[Episode 3893] [Episode 3893]In its very center, there is a statue of a young warrior, who is wounded with lots of arrows from neck to toe, but stays anyway in a battle stance, wielding a wonderfully carved sword what is burning with an eternal flame.
Surrounding the statue of the wounded warrior, there is a huge field filled with tombstones. They are all different: from stone monoliths to crystal crosses; from masterfully forged metal figures to clay tombstones with drawings made by a child, brought here from every place of the known world.
One hundred fourty eight thousand five hundred thirty seven tombstones.
There are no corpses under the tombstones. This is no cementery.
This is a memorial. Every tombstone is a testament of the death of a man who had given his life when fighting against the Fiancees.
All the tombstones are dedicated to the same man.
But every tombstone is dedicated to a different death.
This is the Monument of the Rising Phoenix.
This is his legend.
Armed with the sword of his ancestors, who holds the power over the life and death of their owner, the Rising Phoenix fought against the Army since its very start. He bore no hate against the Fiancees, though, as he knew that most of them were held with brainwashing spells. In the places where he stroke true against the Ranmas and the controlling Nagas, people regained control over their lives and towns were freed, even if that freedom was short until the Fiancees came again.
But more often than not, he was defeated, mainly because he held back against those who were dominated by the Nagas. And every time he was killed, he burned to ashes just to rebirth in another place, resuming his fight.
Once the fact that the Phoenix was rebirthing was known by the Fiancees, they started to hunt him, trying to get the power of immortality from him.
They tried everything.
They tried to get the sword from him, but when his hands weren't holding the sword anymore, both he and the sword burned into ashes.
They tried to dominate him, both through physical and magical means, but all in vain.
They tried to kill him in the most horrible ways, hoping to kill him quickly before he burned to ashes, but that didn't work either.
And when they learned that they couldn't get the power from him, they tried to destroy him forever.
They tried to inflict him the most horrible pain in order to break him, but he didn't surrender.
And if they tried just to lock him up and imprision him with any mean, with earth, ice, void and even stasis, he somehow managed to die anyways.
In the dark age of the Fiancees, the Rising Phoenix was a symbol of futile hope, of the cruel destiny of those who dared to rise against the Fiancees, of stupid bravery.
But when the Blessing of Born Form was cast, the name of the Phoenix was enough to gather around him those who wanted to fight against the Army, and attacked the very core of their power: Nerima and the palace of the First Ranma.
It was a gruesome battle. But this time, they won.
And when the Phoenix stood in the deserted chamber of the First Ranma, bleeding from many wounds, he knew that his fight was over.
In the place where now stays the statue of the Rising Phoenix, he slowly opened his hands, let his sword drop to the floor, and waited for his final death.
But this time, death didn't came for him.
He survived. The grateful people tried to make him their ruler, but he said that he was only a samurai, not a shogun. Instead, he spent the rest of his life teaching to those who wanted to walk the path of the samurai, who wanted to fight with honor.
Where the cursed capital of Nerima once stood, now there is a monument.
It is not a cementery. It is a reminder of having hope when everything seems lost, of fighting with honor even when that only brings you pain, of making the ultimate sacrifice when it is needed.
In the center of the Monument, the sword of the Phoenix is now wielded by a lifeless statue, forever burning. When a squire of the Order of the Phoenix wants to become a samurai, she must travel to the Monument and meditate about the price that a warrior can pay. And then, if the woman feels that she is able to pay the same price, she must get the sword from the statue. Up to date, nobody had been able to get the sword, and they bear the burns caused by it as the proof of their determination. Because everybody knows that, if the sword had accepted her, she would have to pay the same price as the Rising Phoenix until her destiny is completed.
Until then, the sword remains in the statue, its base engraved with these words.
HIS QUEST IS COMPLETED. MAY HIS SOUL FINALLY REST IN PEACE.
"I FIGHT ON!"
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(Posted Fri, 18 Oct 2002 18:53)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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