Prophecy of the End

"And so when fire and ice become one, when time stops to hold its breath and the day of Doom has arrived will the Light of Creation split the heavens and drive back the darkness and the Golden Dragon shall arise again to drink in the poison left in darkness's' wake and forever cleanse the heavens, opening the gates of Paradise." -Book of Prophecy

-----------------------------

Another day of slinging sludge. Muttering the workers headed down into the mines to dig out the precious ore which controlled the cities energy supply. The planet Calio had been living on borrowed time for years, digging down into its very heart for the mineral that powered the lights and kept the darkness at bay. The sacred flames in the Temple of the Dragon were still burning brightly although people had long since given up hope of the resurrection of the light and the rebirth of the Golden Dragon. Tsume was at the head of the line again, unlucky again on his draw of the digging positions. He sighed as he trudged downward into the yawning black abyss, sometimes he wondered if this blackness wasn't worse than that which was closing in from the heavens. He wiped sweat from his forehead, the sludge on his glove left a dirty smear across his skin and into his hair. He muttered as it would take hours in the shower tonight to get the sludge out of his hair.

Moving steadily down the gapping hole he finally reached his destination at the very belly of the mine. Miles below the city above them this was the area where they were currently excavating ore, the hollowed out cavern glittered with the white-blue rocks. Tsume set to work, eager to earn his fee for the day and get the hell out of this crap hole. He struck his pick deep into the slimy walls of the cavern and hauled it away pulling down a thick slide of sludge to reveal a cluster of the white-blue ore within. He used his delving knife to cleave the ore loose of the remainder of the sludge and placed the large piece into the sack on his back. Over and over again he repeated the task, quickly filling his sack to capacity. He was about to turn and head up to deposit his load when he saw a small corner of white-blue that appeared to be glowing from where it stuck out of the greasy sludge. He checked his sack and figured he could probably fit in one more good sized geode so he took his pick and swung at the sludge surrounding the rock.

The very walls of the cavern seemed to shake and Tsume froze listening to the tell tale signs that a cave in was about to occur. Without a second thought he grabbed his pick and ran for the exit calling to the other workers who followed at his heels to escape the sludge flow to come. They all barely made it into the safety of the tunnel before they heard the flow break loose and slide out across the cavern floor. After a few minutes the cavern was silent and they cautiously ventured back in to assess the damage and see if any new clusters had been uncovered by the cave in. What they saw inside the cavern stopped them all in their tracks.

At the wall Tsume had seen the white-blue rock there was a huge pillar of glowing stone, shimmering white and gold in the darkness, it pitched a wane light out over the cavern. The men approached the pillar, unsure as to what strange wonder they had unearthed but hesitant in case it turned out to be dangerous. Tsume walked up to the pillar and looked at its milky white surface, it appeared to be octagonal shaped, twice as wide as a man all the way around and about six feet tall. It didn't seem to be putting off any strange odors or malicious vibrations as Tsume walked around it looking for a flaw or a clue as to its origin.

"What is it Tsume?" Kristoph, one of the younger workers asked with a tremble in his voice.

"I have no idea," Tsume answered without looking at the boy.

Tsume lifted his palm and laid it against the cool white stone. Instantly the light from the stone concentrated at his palm and then turned brilliant and blinding. Tsume and the others were forced to look away from the brightness of the light and when it faded and the looked back the stone had returned to its diffuse glow, but it was no longer milky white. The stone had cleared, like a fine piece of quartz, and the men gasped in horror at what they saw within the clear stone.

Suspended, like a toy doll, within the stone was a young woman. Her eyes were closed and her expression peaceful. Her hair was long and an indeterminable color, her skin appeared to be pale, her clothing was a simple gown of an undetermined color that formlessly fit her body and covered her from toes to neck. On each slender wrist there was a wristlet of spiraling wire, possibly gold or silver, that encircled her wrist and wrapped its way up her arm to where they disappeared under her sleeves. Around her neck was a simple chain, but at the center of the chain, laying just above her heart was a fabulous dragon pendent, its wings outstretched and talons bared toward her heart. Tsume raised his hand to touch the stone again.

"Don't touch it!!" shrieked a woman's voice.

Tsume jumped back from the stone and turned to locate the source of the feminine screech. In the mouth of the cavern stood; of all things a Priestess of the Dragon Temple. The Priestess stumbled forward, not caring as her flowing white robes were covered in sludge and grime from the mines. She strode forward, behind her several of the Temple's guards followed at a respectful distance.

"Foolish man!" She glared at Tsume. "You cannot know what you have found here! You have unearthed the savior!"

Tsume blinked and looked at the Priestess as if she were quite mad. They had obviously stumbled across one of the Ancients burial tombs, nothing more. It was common knowledge the Ancients had sealed their dead in the ground.

"I hardly think," Tsume smirked. "That a thousand year old dead woman is going to be the savior of our miserable universe."

"Heretic!" The Priestess screeched again. "Have you not read the gospel? Of course you would not have, why bother? Only the Priestesses of the Temple of the Dragon have read the gospel and have prayed and lived for this day! She is not dead!" The woman indicated to the stone. "As long as the Dragon Flame burns this woman is alive and awaits the fulfillment of the prophecy to awaken the Golden Dragon and open the gates of Paradise itself!"

Tsume shifted uncomfortably and looked back at the woman suspended in stone. Was she truly alive in there? How could she be? Was this batty Priestess really off her rocker or was this the beginning of the end and the way to Paradise itself? He had little time to think as the Priestess ordered the guards to get the miners out of the cavern and to secure a sledge to pull the stone free and take it to the Temple at once. Tsume cast one last glance over his shoulder before hefting his bag of ore and trudging back up the tunnel toward the surface.

-----------------------------

The surface really wasn't much better than the mines, at least not to Tsume. The gritty landscape was often dirty and dark, the only light came from the artificial lights the ore powered throughout the city. The sun, if there was such a thing, had not been seen in over two hundred years as the encroaching darkness had blotted it out like a weak flame. Tsume handed in his sack of ore and collected his payment, a handful of coins to feed and shelter him for another few days. He sighed and headed down the street to the familiar tavern with the dancing cats on the sign. The tavern really didn't have the best cliental or the best food but it was cheap and they all knew him here. Marge the buxom barmaid smiled as he entered and shouted back to the cook staff to prepare his usual dinner. He smiled at her and took a seat in the corner as far away from the boisterous patrons as possible.

Tsume sighed and set his head in his hands. He wasn't sure what there was beyond here and now. So this priestess says that he had just unearthed the savior of the universe, literally. Well just fine and dandy and not even a thank you for his contribution. He smiled as Marge placed a plate piled high with double portions of his meal in front of him. Marge had a big time crush on him and he knew it, she always made sure he had double portions of his dinner and only paid for the regular size meal, she also made sure his room was always available and that he paid the half price rate reserved for guards and government officials. Marge's husband had died two years ago and the tavern was now hers and she had been after Tsume since his first trip into the tavern. Tsume sighed and began to eat, he liked Marge as a friend but there was nothing there that he could even hope to kindle to satisfy her romantic longings.

Tsume had had this problem with women since his adolescents and probably before then though he had not known it. He was lean but powerfully built, agile and athletic. He would have made a stellar guard or assassin for the government but he didn't like the politics involved with getting himself into one of those positions. Instead he eked out a living in the mines. His face was clean cut, rugged but with a rare charm and openness to his expressions that made women want to be around him. His eyes were crystalline blue, eerie to some but bordering on mystic to others. And then there was his hair. Accursed stuff. When he was younger it had been an extremely pale blond, however as soon as he hit puberty it had become bleach white, as it prematurely aged. His mother had always told him it made him special and that he was a very handsome boy but Tsume had always hated how it made him stand out. He wore it long, pulled back into a pony tail because when he cut it it turned into a mass of frizz that made him look like a sheered sheep. He sighed and ate his dinner in silence longing to get up to his room and take a shower and go to bed.

Tsume tossed his clothing into the laundry chute and stepped into the bathroom. He avoided the mirror, always hating to see the sludge coating him like a oily black skin, and stepped into the shower standing under the heated spray as it washed the sludge down the drain. He looked at the palm of his hand where he had laid it on the pillar of stone in the mine. It didn't look any different but he could still feel a tingle through it, as though electricity had passed through his skin and was still dancing in his blood. He wondered about the light that had emanated from the stone when he touched it, if he had not taken his hand away what would have happened? He laid his head against the tile of the shower and closed his eyes searching for answers that wouldn't come. After several moments he set about cleaning himself and finished up his shower before he heard complaints about using too much water. He stepped out and toweled off before sliding into the bed. In the morning he would decide what to do next.

-----------------------------

Darkness. Everywhere. All-consuming and without a shred of hope. He flailed in it and screamed for help.

"Tsume!"

The voice floated to him through a fog of darkness and confusion.

"Tsume!"

He looked up and saw a sparkle above him, two large emerald like eyes watched, unblinking. He looked away and covered his face, willing the demon away from him.

"Tsume, wake up! NOW!"

-----------------------------

Tsume fell out of bed with a thump and groaned. What the hell had that been? He stood and walked to the window, looking out through the night. From his window he could see the Dragon Temple, its glittering white walls standing out like a brilliant eyesore in the dingy city. What the hell was going on?

-----------------------------

"Any progress." The Head Priestess Cathina looked at the stone pillar that now dominated the worshipping hall.

"None m'lady." One of the younger trainees curtsied slightly. "We have kept a watch since she was brought here but there has been no reaction. We placed ice around the stone pillar but nothing happened and it melted away. We tried setting it atop the pillar as well but still no reaction."

"Damnit!" Cathina roared. "The prophecy says when ice and fire come together. She is supposed to be fire, the embodiment of the flames of the dragon, so ice should free her from her slumber!"

"Perhaps," the trainee ventured carefully. "Perhaps if she is an embodiment of flame, then somewhere out there there is an embodiment of ice as well?"

Cathina stared at the girl as though she were quite mad for a moment before considering that perhaps this girl was right. Perhaps somewhere in the city there was a woman who embodied ice as the maiden before her embodied flame. If so then it would require that these two be brought together to release the fire maiden from her sleep so she could call forth the Dragon. She smiled and looked at the young woman before her.

"Make preparations," Cathina looked back at the stone pillar. "Tomorrow we announce the savior has come and place the stone pillar in the Temple courtyard out front so that the city's people may come and see her, for all of them will want to come and gaze upon the fire maiden at least once!"

Surely one of the wretched masses would illicit a response from the fire maiden, and then they would know who the embodiment of ice was and would use her to awaken the fire maiden.

-----------------------------

When Tsume came down for breakfast the tavern's main room was strangely empty. Only Marge stood behind the bar polishing tankards for the evening rush. He wandered over to the bar and took a seat in the stool in front of Marge.

"I'm afraid the kitchen's closed there sweetie." She smiled at him.

"Really? I thought you always served breakfast, or did I just wake up too late?"

She shook her head. "Nope, everyone's gone to the Temple, couldn't justify telling them they couldn't go and all, not with the Priestesses opening the courtyard to the public so they can see the savior in some crystal pillar or what not."

Tsume looked at her blankly. "The Priestesses actually opened the Temple to the public? That has to be a first."

Marge nodded and finished wiping a tankard. "Figure they see it as with the savior unearthed that they'll all be going to Paradise soon and there silly Temple won't mean much after that."

Tsume said his goodbyes to Marge and stalked out into the cool morning. The streets were unnaturally quiet and everything seemed to be holding still as if afraid to break the spell that had been cast over the land. He looked toward the Temple, even from here he could see the lengthy line of people waiting to get in to see the woman in the stone. He shrugged, it wasn't all that exciting really, just some poor dead Ancient incased in stone. He strolled down the lane and caught a sticky bun from a vendor running up to hawk his wares at the line of people waiting to enter the temple. Tsume used the downtime to do a bit of window shopping along the weapon smith's lane and a few of the leather smiths as well. By mid-afternoon his wanderings had brought him full circle and the city was beginning to return to normal as people filed back from the temple, eagerly whispering about the stone pillar and the woman within it. He stopped at the tavern to grab some lunch and contemplate his afternoon. He didn't have to work again for a couple of days at least so he was going to enjoy his downtime and go down to the riverside and watch the crowds at the bazaar.

After lunch Tsume strolled down to the docks and perched on his favorite stone wall to watch the people. He was always drawn to places like this, never really to participate but just to watch and observe the quiet goings on and subtle languages of the people of the city. The flirtations of a flower seller with a favored beau, the coy looks of the baker's daughter to the cobbler's son, the tensions between the milliner and the fishmonger, all of them played out like the finest of musicals as the bazaar buzzed with people. He could waste days sitting here and never tire of the endless parade of people. He watched until the streetlamps dimmed and the bells of the guard tower chimed the closing of the bazaar and the end of another business day. He slipped off his stone perch and headed back to the tavern glancing at the temple as he walked.

-----------------------------

"Tsume!"

The voice called him again. He felt warm and peaceful. The green eyes appeared to smile at him even as he relaxed and accepted their watchful gaze.

"Tsume, it is time."

His brow furrowed and he replied quietly, "Time for what?"

"Time to wake up!"

-----------------------------

He hit the floor with a crack of his skull against the floorboards and laid there wishing he'd knocked himself out. The pain was blinding and he muttered and swore as he disentangled himself from the sheets and strode to the window to look out. What the hell was wrong with him? It was barely morning and he was awake again, awake and grumpy as hell. He hadn't had a good nights sleep since he had seen that damn pillar of stone. It had been two days since they had unearthed that poor woman's tomb and he couldn't be free of the nagging feeling that he was not doing something, that he was not where he should be. He sighed and looked at the temple. There was no way around it, he needed to go to the temple and see that pillar again, get it out of his system once and for all.

-----------------------------

The guards outside of the Temple looked bored. They barely even noticed the people coming and going from the courtyard and probably could care less. Tsume looked around as he entered the sacred courtyard of the Temple of the Dragon. The vegetation was in full bloom and the rows upon rows of flowers made the square space seem more inviting than it should have with a dead woman on display here. He looked to the center of the courtyard where people stood staring at the pillar of clear stone that encased the beautiful woman in her eternal slumber. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and walked toward the pillar. He was keenly aware of the priestesses on the balcony above the courtyard watching every person who entered their haven as he walked across the flagstones. He reached the rope barrier that set a two foot perimeter around the stone pillar on all sides.

She was just as he remembered, her eyes closed with her long curled lashes fanned over her cheek. Her right hand reached out as though waiting for someone to take it, while the left was by her side. The coils of metal around both wrists reminded him of the way vines would wrap themselves around other plants to support their growth. And on her breast the dragon pendant was settled above her heart in its eternal guard over her. He looked at her and wondered who she had been, why had she been locked deep in the earth, and what would happen if he touched the stone again? As he started at her the dragon pendant seemed to glow and wink at him. Tsume found himself entranced by her and the powerful need to touch her grew within him like a force of nature. His feet moved of their own will as he stepped over the guard rope, he could hear the shouts of the onlookers and priestesses but they were a muffled fog, he had to touch her. Tsume's hand touched the stone pillar and a blinding light erupted from the point his palm touched the stone and encompassed the entire pillar.

The screams of the onlookers and those of the priestesses and guards were drowned out by the roar of his blood through his ears. Tsume's whole body was drawn taunt and it felt as though pure fire was running through him and then ice and then fire again. The light was brilliant, blinding, and it encompassed everything until his hand touched flesh. Her hand joined with his and he looked as her eyes opened and she smiled. Emerald green eyes.