Depeche Mode - Nothing To Fear
April 11, 1783
...
Rain rain, go away... Come back on yellow monday... Rain, rain falls again... Comes on each blue tuesday...
Despite the synchronization, none of their voices sound any mellow. But they do not care. Add some music to your day, and that's it. These kids are playing on the yard, where the tall grass becomes clouds, and each square they jump when playing hopscotch is a path closer to heaven.
Everything is perfect in heaven, but they live on Gaia instead. Below the cotton clouds, dirtied of soot as they do. It ain't funny when someone throws a sharp stone, as if any of these kids were willing to step over it, but injuries come anyway. A boy pulls another, and a tooth fell out of his mouth. Jack remembers how silly these fights were, because he never fought for a reason other than his sake. He still does fight to protect his kind, and someone else's as well. Not that his sister isn't weak. In fact, Freya shares hard bones, but that doesn't mean she feels pain anymore.
Weren't you there to give assistance to your sister? That's what Lenneth would ask Jack, her son, as soon as he came back home, followed by his sister. Mom never said such a thing, though Jack, because he never allowed her to. He is willing to take good care of Freya, even when she doesn't want his presence. There is a line in regards to a life to be called your own, and a place to be called home.
Burmecia is the home of Burmecians, and Gaia is the home of Gaians. Everyone is part of Gaia, but the same Gaia isn't part of everyone. And not only Burmecians live in Burmecia, despite how similar both names sound. A glass of water, a window glass that is watered by the rain, a glass of glass... No wonder why standard English is one of the poorest kinds of languages. Same reason to why it's used by everyone, and integrated to all nations as well, like the alphabet.
"Why is 'A' is 'A'?" Freya asked her brother. Not all 'Jacks' are the same 'Jack', he replied. So many Jacks, and Freya only knew about one. Hey, daddy's name is Bart, isn't it? Jack... Bart... they share four words. How nice logic sounded to Freya and her both ears. Something so trivial, banal, but everything was new to her. Why not care about it, if soon you won't? To find out there is a basement, and the most fascinating of the treasures found there is a broomstick.
Only a broomstick, but within a child's mind, it could happen to be anything else. The 'teeth' belonging to the brooms are said to be taken out of whales mouths. They lie deep in the sea, a place none of Freya's relatives ever had been. Seeing the clouds above, moving like ships, and middays that become darker suddenly, tidal waves are made in front of a street, manholes become maelstroms, and paper boats are sunk. Paper gets wet, then it sinks on the manhole. A hand is too tiny to grab them...
Airships of paper, swans of paper, chocobos of paper... and nobody cares to write any letters. Freya can't write, despite knowing her own name, and the name belonging to many things. A tiny beetle becomes a HUGE BEETLE, a ladder turns into a
L
A
D
D
I
E, and nobody else writes the word 'rat' with the same 'r' backwards.
Many of Freya's friends live so near, only a few squares and steps are taken. Dan's house is only four quarters. Voss's home just happens to be found down the street.
— Quick! Bring the eight wine cups! Orochi must be sealed right away, Crescent!... – Voss is a good storyteller, although many of her stories seem a bit frightening.
Those who are old like her don't seem to care that much. In fact, all of Voss's stories sound exactly the same when it comes to bringing fear, and hope as well. Yamata no Orochi; the great serpent, born out of Gaia's will. One of the last old gods venerated by the civilizations before they became a single Burmecia, and Bahamut the only god found upon the skies, and Leviathan to rule the seas below. Orochi still lived, so did the clan who followed his principles. As long as nature and humanity had an equal balance, Orochi had no need to intervene, but centuries later, the same nature who granted its powers to Orochi began to crumble.
He could no longer await to fulfill its goal of cleansing this same Gaia of all Burmecian lives Bahamut tolerated, growing in numbers, and so did many of their sins. Those who obeyed Orochi waged war against the followers of Bahamut. Dragoon Knights and all people available for combat were tasked to protect the boundaries of this kingdom.
To bring everything to nothingness was Orochi's goal, before he was sealed away by the three sacred Burmecian treasures, holded by Cyan, grandson of the first King of Burmecia, who holded of the Kusanagi sword forged by the great Leviathan; Suzaku, descendant of a former Orochi's follower, who knew the recipe of the eight wine cups meant to drunk the serpent; and Leviathan Knight Reis, daughter of Frøja, who holded of a mirror brought by the great serpent's own tears. With Orochi suspended, he could no longer bring its onslaught to this world. Some say that the souls of the warriors that followed Orochi now reside within the Grand Dragons.
Some stories were less epic, but still fascinating to be heard by Freya. Yet, they always shared the same mood, and the fact that the sun always settled down when arriving at Voss' house didn't help. Neither the fact that there is no sun to be seen, only a few of its warmth to be brought into tiny sunrays. A fireplace is a good candidate for being its substitute, but after hearing the story Voss told yesterday, the flames of each fire screamed like the Cumacanga.
Legend says that the Cumacanga happens to be the last daughter of an offspring of seven sons brought of a Priest's forbidden love. During the day, nothing else happens, but when night arrives, the Cumacanga reveals its true shape, as soon as the head leaves the body to fly around the meadows, a flaming ball that stuns those who hang around late at night.
— Wait a moment... Can't a Priest have any sons? – A boy by the name of Marco asked. He was the middle son of a local Priest.
— We're dealing with forbidden desires stuff! – Voss replied back then. A quick relief had been brought, until… – There is a punishment for each one of them. – Voss later added.
— I don't think laziness can be deemed as a sin, because the same prevents others' sins from happening... — Weren't for Labatut's appreciation for soft meat, Marco would already fall asleep, no matter how much a floor seems.
— Excuse me, Voss... – Something bothered Freya, in regards to the tale told. – But how does a fire head glow under rain?...
— Magic, I guess.
…
