The Footsteps are Fading
Chapter Ten
On the floor, divine intervention could not have been more transparent to spectators, but for the players caught and suffocated in the bowels of the cavern it seemed like an everyday happening. God, Taichi thought, could never be so willing to converse with the worst part of himself or any of his subjects; yet such a simile could be placed on this time that it was frightening to such a mortal, and Taichi demanded of the woman to know who she was. If, though it would be impossible, our brave leader had played the role of the spectator, he would have pondered at the irony of saying "she", but that is for later musings on our part. The blonde lady merely snickered at his ignorance, and then walked closer to the beast in front of her.
"O wise master," she said, bowing low, "it is in my greatest distress to see you bound by our morals and conflictions, so that I will hope to ease your apparent suffering soon, if my lord so advises me to."
The one in address only twitched a muscle by its eyelid, displacing an inquisitive fly.
"For," the woman continued, "I cannot wish to achieve felicity (though it renders all of my softer sentiments to pieces to say such a thing) whilst you are so breathing and so ignorantly living a life that by all means does not prove fruitful to my designs."
Finally, the beast stirred and mumbled: "They are evil designs."
"And I, my lord, am an evil person, as should be expected of so despicable an upbringing as I have endured. But laying all past skirmishes aside, my ever valorous lord, I propose to uphold my end of the bargain if you agree as well. The bargain being, if your mind needs refreshing, that neither of us will impose upon the intentions of the other, which I feel you are incredulously carrying out."
"How so?"
"By warrant of your merit, and I will confess as to wanting this ghastly place you dwell in to be called my own. Forsooth, if you would graciously give me what I desire, I would never be in like mind to harass or discourage you from whatever proceedings you wish to amuse, my great lord."
"Petty, uneducated miscreant; do you believe that I would dare show my face in the light which you live in? This is the one place where I can rule in contentment, living in only your knowledge as the beast I appear to be, while you roam freely, masquerading wherever you go that you are nothing more than a beautiful damsel in neediness."
"You dare call me needy and false when for all your life you have not seen once the creatures you rule for fear that they will reject you? What grounds do you have to call me unflattering names that do not describe one ounce of my character? I want nothing more than this property; you can go dig yourself a hole somewhere else - "
"Desirous wretch!" The beast hollered, "I know what such a present to you would cause! You would have me give up my throne like a child unable to handle his inheritance, and I in result would be forsaken by all mortals on the planet and forced to live in misery for the remainder of eternity."
"Stated bluntly, yes."
While such flabbergasting comments were being interchanged, Taichi stood next to the woman dumbly, not having the slightest inclination to what affairs these statements were made. So he soon lost his patience, and, deciding that the conversation was likely to go on for several more hours at the least, he paced around the room, staring now and then into the numerous blood puddles on the floor. He did not desire to run away from the sight of the beast, but felt oddly obligated to stay, though he had no reason to wonder at it. While he thus was exploring the room and its contents, Sora, Daisuke, and Hikari came to the entrance and stared down into the spacious cavern, eagerly searching for Taichi. They saw him standing at the edge of a particularly large puddle, and likewise watched him crouch down and stick a finger into the stillness of it. With horrifying slowness, a transparent hand escaped from the depths of the blood and came to rest near his feet, tapping idly at the stone floor. The three companions were just as scared of this hand as Taichi was, whom it was nearly on, and automatically repulsed when it slid up further and touched his pants. He shouted out in surprise, and tried desperately to get away, but the hand held him tighter and then began to drag him slowly into the pool of blood. During this gradual take over of Taichi, the woman and the beast were continuing their discourse, both of them taking color to their face now that the conversation was turning into an argument.
"I will never give into your barbaric, treacherous ways!"
"But our agreement!"
"I never made any such agreement and never will, traitor Akuma!"
A long pause gripped the chamber as even the submerging Taichi wondered at this new name for the woman. Akuma…?
"Wait, wait," whispered Hikari to her friends, "let me guess: the other guy's name is Kami?"
All three coughed simultaneously, and would have laughed had not their friend been down on the same level and proximity as the two powerful beings. Kami and Akuma…this would explain many things.
Taichi finally pulled himself out of the hand's grip and stood up quickly. He stared at the hand he had used to shake the woman's with. He had shaken hands with the devil? Didn't that put him in some sort of eternal slave-like nature? He shuddered.
"Akuma…" the woman sighed, "this is the name you give to me?"
"It is a name you deserve, for you continually harassed me in such ways to be sure of your disposition."
"The disposition of hell?"
The beast nodded.
"And so you would call yourself Kami, wouldn't you?"
"It is without a doubt my destiny."
Quieting herself for a moment, she soon burst out in such rage that her voice crumbled the stone of the very floor.
"Never could I have been Kami! My mother was so blessed with attributes of an angel, but my father was such a sinful thief! He has ruined me! The blood that runs in me is his, take it out! Take it out! TAKE IT OUT! I will never suffer to live with him in my blood, him in my mind; can't a child forget the memories of their father! Can't one just push out all of their father's thoughts and actions! If I am the devil than I curse him to an eternal suffering with me as his master, me as his torturer; no other devil shall lay hands on him but me! No other of my kin shall give him pain but me, for I have had to endure all of his pains, all of his sins, and look what they turned me into! A child should not have to bare their parents' sins! A child…shouldn't be subjected to a life that they had no chance to choose. Kami! If you be so powerful as the notions are, why can a child not have the endearment of choice! What liberty, what rationale do you possess to dictate the very lives of innocent children who are to be punished under their father's doings, and who cannot know otherwise! Oh, Kami, if only your own parents had been so hellish as he was, perhaps you would not be so harsh upon my soul when I choose to leave this place. But can I beg for mercy now when I have my entire life humiliated and insulted you, to your face and behind it; slinking in the shadows like the poor, worthless animal that I am. May my father forever be in the worst curses any of us can describe, and may he be at the end of every whip that is lashed, and may he loathe the day that he stained my mother's dignity and ruined his child's eternal soul." After all her lamentations, she looked upon Kami with tears in her eyes that would move the hardest and cruelest of people.
"Akuma," Kami said, "you are truly miserable beyond comparison, but not because of your ancestry, but because of the choices that you did have the liberty to make. Your understanding is muddled, and for such reasons I will reveal to you one of my secrets, so keep your ears wide, for you are not worthy of such honor as I am about to bestow upon your worthless soul. In your pitiful speech, you questioned my rationale pertaining to not letting children decide what parents they are born to, correct? Because, unworthy devil, it is not your line of blood which makes you, or your belief in me, but the choices that you make when you come to a conscious age. You could have not chosen to follow your father and could in all truth have replaced me, but instead you chose to be corrupted by your father's evil doings, and instead of healing the weak, you killed, instead of loving, you hated, instead of growing, you destroyed, and there are so many other reasons which I could bequeath upon your weak heart and mind, but I am told to cut it short, for there are some listening who despise the word of me more than you do. Be at peace, though, for I have sentenced your father to burn unaccounted for in the inferno that hell is. There he sits, and will sit forevermore, wondering what happened of my renowned forgiveness. There is no such thing as forgiveness in divinity, Akuma. There are no shades of justice, no loopholes for criminals to peek through. There is me, and that alone forsakes that phony mortal belief of forgiveness. Are you content with this?"
"How could I be?"
"Yes, indeed, how could anyone but I be content with my word?" Here Kami smiled, but it was quick and hard to catch. "But for your treacheries, you are also bound to the fate of hell, so there you may reunite with your father and tell him now that you have the confidence how much you hate him."
"For what am I sent to hell?"
"Many things, but I will list one and that will give you an idea of my "forgiveness": you tore out a piece of grass purposely, consciously. That is but one reason, but that alone would have sent you to hell anyway."
"That seems very harsh a sentence for so innocent a crime."
"Innocent! Didn't I tell all of you to never destroy life! I warned you, I gave you all fair warning! It is not my fault that you do not follow the rules and are banished from heaven."
"But it is your fault for making such nugatory rules."
"Do you want two eternities in hell?"
"Kami, may I ask how many people are in heaven as of now?"
"No, you may not, but when you're in the fires of your own ungodliness, perhaps just by sight of the numbers burning alongside of your body you could make a reasonable judgment on the number who actually listened to me."
She nodded curtly, and then turned to Taichi.
"Worthy human," she said, completely taking Taichi by surprise, "forgive me for harming your friend long ago who spies now, but may he and you be witness to the carnage and inhumanity of God. May you be a messenger to your country of the inconveniences of God and his word. Your country, as I understand it, is under attack from none other than God, for it harbored my body for a time. Even though it was a fleeting time, it was enough to poison your country and for God to wish its annihilation. Forgive me, though I believe once I am gone all will return to normal at God's will, and those who died will revive, and those who perished from faint will welcome their souls again. Let me be an example to all humans, though I care naught for them, only for you, and even that I do not understand, so that all will rival God and his ridiculous word, rise up in hatred against God and his demeaning actions. I am not sure if you shall win against such a being, but trust me that, though I be the devil, I am on your side, and that is not such a bad thing."
She kissed his cheek, then his forehead, and held his hand for a second. There was nothing more to say. She turned, walked away into the shadows, and soon Taichi could no longer hear her soft footsteps. He looked to Kami, who sat passively and still, like nothing had occurred. He looked up to his friends in the threshold, and began to climb up the stairs to them. They received him with hugs and tears, though he had done no physical battle. They journeyed to the world outside and found the woman true to her word: all life was restored, and the desert turned into a savannah.
The End …?
(Some notes from the author)
I understand I left practically half of what happened not completely tied up, but hey, if you're seriously into the story and have some questions, just ask at Imoto@satx.rr.com . I'd love to get comments, even flames, on this story because I particularly enjoyed writing it. Nya!
Also, I know towards the end that it's pretty controversial "stuff", so if I offended anyone in anyway: it's just a story, so don't take it personally. I would rather not have someone preaching to me via email about god's good side, when I am so blandly interested in his bad side. ^.^
Mo ikkai: I suppose it'd be nice to say that Japan also returned to normal (though I was having so much fun with that part…not). Heh, maybe I'll continue on this, but recently I was neglecting the story so I thought it would be best to end it. Hint the quick and unsatisfying conclusion…I was going to have so much fun with all the sentimental mushy stuff, too. But as I said, perhaps I'll pick it up again some other day, some other time…
Take care,
Lauren (a.k.a Saki)