Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Paths of Destiny ❯ Future's Foundations ( Chapter 7 )

Sora did not know where the voice came from. She only heard the sound of footsteps echoing towards her whenever he - she assumed it was male, the voice was so different from hers - wished to speak. She only knew that it had been the only thing that had shown her kindness as long as she remembered, although tempered with anger. The voice had given her a home, food and clothing, which all seemed to appear in the tower after Sora had slept, and she was almost totally free to do as she wished, though she had to grant the voice one request - to know what Sora sang of.

Sora had known the song for as long as she could remember - before she could speak, she had weaved the intricate instrumentation with her voice to amuse herself with the stories it told. When she was young, the song had been of majestic beasts - the voice had named them horses - racing through fields thick with luscious green grass unlike the murky moss that infested the walls of Sora's home, or of indistinct figures whirling in dances that Sora practiced herself, remembering each elegant step with precision.

The feel of the song had changed a while ago for Sora. She began to see people who looked as she imagined she did, going about tasks that seemed incomprehensible to the girl. Some showed men attacking each other with strange metal implements, sometimes taking their lives. The graphic detail of the discordant harmonies of death made Sora shudder, yet such songs seemed to come more frequently to the girl. There were others - of those like Sora welcoming men who lived home with a smile and laughter, or those who were bereft of their partners crying bitterly with sorrow. The voice had told Sora this was because of something called love, where the men and women each felt bonded to each other forever.

Sora did not totally understand this concept - indeed, such permanency frightened her in her world of ever changing melodies. However, she continued to sing, enthralled by the images of things happening beyond the borderless world of her tower.

A very short time ago, Sora noticed the song held the same basic pattern as she was drawn to two figures. One male, the other female, they were distant, yet seemingly linked by chords and harmonies too complex for Sora to understand in her singing. At this time, Sora listened as the sound re-echoed of their vacant separation, and resolved to change it to bring something unexpected into the song's repeated cycle. Concentrating hard, she sang a new note.

Sora was shocked by the overall change in the song, waves of alteration rippling through its fabric even as she sang joyously. The resonance of the connection between the two figures became more distinct, as Sora felt herself flowing through the soaring music that joined them together. When she felt the rhythm and soul of the music falter somehow - she caught snatched memories of the sound of a slap echoing through the air, and the horrible crunch of bone as something fearsome pierced through flesh - she altered her tune to compensate, eager to keep such beauty alive.

The voice's visits became more often after it learned of such things. One time, it promised Sora that she could meet these two figures, if she would only aid it in bringing them to her. Eager to comply, she sang the song which was required of her - visualising shimmering blue light that rippled and cascaded upon her voice like the instrument the voice had told her was called a harp - and felt the melody change around her.

The complex system of notes that bonded the two figures together became ever brighter, yet Sora's images of them seemed to become ever more difficult to perceive. Sometimes they shifted sharply into focus - to reveal one looking on as the other was locked tight into the embrace of another, elusive figure, or when one lay lifelessly on an echoing stone floor, eyes staring uncomprehendingly at the ceiling - yet soon faded away, until Sora could see none of what transpired of the two.

The voice became quite angered at learning of this, and often demanded more of Sora than she was able to supply, though she dealt with this calmly. The voice often seemed to mutter to itself - Sora was sure she had heard the mention of someone called Isaac, though she had not sung of any such person, and her attempts to do so were met with dull, flat melodies that never picked up into the joyous chorus that provided Sora with her stories.

Then the voice came to Sora once more, asking her to create the sound of the shimmering blue light once more. Sora had done so, although she had noticed the tune was changed somewhat - there seemed to be more harmonies interwoven with the main melody, one almost crying in despair, the others pure and unsullied. After this, she had been shocked to see the images of the male and female figures once more in her songs - with some bonds weakened, yet others strengthened, between the two. Sometimes they flashed into clarity - she had recently been startled to discover her singing of them inside a room far different from the one she lived in, and had informed the voice of its description swiftly.

Sora had even taken to asking questions idly in her songs, and was hardly surprised when the notes seemed to cry answers at her. They told her that the female figure was what the voice sought - the Goddess of Wings, the Wing Goddess, whatever it was that the voice called her. The desperation to find her coursed through the voice every time it spoke, and Sora was eager to quell such despair by helping as much as she could. It was the least she could do for someone who had shown her such kindness.

Hitomi held the pendant before her, closing her eyes softly. The familiar pulse of timing beat steadily in her mind as she swung the pendant carefully, feeling it trace through the air as it crossed in front of her.

"Take us to Asturia, please!" Hitomi whispered under her breath, all her concentration focused on her task. The others looked on nervously, unsure of the outcome of Hitomi's efforts.

"I sure hope she knows what she's doing," Yukari whispered to Amano, her eyes full of concern, "as I certainly don't!"

A glow began to spread from the pendant, slowly illuminating the glade once more, but in a gentler suffusion rather than the blast of light that heralded the re-awakening of Escaflowne. The heart of Escaflowne began to shimmer with the same white light, as Hitomi felt herself being lifted once more into the air.
As they were lifted high by the beam of light, Van was startled to see the image of his mother, Varie, seeming to drift before him.

"Van, my son," she said, smiling and reaching a hand out as if to caress him for a moment, "take care. Our meetings are such for now - and I dread the day we meet again…"

Van tried to grasp his mother, but she seemed to slip away at his touch as the group was carried away into the skies, followed by the majestic figure of Escaflowne, until the light cleared to reveal the empty clearing, bedecked by creatures gazing towards the heavens and the future.