Saint Seiya: The Legend of Seiya

9 - The Cemetery Where Cloths Go To Die

To the south of the great city on the Yangtze River is a natural mountain complex through which mighty rivers flow. In the high heart of these hills rise Five Old Peaks, which the elders said looked like wise old men seated on the horizon. The landscape is beautiful and the place still holds a complex of powerful waterfalls along the various rivers that cut through the hills.

A very old man is sitting in front of a huge waterfall in front of him, the biggest of one of them all around those peaks; beside him a small cane, on his head a bamboo hat. His face was all wrinkled and a white beard down to his chest. Eyes almost closed.

"Master... Shunrei said you would like to speak with me."
"Sit down, Shiryu." said the old man's hoarse voice.

She said nothing and just obeyed her Master. She sat beside him looking at the mighty waterfall that plummeted in front of them.

The water lapping hard on the rocks of the river below and never stopping was her childhood sound. From her training. From her happy days. From her sad days. It was the sound of her everyday. Since she had been found as a very young child near the rivers and brought to live with the Old Master at those Five Peaks.

"You're not sick, are you, Master? That's why Shunrei is so angry..." The Master let out a low, husky laugh.
"I'm going to have to cook her favorite food for a few days until she can forgive me."
"Well, Master... But why play with something like this? I'm very happy that you're fine, but..."
"Shiryu..." began the old man. "You are still a very young Dragon. No. You are still a little fish that swims against the current of the river to one day become the Dragon you so long for."
"Master?"
"Your heart is still very immature, young lady."
"It was a test, wasn't it, Old Master?"
"Yes, young lady." and the Master looked at her sweetly. "A test that cost your Cloth and nearly took your life."

Shiryu was silent absorbing the hardness of those old eyes, hearing only the sound of the waterfall. She looked from her Master to the relentless water of that fall.

"Should I forget my feelings during a battle?"
"No," corrected the old man quickly, smiling. "You have to let your heart give you strength and open your eyes, make you see even more clearly. Use your feelings to your advantage and don't let them become your weakness, taking you focus away, making you unable to see what needs to be seen."

Upon hearing her Master's words, Shiryu remembered that in that Battle Arena she was not the only one with a full heart. Seiya was also there for other very strong reasons, but unlike her, he used the force to end the Dragon's Fist and her Shield, take her life and still save her from the death.

Far away from that day and that place, Shiryu almost didn't seem to believe everything that had happened now that she was in her house, listening to her waterfall.

"Master... I still don't understand why you said my place was there. The rules do not allow Saints to fight for their own goals."
"Rules, rules..." commented the Master, laughing. "Well, Shiryu, and where is it written that the water of the waterfall must always fall from the top of the river?"

Shiryu looked at the waterfall again and smiled. She remembered the day she was honored with the Dragon Cloth. Her final test was to reverse the flow of water from the waterfall. And one day, after many years of unsuccessful attempts, she jumped with her burning cosmos to reach the waterfall and lift it up with a flying kick in the sky; the water that tumbled from the waterfall stopped its flow and reversed, furious, for the first time, as if a Dragon were born from the bottom of the river and ascended into the heavens.

"I know you have many doubts, young Shiryu. But I also see that you already have some sure ideas." said the Master, looking at the stacked Cloths she had brought.
"I'm going to Jamir, Master. For the Cloths to be restored."
"Jamir..." pondered the Master. "The path of Jamir is terrible. Even experienced Saints would find it extremely difficult to reach Mu. An inexperienced Saint like you can die in the Cemetery of Armors."
"A cemetery? But the battle against the Black Saints is at hand... and I promised I would bring the Cloths back." Shiryu said, getting up.