Saint Seiya: The Legend of Seiya

79 - Night at the Sanctuary

The Sanctuary had cloudy days, but the rain had stopped falling. It had been almost two weeks since the Hope of Athena had set sail and news was very scarce. Rumors spread through Rodório of a possible incomplete mission; that Poseidon would indeed rise again. But some also said that only one or two Relics were still to be sealed, that they trusted Moses, who was known to be an excellent fisherman in the region. Others thought it was absurd to have taken a fisherman as Captain and there was no lack of excellent sailors in the village who protested for not having been taken. Deep down, everyone was still rooting for the beautiful ship to return with peace on Earth.

At the Gigas' Cemetery, Shaina stood before Cassius' tomb.

His death was still too painful for her; she blamed herself for not being able to stop him from doing anything that fateful afternoon. Or forcing him to do any useless task in Rodório, just so he wouldn't throw himself in front of Aioria's fist. And she blamed herself even more for knowing that it was her feelings that had caused her to be unconscious for so long. It wasn't Aioria's fault. Or even Saga. It was hers.

"Corsara." said a voice behind her.

She immediately spun around, furious, for it had been many years since anyone had dared to call her by her jocular nickname. Perhaps it was the worst time to lash out at her. It was Canis Major Sirius, one of the Silver Saints resistant to Athena.

"What are you doing here, Sirius?"

"What's your plan, Shaina?"

"What do you mean by that?

"I remember very well what you were like. The others may pretend to have forgotten, but you were the cruelest of all Master Camerlengo Arles' sentries. What are you up to? I would like to be a part too."

She turned to Cassius' grave and felt as if his memory was being tainted by that imbecile. The rage welling up inside her was terrible and, in fact, her most primal desire at that moment was to be cruel as before and kill Sirius on the spot.

"Get out of here, Sirius." Shaina said through gritted teeth. "I would hate to have to kill you in Cassius's grave."

The Silver Saint let out a smile and withdrew from there, for he could feel the hatred that was inside the Saint; leaving her with as many memories as guilt in her chest. A chest filled with longing.

She finally turned around and also left that Cemetery to ascend the Twelve Temples, which was her almost daily Via Crucis to remember her sins, but also to fulfill her duties.

Master Mu was always alert and accompanied by Kiki, Aldebaran always received her with cordiality, while the Gemini Temple had the heaviest absence of all places in the Sanctuary. The Temple of Cancer still retained its disconcerting sterility, while the Temple of Lion often had visitors other than its owner, as it underwent repairs thanks to the Sanctuary's craftsmen and giants.

Upon entering the Temple of Virgo, however, Shaina hesitated for a moment, for since the departure of Athena's Galleon, she had always felt an enormous pressure whenever she had to cross that temple. Well, it wasn't empty. Virgo Shaka had been sitting in her lotus position for two weeks, or so it seemed to her. Her Cosmos flooded the House of Virgo uninterruptedly, but she didn't oppose the passage of Shaina or anyone who had been summoned to the Temple of Athena.

But she glowed a divine cosmos. Shaina knew the reason very well, as she knew that Shaka applied a distant and terrible training on the Phoenix Saint, Ikki. Who wasn't even in the Sanctuary, but had retired to a lost region in India, where he trained among Shaka's disciples. It was in Shaina's mind that if Phoenix was already a fabulous Saint, that training would make her even more deadly.