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V. Gift, Approaching the Southern Imperium, Kaoacien
Compared to the imperiums to the west, north, and east, Kaoacien was quite the hot and arid expanse of land. It was rich with sand in most parts and intense rays blanketed most parts of the land. But today there was not a beam of light to be seen in the southern end of the country. The numerous cities of the large country were overwhelmed by endless stretches of shadows. The highest towers and all the great and noble manors were shrouded by darkness. Overhead was a vortex of deities that collided and crashed against one another, each emitting a ghoulish fetor from their bodies. This dread-inducing imitation of a night sky lingered high in the air. Not a shred of light could penetrate the collective enigma that was Pandora and her perpetual spread of nightmarish entities. Causing a bustling wind to swirl like a moist and odorous whirlwind, those deities were like a living storm cloud.
In the kingdom below, there were intense cries of fear as the darkness encroached further into the land. Pandora rested on a large clump of deities, a large clump consisting of what was likely hundreds of deities, that were isolated from the rest. It was almost like sitting on a cloud that moved on its own. Her eyes were keen and her face was steeled as she scoured down at all the land hundreds of feet below her. She could hardly make anything out besides tiny objects that looked like insects.
They were headed northbound with the wind pounding her soft skin. With the sun shining solely on her, the radiant strands of red hair burned a blazing orange and with the grace of the sun's shining rays accentuating the green tint that was immersed into her skin. To her right was that hulking mass of armor who sat resting in a kneeled position while glaring forward. It took the effort of hundreds of deities to keep the heavy individual afloat. It was quiet and still, and the fire in its body was blue and still, resembling something of a small ember shining. To Pandora's left was the large gray man who sat down besides her. He gazed ahead with a stern and focused face, similar to Pandora. He was speaking to her, telling her of how strong she must keep her mind and how focused she must be at all times. He told her about the opposition she will be facing. He even at one point intimated to Pandora the true meaning of what the word 'Dakini' meant. Dakini symbolized the enlightened woman or the woken feminine energy. He told her that she was their enlightened mother and that they dedicated their entire way of being and society in her honor thousands of years ago after she dethroned the old gods. There was not a single inch of the southern region belonging to Kaoacien that was not assailed by her bountiful storm of tiny destructive creatures. She could hear the screams. Yes, even with that grand of a distance did not separate her from the ear-shattering cries and panic that poured across the country.
Kaoacien was the largest of the countries that identified themselves as the four imperiums: the north, formally addressed as Shyonnississ, the west which was known as Brolos, and lastly the imperium to the east, Azorra. Where Brolos was known for their free-way of life, pride for country and diverse culture, where Shyonnissis was known for their exemplary military, impeccable technological accomplishments, and their devout faith, and where Azorra was known for their cultured and wealthy society, Kaoacien was given its widely acknowledged fame for simply being the largest of the imperiums. It was larger than the three other nations combined with land to spare. There were stretches of the countries that experienced constant snowfall and other stretches that only knew the ire of the scorching sun.
But, there was no sun today to shine upon the people, for in its stead was a shadowy storm of clouded terror with a woman in command of each and every one of those misery-casting banes. They toppled over buildings, sending those towering monuments and lengthy edifices back crashing to the land. The people in the south were suffering the full force and weight of the deities. It was like a gluttonous whale that landed upon the ants' hill, a structure they believed to be so grand and intricate until a force of even far more bafflingly overwhelming power came crashing upon them, deafening them to only the whispers coming from the lips of death itself.
But it was that awful scent emitting from their bodies that drove the panicky people to an irreversible madness. They could not help but breathe in the noxious fumes. They tried fleeing but none can run from the ever-expanding reach of dread. She wished to take a closer look so she dipped her head down to listen closely to what sounded to her like muffled bits of sound. But quickly was the gray man. He lured her back into conversation with a series of intriguing words.
"The Rare Men will surely know of your existence now. They are planning countermeasures as we speak, many of those countermeasures involving your head departed from your shoulders. The Rare Men, or the Purple Men as most of their human vassals call them, share a deep bond, a bond that asserts that the world rightfully belongs to them and all others are lucky enough to exist within their world but not fortunate enough to enjoy in its pleasures so they are simply banished to the murkiest corners of the earth, where only pain and suffering await."
"It is a foul act that such disrespect was labored upon the shoulders of you and your kind and for so long. A foul act that shall be met with severe punishment. All who dare to hold the earth and its children hostage will be met with rightful impartiality. And any who dare trick or undermine justice will know a fate worse than death. This is not an idle threat, it is destiny. I've toppled the wicked rule of those who fancied themselves idols. And again I will topple another race of mistaken people. I will correct wrongs one by one with unrelenting justice. Whenever there is a new force of evil that wages war with the goodness of this world, I will come. Where there is injustice, I will come! I am Enya Pandora! I am the remedy to this misguided world. I will remove all the ailments that wound my beautiful world. And I will tackle this problem at its root. Atlas, Pontus, Chaos, whatever names these people wish to fancy them by will all meet my justice," Pandora said with conviction fuming past her eyes.
"You are truly a gift," he said. He grinned from ear to ear. "It is a fully acknowledged fact that those who boast wax wings will always come crashing down when they are forced to face the light."
"There are no waxwings upon my back," she said confidently.
He lessened his wide grin into something milder, something resembling more of a soft smile.
"Indeed you do not," he said calmly. "Instead, an endless army of your children."
"Yes," she nodded. "How long am I until I reach the northern country where the Rare Men reside?"
"The country in the south is a large one. Even with your deities acting as transportation, it will take one or two days before even leaving the boundaries of the country. But, you shall surely meet them."
She exhaled and nodded her head gently one time, her radiant hair dragging in the billowing wind.
"It is a beautiful thing. The sun. I have not seen it in a very long time. I had nearly forgotten it was real. I had since believed its majestic nature was a thing of longing imagination. I was a child the first and last time I had first laid eyes upon its radiant glow. I was immersed. I used to watch how beautiful it was. No matter how it strained my eyes, I always found myself staring, always wanting a bit of its magic for myself. But I would soon learn I would never be allowed to have it. I had only known the shadows. I've come to understand and abide in it," he said.
"The sun and all those deserving of its wonder such as you will never again know what it is like to live in the darkness, the enlightened will inherit the world."
"Indeed they will," he said.
"The world can be evil, but I hold it to the belief that it is a good place with passing days of storms. It is a way for us to appreciate how blessed we are to be alive," Pandora related.
"What I have come to learn is the quite opposite, Queen. The earth we occupy has no room for too much good. It is a force made up of known and unknowns, order and disorder, the expected and the bizarre. But I believe there is this chosen one destined to make sense of the universe and create order to the disorder."
"And this individual you believe will make sense of it all...do you believe that individual is me?" Pandora questioned.
"I believe this chosen individual will be revealed to the world soon," he replied.
She nodded slowly and turned away and looked at the armored entity to her right.
"In my time as a young child, I took a deep interest in astrology and the cosmos. It was a rich study for people at the time. They had a yearning fascination with the stars, the moon, our sun, and the possibility that there were different worlds bearing all forms of life. I am trying to recall a specific word that we'd use—"
"Zodiac," he said, almost reading her mind.
"Yes! It was zodiac and it was divided into twelve parts. There was Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Libra, Aquarius, Capricorn, and the Pisces. I was born a Capricorn."
"Ahh, yes."
"As Capricorns, they say we are disciplined, and lovers of tradition."
"It is also said that the Capricorn is unforgiving. I do not see that when I look into your eyes. I see a loving woman who is capable of forgiveness."
She smiled and rubbed her eyelids emotionally.
"And also, I see a person who is willing to break tradition when needed. The signs are bits and parts of us, but it is up to the individual to determine their own fate."
"You speak words of wisdom. You must be a Pisces," Pandora chuckled off to the side.
He smiled and shared indifferently, "I know nothing of my birth beyond who I am today. I do not even know who brought me into the world. My life and the shadows have become so intertwined, telling them apart is a feat too difficult to achieve."
A sad expression came flooding her face. "I know that feeling," she intimated morosely, tears filling her eyes. "Knowing darkness...it does something to a person. It makes you abandon the person you once were. Some come to like it, but I could not find myself in the midst of the unseeable madness. The random deaths of those closest to me due to the pride of another, the desecration of lands and the separation of family, the lies and dishonesty. They all picked away at me like a rock on the shore, until I was nothing but a pebble, a grain of something that was originally meant to be loved and cherished. Being alone in the midst of the black was not a place I needed to be and so I filled that void. I filled it with my children, all of them. The ones I've lost and the ones I still have. They are my world and losing them would mean losing my world."
"I will not lie to you, Pandora. Achieving this goal of uniting the world and bringing about a new order which you believe in will come with sacrifice. You will end up having nothing to achieve something. Are you willing to do such a thing?"
"I do not know if I am. There is not a bit of exaggeration whenever I call them my children. We are forever linked to one another. There is no line of division, they are me and I will forever be them until my existence on this earth is no more and has faded into fables. But, while I am alive, I do promise to achieve one thing. I shall stay true to myself and do what I believe is right and just."
"Right and just are concepts of the abstract, Pandora. A person is murdered, and one way to seek justice can either be through the act of vengeance and another is through forgiveness and letting go."
"That is true. I choose the path of forgiveness, however. To let live and become stronger through the hard times. That is the way I will live my life until my death and if I am to ever stray from that, please do not hesitate to tell me. I will never deny when I am wrong."
"I shall," he said.
"You are a wise one," he admitted.
"I do not believe myself wise, Prometheus. I am merely awake."