Disclaimer: Please see the Prologue of Suzaku's Oracle for a blanket disclaimer.
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Warnings: Rated PG-13 or Fiction T.
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Notes: 8-13-13 All will be answered in due time. That's the one thing you must keep in mind as you read OFG. I have worked very hard over the years to make sure I don't leave readers wondering "what the heck?" forever. Questions will be answered. Mysteries will be explained. But beware. Sometimes an answer just causes more questions! ~Sapphire
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Oracles of the Four Gods
"Suzaku's Oracle"
By: Sapphire
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Part Twelve ~ Suzakuseikun
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"Are you sure about this?" Tasuki tentatively asked Chichiri. The monk nodded with conviction. "Fine," Tasuki agreed. "I'll trust you. Even if I don't trust her." He glanced furtively in Aneko's direction. Chichiri nodded as they walked toward the shrine, Aneko following meekly behind them, a guard on either side of her. Chichiri thought that was a little uncalled for, but the Empress had insisted.
Everyone was aware that he, with Tasuki's aid, had placed a ward on the Shrine of Suzaku. It seemed Tasuki, judging by his earlier comments, was under the impression the ward was meant to keep out anyone but Suzaku's chosen. That simply wasn't true. The ward spell was meant only to repel those intending harm against anything under Suzaku's protection. It had been meant as a safe haven for the Empress and the young prince should they ever come under attack, but it would serve the same purpose for anyone seeking sanctuary. Unless Aneko harbored malicious intent against them, she would be able to pass through the ward. The simple act of entering the shrine of the southern beast god would be her test. If she did not belong, Suzaku would not let her pass.
Aneko followed Chichiri and Tasuki through the palace until they stopped at a large, ornate door. She knew without being told that they had reached the Shrine of Suzaku. Both warriors turned to her. Chichiri gave her a reassuring smile. Tasuki shot her a dubious look. Her stomach was beginning to tie itself into knots. She didn't like this much.
"Wait here," Chichiri told her, "We won't be long." Aneko watched as Tasuki pushed open the heavy doors and stepped inside the cavernous room beyond. Chichiri was close on his heels, and she was left with the two silent guards watching her through the corners of their eyes. She peered inside, watching them from the open door, curious of what awaited her on the other side.
"Hey! What the hell is that?" Tasuki exclaimed, pointing to the enormous statue of Suzaku just behind the altar. A glow surrounded the phoenix, like a living aura, and the eyes were a shimmering ruby color. Tasuki felt strangely drawn to that aura, but he was frozen in place by reverent fear. On the altar before the statue and sacrificial fire were Nuriko's bracelets and Mitsukake's holy water, pulsing with a life force of red energy. Then Tasuki noticed that the monk was glowing, too. He looked over and pointed at the prayer beads around the monk's neck. They, too, had begun to shimmer with that strange, life-like aura. Tasuki reached behind him and pulled his tessen from its scabbard. The eerie aura crackled with energy around it as well. "Shit," Tasuki breathed in awe. "I've never seen anything like it."
"No da," Chichiri agreed, nearly speechless himself. Tasuki saw a sudden flare from the shrine's altar. He looked up just in time to see the statue's eyes come alive. By the faint gasp he heard from Chichiri, Tasuki knew the monk had seen it, too. Watching the eyes, unable to look away, he saw they focused intently on something behind them. His redirected his gaze at Chichiri. Chichiri returned Tasuki's glance. They turned to look behind them simultaneously.
"What's she doing?" Tasuki reached out to stop Aneko as she walked slowly toward them.
"Leave her," Chichiri commanded, putting a hand on Tasuki's arm to restrain his friend. "She's just walked right through the warded barrier, no da." Tasuki watched, his eyes wide with disbelief as the woman walked right past them toward the alter as if in a trance. "She's what Suzaku was calling, no da."
Aneko was only somewhat aware of her actions. The compulsion upon her was so strong, there was barely room for anything else in her existence. She passed into the shimmering aura surrounding the shrine without disturbing it in the least. Once she reached the altar, she seemed to snap out of her daze, and she looked around in childlike awe. Her gaze swept past Tasuki and Chichiri as she took her surroundings in. As her gaze made it's way up to the top of the Phoenix statue, her eyes lighted upon the glowing pair of gems there. They seemed to once again lock her gaze with its own. She gasped, and took a reactionary step backward toward the stairs.
"Do not be afraid," a disembodied voice echoed in the vaulted ceilings above them. Aneko started again, and took another step back.
"Suzaku?" Chichiri uttered, the presence of the beast god filling his senses.
"Indeed. It is I, Suzakuseikun," the voice confirmed.
"No shit?" Tasuki was enraptured, only having seen the beast god appear twice, and never having communicated directly with Suzaku.
"I am," Suzaku repeated before his eyes found their quarry. "Do you still fear me, Lady?" His eyes pierced Aneko's, searching the depths of her soul, for that was the way Suzaku, a god before mortal men, was able to best read the people who served and worshipped him. It amused him that Aneko was so easily lost in the warm red glow radiating from himself, and he saw her eyes glaze over and her eyelids slide half closed in the dreamlike state his presence affected her with. Suzaku felt her mind ease, and her heart find a peace she was unable to attain on her own. She was slipping into a trance, deeper this time, and Suzaku knew she wouldn't mind if she never woke from it. He brushed a warm and soft feather against her face. Aneko peered through her heavy eyelids only to see a beautiful pattern of many delicate red feathers his life-force energies created before her. He used them to draw her attention back to his glowing eyes shining through the shrine statue. "Do you still fear me?" he repeated, the words echoed through the room.
"A little," her voice sounded small and weak to the god, betraying her true feeling of him.
"Why do you fear me?" Suzaku pressed.
"I have no reason not to fear you," she answered simply. She was unable to lie, or even shade the truth in his presence, Suzaku knew.
"Then you do not recognize me," Suzaku said knowingly. "It was I who brought you here, and protected you upon your arrival in this world. It was I who sent Chichiri to you that you would be brought to this palace and my shrine," Suzaku explained.
"You brought me here? You made the red light?" If a god could be amused, Suzaku was. The woman before him had no inkling of the power he possessed. Nor did she understand the purpose to which she was born. At least, she didn't have any conscious inkling. Suzaku humored her and answered her questions.
"I did," Suzaku told her, "And it is I who will eventually set you to your purpose."
"Purpose?" Aneko asked, curious.
"In time," Suzaku said. It was all he was willing to impart on that subject. "First you must learn, and you must stop hiding from yourself." Suzaku broke his hold on her, and he felt the resonance of the dreamy haze lifting from her mind. She was still within the aura of his own life force that surrounded the phoenix statue. Keeping her so near would inevitably awaken her abilities much faster. Of all beings in existence, the Four Gods alone knew the true value of time.
"My Shichiseishi," Suzaku said, turning the glowing eyes to the two warriors. They were at rapt attention, having watched and listened to his exchange with the Lady Aneko, and were ready to learn their part. "A great evil has been unleashed in this world. Take this woman, teach her what you can, help her to become strong. Protect my Orakuru as you protected my Miko, Miaka." They nodded and bowed solemnly in acceptance of the task set to them.
Suzaku withdrew, his aura fading from sight, returning to whence it came. His eyes glowed, watching them as the magic and power receded, and the three mortals were released from the grip he had on them. They would do well, he knew. Then he was gone, leaving the room dark, save for the glow given off by the sacrificial fire still left burning.
When Suzaku's presence was completely gone, Tasuki stood. Chichiri looked up at him from where he still knelt. Tasuki knew what the monk was thinking. They had come searching for answers, and they had gotten them. The problem was, they had gotten more questions as well. Tasuki watched as Chichiri's gaze shifted to the woman standing at the altar. His own eyes followed, and they waited in silence as Aneko continued to stare up at the now vacant eyes of the phoenix statue. After a long time, she turned to face them.
"Orakuru?" she softly asked. "Oracle?"
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To be continued…
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End Note: Writing a character like Suzaku is fun! He's a god, so anything omnipotent and/or omniscient goes! Gods can reveal as much or as little as they like. That gives me, as the writer, a lot of possibilities to play with. Also, if I want something to be accepted as fact without convincing my audience, all I have to do is have a god say it. Who can argue with a god? ~Sapphire
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P.S. I thought you'd find this amusing… When I first typed this, I accidentally signed the End Note like this: ~Suzaku
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