Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ When Escaflowne Rescued Trilladen ❯ Hopes and Fears ( Chapter 30 )

Chapter Five of Book Two

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Fears and Hopes

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The day was waning and the sun was dipping into the ocean. The clouds of storm that surrounded the island crowned the celestial event with ominous colors of purple and gray. The tree of life stood rotting in stride with the corpse of Gaea's guardian, she dead, and the tree lifeless and black. The ground around it was black from old dried blood from the horrific sacrifice Mugwa performed.

A few feet away was Chid lying there, waiting to die of exhaustion. He was cold and tired and hungry-not that it mattered much. Numbness threatened to soak through his existence soon. A bright light, a ray of hope covered the ground around the dying young boy and then a tall handsome frame materialized. Allen. He ran to his prostate son with dread concern.

"Chid! Hold on, Chid! I'll get you help! Hold on, just don't die!" Allen crouched down and gently lifted his boy in his arms. His heart was in shreds from the exertion of worry, yet his body was revitalized just holding his son. He knew he couldn't let him down. Carefully, Allen made his way down the mountain. A slow, laborious process that took most of the night finally came to a close.

While Chid slept in oblivion Allen carried his precious burden with a gratitude he couldn't explain. The gods had finally smiled upon his family.

He came to a village. Eerie and empty it seemed to be. He looked around. Up on the hillside was a magnificent temple with colorful windows picturing Draconians and dragons alike. He paused at the first household he came across and pounded the door with his boot. No answer. Yet he heard a scuffling within.

"Please! My son is dying! Help me!" Allen bellowed.

The door was opened only slightly as the young girl, Erica of the house of Dan, wasn't quite brave enough to completely face the towering man with flowing blonde hair. "Please sir, I don't want trouble. It will displease the high priest if I help you. You are a stranger here. The last stranger killed my cousin, a gentleman with love in his heart. Go away."

Allen would have felt pity had he not been at his last bit of patience. "So you would turn away a dying boy, instead of aiding him to life. Is that right?"

Shame painted the girls cheeks red and she bowed her head. "Please, come in quickly." She opened the door, fear making her tremble as she stepped away to let the two in.

"He'll need rest and someone to help him eat when he wakes. Some gruel or broth perhaps." Allen informed the young teenage girl who trembled before him. She just stood there unresponsive save her quaking form. Loosing patience quickly, Allen barked at her. "Take hold, girl, I need your help!"

She jumped at the harshness of his voice, unaccustomed to the tone. Erica's eyes went wide and she had to think what to do next. Both of her parents had been missing for weeks now, since the High Mass that Mugwa had conducted. No one could bring themselves to talk of it, only shudder in horror in solitude wondering where all the devout were. Had Erica not been ill, she too, would have disappeared with her parents. She guided Allen to the bedroom and rolled the coverlet down for the young boy. The dark circles under his eyes bespoke a soul near death. She hoped she could help. She was no healer. Allen eased the boy down onto the soft mattress and tenderly covered him.

"Where is everyone?" Allen asked. "At daybreak any village would come alive for the day's tasks, yet I see no one leaving their homes."

"My parents along with most others who attended High Mass at the holy temple have all disappeared. No one knows what became of those. There have been horrible strange creatures afoot as well. Half reptile, have beast, like a lion perhaps. I am not sure. Only a few of us are left, mostly children and some elderly and of course Mugwa's supporters seem to be immune to bad things happening to them. We're all so afraid, you see." Tears welled up in her eyes.

Allen immediately regretted his temper. "How old are you, child?" He asked more gently.

"I have seen fifteen growing seasons, but I am tall for my age." A half smile crept into an old boast. "At least, that's what my parents would always claim. I am even taller than Prince Edward." She sniffled. She was indeed tall, with a small waist, and hair the color of chestnuts highlighted in honey streaks. Her huge eyes were perfectly almond shaped and muddy brown with gold flecks sparkling about the iris. She was lovely.

Anger slowly rose through Allen's chest and traveled up his neck through a pounding main artery causing his temples to throb. He knew what became of those missing devoutly religious souls. He'd slain some in his now wrecked Scherezade. The others who could not bear the pain of retransformation into humans died in agony before the eyes of Helliese. He had not given the old witch much thought since the terror for his son had taken root in his heart; he remembered the macabre scene of her decaying body and felt shame that he had not even thought to show her the reverence she was owed.

"What is your name, child?" Allen asked gently.

"I am Erica, only daughter to Savant and Tessa of the house of Dan. I am your servant. I will try my best to nurse your son back to health. There is an old wise man I can ask to help me. I will go fetch him."

Allen stayed with Chid and studied his face. He was a handsome youth, though gaunt and frail looking now. The look on Chid's face troubled Allen. It seemed to be a look of despair. Allen laid his palm on Chid's forehead and smoothed away the golden blonde hair plastered to it. The boy moaned as his brow creased slightly. It was as if the boy was himself unsettled.

Erica quickly returned with an ancient looking man bent way over from years of living. He was bald and his nose protruded like a tumor out of his face, his squinty eyes almost buried in folds of wrinkled skin. Each step he made was accentuated with a quiet grunt.

"Sir, my son Chid is unwell. Can you help?" Allen asked respectfully.

The old man peered up at Allen with knowing eyes. "He looks almost worked to death. It can only take time and providence to see if he survives. We have no healers here. Most everyone is gone-save those Mugwa has no use for. I will watch over him. Erica, make a broth of spices and lamb. Let it cook slowly until the meat disintegrates. I'll watch over the youth. I am Kabuto Ben Tannis, and I have lived far too long. Death should have visited me long before these terrible times came to pass, for I would rather not witness such a decline as this in our people." Slowly shuffling over to the bed the bent over man wipes teardrops from his sad eyes.

"I am Allen Schezar, Knight Caeli. I am indebted to you the great kindness you show my family." Allen bowed to him in respect. Kabuto nodded his head.

"There is yet another duty I must perform. Helliese, a great healer in our land has been slain and rests uneasy at the foot of a dead tree up the mountain. She was sacrificed by Mugwa and now all of Gaea rumbles and quakes in grief. I must tend to her…"

The old man stopped and looked in grief and horror at Allen. "When I was just a child she left us to teach the outer realms. She is the same Helliese, twin to Helliose-the sun of the Earth. She became the Guardian of Gaea and had many secrets and knew about the old ways of our lost home Atlantis. When she left us we rejoiced thinking soon would be the time when our self-imposed exile would end." He explained.

Continuing he said, "She would be an emissary to the outer realms to bring all of the lost tribes of Atlantis from the outer realms back to us. We would be as one family again. One people, the shape shifters, the draconians, all the children of Gaea in all nations. We waited and waited and then wondered if it would happen in our lifetime. I wished to see such a glorious event when I was little." He chuckled bitterly to himself.

"Go bring her down to us. There is but a few of us left to honor her, but it must be done. She will receive a proper burial as befitting a princess of the royal house of Atlantis."

Allen nodded and turned to leave. Erica ran up to him, already smitten with him. "Sir Knight, you should eat first. You will need your strength."

Allen paused to see a sweetly blushing young girl. He smiled tiredly and thought of his loved ones. "I thank you, Erica. I will indeed need my strength."

Erica shuffled about the small table loaded with cookery and food making him a quick meal. She returned with a plate of meats, cheeses, fresh apples and a cup of raspberry ale. She smiled shyly at him and he sat down to eat.

"Sir Knight, I know the task set before you is difficult and unpleasant, but the gods will reward you." Kabuto said to the seated knight.

"The only reward I could request of the gods is that my family could finally be reunited in contentment." Allen spoke into his cup.

Allen left soon thereafter and trekked up the mountainside with a woven shroud draped over his shoulder to wrap Helliese's body in. As he climbed up further, the mountain grew steeper and with his head bent on the path before him, he failed to notice an unusual couple close by, they noticed him and decided to follow him.

Allen made his way back to the top of the mountain, to the blackened tree. The sight of Helliese made his stomach lurch in revulsion and rage. Walking over to her, he took the shroud and carefully wrapped her in it. Her body was stiff and heavy. What was cumbersome in life became an impossible heavy burden for one man in death. Thus, the king of all Trilladen stepped forward and with his queen made his presence known.

Startling Allen he gave himself over to helping in this regrettable task. Allen looked to the noble in confusion at first, not knowing from whence he came. Not speaking the king took hold of the dead guardian of Gaea. The queen too took hold of her in a gentle sad way, lending respect to grief. Together they slowly carried the body of Helliese, First Princess of Atlantis, Daughter of Syrius, Twin to the Sun God Helloise, Guardian of Gaea, sorceress, witch, mother of Gaea's past and future, healer, and Goddess to another dimension down the mountainside. The end was far too near for everyone.

Gaea was in the grip of a terrible cataclysm, one that rocked the gateways to the two dimensions where the Mystic Moon and Gaea herself are conjoined. Helliose showed his fury for the desecration visited upon his twin by emitting high radiation rays to both planets. The moon was brilliantly blood red in a reactive display to the sun's bursts of energy. Peoples on both worlds felt a serious foreboding and took all this in as an ill omen from the sky.

The threat of an apocalyptic event on Gaea was felt deeply throughout the land. The earth rumbled and quaked as the ground's firmament gave way to razor sharp crystals that traveled through layers of rock destabilizing the very core of the planet. Poisonous gasses rose from the ground as one by one the crystals set in motion first the collapse of civility between nations and then the continents and oceans of the world. This geological process would take years to complete, but the end was already in sight. What now of the power of wishes that created this world, this Gaea?

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The children of Freid were not dead. The people of Palas, controlled by the arachnids took the unhappy lot to the borders of Ispania. It was a long foot journey that was accentuated by a bullish training of the Asturian youths who still lived through the pain. An hierarchy of sorts formed through the weeks of hiking through the foothills as hunters, trainers, captors, and overseers formed in the group. All else were dead. The infirm and elderly of Palas who did not pass the test fell eventually to their deaths in the weeding out process of herding both their children and the children of Freid to their final destination.

And Ispania was ready for the children by then. Having an image crystal emerge in the very heart of their capital with pictures of starving children seeking refuge in a cruel world Gaea had become played upon the hearts of these isolated mysterious people. They made ready their homes for the refugees and sent transport carriers to pick them up before they tried to pass the steep mountains of deadly height. A natural geographical barrier, the mountain range was the best wall of defense against the rest of Gaea who would hunger for the precious technology of the ancient ones of Atlantis.

But they were not prepared for the terrorist acts of renegades from Freid seeking their revenge as well as their children. Nor were those same renegades prepared to face the King of Fanelia and his gentle bride, nor the Princess of Trilladen, a true descendant of the royal house of Atlantis. Hope sometimes comes in small packages.