WARNING: Violence.
The Eighth Sense
Due to its Saint being long gone, and no substitute yet being appointed, the Temple of Sagittarius lived much of the past years in solitude. Since what victimized Aiolos, and after the Pope enacted restrictions on the Cult, it had also been left in a state of abandonment, dusty, claimed by spiders and insects. However, the return to normalcy meant priestesses tended to its rooms, and now both the Sagittarius box and the temple's rooms were made sightly.
If not for the occasional visit of Athena's maidens, it remained dark and quiet. It was that day — the day after the goddess spoke to her Gold Saints — that the place's crystals were lit with warm Cosmos. Large blue rugs were placed onto the central hall, where a handful of people convened, an uncommon happening therein.
These were armored Saints of all ranks — apart from one — and among them were Seiya, Shun, June, Hyoga, Shaina, Aldebaran, Aiolia, Milo, and Aphrodite. The one standing odd and separate, as expected, was the black-veiled aspirant of Cancer, who left her post to the High Priestess. She rather stood closer to their lady, who was clad in white, exchanging quiet words with the girl by the temple's exit.
After idle chatter was held a while, Athena nodded to the aspirant, who walked over to the others. Pegasus in particular spied on her, taken aback by that creepy demeanor. "Assume comfortable positions and prepare your minds," Athena advised as she came forth, and the present obliged.
They cut their conversations, disposed each other in lines, and sat with comfortable distance from one another. Most of them had envious posture, albeit one, not as much; June and Seiya had learned to keep their spines proud when they meditated, whereas a big man like Aldebaran naturally slumped forward. People breathed deep, shut the eyes, and awaited the goddess' instructions.
Athena's steps were softened by the rugs, but they felt her watery movements across the hall as she spoke: "As you know, there is matter, the tangible world you affect with or without Cosmos."
Those who immersed themselves at once experienced the most vivid visions; one of the Saints observed the movement of the Solar System's planets in the Earth's sky, above the flowing clouds. Darkness arose with the night, so the constellations rotated beyond the sight of Mars, and the atmosphere was left behind, as was the star-like form of Venus. Further, this one had a vision of a vast blank space wherein rocks raced incredibly far away from one another; some of these rocks were particularly massive, and it was there that this one had a vision of Ceres, from where Jupiter was a feeble spot in the offing.
"Within it there is mind; it is thanks to it that you experience this tangible world, and thanks to it that you bring about Cosmos," Athena continued speaking, and this one's immersion flowed further and further into the distances of the Solar System, past Jupiter and its many moons; past Saturn, its greater rings, and its many moons; past Uranus and Neptune, and their many moons; then far past a scattered cloud of rocks, and out till the Sun was a star no brighter than those floating around it.
This Saint's mind kept going far, till the galaxy's core became smaller, and the irregular galaxies nearby were more obvious, as were the nearby spirals, such as Andromeda. Then it went beyond, till the galaxies themselves were but dancing lights, and their stars could no longer be individually made out.
"Connected to mind there is soul, you as you are. Absent it, all things are hollow and torpid," the goddess continued explaining.
This one therefore went beyond, and the observable universe itself looked like a collection of bright nebulae, and they shone brighter the further the mind went, till an otherwise featureless sphere of blinding light was apparent. The thinker recognized the mere act of perceiving this as symptom of the Seventh Sense.
Nonetheless, this was not their ultimate goal that day. "Your focus shall lie on what is between mind and soul," Athena said, "the thin line that stays one from being a mere shell. Let us refer to it as nous." The observer witnessed as a shadow slithered about the sphere; what cast this was indeed serpent-like, though it could not yet be interpreted. "In contact with matter, the mind is corrupted by its traits; in connection with the mind, the soul is also corrupted, despite its innate condition being an untainted one." The thing that enclosed the light — the very thing capable of containing a supposed model of the whole of physical existence — revealed itself to be a snake, and it coiled around it as if to protect it, extent tightening. The head hanged from above, calm yet ready to strike. "To reach this state you call the Eighth Sense, your mind must reside nearer nous, and further from matter."
In addition to the areas of light eclipsed by that titanic serpent, the sphere was now afflicted by thin cracks that slowly spread along the surface. Some of its exposed sections bulged, as if something animate longed to be freed from that cage, and so the cracks elongated faster with the struggle.
"Nous is intellect made pure, naught but inference," said Athena. "It observes existence without partaking in it." Then a hole was achieved, whence came a hand, and this hand grasped at the edges of the opening to pry it wider. Upon realizing it was spread enough, the being released a pair of wings from the sphere, thereon its body, and the silhouette of a man in the nude was visible through stricken shine. "To be soul-like, the mind must approach nous, then the first would follow from the latter in a spark." This one saw that the winged silhouette stole the container's light, and so he himself glimmered without end, and the snake shifted as to coil every limbs, all while standing on the rubble of his former existence. "Being soul-like begets direct experience of reality, bereft filters of matter. The Eighth Sense is achieved thus."
Away from the visions of those in the House of Sagittarius, there was a similar meditation ongoing in another temple, one where an abundance of plants swayed under both steady crystal light, and unsteady golden glows. A constant breeze was released from the room's center, and the air was visibly humid; the echo of water waves revealed this was the House of Virgo, which received repairs after the civil war.
Pots of plants hanged from the ceiling, and from them the long arms of ferns, coarse leaves reaching to the plates worn by two men. One, of course, was Virgo Shaka himself, sat at the core of the hall, and he rose a meditative Cosmos while immersed. His long hair lifted as to block much of what was behind him, and he rested a hand on the lap, palm turned up, while the other lied on a leg, palm turned down.
The ceramics in the temple flowed and struck each other, ringing beauteous tones, and at times vessels vibrated into melodies their own. Behind Shaka's flying hair was another warrior, back turned to him, and he was Ikki, hair also carried by the warmth of their meditation. Though he didn't show similar discipline in his stance, he nonetheless seemed to carry great resolve in climbing the immersions.
Shaka's words were passed to his apprentice, though he didn't open the mouth. "There are sense bases internal: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind… there are sense bases external: sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, thoughts… from these arise the vijnana: vision, audition, olfaction, palate, tact, manovijnana… the coming together of these brings about contact: eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, mind contact…"
The visions first spawned by Phoenix were of phenomena most basic. There was the sight of an apple lying on damp dirt; above it was its source, a tree draped in droplets, for the rain beyond the covering had recently ceased. The fruit was red and plump, ready for consumption. About it were the sight of other species, such as bracken larger than those in the House of Virgo, and they also glistened with the evidence of rain. Flowers spotted taller bushes nearby with pink and white, and their scent was starkly sweet.
Ikki reached with a bare hand to the trunk of a tree, rough as it was, reminding him of the trees he shared years of his life with, whether in the orphanage or in the mansion. His palms were tough enough to withstand being hurt by it, yet the skin also lacked a sensitivity that made him wonder what it was like to be soft, sensible, perhaps more civilized in appearance, to feel the texture of trees without the deformations brought by scarring.
With the thought of civilization came the feeling of wood under the bare feet; it had been cut and smoothed, and logs were used to build a home. Window panes reflected the grayish day into a blur, and by virtue of them being opened, the scent of food being cooked was presented, haply sweeter than the flowers. The outside was cool compared to the warmer inside of the home, where the stove was lit with firewood at the bottom. Now closer, he seemed lost in the details of the flame's heat, which changed with the blooming or shrinking of plasma, whose sight alone was quite evanescent.
"From contact arises sensation, a class for each: eye sensation, ear sensation, and so on. Sensation is a precondition for craving: eye craving, ear craving, and so on," Shaka spoke. "It is by this that the ignorant live as undeveloped primates; they taste the fruit and are delighted by it, and they crave the delight of the fruit, and they seek it again and again; and were they to grow weary of the sensual pleasure of the fruit's flavor, they would seek another to fill the emptiness left by it, though they would never be released from craving. Life after life, they slip into the pits of craving."
The wooden structure of the shack appeared to swell and subside around Ikki, tardily following the flame's dance. He scanned about himself and saw the grain grow so protuberant that it was like tall crests on the walls, flooring, and ceiling. These crests tumbled into themselves, entwining, forming ties, chains, until they were more like matted rushes and reeds, dried by time, air, or light. They swirled into repeating hypnotic patterns, and the more Ikki inspected them, the more it seemed like the reeds were formed of smaller reeds, which were themselves twisted similarly.
He saw no manner by which the knots could be undone, so rigid was the material they built, not unlike solid metal. Reaching with an index, he felt the complexity of such minute elevations, too much to be encompassed by the ridges of skin. It was clear thus, this fabric was fractal at face value, and it would be infinitely impenetrable no matter how minuscule an edge forced through its joinings.
"The ignorant also find in this some sense of self," said Shaka. "In the joy by which they are ensnared, they believe to find self. Those who argue to be less shallow are rather trapped in delights they deem intellectual, wherein they believe to find self. You, however, understand none of these possess identity with self; nonetheless, despite having risen above a thought so infantile, you have observed thought, but you attached to the observer of thought as self. Therefore you have attained calm, yet you have not attained direct knowledge, hence why you have not awakened."
Upon stepping back, Ikki saw that the rushes now composed a complex, endless hallway of pillars, the top, bottom, and sides mirroring one another. Any sign of the home, the furniture, the stove, or the flames had given way to this, and his curiosity was caught by lozenges dug in the surface of the patterns, whence glistening, globular surfaces spun. Eventually those globes were graced with irises and pupils, and they turned inward, observing all within the structure, though those eyes could not be told apart from one another, since they were in size, shape, and color identical.
So Shaka finished his lesson, saying: "Detach from that who observes, experience reality immediately. A condition unfettered by attachment is where awakening takes place."
Disregarding the focus of the Saints, no matter past experiences, even when it came to those with great ease in the Seventh Sense, this state of mind was one too ethereal. They could grasp its concept, but not engage with it themselves, and so their vivid immersions weren't successful for the coming days. Those who felt closest to it were nonetheless uncertain of whether they were on the right path, and knowing that this would be a requisite to face some Specters as equals, their worries grew.
Said meditation pressed on each and every day without fail. Whether with Athena or Shaka, immersions would span from eight to twelve hours, thereon they were allowed to return to their duties or rest, when they got to experience the more mundane drills of the troops in the grounds. Signs of the enemy were aplenty, albeit no more within Sanctuary, which had been tightly shut at its single entrance. They believed peremptorily in their Lady's assurance that the Underworld would somehow invade, by whichever corrupt means, yet they saw no medium by which such an invasion would be possible.
Shiryu was the one left excluded from drills and daily meditations, although he abode by those voidly suggested by Old Master. Following orders, he did travel towards Athens with the intent of warning them of the Praesepe, already dressed in a repaired Dragon Cloth, since it was fixed by Mu in a hurry and sent back to him even while he recuperated. Powerful as he was, people assumed that blindness might've either not impaired his usefulness, or — what would come as no surprise to many — it might've been a catalyst to him becoming stronger.
Indeed, near the mountain range, Dragon felt more attuned to other senses. Traversing terrain at first felt like walking in the dark, but eventually he learned to map places never before seen, natural and chaotic as they were, by means of hearing, feeling, and smelling. Not just that, his Cosmos sensation was oddly sensitive now, sharp like a dog's flair, so he was able to map out the folk scouting the range at the time.
There were people in the hundreds occasionally skipping amid the peaks and hills. Moving on, he told apart an agglomeration of Cosmoi, and those were a tad messier, as if precipitating a romp, which led to him stopping in his tracks. He wasn't absolutely sure, but felt himself standing near the top of an elevation, and the dirt beneath the boots felt rocky, dry, and prone to sliding onto itself.
He walked slowly. To him, it was obvious that a singular source of energy failed to sneak through this very mass of people; in fact, they surrounded it after pinning down its position. Unlike the man who killed Crater Karim, however, this fighter couldn't so easily mix with the terrain, so a ruckus arose, as did Cosmoi with bloody intent.
"A battle in the outskirts," Shiryu commented to himself, knowing this had everything to do with the release of Hades. He didn't hurry yet, for it could be a fatal mistake to join his first fight without vision so coldly. Rather, he approached a handful of meters and felt for details of the ins-and-outs of combat.
Whistles resounded one after the other in the distance, a bane to his ears. A spectacle of lights flashed repeatedly over a distant hill, the site of battle. Shouts echoed, quick to drown the warning of sentries. There were dozens of Cosmoi targeting but one target; the group was composed of ordinary users, the likes of experienced soldiers and amazons; among them were two users better versed, whom he evaluated to be Silver Saints. The enemy, in the other hand, was powerful enough to verge between the strongest of Silver Saints, and perhaps some among the Gold Saints, and so Shiryu was urged to intervene.
With a tall leap, he descended into the fray, and the first words he made out were from a girl's tone, accompanied by the noise of crashing glass. "GLACIAL HORN!" she shouted.
Prior to landing, Dragon was forced to sway and dodge a wall of ice spikes flying across the field. He pushed a mound of dirt along with the boots touching ground, and saw the frost gradually miss a robed figure, the origin of that powerful energy. The figure did not stop traveling at awesome speeds, whereas a squad of men and women struggled to keep up.
The one who attacked it so expertly had been Anka, who raced to it in company of Nachi, each closing in from opposite ends. Because the invader couldn't safely dodge both, he flew upwards, forming an outline with the risen moon and the evening sun, and thus dropped where it would be improper for either to advance so soon.
Shiryu didn't raise his Cosmos again, or at least not yet, yet the others quickly noted his presence. "That's… Shiryu!" Nachi called out after coming to a halt.
"Incoming!" Anka yelled, pointing out that the enemy exploded with power. With him came a black aura, edges glittering iridescent. His general objective was striking those on Wolf's side, especially the soldiers too slow to deflect, but Shiryu needed no warning to deal with this.
Before the fray grew once more and his senses were shaken, Dragon, without as much as turning the face, launched his body into the foe faster than he could expect. Pushing the shield accidentally against the head, this struck some chitin-like metal, and the Specter half spun back to rest.
Though he was able to fall to a partial stand, there was no denying that the others never stopped advancing, and they now had the support of a Saint surpassing his most obvious strengths. A lack of a reaction would've been sooth fatal, so the invader strode at the nearest amazon; due to a sudden great speed, yet also in account of the muddle, Shiryu was unable to fully intercept him, so the woman was struck in full, sent flying, then rolling down that broad hill.
"No!" someone screamed. Knowing that the opponent had been pushed back once more, and that, by his faltering, he struggled to stand, Shiryu instead struck a space between the squad ahead of Nachi. The remaining Bronze Saints held their animosities in face of this.
Dragon took a breath and spoke loud and clear: "Stay back, you'll only make things worse!" In this he was right; during this most brief bout of combat, he learned that the many sparks of Cosmos at once made it too difficult for him to read the opponent's actions in isolation.
The robed man got back up to stare at the situation he found himself in. First were those two Bronze Saints, stronger than one of his kind could imagine. Together, they brought some trouble, but he believed himself capable of escaping. The addition of the weaker fighters meant fodder to ease his movement, but now they had obeyed the orders of that man, one much more powerful than him. Thanks to inhuman sight, this intruder could tell details under the veil of darkness, being made aware that the Dragon Saint did not even turn to look at him as he burned a gigantic Cosmos.
"Damn it, I'll have to retreat," the man murmured. He saw no option then.
Nachi and Anka watched intently, while their subordinates stayed put, not fathoming frustrating Shiryu's orders. There was a silence in the range, and the Specter knew not whether to start moving, since his most feared foe also never moved an inch. The golden and greenish glow of the Dragon's power flowed between rocks and sparse weeds, lighting up the perimeter.
Suddenly Shiryu swung an arm back, which Wolf knew to be a sign of things to come, yelling: "Go!" In synchrony with Anka, he jumped from a side to reach for the Specter. To their surprise, he didn't jump forth, back, or sideways, but only up, and at once the robes which he wore were disposed of. Upon reaching the heights, the shadows of two wings were spread, and thousands of flashing particles were released by them.
"SOARING DRAGON!" Shiryu screamed and threw the arm forward, having certainty of the enemy's location. In the other hand, the Specter rotated mid air thanks to his large wings, and he spawned a thin wall made of some crystalline fabric.
"SILK THREAD!" the invader's voice boomed, but the Soaring Dragon's energy obliterated this in its tunnel of light. Still, it reduced the ability's strength considerably, meaning the man was forced far back, yet was sure to survive the ordeal. More glowing orbs separated from the Specter as he was damaged; he grunted, fumbled against the ground, flapped those wings of his, and caused an explosion of energy.
The intensity of this dragged his body at a speed Nachi and Anka could not overtake, so he glided ever more upwards to escape the mountain range. The falling twilight reflected against parts of him, and they could see gems shine like stained glass even from that far, raising deeper questions of the enemy's true nature.
Intelligence gave chase for a few seconds before noticing that Shiryu had stayed behind, not bothering to do so. "He just… flew away!" Nachi observed.
"Th-that was another Specter, right? And so close to Sanctuary too, that…" Anka pended to finish her thought, but they deviated attention back to those who moved to the injured amazon, because she hadn't given signs of life yet.
Shiryu stayed not far from the location where he last fought, so his friends came to speak to him. "If you hadn't shown up, someone might've died," Wolf told him.
"What's happening here anyway?" the other questioned.
"Reports from lookouts that there are Specters wandering near Athens," he explained. "I bet they're in other places on Earth too. We've found a couple lakes they likely use as portals."
"Strange," Shiryu pensively whispered.
Anka had been engrossed at what the enemy left behind, not unlike the maggots left by the man who actually succeeded at entering Sanctuary. "L-look, the Specter…" she warned the others, pointing out those faint flashing lights yet lingering "… he left a bunch of glowing things!"
"Hm?" Nachi turned to confirm it, and thus approached them somewhat. Like fireflies emitting yellow to red light, indeed the enemy had left his residue, further proof of inhuman traits. The more one studied those, the less they seemed like naturally-occurring beetles, but in the birth of an evening so dark, there was no telling for sure. "Wow, he was a freaky one too, even seemed to have actual wings." Looking back at Dragon, the other hadn't as much as faced the glow, and he was reminded of his predicament. "Oh, you can't see it, Shiryu."
With a solemn nod, Shiryu asked: "What did he look like?"
"We could barely see him ourselves, dim as it is, but when you attacked him there, I swear he spread wings and flew off like a bird."
The Saint processed that information with what he was able to sense in absence of vision; this was enlightening, albeit the notion of an enemy with an aspect so eccentric fussed him. "So that's what we should expect from these men," he said, tone grave.
"It seems so."
A soldier came jogging back from the amazon's position. "Sir, she'll make it, but she broke a couple bones," he revealed.
Holding the forehead momentarily, Nachi told him: "You lot stay with Piscis Austrinus, Dragon and I will carry her to Sanctuary."
"H-hey…" Anka awkwardly stepped hither, lifting a finger "… are you calling it for the night?"
"Yeah, I have to do something, but I'll cover the early morning."
Shrugging off her curiosity, the girl agreed. "Okay!"
"Let's move, Shiryu." Upon hearing the sound of his ally's footsteps, Dragon walked with him down the hill, yet not without anxieties.
"Are you sure it's safe to leave them alone?" he asked.
"There's no other choice," Nachi told him. "All strong people are busy. As I said, we're lucky you stopped by."
"After I speak to Lady Athena, I'll make sure to help out here."
"If you can, it'll be a blessing, honestly." Nachi's sigh came with the weight of their dire situation, that being Seiya and the others engrossed in meditation, while Specters freely wandered the Earth in preparation. Worse, he recalled the death of Karim, and now the power of that latest foe. "With strong enemies like that, I wonder what awaits us in this next war."