Remember, it is unedited, unwieldy and generally unimpressive. Comments are always welcome if they are designed to help fix that sad state of affairs. Henceforth, will probably just be posting the bits on livejournal until the fic's finished.
Chapter three of the Heir of Morpheus
Mina spent the next three weeks after her bizarre encounter in a daze. Her behaviour was remarkable, even to those who thought of her as a dizzy blonde, but those that noticed were soon distracted by other events. The atmosphere in Tokyo was tense. Inexplicable destruction was everywhere and it was becoming more and more dangerous to go out at night. Mina knew this, just as she knew of the increasing number of missing persons. She knew of the strange epidemic of weakness that was overworking all of the health works in the city. For all of her distraction, Mina could not help but know of many things that she would much have preferred to remain oblivious to. She could literally feel the tension in the people around her. The fear of her classmates was like a blow to her every morning. Pain and grief was like a flail and she changed her habits so that she no longer walked within a block of any hospital.
Mina knew that Tokyo was in trouble, how could she not? Those same troubles were being engraved into her psyche emotion by terrible emotion. Between that and her ever more disturbing dreams, the blond teen found very little in the way of true rest. If only she could remember what it was that she dreamed, she knew both dilemmas would resolve themselves and she would be able to sleep at last.
Needless to say, this did not make for an attentative Mina Aino during the interschool debate tournament. Between the giggling group of girls behind her, each nursing a serious crush on some poor, unnamed soul, the twins in front of her, both anxious over a relative hurt two days before and the girl at her side who was radiating fear for a friend that had not shown up that day, Mina felt like she was drowning and she was too tired to struggle to stay afloat. She had nodded off three times already and, three times, her inexplicable sensitivity to the emotional states that surrounded her was dulled as that intangible something welled up from her unconscious mind. If only she could see it clearly...
"... Schools competition! Welcome!"
She was startled awake again by the end of the principal's opening speech. She joined in the obligatory applause only half-heartedly before lapsing back into reverie. Weariness soon converted day dreams to a light doze haunted by restless images as, in the background, the voice of the speaker on the visiting Crossroads Junior High debate team began her introduction.
Mina's sleep became deeper and the dream fragments more entire and more fearsome. Her heartbeat began to rise as even unconsciousness could not constrain her increasing anxiety. Memories, clear ones now, of the incident she had tried so hard to forget, crowded out the intangible ghosts. She remembered how the ground had trembled beneath her... she remembered how the air had been so heavy and still... she remember... fear.
The screams were what woke her. For a moment, she thought the scream was her own, embarrassing but not entirely surprising. Then, her surroundings truly registered and she realised that it was not she who had cried out but instead the speaker. It was the girl, short and delicate with dark hair, on the Crossroads debate team who was looking out over the audience with an expression of absolute terror. Frowning, Mina stood and twisted around. Her eyes widened as she abruptly understood exactly what was panicking the girl and decided that Anni, or whatever her name was, had the right idea. Her screams joined the visitors and then all Hell broke loose.
This broke everyone else from their shocked stillness and soon the entire room was filled with hysteria for monsters roamed the halls. The majority of the students headed towards the main doors in a mass exodus as they fought each other to escape. Some, like the girl from Crossroads on the stage, seemed frozen by their terror and others, like Mina, found themselves the focus of five horrors.
The girls who had bombarded her with their emotions were gone and Mina was left alone to face the stuff of her nightmares. It was evil in a physical forma and she shrank back as it approached her. Her eyes saw something with a feminine shape, only larger than any human female could be, but she did not question that, whatever it was, it was evil.
The blond stumbled into the next row of chairs as she backed away from it. Her fear was almost choking her as it used her distraction to reach for her with arms fouled by filth. Flashbacks to three weeks before pressed at her mind while the terror of those few remaining to watch the creature stalk her pressed, amalgamated and exploded with her own.
She panicked and this time the scream she loosed was not one of simple fright but that of heart-stopping horror. She screamed and, with a part of her that had not fully awakened, pushed. Even behind clenched eyelids, flashes of bright light could be seen and, when against all expectation nothing happened to her, Mina opened her eyes to see the monster's limbs in ruins. Streamers of golden light flailed around Mina and the monster, never once touching the girl but inflicting deadly harm upon her tormentor with even the lightest of brushes. The monster struggled to regroup, mouth opening to shoot a flood of viscous fluid at Mina. In reflex, Mina threw her arms up to block the tide and two of the streamers of light, echoing her posture, crossed in front of her protectively. The fluid impacted against the light and dissolved into nothing.
Seemingly saved from certain death yet again, Mina lowered her arms and regarded the streamers in shock. A disbelieving numbness settled over her as the glimmering of comprehension began to dawn in her mind. They came from her, from that strange part of her that was pushing. But, as that numbness settled over her and the fear faded, so too did the streamers of light, leaving her defenceless against the monster. It loomed over her but the streamers did not reappear. She stared up at it as it shuffled closer, it was heavily damaged by the streamers, unbalanced and unsteady. Its only real weapon remaining seemed to be whatever the fluid was that it shot from its mouth. Really it wasn't all that frightening anymore.
However, that did not mean it was not still capable of hurting her and so she scrambled away from it. This time fear did not cloud her mind. Or rather, it did, but it was not hers. Mentally, Mina fumbled to shield herself from the emotions of the others that still bombarded her. Now that she was free of her own debilitating terror, she did not want that of another to weigh her down. It came to her, suddenly, with a soundless click.
For the first time in three weeks her mind was entirely her own. There were no outside forces pressuring her in anyway and, if she had been alone and unthreatened, she would have celebrated the lucidity of thought that came with the relief. The monster continued to bear down on her.
With a renewed clarity of mind, Mina regarded the monster. She searched for that mysterious part of her and then, clumsily, she pushed. The streamer of light that shot towards the monster was not as elegant or graceful as the others had been and it was more of a blob than a streamer but it did prove something to Mina. She made them.
That streamer did little to no damage to the monster, as did the next and the next after that. However, each time, Mina gained a little more control and dexterity and they held more and more of the deadly grace of the originals.
The fifth was a streamer that extended from her hand to and through the monster. Unconsciously she actually grasped the streamer and yanked. The streamer flayed across the monster like a bright and magical whip. Mina had no experience with whips and it seemed to her that, whatever the streamer was, it would slip from her grasp if she was not careful. So she looped the end around her fingers more securely.
That was not how a whip was held, they had a handle she recalled. Perhaps it was more like the magic lasso from the Wonder Woman cartoon, only it was better than just a rope, cooler too… it was a chain with brilliant golden links, like those of her favourite necklace and, like the streamers, the chain would actually cut through what a rope could only tie up.
She raised her arm and brought it down, the line of gold following the path she had directed and it sliced through the monster with contemptuous ease. Even as she willed the streamer to coil in her hands, the monster disintegrated. Mina stared at the spot it had been blankly for a moment before looking down to what she held. It was just as she had imagined it, softly glowing golden links that she just knew would be unbreakable for as long as she willed it so, like little interconnected hearts. It was real and warm against her fingers. The glow was more orange than gold but Mina found that she didn't really care. Somehow, she'd made this, simple from her imagination and it felt good. Despite having almost been killed, Mina felt better than she had in ages. This was a part of what had been haunting her and, in mastering it, she had gained some relief from her tormenting subconscious. Between that and the blessed peace in her mind, how could she not feel good?
And, with that thought, the clumsy psychic shield she had made failed and once again she was assailed by the fear of others. There weren't as many this time, only one in fact and, as Mina struggled to rebuild the walls that would grant her peace of mind, she turned to look for the source of the terror/horror/shock/disbelief. In an effort to protect herself from the barrage, Mina finally recreated her shields as, across the expanse of the auditorium, blue eyes met blue and Mina and the girl from the Crossroads debate team caught each other's gaze. They held each other's eyes for an endless second. Then, yet again, Mina's unsteady shielding fell beneath a sharp spear of fear and… curiosity. When she turned her attention outwards again, the girl was gone and Mina was left alone in the room.
There were still other monsters and fairly near, which meant that Mina could not collapse as she greatly desired to. Besides, if nothing else, the past five minute had shown her just how shaky her control over these new abilities really was. She was definitely going to have to practice.
Unsure of what else to do, she stuffed her still glowing length of chain into her bag and headed for the side door. Hopefully she could get away without being noticed by teachers or monsters alike. Still, it was unlikely that school was going to go on as normal now. Mina figured that, this time, even her form teacher was going to accept monster attacks as an excuse for truancy.
As she slipped from the school grounds, Mina finally remembered what the girl's name had been introduced as.
Amy… Amy Mizuno.
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There were no illusions of Jupiter in its prime. No towering trees or magnificent storms to create a sense of wonder. There was only darkness. He caught the faintest hint of her silver at the edges of his senses but, no sooner did he feel her than she was gone and he was alone. Again.
Tempted though he was to pursue her, he knew well that it would be a futile chase. His speed was as nothing compared to that of the winged Guardian. Even if, by some miracle, he did gain on her, it would be to no purpose. Well did he know her sense of duty for, indeed, it was akin to his own. She would not turn aside from her course unless his arguments were flawless. To sway her would require a subtler course, hence he must trust to her skills to keep her whole while he sought out the strength that would be her saviour.
Of course, the start of his quest was hampered by ignorance, thus his return to a Realm whose lord was more like to hinder him with puzzles than to aide him with blunt truths. The darkness around him was stifling, much like his lack of knowledge. This was not how he remembered Dream as being. Then, from nowhere and everywhere, came three voices, mocking him.
"Perhaps then, you are recalling it incorrectly."
"Perhaps he no longer understands what he does not remember."
"Perhaps he never did."
"That makes no sense whatsoever!" he shouted into the darkness.
"This is the one? Is he worthy?"
"He has not yet been tested."
That was Morpheus, he was certain of it. No other being was guaranteed to burrow beneath his skin with but a few innocuous words. The other two, then, would most likely be Morpheus' two companions that had interfered before when he sought to warn the one he had then thought to be her soul mate. He growled, aggrieved by the Dream-lord's never ending games. "I don't have time for this! She doesn't have time for this! She faces worse than death and she will not win, not alone. If you care for her at all, Morpheus, help me!"
"Will he break?"
"Perhaps, perhaps not. Only Time may tell."
"The future is, for him at least, unwritten. He will forge it unaided by me or mine. It is his story to write."
Aggravated beyond measure by their continual disregard, he forced himself to swallow his ire. "This is not about me, it's about her! Kaos is waiting for her, she needs help!"
Six burning stars appeared around him. They were eyes, he realised, boring into him with all the power the three beings possessed. It was intimidating to say the least, yet he refused to relent and spread his glare across them, impartially. "She will be destroyed," he repeated quietly.
"So save her, Child."
"Or will you stand idly by whilst she is beset?"
"Of course I won't! But I will not be enough! I am only a mortal. She requires divine assistance, that of a Star. If none of you will intervene, then tell me where I may find the one named Elysion!"
silence followed his heartfelt plea and then the darkness faded into grey. Three forms resolved into being.
"You seek Elysion?" one of Morpheus' companions inquired mildly. "Whyfor?"
"Because he is her soul mate!" he glared at Morpheus, remembering anew how he had believed that of the Dream-lord and how Morpheus had done nothing to disillusion him. Morpheus continued to stare but remained silent.
"And why do you seek the mate of the Precious Lady in this realm, then?" the second of the lord's companions wondered.
He took a deep breath and calmed himself as much as he was able. Too many questions with no answers given in turn were trying his patience. Only the sure knowledge that he would need their assistance if he wished to expedite his quest kept him from venting his displeasure, outmatched though he surely was.
"Enough, my friends," Morpheus abruptly commanded, breaking his silence. "Young Endymion nears the end of his tether and he asks for no more than a few facts with which to find aid for one precious to us all. Whether he has the right of her need is for him to discover."
He did not think there was any 'if' about it but, now that the Dream-lord finally seemed accommodating, he deemed it unwise to provoke further argument. "Please, where may I find Elysion?"
"Within?" one advised blandly, echoing Tristain.
The other shook his shaggy head in a kind negative. "Too soon yet. He is not prepared."
"Then," Morpheus concluded, sweeping his burning gaze across his associates, "We must see that he becomes so." His star-like stare fixed upon him again. "Long before the time of your rebirth, in the time of your reign as King's heir, my own did reside in Earth's realm. Then came the Fall and Earth's children did fail my child and so I, in turn, did seek restitution. I kept from them the greater portion of my realm until you did pay their debt."
He listened closely. What he heard explained a lot but did not tell him what he needed,
Morpheus nodded regally, acknowledging the truth of the thought for all that he did not voice it. "His shell destroyed, his soul fled but to where, I do not know."
So, Elysion had been killed during the Fall. Most likely during the final conflagration as no great changes in the realms, due to divine punishment or otherwise, had occurred til those fires had been lit.
"Thank you," he said after a moment's thought. "Now I must request a final favour. One of you sent me to the past, I ask that you do so again."
"Oh?" asked one of the two unknowns, "And what of the Law of Chronos?" He smiled. "As I think that you are Chronos, I would say it is up to you to decide if my cause is enough to make an exception for."
"Well spoken, Child, but…" corrected the same unknown. His cowl slipped back to reveal silky dark locks framing a maddeningly familiar face. "I am not Chronos."
"No," said the third and last of the trio, his hood remaining firmly in place, "I am." The god glided closer to him and he was struck speechless by the power of the other as it rolled over him. A pale and slender hand reached forth and a single finger lightly touched his forehead. "Go then, Child, and do what you must. Find what you require and return to your proper place."
As the words faded, so did Dream. He was gone.
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She shone with a transport spell as she arced through space. She didn't really need the spell. There were a dozen easier and more efficient ways for her to follow the spoor of her quarry. She did not need magic to move through space this way and certainly not so slowly. She had cast the spell anyway and it was pink. It was not the colour her magic naturally manifested as. Lunarians tended towards pastels, unsurprising perhaps for a race ruled by a being known as Serenity, and its princess was no exception. Normally her power showed as and extraordinary, but unsurprising, silver but, with a little effort, there was no trace of her natural hue in her spellcasting.
Humans, as opposed to the Lunari, no matter what realm their Earth, or version thereof, inhabited, ranged across the spectrum of what they called visible light and beyond. Prime examples of this were the reincarnates. Between them, they covered the spectrum rather spectacularly. From the pale blue of Amy's clam intellectual nature to the deeper, darker green of Lita's nurturing and protective tendencies to the orang-almost gold of Mina's bright and gregarious self to Raye's intensely passionate scarlet.
Compared to them, pink was a baby colour. It was red before it grew up. It was passion without maturity, emotion unchecked, reckless and rash. Pink power was often scorned for it usually signalled the untempered nature and naivety of its caster. It heralded inexperience. To those that studied such things, an opponent whose signature power was pink was considered a novice, dangerous only in its unpredictability.
Combined with her strength, the deception should prove to be an irresistible lure for Galaxia. Or so 'Eternal Sailor Moon' hoped. Her speed retarded by the façade she had created, she had had entirely too much time to contemplate such matters and their fallibility. For all of her confidence on Kinmoku, the thought of meeting Galaxia was frightening. Not the she would allow her fear to deter her, but Galaxia had been second to only the Heart in power. Had she been a Divine Star, then her defection from the Council's service would have been a disaster beyond reckoning. However, she had lacked the critical element in her spirit that would have made her one. In truth, she had not even been a true guardian, only a mortal whose abilities had earned her recognition from every Star on the Council. As had her loyalty, which only made the betrayal that much greater.
The traces she found were growing fresher. Even slowed as she was, Serenity was fleet enough to gain on traitor. She proceeded with greater caution now. Should she be caught unaware, Sailor Moon would not stand a chance, not against this foe. The Doom Phantom had been a less terrifying prospect… or had that only been because Mamoru had been at her side? She surely wished he was here now. He would have been a comforting presence and, together, nothing could have matched them. She could feel the weight of the crystal where it burned in her breast, reminding her of him. It offered her almost unlimited power but it was nothing compared to the strength he could give her just with his simple touch.
She wondered why he had been in Dream.
Then, all other thoughts gone from her head, Serenity pulled up to an abrupt stop. There, only a few lightseconds distant and approaching her fast, was an almost inconceivable power. One last time, she checked her disguise and then the confrontation was upon her.
"Stop!"
Clad in golden armour, polished to a brilliance that was a direct contrast to the tarnished seeming of the power itself. Copper eyes were empty of soul beneath the golden helm, only darkness in the mind behind them. "Well then, what is this? Another of the fire-flower's little followers? Come to put a stop to my unspeakable evil for good?"
"No." Oppressed by the other's tainted presence, her voice was quiet. Better that and the effort to be heard in space than to let the other into her mind with the easier mindspeech.
Those empty eyes were weighing her. "No? Then what, hmm? You do not appear to be of the fire-flower's people. So who are you then?"
Serenity stood straight and proud and projected youthful certainty for all she was worth. "I am Eternal Sailor Moon," she proclaimed clearly, "On behalf of the Moon, I have come to request that you cease your unprovoked attacks upon Kinmoku."
"The Moon? What moon is that, I wonder…" Galaxia's eyes narrowed. "You speak in the Divine Tongue, you are a guardian are you not? Or at least the servant of a Star. Which one? Which Star is it that has interfered where they have no business?"
"I have come on behalf of the Lunarian queen, the High Lady of the Realm of Mystery. She knows that this is not her realm but she is the closest there is to a reigning Power in this region. So she will act on the behalf of a realm that has no one else."
"And why should I give her what she wants?"
"Because she asks you to and…" Serenity was never given the opportunity to finish. Galaxia's eyes became slits.
"The Moon? You mean Earth's Moon? Where the great one's handmaiden fell?"
"At the hand of a mortal," Serenity agreed tranquilly.
"You will take me there! Now!"
"No!" She had not expected this to be the bait that drew the traitor after her and Galaxia's interest worried her more than a little. That Galaxia had turned against the Council was widely known but this indicated that the treachery was more complete. this was evidence that, behind the mindless destruction, Kaos' designs were being worked towards. Serenity backed away from the other. "No," she repeated and then put as much distance between the two of them as fast as she could without revealing herself and it was not so that she would be underestimated. No, it was so that Galaxia would not realise exactly what had blindly walked into her reach.
It had been a mistake, she realised, a grossly huge error of judgement that could very well cost her her soul. She sensed Galaxia's power rouse and she fled.
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Endymion appeared on the rim of a crater amidst a ravaged landscape. Heat still radiated from the mix of slag and rubble, making the environment hostile to all creatures without an enormous reserve of magic to devote to self-preservation. It was devastation on a scale that no mortal had ever before witnessed. And it was fresh.
He did not know how long he stood there, aghast at the sheer loss of life in the ruin of a world. Not too long before this, it had been, not teeming with lifeforms, but thriving nonetheless and the destruction extended past the horizon. The very world had been razed to an extent from which it would never recover. He could feel the vestiges of the world-soul as they faded completely. No amount of healing power would revive this world, none at all. Shaken by the force of his certainty, Endymion sent his mind out, seeking. It took him but a moment to find what he sought, as well it should for he remembered being there.
With the knowledge that Tristain had revived in him, the reincarnate considered his position. Unlike the last time, he was completely inhabiting the realm that his homeworld existed in. It would not be only those gifted with Sight who would be able to see him so he would need to act to ensure that his presence was not discovered. He was here to observe and investigate, not to intervene which he would undoubtedly be forced to do should the local defenders learn of him. Invisibility spells were fraught with danger, especially when utilised to fool those with a great deal of their own innate power, but, hopefully, Endymion's current strength would pull it off. Combined with a broad telepathic suggestion to all and sundry no to look at him directly, as long as he proceeded with care, Endymion should be able to walk straight into the Combined Allied Defence Headquarters, which was excellent as that was exactly what he planned on doing.
He lifted himself from the ground and glided through the thinning air towards his target. As he soared across the scarred surface of the dead world, he could feel its atmosphere being leeched away. Soon there wouldn't be even a hint left to say that this was once a living world. Like the scorched Mercury, the shattered Atlanti and the sterilised Pluto, Terra's Moon would never again be habitable by humans.
The sapphire bulk that was Terra, herself, rose in the sky and Endymion slowed his pace. His target was approaching.
There it was, a small, solitary shuttle. He knew it for one of the three attached to the super dreadnaught, Icefire, flagship of the Admiral Khonsu, leader of the surviving forces of the Sol starsystem. The shuttle, itself, was full almost to capacity but only one lonely figure, suited and encased where he should never have needed to be, stood on the cooling surface of the moon. Light from the shuttle occasionally glinted from the figure's helmet but, otherwise, the occupants of the vessel left the man to mourn in peace. For that was what he was doing.
Endymion settled unnoticed by the man's side and touched his shoulder so lightly that he would never be perceived. Instantly, he had access to the man's thoughts. Endymion easily reached past the muffling quality of the space suit to directly touch a deep and vast pool of aguish and rage. This man, Admiral Khonsu himself, was the last and only survivor of the seven hundred year old moon colony. Today he mourned his loss of home and family, tomorrow, he would once again take charge of the forces opposing the witch's invaders. Endymion remembered this personally, he did not need to make this connection while Khonsu was unguarded with grief. He did need to so that he could determine if, hidden beneath Khonsu's awe-inspiring competence, lay the sleep seed of a future god.
Seeds there were aplenty. There were those of greatness that were already taking root, those of power long since nurtured to their utmost, those of destruction that slumbered yet and seeds of the man that Khonsu would become. He was a great and powerful man indeed, he had survived Beryl's razing of his homeland where no other could, he was only thirty years old and unanimously elected leader of the allied forces, he was a master of the element of ice and an acknowledged adept of defencive battle magicks. He was only human. He would one day become the man known as Kian but he would never be Elysion. For an instant, Endymion was relieved despite himself. He had not expected the two to be the same and was blindingly grateful that it was not he whom the mage would lose Serenity to. Then he cursed himself for his petty thoughts and stepped back to think more carefully.
Who the reincarnates had been specifically in their first lives had never come up before, except in Endymion's own case of course but there had been extenuating circumstances for that. Namely a unique crystal that had followed him from one life to the next until he could discharge his duty. The other reincarnates had not had that as a reminder. They had pieced the past together from fragments of legend and lore that had survived the passage of time as well as the fortuitous discover of an ancient version of a time capsule that had been buried beneath Tokyo. It had held accounts of the war, some weapons, some technology and description of the enemy forces but nothing about their own pasts.
Who each of them had been was something each of them had relegated to the list of questions like how they had been reborn that they would never get answers to. During the Dark Moon crisis, the scouts and Tuxedo Mask had, in a roundabout way, guessed the answer to the second question. Endymion was about to learn the answer to the first now. It would make life both less and more difficult. The reincarnates were not candidates for Elysion, that he was certain of. There were too many Stars of one status or another keeping them under observation for Elysion to have been missed in their number. As Endymion was fairly certain the criteria they had been selected for when being chosen for reincarnation included many of the same traits the Divine Stars looked for in their guardians, that surely shortened the list of possible humans of this era capable of meeting them. The problem was, who else was there?
Endymion's first task would be to make such a list for himself. The second would be to eliminate the future reincarnates from it. Then he would need to investigate the rest. This was complicated further by his ignorance as to whether all on the list, bar Elysion, were reincarnated or only a small selection. The ultimate complication would be if he had assumed wrongly and there was no hypothetical list, that Elysion and the reincarnates had nothing whatsoever in common and that Elysion could be any of the half a trillion humans on the various remaining planets still alive at the time of the Fall.
An even more terrifying thought was that Elysion might not even be human, that he might have been one of the countless others to be found. What if he had been of the Delphi, the ancestors of the dolphins, that had not escaped Neptune before it was destroyed? Or what if he was an alicorn? All of them had perished when Atlanti had been shattered. There had been a half a dozen non-human sentient species in the solar system and all but the Delphi had become extinct in the Fall. And then there were the semi-sapient and the non-sentient too! Serenity had once told him that form was unimportant and now he wished he could go back and argue that it was vital. How was he supposed to find Elysion without even a clue?
He started to pace, his boots treading over twenty centimetres above the ground as he ran his hand through his hair in frustration. He had to narrow the options down. Elysion had to be of a sentient species, stuff the earthworms have their own civilisation speech. Biased of him or not, he could not see an earthworm or anything less than something with genius level intelligence and self-awareness running Dream after Morpheus. He should know, he'd helped put Dream together into its current form. That still left a dozen sentient species but only those that had lasted until the final conflagration were candidates. That left the Delphi, the Phoenixia of Mars and the Ents of Jupiter.
As the Ents were always paired with the semi-human dryads for the entirety of their lives, they were out. Phoenixes tended to be female and solitary and Endymion could hardly imagine that species producing Serenity's mate. She had told him herself that her preferences were not for her own sex and for one of the rare males to be willing to engage in the kind of pairbond that Serenity would want was so unlikely as to be impossible. There would be no room for solitude in that bond and, while Endymion might covet that closeness, it would drive a phoenix mad.
That left the Delphi. Their migration from Neptune to Earth did not begin until a day or say after the moon colony had been destroyed. If he went to Neptune now, he would have the opportunity to investigate candidates while their entire population was still in one place. Getting there would be a problem though. He was no Serenity to go flying through space without pause.
He slapped his forehead then and accepted the sharp pain as his just-desserts for allowing himself to be so stupid. Not only had he thought himself into a panic but he had forgotten the very lesson Tristain had so recently reinforced in his mind. He stopped pacing and stood still as he enforced order on his chaotic mind. His tasks were still the same, if a little more extensive than he had initially thought: make a list, eliminate any reincarnates from it and find which of the remainder was Elysion. If his conclusions proved false, deal with it when he was certain. Until then, he had a little over three Terran weeks to find which doomed soul was Elysion.
Even as Khonsu boarded his waiting shuttle, Endymion slipped between realms before emerging in this one again above the fathomless oceans of Neptune.
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She was in a condemned building. Mina figured that any damage she caused there would either not be noticed or not be cared about. Either way, that meant no one would come after her expecting her to pay repair bills and, so far, she was right. It was two days after the incident at her school and, while she had been distracted by the one monster in the auditorium, four others had rampaged through the school. Amazingly, no one had been killed but there had been more than one student significantly hurt, not to mention a great deal of property damage done. The school had been closed and arrangements were being made for the students but, for the moment, Mina found herself free to spend her time experimenting with her new abilities.
So far she had refined her ability to form more of the golden chains as well as learned to banish them, saving her from having to worry about a mountain of the things. However, they, themselves, were proving a little more difficult to get the hang of. The idea of magical golden chains that could restrain or slice through something was all very well, but implementing it was not so simple. When she wanted it to go forward, it got snagged behind her. She had tripped herself so many times while trying to loop the golden length around a target that her knees were black and blue. Watching gymnasts with those damned ribbons had made her think it was going to be easy.
Bah!
On the other hand, as a result of her practice making the chains, she had almost perfected shooting shorter, more limited versions of the golden stuff like lasers. That was more satisfying but her aim still left a lot to be desired. Still, she could see a noticeable improvement there, unlike her efforts with the chains.
And her empathy, as she had come to cal her painful knack of eavesdropping on the emotional states of others, was now more or less under control. Sheer self-preservation had forced her to extend her skills in that area and developing a reliable shielding technique had been one of the first things she had focussed on. Once she had that under control, she had moved on to a more subtle and delicate control of that sense. She could now tell if someone or something was coming within a certain distance of her whether it be human or animal or… monster. Which brought her to the big question.
What should she do next?
About fifty metres away from her was a line of tin cans. Taking a moment to centre herself, Mina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she snapped her eyes open again, brought her hand up and pointed at the cans. Seven beams of gold shot from her index finger towards the cans. Four of the cans became slag, a fifth lost a chunk from its top while the remaining two were left untouched. That was pretty good shooting in her mind and she was almost certain she could do just as well, or even better considering the size her targets would be, under attack by one of the monsters.
So… she had magical powers and there were monsters attacking Tokyo and her magical power could hurt those monsters. Was this a coincidence? Raised on magical girl anime, Mina did not think so and she jumped to the obvious conclusion. It was her destiny to save the world from the monsters and win the guy in the process. That there was no guy in the picture yet was irrelevant as was the fact that, so far, it seemed that only Tokyo was in trouble. Blithely, Mina was confident that the guy would show up in due time and that if she failed the world would be doomed. Of course that did highlight her problem. What was she going to do?
Mina walked over to the bare stairwell and sat down. Whatever she did, she was going to need to keep it secret so that the mastermind behind the monsters did not find out who she was or where she lived. That would be bad. Besides, 'mysterious heroine' would sound cooler while she stared making a reputation for herself. Mina was knowledgeable enough about the world to realise that names had power. So she'd need a costume and not one that was too expensive to make because if just practicing her magic trashed her clothes, then fighting was going to be really bad for them and she was strapped for cash. Once she worked that out, then what?
Well, she figured that she could use her empathy to find monster attacks, especially the really big ones. She could feel them, even on the other side of the city. The problem was getting to them. They didn't last very long really. Although it felt like forever when she was the one being attacked, generally the monsters appeared, did what the wanted to and vanished all within about ten minutes. That was not very long when you were trying to get across several kilometres on foot. Driving was completely out of the question, Mina was only fourteen and she didn't think her dad would let her borrow his car even if it was to save the world, which she couldn't tell him about anyway. A secret identity was going to be complicated, Mina realised.
That still left the dilemma of transport. Buses were too unreliable and, after that incident two years ago, bikes were out as well. Mina supposed that, for the moment only, she was stuck to making her way around on foot. That pretty much limited her to the local districts which kind of sucked when you were trying to save the world, or at least Tokyo, but, as fast a runner as Mina was, and she was fast, she could only run so fast. If the problem was far enough away, then she was not going to get there in time. Besides she didn't want to make it just in time only to be too exhausted to fight. That would also suck, big-time.
Mina groaned and jumped to her feet. All this little brainstorming session had come up with was that she was going to be running from battle to battle in some undesignated costume all in secret. It was a pity that her new magic powers did not include anything that would let her fly but that would be too good to be true she supposed. She collected her things and left her 'headquarters'. She would have liked a cooler base of operations as well but, so far, the Crown Arcade had not been attacked so she was stuck with this. Her excitement at the thought of being a famous superhero was replaced with the question of how she was supposed to make it work. Mina had to wonder why it seemed that the characters in manga always had it so easy. Look at Gatekeepers, a secret organisation found the kids, trained them and gave them cool stuff. They just fought in their school uniforms and never had to worry about…
Mina's eyes lit up. She had it!
Her enthusiasm returning in a rush, Mina took off in a sprint for her house. It wasn't like she'd need them anymore, after all. She'd be in a new school for the rest of this year and then it'd be high school and they had a different uniform altogether. She grinned and slammed through the door before tearing up the stairs to her bedroom. After a few moments rummaging through her closet, she soon had a pile of her old school uniforms.
She laid one out neatly on her bed and examined it critically. It was not what she would have preferred but she had a ton of them and so wouldn't have to pay for replacements. They weren't really very flattering though. She wrinkled her nose at the thought, who had ever heard of a super heroine that didn't look cute? Not Mina, well, not any of the cool ones anyway. Well, she didn't have to worry about school rules anymore so she could fix it up to her heart's content.
First things first, those skirts were too long. They'd get in the way while she was running and might even get her hurt if she needed to dodge fast. Besides, Mina had great legs and she knew it. Why shouldn't she show them off? Then there was the top. She supposed that it was okay for the most part, it allowed her free movement, but it really needed something extra. Of course! At the dip of her neckline, where the scarf would have been knotted, she tied a large red ribbon into a bow. All in all, Mina thought as she regarded herself in the mirror, she looked pretty good.
Now it was time to accessorise. School shoes were out, she'd still need them for school and her parents would kill her if she had to replace them. The only other pair of shoes she had was a pair of blue flats that, although extremely comfortable, had no grip to speak of. She solved that problem by applying the cheese grater to the soles. She cringed at the damage she was doing but it worked, they definitely had grip when she was done with them. As finishing touches, she stole a pair of white gloves from her space police costume from the last costume party and the red mask from the one before that.
The final product was not exactly standard super hero get up but it worked. Mina winked and blew a kiss at her reflection. The monsters wouldn't know what hit them. Suddenly, she stiffened, speak of the devil…s. She went to the window, cocked her head and concentrated. Her mental barriers lowered cautiously and she got the distant sense of a lot of people panicking and something hungry enjoying their fear. It was another attack, one of the steadily more common daylight ones and it wasn't too far away. It was the perfect chance for Mina to make her debut.
She rushed out of her room and out of the house. Following her internal radar, she sprinted down the streets while honing in on the source of the fear she could sense and ignoring the occasional strange look. By the time she reached the jewellery shop she was very grateful that her morning dashes to school had left her in reasonable shape. If they hadn't, the run would have killed her, forget the monster.
When she carefully peeked through the large display windows to the shop, she could make out very little in the dark interior. Her empathy was telling her that there was at least a dozen people in there and that they were all becoming weaker but she couldn't see any of them. As for the monster… it was at the back of the shop, or so she thought. Amidst all the other 'noise' it was impossible for her to pin point it.
She took a deep breath and then, forgetting her current attire, as if she was simply a normal customer, she entered the shop. Once inside, the fear was much more overwhelming, as if the walls had been muffling it as they would have real sound. Mina had forgotten how frightening it was to be in this situation. Time had dulled the memories, fortunate for otherwise, she most likely would not have had the courage to do this again. Her breathing speeding up, she made her way through the deepening gloom.
Why was it so dark in there? The sun was still up and shining very brightly.
She stood on something and stumbled. Trivially, she was grateful that she'd worked on her shoes, she'd undoubtedly have fallen if she hadn't. However, the greater part of her mind was absorbed by what had tripped her – a hand. The woman that it belonged to lay unmoving on the floor, pale and faded in her stillness. Mina's eyes were wide as she sidled around the dying woman, for that's what she was. Mina's shields had snapped up again, instinctively and so she did not sense the last of the woman's life-force as it was extinguished completely. She could and did witness the woman's last breath hissing out and the utter stillness that followed it.
Mina's back hit a counter and she stayed there for a moment, staring at the corpse, before she could turn away. Her feigned nonchalance vanished, she hurried deeper into the shop. She went past broken cabinets and more unconscious bodies but did not pause. The longer she took, the more likely the other victims would end up like that woman. It was no longer a matter of her becoming famous by being a super hero, it never really had been, no matter what she had said to herself to keep from being afraid. It was about stopping the murders.
She reached the back room and yanked the door open noisily. The would-be super hero was so focused on finding the cause of the problem that, when she did, she was unprepared for it. It looked like it was made from glass or, perhaps, crystal and it cut just as deeply. The first two shards sliced across her thigh and her forearm without her even seeing them shot. It was only the sudden stinging pains that woke her from her daze and she threw herself to the ground in time to dodge half a dozen more. She scrambled behind a work counter for cover and felt the wood shudder as two more of the projectiles embedded themselves in it.
Bracing herself first, she darted a glance over the edge of the counter and hastily shot one of her lasers at it but, though it may have looed like glass, it was made of something much harder. Her shot chipped a shard about the size of her fingernail off. Considering her opponent was nearly a metre wide and twice as tall, that wasn't much damage. Doing so little, it would taker her forever to finish it off and the people in the shop did not have that time. She dared another two lasers, each as ineffective as the first and concluded that she would need to resort to one of her chains.
She conjured one and clutched it nervously. If it didn't shoot anymore shards at her for about twenty seconds, she should be able to get the shot off. If the monster didn't move, she should be able to hit it. If she was lucky, her chain would be able to do what her less powerful beams could not and actually hurt the monster. And, if she hit it right, she might even be able to disable it with one shot. That was a lot of ifs.
She swallowed convulsively and stood. She didn't even get the chance to start swinging the chain before she had to throw herself down again. One of the new barrage of shards went completely through the counter and past Mina, missing her by only a hairsbreadth. She gasped, jerking away reflexively. Unfortunately, that moved her out of what little cover she had and left her open once again. The monster flicked three more shards at her and she brought her hands up defensively. The chain followed and clipped two of the three missiles so that they were deflected harmlessly. The third grazed her side and tore through her shirt.
Distracted by the unexpected pain, she didn't see the monster raise one of its bladelike arms and start to swing at her. Someone else, however, did. A flash of red and green flickered across her peripheral vision and the monster was stopped cold. For a moment she stood, staring at it dumbly. Between it and her was nothing more than a single rose, embedded in the wooden floor by its stalk.
"Move! The stay spell will last only a minute!" A man's voice broke her from her stasis.
Seizing the opportunity that had been given to her, she swung the chain around and wished with all her might that it would cleave the monster in two. It did not do that but it did cause a significant cut. Pleased that she had even hit it, Mina tried again and then managed a third strike before whatever magic cast by the owner of the voice was dispelled. The monster resumed its swing as if nothing had happened and fear propelled Mina for a fourth and final attack. Her chain did not cut this time, instead it wrapped around the transparent thing, binding it and immobilising it. Then, almost viciously, Mina pulled the chain taunt. The tension was transmitted along the golden length as were her intentions and the loop of chain that encircled the monster tightened. Crystal shattered as the golden loops pressed in and, moments later, all that remained was a pile of shards.
"Nicely done," she was told and she swung around, another length of chain appearing in her hands. Leaning gracefully against the door frame was a man clad in a tuxedo, cape, top hat and mask. He looked very elegant and quite dashing dressed like that but also a little silly considering the circumstances. Still, a cute guy was a cute guy and this one had save her life to boot.
"Thank you," she replied sweetly and smiled prettily. If she was still wan with fright and the shock of having seen a woman die, he did not mention it.
He did mention something else, just as uncool in her opinion. "You were very lucky though."
Her charitable thoughts towards him disappeared. She did not want to be reminded of that! She did not reply and settled for glaring at him.
He merely stared at her coolly, unaffected by her disapproval. "Your spell casting was clumsy and hesitant. You need to improve it if you plan on making a habit of monster hunting."
Her glare deepened. She practiced! And what did he know have stuff like this? All he'd done was chuck a stupid rose at the thing and he hadn't even hit it! Who was he to talk? "Well what do you suggest?" she retorted sarcastically, "That I call Harry Potter up for lessons?"
"I suggest you start with grounding. You cannot expect to cast accurately if you have no stability. Then you should learn to find your centre. That will allow you to concentrate on the spell, regardless of distraction. Then you should practice willing your power to obey you. Do not wish for it to do something, make it do it!" With that final, emphatic, piece of advice, the man spun, his cloak twirling around him dramatically, and strode away.
Mina stared at the empty doorway with her mouth open. That had actually made sense… sort of. It had sound very familiar anyway. She closed her mouth as she tried to summon the wisp of memory. She gave up after a minute with no success. It was still pretty good advice, even if Mina privately believed he had read it in a manga somewhere. Of course, he hadn't told her how she was supposed to ground or centre herself. Big help, wasn't he?
She sighed and set about finding the phone to call the authorities. There were still people here who needed help, even if the monster was dead. She could worry about weird men later. Still… he was very yummy.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Terra's heir wore not the traditional black armour, but crimson mage battle robes. Tall and straight, despite his seventy-three years, his short cropped hair was still thick and black with only a streak of silver at each temple to show his age. Endymion nic Terra did not lead here but his words were those of a Seer and lent further weight by his unequalled experience. Indigo eyes swept the room and then fixed upon Khonsu.
"She is coming. It will begin soon."
Khonsu's gaze was clear and steady. "You are certain?"
"Aa. Terra whispers to me of her sibs and her sire. Pluto is dead but Neptune senses the witch's darkness creeping forward as she crosses her brother's path." The man looked to Romulus, one of the Twin Wolves of Uranus and commander of the Outer Fleet grimly. "Neptune slips into dormancy for it is her only protection. Soon, the witch and her foul minions will gather her into their net and, to survive their depredations, her spirit must hide. Your father-world will follow suit and will soon be uninhabitable. I told Remus of this and he informed your council. They will not act."
"What would you have them do?" Romulus growled back, "Flee to Terra, even as the Delphi do? Beg you and your father for sanctuary? No, Endymion, even were your resources not stretched to their utmost, our pride would prevent it. The nation of Uranus will survive or not through our actions!"
"Uranus will survive," the prince replied flatly, "But its people will not."
Beside him, the second Wolf, Remus, regarded him expressionlessly. "You have Seen it?"
"Aa." At this, Endymion slumped and his true age began to show. The dark skinned Mercurian strategist, Zaknaf Do'Urden, pulled out a chair and he sank into it gratefully. His gaze was turned inward but sorrow hung in his expression and posture. "I see… Death. I will not survive this last battle and neither will any of you here. The witch, this Beryl, comes like a plague, unstoppable and implacable. The Outer Ring will be lost, the Fleet should be pulled inwards. For them to try and stand in defence is pointless. They will only die and leave the inner rings vulnerable. Terra and Venus, these alone may stand strong."
The other advisors in the room, execs, tacticians, intelligence officers, and communications personnel, came from throughout the solar system and some resented the Terran heir's bald statement. Muttering of favouritism began but, to the surprise of all, it was Romulus who ended it.
"Quiet!" He glared away from the screen towards his own, unseen, officers and snapped, "Endymion has never concealed that Terra's interest are amongst his foremost concern. It is one of the reasons Khonsu leads us, not him, but¸ nor would he lie about what he Sees. You have Seen this, I trust, Endymion. You are not simply extrapolating?"
The old mage smiled bitterly. "I have Seen the outer worlds' surfaces scoured bare of life. I have seen fire and death and darkness. Terra Sees through me and her sibs through her. To survive what we have Seen, they will sleep, this she has told me. Even should we triumph, they will be centuries in the awakening. Their children must flee or they are doomed.
"Mars will likely join them, Atlanti's destruction shocked him grievously. Venus is shielded by Terra but, should that shield even risk failing, regardless of the outcome, she will sleep. Terra, alone, will remain awake to the end. That I have Seen. That I Know. Make of it what you will."
And they did. The best and brightest of the Solarsystem's defenders gathered together to plan out what could be their last stand. As the Terran prince had stated plainly, the enemy was almost upon them. The losses already incurred in this terrible war were irrelevant, only the resources that could still be brought to bear now mattered. The three fleets must join together and fight as one, seemless whole if they were to stand strong and sacrifices would need to be made.
And all the while desperate strategies were plotted, a figure from the future grimly watched, hidden and unsensed. Three weeks of searching had been for naught and not amongst any of his wanderings had Endymion found the soul of he who would become Elysion. His time amidst the Delphi had rewarded him with no more than the identity of the original incarnation of Michelle. The diminishing human population of the Outer Ring had provided no clues and those surviving in the Inner and Second Rings had also had a dearth of potential candidates. Those with the power and the will had all long since joined the fight and, likely, so had Elysion.
Thus, Endymion had come to sift through the thousands of souls who were stealing themselves to die nobly that their worlds might survive and, here, on the bridge of the Icefire, had rested his greatest hopes only to be dashed. Zaknaf, she of the silver hair and quicksilber intellect would not be Elysion but was destined to become Amy Mizuno. Romulus and Remus, both grizzled and scarred with age, though they were years younger than Endymions past self, would be Alex Ten'ou and Zack Smithsen but not he whom Endymion needed. Guardsman Himura would become Nick while Paris the Venusian commander would become Jyp and then there was the intelligence officer, Jarod Ri, Khonsu's comm. Officer, Guinan, captain of the Icefire, Drake, Battle adept Lar'eth who were, one and all, good and strong souls but no more than that. Elysion was not present and Endymion was at a loss.
For all of his efforts, he could not find the gold he knew from memory and, perhaps, he should have sought out something more distinctive than a golden power from a vision that now seemed all too long ago. It was possible that even his deeply intrusive probes could not penetrate through the bindings that must lay around a dormant Star's power. He had been told that Elysion was unaware of his true self, so it must be buried deeply. But he'd had no more on whish to search so what else could he have done? And now he was out of time.
Even as his past self's head snapped up, hearing the cries of billions as they slipped from this realm, Endymion pummelled his mind for something, anything, that he could do that he had not already done. A place he had not searched. A clue he had not seen. The warriors in the room rushed to their stations and, around him, the bulkhead began to move. Endymion allowed himself to pass through it without resistance.
Time no longer held much meaning for him. The rest of existence continued while he focused on his dilemma. He drifted outside the outer hull, blindly watching the Allied Fleet ponderously move into place. And, there at the limit of his sight, was a wave of approaching darkness that crushed all in its path. When that wave arrived, his chance would be gone. He could hear the echoes as Uranus and Jupiter's awarenesses slipped from reach. The conflagration was about to be lit and he had failed. Elysion was unfound. All that remained was for him to watch.
He watched as utter darkness met a desperate spectrum of light. He watched as every minor power in the Fleet combined to attempt to match the wave of darkness. Here and there, two or three pinpoints of power joined to become a whole greater than the sum of individual components but they were rare as were the soulbonds that made such mergers possible.
He watched as, finally, all the ships in the Fleet achieved their necessary positions and the planned defensive net was employed. Now, in a uniform and calculated manner, the pinpoints of power were linked together. Mages joined and strengthened through a conduit of technology provided by the ships that carried them. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet – it was a rainbow display of power of all colours and more that repelled the darkness.
But that darkness was merely the beginning. The next wave was tangible evil. Ships crumpled under the onslaught and entire sections of the glittering web were torn awry. Endymion remembered this, remembered the terrible hopelessness that had swelled around him. Hopelessness compelled by the overwhelming odds against them. He remembered being wilfully oblivious and rallying his people. And, there, a crimson point flared brighter and the points near seemed to gain renewed strength.
Other points followed suit. There was the green-gold that was Paris, awakening his fellow Venusians. There were two pale yellow, almost white, pints, so close as to be one, joining together and refusing to surrender as Uranus' Twins Wolves would never do. Points of power flared into brilliance while others died and the wave came onwards, its approach barely hindered by the defenders efforts.
And Endymion watched.
He watched as, finally, the evil faltered. He felt the Allied Fleet's all to brief moment of triumph turn to ash as the face of the evil's source was revealed. Her minions coiled and writhing around her as she sat on a throne of bloodied bones, her long hair was the colour of dried blood and her skin like that of a corpse, Beryl was enough to turn a man's heart to ice on her own but, this time, Endymion saw further. Behind soulless eyes waited a miasma of foulness to be unleashed. A part of Beryl and yet separate, it was the origin of the witch's unheard of power and, this time, Endymion knew enough to recognise it.
A Darkstar.
He did not remember it from the first time he had lived this battle and icy fingers of dread trailed down his spine. The Allied plans had been formulated to stop a mortal, a powerful one, but still mortal. Those plans did not account for the Darkstar and would fall before it like so much dust. He yearned to intervene, his heart aching for the devastation that was to come and, in his unguarded empathy for those who would fall, he made contact. For he was not the only watcher of this tragic spectacle.
There was the warm presence of Mars.
There was the dancing mystery of Venus.
And, there! There was Endymion's own beloved Earth.
For an unmeasured instant, the four souls grappled for understanding for, though they were all known to the others, there were unexpected differences. It had been years since Endymion had felt any but his bondworld and years since he had felt her this aware. And never had he known any world as clearly as he could meet with all three of the remaining worldsouls now. For, in the coming aeons, they were not the only souls to change. Where the worldsouls had retreated, Endymion's had bloomed, something he only really began to understand when he saw how his lady Terra held the image of him-as-he-was along side he-as-he-would-become.
He had no time to contemplate what she showed him. He could only hurriedly explain to her what her defenders faced. Endymion felt Mars and Venus as they trembled with fear, but his own brave lady stood strong. He felt her reach to calm her sibs even as she assimilated his reasons for being there. In the end, it was Terra who decided.
It was she who then coerced her remaining sibs into dormancy. The weight of responsibility for survival of life in the solarsystem now rested upon her alone.
It was she who, carrying Endymion's awareness with her own, swept over and invigorated the defenders. She wrested control of the defending net into her own grasp, strengthening it as only a soul housed in the bedrock of a planet could. She goaded the efforts of every mage and every ship to further peaks of excellence. She stoked the net higher and higher, to a summit of brilliance that no human endeavour had ever matched.
It was she who initiated the last resort. She began the cascade that would lead to the Final Strike, something that was more prayer than spell, offering up all the casters' powers as sacrifice. She then gathered the souls of her children and her sibs' children into her protective embrace as their combined powers escalated and then released, racking reality in a culmination of destruction. Existence burned. Beryl and the Darkstar she hosted fell through the tears in the stuff of creation, banished to such a place that they would be aeons returning.
It was she who took the backlash of it upon herself. She accepted the wounds the flailing energies inflicted as the convulsing realm struggled to recover itself.
It was she who pointed out to the living mind with her the spark of silver as it swallowed a crimson soul so that he could call it to hand.
It was she who, crippled and hurting, handed her precious burden of souls whole and undamaged into the embrace of Death's messengers.
It was she who held the door to the realm of Death open just that little bit longer so that her future prince might begin his search anew.
She was hurt beyond compare and how she could heal from these wounds, Endymion did not know. He was loathe to leave her in such a state but she had made her will plain. She had known his past self and would come to know this knew self and knew, too, of their overriding purpose. Indeed, she had made it her own and would not die now, not before she had met his lovely Usagi and seen her receive the gem they both guarded. So she urged him forth and he could only accede to her wishes, sending her but a single burst of unconditional love before turning to leave her behind.