Kuro: A Land in Eternal Night

Chapter 19.4: Treaty 7745

"Aye, young lady. To that much I shall acquiesce." Okira bowed before Ava. Drake wasn't sure if it was mockingly, but the old man did so with such reverence that it appeared, at least for the moment, to be genuine.

"Please continue," Drake pleaded, anxious that the story not digress from what he needed to know. He needed all the information he could get his hands on if he was ever going to be able to track Fala down. Part of him was disappointed. Here she was again, so far ahead of him. No matter how far ahead he got, he seemed to come to every checkpoint to find a beacon she had left, the note that always said, 'Fala was here'. All he did was follow lamely in her footsteps.

Okira nodded.

"Your sister was ahead of us by a significant margin. To this day, I know not how she managed to obtain the information she had, but we are grateful that she had elected to share it with us."

"Share?" There was an odd note of sarcasm in Ava's voice. "Do you not realize why it was that Fala gave something so important to the Utter Darkness?" Ava rose defiantly to her feet, her eyes glaring at the group before her. Drake found it strangely attractive that the young girl was standing up so much for what she believed in.

A sigh escaped from the old man, and he smiled at Ava. "Fala knew there was strength in numbers," Okira finished, his eyes once again downcast. "Aye, young lady, I know it well. We were used as insurance. In the event Fala was caught, there would be many to take up the fight after her. We are but pawns in this grand game cleverly orchestrated by Fala Riordan."

"And what are the stakes of the game?" Drake was also getting impatient. There were too many pieces to this tale. He needed to see the whole before he could look at the parts.

"Treaty 7745," the old man said simply. "I shall tell you know what your sister has uncovered, the significance of it all, and why the two of you are in danger for having come here." The old man had stopped pacing and was gently stroking his pointy beard. Straik had been watching them like a hawk, his gaze never leaving either of them for very long.

"Treaty 7745 is the government's code name for something called the Goddess Pact. This was something Amaterasu initiated on her own, long ago. She elected to give control of her powers to a human. To this day, no one knows why." Okira paused to see their reaction to the revelation.

"While that is significant in and of itself, what is more significant is that the rest of the Deities followed suit, granting their powers to other humans, called Vessels. The Vessels have the ability to call upon a Deity and channel that Deity's power. You are familiar with mediums, I suppose?"

Both Drake and Ava nodded. "The mediums could use the Goddess Essence, unaided by technology such as the Kurokyuu Orbs. Something akin to magic," Ava said.

"That is correct." The old man was silent again for a short time. "The Vessels were on a different level, however. Where the mediums can tap into the Goddess Essence, the Vessels could tap directly into the source energy, which is the Deities themselves."

"Are there Mediums of both light and dark?" Drake heard Ava ask the question. This was getting to be interesting.

"The young lady lady is very astute," Okira said smiling. Okira complimenting the Upper Platers? Drake found it amusing.

"Indeed, it has been said that there were Mediums of the both the Dark and the Light. In ancient times, both co-existed, with the mediums of the dark representing the forces of the Yami."

"The Shadows," Drake said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "I see them. Almost every day, in my dreams. Wraithlike, a strange cackling sound. They torment me endlessly."