[QUOTE]Originally posted by prodigal:
[b]Thus Speak Prodigal
Part II : The Search for True Love
Disclaimer : As per normal
VIII. Brief Lives
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(a)A parting among friends
After a good dinner in Dakar's cottage, the friends were gathered outside a stand for a cup of coffee. Desert was served to the friends in the form of Venetta ice-cream. Dakar was the perfect host who always know what to select from starters, to main course, finally to the sweet (dessert). It was an appropriate to make announcements before everyone would part from Dakar's place.
The first was Torrants, who would be travelling to Faerie Land to search for Mayar, his bride to be who was cursed by the evil Hallo Kathy. However, he was not aware that his bride had already met with danger in the forest of the elves. Unfortunately, no one could follow him, since Bish had to stay in the Sgforumsia due to his responsibilities as the God of War, while Dakar as the Lord of Parties in his bar at the Chitchat Garden (a place in Sgforumsia where people gossip).. Ack had to start work for his boss, Karhole, the mighty cult leader who had returned from New Yoke. It was only left to Prodigal, Runoa and her servant Clone.
Finally it was time for Prodigal to make his annoucement with Runoa.
"Well, everybody, Ruona and I would be leaving for the Nexus to seek out an Endless who is my sister for something important which both of us had to settle for." he said, as he did not reveal about Fate's meeting with Runoa and him, and the clue to safeguard the life of Runoa. He had made up his mind, that no matter what it takes, he would have to stop his loved one from dying. She was important to him, even though he had abandoned his realm, and left her in the first place.
"I would not allow my mistress to follow you alone," Clone spoke up, as he looked at the Prodigal. He was in total disapproval of Prodigal's actions. He did not want his mistress to suffer another heartbreak for the Endless who had abandoned her and his realm of responsibilites.
"Clone, you do not understand," Runoa said,"you cannot follow us, because it is a grave matter which concerned the both of us. I have already decided to follow him, please don't make it difficult for the both of us."
"But he hurt you once and I am afraid that he could not protect you, since he had the Devil now after his blood," said Cluon, as he looked at the Prodigal.
"If it is your mistress safety that you are worrying, why not I would have a duel with you in just one strike? If you can hurt me in one strike, you would follow Runoa and me to the Nexus."
"Prodigal..," Runoa wanted to stop but was too late. A battle between her lover and her bodyguard was inevitable.
"Deal," Clone said, as he proceeded to the field outside the stand with the prodigal.
"Place your bets, my friends," Dakar said.
"Dakar, this is not a time for joke," Torrants said in a serious tone.
"Don't worry, Proddy would win," Bish said,"I have faith with him."
Both Prodigal and Clone stood at the field, with about 6 feet apart from one another. Clone lifted his hands, and made a gesture which resembled a skill that is inherent of the Shaolin temple. The people in the stand could see a Buddha glowing behind him, as he was surrounded by a golden globe of light on his head. He lifted his hands up and lightning from the sky were conjured on his hands. A lot of energy was congregating on his hands, and he was determined to beat the prodigal. In the view that he was an Endless, Clone needed to use his most powerful stroke.
"That is Clone's powerful feat," Runoa said to herself,"and he had not used it for years since he last used it against the minions of Evil who tried to hurt me. oh no, Prodigal would be in danger."
"I don't think so," Dakar said with a confident smile. His eyes were fixed on the Prodigal who was standing at his own place. The former Endless had not moved for a long long time since they had begun their duel.
"Prodigal, take my most powerful strike and be defeated for your arrogance, the Buddha's punishment!!" Clone shouted, as he charged towards the Prodigal. The Prodigal smiled at the instant and did not invoke any form of shield to protect himself. At the very instant, Clone's palm landed on Prodigal's forehead with the killing strike.
"Clone, no!" Ruona said as it was too late for her to do anything.
"He is defeated already," Dakar said as he looked at Bish who nodded in agreement.
"Who is defeated already?" Ack asked as the moment of impact was too fast for his mortal eyes to see.
"It's so obvious," Torrants said, who seemed to have a clear picture on what is going on.
The next instant, Clone's face was filled with surprise and shock. He could not believed that he had hit an image of the former Endless. The Prodigal was so fast and he left his image with emission of his energy to trick the former monk of Shaolin. He had already left his former position when Clone charged upon him. The energy broke the image, and suddenly, Clone felt a vortex of energy behind him. He turned and Prodigal's pointed fingers (both index and middle) was right in front of his forehead, but the energy was not unleashed.
"I never realized that you could use your energy to form a physical illusion of yourself, and lure Clone to hit you, while you have already disappeared," Ack said with an impressed smile.
Ruona smiled as her lover did not hurt her loyal servant. She was at odds to who she should support. However, it was resolved that now she can leave with Prodigal.
"You win, Prodigal," Clone said in a solemn voice. "Take care of my mistress well, and if she is hurt by your mistake, I would make you pay for it."
"Clone, do not under-estimate my powers," Prodigal said,"and I don't yield to threats, as I am an Endless." He put his hand off from his last position.
"Clone," said Ruona,"I have an assignment for you." She was thinking of sending him away so that he would not follow both of them secretly.
"Yes, my mistress," Clone said in a revered voice.
"Go with Torrants to Faerie Land and assist him to find my good friend, Mayar in your best capacity." Runoa said in a majestic tone.
"Yes, mistress," Clone replied,"your wish is my command."
"Thanks, Runoa," Torrants said.
"Runoa," the Prodigal said, as he walked towards her, and took her hand,"It's time for us to leave."
"Yes," she said as she smiled that she could finally have the time with her lover.
"Good bye to you all." the Prodigal waved to his friends.
"Same to you, my friend," Dakar and Bish said simultaneously. Torrants smiled at his friend. At that instant, both Runoa and the Prodigal disappeared with the whisking blow of the wind.
"Alright, Clone," Torrants said,"Let's set off as well."
It was a parting, but it would mean another gathering soon... Life is filled with partings and gatherings, and that is what makes many moments of our life so memorable and beautiful, particularly, in the company of friends.
(b)The curse
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Mayar woke up in a headache, as she found herself lying in a chamber, which she had no idea. She could feel a pain coming in her chest. It was the curse, which was causing her pain.
"Mayar, you had woke up," said a feminine voice.
"Queen Amanda," Mayar realized that she was still in Faerie land. "What happened?"
"We realized that we had intruders into the realm. I sent General Lexinnie to see what had happened. She reported to me that Kallen, you and a young girl of 12-13 years old were assaulted by the demoness from hell."
"She is the demoness who had cursed me with the power of destruction," said Mayar,"What happened to the others?"
"The little gal is captured by her, and she escaped despite all her guards captured." the Queen replied,"But Kallen..."
"What happened to him?" Mayar asked, realized that the Prince of the Elves were hurt in the process.
"The demoness cast a spell on him which transformed him into a troll. He had not come out of his room for the past few days, ever since. I have no idea how the spell was cast. Hence I could not reverse the effect of the spell. It had hurt his dignity and pride. He is afterall the crown prince." The queen sighed.
"My Queen, I am responsible for this unfortunate accident," Mayar said,"I would do anything to restore Kallen back to his original form. It is more imperative to save the little gal, for it concerned the fate of the cosmos."
"I heard from Kallen what happened," the Queen said,"Apparently, she is the daughter of Runoa, the Endless who represents Love. The Endless are a bunch of very powerful beings that exist outside the different pantheon of Gods, the Creator and the Devil. They took different representations : Fate, Love, Hope, Death, Devestation, Desire, Luck, Hate, Dream, Order and Chaos. Apparently, one of them had abandoned his realm, and was now known as the Prodigal. However, we cannot interfere in the affairs of the Endless. It is beyond our ability to do anything."
"But if it concerns the fate of our cosmos, we need to stop it." Mayar said.
"Perhaps, Mayar," the Queen said,"But how are we going to deal with the demoness since she had the backing of the Devil?"
Just at this instant, a panting voice came shouting,"My Queen, we have two intruders into our forest." It was a young elvish warrior with a sword.
"Who dares to trepass into my domain?" Queen Amanda said in her haughty tone.
"A seven foot tall human and a man of average height holding a harp, who claims that he had to see you," said the warrior.
"It must be Torrants," Mayar said to herself as she could read from the description as she was told by Valentine before she got knocked out that Torrants was aware of her present whereabouts in this timeline. "My queen, he is my lover, please pardon his insolence that his reason to trepass into Faerie land is because of me." Mayar kneeled before the queen for forgivance.
"I will decide their fate," Queen Amanda said,"Please rise, Mayar. Now, guard, take me to those two trepassers."
"Yes, my lady," said the guard, as he escorted both Mayar and the Queen to the battleground.
(c)The Nexus
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"Finally, we are here," said the Prodigal as he was accompanied by his soulmate Runoa, as they had entered in a realm which was built up by a vast wide array of brown canyons. The sharp peaks and edges were outlined across the landscape in a zigzag fashion. In the centre of the canyon was a long river flowing towards a palace, furnished with a diamond glow in the entrance.
"Are you sure that you want to see Death?" Runoa said.
"Yes, I think that she is the only person who could help us." the Prodigal said,"Since she is the 2nd oldest among the Endless, and she is the closest to me compared to the others. Perhaps she had an idea what the anomaly is all about."
The two Endless soared gracefully into the sky and flew towards the palace. As they approached the gate of the Palace, the entrance were suddenly opened with a flash of light, and the next instant, Runoa and Prodigal were at a dining hall.
"Hello, my brother," a sweet feminine voice came behind. The prodigal turned and found a young woman in her 20s, dressed with a black top with sphagetti stripes together with a pair of black leathery pants.
"Hello, my sister, Death," the Prodigal walked forward and hugged her.
"Greetings, my fellow Endless," Runoa made a curtsy to greet the second eldest of the Endless.
"You seem to have changed your fashion, my sister," the Prodigal said in a light hearted manner.
"Well, what do you expect from a being who claims the representation of Death? Surely, you don't expect me to be a darked robe person holding a scythe all the time. Times have changed, it had passed from the medival, to the Gothic to the romantic and to the Victorian age until today the modern age." Death said in a joyous manner. "I am aware of your visit to my palace, my fellow Endless. However, I do not know how to help the both of you."
"Surely you would know what the anomaly is all about." the Prodigal said.
"I know because it concerns Runoa's life," said Death, as she lifted her hand and a crystal shard appears. From the view inside the shard, there was a bright glow of light. The nucleus of the light was a dark black ball, which seemed to be consuming everything around it. The glow of light was surrounded by a thousand stars and nebulae of the Universe. It was the vast cosmos where the glow of light originated from.
"This is the anomaly, my sister?" Prodigal asked as he looked at Death.
"Yes, my brother," Death's face became stern and serious.
"How did it get here in the first place?" asked Runoa,"It is said by Fate that it had something to do with the battle between the Devil and him."
"Yes," Death said, "Because he has abandoned his responsibility as the Endless and closed his realm for good, the forces which arose from his representation became chaotic. During his engagement against the Devil, he utilised these forces to fight the Devil, which leads to the formation of the anomaly in the spacetime."
"I am sorry, my sister," the Prodigal said in an apologetic tone,"Is there anything we could do?"
"Yes, what else to do but to close it?" Death said,"However, it would require the effort of another Endless who have to help you in this effort to close the anomaly."
"You mean Devestation," the Prodigal said.
"Yes," Death said.
"But Devestation is never in good terms with him because of me," Runoa looked at the Prodigal.
"I know that too," Death nodded her head. "It is my brother's pride against Devestation."
"However, seeking Devestation would mean that one would not go unscathed in the damage of something." the Prodigal said. "Is the damage going to be done on Runoa, which is now threatening her existence?"
"That I cannot tell you, Prodigal," Death said.
"You sound like Fate now," Prodigal said,"But there is something which is not written in the book and we can change it."
"Yes, Prodigal," Death said,"Don't you see that no matter how you ran away from the past, the past would inevitably come back to haunt you. You can seek the path of abandoning everything, but the point is that if you cannot overcome the past, then you would get those people around you to get hurt."
"Yes, I know," Prodigal said.
"You should have just face up to it instead of running away," Death scolded Prodigal.
"Sister Death, please do not do that to him," said Runoa,"He had suffered enough."
"Yes, he has suffered enough from his own fallacies, and it was all due to his own anthromorphic and big ego. Somebody has to scold him, if it's not Fate, then it would be up to me to knock some sense out of him. And now see the damage he had caused to the balance of the cosmos. Prodigal, you have a destiny to fulfil, and if you have to keep avoiding it, it would come back to you."
"I know of my misdeeds," the Prodigal said as he lowered his head.
"Being Death is not easy, my brother," Death said,"I am in the beginning and in the end, because at the end of the day, I am going to be the one closing all these mess. Ever wonder why every life have a special unique place in this Universe. The Universe is special in her own ways, and have her own set of laws and rules. We cannot violate them. As I have to guide every life into another realm of existence, I only appeared to each life on 2 occasions, one is when the child is born, then the next time when the person is dead, where I bring them to another realm of existence. Death is something that is not be feared, similarly your destiny, Prodigal. Face it."
Death looked at Prodigal and found in his eyes that there were a lot of remorse in him. She could see that there is a figure in his mind which had caused him to become like this. Her brother had caused the misery of 2 women at the same time, and one of them had already passed her lifetime and been guided by Death to the next path, and the other woman is now standing by his side. If Runoa would die, it would be the second time that she had to take away her brother's love one.
"Yes, my sister, you are right," said the Prodigal,"I am at fault."
"Prodigal, acknowledging and admitting to your faults are one thing, but facing up to them are another. You have to live your life. I know that you enjoy your life now, and I can understand all the pain and sorrow which you have to go through. But believe me, the death of an old self is the beginning of another. I have said enough, my brother, and now it is up to you and Runoa to seek Devestation out."
"Where is he?" the Prodigal asked.
"Well, he is presently residing in a place called Savana, which is a plane of existence near Fate's garden. Seek him quickly and close the anomaly as fast as you can."
"Yes, my sister," the Prodigal said,"Thanks for your advice."
Without any more hesitation, both lovers set off immediately to Savana to seek the help of the Endless, Devestation out.
[to be continued]
