06x03 - The Lost Fable

[bunniefuu]

Stay close for fast.

Us.

Hope.

But we can.

Our mountain.

The given mouth to reach the.

You get back from many.

And we'll catch the dream.

One day like the best.

Locked away by her cruel father. Salem

was a girl who desired but one thing.

Freedom. She lived in a time when

kings and their kingdoms were plentiful,

when men and women were capable of greatness

and magic was a gift from the gods that all could wield.

And yet there she sat within her tower.

Until one day, a legendary hero came

to brave the challenges within the tower's walls.

The people of the lands knew him as Ozma.

Unlike those who had come before, this warrior

was not driven by the prize of the young

maiden's hand. He fought only for righteousness.

His pure heart and courageous soul prevailed.

Escape the wretched fortress. And yet something bound them together.

Ozma had been ready to give his life for justice countless times.

But now saw a woman worth saving it for.

And Salem, to her surprise, found her

freedom not in the outside world she had yearned for,

but in the eyes of the man that had saved her.

So where should we go now? Wherever you'd like.

The two fell deeply in love. Planned

adventures around the world and lived happily.

Or at least that's what should have been.

Ozma, the infallible hero of legend. Fell ill,

and where all of the beasts and blades

of the world had fallen short. A single sickness prevailed.

How could the gods let this happen?

The gods. Brothers of light and darkness.

Creation and destruction. Salem prayed they would see

the injustice that had befallen her love and make things right.

The domain of light was a sacred place.

It was here the elder brother dwelled

beside his fountain of life and creation.

It was here where mankind.. Would fall to ruin.

Please, please bring him back to me.

I understand your pain, but you demand

of me that which I cannot make. So.

Life and death are part of a delicate balance.

So you won't do it then? To disrupt

the cycle of. That's not fair. That's not fair.

Let him rest.

No.

The God of darkness.

None dared to enter his home,

as men knew what monstrosities emerged from his blackened pools of annihilation.

And so you must understand the Dark

Lord's surprise when he found a lone

woman.. Kneeling before him.

Salem understood it well. She told him

of her loss and professed that she

knew only he could answer her prayers,

all while careful to make no mention of his elder.

Where am I? What is this? Where am I? It's okay.

Everything's going to be okay.

What have you done? I have done what I please, brother.

You may bask in the powers of creation,

but you do not own them.

This is not creation. Do not lecture me.

I will do what I must to maintain order.

No, no. What did you do? Bring him back!

You dare enter my domain and show such disrespect?

Ozma. I am abiding by the rules we agreed upon.

Rules that I now see work ever in your favor.

And yet, the day a mortal comes

to pray at my feet before your own.

So do your right to lay your judgment upon me.

I know we have our.. Differences, but I have not come here

with the aim to control you.

The same, however, cannot be said for her.

This woman came to you only after I denied her. Please.

Please. They would have disrupted the balance

that you and I created together.

Then it seems I owe you an apology.

To allow me to correct my mistake. No.

You monsters! Give him back to me! Give.

When you first came to me, I did pity you.

But it is clear now that your

selfishness and arrogance have led you astray.

What did you do to me? I have made you immortal.

Immortal? You cannot die. You cannot be with your beloved.

So long as this world turns. You shall walk its face.

You must learn the importance of life and death.

Only then may you rest.

Salem was a prisoner once again.

Her fruitless attempts to reunite with Ozma

eventually became nothing more than acts of

spite and defiance against the gods.

But perhaps the gods were not as powerful as they seemed.

She had lied to them, turned them

against one another. They were fallible.

If she were to turn humanity against light and darkness,

she could rid herself of their curse. Or at the very least.

She could make them suffer.

Salem traveled from one kingdom to another,

telling tales of how she stole immortality from the gods,

welcomed any swordsman to cut her down,

and demonstrated her powers with the kings and queens in awe.

She pulled them deeper into her scheme.

She painted them pictures of a time

when they would no longer have to watch

their loved ones wither and die,

when they could claim the powers of their

creators for themselves and in turn perfect their own desires.

All they needed to do..

Was destroy their old master. The gods

had hoped that Salem would learn from her eternal curse.

And she did. She learned that the

hearts of men are easily swayed.

Who has let you down this path.

My own gift to them. Used against.. Me.

From.

You thought there was no greater punishment we..

Could bestow upon you? I'll come..

Back. I'll tell the rest of the world of this m*ssacre.

Build a new army. You do.. Not understand. There is no.

You are all that remains of humanity.

This planet was a beautiful experiment, but it is merely

a remnant of what it once was.

We will learn from this failure.

From yours. No. You can't leave. You can't leave. Come back.

Still demanding things of your creators.

Once again, Salem was alone.

She cursed the gods.

She cursed the universe. She cursed everything.

Everything but herself. She wandered the face of the planet,

awaiting a death that would never come

until fate led her back to the land of darkness.

This had to be it. The Brothers Grimm.

The pools of black that continued to give rise to horrific nightmares.

If the Fountain of Life granted her immortality,

then surely the pools of Grimm would finally take it away.

She was wrong.

This force of pure

destruction could not destroy a being of infinite.

Instead, it created a being..

Of infinite light with a desire for pure destruction.

And in time she would find her adversary.

Asthma.

Where am I? We are between realms.

I'm afraid a tragedy has befallen your

home at the hands of my brother.

We have chosen to depart this world.

But in our absence, I would like

to offer you the chance to return to it.

I don't understand. Mankind is no more.

Yet your world remains. And in time

your kind will grow to walk its face once again.

However, without our presence, they will be

but a fraction of what they once were.

Creation, destruction, choice and knowledge were the

ideals upon which humanity was made.

Now I leave them behind with the hope

that you may learn to remake yourselves.

If brought together, these four relics will

summon my brother and I back to your

world and humanity will be judged.

If your kind has learned to live

in harmony with one another and set aside their differences,

then we shall once again live among.

Will be made whole again. But if your kind is unchanged,

if you demand our blessings while still fighting amongst yourselves,

then man will be found..

Irredeemable and your world will be wiped from existence..

Until your task is complete. You will reincarnate.

But in a manner that ensures you are never alone.

I'm sorry, but that world just isn't

as dear to me without her.

If I may, I'd rather return to the afterlife to see Salem.

You will not find her there. You mean she isn't gone?

Salem lives. But the woman you hold

dear in your memories is gone.

Heed this warning. Where you see comfort.

You will only find pain. So.

Will you? I'll do it very well.

Our creation rests within your hands.

And so Ozma was reborn.

Where am I?

Thank you. Please tell me your name. Who are you?

He didn't know.

Ozma had found himself in a world completely unfamiliar to him.

Cities look different. Creatures known as the Faunus

bore fangs and claws and were locked away in cages,

and without the blessing of the gods,

no one could perform magic like mankind was once capable of.

No one but himself, and a woman known as the witch.

During his years of travel, he heard

the same frightened whispers that spoke of a terrifying

sorceress who commanded dark powers in the

wilds among the beasts and monsters.

Ozma was convinced that this witch was Salem

and decided he needed to see what she had become.

Call it magic or call it something stronger.

But in that moment, the two knew

exactly who it was that stood before them.

What do we do now? Whatever we like.

As Salem and Ozma recounted the events

which had brought them back together,

each withheld parts of their story.

Salem, fearing Ozma would reject her, blamed

the end of the world on the gods.

Ozma, still unsure of where the truth lay,

kept his task and the relics a secret.

Though time passed and all seemed well,

Ozma's conversation with the God of Light still lingered in his mind.

He had found happiness, but humanity seemed more divided than ever before.

Are you surprised? This world is quite literally godless.

These humans have no one to guide

them. Perhaps that's all they need.

What are you saying? We could become the gods of this world.

Our powers surpass all others. Our souls transcend death.

We can mold these lands into whatever we want. What you want?

Create the Paradise that the old gods could not.

The hearts of men are easily swayed.

The two amassed a following. That following grew into a prosperous kingdom.

And at the head of that kingdom blossomed a family.

Are we sure this is right? You said

we needed to bring humanity together.

In order to do that, we have to spread our word

and destroy those who will deny it.

What are we doing?

This isn't what he asked of me.

What did you say? Mother! Father, look!

It was a miracle their children could perform magic.

But what should have been a joyous occasion was short lived.

Asma told Salem.. Everything.

The true reason the God of light had brought him back.

The relics that lay scattered around the world,

and the Day of judgment he had been told to prepare for.

Don't you see? None of that matters anymore?

Why spend our lives trying to redeem

these humans when we can replace them

with what they could never be?

Mommy.

Go.

Oh, we finally had freedom.

Thus began a long and painful cycle

of death and rebirth for Ozma.

Some lives were spent in mourning. Many

were spent attempting to forget it all,

but no matter what, his mind would

eventually turn back to the task he had been burdened with.

And as the centuries went on, asthma

began to learn the importance of living

with the souls with which he had been paired.

But no matter where or how he

lived, her presence was always felt.

If humanity were ever to stand a chance

of being united, one thing was clear.

He had to destroy Salem. Knowing he could

never rid the world of her through any mortal means,

Ozma sought out the power of the relics.

Armed with my knowledge, he believed he could

fulfill his promise to the God of Light.

Where are the other relics? He asked me his questions.

What powers do they possess? And though

I gave him my answers. How do I destroy Salem?

Not all of them were to his liking.

So.