Scattered Fragments

Chapter Nine~ Mietra: The Goddess of Etra

    James wasn't one for prayer, he didn't believe in such things for a long time now. The first ceremony was about to start which was the silent prayer. People from all over Miora-and those who were able to make the trip from the other kingdoms- were beginning to assemble at the city square. A statue of Mietra stood at the center of the huge space. She was depicted wearing an elegant warrior armor, reaching down towards humanity. He remembered when he was young, asking Trost what the statue was supposed to be about.

    "Well look at it my boy. What do you see?" He asked.

James looked at it thoughtfully, trying to put a name to the face he was observing. "It's a famous lady, and all the people below her are her admirers?" He said.

Trost laughed. "Very close." He said,  "The statue is of the Goddess Mietra Zirnahr; one of the heroes who fought against the Onen about a thousand years ago."

             "Wow...she must have been really really strong," James had been amazed when he first heard of Mietra. "So who are the people reaching for her?" He asked.

            "The statue shows us that Mietra was the one who pulled humanity up from the shadows. It is said that, at the time, the Onen oppressed humans, saw them as the lesser being since we came third into this world.

James was confused. "Third?" He said. "Then who came first?"

      "That would be your people the Astranovians. They were the first to inhabit the land before the Onen appeared." He explained. "I read somewhere that the three races lived in harmony for a time, but something happened between the Onen and the humans. War broke out between the two, and just as humanity was to be wiped out, the goddess along with a couple others took the fight to the Onen and gave us our freedom."

            "Wait, so why aren't the other people who helped her on the statue as well?"

Trost approached the statue and put a hand on the marble, "History never recorded much on them. After they took down Tidus and pushed his army back to Kardia, Mietra split the land away from the Onen using a special from of Essentia she called Gravija.

    "Shortly after that, the other heroes who had helped her disappeared from the history books and Mietra was the only one who remained who was able to guide humanity into a new age."

      Hearing about the goddess always reminded him of his first master Odeon. He was a beast of a man and a great fighter. Odeon was considered a Hero of Etra during the Treaty War that was waged a couple years after the Onen had attacked Astranova and Sera about five years ago.

     Although their time was short together, Odeon taught James a lot about the cultures and history of each kingdom. He taught James how to sword fight, defend himself, hunt,  read, write, play piano, All except Essentia, which he learned from Lysandra when Odeon was to travel across the sea to fight the Onen. If he had known that was the last time he'd see Odeon, he'd probably give him a more heartfelt parting other than complaining about Lysandra's scary glare. Odeon was the first person, other than Trost, that took James in after the night he lost everything. So he stayed loyal and waited for him at the park bench Odeon had found him when he ran away from the castle.

      "You're looking pretty thoughtful over there," said a soft voice beside of him. "Maybe too thoughtful to say hello to an old friend."

James turned his head and noticed the queen of Erenhollow, Arianna Shinra, standing next to him. The way she looked when she arrived at the castle was a totally different person to the one who stood before him. Arianna tied her long silver hair into a bun, which let her smooth neckline and soft shoulders bathe in the sunlight. The girl was so pale that she almost looked grey, but that was common to see in Erinhollow where the sun never touched the land. Her eyes were round and wide with just a hint of eyeliner streaking across her bottom eyelid. She did not look like the little girl he met when they were young at all.