Futures End

Kizuna

Iroha, why did we go past the skyscraper? I asked as I reviewed the probable futures. They were vanishing and coalescing into one.

The god core was a little giddy when I woke him up. He’ll listen from now on. Why do you ask?

I was near the back of the yacht looking over the rapidly changing landscape below. The yacht was picking up speed and we were soon out of Edo’s airspace and past the battlefield that I had taken part in yesterday. I tapped my hooves on the wooden surface of the yacht, the coverings having fallen off after I turned into this state.

I was curious. I felt Iroha consider that before mentally shrugging. She turned her attention back to keeping the ship on course.

Eien was with Norihisa at the front of the ship to prepare for the ritual to cross the Great Barrier surrounding Japan. We were finally heading west, to China. The homeland of the Kirin or as we were originally known as, the Qilin.

I shook my head, my long hair flapping in the wind. The divinity within me reached out towards me and I rejected it. It, or she understood that I rejected her presence. That I would never willingly become a god and ascend to the heavens. I valued my human soul too much to allow it to be burned away into whatever she wanted to become.

Already I felt the edges of my mind burning from her touch. There was only so much that I could do earlier to hold her back. Even now with just her sitting there, she slowly encroached, through no fault of her own. Divinity simply burned whatever it touched and purified it. And we humans were full of filth, simply by living our lives.

The divinity reached out towards me one more time, questioningly. I shook my head at her and she grumbled and retreated. She saw the future that I saw and turned her back on me angrily. I smiled sadly. It truly didn’t matter what she thought, she would have died either way.

I turned away from the railing and made my way towards the front of the yacht. There were things I still needed to do before I was gone. The land below us was rapidly changing and the ocean would be upon us soon. Time seemed to slow and colors faded when I caught sight of Eien.

One step.

Norihisa stood in a magic circle with his arms out chanting. Eien stood behind him with his arms crossed. Even in his tattered multicolored haori and ripped red suit, he looked amazing. He was the man who was going to save my soul.

Two steps.

There were so many things I wanted to tell him, that I had to tell him. There were so many things that I wanted to do with him. There weren’t enough words that I could use to thank him. How would I be able to narrow them down to only just a few words to be able to tell him my gratitude.

Three steps.

He turned towards me, no doubt the sounds of my hooves on the deck alerting him to my presence. He started to grin and he opened his mouth to tell me something. I lowered my eyes and shut them tightly.

Four steps, the number of death.

A gasp of air forced its way through my mouth. Blinding pain tore through my body. I opened my eyes to see a sword pierced through the middle of my chest. The man behind me pulled it out, scattering my blood across the deck. My kimono was quickly stained with blood pouring out of the wound.

I looked back up towards Eien who was running towards me. Norihisa turned with a look of horror on his face. I fell forward, my body crumpling. I couldn’t stand from the blood loss, the pain and the simple act of violence inflicted upon me.

I fell into Eien’s outstretched arms. He guided me to the deck and turned me around so that I could see him. He tried to put a hand over my wound, to stop the blood but that wouldn’t help. I had been pierced in a way that severed my spine and my heart. The only thing keeping me going was the divinity inside of me.

She begged me to take up her power, to allow her control of my body. It was the only way that she knew to save us. The Kirin weren’t meant for fighting, we were meant for an era of peace. We were to heal and bring stability to the land. She could have healed us, but at the price of my dying in her stead.

I refused her. No one was going to use my body after my death, even if she was a different me. This was my body that my soul had been born to. It was my right to dictate how it was used. My right for how I lived and how I died.

She turned away angrily. Her will was rapidly dissipating, like ashes in the wind. Even then, she respected me. She didn’t like what I had chosen but she respected the decision.

I turned away from her in my mindscape to look back at Eien. He had given up on trying to stop the blood. Tears ran from his eyes and I knew that he didn’t realize that he was shedding them.

I had to say the right thing to him or else he might spend the rest of his life blaming himself. I didn’t have much time for words. There were so many things to convey. If only we had met sooner, then maybe we wouldn’t have ended up like this.

It was deep in my regret that I knew what to say to him. It was just two simple words. Words that would eventually grant him peace, even if the path ahead was painful. Even if my soul had departed.

I raised my hand to his cheek. My hand trembled until I managed to touch him. My remaining divinity was rapidly fading and then I would pass. Time began to speed up for me again. Just two simple words.

Thank you

“Thank you.”