Book I, Part IV: Mortal Conflict - Dissension in the Ranks
Chapter XIV—Thanatos, Part II ~ Contemplation of Purity
All eyes had turned to Freya upon Hyne's boastful proclamation – Hyne was most assuredly an Ethereal being, but for Freya to create someone whose entire existence was focused around killing and reaping souls seemed completely at odds with her peace-loving personality. Freya stayed calm, even though she realized that both mortals were now carefully watching her, and met Hyne's gaze without a hint of worry.
"You attempt to twist the intentions I had behind your creation, Hyne – it seems I was correct in expecting such maliciousness from you." Freya paused briefly, looking at the pair of Katanas and Ein watching her from their positions at the table, and nodded towards them. "In a way, Hyne is correct, but she attempts to excuse her more deplorable traits by way of foisting suspicion onto me. Hyne was created to serve as a carrier of souls, one who would lead the souls of the departed on to their resting place within Soul Society. However, her personality became…muddled…over time, due to the influences of her task and her surroundings."
"In short, the near-constant sight of death and tragedy affected her far more than Lady Freya initially expected," Odin added, speaking up to defend his patron.
"Even then, it was within my capabilities to deal with…but Hyne took things too far."
"You act like you 'dealt with it' at all, Mother," Hyne commented. "You were far too much of a pacifist back then – you didn't want to even scold your own children. You still don't, actually."
A light frown crossed Freya's face, and she sighed as she looked down towards Hyne's smaller form. "I will admit that you are correct in that respect. I had a tendency to act much less often than was proper in the past," she stated, "but I have changed since that time, and learned much from my mistakes. You, it would seem, have learned far less than your sisters."
Katanas had been watching the entire exchange with mute interest, but Freya's statement caught his attention for more reasons than just hearing the Creator admit weakness. Freya's mention of Hyne's 'sisters' was very pointed and intentional, and Katanas had noticed ever since Hyne had entered that Hyne had called Freya 'Mother' instead of by her name. The only ones who addressed Freya as such, to his knowledge, were…
"Ein, I believe we have now met the fourth Pillar of Reality," Katanas said quietly to the young boy, causing his eyes to widen with surprise.
"You could say that," Hyne replied nonchalantly, "but I like to think I've learned more than they have. After all, they couldn't even gather any support for their acts. Fayt was all alone, too caught up in her own ego to bother finding help. Destine had a single weak Daiesthai and a couple of half-wit Erudite…while I have the backing of the Gilead Order's former leader, someone far more useful than all of those meager trappings combined."
"I find it hard to believe that someone like Nicholai would willingly follow any of your maddening ideas," Odin rumbled, shifting his gaze to the taller Erudite.
"Oh, he didn't want to at first," the tiny girl said casually, smiling. "It took some creative…persuasion to make him see the wisdom of cooperating with me."
Arragious' eyes narrowed – why was he working with Hyne? He had wanted her help to vanquish his foes, specifically Odin, Xeios, and Freya, whom he knew that even he was not strong enough to best alone. But she had dissuaded those intentions at every turn, demanding loyalty from him before she would offer even the slightest cooperation…and now, he was in the middle of her own ambitions, his tasks and longings thrown to the wayside like refuse. He felt as if he had no will left, nothing but the hope of seeing her goals achieved in order to indirectly satisfy his own lust for revenge…
Nothing so much as a puppet, being led around on strings by a pair of careful and eager hands.
"Mental domination magic," Freya intoned, realizing the thrust of Hyne's insinuation. "I find myself unsurprised that you would resort to such methods."
Arragious whirled on Hyne, his eyes suddenly full of hatred and a feverous desire to rip the tiny Erudite apart piece by manipulative piece. "You've been controlling me all this time…using my desires to further your own self-centered agenda…!"
"You practically begged for it, Nicholai," Hyne remarked, casually dismissing the former Captain-Commander's ire with her words. "With a mind so obsessed with revenge and justice, it was easy to redirect all that emotion into something that would gain me far more than it ever would you. Had you been more at ease with the events in your past, it would never have worked...so, really, you only have yourself to blame."
Odin saw it coming before anyone else in the room. Arragious' pride had finally taken enough wounding from his benefactor, and the area around Arragious' form erupted with a furious burst of released spiritual power as he lunged at Hyne, his mesmeric blades also flying from their sheathes and swirling in towards the tiny Erudite.
"I will not be manipulated like this!"
Arragious' blades froze in mid-air just before meeting Hyne's flesh, and shivered for an instant before shattering into a small rain of metal shards that fell onto the porcelain floor, tinkling like broken glass. Arragious himself jerked to a halt as if he had struck an invisible wall, and a sudden dreadful presence filled everyone in the room as Hyne released some of her energy, overpowering Arragious' presence and rooting him to the ground with the force.
"Shame."
One dainty hand slowly reached up towards Arragious' chest, fingers outstretched as if to grasp an object that rested before her…and the fingers twitched, contracting and expanding quickly in the air.
Arragious let out a strangled gasp of pain and clutched at his chest with both hands, instantly falling to his knees on the polished floor of Freya's throne room. Hyne's hand stayed in the air, rhythmically twitching every second or two as a wicked smile spread across her face.
"I would've allowed you to live, if only you hadn't been so disagreeable…" Hyne mused, absently continuing to gesture with her hand as she spoke. "Can you feel that? This-"
Twitch.
"-is my hand surrounding your heart."
Twitch.
"I control the beat…"
Twitch.
"…I control if you live…or if you die."
Twitch.
"The heart is a funny thing, you know. It beats at the perfect-"
Twitch.
"-speed to allow one to continue to receive lifeblood, to allow one to live."
Twitch.
"Yet, if it slows down, one begins to grow tired…much like you are now."
Arragious' body was in agony from Hyne's telekinetic grip on his chest, and he could feel his strength ebbing away as she forcefully slowed down the beating of his heart. He couldn't even scream, despite the agony, as he could not find enough strength to utter more than choked gasps and sounds.
"S-Stop…" he coughed, fingers clutching at his chest as if they could throw off Hyne's power like a weight that had been laid across his chest. Beside Freya, Odin's Zantetsuken cleared its sheath as Odin stepped forward, scowling and furious at Hyne's display. He still held some measure of respect for the former Gilead Order's leader, and to see him tortured like this in front of his own eyes infuriated him despite what he knew of Arragious' intentions.
"That is enough, Hyne! You will cease your games, now!"
The floor trembled as Odin charged towards Hyne's position, Zantetsuken readied for a cleaving stroke that would separate Hyne's head from her shoulders. Hyne let her eyes drift towards Odin as he moved, still keeping her magical grip on Arragious, and lazily brought her other hand up in his direction. Odin's furious charge suddenly met a thick, gray-colored shield of pure magical energy erected by Hyne that sent the raw energy of death coursing through his veins, lighting his body aflame with searing power and propelling him across the throne room in the opposite direction to crash heavily into the floor. His plate armor-clad form cracked tile and sent another shudder through the room as he landed, instantly overwhelmed by Hyne's spiritual power.
Ein watched, horrified, as Hyne dispatched Odin with what seemed like a casual flick of her hand. What kind of being was she, so easily capable of dismissing someone of Odin's standing? It seemed impossible, even given what Katanas had told him of the other three Pillars…but he had just seen all the proof he needed. And now, she was toying with the life of another Erudite, one who had been hailed as one of the most powerful beings to ever grace the plane, as if he were no more than a marionette…
Ein shivered, despite himself, and stepped back in fear, hoping silently that the deranged Pillar would not turn her attention to them next.
"An annoyance, nothing more," Hyne muttered, turning her attention back to Arragious. "And, if it goes too fast…that can also be dangerous," she continued, as if she'd never stopped to attack Odin at all. "Like now."
Twitchtwitchtwitch.
"I've heard it's quite painful."
Twitchtwitchtwitch.
"How does it feel, to have seen your own end in the palm of my hand?" she asked Arragious, kneeling down close to him and savoring the look of pure, unrestrained agony across his face.
Twitchtwitchtwitch.
"And now…" she whispered, finally letting the hand fall and watching as Arragious' eyes widened even further. He realized now that his heart's movement was no longer being controlled by Hyne…but that it had also stopped beating altogether as a result. He let out a silent scream as he slumped to the floor, his body convulsing and shaking as blood ceased pumping throughout it.
"I know you can still hear me. You're going into cardiac arrest now," Hyne said, looking at Arragious with a gleeful expression, enjoying the throes of his suffering. "This fear I feel…are you afraid of your own end?"
Arragious didn't respond, his shaking growing weaker as his body gradually failed. Hyne's only response was to giggle quietly, still smiling as Arragious slowly died in front of her.
"I can feel your fear, your hate. Show me…give me more! More!" she cried, giggling happily as Arragious' body finally stilled on the pristine floor of the throne room.
Freya stood from her place then, eyes cold and locked squarely on the diminutive form of her 'daughter' as she moved down from her throne. She hadn't wanted to engage Hyne herself, mostly for fear of harming Arragious or the two mortals present in the crossfire, but now…she had a golden opportunity. Hyne had likely interpreted her inaction as cowardice, but she had yet to learn that the Creator had changed greatly over the centuries that she had been imprisoned.
"Be silent, Hyne," Freya said, magic slowly forming around her fingertips. "It would seem that each of my daughters has now seen it fit to test the limits of my patience. You, however, are beyond reason, unlike your sisters."
"What's this?" Hyne asked mockingly, turning around to face the Creator. "Our dearest mother, actually daring to lift a hand against her children? I can scarcely believe my eyes!"
"Ein," Katanas said softly, turning his gaze to the younger boy now almost huddling behind him to stay out of Hyne's sight. "Go to Lady Freya, and do not move. Stay at her throne, but when you see an opportunity, I want you to run. Get out of here, and find Will."
"And…leave you here?" Ein said, looking up at Katanas with a look of horror. "But-"
"Ein," Katanas repeated, more sternly, "this is no place for you to be right now, and trying to protect you might put Lady Freya in danger. I will be fine – I am a Nether Planewalker, and I knew the risks that came with my station ever since I accepted it."
The look on Katanas' face silenced any further objections Ein might've had, and he quickly bolted for the relative safety of Freya's throne, putting the Creator and his mentor between the deceptively-dangerous little girl and himself. Satisfied that Ein was now safe – as he knew Freya would let no harm come to the child – Katanas readied himself for what he was about to do.
"Milady."
Freya's eyes turned briefly to Katanas as he spoke, and the Flame Alchemist stepped forward towards Hyne, approaching slowly and carefully.
"Allow me to assist, if you would."
Katanas knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what his actions would result in. He didn't want to worry Ein, and hoped that like the obedient and faithful child that he was, Ein would listen to his commands just one more time.
Katanas didn't want Ein to see him die, and he knew that it was to be the only logical end to his actions here.
Hyne's eyes widened a fraction at Katanas' words, and she shifted her attention to Katanas…before laughing, slowly at first, but quickly building into full-blown uproarious laughter.
"Now, this is a treat, indeed! Katanas DeValle himself dares to grace me with a display of his abilities? I'm flattered beyond imagination!"
Katanas quirked an eyebrow. Derision, he expected. Insulting, all but guaranteed. Amusement, however, was not quite the reaction he had expected from the Pillar upon hearing his proclamation – at least, not in the manner which she was displaying.
"You sound rather…amused by my decision."
Hyne laughed for several seconds more before she finally began to stop, regaining her composure and fixing Katanas with the same eerie smile she tended to carry. "And why wouldn't I be? It is, after all, such a rare occurrence that I should be honored to have it happen." She started to pace the floor again in front of Freya and Katanas, her feet hovering just above the ground so as to seemingly not even exert the effort of pushing against the floor to walk.
"Katanas DeValle…do you know what your sins are?"
"My caring too much? Or my sense of calm? Perhaps my confidence," Katanas responded after a moment of silence. "Or maybe something that runs…deeper. Do you see something that no one else sees? You'd certainly be the first."
He didn't know what kind of game Hyne was playing now, but he was going to meet her halfway in the game of verbal maneuvering she seemed to wish to draw him into. Delaying could only prove favorable, as well, especially when one was so outmatched. Another round of giggles issued from Hyne's mouth, shorter than her previous outburst, before she met Katanas' eyes again.
"You say you care too much. Yet…where are you when your friends are in distress? When your brothers are in need? Selfishness." She held out a finger, ticking off a point on it as if she was beginning a list. "Calm? For someone who is considered to be one of the strongest mortals in existence, you stay home quite often. You say calm, and I say you are afraid of what this world can do to you. Your confidence is…astounding, I must say, for someone who is clearly a very small mouse."
She stopped pacing for a moment, glancing at Freya as if to gauge her reaction, before continuing.
"Gluttony," she said, ticking off another point on her fingers. "So much training, in so many different areas, so quickly. You cannot get enough – enough knowledge, enough power, enough status…it intoxicates you. You wish to have it all, to know it all, as much and as quickly as humanly possible."
She ticked off a third point, pacing across the floor again.
"Sloth. You are slow to excite, slow to anger, slow to show rage…any emotion at all. You don't show it, because you cannot be bothered. As long as things are done, it doesn't matter when they are done, does it? As long as Katanas is the big name of House Devalle, you can just be…well…what you are now."
Freya was watching Katanas as well, not amused by Hyne's taunting words…but, yet, interested to see how Katanas would react to them. She had been the one to initially proposition Katanas to become a Planeswalker for the Ethereal Plane, and as such, she had judged his qualities herself, weighing the opinions of her advisers along with her own before coming to her decision.
"But…what taught me the most?" Hyne stated, ticking off a fourth point. "Pride. None worthy of seeing your skills, and those who are barely worth your time. You believe yourself higher than all mortals. You trained here in the Ethereal Plane, and even the Pillars seem to give you some measure of respect, some more than others. Your pride is and will be your downfall, Katanas. It's strange that the one thing you hold in such high importance…is to be your own end."
Hyne smiled again, satisfied that she had gotten her points across to the impudent mortal standing before her, and waited for Katanas to break down, realizing in his moment of reflection that she was right and that he was every bit the arrogant, sinful being she made him out to be.
Instead, Hyne found herself treated to a mirror image of what she herself had done a minute before as Katanas began to laugh in similar fashion to her unrestrained amusement prior, chuckling slowly and softly before building up into a rising, soul-filling cavalcade of laughter.
"You are an amusing being, I have to say," he commented, returning Hyne's smile with one of his own. He'd long come to terms with the flaws of his personality, and he had to admit on some level that Hyne was right, at least in part – but he was long over the years of insecurity and self-doubt that Hyne obviously counted on him still possessing. "Certainly, you have raised valid points, but your analysis is…somewhat flawed. My brothers rarely ever require my help, as both are old enough to understand the possible repercussions of their actions, and anything they might need me to protect them from is likely above even my potential to help with."
He held up a finger, mimicking Hyne's earlier gestures, before holding up a second one as he continued. "You say I am afraid of the world. In part, you are correct – I fear how this world can corrupt me, but I also understand that I would not be the first it has done so to, and will be far from the last. I understand and accept my position in the world, and trust that my actions are not undertaken without reason."
A third finger rose.
"Gluttony…well, I am undeniably guilty, I must say. I have sought power and knowledge through many means, but always through honorable means, which is the difference that separates me from the tyrants and madmen you so quickly wish to place me among."
He reached into a pocket, raising a fourth and last finger as he did so.
"As for my pride…well…perhaps you have a point. Maybe the power and position has gone to my head. But I cannot say that I am ashamed of my pride, as nearly anyone would look at my accomplishments and say that I should feel at least some measure of pride for them. I know that anyone could have accomplished what I have, however, and that keeps me humble."
Katanas' hand left his pocket as he finished speaking, an object held within, and Freya's eyes widened slightly as she realized what Katanas had come into possession of.
A haze of energy began to gather around Katanas as he drew energy from the Aries Holy Stone, reaching for his rapier with the other hand and bringing it before him as he prepared for the task at hand. Freya also turned her attention back to Hyne; the issue of how Katanas still possessed one of the sealed-away artifacts could be dealt with later.
"I am prepared, milady."
Freya nodded subtly, magic gathering around her fingertips as she watched her wayward 'child.' Hyne's games had truly gone too far, and she would not allow the Pillar of Finale to have her way any longer.
(Play: Tenrai ~Divinity I~ - Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children)
A series of glyphs appeared before Freya as she readied a spell, each of them spewing a wave of fiery bolts towards Hyne an instant later and showering the Pillar of Finalé with flame. The fire burst outward as Hyne reflected the magic, and Katanas' rapier dove in as the burning energy cleared, a flurry of thrusts stabbing out at Hyne's body at various points. Katanas' technique was superb, skill with the rapier honed by many years of training and combat both inside and outside of SeeD, but Hyne was an otherworldly entity with frightening amounts of magical power and enough experience to be seen by mortals as bordering on precognition. Deft hands reached out to slap aside each thrust of the rapier, with Hyne almost taunting Katanas to come further, and Katanas' blade found no purchase despite his junction and artifact-enhanced speed. Ghostly fingers suddenly reached for Hyne from behind, spirits summoned there by Freya intent on tying up the Erudite long enough for Katanas to land a meaningful blow, but Hyne swiveled and blasted the spirits with a spray of lightning, dispelling them before she spun further out, stepping lightly around Katanas' lunge and moving to face Freya. A violent cone of cutting wind assaulted Hyne as she finished her movement, but she dispersed the air current with a short and wide flash of energy before refocusing the energy into a piercing beam that shot at Freya, only to be deflected by a pink barrier as the Creator's Shell magic manifested.
Behind Hyne, Katanas' free hand rose, and the transmutation circle on his glove shimmered as he snapped his fingers, causing the air around Hyne to combust in explosive force that set the air to burning again and licked at the floor and walls of the room. Freya's palace, however, had been reinforced in nearly every part of the structure by magical wards of the Creator's own making; they would hold against nearly any power but Ancient entities, and had little to fear from the power of a Hume, even one as skilled as the eldest DeValle brother. On the other side of the Pillar, another spirit burst into existence, this one wreathed in crackling flames that swirled around it like fog, and it wasted no time in diving into the small inferno that Katanas had created to attack Hyne. The fire blew apart again under an onslaught of water created by the Pillar a moment later, and the spirit froze in place for an instant before flying into the wall and dissipating explosively under the grip of Hyne's telekinetic power.
"I know all your tricks, Mother," she commented, glancing between Katanas and Freya warily. "I might not be an Ancient like you, but I'm your match nonetheless."
In terms of sheer power, Freya knew, Hyne was incorrect – the difference between their raw powers was still enough to distance the Creator from her creation by some amount. However, Hyne's reason for existence was, in effect, Freya's direct antithesis – where Freya sought to create, Hyne sought to destroy.
Freya's only response was to draw another glyph in the air, materializing an orb of crackling electricity around Hyne that sent magical lightning coursing throughout her body. Katanas snapped again, igniting the air around Hyne once more into a roaring conflagration as he readied his rapier for any movement from the Pillar.
Hyne's small form suddenly burst from the fire, one fist coated with magical flame and the other with electrical power as she raced for Katanas. Quickly, Katanas snapped his rapier up into a guard position, and Hyne feinted at his chest with one hand before striking out at his head with the other. Katanas nimbly dodged around the first strike, but Hyne's follow-up move clipped his side and sent a jolt of power through him, momentarily numbing his body and reflexes, and he found himself launched away towards the wall as Hyne's other fist struck his face a moment later. Satisfied that the Hume wouldn't be annoying her for a few seconds, Hyne turned back to Freya, and found herself immediately forced to duck the swinging head of a spear that threatened to slice her neck. She was momentarily taken aback at the sight of Freya wielding a shining silver, two-headed spear, inscribed with ornate carvings and runes along the blades and shaft; Freya had always been one to stick with casting magic in various forms, and she had never seen the Creator doing anything beyond that.
"Thinking outside the box?" she asked, regaining her composure and straightening again before launching a flurry of blows with her elementally-enchanted fists. "You never seemed like the type!"
"It proves that you do not know me as well as you think," Freya commented, swatting Hyne's fists away with the flat of one blade before bringing the other up in a sweeping vertical arc that forced Hyne back again. She followed up with a pair of snapping thrusts that drove her 'daughter' to one side, right into the path of an Aero spell launched with a quick swing of a now-recovered Katanas' rapier. The spell left a shallow wound across her left shoulder, and Hyne flinched subtly at the sudden pain before readjusting to once again keep an eye on both fighters.
Freya, again, was first to resume the attack, sending a wave of holy energy at Hyne to precede her lunging strike at the smaller Pillar. Hyne didn't try to avoid the energy, instead countering it with an equal wave of dark power before sweeping a hand wreathed in water out as Katanas snapped, causing an explosion of searing steam to form as the liquid met Katanas' Flame Alchemy. The steam forced Freya to halt her attack as a sudden shove of telekinetic power from the Pillar of Finalé caused her to stumble, and then nearly fall completely as a wave of gravity magic from above crushed her towards the floor.
Katanas took the opportunity to press his attack, seeing Hyne momentarily distracted. A spray of liquid from a Waterga spell doused Hyne with crushing force through the thin haze of steam left over from his attack, dispersing enough of it for him to see his target clearly, and he let loose with a Thundaga spell moments later, a powerful bolt of lightning smashing into Hyne and jolting her with the magical energy. The quick flash of a Planeswalk took him back into melee range, and he let loose a flurry of stabs at Hyne while she was recovering that pierced her body at various points, drawing slow trickles of blood from the Pillar's left shoulder and upper body. Hyne immediately surrounded herself with a vortex of cutting wind, but Katanas had already flashed back out of range by that time…yet, he was frowning, apparently concerned.
'I wouldn't have expected her to be weakening significantly so soon…unless Freya is imparting her power onto Hyne, trying to weaken her through force of her own spiritual energy,' he thought to himself, considering the idea. He couldn't feel any of Freya's energy emanating from her body – in fact, it was somewhat unusual, as he could not feel anything at all from her in terms of spiritual power – but she was a master mage and Ancient-level entity, so he wasn't sure if he would even be capable of feeling such an effect without Freya willing it.
For a brief moment, he sheathed his rapier as Freya recovered, preparing to rejoin the fight, and channeled his Alchemy once again. The snaps of his fingers this time were louder, from both hands, and created an explosion of fire so powerful at Hyne's position that it flared a bright white briefly before subsiding into flickering orange and red hues. Under cover of his flame, he Planeswalked again, appearing behind where Hyne had been facing, and prepared to strike jointly with the Creator. Freya, sensing his intention, prepared to strike as well the moment Hyne was visible again.
The next few seconds were a blur of flashing blades, clashing magic, and flickering energy as Katanas and Freya pressured Hyne from both angles. A faint aura of energy built up around Freya as she moved, extending to Katanas as well after a moment and granting them both greater magical strength and protection, and the blades of Freya's spear glowed bright white as she moved to the attack, slicing out rapidly at Hyne in an attempt to deal a staggering or crippling blow. Hyne weaved around Freya's opening series of attacks even as Katanas bore in, slicing with his rapier again and trying to catch Hyne between two sets of blades. Instantly, the air around Hyne seemed to thicken, weighing Katanas down and making his attacks more sluggish as Hyne focused on evading the stabbing blades of Freya's spear. Two strikes found purchase on Hyne's side as she moved to try and keep both in her field of view, but she dismissed the injuries and grabbed Katanas with a telekinetic grip, yanking him nearly off his feet and towards her as dark energy built in her free hand in a blade-like shape. Freya gestured, and Katanas stumbled, the link of Hyne's attack severed by the quick magical counter, and Hyne retaliated with a series of lightning bolts directed at Freya that forced the Creator into a guard position to ward off the magical attack.
It only took Katanas a moment to recover, and fire built up around the length of his rapier's blade before he stabbed forward, letting loose a lance of flame that crossed the distance between himself and Hyne in a flash to explode into another violent gout of fire that engulfed the smaller Pillar. Again, he Planeswalked away as the attack connected, emerging at Hyne's unprotected back to find the Pillar hunched over slightly as if wounded. Yet again, he wondered if some influence of Freya's was the cause of Hyne's apparent weakness, even as Freya pressed another assault that Hyne found herself struggling to countermand without a weapon of her own. The Pillar of Finalé began to step back, forced to give ground under Freya's rapid and varied strikes, and Katanas started to focus Holy energy into his rapier as he watched, hoping that he could use Freya's offense to land a single, powerful strike that could turn the tables firmly to the Creator's side.
A powerful upward swing of Freya's spear finally sent Hyne stumbling as it nearly caught her chin, just avoiding slicing the bottom of her face open, and Katanas sprang into action, lunging forward with his elementally-enchanted rapier towards the middle of Hyne's back. Freya's spear pumped at the same time, moving towards Hyne's upper body in a quick stab to complete the pincer move. Hyne's hands twitched as she stepped back, and Katanas realized that he had made a mistake the moment that he felt himself pulled by Hyne's telekinetic powers.
From his vantage point behind Freya's throne, Ein screamed Katanas' name with a horrified expression as he watched Freya's spear stab Katanas in the chest in one fluid motion. Hyne straightened again, having propelled herself to the side with a quick exertion of magical force, and smiled widely as Katanas' blood began to pool on the pristine floor.
"You know, you should be more careful with that, Mother. Accidents happen too easily, after all."
Another sharp gesture came from her left hand, and Katanas' body was harshly pulled from the point of Freya's spear and thrown into the wall like a child's discarded toy, leaving Hyne to face Freya alone.
"So, are you going to fight me seriously now that the distraction's gone, or do I have to kill the other one, too?"
Freya's expression turned harsh, and she let her power expand to encompass Hyne, her spiritual energy stifling and pressing against the Erudite as if she were trying to snuff out a flame. Nearly any other Erudite would have been cowed by the forceful display of power, but Hyne seemed undeterred, releasing her own energy to battle against that of the Creator.
"Finally ready to show a bit of muscle, then? Good!"
Hyne's sentence had barely finished when Freya dove in again, her spear whirling and slicing at Hyne with ferocity and speed she hadn't displayed a moment ago. Hyne had just enough time to let off a quick burst of fire that Freya cut through before she found herself preoccupied with dodging, trying to avoid being sliced open by the spinning blades of the spear. A cut flashed over Hyne's head, and Freya let go of the weapon with one hand long enough to cast icy magic at Hyne, spears of frost erupting along the floor and nearly impaling Hyne where she stood before she destroyed them with a wave of force. Two spheres of dark energy flew from Hyne's hands as a counterattack, but Freya effortlessly deflected one of them into the wall with her weapon and grabbed the other with a free hand, crushing it in her grip and absorbing the manawithin the magical attack.
On the other side of the room, Ein found himself engulfed by a magical shield as he watched, desperately wanting to check on his mentor but terrified of getting in the middle of the fight between the two remaining combatants. He was momentarily surprised at the sight of the warding magic, but found himself squeezing his eyes shut and covering his ears a moment later as the entire room erupted with bright light and sound that seemed to rattle the room.
The cross-shaped energy wave that Freya had released in her Saint Cross attack subsided quickly, but the Holy energy had done its task – Hyne's clothes were smoking from the force behind the attack, and she looked somewhat surprised that Freya had exerted so much power with mortals so close by. She didn't get a moment to breathe, though, as Freya immediately struck again, returning to the whirling, graceful dance of spear thrusts and slices that threatened to shatter Hyne's guard at every motion. Hyne's hands flared with elemental magic, leaving trails of fire and ice as she parried and turned aside Freya's blade, but Freya sapped the energy from her body with draining bursts of energy, wearing her down with every passing second both physically and magically as she alternated her assault between spear strikes and quick, accurate magic spells. Hyne finally moved a fraction of a second too slowly to maneuver Freya's weapon out of its path, and the spear tore a line of pain across her body, followed immediately after by Freya enveloping Hyne in a binding spell of holy power, then propelling her away with a storm of white-hot flame.
Her body felt sluggish, Hyne realized as she tried to get up, and the sound of Freya's spear echoed in her ears as it touched the floor next to her head, the Creator already focusing for another attack on the downed Pillar. Freya had no intentions of letting Hyne get away with the acts she had committed; stripping her of her powers would only be the first step in the punishment that she would impart upon her daughter. Energy kept building around Freya as she prepared to continue her assault against Hyne, intent on weakening her to the point where she could no longer fight back at all before she proceeded, and Hyne could only watch as Freya channeled her magic against her prone form, lethargic from a combination of Freya's released power and the magical paralysis one of her last spells had contained.
"Stop!"
Freya did not, however, expect the voice of Ein Beoulve to break the momentary silence gained from her overwhelming attack.
(End: Tenrai ~Divinity I~ - Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children)
"Please…stop," Ein said, shaking his head as he watched Freya standing over Hyne, seemingly ready to kill her right in front of him. Freya held her position for several seconds before finally letting the energy buildup disperse, taking a step back from Hyne and letting enough of the paralyzing magic dissipate where she could stand. A mere thought from the Creator could stop her in her tracks now, weakened as she was, and she stood again with reluctance…as well as curiosity.
"Why? Why make her stop? Isn't this what you want?" Hyne asked. "I killed your mentor – made my own mother do it, really – and you want her to stop, to spare me? What do you have to gain from it?"
"There's…there's nothing to gain," Ein said, his voice choking up. "He was just…just trying to stop you. He didn't want you to hurt anyone else - that's what w-we all want!"
Hyne barked a short laugh at the young boy's words. "Stop me? Don't you understand? This is my reason for being – death and suffering are as much a part of me as breathing is to you. So…exactly what makes you think that I would want to stop this, even now? What makes you think you didn't just give me a second chance to end everything the way I've always wanted?"
"What have you achieved, killing people for no reason?" Ein asked, looking down. "Taking the cycle of death out of its natural order would destroy the balance, creating a rift so vast that it would swallow whole this entire realm! And at the center of it all, standing alone amidst an empty void, you would be the only one left. Is that what you want?"
He looked up again, his eyes full of pity and sadness.
"Is that really your dream?"
He posed an interesting question, Hyne admitted to herself. On one side, she desired to use the great power she had been given, to destroy and unmake until nothing was left standing but herself. On the other side…
A world…a realm with nothing, with no beings or places to exercise her power upon, would be the very antithesis of what that part of her desired. She would fulfill her desire one single time, and then have no way to ever do so again. It could…it would…eventually drive her completely mad.
"It is…and yet, it isn't," she remarked, clasping her hands behind her and turning away from Ein. "You could say that I'm overwhelmed by my desires, little more capable of acting against them than a fish is to swim, or a bird to fly. But…allow me to pose a question."
She turned back around, scrutinizing Ein with a piercing gaze.
"In my position, what would you do?"
Silence returned to the room as Ein's gaze returned to the floor, the young aide contemplating his next words with the utmost care; he believed that what he said could well determine what happened to all of the people in the room, himself included, and he had no desire to see any more bloodshed than he had seen already.
"I…I would try to seek a compromise of power. There must be a way to reach a balance of creation and destruction, between what is and what will be. You could carry out your own desires, but only to the extent that you never end more than what is created, lest you condemn yourself to nothingness."
There was no immediate response from Hyne as she turned and calmly walked away, with Freya keeping careful watch on her the entire time. She had not expected such a change in demeanor from her daughter, and could only speculate as to what Hyne suddenly seemed to find so interesting in the young Hume that Katanas had brought with him.
"Compromise."
Hyne spoke the word as if the very idea was anathema to her, such a creature of extremes, as she turned and began to walk back towards Ein.
"Such a troublesome, unfulfilling solution. Out of all the things I've witnessed, it is by far the most confusing. Why compromise, when you can exert your will and gain all that you truly want, instead of only part? And yet…in this case, it seems strangely appropriate."
She stopped, standing in front of Freya, and turned to face the Creator, wearing a strange smile on her face that Freya found she could not read.
"I'll let you judge me, I think. It just wouldn't do to have to miss out on this…curiosity, after all."
Freya said nothing, still wary of her daughter's sudden change in behavior, instead simply deciding to accept the apparent change of heart for the time being.
"Return to your domain, Hyne. I will send for you shortly," Freya told Hyne, causing the Pillar of Finalé to offer a quiet smirk before her body slowly faded away into nothingness, returning to her domain within the plane.
"Well…done."
Ein's eyes widened as he heard Katanas' voice from his slumped position against the wall, badly wounded though he was. He leapt from his spot beside the throne, racing over to Katanas and throwing an arm around him, careful not to hurt him any further. Katanas chuckled quietly, patting Ein on the back gently like a father would his son.
"I knew…I saw potential in you," he said, keeping one hand on where he'd been stabbed as he cast curative magic on the wound. Ein didn't look like he would be letting go anytime soon, and he thought not for the first time about how much the boy looked up to him like a father figure. He was still young, but Katanas knew that he was right – Ein was destined for great things, maybe more so than even he expected.
"I'm proud of you, Ein."
Wow.
That's really all I can say - with this chapter, Book I finally comes to a close, some 278,000 words and 583 pages in Microsoft Word later. Ever since I started writing this story, I had always hoped that I would be able to finish at least this much, and I've finally managed to do just that. Now, a couple notes about this chapter as well as other things.
Hyne's character is used with permission, and the idea for her character comes from Peptuck's story Legacy of the Chimera, which is a fantastic read that comes highly recommended by both Daniel Wesley Rydell and I - all of Peptuck's stories are notoriously high-quality, and this is no exception. Hyne's character in this story, however, will be quite a bit different from her appearance in that story, especially later on; it almost is to the point where she is a completely different character, but I cannot deny that the original idea for the character is and has been Peptuck's, and for that I sincerely thank him for allowing us to use the character.
This chapter was worked out over a time span of about a solid month, with me working on bits and pieces of it at a time as I tried to puzzle out different ways for it to play out before finally settling on what you see here. This marks only the second time that Katanas is seen fighting - the first was against Albel, some fifty chapters prior - as well as the very first time that Freya is truly seen in combat. My ideas for her fighting style are varied; as the Creator, magic is as natural as breathing to her, and she has the ability to shift between a startling amount of schools and types of magic. Even with the variety of skills at her disposal, however, she has a few areas she tends to lean towards more than others - Ritualist spirits, the same skills that Andréa Beoulve is seen using, Symbology magic like Naoki Ishida's, and skills with a spear taught to her by Odin.
Ein, as one may have guessed, leans much more towards negotiation than combat, seeing fighting as a last resort option and preferring to try and talk down or compromise with his opponents. He is quite capable of fighting, but has a strong disposition against it whenever possible. Most of his involvement in upcoming chapters will be in a similar vein, especially given his position of Garden Commander's aide. It's because of that attitude that Hyne decided to hold off on her plans for the time being; she has found herself very curious as to why Ein acts the way he does, especially given how she nearly killed Katanas minutes before. Anger and resentment, she expected - pleading and insisting that no one truly wanted to hurt her, she did not.
The next chapter will be something entirely different. Instead of immediate continuation of the story, I plan on writing a chapter with commentary from myself, and possibly my co-authors, regarding the 63 chapters contained within Book I, as well as some general thoughts on the Clouded Horizons series itself and other stories for the series that are in the wings. After that will be an interlude chapter, similar to the previous interlude, which will lead into Book II, Outbreak. I've already written quite a bit for this story, but I'm nowhere near finished, and I only hope that I can continue to write until I've finally finished this entire story, no matter how long that may take.
Until next chapter...