Yay! Update! Okay so technically this chapter once again lacks one Van but this chapter was totally necessary to further the ever developing plot! But I assure you dear readers (peers around at imaginary viewers) that Van is not only in it but he is so much of a main character that without him the story would plummet into a hole of despair. As you can see by my bio...there is no way on this Earth I would write a story without Van!
BW: No Van in this chapter...no...Van...(twitch)
FB: (petting hand) It's okay, it's okay, he is in this story so don't panic.
BW: No...Van...in...this...chapter...(turns to FB) ARE YOU MAD?
FB: You already know the answer to that! (puts on snow defying gear and starts to waltz across a beach)
BW: Need I say anything at this point...
FB: Ooh and I was totally trying to make a scoobie thing but I happen to suck and I started it by accident and one bit was shorter than the other so-
BW: JUST GET ON WITH THE STORY ALREADY!
FB: Hmpf. No need to get testy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Escaflowne series or even a copy! (sobs) But if I am able to harness the power of electrical storms and manage to frighten all of the producers then I might be able to sneak in and grab the series while they're not looking...
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2: The Boy on The Track
A blinding flash erupted onto the grass, the light fell from the sky in one thick column bringing Hitomi's silhouette slowly towards the ground. Her hand was still clasped tightly over the Tarot Card: Lord of Dragons, her pendant wavered over her neck.
She felt a light press on her shoulders as her trainers touched down on the grass, gravity took over from where the light had supported her and her knees gave way beneath the pressure. She collapsed into a sitting position and grudgingly opened her eyes.
She had hoped that she would come out somewhere near Fanelia but by the looks of things she had come out in the middle of a dense forest, the dark trees above her filtered the sun making it seem like night on the ground. Twigs gave sharp cracks as she shifted about, she felt exposed, as though every predator imaginable was watching her. Her eyes darted about the wild foliage warily.
"Where am I? How far am I from Fanelia?" she murmured struggling stand up on shaking legs. She squinted through the trees but the shadows merged into the horizon, making it hard to see anything beyond a certain point. Hitomi sighed wearily and bent down to her duffel bag, stuffing Van's Tarot Card in the side pocket with the others as she did so.
She fingered her pendant and thoughts of Van swam in her head.
"Please…tell me which way to go…I don't want to be lost out here any-"
"Girl from the Mystic Moon?"
The voice from nowhere took Hitomi off guard. She let out a small yelp of surprise and crashed gracefully back onto the ground hyperventilating.
"Well that's the first time anyone's ever collapsed when I've asked them a simple question."
"You scared me!" Hitomi retorted defensively. Her eyes widened as the owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows.
"Hey, it's you!"
He had rough cut mahogany brown hair that framed his face in sharp curves, ruffled and matted as though he had been on the road a long time. His eyes were almost violet in the light, piercing and emotionless, it was hard to maintain eye contact with him without feeling uncomfortable. He had pale skin and an indifferent expression as though he was thinking about something more meaningful than what was going on before him. Hitomi recognised him instantly as the boy she had seen on the track.
"You…you gave me my pendant back…"
"Yes, I knew you would understand what that meant and come back to Gaea. You have to come with me I-"
"Where's Van? Is he okay? Did something happen to him? I have to get to Fanelia to make sure he's okay!"
The boy glared at her then, eyes narrowing. Without so much as a word, he walked forwards and put his hand gently on Hitomi's shoulder to calm her down.
"Listen to me." He said in a calm voice. " You have to come back to Fanelia with me, something has been happening in Gaea. Don't bother asking me what because I don't know myself, I'm acting on the orders of someone far more knowledgeable than me."
Hitomi's brow furrowed in slight confusion, she had only been in Gaea a few minutes, things were happening way too fast. She took a deep breath in to clear her thoughts.
"Who-"
"Shh!" The boy cocked his head to one side and listened. The sound of the forest had changed.
"No! Not now." He whispered.
"What's going on?" Hitomi asked feeling it wise to ask as quietly as possible.
"Zaibach spies, they're scouting the area. I knew it was a bad idea to stick around here!"
Hitomi's chest went tight, her blood ran cold in her veins.
'Zaibach? I thought they were gone for good!'
Suddenly the boy span round to face her again seizing her hand. Hitomi took an unwilling step backwards looking from his hand on hers to his face and then back down again.
"We've got to hide!" he hissed.
Without waiting for a response he sprinted through the trees and hid as far back in the shadows as he could manage, dragging Hitomi with him.
"Why don't we just get out of here?" Hitomi asked wishing that she was anywhere but here.
"We need to make sure they don't find any trace that you were here. If they know you're here, we might lose the chance to set things right in Gaea." The boy replied, eyes fixed on the sight where he had first picked Hitomi up from.
Hitomi's eyes lowered a little as a daunting thought crossed her mind.
'Am I really all that important?'
The crunch of footsteps on fallen twigs and stones made Hitomi's eyes snap back onto the clearing. It took her a moment to comprehend what she was seeing. The creature sniffing over the clearing looked to Hitomi like a huge midnight black wolf but there were a few distinguishing features which made it certain that this creature was not your common everyday wolf.
It had intense silvery eyes and the top of its pelt was covered in silver spikes which flashed tauntingly in the small pools of light that managed to beat their way through the trees. It had a long angular tail almost twice the length of its body that angled off into an arrow-like pointed tip, occasionally it would hit the ground like a whip with a sharp crack.
"What is that?" Hitomi asked in an awed voice.
"It's a reconnoitre, a stealth creature designed specifically by Zaibach sorcerers."
"On no!" Hearing the urgency in Hitomi's voice, the boy turned his ice like eyes on her. Hitomi pointed to the clearing.
"My duffel bag…"
The boy gaped at the place she was pointing, dead centre of the clearing, the turquoise synthetic material stuck out in the area like a sore thumb.
"No." The boy whispered.
The reconnoitre glanced up then and its silver eyes caught sight of the duffel bag. It stopped dead for a moment, listening out for the sound of it's owner anywhere near. The boy put his finger up to his lips in a gesture of silence but Hitomi was already holding her breath.
When no sound was heard, the creature cautiously manoeuvred towards the bag.
"It's going to sniff us out in the end, I'm going to have to kill it now." The boy turned to Hitomi, his face was serious, his eyes were gleaming. "Stay here, that creature might not look too powerful but it can be incredibly deadly if you let it get a hit in. If anything should happen to me, I want you to run."
The boy reached into his side belt and drew his sword. The long blade shimmered in the faint light. Hitomi made to stop him going but he had already vaulted forward into the clearing.
The creature already had its eyes on the area that the boy would appear in, it snarled venomously and arched it's back ready to pounce. The boy dropped in from the trees, blade held erect, the sharp edge seemed to cut his face in two.
They stood facing each other. Silence.
Suddenly, the creature leapt forward, catapulting itself through the air, lunging for the boy's throat. The boy simply closed his eyes.
"LOOK OUT!" Hitomi screamed sprinting forward.
The boy breathed out and just as the creature made to snap it's jaws over the boy's exposed neck, he flexed beneath it, spun and sliced through the creature's stomach. There was an agonised howl, the sunlight through the trees was suddenly blood red and he stayed perfectly still.
The creature dropped through the air and was dead before it hit the ground.
Hitomi stopped dead, eyes fixed on the creature. As it had hit the ground, smoke had started pouring off of it, slowly but surely it was changing size, getting slightly smaller. The silver disintegrated on the air, the dark midnight colour dulled into a shaggy brown. It was just a regular wolf again.
"Is that normal?" Hitomi asked, voice slightly more high pitched than normal.
"The experiment has no effect in death." The boy's voice was solemn, almost respectful. Hitomi looked back at him as he wiped the blood from his sword and tucked it neatly back into it's sheath.
"Get your bag, someone would have heard that. We have to leave now!"
"Uh…right!" Hitomi said doubtfully reaching for her bag.
"Hold onto me." The boy instructed. Hitomi blinked at him but clasped his hand anyway.
"What are you gonna do?"
The boy closed his eyes again, a concentrated look spreading over his pale face. For a few moments nothing happened although Hitomi wasn't sure what she was expecting exactly and then suddenly Hitomi felt an immense sense of displacement.
"What's…"
Her voice was faded and it echoed although the forest wasn't designed for such acoustics. Slowly she bought her hand up to her face.
When she saw the outline of the forest through her hand she made to scream but this time no sound came out. In irrational panic she made to pull her hand out of the boy's grip but despite his hand being ghost like also, his hold on her hand remained strong. Hitomi could only watch herself waste away on the atmosphere.
A few moments later the girl from the Mystic Moon and the boy had vanished completely.
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The wolf man known as Kin rah waited on the edge of his settlement, listening intently for the return of his friend. Around him, the wolf clan settlement was brimming with activity as tents were being packed up and fires were being put out. Black smoke and white steam from these fires seemed to envelope the sky.
The whole encampment was on the move again, this time moving further towards Astoria's frontier. There was something hanging over the air and the wolf clan, naturally in tune with nature could sense the tension. Kin rah sighed in a frustrated manner and started pacing. If his friend didn't hurry up they would be long gone by the time he got back and the whole deal would be for nothing.
He squinted through the trees in the direction of the wolf clan's closest neighbours. Fanelia.
"Aaaah!"
The faint cry had Kin rah's ears pricking up. He turned sharply towards the forest and began scanning the area hoping against hope that it was who he thought it was.
Concealed by the darkness of the trees, the boy let go of Hitomi's hand and gaped out at the settlement. It was still in one piece, the wolf clan hadn't moved yet.
Hitomi staggered backwards a little rubbing her hand and staring at it as though it was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen. She brought her hand up close to her face, she could no longer see the woodland through it.
"What did you do?" she asked looking up at the boy.
"I shifted. Moved from one place to another instantaneously." He explained.
"Um…" Hitomi trailed off.
Tugging her arm once again, the boy walked out of the trees towards the wolf man standing at the edge of the camp.
Kin rah knew him instantly and a light relief reflected in his face. He walked forward to meet the boy unable to keep the smile off his features.
"Aiken! I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it!"
"So was I," the boy replied. "we ran into some trouble a while back."
Hitomi ogled at the boy. So his name was Aiken…
"Right then, we better get moving quickly to Fanelia, I'm not going to have time to take you at this rate." He glanced back at Hitomi who averted her gaze.
"Is she the one?"
"Yes, this is the girl from the Mystic Moon…"
"Hitomi." Hitomi finished.
"Hitomi…this is Kin rah, a member of the wolf clan, I believe you have come across their people before?"
Kin rah waved heartily but Hitomi's gaze was still on Aiken.
'How does he know so much about me? How does he know I've seen the wolf people before?'
Kin rah whistled out for the wagon to take them to Fanelia. From behind one of the still in tact tents, a large bull tied to a wood wagon piled high with tent equipment trotted out to meet them.
"Um…Aiken?"
Aiken peered back at her over his shoulder as he made to heave himself onto the wagon.
"Why can't you just…I mean…that shifting thing you did, why can't we just do that to get to Fanelia?" Hitomi asked feeling that she wanted to get to Fanelia as quick as possible.
"I can't," he said, "I can only shift to places I know, I've never been to Fanelia."
"So you've been to the Mystic Moon before?" Hitomi asked. "It's just…that wasn't a vision. You gave me my pendant back, you were reallythere so you must have shifted."
From where she was standing, Hitomi could see Aiken's knuckles whiten as he gripped the side of the wagon. Although his back was turned to her, she could sense the expression on his face. This wasn't something she was meant to know about.
He didn't speak as he climbed up the side of the wagon and failed to speak again almost the whole way to Fanelia. Kin rah on the other hand was proving unstoppable.
"So you're the girl from the Mystic Moon eh? The one that Aiken was sent to find? Wow! And you're as strange looking as they come, I mean with the clothes, not looks of course, no offence meant there. So what's it like living on the Mystic Moon?"
"It's a lot less…eventful living on the Mystic Moon." Hitomi said looking up at the faint moon in the sky as sunset changed the sky from clear blue to burning gold. Aiken followed her gaze up and his eyes narrowed.
A while later, and the night had overshadowed the gold. They had travelled in silence for a while but surprisingly it was Aiken that spoke up.
"So...the pendant was originally yours to begin with? Where did you pick it up from?"
Hitomi pulled at her pendant, illuminated in the blue light coming from the Mystic Moon.
"It's an heirloom from my grandmother." She explained. "Um…my grandmother came here once before me with this stone it…"
She trailed off. Although this Aiken guy had saved her life she was still unsure of what was going on or whether he was really trustworthy. After all it was a mystery how he himself had come across her pendant when she had given it to Van.
"How-"
The wagon juddered to a halt cutting Hitomi off. She stood up and peered over Kin rah's shoulder at Fanelia. It was just how she remembered it, a small city tucked into the valley with trees surrounding it on all sides to mark the boundaries of the city and to protect what lay within it. A main street lead out from the gate through the maze of streets to the huge moss covered palace. As they neared the city, Hitomi could see the houses made of a fairly simple design, white clay and brown wood with a balcony on the second storey.
Last time she had been here this had all been a construction plan. She frowned, something wasn't right. It had only been 3 months since she had left and no amount ofFanelian craftsmen however skilled could finish an entire city in that amount of time.
The wagon neared the gates and Aiken jumped down. Hitomi was a little more careful, despite being an athlete she was still not as durable as those trained in combat.
"Okay Hitomi, this is where we've got to go our separate ways. You need to get to the palace and I have unfinished business elsewhere."
"But, wait a minute, what exactly is going on here? I know I had to come back to Gaea, to Faneliafor a reason and I know you gave me my pendant for a reason, would you mind answering some questions before I delve into the unknown?" Hitomi asked with a slight hint of sarcasm.
Aiken lowered his head so his hair masked his eyes.
"You'll find out on your own. It's not myplace to tell you. Thanks for the lift Kin rah, take care."
The wolf man signalled a wave to both Aiken and Hitomi before moving off into the trees once more. Hitomi watched him go before turning back to face Aiken but what she met was the irongateway into Fanelia, nothing more.
"He left me! He actually left! Unbelievable!"
Hitomi glared at the huge iron gates leading the way to Fanelia as if having a staring contest with them would make what she had to do any easier. She sighed, if something was wrong with Van then nothing would be easy, especially if she had to go through it alone. Pulling at the dark iron, she started the long walk through the city towards his palace.
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Okay, so Hitomi met the boy called Aiken and we know that once again Hitomi is very important to the future of Gaea but what exactly has happened? Why wouldn't Aiken tell her anything? WHY WAS THERE NO VAN IN THIS CHAPTER? My apologies if this chapter was a little slow moving but there is always the calm before the storm and believe me on the storm front! If I was a weatherman I would be quaking in my boots now!
BW: But...weathermen are always wrong...
FB: (snapping) Who asked you?