Fire Fury Freedom

by Amanda Rose

  Near supper the fowl was finished and they had had a grand feast. The high protein intake gave their energy-starved bodies quite a boost. “…Ha, ha, so there Kato was standing, the C.D.F.P. watchmen sniffed him out, and he’s got this enormous rifle in his arms! Heh, a deep voice calls, ‘Drop your weapons, and place your hands behind your head!’ Well he stood there looking daft! Ha! I tell you he didn’t know what to do!” Mack chuckled as he lit his cigar, his face flushed from laughing.

  Kato continued the anecdote with slight retaliation, “Yeah, boss only knows that cause he stumbled out the same door as me, an’ he was frozen as a statue when he did too!” Kato grinned. “Good thing y’ boys got me!” Mei boasted, “I came rippin’ through that door and busting caps in asses so these two could run their butts out ‘a there!” She giggled. Contentedly Kairu, Vince and Jenko listened as they recanted the story.

  “So, how did you all meet?” Kairu asked and he took a swig of water from his canister. “Jenko and I go way back in the day,” Mack started “... I met Mei a few years ago in a run-down pub in one of the grid sectors of Torusan. We started talking and realised our mutual despise of the company… One day I was walking down the street and saw a young girl in her teens having a spat with a few C.D.F.P. officials. She was protesting the use of generators because of the pollution they cause. I’ll never forget Suako that day she was bound and determined to convince them. Vince is a pal of hers,” Mack explained. “I see,” Kairu said. He was quiet for a moment then asked, “I keep hearing scraps about your past happenings. Could you tell me about what’s been going on with your group? Such as with that generator I heard you… uh, destroyed?”

  The general mood of the conversation shifted; light-hearted banter soon became serious business talk. Kairu listened intently about the history of the group. It became crystal clear who he was travelling with, their motives and their mission. Having been slightly naïve about the C.D.F.P. the mutual despise for the company between his companions soon become clear to him. Now he knew why his father had him join these crusaders.

  Once the talk had ceased Kairu looked to the sky above him. Smog coated the earth in an unceasing haze; the heat emitted from the sun was held onto. The smog caused the UV rays to be magnified, which brutally burned the skin of travellers. Fake atmospheres were the only protection for bare skin in daylight, otherwise came the needs for elaborate robes to cover the body. Kairu thought of how different the sky looked in Ryoko compared to the dry cracked red earth before him.

  After reflection Kairu finally came to notice, there were no trees. “Where are all of the plants… the trees?” he asked confused. “Clear-cut by the company,” Kato bleakly said. Kairu felt a pain within, as his heart sank. Closing his eyes, he envisioned the trees that enclosed his beloved Ryoko. “I now understand you fully. The company… your hatred… I never held them in high esteem, though now I see them for the true nature of which they’ve become. I pledge to you now, I will not quit this battle until we’ve brought them down,” Kairu vowed.

  Chapter 5: Magick

  The land before Suako seemed to stretch on and on endlessly in every direction, cracked earth and sand was all that lay to the south. After several days on foot the heat began to impede her vision. Suako was tiresome, and wished she’d taken a nice long break with the others before departure. Her stomach rumbled; she’d forgotten to eat that morning as well, and felt rather parched. How far is the town? she wondered. Her usual persona had abandoned her back at the end of the mountain path. No smile, no shimmer of excitement or content, nor showed any sign of ever existing. Grimly she pressed forward.

  After hours of travel she finally caught a glimpse of some structures on the horizon, at first she rubbed her eyes and looked again in disbelief, but they were there. Suako pushed forward with new determination, they got closer and closer, and she longed for food and a bed. There were only a few houses, some of them converted into stores. A large apparatus was placed outside the largest home in the city. One building stood out in this tiny area. It was brilliant, an exquisite temple, unlike anything she’d ever seen before. The roof of solid wood, covered with bamboo shoots, and beautiful sandy red shades of brick constructed the walls. Elaborate glass windows with white wood coverings decorated the exterior.

  Almost to the town, Suako thought she was hallucinating when she felt the ground beneath her begin to tremble. Her heart raced, How could the earth move? She thought. The unknown event caused her extreme panic and fear. Another tremor sent Suako falling face forward onto the dry earth she scuffed her knees and hit her head rendering her unconscious.

  Bright light hurt Suako’s eyes as she awoke. She found herself laying on a soft surface, above her she looked up to see the ceiling was of many criss-crossing pillars of dark chestnut brown wood. Blinking, a searing pain in her temple caused a headache.; she tightly she shut her eyes. She groaned as she felt the aching. “Oh!” a startled voice came from the other side of the room. “Uh… where am I?” Suako queried. “You’re in a sacred temple, in the town of Kagawa,” the voice answered as it drew near. It was the voice of a woman, soft yet powerful.

  Opening her eyes once more Suako perched herself up and looked around. Candlelight encircled the room. Shelves with books and herbs filled the temple, along with an altar and a few statues chiselled from stone. It was a dark interior, but filled with light from the windows. Fabric wall hangings of ivory silk with golden embroidered threads draped over the brick walls. The scent of incense danced upon the air. A small fireplace provided heat that infiltrated the nearby air, nullifying the chill.

  It was dusk outside, the last brilliant rays of the sun danced through the window as the moonlight from the waxing moon drew up to take its spot in the sky. Suako soon felt the presence of someone standing over her. A woman, some years her senior, she must’ve been in her late thirties to mid forties Suako thought, was attending to her. She placed a cool cloth atop her head and said to her, “Relax now, the raging earth has calmed, and you are in good hands here. My name is Yu-Lee. I am the priestess of this temple.”

  “What happened?” Suako asked with traces of fear within her voice. Yu-Lee sat next to her, brushing her lengthy black hair away from her porcelain face. “The earth is dying and she sometimes feels anger towards those causing her early demise.” Yu-Lee explained. “Feels?” Suako felt confused.

  “I will explain later. Night has come upon us… here, drink this and we will speak in the morning,” Yu-Lee handed her a cup of tea. Without question Suako drank it and soon found herself drifting to sleep. Her wonderment lasted all night long, infecting her dreams with curious questions.

  Suako awoke at the crack of dawn, the sun’s intense morning light infiltrated the room and made it seemingly glow. “Ah, you’re awake,” Yu-Lee noticed as she finished tying a gold cord around her white robe that matched the tapestries. Gathering her energy Suako raised from her bed. “I placed a robe by the table behind you,” Yu-Lee informed her. Suako placed it over herself; It felt smooth on her skin. The rooms all were interconnected, with only an inverted U-shaped opening just barely pulling the wall inward enough to determine separation.

  Yu-Lee was sitting at a small oak table with a tiny bowl of fruit before her and another bowl set across from her for Suako. “I’m sorry this is all I can offer you. We do not have an abundant food supply,” Yu-Lee informed her. Suako nodded with understanding and took a seat. Sipping a glass of water by her dish she felt refreshed to finally have some fluid after her long trek. “Would you tell me of what you meant last night, about the planet ‘feeling’?” Suako asked, no longer able to contain her impatience.

  Yu-Lee smiled which made her scarlet eyes look like beautiful saucers, “Indeed my dear. The planet feels the effects of pollution every bit as much as we do. Take a deep breath in… you see, you struggle, so does she. You see, all life is universally connected and is mutually supportive. There are different levels of life, those of conscious beings and those of unconscious beings.
The earth is an unconscious being, but still alive all the same. We share energy with her. She provides us with life and food, and we give her company in a way. The earth provides our basic grounds for learning, growing, and our lives. When we die and decompose we nurture the earth to provide for other beings. It is a continuous cycle.”

  “Those money death-producing machines in Torusan to the west are slowly destroying the delicate balance of the give and take cycle. That is why we refused to have a generator here just for the sake of a dome. Kagawa will endure, as the earth shall. We refuse to make her suffer more,” Yu-Lee spoke with a deep passion and wisdom with every word. Suako looked at Yu-Lee and asked, “Is this the temples beliefs?” A little grin once again grew upon Yu-Lee’s perfect face, “These are ancient customs of which all humans used to believe. We have very few artifacts to go off. Most of our information is what has been passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation.”

  “All of humanity? …What happened?” Suako was taken aback. “Not all people felt the earth gave them their fair share of bounty. They desired oddities of which weren’t of necessity to survival. By doing so they were using up more resources then were available per person. When technology suddenly became a huge aspiring thing within this world even more materials were being consumed,” Yu-Lee sighed, “It is just how humans progressed. All respect for this planet was lost by most,” she sipped on her water.

  Suako was coming to understand the deeper embedded problem with the C.D.F.P. Company. It may as well have been hereditary on a global scale. Only these select few just couldn’t be content with the already exceeding life styles to their needs. They wanted more and more and therefore greedily continued to ravage the earth; despite the radical impacts they still refuse to stop perpetuating death. Suako welled up with fury and burst out into tears in a release of tension.

  Suako spent the next few days by Yu-Lee’s side. She learned many things about life patterns and cycles and the old beliefs held my mankind. As well it became clear just how barren the earth had become. In Torusan and other cities inhabited by any C.D.F.P. influence there was a false sense of the world still being plentiful. The masquerade was well carried out; no one on the inside would ever be the wiser.

  Only once did anyone come to visit the temple shrine during Suako’s few days there. The town was small and only had a few residents. Many had elected to leave and move to a domed area for their own comfort in the little time they and the planet had left. Those who stayed were either too poor to move or would rather die starving or suffocating just to hold true to boycotting the C.D.F.P. The people were self sufficient and content with their decision to help keep what was left of the earth pure. Their resolve to follow ancient customs was admirable, Suako thought.

  The earth trembled every so often, and Suako could not get used to it no matter how hard she tried. It always gave her a scare. Although Suako was unable to feel it at first, after she became acquainted with the thought of the earth being alive, she slowly realized that she could sense the earth’s pain. With every shake and shiver she sympathized and felt it ringing within her own body.

  Yu-Lee grew on Suako very quickly. She was a wise woman, a mysterious beauty, who did not look her age. She had an enigmatic energy that entranced anyone within her presence. Suako never knew anyone to be as together; Yu-Lee carried her head held high with pride. Each step she took she did with grace, and every word she spoke was elegant in pronunciation and rhythmic flow. Yu-Lee embodied the essence of perfection.

  Suako persistently asked Yu-Lee questions about life and spirituality. Yu-Lee was all but too happy to accommodate with expansive answers. “I was wondering exactly what did happen with the C.D.F.P. when they came here hoping to build their energy generators?” Suako inquired. “Well it was, and I suppose still is, something they’ve been wanting to obtain. Our village is in a good location to provide to some minor communities nearby as well as our own people. Financially it’s cheaper for them because it costs less for the distance of the energy to flow. The proprietor before me refused to permit them building here. The company has returned on several occasions wishing to build here. Sometimes they come with offers, sometimes with threats. We will not allow them to ever have this territory.” Yu-Lee explained.

  Suako shook her head in agreement and then found herself momentarily pausing to think. “How? How have you kept them at bay? The C.D.F.P. takes what they want when they want it, by force. How have they not yet found some way to get rid of you?” Yu-Lee had a grin slowly creep across her face from cheek to cheek. “We are the people of ancient way. We are the magick folk,” Yu-Lee said.

  Suako didn’t know what ‘magick’ meant, and was unable to put it all together. “What’s ‘Magick’?” she asked, puzzled. “We are all energy, magick is and expression of the intentional use of energy. Thoughts vibrate our intention, so the thought of an outcome makes it so-” Yu-Lee began, but Suako cut her off unable to contain herself, “Well then, what do you mean you are the ‘magick folk’?” “We have been blessed with the power to summon up life energy, the universal powers that cycle through all living beings,” she illustrated.

  “You see, we have mastered the ancient way passed down by our ancestors. The people of Kagawa can tap into the ever-abundant running energy and use it by bending it to our will. Far to the east of this continent there are ancient ruins of the last standing ancestral city. Within the core of the city is one of few earthly power points. This is where students studying of the magickal cycle are taken to be blessed and are from then on permitted to use life energy.” Yu-Lee explained.

  Suako couldn’t quite grasp the things she was being told. Yu-Lee was used to people’s disbelief and justification, having the logical side of the brain combating reality of something new and unknown. Yu-Lee was patient and tried to convey their practices as best she could. Suako was overwhelmed and tried to clear her mind, shaking her head as if it would erase the information inside.

  “Um, well… ok, but uh… how does this ‘magick’ protect you?” Suako asked. “Using magick we have been able to create a force field, or protective barrier, around our city. Only those with good earthly intentions are allowed to pass through without our direct permission by a resident here.”

  Suako hopped up like an intrigued child and rushed over to the window. Squinting and looking all around she searched for this ‘barrier’, but Suako could see nothing of the ‘force field’. Turning back around she scratched her head, very confused, “There’s nothing out there,” she stated. Unable to contain herself Yu-Lee let out a tiny burst of laughter. “It is not visible to your untrained eyes. You would have to be able to see the shimmering life energy that coats this entire planet, every inch of space surrounding it, and that of other planets.”

  Suako felt very let down, and doubt crept into her heart. How could she believe in this if she could not see it, she wondered? “So, you can never see this magick?” she said slightly sceptical, as well as let down. “I should say not!” Yu-Lee exclaimed to Suako’s surprise. “Let me show you a small bewitching,” she smiled. Crossing her hands over her face and keeping them covering her she chanted gently so Suako could not hear her words. Suako’s heart rushed, is she really doing something? she pondered, her body tingling with excitement from her head to her toes.

  Suako felt a strange force moving past her body toward Yu-Lee. Suako did not blink; an intense anticipation shunned all other thoughts from her mind. The second before Yu-Lee pulled her hand away from her face Suako swore she saw bright white flecks, like electricity, swarming around Yu-Lee. Yu-Lee revealed her face to Suako with her eyes closed. Nothing appeared to be different. Suako wrinkled her brow; she felt something must’ve taken place. Had she just been imagining a gathering energy? All was answered when Yu-Lee opened her eyes.

  Suako was so surprised she lost her balance and fell onto the floor. Yu-Lee’s dark scarlet eyes were no longer; gazing up at Yu-Lee Suako was bewildered to see amber eyes that burned with
fiery flames in the gleaming light, they were orbs of energy. With the closing of her eyes and a wave of her hands Yu-Lee restored her eyes back to their natural color.

  Taking a moment to grasp what she’d just seen, Suako pulled herself back onto her feet. Stuttering she attempted to speak “H-How… What d-did you… you do?” she panted in the deoxygenized air in sprints, her heart still racing. “I used the universal life flow energy to create magick, enabling me to manipulate my physical appearance,” Yu-Lee explained as if she was a teacher showing a student how to do a math equation. “Amazing…” was all Suako could bring herself to say. Suako walked herself back over to the table and sat with Yu-Lee. Nervous of rejection, Suako took a moment to build up the courage to ask, “Yu-Lee, I wonder if you might be willing to take on an apprentice?”

  On the outskirts of Atani Mack and the travelling group we’re walking away from the town. “I do not believe they just did that to us,” Kato said bitterly as he walked out of the city gates of Atani. They all marched out into the morning sun of the real world. “I wouldn’t have expected things had got so bad in so few years,” Jenko sighed. “It’s just ridiculous,” Vince shook his head. “No kiddin’, ‘oh here’s a one-night stay at the inn and a day’s rations for each of you. Don’t mind the boot in the ass on your way out.’ Sheesh!” Mei mimicked.

  “It just goes to show how fast the C.D.F.P. will take control of everything they can. We were lucky as it was just to have gotten into the city for one night,” Mack impressed upon them, “…well let’s keep going on up north,” he suggested. They began walking on the hard-red earth. A massive gorge swooped down to their left, between them and the northern mountainside. “Did you see all those guards? There must‘ve been one posted every twenty feet. Wonder if somethin’ happened?” Suddenly Kato stopped, “Eh… you guys here that?” he asked looking around.