Valkyrie's Page of Wonder

February 26, 2009

Sneak Preview - Fallen Angel - Alternate

Xannon enters the temple and kneels before the statue of Bast. Having only recently been reopened, the marble floors and alabaster lamps still reflected the evening light from the nearby windows. The newly rebuilt statue welcomed everyone with open arms, including Xannon. He feels a presence behind him.
"Rise, Xannon. What is it you wish?"
Xannon stands and turns to see the beautiful figure of Bast. He catlike eyes glowing slightly in the night. He is momentarily entranced by her beauty but quickly regains himself.
"Why did it have to be this way? Why the years of war, death, pain, and suffering? I was ready to fight for you, to end the war. I could have done it. I feel it in my bones, my heart, my soul. I know I've asked you many times since my return but you have never given me a straight answer. Either I'm not ready, or I wouldn't understand, but you never give me a chance to understand. You never tell me when I'll be ready. What would have happened if Sarah hadn't died? If I would have stayed with you?"
Bast ponders this while strolling over the the statue of herself. It stood over twice as tall as a normal person, nearly 15 feet.
"You were always my favorite student. Have I told you that? Celeste thought the same way. She knew things about you. Things she shouldn't have known, couldn't have known, but still knew. She knew deep down you would return. That's why she did what she did that night you came to visit. She sacrificed herself for you."
Bast stops for a moment and stares off into the night.
"So many sacrifices. So many lost for the greater good."
"What greater good? 400 years of war? The loss of hundreds of your followers? Most of them as a result of my actions? Even Gatomon fell to my blade."
"Life," Bast states simply. "The continuation of life."
"Would it not have been better to extinguish the forces of Kardis when we had the chance? What was gained by extending the war? Tell me, Bast. Explain it to me so that I may understand."
She stops and looks into his eyes.
"Yes. You are ready. But you may not like what you hear. If Sarah had not died, if you had stayed with me, there would have been wonderful glory and heroic death for you."
"Doesn't sound too bad so far."
Bast turns back toward the open window.
"You would have left the temple as a full Mage Knight of Bast. The best we have ever seen. You would have led my armies in a valiant and heroic assault on the forces of Kardis. You would have won the war in only a few short months. But you would not have killed the High Priest of Kardis nor his apprentice. They would have escaped back to their temple in the southern mountains where they would wait and rebuild. They would have still found the book of ancient magics, broken the seal and brought about the apocalypse."
"Which is exactly what I did."
She turns toward him. "Yes, but he would not have stopped. He would have confronted you one on one in the battlefield. You would have fought valiantly and you would have lost. Killed by the High Priest of Kardis. Once you were defeated, the best of the best, the army would have crumbled faster than their morale. The forces of Kardis led by an unstoppable menace would have swept across the lands killing anything and everything. Gatomon would have made a last ditch effort to stop him, but even with the combined powers of the archangels of Gaia, she would have failed. Her and the archangels would have all perished. The forces of Bast and Yehova would have fallen leaving the world to slowly wither away into nothing, eventually every living creature on the planet would have died. Kardis and Rinous would have achieved their ultimate goal."
Xannon lowers his eyes to the floor and thinks about her words.
"Was there no other way?" he finally asks.
"There were, but you must understand that you are special. By yourself, you are the most powerful sorcerer on the planet. Any other path we would have taken would have resulted in your death. By giving you over to Kardis, you would live. As long as you were alive I had a chance to get you back. As the years passed, your anger grew and it became harder and harder to feel you.
"You felt me the day you died. Yet you felt cursed. You felt me every time Sarah's spirit touched your heart. Yet you felt angry. It was then I knew the only way to get you back was to create for you a way to relieve your anger, your hate, your sorrow. That was the reason for the final conflict. That was why so many of my followers were put to the sword. We needed you. I needed you, Xannon.
"From the very moment of your birth I knew you were special. I touched you, nurtured you, loved you. It tore my soul apart to send you away. Just as it tore apart Celeste's. You could see it in her eyes, couldn't you? The day of your trial?"
Xannon turns away from Bast and looks out the front doors of the temple. He wipes away the tears forming in his eyes.
"Enough. I understand everything now. I know why you did what you did. But I do have one more question."
Bast walks up behind him and wraps her loving arms around him in a mothers embrace.
"Where do I go from here? Do I return to Sarah and try to live a normal life. Or do you have bigger plans for me?"
She squeezes him slightly.
"Always bigger plans for you, Xannon. Always."

April 30, 2007

Letter from the departed

Lyrics from My Last Breath by Evanescence(edited for the story)
Sarah Redding to Xannon Okunen on the day before the Last Battle

(It will make more sense if you'd read the Animenation RPG to the end)

Hold on to me love. You know I can't stay long. All I wanted to say was "I love you and I'm not afraid." Can you hear me? Can you feel me in your arms?

I'm holding my last breath. Safe inside myself are all my thoughts of you. Sweet raptured life, it ends here tonight.

I'll miss the winter, a world of fragile things. Look for me in the white forest, hiding in a hollow tree, come find me. I know you hear me. I can taste it in your tears.

I'm holding my last breath. Safe inside myself are all my thoughts of you. Sweet raptured life, it ends here tonight.

Closing your eyes to disappear, you pray your dreams will leave you here. But, still you wake and know the truth: No one's there!

Say goodnight. Don't be afraid, calling me, calling me, As you fade to black.

Say goodnight, holding my last breath. Don't be afraid. Safe inside myself, are all my thoughts of you. Sweet raptured life, it ends here tonight.