They gathered around the living room, really a central ground floor overlooked by the inner balconies where the bedrooms were. Bruno was now channeling the powers of prophecy that had been his gift. Green, glowing gas enveloped him and the three who had come to him for a séance.
"You know, in the thirties and forties, when we were testing radar invisibility in Philadelphia," said Alfred. "This very same green gas enveloped the ships we were testing it on. I wonder if they're connected."
"Wasn't that the one where two sailors got transported to the future?" asked Japan. "If so, then maybe this green mist bends time, sometimes just wide enough to give us a glimpse of it, and sometimes actually opens portals to the past or future."
The clouds swirled faster and faster, like a miniature storm brewing all around them. Bruno's eyes were now glowing green, too, and he asked Maria to repeat her question.
"Where are Arthur and Antonio?
Bruno convulsed, and his mouth opened. Green, billowing fog spilled from his mouth and took the shape of Arthur Kirkland. The spectral Englishman was dressed in warlike attire, and he spoke.
You will find us in the North Wind's Keep
To wake once more, the giants in deep
The Mountain's Guard of late has turned
A brother's forgiveness must be earned
And the Sun and Stars shall shatter our sleep
"A limerick?" asked Maria.
"Sort of," said Alfred. "But limericks should start with 'There once was…'"
"No matter the format," said Japan. "We now know where they are held. We just have to figure out the riddle."
Bruno shuddered back into consciousness. "That was no ordinary prophecy," he said. "All the time, they seem to come from my own being. This was different. It was as if someone was using me to tell you their message"
"Yup, we recognized the figure in the fog. It was Arthur, spirit of the British Isles," said Maria.
"Why did your enemies kidnap England and Spain's spirits?" asked Mirabel.
"If I'm reading the prophecy right, they'll be used as a sacrifice to awaken some giant, or giants," said Japan.
"What giants?" asked Luisa, as if contemplating the possibility of punching a giant in the face.
"I dunno," said Alfred. "There are giants in virtually every culture, right? Who knows what they'll wake?"
"I do," said Maria with a shiver. "Now that we know the demigods are real, too, then there's only one possibility: They're held in Alaska."
"How is it Alaska, Mai-chan?" asked Kiku.
"In Heroes Of Olympus, which we now know is really a sort of historical fact, the seven demigods of the prophecy stopped the giants from waking. The blood of two demigods was needed to raise the giants. Maybe, just maybe, the Hegemony figures the blood of two nations will wake the giants in an even stronger form, since we're stronger than them. The North wind's keep is Alaska, which is so far up north none of the gods hold sway there. It's too far away from civilization"
"That makes sense," said Kiku. "Alaska is right next to Russia. Ivan may have invaded the place clandestinely while Alfred was having amnesia. Maybe- AAAGH!"
Kiku convulsed on the floor, Maria, Alfred and the Madrigals crowded around him, trying to relieve whatever it was that came over him.
Kiku opened his eyes. He was on a tropical island. The lush, verdant rainforests stretched to his left, while the beach and the sea beckoned from the right.
In front of him, Japanese soldiers were pillaging a coastal village, burning, looting, killing, raping.
He wanted to scream. He wanted to tell his troops to stop, the war was over, long ago over, but they did not hear him.
The scene swirled around him. Airplanes soared above, raining destruction on hapless towns. Fires roared over the plains. A soldier dragged a young girl from a hut and proceeded to rip her clothes off. Kiku mustered the strength to run towards them and apprehend the erring soldier, who wrung the girl's neck, but when he saw the girl, his heart stopped.
Maria lay before him, bloody, bruised, and naked. She was dead even before the soldier had begun the deed upon her. Her eyes stared pleadingly, yet lifeless, at him, as if asking why.
Kiku's anger boiled into rage, and he turned at the soldier, wanting to kill him. But again, his heart fainted at what he saw before him.
The soldier was him. He stared back with cold, black eyes, sneering smugly, as if daring him to strike himself.
"You will never be her ally, nor her friend," spoke Soldier-Kiku, in a voice he dimly recognized. The soldier and the girl's body dissolved into smoke.
He was sobbing and trembling, back in the rainforest. The palm trees seemed to gather around him, and metamorphosing into the women he had loved over the centuries. Some were mortal, others were fellow nations. He saw Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and a few nations whose names were now lost to the annals of time. He realized he was going to die, and these women had gathered around him to witness his last moments.
The last woman was not a woman at all. He was just fond of calling him "mama," when he was just a little country, because he looked more like a woman than a man to him. It was China.
"Come home, my son. You have strayed for too long. Join me, as we reshape the world in our image…"
"Kiku, wake up! It's a nightmare! Listen to me!" Maria sobbed, seeing Japan was clearly in excruciating pain, yet unconscious.
The Madrigals were terrified. The older ones were praying, while the younger ones were running around, trying to find something that could help them.
Then, Dolores screamed, cupping her hands over her ears. "Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!"
Pepa and Felix rushed towards their daughter. "Not you too, hija!"
"It's not that! I can hear so many snakes! And rustling wings! Something's coming!"
"What is it?!"
Alfred stared out the windows of the house. He couldn't make it out at first, but then it grew bigger. It was a moving cloud of darkness, and it was headed straight for them.
"What are those?!" shrieked Maria.
Colombia spoke with a shudder. "Winged serpents. Servants of the terrible god to the north…"
Kiku stared back at Yao.
"Why do you hesitate? You know you have always been my favorite son, even after everything. Hear me, I wish you to take your place in the Hegemony.
Kiku stared back at Yao. He shuddered.
And then, he took a step, then another. He began walking towards Yao.