[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
While the darkness within the castle was an unending catacomb of silence, the blinding blizzard outside the castle was little better. The endless snow formed a tomb of its own in the ceaseless quiet. The path ahead was shrouded, the path behind was endless, and each inch was enveloped in the brightly blinding darkness. The snow fell like knives within the earth drawing rivers of blood and the cold was the stinging pain that followed. To call it excruciating was an understatement, but Rubiihoppou was like that: abandoned, dark, cold. A land perpetually covered by a mist of fog and snow. The sun never shined on even its capital city, as though it were a place unloved by God. The people of this land clung to it despite the cold and lonely darkness that now shrouded it because they felt their priestess’ sacrifice had rescued them. The cardinal demons clung to this land that stained their hopes and dreams in blood because it was the location of their coveted box. The sapphire demons had made their way here through the countless dangers presented by the unending mountain and accepted the invitation into the castle protected with a miasma of death. They battled the ruthless demons lingering between life and death and emerged victorious. Now, they continued onward into the darkness toward their awaiting tomb. The journey of the emerald demons had slowed their ascent of the mountain and they still traversed the blinding, snowy path even then.

“Your Eminence…” Lance frowned and clenched her hand.

Renee’s head remained still and her gaze remained fixed on the ground. Since the start of our ascent, the air had been too cold, the trip too long, my heart too broken. She clenched her hands near her heart. Regardless of how cold it had become, it’s still the warmest place within my body. She rubbed her hands together trying to return the feeling to them. Her palms were frosted through as though they were encased in ice. They’re like my heart, iced over. Cold and unfeeling, I’m numb to the world, as if I exist in a place where I’m awake, but my world is half asleep. Or is it that my world is awake and I’m half asleep? Throughout this ascent, it’s consumed my mind… Those brown eyes are piercing through my icy heart. I know her expressions by heart. That bright smile over sad, introspective eyes. She was always smiling and her eyes were always sparkling no matter what happened, no matter how much pain she was in. A heart full of life. Renee shut her half seeing eyes. Her smiling face haunts me even with my eyes shut, even within my dreams.

~*~

“Reneeeeee…”

Renee sat at a wooden desk in their classroom. Its white walls, tiled floor, perfectly straight rows of desks lined up one after the other, long brown colored blackboard, and sparse scholastic decor reflected an air of rigid academia. She turned her head slowly toward the brunette in the disheveled uniform slumping over her desk. She frowned and pulled her glasses from her face using the earpiece as she lowered the book she had been reading. “Why are you so sad first thing in the morning, Minako?”

Minako thrust the paper at Renee without looking up.

Renee took the paper from Minako and frowned as she glanced at it. “The SAT? You can redo it…” She examined it for a moment. “Plus, a 1700 isn’t that bad, depending on where you’re trying to go.”

Minako groaned. “Not if we still want to go to the same schools…”

“The national average is about 1600.” She patted Minako’s head. “So you’re about average. Good job.”

Minako groaned again and buried her head in her crossed arms. “You’re mean, Renee. How did you do?”

She laughed, “Sorry.”

Minako sat up and pulled her crossed arms to her chest. “You are not. Stop apologizing when you’re not actually sorry.” She leaned back in her chair. “What was yours?”

“2300.” Renee shrugged.

“Wow! That’s amazing!”

Renee chuckled. “Tell you what, we can retake it together and study for it.” She smiled.

“You want to retake it? Why?” Minako gaped at her and whacked her desk. “That score would get you in just about anywhere!”

Renee grinned. “I feel like I can do better. The only person who can challenge me to do that is myself.”

Minako shook her head, but smiled. “You’re too dedicated… Alright, if you want to challenge yourself, I guess I can take it again for moral support.”

Renee laughed. “Of course you ‘guess,’ Minako!” She patted her shoulder. “We’ll get your score up too.”

~*~

Renee bit back the icy feeling in her eyes. Why? I don’t care about her, she betrayed me! So why am I crying now? My heart is a jumbled mess of memories and feelings. Minako left me all alone in that military camp after I helped her. And when she said she came for me, she still hugged that horrid creature and held him in her arms. She even cried over his pain! What made her love such gruesome creatures?

She slowly lifted her eyes to Lance. I feel at ease with him, but is this the same thing Minako feels? And I want Justin near me, but is that the same thing Minako feels? Renee wrapped her arms around her stomach tightly. How could she want to be with her creatures and treat them like people? Their only purpose is leading the priestess to the Holy box. Therefore, things like love and kindness should be unnecessary for them. But Minako keeps holding them close and showering them with her warm smile, then they respond to her with the same warmth! These creatures don’t do that for me, not like I wanted at all… Not like she…

Renee growled inaudibly. What did those creatures know?! I always dried Minako’s tears and protected her every day when she was sad, angry, or hurt. When Minako needed a white knight, I held my sword high, ready for battle. And when Minako needed help or comfort, I gently held her hand. Those gruesome creatures arrived, thinking that they knew everything and could give everything! But they don’t even care about Minako for Minako! They only hold her close because she’s the priestess who should deliver the box to them! Renee clenched her fists. I really thought I could handle anything because Minako would come here.... I believed every day. That day…

~*~

Her black world began to fill with color. She blinked as her eyes focused to see a tall blond man clad in green armor standing above her holding his metal helmet adorned with an emerald plume. He looked down on Renee with a smile, but harsh eyes.

“What do you want?” Renee’s hands trembled as she sat up.

“I rescued you.” He frowned. “Are you from nearby?”

“New York?”

“They don’t have your manner of dress in the other countries.” He smirked. “You must be from somewhere quite far away.”

Renee frowned. “How far away is New York from here anyway?”

He lowered his hand so that it was within her reach. “Would you like to come with me while you try to get back to New York?”

“But I’m sure that my friend Minako will come to get me. I can feel her calling to me just like before.” Renee put her hands to her heart as she smiled. “She is somewhere close…. Those soldiers said she was in the capital. I wonder if that’s true...

He reached toward her again. “Well, seeing as I am about to return to the capital, perhaps you should remain with me until she comes for you.”

“And you are?”

He laughed. “You don’t know?” He smiled. “No, of course you wouldn’t, maiden. I am a great general of Emeradotouhou, Justin.”

“Great general?” She scoffed. “Isn’t that narcissistic?”

“Perhaps, though all ranks within our military’s empire have earned their prestige.”

Renee stood awkwardly and clumsily in her haste. “If you’re as great as you say, then you can find Minako and bring her to the capital!” Her face lit up brightly as she smiled.

He put his hand to his chin and smirked. “Perhaps that is within my powers. You will join me, then?”

She nodded her head eagerly. “Yes! Let’s go to the capital!”

The next morning as the regiment headed toward the capital, the barren plain at the outskirts of Emeradotouhou echoed a whisper of the previous campsite, only the doused fires remained. Over the two day journey, Renee cradled her weary body and carried on. Soon… This general promised to contact Minako and she will meet me in the capital. Soon...

Once they reached the capital, Justin catered to her every need, provided lady’s maids to wait on her, procured her plenty of food, and gave her a spacious and secluded room. Despite all of this, he never really fulfilled her desires. The only thing she really wanted was Minako’s answer to her note or her appearance at the capital. Days continued to pass without word.

Justin sat on the side of Renee’s plush, canopied bed. She turned to face him weakly, but continued to lay down. “Where is Minako?”

“She must have received my correspondence. Perhaps she does not want to see you.” He lowered his head. “I am sure you recall how she refused to meet you at the campsite and didn’t save you when you first arrived.”

Renee quickly turned back toward the window as she pulled the linens to her chin. “I’m sure she’ll come tomorrow.”

That day turned into the next day, then days turned into weeks and weeks into months, or so it seemed. Yet, every day, Renee continued to assure herself that the next day would be the day. Meanwhile, Justin continued to remind her of Minako’s constant failure to fulfil her wishes as he comforted her. As Renee began to accept that Minako would never come, Justin began telling her the legends of the priestesses and that Renee could be the hope Emeradotouhou longed for.

Justin stood beside the window as Renee sat on its wide ledge. “Lady Renee, there is one other matter we must discuss.”

“What?” Renee snarled.

“I have heard word that a foreigner has appeared in Safaiananpou. If your friend is here, perhaps that is her.”

“What is Safaiananpou?”

“A rival country. They have yet to claim a priestess, so if that foreigner is your friend, perhaps she took the role? After all, destiny is stronger than camaraderie, which is an illusion at best.”

How? How could Minako who always laughed with me and cried with me and worried with me… How could someone who shared everything with me ignore me so brutally? This entire time, she had merely been in another country, yet she refused to make the trip to retrieve me the day I appeared within this gruesome world?! And even more so, she ignored all the correspondence that Justin sent her?! Can it be… Did she let something so petty as a millenniums old rivalry beyond our own control make her decisions? But I’ve been with her longer than that forsaken country!

She clenched her fists. “Justin! If she does not care for me, then I will become your emerald Pandora. I will help find the box!” If Minako decided to abandon me for an enemy nation and forsake our history and friendship, then I will do the same. Renee growled quietly. “It’s all her fault! If she had come for me… none of this would have happened!” Her tears were hot as they streamed down her cheeks.

Justin flashed her a wide smirk. “I have a few duties to complete, but then I will present you to the Emperor and he will officially bestow your role, Lady Renee Pandora of the Emeralds.”

But that day, the day of the momentous decision was also the day Minako finally appeared and showed her cowardly face. In the throne room, she weakly emerged from behind the clusters of guards that always surrounded her to see Minako standing before the king, her brown eyes brimming with emotion.

~*~

She had bounded toward me and embraced me. Tears streamed down both our faces. Maybe… Maybe she was not the sapphire priestess after all… But, that wasn’t true. She promised to take me to Safaiananpou, to save me, to rescue me... Had Justin been wrong? Had he misjudged Minako’s heart? Even after months without return correspondence, it really seemed like she only belonged to me... But, then the gruesome demon appeared, and she shattered my heart. Justin was correct. She had abandoned me for her role as the sapphire priestess.

Renee opened her eyes slowly. Why am I letting her haunt me after everything she’s done to me? Why is she still pretending to love me? Renee quickly shut her eyes again. Those glassy eyes… And her words…

“I’ll be waiting…”

Why would she be serious now when she pretended to love me for so long? Was she toying with me? I was always honest with her! But Minako had become something different from before, a false version of her former self... No, an inferior copy of her former self! Renee clenched her fist once more. How dare she… How dare she!

“Your Eminence…” Lance’s quiet voice broke through Renee’s jumbled thoughts and memories.

She turned to him slowly and a smile spread across his lips.

He smiled back. “I was afraid the cold had gotten to be too much for you.”

“No.” she lowered her head again.

“There.” Justin stopped abruptly, causing Renee to bump into him.

She slowly peered around him. “There?”

The enormous castle loomed above their heads, seemingly frozen in a capsule of time. The rank miasma surrounding it faded for them alone and the old, rotted doors creaked on their hinges as they opened once more.

“Well…” the voice from earlier called to them, “Enter Pandora… You and your demons have traveled too far not to accept your invitation…”

Renee lowered her head and pushed Justin aside to enter the castle. Our host named me specifically, so I should go first. By this time, Minako must have suffered. Now, it’s up to me to charge forward and meet her head on, when our circumstances are fair.

Behind her proud, but weak gait, Justin remained at the front of the line, followed by Lance, then Joshua, then Christopher.

Joseph hesitated as he stared up at the keep and the looming statues resembling the deceased kings. He raised his hands to his heart, then hung his head and hunched his shoulders as he entered the castle.

Justin quickened his pace to walk beside Renee, attempting to regain his position as leader. The scabbard of his sword hit his leg lightly.

Renee turned to him slowly. Her face screwed into an awkward expression as she tried to bite back the tears that longed to stream down her face while suppressing the rage she felt within her heart. “Yes?”

“Do you remember the promise you made to me?”

“I remember making no promise to you.” She scoffed and turned away from him.

“About your last wish…”

“What about it?”

“Won’t you still give it to me?”

“Do you really deserve it?” She sneered. “The box exists so that the priestess can make her wishes, after all.”

“But, it is also true that you need us to get the box.”

“That may be true, but you creatures already have a gift waiting within the box. You don’t need a wish.”

“Creatures are we?” Justin snarled as faint lines appeared between his eyebrows. “It appears that you have changed your mind, then.”

Renee stuck her nose in the air as she continued to walk forward. “Well, maybe you’ll have to prove your worth to me to get your wish. Lance!”

Lance hurried to catch up to them as Justin growled and pushed past Renee as well, resuming his position at the head of the group.

She continued forward into the darkness as she wrapped her arms around her abdomen tightly. Just like before, it was ominous, murky, stagnant, and cold. How does it feel to wander these halls all alone? Even surrounded by them and knowing they could stop almost anything, I’m still terrified. Am I the only one who’s this scared to be here? It makes me feel utterly alone. I wish I could be glamorously lonely, that I could minimize this and still get sympathy… There’s nothing glamorous about being alone, but it’s better than betraying someone I love for a moment of happiness in this twisted place. That fits Minako to a tee… Love the one you’re with if you can’t be with the one you love. Renee sneered as the toe of her shoe collided with a wall. She froze and gaped at the large stone slab standing in front of her. “But… this is the only path!”

“It seems that a trap has been sprung.” Justin smirked

Renee put her hands on her hips as a grimace covered her face. “Well, clearly Minako made it through! Why are you happy about that?!”

“Did she?”

Joshua poised his arrow toward the slab, “Let’s find out…” He pulled back on the fletching, then released the arrow. It hit the slab in the center, shattering it in one strike and revealing a stone with large stone spikes protruding from it directly behind it.

Renee stepped back and gasped loudly, clutching her hands to her chest. These stones had been intended to kill the intruder that set the trap off! Is Minako dead?

Joshua continued to shoot his arrows at the slabs, shattering each one effortlessly. At the end of the corridor, they finally came to fragments of the large stone slabs scattered across the corridor.

Christopher grabbed one from the ground. “It seems that at least a few members of their party fell victim to the trap they sprung…”

Joseph hid his pale face in his hands.

“But they aren’t here, so they must have escaped alive.” Renee frowned and fiddled with her finger nails.

Justin eyed the large slab sealing the arched gateway. “Not necessarily. Perhaps this path does lead somewhere.” He turned to Joshua as he motioned toward the gate.

Joshua nodded and shot his arrow toward the slab. It shattered, scattering stone fragments beneath the gate, but no sign of human or demon remains.

Renee clenched her fists. Once again, Minako had escaped death thanks to her demons. Why were they always protecting her?

The emerald demons entered the room slowly. It was covered in rubble and stone fragments with blood splattered along the floor and on rock shards. The floor has several gashes, large ones with rocks protruding from them and small ones resembling claw marks, especially in the center. A stone statue sat near what appeared to be the shattered door of the exit.

Renee walked over to the statue quickly and ran her hand along its face as she blinked. “Isn’t this a strange place to keep a statue?”

Joseph inhaled sharply before he ran toward the statue.

“Joseph?” Renee questioned.

He stood before the statue and examined the craftsmanship of the face as well as the depiction of the Rubiihoppou armor. He lowered his head and let out another ominous breath. “I thought so…”

Christopher appeared behind him first, followed shortly behind the others. “What is it?”

“This statue was made using the body of a Rubiihoppou demon as a mold.”

“Meaning?” Lance frowned as he gripped Renee’s hand.

Joseph inhaled sharply as he adjusted his collar. “It’s not really a statue at all. When we lose, we get turned to stone.”

Renee gasped and tore her hand from Lance, then ran through the exit. Whoever lost the battle became stone! Does that mean that even I could become a statue?

“Lady Renee!”

Renee shook her head and sprinted through the darkness, fighting her previous fear of the darkness with the adrenaline of her fear towards being encased in stone. Her demons followed close at her heels, but she was still the first to run through the next stone gate and find the weapons room. She froze and her hands trembled. “What is this armory?”

Justin entered the room in awe and quickly strode toward the wall, pulling a long sword into his grasp. He ran his finger across the blade as he examined the blood it drew, then grinned wildly as he wiped the sword and placed it through a holster on his armor before turning to the other emerald demons. “Make yourselves useful, grab a weapon.”

“But… We have our powers…” Christopher furrowed his brow.

“Do it. Show those sapphire pests and any other illusionary demons that you are undeniably strong.”

The other four demons obeyed and each grabbed a sword from the wall, then Justin led the way past the topaz demon and down the next darkened corridor.

Renee held her arms closely to her chest and inhaled rapidly and repeatedly as her heart rate quickened. So, losing means dying... Her hands trembled as her throat tightened. There’s nothing I can do to protect myself from death, I’m terrified. She glanced at Justin as he led them down the dense and murky hallway. This path he’s treading feels like a tomb. Is this a path to death and despair? She choked on the tears she had held back in vain.

The stench of the next room’s rotting flora overpowered Renee, making her gag as she wrapped her arms around her abdomen. Why is my stomach always so weak?

Justin frowned. “This next room also has a statue, but no blood. Did a battle even occur? Perhaps this one is a mere fluke or the remnants of an old battle.” He pushed through the exit and continued walking down the dim corridor.

Renee’s heart continued beating rapidly as they neared the next door, a rotting wooden gate. Lance turned and saw her pale, sweating face, then offered her his hand. She blinked nervously and clenched it tightly.

When they entered the next room, they all shrank back in alarm and clung to the wall. The majority of the room was a gaping hole leading down to the catacombs of the castle, though a small and unstable path wound around the edge. Blood lined the weak and crumbling walls, supported by the shattered floor and ceiling. Two statues sat across the hole, one upright and the other prone on the ground. Renee gasped again and latched on to Lance’s arm.

“Where’s the exit? Down can’t possibly be the only way to go...” Joshua growled as he scanned the room.

“There.” Justin pointed to a pile of rubble near a weak and open wall across the gaping hole. He chuckled sardonically. “And the sapphire demons must have fallen to their deaths.”

Renee’s hand trembled as she removed it from Lance and pulled into a fist at her heart. No… All this time, I’ve still been able to feel her… Because she's haunting me… Anger or love, she survived that fatal fall and her heart is still beating and calling to me… Renee growled. How can even a fall to her death refuse to kill her?

Justin glanced at Renee. “You think she’s still alive?”

Renee gave him a low nod.

“Well… Dead or alive, we will be victorious.” He clenched his fist, then pulled his cape toward his chest, allowing his wings to unfurl. He pushed off the weak ground with his foot and glided toward the exit.

Joshua, Joseph, and Christopher followed shortly afterward. Lance held Renee’s waist tightly as his wings unfurled as well.

“Lance…”

“It’s okay, I won’t let you fall.” He smiled and tightened his grip.

“No… How… how do you think the battle will turn out?” She stammered and lowered her head.

His smile brightened. “You’ll win of course. I won’t let you get turned to stone.”

Renee gripped his tunic tightly as he shot from the weak ground. Yes… It has to be Minako that gets turned to stone. Her eyes narrowed as her hands trembled, her lips snarling. Wait for me, Minako, let me be the one to hand you your demise instead of this castle.