Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [323]
Zophie trembled with fear as she spoke, yet Mitsuru was utterly calm. To him, it seemed odd that more worlds weren’t part of the Dark, given the people who had imagined them into being. In fact, he began to wonder if Visions like this one were not the irregularities. Mitsuru knew far too much about the evil and greed men were capable of to believe otherwise.
“Yet, if you look at their origins, both Vision and the Dark are born of the same stuff,” Zophie was saying. “That is why all Visions bear some similarities to the Dark. Perhaps you might call them connections to the Dark. It is thus impossible to have a world completely free of animosity, hate, and foolishness.”
“A very accurate observation, I’m sure,” Mitsuru said, taking the reins of the conversation back from Zophie. “So, in the case of this Vision in which we now live, this connection with the Dark is the Mirror of Eternal Shadow?”
“It is so.”
“So, if my understanding is correct, you need this Crown of the Seal to prevent an invasion from the Dark, right? If that were the case, then it would indeed make good sense that the Crown of the Seal not be moved.”
Zophie smiled, looking very much relieved.
“This is merely conjecture on my part, but might it be that the Imperial Family has, from the beginning of time, held the noble role of bearing this Mirror of Eternal Shadow, and preventing attack from the Dark?”
Zophie’s face lit up with joyful surprise. “Indeed, it is! It is exactly as you say. That is why my family wishes above all other things to unite Vision and rule it in peace. No, it is more than a desire, it is our mission. Our clan was, in the beginning of time, given responsibility for the Mirror of Eternal Shadow from the Goddess herself—we were chosen.”
“Quite a weighty responsibility,” Mitsuru said solemnly. “Hearing your story has cleared up another of my questions too.”
“Which question is this?”
“In the south, they say that the religion of the Old God followed in the north is a denial of the Goddess Creator. That is why, when I first met the emperor, I asked him first about your religion. Why, if he believed in the Old God, did he not see me, a Traveler, as a false god, and something to be abhorred?”
“I’m sorry,” Zophie said quietly.
“No, the emperor was very honest with me. He told me that this religion of the Old God is nothing more then a device to encourage opposition with the south, where the Goddess is revered above all others. In truth, you worship not the Goddess but the real world as your creator.”
“Yes, we do!”
“Yet, this does not have to be a denial of the Goddess. The Goddess does exist, and she does live in the Tower of Destiny. But she is the Goddess only of the fates of people from the real world, and she does not preside over those who live in Vision. So the emperor told me. Yet I was somewhat confused until I heard what you told me just now. Now I know that the Imperial Family is, in effect, the caretakers of Vision, ordained by the Goddess. The Goddess does not rule Vision, she has given that charge to the Imperial Family, and retired to her Tower of Destiny, knowing that the fate of her own world is in good hands.”
Zophie crossed her hands over her chest, and her face filled with light. “Master Mitsuru, you understood all this from my simple tale? This is truly magnificent. You are wiser than I dared hope.”
“No, it is all on account of m’lady’s considerate explanations.”
Zophie arched her neck in that way only girls of her age can do, and pouted ever so slightly. “If the Goddess truly governed everyone in Vision as those fools in the south believe, then it would be a simple thing for her to fend off the Dark from the Mirror of Eternal Shadow. Yet this she cannot do. That is why it is difficult for us to think of her as a true god.”
“I understand.”
“But the people of the south know nothing of these truths,” she said with such a look of cold disdain that Mitsuru was caught off-guard.
Didn’t know she had that in her.
“Still, none of this helps my cause,” Mitsuru said, putting