~Fate & Swordplay~

A Gaia World Fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own the story of Escaflowne or any of the characters involved with Escaflowne, and while some of the characters may be mentioned in the fanfic, most of the plot is truly based off of the world of Gaia. This is why it is a Gaia World fanfic and not an Escaflowne Fanfic.

Author's Note: If you've noticed I've been using Gaia instead of Gaea because I've learned it's more proper, and I like it better. Also, some of you have noticed that I have not mentioned Van, Hitomi, Escaflowne, etc. I would be glad to not that this is not a regular Escaflowne Fanfic. It does not involve any of the characters from Escaflowne so I'd rather call it a Gaia world fanfic. I like it better this way anyway. If you normally read escafics, then you'd know that many of the great Escafic writers, i.e. Melinda Ho and Vannessa St. Cloud, have incorperated new characters into their plots instead of just using the old ones. I hope to revolutionize the Escaflowne fanfics by not using any of the main characters in the plot. Heck! It could consist as a Novel on it's own!

Chapter Two:

False Play

"What you fail to recognize is that you have to take everything into account. You're the deadliest assasin on the face of Gaia and you still cannot follow my orders." Emperor Gladov Resime stood face to face with a killer. He had not failed to recognize the anger in the assasin's face, nor had he failed to recognize his own anger.

The assasin slowly nodded and the Emperor continued, holding up a small flask of a dark liquid. Inside the flask was the most deadly poison, K'parne. "I will give you the most deadly poison, K'parne. But of course you already know what this poison is. You were trained to recognize all poisons at first glance. K'parne is, as I shall saw, thirsty for blood these days. Only a small amount has been known to be harvested.

"Only a small amount could be harvested, but it is no longer able to be harvested. The conditions for the growing of the berry which the poison came from are not sutable conditions. The berry has become all but extinct." Emperor Resime spook slowly, not letting any of his words slur. "But of course, there was some of the precious juice from the berry that was saved." He held up the flask, parellel to his eyes.

"This flask is all that is left of the juice. I have come across it and decided to keep it, but the time has come, this time is near for this blood to be used, so that blood can be shed. K'parne is an all but extinct poison as well as the berry. Let me tell you that if you fail, there will be no more second chances. If you fail, there is no more K'parne to be used. So dip the tip of your blade in this poison, let it saturate it for a good kill." Resime took the top off of the flask and held it out. The assasin unsheathed his blade as the Emperor let a drop of the liquid land on the blade. The liquid soon hardened onto the blade, and became one with it. K'parne spread to all corners of the blade, like an infectious disease. It glistened as the assasin turned the blade over and over again.

To an ordinary person, this event would've seemed extrodinary, but both the assasin and the Emperor knew that one drop of the liquid would be enough for a kill. Truely, K'parne wasn't an ordinary poison. If the blade even glazed across the skin, the poison would mmeadiatly infect the body, shuting down all of it's organs. The poison would multiply in the body, quickly consuming it, quickly controling it.

Emperor Resime's face soon had an evil smile on it. "But you must not use the poison right away, save it for the greatest kill, one without flaws."

Emperor Galdov Resime was the great Emperor of Carnele. He had been ruling for a long time now, but Emperor Resime never seemed to lose a fight. His main goal was to wipe out Melaso for good. He wanted to get it out of the picture before plotting anything major.

~ ~

"Yes, well, it seems almost everything is going according to plan," said the Emperor's advisor, Fongar Salusa. He treid to aviod eye contact when saying those words, knowing that the Emperor wouldn't like what he would hear.

" 'Almost'? Why is it almost?" the Emperor looked like he was going to panick, that ever detail in this plot had to go according to plan.

"It's almost everything because it seems that our raid that was supposed to happen last night was discontinued." Fongar was still not making eye contact with the Emperor. Unlike the Duke Tren, who was full of rage during times of war, you had to be careful about saying things to the Emperor because he was always angry. The Emperor nodded for Fongar to continue, "It seems that someone snuck up behind our army and slit half of their throats, luckly, some got away."

The Emperor looked down at the table in disgust. "You know, I'm going to have to have a talk with these people, let them tell me what they say before I have to slit their throats." Fongar nodded.

~ ~

The Emperor Gladov Resime walked down to the Emperial Army Barracks with his advisor, Fongar, by his side. After being promoted to this level, Fongar still acted cautious in front of the Emperor.

As the two walked into the barracks, the whole place became quiet, the Emperor continued walking to the front of the place so that all could face him. "I have reason to believe that somehow half of my army was killed. Is this true or have my sources not been truthful?"

The men just sat there, not moving, swearing in there mind. "Do I have an army that does not answer me? Should I pronounce you all mute?" There were some mumbled answers from some men, but nothing the Emperor wanted, nothing like what the had asked.

The Emperor stood there for several minutes, waiting for an answer, but none came. He was a tall man, about the age of thirty-five with short brown hair that seemed to be graying with stress, but it was obvious that he, himself, denied this fact. The Emperor had to keep his watch, his post, his duty, as long as his heath would hold, which would be, possibly, untill he died. That day would be a long time from now, he hoped.

The Emperor looked up at the crowd. "Well? I thought someone would answer me by now, or do you not have an answer at all?" There were murmers of 'no' and 'surely not' amongst the men as they exchanged glances. "You there." the Emperor pointed at an unsuspecting man. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Well, um, well it was kinda like-" he began.

"Are you going to actually tell me or are you going to keep mumbling?" the Emperor asked. The man looked embarassed, but continued, "Well we were all going to the palace to rip the place apart when I turn around and find that they're no one behind me and then we all looked around and spotted these two people ridding off on a horse. We tried to follow, but the horse was too fast and left us behind, so we went back to the base. Along the way we found the others dead, with slit throats."

The Emperor nodded and continued with his speech, "So you were going to sabotage the castle? Now what idiot would go sabotage a castle when you could loss half of my men. Which, as I point out, actually happened. Well, who organized this? Who lead you to the castle?"

"It was him!" One of the men said, standing up and pointing to the other end of the room, where Fongar was standing. Fongar had a frieghtful look on this place as if he were saying, 'no! it wasn't me! spare me, please!' The Emperor had a look of rage on his face, he couldn't believe that Fongar had betrayed his plan!

A man stepped out from behind Fongar. He wore a cap that had a large hood that covered his face. The man stepped in front of Fongar and removed his hood. He had a head full of short green hair. He was tall and young, but his blue eyes had shown age. "Yes, it was I who sent them to the palace." He spoke with a clamness as if he didn't know that it was the Emperor of all of Carnele he was speaking to.

There was rage in the Emperor's eyes when he saw this person, and also relief for the betrayer not having been Fongar. The Emperor nodded towards the doors, and someone got up to close them, stading squarely in front of them. "So who are you? Why have you come to this place?"

"I am known only as Zuirem, and please call me Zuirem. I have come to this place for one need, to get your attention."

"So you sent my army to the palace?" The Emperor asked.

"Yes, I believe I've already conformed that," Zuirem said. "As for your doubts about me. I can tell you that I do not come from Melaso, I come from a higher source." He smiled, looking directly at the Emperor. The Emperor nodded for him to continue. "I come from Ziabach, as a hireling. I am in your service."

The Emperor stared at him in confusion, wondering why Ziabach would send a hireling to them. One word came from his mind, sabatoge, but the Emperor soon shook it off. Ziabach was a thriving nation, they didn't need to be in the middle of this war, why were they helping? Ziabach was a quiet nation, one that always was improving its techniques. Hiding in the dust.

Then he remembered what Fongar had said. "You might be recieving some help in the days to come."

"Do I trust the help?" The Emperor had asked. "Surely, why not, of course, they are help."

The look of concern lifted from the Emperor's face, as he came back to reality. Now this must be what Fongar had meant! He turned back to Zuirem, smiling. "Yes, yes, I was excepting someone to come."

Zuirem nodded back, all too pleased, "Well, I am grateful that someone recognizes me, but the real question is: do you have use for me?"

The Emperor evilly laughed, "Of, course, we would always have a use for you. As for this use, I think it would be better to dicuss such matters in my personal office, where we don't have the eyes of a thousand men placed upon us."

Zuirem nodded, "Yes, yes, you can't be too careful."

~ ~

"So I hear Melaso's been strugling. The perfect time for defeat," Zuirem commented. The Emperor's office, despite to sterotype, was light and airy.

"Like many delicacies, revenge is a dish best savored after a long and delicate process." The Emperor paused, trying to find words to reveal his plan. "I'm not going to defeat them while they're weak, but rather watch them until I can defeat them and show my superior power. That is your job, I want you to go to Melaso and watch them. But watch without them knowing, you mustn't give away your secret. This war depends on what you do. Your will be my eyes and my ears. Work and watch them grow, and report to me all of their happenings. How you get in there is up to you, but I trust that you'll get what is asked," the Emperor finished.

Zuirem nodded, making his way out of the office, out of the castle towards a new destination: Melaso.

~ ~

The capital city, Melaso, was actually on the eastern side of the country, bordered by thick forests and marshes. It was a wonder that the Emperial Army had even gotten to the city without getting eaten by bugs first. It was a geological defense mechanism, perfect for this type of setting. Anyone getting into the city would have to take the main road, one thay had been cut through by travelers coming and leaving Melaso. The main road was only wide enough so that each traveler could pass on either side.

Zuirem rode down that road, letting his horse stay at a trot. Even though he was working for Melaso's enemy, there was no need for protection because Melaso did not know who he truely was.

In his evil mind, there was a plot developing. Last time he hand to make an entrance, he had sent Carnele's Emperial Army off to raid the castle. Last time, he had used the story that he had been sent from Ziabach. Ziabach! he thought How did I make them believe me?

Zuirem did not come from Ziabach, though. He hardly came from anywhere. Zuirem did not belong to any country in Gaia. He was one of the twelve members of the secret council of the Zihld.

No one knew anything of the Zihld, they had been a legend for some time know. A member of the Zihld was a important part of the world because the council saw over all activity on Gaia. They made sure that every action did not reveal the prophecies that the great goddess had up her sleeve. The Zihld was part of these prophecies.

One thousand years ago, a woman named Amaire discovered a series of tomes that displayed the writings of an ancient civilazation of four million years ago. The words, of course, were written in a different language, one that no known person could speak. Somehow, Amaire could read this language and traslated the texts of the tomes. They text traslated into many prophecies of the future that this old civilazation had forseen.

At the time the tomes were discovered, the people of Gaia had become accustomed to the philosophy of choosing your own fate.

To protect the people from knowing the future, the Zihld was developed. It consisted of twleve members. These twelve members had been decendents of Amaire. No one knew of the Zihld, otherwise the secrets and prophecies would leak into the public, so the Zihld was their own community. All decendents were raised in this community. There were only few appointed as members of the Zihld council. The others worked in the community, providing basic needs to people. The Zihld people were taught never to communicate to the people of the outside world even though they lived in front of their very faces, watching Gaia's back. Only council members could travel from place to place, though. The council members were the ones that oversaw the greatest of the foretellings.

Zuirem was one of these members. He had been appointed to see over the war between Melaso and the Carenle Empire. There was a prophcy over this dispute as well as many of the other wars in the past. There was something special about this war than any other one in the past. There was a prophecy that was made when Amaire died that she would come back when the moon struck high over two towers under a sky of red. The prophecy came from Amaire own lips as her last words on her deathbed. The words came in a strange language, one that was later found to be The simple words of this prophecy had been translated, every word of it so that it read:

One with Gaia, One with Earth,

[She] will come in lights of gold.

Eyes in darkness, Mind in light,

A key to knowledge [she] will hold.

The exact time had been prophecized so that she would come exactly one thousand years from her death. The date had been set in the middle of this war. Strangly, the date marked the ten year anniversary of the first attempted Mystic Moon travel.

Many philosophers of the Zihld said that the reimcarnated Amaire would come from the Mysitc Moon, but the prophecy had said nothing of this. The prophecy only said that she would come. It never said from where.

Zuirem had been appointed the task of watching over this prophecy. It was a very important one for his people of the Zihld because it invovled their ancestor, Amaire.

Zuirem swatted tiny insects away from his face and he traveled slowly down the road. The mid-afternoon sun was shinning between the branches of the trees. Luckily, the smell of the marsh was clearing up as he was coming closer to the city, and closer to the Duke's palace.

The marsh had soon cleared out as Zuirem came into the city. The palace was situated at the westren side of the city, close to where Zuirem was, but it was towards the southren side as well, making the distance farther than it could've been. Zuirem shrugged, concealing an evil smile beneath his hoaded cloak.

From inside the city, he took the southren road that led to the palace. The road had been warn by travelers, but in this time and place, many travelers did not visit the palace.

Zuirem saw the palace come into veiw. It's yellow walls held a reasoning glow, making the palace look like a sun. Zuirem had to admit, it looked comforting. He, himself had never visited the palace, although other members of the Zihld had come before.

He strode up to the gates, stopping his horse and tying it up as he went to the huge front doors. Not surprisingly, they were unlocked, open, so he walked through, and causually strode across to the the throne room, where he could request an audience with the Duke.

The Duke's advisor sat on the throne, eating an apple and looking at the painting on the far wall as Zuirem walked in.

"I've been trying to figure out the newest of these paintings," he said to Zuirem. "Do you know what it is about?"

Zuirem took a glance at the painting the advisor was looking at, the one on the far wall, and looked back at the throne. "Well, from my perspective it symbolizes genocide and murder, under a dark sky, but inside the painting is a question. I'd think you'd want to keep it anyway." Zuirem's answer puzzled the advisor, as he sat, chewing at the apple core. The advisor looked back at the painting, but then shook his head.

"What have you come here for, traveler?" asked the advisor. Zuirem removed the hoad of his cloak, revealing his green hair. "I'd like to request an audience with the Duke."

~ ~

Fongar looked strangley at the Emperor. "How did you know? How did you know how to accept him?" The Emperor only looked at Fongar with an expression on his face that spoke, 'I don't know. I truly do not know.' He sat down in his chair, overwhelmed with what he had just done.

~ ~