Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [377]
“And now that I’m finally here, I understand. My journey through Vision wasn’t to reach the Tower of Destiny at all. The journey itself was the point. It taught me that even if I relied on your power to change my destiny, it would only be this one time. I’m sure that I’ll know many more happy times, and many more sad times. I can’t avoid that. That’s life. And I can’t go asking to have my destiny changed every time something sad happens to me.”
Wataru never thought he would cry as hard as he did that night he crawled under his bed. But he cried when Kutz died. And he cried when Mitsuru faded into the mist.
And there would be more partings, more losses, more wounds, over and over, again and again. He could change his destiny a hundred times, and each time another loss or separation would be waiting for him on the other side.
As long as there is happiness, there will be sadness. As long as there is fortune, there will be misfortune.
“The joy and the sadness on my journey through Vision taught me that you can’t wait around for your fate to change. What’s real is something that not even the strength of the Goddess can change. The only one who can change it is me. If I don’t change my own destiny, if I don’t cut through the obstacles in my path, then no matter where I go, I’ll always be standing in the same place, doing the same thing over and over again, for the rest of my life.”
That’s why I have to protect Vision. That’s why I can’t let the demonkin win.
“But I—we are powerless to defeat the demonkin. Left as it is, the darkness will swallow Vision whole. That’s why my wish to you is to save Vision. Give my Vision a future. Give my friends a future.”
Wataru stopped talking and looked at the Goddess’s face. Her eyes were closed, though her eyelids were trembling, as though they might open at any moment and return his gaze.
But the Goddess’s eyes remained closed. Her white hand in his was motionless, without feeling, like the hand of a finely crafted doll.
“Even should this invasion be stopped, it does not ensure that Vision will have a future,” she said, slowly shaking her head. “You know this as well as I do. I fear that the Northern Empire and the Southern United Nations will not find harmony. The war will continue. Nor will the discrimination you saw on your travels end easily. Knowing this, would you still use your one chance to change your destiny in the real world to help the people of this Vision?”
Wataru was sure. “Yes. Absolutely.”
The endless, foolish, and stupid waging of war, the narrow minds that could only see what they believed and nothing else, impatient hands that reached only for the nearest, most convenient pleasures, all of this was part of Wataru’s Vision too.
It’s all in me.
“There’s a point to all the mistakes, the comebacks, the rethinking, the living—the living for all you’re worth. There’s a point to finding our own path. Please, give the people of Vision a chance to find theirs.”
Inside, Wataru was perfectly calm. He had said all there was to say. He was now filled with a soul-satisfying contentment.
He bowed his head again deeply.
Then he felt the Goddess’s slender fingers tighten around his own.
“Very well.”
The Goddess leaned forward and lifted Wataru’s chin in her hand. The smile had returned to her face. The aura enveloping her was dazzling to behold. “I shall grant your wish. Stand.”
Wataru stood, straightening himself as best he could.
“Give me your sword, the Demon’s Bane you have completed.”
Wataru drew the sword from the sheath at his waist, handing it to her with both hands.
The Goddess stood without a sound. “Look at your feet.”
Wataru lowered his eyes and gasped. Images were swirling across the circular dais beneath them.
Where once the Crystal Palace stood,