A PRESENT FUTURE
CHAPTER 1: SADNESS REIGNS
by SHIN-CHAN

Arial was standing on the remains of the old Tokyo Bay Bridge, gazing out at the once proud skyline of Tokyo. Once, it was a majestic view, especially at sunset. All the buildings looked as though liquid gold had been poured over them. Or so she had been told.

These days, all one could see were the ruined buildings of a past era. Most of the tall skyscrapers had fallen, only great piles of rubble marked where they had once proudly stood.

Sunsets these days brought up images of blood instead of gold.

Once, long ago, the city was full of people. The sound of people going on with their lives filled the city with noise and activity night and day. All was quiet now. In those days, the city had been liberally dotted with small parks; little oasis's enabling the residents a momentary escape from city life. There, one could walk under tall trees, admire flowers with all the colors of the rainbow, and feed the ducks and koi that lived in the many ponds.

Since the Devastation, only the heartiest of plants and animals lived in Japan.

She had heard many things about this city from her father and uncles, all who had once lived here. About how the world use to be when they were young and growing up years ago. About how things would never be again.

A strong hand suddenly came down on her shoulder. Startled, Arial pulled away and spun around. She looked up into a pair of dark blue eyes.

"Arial, what are you doing here? Kayura has been looking all over for you."

"Ah, Uncle." She turned away from him and her gaze returned to the horizon. "I was trying to see the city the way it use to be. Father said it was so beautiful when the sun set." She wanted to see that, the beautiful vision her father had told her about. Something, no matter how insubstantial it was, to connect her to the past that she could barely remember.

Shu nodded his head in agreement, a nod that went unseen by Arial. It had been a beautiful sight. "C'mon kid. Lets get out of here, and back to the Stronghold. You know it isn't safe to be out after the sun sets." His eyes focused on the western horizon where the sun was now sinking out of sight. The blood-red orb sinking out of view was a far cry from the golden sphere of his youth.

Nodding sadly, she turned. "Hai Uncle."

* * * * *

As they approached the barricade a half-hour later, they watched a lone shadow step out of a nearby alley and walked toward them. They both tensed before they recognized it as a friend instead of the enemy.

"Finally!" the familiar voice called out to them in relief. "I was beginning to get worried about you two. The Lady had me standing here for hours watching for you."

Shu gave the young man a fleeting smile. "And I bet you were bored out of your mind, right?" He was not surprised to see Nizou nod his head sharply in agreement. It seemed that the people who wore the Kongo armor always had a problem with waiting. They always seemed to be more suited to action than anything else. Given time, Nizou would probably grow out of it. Then again, Nizou was barely twenty, and he, who was in his forties, still couldn't stand waiting.

"Everyone is in the council chamber," Nizou informed the two of them as they were let into the gate by the guards and started for the low buildings. "The Lady called a meeting. She told me to bring you when you showed up."

Shu calmly nodded, he was not surprised. Arial noticed this, and gave him a curious look.

"Uncle, do you know what is going on?" Aunt Kayura calling a meeting this late at night was not a good sign. The last time one was called was two years ago . . . Her mind shied away from the horrible memories. She did not want to remember what had happened after that.

Shu did not answer, and Arial waited until they were in the corridor to the council chamber before asking her next question. "Does it have something to do with what you, Aunt Kayura and Uncle Rajura are involved in?" For several months now, the three of them would leave on secret late night missions. Usually they would come back looking no worse for wear than when they left, and would not explain to any what they had been doing. They had gone out on one of those missions last night.

She tilted her head to one side as both Shu and Nizou gave her startled looks. Arial rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"I'm not an idiot, you know," she told them tartly. "Nor am I blind. I know something is going on, and I know I have been excluded from it. I don't know why," she muttered, more to herself than to them. "I turn seventeen tomorrow, and I have been fighting since I was twelve. I am not a child, and I don't much care to be treated as one."

Shu paused in the act of reaching for the door handle. "I know Arial, I know." They had been over this subject numerous times over the last few months. But this was so important. The risks were so great. And, she was their last hope. No mistakes could be made. He opened the door and motioned for her to enter.

It was a small room, deep within the building. Dark, the only light in the room was provided by a dozen or so candles, flames dancing.

Magic, Arial thought. The air inside the room was still as death. There were no drafts to cause the candles to flicker.

Seated inside the room were eight other people. First there was her Aunt Kayura, the Lady Kayura; their leader. Sitting next to her on the right was Rajura, her right-hand man. Shu stepped away from Arial and took the empty seat on the left of Kayura.

Lady Kayura gave Arial a brief nod as she entered the room and took the last empty seat. There was no welcoming smile for the girl she had helped raise. Kayura hadn't smiled for anyone during the past two years. Not many knew why, but Arial did.

Also seated in the room were seven men, all in their early to mid twenties. All had been given the mystical yoroi that the Samurai Troopers and the Ma Sho had once worn. Nizou was the youngest currently wearing the yoroi.

Johji and Onuki had been given the yoroi that Anubis and Naaza had once worn. Neither had received it from the original wearers. Machael wore the Rekke yoroi. It had gone through three other people before he received it. Next was Hido, the wearer of the Korin yoroi. Lady Kayura had given him the yoroi when he was twelve, and has been the lone wearer since. He had also been given advice from the original wearer of Korin, Date Seiji. After that, came Yuta and Kyouske. They had the Tenku and Suiko yoroi.

They, plus Shu and Nizou, were the only ones keeping the mysterious Shadow Lords from completely taking over. As long as they lived, they would resist what had happened to their world all those years ago.

The Shadow Lords plan of conquest had been simple. The populace of the world had been caught completely unprepared. On a sunny spring day in 2001, for all intent and purposes, the world ended.

Massive earthquakes shook the land and numerous volcanoes erupted around the world. Tsunami reaching well over 200 ft. struck all of the coastlines, and violent storms of previously unseen proportions appeared from blue skies.

The atmosphere itself changed. The once blue sky took on a reddish cast, and the air became thick and heavy with unknown gasses.

Strange creatures had appeared. Monsters previously known only from myths now roamed the land.

As months went by, what few people who had survived began to note what had happened, and what they could do. It was discovered that barely one-eighth of humanity had survived to this point. Many had died from the natural disasters that had struck that first day, and had continued for weeks later. The very act of breathing had killed many more. Arial's mother had been one of those who had been unable to tolerate the changed atmosphere. Then there were those who were killed, and were still being killed by monsters.

Barely had they began to gather up the scattered threads of their lives, when the true threat appeared. They called themselves the Shadow Lords, and they claimed the Earth as their own.

The meager remains of humanity rallied against them, and were all but wiped out. Her father had taken one look at them, stated that they were demons, and made for Japan. He had friends, he told her, who could fight them.

Her father's friends became her uncles. When he was killed in battle years later, they helped in her upbringing. Other friends of her father had appeared to help them fight by then. Old enemies who had became friends. And one of them, Lady Kayura, who was more of an elder sister to her than an aunt, became the sole adult female influence in her life.

Lady Kayura placed her hands in her lap and softly cleared her throat. Everyone in the room turned to her. "I assume you are all aware that in the past few years, we have been steadily losing this battle." Some of the men in the room grumbled to themselves at that. They knew she was right, but they just didn't want to hear it. "Had I know then, back before I removed the five yoroi from the Youjakai, what I know now, I would have done things differently." She lowered her eyes to her now tightly clenched hands. This was the only indication about how upset she really was. "This battle was lost before we were even aware that a threat existed. Instead of fighting the Shadow Lords, we should have gathered as many people as we could and retreated to the Youjakai. Now, it is too late." Everyone was struck into silence at her words. That was the last thing any of them had been expecting to hear.

"Can't we go there now?" a low voice broke the prevailing silence.

The speaker was Yuta.

Sadly she shook her head. "No, by removing the five yoroi that guarded the gates, its safety has been compromised. The Shadow Lords can reach that realm. We have lost this battle."

Silence enveloped the room. As bearers of the Armor of Chains loss was not something they could easily swallow.

"But," Lady Kayura lifted her head and gazed at Arial, her eyes ice. "There is a way we can win the war." That caused an immediate stir amongst the listeners.

"There is? How?"

"You just said . . . "

"Why didn't you tell us this before?"

"SILENCE!" Rajura's command worked like a charm. All sat and became quiet again.

"Thank you Rajura," Kayura said softly. "An idea was proposed years ago by Touma," she paused for a second, then continued. "We were caught completely unawares by the Shadow Lords. We are still unaware of when they first started their advance on the Earth or how to fight them effectively. As their world and ours are now one, the only way we can truly win is to defeat them before this can occur."

"Hold on." Machael raised his hand. "Are you saying, the only way we can win is to fight in the past?"

"Sort of." Shu was now speaking. "We found out how they had merged our two worlds. It is our intent to prevent this from happening."

"Works for me." Johji looked around. "How do we do it?" Kayura, Shu and Rajura were silent for a moment. Then . . .

"The only way this will work is to combine the power of the nine yoroi, plus the shakujo and send someone back in time." Kayura was still looking at Arial, who swallowed nervously. Suddenly she had a bad premonition as to whom Lady Kayura was planning on sending back.

She wasn't the only one to come up with the same notion. Out of the eleven people in the room, only two did not have the mystical yoroi, and Shu was also looking at Arial. None of the listeners were fond of the idea.

"You are not serious . . . "

"She is but a child . . . "

"Surely someone else . . . "

"No." Kayura stood up. "Arial has always been the only choice for this mission. None of the yoroi wearers can go, as their power is needed. Shu is not bound by his armor in this way, but there is no possible way he could carry out the mission. Only Arial can go back, because she will not be affected by the time stream."

Nizou peered closely at Arial. The Lady had lost him. "What do you mean by that?"

"It means," Shu simply explained, "that if she changes something in the past, it won't affect her. She cannot null out her own existence or change things so that she doesn't remember why she is there."

"Correct." Kayura walked the few steps over to where Arial was sitting and kneeled down in front of her. "Arial, are you willing to do this?"

Her eyes grew wide, and she bit down on her bottom lip.

"You will have to go back and stop the Shadow Lords from taking over the Earth. If you do so, this, our past and present, will never occur. Nothing since the Devastation will have happened. The only place where any of this will exist will be in your memory. You will be the sole survivor of a world that will never exist. Will you go?"

None of this will happen. Arial looked at the dearly loved faces staring at her. I will never meet these people. None of the yoroi will be removed from the Youjakai. No one will have died. Her eyes grew wider in realization of what her mission meant to her. Mother, Father. Touma and Ryo. Shin. All my friends. None of them will have died. Can I risk never knowing them, never seeing any of my friends again, to save them? There was only one answer she could possibly give, as Lady Kayura knew. Giving a curt nod, she stared Lady Kayura straight in the eyes. "Yes, I'll do it."

* * * * *

The next day dawned bright and clear in Shinjuku. It was here, where the Samurai Troopers and Arago's Ma Sho had fought for the control of the Earth so many years ago, where the meager remains of the citizens of Tokyo now lived.

Several years ago, Lady Kayura and her followers had built a giant barricade around the part of the city that had once been known as Shinjuku. Most of the buildings had collapsed due to earthquakes and neglect, but the subway tunnels were clear of rubble. They had blocked off all outside tunnels, and most of the survivors now lived below the city. Above, people had planted numerous gardens to supplement their food supplies. Once a week, men went out to hunt for meat for the three hundred plus people who lived here.

Arial and many of the settlements children were topside today. The sky was clear and the weather pleasant for a change. No matter what happened in the world, children still needed to run and play outdoors.

"Boo!"

"AHHH!" Arial fell backwards off the remains of a brick wall she had been sitting on. She landed with a dull thunk on her bottom. "Jamie!" she wailed.

Three of her friends laughed at the picture she made. As Arial glared at them, Yoriko stood up and came to her aid. "Boy Acee, you are sure jumpy today. What is up?"

"It is her birthday, ya know." Aimee said as Yoriko helped Arial to her feet. "That is why. It is not every day a girl turns seventeen."

"Get real Aimee." Seki came around the corner and stood next to the smirking Jamie. "Acee always jumps like that when you startle her. You know that. It has been proven countless times over the years. It being her birthday has nothing to do with it."

"Thanks for the support," Arial growled to her friends and dusted off the seat of her pants. Then she marched over to Jamie and looked up at him. He was over a foot taller than she did, something that clearly stated that his ancestry, like hers, wasn't pure Japanese.

"How many times do I have to tell you? DON'T DO THAT!"

"Ah Acee," unconcerned, Jamie tapped her on the nose, something that she always had hated. Once, long ago, someone she cared about had always done that. She couldn't stand Jamie doing the same. "Don't you know how cute you look whey you get startled like that?"

Quickly deciding it would be useless to respond, as it had never worked before, she turned away from Jamie and missed the look on his face. "Baka," she muttered under her breath. Only a jerk would think it was cute to scare the daylights out of a girl.

"So Acee," Yoriko sat on a large piece of broken cement and looked at her friend. "What is going on? Nizou went rushing past me this morning without so much as a nod."

Everyone knew that Yoriko and Nizou was a rather hot and heavy item. Four curious gazes focused on Arial. For him to rush past his ladylove like that, well, it meant that something big was soon going down. And Arial would more than likely know what.

Arial repressed the urge to shudder as a cold chill ran down her spine. The way that Jamie had just looked at her, the way his expression had just changed at Yoriko's question, it scared her. For just a moment. Sometimes, sometimes Jamie really scared her. And she didn't know why.

She laughed lightly, brushing aside her inner chill. "Come on now. You want me to pass on information as important as that?" The looks she received stated quite clearly that they did. "Hey," she protested, growing serious. "I can't talk about things like that, and you guys know it."

"But Acee," Aimee wailed. "You are on the inside. You have to know more than we do."

"Yeah Acee. You are part of the Inner Circle. There are things you have to know that we don't. Tell us."

Seki . . . you of all people know I can't talk about what goes on. "Listen, I can't tell you. What they are planning is top secret. Yoriko," Arial turned to her friend. "Nizou doesn't tell you what happens inside the Circle, does he?" Yoriko shook her head. "Neither can I. Besides," she adopted a look of disgust, "lately they have been keeping things from me. I don't really know what they are planning."

"Another attack," Jamie quietly mussed, making a wild guess. His eyes locked with Arial's. "Against the Shadow Lords themselves. Is that wise," he arched an inquiring eyebrow at Arial, a cold, malicious look in his eyes, "considering what happed the last time they tried a direct assault?" Arial froze.

"JAMIE!" Aimee and Yoriko rushed over to the now pale Arial. "Here, lower your head." Weakly Arial complied with Yoriko's command.

While Arial sat with her head between her legs, taking slow deep breaths, Aimee turned on Jamie. "You insensitive jerk! You know better than to bring that up!"

"Sorry," he said, but he didn't sound too contrite.

"Don't worry Aimee," Arial lifted her head up and smiled weakly at her friend. "It's okay."

"Are you sure?" Seki asked as came to stand next to her.

"Mhhh," she nodded, then looked at the sun. It was directly overhead. "Ahhhh," she sprang up and wobbled a bit as the world started to spin . . . Seki reached out and steadied her. Arial took a deep breath, then stepped away from her friend. "I'm going to be late!"

"Late for what?"

Arial turned to Jamie. "Lady Kayura wanted to see me at noon."

"For what?" he enquired.

Ermmm . . . "I don't know why Jamie. I guess I'll find out when I get there," she replied a bit testily.

"Any guesses?" Jamie was starting to get pushy.

Arial spun around without answering, "Ja ne!" and ran off.

Her four friends watched her as she ran toward the small collection of buildings that housed the council members' living and meeting rooms.

Once Arial disappeared from view, Yoriko and Aimee said their good-byes and left. Yoriko was on child watching detail for the afternoon, and Aimee was supposed to be helping in the gardens.

After the two girls left, Jamie once again looked at the council buildings, a small frown causing wrinkles to crease his forehead.

Seki sighed and dropped a hand on Jamie's shoulder. "Man, lighten up."

Jamie turned and bestowed a chilling look upon his friend. Seki rapidly removed his hand and stepped back a pace.

"Hey Jamie," Seki started again. "Look, I know you really like Acee, but I don't think she is interested. And the way you act around her these days . . . " he shook his head. "I think you had better change. You are coming on a bit too possessive, and she doesn't seem to like it."

Seki resisted the urge to cringe as Jamie continued to look at him with his cold eyes. Then Jamie turned. Seki slowly backed away as Jamie once again gazed at the council buildings.

* * * * *

Man,, Seki turned and looked over his shoulder at Jamie. What is his problem? Jamie had been acting weird for the last few months, really weird. Sometimes it seemed as though he was an entirely different person, like now.

He wandered over to a withered tree and sat down, thinking about Jamie. He had always stood out from the rest of them. Seki was the closest friend he had. They had both shown up at the Stronghold within a year of each other, and they were both loners. But, somehow, they had gotten together.

Seki thought back. More than three years ago he and the small group of people he had been living with had been brought to the Stronghold by Johji and Arial. He would never forget the day he first met them, or what he had seen.

Seki had been sixteen, and the main food gatherer for the small group of survivors he lived with. One spring day, as he was returning to his camp, he had been attacked by a hydra.

There was no way he could flee or defend him self. It was too big, too fast, and too hungry. And he, he wasn't ashamed to say, was too frightened to do anything. He had frozen in place, and had waited for the end to come. He had hoped it would be fast. He prayed it would be painless. It had never came.

A bright light appeared in the sky above, distracting the hydra and causing him to shield his eyes. A dark blur appeared between him and the hydra. A brilliant flash of steel in front of him and a splash of crimson blood through the air, and the next thing he knew, a man in dark armor was standing before him, a no-dachi clutched in his hands. Behind the warrior was the headless body of the hydra, its dark blood seeping into the parched ground.

Then, to his amazement, a young girl, glowing with a golden light, floated down from the sky to stand next to the warrior. Seki had done the only thing he felt he could do at the moment. He fainted into a limp heap before his rescuers.

He had came to a while later, with the girl sitting in attendance. She had smiled at him, and asked what he was doing out in the wilderness.

Seki stood up and arched his back.

Johji had invited him and his people to come with him and Arial, to a place they would be safe. They had agreed and he and his people had been brought to the Stronghold. His people had told him how fortunate it was that he had ran across the couple. He hadn't told his people what had happened, or seen.

After being at the Stronghold for several weeks, he had started to nose around. It was common knowledge that nine warriors in magic armor protected the people living here; but that did not explain what he had seen. Arial, she had no armor, but she had been glowing bright enough to rival the sun from his childhood. She had also floated down from the sky like an angel.

It took him several months to find out. The wearers of the nine yoroi were not the only defenders of the Stronghold. There were three other members of the Council who did not wear the magical yoroi. They did have armors, but not many knew that the magic was their own.

Hashiba Touma, Mouri Shin, and Rei Fuan Shu. These three men could control elemental magic. And Arial was their dearly loved niece.

Seki started toward the training grounds.

Jamie had shown up several months later with a small band of refugees from Osaka. Not too long after his arrival, Mouri and Hashiba had been killed in a battle that had not gone as planned. Things had been going downhill since then.

And Jamie doesn't seem to mind one bit.

This just might be conjuncture. He might be wrong. But, his eyes narrowed, do I take such a chance? What if I am wrong? What if I am right?

He needed to talk to someone, and he had the perfect person in mind. He approached one of the guards at the training ground. "Where can I find Rei Fuan?"

* * * * *

Silently Arial entered Lady Kayura's inner sanctum, slipping her shoes off and leaving them outside the door. "Aunt Kayura? Are you here?" She closed the door behind her. The room was totally dark. "Aunt Kayura?"

A candle sprang to life to her left, causing her to jerk slightly from surprise. Then one sprang to life at her right. Several more candles lit themselves from various positions in the room. Sitting in the center of the room was Lady Kayura.

"Come." Arial walked over to her and sank to the floor.

Arial lowered her head. "I apologies for being so late . . . "

"No Child, there is no need." Lady Kayura lifted Arial's head and met her eyes. "You wish to spend time with your friends. You will never see them again, and you want memories you can store in your heart." Kayura's eyes darkened with suppressed emotion. "This I understand."

"A-Aunt Kayura?" Arial started to lift a hand, to reach out to the other woman in comfort. Lady Kayura shook her head.

"Arial, I will now set your task to you. You are to go back in time, before the Shadow Lords, and prevent them from taking our world. It will not be an easy task, but you must do it."

"Hai. How am I to accomplish this? How is this possible? Time travel?"

"Curious as always, aren't you?" Arial flushed. "No harm. Years ago, not long after your father died, Touma became obsessed with the idea of, not defeating the Shadow Lords, but to prevent the war before it began. He studied and researched for many years before he found out how to accomplish such a feat." A tear rolled down Lady Kayura's cheek. "He told me where I could find his research before he died."

"So," Arial whispered softly to herself, "You knew all this years ago."

"No," Arial looked up at the sharp voice. "We still did not know how to defeat them. We did not know how they accomplished the feat of combining our two worlds. Until now."

Arial gazed at Lady Kayura intently as she continued. "You know that Shu, Rajura and I have been going out on secret missions." Arial nodded. "We were seeking answers. We found a way to gain access to the Shadow Fortress, and last week, we found what we were looking for."

"Five objects of power, five mystical statues. These are the keys to the Shadow Lords defeat. These statues are what the Shadow Lords used to bind our world to theirs."

"Five statues." Lady Kayura nodded. "But how am I to get a hold of them. If the Shadow Lords have them . . . "

Lady Kayura held up a hand to quiet Arial. "But, years ago, they did not. I remember one of the statues from my childhood. It stood in a temple in my home village, well over four hundred years ago. It remained on Earth after Arago killed my people and kidnapped me. The Shadow Lords had to have acquired it at a later date."

"Then if they had to search out the statues," Arial's eyes narrowed as her mind rapidly raced. Things were starting to make sense to her. "So should I, correct?"

Lady Kayura almost smiled. "You are correct. We will send you back to a time before the Shadow Lords found the statues. . . "

"When was that?" Arial broke in.

"I-I don't know exactly." Arial gave Lady Kayura a nervous look. That did not sound good. "The statues' power would have vanished from the Earth when the Shadow Lords took them. It is something I will be able to sense in the time stream. I will send you to a time prior to that happening."

"But, Aunt Kayura, how will I find them. I don't know what they look like."

"That will not be a problem. Close your eyes."

Arial gave her a nervous look, again, and then hesitantly closed her eyes. A moment later she felt a feather soft touch on her brow. There was a faint ringing in her ears, the sound of chimes.

"There." Arial blinked blurrily. "You will know them, and when the time is right, you will know how to destroy them."

I will? Oh, I hate it when she says things like this!!

"Arial . . . "

She jerked her head up. "Nani?"

"I know how hard this task is. I thought long and hard before deciding it was the only course of action we could take. That you agreed to do this . . . your father would be proud of you."

"Yes," Arial lowered her head. She was proud of the fact that there was no tremor in her voice. Her eyes filled with hot tears that she refused to shed. "I know."

* * * * *

A week later, Arial was once again in Lady Kayura's sanctum. This time she and Kayura were not the only people present.

Shu and the rest of the yoroi wearers were present in full armor, getting ready according to Lady Kayura's instructions. Four small braziers had been set in each of the four corners of the room. An elaborate diagram had been drawn on the floor.

She had no idea what it was for. Arial hadn't a chance to ask, but she assumed it was important.

Either that, or Lady Kayura had drawn it just to pass the time.

While Lady Kayura was giving individual instructions to everyone, Arial sat on the floor out of everyone's' way, just outside the diagram. Next to her was a small bag that held all her treasures. She was not going anywhere, or when, without them. The few items in the bag would be all that she had left of her world.

"Arial, are you ready?"

Nodding, Arial looked up at Rajura. He held out a hand, and helped her to her feet.

"Are we almost ready?"

He nodded. "As soon as Kayura is." Both turned to Lady Kayura. She was talking to Shu. Both of them had grave expressions on their face.

"What are they talking about Uncle?"

Rajura momentarily looked away from her. "Nothing that concerns you."

Shu nodded and walked away from Lady Kayura to stand near the door. She lifted the long skirt of her robes with one hand. Kaosu's shakujo was in her other hand.

"Arial, are you ready?"

She swallowed nervously and nodded. No, she would never be ready for this. "Yes, lets hurry up and get this over with, before I die of nerves."

Nizou laughed softly and Arial glared at him.

Something unspoken passed between Lady Kayura and Rajura. Before Arial had a chance to figure out what it meant, Lady Kayura brought the end of the shakujo down on the floor.

A chiming sound filled the air, and the fires in the braziers flared up.

"Take your places!"

Each of the yoroi wearers went to stand in the diagram. As the stopped, Arial noticed they were each standing on the kanji that each armor represented.

"The center, Arial."

She nodded and silently made her way to the center of the diagram. The nine wearers were standing at certain points of the diagram, the four season yoroi at the compass points and the five elemental yoroi in a loose circle inside, surrounding her. Lady Kayura stood in front of her.

She brought the end of the shakujo down on the floor again, and brought her other hand up to her face. She began to chant.

Her soft voice filled the room.

As Arial watched in fascination, she never got tired of watching her perform magic, the diagrams on the floor began to glow. A moment later the nine yoroi began to glow as well.

Amazing.

The glowing diagrams seemed to take to flame, and unseen breezes teased these flames.

This is incredible! Arial glanced around the circle. Everyone's eyes were closed, and each person was enveloped in mystical fire. I had no idea she could do something like this.

Shu watched the ceremony with mixed emotions. He knew this was necessary. That this was the Earth's only hope. But he hated the fact that little Arial had to be the one to carry it out. He wanted what was best for her, and saving her from sure death in the future by sending her to a questionable past was not something he was easy with.

He shivered. It had gone cold. Strange. It was a warm day, and the sanctum never grew cold. His head jerked up. Idiot! he castrated himself. He tried to move. It was like swimming in molasses. Shu glanced down. A black shadowy mass had encompassed him.

"Well, it looks like you fail, for the last time."

Shu jerked his head toward the now open door. Jamie stood in the doorway, a sword in his hands and an unfamiliar look on his face.

"The guards you placed outside, they were good." Smiling, he brought up the sword so Shu could see that the steel was streaked with red on. "Just not good enough." Jamie looked away from Shu. "Lady Kayura! Stop!"

The chanting stopped. Jamie walked into the room. "Just what is it you have planned here, Lady. Are you sending Acee away, too someplace safe maybe?" She did not answer.

"Jamie," Arial frowned at her friend. The flickers of the mystical flames were casting strange shadows onto his face. "What are you doing?"

He smiled at her, and she shivered. This was not the Jamie she knew.

"Don't concern yourself Acee, I will personally see that nothing harms you."

"But not the rest of us." Jamie turned back to Shu.

"No," he said in an almost casually pleasant voice, "not the rest of you. Acee is my only concern. She is coming with me. As for the rest of you," he gave the warriors a derisive sneer, "you will die." He stopped behind Machael, who was the closest, and raised his sword. Shu and the rest watched on helplessly. None of them could move to stop him.

A sharp report rang through the room and Jamie dropped his sword. "No, Jamie."

Jamie turned around in amazement, a hand on his shoulder. A dark fluid was dripping out of between his fingers. Whatever it was, it wasn't blood as they knew it. "Seki?"

Seki stood in the doorway, an old gun held in his shaking hands. Where he had gotten it from, no one knew. "You betrayed us, didn't you?" he whispered. Tears were running down his pale cheeks. He had been afraid of this, but he had hoped, hoped so much that he had been wrong. "You betrayed us to the Shadow Lords."

"No." Jamie slowly shook his head as he looked at Seki. "I have betrayed no one." He removed his bloodstained hand from his wounded shoulder and looked at it. "I am sorry about this, more than you could ever know, but . . ." Jamie brought up his hand, palm out. "I cannot let you stop me," and released a wave of dark energy at his friend.

Seki gave a startled gasp as the energy blast hit him in the chest. He dropped the gun as he was violently flung out of the door and into the hallway. His limp body hit the wall with a dull thud, and then crumpled onto the floor.

Arial watched the proceedings in shocked horror. All she could do was stare at the limp form of her friend, blood oozing out of his parted lips, dripping onto his leg . . .

"Now," Jamie once again raised his hand, this time aiming at Machael, "time to finish this."

Arial slowly shook her head. No . . .

"NO!"

The earth trembled, and Shu ripped free of his bindings. Jamie frowned at him.

"You have to go through me first." Shu growled.

An evil smile came to his face. "My pleasure, Rei Fuan. I missed out on the killing of your two friends years ago. I will enjoy killing you."

::Kayura, while he is distracted. Send Arial away!::

Kayura, tears in her eyes, nodded at Shu's silent command. She knew what was about to happen. Arial was indeed their last chance. Softly the chanting started again.

Jamie struck Shu with a wave of energy.

Tears ran down Arial's cheeks as she watched.

The brass rings of the shakujo started to spin and ring of their own accord, filling the air with pure sound.

Jamie turned toward Lady Kayura, his lips curled into a snarl.

Shu painfully crawled to his feet. Blood was trickling down the side of his face and one of his arms hung limply at his side.

Jamie raised his hand once again.

Shu jumped at Jamie, knowing that this would be the end for him.

The ringing grew louder.

The nine yoroi became pillars of flame.

Shu limply crashed into the wall, not to rise again.

The ringing became deafening.

"NOOOOO!!!!!" Arial screamed out and tried to move.

The world grew dark, and everything vanished.

(To be continued . . . )