As the Warlords stood dumbfounded against the crimson railing, Kayura bobbed on the water, despite the heavy armor.
She was aware of where she was, but she couldn't open her eyes or move her arms. A panic began building inside of her and she wanted to scream. The air in her lungs began to burn, and then suddenly, cooled. She felt as though she were no longer in the water, but standing upright, and there was a warm breeze coming from somewhere behind her.
"You may open your eyes."
Her eyes flew open in shock. That voice, one she had never had the chance to know yet somehow seemed as though she'd heard all her life…
"Ancient…" Her incorporeal form fell to its knees before his, though what brought such a reaction was beyond her reasoning.
To her surprise, he knelt beside her. Still frozen in fear, though of what she was not sure, she could not bring herself to meet his gaze.
As if sensing her unease, he cast his eyes forward and settled down onto the… ground, if one called a shapeless surface such, and folded his hands in his lap as if meditating.
Taking his lead, she sat as well and tried to calm the boiling emotions inside.
The warm breeze she'd first felt continued to dance around them, coming from and going nowhere, but bringing with it a sweet smell she couldn't quite place.
After an indeterminate amount of time in this relative silence, she found her voice at last. "Ancient, what advice have you for me? Surely you are here because there is a path I must follow, or some task that I must perform."
He glanced out from under the side of his hat, but she was again looking elsewhere. He smiled to himself.
"Indeed, Kayura. You are the last of the Ancient clan, and the duties thereof will someday burden your shoulders." His voice was solemn, and, she thought, almost a little sad as he said it. "And, indeed, there is also a task I wish you to perform."
He stood now, bringing his hands behind his back as he continued to speak. "I have fought evil for a very long time. And in that time, I have been forced to watch as many that I have involved in this war have suffered or perished. I dearly wish that I was able to go back, to undo their involvement, to give them normal lives and normal worries." He sighed and turned towards her, the brim of his hat hanging low over his face as though in shame. "But even if I could, it would doom all those after. You see, I could not have done everything I did without them. All the centuries of fighting, I could not have held it all back on my own. It was in desperation I turned to these people, these warriors, for help when the tide turned against me."
Kayura now rose and walked to his side. "There was nothing you could have done then, Ancient, " she whispered, voice wavering. She knew at least part of the reason he was telling her this was to brace her for what lay ahead in her own destiny. The role he had played was one that had faced many difficult choices; who to send to suffer in order to save so many more from much worse…
"There was one, though, who took on two roles for me," he continued, head suddenly lifting and staring out into the abyss around them as if searching. "He was a warrior, once awakened to his nature, and then also a substitute for me, a pawn when I could no longer realize my will physically."
Her head hung at these words, understanding of whom they now spoke. Guilt welled up in her chest, nearly choking her, and she looked off in the other direction.
"It is my fault he's dead," she croaked, "not yours."
"Oh, now come my little one," the Ancient said softly, seeing the tears welling up in her eyes. "This is why I am speaking to you now."
Her eyes, shining with moisture, narrowed just barely in skepticism, which immediately disappeared when she once again realized whom she was speaking to.
"I believe there may be a… loophole, if you will pardon the use of newer terminology, in his death."
Though she did not quite understand the wording, his meaning still rang through clear. Her eyes grew huge as the unearthly form continued.
"You see, Anubis died when he did because his body could no longer hold his soul with anything less than the power of the armor."
She looked guiltily down at her arms, clad in Oni steel.
"When he passed it to you in order to regain control over your soul, his was left unchained. With his body in such a severely weakened state, it could not hold it and his soul simply left.
"In the Mortal World, that would have been the end. His soul would have gone off to where ever it was supposed to." The Ancient's voice was growing almost childishly excited now, and Kayura found herself leaning in further to hear the rest. "But he died in the Nether Realm. Souls don't leave there."
He watched as the realization of what he'd said struck her. She turned to face him suddenly, eyes lit like the sun itself. He met her gaze, and suddenly, she wasn't afraid of it at all. Those eyes, very familiar… Such a bright blue…
……………………………………………….
With a gasp, Kayura sat up in the shallow water.
Worried, Dais and Sekhmet scrabbled down the bank to her side, while Kale forewent the trouble and just leapt over the railing itself.
"Are you alright, Kayura?" Sekhmet's deep voice seemed odd to hear with a note of concern in it.
"Anubis," she managed to pant, gulping down air like she hadn't had any in hours.
The Warlords exchanged worried glances over her, as though afraid she'd hit her head harder than they thought after all.
"The Ancient," she continued, drinking in the oxygen, "said he's not gone. We can still…" Her voice trailed off, as she realized she wasn't entirely sure how to end that. They could still what? See him? Save him?
Sill unsure of Kayura's condition, the Warlords each gave a nod and proceeded to help her up out of the water.
"I think it best if we call it a day," Sekhmet suggested solemnly. "We could all use some rest."
Dais grunted in agreement, planting his feet on the bank and offering a hand to Kayura to help her up to Kale, who was already at the top.
"You should go dry off," he commented gruffly as she reached him. "We'll clean up out here."
Slightly miffed at their reaction, Kayura paused to argue, but seeing the looks they wore, decided it better to just go along for the time being. It had been a long day, she was soaking wet, and besides, she could probably use the time to sort out all that happened in that apparently instantaneous forever she had spent in the presence of the Ancient.
……………………………………………….
A lull had fallen over the Warlords after they had seen Kayura to her room. Wordlessly they had returned to retrieve the leftovers of their lunch and placed them in the kitchen, where Sekhmet had stayed behind to wash them and make sure they were put away. He was, after all, the only one who understood Kayura's bizarre storage methods.
Later in the afternoon, Dais made his way to the kitchen in thoughts of seeing what might be done about dinner, only to find Kale already eyeing their few choices. They had exchanged glances and set about preparation, the small clangs and scrapes the only noise to be heard.
Kayura bumped into Sekhmet on her way down to see what they'd all been up to all afternoon.
"Dinner is ready," he informed her, and she followed him to where the others were.
This meal was an entirely different affair than lunch had been, and though Kayura sorely missed the atmosphere, she was unsure of how to clear the air of what had happened earlier.
Finally, the silence was too much, and she cleared her throat. The Warlords looked up from the food, their faces mixes of apprehension, discomfort, and, she thought, an infinitesimal amount of curiosity.
"When I was in the water, unconscious," she began, and then hesitated, realizing how ridiculous the next part might sound, "I saw the Ancient." Her eyes rose to meet theirs and gauge their reactions. They were impossible to read.
"And what did he have to say?" Kale looked down at his all but empty bowl, nudging a lone noodle with his chopsticks. They all knew it had something to do with their fallen comrade, but that was still a sensitive subject amongst them, and they did not often bring it up. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed both Dais and Sekhmet staring intently into their bowls as well, as though wishing to be rescued by the remaining rice grains.
Kayura paused, judging what might be the best way to present the information. Eventually, she spoke.
"When one dies in the Mortal Realm, where does his spirit pass to?"
"The afterlife," Dais answered matter-of-factly.
"So where does the spirit go when one dies in the Nether Realm?" she asked, watching as each of their heads slowly rose and at least a partial realization of what she was getting at sunk in.
"But why would that…" Sekhmet trailed off, and then answered his own question. "Mortals do not die here! It doesn't happen! Yet when it did, his spirit had nowhere to go, as it was already in a land of spirits!"
"Exactly," Kayura nodded.
"So what does this mean?" Dais said flatly. "What can we do about it? His body is gone. And I doubt there are instructions lying around for resurrecting dead humans."
Though her heart sank slightly at his words, Kayura turned to face him with an irritated expression.
"Don't be so pessimistic!" she snapped. "We might be able to think of with something if we work together." Even to her, the words were starting to sound desperate, but she continued. "And the Ancient was the one who came up with the idea. Would not he know better than any of us what is possible from beyond the grave?"
"Well then why don't you ask him for some pointers on how we should go about this miracle?" Dais bit out angrily. The other two Warlords looked at him in surprise, and he suddenly found himself wishing he were anywhere else.
"That was cruel," Sekhmet said softly, shooting him a glare before rising and moving over to where Kayura now stood, her back pointedly facing the man she was calling a jerk under her breath.
Dais felt Kale's eyes on him as well, and averted his gaze to the wall. He hadn't actually meant to burst out like that, but for the moment his pride would not let him admit such. After all, he reasoned, he was making a valid point.
A long silence stretched, and eventually Kayura's voice came softly to his ears from the other side of the room. "Would it hurt to try?"
ZOMG. Ok, so maybe it has been just this side of forever since I updated this. Or anything. Sorry?