Arcanum 1: Shiryu - The Helplessness of Mages
Arcanum 1: Shiryu - The Helplessness of Mages
Shiryu stepped through the shimmering Gate. Slightly disoriented, he looked around. But he knew where he was!
He stood at the edge of the plateau that the last time he had only reached by overcoming a multitude of dangers, ghosts of ancient Saints and deadly natural phenomena. But now a single step through a mystical arc had brought him here, to the mountains of Jamir where Mu's Spire was located!
Suddenly Shiryu became aware that he wouldn't meet Mu here anymore. The Aries Gold Saint was dead, just like all of the other Gold Saints who had died in one glorious explosion of Cosmo to make it possible for Seiya and them to vanquish Hades.
He felt tears trickle down his face when he walked closer to the Spire. Mu... Aldebaran... Aiolia... Shaka... Dohko... Milo... Aiolos... Shura... Camus... Even Saga, DeathMask and Aphrodite -- they all had sacrificed their life in the name of the Goddess.
"Regrets?" a familiar voice asked.
Shiryu whirled around. Next to him stood a man with long, light violet hair who was clad in brown leather breaches and an ochre coloured tunic with a dark brown sash.
"Mu?!" Shiryu exclaimed.
"Why did you come here, Shiryu?" the Aries Saint asked.
"Well, Gaia asked Athena to justify herself -- and we as her Saints have to face certain trials, too."
"Trials, yes," Mu smiled. "So you are going to sacrifice yourself once more for your friends?"
"Sacrifice myself? Well, if that is needed..."
"Needed? For what? If Athena has to justify herself, why do you think it means you have to sacrifice yourself again?"
Shiryu frowned as he looked at the simile of Mu.
"Isn't there anything you want for yourself?"
"For myself?" Shiryu echoed.
Sadly, Aries Mu shook his head. "It is worse than I had feared. Do you know what the Magician represents?"
"You will tell me, will you?"
"You're a good student, are you?"
"The Old Master never had cause to complain about me, I guess."
"I thought so. Dohko told you to train, did he?"
"Of course."
"And why did you train?"
"I wanted to become the strongest Saint of them all."
"And why?"
"Well..."
"Why do you want to become strong, someone who can move things, when in fact you stay someone who keeps to be moved?"
Mu made a gesture with the magic wand he held in his right, and suddenly Shiryu found himself back in the time when he followed the gruesome training.
"If I hadn't done what my Master told me, I'd never become a Saint," Shiryu defended himself.
"Maybe. But then you went to the Galactic Tournament - why did you fight there?"
"I got the order..."
"So this was why your heart wasn't fully in the fight?"
"How can you accuse me of not fighting properly!"
"And? Did you?"
"Of course! I almost died during that Tournament!"
"Indeed - but what for?"
Shiryu looked at Mu. That Tournament hadn't been for the sake of Athena in the first place, that was true. He had to go there because he got the call from the Graude Foundation that had taken him from the orphanage and sent him to train to become a Saint.
"What would you do if you had the choice? Would you be able to take up a life of your own?"
Suddenly Shiryu found himself sitting in his bed, blind. Shunrei passed him a cup of tea, but he let it fall down. The feeling of utter helplessness and desperation made him cringe.
"My life belongs to Athena and my friends," Shiryu protested.
"And what about Shunrei? She was there for you much longer than any of the others."
"But as Saint of Athena my duty does not allow me to live the life of a normal boy."
"So she's a jealous Goddess, wouldn't you say?"
"Who are you to speak ill of the Goddess! You're a Saint, too!"
"I'm the Magician, I form worlds and souls with the power of the mind -- and with the force of the word."
"You mean you try to confuse people..."
"That, too," Mu laughed. "After all, the Magician was always also the Juggler, the one who lives by tricks and lies. But as a Trickster I can also see through lies..."
"So why should I listen to you if you only tell me lies anyway?"
"If you would but listen, you would know. After all you are the one who lives the greatest lies."
"And what would that be?"
"That you think that you live."
"Pardon?"
"What life is it to live a life that's lived by others?"
"But I do live my own life..."
"You live a life that's defined by others, you never ever lived for yourself."
Again the Magician waved his wand, and colourful sparkling energies swept Shiryu on a way through the past.
"When you where little you were taken from the orphanage and told to train..."
Shiryu saw himself doing yoga exercises and spar against other children of his age. No one of them was allowed to slacken a bit; if they ever did they were punished.
"Then you were sent all over the world to complete your training..."
Shiryu went to China, to the Five Old Peaks and his Old Master put him through the hardest ordeals imaginable until he finally managed to attain the Dragon Bronze Cloth.
"After getting your Cloth you returned to Tokyo to partake in the Tournament on behalf of the Graude Foundation..."
Once more, Shiryu found himself in the ring fighting Seiya in a deadly duel.
"You wanted to return to China, but right away you found yourself under the command of Kido Saori and had to continue fighting for her..."
Shiryu saw himself hunt for the stolen Gold Cloth, then he set once more out to Jamir to repair the dead Bronze Cloths.
"When you were told that you might die to repair the Bronze Cloths, you agreed because you feared that Seiya and the others might lose their fight. It never occurred to you once to worry for you or Shunrei or even the Old Master..."
Shiryu felt his strength leave his body when his life-blood poured from the cut veins in his arms. He was saved, though, and still mortally weak, he returned to the fight.
"Again you didn't battle for yourself, but only for your friends. It was never ever your wish to fight, you only kept going on for fear that the others might be hurt. Didn't you feel guilty that your Black Dragon counterpart died because you infused your kind of thinking into him?"
The Black Dragon died in his arms, and Shiryu experienced the feeling of hurt and helplessness again.
"It was necessary, for Athena..." Shiryu said weakly.
"For Athena. And what about you?"
More stations of fights went by in front of his inner eye, and finally the sequence of battles halted when Shiryu faced Perseus Algol and the Medusa shield.
"In this battle you once more sacrificed yourself," Mu explained. "But that didn't hurt you as much as suddenly being helpless and not able to help your friends anymore."
Suddenly Shiryu was back in the forecourt to Hades where DeathMask beat him mercilessly, until the Cancer Saint decided to attack Shunrei to break Shiryu's spirit once and for all.
"Isn't it frustrating for you that you are not able to reach the true mastership of your forces on your own?" the Magician asked. "If DeathMask had not attacked Shunrei, would you have ever managed to let your Cosmo explode to triumph over him?"
"Is this your only goal, to humiliate and hurt me?" Shiryu asked desperately.
"I don't need to humiliate you, you do as much for yourself. I only point out stations of your life. Maybe there will be a day when you will take up the magic wand and create a life for yourself."
"But I live the life I want to live! I'm a Saint of Athena..."
"Your words sound well-rehearsed. Do you have a life beyond the fights?"
"Well, there is Shunrei..."
"Is she? How often have you thought of her during the fights?
"So what about you?" Shiryu made an attempt to defend himself. "Do you have a life of your own?"
"I do. I'm a Healer. And I create things." The Magician waved his wand again and a myriad of flowers grew from the barren ground. "But what would you do if one day you were not able to carry your Cloth anymore? Without it to define you, would you wither and die?"
Once more, Shiryu had to encounter Tiger Ohko, first the cold humiliation not to be able to help Shunrei out of the water, then the fight and his relief that he was able to vanquish Ohko after all.
"You only returned to the living when you felt that you still could be a Saint of Athena, no matter whether you were blind or not. But as much as you thought this to be a success, it again showed how much you depend on the view that others have of you."
"Fine, so you say I'm totally worthless?"
"No. I would like you take up the wand to create your own life." Mu smiled at him, but in his eyes still shimmered the profound sadness. He didn't think that Shiryu would be able to overcome his weakness so easily. The boy needed time to think, and maybe he would even get the time before he died in another battle for his Goddess. "Always remember that by sacrificing yourself you will never be able to do anything more afterwards. -- You are free to go back now."
The shimmering Gate appeared next to Shiryu, and the Dragon fled back to his friends.
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"Shiryu, what happened to you on the other side?" Seiya asked in worry. The Dragon was pale like freshly fallen snow.
"Nothing," he said wearily.
"Did you have to fight someone?"
"Yes. Me."
Seiya, Hyoga and Shun exchanged puzzled looks.
Gaia shook her head in amusement. "These were only the first two steps, and somehow I have the feeling these two will not want to enter the other side again..." She looked at Ikki who sat on a stone and still looked as if he had fought some terrible monsters and lost and Shiryu who was likewise stricken.
"What did you do to them?" Athena asked in worry. "How am I to pass the test if you destroy my fighters' will just like this?"
"So you want more of your fighters here? So be it!" Gaia laughed and waved her hand. In the next instant, the twelve Gold Saints who were killed during the attack on Hades stood on the plain, attired in their Gold Cloths and looking severely disoriented.
"But..." Athena opened her mouth and closed it again. She marvelled at the powers of her 'Grandmother' and would certainly not argue with Gaia on bringing back her Gold Saints from the dead.
"Well, who of you all dares to face the High Priestess?" Gaia challenged.
As the Gold Saints exchanged irritated glances, Athena hurriedly filled them in on the situation, and when Gaia repeated her challenge, Shaka stepped forward. He was the reincarnation of Buddha, he would be intrigued to meet this High Priestess.
"I'll do."
Gaia smiled. "Very well. Meet the High Priestess, Shaka of the Virgo constellation."
