Tyrant's Stars: Parts Three and Four by Hideyuki Kikuchi Page B

health. I’m surprised it’s lasted this long.”
    “It didn’t last,” the crimson figure replied. His words seemed to surprise the left hand. “This was a forbidden area. Not too long ago,
    I dug up the pillars and stone walls and put them back in place.” “Oh, now that’s something. If there were another of me around, I’d give you a round of applause. Was it also you who took control of our machine?”
    The figure’s long robe quaked. He was laughing.
    The left hand continued, “Since you did that to bring us all the way out here, I take it you’re not gonna quibble about whether you’re rear support or not. So, are you gonna set things back to normal—or die?”
    “By the likes of your group?” the robed figure said, lifting his left arm as if combing through the wind. His hand was badly wrinkled, like that of a mummy. “This was once a cleansing site. The breeze sang, clear water flowed, and the place teemed with life. Best of all, the essence of the Sacred Ancestor lingered here. That was what made the treatments possible.” His hand fell limply. “But time moves on, and at some point the birds stopped singing, and the breeze no longer sighed. The force of life became one of death, and even the essence of the Sacred Ancestor was completely sublimated. Do you know what caused that?”
    “That would be Valcua’s life force.”
    The robed figure stiffened, as if caught off guard. “You knew? What are you—and what is D?”
    “I heard the Ultimate Noble was every bit as ambitious as you’d expect from someone with a name like that, to the point where he tried to destroy all the holy spots the Sacred Ancestor had left around the world. But he was gambling with his life against someone bigger than he could handle. That’s what finally led to his being exiled from the planet. And wherever Valcua’s life force clashed with the essence of the Sacred Ancestor, nothing was left but devastation and ruins. After Valcua was exiled, the biggest job the Nobility had was completely destroying those ruins. It’s said the reason they relinquished rule to the human race was because that task had left them so exhausted.”
    “Left hand, you’ve said too much!” the robed figure sneered. “Look! Sensing your presence, the former patients have gathered. You may play with them at your leisure.”
    The left hand tensed. Among the bright and sunny ruins, pale figures stood staring.
    At the same time, the car’s engine grumbled. The vehicle slowly advanced into the ruins.
    “Hey, stop that! Stop already, would you!” the left hand shouted, but it was no use.
    “I don’t care for conflict. I’ll leave the rest to the patients. Good luck!” Not even bothering to turn to where the robed figure vanished into thin air, the left hand clung to the outside of the vehicle, ordering it to halt. This accomplished nothing, and the vehicle proceeded to the center of the ruins.
    “You leave me no choice,” the left hand said, hopping down from the car. At the same time it landed, it clutched a handful of dirt, which swiftly vanished into its palm.
    “Gaaaaah!” Unleashing what could only be described as a groan, it spat the soil out again. “What’s the story with this dirt? It’s been contaminated through and through on a spiritual level. I drank some water in the car. All that leaves. . .”
    A tiny mouth opened in the palm of the hand, and the wind whistled as it was sucked in. But it whistled back out again, carrying a cry of pain.
    “Even the wind’s gone bad. There’s a serious curse on this place. Now that it’s come to this...”
    Taking a pebble from the side of the road, the left hand swallowed it. After it had consumed a dozen more, there was a sound from the door of the car. When it looked in that direction and found Sue standing in the doorway, it shouted, “Don’t come out here!”
    However, sparks erupted behind Sue, and the girl dove out of the car reflexively. The door closed.
    “Run for