I know I said that I'd be writing as Riley/Yamaki next, but upon consideration I decided that I wasn't quite finished with Kaizer's group yet. So here's a short little chapter explaining why someone who never, ever, ever should side with megalomaniacal idiots...keeps doing so. I thought you were over this, lady!
Oh, and btw...I can't find anything that says when she dies. She's still alive for War of Souls; people mention her a bunch but she never makes an appearance (at least I don't think she does...) but that would make her really old, as Caramon was in his eighties when he died (beginning of WOS) and she's older than the twins (see the Annotated Legends if you don't believe me)...so I'm assuming she didn't have much longer in the world.
I don't own Crysania (no big deal) or Raistlin (so why does he keep sneaking into my house at night?)...or Kaizer, for that matter. Even his name is from the Japanese 02.
Judecca, Canto VI: Crysania
He had the voice of a child, but the arms holding me captive were strong as a man's.
I didn't know how I had come to encounter him, or even where I was. One moment, I had been lying in bed, praying to Paladine to give me strength for the day...and the next, I was standing on my own, feeling youthful as the day I took my vows. Stretching out my hands, I could feel nothing in front of me, heard roaring sounds around me but could not place them. Warm sunlight shone on my upturned face; I took a few steps forward, and my fingers touched a wall. Rough, grainy: I traced the block until it dipped into the mortar, and frowned. A perfect rectangle? How odd. What stonemason hewed anything coarse and rustic into a perfect--
That was when the man had run into me, the man with the child's voice and the ribbon rope. I pleaded with him to let me go, that I was a blind stranger who had wandered into his village in a daze, but he would not listen. Yanking me along, he called me "Queen," and I told him I was no such thing, just a simple cleric. Touching me in this rude manner, I told him, would not bode well with the religious officials.
He stopped and (I presume) turned back towards me. Puzzlement in his voice, he asked, "What does 'religious' mean?"
"Religion?" I held my medallion out to him. "Why, religion is—Has no one ever taught you?"
"No," he said. "The people in the lab and Kamui and Kaizer and even the Dragon of Heaven do not tell me anything other than what I am supposed to do."
How awful. He was a slave, without even the hope of eternal salvation to lift his spirits. "Religion is—well, do you see the symbol on my medallion?" I felt him lift it out of my hand, then give it back to me. "That is the Platinum Dragon," I replied, "the symbol of the god Paladine."
He took it from me again. "So that is what a dragon looks like," he said. "Then why were we called Dragons of Earth? I do not have wings or a tail or any of those things."
"I'm sure it was just a title," I told him, though I had never heard of any order called the Dragons of Earth. I was surprised the dragons had tolerated it. "But Paladine is not a dragon either—not always, at least. He is a god, a being who looks down upon us with love and compassion. When good fortune comes to you, you should thank Paladine, for it was his doing; and when you need help, in your darkest hour, you can call on him to help show you the way." I hoped he would not be offended if I spoke to him like he really was a child. "There are many different gods, but Paladine is the one I serve. I worship Paladine. That means my soul is in his care."
"Ah!" said the man. "I see. So Kaizer is my god. He has my soul, and if I follow him well enough, he told me I will get it back. That is why I am bringing you to him: because he needs a Queen, and if I give him one, maybe he will be happy enough that he will give me my soul."
Fear gripped my heart. "This Kaizer...is he a man? A human?" If my captor, who for all his rudeness in behavior seemed like a good man, had been deceived by a charlatan...there would be a reckoning to come. I had learned tolerance of other views during my long life, but one thing I would never allow were men masquerading as gods. I had seen too well the harm done, been touched too closely, by one of them.
"A human being? He looks like one. But if he is a god like you say, he could change forms. Am I right?"
"Yes," I began tentatively, "but..." There was only one way to get to the bottom of this and save this poor man, who thought he didn't have a soul in his core. I threw my shoulders back, raised my head, and tried to recall some of my old arrogance. I would need a mask for the encounter to come. "Take me to Kaizer."
"Of course," the man said, and we started walking again. "That is what I have been doing." He was silent, as if thinking something over, then said, "I have decided I would like to be your friend. My name is Nataku. What is yours?"
"Crysania Tarinius, Revered Daughter of Paladine," I told him, and my hand went to my medallion. Please, Paladine, I prayed, save this dear childlike soul. Save Nataku, and grant me strength so I may triumph over the evil I believe is being worked here. Let me do your bidding here, as I have all the days since I took up your sign.
Yet the mediallion did not glow or warm underneath my fingers like it had before the War. It remained dark, cold. Dead.
I shivered. What did this forbode?
O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Nothing could have prepared me for this! Nataku sounded like a boy, but he had a man's body. Kaizer...Kaizer was really a boy!
His slim hand gripped my wrist; I felt something cold and hard hidden in that hand and jerked away. "What are you doing?" I demanded, the haughty noble of decades ago resurfacing. All part of the act. Was Paladine refusing to bless my mission because of the way I was carrying it out? I could not change tactics now!
"I'm trying to give you a gift, my Queen," he purred; I imagined him as having a wide, thin smile as he spoke from the way the syllables left his lips. "A chance to discover a new brand of loyalty."
"Loyalty? Servitude! What lies have you showered on Nataku? How dare you claim to hold a man's soul hostage!"
"But I do. Don't you see?" I heard him walk away, refuse to face me as he spoke. We were alone in a small room; I could tell from the way his voice echoed tinnily off the walls. "Nataku believes I have his soul. Because of this, he will follow me and obey, no matter what I tell him. He has given me, in other words, his soul to do with as I choose. Souls are the cheapest currency on the market, no matter what you may spout about their worth.
"And I'll hoard them as long as I can use them, but they're sold just as easily to someone else. A mind, though, a mind is invaluable. Take someone's mind, their notions about reality, and you have them forever, for a preconception can never be fully erased. My elite I deal with in souls; their minds follow automatically. That's what makes them elite. The common people...I deal with in minds. So what'll it be, my would-be Queen?" I could hear him approaching again, and I fought down the disgust rising in my throat, not wanting the appalling creature near me. "Your soul or your mind? I deal in bodies as well, if you refuse. There's a certain person out in that city who can tell you all about my figurine collection." Yet at the same time...a child! A child saying such things! How could this be?
I recalled a story I had once heard, about an equally precocious child. At the age of six, the boy had professed to want power "so that fat innkeepers would someday bow to him." I had shivered but laughed off the story. Then I met the man who had been that boy. Could I allow this Kaizer to grow to be someone like...him? The pain he had inflicted and endured...
What was I doing? I had not thought about him for years! No one likes to dwell on their failures...but he was at peace now. Something buried deep within had saved him, yet the layers of corruption within him had nearly engulfed that spirit. Kaizer was young. There was still time. If I remained by his side, earned his trust, pretended to be loyal, and slowly introduced him to the light...if he came to understand me, he would forgive what at first would look like betrayal...
Yet I would still have to lie. Was it worth it?
Paladine, why won't you answer me?
Are you testing me?
"I'm waiting, Queen. The choker or the Dark Ring? The game must go on."
Forgive me, Paladine. I have made my decision. Let Kaizer forgive my lie...and let you forgive my renunciation. It is insincere, Paladine. I do not mean what I am about to say.
"My soul. You can have my soul. It will be an honor to serve you, Kaizer."
I felt him fasten something around my neck as I knelt at his side. His hands brushed the clasp on my medallion's chain, and for an instant I panicked, thinking he would take it from me. Yet he straightened again, and even helped me stand. "Excellent. So even the virtuous can be broken by the truth. Now come! I want you to meet the rest of the set. Come in now!" he called.
One by one I heard them enter, wondered at the rustling I detected behind the man called Rook, accepted the piece of paper from the eager man called Knight, hugged Nataku back as he welcomed me happily (though rage flared up in me upon hearing him be introduced as "Pawn")...and then Bishop sauntered in.
"What's all the fuss abou—well, hello there, miss!" I felt someone take my hand and kiss it; I smelled hair pomade. "Duke Roger of Conte at your service, milady. Your presence gracing these halls will surely lighten the mood in the dark times ahead. For there is much to be done if the enemy is to be defeated."
"Enemy?" I asked. I had not known there would be an "Enemy." Most likely a pure-souled band of renegades fighting off this dark influence over their town. What would I do if expected to oppose them? Why, my heart was on their side! I could not fight the forces of good!
"Pardon Bishop," Kaizer interjected, and I heard Roger give a yelp of pain. "He has joined our side for the pursuit of revenge. We do indeed have an enemy, my Queen, an enemy that seeks to stop our crusade for his own purposes. Why should it matter to him what I do in my own town?" I heard him turn around again. "Excuse me. Bishop and I need to have a little talk in the hall."
They left, and as the door clanged shut Knight began to elaborate. "The Enemy is a very powerful dark magician. I don't know what he wants, but he keeps messing up Kaizer's plans. And as bad as Kaizer is—because you and I both know he does some things that aren't all that nice—this man would be far, far worse. I mean, his powers are unstoppable! Maybe even worse than a dummy-plugged Unit 01 from Eva! I'd hate to be the one to make Raistlin Majere angry!"
I was hearing things. My guilt over what I'd just pretended to offer to Kaizer was affecting my mind and making me hallucinate. "Pardon me," I said, leaning against the wall to fight off a sudden dizzy spell, "but...you didn't just say Raistlin Majere?"
"Well, yes, actually, I did." He sounded confused. "That's the Enemy's name. Why do you ask?"
"We've met," I said simply, closing my eyes and resting my pounding temples on the cool metallic wall. Paladine had forgiven him. He had been granted peace. He should not be here, wherever "here" was. He was dead.
And so, I realized with a sinking feeling, was I.
Then this...was the afterlife?
But where was rest and salvation?
The people had said the gods were gone, after the war thirty years ago. I'd remained faithful and refused to believe that. So what was going on?
How could souls on the plane I'd been sent to after death have never even heard of religion?
Were the gods really gone?
My medallion...it hadn't glowed since the Chaos War. Yet I still expected it to.
Who did this make Kaizer? A replacement god for hungry foolish souls? Had I played into his hands?
Had I damned myself?
Me, Kaizer, and Raistlin Majere, together after death in a lifelike Hell.
I try to never question my god. But I really didn't think I deserved this.
O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
a/n: When Crysania starts quoting Captain Jack Sparrow, it's time to stop writing.
Okay, NEXT chapter is Riley and Yamaki and Raistlin, oh my. And today's blog highlight is Ceres, so you all can learn about Alec the otaku. (I'm saving Raistlin and Crysania for a huge DL marathon explanation when I have the time).
See ya.