Chapter 4 - Hannes

Chapter 4 - Hannes is the 4th chapter in the The Epic of Zektbach.

Part 1-11 : The Island of Fallarien, the abandoned paradise

About 700 years ago, not long after The Holy Kingdom Of Noigllado was established, a strange plague struck the continent. The sufferers lost all their consciousness and memories, turned into something like zombie. The King had no choice. He ordered everyone to hunt for the sufferers, send them to a big sailboat, and then, push the boat into the Swan Ocean. This way, the sufferers were abandoned by the continent, and will no longer be remembered.

Finally, the boat arrived at an unmanned island far from the continent. The sufferers got down from the boat, began hovering on the island, just like zombies. Incidentally, a sufferer entered the forest, and dropped into a spring. When he woke up, he found that he regained his consciousness. Then, he drew some water from the spring, spilled the water on everyone's body. This way, the sufferers were finally cured.

But at last, their lost memories were not resurrected. Without knowing anything about the continent, without knowing that they were abandoned, without knowing Ristaccia, they began their new life on this island. They became the first islanders settled in this island.

Before long, the islanders found that the spring was just marvelous. The spring water had some kind of magical power, it didn't only cure their diseases, but bring a lot of miracles to them. It could make flowers bloom on wasteland. It could make bumper harvest every year. It could make people more clever. It could do almost everything. They used the spring water everyday, and the spring never dried up.

Hundred of year had passed .With the miracles gained from the spring, the islanders creates a civilization centered on the spring. They named the spring "Lourdes" and believed in it. They thought that there was a god living in The Spring Of Lourdes, and their happy life was all endowed by him. They always thanked the god for giving them a happy life. They also named the island "Fallarien", because it have the same meaning as the word "Paradise". Eventually, a religion was formed.

At the same time, the completely formed Ristaccia religion had controlled the whole continent. There wasn't a single person who didn't believe in Ristaccia on the continent.

Two parallel civilizations were growing up separately, without knowing the existence of each other. This situation lasted about 700 years.

One day, another miracle was brought to the islanders. An unmarried young girl was pregnant after drinking the spring water, and one year later, right after giving a birth to a baby girl, she died. The islanders all believed that the baby girl is the daughter of Lourdes. They respected her as "The Holy Daughter". She was brought up in the monastery, receiving solitude from everyone. "Hannes" is the name given to The Holy Daughter. Everyone looked forward to get more miracles from her.

--

A cabin.

An old man sat before the desk.

A book full of words and an empty book were placed on the desk. It looks like that the old man was copying books with his feather pen.

But if you look carefully, you'll see that the old man wasn't copying the books carefully. He made many mistakes copying the book.

When he had done the copying, he burned the old book, took out another empty book and began doing the copying again. The new empty book looked more luxurious than the old one.

Just like last time, he also made many mistakes copying the book this time.

Maybe, these were not "mistakes". Maybe, the old man edited the articles on purpose.

After done the copying again, he began doing the same work once more.

The floor was full of ashes. The old man must have done the repeating works many times.

Not knowing how many hours had passed, the old man was doing the same work all along.

But this time, things had changed.

When the old man copied and edited the articles just like before, he found that the newly written articles began to fade immediately.

The old man was shocked. Looks like that he had never met this situation before.

He rewrote the edited article again, but it soon faded again.

Only if he didn't copy the article exactly, the words would soon fade away.

The old man was so confused and angry about it. He left the cabin, with the troublesome new book in his hand.

A deep primeval forest.

Some kind of giant living creatures were in the forest. No one had ever seen them before.

Looks like they were waiting for something to come.

Suddenly, a large fireball appeared in the sky. It was falling to the ground quickly.

After a short moment, the ground was devoured by fire, and the sky was shrouded by dark clouds.

But, the living creatures didn't get nervous at all. We could feel the serene from their eyes.

Maybe, they just didn't have enough wisdom to know what was happening to them.

But therefore, they could face their death silently, without fear.

A long chain hanging from the sky.

A young girl was climbing up the chain. A beautiful apple was in her hand.

Lots of living things were being tied by the chain, far below the girl.

They were too heavy that they made the chain start to drag on the ground. The girl got nervous about that. She took out her sword out, cut the chain off.

The end of the chain felled down to the ground, with the creatures tied by it. Suddenly, a deluge burst over the ground. Everything on the ground was devoured.

The girl was gloating over this scene. A malicious laugh over spread her face.

Then, she ate her apple with a satisfied smile.

Hannes woke up from the strange dreams again.

She had had these strange dreams every night these days. The dreams annoyed her a lot. She finally decided to consult the pope for that.

Hannes, a 16 years old girl. She lost her mother soon after she was born. But she led a happy life. Everyone called her "The Holy Daughter", loved her, and respected her very much. Her heart was always full of gratitude. She thanked the God Of Lourdes for giving them a happy life and offered prayer to Lourdes everyday.

But that day, there seems to be something wrong with their happy life. Everyone looked so nervous. Hannes was confused about that.

Then, she saw an old woman squatted beside the lane, crying. She soon walked up to the old woman and asked what happened.

The old woman's sound was so weak that Hannes can't hear it clearly. But she heard that the old woman mentioned something about The Spring Of Lourdes.

She comforted the old woman by praying for her. Then, she stood up, began to run to The Spring Of Lourdes to see what had really happened.

Part 1-4 : The Apocalypse

A large flaming meteor falling to the ground.

Crowded giant creatures.

Land being submerged by the great flood.

A man grasping a chain.

A nude girl eating a fruit.

Metallic birds flying in the red sky.

Someone gazing into a strange little box.

Swans singing their dying words on the desolated land.

Scenes spinning in Hannes' head with extremely high speed. She crouched down, covering her head with hands.

"The one born from the spring of God, now listen to me."

A mysterious voice began to speak to her mind.

"The world is full of sin."

"The law of equivalent exchange should always be strictly obeyed. But arrogant Huminas always believed that they deserve such fortunes."

"The villagers had been enjoying the miracles for a long time. They took everything for granted. They never want to pay for it."

"They thought what they believed is the truth, but just the opposite. They broke the harmony of the natural environment and distorted the truth."

"Being served without paying, that is called 'Pride'. A deadly sin."

"Enjoying the miracles without awareness, that is called 'Sloth'. Another deadly sin."

"Now it's time for them to pay for all these."

"You are the chosen one. You should protect the causality and the regularity of this world. Wipe out the sinners and let the fake truth perish. That is your holy duty."

Now, at the bottom of the spring, something awakened in Hannes.

Without a word, she tooked the huge sword and began climbing the spiral stairs.

"They have to pay for the miracles...with their lives. That is to protect the causality and the regularity of this world."

"I am the chosen one. I am obliged to hunt down the sinners who broke the law of nature. That is the will of God. That is why I was born."

Seeing Hannes getting out of the well, all the villagers knelt down before her and prayed.

"Saintess Hannes, please... You are the miracle child of the holy spring... Please do something with your power of salvation! We really can't afford to lose the spring water!"

Hannes hesitated. The reminiscence of her everyday life with villagers is still alive.

It was the villagers who brought her up, gave her happiness and respected her as a saintess. She could not easily forget all these things.

"What should I do?"

Tears fell down her face.

"I received a lot of happiness from them. But I have to put an end to their happiness."

"Oh, God... Perhaps the villagers didn't know anything about the law of nature. That is a deadly sin. But they just want to lead a happy life. It that really a unforgiveable sin?"

"Is it all right to wipe them all out?"

With tears in her eyes, she looked up to the sky and prayed for forgiveness.

"They are distorting the truth. The law of causality will collapse due to the distortion of truths. That will cause the destruction of this world."

"All will return to nothing. All things will lose the meaning of existence. It's much more horrible than death, don't you think so?"

"It's honorable for everyone to return to the nature."

"You are the chosen one, don't forget it. It's your holy duty to protect the law of nature. Now, raise your sword."

Hearing the Apocalypse, her body began to shake violently. Suddenly, her eyes turned crimson.

Then, she raised that huge sword up. The sword began to glow with flame.

Fallarien turned into a raging inferno.

(To be continued)

Media

Apocalypse ～dirge of swans～ (with the story in Jap sub)