"Xenogears: Return to Genesis"

03: Revelation

"Citan! Citan!"

Bart’s voice carried into the room before he did. His voice held a note of panic. Citan- who was sitting beside the bedridden Elly- turned to look at the young prince with fevered eyes.

"It’s Fei..." Bart shook his head. "He’s gone."

"What?!" Citan stood up.

The pendant sitting on the table beside him was knocked to the ground. Elly and Fei’s pendant.

It shattered.

Citan looked at it in horror.

An omen?

________________________________________________________________________

Somewhere inside her head, she heard the shattering of her pendant. Their pendant.

Elly was alone. It was cold and black. She was inside her head, with in her conscious. A place she had never been before.

And it scared her.

She had never been here before. She didn’t know what could pop out of the deepest reserves of her mind. She did have hallucinations about her past lives, but never were the memories ever fully exposed to her.

But she possessed the introns that allowed her to remember.

Could she access them?

Something echoed in the blackness. Skipping... someone was skipping. Elly turned around to see herself mirrored before her. The woman was naked.

"You are scared?" She asked, with a voice like hers. Except stronger.

Elly nodded her head.

"It is my nature to be scared of things I don’t know..."

The woman shook her head and closed her eyes. Her flow of hair changed into a purple river. Miang.

Elly stepped back.

"What are you doing here?"

"Elhaym, we were born from the same soul. From the woman of the dawn, the first human in the history of this planet."

Miang stepped forward.

"We perceive that Deus created her, to be the representer. The one that would keep this planet on track for Deus resurrection. And it was. Up to a point."

Elly was confused. "Isn’t Deus the whole system in which humans were created. He controlled the paths of everybody, especially you - Miang- and myself -Elhaym- Zohar the central core made us for Deus. There is no ‘other’ reason for our existence. I don’t understand what you mean by ‘up to a point’."

Miang sighed.

"I was with you when you felt the pain in your heart. Like a sudden disease. I was in here, preventing the spread of some alien virus. Something out there is trying to destroy us. I as the ‘weapon’, possess the power to conflict against such things. You as the ‘human mother’ have the will to live."

Elly didn’t like the sudden twist things were taking.

"What are you purposing Miang?"

Her blue eyes mirrored Elly’s own. The same blue eyes.

"Yes, we were bound by Deus’s will up until now. But we are free from the binds that Deus spun. And we must ready ourselves for what awaits us. You wish to be with him, do you not?"

Elly blinked.

"Yes. I wish to be with Fei."

Miang stepped closer to Elly.

"Then we must fuse. In order to find Miang and Elhaym’s true origins. We must once again become one."

"I... I don’t know Miang..." Elly stuttered. She wasn’t ecstatic about fusing with the woman that farmed humans like animals for slaughter.

"There’s another thing." Miang pressed. "You can not access your introns because you are not whole. Once you are whole, you will be able to access your memories to its full extent. If you are worried about me taking over your consciousness, it will not happen. You should know that I was given form and will because I was directly created as an interface weapon for Deus. Without Deus, my attributes have disappeared. I am simply a portion of a woman waiting to be returned to her true self. All I can do is add to the fire in your will, Elhaym. You are the spirit vessel of a very strong woman."

Miang’s lips curled into a slight smile.

"I do not even have the power to change your appearance like I used to..."

"Miang..." Elly had noted the sadness in her voice, even though it was clearly trying to be covered up. Miang, for the first time in her life, was powerless.

"Yes." Elly said with resolve. "Miang... I don’t know if I can trust you, but I have no other choice. I need my memories..."

"Elhaym." Miang held her hand. "I’m not going to lie, this is going to hurt... For the both of us."

"Would you just get on with it already?" Elly snapped, than smiled.

"I’m sure we can handle it."

Miang returned the smile.

"Than this is adieu, Elhaym."

The blackness exploded in electricity. Sparks flew like spitfire. The pain was everywhere, tearing at the bodies of the entities of consciousness. Elly screamed, Miang screamed.

And the separate screams became one.

It was over.

Elly fell to the ground, her breaths coming out in ragged little wheezes. It was the most excruciating pain she had ever experienced.

And then it came to her, like a flood of pure energy. Her memories were hers to view, the voids in her mind were filled with knowledge, and she felt stronger.

Is this what it feels like to be whole?

************************************************************************

First things first, she thought. She would have to view her first memory. Where she had been created by Zohar.

The world of consciousness gave way to black. And then to a single strand of light.

"Mommy..." the little boy was crying, she could hear him. "I want my mommy..."

A buzzing sounded. The boy continued to cry.

"I want my mommy!"

A booming thunder sounded. She now understood she was inside the Zohar modifier. She had yet to be created.

Then why could she hear his voice?

She heard a bubbling noise, and she felt herself being detached from something. It felt odd.

Than she began to take form.

Everything was happening so fast. She grew limbs, and facial features. Her long auburn hair suspended itself in the green, womb like, water around her. She had gained a conscious.

But her eyes would not open.

She needed to be programmed. The programming process would take much longer than her growth, she concluded.

Fourteen years.

It would take fourteen years.

The four year old boy visited Zohar daily. It seemed he had no other place to go. Zohar called him Abel, she knew because he gave her that information as well.

Meanwhile she knew the other piece of herself was already out. Fully programmed and without a conscious. Only a will to become one with ‘god’. She had been created straight from the woman of time.

But they were still the same.

They were the woman of time. After her will came here, and her strength went to Miang she fell into suspended animation above the birth of ‘Kadonomy’, the land genesis.

Where she knew she was still suspended to this very day.

The processing did not allow her to open her eyes. It was like she was in meditation. Though she could still hear the things occurring around her.

Years passed.

She could hear the boy grow older. Still confused. It seemed he had suffered some amnesia. He came often to talk to Zohar. Zohar seemed to enjoy his visits. It seemed that the boy was sharing his ideas with Zohar.

Sometimes the boy would come up to her encased form and watch her. She felt warm in his presence. Sometimes she would react to his presence, moving her fingertips, or wriggling her toes.

"She’s moving..." He whispered. His voice was now matured. It had been eleven years since she had been created.

"Elhaym Van Houten." the boy said. The machine clicked behind her as she listened.

The boy was confused.

"I don’t know why.... But I feel that you should be called Elhaym... It’s such a pretty name."

From that day forward, Abel would come to talk to her. He would talk to her as if she was just a regular girl. He would talk about the world outside. The people in their villages, the summer skies, the horrible winter wind-- he talked about everything. It made her feel good. Warm.

Sometimes he would talk to her about the hope he felt with in him. He still did not know his origins. He had been such a small child when he set foot here. But now he was stronger.

On the thirteenth year he had said something. Something that clicked inside her conscious.

"Looking at you, makes me feel hope and light... And salvation..."

Those words.

It was like deja vu.

Finally the fourteenth year rolled around. She was excited. She would finally see this boy.

He was now eighteen.

As was her.

She didn’t know if Zohar had done the age thing on purpose. Perhaps it felt sorry for Abel, who was alone in this world.

The green fluid gave way around her. Disappeared into thin structures at the sides. She could feel gas emitting around her, readying her for her first breath of human air.

The gas disappeared and she opened her eyes.

He was the first thing she saw.

Him with his handsome face, tanned skin and wonderfully warm brown eyes. His long dark hair was tied up in a ponytail, with a few strands of bangs escaping at his forehead.

She immediately felt attracted to him.

Her palm pressed against the glass casing in anticipation, in greeting. He lifted his hand to where hers were pressed. His eyes were adoring.

"You’re... You’re so beautiful..."

She felt herself smile for the very first time.

The glass casing made a buzzing nose, and Abel stepped back and watched as the translucent veil lifted. She fell forward and he ran to her and caught her in his slender muscular arms.

He gently lowered her to the floor.

"I’ve been watching you for a long time..." Abel said as he held her. She nodded her head, a little weak from the sudden gravity that had hit her.

"I know..." She whispered her very first words.

"Do you have a name?" He was watching her face intently. She thought for a moment.

"Elhaym.... Elhaym Van Houten..."

The boy smiled.

"Elhaym. Elhaym, wait here, I’ll go grab you some clothes. Than we can go enjoy the fresh summer day." he winked.

He laid her gently on the grey floor and bounded out the mechanical door. Elhaym sat up and stared at Zohar.

She knew that this was the last time Zohar would be here.

It had told her during her processing that once she was complete, it would relocate and slumber.

Sleep until the time would come.

Time for what? She didn’t know.

When Abel returned he gave her a pair of white slacks much like his own and a white vest. He also gave her a pair of wooden sandals which were way to big for her. So she decided to go around barefoot. As they left Zohar, the world shook.

Thy both turned around to see the mechanical building which Zohar inhabited tunnel into the ground. Brown earth covered it as if to bury it in its womb.

And then everything was quiet.

Elhaym had a arm around Abel’s shoulder while he held her waist. She had trouble walking. The gravity, to her, was strange.

"I’m sure we’ll meet again." He said to the barren ground. Than he turned and helped Elhaym walk away. Into a distant village where they were greeted with open arms.

************************************************************************

"Yes...I remember." Elly said to herself. "It was a time when the people were dominated with fear. The Gazel Ministry and Emperor Cain controlled everybody like livestock."

The words that were spoken next came from the deepest reserves of her mind.

"Me and Abel... We offered hope, light and salvation. A destination for the people."

"Looking at you makes me feel hope and light... And salvation..."

"The moment I died, was the moment things began to fall apart."

She shook her head. What am I thinking?

________________________________________________________________________

"What do ya mean Fei’s gone and Elly’s in a coma?!"

The new Kaiser of Nortune, Rico, sauntered heavily to the front gates where Bart and Emeralda were waiting. He was having a fit. Being woken up from his beauty rest with some weird news was not exactly his cup of tea. Bart crossed his arms across his chest.

"If I knew you were going to get all rowdy on us, we wouldn’t have asked your servants to wake your fat-ass up."

"Shut your face! Tell me, what’s happened!"

Emeralda ran back into the Yggdrasil, Rico and Bart following closely behind.

"What you’ve been told is all we know..." Bart said as he ran up the docking ramp of the Yggdrasil. "Right now we’re just rounding everybody up. We need man-power, that’s what Citan said."

Once they were boarded and the Yggdrasil was airborne, Bart motioned Rico to follow him into the gun room.

Everybody was there and looking rather grumpy. After all it was barely four in the morning.

Seated on the barstools were Margie, Chu-chu, Maria, and Emeralda. Meanwhile all the men were up and about. Jesse and Sigaurd were leaning up against the wall, Billy was nervously twirling his gun on his finger, Bart decided to take a seat at the bar and Rico decided to stand by the counter. Old Maison looked at everyone nervously.

"Would anyone care for a drink?" he meekly asked.

"No!" Everybody shouted back.

Just then the door slid open and tired looking Citan came sauntering in.

"We have a major problem on our hands..."