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Another Warmakers story, taking place during Sunday's adventure, in which Sae retrieved her fated Guardian artifact. Includes introspection regarding Sae's role as a Hero of Destiny, as well as some geeky references/foreshadowing about her class progression.
As always, thanks to![[insanejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/ij-userinfo.gif)
irishninja for a great adventure.
Tests
Reika gets her Guardian artifact in Jerusalem by talking. No fighting ancient warriors, no breaking into buildings in the dead of night, no stealing. Team Alpha does get detained for awhile at the Israeli Museum, but soon enough Reika comes out of interrogation to let everyone know that she's succeeded.
She gets the Dead Sea Scrolls by asking for them.
It's things like this that make it clear that Reika is meant to be a Guardian. And it's not just the supernatural things that happen around her, like her magical powers or the way the Scrolls react to her. She also has the perfect hero personality, friendly and charming and full of the energy that they need in a leader.
Sae is happy being Reika's support and following her lead. Reika has spent so much of their lives encouraging Sae as she excelled in academics and athletics, and now Sae has the chance to return the favor. But she knows that she's supposed to do more than just help Reika be a Guardian; she's supposed to be a Guardian herself. She has weird powers just like Reika and the rest of Team Alpha, and she saw Gaea too.
But it's so weird to think of herself as some kind of mythical hero, like in one of Reika's anime. So Sae has just sort of ... tried to ignore it. She's concentrated on protecting Reika and trying to stay alive, so Team Alpha can succeed in their mission and they can all go home.
It's harder to ignore the whole Guardian thing, though, now that she's standing in Pasargadae, in front of the tomb of Cyrus the Great. Harder still, when the stone door in front of the tomb falls away at her touch, like it's just been waiting for her to get here. And that funny feeling in the pit of her stomach - the one that made her whisper to Reika, "I feel weird," and Reika to whisper back, "I think it's your artifact" - is just getting stronger now. Or maybe that's the nervous pounding of her heart.
She walks slowly into the tomb - it's only big enough for her. The sarcophagus is covered by an image of Cyrus the Great, carved out of pure gold. I guess that's what you get for founding the Persian Empire. In his hands are two scimitars, and Sae feels a nervous little thrill run through her. She should have known, after the strange obsession with the weapon seized her while the ywere in the Vatican. She isn't surprised. But she's a little scared.
She bites her lip, because her back is turned to the others and they can't see her do it. This is it, now. Here's where she finds out just how much of a Guardian she is. On the one hand, she hopes something happens and that it happens right, because everyone is behind her and watching and they'll see if she messes it up. On the other hand, if she does succeed ... well, Sae doesn't know what that will mean.
She reaches out to touch the sarcophagus, and there's a burst of light, light which just feels powerful. The golden lid raises, and then stands up as if Cyrus the Great himself were rising after being asleep. The carving ripples and warps and moves, and then Cyrus the Great steps out from it and stands in front of her.
Sae swallows. Thankfully, the rest of the world seems to have fallen away, and she no longer hears or feels the others. She doesn't think she could stand it if she heard Rex making comments, or maybe even if she heard Reika shouting encouragement.
She notices that Cyrus the Great is very tall.
He speaks to her - or maybe yells - in a great booming voice, raising one of his scimitars and holding up three fingers. She has no idea what he's saying, but she thinks she gets the idea.
I have to fight Cyrus the Great??
Her hands fall to her sides to grasp her weapons - the UNARMED short sword and the scimitar from Germany, the hilts comfortable and only slightly sweaty in her hands. Taking a deep breath, she says, "I don't want to fight you. But if this is a test, then," she swallows with a dry throat and hopes her voice doesn't shake audibly, "then I'll do it!"
The figure before her says nothing, but raises one scimitar and strikes.
Sae raises her blades to block, but his swing is too powerful and knocks them away, his sword biting deep into her arm. The pain - and blood, when was the last time someone drew her blood? - forces her mind into crystal-clear focus. Doing what she does best, she falls into shadow, vanishing from her opponent's sight and swinging her swords into his body with light, but rapid blows. On the third swing, she pulls the shadows with her and into her attack, bringing a ripple of darkness and cold into her body and directing it through her weapon and into her opponent.
And with that third hit, her test is over. Cyrus drops his guard, then twirls one of his scimitars around to present it to her, hilt first. Her reward.
She's almost too surprised to do anything, but then she takes it, and the world falls away into a familiar, mystical darkness. There, the visions of the other Guardians of Team Alpha's artifacts are joined by her erstwhile opponent, who wields both scimitars, turning and swinging them in an elaborate pattern.
She notices that Cyrus the Great ... is kind of a fancypants.
The vision disappears, and the reality of light and sound return - and suddenly Sae realizes that the reason the world fell silent wasn't because of her nervousness or level of focus, but because sounds were actually blocked from her. Now she hears everything, noises of struggle and screams and the roars of - she realizes, turning back to the others - monstrous, man-shaped beasts with tusks and giant spears who are attacking Team Alpha.
He kept this from me? Cyrus the Great is a bastard!
Sae flies forward, out of the tomb and towards the nearest enemy. Past Reika (who is thankfully unhurt), she swings Cyrus' - the Guardian's - her - scimitar into a fiend. She feels like she's fighting differently now - moving faster, hitting harder, in an elegant, vicious dance around her opponent. Everyone seems to be moving a little slowly around her, even Gunnar, whose massive two-handed swings with Balmung look different - so powerful, yet almost sluggish. Her own movements feel a little frenetic - and when she draws the shadows into her attack, she no longer
feels cold. The heat of the desert feels like it sings in her veins.
Is this the power of the scimitar? Of Cyrus the Great? Of Gaea? There is no answer to Sae's questions, but when the last of their fiendish attackers flees before Team Alpha's - and her - strength, she doesn't feel the least bit disappointed. In fact, she feels a fierce, slightly wild smile rise to her lips. She can feel the power, even if she doesn't know where it comes from. Even if she's not sure that she's the hero to use it.
As always, thanks to
irishninja for a great adventure.Tests
Reika gets her Guardian artifact in Jerusalem by talking. No fighting ancient warriors, no breaking into buildings in the dead of night, no stealing. Team Alpha does get detained for awhile at the Israeli Museum, but soon enough Reika comes out of interrogation to let everyone know that she's succeeded.
She gets the Dead Sea Scrolls by asking for them.
It's things like this that make it clear that Reika is meant to be a Guardian. And it's not just the supernatural things that happen around her, like her magical powers or the way the Scrolls react to her. She also has the perfect hero personality, friendly and charming and full of the energy that they need in a leader.
Sae is happy being Reika's support and following her lead. Reika has spent so much of their lives encouraging Sae as she excelled in academics and athletics, and now Sae has the chance to return the favor. But she knows that she's supposed to do more than just help Reika be a Guardian; she's supposed to be a Guardian herself. She has weird powers just like Reika and the rest of Team Alpha, and she saw Gaea too.
But it's so weird to think of herself as some kind of mythical hero, like in one of Reika's anime. So Sae has just sort of ... tried to ignore it. She's concentrated on protecting Reika and trying to stay alive, so Team Alpha can succeed in their mission and they can all go home.
It's harder to ignore the whole Guardian thing, though, now that she's standing in Pasargadae, in front of the tomb of Cyrus the Great. Harder still, when the stone door in front of the tomb falls away at her touch, like it's just been waiting for her to get here. And that funny feeling in the pit of her stomach - the one that made her whisper to Reika, "I feel weird," and Reika to whisper back, "I think it's your artifact" - is just getting stronger now. Or maybe that's the nervous pounding of her heart.
She walks slowly into the tomb - it's only big enough for her. The sarcophagus is covered by an image of Cyrus the Great, carved out of pure gold. I guess that's what you get for founding the Persian Empire. In his hands are two scimitars, and Sae feels a nervous little thrill run through her. She should have known, after the strange obsession with the weapon seized her while the ywere in the Vatican. She isn't surprised. But she's a little scared.
She bites her lip, because her back is turned to the others and they can't see her do it. This is it, now. Here's where she finds out just how much of a Guardian she is. On the one hand, she hopes something happens and that it happens right, because everyone is behind her and watching and they'll see if she messes it up. On the other hand, if she does succeed ... well, Sae doesn't know what that will mean.
She reaches out to touch the sarcophagus, and there's a burst of light, light which just feels powerful. The golden lid raises, and then stands up as if Cyrus the Great himself were rising after being asleep. The carving ripples and warps and moves, and then Cyrus the Great steps out from it and stands in front of her.
Sae swallows. Thankfully, the rest of the world seems to have fallen away, and she no longer hears or feels the others. She doesn't think she could stand it if she heard Rex making comments, or maybe even if she heard Reika shouting encouragement.
She notices that Cyrus the Great is very tall.
He speaks to her - or maybe yells - in a great booming voice, raising one of his scimitars and holding up three fingers. She has no idea what he's saying, but she thinks she gets the idea.
I have to fight Cyrus the Great??
Her hands fall to her sides to grasp her weapons - the UNARMED short sword and the scimitar from Germany, the hilts comfortable and only slightly sweaty in her hands. Taking a deep breath, she says, "I don't want to fight you. But if this is a test, then," she swallows with a dry throat and hopes her voice doesn't shake audibly, "then I'll do it!"
The figure before her says nothing, but raises one scimitar and strikes.
Sae raises her blades to block, but his swing is too powerful and knocks them away, his sword biting deep into her arm. The pain - and blood, when was the last time someone drew her blood? - forces her mind into crystal-clear focus. Doing what she does best, she falls into shadow, vanishing from her opponent's sight and swinging her swords into his body with light, but rapid blows. On the third swing, she pulls the shadows with her and into her attack, bringing a ripple of darkness and cold into her body and directing it through her weapon and into her opponent.
And with that third hit, her test is over. Cyrus drops his guard, then twirls one of his scimitars around to present it to her, hilt first. Her reward.
She's almost too surprised to do anything, but then she takes it, and the world falls away into a familiar, mystical darkness. There, the visions of the other Guardians of Team Alpha's artifacts are joined by her erstwhile opponent, who wields both scimitars, turning and swinging them in an elaborate pattern.
She notices that Cyrus the Great ... is kind of a fancypants.
The vision disappears, and the reality of light and sound return - and suddenly Sae realizes that the reason the world fell silent wasn't because of her nervousness or level of focus, but because sounds were actually blocked from her. Now she hears everything, noises of struggle and screams and the roars of - she realizes, turning back to the others - monstrous, man-shaped beasts with tusks and giant spears who are attacking Team Alpha.
He kept this from me? Cyrus the Great is a bastard!
Sae flies forward, out of the tomb and towards the nearest enemy. Past Reika (who is thankfully unhurt), she swings Cyrus' - the Guardian's - her - scimitar into a fiend. She feels like she's fighting differently now - moving faster, hitting harder, in an elegant, vicious dance around her opponent. Everyone seems to be moving a little slowly around her, even Gunnar, whose massive two-handed swings with Balmung look different - so powerful, yet almost sluggish. Her own movements feel a little frenetic - and when she draws the shadows into her attack, she no longer
feels cold. The heat of the desert feels like it sings in her veins.
Is this the power of the scimitar? Of Cyrus the Great? Of Gaea? There is no answer to Sae's questions, but when the last of their fiendish attackers flees before Team Alpha's - and her - strength, she doesn't feel the least bit disappointed. In fact, she feels a fierce, slightly wild smile rise to her lips. She can feel the power, even if she doesn't know where it comes from. Even if she's not sure that she's the hero to use it.