The Queen's Honor Guard
by Nyohah
Twenty-Eight Years Before MK1
III.
The rising sun glittered on the sea, shining on the rich pastures of Opal Coast. On a cliff wall well worn by the sea sat a humble village, unlike all the others because of its surrounding walls and large temple.
Sitting on the steps of the Oracle's temple, Yuen Ming sighed as she watched the children play. Opal Coast was beautiful, in its own way, but nothing could ever compare to the silver sand, lush forest, and marble palace that was home. She had been away for nearly a year, and she wanted to go back. She had become an excellent fighter, training under the best teacher that could be found. The Oracle did not appear to be anyone's interpretation of the perfect fighter, especially with her feminine figure, her ivory skin nearly matching the whites of her eyes. But she knew more about every fighting style than anyone else in existence. Though Ming could not beat Kei Sa, no one could, except the Oracle, so that was no way to judge oneself. She felt able to defend herself, which was what mattered, and more importantly, she had given her father plenty of time to cool down to his normal self.
Besides which, Ming was frustrated with the Oracle's new topic of study. She had been trying for nearly a week, but she had not managed even a flicker of the elemental power she possessed. Watching the children did not help her temper; they could all show their elements. Perhaps it was not strong enough to serve any purpose, but they easily manifested it nonetheless, and that angered Ming.
Far too soon, the Oracle appeared behind her. The being's dress reflected an odd mixture of culture, from her Egyptian headdress, adorned with a yin-yang rather than a snake—it had been a gift from Joseph—to her scarlet Japanese dress, hung open to reveal the simple white robes underneath, and bulging where it concealed her feathered wings. "Are you sufficiently rested, Yuen Ming?" she asked in her melodious voice that had always seemed too thick to come from behind her narrowly parted golden lips.
"Yes, Oracle," Ming conceded, but inside the spacious marble temple, the tall woman began the same exercises again, and Ming became frustrated.
"Why must we waste so much time on this skill? I could be practicing real fighting skills, with my bo, or unarmed. Why must we do this?"
The Oracle was silent, and when she responded to Ming's angry questioning, her voice was very soft. "Dearest child," she whispered, "Come with me."
Ming followed her through the temple, then down a winding staircase into a room she had never seen before. Its only content was a large well, with water that looked so pure that the sight of it actually made Ming thirst for it, more strongly then she had ever needed liquid before.
The Oracle turned to Ming, her elliptical golden pupils seeming to glow in her black irises, and warned, "Do not be fooled by this holy water. Only I can touch it. Any others who dare to do so will be destroyed."
Ming swallowed and tried to forget her sudden thirst as the Oracle dipped her hand into the water and began.
"Watch carefully, my child.
"Power—all power—has a price. Yet if it comes from our Creator, the only price is faith, and righteousness. The Mandalorians have such a power in their ability to call upon an element. And it is a great power, indeed."
In the well a picture swirled into view, one of extreme violence. Ming saw Tempest, in the midst of a great battle, wearing only his Lin Kuei uniform instead of the typical battle armor. A huge team of rebel soldiers surged forward carrying their crude weapons. Though he had no allies in sight, Tempest stood his ground. Suddenly, he threw his arms forward, and a huge gale of wind swept across the Rebels, literally tearing them apart with its force. When Tempest lowered his arms and walked away, not one of his attackers lived. He had killed them all in mere seconds.
Then Ming saw Vendetta. He was surrounded completely by attackers. But he, too, threw his arms out and he seemed to explode into a giant fireball that ripped across his enemies, reducing them to ashes. When the glare subsided, Vendetta alone still stood.
Ming stood in silence, shocked. She had never seen anything like that before. Finally she whispered, "Can all Mandalorians do that?"
The Oracle slowly shook her head. "In all reality, you all use your power to some extent every day."
"How?" Ming did not recall ever having used her power.
The Oracle smiled. "Sunstones," she said. "No human could ever activate one. Yet if you mean elemental power, most can call up their elements, in small amounts like the children. About half have been trained enough to use theirs for defense. Very few can cause such carnage as Tempest and Vendetta, your father included. Before your father took over, the number was far higher. Most were warriors. Yet now, their skills have atrophied."
"Then why had I never seen such power before I came here?"
"You father forbid all those except for Lin Kuei and army officers from using their elements."
"And my prospective handmaidens," Ming added, remembering the day so long ago when Kei Sa had been chosen, even though she did not have an element. "But why?"
"He's afraid. He's hidden the truth from the young, not allowing them to know their own history, in an attempt to keep them from discovering it in their studies. The old are afraid of him, still recalling his coup."
"Rah Cai Yue knows a bit about history," mused Ming.
"He knows more than a bit, and he did all his research on his own. He has an incredible charm. People listen to him and tell him things they wouldn't tell other people. It comes with his element."
"Which is?"
"Gravity. Quite rare, actually... He knows more than you, Yuen Ming. Perhaps you should listen more to him." She paused. "Ming, do you wish to know your history?"
"Yes, Oracle. More than anything."
"The universe began with a song," she said, and the water in the well seemed to spin, conjuring up the scene. "The stars were created, then the planets. Among these, a planet in a system with eight others, one with violent volcanic activity, and one nearly covered with a deep blue sea.
"On the oceanic planet, one of the first races began. They were beautiful dragons, almost insect-like. They were the Mandalorians."
In the well, Ming saw water dragons, peaceful herbivores. They were pearlescent, with huge black eyes. They were quite long, but most of this length was the tail. The bodies themselves were very small. Their wings were huge, but bat-like, with 'fingers' connecting a transparent liquid they secreted to form the membranes. The same liquid was used to form webbing on their feet for swimming. When not needed, the wings merged into ridges on the side of their bodies. They weighed so little they could stand on the surface of the water for a short time, and they certainly floated well enough.
She thought they were incredibly beautiful.
"Though they did resemble mere animals, they were very smart, along with very beautiful.
"Yet it was none of this that caused them to be hated.
"Evil hated the Mandalorians because not only were they unwaveringly virtuous, they were unbelievably powerful. They leaders in the forces of Evil could not set foot on Mandalore. Their servants were almost instantaneously destroyed or repelled.
"The forces of Evil were led by Lucifer, as they always have been, but the Mandalorians worst enemy was a nameless thing, best described as a demon, and quite frankly, Lucifer's second-in-command.
"Just as true human civilization was beginning, in Mesopotamia, the Edenians developed space travel, with the aid of their extraordinary power source, Hithron. Although the ships still traveled very slowly in the grand scheme of things, and it took months to reach one civilized planet from another, this technology spread through the galaxy quickly, except for Earth, which is protected from our influence, and Mandalore, which had no interest in it. They were perfectly happy alone on their planet.
"As you can guess, this technology changed everything. Someone made the mistake of transporting some Centaurian males from Kloesh to their sister planet, Shokan, where they started a war with the four-armed giants there. Ever since, ships landing on either planet are at risk of take-over by hostile six-limbed males wanting to fight on the other.
"It also sparked a galaxy-wide jealousy of the Mandalorians. They never fought, had vast riches on their planet that they did not wish to exploit, lived for hundreds of years, and most importantly, they alone could make space travel truly rational. The Mandalorians have always been capable of traveling in the fifth dimension—or teleporting, as most would say. Essentially, they were able to go anywhere in the galaxy almost instantaneously.
"The demon master snatched this opportunity to destroy his biggest obstacles. You see, the Mandalorians alone kept him from conquering this galaxy and gaining more power. Power is what Evil craves most of all. He fueled envy into fear, fear into hatred, and hatred into violence.
"The Mandalorians had no way to protect themselves. Their power could only be used against Evil, and the frightened and mislead citizens were rarely that. It seemed they would be utterly destroyed, but they asked the Creator for something no one had ever suspected.
"They gave up their docile dragon shape."
The Oracle paused and looked up at Ming, who blinked away the tears that the pictures of such unjust genocide had caused.
"They had studied the species in the galaxy. There weren't many: four armed Shokans, four legged Centaurians, dinosaur-like Raptors from Chiss, the large blind rodents from Meerta. And then there were humans, and their cousins, the Edenians. They decided on this form, and their request was granted.
"The Transformation caught the galaxy off-guard. The Mandalorians weren't exactly human, but they could easily pass for them to those who did not look too closely. They always have the blackest hair possible, and eyes any color but brown. At the time, they were taller than the humans, but they've grown in stature, and the Mandalorians haven't. They have higher metabolisms, and while their life span decreased dramatically, they still live nearly two centuries. Most surprising of all was how they kept their power.
"They swiftly developed a fighting style dependent on discipline, and like so much involved with them, its beauty concealed its power. It was not long before the violence ceased and the Demon Master's illusion was shattered. The others were still envious, but they began to see them as they truly were—kind, fair, peaceful.
The first race to ally with the Mandalorians was the Edenians, and the rest followed, forming a loose alliance under the promise of protection from the Mandalorians. Several millennia passed without a single bad seed from the Mandalorians, until one young man finally discovered how to use his power against things that were not Evil, and took over the union in a short but bloody coup.
"He was Emperor Yuen."
The last of the images faded away from the crystal clear water, and Ming had only one thing to say. "How did he use them against good? How can the Lin Kuei use their powers against the rebels when the Lin Kuei are the evil ones?"
"The Lin Kuei, formed by your father as a clan of those who knew how to use their power in this way, force their power to come. It hurts them to do so, and every time they do this, they lose a little of their resistance to it. Some day, Tempest will be ripped apart by his own Wind, or Vendetta blown apart by his own Fire. Yet if you use it correctly, your power can actually heal wounds when used in a fight."
Ming closed her eyes, nearly overwhelmed. "Thank you, Oracle."
"That is all for today, Ming."
Kei Sa sat in her favorite spot, far from the bustle of the village, dangling her bare feet over the edge of the temple's roof, and staring down the sheer cliff that met its back wall.
She heard the quiet rustling of cloth, and glanced backward to see that the Oracle now stood behind her. She wasn't a true Oracle, really. She knew nothing of the future. Yet she knew everything that had ever happened in the past, and was simply the best warrior that could be found. She knew every fighting style that had ever existed in the galaxy, every military tactic ever used, and the weaknesses and strengths of each. Besides which, to call a divine being by its true name was disrespectful, so everyone called her the Oracle.
"Ming has been looking for you, Kei Sa," she said.
"Yet you did not simply tell her where I was?"
"I know you wouldn't be here unless you did not wish to be disturbed. Tell me, Kei Sa, is something upsetting you?"
The seventeen-year-old sighed. "I am worried about Ming. Will she never accept the truth?"
"I showed her the history today. I showed her Emperor Yuen taking over, slaughtering any who dared to stand in his path. I believe she will be far less resistant to the truth now. Do not worry about her, Kei Sa. She'll understand before it is too late. And please do not try to fool me, Kei Sa. I know you are not simply worried about the princess."
Kei Sa sighed again. "You are far too adept at mind-reading."
"And you broadcast your thoughts to any who are even remotely capable of receiving them. It is a weakness you must rid yourself of, though it could be a blessing if you can send them to those without telepathic powers. Unfortunately, I cannot teach you how."
"That is precisely the problem. No one can help me. No one can teach me to use my powers. Not even you."
The Oracle slowly shook her head. "I am sorry, Kei Sa, but you are the first of your race to have such powers. All other Mandalorians have always had elements."
"I feel as though I have more power than I could ever possibly need, and absolutely no way to access it. It is like having more silver than exists on Mandalore, yet being stuck on a deserted island that no one ever visits without the hope of ever being rescued or able to go home. The silver is absolutely useless."
The Oracle did not reply. Sitting motionless in the evening stillness, Kei Sa felt as though something was inexplicably wrong...
Without a second thought she threw herself into a backward somersault, rolling away from the lethal drop of the cliff. She finished her roll just in time to see the Oracle finish a kick, a kick more than powerful enough to have sent Kei Sa plunging to her death.
Kei Sa was speechless with shock.
"I think," the Oracle said quite calmly, "your powers serve you more than you realize. They came to you visibly when you needed them to. Trust me, child, you will discover the key when you need it the most."
Kei Sa climbed down from the temple's roof, still shaken from the Oracle's risky demonstration. Now, it seemed that Ming had disappeared, and Kei Sa could not imagine where she had gone.
She stood on the steps of the temple, scanning the roads ahead of her for any sign of the princess. After a few minutes, she gave up and began to climb the stairs. Perhaps Ming was already inside.
"Kei Sa!" came a voice behind her, punctuated by the clomping of horses' hooves. "I have been looking everywhere for you." Ming stood at the foot of the stairs, and Kei Sa had no idea where she had come from. Then she realized Ming had been at the stables, beside the temple instead of in front, for she held the reins of her gorgeous black stallion, and those of a slightly small gray horse—Rah Cai Yue's mother's horse—that they had taken when they had fled nearly a year ago.
"What are you doing?"
"Come on, Kei Sa. I have already packed your things. We must hurry."
"Are we going somewhere?"
"Yes. We're going home, and if we leave now, we can be back before anyone wakes up in the morning." Kei Sa began to protest, but Ming silenced her, raising her hand. "It has been a year. My father could not possibly still be angry with me."
"Yuen Ming, please stop," said a new voice from the temple entrance. Ming and Kei Sa both turned to face the Oracle. "Please, child," she continued, "do not underestimate your father. Stay and learn how to use your element. You cannot predict what Emperor Yuen will do in his anger."
Ming stood in silence for nearly a minute, contemplating this. Finally, she said, "I am the princess. I am strong. I am able to take care of myself. My father will not be my downfall." She swiftly mounted her horse, and, rather reluctantly, Kei Sa did the same. They rode off at a gallop, and the Oracle solemnly watched them go, hoping Ming would suddenly change her mind and return.
But she didn't, and finally the Oracle whispered, "No, Yuen Ming. Your pride will be your downfall."