Chapter 1: Beginnings of War
The city of Crystal Tokyo sparkled in the morning sun, catching the colors of sunrise in the surfaces of it's many crystalline constructs and metallic surfaces. The glowing orb of blazing radiance, as it rose from behind the distant peaks, cast eminent rays of it's vast natural glory for all the world to see, bringing life and bidding all who saw it to arise and look to the future.
How ironic, she thought, that a giant fireball could be an ingredient for life. Neo Queen Serenity stared out from the curtained balcony of her chamber, watching the sunrise. For her, the beauty of the sunrise had always been an omen of peace that brought her relief and refresh. She closed her eyes, a deep, slightly worried, and altogether inwardly searching look in her features. She had always liked sunrises and sunsets. But lately, her thoughts had been turning in much a different direction; Chaos,... and the Galaxy Cauldron. She now found it bitterly ironic that something so capable of causing death, like the sun, was imperative to the survival of millions of people, and it's removal just as deadly as if it were to come too close and burn the planet to a cinder. For Neo Queen Serenity, the comparison between life-giving daystar and the Galaxy Cauldron was all too easy to conjure.
She sighed and diverted her gaze from the brilliant colors. Was she obsessed, perhaps becoming mentally unstable? Had the unsolvable riddle of the Galaxy Cauldron driven her to see it's phantom in everything? Or had the soul-wrenching facts of that moment eternally put a mark of poison in her soul, to eat away at her and destroy her from the inside out? Perhaps Chaos had inadvertently gotten a far greater means of revenge than could ever have been achieved by destroying her. The very fact that a potential venue of ultimate good had been in sight and yet totally out of reach... would it drive her mad? She had hoped all those years ago that her life, her marriage to Darien, the raising of little Rinni, the forging of a better system for planet earth,... she had hoped that all of that would erase from her memory that fact, but it could not. An ancient riddle, inscribed only in a forgotten language, hidden in the distant depths of the universe and destroyed by the mere fact of looking at it would have been easier to solve than the infernal puzzle of the Galaxy Cauldron!! The potential to set the universe free of evil had been within her sight, and she had been incompetent of the task! On one hand, she could have truly done nothing differently and still saved the lives of everyone she cared about. On the other, she would never forgive herself for what she hadn't been able to, and still would never be able to do.
Perhaps, she wondered, it was her own arrogance that held her in bondage to this memory. Who was she to believe she could return all evil to within Pandora's Box and close the lid, while leaving hope unscathed? Had she truly begun to consider herself the champion of love and justice, in such a manner as to believe it was her responsibility to undo every wrong ever done? Noble as such a sentiment sounds, when lined up with history it's pure lunacy! Sailor Soldier and queen as she was, she was no God, nor capable of filling such an office, nor understanding the workings and plannings of a divine mind with omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and ultimate authority. She sighed to herself as she walked gracefully down the halls of the crystal castle towards the breakfast hall. Perhaps, in her search for justice, she had failed to recognize her own limitations.
She wished deeply for the Galaxy Cauldron to leave her thoughts.
A dark form floated effortlessly among the sea of stars, looking down upon the infamous composite of land and sea, flora and fauna, known as earth. He gazed from a distance, his sea-green eyes contemplative and, somewhat, pensive. In every universe he'd been to, the trouble had always revolved around this world. He'd been born on an alternate earth in a different universe, and had seen through his travels just how drastically the world could differ. This earth was no exception: even at this distance he could make out the gleam of some grand construct in the area of a group of large islands directly adjacent to one of the mainlands.
"But why am I here?" He wondered out loud, his voice bearing the vigor and strength of youth yet with a solidity of spirit that belonged to either the strongest warrior or the gentlest friend. It was hardly the first time he'd been summoned into a universe without instruction or guidance for his quest, but generally by now something should have transpired to explain his purpose. For almost a year after his investigations of Zero Star, he'd traveled in search of his purpose, visiting places and learning of this universe's past, especially in relation to earth's solar system and Zero Star. Then he'd merely summoned a discrete time gate and arrived in this era, sensing his purpose might be waiting for him here. Yet he'd avoided human contact wherever possible, and when contact had been unavoidable he'd gone under his faithful alias Specter. It was not yet time for him to be revealed, he knew that by intuition, subtle knowledge; and as for the alias, it was as true about him as any parent-given name could have been. He was a specter, a phantom, a wanderer on the scale of entire universes, with powers and skills to match. Many times, he had never been known except by that name. Specter; it suited him, rather well in fact.
"What is my purpose in this world?" Wondered he once again, refocusing his mind on the query at hand. There was no need of a firefighter if there wasn't a fire, and what use of law enforcement without crime? Likewise, he felt out of place in a universe at peace,... or at least it seemed at peace upon the surface. The greatest dangers, he reminded himself, often arise from within.
Suddenly, his attention was diverted as he sensed, distant now but getting closer, an energy. He turned 170 degrees and soon a distant sparkle of light caught his attention. He could sense that it stopped moving as soon as he saw it, and the sparkle vanished a moment later likewise. Stretching his perception, he soon realized he had detected not just one, but several strong energy signatures in close proximity. He reached for and was prepared at any moment to draw forth his long, elegant, but swift and deadly katana; several strong energy signatures, but not nearly, not even close to as strong as his own hidden maximum. Be they friend or foe, it was quite obvious they had noticed he had detected him. Only the exceptionally powerful travel in the deadly void of space without conventional means of doing such, like spaceships or other devices. And those power levels proved at once he was dealing with something superior. With a slight burst of his own energy he soon soared through the emptiness towards those distant signatures, his long black cape whipping about at random behind him. His gut instincts informed him, perhaps prophetically, that someone seemed to have come looking for him.
The moment she'd felt it, she'd bolted up in her seat, dropping the breakfast roll that had been in her hand. Her eyes went wide as her mind made sense of what she'd detected.
Incredible energy, almost like nothing she'd ever sensed, flaring violently just outside earth's orbit. One glance into Darien's eyes confirmed that they had both detected it; there was no ignoring the dark, intense power which had hit both their minds like a tidal wave. In a flurry of activity they both rushed out of the room and into the hallways.
"Whatever that power was, we need to get earth's defenses ready immediately." Darien stated, veering off down a hallway. He stopped for a split second and his eyes met hers over his shoulder. "Rally the Sailor Scouts. We may need them all too soon."
Serena nodded. As she raced down the hallways, she became greatly relieved that they'd worked out plans for emergencies far in advance, and when she arrived in the throne room all the Sailor Scouts were gathered and ready. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus stood by the doorway, and quickly formed a defensive circle around her as she went inside. Within, Pluto stood with Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, Chibimoon, and the Amazon Quartet.
"Mommy, what's happening?" Rinni inquired, a scared but nonetheless brave look in her eyes. She quickly rushed up and clung tightly to her mother as Serena did her best to try and comfort her.
"It's ok, Rinni. We're going to be alright. Remember your training as a Sailor Scout; now is not the time to panic."
Rinni nodded pensively. Darien, moments later, entered the throne room as well, having transformed into his armor and having his sword ready at his side.
"From what I've been able to learn, sensor satellites and offworld telescopes know just as much as we do." He further explained. "There's a great deal of interference that was generated by whatever caused that energy. There's no way to tell exactly what it was, only that whatever created it was too small to be picked up on instruments. Every available spaceship is being been launched and all earth-based defenses are on high alert. Our safest bet is to get to the underground shelter and wait to see what happens."
Serena nodded, and she and the others quickly went in the direction of the underground shelter. En route, a soldier intercepted them, stating he had important information.
"Tactical just informed us of an object of some kind is falling through the atmosphere, and they're detecting low levels of the same energy from it as the burst. They say there's reason to believe, because of size and composition, that it might be human in shape."
"Keep your men on full alert." Darien instructed. "If an enemy is approaching, we need to be ready. If it doesn't start slowing down, have tactical figure out where it's going to land an evacuate the area. We take no chances!"
"Aye sir!" The soldier quickly ran off to relay King Darien's instructions.
"This looks bad." Uranus stated needlessly.