-1Septem
They spoke with words unknown and voices unheard; we had stumbled onto the end of the beginning.
"Open your eyes; you haven't all day to sleep." boomed a woman's voice somewhere above their unconscious eyes. Jet opened one eye and then the other cautiously, not wanting to evoke any form of attention to himself. Beside him, Virginia, seemingly unmindful of the danger she may have been in, sat up quickly and jerked her head from side to side, startlingly. The silver hair outlaw, knowing not what else to do, sat up as well and waved at her impatiently to lay back down and be silent. She ceased her frantic swaying and blinked at him.
"Jet, what are we do-?"
"Be quiet! Have you any idea what kind of situation we're in?"
Virginia was about to answer Jet's fury flamed question when Clive's voice cut between them silently.
" I don't know what kind of situation we are in at present, but I do know that if we keep this bickering up, we may run into trouble."
The young female Drifter squinted ahead and watched as Clive slowly stood to his feet and looked back at them over his shoulder impatiently.
"I assure you, you have nothing to worry about." assured the voice softly, the boom fading into the darkness.
"That's good, because I don't feel much like fighting." sighed Gallows as he rose from the dark floor and fell to one knee, trying to catch his breath.
" So we're all here, huh? Well, at least..." Jet rose and ambled slowly over to Gallows, watching the darkness ahead of him with cautious eyes as he helped him up. Gallows nodded his thanks to the android and then took a couple of steps forward, now shoulder to shoulder with the sniper.
"So, what do you make of this place?" asked the Baskar, resting his hand on the father's shoulder, which soon shrugged.
"I've no idea, if I had to take a guess, we are at the beg-"
"Beginning of time, Clive?" inquired Virginia as Jet helped her up as well. Clive looked back again and watched as Jet and Virginia joined their uneven line.
" It is the beginning of something." he theorized aloud, shifting his eyes toward the young lady.
"That is correct, you are at the beginning of something, but it is not time." darted the voice between each of their ears.
"Okay, so, where are we? Or should I ask when are we?" asked the young priest cautiously, not wanting to bring down a thunderous response upon their heads.
"Oh, good question Gallows." whistled Jet, unable to hide his amused surprise.
"Jet that's not ni-" Virginia's chide was cut off by a streak of light tearing down the middle of the surrounding darkness.
"I don't think it matters, anymore." deadpanned Gallows' voice from Virginia's left.
"Indeed it doesn't." concluded the voice as the light burned red and then darkened with a gigantic shadow.
"Oh ,shit." stated Jet simply, not knowing what else to say as a monstrous form stepped forward into the dancing darkness and growled menacingly.
"I doubt "shit" is a fitting word for that..." frowned the shaman as a tail tipped with spines danced above a serpentine head framed with horns.
"It surprises me that you were able to make it this far; I had assumed that you all were nothing but idiots dancing in the light of the moon." spat the creature with the same booming voice that had spoken not moments before.
"Yeah, well, I guess you learn something new every day." retorted Jet, reaching for his weapon and smiling as his hand wrapped around his forming Airget-Lamh.
"Hmph, confident aren't you?" mused the monstrosity as the light around it glowed into an almost blinding silver.
"Of course I'm confident," smiled Jet as he aimed the gun at the creature. " my friends have my back."
The monster cocked its head and twitched its tail with irritation as its fuzzy, muscle taunt, body leaned back against clawed haunches.
Virginia stepped forward and spun her fingers, watching with awe as her weapons formed, spinning, around her digits with a glimmer of blue light.
"I don't know why you want to fight, but it's apparent that you've no intention of backing down." spoke Virginia quietly, ceasing the spin when the muzzles of both guns aimed forward with a solid clang.
"You wonder why I wish to fight? My dear child, I am the Arbiter, the one that judges whether or not you all are worthy to return to your lives." laughed the Arbiter haughtily.
"That's not for you to judge; I will return to my family..." spat Clive venomously, his hands twitching against his forming weapon.
"Heh, do you honestly think that I'm going to break the chain of deep thoughts? I've plenty to fight for; whether or not you believe it is completely up to you. Although..." smiled Gallows as he gripped the forming stock of his shotgun. "I don't give a damn what you decide, I'm going home." he finished, also aiming at the creature.
The Arbiter closed its hooded eyes with amusement and lifted its heavy tail above its head once again.
"If you are so confident, then come; I haven't all day." breathed the fiend, opening its eyes and glowering down at them with bloody malignance.
Without a word, all four Drifters fired their guns at once, their bullets striking almost in unison upon the monster's skeptically twisted brow. They watched seemingly in slow motion as their bullets exploded in murderous light and then fell in benign, glowing, chunks at its feet.
"That didn't go as expected..." mused Clive, slamming another bullet into the chamber and once again taking aim. The rest were about to follow suit when, in the middle of loading his gun, Jet stopped and dropped the gun suspiciously to his side. Gallows, having already loaded his chamber, looked over at Jet quizzically.
"What are you doing, man; it's gonna kill us if we don't act!"
"That's what it wants... It wants us to attack with the knowledge we already have, something comfortable, something familiar. But..." he released his grip on the sub-machine gun, watching with disinterest as it hit the darkened plane with a dull thud.
"I'm not going to play by its rules any longer; I've had it up to here with this thing." concluded Jet, placing the table of one hand above his head whilst the other lingered almost benignly at his side.
The young Baskar, realizing that Jet may have had a point, threw his gun to his feet and glared up at the Judge with irritation
"You know something, I think that Jet's right; you want us to fight you with what we already know. I don't know about you guys, but I learned something today... and it wasn't about women..." he mused, adding the last bit with a grin. The Moderator glanced down at the two weapons that had been discarded and then back up at the two men that had discarded them.
"So you think that you can beat me without those, do you?"
After a second of hesitation, the other two Drifters dropped their weapons and waited for the Arbiter to make its move.
"I trust in Jet's assumptions; you're not invincible, of this I'm certain." spoke Clive silently, looking at the Arbitrator with a look of determination on his scruffy face.
"I also believe in Jet, I'm not afraid of you." added Virginia to this fray of words and emotions.
"Believe what you want, I haven't the time to argue." spoke the monster with an apathetic inflection, stepping forward menacingly and squishing the bullets under large, clawed, feet.
"Arbiter, cease your advancement, let me speak." whispered a lilting voice from behind the small group. In a ragged line, they turned around to face the new voice, almost forgetting the Arbiter in the midst of their surprise. There, several feet in front of them, stood a woman with a dove alighted in one hand whilst the other gripped a severed head loosely by its hair.
"I see that you have found out part of our secret; I can't say that I am surprised, though." spoke the woman, looking down at the severed head with a degree of disdain.
"Wait, what?" inquired the young priest, understandably confused.
"You are quite correct, none of your weapons would have had any effect on the Arbiter, she is quite tough." spoke the woman, her voice never forsaking its calm whisper.
"Alria, why do you interfere? Noth'ral is not meant to be seen by human eyes and yet you stop me from obliterating a potential threat, why?" exclaimed the Judge with no shortage of ire.
"Because that's all they are, "potential threats"; my dear Arbi, you are way too swift in temper..." chided Alria, shaking her head slowly from side to side.
The Arbitrator huffed her displeasure and sat back on her haunches, glaring at the four Drifters.
"Now, I'm sure you all have questions, but, before you start to ask them, let me have my say. Noth'ral is a heaven dreamed up by those in hell, hence the reason there was decadence amongst its people. Noth'ral is a place of dreams and discovery. Each one of you was brought here to learn, courtesy of a dreamer in hell. I know not who, but I figure that whoever it was, wanted you all to know the truth behind everything. Knowledge is a dangerous thing, though, and I fear that, if I deem you not worthy of returning home, chances are you won't. Now, you may ask me questions if you so desire."
Virginia was the first one to ask a question of the mysterious woman before them.
"You said that we knew part of the secret, which part was that, exactly?"
"The fact that you cannot fight things here with your customary weapons and the reason behind that fact." answered the dove-bearing woman simply.
"Okay, now it's my turn. What do you mean by the whole "If I deem you not worthy, you won't be going home" bit? Last time I checked, you weren't a god or anything close to that. You have no right to judge us when you're apparently no better. Look at you; you have a severed head in one hand and in the other a dove. What are you trying to prove? It seems to me like you're a walking contradiction, yourself. I won't have someone or something judging my fate when they seemingly have issues of their own to work out. I've nothing against you, lady, but I want to go home." came Gallows' voice from seemingly far away.
The woman paused a moment before answering.
"If I were to say that I'm a god, I'd be half right. For you see, in every human's mind lays a god. I am the god in this dreamer's mind but not the overlord. In other words, if you can unlock the god in your minds, then you're obviously competent enough to handle the knowledge you have and are free to return home. If, however, you're unable to unlock said knowledge, then you're stuck here, I'm afraid." she concluded with an almost regretful shake of her head.
"Okay, but technically we've already unlocked some of our powers, you saw that when we formed our weapons from nothing. Man materializes a god or guardian out of necessity, that's my belief, anyway. The point of this is, I guess, is that if we feel the need to unlock our godliness then chances are we'll succeed, and you've given us the initiative we need." replied Clive quietly, pushing the glasses up the bridge of his nose habitually.
"Plus, tell me, what good would we do here? We'd eventually rebel and probably create a hell right here in the heaven created by the suffering. Wouldn't that be ironic, to be returned to the state that you so feared and loathed? By denying our freedom, you're insuring your own demise. Don't you realize, Drifters have wings for a reason, and that reason is to fly where ever the winds take us." stated Jet in almost an uncharacteristic tone of voice.
"Jet..." smiled Virginia as she took his hand into her own and smiled up at the Arbiter. "A god is about to be born, are you ready?" she asked, sliding her hand from Jet's and holding her hand above her head, palm facing the Arbiter's now trembling body.
"I think it's time to leave." agreed Gallows, closing his eyes, lowering his hands to his side, palms facing out like his leader's.
"Yeah, this place is a bit too depressing for me." chuckled Jet, popping his knuckles and then motioning for the Arbiter to come forward with one hand as his other balled into a fist at his side.
"My family awaits my return, I won't lose here." responded Clive, crossing his arms in front of his chest defiantly, and slipping his foot back in preparation for the attack that would inevitably follow.
"So, you feel that you're ready for me, do you? Ha, foolish humans!"
A beam of pure light started to form in Virginia's idle hand whilst the one above her glittered with an unearthly light.
Take hold of your fate, don't be afraid. Her mother whispered from afar. She wrapped her hand around the now solid handle of a sickle and grasped it tightly, looking down in fascination at the incinerate, light-weaved, metal.
"That is the Sickle of Artrnis!" exclaimed the Judge in fear, eyeing the sickle's serrated hook warily. Virginia smiled to the Arbiter's fear and lowered her hand down to the side.
"You don't seem so confidant now, what happened?" she mused superiorly as she raised the Artrnis' weapon over her head menacingly.
"Now, now, Virginia, no need to be so malignant..." chided Clive with a hint of amusement in his otherwise steady voice. "I'm sure that we're not strong enough to..." his sentence trailed off as he watched claws of moon colored light snake around his hands and then solidify, prompting him to unlace his arms and hold them out in front of him a state of shock. "Well I'll be..." whistled Clive admirably as the claws ceased their ephemeral glow and dulled to a milky grey.
"The Claws of Erithim!" mourned the Arbiter loudly, taking a few steps back and waving its tail left and right above its midsection.
"Well, this definitely bodes well for us..." was Clive's response to the Arbitrator's outburst.
"Man, things are looking up for us." mused Gallows as he closed his hands around a still forming axe's handle. As the tendrils of light wrapped around the even curves of the axe, Gallows nodded his head in approval and swung the axe half heartedly, creating a vapor trail of light as he did so. The Adjudicator leaned back on its haunches fearfully as Gallows swung the axe airily above his head in a wide arc and then brought it down in front of him as hard as he could, sending a shockwave of air toward the Arbiter.
"And what is this?" he asked, indicating the axe, whose sharply curved blade glimmered in the dancing light.
"That is the Axe of Lio'Toric." answer the creature after a moment of hesitation.
"And I assume the weapon I have in my hand is the Argetlahm?" inquired Jet, indicating the holy sword that he now grasped in his shaking hands. The Arbitrator, at a loss for words, simply nodded its acknowledgement and took a couple of steps back.
"What's wrong, Judge, cat got your tongue?" scoffed Jet as he sank the sword's blade into the darkened ground half way, a rare smile on his pale face.
"I... I'd not be so confident if I were you; you still haven't won yet." indicated the monster, leaning forward into a malignant walk.
"Oh, so you're ready to throw down, huh? Oh fine, just don't blame me when you crawl away from this battle, sans your appendages." sniffed Jet with a frown, unsheathing the sword from its earthen scabbard and pointing its wicked tip toward the Judger.
"Enough talk, it's time to fight!" roared the enraged beast, coming to a halt a good twenty feet in front of them and rearing up onto its haunches.
"This is it, then, the showdown..." mused Alria, leaping several meters into the air and hovering in place at the apex of her jump.
Without another word, the Judge threw its weight forward and at the four, ready, team members.
Virginia threw one sickle at the Adjudicator's throat whilst the other hand carved an arc toward it exposed head. Grunting, the Adjudicator reared up on its hind legs once again, knocking Virginia's striking hand away with a swipe of its great paw, but not avoiding a biting cut that landed threateningly close to his jugular.
"You pose a threat." roared the beast angrily, swiping at Virginia's face with its shaky hand. Virginia ducked under the offending claw, grabbed the sickle that had flew obediently back into her hand, and thrust up, catching the beast's windpipe with the hook.
Unable to scream, the Judge flailed backwards, only to catch Clive's bladed fists in its back. Several sprays of blood issued from the wounds and the Arbitrator leaned forward, whimpering as Virginia yanked its windpipe out as she hopped back and gave leeway to Jet, who swung the Argetlahm in a vertical arc across the monster's face and then followed it up with an attempted thrust between the eyes. However, the Adjudicator fell back against Clive, successfully knocking the sniper off his feet and evading the fatal blow. Clive crawled backwards for several feet and then rose to his feet, seething with irritation.
"Here, catch." laughed Gallows' voice from behind the now befuddled Dark Agent. It slowly turned around and looked in the direction of the voice, just in time to catch an axe blow just below its left kneecap. With a screech, it lurched to the left, then to the right, and then fell straight forward on to its face, narrowly missing a glowering Jet.
"Hey, next time you decide to do something like that, let us know." barked Jet as he drove his sword through the Judge's head, effectively ending the fight.
Groaning, the Arbitrator slid its head up the sword's blade and looked at the team pitifully.
"It's not over yet..."
"Oh yes it is..." whispered Jet, yanking the sword toward him, hence slicing the monster's head in half.
Alria looked down at the spectacle below her with an amused smile; they had played the part, now it was time for them to leave.
"You all are very resolved, I must say I'm impressed." she whistled, descending gracefully in front of them with a smile on her face.
"Damn straight we're resolved, we have something to look forward too!" exclaimed Jet, dropping the dripping sword to his side and glaring at the woman.
"Now that we've beaten your friend, I think it's time we head home." Gallows said, pointing his axe at the fallen form with a degree of jubilance.
"Well, you have, indeed, proven your worth..." mused the keeper, slowly descending toward the earth with an uneasy smile on her face.
"Why do you seem so uncertain all of the sudden?" inquired Virginia, locking eyes with Alria as she alighted herself before them.
"I'm uncertain because you all are human." answered she with an air of uncertainty still clinging to her sweet voice.
"What difference does that make? You're a projection of human thought for Guardian's sake! I think you just want us to stay here to keep you company..." frowned the young priest, resting the head of the axe against the blackened ground and using it as a lazing crutch.
The dreamt woman sighed to this and sat down fluidly, looking up at the team with a degree of misery stamped in her tepid eyes.
"Maybe you're right, maybe I don't want to be left alone here. I do realize, however, that you all would like to return home and," she rose to her feet, a smile crossing her pretty face grudgingly. "I will make sure that you all return home, safe and sound. Although..." she paused, shooting uncertain glances at each of them in turn. "I would like for you all to remember me and the Arbitrator, keep us alive by dreaming of us. A mind dreams only for so long before it fades to another thought... Don't forget us, promise me." pleaded Alria, her eyes misting over with fear.
"Tell me, why should we remember or dream about the things that tried to trap us? It doesn't make sense to me; it's like you asking me to remember a nightmare I'd rather forget..." mused the android, tilting his head to the side and resting the sword on his hip, restlessly
"I ask you to remember so we never forget. Nothing is worse than forgetting who you are and what your purpose is. I don't want to fade into distant thought without first passing on what I know to future generations. When you all have children, I will carry on into their thoughts and test them when the time is right, just as I test the four of you."
"Wait, I don't want to sound rude, but, I don't want you to test my children, I don't want you to put the ones I love in danger..." pondered Virginia aloud, glaring suspiciously at the lady of dreams.
"You bring a child within Death's grasp the second you bring it into the world; I'd rethink that sentiment if I were you."
"Listen, I understand what you're saying, but I'll agree to remember you only if you stay out of my life. I swear, if you interfere, you'll regret it. I agree with the whole "If you bring your child into the world, you bring it closer to death." bit, but I'd rather my child's fate rest in its own hands opposed to yours... That's all; those're my conditions, lady." replied Gallows with both finality and anxiety in his voice.
Alria blinked up at the Baskar, feeling the scathe of his expression and words fully.
Virginia alternated her gaze between the dreamt woman and her companion, unable to string coherent thought together. Where had that come from?
"I see... well then, Gallows, it looks like you have your life planned already..."
"I don't have it planned out, I just know what I want from it..." he answered to her unspoken question.
"Fine then, see you." she snapped her fingers and a column of silver light slid from the ground and enveloped the surprised young man. She turned to the rest of the group, who had, not surprisingly, taken up arms at their comrade's sudden departure.
"So, what do you want? You cannot kill me, so you may as well put down your weapons." demanded the shade.
"I am aware that I cannot kill you, but I can forget you. I won't deny that this journey has taught me much, but I cannot allow you to interfere with the future; that is an aspect of life that should be met with forethought, not foresight. I do not want to hurt your feelings, but, at the same time, I don't want to put my family in danger; so, I too do not wish for you to interfere. I don't know what to expect from life and I don't need someone or something to amplify that uncertainty. I wish to return to my family, now." demanded Clive, his words not once forsaking emphasis.
Alria nodded to his words and Clive found himself being enveloped in a light similar to the one that had claimed Gallows.
"So, Virginia, having heard your friend's responses, what is your take to all of this?"
Virginia slowly shook her head from side to side and closed her eyes.
"The future is wild, the present malleable, the past amorphous. I don't want you to interfere with my life because it's the only one I have." she opened her eyes and continued. "You seem to forget that there's a life beyond the one you know. Why don't you live your life and let me live mine?" demanded the young woman, glaring at the glowing visage of Alria.
"I believe that you have a point, but answer me this one question before you go: What will you do now that you have a purpose?"
Virginia smiled to his question, stepped forward, and rested her hand on Alria's shoulder.
"I will follow that purpose the best I can and learn from my mistakes, that's all I can do."
"I see, very well, take care." and with that, Virginia, too, disappeared into the column of light.
"Now, last but not least, what do you think, Mr. Enduro?"
"I think that you're weak for wanting others to remember you fondly. No one is here to stop me so I can say whatever I want. Why don't you remember yourself? I mean, I'm sure that someone as vainglorious as you would have more of a memory than what you let on. Sometimes stature is not measured by the people that remember you, but rather by the people you remember. I'm sure that if you dream of us, you'll remember your own existence in the process. Stop being weak, people like you sicken me." was Jet's curt reply. Alria glared at Jet for a moment or two and then started to laugh a high pitched, almost maniacal, laugh.
"So, not only am I weak, I sicken you; that's really amusing now that I think on it, but..." she curtailed her laugh with a cough. "You do have a very good point. Perhaps you four are not the only ones that learned something today. Thank you, Mr. Enduro; I won't forget your words."
Jet blushed to this, he wasn't used to thanks.
"Don't thank me, just live. Now let me go home, damn it, I'm hungry." huffed Jet, tapping his fingers against the hilt of the sword.
"Heh, very well, see you." she responded, snapping her fingers with a smile.
"Whatever." was Jet's response as the silver beam swept him away.