She was going to die.
There was no point in belaboring it.
Her life's essence was pouring away into nothingness, and she felt too weak to even lift a hand to her marks to staunch the flow.
No, she was done for. After her attempt to take Urd with her, she probably had less than a week. A week she'd spend unconscious, when she'd otherwise could have spent that time seeking forgiveness for her crime.
"You can still make amends," a voice, or collection of voices rather, said.
Mara weakly turned her head about seeking the source of the voice. It was funny, but it mostly seemed to sound like her own voice with hints of those from people she knew or had known. Among others, she heard the voices of many of her past victims.
"One can only understand something through one's experiences," the voice explained. "And we have the most experience with ourselves. So I am generally heard through your own voice."
"Uhh, right," Mara said. "I'm hallucinating now."
There was a low chuckle, most of which was one of her evil snickers.
"No daughter," the voice said. "You are just hearing me for the first time. A benefit of the link you share with the Norns and Peorth."
"What link?" Mara asked suspiciously.
Something shimmered in the blank world around her, making Mara blink.
"Look and see your wounds," the voice said as the shimmering resolved into a mirror.
Mara expected to see her marks bleeding freely. Instead she saw cuts slashed in between the two marks on her forehead, and the two marks at either corner of her eyes. Her actual marks were untouched.
"Huh?" Mara asked.
"You have always been bleeding," the voice said. "Since soon after you were born. All Hild did was stop providing you with more. Like putting a stop to an IV on a critically wounded patient."
"But, I've always felt fine," Mara said. "Better than fine...I've never even caught a virus."
"Do you know what a demon is, Mara?" the voice asked.
"We were created by the Prince of Lies to fight against the forces of God," Mara said, as if it were obvious. She had a feeling of someone smiling ruefully.
"And who told you this?" the voice asked. "You trust one that calls himself the Prince of Lies?"
"Well then, you tell me what a demon is," Mara said.
Something raised her up to a seated position and brought her closer to the mirror. An invisible hand wiped the blood away from her marks, and Mara gasped.
Her demon marks, under all the blood...were blue...like...those of the goddesses. Though the bleeding quickly turned them red again.
"You are a goddess," the voice said. "Stolen at birth, lied to, tortured, abused, filled with hate, until you were forged into the weapon you are now. You are a Child of God, like all other beings, including your Prince of Lies."
"But," Mara said. A door appeared before her and opened into a field of light with a shimmering hand extending outward toward her.
"Come," the voice said hand held out. "Be healed."
Mara hesitated a long moment before taking the hand and climbing to her feet, feeling strangely refreshed already.
****
"Eww!" Sayoko gasped. "Umm, somebody, come over here, she's bleeding!"
Urd and Peorth were quickly at Mara's side. Urd quickly snapped up a piece of sheet and ripped it free to wipe at the blood covering Mara's face.
"Oh my," Peorth said.
Sayoko looked down and saw the marks on Mara's face had become like those on the goddess's face, slightly discolored scar down the middle of each mark.
"She's healed," Urd said, smiling. "She chose redemption."
"So, she's a goddess now?" Sayoko asked.
"Correct," Peorth said. "A goddess without a mirror. She'll be the perfect target for Hell."
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Sun, 22 Dec 2002 20:35)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.