Chapter 18
Never Be the Same Again
Kamara Viarun is where the famous
portals of Lethe are located. The place is not really publicly accessible but
there are several ways to reach it. Of course all these paths lead to a narrow
well-camouflaged stone staircase. After climbing the long flight of stairs, you
will find yourself, without quite knowing how you got there, in the middle of an
open, roofless and wall-less place. Looking around you'll see four stone
archways that lead nowhere except the edge of the building where you'll fall
off. These four are found in the middle of each of the four sides of the
quadrilateral area. So that is basically Kamara Viarun.
As you might have guessed, the portal
chamber is not strictly a chamber for it is located at the roof of the palace's
main and tallest, except for the turrets and towers, building. It is also the
biggest structure in Cair Tara. The size of the roof rivals even that of a
soccer field. This may explain why
Iantha was able to run from the center to the eastern end.
Even from her location, Iantha can see
only three other figures left behind. One of them was hovering above the other
two. As she got nearer, she saw
that it was a redheaded woman, dressed in white, floating inside a translucent
sphere. She realized it was the mother when she caught sight of her belly. She
knew it was Azrael himself holding her aloft telekinetically. Not because he
fitted the description the others gave of him, he could have fabricated a dummy
had he wanted, but because she felt dimly some well-suppressed strength and his
unspeakable malevolence. Also, he felt familiar. It has been eighteen years, she
merely a small child then, but she remembered. And the other, of course, is
Ixion.
Iantha readied her attack. She would
paralyze them both by trapping them in a force field. Perhaps, she may be able
to hold them for a while. At least, until the others arrive.
She runs faster, taking careful aim,
making sure she would not be blocked. Somehow she felt Ixion looking at her even
though he might not be able to see her, him being faced to the West and having
the sun behind her.
For a fraction of a second, she nearly
faltered, but she only clenched her fist and jaw harder, running faster.
"That is not him," she kept repeating to herself. "It's just
Azrael's dummy. Not even his outer shell."
Then their eyes met. It was fatal. She
was already a few paces away from Azrael himself, but stopped. Ixion's brownish
green eyes glowed, exercising such irresistible power over her, making her
unable to move. The eyes were cold and vacant unlike the old ones filled with
gentleness. Nonetheless, they were undeniably his and thus held her charmed. She
knew she must snap out of it before Azrael escapes, but it seems as if she had
lost control over her body. Even in her desperation, all she was able to do was
to weep quietly. Her beautiful marble-like eyes brimmed with tears, making it
look more glazed.
Just then, Ixion seem to falter, his
spirit quivering like jelly, his mind seemingly struggling to remember something
forgotten. Perhaps, her desolate sadness was able to penetrate through the mass
of enchantments and has awakened something inside his innermost being,
temporarily setting him free from Azrael's hex. For, momentarily, the eyes of
the young man seem to have lost their oblivious gaze. As disturbance and
bafflement passed through his face, he managed to sputter out her name. But just
as suddenly as when he managed to break through, he shook his head sharply,
sending his burnt sienna locks tossing everywhere, and the spell that bound him
to his master returned.
Iantha felt the angel of death leer and
gloat at her misery. Yet, even behind his silent, almost mocking stare, there
appeared to be some slight pity for her suffering, some hidden sagacious
understanding of one that has undergone the same experience. What ever it was,
it was gone in a flash. His face broke into a grim smile and he bowed to her
direction.
"Long time no see, princess, but
this meeting has to be cut short, " he said. "Send my regards to the
others. Au revoir."
His words, breaking the lack of
vocalization, awakened her and she felt uncontrollable rage rise inside her,
bringing her back to reality. In an instant, she launched her attack, her
movements swift as lightning. But it was all in vain for Azrael was gone. Ixion
followed soon but Iantha was still unable to attack him. She did make a futile
attempt to disable him but to no avail. He chaffed her failure cruelly by
dallying for a while before her.
"Aiea!" yelled Ebony from out
of nowhere. She herself released a powerful attack. However, it was clear she
had changed her mind and veered at the last second, for she merely missed the
traitor.
Ixion was gone. The portal was closed
once again and Iantha was left standing alone before it. But not for long. Her
strength fails her and she falls on her knees and breaks down.
Ebony and the others were with her in a
jiffy.
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I'm
sorry, Hiei. The cosmos will pay for my weakness!" she wailed softly over
and over again.
The others were speechless and
sympathetic. But Hiei can't keep his disappointment to herself.
"It's not your fault," he
grunted gruffly to Iantha, much to the others' surprise. However, to Ebony he
said viscously, "Why the hell didn't you shoot Azrael when you had the
chance?"
"I couldn't get a clear shot. I
could have hit Ixion," answered she.
"Is that an excuse for your
incompetence?" he charged rashly. "I thought you were ready to
sacrifice what was necessary for the sake of the people's lives."
"I'm sorry," she replied
quietly. "But I realized what was also at stake. Ixion may be the source of
my sister's sole happiness. I couldn't do it. I guess you're right about me
being weak."
Hiei was taken aback but he calmed
down. "Hn," he said. "You could also have hit my wife." He sighed. "I'm not to happy to discover I was right
again."
Presently, Adrian and his companions
arrived. After them, Iantha's and Audric's forces came. Last of all, came the
king himself.
He walked slowly, his heavy footfalls
resonating loudly through the suddenly silent rooftop. His face was invisible,
his head being bowed, but when he reached the others, he looked up. A doleful
expression was painted on his face.
"I see," he said. "We
failed again."
Two days had passed since the Cair Tara
had been retrieved from the enemies' clutches. The royal household was once
again functioning but not quite the normal way it used to do. Every member
sensed foreboding and dread that
their troubles were not over yet. They still were in real and more serious
danger.
The most skillful, experienced and
enlightened of Lethe were holding counsel with the king and his court in Kamara
Sapienta. They were sitting around an annulus shaped table of the rarest, most
impressive black marble.
Hiei, Kurama and Yusuke were also
there. They were dressed quite magnificently like the rest of the lot they were
with. (I wouldn't dwell too much on description. I don't want anybody to drool.
'Sides, I suck, really.) Even tomboy Ebony, who was attired in a long one-piece
summer dress of white satin. She
looked quite angelic, with the black hair framing her face kept at bay by
pearl-studded lace ribbons. She behaved well, too, much to the surprise of her
three teachers.
Iantha, of course, was garbed in that
usual modest glamour. Her pale yellow silk dress became her perfectly. The
legendary yellow diamond, so-called the Witch's Eye for its mysterious pulsating
glint peeped from her graceful slender neck. A single rose, also of the same
shade, was tucked in her sleek curls, which was tied tightly in a ponytail on
her nape. Her bright apparel was quite the opposite of her melancholic
expression, though. She was silent and had the air of one met with much bad
luck, of one ominous and oracular.
Perhaps, it was the diamond that caused it, being rumored to be a sign and
bringer of ill omen in the Ningen world.
Adrian was his comely, gorgeous self.
He was wearing his princely garbs beneath his armor as customary. However, it
seems he was not thinking much about his appearance for he neglected to comb his
hair, making him look untidily cool. Still, many thinks he is a ruggedly
handsome and were making googoo eyes at him much to the sheer bewildered
annoyance of his little sister who knew how much of pain he can really be.
Audric was dressed simply, though not
shabbily. In fact, that was what may distinct him from the others. Yet, his
manner, his dignified air, commends one's respect, showing him to be one of
royalty despite his plain clothes. But of course, he was wearing the circlet
that indicated his rank and was standing inside the circle cut in the middle of
the marble.
The other three monarchs were actually
inside the hole, too. They were four equidistant wrought metal chairs set
against the inner edge of the table. The three others were seated while Audric,
as mentioned earlier, was standing in the middle. Presently, he started talking
again.
"Thank you," he said.
"The damage report is quite um...heavier than we expected it to be but we
got Kentrona back. Good work, but I'm afraid that doesn't mean we can let down
our guard. Azrael may attack at any given time without notice. Have you received
the defensive scheme, General?"
"Yes, sire," said a burly
bushy man.
"Good. Right now we have other
problems. For starters, Azrael still has the mother. We must regain her at all
cost before Azrael takes over the fetus in her womb. Because of this, I believe
our operation to be more of a failure than a success."
"Not so, brother," said
Adrian. "At least we got Kentrona back. We also got them running, didn't
we?"
Audric shook his head. "I think
Hiei was right. Azrael did expect us and had it all planned. I'm afraid we've
underestimated him. Take note, the infantry of Azrael began to retreat moments
after he disappeared into the portal."
"If so," said Ebony.
"Why did he wait for him to make an escape. I mean, we could have stopped
him had we arrived earlier."
"Yes," said Iantha bitterly.
"If I hadn't screw up."
"No,"
said Audric. "That's another point why I believe Azrael planned it all.
Recall, if you please, when each group entered
each's designated chamber, they were all empty. Then, the enemy's assault
came simultaneously as if synchronized. Besides, those guys weren't capable of
teleporting. Azrael must have done it himself."
"Why is it that Aiea was able to
escape and she alone if it was his purpose to delay us," asked Ebony.
""Maybe Azrael planned that,
too," said Adrian. "He probably wants to prove that Aiea won't be able
to fight or even face Ixion."
"Uh-huh," agreed Audric.
"Azrael loves to tantalize. It's almost frightening, his confidence. He
knows very well how far the gap between his and our level."
"And yet," put in Kurama.
"There seems to be something amiss."
"True, " affirmed Audric,
scratching his chin thoughtfully. "He appears to have lagged behind just to
pester Aiea, and yet, I feel there's some other reason. Perhaps, he had
something to finish. I don't know. I can't grasp it yet."
"Still," persisted Ebony.
"He'll surely return, right? I mean, for the merging to occur he's supposed
to have all the elements present the time he was transformed into a
vampire."
"We don't know for sure if it's
here. I have a feeling it isn't."
"But... I was born here, right?
This is were Azrael attempted to posses me and... and..."
"They just assumed it was here
since grandfather took you from here and our parents bodies were found here,
too. However, there wasn't ample signs of combat. Nobody really knows except
they themselves and unfortunately they didn't live to tell the tale."
"Well, then, I'll ask them."
"Huh?"
As if on cue, the crier announced the
coming of Koenma. After a blast on his trumpet, he called out, "His royal
highness, Koenma Daiou, Prince of Reikai."
Then entered Koenma himself in his
usual garbs, pacifier and all. Following behind him was Botan wearing her blue
kimono. Everyone's head turned towards the doorway to witness their arrival.
In a flash, Ebony was with them. In
fact, she was on Koenma!"
"Quick!" she demanded,
tugging his collar and shaking him hard. "Take me to my parents. I have to
talk to my parents. Take me to Reikai."
"E-e-eb-o-o-o-nneeeee?"
yelped the clueless Koenma. He tried to yank off Ebony's hands from his neck.
"What? Are you trying to kill me? What do you want? Stop choking me!"
"Oops, sorry," Ebony stopped
and dropped her hands.
Koenma straightened himself up with an
air of injured dignity. "Well?" he screeched at her. "Whadaya
want?"
"I want to talk to my
parents."
"But they already passed away
years ago."
"That's what I'm telling you!
That's why I'm talking to you, dunce."
Koenma took a moment to let her words
sink in. Then, his eyes popped out of their sockets. "Are you crazy? I
can't do that!"
"Oh, yes you can! You're the
prince."
"Not only is it forbidden, it's
also impossible."
"I don't believe you."
Koenma reddened. "I don't care if
you don't because I know I can't do anything of that sort."
Ebony started to speak again but
stopped when Audric gave her a look.
Audric bowed in a welcoming gesture.
"Prince Koenma, welcome. Please excuse the inhospitableness on my sister's
part. Will you be seated?"
When everyone calmed down again, Koenma
spoke up. "Uh, Audric," he said uncertainly. "Do I dare ask you
why Ebony is demanding to speak to your deceased parents? "
"Well, Koenma," answered the
king. "You are aware of our failure to obtain the mother. The information
we had about Azrael proved inaccurate and insufficient. I personally discovered
our shortcomings when I reviewed the files again. Your royal person knows very
well, none has witnessed the encounter between Azrael and our parents.
Unfortunately, they have left the realm of the living without having disclosed
their tale. So you see, this is what fuels my dear little sister's desire to
speak with them. However, even Ebony, foolhardy and headstrong as she is,
realizes your intervention is much required for the pursuance of such
enterprise."
"You talk like a filibuster,"
muttered Ebony, annoyed at the name-calling.
"I understand the urgency of the
situation," said Koenma. "But, not only is it forbidden, it also goes
against the natural order of things. When a person's dead he's dead. We can't
pull their spirits out of Reikai anytime we want. Each soul is in it's own
journey to who knows where and interrupting
may prove impudent on our part. They on their own free will would
communicate to the living and even they can't do that often or anytime they
want. Sorry, but it's really a tangle of legalities and stuff. I can't do
anything."
"Why don't you just admit you're
too chicken to stand up to your mean pushy old man," Ebony mumbled again.
Then to the assembly in general, she said aloud, "Let's hold a seance,
then."
"That's illegal. Besides, what if
you call up the devil himself? We'll end up in a much worse dilemma than
now."
"True," said Audric.
"That's why I propose a different
solution."
"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Ebony.
"Gloat all you want, know-it-all. Always making me look like a
blockhead."
Iantha glanced at Ebony reproachfully.
"Sorry," she said, sheepishly
grinning and holding up a peace sign to her brother.
"Well," continued Audric.
"It doesn't necessarily mean we have to talk to our parents in order to
obtain the information we need. We want to see the full account of the incident
from the Reikai archives."
The prince of Reikai was once again
shocked out of his senses, nearly falling off his seat.
"B-b-but," he stammered.
"You yourselves have no record of what took place, how can we?"
"Come on, Koenma," said
Audric, a sly mischievous gleam on his eyes. "We know very well how much
you love watching surveillance videos from all over the place."
Koenma blushed fiercely. "But we
had an agreement, a pact between Lethe and Reikai formulated hundreds of years
ago, a treaty of privacy. We won't meddle with your internal affairs and neither
will you interfere with ours."
"Yes," agreed Audric
artfully. "But that doesn't provide us full guarantee of your
compliance."
Koenma gave up. "How did you know
that?" he asked meekly.
"Oh, I've conceived that so long
ago," Audric almost smirked grimly. "And if you don't want an
international scandal, you better give in to our request."
Koenma sunk on his seat forlornly.
"This is blackmail, Audric," he whimpered.
"Sorry," the king grimaced
apologetically. "Tough luck on you, but this is really serious. You
shouldn't be withholding information with all those lives at stake. It's your
problem, too."
"Uh-huh," he answered. Now,
he was slumped on the table, his pretty assistant nudging him alarmedly.
The
three former Reikai Tantei members gave each other meaningful, amused, yet
impressed looks. Ebony was also trying to suppress her laughter. "Nice work
Audric," she thought. "I just love how your mind works, brother. Poor
Koenma!"
"Oh, and another thing,"
spoke up Audric again.
Koenma picked his head up. "It
isn't over yet? You're like a court prosecutor, Audric."
Audric's seriousness was unruffled.
"Hitler, Polpot and all the other people insane enough to plot for the
destruction of practically a whole world, nation or race, they all had something
they failed at earlier in their life, something they wish to get retribution
for. More often than not, it is important in a fight to know the psychology of
your enemy well, to know what motivates his actions. In this way, we will be
able to discover how to stop him. It's only logical that we know the past and
story of the person to be able to predict his personality. The problem is we
don't know anything about Azrael. This is why we turn to you for help."
"What made you think we had those
kinds of files?" said Koenma, now being cautious.
"Reikai has always kept an eye on
potential threats. If I must cite an example, here's Yusuke Urameshi present in
this very assembly. Reikai has studied his bloodline and the possibilities his
power may offer. If I'm not mistaken, they themselves caused his youkou side to
awaken. Definitely, one such as Azrael will not be missed by Reikai. I'm sure
the life and origin of the dark one would have been extensively researched by
your people. But I understand you yourself have limited knowledge about the
well-kept secrets of your home."
Koenma sighed. "Fine, I admit it.
There are files about him and Ebony that wasn't revealed to you but--"
"WHHHAAAAAT!" screamed Ebony
furiously. She was once again yelling, her face less than an inch away from
Koenma's who was seated directly behind her. "YOU KNEW ALL ALONG ABOUT THE
INFO AND YOU DID NOTHING! DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH SMALLER OUR MARGIN OF ERROR
COULD HAVE BEEN HAD WE KNOWN WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE? WE COULD HAVE STOPPED AZRAEL
ONCE AND FOR ALL. BUT NOOOOO. YOU WERE TOO WIMPY TO EVEN ASSERT THE TRUTH. I
CAN'T BELIEVE---"
"Calm down, Ebony," he
hollered back. "Before you devour me, you should know it's not my
fault."
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
YOU'RE RESPONSIBLEFOR---"
Ebony stopped. "What d'you mean
it's not your fault?" she said humanely.
"I only found out about the files
just now," he said. "It's classified information and I risked my
position when I snooped and pried open those records. Nobody knew until now. But
I suppose I won't be able to preserve my life for so long now."
"Aw, c'mon," said Ebony,
waving him away. "You risked not only your job but also your ass when you
intervened on Yusuke's behalf. Right now, the whole creation is at stake."
"How did you know that?"
Ebony rolled her eyes. "Who
doesn't? You scandalized your father quite badly, you know."
"I don't think he would be too
forgiving this time."
"Don't worry," said Adrian
grinning. "We'll offer you asylum here."
"If," pointed out Koenma.
"If we succeed. If I'm not executed. If I don't get caught. You guys owe me
a lot."
"Hey! You said you always wanted
to save the worlds like your pals. Well, here's your chance to impress
someone." Adrian winked.
"Still, I…"
"Oh, come of it!" said Ebony
brashly. "If you really are so worried about being caught red handed then
ask for permission. A confrontation will be maturer instead of sneaking behind
him as if what you're doing is bad. Haven't you stood up to him adamantly when
you announced your beth-" The rest of her words were muffled when Koenma
clamped her mouth shut with his hands.
"All right, all right," he
hissed furiously. "But I don't promise you anything. I'll try my
best."
"Good." Ebony slipped out of
his clutches. The, after being sure she was at a safe distance away from him,
she yelled, "Now, don't forget my invitation!"
"EBONY, SHUT UP!"