Author's Note: Ummm... Yeah. These are the people I do own: Secery, Amisha, Paine, Ocea, Einur, Eidur, Aligan the Older, and Aligan the Younger, along with any made- up countries. The other characters all belong to Tamora Pierce, who's work inspired this. Cheerio!

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The lightning was flashing one day in the middle of Tortall and though it may seem like a regular happening to you, this was no natural occurrence. And where the lightning struck on the (lucky?) seventh time, in its place stood four young women, each with their own unique traits.

"Uh… Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore…" quipped a girl with long, curly smoky brown hair. She blinked at her companions with gray hazel/ green eyes.

They followed her gaze.

"Could it be? Are we in the Mortal Realms?" inquired a soft voice. It's speaker had slightly curling with blue tinted white blonde hair that fell lightly around her collarbones. She had sea- green eyes.

"I'm going to suppose so." The younger girl turned sharply towards the new speaker, while the others just glanced at her. She stood tall, with a fighter's grace. She whipped her thigh length straight coal black hair and gazed quizzically around with ruby red eyes. "What will we do?"

They turned to the final member of their little group. By the way she stood she was the "leader". She sighed, blowing her prismatic blonde hair away from her face. She glanced around with troubled green eyes. "I don't know…" They started walking.

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The king of Tortall stared into his scrying mirror, beads of sweat forming at his brows. He pushed himself away from his desk decisively. King Jonathon the Fifth, or Jon, stared out his window without seeing anything beyond its frosty panes. He turned, sighing, and went to see his Council. He marched down the halls, thinking dark thoughts. He stopped at a door nearby. Walking in, he found his most trusted advisors (read book number four of the Alanna series…) sitting at a table, joking around. As he passed by the table to another one of his desks, the room grew silent.

He cleared his throat and every conversation grew silent. "As we all know, something, well, something happened… And… some of our dead are back. Very odd, I know, but they are here. We are not certain what else occurred in the spell but, we will deal with that when it comes." He began to pace. "Also, one of our neighbors across the sea, Meridian, has joined Scanra in the battle against us." He halted in his pacing and turned to look calmly at his advisors. "They have three princes and an insane Emperor."

"He killed his second wife two years ago, and ever since he has ruled without contest." Said Queen Thayet as she swept into the room. "He uses his sons for his power, though quite frankly we don't know where they're loyalty's lie." She halted at the front of the room, next to her husband. "The Emperor himself has come over to actually lead battles in the war. And with him, his sons are coming. We may lose the war," she finally said bluntly.

"We need allies, and we have none." King Jonathon frowned. "We are already stressed, though we will be getting warriors from the Islands, it won't be enough. Any suggestions?" he slumped where he stoodwearily.

No one stood or spoke. Someone came to the door and began pounding on it.

King Jonathon rolled eyes and called, "You pull, not push." Under his breath he murmured, "Gods, these people are idiots." Finally, the door opened to reveal a blushing squire.

"My lord, there is four girls are here, and they say it is urgent to speak with you." Belatedly, he bowed.

"Bring them in," called Thayet after briefly conferring with Jonathon. He left the room and after a moment, he walked back in with four young women behind him.

At the front stood a young woman with short prismatic white blonde hair. She stepped forward boldly, not even bowing. Stopping in front of the king with her friends trailing behind her, she said stiffly, "Hello, my name is Secery. Who might I be addressing?" In a group behind her stood a young girl with long, curly, smoky brown hair and bright gray- hazel/ green eyes, a young woman with thigh length coal black hair and ruby red eyes, and finally, in the back of the group, was a young woman with slightly curly blue- tinted blonde hair and sea- green eyes.

Jonathon merely blinked at this odd assortment of young women. He drew himself up. "I am King Jonathon the Fifth of Tortall. This is my queen, Queen Thayet and my advisors. Who are you?" He challenged.

Turning towards the group she pointed towards the youngest of the group (the girl with curly brown hair). "She is Amisha Sarrasri, sister of who you call "The Wildmage", Daine or Veralidaine Sarrasri. She is the daughter of The Green Lady and Weirin. Her gifts include; Empathy, Wild Magic, and Protection." Even though there was gasps from her audience, she continued. Pointing towards the girl with red eyes, she announced, "She is Paine. The 'daughter" of all Trickster gods, and Gods of war and fighting, she is gifted with tricks and the summoning of weapons and more." Still going, she pointed towards the girl with blue- tinted hair. "She is Ocea, "daughter' of all the water gods. Her powers include; Water, Healing, and Comfort,among other things that are too hard to explain." Finally turning back towards the king she reintroduced herself. "I am Secery. I was created, like Paine and Ocea, rather than being born. I was created from all of the gods' essences." Swallowing, she continued, "We are of the Divine Realms. I wish to know why we are here. It was not in out designs to be here." She looked at him, shivering.

Jonathon's eyes were basically bugging out of his head. "Oh, my gods…"

From the other side of the room came a tentative voice. "Perhaps you were brought here when our dead came back to life?"

Secery turned sharply towards the speaker. "If the dead are back, then the Realm of the Dead, at the very least, has been taken over. Nothing besides the Duke Roger has ever escaped Him." She glanced warily at her motley crew, then back towards the King and Queen. "You are at war, correct? Is there a new power who has entered the war?"

"Meridian."

She frowned. "And which dead are back?"

"Duke Roger, Emperor Orzone, Knight Alexander of Tirragen, and Squire Joren of Stone Mountain. There are others as well..."

She chuckled at the last name. "Goodness, the only one in that group who wouldn't help in the war for the other side would be that Joren fellow. He's rather funny."

The king stared at her. He would ask her about that later. "We have no means to send you back, you realize… You can stay here as long as you like."

Amisha calmly stepped forward. "We have decided. We shall help you in this war." After a moment, King Jonathon nodded a curt thank you. "By the way, is there any means for me to be able to meet my sister? We have never met. In fact, I daresay she doesn't even know I'm alive."

That the King could answer. "Yes, straight away. We'll have someone show you some rooms for your stay."

"Is there an ocean near here? Any body of water whatsoever?" Jon looked at the speaker. It was the girl named Ocea.

"Why don't you go find out from Daine," he suggested gently to them all. "We must finish this meeting.

"Certainly." Said Secery. She turned towards her friends and made shooing motions towards the door. Slowly they all walked out the door. The doors swung shut. Everyone gave a sigh of relief.

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Amisha looked around in amazement as they walked around the busy halls. The squire in front of her was still blushing furiously. She stared at him quizzically. Being only twelve years old, she was rather curious about this world. The older girls, whom she considered her sisters (Which I suppose Secery is since she had the blood of Amisha's parents), were all sixteen and were all "born" on the same day of the same year.

Amisha was extremely excited about meeting her older sister. The squire stooped and she nearly ran into him. They were at a door. On a plaque next to it read: Numair Samalin; and beneath it, on a newer plaque: Veralidaine Sarrasri. The squire knocked on the door, sweating.

The door opened, revealing a woman with long curly, smoky brown hair and blue- gray eyes. On her hip sat her baby girl.

The squire said hesitantly, "Miss Wildmage, ma'am, these young women wish to have a conference with you."

Daine gave a slight smile and nodded. "Gladly." She stepped aside and allowed Amisha and the other three girls to enter her rooms.

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Meanwhile...

The Emperor of Meridian paced without ceasing. In front of him sat his three sons. With every turn he glared at his middle son. He was Einur, seventeen years old and never obeyed him. Even though the boy had immense potential with his gifts of Wild Magic and the Gift, he never even tried to respect his father. The kid was tall, relaxed and easy- going. He had grey eyes and short brown hair.

As he turned he felt pride as he looked at his youngest son. If the Emperor had anything to say about it, Aligan the Younger was going to be Emperor next, not his older sons. He had a minor Gift, which ran out quickly. All he was good for was lighting candles. He was short with medium- length red hair and dull blue eyes. He is thirteen years old.

Eidur was his oldest son and even though he hated his father the Emperor, Aligan Crocnez, his father didn't hate him nearly as much as he hated his middle son. The kid had ambition, though not for the Throne. He wanted to become a professor on Wild Magic, which was his gift. And even though he had only a touch of it, it went a lot further than the Gift. He is nineteen years old.

"Einur! Sit up straight." When he didn't follow his orders, Aligan jerked and tried to look nonchalant. "Slob," he sniffed, turning away. Einur rolled his eyes. Eidur gave a low chuckle and the youngest glared at his older brothers sternly. He was the favorite son.

"We will be going to the kingdom of Tortall. We will be invading,"

"Tell us something we don't know," snapped Einur. "Like, why did I suddenly lose half my power in the middle of last night? And whom did you accidentally bring from the Divine Realms? Which gods are going to kill us, your sons?"

Ignoring his son's last comment, he answered, "I brought back some people from the Realms of the Dead. Some people who will help us in this war. But a few people were brought back without my meaning to. Including some visiting demi- Goddesses. I do not know which ones, though…"

He cleared his throat. "Now, we will be visiting our opposition. We will be attending a royal banquet in Tortall."

His sons groaned. The boys stretched and left the room. They glared at one another.

After they had left, their father got an odd glint in his eyes and let out a maniacal laugh, which echoed throughout his throne- room.

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Author's Note: Yeah, I know Jon is a bit out of character. Maybe more thatn a little bit. I'll work on that... Review to say whether not I should continue this.