Chapter 5: The Dark Age
The Merchant had left the saloon for five minutes, returning then with a black marker and a dropper. He drew a circle on the floor and wrote strange hieroglyphs inside it. After he had finished, the stranger asked for a digivice and Taichi gave him his. The digivice was put in the middle of the circle and the Merchant dripped the liquid from the dropper on it. It was red and Agumon and the other Digimon recognized the scent.
"Is that blood?" Agumon questioned.
"Yes." The man in black replied with indifference. "Blood spells are quite handy. I just need to perform one in one digivice and everybody who has a digivice will be protected against the Word."
"Whose blood is that?!" Takeru asked.
"None of your business." The other answered darkly. A golden light shone in Taichi's digivice and in all the other digivices in the room after the blood was dripped. "All done."
Soon, the D-terminals of Takeru, Myako and Iori received e-mails.
"My brother is with Sora-san. It' seems that their digivices emitted a golden light and they want to know what is happening." The blond kid reported.
"Mimi-san's digivice did the same thing." Myako said.
"Jyou-san's too." Iori added.
"We should meet them later to discuss the situation." Hikari proposed and everybody agreed. Ken was particularly tense. The boy turned to the Merchant with serious and inquisitive eyes.
"What's this Word you keep mentioning?" Ken inquired, still holding Wormmon protectively.
"That's an intelligent question, Kaiser-kun." The Merchant commented meanly, making Ken frown. "However, in order to explain that, you need to know about the Society."
"What do you want in exchange for that information?" Koushiro asked, finding it suspicious that the Merchant would give so much information to them.
"Everything I'm going to tell you is included in the package. You simply must never fight me." The man in black replied, sitting cross-legged on the floor and inviting his guests to do the same. "It's going to be a long story, so be patient and don't interrupt me. When the Digital World was still young, the Vaccine and the Data Digimon tried to exterminate the Viruses for the first time. It was back then that a group of Digimon was chosen by Lucemon and would be known as the Demon Lords. And it was in that time that the Digital World was first visited by human children. They tried to keep this story a secret and turn it into vague myths and legends. But you'll know the Truth now. I will tell you about the Dark Age."
Beginning of the Merchant's narrative:
The year was 1995. There was a small orphanage in Hikarigaoka where five children lived. Tamaki-san was a kind and sweet blond boy. He disliked arguments and was always taking care of others. Tamaki-san almost never mentioned his family and used to force a smile all the time so people wouldn't worry about him.
Homura-san was from a traditional family descendent of samurais. I don't know the details behind her coming to the orphanage. She was very serious and didn't really like to socialize with the other children. She had a long and beautiful black hair.
Kanda-san was was left in the orphanage when he was a just born baby. He was abandoned in the place's door during a cold night and would have died if the woman responsible for the institution hadn't heard his cries.
Otae and Shinsuke were siblings. She was misunderstood many times by people, but her brother understood her... he was the only person who really knew and accepted her for who she was. Shinsuke loved his sister more than anything in the universe.
Those children grew up in a society that would look at kids with no families like hindrances. I don't know whether or not you are familiar with the fact that most of the orphans and abandoned children will probably never have a new home because so many people still believe that adoption stains the family. But those five children had found a family among themselves. After they had been abducted to the Digital World and bounded with five monsters, they naively believed that their family had become bigger.
They had been brought there to fight the Demon Lords. They were also in a group of five. Their leader was the angel Lucemon, who had been one of the first researchers of the Digital World, along with Holyangemon and Angewomon. They had built the great Digital Library to store their knowledge, but soon they would part ways. Holyangemon was an instigator of the violence against the Viruses and believed they should be exterminated for being impure. Angewomon tried to stop Holyangemon, but he cursed her and turned her in Ladydevimon, and then he locked her in the dark ocean dimension. Lucemon respected Angewomon and was furious at Holyangemon's actions, but he knew that it wouldn't be enough to just kill him. So the ultimate angel conceived a plan that he shared only with the Digimon who would be his right-hand man.
Differently from you, who were chosen by Homeostasis, the first generation of chosen children were picked by Lucemon. His plan was to make the Demon Lords slaughter Digimon of all attributes and make them unite against a common enemy. Plus, those Digimon would be saved by human children, beings who didn't have attributes, which would help to cease the discrimination among Digimon. The kids fought the Demon Lords and Holyangemon's minions at the same time. Eventually, Ladydevimon evolved, broke free from the dark dimension and assisted the children. She battled Holyangemon and nearly killed him, but the male angel, in a desperate attempt to beat her, evolved to a form he'd despise more than anything in the world. With the help of the children, the female demon locked her former companion in a cage inside a castle in the dark area. Until today she's guarding him. They both were in the Demon Lord class, but neither of them ever joined Lucemon.
Lucemon's minions were: Barbamon, the most knowledgeable Digimon to ever live and Lucemon's right-hand man; Belzeemon, the main assassin of the group who would be best known as Slaughter Machine; Belphemon, who didn't seem to care a lot by what happened in the world; and Leviamon, who was secretly plotting to take Lucemon's position. Belzeemon was the first one to die and his digitama was sealed in a mountain; Belphemon was the second one to die and his digitama disappeared; Leviamon was defeated by Lucemon himself and devolved to perfect level, to this day he rules over the dark ocean; Lucemon… he put an end to himself and took his secrets to the grave, but the secrets were later discovered. Barbamon was afraid to die, so he made a shameful deal with a former enemy. I believe Koushiro and the blond brothers can tell that story better.
Before Lucemon's death, he had surrended and the children thought they could go back to their world. There was even a gate that could be open in the Demon Lords' sanctuary. But their Digimon partners didn't want them to go. They had evolved to become the strongest Digimon in existence. Four of them would be known as Sovereigns or Holy Beasts. Tamaki-san's partner was a two headed turtle called Xuanwumon; Homura-san's was the tiger Baihumon; Otae's was the dragon Qinglongmon; Kanda-san's partner was the sparrow Zhuqiaomon. The partner of Shinsuke wasn't a Sovereign, but a Holy Knight… the strongest and deadliest Digimon: Alphamon. The four beasts would dedicate their lives to protect the Digital World and Alphamon would recruit Digimon to build a citadel where the knowledge of the Digital World would be protected, this citadel is where the Sacred Society operates. To prevent the true story to be known, Alphamon elaborated a spell to rewrite memories and taught it to his subordinates, that spell is called the Word. With time, the members of the Society began to believe they were the true servants of Homeostasis, although Homeostasis had never contacted them. Those Digimon became more and more fanatic until they decided that their God would reward them if they cleaned the Digital World. That's why they initiated this mass massacre. Or at least that's the justification they use.
Maybe you are wondering about those children's fate. Alphamon and the Sovereigns needed them so they could keep their levels. They said it was for the sake of the Digital World. Who would care, anyway? They were just five rejects from human society. Children who didn't belong anywhere and who should be glad that their insignificant existence had any meaning to the Digital World. Their true fate would be kept as a secret. Temples would be built in their honor; their legend would give hope to Digimon and inspire the Agents to choose you guys. Those five Digimon would cry everyday as they convinced themselves that they had made the right decision in order to keep the Digital World safe. They would apologize countless times, but it wouldn't make a difference.
That day, those five Digimon, who had promised to protect their human partners, attacked them to devour their data and never devolve. Those five idiots who believed they were heroes found out that they were not different from pigs sent to a slaughterhouse. They should have seen that coming. Five children with no family being chosen to be heroes? Absurd! They wouldn't be missed by anyone, so their safety didn't really matter. They were sacrificed for the sake of the Digital World, that's what was said. In my opinion, they were brought here to die pointlessly in the cruelest way possible.
End of the Merchant's narrative
A mortal silence filled the saloon. Not even one of the chosen children was able to speak after hearing that horrible story. Hikari, Myako, Ken, Daisuke, Takeru and Iori tried to stop the tears from escaping their eyes. Taichi was utterly shocked by the narrative and couldn't stop shaking. Koushiro didn't show any reaction, his face was blank. He was the person who had been affected the most by that story, but he refused to show the damage those words caused in him. He wouldn't give that satisfaction to the Merchant. Tentomon observed his partner with concern. Not only was he disturbed by the idea of Digimon murdering their human friends, he also couldn't stop thinking that the Merchant knew about Koushiro's adoption and used that story to hurt the boy. Tentomon didn't know why, but he sensed that the strange figure dressed in black had something against Koushiro. And the hatred the insect already had towards that being grew stronger than ever. He couldn't trust him, neither could he forgive him.
"That… can't be true." Wormmon broke the silence, his voice was weak and hesitant. "They were their partners… they wouldn't… they couldn't possibly…"
"I don't care whether you believe in me or not. I have told you everything I could. Now get out of my carriage." The Merchant cut Wormmon off with rudeness.
The door of the carriage was opened and the chosen children found themselves in a park in Odaiba. It was already night, and they had gone to the Digital World during the afternoon. They walked slowly to the exit while the Merchant was talking to Wizarmon. Agumon and Tentomon stayed together with Taichi and Koushiro. The other Digimon hadn't devolved after returning to the human world, maybe because they had traveled in the carriage. The mage Digimon, after hearing the Merchant's instructions, accompanied Tailmon and the others to the outside. Once they had all left the carriage, the vehicle vanished.
"The meeting place suggested by Onii-chan was our Father's apartment. He's in another town covering a story, so we could discuss everything with the others without having to worry about the time." Takeru informed bluntly. The atmosphere was heavy and nobody seemed to want to talk about what had happened. Daisuke felt mentally exhausted; even though he wanted to go to the reunion, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to focus on anything. He needed to be alone and think about what had happened that day. Iori felt he needed to think too. He had been trying to see the world in a more flexible manner; however he didn't know what to think about Digimon killing their partners. Was it acceptable, to save the Digital World, to sacrifice children? He couldn't possibly acknowledge that as right, but it wasn't a simple situation. Myako was absolutely terrified and disgusted. The betrayal of those Digimon was unforgivable and she couldn't avoid placing herself on the shoes of those children. She just wanted to go home and cry. Takeru and Hikari couldn't yet formulate elaborated thoughts on the subject. The shock was still too big for them and there was a tiny hope that maybe the Merchant was telling lies. Ken wasn't able to digest the story and at the same time he was the first one who had accepted it as true. That boy had seen darkness beyond anyone's nightmares. Deep down, he knew that the Kaiser would find the decision of those five Digimon rational and obvious, and the acknowledgement of that made Ken feel sick.
"Is it okay if I head home?" Ken asked almost inaudibly. "I live far from here… it's not necessary for us all to go, is it?"
Taichi could tell that no one there wanted to discuss anything after hearing that horrible story, so he suggested:
"It would be too crowded if we all went there. I believe just Hikari, Takeru, Koushiro and I need to attend this meeting."
"Before you all leave, I need to tell you something!" Wizarmon suddenly said. He was trembling in fear but he knew he had to tell them who he really was. "It's something about my past… a part of my past that I had forgotten and that fills me with shame and regret. I'll understand if you never want to approach me again after you hear it."
"Don't be ridiculous, Wizarmon!" Tailmon scolded. "Nothing you could say-"
"I used to be Belzeemon." Wizarmon confessed, making most of the children grasp in surprise.
"Then you are that Impmon from the mountain?" Takeru asked in a shocked tone.
"How do you…" Wizarmon was about to question when he understood what had happened. "Koushiro told you and your brother who I really was."
"If you're that Impmon, why didn't you say anything when Jyou-san and I rescued you from the water?" Takeru inquired in curiosity.
"I had lost my memories back then." Wizarmon replied. "More importantly, doesn't my past bother you?"
"You helped us a lot back then and, if it wasn't for you, Koushiro-san probably wouldn't be alive now." Takeru explained that with a little smile of gratitude on his lips. "Why would it matter what you had done in a past life? You were already our friend!"
Wizarmon was touched by those words. He had heard something similar from Koushiro but he assumed that the red-haired boy was simply strange.
"I don't understand what happened between you and Takeru, but I'll always stay by your side." Tailmon stated. "I wasn't always on the good guys' side if you don't remember."
"I agree with Tailmon." Hikari added. "But I want to know what happened in the past."
"To tell it in a few words," Koushiro began, still sustaining a blank face, "the Merchant had saved Tentomon's life and asked me to destroy a statue in exchange. I destroyed the statue but a curse fell on me and, according to this curse, I would die in 48 hours unless I met Barbamon in his dimension and proved that I was wiser than him."
"Barbamon? That Barbamon?" Taichi asked in astonishment.
"Yes." Koushiro continued, emotionlessly. He wanted to end that narrative quickly. "If I had failed, Barbamon would have broken free from the dimension where he was trapped and destroyed the Digital World, so I didn't want to take the risk of confronting him at the beginning."
"You can't mean…" Myako's face was as white as paper when she spoke. "… you were willing to die?"
"I was convinced not to give up on my life thanks to Impmon, Tentomon, Yamato-san and Takeru-kun. I faced Barbamon and defeated him in his dimension, but he still tried to kill me. He was most likely being controlled by someone and was already on the verge of death. Kabuterimon super evolved and destroyed him." Koushiro concluded.
"It was nothing special." Tentomon added. "Then Koushiro-han told us about his conversation with Impmon and the fact that he used to be a Demon Lord."
"Onii-chan proposed that we should keep the story to ourselves to avoid the rest of the group to worry about the Merchant and the Demon Lords." Takeru explained. "Maybe it wasn't a good decision but our intention was good."
Taichi and the others were too mentally and emotionally tired after hearing that story and Wizarmon's confession, so they didn't have the energy to discuss anything else. However, many sad looks were given in Koushiro's direction along with thoughts like was he really going to give up on his life to keep the Digital World safe?
"If it is alright, I would like to be excused." Koushiro suddenly said, forcing a smile. "I forgot I had promised my Mother I would help her with the dinner tonight."
"Of course, you can go." Taichi replied, presuming that Koushiro in reality didn't want to stay with his friends now that they had discovered what he had done in the past. I bet we awoke some unpleasant memories in him, not to mention the nasty new information we heard today. We all need some alone time, but we need to let the others know what is going on.
Koushiro left with Tentomon. Right after him, Myako, Iori, Ken and Daisuke left with their partners. Wizarmon said he had to be in a place because the Merchant had given him a mission, but he wasn't allowed to discuss it, so he fled too.
That night, nobody would have a lot of sleep.
