Balancing Act

By Turtlehat

Disclaimer:  Slayers is not mine.  Ranma 1/2 is not mine.  This story is for entertainment purposes only, not profit.

Now on to the story.

Prologue

Jusenkyo, Bayankala Range, China

Jusenkyo is known as many things.  Among them, 'Pools of Sorrow' and 'Cursed Training Grounds'.  In effect, it is basically a place where nothing alive dare live.  Even insects and small crawling things avoid this place.  For you see, it is a place of tragedy.  Normally, there would be more than a hundred pools there and whoever falls in one changes their shape to whatever drowned there last.  Fortunately for the nearby inhabitants, most of the pools are benign, turning their victims into harmless or sometimes dangerous animals, but animals nonetheless.  But once in a while, someone would get cursed with a powerful or dangerous form such as the spring of drowned war goddess or spring of drowned minotaur.  For cases like those, the nearby inhabitants band together to destroy or subdue the poor victim.  For thousands of years, people and animals have been it's unwilling victims.  Unfortunately, just recently, through some rather curious set of events, instead of hundreds of small pools, Jusenkyo has become a large lake.  How this affected the curses, no one knew and no one wanted to find out.

But, unknown to anyone, there is another danger that exists in Jusenkyo, a greater danger than falling into one of the pools.  Specifically, buried right underneath Jusenkyo.  Normally, this creature which most would call a demon, would come out and destroy anything and everything in existence.  It's power is such that at if it were to be released, it could destroy the world one morning and wonder what to do for the rest of the day.  And unfortunately, no one alive could have stood in its' path.  Fortunately, people from long ago knew it as well.   So they sealed it away, never to awaken.

That is the intention at least.  A crystal prison contained the vessel the demon inhabited.  A perfect six-sided star surrounded the crystal prison.  A glowing sphere on each point.  Once upon a time, they were so bright it was impossible to even look at them.  But now, only a dim glow remains.

Fortunately, since the entire seal and prison has long since been buried, no one has seen it, much less be curious enough to disturb the seal.  The bad news is that it has been so long that the 'seal' has deteriorated.

And so not even a fly was there to witness it when it happened.  One of the spheres of light cracked.  A wave of power exploded out to the surrounding area and continued on unobstructed through the water and on out, not losing any momentum.  In the closest villages, some inhabitants woke up, feeling the energy rushing through their bodies and fading.   As the wave of power continued to spread, shamans woke, martial artists in tune with their ki shivered, and animals spooked.

In Phoenix Mountain, the newly reborn Lord of Phoenix Mountain woke up crying.  In the nearby kingdom of the Musk, the newly crowned king, Herb, paused in his training as he felt the rush of power.  In the Amazon village, the elders paused in their debate as the rush of power went through.

At the Cat CafĂ© all the way in Japan, Cologne paused in her cooking as she felt the magical energy flood through.  At the Tendo dojo, Ranma fell down hard from an aerial kata as the power rushed through, his training the only thing saving him from a broken neck.

Across the entire world, a few number of people felt the power as it rushed through.  Since it quickly faded, most attributed it to deja vu and dismissed it.  Among the select few, however, some took it more seriously.  But as they didn't really know anything, they couldn't really do anything, either, so it was a moot point.

Back in the valley, back at the point of origin of the disturbance, the other crystals, reeling from the sudden drain, flickered, their already dim glow faltering.

Inside its crystal prison, the creature stirred.

Outside, on the surface, the lake that used to be a large number of pools glowed and thrashed as if boiling and slowly, inhuman eyes opened.