Whew! It been a while since I've updated this hasn't it? I had some serious writer's
block and my life in general has just been one crazy mess. But I'm making up for the
delay by the length of this chapter. So don't give me none of that! (Just kidding, you
know that you're all awesome)
Since several people asked me questions about the setting, I'd thought I'd address it. The
immediate setting, is Crystal Tokyo (or a form of Crystal Tokyo.) Yes I know, Crystal
Tokyo is suppose to be a futuristic city, but I've tailored it to my own needs. I've made it
sort of a backwards, medieval place; because I liked it better that way. So I guess really
you could called it an alternative universe. And yes Usagi is not from Crystal Tokyo. So
what's a modern day Japanese girl doing in the future? I guess you'll just have to read
and find out.
I literally sit by my computer chewing my fingernails anxiously waiting for your reviews.
I live for them so... Review! Review! Review! After all a happy writer is a productive
writer. :)
Chapter 5
She dreamed she running, away from something. In the slow, hazy quality of the dream,
she was unaware of what exactly she was running from, only that it was something evil, a
thing born of darkness that wished her harm.
She wasn't running fast enough though, her limbs were awkwardly weighed down, and
refused to obey her. She struggled to make them move, straining forward, with as much
effort as she could give but she still managed to move painstakingly, slow.
She knew than in one horrifying moment that it was going to catch her. She felt it with
the tiny hairs on the back of her neck as it crept towards her. It was going to envelop her,
suffocate the living breath out of her. Just as it was about to overcome her, there was an
earthquake.
She awoke to a familiar pair of blue eyes and became aware that he was shaking her
awake. Endymion was staring down at her with concern, a frown touching his hard
mouth. She wondered if the man ever smiled, he always seemed to be in a foul temper
lately. Although, slightly disturbed by the remnants of her dream, she gave him a
tentative smile, in an effort to brighten, his seemingly dismal mood.
"You were having a nightmare." He said. Was that concern she heard leaking into his
voice?
She shrugged, "Thanks for waking me." She didn't volunteer any more information and
he didn't ask. They lapsed into silence.
A little disoriented, Usagi forced her unfocused eyes to survey her surroundings.
Yawning, she stretched bumping Endymion in the face with her arm. She uttered an
apology to the man who only grunted in return. He seemed to be consumed with
scanning the trees, as if he expected an attack at any moment.
She wondered how long she'd been asleep. Time had slipped away from her during her
sleep and she wondered exactly how much of it had gone by. The sun had shifted
downwards, and it looked soon as if it would begin to set. They were still in the woods;
the trees around them lifted heavenward branches to a darkening sky.
Usagi shifted uncomfortably in the saddle. She wasn't used to riding for such long
periods of time. Well, really she'd never ridden much at all. She could feel the dull
throbbing of her legs, protesting at the sudden abuse.
Her mind wandered. She had been gone for a while now. How were her parents reacting
to her prolonged absence? She could imagine them contacting the police, sitting with the
investigator discussing their only daughter's disappearance, her mother's tears and her
father's stoic silence. The first thing she would do, Usagi thought, was hug them all even
her annoying brother, Sammy who was at stage where he refused to bathe regularly.
Had it only been several days since the kidnapping? Somehow it felt like longer, months
perhaps, as if she been away for ages from familiarity. This new place she was in, it
didn't seem like Tokyo or even Japan. Since she had been kidnapped, Usagi had not seen
a single, normal person, or residential area. Instead she had seen a gigantic palace made
of no material she recognized, and a seemingly never-ending forest. What was this place
she had been brought to?
Not being one to stifle her curiosity, Usagi plunged ahead fearlessly with her question.
"Endymion, where are we?"
"The woods." His answer was abruptly, to the point.
"No, I mean the general area. What's the name of this city?"
"Crystal Tokyo."
"Crystal Tokyo? I've never heard of that before." Usagi scratched her head, as she
attempted to make some sense of his unexpected answer.
"I've never heard of Japan," he retaliated.
"What is wrong with you? You must have lived a very sheltered life," Usagi replied,
exasperated. Everyone knew where Japan was, unless they lived under a rock. Usagi
was beginning to think that Endymion had been raised under one.
"I answered your question didn't I?" Endymion was looking beyond her his eyes still
fixed on tree line.
"You know it's rude, not to look at the person you're talking to." Usagi decided to lecture
him on the finer points of etiquette. His eyes seemed to be looking everywhere except
at her. It was quite annoying.
He didn't answer her. Instead he quickly halted the horse, and practically leaped off it as
he dismounted. Before Usagi had even blinked, he had drawn his sword. Balancing the
sword in one hand, he used the other to drag Usagi off the horse. Shoving her behind him
he glowered, positioned in a fighting stance.
"What is it?" Usagi hissed. She glanced around, fearfully but saw nothing that would
raise his immediate alarm.
"Be quiet." Endymion continued to clutch the sword.
Peering around his solid body, Usagi thought she saw a glint of an eye in the dark
shadows cast by the heavy trees. Then she heard as slight rustle of leaves as an unseen
creature dashed off in a different direction.
Endymion lowered the sword, looking grim.
"It was following us wasn't it?" Usagi asked.
Endymion nodded, sliding the sword back into the sheath at his waist.
"Well, at least it's gone." Usagi said a little too cheerily.
Endymion was still frowning. "That's not the problem, that youma is just a scout."
Reality dawned on Usagi. She gave an involuntary shudder. "Oh no." She murmured.
"We've got to make even better time than we're making now." Endymion was already
hoisting her back up the horse. Shaken, Usagi didn't resist as her already sore body was
placed back on, the source of her discomfort.
***
Usagi had gotten to the point where her entire lower body felt numb. She cursed her own
trusting nature. Endymion and the "Keeper" could both kiss her sorry, aching, behind.
It wasn't going to be too long before she disgraced herself entirely and fell off the horse.
Her stubborn legs seemed to be refusing to obey her commands to grip the flanks of the
darn animal.
She glanced up at Endymion, who except for some dark circles under his eyes seemed to
be just fine. She couldn't detect any traces of pain from his expression or his body
posture. He wasn't leaning as she was, to the side in an attempt to shift weight onto other
less used muscles. In fact he seemed almost content. She wanted to fly at him in a rage.
It just wasn't fair.
"Do you think we could stop now?" she asked, teeth gritted in pain. If he said no, she
was going to hurl herself off the horse whether they were moving or not. She might
manage to survive the fall if she tucked and rolled.
Perhaps noticing her discomfort, Endymion agreed. She could have kissed him, but she
refrained, unsure of the tentative territory between them. She thought it best to be
conservative, after all he did have a wife out there, who she had come to the conclusion,
was not herself. Abruptly she felt a stab of jealousy and quelled the feeling. She didn't
really know him she repeated to herself for the millionth time.
"Serenity." She whispered to herself, rolling the name around on her tongue, searching
for familiarity. There was nothing though. The syllables were foreign, unknown, and her
mouth was unused to shaping the word. No there wasn't any way that she could have
ever been called this name and forgotten.
He stopped the horse, climbing down. Gently, he helped Usagi down. In his arms, Usagi
was struck again at how incredibly tiny she felt in his grasp. A slight tightening of those
heavily muscled arms and he could crush her easily.
He hadn't let go of her. He smelled of horse, leather, and sweat. She knew she should
have found it repulsive, but she didn't. The smell was masculine, a unique combination
that could only be his own.
She was doing it again, being attracted to him. She reminded herself that it was not
wise. As he lowered her to the ground, she slid slowly over the hard planes of his body.
She wanted to glare at him; sure that he was torturing her on purpose. As soon as her feet
touch the ground she pulled out of his arms, but was unable to walk. The stubborn
cramped muscles of her thighs and legs refused to move after all the abuse she had
subjected them to. Endymion was there again, steadying her.
"I can't walk," she admitted, regretfully.
"Then I'll just have to carry you." He said, not in the least perturbed. She let out a little
gasp as he swung her up into his arms. The man treated her like a sack of potatoes he
was trying to transport, continuously hauling her around. She was too tired to muster up
any anger though. Instead she relaxed, cradling within the broad expanse of his arms.
"Aren't you tired?" She muttered against his chest.
"I think you've been sleeping enough for the both of us," he said somewhat sarcastically.
Usagi let out an outraged gasp that turned into a giggle. "I haven't been sleeping that
much! You're just not normal." She attempted to jab him in the shoulder with her
finger, but exhaustion made her want to move as little as possible. She soon gave up the
effort.
He reached whatever spot he had wanted abruptly stopped and set Usagi down.
"Wait here." He said, and turned around disappearing into the woods. Suddenly alone
Usagi gazed around in apprehension. The youma was still fresh in her mind. She peered
into the darkness in an attempt to distinguish the shadowy shapes. A rustling of leaves
had her jumping in alarm, tensed to fight, but it was only a squirrel or some other forest
animal settling in for the night.
Everything was so quiet that her own breathing sounded harsh and overly loud. She
listened to it, hoping that it wouldn't attract anything she had no wish to meet in the dark
woods. The sound of Endymion's confident footsteps had her jumping in surprise. She
automatically tried to mask her expression from him, but realized that he couldn't see it
in the darkness anyway.
He strode over to her, laying a pallet on the ground next to her. He dropped onto it,
snaking an arm around Usagi's waist and pulled her to his side. Usagi found herself,
lying down plastered against the side of him, with his heavy arms constricting her
movement. Apparently he was expecting them to sleep like this.
"Uh...Endymion?" She chocked out a little shocked.
"What?" he asked impatiently.
Agitated, she blurted it out. "I can't sleep like this."
"Yes, you can." He had buried his face in the crook of her neck. She could feel his lips
against her collarbone.
"You'll roll on me." It was a rather lame excuse, but Usagi wasn't feeling all that
brilliant in the present moment.
He smirked, or at least Usagi thought it was a smirk. In the darkness she couldn't really
tell. Suddenly he moved, taking Usagi with him. She found herself flat on her back
staring into the dark recesses of his midnight colored blue eyes.
"Do I make you uncomfortable?" His tone was light, flippant.
Startled, in reaction to his sudden lightness, Usagi was silent, unwilling to admit the truth.
He seemed amused by her silence as if it confirmed his beliefs. His ego was already
inflated beyond control; he didn't need any comments of hers to add any air to it. She
managed to stammer out something unintelligible.
Out of her own violation, her arms crept up and slid around him unconsciously stroking
the small of his back. She watched his expression shift, from playful to a more primitive
emotion.
He braced himself slightly on his elbows in order to keep the full crushing, strength of his
weight off her, and caught her mouth in a kiss. At first it was only a chaste, brushing of
the lips but soon it became more. His tongue plundered into her mouth and Usagi
responded in kind. Caught in the onslaught of the whirlwind, Usagi fisted her hands in
his hair. His wedged a heavy knee between her legs. A calloused hand cupped a breast
through the thin material of her dress. He pulled his mouth away from hers for an instant
saying softly, "Serenity."
It was as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on her head. She stiffened, pulled
away her desire doused. Endymion looked at her with darkened eyes. She traced her
swollen lips with one hand as she gathered her thoughts.
"I'm sorry." She bit out. "I'm not her." She knew now that with Endymion she would
never escape Serenity's shadow. He was never going to see her, as her own separate
entity, as simply Usagi, the young woman from Japan. The cold truth was, that his
attraction to her had happened only because she reminded him of another person. This
woman, Serenity had been his wife, had joined herself to him in the holy sacrament of
marriage. They had made pledges to each other that he was going to break if they
continued on this reckless route.
If he didn't have enough sense to stop this behavior, she was. She was going to stop
everything before anyone got hurt. Before she got hurt. She wasn't going to fool herself.
She wasn't stopping it purely out of the goodness of her heart. She was she admitted
doing it for herself.
She had to stop it because if she didn't her own heart would break.
***
At Diamond's feet the unnatural, speckled body of the youma trembled. Wrapping
strands of dark, misted power around the monster he lifted it in the air. Increasingly
agitated at his master's display of power the creature submissively lowered its head,
shrieking for forgiveness.
"I told you not to been seen." Diamond spit out, angrily. With a jerk of his hand, the
creature was slammed against a wall. It let out a shriek of pain, mumbling more
apologies. Abruptly Diamond released it, and it hit the flooring with a thump.
"I guess it can't be helped now." Diamond said, disgusted with the thing. It regarded him
with hooded eyes, cowering in the position it had landed. "So, once again Endymion has
stolen her from me." His frustration was palpable. He wanted her now, in his control at
that very instant, away from that man that kept taking her from him.
He tried to calm himself with the thought that at the very instant, Wiseman was going to
working his subtle magic. Magic, that would confuse and distort her perspective. When
Wiseman was through with her, she wouldn't know right from left and would be
completely open to his persuasions.
Yes, he could see her now, enthroned in darkness, sitting next to him on his crystal
throne. She would be magnificent, her golden hair flowing about her, with her sky blue
eyes filled with a cold purpose. She would be his match in everything. Power and
control would flow effortlessly in her and she would strike fear in the strongest of men.
All of them would cower away from her, except him. For him she would reserve her
smiles, her softness, and her affection.
Soon very soon she would be all his. It was in Wiseman's hands now. The plan would
be placed into action shortly.
***
block and my life in general has just been one crazy mess. But I'm making up for the
delay by the length of this chapter. So don't give me none of that! (Just kidding, you
know that you're all awesome)
Since several people asked me questions about the setting, I'd thought I'd address it. The
immediate setting, is Crystal Tokyo (or a form of Crystal Tokyo.) Yes I know, Crystal
Tokyo is suppose to be a futuristic city, but I've tailored it to my own needs. I've made it
sort of a backwards, medieval place; because I liked it better that way. So I guess really
you could called it an alternative universe. And yes Usagi is not from Crystal Tokyo. So
what's a modern day Japanese girl doing in the future? I guess you'll just have to read
and find out.
I literally sit by my computer chewing my fingernails anxiously waiting for your reviews.
I live for them so... Review! Review! Review! After all a happy writer is a productive
writer. :)
Chapter 5
She dreamed she running, away from something. In the slow, hazy quality of the dream,
she was unaware of what exactly she was running from, only that it was something evil, a
thing born of darkness that wished her harm.
She wasn't running fast enough though, her limbs were awkwardly weighed down, and
refused to obey her. She struggled to make them move, straining forward, with as much
effort as she could give but she still managed to move painstakingly, slow.
She knew than in one horrifying moment that it was going to catch her. She felt it with
the tiny hairs on the back of her neck as it crept towards her. It was going to envelop her,
suffocate the living breath out of her. Just as it was about to overcome her, there was an
earthquake.
She awoke to a familiar pair of blue eyes and became aware that he was shaking her
awake. Endymion was staring down at her with concern, a frown touching his hard
mouth. She wondered if the man ever smiled, he always seemed to be in a foul temper
lately. Although, slightly disturbed by the remnants of her dream, she gave him a
tentative smile, in an effort to brighten, his seemingly dismal mood.
"You were having a nightmare." He said. Was that concern she heard leaking into his
voice?
She shrugged, "Thanks for waking me." She didn't volunteer any more information and
he didn't ask. They lapsed into silence.
A little disoriented, Usagi forced her unfocused eyes to survey her surroundings.
Yawning, she stretched bumping Endymion in the face with her arm. She uttered an
apology to the man who only grunted in return. He seemed to be consumed with
scanning the trees, as if he expected an attack at any moment.
She wondered how long she'd been asleep. Time had slipped away from her during her
sleep and she wondered exactly how much of it had gone by. The sun had shifted
downwards, and it looked soon as if it would begin to set. They were still in the woods;
the trees around them lifted heavenward branches to a darkening sky.
Usagi shifted uncomfortably in the saddle. She wasn't used to riding for such long
periods of time. Well, really she'd never ridden much at all. She could feel the dull
throbbing of her legs, protesting at the sudden abuse.
Her mind wandered. She had been gone for a while now. How were her parents reacting
to her prolonged absence? She could imagine them contacting the police, sitting with the
investigator discussing their only daughter's disappearance, her mother's tears and her
father's stoic silence. The first thing she would do, Usagi thought, was hug them all even
her annoying brother, Sammy who was at stage where he refused to bathe regularly.
Had it only been several days since the kidnapping? Somehow it felt like longer, months
perhaps, as if she been away for ages from familiarity. This new place she was in, it
didn't seem like Tokyo or even Japan. Since she had been kidnapped, Usagi had not seen
a single, normal person, or residential area. Instead she had seen a gigantic palace made
of no material she recognized, and a seemingly never-ending forest. What was this place
she had been brought to?
Not being one to stifle her curiosity, Usagi plunged ahead fearlessly with her question.
"Endymion, where are we?"
"The woods." His answer was abruptly, to the point.
"No, I mean the general area. What's the name of this city?"
"Crystal Tokyo."
"Crystal Tokyo? I've never heard of that before." Usagi scratched her head, as she
attempted to make some sense of his unexpected answer.
"I've never heard of Japan," he retaliated.
"What is wrong with you? You must have lived a very sheltered life," Usagi replied,
exasperated. Everyone knew where Japan was, unless they lived under a rock. Usagi
was beginning to think that Endymion had been raised under one.
"I answered your question didn't I?" Endymion was looking beyond her his eyes still
fixed on tree line.
"You know it's rude, not to look at the person you're talking to." Usagi decided to lecture
him on the finer points of etiquette. His eyes seemed to be looking everywhere except
at her. It was quite annoying.
He didn't answer her. Instead he quickly halted the horse, and practically leaped off it as
he dismounted. Before Usagi had even blinked, he had drawn his sword. Balancing the
sword in one hand, he used the other to drag Usagi off the horse. Shoving her behind him
he glowered, positioned in a fighting stance.
"What is it?" Usagi hissed. She glanced around, fearfully but saw nothing that would
raise his immediate alarm.
"Be quiet." Endymion continued to clutch the sword.
Peering around his solid body, Usagi thought she saw a glint of an eye in the dark
shadows cast by the heavy trees. Then she heard as slight rustle of leaves as an unseen
creature dashed off in a different direction.
Endymion lowered the sword, looking grim.
"It was following us wasn't it?" Usagi asked.
Endymion nodded, sliding the sword back into the sheath at his waist.
"Well, at least it's gone." Usagi said a little too cheerily.
Endymion was still frowning. "That's not the problem, that youma is just a scout."
Reality dawned on Usagi. She gave an involuntary shudder. "Oh no." She murmured.
"We've got to make even better time than we're making now." Endymion was already
hoisting her back up the horse. Shaken, Usagi didn't resist as her already sore body was
placed back on, the source of her discomfort.
***
Usagi had gotten to the point where her entire lower body felt numb. She cursed her own
trusting nature. Endymion and the "Keeper" could both kiss her sorry, aching, behind.
It wasn't going to be too long before she disgraced herself entirely and fell off the horse.
Her stubborn legs seemed to be refusing to obey her commands to grip the flanks of the
darn animal.
She glanced up at Endymion, who except for some dark circles under his eyes seemed to
be just fine. She couldn't detect any traces of pain from his expression or his body
posture. He wasn't leaning as she was, to the side in an attempt to shift weight onto other
less used muscles. In fact he seemed almost content. She wanted to fly at him in a rage.
It just wasn't fair.
"Do you think we could stop now?" she asked, teeth gritted in pain. If he said no, she
was going to hurl herself off the horse whether they were moving or not. She might
manage to survive the fall if she tucked and rolled.
Perhaps noticing her discomfort, Endymion agreed. She could have kissed him, but she
refrained, unsure of the tentative territory between them. She thought it best to be
conservative, after all he did have a wife out there, who she had come to the conclusion,
was not herself. Abruptly she felt a stab of jealousy and quelled the feeling. She didn't
really know him she repeated to herself for the millionth time.
"Serenity." She whispered to herself, rolling the name around on her tongue, searching
for familiarity. There was nothing though. The syllables were foreign, unknown, and her
mouth was unused to shaping the word. No there wasn't any way that she could have
ever been called this name and forgotten.
He stopped the horse, climbing down. Gently, he helped Usagi down. In his arms, Usagi
was struck again at how incredibly tiny she felt in his grasp. A slight tightening of those
heavily muscled arms and he could crush her easily.
He hadn't let go of her. He smelled of horse, leather, and sweat. She knew she should
have found it repulsive, but she didn't. The smell was masculine, a unique combination
that could only be his own.
She was doing it again, being attracted to him. She reminded herself that it was not
wise. As he lowered her to the ground, she slid slowly over the hard planes of his body.
She wanted to glare at him; sure that he was torturing her on purpose. As soon as her feet
touch the ground she pulled out of his arms, but was unable to walk. The stubborn
cramped muscles of her thighs and legs refused to move after all the abuse she had
subjected them to. Endymion was there again, steadying her.
"I can't walk," she admitted, regretfully.
"Then I'll just have to carry you." He said, not in the least perturbed. She let out a little
gasp as he swung her up into his arms. The man treated her like a sack of potatoes he
was trying to transport, continuously hauling her around. She was too tired to muster up
any anger though. Instead she relaxed, cradling within the broad expanse of his arms.
"Aren't you tired?" She muttered against his chest.
"I think you've been sleeping enough for the both of us," he said somewhat sarcastically.
Usagi let out an outraged gasp that turned into a giggle. "I haven't been sleeping that
much! You're just not normal." She attempted to jab him in the shoulder with her
finger, but exhaustion made her want to move as little as possible. She soon gave up the
effort.
He reached whatever spot he had wanted abruptly stopped and set Usagi down.
"Wait here." He said, and turned around disappearing into the woods. Suddenly alone
Usagi gazed around in apprehension. The youma was still fresh in her mind. She peered
into the darkness in an attempt to distinguish the shadowy shapes. A rustling of leaves
had her jumping in alarm, tensed to fight, but it was only a squirrel or some other forest
animal settling in for the night.
Everything was so quiet that her own breathing sounded harsh and overly loud. She
listened to it, hoping that it wouldn't attract anything she had no wish to meet in the dark
woods. The sound of Endymion's confident footsteps had her jumping in surprise. She
automatically tried to mask her expression from him, but realized that he couldn't see it
in the darkness anyway.
He strode over to her, laying a pallet on the ground next to her. He dropped onto it,
snaking an arm around Usagi's waist and pulled her to his side. Usagi found herself,
lying down plastered against the side of him, with his heavy arms constricting her
movement. Apparently he was expecting them to sleep like this.
"Uh...Endymion?" She chocked out a little shocked.
"What?" he asked impatiently.
Agitated, she blurted it out. "I can't sleep like this."
"Yes, you can." He had buried his face in the crook of her neck. She could feel his lips
against her collarbone.
"You'll roll on me." It was a rather lame excuse, but Usagi wasn't feeling all that
brilliant in the present moment.
He smirked, or at least Usagi thought it was a smirk. In the darkness she couldn't really
tell. Suddenly he moved, taking Usagi with him. She found herself flat on her back
staring into the dark recesses of his midnight colored blue eyes.
"Do I make you uncomfortable?" His tone was light, flippant.
Startled, in reaction to his sudden lightness, Usagi was silent, unwilling to admit the truth.
He seemed amused by her silence as if it confirmed his beliefs. His ego was already
inflated beyond control; he didn't need any comments of hers to add any air to it. She
managed to stammer out something unintelligible.
Out of her own violation, her arms crept up and slid around him unconsciously stroking
the small of his back. She watched his expression shift, from playful to a more primitive
emotion.
He braced himself slightly on his elbows in order to keep the full crushing, strength of his
weight off her, and caught her mouth in a kiss. At first it was only a chaste, brushing of
the lips but soon it became more. His tongue plundered into her mouth and Usagi
responded in kind. Caught in the onslaught of the whirlwind, Usagi fisted her hands in
his hair. His wedged a heavy knee between her legs. A calloused hand cupped a breast
through the thin material of her dress. He pulled his mouth away from hers for an instant
saying softly, "Serenity."
It was as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on her head. She stiffened, pulled
away her desire doused. Endymion looked at her with darkened eyes. She traced her
swollen lips with one hand as she gathered her thoughts.
"I'm sorry." She bit out. "I'm not her." She knew now that with Endymion she would
never escape Serenity's shadow. He was never going to see her, as her own separate
entity, as simply Usagi, the young woman from Japan. The cold truth was, that his
attraction to her had happened only because she reminded him of another person. This
woman, Serenity had been his wife, had joined herself to him in the holy sacrament of
marriage. They had made pledges to each other that he was going to break if they
continued on this reckless route.
If he didn't have enough sense to stop this behavior, she was. She was going to stop
everything before anyone got hurt. Before she got hurt. She wasn't going to fool herself.
She wasn't stopping it purely out of the goodness of her heart. She was she admitted
doing it for herself.
She had to stop it because if she didn't her own heart would break.
***
At Diamond's feet the unnatural, speckled body of the youma trembled. Wrapping
strands of dark, misted power around the monster he lifted it in the air. Increasingly
agitated at his master's display of power the creature submissively lowered its head,
shrieking for forgiveness.
"I told you not to been seen." Diamond spit out, angrily. With a jerk of his hand, the
creature was slammed against a wall. It let out a shriek of pain, mumbling more
apologies. Abruptly Diamond released it, and it hit the flooring with a thump.
"I guess it can't be helped now." Diamond said, disgusted with the thing. It regarded him
with hooded eyes, cowering in the position it had landed. "So, once again Endymion has
stolen her from me." His frustration was palpable. He wanted her now, in his control at
that very instant, away from that man that kept taking her from him.
He tried to calm himself with the thought that at the very instant, Wiseman was going to
working his subtle magic. Magic, that would confuse and distort her perspective. When
Wiseman was through with her, she wouldn't know right from left and would be
completely open to his persuasions.
Yes, he could see her now, enthroned in darkness, sitting next to him on his crystal
throne. She would be magnificent, her golden hair flowing about her, with her sky blue
eyes filled with a cold purpose. She would be his match in everything. Power and
control would flow effortlessly in her and she would strike fear in the strongest of men.
All of them would cower away from her, except him. For him she would reserve her
smiles, her softness, and her affection.
Soon very soon she would be all his. It was in Wiseman's hands now. The plan would
be placed into action shortly.
***