I don't own YYH

Another late update, grr. I had intended to update yesterday (since Sunday was Mother's Day and I wasn't on my computer much), but an extra credit assignment for my Sci-Fi class stole me away. Lol. I had to write a one page sequel to any story we had read in class… let just say that one page turned into six full pages in actual book format (meaning no spaces in-between paragraphs like I do here). It was fun, but time consuming since I tend to go off on tangents when writing. Lol. Hey, it makes for some killer ideas!

On another note, thank you for reviewing:

RAWbert Williams – Yey! I like to hear people enjoy my stories over and over, it always makes me smile, no joke. Ya, I can't believe I have so many! Many thanks for them to since most are from you :) And for the riddle, I have no idea either. I can imagine that, I'm already confused. Lol.

Ani Mei – Yep! But if she will stay alive I shall not say. Ya, I've been leading up to that one way or another though my tangents. Lol. Yes this story does have many tangents, but they all fit together and can't really be detected. Let's just say that the story was initially going to be 23-24 chapter, but, heh, as you can tell we're over that and I'm not done yet. Lol. There's still 2-3 chapters left (unwritten as they are, they are within my head)

Oh, yes, before you read this I should tell you that if you become confused with something Eralasea says after the second sectional breakers (the 'vvvv' things) look at the very bottom and hopefully I've explained what you might find confusing, if I don't let me know and I'll explain it without telling of what's going to happen in the last few chapters in the next update.


Chapter 27

Koenma stared at the screen across the room with wide eyes and mouth agape; his pacifier hit the desk with a sharp noise. Botan looked up from a book she was reading, "What is it Koenma sir?"

"Era-" as smile came to his face, "Era's alive!" He jumped upon his chair, causing it to spin, but the spirit prince in toddler form was to busy being gleeful to pay it any heed.

Botan looked to the screen and saw exactly what had gotten Koenma excited and found herself jumping to her feet as well with a cry of delight. "That's where her spirit went! Thank goodness it wasn't lost."

"Somehow she has her body," Koenma noticed. He tapped his lips with his index finger, "I wonder how that happened."

"Perhaps, sir, she never really died," Botan said.

"No, she did die," Koenma said with a frown, "The records of hero's show it and those are records no one but my father writes."

"She was in the hero records?" Botan questioned in amazement, "So quickly? I thought it took years of study before King Yemma put anyone in here."

"Usually," Koenma said as he sat back down, "Then again Era has been around for five thousand years, plenty enough time to study, but that's not what I was getting at. My father cannot give someone such as her life again. She's from the ancient world and such revivals are impossible, for whatever reason, to spirits from those times. It's something about their wavelength, it's abnormal, and something we just don't understand anymore."

Botan blinked in confusion, "But then-" she scratched her head in thought, "How'd she come back?"

"That was my question," Koenma said. "By all means I'm glad she's back, but it bothers me as to how it was possible."

vvvvv

Era glared at Van-Gareth, her hands curling into tight fists. "You have desecrated this place with your mere presence."

"What!" Yusuke cried as he threw his hands to his head, "How is it that she's speaking so well!"

It was obvious that he was not the only one amazed by the sudden sharpness of Era's speaking skills. It seemed improbable that the transaction between bad English and perfection had been made in less than forty-eight hours. In fact it was impossible in all standards.

Yusuke's outcry did more than reflect his friend's thoughts, it had attracted the complete attention of the four ancient beings at the other end of the chamber. Era and Van-Gareth stared at them in complete confusion while Firan and Eralasea seemed to be trying to contain their laughter.

"You are forgetting that you are in the presence of a goddess," Firan said once he had his amusement under control, though there was still a hint of it in his voice.

Most of the group looked embarrassed for not thinking of the goddess's capabilities before hand. In her domain anything otherwise thought impossible could most likely be done, including the ability to make a language understandable to those who knew little to nothing of it.

The old Era seemed to come back for a brief moment as she giggled and shook her head. Van-Gareth muttered something under his breath about moronic demons of the age as he turned his gaze back to Era. Upon their gaze's meeting the invisible dagger were once again thrown between them.

For whatever reason the battle had not yet broken out, but the group had a suspicious feeling it was because of Eralasea's presence. The fight was an ancient one, one that was now to be resolved after five thousand years of delay, which led to the thought of some formal beginning before a long awaited end.

Eralasea looked from Era to Van-Gareth then to the friends Era had made from the day of her awakening. A small smile graced her fair features, "I must welcome all of you to my shrine." Her voice was melodious and unlike anything human or demonic anyone knew of. "Here you shall witness the beginning of a great end."

Van-Gareth smirked at Era, "Yes, it will be your end."

"I think not," Era responded with slight agitation.

Eralasea glanced at the two of them, "Whoever's end it is to be has yet to be decided. However one thing has long been determined," she paused long enough to have all eyes fall upon her, "Nothing shall intervene in this battle. It is strictly a one on one duel which will determine who is to be the victor and who is to be the newest member in the Reikai."

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the chamber and remained for several minutes. In that time the young group of Era's friends glanced at one another uneasily and the two destined to fight looked to one another with great determination and sternness.

Eventually Eralasea rose her hands in to chest level, palms up and fingers slightly curled. Almost instantly the water throughout the room sprang into life in a fashion anyone unlearned in the ways of the water goddess would have thought was an attack. In truth the water streamlined across the chamber and encircled each individual, starting from their mid section and swirling around too rapidly for anyone to retaliate.

In seconds of being incased all traces of life within the chamber vanished into thin air and a gloom befell it.

vvvv

Outside the shrine the guardians of the forest were moving rapidly towards an all too familiar location. It was something the forest had not witnessed since the first century of the shrines existence, yet, for whatever reason, it was occurring once more.

The trees shook in anticipation as the guardians ran by them. Through the guardians they would know everything that was to occur. This was yet another thing that had not occurred within the middle of the forest since the shrine first came about.

Life had completely returned to the sleeping forest and the creatures knew why.

The area that all guardians were rushing to was just outside the forest, a place where no life besides for that of grass existed. Great, evenly spaced, monoliths outlined the massive circular area, basking in the light of the setting sun. Their obelisk surfaces were unmarred by a master's carvings or by the relentless natural powers of weathering.

Thousands of years ago each monolith's tip had pointed blankly into the night sky, but the reasoning was by no means a mistake. Scholars of ancient times had predicted where the great stars would be far into the future, or rather, where they would be when a great battle would commence. The scholars and their work might have been forgotten many ages ago, but now it was to be remembered as their prediction on the celestial movement proved completely correct. The ten great monoliths were in perfect orientation with the stars of hope, or celestia del hota in the ancient tongue.

It was here that Eralasea had brought the fighters and spectators, as it had been designed thousand of years ago to bare witness the battle between light and darkness. The guardians had encircled the area by now, but remained outside the circle of monoliths, even the fog based dragon lay drifting around it in it's free form.

As everyone, with the exception Firan, looked about, Eralasea spoke, "Welcome to the arania del celestia, or 'arena of stars' in the common tongue. A great legend speaking of this place was once known amongst all water children, but, alas, with their demise it too faded from the worlds memory, like many things had."

"The legend speaks of two children, one born from the hope of the very stars the waters demons had believed in and the other from the very thing the stars feared. The child of the stars would grow as any other child, while the child of fear, so it had been name, would learn only grown to learn bitterness and hate."

"In time the two children would meet, but it would be anything but pleasant. They were born of two different entities, ones that opposed each other greatly, and so they were destined to fight. However the first battle the children would fight in would be a false one. The time was not right for the battle and it would have to wait until the stars could bare witness to their child's battle with their fear, and so both were to be locked in time."

"Darkness would slowly spread into the light, but never would one over rule the other, only the battle of stars would decide which would reign supreme," Eralasea finished.

Silence once again befell them as the tale sunk in. Both Era and Van-Gareth had known of the legend, but never before had they thought it held such significance.

"So," Touya began once he found his voice, "Era is the child of the stars?"

"In essence, yes," Eralasea answered. She turned and looked to where the sun lay and found it was almost completely hidden beneath the horizon, "It is not long now."

"We're waiting for darkness?" Suzuka asked in bewilderment, "But that gives Van-Gareth the most power!"

The goddess nodded without looking to him, "That is true, but light also shines the brightest in the dark."

No further words were spoken as darkness began to quickly descend upon them and stars began to reveal themselves in their ordinary manner within the moonless sky.

"Those stars," Touya said softly as his eyes were attracted to ten unusually bright stars, "Are they the stars of hope?" While the ice master received no answer he knew what it was.

Moments later light from eight of the ten stars traveled downward, striking the monolith it was aligned with. The light was so intense that everyone was forced to shield their eyes.

When they could once again open their eyes they beheld a sight that had never before been seen by any organism within the three worlds. The once faceless monoliths now held a figure etched in light on all sides. Some were male and some were female, but clearly each figure held a different mastery. After a quick glance over all the monoliths it became very evident that two were left unlit.

Before the question could be voiced Eralasea spoke, "Just as planned long ago, all ten gods of the stars are now present." She turned her gaze to the young group who was at a complete loss for what was occurring, "Rightfully the water demons have ten gods, but they looked to only one after a distinct message was given to them. That god was entrusted with the task of looking after the star child when she would arrive, two and a half centuries after the message was given, and to do so they required a strong amount of energy to travel down to the planet. That energy came in the form of worship undivided among their fellow nine gods."

"I am that god, or rather goddess," Eralasea said smoothly. "Firan here is the tenth god. He was able to arrive here with me this time around by the energy emitted by Era upon being released. Her sense of love towards me as her goddess had built up within the crystal she had been dormant in for five thousand years."

"With Firan's help both Era and Van-Gareth have been properly tested and prepared for this very battle." She turned and motioned to the monoliths about them, "And now all the gods are present to bare witness to the battle."

There was a soft melodic murmur as the gods imaged within the monoliths shifted slightly and spoke to one another in a tongue Eralasea did not allow translation for.

"We were part of a legendary prophecy," Van-Gareth said, "How degrading."

"The only degrading essence of it is that you're within it," Era said as she rolled her eyes.

Eralasea shook her head, "Just as they should be, not able to get along in the slightest way. But enough chatter, prepare yourselves."

The fog whirled in and grabbed Era's friends, carrying them from the area within the monolith's, a place where fast amount of danger was about to begin, with Firan following quickly. At the same moment Era and Van-Gareth readied themselves in their battle stances, ready to begin at any moment.

Eralasea took a moment to look at both fighters before uttering the fateful words, "Begin."

Both fighters lunged forward at one another with their fists drawn back intending to land the first blow in the long awaited battle where one of them would perish.


And so the battle begins! Hmm, I wonder what will happen.

Find out next time.

Explanation on possible confusing points

The child of the stars deal does not mean that Era is actually the child of two of the gods. Era's parents are normal water demons, but Era herself was gifted by the gods with some of their power from the day that she was conceived, it was an action done out of hope (explained further when Van-Gareth is spoken about)

Eralasea states all ten gods knew of Era's coming two centuries before she was actually conceived, this isn't all that peculiar because they are gods.

Van-Gareth was said to be the child of the god's fear. If you think astronomically when a star dies it becomes a black hole (darkness) and death is something most things fear. So to the gods the darkness is something they want to combat and prevent from spreading. That's perhaps going too technical, but it kind of explains it… and hopefully that didn't confuse you further. Basically just think of Van-Gareth as the child of a god killer… why didn't I just say that before, that was so much easier. Lol.

Hmm… I think I should write a prequel to all of this, starting off from before Era was born and going up until she and Van-Gareth were locked in time, so to speak… sounds like a possible plan for a summer project.

If there are any further questions let me know.

Please Review.

Thanks!