OK, as I sort of promised here's 2 before the end of the month… well it's still January anyway. Chapter 3 is nearly done but if it's not out by the end of February then it probably won't be for months as uni is almost upon me again. I realise things are dragging in this chapter and I'll do something about it come editing time but for now it stands.
On another note, if you're curious about what else I've been writing while trying to finish Morpheus, I'm steadily posting some of my unfinished stuff up on my live journal (yes, I succumbed – blame my little sister Val). So you can go there to read it. Let me know what you think of it too. The link is in my bio.
One last thing and I'll leave you in peace – to those who have been patient with me and to those who reviewed this monstrosity so nicely, my sincere thanks.
Heir of Morpheus - Chapter 2
He stood alone on the balcony and stared out, over the city of Tokyo. Humanity now seemed fully aware as dawn gave way to day. He had not expected to witness this transition, just as he had not on any of the last thousand dawns but his friend's abrupt departure had left him free to savour the morning. In a way, it was a very profound sight, as millions of humans began their lives. It was a sea of vitality that was seeded with bright points of something that a human might term enlightenment. He would name it awareness and he treasured every pinprick of such that tickled his consciousness. As he should, for each and every one had been touched by his own Mystery. He had suffered his mother's reprimand for his actions against Pride in Paris, a more painful event than an outsider would think. But outsiders did not know of the bond between queen and prince, between Lunarian mother and child.
Between guardian and Divine Star.
It had hurt, more than he cared to admit, and moreso when his twin's anger had been aimed at him. He had broken the Law and she was the Lawkeeper, so he knew and accepted that he deserved the rebukes. Still, as the years passed, he wondered if his actions had not been preordained and required in the grand scheme of things. For, now, he could finally see human spirits that could evolve compatibility with Lunari souls. It was… heartening.
He had watched the growth of the human spirit for centuries and now, over the past couple of years, that development had accelerated beyond belief. Some of that was due to his own actions and to the dispersal of the witnesses of Notre Dame across the world. Some was even due to the presence of the reincarnates. He had to wonder how much of the recent change was due to the presence of a certain developing Star.
His lips twitched and he turned away from the view to re-enter the apartment. He locked the door and fetched his coat before returning to the balcony. He shrugged into his coat and looked out, over Tokyo, again and smiled to himself.
Then, Lunarian prince and Selene's guardian, Traquillity vanished into a beam of brilliant sunlight with a clap of his great wings. His queen needed to be informed that Elysion had finally taken the first steps towards his metamorphosis into the heir of Morpheus.
Even if the unknowing mortal had no idea that he had done so.
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She looked into familiar midnight eyes. The pale face under a thatch of ebon-black air was a welcome sight and she smiled.
"Hello Milord."
He regarded her solemnly. "The time is almost upon us."
She took no offence at his utter lack of greeting, his news gladdened her far too much for that.
"You must be careful, Child. Your path ahead will grow dangerous before you reach the light."
Surprised, she spun and gasped. Enough like the first to be his twin, the newcomer was all pale skin and dark robes. Only his eyes were different. Where, in the first, she could see the endless skies in the shadows, in the second she could see naught but black. But then, she had yet to master the intricacies of time.
"It is the beginning of the end."
A third form, equally male and equally a being of shadow, began to appear from the mists. By reflex, she met and examined the dark gaze only to gasp in wonder. Although never had the two met before, she saw the violet in the black.
She knew him!
He was…
"No!"
A final time, she spun and, for a final time, she found a man of secrets and shadows but in this one, the seed of greatness still slumbered uneasily. Her longed-for mate yelled again but no sound reached her for the three powers, greater than them both, moved between them. She reached to push them aside only to have her efforts thwarted.
Dream stole the beloved face away.
Time shook his head and whispered, "Almost but not yet."
And the third power, familiar and yet unknown, formed the gateway that would take her to her destination. With a loving smile, Death pushed his daughter through.
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This was not what he had expected, not one little bit, when he had left Andrew to enter Dream physically. He had hoped that he could reach Serenity before she left for her mission. He had hoped that he could convince her that his gut feelings and formless foreseeings were reason enough for her not to leave on this journey. He had hoped for the opportunity to speak to her one more time. He had hoped many things.
All in vain.
He swung wildly at the old tree in front of him, one of the thousand or more that surrounded him in the forest he was now in. His fist passed through the wood without resistance, not even the softest of touches to show that he even existed and he screamed in frustration, "Damn you, Morpheus! Damn you! Damn you! DAMN YOU! I hope Kaos' agents find you and tear you piece from piece, you self-centred, arrogant, over bearing, idiotic excuse for a god! Damn your foolishness!" He fell to his knees and whispered through angry tears, "She'll die if she goes alone. She can't do it on her own and whatever help you think she already has will not be enough! She'll be destroyed!"
He could have continued in that vein for far longer than he did, his anger and anxiety were that great, had his solitude not been intruded upon. However, what excesses he would allow himself in private, the man once called Endymion would not allow them witnessed by any. Even overcome with that flood of emotions, he sensed the approach of a fair sized group of men and was waiting for them impassively by the time they appeared. Their arrival had been unexpected but fortuitous in a way. Darien had been stranded by Morpheus, ignorant of his location or even the world he was in. these were not the trees of Earth and the glimpse of sky, through the holes in the canopy, was not the azure blue of his home but a golden green instead. He was lost and the only certainty he had was that Morpheus would not have left him in the midst of enemies. He would not have risked rousing his mate's ire by doing so.
So he waited, hoping these beings could help him puzzle out where he was.
He did not need to wait long. Their mounts picked a path through the trees at a relaxed walk while the twelve of them conversed quietly or dozed in the saddle. They were human, or appeared so, just as their beasts seemed to be no more than well bred horses from Earth. They were, of a man, tall and broad of shoulder. Even on foot, Darien would have been wary of challenging one with no more than his physical strength to defend himself. He probed cautiously at their minds and found no ill will among them, save for the one man who was cursing his steed's uncomfortable saddle, and none of the hidden wells of darkness that all humans of his experience possessed. Or at least, not in the quantity that he was accustomed to. Indeed, four or five did have darker selves but those inner demons were known and controlled. The rest were bright souls that were mortally imperfect but surpassingly fair nonetheless. It was with even greater surprise that he discovered that not one, but two of the twelve were magically gifted.
One of the two possessed no more than a touch of power but the other's mind burned brightly with the gift of Sight. So distracted was he by the captain, for that was what the man was or so the strangely familiar insignia on his armour proclaimed, that he was not immediately aware that only the captain returned his attention. None of the other men so much as glanced towards him as they drew slowly closer. Their mental overtones indicated that even those who stared directly at him did not see him there.
He was not hiding and, in the simple jeans and grey sweatshirt he had left his apartment in, he did not blend into his surroundings. Professional soldiers, as these men obviously were in their uniforms and armour, should not have missed his presence. He was about to hail them when the captain drew even with him and paused, bowing deeply in his saddle as his men's horses slowed to a stop in their puzzlement.
"Good day, Lord Faë," the man said with deep respect in his voice as he straightened.
Darien blinked in sudden bemusement. The man thought he was one of the mythical faerie? Or perhaps, in this world, they weren't myths but fact. It would be no more surprising than common men holding their own small magicks. He nodded his head in return and glanced at the now wide-eyed men who watched their commander in awe.
The man followed his glance and saw the expressions. He looked back at Darien with cautious but amused rue. "This is not Terra, Lord Faë, where every tenth soul has the Sight to see your kind and every thousandth soul can claim a drop of your kind's blood amidst their own. The number of times your kind have come to Atlant can be counted on one hand. Your visit is an unexpected honour… there is no crisis that has drawn you here is there? IS all well in the Faerie lands, Lord?" His face became creased with worry and, behind him, his men, overhearing his words, began to mutter to each other in fearful undertones.
"No," Darien said immediately, to calm the rising fear. The last thing he desired was to incite a panic in these men, especially in the only one, it seemed, that could see or hear him. He thought quickly. "I am here due to an accident, no more, and I plan to return as soon as I am able. I did not intend this you see."
The man calmed and absently signalled to him men to quieten but his frown did not smooth away. "Lord Faë, forgive any insult I may give but, if I may be so bold, you are young amongst your kind, are you not?"
Darien's felt his face freeze and the man took it for offence as he quickly tried to correct his apparent faux pa. "Forgive me, Lord! I truly did not mean offence!"
Forcing himself to speak coldly to support that impression, Darien demanded, "Such a question is distasteful and it is none of your concern." The man believed him to be a young elven lord in trouble, fair enough, if it helped Darien get closer to figuring out what Morpheus had done with him, then he could handle that. "It is enough that your assistance is required." If he were a powerful faë youth, he would find his situation shaming and degrading, would he not? And, no doubt, he would behave more imperiously to make up for that. "Now where am I, mortal?" He used Morpheus' sneer on that 'mortal', the one that had made Darien aware of just how large a gulf there was between them. Apparently it worked on the captain in a similar manner.
"You are on Atlant, Lord, and I am captain Himura of the Atlanti Imperial Guard. If it pleases you, his Highness, the High Lord Tristain, a man of faë descent, is currently attending the summit at the capital. I could escort you to him as I cannot think of another more suitable to aid you."
Darien nodded, in a daze. He knew that name.
He barely noticed Captain Himura command one of his men to dismount and remove his gear from his horse. Nor did being presented with the horse restrained only by a rope bridle break him from his stupor.
"All of the iron has been removed, Lord," the rider said to the empty air next to Darien, "Should you will it, he can carry you, Lord."
Darien just nodded again, vaulting onto the bareback as Himura relayed his acceptance to the soldier. The other was pulled up behind another rider and the company began moving once more, only, this time, all were awake and uncomfortably aware of their invisible companion.
Darien said nothing and nor did anyone else as the day proceeded. An tense silence reigned that none of the riders seemed able to break. The men's easy camaraderie of earlier was now lost, its return inhibited by the interloper in their midst. The captain looked, several times, back to the rider only he could see but could think of nothing that he could say to break the forbidding aura his unnamed guest had drawn about himself like a cloak. And Darien, his mind was mired in the dreadful realisation of what Morpheus had done to him.
Several hours later, they ascended a ridge and paused to gaze at the wondrous, sprawling city below them. Himura dared a proud smile. "Welcome to our planet's capital, Lord Faë, welcome to AtlantiPolis."
Darien looked out over the city with its glorious spires and sparkling polished stone and his heart fell.
Morpheus had sent him over ten thousand years into the past.
Atlantis. He was in the Gods-damned city of Atlantis!
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Fourteen-year-old Mina Aino dashed along the footpath as if all the furies of Hell were chasing her. The red ribbon that held back her long golden hair fluttered gaily in direct contradiction with the mood of the normally bouncy blonde. It was the third time this week that she had overslept and she could not, for the life of her, explain why. Not to herself, her parents or the temperamental teacher that was undoubtedly awaiting her belated arrival in class with something less than patience.
If she had had the breath to grumble about the unfairness of parents, teachers and adults in general then she might have done so. Only might though, because, unlike on other days, the girl was not her boisterous self. No, whatever was trapping her in slumber each night was also leeching her good humour from her and leaving only a deep, nameless dread in its place. Something was coming. Something was about to happen. Something was about to change her world forever and she could not make herself believe that it was because the hunky arcade guy was about to confess his love for her.
In the distance, the noise of Tokyo swelled to a crescendo. Morning traffic, distant school bells and millions of voices combined into a symphony that characterised Japan's greatest metropolis. For a moment the seemingly abrupt roar of life in Tokyo deafened the girl. She reeled with the force of it but, as suddenly as it began, the din vanished, leaving an aching silence in its wake. Strangely bereft, her faculties scrambled for order and found anchor in the appearance of a cat.
She fixed her gaze on the small feline as if her life depended on it and, some small part of her that her dreams had stirred knew that it did. A small, white cat with a watchful, azure stare held the fate of all she held dear. Unconsciously, she stepped towards it and, in her dislocated state of mind, saw nothing unusual when the apparently stray cat did not retreat. It displayed absolutely none of the fear any normal feral should.
Her heart beat pounded loudly in her ears as those knowing orbs bored into hers. For a eternity, she was transfixed, mesmerised and bespelled, then, a car horn startled her. She blinked, but the cat was gone without a trace, vanishing as if it has never existed. Mina blinked again and shook herself. Her sleep difficulties were obviously bleeding over into her waking hours.
The car horn sounded again and another answered but the teen paid them no mind. If she had been late before, now she bordered on truant. Once more, she shook her head and, if her first few steps were unwontedly hesitant, no one was near to remark upon it. No, the only person there to wonder at her strange behaviour of the past few minutes was Mina herself.
Her body finally began to pick to react and her movements became more natural. As her pace began to pick up, finally awareness of her lack of punctuality setting in, the car horns screamed again and a rush of heated air beat at her back. She stumbled, fighting not to fall to her knees, and turned unconsciously. Behind her, where the street had once been, there was just a river of molten black slag.
The ground trembled and she did fall then. The cement foot path buckled and cracked with a bone chilling crunch. She scrambled backwards, watching with terror the superheated liquid that had once been bitumen as if flowed along the cracks that radiated out from the road. Even from several metres distant, she could feel the waves of searing heat sent off by the viscous black substance and she scrambled frantically to keep that distance.
The cars that, minutes before she believed had been honking their protests at the congestion, were now puddles of colour amidst the greater pool of black that had been the road. There were no signs of the drivers. If there had been passengers in any of the vehicles then they, too, had vanished. Mina's eyes drank in the scene with a horrible fascination, even as she tried to escape it.
The freakish devastation and the sinister absence of any other witnesses incited a fear that near choked her. Lent speed by sheer terror, she stumbled to her feet and ran.
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Serenity tumbled through the gateway out of Dream ungracefully. She mantled her wings to regain her balance. All in all, it wasn't her best entrance but, in the wake of her first face to face meeting with her father, she couldn't bring herself to regret taking that shortcut through Morpheus' Realm. She smiled softly as she straightened, he was just as she had pictured, tall and dark and so wonderfully deep. Just like Mamoru, talk about girls choosing lovers that were similar to their fathers. Memory of her human soulmat caused her smile to fad. What had he been trying to tell her before they'd been so abruptly separated?
The shock of an attack threw all such considerations completely from her mind. Solely by reflex, her shields snapped up and another attack shattered against them. Through her own considerable raw strength, she reached out blindly with her power. Coldly, she felt it meet the perpetrators of the ambush and, just as dispassionately, she examined them and determined her course of action. She faintly heard the one calling herself Starfighter approaching her location but, by the time the other was close enough to be of any assistance or hindrance, Serenity had ruthlessly disarmed and restrained them. The two who had acted so unwisely dangled, suspended in midair by unyielding bonds of silver.
The brunette mage materialised in an overly flashy burst of power, concern evident on her face. Serenity did not fool herself into even considering that it was directed towards her. In an irritated tone of voice, she enquired, quasi-sweetly, "These are friends of yours, I may presume, Starfighter?"
If there was one thing that Starfighter had learned in their short acquaintance, it was exactly how painful it could be to deal with Selene's Guardian when she was disgusted with something or someone but felt duty-bound to help them, regardless. The mage still seemed clueless as to the extent she was outclassed, but the manner in which she the Lunari princess had expressed her displeasure at times had impressed upon Starfighter a modicum of restraint. Now, it seemed, the woman wished to spare her friends the same lessons. As Serenity did not really enjoy either rebuking children or bullying those weaker than herself, she silently encouraged those efforts.
"Your Highness, my team-mates, Starmaker and Starhealer. While I have been absent, they have born the brunt of Galaxia's offensive. Your arrival startled them and they mistook you for one o the enemy. On their behalf, I apologise and swear it will not happen again."
The two whom she had captured so easily, did not echo their friend's statement. That might have been due to them not thinking any such thing but the Guardian thought it might be because she'd stolen their ability to speak. Whether their red faces were due to anger, embarrassment or simply from being held upside down for too long, Serenity let them down gently. Her own ire had cooled before it had truly been roused and she saw no purpose in shaming any of her hosts further than she already had.
"Your gracious apology is accepted," she told them courteously, instead. Neither of the two objected, though in the case of the blonde, Starhealer she recalled, it looked to be a close call. "Now shall you take me to your princess? Or whoever is in command so that I can get a complete briefing of the current situation."
Starfighter nodded immediately but something in her friends' faces gave her pause. Serenity did not need that small clue. The resounding grief from the minds of two powerful mages nearly drove her to her knees, so unexpected it was. Starfighter frowned when the Guardian stumbled, not aware of the tragedy or how Serenity had been affected, only aware that something was wrong. Serenity recovered and watched silently, Starhealer and Starmaker communed with their eyes she remained unwilling to intrude on what should be a private moment. If she could, she would have left them to inform Starfighter in true privacy. As it was, she could only afford to spare them a few moments.
"Sister, her Highness was murdered three days ago."
Three days, that would have been just after Starfighter had left Kinmoku. The wait on the moon for Serenity's arrival would have made no difference, a very small mercy in the wake of the sorrow she could sense.
Starfighter's face was bloodless, drained by the shock of the news. "That's not possible," she denied hoarsely, "How could she be dead?"
The two exchanged another of those speaking glances. "Galaxia came for her. She paid no mind to any other, her only goal was Kakyuu."
Starmaker nodded slightly. She wished to hurt us. To demoralise us. She was here before we knew it and gone again before we could react."
Starfighter's eyes became more than a little wild. Serenity watched the woman closely. She hoped she was wrong but she did not think Starfighter was strong enough to take this setback. The loss of the liege so obviously close to her appeared to be unbalancing her. Serenity could feel the emotional chaos the mage was projecting. It was understandable but dangerous.
"How could you…" Starfighter's eyes narrowed furiously as she fixed them on her two friends.
Serenity quietly laid her hand on the brunette's shoulder. Starfighter began to turn and aim her grieving wrath upon the Guardian, Serenity could literally see the line of thought as it formed, but the Lunarian had already acted. Cool, silvery tendrils of calming comfort insinuated themselves into Starfighter's mind. For all her strength, Starfighter was not a telepath and so she did not sense Serenity's interference. She calmed and her thought processes became rational once more. The grief, however, remained and the processes of grieving would still need to be worked through.
"You have my condolences," Serenity said into the silence when Starfighter's words had trailed off into nothing. There was another flare of anger in Starfighter at what the mage perceived to be Serenity's insensitivity but the woman, herself, quelled it before it spawned action. Serenity removed her hand and broke the deeper link while keeping her mind's eye open to the flavours of all three women's mental overtones.
"I am sorry," she repeated her previous sentiments, "But I would ask that you inform me of the situation so that I may act whilst you mourn."
All three reacted identically with offence. Starhealer's pale eyes flared with outrage. "You think we are so foolish as to allow ourselves to be incapacitated even by such a tragedy?"
Serenity smiled gently, letting them see her chagrin. "That was not what I intended," she explained quickly, "I work alone, simply that, and, whilst I occupy the enemy, you and yours may hold the wake. I suspect you have not been given opportunity to do so before this."
"Wouldn't it be more logical if we were to combine our efforts? Use strength in numbers, rather than you acting on your own? The betrayer was the foremost warrior in service to the Council, or so Kakyuu told me," Starmaker enquired unemotionally, her tone at odds with the sharp spike of sorrow Serenity felt when the other mentioned the late princess.
The Lunarian considered the suggestion carefully, taking a moment to gaze out, over the ravaged landscape. Her father's portal out of Dream had left her in what once must have been the courtyard of the palace on Kinmoku. There was nothing left to show this though, only the rubble of what would have been the palace itself and the regrets of the survivors. She sent out probes, scouting her surroundings only to confirm what she had already suspected – the four of them were the only living beings within a league in any direction. No wonder Starhealer and Starmaker had believed her to be the enemy and, yet, Starfighter had not been surprised to see it thus. Serenity became a little more understanding of the woman's rudeness towards her mother. It was not excusable but it was understandable. These people had lost so much already to the menace Galaxia had become, would it be right of her to increase their burden?
Galaxia was powerful, true, perhaps even moreso than Serenity in her youth, but Serenity's purpose was not so much to put an end to Galaxia's rampage as it was to divert it back to the barren sectors. That was something that should be within her capabilities. She redirected her reconnaissance probes away from Kinmoku and into the surrounding starlanes. She found traces of several powerful beings, not least the three day old trail of Galaxia herself, but for the lesser presences there was no evidence of activity more recent than two days.
"Galaxia was accompanied?" she asked the three, looking back at them calmly.
Starhealer's sudden and fierce, almost feal, smile caught her by surprise, until she heard the platinum blonde's response. "She was."
Serenity nodded in understanding as Starfighter lit up with grim satisfaction. It seemed whatever allies the once-guardian had garnered had paid the price for their association with Kakyuu's murderer. This meant that, of all the traces Serenity had discerned, she needed only to concern herself with Galaxia's. Her decision made, she regarded the three solemnly. "I will face her alone," she informed them. When each looked to argue, she held her hand up for silence. "Alone," she repeated implacably. "Your assistance is appreciated but not required. See to your dead and begin healing your world. I will return to aid you but my task make take some time. Do not wait for me."
Starhealer and Starmaker were examining her dubiously but said nothing despite their doubt. Starfighter was reluctant but accepted her at her word, even though she, herself, would prefer to accompany her.
Courteously, they waited for her to leave before doing so themselves. The Guardian approved the evidence of manners that Starfighter had not shown in the Silver Keep. She smiled to herself as she modified the illusion she wore to one of greater power and more detail. She knew they saw a glimpse of as much of her true appearance as their limited senses could perceive but it did not concern her – she wore the original illusion not to hide but to blend in with her people. When she was finished, she stood before them in white boots, a tri-layered miniskirt and white bodice. Her wings remained unaffected, but otherwise she appeared as a human female. It would take Galaxia some time to see through to the Guardian beneath.
"Who are you?" Starhealer demanded, her pale eyes wide as she stared at the Lunarian.
Serenity smiled at them kindly. She could feel their surprise and curiosity as well as their dissolving doubt in her abilities. "I was introduced to Starfighter as the daughter and Guardian of Selene, Princess Serenity. If you wish, you may call me Usagi." She glanced down at the puffy pink sleeves of her seeming. Saccharine but they would serve her purpose. She looked up again and grinned at them cheekily before spreading her wings wide. "I think, however," she added in amusement, "That I will have Galaxia know me as…" Her grin became a fond smile as she remembered the last time she had worn a similar costume. "Sailor Moon… Eternal Sailor Moon."
She nodded to herself and the three mages. Then her wings came down and her power was released as she sped towards Galaxia's most recent location.
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Darien stared out of the window blankly. The vista was one of unalloyed magnificence and yet it held not even a sliver of his attention. It couldn't, not when he was pummelling his memory, trying to force the misty and vague recollections of his past life into some semblance of sense which would be of some use to him. It was difficult, the fragmented memories intractable and intangible things, even after more than ten years of awareness of their existence, they gave him no more information than they ever had.
In the hour since he had begun the, almost futile, exercise, he had learned no more from his previous lifetime than he had before and that was unacceptable. He was mired in the distant past, on a planet that no longer existed in his time and about to meet Lord Tristan within the hour. An hour that he resented losing but could not argue.
Nor could Darien afford ignorance, not when it was his own past that he risked meddling with. High Lord Tristan, elder brother of the Terran king and the man who would teach one prince Endymion everything he would need to know about magic.
Tristan nic Terra, protector of the Imperium Silver Crystal.
Tristan who was standing behind him.
Darien kept his face composed as he turned, showing none of the surprise that he felt when he had not detected the other man's presence until he had seen his reflection in the glass window. He turned calmly and nodded shallowly. A faë no matter how lowly would still think himself above a human so although he must be courteous none of the deference that he would have once felt must come through. That was difficult when his first sight of the man roused a forgotten but ingrained deference in him. While Darien was wrestling with that, the lord's very familiar features registered and they should have been familiar. Last lifetime or no, for, barring the strangely alien cast, Tristain's face was almost the mirror of Darien's own. Coincidence or not, significant or not, the shock unbalanced Darien. He stepped back unwittingly. It was an unconscious reaction that, combined with the unexpected reverence he held for the man, proved his undoing.
*Well, what have we here? As I was told, of the blood and yet not… Kin despite yourself, hmm?*
The voice, clear and crisp, was directly in his mind. His charade had been rendered a failure before it was truly tested, the lord had breached his shields without effort. Darien hurried to expel the other's presence but it was too late. Tristain had access, something he took ruthless advantage of, and he reft Darien from his control of himself, all the while keeping up a running commentary aloud.
"Oh yes, more than a drop of faë blood here, almost half. Surprising that, and you have no clue…"
Darien glared, dark eyes burning with anger at the invasion but it was directed as much at him himself as Tristain. He had not even considered that the brother of a king would not give him a chance to state his case before acting to coerce the truth from him and so was woefully unprepared. Now he had to face consequences of his laxness but he would not do so gracefully. Tristain's power, which was actually less than his own, ensnared him helplessly, wielded as it was by an iron will and exquisite skill that shrugged his continued struggles aside with little effort.
"Oho! Dealings with the gods, I see! And with the Lord of Dream, himself! And, yet, more that you do not know. Child of the future. Child of destiny, child of Earth… Child of mine!"
Through his fierce and focussed opposition of his helplessness, Darien heard the man's words and stilled. Power and body might be paralysed but mind was not. What the Hell was the old man going on about? His father was… had been Eowyn nic Terra, Tristain's younger and legitimate half-brother. Perhaps he meant spiritual child, which Darien could see. Tristain had basically raised him while matters of State had distracted the king. That explained one thing and the future remark was obvious as was Earth, but destiny? Was his role in Usagi's ascension to godhood preordained?
"So close and yet so far. You cannot see what is before your eyes, blinded as you are by self-deception."
What couldn't he see? Darien was confident that he was than moderately self-aware. He knew his weaknesses and strengths. Andrew had refined the training Tristain had begun. Like an adept, a prince could not allow facets of his mind go unrecognised and unconfronted lest they lead him to abuse of his power.
"Lost in time. Lost in space. Lost in reality. Such a child to have forgotten all I taught you of the Realms."
Darien silently challenged his uncle to recall everything that happened to him in two lifetimes with over ten millennia and a rebirth in between. Besides, he wasn't lost. He was on the damned planet of Atlant sometime around half a century before Beryl turned it into the asteroid belt and, if he wasn't mistaken, he was trapped between Underhill and the Realm that Earth existed in, thus influenced by Will, Awareness and Imagination, as Usagi would classify the dimensions, and the four that Earth knew. Which was why he was visible only to those with the sight to view beyond the four accepted dimensions and why he could not touch anything with even a hint of iron in its makeup. He must have appeared in the ironwood forest that was cultivated by the Atlantians for building material. It was a distasteful practice to the faë but very few of them visited this Realm anywhere other than Terra and, even then, only rarely. Endymion never did understand why Tristain had harped so that he learned of the faë domain as well as the one he was supposedly fated to rule.
"But there is strength here. You have overcome much so why have you stopped now? Your goal is within reach. The lady is won and waiting for you."
What the Hell did he know anyway? Endymion managed to clench his fists. His uncle had no bloody idea what the situation with Usagi was about. Telepath or not, son of an elven seer or not, Tristain had obviously missed the fact that Serenity was Morpheus' bloody soul mate!
"Why do you think that, I wonder…"
For a moment, the not-so-young prince fumbled for a reason. He could not actually remember ever being told… then he recalled his first meeting with the old god. Images of gold, pure and deep, power rose in his mind along with knowledge born of his own prescience. There could not be a second such power and every interaction between the god and the Guardian had born out his conclusion.
"A conclusion based on a false assumption."
If, in his uncle's power, Endymion was still, his uncle's words made him a statue of flash. Tristain smiled at him, affectionately malicious towards a favoured student that still could not see the truth laid out before him.
"Is it not obvious? The clues are all there, my child. As I am to you, so Morpheus is to Elysion."
The god's nephew?
"Little fool! Woefully, wilfully blind." Tristain shook his head in cool rebuke.
The implacable will that held Endymion released him and the adept staggered at the unexpectedness of it. Belatedly, crimson-flecked gold roused but the prince's mind was too unbalanced to understand what it Saw.
"You look much as you will. Strange that two lifetimes have given you the same features in both."
Endymion regarded the other man, suspicious of the apparent change in subject.. Descended as he was, as they both were, from creatures who existed equally in Will, Imagination and Awareness, self image was very powerful. Unconsciously perhaps, but inevitably, his self-perception had been impressed upon his reality, though moulded by his environment. In a world of humans, he had become one… except that he hadn't From the moment he had awakened into his past self's magick, modern Earth's expectations had ceased to have power over him. More believable than ever was his distance from modern humans and his attraction to those who were not. He wondered, wistfully, if he would have had more chance with Usagi had she known this. Mortal was still mortal, however, so he thought not. His mind gravitated back to the Guardian, as was inevitable, and his fears returned, full force. It was ten thousand years before the crisis would come, yet, he knew well that time, too, could be bent to a powerful will.
Endymion need to act before his nameless dread was realised. He had thought Morpheus would listen but now he doubted. The Star's actions were careless and inexcusable.
"Perhaps," Tristain suggested as he watched his nephew, "You should find the being destined to be at her side."
Morpheus?
An indigo gaze, clear and pitiless, bore into his own and willed him to think beyond his preconceptions.
No Morpheus then. Tristain had virtually said as much, in the true enigmatic fashion of the faë, previously. What was Endymion to Tristain? Student, nephew, possibly even son in both heart and body considering the amount of faë blood he had evinced and his royal father's suspicious lack of other issue…
Heir.
An approving smile bent the other's lips and Endymion stared as comprehension dawned.
An heir… Morpheus' heir.
"Where do I find him?" It was the first time he had spoken since the unorthodox conversation had begun. Indeed, his voice was almost rough from the suddenness of it but Endymion could care less at what it would reveal to those present to hear. There was only Tristain here and his mind had been laid bare before the lord.
Tristain shrugged, a strangely human gesture in the predominantly nonhuman man. "Within?" Endymion did not appreciate the answer and glared. Tristain sighed. "Seeking him in the now would be in vain for his power is bound and constrained. No help for your self-appointed task will be found within this Realm, seek in another for your love's salvation. For your own dilemma, I believe that I have served you as well as I am able. All that you need, you already possess."
Endymion frowned at his mentor in perplexity. "I do not understand."
*Remember, Endymion, remember.*
He already did. He stared at the man who had cleared the cobwebs from his past, unnoticed, as he had explored Endymion's mind. With crystal clarity, he could remember his seventy years as Terra's heir, from birth to his death in the final conflagration of the Fall. He remembered each and every skill that Tristain had imparted to him as clearly as he recalled those taught by Andrew. Two separate teachers but one basic lesson – how to traverse the Realms.
His course of action was clear now and the need to be gone was almost overwhelming but there was still much to be said to his old teacher. Gratitude and relief to be expressed, concern to be explained… but there was no time. Even now, the dread within him grew darker and more appalling and he could not countenance the fruition of the half-born prophecy.
He could not!
All of the impatience and anxiety, forgotten under the onslaught of both Tristain's invasion and the transformation from Darien into Endymion, clamoured for attention. All he could do was hope that his uncle understood when, without ceremony, he slipped from his uncle's sight. He did so with a lessened weight upon his heart though, for his last glimpse of his uncle showed that the man knew and understood everything. The normally unforgivable breach of etiquette would be excused and illicitly gained knowledge would not be used immorally.
In twenty years time, Tristain nic Terra would leave the Imperial Silver Crystal in his heir's hands and walk knowingly to his death as one of the first casualties to fall to Beryl. The future would not change and one reincarnated, half-faë warrior mage would meet and save the Guardian of Selene.
Endymion made his way back to Dream, the first leg in his quest to seek out the mysterious heir on whom his hopes rested.