Crystal Points

Crystal Points

Emania, Land of Infinite Gods

Prologue- Two Worlds, Colliding Sharply

The stars shone down upon the valley, and upon the slope of the firey mountain above, nine figures stood in circle, waiting. One of these was much younger, and still her duties the most difficult. So ancient, this place where she stood, her hood of violet lined velvet protecting her face from the night's chill. The cold was not what caused the shaking in her hands. No, that was from fear and anticipation. Their safer attempts failed, she and her sorceresses were forced to fall back to nothing more than an obscure incantation. Lore was trusted in this place, whispered stories. They came true here, heard by the countless gods that existed. This sorceress, the youngest, if she heard the whispers of her elders, would have been afraid that their uncertainty would upset the balance of power within her. But the elders held up a united front, knowing the importance of their leader's confidence. So they remained silent.

Each figure stood in robes of black, simple and plain, loose to their bodies. Around them, stones circled, high pillars of granite. Etched into these were markers, symbols whose meanings had become lost to the thousand's thousand years since their last use. Only one thing of knowledge remained of these four stones. One for each direction, and the Element they represented. One North, the way of the first Element, the way of Life. One South, it's opposite, the Mountain of Fire that even now glowed hotly in the air above them. To the East the way of the Earth, deep chasms showing the timeless layering of silt and soil, millions of years of dead creatures embedded in the layers of rock. Treacherous to any who dared pass. And to the West lay the opposite of the Earth, the high reaches of the barren mountains reaching into the air with their peaks.

This was all they knew. That, and the happenings of the last half century were building to this. What was only guessed before was now certainty. The demons were coming into the land again, and destruction trailed in their wake.

The ancient legends and prophesies Emania spoke of these times. The Seal must be replaced, and the wards that protected against darkness must be renewed. Awaken the Crystal Points, so that once again they may prevent the coming of the Silence. Chaos must not break into their realm, where there had been peace for longer than mind could remember. Only the dusty books on the shelves knew of the darkness of Emania's birth.

The youngest held the fiercest power of her eight older sisters. It was the power of knowledge. A burden for one untried. The stars held in their courses, and her eyes saw two of the moons of the land, the others still not reborn, hinding in the planet's shadow. The stars were set, as described in her book. Wordlessly, she took position at the pillar of the direction of the earth, and the others stood quietly, waiting for her to begin.

How they had prayed. No torches lit the empty yard, only slanting shadows. Fasting and purifying themselves, they did all in their power to prepare for this unknown casting. Magic was their realm, yet this magic was so old it seemed new and untried.

Then the youngest witch spoke, and the words were a chant, taken up by her sisters.

"Fire, Lightest of Elements,

We ask for your strength.

Air, Breath of Life,

We pray for your protection.

Earth, Mother of us All,

Defend your Children.

Water, First of Elements,

Wash away the Darkness.

Fire, Water, Earth, Air,

Soldier yet Princess, we summon you.

Minds who hold Beautiful Dreams,

We beg you.

Come to us.

In the Land of Infinite Gods."

"Late, late, late!" The priestess shouted, pacing the room. "You would think, for once, just once, that she could make it on time, at least once in her odango brained life! She doesn't even have detention! It's the arcade! That girl is addicted to video games! Brainless...."

The friends of the untransformed senshi Mars sat at the table in Rei's room, textbooks out, though not looked at, except in the case of the blue haired one, who was reading hers undistracted. The two who were paying attention were watching Rei pace with practiced interest, though both were ready to shake their heads in despair. It wasn't that they were unused to Rei's storming around, but the fact she had been going on for about eight minutes solid was edging on a new record. Eight minutes may not seem very long, but in reality, if you try to talk about the exact same thing, without variation, for exactly eight minutes, it becomes very difficult. Minako kept track. Thirty more seconds....

"Minna," the studious one said softly, shaking her head. "we really do need to study...."

"Ami-chan," Mako whispered, motioning for her to be quiet. She gestured at Minako and then an imaginary watch on her wrist. Ami sighed. She knew about the record, and Rei was beginning to turn red in the face. She shook her head, and returned to her text, taking notes as her eyes flew along the page.

"...will never ammount to a Queen if she acts like a complete baka all...."

Minako had five fingers up. Four. Three. Two.... "Record!" Minako shouted, an arm punched up into the air. "New record!"

That was enough to break Rei's furious storming. "Record? What rec-" It dawned on her while Minako and Makoto fell over laughing, Ami only putting a hand to her temple in disgrace. "Minako-chan! I can't believe you keep track of...of...." Rei's red face turned purple as she stomped over to her friend, who could only wipe tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Lighten up, Rei-chan," Minako giggled, shaking her head. "Ami-chan's right. We need to get to work. Picking on Usagi-chan isn't going to get us anywhere on our test tomorrow."

"I don't go to the same school as you, Minako-chan," Rei reminded her irritably as she settled down on a pillow. "Humph. Fine. What are we looking at?"

"Biology," Ami replied instantly, not even looking up. "Here," she leaned over to help Rei. "Page two forty-three...."

"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, Rei-chan is gonna roast me alive....!" Usagi sped like a blond comet up the steps of the temple, dreading the screaming and tongue-sticking-out arguement that was coming. "Rei-chan!" Usagi wailed loudly as she burst though the unlocked door, bolting past Grandpa, who was left only to stare. "I'm...."

Standing in the doorway, the future Moon Princess stared.

Because the room was completely empty.

******************************************************************************

Welcome, minna, to another new story! As always, Sailormoon does not belong to me, but to Naoko-hime, even though I would adore owning such a thing. Person. Princess. Whoever. All of it.

However, Emania, and all characters living within it, DO belong to me, so do not steal them...or you will have both myself and some very angry friends of mine ready and raring to beat you down. If, for some bizarre reason you want to borrow them...ask. Why you would though, who knows? Anything's possible in the world of fanfiction....

That said.

Here's the fun part of the notes. (Hey, there have to be a few of you who like reading these...for some reason, I do. Anyway.) If you can probably guess, this is going to be an adventure, centering around the four Inner Senshi, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. Usagi makes...um, what is in the fic already....not that much of an appearance. At least from what I have planned right now. No Outers. Sadly. Unlike most of my fics, this will tend to be more anime based than manga, though it probably won't make that much of a difference. This is set sometime after Stars.... That nebulous non-time fics can take place in.

This fic will have a lot of action, adventure, drama, magic, a touch of comedy and some general havoc. Maybe even...dare I say it? A touch of romance? So, a little for everyone. We'll see how things go as I get to that part in the story, and if I need change anything. I'm just going to have fun with this one. So expect things to get pretty wild. And this is going to be long. Really, really, long. So I hope you're comfy in that chair of yours. It's going to be a bumpy ride....

Oh, and by the way...welcome to Emania.

-Queen