The Tale of Amaretto

Thirty-Sixth Grain

In Which the Coordinate is found, and the Journey must continue from the Great Kingdom of New Machina...

Amaretto looked at the others who were still frozen in time. She shook her head and turned back to Tempus. "Everyone deserves a happy ending Tempus."

Amaretto reached forwards for the Stone of Communication once more. It took Amaretto a moment, but she soon wrested the object from the frozen Queen's hand. Katherine looked as if she was about to say something and then the world seemed to flash. Red hues filled the room and Amaretto felt a stirring at her breast. Looking down she noticed that the Hourglass around her neck seemed to glow with an unearthly light and then hum as it slowly began to spin. Amaretto could have sworn that she had never before seen this happen.

At the top of the hourglass, a small red light appeared. It slowly pulsed in and out, seeming to get brighter and brighter. In the back of her mind, Amaretto could have sworn that she heard a woman's voice. She strained to hear what the voice had said, but there was nothing that she could hear at first. It had seemed a little panicked, but at the same time, there was a soothing serenity from the hourglass that seemed to overpower it. The light from the top of her hourglass grew steadily brighter.

Katherine covered her eyes and cursed and even her curse was suddenly cut off by a large wail that came from all around them. Tempus looked around with wild eyes.

"The null zone! It's collapsing!"

Amaretto whirled to look at Tempus. "What do you mean it's...?"

Amaretto was cut off however when the whole area suddenly lurched back to life. Tempus wisped out of existence as if a puff of smoke blown away by an intense wind. The wail that permeated the air was from Mother Chime. She was actually screaming. There was a screech from Johanna as she threw another spell at Mother Chime. The world seemed to take on an unnaturally red hue at that moment. Alice turned for a second and then threw one of her guns up in the air. Amaretto didn't seem to understand why but her eyes were drawn to the gun as it arced up in the air.

Johanna spun around and threw her hand up in the air and an arc of lightning seemed to leap from her fingertips. The gun exploded in midair and Mother Chime was forced to turn her eyes away. Amaretto turned her own eyes away from the shock and then there was a jerking from her own arm and she felt something cool beneath her hand. It felt rather large and against her hand felt like stone. Her eyes fluttered open rather quickly and that was when she realized that she was next to the Queen and the object in her hand was indeed the Stone of Communication.

The Stone flashed out and the whole world twisted. The hourglass flashed with red light as well and there was a humming sound as the world continued to twist. Mother Chime screamed, and there was a large sucking sound as it seemed as if all the sound in the room was sucked out. Amaretto tried to say something but she felt the words ripped out of her mouth. There was almost a moment where she thought that her breath was being pulled straight from her throat.

Behind them, she heard a chime, and as she turned, she saw something that she was not expecting. A Whirl of color as the world twisted and Amaretto saw what she was hoping would not come. A blur of light and sound appeared as a whirling vortex of parallax sprang to life.

Katherine turned to Amaretto and yelled out over the sound of the whirling vortex. "Amaretto we have to get out of here!"

"What about the others?"

Alice turned around, "We will soon have what we are coming for!" There was a faint smile that played across her lips. "Amaretto, oddly enough, you have given us courage to fight against something that we were not sure that we could. You will come back someday Amaretto, and you will see that we are better for it!"

Johanna turned and smiled as well as she continued to chant and Alice said, "I think Johanna would agree. Her emotions are coming back. Please Amaretto, go and be free for it. We will not fault you at all. Some people will never get to experience what you are doing. And for heaven's sakes; don't let anything get you down! You have an indomitable spirit. Let it grow!"

Katherine looked at the whirling vortex and then looked back at Amaretto in alarm. "Amaretto!"

Amaretto looked back and then saw that her aunt was being engulfed by the whirling lights and sounds. Somewhere, Amaretto thought that she could hear singing and the music seemed even brighter for it. Amaretto reached out and tried to grab for her aunt's hand. The whiteness of the vortex spun with intense light that was slowly engulfing her aunt. "Aunt Katherine!"

Amaretto tried once more to grasp her aunt's hand and then realized that the whiteness was covering her forearm.

"No! I'm not done yet! I have to help!" She reached out and tried to run towards Alice and Johanna. Her feet however, where hopelessly tangled in the white frost and light that was pouring through the air like molasses. Amaretto struggled with herself against the supposed invade and capture. Alice simply just smiled.

"Don't struggle Amaretto." Amaretto reached out again and then realized that she still clutched the stone in her hands. The light was almost completely covering her again and she bit her lip and then threw the stone with all the force that she could at Johanna. Johanna's hand flew out and caught the stone as it hurtled itself through the air. It was only a reflex, but Amaretto had counted on that. Mother Chime screamed as the Queen quietly sobbed to herself.

"Give me the stone you miserable heretic! Science will win!"

Johanna's eyes glowed a bright blue and then flashed with a brilliance of white and Amaretto saw hundreds of thousands of colors pour from her sockets. Johanna looked up and the light streamed forth from her eyes and her mouth opened and soon, it was pouring out of her like a giant cloak of brilliance. Mother chime raised her hands and arms upwards to cover her face and from the brilliance of the lights stepped several forms. They were cloaked in white robes and held long swords that poured the same radiance and brilliance as well as a preternatural blue fire.

Alice looked on in awe and in a low whisper said, "Angels of Mercy and Light..."

Johanna's eyes still glowed with the strange light, but as she looked down once more at Mother Chime, Amaretto could see nothing of mercy in them, but knew the look that remained, filled with the strange light, was what she would soon call justice. Amaretto however was also afraid that one would call it vengeance. The angels raised their flaming blue swords and then rushed straight towards Mother Chime. There was a shriek and a crunch of metal against metal as the four flaming swords pierced Mother Chime's body in four cardinal directions.

Amaretto watched with satisfaction as Mother Chime slumped over unmoving. The white light had slowly been moving up and trying to encompass all of Amaretto at just after she saw Mother Chime slump over, the light covered her eyes and Amaretto felt the sensation of falling without actually falling.

The world was filled with the sensation of collapsing through the air and rising as the same time. Amaretto felt pulled and compressed and the air was filled with lights and sensations that played over her skin in a cacophony of sounds. Amaretto could taste the voices as they sang their ethereal song as she continued to rise through the sounds and light. Falling as she was, she wasn't sure if the world around her was moving or if she was moving at the incredibly fast pace that she was.

"Aunt Katherine? Where are you?" Amaretto's voice fragmented into a thousand shards and flew away in every which direction that she was not, and at the same time, filled the air and ceased to exist. Amaretto was getting rather dizzy and then, the whole world exploded into thousands of shimmering colors and blackness engulfed everything.

A/N:

This is the last grain in the country of the Great Kingdom of New Machina. It is time to move onto the Next country! I hope you all enjoyed New Machina! If you did, then perhaps at some time, Amaretto could find her way back. I hope so!

Thank you for reading and leave me a comment! I just like to know that you are reading!