Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [214]
“Do you think it’s coming from the north?”
“Oh, I have no doubt that’s a factor—but more than that, we have the times to consider.”
“The times?”
Shin nodded, his eyes still dark. “This isn’t something we’re allowed to say publicly, but I only give it two weeks or so before word gets out, and trouble starts. And, anyway, you’re a Highlander, so you should know first. I’m afraid you’ll have busy times ahead.”
Every thousand years, a great danger visits itself upon Vision, he explained. “This world in which we live exists at the depth of a vast chaos. In the past, all matter, once formed, would eventually return to this chaos, and nothing could last for long…”
It was the Great Barrier of Light that protected them from the chaos. “When the Goddess created our world, she made a pact with the Lord of the Underworld who presides over the chaos. Once every thousand years, an Age of Making comes when Vision must make a human sacrifice to the Lord of the Underworld. He then uses the life energy of that sacrifice to create the Great Barrier of Light. So is Vision able to exist.”
Wataru’s eyes went wide. “So, when you said the times before…”
“Yes. The time of the sacrifice is nearing. It will soon be time to create a new barrier.”
“How do you know?”
“In the north sky,” Sheehan said, pointing to a section of the ceiling in the little hut. “A star—the Blood Star—appears, telling us that the time has come. In fact, the society of starseers began with the express purpose of finding and identifying that star as early as possible.”
“And you can see this Blood Star?”
Shin nodded. “I can now, though I wasn’t able to find it on my own. More than two months ago, another student, far more advanced than me, released the first report of a sighting from the observatory in Arikita.”
Shin’s instructor, Dr. Baksan, had consulted the ancient tomes. He was able to find observational reports linked to the Blood Star. All of the star charts had been perfectly recorded. “That place was close by, so he sent me out here to make observations.”
That had been more than a year ago.
“That long ago?”
“Yes, but it was only ten days ago that I first saw what I thought might be the signs. Dr. Baksan wasn’t too pleased with me, I tell you,” Shin admitted, wilting like a flower.
“Isn’t human sacrifice a little harsh? I mean, the person dies, right?”
“No, they do not. Yet their fate is worse than death, for they must live for eternity in loneliness.”
Until the next Age of Making came, they were bound to serve the Lord of the Underworld, and look upon everything that lived in Vision, ensuring that nothing was corrupted by the chaos…
“It would not be such a mean task if one only had to observe love, friendship, helpfulness, smiles, and songs. But there is hatred and betrayal and jealousy in this world, stealing and killing. Living beings are sadly capable of all these things.”
It was a fact of which Wataru was painfully aware. For a moment, he felt a chill, as he recalled the faces of Yacom and Lili.
“I’d imagine it’s hard, seeing people driven by greed—never knowing happiness or joy. But endure it they must. They must take in everything, and let it be as it is. If they do not, the Great Barrier of Light would break, and all Vision would be destroyed. This is the burden the sacrificed must bear.”
Wataru thought. As Shin said, it would be hard protecting people who merely fought with one another. He could see how it would even seem ridiculous at times. But wouldn’t it be harder defending their happiness? Being a sacrifice for their smiles? Enduring such terrible loneliness, while the people below merely laughed? Wouldn’t he wonder why it happened to him, and why it couldn’t have been someone else? Wasn’t that terribly unfair? Wataru imagined that holding that kind of grief inside for one thousand years would be the hardest thing of all.
“How is the sacrifice chosen?”
Shin shook his head. “That I