Chapter Seventeen: Iris's Memories
Maxim looked at the Dual Blade with regret. "I don't know if I can…" he confessed. "She may be Erim, but she is also Iris."
"Maxim…" Selan whispered, gently touching his shoulder. "Sometimes we have to make a sacrifice for the greater good."
"But-" Maxim protested. His eyes looked suspiciously shiny.
"You have a gentle heart, Maxim. That is most admirable." The crystal bell chime of warp. Iris stood before Maxim. "However…" The green-haired woman bowed her head. "Your beloved is right. Please believe me when I say I will bear you no malice."
"No! I can't!" Maxim's voice had grown husky.
"You must! You have a choice, Maxim. You always have. You can slay me, or Erim can resurrect the Sinistrals, who will make short work of your battle-weary friends." Iris's eyes were cold as she spoke the words.
Maxim's face turned ashen with pain. "You leave me no choice then," the warrior said, unable to look at the green-haired woman. "Please forgive me, Iris. I do this but to abort the sins of the other you."
"I understand," Iris said softly.
Tia shivered. Her flesh felt as if it were prickled by tiny needles. She knew that of all the party members, she best understood Iris's plight.
Maxim raised the Dual Blade. Its ringing had dulled to a distant drone. Then the sword's light flashed, and its hum grew louder. As the sword sped onward to cleave Erim and Iris, the ringing of the Dual Blade increased in pitch. As it touched Iris herself, the sword began to scream. Maxim could not bear to look as he cleaved the young woman's life away from her. Only remembering her threat of Erim's certain action kept his hands steady on the pommel. At last the deed was done. Iris smiled at Maxim, blood streaming from her vanishing body. "Thank you, Maxim," she whispered. "I know what this must have cost you. But now…you and your friends are safe." Iris's eyes were closing and her lips moving as if in prayer.
Maxim's heart ached, but it was a cleansing pain. Suddenly Maxim felt removed from his body, much in the way that he had when he had died the first time. What is going on? he wondered. Looking around, he saw that he was in a small shrine. Outside waved the needles of pine trees. Inside, the woodland shrine was perfumed with the sweet scent of pine and many other trees. The simple pews were formed of wood, as was the altar. At the altar sat a young girl in red robes. Her long green hair hung down her back, a shining river.
Iris! Maxim thought. Suddenly he remembered his own death. He dimly recalled that his memories had flashed before his eyes before he perished. Is it so with Iris? he wondered. Why is she showing me her past? The warrior sighed and sat down in one of the pews so he could observe the girl in red. To his discomfiture, he could see right through his body to the pew. He had plenty of time to acclimate to his strange state, however. Iris did not move from her prayers until the sun hung low in the sky. When she at last rose, Maxim felt himself pulled irresistibly along the forest path behind her. He watched her for days, which took on a distinct pattern. Iris would watch the sun set through the thinner portions of the forest canopy, wake before sunrise, and walk to the shrine in the light of the early morning. There she would pray until late afternoon. On the evening of the third day, Maxim caught a glimpse of Iris, in a state as transparent as he was.
Maxim, Iris said. You see me as I was…a devout maiden of the shrine.
Why are you showing me this? Maxim demanded. What is happening in the ancient cave? How long are you going to keep me here in this world of your memories?
Iris looked at Maxim in confusion for a moment and then laughed. It was uncharacteristic, a laugh coming from this somber young woman. Fear not, Maxim. These images only seem to pass in the course of a life time. You will return to the very moment you left. So do not worry, impatient one. As to why I brought you here…well…you will understand in time. Perhaps it is only to assuage your own guilt. Only trust me…and look with an open heart.
I don't understand what I'm seeing, though, Maxim protested. You were a shrine maiden, I gather. But…
That is why I have come…to explain to you what happened, Iris said. Do you know what I prayed for in that shrine for such a long time? It was always the same thing.
No. I didn't hear you say anything…
Iris laughed again. I prayed that I would never die, but that I would be reborn again in an endless cycle like the seasons, which seem to die forever and then are born again when you least expect it.
Maxim gasped. And…
Watch, Iris commanded him.
Maxim watched in fascination as the Iris of memory continued her incessant prayers. Then one evening, when frost covered the shrine windows, when wind whipped through the trees with bitter cold, another figure entered the shrine to pray. Iris of memory was so immersed in her prayer that she did not hear the person come up behind her. Maxim recognized the ki beneath the black robes as that of Erim. Yet this energy pattern was slightly different from the one to which he was accustomed because Iris was separate from it. Erim clapped her hand on the red-clad girl's shoulder. Iris jerked up, horrified.
"Who are you?" the shrine maiden gasped.
Erim laughed and threw back her hood. "I am Erim, the Mistress of Death. The answer to your prayers!"
Maxim watched in horror and helpless frustration as Erim cornered Iris and cast the spell that bound the two of them together.
Without me, she never would have fallen in love with you, nor would she have been able to walk for long among mortal men, Iris told Maxim. Long have I regretted my selfish prayers. I have wished many times that I could take them back. As it is, however, I am a part of a being that kills the innocent and revives other destroyers even more powerful than herself. It is a wretched existence that blasphemes against all of the shrine's teachings. I do what I can, offering prayers to the dead and sacrificing myself time and time again. Every death I experience, I hope for redemption. I fear, however, that I have damned myself to Purgatory if I ever stay dead long enough to get there. Yet I have no fear of death now, myself. For I remember well my own prayers. They bind me to destined rebirth, no matter how many times I die.
Maxim gasped, so overcome that he could barely speak. Iris…
I know what you are going to say, Maxim. And the answer is no. I brought this upon myself, and I must get myself out of it. There is no other way. No matter how many times you slay her, Erim will remain a part of me. I only hope…that we do not meet again in battle.
Iris! Maxim's heart surged with sorrow. However, the shrine before him was already fading in a wash of colors and darkness…Erim and Iris…fading…
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Iris is one of my favorite characters in the game, btw. I guess it shows, ne? Maybe b/c she has her own theme…and of course, the possibilities for a split personality… Wait, what am I doing chattering like this? This is just what the time management section in my psychology book warned against… ^_^ **grumble, mutter**