Wind among the Trees
(A Sailor Moon/RIFTS crossover, with possible future other series')
by Shea McIntee
Disclaimer: RIFTS belongs to Kevin Siembieda who, IMHO, has done an
astonishing job on the whole idea. Sailor Moon doesn't belong to me
either, and, in spite of what I feel is it's over-exposure and it's
dubbing, is a worthwhile series on the whole (although the costumes
and speeches/attack names occasionally make me twitch in sympathetic
embarrassment).
Prelude Note: This is my first fanfic in this category (most of my
stuff is in the Ranma subsection, not the Sailor Moon subsection)...
it kinda came from an idea that wandered through my head when I was
reading about Millenium Trees and 'New Camelot' in the RIFTS England
sourcebook. For some reason, a thought collided with another
thought... and, well... thus was born the idea for a fanfic...
Chapter 1 (teaser plus a bit)
The birds chirped among the trees and bushes of the small park,
which was clean and undisturbed in spite of the past year or so.
Many other parks in Juuban had been wrecked in the almost constant
battles between the Forces of Good (in the form of underage girls
dressed in miniskirts that would normally only exist in Happosai's
disturbing dreams) and the Forces of Evil (in the form of various
ugly and, well... evil groups who had little in the way of fashion
sense and less in the way of tactical sense). In fact, this was
perhaps the only such park that was NOT torn up, in spite of the
fact that it was the site of a smallish conjunction of magical lines
of energy.
Perhaps it was that very node that kept the place safe, or perhaps
it was some whimsical wish of a passing kami, or maybe sheer chance.
Regardless or the reason, for those few who knew it's location, it
was a place to get away from the toils and stress of the everyday
life.
This afternoon was no different. A passing couple sat under the
shade of an old tree, which was carved with initials immortalizing
the love of couples long departed. An old man walked slowly down a
small pebbled path that meandered it's way through the park. A
young mother sat on a simple wooden bench and watched her son chase
a butterfly across a small grassy area.
A small bit away from the people who enjoyed the peacefulness of
the park, in a small clearing surounded by trees, a point of white
light appeared in midair. It wasn't astoundingly bright, but was
noticable in the slanting afternoon sunlight. Here it was that the
lines of energy in this park, the ley lines, met, and here was
where, perhaps miracles could occur.
The point of light elongated downwards, creating a line of green-
white light that stopped perhaps an inch above the grass. The line
slowly bent outwards in the middle towards both sides, until a
diamond of energy, perhaps six feet tall, hung in the gentle spring
breeze, swirling with vague shapes of colors from forest green to a
pure white.
Suddenly, the diamond began to turn, slowly at first, and then
picking up speed until, after five or ten minutes, it seemed to be a
solid double-cone. Meanwhile, a faint humming resonated from the
trees surrounding the clearing, and as it increased in pitch and
volume, the shape in the middle began to pulse slowly in and out.
Abruptly the humming stopped, and the light collapsed inward to
display a human figure standing on the grass.
The figure was not all that tall by some standards, and his (for
it was apparent that it was a he) medium-dark green hair seemed to
shift color slightly with the light. He wore a pair of plain brown
pants, and a green shirt of simple design, resembling a batik shirt
of eastern europe or a dashika . His
brown eyes seemed wise beyond his apparent teenage years, and there
a faint and gentle odor of leaves and earth (not altogether
unpleasant) accompanied him.
He examined his arms and legs, and then, satisfied with his self-
exploration, walked out of the clearing with a jaunty stride and a
whistled archaic tune on his lips.
****
Makoto sat in her seat in math class, staring aimlessly at her
notebook as she doodled around her notes. She tuned out the
teacher's droning and instead firmly immired herself in depression,
practically wallowing in sorrow.
Love. Or rather, the lack of it. Not in general; in fact, the
abundance of romance among her friends, especially the other Senshi,
only made her feel worse. Usagi had Mamoru, of course, and Haruka
and Micheru had each other. Ami, who Makoto had thought would be
the last one of them to find love, had run into someone who shared
her interests and talents to a tee, almost as if they were made for
each other, and had spent almost every day with Ryo. Minako was
currently in a 'merry war' with a new transfer student from France,
and Setsuna... well, nobody knew about her. Even Hotaru had found a
boyfriend.
But not her. Oh, no... it seemed that she was destined to be
single her whole life. And, knowing what she did of the future and
of Crystal Tokyo, it would be a LONG life.
She almost welcomed each new attack in a way that the others
couldn't really understand; as long as she was fighting, she could
put her misery behind her, and maybe, for a small space, forget her
other troubles. Besides, she liked fighting; the competition and
the exertion gave her a thrill that nothing else did.
The bell rang, signalling the start of a period that she had
recently learned to dread: lunch. At lunch, she would be treated to
the site of most of her friends cuddling up to their significant
others. They never MEANT to ignore her, but... well...
She sighed. 'I wish there was someone out there for me...'
****
A light wind blew through the small forest, sending the tree-tops
swaying, first one way, then the other. The wind blew past the edge
of the forest, and encountered a large monolith of a tree, almost a
thousand feet tall. It's branches and leaves covered over a hundred
feet in every direction, and it's enormous branches were larger than
many houses. In fact, the huge burls that hung from the lower
branches were larger than houses, which, in fact, they served the
function of.
This was, for a Millenium Tree (as they were called), a small
specimen and young (as these giants went). The eight or ten growths
among it's foliage housed close to a hundred intelligent humanoid
and similarly-sized creatures, and several tribes of fairies and
related woodland beings.
Not much was truly known about Millenium Trees. Some claimed that
they were alien brought through a Rift, whether accidentally or by
design, while others stated that the seeds had always been there,
slumbering under the earth at nexus points and areas of great magic
until the suge or nuclear death caused the ley lines of Earth to
explode into active (and overactive) status. Most accepted that
they held some sort of intelligence (with skeptics grasping at
straws to disprove this), although there had never been direct
communication between a Tree and others. Instead, those who slept
under it's branches might receive dreams or portents, or feel an
emotional presence at best. Timely and deserved gifts of healing
and magic came to those who needed it, while those who attacked the
Tree or it's inhabitants awere often the victim of magical energy
gone wild.
In truth, the Millenium Trees wee quite intelligent, perhaps more
so than the skeptics. They heard all within their bounds, and gave
their gifts to those they chose. They held control over the nexus
that they sat on, and monitored the dimensional energies of the
area. They lived off of the mystically energy of the ley lines, and
acted to further what purposes they chose, often focused towards
their own protection and the protection of those whom they
sheltered. To attack one is to risk both it's own formidable wrath,
and the wrath of all who associate themselves with it.
The giant burls that were a feature of any Millenium Tree were
hollow, and often housed groups of living creatures in the house-
sized spaces inside (often the burls were up to ten times the size
of a large home!). Together, the tree and it's inhabitants create a
miniature ecosystem that shows the harmony that life can live in.
This tree was currently... distracted... would be the best term,
perhaps. It's attention was drawn to a dimension that hovered close
to this one. This tree was young, and like the young of any
species, sought to learn more about it's surroundings... and itself,
particularly when it came to emotions of it's own or of others. It
went silent as it's consciousness simply left, leaving behind a mere
skeleton of itself to keep the weather stable and an eye on the
area.
****
In a darkened room, a figure hunched over a shallow bowl of water,
watching the imagesof the past that appeared in its depths. The
figure chuckled as it watched the magical warriors defeat a pathetic
little demon. This world would be easy to dominate, and then...
then... he, Zazshan, would control enough resouces to further his
long-awaited goals faster than he expected.
But first, these warriors needed to die... these... 'Senshi'...
****
Meryn walked through the small park. He had slept in the
clearing; the trip and the processes involved had tired him out.
Now it was early morning, and he wanted to get an early start on his
business.
He was here hunting. Something... unnatural had slipped through a
rift right under his nose, so to speak, and he took that personally.
He was hee to find out what is was and to deal with it, if
necessary.
He ignored the part of his mind that whispered that this was just
an excuse fo walking free like this. That had nothing at all to do
with his decision.
So why did he sound like he was trying to convince himself?
He stopped on the sidewalk outside the park and closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath and held it as he tried to 'feel' the scent of
a paticular magic. It felt and smelled to him like some fragrant
oid gone rancid... that had been what had attracted his attention in
the first place; if it hadn't 'smelled' so bad, he wouldn't have
noticed it's passage.
Nothing. Nothing at all. Great.
"And what do we have here?" A voice interrupted his thoughts, and
he opened his eyes. Standing in front of him was a man garbed in an
officious-looking uniform and a rather stern attitude. He was
oriental in appearance, and the language bore that out; Japanese.
Luckily, he knew the language fairly well.
"Trying to get out of school, are we? We can't have that, young
sir."
'Think quick.' He needed to come up with some excuse, and,
unprepared, he couldn't pull a vanishing act. Not without raising a
large enough fuss that whatever he was tracking might take notice.
"Uh... well, I'manexchangestudentandIjustarrivedanddon'tknow
wheretogo," he quickly spit out, bluffing for all his worth.
The truant officer (for that seemed to be what the man was),
blinked.
"What?"
Meryn sweated and repeated himself more slowly.
"I'm, uh, an exchange student from England and I don't know where
I need to go."
The man eyed him somewhat suspiciously.
"An exchange student, eh? And you don't know where the school
is?"
'Oh, crap...'
"Well, umm, I had the paperwork with me, but I kinda dropped it
overboard on the boat and, ummm..." he stammered out. Inside he was
pleading silently. 'Pleasebuyitpleasebuyitpleasebuyit...'
The man's expression softened just a wit, and he grunted.
"Well then, let me escort you to the school. Juuban high, right?
They've been receiving a few exchange students recently."
"Umm... yeah, that's right. Juuban high."
'Just great. I'm stuck with this guy, and it looks like he'll be
careful not to let me out of his sight until we reach this school
he's talking about... crap.'
Meryn sighed and followed the police officer down the sidewalk.
'Oh, well... I might as well. Actually... this would give me a
cover identity to help me blend in...' his expression brightened,
far more than would be explained by this reasoning. 'And it
wouldn't be out of place to have some fun, anyway.'
****
Makoto stared listlessly in space as her teacher stood up in the
front, expounding on the consequences of the introduction of
firearms into Japanese warfare. Another day, same as the last.
Nothing seemed to happen, and if it lasted much longer, she'd break
down and cry.
There was a slight commotion as the classroom door opened and a
police officer walked in, followed by a boy who looked about her
age. She recognied the officer as one of the three or so that spent
the schoolday hunting down student who'd decided to skip school.
However, her attention was immediately attracted by the boy.
He wasn't devastatingly handsome, but he did seem kinda cute. She
perked up slightly, and then sank back down. He probably already
had a girlfriend. Either that, or he was another enemy or
something. It wasn't fair! All the cute guys either already had
girlfriends, were complete asses, or were an enemy of some sort.
Sometimes more than one of the above.
Everyone in the class started whispering among themselves,
speculating on the nature of the unfamiliar face. Most likely, he
was someone who tried to skip out on yet another boring school day,
and he'd been caught and sent here.
The police officer walked over to the teacher and whispered
something quietly to her. She looked at the boy and then nodded her
head. She gestured the boy over to her and faced the class,
clearing her throat.
"This is Meryn Arboris, a new exchange student from England. He
just arrived in the country, and will be in your class."
Then she turned to Meryn. "Feel free to ask anyone here any
questions you may have."
She turned and scanned the classroom.
"You may sit next to Makoto Kino, over there."
Makoto brightened up. If he wasn't an enemy, and didn't have a
girlfriend (he just arrived, so maybe he didn't), maybe...
Suddenly, the future didn't seem quite so bleak after all. Not
quite, at least.
****
Bemused, Meryn walked over to the seat indicated, and sat down.
He'd never actually been to school, so this would be a new
experience for him.
Suddenly he frowned. He could feel something... well, not-good.
It wasn't what he had been tracking - it wasn't unnatural at all.
Rather, it felt like...
Depression. Someone was feeling REALLY bad about themselves. And
said someone had at least a bit of mystical or psychic ability, so
he could easily pick it up. He gave the classroom a slow scan,
looking for...
The girl next to him! She was kinda cute, and he could tell by
her expression that she was probably the one he'd been feeling
before. He cocked his head as he studied her head, which was bent
slightly as she watched whatever she was doing in her notebook.
Evidently feeling something, she look up and caught his gaze on her.
He gave her a tentative smile and flipped his head to the other
side, and quickly wrote a short message in large kana on his
notebook and held it up.
****
Makoto could feel eyes on her. She looked up to see the new
student, Meryn, studying her. She gave him a puzzled look, and he
responded with a quick smile and tilt of his head. He scribbed
something down and held it up for her to see.
'Cheer up!'
And for some reason, she immediately felt better. She returned
his smile with one that, although a little weak, was the first
genuine smile she'd had for days.
****
A huge reptilian figure, partially cloaked in shadow, lay on a
comfortable-looking mound of pillows. In frot of him was a small
table with a glwoing orb almost a foot in diameter on it. Branydd,
a dragon of significant age and power, rustled his wings and
grumbled in disgust.
"Damn blockhead always has to go off on his own," he muttered.
"Oh, and of course," and here his voice took on a mocking tone.
"Someone has to mind the fort," he mimicked with an almost palpable
aura of irritation. "I understand THAT. But why does it always
have to be me? Why couldn't it be that overgrown fishbait Erith?
Why me, every time!?"
There was a slight movement from a balcony almost two stories
above the grumbling lizard, and an indignant (yet humorous)
telepathic reply.
[Fishbait? And who are you to talk, o lizard of a thousand
excuses? I am not able to manipulate the seeing orb, as you well
know, o torch-with-an-attitude. Besides, it isn't you every time.
How about the last time, remeber? When you'd been asleep for two
months and I had to watch things? Talk about lazy...]
The dragon mock-growled up towards the balcony.
"And whose fault was that? I don't remember that elephant-sized
dose of fae wine being quite THAT potent... but I DO remeber a
certain worm doing something near the punchbowl..."
[I'm a Zembahk, not a worm, o overgrown iguana. And I had
absolutely nothing to do with it.]
The average listener, in spite of the innocent, almost angelical
tone of the telepathic 'voice,' would almost immediately condemn
the speaker of whatever crime they were denying... and Branydd was
quite familiar with Erith's... jokes.
"I don't believe that one bit... as you're quite aware, I'm sure."
The foot-long worm floated down from the balcony, and gave a
mental shrug.
[It doesn't really matter, anyway. What do you think he's doing
this time, anyway?]
Branydd rustled his wings, the equivalent of a shoulder shrugging.
"Not sure... he said something about a Rift, and something getting
through from this side. I don't think that's the only reason,
though... he was getting kinda antsy lately."
Erith, although he had no mouth, or recognizable facial feature,
for that matter, still managed to get across the impression of a
grin. [I wouldn't doubt it. You have to remember that he's young,
especially for one of his race... you do remember what it is to be
young, don't you, O-Ancient-and-DecrepidOne?]
The dragon gave him a severe look. "Just as well as you do, you
overtalkative fishbait. Still, how long do you think we should give
him?"
[A couple of weeks, no moe than a month. Dice to see who drags
him back?]
Branydd coguhed disbelievingly. "Only if I can examine your dice,
old cheat."
The Zembahk drew his head back,the very picture of wounded
dignity. [Are you implying that I CHEAT??]
"I do more than imply it, my friend. Let's try playing fair,
shall we?
****
Meryn paid the class's teacher the minimum of appropirate
attention to keep her from singling her out while he pondered his
current situation.
'Well, this'll make it difficult to actually do anything. As long
as I'm stuck here, I can't be out hunting... On the other hand...'
A picture of a young girl's face framed by long brown hair flashed
through his mind for a moment, until he dismissed it absently and
picked up where he left off.
'On the other hand, this will give me a base of operations... an
identity, in other words. Later, I'll need to create some documents
and opther things to support that...'
He absently fiddled with a pen, spinning iton his finger. Lost in
thought, he didn't notice, and abruptly the pen sliiped and
clattered on the floor... right when the teacher had taken a pause
in her lecture.
The teacher looked towards the noise, and saw the apparently
dozing new student.
"Mr. Arboris! Since you seem to be so confident about your
abilities, why don't you complete this timeline on the board for the
rest of us?"
He immediately snapped completely awake. 'Oh, crap.'
****
Zazshan (he hadn't bothered to create a native identity for this
fragment) completed the preparations for turning the small abandoned
home into a veritable magical fortress. It was always best to be
subtle at first, until one's position was unassailable, after all.
Now the process of doing away with this world's rather weak
protectors could be started.
There were, as far as he could tell, a maximum of 11 magically
impowered human beings. For the most part, each one was identified,
and apparently drew power from, one of this system's planets. All
had used no more than three or four different spells in combat, and,
again for the most part, those attacks were not of much concern to
most of his possible agents. There were some that he would need to
be cautious of; the warrior for Saturn seemed to have a dangerous
(and respectable) amount of power, although it's most powerful form
seemed to be very limited in application... the destruction of
whatever planet the warrior was on. The apparent leader of the
group, identified with this parallel earth's moon, although lesser
in raw power, was of more concern to him because the nature of her
power was strongest against such as he and his. The rest were at
best minor problems, with one exception, which worried him the most.
The senshi for Pluto.
Whereas the others appeared to be at best humans with raw magical
potential (respectable for the race, true) that had devices or such
that actively channeled their power in certain pre-set patterns. In
other words, they were one-or-two spell wizards. Warlocks,
actually, for the most part. It was possible that Sailor Moon
actually had some connection to a Spirit of Light or a similar
power, but that could be taken care of. However, Pluto's senshi was
something different.
A time mage; a temporal wizard. He had encountered the like
before, and knew not to underestimate them. This one, especially,
since she appeared to have access to some artifact of time (which he
would dearly like to get a hold of, along with that walking magic
battery that Sailor Moon carried). He could anticiplate and defend
against most kinds of magic, but that of the realm of chronos was
unfamiliar to him. Therefore, dangerous.
He had two general courses he could try to take. The first would
be to attempt to eliminate the three greatest threats first. If he
succeeded, he could easily destroy the rest. However, if he failed,
the whole would be alerted, and the weaker members would be
protected. The second course would be to quietly try to eliminate
the weaker members and/or use them as bait in carefully laid traps.
SUccess would mean cutting the bigger threats away from possible
reinforcements or assistance, as well as possibly using traps to
draw them into his own territory. Failure, would, again, alert the
whole to his presence. However, in this case it would be possible,
quite easy in fact, to keep them underestimating his capabilities
and those of the minions he would be using.
Yes. That would probably be the best course. Now... the best
start would be a minor threat, easily destroyed, that would both
raise thei overconfidence and be untraceable...
****
Author's Notes: What do you think? I'm co-opting the interesting
idea/struggle set out in the RIFTS England book, with the
manipulation of New Camelot and Ar'thuu by Mrrlyn (a projection of
the evil alien intelligence Zazshan), versus the Chiang-Ku dragons
(the druids, Prrcyvel) who fight him both openly and subtly. Add in
a young Millenium Tree that can create a 'projection' (a body,
pretty much), and a group of Senshi... let me know:
deus_ex_mach42@hotmail.com
PS: Here's the whole of chapter one! ... I'm not quite satisfied
with the scene with the police officer, and so I'm posting it now
and begging for ideas to make it better... the scene needs to set
Meryn at Juuban High as a student, most likely an exhange student.
Ideas for polishing this scene... please! And yes, I'm going to
match him up with Makoto. In advance of the potests by those who
are familiar with RIFTS England, I know that nothing is said about
'projections' or anything similar by Millenium Trees in RIFTS
ENgland. However... my story; I change things however it suits
me... so there! Bee-dah!
PPS: For those who noted that many of my story installments so far
have been kinda short... this one's shaping up to be longer than the
rest, except for maybe 'An Immortal Love' or 'Through the Eyes of a
Dragon'. The first chapter is about 30k (at least 10k bigger than
any other chapter I've written!), and future chapters are
anticipated to be of similar length.
(A Sailor Moon/RIFTS crossover, with possible future other series')
by Shea McIntee
Disclaimer: RIFTS belongs to Kevin Siembieda who, IMHO, has done an
astonishing job on the whole idea. Sailor Moon doesn't belong to me
either, and, in spite of what I feel is it's over-exposure and it's
dubbing, is a worthwhile series on the whole (although the costumes
and speeches/attack names occasionally make me twitch in sympathetic
embarrassment).
Prelude Note: This is my first fanfic in this category (most of my
stuff is in the Ranma subsection, not the Sailor Moon subsection)...
it kinda came from an idea that wandered through my head when I was
reading about Millenium Trees and 'New Camelot' in the RIFTS England
sourcebook. For some reason, a thought collided with another
thought... and, well... thus was born the idea for a fanfic...
Chapter 1 (teaser plus a bit)
The birds chirped among the trees and bushes of the small park,
which was clean and undisturbed in spite of the past year or so.
Many other parks in Juuban had been wrecked in the almost constant
battles between the Forces of Good (in the form of underage girls
dressed in miniskirts that would normally only exist in Happosai's
disturbing dreams) and the Forces of Evil (in the form of various
ugly and, well... evil groups who had little in the way of fashion
sense and less in the way of tactical sense). In fact, this was
perhaps the only such park that was NOT torn up, in spite of the
fact that it was the site of a smallish conjunction of magical lines
of energy.
Perhaps it was that very node that kept the place safe, or perhaps
it was some whimsical wish of a passing kami, or maybe sheer chance.
Regardless or the reason, for those few who knew it's location, it
was a place to get away from the toils and stress of the everyday
life.
This afternoon was no different. A passing couple sat under the
shade of an old tree, which was carved with initials immortalizing
the love of couples long departed. An old man walked slowly down a
small pebbled path that meandered it's way through the park. A
young mother sat on a simple wooden bench and watched her son chase
a butterfly across a small grassy area.
A small bit away from the people who enjoyed the peacefulness of
the park, in a small clearing surounded by trees, a point of white
light appeared in midair. It wasn't astoundingly bright, but was
noticable in the slanting afternoon sunlight. Here it was that the
lines of energy in this park, the ley lines, met, and here was
where, perhaps miracles could occur.
The point of light elongated downwards, creating a line of green-
white light that stopped perhaps an inch above the grass. The line
slowly bent outwards in the middle towards both sides, until a
diamond of energy, perhaps six feet tall, hung in the gentle spring
breeze, swirling with vague shapes of colors from forest green to a
pure white.
Suddenly, the diamond began to turn, slowly at first, and then
picking up speed until, after five or ten minutes, it seemed to be a
solid double-cone. Meanwhile, a faint humming resonated from the
trees surrounding the clearing, and as it increased in pitch and
volume, the shape in the middle began to pulse slowly in and out.
Abruptly the humming stopped, and the light collapsed inward to
display a human figure standing on the grass.
The figure was not all that tall by some standards, and his (for
it was apparent that it was a he) medium-dark green hair seemed to
shift color slightly with the light. He wore a pair of plain brown
pants, and a green shirt of simple design, resembling a batik shirt
of eastern europe or a dashika . His
brown eyes seemed wise beyond his apparent teenage years, and there
a faint and gentle odor of leaves and earth (not altogether
unpleasant) accompanied him.
He examined his arms and legs, and then, satisfied with his self-
exploration, walked out of the clearing with a jaunty stride and a
whistled archaic tune on his lips.
****
Makoto sat in her seat in math class, staring aimlessly at her
notebook as she doodled around her notes. She tuned out the
teacher's droning and instead firmly immired herself in depression,
practically wallowing in sorrow.
Love. Or rather, the lack of it. Not in general; in fact, the
abundance of romance among her friends, especially the other Senshi,
only made her feel worse. Usagi had Mamoru, of course, and Haruka
and Micheru had each other. Ami, who Makoto had thought would be
the last one of them to find love, had run into someone who shared
her interests and talents to a tee, almost as if they were made for
each other, and had spent almost every day with Ryo. Minako was
currently in a 'merry war' with a new transfer student from France,
and Setsuna... well, nobody knew about her. Even Hotaru had found a
boyfriend.
But not her. Oh, no... it seemed that she was destined to be
single her whole life. And, knowing what she did of the future and
of Crystal Tokyo, it would be a LONG life.
She almost welcomed each new attack in a way that the others
couldn't really understand; as long as she was fighting, she could
put her misery behind her, and maybe, for a small space, forget her
other troubles. Besides, she liked fighting; the competition and
the exertion gave her a thrill that nothing else did.
The bell rang, signalling the start of a period that she had
recently learned to dread: lunch. At lunch, she would be treated to
the site of most of her friends cuddling up to their significant
others. They never MEANT to ignore her, but... well...
She sighed. 'I wish there was someone out there for me...'
****
A light wind blew through the small forest, sending the tree-tops
swaying, first one way, then the other. The wind blew past the edge
of the forest, and encountered a large monolith of a tree, almost a
thousand feet tall. It's branches and leaves covered over a hundred
feet in every direction, and it's enormous branches were larger than
many houses. In fact, the huge burls that hung from the lower
branches were larger than houses, which, in fact, they served the
function of.
This was, for a Millenium Tree (as they were called), a small
specimen and young (as these giants went). The eight or ten growths
among it's foliage housed close to a hundred intelligent humanoid
and similarly-sized creatures, and several tribes of fairies and
related woodland beings.
Not much was truly known about Millenium Trees. Some claimed that
they were alien brought through a Rift, whether accidentally or by
design, while others stated that the seeds had always been there,
slumbering under the earth at nexus points and areas of great magic
until the suge or nuclear death caused the ley lines of Earth to
explode into active (and overactive) status. Most accepted that
they held some sort of intelligence (with skeptics grasping at
straws to disprove this), although there had never been direct
communication between a Tree and others. Instead, those who slept
under it's branches might receive dreams or portents, or feel an
emotional presence at best. Timely and deserved gifts of healing
and magic came to those who needed it, while those who attacked the
Tree or it's inhabitants awere often the victim of magical energy
gone wild.
In truth, the Millenium Trees wee quite intelligent, perhaps more
so than the skeptics. They heard all within their bounds, and gave
their gifts to those they chose. They held control over the nexus
that they sat on, and monitored the dimensional energies of the
area. They lived off of the mystically energy of the ley lines, and
acted to further what purposes they chose, often focused towards
their own protection and the protection of those whom they
sheltered. To attack one is to risk both it's own formidable wrath,
and the wrath of all who associate themselves with it.
The giant burls that were a feature of any Millenium Tree were
hollow, and often housed groups of living creatures in the house-
sized spaces inside (often the burls were up to ten times the size
of a large home!). Together, the tree and it's inhabitants create a
miniature ecosystem that shows the harmony that life can live in.
This tree was currently... distracted... would be the best term,
perhaps. It's attention was drawn to a dimension that hovered close
to this one. This tree was young, and like the young of any
species, sought to learn more about it's surroundings... and itself,
particularly when it came to emotions of it's own or of others. It
went silent as it's consciousness simply left, leaving behind a mere
skeleton of itself to keep the weather stable and an eye on the
area.
****
In a darkened room, a figure hunched over a shallow bowl of water,
watching the imagesof the past that appeared in its depths. The
figure chuckled as it watched the magical warriors defeat a pathetic
little demon. This world would be easy to dominate, and then...
then... he, Zazshan, would control enough resouces to further his
long-awaited goals faster than he expected.
But first, these warriors needed to die... these... 'Senshi'...
****
Meryn walked through the small park. He had slept in the
clearing; the trip and the processes involved had tired him out.
Now it was early morning, and he wanted to get an early start on his
business.
He was here hunting. Something... unnatural had slipped through a
rift right under his nose, so to speak, and he took that personally.
He was hee to find out what is was and to deal with it, if
necessary.
He ignored the part of his mind that whispered that this was just
an excuse fo walking free like this. That had nothing at all to do
with his decision.
So why did he sound like he was trying to convince himself?
He stopped on the sidewalk outside the park and closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath and held it as he tried to 'feel' the scent of
a paticular magic. It felt and smelled to him like some fragrant
oid gone rancid... that had been what had attracted his attention in
the first place; if it hadn't 'smelled' so bad, he wouldn't have
noticed it's passage.
Nothing. Nothing at all. Great.
"And what do we have here?" A voice interrupted his thoughts, and
he opened his eyes. Standing in front of him was a man garbed in an
officious-looking uniform and a rather stern attitude. He was
oriental in appearance, and the language bore that out; Japanese.
Luckily, he knew the language fairly well.
"Trying to get out of school, are we? We can't have that, young
sir."
'Think quick.' He needed to come up with some excuse, and,
unprepared, he couldn't pull a vanishing act. Not without raising a
large enough fuss that whatever he was tracking might take notice.
"Uh... well, I'manexchangestudentandIjustarrivedanddon'tknow
wheretogo," he quickly spit out, bluffing for all his worth.
The truant officer (for that seemed to be what the man was),
blinked.
"What?"
Meryn sweated and repeated himself more slowly.
"I'm, uh, an exchange student from England and I don't know where
I need to go."
The man eyed him somewhat suspiciously.
"An exchange student, eh? And you don't know where the school
is?"
'Oh, crap...'
"Well, umm, I had the paperwork with me, but I kinda dropped it
overboard on the boat and, ummm..." he stammered out. Inside he was
pleading silently. 'Pleasebuyitpleasebuyitpleasebuyit...'
The man's expression softened just a wit, and he grunted.
"Well then, let me escort you to the school. Juuban high, right?
They've been receiving a few exchange students recently."
"Umm... yeah, that's right. Juuban high."
'Just great. I'm stuck with this guy, and it looks like he'll be
careful not to let me out of his sight until we reach this school
he's talking about... crap.'
Meryn sighed and followed the police officer down the sidewalk.
'Oh, well... I might as well. Actually... this would give me a
cover identity to help me blend in...' his expression brightened,
far more than would be explained by this reasoning. 'And it
wouldn't be out of place to have some fun, anyway.'
****
Makoto stared listlessly in space as her teacher stood up in the
front, expounding on the consequences of the introduction of
firearms into Japanese warfare. Another day, same as the last.
Nothing seemed to happen, and if it lasted much longer, she'd break
down and cry.
There was a slight commotion as the classroom door opened and a
police officer walked in, followed by a boy who looked about her
age. She recognied the officer as one of the three or so that spent
the schoolday hunting down student who'd decided to skip school.
However, her attention was immediately attracted by the boy.
He wasn't devastatingly handsome, but he did seem kinda cute. She
perked up slightly, and then sank back down. He probably already
had a girlfriend. Either that, or he was another enemy or
something. It wasn't fair! All the cute guys either already had
girlfriends, were complete asses, or were an enemy of some sort.
Sometimes more than one of the above.
Everyone in the class started whispering among themselves,
speculating on the nature of the unfamiliar face. Most likely, he
was someone who tried to skip out on yet another boring school day,
and he'd been caught and sent here.
The police officer walked over to the teacher and whispered
something quietly to her. She looked at the boy and then nodded her
head. She gestured the boy over to her and faced the class,
clearing her throat.
"This is Meryn Arboris, a new exchange student from England. He
just arrived in the country, and will be in your class."
Then she turned to Meryn. "Feel free to ask anyone here any
questions you may have."
She turned and scanned the classroom.
"You may sit next to Makoto Kino, over there."
Makoto brightened up. If he wasn't an enemy, and didn't have a
girlfriend (he just arrived, so maybe he didn't), maybe...
Suddenly, the future didn't seem quite so bleak after all. Not
quite, at least.
****
Bemused, Meryn walked over to the seat indicated, and sat down.
He'd never actually been to school, so this would be a new
experience for him.
Suddenly he frowned. He could feel something... well, not-good.
It wasn't what he had been tracking - it wasn't unnatural at all.
Rather, it felt like...
Depression. Someone was feeling REALLY bad about themselves. And
said someone had at least a bit of mystical or psychic ability, so
he could easily pick it up. He gave the classroom a slow scan,
looking for...
The girl next to him! She was kinda cute, and he could tell by
her expression that she was probably the one he'd been feeling
before. He cocked his head as he studied her head, which was bent
slightly as she watched whatever she was doing in her notebook.
Evidently feeling something, she look up and caught his gaze on her.
He gave her a tentative smile and flipped his head to the other
side, and quickly wrote a short message in large kana on his
notebook and held it up.
****
Makoto could feel eyes on her. She looked up to see the new
student, Meryn, studying her. She gave him a puzzled look, and he
responded with a quick smile and tilt of his head. He scribbed
something down and held it up for her to see.
'Cheer up!'
And for some reason, she immediately felt better. She returned
his smile with one that, although a little weak, was the first
genuine smile she'd had for days.
****
A huge reptilian figure, partially cloaked in shadow, lay on a
comfortable-looking mound of pillows. In frot of him was a small
table with a glwoing orb almost a foot in diameter on it. Branydd,
a dragon of significant age and power, rustled his wings and
grumbled in disgust.
"Damn blockhead always has to go off on his own," he muttered.
"Oh, and of course," and here his voice took on a mocking tone.
"Someone has to mind the fort," he mimicked with an almost palpable
aura of irritation. "I understand THAT. But why does it always
have to be me? Why couldn't it be that overgrown fishbait Erith?
Why me, every time!?"
There was a slight movement from a balcony almost two stories
above the grumbling lizard, and an indignant (yet humorous)
telepathic reply.
[Fishbait? And who are you to talk, o lizard of a thousand
excuses? I am not able to manipulate the seeing orb, as you well
know, o torch-with-an-attitude. Besides, it isn't you every time.
How about the last time, remeber? When you'd been asleep for two
months and I had to watch things? Talk about lazy...]
The dragon mock-growled up towards the balcony.
"And whose fault was that? I don't remember that elephant-sized
dose of fae wine being quite THAT potent... but I DO remeber a
certain worm doing something near the punchbowl..."
[I'm a Zembahk, not a worm, o overgrown iguana. And I had
absolutely nothing to do with it.]
The average listener, in spite of the innocent, almost angelical
tone of the telepathic 'voice,' would almost immediately condemn
the speaker of whatever crime they were denying... and Branydd was
quite familiar with Erith's... jokes.
"I don't believe that one bit... as you're quite aware, I'm sure."
The foot-long worm floated down from the balcony, and gave a
mental shrug.
[It doesn't really matter, anyway. What do you think he's doing
this time, anyway?]
Branydd rustled his wings, the equivalent of a shoulder shrugging.
"Not sure... he said something about a Rift, and something getting
through from this side. I don't think that's the only reason,
though... he was getting kinda antsy lately."
Erith, although he had no mouth, or recognizable facial feature,
for that matter, still managed to get across the impression of a
grin. [I wouldn't doubt it. You have to remember that he's young,
especially for one of his race... you do remember what it is to be
young, don't you, O-Ancient-and-DecrepidOne?]
The dragon gave him a severe look. "Just as well as you do, you
overtalkative fishbait. Still, how long do you think we should give
him?"
[A couple of weeks, no moe than a month. Dice to see who drags
him back?]
Branydd coguhed disbelievingly. "Only if I can examine your dice,
old cheat."
The Zembahk drew his head back,the very picture of wounded
dignity. [Are you implying that I CHEAT??]
"I do more than imply it, my friend. Let's try playing fair,
shall we?
****
Meryn paid the class's teacher the minimum of appropirate
attention to keep her from singling her out while he pondered his
current situation.
'Well, this'll make it difficult to actually do anything. As long
as I'm stuck here, I can't be out hunting... On the other hand...'
A picture of a young girl's face framed by long brown hair flashed
through his mind for a moment, until he dismissed it absently and
picked up where he left off.
'On the other hand, this will give me a base of operations... an
identity, in other words. Later, I'll need to create some documents
and opther things to support that...'
He absently fiddled with a pen, spinning iton his finger. Lost in
thought, he didn't notice, and abruptly the pen sliiped and
clattered on the floor... right when the teacher had taken a pause
in her lecture.
The teacher looked towards the noise, and saw the apparently
dozing new student.
"Mr. Arboris! Since you seem to be so confident about your
abilities, why don't you complete this timeline on the board for the
rest of us?"
He immediately snapped completely awake. 'Oh, crap.'
****
Zazshan (he hadn't bothered to create a native identity for this
fragment) completed the preparations for turning the small abandoned
home into a veritable magical fortress. It was always best to be
subtle at first, until one's position was unassailable, after all.
Now the process of doing away with this world's rather weak
protectors could be started.
There were, as far as he could tell, a maximum of 11 magically
impowered human beings. For the most part, each one was identified,
and apparently drew power from, one of this system's planets. All
had used no more than three or four different spells in combat, and,
again for the most part, those attacks were not of much concern to
most of his possible agents. There were some that he would need to
be cautious of; the warrior for Saturn seemed to have a dangerous
(and respectable) amount of power, although it's most powerful form
seemed to be very limited in application... the destruction of
whatever planet the warrior was on. The apparent leader of the
group, identified with this parallel earth's moon, although lesser
in raw power, was of more concern to him because the nature of her
power was strongest against such as he and his. The rest were at
best minor problems, with one exception, which worried him the most.
The senshi for Pluto.
Whereas the others appeared to be at best humans with raw magical
potential (respectable for the race, true) that had devices or such
that actively channeled their power in certain pre-set patterns. In
other words, they were one-or-two spell wizards. Warlocks,
actually, for the most part. It was possible that Sailor Moon
actually had some connection to a Spirit of Light or a similar
power, but that could be taken care of. However, Pluto's senshi was
something different.
A time mage; a temporal wizard. He had encountered the like
before, and knew not to underestimate them. This one, especially,
since she appeared to have access to some artifact of time (which he
would dearly like to get a hold of, along with that walking magic
battery that Sailor Moon carried). He could anticiplate and defend
against most kinds of magic, but that of the realm of chronos was
unfamiliar to him. Therefore, dangerous.
He had two general courses he could try to take. The first would
be to attempt to eliminate the three greatest threats first. If he
succeeded, he could easily destroy the rest. However, if he failed,
the whole would be alerted, and the weaker members would be
protected. The second course would be to quietly try to eliminate
the weaker members and/or use them as bait in carefully laid traps.
SUccess would mean cutting the bigger threats away from possible
reinforcements or assistance, as well as possibly using traps to
draw them into his own territory. Failure, would, again, alert the
whole to his presence. However, in this case it would be possible,
quite easy in fact, to keep them underestimating his capabilities
and those of the minions he would be using.
Yes. That would probably be the best course. Now... the best
start would be a minor threat, easily destroyed, that would both
raise thei overconfidence and be untraceable...
****
Author's Notes: What do you think? I'm co-opting the interesting
idea/struggle set out in the RIFTS England book, with the
manipulation of New Camelot and Ar'thuu by Mrrlyn (a projection of
the evil alien intelligence Zazshan), versus the Chiang-Ku dragons
(the druids, Prrcyvel) who fight him both openly and subtly. Add in
a young Millenium Tree that can create a 'projection' (a body,
pretty much), and a group of Senshi... let me know:
deus_ex_mach42@hotmail.com
PS: Here's the whole of chapter one! ... I'm not quite satisfied
with the scene with the police officer, and so I'm posting it now
and begging for ideas to make it better... the scene needs to set
Meryn at Juuban High as a student, most likely an exhange student.
Ideas for polishing this scene... please! And yes, I'm going to
match him up with Makoto. In advance of the potests by those who
are familiar with RIFTS England, I know that nothing is said about
'projections' or anything similar by Millenium Trees in RIFTS
ENgland. However... my story; I change things however it suits
me... so there! Bee-dah!
PPS: For those who noted that many of my story installments so far
have been kinda short... this one's shaping up to be longer than the
rest, except for maybe 'An Immortal Love' or 'Through the Eyes of a
Dragon'. The first chapter is about 30k (at least 10k bigger than
any other chapter I've written!), and future chapters are
anticipated to be of similar length.