Hidden Pasts Chapter 6
By Katie Herdman
Squall didn’t know where he was. There was blackness all around him,
and an odd feeling of belonging. There was a floating sensation that he felt,
like was falling, but also that he wasn’t. Then there was a sound, a
high-pitched whine that cut through his very being.
Squall
tried to move, but he found that his limbs wouldn’t co-operate, he was
helpless. He didn’t know where he was at all.
Suddenly
the whining stopped and he could move again.
Opening
his eyes Squall looked round. He recognised this place, this was the Orphanage
from his childhood. He was lying on his bed.
Quickly
he got up off the bed and looked round.
Sensing
someone behind him, he quickly turned round. He could not see the person’s
face though.
“Who
are you?” he asked the stranger.
“No
one you need worry about.”
“You
brought me here didn’t you,” Squall said.
After
a moment of hesitation the stranger replied, “Yes.”
“Why?”
asked Squall.
“Because
I wanted to show you something,” the person replied, “please trust
me.”
“If
you want me to trust you then give me your name.”
The
stranger stepped out from the shadows.
“My
name is Sati and I am an old friend of Andria. I am not in league Leraikhe
as you might think because I brought you here.”
“Why
do I keep on having these dreams,” asked Squall stepping closer to her.
“You
are being shown your past,” she said, “Come Squall, I have something
to show you.”
“What?”
“The
truth about Andria.”
*****
“Where are we,” Squall asked, looking round.
He
was in a room somewhere. He recognised nothing.
A
woman slept peacefully in a bed. Next to the bed was a crib. Inside were
two babies.
“Leraikhe
and Andria,” said Sati, “all the good and evil in the world came
together and produced these two. They have no father. Amazing isn’t
it.”
“That’s
impossible,” said Squall, “it just doesn’t happen.”
Sati
smiled. She then walked over and sat on the bed.
Her
walking couldn’t really be called walking as she rather floated as if
she was on air.
“Squall,
meet Nigal.”
Squall
came hesitantly closer to the sleeping woman.
“It’s
the same woman from my dream,” he whispered, “have you been sending
them?”
“Some,”
she replied, “ but the first one you had where Andria spoke to you was
sent by Leraikhe. He wanted to draw her out and he used you to do it. He
is a trickster, although you haven’t met the real Leraikhe.”
Squall
looked confused so Sati decided that he should know the whole truth.
“The
Leraikhe you have seen is possessed with Babalel, the keeper of graves. Come
I will show you.”
Squall then was in another room, but this room was a lot different from the
last one.
Black
candles burned around a large altar in the middle of the room. 5 people dressed
in long robes, their faces hidden, were holding a child on the altar table.
They were chanting a strange set of words.
Squall
stepped closer. Blood was in a dish on a table next to the altar, along with
a box.
The
dish was picked up by one of them and some blood was smeared on the forehead
of the screaming boy.
An
evil smelling incense was then given to the boy and the box was picked up.
The
priest at the boy’s head opened the box and from it emerged a cloud
of grey mist, which then entered the baby through the blood mark. The baby
ceased crying and looked round.
“Frightening,
isn’t it Squall, that this child has been turned into a
monster.”
“Can
they see us,” asked Squall. “No. You are witnessing the past. Lets
see what happens next in the story.”
Squall
then found him standing back in front of the orphanage, although it was daytime.
He saw himself as a little boy sitting alone on the beach.
Squall
then heard Matron call out from behind him to the little boy.
“Edea
thought that it would be a good idea for you to meet Andria, she thought
that it would take your mind off Ellone,” Sati explained pointing to
Andria hiding behind Nigal, “…she was always shy at first. I
don’t suppose you remember one night when you woke up and heard her
crying. You really helped her.”
“Why
can’t I remember this? I only saw this in my dreams recently.”
Squall couldn’t remember Andria at all before he met her at Deling City.
“The
GF Squall, but you did say that it was an acceptable risk. But that wasn’t
the only reason why you forgot.”
Squall
then saw himself asleep in his bed. Nigal came and woke up Andria. Andria
then walked over to Squall’s bed and planted a small kiss on his cheek
and they both then left the orphanage hurriedly trying to get away.
“Why
did they leave,” Squall asked.
“Because
Abaddon found them. When Leraikhe was turned, a prophecy was set in motion.
A group of people would destroy Abaddon and his power. Andria is one of those
people and you Squall are now a part of it. It was your destiny to stand
alongside her. Abaddon controls all of Hell, which is on Earth. You and Andria
will crush that power and save the people of your world. The stone of Viviah
will open the gates, but he also needs the blood of the ones with no mortal
father. Andria and Leraikhe. Without them the ritual cannot be
completed.”
“This
is impossible,” Squall cried out, “it doesn’t make sense.”
He
was tired and fed up of these games, “I want to go back to Garden.”
Sati
sighed, “Be patient, I am not finished yet. There is more you must
see.”
Sati
led Squall away from the orphanage and then they were standing in front of
a house in the middle of a strange forest.
“Inside
Squall,” she whispered close to his ear.
She
then walked towards the door and passed right through it.
Squall
followed although he hesitated at the door doubtful that he could do the
same, but he also passed through.
Nigal
was holding Andria, both of them looked frightened. Not surprisingly, for
Leraikhe stood beside a tall man, or rather he was a demon.
His
eyes burned yellow and red, as deep as hell itself. His face mocking humanity
with its gross resemblance. Teeth long and sharp, horns reminding Squall
of Behemoth’s.
“That
is Abaddon Squall,” Sati whispered again, “he is the chief of the
demons of the seventh hierarchy. He is a loyal minion of the Ancient Ones,
spirits of dead evil beings. Also he is Leraikhe’s master”
Abaddon
then spoke; his deep raspy voice growled out the words so terrifyingly that
even the shadows hid afraid of his wrath.
“You
are beaten Nigal. The prophecy will never come true.”
Nigal
then put Andria down, “You will never win.”
That
was all she said, but her defiance infuriated Abaddon.
“Your
insolence will get you into trouble one day.”
His
huge hand then came flying past Nigal, but he did not hit her. Nigal put
her hand up to her throat and Squall saw blood pour out.
Andria
screamed. She reached for her mother, but Leraikhe stopped her. All she grabbed
was the pendant.
Leraikhe
smirked madly when Andria backed up with fear, the pendant still firmly clasped
in her tiny fist.
She
suddenly broke for the door. Leraikhe started after her, but Abaddon stopped
him.
“She
shall not get far, you mustn’t worry. Even if she does, we do not need
her yet. Be patient, she will come to us.”
“After
Andria ran away, Vincent’s mother found her and took her in. She lived
with Vincent for a few years before she was called by Father Enki.”
Sati
looked at Squall and then said, “The ritual cannot be formed until the
prophecy says, and there isn’t much time.”
Squall
was then standing in Garden, but it was during a party, a SeeD graduation
party. Squall recognised a lone figure leaning against a pillar, it was he,
when he had just become a SeeD.
Squall
then saw Rinoa walk up to him and make him dance. Watching them dance reminded
him of how he had felt.
As
he watched himself dancing, he saw someone in the corner talking to Cid.
It was Andria.
She
was dressed in a long, velvet dress. When Rinoa stopped dancing with his
other self and started to walk towards Cid, Squall saw Andria shrink away
till she was lost in the crowd at the party.
“Andria
was always there watching out for you, Squall. She was there when you enrolled
at SeeD, when you were at the Dollet mission and when you took your first
mission. I have now shown everything you need to know
Squall.”
“For
what,” he asked.
Sati
smiled knowingly.
She
turned and began to walk away, but then she remembered something and turned
back to Squall, “Everything can be changed Squall. Remember that.”
Sati
turned round once again and walked away, disappearing at the same time.
Squall
was alone, stuck somewhere and he didn’t know how to get out.
There
was a sudden flash and Squall was standing on the street in the Shopping
Arcade. Everyone around him was either running away, in the case of the civilians
or fighting the demons that were rampant. Andria was fighting a huge demon
with spines along its back and up its arms.
To
Squall it looked like the demon was winning her. It suddenly howled with
rage and lunged at her. Its arm created a large gash in her side. Andria
clutched at the fatal wound and fell. All of the demons then backed off.
The fighting was over.
Everything
went dark for Squall. When he opened his eyes again he was lying in the
infirmary.
.