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Anime 101
Weathering Continent
Three travelers make their way across a barren desert and arrive in the ruins of a city. As they enter the ruins, they come across bodies, victims of a recent attack. Tieh, the handsome mysticist, asks how the attackers could have done such a cruel thing. Lakeshi, a young woman also known as Lady Arun Ard, angrily asserts that they didn't have to break their water barrel. When Tieh asks if these people could have been attacked by desert bandits, Boyce, their mercenary companion, disagrees, saying that the bandits wouldn't attack such poor people nor wasted the water... nor would they have tortured them.
A young boy suddenly leaps out of nowhere and attacks Lakeshi. But he is wounded and collapses. As he lay dying, he apologizes for mistaking the three travelers as the people who attacked his group. He tells them that his people were searching for treasure because their village was very poor. Thirty-five days of travel and it ends like this. Boyce asks if they have a treasure map and the boy affirms it. The boy then asks if he could have some water from the water barrel, saying that they can keep the rest. Since the barrel was smashed so Lakeshi pulls out her own canteen and gives him a drink, even though she is very thirsty. The boy says that it is delicious and dies before he can tell them his name. Lakeshi begs Tieh to do something but it is too late. She curses the boy for his foolishness. Tieh calls her name and stops her, then tells her that that the dead boy was in fact, a girl. Like Lakeshi. Lakeshi remembers a time when she cut her own long hair and thought, "From now on, I'll forget that I'm a girl."
"All people return to the earth, regardless of their gender," says Boyce.
Lakeshi wonders why the girl was dressed as a boy and Boyce tells her that she did it for her own protection while traveling.
The trio move on and find a dark, enclosed city. There is a hole in the wall and they climb through. Once they get inside, Tieh claims to hear the sounds of running water and laughter, but there is no one around. The other two hear nothing and Tieh apologizes. Sometimes, he can't tell the difference between the sounds of the living and the sounds of the dead (an interesting ability). Unbeknownest to them, there are others around - armed raiders listen in on their conversation.
In another part of the city, Rakum, leader of the raiders, makes plans to find treasure and splits his men up to start searching the Temple of Seita, God of Fate. One of his raiders tells him that there are intruders, one of whom is a lovely woman (Tieh?!).
As the trio explore, Lakeshi finds a room and begins to scream. Tieh and Boyce find her and look around to see masked figures, ornately dressed and jeweled, poised like statues. Tieh explains that this must be Azec Sistura, a city made for the dead. So the figures were bodies, dressed as if they were alive. He can feel the souls still lingering around and bows reverently to one of the figures and says, "Azec Sistura was a city that prospered here until 400 years ago. The people who made this city were interested in the afterlife and wanted eternal prosperity. They wanted wealth, eternal bliss and so they made the ideal dity where the dead can live forever."
Looking around at the wealth, Boyce says that he can see why people wanted to search for treasure in Azec Sistura. Tieh says that that is why the city is cursed and hidden away - they needn't worry about the curse though, as long as they don't steal or disturb anything. Boyce agrees, they only came to find water.
However, as they leave the building they were in, they run across four of the raiders. As they try to escape, they accidentally disturb some of the bodies and Tieh has to stop to appease the spirits. However, he is unable to stop Rakum when he arrives to open a large stone box in the temple - Rakum won't listen because he wants the treasure he thinks is inside.
As soon as the seal on the box is broken, ghostly masks fly out and fill the room. From their mouths, they shoot forth wires that pierce and suspend Rakum and his men on strings like puppets and suck them dry of all life. A mask drops in front of Lakeshi and suddenly, a clone of Lakeshi appears.
"From now on, I'll forget that I'm a girl," the clone says. "And I'll leave this country."
Lakeshi screams as her memories overwhelm her; she recalls the time she left her people. Her brother was arguing with a man, who wanted to use Lady Lakeshi's power to save the despairing, starving people. It had been 15 years since they left their homeland, and they were all exhausted... Lakeshi had become angry and defiantly cut her hair in front of her startled brother, saying that she would leave the country.
Lakeshi is shocked. The clone beeseeches her to not lie to herself. It tells her that she can be happy forever in Azec Sistura - no thirst or poverty or hunger, just an eternal, happy, prosperous death. Lakeshi moves as if to take the clone's hand and then suddenly cuts the mask in half. The clone asks why as it fades away and Lakeshi can only tell it, "I can't do it."
The masks now attack the three and Tieh tries to cast a protective spell, but another person's spell ends up protecting them. Tieh realizes it was cast by the soul of the girl who they couldn't save earlier. She appears before them and thanks Lakeshi for the water she gave her earlier and tells her her name: Baruni Rifas, then says goodbye. The masks renew their attack, but Rifas has bought Tieh enough time to cast a spell to neutralize the spirits.
Now that the threat is gone, the three find an underground waterway and refill their canteens. Tieh says that the waterway was used to bring the dead underground and the real city of Azec Sistura, the one where living people lived, must be right above them. Lakeshi is excited and they rush up a flight of stairs and open the door, but what greets their eyes are the ruins they had just come from. Lakeshi is stunned, but Boyce only says, "Lakeshi. Everything returns to the earth..."
Special Thanks to: Bishonen no Miko from Tieh no Miko's The Weathering Continent Hall for the information.
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