Rise Of Pandora

Rise of Pandora: LXIII. None To Listen

"The future has already been set in stone?" Baccus was livid. As images of Genesis resurfaced into his overly withdrawn and icy heart, his emotions built up inside him and poured out of his mouth in a fury of diatribe, melting away his cold temper and allowing the raging sensation of anger and strain to assume his physiognomy.

"Do you know what we went through to get here? Can you possibly even imagine how much we've already lost and sacrificed just to be here today? I nearly died trying...I nearly lost my life trying to rid this world of the evil you cower away from. My friends...my family. We have already lost so much and this is all that you have to offer us, oh wise mystics? We have sat with you four for hours spilling our hearts out on what we had to go through in the past days and this is the only solution you can offer us! Give up? Runaway?" Baccus was furious.

"We did not wish to believe this was our only option either, but I assure you, this is not a choice that we come to willingly. It was a warning sent by the wise mother herself, the same wise mother who you have all turned to and trusted to prevent many of the world's wars before they even happened. We only interpret the message, do not cast shame on the messengers. But I do apologize if those were not the words you all wished to hear," he said in a snapping tone.

"But what we do suggest..." said another mystic. "Is that you all focus not on conflict but rather the evacuation of all of the Rare Nations and—"

"TELL US WHAT SHE SAID!" Baccus demanded, caring little for any common form of societal courtesy and respect which was standard across the Rare Nations.

"Please, king Obryn, watch your tone."

"TELL US WHAT SHE SAID!" He said menacingly.

"You are working my nerve, young man. king or no king, this a poor mockery of respect that you are showing us," another mystic said.

"Trust me, respect was not my intention. Tell us what you were told or I promise you—

"Baccus! Please, that is enough." Atlas said. "Let them speak."

"I understand the stress you must surely be in. Hearing that there is no hope other than to flee is not something anyone would wish to hear..." one of the sister mystics pulled out a scroll and unfurled it, revealing a myriad of strange-looking characters that did not stop until it reached the end of the small scroll. "I will tell you what was decoded but I can promise you will not like it."

"It will be the closing of ages upon the arrival of the winged harbinger. Ye, he is the son of the apocalypse, for the coming of the end is an inevitability, the coming of a darker time. Watch ye therefore upon his arrival, spirits of ages long lost will tear their way back into the realm of the visible and strip away the prosperity of mortals, corrupting the mind, corroding the spirit, and defeating the body. No need is there for prayer, for there will be none to listen. But take endeavor in finding light within one another to cast away the darkness. The dark spirits shall arrive along with a mortal woman whose hair burns red like the sun. You will know they are near when the skies grow dismal and treacherous, and the lands can no longer contain the oceans that rest upon them. Fires will consume regions where the uproarious tides cannot reach. The humans will take notice and with the tolling of their bells, you shall see they are here. Following then will be the deaths of your leaders. The earthly leaders will have thrones no longer, will have followers no longer, earthly riches no longer, for there will be plagues and famine upon the land. The skies will redden and the clouds in it will wither until it falls like ash and scatter across seas and lands. They, the dark spirits that will bring the world to ruin, will appear as dark grand clouds but they are the reapers, dark bodies of wrought, envy, and all other banes. The madness they bring will be the worst of their savagery. The end is unavoidable. To stow away is the only salvation."

"And so now do you understand what must be done? Trying to fight the future will always be in vain. But, we are not suggesting that you give up as king Obryn would have the room believe. We are merely divulging the truth of our misfortune."

"You do not sound afraid," Baccus pointed out curiously. "Are you not all afraid just as the rest of us?"

"Afraid? Does a showman fear the end of his performance? No. The performer understands when the curtains must close. You view death as the end, but, no young man, death is merely the next dance on stage," said Abraham.

"These people are insane!" Baccus protested. He switched his gaze towards two downtrodden eyes, they were eyes which belonged to Atlas. Nervous and agitated, those were not the words Baccus wished to hear. His insides jerked and quivered with unbearable pain just from hearing the mystics' prophecy. It was not too far off from what both Gaijin and Genesis had told him.

Why now! Why in my lifetime? Baccus thought of angrily, his tight fists shaking at his sides.

"I think we're done here," Baccus said while getting up from his seat. He was annoyed, that much everyone in the room could see. He walked away from the table and was just about to walk out past the door until something one of the mystics said caught his ear. 

"We are not done, king Obryn." Seeing that he captured the king's attention, he continued. "Please return to your seat."

"Now, I know there is no room for much interpretation of the prophecy, however, there is another way to look at this no matter how disheartening. My siblings and I have thought long on it but we believe when all of the destruction and madness have come to its end and all the ash and dust have settled...as all things must, there will be an opportunity for a new rule. That is what you and your friend Brais have been wanting for a very long time, hasn't it? A new world society where peace is not a luxury but a way of life. If you all make it to the end, and we honestly hope you brave men and women do, then it is in your hands to repair the broken world and bring it into a new and more prosperous era. I personally do believe in what you all have been working so hard for in the decades passed, and I sincerely hope you achieve what you have been working for. So, do not see this as the final chapter, but the beginning of a new peace, but you will just need to fight through the hardships until you get there and remain vigilant and immovable in the many faces of evil. At the end of it all however...I wish to see you all sat upon new thrones, guiding humanity in a better path as the rightful rulers."

Still standing by the door, Baccus turned away and stood still in thought before finally exiting the room.

"Thank you, mystics," said Atlas. "Everyone, let us begin the begin the first stages. We must hurry." Atlas stood from his seat and shook their hands individually before leaving with the others. 

"Atlas, what we said we meant. We wish to see humanity come out of this conflict for the better."