Saint Seiya: The Legend of Seiya

62 - The Man Behind The Mask

The winds that blew high on Starhill were mighty, so much so that Marin was surprised by violent gusts that threw her off balance on that plateau while she was facing the Gemini Saint.

The Gold Saint appeared as the guardian of the Temple of the Stars that stood on that huge hill; but just as he came, he suddenly disappeared as soon as night fell, fading away in the strong wind. Marin reflected that, without a doubt, it had been a miracle that had gotten the Gold Saint out of her way.

She rose, taking advantage of the fact that she was alone again, and ran into the temple carved into the stone of that gigantic hill isolated on the horizon. The temple was dark, as there was no torch or any source of light inside that temple that could even be lit by her. And as soon as she entered the darkroom, she realized why and how she would need nothing to guide herself: her silver cosmos ascended around her body without her controlling it and a glowing aura lit her way into the temple.

As it was an isolated stone spire between mountains and lower hills, this plateau was relatively small, so the Temple of the Stars was not large. It consisted of a short inner corridor that led to a carved stone plinth, where a beautiful large silver cup rested with a wide bulge and a protruding rim. Marin's silver cosmos reflected against the metal of the cup and also gleamed off the surface of a dark water that, oddly enough, didn't seem to be standing still, but moved very subtly within the cup.

"The Crater Cloth." Marin guessed in the darkness.

She looked in awe at that Silver Cloth, like hers, but unlike her own it had distinct properties, as she well knew. The Crater Cloth gave its Saint the important task of verifying and even guiding the decisions of the Supreme Pontiff in his stellar readings, which, in general, were taken in that Temple, as it was the closest point to the sky.

She walked around the cup and, near the bottom, noticed that hidden in the darkness there was a very subtle purple glow oozing from the base of a wall, as if a lighted anteroom had hidden itself, locked by a door. She left the Crater where it was and approached the bottom of the Temple, where she observed, thanks to the light of her cosmos, that it was an impassable wall, without any sign of a latch or means of opening.

"Get out of here." the echoing, deep voice of someone behind her came.

She turned around startled and noticed that the Gemini Saint was back.

Her body froze as she was now trapped deep in the Temple against a Gold Saint who, she well knew, was capable of manipulating dimensions and attacking her wherever he chose. She didn't have the same ability.

Marin had to attack.

She jumped from where she was, but her mighty kick found no one, as the Gold Saint reappeared beside her as she returned to the ground and enveloped her in a dark sphere, dotted with stars, which engulfed her completely. Inside that cosmic egg, Marin didn't know how much time had passed, but when its shell cracked, she was once again outside the temple. Under the starry sky, but still on top of the mountain.

She saw rising from within the temple carved into the rock the haunting figure of the Gemini Saint, whose helmet hid his eyes in the shadows. Marin pondered the reasons why he hadn't ended her life right there; there seemed to be something preventing him from using all his power inside the Temple.

But there was nothing to stop him from using all his power out there.

Marin noticed how the Gemini Saint raised both hands and from them golden spheres spread across the sky gleaming like small golden balloons with a hard glow; and at his cosmos command, the spheres all converged to strike Marin, as if she were the center of a consuming primordial explosion. And that's how her Silver Cloth was all destroyed by the Gemini Saints' overwhelming technique.