Cold is the Void

[Amaterasu]

Expedition, Day 14 - Day 2 of the Ascent

The Second Hall: Envy

"Hmm... I see that you appear ready to progress?" Senecianus asked as the group was finishing their breakfast and it watched over them.

Amaterasu, Fiara, Oki and Urist had slept through the cold night in the midst of the caves, between the first and the second hall, in the tents that they had brought along. They had enjoyed a hearty dinner and breakfast and indeed felt prepared to progress. Of course, no amount of preparation could truly have them ready for what was to come... but it felt better to go in there feeling that one had done what was within their range of possibility. Thus, Amaterasu honestly replied: "Yes, we are. We only need to pack our things up."

"Ah, that would be advisable to do, indeed. The ascent is still long and you will need to sleep for several times if you progress at such a rhythm." Because the wampa did not spur them on Amaterasu felt that there was no hurry, no reason for them to be forcing their way through the halls as fast as they could. Of course, staying and lingering would not be a good thing in the long term either... they would never arrive at their destination if they did not march onward. And she could never be certain of Senecianus's intentions... who was to say that it was only their guide? That it was not pursuing some other plan?

While she thought about these things the tents were packed, rolled up and stuffed into the backpacks, as were the cooking utensils and everything else that they had set up in the cave. Now fully equipped and ready to go, they marched towards the exit of the cave, leading higher up. "Senecianus... please guide us to the next trial."

"Very well." They became shrouded in darkness as the wampa led them through a completely black tunnel, warning them of staircases. Amaterasu could not see a thing, it was absolutely pitch black. She wondered what she would see if she lit a torch. At first, she could hear everyone's footsteps disproportionately loudly as if their feet were right next to her ears. But slowly, this diminished to only hearing Senecianus's footsteps, as well as her own.

Amaterasu

When she re-emerged from the tunnel into the light, she was alone with Senecianus. She stood at the edge of a cliff, overlooking the frozen lake Laochi, and in it the Ark of Yamato. "Senecianus", she said with a calm voice, eyeing the wampa. "Where are the others? What did you do to them?" Her hands were close to her brush, ready to cut it to bits.

However, Senecianus only sat down by the cliffside. "You will have to do this trial alone, Amaterasu Omikami, as do they. Welcome to the second Hall of Sin... the Hall of Envy."

"But..." She stepped forward. Suddenly the ground beneath her broke away: she had stepped on a snow overhang! Before she could react she was sliding down along the cliffside in a small avalanche, and landed head first in a pile of snow that thankfully dampened her fall. Her face was bright red when she freed herself... she felt cold.

"Ah, Amaterasu... you have arrived", a familiar voice greeted her. Oki was looking down at her, with Kutone over his shoulder. He had stabbed the sword into a pedestal by the edge of the lake and the crack in the ice that it was creating was approaching the Ark of Yamato, to free it from its confines. He was not wearing his mask, and thus she could see him looking down at her as she brushed the snow off. "It's time to say our goodbyes."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

A new figure stepped into her view. Urist. He was looking at the lake and at the Ark. "Yer gonna be goin' with this big ship there, aren't ya? Yer a goddess after all. Ye don' belong here."

Amaterasu looked at the Ark, gritting her teeth. "I... yes, I fear that I will have to do so."

Oki sheathed Kutone again while looking at her. "You would like to stay, wouldn't you? You would like to be here on Earth."

"Oki, I..."

He placed his finger on her lips. "I know your feelings for me, Amaterasu. And you should know as well as I do that you should stop pursuing them. You aren't mortal, but I am. You are a goddess, and I am not."

Urist nodded as he stroked his beard. "Yer immortal, Ammy. Even 'ere in the Omniverse, yer status as a Prime means that yer a goddess among mortals. Nothin' good can come of bein' with Oki."

Amaterasu's eyes widened a bit. "No! That's not what I..."

"That's exactly what you wanted all that time", Oki interrupted her with a sad smile. "You want to live together with me. You want to be loved and to love. Deep down, you want to be mortal so that you do not have to live in a world without me when I die. You are dragging on our goodbyes in hopes of spending a shred of time more with me." He pushed the hair away from his forehead while sighing and giving a disbelieving laugh. "And you cannot even muster the courage to admit it."

Amaterasu gritted her teeth and slapped Oki with force. His face turned to dark smoke and he dispersed, only to reappear next to her once more. "You are pathetic, Amaterasu. You are the greatest of all goddesses, blessed with immortality and the power to banish evil from the face of the earth, yet you would cast it all aside for one man. That is not love. That is just sad."

"SHUT UP!" Amaterasu yelled, fighting the tears in her eyes, and punched him. Again, he dispersed into black smoke, and rematerialized into Fiara.

"You are sad, Mother Amaterasu", the phoenix girl said with a disbelieving headshake. "To think you would be jealous of even me... for being able to die, here in the Omniverse. I'm starting to think that you have brought me back just to have a few mortal souls around yourself... to forget how lonely you are. The only remaining Kami in Takamagahara, outside of the Celestial Brush Kami who are really just fractions of your power. You're jealous of that we have friends? That we can die? That one day we can cross the Sanzu river and be reincarnated with new purpose, while your duty will never end? What a sad woman you are."

Urist laughed and walked past Amaterasu, towards the path that led to Laochi Lake. "Come, Fiara. Ye don' want ta waste yer short time alive with this pathetic Prime. Life ain't gonna last us forever... we gotta make the best of it." Laughing coldly at her, they both walked along the path and soon disappeared, leaving her alone.

That was when Amaterasu clenched her fists and began to walk towards the Ark of Yamato. Before her the rainbow arc that formed a bridge between the frozen surface and the single entrance to the starfaring ship appeared, she was walking straight towards it. "You are blessed with mortality... Oki, Fiara, and even you, Urist... but I should not be jealous of you for being able to die and move on one day. I should be happy that you are given this opportunity, and for the time that we spend together I must be grateful. Grateful for that you spend that time with me. Happy that I can make you happy in however long is allocated to us. Of course I wish for the things I do not have... but we all do." She smiled a little as she began climbing the rainbow, and shed a tear. "I am happy that you will never have to watch your friends die knowing that this end will never be granted to you."

Oki

Oki found himself in Kamui as well... in much the same spot as Amaterasu had, in fact. Kutone was in his hands, and Amaterasu stood behind him, watching the crack in the ice free the starship from its frozen prison.

"Now you are going to return to your home and return to your ways of a warrior", Amaterasu said with a sweet voice. "You'll find a beautiful girl to marry and have a family."

Oki chuckled and nodded. "Perhaps... I am, unfortunately, a simple man. I cannot measure myself up to a Kami."

"Yet you long for me. You would wish to be like me, would you not? Kami of the Hunt... and mated to the Kami of the Sun."

Oki frowned but shook his head. "A simple life is all I desire, Amaterasu."

"No... you longed for more, Oki, but you stayed in Kamui. You weren't able to discard the chains that you imposed on yourself... to enjoy the same freedom that I did, of moving freely through Nippon. You stayed here in Kamui, wielding Kutone and protecting a speckle of land at the farthest reaches of the world, proclaiming yourself to be its protector. To know that the people are grateful to you for your services, never realizing the truth... does it put your mind at ease? That's nice."

"It's not that way. I would like to be free, but I also like the life I have. Perhaps I was not made for a life of adventure as you were. And if that's what was decided for me, then I am happy with it." He stepped away from the pedestal and towards Kamui. "I wish you a safe return to Takamagahara, Amaterasu. And thank you."

Fiara

The cursed island. Dante's Abyss.


The boat that would be their escape was within reach. But she could not move. Her body was buried beneath the remains of the monster that she had fought... she had died. But she was not dead.

Oddly, Fiara felt that she should not remember this. All she had seen were the recordings of Dante's Abyss, of her last fight... of how she had died so shortly before reaching her destination.

A hulking man in rotting armor, reminiscent of a Plaguelord, leant over her, and with a voice that sounded like his lungs should have stopped functioning long, with a trachea so choked with tumours that he should have suffocated long ago, asked her: "Are you disappointed? Saddened that your power was insufficient to carry your way through the Abyss?"

"Hngh... help me! Let me out of here!" yelled Fiara.

"You will die here, because you are weak, child. You have lost both immolation and immortality. Just what sort of a phoenix do you purport to be?" Okor reached down and showed Fiara the bloodied guts of the beast. "You were not even able to end this mindless monster on your own. You had to beg and barter for aid, from myself and others more worthy of survival. Yet I have survived, though I showed you pity and aided you, despite all logic."

"You were... better", Fiara admitted reluctantly, gritting her teeth. "You are a Prime. I am not. I'm mortal."

"You would love to be a Prime, would you not? To be as powerful as Amaterasu. To be able to arise once more from the ashes of your death... to spare yourself from the selfish desire to leave your loved ones without grief. You would love to have the powers that I wield. You are jealous of me... of me, the being you mistook for being a Plaguelord. What a... joke." Slowly he rose again. It was time to go.

"I desire power..." Fiara admitted, gritting her teeth. "But if you think I would want to be like you, you’re mistaken! I’ll find power for myself, so nobody has to be sad because of me anymore. Least of all Amaterasu!” Her hands fell limp as death began to set in. Just as it was time for the plague-ridden Space Marine to go, so did she need to move on. “I’ll see you soon, Mother Amaterasu. Be sure to... bring me back.” When she then closed her eyes to let her consciousness fade, she was smiling.

A big thanks goes to Okor for having written his part in the "guest appearance" for Fiara's bit! You rock, man!

11469 + 2028 = 13.497 / 20.000 words.