Aurora Execution

Part 8

Glacier woke up from his dream again in the early morning; his last memory before waking up was the intense light of Camus' aurora execution.  

More than a year has passed since the end of the Holy War, and Seiya has also awakened and is gradually healing his body. As the incarnation of Athena, the eldest daughter and the successor of the Graude Foundation who also captured and took control of Chronus's power, Thienna assumed the crucial role and declared that Graude would be in complete authority over the Sanctuary , that no other capital would be permitted to set foot in it, and will no longer assist in the use of force in human conflicts or take part in the relief effort following manufactured or natural disasters,humanity can decide whether to end itself or advance toward a better one as Athena gave them the freedom of choice. The world appeared to have peace for all time when the Goddess made an impeccable decision after that, or at least for a long while.  

But Glacier would still wake up from the same dream over again from that dazzling light as if constantly forcing him to never forget the memory that kept appearing.

For more than a year, he had felt an inexplicable emptiness; this emptiness was like a black hole that consumed him and destroyed his psyche more than despair or anger. In addition to his earlier focus on the natural sciences, he read widely and started experimenting with literature on economics, history, psychology, and sociology.

There must have been more. He began to take the initiative to learn about the world and keep up with current events while he adopted Camus's ability to collect and analyze data; it was easier than he expected as he picked up on it fast, at least much easier than learning to break the ice with one blow in the biting cold wind of Siberia. But these did not alleviate his feeling of emptiness; instead, they made it worse, like layers of tides attacking his soul on a deep level. Books are not like a ladder for people to progress at this time, but a key to the door of the truth----------the truth may not be beautiful and make him happier. 

Just like Camus, Glacier was adept at self-analysis and quickly came to the conclusion that he was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, which is a type of post-war syndrome. However, he could not develop a more effective cure than temporarily changing his attention. As the Siberian winter sky was beginning to lighten, he got out of bed, checked the calendar, and saw that it was Christmas Day.

He was so used to living alone that he couldn't recall any significant festivals.Glacier looked at the Gibson LG-1 acoustic guitar in the corner of the room------it was left by Camus; he intended to bury it with his master on the day of the funeral because it had been with him all his life. He sang the finest requiem he could think of for the master with it the last time before the final goodbye:

"Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us, only sky

Imagine all the people

Livin' for today

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion, too

Imagine all the people

Livin' life in peace

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of manImagine all the people

Sharing all the world

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one."

"John Lennon's "Imagine', what a wonderful song choice. Glacier, you did a great job and sound just like Camus; he will be proud of you in heaven." Milo approached Glacier and offered him support.

"Really? Thank you, Milo. The guitar belonged to my master; he used to play it for Isaac and me to encourage us throughout the hard training life. Even if he goes to another world, I hope it stays with him still."

"Why don't you hold onto it? I hear you sing, and it reminds me of your master. Maybe you should keep it as a part of your legacy from Camus and live with it instead. "

"Do you really think so? Milo?"

"Course!"Milo nodded his approval in response.

"Milo, what kind of person........was Mr. Camus like? Maybe when he was my age?"

"Well...we were the best of friends....."

Milo thought back to the memories of his teenage years; what he remembered at this point was not his experiences as a Golden Saint during missions, but rather his past as a "bad boy" who enjoyed getting stoned with Deathmask and Aphrodito secretly when they smoked weeds that Aphrodito provided whenever Grandmaster called out all the gold knights from their places of training to where they had to spend some extra days together around the Sanctuary. Shura was unhappy with how those three behaved but somehow kept his mouth shut and looked out for them instead of reporting it to the Grandmaster.

"Hey, you guys! You've been taking too long this time!you better stop now!"

"Easy! We're almost done. Anyway, many thanks as always, Shura."

"Hey, you won't reveal it to your friend, that rich boy, will you? Rumor has it that he received training as the grand master's confidant, so if you let him know about what we did today, he would most likely inform the Grandmaster then we will all die! you better watch out!." Deathmask questioned Milo with suspicion.

"Don't worry about him, he's not as prim as you think."

"Hey! The Grandmaster is here!" Shure has suddenly forewarned them,

"oh fuck! Let's get move. We got to clean up our mess! Quick!"

Putting memories into words or something more solid can help one make peace with those memories and gain more clarity about them, so Milo gently said to Glacier:

"Your master used to be a typical son of an upper-class family who always looked uptight. However, I remember when we were your age, at least he was slightly older than you; for some reason, we started to get close more often; we got long hair and tattoos, were fans of rock music, and occasionally got high together....."

"Oh what? Got...got high??"

"Well, even though we are Gold Knights, we are still only human beings who could also suffer and feel lost in our way when we were kids. Cause, you know, shit always happened; we pretty much did most of everything that hippies would do and went crazy at the end of the hippie era....."

"That's it. No wonder I felt he looked so hippie when I first saw him, even though he tried his best to dress modestly."

"You don't have to take all the leaves out of our books as we have been young and experienced hell lot of life detours. But the rock spirit is still something you can keep."Milo glanced at the guitar Glacier was holding and spoke.