Ohmigosh! I just realized it's been three months since I updated! I am so, so, so, freaking sorry! I have been really busy, though. Now marching band season is over, and Speech team finishes in February, so then I shall have muy, muy more free time!
And whoever hasn't seen LOTR: RETURN OF THE KING yet…well, you should. After seeing it three times in four days, I decided to read the books again. And write a fanfic…*sighs* And for those of you who have seen it, and liked Pippin's song, it's in FELLOWSHIP, page 86 in my copy, if that gives you a rough idea. It's only the last verse, though.
Okies, onto proper author duties…
Welcome to greenstranger! I hope you'll be visiting again soon! In regards to your question about the other Dragoon spirits…well, you've have to wait and see… can't reveal too much of the plot, now, can I? It sounds like I've been doing a good job with Lana. (the chick that keeps attaching herself to sonari) I want you all to hate her with a passion… MWAH!
Isabella, if you email me, I might be able to help you with ideas for you LOD fic. Whatever the case, I'm always glad to chat with some other crazy author who has nothing else better to do. Email me anyway. It's on my profile.
*blink blink* Striker, honey…I think you might have an unhealthy obsession with Sonari…
Yani: Don't stop him. If Sonari doesn't get his ego boost…
DAY: Why? What's gonna happen?
Yani: You don't want to know.
DAY: Please? ;-;
Yani: Fine. You win. I can't take it when you look at me like that… *whispers*It's like Lana PMSing, only worse.
DAY: _ Ew. You were right. I didn't want to know.
Sonari: What was that, Yani?
Yani: Erm, nothing… *runs away*
Sonari: *chases after* Come back, coward!
Uh oh, characters on the loose again… Better go catch them.
The Oracle
When Sil-alia opened her eyes, she found herself standing on the bank of a river. A sound akin to crashing water was audible. She gazed about, and saw a waterfall upriver, mist and broken rainbows still visible at this distance. The beautiful sight made her catch her breath.
Glancing around again, she saw a young couple walking downriver on the opposite bank, coming from the direction of the waterfall. As they came closer, she could tell what they looked like: the man was tall with sandy hair cropped short, and the woman was also tall, though not as tall as he, with blonde hair cut just below the ears. She could faintly make out the shape of a scar on her right cheek, curving from the edge of her eye to her chin.
They were talking, but Sil-alia couldn't hear them over the pounding of the waterfall. Suddenly, the woman playfully pushed the man into the river. At the last second, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her in as well. The river wasn't very deep, and it didn't take long for the woman to surface. There was still no sign of the man. The woman looked around concernedly. With a splash of water, he surfaced right behind her, grabbing her legs and hoisting her up in his arms. Surprised, the woman clung to him until he gently let her legs go. However, she didn't take her arms from around his neck. They stood there for a moment until the woman said three or four words, then the man leaned in, and they shared a kiss. Sil-alia turned away, and found herself staring into the eyes of a beautiful young woman.
She was shorter than Sil-alia, with long black hair flowing down her back. Her eyes were an ethereal shade of gold, which seemed to pierce Sil-alia to the bone. Her aura was overwhelming, almost causing Sil-alia to back up a couple paces.
"Why do you seek my wisdom, chosen one of Archangel?" The woman's voice was melodious, lilting softly and reminding Sil-alia faintly of bells.
Sil-alia dropped to one knee as she instantly recognized the woman. She had seen her face many times, in a life-like carving. She was the woman who had created the Oracle, the one woman who could see not only into the past, but into the present and future as well. Gentle fingers under her chin brought her gaze to golden eyes, and nothing more than the aura of the Oracle brought Sil-alia to her feet.
"Do not bow to me as you would a god. I am no more a deity than you, probably less so. I hazard a guess that your life has been purer than mine." Before Sil-alia could ponder what the Oracle meant, she continued. "I shall ask you again, why do you seek my wisdom?"
Sil-alia, confused and mystified by her setting, didn't answer the Oracle's question, but asked one of her own, instead. "Where are we? What is this?"
"Such a simple question, with such a complicated answer. We are in a future. One of your futures," the Oracle replied calmly. The perplexed expression on Sil-alia's face told the Oracle that she had to more to explain. "The woman who was over there," she pointed vaguely to where the couple had fallen into the river, but were no longer there, "that is you. In a future, that is. Every time there is a choice to be made, multiple futures are open. When the choice is made, and the path pursued, all futures close apart from the one you chose to follow. Think of it this way. The future is like a castle. When you enter the castle, you come across a crossroad. You may only go down one path. You choose which way to go, and you follow that hall. Different things lie down the other hallways, but those are closed to you now. Along the corridor are many doors. You may only open one door. When the door is opened, you cannot choose another. You get what is inside the room. The future works the same way."
"You what you're saying is that this nice, happy, peaceful future is only going to be fulfilled if I make the right choices." The Oracle nodded. "And that's not likely to happen, is it?"
"Anything is possible. You must make the choices that you think are right at the time. Live life the way you wish to live it." The Oracle looked satisfied that Sil-alia understood the way to open the future. "Now, I shall ask you one last time: Why do you seek my wisdom?"
"The chosen ones of Archangel, He has given us a mission here on Endiness. We are to fight the darkness that threatens to take over the entire world. Can you show me who we are to fight?"
The Oracle nodded slowly. "I can. However, all these scenes that you are about to see are possible futures. Depending upon how you unlock the future, are or some of these will come to pass. However, your enemy is involved in all."
Sil-alia nodded to show she understood. Then the world around her shifted and swirled.
/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/
Yani yawned. "I'm bored. I hope they come out soon."
Rigana was deep in concentration. "They've been in there an awfully long time. Sonari must have found a way in also."
Yani jumped to his feet. "So let's follow him!"
"What? You're crazy! You'll get us lost. There's no way we can hope to navigate around the Shrine."
"That's exactly right!" Yani was very excited about the prospect of getting lost. "Sonari doesn't know his way around either. If, by chance, he has found his way around, he'll leave all the doors open so he can find his way out! We can follow him!"
Rigana now understood Yani's logic, but was still skeptical. "How sure are you that he'll leave the doors open?"
"One hundred percent. Absolutely positively! Let's go!" He grabbed Rigana's wrist and pulled her through the entrance into the Shrine, Rigana murmuring something he couldn't hear under her breath.
/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/
Sil-alia gasped as she saw her new surroundings. Flaming buildings stood all around. People ran screaming out of the town through any way they could find. Demons, Humans and Winglies were pillaging and raiding the buildings that they could enter, slaughtering people in their way. Virage flew overhead.
Sil-alia's vision blurred with tears as she stumbled back a step. A man pushed a woman and child out of the way right in front of Sil-alia. A Wingly alighted on the ground. The man drew his sword; however, the Wingly's blade was faster. Sil-alia heard her own cry of horror when the man's blood spilled all over her. She backed away once more, her gaze flitting from place to place, each scene similar.
Suddenly, she heard laughter, as if magically magnified to be heard above the clashing of steel, the roaring of the fire, and the shrill screams. Her head turned instinctively to where the voice was coming from. She saw a Man, sitting on top of a huge, white Virage. He was close enough so that her Wingly vision could make out his basic physical traits. He was tall and broad-shouldered. He wore an outfit of all black to match his shoulder-length, greasy black hair and mustache. She couldn't quite make out the color of his eyes, apart from they were dark as well, but he was laughing as he surveyed the chaos he had put into motion. This, undoubtedly, was the one they were after. The instigator in this fight. The one whom the darkness had consumed.
The world swirled and morphed again. Sil-alia found herself looking at battles scenes, where the villains always routed the ones who would stop their dark pursuit, burned cities and town, public executions, and other unspeakable atrocities. And in every single vision, the dark man with the black mustache was there.
Sil-alia vowed there and then that she would kill him.
Then the Oracle launched her into a final vision.
/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/
Dead bodies, Demon, Human, Wingly, Virage, men and women alike, some indistinguishable, were everywhere. The ground was no longer green, but red. Blood ran in rivers through the once lush field. Sil-alia looked to the sky. Indeed, there was the dark man, sitting upon his Virage, laughing still.
Sil-alia heard a familiar voice calling to someone near her.
"Rigana! Up there! There he is! Get him!" The voice was Yani's. She turned and saw Yani and Rigana fighting back to back. Their Dragoon armor was protecting them from most blows, but the enemies were thickest around them. She could see blood oozing from myriad wounds on both warriors.
Rigana nodded slowly, then rose into the air. She gathered energy into herself, readying herself to cast a magic spell. Purple and blue light pooled around her hands and body. "Lightning strikes harder when you're wet. LIGHTNING SHOWER!"
"I don't think so, little fly." The arrogant statement came from the dark figure on the white Virage. His voice was deep, strong and smooth. Before Rigana could cast her spell, he held his hand out in front of him, then curled his fingers in. Rigana screamed. Her arms and legs were pinned to her sides, as if she were held in his hand. Her scream caused Yani to look up in alarm. He was rewarded with a direct strike across his neck and chest. As blood poured from the wound on his neck, he went back to fighting, though his eyes now had a haunted look in them. The black figure shot a blast of magic at Rigana. She passed out, and hurtled towards the ground. As soon as she touched the ground, enemies swarmed over her.
Yani's eyes closed for a second. When he reopened them, they were filled with a fire that Sil-alia had never seen. He yelled an unintelligible war cry, then went on the rampage. It looked to Sil-alia that he knew he was going to die, but didn't care. He eventually went down; there were just too many; however, he made sure that he was surrounded by a large pile of dead enemies.
Sil-alia closed her eyes to fend off tears. When she reopened them, she found herself in a very different part of the battlefield. She, the future she with short hair and scar, and Sonari were fighting side by side with their backs against a large stone. Sonari's Shotel swung in silver arcs, felling all who tried to come too close. Her Shurikama was a blaze of silver.
The man in black laughed once again. A large ball of pure magic energy was racing towards her, the fighting her. She had no room or time to dodge the missile. Sonari tackled her midsection, hurling her to the ground before the magic hit her. However, the magic caught his Dragoon wings and tore them into shreds, rendering them useless. Sonari grunted in pain. The two Dragoons regained their feet quickly, eyes bugging at the chasm the blast of magic opened up behind them.
Suddenly, a large demon barreled through Sonari's attack. The Shotel ripped open its stomach, but it had no thought for the innards it was losing. It got a firm grip around Sonari and dragged him down the yawning gap behind him. Dragoon wings useless, Sonari could do nothing except fall down the chasm, searching for a handhold, but unable to find one. Both Sil-alias watched in wide-eyes horror as Sonari fell beyond help or hope.
/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/
With a strangled cry, Sil-alia ripped herself from the clutches of the Oracle. She was gasping for breath, tears spilling from her eyes and cold sweat dripping down her face. She slowly removed her hands from the smooth, iridescence of the Oracle. She gazed at the crystalline surface of the cavernous room, then turned around slowly.
And found herself face to face with the ugliest beast she had ever seen.
Author's Note: Now then, that chapter was interesting, yes? Epic battles, seeing the future and much more besides. Visions abound. Sonari wandering though a maze of catacombs, and a really ugly beast. What's coming up in the next chapter?
- Sil-alia picks a fight with the wrong beast
- Sonari finds his way to…somewhere
- Rigana and Yani enter the Shrine and find…some weird carvings?
- Fatal injury, maiming and otherwise being injured
- Weird fusion thingy
- And a fast paced chase back to Lahrin
At least, that's what I have planned.
And remember kiddos, I write faster with the more reviews I get. Light flaming allowed. After all, I can have my Water Dragoon put out the flames, yes?