Brave Story

  “That was too scary,” Jozo muttered. “What was that?”

  “Wind magic. Mitsuru wrapped it around the Crystal Palace so we couldn’t come near.” Wataru patted Jozo on the head. He felt like crying too.

  When they were in flying formation with Kutz’s dragon at last, he saw that the staunch branch chief was wounded too. She was covered with burns and soot except for one place above her right eye. The blood from a cut on her face had washed a little bit of the smoky grime away. “No way we can get in there now!” Kutz swore, gritting her teeth. Her whip hand was covered with blood. “Can you do something about that damn barrier?”

  “I’m not powerful enough to break it,” Wataru said, struggling to steady his breathing. “The only thing I can think of is to use warp magic to jump inside.”

  Kutz opened her one good eye wide. “If you could do that, why didn’t you say so earlier?”

  “I can try it, but I’m not sure it’ll work. I can’t control it like Mitsuru does. I don’t know exactly where we’ll end up.”

  “Nothing to do but try then!” Kutz said, lightly jumping from her dragon onto Jozo’s back. “Let’s go,” she said, grabbing onto Wataru’s arm.

  “Go?”

  “You’re taking us with you! I’ll warp too if I’m holding on to you, right?”

  Wataru looked around at Kee Keema and Meena.

  “You two help the people down in the city,” he said. Then, before Meena could protest, he added, “Kutz and I will deal with Mitsuru!”

  Meena’s wide eyes reflected the red flames from below. “O-okay.”

  “You be careful,” Kee Keema said, kneeling on Jozo’s back. “All right, Jozo! Once Wataru and Kutz are gone, you can take us down to the city. We’ll help get the survivors to safety!”

  Jozo gave his wings of a powerful beat. “Gotcha!”

  Wataru shut his eyes and mouthed the words to the spell. He felt his body grow light and he could no longer feel the heat of the blaze or the push of the wind. I’m a magebullet. He shot into the air, streaking over the heads of the golems and above the capital city of Solebria. He was heading straight toward the Crystal Palace.

  Suddenly, reality snapped back into focus. Wataru was floating in the air with Kutz by his side. Right in front of them they saw a large terrace, an elegantly decorated watchtower, and sweeping stone balustrades. It was the palace! The central spire caught the light of the sun, reflecting it back into their eyes.

  For a split-second, Wataru saw a garrison of Knights lying upon the ground in the shadow of the arched gates. Blood, blood, blood. Gore had been splattered everywhere. Here was a steel boot lying haphazardly on the cobblestones. There was a silver helmet sitting in a fountain, filling with crimson-stained water…

  “We’re falling!” Kutz shouted. Like a pair of anvils, the two plummeted straight toward the blood-splattered stone terrace.

  “Don’t interfere!” A voice rang in Wataru’s ears. It was Mitsuru. A light flashed in the depth of Wataru’s eyes, and suddenly, it was as though they had collided with an invisible wall in the air. Magic impacted with magic, and the world around Wataru warped and exploded.

  Kutz shouted with rage and confusion, grabbing on to Wataru’s arm.

  With a thud, they landed. They were on the ground. Wataru’s neck jolted with the impact.

  “Where are we?” Kutz looked around. Wataru held his head in his hands until the world agreed to stop spinning around him. He shut his eyes.

  When he opened his eyes again, he saw green.

  They could still see the Crystal Palace, but it was considerably farther away now. Still, they could see the shining spire and the walls much clearer than when they had been over the city. Thin ribbons of smoke flowed out of the many castle windows.

  “I think we’re on the castle grounds—this appears to be some kind of garden,” Kutz said with disbelief.

  Somehow, the two had been transported into one of the many beautiful gardens surrounding the Crystal Palace. A gazebo stood upon a simple stone platform. It was the Garden of Victory, the very place where Mitsuru had spoken with Lady Zophie.

  “Quiet here, isn’t it,” Kutz said, standing and wiping away the blood that had run into her right eye. “Not even a palace guard to greet us.”

  “I think we’re inside Mitsuru’s wind-wall.” Wataru tried to stand, but his knees gave out beneath him. Kutz held him up.

  “So this was spared the worst…” Kutz began, and fell silent. Now that her eyes were focusing properly, she could clearly see that the garden had been ravaged. Flowers were scattered, several trees had been uprooted, and the fence that surrounded the garden leaned at an awkward angle.

  In the shadow of one of the hedges, two men appearing to be guards lay with their legs and arms splayed out upon the grass. Their blood stained the dirt an ominous black. Mitsuru’s winds had passed through here, with edges sharp as sickles. The storm had slashed through everything made of flesh.

  “When we teleported above one of the terraces I was able to peek over the castle walls,” said Wataru. “There were bodies everywhere. I saw a severed head, and blood pooling in the courtyard. I think the same thing happened in there that happened out here.”

  Mitsuru’s message was clear:

  —I’m going to get the Crown of the Seal and no one’s going to stand in my way, be they knight or lady.

  Wataru turned his back to the castle and looked out over the capital city. A great wall of wind enveloped the palace grounds, cutting off a clear view of the rest of the city. The light from the surrounding fires glowed like a diffuse crimson aura through the swirling winds.

  “Why didn’t we just drop on the terrace after we teleported?”

  “Mitsuru knocked us away. He knew I was using warping magic, and he used his power to create a wall of some kind.”

  Wataru saw two drops of blood fall by Kutz’s feet. “You’re bleeding!” he gasped. “We need to get you some bandages.”

  “It’s nothing,” she said. Her right eye was practically glued shut with blood.

  “I’m going to try again. Are you ready?”

  “Who do you think you’re talking to?” Kutz bound her whip tightly at her waist and grabbed on to Wataru’s arm.

  Wataru closed his eyes. I can’t just think myself there. I need to use the power of the third gemstone…I have to get it to take me to the Crown of the Seal—to the place where the Gem of Darkness lies. I have to listen to the gemstone’s voice, I have to let it lead me.

  “Please, take us there,” Wataru said softly, and he thought he heard a whispered “yes” in reply. “This is it!” he shouted to Kutz, and the two vanished from the Garden of Victory.

  They became nothing but streaks of light, time stopped, and they shot across the sky.

  This time they fell farther. Wataru lost all sense of direction. Eventually the two landed on the ground in a tangle.

  He must’ve been knocked unconscious for two or three seconds. When he came to, Wataru was lying face down on a smooth floor. The blue translucence of the floor reminded him of Dela Rubesi. That icy blue…just like the frozen capital.

  Wataru gasped and thrust out his arms, jerking upright.

  He was in a vast hall. Round pillars stood in a ring, and upon each of the pillars was carved a figure wearing robes, a heavy crown upon his head. Past emperors? And then he saw Mitsuru.

  He was standing alone in the middle of the large hall.

  The floor, the pillars, the carved emperors, the high ceiling, everything reflected him standing there in his black robes. The entire hall was a mirror.

  Kutz put her hand on Wataru’s shoulder, leaning on him once before straightening herself.

  Both of them found their gazes drawn inexorably toward Mitsuru. Then their eyes followed his, looking up to one side.

  There it was: The Mirror of Eternal Shadow.

  It was set between two pillars at the northernmost end of the chamber. It stood as high as Wataru, a perfect circle, tilt
ed slightly upward. And in that mirror, positioned facing slightly upward, was…

  Dark.

  Impenetrable shadow filled the mirror right to its silvery rim. The darkness seethed, soundlessly surging against its confines.

  Mitsuru took one smooth step forward. Then Wataru noticed something: a small star pattern at the mirror’s base. Inside the pattern, set at its very center, was a crown. A single gemstone could easily be seen.

  The Crown of the Seal, and the Mirror of Eternal Shadow.

  The Gem of Darkness, too, was filled with the same burning jet blackness that roiled in the mirror.

  Mitsuru lowered his eyes, still looking at the Crown of the Seal. He took another, larger step forward, revealing someone sitting on the floor behind him.

  It was a girl. She was wearing an elegant white dress, her hair carefully bound. She sat with someone’s head resting upon her lap—a man.

  This, it occurred to Wataru, was probably the emperor himself, Gama Agrilius VII. He wore a richly embroidered robe, though it was tattered and ripped in several places.

  Tears streaked the girl’s face and her dress was soaked with blood. Wataru couldn’t tell whether the blood belonged to her or to the emperor.

  “L-Lord Mitsuru.” The girl called out to Mitsuru in a trembling voice. He didn’t even blink. His eyes were fixed on the crown and the mirror.

  The girl’s face seemed somehow familiar. Wataru thought hard. He had seen someone just like her before. Who was it?

  “Don’t know when to quit, do you?” Mitsuru said. He was still facing the mirror, but his voice was projected directly at Wataru. “Welcome. This is the mirror.”

  In response to Mitsuru’s words, the darkness rippled around the edge of the mirror like water. “And this is my last gemstone, the Gem of Darkness.” Mitsuru knelt slowly, one knee on the ground, reaching out toward the crown.

  “Please, do not do this. Please!” the girl in the white dress said, sobbing. “Do not remove the seal on the mirror! I beg you!” Her deperate plea totally exhausted her and her body crumpled like a wad of newspaper. The emperor’s head slipped off her lap with an awkward thud. She may as well have dropped a sack of potatoes. The emperor was dead.

  Before Wataru could even think to do anything, Kutz’s whip lashed out across the room. One spiked boot heel kicked against the floor, and her shoulders went back as she leaped.

  Without even looking, Mitsuru thrust his sorcerer’s staff casually in Kutz’s direction. That slight gesture was enough to smack her back through the air like a ball, sending her flying over Wataru’s head.

  “Best not to waste your time.”

  From across the room, Kutz moaned softly. Wataru readied his Brave’s Sword and fired a magebullet. Mitsuru swung his staff again. The bullets transformed into fireworks in midair, spraying sparks on the walls and floor.

  “Stop!” Wataru lifted his sword and charged. His feet pounded across the slick floor. The next moment he was flying through the air, helpless. He flew head first, crashing into the floor by the girl in the white dress.

  “Believe me, I know what will happen when the seal on the Mirror of Eternal Shadow is broken,” Mitsuru said, at last turning to face Wataru. His eyes were smiling. His mouth was twisted in a way Wataru had not seen before.

  “Why?” The girl said, crying softly. “Why do this?”

  “I am a Traveler, m’lady,” he said, looking down at her. “If I claim this last gem, the way to the Tower of Destiny will open to me. That is why I came to Vision. How many times must I explain this?”

  Across the room, Kutz stirred. She sat up and lifted her whip one more time. Wataru found he had trouble focusing on her. The impact with the floor had left his hands and feet dangling loose like ribbons. It was all he could do to keep a grip on his sword. He saw Kutz waver, dropping her whip, then hurriedly stooping to pick it up. She was cut terribly, and most of her face was lost behind a sheet of blood.

  “To change your destiny?” the girl asked Mitsuru, tears dripping from her jaw.

  “Indeed,” Mitsuru said calmly. Wataru thought he saw, in that instance, something like familiarity in Mitsuru’s gaze. “M’lady, with you by my side, I will return the scales of fortune to their rightful position, for they have tilted so very far from balance.”

  Wataru had no idea what he was talking about. The girl looked similarly confused. She does looks like someone. I know her. His searching hands found a fragment of memory tucked away in a corner of his mind.

  “Mitsuru’s aunt,” he said out loud. “She’s your aunt. She looks just like her.”

  I’m only twenty-three. I can’t handle this—raising a kid. Tears welling in her eyes.

  Mitsuru whirled around to face Wataru.

  A fate most unfair, the iron chains of misfortune, a harrowing journey through Vision—could anybody turn back the hands of time? Who had the right to stop something like that? For a split second, deep inside, Wataru hesitated.

  In that moment, Mitsuru reached down toward the Crown of the Seal, and softly lifted it from its place within the star pattern. He had never touched anything, or anyone, so gently in all his life—he held it as delicately as if he were handling his own soul.

  “Stop!” Wataru’s lonely cry echoed through the hall.

  Mitsuru’s staff was finally complete. Thrusting it into the air he shouted, “I’m giving you a chance to run, as a friend. Now get out!”

  Mitsuru began to chant, and a mighty wind wrapped itself around Wataru. His feet left the floor, and he was floating in the air. Wataru thrashed about with his hands, finding the white dress of the girl beside him and grabbing on to it.

  “Hold on!”

  The hall disappeared around them.

  Chapter 50

  The Parting

  Solebria had collapsed into a smoldering sea of rubble, swallowing thousands of innocent citizens. Those who were lucky enough to find themselves alive trickled from the city like blood dripping from a wound.

  In the middle of it all, the Crystal Palace sat quietly.

  A single column of light shot from the highest spire toward the vault of the sky above. It left the scarred and broken land below and reached for the heavens. Wataru instinctively knew that the light revealed the path to the Tower of Destiny—the destination of all Travelers in possession of all five gemstones.

  Wrapped in his black robes, Mitsuru was flying up the column of light. No one could stop him now. No one could block his course.

  Down below, survivors watched until the tiny black figure was sucked up into the blue and disappeared.

  At that same moment, the wind died. The great cyclone that had ravaged the palace faded until there was nothing more than a gentle breeze.

  The golems trembled ever so slightly before coming to a halt. Their magical switches had been turned off. In the midst of the dust and wreckage, the golems stood silently.

  Then, as if by decree, they turned to dust, crumbling like sand castles swept away by the ocean’s tide.

  Here, one dropped to its knees. A head crumbled, flowing down over its shoulders. A fist evaporated. One by one, the golems disintegrated without a sound or cry, mingling with the wreckage of the city. Soon there was no trace of them at all.

  Nothing else moved in the city save the persistent flames. Yet these too faded. The great blazes soon lost their strength, reduced to nothing more than severed tongues of fire searching for nourishment.

  Or perhaps it was merely intermission. Those who remained felt the ground tremble beneath their feet. Something was rising from deep below in fits of violent energy—there was a crashing sound of a thousand hoof-beats.

  The Crystal Palace once again blazed with a light inspired by the rock it took its name from. The castle began a bizarre transformation. The four square wings collapsed. The main arch sagged. Towers leaned. Terraces warped.

  It was collapsing in the most unconventional manner. The entire structure shrank to a single point—that point being the emperor?
??s throne. The shining milky-white rock of the castle was folding into itself, being sucked into a singularity. A thousand mouthlike windows gave off a soundless scream, then they, too, were swallowed.

  In the space of only a few seconds, the entire Crystal Palace had disappeared.

  In its place, a mist black as night began spreading. It swirled as though it were made of a thousand tiny black birds. In mere moments, it took over the space left by the castle.

  The black mist then spread out, forming two wings, rising into the sky. The wings beat slowly, lifting what had slept within the ground higher and higher.

  The Mirror of Eternal Shadow.

  It hung in the sky like an inverted sun, raining darkness down on the wreckage of the city below. The surface of the mirror shimmered with the joy at its release from eternal bondage. Then, it began to spit a flood of darkness into the sky.

  Far away in the National Observatory at Lourdes, Dr. Baksan sat with his spectacles perched upon his nose, poring over the pages of a thick manuscript. He stood on his specially crafted wooden boots, surrounded by the chatter of students busy at their work. A tiny feathered pen moved in his hand, annotating a passage of particular interest—

  The doctor’s eyes opened wide. The color drained from his face.

  “Is something wrong?” Romy asked from nearby.

  Dr. Baksan’s little mouth was gaping. His eyes swam, looking out the window. “No…” he muttered. Before Romy could catch him, he toppled off his high boots and fell crashing to the floor.

  The Spectacle Machine circus troupe had arrived in Gasara several days earlier and set about preparing for their first show. The city was still under the command of the Knights of Stengel. High Chief Gil had been arrested, and the branch stripped of its power. The Knights closely monitored and controlled all movement, not just in and out of the town but within the town itself. People were restless and worried. Troupe leader Bubuho aimed to mend that with the most uplifting performance he could muster, given his limited time and resources. Thus he was engaged in instructing Puck and the other acrobats in the intricacies of a new routine when one of the circus workers ran up. “Bubuho! Granny wants you to come right away!” he said breathlessly.