Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [251]
The light opened, forming a circle like a lotus leaf in the air above the mirror. In the middle of that circle, a picture formed. It was the man from before, now in focus.
“Ah, Traveler!” He was looking directly at Wataru.
He’s talking to me.
The figure had on a long robe of pure white that reached down to the floor. He also wore a simple silver crown upon his head. The object he carried in his hand wasn’t a staff but something like a silver hammer with a long, slender handle. For a moment, Wataru found himself thinking of the statue of Cistina inside the chapel in Lyris.
“My voice has reached you at last, Traveler. What’s this? You too are a child, I see.”
The figure was a man, probably about thirty years old, maybe older. Whether it was the light streaming from his robe or the light generated by the image itself, Wataru couldn’t say, but the man’s face looked very pale, and it was hard to make out his expression. Oddly, though his voice sounded young, the hair above his crown was pure white. Even his eyebrows were white.
“Who are you?” Wataru asked, trying to hide the surprise in his voice. Was this some kind of spirit that lived inside the mirror?
The man in the white robe did not answer his question but instead transferred the hammer to his left hand, and placed his right over his heart. “Hear now the voice of our heart, Traveler. Please, you must help us. What little hope remains rests upon your shoulders.”
“Oy, oy, what’s this all about?” Kee Keema snorted.
“Our strength has weakened, and our remaining time slips through our fingers. Please, Traveler, you must save us.”
Wataru took a step forward, leaning closer to the image. The light from the mirror stretched from floor to ceiling, but walking near didn’t make it seem any brighter.
“What can I do? You want me to help you, tell me how.”
“Come to us. Come, and listen to our request. For the safety and peace of all Vision, come, please.”
The peace of all Vision.
He now had Wataru’s full attention.
“I cannot say much. My words dance empty and meaningless through the air. We are waiting for you here, Traveler. Come to us upon your wings.”
Then, the white-robed man disappeared. In his place, they saw another image.
Wataru’s eyes opened wide. Wait, that’s…
Shining spires between towering clouds of pure white. A bridge of rainbow light. A gray land in the heights, shrouded in glaciers.
The Undoor Highland! It was that same land he had seen for a moment while traveling with Togoto.
The image faded. The Mirror of Truth ceased its glowing, and the room returned to quiet darkness.
Stunned, the three stood there in the dark, gaping. From a nearby room, they heard the light snoring of a starseer taking a break from his studies.
Kee Keema lit the lamp.
“What was that?” Meena asked, holding up the mirror. She was staring at it as though she expected it to answer her question.
“The Special Administrative State of Dela Rubesi,” Wataru said. Meena and Kee Keema both jumped.
“Really?”
“How do you know that, Wataru?”
Wataru told them about his flight from Sonn to Sakawa. “At the highest point of the flight, I caught a glimpse of it. Togoto told me what it was.”
“Dela Rubesi…”
“So the man in the white robe lives there, you think?”
“It seems that way.” Wataru looked at his friends. “We have to go.”
Meena slid the mirror back under her vest. “I agree, but how?”
“W-wait a second now,” Kee Keema said, putting a big hand on Wataru’s and Meena’s shoulders. “Let’s think about this a moment. I don’t know if you should just believe what that guy said, Wataru.”
“Why not?”
“Why not…” Kee Keema hesitated. His long tongue whipped out and licked the top of his head. “Well, if that’s really Dela Rubesi we were seeing, that place is a haven for followers of the Old God. They’ve got connections to the Northern Empire! Surely you haven’t forgotten them!”
“No—though that is just a rumor.”
“Sure, it’s a rumor, but it’s dangerous,” Kee Keema muttered. “What if this is some kind of trap?”
“A trap?” Wataru was surprised.
“You remember