The Priestesses' Regeneration Song that Connects the Worlds

by aquagon

Two months later, Inuyasha's group welcomes back Miko and Yasha together with their friends from the alternate Earth. Now, they must fulfill the mission they were given by destiny: become the Seirei to save the world the Dragonia. While many hardships await them, they will also receive the help from a world called Ar Ciel... Sequel to Entwining of Destinies.

13. The Epitaph

Chapter 9: The Epitaph

Truth of the world hidden,

Stone with the future engraved,

Uncertain presages from being read forbidden,

Destiny in the depths entombed.

(Opening: Kiseki no Umi – Maaya Sakamoto)

Upon walking down the steps, the party found themselves descending through a staircase for a couple meters, until they finally landed in a small corridor whose walls, floor and ceiling were made of green bricks: it had four torches lit with blue flames, and it had an arch on the other side that led deeper into the underground chamber. Their dragons decided they'd be better off waiting outside and guarding the entrance because the area was too narrow for them to assume their true forms.

- "Okay, this place seriously gives me the creeps" – said Tiffany seeing the bluish glow the flames emitted as they danced about, smelling the moisture-charged air and hearing how their voices echoed throughout the place.

- "Well, we're in the basement of the castle. It's to be expected for it to be like this" – said Miguel shrugging his shoulders. However, the party all had drawn their weapons, fearing they could meet some sort of monster.

- "Wouldn't this place qualify more as a catacomb in any case?" – asked Kember checking the stone the passageway was made of.

- "Only if it's used to bury the dead… And if it turns out it is actually a catacomb, at least I hope it isn't as nasty as the ones from SOTN… I'm not really in the mood to see open coffins, or corpses entombed into the walls or being spread throughout the place…" – said Gerardo shivering and shaking his head.

- "Ah yeah, I forgot that you really didn't like that" – said Miguel laughing.

- "Even though I didn't have much problem with it either" – said Gabriela shrugging.

- "What're ya guys talking about anyway?" – asked Inuyasha raising an eyebrow.

- "Ah, it's just something from a videogame. Don't pay much attention to it" – said Roger.

- "And if you guys are curious, I can show you that game in my PSP once we've left this place and reached the inn" – said Henry pointing to his Dragtemn.

- "Sounds interesting!" – said Yasha jumping up and down.

- "Yeah! I don't really wanna see that sort of stuff, but if it's games, I'd like to take a look at it too!" – said Miko with a smile.

- "Anyhow, shall we continue? I don't really wanna stay in this place more than we need" – said Carlos shaking his head. Everyone else nodded in agreement, and they crossed the hall.

The next room they found themselves in was similar to the first one, though this one had torches with green flames illuminating the room, and it also had a couple tapestries hung from the side walls: both of them were drawn in a style similar to the medieval art from our world, with one of them showing the Dragon Gods battling Tenebross, having the following text below: "Bamorie dea Kialrazz dea Phinamcou", and the other one showed a girl in a white shouf focused into singing over a picture of a castle that had a large crack running through its middle and had several apparently dead people lying around it, which had the following text below: "Rehmorie dea Zosphaael Balzaaht".

- "Interesting. I think this is the first time I've ever seen something resembling the medieval art from our world" – said Kember as he admired the artwork embroidered in the tapestries.

- "Well, no one among us excepting for Gerar and Gaby have actually gone abroad" – said Henry playfully hitting Gerardo on the shoulder.

- "Yeah, but it's not like we've ever gone to a museum that had that sort of stuff exhibited" – said Gerardo smiling.

- "Blame our dad for that. Always refusing to pay the entrance fees to the museums and the like because they're too expensive according to him"- pouted Gabriela.

- "Still, it's a sure thing these're important scenes of Dragonia's history" – said Miguel checking the text under the art – "Hmm, I can make out part of the text, but the rest…" –

- "Hmm? Ah!" – said Gerardo going next to Miguel to examine the text and he gasped in surprise – "Well, I don't even know what I'm doing getting surprised. The reason you can't make out the rest of it is due to the antiquity: these are the ideograms that were in use before Dragonians adopted the alphabet in full" –

- "So, is all that written in ancient Dragonian?" – asked Tiffany with interest.

- "Yeah, no doubt it's written in Ceremonial Dragonian. But still…" – said Gerardo, but he was cut off by Kagome before he could continue.

- "But it doesn't look like the engravings in the springs cave and the memory medallions cave. I mean, these symbols seem a bit simpler, while the ones in the caves were more complex" – said her with a hand on her chin.

- "It's because the more complex the symbols, the more ancient the text is" – explained Gerardo – "The ones in the caves are among the oldest due to using solely ideograms, while as you can see, this one mixes ideograms with the alphabet. I think you all should be able to read the alphabet parts" –

And it was just as he said: the rest of his party could read the alphabet parts, but they were at a loss for how to read the ideogram parts.

- "But more importantly, ya know what it means?" – asked Inuyasha snorting.

- "Yeah: the one with the picture of the Dragon Gods means "Commemoration of the Shadow's Defeat", while the one with the singing priestess means "Reminder of Our Own Stupidity". Looks like they really give these events the deference they deserve" – said Gerardo looking at how exquisitely the embroidery was done.

- "By the way bro, how do you know all these things about the Dragonian language?" – asked Henry raising an eyebrow – "I know understanding it in all its varieties is like your special skill, but how about its history and stuff?" –

- "It's because I took the time to read some of the books from Iadlase's room last night. One of them was "Dragonian Language: Evolution and History", and while I didn't have the time to read it in full, I could at least learn enough of how the language and its writing system evolved" – said Gerardo turning around to face him.

- "And well, Gerar isn't the only one who can understand Dragonian writing in all its forms. I can too!" – said Gabriela smiling as she puffed out her chest with pride.

- "That's pretty nice. Well, seeing your role as Priestess of the Dragon, it's necessary" – said Kagome smiling.

- "Though I feel kind of bad for the princess… I mean, she must have had to learn it all the hard way…" – said Miko looking saddened.

- "Well, I don't. Not after the way she insulted me" – said Gabriela pouting.

- "Not like I blame you for it though" – said Miguel stroking his younger cousin's head – "I mean, Kiolse talked shit about me too" –

- "We all got badmouthed by our predecessors…" – said Gerardo sighing, knowing him and Gabriela had taken the worst part of the insults – "Anyway, let's continue. I know this chat about the language and the art was interesting, but who knows how much longer we'll have to walk until we get to the Epitaph we're looking for" –

But as they advanced deeper in, they found out that the next chamber, which had torches with green flames illuminating it, had more tapestries displayed throughout the place.

- "Okay then, is this place supposed to be some sort of underground secret art gallery or what?" – asked Tiffany raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.

- "Hmm, well, I'm not completely sure it's a normal art gallery in any case" – said Miko as she stood next to one of the tapestries and observed it with care. It displayed a black space covered in stars surrounding a large ball of fire and rocks, which had six colored orbs shining around it, and was surrounded by a red frame.

- "And consider this: we're going to the chamber where the Epitaph of Prophecy is supposed to be hidden, right?" – said Carlos raising a finger – "And only the people who are chosen by the Dragon Gods are supposed to read it. So, wouldn't these tapestries be about something they'd want to tell these chosen ones?" –

- "And the chosen ones are us, obviously" – said Gabriela as she eyed the tapestry next to that one, which showed a similar picture to the previous one, excepting the six orbs were missing and the large ball of fire had been replaced by one made of water. This one was surrounded by a blue frame – "In other words, they're expecting us to see these tapestries and make out what they mean, right?" –

- "I wouldn't put it past them," – said Henry as he eyed the next one, which was surrounded by a black frame and showed a bunch of people that had their eyes closed and were surrounded by colored auras floating over a black void, with a swirl of light at the very bottom – "After all, they're not wanting to tell us a lot of things directly" –

- "Not like I don't understand their approach though," – said Gerardo eyeing the same tapestry Gabriela was looking at – "Don't people say that it's the journey, not the destination what counts? Knowledge gained without the experience accompanying it is pretty insignificant, if you ask me" –

- "Well, I see what Henry's getting at: that it'd be better if we knew everything we needed to do our mission as the Seirei" – said Miguel looking at the same tapestry Henry was looking at – "But your point still stands, Gerar: going through the experiences that net you that knowledge is very important too" –

- "But to give a concrete example, it'd be cool if we could know what these tapestries are supposed to represent" – said Henry as he turned around and gave a look at a tapestry Roger was looking at: this one was surrounded by a yellow frame and was divided vertically in two halves. The first one showed a few people wearing little clothing fighting against some dragons, and the second half showed people wearing strange robe-like outfits they had never seen before, who were singing while dragons were nesting at their feet – "This one seems to say the Dragonians and the dragons fought at one time before becoming friends, like they're now" –

- "But I don't get these outfits" – said Kember frowning as he looked at the tapestry – "Okay, what the people in the first half wear is similar to what the gatherer-hunter tribes from our world wear, but the ones in the second half don't look anything like the shoufs we've seen so far" –

- "Well, clothing evolves and changes with time" – said Gabriela shrugging – "We're not wearing the same clothes in Earth that we'd have worn if we had lived in say, the 18th century, right?" –

- "Point for Gabs" – said Roger – "By the way guys, did you notice the frames to the tapestries have letters engraved on them too?" –

The others looked carefully at the bottom of each frame, and sure enough, there were Dragonian glyphs engraved into them. Aside of the four they had seen, there were also a tapestry surrounded by a green frame that showed a castle being built, and another surrounded by a white frame that showed a mountain encircled by clouds and had six dragons of different colors flying around it. The texts below each frame were as follows: the red frame one had "Fafbiou dea Mountyoudor", the blue frame one had "Fafbiou dea Iadladouraael", the yellow frame one had "Kluceia dea Vlasialaael", the black frame one had "Kaphhiar Ya Celka ical", the green frame one had "Fafklucei dea Juhdtiar", and the white frame one had "Fierthe dea Seirei".

"Nope," – said Miguel looking at the letters as he shook his head – "Like the ones from the previous room, I can't read what they say" –

- "Once again, they're using the old-style ideograms, right?" – asked Kagome as she looked at the letters in the white framed tapestry – "Yeah, I can't understand them. Gaby-chan, can you tell me what it says?"

- "Yeah!" – said Gabriela giggling as she went next to her.

- "Heh, now Gaby is stealing my thunder" – said Gerardo with a bemused smile.

- "Well, ya can come and tell me what this says!" – said Inuyasha trying to contain an urge to start laughing as he pointed to the red frame one.

- "Okay, Kagome, Miko, this frame says, "Gathering of the Elements". I think it shows the Dragon Gods gathered somewhere…" – said Gabriela as she turned to the other two girls, before placing her hand on her chin.

- "From the title and the appearance, it looks like it" – said Kagome with a pensive expression.

- "Hmm, I remember hearing something about it in class… I think that place is called Mount Bioukar, and it's where the Dragon Gods supposedly gather at" – said Miko remembering some of the lessons on history and mythology she and Yasha had gotten.

- "Ah! Inuyasha, looks like you picked a good one here!" – said Gerardo stepping back after he read the title to the red framed tapestry.

- "How so?" – asked Inuyasha crossing his arms and looking at Gerardo with surprise.

- "Unless I'm gravely mistaken…" – said Gerardo as he looked at the other tapestries, but then…

- "Gerar, you're right" – said a voice to his head.

- "No way, is that you, Iadla?" – replied him back with suspicion – "And why are you calling me like that?" -

- "Yeah, I can perceive everything you can see and hear. We're connected, remember?" – said Iadla with an amused voice – "And since your friends call you like that, I thought it'd be okay to call you that way too, since we're partners and all" –

- "Okay, I'm fine with it. But is that right?" – asked Gerardo again.

{BGM: Eternal Recurrence – Secret of Mana Remake}

- "Yes. Just as Iadla is telling Gerardo now, the tapestries you can see are snapshots of important events of our world's history" – said Anryuujin to Henry's mind. The other dragons were having similar conversations with their respective partners.

- "The title makes perfect sense then. This one means "Birth of the World"" – said Gerardo turning around to Inuyasha – "And it shows Dragonia shortly after the planet's own birth" –

- "A large piece of rock and molten metal, just like our own Earth" – said Roger looking at the image with awe.

- "And the tapestry next to it, the blue framed one, is titled "Birth of the Oceans"" – said Gabriela to support her brother's translation efforts.

- "Yeah, if it happened like in our world, the planet would have cooled down, the composition of the atmosphere would have changed, and it should have started raining torrentially until it filled all the spaces where the oceans are now" – said Gerardo placing a hand over his chest and looking downward – "The birth of the element I have as my responsibility…" -

- "And the next step in history… Is how the Dragonians and the dragons first fought with each other, and then became friends?" – asked Carlos looking at the yellow-framed tapestry.

- "Looks like it, as the tapestry is titled "Creation of Bonds"" – said Gabriela looking at it with a smile.

- "How neat. So, they were first enemies, but something happened that made them become friends?" – said Miko clasping her hands with a smile.

- "Yeah" – said Neria to her mind – "First we dragons and the Dragonians were at odds over food and territory, and we used to fight a lot, to the point of killing each over it. But at some point, the Dragonians learned to sing songs to convey their feelings, and we learned how to communicate our thoughts to them. It was thanks to that we could start walking the path of coexistence we share now" –

- "Besides, us Bonded Dragons have it pretty nice compared to the wild dragons from aeons ago" – said Daichi – "Since we don't have to fear being hunted by Dragonians, and getting a partner is both convenient and a chance for us to grow spiritually" –

- "But this one doesn't seem to have anything to do with history" – observed Henry looking at the black-framed tapestry – "And the people who lay down in there seem to be dead or something…"

- "Hmm, it says "Antechamber to the Eternal Rest"…" – said Gerardo as a cold shiver ran down his spine.

- "Would that be… the world of the dead then?" – asked Henry as his eyes widened.

- "It's not" – explained Anryuujin – "What you see in the tapestry is called the Kaph'haam, or Interstice. That's where the souls of those who have died wait for their time to be purified, enter the Biousakatse Yaoulma and reincarnate" –

- "So yeah, looks like they're all dead after all. But they seem to have pretty peaceful expressions…" – said Yasha observing the faces of the deceased in the tapestry.

- "According to the Dark-elementals who have managed to peek into that place, people who die stay there and just sleep away their time, being caught up in a representation of their most desired dreams until they reincarnate" – said Anryuujin.

- "In other words, they dream of their own personal paradises? But what happens to those who were evil in life?" – asked Henry with suspicion.

- "The ones who have committed the worst sins have their souls taken out from the Yaoulma and are never allowed the blissful sleep you see there, or to reincarnate. They instead are condemned to dream their worst nightmares eternally" – explained Anryuujin with severity.

- "And leaving aside the chatter about death, I think the last one should be self-explanatory. It's called "Foundation of the Kingdom"" – said Gerardo looking at the green-framed tapestry.

- "So, it shows Dragonia's foundation, just as we suspected" – said Kember nodding his head – "But who would've thought we'd end up seeing an art gallery about the world's creation, and about this world's afterlife" –

- "Well, it's not exactly the afterlife. It's just the place where you wait for the afterlife" – said Roger shrugging.

- "Well, they do have reincarnation here. I don't think we can say they have an afterlife here" – said Miguel closing his eyes.

- "Anyway, shall we go deeper in?" – asked Kagome with a smile.

{End Music}

Having left the art gallery, they were surprised to find the next room was actually a passageway illuminated with torches blazing with yellow flames that split into two roads: one to the left and another to the right.

- "Okay, which way're we supposed to take now?" – asked Tiffany as she walked in front of the group and stood in the middle of the split.

{The Discolored Wall – Castlevania: Bloodlines}

- "Umm, guys, I don't think we should head to the left…" – said Yasha directing his gaze at the left path's entrance, looking kind of creeped out – "I'm hearing… some nasty screams and something like blades being swung around down there…" –

- "Yeah, and it also smells like rot and blood over there…" – said Inuyasha cringing.

- "What!? But how the Dragonians could have something like that here on this time and age!?" – asked Miko shocked with her eyes the size of saucers and with both hands over her mouth.

The rest of the party caught up to them at that moment, and it was then they noticed something: at the entrance of the left path, there was a sign made from rotting wood and…

- "This thing is splashed with blood blotches!?" – asked Gabriela jumping back when she noticed the stains.

- "And it doesn't seem to be recent either…" – said Henry noticing their disgusting brown coloring, as well as noticing a trail of dried blood that started next to the sign. It was initially thin, but it got thicker the deeper it headed into the left path, until it turned a corner and disappeared from their sights. They then heard a grisly scream that seemed to be from a woman, which caused them all to shiver.

- "Umm, Gerar… can you translate what this thing says?" – asked Miguel having a bad feeling. The sign had carved into it "Tosse necla phaph wular helces lyacchi mido ical…" in a pretty crude way.

- "Eh, yeah… It's Ceremonial Dragonian, but a little more recent than the one from the art gallery…" – said Gerardo. The color instantly vanished from his face and his eyes widened – "Guys, if the blood and screams weren't enough of a deterrent, the text on the bloodstained sign shows we should definitively avoid going there… It means "Death for anybody who enters this path…" "–

- "But… what about these screams and shrieks!?" – asked Kagome alarmed when they heard another scream, which this time seemed to be from a man – "Shouldn't we go help whoever is in there!?" –

- "Don't bother, Kagome. There's a stench of death, yeah, but I can't feel the smell of anything living from that area either" – said Inuyasha snorting.

- "Yeah, I can't feel any living souls or auras either…" – said Gabriela shaking her head no – "I don't think there's anybody alive anymore down there…" –

- "Now you mention it…" – said Kagome focusing briefly – "Yeah… I can feel no spiritual aura from anything resembling a living person either…" -

- "So… could this be some sort of trap for heroic types?" – asked Henry crossing his arms.

- "But doesn't putting this scary sign on the entrance of the path and leaving that trail of blood make a trap like that meaningless!?" – asked Tiffany raising an eyebrow.

- "I can only think of two possibilities… Or it's supposed to be an illusion of some kind… Or this place is cursed and haunted beyond belief…" – said Gerardo turning away from the sign as another scream was heard, and he started walking to the right path as fast as he could.

- "Okay, let's get the hell outta here!" – said Tiffany rushing into the right path ahead of him.

- "Yeah, this place was eerie enough already, and I don't need any more creepiness than we have now!" – said Carlos running off.

Fortunately for the rest of them, only Yasha and Inuyasha could sense the smell of rotting corpses and blood, and even they stopped feeling it as soon as they entered the right path. The screams and the blade swinging sounds also stopped being heard by that point.

{End Music}

- "Okay, either it's indeed an illusion, or the rest of these underground chambers are proofed using magic or technology to keep the stench and screams from getting out" – said Roger noticing how they seemed to have disappeared.

- "At least we won't have to worry about them until it's time to retrace our steps" – said Gerardo sighing relieved. They then noticed they wouldn't have to walk much longer: after going down a flight of stairs, they found themselves before a large square chamber illuminated by torches in which red flames blazed.

- "Ah, looks like we've finally gotten to the place!" – said Gabriela pointing to the farthest wall in the room: there was a large stone slab affixed to it, filled with lines and lines of writing from top to bottom. It also had the Dragonian royal crest engraved at the top and the Elemental Seal at the bottom.

{BGM: An Engraved Past – Final Fantasy IX}

- "Yeah, this definitively seems to be the Epitaph we're looking for!" – said Kember nodding with a smile.

- "In that case, Gerar, could you do us the honors?" – asked Miguel with a smile.

- "My pleasure!" – said Gerardo running as fast as he could to the front of the Epitaph, and he started examining the writing on it.

- "So, what does it say?" – asked Inuyasha with curiosity.

- "Yeah, don't leave us hanging, Gerar-nii!" – said Yasha jumping next to him.

- "Come on, we need to know what it says!" – said Miko excited.

- "Yeah, Gerar! Tell us!" – said Gabriela clasping her hands with her eyes shining.

- "Eh… Ahahaha…" – laughed Gerardo as he sweatdropped and he slowly turned to face his friends – "Guys… I can't read it…" –

{End BGM}

Everyone just stood motionless with their eyes the side of saucers, but the next instant…

- "WHAT!?" – the entire basement of the castle rumbled with their shouts.

- "What's the meaning of this!?" – asked Henry stretching his arms with both palms upward.

- "Yeah! You could read all the texts in any kind of Dragonian we came across, and now you're telling us you can't read the most important one of them all!?"- asked Roger as he scowled.

- "What happened to you, Gerar!?" – asked Gabriela as she looked at her brother as if she couldn't believe what was taking place before her eyes.

- "Guys… let me explain…" – started Gerardo trying to raise his hands.

- "So that means coming here was a waste of time!?" – shouted Inuyasha irate.

- "We won't be able to fulfill our mission as the Seirei after all?" – asked Kagome worried.

- "What're we gonna do now!?" – shouted Miko and Yasha at the same time as they grabbed their heads.

- "GUYS, LET ME EXPLAIN!" – shouted Gerardo as he rose his hands, annoyed that they weren't paying any attention to what he was trying to say. This finally returned silence to the chamber as he finally made himself heard – "To be clearer, I CAN read the text… But for some reason, I can't grasp the meanings… It's as if my brain was attempting to translate the letters and then promptly discarded the meanings before I had time to analyze them properly…" –

{BGM: An Engraved Past – Final Fantasy IX}

- "Agh… Then it's not your fault…" – said Miguel crestfallen.

- "So, nobody who understands any sort of Dragonian would be able to make sense of this Epitaph, huh?" – asked Miko sighing in a lonesome way.

- "Hmm, how about we try copying the letters into paper or something and then have Gerar translate that?" – suggested Henry.

- "It's worth a try. I'll do it, as I'm the best among us drawing" – said Kember as he got out a piece of paper, a book and a pen from his Dragtemn and started trying to trace the first row of glyphs.

However…

- "Come on, you gotta be joking me!" – exclaimed Kember after a few seconds – "The glyph erases itself when I'm about to finish drawing it!" –

And to demonstrate it, he held the sheet of paper and the book he was using to prop it aloft and tried drawing the first glyph before everybody else, but as he said, the glyph vanished immediately as he tried drawing the final stroke.

- "I've also tried taking a photo of it to see if we could use it to decipher it, but…" – said Tiffany bringing up the holo-screen of her Dragtemn to show the photo, but it was useless: all the parts of the Epitaph where the text was engraved were a mess of corrupted colors and static.

- "In other words, this damn thing is magic proofed too!?" – said Inuyasha facepalming.

- "Okay, Gerar can't read it directly, we can't write down the text in paper, and we can't take photos or videos of it or write it down digitally…" – said Miguel sighing as he scowled – "What are we supposed to do now?"

- "Ah… Guys! Over here!" – said Gerardo out of nowhere as he called them. He had been looking around the rest of the chamber while the rest of the party was discussing their plan of action, and he found there was another engraving on the wall to the left of the entrance. It said: "Phaph ryeale lyacchi Delflia dea Mimapalia, Leiyazil dea Draggyach oli 1 Zil dea Yidjiale phior shuxuara iens".

- "Another engraving in Ceremonial Dragonian?" – asked Gabriela surprised.

– "Can you read it? – asked Kagome dubitatively.

- "Yeah, this one doesn't seem to be proofed with magic, so I have no issues reading it" – said Gerardo smiling relieved – "It says: To read this Epitaph of Prophecy, the Priestess of the Dragon must sing alongside a member of the Royal Family" –

- "Okay, that clears things up" – said Kagome – "So in other words, Gerardo-kun has to sing alongside Gaby-chan, right?" –

- "Well, I'm not strictly speaking a member of the Royal Family, but…" – said Gerardo, but he swallowed down what he was going to say next, having the encounter with Iadlase still too fresh in his mind.

- "We won't lose anything by trying it out, right?" – said Henry crossing his arms – "At worst, we'll return with our hands empty, and at best, we'll have fulfilled the task we have of bringing back news of the Epitaph to the king and the queen" –

- "But what are we supposed to sing?" – asked Gabriela raising an eyebrow – "I don't know any songs that are supposed to be used to read an epitaph…" –

- "Me neither…" – said Miko sighing – "I wish we had heard more about this sort of stuff in school…" –

- "Though given this Epitaph is so hidden and all, maybe they wouldn't have taught anything about it in any schools…" – said Yasha tilting his head. Miko nodded in response.

- "Well, for starters, how about we hold hands and touch the Epitaph together?" – suggested Gerardo with a smile – "Maybe something will come to our minds then" –

- "Okay, let's try that!" – said Gabriela pumping herself up, which caused everyone else to smile at her.

Both siblings held their hands and then, they walked to the Epitaph while the rest of the party watched over them. Once they were next to it, they both held out one hand toward the stone slab and touched it at the same time. It was cold to the touch.

{End BGM}

The letters on the Epitaph all started shining with a white light one after another as the temperature of the stone rose slightly, while a magic circle drew itself at the feet of both siblings.

- "Whoa, amazing!" – said Miguel.

- "Looks like Gerardo-kun's intuition was spot on!" – said Kagome using her hands to shield her eyes from the intense light the circle and the slab were emitting.

Gerardo and Gabriela felt as if something was entering their minds from the slab through their hands, and then, they both focused their sights into the epitaph and opened their mouths…

{Song: The Epitaph is Told – Ovan's Theme - .hack/GU}

Mazi illyusea neklamyeare ual,

oli phinamcou iphal zelc ical,

fierle dea eiraluk yastolia piarelara:

iadlaila jewizzil, illyula yidau,

kiols'ila layrazil, phinambrila narrazil

terraila erkielzil, pyraila leiyazil,

oli vulue KalliaIllyusea.

As the ancient light fades,

and the shade covers the skies,

a group of chosen stars will appear:

a blue scholar, a white princess,

a green soldier, a black warrior,

a yellow merchant, a red priestess,

and the blessed Other Light.

As they started singing, the Epitaph started emitting particles of light around the chamber, and everyone present in that place noticed something new:

- "Whoa, a song! And… I can understand what they're saying too!" – said Tiffany as she grabbed the paper, book and pen that Kember had and started writing down the meanings as they came to her mind.

- "Hey, we can get them too!" – said Yasha with a smile.

- "It's not only that: I can read the Epitaph now too, even though I don't understand the written form of Ceremonial Dragonian!" – said Henry smiling.

- "But anyway, let's let them finish singing" – said Miguel crossing his arms – "Maybe that'll be faster than us reading the whole stuff ourselves" –

Everybody agreed with the idea, so they just kept listening as Gerardo and Gabriela sang. However, even though the song seemed to have finished, they repeated the melody, but with different lyrics:

Myallade falara ciaaael zrius,

gefilare ialdia dea 6 Ist Sieshu ical,

3 Yilref Llatial dea Mazitim ical,

oli hizett layra ciaaael firea phinamcou ical,

ocura pawatz dea Yastolia custalf

phaf kialrazz Phinamcou ical oli ytuigh celka Dragonia ical.

All of them will begin their journey,

collecting the sources of the Six Great Voices,

the three Sealed Artifacts of Antiquity,

and finally confronting their deepest darkness,

attaining the power of the stars themselves

to defeat the shadows and return peace to our land.

{End Song}

Now they had finished singing, the Epitaph stopped shining and emitting light particles, its temperature dropped to the same level it had at their arrival and the magic circle that had drawn under Gerardo and Gabriela disappeared. Both siblings closed their eyes and mouths, and after letting go of the slab, they opened their eyes again and turned to face their friends.

- "Okay then, looks like we got what we came for, right?" – said Gerardo smiling.

- "Yeah" – confirmed Kagome nodding her head – "We've written down the prophecy you both sang, which I guess was the entirety of what was written on the Epitaph" –

- "Let's see…" – said Gerardo looking over the notes Tiffany had written down in Spanish – "Yeah, it's the full thing. From what I see, there's no discrepancy in the text on the prophecy you wrote down from the one we sang or the one actually engraved on the stone" –

- "Mission complete then!" – said Henry pumping his fist as everybody in the party let out celebratory cheers and shouts.

- "Okay, looks like we've got no further business here" – said Roger looking around – "Shall we hurry up and leave this creepy place?" –

- "No objections from me" – said Gabriela nodding – "I wanna see the face the king and the queen are gonna have when we report this to them!" –

And this said, they started turning around to retrace their steps.

- "Hmm…" – said Yasha staring at the epitaph.

- "Hmm, what's up, Yasha?"- asked Inuyasha as he raised an eyebrow.

- "Nii-san, don't you sense something off about this room?" – asked Yasha as he walked back to the slate.

- "Now ya mention it… It feels like there's an air current…" – said Inuyasha closing his eyes and smelling the damp air.

- "Huh? You mean there's some sort of secret passageway here?" – asked Miko putting her eyes the size of saucers. This made the rest of the party stop on their tracks and turn around before they had reached the bifurcation.

- "Are you two sure!?" – asked Gerardo as he and the others rushed back into the chamber and started inspecting the walls and floor more carefully.

- "Really!?" – asked Carlos.

- "Yeah! It's weak, but I can feel a bit of wind filtering behind the slab!" – said Yasha as he started looking around the area where it was installed.

- "Okay, let's look carefully! There has to be some sort of switch, contraption or mechanism to open that room!" – said Miguel as he looked in the area around the torches.

- "Ah!" – said Kagome as she noticed a brick next to the slab that was slightly darker than the others – "Guys, look here! Doesn't this brick look suspicious?" –

- "It definitively does!" – said Gabriela as everyone huddled around Kagome – "But… how do we activate it?" –

- "Hmm… Gaby, try sending it a bit of your energy" – said Gerardo after pondering it for a few moments – "From what the monarchs said, this could be one of these doors that only the Priestess of the Dragon can open" –

- "Okay, let me try it out!" – said her as she smiled. She then closed her eyes, extended her hands to the brick to focus on it and started chanting – "Saf sieral gaivz lusya tast ika…" –

She emitted a small light pulse to the area of the wall where the brick was placed, and after she did, it started softly shining in a white color, and the chamber started trembling. Everybody started looking around startled.

- "Whoa, looks like that really was the way to trigger it!" – said Henry scared.

- "Let's hope this doesn't end in the chamber collapsing on us!" – said Roger as he raised his hands.

But nothing like that happened. Instead, they had to rush back to the entrance of the chamber because the Epitaph started moving, and after a few instants, the slab cleanly split into two halves that opened outwardly as if they were a door, revealing an entrance to another chamber.

- "Phew, at least it stopped shaking" – said Kember relieved.

- "And looks like Yasha and Inuyasha were right" – said Gerardo looking at the newly revealed passageway – "I know that we've already fulfilled our mission here, but since we found out this little secret room, how about we go and check it out?" –

- "We'd waste the "nananana" jingle if we didn't, right?" – said Miguel laughing.

- "As if this were a Zelda dungeon…" – said Gabriela sighing before smiling amused.

- "Still, we've gotta be careful" – said Miko with a serious face – "I know we can't perceive any weird auras…" –

- "Or the smell of anything living…" – said Yasha nodding.

- "But still, we don't know what we might find in there, right?" – finished Kagome. The entrance also looked a lot darker than the previous rooms.

- "Okay. Let's use the lanterns of our Dragtemns just in case. And stay sharp in case there's some sort of trap inside" – said Gerardo as he pressed a couple of buttons on his Dragtemn to make it emit a beam of light similar to the flash from a cellphone. The others imitated him, and after looking at each other and nodding, they stepped into the unknown.

However, when they crossed the threshold, the flashlights became unnecessary: a couple of white torches ignited as soon as they set the first step into the chamber, surprising them.

- "Okay, they could have had these on before we entered!" – said Tiffany stamping a foot on the floor after having jumped and screamed in recoil from the surprise. This also shocked the others, but they all just sighed or shook their heads in response before turning off the flashlights.

- "Maybe it's to not waste magical power, fuel or whatever they use to keep them on?" – said Gabriela shrugging her shoulders.

- "Argh, whatever!" – said Tiffany blushing.

- "Yer a pretty scaredy cat, huh?" – said Inuyasha with a smug smile.

- "Oh, I'm so gonna get you for this…" – said Tiffany under her breath.

- "Come on, try me, pipsqueak!" – said Inuyasha – "I'm immune to fire, remember!?" –

- "But you're not immune against the sun!" – said Tiffany clenching her fists.

- "Knock it off, both of you!" – shouted Kagome as she eyed them both with a severe gaze. Inuyasha gulped down, while Tiffany simmered down and sighed.

- "You really gotta learn to not take things so personally, Tiffa" – said Gabriela as she shook her head.

- "I'm sorry…" – said her looking downward.

- "As for you Inuyasha, if you're gonna keep fighting with kids, maybe you should get stuck as one for a bit longer?" – said Kagome crossing her arms.

- "Forget it, I'm not doing that!" – said Inuyasha snorting.

- "Then stop acting like one when you're in your normal age!" – said Kagome.

Inuyasha just sighed, unable to find a way to rebut her, while Yasha decided to maintain his distance from the fruitless argument. Miko just smiled at him in a reassuring way, and after silence returned to the chamber, they kept walking.

More white torches continued igniting to their sides as they walked down a short corridor, until they found themselves in another chamber that seemed to be identical to the one where the Epitaph was installed, excepting for a large pillar in its center that was surrounded by a circle of white flaming torches.

- "Not much creativity when it comes to the architecture here, huh?" – asked Kember in a sarcastic voice.

- "Not like they need to get inventive with designs for something like this" – said Gerardo as he looked at the walls in search of more inscriptions, engravings or anything that indicated what the room was for.

- "In any case, what would be that important that they decided to double-hide it?" – asked Henry looking at the ceiling and the floor.

- "Ah, guys! Over there!" – said Roger pointing forward: instead of a slab, the middle area of the pillar in the very center of the room was what was covered in glyphs.

- "Instead of an epitaph, now it's a column?" – said Carlos raising an eyebrow as the party members looked at each other, blinking and rubbing their eyes, or just widening them.

- "In any case…" – said Gerardo getting close to the column to examine it more closely – "Nope, I can't read it. This thing seems to be magic-proofed the same way the Epitaph is, as I'm getting the same weird sensation of the glyphs' meanings disappearing from my mind as soon as I read them" –

- "And as far as we can see, there's no instructions for how to read it either" – said Kagome after she and Miko had given a thorough sweeping to the room by walking around it and carefully examining the walls, floor and ceiling twice.

- "Yeah, there are no other engravings, writing or even drawings anywhere!" – said Miko placing her hands before herself and grabbing her left with her right.

{BGM: Kouryounaru Daichi no Hate ni – Zoids}

- "Shall we try singing it, like we did before?" – suggested Gabriela shrugging her shoulders.

- "We have no other ideas, so let's try it" – nodded Gerardo as they both held hands again and tried touching the column. It was every bit as cold as the Epitaph.

- "And…?" – asked Inuyasha after a few seconds.

- "Nothing…" – sighed Gerardo as he and Gabriela turned around – "This thing is giving no reactions to anything we've done…" –

- "So, this is a red herring or a dead end?" – said Miguel shaking his head.

- "In that case, we're just wasting our time. Let's leave already" – said Carlos tapping his foot on the

floor.

But after Gerardo and Gabriela stopped touching the pillar and right as they were turning around to go back, the letters on the pillar started filling with light, which blinded everybody.

- "Bro! Gaby!" – shouted Henry.

They then both saw how both siblings walked back slowly to the pillar, as if hypnotized, and when they touched it again, it exploded in a burst of light. And in the midst of that whiteness, they started hearing the voices of Gerardo and Gabriela, chanting simultaneously in a monotone, emotionless voice…

- "Si, fyadre 6 Serazil oli ciaaael phiapz shucnecllara ciaaael itzecal il (However, the First Six Chosen Ones and their friends will fail to carry out their mission)" –

- "Gerardo-kun, Gaby-chan! What's happening to you two!?" – said Kagome alarmed when she heard the strange tone their voices had.

- "It's like… When we were enthralled by the springs, onee-san!" – said Miko feeling the same sensation from them both that the four had felt in the springs cave.

- "We've gotta snap them outta that!" – said Inuyasha.

- "But how!? We can't even see anything…" – said Yasha in a worried tone.

- "No, wait a second… It sounds like… They're chanting the texts on that column!?" – shouted Henry alarmed.

- "Somebody, quick! Record that in your Dragtemns, now!" – shouted Miguel so hard that it reverberated throughout the chamber. Instantly, the sounds of buttons being pressed, and menu confirmations became the background to the recitation the siblings were carrying out.

- "Necla lisph fa cezq matypra hya dea ciaaael wenmhudi mido il (Only death awaits at the end of their arduous path)" –

However, everyone started having a horrible feeling about the prophecies they were reciting but decided to not think about it too deeply for the moment.

- "Dragonia phelselera yiules 6 Serazil ical wudia xanal zab ciaaaelref tiarlaaael il (Dragonia will require new Six Chosen Ones that cannot be found in its lands)" –

By this point the light had dimmed enough to be able to see the chamber again and everybody noticed that the glyphs on the columns were still shining, allowing them to read and understand them, but Gerardo and Gabriela couldn't look any less different from their normal selves: they were standing in front of the column, but their hands were separated, their arms were loosely hanging at the sides of their bodies, and they were floating a few centimeters from the floor with a formless white circle of energy under them. Their heads and backs were arched slightly backwards, and their eyes were completely clouded while their mouths moved in a loose and slow way to recite. They also noticed that all the parts they had finished reciting had stopped shining on the pillar and become unreadable again to them.

- "Phinamcou yilreaka thlelar phialthp, 6 Serazil yiules cebalzera razzek mountyoudor zia 6 Ist Sieshu yut. 2 dea ciaaael lisfra 1 ceazil oli 1 caezil wudia coumlaka Iadlast dea Viadfafse vut oli wudia zabka Maltialaael dea demorie. (After the Shadow has been briefly sealed away, the Six Chosen Ones will be newly summoned from a distant world by the Six Great Voices. Among them, there will be one boy and one girl cursed by the Water of Restart which will have found the Medallions of Memory)" –

The others couldn't do much more but look worried at them as they reached the final line of text.

- "Oli ciaaaelref madhthaael il cezq dea lyaachi tiarla hielere. Biousakatse Yaoulma yut mimaleka likarom (And in their hands will the destiny of this land rest. As prophesized by the Biousakatse Yaoulma)" -

When they finished and the light went out from the final glyph, the energy circle below them vanished, they closed their eyes and they collapsed.

- "Gerar! Gaby!" – shouted everyone but Inuyasha's group.

- "Gerardo-kun! Gaby-chan!" –

- "Gerar-nii! Gaby-nee!" –

Inuyasha only growled in surprise. Miguel caught Gerardo before he dropped to the floor, while Henry caught Gabriela.

- "I don't get it… What could have happened to them?" – said Miguel examining his cousin: he was pale as death, but he still had a pulse and was breathing – "Ah… looks like he just fainted" –

- "Yeah, the same goes for Gaby. But still…" – said Henry examining her. Like her brother, she was just knocked unconscious – "This sorta stuff is pretty scary, huh?" –

{End BGM}

- "Okay, we better take them back to the city and let them rest at an inn!" – said Kagome as she took Gabriela and saddled her up on her back.

- "I'd advise going to a hospital instead but…" – said Carlos.

- "We'll do that if their condition worsens! For now, let's hurry!" – said Yasha as Miguel saddled up Gerardo.

A couple hours later, the party had checked in for three rooms in an inn located in the Crystal Plaza, and after explaining the situation, the receptionist helped take both siblings to a comfortable room so they could recover.

- "Please tell me if you need anything else. I'll be on standby to call the hospital if it's necessary" – said the receptionist as she left the room. She was in her late twenties and was clothed in a yellow and green shouf, had brown eyes and had brown hair coiled up in a bun.

- "Thank you" – said Miguel when the room's door closed while Eolia purred.

They were now in a large room with four beds covered with white sheets that had small wooden bedside tables with lamps next to them, which was located on the third story of the hotel. It had a Dragonian television, a desk, and a large window that showed a nice view of the valley around Seleila. It also had a door leading to the bathroom next to the entrance, and the floor was all covered by a dark blue carpet.

After the receptionist left, they heard both siblings stirring, and they started slowly opening their eyes…

- "Ah, look! They're waking up!" – said Henry in a happy voice as Anryuujin screeched softly.

- "Hnggg…. Huh…? Where am… I?" – asked Gerardo as he slowly got up and sat on the bed – "How did I get here….?" –

- "Are you okay, Gerar!?" – asked Miguel leaning to him. Iadla was leaning next to him as well.

- "Mige…? Yeah, I think so… But… what happened? The last thing I remember was that we were in front of that column…" – said Gerardo making efforts to remember what had last happened to them while Iadla patted him with her wings – "And… whoa! Why's everybody looking at me like that!?" –

All of his party members and their dragons, excepting for Gabriela were in the room surrounding the bed and had faces that showed a great deal of anguish and worry, but now he had woken up, they were showing relieved smiles and sighing. The dragons also emitted happy growls and relieved screeches.

- "Good to see you're still in one piece!" – said Iadla to his mind.

- "After that, the pillar exploded in a white light burst and ya guys got hypnotized or sumthin'" – said Inuyasha growling.

- "So that's why I couldn't remember anything…" – said Gerardo piecing back together his thoughts, but he then straightened himself so quickly and widened his eyes so much that everyone else got scared. Iadla jumped off the bed startled and kept herself flying next to him – "And Gaby!? What happened to her!?" –

- "Umm… Gerar… I wanna sleep…" – said her voice next to him. She was groggily getting up and rubbing her eyes. Drago jumped into her head purring. Gerardo sighed relieved upon seeing this.

- "Come on, Gaby! Wake up!" – said Drago to her mind.

- "Agh, I know! I know!" – replied her annoyed.

- "As you can see, she's fine too. But yeah, you guys worried us a lot. We thought something horrible had happened to you two" – said Kagome smiling at them as Shia nodded next to her.

- "Yeah, you both were pale as ghosts after you finished reciting the texts on that column and you collapsed" – said Yasha with his arms crossed while Pyrafile closed his eyes.

- "Sorry for making you all worry" – said Gabriela leaning her head downward, who had finally woken up too and was sitting on the bed next to her brother. Drago rubbed his face against her cheeks, tickling her.

- "Not like we could've seen that coming" – said Roger smiling as Daichi climbed on the bed to take a better look at them – "Don't worry about it" –

- "By the way, you said we recited the texts on the column, right?" – said Gerardo grabbing onto the reason they had collapsed in the first place. Iadla nodded next to him – "Did you record them or something?" –

- "Yeah. I think we missed the first line, but we've recorded the rest" – said Carlos as everybody took out their Dragtemns, but after a few seconds, they decided to have Miguel be the one who'd play the recording.

- "Nice! Good job, everyone!" – said Gerardo smiling widely at his friends as Iadla and Drago growled triumphantly. Then, the door to the room opened as a girl dressed in a black shouf with blue borders and who had long black hair pushed in a cart with two platters, two glasses and a pitcher filled with water.

From the looks of it, their friends had arranged to bring a platter of soup for him and a greens cream for Gabriela while they were knocked out, and they had them served on special trays over their legs on the bed. While Drago seemed about to leap into the platters, a severe glare from Gabriela caused him to cower and sit down at her side. They waited until the girl left the room with the cart, and they had finished eating before listening to the recording.

However, after they heard the recording, the smile disappeared from Gerardo's face.

{BGM: Kouryounaru Daichi no Hate ni - Zoids}

- "Having heard them… I remember the first line now too…" – said Gerardo with a hand on his chin.

- "So, the prophecy written in that pillar isn't pleasant at all, right?" – asked Henry frowning while Anryuujin tilted his head.

- "Yeah, it's not" – said Gabriela looking downward – "It says clear as day that our predecessors were doomed to fail from the moment they set out…" –

This fell like a bucket of ice-cold water over everyone in the party.

- "And not only that: it also stated that Dragonia would be briefly sealed, and that new Seirei would be appointed to replace them…" – said Gerardo shaking his head.

- "And we were mentioned in there too..." – said Kagome with a hand on her chin – "The prophecy couldn't be clearer about me and Inuyasha…" –

- "Yeah… We're the ones cursed by the Water of Restart…" – said Miko looking downward.

- "And the ones who found and were allowed to use the Medallions…" – nodded Yasha.

- "Keh… To think it'd be like this…" – growled Inuyasha in a low voice.

- "And the final part… Says the prophecy came straight from the Root, right?" – said Henry crossing his arms.

- "The Biousakatse Yaoulma, but yeah. It also says that Dragonia's fate is in our hands, and it gives no guarantee to our success or failure…." – said Gerardo feeling once again the dread he felt after the encounter with Iadlase and the others. Iadla jumped on his shoulder and tried to comfort him.

- "Looks like this journey is really going to be a lot harsher than we expected…" – said Roger looking downward as Daichi eyed him worried.

- "Yeah, and it doesn't look like we can back out from it now…" – said Gabriela grasping the sheets from the bed harder, which made Gerardo go and hug her, and Drago to jump on her head and lie down on it.

{End BGM}

- "Anyway, let's take the rest of today off and rest a bit. This day has been extremely tiring for all of us physically and mentally, and we could use some relaxation now" – suggested Kagome while Shia nodded next to her.

- "Agreed. Let's rest here for today, and we'll return to Soleila tomorrow to report all this to the monarchs" – said Gerardo smiling at Kagome, thankful for her suggestion. Iadla also made a grateful sounding growl – "Iadla, thank you too" -

- "Make sure to get well fast!" – said Inuyasha scowling as Gouka made sounds similar to laughter.

- "Don't worry. We're not sick, after all" – said Gabriela smiling. Inuyasha just snorted as he turned around.

- "And if you wanna have us around to keep you company, you just hafta ask it!" – said Yasha smiling.

- "Ehehe, it'd be a pleasure!" – said Miko bowing as she smiled while Neria spread open her wings.

- "Yeah, let's watch TV and talk a lot before it's time to go to bed!" – said Tiffany smiling while Flameck roared softly. Both siblings just smiled, grateful for the way their friends were supporting them.

But outside the inn, there were two figures observing them…

- "Looks like they have managed to read the Epitaph, huh?" – said the first figure.

- "Indeed, sis. But who would have thought there was a second chamber concealing another prophecy hidden behind it?" – said the second figure.

- "Yes, brother. Had we known our mission would ultimately result in a failure and that other people would have to take our place…" – said the first figure, but her voice started cracking up.

- "I know… Fate is certainly cruel, capricious and idiotic… They could just have told us upfront we had to die for our world to be saved, instead of getting our hopes up just to crush them like that!" – said the second voice irate.

- "I wish… we could go back to mom and dad… that we could go back to these happy times we had… before that fateful day came…" – said the first figure sobbing.

- "But now it's an impossible wish… And from the looks of it, they are merely retracing our steps…" – said the second figure in resignation.

- "Do you think… they might be able to do it…?" – said the first figure in a crying voice.

- "I have zero expectations on them carrying out such an endeavor… Of course, that means this world will be done for, but…" – said the second figure in a sad voice.

- "There is nothing… for us in this world any more… We are no more than roaming souls at this point…" – said the first figure.

- "Indeed. The dead have no purpose to the world beyond returning to the Biousakatse Yaoulma to feed its lifecycle with their memories and experiences, and reincarnate…" – said the second figure.

- "But we don't even have that privilege… Instead of being led to the Insterstice and getting granted the blessing of dreaming until the time comes for our reincarnation… We are condemned to keep roaming this world for who knows how long…" – said the first figure.

- "Why the world decided to give us everything, just to take it all away in such a cruel way…? Why…?" – said the second figure.

- "Do you think… We should help our successors in some way…?" – said the first figure – "I mean, maybe…" –

- "I won't be counting on a miracle to happen. In the off chance they manage to save Dragonia, that won't lead to us returning to life" – said the second figure in a sharp tone.

- "But still… If there is a chance for it to happen…" – said the first figure.

- "Feel free to do so if you want, and the same goes for everybody else from our party" – said the second figure – "I know you are stubborn enough that I won't be able to change your mind once you've decided something. But as far as I'm concerned, I won't lift a finger to help them. They should manage things however they can by themselves, as that's what they should have known when they got embroiled on the matters of this world" –

The first figure just stayed silent, and they both kept watching over Gerardo and Gabriela.

{Ending: Doko e – Akiko Shikata}

Ceremonial Dragonian Words List:

Shucnecl = Fail, lose, be defeated

Shucsel = Win, be victorious, succeed

Itzecal = Mission, duty

Wenmhudi = Arduous, hard, difficult, harsh

Phelse = Need, require

Thlelar = Brief, short

Mimale = Prophesize, foresee