What It Means To Experience

"What the hell, Yuna!"

But it was too late. Itsuki leaned out the window, glass digging into his already bloodied hands. 

There she was, plummeting from the tower towards the ground and the carnage below. Itsuki was horrified. Had she snapped? Was she finally done fighting to stay alive? 

Would he have to witness her blow apart when her body slammed into the ground a few moments later?

The answer - at least to the last one - was no.

A flash of light, blinding Itsuki and drawing the attention of everyone below, engulfed Yuna. Moments later she was no longer falling. 

She was floating, and she had transformed. 

From her shoulders had sprouted large, spectral wings. Their glow was a vibrant gold, and they looked like dragon's wings. 

While her appearance otherwise was mostly unaltered, her irises had shifted from green to the same golden hue. Her bow-blade, originally colored black, was also glowing golden. The symbol of Bahamut pulsated on her chest like a war banner. 

Just like that, he was no longer the only God-marked present. 

"There will be no more despair!" Yuna shouted, her voice echoing with holy radiance. "Velmorians, you must fight with everything you have! Fight like you have the Hope to see tomorrow!"

Everyone was momentarily stunned. Even the Starbeasts had temporarily paused, as if suddenly uncertain about what to do. 

"You heard her!" Vaelric's voice boomed out, his scythe already deeply embedded into a beast's head. "Let us show these creatures that we are the rulers of the night!"

With Yuna above, and their Baron leading their charge, the other vampires roared in unison. They began fighting with superhuman ferocity, tearing the beasts apart as fast as they were coming. 

Yuna, observing the battlefield with a calm authority, began nocking and firing arrows. They were not aimed at Starbeasts, however, but the vampires themselves. 

Each vampire hit would recoil for a moment, but then would be enveloped in a brief golden glow. For those few seconds, their wounds would close and their bodies would reform. Even those that had been torn beyond repair were somehow stitched back into perfect condition. 

The Starbeasts might have been endless. With Yuna on the field, however, so were the Velmorians. 

Itsuki couldn't just stand there. He turned back towards the book that he had been fighting desperately to open. While it remain closed, it was pulsating a golden hue. It's color and rhythmic pulsing seemed identical to Yuna. 

--I shouldn't open that right now. It could effect whatever has happened to Yuna...

Instead, he simply grabbed the book as well as his spear. He quickly moved towards the door, readying to unlatch it so he could get himself outside. 

Then the paralysis hit him. He seized up as if his entire body had decided to refute his wishes. 

"That doesn't seem very wise, boy..."

Bahamut's voice rang out in their chamber once again. This time, only Itsuki was there to hear it. 

"Are you suggesting I just have to sit here and do nothing?!"

"You were not Chosen as a combatant. You were Chosen as the judge..."

"Then why can't I JUDGE?" Itsuki yelled out. "These people have done nothing wrong. If I'm supposed to be able to stop this Cataclysm, then why can't I?"

"This event is still within the jurisdiction of the previous judge. Your judgment is not yet wise enough."

"To hell with your wisdom!" Itsuki yelled out. 

"ENOUGH!"

The whole room seemed to shudder and the air got unimaginably heavy. Itsuki dropped to his hands and knees, as if his body suddenly weighed 2000 pounds. 

"Wisdom comes from experience; so experience it fully! Watch what it means to sentence them to the Cataclysm. Feel what it feels like to be helpless in the face of your loved ones struggling. Experience it all, and know for certainty what it is you could choose to unleash upon the world!"

With that, the room returned to normal. Bahamut's presence had vanished and Itsuki could once again move. Only the echoing of Bahamut's final words remained:

"Be thankful I gave them Hope, rather than simply let them perish..."

Itsuki knelt there, trembling as he looked at his hands and his tome. The sounds outside had only grown louder. A constant chaotic mixture of inspiration and death. It was overwhelming, especially compared to his mundane life from two weeks ago. 

He was no soldier, and he would uncomfortable just from the thought of a death. To have countless deaths all around him, and painful ones at that? He had never experienced anything like it. 

Although, that did appear to be Bahamut's point. 

After a moment of relaxation, a sickening feeling overcame him. He instinctively ran to the washroom, turning on the water rune just before his body ejected his dinner from earlier that night. 

--Why me? Why was I brought here? I'm not strong enough for this...

He seemed to have no choice, though. Even as he collected himself, he could feel his God-mark pulsating. It urged him to return to the window, to see the carnage, and to fully take in the experience.

***

After what seemed like an eternity, it was over. 

The clouds had retaken the sky just as it was beginning to brighten. At that point, no more Starbeasts spawned or rained from above. Without their endless horde supporting them, the Velmorians managed to clean up the rest of the foes within a handful of minutes. 

Yuna smiled from her sky-bound position. They had won, the Cataclysm had been vanquished. While it was a bloody battle, it ended with victory instead of extinction. 

With that, Yuna fell unconscious and plummeted the rest of the way. 

"Yuna!"

Itsuki barreled out the door of the chamber. He sprinted down the hallways, passing by corpses of both sides without a second glance. Even though it only took him about sixty seconds to get outside at full-speed, it had felt like an eternity. 

By the time he arrived, Vaelric already had her in his arms. Itsuki didn't know whether he had picked her up or caught her, but her body wasn't mutilated by the landing. Her divine features had all faded away, leaving the normal slave-girl he had come to know. 

"Her breathing is faint, but she is alive," Vaelric assured him. "She needs rest, so let us get her to one of the bedchambers. You have my word that she will survive. We will not let our savior die."

Itsuki was thankful for Vaelric's conviction, although savior felt humorous in this situation. Even with Yuna, the courtyard was littered with bodies of Velmorians. 

If Itsuki had to estimate from where he had watched, more than half of them had perished during the night. 

"There is no time to brood," Vaelric commanded, snapping Itsuki back to reality. "If there were any doubts about you being Chosen as the judge, then they are no more. Let us bring this girl to bed, and then I must give you a gift."

"A gift?" Itsuki questioned. "I didn't..."

"Not from me," Vaelric interrupted. "The Velmorians will provide a different gift. Given our survival at her hands, we will give you more than necessary to ensure you make it to Evermere. The gift I speak of, however, is not from Velmoria or from me."

"Then who is it from?"

Vaelric's eyes pierced into his. 

"It is from the previous judge."