"Winter, we are to leave as soon as I take care of a little matter." Black ordered as he walked into the throne room.
The white dragon nodded, watching with interest as his master created an illusion of the planet Earth.
Gathering power in his hands the black dragon placed them over the illusion and started making markings that shimmered through it.
"These humans will learn to fear their superiors." The black dragon said as energy started to gather. "They will hear my name and tremble."
Winter watched as a hurricane formed over the whole of Japan and red lightning bolts flashed from dark cloud to dark cloud.
"The survivors will know that they will be next." Black growled as the hurricane escalated and the clouds started to spiral into a huge tornado. "They will hear my name and despair!"
The white dragon stared as forces completely beyond his comprehension acted through the will of his lord.
They had been wrong to think that the Great Red was the most powerful magician. They had been wrong to think that the shadow dragon had been almost as powerful as his lord.
"They will stare into my eyes... and cease to be!" Black shouted, as his eyes glowed with red, barely-contained energies.
Masks and Dragons
Chapter 11
Morgana
By Wanderer D
Everyone sat quietly after hearing Setsuna's declaration. To hear the Senshi of Time saying such a thing, even after she had already said once it was against the rules, was shocking to everyone present.
"But... why?" Raye asked. "We have time-traveled before, and we've never had to stop time, you could just bring us back just after we left, right?"
"Normally, yes, I would." Setsuna said. "But I am afraid that Avalon's Time is its own, it has nothing to do with ours."
"That is where you are wrong." Someone said, making them all turn to stare at the figure in the doorway.
Makoto stood up, staring at the figure in the doorway as Usagi took a step forward, recognizing the woman in the entrance.
"You are..." both Senshi started to say.
"Lady Morgana!" Usagi exclaimed, staring at the figure dressed in tight-fitting studded leather black armor with spikes around the collar and shoulder gourds, silver lining and decorations, silver chain mail showing between the armor pieces and sheathed long-sword with a dragon's head decorated silver pommel. Her black cape was held in place with a golden dragon-claw brooch and reached just above her ankles, allowing a great view of her legs protected under the armor and her black leather boots.
At the same time, staring at the young features and the long white hair that clashed so strongly with the rest of the young image, Makoto had walked up to her, looking her up. "Nathan's aunt!" she said.
"What are you doing here?!" Both Usagi and her asked at the same time, then, realizing what they had just said, turned to look at each other. "What?!" they both asked each other.
In the time it took everyone to blink once, the questions started.
"What do you mean that I was wrong?" Setsuna asked, walking up to her. She ignored the fact that she was in her civilian form, the strange woman had heard everything by now.
"What do you mean she's Morgana?! From Avalon?!" Makoto asked Usagi.
"What do you mean she's Nathan's aunt?!" Usagi asked and then, hearing Makoto's question, she blinked in confusion. "And how do you know she's from Avalon?"
"You're King Arthur's evil sister?" Ami asked.
"So she's a princess?!" Minako asked, surprised, staring at the armor.
"So, Nathan was royalty?!" Michiru asked.
"Is she our enemy?" Haruka asked, stepping in front of Hotaru, who tried to look over her shoulder.
"A princess?" the young Senshi asked, blinking.
"How did you find us?" Raye asked.
Mamoru, Luna, Artemis, Red and Sapphire stared at the girls as they all talked at the same time.
"Silence!" The woman shouted as a red lightning bolt smashed into the street bellow. Everyone quieted down immediately, startled. "As you can see, the creature known as Black has already started his spell to destroy Japan." She stated, as clouds gathered outside ominously. "The last thing we have now is time!"
She stepped into the shrine and closed the door behind her, marching as a general would while rallying the troops, with purpose and authority. All the Senshi could recognize a capable general from what their memories told them one should be.
Standing in the center of the room, she addressed everyone. "Yes, my name is Morgana," she said, then looking at Makoto her fierce gaze softened a little. "And yes, I am Nathan's adoptive aunt, although I loved the boy as if he were my own blood."
Her gaze shifted to Setsuna. "You were right to self-impose the rule against stopping time. It is the only reason, besides your self-control against seeing the future, that you were allowed to continue using the Gates of Time, as you call it."
Setsuna's look darkened, but she didn't say anything.
"This place," Morgana said, turning around with her hand, including all around them. "Is lost unless we stop Black. His spell is so powerful that joining your considerable magic skills with that of the two dragons over there would prove futile and a stupid waste of energy. As for stopping time…" she shook her head. "Stopping time for as long as is needed would end up destroying the world."
Setsuna straightened at that. "How would you know?"
"I know, because I comprehend the true nature of the Gates of Time. There is a reason for why you can reach any place, any world and any time using them." Morgana answered.
"Then what would you have us do?" Haruka asked. "We cannot abandon the world to its fate!"
Minako and the others nodded. "Our parents and loved ones are here… and this is our home!" the Senshi of Love added.
"Yes, and all you love are in this shrine, am I right?" Morgana asked.
The Senshi nodded. Their immediate families had been brought to the shrine for protection and were at that moment seated in another room, with Raye's grandfather.
"Well then," Morgana continued as the wind buffeted against the windows and doors with increasing strength. "We will take this place with us to the Gates of Time and create an Anchor to the moment of our departure." She finished, looking straight at Setsuna.
"I…" Setsuna stammered. "I have… heard of Time Anchors…" she said slowly. "But… I don't know how and…" she looked down, closing her eyes before looking directly at Usagi.
"Usagi… I'm sorry I didn't tell you before… the future has disappeared… everything. I cannot ask or find out how to do it…" she confessed, falling to her knees.
Usagi sat back. "What?" she asked blankly. "No future?" When Setsuna shook her head she started to realize the gravity of the situation. "You mean… no Crystal Tokyo? No… Chibi-Usa?"
Setsuna shook her head again.
"That is because of Black's interference, obviously." Morgana said, walking to Setsuna and helping her up. "There is nothing you can do about that for the moment." She said.
Setsuna looked up at her. "At the moment?"
Morgana nodded. A sudden gust of wind slammed the doors open, and they could all see the red lightning striking the ground outside as the wind tore at the trees and bushes.
Sapphire stared as one of the red lighting bolts reached a tree. Before her, as if it were in slow motion, the tree started to peal inside out, the leaves becoming dust as the earth heaved around it and uprooted, burnt and disintegrating into the air.
"I will show you how…" Morgana said, looking at the Senshi of Time. "Just transform and follow my instructions… before the shield I cast over the shrine is destroyed."
Setsuna nodded and took out her henshin stick.
---
White watched, stammering with fear as Japan slowly fragmented under the power of Black's magic.
Thousands upon thousands of beings had died. What affected the dragon was that all of them had died at the hands of a single creature.
As he tried to grasp the enormity of his master's powers, Black dismissed the illusionary earth globe and tuned to look at him. "Winter. Call Glimmer and Glint to me."
Stammering a response, the white dragon made a quick exit.
Once he was outside the throne room he breathed a little easier. Gathering his wits, he started down the corridor.
---
"This is beautiful." Raye said, staring out of the door of the Shrine at the landscape outside.
Next to her, Michiru nodded, her own gaze looking at the golden energy that surrounded all. From time to time, different colored auras, like a million aurora borealis would flicker around them. The only way they could tell up from down was because they were standing on the wooden floor of Raye's home.
Behind them, Setsuna, in her guise as Sailor Pluto, was resting next to the strange woman, Morgana.
"So you really are her…" Usagi said, sitting on a red coach to watch the woman carefully. "But… how is that possible? I thought that you were with the knights in the middle ages!"
Morgana smiled at her. "I was." She answered simply.
"Morgana…" Sapphire said, walking up to them. "It has been a long time."
The armor clad woman smiled warmly at the blue dragon. "Sapphire." She greeted with a nod. "It has been around fifteen centuries, if I remember correctly. You were going to war, back then."
"You two know each other?" Ami asked as she put down a tray with tea on the table. Now that they were in the Gates of Time, Morgana had assured them that they had around a day before they had to go to Avalon.
Both, dragon and woman nodded.
"I met her when we went to Avalon for the first time." Sapphire said while the other Senshi and the old red dragon gathered around to listen.
"Back then, Avalon was so young," Morgana said wistfully. "Barely eight thousand years after the dragons, elves and a few humans decided to separate the world into three parts."
"But…" Ami said, staring at Sapphire. "That means that you're five thousand years old?!"
Sapphire looked at her askance. "Are you implying I look old?" she asked.
Ami blushed, turning to look away. "N-no, sorry."
"Ha, ha! Teenagers!" Red laughed, patting Sapphire's head. "She's only three thousand, no need to worry. Remember that those eight thousand years were Avalon time."
The old man then sat down and started sipping some tea. "If I remember correctly you were there too, my Lady Morgana. At the breaking of the world, and a long time before that." The dragon-turned-human said with a glint in his eye. "I think I even saw you once when I was around Sapphire's age."
The Senshi stared at the woman sitting next to them in complete shock. Even Setsuna, who had met herself, thousands of years in the future didn't know what to say.
Morgana nodded, sadly. "You could say I have been here a long, long time."
"But… how…" Setsuna started to ask, but Morgana shook her head.
"That is not important." The armor-clad woman said. "And I would rather not speak about it."
"What about Black?" Haruka asked. "What can you tell us about him?"
Morgana sighed. "Black. He is the most dangerous being I have met since I have lived. Or perhaps not. Rather, Black is the focus of the most dangerous entity that has ever existed. His powers of destruction far exceed what we saw in Japan. He could have done that to the whole world, but he rejoices in destruction and fear."
Everyone went pale at that, shocked at such a claim.
"Then…" Mamoru said, standing up. "What is the use of fighting him?" he asked, opening his arms, completely incredulous. "There is no future… and if he did that and it's just a little part of his power… there is no hope."
"Mamo-chan…" Usagi whispered, standing to hold his arm.
"No, Usagi…" Mamoru said, shaking his head. "Don't you see? All is lost!"
"No, it isn't." Morgana said. "There is a reason Black is looking for the statues. They were used to lock all that power, millennia before even he was born."
"But…" Ami said, taking out the statue they still had. "I ran a scan on them and it didn't show any energy in it!"
Morgana took the statue in her hands, tracing the contours of the dragon with her gloved finger. "They don't contain the energy inside them." She explained. "They serve to lock that energy away. They are the keys to restoring the whole power or keeping it away."
"So how many statues does he have?" Raye asked.
"So far he has six, I think." Sapphire said. "Gold, Silver, Brass, Crystal, Quartz and Cobalt." She enumerated, but Red shook his head.
"I heard that Frey, Redfang and Shine had found theirs… Bronze, Topaz and Opal. And Glint and Glimmer found the Jade and Amethyst statues so he has eleven." The red dragon clarified.
"And we have the one made of Onyx." Makoto said suddenly. "That means that the Copper, Ruby and Emerald statues are still left, but aren't we missing one?" she asked after counting with her fingers.
Morgana, Sapphire, Red and Ami nodded, while the other Senshi stared at her.
"How did you know that?" Minako asked.
"Well, there seem to be statues for each of the different dragon clans, except for the shadow clan, which doesn't appear to have a statue." Makoto answered simply.
"Makoto… how. Did. You. Know. That." Minako repeated. The others nodded.
Makoto just smiled sheepishly.
"She has a point, though." Ami said, looking at Sapphire. "You told me that there was a statue for each clan, right?"
Sapphire nodded. "Exactly, Black told us the whole list, except for the shadow clan statue."
They all looked at Morgana, who shook her head. "I am afraid I don't know." She said. "When the statues came to be in this universe, dragons were created in this world, different species for each one statue. Except for the shadows. There was never a shadow dragon statue." The sorceress explained.
"That still leaves us with five statues to find." Michiru said somberly.
"And they're all in Avalon." Red added.
"Then we must go to Avalon." Usagi decided. "As soon as we have all rested from our battle with Coldfire we leave."
The Senshi nodded and one by one they went to the rooms they would share.
---
"What are you doing?" Ami asked Sapphire, walking towards the blue dragon as she sat on the foyer, looking outside.
"Thinking…" Sapphire confessed. "It has been a long time since I made new friends… and my old friends keep dying futile deaths." The dragon said, looking downcast. She sighed sadly.
"It must be hard…" Ami said. Sitting down next to her. "We lost Nathan recently. He was more Makoto's friend than ours, to be honest, but he was a good friend and seemed to enjoy life as it came. It really hurt when he died." She whispered.
"First Darkshine…" Sapphire sighed. "I always thought she was my best friend." The blue dragon looked up at the energy flashes that appeared and disappeared silently. "Then Shadow… and now Gold." She looked at her companion. "I don't want to lose you too, Ami."
Ami blushed a little, but remained quiet, content to rest her head on Sapphire's shoulder.
On the other side of the room Makoto sighed. "You were my best friend too, Sapphire." She whispered as she turned around to leave. "I think, in a way, you still are…"
---
Makoto found Morgana reclined against the window. "You are taking Nathan's death surprisingly well for someone that loved him as if he were her own blood." She said.
She saw a flash of pain in Morgana's eyes and regretted her words.
"I have lived a long time…" Morgana said. "I know it might look to you like I don't care… but I saw my best friend sacrifice herself, I saw her beloved die later, then my sister and everyone else… I was about your age then." She said. "After that I have had my chance to make new friends, take new lovers and watch them all die. The pain, even after all this time is there. But I have learnt to keep it in… and treasure them for how they lived, not how young or old they died." Morgana sighed and walked out of the hall, leaving Makoto alone.
---
"Lord Black is waiting for you inside." Winter told the twins as they walked towards the throne room's entrance. Looking at them in their hybrid half dragon, half human form he had to wonder. They looked like statues made of diamond, reflecting the light in such a way that it made them look almost transparent.
Glint and Glitter both nodded at the same time and went in. As soon as they were inside, the doors shut behind them, leaving them standing in what appeared to be open space, except for the throne that floated in front of them.
Both dragons kneeled as their master stood up.
"Glint. Glimmer." Black said as he walked to stand in front of them. "I have brought the castle to Avalon and I must rest. You two will recover the missing statues for me." He ordered.
Both crystal dragons nodded. "Yes, my lord!" both said in unison.
Black nodded back at them and walked towards the entrance. The huge doors opened to let him through, but as he stepped through the threshold, he looked over his shoulder at them. "Do not fail me."
---
In the dark chamber where she lay, the huge silver dragon shivered. Her wing was mending slowly, but she was more drained of energy than anything else.
She sensed the intruder as soon as he entered. Her long neck snaked around to see the black dragon that doubled her considerable size as he walked on all fours towards her, his ruby-red irises clear to her as if he had been standing in all his majesty in the light.
Opening his left wing, he covered her own two wings, folded on her sides carefully. Coldfire's blue eyes gazed into his as their tails intertwined.
---
"It is time." Setsuna said, watching as Usagi dragged herself in, still yawning.
Next to her, Morgana nodded. "I will open the portal."
As she started casting her spell, the Senshi took the chance to say goodbye to their families. When the portal opened, one by one they stepped through, followed by the dragons and Morgana.
The room behind them faded into white light. Suddenly they were surrounded by the smells and sounds of a forest.
As soon as she could see, Usagi took a good look at the pine-tree forest, the clear blue sky and the old road they were standing on. She turned around to face the others… and gasped.
End Chapter 11