http://clampfix.fanworks.net/kenichi/rayfic11.txt </head><body><pre>"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us." HERMANN HESSE, Demian Chapter Ten: Unicorn I am going to seriously hurt the Guru when I get back. He sent me out to do all this, killing two people and damn well nearly killing the three of us, for what? To get a trio of crystals that he could have asked back for at any blasted time. And what the hell for? Damn you Clef, I told you I wasn't one of your innocent soldier boys. You can kick me all you like, but just a bit of warning... I kick back. =================================== Rafaga and Mira were stunned. They somehow could not believe that the Guru could do this, putting others' lives in unnecessary peril. I believe he would. After all, he's done it before. He put Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu in through the same wringer years ago. It wouldn't surprise me if he went and pulled the wool over their eyes once again. The FTO mecha that Zazu piloted had long gone now. Zazu yearned to return home to Autozam now that his tour of duty was over. Without any reason to fight me, he seemed almost congenial. I only wish that I could have seen Gara and Chi off that way. =================================== The walk was long as Rafaga once again scouted ahead. Mira kept her pace with me, trotting at my side, but lacking her usual cheerful playfulness. I felt it best to lighten the tension; after all, it was bad enough that I was at wit's end, thinking of what little tortures I would impose on the Guru the second I met him again. "Penny for you thoughts, Mira?" She looked at me questioningly. "What's a penny?" Without intention, I laughed at her, explaining in my usual round-about fashion what pennies were, and how that certain figure of speech went. She grinned, the first hint of real smile I had seen her make in what seemed to me like ages. =================================== Woods. It made sense, somehow. Rayearth was in the fiery volcano. Seles, in the depths of the sea. Windam, in his lair among the floating mountains The fourth Mashin would be of the earth, nature. What better representative of it than the forest? Fire, water, wind, earth. Four elements. Four Mashin. What's so special about the earth Mashin that I have to be the one to pilot it? For that matter, what's so special about me? =================================== Rafaga gestured to me. He had found a small cave in the middle of the forest. Pointing to it, he then gruffly slapped my back with his palm. "This is the last part of your journey. Mira and I will wait out here for you. The Mashin can only be accepted by you." He looked away, standing at the mouth of the cave as I descended. Mira he blocked from following me. Rafaga hadn't exactly helped much other than be my guide for the journey. Mira at most tried to help heal me when needed, but for the most part, I did all the work of fighting and journeying. Almost as if I was alone in the first place. Like I was alone now in the cave. The cave was not frightening to me... only it seemed as lonely as I was. The dark curves of its twisting paths seemed to have been etched by a long-dead engineer mourning his loneliness. As I wandered further into the darker halls of the crevice... One by one, the orbs embedded in my armor, they lit, like colored lights, brilliant to a few meters ahead. The triad of blue, red, and green on my chestplate projected light that blended together as one white spotlight lancing through the darkness ahead. The black orb on my left glove glowed as well. I was surprised that the jet-black jewel could produce such a pure white light. I wielded as an oddly-angled flashlight, playing it around the walls while the light from my chestplate probed the depths awaiting me. =================================== The feeling of the earth came to me again, only it was far stronger than it had been before. Stronger than it was with Gara or Chi or Zazu. Stronger still than the moment I aided Mira. It calls to me. The black orb shined, light blazing fiercer than before. The light from the three colored orbs seemed pale by comparison. =================================== As if my body was not my own... Each step I took seemed like an eternity as I meandered slowly toward the end... The end...? Of what...? Red of Fire. Blue of Water. Green of Wind. Black of Earth. Mashin of Earth. My spirit was taken into the deepest bowels of the earth to meet her. Her... I stood standing in the middle of a large hall. Like a cathedral in its size. Lit only by the orbs I wielded... ...And the great beast within. =================================== I floated in and out of reverie a couple of times before I came to. As i did, a most swe-inspiring sight took my breath away. In front of me stood a most huge and majestic horse. The sheen of pure white of its skin was stolen from the moonlight, its mane shimmered in the three colours of blue, red, and green, all in the same instant, neither colliding nor dissipating. But where a horse's tail should have been was the tail of a lion. The myths I read as a child came back to me. No, not a horse. The silvery single horn on its forehead told me she was... Can't be... A Unicorn. She...? <You have come at last, My Magic Knight.> A voice. Melodic. Feminine. Beautiful. Bitter. <I have waited aeons for the moment I would finally rise.> Still I was speechless. She looked at me with clear blue eyes. The eyes... They spoke of love and pain, hope and bitterness. <My three brothers have taught you well...> Brothers? <Yes. Rayearth, Seles, and Windam are my younger brothers...> She read my mind. <I am Kore the Unicorn. I alone wield the power that has been granted you, fourth of the Knights.> The words I wanted to say finally slithered off my tongue. "...Why me...?" The sad blue eyes darkened. <He who comes last and knows the least shall in turn do the most. I have been waiting for one such as you for so long...> He who... Me...? The horse head came close and nuzzled me gently. <There comes a time when you must face the ghosts of our past.> The head turned away... Why did her touch feel so much like my mother...? The regal head snapped up, ears perked. <Your friend the Dal and the little Nar are in trouble.> "What...?" The head looked at me. She had the look of one who has had nothing left to lose. <Go. It is your decision whether I or your friends are more important. They need you now...> The pain in her voice. The pain of one who had been left alone before, and would be so again. Kore, Mashin though she was, sounded almost human in her silent agony. I turned for the surface, then stopped. I can't her leave this way. "I'll come back. I promise." My feet charged forward, sending me upward with every step. In my mind I could hear the unicorn's voice bid me. <I understand now...> =================================== I burst out of the cave. That nearly became the final mistake I would ever make. Arrows surged around me, hoping to bite into my flesh. Had it not been for the speed with which I ran, and the armor which I wore, I would probably not have survived. I rolled across the green grass, tucking myself into a crouched position behind some underbrush. I held some secret pride that the entire course of events had improved my acrobatic skills. There were ten archers, each armed with a kind of crossbow. Reloading as quickly as possible, aiming at... A great dread seized me. Rafaga and Mira. A large figure governed the ten. He was tall, dressed in a black cloak. Two others, bodyguards perhaps, stood attending his sides. A thick case of a helmet took the place of a head. I nearly mistook him for Zagato. And there I saw a sight that froze my soul. Rafaga was so full of arrows that he looked like a bleeding pincushion. He still moved; incredible that he was still alive after all that. Yet with the blood that was consistently gushing from his injuries, it was clear that he would die if he was not treated soon. Mira was beside him, laying her hands on his chest. The strain was apparent on her face. The figure in the cloak spoke like a thunderclap, facing in the direction which I hid. "You, Knight! Come out and we will talk. Otherwise the Nar and the Dal will not survive the hour. Come out!" He's got to be out of his marbles if he thinks I'll do that. If the archers shoot me, nothing will stop them from killing Rafaga. From killing Mira. "Let them go, and we'll talk!!!" Gads, I'm starting to sound like a blasted B-movie hero... The answer came in a torrent of arrows. Another roll took me behind a tree. The booming voice was softer this time. "You will give this all up, boy. No one can run from destiny." I propped myself up from behind the tree's cover. I let the earth energy flow through me again. One chance. One attack. I shot out of my hiding place and let loose, spinning my hand upward, then smashing it into the earth. <<RAGING GEYSER!!!>> My rage fueled the attack, as it exploded out of the ground at sizzling speed, slamming into the archers before they were able to react. The archers were blown into the sky. Somehow, remorse did not come when I saw their battered bodies shatter as they returned to the ground. And deep within my heart's dark chamber, I knew it was just. The cloaked one and his aides were not as unlucky, however. A shimmering sphere encased them from the blast. "Hmmm. Impressive. Very impressive for someone who is a first- time user of the magical arts. Maybe I should teach you some others..." The realization hit me like a thunderbolt. Dis. The figure I was facing now was none other than Dis himself. The figure chuckled. "Clef, Clef, Clef... You do the stupidest things..." An unnatural energy seemed to flow out of the cloaks he wore. "...And teach the most inane of children..." Whatever manner of power Dis was, I didn't want to find out. I hopped a few steps back to Rafaga. He was unconscious, but still alive. Barely so. "Mira, take cover." The Nar was reluctant to leave Rafaga. "Now, Mira! If you die, nobody will save Rafaga!" She slung Rafaga's arm over her shoulder. "I'm not leaving him or you! We'd better run!" That suggestion brooked no argument from me. I grabbed the other arm and started at a gallop away from the thing in the cloak. A sudden blast knocked the three of us forward. I turned my head to see a crater just inches from where we stood earlier. Dis still stood at his position, hands glowing. "Surrender to me, Knight! It dosen't have to be this way!" No way any of us were getting out without a fight. The two guards drew their staves at ready and leaped at me. The speed was incredible; no way they could be human. I called upon my lance. As it withdrew, I silently whispered my next attack. <<...Siren's Hurricane.>> I spun with the winds, cutting the two guardsmen to shreds within seconds. A mocking applause was the reward I recieved. "Bravo. But try as a man might, he cannot escape his destiny." A spray of stars shot at me. They stung like hornets, digging into my flesh like parasitic wasps. I tried the Hurricane technique once again, deigning to counter the sharp sting of his attacking stars. The spinning motion began to wear me down... No... can't let him win... In spite of impending fatigue, I redoubled my efforts into the hurricane. A finger pointed to me. "Cephiro can not escape that destiny which is due it. You cannot stop me." Then a light. A light that shot through the defense and impaled my chest Pain wracked my ribs. I fell out of the hurricane, clutching my chest. The pain... Like a chainsaw eating at my ribs... over and over and over... I painfully forced myself to look up. Dis glided slowly closer. "You should never have interfered. I have no argument with the people of earth...." His pause made my pain all the more excruciating. "...You should have just given up..." His finger glowed with the unforgiving light. Where did he get all this power...? "Goodbye, Magic Knight." =================================== Minutes? Seconds? It seemed like centuries. I can never forget it. Blood spattered on my face and body. Blood of an innocent who wanted to end it all. Mira's blood. My mind was boggled. I only saw Mira in the instant that Dis shot his beam. The little Nar's body fell onto mine. At the instant she fell, my hopes for Cephiro... indeed, of Hikaru... fell with her. My hands reached to catch her. It seemed like an eternity. =================================== Mira's body, her arms spread out, took the blow full force. I closed my hands around her little form. I uttered a silent thanks to God. She was still breathing. My eyes looked to Dis. Indifference. "All things must die." No remorse at all for the injury he caused. As if he had swatted a fly. =================================== Rage welled up within my body as I held Mira's form. <I understand the pain.> Kore's voice echoed within my consciousness. <I lost a loved one, too...> The tiny fibers of Kore's thoughts weaved into the threads of mine. I closed my eyes and let our minds mingle. Like a brook into a river. Or a breeze into a storm. Or a flame into an inferno. So from a simple, falling stone, the earth quakes... =================================== Dis was thrown off his feet by the tremors. Water gushed out of some of the cracks, Molten magma jetted out of the others. All the time the wind howled its agonizing bellows about us. This is when the earth rages. Dis shivered away like the mists, still unconcerned. "This changes nothing..." Dis. He was beyond my hatred. I wanted to rend his soul and feed it to the very mouths of hell itself. Out of the earth rose the hoof of the white unicorn. Slowly, it came into its full height above the ground. Kore... I hugged Mira's unconscious form to mine. God, she was losing blood. The great unicorn's eyes were shining now. She shared in my rage. She who was of the earth's powers. She who was like me.... The voice of a strong warrior. It gave me new strength. <I will fight for you.> Kore's equine form soon broke apart and dissolved. In its stead was the fearsome humanoid shape of the Mashin armor. <Join with me...> I laid Mira down. The force of the Mashin enveloped me instantly. I was within, breathing Kore's breath, seeing with her eyes,... Both loving and hating with her heart... I picked up Mira's body with my left hand and Rafaga with my right. There was no time for me to comment, if they were to survive. "Kore, let's go." The Mashin lifted off on invisible wings, silent but no less deadly. I had to get these two to the palace as soon as possible. Fear gripped me. What if it was too late for Rafaga and Mira...? The unicorn's loneliness became mine as we streaked morosely across the land. =================================== The Palace of Souls drifted in our field of vision. I could see the Guru and Presea standing outside, along with a group of armed men. Guards, probably. I let Kore down slowly and put Rafaga and Mira down to the men with incredible but gentle slowness. The men took them inside almost immediately as I disembarked from my Mashin. <When the time is right, call and I will join you...> Kore faded from view but not from my mind. Another voice came into my mind. "At the end of all this, it will be clear..." Zagato. "As with Kore, I will also join you..." =================================== Clef strode toward me. His face registered genuine concern. "I am glad to see you're all right...we..." He never had the chance to finish. Clef should have learned to read eyes like I did. He would have seen the murder written all over mine. If he had, it would have saved him all the pain he felt next. I grabbed the Guru's collar with an unholy strength and started to pummel his face mercilessly. The force of the first punch knocked the both of us to the floor. I leaped on Clef and continued to throw rows of fists into his jaw. Somewhere in the middle of things, I heard Presea imploring me to stop, but I was too concerned with trying to turn Clef's nose into tapioca pudding to give heed. I was driven by pure rage. Not Kore's anger. Not Zagato's anger. Not even mine. OUR anger. Our hate. Both fists went down in rhythmic motions. I felt some of the Guru's teeth fly out way into my third punch. By the time he stopped struggling, I had lost count of the number of times my knuckles had landed on his cheeks and nose. The Guru's face was a wet, bloody pulp by the time the guards hauled my body off of him.</pre><p><a href="./">Back</a></p><p><a href=http://www.dreamhost.com/donate.cgi?id=216><img border=0 alt="Donate towards our web hosting bill!" src=https://secure.newdream.net/donate1.gif></a></p></body></html>