A/N: I am so so so sorry it has taken me so incredibly long to update and post, but getting ready to apply to university and keep up a 90% average is hard don't you know! And why have I only had one review!!! Wah!!! (thanks to pheonixelemental for that) Reviews help me write...please R&R....*wipes tear* anyhoo, with out further wait Ch.3
Standard disclaimers... I know I don't any aspect of Esca and the quote in the conversation between Hitomi and her Gran is from ST: The Wrath of Khan... just in case of (c) probs;)
`````````````Chapter 3: Fall to Rise Again ```````````````
When Hitomi woke up, she was not surprised to see her hands tied in front of her. Van lay off to the side, still unconscious. Hitomi blinked her eyes trying to adjust to the pre sunrise light and saw that she lay on the cliff clearing from her first vision with the tree line to her right. She attempted to get to her knees and look around but instead was pushed back down by a boot and kick over onto her back.
"So you're the whore from the Mystic Moon. Just as bizarre as they said you were..." a man, clearly no more than twenty sneered at Hitomi.
She carefully observed the man speaking and his companions. There were a relatively small group of young men, the oldest seemed to her only to be in his late twenties if that. Counting five, Hitomi glanced over their appearances and the uniforms they wore plucked a faint memory from her mind. Zaibach! The Dragonslayers! They had Zaibach uniforms on, like the ones required of Dilandau's Dragonslayers but with green trimming and a black base instead of blue trim.
The man that spoke hauled her to her feet. He was almost six feet tall, and very lean. He stepped back from her, and slowly looked her over. His face was bony and white. It looked like he had not had a proper meal in sometime. Her observations were broken as he began to criticize her again, " No I was wrong; you are more disgusting than bizarre. What do you think Ja-kal?"
" I agree completely, Lord Gabdi. Utterly disgusting... but both myself and Marda, have a question, sir..." The scarred and wiry man to his right said.
"Well, what ever could you and your brother want?" Gabdi asked with a grin plaster on his white face.
" We want to know who gets to kill her." Marda said blatantly, his deep and booming voice causing Hitomi to cringe slightly.
Hitomi remained surprisingly restrained as they continued acting if she was too stupid to understand them, yet she grew increasingly angry at this dialogue. "What do you want from us? We have done nothing to you," Hitomi insisted to them.
"Oh really? I suppose this is all just one big mistake, isn't that right," Gabdi chuckled in contempt, "Well, I guess we will just have to let you go, eh, witch?" their leader said as he moved closer to her.
"I am no witch." Hitomi told him and with that spat in his face. She was rather amazed at herself for doing that while her life was in his hands. Hers and the life of Van.
"I will enjoy making you pay for that, you bitch!" Lord Gabdi sneered at her before rushing toward Hitomi.
Using the back of his hand, Gabdi sent Hitomi crashing to the ground. Her cheek became red instantly from the action. 'It won't be long before a bruise happens...' Hitomi though while she tried to raise herself from the ground.
Gabdi moved forward swiftly, grabbed her by the neck, and squeezed. As her eyes began to roll back in her head with the lack of oxygen, the commander backhanded Hitomi in the other direction, with his hand connecting to the side of her forehead.
Her mind was in a flurry trying to think of ways out of the situation through the stinging pain in her head and the cuts from the stony clearing on her body. Painfully opening her eyes, Hitomi quickly glanced around the clearing for the man she loved, and looking passed her captor's legs, she saw that Van had begun to regain consciousness. She hoped he would not do anything characteristically rash if he heard what they were doing or saw what they had already done.
The man that had slapped her, Lord Gabdi, noticed Hitomi glance behind him and turn around. " Ah, the royal whelp awakes," he announced striding up to Van, "oh I do hope your head hurts. The more pain you have the happier it is for me. Justice is such a sweet word to hear."
Van pulled himself up to his knees and glared up at their captor. He spat at his feet and growled. "You had better release us if you know what's good for you."
*WHAM* the force of the foot's impact to his face flung Van onto his back and cause him to spit blood. "I hardly think you're in the position to be threatening me, weakling..." Gabdi warned the injured king.
Van groaned slightly and turned to look toward where Hitomi lay on the ground. He immediately saw the emerging bruises on her face and could not have stopped his anger if he wanted to. They had hurt 'his' Hitomi, and they must be hurt back.
Van lunged forward at Gabdi and rammed into his chest, knocking him down to the ground quite hard, before realizing he had no free hands to beat this man with. He was dragged off the cursing General by three of Lord Gabdi's accompanying men, held, and beaten severely for his actions. The men, however hunger and weak they may have been took out all their frustrations on the helpless king. Fists and knees were connecting to ever part of Van's body as blood from his injuries dripped from his bruising face steadily.
In horror, Hitomi pushed herself to her knees and begged the men to stop the pain. Ignoring her, they continued the beating, until Van could hardly hold himself up. The men let go and Van dropped to the ground in exhaustion.
Hitomi was allowed to get within a foot of Van before being hauled to her feet and restrained. The tears were brimming at her eyes when she began to feel her mind becoming hazy in announcement of a vision. ' No, not now please. Not a vision now,' the silently weeping woman said to herself.
Lord Gabdi strode between Hitomi and Van and cleared his throat. "Ahem, now to move right along and get to point of this venture."
He motioned to the man behind Hitomi, she was pulled in front of the cliff edge, and the ropes that had held her hands were cut. Hitomi knew that something big and most likely bad was just about to happen. ' I could try to get to Van... No, I would never make it and then, uh...ooo, we'd, uh, we would both die.' Hitomi forced herself to pull on every ounce of strength she had to stay standing, for she could feel that her mind was slowly beginning to haze and slip into a vision, and she knew she needed to stay wake and as alert as possible.
"Marda, bring the boy over here to watch," the lord said to a stout soldier behind him before turning toward Marda's wiry brother, " and Ja-kal because you asked you get to do it."
Van was held in place and could only stare at Hitomi in confusion and fear, not knowing what was to happen but guessing at the worst. He vainly attempted to get out of the hold Marda had on him, only to be held tighter, surprising considering the size of this soldier that restrained him. Hitomi began to sway on her feet as the pasty face commander stepped up to her with Ja-kal in tow.
" Hitomi Kanzaki, " he announced louder than needed, ", damned witch of the Mystic Moon, are hereby accused of the murder of our supreme leader, Emperor Dornkirk, the down fall of the glorious Zaibach Empire and the attempted genocide of its citizens; it is our duty as the survivors of your treachery that are present here at this time to carry out the sentencing..."
He paused in his speech and turned to look at Van and his bloodied face. He gave a malicious smirk and raised his arm. Ja-kal came with in less than an arms length of Hitomi and looked toward his leader.
Gabdi resumed his 'trial'. "You are therefore sentenced to death!" With that last word dropped his arm and Ja-kal pushed Hitomi back off the cliff's edge just as she foreseen it in the field. The last thing Hitomi heard before being taken over by this new vision was Van's anguished cry of her name.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
She could feel herself floating in air, if indeed it was air, for she could not see anything around her. The white light blinded Hitomi's eyes and prompted her to ask, " Am I dead?" to the surrounding illumination.
"Oh, my dear child. You are far from dead," a gentle and yet well-known voice spoke out from the light. "Why, you are just beginning a new life."
Hitomi opened her eyes to wear the voice came from and gasped. Before her stood an elderly woman with a face not unlike her own. Her brown hair was braided in two pigtails the framed her face and hung over her shoulders. The woman wore a dark blue kimono that was covered in a pattern of pink pinwheels. "Grandma? What happened? If I'm not dead why can I see you and..." Hitomi paused to reach out to the being she called Grandmother, "feel you?"
"We have brought you here and slowed time in the real world to show you," her Gran explained. Her eyes seemed to soften with sadness as she spoke next. "You don't know how much I wish this had passed you over, Hitomi."
"What, wished what had passed? ..."
"But all the signs are present, isn't that right?" Gran asked looking to her side as a woman materialized from the light.
This woman looked in her early forties and looked very familiar. The lady had the stance of royalty, yet her eyes were soft and kind. She had long jet-black hair that flowed down her back past her waist. Her clothing appeared to be Gaean. However, the most noticeable feature of this woman was the pair of majestic wings that extended from her shoulders and were folded gracefully upon her back. "I know you, don't I?" Hitomi said to the woman.
Her voice rang out in reply. "You have not met me directly, but you have seen me a few instances, years ago. The first was in a memory. From this." She pulled her hand up from her side and in it laid a feather. A simple white feather.
"What?" Hitomi exclaimed in confusion shaking her head, " A memory from a feath... You are Van's mother, aren't you?... but I still don't understand... "
The Fanelian royal smiled kindly and nodded her head. "The prophecy chose you before you were born. In fact it chose you before Atlantis was destroyed, and destiny has, since then, been directing the course of two worlds so that you would become who you are, and that the people to aid you in your journey were born. I was destined to meet my Gaou, Van's father, and have two sons. No more and no less. Your Grandmother was destined go to Gaea and meet Allen's father, Leon, and get the pendant that reawakened both your heritages and then..."
"Wait! Are you saying that I own Allen's father for all of this, everything that has happened to me?
"Yes, I suppose we are in a sense. As we have said, all that has happened, in the last few weeks back to the day the prophecy was passed, happened because it would direct life to your creation and the creation of those to help you. Even the near disaster with Allen on the bridge had a purpose in your life."
"How could that have any real reason?" Hitomi countered, recalling the event with a blush, "That whole thing was a Zaibach plot to get my feelings out of the way, wasn't it?"
Varie chuckled at Hitomi's confusion. "Well, it did show you the young man that had already embraced your soul, did it not? Van and you are kindred spirits, Hitomi. Your souls are forever intertwined."
Hitomi paused to consider what Varie had told her. A wistful smile crept onto her face as she though of Van and herself...
Varie continued speaking to Hitomi, drawing her back to the moment, "You, Van, and his brother are the last of your kind, " her eyes softened as she finished quietly," And there is pain in your futures."
Not noticing the last remark, Hitomi continued, "You speak of Folken as if he's alive. I would have thought you would know he is not. I was there when he died and when Van buried him in Fanelia. Folken is dead."
The Draconian royal drew herself up and proclaimed proudly, "Folken is the phoenix. What you saw in both your earlier visions were real. As the bird in flame does, Folken will be reborn through fire, reborn to his true form. It is not the first time death has failed to claim my elder son. The animals you saw in your vision were the form of your spirits. Van has long been called the dragon since his birth and for good reason. And you are loyal, noble, and fiercely courageous just like the white wolf. There is more you share with Van than this... but I think it best that another explains this to you."
"What do you mean 'Folken is the phoenix'?" she asked, recalling her mythology classes," Do you mean the mythical bird? The one that is reborn through fire and ash and is immortal? That phoenix?" Hitomi asked in disbelief.
"Yes, we do, but your journey will guide you in that direction in due time. For now there are two people that have waited millennia to meet you Hitomi..." Varie and Hitomi's Grandma moved off the right side as two beings materialized out of the light.
Before her stood a young man and a woman. They were covered in flowing robes of what looked like silk with almost mythical patterns adorning them. They both had long blonde hair that framed their soft, smiling faces and flowed down their backs. Hitomi scanned over the two new people and locked eyes with the woman. Her eyes were the deepest shade of blue and looked as if they had been through the test of time and seen the ages go past them.
When Hitomi had broken the gaze, the two had spread behind them pairs of wings the purest form of white imaginable. All she could do was stare in awe.
"It is our honour to finally meet you dear daughter of Atlantis. The ages have guided time into your birth. You are prophesied, and we are happy for it," the young man announced to her.
"Wh...what... did you say?" was all Hitomi could utter.
Her Gran stepped forward and began to talk slowly to her," Now Hitomi, I want you to take a deep breath and relax... You have always known that you were different and you are. But in more ways than you know. Yes, you were born on Earth, but you are not entirely human... Are you following me so far?" she asked as Hitomi nodded in response, " Okay. These are our ancestors, the first of our family; and even though it has been thousands of years and countless bloodlines have gone by, Atlantean blood does not fade. Your abilities come from that blood, those ones and more, and it is because I travelled to Gaea that those traits manifested in you entirely. The light reawakened the dormant genes in me, and when you were taken by the light as well, you blood revealed what you really are."
"More? What is the 'more'?" inquired Hitomi.
Her grandmother smiles slightly and nodded at Hitomi. She stepped back and taking a deep breath, two elegant white wings sliced through the back of her kimono and extended themselves fully.
Hitomi stumbled back and began to hyperventilate at this sudden rush of information. " I need... need to... sit down right now," she said to no one in particular as her body went down to the ground behind her.
"Okay... ooooo-kay...Well, this is a lot to absorb but going on...wings... You um... wow, she has wings... uh, you spoke about a pro... prophecy, and I suppose that it is not a good one right?" Hitomi asked attempting to process as much information as her brain would allow.
The female Atlantean spoke softly to her, " We cannot tell you all that we know. But..." with a quick glance at her partner," Do you remember the gate to Atlantis in the Mystic Valley, Hitomi?" continuing once her descendant nodded toward her in reply," That gate fed off a monstrous power and an evil power. It was never supposed to be used. When Van assumed his role as the "bearer of the karma of war", and the gate was destroyed, the being that we, your ancestors, had sealed in it was release into Gaea. It has a massive power, child. Only the power of three shall be able to quell it."
Hitomi took a deep breath begins her recap, "So from what you're saying... Van the draconian king of Fanelia; Folken, when he is brought back to life; and me, the last Atlantean alive... all with some sort of mystical animal spirits inside us... are the only three that have any chance of stopping this thing?" she asked glancing around the group, "Right then. Um, w...wha... uh, what else can you tell me about this, this 'evil'?"
The Atlantean lady continued with her explanation, " The being has been reborn into Gaea and to our dismay we do not know what form it will take. It could become anything and be anywhere."
The gentleman stepped forward to finish her companions explanation," The task of surviving the gate's destruction drew most of the beings energy and it must therefore regenerate itself. However, it is not know how long that will take. It has never happened before. The process could have taken weeks or it could take years, we just do not know. We do know it is coming, and that when the creature has regained it's power you will know it. For survival, you and those who will aid you in your journey must prepare yourselves. When the regeneration is complete, it is not a sure thing that the power of the three will be able to defeat it. But we hope and that is a powerful thing."
The four apparitions before Hitomi paused and glanced into the light behind them. It was as if there was a silent voice calling out to their attention. They slowly tuned their heads back to Hitomi's direction and her Grandmother stepped forward to embrace her tightly.
"Hitomi, time is growing short and we cannot stay here any longer...we must send you back," she continued on despite Hitomi's dismayed face, " Yes, yes I know you don't want to but, remember 'The needs of the many, outweigh the need of the few or the one.' There will be times in your future where things look bleak, like there is no hope or salvation. Hitomi at those times I want you to trust in your heart... "
"And the love that you share with Van, "Queen Varie interrupted.
"But there is still so much I don't understand about all this!" Hitomi called out.
The Fanelian lady came and drew Hitomi into her arms softly, " Do not worry child, the mysteries will unravel themselves in time. You cannot rush them."
Now, Hitomi, I told you that we had slowed time to bring you here... Do you remember where you were before the vision took you, what had happened to you?" the elder Kanzaki questioned.
Her green eyes grew wide with shock as she realized her physical position on Gaea, the fact that she had just been pushed off a cliff of all places. Her grandmother went on, "Yes, you were falling, now you are still falling, even now, but your body will know what to do. You are Atlantean after all. Ok, have we covered everything?" the old woman inquired of her three companions," Yes? Good. Fly Hitomi, save him... It's destiny."
"But, Grandma, I don...uh..." was the last thing Hitomi could utter before the light took her once again, back to the cliff side.
Standard disclaimers... I know I don't any aspect of Esca and the quote in the conversation between Hitomi and her Gran is from ST: The Wrath of Khan... just in case of (c) probs;)
`````````````Chapter 3: Fall to Rise Again ```````````````
When Hitomi woke up, she was not surprised to see her hands tied in front of her. Van lay off to the side, still unconscious. Hitomi blinked her eyes trying to adjust to the pre sunrise light and saw that she lay on the cliff clearing from her first vision with the tree line to her right. She attempted to get to her knees and look around but instead was pushed back down by a boot and kick over onto her back.
"So you're the whore from the Mystic Moon. Just as bizarre as they said you were..." a man, clearly no more than twenty sneered at Hitomi.
She carefully observed the man speaking and his companions. There were a relatively small group of young men, the oldest seemed to her only to be in his late twenties if that. Counting five, Hitomi glanced over their appearances and the uniforms they wore plucked a faint memory from her mind. Zaibach! The Dragonslayers! They had Zaibach uniforms on, like the ones required of Dilandau's Dragonslayers but with green trimming and a black base instead of blue trim.
The man that spoke hauled her to her feet. He was almost six feet tall, and very lean. He stepped back from her, and slowly looked her over. His face was bony and white. It looked like he had not had a proper meal in sometime. Her observations were broken as he began to criticize her again, " No I was wrong; you are more disgusting than bizarre. What do you think Ja-kal?"
" I agree completely, Lord Gabdi. Utterly disgusting... but both myself and Marda, have a question, sir..." The scarred and wiry man to his right said.
"Well, what ever could you and your brother want?" Gabdi asked with a grin plaster on his white face.
" We want to know who gets to kill her." Marda said blatantly, his deep and booming voice causing Hitomi to cringe slightly.
Hitomi remained surprisingly restrained as they continued acting if she was too stupid to understand them, yet she grew increasingly angry at this dialogue. "What do you want from us? We have done nothing to you," Hitomi insisted to them.
"Oh really? I suppose this is all just one big mistake, isn't that right," Gabdi chuckled in contempt, "Well, I guess we will just have to let you go, eh, witch?" their leader said as he moved closer to her.
"I am no witch." Hitomi told him and with that spat in his face. She was rather amazed at herself for doing that while her life was in his hands. Hers and the life of Van.
"I will enjoy making you pay for that, you bitch!" Lord Gabdi sneered at her before rushing toward Hitomi.
Using the back of his hand, Gabdi sent Hitomi crashing to the ground. Her cheek became red instantly from the action. 'It won't be long before a bruise happens...' Hitomi though while she tried to raise herself from the ground.
Gabdi moved forward swiftly, grabbed her by the neck, and squeezed. As her eyes began to roll back in her head with the lack of oxygen, the commander backhanded Hitomi in the other direction, with his hand connecting to the side of her forehead.
Her mind was in a flurry trying to think of ways out of the situation through the stinging pain in her head and the cuts from the stony clearing on her body. Painfully opening her eyes, Hitomi quickly glanced around the clearing for the man she loved, and looking passed her captor's legs, she saw that Van had begun to regain consciousness. She hoped he would not do anything characteristically rash if he heard what they were doing or saw what they had already done.
The man that had slapped her, Lord Gabdi, noticed Hitomi glance behind him and turn around. " Ah, the royal whelp awakes," he announced striding up to Van, "oh I do hope your head hurts. The more pain you have the happier it is for me. Justice is such a sweet word to hear."
Van pulled himself up to his knees and glared up at their captor. He spat at his feet and growled. "You had better release us if you know what's good for you."
*WHAM* the force of the foot's impact to his face flung Van onto his back and cause him to spit blood. "I hardly think you're in the position to be threatening me, weakling..." Gabdi warned the injured king.
Van groaned slightly and turned to look toward where Hitomi lay on the ground. He immediately saw the emerging bruises on her face and could not have stopped his anger if he wanted to. They had hurt 'his' Hitomi, and they must be hurt back.
Van lunged forward at Gabdi and rammed into his chest, knocking him down to the ground quite hard, before realizing he had no free hands to beat this man with. He was dragged off the cursing General by three of Lord Gabdi's accompanying men, held, and beaten severely for his actions. The men, however hunger and weak they may have been took out all their frustrations on the helpless king. Fists and knees were connecting to ever part of Van's body as blood from his injuries dripped from his bruising face steadily.
In horror, Hitomi pushed herself to her knees and begged the men to stop the pain. Ignoring her, they continued the beating, until Van could hardly hold himself up. The men let go and Van dropped to the ground in exhaustion.
Hitomi was allowed to get within a foot of Van before being hauled to her feet and restrained. The tears were brimming at her eyes when she began to feel her mind becoming hazy in announcement of a vision. ' No, not now please. Not a vision now,' the silently weeping woman said to herself.
Lord Gabdi strode between Hitomi and Van and cleared his throat. "Ahem, now to move right along and get to point of this venture."
He motioned to the man behind Hitomi, she was pulled in front of the cliff edge, and the ropes that had held her hands were cut. Hitomi knew that something big and most likely bad was just about to happen. ' I could try to get to Van... No, I would never make it and then, uh...ooo, we'd, uh, we would both die.' Hitomi forced herself to pull on every ounce of strength she had to stay standing, for she could feel that her mind was slowly beginning to haze and slip into a vision, and she knew she needed to stay wake and as alert as possible.
"Marda, bring the boy over here to watch," the lord said to a stout soldier behind him before turning toward Marda's wiry brother, " and Ja-kal because you asked you get to do it."
Van was held in place and could only stare at Hitomi in confusion and fear, not knowing what was to happen but guessing at the worst. He vainly attempted to get out of the hold Marda had on him, only to be held tighter, surprising considering the size of this soldier that restrained him. Hitomi began to sway on her feet as the pasty face commander stepped up to her with Ja-kal in tow.
" Hitomi Kanzaki, " he announced louder than needed, ", damned witch of the Mystic Moon, are hereby accused of the murder of our supreme leader, Emperor Dornkirk, the down fall of the glorious Zaibach Empire and the attempted genocide of its citizens; it is our duty as the survivors of your treachery that are present here at this time to carry out the sentencing..."
He paused in his speech and turned to look at Van and his bloodied face. He gave a malicious smirk and raised his arm. Ja-kal came with in less than an arms length of Hitomi and looked toward his leader.
Gabdi resumed his 'trial'. "You are therefore sentenced to death!" With that last word dropped his arm and Ja-kal pushed Hitomi back off the cliff's edge just as she foreseen it in the field. The last thing Hitomi heard before being taken over by this new vision was Van's anguished cry of her name.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
She could feel herself floating in air, if indeed it was air, for she could not see anything around her. The white light blinded Hitomi's eyes and prompted her to ask, " Am I dead?" to the surrounding illumination.
"Oh, my dear child. You are far from dead," a gentle and yet well-known voice spoke out from the light. "Why, you are just beginning a new life."
Hitomi opened her eyes to wear the voice came from and gasped. Before her stood an elderly woman with a face not unlike her own. Her brown hair was braided in two pigtails the framed her face and hung over her shoulders. The woman wore a dark blue kimono that was covered in a pattern of pink pinwheels. "Grandma? What happened? If I'm not dead why can I see you and..." Hitomi paused to reach out to the being she called Grandmother, "feel you?"
"We have brought you here and slowed time in the real world to show you," her Gran explained. Her eyes seemed to soften with sadness as she spoke next. "You don't know how much I wish this had passed you over, Hitomi."
"What, wished what had passed? ..."
"But all the signs are present, isn't that right?" Gran asked looking to her side as a woman materialized from the light.
This woman looked in her early forties and looked very familiar. The lady had the stance of royalty, yet her eyes were soft and kind. She had long jet-black hair that flowed down her back past her waist. Her clothing appeared to be Gaean. However, the most noticeable feature of this woman was the pair of majestic wings that extended from her shoulders and were folded gracefully upon her back. "I know you, don't I?" Hitomi said to the woman.
Her voice rang out in reply. "You have not met me directly, but you have seen me a few instances, years ago. The first was in a memory. From this." She pulled her hand up from her side and in it laid a feather. A simple white feather.
"What?" Hitomi exclaimed in confusion shaking her head, " A memory from a feath... You are Van's mother, aren't you?... but I still don't understand... "
The Fanelian royal smiled kindly and nodded her head. "The prophecy chose you before you were born. In fact it chose you before Atlantis was destroyed, and destiny has, since then, been directing the course of two worlds so that you would become who you are, and that the people to aid you in your journey were born. I was destined to meet my Gaou, Van's father, and have two sons. No more and no less. Your Grandmother was destined go to Gaea and meet Allen's father, Leon, and get the pendant that reawakened both your heritages and then..."
"Wait! Are you saying that I own Allen's father for all of this, everything that has happened to me?
"Yes, I suppose we are in a sense. As we have said, all that has happened, in the last few weeks back to the day the prophecy was passed, happened because it would direct life to your creation and the creation of those to help you. Even the near disaster with Allen on the bridge had a purpose in your life."
"How could that have any real reason?" Hitomi countered, recalling the event with a blush, "That whole thing was a Zaibach plot to get my feelings out of the way, wasn't it?"
Varie chuckled at Hitomi's confusion. "Well, it did show you the young man that had already embraced your soul, did it not? Van and you are kindred spirits, Hitomi. Your souls are forever intertwined."
Hitomi paused to consider what Varie had told her. A wistful smile crept onto her face as she though of Van and herself...
Varie continued speaking to Hitomi, drawing her back to the moment, "You, Van, and his brother are the last of your kind, " her eyes softened as she finished quietly," And there is pain in your futures."
Not noticing the last remark, Hitomi continued, "You speak of Folken as if he's alive. I would have thought you would know he is not. I was there when he died and when Van buried him in Fanelia. Folken is dead."
The Draconian royal drew herself up and proclaimed proudly, "Folken is the phoenix. What you saw in both your earlier visions were real. As the bird in flame does, Folken will be reborn through fire, reborn to his true form. It is not the first time death has failed to claim my elder son. The animals you saw in your vision were the form of your spirits. Van has long been called the dragon since his birth and for good reason. And you are loyal, noble, and fiercely courageous just like the white wolf. There is more you share with Van than this... but I think it best that another explains this to you."
"What do you mean 'Folken is the phoenix'?" she asked, recalling her mythology classes," Do you mean the mythical bird? The one that is reborn through fire and ash and is immortal? That phoenix?" Hitomi asked in disbelief.
"Yes, we do, but your journey will guide you in that direction in due time. For now there are two people that have waited millennia to meet you Hitomi..." Varie and Hitomi's Grandma moved off the right side as two beings materialized out of the light.
Before her stood a young man and a woman. They were covered in flowing robes of what looked like silk with almost mythical patterns adorning them. They both had long blonde hair that framed their soft, smiling faces and flowed down their backs. Hitomi scanned over the two new people and locked eyes with the woman. Her eyes were the deepest shade of blue and looked as if they had been through the test of time and seen the ages go past them.
When Hitomi had broken the gaze, the two had spread behind them pairs of wings the purest form of white imaginable. All she could do was stare in awe.
"It is our honour to finally meet you dear daughter of Atlantis. The ages have guided time into your birth. You are prophesied, and we are happy for it," the young man announced to her.
"Wh...what... did you say?" was all Hitomi could utter.
Her Gran stepped forward and began to talk slowly to her," Now Hitomi, I want you to take a deep breath and relax... You have always known that you were different and you are. But in more ways than you know. Yes, you were born on Earth, but you are not entirely human... Are you following me so far?" she asked as Hitomi nodded in response, " Okay. These are our ancestors, the first of our family; and even though it has been thousands of years and countless bloodlines have gone by, Atlantean blood does not fade. Your abilities come from that blood, those ones and more, and it is because I travelled to Gaea that those traits manifested in you entirely. The light reawakened the dormant genes in me, and when you were taken by the light as well, you blood revealed what you really are."
"More? What is the 'more'?" inquired Hitomi.
Her grandmother smiles slightly and nodded at Hitomi. She stepped back and taking a deep breath, two elegant white wings sliced through the back of her kimono and extended themselves fully.
Hitomi stumbled back and began to hyperventilate at this sudden rush of information. " I need... need to... sit down right now," she said to no one in particular as her body went down to the ground behind her.
"Okay... ooooo-kay...Well, this is a lot to absorb but going on...wings... You um... wow, she has wings... uh, you spoke about a pro... prophecy, and I suppose that it is not a good one right?" Hitomi asked attempting to process as much information as her brain would allow.
The female Atlantean spoke softly to her, " We cannot tell you all that we know. But..." with a quick glance at her partner," Do you remember the gate to Atlantis in the Mystic Valley, Hitomi?" continuing once her descendant nodded toward her in reply," That gate fed off a monstrous power and an evil power. It was never supposed to be used. When Van assumed his role as the "bearer of the karma of war", and the gate was destroyed, the being that we, your ancestors, had sealed in it was release into Gaea. It has a massive power, child. Only the power of three shall be able to quell it."
Hitomi took a deep breath begins her recap, "So from what you're saying... Van the draconian king of Fanelia; Folken, when he is brought back to life; and me, the last Atlantean alive... all with some sort of mystical animal spirits inside us... are the only three that have any chance of stopping this thing?" she asked glancing around the group, "Right then. Um, w...wha... uh, what else can you tell me about this, this 'evil'?"
The Atlantean lady continued with her explanation, " The being has been reborn into Gaea and to our dismay we do not know what form it will take. It could become anything and be anywhere."
The gentleman stepped forward to finish her companions explanation," The task of surviving the gate's destruction drew most of the beings energy and it must therefore regenerate itself. However, it is not know how long that will take. It has never happened before. The process could have taken weeks or it could take years, we just do not know. We do know it is coming, and that when the creature has regained it's power you will know it. For survival, you and those who will aid you in your journey must prepare yourselves. When the regeneration is complete, it is not a sure thing that the power of the three will be able to defeat it. But we hope and that is a powerful thing."
The four apparitions before Hitomi paused and glanced into the light behind them. It was as if there was a silent voice calling out to their attention. They slowly tuned their heads back to Hitomi's direction and her Grandmother stepped forward to embrace her tightly.
"Hitomi, time is growing short and we cannot stay here any longer...we must send you back," she continued on despite Hitomi's dismayed face, " Yes, yes I know you don't want to but, remember 'The needs of the many, outweigh the need of the few or the one.' There will be times in your future where things look bleak, like there is no hope or salvation. Hitomi at those times I want you to trust in your heart... "
"And the love that you share with Van, "Queen Varie interrupted.
"But there is still so much I don't understand about all this!" Hitomi called out.
The Fanelian lady came and drew Hitomi into her arms softly, " Do not worry child, the mysteries will unravel themselves in time. You cannot rush them."
Now, Hitomi, I told you that we had slowed time to bring you here... Do you remember where you were before the vision took you, what had happened to you?" the elder Kanzaki questioned.
Her green eyes grew wide with shock as she realized her physical position on Gaea, the fact that she had just been pushed off a cliff of all places. Her grandmother went on, "Yes, you were falling, now you are still falling, even now, but your body will know what to do. You are Atlantean after all. Ok, have we covered everything?" the old woman inquired of her three companions," Yes? Good. Fly Hitomi, save him... It's destiny."
"But, Grandma, I don...uh..." was the last thing Hitomi could utter before the light took her once again, back to the cliff side.