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Chapter 8 - Meirene

A sequel to Shamanic Princess, and an attempt to explain the mysteries that go unexplained in the anime. Three little girls, curious about the fate of the Neutralizer Sarah Mikadzuki, make a pact to find out--and get in way over their heads.

Chapter 8 - Meirene

Chapter 8 - Meirene
 
 
   Heil dragged herself painfully to her feet, morphing back into Tiara as she did so. “Sarah!”
   Sarah held up her hand. Her face was grim. “Stop, Tiara.”
   Tiara froze. “Why?”
   “There is much I need to tell you, and there is very little time to say it in,” Sarah replied. “You must listen carefully to what I have to say.”
   “Sarah—” Tiara attempted.
   “Tiara, there are things I must tell you which other mortals have never heard,” Sarah said urgently. “Please, I know this will sound like a history lesson, but you must let me explain what is going on to you.”
   Tiara looked like she wanted to protest, but she did not, and Sarah’s grim expression softened just a little.
   “Yord is a Demon, one of the great Powers of the universe that manipulates a Force of Nature. They are not called Demons because they are evil, but because they are mysterious creatures no mortal knows much about—and anything we mortals know nothing about, we consider as an evil force.
   “Yord controls the forces of Magic in the universe, which is why I, as his vassal, have the task of keeping the lines of magic straight. The lines radiate from his being and pervade the universe, bringing magic to every planet, every sun, every drop of dew. We of the Guardian World have the unique ability to tap into the force of Magic and weave it as is our will.”
   Tiara opened her mouth to speak, but Sarah continued quickly.
   “Yord is not the only Demon. There are many others, and their stars and planets are named after them. The Demon Earth, who controls gravitation; the Demon Saturn, who controls dimension; the Demon Betelguese, who controls antimatter—but these need not concern you. The Demon who is of concern to us is named Meirene.”
   “Meirene?!”
   Tiara and Lena whirled. The three little girls had risen, clinging to each other for support. Lirael, who had just spoken, coughed and continued, “That’s the lady who was on the Plateau of Ribbons!”
   Sarah nodded briefly and continued, “Meirene and Yord fought each other many, many eons ago, and this planet was their battleground. The battle raged on for decades, with each Demon taking the form of an avatar. Meirene became a golden-haired goddess with aquamarine skin and armor of pure light, and Yord became a form of darkness and eyes. Yord triumphed over Meirene and swallowed her power, placing it into a sword called the Vaineire, which he sealed upon the Plateau of Ribbons.”
   Alanis blanched, remembering the visions they had had during the Festival of Wind.
   “But Meirene formulated a plan to retake the Vaineire,” Sarah went on. “She cast a powerful glamour over the people of the Guardian World, a glamour that made them believe that she, Meirene, had actually won this planet and then given it to the Throne of Yord as a gift. You celebrate this event each year, in the Festival of the Wind.”
   The ground beneath them shook, ever so lightly.
   “Although Yord ignored it, in truth, the power of our belief in the Wind Dancer of the Festival did indeed strengthen Meirene, bit by miniscule bit. Slowly, over many thousands of years, Meirene amassed a great power, augmented by power borrowed or stolen from many of the other Demons. And one month ago, on the day of the Festival of the Wind, this great effort paid off, and Meirene stole onto the Guardian World and took the Vaineire back from Yord. Yord was careless and overconfident—he did not believe Meirene had the power to break the seal he had placed upon it. But she did. And with its breaking, all of her great powers have returned to her.”
   “The Festival!” Tiara exclaimed. “Lena and I were on a mission—we had no idea that anything—”
   The ground began to quiver. Lirael cast worried glances at Rana and Alanis, and all three moved closer to Miss Lena.
   “For a month, Meirene has been quiet, making no move or motion,” Sarah said, speaking faster now as the ground continued to vibrate. “And Yord is preoccupied with all of you instead of the true danger of Meirene; he is very possessive, and he does not want me to be friends with you.”
   “Then I think he’s a big meanie!” said Lirael boldly.
   Sarah smiled slightly, but worriedly. “Tiara…Lena…my friends, please take these girls from here. Tiara, tell my brother I love him if…” Sarah stopped, then said with forced lightness, “…I mean, when you see him again.”
   “How can we get out of here?” Tiara demanded. “And…is there still no—”
   “No,” Sarah interrupted as the ground began to groan softly. “I know what you are going to ask, Tiara, and don’t. Take the girls and teleport, as if this were just another world and you’re returning home. Go quickly, before—”
   Then a sudden gale ripped through the briars, pulling at them all. In it was a hint of strong power, power that tasted—no, smelled—no, felt—no, was simply imbued[/i] with threat.
   “Teeahra!!” Japolo barked, his accent blurring his voice even worse than usual.
   “Grab hold of me, girls!” Miss Lena shouted, gathering Lirael, Rana, and Alanis closer to her. “Tiara, we must go!”
   Miss Tiara grabbed Miss Lena’s hand, and there was a great sparkling blast of magic that obscured their vision briefly. In it they could feel the passionate burn of Miss Tiara’s magic coupled with the swirling silkiness of Miss Lena’s, and almost at once the outlines of Lirael’s house reappeared through the sparkles of teleportation magic.
   Then there was a wrench. Another strong wind began to blow, this one cold and biting like the teeth of a winter wolf. The outlines of Lirael’s room were snatched away, and the girls knew instinctively that something had gone wrong. Something had gone terribly wrong.
 
      *  *  *
 
   They plowed into the rocky ground.
   Immediately Miss Lena flung out her hand and conjured an orb of air. If she had not reacted so quickly, all five of them probably would have died immediately.
   They were standing on the face of a tiny moon, barely three miles wide. It was orbiting rapidly about a large blue jewel of a planet, across which winds and clouds tore across at a feverish pace. Farther away they could see the dazzling brightness of one—no, two suns, one a yellowish berry and the other a large red tennis ball. And all around them spread the darkness of space, pinpointed by the diamond stars.
   All this Lirael’s bewildered mind took in at a glance. Then she saw the other light.
   There was a light glimmering on the horizon of the tiny moon. It expanded, shimmering angrily, and somehow familiarly. Then Lirael realized what the light was coming from, just as Meirene burst from the horizon like an avenging sun.
   She was far more spectacular than she had been the last time Lirael had seen her. Then her beauty and brilliance had been dulled and somehow wanting—now they were back in full flower. Her yards of thick golden hair, like spun sunlight, flowed across her skin, pale and delicate as a fine aquamarine. Her armor shone brighter than the suns, and in her face, her jet-black eyes were wild and taunting.
   In her hand she carried the crystalline sword, the Vaineire.
   “So, children of Yord!” she cried, her voice the harsh wind that had torn them from Lirael’s house. “I have found you at last! You, who know the truth.”
   Paper-white, Rana squeezed Lirael’s hand until it hurt. “Please, Miss Meirene,” she said, her clear voice strong as a curving vine, “would you let us go home?” Lirael marveled at Rana’s composure—ordinarily, she would have been a blibbering, endlessly-repeating wreck. Was Ceres strengthening her, as Erian had Lirael herself? “Our parents are surely worried about us.”
   “It would not do for you to return to the Guardian World, my dear child,” Meirene said mockingly. “I fear you know far too much. Of course, I could perhaps wipe your memory—but memory charms are so difficult to remember. I’m afraid the only spell that springs to mind is the Curse of Flame.”
   Rana swallowed hard. The Curse of Flame brought about untold pain, usually causing insanity, before causing its victim’s blood to erupt into flames.
   Meirene raised the Vaineire and lazily traced a rune in the air, one which Tiara recognized as being the first in the series that would bring about the Curse of Flame. She raised her arms to call for Heil Endo Sabbath again—but Lena caught her hand.
   “What are you doing?” she hissed, her brown eyes burning. “You know you don’t have enough power left to transform. Neither do I. We cannot use our Spirits!”
   “We have to protect the girls,” Tiara said stubbornly.
   “And what will we be if we burn ourselves up trying to morph?” Lena snapped. “Burnt husks, unable to shield the girls with even our bodies!”
   Tiara ground her teeth together in frustration. Meirene, watching her, sketched another rune of the Curse of Flame, a cruel smile growing on her face.
   Then Erian Pyr Umbra moved inside of Lirael. Encouraging, empowering warmth spread through her body, and the little black-haired girl knew what she must do.
   “We can fight her instead.”
   Tiara and Lena both swung around to stare at Lirael. “What?!?!”
   “We can fight her!” Lirael said. “Rana and Alanis and me. We have our Spirits and most of our power still! We’ll fight!”
   “By ‘we’, Lirael, do you mean ‘you and me’?” Alanis whispered.
   “Know any other definitions for the word ‘we’?”
   “Absolutely not!” Lena exploded. “You must not fight this opponent! She is a Demon, far beyond any of our powers!”
   But Tiara and Rana were both nodding, though their faces were very grim.
   “You have to let us, Miss Lena,” said Rana.
   “Face it, Lena, the only hope for them and us is if they fight,” Tiara said. “We may not win even with their help—but we definitely can’t win without it.”
   “And if we don’t win, we’ll die!” Alanis squeaked.
   Miss Lena looked at them all for a long moment, then yielded. “All right. We’ll fight her together, then.”
   “Are you finished yapping?” Meirene demanded. “Finish your conversation in the next world!” She traced a final rune and thrust her sword out at them.
   Quickly Miss Tiara flung out her hands. Smoothly Miss Lena brought her flute to her lips. The seven runes of the Curse of Flame rebounded off an invisible wall, shook themselves like dogs, and flung back against the barrier Miss Tiara and Miss Lena had created.
   Lirael, Rana, and Alanis took each other’s hands. Magic cocooned them.
   The barrier of the two older Princesses wrapped back and around them, creating a sphere of protection. The runes of the Curse continued to slam against the barrier, and were now sending showers of red sparks when they collided, sparks which left marks like burns over the ground and the invisible shield.
   Then Erian Pyr Umbra cast her own runes at Meirene’s.
   There was a shuddering scream of an explosion that vaporized the Curse of Flame and shattered Tiara and Lena’s wall.
   “Decent for a child of Yord!” Meirene exclaimed with mock surprise. “Then how do you take this[/i]?” From the Vaineire sprayed a shower of icicles like broadswords.
   Myre Baara Kaze pirouetted and kicked out faster than the eye could see. Sheets of wind arrowed from her leg and struck the icicles head on, shattering them into diamond dust.
   “You are capable. But the numbers are not even,” Meirene said. “For five of you, we must have…”
   Meirene doubled. Then she doubled again. Then again. And again. And again…
   “At least fifty of me!” the Meirenes roared, each brandishing the Vaineire.
   “But the numbers still aren’t even!” Tiara protested.
   “But now they are in my favor,” Meirene #36 shrugged.
   “That isn’t fair for us!” Alanis/ Myre yelped.
   “Who cares about you?” Meirene #22 questioned.
   “Certainly not us!” they all snickered. Then they raised their swords as one and slashed straight down.
   The moon itself split.
 
   Meirene floated in space, laughing so hard her entire body shook. Those pathetic children of Yord. Surely they had realized no mortal could prevail against a Demon, certainly not one in her native system? When bolstered by an artifact such as the Vaineire?
   Meirene kicked a drifting piece of moonrock with a scornful boot. The only thing she had been hoping was that she might have gotten those Spirits’ blood on the Vaineire. Spirit blood had all sorts of useful properties, and was so difficult to get.
   Then a burning she had felt before lashed across her back.
   Meirene was flung face-first into half of what had once been the moon of her planet. Jet-black blood sprayed from a gaping wound in her back, a wound that could only have been caused by…
   Meirene raised hate-filled eyes to space. A massive, formless entity of black darker than the void about it covered with crimson eyes that undulated and roiled across its surface boiled there above her. Clutched in tendrils of its darkest night, ruffled but unharmed, were Tiara and Lena and Lirael, Rana, and Alanis, once more returned to their regular selves. And seated on what might have been the shoulder of the giant black nothing was the glowing candle-form of Sarah.
   “You may not care about them,” Sarah said mildly. “However, I care a great deal.”
  And what Sarah cares about, the mass that was Yord rumbled in a voice that reverberated in the bones, I am naturally interested in.
   “YORD!!” Meirene shrieked, her voice warping strangely. “What aRe yOU DoiNg HERE?!?!”
   “I brought him,” Sarah said. “Tiara and Lena are my childhood friends. Lirael, Rana, and Alanis are my first new friends in years. I refuse to allow you to take their lives for yourself.”
   “I WiLL TAKe WHat[/b]EVEr[/b] I li[/b]KE[/b]!” Meirene bellowed, gaining size and stature somehow. “TH[/b]IS I[/b]S MY d[/b]oM[/b]aiN!!![/b]”
  You intruded my domain, I intrude yours[/i], MEIRENE!!![/i][/b] Yord exploded, so loudly Rana felt her bones creak.
   Then suffer the consequences!!!! Meirene shouted, somewhat irrationally. She was now at least thirty feet tall, covered in armor of light from head to toe, yards of golden hair floating out into space. The Vaineire had grown to the size of the mythical Earthian creature called a “steamboat,” and shimmered all over with the colors of death.
   Lirael went white. Rana moaned softly.
   “How can we fight something like that?” Alanis asked in a tiny voice.
   Even the massive, shapeless Yord around them seemed somewhat daunted by the warrior Meirene had become.
   THOUSANDS OF MILLENNIA AGO, WE FOUGHT OVER YOUR CONTROL OF THE FORCE OF MAGIC, YORD!!! THEN, YOU SEALED MY POWERS INSIDE OF THIS SWORD, THE VAINEIRE. BUT NOW, I WILL DESTROY YOU WITH THE MIGHT I NOW POSSESS!!!!![/b]
   “Brace yourselves!” Sarah shouted.
   Meirene swung the Vaineire through space. The mighty slash split the void, sending an arrow of energy at Yord, but Yord cupped its people within tendrils of darkness and deflected the immense blast.
   “What can we do?” Rana asked, panic rising in her voice. “What can we do? What can we do what can we do?!?!”
   For once, Miss Lena’s voice was frail and trembling. “I don’t…know…”
   Then Miss Tiara gasped. Lirael looked up at her and saw, to her astonishment, that Miss Tiara’s eyes were glowing with repressed…happiness[/i]?
   “There is something we can do!” Miss Tiara exclaimed.
   “How can there be?” Lirael asked.
   “When I fought the Throne of Yord—this was after you were knocked out, Lena—Sarah came to me and fused with me and Heil, making some kind of combined Spirit-like being from us both. Maybe, if you three transformed and Sarah joined with you…you might be able to make a Spirit that could fight Meirene.”
   “What?! We can’t let them do that, Tiara!” Miss Lena protested. “It’s far too dangerous! They can’t have the power to take on a goddess like Meirene!”
   “She’s not a goddess, she’s a Demon!” Miss Tiara snapped. “And if these girls are boosted by another Demon—that is to say, Yord…”
   “But we can’t…” Miss Lena began.
   “She’s right, Lena,” Sarah said quietly.
   Miss Lena jumped. Sarah had appeared next to her, her face set.
   “Meirene has borrowed—or perhaps stolen—the force of the Demon Orion,” Sarah said. “Yord is not powerful enough to fight her on his own, in her own domain. In the Guardian World, Yord would have a chance—but here, in Meirene’s territory, she has far more power than he.”
   “But if Yord can’t defeat her, how can these girls?” Miss Lena demanded.
   “You are mortals, not Demons. You carry our powers with yourselves—they are not bound to forces and locations. If the girls join—and I can join them together, Tiara—they will be like an island of the Guardian World for Yord to draw from. If Yord can channel his power through these girls, Meirene may fall.”
   “But what if she doesn’t?!” Miss Lena asked angrily.
   Sarah met Miss Lena’s eyes steadily. “Then they will die. You will die. Yord will not die, because he cannot die—but Meirene will seal him away, and take his power of Magic for herself. The entire Guardian World will be hers to control. What will happen to the Guardian World will depend on Meirene’s slightest whim.”
   “If we don’t fight, we’ll die, Miss Lena!” Lirael said desperately. “If we do fight, we have a chance of living!”
   “A good chance, Miss Lena,” Rana jumped in. “Ceres says we have a 31.79 percent chance of winning with Yord behind us.”
   And to everyone’s surprise, Alanis added tremblingly, “It’s scarier to sit here and wait, Miss Lena. I’d rather fight and get it over with.”
   Miss Lena opened her mouth, seemed to wrestle with herself, and then said reluctantly, “All…right. Go, girls. And be careful.”
   “We’ll help you from here,” Miss Tiara added. “We’ll transfer power into you. But we don’t have the strength to transform, so we can’t really be with you.”
   “But you will have each other,” Sarah said, holding out her hand. “And that is all you will need.”
   Lirael grabbed Sarah’s hand. Alanis slowly laid hers on top of Lirael’s. Rana hesitated, then gulped and wrapped her fingers around Alanis’.
   “Call them,” Sarah murmured.
   “Erian Pyr Umbra!”
   “Ceres Hi Kirame!”
   “Myre Baara Kaze!”
   A beam of light split the darkness of space, reaching far out into the nether reaches of the universe. Yord buckled beneath the power of the light and Meirene’s assault, but stayed firm. Miss Tiara and Miss Lena lurched, but kept their feet.
   The three little girls felt the warmth of their magic flood their veins, as they had before when they transformed into their Spirits. However, now the warmth grew far greater than before. It felt like fire in them, heating them, and heating, growing hotter and hotter, and then suddenly there was a moment when they could grow no hotter—and they began to melt together.
   The only thing that kept their minds focused on their magic and not on the pain of the heat, the fusing, was Sarah. They could feel Sarah’s light touch in their minds, weaving them together quickly and strongly like threads into a tapestry. They became, not themselves, not even their Spirits.
   They all became One.
   The light exploded. Yord threw its tendrils aside, and Meirene recoiled with a scream of confusion and rage.
   Standing on the darkness that was Yord was a figure fully as tall as Meirene—another woman, golden-skinned, with miles and miles of flowing, flying crimson hair. Her halter top and sheer skirt panels were of black silk. Her shoulders bore cherry blossoms fully two feet in diameter. Her skin and thigh-high boots were golden. And the ribbons that drifted around her arms, around her throat, about her legs, were the same that had formerly been wound around Sarah’s wrists and ankles.
   In one golden hand she held a long, slender, slightly curved sword. On its hilt were three gemstones, one pitch black, one rose-red, and one translucent as the wind. Set in the blade was a large, perfect pearl, black on one side and white on the other.
   This new woman stared at Meirene, and stepped off of Yord’s cushioning tentacles to stand unsupported in space. Her eyes were like opals, scintillating with brilliant colors.
   “Meirene, I am your challenge,” said the woman. “I am Kaze Hi Umbra.”
   She raised her sword and rushed at Meirene.
 
   Meirene barely had time to raise the Vaineire before Kaze Hi Umbra was upon her, slashing swiftly, without wasting an inch of movement. Kaze’s sword hit the Vaineire and rebounded off with a clang like a hundred church bells, sending both women backwards. Kaze recovered first, with the speed of the wind, and flew at Meirene again. Meirene swung furiously at her opponent, who parried with her sword, producing another head-splitting bang.
   Now Meirene leapt to the attack, swinging the gigantic Vaineire in an attempt to cleave her foe in two. But Kaze avoided the blows skillfully, like a shadow on a wall, and struck back at her with the strength of a falling tree. The two warriors spun and chopped and slashed madly at one another in space, but neither seemed to be gaining an edge over the other.
   Meanwhile, Tiara and Lena, their eyes closed, muttered incantations under their breath, forcing their remaining power from their bodies into the fusion of the three little girls and Sarah. Yord pulsed silently around them, immense red eyes blinking.
   Then Meirene lunged at Kaze Hi Umbra—and Kaze, moving backwards, “stepped” on a piece of the shattered moon.
   Although this was outer space, and therefore gravity-less and impossible to trip in, Kaze did stumble over the orbiting bit of moon, and this was just what Meirene needed to bull aside her sword and drive the Vaineire down for the kill.
   Yord moved so fast that he had clearly been waiting for something like this to happen. His entire black, formless, eye-covered mass slammed into Meirene and sent her reeling backwards. The immense dark bulk of Yord coated Meirene as though in sludge, and as Meirene screamed and raised the Vaineire to blast Yord away, Tiara and Lena forced out a great wave of magic to Kaze
   and Kaze lashed out with her sword
   collided with the Vaineire
   shattered
   shards flying
   Meirene scream
 
   scream
 
   great wave of magical energy
 
   Meirene’s power
 
   wind through the universe
 
 
   gone
 
 
 
      *  *  *
 
   She wasn’t in her room anymore. She wasn’t in that terrible cathedral anymore. She wasn’t in space anymore.
   Where was she? Lirael opened her eyes.
   She was face-down on a carpet of soft, springy grass. Carefully, she raised her head, and saw that she was on a tiny island in the middle of a small pool of crystalline water, set in the middle of a forest glade. With a jolt of shock, she realized this was the island on which she, Rana, and Alanis had confronted their Spirits. But now it seemed to be night, and the glade was bathed in lilac moonlight from a large moon that hung in the dark sky like a pale amethyst.
   Rana and Alanis were on the grass beside her. Neither of them stirred.
   Lirael looked slowly around—it hurt to turn her head—and saw Sarah sitting on a rock at the water’s edge. She looked very tired, and was suffused by an ethereal glow that seemed to come from beneath her pale skin.
   “Sarah?” Lirael asked, her throat feeling raw.
   “We did not kill Meirene,” Sarah said, anticipating Lirael’s question. “But we shattered her power, when we shattered the Vaineire sword. Meirene shall not bother us again for many millennia.”
   Even her voice was tired, a mere shell of its former silvery melody.
   “What was that explosion?”
   “Part of it was the release of Meirene’s power of Photon. Meirene controlled the racing and speed of light—it was her force. Now Yord has swallowed it, and it is his to command. The other part was of the Demon Orion reclaiming her own power, of the Song.”
   “Song?”
   “Somehow, through guile or theft or combat, Meirene managed to steal Orion’s power from her,” Sarah explained wearily. “Orion had the power of the song that is sung by the soul of every living being, the Music of the Spheres. Meirene took it from Orion and used it to battle Yord. So when you shattered the Vaineire, Orion reclaimed her force.”
   “Oh…I get it.” She didn’t, really, but Sarah sounded so tired that she didn’t want to push her.
   “Now…” Sarah stood up, brushing hair out of her face, “I think it is time that you all went back. I will send you through a gate…Yord already sent Tiara and Lena and Japolo, but I wanted to make sure you were all right first. Now then…”
   One of Sarah’s ribbons drifted forward and swirled slowly about, creating a large circle. Sarah waved at the circling ribbon, and it became a circular door of light, a gateway back to the Guardian World.
   Lirael was aware of Rana and Alanis waking up behind her, but suddenly an important idea had struck her mind. She walked up to Sarah and took her hand.
   “Come with us.”
   Sarah looked astonished, then tiredly resigned. “No, my dear, I’m afraid I cannot. I must stay here with Yord. He wants me here.”
   “Come with us,” Lirael urged. “Kagetsu wants to see you.”
   “And I’m sure Miss Tiara and Miss Lena will want to again, too,” Alanis piped up, coming forward and taking Sarah’s other hand.
   “But…” Sarah demurred.
   “Look,” said Rana in a gravelly voice, limping up as well. “Listen. Yord is not protesting. I think…well, really, Ceres thinks…that he might understand you a little better now.”
   “I don’t…”
   “Myre says it’s Orion,” Alanis declared suddenly. “Orion is restoring the Music, and it’s making Yord better.”
   “Better?” Sarah shook her head. “No, I really can’t…”
   “Yord was possessive and crabby and lonely because Meirene cut him off from the Music when she took it,” Lirael said, although it wasn’t really her saying it. Erian was speaking in her mind, telling her what to say. “Everything needs the Music of the Spheres, because without it, everything becomes…” Lirael shrugged. “We don’t know the right word. Bad. It made Yord hurt not to have the music. But the Music is healing him now. Try it. Walk closer.”
   Sarah stalled. “But…”
   The three little girls pulled her forward. One step. Two. Three. And they were in front of the dimensional gate. And still Yord made no move to stop them.
   “Come on,” said Rana quietly, stepping into the gateway.
   Lirael and Alanis followed her. There was a rushing of wind, and of color and light and sound, as they crossed over three dimensions to return to the Guardian World, landing in Lirael’s room with a thump that shook the house.
   And when Lirael, Rana, and Alanis’ parents, Tiara, Lena, Japolo, Leon, and Kagetsu burst into the little girl’s room a moment later, they found the three little girls looking very windswept, clutching the hands of a woman with long lavender hair, dressed all in white, with white ribbons floating around her wrists and ankles.
   Her smile illuminated the entire room. “Brother.”
 

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