Title: World of the Heart and the Shadow of the Twin Goddesses.
Disclaimer: This is a crossover of Magic Knight Rayearth, with elements of Ancient Book of Ys I & II, and some other elements taken of various games from that action-rpg saga. Only the plot presented in this story is 'original'. MKR characters belong to CLAMP, and those of Ys saga belong to Nihon Falcom Co. Enjoy the Story.
Also, this is a translation made by myself of the original story in spanish: "El Mundo del Corazón y la Sombra de las Dos Diosas", also available in this site.
Considerations for this Universe:
- Based mainly in the Anime series, with some interesting elements of the manga, ad a little of the OVAs.
- Nova did exist, but she hasn't parted again from Hikaru, and in this story will not do so. At least not for appearing in Cephiro.
- Sierra asumed Presea's role. But the Magic Knights and the rest of the world for that matter don't know the awful truth.
- 1 terran day equals three cephran days.
- Years in Cephiro will be measured in 'After-Rebirth' (AR) calendar.
- I will use the following names for the Cephran classes: Dal – Swordsman, Ile – Sorcerer, Cail – Magic Swordsman, Master Pharle – Master Smith, Madoushi – Master Mage, Palu – Summoner. Others will come as i remember them
- I will use the metric system for measures. If you don't like it... bear it! :D (it's native to me, so i'm not used to think in yards, feet & inches, ounces, pounds, etc.)
- Hikaru, Umi and Fuu will have after being 17 years of age according to Earth standards ther definite heigth: 1,60mt., 1,72mt., 1,68mt. Respectively.
- The rest of the characters: Lantis 1,90mt., Ferio 1,75mt., Ascot 1,85mt; Clef 1,30mt. (child form)/ 1,80mt (adult form); LaFarga and Geo 2mt; Caldina and Presea 1,75mt.; Eagle 1,78mt.
Prelude part 1: A Harsh Awakening
Cephiro, 9 years AR (3 terran years).
A young man looking about 25 years old, with dark hazelnut hair and dark blue eyes, with harsh facial features, with skin hardened by harsh country labor, with a body build made to plow harsh environments, is laying down on his stomach, on the grass of a forest full of little and harmless creatures; The Forest of Silence, place that since the Pillar System was abolished is a peaceful and quiet place, ideal for picnics or people who need some solitude; but the constraint that gives it its name still lives, only people with an incredible amount of willpower can use magic there, but even then hasn't same effect and power and it will drain their energy very quickly. Little by little, the youngster starts to become conscious of his surroundings, but without trying to get up, he feels too weak and tired.
"uuughh.... where am I?" sighs, then trying to move his head to be able to see aroung him. He distinguishes some trees, that don't look like any species he might have known, and realizes that there is a small lake close by. He believes that in the air is some singing voice, but he isn't capable of discerning any lyrics, just a melody that is both soothing and has some kind of mystical power; he doesn't know how did he realize that or was able to feel that.
The owner of that voice, is no other than Presea, the Master Pharle of Cephiro. She is kneeling on some sort of a open temple made of ivory and with some sort of altar in the middle of it; this temple is on the shore of the lake. She is with the dress she uses to work with magic on minerals, because over the altar, floating above it is a crystal that is being worked by her magic. Her meditation is so deep that she isn't able to perceive that just about one hundred meters across from her, is that man.
The crystal shines softly as the prayer of the lady is being finished; then it shines a blinding light. The woman opens her eyes and looks at her last masterpiece. Before her, descending softly until it lays horizontally over the altar is a totally unexpected result for her, is not usual to see this kind of weapon used by any warrior in Cephiro; a two-handed warhammer with a wooden-like handle, but she knows by her years of experience making equipment that ther is more than meets the eye... that hande will not break easily, and the head of said weapon has one of its sides finished in a spear tip, and the other as a normal hammer, with engravings of some symbols in some unknown language for her in one of its sides, and in the other an image of the faces of two beautiful women: one with a happy, almost content expression, and other with a solemn one. These features make a fearsome weapon in battle if the person for which this weapon was made has True Strength of Heart. Se doesn't know the destiny that awaits is user, nor she wants to grasp it.... after the tragedy her work a few years ago caused for some poor innocent girls from another world, there are almost no things that can be harsher, but that is no reason for her to live them or doing someone to live them. Be what it may, weapons are tools, ant their consequences are made by those who wield them adn the purpose for they are using them.
'*Well, the Lord of that city in the mountain -Crissa La Neva- will have to wait another more day for his new sword. From this piece of Escudo ore a fine sword should have emerged, but since the crystal wasn't extracted from Eterna by himseld, and it was asked from my raw materials, maybe some divine intervention made the magic to work out this way; who knows, maybe something is goign to happen in Cephiro in some future. I know not who is the bearer of this warhammer, but i'll be the one to deliver it. Let's hope that it's just me, and not anything else. Oh Well! To the armory with this hammer.*'
Presea stood, then got her hands close to the weapon, without touching it, mentally chanted a spell, and the hammer vanished away in a soft magic light.
"Pu, Pu Pu?" says a soft voice, coming from some little bouncy and fluffy animal looking thing, that looks like some ovoidal overweight rabbit with a gemstone over and between its eyes. In its ears is carrying a small basket.
"Mokona!" Presea exclaimed happily. "Thanks for not interrupting me this time!" she smiles at Mokona, while the bouncy little thing comes to 1 meter of distance from her and leaves in the floor the basket so she can reach it.
"Puuuu, pu pu pu!" begins to say happily Mokona, while opening the basket.
"Pastries and Juice!" exclaims happil Presea, taking out some pieces of pastry and some juice from a bottle that is magically sealed agains spillovers but nonetheless allows you to drink as if it had no cap. "mmmmm.... delicious! Who might have made it?" asked aloud after having a bit of the light meal that Mokona brought.
"Presea!" exclaims with a happy tone a voice that comes from the same direction that Mokona came from; that voice has a soft but nice tune to it, as if the mere presence of the person who is speaking had brought life and happiness to this forest. That wasn't so far from the truth, for the girl who called her is the one chosen as the last Pillar of Cephiro, and if she isn't the person with more willpower in the world, she for sure is one of the strongest willed existing; Hikaru, Magic Knight of Fire, Donner of Rayearth the Rune-God of the Fire Temple. As she runs to Presea, her red hair made in a long braid moves softly with the breeze that courses through the forest, and her ruby coloured eyes look at her with happiness. Beyond her, some meters of distance, walking peacefully, but not without a calm expression on his face, comes a very tall man, with short black hair, shining and expressive violet eyes, with battle-hardened muscles, but not the bulky type, enhanced by his full black garb, but without his armor that is safely stored in his belt within the amethyst in its center. Cail Lantis is him, guardian and not-so-official-boyfriend of Hikaru.
"Hikaru.... thank you very much!" Told Presea to the pètite redhead smiling happily induced by the sugar rush from the light meal, when the young girl of 17 years of age arrived nexto to her and stops without seeming tired in the least. "After working on a piece of Escudo ore, i always end up wasted. Nothing like a good pastry to recover."the Pharle happily finished speaking.
"I know Presea, so now that we're visiting, Umi-chan baked a lot of pastries... even Lantis ate some."answered the young girl, smiling heppily, while he shrugged a bit, and blushed very lightly, and smiled in a way that almost couldn't be noticed when he arrived close to his beloved little girl that now comes up to somewhere between his chest and waist. Now he caresses her hair soflty, with that little contact speaking volumes of how he felt about her.
"Puuu.... pu pu pu?" chirped Mokona, starting to bounce away, in the opposite direction they came from, going farther away from the group.
"Mokona-chan... wait for me! Don't go alone out there!" exclaimed Hikaru while going after Mokona.
Lantis smiles again, but this time is noticeable, and then looks at Presea, who finished eating the meal that Mokona brought to her. '*Truly, he looks really better with a smile on his face. Hikaru is what Céfiro needed, and let's not talk about him also needing her.*' thought Presea slightly amused while she closed the basket and takes it in her hands. The man offers his hand to help her to stand up.
"Thank you, Lantis." said while she got up with his help.
"You're welcome. If i hadn't done it Hikaru would've felt really bad. She knows how tired you end up." said Lantis, now with a peaceful look on his face. "How did the commission go?" asked next.
"It didn't go as expected. That is what happens when you summon to the magic of Cephiro asking for something in return, but you don't offer something that is bound to you, and you alone by your Strength of Heart. Tomorrow i'll give it another shot." answered Presea, while she willed herself to be changed into her usual attire for work, not the clothes she uses for magic-creation.
"Fortunately, there're very few monstes in Cephiro, and in that snowy city there isn't much to worry about. Tomorrow is another day." told her the Cail, to ease her up a bit; Presea had quite a temper when things didn't go as she planned, but he wondered why she hadn't tried to see how far Mokona's ears stretched or how much water could she stuf into Mokona's mouth.
"Lantis!" Hikaru's voice was easily heard from a distance. "We have an unconscious man in the shore, right here!"
Presea and Lantis sprinted to see what Hikaru is telling them about, and they see the man that was entering and exiting unconscious states. Hikaru is about to lift him in her shoulders when Lantis comes and stops her touchinng her shoulder softly. "Let me try, he doesn't seem like a lightweight." Nest, he tried to lift the fainted man, passing the man's right arm over his shoulder, and eased him up, not without a bit of complications due to the man's weight and bodybuild.
Presea glances for a moment to the man that is resting on Lantis, feeling that something in that one attracts her attention. He opens his eyes for a moment, and her light brown eyes, meet with his dark blue. She finds herself speechless for an instant, until she reacts and goes to the man's other side to help Lantis to support his massive -from her point of view- frame. In shoulder width he had a bit more than twice lhat hers. She finished that, when the guy was able to utter some words.
"Where... am... I?"
Presea answered in a sweet tone. "In the Forest of Silence, in Céfiro. Who are you?"
"Fajto... Kevin... Fajto..."answered in a rather tired tone the man, going unconscious again.
Hikaru, after this still unnerved, glances at Mokona, and asks her with a puppy-eyed expression. "Mokona, we need a stretcher, can you help us?"
"Pu!" is his answer, and inmediately the jewel on his forehead shines brightly and instantly a floating stretched, wide and large enough to set him up with ease. Once they did it, a magical dome covers Kevin to induce him to sleep and protect him.
The three of them guide the floating stretcher to Presea's place, where she likes to work because she has a better contact with nature and magic in its raw state.
Once in the building, they take him to a bed in a guestroom. There, Lantis begins to see how his health is faring, given his vast knowledge in Healing Arts, next only to those of Madoushi Clef. The Cail is ina state of deep meditation tryin to see with his magic the state of the man who only told them his name, Kevin, before going unconscious.
"Well, what does he have?" asked Presea.
"He doesn't seem with lack of food or exercise. Or signals of physical weariness." said Hikaru.
"It appears to be just that he somehow used too much of his heart, as if he ran out of willpower. Something really hard happened to him for sure, to be left in this state" answered Lantis. "He will recover, but it will take time for him to wake up. I'm nos able to say how much it's going to take, though. And i doubt that magic can help here; we have to let time do its work."
Presea heard this, and while not being fully at ease, she thinks for a moment. '*I truly wish for him to recover*' After that she realized that in the floor, really close to the bed is a small dagger, that looks as if it were made of silver by the way it looks, and this interests her, because silver is not so suitable for making weapons, but she would make sure to study it in detail later, and goes to ordering the papers in her office, trying to store the dagger in one of her jewel-gloves with full success.
Hikaru makes visual contact with Lantis and tells him. "Now, i also hope for his recovery, I truly hope that iit isn't something more serious."
"Remember, my beloved girl," said Lantis to her. "Cephiro is a land of Will. I didn't perceive much, but there was an incredible desire to live. But he needs a lot of rest."
"Lantis... thank you." and then she hugs him tighly, to feel comforted in his embrace. He hugs her back,
Then they walk out from the room, hand in hand, without giving notice that in a corner of the room, over a piece of furniture, as if it truly were some stuffed animal, is Mokona, saying "Puu..." softly and quetly, while he drifts to sleep
Ten days after, Cephran time.
Presea was peacefully in the dining room of her fortress having told Clef about the strange incident with the weapon crafting from Escudo, that happened some days ago. Fortunately, the day right after the incident the commisioned weapon was finished without any further incident, and the works after that one were also successful.
She takes then from the enchanted closet where she stores all kinds of food, and keeps them cold and fresh, a pie made by her with a recipe that Umi gave her some time ago, a 'Lemon Pie'. With practice and putting a bit of her heart into iit, the pies were truly a delicacy. Sometimes, a certain ambassador from Autozam, Eagle Vision, came to her place to dicsuss about business with the jewel-gloves, that he wanted to take shiploads to Autozam, while he with his FTO and some mining robots, courtesy of Autozam of course, to work in the mines of dormant Escudo, helping her to have a healty supply of that ore and some others; he usually came for tea, and with an incredible craving for sweet things. She knew really few men who were as crazy for sweets as this pale-blond haired man.
She is so concentrated in her meditation, and she doesn't realize that something bumps into the back of her head making her face to land in the dead center of her once magnificient Lemon Pie, getting al her face sweet and sticky. She starts getting her face out of the mess, when she looks ahead and with a happy, carefree and amused expression on his face is Mokona. "¡Puu!"
Presea, really mad now tries to catch him, but the little fluffball avoids her everytime and bounces away happily by a corridor. "MOKONA!!" she screamed angrily. "When i get you i'll make a pair of bunny slippers out of you!!!! you ruined my masterpiece!!!" she exclaimed while her face was ready to tell everyon that now she was dishing out punishment, and woe to anyone who crossed her path. In the heat of the chase, she cleaned her face with whatever she could get for that without ceasing to chase Mokona.
She chases the fluffball through various parts of the fortress, really close to catching him, but he always manages to escape in the last instant; that doesn't do much to quell Presea, by the conotrary, is infuriating her more and more. The cat-and-mouse game continues until Mokona enters to the guest room where Kevin is resting unconscious. Since he entered that room, is not in line of sight of Presea. Anyways, she gave chase until entering the room and is not able to see the fluffball anywhere inside, and screams in a rather angry tone. "MOKONA! Where the hell in Cephiro are you? Creator or not... I'll pull your ears and stretch them as far as i can!" and starts looking for him in the room, thoroughly.
Meanwhile, in the dining room, Mokona looks the ruined Lemon Pie. "Puu..." and eats it in only one snack. "mmmm.... Puu!", and the jewel in his forehead shines, and instantly an untouched Lemon Pie is set in the table, and at some short distance a lit brazier, with a medium cooked roast beef, being kept warm (1).
"Where the hell is Mokona?! When i catch him i'll have a really serious talk with him." Presea exclaimed in a rather infuriated tone. Then, she hears some moaning. "uuuunnnggggh....."
She turns around looking for the source fo the moans, when she realizes that the man who has been asleep for more than a week, even if he has lost some weight he is still a big man. She goes to the bed, and takes a chair to sit next to the man. She notices that he has a hand outside the bed; in some impulse that she didn't know about, she took his hand... and perceives tremors in his being, but not for being cold. Then he starts talking in his sleep.
"Lilia... Adol.... Fee-na..... Leah... Fact... To-vah... Gemm—ma.... Hud-da-le... Dab-bie... Mes-sa... Ys.... Ys... Cle-ria.... Darm... des-tro-yed....".
Presea looks a him with a startled expression on her face, beacuse she doesn't understand what did he just say, if they are people or places. He repeats the names again. She memorizes them, to mention them later to Clef. Suddenly, she felt his bigger hand starting to close on her slighter one, asi if he were looking for reassurement, bu without hurting her.... and he starts speaking in a rather desperate tone.
"Duless... Duless..." while he starts clutching her hand harder and harder. "Duless..... DULESS!!!" the man finally exclaims with despair and starts to sream and shaking uncontrollably. "GRAAAAAAARRRRGHH!" while Presea feels how her hand is being clutched harder and harder, without being able to break free... until the point that her hand hurts, a lot. The man screams once more, and shakes again. Finally he releases her hand and sits in the bed, unexpectedly quick for his size and state, startling her. HE es breathing hard and deep, as if he just woke up from the worst nightmare he had in his life, and Presea knows that is really was, because with the pain that she still feels in her hand, somehow she got an idea of how terrifying was his nightmare.
End Prelude Part 1.
Author Note:
Yeah, i kind of like Presea (sexy blonde with a temper to be reckoned with... OH YEAH!! xD!!), so this was for her :D. The fic is just starting and will go on for a while. So feel free to drop constructive critique :)
Anyways, it's my right and my saying to turn this into an ASMI or CLEMI, and nothing of what you say will make me change my mind once it set it.
(1): Hey, if Mokona in the tv-show only created fruits, it doesn't mean that in my story can't do more thing. 'For god's sake' Mokona is the creator!!, So he can multiply roast beefs instead of fishes ;). I know that in the manga he went to another universe, as an archmage that got bored of the world that he created, but i insist... THIS IS A FANFIC.