Disclaimer: I merely enjoy writing about them. I hope you enjoy and if this chapter seems familiar that's because it is. I have done some corrections on some of the chapters.
Chapter 25
-Princess Jonarc-
"I know that woman from somewhere." She couldn't remember her from anywhere. There was something niggling in the back of her mind trying to come out but it just what it was. It gave her a headache to think about.
-Hitomi-
'Why is it so cold?' She shivered. She found herself strapped to a long flat table. Her body had been attached to a head piece with wires going to different places on her body. Her screaming and whatever they were extracting out of her or whatever they were putting her. 'He's going to kill you after he extracts the power of Atlantis.' Is what kept running though her head.
The scene changed to a bedroom where she could be seen leading to somewhere in the castle. She didn't hear what was being said but the general gist of it was she was supposed to clean up and get ready for something. The ball was actually about a day away. She looked more closely only to see that there was something wrong with her. She was moving more robotically. Not unlike the black robed figures. Apparently the guy had more uses for her than even Princess Jonarc knew.
Hitomi came to with an abrupt realization that she just came out one of the harrowing experiences that she had ever had in a vision. How do I prevent that from happening? The door opened to reveal one of the very figures that she had been seeing.
She was being taken down numerous halls that all looked the same to her. She felt it coming though.
She was pushed rather emphatically to the door. Hitomi caught herself on the door because she threw a very surprised look behind her. This one was different but she didn't know what he was going to do or whether she was in more danger now than she was before. She took a shaky breath before she opened the door that would either lead to her doom or her release.
Celena-
Celena could sense something more going on down here than they knew but she didn't know what it was. Working with the priestesses she had learned how to sense life not only with what she had obtained from when she was Dilandau but also learning to listen to the signs that were all around her. She could hear hard breathing not too far fro her. The earth smelt as if it was trying to grow flowers, but there was something that was different. Something hiding amongst the fog as if they could find the answers to everything that they had been asking since this whole mess had started.
"Van!" She called out to the air around her. There was echoing all around her but no answer from him or anyone else. She stepped around carefully. She didn't want to step or trip on anything and the fog was so thick that you couldn't see anything. The echoes made it confusing to figure out which direction that she was supposed to go in. The hard breathing that she was hearing became even louder. "Your queen is in danger." The voice whispered. She heard the brush of wind by her.
"Hold it right there." She ordered she knocked an arrow. "Explain yourself."
-Van and Analous-
Van didn't know why but he felt like they were in the correct place. It wasn't just that Analous had just told him that he had seen a ship coming down here. He strongly suspected that it was the connection that they had forged all those years ago. "We're in the right area."
"Are you sure of that?" Analous glanced at his king.
"I'm sure. Let's go." Analous followed his king.
"Highness, have you two decided when the wedding will be?"
"No, we haven't had time to discuss it. It's been one thing or another. I highly suspect though that the council has already decided on a date." Van left off of that.
Analous thought about it. What Lord Van said was very likely true. He hadn't ever found a time that the council didn't think that they had it all together. He knew that they had objected to Van taking her as his wife and knew they would because she was not of royal birth. He also knew that someone was trying to kill the royal line. They weren't happy that Lady Hitomi had returned. They weren't happy that he was the one that had been assigned to protect her. She wasn't happy about constantly having a guard around her but that was for her own protection. He was the one on charge of protecting her and yet he hadn't been able to do just that. He had been there guarding the prisoner. She had insisted that the boy come. That's really what he was. He wasn't any older that he or Vanel.
Analous stopped short when he realized that Van was no longer moving. "what is it your highness?" He asked.
Van held up his hands. "Something is here." He didn't know how he knew he just knew. Hitomi flashed through his mind and smiled. There was something wrong though. It was almost as if there was something missing.
Van stood in a trance looking at her image that had materialized before them. "Van you must return this when you find me." She whispered before she kissed him. Van held her close. "I'll be fine." She disappeared just as suddenly as she appeared.
"Lord Van, are you alright?" Analous was shocked. He had sensed something there just a minute ago but had seen nothing at all. There was something different about the king as well. It felt as if there was more power radiating off of him.
"I'm fine. We have to get to her. She's in danger." Van pictured the pendant in his head looking for the direction to where she was.
"We must go to the left." Van led the way to where she would be.
-Vanel and Loanna-
Loanna paid attention to what was going on around her. Something was up. The only she and Vanel were going to be able to talk but she as well as he sensed danger in doing just that so they were both on edge. It just didn't make sense though.
"What's going on?" She spoke below a whisper.
'Don't you know? The time for your true power to come out is about to be revealed.' A voice said in her head.
"What do you mean?"
'The chosen one has been training you on the use of your powers. He doesn't know the full extent but you will have to work with the Temple of Atlantis.'
"The Temple of Atlantis, you have to be kidding me?'
"Yes the chosen one has already told you this.'
"He may well have but you do realize that the Chosen One has a name right?" She thought of all the times he had grimaced when he called her that. Oh he didn't do it always physically, however it had been dont mentally. He always tried to keep a tight control on what was going on around her and him. She also knew that for some reason he was scared.
'I see you have chosen.'
"What do you mean by that?"
'You have chosen the one to take as your husband.'
"You should know that I can't take a husband. I have a people to lead once they are found again."
'Ah, but if you open yourself then you will see what he sees even as we speak.' The voices told her. She turned to see that his eyes were glazed over but he had enough control over himself to keep on walking. That was actually odd because usually he stopped walking entirely.
-Vanel-
'Vanel watched above a forest Loanna's people. They had stopped for a rest but there was something coming from three directions leaving only the direction that they had originally came in. The battle was harsh, all kinds of people were fighting but you could tell who her people were. They were having to fight off robed figures, mercenaries, and he wasn't quite sure what the creatures were. They were losing though. He could see that but there was nothing that he could do to help and he really wished that there was. At the end of the battle very few of them had gotten away, most of them were dead and the ones that hadn't gotten away were captured.'
Loanna gasped with the sudden knowledge that her people had been just about wiped out. "No." She whispered. "It can't be."
It was though and she knew it. He had been checking on her people seeing that they were safe. She had seen the last of what he had seen. She had been warned by him when all of this began.
-flashback-
She stood there and studied him up and down. "You are The One?"
Vanel hung his head. "I've been told that."
"I'm going to say yes to your proposition but under one condition."
"What is that?"
"That I go with you."
"What!" He was trying to keep his voice down.
"The only way that you are doing this is if someone goes with you."
"Then send someone you trust. These people need you." He answered.
"My people won't question my judgment." She informed him.
She looked at him. He seemed distant for a moment. Vanel shook his head. "Yes they will and someone will find this haven while you're gone." Vanel told her what he had just seen.
"How do you know that?"
"I just do. You have to trust me." He was standing right by her. "You will be hurt and go through a lot of pain if you come with me." He whispered. "You will lose this place you call home, Loana." He whispered in her ear.
The way he spoke sent shivers down her spine. "I don't know how you can say all of this. That isn't possible. How do you know my name?" Her voice held a dangerous edge to it.
"I can't explain it. I just know. Just like you see things that your people you lead don't know about." He answered. "Don't need to know about either."
"How do you know this?"
"I just do." He crossed his arms. "If you're coming be ready by nightfall." He knew that she would come. He also knew that if she didn't the place would still be attacked.
-end flashback-
The day settled and their back escort had found another place to rest. Loanna smiled sadly and wondered had actually questioned her discussion to do this. Would they all have died anyways, even if she hadn't have come. She didn't know and questioning 'what if' never had gotten her very far.
It had taken all of her control not to start crying earlier. It was a shock to find that they were almost all gone or captured. Her heart went out to the few that had escaped. She hope that they would survive. She cried for her people that had died fighting. There had to be a way to tell them to meet at Atlantis. The problem she didn't know exactly how to go about doing itl. She didn't even know what direction to go in. She could only follow this group.
-Vanel-
Vanel hung his head gravely. He had seen what had happened earlier. He also knew that they didn't have much time before they arrived at Alexandria. He stopped thinking for a minute when he heard her crying. She didn't notice that the tent flaps open. "SHHHHH…. It's alright Loanna." Vanel held her while she cried fir the loose of her people.
"Would they have died anyways?" She asked.
"Yes, they would have, only you would have gone with t hem."
"Could this have been stopped?"
"No there were three different groups. They wouldn't have stood a chance. It it helps you about four of them of them got away.
"A little." She pushed herself off of him. "I need to contact them somehow."
Vanel thought for a minute. "Do any of your people have special skills besides you?"
"I don't think so."
"There is another way. You have to know exactly what you are going to say."
"Okay, one question. How are they supposed to get to Atlantis?"
Vanel closed his eyes trying to find how they were get there. The images appeared in his head, Queen Varie and his grandma. "You will find Atlantis by a blue pillar, seen only by four at dusk and dawn."
He shook his head understanding what they had just told him. "Be careful child." They said before they disappeared into the air.
Loanna looked at him. "I need to be able to connect with the voices in your head." His hands were on either side of her cheeks and made her look directly at her.
"How will I know what to say?"
"You'll know." He whispered silently. Vanel looked directly into her eyes. "Just breathe." It was a most silent whisper that was almost a thought. She saw her people stopping for a rest and it looked like they were planning on what to do. The voices in her head grew stronger than she had ever heard them in her life.
"Relax Loanna," he whispered, his voice having a calming effect on her. She found herself standing in front of her men with Vanel beside her.
"What we must be seeing things!" One of her men exclaimed.
"No you are not." She said reassuringly.
"Milady, what are you doing here?" One of them asked after the bowed.
"I'm sorry for the loss of our people, but I need you four to meet us in Atlantis."
"How did you intend for us to find it?" A slightly burly teenager said to her.
"You will find Atlantis by a blue pillar, seen only by four at dusk and dawn." She whispered to them. "Be careful, I want to know that some of my people survived." Then they were back in the tent but Vanel was still connected to the voices inside her head.
'Chosen One, you have come into a world that knows naught but what it is told.'
"What do you mean?" He asked the voice.
'They have no control and no soul, they are but drones.'
"Yes I know this. Loanna has already seen what is inside their heads."
'She didn't see all. She doesn't have the power, as of yet to see into the souls of people.'
"What do you mean?"
'She is still young, just as you are, but neither of you have reached your full potential, just as your mother at 15 had not.'
"What do you mean?"
'Your mother holds the power of Atlantis but because she was born of the Mystic Moon she was given the gift of sight; just as your grandma and great grandma were. If she had been born of Gaea she would have been born with wings but the two worlds are now combined by Queen Hitomi and King Van.'
"My world does not know that. They believe that Atlantis is the creation of an old philosopher who picked up the story from Solon, a distant relative. They think that Atlantis is but a myth."
'As they should. We never intended for it to be found after we created Gaea. It rests at the bottom of the ocean hidden by magic and the will of those that remained.'
"Why are you telling me this? Aren't you afraid that I will try to find it?"
'If you did you would be welcome there.'
"I'm glad to hear that but why am I still in the hime's head and why does she not know who she is?"
'She will know when it is time.'
"Alright that is fair but why are you telling me about Atlantis?"
'We only tell you what you already know."
"What I already know?"
"When you were a child you had a special connection to the place and still do but you don't sense it in the same way. They watch over your family on the Mystic Moon and protect you as much as they can.'
"They did an awful job of protecting my mother when she was being attacked by these black robed figures."
'Ah, but they can only do so much.'
"Okay you never answered my question. What am I still doing in Loanna's head?"
'To receive a message, young prince.'
"Finally we get to the point."
'The chosen one will be placed by the power of Atlantis in a choice. The worlds out line if not corrected will be the destruction of what is to come but cannot be seen in this place created. You must find yourself out of the darkness before what is to be is known.'
Vanel shook his head surprised. He wasn't quite sure what that was but that convening was even more tiring than getting Loanna to her men. "Vanel," her hands were on his cheek.
"You mustn't Loanna I will be fine." He whispered as he stretched.
What did they say?" Loanna asked.
"You mean you didn't hear them?"
"No. There are times that they block me out but I have never had someone in my head like that."
"Come, it is dawn and we will be leaving this place soon." He led her out of the tent.
Loanna shook her head. He wasn't going to tell her what they said. She knew that before he came out of her head. She also knew that it couldn't be good.
-Hitomi-
Hitomi looked around her for but a moment before she was grabbed and her arms were yanked behind her. "I wouldn't struggle my Queen." A cold voice said to her.
"Lord Meiden," her voice was cold, "why are you doing this?"
"As if you don't know, milady, I want your powers. You don't even know the full extent of them. They should be in the hands of someone that understands how to use them." The man laughed evilly.
"You kidnapped your own granddaughter, you brainwashed her, made her forget her family, and everything important to her. Does that not bother you in the slightest?" Hitomi was strapped to the metal table.
"She's merely a means to an end. In the end my desires will be fulfilled. She is dispensable." The man's voice was as cold as the steel on Hitomi's arms and back.
"Why would do that to Najeh though?"
"Why would it matter to me? My son disowned me. My daughter-in-law has made me a fugitive in my own country."
'I wonder why?' "You realize that the Fate Alteration Machine didn't work for Dornkirk, right?"
"Dornkirk was a fool. He wanted to fulfill everyone's desires but he almost destroyed all of Gaea.
"What do you want to do, Lord Meiden?" She knew that Dornkirk even had to have her powers to activate that machine.
"Why I would rule the worlds." His eyes held an evil glint in them.
"In order to do that no one can have a will."
"Don't worry. I'm sure you've already figured out that my workers are soulless and only desire is to fulfill their Destiny."
"Don't I know it." Hitomi muttered.
"What was that?" His hand pushed a lever down.
Hitomi screamed in agonizing pain. He upped the voltage trying to extract the power of Atlantis out of her but the machine was telling him that it couldn't find more than ¼ percent of it. After 20 minutes of nothing more he stopped. The Fanelian Queen's head went down as she whimpered.
"This pain will be nothing unless you tell me where the rest of your power is." He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this wasn't the full extent of it. He had seen some it at full strength 20 years ago. He slapped her. "Where is it?"
Her head rolled revealing a bruised cheek where he had just slapped her. The only response he received was a moan from the passed out queen. "Take her to the sorcerers, they know what to do. She'll be excellent bait to get King of Fanelia and his entourage here." He growled. He gave her this she was resourceful.
-Celena-
"Hold it right there." She ordered she knocked an arrow. "Explain yourself."
Celena could still hear the berthing but she heard no footsteps as the voice floated around the fog. "Priestess, you have yet to reach your full powers. The life inside of you still fights to make itself known. We are the lost souls of this valley. The souls of the soulless that have died but because we proved to be of major problems pushed aside."
"What are you talking about and I'm not a priestess.
"You are the last of your clan but not the last of the people who have suffered through fate, through the wars, or even this ordeal. You will find yourself over all those lost because of fate including yourself."
"Alright, but that does not explain what you're doing here." Celena lowered her arrow. It would do no good against spirits. "Who are these dead soulless?"
"They are the ones that do the bidding of the Lord in this region. They have technology, bodies, knowledge but…
'They have no will. Lady Hitomi said that they are trying to rebuild Atlantis didn't she?" Celena's mind was clicking faster than she could keep up now. In order to rebuild and to have the use of the Fate Alteration Machine and no one else to be able to use it he would have to take the will to do anything but what he wanted. If that is the case he will get his hearts desires and find no resistance." Celena looked at the blue dots of spirits' faces with a smile.
"Well done, young priestess, but beware of the evil that lies in your heart because two wills reside in your soul you will have to pass this in order to destroy him. We wish you luck."
"Oh great!" Celena felt like stamping her feet on the groiund in frustration. "This is not happening she yelled into the fog before she took a step and almost stumbled down some steps. There was an earsplitting scream echoing throughout the darkness.
-Van and Analous-
Van not only felt the pain that Hitomi was in he saw it. He saw her face, saw Meiden at the controls, and heard her screaming.
Analous heard the screaming and he knew that he turned a couple of shades paler. The king turned deathly white. "Come on your majesty. We have to get to her and fast!"
Dryden and Millerna-
Dryden and Millerna had finally returned to camp finding absolutely nothing in their search. They had to face it. This whole thing had been naught but a distraction trying to get to Queen Hitomi. "Dryden doesn't the Mystic Moon look like it is out of alignment?" She had thought that it looked off yesterday but hadn't been sure but she was sure tonight.
"It is." Dryden answered her.
He had heard of something like this but he couldn't quite place it. "Too bad I don't have my books. He looked up at the sky. It was going to drive him crazy until he could remember what it was.
It's almost done." A voice said to the left of them.
"What's almost done child?" Millerna asked.
"Atlantis. As Atlantis gets rebuilt the Mystic Moon will get out of alignment. If it gets too far out of there will be dangers to the Mystic Moon." He answered.
"That's right I remember. They are to remain separated for the rest of their existence because to be combined once more would destroy the worlds as they are known." The boy said.
"That's not good. Do you have a name child?" The boy thought for a while. "I'm sorry I do not remember."
"We can call him Wasuremono." Dryden suggested.
Millerna smiled, that was until she heard an earsplitting echoing scream.
-Vanel and Loanna-
Vanel doubled over in pain. Something was wrong. "What is it?"
Loanna caught him as he walked beside her. "It's…" he didn't finish what he said. He saw his mother in more pain than he had ever seen anyone. She was so pale she was almost dead. "Okaasan." It was all he said before he passed out.
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I promise that I'm trying to ease up on the reading and sewing projects that I've had going. I'm going to be working on the next chapter hopefully while you guys read these corrected chapters. Arigato and ja ne!