IoG:RtE chapter 7: "The Battle of the Comet"

He was silently walking alongside Erik, thinking over the million possible
places Kara would be after 800 years. Considering logic, she woud be reborn 
into a rich familly, like before. But which, and wold theymlet believe him
when he would ask to take her away? Nobody would beleive Kara could save
humanity from a comet, especially snobbish aristocratic parents. Will
could perfectly well picture the snotty wankers in his mind, refusing to
let Kara out and throwing him off them property. Then he would have to
enter by night, slip over the fence, and reach for her bedroom window,
take her out with a honest note to the parents... no, no note, they would
be too stubborn. Damn... What would he need, a rope? a grapling hook ? All
he had was his flute, and the healing herbs... but...

"Hey, daydreamer..."
He didnt react at once, but he lifted his head and looked on his left, to
see Erik stare at him, grinning.

"The others have been expecting you. You'll be in trouble, young man" he 
said, immitating a serious voice, probably that of his father, the mayor.
"Huh???" Will uttered. "Wha? oh, oh yeah, i'm a dead man... especially
 with Lance and Lilly around."
"We'll be there in five minutes, they're in a little restaurant I know"

Will nodded, returning to his thoughts, but keeping awake this time.

***

Kara was on her bed, she had a vision in the ring. Some crazy had on a
pedestal was talking to her. She was willing to know more, but she couldnt
make out what the head was telling her. She had never seen the head, but
this old woman face looked familiar. Just like ... Just like... 

Dark Gaia...

She let out a scream. And then silence. she didnt want any more trouble
than she was worth. The memories came back to her, flooding her mind,
blinding her from the reality of her room.

The battle, the last fight...

She had merged with Will to create the ultimate knight, shadow, made from
the energy of the comet and the spirit of the knights of light and darkness.
Together, they were speeding towards the comet. There they met the surface
figure, radiating immense energy. They had fought the demon, but something
had crept out from behind. It was a 20-feet tall wall of horror. On top of
this mural monster sat a head, an old woman's head, august and awe-inspiring.
Down her neck crept gigantic vines that went into whatever ground the comet
had. The being, the enemy, had attacked them. Shadow fought hard, shooting
its newfound weapon, the Firebird at the monster while dodging the rain of
fire that it sent.In the end, defeated that horrible demon. They saw it wane,
and it appeared that this hellish creature was none other than the anti-Gaia,
mother of deadly chaos. Kara had never seen the good Gaia, but she imagined
the two ressembled each other. The knowledge born from the fusion between her
and the spirits of Will and other minor actors had showed her a frighteneing 
theological side to the world that frightnened her. The good gaia was the
mother of all living chaos, and the one they had banished, the mother of deadly
chaos. One was god, the other was demon. She was unfortunate enough to have met
with the worst. Will, on the other hand, was lucky enough to have had the
support of Gaia.

Thinking of Will... 

This guy, she had never met him, but she knew him by name, from the ring, and
her latest revelations... What was it that was so strong between them? Had
they been lovers in another life ?

***

"There you are!" , exclaimed a tired Lilly. 
"Oi, sorry you guys... you wanted to meet here ?" , Will said, becoming red.
Lance was the one who answered first.
"Yeah, we're leaving, and now, before you leave us here without a word."

"You guys sure you are coming ? I'm used to traveling alone by now. Besides,
I don't want to involve any of you in Gaia's endeavor..."

Seth cut him short. "Say what ? Ever since you left South Cape last time, we
followed you. We were just curious at first, but it got personnal. We are your
friends, and you are not going alone."
"Definitely" Lilly said, "If the odds of finding Kara are better as a group,
then we're gonna seize that chance."

"You guys..."

"And will," Erik added, "I believe you owe us a couple of explanations."

***

"Ok...", he finnally admitted, "There is a lot of stuff you guys should know."
"Let's start with the basics" , started Lilly, practical, "We were going to get
Kara ever since we met you again; that is already decided. Now what we need to
know is the nature of this 'Gaia', and the implications you and we have."

"Right..." , Will started, "Gaia is the spirit of Earth, mother of chaos, she is
the supposed daughter of the Sun god. There are two sides to her personnality.
The one I know is the 'Good Gaia', mother of living chaos. She is the one who 
distributes and watches over the minor spirits of all human beings. The other
one is the Dark Gaia, mother of all deadly chaos, and demons. She is the one
who spawns evil spirits and changes animals and humans into demons. This I
know because I conversed many times with Gaia during the first trip. The rest
I know because my father told me and I have the knowledge i me ever since I
merged with the spirits. " 

He took a pause to eat a bit of his breakfast and take a gulp of coffee. The
others were eager to know more about this theology, and it's connection with
will, but they respected his basic needs. After all, he hadn't had breakfast, 
and he hadn't eaten much the last few days.

He continued, choosing his words carefully. "Because they are the same, both
Gaias are in equal positions, and can't outgrow each other. Unfortunately,
exterior sources are stranger to this rule. The comet we fought was made by 
humans of previous civilizations. The original purpose of it was a reserve and
vehicule for knowledge. The elders created what is now known as the seven Great
Wonders with the energy and knowledge of the comet." 

Lance interrupted him, "If it's so, then isn't the comet a good thing?"
"Well. Once again, it's these 'exterior sources' that screwed everything up.
 We humans have a knack for hatred. Everyone in that time had access to the
 comet's power, and what was bound to happen happened. Some people started 
making weapons and demons to fight and conquer each others. This is the point
 when humanity discovered war. The thing we have been taught in school as 'the
 first murder', of Abel by his brother Cain. Well, turns out these two were
 two kings, whose people were in amild conflict that devolved into the war of
 the knights of Light and Darkness. The conflict and hatred was engeneered by
 the Dark gaia while the Knights were sent by the good Gaia to take away the
 comet from humanity and stop the madness they had created."

He took another sip of coffee. the others were listening with rapt attention,
cursing themselves for not noting anything. "The tower of Babel was not
destroyed by "god" as we were taught. It was taken away. The tower was the
greatest accomplishement made by the comet's energy. It was where the comet
itself was stored, and people could go and use it's power. King Cain killed
King Abel in single combat at the top of the tower. To punish him for his
crime, Gaia sent him back to his people with the burden of reigning over
twice as much subjects, and seized the Tower. That kept Cain busy for a while.
The tower was not destroyed as we thought, but forbidden to humans. It was
left as a lesson to humanity, an ultimate reminder of their insignificance
and foolishness. The comet was banished to space by gaia, and only allowed
to return every 800 hundred years, to see if humans had learned their lesson.
Whenever it came back, humans had not changed, and wars erupted between nations.
All of them were started by a descendant of King Cain. King edward in our time
was a direct descendant of Cain, and had many of his despotic traits."
will took a good breath.

Seth was the first to break the silence that followed. "Okay, now what are those
Knights of Light and Darkness?"
Will nodded, then pushed away his empty plate. "The Knights were kind of angels
sent by Gaia. The were the idealistic elite of human warriors. The Knights of
Light embodied virtue, while the Knights of Darkness embodied warfare. I am a
descendant of the knights of Darkness, I am a fighter and soldier of Gaia; 
Kara is a descendant of the Knights of Light. She is intelligent and righteous.
Okay, so maybe you guys won't agree to that last thing, but I attribute her
behavior to her upbringing, some of you missed it, but she changed a lot by 
the time we finished the trip. She was loyal and brave."

Lilly frowned but smiled, "You truly love her. I hated her guts"

Everyone laughed. Will went on. "The duty of the Knights is to secure the tower
and repel the comet in case of a disaster. The reason Kara and I could enter the
tower is because we aren't normal humans, we are descendants of Gaia's angels."

"This ring", he showed them his left hand, "is the dark one, sign of my origins.
since I was very little I was drawn to the Tower of Babel, because of my ancestry.
So was my father, but a little less. Maybe my blood was less diluted than his when
my mother joined the gene pool. My mother had  stronger signs of the ancestors in
her blood, so I am very biased to my ancestors. The same goes for Kara, her real
mother was an almost perfect rendition of the Knights of Light, but she was
silenced by King Edward and replaced by a spoiled bitch."

Will finished his coffee and took a good breath. "Anyone confused yet?"

Lance admitted his slowness. "Yeah... me. It's a lot to swallow, but I'll get over
it". Seth and Lilly were silent, but Will could tell that they understood perfectly
well. Erik was also silent, his silence was different. He had had a very strict
atheist father, no religion was allowed in the house. The Mayor was convinced
religion was a threat to stability.

Lilly was dumbfounded, but she had more questions. "And now Will, I...We would
like to know what has happened to you lately."
"Ok. This'll take less time than the rest.", he smiled, "To make a long story short,
Gaia contacted me telling me to get Kara back. She has always been like that,
giving me orders with very little answers to my questions. Maybe she feels
cheated by humans and don't want me to know too much. The seisure I had were just
my memory coming back to me violently. Remember, the stuff is still very recent,
even though I remembered you guys."

Lilly seemed satisfied. "Ok, we made arrangements to leave town to look for Kara, Erik?"

"True, I had a camping trailer arranged for us. We can leave aas soon as we go get it."

Will was smiling, happy to be supported by such good friends in his endeavor.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get started."

***