Chapter 16
Try as we might, we cannot escape from our past. We can learn from our mistakes and we can right the wrongs we have commited, but we can never escape from our actions. Our past is what makes us who we are-- the past is the very fiber of our being. We are nothing but a mass of flesh and bone that houses previous experiences. We like to believe that we are looking to the future or living in the present, but like so much we pretend to hold dear these notions are nothing but lies.
You are nothing but the sum of your past. Your first kiss plus your graduation from high school plus a myriad of other situations, all added together to form YOU. The present is merely a new addition to the whole. The future is nothing but that unknown algebraic X soon to come.
1 + 1 = Me.
2 + 2 = You.
Is this really the existence you so desire? Is this the truth that you so wish to fight for and preserve? Nothing but an amalgam of moments that can never be changed. We are but stagnant beings. Nothing more than an equation that will always equal the same number no matter what is being added together. Why not let go of this stagnation and release yourself to the Void? With the Void the equation ceases to be tallied. Not even “zero” exists in the Void’s non-formula.
Become less than zero. Become something more true than a mere calculation. Become nothing.
Those are the words of my own beloved, Mystra.
Nothing but lies. Sweet, beautiful lies.
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The final night of the opera season. The final curtain has fallen. The musicians and singers and other assorted hangers-on proceed to make plans for the after-production party. No one notices a lone figure sneak backstage admist the chaos. Had this been one of her concerts, Lynne was positive she wouldn’t have made it this far. Security would have spotted her within seconds and tossed her out before she could utter a single “Stop!” Lucky for her opera singers and their classical musicians rarely inspire the rabid fans that make such security measures necessary. Unfortunately one such musician could consider Lynne such a fan.
Her name is Bethany Morrison. Musical prodigy. Gifted composer. Lunatic. Once upon a time she bore witness to the Dance that to this very day consumes Devyn Soyokaze. His bitterly-beautiful movements made Bethany’s soul swoon with passion. To Bethany, his violent charade was beauty personified-- his fevered grace the epitomy of motion. Despite knowing that Devyn’s Dance was nothing but a symbol of death, in Bethany’s heart of hearts she believes this horrid symbol to also be a symbol for life. Some aspect of her soul was able to comprehend the symbolism at work in the Secret Dance and everything it represents. Those few that have seen through the movements have seen nothing but despair, but Bethany sees nothing but beauty. “Life is nothing but the dance before we die.” And so Bethany has devoted her life to putting that Dance to music. She is also the only person Lynne is willing to meet that can tell her where to find Devyn.
Lynne finds Bethany tucked away in a distant corner by herself. As she finishes packing away her violin Bethany looks straight at Lynne and smiles.
“It is nice to meet you, sister.” Bethany’s voice is melodic yet hauntingly calm-- a siren lecturing. Lynne’s ears ignore Bethany’s tone as she is far more unnerved at the fact that a complete stranger has just called her “sister.” Bethany notices this and her smile fades away.
“Devyn.” Lynne states sternly. “Where is he?”
Bethany’s smile attempts to return with the mention of her inspiration’s name but is suppressed by Lynne’s intimidating composure.
“Naturally, sister, I will tell you. But I must ask of you a single favor.”
“Agreed.” Lynne responds, assuming the worst.
“I have never personally met your brother. Could you tell me something about him?” She blushes slightly. “Just one simple fact. Something to inspire me. Anything. It is all I ask of you.”
“What do I know about him?” Lynne responds. “The man you know and the brother I know are not the same person. You know him as some freakish Dark Dancer. I know him as the guy that teased me for being a tomboy. He was an upstanding kid in school. Teacher’s pet. A mamma’s boy. Daddy’s hope for the future. His teeth gleamed with purity. An inch short of perfection. He lived his life the way all the movies say you should and he lived those dreams of childhood.
“When I was eight and he was ten, we were at the neighborhood gas station. I wanted a pack of gum but I came up short on change. I didn’t dare ask Devyn for the change. He would give it willingly and with a smile. I hated that about him. He would give himself so freely at a drop of a hat. I didn’t want to see him like that. Even at that young age I knew that despite his kind nature that it would be his downfall. Its merely his nature to be self-sacrificing.
“So I wanted my own little way to keep him from having to give up his hard-earned allowance. A self-imposed allowance at that. ‘Better to learn the lessons of frugality now than later’ he said. I stole the gum. Stuck it in my pocket and tried to walk out of the store. Naturally, I was caught. Naturally, Devyn intervened. Claimed he placed the gum in my pocket. The storeowner knew Devyn. Knew me. Knew Devyn would never do something like that. Knew I wasn’t so perfect. The storeowner let me off the hook because I was Devyn’s sister.
“That is the sort of person Devyn was, is, and always will be. He would give anything for what he believes in. Sadly, he believes in nothing now.”
Lynne sighs. Bethany smiles.
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“My destiny?” Yushiro asks as he slowly walks to the other side of Seryph’s living room. “I know what my destiny is. Come the day Seryph decides to hand down his mantle, I will become the next Avatar of the Universe. Its an uneasy destiny but a destiny I fully accept.”
“I am glad you feel that way. It will make this discussion all the more easier.”
Yushiro is in mid-leap, his hand scant inches away from a broadsword hanging on the wall in front of him, when the bullet lodges itself in his chest half an inch below his heart. Silver smoke emits from the tip of the woman’s revolver, smelling of sulfer and lavender. Yushiro expects pain and dizziness to begin overcoming his senses. All he feels is an intense feeling of contentment. The woman walks over to Yushiro’s prone body, sits down next to him, and strokes his head.
“Taking into consideration your martial training, the spell I just cast on you will take full effect in three hours. Plenty of time to give your final goodbye to your friends. But sadly, I have been forced to change your destiny. You are indeed a bright, skilled young man, but you are also a willing participant in this great game.” Yushiro attempts to speak, but the spells etheral tentrils wrap themselves around his tongue. “Willingness, I have found, will only bring about failure. Choice is no longer an option in this War. She,” the woman points to the youngest of the women in the room, a pink haired girl, “is your successor.”
With those words Yushiro’s vision fades and his mind drifts off into total, silent bliss.
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Bethany leads Lynne out of the opera house and down a back alley a few blocks away. A brick wall is all that awaits them at the end of the alley. Just as Lynne begins to speak up, assuming she’s been swindled, Bethany raises her left hand and places it against the wall. The bricks begin to vanish from site in a pattern resembling a triangle. Bethany steps into the opening in the wall. Lynne follows. Bethany raises her hand again, this time gesturing towards the opening in the wall. A door begins to form in front of the two women, and as the final panel door’s wooden face forms the door opens, revealing a long corridor.
“Your brother awaits you at the end of this hall.” Bethany says as she motions for Lynne to exit. A faint shimmer of forboding tickles Lynne’s stomach, but her desire to settle the Devyn issue once and for all pushes her out into the dark hallway. Bethany then quickly steps back into the doorway and whispers as the doorway begins to dissapear.
“Forgive me.”
The door shuts and vanishes from Lynne’s sight as the door at the end of the corridor opens.
“Greetings, sister.” Kyoko growls.
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Wake up, Yushiro. Wake up. The final moments of your life are no time to ignore your pain and bask in the lies of peace and serenity. Yes. Focus your warrior’s mind and shrug off the spell’s calming effects.
You are about to die. Die a hero’s death. Fighting for what you believe in. Defending the Universe you so longed to represent. I truly grieve for you and your lowly fate. Gunned down by one of your fellow defenders. I had looked forward to the day when perhaps Seryph would fail and give the mantle to you. I dreamed of one day having a fresh adversary, unweary of his duties and filled with that same drive that we all possessed during our relative youth during the War. I thought, perhaps, seeing you fight with reckless and blind righteous abandon would bring back that drive to us all.
Alas, we will not see that day. In scant hours, you will drift off into some new realm of reality.
Does it need to end like this? Do you need to die like this? Incapable of controlling your destiny. Unable to take on the fate you believed was your birthright. You can change that destiny. Here and now. You can renew your life-- renew your destiny. You can truly be in control of your future. All you need to do is ask. Ask to live again.
All that is asked of you is that you simply change sides in this quaint little battle.
Can you still believe that a Universe whose champions are such cowardly beings is worth saving?
Your teacher and friend, Seryph Gibbons. He has done nothing but run from his fate. He actively searches for young souls to take on his role so that he can finally escape from his fate. He only grudgingly faces his destiny when his loved ones are placed in harms way. Can such a man be worthy of your loyalty? He may be like a father to you, a feeling even one like me can respect, but when that father leads you down a path of ultimate destruction candy-coated as a holy quest of righteousness, can you still regard him with the uptmost respect?
If you take me as your mother I will tell you no lies. All of my other children live a lie. Even my most beloved child, your father’s nemesis, willingly follows the lie I bestowed upon him when we first met countless years ago. If you so desire you will be unique amongst my children. You will be the bearer of the Truth. You will be the harbinger of the begining of the second War. You will be my Avatar.
What is your answer?
“No.”
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The wooden paneling lining the hallway begins to twist and colapse upon Lynne. With breakneck speed, Lynne sprints down the hallway running towards Kyoko. Kyoko’s artistry paints a makeshift gauntlet of piping and plywood-- wooden and metal tentacles striking out and thirsting for blood. The stained paneling adorning the walls throb with sinister life, creating a steady heartbeat that echoes through the corridor.
The obstacles prove to be little more than a distraction for Lynne as she tunes her ears into the wall’s pulsating beat. One-two-dodge-tumble five-six-jump-duck. Lynne’s brain translates the unnatural rythym into the beat of a midnight rave, the unnatural jirations of her surroundings nothing more than fellow dancers.
Lynne slides up against a large pipe as it reaches out for her. She twirls around like a woman flirting with a man she just met on the dancefloor and uses that momentum to propel herself into the air, throwing herself over her assailant’s head and landing so she and Kyoko are back to back.
“Cute trick.” Lynne says as she catches her breath. “I take it you have a thing for my brother too.”
Kyoko smirks and lifts her brush to her lips. “If love were a mere ‘thing,’ then yes. He is mine and mine alone. I will have no one coming between our birthright. Not even his own flesh and blood.”
Lynne laughs. “I guess that’s how family works.”