Background:
Vocabulary used/created:
kira is pronounced "Kee-ra"
carmus is pronounced "Kar-muss"
Ilonian is pronounced "eye-lone-ee-in"
gilder is pronounced "gill-der"
Etheria is pronounced "eth-ear-ree-a"
Laureth is pronounced "lure-rith"
Orius is pronounced "oh-rye-us"
Alantia is pronounced "ah-lon-shia"
sakura = cherry blossoms
Time:
The story evolves around two different types of time, that in Etheria and that in the mortal world (basically our world)
All you need to really know is that in Etheria, time passes much slower than in the mortal (our) world. Also, Etherians refer to years, months, days, etc. in a different term (you'll see when you reach that point).
For those who want the details:
~ Etherians will refer to our years as revolutions (i.e. two mortal revolutions (or simply revolutions) = 2 years)
~ Etherian "turns" = 100 years
~ Etherian "passing" is equivalent to 2 days
(Complicated enough? ^_~;)
Disclaimer: Vision of Escaflowne and its characters and likeliness is copyrighted to its respective company(ies). But the characters I created and this story is copyrighted to me.
Rating: PG-13
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FATES' JUDGEMENT
By Cosmos (ml_eclipse@hotmail.com)
Chapter 1: The Chosen
We may call ourselves mortals and they may call themselves Gods but nature does not distinguish such boundaries of which we create to divide ourselves. All souls, be it mortals' or Etherians', are one and the same; for it is known that all life is born from a single garden cradled among the stars of the dark sky called the Garden of Light. From here, Fate will determine the forms our souls shall take, but what becomes of our heart will depend on the very decisions we make in life.
It was in this dark velvet sky that I found myself awakening to. I remember drifting off to sleep at the feet of Gaia's statue then upon awakening I found myself lying on a bed of stars with the endless vacuum of space yawning before me. Looking around on all sides, I could see millions upon millions of tiny twinkling light extending as far as the eyes could see. Nevertheless, in a place like this, it was hard to judge the distance of anything. I could see neither the ground, the sky, nor the distant horizon if there was one. I could not feel any wind, any sun or any physical perceptions of depth in this strange place. All movements in nature, all existence seemed to have come to a standstill at this point in-between space and time. I was deep in contemplation of my new circumstance when a soft voice spoke from behind me. Greatly startled, I quickly spun around to face this unexpected intruder.
To my astonishment, as I turned, I was confronted with a drastic change in scenery. I was no longer in a dark abyss surrounded by stars, but I found myself standing on a tall, grass-covered mountain ledge overlooking a valley covered in mists and grey clouds. I remember seeing a solitary figure standing a short distance away from me silhouetted against the giant, fiery red face of the late setting sun. The figure was draped in a dark cloak woven with the materials of the mighty sky, in which I could see the stars shimmering in an array of spattered crystals across its face. Her features were hidden in the shadows of twilight, but her strong, unnaturally bright azure eyes gazed out at me from beneath the darkness of her cloak.
I needed not see her face nor hear her voice to know whom I was facing. The soft rosy hue of the dying light etched out her figure like a statue being carved by the skilled hands of a sculptor. The magnificent curvatures of her brilliant hair flowed and ebbed like the tides upon the dark fabric shore of her cloak; and when she spoke, her voice was soft but it carried a tone of authority, which made me cower with respect.
"I have been watching you closely mortal," she spoke. "But before I say any further, I would like to ask you one question."
I remained in silent awe.
"Why?" she whispered the single word.
"Why?" I repeated in bewilderment. "I do not understand."
In the same soft tone, Gaia explained, "Often mortals come to me to ask for a plentiful harvest, for true love, for a healthy and long life; you come to me with both grief and anger in your heart, making a vow, not for yourself, but for the world. Tell me young mortal, do you truly understand what it is that you just did this night? Do you know of the great burden you are about to place upon yourself?"
Without hesitation, I replied, "I know not of the burden this path will bring me, and I am not a God to truly understand the meaning of fate and destiny. But I do know of one thing; what is in my heart. And it tells me to protect this world and all who lives in it. Because it is this world that I love more than anything else."
"I see," she said, "You are willing to sacrifice everything to save your world?"
"I am willing," I replied in a determined tone, "even if the sacrifice is my very life."
"Hmm," Gaia sighed solemnly, "it is not simply one's own life that makes such a feat difficult."
I stared at her in bewilderment expecting for some explanation to follow but to my surprise she did not give one. Instead she said, "Your intention is very noble, mortal, but intentions alone are not enough to win this battle. You see, Varie has an equally good intention and she is as much devoted to her belief as you."
I was taken aback by her comment. "I do not agree with you. Goddess Varie's intention is anything but good. " I yelled at the cloaked figure with anger, "She seeks the destruction of millions of lives! How can there be any good in that?"
The figure's eyes quickly darkened with disproval. "Hold your fury, young mortal!" she reprimanded. "Rash conclusions stem only from ignorance. You do not have any knowledge of the wisdom behind Varie's decision. Her reasons for creating the Judge go much deeper than any mortal understanding."
She paused for a moment. I could feel her intense gaze upon me, analysing every inch of my face, every flicker of my eyes, every thought that flowed through my mind. She was judging me. But why?
I remained silent as she continued to speak.
"One cannot always determine whether an action is good or bad based simply on our emotions and our own perception. The reasons behind every decision must be judged before any conclusions are to be drawn from it."
The figure sank back into silence once again. And again, I could feel her intense gaze on my heart and soul.
Soon, she broke the stillness and said, "Despite your ignorance, I must admit you are different from the rest of your kind."
"What do you mean?"
"A strange aura surrounds you as such I have never before seen," she paused briefly before continuing. "You have still to answer my first question, young mortal. Why have you chosen this path? Surely you know it will only lead you to misery."
"Yes, I know," I whispered, lowering my gaze to the flowing hem of her cloak.
"Then why?" She was determined to know my most secretive thought.
"Why?" I repeated her question absentmindedly, drifting off to the innermost regions of my mind. Deep within the chambers of my thoughts I recall an ominous dream I had several years ago.
[dream]
All around me was nothing but darkness. An endless vacuum of silence surrounded me on all sides. Then, at a distance, I noticed the silhouette of a figure standing motionless, watching me and judging me. I could not see its features but I soon realized it was beckoning me closer. Great waves of sorrow gripped my heart while I stood staring at the dark face, strangely entranced by it. Suddenly, a rush of air swept violently out of the darkness, encircling me like a tornado. Instinctively, I covered my face to protect myself from the razor sharp wind raging around me. Slowly, I struggled to turn my head in order to peer through the maddening twister at the dark figure. I noticed the individual remained as it was, undisturbed by the chaos howling around it. Then, to my utter surprise, a large pair of black wings unfolded from behind the individual's back and the environment around us immediately returned to a standstill, completely silent.
Enthralled by the strange fold of events, I cried out, "Who are you?" But the dark figure did not reply. Instead, the faceless stranger spoke only one word, one name that forever gripped my heart in fear.
"Judge."
[end dream]
"Why?" I repeated again. "Because I want to know…if what I saw in my dream was…"
"I see," the Goddess interrupted. "And so you intend to stop the Fates. You believe that by going against providence, you will be able to prevent destiny from occurring."
"I have to try," I said. Looking back up at her, I continued, "I will not allow it to occur. I will not become the instrument of Fates, to be used and toyed with as they please." I ran a hand through my hair, showing clearly my frustration.
The figure shook her head sadly, "Alas, young mortal, there are things in this world that neither you nor I could ever understand; there are rules that govern both your world and mine that are beyond our perception. And your destiny may very well be one of them."
"My destiny?" I looked at her in bafflement. Feeling a combination of frustration, anger and hopelessness boiling to the surface, I whispered in a defying tone, "Whatever it was that I saw…be it fictional, be it reality, or be it a prophecy, I will never succumb to its dark desires. My future does not lie within those dark winds of that haunting dream. My future lies within the very palms of these hands."
"Very well," said Gaia. "If you are willing to fight for your world then your judgement must be made free of any emotions of vengeance, jealousy, hatred, and greed. That is mortal's frailty. You must decide with a clear conscience and a determined mind. That is your liberty. Do you understand?"
Suddenly, the figure stepped closer and the shadows retreated away to reveal a most beautiful face framed with magnificent ocean waves of deep blue hair. "You must be very prudent in your resolve," she advised, "because one decision alone can bring either tragedy or harmony to the world." Her pale cerulean eyes looked down at me with such sympathy that I could not bear to watch. "You know," Gaia spoke softly, "I have once witnessed the birth of another pre-determined fate; that which will bring much sorrow and burden, not to the world, but to one true heart."
"One true heart…?" I repeated unconsciously. "What do you mea--?" I was about to ask her but to my surprise, she was gone. I stood there alone on that strangely ethereal cliff. Her words remained a mystery in my mind, one that would not be known until much later.
Then, barely audible to my ears, I heard a soft familiar voice whispered in the wind, "Worry not of what was, but fear of what will be. Upon the face of the morrow's dawn, a new life this world shall see."
"Sor…Sora?"
I did not understand the meaning of those words, but then I was not given time to contemplate on them. Immediately after the last word of this strange enchantment was spoken, my eyelids began to feel heavy and my mind began to drift off into the unknown. Just before I fell into the subconscious, I remember having a strange sensation, as if my soul had decided to leave me.
She was watching from a distance. All that happened to me. And she continued to watch as my body slumped heavily onto the cold stone at her alter beneath the moonless night. "We will meet again, young mortal," she whispered in an ominously sad voice, "but our next encounter will be very different…so very different." The faint light of a sun now peering above the horizon caught small droplets of water emerging from the corner of her eyes.
"You know it had already been decided, Gaia," a chorus of three voices spoke from behind her.
"Hmmm," Gaia sighed sadly, reminiscing that solemn conversation she had with her sister over 20 turns ago, "if only these mortals knew what is truly at stake here."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
20 turns ago…
A tall slender form gazed out the window in solitude. Her long ebony hair flowed to the ground behind her like a shimmering cascade of dark water, flanked on either side by large magnificent wings the colour of newly fallen snow kissed by a full moon. From behind her, a figure stepped into the pale light radiating from the celestial bodies outside the window.
In a low voice, the figure spoke, "Are you still thinking about the prophecy, sister?"
Giving an almost inaudible sigh, her sister replied as she continued to gaze out the window, "I can never seem to get the seer's words out of my mind. While I sleep, while I wake, I would hear her voice chanting those portentous words: 'One soul, one mind, resides two hearts which the Fates shall design…
'One path will lead to peace, but the other will end in destruction,' spoke an old woman. Her face marred by time, and her sight stolen by age; yet, her mind's vision extended beyond the boundaries of time and space. Her gnarled, bony fingers wrapped tighter around the delicate silver strand of a strange necklace from which hung a beautiful red, tear-shaped stone. The gem glittered blindingly bright as it swung back and forth in her shaking hand by its own free will. It's rhythmic beat foretold of the future that awaited them all.
Surrounded on all sides by intense, anticipating eyes, the old seer continued to chant her hypnotic vision depicted by the stone in her hand: 'The fear within one soul will create an eternal trial tainted with blood, tears, and pain. A young fate cursed by a Goddess is haunted by visions of darkness and of light. However, the final judgement will fall into the hands whose heart is torn between two worlds.
The end will lead to infinity but Infinity will signal the end.'
"It is still hard to believe that with our great knowledge and power," a short pause ensued, "we could not escape the dark nature that lay within our hearts. How our world has changed, sister."
"Varie," her sister whispered, "why do you try to defy what the Fates have already determined? You know this day will come eventually. All great powers must come to an end so that new ones can begin."
"But the mortals do not have the wisdoms we do," Varie argued. "Look at our world, sister! Look at what it has become."
Gaia gazed past her sister into a dark world full of corruption and death. Where once beautiful life resided, now laid a wasteland of pitiful, sorrow-filled people.
"Even with our greatness, we could not avoid the catastrophe that has now befallen Etheria," Varie continued, her voice growing softer as tears constrained her throat and mouth from speaking. "I love our world, dear sister. I miss how the emerald green leaves of the Kira trees used to rustle in the soft warm breeze of a midsummer's twilight. I miss hearing the sincere laughter of our people. Where did it all go, sister? Why did it leave us with this dark and dismal future?"
"You must not give up on our people so easily, Varie," Gaia said in a harsh tone. "The future is not yet here. There is much that can still be done. You must be hopeful."
"No," Varie said with a shake of her head, "I am only facing the reality. One cannot live on dreams and hopes. They depict a false vision when reality shows what is truly there."
"You must not do this," Gaia warned. "You are breaking the greatest law of fate by changing destiny. You know that all life's fate is pre-determined when it was created. You cannot change what is inevitable."
"It is inevitable," Varie whispered in an emotionless tone, "but as the ruler of Etheria, I have my responsibility to protect this world. And I vow that I will never let this darkness spread to anywhere else. If the fates of all worlds is to come to a miserable end as this," she spread her hand toward the dark horizon, "then I will fight to change it."
"Do you think by creating this trial, you can stop providence? That you can change the very fate that has created the fabric of this universe?"
Varie turned away from her sister as she spoke in a voice full of great strength but with much sorrow, "The trial will determine the hearts of mortals. In order for them to take their rightful positions here, their souls must be clear and untainted. But I fear, their hearts are much too weak to lead. They will easily be swayed by the darkness. They will never…the mortals will not come to govern the celestial heavens. Infinity will find the darkness in their hearts. They may be able to hide it from themselves, but they cannot hide it from judgement."
"There is both chaos and harmony in all hearts," her twin sister said, "be it a Goddess or a mortal, a man or a woman. I believe that even in the heart of chaos itself there is harmony. You should trust in the mortal's wisdom to choose what is right for the goodness of the world."
"No," her sister argued stubbornly, "I will not wait for the end to come. If they are not the ones, then I will eliminate their existence, and, in doing so, I will ensure the survival of this world. When we too shall leave, I will be assured that what we leave behind will be an everlasting peace that could never be destroyed."
"If nothing I say will persuade you to stop this madness," Gaia whispered sadly, "then permit me one request."
Her sister turned around in surprise. Her dark maroon eyes focused on Gaia with a questioning look. "What is your request, dear sister?"
With slow, deliberate steps, Gaia approached the window to gaze up at the dark exterior surrounding them. Her sad blue eyes fell on a celestial body of swirling white clouds and large masses of blue oceans. Then returning her gaze back to her sister, said in a calm quiet tone, "Let the mortals choose their own fate. If they possess the hearts to become our successors, then their own decisions will lead them to such a destiny…but should their souls be dark and their intentions cruel, then their own will shall lead them to destruction…and your eternal peace will then be attained."
Varie remained quiet for a moment. Her ruling seemed cruelly unjust, especially if you were a mortal. It was neither out of want nor out of hatred that controlled her actions and her thoughts. It was her love for her world and her people that has driven her to come to such a harsh resolution. A time of change, when one old era must end so that another could begin anew, could be a great trial on an old heart whose love lay within the passing tides of history.
Varie turned to look out across her kingdom. In her mind's eye, she could still picture the emerald green canopies of enchanting forests, where once teeming with wildlife as rare as a solar eclipse, all of which have long since vanished as a result of the recklessness of her kingdom's arrogant actions. Believing that their world, with all its power, could never be destroyed, her people became ignorant of the destruction they laid upon the land and on each other. With growing hunger for greater power and wealth, her people became divided and wars erupted within the land bringing with it much pain and suffering. She had desperately tried to stop her people, but there was only so much that one lone person could do, even one who was crowned. Peace could not come about if the people would not listen. It was this picture of ruin she saw in her kingdom that caused her to fearfully believe the mortals would head in the same destructive path.
Varie gazed out at the freckles of stars glittering across the massive dark sphere above her head to a hidden area deep within her courtyard's enchanting garden, the last remaining place of peace in her kingdom. This picturesque view seemed tranquil and calm but the dark window frame of deep red oak and the shadows of the night gave it a foreboding appearance. Her sombre gaze fell on a single structure left standing protected on all sides by the deadly, poisonous silver carmus leaves and its long spear-like thorns. This Etherian construction remained as the last edifice standing, linking the present with the past. It represented the great cultural and intellectual powers of her once beautiful kingdom. This last symbol of Etheria's dying legacy was a massive fountain carved out of gilder trees by the ancient hands of skilled Ilonian craftsman. The golden grains of the exotic wood glittered in the earthlight like precious gems encased in dark grey stone. Pristine water spew out of the fountain's crystal mouth in a dazzling spectacle of glittering droplets that cascaded down the sides like the fabric of a silk dress.
"So let it be," Varie spoke again in a voice that carefully concealed any emotions of grief laid deep within her heart. As she watched each crystal bead of water fall silently to the pool below she made her decree with her hand clenched tightly, "In twenty-five turns, a child chosen by the Fates will be born, but whose destiny will be determined by me. A burning symbol of infinite burden will be laid upon the infant's forehead. While it sleeps the mortals have nothing to fear, but the awakening of Infinity will bring with it the final judgement that will determine the fate of all. This is my trial to all mortals." She turned to look straight into her sisters solemn eyes as she continued, "Their decisions will determine their fate."
Hidden within the palm of her hand, a strange maroon crystal began to glow.
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Awakening from her thoughts, Gaia noticed that the rising star has long since faded away. Realizing that all the pieces of destiny were now in-place, she decided to return to Laurith, the great palace of Etheria.
In her leaving, she whispered for all the stars to hear the ominous words spoken long ago, "The end will lead to infinity but Infinity will signal the end. So child of mortal heart, the final judgement will rest in your hands now."
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Next: Chapter 2: "Life"
Cosmos 2004