The Crystal's Soul
Prologue
The warriors rejoiced as their last enemy was slain. However, this was not a victory for the side of good. Evil had finally overpowered the unbeatable crystal and had slain all of its protectors. The last person to be slain was none other than the ruler of Earth, Neo Queen Serenity. Upon her death, the crystal lost the last of its power, rendering it to be about as powerful as your average pebble.
However, since they were busy rejoicing, they had become oblivious to one factor…two members of the enemy forces had in fact survived – two cats to be exact – and were at this very moment planning a way to have this all prevented. Their names were Artemis and Luna. They were the guides and retainers of the Queen and her guardians. But, now that their charges were dead, it was finally necessary to use the forbidden time travel that would take them back to as far as their past lives.
Artemis groaned as Luna began to warn him once again of the consequences.
"You do know that everything could be changed," Luna said nervously, not believing what they were preparing to do. "And I don't mean just this event," she continued, "Everything that has lead up to this moment will have been changed as well-"
"I know," Artemis grumbled as he started pacing.
"And the girls…they may never end up crossing paths," Luna said, cringing at the thought.
Artemis cringed, too…but instead of agreeing with her he said, "I really don't think we need to worry about that right now…"
Luna's eyes widened as she thought of something else to worry about, "And what about our child, Artemis? She may never come into existence-"
This was the last straw for Artemis.
"Damn it, Luna! She doesn't exist now!" He glanced shortly at the lifeless body of his daughter, Diana. "It wouldn't really make any difference, now would it!"
He could tell by the look in her eyes that he had reacted poorly to Luna's statement. He tried hard not to break down the rest of the way as he watched the tears of grief and rage his careless words had caused to be released from her eyes.
"I didn't mean…" he started, "I never meant…I didn't want-" He gave up on the apology and sighed in irritation at his own arrogance. He walked up to her and kissed the tears on her cheeks. When she looked at him, he gave her a weak smile and went back to pacing about the room of their secret hideout, beneath the castle.
After about a minute of silence, Artemis spoke again.
"How could this happen? The crystal was supposed to be unbeatable…wasn't it?" he added, looking at Luna. "Where did we go wrong?" he said, looking away again.
Luna gave a weak smile of her own and said sadly, but now more calmly, "Now's not the time to wonder about that." She made her expression a bit more stern and then added, "For this to work, we must put our plan into action, now, before too much more time passes."
"Your right," Artemis said, making sure that his mind was clear of all troubling thoughts, and then added, "Okay…um…are you sure that you remember how to do this?"
"Of course I am," Luna snapped. She closed her eyes and appeared to be concentrating but was interrupted by Artemis's concerned voice.
"Um…and you're sure that only one of us can be sent back?"
"I'm afraid so," she said, glancing at him. "But it doesn't really matter-"
"Why," he asked.
"Well,…if this works, neither of us will exist anymore."
Artemis didn't say anything to that, so Luna closed her eyes again and tilted her head back. She was instantly engulfed in a soft light. In a matter of seconds she was transformed into her human form. When she opened her eyes, she saw Artemis standing before her in his human form. They momentarily smiled and exchanged their silent farewells. Then they both nodded. Luna made a circular motion with her arm and then touched the crescent moon on Artemis's forehead. Spheres of gold and silver light swirled around him. Then with one final look at Luna he vanished in a bright flash, unaware that he would have very little time to explain to the Queen of the past, the events of this unforeseen tragedy.