[fic] Point of No Return ch 1/8

[Nightheart]

This is the first chapter of an eight parter, debuting for the first time anywhere here on BI. Reply and tell me what you think please! ^_^

In a darkened study lit only by a fireplace dying down to red embers in the late night/early morning a dark haired man of about mid thirties sat in a plush chair with a goblet of fine Asturian wine cradled between two fingers. He was a handsome man, good looks and longevity ran in his line. His breeding was impeccable and it should be; he could trace his ancestry in an unbroken line all the way back to the very first of the Atlantians, the creators of Gaea.

Unlike his vacuously foolish sister, he, Allesin, was proud of his fine Draconian heritage, after all had the Atlantians not created Gaea? Had they not held sway over heaven and Earth itself? Had they not created the power to grant any and every wish? Had they not the wings of heavenly messengers? What in all of this was there to be ashamed of? No the sole fault for the Draconian?s exile lay in the common rabble, scraping out meager and pathetic existences from the dirt. They were just jealous of the wings the Draconians possessed. They were jealous of the freedom of flight they could never have and suspicious of anything they could not control.

<Van,> the man thought darkly. He was just like them, hiding his heritage and his wings in shame when he should be displaying them proudly. He was sending the message that his people?s fear and hatred of Draconians and their continued abhorrence of Allesin and his fellow Draconians was acceptable.

?That wretched, sniveling little halfbreed. He should have been drowned at birth,? Allesin muttered his voice laced with partially drunken hatred and loathing. ?He doesn?t deserve to share the perfect blood that flows through my veins.?

Varie, his little sister had always been enamored of those pathetic dirt-crawlers and their detestable little lives. She?d even betrayed the honor of their clan and besmirched the purity of their race by marrying and coupling with one of those disgusting little maggots. She?d even committed the ultimate sacrilege and birthed a couple of half-breed abominations she called children. Allesin had been beside himself with loathing and repugnance.

He?d taken care of her a few years later; after all, she?d borne that worm of a human two sons that held the taint of human blood mingled in with the pure shining blood of the Draconians there was the chance that she could birth even more of them. When she had gone out to look for her cowardly half-breed of a monster there had been an unfortunate accident. Varie had been made to atone for her crime of mating with a filthy human as well as bring forth abominations with the mixed blood of the lowly full humans and the flawless perfection that was the blessed blood of the Draconians.

With all but one of the disgraceful family taken care of one way or another it was time to tie up the last loose end and finish off this disgraceful fiasco once and for all. It was time for the last of those disgusting wretched abominations to be erased from the face of Gaea and never again would the faultless blood of his family line be tarnished by the taint of full-blood humans. It was time for Van to die. Allesin cared not what happened to the country of Fanelia afterward, for all he cared it could be burned to the ground once again, in fact he wished it would be; it would be entirely suitable that the country whose ruler had desecrated his little sister and his family name should be made to pay in its blood.

On the anniversary of the little insects? coronation as King of Fanelia there would be a large festival held, the first that the country had had since its reconstruction, and there he would assassinate Van. But first he would have to get rid of any obstructions that lay in his path. Namely, there was a girl who lived on the Mystic Moon who was said to be able to see into the future. Allesin knew this to be true for she was a descendant of those few Atlantians who had opted to remain behind on Earth instead of traveling to Gaea along with their brethren. Her latent Psychic powers had naturally blossomed into full strength once she came into contact with the surface of Gaea; the core of the planet was the ancient wish machine built by their ancestors and it had amplified her latent abilities. She would be a problem; if she could see his attempt she would not rest until it was averted. Fortunately for Allesin, he had already devised a solution to the problem before it became a setback.

Hiring a crew of Zaibach sorcerers he had given them the tools and means to seal Gaea off from the Mystic Moon. She was unable to reach her beloved little half-breed scum and warn him via the psychic link he knew they both shared with one another then she?d likely try to come to Gaea physically. This too the sealing would prohibit. She wouldn?t be able to warn him or rescue him and the repulsive half-breed king was as good as dead.

* * *

The sky seemed too bright, impossibly blue it glowed with its own luminescence. The edges of the clouds seemed too sharply defined, contrasted too greatly with the blue sky. The green grass was also too green, an electric green radiance that glowed like a living breathing color. Around her the noise of the crowd was both sharp and muffled as if she were hearing it from underwater with the ears of a dolphin.

She looked around her and above her. Pennants of royal blue and white fluttered in the breeze, then seemed to hang, reverse themselves and resume fluttering in the breeze. The crest of the dragon, the royal crest of Fanelia hung from banners at the walls and from the sides of stone masonry buildings. The rough hewn-stone streets of the capitol city were littered with flower petals and packed with people human and non-human alike all laughing smiling and laughing. There were street musicians and buskers playing all manner of music on all manner of instruments (including some that Hitomi couldn?t fathom how they were played), there were impromptu dance contests to go along with the playing in some circles. Hitomi floated about detatched from it all. There was an odd, twisting and wrenching feeling like her body was being sucked somewhere by a strange gravity and she found herself in a main square where a large covered awning was set up.

There, in a full suit of ancient Fanelian armor of blue, white and silver, stood Van. He looked striking and confidant (even though Hitomi could tell by the way he worried his thumb along the hilt of his sword he would rather be about anywhere other than where he was) as he took his place in the front of the stand to address the crowd gathered below him. The majority of the noise died off, though it was still far from quiet. She could see him take a deep breath, as if he were about to say something.

That was when Hitomi saw it. As if her mind were in two places at once she both hovered at the edge of the crowd watching her prince, and looked down from a nearby rooftop as a man in an ordinary green tunic pulled the trigger of a crossbow and let fly a bolt straight into Van?s throat.

She heard a voice screaming and realized it was her own. Dying, Van looked over at her?

?Hi-to-mi?? she watched him slump sideways and mouth her name as he died.

?Nooooo!?

Hitomi awoke drenched in sweat, her sandy hair wet and dripping and her night clothes sticking to her. She found that was wrestling with the covers and gasping for breath as if she?d just run a marathon.

?That dream again,? she murmured. ?That?s the seventh time this week; and the second time today alone. It must be a vision.?

According to her calendar she had exactly one week and five days until Van?s commemoration festival and she couldn?t contact him. That in and of itself wasn?t all that unusual. He, as a King rebuilding a country, was usually pretty tired and didn?t always have the extra energy to establish their connection every night. Hitomi herself was often busy with her studies which had picked up in the last year of high school in preparation for her college entrance exams. She was taking a full course load of classes plus extra duties as the manager of the track team in Yukari?s absence (she had won a scholarship to study abroad and was currently in England with her boyfriend Amano) plus she was on the Student Dispute Mediation Committee, and the Student Council Advisory Board, and the Diplomatic Corps, an experimental interscholastic undertaking that was like a mock-up of the United Nations. Her schedule was pretty booked as well and she didn?t always have the energy at the end of the day to open up the link between them either. But still, it didn?t usually go for this long without one either contacting or trying to contact the other. And usually, if she reached out with her feelings she could often simply feel his presence there, like a mild and comforting buzzing in the back of her mind. Now there was nothing, nothing but silence. It was unnerving, frightening. It was as if their strong connection to one another had been cut off somehow and no matter how she tried she couldn?t get it working again.

Hitomi was growing worried. If her vision was true Van was in mortal danger and she wasn?t there to save him this time. She couldn?t even warn him. If he died it would be all her fault.

* * *

End chapter one.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Vision of Escaflowne nor do I own any of its incarnations. Those belong to Badai and Sunrise and its respective writer/creators Shoji Kawamori and Hajime Yadate.

[athena]

Wow! Great start..very mysterious too! Am I right in saying that Allesin is Van's uncle? Things are seeming to clear up a bit too. Hitomi better do something fast though. Those visions of hers seem to be always right..and Van can't die..right? He can't! There. Confident again. I can't wait to see the rest of this series! Hurry up and write it!

[miaka mouse]

oooh eeeeevil allesin!! i bet he's really sexy... more more more!!!

on a more serious note... u really did the pov well on his part! i totally felt his revulsion, which has to be something since i luv esca and van and the whole deal... u r the master

miaka mouse <?__)~ (groveller)

[WaterGoddessX]

I loved the first chap cant wait to read the rest.........its great so far!!!