On Planes Long Lost
2229 Words [SOLO3 + 4]
The words never left her mind. Not at long as she was Hesperis and not Darryl, anyway. Sometimes she could ignore them – if she was fighting, it was easy to drown them out – but when she was simply patroling, the words seemed overwhelming, pushing out her very thoughts.
I pledge my life and loyalty to Mercury, and to Hesperis.
I humbly request your aid, so that in return I may give you mine.
Over and over and over. Sometime the urge lessened, but it was still there, nagging at her mind in some way, unrelenting. It wouldn't relent until it got what it wanted. If she wasn't paying attention, she found herself saying the first few words without noticing that she was.
What the hell was this bullshit all about ?! Most of all, it made no sense. She was a knight of mercury – she understood that part, yes – but
she was Hesperis. Why the hell would she have to pledge to herself ?
Eventually, the young knight couldn't take it anymore. She ducked into the deepest alley she could find, and sat on top of a pile of discarded crates. It would have been safer for her to be somewhere not in the open, certainly. Home, perhaps.
But for Darryl Spencer, home was the walls of St-Magdanela's seminary, and included a roommate. She wasn't sure she wanted to scar Erika with the fact she was rooming with a 'terrorist'. Apparently. Not that she felt like a terrorist. None of this ******** s**t made sense, at all. Was it too much to ask for all this crap to make sense ?
“Alright, mind.” She muttered out loud. “What the hell do you want from me ?” And the answer was the same. That sentence. Always that sentence. Swirling in her mind. Waiting. Calling, perhaps, one could say, through Hesperis wasn't aware her own mind could call from something independently from her.
It looked like there was only one solution to this problem, really. Hesperis moved to sit cross-legged, her staff laying on top of her legs, her arms loosely folded over her weapon. She fell oddly possessive of her stick, in spite of how lame and usually unhelpful it was. It was
her lame stick, dammit !
As it was, the only sign of her presence in the alley was the glow both her uniform and weapon processed, and the gentle sound of her breathing as she tried to calm herself. The longing never stopped.
“I pledge my life and loyalty to Mercury.” She finally said, closing her eyes. There was no aura in sight, be it ally or otherwise. Good for her, really. Hopefully there wasn't a youma around, either, or this might end very badly. “and to Hesperis. I humbly request your aid, so that in return I may give you mine.”
And it was then, in a shimmer of soft blue light, that the page was gone.
Before she even opened her eyes again, the first thing that hit her was the
cold – a cold blast of wind right on her face, a sudden shiver and purple eyes snapped open to see...
Well.
“...We ain't in Destiny City anymore, Dorothy.” Indeed. Where it had been summer in Destiny City, it was completely otherwise here. The wind picked up snow as it went, and she was at the bottom of what seemed to be a giant crater.
Where the hell was this ? Where was she ?! Oh, hell, what had she gotten herself into ?!
“I wouldn't stand here too long, if I were you. Mercury's winds will chill you to the bone, with how little you're wearing.”
The male voice froze her in her tracks, more so than the winds had – and she turned to face the direction it had come from. Indeed, she wasn't alone. There was a man here, dressed in similar colors – his dark blues glew just as her own did, even. He was justified in his speech, even – he was a great deal more dressed up than she was, hood over his head and what looked like a scarf over most of his face. The only thing she could truly make of the features underneath was dark skin and vivid blue eyes, the color of ice itself.
“Come, come. The city is down below, young lady. So young, really...” He turned and pointed his rather elaborate staff toward an opening in the rock. “It is waiting for us. It has waited for a long time, indeed.”
“...How the hell can a city wait ?” Hesperis was shivering – really, what choice did she have ? - and set out to follow the stranger, who had started walking toward the opening already, as if very aware that the girl would follow him. “And who the hell are you ? Where the hell are we ?”
“You seem to really like that word.” He said, his tone amused, looking sideway to meet up with the girl's now annoyed face. He didn't seem to be too bothered by it. “I can assure you this isn't hell. Hell wouldn't be that cold, now wouldn't it ?”
“Would it kill you to actually answer my questions ?” She demanded. He laughed.
“No sense of humor... Or perhaps it's the cold getting to you. I certainly was cranky the first few days I've been here.” He ushered her inside the cavern, through he made sure to keep the lead. Their two glows seemed enough to illuminate the way... as if it had been purposely done that way. “It is quite simple, young lady. We are on Mercury, through...” He gave her another look over, most specifically her emblem. “You probably had already gathered that.”
“...You are shitting me, right.” She said, eyes wide. “There's no breathable air on Mercury ! Shouldn't we both be, you know...
dead by now ?!”
“So much has been lost, I see. It had been so long, so perhaps this shouldn't come as a surprise at all...” He shook his head. The more they walked, the more they were heading down, but at least there was no wind here. It was still cold enough in the spiral halls of the cavern to send both their breaths puffing out in visible smoke, but with no wind the cold did not cut through in the same way.
“This is Mercury.” The man said, minutes later, when they finally stopped. Hesperis' eyes went wide at the sight that awaited her then. This was...
This was a city. Buildings. Not the same style she saw on Earth, no, but very clearly buildings, surprisingly well-preserved. Ice and stone intermingling with one another. The city was huge, at least as far as the girl's impression of it was. “And this is Hesperis. And I am Hesperis.” He started to walk down the steps that led to the large ice gate.
“...But wait.” Hesperis was now officially so damn confused that she lacked any want to try to refute his points. “I am Hesperis !”
“That you are. The first Hesperis in well over a millennium, if I am keeping my time straight. I might not. It has been quite a long time since I've died.”
“D... Died ?” s**t, now she was seeing ghosts ?!
“That is right. I am only here because you need me. Whenever you come here and require my assistance, I will be here.” He reached the bottom of the stairs and finally pulled his hood and scarf off. His skin was dark, his hair snow white, a bit of beard on his face. Was the white from age, or natural ? It was hard to tell. He started walking again, and she followed. “Through it does please me to see that my bloodline did not end with me. It please me to see you take over the mantle, Hesperis Page. I started out as a page, too. When I was roughly your age, even. My father had previously been the protector of this city, and his father before that, and his own father before... Well, I believe you get the idea.”
“So you are.... Related to me ? Like... my great-great-great whatever the ******** many greats it takes grandfather or something ?” This was so much to take at once. “Does this mean im part-alien ?”
Hesperis Knight laughed at that, a truly amused look – and Hesperis Page pouted at his reaction. That had been a very serious question !
“As for the exact amount of greats, perhaps you should ask that to a knight of Pluto should you ever get the chance to meet one. Time is more down their alleys than mine, I must say. Eccentric, seclusive bunch, them...” He shook his head.
“No, no... We are of Earth, see. I was born and raised on Earth, until I came of age and made my way there. A long time ago, my own ancestor had pledged himself to this place. Back when it was but a fledgling city, and not what you see now.” They'd reached the streets now – not concrete, but hard rock under their steps. Hesperis Page's heels clicked against the surface, apparently polished from untold time of being walked onto. Hesperis Knight's own steps were silent.
“We knights of Hesperis were.... a gift, from the Earth kingdom to the kingdom of Mercury, you could say. The first knight of our line pledged itself to this upon the town's foundation, and watched it grow from nearly nothing to one of the most influential learning cluster that Mercury had to offer.” There was no shortage of pride in his voice as he spoke. “We were... ambassadors, you could say. We lived most of our lives in the place we were sworn to protect.” He didn't sound like he regretted it, really.
“And I work into all this exactly because... ?” Hesperis Page asked, eyes still wide as she took in the city as they walked past buildings. “I mean, no offence, but your city looks damn empty.” Was she meant to sit her days here and guard what amounted to be... pretty much nothing ? That would suck !
“We knights are known to awaken when the universe needs us.” They'd been walking for a long time now, but it was impossible to say exactly how long. “You were needed, and so you awakened. Exactly why, through, I cannot say... You are right to say this city is empty, because life has left it a long time ago.” He sighed, saddened. He could remember a time where those streets were full of life...
And now all there were was a ghost that wandered them, and a wide-eyed youth that did not yet know her purpose. He had confidence that she might one day understand exactly why she was here and what she had to do, but this wasn't something he could instill to her.
He finally stopped when, in all appearance, they had reached the center of town. How long had they been walking ? Hesperis Page couldn't be sure... But she looked at that building. “What is this ?”
“The University. This was what kept this town alive, back when there was still life here. People came from all over the solar system to study here.”
“Sounds boring. So your job was to watch over a bunch of frat boys ?”
“Knowledge might perhaps be the most powerful weapon of all, young lady.” The top of his staff gently tapped against the top of her head. Hesperis Page was certain that had been intentional. “In the right hands, it can change everything. In the wrong hands... It could have damned us all. You'll understand, eventually. But for now...” He smiled. “I think that's quite enough. I can hear your mind reeling from over there.”
“How do I even go home, anyway ? I don't even know how !”
“That is a good question... Perhaps simply think of yourself back where you came from ? Come by whenever you need, young lady. I might not be able to show myself to you each time, but I will do my best.” She had no one else to guide her. Her father hadn't been a knight of Hesperis. Neither had her grandfather. He was the last link in between something long forgotten and something completely new.
She did exactly that. She imagined herself back in that alley, sitting on those crates... And suddenly, she was. The wave of hot air came as much as a shock as the first cold front had been. She looked up at the sky, but of course, she couldn't see what she was looking for. More strangely, she felt... empty.
The sad thing was, whoever the ghost she had just spoken to had been... He had given her more guidance and care in the last hours than her actual parents had given her in her whole life. He had genuinely cared about her... and she wasn't sure how to deal with that.
