Fan Fiction ❯ Irony of the Hero ❯ Embers of a Strong Flame ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: UyoniRaze
Vahn: ‘Meta…..’

Vahn wiped his tears, and patted the Genesis. Every night he visited the tree, and silently prayed. As if visiting an old friend’s grave, he talked to the tree, as if talking to his old friend himself. Yet, Vahn couldn’t come to terms with himself. He held a heavy heart as he held slight regret.

Vahn: “Meta….I never got to say sorry.”

Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.30.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 177 | Status: Completed

~:Prologue:~
 
The Age of the Mist was over. Legaia's life resumed as it had before the Age. The Age of Reconstruction had began. Rim Elm neared completion, evolving and growing, becoming more that what it had been before Juggernaught. It became a holy city where salvation had been born. Where the “Legend of Legaia” began.
As Legend went, Apon the `fateful' night, a follower of the Mist and supernatural beings known as seru, seized the refuge villiage of Rim Elm.
A boy of fourteen; naïve to what the world had been before The Age of the Mist, innocent of the malevolence caused from the Mist's wake,
sought guidance from the Genesis Tree within the village center. The Mists creatures continued to invade, yet nestled within the tree was an ally that bonded with the boy to help drive away what intended to destroy the last remnants of mandkind. From there, the boy and the Ra-Seru, a supernatural being able to withstand the evil trance of the Mist, traveled the world to lift the blanket that shrouded mankind to it's ten year nightmare. He and the newly acquired companion sought out to revive the other Genesis trees, and to rid the world of the Mists' curse. They soon banded with a girl raise by a wolf symbiotically hosting a Ra-seru, a Biron monk who ironically had denounced all seru from childhood, and together, the three children and Ra-Seru returned Legaia to it's former prosperity. Yet, there were sacrifices.
 
Vahn: `Meta…..'
 
Vahn wiped his tears, and patted the Genesis. Every night he visited the tree, and silently prayed. As if visiting an old friend's grave, he talked to the tree, talking to his old friend himself. Yet, Vahn couldn't come to terms with himself. He held a heavy heart as he held slight regret.
 
Vahn: “Meta….I never got to say sorry.”
 
His mind wandered back to a time, when he resented Meta. The first time they had become acquainted. Back to the very spot he stood presently.
 
Meta: <Hello, Vahn….>
All around him, Rim Elm was being attacked. By crazed, mist-driven Seru. And right before him, a seru. A talking seru!
Meta: <Vahn, let us join forces to save your village!>
Vahn: “No!”
Meta: ::silent discouragement:: <I sense your resentment, but….I am no ordinary seru. I am a Ra-seru! And I want to help you. Do you want to save your village?>
Vahn shook his head, paralyzed as a past memory played before him.
 
*Hunter's Spring, Vahn's Childhood*
Vahn: `I need get that water dad and Elder were talking about! I have save Mom!'
A flash of bright and deep violet free-form phantom floats toward the four-year-old.
Phantasmal Column: “Vahn,……Fated Child…..”
The menacing column's voice hisses, pulsating as it consumes the boy's body. Yet, it is struck at by a club.
Val: “Back you disgusting seru! You bastard thing! Get off my son!”
The column assumes its semi-true form, and tries to junction itself to the boy.
Val and hunters of the village try desperately to pry it from the boy.
Vahn: “Daddy!”
The boy writhes and struggles to catch his breath, as his body slowly and uncontrollably succumbs to the weight of the seru's control. However, Val manages to strike the seru's vulnerable spot, and the beastly thing is stunned, still attached to the boy. Vahn falls into an unconsciousness, and is swept up into his fathers arms, carried back home. Along the way, in a last attempt, the seru regains enough strength to attack Val in his own home, and cripples him. Eventually, the demon dies, and it takes weeks for it to completely rot from the boy's body. Meanwhile, in the very state, Nora passes on, and Val loses most of his ability to walk. In that time, Vahn, in his last moments of his coma, vows to loathing seru of every kind. And to do all he can to protect his family and fellow villagers.
*************************************
Meta: <Vahn, your village is suffering. Do you want your village to succumb to the Mist>
He was torn. Join with a seru, and suffer the same fate as before? What if Rim Elm died as did his mother, or suffer as his father, while he remained rendered helpless under the control of a seru once again? Yet, to watch his village slowly die, like he would have done with his mother, if he hadn't made an attempt to help. Choices. Both were cruel fates to look forward to. Although, he would suffer guilt from either choice he made.
In a blind decision, driven by the promise that he had made as a child, to protect his family and friends, he assimilated with Meta. Although, loathing every minute of it. At one point, when he, Noa, and Gala, had spent the night at the Old Witch's Inn, he awoke by Meta's pleading and found that he had been clawing at the Ra-seru. Trying to pry him off his wrist while he slept.
Meta: <Vahn,….please. I'm sorry if I scare you. But I promise, my main purpose it to help you. I would do nothing in anyway to violate you.>
Vahn gazed down at the Ra-seru, tears swelling in his eyes, as he tried to speak without sobbing. And with a scowling hiss-
Vahn: “I hate you Meta. You know that, right?”
Meta understood; coexisting with the boy, Meta became aware of Vahn's past. As he tried to fight the painful memories within his mind, Meta had experienced the boy futilely fight the ghost-demons, always in vain. Losing; and always in his subconscious would he cry out. `“I hate the Mist! I hate seru! I wish I could kill them all!”'
 
Ixis: “Hey, Vahn… guess you're worried about Mei too.”
Vahn turned around, and tried to smile warmly. A warm smile, turning into a hearty one, as soon as he saw Ixis' nervous fidgeting. The expert hunter of Rim Elm, second oldest to Vahn, and he was worried over the soon-to-be labeling of a father. Mei, was expecting and every night Ixis continued to walk the grounds of Rim Elm.
Ixis: “I made some extra money today and bought Mei some sewing materials….-”
Vahn chuckled, thinking of the girl he had loved. So excited and proud of becoming a mother. All the women were just tickled for her. Especially Nene, whom would be receiving the honor to sew clothes for her. Ixis noted the light mood, and his anxiety eased.
Ixis: “You must be pretty mad at me! You must be so mad at me, you could just punch me.”
Vahn mockly attempt a huddled dive into Ixis' abdomen, ending up in a brotherly embrace.
Vahn: “Nah. But if you want me to,-”
Ixis nervously shook his head.
Ixis: “No thanks. Not the Ra-seru hero of Legaia. No way man!”
The words stung Vahn hard. Even after the rebirth of Rim Elm, and after requested that he not be referred to the title again, occasionally someone would slip and blurt it out, and still it would be as salt on an open wound. Ixis realized his fault, and apologized.
Ixis: “So,…Does it hurt?....The scar that the Ra-seru's left on your guy's arms, after they died?”
Vahn glanced down at the hideous old scar. Similar to a serious burn, that had roughly healed on its own over time. Noa, and Gala bore similar traits of the Ra-seru scars. Cort, if not having been reborn by the Ra-seru's powers, would also have borne scars of the same trait.
He touched the scar,….nothing striking of a pain of feeling. No feeling of any kind, except pains of sympathy and sorrow. He had become accustomed to Meta, almost ready to call him a friend, when at last, he removed himself from Vahn's arm...He, Terra, and Ozma having assumed their Neo forms to summon the last of their Seru powers, and…then, their Seru-form bodies having died. He, Noa, and Gala, along with many people from all over Legaia had to create three large coffins, and to send the Seru bodies to sea. It was a large funeral for the Ra-seru.
The Ra-seru hero found himself burying his head into Ixis' shoulder. He had not even cried over his mother in the same manner!
Vahn: “Ixis. Why couldn't have been you that had come down here and found Meta? Why couldn't you have been the one to take my place?”
Ixis: “Why? Was Meta that bad?”
Vahn: “No,…but…”
Vahn swallowed his sobs. Only he, his father, and a few hunters, most having passed on, knew of his seru encounter the night he sneaked beyond The Wall. And only He knew what IT wanted.
Vahn: “Ixis. I...hate seru.”