Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Ayashi no Kijutsu ❯ seven: make a decision ( Chapter 7 )

- Amichan - kurisutarusakura@hotmail.com - http://www.geocities.com/thecrazyfangirl/ -

Notes and copyright information are at the end.

This chapter is just for Himeka, Duo-kun, Peter, Enishi, Xyque, SunSenshi, Sana-Hayama, and all those wonderful people I met online, mostly on the AX message board, really =D

the night falls
and the stars fade
as the epic begins
and the story is told

of how the two worlds
shall come together
one, undivided
forever in peace

of the two fated ones
with faith and courage
friends and allies
and their destinies

The war rages on in Atlantis, and even Heavenly Maidens, the goddess-like slaves created as concubines for nobility, rebelled. Torn between her people and her son, she must make a decision quickly that will affect the future of humanity.

And this is how she came to her decision...

AYASHI NO KIJUTSU
(Eerie Magic)
Chapter Seven: Make a Decision

My maid came to me the night of that attack from the eastern lands. She, along with other heavenly maidens in my service, wept and begged me to escape and join the growing numbers of rebels. I would not be spared when the Emperor decides to wipe out all the slaves in the area, even if I was his mother. He was that cruel, they told me.

I promised my husband I would take care of my child and protect this land as its queen mother forever after he died. I knew I must make a decision quickly. This decision might change the future. Not wanting to make any mistakes, I did nothing for the time being.

---

"You must be prepared to go to a new land soon, Van-sama. You are destined to assist the Seeress in her quest to end a fight. I do not clearly see what war she is fighting, but you are needed near her," Rayin told Van solemnly, "You will be a representative of this world. You should set off as soon as possible. Wish, my King, with your whole heart, and you will be near her. This is the image of the world you will be going to..." and Van was drawn into a vision of the Mystic Moon, deep in thought.

---

When Maell's rebels finally reached, by ship, the Central Continent, she sent a message with a girl to the Empress. The girl couldn't have been more than twelve years of age. But she approached the Empress with so much maturity. She seemed very loyal to Maell.

"From Maell, leader of the Heavenly Maiden rebellions, to Eve, Empress Mother of the Empire and the first Heavenly Maiden," the young girl recited dutifully, "I send word to you now, my Empress. Although I have rebelled against the Emperor, you will always be my Empress. I will not forget your kindness towards me when I was still at the Central Continent. I will not disclose my plan to you, for, although I trust my messenger, Naville, there is to much at risk."

"I send my messenger to you to let you know that I would never wish to harm you. You did me endless care by showing me, in that wordless kind way of yours, that there is always hope. I plea to you to join our numbers now. I do not ask you to fight with your power on our behalf, since this is your Empire, but I ask you to join our numbers and go into hiding to avoid your son's wrath. Once we attack, your son will not spare any Heavenly Maiden in the area. And even if he spared you, my Empress, you would be hated by many since you are one of us."

"I know that this war must bring much grief to you, and I am sorry for that. But I am determined to play out my part in this battle for humanity and justice. You, of all people, my beloved Empress, should know that we deserve every bit as much respect as the humans and nobility [A/N: Nobility is also those with wings, later to be called the Draconian], even if we were created."

"I must add that, if you choose to decline this invitation to join us, I know that you may still, at any time during the war after we attack change your mind. If you should choose to do so, I will do my best to help you and search you out among the cursed humans, and try to find you and accommodate you with a shelter. But I do not think I can manage that very well if you should decide to join us after we attack."

"I must go now. Take this girl, Naville, with you, and she will protect you if you should decide to come to us. If not, she will stay by your side and serve you willingly. If that be the case, do not send her back to give me a message. Send another servant. It is not safe to have one girl travel so much without some sort of power backing her. She had volunteered for this position. Lastly, I would like to tell you that you will be on my mind. May the goddesses in heaven, if there be any, bless you and keep you safe."

"And that is all," Naville bowed/curtsied in that traditional way of servants.

[A/N: This is done by doing a half bow and then curtseying very low, and then they stay there until they are allowed to rise up again by whoever they're bowing to. Yes, that's exhausting and painful. Depending on the rank of the female servant, she will have a different dress. There are those with simple white that flow down, and those are the lower ranking servants who do work like cleaning and arranging things. These girls hold their hands and arms out from their side slightly when curtseying, and hold their thumb and index finger together as if pinching at something. There are also those who have dresses full pale colored skirts. They do work like handling and making their mistress's, or in this case the Empress Mother's, clothing items. They hold their full skirts when curtseying the way people did in our world when they still wore skirts like that. There are, at last, those who do work like dressing nobility, being assistants in the private and public baths, and doing the women's hairstyles. They dress according to the work they do for convenience, and most of them just bend their knees slightly in the presence of a mistress to show respect, depending on rank. But some are favored by the more gentle mistresses, and don't usually show much formal respect actions like curtseying. A lot of this traditional typed thing were inspired by my watching too much ancient Chinese drama about a famous Emperor in the Qin dynasty or something like it, and now I'm rambling again. And I will not stop with the long and boring explanation of bowing culture and get on with the story.]

"Please," Eve replied, holding the small girl by the shoulders and pulling her back up, also in an embrace, "rise. I thank you for coming through all the troubles and trauma of this war to give this message to me. Return to your mistress, my dear. It's far too dangerous for you to stay here with me alone. More dangerous, I think, than traveling back."

"Please mistress," Naville abandoned the thought of a bow and fell to her knees before Eve, "I cannot. I had waited for a moment like this all my life. A moment to help the good of my people. This is that moment, my Empress. Helping you in this horrid place is the moment I've been waiting for. Please do not make me leave."

Eve sighed, "What if I said I wanted to stay here by my son?"

Naville looked up in surprise for a moment, then returned sober again, "I would stay with you, Mistress."

Eve looked into Neville's eyes, and said, slowly, "Mari." A maid came forward hurriedly and bowed.

"Go find the lady by the name of Maell," Eve continued, while Mari stared at the floor, "And give her this message: Maell, I am relieved by your invitation. And I will come as soon as I can finish taking care of some of my business. I wish you well, and I will see you soon. I am keeping Naville here with me, and I shall now send Mari to give you my message. May you be blessed by goddesses in heaven as well, Maell."

Mari bowed, "Goddesses bless, Empress."

---

Van bowed before the priest, while the priest recited a protection chant, "May the gods in heaven bless you. May the dragon keep you. May you stay safe in body and in spirit. And may you have success on this journey."

Van bowed his head, and stood up. Turning around and facing the crowd, he began his speech.

"My fellow Fanelians," he began. "This is a difficult time for us. I have seen a vision of the Mystic Moon." He paused, listening to the murmur of the crowd, "And," he continued over the noise, as it gradually quieted down, "I will be traveling alone to the Mystic Moon on a special mission. I will aid the Seeress, who has now left us to that place, in her journey against forces from ancient times. She will bring together two races on the Mystic Moon, and I fear that the Draconian race, the one that has been hated for so long---my people---might be involved as well Therefore, I will follow the Seeress in order to find out the truth about the past. May the spirits keep you and hold you while I am gone, and I assure you I will return."

The crowd, numbering tens of thousands, kneeled before him, "May you return safely," they shouted back in response.

---

"Girls," I told my maids , "We are able to embark on a perilous journey. We will be going to find Maell to join her numbers."

The room went into an uproar, and everyone was enthusiastic. I continued, "We will start the process tomorrow. You must all go under an oath if you wish to come with us. You will vow that you will keep this as a secret, and never speak of it, even if only those in our numbers around us were with you. For the walls have ears, too. My son's spies are almost everywhere. We only have one chance at this, and we must do this correctly. What do you all say?"

"We'll come with you," they kneeled to the floor and replied, "And we vow to keep this a secret."

---

Stepping out of the "holy" water from his cleansing, Van put on the clothes that his tailors had fashioned according to the male clothing from Rayin's vision of the Mystic Moon. They looked odd, and they were uncomfortable too. He looked out to the moon.

"I'm coming, Hitomi."

---

The twenty or so maids who knew of all this that I trusted were sent out one by one discreetly. Almost two weeks later, they were all spread out through the city. Naville had drawn a map of where Maell's forces were stationed. Maell herself was north of the city, right at the gate. Once the East Pagan forces surround the city walls, she will attack the gate, and there will be no way out for the Atlanteans.

Those in my group would hide out in the city. We would meet one month after the first group was dispatched by the north gate, late at night, and we would kill those in the guarding stations and move out secretly and meet Maell's people about half a mile off the city wall. If there were some of us who could not make it all the way to that point, those who missed the date would discreetly move out alone and go in any direction off the wall until they met someone from Maell's army.

After I sent out everyone but Naville but myself, I prepared to leave the palace as well. But everything would not go so smoothly. On the very day that I was to leave, my son the Emperor came to me and said, "Mother, I have come to see you. You must move into my quarters with me. You are in danger. Many hate you, and I promised Father, bless him, that I would protect you. Move in within three days, Mother, and I will do my best to save you. You do not need your servants, for they are all of the hated race. Leave them be, mother. I will keep you safe."

He said he would keep me safe, but I could not live with anyone so cruel. I made up my mind already, and I continued to get ready to leave the palace that very night. My son, however, was a clever man. He noted that all but one of my servants were gone, and he inquired into it.

"My son," I replied, "I was your father's wife for decades and decades. I am not unintelligent. I sent away all my servants, for they were Heavenly Maiden like myself. And they would be able to hide better outside the palace. Naville, however, is my most beloved maid. I could not bear to make her leave me. Oh, my son, Emperor, please, have mercy on your old mother. Grant my wish, my son. Let Naville stay with me when I move in with you in those three days."

My son was silent for a while, as if he was pondering whether my words were true or not. Then, he nodded, "All right, Mother. This servant, and this servant only."

"Thank you," I kneeled down to him so that he would cast away any further doubts.

"Hmph," he sniffed delicately, and strode off.

That night, Naville and I carried what we could, and rode into the city on a mule together. Our heads were covered, so that no one would know we were heavenly maiden. It was two nights before the night we were to meet with the others, and we looked about as much as we could in hiding, and survived. But we barely survived.

For on the second night, we were attacked by some men. Naville was quick to react, and dealt with them accordingly. She spoke sweetly at first to them to catch them off their guard, and then kissed the leader, poison in her mouth. The leader soon toppled over to the ground, and we ran off while the other men were rushing to see what was wrong with their leader.

We got past the guards easily the night after that, along with almost all of our numbers. Three were stoned by mobs because they were revealed as the hated race.

The rest of us reached Maell safely, although one hadn't been able to get to us in time and went off to the east until she reached Maell's people. Even though we reached Maell, we found later that we were being followed by a squad of guards who saw us and saw that we were escaping. They followed us until they realized that they would not be able to capture us when there were so many of Maell's people against theirs. They soon gave up and went back into the city to report.

At this time, the Central City was the only city left on the Central Continent. The city was in an uproar over the war, and many feared that their lives would be lost. And they were right. While the city panicked and tried to find a way out of this battle, Maell waited patiently for a few days for the Atlanteans' hearts to be troubled.

Maell gave her attack two days later. The city fell, but most of her force had died too. We rescued many heavenly maiden from the ruins. Maell knew that many of the nobles escaped, but there was nothing we could do about that. We did what we could, and the once-magnificent Empire had fallen at last.

Here I record this message so that all may hear. Do not make the same mistake again. Many have suffered. And there must be no suffering again.

The most amazing thing about this war, as I found out later on, was that the Atlanteans had seen this war coming. Their fortune tellers stationed all over the temples in the world had put together bits and pieces of clues that indicated an attack from within their own people. And they were right. But they were too proud to admit that this might actually harm them. And it resulted in their end...

---

Eve paused, "And that is the end of my story. Please. Learn my mistake. I must go now, and I wish you well." And the image disappeared.

Aya sighed, "That's so sad. What do we do now?"

"I think," Hitomi replied thoughtfully, "Eve would want us to unite the three races. The Draconian--the nobles in her story who had wings---, the Tennyo, and the humans."

"That's true," Suzumi replied, "I think there should be no more misunderstandings and fighting. It would be better if all three races were kept in peace."

"And I agree with that," a beautiful voice of a woman replied. Those present in the room gasped at her voice.

A woman with markings on her body and odd markings/clothes that flowed to the ground was behind them all. Yes. Ceres had come back.

"Why---" Yuuhi uttered.

"Hello Yuuhi," Ceres smiled a bit at Yuuhi. "I see," she continued dryly, "that you've found the first Tennyo's memories."

"How did you..." Aya began.

"I have my mana now, remember," Ceres replied. "So I can come and go as I please with a body of my own."

"Um, oh," Aya replied uncertainly.

"Is that..." Hitomi kind of sweat dropped.

"Hitomi," Ceres half-floated towards Hitomi and held her face in her palms, "I have so wanted to meet you ever since I heard about your accomplishment in the other world. It must be such an honor to do something so great even when you didn't know you had Tennyo blood in you."

"T-thank you," Hitomi replied modestly. "It wasn't all me, really. I just helped. The men fought the war."

"You're wrong," Ceres told her, "You were as much a part of the battles as the men were," and she left Hitomi to ponder that. "You must all wonder why I am here," she said to everyone in the room, "and I shall tell you now."

"I have been given an assignment from heaven itself," Ceres began. "And it involves the uniting of the two worlds and the three peoples. Eve," she told them with respect for the name she was saying, "wanted there to be peace. And I am to assist you through your assignment. You will all help in uniting everything."

A Word To the Reader About This Chapter

Yes! I'm finally done with this chapter! This is the end of the first arc. It pretty much ends the mystery. Not very mysterious, it wasn't, you say? Well, I suck at mysteries. Bah. Let's see what'll happen with the second arc. I still want votes on whether to make a third arc/sequel or not, since the plot I planned originally for this story ends at the end of the second arc. But then, I now have these wild ideas swimming around in my head for a third arc. The conflict is, I still have a few other stories to finish, including, for those of you who actually read my other fanfics, STAR (Cardcaptor Sakura), Seeress (rewrite of my old Escaflowne fanfic, Seeress ^^), Glittering Past (Autobiography), and various other little things. So we'll see... This is actually the only active fanfic of mine XD. I feel that some of this chapter is not really well-written, but, I don't know. It's been a difficult time for me. And crap. There's beginning to be sap here. Damn damn damn. And I just realized what an ecchi/bordering on hentai story this would be if it was visual.

Also, I still need that beta reader. Anyone?

Author's Random Ramblings

Life has been so confusing this year. And now it's more confusing than ever. I found out some odd things about a few people involving me. And during the process of this chapter, I was asked to, accepted, and went to Prom 2002 of our school. Gossip has also been flying around in the air. Many about a guy friend and me. Screw gossip. It's killing a perfectly good friendship. And it's annoying me like hell. My progress report card will be coming home next week, but my mom will be in Hong Kong. For the first time, she'll be going on an "official" business trip to advertise my father's new book.

Anyways. The next planned release for a chapter of my fanfic will be another fanfic. It's the first chapter of a Final Fantasy X fanfic. The name isn't determined yet, but it'll either be called "Pyrefly" or "War of the Pyreflies." I'm leaning towards Pyrefly. But I'd like your input on which one sounds more grabbing. ^^ Thankies

Ramblings About the Process of Writing This Chapter...

Eek. Even more long and painful than the last chapter. I'm sorry this took so long, but it's really been a while since the last chapter. The only reason I could give is that 1. I had no inspiration, and 2. Life has been _hectic_. I'm *so* tired from everything that's going on in my life. I'm failing Geometry, getting a D in P.E., and I have a C in Global Studies. Sickening. Asides from that school crap, my social life has been extremely mixed up too. Joanna...

Eek. I better not talk about that. -_- Aiya... I wish some of my friends from school could understand what I'm going through! Life is SO confusing. People (especially close school friends) keep asking for the third chapter of Glittering Past. I began working on it about a week ago, but I'm not even 1/5 of the way through. Life has been hectic and I don't remember much clearly, and now I depend on my saved conversations with my friends and my journal to write it. But I'm just going off-topic again so I'll shut up now.

And, oh, by the way. Rayin isn't the same Rayin as the one in my Seeress: A Rewrite, and Maell isn't the same as the Maell from Pyrefly. They share same names, but that's about it. Some personality traits that might seem alike, but they're different people!