Chapter 11: Shadows of the Past (pt. 2)
Monastery of the Lost, Rooftop…
Yasha
The demigod of melancholy observed his new surroundings with careful interest. He was standing on the flat roof of what appeared to be an enormous monastery, for he could see cross-shaped patterns in the railing of the roof edge and a large bell tower standing on one end. Finding no one besides himself on the roof, Yasha sighed and began to walk. After traversing some distance, he noticed a small figure clothed in an elaborate blue and white robe with long black hair standing with its back to him not far away. Despite only seeing their back, Yasha instantly recognized the figure, and froze in place as confusion and regret struck him.
"Mithra?" he asked quietly.
The young girl turned around to face him with her violet eyes. She looked just like she had the last time he had seen her. She smiled fondly up at him.
"It's good to see you, Uncle." Mithra said.
"I don't understand…what are you doing here? Didn't your father save you?"
"He did…and lost his life in the process. He gave up his life to kill Chakravartin and rescue me."
"I see…that certainly does sound like Asura." he sighed at the memory of his brother in-law. "You didn't answer my first question."
Mithra nodded. "I know. I'm here because I have passed on, just like you and father. I've been dead for so long now…that I've come to realize something very important about you, Uncle." she glared abnormally at him.
"Mithra?" she never glared.
"During those long, awful twelve and a half thousand years that Deus held me captive to create more mantra (a kind of spiritual power in Asura's Wrath), you had countless chances to save me. But why didn't you?"
Yasha paused. He averted his gaze, too wracked with guilt to meet his niece's eyes.
"I was…certain…that our cause was absolute. I knew that you suffered, especially after Deus slew Asura right in front of you. But I believed that although our actions were not the purest, that the justice our cause would serve would be worth the cruelty we enacted on the humans and you. I know now that I was wrong, and have regretted not coming to your aid sooner."
Mithra shook her head at her uncle. "Do you honestly think I can forgive you after what happened? You let them take me, you let them kill father! You said so yourself, you don't deserve to be called my uncle!"
Yasha looked back at his niece in shock. Such an outburst was unlike her.
"It's time you pay for your crimes! Father, destroy him!"
Yasha could only watch as a man sized being with pitch black skin did a superhuman leap over Mithra and come crashing down on top of him. Holding back a cry of pain, Yasha looked up to see a familiar pair of angry eyes glaring at him, along with a mouth that sat eternally open, giving him a clear view of the deadly energy boiling within the creature.
"Asura?!" Yasha exclaimed.
"YAAAAAAAAASHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" the monster bellowed.
Berserker Asura grabbed his brother by the head and tossed him towards the end of the rooftop. The demigod reached out and grabbed hold of the ground with a hand in time to keep himself from slamming into the railing. Steadying himself, Yasha struck his combat stance in preparation for the grisly battle that was sure to follow.
"Consumed by your anger yet again...how typical." He bolted forward. "Even in death, you do not change!"
The demigod of wrath unleashed a terrible beastly roar and charged to meet his brother. Both fighters swung at each other with fury. Yasha's blows were as quick and powerful as usual, but did little to the behemoth of Asura's berserker form. The rage fueled monster roared again and proceeded to relentlessly beat Yasha to the floor. The melancholic demigod sank deeper and deeper into the concrete with each blow, and felt his consciousness rapidly slipping away from him. Asura stopped beating him just when he was on the verge of passing out, but kept a fist ready to strike the final blow. Mithra walked over and glared at her uncle's mangled form with cruel pity.
"You always were the weaker one." she muttered. "Now, it is time for you to return to the land of the dead. Farewell, Uncle."
Asura roared and descended his fist.
"Not yet!"
The berserker and Mithra both paused in surprise. Yasha, hanging on to his life by threads, had managed to stop Asura's fist in mid swing. The dark haired demigod slowly began to rise to his feet, still holding back his brother's arm.
"I know...that I cannot be forgiven...but..." he glared with all of the fury that raged within him at his family. "I cannot die now!"
The markings on Yasha's body began to glow a brilliant blue as he went into unlimited mode, and he yelled in anger before sending a powerful kick that sent Asura flying far away. As the wrathful berserker crashed into the floor of the roof, he reverted back to his original form.
"I made a promise...that I would not repeat my mistake. Not again!" he clenched his hand into a fist and held it high. "I have returned to life, and I intend to use my strength as I once did, to protect Gaea, no, to protect the multiverse from the evil that threatens it!"
Mithra stared at her uncle in shock for a time. The demigod's eyes were filled to the brim with resolution as he announced his vow, and a smile crept onto her face.
"Well done, Uncle. Never forget that promise, nor the one to whom you made it." she whispered.
Slowly, Mithra and Asura began to fade from existence, along with the rest of the world. As all became dark, Yasha collapsed in exhaustion. He had conquered his trial.
Hisana
The young vampiress was more than surprised to find herself separated from her companions and suddenly standing in a large circular room with stained glass windows, each of which displayed a scene from her life. Hisana slowly circled the room observing the scenes displayed in the windows with great interest. She stopped at a painting depicting her, Axel, and Evelyn walking side by side. Smiling at the memory depicted in the scene, she continued to walk across the room. She stopped once again at an image of her parents standing with her and her sister in their arms, still newborns at the time. Despite the sweet intention of the image, she found herself distracted by an oddity that suddenly appeared. Standing just behind her birth mother was a shadowy figure whose features were unrecognizable, but was shaped in nearly the exact same way as her birth mother. As she was staring at the strange figure, she felt a faint presence place itself on her shoulder.
"Curious, isn't it? Whoever could that mysterious figure be, I wonder?" said a voice that sounded very familiar.
Hisana whipped around, expecting to see her birth mother's smiling face. What she saw was...very strange. The pale woman resting her hand on her shoulder did have the same face as Ebony, but the rest of her looked completely different. The woman was clothed in a white kimono with black flower like patterns, and her long white hair hung at just beyond her waist. But what was most intriguing was the woman's red/violet eyes, which seemed to stare into the very depths of her soul.
"Who...who are you?" asked Hisana.
The woman tilted her head and smiled at her. "What's this? Don't you recognize your own mother when you see her?"
Hisana stared at the woman in even more confusion. "What are you talking about? You're not my mother."
"No Hisana, she's telling the truth." came a voice slightly higher and more recognizable than the pale woman's.
Hisana turned her head to find her real mother standing on the other side of her, with her gaze directed sorrowfully at the floor. Ebony looked up to meet her daughter's eyes, and looked redy to burst into tears.
"She is your mother, and so am I. Both of us carried you, both of us gave birth to you."
Hisana looked back and forth between the two women, horribly confused.
"I don't understand! Who is she? And how can both of you be my mother?"
The white haired woman rolled her eyes and stepped back so that she was standing in front of Hisana.
"Look, here's how it is. Ebony over there, the woman you know as your mother, has another side of herself, another personality that is made up of everything she despises most about herself, but may become if she falls into despair. I am that other side, her opposite, Ivory." she explained.
"Anything that happened to me, also affected Ivory." Ebony continued. "When I was pregnant with you and Shinzo, she must have seen it as an opportunity to try and escape into our world by being reborn as one of you. Because of that, both you and Shinzo ended up looking almost exactly like her. Your eyes are one of the many traits you inherited from her."
Hisana looked at her reflection in one of the windows, then looked at Ivory. Ebony had spoken the truth, they were nearly identical.
"Wait...one of the traits? But the only similarity I can see between us is our eye color."
Ebony dropped her gaze to the floor. "That's because Yomi and I put an enchantment on you to hide your real appearance, for fear of what would become of you should you remain like Ivory. I didn't want you becoming a sadistic and psychopathic monster like her."
Ivory huffed and let out a sarcastic laugh. "If I recall, this 'monster' is the reason you were able to live to be a parent. Face it Ebony, without me you would've perished a long time ago."
Ebony sighed. "See what I mean?"
All of this new information was taking time to sink in to Hisana, and though she accepted most of it, she was still horribly confused.
"I still don't understand, why are the two of you here?" Hisana asked.
Ivory smirked. "You'll find out soon enough." the counterpart glanced at Ebony. "Shall we begin the trial?"
"Yes, I believe it is time." Ebony nodded.
"Trial? What trial?"
With that, Ivory's smirk grew into a maniacal smile, and she began to laugh insanely as a great surge of dark energy burst from her body, shattering the windows of the circular room. A black cloud of shadow enveloped Ivory as swirling streams of fire, ice, and darkness raged about outside the room. The cloud of shadows dispersed, revealing Ivory's true form. The white haired woman now wore a full suit of shining azure armor, and her eyes were now glowing an ethereal red. In her hand she held a massive and wicked looking black sword with an angry, and living, yellow eye placed near the hilt. Across the room, Ebony had laos undergone a change of appearance. The gentle and motherly form Hisana had come to love now had skin as pale as her counterpart, and wore a long black sleeveless jacket with a star on the back, black bandages over her small chest, short shorts, knee high combat boots, and fingerless black gloves. She held a pure white katana with a ribbon on its hilt in one hand, and a black katana with a white outer edge in the other. Blue flame burned out of Ebony's left eye as she met the gaze of her counterpart. Hisana found herself once again glancing back and forth at the two warriors, amazed by the power they displayed with only their presence.
"Look well, my daughter! This is what we truly are! Warriors, bred for combat and annihilation! With our powers in your hands, you and Shinzo could bring forth limitless destruction! You could shape this entire multiverse to your will! Hahahahahahahahaahahahahaha!" Ivory declared hysterically.
"What she says is true, Hisana." Ebony continued. "If you so wished, the powers of light and dark within you and your sister could bring the worlds to their knees. However, I would have you use them for a more noble purpose, to liberate the multiverse and put an end to Marluxia and his tournament."
Despite the overwhelming power coming from the two warriors, Hisana managed to remain standing and processed their words. Now there was only one thing left to know.
"You have shown me the secrets of my birth, and revealed to me the power that lies within me. For that, I am thankful. But still I don;t understand, what is this trial that you mentioned?"
Ebony stepped forth to respond. "Your desire is to win the tournament so that you can resurrect me and Yomi. While I am glad that you wish to rejoin our family, I must also warn you of the consequences. That is why Ivory has appeared alongside me. By bringing me back to life, you will also be reviving her. Now that your powers have begun to manifest, it will be even harder for me to keep her at bay."
"If Ebony returns, then I may also be able to receive a physical form in your world. Knowing this, will you still pursue your wish? Will you continue to strive for the reunion of our family, even at the risk of bringing me into your world?" Ivory finished.
Hisana paused to think on her decision. The risks were now clear to her, and she did indeed fear what chaos could ensue if Ivory did manifest. There was also the passion in her heart that longed to be reunited with her parents, and even though she hid it well, Hisana could tell that there was more to Ivory than pure evil. It seemed as though her dark personality was less of a natural occurrence and more of a result of what she could only guess was...loneliness. The look in the counterpart's eyes seemed more empty than cruel. Having made her decision, Hisana cleared her throat to address the other occupants of the room.
"I have listened to your words, and I acknowledge the risks. However, I will still continue to pursue my wish to make our family whole again." she looked over at Ivory and smiled. "And if you do become whole, then perhaps you won't be as cold and cruel as you make others believe."
Ivory stared in genuine surprise at the young girl. A look of respect and approval spread across her face, and she nodded. "If that is your final decision, then your trial has ended. Go now, and rejoin your companions." then she added with a smirk. "I look forward to meeting you again soon, Hisana. Just try not to get your hopes up about me."
As the spirits of Ebony and Ivory began to fade along with the room Hisana began to lose consciousness, one last thought crossed her mind. There is good in you, Ivory. I can feel it. The world faded, and Hisana drifted to sleep as she was cast away from the Monastery.
Shinzo
The eldest Takanashi twin looked around at her surroundings with interest. She was currently standing on what appeared to be a balcony overlooking the main hall of a massive cathedral, with a pedestal containing a small pool of water sitting at the back of the balcony. Shinzo walked around the balcony, a pair of her demonic longswords already drawn. Suddenly, she felt a new presence enter the room, and turned to see a tall man with short black hair and blue eyes wearing only a leather jacket on top and a pair of white pants, with a humongous silver zweihander slung across the back of his waist. The man stared sympathetically at Shinzo as she entered her combat stance.
"Who are you? Are you another one of Marluxia's guardians?" she demanded.
The man sighed and shook his head. "No, I do not serve that nobody. I am however, still a guardian in this place. My name, is Kurai Shosetsuka."
At hearing the word Shosetsuka, Shinzo tightened the grip on her swords. "Shosetsuka? As in the man who can see the fate of others? The same person who-"
"Informed Alucard of your terrible future, yes."
"Bastard, aren't you supposed to be dead?"
"I am dead. But the Monastery has temporarily resurrected my spirit so that I may begin your trial."
"Monastery? Trial? WHat the hell are you talking about?"
Kurai shook his head. "You will see soon enough."
Without warning, Kurai dashed over to Shinzo with insane speed, and clamped his hand tightly around her head. Before she could try to react, he then put a hand against his own head and closed his eyes. Shinzo suddenly felt an intense burning sensation inside her mind, and began to cry out in pain.
"Child who has become lost to the darkness, I shall open your eyes to the light once more! Look now upon the fate that has been written for you!" Kurai declared.
In the next instant, Shinzo found herself standing alone in an endless black void. Ghostly images began to appear and disappear around her. She one image of her and Hisana standing across form each other, then in the next she was straddling her now topless younger sister. Then, and image of Shinzo standing beside a silhouetted woman who was with child appeared. While she was still in shock at the scene, an even more terrifying image immediately replaced it. Now there was hellfire raging all around her, with broken and bloodied corpses laying about for miles on end. In the center of it all stood a little girl with long white hair that was streaked with some other indistinguishable color. The child's left eye was a mixture of both green and blue, the right was hidden under a lock of hair. The child turned its head to Shinzo and smiled sweetly. It held out its arms to Shinzo, one of which was twisted and covered in spikes.
"Papa, come play with me..." the girl said in an innocent voice. "Come and play with Ryunoko..."
Shinzo stood horrified at the sight of the child who had obviously caused all of this horrible destruction. She covered her eyes with her hands and screamed.
"No more! Make it stop! I don't want to see anymore!" she cried.
The devastated world began to fade, and the child once again called out to her.
"Papa! Please, don't leave! Don't-"
The child was cut short as Shinzo was returned to the balcony in the Monastery, where she fell to her hands and knees in front of Kurai. The tall man gazed down at her in pity.
"What...what the fuck was that?!" Shinzo stammered.
"What you just saw is the future that awaits you if you continue to pursue a relationship with Hisana." he paused as he saw grief spread across her face. "You saw her, didn't you? Ryunoko, the child of destruction."
"That girl...Ryunoko...is she...?"
"Yes. She is your daughter."
Shinzo remained as she was for a time, still taking in everything she had just seen. It was clear that the child had been near all of the death and destruction she had just witnessed, but if that was so then why had she seemed so sad until she saw Shinzo? And her voice...there was not a trace of cruelty in it. It was almost as if the girl had been searching for her, longing to find her parent. But she had called Shinzo her father, and the pregnant woman she had seen before couldn't be identified. What's more...who's to say that anything she just saw was real? For all she knew, the man called Shosetsuka could just be another one of the many who didn't approve of her desire. Anger and hatred now coursing through her, Shinzo rose and slashed at the tall man. Kurai dodged the strike expertly, and landed on his feet some five feet away. Shinzo glared at him with all the fury she had.
"Lies...all of it, lies! Something so horrible cannot be my future! You're just trying to sway me, just like everyone else!"
Kurai narrowed his eyes at the vampiress. "I have shown you what will come to pass, and still you persist? Very well, if you will not heed my words, then perhaps you will listen to hers."
Before Shinzo could respond, a third presence entered the room. Turning to the side, she thought she saw Hisana standing near her. However, Hisana did not have curved vertebrae like horns, and nor did she have green eyes underneath a pair of glasses, or a pair of jagged wings protruding from her back. It was not her sister who had appeared before her, it was her father, Yomi Takanashi.
"Father." Shinzo said without the slightest hint of emotion.
Yomi stared sadly at her oldest daughter. "Shinzo...what happened to you? What happened to my kind and selfless little girl?"
Shinzo averted her gaze. "I'm not a child anymore, father. You would never understand me now..."
"What? You mean I wouldn't understand you falling in love with your sister? Your own little sister for god's sake! Shinzo, I thought I raised you to be better than this!"
"Better than what? A freak? Well too bad! I love her, and that's never going to change!"
Yomi's eyes went downcast. "What did I do wrong...how did you end up like this?"
Shinzo's hate filled gaze softened a bit. "It's not your fault. You never did anything wrong. In my eyes, you are still the best father anyone could ask for. My feelings for Hisana simply came about on their own, regardless of how you raised me."
Yomi looked back at her daughter. "Shinzo, please stop this. Please don't go down that road any further, it'll only hurt you in the end."
The lost hatred returned in an instant. "I figured you wouldn't try to support me. After all, what kind of parent would approve of their children being attracted to each other?"
"But that's just it! Shinzo, she doesn't love you that way! Hisana would never love you the way you love her! Don't you see? You can't pursue your feelings for her because they'll never be returned! No matter what you do, Hisana will only see you as a sister, nothing more!"
Shinzo paused, then intensified her glare. "So that's it, then? You refuse to believe we can be together as lovers, no matter what?"
Yomi returned the glare and nodded. "It can never happen."
"Fine. If that is how you truly feel, then as of now, everyone, including you father..." an immense aura of red energy engulfed Shinzo. "ALL OF YOU ARE MY ENEMIES!"
When the young vampiress emerged from the storm of red energy, aside from her face, her entire body had become corrupted. Now Shinzo's arms and legs were covered in spikes, and her feet and hands now had wicked claws in place of fingers and toes. Her hair had become long and white, a sort of bone like biological armor had formed over her chest and waist, and her eyes radiated an ethereal red glow. Her longswords no longer resembled a fusion of flesh and metal, they now appeared to be made solely of red, demonic flesh, and now each blade had a living yellow eye embedded just above the hilt. Shinzo let out an inhuman roar, and what looked like a red crystal revealed itself in the center of her chest, woven between strands of flesh. Yomi stared in horror at her transformed daughter, while Kurai sighed deeply with regret.
"Shinzo...what have you become?!" Yomi cried.
"It's no use, Takanashi. Your daughter is gone, only a malfested monstrosity remains now." Kurai said solemnly.
The tall man took a step forward and raised his fists. "The only thing we can do now is fight."
Yomi looked reluctantly at the man, then back at her daughter. Shinzo glared at her with as much hatred as she did Kurai, but Yomi saw something else in those eyes. Pain. Pain from being rejected by her family because of her feelings, pain from realizing that she was truly alone in her cause, pain from her refusal to accept the truth, no matter how many times she heard it. Hesitantly, Yomi held out her hand and summoned her scythe.
"I'm sorry Shinzo...but you leave me no choice!" she declared through tears of regret.
Shinzo merely screamed in response before charging to meet her foes. The malfested vampiress was brutal and relentless in her attacks, and to their surprise both Yomi and Kurai found themselves struggling to keep up with Shinzo's rapidly increasing speed and strength. Both spirits managed to dodge a strike that had been aimed at both of them, and swung with fist and scythe. A pair of Shinzo's longswords flew from their place at her side and blocked the blows. Yomi and Kurai leapt back in surprise, as the third pair joined the other in the air around Shinzo. The malfested girl glared at her opponents and rushed them again, this time striking with all of her blades simultaneously. Realizing they needed to quickly end this battle, Kurai drew his sword, Misery. Seeing an opening, he slashed at the girl's head. Shinzo tried to lean out of the path of the weapon, but could not escape the reach the large blade. Misery retracted after failing to decapitate its target, and instead had left a bloody cut along Shinzo's right cheek that now had smoke rising from the wound. Due to the anti-demon nature of Kurai's sword, the wound would never fully heal. Shinzo reacted to the injury by doubling her efforts to kill her opponents. Two of her blades split away from her to face Yomi, while she focused the other four on Kurai. The tall man, despite his many hundred more years of experience in combat, could not keep up with the relentless onslaught, and to his surprise soon found his sword cut into four pieces by Ryuketsu no Bara. Shinzo roared violently as she drove not her swords, but her clawed hands into Kurai's chest. The tall demigod coughed up a fair amount of blood, then felt his torso torn from his waist and saw no more. Shinzo then directed her attention toward Yomi, who was still dueling with her swords. Now able to focus all of her might on one target alone, Shinzo quickly overpowered her father and in one swift movement, ran her through with the blades in her hands. Yomi looked her daughter in regret as she hung suspended by Shinzo's swords.
"I'm...(cough)...so sorry...Shinzo..." she weakly put her bloodstained hand on her daughter's cheek. "(cough) I'm sorry...you became...like this...(cough)...I hope...you're happy...now..."
The older vampiress's hand fell from her daughter's cheek as she went limp. Shinzo watched as the shadow of her father, that she herself had impaled on the end of her swords, slowly faded into nothing. For a short moment, Shinzo felt terrible regret for what she had just done. It was the last thing she felt before exhaustion overtook her and she collapsed as the Monastery sent her away.
Unknown Location, meanwhile...
The azure knight was barely able to keep himself from bursting out in triumphant laughter as he watched Soul Edge glow and shake wildly in his grasp. At long last, the fragment that was missing had shown its true power, and he knew exactly where to find it. Smiling maniacally under his helmet, Nightmare rose from his quarters to seek out Marluxia.
"The time has finally come. Very soon now, Soul Edge, you will be restored to your true potential. And then, we can escape these bonds. HeheheHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH AHA!"
21 Guardians Remaining...
A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will leave a review. I have an announcement to make: for the next month or so, I will have little to no time to work on this story, as I have much work to do in real life. I promise I will get back to this story as soon as I can, so that this tale of madness can continue. Till next time! DarkNovelist out.