A/N: Hello, this is Arashi-chan and her take on Endymion and his inheritance. Please review! Also, check out this story's (upcoming) companion piece - Serenity's Heritage: The Maboroshi no Ginzuishou.

Endymion's Heritage – The Golden Crystal

A long time ago, when the world was young and Gods walked among mortals, the blue and green planet we now call 'Earth' was known by another name: Terra. It was ruled by a High King – always a King – for in those times women, though cherished and loved, were considered inept in regards to holding power. Only immortals such as the naiads of the sea; the dryads of running water; the nymphs of the woods… witches, wisewomen commanded respect from males. They and the Goddesses, that is.

It was during this time that Terra shook with an almighty groan, and from the ground gushed a river of fire followed by a gust of icy wind that cooled it, forming a mountain in what is now modern-day Japan, near the capital.

When Selenity descended from Luna – leaving her kingdom under the guidance of young Serenity, who had recently come of age – she did so at Selene's request to examine the mountain in question, for its origins were most decidedly magical. It was then she saw the ground of the summit shudder and then crumble to reveal an almost otherworldly beautiful girl, perhaps sixteen Terran summers of age.

Her hair was a dark mahogany, almost blending into the ground she rested on, and when she opened her eyes drowsily, they were a restless blue akin to that of Terra's oceans… Selenity smiled at her, recognising that she had just witnessed the birth of one much like herself, born from the ground of their respective planet, and inquired of the young girl her name.

She sat up then and began to stand on shaky legs; as she stumbled Selenity caught her and helped her up. Raising eyes thankfully to the silver-haired monarch of the moon, the girl said thus: "I am Gaia."

Selenity brought her down from the mountain and a young couple from Luna volunteered to teach Gaia the ways of survival, and promised to love her as their own. Their name was Tsukino, which means 'of the moon', for they were the only Lunarian citizens in all of Terra.

They raised Gaia as their own, and when Ikuko, wife to Kenji, bore a son named Shingo, he was Gaia's brother and she doted on him.

When she crossed the final threshold and became a woman two summers after her birth on the fire-mountain, Gaia returned there to fast and to pray. When she reached the peak, she saw that where she had lain was a large hole, and she could feel heat from the crater. Despite this, she bowed her head and stayed for three days and nights, and it was there that Selenity found her on the fourth day.

Selenity, hearing the prayers the young goddess spoke, asked of her, not her name, but her heritage. Gaia, who loved her friend dearly, replied truthfully; "I am Gaia. I am Terra. I am the Seas that take the Sailors' ships and the wolves' keening dirge in the night. I am the air we now breathe, and the flash of steel at the hunt. I am the fire that warms Man, and the Earth beneath our feet. I am Gaia."

With that, golden power blazed about her tall, proud form and on her forehead appeared a new insignia – a complete circle and a cross within. She smiled at Selenity, her first friend, and gestured about them. "This is the full moon, and the cross within is Terra, for there is always conflict, but I am a ward of the moon. This symbol stands for Earth – aye, Terra, called Gaia, called Earth for the soil beneath our feet – and for the bloody conflict that shall begin with the birth of my heir and end a millennium later when he transcends mortality."

Selenity was, for the first time in her aeon-long life, afraid, although the reason eluded her, and she asked the serious-eyed maiden "you are still my friend?" and Gaia smiled, but the smile did not reach her ocean-blue eyes, and she did not answer.

When Selenity spread angel wings and flew back to the moon in a flash of silver, Gaia descended again from the fire-mountain of her birth. The baying of hounds reached her but she was unconcerned, for every beast was her friend. It was then that she set eyes on Tenkaichi and his hair, so black it carried a blue hue, and his eyes, so green the forest about him was silenced merely by the verdant shade.

She made a sight, with a her mahogany hair untamed and flowing past her back, leaves and flowers tangling freely with the dark tresses, her skin tanned a healthy nut-brown from the two summers it had seen, and Tenkaichi, for all he was High King of Terra and had feasted on many women, was entranced by her wild beauty. He himself had the look of Orion the Hunter, for he was clad in muted green, grey and tan leathers, a crossbow slung over his back and a pouch of bolts at his belt.

Gaia fell in love with him then, and he with her, for even goddesses are capable of love, and even a man such as Tenkaichi recognised the instant understanding between the two as the first beginnings of a lifebond traced its way from his heart to hers.

He asked her there and then, his dogs' tongues lolling in approval and her eyes answering him, before bearing her off to his castle where they were wed by Selenity on the autumn equinox. On the summer solstice, her child was born, and all of Terra rejoiced. He had his mother's stormy eyes and his father's raven hair, and an endearing half-smile that was all his own. His name was Endymion.

It was then that Gaia realised the prophecy – that her heir would die three times, and his second and third life would be full of pain, before he awakened as a God – and was desperate not to see her son's life end, even if it meant to take hers, for even if her mortal body perished, she was immortal like Terra – like Earth.

So take her life she did: she channelled all the power of Terra through her serious-eyed son and her body crumbled to dust before something rose from the ashes.

It was a large diamond-cut crystal with a golden-amber hue, and sparks of fire and lightning gracefully arced across its gleaming surface before it sank into young Endymion's chest, and finally released from his silence, the newborn began to keen for the loss of something he had never truly known, but held yet – the love of a mother.

Tenkaichi went nearly mad with grief over his beloved wife's demise, but could never quite understand why he could still feel her, the lifebond yet unsevered. In spite of his sorrow, however, he raised his son as best as he knew how and Endymion flourished under his father's watchful eye, excelling in weaponry, warfare, politics and book learning.

When he had seen a dozen summers, he received four stones, four souls bound to them. One was a polished piece of jadeite, another nephrite, zoicite and kunzite. Gaia woke the souls so that her son might have companions, protectors and teachers. Although several of Tenkaichi's court raised questioning eyebrows at the presence of four youths where there had been none before, Endymion accepted them readily, still a lonely boy and not yet a hardened man, sparing nary a thought to his companions' origins.

Because the strange golden power he wielded was so unique, he had to teach himself control – however, his four companions, who were slowly ascending the ladder of prestige and lordship, had at their command a similar energy, though far dimmer.

And so his life continued thus until he came of age at twenty-one and became a man. No woman had touched him – neither his body nor his heart – so it came to him as a surprise when he met Serenity of the Moon…

But that is another tale for another night.

A/N: Please review! Arashinobara worked very hard on this... /sniffle/