Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [277]
The Precept-King continued, “What was wrong, he asked me, with bringing things that already existed in the real world here, to Vision? He thought he could make Vision richer, add to its prosperity overnight.”
“Would these motors give us prosperity?” Meena asked innocently. Wataru didn’t have a good answer. It depended on what one meant by prosperity. And it was unclear that the kind of prosperity that mechanical power promised would really bring happiness to Vision.
“Of course, he had other motives.”
“Like what?”
The Precept-King turned to Meena. “With that information he carried, the Northern Empire would welcome him with open arms. He would be a most valued citizen there. My dear kitkin, it is as you fear. With powered ships, the North would defeat the South in the blink of an eye. Vision would be unified under one leadership, whether it wished it or not. That would make our fugitive a grand contributor to the new order. He would stand at the top of Vision along with the Imperial Family of the North.”
The light in Meena’s eyes dimmed. “That’s it? That’s what he wants?”
“Indeed. That is why he brought knowledge from the real world here to Vision—to satisfy his own greed. That is why the Goddess is angry.”
Wataru glanced at the Mirror of Truth. Its smooth surface once again reflected the three of them, standing around the robed man.
“Do you really think the fugitive can secure passage to the Northern Empire so easily? I wonder if anyone would really believe him when he told them about the boat.”
“Oh, they would believe,” the Precept-King said, his eyes filling with sorrow. “As I have heard, the empire in the north has been trying for some time now to obtain a Mirror of Truth for themselves. It appears that someone in the Imperial Family knows of its workings. If they could open passage to the real world, they know what power it would place in their hands. There was a time when they tried any number of despicable ways to create a mirror such as the one we have here.”
Wataru looked at Meena. All expression had drained from her little face. Her thoughts were racing backward through time.
When Sigdora—the special unit of the Northern Imperial Army—attacked Meena’s home, they had been after her family’s Mirror of Truth. Her parents were merely casualties. That was why they were after fugitives to the south as well. It was all for the mirrors.
The Precept-King furrowed his brow as he gazed at the mirror beside them. “Do you know what the Mirror of Truth is?” he suddenly asked Wataru.
“I’m not sure what you mean. It opens a corridor between this world and the real world, right?”
“Yes, this is one of its vital functions. But that is not why the mirror exists in the first place.”
The mirror presides, as its name might suggest, over truth in Vision, the Precept-King explained. “It is composed of the very elements that make Vision what it is—the seeds of the world. A gathering of parts that create the world—perhaps this is the best way to describe it,” he said, running his finger along the edge of the mirror.
The seeds of the world? Wataru shook his head.
“It is not surprising that you do not understand. You are still a child, after all,” The Precept-King said with an ironic smile. “Vision is but a void, yet it has form. It is here, yet it is not. It exists, yet it may not exist.”
Oh, that clears it up. Wataru began to feel like he was listening to a lecture at school.
“You do not know the story of Vision’s creation, do you?”
Wataru frowned. “Actually, I do. Vision is created by the imaginations of people living in the real world.”
“Yes…I suppose one might say that.”
“Isn’t that right?”
“Vision exists in the space between two mirrors. These two mirrors are the seeds of our world.”
Meena, finally recovered from her shock, blinked slowly and looked up.
“One