Under a dark, frigid sky, a terrible wind blew through the canopy of snowy trees, scattering snow across the frozen forest floor. Walking with extreme difficulty, bracing himself against the trunks of the dark and hardened trees, comes a huge man with a very strong build, his arms bare, his white beard cropped close to his square chin while his disheveled hair falls to his shoulders. On his waist and on his back he carries a few dead hares on a rope.
His body, however, is all covered in wounds when he is discovered by a detachment of men with bows drawn.
"Stop right there! What are you doing in the Forbidden Forest? Don't you know that hunting is not allowed in this holy place?"
The huge man was twice as tall as any of those archer-guards, for, in truth, they knew that only their arrows would stand a chance against that giant. He didn't answer them and his body slumped against the trunk of a tree, as if he'd lost his balance.
An arrow whistled through the night and struck the trunk beside the giant man's ear.
"Get up and get out of here!"
"Stop!"
A female voice rang out from high above a snow bank, mounted on a white horse saddled with a belly-girdle made of golden filigree. The men immediately lowered their bows. Despite the negative cold of that region, she wore a long white dress and had very light hair blowing in the wind. The giant man, who by now had slipped to sit in the snow, opened his eyes to see the young woman get off her horse and walk towards him.
He looked away and his words were harsh.
"You can finish me off if you want."
"So you're the one hunting in the Forbidden Forest and giving it to the poorest of the village, isn't it?"
"I said you can do what you want with me."
"I'm very sorry." she said. "I rule this land and yet I can do nothing for our people."
The words lightened the huge man's face.
She approached him and saw, very close, that his stomach was fatally punctured from a wound that was much earlier than that hunt. She saw in the white snow the trail of his blood that stretched far away.
"I'm a dead man walking." he babbled, and his lips were terribly cracked. "Give these hares to your guards, as they will soon starve to death as well."
She had a deep sadness in her face and held the man's huge hands, which by then were like blocks of ice.
The giant saw how, around that young woman with the long fair hair, manifested a white aura that shimmered in a constant flux in which it expanded and then subtly contracted. It was a comforting energy. An aura that invaded the giant man with an immense peace, with a warmth that perhaps he has never felt in his life. A comfort he had certainly never experienced. And so he took his last breath.
Later, on the same day of an endless night, the girl climbed a few steps in front of a colossal statue taken by snow. Her eyes shed tears as the howling wind of the cold blew away.
"Why God-of-mine? What happens that this land gets worse and the night seems to become more and more eternal? Colder and colder! But what sin is this that we have committed that we have to endure such a terrible ordeal? What cruel fate is this to rule not able to do anything for our people who are dying of hunger, cold and sadness?"
She drops to her knees on a small rise immediately below the Colossus. Between it and the stone statue, an enormous abyss opens up, the darkness of which is lost at the bottom of the ditch.
"Tell me, O'God, what is there in our future? Give us a chance to see the sunlight again. Save your people, Odin!"
No one answers her, as she have never been answered before ever since she was born blessed with her role. And on her knees, as she did every day, she prayed for Odin and her aura lit up the Colossus.
When, for the first time in her life, her prayer was interrupted by a deep snoring that seemed to grow, as if something were rising from the bottom of the abyss. A voice finally answered her.
A few days passed and a strange intermittent rain began to fall on Greece. On a cloudy day, in the central village of Rodorio, men, women and giants took shelter under tents to protect themselves from the rain. After the terrible battle of the Twelve Temples, old friends received with a light chest those descendants who had sought refuge far away in order not to feed a great animosity that had been created against the giants. Tale of giants, but the vast majority of its descendants were men and women taller than normal and nothing more than that. Those who, like Aldebaran or Cassius, were nearly twice the size of Seiya and his friends, were actually much closer descendants of those ancient mountain dwellers.
And now they lived relatively at peace with each other. As well known, the rupture of an authoritarian cycle like that would take time to erase its wounds.
In any case, the truth is that the feeling in the village was much lighter among the simpler people; most of the resistance was left to the guards, who had once been very loyal to the Sanctuary's former Camerlengo and who now felt challenged by anyone. There wasn't any more serious resistance, but Shaina more than once had to push herself so the guards had the right sense that things would be different now.
Raised to the rank of Master of Arms, Shaina had free access through the Sanctuary, and that rainy afternoon, she climbed the Twelve Temples and found Mayura sitting in her wheelchair on the second floor of the basilica, as she always was. She stood on a balcony, looking up at the raining sky outside.
"Master Mayura." Shaina knelt next to her.
The uncomfortable role of Pontiff of the Sanctuary fell to Mayura, as she was by far the most experienced among them all and the Sanctuary didn't even have all of its Gold Saints to give up one of them to stay in that Temple and watch the rain. For she then accumulated the function of Pontiff and Owl, which she well knew could never be the same, but from which, in that unprecedented crisis, she could not escape.
"How are Sanctuary's forces doing, Shaina?" asked Mayura, worried.
"They are still very resistant, but more and more cooperative."
"There is no room for doubt. The Holy War is approaching."
"It doesn't help that the girl is hiding in that house."
"It's the Goddess Athena you're talking about."
Shaina fell silent and what was said, was said.
"Have the Bronze Saints departed?" asked Mayura, changing the course of the conversation.
"Yes," Shaina replied, and raised her voice artificially. "Thanks to the information from the Goddess Athena, I am confident that we will be able to gather a large number of Cloths in the Sanctuary."
"Very good." said Mayura. "We will need to rebuild this army if we are to stand a chance."
"Master Mayura." Shaina began, opening the conversation. "Where's Marin?"
The question hung in the air between them until Mayura answered it.
"Marin will be absent from the Sanctuary indefinitely."
"But at a time of crisis like this..."
"I gave her my permission. She is not on a secret mission, nor will she turn against us. I trust Marin."
Shaina fell silent.
"Then there's just one last thing I need to tell you." she said again.
She then got up and placed herself in front of Mayura.
"There is a prisoner." she began. "In the state we're in, we can't afford to leave anyone out of this War. And if this man was imprisoned by the ancient Camerlengo, maybe he's useful."
"A prisoner?" confused Mayura. "Saga didn't leave prisoners."
"It is true that the old Camerlengo eliminated anyone who opposed him, but this man is different. It is said that he could never kill him."
"A man Saga could never kill?"
A silence settled on that balcony, for it was as if they were talking about a dead man who had so terrified that very Temple in which they were.
"Then bring him to me." asked Mayura.
"I cannot." Shaina said. "Only a Gold Saint is able to release him from his prison."
On a rainy afternoon when the sun was hiding in the clouds between thunderstorms, Scorpio Miro descended the narrow and treacherous stairs of the ruins of a Temple in Cape Sunion. Stairs descended around the slope of the stone bridge to where the rock met the mighty waves of the ocean that crashed against the iron bars of at least five or six empty cells that lay on that face of the mountain. There were still more on the other side of the cliff. All of them empty.
But in one of them, Miro found the one he should release.
Lying at the back of the cave, lying on a bed of stone roughly cut into that grotto, was a man with long, battered hair. Seawater had invaded his cell and flooded much of it, so perhaps he was lying in the only place where the water had not yet reached. He looked dead, not moving or even realizing that Miro was there.
The Scorpio Saint manifested his wonderful Golden Cosmos and the bars of that cell slowly rose into the stone, making a huge roar as the unbreakable metal withdrew. The noise finally made the man open his eyes and see, across the waves breaking in his prison, the Gold Saint who had appeared to release him.
"You are free in the name of Athena." announced Miro. "The Sanctuary awaits you."
The man slowly put his legs into the water that invaded his cell and left the rock, walking with difficulty through the small valley invaded by the ocean until reaching the stairs where Miro was waiting for him. And so he was escorted from there on a silent pilgrimage to the Temple of Athena, where he reported in the same clothes he had been imprisoned in fifteen years ago. Rough, terribly long beard, disheveled hair, cracked and dry mouth, dehydrated and malnourished.
Mayura received him in the main nave of the Temple, empty of most of its seats, with the exception of a few long benches. She decided not to take the golden throne used by the Camerlengo on Athena's altar, which was still destroyed by battle. She didn't even ask the artisans to restore it, so that it would serve as a memory for everyone.
Miro introduced himself, bringing beside him the dying prisoner who hadn't said a single word the entire journey. The Scorpio Saint introduced himself to Mayura with the man and found her beside Shaina.
"Here is the prisoner." he announced.
Shaina didn't recognize that man, but alas, time had hidden his face in such sadness and misery that no-one could recognize him. Mayura, however, rose from the bench as she rarely did. Even more rarely, she took off her blindfolds to get a better look at him, and finally stepped forward, quite rightly, that she knew that rotten figure. She took his dry hands and brought him lightly to her chest, hugging him with great respect. A light hug, but one that almost took the prisoner apart.
"My old friend Nicol." she said. "Is it really you under that beard?"
Up close, she saw the man's eyes narrow, as if seeing a mirage.
"Mayura?"
"Yes," she confirmed.
His eyes squeezed together in happiness and his mouth twisted under his beard in a huge smile.
"What a beautiful dream this one that on the day of my freedom I can find you, my friend."
Mayura didn't seem as emotional as he did, but to Shaina or even Miro — who knew her little but had already noticed the Owl's reserved manner — that brief moment of her with the prisoner felt like someone else was in her body. Before long, she asked the Temple staff to help the prisoner bathe and eat, as they still had a lot to talk about.
"Shall I call Athena?" Shaina asked, already knowing the answer, and Mayura denied it.
She knew Saori wouldn't come up.
Mayura dismissed Miro's escort, who returned to the House of Scorpio, and was left alone with Shaina while they waited for the prisoner to be in a better position to speak to them.
"Who is this man, Master Mayura?"
"This is Crater Nicol." she told Shaina.
"Crater?"
"Yes. An old friend of the order I thought I had lost many years ago. Far away from here, when I learned that an evil force had taken place in the Sanctuary, I was sure Nicol would be killed."
"We from the Camerlengo guard have been given specific orders to keep him imprisoned but fed at Cape Sunion. So his death was like a forbidden thing." Shaina said. "Of the many mysterious things about the ancient Camerlengo, this was one that haunted us."
"Those who said that Saga could never kill him were right. He was fully capable of doing it, of course. But the Crater Saint holds a special place in the Order of Athena. His function was to assist the Supreme Pontiff with the reading of the stars and the accuracy of his prophecies."
"He would know there was something wrong with Sanctuary."
"Precisely. Saga couldn't let him loose, but he couldn't kill him either, because to attack the Crater Saint was to change the very thread of fate to something that was never documented or understood. Saga was a scholar and he knew well that it would be a bad omen for him."
"He didn't want to risk it."
"Saga risked everything, but that he could not do."
"So it is true." finally spoke the voice of a different man emerging from the temple.
"Nicol."
He came in long ceremonial attire, a white cassock, sandaled feet, shoulder-length hair, and a beard trimmed but still present on his face. He greeted Shaina with a very polite bow and took Mayura's hands in his, also greeting her very politely.
For the next hour, Mayura told her old friend everything that had happened in the Sanctuary, the madness of Saga, the death of the Camerlengo, the fifteen years of hardship until the invasion of the Twelve Temples and the return of Athena, which now limited herself to the farms far from Rodorio.
"Is the Goddess Athena not in her Temple?" he asked, a little confused.
"No, Nicol. She is very young." said Mayura. "And very human."
The man's expression twisted with confusion, but, free for only a few hours, he thought it best not to contradict the new force that was taking root in the Sanctuary.
He walked lightly to the side of the Temple looking at the falling rain and, in the distance, the Temples on the way down from the mountain. He didn't hide a huge sadness on his face.
"What immense pain is the death of Camus. As a young man, he loved being beside the library learning everything he could. It's unfortunate. Just like the death of everyone else." his face contorted in pain. "Deceived by Saga. Oh, Saga, what has become of you?"
"He seemed to be gripped by an evil duality." Mayura recounted, remembering the events.
"He was huge. I can only imagine that if he could be as good as we saw him, he would be able to be as bad as we could ever believe."
"What about you, old friend?" asked Mayura.
"I was arrested on charges of conspiring with the Giants shortly after the rebirth of the Goddess Athena." Nicol announced.
"The Giants were also blamed for Aioros' treachery." Shaina said.
"It wasn't long before Cape Sunion Prison was filled with men and women who knew little of what they had done. Accused of crimes they swore for everything they hadn't committed. But also one by one they were released until there was not a living soul left beside me and in any of the other cells. For a while I imagined that at least there would be people trapped on the other side of the cliff, but I also soon became convinced that only I had been kept there."
"But now you're free." she announced.
"That I am. And the time to mourn must be left behind." he said.
"The Holy War." guessed Mayura.
"The Holy War." he confirmed. "It is approaching and this Crisis may have been a heavy blow to the Sanctuary of Athena."
"We're trying to reorganize the Sanctuary." said Mayura. "I will take care of the Temple and Athena's heart. I trust Shaina to make the army rise again. I ask you to return to Starhill, old friend, and tell us if the stars bring us any fortune."
"And as for Athena..." he began, not finishing, hoping they would give him any further information.
"She will be ready." Master Mayure said, lightly.
Shaina noticed Nicol let out a slightly longer breath before he said goodbye. Perhaps he also shared her concern for Athena's role in this whole scenario.
"I will return to the Hill and bring news shortly, Mayura, my friend."
"Before you leave, I need to warn you that Saga has emptied the old library of all of its books." Nicol lamented but didn't look surprised.
"Of course he did. A tyrant can only rule where there is no knowledge."
"Camus still maintained his library in the House of Aquarius. Feel free to take what you need."
"Immediately." he announced, making a huge bow at both of them before speaking one last time. "How good it is to see you again, old friend."
"Likewise, Nicol. With you by our side, I'm sure we have a chance in this Holy War."
And under that huge rain that broke outside, Crater Nicol went down to the House of Aquarius thinking about his freedom, about Camus, but above all about Athena, who was not in her Temple, something unthinkable for him. Before entering the temple of Aquarius, he looked at the top of the mountain from which he had descended and from there he could see only the occasional detail of the helmet of the Colossus that watched over the Sanctuary.
He finally entered a temple already freed from its terrible freezing and illuminated by a beautiful light reflected by the wonderful aquarium from its ceiling across the floor. Nicol knew the place well, as he had given so many classes to a young Camus on its second floor.
He climbed the small spiral staircase and felt an enormous sadness when he remembered that young boy running through the House looking for books and jotting down formulas and discoveries on the desks of the place. The second floor of that temple was a small, but charming library with a beautiful empty aquarium where Camus spent hours watching the water move against the light, as if waiting for a great idea, or to post knowledge.
The library looked untouched since its owner had left it; he found books open on his desk and noticed that the Aquarius Saint was studying the ancient manuscripts relating to the Holy War. A competent archivist, his library was very well organized, and Nicol decided that, far better than transporting himself to Starhill and taking heaps and encyclopedias, he should do his job right there. He noticed, near one of the corners, a strange plinth on which a lapis lazuli stone rested; he pulled it back slightly to inspect what books were there too.
But even though the House of Aquarius was the best place for Nicol to help Athena with the ancient knowledge, he knew he would need to go to the Starhill quite often, after all it was the closest place to heaven and where the glow of the stars was sharper. As he was not a great climber like the warriors of the Sanctuary, the Owl of Athena granted him the amulet she carried and which gave him free access to the Forgotten Temple.
There Nicol felt an enormous chill as he stepped into the temple where the former Camerlengo Master Arles had been murdered, where the body of Pontiff Zion had been prepared, and where, after all, his own Silver Cloth had withdrawn after he was unfairly imprisoned.
And there she was. And there he was again.
The silvery liquid inside the Crater broke up in little waves, as if something had dripped into its center; the Silver Cloth manifested a silvery aura and finally opened up into the air to take over the body of its former wearer.
With her, he headed to the back of the small temple where he realized what Mayura had told him: Saga had gotten rid of all the old books that were there and the loss of knowledge to the Sanctuary was perhaps incalculable. As if to be sure what his eyes saw, he still groped every bookcase, indentation, and span of that small room. And, in effect, he found a single book. Falling behind one of the bookshelves, he reached out and managed to reach a dusty book with many webs woven over the top.
It was a book Nicol had never seen, because unlike the other Greek catalogs he had seen, its cover had a strange iridescent bronze glow, there was a trident inscription in the center, and as he flipped through a few pages, he realized it was written in an old and lost language. A language Nicol didn't master, but one he could recognize, for it was the lost language of an island said to have been submerged in the ocean. They were Atlantean writings. But there were many Greek notations in red lettering about the ancient words; Nicol didn't recognize the handwriting, but he noticed how the writings on one page were beautiful and crystal clear, only to become stormy, shaky, and disjointed on others.
He leafed through with immense curiosity and read over several of the red notes that populated the book, leaving no doubt about what he had in hand. And on one of the final pages of that tome, there was a huge circle around a map with a single word written in red: ASGARD.
It was Saga's handwriting.
ABOUT THE CHAPTER: Determining roles within the Sanctuary is a fun game to play. Mayura was the obvious choice for the Pontiff and even Shaina already played a strategic role in the Hades Arc, as well as being underling to Gigars, Arles' Master at Arms in Anime. About Nicol. I know that in Gigantomaquia, he is Altar Nicol and not Crater. But I wanted to use the Crater Cloth divinatory concept with him, so I made the change. And of course there will be Asgard. =)
NEXT CHAPTER: SAORI KIDO
Saori feels out of place as a Goddess and insufficient as a friend.