<Ⅵ>
“ Light…is what brings us… Hope…
…is what brings us…back…back to where we belong…The Land, Before Light…”
Where…I belong…?
Panting exhaustedly, slumped to a side as Yuri watched the dark-armored Demon warrior crawl up to her feet.
Minutes ago this Demonic being was but a village girl, a humble, gentle person Yuri trusted with every cell in her body.
There, Varium stood, her humongous grotesque right arm slithering menacingly, yet pulled back by its wielder, who stood before Yuri, looking down with mild malice.
“ …You have it too, don’t you…?” Varium’s voice resounded in Yuri’s ears.
“ …Things that you have lost…things that you once dear…Before coming here, through the Light…?”
Yuri nodded.
Her mother.
Her friends.
Her memories.
Those are the things she once had, but were lost. Shattered in this foreign world.
If she had found her past, rebuild her broken memories, she would understand Lima’s sorrow. She would be able to console her, to mend her wounds.
She would understand her own tears. The things that all seemed slightly familiar, but hollow without their purpose.
She would recognize who she was, where she came from.
And where her Mother was.
Mother…
“ That is where our purpose lies…All We Demons seek.” Varium breathed as she staggered away to the shadows.
“ What is it you seek, Starbreaker Yuri?”
“ I seek the truth…!” Yuri cried out drastically before Varium sank into the dark.
“ I want to know. I want to remember everything, everyone I have forgotten! Wait…tell me what I can do! Varium…Varium, Wait!!”
But Varium did not stop, but slowly lurked deeper into the unknown.
“ If so…” Varium’s voice cackled sinisterly further and further away.
“ Then you must denounce the ways of Light. Follow the Demonic path …Follow him. Follow the man you call Vitas…He knows the way back, for now…”
Yuri spun around to where Vitas lay unconscious. The wound stung by the Demon fang through his chest sealed itself, burying the dark matter within his flesh, hiding under fine skin as if nothing had happened before.
Vitas…Vitas knows……
Yuri knew Vitas was special to her since the beginning of their first encounter. Her memories rippled with many unrecognized scenes the moment she bore her eyes upon him, and he too felt the same towards her.
Vitas is the key…Yuri realized.
But to denounce the Light? To become Demon?
Lima’s words of the nights before rang in warning to her as if in foreboding.
“ It is what it is… A Curse, Yuri…”
Lima had said.
“ To know, means to bear the knowledge, and the things it brings that affect the world you see. The pain that lingers with every sense you feel. Forever…”
A demonic path…
If a curse it may be, then so be it, Yuri decided bravely, hoisting Vitas up onto her shoulder.
If what resides in the past brings but ill will, then from the past she shall find a remedy! But what lies in her path is a more arduous and devastating one. Demons, Archdemons, Spy droids, and even Dark Unervas…She had to become stronger. She had to strengthen herself, to be strong enough to stand on her own, without risking anyone close to her; and become worthy of seeking the secrets where her Mother and herself belong.
Leaving the destroyed village behind her, Yuri staggered away, carrying Vitas on her left side, and Neliya’s book on the right, when howlings and screeches grew louder the more she neared the outer rim of the citadel.
Yuri’s visor flickered in alarm. Demons her sensory systems detected, filing in from all over the plain, surrounding the exterior of the wretched village, gnawing and thrashing their claws and fangs to break through the battered walls.
Quickly, Yuri searched for a safe exit when familiar voices shouted suddenly from above, soaring down in the form of Betelgeuse battle droids descending in united array to Yuri’s presence, cheering with the rattling voices of the children victoriously.
“ Yuri! It’s us!!” Feira’s voice shouted as one of the androids bounced close.
“ We’re navigating the droids from the ship, and shooting down Demons! It’s fun!”
“ It’s not for fun, it’s for Kiro!” Lucky’s voice spoke exhaustedly as another droid hovered forward, its ammunition all spent. “ But Demons aside, did you find Neliya’s book?”
Neliya’s droid too moved shyly and awkwardly forward, for the little girl wasn’t too well-versed in the controls yet.
But the children gasped not in surprise or joy at the retrieving of the book.
“ Yuri…Are you alright…?!” Lima’s droid drifted forth worriedly as Yuri walked to them, coming to the light. Her battered armor cracked and dented all over, stains in Demonic essence everywhere, and Vitas’ benumbed form hung motionless over her shoulder. Such a scene shocked the droid-controlling children completely as they hurriedly helped carry both Yuri and Vitas in their robotic appendages.
“ Commander Firren is stopping the sea of Demon Wolves from tearing this place down.” Neo’s voice exclaimed from a larger-sized, more equipped android with leading paint, as it led the android squad afloat.
“ Starting retreat! To me, kinsfolks!”
“ Hoh!!!!”
with each robotic arm clasped tightly to each other, forming a firm circular array around Yuri and Vitas, like a fortified ring of levitation the droids took off into the air, soaring higher as they accelerated in seconds, escorting Yuri back to the Betelgeuse.
Seeing the rescue squad successfully executing their mission, Firren nodded in relief before setting up the barren fields a mighty explosion the moment he stomped his feet into the ground as the thundering force incinerated the foul beasts and sent all the rampaging demons flying off miles away to the horizons, as the Starbreaker commander dashed off in a fiery blast calling to its flying mobile which soared into his command, like a noble steed driving Firren back to the Betelgeuse where the androids were heading with Yuri and Vitas firmly kept in their unyielding grasps.
…
………..
“ Dark Unerva, Captain,” Firren reported, uploading footage captured through Yuri and Vitas’ Starbreaker visors. “ It had been hiding inside the refuge citadel. The spy droid must have escaped there to lure Yuri and Vitas in, but didn’t expect the Demon’s assault. Surprisingly, the Dark Unerva didn’t pursue any further, and left after struggling against Yuri for some time.”
“ So, we have escaped from His scrutiny through sheer luck.” Bradson mused. “ At a cost of a Starbreaker.”
“ I don’t think calling him…this Vitas person, a Starbreaker is accurate enough.” Firren approached the Captain in a lowered voice.
“ His armor had registered to receive an immense Demon attack through the chest, but resulting just a scar, no serious damage whatsoever. This is impossible!”
Firren showed the calm captain more evidence of his doubts.
“ Wounds aside, even his identity as a Starbreaker is not registered in any form of document from the Capital. He is either purposely hidden, like what we did for Yuri…or, this Vitas isn’t a Starbreaker at all…!”
Captain Bradson looked over the documents hovering on his virtual screen silently.
“ Well,” Bradson swiped the data aside. “ What do you think he is, Firren?” The captain asked, with his eyes gazing straight at Firren’s stern glare.
“ Whatever he is, I think he doesn’t belong here, on this ship…or in this world.” Firren replied firmly.
“ Is it, perhaps, due to your own sentiments, commander?”
“ No!” Firren quickly refuted, raising his voice. “ It’s...what I know, from what I remember…of what happened before…”
Firren’s expression darkened as he hesitated to find the words to describe his concern.
“ He…He shouldn’t be able to return.”
Bradson Captain nodded, leaving his desk to look over the darkened skies outside the kaleidoscope window behind his cabin.
“ He is, to me, like everyone on this ship.” Bradson captain replied in his deep, soothing, benign voice.
“ Those that are most dear to me, those that I have failed before…I shall do my best to protect. That is all I ever wanted. For them to enjoy life once again, be relieved from the past… remember or not is their own choice. I only wish to keep them safe, as long as I can.”
Firren silently accepted his captain’s resolve, agreeing with all that the old man said. For he too wished to protect, those he dear.
“ I understand, Se…Captain.” Firren acknowledged with a nod. “ But certainly for safety measures, something must be done to prevent the worst.”
“ Well said, Firren.” Bradson agreed. “ Continue with your mission, keep Yuri safe at all costs. While I keep an eye on…him.”
There, flickering on the captain’s desk, one lone hologram, reflecting the scenes captured by security droids stationed at the Betelgeuses infirmary, where a young man lay on one of the beds.
Vitas it was, bandages around his chest, still in slumber after the incident of the abandoned village citadel.
And sitting by his bed, leaning close to the unconscious man,
was Yuri.
…
………
With the thick book of Sensei back in her embrace, Neliya thanked all her friends that helped with utmost gratitude.
“ Don't mention it!" Feira pet the ebony hair of the sincerely nervous Neliya. “ This is what friends are for! And more so, this android navigation experience has spurred a great flow of inspiration to my designs! Finnir, fetch my tools! We've got work to do!"
" Sister, wait…" The skinny boy with the tools in hand hurriedly followed his sister Feira off to elaborate on new weaponized ideas to smite Demon kind.
“ But Neliya, there is someone who you should especially be thanking more than us. ” Lucky whispered to Neliya’s ear, to which the timid girl jolted in realization.
“ Oh yes! I haven't thanked Yuri and sir Vitas yet-”
“ No no.” Lucky whispered sheepishly with a sneaky grin.
“ I mean, yes, you should thank Yuri and Vitas later, but there is someone who has made exceptional effort in this endeavor, rallying all of us to your aid…”
Lucky ushered a hinting gaze which Neliya followed, and her eyes fell on the valiant leader of the children, selfless young Chad among his pack, with the firm reliable shoulder that all could but dream to lean upon, of Neo the oldest who was also thanking those that had joined the search to assist in his unifying call.
Neliya blushed peach red, knowing that her reluctance to thank the boy was ultimately discovered by Lucky.
“ Hmm? Why the sudden hesitance, Neliya?” Lucky asked enticingly. “ Come on. It’s no big deal…” Lucky urged but Neliya’s shyness was like escaping tides rushing away between the rocks, only to meet Lucky’s intrusion to push the timid one back to course toward Neo the brave.
“ Lima, help me! No, help Neliya express her gratitude!” Lucky begged for the silent girl’s assistance. But Lima just stood by as her cool distant self, preferring to watch them have their fun rather than engaging herself. Eventually, the girls helped Neliya muster her courage, overcoming her wavers, and stood face to face with Neo.
The exchange of gratitude was a fast one to the boy, but to Neliya, it lasted as if hours were spent, yet for more, she yearned after seeing firsthand the gentleness of the stern boy, a vague but apparent smile curved gracefully upon those thin trustworthy lips. The leader of the pack left eventually, leaving Neliya at a sudden loss.
“ Well?” Lucky asked, eager to know of the process. But Neliya would not elaborate, rushing away with her face blushing deeper the more Lucky chased on with her curious inquiries.
Fortunately, though, someone stepped in to stop Lucky’s pasturing in a form of a similar pasturing.
“ Sister Lucky~!” Momo, the smallest child among the group of children whined, whining together with the wolf cub curled in her tiny embrace, pulling on Lucky’s light coral skirt fervently. “ Where were you and everyone?! I thought you all disappeared!”
“ We, we had a mission. That’s all.” Lucky quickly shoved the tiny girl away as she tried to pull Neliya back.
Lima stood by, watching the three girls pulling each other in the corridor. It’s moments like this that bring Lima back, to those times of—
“ Why can’t I go?! Why Can’t I go too?!” Momo was hollering when Lima noticed Neliya had escaped from Lucky’s grip, rushing off toward the far end, and heading in the infirmary’s direction.
“ Because you are too young for that driving and controlling all that kind of stuff, Momo! You’ll understand when you’re older!” Lucky bellowed impatiently, but Momo was adamant. The wolf cub in her arms whined helplessly, rocking along the little girl’s tantrum.
“ But I know things that you don’t!” Momo argued as Lima left also, following Neliya’s tracks toward the hospital wing. “ I remember things that you say you forgot!”
“ No. Those things are from your dreams! Those things aren’t real!” Lucky volleyed back, her attention upon Neliya swiftly deterred away by Momo’s ranting. “ We don’t live inside a big building called a ‘School’, Momo. And there is no such thing as ‘trees’.......”
Together, Lima and Neliya made their way to the infirmary center of the ship, expecting Yuri there taking good care of Vitas. But someone else was already there, talking to Yuri calmly, maturely in gentle whispers.
“ It’s secretary Reina.” Neliya whispered.
“ Now is not the time,” Lima whispered back. “ Let’s not disturb. We’ll come back later.”
Neliya obeyed, heading back to her room. But Lima didn’t. Turning around a corner while Neliya wasn’t aware, Lima headed back to the infirmary, leaning close by the door, listening to what Reina and Yuri were saying secretively.
“ I want to try it.” Yuri was replying in a firm tone.
“ I want to remember. If it can help anyone…help me understand my past, and harness my power better…I will do it. I will try it.”
“ It may need days,” Reina explained of the happenings to the Restoration Device. “ And I need to make adjustments and find a safer way…Yuri. You are special. There is something in your past, a Power kept hidden inside of you, that is a key to help everyone…remember…I will prepare the operation soon enough. Yuri…I need you to be prepared also.”
“ I will.” Yuri promised.
Soon after, Reina left, turning away down the corridor, as Lima watched the secretary leave from behind a corner, making sure the Secretary was far enough until she entered the infirmary.
“ …Lima?” Yuri looked up, surprised to see Lima, especially with such a stare merged with sorrow, and mostly anger.
“ I told you it was a curse.” Lima spoke in a calm but searing voice.
“ The past is not what you think…It is a pain that will follow you whenever you are awake. It is a torment, a path of dread. I told you so…why are you still trying to seek what is long behind us?!”
Sorrow, reflected in those watery gold pupils. Those flaring eyes, looking afar at an age away,
Where a young girl once was,
crying, alone.
“ I just want to know,” Yuri replied firmly.
“ I want to know why it is you cry when no one’s there. I want to know what the things I see in my mind, the memories, the feelings…I want to know what they mean!”
……
Why is it you cry, child?
“ But my friends…!” the girl wept tragically.
“ They are lost! Can you help me…Can you help me bring them back?!”
……
“ It’s not worth it!” Lima cried aloud, adamantly.
“ Seeking those memories…they will bring you nothing but despair.”
……
Where did you lose them?
The young girl pointed yonder.
“ We were playing ‘Hide and Seek’...But I can’t…find the others…! Please…Can you help me?! Please……”
……
“ The past has nothing to do with us. Leave it there, leave it behind us! No good will come of it—”
“ But they gave you the power to defend against the Archdemon, did it not?” Yuri questioned, pitting the little girl to silence.
“ You have the power to protect those around you. You are able to harness that power, from your memories…I have that power too. I could have used that power to fight back, to keep those around me safe! If I had been stronger…Vitas wouldn’t have been hurt because of me…If I had remembered, the times with you…would you still cry……like now?”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Quickly, reluctantly, Lima wiped her tears away.
“ I…I don’t need you…to understand…!” Lima denied. Yet the more she resisted, the more the tears came raining down her cheek.
“ I just…just want you to be free…to be happy. Why don’t you understand?!”
But it occurred to Lima, at that very moment, that all this was like fate, impossible to evade but only succumb.
“ You are who you are…You will always try to know, try to seek what the world prohibits you to… I have been a fool to think you would listen. You never will…that is who you are… Goodbye.”
Leaving all sentiment behind, pushing her way out of the clean walled chamber, Lima left without return. Though her words may sound true, her intentions all to shield Yuri away from this terrible point of no return, deep down, Lima knew, she too wished for Yuri to remember.
For Yuri to recognize, to share her sorrow.
She could not tolerate her selfish emotions that only grew stronger and stronger the more she set eyes upon Yuri. She must go. She must stay away from Yuri, lest…she pulls Yuri into the realm of regret and utmost agony with her.
She would never forgive herself.
Watching her leave, chasing Lima no more, Yuri made her own promise.
Wait for me, Lima.
I will regain my memories, and no more shall your tears be of sorrow.
…
……….
Racing as far as she could, Lima ran and ran, and ran, until she could barely catch her breath. Still, she made to run. The more she stresses her body, the less she thinks, the less her mind drifts among those memories of the past, the better she could escape from the helplessness and guilt, lurking up from the depth of her heart, entangling her limbs, and pulling her down to desperation. The more she struggled, the tighter the sensation, the greater the dread, crushing its ruthless weight over the little girl to break her mentality.
Lima was cornered. The voices, the shouts taking over, and her world plummeting, spiraling down the traumatic end. Lima closed her eyes shut.
Then it all stopped. Swept away in that fine instance.
A call from yonder, clattering once like a dew dropping onto still surface of the calm, sending ripples that vibrated, resonated, spreading across wider and wider, cleansing away the gravity and morose, like light traversing through the beyond, ushering darkness to surrender space.
Lima opened her eyes.
She was back at the glass corridors of the Betelgeuse. But one thing was not the same.
Her ears, filled with the soft gentle keys in motion, resounding mellow tunes of grace.
Of hope.
Tracing the welcoming melody ringing along the hallways, Lima found herself entering an esteemed chamber of organized profession, shelves of books filed over the circular sides, like firm arms holding up the brown majestic desk in the middle where the palms converge. Symphonic melody echoed from one side, luring Lima forth with the tune she knew too well, singing with it naturally with realization as she pushed a bookshelf wall aside.
The splendor of acoustic bloom set free with clearance the moment Lima opened the secret doorway.
Bradson Captain didn’t stop, his fingers danced gracefully, guiding his old muscular frame along with the tune, his eyes closed, diving amongst memory, savoring each second within the dream of before. The dream of all that once was.
Lima wished there was no end in this short paradise, without words, without thought, but bliss. She felt her soul was cleansed just by listening to the Piano’s song.
“ What can I help you, my child?” The old captain asked with a chuckle after the tune was done.
Lima smiled back.
“ You already have, Se—”
“ No, no.” Captain Bradson put a finger to his bearded lips with a gentle grin.
“ Captain is just fine.”
Lima nodded silently. Names aren’t safe in these trying times, under the ever-existing scrutiny.
“ Sister Reina is adamant to regain Yuri’s memories,” Lima whispered her qualms to the old mentor. “ Is it…really right to help Yuri…remember?”
Bradson nodded in contemplation as he scratched his beard.
“ Only It’s Will, the Will of the Land of Light, knows what is right,” Bradson replied after a momentary silence.
“ No matter what we do, what we think, the grand natural order beyond us will find its way. All we have to do, is to do what we think is right.”
“ Even if what we do is against the natural order?”
“ We never know. What may be right may seem wrong in our eyes, and what we see wrong, may actually be what the universe needs. What is ultimately right or wrong is not determined by our understanding. What matters to us, now, is what we believe, is the best for those we love. And that is enough for our limited time on this ephemeral earth.”
Lima nodded in silence.
“ Will you help Yuri remember?” the little girl asked.
“ I will try, with my own way.” Captain Bradson patted the keys of his piano gently. “ But whether or not she fully recovers all that is lost, is up to her.”
Lima breathed slowly, inhaling a long breath, then sighing with deep resolve.
“ Then I will be there by her side, to protect Yuri from the hurt and devastation along the path she chose.”
“ That is noble of you, Lima.” Bradson smiled with gratitude.
“ Thank you…for being Yuri’s friend.”
Always.
Lima promised.
…
………..
That night,
Vitas woke up.
The beepings of the monitors aside his bed nonstop, correlating with the zigzagging ups and downs displayed upon the hovering virtual screen above his bedside.
The beeping, of his heartbeat.
Vitas touched his chest.
No wound, no scar, not even a scratch. Clean Skin. Like nothing had happened before.
The medical technologies on this ship sure are remarkable, Vitas marveled.
As he lay back down to resume his slumber, Vitas noticed a dim luminescence outside his window, beaming weak shafts between the drapes, murky crimson lines drawn upon his bed covers.
It was the moon, in the middle of the dark infinity.
Being the main light source illuminating his surroundings, tanning all in its path dark red. Even himself.
Peculiar, Vitas thought, not sure how and why the color of the moon wasn’t the same as he recalled, pulling the drapes aside to have a better look, to see no moon in sight,
But a large bloodshot eye staring down at him, glaring eerily with frenzied hunger.
Vitas nearly fell off his bed in shock, to see the glowing moon once again the moment he blinked. The huge levitating eye was gone.
The night, serene as before. Like nothing had happened.
Vitas rubbed his eyes and looked again. The moon was still the moon, but his mind now on full alert, the silence audible to his vigilant ears. His body felt light, and his consciousness clear. Sleep was no longer an option, Vitas thought, getting off of bed. The infirmary doors opened by themselves the moment Vitas’ feet touched ground, blasting pale blinding light all over his presence as if an unknown force teleporting him into a new world. Confused at first, Vitas moved onward to the glass corridors running vertically affront of the foyer cautiously, in search of a glass of water to clear his throat and mind, wary of jump scares around the corner.
Things seemed different now that the skies were pitch-black and the crew at rest, and especially so, an unease did Vitas perceive, a slight disturbance hiding in plain sight that he cannot yet point out. He never noticed how long the corridors of the ship were, like infinite pathways to the dark unknown, unable to discern each end. Perhaps, traversing with Yuri along the Betelgeuse hallways made their walks pleasant, and short in comparison to the hollow walk he now endures.
Must be the silence, Vitas surmised.
Sound nonexistent, even his footsteps had no repercussions. Uncanny was the world slowly inclining the more he walked down the endless corridor, his mind revisiting the large eerie eye minutes before that he relentlessly tried to forget but was stuck in his mind, constantly reverting his gaze to the side to check if the eye was staring at him.
The moon it still was, hanging above his wake.
That was when a shadow darted past behind him.
“ Who’s there?!” Vitas asked in a dry raspy cry.
He was sure, from the edge of his eye, he saw someone run across the hallway behind him, at an inhuman speed.
“ Hello?”
No answer.
Wait, Vitas paused.
Was there a hallway leading out of this section before?
Vitas tried his best to recall if there were any hallways branching out to a side. His memories from seconds ago showed otherwise. But now there was. Vitas succumbed to the evident truth and blamed his bad memory. Better believe than get stuck in the fear of doubt, Vitas convinced himself as he looked across the yonder corridor where the shadow had darted in seconds before.
Just in time to catch a glimpse of blue— the light blue glistening upon Yuri's strain of hair, vanishing into the dark corner.
" Yuri !?" Vitas was relieved, marching his stiff legs as fast as he could down the corridor, tracing the corner where Yuri made a turn not far ahead.
Vitas turned, and there she was, back facing him, standing in front of a room.
A pitch-black room.
Vitas didn’t stop to think of the uncanny scene before his eyes, his thoughts only to reach out to her, to try and make her turn around, to see him, to notice him.
“ Yuri! Wait—”
The doors slid shut with a thunderous bang the moment he spoke, sealing Yuri away from his sight. Vitas thought he had a heart attack just by the shutting crash of the metal sliding doors. Could have closed slowly, Vitas muttered under his breath, as he neared the sealed foyer, expecting it to slide open by itself.
The doors remained shut, no matter how Vitas tried to activate its sensors.
That was when Vitas started to believe, that this night, was unlike any night he had experienced before.
…
………
“ Yuri! What brings you here?” Feira expressed her surprise as she saw Yuri at the door of the children’s dormitory. The little girl led Yuri inside welcomingly as the other girls resting in the room greeted her peacefully.
“ I…I wish to speak with Lima.” Yuri said quietly to Feira, hoping to not raise any suspicion amongst the curious children. She wished to apologize to Lima, and talk about their differences, wishing also to persuade Lima to accept her choice.
“ Lima is in the other room.” a voice replied from under the bed. Yuri bent down curiously, to see a child half asleep, lying chest down and looking up at Yuri with drowsy half-opened eyes from under her hoody. It was the sleepy one that was clinging onto Feira while they escaped from the tunnels days back, Yuri recalled.
“ Neruko…am I right?” Yuri made sure before apologizing for interrupting the slumbering child’s rest.
“ Nya…” Neruko the sleepy one purred as she snug back into her cozy layer, under the bed. Under Feira’s bed.
Of why the hooded girl sleeps underneath, Yuri could but wonder.
“ Lima is sleeping next door.” Lucky, sitting near them by a low table, polishing her dazzling rubied crown added. “ She said she was tired. She sure was brooding more than usual at suppertime. Is it something urgent?”
“ No, not really…” Yuri thought it was better to keep it between her and Lima and turned to leave when her eyes caught glimpse of a series of mystical yet familiar patterns that caught her eye, mesmerizing her gaze, as her mind flashed in recalling alarm, a sense to which Yuri had slowly gotten used to when encountering something from her lost past.
Here, now, presented before her, were arcane symbols, mystic words that Yuri was sure she had seen before, somewhere.
All of them, drawn upon the pages of the thick book cradled in Neliya’s arms. It took some minutes until Neliya noticed Yuri gazing alongside her on the same page as she was.
“ …Cloud…” Yuri blurted out without realizing what she had just said.
Feira, Lucky, and the other girls were amazed at what they just heard.
“ Yuri, do you understand what is written on this page?!” Neliya jumped up from her stool, her voice sounding frantic and eager.
“ Teach us, please, Yuri!”
Yuri was perplexed. “ But haven’t you been reading this book all this time?” Yuri asked them. Surely, they understand more than she does, right?
“ Those pages are different from the others.” Feira pointed out, as Neliya showed some pages at the front of the thick volume in comparison with those Yuri just saw.
“ The first half is written in words we understand. But the other half…looks pretty confusing.”
“ Like a different set of words...” Neliya explained. “ They look like drawings. I have tried to read them, but…It’s impossible.” Even Neliya the learned child could but admit defeat.
“ Even Tricia doesn’t know what those meant.” Lucky pointed out. “ If someone knew and write it down into words we comprehend, the problem would be solved.”
“ Is there anything you recognize, Yuri?” Feira urged encouragingly. “ This could change everything we know!”
Seeing all the wide eyes around craving for her enlightenment, Yuri sat down and looked closely at the ornately written verses her eyes first caught glance of.
Cloud
Yuri’s eyes followed her tracing fingers moving across the winding paragraph, searching the pages and in her vague memory for instances and words she could recall. Somehow, through her past experiences, Yuri had found a way to let herself see the numerous flashing memories clearer, by letting go of thought and relaxing her eyes blankly, tuning her focus to the mind’s eye, as the scenes lingered slower than before, letting Yuri glance a second or more than previous encounters.
Sun
Trying the same, Yuri found herself not understanding what she read on the pages, but rather, feeling what the words were trying to convey, like listening to the whispers emanating from within the interconnected paragraphs.
There, the voices gave shape as Yuri repeated what she heard, and felt.
Moon
…. And Shadow
More and more voices filed into her eyes and ears, and letting go of all her outer senses, Yuri caught a short glimpse, of what it all looked like, when all the drawings, symbols, and hidden language combined into one elaborate story.
It was the story
of the beginning.
Yuri took a deep breath.
…
……….
Vitas too took a deep breath before sinking his fingers between the gap of the metal doors, employing all his dull recovering strength to pull, and pull, and pull. Until a threshold was passed.
A point of no return.
Vitas fell to the floor, gazing in disbelief at what beheld his eyes over the opened gates.
Blue. Stretching out across the horizons above. With pinches of white, like vapor, like smoke, languidly floating amongst the everlasting blue.
Vitas half crawled out of the doorway, touching not the cold solid tiled floors, but soft cool strands of sleek substance relaxing his tense muscles the more he touched. They were green, shimmering the sunlight dawning behind his back. Among them, blue sparkles dotted here and there sparsely yet recognizable.
Blue flowers in the lush green.
Flowers.
Vitas blinked hard. He looked back at the corridor he came from, to see but everlasting fields, rustling along the gentle welcoming breeze. This is a dream, Vitas told himself, touching the grassy verdure around him, feeling its rich genuine touch.
This is real.
Not just real.
It is happening.
It is happening right before his eyes.
There, before his wide astonished gaze, standing a few steps away, folding her thin arms in a caressing embrace,
A bouquet of blue waved in hand.
A smile as lively as the flowers she held.
Yuri…?
The wind soared in answer.
Vitas stood up slowly. He could see down the hills, cloaked under the clear blue sky, the peaceful clouds, the lush green fields, the flowers,
Home.
“ What?”
The little girl ahead pointed at the white establishment down below the hill.
Willingly, Vitas followed.
“ Yuri, why are we here?” The girl would not answer, walking steps ahead no matter how Vitas tried to catch up.
“ Yuri, what is this place? Where—”
They were already standing before the hollow entrance. Vitas spun around, scanning the empty spacious hallway in front of a wide flight of stone stairs.
A clock hung high at the face of the pale building. Dials unmoving, hands stuck in perpetual time.
A metal pole was erected high on top of the five-storied establishment, with a cloth hung waving with the wind. A flag that Vitas could hardly discern. The girl was hopping up the stairs now. Vitas had no choice but to hurry with.
Two marble walls at both sides came to view, separated miles apart. Behind him, Vitas could barely see the lush mountain where he came seconds ago, veiled under sunlight and thin fog. And in front of him, Vitas could scarcely discern a circular field surrounded by a red elliptical runway set in the middle of the established grounds.
The institution, like an outer wall aligned on four sides, in a fashion to which Vitas knew but could scarcely remember.
Fear and trepidation start to close in from the shadows of the institute.
“ Yuri…why are we here?”
This girl, after close inspection, was younger than the Yuri Vitas knew.
She smiled, eerily.
Let’s go.
Before Vitas could comprehend, the girl raced up the flight of steep stairs on one side within the shadows of the establishment, forcing Vitas to follow.
“ Yuri! Wait!”
Along the corridors of the second floor, across rooms, empty rooms save for the numerous desks and chairs laid out in organized rows in front of a lifted alter at the front of each spacious chamber.
Not a single person in sight, yet countless voices, whispering, chattering, laughing, of children, all echoing out of the empty rooms. Vitas fought his way through his fear, chasing after the girl that was always steps ahead, only to vanish at the next second.
Vitas halted, standing in the middle of the long corridor, surrounded by empty rooms and resounding voices. There, the little girl was, standing at the back of one of the large rooms filled with desks with chairs.
A classroom. Vitas didn’t know how or why. The word was there inside of him all along.
Vitas entered as the girl’s darkened silhouette stood as if waiting for him. The world outside was pale now, and raindrops tattered the glass, sprinkling wet the wooden floors and appliances near the shattered window panes.
Look.
Vitas followed the girl’s directing finger, looking at a longboard stretched across the wall behind the classroom. Sheets of paper pinned one next to the other in display.
Vitas looked at the paintings in mild confusion. This had happened before—
Do you see it?
“ Wha…” Vitas followed the girl’s gaze on one of the sheets on the board.
Do you like it?
Vitas stared in a long momentary silence.
“ Yes…” Vitas could but answer. He lied.
The small canvases, all blank. Just white papers fluttering with the wind that grew violent as each second passing. The one Yuri pointed to, was hers.
Blank.
The rain outside was honest.
Do you know?
The girl was looking in the other direction now, at the empty chairs and desks dispersed before them.
Where will we go when we die?
Vitas stared back, lost for words.
It was, as he remembered. The same question, the same voice, lingering inside of his head.
“.... I don't know.” Vitas replied, candidly, facing what has already happened before bravely. This is but a memory. This is but a dream.
Wrong.
Lightning flashed at that moment, the crashing thunder blasting his eardrums the next.
Vitas blinked harder, recovering from shock.
“ Yuri…?!”
She was gone.
Rushing out of the room, bombarded by the countless whispers that no more reflect joy and chatter, but more of begging and terror, Vitas decided to run for it, darting down the stairs back to the entrance. But there she was, amongst the rain, playfully frolicking in the fields in the middle of the establishment grounds. With gnashing teeth, Vitas dashed out, stepping into muddy soil as he made his way forth. His footsteps heavier and heavier.
Searching for a glimpse of bright blue.
This class is boring! Let's go out and play already…
Yuri hates math.
Vitas knew that. Somehow it felt natural to him. A knowledge he commonly accepted, as he had never forgotten before.
His feet were sinking.
Look! I found it! The summer triangle!
Vitas followed her finger pointing up to the heavens. That’s right…they had sneaked out at night to gaze at the stars. He was her accomplice.
Then the air was filled with low bellowing moans, resonating chimes echoing above. Vitas looked around, instinctively. Why? Why does the sound urge him to run, spurring an intuition to hide so drastically. Can it be—
The Bells!
The Bells.
Hide and Seek, everyone—
And the girl started counting.
One!
Vitas tried to turn around, but his feet, both stuck deep into the muddy soil. Sinking deeper still.
Two!
The mud was reaching his waist.
Three!
Vitas crawled, bearing his fingers down, grabbing hold of the ground as he pulled his body forward, to no avail.
Five!
The mud was above his chest, and he could no longer feel his legs.
Eight!
He took his last breath, before the sodden earth took over him whole.
Ten!
Darkness.
Remember that song?
Let's sing together—!
No…no Yuri…I can’t…
Vitas felt his conscious drift slowly down, down, down. There was nothing he could do but listen to the faraway chimes, of the melodious tune ringing in the muffled void. the keys of the piano beating gently along his heartbeat, each note accelerating and hitting harder until—
— until Vitas opened his eyes.
Sinking into the depth of the lightless void, Vitas gasped in horror, face to face with none other than Yuri, now grown to her actual form as he remembered, lying unconscious without a single garb over her pure pallid skin, drifting also in the liquidus darkness.
Vitas swam forth, trying to grab her and swim away from this ominous sea, but his hands hit glass, a strong impenetrable barrier separating them apart. Before he could find a way to free her, Light illuminated the void, thick intricate lines of gold traversed across the dark infinity, bringing luminance over the depth of the murky space, revealing a field of technologies beyond Vitas’ understanding, operating in cold sentience.
That was when Vitas realized Yuri was kept within a glass cabinet vessel, sinking down to the bases of the alien foundations below. Vitas held onto the vessel as he too was pulled deeper, closer.
Then it spoke.
The foundation of Light spoke, in a solemn omnipresent voice of a woman, resounding in Vitas’s ears magnanimously.
Why is the sky dark while the stars shine abright?
“ What are You?!” Vitas shouted bravely, filling his voice with the courage he gravely needed.
“ Where are you taking her?!”
…
…………
“ Yuri…? You alright?” Neliya and the girls asked worriedly as Yuri’s expression grew darker and darker the more she read the esoteric texts and drawings.
She had stopped at a symbol, a unique sketch of a circular disc-like apparatus with intricate runes coated upon its elliptical surface, with curved ornate lines of gold smoothly reaching out in a spherical manner all joining into the core of the one disc of runes.
…
………..
And Lo, it revealed itself to Vitas’ eyes as the capsule neared its bright golden-lined surface.
A circular apparatus emerged, runes dazzling with power menacingly, ornate lines of blinding gold seared his eyes with amalgamated glow, drawing out automatically with splendor over the elliptical surface, all joining into the core of divine.
And Lo,
The whole foundation answered Vitas’ call.
This is the Herunis Carna, The Land of Light,
The Land of Bliss and Miracles which you have unrightfully intruded.
Yuri’s capsule jolted to an abrupt halt, filing a dented missing portion amongst the grand machinations unfolding before Vitas’ awestruck eyes.
…
…………
“ The Herunis…Carna…”
Yuri jolted out of her trance, cold sweat raining down her blanched cheeks.
“ …What is that supposed to mean?” Neliya and everyone asked in bewilderment.
“ It’s…I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it before…!” Yuri stammered, panicking by the thought, by the memory so clear it was like yesterday.
…
………..
“ …The Land of Light…?! You?!” Vitas wasn’t sure if he should believe and succumb to its menacing reverence, or deny this incomprehensible establishment’s blatant assessments.
“ Then where are you taking her…where are you taking Yuri?!”
You Do Not Belong Here
“ I sure hope so!” Vitas volleyed back. “ And neither does Yuri!”
Wrong
The sudden shudder of the whole atmosphere ushered Vitas to an irresistible silence, an immense pressure weighing down on all sides restraining his body and forced his hand off Yuri’s capsule, pulling him up to the hovering structure of Light’s omniscient presence.
“ What…what do you want…?!” Vitas uttered, feeling his whole body being squeezed in a ruthless invisible grip.
The Light flickered ominously in reply.
Show Yourself
From the center of all illumination, a searing beam of white shot straight across the void, piercing through Vitas’chest, igniting him whole under the combusting protrusion of truth. Vitas screamed, the pain and torment exceeding his senses, erasing his mere existence in seconds.
But he did not perish.
Vitas could see. Vitas could feel it. His chest, where the Dark Unerva had pierced through with its Demonic venom, now spread with dark essence, Demon pus boiling out under his epidermal flesh, revealing a grotesque, mutated chest cage, in Demon Form.
His hands and palms, dark in armor, his feet clad in ebony leggings.
Devilish wings sprouted out all at once, bursting out from behind, breaking his back and revealing his metallic spine attached to those maniacal feathered ailerons.
Vitas’ vision darkened as grasping shadow-like hands covered his sight from behind him, pulling him down to the abysmal revelation.
No…Vitas shouted without a sound releasing out of his lungs.
This can’t be…I…I am—
Remember Who You Are
No! Vitas refused but could not resist under the Light of truth.
…
……….
“ I have seen this before, not long ago.” Yuri whispered to them, her voice trembling.
It was the first day she had awakened from the Restoration Device. The first day that she remembered on the Betelgeuse. She was looking for the room where the Starbreaker armor was kept. She had accidentally ventured to Captain Bradson’s cabin.
“ It’s right there…The Land of Light…The Herunis Carna…It’s right there…!!!”
It was there, within the messy pile of Captain’s desk.
Draw on a page of Grandpapa Bradson’s annals.
…
………
His memories, his past, forging back the shattered pieces were, forming the traumatizing picture he had resisted to discern all this time but couldn’t hide from forever. In his eyes, as darkness closed in on all sides, they revealed to him what he was.
You are burdened with grave duty
Vitas could hear the voice diminishing away to the beyond.
Fulfill your purpose
Fulfill your purpose—Vernui—
No. Vitas begged, before his consciousness faded to nonexistence.
Please.
Don’t go me by that name. Don’t Call Me—
…
…………
Riveted was the stern cold glance at the hovering screen before him as the Captain gave out his orders to the guarding Androids.
“ Increase the dosage. Use inhalation Anesthetics if required.” Bradson Captain advised through the speakers to the infirmary droids, standing by a rumbling bed where the patient struggled in violent seizure episodes.
The hospital androids obeyed, and injected extravagant loading doses into the infusion cords linked to the struggling patient’s bloodstream. The blood, dark as Demon kind.
After a couple of seconds, the patient stopped its futile skirmish and lay flat in deep slumber, the dark essence sliding back into the flesh, feigning its nonexistence.
Bradson Captain sighed tiredly, sitting back in his chair, resting his eyes on what he had just seen as the virtual screen flickered and vanished into thin air.
“ Did you know?” Reina secretary asked in a serious tone, sitting straight intimidatingly before the Captain’s desk.
“ I need him.” Bradson Captain spoke with grave resolve.
“ I need him, to find the Herunis Carna inside of Yuri.
Isn’t that what you were also looking for, Reina my dear?”
[.........to be continued…]