Divine Worlds

By: S.R. Shinohara

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Chapter VII

The Depths of the Inferno

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Laughter…sweet laughter as he felt the touch he hadn’t in so long, such small arms wrapping about his neck and sparkling eyes that looked into his azure eyes once he looked back. Such innocent eyes…

But then flames…They crawled at her skin, burning at her flesh as they consumed their family’s hall in its entirety, reflected in her cold lifeless eyes as she stood there in a form much more mature, willing it higher. How could she? Their home…how COULD she…? “Saori! What are you doing?!”

Her voice was haunting, dull and incredibly dead to his ears almost. Certainly not the same one which had spoke with him before. “Exactly what it looks like…”

“Aiko-sama! Aiko-sama! Please hang on!”

“Mother!” Racing over to her badly hurt form, he looked at his sister, betrayal clearly written on his face. “What did you do, Saori!? You could’ve killed her!”

Her lifeless light blue eyes never changed as she said, “Betrayal…pain…they mean nothing…everything has betrayed us in some way, Souhi-ani…”

Shooting up in bed, azure eyes snapped open, his lean and well-toned body shaking in silent rage as the memories kept coming back, running a shaky hand through his sandy brown hair as he slowly closed his eyes and calmed himself. Saori…You nearly killed my mother and all that you said you loved…why did I dream of you? Once he was calm, Souhi got up and went to his window, pushing it open and letting the crisp morning air of Tengoku wrap him in its comforting embrace. “Lady Isako seems to want me to remember you today, Saori…I wonder why…”

A vague terror washed over him as his mother’s words to him echoed in his mind. “She’s cunning, that child, Souhi…you can’t trust her…Kosuke is too kind hearted to see how evil she is…” And she was away at the moment, off on some business on Phylos. Alone. What if Saori had…?

“Why the sour look, Souhi?” As usual, Hiiro was up and ready to tackle the day, probably off to visit his sister again. With a smirk he snorted, “Bad dreams?”

“Lady Isako showed me Saori…” With a concerned frown he muttered, “And Mother is alone on Phylos…”

That was doubtful. Hiiro had wondered vaguely why his father’s trip had been extended, but now it was making more sense. He wasn’t blind – he’d seen the way he, as every god did, eyed Aiko. Still, he could see where Souhi’s mind was wandering and it made a bubble of anger rise in him. “Don’t even, Souhi. I can’t believe you would even think she’d do that.”

“I never believed she would try to kill mother and look how she proved me wrong! She BURNED our old home to the ground with mother inside!”

“That was not her fault, Souhi.” His tone was hard as he defended his beloved’s honor from the very person she’d loved and respected more then anyone. That alone made him envy the sandy haired God of Healing, but that was for another time. “And you don’t know what happened!”

“Do you?” he shot back, glaring slightly at Tengoku’s “prince” among gods. Not even Dayu, the most loved of gods, was respected as much as Joutei’s favored son who stood before him was. It was mostly because he protected Tengoku from threats like the Nayami, but even without that he was just someone who deserved respect in an odd way. Souhi respected him too, but not when he always defended Saori’s actions. “Do you, Prince Hiiro, even know what happened? I know what I saw – her standing in front of our burning home willing the flames higher, completely cold and hateful. She had no flicker of remorse or anything, only irritation when my mother was dragged from the house nearly dead!”

Hiiro shook his head. “That’s not the whole story and you know it. The Saori we both know is not like that.”

“That’s what I thought too…” Shaking his head of thoughts of his sister, Souhi asked in a less hostile and angry tone, “So what brings you to my chambers, Hiiro?”

That was a good sign. He’d dropped the “prince” from his name. That meant it was safe for him to talk. “I’m inviting Saori to come train with the squads today…you may want to avoid the training grounds.”

He nodded abruptly in understanding. “Fine. I shall stay within this hall then.” I don’t…no…I can’t BARE to look at her face. It looks the same as it used to but now I know better. I can’t possibly look at her face which only angers me now.

“I’m off then. Good day, Souhi.” In a shroud of flames he was gone, Souhi’s azure eyes narrowing at the ground where Hiiro had stood. So that was why…it was to tell him she’d be near him. How could he look at her? Bad enough he’d let her help him that one week at Hiiro’s request, to see if she was any good at healing (which, surprisingly and ironically, she was), but the whole time all he could remember is her cold eyes and the image of his mother’s body before he’d healed it of its burns. He could never look at her again, even if a small part of him did want to see her.

“Damn it, Saori…” Burying his face in his drawn up knees as he sat in front of his window, his eyes flashed in pain and betrayal as they had that day he’d seen her – the real her. “Why did you destroy everything we had…?”

~*~ : * : ~*~

“Papa!”

Ryu let an agonized groan out as he fell off his bed with a crash, tangled in his sheets and twitching as both Saori’s EXTREMELY loud voice and his hangover pounded in his head like ceremonial drums. Did she have to be so damn LOUD?

“It’ll only take a few minutes,” he heard Kosuke say, his voice even sounding loud. Gods, his hangover from that Faerie wine was hideous. Wine had never given him this bad a headache before. What was in that stuff? “You’ll still have plenty of time to train with the other warriors.”

Stumbling down the hall and clinging to the railing of the staircase as he descended, his coordination was at least good. Standing on his feet was still easy, though he wasn’t going to take any chances that it might suddenly give out on him and make his go tumbling the rest of the way down the stairs. Hell no.

Ears twitching in interest as they continued to talk, oblivious to his presence, Ryu blinked when Kayoko put a finger to her lips in a silencing motion and stuck some odd contraption over both his ears.

“It’s for your headache,” she whispered, her voice oddly quiet unlike the others, “It’ll moderate voices to their true levels so your hangover won’t worsen.”

How kind of her, really.

Unfortunately, Saori’s voice was loud no matter what contraption he had on his ears.

“But you know I hate going to Inferno!” she groaned, “I like the elves but I hate the heat from the volcano!”

“You always have liked Kakure better then Inferno,” Kosuke twitched uneasily with a sweat-drop, “But still, I need you to get the weapons from Sai. He was commissioned to make those spears for the warriors and you are training with them today.” Finally noting Ryu and the gizmo set on his ears, Kosuke’s smile widened as he pointed to him and said, “You may want to bring Ryu to Souhi too…he has that great cure for Faerie headaches.”

Saori’s eyes flashed but it was gone before Ryu could note what they flashed with. “Ah…” Her tone was eerily quiet, though she was perfectly fine a second later when Hiiro came in a burst of flames and wrapped an arm around her waist from behind, the violet haired goddess screeching loudly and promptly bashing him on the head with her fist. “DON’T DO THAT!”

“So cruel,” he sighed, his lips drawn in a grin as he leaned close to her neck. Really, he hadn’t been aware she could blush so easily. “You ready to go?”

“I have to go do an errand for the old man here,” she muttered, motioning with her thumb towards Kosuke who was infinitely wounded, falling over dramatically with a hand over his heart muttering that he wasn’t old. She then moved the thumb towards Ryu and smirked, “And I have to get him to the palace so he can get his Faerie migraine treated.”

“Shut up,” he grumbled, glaring. Unfortunately, the head thing over his ears made the expression look hysterically funny instead of intimidating as he’d hoped, Hiiro, Saori, Kosuke, and even Kayoko falling over in loud laughter that made him groan in pain, sitting on the steps and nursing his head. He’d make them pay later. Much later. When the world stopped spinning and the drums stopped pounding.

~*~ : * : ~*~

The heat in Inferno was scorching, the head elf’s sleeves rolled up to his shoulders revealing his well toned arms from years of forging things for Kosuke or Hiiro, their protectors. Aquamarine eyes were narrowed from under dark violet bangs, his long hair tied into a long ponytail behind him. The last spear was almost complete, the fine weapons of the highest quality. The spearheads were made of unbreakable diamonds but coated in melted iron so they looked like any normal spear, the shafts made of the finest wood he could think of. After all, Lord Kosuke deserved the best.

Long ears twitching, the elf looked up from his work as the noise he was picking up came louder, though it disappeared just as quickly. Shrugging it off, he got back to work, mentally noting to get his ears checked later. He was really starting to hear things.

“Ne, Lord Sai!”

Sai cringed and braced himself as his second hooked onto his back with a laugh. “What is it, Kinu?”

“Someone is waiting for you in your receiving hall,” she told him with a jerk of her thumb towards the passageway in the volcano’s wall that would take him down into his kingdom. Jumping down from his back she grinned, “Lord Kosuke has sent a messenger for the spears he asked us to make.”

“Ah…good timing.” His youthful face broke into a pleased smile as he set the last one down on the long wooden board where all the others had been put. “I’ll go receive them then. Kinu, can you…?”

“Sure thing, Lord Sai!” She wordlessly (and easily despite its weight) carried the weapons behind him, following her leader into the passageway which led to the main city. Sai kept a hand on the rocky walls, the torches which burned every few feet only illuminating the passages so much, especially as they began nearing their kingdom where it became colder, narrower, and darker. It was because they lived just above Kakure, a naturally cold kingdom, that they needed to live below a volcano, their kingdom set right in the middle of where the heat met the cold in a usually pleasant temperature. Of course, there were the days the coldness took over and the caverns filled with ice, stopping them from working in the volcano or those times the heat won out, causing the volcano to erupt and for Inferno to lose much of its heat source. They needed the lava to combat the cold and prevent them from freezing their asses off.

A fond smile crossed his lips as they exited the passageway and now stood on a cliff overlooking the bustling city where his palace was. Sai loved his kingdom despite its erratic temperature changes. It was hidden under the earth with each town and city connected by a network of passageways, but also held most of the earths most sought after objects like gold, silver, and coal. They had some jewel mines of things like rubies and sapphires too, but the majority of those mines were located in Kakure since they needed to form where it was cold so the heat wouldn’t deform them. The elves couldn’t have everything now, could they? The Nayami and their cold kingdom had to have some redeeming value. The jewels from those mines and the minerals from theirs were the only reason elves ever contacted the dwarves who lived in the mountainous regions of Kakure anyway. It was a mutually beneficial relationship that was best kept in tact.

Walking into the halls of his palace – built from the finest marble he could find, of course – Sai’s face lit up as he saw who was there. “Lady Saori!” His eyes looked around for someone else, but lowered in slight disappointment when no one else was there. “Long time no see. I haven’t seen you since you came here to help out during the last eruption.”

Saori could see the disappointment in his eyes. She knew who he wanted to see. “I know…but my new title has kept me on the run!” Her grin crawled to her lips slightly as she said lightly, “She did come with me you know…”

Sai came so close to her and with such an eager look it made her fall backwards out of her chair with a yelp. “Really? Where’s Kayoko-neesan?!”

“I’m not sure,” she grumbled, rubbing her head that she’d smacked against a table as she fell, “Kayoko went off on her own the moment she transformed back to normal.”

Sai was obviously disappointed, muttering a curse as he ran a frustrated hand through his bangs. “I don’t get it…why does she always hide from everyone whenever she’s here? As if working for the gods isn’t odd enough…no offense.”

“None taken,” Saori snickered before turning solemn and saying lightly, “She’s never really enjoyed it much…even though she’s with me at Illusian now, I think she misses her freedom, but she’s been absolutely against coming back here or going to live on Celestia whenever I ask her if she really wants to leave divine servitude. And it’s not like she can go anywhere else to live, so she stays I think, despite the fact that she tells me otherwise.”

Sai knew it, yet he was still hurt by those words. “Do you know why she won’t come back? She was one of the best forgers and made the finest things anyone has ever seen…we still keep all her works she did, and they shine brighter and with a beauty no one could ever match…”

Saori’s eyes lowered. She knew. She’d asked her many times until Kayoko had finally relented and spoke the truth to her.

“Kayoko…you’re not truly happy, so why do you stay here on Tengoku being passed among the gods and used like they have used you in the past?”

“But I’m not anymore, right?” she’d smiled, earnestly glad when she’d said, “Working here with Lady Saori and Lord Kosuke has stopped that since Lord Kosuke has Lady Aiko. He needn’t look for a servant to please him during lonely nights.”

“But you hate servitude!” Saori had exclaimed, a little bewildered and awed by how she could speak of such a heinous practice (sadly common to boot) so casually as well, “And yes, it has stopped now, but Sai misses you. I’ve seen the way he stares at the jewelry and stuff you’ve forged, unparalleled in its beauty mind you, waiting for his beloved sister to come back home. And I see it in your eyes too, every time you see Kosuke-papa bring home a trinket crafted by him for his wife, so why not go home to Inferno…?”

“Because…” For once, no smile made its way to Kayoko’s face, tears coming to her eyes instead, “I can’t face him anymore, Lady Saori, even if it wasn’t my baby brother Sai…I can’t let him know…I can’t see Sai, Lady Saori, no matter how much I may want to because I could never let him see how much I fear him…”

Saori let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d held, shoving the memory away. Kayoko had been broken the rest of that day. She still couldn’t believe it, even as she remembered the complete conversation they’d had before she’d let the matter drop, but she understood Sai’s condition better then anyone. It was why she’d always been close with him despite it. She could relate to his problem more then anyone. And he is blessed by the fact he does not know what he does…

Shoving away the bubble of envy inside her with an inward frustrated growl, Saori told him, “It’s something you need to hear from her and not me, Sai. I have no right to tell you.”

“But she never comes to see me!” he groaned, frustrated. Kinu gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder, sweat-dropping as he squatted down and drew lazy patterns along the palace floor, brooding with black clouds over his head. “Why does Kayoko-neesan never come see me…?”

“Why does Souhi-ani never visit, papa…?”

Saori pushed that memory away quickly with a vengeance. She DEFINITELY did not need that memory popping up. “She’s got her reasons, Sai, but maybe one day she can find it in herself to come see you and explain…” Detouring from the topic before more unwanted visions popped up, she said with a wide smirk, “So let’s see these spears, huh?”

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Ryu hobbled, with Hiiro’s help, towards this God of Healing's room, his migraine having gotten worse the moment sunlight had streamed into his face. He’d always hated it when it was sunny. Sunny reminded him of cheerful, and he much preferred it when it was cloudy. It reminded him of serenity – the calm before a storm. Cursing under his breathe and vaguely wondering why his senses hadn’t collected themselves yet, Ryu heard Hiiro mutter something but it was too unclear for him to make out as he continued walking forward blindly.

…Only to smack his forehead right into a cold metal pipe.

“I told you to duck,” Hiiro snorted, amused by the curses which flowed easily from the immortal youth’s tongue, “Hey, Souhi, we have a patient for you.”

Souhi was vaguely amused as he patiently helped the now utterly disoriented youth to his feet and onto a bed. Eyeing the gizmo on his head he smiled, “Let me guess…Faerie headache?”

Hiiro merely laughed, muttering something Ryu couldn’t hear before leaving. His head was pounding and ringing way too much.

Souhi pounded, grinded, and mixed several things with a mortar and pestle before handing the bowl to him. “Can you hold it, or would you rather me put it to your mouth?”

With a mutter, Ryu took the bowl and downed the liquid as fast as he could. If it would get rid of the migraine, he didn’t care what it tasted like.

Of course, that changed the moment the foul concoction ran down his throat.

Souhi’s azure eyes were alight with laughter as Ryu gagged and hacked, spitting into the nearest hollow container and spewing a variety of curses that Hiiro would no doubt have enjoyed hearing. “This is why no one ever drinks Faerie wine.”

“Something for me to note then.” He felt sick to his stomach now, but the headache was completely gone as he took off the ridiculous gizmo Kayoko had put on his head. “It’s as foul as the stuff a skunk sprays.”

This only made Souhi laugh harder and Ryu felt the need to be seriously ill.

“So who are you?” Though it took awhile, Souhi finally caught his breath to ease his curiosity. “I haven’t seen you around and you’re obviously new.”

“I became a servant to the God of the Forests…” Ryu groaned as he shut his eyes, a frown on his lips. Unknowingly, it seemed to match Souhi’s in its severity. “Lord Kosuke.”

“I’d heard a rumor that he’d gotten one, but I didn’t believe it until now,” he muttered, leaning back on his seat and crossing his arms. It was a slow day and Ryu was his only patient at the moment, at least until after the training session finished. “My father never needed one before…”

That made Ryu crack his eye open out of curiosity from his lying position, propped up by pillows against the headboard. “You’re his son?”

“One of many.” He said it with such a smile...Ryu couldn’t help twitching in annoyance. “I’m the second oldest. My oldest brother is Kohaku.”

An image of the Faerie who was Ruko’s second came to mind and Ryu fell off the bed, twitching more. “THAT guy is your brother?”

Souhi laughed so hard he thought his side would split open. “You’ve obviously met him. Yes, he is, though being on Celestia has altered what he used to be.” Helping him back up onto the bed he said with a smile, “What’s your name? I’m Souhi, the Patron God of Healing.”

“Takagi Ryu.” Noting Souhi’s slightly strained smile, he noted accurately, “You wish to say something else, Lord Souhi?” He’d picked up the ways to address them quickly at Kayoko’s advice.

“Since you are working for my father, you have no doubt come into contact with my sister, Saori…” At Ryu’s grunt, Souhi took that as a yes. “I’d be careful of her…she’s very dangerous…”

“I’m well aware,” he sighed as he shut his eyes, “Her voice alone can kill.”

Sweat-dropping, Souhi coughed, “Well, yes, but that’s not what I mean. She’s not as kind as she may appear, so I’d be careful of her. Watch out for her, Ryu-san. You seem like a kind youth so I wouldn’t want to see something happen to you.”

An image of her light blue eyes that morning, flashing with that unknown emotion, came to his head. They had changed when Kosuke mentioned his son, but what he seen had resembled something other then anger or hate like what it should be if what Souhi was saying was right. In fact, it seemed more like sadness to him. But then, there was a large margin of error since he hadn’t seen it long enough. One thing the god by him was right about was that he’d have to watch her closely from now on. “I’ll do that…”

A knock at the door made both of them look towards it, though no one entered. Souhi’s face darkened considerably and his fists clenched at his shirt tightly knowingly. He knew who it was. Only one person ever did this. “Saori…”

“Souhi-ani.” Her voice sounded normal, if not vaguely frustrated. “Is Ryu there still?”

“What is it?” Ryu sat up, his stomach pretty much at ease now. He was never going to drink that godforsaken stuff again.

“If you could, can you go back to Illusian as soon as you’re better? My father will probably begin getting restless since Kayoko isn’t feeling well…She’ll be resting for the rest of the day.” With a sigh, Saori recalled the look on Kayoko’s face when she’d found her after finishing her meeting with Sai, spears in her arms and ready to go.

Pale blue eyes were staring longingly from under her charcoal bangs at her old projects, encased in a glass showcase in the main hall of Sai’s palace. They really were beautiful and she did miss making them horribly. She’d contemplated making something for her mistress, but even forging brought back her memories.

Saori cautiously stepped forward with a mild grin. “Ready to go?”

Kayoko’s face was that sad, pained one from once long ago again, tears instead of a smile crossing her pretty face. “Yes…”

“I’ll go now then; I feel fine.” Bowing towards Souhi in thanks, the sandy haired physician shut his eyes as the door opened, looking down with grit teeth. She was so close…he could feel her presence so clearly, the same as it always had been, but the memory of those eyes beat down the longing which he could feel build up inside him. She wasn’t the sister he’d thought she was. She wasn’t the person he wanted to hold as he had many times and shield from everything bad in life. SHE is everything bad and evil, Souhi…SHE’S everything bad that you actually wanted to protect her from, but you can’t protect her from herself. You have to protect those who need protecting. Opening his eyes when the door shut, he felt her linger in front of the door slightly before walking away, her steps echoing as she went to go join the warriors.

But even as he told himself this, his feet moved him from his seat to the window, looking into the gardens and waiting, finally catching a glimpse of her through the tree branches as she joined the others, shouting so loud the ground shook when Hiiro did something perverse no doubt. Souhi let go of the breath he’d been holding, images of his dream repeating in his mind. Those kind eyes…that silvery laughter…all changing to that cold eyed, lifeless girl who desired nothing but destruction and pain. That girl who’d tried to kill his mother and torched the home of his memories…

…The real person inside that hot-tempered child beyond the trees…

~*~ : * : ~*~

“How did training go?”

Saori groaned as she collapsed onto the floor, not even making it to the chairs in the lounge where her father was sitting with Ryu, drinking tea from the smell which drifted through the air. “Don’t ask…I’ve gotten rusty…”

A gentle hand grasped her arm and helped her up, Saori looking at Kayoko in surprise as she smiled comfortingly. “Perhaps you should practice with them more often then?”

The surprise she’d felt was pushed away as she snorted, “Yeah right. If I hang around them too much I really will start acting like a guy. I’d like to keep the tiny sense of femininity I have, Kayoko.”

Ryu’s lip twitched into a smirk. He couldn’t hold it back. “Really? You actually have some?”

“Shut up!” She half wished he’d still had his Faerie headache. “I do have it and, believe me, it’s something you’ll never see.”

“Well,” he shot back coolly, “Believe me when I say I certainly wouldn’t want to. It would be the single most terrifying thing I’d ever see in my life, and I’ve seen plenty.”

“WHAT!?”

Kayoko covered her mouth to keep her mistress from seeing her laughter. Of course, she was so busy trying to kill him she probably wouldn’t notice anyway, but still.

“I see you’re feeling better,” Kosuke smiled, turning his attention to her until his daughter stopped mauling his assistant, “I don’t know what was wrong before, Kayoko, but you know you can just talk with Saori or me if it’ll help, right?”

“Of course,” she murmured, bowing slightly, “And I already owe you so much, Lord Kosuke…”

Patting her shoulder, he walked past her laughing lightly, “When those two are done, tell her I retired to my room…just watching her exhausts me sometimes!”

Nodding, Kayoko had to evade them several times before they finally broke apart, both looking exhausted and as if they’d gone to hell and back with their frazzled hair that had fallen loose of their typical bindings. “Lord Kosuke has retired to his chambers…perhaps you two should as well, ne?”

“Damn demi-goddess…” Ryu’s brow was twitching as he walked away, holding his neck that was a little red from being twisted.

Saori was scowling too, rubbing her arm that he’d nearly taken from its socket. “Insufferable mortal…”

Kayoko couldn’t help it. She broke out into laughter.

“Mou…Kayoko, what’s so funny?!”

I owe them both a lot… Kayoko thought with a chuckle, ...they gave me back my laughter when I’d thought I’d lost it, Lady Saori most of all...And Lord Kosuke made me feel safe when nothing did. I can never repay them enough… “Nothing, Lady Saori, nothing! Now lets go see to that wound…” I’ll never let anyone hurt Lady Saori or Lord Kosuke…I’ll never let anyone take my laughter or sense of security again…No one will ever take away my home. No one. With a wistful smile as she tended to Saori’s arm she thought sadly, Maybe one day, after that then, I can finally see you without fear, Sai…I can be the sister you once knew…

“Sugoi!” His aquamarine eyes stared in full admiration at the newest necklace Kayoko had begun working on, her pale blue eyes narrowed in determination as she hit the gold with her hammer, so strong yet beautiful in the red hued light of the volcano. “No one can outdo you, Kayoko-neesan! Whoever you marry will be the proudest of all in Inferno!”

She laughed, honestly amused. “Oh come now, Sai…who would marry a woman who does men’s work?”

“Are you kidding?” he laughed, “You’re so talented, Kayoko-neesan, and still the most beautiful woman the elves have…I would marry you if I weren’t your brother!”

Kayoko could only laugh, though she hadn’t seen the look which passed through his eyes. “Be serious, Sai…and isn’t that your project that’s smoking?”

The future leader of elves had his eyes bug out as he scrambled over to his station. “AH! My PROJECT!”

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