Title: A Herald's Wings
Part 5: The Doorway of Grief
Author: Dreamwind
Disclaimer: Herald Alexian, YoShen (KazeHa), and the people known as "the Lost" are all my ideas and as such are mine to play with as I please. * note: no characters were harmed in the making of this fic. *
*Flashback* ::Mindspeech::
Deep in the forest, beyond the hidden walls of reflector stone (1) lies the city of Shiratoshi, the capital of the people simply known as "The Lost." This is an ancient city with ancient ways. It has been here; hidden away from sight since long before the Mage Wars ravaged the land. In all that time the city and it's people had remained unchanged. None of The Lost had ever ventured out of its walls except for their trials of manhood. No, not one The Lost had ever set foot outside the great walls. The people of Shiratoshi found the idea of dealing with foreigners barbaric. How could they trust strangers who had created magic that nearly destroyed the world?
Yet that had all changed. For the first time in several millennia an outsider had been inside the walls of the great city of Shiratoshi and had left it alive - and worse still for the people of Shiratoshi, was that this white clad barbarian had taken with him their young prince. Since that fateful day emotions in the city were dark. The people mourned the loss of their only prince. The grief of the people though was nothing to what his family experienced. Deep within the chambers of the Temple of Elders the Queen lay dying. With the loss of her only child her will to live seemed to have slipped away. The Queen had never been a healthy woman. She had been courting Shinigami since she gave birth to her little YoShen. Now she was waiting at Shinigami's door. She had gracefully slipped into sleep an hour ago. Around her sat her remaining family and friends. Her husband, the King, sat to her right holding her hand, silent tears running down his cheeks. Next to him were the other nobles who made up the rest of the council of elders. Her own father - simply referred to now as The Ancient One - sat on her other side with the priestess HoshiAsa (2) of the Temple of Seigi (3).
Together, these people were the witnesses to the death of their Queen. The Queen, lost in sleep, never felt her body die. All she felt was lightness, as if all the weight of her body had just disappeared. She opened her eyes and sat up. Looking around her she could see all her loved ones, save her son, gathered around her weeping and holding to each other. They couldn't see her anymore. Her pale translucent hand reached out to stroke her husbands face and simply passed through it. As it did she felt grief at all they had lost together pass through her.
"Do not cry, Hato."
Hato turned to where the silky voice had come from. Down at the foot of her bed stood a tall pale figure. Long brown hair fell to the floor in waves, held back from the man's face by a crown of bone. He stepped through her mourners and bent down on one knee before her. His hand reached out and gently brushed her tears away. "There is no need to cry."
Hato leaned into his touch. "I cannot leave him now. Not when we have just lost our son. Please let me stay a little longer, my Lord."
"I am sorry, Hato. I cannot. It is your time to join me now." Shinigami stood up bringing Hato to stand with him. "His grief will not be long."
"I don't want to go. I never got to say goodbye to either of them."
"Then say goodbye to your husband now and I shall bring you to your son."
Hato dropped Shinigami's hand and went back to her husband's side. She knelt beside him and wrapped him in her arms. Leaning her face into his neck she whispered to him her goodbyes. For a moment no longer than a heartbeat, he saw her. She smiled and stepped back to Shinigami's side. "Let us go to my son."
* * *
KazeHa awoke to the sound of another's deep breathing. The ground underneath him was cool and hard. The blankets that had been covering him had been kicked off during some point in the night. KazeHa sat up and looked around. For a moment he felt disoriented, confused about where he was. Then he remembered that he had not been inside Shiratoshi in almost a month. He was here with the gaijin in his city - hidden away in a palace, in a building filled with yet more people dressed in white. A wave of longing and grief washed over him. How he wanted to be anywhere but here. Gods, but he wanted to be back home. Oh, how he wanted to be back with his Mother and Father, even if it meant suffering the obsessions of That Woman.
KazeHa looked at his hands sitting in his lap. How was his mother doing? He wished he could have seen her even if only long enough to say goodbye. It wasn't permitted though. A ghost couldn't speak to the living. A ghost was voiceless. He was nothing. A tear slid down his cheek. The tear stopped halfway as if something had touched it. A chill ran up KazeHa's spine. He swallowed hard and opened his eyes. A transparent hand rested against his face, his tear glittering on it like a diamond. The mist that seemed to form the hand took on shape. Soon a woman was sitting next to him. Her smile was sad, but...it didn't have the worn out look it had always had before. "Mother."
"My son. My joy." Hato looked at KazeHa and smiled a sad little smile. "You were taken from me too soon. Your father said you had died, I didn't understand. I didn't realize that he meant..."
KazeHa reached out and tried to stroke the pale ghostly face of his mother. "Mother, I..."
"I don't have much time, my son. Listen to me and know now that you have a long journey, full of trials, ahead of you. It will be dangerous and hard but at the end if you can open yourself up the rewards will be greater than you could imagine." Hato smiled and kissed her son. "I will love you always."
"I love you too, Mother." KazeHa closed his eyes fighting back tears. The cool touch of his mother's hand disappeared. Opening his eyes KazeHa found himself sitting alone on the floor of the gaijin's bedroom - the other man still sleeping soundly as if a true ghost had not just appeared. "Goodbye, Mother." KazeHa lay back down on the floor and buried his face into his pillow. Soon he fell asleep, his pillow soaked in tears. Strange his sleeping mind thought, since I met the gaijin I have become ...weaker.
Three hours passed before a loud bell woke KazeHa from his slumber. He sat bolt upright, wildly looking around for the source of the racket. A light chuckle was barely heard through the loud ringing and when the sound stopped KazeHa noticed the gaijin sitting in his bed laughing at him. Grumbling, he glared at the source of his irritation. "Stop laughing at me, you ass."
"I'm sorry, truly, but you just looked so funny! Like a wild hare spotting a hunter."
KazeHa's jaw dropped. He'd understood the gaijin?! The gaijin understood him! How?! KazeHa jumped out of his impromptu bed and ran to the other's. He leapt onto the bed, nearly straddling its occupant and grabbed the man's shirt. "How? How can we understand each other?" KazeHa's voice raised a notch.
The gaijin chuckled. "Well, good morning to you too." KazeHa glared at him but the gaijin continued to smile from his place under KazeHa. "The Queen had the dyheli give you our language. I am Herald Alexian by the way."
KazeHa released the gaijin - no Alexian's shirt, and sat back across Alexian's hips. He felt stunned. The dyheli gave him the language? Perhaps these dyheli were priests of some kind. They must have a language spell, at least. "I am KazeHa."
"Well KazeHa it is nice to finally be introduced properly. Or as properly as possible considering that you are sitting on me."
KazeHa blinked. He was sitting on - a fierce blush ran up KazeHa's face. How could he be so stupid as to forget that he had jumped the other man? Quickly and with surprising grace KazeHa sprang off of Alexian and stood next to the bed. "Forgive me, Master Alexian." KazeHa bowed low, his forehead touching the floor.
"It's quite all right, really it is. Those bells used to scare the life outta' me when I first got here."
KazeHa looked back up. "What are they for, master?"
"They are rung every morning to wake up all the Herald trainees and other students of the Collegium. There is still some time before breakfast. Why don't we wash up?"
"Very well, Master." KazeHa paused. "Will the green-man be there again?"
"The green-man? Oh! You mean Healer Fandel. No he won't, he checked you for any injuries after you fell asleep. By the way, KazeHa, you don't have to call me master. I am just Alexian, okay?"
"Very well, Mas-Alexian."
Alexian stopped just outside the doorway to his room. KazeHa stopped next to him. "KazeHa, why do you call me master?"
KazeHa snorted. "That's simple. I am your property." KazeHa walked ahead of Alexian. Leaving the Herald standing gapping slack-jawed at his back. He looked down the hall. Which direction were the baths again?
Refractor stone is something I made up. Basically it's a stone that has some unique properties that when combined with certain spells refract light making everything behind the stone as well as the stone itself become invisible. It also refracts mage sight, making the sight veer off to another point even though the mage could still be looking directly at the wall. HatoAsa means Morningstar. Hoshi is star and Asa is morning. Don't ask me why they have to be put in reverse order to make the name I have no clue. Pretty though, ne? Seigi means 'Justice'. It is going to be the name of one of the gods I created for the story. Seigi is the god of Magic, wisdom and valor. Scholars, warriors and mages worship Seigi. He promotes wisdom, justice, valor, chivalry, honor, law, magic, and war.
Author's Note: Sorry this section is a little short. I have actually had it done for a while now but I've been busy with all the last minute my teachers keep throwing at me. * pulls at hair * Why do they always wait until the last three days to assign the BIG projects! Anyway I would like to thank The Golden Dragon for beta reading all new chapters of my story. She has caught more mistakes than I ever could!
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More good plot is on the way. How did you like the beginning? Too depressing? C & C PLEASE!!!!!
Part 5: The Doorway of Grief
Author: Dreamwind
Disclaimer: Herald Alexian, YoShen (KazeHa), and the people known as "the Lost" are all my ideas and as such are mine to play with as I please. * note: no characters were harmed in the making of this fic. *
*Flashback* ::Mindspeech::
Deep in the forest, beyond the hidden walls of reflector stone (1) lies the city of Shiratoshi, the capital of the people simply known as "The Lost." This is an ancient city with ancient ways. It has been here; hidden away from sight since long before the Mage Wars ravaged the land. In all that time the city and it's people had remained unchanged. None of The Lost had ever ventured out of its walls except for their trials of manhood. No, not one The Lost had ever set foot outside the great walls. The people of Shiratoshi found the idea of dealing with foreigners barbaric. How could they trust strangers who had created magic that nearly destroyed the world?
Yet that had all changed. For the first time in several millennia an outsider had been inside the walls of the great city of Shiratoshi and had left it alive - and worse still for the people of Shiratoshi, was that this white clad barbarian had taken with him their young prince. Since that fateful day emotions in the city were dark. The people mourned the loss of their only prince. The grief of the people though was nothing to what his family experienced. Deep within the chambers of the Temple of Elders the Queen lay dying. With the loss of her only child her will to live seemed to have slipped away. The Queen had never been a healthy woman. She had been courting Shinigami since she gave birth to her little YoShen. Now she was waiting at Shinigami's door. She had gracefully slipped into sleep an hour ago. Around her sat her remaining family and friends. Her husband, the King, sat to her right holding her hand, silent tears running down his cheeks. Next to him were the other nobles who made up the rest of the council of elders. Her own father - simply referred to now as The Ancient One - sat on her other side with the priestess HoshiAsa (2) of the Temple of Seigi (3).
Together, these people were the witnesses to the death of their Queen. The Queen, lost in sleep, never felt her body die. All she felt was lightness, as if all the weight of her body had just disappeared. She opened her eyes and sat up. Looking around her she could see all her loved ones, save her son, gathered around her weeping and holding to each other. They couldn't see her anymore. Her pale translucent hand reached out to stroke her husbands face and simply passed through it. As it did she felt grief at all they had lost together pass through her.
"Do not cry, Hato."
Hato turned to where the silky voice had come from. Down at the foot of her bed stood a tall pale figure. Long brown hair fell to the floor in waves, held back from the man's face by a crown of bone. He stepped through her mourners and bent down on one knee before her. His hand reached out and gently brushed her tears away. "There is no need to cry."
Hato leaned into his touch. "I cannot leave him now. Not when we have just lost our son. Please let me stay a little longer, my Lord."
"I am sorry, Hato. I cannot. It is your time to join me now." Shinigami stood up bringing Hato to stand with him. "His grief will not be long."
"I don't want to go. I never got to say goodbye to either of them."
"Then say goodbye to your husband now and I shall bring you to your son."
Hato dropped Shinigami's hand and went back to her husband's side. She knelt beside him and wrapped him in her arms. Leaning her face into his neck she whispered to him her goodbyes. For a moment no longer than a heartbeat, he saw her. She smiled and stepped back to Shinigami's side. "Let us go to my son."
* * *
KazeHa awoke to the sound of another's deep breathing. The ground underneath him was cool and hard. The blankets that had been covering him had been kicked off during some point in the night. KazeHa sat up and looked around. For a moment he felt disoriented, confused about where he was. Then he remembered that he had not been inside Shiratoshi in almost a month. He was here with the gaijin in his city - hidden away in a palace, in a building filled with yet more people dressed in white. A wave of longing and grief washed over him. How he wanted to be anywhere but here. Gods, but he wanted to be back home. Oh, how he wanted to be back with his Mother and Father, even if it meant suffering the obsessions of That Woman.
KazeHa looked at his hands sitting in his lap. How was his mother doing? He wished he could have seen her even if only long enough to say goodbye. It wasn't permitted though. A ghost couldn't speak to the living. A ghost was voiceless. He was nothing. A tear slid down his cheek. The tear stopped halfway as if something had touched it. A chill ran up KazeHa's spine. He swallowed hard and opened his eyes. A transparent hand rested against his face, his tear glittering on it like a diamond. The mist that seemed to form the hand took on shape. Soon a woman was sitting next to him. Her smile was sad, but...it didn't have the worn out look it had always had before. "Mother."
"My son. My joy." Hato looked at KazeHa and smiled a sad little smile. "You were taken from me too soon. Your father said you had died, I didn't understand. I didn't realize that he meant..."
KazeHa reached out and tried to stroke the pale ghostly face of his mother. "Mother, I..."
"I don't have much time, my son. Listen to me and know now that you have a long journey, full of trials, ahead of you. It will be dangerous and hard but at the end if you can open yourself up the rewards will be greater than you could imagine." Hato smiled and kissed her son. "I will love you always."
"I love you too, Mother." KazeHa closed his eyes fighting back tears. The cool touch of his mother's hand disappeared. Opening his eyes KazeHa found himself sitting alone on the floor of the gaijin's bedroom - the other man still sleeping soundly as if a true ghost had not just appeared. "Goodbye, Mother." KazeHa lay back down on the floor and buried his face into his pillow. Soon he fell asleep, his pillow soaked in tears. Strange his sleeping mind thought, since I met the gaijin I have become ...weaker.
Three hours passed before a loud bell woke KazeHa from his slumber. He sat bolt upright, wildly looking around for the source of the racket. A light chuckle was barely heard through the loud ringing and when the sound stopped KazeHa noticed the gaijin sitting in his bed laughing at him. Grumbling, he glared at the source of his irritation. "Stop laughing at me, you ass."
"I'm sorry, truly, but you just looked so funny! Like a wild hare spotting a hunter."
KazeHa's jaw dropped. He'd understood the gaijin?! The gaijin understood him! How?! KazeHa jumped out of his impromptu bed and ran to the other's. He leapt onto the bed, nearly straddling its occupant and grabbed the man's shirt. "How? How can we understand each other?" KazeHa's voice raised a notch.
The gaijin chuckled. "Well, good morning to you too." KazeHa glared at him but the gaijin continued to smile from his place under KazeHa. "The Queen had the dyheli give you our language. I am Herald Alexian by the way."
KazeHa released the gaijin - no Alexian's shirt, and sat back across Alexian's hips. He felt stunned. The dyheli gave him the language? Perhaps these dyheli were priests of some kind. They must have a language spell, at least. "I am KazeHa."
"Well KazeHa it is nice to finally be introduced properly. Or as properly as possible considering that you are sitting on me."
KazeHa blinked. He was sitting on - a fierce blush ran up KazeHa's face. How could he be so stupid as to forget that he had jumped the other man? Quickly and with surprising grace KazeHa sprang off of Alexian and stood next to the bed. "Forgive me, Master Alexian." KazeHa bowed low, his forehead touching the floor.
"It's quite all right, really it is. Those bells used to scare the life outta' me when I first got here."
KazeHa looked back up. "What are they for, master?"
"They are rung every morning to wake up all the Herald trainees and other students of the Collegium. There is still some time before breakfast. Why don't we wash up?"
"Very well, Master." KazeHa paused. "Will the green-man be there again?"
"The green-man? Oh! You mean Healer Fandel. No he won't, he checked you for any injuries after you fell asleep. By the way, KazeHa, you don't have to call me master. I am just Alexian, okay?"
"Very well, Mas-Alexian."
Alexian stopped just outside the doorway to his room. KazeHa stopped next to him. "KazeHa, why do you call me master?"
KazeHa snorted. "That's simple. I am your property." KazeHa walked ahead of Alexian. Leaving the Herald standing gapping slack-jawed at his back. He looked down the hall. Which direction were the baths again?
Refractor stone is something I made up. Basically it's a stone that has some unique properties that when combined with certain spells refract light making everything behind the stone as well as the stone itself become invisible. It also refracts mage sight, making the sight veer off to another point even though the mage could still be looking directly at the wall. HatoAsa means Morningstar. Hoshi is star and Asa is morning. Don't ask me why they have to be put in reverse order to make the name I have no clue. Pretty though, ne? Seigi means 'Justice'. It is going to be the name of one of the gods I created for the story. Seigi is the god of Magic, wisdom and valor. Scholars, warriors and mages worship Seigi. He promotes wisdom, justice, valor, chivalry, honor, law, magic, and war.
Author's Note: Sorry this section is a little short. I have actually had it done for a while now but I've been busy with all the last minute my teachers keep throwing at me. * pulls at hair * Why do they always wait until the last three days to assign the BIG projects! Anyway I would like to thank The Golden Dragon for beta reading all new chapters of my story. She has caught more mistakes than I ever could!
...
...
...
More good plot is on the way. How did you like the beginning? Too depressing? C & C PLEASE!!!!!