Hello! I'll make this a.n. short...
PLEASE email me and tell me what you think of my story.
Critiques, compliments, suggestions, questions, anything would be fine.
Just drop me a line! My inbox is getting really! lonely!! ^_~
Usual disclaimers: Sailor Moon and all its characters and likeliness
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha/Toei. English translation is made
possible by DiC and now Cloverway/Bandai (?).
My email address: ml_eclipse@hotmail.com
= thoughts
[ ] = author's note
Rated: PG
Please enjoy!
============================================================================
A Shepherd's Kiss
========================= By Cosmos ==================================
Chapter 6: Strangers of Grace
She could hear voices sounding somewhere near her, but her muddled mind
could not distinguish any words from the buzzing sound invading her ears.
Her brows furrowed in confusion as she struggled to open her eyes to view a
world that would astonish her if she could just see it, but all she could
see were shades of gray and white flowing like ripples across a lake's
surface.
Patches of blinding white light and puddles of shadow wove in and out among
each other like the images of a kaleidoscope. The chaotic movement of
colors and darkness confused her mind even further, and fear began to rise
within her.
She struggled to sit up but her hands and legs felt heavy as if something
or someone was restraining them. Where could she possibly be? But most
importantly, how did she get here, wherever this here is?
A slight throbbing in the back of her head made her recall the night before
when three strangers invaded their cell…but that was all she could
remember…three dark shadows then nothing. Yet the pain in the back of her
head was evidence that she must have been struck from behind and knocked
unconscious.
Hotaru! She suddenly thought, Did they find her? Is she safe?
A sudden feeling of anger erupted within her, anger at those who inflicted
this new pain on her and anger at herself for once again being helpless
to protect the ones she loved.
Why am I such a coward? she thought, I could never protect them. The
ones I care for…I am too weak to protect you all. Why? Serenity, why are
you so weak?
She hated this. She hated feeling so utterly helpless.
Clenching her hands into a tight fist, she strained harder to see her
enemies, but her effort only made her dizzy and drained of energy. With
each painstaking effort to regain control of her body, she grew weaker
and weaker. I can't… she thought wearily, I can't fight it
anymore…this feeling…I'm so…so tired…so very tired…
While Serenity hovered over the borderline of conscious and subconscious,
her captors continued with their discussion.
"When shall he return?" an irritated voice asked.
"How in the world should I know?" another snapped back.
"After sunset, don't you guys remember?" a third voice entered the
conversation.
"Right."
"When did he say that?" the fiery voice demanded.
"Right after the decision was made to rescue her," the third replied
patiently.
"How come I didn't hear that?"
"Well, if you had stopped yelling at him, you would have," the third voice
replied, impatience surfacing in the tone.
"Well he deserved it!" The second voice snapped again, "I still think this
is a ridiculous and dangerous idea. We don't even know who this girl is,
not even her name, let alone trust her enough to risk our own necks to
rescue her."
"I agree with her," the first voice spoke again. "This was a very dangerous
venture. It was extremely careless of him to make such a rash decision."
"Oh?" the third voice said cockily, "And how would you know that he didn't
possibly ponder it at length ahead of time?"
"Well, if he did then he would not have us rescue her. Besides, she is of
no importance to our plans. She would only be a burden, if nothing else.
Plus, we now have a little child to care for. Do you believe a kid can go
romping around with *us*?"
"Really…and back there was better?"
"At least she might be safer. Hey, I know he is your brother, but that does
not justify his careless action. You know how dangerous our lives are,
constantly running and hiding like a bunch of fugitives. Hunted day and
night by those greedy fools only after the reward without the slightest
idea of who their real enemies are. Do you think the kid would last very
long if we were caught in a surprise attack like the one Aurora-81
encountered?"
"Please don't mention that battle," the second voice whispered grievously.
"All right, all right," the third voice gave in, "you made your point, but
they are here now and we cannot return them. You should have made your
objections when it was valid."
"I did, but he wouldn't listen!" the first cried out angrily.
"I know," the third voice said with a tired sigh.
"Why would he want to save her so much?" the second asked quietly drawing
the other two's attention.
"Who knows what goes around in that head of his," the first replied.
They converse well into twilight when the last rays of the setting sun
submerged beneath the distant horizon. A chorus of insects and frogs from a
nearby pond interrupted them. They quickly realized that it was time to
rendezvous at the Timeless Oak, their main meeting place.
Serenity could sense herself being lifted and carried for an incredible
distance. Although she could feel and hear all that was going on around
her, somehow she could not awaken from this strange drugged-like state.
Perhaps they did give her something to keep her sedated like this. As much
as she tried, she could not surface from the subconscious.
Thump. Thump. The sounds of footstep against the hard ground reached her
ears, then nothing.
She could sense a change in the atmosphere around her as her captors placed
her down on the ground once again. What is going on? Serenity questioned.
What are they doing with me? Where am I now?
She could hear the voices converse again but this time in a low whisper as
if they were waiting for an expected arrival. A short time later, Serenity
realized she was listening to another voice, one of which she did not notice
earlier. There are now four, not three, voices speaking. Whomever these
people were waiting for, the person has finally arrived.
"So how did it go?" she heard someone asked.
"Did they suspect anything?" another added.
"Not a thing," the fourth voice replied confidently. "I delivered my cargo
and they simply allowed me to go. They had no reason to suspect me,
anyway, since they found her gone before my arrival. There was nothing
that would have led them to believe I had anything in her disappearance.
When in fact I had everything to do with it," a sly grin made its way
to the lips of this stranger. "It was a simple procedure."
"Yeah, too simple if you ask me," a fiery voice said.
"Oh, stop worrying," came the replied. "Everything went according to plan.
No one suspected a thing."
"So how did Snafu take to the disappearance of her best worker, brother?"
"Like any cat when she lost her favorite prey, sis," he replied with a deep
laughter, "You should have seen her. She looked like she was about to
explode with anger."
"That's all right," another voice said, "the day when I want to see her
would be the day I die, because the sight of her ugly face
would cause my death."
They laughed amongst themselves with a feeling of ease resting in the
atmosphere.
Suddenly, Serenity heard the new stranger ask about her, "So how is our
'maiden-in-distress'?"
"Distressed no longer," someone replied, "until she awakens that is."
She could hear him sigh in concern.
"I guess we should get going," he replied with a serious tone, "The sun
has already set and late night travel is not even to be considered."
"What about the kid?"
"I didn't take her into consideration when I made this plan. You three are
heading straight for camp?"
"Yeah, the Eastern post is holding quite well. Setsuna has that covered.
And Ami just finished checking the Western Post. Everything is alright
there as well."
"So we're taking a break and heading home."
"Then you three take the child with you."
"What?!" someone asked in surprise, "Are you kidding me? Us? Take the kid?"
"Look, you three can travel a lot faster than I can and, between the three
of you, I think the child would be very well protected. Besides, the sooner
she gets to camp the safer she would be."
"Alright," someone mumbled. "Come on kid, you're coming with the
babysitters."
"But," a small voice spoke up, "what about Serenity?"
Hotaru! Serenity thought. She could recognize that innocent voice
anywhere. She has been here all this time? What are they doing to her?
Where are they taking her? Camp? What camp? Where?
"Don't worry kid," an older voice said with reassurance, "You'll see your
friend again. She'll just be coming later."
"Come here child," he said softly, "what is your name?"
"Hotaru," she replied in a small frightened voice.
"Well, Hotaru," he said using the same calm voice one uses with a young
child, "don't worry, all right? Serenity is going to be taken very well
care off, and she will be reuniting with you at Camp soon."
His deep soothing voice calmed Hotaru, and the look of sincerity in his
eyes brought her to soon trust him.
Giving a small nod, she asked him, "Will you take care of her?"
The unexpected question greatly surprised him. For a moment, he didn't
respond still shocked by the openness of the question. Kids ask the
darnest things, he thought amusingly as he gazed into her deep violet
eyes full of innocence.
"If it would make you feel any better, I will personally see to her care,"
he replied with a handsome smile.
"Thank you Mister," Hotaru replied as she wrapped her arms around his neck
in a hug.
"Yeah, and he'll see to more than that," one of his comrade remarked
sarcastically.
The other two laughed.
Giving the commentator a threatening glance, he returned his gaze to Hotaru
and said, "Please Hotaru, my name is Endymion."
Endymion?! Serenity's mind immediately recognized the name.
What is he doing here? Did he plan all this? What is he up to?
"Thank you Endymion!" she chirped happily.
"Your very welcome," he replied with a laugh at the sudden emotional change
in the child.
"What are *their* names?" Hotaru asked pointing to his three companions.
"That you would just have to ask them," he replied.
"Hey kid, it's time to go," the tallest soldier called to her.
"All right, can I give Serenity a hug first?"
Seeing that permission was given, she skipped toward Serenity's slumbering
form and hugged her tight while whispering words of endearment to her
friend.
"Take care, Serenity," she whispered. "I'll see you again soon; and don't
you worry about these people. I think that we can trust them. I'll be
missing you until you are with me once more. I'll see you again, Serenity."
Deep beneath the waves of subconscious, Serenity could hear Hotaru's
young voice whispering to her. Although she struggled to reply, no words
escaped her lips. She could sense the child's warm body wrapped around
her cold one comforting her. She wanted to scream out to Hotaru not to go
and leave her, but again something restrained her from doing so. Instead a
single tear escaped from beneath her closed lids to be wiped away by small
delicate fingers.
Hotaru saw the tear and smiled. "You will be all right."
Endymion stood protectively over the slumbering form of Serenity while he
watched the silhouettes of his four companions recede into the shadows of
night. Once they disappeared his gaze fell down to the beautiful young
woman sleeping at his feet. Her incredibly long silver hair surrounded
her from all sides like sea foams. The light of the new moon caused the
silver strands to glitter like jewels against the dark blades of grass.
For a moment, her beauty took his breath away; and he stood mesmerized by
the enchantment she unknowingly was casting on him even in her sleep.
But it was more than beauty that he admired in her. Her strong-spirited
nature with a mind so independent of other's sway that truly captured his
attention.
He quickly noticed the rapid movements of her eyes beneath her soft pale
lids. His deep blue eyes widened in surprise. How could this be? he
wondered. That enchantment Rei placed her under should have made her
sleep quite soundly, but it appears that she is still awake. No one could
have withstood her powers like this. Did Rei make it too light? Or does
this girl have some kind of power that is strong enough to combat Rei's?
For a moment, Endymion stood watching Serenity struggle against the
enchantment withholding her from full consciousness. The whole time she was
placed under the spell, she continued to oppose it. He watched with great
admiration realizing that she would never cease her fight against the
strange power that was holding her prisoner. Unknowingly, her strength and
spirit gradually drew him to her.
"Well, I guess it is time to wake Sleeping Beauty," he whispered.
Holding his hand close to her face, he concentrated his powers. His hands
gradually glowed with an eerie blue light as his powers gathered to the
tips of his fingers. A ring of red light glowed around Serenity's closed
eyes, reacting to his powers. Gently, slowly, he let his fingertips run
across her eyelids, one-by-one, caressing her soft skin.
Serenity could sense his powers hovering over her like a soft breeze
teasing her eyelids awaken. She could feel his gentle touch over her eyes.
His skin felt so soft like a rose's petal. A strange stir of emotions
erupted from deep within her causing a great mixture of confusion that
created fear in her. She didn't understand any of this. What was he
doing? What was she feeling? Her sudden distress caused an unknown surge
of power to erupt from deep within her soul to clash against the foreign
power and his.
A thunderous sound crashed in the air around them as the enchantment
suddenly ceased and disappeared.
Endymion jumped back slightly startled by the incredible power he felt
erupted from her when he touched her. Whoa! he thought, This never
happened before? How did the spell cease so suddenly, and with such an
incredible explosion? There is…something strange about this girl. There
must be something…?
Her eyes immediately flew open as the heaviness lifted from them. A
cascade of glittering stars drifted down to meet her gaze. For a moment,
she felt bewildered by the strange picture painted before her. A great
dome of darkness spanned across her view with beautiful white specks of
stars planted in the structure like small pebbles on a beach. For a moment
she did not stir from her position as the peculiarity of this land held her
in its spell. Its strange dark beauty was something she had never
encountered on the moon. There was always a familiar brightness on the moon
due to the ground reflecting sunlight back into the atmosphere, so she
could never see the impressive picture of a truly midnight sky. But here,
the entire place was dark, darker than night. Save for the stars
glittering above her, she could not make out any other light.
He watched her in silence. Her bright blue eyes focused somewhere in space
as she gazed in awe at the new world around her. He noticed a strange
brightness glow in her eyes as she analyzed her new surrounding like a
newborn child opening her eyes for the first time. Her attention was held
so deeply that he believed she did not notice his presence.
Remaining still while one's stomach was jumbled in a knot was not an easy
thing to do; and he soon noticed his legs aching with stiffness by his
position. He moved slightly to ease the soreness hoping that he would
not break her reverie, but he soon realized that she was as keen as a
hawk. The slightest motion, the smallest sound, caught her attention no
matter how hard he tried to remain quiet.
Hearing the soft rustle of grass close to her left caused her to jump to
her feet from a lying position as quick as lightning. Her incredibly fast
reaction startled him. She snapped her attention to the dark silhouette
crouching below her, but his face was hidden in shadows.
"Who are you?" she asked as her mind temporarily blanked out by fear.
He slowly stood up and stepped closer to her bringing his face within
visibility.
She let out a gasp of surprise.
"You?!" she breathed and a surge of unexpected emotions invaded her soul.
[Well, now you know one of the three strangers...can you guess the
remaining two? ^_^
Chapter seven coming next week! "Intrigue"
...hmmm...sounds interesting ^_~]
===========================================
Copyright (c) 2000, Cosmos.
PLEASE email me and tell me what you think of my story.
Critiques, compliments, suggestions, questions, anything would be fine.
Just drop me a line! My inbox is getting really! lonely!! ^_~
Usual disclaimers: Sailor Moon and all its characters and likeliness
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha/Toei. English translation is made
possible by DiC and now Cloverway/Bandai (?).
My email address: ml_eclipse@hotmail.com
= thoughts
[ ] = author's note
Rated: PG
Please enjoy!
============================================================================
A Shepherd's Kiss
========================= By Cosmos ==================================
Chapter 6: Strangers of Grace
She could hear voices sounding somewhere near her, but her muddled mind
could not distinguish any words from the buzzing sound invading her ears.
Her brows furrowed in confusion as she struggled to open her eyes to view a
world that would astonish her if she could just see it, but all she could
see were shades of gray and white flowing like ripples across a lake's
surface.
Patches of blinding white light and puddles of shadow wove in and out among
each other like the images of a kaleidoscope. The chaotic movement of
colors and darkness confused her mind even further, and fear began to rise
within her.
She struggled to sit up but her hands and legs felt heavy as if something
or someone was restraining them. Where could she possibly be? But most
importantly, how did she get here, wherever this here is?
A slight throbbing in the back of her head made her recall the night before
when three strangers invaded their cell…but that was all she could
remember…three dark shadows then nothing. Yet the pain in the back of her
head was evidence that she must have been struck from behind and knocked
unconscious.
Hotaru! She suddenly thought, Did they find her? Is she safe?
A sudden feeling of anger erupted within her, anger at those who inflicted
this new pain on her and anger at herself for once again being helpless
to protect the ones she loved.
Why am I such a coward? she thought, I could never protect them. The
ones I care for…I am too weak to protect you all. Why? Serenity, why are
you so weak?
She hated this. She hated feeling so utterly helpless.
Clenching her hands into a tight fist, she strained harder to see her
enemies, but her effort only made her dizzy and drained of energy. With
each painstaking effort to regain control of her body, she grew weaker
and weaker. I can't… she thought wearily, I can't fight it
anymore…this feeling…I'm so…so tired…so very tired…
While Serenity hovered over the borderline of conscious and subconscious,
her captors continued with their discussion.
"When shall he return?" an irritated voice asked.
"How in the world should I know?" another snapped back.
"After sunset, don't you guys remember?" a third voice entered the
conversation.
"Right."
"When did he say that?" the fiery voice demanded.
"Right after the decision was made to rescue her," the third replied
patiently.
"How come I didn't hear that?"
"Well, if you had stopped yelling at him, you would have," the third voice
replied, impatience surfacing in the tone.
"Well he deserved it!" The second voice snapped again, "I still think this
is a ridiculous and dangerous idea. We don't even know who this girl is,
not even her name, let alone trust her enough to risk our own necks to
rescue her."
"I agree with her," the first voice spoke again. "This was a very dangerous
venture. It was extremely careless of him to make such a rash decision."
"Oh?" the third voice said cockily, "And how would you know that he didn't
possibly ponder it at length ahead of time?"
"Well, if he did then he would not have us rescue her. Besides, she is of
no importance to our plans. She would only be a burden, if nothing else.
Plus, we now have a little child to care for. Do you believe a kid can go
romping around with *us*?"
"Really…and back there was better?"
"At least she might be safer. Hey, I know he is your brother, but that does
not justify his careless action. You know how dangerous our lives are,
constantly running and hiding like a bunch of fugitives. Hunted day and
night by those greedy fools only after the reward without the slightest
idea of who their real enemies are. Do you think the kid would last very
long if we were caught in a surprise attack like the one Aurora-81
encountered?"
"Please don't mention that battle," the second voice whispered grievously.
"All right, all right," the third voice gave in, "you made your point, but
they are here now and we cannot return them. You should have made your
objections when it was valid."
"I did, but he wouldn't listen!" the first cried out angrily.
"I know," the third voice said with a tired sigh.
"Why would he want to save her so much?" the second asked quietly drawing
the other two's attention.
"Who knows what goes around in that head of his," the first replied.
They converse well into twilight when the last rays of the setting sun
submerged beneath the distant horizon. A chorus of insects and frogs from a
nearby pond interrupted them. They quickly realized that it was time to
rendezvous at the Timeless Oak, their main meeting place.
Serenity could sense herself being lifted and carried for an incredible
distance. Although she could feel and hear all that was going on around
her, somehow she could not awaken from this strange drugged-like state.
Perhaps they did give her something to keep her sedated like this. As much
as she tried, she could not surface from the subconscious.
Thump. Thump. The sounds of footstep against the hard ground reached her
ears, then nothing.
She could sense a change in the atmosphere around her as her captors placed
her down on the ground once again. What is going on? Serenity questioned.
What are they doing with me? Where am I now?
She could hear the voices converse again but this time in a low whisper as
if they were waiting for an expected arrival. A short time later, Serenity
realized she was listening to another voice, one of which she did not notice
earlier. There are now four, not three, voices speaking. Whomever these
people were waiting for, the person has finally arrived.
"So how did it go?" she heard someone asked.
"Did they suspect anything?" another added.
"Not a thing," the fourth voice replied confidently. "I delivered my cargo
and they simply allowed me to go. They had no reason to suspect me,
anyway, since they found her gone before my arrival. There was nothing
that would have led them to believe I had anything in her disappearance.
When in fact I had everything to do with it," a sly grin made its way
to the lips of this stranger. "It was a simple procedure."
"Yeah, too simple if you ask me," a fiery voice said.
"Oh, stop worrying," came the replied. "Everything went according to plan.
No one suspected a thing."
"So how did Snafu take to the disappearance of her best worker, brother?"
"Like any cat when she lost her favorite prey, sis," he replied with a deep
laughter, "You should have seen her. She looked like she was about to
explode with anger."
"That's all right," another voice said, "the day when I want to see her
would be the day I die, because the sight of her ugly face
would cause my death."
They laughed amongst themselves with a feeling of ease resting in the
atmosphere.
Suddenly, Serenity heard the new stranger ask about her, "So how is our
'maiden-in-distress'?"
"Distressed no longer," someone replied, "until she awakens that is."
She could hear him sigh in concern.
"I guess we should get going," he replied with a serious tone, "The sun
has already set and late night travel is not even to be considered."
"What about the kid?"
"I didn't take her into consideration when I made this plan. You three are
heading straight for camp?"
"Yeah, the Eastern post is holding quite well. Setsuna has that covered.
And Ami just finished checking the Western Post. Everything is alright
there as well."
"So we're taking a break and heading home."
"Then you three take the child with you."
"What?!" someone asked in surprise, "Are you kidding me? Us? Take the kid?"
"Look, you three can travel a lot faster than I can and, between the three
of you, I think the child would be very well protected. Besides, the sooner
she gets to camp the safer she would be."
"Alright," someone mumbled. "Come on kid, you're coming with the
babysitters."
"But," a small voice spoke up, "what about Serenity?"
Hotaru! Serenity thought. She could recognize that innocent voice
anywhere. She has been here all this time? What are they doing to her?
Where are they taking her? Camp? What camp? Where?
"Don't worry kid," an older voice said with reassurance, "You'll see your
friend again. She'll just be coming later."
"Come here child," he said softly, "what is your name?"
"Hotaru," she replied in a small frightened voice.
"Well, Hotaru," he said using the same calm voice one uses with a young
child, "don't worry, all right? Serenity is going to be taken very well
care off, and she will be reuniting with you at Camp soon."
His deep soothing voice calmed Hotaru, and the look of sincerity in his
eyes brought her to soon trust him.
Giving a small nod, she asked him, "Will you take care of her?"
The unexpected question greatly surprised him. For a moment, he didn't
respond still shocked by the openness of the question. Kids ask the
darnest things, he thought amusingly as he gazed into her deep violet
eyes full of innocence.
"If it would make you feel any better, I will personally see to her care,"
he replied with a handsome smile.
"Thank you Mister," Hotaru replied as she wrapped her arms around his neck
in a hug.
"Yeah, and he'll see to more than that," one of his comrade remarked
sarcastically.
The other two laughed.
Giving the commentator a threatening glance, he returned his gaze to Hotaru
and said, "Please Hotaru, my name is Endymion."
Endymion?! Serenity's mind immediately recognized the name.
What is he doing here? Did he plan all this? What is he up to?
"Thank you Endymion!" she chirped happily.
"Your very welcome," he replied with a laugh at the sudden emotional change
in the child.
"What are *their* names?" Hotaru asked pointing to his three companions.
"That you would just have to ask them," he replied.
"Hey kid, it's time to go," the tallest soldier called to her.
"All right, can I give Serenity a hug first?"
Seeing that permission was given, she skipped toward Serenity's slumbering
form and hugged her tight while whispering words of endearment to her
friend.
"Take care, Serenity," she whispered. "I'll see you again soon; and don't
you worry about these people. I think that we can trust them. I'll be
missing you until you are with me once more. I'll see you again, Serenity."
Deep beneath the waves of subconscious, Serenity could hear Hotaru's
young voice whispering to her. Although she struggled to reply, no words
escaped her lips. She could sense the child's warm body wrapped around
her cold one comforting her. She wanted to scream out to Hotaru not to go
and leave her, but again something restrained her from doing so. Instead a
single tear escaped from beneath her closed lids to be wiped away by small
delicate fingers.
Hotaru saw the tear and smiled. "You will be all right."
Endymion stood protectively over the slumbering form of Serenity while he
watched the silhouettes of his four companions recede into the shadows of
night. Once they disappeared his gaze fell down to the beautiful young
woman sleeping at his feet. Her incredibly long silver hair surrounded
her from all sides like sea foams. The light of the new moon caused the
silver strands to glitter like jewels against the dark blades of grass.
For a moment, her beauty took his breath away; and he stood mesmerized by
the enchantment she unknowingly was casting on him even in her sleep.
But it was more than beauty that he admired in her. Her strong-spirited
nature with a mind so independent of other's sway that truly captured his
attention.
He quickly noticed the rapid movements of her eyes beneath her soft pale
lids. His deep blue eyes widened in surprise. How could this be? he
wondered. That enchantment Rei placed her under should have made her
sleep quite soundly, but it appears that she is still awake. No one could
have withstood her powers like this. Did Rei make it too light? Or does
this girl have some kind of power that is strong enough to combat Rei's?
For a moment, Endymion stood watching Serenity struggle against the
enchantment withholding her from full consciousness. The whole time she was
placed under the spell, she continued to oppose it. He watched with great
admiration realizing that she would never cease her fight against the
strange power that was holding her prisoner. Unknowingly, her strength and
spirit gradually drew him to her.
"Well, I guess it is time to wake Sleeping Beauty," he whispered.
Holding his hand close to her face, he concentrated his powers. His hands
gradually glowed with an eerie blue light as his powers gathered to the
tips of his fingers. A ring of red light glowed around Serenity's closed
eyes, reacting to his powers. Gently, slowly, he let his fingertips run
across her eyelids, one-by-one, caressing her soft skin.
Serenity could sense his powers hovering over her like a soft breeze
teasing her eyelids awaken. She could feel his gentle touch over her eyes.
His skin felt so soft like a rose's petal. A strange stir of emotions
erupted from deep within her causing a great mixture of confusion that
created fear in her. She didn't understand any of this. What was he
doing? What was she feeling? Her sudden distress caused an unknown surge
of power to erupt from deep within her soul to clash against the foreign
power and his.
A thunderous sound crashed in the air around them as the enchantment
suddenly ceased and disappeared.
Endymion jumped back slightly startled by the incredible power he felt
erupted from her when he touched her. Whoa! he thought, This never
happened before? How did the spell cease so suddenly, and with such an
incredible explosion? There is…something strange about this girl. There
must be something…?
Her eyes immediately flew open as the heaviness lifted from them. A
cascade of glittering stars drifted down to meet her gaze. For a moment,
she felt bewildered by the strange picture painted before her. A great
dome of darkness spanned across her view with beautiful white specks of
stars planted in the structure like small pebbles on a beach. For a moment
she did not stir from her position as the peculiarity of this land held her
in its spell. Its strange dark beauty was something she had never
encountered on the moon. There was always a familiar brightness on the moon
due to the ground reflecting sunlight back into the atmosphere, so she
could never see the impressive picture of a truly midnight sky. But here,
the entire place was dark, darker than night. Save for the stars
glittering above her, she could not make out any other light.
He watched her in silence. Her bright blue eyes focused somewhere in space
as she gazed in awe at the new world around her. He noticed a strange
brightness glow in her eyes as she analyzed her new surrounding like a
newborn child opening her eyes for the first time. Her attention was held
so deeply that he believed she did not notice his presence.
Remaining still while one's stomach was jumbled in a knot was not an easy
thing to do; and he soon noticed his legs aching with stiffness by his
position. He moved slightly to ease the soreness hoping that he would
not break her reverie, but he soon realized that she was as keen as a
hawk. The slightest motion, the smallest sound, caught her attention no
matter how hard he tried to remain quiet.
Hearing the soft rustle of grass close to her left caused her to jump to
her feet from a lying position as quick as lightning. Her incredibly fast
reaction startled him. She snapped her attention to the dark silhouette
crouching below her, but his face was hidden in shadows.
"Who are you?" she asked as her mind temporarily blanked out by fear.
He slowly stood up and stepped closer to her bringing his face within
visibility.
She let out a gasp of surprise.
"You?!" she breathed and a surge of unexpected emotions invaded her soul.
[Well, now you know one of the three strangers...can you guess the
remaining two? ^_^
Chapter seven coming next week! "Intrigue"
...hmmm...sounds interesting ^_~]
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Copyright (c) 2000, Cosmos.