Thank you too Mizuna Kurenagi and Kitsuneblackwater for reviewing last chapter
Chapter XXIX: Into the heart of darkness
Darcia didn't always believe in fate.
If such things existed he wondered what cruel god had chosen his awful fate.
Born into this cursed house, forced to shoulder the weight of his grandfathers past mistakes. Grief and suffering were his inheritance. Solitude was his birthright and the legacy dropped in his hands was a wolf's eye and the curse that came with it.
What a curse it was
It came like a tidal wave, sweeping anyone unlucky enough to be in its path away
There were countless unlucky ...or perhaps they were the real lucky ones
The curse knew no limits to its cruelty, this was a lesson Darcia was forced to learn when he too the title as head of his house. The curse too everyone: Servants, Family ,Visitors, and an older sister Darcia never got to know.
But not Darcia himself, never Darcia.
Always and forever he would be spared from it's cold judging eyes. Forever would he be forced to watch as it took everyone else, forever would he know solitude
What sort of god would curse a person to such a fate?
No, Darcia kindly denied the prospect of his endless suffering being his fate. He would make things right, especially when the curse claimed the love of his life. Darcia decided he would throw open the gates of Paradise and take back Homona himself if he had to.
That was how he found his way to her
A lanky little pup pulled from the flames of devastation Jagura had rained down on her and hers. Darcia's wolf eye burned at the sight of her making him sure he couldn't leave her to become one of Jagura's brainwashed wolves. He took her and under his hand she flourished. The answer to all his questions, the beacon of light in a vast darkness
His precious key to paradise
Mahina
She surprised everyone at each turn. She withstood the drawbacks of her 12 predecessors, exceeded the scientist expectations and when this so called 'fate' tried to claim her Mahina returned to this world, she returned to Darcia. Despite his curse, Darcia found happiness in the presence of this slender wolf. As long as he had her… he could be content with everything else.
But solitude was Darcia's birthright and he had forgotten that in the brief peace he was granted.
The curse came for Mahina a second time and though she returned to Darcia again...not all of Mahina came back.
Her memories, her personality, everything about Mahina that Darcia loved-everything that made her Mahina was gone. All of it, whipped away in the singular moment Darcia let his guard down.
Her soul had returned but she would never be the same.
Darcial fell into despair after that, keeping what he had left occupied his every waking thoughts while the horrors of his curse haunted his dreams. He stopped bothering to chase after the servants who fled from his cursed halls All that mattered was getting to paradise, opening paradise, getting back all that it had stolen from him
Somewhere in all his despair Darcia lost track of both the Flower Maiden and his precious key to the fat bastard Lord Orkham. But only lost track of.
Mahina awoke in the chaos of Orkhams attack and escaped on her own two feet.
Like a moth to a distant flame, she immediately searched for Cheza and Darcia watched.
Across the miles, through endless plains of storming snow, from dome city to Dome city Darcia watched Mahina travel in search of the Flower Maiden. Darcia did he best to help her along the way, putting guards to sleep so she could slip in and hacking systems so her 'Transferring scientist' story held more realistic weight. Anything to help Mahina bring Darcia closer to Cheza.
Mahina eventually found Cheza and the reunion-albeit a weak one- sent long sleeping sensors screaming to life.
That was when Darcia knew the time had finally come to open Paradise.
Darcia reunion with his precious key was a brief one, barely longer than a passing glance but Darcia knew Mahina the second he saw those red eyes of hers. She looked just as she did the day Paradise had taken her from him. Her body was utterly vibrant with life and her gaze was defiant as ever. When Darcia stared down at her, his wolf eye throbbed.
Mahina was an anomaly all her own
Even after she served her purpose of finding Cheza, Mahina persisted in her resolve. She chased Darcia across miles following a connection to the Flower Maiden she probably didn't understand herself. It lead her and hers straight to Darcia-inevertantly returning Mahina and the Maiden to the place where it all began.
It was a marvel, even after all this time Mahina thrived against climbing odds. She stole Cheza back, found a Hanabito Darcia himself had not been aware survived, and constantly stared death in the face with claws ready and teeth bared.
Darcia's precious key was an unstoppable force of nature, one he tried twice now to destroy and had apparently failed.
But the more he thought on it all-his family, his curse, the Flower Maiden and Mahina- the more he noticed the sole connection between them all: Mahina.
She had been the missing piece that escaped when Darcia the first failed
She alone woke Cheza from a deep sleep
The curse hadn't started acting up until she was brought into the keep and she was its sole survivor.
Everything connected back to Mahina somehow until Darcia began to wonder… was Cheza the key that would open Paradise or was Mahina?
The wolf and the Maiden were so interlocked, so tangled together to their very cores it would make perfect sense that the true beckon to paradise was an unclear answer.
Perhaps than, fate was a true event.
Perhaps it was always Darcia's fate to open paradise. Why else would Mahina defy so many odds just to appear in Darcia's life countless times.
Then it came, as if to answer Darcia's musings
A sharp cry rang out across the heavens, to high in pitch for a normal human to hear but utterly shuddering with sudden unleashed power. It made Darcia's vision swirl, his head split in two and his wolf's eye burn with the force of ta thousands of suns
Someone cried out for Darcia, waking something in him that threatened to take him over if he didn't heed the call. Darcia knew deep down it was Mahina
She was calling out for him and he would come for her.
Finally, it was truly time, Paradise was waiting.
Fate was real and it had prepared Darcia well.
The guards stood no chance against it when he finally arrived at Jagura's keep for his Maidens. They dropped like flies as he drew nears
"Wait!" Darcia paused wordlessly looking back at the woman who approached him. Cher Degre, a woman who looked so much like her mother. How unwitting she was to stumble her way into the same path her own mother escaped.
It was almost poetic that a Degre woman would follow Darcia into the end just as a Degre woman was with him through the beginning
Still she should know what she walks into
"Will you follow me into the very heart of darkness?" Darcia asked, Cher flinched at the question but she asked for no further explanations.
When Darcia turned and continued walking, the sounds of the women's heels clicking on the ground trailed after him
Darcia didn't always believe in fate but even he had to admit it was a cruel, curious thing.
The human shift was the wolf's response to world that would see them gone.
A perfect crafted illusion to reflect the world back at the viewer so that the hunted could quietly slip by unnoticed. It had its complications and delicacies, yes, but the human shift was vital in the current survival of however many wolves out there had managed to survive Jagura's grip. Anyone who saw it would see a person just as them, when they touched a wolf's face they would feel human skin instead of fur, when they held a wolf's hand they would feel human fingers instead of claws. The only thing that betrayed a wolf was their physically superior build, they ran faster could jump higher and of course bite hard enough to rip a normal human's throat out.
But despite all of that the human shift was, despite all its usefulness and utility the human shift was, is, and would always be an illusion.
It was a simply play on the human cognition to convince the brain that it saw one thing instead of the truth.
It showed it little ways of course, cloths that weren't part of the illusion were left covered in fur, items such as collars and scars carried over to the illusion and a some technologies appeared to now be able to reveal the truth: That at the end of the day it was all a trick of the eyes.
A wolf was a wolf do matter what they did to cover it up.
So it didn't make sense that Mahina, a wolf, could not turn her shift off.
She'd been trying since Jagura had captured her and Kiba, trying her hardest to let the illusion melt away and unleash the fury of a wolfs might upon the keep but as they carried her paralyzed body away, as she watched helplessly as she and Kiba were separated once again and as she sat in a grand hall below Cheza's tank Mahina couldn't change to her true form.
What sort of trickery was this?
Jagura's men had bound Mahina's wrist over her head with tight wires that only grew tighter the more she struggled against them. They dug into her human skin painfully and after a few minutes of grunting and pulling warm blood ran from where the wire broke skin and slowly painted her arms.
Mahina had only seen Jagura once since they bound her here, the Noble carefully placed a crown of woven Lunar flowers on Mahina's head before leaving the she-wolf to struggle and grunt in pain.
Raising her head Mahina looked up at Cheza. The maiden had fallen completely silent since her sudden outburst earlier.
She didn't speak despite Mahina's multiple attempts to call to her.
This was all wrong
It was all so very wrong
"We should have never come to this cursed place…" Mahina found herself repeating the words she had last spoken to hige before everything had completely dissolved into chaos. She should have never followed Hige up that stupid elevator, should have listened to her own instincts when they had screamed that something wasn't right with this place.
All of this was true but if they hadn't come, if the pack hadn't made their way into the belly of the beast they would have never gotten Cheza back.
But..what was the point of getting Cheza back when the pack as a whole was in such a sorry state?
Kiba was being taken to be drained clean of his blood
Toboe was nowhere to be found
Tsume was trapped somewhere within the keep
Kileona was dead
who knows what had become of Hige
And Cheza was silent as a grave.
Mahina was along, Mahina was powerless and for once in her long, twisted, confusing life Mahina could feel all of her hopes trickling away like the blood that flowed from her wrist.
A painful pressure was building in her chest as Mahina finally gave in, letting her head drop and tears to burn her eyes.
As the hall slowly filled with masked human, Nobles, Mahina quietly sobbed in her moment of despair.
"Kiba…" the white wolf's name spilled from Mahina's lips in her moment of weakness. Cheza would not answer her call so who else could Mahina possibly call to. There was only one and at this very moment he was being taken away too, his life blood drained to use in opening a blasphemous paradise. "I can't do this alone...Please...don't die…"
'Mahi...na'
Mahina gasped, did she hear that right?
Lifting her gaze, Mahina looked around herself and strained her ears, craning her neck to get a good view of the hall.
Nothing, no white fur, no azure eyes… he wasn't here…
But she could have sworn she heard…
'Mahina…'
"Kiba?" Mahina could feel her heart leap in her chest when Kiba's voice run in her head, speaking her name. It was him! But… he wasn't here so how?
'Mahina...where are you?' Kiba spoke his voice strained as he forced himself to talk '...I hear your voice but… I can't see you'
"is that really you?...Kiba" Was this Mahina's reality now? Driven so deep into despair she was imagining Kiba speaking to her? Mahina could almost laugh at her broken mind if the sound of Kiba's voice didn't comfort her in her moment of misery. But it all felt so solid, so real in the connection. Mahina wasn't sure what had connected Kiba's mind to hers while they were so far apart but she wouldn't complain about it, at least her final moments would be a little pleasant. "I'm with Cheza… in a room full of Nobles." the she-wolf spoke taking the time to look around the room. Nobles were slowly filing into the room chattering amongst one another.
Some took the time to marvel at Cheza while other dared to looking Mahina over. Her growls were threatening enough for all who were curious to keep their distance.
"It looks like they're celebrating something"
'They're going to try and make their own Paradise.'
"Yea… yea I know…" Mahina sighed and lowering her head as she did. Things really didn't look good for them. "Is this it Kiba? Is this the end?" Kiba didn't answer her and that made Mahina chuckled a bit. Even the all knowing Kiba with his amazing instincts couldn't comfort Mahina in the face of a harsh truth.
The Nobles had won and Mahina's pack would be the blood price for their false paradise.
"You know…" Mahina spoke again trying to break the silence "We never got to know each other that well. Not about where we came from, or why we were searching for Paradise to begin with." It was a strange thing to realize this late in the game but there it was. Mahina realized she was going to die in this place talking to a wolf whose life she knew almost nothing about. She didn't know the things that shaped Kiba into the wolf he was today, she didn't know why he truly searched for paradise. All Mahina had was a vague memory of pup.
Kiba had even less.
Mahina couldn't help but wonder what Kiba would think of her if he knew what Darcia had done to her. Mahina wasn't all wolf and she had a feeling it was because of her that Darcia had been able to track down Cheza.
'No… I guess we didn't' Kiba spoke back to Mahina '...but would you have care if you knew all of that?'
Mahina paused before answering this question. She supposed Kiba was right, after all if all that information had really mattered Mahina probably would have asked for such at the very beginning of this journey. Still, realizing she would have still followed kiba all the way here to death's door regardless of how much or little she knew about him brought smile to Mahina's sullen face.
"No… no I suppose not." she chuckled out "I would still be here…"
'Yea...so would I…' the confession brought warmth and hope into Mahina's heart. Perhaps if they made it out of this alive Mahina would tell Kiba the truth, or at least what she knew of the truth.
"You know…" Mahina kept the conversation going "when I was a pup...there was this white wolf I met from another pack...I never got his name but for some reason...meeting him always stuck with me"
'Did it? Why?'
"He was utterly captivated by the story of Paradise." Kiba made a grunting sound at this revelation but didn't speak further. Mahina didn't mind, since she was certain she was going to die here talking about such thoughts was freeing in way. "we never exchanged a single word to each other" she explained "but there was just something about the look in his eyes that made me think 'ah...this idiot would be the fool to look for a fantasy Paradise for wolves'"
Kiba chuckled, it was a weak sound, like he was losing his strength as time ticked on but the sound of his laugh brought a weak smile to Mahina's face.
"And then the fire happen…"
'A fire?'
"Yes" Mahina nodded her head despite knowing full well Kiba couldn't see it "We were...attack… the blaze swept across the land faster than anyone could have counted for. Many were trapped..many died.." Mahina let her head hang at the memory "at night..I can still hear their howls as the flames consumed them…"
Mahina…''
"we were all separated, those who survived the blaze." Mahina continued on with her tale though making a fine point to not bring up what had happen to herself after the fire "I never saw that pup again but…" She paused letting out a sigh, why of all the memories that were wiped away thanks to Darcia… why was it that one that stayed. Why did that memory stick to her like a leech?
'...but?' Kiba urged Mahina on
"But of all the things I've done in my life...of all the memories that were erased, changed and twisted...the moment I met that dumb wolf always finds its way to the surface somehow…"
'...Mahina…'
"Maybe…. Maybe that's why I really search for Paradise…" Mahina continued to speak, rambling on mindlessly if only to keep the thoughts of impending death at bay. But it was no use, the more Mahina spoke and thought on it the more it was apparent to her. She very well may not reach paradise nowa place Kiba had dreamed of reaching way back when in a vague moment of Mahina's memories "to see if that idiot made it...maybe so I could tell him he was an idiot for trying… maybe… but it's no use now…" the she-wolf's eyes were burning again but try as she might Mahina couldn't hide the sob that came to her voice as she spoke. Tear streamed down her face and her wrist throbbed with pain when she clenched her human hands into tight fist.
She hated her human shift, it was so fragile and weak…
'Mahina'
"This is the end of our story…"
'Mahina listen to me'
"We're going to die here"
'Mahina please...please listen to me…'
Mahina took in a shuddering breath and swallowed another sob. Kiba's voice was soothing, like he was placing a firm hand on Mahina's back and calming her despite the pressure building in her center.
'Do you remember the Garden of Eternity? Where i was trapped and almost lost my way?'
"I don't know how that matters anymore…" Mahina sniffled out wishing she could at least wipe the wet tears off her face
'You made me remember my promise to you, you reminded me that you needed me.'
"You… you heard that?" Of course he heard that, of course Kiba would be the type to not say anything about it when it happen.
'Well I need you Mahina.'
He...what?
Even without being able to see him, Kiba's words struck home in Mahina's heart. They stopped her sobbing and though tears still streamed down her face Mahina suddenly felt a way of calm wash over her at Kiba's confession. His words… they felt so warm, so loving. If Mahina closed her eyes and focused on the feeling it gave her she could almost imagine Kiba sitting before her with that calm look on his face.
'I promise...we'll reach Paradise together. I swear we will. But...I need you to hold on… I need you to believe in me, believe in us… can you do that?'
"I…" Mahina hesitated. Could she? After all they had gone through to fail so miserably? After learning what she was?
'Mahina' The desperation in Kiba's voice was clear, Mahina couldn't consider it anything less than a plea for her from the depths of Kiba's very heart. 'Please'
And she couldn't refuse that plea.
"...with all my heart…" The wires sent a throb of pain down Mahina's arms as she clenched her hands into even tighter fist. The pain was growing too great now. Mahina's consciousness was slipping away again. "with all my heart, Kiba,...with all my heart."
ereht enoyna sI?
Is anyone there?
anihaM?
Mahina?
abiK?
Kiba?
Mahina groaned, the darkness that had taken her mind was lifting again. Slowly, she opened her eyes to find the hall now alive with chatter or people than she remembered seeing before.
Ah… she must have passed out at some point.
It was getting harder and harder to stay awake it seems but the voice echoing in Mahina's mind was keeping her here for the moment, she knew this voice. She had been desperately trying to reconnect with this voice for god knows how long now. The blockage between them was so paper thin now, Mahina could feel Cheza's warmth just beyond it, Mahina could hear her voice. It was jumbled and messy, like the maidens words were being spoken backwards at the same time they were spoken forward. It made Mahina's mind spiral before Cheza's voice began to filter in through the noise.
"...Cheza…" Mahina let out a long sigh closing her eyes and focused on the connection, she reached out to Cheza.
ereht enoemos sI?
Is someone there?
…gnihtemos leef nac eno sihT
This one can feel something…
Cheza's calling was more than enough motivation to push Mahina forward, she pressed against the layer between them gripping it in her fingers and pulled. She pulled and pulled until the already thin barrier gave with a loud tearing sound that echoed through Mahina's mind.
What sprung forth was powerful enough to almost knock Mahina out again.
It was like a sudden burst of summer in a cold winters nights. The heat of a thousand sunny days blasted through the whole Mahina had ripped and utterly embraced her form in its heat.
It was so much, it was almost too much. Grunting against the feeling Mahina had to force herself to turn away or risk being burned alive by the once repressed heat.
anihaM!
Mahina!
A voice broke through the wind and heat calling out in a joy Mahina felt more than she heard.
As the heated gale blasted away what was left of the barrier arms found their way around Mahina's waist and summers heat conquered the cold the she-wolf found herself embraced by none of than Cheza. The Flower maidens emotion seeped out of her, melting into Mahina's skin. It flooded her veins until Mahina thought she might explode from all that Cheza was trying to say without speaking.
Her relief
Her worry
Her joy
It was all coming to Mahina so fast, so furiously, the she-wolf wasn't sure if the emotions reflected back at them were even hers or just more of Cheza's.
"Cheza…" Mahina had the flower maiden in a tight hold before she realized she had and Cheza responded by gripping fistful of Mahina's dress.
uoy rof dellac eno sihT
This one called for you
rewsna t'ndid uoy tub dellac dna dellac eno sihT
This one called and called but you didn't answer
…erew uoy taht thguoht eno siht...eno sihT
This one...this one thought that you were…
Oh Cheza… she must have been so worried…
Sighing once more, Mahina gently petted the maiden in an attempt to comfort her, their connected emotions mixing Cheza's anxiety with Mahina's relief until it overpowered the flower maidens negative emotions and Cheza let out an audible sigh, her grip relaxing.
"we were so worried about you." The she-wolf breathed out "When I couldn't connect with you I didn't know what to do, how I would find you."
.eno siht dnif syawla uoy …eno siht dnuof uoy tuB
But you found this one… you always find this one.
Always find her?
Mahina furrowed her brow at the statement, what did Cheza mean by that?
Even Darcia had said such things in Mahina's new found memories of said that even if someone managed to steal one of them, they'd always reunite.
All things must return to the source…
"Cheza…" Drawing back enough to look down at Cheza Mahina couldn't help but frown. The Maiden didn't look up at Mahina, preferring to rest her head against the she-wolf's chest but she was listening, Mahina could feel that Cheza was listening. "It been such a long journey since we were separated at Darcia's keep…" Mahina remarked only now, as she thought about all she was learning that it was ironic. Mahina was reunited with Cheza at the very keep were their connection began only to be ripped apart in a similar manner. "I've learned so much about myself...like that I had a family I was stolen from and that we knew each other long before freeze city…"
But even in those memories it felt like Mahina and Cheza knew each other even longer than that.
Mahina remembered Cheza first words.
The first time Mahina had heard her voice long ago when she was still Miakoda.
Welcome back
"Your blood runs through me," Mahina mused "that's part of the reasons we're so connected I think but...there's still so much I don't understand.." Finally, Cheza lifts her head to look at Mahina, her expression remains ever peaceful despite the turmoil slowly bubbling within Mahina. "Why…" Mahina frowned deeply. "why am I so drawn to you Cheza? Why when we are apart in the real world I can still sense you… touch you" Mahina took one of Cheza's hands in her own and laced their fingers.
The she-wolf was well aware in reality she was bound at the wrist and Cheza was sealed in her glass prison but as the sat here, in a void of their own making, Mahina could feel Cheza's skin and the warmth of her body.
"Please Cheza...why?"
Cheza didn't answer at first, her rose eyes drifted to their joined hands and for a moment Mahina swore Cheza could actually see them. They remained like this in a peaceful stillness until the void around them echoed with Cheza's voice and her answers.
esidarap morf nrob gnieb a morf otibanaH tsrif eht degrof dlrow siht fo snamuh eht oga gnoL
Long ago the humans of this world forged the first Hanabito from a being born from paradise
meht ot deined dah gnieb eht hcihw sevlesmeht esidarap retne ot depoh dah yehT
They had hoped to enter paradise themselves which the being had denied to them
..dewalf...tcefrepmi erew otibanaH eht tuB
But the Hanabito were imperfect...flawed..
…deirt snamuh eht llitS
Still the humans tried…
otibanaH erom ekam ot niaga emit dna emit trapa gnieb eht deppir yeht ,niaga deirt dna deirt dna deirt yehT
They tried and tried and tried again, they ripped the being apart time and time again to make more Hanabito
deliaf tpmetta yrevE
Every attempt failed
…eno siht edam yeht litnU
Until they made this one…
…eman a eno siht evag dna eno siht ot ekops gnieb eht dnA
And the being spoke to this one and gave this one a name…
Mahina's eyes went wide at this story the words ringing something deep within Mahina. A memory she didn't think was from this life. Of being bound in water, of ivory hair surround her form as she gazed up on the heavenly figure that was the flower maiden. She remembered her mouth forming the name…
Cheza leaned forward until her forehead touched Mahina's
anihaM
Mahina
swonk syawla eno siht...wenk eno siht tuB .tnereffid erew uoy kcab emac uoy nehw dna yawa tnew uoy neht tub oga gnol uoy morf nrob saw eno sihT
This one was born from you long ago but then you went away and when you came back you were different. But this one knew...this one always knows
kcol eht era uoY
You are the lock
yek eht si eno sihT
This one is the key
eno siht era uoY
You are this one
uoy si eno siht dnA
And this one is you
-eb lliw ew...noos dna...eno ecno erew eW
We were once one...and soon...we will be-
Will be what?
Mahina didn't get a chance to find out.
The doors to the grand hall opened with a loud clunk and the nobles in the room erupted in applauds that broke the connection. She was pulled back into reality, a path had been cleared for the entering noble and it didn't take much for Mahina to recognize Jagura as she made her grand entrance for her people.
It made Mahina sick.
But at least now Mahina wasn't alone. Cheza's connection to the she-wolf was back and stronger than ever. Their thoughts and feelings slowly intertwined with one another as Jagura took the time to relish in the applauds she was being given.
"Kiba…" the name came to Mahina's lips as she returned to the moment. She had been speaking to Kiba before, but he had sounded so weak… was he?...he couldn't be…
…abiK
Kiba…
…abiK.…
….Kiba…
evila uoy erA?
Are you alive?
Cheza's voice echoed so clearly in Mahina's head, responding to the she-wolf new found distress and she called like she always did. It took a moment of listening, of tuning out the jovial noise around the hall to hear it but someone did respond.
'Cheza...sing for me…'
The song…
Mahina raised her head to look upwards at Cheza's form. The maiden was silent, no song came from her as it normally would but Kiba couldn't see why. From her place Mahina could see it, the brown veins forming along Cheza's neck, the maidens pained expression.
Cheza was too weak to sing
She tried to hide it but the connect was too strong for Mahina to not realize what was happening. Mahina could feel it in her own body, a sudden feeling of weakness strong enough to force the she-wolf to slump forward in her position sending a throb of pain down her arms and the wires around her wrist grew tighter.
Cheza was beginning to wither
Which meant...
"If she is withering than.." Mahina felt her eyes growing wide as the dots were connecting
Mahina was Cheza
Cheza was Mahina
If all things returned to the source and Cheza came from Mahina than…
Cheza was returning…
'...Cheza?' Kiba's voice echoed from where ever he was, the concern in his voice was clear when Cheza didn't respond to his request. Cheza couldn't answer, her strength was too weak.
Cheza was…
She was...
"...Shailoh Shailoh, Yatreet ka…" The words, they came so easily to Mahina...but she guessed they should if what Cheza spoke was true this song...the song of the flower maidens was originally Mahina's. Kiba took in a sharp breath once the melody began to leave Mahina's mouth. He whispered her name but she continued. "Shailoh washnee...fortee ney"
'Please Kiba…' the she-wolf thought as she pushed on with her sullen song 'you told me to believe in you… please hurry. She can't hold out much longer. Please Kiba' Mahina's voice was barely a whisper over the loud cheers of the nobles so unaware of the very pawns they used for their gain but Kiba could hear Mahina and the she-wolf put all her misery into her voice, all her longing, all of her hope.
If Kiba could hear Mahina, if he could feel her through this song then maybe there was hope for them.
"Shailoh Shailoh, Yatreet ka…Shailod shna...otvit ka…"
"Welcome to the great feast!" Jagura's loud declaration echoed out as the clapping settled. Mahina watched, her voice fading from her as the Noble opened her arms wide in celebration. "Tonight Jagura's paradise will be loosed upon the world!" The cheers that followed her declaration were greater than when Jagura entered and as she laughed happily Jagura began to spin.
She spun and she spun and she spun like she was trying to gain the moons favor
Like she was Cheza that night so long ago.
And they all danced, every noble in the room joined Jagura in this mockery of a ritual.
Mahina felt anger boil in her belly and a growl rumble up her throat. She swore… if she made it out of this alive Mahina swore she would kill that woman.
But then… the doors to the hall opened again and an unlikely figure stood in the threshold.
"...It… it can't be…" Mahina breathed as her eyes took in the details of the new guest. Her eyes were not fooling her, dauning a trailing long cloak Mahina's crimson eyes found a ceramic white mask with a crown of feathers. The right eye was black as any normal Nobles mask would be but in the darkness of the of the left glow a single golden wolf's eye. "...Darcia"
The room of Nobles stopped upon his intrusion but he paid them no mind. Even as the cheers and celebrations were replaced by whispers Darcia calmly strolled into the room and paid the people no mind. As the room rang faintly with an ear splitting sound, Darcia walked on and as every single noble in the room began to drop lifeless to the ground Darcia continued on. He was here for a purpose, a singular goal and she was the only one not affected by what ever had taken the others.
Jagura stopped her dance, her white cape twisting around her body as she face Darcia's approaching form.
The air was still again but the tenseness that came with it was hard to ignore. There was just something about this moment that felt all too final in its existence.
It was a stone in Mahina's core, a pressure she had felt when she first was placed in this room. Things were coming to a head, a crescendo to a rapidly approaching climax and it would all happen here.
The final part had arrived, the last piece to this years long puzzle and just like the curse upon his house his arrival killed almost every single human in the room all save Jagura herself of course. She wasn't worried though, she never seemed worried not even when wolves threatened to rip her apart. Instead she stood and she watched as Darcia approached.
"I've been waiting for you" was the first thing she spoke to the man before her
Darcia slowed to a stop before the Noble woman and without a word to her in greeting, be it a warm one or a curse, the man removed his mask letting its feather headdress thumb to the floor.
Darcia looked like he had ages decades since the attack on his keep had stripped him of both his beloved and his flower maiden. Or maybe Mahina's newfound memories of his younger face made it appear so…she couldnt be too sure at the moment.
He was stoic as ever and now seemed to have abandoned the patch that once covered his wolf eye.
Jagura responded in kind, reaching up to remove her metallic mask and the spiked helmet that kept it there. It clattered loudly on the floor and in its wake a river of blonde hair flowed free.
Mahina gasped as her eyes took in the long locks.
This hair…
Jagura turned ever so slightly to look back at the she-wolf and the face that stared at Mahina almost made her flinch. Her memories only told her of that face always in sleep, forever trapped between this world and paradise and yet here she was standing alive, awake and well.
"But… how?" the question came out louder than Mahina had planned to make it and Jagura let out a light chuckle in response pulling a glare from the bound she-wolf.
"I never imagined i would look upon that face again in my life time" Darcia finally spoke, at the sound of his voice Jagura turned back around giving Darcia her undivided attention.
"The face of your beloved maiden" bitterness dripped from Jagura's voice
The face of...
So this wasn't Hamona?
"She is your younger sister as I recall"
"You know it as well as I that her soul was lost ever since that day, but you were the only one unwilling to face the truth. So, I released you from that heavy burden...I did it all for you, my beloved." there was a softness to the woman's voice despite what the context of her words revealed. Hamona had always been in some form of suspended animation, kept alive by computers and science as Darcia-as Mahina recalled now-worked tirelessly to save her soul. When Jagura attacked his keep and stole Cheza away she must have also put her sisters life to an end…
"We were only alike in face and body." the woman continued on bringing a gloved hand to her face "If Hamona was light than I was shadow. I was content with that but then you appeared and thrusted us into turmoil. The unrivaled instigator: Darcia the third, you brought it upon yourself." If the accusation meant anything to Darcia he didn't let his face betray such. Stoic and still as stone, Mahina would be hard pressed not to recognize a man with a singular purpose. She had been around Kiba long enough to be familiar with the look. Darcia was here for one reason and whatever that reason was he was simply biding his time with Jagura "The city's lights will soon go out. The final spell, Darcia the first gave his life to cast it…"
Darcia the first
Mahina had only heard that name in passing long ago but hearing it now, hearing Jagura speak of how that Darcia gave his life to try and force paradise open. Something about it rang familiar in Mahina.
It reminded her of the wolf who haunted the keep of House Darcia, unleashing its curse on many an unfortunate soul, including that of Jagura's apparent twin sister Hamona. The catatonic woman Darcia twist Mahina's mind into believing was her mother.
"That spell is now beginning.…"
And it was
Something was happening
Something powerful
It pressed down hard in Mahina's core until it forced a grunt of pain out of her. This feeling, it was like something was growing from within her stomach. Expanding and expanding- growing and growing.
'Mahina?'
"Kiba," Mahina grunted out at the sudden sensation "something's...happening-aah!" she let out a sharp cry as the pain thundered its way up her spine forcing her to arch her back with it.
Jagura and Darcia spared Mahina a glance as the she-wolf writhed against her bonds, her arms a pale canvas for the trails of blood that flowed from her wrist. Jagura let out a joyful laugh before turning back to Darcia.
"Come, let us dance for this wondrous occasion." Jagura beckoned an unmoving Darcia, the man never looked at Jagura, instead he watched Mahina.
"Cheza…"
Mahina swallowed another cry of pain when a new voice reached her ears.
Forcing her eyes open Mahina couldn't bring herself to be surprised that Cher had found her way here. The woman had always been so stubborn but Mahina supposed it was in her nature as a scientist. If only the she-wolf had the strength and time to properly scold the woman for walking into the pit of hell for the truth.
"She's withering…"Cher didn't seem to notice that Mahina was there just yet."It has to be the water-no wait" the woman's blue eyes scanned over the control panel between them before Cher took in Cheza's weakening appearance. "she starting to bloom!"
"...no…" Mahina forced out, Cher blinked in surprise. Her face grew pale as she finally noticed Mahina and the state she was in, dressed in a pure white gown with a crown of lunar flower atop her head. Mahina was sure she would have looked angelic like this if her arms weren't bathed in her own blood and she wasn't trying her hardest not to scream out in pain.
The pressure was still there, growing and growing, pushing against Mahina's ribcage now.
Surely if she breathed wrong the pressure would crack a rib.
"Mahina…"
"She's not blooming...I am…" She had to confront the truth of it all.
Mahina was a flower maiden and as Cheza began to wither Mahina began to bloom
And once Mahina bloomed Paradise would open for Jagura
Paradise would be lost
It took less than a second for Cher to understand what was going on. The scientist bit down on her bottom lip before turning her attention back to the control panel before her. Getting Cheza free was a top priority after all but when Cher tried to touch the controls a spark of electricity shot out and she yelped in pain yanking her hands away from the device.
Mahina and Cheza were stuck.
'Mahina?' Kiba's voice echoed in Mahina's mind with more urgency than before '...Mahina… where are you? I can't… I can't hear your song anymore'
Mahina tried to respond but all she could manage out was a whimper.
"The gate of paradise are opening, for the nobles." Spreading her arms open wide Jagura, in a mental world made only for her and Darcia, approached the male Noble ready to welcome him into an embrace. "No-a paradise only for the two of us. Come."
The pressure, it was too much!
She couldn't…
This was the end.
"Goodbye… Kiba.." Mahina's eyes burned with sullen tears as she spoke in a shaky voice, Cheza's voice echoed with her own "this one is going to wither.."
'Cheza..Mahina Hold on!'
But Mahina couldn't hold on any longer.
What was once a steadily growing pressure became an explosion. It was a balloon blow too full to stay whole within Mahina's body.
It ripped her apart, shredded her insides in white hot pain unlike anything the she-wolf had ever felt before in her life. It was a miracle Mahina didn't submit to the dark void of unconsciousness immediately upon feeling such unabridged agony, if only she could be so lucky.
Instead Mahina's mind remained firmly in the waking world, scrambling to make sense of what was happening to her. This feeling of burning yet freezing, of being decimated to the smallest atom and rebuilt in a matter of seconds only to be torn apart again. Over and over, again and again all in the span of a few seconds.
It was so much
It was too much
Mahina couldn't hold back anymore
With the faint sound of a wolf's howl ringing in Mahina's ears the she-wolf threw her head back, opened her mouth wide and shrieked.
The high pitch scream she once thought could only come from Cheza thundered out of Mahina's own mouth with enough force to force two large cracks to form across Cheza's sphere above her.
Bright light flashed before Mahina's eyes and lighting struck walls. Electrocuted cracked the air in pulsing, flashing white and blue light until a brighter one slowly took over.
This light was softer. It didn't flash or strobe, it started small and then grew until Mahina's vision was engulfed in a golden hue. Her body settled into itself again dropping into this golden light, submerging Mahina in it and pulling her deeper into its warm hold.
She had to let it take her, there was no point in fighting for Mahina had no strength to fight with. Her arms were still bound, her body left dangling as the scenery changed around her. She heard birds chirping happily, the rush of lush waterfalls and the rustle of grass against the winds. She felt the breeze against her face and the warmth of the sun on her skin and when Mahina opened her eyes she saw it.
Paradise.