Gaia, or what's left of the statue of the Earth Goddess,
weeps into tiny springs that pour across the road ahead.
A monk and her company observe, as the dirt washes,
without a word cautioned, they watch tadpoles spread.
Her boots, soaked, begin to get that uncomfortable grip,
she maintains a functional grin, baring through annoyance.
Focused on untouchable myths, with her lovable friends,
a black cat and an elephant, orphans consumed, poisoned.
Burdened by nuclear disaster after the final war ended,
now on a journey to find where promises born, descended.
With her family's sword, Repentance, and warm resentment,
anybody who threatens her allies will not be warned, but smitten.
They pray to Gaia before moving on, for protection and peace,
two things they know are merely a reflection of dreams.
In a world where law and order are rejected and reaped,
the only guarantee they have is by dissecting the freaks.
No more collecting to keep, just correcting the fiends,
with a katana or tusk, they must keep besting the beasts.
Soldiers and mutants, monsters and creeps,
daylight or night sky, doesn't matter, dangers no longer retreat.
An odyssey to the promised land, unscathed by pollution or blood,
where fluent conclusions come from the solutions above.
Where the Gods knew the chosen would climb out of the mud,
and civilization would renew itself, no more crimes to be judged...
They approach a convoy, several men armed with steel and guns,
slaves encaged in the center of what seemed like a deal for drugs.
She'd heard about slavers who'd trade children for opium,
and now's her chance to save children from the podium.
The monk prepared her blade, made her friends hide behind the carts,
she blended into the rain like a shadow moving through light and dark.
Spilling blood on the tire marks, the mud stained by her victims,
the slaves listen as their liberator hunts through the crimson.
Their chains and shackles break but when they open the curtain,
only the corpses of evil men remained -- hopeless -- wordless.
She cleaned her katana and returned to her friends, "it's time to go..."
But the monk knows she'd just sacrificed her mind and soul...
for the rest of her days she'll see each face of those she'd killed,
the consequence or curse of each drop of blood that she'd spilled.
Our decisions, no matter good or bad, come with a cost,
today, it's a piece of humanity that our hero had lost...
Her friends could see it too, the cat watches from afar,
as the elephant attempts to heal her with his loving heart.
She pretends to smile, rubbing her hand along his trunk,
but the cat sees denial, burying the truth within her gut.
They venture deeper into the desert, with a specific motive,
seeking nirvana that's submerged beneath the Pacific ocean.
Supposedly, there's an Atlantis hidden under the surface,
where the pure of heart are welcomed to find their purpose.
A place where only love and joy exists ... or so they say ...
After weeks of travel, the sands unravel into whipping waves,
the elephant thrusts his trunk into the salted sea with giddy grace.
Kitsune almost falls off, digging her claws into the elephant's back,
an elegant catch, masked only by the hiss of a malevolent cat...
They now seek a cave, the gate to their new haven,
but the coast is like a maze, so no step can go wasted.
The ground begins to vibrate, like a barrage of fifty bombs,
when a beast leaps from the sea, a crustacean, sixty feet tall.
The monk tells her friends to run, "don't worry, I'll hold it off!"
Uses the powers of Ifrit to ignite her sword, she knows the odds.
The elephant leaves hesitantly, tears blinding the way,
Kitsune focuses her spirit energy on the monk, fighting for faith.
Every stroke of the blade chips a piece of the beast's armor,
but every breath begins to fade like a plague she'd harbored.
The fatigue overcomes, the claws begin ripping her apart,
flesh removed like sheets covering a warrior's heart...
The monster swallows what's left and crawls into the sea,
when a hole's carved from within and the monk plunges beneath.
The Azure blurs with red and purple, falling towards patient sharks,
when Leviathan emerges and carries her back from the gravest dark.
She washes ashore, the elephant already in stride,
he wraps her in silk and carries her for a gentle ride.
A few days pass, she grows weaker with each night,
Kitsune uses all her magic just keeping her alive.
When they notice an opening in the land, a tunnel with light...
They travel beneath the sea, surrounded by lanterns,
it becomes harder to breathe no matter how she's pampered.
The scars of battle attack her like some sort of cancer,
and Atlantis is her only chance at being saved, it's the answer.
Her vision becomes blurry, to the point she can't open her eyes,
the elephant tries to hurry but is tired from a perpetual strive,
and just as the lights dim, it seems they've arrived.
A gate with Gaia engraved opens, and priests approach,
"fear not, my children, for Atlantis cures most..."
The monk falls asleep, in her dreams, she roasts,
she's found salvation, but is still haunted by ghosts.