Gaea Meets Cephiro
(Chapter II)
by MACE^_^
---------------------------------------------
Cephiro Royal Palace
Cephiro
The scene takes us to a certain balcony beside a hallway in the Royal
Palace, where two people from different worlds are sharing a cherished moment together.
One of them, a boy with green hair, a scar on his cheek and familiar Cephiran clothes, is
bending down to rest his arms and upper body on the balcony. The other, a girl with
astonishing green eyes obscured only by her glasses and wearing some sort of mystical
knight's garb, is sitting down on the balcony beside the boy.
"Quite a lovely night, isn't it, Fuu?"
"Yes, Ferio. Quite... romantic."
"It's been a while since evenings like this have been pretty
quiet, what with all the things going on."
"I am glad that all that chaos is over."
"But, Fuu... you know what the best thing is about the recent calm
that has surrounded Cephiro?"
"And what is that, hmm?"
Ferio paused.
"You." he said, shifting his gaze to stare at Fuu.
Fuu blushed. She also shifted her gaze from the wall to meet Ferio's
stare.
"Having you here is the best thing that has ever happened to me...
or for every living being on Cephiro. I... I would have been lost without you." Ferio
did not remove his eyes from Fuu's.
"I... I'm glad. And I won't forget how many times you came to my
rescue. You've always been my knight in shining armor."
"But... don't you miss your home? Don't you want to go back?"
"I do... but as of now, something's keeping us here... plus, someone's keeping me here."
"Someone?"
"You know, Ferio.... whenever I talk to you and every time I'm with you, I can't help but to forget all my current problems. I'll cherish these times we have to ourselves as long as I can."
Ferio smiled. "That's really nice to hear."
There was an odd moment of silence in the place.
And then a shout came from an upper level of the palace.
"What was that?" Ferio mused.
"Uhmm... let's go check it out!" Fuu rose to her feet
Just when the couple was about to cross the hallway, an explosion right
between them and the door stopped them in their tracks, scattering large chunks of debris
all around and obstructing visibility.
When the smoke cleared, they saw that the entire column towards the
door was clearly destroyed. There were strange strands of gray metal lying on the floor,
and it was huge and extremely thick, and clearly they were the cause of the destruction.
Suddenly, the thick metal strands came to life, becoming incredibly flexible, and
retracted from inside the palace.
Ferio and Fuu rushed to the suddenly-formed opening, and peered out to
see what's really happening.
Oddly enough, there was nothing to be seen. There was just flames in
several portions of the palace premises, accompanied by a strange "thud, thud,
thud" sound coming from nearby.
"Where the heck is that sound coming from? A sound that loud must
belong to something big, but I don't see anything!" said a beleaguered Ferio.
Then, out of nowhere, the "liquid metal" strands went
springing off again, this time in the direction of where Ferio and Fuu were standing.
"Fuu! Look out!" ferio shouted as he scrambled to save Fuu.
He rolled toward her and shoved her away from the danger of the unknown attacker.
"DAMN! What IS that thing?!?" Ferio grumbled.
"We've got to alert the others... We've got to get out of here,
Ferio!"
"You're right... we're no use against something we can't
see!"
The metal claws began to move again, but as the couple scrambled to get
clear, a large shadow loomed over them... a familiar shadow.
"Hikaru! Are we glad to see you!"
And the stunning visage of the mystical mecha known as Rayearth towered
over the two of them.
"No prob, you lovebirds! Time to teach this dopey attacker to
knock first before bashing in... if only I could see..."
Her dialogue was cut of when the liquid metal claws reached out and
strangled Rayearth, forcing it to drop to its knees.
"Hikaru!"
"Arrrgh! Get out of here, you two! Get out!"
Fuu and Ferio scurried off, away from the courtyard, leaving the unseen
aggressor and Rayearth.
Hikaru struggled to get clear of the enemy's stranglehold, but found
that the grip of the claws were just too tight.
Hikaru felt dizzy, and her vision was blurring. The claws' steel grasp bacame tighter and tighter each passing moment.
She was nearly about to give in to the sudden blackness surrounding
her vision when, surprisingly, the claws released its grip. Rayearth dropped face-first to
the ground, in the center of the courtyard.
The wind knocked out of her, Hikaru crawled out of the giant mecha and
gasped heavily for fresh air, only to smell the acrid fumes and scents of a partly burning
palace. She felt a tingling sensation in her forehead, and put her palm on it.
Blood.
"Uhhnnn... ow..."
"Hikaru! Are you all right?" shouted Umi, Fuu and Ferio,
running up to Hikaru.
"I'll live. Wait, what happened? Where's the enemy?"
"We couldn't see it, but it evidently retreated when it saw
[Ceres] and Windam coming to reinforce you." Umi said.
"It did quite some damage, both coming in and getting out of
here." Ferio stated.
Hikaru looked around, still gasping heavily, surveying the
surroundings. On the eastern part of the courtyard, flames still raged brightly and are
being hosed off by Cephiran volunteers. To the south was the gateway, or what remains of
the once grandiose structure. The delicately-crafted gates were bent to a heap, leaving
the gold-plated architecture as an afterthought. The western walls suffered heavy
collateral damage. To the north was the Palace itself, some portions of it colorfully lit
with flames, belching smoke to the gray skies.
"What could that have been?" Hikaru wondered.
"None of us know for sure." mused Umi.
"Yet, I know we will... before long."
"No... I guess the chaos isn't over after all..." Ferio
muttered with clenched fists.
With this, Hikaru finally dropped, exhausted, just as a medical
team rushed to give her aid.
It was going to be a long night...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lunia Commonality; in the Resurrection Forest *
near the Royal Palace, Cephiro
Lunia is a small town, a commonality, in the midst of Resurrection Forest, with about a couple hundred people. Basically, the townsfolk can have whatever they need in the forest and in the nearby bodies of water. Sometimes, the townspeople also go to the city to get whatever else they need.
Life in Lunia was very plain... perhaps too simple. Not too many extraordinary things happen in this part of Cephiro.
That would all change soon enough.
Nadette is a Lunian. She is the daughter of the locale's leader. She was also very beautiful, and skilled in swordsmanship and archery, with the great Umi of the Magic Knights her only equal. She has never been defeated (only a draw ever since she started sparring at age 7, a decade ago. Her courage and tenacity are undoubted. Yet, now would seem a great test of her bravery. This time, though, possibly her best will not be enough.
All was going well so far early this night. The patrols (deemed unnecessary due to lack of violence) were not encountering anything out of the ordinary, as always. Some of the townsfolk have already gone to rest for another day's labor. All was still... quiet... peaceful...
Just then a bright flash of azure light appeared, and out of nowhere, a giant mecha dropped knee-bent into the mini-plains separating Lunia and the rest of Resurrection Forest. It had a resemblance to a chivalric knight, an immense broadsword in hand and a blue cape. The cape bore markings of unknown origin.
Nadette was getting excited and nervous.
What is that giant mechanical... thing?!? Where did it come from? What is ---
The mecha took righted its stance and looked around, apparently surveying the surroundings. Then it tentatively took a step forward.
We'll know what this is about in a short time. Just a few more steps, you big tin can.
The mecha took yet another tentative step. The Lunian groundpounders had already managed to set up a makeshift tripwire trap in the scant few seconds it took the robot to get up and look around. The mecha was doomed.
The mecha tripped on the makeshift traps, losing balance and then staggering forward. Desperately fighting the pull of gravity, the mecha totally lost it. The giant robot fell face forward to the ground, its reinforced yellow cockpit canopy crashing the soil.
Nadette issued the commands.
"Alright, people! Stay sharp... tie up that tin can and make sure it doesn't get up again. Check for the pilot, if it has any. Bring him to me if you find one."
A chorus of "Yes, ma'am"s echoed slightly, before heavy footsteps deserted the nearby premises.
What do you know... we tagged a giant robot. Not bad.
Nadette made one last check on the mecha and saw that it was firmly pinned to the ground. No sign of a pilot yet.
What could this be? I guess Ill just have to wait and see.
---------------------------------------------
Nadette had only been in herquarters for a few minutes when a sharp knock interrupted her relative silence.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Duchess... we found the pilot." a soldier from outside muttered.
Nadette sighed. "Bring him in."
Two infantrymen entered the room with the prisoner, then saluted and made an about-face and casually left the room.
For a few minutes, no one spoke. Nadette was mentally surveying the person brought before her, who, just a little while ago, was piloting an apparent threat to her father's domain.
He certainly did not look evil, she thought. In fact, he looks elegant and very clean. Despite the length of his hair, it seemed very well kept and looked as well as any girls' hair. His posture was flawless.
Nadette sighed again.
Admirations can be done later. First things first.
"So you're the pilot of that giant robot. I am Nadette Crimson, Duchess and heir to the Lunian Commonality. Who are you?"
It took the pilot a few moments to respond.
"Before that, let me make it clear that it was not my intention to attack your town."
When he spoke, there was a softness in his voice, and some sort of fiduciary quality in the way he spoke that made Nadette lighten up a bit. But this man had posed some sort of threat to her people, so Nadette countered sarcastically. "Right..."
"My name is Allen Crusade Schezar VIII, Caeli Knight and pilot of the guymelef Scherazade. I come from Asturia."
Nadette looked puzzled. "Is this some sort of joke? Saily Knight? Asturea? I've never heard of those before."
"To be frank, I haven't heard of a town called Lunia before. There seems to be some sort of problem here."
She looked at the knight's deep eyes with interest. "What are you saying, Allen Crusade Schezar?"
"You see, Duchess... I was summoned by a certain friend of mine, because she foresaw that something... a possible catastrophe... was going to occur. I was already halfway to their location whena bright light blinded me. I was stunned, and for a few moments my whole mind was in chaos and I felt my entire body being torn apart. Then my vision cleared, and I found myself out of a mountain pass and in the midst of a forest."
Nadette turned, and looked out the window.
She was confused. This man's story seemed too vague for her, yet there was something about this Allen Schezar that deep inside, she really wanted to believe him; that he himself was confused and that he was not a bad guy.
"I thought all the chaos with Cephiro was gone now. Now it seems another cataclysm will devastate the planet once again."
"It appears you have faced such a paradox like this before?" Allen muttered.
"Yes, but not directly. Once, a powerful entity planned to strip Cephiro of its life, and nearly succeeded. Only through the appearance of three girls from a different world were we able to overcome that threat."
"Three girls from the mystic moon? But..."
"Allen Schezar, I am confused by your words. Perhaps we could... share our stories somewhere else... maybe over a cup of Cephiro jade tea?"
Allen managed a simple smile. "That would be good. Though I doubt I'd be able to enjoy it with these chains on me."
"Of course, how silly of me."
Nadette unlocked the metal chains wrapped around Allen's arms.
"There. Now, if you would please follow me to the dining room, Sir Knight?"
"Certainly, Duchess." Allen said with a dazzling grin and a slight bow.
Yes, Nadette thought. He isn't a bad guy at all.
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 3 really soon! Really!
PREVIEW: some light shed on all the confusion, and a bit revelation on the cause of this time/space paradox! (=