Author'sNote:Don't worry, I'm not turning my attention away from my Lileyverse.But I was struck by this thought for a story after playing HeavenlySword on the PS3, and I can't get it out of my head. The charactersare so rich (well, most of them) that I found myself emotionallyinvested in them by the time I finished the game, which really is aterrific game. I suppose it's my need for happy endings that gaverise to this story. Hope you enjoy it!Hereare my standard disclaimers:I make no claims on any of Sony's, Ninja Team's or Heavenly Sword'strademarks or copyrights, and no infringement is intended. Beforewarned that this story most certainly will contain femslash. Iflove and affection between two consenting young adults of the samesex bothers you, I suggest you turn right around and find somethingelse to read.
Keep any flames to yourself and remember that what ourworld needs now is more love and acceptance, not more hate. Reviewsare always welcomed and appreciated!DivineInterventionbyJo P.As Kai stumbled acrossthe cracked earth of the valley, she shaded her eyes from the brightsun. 'Too bright, too bright,' she mumbled to herself in a voicethat was a bit too close to sing-song for her comfort. She had beensaddled with madness for much of her life, and she refused to succumbagain. Not when she was so close to her own death.As her toes slammed intoa rock she hadn't noticed, she pitched forward against the hardground, baked firm by the beating rays of the sun. She managed to cry out as she rolled over, slowly gettingher hands and knees under her then standing carefully.
May 24, 2012 Nariko is the red-haired wielder of the legendary Heavenly Sword, a weapon of unimaginable destructive power sent by the gods Action figure recreates Nariko and her long flowing mane of hair Figure stands 6.125' high, to the top her her head, with her hair flowing far above her Fully-articulated with Heavenly Sword. Heavenly SwordSize: 699.45 MB Year: 2014 Quality: 720p BluRay Rate: 5.1/10 Genre: Animation Action Adventure IMDB: Hidden Content Give reaction or reply to this topic to see the hidden content. Plot: Heavenly Sword is a dramatic tale of revenge that sees Nariko (Anna Torv), a fiery red-hair.
The worldswam across her vision, but she didn't pass out. She allowed herselfa faint smile. 'Not far now, Nariko,' she whispered to herself.'
Not far now.' It had been exactly oneyear since Nariko had died and then been briefly reborn, an avatar ofthe gods sent back to banish the darkness, apparently forever.Nariko's last act had been to clear Kai's mind of madness, but justas Kai felt the joy of building a real life with the woman she loved,the gods played one final, cruel trick on her.' I carried the HeavenlySword for you, Nariko,' Kai said angrily.
'Not for the bastardgods who took you away from me time after time!' She stopped andlooked up at the sky, cloudless and blue, and she screamed, 'I HATEYOU ALL!
ALL OF YOU EXCEPT NARIKO!' Her vision blurred, and shehurriedly looked back down, willing herself not to pass out.It had been eight dayssince she had last eaten.
Or was it eight? Kai slowlyshook her head. It wasn't the fasting that would kill her, it wasnot drinking any water.
It had been seven days for that, when shehad stopped and drunk from a stream the day after burying thathorrible weapon of the gods. She had walked as close to the mountainof fire as she could, so close that the heat from the ground burnedher bare feet. It was there that she carefully used the tip of theblade, still wrapped in thick cloth inscribed with sigils of binding,to pry up the crust of the hard black basalt.
Once underneath thesurface layer, she was able to use her other tools to dig even deeperthrough the hard ground. It took her two days before she wassatisfied that the blade's crypt was deep enough, but finally it wasdone.
She carefully set the sword at the bottom of the pit, then sheclimbed out. This was not going to be her grave. Notwith it.She sat on the hot basaltonce she was out of the pit. She unwrapped her last bit of bread andslowly ate it. It might have been the proximity to the volcano thatmade the bread taste like ashes, she thought idly, or maybe it wassomething else entirely to blame. Maybe it was a heart seared andscarred by loss.She angrily tossed thecloth into the pit with the Heavenly Sword. Her work was done.
Whenthe volcano erupted again—and she could feel the earth's fainttremble even now—the weapon of the gods would be buried forever,and no other man or woman would have to die because of it. No oneelse would have to be cruelly separated from her lover, from the onlyperson who ever cared for her and made her smile.
She had fulfilledher promise to Nariko, and very soon she could be with Nariko again.The dry bread made Kai'sthroat ache for water, but she had run out the day before. She'dhave to stop at the spring she had seen a few days ago and drink, orshe'd die of thirst before she made it back to the valley.Kai shivered in the heatas she thought again of that place. She hadn't seen Nariko's finalbattle, but she had heard countless versions of the story over thelast year as she had traveled the land, trying to put her loss behindher but unable to find any peace. Soldiers who had survived thatterrible battle—and there weren't many—described a field strewnwith bodies and wreckage, with a blazing circle of light around twofigures battling for the world itself, one dark and smoking and theother shining like the sun. Kai smiled whenever she thought of howNariko must have looked to the others that day. Nariko had alwayslooked like that to her, like the glory of the sun and the stars hadkissed her on the day she was born, granting her beauty and spirit inequal portions.A rumble through theearth shook Kai out of her thoughts. She quickly began shoving therocks and dirt back into the pit, filling it in a fraction of thetime it had taken her to excavate it.
She gathered her tools andthen ran away from the volcano as the earth's trembling built inintensity. She kept running for over an hour, not stopping until shereached the rope bridge across the canyon that yawned ahead of her.She quickly made her way across the wobbly bridge, then she stoppedand turned around.
It was still too close to stay here. A powerfultremor could shear this area off, sending it sliding into the depthsof the canyon below. Wordlessly Kai turned and began walking away.She would not look back again, not even when the volcano eruptedhours later and covered the resting place of the Heavenly Sword witha sheet of lava that would seal it away forever.A surge of electricitythrough her wrapped feet brought Kai out of her memories. Yes, thiswas it.
She was sure of it. She fell to her knees and sniffed theground. While there was no visible sign of this spot being special,Kai could smell a different tang to the dirt here. She weakly stoodagain. There wasn't much time left, she knew that, but now she wasno longer racing against time. She was here. She had won the race.Kai paced along theperimeter of the large circle, marking it by dragging her feet alongthe ground that continued to send pulses of electricity up her legs.She didn't notice that for the last hundred feet the dirt haddarkened with her blood, trickling out of her cracked feet.
Yes,this was it, she was sure of it. This was where Nariko had fought asa goddess manifest on earth to defeat the evil that threatened toclaim the land in a battle that raged to Heaven itself. This waswhere Nariko had healed Kai from her fatal wounds, where she had usedthe last of her power to repair Kai's broken mind. But right whenKai had been given a chance to finally live with Nariko in peace, thedamned sword had once again taken Nariko away.It had been Nariko'sfinal wish to have Kai safeguard the weapon to prevent anyone elsefrom dying over it, and now the deed had been carried out.
No onecould ever find its resting place now, no one except Kai herself, andthat knowledge would pass from this world along with her.The sun was finallybeginning to set as Kai stumbled to the center of the circle she hadpaced out. Unlike the rest of the circle's area, the center feltcool and soothing on her feet. Kai fell to her knees and smiled.This would be where Nariko last touched the earth. This would bewhere Kai would die as well, peacefully, knowing that she would bewith her beloved Nariko once again very soon.'
I miss you, Nariko,'Kai said through lips cracked and bleeding. 'I know you're stillwaiting on me, and I hope you're not angry with me for joining you sosoon, but I need you.'
She wasn't sure where the moisture fortears came from, but she felt them slide down her dusty cheeks as shetalked. 'I've done what you asked of me, Nariko, and now I havenothing left in this world to keep me here. Kai lay on her side,pulling her legs up to her stomach as she closed her eyes and thoughtof the tall, powerful warrior she had fallen in love with years ago,her red hair whipping around the two of them as the wind blew throughit.
They had shared their first kiss beneath a waterfall just twoyears ago, and Kai wept at how many years they would have hadtogether had it not been for that haunted blade. They had made lovefor the first time on a straw pallet covered with a simple linencloth; it was all that Nariko had to give save for herself, and eventhat had cost her weeks of labor in a nearby village before she couldpurchase it. But Kai had been content to wait, because Nariko hadwanted to make Kai feel special that day, and she had done that inmore ways than Kai could fathom. Nariko's father hadn't approved,but then he had never approved of much of anything his only daughterdid, so neither Kai nor Nariko let his scowl dampen their feelingsfor each other.
They were content with each other, as being togetherwas more joy than either had expected out of the world that had beenso painful to them, and their time as lovers and partners had beenthe most wonderful time either of them had known in their shortlives. But then came the war, and the fighting, and the blood, andthe pain.Kai pushed the sadmemories away.
Instead, she thought of Nariko's smile, as warm as asunrise on a winter morning. Nariko's scarlet hair, and how itsdelicate touch across her body made Kai shiver with pleasure.Nariko's voice, strong and powerful but also comforting and loving,especially when it came in whispers of love and tenderness as theyheld each other. Nariko's body, soft to a light touch but hard andmuscular with a firmer grip. Nariko's sweat, making their bodiesglide across each other as they made love. Nariko's lips, hot andsoft and wet as they kissed.
Nariko's eyes, burning with passionboth loving and bloody, the two sides of her forever joined in a waythat only Kai could ever understand or appreciate.Kai shivered, her sobsescaping her lips despite her holding them together as tightly as shecould manage. If the gods had any speck of mercy, any measure ofjustice, then she and Nariko should have had a chance to build a lifetogether, away from the horror of fighting and killing. If the godscould summon power like they had shown when they had imbued Narikowith the strength to defeat the Raven King, why couldn't they usethat power to reward the woman who had given her life to protect notonly her lover and her people but also the Heavenly Sword itself?Why were death and suffering the only things the gods seemed able tocreate?Kai would neverunderstand the gods' motives, but she no longer had to worry aboutthat. It was time to be with her Nariko again, and this time itwould be forever. They would never be separated again, and thatthought made Kai smile as she let the blackness claim her.Time.Void.Wind blowing through thevalley.A voice whispering in herear.Kai could feel somethingcalling to her, something niggling at the edges of her consciousness.She blinked her eyes once, and the dazzling light blinded her. Shefelt the ground underneath her, but instead of the baked earth of theblood-drenched valley she felt soft grass.
A light breeze blewacross her face and body, and on the breeze was something familiar, ascent that Kai had nearly forgotten but that now filled her heartwith joy. She opened her eyes again, and the first thing she couldsee was a wave of scarlet, fluttering above her. She followed theblowing locks of red hair back until she saw two warm golden-browneyes looking down at her, tears spilling from them. She whispered, barely trusting her senses.' Yes,' said Nariko,her lips quivering as she smiled down at the young woman she loved.' It's me, dear, sweet Kai.'
'I did what you asked,Nariko,' Kai managed to get out through her broken—. Herlips didn't hurt any more.
Kai gently ran her tongue over her lips,startled to not feel any pain.' I know you did, Kai,'Nariko replied. 'I'm very proud of you. What you did, burying thesword beneath the lavarock, that was brilliant.' Nariko leaneddown.
'I'm missed you so much, Kai,' she said, and then theirlips met.Kai could focus onnothing but the fiery joy that raced through her body as she was ableto feel, to taste the woman she had silently pledged her life to onceagain. She sat up, losing herself in the happiness of feeling armsboth strong and gentle wrap themselves around her as they held eachother.
Kai shifted her body to wrap her legs around Nariko's waist,clinging to the taller woman as tightly as she could.Neither woman knew howlong they held each other that way. Truthfully, neither of themcared to know. All that mattered was that once more they wereunited, complete with each other. When they finally pulledthemselves apart, Kai felt an aching in her knees that surprised her.'
I didn't think we weresupposed to hurt in the afterlife,' she said. At her words,Nariko's eyes filled with tears again, and for a moment Kai fearedthat she had said something wrong.'
We don't,' Narikosaid, not bothering to hide or wipe away her tears. Instead shesmiled as she said, 'Look around you, Kai.'
Kai looked around at thelush beauty around them. Trees filled with fruits and nutssurrounded them, with wildflowers growing along a burbling river justa short walk away from them. 'It's beautiful,' she said, butthen her breath caught in her throat as she saw the walls of the clanstronghold in the distance. She looked around again, and now shecould see the same contours of the valley, only now they were coveredwith life.' You did this, Kai,'Nariko said proudly as she gently ran her fingertips across Kai'scheek. 'Your thoughts as you died shamed the gods themselves. AsI heard what you were thinking in those last moments, it was all Icould do to not take out my rage on Heaven itself.
All that stayedmy hand was knowing that you and I would be together again. But thenI saw the valley spring to life, spreading out from where you lay andturning this place of death into a garden of rebirth.'
Kai hungrily kissedNariko again, tasting all of her lover that her mind could currentlyprocess. When she pulled her lips away, Kai said, 'If this is adream, then I'm not ever waking up.'
Nariko chuckled lightlyas she held Kai tightly. 'It's not a dream, Kai.
Not like that.We've been given a chance to have the life together that had beenripped away from us before.' Now it was Kai's turn tocry. She asked, her voice pleading. 'We can make alife together, here?' Nariko nodded.
'Here,there, anywhere you want to go, my love. We'll be together from nowon, I swear to you.' Kai looked into Nariko'seyes and knew that her lover was telling the truth. She started tostand, but Nariko effortlessly stood, lifting Kai up with her. Kaionce again wrapped her legs around Nariko's waist and clung tightlyto the fierce warrior as she buried her head against Nariko's neck.' I love you, Nariko,' she said.' I love you too, littleKai,' Nariko replied.
She began to walk to the clan stronghold,and now Nariko was no longer concerned about how her father or clanmight react to her. The only person whose opinion mattered was inher arms. 'Thank the gods that we've been given a second chance tobuild a life together.' Kai snickered. 'SillyNariko,' she said with a grin. 'I was the one given a secondchance.
They just threw you out of Heaven to keep me company. Andbecause you get grumpy.' Nariko looked at Kai witha strange look for a second or two, then she laughed madly. 'Oh,I've missed you so much, Kai!' She said as she kissed her partneragain.Kai tousled Nariko'sthick red hair.
'You don't have to miss me anymore, Nariko. Notever again.' Author'sAfterword:I thought Kai and Nariko deserved a happy ending. Nowthat I know Nariko and Kai can be happy again, I'll get back to Mileyand Lilly.
Created by solidejake on Nov 17 2013
Anna Torv
Jennifer Hale
EDITOR'S OPINIONToday's video game voice compare is that of the lead-heroine of Heavenly Sword, Nariko, who was portrayed by both Anna Torv and Jennifer Hale.
Anna Torv - Back in 2007, Heavenly Sword was being praised for it's wonderful animation, acting, and overall quality. Torv brings exceptional talent with her vocal and motion capture work for Nariko. Her voice completely fits the character, and made for a very nice experience throughout the game.
Jennifer Hale - While I wasn't a big fan of the fact that Torv was being replaced in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, I do owe Jennifer Hale a lot more credit than I gave her for her performance as Nariko. She sounds a good deal like Torv, and is certainly not a poor replacement. This is a job well done.
While Hale did a great job, and made a vocal transition seamless to some, this role truly belongs to Anna Torv for her owning the character.
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