death for you, death for me, death for all of us! Such power! Such glory! Vannius, you will see your world shatter! Then, you shall come to me, to my Realm, where power is not yours for the having. Then shall your vulnerability betray you. She will no longer be yours once she is here. The voice cackled then paused. The universe suspended in his voice.
Knowing Vannius, she will die without ever being united with him. Being what she is, she needs more than a spiritual bond with him. If they never come together physically, she will never be fully mortal and her wish will not be fulfilled! Oh the power! My dear Freya, I'm truly sorry for the sacrilege. But you are mine! Ha! The end shall crown all.
The words were done, the echo was done and everything bled into the pulsating centre of Time. Eternity unveiled itself and outshone Branimir. It pushed fate aside and steered the starry helm, voyaging towards the green lodestar. ....
When Hitomi awoke again, her first sensation was clamour. She wondered how there could be so much noise in a prison. But when her eyesight became clearer, she realized she was not in the dungeon, but back in the trial box of the courtroom. A maelstrom was blowing. Van was standing in front of her and leaning over the edge, cursing pugnaciously. "I'm gonna kill you, Basante! You release him right now!" Basante made no coherent reply and just pounded the gavel relentlessly.
Hitomi sat up and was in view of the entire room. What caught her soul was the sight of Orion chained to a post, near the judge's throne. She understood Van's exclamations. Orion must have come to save us and failed. While everyone raged, Orion kept his head down and suffered silently. Hitomi wanted to cry. He appeared so humble yet so strong, even with the chains clinging fiendishly to his beaten body. The stab wounds he got two weeks ago were gashed open. He was sentenced to be executed the next morning, exactly at dawn; his best friend is to follow him; his country lay in peril. But still, he seemed apart from human destinies. He is an unifier, a winnower of enduring souls.
Fate and misfortune stood impregnable and enormous before Van, but he was indefatigable. Him and Orion brought conviction that gods do exist. Van yelled on and on but no one allowed him space. Eventually, something more worthy of his attention drew him away: the sound of clashing steel came from the courtyard outside. People turned to see what had happened and they shouted in excitement. The courtroom became a theatre as everyone watched the door intently waiting to see who would storm in.
The doors were kicked open and a warrior strode in , stained with enemy's blood. Hitomi clasped onto Van for support, "It's.it's Selena!" Selena kept a dauntless vigilance, full to the brim with courage and determination. But mixed with all that was a fierce aggression, beatable only by itself. Her blue eyes fixated with a steadfast tempest upon Basante. An indistinguishable flame blazed within her and Hitomi feared it. With the sword and flowing cloak, Selena might have been mistaken for a female incarnation of Escaflowne, the God of War.
Everyone fearfully made way for the attacker. She marched straight up to Basante and pointed the sword at his nose tip. "Basante! You will release my friends now!"
Basante pressed his back against his chair and chuckled nervously. "Oh really? Why-why should I listen to you, duchess of the once existent Palas? Or should I call you Lord Dilandau?" Excited murmur arose across the room. Basante quickly gestured for the guards to capture her.
She swung up her sword, and within seconds, her captors lay in pools of blood. She resumed her tall, confidence stance and stared at Basante.
Van gasped and said sadly to Hitomi, "I recognize those moves with the sword. They're Dilandau's moves. He used them.on me."
Love, fuelled by fear and anxiety, blazed beyond the threshold of containment and scorched Selena. Though she warred in the name of Love, and Dilandau merely slaughtered in malice, it was the self-same hell that cremated the heart. The pain of loneliness shadowed behind. Van and Hitomi called her but it was ineffectual. She was lost in the pandemonium within. Hitomi concluded that she was probably not even full conscious of her own actions. Someone had to reach into her psyche and call her back. So then he did.
Orion lifted his head for the first time and called achingly, "Selena." The court grew quiet - all heard except her, whose fierce eyes remain fixed on Basante. Orion groaned and flinched a bit. He called again, with a little anger this time, "Selena!" As if awakened from an illusion, she blinked and turned to him, truly seeing him. The hell was cooled and a melancholy helplessness returned to her.
"Selena," he continued weakly, "I'm sorry I got caught. I'm sorry I was not able to save Van and Hitomi. It seems you were right, my body has not fully recovered. This is my fault. Why are you punishing yourself?" she staggered slowly towards him. The tip of her sword dragged on the marble ground and made a scratching sound that mirrored the sharpness of her pain.
"I'm the one who's wrong," Orion said, "Don't do this to yourself. Don't kill. Not for me. And if you do it for Van and Hitomi, they wouldn't want it either. Listen to me, Selena, put down your sword," she blinked in child-like confusion. He repeated, louder and more agonized, "Drop your sword!"
She gasped as if life had been breathed out of her. The sword clanged on the ground and it was the only sound heard in the crowded courtroom. She knelt on the ground and covered her face with her hands. Her convulsive sobs felt like acid poured onto Orion's wounds. With the final smile, he said to her, "wingdalei souce da pouron." Selena's tears were accompanied by Hitomi's.
When Basante chuckled in ridicule, the momentary spell of tragedy was broken for him and his people. Their world had to hurry on in its pathetic repetition and loveless muddledom. Sadness was for them a terrifying vision of a past when the spiritual world was not yet an arid desert. For one spectral second, they felt sad or sorry for the lovers, and Love itself had a glimmer of kinship. But the gavel soon pounded and the insulting noises flared up again. They shivered uneasily as they felt the passing of their own souls.
While Hitomi wept, the scene began to undermine Van's hold on life. He saw pass the throng, the president and the guards and beheld Orion, scarred and chained, with Selena kneeling and crying before him. What is this if not Love? But why has it not conquered all? So there is no permanence. They're all sentenced to death. Van suddenly let go of Hitomi's hand and gripped his own heart. He was so immersed in what he thought was the ultimate revelation that he did not even notice Allen walking in, escorted by guards.
Allen's action of helping Selena up was responded cruelly by Basante. "Schezar! Let me tell you, we have Zaibach's technology. If you interfere again, you can bet I'll change your sister back to Dilandau! So you better watch her and yourself. Don't even think about rescuing your friends!"
Remarkable self-control reined back Allen's shock and wrath. He turned to Basante with dignity and steadiness. "It is you who should watch out," he then turned to the defendant's box, "Van, Hitomi, hang in there. I promise I'll come save you." Allen gleamed with invincible heroism. In all his fatigue and frustration, he still truly believed that all will be peaceful soon. But it was not himself he counted on, but Van and Hitomi.
"Get them out!" Basante roared monstrously and the guards obeyed. Allen and Selena were forced out, but she suddenly let out a shrilly scream. All except Orion was stunned. "Selena," a tang of death could be heard in his voice. "It'll be okay. We'll meet again. Sei tu corai ansias, don't ever forget that. Good-bye." Then the guards dragged him off.
She shrieked and tried to run to him but was restrained by the guards. As she was carried out, her thin arms extended out desperately towards him and the blood veins were visible beneath her sickly pale skin. She wanted to reach across the boundary of life and death. What does death matter anyways when there is eternal Love? But death always matters. Though it was but a concept in itself, she could not help but believe it was the opposite of life, the end of life and everything in it. Eventually, she collapsed into Allen's arms and hoped dismally that physical weakness may bring her closer to death, and therefore closer to him. ....
The dungeon remained moribund for the rest of the day. Orion was taken to the cell at the very front of the corridor, far from Van and Hitomi. No one spoke, no mouse squeaked, no water dripped. There was the occasional echo in everyone's mind, "Sei tu corai ansias."
Hitomi lay on the bed while Van sat in the corner. They both looked intently at the walls and ceiling, as if some eternal answers would be scrawled in black ink across the prison cell. But there were on answers. They forgot all about Aleph, Freya, Atlantis - to think would make the remainder of life much harder. As dusk approached, Van was strangely proud of himself - he believed he could evade the fear and thus die in peace.
When night poured out its macabre self, a stifling sound came from Orion's cell. Lashes of whip slashed against the walls and tore at Orion's flesh. At first he gritted his teeth and endured the pain, constantly forming Selena's image in his mind, and thereby escaping the blood-stained reality. Earlier, he had placed the Twin Souls card in his palm and there it stayed. With each scorching lash, he held the card tighter until it became a tiny ball locked in his grip. The cuts on his back were split wider and wider, draining out his life and fortitude along with streams of blood. Tears and sweat poured over his gaunt face. Finally, all tenacity was lost and he decided not to hold onto heroism anymore. He released agonizing screams.
Van stiffened against the wall when he heard. The wound on his arm had healed, but the nightmare perpetuated. The dungeon reverberated and echoed with the scream, which soon turned into a howl. Orion knew Van would be hurt by the wail but he felt so weak that the only choice was to scream out at fate, at life and death, at the gods. After each howl, Van withdrew further into the corner. The excruciation enslaved him in catatonic agony. He drew up his knees to his chest and covered his ears like a frightened child. But the screams continued.
When Hitomi tried to hold him, he held out his arm and told her not to come near. It was one enemy he had to fight alone. Orion in pain, Orion to be executed.the trauma was too profound and the battle too pointless. Finally, Orion yelled. "Why?" it filled the dungeon, and Gaea itself trembled. The eternal question was followed by hacking coughs.
Van became tenser. He shivered at the question and his blank eyes stared in wild dread. He realized that for the first time in his life, he was afraid to die. Never on a battlefield had he been afraid. But he took one look at Hitomi, and he wished he were immortal, for he did not know how to reconcile his mutability with deathless Love.
His grey revelation filled him with hatred. Fate? Ha! Destiny? If human existence is reduced to this then life is more unfathomable than anyone ever imagined. He remembered Balgus had told him, "It is wisdom for a true warrior to accept both life and death." But while this philosophy had conviction and sincerity, it also had a tremulous vibration of revolt. He wanted to rebel against this fate, so he shut his eyes and called for Escaflowne, hoping it would come as it did five years ago in Zaibach.
But it remained in Fanelia, cold and lifeless in the caves. The blood pact did not prevail. Van gave up and felt a contempt for the evanescence of all things. Calls of the name Escaflowne became mere echoes down the corridors of life. He suddenly became loose and let his limbs fall. Hitomi came to him.
They sat together and fell not so much into sleep as into a visionary windlessness. A single candle lend poor light to the space. At around midnight, they heard their guard Zeer softly bang on the bars, "Hey, psst.Your Majesty? I've got a message."
Van returned to reality, and reluctantly went into the front chamber of the prison cell. "What is it?" Hitomi followed him.
"I'm afraid I've got bad new. I just heard that there's been a little rebellion in Fanelia. It seems in your absence, Lord Kailan got his friends to rescue him and his son. He tried to usurp your throne. Queen Millerna had them all executed."
Hitomi gasped in shock but Van simply sighed. "Oh. I thought I told her not to kill them. But.it's done."
"Hmm." Zeer clicked his tongue. "I'm really sorry, Your Majesty. But don't worry, I've got good news too. Here," he reached into his pocket and took out the pendant.
"Where did you get that?" Hitomi exclaimed.
"Well, I know where Basante keeps his little triumphs, so I made a little trip," he reached pass the bars and handed the pendant to Hitomi. But suddenly, his body began transforming.
Hitomi stepped back in fright and Van stood in front of her defensively. "You're a.you're a doppelganger!"
The true form was odorous and unpleasant so he quickly changed back to his human form. "Yes, I am a doppelganger, but please do not be afraid. Let me tell you a story. Do you remember the doppelganger you met in Freid, named Zongi?"
Hitomi relaxed a bit and approached him curiously. "Y-yes, the one who took the form of Plaktu the priest and hypnotized me, except.I saw his true form. Are you Zongi? But you can't be."
"I am not. Zongi was my brother. I was working in Freid's palace as a page. But Zongi was always the ambitious one in the family. He worked for your brother, Lord Folken, hoping to gain power. I was content with a simple life. He had once told me that he does some espionage and I knew then that he would get himself in trouble one day. Then I heard the news that the girl from the Mystic Moon and the king of Fanelia have gone to save Zongi's life, despite his being a doppelganger. I know you did not succeed but the attempt means a lot to me. There aren't many people who would risk their lives to save a doppelganger, especially not one like Zongi. For what you've done for my brother, I stole back the pendant for you as a show of gratitude," Zeer bowed sincerely.
Van was no longer alarmed or perfunctory. The bond of brothers was something he himself understood. Furthermore, being a draconian, the fate of alienation suffered by the doppelgangers was a misfortune he shared. He held out his hand and shook Zeer's. Then he turned to Hitomi and put the pendant around her neck. "Wear it. I want you to be protected by it until the end."
"Don't worry," Zeer said, "There won't be an end."
They smiled at him emptily, perhaps in disbelief, but also in admiration for such faith and courage. But life was a god whose eternity required more than faith and prayers to prove. As they turned to get back into the inner chamber, Zeer pulled Van back while Hitomi went on.
"Your Majesty," he whispered and cleared his throat. "This is going to sound weird, but um.have you two, um.you know,"
Van pulled his arm back in annoyance and inched closer to the bars. "No, I don't know."
"Oh," Zeer rolled his eyes. "Have you and the pretty lady, you know.bonded?" Van frowned but then blushed in embarrassment. "You understand my meaning, right? You know, consummation?" Zeer winked.
Van darkened to mauve and started to leave, "That's none of your business."
Zeer pulled him back. "Wait! Listen to me. From your reaction, I know you haven't, but you must, at dawn!"
"What!" Van gasped in disgust and incredulity. "That is the most preposterous thing I've ever heard. I would never," he blushed uncomfortably, "Never ever violate Hitomi in that way!"
Zeer gripped his arms tighter so he would not steal away. "King Van, you've got to believe me. You have to do it. It would be no violation, it would be salvation. I'm not trying to be sick or anything. But seriously, at dawn! I'll keep a look out and make sure no one comes. Please trust me!"
Van stared suspiciously at Zeer but noticed that his eyes expressed such sincerity and truth that the only possible explanation would be insanity.
"Please! You've got to bond," there was a desperation in Zeer's voice.
Van coldly ripped Zeer's fingers from his arm and said sarcastically, "Right." Then he walked into the inner room, concealed from Zeer's sight. The doppelganger guard stood staring down the empty hall and mumbled incoherently to himself before he finally returned to the guard's nook, to pray.
Van sat down on the bed and chuckled slightly. Then he realized, Hitomi was crying. "Hey, hey, what's the matter?" he tried to lift up her face gently and look into her eyes.
She collapsed into his arms and quivered. "Van.I don't want to die. And I don't want you and Orion to die. What if we can't be together in the afterlife? What if we get separated like Folken and Nerya?"
Van felt desiccated throughout and his throat dried in speechlessness. He feebly patted her back and realized she shrivelled up more. "Hitomi.death is one enemy we can't run away from. Perhaps we should learn to face it. It is tomorrow noon after all. Perhaps twenty years was enough. Orion used to say, 'tragedy is bearable only if we make ourselves conscious of it.'"
She shook her head in passionate defiance. "Maybe we're too conscious of it. When my plane exploded, before I was transported to Serenus, I thought I would die and be with my family again. But then I didn't want to die because I was afraid I would never see you again. I want a lifetime with you, Van. And.and what about Valorick and Hermione? Does this mean they will never even exist? I thought that was our family, our home.what kind of a destiny is this?" she withdrew from his arms and sat straight against the wall.
For the first time, hopelessness was in her eyes, and it entered Van like a stab. "I.Hitomi, I really don't want to fathom destiny anymore. I don't think it's my place as a mortal to possess knowledge of that kind," he suddenly remembered his trip back in time during which he thought he had died and journeyed to heaven. "You know, maybe death is just a continuation of life, except in a different world. Maybe it'll be a place where no distance or time can separate us again," he gripped her cold hands. "It'll be just like birth. In that sense, we will be together."
She replied with a tight squeeze of his hand. Then she surveyed the chipped walls, cob-webbed corners and squalid ground of the prison cell. The confined space seemed woefully humble in its grim plainness. But the dance of the candlelight gave a blazing reminder that life exists everywhere. Hitomi put her head against Van's and said, "Is this the only home we'll ever know?"
Unexpectedly, a foreign voice answered, "No, it is not."
Van stood up in alarm and hatefully beheld the person standing before him. "Seraphine! How did you get here?"
Her diamond eyes trembled stormily in the shadows like bright gods staring down at the mortals. "I have materialized out of the wind."
Van bent down in a defensive position and heaved crossly. "If you're here to complete some mission for Branimir, then I will not hold back."
To Van's surprise, Seraphine frowned sadly and replied with a tremour. "P- please, Vannius, it is not like that with Branimir. I've come of my own accord. I want to clarify a few things before it's too late."
Van shifted weight uneasily and pondered her true motive. But Hitomi stepped forth from her corner. "Van, we should give her a chance. She might be able to help us," Van looked up at the ceiling then sat down with a thump.
Seraphine expressed gratitude that Van thought her incapable of. She gestured for Hitomi to sit down also then he knelt in front of them. Her long, silver waves and white iridescent gown flowed softly over the ground and the tranquil profusion collected into a pool at their feet. As Seraphine was gathering breath for a difficult disclosure, Van thought strangely that perhaps she really is beautiful.
She inhaled deeply then began. "You were right about me working for Branimir. When I first met you on Serenus, I was sent by him to break your Love," Van looked away distastefully. "I suppose Aleph knows about all this, but he stands aloof and never interfered, possibly because he foresees the resolution of all problems. I have failed Branimir, so as a result, he no longer employs me and has even punished me."
"How has he punished you?" Hitomi asked.
Seraphine paused, the veins of her swan neck stretched taut in nervousness. "Hitomi, it is the greatest crime that can ever be committed against a woman."
Hitomi covered her mouth in dread. "W-what.do you mean he.he r-raped you?"
"Not him. He would never dirty his own hands with the crimes he commands. He gave me away as a present to his leading general, Antenus."
Hitomi frowned in torturous sympathy then she stood up. "Seraphine, I'm.I'm so very sorry." Hitomi opened her arms with such sisterly warmth that Seraphine responded with a sincere smile and a hug. Her beauty was no longer spurious.
Suddenly, as Hitomi came in contact with Seraphine, an unforeseeable vision penetrated Hitomi's being and flooded out the prison. A gauzy, blood-hued light effused from the cloudy billows, rings of white buildings, marble pillars and obelisks encircled with winged creatures: Atlantis. There, beneath the Great Tree stood Seraphine and a majestically clad young man. She gazed at him amorously while he turned away in despair and tore a lead from the Tree. Then, a golden halo descended from the sky. Its blinding light was swirling and dancing until it reached the ground and became an emanation. It was a woman. Hitomi felt a sharp pain in her chest and fell back into Van, who was torn by his failure to awake her from the vision.
The fiery light of Atlantis scintillated and the whole place glowed gloriously like a red nebula in the black cosmos. The strange woman of the halo approached the young man. He held up his right palm and she pressed hers against it lovingly. The two walked off, leaving Seraphine sobbing wretchedly. Then, a blonde warrior, impressive in a black armour, came up to Seraphine, pushed her against the tree and ripped open her clothes. She gazed at him curiously then submitted to his carnal embrace.
Hitomi felt the cold ground beneath her. She opened her eyes to immense faintness and obscurity. Van smoothed over her hair until she finally recognized him and gripped onto him. "Van, it was horrible!"
Seraphine knelt down beside her and touched her forehead. "You saw Atlantis didn't you?"
Hitomi sat up against Van and breathed distressingly. She fixed her gaze on the floor and dared not look at either of them. "Yes, I-I did. I saw you, Seraphine, with this young man. It must have been Van," she stole a quick glance at his tortured face. "or rather.Vannius. But this strange woman came, she was like a light. She took him away. Then you were left with this warrior.Does Branimir have blonde hair and wears a black armour?"
Seraphine stood up and nodded. "As a result of my turning to Branimir for consolation, my son Amadis was born. I've not seen my baby since his birth. I suppose you must have guessed who the other woman is."
Hitomi trembled as she counted the hammering pulses of blood throughout her body. "M-me?" Seraphine's silence affirmed her fear. "Do you mean I stole Van away from you? Oh my God!" A sob broke out and Hitomi crawled out of Van's arms. "So I'm the intruder? I'm so sorry."
As Hitomi's tears flooded out, Van sat petrified and confused. Seraphine took Hitomi's hands in her. "No, Hitomi, that is not true. The prophetic destiny I had with Vannius is inferior to your Love. I've accepted this. I willingly chose Branimir. I reincarnated on Serenus, because I hoped to break free from him, but alas I cannot, for he is my fate. But don't you see, fate does not apply to you," Seraphine used her snowy, willow fingers to wipe away Hitomi's tears.
For a few moments of stupor and bewilderment, the three of them were suspended in their inner maelstrom. Logic was not enough to organize all the thoughts and the bpdy was too mortal to pump out all the emotions. Van inched closer to Hitomi and she did not move away. After some hesitation, Van inquired cautiously. "Seraphine, do you love Branimir?"
"I." she began pacing slowly. "I do love him. We're a lot alike in many ways. I'm the only one who sees a heaven in his hellish heart. But it seems he does not really believe I love him," she stopped before the wall and wringed her hands. "Perhaps it's because he knows I've never forgotten you, Vannius. He loves me in his own way, I suppose.but love is difficult for him. He even hates his own mother. She is the matriarch of Athlon, and as long as she lives, he cannot be emperor. She also runs all the brothels in Athlon, so he accuses her of being the head source of the syphilis that kills soldiers yearly."
Van and Hitomi listened with some repulsion but strangely, they felt an undeniable compassion for the nefarious leader of the Fireans. Hitomi still held the conviction that Branimir has a tragic core whence all his villainy sprung. Wanting to prove herself right, she eagerly asked, "So does Branimir hate Van because of you, because you never forgot Van? Is that why he wanted to break us up?"
Seraphine bowed her head as if in shame and came up to them. "That is one of the reasons, but not the full reason. I must tell you what I should have told you long ago," she held their hands. "You must always remember that the power of Atlantis is unleashed by Love only. Two lovers have freed the power - you," she widened her starry eyes and they were entranced by her cosmic glow.
Seraphine adjusted herself to a more comfortable position then continued. "Branimir wanted to bond with me, emotionally and physically, so that he might possess the power. But because my heart was never wholly his, the power was unattained and it went to you instead. He seeks revenge for this and he also wants you , Hitomi, to fall in love with him," Hitomi's eyes expressed an astonishing "what?" "He wants Basante to kill you because once you die, you will be more vulnerable to his power. He plans to rob Van of your heart. But he's a fool. All Love comes your Love. Love itself depends on you as much as you need it. Everything has been your will."
Van closed his eyes. "Aleph said that too. What does it mean it's our will? We certainly did not will this!" he gestured at the prison walls.
"I cannot explain well, I'm afraid. All I can say is," she stood up, "Atlantis lives inside you. It is inside all of our souls," she reached out her hands and pulled them up. "Love is on your side, and no death can take it away. Always remember that Love draws its power from Freya. She is not exactly the Goddess of Love and Hope. She is the Anima Mundi, the World Soul."
"I know that phrase, Anima Mundi," Hitomi said, "it's Latin for 'Psyche of the World.'"
"That's right. Like Atlantis, she lives within. Her blessings will be greater than mine." Seraphine looked at the tiny window above. "I must go, it is almost time."
"Wait," Van expressed caring concern. "Where will you go?"
"Vannius," she blushed slightly, "I mean, Van, you must have known since Serenus that you are able to reincarnate. That means you're an aeon like myself."
"An aeon? Doesn't that mean time?"
"Yes. But it also means an angel of immense Time. In other words, immortal Atlanteans. Not all inhabitants of Atlantis had been destined so. There are four dimensions of Time: past, present, future and eternity. We belong to the last of these. As an aeon, we have three paths: reincarnation as you and your brother have chosen, or stay in the same form forever like Branimir, or resign all life and enter the Eternal Realm like Aleph and Folken. I will now go to Athlon and resign my life there."
"I understand," Van nodded and held out his hand. "I hope we will be at peace."
"I think we already are," she bowed slightly in gratitude. "But I must tell you something now," she held Van's hand and pulled him closer. "The only way to defeat Branimir at this stage is to take Zeer's advice. You must bond as he says."
Van stepped back in disbelief. "What? You can't be serious."
Hitomi shook his arm in perplexity. "What is it, Van?"
"You must," Seraphine's eyes gleamed with determined fire. "It must be at dawn, at the exact moment Orion dies."
Van shook his head and approached the brink of laughter. "No! I don't know what you mean by this! I just.I just can't." Hitomi gently touched his back and he shied away in fright. "I'm sorry, Hitomi, I just."
"Van!" Seraphine gripped him by the shoulders and forced his eyes to meet hers. "Pull yourself together, young king. I'm handing you the only way to defeat the impending tragedy. You've felt the thinness of time since the beginning, and now you must let it feel you." Van tensed up in bewilderment but eventually, he eased into a demure understanding, an intuition even and Seraphine released him.
She backed up against the wall and smiled lovingly at Hitomi. "My dear lady, be not afeard. Remember all that I've told you." Then, her body began to waver in and out of space. Seraphine was transformed into a transparent, gossamer light that bore the faint appearance of a person. Before her face completely became a whisper in the wind, she said, "Feel the power of the Anime Mundi, and always believe in the Atlantis within. Remember, at dawn!" Then, all were shadows, embossed with watery patches of candlelight.
Hitomi calmly sat down and took the dragon-phoenix relic in her hands. She turned it over and over meditatively while Van pensively paced the room like a wise king. Then Hitomi looked up at him and said, "We're going to die very soon."
He stopped his contemplation and sat down beside her, drawing her into his arms. "I know. I've accepted it, sounds like you have too."
She looked down at the relic. "I have. After what Seraphine has told us, I feel death is not so frightening anymore. Perhaps I'm being naïve, but at this point, I hardly think it matters. Besides, the Death card symbolizes the dawn of a new beginning anyways."
Van laid back on the mattress, hands beneath his head. "I don't think we're being naïve. I think this is right. Balgus used to say that the greatest wisdom is the courage to face both life and death. Our lives have been tempestuous, huh?" Hitomi smiled and placed her head on his chest. "You know, Hitomi, I think life and death are just concepts man made up. If someone never learns that life and death are thought to be opposites then they are essentially the same thing for him."
Hitomi smoothed his shirt. "Right. Life and death are relative. Just like Time. You're a wise king, Van," she hastily said the last part and quickly grew silent. Van became very tense and squinted his eyes to scrutinize the water stain on the ceiling. It resembled the dragon head of Fanelia's crest, just like the stain in his room. "Van, what about Fanelia?"
"I.I really don't believe this is the end," there was a tenacious, even stoic fortitude in his voice. "Death will not be our end, so Fanelia still has hope. I won't let anyone harm my homeland and my people."
Hitomi looked up at him in admiration and held him tighter. "I love the sound of your beating heart. It makes me think it'll beat forever." Then they laid together, firmly against each other and peacefully observed the dance of shadow and light.
The spiritual need to reconcile time and death to intimations of immortality was answered. Existence shall always be about Life. But this Life has no opposite in death. It is the synonym of Time, in all its dimensions. The breathing life is but one hemisphere of the soul's existence, and the second half of Life is lived in what mortals call death. Together with Eternity and Infinity, the two hemispheres complete the cosmic cycle of gained-lost-regained, born-died-reborn.
"Van, what did Zeer advise you to do?" Hitomi suddenly asked.
In nervousness and embarrassment, Van gently pushed her off his chest and stood up and resumed his pacing. "Oh, it's nothing. It's.it's nothing important. It's nonsense really."
Hitomi curled up on the bed. "But Seraphine seemed to take it seriously. Just tell me what it is."
He continued the awkward pacing then remembered that great decisions must not be dissected and must be made in the splendor of one feverish moment. Though he had tried to tailor the question in his mind and sculpt it to perfection, time encouraged his heart to feel the right path and go over to Hitomi at that very second and kneel down.
"Van!" she sat up on the bed with a blush. "What are you doing?"
He held her hands and contrived to appear dashing and romantic, but what came out instead was a solemn, oceanic and fiery poetry that Hitomi thought suited Van best. "Hitomi, I.I've thought about this for a long time. You know that in the present situation, I cannot give you a kingdom, or even a nice home. But I." he breathed deeply and cleared his throat. The air seemed very suffocating. "I would still like, I mean." he finally looked up at her, "Will you be my.queen, in the world to come?" A creeping liquid seemed to encroach on Van's heart as he knelt and waited for her answer.
Hitomi sat in astonishment, breathlessness, but above all, unsurpassable joy. She gasped for air among the bubbles of rapture this long-dreamed of question offered, but she breathed in only light. She knew, from then on, she will always be a creature of radiance and heaven would penetrate her soul, through and through. She has often imagined, while in bed at home, what it would be like when Van proposed to her. Though she had not exactly fantasized about being in a cold prison, with no beautiful scenery as a backdrop, she knew Van offered to her more than marriage, but Life itself. An intense force swelled up in her. She knelt down beside him and threw her arms around his neck. "Of course!"
He laughed, his heart laughed out loud. They giggled at each other and wiped away the tears that softly veiled their empyrean eyes. Then Van remembered, "I'm sorry I can't give you a ring, or a token of some sort."
"Take the pendant then," she took the rosy stone off her neck and handed it to him. He gingerly wrapped it around her entire hand. "It's our tradition to bind a bejewelled band around the hand of the betrothed," he smiled and added, "Sei tu corai ansias."
She stroked his cheek tenderly. "We'll build ourselves a home in the other world. I cherish you, Van Fanel," she grinned sheepishly then snuggled into his arms. They sat up on the mattress and unconsciously embarked on the odyssey to the mystic peak where they never thought they'd find home.
Van pulled Hitomi onto his lap and kissed her neck, and collar bones. She unknowingly parted her lips for she felt the air had become keenly sparse. She was soon forced to breathe for longer intervals and the pressure upon her lungs expanded into an incandescent sphere that flowed to the rest of her body. She suddenly said, in a wispy, quiet voice, "Remember that time at the.at the mill in.in Asturia, you told me," she coughed, "You told me.by accident perhaps," she laughed a little, "You said you.you said you wanted me. Do you still?"
He looked at her and stood up, holding her up also until her feet floated above the floor. He pressed her against himself and whispered into her ear, "I want you."
Her heart pumped turbulently against his, "Say it again."
He stroked her back and her skin was soft like the face of a petal. "I want you, Hitomi." He kissed her, almost voraciously. She had a distinct smell, he thought, like the scent of the wind as he flies in the air. Then he vaguely recalled what Oneseme, the Etolian sage, had told him: "If Time opens up, at first it will open up for you only. To contain it, you must let yourself be pulled by its gravity, and you must enter its circle." Banishing all shyness and doubts, and recruiting life, death and Love by his side, he surrendered himself to the circle and lay down beneath the gravity of Love.
With a few laughs and awkward tangling, they managed to remove each other's clothes. The relic had been dropped on the ground and it mysteriously began glowing, a crimson, liberating fire of gravity. But the main course of light in the small room emanated from the single candle. In the stillness of the night, the flame rose higher and higher until it seemed to become a tall, solid obelisk with a phoenix feather tip that magnificently pierced the virgin air.
From her soft-flowing limbs, passion-parted lips, from his immense eyes and intoxicating touch, there came an incandescence. The vaporous atmosphere wrapped them in all-dissolving power and they felt they were particles born from nebular ether. His presence flooded and mingled through her blood till it became his life, which in turn revitalized hers. In the tremulous motions, their beings were condensed into a single drop of ecstasy.
Outside, the eastern sun gradually crept towards the horizon. The relic vied to compete with the sunlight. The pendant, wrapped around Hitomi's hand and trailing on Van's back, also began to glow. Gaea was turning.
(Masked guards approached Orion's cell and found him sitting, with a steady firmness on his face. As they dragged him out, he looked towards Van's direction and smiled clownishly.
The same sun began to beat above Fanelia. Allied troops spied the approach of the Basram army, coming to claim what they called their rightful colony. Allen, exhausted but valiant as ever, hurried out to gather the warriors, whose patriotic expressions would soon gaze on defeat.)
Van and Hitomi received a gift of mutual immersion they had never known. It required no training, no thought, only pure nature. It was a sublime drowning in a liquid homage. They felt they were immersed in the natural position of the soul and all life drained into them. Red petals from the immortal flower called amaranth, which grows in Elysium, were blown to them and the petals formed an unimaginably high tower that touched a never before conceived paradise.
The aurorean light flowed over the horizon. Sky and ocean met clearly and boundlessly. Sea waves sparkled before the sun, undulating softly at times, more wildly at others. But eventually, the ups and downs of the billows were harmonized into one oceanic heave that throbbed with the dawn.
(Orion ascended the dirty wooden steps of the scaffold. He was blindfolded, and forced to kneel before the block. In his fist, he still clutched the Twin Souls card.
The allied troops charged head on against the Basram invaders. Death broke out, in all the visions of the word "horror". Steel blades no longer shone when blood was smeared on.)
The prison walls seemed to have vanished for them and they soared free as the gods above. But when Hitomi extended her arms, her hand still hit the wall. She scratched it fiercely and the sharp sound echoed down the dungeon. "Oh, Van." she exclaimed once but he quickly covered her mouth.
Every kiss, every motion fed into the burning experience. They both wanted to banish the crude approximation of the word 'sex'. The tumult of that insufficient and desecrated word haunted each inflamed movement. But all the same, they were in tune with infinity, boundless as the sea, flowing faster, deeper into them and striving harder and harder to touch every inch of the world.
(Orion's head was pushed down against the block. He chanted the phrase, 'sei tu corai ansias', not because it might save his life, but because it spoke to death itself.
Selena panicked over her brother's safety and eventually broke out the caves with a sword in her hand.)
The relic and pendant glowed continuously. A strange, aria-like song arose in the background. It was a cosmic music that bloomed from space and prevailed over everything. But only Van and Hitomi heard it.
Gods of pure flame were born in them, completely melting the pinnacles of virgin snow. The cosmic orchestra swelled out from the fountain of creation. Trumpets flourished, drums boomed and a trio of violin joined. From the music, Love, the flame of all flames was born. The Aeolian spirits joined in the chorus.
Orion felt the cold, sharp blade descend on the back of his neck. The crumbled card in his hand fell to the ground.
Before Selena reached the battlefield, she suddenly felt a tempestuous lightning through her soul. She jolted and collapsed forward, gasping as her heart was compressed into a teardrop. He is dead.
Orion's head faced up and with his last hint of life, he smiled, at tragedy, and at the new beginning that is being born.
A new world is not all that is born. Van and Hitomi summoned the future. Time comes through their embrace and a new human being arises. Destiny is consummated and it awakens the law by which a vigorous seed journeys to the egg-cell that advances lovingly to meet it.
Beside the music of the summit, Van heard a distant, sonorous voice yelling to him, "Damn you, Vannius! I will return." He immediately recognized it to be Branimir's voice. But he ignored it. "I love you, Hitomi Kanzaki."
Their ravishing union wafted from merely the impassioned entanglement of two lovers to the unseen and unknowable union of all time and space. The pendant and energist beat in fiery unison. Escaflowne suddenly vanished from the Nerya caves. It simply retreated back to its mystic realm where war and peace are irrelevant. It need not ever reappear again.
The apocalyptic music burst free. Above the sun, the constellation of Orion mystically arose and marked the dawn of the Atlantis within.
A red Atlantean force emanated from the relic and the pendant. Time opened up. The Universe trembled in response then all was metamorphosed.
~ End of Part X ~
I know the ending with the whole sex scene is really weird but it's never been done before (well, actually, the idea of divine sex that transforms the universe is taken from Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound", so I thought it would be cool - this is a love story after all. I hope you didn't find the sexualized language offensive. Or maybe you thought it was not explicit enough - I can't really be too literal without cheapening my story into porn, so sorry. If you have any specific comments about the section, please do not hesitate to contact me. The whole reason behind why they must bond physically is fully explained in Book II, but I hope you've already picked up some of the clues. The next few chapters are a kind of rounding off - there are some nice moments, I think ;). They also lead on to the rest of the story. Please keep on reading ^_^
Just a side note: someone recently left me an 'interesting' review (on ch.1) and I thought I should just clear up some misunderstanding - firstly, I switch tenses in my writing in order to reflect the theme that past, present and future mingle together, which is why you may find that the tenses switch dramatically; second, I may be mistaken about the Latin word 'drakon' (I know you're thinking that 'to see' is something more along the lines of 'vide') but from what I read it does say the word is used in Latin poetry, though rarely and derived from Greek; third, events in the story happen without any signs of them coming, because there are no signs - do you know exactly what is going to happen tomorrow? Besides, it's an adventure fantasy! Lastly, about the style, I know it can be frustrating for some people, if that's the case with you, then don't read it - there are many stories that are more enjoyable than mine. Upon my friend's advice, I will be changing the style in Book II in order to accommodate readers. Besides, my writing changes daily, so there's no need to worry!
Notes and Points of Interest: In Mysticism and Occultism, the Anima Mundi is the World Soul, kind of like a female counterpart of God (the word Anima is Latin for soul - it's also a nice pun on the word anime, which we all love); an aeon is an angel of time, according to Gnostics. Btw, some of Basante's words during the trial are weird, not because they're misspelled - he actually talks like that.
X. The Atlantis Within
The tower room is dark. But they light each other's faces with their smiles.almost like children that dread the night, they press close into each other. And yet they are not afraid. There is nothing that might be against them: no yesterday, no morrow, for time is shattered. And they flower from its ruins. R. M. Rilke, "The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christophe Rilke"
A clamorous clatter of steel crashed against the ground as Basante dropped the weapons nervously. Frantic and bloated with confusion, he knelt and banged his head on the floor. "My Lord, I'm most sorry."
The large amount of metal and steel present in the armoury served to provide a magnificent echo of the booming voice. But the echo amplified not the voice's god-like quality but it's all-resounding evil. Basante, you should be sorry. First, your assassin failed to kill Orion. Then, your troops failed to destroy Freid. If it weren't for my Fireans, they would have escaped.
"I, I, I.I'm.my most humble apologies," Basante blinked irritably as sweat dripped into his eyes.
Nevertheless, you did well at the trial. They are in prison, right where I want them. But really, Basante, you ought to read more. It's quite embarrassing having you say the most preposterous words. Now, these are your final instructions, listen carefully: kill Orion again, make sure the head comes off this time! Execute him next dawn so Vannius will live to feel the pain. Kill the two of them next but make sure he watches her die. Understood?
"Yes, Milord, yes, yes," Basante's wrinkled nose pressed uncomfortably against the ground.
Today, Basante! Do it fast and do it good. You know what would happen if you fail me. Go!
Basante jumped up in fright and scurried over the scattered weapons and ran out the door.
The breathless evil remained, but it did not exist in the room. Branimir's world is not of Gaean or Terrestrial space. It is of Time - past, present, future and eternity. His voice echoed through the infinite tunnels and fabric of Time and it held an invisible hold on the universe. His spirit travelled with his voice and it too echoed within its own hollow core.
He began his soliloquy. Alas, Seraphine, my love, what have you become? You've carved such deep trenches on my heart that I shall never be complete without you. Why must you love Vannius? It was I who rescued you from misery and prison, it was I who gave you your precious Amadis. Poor, sick little Seraphine, what a weak human you've become, a plaything of Time. If you had loved me wholly, the power of Atlantis would have been ours, not theirs. We will have ruled as they rule! You would have had the pleasure of outshining Her! Now for you, there is none but death. How happy!
Let your betrayal and your machinations follow you to the grave. Death for you, death for me, death for all of us! Such power! Such glory! Vannius, you will see your world shatter! Then, you shall come to me, to my Realm, where power is not yours for the having. Then shall your vulnerability betray you. She will no longer be yours once she is here. The voice cackled then paused. The universe suspended in his voice.
Knowing Vannius, she will die without ever being united with him. Being what she is, she needs more than a spiritual bond with him. If they never come together physically, she will never be fully mortal and her wish will not be fulfilled! Oh the power! My dear Freya, I'm truly sorry for the sacrilege. But you are mine! Ha! The end shall crown all.
The words were done, the echo was done and everything bled into the pulsating centre of Time. Eternity unveiled itself and outshone Branimir. It pushed fate aside and steered the starry helm, voyaging towards the green lodestar. ....
When Hitomi awoke again, her first sensation was clamour. She wondered how there could be so much noise in a prison. But when her eyesight became clearer, she realized she was not in the dungeon, but back in the trial box of the courtroom. A maelstrom was blowing. Van was standing in front of her and leaning over the edge, cursing pugnaciously. "I'm gonna kill you, Basante! You release him right now!" Basante made no coherent reply and just pounded the gavel relentlessly.
Hitomi sat up and was in view of the entire room. What caught her soul was the sight of Orion chained to a post, near the judge's throne. She understood Van's exclamations. Orion must have come to save us and failed. While everyone raged, Orion kept his head down and suffered silently. Hitomi wanted to cry. He appeared so humble yet so strong, even with the chains clinging fiendishly to his beaten body. The stab wounds he got two weeks ago were gashed open. He was sentenced to be executed the next morning, exactly at dawn; his best friend is to follow him; his country lay in peril. But still, he seemed apart from human destinies. He is an unifier, a winnower of enduring souls.
Fate and misfortune stood impregnable and enormous before Van, but he was indefatigable. Him and Orion brought conviction that gods do exist. Van yelled on and on but no one allowed him space. Eventually, something more worthy of his attention drew him away: the sound of clashing steel came from the courtyard outside. People turned to see what had happened and they shouted in excitement. The courtroom became a theatre as everyone watched the door intently waiting to see who would storm in.
The doors were kicked open and a warrior strode in , stained with enemy's blood. Hitomi clasped onto Van for support, "It's.it's Selena!" Selena kept a dauntless vigilance, full to the brim with courage and determination. But mixed with all that was a fierce aggression, beatable only by itself. Her blue eyes fixated with a steadfast tempest upon Basante. An indistinguishable flame blazed within her and Hitomi feared it. With the sword and flowing cloak, Selena might have been mistaken for a female incarnation of Escaflowne, the God of War.
Everyone fearfully made way for the attacker. She marched straight up to Basante and pointed the sword at his nose tip. "Basante! You will release my friends now!"
Basante pressed his back against his chair and chuckled nervously. "Oh really? Why-why should I listen to you, duchess of the once existent Palas? Or should I call you Lord Dilandau?" Excited murmur arose across the room. Basante quickly gestured for the guards to capture her.
She swung up her sword, and within seconds, her captors lay in pools of blood. She resumed her tall, confidence stance and stared at Basante.
Van gasped and said sadly to Hitomi, "I recognize those moves with the sword. They're Dilandau's moves. He used them.on me."
Love, fuelled by fear and anxiety, blazed beyond the threshold of containment and scorched Selena. Though she warred in the name of Love, and Dilandau merely slaughtered in malice, it was the self-same hell that cremated the heart. The pain of loneliness shadowed behind. Van and Hitomi called her but it was ineffectual. She was lost in the pandemonium within. Hitomi concluded that she was probably not even full conscious of her own actions. Someone had to reach into her psyche and call her back. So then he did.
Orion lifted his head for the first time and called achingly, "Selena." The court grew quiet - all heard except her, whose fierce eyes remain fixed on Basante. Orion groaned and flinched a bit. He called again, with a little anger this time, "Selena!" As if awakened from an illusion, she blinked and turned to him, truly seeing him. The hell was cooled and a melancholy helplessness returned to her.
"Selena," he continued weakly, "I'm sorry I got caught. I'm sorry I was not able to save Van and Hitomi. It seems you were right, my body has not fully recovered. This is my fault. Why are you punishing yourself?" she staggered slowly towards him. The tip of her sword dragged on the marble ground and made a scratching sound that mirrored the sharpness of her pain.
"I'm the one who's wrong," Orion said, "Don't do this to yourself. Don't kill. Not for me. And if you do it for Van and Hitomi, they wouldn't want it either. Listen to me, Selena, put down your sword," she blinked in child-like confusion. He repeated, louder and more agonized, "Drop your sword!"
She gasped as if life had been breathed out of her. The sword clanged on the ground and it was the only sound heard in the crowded courtroom. She knelt on the ground and covered her face with her hands. Her convulsive sobs felt like acid poured onto Orion's wounds. With the final smile, he said to her, "wingdalei souce da pouron." Selena's tears were accompanied by Hitomi's.
When Basante chuckled in ridicule, the momentary spell of tragedy was broken for him and his people. Their world had to hurry on in its pathetic repetition and loveless muddledom. Sadness was for them a terrifying vision of a past when the spiritual world was not yet an arid desert. For one spectral second, they felt sad or sorry for the lovers, and Love itself had a glimmer of kinship. But the gavel soon pounded and the insulting noises flared up again. They shivered uneasily as they felt the passing of their own souls.
While Hitomi wept, the scene began to undermine Van's hold on life. He saw pass the throng, the president and the guards and beheld Orion, scarred and chained, with Selena kneeling and crying before him. What is this if not Love? But why has it not conquered all? So there is no permanence. They're all sentenced to death. Van suddenly let go of Hitomi's hand and gripped his own heart. He was so immersed in what he thought was the ultimate revelation that he did not even notice Allen walking in, escorted by guards.
Allen's action of helping Selena up was responded cruelly by Basante. "Schezar! Let me tell you, we have Zaibach's technology. If you interfere again, you can bet I'll change your sister back to Dilandau! So you better watch her and yourself. Don't even think about rescuing your friends!"
Remarkable self-control reined back Allen's shock and wrath. He turned to Basante with dignity and steadiness. "It is you who should watch out," he then turned to the defendant's box, "Van, Hitomi, hang in there. I promise I'll come save you." Allen gleamed with invincible heroism. In all his fatigue and frustration, he still truly believed that all will be peaceful soon. But it was not himself he counted on, but Van and Hitomi.
"Get them out!" Basante roared monstrously and the guards obeyed. Allen and Selena were forced out, but she suddenly let out a shrilly scream. All except Orion was stunned. "Selena," a tang of death could be heard in his voice. "It'll be okay. We'll meet again. Sei tu corai ansias, don't ever forget that. Good-bye." Then the guards dragged him off.
She shrieked and tried to run to him but was restrained by the guards. As she was carried out, her thin arms extended out desperately towards him and the blood veins were visible beneath her sickly pale skin. She wanted to reach across the boundary of life and death. What does death matter anyways when there is eternal Love? But death always matters. Though it was but a concept in itself, she could not help but believe it was the opposite of life, the end of life and everything in it. Eventually, she collapsed into Allen's arms and hoped dismally that physical weakness may bring her closer to death, and therefore closer to him. ....
The dungeon remained moribund for the rest of the day. Orion was taken to the cell at the very front of the corridor, far from Van and Hitomi. No one spoke, no mouse squeaked, no water dripped. There was the occasional echo in everyone's mind, "Sei tu corai ansias."
Hitomi lay on the bed while Van sat in the corner. They both looked intently at the walls and ceiling, as if some eternal answers would be scrawled in black ink across the prison cell. But there were on answers. They forgot all about Aleph, Freya, Atlantis - to think would make the remainder of life much harder. As dusk approached, Van was strangely proud of himself - he believed he could evade the fear and thus die in peace.
When night poured out its macabre self, a stifling sound came from Orion's cell. Lashes of whip slashed against the walls and tore at Orion's flesh. At first he gritted his teeth and endured the pain, constantly forming Selena's image in his mind, and thereby escaping the blood-stained reality. Earlier, he had placed the Twin Souls card in his palm and there it stayed. With each scorching lash, he held the card tighter until it became a tiny ball locked in his grip. The cuts on his back were split wider and wider, draining out his life and fortitude along with streams of blood. Tears and sweat poured over his gaunt face. Finally, all tenacity was lost and he decided not to hold onto heroism anymore. He released agonizing screams.
Van stiffened against the wall when he heard. The wound on his arm had healed, but the nightmare perpetuated. The dungeon reverberated and echoed with the scream, which soon turned into a howl. Orion knew Van would be hurt by the wail but he felt so weak that the only choice was to scream out at fate, at life and death, at the gods. After each howl, Van withdrew further into the corner. The excruciation enslaved him in catatonic agony. He drew up his knees to his chest and covered his ears like a frightened child. But the screams continued.
When Hitomi tried to hold him, he held out his arm and told her not to come near. It was one enemy he had to fight alone. Orion in pain, Orion to be executed.the trauma was too profound and the battle too pointless. Finally, Orion yelled. "Why?" it filled the dungeon, and Gaea itself trembled. The eternal question was followed by hacking coughs.
Van became tenser. He shivered at the question and his blank eyes stared in wild dread. He realized that for the first time in his life, he was afraid to die. Never on a battlefield had he been afraid. But he took one look at Hitomi, and he wished he were immortal, for he did not know how to reconcile his mutability with deathless Love.
His grey revelation filled him with hatred. Fate? Ha! Destiny? If human existence is reduced to this then life is more unfathomable than anyone ever imagined. He remembered Balgus had told him, "It is wisdom for a true warrior to accept both life and death." But while this philosophy had conviction and sincerity, it also had a tremulous vibration of revolt. He wanted to rebel against this fate, so he shut his eyes and called for Escaflowne, hoping it would come as it did five years ago in Zaibach.
But it remained in Fanelia, cold and lifeless in the caves. The blood pact did not prevail. Van gave up and felt a contempt for the evanescence of all things. Calls of the name Escaflowne became mere echoes down the corridors of life. He suddenly became loose and let his limbs fall. Hitomi came to him.
They sat together and fell not so much into sleep as into a visionary windlessness. A single candle lend poor light to the space. At around midnight, they heard their guard Zeer softly bang on the bars, "Hey, psst.Your Majesty? I've got a message."
Van returned to reality, and reluctantly went into the front chamber of the prison cell. "What is it?" Hitomi followed him.
"I'm afraid I've got bad new. I just heard that there's been a little rebellion in Fanelia. It seems in your absence, Lord Kailan got his friends to rescue him and his son. He tried to usurp your throne. Queen Millerna had them all executed."
Hitomi gasped in shock but Van simply sighed. "Oh. I thought I told her not to kill them. But.it's done."
"Hmm." Zeer clicked his tongue. "I'm really sorry, Your Majesty. But don't worry, I've got good news too. Here," he reached into his pocket and took out the pendant.
"Where did you get that?" Hitomi exclaimed.
"Well, I know where Basante keeps his little triumphs, so I made a little trip," he reached pass the bars and handed the pendant to Hitomi. But suddenly, his body began transforming.
Hitomi stepped back in fright and Van stood in front of her defensively. "You're a.you're a doppelganger!"
The true form was odorous and unpleasant so he quickly changed back to his human form. "Yes, I am a doppelganger, but please do not be afraid. Let me tell you a story. Do you remember the doppelganger you met in Freid, named Zongi?"
Hitomi relaxed a bit and approached him curiously. "Y-yes, the one who took the form of Plaktu the priest and hypnotized me, except.I saw his true form. Are you Zongi? But you can't be."
"I am not. Zongi was my brother. I was working in Freid's palace as a page. But Zongi was always the ambitious one in the family. He worked for your brother, Lord Folken, hoping to gain power. I was content with a simple life. He had once told me that he does some espionage and I knew then that he would get himself in trouble one day. Then I heard the news that the girl from the Mystic Moon and the king of Fanelia have gone to save Zongi's life, despite his being a doppelganger. I know you did not succeed but the attempt means a lot to me. There aren't many people who would risk their lives to save a doppelganger, especially not one like Zongi. For what you've done for my brother, I stole back the pendant for you as a show of gratitude," Zeer bowed sincerely.
Van was no longer alarmed or perfunctory. The bond of brothers was something he himself understood. Furthermore, being a draconian, the fate of alienation suffered by the doppelgangers was a misfortune he shared. He held out his hand and shook Zeer's. Then he turned to Hitomi and put the pendant around her neck. "Wear it. I want you to be protected by it until the end."
"Don't worry," Zeer said, "There won't be an end."
They smiled at him emptily, perhaps in disbelief, but also in admiration for such faith and courage. But life was a god whose eternity required more than faith and prayers to prove. As they turned to get back into the inner chamber, Zeer pulled Van back while Hitomi went on.
"Your Majesty," he whispered and cleared his throat. "This is going to sound weird, but um.have you two, um.you know,"
Van pulled his arm back in annoyance and inched closer to the bars. "No, I don't know."
"Oh," Zeer rolled his eyes. "Have you and the pretty lady, you know.bonded?" Van frowned but then blushed in embarrassment. "You understand my meaning, right? You know, consummation?" Zeer winked.
Van darkened to mauve and started to leave, "That's none of your business."
Zeer pulled him back. "Wait! Listen to me. From your reaction, I know you haven't, but you must, at dawn!"
"What!" Van gasped in disgust and incredulity. "That is the most preposterous thing I've ever heard. I would never," he blushed uncomfortably, "Never ever violate Hitomi in that way!"
Zeer gripped his arms tighter so he would not steal away. "King Van, you've got to believe me. You have to do it. It would be no violation, it would be salvation. I'm not trying to be sick or anything. But seriously, at dawn! I'll keep a look out and make sure no one comes. Please trust me!"
Van stared suspiciously at Zeer but noticed that his eyes expressed such sincerity and truth that the only possible explanation would be insanity.
"Please! You've got to bond," there was a desperation in Zeer's voice.
Van coldly ripped Zeer's fingers from his arm and said sarcastically, "Right." Then he walked into the inner room, concealed from Zeer's sight. The doppelganger guard stood staring down the empty hall and mumbled incoherently to himself before he finally returned to the guard's nook, to pray.
Van sat down on the bed and chuckled slightly. Then he realized, Hitomi was crying. "Hey, hey, what's the matter?" he tried to lift up her face gently and look into her eyes.
She collapsed into his arms and quivered. "Van.I don't want to die. And I don't want you and Orion to die. What if we can't be together in the afterlife? What if we get separated like Folken and Nerya?"
Van felt desiccated throughout and his throat dried in speechlessness. He feebly patted her back and realized she shrivelled up more. "Hitomi.death is one enemy we can't run away from. Perhaps we should learn to face it. It is tomorrow noon after all. Perhaps twenty years was enough. Orion used to say, 'tragedy is bearable only if we make ourselves conscious of it.'"
She shook her head in passionate defiance. "Maybe we're too conscious of it. When my plane exploded, before I was transported to Serenus, I thought I would die and be with my family again. But then I didn't want to die because I was afraid I would never see you again. I want a lifetime with you, Van. And.and what about Valorick and Hermione? Does this mean they will never even exist? I thought that was our family, our home.what kind of a destiny is this?" she withdrew from his arms and sat straight against the wall.
For the first time, hopelessness was in her eyes, and it entered Van like a stab. "I.Hitomi, I really don't want to fathom destiny anymore. I don't think it's my place as a mortal to possess knowledge of that kind," he suddenly remembered his trip back in time during which he thought he had died and journeyed to heaven. "You know, maybe death is just a continuation of life, except in a different world. Maybe it'll be a place where no distance or time can separate us again," he gripped her cold hands. "It'll be just like birth. In that sense, we will be together."
She replied with a tight squeeze of his hand. Then she surveyed the chipped walls, cob-webbed corners and squalid ground of the prison cell. The confined space seemed woefully humble in its grim plainness. But the dance of the candlelight gave a blazing reminder that life exists everywhere. Hitomi put her head against Van's and said, "Is this the only home we'll ever know?"
Unexpectedly, a foreign voice answered, "No, it is not."
Van stood up in alarm and hatefully beheld the person standing before him. "Seraphine! How did you get here?"
Her diamond eyes trembled stormily in the shadows like bright gods staring down at the mortals. "I have materialized out of the wind."
Van bent down in a defensive position and heaved crossly. "If you're here to complete some mission for Branimir, then I will not hold back."
To Van's surprise, Seraphine frowned sadly and replied with a tremour. "P- please, Vannius, it is not like that with Branimir. I've come of my own accord. I want to clarify a few things before it's too late."
Van shifted weight uneasily and pondered her true motive. But Hitomi stepped forth from her corner. "Van, we should give her a chance. She might be able to help us," Van looked up at the ceiling then sat down with a thump.
Seraphine expressed gratitude that Van thought her incapable of. She gestured for Hitomi to sit down also then he knelt in front of them. Her long, silver waves and white iridescent gown flowed softly over the ground and the tranquil profusion collected into a pool at their feet. As Seraphine was gathering breath for a difficult disclosure, Van thought strangely that perhaps she really is beautiful.
She inhaled deeply then began. "You were right about me working for Branimir. When I first met you on Serenus, I was sent by him to break your Love," Van looked away distastefully. "I suppose Aleph knows about all this, but he stands aloof and never interfered, possibly because he foresees the resolution of all problems. I have failed Branimir, so as a result, he no longer employs me and has even punished me."
"How has he punished you?" Hitomi asked.
Seraphine paused, the veins of her swan neck stretched taut in nervousness. "Hitomi, it is the greatest crime that can ever be committed against a woman."
Hitomi covered her mouth in dread. "W-what.do you mean he.he r-raped you?"
"Not him. He would never dirty his own hands with the crimes he commands. He gave me away as a present to his leading general, Antenus."
Hitomi frowned in torturous sympathy then she stood up. "Seraphine, I'm.I'm so very sorry." Hitomi opened her arms with such sisterly warmth that Seraphine responded with a sincere smile and a hug. Her beauty was no longer spurious.
Suddenly, as Hitomi came in contact with Seraphine, an unforeseeable vision penetrated Hitomi's being and flooded out the prison. A gauzy, blood-hued light effused from the cloudy billows, rings of white buildings, marble pillars and obelisks encircled with winged creatures: Atlantis. There, beneath the Great Tree stood Seraphine and a majestically clad young man. She gazed at him amorously while he turned away in despair and tore a lead from the Tree. Then, a golden halo descended from the sky. Its blinding light was swirling and dancing until it reached the ground and became an emanation. It was a woman. Hitomi felt a sharp pain in her chest and fell back into Van, who was torn by his failure to awake her from the vision.
The fiery light of Atlantis scintillated and the whole place glowed gloriously like a red nebula in the black cosmos. The strange woman of the halo approached the young man. He held up his right palm and she pressed hers against it lovingly. The two walked off, leaving Seraphine sobbing wretchedly. Then, a blonde warrior, impressive in a black armour, came up to Seraphine, pushed her against the tree and ripped open her clothes. She gazed at him curiously then submitted to his carnal embrace.
Hitomi felt the cold ground beneath her. She opened her eyes to immense faintness and obscurity. Van smoothed over her hair until she finally recognized him and gripped onto him. "Van, it was horrible!"
Seraphine knelt down beside her and touched her forehead. "You saw Atlantis didn't you?"
Hitomi sat up against Van and breathed distressingly. She fixed her gaze on the floor and dared not look at either of them. "Yes, I-I did. I saw you, Seraphine, with this young man. It must have been Van," she stole a quick glance at his tortured face. "or rather.Vannius. But this strange woman came, she was like a light. She took him away. Then you were left with this warrior.Does Branimir have blonde hair and wears a black armour?"
Seraphine stood up and nodded. "As a result of my turning to Branimir for consolation, my son Amadis was born. I've not seen my baby since his birth. I suppose you must have guessed who the other woman is."
Hitomi trembled as she counted the hammering pulses of blood throughout her body. "M-me?" Seraphine's silence affirmed her fear. "Do you mean I stole Van away from you? Oh my God!" A sob broke out and Hitomi crawled out of Van's arms. "So I'm the intruder? I'm so sorry."
As Hitomi's tears flooded out, Van sat petrified and confused. Seraphine took Hitomi's hands in her. "No, Hitomi, that is not true. The prophetic destiny I had with Vannius is inferior to your Love. I've accepted this. I willingly chose Branimir. I reincarnated on Serenus, because I hoped to break free from him, but alas I cannot, for he is my fate. But don't you see, fate does not apply to you," Seraphine used her snowy, willow fingers to wipe away Hitomi's tears.
For a few moments of stupor and bewilderment, the three of them were suspended in their inner maelstrom. Logic was not enough to organize all the thoughts and the bpdy was too mortal to pump out all the emotions. Van inched closer to Hitomi and she did not move away. After some hesitation, Van inquired cautiously. "Seraphine, do you love Branimir?"
"I." she began pacing slowly. "I do love him. We're a lot alike in many ways. I'm the only one who sees a heaven in his hellish heart. But it seems he does not really believe I love him," she stopped before the wall and wringed her hands. "Perhaps it's because he knows I've never forgotten you, Vannius. He loves me in his own way, I suppose.but love is difficult for him. He even hates his own mother. She is the matriarch of Athlon, and as long as she lives, he cannot be emperor. She also runs all the brothels in Athlon, so he accuses her of being the head source of the syphilis that kills soldiers yearly."
Van and Hitomi listened with some repulsion but strangely, they felt an undeniable compassion for the nefarious leader of the Fireans. Hitomi still held the conviction that Branimir has a tragic core whence all his villainy sprung. Wanting to prove herself right, she eagerly asked, "So does Branimir hate Van because of you, because you never forgot Van? Is that why he wanted to break us up?"
Seraphine bowed her head as if in shame and came up to them. "That is one of the reasons, but not the full reason. I must tell you what I should have told you long ago," she held their hands. "You must always remember that the power of Atlantis is unleashed by Love only. Two lovers have freed the power - you," she widened her starry eyes and they were entranced by her cosmic glow.
Seraphine adjusted herself to a more comfortable position then continued. "Branimir wanted to bond with me, emotionally and physically, so that he might possess the power. But because my heart was never wholly his, the power was unattained and it went to you instead. He seeks revenge for this and he also wants you , Hitomi, to fall in love with him," Hitomi's eyes expressed an astonishing "what?" "He wants Basante to kill you because once you die, you will be more vulnerable to his power. He plans to rob Van of your heart. But he's a fool. All Love comes your Love. Love itself depends on you as much as you need it. Everything has been your will."
Van closed his eyes. "Aleph said that too. What does it mean it's our will? We certainly did not will this!" he gestured at the prison walls.
"I cannot explain well, I'm afraid. All I can say is," she stood up, "Atlantis lives inside you. It is inside all of our souls," she reached out her hands and pulled them up. "Love is on your side, and no death can take it away. Always remember that Love draws its power from Freya. She is not exactly the Goddess of Love and Hope. She is the Anima Mundi, the World Soul."
"I know that phrase, Anima Mundi," Hitomi said, "it's Latin for 'Psyche of the World.'"
"That's right. Like Atlantis, she lives within. Her blessings will be greater than mine." Seraphine looked at the tiny window above. "I must go, it is almost time."
"Wait," Van expressed caring concern. "Where will you go?"
"Vannius," she blushed slightly, "I mean, Van, you must have known since Serenus that you are able to reincarnate. That means you're an aeon like myself."
"An aeon? Doesn't that mean time?"
"Yes. But it also means an angel of immense Time. In other words, immortal Atlanteans. Not all inhabitants of Atlantis had been destined so. There are four dimensions of Time: past, present, future and eternity. We belong to the last of these. As an aeon, we have three paths: reincarnation as you and your brother have chosen, or stay in the same form forever like Branimir, or resign all life and enter the Eternal Realm like Aleph and Folken. I will now go to Athlon and resign my life there."
"I understand," Van nodded and held out his hand. "I hope we will be at peace."
"I think we already are," she bowed slightly in gratitude. "But I must tell you something now," she held Van's hand and pulled him closer. "The only way to defeat Branimir at this stage is to take Zeer's advice. You must bond as he says."
Van stepped back in disbelief. "What? You can't be serious."
Hitomi shook his arm in perplexity. "What is it, Van?"
"You must," Seraphine's eyes gleamed with determined fire. "It must be at dawn, at the exact moment Orion dies."
Van shook his head and approached the brink of laughter. "No! I don't know what you mean by this! I just.I just can't." Hitomi gently touched his back and he shied away in fright. "I'm sorry, Hitomi, I just."
"Van!" Seraphine gripped him by the shoulders and forced his eyes to meet hers. "Pull yourself together, young king. I'm handing you the only way to defeat the impending tragedy. You've felt the thinness of time since the beginning, and now you must let it feel you." Van tensed up in bewilderment but eventually, he eased into a demure understanding, an intuition even and Seraphine released him.
She backed up against the wall and smiled lovingly at Hitomi. "My dear lady, be not afeard. Remember all that I've told you." Then, her body began to waver in and out of space. Seraphine was transformed into a transparent, gossamer light that bore the faint appearance of a person. Before her face completely became a whisper in the wind, she said, "Feel the power of the Anime Mundi, and always believe in the Atlantis within. Remember, at dawn!" Then, all were shadows, embossed with watery patches of candlelight.
Hitomi calmly sat down and took the dragon-phoenix relic in her hands. She turned it over and over meditatively while Van pensively paced the room like a wise king. Then Hitomi looked up at him and said, "We're going to die very soon."
He stopped his contemplation and sat down beside her, drawing her into his arms. "I know. I've accepted it, sounds like you have too."
She looked down at the relic. "I have. After what Seraphine has told us, I feel death is not so frightening anymore. Perhaps I'm being naïve, but at this point, I hardly think it matters. Besides, the Death card symbolizes the dawn of a new beginning anyways."
Van laid back on the mattress, hands beneath his head. "I don't think we're being naïve. I think this is right. Balgus used to say that the greatest wisdom is the courage to face both life and death. Our lives have been tempestuous, huh?" Hitomi smiled and placed her head on his chest. "You know, Hitomi, I think life and death are just concepts man made up. If someone never learns that life and death are thought to be opposites then they are essentially the same thing for him."
Hitomi smoothed his shirt. "Right. Life and death are relative. Just like Time. You're a wise king, Van," she hastily said the last part and quickly grew silent. Van became very tense and squinted his eyes to scrutinize the water stain on the ceiling. It resembled the dragon head of Fanelia's crest, just like the stain in his room. "Van, what about Fanelia?"
"I.I really don't believe this is the end," there was a tenacious, even stoic fortitude in his voice. "Death will not be our end, so Fanelia still has hope. I won't let anyone harm my homeland and my people."
Hitomi looked up at him in admiration and held him tighter. "I love the sound of your beating heart. It makes me think it'll beat forever." Then they laid together, firmly against each other and peacefully observed the dance of shadow and light.
The spiritual need to reconcile time and death to intimations of immortality was answered. Existence shall always be about Life. But this Life has no opposite in death. It is the synonym of Time, in all its dimensions. The breathing life is but one hemisphere of the soul's existence, and the second half of Life is lived in what mortals call death. Together with Eternity and Infinity, the two hemispheres complete the cosmic cycle of gained-lost-regained, born-died-reborn.
"Van, what did Zeer advise you to do?" Hitomi suddenly asked.
In nervousness and embarrassment, Van gently pushed her off his chest and stood up and resumed his pacing. "Oh, it's nothing. It's.it's nothing important. It's nonsense really."
Hitomi curled up on the bed. "But Seraphine seemed to take it seriously. Just tell me what it is."
He continued the awkward pacing then remembered that great decisions must not be dissected and must be made in the splendor of one feverish moment. Though he had tried to tailor the question in his mind and sculpt it to perfection, time encouraged his heart to feel the right path and go over to Hitomi at that very second and kneel down.
"Van!" she sat up on the bed with a blush. "What are you doing?"
He held her hands and contrived to appear dashing and romantic, but what came out instead was a solemn, oceanic and fiery poetry that Hitomi thought suited Van best. "Hitomi, I.I've thought about this for a long time. You know that in the present situation, I cannot give you a kingdom, or even a nice home. But I." he breathed deeply and cleared his throat. The air seemed very suffocating. "I would still like, I mean." he finally looked up at her, "Will you be my.queen, in the world to come?" A creeping liquid seemed to encroach on Van's heart as he knelt and waited for her answer.
Hitomi sat in astonishment, breathlessness, but above all, unsurpassable joy. She gasped for air among the bubbles of rapture this long-dreamed of question offered, but she breathed in only light. She knew, from then on, she will always be a creature of radiance and heaven would penetrate her soul, through and through. She has often imagined, while in bed at home, what it would be like when Van proposed to her. Though she had not exactly fantasized about being in a cold prison, with no beautiful scenery as a backdrop, she knew Van offered to her more than marriage, but Life itself. An intense force swelled up in her. She knelt down beside him and threw her arms around his neck. "Of course!"
He laughed, his heart laughed out loud. They giggled at each other and wiped away the tears that softly veiled their empyrean eyes. Then Van remembered, "I'm sorry I can't give you a ring, or a token of some sort."
"Take the pendant then," she took the rosy stone off her neck and handed it to him. He gingerly wrapped it around her entire hand. "It's our tradition to bind a bejewelled band around the hand of the betrothed," he smiled and added, "Sei tu corai ansias."
She stroked his cheek tenderly. "We'll build ourselves a home in the other world. I cherish you, Van Fanel," she grinned sheepishly then snuggled into his arms. They sat up on the mattress and unconsciously embarked on the odyssey to the mystic peak where they never thought they'd find home.
Van pulled Hitomi onto his lap and kissed her neck, and collar bones. She unknowingly parted her lips for she felt the air had become keenly sparse. She was soon forced to breathe for longer intervals and the pressure upon her lungs expanded into an incandescent sphere that flowed to the rest of her body. She suddenly said, in a wispy, quiet voice, "Remember that time at the.at the mill in.in Asturia, you told me," she coughed, "You told me.by accident perhaps," she laughed a little, "You said you.you said you wanted me. Do you still?"
He looked at her and stood up, holding her up also until her feet floated above the floor. He pressed her against himself and whispered into her ear, "I want you."
Her heart pumped turbulently against his, "Say it again."
He stroked her back and her skin was soft like the face of a petal. "I want you, Hitomi." He kissed her, almost voraciously. She had a distinct smell, he thought, like the scent of the wind as he flies in the air. Then he vaguely recalled what Oneseme, the Etolian sage, had told him: "If Time opens up, at first it will open up for you only. To contain it, you must let yourself be pulled by its gravity, and you must enter its circle." Banishing all shyness and doubts, and recruiting life, death and Love by his side, he surrendered himself to the circle and lay down beneath the gravity of Love.
With a few laughs and awkward tangling, they managed to remove each other's clothes. The relic had been dropped on the ground and it mysteriously began glowing, a crimson, liberating fire of gravity. But the main course of light in the small room emanated from the single candle. In the stillness of the night, the flame rose higher and higher until it seemed to become a tall, solid obelisk with a phoenix feather tip that magnificently pierced the virgin air.
From her soft-flowing limbs, passion-parted lips, from his immense eyes and intoxicating touch, there came an incandescence. The vaporous atmosphere wrapped them in all-dissolving power and they felt they were particles born from nebular ether. His presence flooded and mingled through her blood till it became his life, which in turn revitalized hers. In the tremulous motions, their beings were condensed into a single drop of ecstasy.
Outside, the eastern sun gradually crept towards the horizon. The relic vied to compete with the sunlight. The pendant, wrapped around Hitomi's hand and trailing on Van's back, also began to glow. Gaea was turning.
(Masked guards approached Orion's cell and found him sitting, with a steady firmness on his face. As they dragged him out, he looked towards Van's direction and smiled clownishly.
The same sun began to beat above Fanelia. Allied troops spied the approach of the Basram army, coming to claim what they called their rightful colony. Allen, exhausted but valiant as ever, hurried out to gather the warriors, whose patriotic expressions would soon gaze on defeat.)
Van and Hitomi received a gift of mutual immersion they had never known. It required no training, no thought, only pure nature. It was a sublime drowning in a liquid homage. They felt they were immersed in the natural position of the soul and all life drained into them. Red petals from the immortal flower called amaranth, which grows in Elysium, were blown to them and the petals formed an unimaginably high tower that touched a never before conceived paradise.
The aurorean light flowed over the horizon. Sky and ocean met clearly and boundlessly. Sea waves sparkled before the sun, undulating softly at times, more wildly at others. But eventually, the ups and downs of the billows were harmonized into one oceanic heave that throbbed with the dawn.
(Orion ascended the dirty wooden steps of the scaffold. He was blindfolded, and forced to kneel before the block. In his fist, he still clutched the Twin Souls card.
The allied troops charged head on against the Basram invaders. Death broke out, in all the visions of the word "horror". Steel blades no longer shone when blood was smeared on.)
The prison walls seemed to have vanished for them and they soared free as the gods above. But when Hitomi extended her arms, her hand still hit the wall. She scratched it fiercely and the sharp sound echoed down the dungeon. "Oh, Van." she exclaimed once but he quickly covered her mouth.
Every kiss, every motion fed into the burning experience. They both wanted to banish the crude approximation of the word 'sex'. The tumult of that insufficient and desecrated word haunted each inflamed movement. But all the same, they were in tune with infinity, boundless as the sea, flowing faster, deeper into them and striving harder and harder to touch every inch of the world.
(Orion's head was pushed down against the block. He chanted the phrase, 'sei tu corai ansias', not because it might save his life, but because it spoke to death itself.
Selena panicked over her brother's safety and eventually broke out the caves with a sword in her hand.)
The relic and pendant glowed continuously. A strange, aria-like song arose in the background. It was a cosmic music that bloomed from space and prevailed over everything. But only Van and Hitomi heard it.
Gods of pure flame were born in them, completely melting the pinnacles of virgin snow. The cosmic orchestra swelled out from the fountain of creation. Trumpets flourished, drums boomed and a trio of violin joined. From the music, Love, the flame of all flames was born. The Aeolian spirits joined in the chorus.
Orion felt the cold, sharp blade descend on the back of his neck. The crumbled card in his hand fell to the ground.
Before Selena reached the battlefield, she suddenly felt a tempestuous lightning through her soul. She jolted and collapsed forward, gasping as her heart was compressed into a teardrop. He is dead.
Orion's head faced up and with his last hint of life, he smiled, at tragedy, and at the new beginning that is being born.
A new world is not all that is born. Van and Hitomi summoned the future. Time comes through their embrace and a new human being arises. Destiny is consummated and it awakens the law by which a vigorous seed journeys to the egg-cell that advances lovingly to meet it.
Beside the music of the summit, Van heard a distant, sonorous voice yelling to him, "Damn you, Vannius! I will return." He immediately recognized it to be Branimir's voice. But he ignored it. "I love you, Hitomi Kanzaki."
Their ravishing union wafted from merely the impassioned entanglement of two lovers to the unseen and unknowable union of all time and space. The pendant and energist beat in fiery unison. Escaflowne suddenly vanished from the Nerya caves. It simply retreated back to its mystic realm where war and peace are irrelevant. It need not ever reappear again.
The apocalyptic music burst free. Above the sun, the constellation of Orion mystically arose and marked the dawn of the Atlantis within.
A red Atlantean force emanated from the relic and the pendant. Time opened up. The Universe trembled in response then all was metamorphosed.
~ End of Part X ~
I know the ending with the whole sex scene is really weird but it's never been done before (well, actually, the idea of divine sex that transforms the universe is taken from Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound", so I thought it would be cool - this is a love story after all. I hope you didn't find the sexualized language offensive. Or maybe you thought it was not explicit enough - I can't really be too literal without cheapening my story into porn, so sorry. If you have any specific comments about the section, please do not hesitate to contact me. The whole reason behind why they must bond physically is fully explained in Book II, but I hope you've already picked up some of the clues. The next few chapters are a kind of rounding off - there are some nice moments, I think ;). They also lead on to the rest of the story. Please keep on reading ^_^
Just a side note: someone recently left me an 'interesting' review (on ch.1) and I thought I should just clear up some misunderstanding - firstly, I switch tenses in my writing in order to reflect the theme that past, present and future mingle together, which is why you may find that the tenses switch dramatically; second, I may be mistaken about the Latin word 'drakon' (I know you're thinking that 'to see' is something more along the lines of 'vide') but from what I read it does say the word is used in Latin poetry, though rarely and derived from Greek; third, events in the story happen without any signs of them coming, because there are no signs - do you know exactly what is going to happen tomorrow? Besides, it's an adventure fantasy! Lastly, about the style, I know it can be frustrating for some people, if that's the case with you, then don't read it - there are many stories that are more enjoyable than mine. Upon my friend's advice, I will be changing the style in Book II in order to accommodate readers. Besides, my writing changes daily, so there's no need to worry!
Notes and Points of Interest: In Mysticism and Occultism, the Anima Mundi is the World Soul, kind of like a female counterpart of God (the word Anima is Latin for soul - it's also a nice pun on the word anime, which we all love); an aeon is an angel of time, according to Gnostics. Btw, some of Basante's words during the trial are weird, not because they're misspelled - he actually talks like that.