It feels sooo good to be back with this.
I know that this chapter is less than what I usually write for Rutilus, but I've decided that this is the only way I won't get burnt out from the story. My chapters will be shorter, I'll try to make them more frequent, and I'll finish this! It will happen! And those of you who are waiting for another Energy-Heart chapter, it'll come next week.
I know this is a long time coming and many people will either love it or hate it, but I hope you guys enjoy it all the same. I'm serious about continuing this. My year-long writers block has finally been Mind Waved away. This chapter is brought to you by A Lover's Charm by Deas Vail. I listened to it religiously as I wrote this entire chapter. Besides the part I wrote at work, of course. lol! They have no idea how much I nerd out on company time. ;)
Thanks for reading. I think you've waited long enough.
I passed from male human to male human.
My spirit was torn. I was a ruined soul.
My white dragon.
Oh, how I longed for him the first century I served humanity. At the beginning of my slavery I tried in vain to search for my love. I strained to sense his presence within the skies, the mountains, everywhere I was taken. The hopelessness of this search didn't dawn on me for a long time. My new form stopped me from being able to perceive the world like I used to.
They battled over me. They battled inside me. I was hailed as the greatest fighting machine for mankind. There was nothing I could do to control my heavy metallic limbs. I was no longer free. My once sweet independence that I had always taken for granted was gone. Their complete domination over my body scared me. I grew fearful of the humans. I could easily destroy them all with a single sweep of my huge hand. But it was destruction at someone else's bidding. Eventually, my fear quailed into resignation.
Decades passed and my mind began to dull with the loneliness.
I was still aware of myself, but I grew strangely apathetic.
I didn't know if he was searching for me. I had long-lost hope. I wondered for a while if he was still alive. What if the humans – who were growing stronger as the years went by – killed him? What if he had been reborn in the ashes of his old body and he had forgotten all about me?
Specific vox magic didn't exist. Not yet, anyway. Anyone who wanted to pilot me only needed to touch my empty, gold, crystal heart and I was theirs. My chest would open with a disgusting hiss and the little monsters would climb inside and have their way with me. I slaughtered villages, crushed females and young ones, and - with one sweep of my sword – rained lightning on the battlefields; successfully ending the pathetic lives of those facing me… but no.
Not me.
The evil one inside me. The one forcing me to kill.
And always the pathetic male human inside would be eventually taken over. And then another male would take up my power.
Then another…
Then another…
There were others like me. I don't know how these spirits were twisted like I was. I didn't really care. My apathy had grown so much so that I was practically lifeless. I was a doll. The human's doll. I forget how long the battles went on. The time passed and I didn't care. Everything slowly melted into a faded dream. There were occasions that peace would reign over the people who held me captive and I was used only for special purposes. Rituals for their god worship or anniversaries of some past war or decoration for a stone cathedral. It was endless. Eventually, the humans who had won the last century of battles kept me in a round chamber in some obscure temple in the middle of their primitive city. I don't remember much of what the place looked like. I can only show you what I truly recall. I knelt in quiet darkness waiting, but many years passed without being used. No one entered my temple. The large stone doors remained closed and it seemed as if I was forgotten. I knelt in darkness in the center of the round prison. I fell even more into my solitude. The temple slowly eroded around me. I had become a dismembered shadow. A lost legend. The solitude was encompassing. I no longer saw the sun. I began to long for battle just to see my old world. But I continued to stay alone.
Abandoned. For countless decades.
And then the day finally came.
I was hardly aware of the faint footsteps outside my door. They were softly pounding through the long hallway of the main temple, coming closer and closer to me. The huge doorway that blocked the hallway creaked open with a gravely scrape against dirt. I was stirred slightly from my subconscious state by a figure – a young woman - slipping through the crumbling doors of the temple. She was followed by a dark-headed young man holding a small stick with fire on it. Though the torch lit the room considerably, they held their arms in front of them blindly. The woman gasped as the light slowly sprinkled on my gigantic robotic form kneeling in the middle of the circular chamber.
She took several steps away from me in fright. The man dropped the torch – which continued to burn weakly on the ground – and gently grabbed her arm. He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her petite body. He was whispering. Their language was foreign to me. She let out a small cry and grasped him tightly to her. They held each other, embracing like the world was ending.
Maybe it was.
I had no way of knowing.
Their lips connected. I stirred even more, watching their emotional exchange. It was tender, brief. What was going on?
The man broke the kiss and let her go. She stood still watching him as he picked up the torch and made his way closer to where I had knelt for so long. I felt the heat of the small flame and it woke me.
I knew fire…
I loved fire…
The young woman was crying. She sobbed out some words and the man answered her without looking. He was busy brushing away the cob webs that had wrapped around my metal limbs. I watched him, waiting. I saw his young face was settled into a grim expression. He made his way closer. The heat grew.
I was fully aware.
The man placed a foot on the eroded steps that allowed easy access to my activation crystal. I was so focused on his approach and likewise, he was so intent on his mission, neither he nor I saw the woman grab a loose stone from the ragged floor and approach him from behind. Suddenly, he was struck. The woman had hit him with a rock to the head. He slumped to the floor breathing, but no longer conscious.
I was curious. She was crying even harder.
The torch went out as it clattered to the stone floor. It echoed in my round empty chamber. I heard more than saw her grab his arms and pull, her voice groaning with his weight. My curiosity increased. Eventually, he was lying in a dark heap in the corner. I waited silently.
She held her skirts as she ran up the dangerously ancient steps towards me. Stopping right in front of my still body, she looked into my solid face and murmured words. Her voice was soft, almost as if she was in awe of me.
Her warm, trembling hand pressed against my crystal, forcing my chest to open with the familiar hiss. I watched her wipe her tear-stained face on the long sleeves of her dress. She sniffled and turned to look back at the comatose young man lying on the ground beside the rubble wall. She whispered to him in her strange language before climbing up my metal body and pulling herself onto the cockpit. I closed her in and felt her small arms reach through the main controls of my arms and legs. She raised and I stood. She walked and I walked with her. She was crying again. I felt her trembling hands as if they were my own. I felt her tears as if they were streaming on my own hideously metal face.
She walked me to the doorway and I pushed it open with a placid palm. The door crunched on the rock strewn floor and I felt the wind brush against my body. It was like a sigh. She walked me through the tall hallway and out of the temple itself. The outside world had become a wonder to me. The city that had once held the temple was a ruin. Green foliage climbed the crumbling stone structures. My huge temple had half collapsed in itself. Two horses waiting outside the open doors reared at the sight of me.
The sky was crying with a refreshing haze of rain. Though the wind was cold, it felt like heaven. If I had remembered how to, I would have lifted my waters to greet this lovely weather. The girl sobbed in my chest, breaking my momentary reprieve.
I had a sudden desire to know why she wanted me. Why had she freed me after I had been held captive for so long? Was I going to raze another village? Destroy another kingdom? For once, I would be happy to oblige. The solitude had changed me.
I think back now on those feelings of mine. The excitement of being in use, even if it was to destroy. I'm not ashamed of them. Maybe, just maybe, I already understood what was about to happen.
On some ethereal level of my consciousness, I understood that the time had finally come for us to meet again.
Her grip on my controls tightened and I felt her legs push off the ground. She ran with me. She continued to move, further and further. My joints clanked and groaned with disuse. The drizzling rain continued to softly coat my metal armor. We passed the ruins and into long stretches of terrain. She knew nothing of my powers of transportation and I had no way of telling her. The journey was long and obviously tiring for her. Still we kept going. I listened to her panting gasps. I knew she was weak, but she kept pushing herself. I was strangely impressed by this little woman. She handled my controls tentatively, even gently.
A stone city slowly came into view. Despite the never-ending drizzle of rain, the air was filled with flames and smoke. The cries of humans grew even louder than the clanks of my body as we neared the leveling city.
I heard him before I saw him. The roar of his cry was so piercingly loud, the thundering sky couldn't match it. A white streak sped through the air and a brilliant stream of fire followed in his wake. Even more screams pierced the stormy sky. I was familiar with this scream.
It was the scream of death.
My metal feet pounded the wet ground, closing in the space between us. Yanking my clanking arm to my back, she grabbed the hilt of my sword and pulled. A golden short blade erupted from my shoulders with a click and a screech. More cob webs followed the sword as the blade extended out of the shiny hilt and lengthened. I saw the white blur flash across the darkened sky once more and felt the heat of more flames after it. My dragon… my beautiful white lover…
Seeing him both completed and tore me.
My metal feet stomped closer and closer. He roared again in anger. The humans cried and shouted. The fire caught on the tents and banners. She pushed me further. I was a little ways past the large entrance gate before he finally caught notice of my loud approach. My pilot stopped and backed up several steps as he swooped in closer to us. His anger was so deep.
His hatred burned so brightly.
He was so beautiful.
There was absolutely nothing I could do for him. The people of the city cheered through screams of fear and pain. Their machine of victory was once again born anew from the ruins where they'd left me in. I saw his large dark eyes narrow in rage. With an enormous gust of wind that knocked several humans off their feet, he landed on a crumbling tower and looked down at me with contempt.
"Who are you?" He shouted in the old tongue. The humans covered their ears. "Are you another spirit broken away from Rutilus? Just like the purple flowers she loved so much?" His voice – though still filled with hate – sounded thick with longing. "Did Law curse you as well just for loving her?"
My spirit froze.
He didn't know it was me? He thought I was just another trapped spirit?
I wanted to shout with the pain that raced through my very being.
My metallic mouth made a strange screeching crunch. It was with a pang of fright that I realized I'd forgotten how to talk. Solitude had taken this ability away from me. I felt the woman shiver in fear. She shouted bravely with a trembling voice from the cockpit at Escaflowne and he tilted his head as he listened to her. She pointed my sword tip towards him as if in challenge.
"This is not a wise move, Guymelef. I will destroy you just like the others if you get in my way. Tell the human inside you to make you stand aside. I do not wish to harm someone who was loved by my River. And in doing so, I will spare her life." In her language, he answered the girl and she clinched my huge fists. My raised golden sword shot a bolt of lightning out of the tip and it streaked to the dark sky like a vibrant snake.
I was afraid. I was afraid for my lover. I was afraid of the humans. Never before had I felt such mixed emotions: longing, hatred, fright, and love. Maybe being around the humans for so long made me feel like they do. I began to recall various bloody scenes of valor the humans did. Brave acts of kindness and sacrifice. They seemed to tap into strength when all hope was gone. It was this strength that always tipped the tides of battle. I searched for this power within myself. I could feel my anger, frustration, desire all building up within myself.
And for the first time since my slavery to the humans began, I began to fight against my pilot. I battled with the woman's control over my limbs. I forced the strength that I didn't possess into the metallic arms and legs that refused to move with my will. The girl inside me gasped and shouted words I didn't understand. My arms twitched violently and her grip on my controls tightened.
I willed the pointing sword to lower only several feet, but it was enough to make the girl scream again. I saw his anger slowly transform into confusion. His long tail thrashed against a shambling structure and it crumbled into dust.
"Who are you?" he repeated slowly crawling down the building. His wings folded on his back and his clawed feet dug into the stone wall. He stretched his beautiful long neck to inspect me closer. The girl screamed again. Lightning flashed in the sky and the sheen on my golden sword rippled like waves.
And then he knew.
I saw the recognition flash across his face.
"Rutilus…"
His whisper was soft. I forced the sword lower to the ground in reply. Suddenly, there was a familiar hiss and my cockpit opened. As the girl jumped out of my body, I immediately thudded to my knees on the soggy ground. The golden blade dropped from my unresponsive hand. My chest closed and I remained still.
My love crawled further down the tower, trying to reach me.
That was when the humans attacked.
Throwing long, thick chains with wicked, extended hooks on the ends, Escaflowne howled in agony as the restraint wrapped around his legs, tail, torso, and neck, sending him crashing to the ground. The hooks dug past his hard scales and ripped into his tender flesh underneath. Blood ran where he tried to pull out the sharp hooked knives. He gave a blast of fire that incinerated the rows of humans holding several of the chains down. He fought against them, pushing himself off the wet cobblestone. He flapped his strong wings against the chains in vain. The hooks ripped into him further and he howled in agony.
Had I known how, I would have shouted his name. Had I the strength, I would have obliterated all the humans before me. Had I the courage, I would have saved him from the fate he eventually resigned himself to. I could only kneel and watch in horror. The strength I'd tapped into was gone.
Their long spears drove into him like daggers. Another hooking chain wrapped around his snout, successfully stopping him from using any fire. His struggling became weaker as his blood continued to drip in small rivers down his lovely white body. And finally, he lay still, panting with frustration, pain, and exertion. His beautiful dark eyes stared at me with such longing, such want. Strapping the chains tightly onto practically unbreakable rings on the wall, the humans moved closer towards Escaflowne and he snarled through his clamped mouth.
They spoke in the sharp language to each other; obviously discussing his fate.
The rain grew harsher as night began to fall. Slowly, several individual humans were elected to stand guard over us. I continued to kneel and my love continued to lie there and bleed. The agony in my heart was ripping me. I tried once more to speak, but again my helmeted face made a screech. I tried to lift my arms and my body responded with a loud clank and a hiss. His dark eyes were fixed on me. Suddenly, I saw his expression grow vacant as if something was speaking to him. I watched him twitch under the chains, a shudder running through his body. The male humans around him raised their spears, but he made no move to escape. His long body relaxed and his eyes grew hazy.
Hours passed and a figure slowly approached from my right.
A female.
She called out to the men guarding Escaflowne. I recognized her as the girl who had piloted me. She walked closer and one of the men ran to her. He grabbed her arm and shouted angrily in her face. She winced in pain. Suddenly, the dark-headed young man from the temple came up from behind her and pushed the man away. He stood in front of her, protecting her from the other humans. He glared at them and they backed down with snarling remarks.
Through my pain, I watched this scene with curiosity. The woman moved closer to me and another guard yelled. The dark-headed man shouted back and they all fell silent watching her. She lifted a petite hand to my collapsed arm. She whispered something to me, looking into my armored face. I knew right then that she was trying to understand how I'd moved by myself against her controls. The expression in her green eyes washed through me. I tried to build my strength again. I mustered all my will together…
And shifted my arm against her hand…
She gasped and took several steps back. She glanced at Escaflowne and her sentence rose in a questioning note. My body gave a loud hiss and clank as my arm scraped further on the ground, closer to him… closer to my love.
I may not be able to talk to him, but I could still try to touch him. I reached out further, my lifeless hand dragging against the cobblestone. It was so hard. I struggled to lift my heavy arm off the ground completely and it fell back to the ground with a crunch.
Suddenly, a human hand touched my golden crystal and my chest opened automatically. I stopped struggling with my unresponsive body and waited. The black-haired young man climbed over my knelt thigh and jumped into my cockpit. I closed him in immediately and felt him strap into the controls. I rose to stand with him and I took a step closer to Escaflowne… then another… then another…
I could feel the heat of his body. The always glowing warmth of his fire washed through me. The other humans yelled and cried in their strange language, but the man ignored them. I was right beside my love now. The man knelt me down beside Escaflowne's still white body and lifted my metallic hand to him.
At long last, I touched him on his beautiful, stretched neck. His white scales brushed against my palm.
After my centuries of desire. Of terrible loneliness and agony.
My lover was finally in my hands.
The man began to unstrap himself and my chest opened to let him out. He jumped away and the girl moved to stand by his side. Together, they stood looking me.
We stayed like that the rest of the night. My dragon in his oblivion and me watching over him. The rain began to lighten as the night wore on.
Eventually, the sky grew a brighter shade of blue; announcing the coming dawn. More humans had crowded around us now talking in their strange tongue. They had become braver now that Escaflowne was still. The young couple held hands and whispered to each other. The girl had a strange expression in her green eyes. Was it pity? Sadness?
A streak of sunlight sprayed across the stones and slowly moved closer and closer to our still forms.
It was hours later that the light was on my love; reflecting off his sharp, white scales. Instantly, the patch of sun grew brighter and brighter. The light pierced off and began traveling on his body. The sun fed the brightness. The humans around us screamed and backed away. The light hit the spot under my hand and I felt his body growing strangely distorted. It covered his brilliant wings and they began to retract. The chains that had dug in his body fell away. His neck shortened. His back legs twisted themselves. The light was so blinding, the humans began to run. The girl near me covered her eyes with her arms.
He raised higher, his body shifting and clanking. Transforming…
Like metal…
Like me…
And then the voice. The deep monotone voice from so long ago resounded in my helmeted head. And instantly I remembered how to speak.
My tongue was freed.
"He has chosen to be by your side."
"Law…" I croaked. More humans screamed.
"I have shown him your suffering at the hands of the humans. He has made a bargain with me."
My metallic hand began to slide off him as his neck continued to transform. Suddenly, my sliding fingers were trapped in midair. His newly formed white armored palm had grabbed mine. He twisted and clanked. His metal shoulders cracked with his bending spine. And still, he held my hand in his.
My beautiful dragon…
"I will allow you to serve the humans side by side together, but there are conditions."
"Conditions…" I whispered.
"He will choose a man from this land, for these are the people who finally conquered him. This man and only this man will be able to pilot him into battle. Once his chosen pilot is dead, Escaflowne may choose another."
"Why is this happening?" If I had tears, they would have made rivers.
"The curse of Water and Fire is still upon you two. Or had you forgotten?"
My silence was enough of an answer for Him.
"He will remain in this land. His spirit will be tied to the Guymelef just as you have been. We have agreed that he can enter his pilot's mind only in dire circumstances and nothing more. Also, he will not be fully active unless you're pilot has been found."
"My pilot?" my voice clanked with my armored face. "What are you saying?"
Law was silent for a moment. "I am taking your spirit from your current body. You are to travel the world in the form of a small stone. Your pilot will come to you when you are needed. However, your Guymelef form will remain by his side in this peace-loving country. You will be able to talk to your pilot, help them, console them. You are their guide to their destiny."
My kneeling form almost fell forward. "Wait… what are you saying? You are separating me from him? Please… I just found him again, Law. You can't take him away from me…After all these years of waiting in the darkness. How can you do this to beings you've created? Can't you show some mercy?"
"This is the only way you may be together." Law's voice sounded firm, but there was a hint of sadness. "I am sorry, but you two are cursed. You will remain cursed. This is beyond my control."
"My spirit will be in a stone and my pilot will find me? Only then will I see him again?"
"The two of you will only be together during war. You will wander once more after the conflict is done unless you can find a way to break the curse."
"What is this curse, Law?" I cried. "How can I break it?"
"There are other conditions," Law continued, ignoring my desperate questions. "I have seen how the woman handled you with care. You have suffered enough at the hands of men. Only a woman may pilot you, my beautiful Water. This is a blessing I bestow upon you."
"Why did Escaflowne do this? We will still be separated again once my pilot has fulfilled her destiny. I will still be alone!"
"This is what I have chosen for myself," Escaflowne's deep voice growled from his recently formed helmeted face. His heavy hand trembled in mine. "I have searched for you for too long, Rutilus. I have torn down cities in pursuit of even a hint of your existence. I finally found you. I won't let you go. Even if you have to leave me, you'll come back. This is the only way, my love."
"You've doomed yourself to a fate like mine." I whispered. "How could you do it? You were so beautiful and now you are twisted just like me. You are trapped in the same prison I am in. You shouldn't have done this. You needed to keep going on for the both of us. And now you will serve these beasts just like me. I... I cannot bear it..." My voice died out. Escaflowne's thick fingers squeezed my own. Only I understood the amount of strength it took for just that simple movement.
"Better to share your fate in this prison than to continue living in the hell without you." His deep voice caught on his words. "This way you won't keep drifting away from me. We will be together eventually, if only during war. You won't be away forever. You'll always find your way back to me. All I have to do is wait for you."
"But why this place? Why this country?"
The glow of Escaflowne's transformation lessened considerably. I saw his vibrant pink operation jewel and flowing red cape. His white metal body was kneeling with mine. "Though they are primitive, there are those who possess gentleness and wisdom." Escaflowne's voice was one of complete acceptance. "The young man who moved you to me… I have decided already to choose him."
"You have chosen him already?" My head scraped loudly on my shoulders as it turned to look at the couple standing before us.
The black-haired man had his dark eyes wide. He glanced around at his fellow gaping humans. He swallowed nervously.
"By stepping to him, the White Dragon has chosen his pilot." Law murmured. The man looked around him as if he heard understood Law's voice. With a slight nod of comprehension, he let go of the woman's hand and walked closer to my lover's side. Escaflowne immediately rose from his kneeling position with a creaking hiss. My hand was still clasped to his and was pulled slightly upwards. The man stood before the towering Escaflowne.
"Yes. He is worthy." I agreed. "And now I have to find mine."
"When you find this female human, I'll be waiting for you. He cannot pilot me without you, remember that. I will be waiting for you. We are destined."
"It might be centuries before I see you..."
"Then I'll see you in centuries. This was my only way, my love. I won't be without you anymore. We will always be together."
"I love you," I whispered. My hand fell limply from his and it crashed into the ground cracking the cobblestone below. "I always have. Ever since that day you came to my River. I loved you the first time I sensed your presence."
"I love you," he whispered back to me. "I loved you when your golden waters caught my eye. I've loved you always. Goodbye, my beautiful river."
"This curse will end. Someday, this curse will break and we'll be together. Do you hear that, Law?" I demanded louder. "This won't last forever! I'll find a way to break this cu-"
Blinding white hit me. I no longer felt Escaflowne at my side. My spirit had torn itself from the metal encasing that had served as my prison for so many centuries.
In its place… was a small pink stone.
Green eyes opened instantly in the dark room. Heart racing, Hitomi sat up in bed and curled her legs to her chest. The stone on her necklace was brilliantly glowing under her pajamas. It didn't burn her, but it was enough to light up the entire room with a pink hue. Her body shook as the recesses of the vision slowly receded from her subconscious.
You… you…
And now you know. Rutilus' voice was calm. I promised I'd tell more of my past once you were accepted by the Fanelians. You've been approved to be shown to my Guymelef form tomorrow by the council. I thought it was only appropriate to continue the story.
How can you be so calm about this? She was shaking. Clasping her pale hands together, she tried to will them to stop. Only in war will you two be together... And then you have to leave again...
Sucks, doesn't it?
What will happen to you?
Rutilus sighed. Destiny will eventually lead me to the next Pilot. I will be passed through different hands until the right one finds me. It's the way my existence works now. Travel around, find a Pilot, train said Pilot, help the Pilot save the world, and then travel once more.
Pilots like me... How did you get to me? She was suddenly in awe of how important she really was to everything. Because she was destined to be here, she was able to reunite her best friend in the world with her one true love.
How I got to you... that's the next part of the story… Rutilus was quiet for a moment. I don't think you are ready for that part yet.
Hitomi pouted. Grabbing a pillow, she hugged it to her chest.
Why not?
It's a bit complicated…
Oh, and I can't handle complicated?
Honey, you can't even Transport yet. Don't begin to think you can handle century old drama, okay?
I'm not a child, Rutilus. I understand pasts can be dark. I mean, look at what you just showed me.
Yeah… but this didn't involve your family. This was only a vision of my life as a Guymelef.
Which wasn't pretty, Hitomi admitted.
Exactly. I don't want this burden on you just yet. Trust me; I'll let you know what you need to know when you need to know it.
Overprotective jerk…
Tough love, kid. Deal with it.
Alright, fine. But what about this curse thing? What is this exactly?
Earth did it, remember? She cursed us before she broke away from the Elemental world. Water and Fire will never be together. This is the only way around that spell.
Do you have any clues about how to break it since then?
The River sighed. None. I still at square one with that. Most of the time I'm so busy trying to find my Pilot that I can't even concentrate on anything else. As soon as this stone hits my activation crystal, I'll be able to be with Escaflowne once more. That is what I've been living for.
The green-eyed girl gasped. Swinging her legs over the bed, she jumped out of the sinking mattress to her bed robe on the floor. If you've been waiting this long, let's go now! Why wait? I can't stand to keep you two apart any longer.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there, crazy! The River said quickly. You have to come to me with witnesses. The Council needs to see me stand with you in front of me. That's the only way to make sure you are accepted permanently, remember?
She stopped in the middle of putting her arm through the soft sleeve. But… but I want you to be happy, Rutilus. You shouldn't have waited so long to tell me.
I will wait a few more hours more. I would rather you be proven as my Pilot than a secret meeting with my long-time lover… though now that you mention it, that does sound pretty nice…
Weird robot love… Hitomi made a face before dropping her robe back on the ground. She slowly climbed back into the covers and wrapped her arms around her legs once more. Which, by the way, I thought I was only your second pilot. Her green eyes narrows cheekily. You lied to me! You have actually had plenty of pilots! What a pilot hussy!
She felt the River's indignation rise. Well, excuuuuuse me! You're the second one that has been destined to pilot me and save the world. So sorry I forgot to add particulars on that. Didn't know you'd be so sensitive on the issue.
She laughed and shook her head. Who knew the mighty Rutilus Flumen would be so easy to tease.
No wonder Balgus calls you a brat.
She continued to laugh as another question popped into her head. Hey, Rutilus, what about vox magic? How did that come around?
The River sighed. To be honest, I have only a few guesses as to why other humans have been given vox magic besides those that are chosen by Escaflowne and myself. I think these people were pilots long ago to other Guymelefs. You remember that I fought against several others. She was quiet for a moment. I didn't learn until later that my purple flower changed with me. It transformed into a Guymelef later once my Golden River was gone. Several spirits of animals changed as well when I left. The water is still there in the Trimane Pasture, but they sensed my presence was gone. They followed me.
So those Guymelefs you were fighting against…
They were old friends of mine, yes.
Hitomi didn't know what to say. The humor she'd felt before fell completely flat.
I understand. It was such a long time ago.
Are they still around?
My flower is. The spirit heard where my Guymelef form was kept and made another deal with Law. He sure is a fan of bargaining, our Creator. Anyway, He transported it to Fanelia. Flower is in the same chamber as Escaflowne and I. She can't be used as well.
That still doesn't answer why Balgus has dark blue vox and Dilandau had silver.
They must have taken a bit of the power with them from the various Guymelefs they piloted long ago - maybe even from me. Generations and generations of families pass the power that had accumulated form that one family member. It adapted to that specific line and evolved. It became their personal vox. The color, the style, even the amount is based on the mutation of Guymelef magic. That's the only answer I have for you.
So, I have vox because I am the Pilot for you, Van has it because of Escaflowne, and his Vehotus have it because their ancestors might have piloted you long ago.
Me or someone else, yes.
That surprisingly makes sense. And the man who Escaflowne chose as his pilot...?
Van's ancestor, Hanlen Fanel. My dragon has chosen from the Fanel family since then. I don't blame Escaflowne. There doesn't seem to be any rotten eggs in the family tree. The country has built the dynasty of Fanelia with Escaflowne's Pilot as their king.
I see… And my line?
That's later, Hitomi. I promise I will continue my story, but that is for another day. For now, you should go back to sleep. You have a long day of ceremonies ahead.
Hitomi yawned despite herself. And you have an old lover to reunite with.
About time! Rutilus giggled like a little girl. Good night, my little one. I missed you, by the way.
The red-head frowned. She lowered into her pillows and pulled her scarlet blankets to her neck. Missed me? What do you mean?
Feels like it's been years since I've talked to you.
You are so strange sometimes.
Takes one to know one!
Hitomi smiled. She closed her green eyes.
I missed you, too.
I seriously couldn't help putting that last part in. Haha! It has been too long for this story. I missed it so much. I'm glad I finally got this part of the story finished. Now I can continue with more Vehotus antics, war planning, and some fluffy scenes I've had planned for years! Seriously, this entire chapter has been in my mind longer than my entire college career and beyond. That's pretty sad that I've FINALLY gotten to it.
As I said before, check out the song A Lover's Charm. I practically have it memorized by now. Also, check out the song Apotheosis from the video game Journey. It played a big role in getting me to write this chapter. It's absolutely beautiful.
Also, stated above, I have started a new story which will be back next week. I want to make these weekly updates if I can. One chapter on Energy-Heart and one on Rutilus. The main reason I couldn't continue my Rutilus chapters was they were becoming overbearingly long. With shorter chapters, I'll have more stamina and be able to continue further. Which means more updates for you guys. :),Life really takes the writing out of you sometimes. It feels good to be back. I missed this so much!
I hope you liked it regardless of the excessively long wait for it and the shorter length. It almost made me cry actually as I was writing the scene with her and Escaflowne. I hate writing sadness! Action, yes, but sadness...? Man...
Thanks for reading and being a life-long fan of the story. You guys are the reason I haven't abandoned this completely. I have too much going on to leave this by itself. It has to be finished. :) And it will.
Thank you again (bows). You are all my muse.
blue...