Beginnings IV: Premonitions
"Good Morning." The King began, smiling faintly beneath the worried lines that crossed his face. "I trust that you boys already know each other, and I believe that I need no further introduction. Just to humor tradition, however, why don't we each introduce ourselves formally? Let me begin by introducing myself: I am the King and the ruler of these lands. Beside me is my daughter Yuki, and to my left is the Head Wizard Eriol. I believe you've already met my son, Nino. So, with that out of the way, I suggest we begin with you, young monk..."
Sho courteously bowed as he introduced himself to the King, who graciously offered his thanks for the time that he visited the palace to perform a small miracle on Yuki; next was Aiba, who nearly fell over as he bowed and nervously stumbled on his words as he spoke. Aiba had enough trouble keeping still as it was his first time to be faced with royalty. There were so many questions he would have liked to ask the King, among them, for instance, was about how the King knew of his brother and why he spoke rather fondly of him; another was about how the King knew of his abilities and had even jokingly asked Aiba to tell the pigeons to stop using the monuments as a toilet. Next in line was Jun who stood regally as though he were a prince himself, and bowed his head towards the King while saying his name. The King gave Jun a sincere apology, as he had forgotten to warn him about the wards and the barriers that surrounded the study, which Jun accepted humbly. It was revealed later on to Sho and Aiba, that Jun's father, with whom he shared the same abilities, was one of the King's chief advisors and was often with the King whenever he negotiated or met with other leaders. Empaths, apparently, were held in high regard within the kingdom, but their identities were kept secret, as they were sometimes used as spies to weed out those who harbored ill intent towards the King. With the three boys done introducing themselves; all eyes turned to Ohno who stood up and straightened his powder-blue robes as he prepared to speak. Ohno bowed deeply, averting his eyes from the King, and nearly everyone in the room. His laid back demeanor, Jun noted, had disappeared and was replaced with a worried, and somewhat hurt expression. Ohno's brows were furrowed and his eyes were cast downward with a small pout tugging at the corners of his lips. Intrigued, Jun scanned Ohno's emotions and was perplexed to find regret and self-blame mixed in with a barely contained panic that was threatening to spill over. Jun quickly pulled out of Ohno's mind before he got sucked into the swirl of confusing emotions and with some effort, refocused his attention on the King.
"Ohno, don't look so sad." The King said, but without much conviction.
The King faced the five boys and then turned to look at his daughter who seemed impatient to know what the urgency was all about: She had stormed out of her room earlier, determined to give her younger brother a good whack on the head when she found several arachnids set loose in her drawers. The impertinent brat had been at it for days ever since she replaced his magic wand with a spelled candy cane and turned all his pet turtles into snails, as revenge for destroying a painting of her favorite prince: the twirly mustache had been hand drawn with indelible ink and she simply could not understand why her brother felt the need to add kitten ears to the picture in addition to placing blobs of ink over his nostrils. It was simply too much for the young princess to see the face of her favorite idol defaced, and so, staff in hand, she set out to find Nino and maybe turn him into a slug if he ran too fast for her to hit. As soon as she had set foot in the garden however, her father and Eriol had called her to come with them to the study to discuss pressing matters...
"Yuki, calm down." The King gently placed a hand on Yuki's shoulder. "You may continue to play games with your brother after this meeting, if you wish."
"Yes, father" Yuki conceded, but not before shooting a dirty glance at her brother who was currently sticking his tongue out at her.
"Ohno, why do you look so sad?" Aiba asked the somber young boy, not quite aware that he was speaking out of turn. Ohno, meanwhile, merely sat in silence, preferring to study the floor instead.
"Well, Aiba, that's part of the reason why we're here." replied Eriol, who found Aiba's naïveté refreshing amid the gloomy atmosphere.
"Why, did he do--mmph!" Aiba's words were cut short as Sho once more covered Aiba's mouth with his hand. The king managed a small chuckle as Sho finally released Aiba and both boys settled down their chairs.
"Um, sorry about that, your majesty." Aiba apologized, scratching his head.
"It's perfectly all right..." The King sighed, his face as sad as Ohno's, " I wish I could tell you that I have good news and that all is well. Unfortunately, that's not the case...You see, Aiba, Ohno comes from a family of seers, and seers, as you may already know, can predict the future, or all the possible futures, at times."
"And the future is bad... isn't it?" said Sho
"... or all the possible futures" added Jun.
"Ohno's family has stopped receiving visions." The King replied "Which means..."
"...which means that there isn't one." Nino finished, suddenly struck by the gravity of the situation.
"We have seen just one..." Ohno's small voice piped up. His eyes were cast downwards while his hands fidgeted with his robes as he continued, "we saw nothing more after that."
The room remained silent as they waited for Ohno to continue, none of them certain that they wanted to hear what would happen next.
Eriol spoke softly, cutting through the thick silence that weighed heavily upon the room, "I believe I should explain." He started, uncertain of where to begin himself, " You have been called here because you are the last of your kind. Call it natural selection if you will, but the truth is, since Jun's birth there haven't been any more children gifted with magical abilities. The result is that you either have too much magic running through your veins, or too little of it... Not that it matters at this point, I guess. But if you'll notice, there's less of everything..."
Eriol, taking a deep breath, babbled on nervously, "The harvest has grown scant in some areas, while streams and rivers have dried up in several places. It's as if the planet itself is running out of resources, although on the other hand, it's true that some of these may be due to the misuse of resources, but I'm digressing... I have here, one of many books that Ohno's ancestors have written to chronicle their visions. There are volumes of these in this study, and I've been keeping track of the prophecies that have come true over the years. Most of it was quite accurate, while a few have turned out differently. The omens as of late, however, point to an end...which..." Eriol trailed off, unable to continue, as he sought the right words to soften the blow of the bad news he was about to impart.
"Which is what Ohno and his family have seen..." Jun mumbled mostly to himself, unaware that the rest of the room had heard him. He unconsciously brought both knees up to his chest and held them close to himself, nearly resuming the pose he had before Aiba and Sho had entered the room; Though the reality of the situation hadn't yet sunk in, he was starting to feel the rising terror and panic around him, some of which, he suspects, had probably come from himself.
An uneasy silence once more suffocated the small room, until Aiba broke out in panic...
"Wait! What do we do? Do you think we can stop this? What did Ohno see?!"
"If there's nothing that can be done... what do you want us to do?" Sho asked, mildly alarmed, yet more disbelieving than he was troubled. Three or four voices spoke out all at once, each one panicked and demanding, as Eriol and the King tried their best to contain the situation.
Out of the blue, Yuki spoke:
"It's me... isn't it?" Yuki's voice trembled, "It's the staff. It answers to me. I-I have to use it, don't I?"
"Don't be stupid!" Nino exclaimed "You can't, you shouldn't!"
"But the staff answers to me, I can turn back time... I am its rightful owner." Yuki answered, delirious and mostly talking to herself; Her fingernails digging deep into her frail arms, causing blood to come out of the small crescent-shaped wounds as she tried to stop herself from trembling.
"And then what? It'll end, anyway and you don't know what will happen if you use that thing!" Nino shouted, trying to force some sense into his crazed sister.
"But what will we do?" Yuki whispered, tears finally streaming down her cheeks as her father pulled her in to a tight embrace...
Previous: Beginnings: Movement Next: Yuki's Diary
Sho courteously bowed as he introduced himself to the King, who graciously offered his thanks for the time that he visited the palace to perform a small miracle on Yuki; next was Aiba, who nearly fell over as he bowed and nervously stumbled on his words as he spoke. Aiba had enough trouble keeping still as it was his first time to be faced with royalty. There were so many questions he would have liked to ask the King, among them, for instance, was about how the King knew of his brother and why he spoke rather fondly of him; another was about how the King knew of his abilities and had even jokingly asked Aiba to tell the pigeons to stop using the monuments as a toilet. Next in line was Jun who stood regally as though he were a prince himself, and bowed his head towards the King while saying his name. The King gave Jun a sincere apology, as he had forgotten to warn him about the wards and the barriers that surrounded the study, which Jun accepted humbly. It was revealed later on to Sho and Aiba, that Jun's father, with whom he shared the same abilities, was one of the King's chief advisors and was often with the King whenever he negotiated or met with other leaders. Empaths, apparently, were held in high regard within the kingdom, but their identities were kept secret, as they were sometimes used as spies to weed out those who harbored ill intent towards the King. With the three boys done introducing themselves; all eyes turned to Ohno who stood up and straightened his powder-blue robes as he prepared to speak. Ohno bowed deeply, averting his eyes from the King, and nearly everyone in the room. His laid back demeanor, Jun noted, had disappeared and was replaced with a worried, and somewhat hurt expression. Ohno's brows were furrowed and his eyes were cast downward with a small pout tugging at the corners of his lips. Intrigued, Jun scanned Ohno's emotions and was perplexed to find regret and self-blame mixed in with a barely contained panic that was threatening to spill over. Jun quickly pulled out of Ohno's mind before he got sucked into the swirl of confusing emotions and with some effort, refocused his attention on the King.
"Ohno, don't look so sad." The King said, but without much conviction.
The King faced the five boys and then turned to look at his daughter who seemed impatient to know what the urgency was all about: She had stormed out of her room earlier, determined to give her younger brother a good whack on the head when she found several arachnids set loose in her drawers. The impertinent brat had been at it for days ever since she replaced his magic wand with a spelled candy cane and turned all his pet turtles into snails, as revenge for destroying a painting of her favorite prince: the twirly mustache had been hand drawn with indelible ink and she simply could not understand why her brother felt the need to add kitten ears to the picture in addition to placing blobs of ink over his nostrils. It was simply too much for the young princess to see the face of her favorite idol defaced, and so, staff in hand, she set out to find Nino and maybe turn him into a slug if he ran too fast for her to hit. As soon as she had set foot in the garden however, her father and Eriol had called her to come with them to the study to discuss pressing matters...
"Yuki, calm down." The King gently placed a hand on Yuki's shoulder. "You may continue to play games with your brother after this meeting, if you wish."
"Yes, father" Yuki conceded, but not before shooting a dirty glance at her brother who was currently sticking his tongue out at her.
"Ohno, why do you look so sad?" Aiba asked the somber young boy, not quite aware that he was speaking out of turn. Ohno, meanwhile, merely sat in silence, preferring to study the floor instead.
"Well, Aiba, that's part of the reason why we're here." replied Eriol, who found Aiba's naïveté refreshing amid the gloomy atmosphere.
"Why, did he do--mmph!" Aiba's words were cut short as Sho once more covered Aiba's mouth with his hand. The king managed a small chuckle as Sho finally released Aiba and both boys settled down their chairs.
"Um, sorry about that, your majesty." Aiba apologized, scratching his head.
"It's perfectly all right..." The King sighed, his face as sad as Ohno's, " I wish I could tell you that I have good news and that all is well. Unfortunately, that's not the case...You see, Aiba, Ohno comes from a family of seers, and seers, as you may already know, can predict the future, or all the possible futures, at times."
"And the future is bad... isn't it?" said Sho
"... or all the possible futures" added Jun.
"Ohno's family has stopped receiving visions." The King replied "Which means..."
"...which means that there isn't one." Nino finished, suddenly struck by the gravity of the situation.
"We have seen just one..." Ohno's small voice piped up. His eyes were cast downwards while his hands fidgeted with his robes as he continued, "we saw nothing more after that."
The room remained silent as they waited for Ohno to continue, none of them certain that they wanted to hear what would happen next.
Eriol spoke softly, cutting through the thick silence that weighed heavily upon the room, "I believe I should explain." He started, uncertain of where to begin himself, " You have been called here because you are the last of your kind. Call it natural selection if you will, but the truth is, since Jun's birth there haven't been any more children gifted with magical abilities. The result is that you either have too much magic running through your veins, or too little of it... Not that it matters at this point, I guess. But if you'll notice, there's less of everything..."
Eriol, taking a deep breath, babbled on nervously, "The harvest has grown scant in some areas, while streams and rivers have dried up in several places. It's as if the planet itself is running out of resources, although on the other hand, it's true that some of these may be due to the misuse of resources, but I'm digressing... I have here, one of many books that Ohno's ancestors have written to chronicle their visions. There are volumes of these in this study, and I've been keeping track of the prophecies that have come true over the years. Most of it was quite accurate, while a few have turned out differently. The omens as of late, however, point to an end...which..." Eriol trailed off, unable to continue, as he sought the right words to soften the blow of the bad news he was about to impart.
"Which is what Ohno and his family have seen..." Jun mumbled mostly to himself, unaware that the rest of the room had heard him. He unconsciously brought both knees up to his chest and held them close to himself, nearly resuming the pose he had before Aiba and Sho had entered the room; Though the reality of the situation hadn't yet sunk in, he was starting to feel the rising terror and panic around him, some of which, he suspects, had probably come from himself.
An uneasy silence once more suffocated the small room, until Aiba broke out in panic...
"Wait! What do we do? Do you think we can stop this? What did Ohno see?!"
"If there's nothing that can be done... what do you want us to do?" Sho asked, mildly alarmed, yet more disbelieving than he was troubled. Three or four voices spoke out all at once, each one panicked and demanding, as Eriol and the King tried their best to contain the situation.
Out of the blue, Yuki spoke:
"It's me... isn't it?" Yuki's voice trembled, "It's the staff. It answers to me. I-I have to use it, don't I?"
"Don't be stupid!" Nino exclaimed "You can't, you shouldn't!"
"But the staff answers to me, I can turn back time... I am its rightful owner." Yuki answered, delirious and mostly talking to herself; Her fingernails digging deep into her frail arms, causing blood to come out of the small crescent-shaped wounds as she tried to stop herself from trembling.
"And then what? It'll end, anyway and you don't know what will happen if you use that thing!" Nino shouted, trying to force some sense into his crazed sister.
"But what will we do?" Yuki whispered, tears finally streaming down her cheeks as her father pulled her in to a tight embrace...
Previous: Beginnings: Movement Next: Yuki's Diary