Duel of the Thorns
Chapter Three: Ohji-tachi no Shuukai
Utena Tenjou waits alongside Anthy Himemiya inside the dueling arena. Anthy wears her traditional red dress of the Rose Bride, and even Utena herself is wearing the old attire of her days as a student and duelist at Ohtori Academy. The prince that they are to meet has yet to arrive. "That's odd," the pink haired tomboy notes, "usually there is someone already here. I wonder if maybe this is a trick after all."
Outside the arena, the prince stands before the entrance. He briefly winces in pain. "My scar...it burns. This is indeed the forbidden arena, built by the folly of man's darkest desires. This truly is a cursed place." He extends his left hand to open the door. A drop of water falls upon a rose crested seal, but immediately he snatches his hand away and intercedes his right forearm, bearing a braclet that resembles a circle of thorns. "Mark of the thorns that pierce the heart and soul! I command thee to open a new path, a path that leads to hate and destruction!"
The ground trembles in response to the prince's words. Instead of opening the normal way, the arena itself slowly begins to warp and transform. Inside, Anthy and Utena feel the tremors of the Thorn Prince's devestating command. "What's going on?!", Utena demands, stumbling to maintain her balance. "I don't know, Utena-sama.", the Rose Bride admits. The upside down castle rises further up into the ceiling, eventually disappearing into eternal darkness. The stairs which Utena had climbed so many times, begin to crumble and fall apart. Loud roars surround them as black, twisted pillars rise up from the ground.
The normal entrance to the arena has been transformed into a darkened stone and iron door surrounded by a forest of black metallic thorns. The prince waves his hand and the door slides away. The sound of an organ can be heard. A deep and dark opera begins to play as the prince walks through the midst of thorns, unharmed and unhindered.
Enter the darkness The passage that leads to hell Enter the fire The price of sin is eternal hell This is the rage of war This is the whim of man Angels fall and demons rise The bloody pool ascends the skies Here on earth lies all that's damned
Enter the destruction The vainity of Eden's fall Enter the sorrow Which at the end consumes us all We are falling Falling into the fire We are burning Burning with our desire Desire that leads to hell
Bitter is the price we pay For wandering and losing the way For our sins we repeat more and more The flames of hell is what's in store The road to hate is great Easy is its path Hard it is not to face All of heaven's wrath
Enter the darkness The passage that leads to hell Enter the fire Burn forever in the depths of hell
Utena gazes around their dreadful surroundings. The arena has transformed into a citadel of blackest darkness and venomous villainy. Although unusual as it is, the Rose Bride seems completely unphased by their surroundings. "Did the other prince have something to do with this?", Utena wonders. Just then, a final black spire rises up higher than all the others. Standing atop of it is a young man, the Prince Who Bears the Thorn Seal.
"Greetings. I beg your forgiveness if I may have startled you with such an arrival.", the prince appologizes. Utena and Anthy look up at him, but are unable to see him clearly from so far away. The Thorn Prince leaps off of the spire effortlessly and lands on the platform below where they await. He looks at them with his sharp yet gentle teal colored eyes. "A pleasure to meet you. My name is Kizumi Togemura. I am the Prince of Thorns.", he introduces himself with smooth confidence.
"Togemura?! You're the new transfer student!", Utena exclaims recognizing the tiny prince. Kizumi nods his head in acknowledgement. Remembering the boy from the day before, his slow and timid speach, his submissive posture, Utena finds it difficult to believe that this same boy is the one who stands before her now. His hair, green and pulled back in a high ponytail atop his head, somehow seems more elegant and confined than before when it fanned out instead of resting straight down. His eyes are, though cold and distant, are filled with confidence and determination. His tiny frame, too, is no longer present, instead he is built more firm and sturdy, although his stature is still rather small and thin for a boy of his age. His outfit, the uniform he had been wearing, seems even more noble and princely than before.
"You are Utena Tenjou, the one whom the Rose Bride is betrothed to, are you not?" "I am. Togemura...how do you know about the Rose Duels? Why are you here? What do you want?", Utena asks. "Allow me to explain," Togemura begins raising his left hand to display the rose crested ring on his hand, "yes, I too posses a seal of the roses. Normally that should make me a Rose Duelist." The prince lowers his left hand and raises his right into the air to display the strange metalic braclet that resides upon his wrist. "Unfortunately, I also posses this braclet of thorns, the mark of a Thorn Duelist. Since fate had placed me where the Thorns gather, I was pulled into their snare instead."
"So, you're saying that there were other duels like this? There were other places where these terrible duels were being fought?!", Utena demands. "That is correct. Your Rose Duels and my Thorn Duels. These are the only two that seem to exist. Like that of the Roses, we too possessed a bride, the Thorn Bride. I believe the reason we fought were the same, to be betroth to our respective brides and gain a tremendous power. For us...it was a terrible power." Kizumi Togemura closes his eyes and turns his head away from the two elegantly dressed ladies. An expression of pain weighs heavily on his face. "I don't know...how it was for you...how painful...your battles must have been. I'd hate to think that anything could be as horrible as what went on during the Thorn Duels."
An ordinary stretch of field...easily overlooked...a young man walks onto it, raising his left arm and revealing the thorn adorned braclet that rested upon it. Suddenly the field warps and is gone. In its place is a beautiful lush green grove surrounded by trees whose leaves were like emeralds. A ways before him lies a sparkling lake, where a great power appears to lie on the otherside. "Leave this cursed place, this place where the water and trees have tasted tears and blood. There is nothing left here. It is just an illusion that no longer exists! Lo! The Bride of Thorns has fallen! What you seek you can no longer find! There are no more duels here!", a shadowed figure warns from amongst the tree tops.
"We abide by different rules than you. The rose on your chest, what is its purpose?" "This rose," Utena begins, "in the duels that I had fought, the person who loses their rose is the loser of the duel. The winner is the one who becomes engaged to the Rose Bride." "Ah, I assumed as much. Our rules are very different than yours. Let me explain them to you, for I fear that a time will come that you may need to know them. The reason I will explain later. We of the thorns are chosen by our bride. The loser of the duel is the one who bleeds first, although there have been duels when the Bride herself had declared 'ad mors', or 'to the death.' The spilling of blood, the taking of life...that was how the duels were fought, and where our power was drawn."
Utena Tenjou gasps in shock as she covers her mouth with her hand. "To the death?!" Togemura nods. "Exactly. The Thorn Bride's power came from the spilling of blood. The more blood that was spilt, the more powerful she would become, and the more power she would bestow upon her champion. I fought for the foolish and naive notion that I could do something to stop these duels from ever happening again. I thought to save the bride from an endless cycle of death and destruction. I had no idea that the prize everyone had been fighting for was no damsel in distress! She CHOSE to be the bride, she WANTED the power, and I was too blind...too gentle to see past the illusions of emerald and sapphire. Noble ambitions are wasted on me. Such noble thoughts could not win those duels. And yet...somehow...as weak as I was...I survived all and the worst."
Togemura turns his head back to look at Utena. His eyes are filled with pain. He brings a hand to his mouth as he coughs, blood spilling into it. He stumbles down onto his knees. "Don't bother. Don't bother me. I still have much to tell you...to tell you about these duels. Our respective duels have ended...but it isn't the end. The end will come when the two princes fight for supremecy.", Togemura continues. "We have to fight? Even after what you've been through? Don't you feel that these duels are pointless?", Utena screams. "They are pointless. It doesn't change anything," Togemura speaks confidently as he regains his composure, "nothing will change. I have no desire to fight you, but it is inevitable. We may not have to do battle now, but in the end, we will battle and one of us will live while the other dies. It won't be a battle for the Rose Bride, it will be a battle to determine the fate of the world!
"However, worry not about that. I fear that I have worse news yet." "Worse news? How could it possibly get any worse?", the Rose Duelist demands furiously. Togemura raises his thorn encircled arm high into the air. Streaks of blood red lightning flash all around the arena, the ground trembles as thunder roars. Togemure peers deep into Utena's rich blue eyes with piercing cold eyes. "It appears that I am NOT the last duelist from the Thorn Duels.", the Thorn Prince speaks in a loud and bitter voice. "Then that's YOUR problem, not mine!" "It IS your problem! Since the Arena of Thorns is no more, they will come to fight here instead! Our rules are different than yours! Our powers are different than yours!"
Togemura turns his back to Utena, the storm within the arena continuing to rage, slowly gaining in severity. "A sufficiently strong willed duelist can overrule the rules of the Rose Duels. I have already done so. The evidence is before you. Your arena has been corrupted by my thorns. While this place appears as such, the rules of the Thorn Duelists preside over that of the Rose Duelists. Furthermore, duels need not involve the champion. In the thorn duels, two duelists, neither of which being engaged to the Thorn Bride, may challenge one another. That is the hierarchy of the Thorn Duels. Lesser duelists fight over the privalage of challenging the champion. An amateur may not fight the champion unless the Bride permits. The Bride herself, had power to arrange duels, and those so placed, MUST fight or their lives be forfeit. It is likely that since our duels follow different rules, that you may be challenged by the Thorn Duelists who still remain. It is very likely that they will try to challenge you for the Rose Bride...considering that the Thorn Bride herself...is dead.
"There is a back door to this arena, a back door that can be unlocked by the thorn seal. Perhaps even your rose seal might have unlocked another entrance into the Thorn Arena. Perhaps it might have been possible for your rules to override our rules in our own arena. However...as this is the only arena left...this is where the final duels will be fought. I have no desire to fight you. In that I am sincere. Equally so, as long as we remain Champions of our respective duels, we will have to fight. I can only pray that there is a way for all of this pain and suffering and bloodshed to be avoided. Perhaps...it may be possible...I will have to find out...if so...then it can be prevented."
Togemura lowers his arm and the storm begins to subside. The young prince leaps up high onto the pillar he had first appeared upon. "Oh light, smothered by tears bitter and cold, flicker away in the evening breeze and take the shadows of destruction to hell with you! Plunge into the sea of darkness, relinquish breath and life and fall forever! Come, oh ferryman, this soul awaits you! Carry it across Styx and into the deepest bowels of Hades!", Togemura proclaims plunging off of the spire and down into the endless darkness that waits below. "TOGEMURA!", Utena exclaims as she and Anthy runs to the edge. Looking down, they see only the blackest of black and the deepest of dark.
Falling, Togemura serenely closes his eyes. The darkness is deep, and death is certain. His hair breaks free and spreads out down his back, in reverse of the pull of gravity from his head first fall. "Come. Death awaits.", he reflects to himself. The young prince spreads his arms out, ready to embrace the frozen arms of the Reaper of Souls. His face and frame soften back to its original child-like innocence. "Carry me away. Carry me away. Wipe away the tears. Cleanse the sorrows by purest flames. Carry me away. Carry me away. Extinguish the darkness alongside the light. Take it away. Take it away." Kizumi's seemingly endless freefall continues, as Utena still peers over the edge in an attempt to see what becomes of the new transfer student.
The darkness in the arena slowly begins to lift, and the castle descends back into view. As Kizumi continues his fall, the arena gradually returns to normal, save for the endless spiral of darkness beneath the dueling platform. Flames rise up from the sides of Kizumi's body, and his screams echo up to Anthy and Utena. "BURN OH FLAMES OF HELL! Consume this wretched body and this damned soul! TAKE ME NOW!", Kizumi screams in pain, as streams of tears fly up from his clentched eyes. Strips of silver feathers rip through his back like daggers as the flames reside. Kizumi's screams of pain continue to echo and wail throughout the entire arena as two long, silver wings emerge painfully from Kizumi's back. Finally, the young prince falls to the ground with a loud and painful THUD! His eyes burst open, his pupils fade away. Blood spews up and out of his mouth and flows out of his body. The silver wings that had formed too late are bent and broken. Kizumi lies dead in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs.
Utena runs down the reformed stairs and Anthy slowly follows suit. As she descends the spiral staircase, the last remnants of darkness begin to fade away. The moment the Rose Duelist reaches the bottom, all traces of the corrupted arena are gone. Kizumi's body, and the pool of blood beneath it, have vanished as well.
