The Once and Future Hero

The Sun, The Moon, The Stars, The Heavens, The Hell

The thumb, the pointer, the middle, the ring, the little

The animals, the weather, the plants, the water, the human

Ticho recited the Prayers as she silently watched the two ladies being brought into her chamber. One of them was a rugged lady, with unkempt hair and a leather outfit which smell permeated the room, ruined the smell of chocolate she tried so hard to maintain. She looked angry. She was being dragged on her knees; arms bound behind her.

The other lady, Lady Hannah Domaney, was the reason for her fight. The reason for her patience over the years. She looked dirty because of her struggles inside the belly of the hospital, but her whole countenance was regal nevertheless. Unlike the other lady who had to be bound and dragged here, Lady Domaney followed them calmly. It was only apt for her, to act in such a composed manner. It would also be inappropriate to drag her around. It was unthinkable.

"Hmm… is this the devil's chocolate?" Lady Domaney asked her.

Ticho bowed a little, keeping her eyes locked to Lady Domaney's, "yes, Your Highness. You are very perceptive."

"Will everybody stops addressing me as if I'm royalty," she answered.

Ticho thought, 'but you are…' but chose to hold her tongue. "What should we call you, then?" Ticho asked.

"Just 'miss' Hannah, okay?"

"Very well, Miss Hannah," Ticho gestured to a chair where she used to sit. It was the only comfortable chair in her chamber. The only chair which worthy to be sat by the Princess.

"Thank you. I prefer to stand," Lady Domaney answered sharply.

The Human Man, The Human Woman, The Princess, The Army, The Father

The open palm, the wooden blocks, the cubes, the false diviner, the dead

The head, the left arm, the right leg, the right arm, the left leg

"As you wish," Ticho gestured to her army to leave her chamber.

"The Prophet will find you!" the angry lady hissed, followed by a bloody cough. She was probably hit by one of her soldiers.

"Good, you can still speak," Ticho addressed her, "what are you doing with her gra… with miss Domaney down there?"

"What, The Prophet didn't tell you?"

"The Prophet?" Lady Domaney asked, "do you mean Pater Julian, Kasha?"

The one called Kasha didn't answer, she only replied with a series of labored breaths. She would be probably dead any minute now. Ticho regretted the fact that she had to be beaten so thoroughly, but when she thought about five of her soldiers murdered by her down at the hospital basement, she concluded that Kasha was built to kill. There should be an extra effort just to finally dominate her like this.

"You know Pater Julian?" Lady Domaney asked Ticho directly.

"Yes, we know him." Ticho stared at Kasha's face, unable to brought herself to see at Lady Domaney's face, "I understand that he was your family priest, my la… miss."

"He is. Was. I don't know anymore," Ticho glanced at her and found her eyes wandered about the room, studied the yellow light globules floated at the other end of her chamber. She suddenly glared at Ticho, "are you helping him?"

"Lady. Would you please sit down?"

"I'm not your lady. Answer me this instance. Are you trying to kill me too?"

Kasha laughed raspily, followed by a series of another bloody cough. Could she also be infected?

"No… please miss… let us explain ourselves," Ticho begged, "but only if you care to sit down first."

The regal lady didn't move. She crossed her arms in front of her, glared at her.

Fine then, "yes… we are helping him. But we only help him because we were under the impression that he would once again restore the Calervo kingdom."

"I'm sorry?" Lady Domaney raised her voice. She shook her head and dropped her crossed arms to her sides. She probably thought that Ticho was crazy.

"See… this is why you should sit down first. Because some of today's craziness still needs to be confirmed. We have a suspicion that Julian has his own agenda, and used us for his personal gain," Ticho implored.

Lady Domaney walked to her chair and dropped herself down to the cushion, "okay fine. And how do you plan to confirm those assumptions? Her?" she snapped her chin forward to Kasha's direction.

"Yes… miss…"

"Make sense as quick as you possibly can or I walked out of here and call the APD," she flared. She produced her terminal and put it on top of her crossed thigh, ready to call the emergency number.

'Talking like a true royalty,' Ticho thought, "very well, Miss." She then sat cross-legged on the floor in front of Lady Domaney. A gesture that seemed to surprise Lady Domaney, although she looked like to found her composure quickly.

"We are the infamous Callisto," Ticho said. She paused to gauge Lady Domaney's reaction. She must have known their group's reputation. She should be having some circumspection around this information, but she was only frozen, with her gaze fixed to Ticho's face, betrayed nothing. Ticho could only continue, "but, we are not what you think we are. We are only what your new world has been forgotten. We are the descendants of Gamada, the Amal Commander, of the Calervo Kingdom."

"That was, what? Half a century ago? What's all that have to do with this?" she gestured to the general air of the room, "with that?" she gestured her hand towards Kasha, "and with me?"

"Don't you know, Miss…"

Bel's perfect creation

Deemed imperfect

But it was perfect, and it will thrive

Ticho continued, "…Domaney was the descendant of the Calervo royalties. You are the heir of them, you are supposed to guard the Palami. You are our last hope of bringing back Bel's name to…"

Lady Domaney jerked herself up, her terminal squeezed into her palm as if to crush it. She was livid. She then said with a low deliberate voice, "I said 'make sense'. This is not 'making sense'…" She punched the emergency number on her terminal. Ticho could only wait, as it would be unbecoming of her to try to stop her. She recited the prayers silently and closed her eyes. If Bel already willed it, it will be done. She could only believe that whatever happened now, it will only move towards Her plans.

"Goddessdamnit!" Lady Domaney muttered sharply, "…nobody answers." Ticho looked up at her face and now she could see a deep terror beamed from the Lady's face.

"I implore you, Miss Domaney. Please sit down. Whatever happened on the surface—" she stopped herself. The Lady must have been not knowing their term of the city: The surface. She continued, "—the city must be because of Julian's doing. You can believe that none of it, even the gas attack, was done by us."

A silence fell, followed by Lady Domaney slowly positioned herself back to the chair, resumed her regal pose, looked dead forward towards nothing in particular.

Before Tycho continued her story, Kasha suddenly said, "she's right… Your Highness…" a poison could be felt when she uttered the honorific, "the Calervo was the bane for Aster's Coming," she snorted and coughed, which Ticho sure was supposed to be a laugh. Kasha continued, "that is why your sacrifice is important. Bel must be stopped. She could not rise again. She should be stopped! THE HERO MUST BE BORN!!!"

Ticho produced her handgun and shot Kasha in the face. Her blood splattered on the wall and both her and Lady Domaney's face and body.

Another silence. She could only hear the humming of the light globules.

After a while, Lady Domaney said, "what a relief. She disturbed me to no end." Despite what she said, her face was pale. She could not stop looking at Kasha's dead eyes, which were still open. She continued, with a degree of self-control Ticho could not even begin to understand, "if you wish to kill me, that seemed to be the most painless way to go about it.

"No, you are mistaken, My Lady," Ticho stopped to wait for The Lady to correct the honorific. She seemed to be too horrified to do so, so she continued, "We never want to kill you. We need you. We need Calervo to be restored. We need Bel to be redeemed once more."

"Isn't She the devil?" Lady Domaney asked with a tired voice.

"That's what wrong. She is one of the Goddesses. She's the sister of Aster, Tia, Sin, and Amnu. She was cast as the devil because of what she was created."

"What was that?"

"Us! Humans!"

The Lady snorted.

"Look, Lady Domaney…" Ticho continued, "I know that this will be hard for you to comprehend. I expect that you won't believe us," Ticho struggled for words, "but… but… your ancestor was Bel's worshipper. The whole point of Calervo Kingdom is to restore Bel to the world, as She was…Her sisters…" she was bad at explaining the whole Bel dogma. She gave up, inhaled, then, "…we have to save you, then the other two to Pater."

"Pater… You mean Julian?"

"No. Bel's Pater. Our leader. He could explain everything better than I ever will. But we need to find Gamada's avatar and his friend. The three of you are essential. The Angkara you know is gone. We need to escort you to him…"

"I don't understand…"

"You will… Please…"

A knock came by her door.

"Ma?"

Ticho could hear Aisha's voice. She answered, "yes, child? What is it?"

"We have the woman," Aisha said from the other said of the door, "but the Gamada's avatar … he…"

"He's what?"

"He's in danger. He's in the Mayor's Office, with the plates…"