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Crown Shrine
Hush, listen. Yes, you, the reader. What a blatant self-insert this is! But I digress. Now that the Author has intervened, know that the End is approaching. The Typhoon Struggle.
-2b2tEternalLegend
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A clear voice like a chime of remote bells, a voice with no blood in it, spoke out of the air and sent a tingling through Bronze's frame.
"Zacian and Zamazenta have already set foot on the earth and are beginning to ascend," it said. "So are the other Elohim that will fight. And the Small Mortals from Earth are already here."
And then, to the surprise of all, another voice of a similar resonant quality spoke, but different in some subtle nuance of pitch. There were two beings!
"Look upon them, beloved Glastrier, and love them," said the other. "They are indeed but breathing dust in the shape of Arceus, and a careless touch would unmake them. And in their best thoughts are things that if were mingled with our worst thoughts, if we truly thought them, our light would perish and we would become Fallen. But they are in the bodies of the Original One and their sins are forgiven. One of them is named Raihan, which means in one tongue Friend of Elohim."
"How great is your knowledge!" the first said.
"I have been down into the air of the World much, which the Small Ones call Earth. This place is a thickened air as full of the Fallen as Deep Heaven is full of the Light Ones. I have heard the prisoners here talking with divided tongues and Dialga once taught me how it is with them."
From these words, Bronze knew that it was Calyrex, the great archon of the Crown Tundra. But who was the other?
"One Small One wonders who I am, Calyrex," Glastrier said. "He would not understand the full answer. If I told him, he would think it a grievous thing."
"He does not say this, Glastrier," Calyrex said. "That is another strange thing about the Children of Arceus, Men and Pokemon-kind each. Bronze Tercano and all the others assembled here, you would think of what we say best if you think of it as comparable to certain things in this World. They are growing, like the singing-beast that leaves the dam who suckled him."
"The singing beast?" Henry said. "I would gladly hear more of this."
"The beasts of that kind have no milk, and what they bring forth is always suckled by a she-beast of another kind. She is great and beautiful and dumb, and till the young singing-beast is weaned among her whelps and is subject to her, she is discontent. But when it is fully grown, it becomes the most delicate and glorious of all beasts and leaves her. And all wonder at its song."
"I have heard it," Tess said. "In my journeys in other worlds. But only for a moment."
"You are a World-walker, one who has been through the Ways to other Creations," Glastrier said. "You have gone to some places that even I cannot, for we are bound to this one Creation. But this does not make you wise."
"It does not," Caylrex said. "But today is the morning-day, you see. This world is born a bit more today. Now, at this very moment, for the second time, two Elohim are to join again to oppose the Dark Lord. Soon they come and will seat again on the thrones that are reserved for them. This has never been seen before in this Age. Because it has not happened before and the fact that a greater thing happened long ago, this and not that greater thing again occurs here."
"It appears that the boy named Hop has fallen to the ground," Glastrier said.
"Be comforted," Calyrex said. "It was no doing of yours; he is in wonder. You are not so great in the natural order of things, yet you could have prevented a thing so great that Deep Heaven looks upon it with amazement: Death. Be comforted, Small Ones, in your smallness. The Original One lays no merit upon you. Receive and be glad. Have no fear, lest your shoulders become the ones bearing this world."
"When will Zacian and Zamazenta come here?" Casey asked. "And what have they been doing in the time that they were gone? What hand do you have in this?"
"Slow, Small One!" Glastrier said. "You ask many things at once that we will have to answer. As for the Two Princes, they are already well across the tundra. As for what they have been doing, I am sure that they will tell you themselves. As for what we have done, Calyrex will now speak."
"We have circled the paths of Earth with time beyond measure," Calyrex said. "And when we found that the Young Master Henry was in peril and that the Rusted Shield and Sword were to be destroyed, the Original One called us to intervene. Our power brought all of you to where you were to go, but I am afraid that even my efforts were not enough to prevent the Shield from falling into the hands of the Enemy."
"Let us appear to the Small Ones here," Glastrier said. "For they are human and they can tell us what is pleasing to their senses."
The very faint light that betokened the Elohim vanished, and there were then two rolling wheels aflame before the statue. There was nothing but that: concentric wheels moving with a sickening slowness by each other's side. There was nothing terrible about them once you got used to the shock of the sudden transformation, but there was also nothing significant.
"Please, try again," Peony said. "This doesn't look like the statues of you, Calyrex Tor-Oyarsa."
And then Calyrex appeared, much like the statue it was standing before, but it burned like white-hot iron. Glastrier was blurred and intangible, but Bronze perceived a great horse. For a fraction of an inch beyond both of them the landscape could be glimpsed; other than that, they were opaque.
"This is better," Calyrex said. "But only Arceus sees a creature for what it really is. This is not what we truly look like."
"How do you see one another?" Jake asked.
"There are no holding places in your mind that can contain the answer," Calyrex said.
"So, this is just an appearance," Bede said. "Is it even real at all?"
"You see only appearances, Small One. You have never before seen an appearance that was not an appearance, not of the Earth, a Pokemon, a stone, or a body. This appearance is as true of what you see of those."
"I don't understand," Henry said. "Were the other images, the wheels, the light, less real or more real than this one?"
"Again, you cannot hold the answer. There is no meaning to your question. If you see a stone that is thrown at you, far or close, it is the same stone. We are now the right distance from you in terms of appearance, but not in the distance of meters or feet. Yet we are closer to our true operation than we were before."
"Why the light?" Leon asked.
"The light is an appearance enough for you to speak with us. No more was needed: no more is needed now. It is to honor Arceus that we appear now as we are. We can even take on the appearance of a Pokemon and do the things that a Pokemon may do in battle. But that light is a perceptible overflow from our world to yours where an Elohim wishes to take form or console with physical Elohim, like Urshifu."
"Physical?" Peonia said. "If some Elohim, like Urshifu or Zacian and Zamazenta, can take physical form more distinct than yours, then why can't you?"
"Because we are weaker than them. In living among the green curves of the world for time unbidden, our natural power has been ill-spent. I did not appear when you came to this Shrine before because I was gathering my energy to speak with you. I dread what I must do in fighting Spectrier, and I must fight. Urshifu was empowered by the Original One, and the Two Princes have slept and gathered their power for a long time."
At this moment, Bronze noticed a sudden disturbance of sound behind him, and was shocked to see that dozens and dozens of Pokemon were pouring into the Shrine, breaking the stone silence and the cold voices of the gods with a warm note of familiarity. He glanced around and saw almost every Type and kind of Pokemon, romping, prancing, fluttering, crawling, striding. There were bursts of bright orange and colorful plumage, beaks and wings, glossy flanks, liquid eyes, and thickets of tails, surrounding the company and tribesmen on every side.
"What is this?" Pearl said, watching as a Wurmple came up to his lap. "How did all these kinds of Pokemon get across the tundra to here?"
He did not need an answer, for he already knew that whatever provision of Arceus had occurred was beyond him. Instead of giving him an answer, the gods said, "Be still."
There was then a holy light, and Bronze understood then what it meant for light to "rest on" a sacred thing, and not emanate from it. Two beings strode into the shrine, heads lifted in regal and pontifical benediction, and then walked down through the assembly before Calyrex and Glastrier. And the gods bowed their heads and kneeled before the smaller bodies of Zacian and Zamazenta.
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There was a great silence in the Shrine, and Bronze learned many more things about the nature of Elohim.
From when he had last seen them, Zacian and Zamazenta's bodies were similar in form, but their entire essence was different. Whenever he looked at them they seemed to be rushing at him with enormous speed, but whenever his eyes went to Calyrex or another, both appeared to be stationary. They were not there as he was there. It was borne upon him that Zacian and Zamazenta were not moving in relation to him, but in relation to the world, which they perceived as a moving thing.
Their bodies were still the same "color" as before, but now a flush of different hues adorned their manes. They flicked and fluttered over the Two Prince's bodies like a plumage or a halo. Bronze assumed that much like Calyrex and Glastrier, these two Elohim, at least in this state, were not manifesting physically, but rather affecting the relevant parts of the human brain. As such, the colors were unlike anything he had ever seen.
The faces surprised him very much with how they had changed. At the peak of the Hammerlocke Energy Plant, the Two Princes had been canine, and in certain respects still were. But now Bronze could imagine nothing less like the "Zacian and Zamazenta" seen in popular art. What precisely was being shown on their muzzles was not wholly known, but Bronze concluded that this was charity. Here was no "affection" at all: no lingering memory of it even at ten thousand centuries' distance, no germ from which it could spring from any future, no matter how remote. Pure spiritual, intellectual love shot from their faces like barbed lighting, so clear that it hurt and dazzled at once. It was so different from human love that it might have been mistaken for ferocity.
As all Elohim were, Zacian and Zamazenta were sexless. But something in their bodies, not any visible biological characteristics, gave Bronze the impression that Zacian was feminine while Zamazenta was masculine. The two beings were without biology, but He of the Rusted Shield was masculine, (not male) and She of the Rusted Sword was feminine (not female).
Bronze found himself so lost in the marvel that he did not notice that Calyrex had been speaking for some time. What it was seemed to be a question directed at Zacian and Zamazenta, although Bronze could not grasp the words. Still, he heard Zacian and Zamazenta's answer.
"We thank thee, fair foster-friend, Calyrex Tor-Oyarsa, and more for the deeds that you have done in the time that has passed between our battle with the Dark Lord and this time when we awoke. We hardly knew until now. Your blessing we receive, and our joy is greater because we take it by your gifts as well as His. But what does He put into your mind to do henceforward?"
"That is for the Small Ones to tell you," Calyrex said with its bloodless, airy voice. "Even now the Powers in Deep Heaven are awed and speak with wonder about this Gift given to the Followers, the secondborn Children of Arceus."
"And it will be!" Tess said. "For we here have drawn from others and Arceus what is truly noble and great: love, beauty, Knowledge, Emotion, Willpower, lore, and other fruits. We will also pass this on to our descendants. But our victory against the Mbelekoro will be three now, and now present are warriors from all three great conflicts, and this purpose was surely foreseen by the Orignal One! We are to be the ones that endure, people that destiny cannot grasp with an ultimate claim, for in all the hearts of Men and Pokemon-kind run the cycles of life, and the joy and hope of Eternity unbound to the Earth is given. Even the gods might bow before the Children of Arceus. I am content. Now, I bid Rei Berlitz to speak!"
"I will do so," Ego-Rei said. "Over the wide span of Time and Space, still I love the gifts given by the Father of All to we impermanent creatures, we dancers of the Great Dance in which we have a finite part that will grow in excellence forever. I among all of you have seen a portion of the Great Dance and heard the Wisdom of Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit. I was born in the Middling Days. I am content. Let Bronze speak next."
"And I will," Bronze said. "I am one who has made choices that cannot be forgiven by human means, and there was a time when I despaired of life and set my throne above that of Arceus, and for my folly, we are shrouded in the Fallen Ones again. No hope exists for me in the Earthy spheres, but I will do all I may to overthrow the Dark One. Let the Mbelekoro hear my words! We will not bow to thee. I will be content. Let Henry speak last!"
"I will," Henry said. "But Casey should also have her say after me. Is that alright?"
"Yes," Calyrex said. "But we have little time before the others arrive."
Amid the Pokemon and the wonder of the gods, Henry spoke, with Casey following him.
"I...well, I never thought that I would be in the presence of these excellent beings. When I see Zacian and Zamazenta for themselves...um...I'll hand over the Rusted Shield, of course. And...and would you forgive me?"
And Zacian and Zamazenta wept, each tear more shining and precious than if the Earth was a single diamond. And then Henry and Casey also cried, and Casey noticed that Henry no longer seemed like a boy crying and wanting to hide it, but like an adult. And now to grow older was not to grow more wicked, but to mature and come to full fruition.
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Then a song began, and the whole company of southern tribesmen that made up the assembly smiled and cried in joyful voices. Then something began to happen in that Shrine that had never happened before, not in all the eras and ages and years unnumbered and uncounted in the wastes of Eternity Past.
All fact was broken, turned inside out by the hot new knowledge that stormed into the chamber. For the Lady of Meaning itself, the white-fire furnace of essential speech, the Scholar, the Herald of Acuity, the slayer of Darkness, was with them: the Elohim that had the greatest share of Knowledge from the Mind of Arceus. Uxie, who Men call Athena and Thoth.
After Uxie came, the room began to rock. All were weeping or about to. Laden, screaming blasts of scent and sound entered, and now all was afloat on a great wind that roared and brushed through the tall trees and stubby grass. A soft tingling and shivering like a gust rolled over their cheeks. And now he came. It was firey, sharp, ruthless, ready to strike, ready to die, outspeeding light. It was the Wind, not as mortals imagine it, but the Value of Nature, unmitigated. They were scorched, blinded, deafened in its glory.
They could not bear that it should continue. They could not bear that it should stop. So Rayquaza, triumphant among the Gods, whom Men call Manwe and Aeolus, came and was with them in spirit.
Then Bronze saw in memory his childhood home, and knew of the role that the next three Elohim had in its protection and the War Against Darkness. He saw the victims of the three warriors' blades, pools stained with blood, gashes nipped by magic burning. It was battle and valor, and Bronze and all the others remembered the terrible struggles that they had endured. Cobalion, Virizion, and Terrakion entered and manifested, who Men call King Arthur, Charlemagne, and Gilgamesh.
Something great and cold came over all next. There was no fear, however; the blood inside them was flowing as if to a song. They felt themselves taking their ordered places in the universe, side by side with Pokemon and seasons and atoms and angels. Under the immense weight of this obedience, they stood up straight and without hate for Death. They had outlived anxiety, and care without meaning. Bronze knew, as a man knows when he has met his final doom, that clear, taught spirit of the Elohim that had come next: vigilant Celebi, mistress of Death and Eras, whom Men call Hades and Chronos and Pluto.
More were coming, Bronze felt. These would be ever mightier.
Palkia, whose name in Deep Heaven is Astaldo the Valient, stood in the Crown Shrine. His spirit lay upon the room, or even the whole Earth, with a cold pressure of Space that might flatten the very orb of the planet to a sliver. Matched against the lead-burden of his antiquity, the other gods might have even seemed young and ephemeral. Space was a mountain of centuries sloping into the highest distance conceivable, a mountain that could be climbed but without a top to reach. Space was like a great, self-knowing morass that repelled lesser intelligence that tried to comprehend it and wither those that approached it unadvised.
But suddenly another Spirit came, one whose influence temperated and almost diminished the Knowledge of wise Uxie, the speed of leaping Rayquaza, the clearness of the Swords of Justice, the subtler vibration of Celebi, and even the numbing mass of Palkia.
The Crown Shrine turned into a blaze of light. Before all the other Elohim one might bow, before this spirit one might die, but if one lived, they would laugh. If you had breathed air again, you would have thought yourself taller. Kingship and festival pomp and courtesy shot from the new arrival as sparks fly from an anvil. It was like a wave that came nine feet tall, roaring and laughing and dancing with unquenchable laughter and terror. It was Life and Creation undiminished, a being that sent shock and tremor through the hearts of all who beheld it.
For this was great Xerneas, Lord of Life, through which all that breathes principally feels within, known to Men in old times as Apollo and Zeus and under that name, by fatal but not accidental misinterpretation, confused with his Maker, for so little did they dream of how many steps on the Stair of Creation that life rises above even him.
At his coming there was a celebration in the Crown Shrine, Men, Pokemon, and Gods alike. More Elohim ventured forth in their presence: Mewtwo, bearing the Rusted Sword for Zacian and Zamazenta to wield; Latios and Latias, vessels of Rayquaza and marshalls of the Host of Heaven; Kyogre, under the shuddering immensity of the Seas; Groudon, as a song billowing from the molten core of the Earth; Zygarde, come to see her beloved Xerneas, and Dialga, stretching his music over all Time in all Eras.
The mortals, caught up in the Gloria, forgot for a time the lower and more immediate purpose of their coming, and the war with the Dark Powers. For even Eternatus must have felt the summons that echoed through the Spirit World, but even he to who the memory of Deep Heaven is clear and present would not come, for so great was his wickedness.
Zacian and Zamazenta spoke at length, once all were tired from their revelry but still in joy.
"As soon as you took the Rusted Shield away from the Evil Nalikia, we awoke from our sleep and found our wounds healed. It is a wonder to me, Small Mortals, that those so young can be so wise."
"We were in a deep sea where the trees grew up to the waves," Zamazenta said. "Its name is Lur. In Lur, many strange things befell us. We learned the properties of shapes. We learned new things about Arceus and His Father and the Third One. We knew little of this even when we were young. Arceus spoke of Good and Evil, of Anguish and Joy that we had not understood fully before then. Now, as before, we are ready for the Rusted Shield and Rusted Sword to crown us and aid us in our struggle against the Dark Lord."
"Certainly, o friends," Calyrex said. "With the powers of Arceus on our side, we will succeed. But do not be deceived into thinking that it is impossible for the Small Ones to fall! Much still depends on all our power. Some Elohim will come with you to the field of Har Megiddo for the Typhoon Struggle. I will hunt Spectrier and bind it. Look for my coming when all seems lost!"
Mewtwo stepped before Calyrex, and bowed. "I, the Heralds of the Heavenly Host, and the Swords of Justice will go with the mortals. Perhaps they should be given a glimpse of the Great Dance. For there are many judgments to come at the end of this age, and some solace might be gained in seeing what we each see but a part of."
"Perhaps its beginning, of which even we know little," Zacian and Zamazenta said. "Let Arceus speak."
The voice that spoke next seemed to be like Dialga, Palkia, and Xerneas at once, but still wholly different and greater. For in the words that followed, although they could hardly be called words, Bronze never knew who was speaking or asking or responding, whether Man or Pokemon or God. All they saw was the Great Dance as Rei had once seen it, too great for words or sight, for sight and words were wholly inadequate for conveying such a concept.
Once it ended, the voice of Arceus chimed again. "It is time to go now. This is not farewell, for I would still be with you even if you passed out of twelve dimensions of Space and Time. Speak of Me as I speak of you."
There was a roaring noise that seemed to come from ten thousand trumpets or stars shouting for joy, and then the whole company of humans and Pokemon, with the Two Princes and many other Elohim, were dropped with a sudden fall into the very center of the cavernous council hall in Wyndon.