Chapter Two: The Startings of a Prophecy
Mia waited patiently as she saw Garet's wagon truck slowly across the plains outside of Vault. He was a good guy - no one else seemed to care about the supplies Mia needed for the healing she was about to embark on. There weren't enough Mercury Adepts on the planet, and some places didn't even house a Great Healer. If they did, well, Mia would just move on, healing throughout the world.
The wagon finally arrived, and Mia waved to Garet. Brother Garet. She was ashamed of herself for forgetting the Brother. Gar - Brother Garet had recently taken up the life of a Paladin, and was doing quite a good job of it. Mia taught him the necessary healing spells, and he knew enough to find out some others, too, that Mia had never even thought of. His quest to bring light into the world was great, too, but Mia knew the truth. Brother Garet would never bring good and chivalry as long as the others kept taunting him with their stupidity.
Brother Garet smiled back at Mia's wave, and jumped out of the driver's seat. He wandered to the back. Mia followed him, but found out he was doing nothing other than starting to unload the supplies.
"How was your trip, Brother?"
The paladin's eyes seemed to lose energy as Mia called out the last word. Sadness, almost. But only for a moment. In one second he responded.
"Fairly well, Sister, except for the thief. I...I had to kill him."
Mia gasped, and wondered how the Brother could stray from his path so much, after so much work. He could not go around, killing people who wanted some useless coin, in Mia's order. Even if he did kill the thief, he should have revived him from the "endless" slumber. Leave him alone, Brother - no, you are no brother now, you have killed, evil, evil, betrayed me - and lend the man some coin. Leave him, and if you must kill, do it not in my name!
Garet obviously saw the signs.
"Look, Mia, it wasn't what -"
"Don't even bother, Garet. You have disgraced me! You didn't even call me my rightful title! You have committed sin - in my name! You, you! Get out of here! Get out!"
She was yelling, now, and Garet saw the signs. He walked away, slower than the norm. Better have thought about it before you killed, Mia thought. What a useless -
"The Fallen shall come,
Slowly, ever slowly
To feast upon the souls
Of the innocent.
Slowly they come,
But events have been set into motion
And already the Fallen's
Evil path begins.
And the seven and the one
that saved the world
Shall be tested
Once more."
Sometimes this happened to her, this chanting. It was because she was an Oracle - she could partly see the future through her visions. She never remembered the chants, but the visions came clearer than ever. These visions were particularly vivid.
She was on fire, screaming for help. The vision faded, and then another appeared. Menardi was there, with a blue hammer and a weight scale. Alex, a shining halo over his head. Fezhi, only the whites of her eyes showing. Saturos, with people surrounding him in a village square, cheering him on, with a man handing him a gold medal. Babi, smiling as he enjoyed a book. Others, the faces unrecognizable.
She remembered no more as she fell to the ground and blacked out.
---
Isaac's eyes seemed to burn once he got to Old Vale - Tret's method of human transportation wasn't the most pleasant sensation in the world. In fact, the only time Isaac felt worse was when his parents had fought him over the unleashing of alchemy upon the naive world. Ugh, the pain was still vivid when he craned his neck.
Damn. Maybe it doesn't hurt trees so bad.
Isaac's thoughts lingered for a moment, then present conditions brought him back to think of the present. Wait - he was in Old Vale, not New Vale. Tret had missed, considerably. Isaac started to limp back to New Vale, by Vault. He stopped when he heard a familiar voice spring from some of the remaining rock surrounding the remnants of Sol Sanctum.
"Hello, Isaac! How was your trip to Kolima? Aren't you a little early?" Garet yelled.
Isaac shouted back, "Other than the thi---"
"You got attacked, too?" Garet asked, suddenly serious.
"Yeah, but it wasn't much of a problem. I think she wanted to die."
"I wish I had it as easy as you."
"Did you kill your attacker?"
"Yeah, then got his healed body with some Water of Life. He wanted to die, too, it seemed. He gulped down a potion, and his entire body turned to dust. Mia..."
He didn't have to finish his sentence. The Slayer had watched the Paladin from afar, before, learning from the teachings of Mia. Isaac had allowed Garet to heal him twice - albeit with some reluctance - and both times he had turned out as good as new. All because of Mia's teachings, and now Garet would learn no more. Isaac knew how much the Oracle hated killing. Disrupted the natural order of life, or something like that. Isaac didn't care - he laughed the whole idea off. Man could not survive without war. Felix understood; his studies of Alchemy revolved around war. Piers said he was left to pick up the "unknown riches of battle left behind", but then again, Piers had turned rather odd since Isaac had saved the world. All the others felt pretty much the same - don't go killing innocents, but don't fret over it when you have to.
"Fuck, Garet. Well, I guess that's a wack-load of education going right down the shitter."
A giggle came from behind another stone, and Isaac turned to face the vocalist.
"He needed it, too, the dumbass!"
Isaac groaned. Jenna? This day was going to be longer than he thought.
Mia waited patiently as she saw Garet's wagon truck slowly across the plains outside of Vault. He was a good guy - no one else seemed to care about the supplies Mia needed for the healing she was about to embark on. There weren't enough Mercury Adepts on the planet, and some places didn't even house a Great Healer. If they did, well, Mia would just move on, healing throughout the world.
The wagon finally arrived, and Mia waved to Garet. Brother Garet. She was ashamed of herself for forgetting the Brother. Gar - Brother Garet had recently taken up the life of a Paladin, and was doing quite a good job of it. Mia taught him the necessary healing spells, and he knew enough to find out some others, too, that Mia had never even thought of. His quest to bring light into the world was great, too, but Mia knew the truth. Brother Garet would never bring good and chivalry as long as the others kept taunting him with their stupidity.
Brother Garet smiled back at Mia's wave, and jumped out of the driver's seat. He wandered to the back. Mia followed him, but found out he was doing nothing other than starting to unload the supplies.
"How was your trip, Brother?"
The paladin's eyes seemed to lose energy as Mia called out the last word. Sadness, almost. But only for a moment. In one second he responded.
"Fairly well, Sister, except for the thief. I...I had to kill him."
Mia gasped, and wondered how the Brother could stray from his path so much, after so much work. He could not go around, killing people who wanted some useless coin, in Mia's order. Even if he did kill the thief, he should have revived him from the "endless" slumber. Leave him alone, Brother - no, you are no brother now, you have killed, evil, evil, betrayed me - and lend the man some coin. Leave him, and if you must kill, do it not in my name!
Garet obviously saw the signs.
"Look, Mia, it wasn't what -"
"Don't even bother, Garet. You have disgraced me! You didn't even call me my rightful title! You have committed sin - in my name! You, you! Get out of here! Get out!"
She was yelling, now, and Garet saw the signs. He walked away, slower than the norm. Better have thought about it before you killed, Mia thought. What a useless -
"The Fallen shall come,
Slowly, ever slowly
To feast upon the souls
Of the innocent.
Slowly they come,
But events have been set into motion
And already the Fallen's
Evil path begins.
And the seven and the one
that saved the world
Shall be tested
Once more."
Sometimes this happened to her, this chanting. It was because she was an Oracle - she could partly see the future through her visions. She never remembered the chants, but the visions came clearer than ever. These visions were particularly vivid.
She was on fire, screaming for help. The vision faded, and then another appeared. Menardi was there, with a blue hammer and a weight scale. Alex, a shining halo over his head. Fezhi, only the whites of her eyes showing. Saturos, with people surrounding him in a village square, cheering him on, with a man handing him a gold medal. Babi, smiling as he enjoyed a book. Others, the faces unrecognizable.
She remembered no more as she fell to the ground and blacked out.
---
Isaac's eyes seemed to burn once he got to Old Vale - Tret's method of human transportation wasn't the most pleasant sensation in the world. In fact, the only time Isaac felt worse was when his parents had fought him over the unleashing of alchemy upon the naive world. Ugh, the pain was still vivid when he craned his neck.
Damn. Maybe it doesn't hurt trees so bad.
Isaac's thoughts lingered for a moment, then present conditions brought him back to think of the present. Wait - he was in Old Vale, not New Vale. Tret had missed, considerably. Isaac started to limp back to New Vale, by Vault. He stopped when he heard a familiar voice spring from some of the remaining rock surrounding the remnants of Sol Sanctum.
"Hello, Isaac! How was your trip to Kolima? Aren't you a little early?" Garet yelled.
Isaac shouted back, "Other than the thi---"
"You got attacked, too?" Garet asked, suddenly serious.
"Yeah, but it wasn't much of a problem. I think she wanted to die."
"I wish I had it as easy as you."
"Did you kill your attacker?"
"Yeah, then got his healed body with some Water of Life. He wanted to die, too, it seemed. He gulped down a potion, and his entire body turned to dust. Mia..."
He didn't have to finish his sentence. The Slayer had watched the Paladin from afar, before, learning from the teachings of Mia. Isaac had allowed Garet to heal him twice - albeit with some reluctance - and both times he had turned out as good as new. All because of Mia's teachings, and now Garet would learn no more. Isaac knew how much the Oracle hated killing. Disrupted the natural order of life, or something like that. Isaac didn't care - he laughed the whole idea off. Man could not survive without war. Felix understood; his studies of Alchemy revolved around war. Piers said he was left to pick up the "unknown riches of battle left behind", but then again, Piers had turned rather odd since Isaac had saved the world. All the others felt pretty much the same - don't go killing innocents, but don't fret over it when you have to.
"Fuck, Garet. Well, I guess that's a wack-load of education going right down the shitter."
A giggle came from behind another stone, and Isaac turned to face the vocalist.
"He needed it, too, the dumbass!"
Isaac groaned. Jenna? This day was going to be longer than he thought.