Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Paths of Destiny ❯ Prophetic Decisions ( Chapter 5 )

"Sora!"

The girl awoke with a start as the fierce, pounding steps thudded around her, shaking loose the cement that held the barren bricks of the room together. She sat up quickly, her eyes betraying no fear, though she shook slightly.

"Those factors we spoke of are more than insignificant! Are you diverting the course of destiny in a direction I have not chosen?"
"No, my master. I would not. I cannot do such a thing." Sora spoke calmly, huddled in her bed sheets to ward off the cold. "You alone are the master of my fate. I merely enact that which must be."

"I did not ordain this! Who is interfering in my plans…" The voice trailed off momentarily, and then chuckled slightly. "He would not dare. But she… this requires thought. Do not hope to deceive me; Sora - you know your fate, that which cannot be avoided."

"I understand, my lord." Sora replied, her voice ringing clear around the musty room.

Footsteps echoed away from the tower, and Sora slipped out of bed. Padding across to the middle of the chamber, her feet muddied and harsh from never knowing shoes, she gazed at the ceiling for a moment towards the faint trickle of light that slipped through, before beginning to sing.

The walls responded, shimmering in response to the joyous sound of Sora's voice. So caught up in it was she, that Sora could not hear the sound of another, older voice singing a pure, yet almost lifeless harmony in the background…

"Your Majesty! The damage to the palace is great, although the invaders chose not to harm any other areas of Fanelia. Thankfully, their single-mindedness in the pursuit of your guest caused your people little alarm, and their morale is boosted by their retreat. The building work shall be shouldered by your militia until such time as they are needed again, sir."

"Thank you, Rem." Van shook the stocky lieutenant's hand as he dismissed him from his chambers. After the soldier had left, Van turned back to the assembled company behind him, and sighed in exasperation, before saying "Well?"

Van's chambers were the most opulent of those in the palace, although he had expressed a wish to "keep things simple". However, the livelihoods of many of Fanelia's craftsmen depended on revamping the monarch's dwellings after each new coronation, and they had spared no expense after the restoration of Fanelia had begun in earnest after the previous war. Thankfully, the invasion of the ones that had called themselves Atlanteans had not attacked any of the living quarters, and the casualties had been few. The bright tapestries, featuring wild fabrications of events in the war against Zaibach, had been untouched by the hands that had laid waste to the throne room. The only painting which Van had allowed had been of the Mystic Moon, Earth, hanging in the sky above Fanelia, which faced his carved wooden bed.

Although the chambers were roomy, with their own private facilities, Van had decided that those involved in the council meeting should actually discuss the recent situation somewhere less devastated, and had chosen his quarters. Celena and Merle sat subdued on the bad, while those from Earth had gathered by the portrait of their home planet, talking nervously amongst themselves.

Van looked at the silent gathering for a while, as everyone nervously glanced away from each other. After around a minute of endless tension, Amano threw his arms up in the air in exasperation, and said simply "What now?"

Hitomi crossed the room to the door, resting against the wooden panels with her arms crossed over her chest where everyone could see her. In the short time after she and Van had…reconciled somewhat, he had provided her with a change of clothes - she was vaguely embarrassed to discover that Van had ordered the Fanelian seamstresses to create versions of the uniform Hitomi had worn for much of her prior time in Gaia. Imbued with a material woven amongst the usual fibres that seemed to lighten the clothing, Hitomi was immediately comfortable in the familiar clothes, and had already slipped her grandmother's pendant back over her neck to hang under them, since Van seemed no longer to have any pressing need.

After a moment's concentration, she explained her vision, occasionally looking at Van for support, and relayed what had happened to each group as an intermediary translator. When she finished, Celena looked up, still downcast but with a vaguely equivocal look in her eyes.

"About that prophecy thing… it's not really much of a mystery, is it?" she said.

"What do you mean?" Van, his focus on Hitomi for much of the time, turned to his friend, ruffling his hair absently. "It's so cryptic, I have no idea where to start finding these people!"

"Come ON, Van!" Celena's spirits seemed to return slightly for the first time since Dilandau appeared. "Don't you see the obvious parallels to people we know? The Angel - well, that's obviously you, I can't think of anyone else with wings and an enormous Guymelef - and the Disciple is probably Merle…"

"I resent that!" hissed Merle, her eyes narrowing in a fierce glare. "I do have other interests than Lord Van!"

"Sure you do, Merle. Well, the Knight's probably my brother - how many women go weak at the knees for him, yet never stay in a relationship? Sorry, Hitomi, nothing personal of course! The Mirror…" Celena looked vaguely uncomfortable, shifting on the bed slightly, "I guess the Mirror is probably me - the description seems to fit, and I suspect Dilandau would agree with me."

"I don't understand - I thought Dilandau was a product of the Zaibach magicians' experiments, controlled by drugs. How can he still be in there?" Steel control in Van's voice just covered the fear he felt of the resurgence of Celena's alternate personality.

"He hasn't really said anything about it to me. He seems content to remain in the background though - I don't know if he…we… ever really recovered from Jajuka's sacrifice, and the shock of what he did is not easy to bear.

"Anyway, the Healer - well, Princess Millerna always had medical aspirations, didn't she?"

"What about the description? The woman said she was in great danger! What might have happened to Millerna?" Hitomi was vaguely panicked by the idea, and her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"That's not important. We all need to be sure about who we need first, before we go traipsing off to find them. Don't interrupt, Van," Celena said, breaking off mid flow to stifle Van's imminent protests, "we are coming with you, it seems like we're needed for something important. The Fox is probably Dryden - these things always seem to work like this, bringing old friends back together - and from what Hitomi's just told us, that guy there," - Celena jerked her thumb over to where Asano was standing, desperately trying to work out what the Gaians were saying - "sounds like the Caster. Those women said that Hitomi was a Goddess, which seems to fit, but now all we need is a Pillar."

"Wait a moment, stop talking!" Yukari angled her head quizzically at Hitomi. "Tell us what she's saying!"

After Hitomi relayed the prior conversation, vague consternation crossing her face over her unwanted role as interpreter, Yukari thought for a moment, scratching absently at her cheek, Celena wincing slightly as she did so.

"Looks to me like Amano and I have got something to do with this then," Yukari finally said, her finger raised in the air authoritatively as she stated her opinion. "So I suggest we both go along with you to find the rest of these people, and that city thing, and we can sort out which of us gets to be a pillar later - though I suspect Amano is stubborn enough!" Her boyfriend looked vaguely hurt, and elbowed Yukari in the ribs, Asano suppressing a laugh as he did so.

Hitomi's pendant began to shimmer, as the chord which had echoed in Hitomi's mind previously seemed to burst out into the room. Almost as soon as it had done so, the room fell silent again, and the pendant dimmed once more.

"Well, that was obviously important." Yukari dryly remarked.

Merle turned to the Earth girl, her back arched in annoyance. "Are you always this sarcastic?" she growled, "It's SO aggravating!"

Yukari opened her mouth to retort, but stopped and turned to Asano. "Did I just understand what that ca…rismatic young lady said?"

"Obviously, our coming together was destined." Van addressed the group, attempting to convey some regal authority in his words. "Something has happened that enables us all to understand each other. I suppose this means that we should find some way of getting the rest of the group together?"

"I'm glad that's done!" Hitomi smiled and laughed. "If I'd had to have carried on translating I think I'd have died of boredom!"

Freezing winds whipped through the icy tundra, tossing snow in a blinding dance across the skies as they were accustomed to every day. The mountains that surrounded the valley loomed dazzlingly white as a tall figure, wrapped in thin, dark, sodden robes bordered with luxuriant gold trimmings and wearing boots as black as night, walked through the blizzard, shielding his eyes from the glaring light with one hand as he futilely brushed his hair out of his eyes as the wind cascaded it before him. He seemed to forge through the mounds of snowfall as if it melted before him, so purposeful was his gait.

The ravine came to an abrupt end in a vast circular chasm, a monumental glacier standing in the middle that towered high, seeming to almost pierce the barren grey skies above. The glassy ice shimmered with reflections as the man approached, stopping to look with vague amusement at his face in the scintillating crystal and scratching at the stubble that marked his chin.

The look of humour faded from the man's face, to be replaced with a wistful expression as he stared up at the towering ice for a while, oblivious to the wrath of Nature venting itself around him. He pressed one hand to the frozen pillar briefly, sighing slightly, then turned away to return to whence he came.

After a few steps, the man stopped, turning back towards the icy pinnacle.

"Clothos…" the man murmured under his breath, before continuing his return journey, away from the imploring hand that stretched towards him from within the ice…