Mina looked back at Vannah. Over the course of their journey, Vannah had been a comfort. True, the priestess often had an odd side that she glimpsed from time to time, but at least she had been sure Vannah was a force for good. Now Mina did not quite know who to trust. Even Mykall, the gentle warrior, had a past she did not know much about. Who was he, after all?
"You remember nothing?" It was Enma's rumbling voice again.
"I have flashes of memory, nothing that ties anything together." The warrior's reply was calm, steady, unfazed now by the towering demon.
"Time is running out, for us." Vannah's voice cut into the conversation.
"Aye," Enma immediately agreed. "It is already too late, whorelet." The demon turned his head about in different directions, the paper seal bearing the characters of Tsukuyomi's name forming a mold over his face. "Already I can feel their presence. Shakryss in great numbers, far greater than I have seen, even in my time. You feel it too, yes. As one of us."
Vannah nodded grimly. "Feel it I do, and something else."
A low rumbling chuckle came from the demon, his mirth echoing throughout the cave.
"Yes. My brother, he is here. I sense his presence. Mikaboshi lives. That Amaterasu lives matters not, Mikaboshi's presence is stronger." The demon turned to Vannah.
"How will you respond to this, Dark Priestess? Your folly will cost you. Kuro will fall this time," Enma's deep booming laughter resounded through the caves.
Vannah turned to Mina. "He is right. Already I can feel the voices calling out to me. I may fight for the light, but in the end, I am darkness. I cannot win." The Dark Priestess looked down, her slit eyes, normally cold and calculating, turning sad again.
"Our hope lies with you, little one..." Vannah's voice was soft as a whisper. "You must find Amaterasu. Surely she calls out to you. Surely you hear her voice, as surely as I hear the dark voices of my brethren."
Mina shook her head. "I don't know. I've suppressed this part of myself for too long. Maybe long ago, as a child, I may have heard her, heard a voice that stirred in my heart. Sadly, I can no longer hear that voice."
"Where else should we look, Dark Lord?" Vannah asked Enma.
"Where else?" The demon chuckled. "You know the answer to that already. But in five hundred years, you have never ventured forth into that land. As a Demonblood, you share our fear now of the sea. You will not cross it willingly. But that land possesses something that allows it to survive without the Goddess Essence. That means they have something else."
"A God, a Vessel, or both." Vannah was now deep in thought. She turned to Mykall and Mina.
"Mystika is a land of secrets. It has closed itself off from the rest of Kuro. I do not know if the force that watches over it is Dark or Light. But we must take the risk. We must travel to the Island Kingdom. It may be possible to find an ally there."
"How do we cross the sea?" It was Mykall's turn to ask the questions. "Does Umi have seafaring folk? Could a sailor be persuaded to travel to Mystika?"
Mina shook her head. "None will venture out to the Great Darkness to get to the Island Nation; that much even I know. No human in Taiyou will want to leave the safety of the Boundary of Light."
Mykall looked puzzled, so Vannah explained further. "On the ocean, at the edge of Taiyou, exists a natural barrier made from the Goddess Essence. The Boundary of Light is the farthest point the Goddess' benevolence reaches. Sailors do not venture past it. Trade and travel between the nations is done only through the air, aboard the flying Kite units, inventions of Diskarma Corporation."
"The Kite units belong to the government alone and no one is mad enough to venture beyond the Boundary of Light by sea," Mina finished.
"Then you are lost before you have even begun," the Dark Lord cut in, his mocking chuckle a deep rumbling that filled the room.
Mina's thoughts wandered. The events leading up to this had been a blur. She shivered in the cold, shivered despite the warm fire. But was she afraid? She was not a weak girl. Far from it, she had often stood against her oppressors and had thrived in the Utter Darkness.
Her thoughts turned to Joab. What would he have done in her place? How she wished she still had his guidance. But Joab had taught her to be strong, and that her greatest strength lay within herself – that in the darkest hour, the light would shine brightest.
"No." She heard herself say it again before she had the time to think it through. Her voice carried strength, her resolve resounding through the caves. "The darkness will not prevail. With what power is given me, I will do what I need to do. If I have been chosen, then I accept my fate. As the Vessel of the Goddess then I shall go forth and find her. It is my calling."
Mina felt a cold hand on her shoulder. "Well spoken, little one." Vannah limped around looking first at Mina, then at Mykall, who now stood by a cave corner, his back resting against the cold stone, pensive as ever.
"Our fate, nay, the fate of Kuro rests on your little shoulders. For my part I shall protect you, though the power I wield be from the darkness. You have my dark powers and the powers of the Demon Lord at your disposal. I shall be your guardian."
"And you have my sword. For as long as I have no memory of my own, our destinies are entwined for now." The warrior spoke the words simply, calmly, without emotion, his mind difficult to read. His worn armor clinked in the stillness.
"What shall we do now?" Mina asked.
"Though it may be as you say, and there are no sailors willing to cross the Boundary of Light, we must find a way to cross it. We shall rest for a few more hours and then head for Umi. There are supplies in this cave. I have stockpiled them through the centuries. Cloaks for travelling, weapons and armor." The priestess's eyes became slits again, looking slyly at the warrior.
Mykall nodded. "The armor I shall take, but my sword is my only weapon."
Mina tilted her head in Enma's direction. "How will we conceal the demon's presence? He will call attention to us no matter what."
Vannah smiled, the odd sadness back in her eyes.
"The Dark Lord is able to take whatever form he sees fit, in order to conceal himself. As it happens, he enjoys taking on a form that gives me the most exquisite pain." The Dark Priestess turned and pointed a sharp finger at the demon.
"Go and show them."
Enma's booming laughter returned, reverberating through the caves. The enormous physique started to shrink, shifting slowly in the shadows, the sinewy muscle giving way to a slender form, the supple muscle becoming smooth skin, the sharp teeth retracting, the frightening facial appearance giving way to sharp, beautiful features. When all was said and done, Mina found herself staring at a young woman. Though most of her her features were still masked by the seal, which had shrunk in proportion to the smaller head and frame, it was clear to Mina who this was. She tried to stifle a gasp, but it was too late.
Vannah smiled at Mina.
"This is my sister Searra, as she was in life. Now she stays by my side as a reminder of my sin. Ever she stays, not to give me comfort, but to drive shards of glass into my heart," Vannah said, her face contorting as a deep sorrow filled her eyes. "In my six hundred years of wandering, I know of no greater pain than this. To see her face every day, and know that she is not there."
Vannah straightened herself and regained her composure, the mask of sorrow gone, replaced once more by the calm and resolute priestess who stood before them again. "It is late, and we have pondered much this night. Let us rest a little, and then gather all the supplies we need for our long journey and be on our way."
***
The warrior kept watch as the group slept. The Dark Lord looked on in amusement at the diminutive girl sleeping on the Dark Priestess' lap before him. She was not much to look at. Small and insignificant, almost pitifully weak, and oh, so vulnerable as she lay there. It would be simple to end things now, and seal the victory for the Yami. Perhaps he could move fast enough that the Dark Priestess wouldn't notice. But something made him pause.
Earlier, when she spoke with great resolve, there had been something in those eyes. A brief glint that hinted at something else. There was strength there, a power that could not be denied. It was the same as the piercing eyes that faced him, six hundred years ago, when a young girl stood before him as the battle raged around her, her friends dying, and all hope was lost. Those were the burning eyes of the girl who stood alone, unbowed in the face of such overwhelming odds, and made him her slave.
Those eyes made Enma-Dai-Ō afraid.
---------------------
And THAT my friends, is the official end of the Vannah Arc. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The only thing that potentially trumps the Vannah Arc in my opinion, is the Arc that begins in this book, but ends in book 2: The Mykall Arc :)
By the way, for those who haven't seen it, you can copy this link:
http://www.landindarkness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/enmavannah-702x1024.jpg
And paste into your browsers for a bigger Vannah/Enma picture. :D
Thank you everyone for reading this humble book of mine :)