Anima, Ch.53: War In Heaven

--01-- <BGM: Palace of Shadows>
"The...celestial hosts...? My mother and sister...were killed by...*angels*?"
Sariana scoffed. "Don't presume they're all as good and righteous as the world you're in makes them out to be."



--02-- <BGM: Palace of Shadows>
"It had been angelic hosts, that lusted for battle with us, who carried out this craven murder...
Those who felt there wasn't room enough in the universe for another way of seeing things..."



--03-- <BGM: Palace of Shadows>
"The gods in the heavens only cared about maintaining their own brand of justice.
They were bound to the same restrictions, though.
Mortals have free will, and none may interfere in their choices."


--04-- <BGM: Palace of Shadows>
"But the heavens themselves were divided. There were those that wished to plunge into the abyss to
put us to the sword, and those who felt that to do so would make them as evil as those they fought."



--05-- <BGM: Palace of Shadows>
Sariana pointed at the weapon that had killed Mother. "A consecrated weapon, forged by the gods.
The assassins didn't even try to hide who or what they were. Now their hands were all forced..."



--06-- <BGM: Palace of Shadows>
"Father had been their intended target, but the assassins became lost in the enormity of our home.
They could not get to Father, and so they settled for a lesser prize. It was a grave mistake..."



--07-- <BGM: Death March>
The image of my father clenched a fist and stared upward. "They will pay for what they have done,
Sariana. I will bring the heavens low and make the Creator himself beg forgiveness for this!"



--08-- <BGM: Death March>
The other figures in the room vanished, aside from the original Sariana. "We lost ourselves in our grief
and anger... I didn't stand idle, either. For once in my long, indolent life, I was...driven."



--09-- <BGM: Death March>
Her grip tightened on her grim scepter. "The fools...did they not realize we were necessary in the
cosmic balance? There is no good without evil. There are no distinctions without extremes!"



--10-- <BGM: Death March>
"...so you started a war over this?"
"*They* started it, by striking at the seat of our power. For aeons we'd left each other alone,
leaving mortals to choose good or evil of their free will..."


--11-- <BGM: Death March>
"...each side taking in the souls of those who turned to us, remaking them in our image...
It was the gods who failed to reign in their own rabid dogs, and our ancient pact was made forfeit."



--12--
Sariana regathered her composure, as befitting of a princess of hell--which, I'd come to realize,
was exactly what she'd been...what I had been. "It got ugly fast, once the armies starting clashing."



--13-- <BGM: Destroy, Destroy, and Burn>
Our surroundings changed, once again, to a raging battlefield where two armies were locked
in a battle to the last man, a scene of flames, carnage, violence, and death as far as the eye could see.



--14-- <BGM: Destroy, Destroy, and Burn>
Sariana sighed. "I was right in the thick of it, using all the spells I'd developed with all my experiments,
venting my anger, right alongside Father. Worlds burned with our rage."



--15-- <BGM: Destroy, Destroy, and Burn>
Here, in this new illusion, there was another Sariana, decimating winged legions with frightful amounts
of arcane power that put anything I could wield to shame.

...She would do the same to Erinn.

--16-- <BGM: Destroy, Destroy, and Burn>
The scene of battle was replaced with a slightly different one.
And another. And another. And yet another.
Endless battles on a thousand different worlds, all of them ending in a bloody stalemate.


--17-- <BGM: Destroy, Destroy, and Burn>
First your horrible experiments, and now this? The blood of millions is on my hands because of you!
Sariana laughed. "Starting to accept it, are you? You did all this. *We* did this."
How did you...?


--18-- <BGM: Destroy, Destroy, and Burn>
"...know what you were thinking? As long as you're in here with me, your thoughts are laid bare,
like an open book." She gave a sinister chuckle. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes, the end of all things..."



--19-- <BGM: Whisper of Wind>
"I don't know exactly what happened... I wasn't there at the end..."
"You died...?"
"...Yes. I was...careless. Overconfident. I struck out on my own and fell into a trap.
I was captured, and then..."

--20-- <BGM: Death March>
I found myself bound to a stone altar by chains, stripped bare and lying spreadeagled.
Pain from long tortures wracked my body.
I was surrounded by white-winged figures in red and white robes.


--21-- <BGM: Death March>
I was cut off from my magic somehow, completely helpless. A six-winged angel with a stony face,
in a red and black robe, glared down at me...
He took a glowing sacrificial dagger into both hands...


--22-- <BGM: Death March> {SFX: pow}
He spoke, in a cold emotionless voice, "Princess of Darkness, Sariana Memnoch. I consign thee to oblivion."
He stabbed the consecrated blade into my heart. Blinding pain exploded through my body.



--23-- <BGM: Death March> {SFX: pit-pat}
I screamed as long as I could, as my vision went dark, and black blood bubbled out of my chest with my last heartbeats.
Then it was over, and I was back in the throne room with Sariana...



--24-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
I'd relived my previous death.
"That's my last memory," she said. "I was...executed. But I didn't transmigrate into a new body and a new life."
"I'm...not familiar with how death works here," I said.


--25-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"It's...complicated. Angels, gods, demons, devils...they too can 'die', but their souls persist,
reborn in new bodies, without memories... Yet the being they once were essentially ceases to exist..."



--26-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"But because of that, the war didn't end. It couldn't end.
Countless mortals consumed in the crossfire only swelled the ranks.
Reality itself was starting to come undone from the collateral damage."


--27-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"I should have lost my memories and been reborn in a new body. That didn't happen, though."
"Not the way you expected," I said. "Didn't Father say...he couldn't go on without you?"



--28-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"Yes, he did... After I died...he must have broke the Pact of Creation..."
"The WHAT?"
"An agreement made between Father and the Creator at the dawn of time, to keep each other in check..."


--29-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"If one felt that their counterpart had gone too far, caused too much chaos in the universe,
they could negate the Pact and end everything.
Including themselves.
A perfect balance, or so we thought."

--30-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"Father destroyed your entire *universe* because he was mad that you died!?"
"He always did have a tendency to overreact..."
"...I have no words for how absurd this all is."
It's mindboggling...

--31-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"Our soul was in the middle of transmigration when everything...ended, leaving us...stranded,
with no vessel to return to, stuck between worlds..."
"Until we got pulled back out in Erinn."


--32-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
She paced back and forth, her gaze downcast.
I crossed my arms and stared at her. "That's it? That's all?"
"You know the rest better than I do. Just as you don't have my memories, I don't have yours."


--33-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
What? How is that? She doesn't know?
"How can I be sure any of this even happened?"
"I am always true to myself, and as you are also myself, that extends to you.
That was my life...as I remember it."

--34--
"So, now what...?"
Sariana looked back at the colossal throne. "I always though I'd get a chance at that, someday.
After Father's time. Instead, I ended up being locked away in my own subconscious."


--35-- <BGM: Whisper of Wind>
She glared at me, sizing me up. "But it doesn't have to stay like that. I'll just...rebuild it all."
"...and how do you presume to go about that?" I backed away, even knowing it was useless...


--36-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
Sariana pointed her scepter at me again. "First, you're going to surrender your will to me."
Akule had warned me. She'd lured me into a false sympathy, let herself look vulnerable...all for this...!



--37-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
"You're nothing more than a footnote in the story of my existence, but the knowledge and skills
you've managed to accumulate in your brief life may prove useful."
"What are you going to do...?"


--38-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
"I'll burn that world to ashes and reshape it to my liking.
And those...Milletians? People who cannot die?
Imagine the possibilites...they'll make the perfect test subjects. I almost can't wait!"


--39-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
No! I have to stop her!
I clenched my fists, glaring at her all with all the resolve I could muster.
"If you were just going to eliminate me, why did you go to all the trouble to show me your past?"


--40-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
"You wanted to know, and you were entitled to a...last request."
"Then you made a huge mistake. After seeing what you did to all of those people,
I will *never* let you do the same to Erinn!"

[end of chapter]