GARO Fanfic – Cuestión de supervivencia, 1 (1)

Este fic se inicia siete u ocho meses tras el término de “La llamada de la sangre”

Cap. 1: Acecho (parte 1)

Kaoru sale de su adormilamiento al oir un ruido. Koga ha regresado. Ya era hora, son casi las cinco de la madrugada.

En vano lo espera durante un rato. Intrigada, abandona el lecho y desciende al piso inferior. El se ha acomodado en el sofá, completamente vestido, zapatos y gabardina incluidos.

Ella abre la luz. El aprieta sus párpados en protesta, antes de abrir los ojos. Esas ojeras... Se ha pasado el día y la noche persiguiendo horrores, y ya van diez días seguidos. Necesita descansar, pero es un tema tabú, y ella opta por no decir nada. Se acerca al sofá y él se sienta para darle espacio a ella.

–¿Por qué no vienes a la cama? –le dice.

–¿Para qué? –responde Koga con voz apagada.

–Aunque sólo fuera por una hora, deberías poderte tender para relajarte. Vamos, sube. –Coloca sus manos en jarras–. Y no acepto un no por respuesta.

Un amago de sonrisa de los suyos, seguido de él poniéndose en pie, satisfacen a Kaoru. Un agradable cambio. Los últimos días ha tenido un humor de perros, y al parecer ahora está demasiado cansado incluso éso.

Ya arriba, pretende ayudarlo a desvestirse, pero él la rechaza. Lo hace echarse en la cama boca abajo, y a continuación le masajea la espalda. Koga ronronea con suavidad, antes de quedar profundamente dormido. Una buena señal, él vuelve a sentirse tranquilo en su presencia, sus pensamientos ya no se preocupan por ella. Si no fuera porque no le gusta nada que los horrores se alimenten de ella... pero Kaoru no le da opción a escoger. No, cuando los Caballeros Makai ya no bastan para mantenerlos a raya.

Ella se tiende a su lado, cubre ambos cuerpos con el edredón y se dedica a observar su rostro, que sería hermoso si no estuviese tan tenso. Le posa su dedo índice en el entrecejo y lo mantiene allí, hasta que consigue relajarlo. Luego le acaricia la cabeza, muy despacio, como si no quisiese despeinarlo, aunque sólo quiere comunicarle de alguna manera lo mucho que lo necesita, lo mucho que sufre al verlo tan agotado con pocas esperanzas de que las cosas cambien.

Antes de que ella pueda volver a dormirse, el bien entrenado reloj biológico de Koga lo despierta justo cuando debería empezar a su hora la sesión matinal de ejercicios. Ella se pregunta si podrá terminarla, y sobre todo, si tendrá tiempo para desayunar. El puede pasar días enteros sin dormir, pero no perdona mucho las comidas, y en los últimos días se ha visto obligado a prescindir de seis.

Mientras Koga se encamina a la sala de entrenamiento con paso decidido, ella va a la cocina, donde Gonza le enseña a preparar desayunos decentes y nutritivos. El mayordomo está inmóvil y con la antigua cafetera a medio cerrar entre las manos, pendiente de la televisión.

–¿Qué es? –le pregunta ella.

–A un hombre le han arrancado un brazo de un mordisco. –Su voz no disimula su preocupación–. Hacía demasiado tiempo que no teníamos indicios de los horrores Bariri... aparte de las experiencias que usted nos comunica, señora. ¿Por qué se manifiestan ahora?

Kaoru hace un leve suspiro.

–Al contrario de los horrores de siempre, los Bariri no son nada aficionados a la carne humana. Suelen limitarase a pequeñas agresiones: un pinchazo, un corte, hincar un colmillo como mucho, para obtener unas gotas de sangre y copiar al sujeto. Se han dado cuenta que si llaman la atención pueden ser localizados. Imagino que ese horror en particular no ha encontrado otra forma de alimentarse.

Mientras Gonza retorna a la tarea de cerrar la cafetera, el corazón de Kaoru se contrae. Sólo un brazo se ha comido el horror. Cuando la necesidad de supervivencia obligue a los Bariri a cambiar su dieta, el mundo se convertirá en un campo de batalla entre especies. Sólo ella sigue siendo capaz de percibirlos cuando están disfrazados porque nota un tirón magnético, pero hay que encontrar una manera menos personal de identificarlos.

GARO Fanfic – Blood call, 6, and finish

Chap. 6:  Remainings  (and finish)

Kaoru wakes up in bed. She opens the bedside light and see the other side of the bed empty. Through the window shows the night. Kouga must be hunting.

She looks at the room. How has she reached here? But, she was in ...

She remembers everything. Her torture by the bright beings. When she came to take Kouga off. Her merger to Meshia. Her flight from home. Her pregnancy ...

Her hands fly to her empty belly. Her child had been perverted and killed! She turns in bed until her face sinks into the pillow, and cries. About the child that she has not cried before. About they had she to become evil and she had accepted. About she had left to kill her love to Kouga. About she feels so small, now that Meshia had left her.

*   *   *

“Certainly I didn’t see your dad doing it” the new Zaruba says to its owner “but I doubt that hurling energy with the edge of your sword may involve to streep some leaves off some trees. This way you only get it to bounce to as many obstacles as find and to get back to you”.

Kouga feels tempted to send an outburst to it, but he remains silent and gets ready to try it again. Refocuses an invisible ball at the tip of his sword.

“Hello!” a lively voice greets. Kaoru is back, and he responds with a hint of a smile.

Gonza gets out with the tea, and reachers the table in the garden about the same time as her. Kouga finishes his training and go with them: he is more interested to hear the news by his wife than the protests by the speaking ring.

“How was your day?” he says as sitting.

Kaoru looks at him with that enigmatic smile that she uses since she got rid of her extra charge, which he begins to interpret as “I know something you do not know”. He can not blame her. This is a question that he never would have asked her if it had not happened what happened.

“No, now nothing rare has happened. Sorry”.

But she is not sorry. She hates to worry him, he knows it well. It was difficult she could tell him what was wrong when he saw her so upset coming home the first day she went to work, five days earlier.

She said throughout the day she had passed with three horrors - what, three?, he alarmed - one among them a Bariri - how d’you know that? Kouga asked himself again. - The three among them approached her .

“What happened?” he hurried, as she doubted.

He had to embrace her before she decided to speak. She needed his support at that moment. She told her fingers grew some long bone extension, like thorns, when each of the “normal” disguised horrors stopped in front of her, and she nailed those appendages into their bodies. Both of them remained very quiet. Only when her mind calmed enough she could will to end with that, the appendages were reabsorbed by her body, and the horrors left peacefully. With the Bariri one, it was different. A lump grew about the height of its stomach, which appealed something from herself. At this time she could also decide when to end it. In all three cases, she felt tired after ending.

After finishing the story Kougha came to embrace her again, stronger, as if to prevent Meshia snatch her back.

As Kaoru has been telling, as the perserved memories of Meshia she shared with him, and what Meshia herself said to him, Kouga has begun to see the real situation.

Meshia had been, literally, goddess of a whole world and mother of all its inhabitants. Her disappearance would leave this world in a critical position. The three horrors Kaoru had contacted that day were fed instinctively by her. As they were three and not only one, and the increasingly frequent calls Makai Knights from sanctuaries, clearly shows that the horrors begin to invade the human world, and this fact will create more gateways. Even if Kaoru says that there are remains of Meshia enough to keep the horror world for several years, its inhabitants know they have to make changes in order to survive. The purification of humanhood for all their wickedness is rapidly approaching, and it will not be slight.

Hearing his deep sigh, Kaoru's voice brings his mind back.

“Perhaps I might consider how to feed them without getting tired, and so ...”

“No way!” And, he feels somewhat confused by the increasing ease by her to guess his thoughts when both of them are close to each other.

“But” she tries to make Kouga see sense “horrors that I’ve fed have spent a whole day without eating any human being”.

“You don’t know it”.

“Yes, I know! Although you didn’t want to believe it. Although ... we didn’t want to believe it.

He puts his cup of tea back on the table.

“Meshia’s left you a lot as an inheritance”.

“So much d’you care?”

“It wasn’t left much of you when you both shared a body”.

“That's not accurate. Imagine yourself considering the pros and cons of a decision you must do. It was the same. For example, a part of me knew I wanted to get back to you, but another part deemed if it was acceptable, how, when and why. Which reasoning could I wield against someone as old and with so much knowledge? She overwhelmed me, and took advantage of my feelings, memories and thoughts to lay her plans. I couldn’t help but understand why she did what she did”.

“And yet”, Kouga says, “I swear there were a few occasions in which I saw of felt you”.

“I think Meshia dropped her guard occasionally. As you mention it ...” She pauses thoughtfully for a minute... “Yes, that is so, I did’nt remember”. Another of her enigmatic smiles. He should get used to it. “D’you know what really conquered her?”

“Luminous beings’ involvement”.

“Yes, but you didn’t realize that there was a real spiritual battle, did you?”

“Indeed, a divine force against an devil force”.

“Not exactly. A divine force with another divine force”.

The confusion on his face is clear. She explains herself.

“Luminous beings’ nature made them invulnerable by her, and she realized what she had could be and couldn’t because she blew her chance. Her own divine self, isolated and forgotten for eons woke up, only for a moment, but enough to Meshia to feel the need of ... how did she make? ... come home”

Kouga thinks about it. It is too esoteric to understand by his feelings, but his mind can. But, just like that?

“So, she’s come home?”

Kaoru denied with her head.

“She just had set out. She’s got a lot to purify”.

This reassures the valiant fighter that Kouga is, and puts things straight.

“I meant”, she goes on, “when it became clear to her that you left her to the luminous beings, Meshia began to withdraw and stopped repressing my own nature and, for once, I could take advantage of her own knowledge. Stand up”.

He looks surprised, but he does. She leads him away from the table and asks him to put his armor on.

“Why?”

“Trust me”.

Kouga has to remember this is Kaoru, and can trust her. A mental exercise that he had to do several times in recent days. A brief nod, he grabs his sword and open the interdimensional gate. The wolf golder armor is almost dazzling under the last rays of sun. Kaoru comes directly to it, she won’t ...

“Don’t touch...!”

Too late. The girl put her hand directly on the seal on his waist, but does not seem to burn her. The belt turns a hundred and eighty degrees, surprising Kouga. He experiences a shock. Kaoru smiles.

She points to his shadow, elongated on the ground by the sunset. Wings. The armor has got two big wings. He remembers a paintning that only became true within the magic world, but they gave him some balance with Meshia, and so he achieved to defeat her. Kouga is so impressed that he remains still and silent.

“At the beginning”, she explains “you’ll have to enable or disable them turning the seal, but eventually they’ll obey you will”.

He checks the retraction of the wings as she said, and he succeeds. Then, the metal is released. The face uncovered under it reflects a new and deep respect for the heritage got by his beloved one since, between Kaoru’s hands, it could do much good.

“Not Meshia but you manipulated the armor before you both splitted”. It was not aquestion, but the statement of a fact. “So, it's true that she invented them for the Makai Knights”.

“She created the first one, Kiva’s, to test his worth as an ally. At that time Makai Knights didn’t exist yet, but Kiva’s knowledge about horrors, Meshia and parallel worlds, and the notes he left about his armor, remained here and helped to create and define those ones later which would belong to Makai Knights. He also had a disciple who wouldn’t follow him to the dark path, but contributed a lot to it”.

“Could you manipulate again this armor or another?”

Kaoru sighs.

“It takes a big concentration of energy to make this possible, and yet I'm not sure to remember everything”.

“At that time Meshia wasn’t in position to make such a waste”. He reminds the continuous energetic drain by the luminous beings.

“You don’t know how much energy is needed to maintain and control your whole own world and her fate as she did! As she realized that she was lost and submitted to it, I stopped being influenced by her views. I found all that excess energy and I could give you a gift. Although I didn’t know if I‘d have a chance to show it to you”.

Now, it is Kouga's turn to smile enigmatically. His armor falls on again, this time invoked by his mind. He spread his new wings by turning the seal. His arms grabs Kaoru's waist and the wings begin to flap. When she feels her feet do not touch ground, she protests.

“Hey! You haven’t practiced landing. Wait! They can see us... Planes ... The radar im the airport!”

She stops complaining as the groud is left behind and Gonza, who comes running with a red envelope on a small tray watches, smiling, as the shade of the couple is still rising under the evening sky.

THE END

GARO Fanfic – La llamada de la sangre, 6 y final.

Capítulo  6  : Permanencias (final)

Kaoru se despierta en la cama. Abre la luz de la mesilla y ve que el otro lado de la cama está vacío. La ventana muestra que es de noche. Koga debe haber salido de cacería.

Observa la habitación. ¿Cómo ha llegado hasta aquí? Pero si estaba en...

Lo recuerda todo. El martirio a la que la sometieron los seres luminosos. Cuando vino a por Koga. Su fusión con Meshia. Su huída de casa. Su embarazo...

Sus manos vuelan a su vientre vacío. ¡Su hijo había sido pervertido y muerto! Se da la vuelta en la cama hasta que su cara se hunde en la almohada, y derrama lágrimas. Por el hijo al que no ha llorado. Porque la habían convertido en malvada y lo había aceptado. Porque había dejado matar su amor por Koga. Por lo pequeña que se siente ahora que Meshia no está con ella.

*   *   *

– Cierto que no vi a tu padre haciéndolo –comenta Zaruba a su dueño– pero dudo que lanzar energía con el filo de la espada implique deshojar a los árboles. Así sólo consigues que rebote en cuantos obstáculos encuentre y te venga devuelta.

Koga siente tentaciones de darle un exabrupto, pero se calla y se dispone a probarlo de nuevo. Vuelve a concentrar una bola invisible junto a la punta de su espada.

– ¡Hola! –saluda una voz animada. Kaoru ha vuelto, y él le corresponde con un amago de sonrisa.

Gonza sale con el te y llega a la mesa del jardín casi al mismo tiempo que ella. Koga da por finalizado su entrenamiento y acude junto a ellos: le interesa más escuchar las novedades que trae su esposa que las protestas de un anillo parlante.

– ¿Cómo ha ido el día? –dice él al sentarse.

Kaoru lo mira con esa sonrisa enigmática que usa desde que ella se desprendió de su “carga extra”, y que él está empezando a interpretar como “sé algo que tú no sabes”. No puede reprochárselo. Ésta es una pregunta que nunca le habría hecho si no hubiese pasado lo que pasó.

– Pues no, hoy no ha pasado nada raro. Lo siento.

Pero no lo siente. Ella detesta preocuparle, él lo sabe bien. Mucho le costó que le dijera qué le sucedía cuando la vio tan afectada al volver el primer día en que fue a trabajar, cinco días antes.

Dijo que a lo largo del día se había cruzado con tres horrores –¿qué?, ¿tres?, se alarmó él– uno de ellos un Bariri –¿cómo puede saber éso?, volvió a interrogarse Koga.– Los tres se le acercaron.

– ¿Qué sucedió? –la apremió él, al ver que dudaba.

Tuvo que abrazarla antes que ella se decidiera a hablar. Ella necesitaba todo su apoyo en ese momento. Le contó que a sus dedos de las manos le crecieron largas prolongaciones óseas, parecidas a espinas, en cuanto cada uno de los horrores “normales” disfrazados se le pararon enfrente, y que ella clavó esos apéndices en sus cuerpos. Ambos se quedaron muy quietos. Sólo cuando su mente se tranquilizó lo suficiente para desear terminar con aquello, los apéndices fueron reabsorbidos por su cuerpo, y los horrores se marcharon pacíficamente. Con el Bariri fue distinto. A éste le creció un bulto a la altura del estómago que atraía hacia sí algo de ella misma. Y en esta ocasión también pudo decidir cuándo terminar. En los tres casos, al acabar sintió cansancio.

Terminado el relato Koga volvió a abrazarla, más fuerte, como si quisiera impedir que Meshia se la arrebatara de nuevo.

Por lo que Kaoru le ha ido contando, por los recuerdos de Meshia que conserva y que comparte con él, y por lo que la propia Meshia le dijo, Koga ha empezado a formar su visión de la situación en la que se encuentran.

Meshia había sido, literalmente, diosa de un mundo y madre de todos sus habitantes. Su desaparición dejaba a ese mundo en una situación crítica. Los tres horrores con los que Kaoru tomó contacto ese día fueron alimentados instintivamente por ella. Que fueran tres y no uno, y las cada vez más frecuentes llamadas de los santuarios a los Caballeros Makai, indican con claridad que los horrores empiezan a invadir el mundo humano, y ésto mismo creará más portales. Aunque Kaoru diga que aún queda de Meshia lo suficiente para mantener a su mundo durante varios años, los habitantes del mundo paralelo saben que tienen que hacer cambios para poder subsistir. La purificación de la humanidad por todas sus maldades se acerca a pasos agigantados, y no será leve.

Al oir su profundo suspiro, la voz de Kaoru lo trae al presente.

– Quizá deba estudiar la forma de alimentarlos sin que me canse, y así...

– ¡De ninguna manera! –El es taxativo, y está algo confuso por la creciente facilidad de ella para adivinar sus pensamientos cuando están cerca el uno del otro.

– Pero, Koga –intenta ella hacerlo razonar– los horrores a los que he alimentado hasta ahora se han pasado todo un día sin comerse a ningún humano.

– Ésto no lo sabes.

– ¡Sí, lo sé! Aunque no quieras creerlo. Aunque... no “queramos” creerlo.

Él deja su taza de te en la mesa.

– Meshia te ha dejado mucho en herencia.

– ¿Tanto te preocupa?

– No quedó mucho de ti cuando compartíais cuerpo.

– Éso no es exacto. Imagínate a ti mismo considerando los pros y contras de una decisión que tienes que tomar. Era lo mismo. Por ejemplo, una parte de mí sabía que quería volver contigo, pero la otra parte juzgaba si era aceptable, el cómo, el cuándo y el por qué. ¿Qué argumentos podía esgrimir yo frente a alguien tan antiguo y con tantos conocimientos? Me superaba en todo, y se aprovechó de mis sentimientos, recuerdos y pensamientos para trazar sus planes. Yo no podía hacer otra cosa que entender por qué ella hacía lo que hacía.

– Y sin embargo –dice Koga– juraría que hubo unas pocas ocasiones en las que té ví o te sentí.

– Creo que Meshia bajó la guardia alguna que otra vez. Ahora que lo dices... –Se detiene, pensativa, por unos momentos– ... Sí, éso es, ya no me acordaba. –Otra de sus sonrisas enigmáticas. Tendrá que acostumbrarse a ellas.– ¿Sabes qué fue lo que la venció realmente?

– La intervención de los seres luminosos.

– Sí, pero no advertiste que allí hubo una auténtica batalla espiritual, ¿verdad?

– En efecto, una fuerza divina contra otra demoníaca.

– No exactamente. Una fuerza divina “con” otra fuerza divina.

El desconcierto en la cara de él es patente. Ella se explica.

– La naturaleza de los seres luminosos los hizo invulnerables para ella, y se dio cuenta de lo que ella habría podido ser y que no era porque dejó escapar su oportunidad. Su propio Yo divino, aislado y olvidado durante eones se despertó, sólo por un momento, pero suficiente para que Meshia sintiera la necesidad de... ¿cómo lo formuló?... “volver a casa”.

Koga piensa sobre ello. Es algo demasiado esotérico para que su corazón lo comprenda, pero su mente sí puede hacerlo. ¿Pero así, sin más?

– Así que ha “vuelto a casa”.

Kaoru niega con la cabeza.

– Apenas ha emprendido el camino. Le queda mucho que purificar.

Lo cual tranquiliza al esforzado luchador que es Koga, y pone las cosas en su sitio.

– Lo que quería decirte –prosigue ella– es que cuando le quedó claro que tú la abandonabas a los seres luminosos, Meshia comenzó a retraerse y a dejar de reprimir mi naturaleza y yo pude aprovecharme, por una vez, de sus propios conocimientos. Ponte en pie .

La mira sorprendido, pero lo hace. Ella le aparta más de la mesa y le pide que se ponga su armadura.

– ¿Por qué?

— Confía en mí.

Koga tiene que recordar que ésta es Kaoru y que puede confiar en ella. Un ejercicio mental que ha tenido que hacer varias veces los últimos días. Un breve asentimiento, coge su espada y abre la puerta interdimensional. La dorada armadura lobuna casi deslumbra bajo los últimos rayos de sol que la impactan de frente. Kaoru viene directa a ella, no pretenderá...

– ¡No la toq...!

Demasiado tarde. La muchacha pone su mano directamente sobre el sello de su cintura, pero no parece quemarle. Lo hace girar ciento ochenta grados, ante la sorpresa de Koga. Él experimenta una sacudida. Kaoru sonríe.

Ella le señala a su sombra, alargada en el suelo por el ocaso. Alas. A la armadura le han crecido dos grandes alas. El recuerda un cuadro que sólo llegó a ser realmente pintado en el mundo mágico, pero que le otorgó cierta igualdad con Meshia para lograr derrotarla. Koga está tan impresionado que permanece quieto y mudo.

– Al principio –explica ella– tendrás que activarlas o desactivarlas girando el sello, pero con el tiempo obedecerán a tu voluntad.

El prueba de retraerlas como ella ha dicho, y lo consigue. Luego se libera del metal. La cara que se revela debajo refleja su nuevo y profundo respeto por la herencia que ha recibido su amada pues, en manos de Kaoru, podría hacer mucho bien.

– No fue Meshia sinó tú, la que manipulaste la armadura antes de que os separaran. –No es una pregunta, sinó la constatación de un hecho.– Entonces, es cierto que ella las inventó para los Caballeros Makai.

– Ella creó la primera, la de Kiva, para provar su valía como aliado. En aquella época los Caballeros Makai no existían, pero los conocimientos de Kiva sobre los horrores, sobre Meshia, sobre los mundos paralelos, así como las anotaciones que dejó sobre su armadura, permanecieron aquí y ayudaron a crear y definir a los que posteriormete serían los Caballeros Makai. Además, tuvo un discípulo que no quiso seguirlo por el camino oscuro y que contribuyó mucho a ello.

– ¿Podrías volver a alterar esta armadura o cualquier otra?

Kaoru suspira.

– Se necesita una gran concentración de energía dirigida para hacerlo posible, y además no estoy segura de recordarlo todo.

– En ese momento Meshia no estaba en situación de hacer semejante despilfarro.– Y recordó el continuo drenaje a la que la sometieron los seres luminosos.

– ¡No sabes cuánta energía se necesita para mantener y controlar a todo un mundo y a tu propio destino como ella quería hacerlo! Al reconocer que lo había perdido y abandonarse, yo dejé de ser influenciada por sus puntos de vista, me encontré con todo ese excedente energético y pude hacerte un regalo. Aunque, no sabía si tendría oportunidad de enseñártelo.

Es el turno de Koga de sonreir enigmático. Su armadura desciende otra vez, ahora con el simple concurso de su mente. Extiende sus nuevas alas girando el sello. Rodea con sus brazos la cintura de Kaoru y las alas empiezan a batir. Cuando ella siente que sus pies ya no tocan el suelo, protesta.

– ¡Oye! No has practicado el aterrizaje. ¡Espera! Nos pueden ver... Los aviones... ¡El radar del aeropuerto!...

Deja de quejarse mientras el suelo queda atrás, y Gonza, que viene corriendo con un sobre rojo en una pequeña bandeja contempla, sonriendo, como la figura de la pareja sigue elevándose en el cielo del crepúsculo.

FÍN

GARO RED REQUIEM - Full trailer

Film to be released in October, 30th.

GARO Fanfic – Blood call, 5

  

Cap. 5: Check to the Queen

The revelations of the bright being do that the four humans’ faces darken. The main charged one looks at them with obvious contempt, as if listening and witnessing nonsenses believed by others. She does not have time to make any ironical comment, as the bright being speaks to his or her audience again.

“Do you think it is time to begin to decrease the weight that oppresses your species?”

“No doubt”, Jabi answers immediately.

Meshia’s shout echoes in the room.

“Slaves remain silent!”

Suddenly, the horrors attack the knights and Jabi, who are in absolute minority. Meshia takes advantage of the confusion to try to open the gateway of the Temple again. But she can not move. And, little by little, the horrors are falling to an unexplainable drowsiness. Then, Meshia and the four somewhat battered humans realize that there are six bright beings else over them.

But, Meshia does not surrender. She is able to open the gateway only with her mind. Then she does realize that her muscles are not the only immobilized: her whole body is completely isolated from the environment. An invisible net, but a real one, surrounds her and pins her where she remains.

A new attempt. Her body starts to grow with the power of her superior biology. She gets to absorb the net. However, the seven luminous beings begin to throw a number of strands of purple light that drain her energy, slowly. A burst of red light fills the room due to the sudden glow by Meshia’s body, but decreases in intensity until it disappears. Shortly after, she returns to the human size and falls to the floor, overcome by exhaustion.

“Kaoru!”

Kouga, who had listened with great interest the exposure by the floating being, and hopes to escape from the dreadful fate that would be imposed by Meshia, is very surprised to be able to get the growing fear from the one who wants him so badly. He gets up on the platform of the altar, next to her, and tries to help her up, but the bright fibers continue working.

“Stop it”, he tells to his unexpected saviors.

“Stay away from her, don’t be crazy!” Tsubasa shouts, rising also until the couple is.

But Kouga does not listen. He only has eyes for the smile she does to him. Kaoru’s drained smile. He has no illusions: he knows that both of them remain as a single being, but she also knows he is the only one whom she can expect some help now.

“The gateway is open”, she whispers, “help me to cross over”.

“How?”

“Cut the strands with your sword”.

“My sword was forged to deal with some very different energies. It won’t work”.

“I know”. She takes his face betweem her hands and kisses him briefly. “But now I've seen that, despite everything, you still love me and would do everything for me”.

“You don’tt understand anything about love”. His voice is as sad as decisive.

“Thanks to Kaoru I’m remembering. I knew a lot of love. It was ubiquitous when I was serving in this temple”.

“So, how could you forget it?”

“I didn’t even notice”.

“You gave your back to it consciously, Emersie”, one of the luminous beings interrupts. “When you tried to convince your daughter to contiue your work of destruction in our world, and she refused. Her soul remained untouched, and you wanted to understand it as a betrayal to your person. Then you got aware of the ego by the first time, which won over you. Since then you're just an ego, do not fool yourself”.

“Stop talking about the past”, she concludes it, ignoring her ethereal accuser and looking at Kouga. “You can not let them kill me, you know”.

He feels a hand resting on his shoulder firmly.

“Don’t listen to her anymore”, Tsubasa says. “ She only cares about her own skin, and won’t hesitate to sacrify you. She isn’t Kaoru.”

Kouga glances to him. He knows it's useless to say to him she is.

“I know she’d sacrifice me”, he replies, “but not as the way you think”.

He gets up and speaks to the seven floating beings.

“What will you do with her?”

“The blood of both of them has been locked in a way that it will not be possible to separate them until they die”, one of them replies. “Until then, we will proceed with another type of surgery. We will wrest Emersie’s soul from Kaoru’s body and will separate as much of her mind as possible. We will disable as much of Meshia’s genetic contributions as Kaoru’s body could operate as an integral being. Then, to avoid the undesirable effects of which remained within her etereal bodies shall be submitted to the Transmuting Fire”.

The silence that follows is soon interrupted by Jabi.

“Can you do all that?”

“With your help, we can. Emersie knows it is possible”.

“What are going to be the consequences for Kaoru?” Kouga says.

“The risk is great. Another reason why we need your help is that, as you all are of the same species and similar vibration than her, you will adapt our energy flow to one tolerable by her. Still, the process is complicated and some things may fail. Even, if all goes well, some consequences from the fussion will remain”.

Definitely, Kouga finally admits, Kaoru has disappeared. In the best case she will be changed. Should we go ahead with the plan? Would not it be better to release both of them? He looks at the woman lying half with deep compassion and, again, lows at her side.

She grabs the lapel of his coat to try to be more right.

“I want to live!” Her request is barely a whisper. “The gateway is open: you just have to raise your arm in the air while my mind helps, and we’ll be safe on the other side!” The tightening in his eyes makes her to change tactics. “You don’t know what I can do for you: the armor of the Makai Knights are my invention. I’ll give you a power like you never had!”

“I don’t hear Kaoru anymore” the knight says coldly, “your anxiety has banished her, and this will continue if I do what you say”.

“That's not true! We both just want what rightfully belongs to us: life. I offer all I have in order to survive, it’s so surprising? I never had to negotiate with anyone, but now I have to do it and I do it. What I'm offering is leaving me intact, and makes no sense to think that afterwards I’ll break my word. You don’t want we to live together? Oh, come on, what do you think it meant when I went looking for you at home? Meshia doesn’t need you, but Kaoru does!"

He attempts not forgetting that she wants just to increase his doubts to escape her fate. He remember that Kaoru once asked him to kill her because she would not cause troubles to him. Kaoru has fled. She has very little chance to develop as a human beings with Meshia there. The less of her, the more chances to Kaoru. He turns towards the luminous beings, getting on feet.

“What are we going to do?”

“No!”

The cry by the unhappy one can be heard clearly. She grabs his leg in desperation. Kouga looks at her back, unable to hide his uneasiness. Those beautiful and pleading eyes, the risk her to die, to know that whatever happed he will lose her. Although he feels his heart breaking, he understands that he only can hope saving her soul.

“We need your power of Makai Knights” one of the bright outsiders replies. “Call on your armor and the Madou Fire. Move to the platform surounding her. Jabi, you should be able to make those three fires to become a triangle, and maintain it. If everything gets well, the triangle will become a prism and will lock Emersie whithin. Jabi, seeks to maintain the integrity of that cage: note that there will be some variations about the intensity, quality and type of energy, as required. Knights, this will require from you to be able to withstand these energies, and someone may feel to be failed. You must keep you unharmed”.

“Sir”, Rei adds, “I guess you know that our armor has a limited time of use”.

“In normal circumstances, it has. The energies that we are going to use are divine, and they counteract the demonic nature of the armors”.

“Then” Jabi asks, “would it not be better to avoid them?”

“Your human bodies would succumb to their intensity. That is why you, Jabi, can not stand with them and have another mission”.

Rei and Jabi join Kouga and Tsubasa on the altar. Kouga, who as the luminous being talked had noticed that Meshia grabbed his leg more and more weakly, parts from her. All three knights are at their place. Jabi is the outside of the triangle to be. The men invoke their armor, which fit.

From the froor, the woman in the center raises her arms to Kouga, as if was calling him at her side. Almost immediately he feels as though something heavy beats hard and almost knocks him down, and his armor begins to vibrate. By the time Rei can immobilize her arm, the vibration is almost finished.

She smiles. Kaoru’s smile.

“What hav’you done to me?” the alarmed and angry Kouga asks.

“A gift,” she says, enigmatically.

“Nothing affecting your immediate task” the floating beings involve. “Do not worry”.

This is not an explanation convincing to any of the human being there. The lightning outsiders accept to explain them.

“Kouga, Meshia destroyed a world and must bear the consequences. Similarly, Kaoru and you have chosen you to each other: she with all her circumstances and nature, and you with all yours. Doing so,  both of you have created your own destiny”.

“ Do you mean” Kouga asks, “that is Kaoru’s fate of having become Meshia?”

“Believing in fate is reassuring because you are acquitted of anything”  the incorporeal being answers, “but the more you let in the hands of any external factor, you will have less power to influence anything, not even in your own life. You know that, Kouga, you always used your power to overcome the most extreme circumstances. Why believing that Kaoru has used her own power is so hard for you?”

“I do not think she was aware of that”.

“Your world is like it is because you humans use your power without knowing it”.

Jabi gets close to Kouga and tells him about the ear:

“I'm afraid it was a ploy to make you doubt by Meshia. I see nothing rare in your armor”.

“So, she sent only kinetic energy”.

She sighs.

“Really, I don’t know what she has sent. Her knowledge is unknown to me. Everything in her is strange”.

Kouga agrees that nothing can be done. So he decides to believe that Kaoru has interfered and there will not be bad consequences.

“We wear the armor and time runs”, he decides at last, and aloud: “Let’s begin”.

“Knights”, one of the floating beings says “ignite the fire. Jabi, you can begin to combine them as they have done”.

As soon as the three fire are mixed, each of the seven beings send down a green ray into the newly formed triangle of light, increasing its intensity and its tinging it. Meanwhile, three softer beams –blue, yellow and pink– part from one of the beings to Jabi.

A scream of pure terror tells Kouga that Kaoru is fully aware of what is going to happen, and he doubts. Jabi and realizes and warns him.

Shortly after the cage was closed and light flooded inside, a increased green beam coincides with a piercing scream by torture. Kouga loses some of its determination.

“Kouga!” Jabi shouts frightening. “Please!”

He does not realize it, but she does: another triple beam blue, yellow and pink, descended to him and slowly regains his strength, and screams no longer affect his work.

The light blue replaces green in this treatment. Meshia stops screaming. Then, pink light remains and, finally, a violet one. None of them know when the victim fell into unconsciousness.

*   *   *

The room is dark. The light beings have disappeared. Also the asleep horrors that filled the room. And the gate of the temple is closed.

Jabi is sitting on her knees, hands flat on the floor, panting.

The three men, already without their armor, are also looking for strong support of the floor in different forms. Rei grabs his stomach as if to vomit. Tsubasa seems to be crushing his head with his own hands. Kouga tries to contain the terrible stinging feeling within his heart.

In their midst, the lone figure of Kaoru remains, unconscious, and finally, her face calmed.

Nobody knows how much time has passed, but they do not care. One by one, the four ones are falling victim to a restful sleep.

GARO Fanfic – La llamada de la sangre, 5.

    
Cap.  5 : Jaque a la Reina


Las revelaciones del ente luminoso hizo que los cuatro humanos ensombrecieran sus rostros. La principal imputada los mira con evidente desprecio, como si estuviera oyendo tonterías y siendo testigo de que los otros las creen. No le da tiempo a hacer ningún comentario irónico, como pretende, pues el ser luminoso vuelve a dirigirse a su audiencia.

– ¿Os parece llegado el momento de empezar a aligerar el peso que oprime a vuestra especie?

– Sin duda –responde Jabi en seguida.

El grito de Meshia retumba en la sala.

– ¡Los esclavos se callan!

De repente, los horrores atacan a los caballeros y a Jabi, en absoluta minoría. Meshia aprovecha la confusión para volver a intentar abrir el portal del templo. Pero no puede moverse. Y, poco a poco, los horrores van cayendo víctimas de una inexplicable somnolencia. Meshia y los cuatro algo maltrechos humanos se dan cuenta entonces que hay seis seres luminosos más sobre ellos.

Pero Meshia no se rinde. Logra abrir el portal con el único concurso de su mente. Sólo entonces se da cuenta que sus músculos no son los únicos inmobilizados: su cuerpo está completamente aislado del entorno. Una red invisible, pero real, la rodea y la fija donde está.

Nuevo intento. Su cuerpo empieza a crecer con la fuerza de su super biología. Consigue absorber la red. Sin embargo, los siete seres luminosos empiezan a lanzarle una serie de filamentos de luz violácea que drenan su energía, despacio. Un estallido de luz rojiza llena la sala por efecto de la incandescencia del cuerpo de Meshia, pero disminuye de intensidad hasta que desaparece. Poco después ella vuelve a su tamaño humano y cae al suelo, vencida por el agotamiento.

– ¡Kaoru!

Koga, que había escuchado con gran interés la exposición del ser flotante, y ya con esperanzas de escapar al espantoso destino que Meshia iba a imponerle, se sorprende mucho al ser capaz de captar el miedo creciente de aquella que le quiere tanto mal. Sube a la plataforma junto a ella e intenta ayudarla a levantarse, pero los filamentos luminosos continuan haciendo su trabajo.

– Dejadla ya –les dice a sus inesperados salvadores.

– ¡Apártate de ella, no seas loco! –grita Tsubasa, subiendo también a donde está la pareja.

Pero Koga no escucha. Sólo tiene ojos para la sonrisa que ella le hace. La sonrisa agotada de Kaoru. No se engaña: sabe que ellas dos siguen siendo un solo ser, pero también ella sabe que él es el único de quien puede esperar algo de apoyo ahora.

– El portal está abierto –le murmura ella– ayúdame a cruzar al otro lado.

– ¿Cómo?

– Corta los filamentos con tu espada.

– Mi espada se forjó para lidiar con energías muy distintas. No funcionará.

– Lo sé. –Ella toma el rostro de él entre sus manos y lo besa brevemente.– Pero ahora he visto que, a pesar de todo, me sigues amando y lo harías todo por mí.

– Tú no entiendes de amor –Su voz es tan triste como determinante.

– Gracias a Kaoru estoy recordándolo. Yo sabía mucho de amor. Era algo omnipresente cuando yo servía en éste templo.

– Entonces, ¿cómo pudiste olvidarlo?

– No me di ni cuenta.

– Le diste la espalda conscientemente, Emersie –interrumpe uno de los seres luminosos–. Cuando trataste de convencer a tu hija para que prosiguiera tu obra destructora en nuestro mundo, y ella se negó. Su alma permanecía incontaminada, y tu quisiste interpretar éso como una traición a tu persona: ahí fuiste consciente por primera vez del ego, que te venció. Desde entonces sólo eres ego, no te engañes a ti misma.

– Basta de hablar del pasado –concluye ella, ignorando a su etéreo acusador y dirigiéndose a Koga–. Escúchame, no puedes permitir que me maten, lo sabes.

Él nota una mano que se posa sobre su hombro con firmeza.

– No la escuches más –dice Tsubasa–. Sólo le importa su propio pellejo, y no dudará en sacrificarte a ti. No es Kaoru.

Koga le mira. Sabe que es inútil decirle que sí lo es.

– Sé que me sacrificaría –le replica– pero no de la forma que crees.

Se levanta y se dirige a los siete seres flotantes.

– ¿Qué vais a hacer con ella?

– La sangre de ambas se ha trabado de tal manera que no será posible separarlas hasta que mueran –responde uno–. Hasta entonces, procederemos con otro tipo de cirugía. Arrancaremos el alma de Emersie del cuerpo de Kaoru y separaremos tanto de su mente como sea posible. Desactivaremos tanta de su aportación genética como el funcionamiento de Kaoru como ser integral lo permita. Luego, para evitar los efectos indeseables de lo que permanezca en sus cuerpos sutiles, deberá ser sometida al Fuego Transmutador durante un cierto tiempo.

El silencio que sigue es pronto interrumpido por Jabi.

– ¿Podéis hacer todo éso?

– Con vuestra ayuda, si. Emersie sabe que es posible.

– ¿Cuáles serán las consecuencias para Kaoru? –interviene Koga.

– El riesgo es grande. Otra de las razones por las cuales necesitamos vuestra ayuda es que, siendo vosotros de su misma especie y parecida vibración, adaptaréis nuestro flujo energético a uno tolerable para ella. Aún así, el proceso es complicado y algunas cosas pueden fallar. Incluso si todo marcha bien, quedarán secuelas de la fusión.

Definitivamente, admite Koga por fin, la Kaoru que él conoce ha desaparecido. En el mejor de los casos estará cambiada. ¿Hay que seguir adelante con el plan? ¿No sería mejor liberarlas a ambas? Mira a la medio tendida mujer con profunda compasión y vuelve a agacharse a su lado.

Ella le agarra la solapa de la gabardina para intentar ponerse más derecha.

– ¡Quiero vivir! –Su petición es a penas un susurro–. El portal está abierto: sólo has de levantar tu brazo en el aire mientras mi mente te ayuda, ¡y estaremos a salvo al otro lado! –El endurecimiento en los ojos de él la hace cambiar de táctica–. Tú no sabes lo que puedo hacer por ti: las armaduras de los Caballeros Makai son una invención mía. ¡Te dotaré de un poder como nunca has tenido!

– Ya no oigo a Kaoru –dictamina con frialdad el caballero– tu ansiedad la ha desterrado, y así continuará si hago lo que dices.

– ¡Éso no es cierto! Lo único que queremos las dos es lo que nos pertenece por derecho: la vida. Te ofrezco todo lo que tengo a cambio de poder sobrevivir, ¿es tan sorprendente? Yo nunca antes tuve que negociar con nadie, pero ahora hay que hacerlo y lo hago. Lo que te estoy ofreciendo deja intacto a mi ser, y no tiene sentido que pienses que luego romperé mi palabra. ¿No quieres que vivamos juntos?  Oh, vamos, ¿qué crées que pretendía cuando fui a buscarte a tu casa? Meshia no te necesita, pero Kaoru sí.

El trata de no olvidar que ella sólo quiere acrecentar sus dudas para escapar de su destino. Recuerda que Kaoru, en una ocasión, le rogó que la matara porque no quería causarle más problemas. Kaoru ha huído. Tiene muy pocas posibilidades de desarrollarse como ser humano con Meshia ahí. Cuanto menos de ella haya, más oportunidades tendrá Kaoru. Se dirige a los seres luminosos poniéndose nuevamente en pie.

– ¿Qué tenemos que hacer?

– ¡No!

El grito de la desdichada se oye ahora con claridad. Se agarra a la pierna de él con desesperación. Koga la mira, sin acertar a disimular su desasosiego. Esos ojos bellos y suplicantes, el riesgo de que muera; saber que, suceda lo que suceda, la perderá. A pesar de que siente a su corazón rompiéndose, comprende que ya sólo puede aspirar a guardar su alma.

– Necesitamos vuestro poder de Caballeros Makai –responde uno de los luminosos forasteros–. Invocad a vuestra armadura y al Fuego Guía. Colocáos en la plataforma alrededor de ella. Jabi, tú deberías ser capaz de formar con el fuego de los tres un triángulo, y mantenerlo. Si todo a bien, el triángulo se convertirá en prisma y encerrará a Emersie. Jabi, procura mantener íntegra esa jaula: ten en cuenta que habrá variaciones en la intensidad, calidad y tipo de energía, según se requiera. Caballeros, ésto exigirá de vosotros ser capaces de soportar estas energías, y puede que alguno se sienta flaquear. Debéis manteneros incólumes.

– Señor –añade Rei– supongo que sabes que nuestra armadura tiene un tiempo limitado de uso.

– Lo tiene en circunstancias normales. Las energías que vamos a utilizar son divinas y contrarrestarán su naturaleza demoníaca.

– Entonces –inquiere Jabi– ¿no sería mejor prescindir de ellas?

– Vuestros cuerpos humanos sucumbirían a la intensidad. Por éso tú, Jabi, no puedes ponerte con ellos y tienes otra misión.

Rei y Jabi se unen a Koga y a Tsubasa en el altar. Koga, que a medida que el ser luminoso hablaba había notado que Meshia le agarraba la pierna cada vez más debilmente, se aparta de ella. Los tres se colocan. Jabi queda en el exterior de lo que ha de ser el triángulo. Los caballeros invocan a sus armaduras. Se acoplan.

Desde el suelo, la mujer del centro levanta sus brazos hacia Koga, como si le llamase a su lado. Casi inmediatamente él nota como si algo pesado lo hubiese golpeado con fuerza y casi lo tumba, y la armadura empieza a vibrar. Para cuando Rei inmoviliza los brazos de ella, la vibración ya casi ha terminado.

Ella sonríe. És la sonrisa de Kaoru.

– ¿Qué me has hecho? –pregunta el alarmado y enfadado Koga.

– Un regalo –responde ella, enigmática.

– Nada que pueda afectar a tu cometido inmediato –intervienen los seres flotantes–. No te preocupes.

No es un argumento que convenza a ninguno de los humanos presentes. Los forasteros luminosos aceptan explicarse.

– Koga, Meshia destruyó un mundo y debe asumir las consecuencias. De la misma forma, Kaoru y tú os habéis elegido el uno al otro: ella con todas sus circunstancias y naturaleza, y tú con todas las tuyas. Y al hacerlo, habéis creado vuestro propio destino.

– ¿Estáis diciendo –pregunta Koga– que es el destino de Kaoru haberse convertido en Meshia?

– Creer en el azar es tranquilizador porque os exculpa de todo –responde el incorpóreo ser– pero cuanto más dejéis en manos de cualquier factor externo a vosotros mismos, menos poder tendréis para influir en algo, ni siquiera en vuestra propia vida. Tú lo sabes bien, Koga, pues siempre has usado tu poder para vencer las más extremas circunstancias. ¿Por qué te cuesta tanto creer que Kaoru también ha utilizado el suyo?

– No creo que ella haya sido consciente de éso.

– Vuestro mundo está como está porque los humanos usáis vuestro poder sin saberlo.

Jabi se acerca a Koga y le dice casi al oído:

– Me temo que ha sido una treta de Meshia para hacerte dudar. No observo nada raro en tu armadura.

– Entonces sólo me ha enviado energía cinética.

La muchacha suspira.

– Francamente, no sé lo que ha enviado. Su ciencia es desconocida para mí. Todo en ella es raro.

Koga acepta que nada puede hacerse. Por éso ha decidido creer que Kaoru ha interferido y que no habrá consecuencias.

– Tenemos las armaduras puestas y el tiempo pasa –decide al fin en voz alta.– Empecemos.

– Caballeros –dice uno de los seres flotantes– encended el Fuego. Jabi, podrás empezar a combinarlo en cuanto lo hayan hecho.

Tan pronto como los tres fuegos dan signos de mezclarse, de cada uno de los siete seres desciende un rayo verde hacia el triángulo luminoso recién formado, incrementando su intensidad y tiñiéndolo con su color. Mientras, tres haces más suaves de colores azul, amarillo y rosa parte de uno de los seres hacia Jabi.

Un grito de puro terror indica a Koga que Kaoru es consciente de lleno de lo que va a suceder, y duda. Jabi se da cuenta y le advierte.

Poco después que la jaula luminosa se cerrara y la energía inundara su interior, la intensificación del rayo verde coincide con el chillido desgarrador de un ser torturado. Koga pierde parte de su determinación.

– ¡Koga! –grita Jabi, con un timbre alarmante– ¡Por favor!

El no se da cuenta, pero ella sí: otro rayo triple azul, amarillo y rosa, desciende hacia él y, poco a poco, recupera su fuerza y los gritos ya no lo influyen en su tarea.

La luz azul sustituye a la verde en el tratamiento. Meshia deja de gritar. Luego la luz rosa le sigue y, finalmente, la violeta. Ninguno supo en qué momento la víctima se sumió en la inconsciencia.

*   *   *

La sala está a oscuras. Los seres luminosos han desaparecido. Los horrores dormidos que llenaban la sala tampoco están, y el portal del templo, cerrado.

Jabi está sentada sobre sus rodillas, con las manos apoyados en el suelo, jadeando.

Los tres caballeros, ya sin sus armaduras, buscan también el apoyo firme del suelo. Rei se agarra el estómago como si fuese a vomitar. Tsubasa parece que vaya a aplastarse la cabeza con sus propias manos. Koga trata de contener los terribles pinchazos que siente en el corazón.

En medio de ellos se halla la solitaria figura de Kaoru, inconsciente, y con el rostro por fin sereno.

Nadie sabe cuánto tiempo ha pasado, pero no les importa. Uno a uno, los cuatro van cayendo víctimas de un sueño reparador.

GARO Fanfic – Blood call, 4

  

Chap. 4: Who is Meshia?

The queen of another world walks on this one, after opening the spell that hides the Temple of Darkness. She is at the head of a heterogeneous group: about seven horrors and sixteen Bariris Bariri, their number diminished by their encounter with two Makai Knights, who also went to the Temple and realised themselves surrounded. And her newly acquired personal slave.

Although Kouga tries hardly to believe himself as a warrior who plans a strategy to free the world from a monster, the truth of his situation is límpid. And it became even clearer when his mistress snatched Zaruba from his finger and threw him away. A solitary tear poured did not impres her.

He crossed just a quick look with the newly captured Rei and Tsubasa. He still keeps too much pride to show what he is in this group, although he is confident that Meshia will destroy it within not very long time. He heard one of the horrors asking their queen why she does not kill the two other knights.

“As Kouga, they’re handsome and strong, and I want to study their potential as instruments of my plans” she said, but Kouga is sure that both of them do not know what it means.

As they approach the rare cubic building, lots of intangible presences surround the group generally, and specially Meshia. She raises her arms and makes gestures as if she caresses the air. On reaching the door, she snatches the metal plate next to it, saying Honourable guests, beware of the spirits of those who remained here. Rei and Kouga remember it, so they look each other. Two horrors come to welcome them, and escort down the hall to the ceremonial hall.

“Jabi ...”

She turns her eyes toward the voice. Kouga saws her at a wall, with the claw of a horror immobilizing her by the neck.

“Why did you do this to her? It's me who you want” he asks to Meshia.

“It's not something that concerns you but, well. The access to our world only can be opened from this side, and we need someone who knows how to open it, so we can copy her. Apparently, me aside, she’s the only one who can. I think she red it in a book from here”.

Jabi tries in vain to escape from her captor. Her eyes are bright and have a tear in her right leg.

The sole owner of their lives stains her lips with a smile and step onto the platform of the altar.

“First” Meshia announces to everyone in the room “I’ll cross to the other side with my entourage and prisoners. No, she” the queen drews Jabi, “has to stay on this side of the gateway. At least, until I teach someone else. I’m officially reopening this temple, and forming a priest to keep it. Until then, feed her. Thorn and Black Blood, I’m starting with both of you, we'll see who shows  better skills. Thorn, have you warned the group that has to cross the gateway to here?”

“They’re waiting for the signal” a false Jabi answers, appearing from the shadows.

Meshia closes her eyes and relaxes. Shortly after, she joints her hands and raises them slowly over her head.

Suddenly, a disembodied voice resounds inside the room.

“What have you done, Emersie?”

Nothing within its tone makes it to feel threatening, but the silence following is deathly. All heads and all antennas seek its origin with no small concern. Even Meshia remains silent for a while.

“Who’re you?” she asks at last, pretty demanding. “How d’you know that name?”

“You should remember” the disembodied voice answers. “I fought against you and you killed me, as I defended my world”.

“So, you're the spirit of a dead one”. A slight smile. “It was me who must ask what are you doing here, why you hadn’t go on your way after so long. Did you wait eons to get a revenge? Then, I was out of your scope, and now, even beyond. I’ve evolved”.

“I have evolved too, Emersie. Some of us have reached to get free of the cycle of reincarnations. We are out of scope, too”.

“I'm immortal!”

“Come on, come con. You have managed to cheat death, but it does not make you an immortal being. You know you have a very heavy karma holding you back, and you do not dare to die to avoid to confront it. We lost our world, but we will recover it to the Universe: your karma  has weakened you and turned it against yourself”.

“I own my destiny and my world. Show yourself!”

A faint light begins to be seen over the occupants of the room. Gradually, it intensifies until taking a vague human shape.

A ray of red light throws out from a Meshia’s finger toward the floating shape,  but it is absorbed by it. She repeats using the fingers of both hands, with the same end.

“You are an unique case, Emersie. No a so complex being has been modified as you have been by yourself. A true queen, in the biological sense of the word. The Universe waits your soul with impatience to incorporate your knowledge and experience”.

“You can do nothing!” Meshia seems to start to lose her calm.

“You will not subject to the human world to your whim. Your experiments are already completed. Listen, Jabi, Kouga, Rei and Tsubasa, we need your help”.

“They’re mine and have’nt the right to speak without my permission”, she hurries to reply.

Another great silence becomes. The aforementioned ones have some trouble believing that the mysterious being who apparently knows Meshia so well, who has had with her this amazing exchange could approach them.

“We would like to help”, Kouga replies, ignoring Meshia’s authority, and thereby earning a promising look on big cruelties. “Who are you?”

“Long ago, within the Golden Age in your planet”, the ethereal being says, “this temple was white, bright and was in the service of Light. It was used to explore other dimensions, other worlds and in some cases it was possible to establish relationships with their residents. Emersie, whom you call Meshia, was its high priestess. But she became contaminated by the thoughts of the souls to which she had begun to relocate inside your world. They were lost souls who would remain without a chance for redemption because they could not remain in their own world, which experienced a big evolutionary leap”.

“Just a moment”, Jabi interrupted. “Do you mean that she fell into her own trap?”

“ Well, no. It means she rather was the victim of her love for all life form. She and all the human species accepted the task of welcoming the lost souls and educate them to overcome their condition. Unfortunately, the almost perfect breed that you, humans, were then, was influenced by them and began to degenerate”.

Meshia's face is hard.

“Your compassion doesn’t impress me. Shut up!”

“Emersie was able to reconcile” the floating being continued without taking it into account “the souls that came with the races that would welcome them. There was not genetic as you understand it, but was mental surgery, mental and etheric sugery. She was very wise”.

He or she pauses and goes on.

“That what for you is the horrors’ world was the world of my species: one of the many one which opened to this temple. Emersie came and went among them all, we knew her and was well received among us. We also took long to realize that she had been contaminated, but discovered herself was safer in an alien world that in her own. By the time humans realized what was happening, Emersie already had managed to submit he most of us under her arts. Then, humans sealed the access to our world to prevent her return and she could to pollute them. Thus, she could make our world to her brutish image. Those who do not succumb to her perverted spell were persecuted and killed. Or used inside her laboratories”.

“So”, Kouga concludes, “our world left yours to its fate, after deliviring it to perdition”.

“It was its first sign of collective degeneration”, the bright being explains. “This is one of the reasons we do need your help. The first breed of horrors that existed was the result of physical and mental genetic experiments conducted with our people, who Emersie educated in what she thought were appropriate values. No more than two generations fourished, but she was wise and found other ways to achieve the creation of viable life. The increasingly brutalized human world began to have less consistence, and cracks appeared which the horrors used to cross from one side to another”.

“The gateways” Rei concludes. “Well, now there are several karmic ties intersecting between boths worlds”.

“Indeed.”

GARO Fanfic – La llamada de la sangre, 4.

  
Cap.  4 : ¿Quién es Meshia?

La reina de otro mundo camina por encima de éste, después de abrir el hechizo que esconde al Templo de las Tinieblas. Lo hace a la cabeza de un grupo heterogéneo: unos siete horrores y dieciseis horrores Bariri, su número mermado por su encuentro con dos Caballeros Makai que también se dirigían al Templo y que se vieron rodeados, y su recién adquirido esclavo personal.

Aunque Koga trata con esfuerzo de considerarse a sí mismo un guerrero que planea una estrategia para liberar al universo de un monstruo, la verdad de su situación es prístina. Y aún le quedó más clara cuando su dueña y señora le arrebató a Zaruba del dedo y lo lanzó a lo lejos. Vertió una solitaria lágrima que no la impresionó.

Sólo una fugaz mirada cruzó con los recién capturados Rei y Tsubasa. Aún conserva demasiado orgullo para mostrarles lo que él es en este grupo, a pesar que está seguro que Meshia se encargará de destruirlo en un plazo no muy largo. Oyó como uno de los horrores preguntó a su reina por qué no mataba a los dos caballeros.

– Al igual que Koga, son bien parecidos y fuertes, y quiero estudiar sus posibilidades como instrumentos de mis planes –respondió ella, aunque Koga está seguro que ellos dos ignoran lo que ésto significa.

A medida que se acercan a la extraña edificación cúbica, gran cantidad de presencias intangibles rodean al grupo en general y a Meshia en particular. Ella levanta los brazos y hace gestos como si acariciase al aire. Al llegar a la puerta, ella arranca la placa metálica que hay junto a ella y que dice: “Honorables visitantes, cuidáos de los espíritus de los que aquí se quedaron”. Koga y Rei la recuerdan, y por éso vuelven a mirarse. Dos horrores acuden a recibirles y los acompañan por el pasillo hasta la sala ceremonial.

– Jabi...

Ella vueve los ojos hacia la voz. Koga la ve contra una pared, con la garra de un horror inmovilizándola por el cuello.

– ¿Por qué le haces ésto? Es a mí a quien quieres –le pregunta él a Meshia.

– No es algo que te concierna, pero, en fin. El acceso de nuestro mundo a éste sólo puede abrirse desde este lado, y necesitamos a alguien que sepa cómo hacerlo para poder copiarlo. Al parecer, a parte de mí, ella es la única que puede. Creo que lo sacó de algún libro de aquí.

Jabi intenta, inutilmente, zafarse de su captor. Sus ojos  están brillantes y tiene un desgarro en su pierna derecha.

La dueña absoluta de sus vidas tiñe sus labios con una leve sonrisa y sube a la plataforma del altar.

– Primero –anuncia Meshia a todos los presentes– pasaré al otro lado con mi séquito y los prisioneros. No, ella –señala a Jabi– tiene que quedarse a este lado del portal. Al menos, hasta que yo enseñe a algún otro. Voy a reabrir oficialmente este templo, y formaré a un sacerdote para que lo atienda. Hasta entonces, alimentadla. Espina, Sangre Negra, empezaré con vosotros, veremos quién mostrará mayores apitudes. Espina, ¿has avisado al grupo que tiene que cruzar el portal hacia aquí?

– Está esperando la señal –responde una falsa Jabi que aparece de entre las sombras.

Meshia cierra los ojos y se relaja. Poco después junta sus manos y las levanta despacio, por encima de su cabeza.

De pronto, una voz incorpórea retumba en la cámara.

– ¿Qué has hecho, Emersie?

Nada en su tono la hace amenazante, pero el silencio que ha causado es sepulcral. Todas las cabezas y todas las antenas buscan su origen con no poca inquietud. Hasta Meshia permanece silenciosa un rato.

– ¿Quién eres? –pregunta al fin, con exigencia.– ¿Cómo conoces ese nombre?

– Deberías recordarme –responde la voz incorpórea–. Luché contra ti en dedefensa de mi mundo. Y me mataste.

– Entonces, eres el espíritu de un muerto. –Hace una leve sonrisa–. Soy yo la que debe preguntarte qué haces aquí, por qué no has continuado tu camino después de tanto tiempo. ¿Has esperado eones para vengarte? Estuve fuera de vuestro alcance entonces, y ahora aún más. He evolucionado.

– Yo también he evolucionado, Emersie. Algunos de nosotros lo hemos hecho hasta liberarnos del ciclo de reencarnaciones. También nosotros estamos fuera de tu alcance.

– ¡Soy inmortal!

– Vamos, vamos. Que hayas logrado burlar a la muerte no te hace inmortal. Sabes que tienes un karma muy pesado reteniéndote, y no te atreves a morir para no enfrentarte con él. Nosotros perdimos nuestro mundo, pero lo recuperaremos para el Universo: tu karma te ha debilitado y lo ha vuelto contra ti.

– Soy la dueña de mi destino y de mi mundo. ¡Muéstrate!

Una tenue luz comienza a verse en el aire, por encima de los ocupantes de la sala. Se intensifica progresivamente hasta que, sin dejar de ser luminosa, toma una forma vagamente humana.

Un rayo de luz roja sale de un dedo de Meshia hacia la forma flotante, el qual es absorbido por ésta. Repite la operación usando los dedos de ambas manos, con idéntico resultado.

– Eres un caso único, Emersie. Ningún ser tan complejo ha sido modificado como tú lo has sido por ti misma. Una verdadera reina, en el sentido biológico de la palabra. El Universo espera a tu alma con impaciencia para incorporar tus conocimientos y experiencias.

– ¡No podéis hacer nada! –Meshia parece perder la calma por momentos.

– No someterás al mundo de los humanos a tu capricho. Tus experimentos se terminan aquí. Escuchadme, Jabi, Koga, Rei y Tsubasa, necesitamos vuestra colaboración.

– Son míos y no tenen derecho a intervenir sin mi permiso –se apresura ella a replicar.

Otro gran silencio se hace. A los aludidos les cuesta creer que el misterioso ser que al parecer conoce tan bien a Meshia, que ha tenido con ella este sorprendente intercambio, se dirija a ellos.

– Nos gustaría colaborar –responde Koga, ignorando la autoridad de Meshia, y ganándose con ello una mirada prometedora de grandes crueldades–. ¿Quién eres?

– Mucho tiempo atrás, en la Edad de Oro de vuestro planeta –responde el etéreo ser– este templo era blanco, brillante y estaba al servicio de la Luz. Servía para explorar otras dimensiones, otros mundos y en algunos casos era posible establecer relaciones con sus habitantes. Emersie, a quien vosotros llamáis Meshia, era su suma sacerdotisa. Pero se contaminó con los pensamientos de las almas a las que ella había empezado a recolocar en vuestro mundo, almas perdidas que iban a quedarse sin una oportunidad de redención al no poder ser admitidos en su propio mundo debido al salto evolutivo que experimentó éste.

– Un momento –interrumpe Jabi.– ¿Quieres decir que cayó en su propia trampa?

– Más bien fue víctima de su amor hacia toda vida. Ella y toda vuestra especie aceptaron la tarea de acoger a los perdidos y educarlos para que superaran su estado. Por desgracia, la raza casi perfecta que érais entonces los humanos fue influenciada por ellos y empezó a degenerar.

El rostro de Meshia es duro.

– Tu compasión no me impresiona. ¡Cállate!

– Emersie fue la que logró compatibilizar –prosigue el ser flotante sin tenerla en cuenta– las almas que llegaron con las razas que las acogerían. No era genética como la entendéis vosotros: era cirugía mental, psíquica y etérica. Era muy sabia.

Hace una pausa y continua.

– Lo que para vosotros es el mundo de los horrores fue el mundo de mi raza: uno de los muchos a los que se abría este templo. Emersie iba y venía entre ellos, la conocíamos y era bien recibida entre nosotros. También nosotros tardamos en darnos cuenta que se había contaminado, pero para ella era más seguro descubrirse en un mundo ajeno al suyo propio. Para cuando los humanos se dieron cuenta de lo que pasaba, Emersie ya se las había arreglado para someter con sus artes a la mayor parte de nosotros. Los humanos sellaron el accesso a nuestro mundo para impedirle regresar y que los contaminara. Así, ella pudo hacer nuestro mundo a su embrutecida imágen. Los que no sucumbimos a su hechizo fuimos perseguidos y muertos. O utilitzados en sus laboratorios.

– Es decir –concluye Koga– nuestro mundo abandonó al vuestro a su suerte, después de procurarle la perdición.

– Fue el primer síntoma de su degeneración colectiva –explica el ente luminoso–. Ésta es una de las razones que nos hacen recurrir a vuestra ayuda. La primera raza de horrores que existió fue fruto de experimentos de genética física y mental llevados a cabo con nuestra gente, a los que Emersie educó en lo que ella creyó que eran valores adecuados. No prosperaron más de dos generaciones, pero ella era sabia y encontro otras formas de conseguir crear vida viable. El cada vez más embrutecido mundo humano empezó a tener menos consistencia, y se crearon grietas que los horrores usaron para cruzar de un lado a otro.

– Los portales –concluye Rei.– Así que ahora hay varios lazos kármicos que se entrecruzan entre ambos mundos.

– En efecto.

  

GARO Project 2010

Hummm... the web does not say a thing, yet...

http://garo-project.jp/

Are going to come more songs? I would love it!

GARO Fanfic – Blood call, 3

   
Chap. 3: Queen’s return

Kouga tries to sleep and has been stripped from the waist up to make it possible, but without any success. Still no signs of Kaoru's whereabouts, although he has spent the whole day looking for them. Only a faint indice of a rare gas allowed him to suppose that she had been drugged to get her out of the house. But the trail was lost in the garden.

Neither Jabi says a word. His childhood friend said she would study the movements of the world's energy level, and will tell the results. Still waiting.

By mid-afternoon he began to feel cold, an unnatural coldness, as if he was sick, and this was something that made him fear a disaster. Now, he does not tremble anymore, but he feels to carry with him an overwhelming weight. He should go to Kantai to see what has been achieved Jabi.

“Kouga, something is coming!”

Zaruba's tone is unusually alarming. The young man jumps from bed and grabs his sword, at the same time he hears a loud noise of breaking wood. Before he rushed downstairs he stops short.

“Kaoru!” , he shouts, his heart jumping for joy. Joy which fades away when he realizes that something is not working as it should.

The girl is at the foot of the stairs, looking at him, serious, concentrated, as studying him.

“Kaoru?”

She still does not react.

“Zaruba?”, he says quietly.

“She’s not what she seems”, the tiny metal head replies.

“Is she possessed?”

“No, but ... Not possible!”

“What?”, the knight urges.

“It’s Meshia!”

“This’ stupid. You know I finished her”.

“Yes. And yet, she is”.

The following silence is soon broken by the soft noise of the girl climbing the stairs quietly. She stops in front of him.

“Hello, Kouga”.

 A smile. Kaoru's smile, the color of her eyes, the shape and size of her body, her face. She stretches out her hand of an artist. He takes and kisses it.

“Where were you?”, he says. “I felt worried”.

“You’re always worried. You’re an expert”.

He did not expect such a derogatory comment from the woman of his life, and decides to ignore it.

“But I'm not here to lecture you”, she continues.

By the hands that bind them, the woman leads him into the bedroom, and to the bed.

“I’m here for you to become a father”.

Then, Kouga realizes that Kaoru's belly has lost its swelling. And looks at her, surprised.

“Yes”, she says, “those stupid Bariri didn’t foresee my transformation would kill my son. I fulminated them, literally”.

Coldness, almost indifference with such serious words, make Kouga to begin to consider Zaruba’s point of view.

“What did you do to Kaoru?”

“I'm Kaoru”.

He says nothing. His mind showed him reasons for and against.

“Don’t believe me? Then, I’ll show you the ultimate test”.

She pushes him with surprising strength, he does fall on the bed and she puts herself astride. She rest her hands on the shoulders of the bewildered young man, holding him against the bed, and her face comes close to his until he can hear her soft breathing. Then, she kisses him. She takes over his mouth as if it were conquered territory. No affection, no tenderness, no passion. A kiss that steals everything and nothing offers. This being flaunts deny all what Kaoru is.

His face makes her laugh.

“It looks I'm too much woman for you”.

“What have you done to Kaoru?”, he insists.

“Kaoru’s here. She hears what you sais and she’s surprised because you aren’t able to recognize her if it doesn’t behave like a sweet little flower. The concept of love which you have, humans, is exclusivist and distressing. You all are unable to recognize the soul of the beloved being it it does’nt meet your expectations. You all are full of prejudices. You’re so small, so insignificant, and so limited”.

But Kouga can see Kaoru herself whithin this woman's, he has seen her through her eyes. So, his distress is greater.

“What could make you to be interested in one insignificant being as I am?”

“Kaoru, of course. Meshia’s been so long away from the human world that her concept of beauty is highly debatable. You’d see how her world is”.

“It’ss pure dryness”.

“You’ve not seen the other one which she created within the basement”. This talk about Meshia third-person, is shooting in Kouga the feeling of talking to Kaoru. “An entire ecosystem depends on the contributions by her own physical, etheric, astral and mental bodies. Both, when she was in full possession of her faculties, as when she was unconscious by Kiva, she fed her own world. When you killed her, a certain crisis occurred. The priests of Meshia kept both her and her blood as much as they could. Her dead body still feeds the horrors. Her blood runs through my veins and my being is completely transmuted. I am both of them, Meshia and Kaoru, mixed in such a way that you couldn’t understand”.

She is still sitting on his belly.

“I am the creator and maintainer of a whole world. And thanks to your precious Kaoru, I want this world to have beauty. I’ll breed another race of horrors, they’ll be be beautiful, but I need some fresh DNA. You’re being the father of this new breed”.

Kouga wants to get up, but she nails him back against the bed.

“A beautiful and powerful human being like you, and Kaoru's body, are giving to my children these virtues, and will make them suitable for mixing among humans. And in some few generations, mankind will know me as their queen”.

“You're crazy!”

Kaoru laughs again.

“I’ll have to do something with such a narrow-mindedness, I don’t want it for my children”.

She steals him a kiss again, despite his opposition. She whispers at his ear.

“You’ll be confined where only I could access and draw out your seeds according I needed them. I’ll manipulate the embryos to give my children the attributes that enable them to survive amid the horrors now existing, and I’ll make them intelligent, manipulative, strong, murderers, whatever it was hidden whithin your genes!”

Kouga bursts.

“You can’t manipulate the genes of anyone! Nor are getting anything from me!”

She laughed again, leaning back. She stops roughly. One of her nails makes a scratch on his bare chest. With the tip of a finger, remove a drop of blood from the wound and forces him to look at it closely”.

“See? Right now, my body is analyzing your blood. Afterward it’s searching the compatibilities and incompatibilities with mine. Then,  it’s isolating your genes. At the end, most of what my body can not adapt, it would be susceptible to genetic manipulation from outside. I know a lot about this: I created a world. And I created its inhabitants. Beside ...” She gets up off him and sits at his side, which allows him to sit on the bed, "you can’t prevent your body to do what it should”. She stretches out his hand until about twenty centimeters from his belly.

Kouga feels humiliated as his body responds to her mysterious call. With a snarl of rage, he throws the back of his forearm against her face. Meshia jumps over the bed and stands on the floor. He must control himself to keep him from attacking her. Just if he would not know his beloved one was there...

“In one year”, she goes on, quietly, as if nothing happened, “I estimate we’ll having between one hundred and three hundred children. Some will die in the process, but it’s unavoidable when you’re experiencing with a new blood and with the input of a new female body”.

Kouga already denies to look at her, and snorts with contempt.

“Between one hundred and three hundred? So, you don’t plan giving birth to your children by youself?”

His words are loaded with so much sarcasm as he can put, which is not much, but he is not sure he want to know the answer: he fears what she will come out.

She shakes her head, as if in disbelief.

“You don’t remember”, she says as a mother might say to her son, “my normal height is enormous, according to human thoughts. In addition, a seventy percent of my body is capable of bear a fetus”.

His head turns in the opposite direction, disgusted, hurt and angry. He has to admit it: Kaoru no longer exists.

In two quick motions, Kouga jumps out of the bed and picks up his sword from the floor. He is about to summon his armor, but something stops him when his weapon is ready to open the gateway: the gentle triumphant smile of Meshia is expanding.

“Are you so glad that I'm going to kill you again?” he tells her.

“So, when it’s going to happen, before or after your armor will make you to become mine?”

He remains motionless. He admits that the future that is waiting for him, and without Kaoru, has no incentive. He is determined to die taking Meshia away with him, but he is full of anger, and he knows what can happen if he can not finish her at the appointed time.

“Zaruba,”  he whispers to the ring, “is she alone?”

“Very near, perhaps in the garden, there’re about twenty horrors and about twenty human, perhaps Bariris”.

“They are” Meshia adds, still smiling.

His raised arm trembles with impatience, but he hesitates.

“You ended up that betrayer Kiva, and deserve that I allow you to choose” she says. “Which d'you prefer: occupying the place he rejected beside me, or you'll resign to become a drone, and I’ll have to protect you from your own children? I will, of course, but they’ll have the right to know you, and will want to play with you”.

Kouga's doubts begin to vanish.

“Sure” she adds, "you’ll be pride that they come to show their human boyfriends and girlfriends to you. And knowing your grandchildren!"

His sword in up completes the interdimensional circle. The light turns on within the room. Kouga is obfuscated, and Meshia celebrates it laughing, and leaving the room hurriedly. She has taken refuge among the horrors in the garden, for he to fall as the time is spent. He knows it, but he does not care.

“Kouga, stop!”  Zaruba shouts. “You can’t do this again!”

“I won’t allow her to reamain alive!”

The armor couples its holder, and he is chasing his prey.

“Don’t you see?” the speaking ring insists. “She’s deliberately stirred you up. She wants you to transform!”

His master ignores him, but he does not yield.

“On behalf of the Sacred Order of the Makai Knights, stop and listen to what I have to say. Now!”

Kouga does not know why his career has slowed, but some feelings about the last time he undertook this dark path have begun to invade him. They are feelings repeled by his heart, but they do not make a dent in his mind: he knows that Meshia should not achieve her purpose to use him so abominably. But he should not cross the line, he can not betray himself again, and who have entrusted his mission to him. Neither, to the humanity to which he has sworn to protect.

“Listen, Kouga, this’s important”, Zaruba repeats in his determined effort to his owner to come to.

Wearing his armor, Kouga notices that his skin, shaking of excitement, hits the metal”.

“Kaoru is still within her” the tiny speaking ring sais.

“No. She's worse than possessed: Meshia has swallowed and digested her. She’s not recoverable”.

“She is. She still shows her existence: she need your hate”.

“What a human being need the hatred by others?”

“Meshia isn’t human and has no feelings, but Kaoru is and has. As she hates you, this’s the only way now she can show her love, don’t you see? She's here, and still loving you!"

Even against his will, the young man thinks about. He do not want to maintain a relationship based on hatred, he is not sure that such a thing will give a hope to him.

“If you give your impulses up”, Zaruba continues, “both of you’ll isolate within your private hell, formed by the duality power and hate. Is this what you want?”

“The choice isn’t better”.

Kouga's mind has already stopped fighting. He knows what to do, but he is not sure that being captured and manipulated by Meshia was he best choice.

“Indeed” the tiny metal head sais. "She’ll submit your heart to a hard test, perhaps for a long time. Many humans may be contaminated and killed in the process. But if you can keep your whole heart, if you keep reminding Kaoru as she was, even knowing she’s inside that monster, there will a possibility that humanity hidden in her could surface and, therefore, Meshia might be defeated. Hate and love are the same, simply it’s a change of point of view”.

The armor is fired.

He takes a moment to gather his courage to face his new fate, one where his Makai Knight skills will not help. Only his own humanity can fight this battle.